VIDEO: Joe Biden calls Nigerian family to thank them for support, invites them to the White House.

VIDEO: Joe Biden calls Nigerian family to thank them for support, invites them to the White House.

 

 

U.S President Elect Joe Biden called a Nigerian family to thank them for supporting his election campaign. In the 12-minute long call, he noted that they were randomly selected from a list of campaign donors which included the Nigerian dad Doctor Oke from Ibadan, Oyo State.

 

President shared jokes with Dr Oke's daughters Josephine and Beatrice and also extended to them an invitation to the White House. The excited family also spoke with the First Lady Elect Jill Biden who also thanked them for their support. 

Joe Biden will be sworn-in later today as the 46th president of the United States of America

Watch the video:

 

 

 

Minister Of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, NCS Boss Dragged To Court By Soldiers

66 Nigerian soldiers who are currently serving their jail sentences in the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) facility, Kirikiri, Lagos have dragged the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola to court over their continued incarceration.

The soldiers filed the suits at the Federal High Court in Lagos.

In three separate suits filed through Falana & Falana Chambers on August 18, the soldiers listed the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Ja’afaru Ahmed, as first and second respondents respectively.

According to the soldiers, the defendants have refused to include them among beneficiaries of the amnesty granted by President Muhammadu Buhari in April when he ordered the decongestion of prisons to curb the spread of COVID-19, despite the fact that they had served 75% of their jail term.

Announcing the criteria for the pardon, Mr Aregbesola disclosed that those considered were inmates who were 60 years old and above, and those battling terminal illnesses.

Other criteria include convicts serving three years and lower who have less than six months to serve, those with mental health issues, and inmates with options of fines not exceeding N50,000 and who have no pending case.

According to Mr Aregbesola, the amnesty did not apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed banditry, rape, human trafficking, and culpable homicide.

The 66 convicted soldiers sought an order for the respondents to release them in compliance with the “Presidential Amnesty granted on April 9, 2020, by President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria pursuant to Prerogative of Mercy under Section 175 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended).”

Also, they prayed the court to direct the duo to pay them N20 million each as compensation for the violation of their fundamental rights to personal liberty.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, had earlier written to Mr Aregbesola, requesting the release of the soldiers, who he said have remained in prison custody despite qualifying for the amnesty.

In three separate letters to Mr Aregbesola, Mr Falana said the soldiers, who were convicted and had served more than 75 per cent of their time, had remained in custody

According to the application of August 18, 35 of the convicted soldiers were tried before a General Court-Martial on a six-count charge, including mutiny and attempted murder.

At the end of the trial, they were convicted and sentenced to death in a judgment delivered in December 2014.

It was stated that upon a review of the case, the confirming authority upheld their conviction but commuted the death sentence to 10 years imprisonment.

“Since the convicted soldiers are entitled to remission of the 10-year jail term they are required to spend a total of 80 months in prison custody. From August 2014 to May 2020 the Applicants have spent over 64 months in custody. Thus, the Applicants have spent over 75% of their prison term.

Mr Falana noted that one of the 35, Stephen Clement, a corporal, was released from prison custody on April 28 on the ground that he had spent more than 75 per cent of his 10-year prison term in line with the terms of the Presidential Amnesty of April 9, 2020.

Also qualified for the amnesty, according to the lawyer, is another set of 19 soldiers who were tried before a General Court-Martial on a six-count charge and sentenced to death in a judgment delivered in December 2014.

Similar to the 35, upon a review of the case, the confirming authority upheld the conviction but commuted the death sentence to 10 years imprisonment.

Since the convicted soldiers are entitled to remission of the 10-year jail term, Mr Falana said they are required to spend a total of 80 months in prison custody.

“From August 2014 to May 2020 the Applicants have spent over 64 months in custody. Thus, the Applicants have spent over 75% of their prison term,” the lawyer argued for the convicts.

Unlike the other two categories, 12 soldiers, including Yusuf Shuaibu, Friday Onuh, Igomu Emmanuel and Stephen Clement, all lance corporals; were sentenced to death between August and September 2014.

U.S. ECONOMY ADDED 4.8 MILLION JOBS AS STOCKS CUT GAINS AMDIST VIRUS SPIKE IN FLORIDA

U.S. payrolls grew by 4.8 million in June, the Labor Department said Thursday, New York Times reports.

  It was the second month of gains after a loss of more than 20 million in April, when the pandemic put a large swath of economic activity on ice.

The unemployment rate fell to 11.1 percent, down from a peak of 14.7 percent in April but still higher than in any previous period since World War II. The rate would have been about one percentage point higher had it not been for persistent data-collection problems, the Labor Department said.

