Leadership (Abuja)
Golu Timothy
24 July 2008
The striking teachers, under the platform of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) would have to wait for eternity as the Federal Government yesterday said it would not shift ground concerning the ongoing strike, saying its action is in accordance with the constitution.
Government also approved contracts worth about N1 billion for development of sports facilities in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
Eight firms won the contracts which cover tennis court, sport hostel, landscaping and driveways and parking lot.
UNN is slated to host the Nigerian Universities Games (NUGA) next year.
The contracts are expected to be completed within 36 weeks.
Briefing State House correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mr John Odey, who was flanked by the Minister of Education, Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu and Chairman of National Sports Commission, Abdurrahman Gimba, said the council approved the contracts to the eight firms as part of its "desire to improve skills and standards in the educational sector, which is in line with the seven-point agenda."
The council, Odey said, took note of the fact that the UNN was desirous of upgrading and improving its existing facilities and constructing new ones towards a successful hosting of NUGA .
Odey also revealed that there is a provision of N1.17 billion in this year's budget to take care of various projects.
Responding to a question on the on-going teachers' strike, Nwachukwu said the government's position on the three-week strike is based on the constitution, logic and fact.
He also noted that there is no way the government can negotiate for the states.
He therefore, appealed to the teachers to go back to the classroom.
The minister further assured that the matter would be resolved very soon.
He also pleaded with the teachers to go and negotiate with the state governments.
On the part of the Federal Government, the minister said, "We will continue to consult and dialogue with states to ensure that the issues are resolved."
Meanwhile, as part of the efforts to create enabling environment for business at the ports in Lagos State, the Federal Government yesterday suspended 16 tank farms from using the Lagos bays for discharging their petroleum products.
The tank farms, according, to the government, failed to meet the minimum conditions and requirements for provision of holding bay and associated facilities.
With this action, only the 22 tank farms that met the operational guidelines and provisions of requisite holding bays are to be allowed to continue to operate.
Also a ban has been placed on creation of new tank farms within the Lagos ports until the issue is re-visited.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has been directed to strengthen the Lagos Ports Access Roads Monitoring Unit (LAPARMU) to cope with the rigour of decongesting and rebuilding the port access roads.
The actions are part of the implementation of the committee on the decongestion of the federal access roads leading to and within the Lagos port complex.
The immediate past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in the heat of the nuisance constituted by articulated tankers on Lagos roads, especially within the ports, set up a committee on the congestion of the federal access roads.
At the end of the committee's work, 21 measures for redressing the problems were articulated in three phases.
The first phase, which was to be immediate, recommended that the government should clear, secure and re-acquire the Federal Government Right of Way (ROW) on major roads leading to the ports; coordinated and stricter use of Authority to Load (ATL) issued by the terminal operators and introduction of some basic traffic management measures.
The second phase based on short-term solution recommended physical demarcation of secured ROW, redressing and re-development of some of the access and approach roads to Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports, the commencement of the port Novo trailer park near Tin-Can island, as well as monitoring and enforcing government policy guidelines on provision of service bays by the tank farm owners on major highways enroute Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.
The third phase which is a long-term approach recommended the creation and use of alternative modes of transportation, in particular the use of the rail network by tank farms along Dockyard Road, Apapa; construction of additional trailer parks on public private partnership (PPP) basis and institutionalisation of traffic control to the ports.
Excused to brief State House correspondents while the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting was still going on yesterday, the Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, alongside Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos said FEC had approved the suspension of 16 tank farms at Lagos ports.
This action, she noted, became necessary because of the menace of articulated tankers.
According to Allison-Madueke, the activities of the tank farms had encouraged drivers of articulated tankers to congest access roads to the ports, thereby impacting negatively on other businesses in the area.
She said that the suspension would be in effect until the operators of such tank farms built their independent holding bays to accommodate vehicles meant to take products from them.
Explaining the suspension, which was approved by FEC, Governor Fashola said drivers of the articulated vehicles had defied other measures to decongest the access roads.
He said that in spite of modern communication facilities available in the country, the tank farms and their customers had refused to relocate to a terminal allocated to them.
He said that the idea was to avoid the many accidents being recorded on Lagos roads as a result of the activities of the tank farms.
On the possible impact of the suspension on product supply, Fashola said the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, adding that there is a need to sanitise the area.
Meanwhile, worried by the government's I don't care attitude on their four weeks long industrial action, teachers in Katsina State have yesterday organised a special prayer to seek God's intervention in ending their predicaments.
The special prayer session organized by the Katsina state chapter of the NUT, attracted thousands of teachers to the Kayalwa Primary School premises where the prayer took place.
LEADERSHIP correspondent who attended the prayer session observed that the special prayers were led by the learned scholars teaching Arabic and Islamic studies in the state's schools.
Similarly, our correspondent observed that even the primary school pupils that were affected by the strike also joined the prayer session in solidarity with their teachers.
The prayer session, which intermittently attracted the shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) was for God to touch the heart of the government to consider their demands.
Speaking earlier, the State chairman of NUT, Alhaji Ali Dahiru Daura, told Leadership that they had resorted to prayers after exhausting all avenues to make government consider their plight.
However, parents interviewed in Katsina resolved to join the NUT prayer session if the government failed to meet their demands.
A parent, Malam Ya'u Kofar-Sauri noted, "If the government fails to listen to the teachers we as parents have no option other than to join in the prayers."
Another parent, Umar Suleiman, lamented that a government under a so-called democratic setting was not concerned with the education of its people and the welfare of the teachers.
The Katsina State House of Assembly has initiated a dialogue between the state government and NUT aimed at resolving the crisis.
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