The call by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila. for amicable resolution of the clashes between herdsmen and communities in southern Nigeria for the nation to move forward one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
ThisDay reports that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has stressed that no ethnic group should dominate other ethnic groups in the bid to resolve the recurring herders/farmers clashes in some parts of the country.
Gbajabiamila, who spoke Wednesday with newsmen after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, however, called for amicable resolution of the clashes for the nation to move forward.
The Speaker, who said he had a fruitful discussion on the state of the nation with the President, stressed that it would be wrong for any ethnic group to lord its views on other ethnic groups in the country.
He said: “I don’t think any ethnic group should lord it over the any ethnic group, the South West should not lord it over the North, the North should not lord it over the South. We should respect each other’s trade, geographical space, history, culture and more importantly the issue of crime, murder all those things should be completely jettisoned.”
Gbajabiamila assured that the National Assembly will wade into the issue when it reconvenes next Tuesday with a view to finding lasting solution to the clashes.
The Guardian says that the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Oil Theft, yesterday, alleged that 329,420,319 barrels valued at over $20 billion were not accounted for between 2005 and 2012.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Peter Akpatason, who spoke during hearing on the matter, accused the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) of not doing enough to render account of the alleged missing monies.
The committee alleged that similar trend of infractions was also observed between 2016 and 2019. Akpatason, therefore, demanded explanation from DPR on the alleged stolen crude oil.
Akpatason said: “The effects of crude oil theft cannot be overemphasized, and this has lasted for too long. As patriots, it is our collective responsibility to see to the end of this stealing. The adhoc committee has identified the key role of DPR, as the agency of government in the sector, hence your re-invitation today to enable us work together and come up with a common front on ways to tackle this matter. If not completely put an end to it, we must reduce it to its barest minimum,” he said.
The newspaper reports that a Groups, Talakawa Parliament and Orhionmwon stakeholders, yesterday, issued a two-week ultimatum to killer-herders to quit forest and farm settlement in Edo state to enable farmers and women gain access to their farms without fear and threat to their lives.
Addressing journalists in Benin City, Coordinator of Talakawa Parliament, Marxist Kola Edokpayi, decried the killings by herdsmen in Edo State, particularly in Orhionmwon Council.
He urged Edo people to stop consuming beef as a protest to register their displeasure over the killings in Orhionmwon by killer-herders.
Lamenting the activities of herdsmen leading to the senseless killings across farms in Ugo Community in Orhionmwon Council, Edokpayi urged security agencies to wake up to the task of providing security for Edo people.
He said: “The Commissioner of Police (CP) is hereby given 72 hours to arrest herdsmen responsible for the killings in Orhionmwon.”
Also, Edo women staged a peaceful protest against the killings allegedly perpetrated by herdsmen in Uromi, Esan North East Council of the state.
Some of the protesters blocked major roads in the town, chanting solidarity songs and demanding that herdsmen must leave the community.
The Nation says that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the establishment of 20 private universities across the country.
It also okayed N35 billion for the building of power stations by the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) in Calabar and Kano processing zones.
The Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, announced this while addressing State House Correspondents after Wednesday’s virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
Adamu said the approved universities would get their provisional licences from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to enable operate for the next three years during which they would be monitored and their performance evaluated.
Nine of the private universities are located in the Northcentral, three in the Southsouth, two in the Southeast, five in the Northwest and one in the Southwest.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government in collaboration with the World Bank have commenced the process to rebase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
Experts describe GDP as the final value of the goods and services that are produced within a nation’s geographic boundaries during a specified period of time, normally within a year.
The growth rate of nation’s GDP is an important indicator of the economic performance of the country. Also, rebasing of GDP entails the replacement of the old base year used for compiling the GDP with a new, more recent, base year for computing the constant price estimates.
This is necessary because of the changes in relative prices and the structure of the economy over time. In its bid to rebase Nigeria’s GDP, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Wednesday that following the successful completion of listing of establishments, a component of National Business Sample Census, the NBS commenced National Business Sample Survey, otherwise known as the survey of establishments.
It said the NBSS was also a component of NBSC which involves in-depth study of sampled establishments based on the sectors identified in business sample census.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian government has moved for the full implementation of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme to guarantee prompt compensation to victims of road accident within the ECOWAS member states.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said this while speaking at the inauguration of Mr Ganiyu Musa, as the chairman of Council of Bureaux, ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, in Abuja.
In a statement Wednesday, she noted that, the existence of the scheme and its effective implementation would stimulate integration of the West African regional block preparatory to the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area subscribed to by most of ECOWAS countries.
Ahmed, who was represented by the Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Mr Sunday Thomas, applauded the initiative that welcomed the free movement of goods and services within a sub-region and promotes intra-regional investments and cooperation.
She said it was a huge step in the right direction for economic integration.
GIK/APA