All Posts in "Day: March 16, 2021"

‌Economic Hardship Forced Me To  Engage  In Admission Racketing – JAMB Staff 

One of the two staff of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board,Mr Andy Okoro,has disclosed that he was forced to engage in  admission racketing for candidates of   the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as a result of economic hardship in the country.
He told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday
Okoro, a level 12 officer in Delta State JAMB’s office, and his accomplice, Gambo Ibrahim Abba, were caught while trying to extort money from unsuspecting candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
They allegedly   promised  to help their victims  secure university’s admission.
Okoro collected N500,000 from four candidates’ parents and  paid N180,000 to Gambo Ibrahim Abba, to facilitate their admission,but the illicit trade was revealed
 when one of the parents in Delta State petitioned JAMB on Okoro’s activities.
The Board,it was learned,swiftly  open up a  investigation into the scandal.
Gambo, who had earlier claimed he was into fish business with Okoro,  later admitted that his involvement in the act might have been induced beyond ordinary comprehension
He  said he was probably hypnotized by Okoro to engage in the shady deals, adding that he only got to know him by phone last year through a third party.
“It was not ordinary, he was just calling me, I don’t know him, he lured me into this when he convinced me that he has been into it for a long time,” he added
Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, expressed surprise that the affected staff defied  the Board’s zero tolerance for corruption, vowed to ensure they face the full wrath of the law.
He stated:” Anybody who engages in sharp practices, no matter who the person is, shall not be protected by the Board because the Board has zero tolerance for corruption,” the JAMB boss said.
He implored parents and candidates not to allow anyone collect money from them on the guise of helping to secure admission to their choice institution as the system is now fully automated.
He added : “The admission exercise into tertiary institutions has been automated, therefore anybody working in JAMB or anybody  who has good calculation, who knows what admission process is, can predict who can be admitted because it has been automated.
“What is happening now is that people know those that will be admitted, because they know by the automation this person could be admitted, and they now go and be extorting the parents of those that have already been slated for admission.
“We need to let the public know that there is no halfway to admission, nobody should bribe or give any  amount to anybody whether they are JAMB staff or they are not JAMB staff. Anybody who solicit money from any parent, the parent should inform the Board.”
Online Editor by — March 16, 2021 in Crime/Metro 0
23.18m Nigerians Jobless – NBS

‌The National Bureau of Statistics has said  that 23.19 million Nigerians are currently jobless.
Unemployment rate  increased 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, the bureau  said
in its report on ‘Labour force Statistics: Unemployment and underemployment report- Abridged labour force survey under COVID-19 (Q4, 2020) .
It said:“During the reference period, the computed national unemployment rate rose from 27.1 per cent in Q2, 2020 to 33.3 per cent in Q4, 2020, while the underemployment rate decreased from 28.6 per cent to 22.8 per cent.
“A combination of both the unemployment and underemployment rate for the reference period gave a figure of 56.1 per cent.
“This means that 33.3 per cent of the labour force in Nigeria or 23,187,389 persons either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed by our definition in Nigeria.
“This is an additional 1,422,772 persons from the number in that category in Q2, 2020.Using the international definition of unemployment, the rate was computed to be 17.5 per cent.”
The report added  that unemployment rate was highest for persons in the labour force between the ages of 15-24 with 53.4 per cent and 25-34 with 37.0 per cent, which represents the youth population in Nigeria.
According to the report,unemployment and underemployment was higher for women than men in the fourth quarter of 2020.
It said:“Female unemployment was highest among the genders with 35.2 per cent while male was 31.8 per cent during the reference period.A similar case was recorded for underemployment, 24.2 per cent was reported for females, while males reported an under-employment rate of 21.8 per cent.”
In the case of unemployment by state, Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 56.64 per cent.
This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89 per cent and Cross Rivers State with 53.65 per cent.
The states with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara States with 11.65 per cent, 11.98 per cent and 12.99 per cent respectively.
Online Editor by — March 16, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0
How Nigeria Will Benefit From WTO-Okonjo-Iweala

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has assured that her organisation  will do more to  bail out Nigeria from its economic quagmire.
She spoke when she visited the President Muhammadu Buhari  at the Presidential villa,where she also advised Nigeria on the need to trade more with a view to increasing the country’s benefit from WTO
She said: “WTO will do more to help Nigeria, but we need to add value to our products in order to trade more. We should exploit all the opportunities in front of us.”
She lauded Buhari for the  support she received from the country in the race for the position.
She said, “You nominated me; you wrote hundreds of letters, called up hundreds of world leaders.Without your personal and direct intervention, it may not have worked. The people of Nigeria also supported me massively.The youths were wonderful, always encouraging, backing me up on social media.
“Mr President, the world recognises what you have done. Since its establishment, only men have led the WTO.Now, a woman has emerged for the first time, and she’s a Nigerian. We are so honoured.”
She added that the support and leadership of Buhari would help her a lot in her position as DG.
Okonjo-Iweala assumed office on March 1, 2021 as the first female DG of the WTO.
 Buhari told Okonjo-Iweala, that despite the robust support Nigeria gave to her candidacy for the position, “You also earned it.”
He said, “We are happy you made it, but you earned it with your record of performance both at home and abroad.”
The president said Okonjo-Iweala was putting Nigeria more on the world map, “and I congratulate you, as well as the country. I know you will represent us so well.”
She also attended meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geofrey Onyeama, Okonjo-Iweala  and disclosed  that Nigeria will benefit by producing and pushing for more trade.
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She said, “Right now, Nigeria has 0.3 per cent of world trade and 19 per cent of Africa’s trade.  You could see that as very small but you could also turn it around and see it as a big opportunity to make use of what has happened to the Africa Continental Free Trade.
“So, WTO will support Nigeria with capacity-building and technical assistance to improve the quality of the products that we export.
“We will work with entrepreneurs and producers to make that happen so that others can access other markets. Particularly, since we need to diversify away from oil and process agricultural products and this needs a lot of care. So, we hope to be able to provide that directly.”
Online Editor by — March 16, 2021 in News 0