The directive to the International Oil Companies (IOC) to pay outstanding royalty to the Nigerian government and the arrest of two deputy directors of prisons are some of the trending stories in Nigerian press on Wednesday.
The Nation reported that the International Oil Companies (IOCs) should pay outstanding $65.6 billion royalty due to the country as oil revenue.
The companies, which have not paid for 15 years, should now meet up with this responsibility, following the coming into effect of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act 2004 as amended in 2019.
The newspaper also reported that the $57 oil benchmark adopted by the Nigerian Government in the 2020 budget may be unrealistic as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called for its downward review.
The Daily Trust said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has nabbed Emmanuel Oluwaniyi, a Deputy Controller (DC) of the Nigerian Correctional Service and Hemeson Edson Edwin, also a Deputy Controller, for allegedly giving exaggerated medical reports that allowed a convicted internet fraudster, Hope Olusegun Aroke, to be granted leave to access treatment outside the facility.
The Daily Trust gathered that Hope Olusegun Aroke is serving a 24-year jail term.
ThisDay newspaper said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rose from its last meeting for the year with a call on the Nigerian government to launch institutional reforms through policies that would automate day-to-day processes of key revenue generating and security agencies as a way of stemming smuggling, kidnapping and the migration of terrorists into the country.
The Guardian said the crisis rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) became messier as the Senate resolved to await the inauguration of the board members before working on the commission’s 2019 and 2020 budgets proposal as submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
ChannelsTV reported that former governors, deputy governors and other political office holders in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria will no longer enjoy the payment of pension and other entitlements.
This development comes on the heels of outright repeal of the law that approves such payment by members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly.
The Punch said there were indications that any federal university lecturers that failed to register for the Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System might forfeit their December salary.
The Ebonyi State government has said that pro-Biafra groups, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) did not exist in the state, the Sun newspaper reported.
MM/GIK/APA