The concerns expressed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the civil unrest in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari’s silence on the tollgate shooting incident that brought his government worldwide condemnation are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
ThisDay reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday expressed concern about the civil unrest in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria, following the shooting of some #EndSARS protesters Lekki Tollgate on Tuesday night.
Responding to a THISDAY question during a media briefing on the ‘Africa Regional Economic Outlook,’ at the ongoing Annual Meetings of the IMF/World Bank in Washington DC, the Director of IMF’s African Department, Mr. Abebe Aemro Selassie, said the civil unrest in Lagos, which contributes significantly to Nigeria’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP), could have a negative consequence on the economy.
He called for timely resolution of the crisis to prevent the economy, which is still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, from slipping further into a tailspin.
The newspaper says that President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday finally spoke on angry youths’ protest of police brutality, urging them to end the demonstrations, which went violent after Tuesday’s crackdown by the army at Lekki Tollgate, Lagos.
Incidentally, the president was spectacularly silent on the tollgate shooting incident that brought his government worldwide condemnation.
He had come under severe criticism for his silence on the #EndSARS protests, which had raged for 14 days, spreading from Lagos State to over a dozen others with attendant disruption of essential economic activities.
But Buhari eventually broke his silence in a nationwide broadcast that was preceded by a National Security Council meeting in Abuja.
Pleading with the youths to leave the streets, he assured them that he had heard their cry and that his administration would address their concerns.
He urged the protesters to resist the temptation of being used by “subversive elements” to cause chaos with the aim of truncating the country’s democracy.
However, the president’s silence on the Lekki Tollgate clampdown by soldiers was made up for by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), who said the federal government was looking into the incident.
The Punch reports that the Managing Director, Dangote Tomato Processing plant in Kadawa, Kano State, Abdulkarim Kaita, has called on the Federal government to put a total ban on the importation of tomato paste into the country.
He made the call while flagging off the distribution of tomato seedlings to 5,000 farmers under the Anchor Borrowers programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday at Kadawa village in Kura Local Government Area.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to put a total ban on the importation of tomato like what it did to rice,” Kaita said.
He said the call was necessary to boost local production of the commodity and ensure that Nigeria was self-sufficient in tomato production.
The Sun reports that a coalition of association of truck owners has called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to disband the Presidential Task Team (PTT) set up on May 22, 2019 to restore law and order in the worsening transportation gridlock on Apapa-Tin can access roads.
In a statement to press down their demands in Lagos, the group led by à chieftain of the National Association of Truck Owners (NARTO) Prince Adeyinka Aroyewun said.
“We say no to PTT on Apapa gridlock. We are owners and operators of container carrier trucks. We have been on this journey for too long, and are tired of extortion by policemen.”
The transporters said that the condition that would make them suspend the demonstration would be the desolution and exit of the team from Apapa -Tin can and daily passing of export trucks as foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, in line with economic diversification policy of the Federal Government.
The Sun also reports that the European Parliament (EP), the legislative branch of the European Union (EU), has endorsed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the position of director-general (DG) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Okonjo-Iweala is a two-time former minister of finance and Nigeria’s candidate for the WTO DG job. Sven Simon, member of the European Parliament (MEP), in a tweet on Wednesday, announced the decision of the parliament after a discussion with Okonjo-Iweala and Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s candidate for WTO job.
The parliament picked Okonjo-Iweala above Myung-hee, saying the Nigerian showed a deep understanding of challenges faced by the WTO and her priorities, if appointed, exhibited a “clear-eyed agenda.”
The Parliament said it came to a conclusion that Okonjo-Iweala’s political approach is necessary to tackle the deal disagreements between members of the trade organization. “Her assessment of the existing problems of the organization revealed a deal understanding of the fault lines dividing the WTO’s membership,” the statement rea
GIK/APA