Year: 2012

Renaming Of UNILAG and the Quest for Quality Education By Lateef Adams Few minutes after President Good luck Jonathan concluded his May 29 “Democracy day” address, protest broke out at the University of Lagos. Thousands of students stormed the streets of Lagos condemning the renaming of their university to Moshood Abiola University. Late MKO Abiola is the widely-acclaimed winner of

POST-UTME EXPLOITATION CONTINUES Adequate Funding and Democratic Management is the Key By Keye Ewebiyi Seven years after the introduction of Post-UTME screening exercise into tertiary education system in Nigeria, the exploitation of students under the guise of this exercise has remained unwavering. The screening exercise was introduced as a result of the alleged failure of the Joint Admission and Matriculation

DEMOLITION OF ABONNEMA WHARF COMMUNITY AND OTHER WATERFRONTS COMMUNITIES Rivers State Government Must End Demolition and Pay Adequate Compensation (By Temple Morford) On Tuesday and Wednesday June 26 and 27, 2012, the PDP government of Rivers State mobilized some earth-moving equipments to Abonnema Wharf to demolish all houses and destroy properties, thereby rendering a community of about 10,000 people homeless.

MASS SACK CONTINUES IN THE BANKING SECTOR …As Mainstreet Bank Sacked 800 Staff ASSIBIFIE, NUBIFIE, NLC and TUC Must Stop this Wave of Mass Sack By Chinedu Bosah As a continuation of the mass sack in the banking sector, Mainstreet Bank has retrenched 800 staff. The management led by the MD, Mrs. Faith Tueddor-Mathew claimed it is part of a

5 AIRTEL WORKERS VICTIMISED FOR DEMANDING BETTER CONDITION OF SERVICE Union Accused of Complicity; CDWR Demand their Reinstatement In an act of brazen victimization, 5 workers of Airtel have been sacked for agitating for better condition of service. The victimized workers are Lasisi Babatunde, Philip Okoli, Ephrem Audu, Henry Uwajeh and Durogbola Nurudeen. This is a new twist in the

EGYPT ELECTIONS: Whither the Revolution? By Kola Ibrahim The Egyptian revolution that started in January 2011 is reaching a crisis with the military rulers, declaring a constitutional cum political coup against working and poor masses. In an attempt to hold on to real power, the military junta, SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) in collaboration with other existing structures

GREECE ELECTION: Majority Vote Against Austerity Clear Socialist Programme For Struggle Needed By Nicos Anastasiades, Xekinima (CWI Greece, DSM sister organisation) The outcome of the elections in Greece has left the majority of the population with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there is the victory of the right-wing New Democracy, which conducted a huge campaign of fear and was

ALMOST 2 YEARS NOW, NO RESPITE FOR VICTIMISED DANGOTE WORKERS CDWR Calls on NUFBTE and NLC to Intervene! Dangote Pasta at Ikorodu, one of the companies owned by Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa has always been run without respect for labour laws and workers’ rights. Repressive actions have always been employed to quash all demands and agitations. Specifically,

NO TO HIKE IN ELECTRICITY TARRIFF! NUEE/NLC Should Lead National Mass Actions And 48hr Warning General Strike By Ayo Ademiluyi In another major grand onslaught on the working masses, the Jonathan regime has introduced a new electricity tariff beginning from June 1 with an increment of about 88%. For instance, a customer of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc in

The Anti-poor Lagos Government Bans the Use of Tokunbo for Taxi Operation In line with its obsession to build a mega city out of Lagos, the Lagos state government has consistently unleashed brutal attacks on different sections of the poor working people like commercial motorcyclists, petty traders and taxi drivers. It does not give a damn if its action deprived

MINIMUM WAGE STRUGGLE The Need for Nationally Coordinated Actions By Kola Ibrahim April 2012 marked the one year of singing of the new N18, 000 minimum wage into law. However, across the country, the implementation of the new wage has been stalled by the government irrespective of political parties. In most states including the so-called opposition parties’ controlled states, workers

NIGERIAN ECONOMY IN DOLDRUMS: Harder Times Ahead for the Working People By Peluola Adewale Ordinary Nigerians have been told to prepare for even harder times ahead. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reported to have told the Federal Executive Council on June 13, 2012 that the country should prepare for economic recession in view of the slide in oil

REJIGGING NIGERIA: Can the Country be saved by the Convocation of Sovereign National Conference (SNC)? By Segun Sango Bluntly put, every socio-economic and political facet of Nigeria can be called a disaster. Nothing works in every critical departments of the economy. Nigeria’s stupendous natural and human resources have not been deployed to make a positive impact on the economic and

Socialist Democracy July – August 2012 Issue OIL SUBSIDY PROBE: A Peep into the Capitalists’ Chambers of Fraud By Segun Sango The House of Representatives recently made rare peep into certain aspects of the oil sector’s activities. Essentially, the House probed the so-called oil subsidy regime that was in existence between 2009 and 2011. In its findings, the House came