The menace of smuggling of rice into Nigeria and the impending face-off between labour and governors over minimum wage are some of the leading stories in newspapers on Friday.
The Guardian reported that notwithstanding Federal Government’s efforts to promote the production of rice in Nigeria, the continuous smuggling of the commodity to the extent of dominating the local market, is making nonsense of an existing ban with attendant capital flight.
The Nation said that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba has told governors who are not ready to implement the new national minimum wage to brace for confrontation with the organised labour.
Wabba said this at the 11th Triennial Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in Abuja.
ThisDay said the federal government has denied the allegation by the Northern Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was practicing bigotry and alienating Christians.
It also denied that the Boko Haram terrorism has link with the official policy of the government, stressing that the violent acts by the terrorist group predated the Buhari administration, like many others that were inherited on coming to office in 2015.
The Punch reported that former President Olusegun Obasanjo said he was pained by the high number of out-of-school children in the country.
The former president said this as the Federal Government disclosed that it would start an open schooling programme in July as part of efforts to solve the problem of the out-of-school children.
The Sun quoted the General Officer Commanding 8 Division, Major General Hakeem Otiki, as saying that the recently launched Operation Habin Kunama III, successfully neutralised several bandits in the zone.
MM/GIK/APA