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Tag: Ultimatum

  • EPL: Pochettino handed ultimatum or be relived of his duties

    EPL: Pochettino handed ultimatum or be relived of his duties

    Speculations are rife that the management at Stamford Bridge has given an ultimatum to coach, Mauricio to continue winning games and qualify for European football next season  or be relieved of his duty.

    Chelsea is gearing  up for a comprehensive evaluation of Pochettino’s performance at the end of his inaugural season in charge of the Blues.

    Throughout the campaign, Chelsea has grappled with challenges, notably in the Premier League, where they’ve struggled to maintain consistency on the pitch.

    However, despite criticisms from some quarters, many pundits have rallied to Pochettino’s defence, pointing to broader structural issues within the club’s ownership as contributing factors to the team’s setbacks.

    Pochettino did guide Chelsea to the Carabao Cup final this season, albeit falling short of the FA Cup final following a semi-final defeat to Manchester City. His accomplishments, however, have not shielded him from intense scrutiny.

    Presently, Chelsea are in seventh place on the log trailing sixth-placed Newcastle United by a slim two points and fifth-placed Spurs by a margin of four points.

    In response to these circumstances, Chelsea’s board reportedly presents Pochettino with a stark ultimatum: his job security hinges on the team’s ability to clinch qualification for the Europa League. Failure to meet this criterion could spell trouble for Pochettino’s tenure at Chelsea.

    In such an eventuality, the club may explore alternative coaching options, with several names already circulating, including Jose Mourinho as the frontrunner, according to Sky Bet, followed by Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim and Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi.

     

  • Doctors to embark on indefinite strike as 21-day ultimatum to govt expires

    Doctors to embark on indefinite strike as 21-day ultimatum to govt expires

    The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Kogi State Specialist Hospital (KSSH), Lokoja, has called the attention of the State Government to the expiration of the 21 days ultimatum given to it to meet its demands.

    The association had on Aug. 9, issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Kogi Government to meet its demands or be ready for an indefinite strike action, after suspending its two-day industrial action directed by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

    The ultimatum was to give room for dialogue and engagement with the state government.

    The notification was given in a statement jointly signed by the ARD KSSH’s President, Dr Ameh Friday; and Secretary General, Dr Peter Samuel, and made available to journalists on Saturday in Lokoja.

    “The ARD KSSH, wishes to state that today, makes it 21 days since its last communique and one month since it suspended its industrial action as directed by the National Body – NARD – for government to look into the some of its pressing demands as listed below.

    “Having examined the inertia that has greeted our requests also keeping in view of our previous failure to join the national directive to suspend service delivery because of our commitment to the client and State Government which unfortunately has never been appreciated.

    “We will like to remind government of our modest demands once more.

    “Upward review of CONMESS 2014 to CONMESS 2023, and approval of Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023).

    “Review of hazard allowance as released by the National Salary, Income and Wages Commission, 22nd December, 2021, and implementation and cash backing of promotion as well as the statutory Annual Increments with payment of arrears of both annual increments and promotion,” it said.

    “The association stressed that the statement would serve as a reminder of the association’s initial communique.

    “The association emphasised that the moral and psychic of its members in the Kogi State Specialist Hospital is at an all time low with respect to their concerns, unfortunately, the Hospital working environment, coupled with the unpalatable economic realities have further worsened the already sour situation.

    “The ARD will convoke a Congress meeting in seven days from now to have an appraisal of the progress made so far and take a decision on all its demands,” the association said.

  • Illegal building conversion: LASG issues 30-day ultimatum on regularisation

    Illegal building conversion: LASG issues 30-day ultimatum on regularisation

    The Lagos State Government has issued a 30-day ultimatum for owners/developers who have converted buildings to other uses not approved to regularise the properties, to avert sanctions.

    The General Manager of Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, (LASPPPA), Mr. Kehinde Osinaike gave the warning in a statement on Tuesday.

    The statement was made available to journalists by Mrs. Abimbola Emdin-Umeh, Director Public Affairs, LASPPPA.

    Osinaike decried increasing illegal conversion of building use, especially residential ones, for other uses without government’s approval.

    He said that the illegal conversion of buildings to other purposes contradicts and violates the original Master Plan of the state for achievement of a sustainable Lagos.

    He said that sticking to the Development Plan, which dictates the spatial arrangement of the state and the approved permissible uses for different areas, was important to prevent emergence of slums.

    He called on owners/developers of illegally converted buildings and other types of illegal developments to begin regularising them by visiting LASPPPA district offices nearest to them for guidance.

    “Failure to revert to the original approved plan of LASPPPA by owners of converted buildings within the next thirty days will attract the full wrath of the law,” he said.

