The concerns raised by a group of prominent Nigerians that the country’s democracy is in deep crisis and the 1,016 new infections of Coronavirus announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control are some of the leading stories in Nigerian media on Thursday.
The Vanguard reports that a group of prominent Nigerians, yesterday in Lagos, said Nigeria’s democracy was in deep crisis on the questions of the state of the social contract between the people and those in government.
The group also said the Nigeria needed a few referendums at this time and that if government was accountable to the people it ought to consider this now.
The prominent Nigerians, under the aegis of Concerned Professionals in a statement by Prof. Ebere Onwudiwe, Olutola Mobolurin, Prof Pat Utomi, Dr Usman Bugaje, Femi Falana, SAN, Dr Muiz Banire, SAN, Prof Anthony Kila and Dr Isuwa Dogo, said: “IF one lesson comes clear from 2020, it is that democracy is in deep crisis in Nigeria where questions abound about the state of the social contract between the people and those who lead and personify the state.
“Impunity seems so rife the youth mounted peaceful protests on police brutality and were greeted with bullets from the Army; people feel the benefits of good governance are eluding them, with poverty so pervasive and insecurity so threatening; and anxiety prevails as Nigeria enters a second recession in five years.
“How should we read the dismissal of views of the National Assembly, Northern Elders Forum, the Sultan of Sokoto and many other eminent persons on the Service Chiefs and the state of security in the country. Or of disregard of invitation to the President to address the National Assembly on security. Or the government’s failure to pay attention to the call for restructuring the federation from Pastor Adeboye, leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Prof Atahiru Jega, Northern Elders Forum etc.
| The Guardian says that the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 1,016 new infections of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the country has so far tested 938,602 persons since the first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in Feb. 27.
The agency said that the total number of infections in the country was now 86,576 while 1,385 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours.
It noted that the discharges included 537 community recoveries in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 459 in Lagos State and 78 in Plateau managed in line with guidelines.
The public health agency said 11 additional new deaths were registered in the country in the last 24 hours.
The newspaper reports that lawyers have urged the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute Ministry of Petroleum Resources officials involved in contract splitting as disclosed by the Senate. This, they said, would serve as deterrent to others.
The Senate recently uncovered how the ministry, which is headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, spent N14 million for biros and N46 million for letterhead papers and raised the alarm.
Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector as well as transparency and accountability advocates are disturbed over how the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, directly overseen by President Muhammadu Buhari spent a whopping N116 million on biros, papers and inks in one year.
They said they were worried about the seeming complacency at the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance, insisting that the bodies had allowed unabated looting despite their oversight roles on budget and public fund.
The petroleum ministry had allegedly spent N14.5 million for the supply of Schneider Biros, N46 million for the Ministry’s letterhead, and N56 million for supply of toner. The money was never spent in 2015 but never raised until the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF) reported the matter.
These developments, according to some stakeholders, indicate a disconnect between the Executive and Legislative arms of government, adding that many government ministries are getting away with crime.
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| The Punch says that electricity customers who paid for meters under the Meter Asset Provider scheme will be refunded, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said.
NERC said this on Wednesday in an emailed response, through its Head of Public Affairs, Mr Michael Faloseyi, to questions from our correspondent.
Following the recent announcement by the Federal Government that six million meters would be distributed at no cost to consumers under the National Mass Metering Programme, some customers who had already paid for meters had asked if their money would be refunded.
Under the MAP scheme, which kicked off on May 1, 2019, customers have two options for acquiring a meter: upfront payment and payment in instalments through metering service charge on a monthly basis.
But the scheme has suffered setbacks, including changes in fiscal policy and the limited availability of long-term funding, according to the regulator.
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The newspaper reports that foreign investors pulled out a total of N433.15bn from the nation’s stock market from January to November this year, compared to N481.96bn in the same period of 2019, a new report by the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday has shown.
The NSE, in its domestic and foreign portfolio report, said foreign inflows into the market fell to N226.13bn year-to-date from N 397.44bn in 2019.
Foreign portfolio investment outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of portfolio investments through the stock market, while the FPI inflow includes purchase transactions on the NSE (equities only), according to the data.
Total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 29.77 per cent from N244.90bn (about $634.55m) in October 2020 to N317.81bn (about $813.87m) in November 2020.
The NSE said the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors in November outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by about 58 per cent.
It said total domestic transactions increased by 53.51 per cent from N163.18bn in October to N250.50bn in November. “Total foreign transactions, however, decreased by 17.63 per cent from N81.72bn (about $211.75m) in October to N67.31bn (about $172.38m) in November,” it said. According to the report, institutional investors outperformed retail investors by 16 percent.
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GIK/APA
