The rejection of amnesty for bandits and insurgents terrorising the country by President Muhammadu Buhari and the abduction of 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara, on Thursday night are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Vanguard reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, ruled out amnesty for bandits and insurgents terrorising the country.
The Nigerian President stated this at the meeting of northern governors and traditional rulers in the north over the security situation in the region at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna.
Addressing the meeting, President Buhari ruled out negotiating with bandits, saying that his government would continue to deal decisively with insurgents, bandits and kidnappers who have continued to hold the country to ransom.
Buhari’s rejection of amnesty for the bandits and insurgents came against the backdrop of demands by popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi, and Zamfara State governor, Bello Mattawale.
Both have been in the forefront in the agitation for amnesty for bandits and insurgents in the north.
At the meeting, the Northern Governors’ Forum also cautioned their southern counterparts and leaders in the south to refrain from unguarded utterances that could set the country on fire.
The Guardian says that about 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebein Zamfara State, were kidnapped on Thursday night, the BBC Hausa reports that more than a week after 42 students and staff were kidnapped from a school in Kagara, Niger State.
A resident of Jangebe who gave his name as Haliru Jangebe told the News Agency of Nigeria that local vigilantes tried but failed to repel the invaders.
“The bandits were too many and they all seemed to be carrying heavy arms as we heard gunshots from all parts of the town and when the shots stopped, we heard that the students had been taken away,” he said.
Zailani Bappah, the special assistant on public enlightenment, confirmed the abduction to BBC Pidgin on Friday morning.
The State Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria, also confirmed the Jangebe abduction, but declined to speak on the number of students kidnapped.
ThisDay says that notwithstanding Nigeria owing $86.39 billion (N32.9 trillion) to external creditors, the nation will continue to borrow to finance infrastructural development, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said yesterday.
She also stated that a supplementary budget for 2021 was being prepared for submission to the National Assembly for approval in March.
In addition, the federal government may soon compel Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to patronise locally-made vehicles.
Ahmed told reporters in Abuja that although the country has expanded its borrowing portfolio, it is still below 25 per cent of debt-to-GDP ratio and within borrowing limit.
She said: “The total borrowing of the country as of 31 of December (2020) is 21.6 per cent of the GDP. So, if we were not looking at adding the other category of loans that I mentioned, we don’t even need to increase that at this time.
As of 2019, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 19.2 per cent, so only two per cent was added.” According to her, though the loan issue is a touchy one, it is not out of place for government to borrow to stay afloat while striving to increase its revenue.
The Punch reports that Nigeria spent a total of N10.7tn on fuel subsidy in the last 10 years, according to the Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Adetunji Oyebanji.
Oyebanji, who was the guest speaker at the 18th Aret Adams Lecture on Thursday, said N750bn was spent on subsidy in 2019. He highlighted the need for a transition to a market-driven environment through policy-backed legislative and commercial frameworks, enabling the sustainability of the downstream petroleum sector.
“Total deregulation is more than just the removal of price subsidies; it is aimed at improving business operations, increasing the investments in the oil and gas sector value chain, resulting in the growth in the nation’s downstream petroleum sector as a whole,” he said.
The managing director of 11 Plc (formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc) said steps had been taken, “but larger and faster leaps are now required.”
According to him, deregulation requires the creation of a competitive market environment, and will guarantee the supply of products at commercial and market prices.
The newspaper reports that Nigeria is moving in the right direction economically but its movement is not fast, the United Nations stated on Thursday.
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, said this during a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in Abuja.
She said the challenges in Nigeria were huge, its population large but described the country’s economy as great with lots of opportunities.
The UN scribe stated that after traveling by train and through various roads in the Northern parts of Nigeria, she discovered that the roads were motorable, although there were ongoing repairs on some of them.
Mohammed said: “This is a country that is diverse in nature, ethnicity, religious backgrounds and opportunities. But these are its strengths, not weaknesses.
The Sun says that Nigeria may be forced to cut off power supply to the Republics of Niger and Benin over an outstanding N2.60 billion electricity debt.
Details of the unpaid electricity debt owed by the two countries are contained in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) second quarter 2020 report released yesterday in Abuja.
The report indicated that of the N4.10billion (US$13.39 million) invoice issued by the Market Operator(MO) to international customers which included Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC, Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique – SBEE and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo–CEET), only CEET paid the sum of N1.51bilion (US$4.92million) in respect of services it received from the Nigerian MO.
The Federal Government had in December 2019, threatened to disconnect Togo, Benin and Niger Republic from electricity supply over non-payment of their electricity bill to Nigeria.
Immediate past Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed, had explained that prior to his emergence as the Managing Director of TCN, Benin and Togo owed Nigeria more than $100 million.
The demand for international customers who receive electricity from Nigeria to pay their bills or be disconnected has been ongoing for years from Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) which supplies electricity to Togo and Benin. Both countries, and Niger Republic receive 300 megawatts electricity supply each from Nigeria.
GIK/APA