    He insisted that strict adherence to the Operative Development Plans was “non-negotiable for a sustainable Lagos State”.

    Osinaike explained that the housing stock available for Lagos residents was usually estimated by planning permit granted for residential purposes.

    He said that when such buildings get illegally converted, the official records automatically become unreliable to create disequilibrium “in the projected proportion of land earmarked for different categories of uses for different locations”.

    He said that LASPPPA had the mandate to reject any application seeking for conversion of property from the original approved use that had been specifically designated for a particular location.

    According to him, LASPPPA is legally guided by the extant Law and Regulations to grant planning permits to qualifying applications in accordance with the provisions of the Operative Development Plans of the state.

    He said that illegal conversion of buildings that have approval for other uses was liable to revocation.

    Speaking on Assessment Rates for processing Planning Permits, the General Manager explained that the scheduled fees worked out for the process were non-negotiable.

    According to him, the Assessment for processing Planning Permit is determined by the volume, use, and location of the building, which cannot be compromised.

    Osinaike said the increasing clamour by prospective applicants to negotiate the government fees should not be encouraged.

    He emphasised that all physical planning related fees should be paid to Lagos State Government accounts by applicants and not through touts.

    The general manager urged the public to embrace voluntary compliance to Physical Planning Laws.

  • Strike: ASUP gives FG 1 month ultimatum to address outstanding issues

    Strike: ASUP gives FG 1 month ultimatum to address outstanding issues

    A one-month ultimatum has been given to the Federal Government by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, ASUP, to address outstanding issues of Nigeria polytechnics or to review suspended industrial action.

     

    The National President of the union, Mr Anderson Ezeibe, issued the ultimatum at a news conference at the end of its 102 Executive Council meeting in Yola.

     

    Ezeibe listed some of the issues as non-release of the scheme of service, delay in the appointment of rectors and non-release of arrears of the new minimum wage.

     

    He said that several states had refused to implement the new minimum wage Act in their respective institutions since 2019 and non-appointment of the board of directors.

     

    “We are deploying this medium to equally appeal to members of the public to prevail on the government to do the needful and avoid a shutdown of the sector.

     

    “In choosing to extend the long-expired three months suspension period of our industrial action, we are convinced that the extra window of one month typifies our level of restraint.

     

    “And consideration for our students and other members of the public even as we hope that the government will take advantage of this opportunity to avoid a shutdown of the sector,” he said.

     

    According to him, the government should put more effort into the sector to be productive in technical manpower development.

     

    He added that the country should not be looking for technical manpower outside the country, hence the need for government to do the needful.

  • LAUTECH students give lecturers 3 days ultimatum to return back to classroom

    LAUTECH students give lecturers 3 days ultimatum to return back to classroom

    Ladoke Akintola University of Technology student union government has given their lecturers 3 days to opt out of the ongoing ASUU strike.

    ASUU had, on February 14, embarked on a four-week warning strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honour the 2009 agreements it reached with the union and the rot in universities. The union also extended the strike action by another eight weeks on March 14.

    LAUTECH student union president Anuoluwa Adeboye and Public Relations Officer, Gabriel Michael mentioned that the institution had suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of the previous peculiar strikes embarked upon by the institution.

    They added that the ongoing strike had also made the fresh graduates of the school to miss being mobilized for the National Youth Service Corps orientation programme in March.

    The SUG has said that they had written to ASUU chapter of the institution for a dialogue as to reasons LAUTECH cant afford to embark on another strike but it fell on deaf ears.

    They added that many LAUTECH graduate have missed posting of NYSC simply becauseof incessant strike that have crippled activities of the institution.

    The statement read, “In light of this, if by now the leadership of ASUU LAUTECH can’t honour the open dialogue address from the Student Union between ASUU LAUTECH and LAUTECH students and they are claiming they are fighting for the Ladokites’ interest at the federal level, we are saying it is enough.

    “We are giving the leadership of ASUU LAUTECH 72 hours to borrow a leaf from ASUU KWASU that wrote a special letter to the national ASUU based on the peculiarity of their institution and to opt out of this ongoing strike or else the Student Union will be left with no choice other than to see ASUU LAUTECH as a sabotage to the progress of LAUTECH and Ladokites due to their selfish interest.

  • Gloomy days ahead for Nigerian students as ASUU insists on another strike after expiration of three-week ultimatum to FG

    Gloomy days ahead for Nigerian students as ASUU insists on another strike after expiration of three-week ultimatum to FG

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have threatened to embark on another industrial action following a three-week ultimatum issued by the union last month.

    They, however, called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to honour the agreement reached with the union.

