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Imo NURTW Chair Settles Dispute Between Orlu Zone Beach Owners, Tipper Drivers.

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By Onyinyechi Nwankwo.

To foster peace and unity among members of Road Transport Workers, the Imo State Chairman of National Union Of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Hon. Samuel Udeh FCAI, JP (Ezeumuokorobia) has brokered peace amongst Orlu Zone Beach Owners and Tipper Drivers who have been in business disagreements for some months.

The bone of contention for the delayed rancor between the Beach Owners and Tipper Drivers from Umuaka, Isiozi-aka and Njaba branches of the Union, was presented during an emergency meeting of leaders from the various branches of the State, called by the number one driver of the state when he got the report of disagreement from the 2 groups, held at the State Secretariat in Owerri, on Thursday.

Having tabled their case prior to the meeting day via letter, the Beach Owners complained that Tipper Drivers for over 2Months have been on strike, refusing to mine sand from them just because they(Beach Owners) have made a slight increment in the price of sand mining.

Beach Owners noted that the increase in sand excavation price came as a result of the country’s economic meltdown which has directly and indirectly affected the prices of goods and services including the maintenance of mining equipment.

On their part, Tipper Drivers argued that increment should be expected every 4years not sudden, adding that they too are experiencing the economic hardship, as diesel price has also increased, and that they pay through their noses to fix their Tippers and keep it fit. This they said made them reject the mining price increment from Beach Owners, hence the strike.

In settling the dispute, the peace loving State Chairman, who always see to it that members of the Union is united without any member or branch subjugated, meticulously analysed the issue of dispute, gave a fair judgement to it, as he brought the two parties to reach a compromise in the differing prices negotiated by them.

Udeh expressed happiness that the warring Unionists respected him as their Chairman and accepted the peace brokered, saying that he hope that the ugly phase of the country’s economy which brought about the whole increment issue and rancor among his members, also tears and bitterness to the citizens of the country in general would soon pass and things return to normal, assuring the Unionists of his ever readiness to address their issues while accommodating all.

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‘Dangote not above the law’ – NLC counters VP Shettima

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The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has countered Vice President Kashim Shettima for describing the Dangote Group as a national asset.

A statement by the NLC president, Joe Ajaero on Tuesday said no company, regardless of size or influence, is above the country’s labour laws.

Ajaero described Shettima’s remarks as a national tragedy, warning that they could signal that wealth and political clout override legal protections for workers, potentially undermining labour rights in Africa’s largest economy.

 

The NLC boss also accused the Dangote Group of infringing on workers’ rights to freedom of association, including the right to join trade unions of their choice, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, the Labour Act, the Trade Union Act, and core International Labour Organisation conventions.

According to him, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, was fulfilling its mandate to protect members from exploitation and criticised attempts to portray union activity as sabotage or a threat to national interests.

Ajaero also called for stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance, insisting that human capital, not corporations, is the nation’s true asset

“We state unequivocally to Vice President Shettima: No company, no matter how big, ‘strategic’, or well-connected, can operate outside the law or be bigger than Nigeria. If the Dangote Refinery is to be granted rights and privileges above the law, then the government must be prepared for the storms such injustice will inevitably unleash. There can be no peace without justice.

“The serial violations of the ideals of decent work are a ticking time bomb,” Ajaero said.

“We will mobilise, we will organise, and we will fight back. There are no sacred cows,” he warned.

This comes after the sacking of roughly 800 workers at the Dangote Refinery after they joined PENGASSAN.

Ekwutosblog recalls that Shettima publicly condemned the industrial action as a minor labour dispute that should not hold Nigeria to ransom, stressing the refinery’s critical role in the economy.

The Vice President equally commended billionaire industrialist, Aliko Dangote for his investment in Nigeria and called for industrial harmony to maintain investor confidence.

It could also be recalled that the Federal Government’s intervention resulted to a conciliatory agreement under which the dismissed workers were reinstated, the strike suspended, and operations restored.

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Subject: A cashier at a Kingsway store.

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Location: Lagos, Nigeria.
Date: Circa January 1962.

Photographer/Source: Pix/Michael Ochs Archives.
Significance: The image captures the era of Kingsway Stores, which symbolized modern and cosmopolitan life in West Africa in the early 1960s.
About Kingsway Stores

Origins: The chain began as Lever’s Stores in 1922, evolving through Opobo Stores Ltd before becoming Kingsway Stores Ltd in 1947.

Expansion: The first store in Nigeria opened in Lagos in 1948, followed by others in cities like Freetown, Accra, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt.

Impact: Kingsway Stores represented a modern, western-style shopping experience, with departments for various goods, and were a popular shopping destination for Nigerians.

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TINUBU TO UNVEIL $400M INDIGENOUS CRUDE OIL TERMINAL IN ANDONI, RIVERS STATE.

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President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to commission the $400m Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8, the first new crude export facility to be built in Nigeria in over 50 years.

The facility, developed by Green Energy International Limited, operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, is the first wholly indigenous onshore terminal built in Nigeria. The last such facility, the Forcados Terminal, was commissioned in 1971.

The inauguration is expected to attract top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and key stakeholders across the oil and gas sector.

The Otakikpo terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline to more than 40 stranded oil fields by providing a reliable evacuation outlet, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude previously trapped underground.

With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is also projected to reduce production costs for indigenous producers significantly.

Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the terminal as a “game-changing national infrastructure.”

“What we have achieved here is not just a storage solution, but a pathway for about 40 stranded oil fields to finally contribute to the economy,” Adegbulugbe said.

The commissioning underscores the Federal Government’s renewed efforts to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector, which has struggled with declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs in recent years.

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