The report credited to Nigeria’s former Head of State of the proliferation of all calibre of weapons put at over 6 million in the country and the engagement of Nigerian lawmakers with the United States Department of State on tackling the devastating security situation in the country are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that miffed by the worsening insecurity in the country, Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), yesterday expressed concern over the proliferation of all calibre of weapons in the country, which he estimated at six million.
Abubakar, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Committee (NPC), painted the dire state of affairs in the country at a dialogue session of the committee with stakeholders at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
He lamented that the proliferation of weapons has heightened insecurity in the country and has led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country.
This is coming after a recent report by SBM Intelligence indicated that civilians were in possession of more arms than security officials in the country. The report detailed how the proliferation of small arms in Africa’s largest economy is fueling insecurity in the country.
“The number of small arms in circulation in Nigeria, in the hands of civilian non-state actors is estimated at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively account for 586,600 firearms,” the report said.
According to a Global Terrorism Index 2020 report, Nigeria was ranked the third most terrorised country in the world due to insecurity.
ThisDay says that the House of Representatives yesterday had constructive engagements with the United States Department of State to review the relationship between both countries with specific regards on how to tackle the devastating security situation in the country.
The House delegation was led by the Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson, alongside Chairman of House Committee on Army, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas; Deputy Chairman, House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Hon. Adejoro Adeogun, and the House Spokesperson, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
Similarly, the US team was led by the Deputy Chief of Mission, Ms. Kathleen FitzGibbon, with Political-Military Officer, Mr. Daniel Ricci; Political Officer, Mr. Jerry Howard; Major, US Air force, Mr. John Mahaney, and Major in US Airforce, Ms. Yonca Nice.
While interacting, which lasted for two hours, the Nigerian delegation was informed of the US efforts and achievements in Nigeria in the areas of expenditures on health, human development, capacity building among others.
Speaking at the meeting, Babajimi Benson assured Nigerians that with the new arrival of the fighter jets expected from the US, the Nigerian Air force will be better equipped to fight insurgency.
He added that Nigeria’s strategic relationship with the US would add value to the country’s fight against insecurity in no distant time.
The newspaper reports that Alliance for the Survival of COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s medical trip to the UK as a violation of the National Health Act.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Chairman of the group and human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, ASCAB added that Buhari’s constant visits to the UK for health check depicts the terrible state of Nigerian medicare.
The labour and civil society coalition group said it was contradictory for the President to go abroad for medicare when as billions of naira were allocated to the health sector every year apart from the huge amount of money credited to the Presidential Clinic in Aso Rock.“The President of Nigeria visiting the United Kingdom, for healthcare 60 years after independence is a shame. It confirms that Nigeria cannot guarantee the health of her President even with the country can boast of a rainbow of experts and Teaching Hospitals that have been left to rot away,” Falana explained.
The group wondered what could happen to the ordinary people if the country could not secure the well-being of her President.
ASCAB said President Buhari’s action violated the constitution of the country.
ASCAB traced the tragic weekend deaths of two prominent human rights activists, Mr. Yinka Odumakin and Innocent Chukwuma to the parlous state of Nigerian healthcare, saying that the two, like millions of Nigerian in rural and urban areas would have lived if the country’s leaders had funded and equipped hospitals for prompt diagnosis and treatment.
The Vanguard says that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to propose a $650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to its member countries in the organisation’s efforts to boost their reserve positions. The Managing Director (MD) of the IMF, Ms Kristinalina Georgieva, disclosed during a press briefing at the ongoing virtual IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, that the G20 had given the needed node for the proposal to be tabled before members yesterday.
The Managing Director, who made a public presentation of the 2021 IMF Global Policy Agenda tasked Central Banks across the globe on how to use their monetary mandates to assist the world take a shot at an early recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 on the global economy.
She said that once the health crisis was over, governments should scale back support programmes and scale up targeted subsidies, retraining and re-skilling.
While presenting the IMF Global Policy Agenda to the public, she said that the world “a fair shot of the vaccine.”
She called for rapid vaccines production and distribution while charging countries where such vaccines are being produced to avoid export controls. The IMF also recommended a heavy investment in the future by every government.
GIK/APA