    The lecturers made the call on Friday at separate briefings held in the northern and southern parts of the country where they said the government’s action has left them with no other option than to withdraw their services.

    At the end of a meeting of the Ibadan Zone of ASUU held at the University of Ilorin, the zonal coordinator, Professor Oyebamiji Oyegoke, said the union has been pushed to the wall over the non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached with the government in 2020.

    He explained that the union was planning another strike because of the failure to fully implement the MoA.

    “Government, by its piecemeal implementation of the contentious issues in the MoA of 2020, is not sincere in fulfilling its part of the agreement,” said the don. “Selective treatment of issues in dispute instead of a comprehensive approach will no longer be acceptable to our members; we shall no longer take the issue of welfare of our members for granted.

    “Any treatment of MoA of 2020 that precludes its full implementation and rejection of IPPIS will be incomplete. If it has taken ASUU’s position of resuming a suspended strike action to rouse the government from its sleep of non-implementation of the MoA of 2020, one needs to ask, how many of such reminders should ASUU give before its demands are met?

    “It is on the basis of the failure of government to meet up with the promises made as attested to in the MoA of 2020 that the union is calling on Nigerians to intervene at this critical moment. The demands of the union are realistic and holistic in the common interest of the country’s educational and developmental pursuits. If nothing is done, we will be left with no other choice than to withdraw our services until reason prevails.”

    Professor Oyegoke stated that the agreement was supposed to address the issues of revitalisation of public universities, full payment of the academic earned allowance, withheld salaries and promotion arrears, inconsistencies in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) payment, and renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

    He accused the government of demonstrating an intention to embarrass the collective resolve to save university education from total collapse.

    “ASUU cannot succumb to this insensitive disposition,” the lecturer stated. “As we celebrate Human Rights Day today, 10th December, we recall the declaration of 1948 which acknowledged the struggles of the oppressed people around the world.

    “So, we use this opportunity to ask the Nigerian government to respect the rights of the people to education and decent working conditions.”

  • Alleged N20bn bailout funds: EFCC gets 48-hour ultimatum to apologise to Kogi Govt

    Alleged N20bn bailout funds: EFCC gets 48-hour ultimatum to apologise to Kogi Govt

    The Kogi State Government has given a 48-hour ultimatum to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to apologise and retract a malicious statement that it kept N20 billion bailout fund meant to pay salaries in a commercial bank meant to yield interest.

    In a briefing on Sunday in Lagos, the Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, said the state government did not open or create the said account.

    “I want to assure you that after 48 hours from today, if they refuse to retract their ill-fated, false, politically motivated, irresponsible press statement, we will drag them to court,” the commissioner said.

    The commissioner equally challenged the anti-graft agency to produce the account mandate and details of those who operated the account.

    This is even as the Kogi State Government said it has gotten the bank’s response which exonerated them from running the account.

    According to the state, the government has enough evidence against the EFCC to have a field day in court.

    “The Kogi State government does not currently operate or maintain a fixed-deposit account with Sterling Bank.

    “There is no mandate letter from the Kogi State Government to open account number 0073572696 with Sterling Bank. Sterling Bank account 0073572696 is an internal mirror account operated by the bank for purposes of managing the Kogi State Salary Bailout facility,” Fanwo added.

    The EFCC in a 13-paragraph affidavit in support of an exparte application has stated that it received a credible and direct intelligence which led to the tracing of the fund reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities of accounts domiciled in Sterling Bank.

  • ASUU issues three-week ultimatum to FG, threatens fresh nationwide strike

    ASUU issues three-week ultimatum to FG, threatens fresh nationwide strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to address all issues in the December 2020 Agreement.

    ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this on Monday while addressing reporters in Abuja.

    He warned that the union might be compelled to embark on another nationwide strike should the government fail to implement the Memorandum of Action signed with ASUU prior to the suspension of the last industrial action.

    According to the ASUU President, all the issues, including those of unpaid academic earned allowances and the universities revitalisation fund have not been addressed almost one year after an agreement was reached.

    The ultimatum is part of the resolutions reached at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of ASUU held in the nation’s capital.

    ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike in March 2020 following its disagreement with the government over the funding of the universities and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), among other issues.

    It had proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to replace IPPIS.

    In a bid to get the lecturers back to class, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, convened a series of meetings with leaders of the union and relevant government officials.

    Amid the strike that lasted several months and negotiations that ended in a deadlock, the government and ASUU later signed a Memorandum of Action in December 2020.

    This led to the suspension of the protracted industrial action that lasted nine months, although not after the government offered a cumulative N65 billion to the lecturers to address earned academic allowances and revitalisation of universities.

