...workers worse hit by worsening economic situation

The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter, Professor Ayoola Akinwole, has implored President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and state governors to make the welfare and working conditions of Nigerian workers a top priority.

Speaking on Tuesday, Professor Akinwole emphasised the dire impact of Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges, particularly exacerbated by the recent fuel subsidy removal backlash and ongoing fuel scarcity, on the working class and their families.

In a statement released to commemorate the 2024 May Day celebration, Akinwole underscored the invaluable contributions of Nigerian workers to the nation’s development, despite enduring undervaluation and inadequate compensation from both government and private sectors.

“Nigerians, particularly the working class, are celebrating 2024 Workers’ day experiencing fuel scarcity,” lamented Professor Akinwole.

“Workers who are poorly paid will still have to pay hiked transportation fare. The inflation in Nigeria is killing, and many are getting malnourished as the cost of food items have skyrocketed.”

He highlighted the disillusionment stemming from unfulfilled promises by federal and state governments to improve wages and working conditions, condemning the stark disparity between government officials’ wealth accumulation and workers’ impoverishment.

Expressing gratitude to Nigerian security forces for their service, Professor Akinwole urged President Tinubu to ensure special welfare provisions for families of those who have lost their lives defending the nation.

He emphasised that just as education is vital, the welfare of security agencies should be of utmost concern to the president.

Also, Professor Akinwole called upon the President to finalise agreements with ASUU and enhance working conditions for intellectuals in Nigeria, warning of a brain drain if lecturers continue to face inadequate compensation and poor working environments.

“If this trend persists, Nigeria will lose the talent needed to develop the education sector, while those lacking skills will secure employment with little to contribute,” cautioned Akinwole.

He urged the president to address this disparity and collaborate with ASUU to establish a living wage and improved conditions for public university lecturers, recognising them as essential patriots deserving of special consideration.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) in Abuja has issued a restraining order against MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, preventing the company from implementing its planned tariff increase and adjustments to the cost of products and services scheduled to commence on May 1.

Presiding over the three-member tribunal, Saratu Shafii, granted the interim order on Monday, in response to an ex-parte motion presented by Ejiro Awaritoma, legal counsel representing the applicant, Festus Onifade.

In her ruling, Shafii directed MultiChoice to refrain from proceeding with the impending price hike set to take effect from May 1 until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice before the tribunal.

Also, she mandated all involved parties to appear before the tribunal on May 7 at 10 a.m. for further proceedings regarding the motion on notice.

The petitioner, Festus Onifade, filed a lawsuit against MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), seeking two specific orders.

These orders include an interim injunction restraining MultiChoice from implementing the impending price increase and any actions that could negatively impact the rights of the claimant and other consumers, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd had previously raised the prices of all its packages on April 1, 2022, prompting legal action from concerned parties.

In the 1990s, Donald Trump famously gossiped to the tabloids about — who else — himself, a headline-chaser who loved none other than to see his name in lights, or at least in the supermarket checkout line.

But those were Trump’s good old days, an era of clubs and models, long before he launched a bid for the US presidency and found himself needing to squash the lewd, party boy stories he once boasted about.

Cue David Pecker, the former publishing executive whose titles included the National Enquirer, and who on Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom laid out the “catch and kill” strategy he carried out in a bid to support Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

In a then-secret meeting in August 2015, Trump and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen met with Pecker to ask how he and his publications could “help the campaign,” the 72-year-old witness testified

Trump “dated the most beautiful women,” Pecker explained, “and it was clear that, based on my past experience, that when someone is running for a public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories.”

‘Fake news’ sells

Speaking under oath, Pecker, who sported a pink tie and slicked back hair, essentially confessed to trafficking so-called “fake news” to both his and Trump’s benefit, while simultaneously paying off several people whose tales had the potential to damage candidate Trump’s reputation.

He said “popular stories about Mr. Trump” as well as “negative stories about his opponents” would “only increase newsstand sales.”

“Publishing these types of stories was also going to benefit his campaign,” Pecker said. “Both parties benefited from it.”

Pecker offered a portal into the editorial practices of outlets like his own, which had no shame in paying for stories and focused far more on the cover than the content.

“We would do a lot of research to determine what… the proper cover of the magazine would be,” Pecker said.

“Every time we did this, Mr. Trump would be the top celebrity,” Pecker said, describing the magnate’s pre-politician days and pointing to his star turn as the top guy on his own reality show “The Apprentice,” and its celebrity-starring sequel.

In recalling Trump’s first campaign era, the prosecution presented bombastic headlines disparaging the Republican’s opponents, such as “Bungling surgeon Ben Carson left sponge in patient’s brain” and “Ted Cruz shamed by porn star.”

Pecker said such ideas often came from or were shaped by Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer who is expected to be a star witness in the New York state trial.

But Pecker also said he wanted to keep his “agreement among friends” with Trump and Cohen “as quiet as possible.”

Among the times he said he killed a story regarding Donald Trump, it centered on a Trump Tower doorman who was peddling a false claim that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock with one of his former employees.

Pecker said he thought it was important to buy the story and keep it quiet for Trump’s benefit — as well as his own.

He said had the story been true, he planned to publish it “after the election.”

“If the story was true, and I published it, it would be probably the biggest sale of the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley.”