Press focuses on reactions to Buhari’s stern warning to secessionists, others
APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The millions of comments and widespread condemnation of the stern warning of President Muhammadu Buhari to the secessionists and the reaction of Twitter dominate the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari’s Tuesday stern warning to secessionists assumed global dimension when the popular micro-blogging platform, Twitter, deleted a tweet on the President’s official handle @MBuhari, in which he threatened to treat Nigerians “misbehaving in the language they understand.”
President Buhari had in the tweet shared on Tuesday, cited the Nigerian Civil War experience, which was fought between 1967 and 1970, and noted that most of those “misbehaving” by burning electoral offices were too young to understand the gravity of war.
The tweet had attracted millions of comments and widespread condemnation with many Nigerians criticising the president for making reference to the war in which millions of Nigerians, mostly of Igbo extraction, were killed.
Some Nigerians had called on Twitter to suspend his account, claiming the president’s tweet “expresses intentions of self-harm or suicide”, as stated on Twitter’s usage policy.
However, Twitter yesterday deleted the message and replaced the tweet with: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules. Learn More.”
The newspaper says that the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has described Nigerian leaders as heartless for allegedly watching bandits and terrorists turn the country into a killing field.
In his homily during the burial of Fr. Alphosus Bello at Our Lady of Apostles Catholic Church, Kaduna, yesterday, he slammed President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for failing to address the country’s security challenges.
Kukah said: “Those who govern us are allowing this killing of citizens because they have no blood in their hearts.”
Bello was kidnapped, alongside Fr. Joseph Keke, and murdered in Katsina by bandits on May 21, 2021.
“There is nowhere in the whole world that citizens can be slaughtered without the government showing empathy and concern. The continuous barbaric slaughter of our people in their innocence suggests that our beautiful Presidential Villa, National Assembly and government houses are not moving with civilisation.
“How did Nigeria come to this tragic situation? We know who they are, whom they believe in and where their inspiration comes from. But the government has never declared the kidnappers a terrorist group,” he added.
The Vanguard reports that the Federal Government on Wednesday reacted to the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweets on Wednesday by Twitter, saying that Twitter’s mission in Nigeria is “very very suspect.”
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated this while fielding questions from the State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the First Lady’s Conference Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Buhari after receiving briefing on Tuesday from the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on the destruction of the commission’s facilities across the country, had in his reaction referenced the civil war and threatened to deal with the trouble makers.
The President had in series of tweet on Tuesday via his verified Twitter handle @mbuhari tweeted: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Following several complaints, Twitter deleted the tweet, stating: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules”.
In his reaction, the Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Mohammed, accused Twitter of double standard, wondering why the social media giant has conveniently ignored alleged inciting tweets by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and his cohorts.
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The Sun reports that the National Association of Small Medium Enterprises (NASME) and National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) have expressed doubt over the reality of Federal Government’s interventions rolled out over time to cushion effects of COVID -19 pandemic on businesses.
In line with the pandemic the Federal Government had rolled out some initiatives to combat the potential negative impacts on households and businesses. In a circular, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) described the intervention as part of measures to reflate the economy and support businesses.
These measures include but not limited to the creation of a N50billion targeted credit facility for households and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and subsequent facilities.
But the Associations have asserted that there was need to ease and fast-track access to the loans by credible businesses in Nigeria, saying the move was a proactive response to current economic challenges. They however, lamented that members have not been able to access the funds despite submitting lists of those who have applied with business plans.
The Punch says that Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano airports will be on concession for a minimum of 20 to 30 years, the Federal Government said on Wednesday.
It provided the explanation in a document on frequently asked questions about airport concession released by the Federal Ministry of Aviation in Abuja. In a document on the status of the road map/public private partnership projects concession of airports, made available to our correspondent, the government named the airports/parts that were up for concession.
They include the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos: international and cargo terminals; and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja: international, domestic and cargo terminals.
Others include the Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt: international, domestic and cargo terminals; and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano: international, domestic and cargo terminals.
Providing additional explanation on the duration of the concession in a separate document, it said, “Infrastructure concessions of this nature come with a significant financial obligation which any responsible concessionaire will no doubt be keen to recoup.
ThisDay reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the Nigerian oil and gas industry will require at least $40 billion in direct investments in basic infrastructure to achieve the federal government’s much talked-about about “Decade of Gas.”
Also, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr. Sanusi Barkindo, said the cartel’s latest assessment showed that capital investments in the upstream of the oil and gas industry fell by 30 per cent in 2020.
The NNPC said yesterday that it was targeting between 7.4 billion cubic feet to 10 billion cubit feet of gas in the next couple of years, compared to its current 1.6 bcf supply capacity.
Speaking at a virtual forum organised by the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG), tagged “The Decade of Gas: Unlocking Opportunities in the Domestic Gas Market,” the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, NNPC, Mr Yusuf Usman, stated that a major constraint in achieving local content through the programme is the difficult conditions placed by foreign lenders.
However, he stated that the corporation expects to grow about 10 gas-based industries as it works towards the 10-year target.
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