Nigeria: Press zooms in on President Tinubu’s Chicago varsity record, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 poll, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, said that he did not betray President Bola Tinubu, over the allegation of certificate forgery he levelled against him at the court dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 poll, Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, said he did not betray President Bola Tinubu, over the allegation of certificate forgery he levelled against him at the court.
Rather, he said the former Lagos State governor abandoned him as well as the Action Congress of Nigeria and supported Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP in the 2007 presidential poll.
Atiku also recalled how he saved Tinubu by not allowing former President Olusegun Obasanjo to take over Lagos State in the 2007 general elections.
However, the All Progressives Congress has knocked Atiku following his Thursday attack on Tinubu, saying his ill-timed press conference was in gross contempt of the Supreme Court.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, said the ruling party was not bothered by Atiku’s claims, which it said lacked purpose and delivered nothing except “the pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions and deliberate falsehood on Atiku’s infantile obsession with the academic record of the president.’’
But Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February elections, vowed not to give up on his quest to prove that Tinubu forged the Chicago State University certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission before the polls.
The newspaper says that the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, on Thursday, said both country’s trade volumes hit €3bn in 2022.
Günther stated this at a press conference on Thursday.
She said Germany’s main exports to Nigeria are “Machines at 28 per cent; food products at 20 per cent; and chemical products at 19 per cent while Nigeria’s main exports to Germany are crude oil at 83 per cent, food products at 12 per cent other raw materials four per cent.”
“German-Nigerian trade volume hit €3bn in 2022.”
Günther also disclosed that 2000 Nigerians passed the German language examinations at the Goethe Institute in 2022 while about 4,000 Nigerians Students in Germany.
She added, “No fewer than 90 German companies presently operate in Nigeria, creating 17,000 jobs directly and a minimum 10-fold indirectly.
“Germany has invested over €600 million in development projects across all sectors, making it the second biggest donor.
“This is besides the €620 million pledged to the Economic Community of West African States.
“In terms of humanitarian assistance, Germany remains the second biggest with €50 million in 2022 on activities such as protection, food security, health and shelter that save lives every day.”
The Guardian reports that more than 500 specialist doctors are reported to have left the country to practice in other countries.
The development is said to be affecting medicare in the country’s hospitals such that some departments in many hospitals have been closed due to the depletion of specialists.
The Chairman of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia State chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr Ibrahim Sumaila, gave the 500 figure, yesterday, in his welcome and valedictory address during the take-off of the four days MDCAN Biennial General and Scientific Meeting ( BDSM ) and Distinguished Medical Specialist’s Lecture held at the said FMC, which had the theme “ JAPA Syndrome, Depleting The Famished Workforce in Nigeria.”
He described the sub-theme, ‘X-Raying the Health Status of Abia State: The Past, Present and The Way Forward,” as very critical and needing robust discussions, as well as know that in the recent past, the Abia State Health Sector was in near total collapse, and that recently, the current state government is seen to be making efforts at resuscitating the sector.
Disclosing the figure of 500 migrant doctors was sourced from MDCN, he attributed the reasons for the migration, which he called japa (going away) to poor remuneration, insecurity, and poor working conditions, stressing the need for urgent and immediate interventions by government at all levels to prevent the total collapse of the Health Sector.
The newspaper says that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State said on Thursday that the groundbreaking of the proposed 100 million-dollar African Film City project in Epe would be done before the end of October.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed this during a news conference on the forthcoming 12th African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) at the Government House, Marina, Lagos.
According to the governor, the project is intended to enhance originality in content creation in Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry.
The newspaper quoted the report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as saying that the state government announced in October 2022 that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Del-York Group for the construction of the project.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the state government would be doubling the capacity-building support for talented young industry players to enhance their skills in modern filmmaking.
He also disclosed that grants for filmmakers would be increased henceforth to enable them operate seamlessly.
“We have great plans underway. First, we will be doing the groundbreaking for the African Film City before the end of this month.
“The film city would be on 100 hectares of land in Epe and it is massive. We just want to take the lead in Lagos State.
“We are hoping that the first set of studios will be ready from 24 to 30 months right after the groundbreaking.
“I have been to a few studios in the United States of America, like Prime Studio, Sugarland and more; they are excited and promised to come down here.
“Secondly, we are also going to be doubling our monetary support and training for upcoming players in the industry as well as increasing grants for film producers; we will be doubling whatever it is we have done in the past,” he said.
The governor urged the practitioners to use their ingenuity to create ‘Africanised’ content that would change the continent’s socio-cultural narrative, adding that through this, the world would know Nigeria is ready.
GIK/APA