The report by the Nigerian Army that one officer and 10 soldiers were killed in Benue State while on a routine operational task and the presentation of provisional licenses to 20 new private universities are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday
ThisDay reports that the Nigerian Army said last night that one officer and 10 soldiers were killed in Benue State while on a routine operational task.
There were also unconfirmed reports yesterday that over 50 civilians and 200 houses were burnt, following an invasion of Konshisha Local Government Area of the state by troops.
However, a statement issued by the Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, said following the killings, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, had ordered commanders on ground to fish out and deal decisively with the criminal gangs in the area responsible for the killings.
“Nigerian Army troops operating in Benue State came under attack while on routine operational task. The troops comprising one officer and 10 soldiers were initially declared missing, which prompted the deployment of a joint search and rescue team comprising Nigerian Army troops and personnel of Operation Whirl Stroke.
“The search and rescue team unfortunately found all the missing troops dead in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State. “While the bodies of the slain troops were evacuated immediately, efforts are ongoing to track down the perpetrators of this heinous crime with a view to bringing them to Justice,” it said.
The newspaper says that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hailed the courage of the founding fathers of the Nigerian media, describing them as the fulcrum of the nation’s nationalist struggle.
Osinbajo, who stated this yesterday in Lagos at the launch of ‘The Making of The Nigerian Flagship: A Story of The Guardian,’ written by Aaron Ukodie and O’Seun Ogunseitan, said the founding fathers of the Nigerian press were “instrumental to the birthing of Nigeria.”
It was a moment of reunion for many who passed out of The Guardian ‘journalism school,’ the Flagship, as they converged at the event.
The occasion attracted important guests such as Osinbajo; a former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, who was chairman of the occasion; former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke; Chairman of THISDAY and ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena; Dr. Patrick Dele Cole; the Publisher of The Guardian, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru; Chairman, Ibru Organisation, Chief Oskar Ibru; the Executive Director, Toke Ibru, and the Managing Director of THISDAY Newspaper, Mr. Eniola Bello.
While pouring encomiums on The Guardian, Osinbajo said the story of the newspaper was significant, for the redefinition it meant for print media in Nigeria, and for its uniqueness in bringing public intellectuals and academics into journalism and breeding a generation of talented journalists.
The Vanguard reports that the Nigerian government yesterday presented provisional licenses to the 20 new private universities recently approved by the Federal Executive Council.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, in his remark at the National Universities Commission, NUC Auditorium, Abuja, venue where the licenses were presented, said the approval of the establishment of these universities was a testimony to the continued partnership of the federal government with the private sector.
Adamu, who was represented on the occasion by the Minister of State, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, urged the proprietors to live up to the standard of NUC, warning that quality assurance standards must not be compromised.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, noted that the approval was a landmark achievement for Nigerian universities.
He commended the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, for deploying his goodwill to convince the Federal Executive Council to approve the universities.
The Punch says that the Securities and Exchange Commission has warned the investing public on the proliferation of unregistered online investment and trading platforms facilitating access to trading in securities listed in foreign markets.
This was contained in a circular to capital market operators issued by the management of the commission in Abuja on Thursday.
The circular stated, “The attention of the SEC has been drawn to the existence of several providers of online investment and trading platforms which purportedly facilitate direct access of the investing public in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to securities of foreign companies listed on securities exchanges registered in other jurisdictions.
“These platforms also claim to be operating in partnership with Capital Market Operators registered with the commission.”
The commission stated further that by the provisions of Sections 67-70 of the Investments and Securities Act, 2007 and Rules 414 and 415 of the SEC rules and regulations, only foreign securities listed on any exchange registered in Nigeria may be issued, sold or offered for sale or subscription to the Nigerian public.
The Guardian reports that over 428 oil and gas projects are expected to be developed in Africa’s oil and gas sector before 2025, a new report said yesterday.
Nigeria, regarded as one of the biggest crude oil producers on the continent according to the report, conducted by a leading research body, GlobaData, is to receive over 23 per cent of the total projects to start operations from 2021 to 2025.
The report titled ‘Africa Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 – Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects’ showed that Africa 428 oil and gas projects would commence operations in the period.
The outlook of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector had remained elusive due to a poor fiscal and regulatory framework.
The country has been unable to pass relevant legislations to bolster confidence and reduce uncertainty.
The report noted that refinery and petrochemical segments would witness the start of operations of 65 and 105 projects respectively. Refinery and petrochemical projects together constitute about 55 per cent of upcoming oil and gas projects during 2021–2025, Offshore-technology reported, adding that the midstream sector follows next, with the pipeline segment accounting for 33 per cent of projects.
The Nation says that Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) yesterday recorded a dip in its power supply from 3,387Mw at 1:00am to 2,805Mw in day time.
The cause, according to the source, was due to gas constraint. Meanwhile, the Nigerian System Operator System Performance for Wednesday April 7, 2021 had reflected that the lowest generation was 3,723Mw.
The System Operator that is a section of the TCN, said the peak generation for the period under review was 4,427mw.
On the day under review, the data indicated that the total energy that was generated was 4,078.7Mw.
The document also revealed that the System Operator sent out a total was 3,997mw on Wednesday.
GIK/APA