The warning that the Buhari administration will not be intimidated into making any hasty decision on restructuring the country and the outrage across the country over the harassment, extortion and extra-judicial killings of innocent Nigerians by the police are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
ThisDay reports that the presidency in a veiled reference to renewed agitations for restructuring of Nigeria yesterday said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would not be intimidated into making any hasty decision over the matter, claiming that the country’s enemies were actively sponsoring discord in the polity.
The report noted that there have been renewed agitations for the country to be restructured to avoid its break-up, with the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, joining the fray at the weekend.
But the presidency in two separate statements said Buhari would not be pressured to make any decision that would not be in the interest of the nation, making it clear that the president would only work with the legislature on issues of national concerns.
“The presidency responds to the recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the president to do one thing or another or else, in their language, “the nation will break up,” it said in a terse statement last night by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, adding firmly: “This is to warn that such unpatriotic outbursts are both unhelpful and unwarranted as this government will not succumb to threats and take any decision out of pressure at a time when the nation’s full attention is needed to deal with the security challenges facing it at a time of the Covid-19 health crisis.”
The Vanguard says that the governors of the country’s 36 states have called for the devolution of more powers to the states with adequate funding to meet the yearnings of the citizenry, warning that the current structure is unsustainable and could cause calamity if not re-jigged.
This view was conveyed by the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, and governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, during a chat with senior journalists in Lagos, yesterday.
He specifically warned that “if we did not re-jig the polity to meet the yearnings of all of us, it will consume us because ‘resource constraint is a challenge for every state”.
The governor spoke as former National Chairman of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, said only a restructured Nigeria would save the country from disintegrating before the 2023 general elections.
The Punch reports that there was outrage across the country on Sunday over the harassment, extortion and extra-judicial killings of innocent Nigerians by operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, one of the units of the Nigeria Police Force.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, and the Minister of State of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, were among Nigerians, who expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of F-SARS operatives, describing it as unacceptable.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, had earlier, in a swift reaction to the extra-judicial killings and harassment of innocent Nigerians, banned personnel of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad from engaging in routine patrols, stop-and-search, mounting of roadblocks and traffic checks with immediate effect.
The videos of shooting of a young man by F-SARS in Ugheli, Delta State went viral on Saturday. The security men were said to have fled with his Lexus Jeep and left his body on the roadside.
On Thursday, a sales coordinator with Rifugio Communications Limited, a partner of Samsung, Joshua Oghenekevwe, was abducted by policemen at Epe on his way to Warri, Delta State. They were alleged to have seized his phone and forced him to pay them N100,000 after threatening to kill him.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has said the National Action Committee will engage Ministries, Departments and Agencies and major stakeholders on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Adebayo spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting with the Secretary-General, AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, and other major stakeholders in the public and private sector in Lagos recently.
The engagement was part of preparations for the commencement of the AfCFTA scheduled for January 2021.
Adebayo, whose ministry is driving the AfCFTA implementation, said, “With the stakeholder sensitisation, the National Action Committee hoped to begin a long and engaging conversation with all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and stakeholders on what the AfCFTA will mean for them.”
THE Nation reports that Public Transport Owners of Nigeria Association (PTONA) has called on the Federal Government to release the N10 billion palliative approved for transport owners.
The fund was meant to cushion the losses of the transport owners during the COVID-19 lockdown. It would be recalled that during the lockdown, interstate and cross border transport operators were directed by the government to suspend operations.
PTONA said its members made huge revenue losses during the period. During the six-hour meeting, the governing council of the association lamented the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic, armed robbery attacks and kidnappings on its business operations nationwide.
The council thanked the government for the approval, but frowned that, the fund is yet to be disbursed. The operators appealed to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to come to the aid of the road users, who are daily suffering untold hardships in the hands of the criminal element.
The Daily Trust says that Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and CNL (the “NNPC/CNL JV”) together with its affiliates, says it has commenced a review of “its manpower requirements in the light of the changing business environment.”
To this end, the exercise would see the oil giant downsizing 25 percent of its workforce across the various levels of the organization,
it was revealed. CNL’s General Manager Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Esimaje Brikinn said the company continues to evaluate opportunities to improve capital efficiency and reduce operating costs.
In this process, the company will be streamlining its workforce and improving service delivery and overall performance at all levels. According to him, the aim is to have a business that is competitive and have an appropriately sized organization with improved processes.
GIK/APA