The rights group, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has said that security agencies killed 13,241 Nigerians since 2011 and that extrajudicial killings by state actors has become the primary cause of death in the country is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that the rights group, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has said security agencies killed 13,241 Nigerians since 2011, noting that extrajudicial killings by state actors has become the primary cause of death in the country.
The organisation also said that Nigeria’s democracy is experiencing major setback, even as it expressed concern over shrinking civic space.
This was contained in a report titled, ‘Democracy Watch Reports’, presented to journalists in Abuja, yesterday.
CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, while giving an overview of the report, expressed regret that unlawful killings became commonplace in the country since 1999, noting that many of these killings were perpetrated by security forces.
She said: “These unlawful killings largely go unpunished because of Nigeria’s Force Order 237, which allows officers to use lethal force in ways that contravene international law, and government’s corruption and prevailing culture of impunity.
“Successive governments in Nigeria have used unlawful killings to quell secessionist upheavals and terrorist activities, a practice that was exacerbated during President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, such as the unlawful killing of 350 Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) members by the Nigerian army in 2015.”
The newspaper says that the Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, has advised that Nigeria should adopt a two-pronged strategy for its energy transition programme in response to global calls to reduce exploitation of fossil fuels and production of GreenHouse Gases (GHG).
Okunbor spoke recently while delivering the 51st Founders’ Day Lecture of the University of Benin titled: “The Global Energy Transition” and The Imperatives for Nigeria, where he called for an urgent optimisation of Nigeria’s energy resources for a speedy economic and industrial development of the country.
“Nigeria has around 202 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and about 600 trillion cubic feet of unproven reserves. Harnessing these vast gas resources, and on time too, is key in the next decade of Nigeria’s existence,” Okunbor said.
According to him, the second approach for Nigeria’s successful energy transition would be an intentional growth of the off-grid power and renewables industry taking advantage of foreign financial support and technology transfer.
“The ongoing energy transition is here with us. As with other transitions, it is a journey that will involve multiple approaches, collective action and undoubtedly present new challenges and opportunities. Nigeria is well positioned to ride the wave of the current energy transition with its abundance of natural fossil fuels and renewable solar energy”.
ThisDay reports that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has stated that fall armyworm is estimated to cause Africa nearly $10 billion in annual maize yield losses.
The United Nations food body also stated that the pest could also feed on up to 80 other crops if not controlled.
The Director General of FAO, Mr. Qu Dongyu, said at the 5th Steering Committee Meeting on Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control in Rome, said over 70 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Near East are reporting infestations of the pest, warning that fall armyworm knows no boundaries as it accelerates its march across the planet.
According to him, fall armyworm is predictable and manageable with large-scale damage preventable through consistent, strong and effective coordination at all levels. He said in 2016, only six African countries reported fall armyworm outside its native range, saying that in October this year, it was found to have reached the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.
The director-general, however, urged all stakeholders to scale up global response to fall armyworm, as the invasive pest continues to spread rapidly to new countries and territories, causing serious damage to food production and affecting millions of farmers across the globe.
The Punch says that servicing of debts acquired through instruments issued by the Federal Government in the Nigeria capital market totaled N2.18tn as of October 30, an analysis of data by our correspondent has shown.
Data from listed debt instruments on the FMDQ Exchange showed that repayments by FG on bonds, promissory notes, Sukuk, savings and green bonds altogether amounted to N2.18tn. FG bond payments are structured with coupons paid semi-annually and are used to fund specific infrastructure projects.
The Debt Management Office of Nigeria had disclosed in its Actual Domestic Debt Service reports for January-March and April-June that the Federal Government’s total domestic debt servicing gulped N546.25bn and N307.87bn, respectively.
This meant the FG spent N854.12bn servicing capital market debts in the first half of the year. The Federal Government completed the payment of its NGFG132021S0 July 2016 N561.05bn with 14.5 per cent coupon as it paid a N20.3bn tranche in February and another N20.3bn in July, totaling N601.73bn.
The Federal Government serviced its NGFG9B2022S1 Jan 2022 N605.31bn bond with 16.39 per cent coupon as it paid N99.21bn in two tranches of January and June payments. The Federal Government serviced another 12.75 per cent coupon April 2023 N735.96bn bond with payment of N93.83bn in two tranches, April and October.
The newspaper reports that The Nigerian Communications Commission says it is set for the second trial of 5G in Nigeria.
According to the commission, the trial which is scheduled to hold on Thursday is necessary in order to validate the national policy on 5G for the digital economy.
The commission added that the supervised trial would be conducted by Airtel Networks Limited and its Original Equipment Manufacturer on Thursday.
MTN Nigeria Communications had held the first 5G trial in Nigeria in 2019. In its ‘Draft Consultation Document for Deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) Mobile Technology in Nigeria’, the NCC disclosed that six locations across the nation were selected for this trial.
The locations included, Abuja, Calabar, Lagos, Kano, Abeokuta, and Ibadan. According to the NCC, the key parameters it was looking out for included: Throughput, latency and jitter measurements; Co-channel interference impact on QoS; Handover performance between access points (as applicable); Type/models of 5G terminals used for the test; Types of services (voice, data, video, etc.) and; Health and safety (EMF radiation level).
During the 2019 trials, the NCC disclosed that a 2GB movie was downloaded within 17 secs on 5G (using 26GHz) and 5mins on 4G network (using 3.5GHz) with a maximum download throughput of 1.7Gbps and 70Mbps respectively in Abuja.
The Sun says that Seplat Energy Plc has confirmed that it is in ‘’competitive discussions’’ with a partner to acquire ExxonMobil’s Nigerian shallow water business.
The firm disclosed this via a filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Monday, adding that it is aware of rumours and confirmed that it is indeed looking at acquire ExxonMobil’s shallow water business.
The company then cautioned the investing public that although deliberations are ongoing, the outcome is not certain.
“Deliberations are ongoing and accordingly, there can be no certainty as to the outcome. A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate in line with regulatory requirements.
The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Seplat Energy is Emeka Onwuka, CFO Seplat Energy”, the company said. While the cost and other details of this transaction remain unclear, analysts say that they understand that ExxonMobil is actively divesting in Nigeria.
The energy giant had earlier announced plans to sell off some of its oil and gas fields in the country to focus on new developments in US shale and Guyana with analysts predicting that the energy firm might raise about $3 billion from the sale of its onshore and offshore assets.
GIK/APA