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Today marks the third anniversary of the historic judgement delivered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on the enforcement of the fundamental Rights of the illegally detained leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah Ibrahim. Failure to obey that judgement by President Muhammadu Buhari three years on, and counting, makes it one of the worst violations of the rule of law and a monumental abuse of the rights of the couple.

The learned Jurist had rule that the continued detention of the duo violates their rights under Section 35 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution and the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. Consequently, he ordered the release of the ailing Sheikh and his wife within 45 days of the judgement and that both must be provided with a suitable accommodation and security. The court further ordered the payment of 50 million Naira by the federal government to both.

The judge had warned the government in that judgement that holding the Sheikh for so long amounted to great danger, insisting that “If the applicant dies in custody, which I do not pray for, it could result in many needless deaths.” However, Buhari has stubbornly kept deaf ears to that and contemptuously continued to detain them. Instead of releasing them, Buhari opted to file bogus charges against the Sheikh and his wife through Kaduna state government.

This stunning disregard for the rule of law and human rights does not come to the Islamic Movement as a great surprise because Buhari’s utter disregard for court judgements is legendary, and statistics has it that he has disregarded courts in at least 40 occasions since the inception of his government.

In the case of Sheikh Zakzaky, the government has at various times proffered different contradictory reasons for its flagrant contempt of court. One of the most absurd of such was the statement attributed to the President himself that national security is over and above the rule of law. By this his warped belief, he has stirred the country towards the path of dictatorship, to which all other well-meaning Nigerians must stand and fight against.

Failure to obey court orders by the government is an open invitation to anarchy as observed by a Professor of law, and this is at variance with the democratic principles it claims to be running. Before arriving at any decision to release any individual or grant him bail, the courts must have first reviewed the facts presented by all parties and listened to arguments from both the government and such citizens. It is therefore totally unacceptable for a government to choose the judgements it would follow and those it will ignore.

In the same vein, Senior Advocate of Nigeria once said: “What is national interest that rule of law must be sacrificed for? Rather, it is in the national interest of any government to obey and subject Nigeria to the rule of law. Where there is the rule of law, every interest, including that of the nation is safeguarded. A country without the rule of law is a lawless jungle.”

It is to the glory of Allah that 3 years into the judgement by the court that Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife be set free, we have never chickened out or relented in demanding for his unconditional release.

We will continue to do so irrespective of the government’s use of brutal force against us. We will leave no stone unturned in demanding for his unconditional freedom using all legitimate means at our disposal. We therefore once again unequivocally call for his unconditional release, his wife, and all the others still in detention since the Zaria massacre by the Nigerian Army in December, 2015.

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“NEED FOR URGENT INTERVENTION ON THE STALLED NEGOTIATION OF CONSEQUENTIAL ADJUSTMENT OF SALARIES ARISISNG FROM THE NEW NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE OF N30,000 PER MONTH TO AVERT INDUSTRIAL CRISIS

The leadership of Organized Labour in Nigeria comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) met today, 2nd October, 2019 with the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC-Trade Union Side) at the Labour House, Abuja.

The sole agenda of the meeting was to receive briefing from JNPSNC and to discuss the way forward on the deadlock in negotiations for consequential wage adjustment for workers in public service arising from recent enactment of the new national minimum wage of N30,000. Subsequently, the meeting went into very extensive deliberations around the following concerns;

Organized labour has out of its patriotic disposition demonstrated a great deal of restraint, consideration and patience with government. In the course of negotiations for consequential salary adjustment, organized labour had to moderate its initial position of having 66.6% upward salary adjustment for workers on salary grade level 07 – 17 by accepting an upward adjustment of 29% for officers on salary level 07-14 and 24% adjustment for officers on salary grade level 15 – 17. Despite this patriotic gesture, government has kept insisting that it can only pay 11% for officers on grade level 07 – 14 and 6.5% consequential wage increase to public workers for officers on level 15-17;

Since the last national minimum wage of N18,000, workers have been forced to suffer huge inflation and astronomical hike in the prices of essential goods and services. The following examples would suffice;

The country’s currency, the naira had suffered devaluation from N150 to $1 in 2011 to N360 to $1 in 2019, a depreciation of 140%.

Furthermore, petroleum price has been hiked from N87 per liter to N145 per liter which translates to 60% price increase.

Electricity tariff has been increased by about 60%.

Of recent, the Value Added Tax (VAT) has been reviewed from 5% to 7.2%.

The nonchalant attitude of the government negotiating side has dragged negotiations for consequential wages adjustment unduly. Nigerian workers have exercised tremendous patience and restraint already.

