The collapse of the power sector and the spread of Lassa fever and the death toll
are some of the trending stories in the Nigerian press on Friday.
The Leadership newspaper reported that the National Economic Council (NEC), which
comprises top officials of the federal and the 36 states of the federation, has posted a
damning verdict on the Nigerian power sector.
In no mistaken words, NEC, which met in Abuja, declared that the country’s entire power
sector had collapsed and called for steps to revive it.
The Guardian also reported that Nigeria’s power generation companies (GenCos) in the past
five years lost a whopping N1.2 trillion to poor capacity utilisation and the country’s inability
to transport over 21,184.62 megawatts of electricity to end users.
The Nation newspaper screamed that the death toll in the Lassa fever outbreak across
the country hits 38 on Thursday as more cases were breaking out.
ThisDay said the federal government has rejected Nigeria’s rating as the fourth most corrupt
country in West Africa based on the 2019 corruption perception index compiled by the
Transparency International (TI).
The Daily Trust said the Federal Government has stopped the payment of salaries of higher
institutions’ lecturers yet to enroll in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information
System.
The Punch is excited that the Federal Government and the governors of the South-West
states have reached a middle ground on the controversial security outfit, Operation
Amotekun, as both settled for a legal “framework”.
Channels Television reported that President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Nigeria
from the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 in London.
The Sun said that the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, stated that the rehabilitation of the
Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, would be completed and reopened for flight operations
before Easter.
MM/GIK/APA