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By Owei Lakemfa Intellectuals and academics from fourteen universities who gathered at the  University of Abuja on September 5 to discuss the seemingly insoluble problems of the country, concluded that Nigeria has to be rescued from its leaders. *Buhari They poured in from the universities in Minna, Akwa Ibom , Benin , Ekpoma, Ado Ekiti, Port Harcourt , Sokoto, Osun, Makurdi and  Ago Iwoye. Others came from the IBB, Tai Solarin and  Lagos State   Universities .  Students of the host University of Abuja also filled the Management Hall, venue of the gathering which also featured an address by their Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael  Umale Adikwu represented by Professor  Gboyega Kolawole. Dr. Theophilus . D. Lagi, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Abuja Zonal Coordinator in addressing the theme: ‘Neo-Liberalism,  Democracy and Development in Nigeria ” lamented that the country’s political leaders with their policy of ‘Governmen...

By Owei Lakemfa The general strike on September 27 and 28 over a new National Minimum Wage will, going by antecedence, be the  first of many strikes to come. This strike was not about a new wage per se or figures; not about agreement or disagreement, not to talk about implementation. It was merely to demand that the Buhari administration which has an unenviable history of cancelling promises, returns to the negotiation table. If a general strike had to be called just to pressure government to talk with workers and employers on a New National Minimum Wage in accordance with the constitution, imagine the struggles that will need be waged to get the new wages implemented across all sectors and levels of government. Some have argued that this period is too close to the February, 2019 general elections and therefore, not ideal for negotiations as the attention of the politicians would be focused on the elections. My response is that there is no better time than now, or better still, nea...