    On the IPPIS tussle, both parties agreed on the UTAS, while the university lecturers’ salary arrears would be paid by the government on a different platform.

    ASUU had, however, warned that it would resume the strike should the government fail to meet its part of the agreement reached with the university lecturers.

  • ASUU gives FG 48-hour ultimatum to rescue kidnapped UNIABUJA lecturers, families

    ASUU gives FG 48-hour ultimatum to rescue kidnapped UNIABUJA lecturers, families

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) have given the Federal Government a 48-hour ultimatum to rescue the victims who were kidnapped from the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) in the Federal Capital.

    ASUU Chairman in the institution, Dr Kasim Umar while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday said they are dissatisfied over the inability of security agencies to rescue their colleagues 48 hours since the abduction.

    According to him, the kidnappers have been made contact with the family members of the victims.

    Dr Umar also said the abductors are demanding N50 million for each of the six persons abducted.

    The lecturers lamented that they are unhappy, that the security agencies are not deploying adequate surveillance equipment to track down the criminals.

    Umar’s comment is coming a few days after some yet-to-be-identified gunmen attacked the staff quarters of the school.

    Six persons were kidnapped, including two professors, one senior lecturer, and three of their family members.

    Those abducted were identified as Professor Obansa and his son; Professor Oboscolo, his son and daughters, as well as Dr Tobins.

  • JOHESU threatens another strike, issues 15 days ultimatum to FG

    JOHESU threatens another strike, issues 15 days ultimatum to FG

    The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and Assembly of Healthcare Professional Association have issued the Federal Government a 15-day ultimatum, saying they will commence an indefinite strike over outstanding welfare issues with the union.

    Mr Biobelemonye Josiah, JOHESU’s National President, said this in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, and other relevant stakeholders on Saturday in Abuja.

    Josiah said that the 15-day ultimatum was necessitated by the non-challant attitude of government to the plight of its members.

    According to Josiah, the welfare issues include adjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHES) as was done with Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) since 2014, payment of all withheld April and May 2018 Salaries of our members and withheld Salaries in Federal Medical Center, Owerri, JUTH and LUTH, review of the defective implementation of COVID-19 Special Inducement and Hazard Allowance, implementation of National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Consent judgment and other court judgments, increase in retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for Consultant Health Professionals.

    ”Others are payment of reviewed hazard allowance in terms of payment that guarantee fairness and justice to all concerned, payment of actual 30 per cent consolidated basic shift duty allowance to Nurses/Midwives and others.

    ”Payment of teaching allowance to members on CONHESS 7 and 8 (Nurses, Midwives and others) and proper placement of Nurse Graduates and Interns,” he said.

    JOHESU president also said others include payment of outstanding salaries of intern health professionals and all the Tertiary Health Institutions, proper implementation of the consultant pharmacist cadre for pharmacists in the public sector, among others.

    According to him, “you will recall that up till the time of writing this letter, the Federal Government has not deemed it fit to honour the Terms of Settlement entered into with JOHESU since September 2017.

    ”This is especially the upward review of CONHESS Salary Structure as agreed, to be completed within five weeks from the date of agreement amongst other requests.

    ”Government did not deem it fit to address these key issues during the duration of the last seven days warning strike and has only met with JOHESU on July 12,” he said.

    Josiah said that it would also be recalled that on July 2020, that the Minster of Health agreed that a mistake was made by government in the payment of COVID-19 Special Inducement and Hazard Allowances.

    He noted that the shortfall was in the payment of 50 per cent Basic of Consolidated allowances to all those Health Workers. It was a mistake on the part of government and the shortfall shall be paid according to affected health workers.

    He added that up till the time of this letter, the shortfall has not been paid. To make matters worse, when the payment for June 2020 was made, government decided to again wrongfully pay 10 per cent of Consolidated Basic Allowances to our members affected by the shortfall of April and May 2020.

    ‘This is in contravention of the spirit and content of the MoU signed on April 21, 2020.

    ”JOHESU, in compliance with the provision of Section 41 of the Trade Disputes Act Cap.T8 LFN 2004, is constrained to give the Federal Government of Nigeria 15 days ultimatum with effect from September 3.

    ”This also is to inform you that with effect from midnight of September 17, all our members in the Federal Health Institutions shall embark on an indefinite strike action in all state and Local Government health institutions.

    ”You are all placed on red alert for the strike, if the Federal Government foot drags in attending to our demands,” he said.

    Josiah, however, noted that JOHESU had shown maturity, selflessness and patriotism in the face of extreme provocations and government’s nonchalant attitude on the welfare of its members.