Five things to know to start your Tuesday

NCS gets new spokesman

Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd), the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has approved the appointment of Abdullahi Maidawa, a Chief Superintendent, as the service’s Public Relations Officer (PRO).

Ali, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said Maiwada would take over from Timi Bomodi, who had been redeployed to Kiri-Kiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) Area Command as its area controller.

The statement revealed that Maiwada holds a first degree in education/geography and a master’s degree in environmental management from Bayero University, Kano.

He also holds two additional degrees—a bachelor’s and a master’s—in mass communication from Crescent University, Abeokuta.

The new image manager enlisted into the NCS Service in 2011 and had a stint as the Zonal PRO, Zone ‘B’ Headquarters, Kaduna, and served in a similar capacity at the Ogun Command, now Ogun I and II Area Commands.

LP passes vote of confidence on national chairman, declares suspension illegal

Labour Party on Monday passed a vote of confidence in its national chairman, Julius Abure, who was allegedly suspended by a faction of the party.

The party recalled that some groups who claimed to be Ward 3 executives of the party in Edo, led by the Ward’s Chairman, Martins Osigbemhe, had earlier announced the suspension of the LP national chairman.

The suspension was over allegations of forgery, perjury, mismanagement of funds, and anti-party activities, among others.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the Chairman of the party in Edo State, Kelly Ogbaloi, said that the constitution of the party did not empower any group or party member to suspend a national officer who was elected by the national convention.

He said “imposters “who were not registered party members could not suspend him, so their action was out of ignorance. (NAN)

NCC, others partner to combat rising cyberattacks

Professor Umar Danbatta, the executive vice chairman and CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), stated at the 10th edition of Business 360 Clinics organised by Abuja Enterprises Agency that the NCC would collaborate with other relevant security agencies to ensure that policies against cyberattacks and threats to businesses are more effective.

Danbatta, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Digital Economy, NCC, Paul Okeke, said, “As a regulator of telecommunications, the commission is in active collaboration with other agencies in the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, as well as with other public sector institutions such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Office of the National Security Adviser, to ensure that policies become effective in curtailing cyber-attacks and threats on businesses.”

NIPOST to launch digital postcode in June

The Nigerian Postal Service has announced that it will launch its digital postcode system in Nigeria in June.

Adeyemi Adepoju, the Postmaster General of the Federation and CEO of NIPOST, said this at the end of a two-day workshop and retreat on the digital postcode system in collaboration with the National Space Research and Development Agency, the National Population Commission, the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, and other partners held recently in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Adepoju said that the digitalisation of the postcode system would help speed up mail delivery and make the security agencies more effective and responsive when it comes to dealing with emergencies, thereby reducing banditry, kidnapping, and internet scams.

He added that the digitalization would, in general, boost Nigeria’s economy and help in the fight against insecurity.

Teachers in England reject pay offer, announce further strikes

Teachers in England have overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer from the British government aimed at ending a series of disruptive strikes, their trade union said on Monday, announcing two further days of walkouts.

The National Education Union, Britain’s largest education union, said 98% of teachers who voted in the ballot followed its advice to reject the offer of a one-off payment this year of 1,000 pounds and an average pay rise of 4.5 percent in the next financial year.

“This resounding rejection of the government’s offer should leave (education minister) Gillian Keegan in no doubt that she will need to come back to the negotiating table with a much better proposal,” NEU joint General Secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of teachers across Britain have taken strike action this year in demand of an above-inflation pay award, leaving classrooms empty and heaping pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to help resolve the dispute. (Reuters)