Today's Headlines: Tinubu Slams Fresh Sanctions On Niger, Nigeria Tops Global Unemployment Rating
Tinubu Slams Fresh Sanctions On Niger
Photos Credits: Daily Post
Following the deadline given by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, President Bola Tinubu has instructed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to impose extra financial sanctions on Niger Republic.
Tinubu also directed the CBN to extend such sanctions to senior government officials of Niger who have refused to heed to the demand by ECOWAS.
Recall that Bazoum was overthrown and detained by senior military officers in the country about two weeks ago, to the chagrin of ECOWAS leaders, who have threatened a possible military action against the coupists if democratic governance is not returned.
Nigeria Tops Global Unemployment Rating
Source: Punch paper
Nigeria tops the list of countries with the highest rate of unemployment, according to the latest statistics released by the World of Statistics.
Nigeria led with 33.3 per cent, followed by another African country, South Africa 32.9 per cent, and Iran 15.55 per cent.
The lowest rate of unemployment, according to the report, were in countries like Qatar: 0.1 per cent, Cambodia: 0.36 per cent, and Niger 0.5 per cent.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 33.30 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 27.10 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
FG withdraws contempt charges against Labour
Photo Credit: The Sun Nigeria
The federal government has backed down from plans to initiate contempt proceedings against the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in an effort to prevent organised labour from embarking on yet another nationwide strike.
Last week, the Federal Ministry of Justice threatened to file a contempt of court case against the labor leaders before Nigeria’s National Industrial Court for allegedly failing to abide by the court orders that prohibited the unions from engaging in industrial action.
It claimed that on August 2, 2023, the labour unions carried out industrial action over a dispute involving fuel subsidies by holding open demonstrations.
However, the NLC quickly called an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council in Abuja and issued a warning that it would call a general strike if its leaders were brought up in court by the federal government at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) on charges of contempt.
The NLC asked for the immediate withdrawal of what it described as, “litigious terrorism by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 1st of August, 2023.”
The Solicitor General of the Federation, Mrs. B.E. Jeddy-Agba, stated that the Justice Ministry has withdrawn the contempt case in a letter sent to the NLC’s lead attorney, Femi Falana, yesterday.
No Headway As US Envoy Meets Niger Coup Leaders
Source: Channels TV
The second-ranking US diplomat met Niger’s military leaders on Monday to press to reverse a coup but reported no headway a day after an ultimatum from the West African bloc ECOWAS was ignored.
Victoria Nuland, a veteran envoy and acting deputy secretary of state, said she met for more than two hours with military chiefs who ousted democratically elected Western ally Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
Nuland’s trip, conducted in secrecy until she left, came after the expiration of a deadline set by ECOWAS to reinstate Bazoum by midnight (2300 GMT) on Sunday or risk military intervention.
The 15-nation bloc is reconvening for its own diplomatic push on the crisis with a summit Thursday in Nigerian capital Abuja.
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