The declaration by former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has been overwhelmed by insecurity is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, declared that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has been overwhelmed by insecurity.
Obasanjo spoke in the light of the recent deadly attack on a Kaduna-bound train, which killed seven passengers, while 21 others are reportedly missing.
“I believe that all right thinking Nigerians must know that we have a situation that has overwhelmed the present administration,” he said at his penthouse residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while receiving a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Dr. Ugochukwu Williams.
Describing the attack as “a serious situation,” Obasanjo lamented that Nigerians are “no longer safe on the road, in the train and at the airport.”
This was as pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, expressed concern over threat by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, to invite foreign mercenaries to fight terrorism, describing it as an ominous sign for the country.
In a statement issued by National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, the group, said: “Hiring the services of foreign mercenaries is certainly beyond the powers of any state governor, according to the Constitution. And el-Rufai knows this so well.
“So, for him to assert that he (and a few of his colleagues) will resort to this option could be a pointer to certain things that had hitherto not been so clear to members of the public.”
The newspaper says that having raised about $4 billion in the last four years from over 100 international banks/investors in over 20 countries, the Bank of Industry (BOI) has stated that it hopes to increase the figure to about $10 billion to deepen its intervention.
The Managing Director, BOI, Olukayode Pitan, explained that the funds raised over the years improved the bank’s capacity to support Nigeria’s real sector.
Speaking during the inauguration of the bank’s second tower in Abuja, Pitan hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to enable the bank to approach the international capital market and conclude various funding transactions.
Some of the transactions, according to him, include a $750 million syndicated medium-term loan in 2018 which has now been fully paid, the €1billion syndicated loan in March 2020, a $1 billion syndicated loan in December 2020 and the €750 million senior Eurobond (the first by any African national DFI) in February 2022.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government’s thirst for debts appears to have deepened as new borrowing allocations rose by 278.03 per cent or N4.03tn between 2015 and 2021, The PUNCH has learnt.
This was disclosed in the presentation of the public debt data as of December 31, 2021, by the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha.
According to the document, the new borrowing allocation for 2015 was N1.46tn, which was 90.17 per cent of the N1.62tn budget deficit.
For 2021, the allocation for new borrowing was N5.49tn, which was 85.11 per cent of the N6.45tn budget deficit.
On the source of the figures, the document read in part, “2015 comprises 2015 Appropriation Act and supplementary budget of N575bn for the same year. 2021 comprises 2021 Appropriation Act and supplementary budget of N802bn for the same year”.
The document further identified issues around the public debt level, which include fast-growing debts, high Debt Service to Revenue Ratio, and concerns around the use of proceeds from the debts.
However, the DMO DG tried to justify the reason for the increase in public debt levels, which, according to her, is due to the country’s huge infrastructure deficit, recession, consecutive budget deficits, and low revenue base.
The newspaper says that two million people will start receiving about N20bn from June this year as basic cash transfers and conditional cash transfers under the National Cash Transfer Programme, according to the Federal Government.
It was gathered that the Federal Government would pay the two million people N5,000 each under the basic cash transfer and an additional N5,000 under the conditional cash transfer. This implies that the government would be spending N20bn on the beneficiaries.
A March 2022 document on the strategic roadmap and activities of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, showed that the number of people receiving cash transfers from the government had been increasing.
The report stated that in 2018, a total of 19 states were covered under the National Cash Transfer Programme, as this increased to 24 states in 2019 and moved up to 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2022, covering 1.6 million people.
But the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, stated in the document that the number would increase further in June. Under the cash transfer scheme, the Federal Government supports poor and vulnerable households with cash on a monthly basis.
“By June 2022 we would be paying two million people N5,000 basic cash transfer and an additional N5,000 on conditional cash transfers, which is conditioned on good health-seeking/behaviour, school retention, and good water and hygiene conditions in their environment/homes,” Farouq stated.
She explained that the ministry designed and piloted a shock-responsive social register, called the Rapid Response Register to capture urban poor informal workers, who were daily wage earners, working across towns and cities, and impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown.
The Nation reports that the Federal Government has ordered telecommunications companies to immediately bar all outgoing calls for all Nigerians who have failed to link Subscribers Identity Modules( SIM) with their National Identity Numbers( NIN).
It said enforcement of the policy begins from Monday April 4, 2022 as part of necessary steps for security across the nation.
It added it had in the past two years shifted enforcement of the policy at multi times to ensure Nigerians and residents citizens were captured in the database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
A statement signed on behalf of the government by the Director of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde and the Director of Corporate Communications of NIMC, Mr Kayode Adegoke noted that 125 million SIMs have so far been linked with NIN.
It added that 78 million citizens have been issued with unique NINs till date.
The statement reads:”On behalf of the Federal Government, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has commended Nigerians and Legal Residents for their support during the exercise to link the National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).
” As of date, over 125 Million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication. Similarly, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over 78 Million unique NINs till date.
GIK/APA