hairman, Board of Trustees, Conference of the Northern Chamber of Commerce, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar Babura, has disclosed that the business communities in the country cannot create jobs because of poor government policies, saying there is need for government to partner with them to survive.

The US can replicate the rain forest, the Savannah, the Sahel and the desert. The US educational system is rich and varied , with the capability of providing educational or training experiences responsive to virtually any Third World development need.’’ — Former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Donald Easum on The US As A Partner In African Development, to USA Africa, Vol.2, No28, November, 1987.

The election broke other grounds when Nigerians ignored the religious and ethnic implications of the Social Democratic Party’s choice of two Muslim candidates on the same ticket. Abiola even defeated Alhaji Bashir Tofa, his opponent of the National Republican Convention in his ward and in his State.

When he took over office, Yar’ Adua, whose father was once the Minister of Lagos Affairs in the First Republic, cooled the heated relationship between Abuja and Lagos by not only releasing the seized local government funds but also allowing its continued payment till date.

The handlers of Information Minister Professor Akunyili, it appears, have steered her away from the “Good People, Great Nation” fixation. The result is that Dora has got back her groove, recognised her constituency and finally figured there is no dressing up the reputation of a country that is not pretty.

DESPITE a presidential directive to all ministers recently that any of them whose memo was discussed and approved at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting must wait and attend the post-FEC media briefing to answer technical questions from newsmen on memos emanating from their respective ministries, eight ministers yesterday shun the weekly FEC briefing.

THE Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, has said the Non-Academic Staff of Colleges of Education under the aegis of the Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education of Nigeria (SSUCOEN), is not a registered trade union in the country and therefore advised stakeholders in the sector to ignore the group.

For almost a decade, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the federal government have been at logger heads over an issue; deregulation. Is it time for both to resolve their differences? Who pays the price? Is there a division within the labour movement as reported by some dailies? These are the issues that Labour Vanguard got the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Abdulwaheed Ibrahim Omar to speak on

Speaking in an interview, he said “it is not true that there is no definite post amnesty plan for the region. Those canvassing this position should go and read various documents and reports and papers presented to Mr. President for comments on the amnesty programme.

According to him, the decision of the South-South governors to pull out of the amnesty deal is commendable and exposes the intention of the federal government on the announced amnesty after a military operation which saw the wiping out of Gbaramatu community.