At the end of our deliberation, the leadership of organized labour in Nigeria resolved as follows;

The offer by government for salary adjustment of 11% for public workers on salary grade level 07 – 14 and 6.5% consequential increase for public workers on grade level 15 – 17 is not acceptable to Nigerian workers. We view the position of government as a show of insensitivity to the plight of workers and an attempt to collect with the left hand what government had offered with the right hand;

We demand the reconvening of the meeting of the committee negotiating the consequential adjustment with a view to concluding the process that started on the 28th of May, 2019 within one week;

Entering into an agreement with labour to the effect that salary of officers on grade 07-14 should be reviewed upward by 29% while that of officers on grade level 15-17 should be reviewed upwards by 24%; and

Commence immediate implementation of the signed agreement on consequential adjustment of public workers’ salaries with effect from 18th of April 2019 when the new national minimum wage of N30,000 per month was signed into law.

In conclusion, the leadership of organized labour in Nigeria wishes to categorically state that the leadership of labour cannot guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the country if our demands are not met at the close of work on Wednesday, 16th October, 2019.

Aluta continua… Victoria Ascerta!

Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni Comrade Quadri Olaleye

President, NLC President, TUC

Comrade Simon Anchaver Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal

Ag. Chairman, JNPSNC (Trade Union Side) Secretary, JNPSNC (Trade Union Side)

2nd October, 2019”

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I am delighted to participate in this first and historic Russia-Africa Summit. I thank our chief host, His Excellency Vladimir Putin, President of the Russia Federation for this important initiative and for the warm and generous hospitality accorded to us also commend His Excellency, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, for his visionary and collaborative leadership of the African Union.

Today, we live in a world where collective peace and prosperity can only be achieved through collaboration and mutual respect.

This reality was aptly captured by the Late Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior when he said and I quote:“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Nigeria’s relations with Russia just like the rest of Africa began during the Soviet era when diplomatic relations were first established in 1960.

That relationship covered areas such as education, healthcare, solid minerals development and military assistance, especially during Nigeria’s civil war.

More recently, our partnership has extended to the oil and gas sector as well as military and technical assistance in support of our fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.

At this point, I would once again like to thank His Excellency, President Putin for his support especially in the area of security.

It is my hope that through this forum, Russia and Africa will revitalize their time-tested relationship by exploring new opportunities for the collective benefit of our peoples.

Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, relations between Russia and African nations have lagged behind historical levels.

The former Soviet Union had been a key partner of Africa.We all remember the strong support we received from the former Soviet Union in our anti-colonial struggles.

Africa will continue to remember this, and many other significant gestures of solidarity and support that shaped our history as a continent.

We are eternally grateful to the Soviet Union for coming to the aid of Africa in its hour of need.

As we live in an increasingly changing world driven by trade, technology, and innovation, the time has come to inject new energy and pragmatism in Africa-Russia relations for the mutual benefit of both Africa and Russia.

I want to emphasize that this mutually beneficial relationship must go beyond trade and business. Our re-energised partnership must also address challenges such as counter-terrorism, poverty eradication, human and drug trafficking, illicit financial flows, climate change and migration to mention some of the many contemporary challenges facing our peoples.

Our continent is rich in human and natural but is lagging behind in capital and technology.

This is why we see increased conflict, migration and instability that is also impacting many nations outside Africa.

On our part, we in Africa have continued to view Regional Integration as a key development priority. Our integration is one that seeks to address our infrastructure deficit, conflicts and terrorism, climate change, human trafficking and of vitality, trade.

Our integration process also takes into account our diversity as a continent and our unique challenges at the national and sub-national levels.

This is why progress has been slow but steady.With a population of over 1.2 billion people, for us in Africa, getting our socio-economic integration right presents enormous opportunities as we stand to promote robust, equitable and inclusive growth that will minimize conflict and enhance economic development.Today, these aspirations are captured in the Agenda 2063 of the African Union.

We are confident that with strong partners like Russia, our goal of having a peaceful and prosperous continent is achievableNigeria is the largest economy and most populous country in Africa.

Today, our population is almost over 200 million people. It is expected to grow to approximately 400 million by 2050. This will make Nigeria the third most populous nation in the world behind China and India.

Our economy is heavily dependent on its foreign exchange on oil. With the result that our high Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not as a result of domestic sector productivity.

In the circumstances, although we still remain an oil-dependent nation, our government in the last four years has focused on diversifying our economy by supporting key job-creating sectors such as agriculture, mining, and ICT.

To achieve this, we invested aggressively in infrastructure development and introduced policies and programs that enhance our ease of doing business, reduce corruption in the public sector and enforce the rule of law.It is this inclusive economic diversification agenda that we want to forge a new Nigeria-Russia cooperation.

Already, we are seeing progress in areas of power generation, solid minerals development and rail transportation and I hope this will be expanded to Agriculture, Manufacturing and other means of Transportation.

We already have over 200 Nigerian university students in Russia benefitting from Russian Government scholarships which have been on-going since 1960.

Earlier this year, Nigeria signed a Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) with Russia which will expand the human capital development support we are already receiving.

Let me clearly state that the time has come with this historic summit today, for Africa and the Russian Federation to develop new mutually beneficial relations.

On our part, I want to assure our Russian friends that Africa is resolute and ready.We look forward to embracing the new dawn of Africa-Russia partnership in general, and the revitalized Nigeria-Russia relations in particular.

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