Tag Archive for: Normalcy

Normalcy returns to OAUTH as police disperse protesting sacked workers

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Normal activities have returned to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) with workers and patients having free entry and exit.

This followed police disruption of the indefinite protest embarked on by the sacked workers of the hospital.

Recall that the sacked workers, numbering over 1500, shut the gates of the hospital last Thursday in protest against their disengagement. They had vowed that the protest would continue indefinitely unless the institution’s management reverses their sack.

But as the protest entered Day 5 on Monday, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that men of the Nigeria Police Force invaded the protest arena, shooting into the air and throwing tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.

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The security personnel later forced the shut gates open and stationed their patrol vehicles nearby to prevent further protest.

Meanwhile, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has intervened in the lingering industrial crisis.

A statement by the palace media office on Tuesday, stated that during a meeting with leaders of the sacked workers on Monday, the monarch donated a sum of N10 million and one thousand bags of rice to pacify them.

The statement added that the monarch’s gesture was to ameliorate their suffering, which was occasioned by the non-payment of their salaries for 14 months.

Ooni Ogunwusi assured the aggrieved workers that he was working with relevant stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Health, among others, to resolve the crisis.

“I am dedicating myself and the ancient throne of Oduduwa to fight this fight to a logical conclusion,” he said.

The monarch noted that the workers had the right to protest if they feel injustice has been meted out to them, but he urged them to apply wisdom in order to achieve desired results.

ALSO READ: Sacked OAUTH employees shut down hospital in protest

“I am happy that you all have demonstrated core Omoluabi ethos of descendants of Oduduwa by allowing operations to resume at the hospital upon receiving my message. You have honoured me and I pray that God will honour you all.

“Beyond that, I wish to assure you that the Palace will support your dreams and aspirations in life even beyond…

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Biden’s National Security Picks Herald a Return to Normalcy

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After four years of Trumpian national security policy that was, by turns, assailed as “rudderless,” “schizophrenic,” “incoherent,” and “riven with contradictions,” the conventional wisdom says that the incoming Biden administration will pursue conventional American statecraft akin to the Obama White House.

President-elect Joe Biden’s first picks for senior national security posts — Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, and Avril Haines as director of national intelligence — served in the Obama administration and are now being hailed as the sort of steady hands that America needs after the chaotic Trump administration. But that’s not the good news it seems to be. The Biden plan, outlined on his presidential transition website, suggests a “normal” version of national security that includes the deep flaws of the centrist-liberal approach. There is a call for continued mammoth Pentagon budgets (“the investments necessary to equip our troops for the challenges of the next century”) with an emphasis on emerging battlespaces (“cyberwarfare … new challenges in space”), the endorsement of ossified Cold War-era security partnerships (“keeping NATO’s military capabilities sharp”), and veiled references to confronting China (“strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies”), as well as business as usual in the Middle East (“ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”).

The costs of normalcy have been grave. “It’s worth keeping in mind that the global war on terror has killed more than 7,000 U.S. servicemembers — more than twice the number of people killed by the 9/11 attacks — and more than 800,000 lives worldwide,” said Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s director of Security With Human Rights. “It’s also cost the U.S. more than $6.4 trillion. It’s hard to see why a Biden administration would want to continue on this trajectory.”

   

Biden’s presidential team of national security advisers is loaded with leading members of the Beltway foreign policy establishment unaffectionately known as “the Blob.” It’s a well-worn…

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