Author: Chronicle Editor

South African President Jacob Zuma made a hasty exit from a May Day rally in Bloemfontein, on Monday after the crowd of workers that he was due to address became rowdy, with some booing and chanting slogans against him. The labour federation Cosatu abruptly cancelled Zuma’s speech and other addresses at the rally it had organised, as TV footage showed scuffles breaking out in the crowd, apparently between supporters who voiced their backing of Zuma and opponents of the president. Zuma and his entourage could be seen on live TV leaving the podium and being whisked away from the rally,…

Emre Can scored a contender for goal of the season as Liverpool remained in the driving seat for a top-four finish with a 1-0 victory at Watford. The Germany international’s audacious stoppage-time overhead kick brought a subdued first half at Vicarage Road to a spectacular end, laying the foundation for a crucial win for Jurgen Klopp’s men. As Liverpool failed to double their lead in the second period Watford improved, but there was no way back for Walter Mazzarri’s men, who saw Sebastian Prodl thunder a volley against the bar in injury time. With just three games remaining, the victory…

Tyson Fury insists he will take on Anthony Joshua without a warm-up fight and would beat him with “one arm tied behind my back”. The British heavyweight rivals have accepted each other’s challenge on the back of Joshua’s sensational 11th-round stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday night, at a sold-out Wembley Stadium. Fury offered his congratulations to the WBA and IBF champion from his training base in Marbella, Spain, but is adamant he would regain two of his old world titles by inflicting a first professional defeat on ‘AJ’. “It was an excellent fight, very entertaining and enjoyable and I…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday described Nigerian-cooked jollof rice as “the best in the world”. This came days after the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, sparked outrage by claiming Senegal prepared better jollof rice than Nigeria. Mr. Mohammed was responding to a question by CNN’s Richard Quest. Mr. Osinbajo weighed in while speaking on Channel TV’s “The Platform Nigeria,” convened by Poju Oyemade, senior pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, in Lagos. “And by the way, we all know that Nigerian jollof rice is the best, we beat the Ghanaians and the Senegalese hands down,” the vice president said.…

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Monday blamed the disruption and protest by workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) fraction. Ngige told newsmen on the sideline of the celebration that what happened was as result of infiltration by non workers into the celebration venue and not necessarily workers anger about minimum wage. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was disrupted for close to one hour by workers who barred government officials from delivering the speech from the federal government. He said that the workers…

Local Council workers under the aegis of National Union of Local Governments’ Employees (NULGE), on Monday boycotted Workers’ Day rally in Ilorin, Kwara state over non-payment of salary and pension. The Secretary of the union, Comrade Hobonu Rafiu said the union refused to mobilise its members due to paucity of fund resulting from non-payment of nine months’ salary in the state. Rafiu urged the state to tailor the next tranche of London Paris loan repayment to the settle the backlogs of salaries of local government workers. A branch chairman of the union, who preferred anonymity, told the News Agency of…

There was a drama at this year’s May Day celebration in Ekiti State on Monday when workers demanded payment of their salaries. The state workers are owed six months arrears while local government employees have not been paid for seven months. The workers shouted “salary! salary!! salary!!!” as Fayose was rounding off his address. Some of them shouted: “Osoko, we are hungry.” But Fayose replied: “I can only pay your salaries when I get cash backing from Abuja. At times, we get cash backing three weeks after we held FAAC meetings.” The governor’s explanation dampened the morale of many of…

Ecobank Nigeria has announced that 74 of its branches have been merged. It said staff from the merged branches would be deployed to other projects. Managing Director of the bank, Charles Kie, said the bank hoped to shift its activities to digital channels and improve customers’ experience at reduced cost. This, he said, also supports the bank’s financial inclusion strategy and the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Kie said, “After a detailed analysis of the physical network of branches needed to serve our customers, the decision was made by the Ecobank Nigeria board, and approved by the…

The National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, said the party would pay reasonable minimum wage to workers if it returned to power in 2019. In a statement signed by his deputy, Dr Cairo Ojougboh, on Monday in Abuja, Sheriff congratulated the workers on the 2017 Workers’ Day, and urged them to put in more efforts in making Nigeria great. He said that the appeal was important as the country needed everyone to be involved in the rebuilding process that would take it to greater heights. “When we take over power, we shall address minimum wage…

Mr. Buhari’s absence from the annual Workers’ Day celebration comes less than a week after he missed last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Speculation surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari’s health once again surfaced on Monday after the president failed to attend a May Day rally. Mr. Buhari’s absence from the annual Workers’ Day celebration comes less than a week after he missed last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. The Office of the Presidency and Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, explained that the president missed the meeting because he needed rest. Nigerians on Twitter have questioned the president’s whereabouts using…