Stocks rose on Thursday as investors cheered a bigger-than-expected increase in jobs in June as the economy tries to claws back from the coronavirus shutdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 269 points higher, or 1.1%. The Nasdaq Composite hit a record high, climbing more than 1%. The S&P 500 gained 1.1%.

The major averages, however, cut their gains after Reuters reported a one-day spike of more than 10,000 coronavirus cases in Florida. 

Boeing contributed to the gains, rising more than 1% after the airplane maker completed recertification flights for its grounded 737 Max jet, according to a CNBC report.

Stocks that would benefit from an economic reopening also rose. Cruise operators Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean all gained at least 0.5%. United Airlines and Delta each traded more than 0.6% higher. American Airlines and Southwest advanced 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively. 

The government’s June jobs report showed 4.8 million jobs were created. Economists were expecting 2.9 million jobs were created. The unemployment rate fell to 11.1% from 13.3% in May. Economists were expecting a rate of 12.4%, according to Dow Jones. 

Last month, economists forecast a loss of 8 million jobs in May and the economy gained 2.5 million payrolls instead.

“The direction of the economy is certainly north,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” following the report. “I think that’s all it has to do to continue to provide confidence, not only to investors, but also to companies and to consumers.”

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims data was released Thursday morning. 

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims rose by 1.427 million in the week ending June 27. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected initial U.S. jobless claims to rise by another 1.38 million, down from 1.48 million the week earlier.

The data also showed the number of continuing claims — the number of people receiving unemployment benefits for consecutive weeks — rose to 19.29 million, an increase of about 59,000. 

The moves Thursday followed the market’s first trading day in the third quarter. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained during the regular session on Wednesday, with the latter jumping more than 1% to an all-time high. 

Unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted. The government began collecting standardized unemployment statistics in 1948.·Source: Bureau of Labor Statistic

U.S. markets will be closed on Friday for the July Fourth holiday.

 

SOURCES: . Bureau of Labor Statistics

—CNBC’s Fred Imbert @FOIMBERT

&

Thomas Franck @TOMWFRANCK

Patti Domm contributed to report.

Nigeria Job Controversies: Minister, lawmakers clash over planned 774,000 new jobs

What started like a peaceful committee meeting between the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, and the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Employment and Labour on Tuesday ended in chaos as both parties began exchanging words.

The meeting was aimed at discussing the progress of the planned employment of 774,000 Nigerians by the federal government.

The National Assembly had in the 2020 budget appropriated N52 billion for the Special Public Works Programme aimed at employing 774,000 citizens, a thousand from each of the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

The controversy

The argument started when members of the committee, headed by Godiya Akwashiki, asked the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Nasiru Ladan, to explain the composition of a 20-member committee inaugurated on Monday by the ministry for the implementation of the programme.

In his response, Mr Ladan noted that he was aware of only eight members of the committee and asked the lawmakers to seek further clarification from Mr Keyamo.

Unsatisfied with Mr Ladan’s response, members of the panel implied that he was not in control of the programmme.

When Mr Keyamo was asked for further clarification, he snapped, furiously hitting the table. He wondered if he was being accused of hijacking the programme from the NDE and whether the lawmakers were alleging the committee composition was lopsided.

The chaos intensified and lawmakers asked that journalists leave for an executive session with the minister.

But Mr Keyamo firmly rejected the demand, insisting that having been openly accused and disgraced, the cameras should remain in the room.

“How can you expose corruption without the cameras? How can, how can you expose it? I must respond to what he said. You cannot say something and I won’t respond. It is wrong,” he said.

The minister’s outburst angered the lawmakers who asked that he apologise for his behaviour.

Mr Keyamo refused to apologise and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. He said he had been denied the opportunity to respond to their allegations and threatened to walk out of the meeting.

The lawmakers responded in anger, shouting back at the minister to leave if he wanted.

“Go go, get out. Where is the sergeant-at-arms to walk him,” members of the panel yelled.

The lawmakers thereafter reached a resolution asking Mr Keyamo to leave – which he obliged.

Speaking with Journalists, Mr Keyamo accused the lawmakers of trying to take control of the recruitment exercise under his ministry.

He said while he was not aversed to them investigating the programme, they cannot direct him on what to do. He said doing so “will mean sharing in the powers of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

He also admitted that lawmakers were given slots by the ministry.

He said despite granting the lawmakers 15 per cent of the job placement, “they still want to hijack the entire the programme, taking over the power of the president in the process.”

 Source: Premium Times