President Muhammadu Buhari’s invitation to top Korean business executives to increase their investments in Nigeria, while the government would continue to make determined efforts to improve the enabling domestic environment for businesses to flourish dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Seoul, invited top Korean business executives to increase their investments in Nigeria, while his regime would continue to make determined efforts to improve the enabling domestic environment for businesses to flourish.
A statement released by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari was quoted to have spoken during an audience he granted to representatives of strategic Korean companies and industries on the sidelines of the World Bio Summit 2022 in the Republic of Korea capital.
The President noted that “Nigeria remains committed to creating a stable and enabling business environment for foreign investors through the formulation of sound economic policies and improved governance,” adding that “the security forces have been working assiduously with local communities to ensure the security of lives and properties of Nigerians and foreign investors.”
According to him, “Our administration, has prioritized Power infrastructure under the Presidential Power Initiative. In this regard, Nigeria has procured modern power equipment which was inaugurated in September 2022 as part of the phased project to generate 25,000 megawatts of electricity by 2025. Furthermore, to ensure ease in clearing of cargo, giant strides have been digitalised of the processes in our Sea-Parts as well as airports.”
Making a case for the country as investment friendly and choice destination, President Buhari further highlighted that, “With a nominal GDP of 431.97 billion USD, Nigeria’s economy remains the largest in Africa with vast human capital and natural resources. The steady improvement from the global economic downturn of 2020 indicates that the Nigerian economy is on firm path of recovery.
I implore you therefore, to take advantage of the many investment opportunities in Nigeria, especially in the areas of Oil and Gas, Trade, Manufacturing, ICT, Creative Industry and Culture exchange. Trade between both countries is estimated at $1.3bn
The newspaper says that the Governor, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, announced on Wednesday that the bank would release re-designed naira notes by December 15, 2022.
Emefiele made this announcement during a special press briefing in Abuja yesterday where he gave reasons for the move.
According to the CBN governor, this was targeted at controlling currency in circulation as well as curb counterfeit currency and ransom payment to kidnappers and terrorists.
He noted, “Indeed, the integrity of a local legal tender, the efficiency of its supply and its efficacy in the conduct of monetary policy are some of the hallmarks of a great central bank. “In recent times, however, currency management has faced several daunting challenges that have continued to grow in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country.
“More specifically, as at the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicate that N2.73tn out of the N3.23tn currency in circulation was outside the vaults of commercial banks across the country, and supposedly held by members of the public. Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46tn in December 2015 to N3.23tn as at September 2022. I must say that this is a very worrisome trend that cannot continue to be allowed.”
On how it would help curb ransom payment, he said, “Also, in view of the prevailing level of security situation in the country, the CBN is convinced that the incident of terrorism and kidnapping will be minimised as access to large volume of money outside the banking used as source of funds for ransom payment will begin to dry up.”
The Guardian reports that barely 48 hours after it issued travel advisory to its citizens of possible terror attacks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the United States government, yesterday, granted authorised departure status to U.S. citizens in Abuja, permitting voluntary departure of family members and certain employees of its embassy in Abuja due to heightened risk of terrorist attacks.
This latest security notice by the U.S. Consulate came amid assurances by government and security agencies of no cause for alarm. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had, on Tuesday, labeled the terror threat as unverified and misleading.
In its updated travel advisory, U.S. warned its citizens to avoid travelling to 14 states in Nigeria due to insecurity, mentioning states to be avoided as Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe in Northeast; Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Zamfara in Northwest; Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers in South-South. No state was mentioned in North-Central, Southwest and Southeast.
Reacting to the fresh notice, the Federal Government, yesterday, said it cannot be stampeded by whatever any government tells its citizens to do.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents on the issue at the Presidential Villa, Mohammed said despite attempts by terrorists to embarrass government, security agencies have in the last few months taken firm control of the situation.
The Minister, who spoke against the background of previous assurances he had given, said citizens and non-citizens alike are safe in Nigeria. He said: “On this so called travel advisory, as far as we’re concerned, as a government, we have in the last few months taken a firm handle of security. But I want to reassure all citizens and non-Nigerians living in the country, that security agencies are on top of this matter.
“Of course, the terrorists would not stop to try to embarrass or intimidate government, but what I’m saying is that this country is safe. And there’s no cause for alarm. No cause to panic.”
The newspaper says that with the 2023 general elections about four months away, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), yesterday, declared that 93.5 million Nigerians will participate in the exercise.
The commission disclosed that although 12.29 million Nigerians successfully completed the just concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), about 2.78 million were removed as ineligible registrants.
The commission said the decision followed a rigorous clean up of the data, using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who revealed this during the third quarterly meeting with political parties, said 9,518,188 new voters have been added to the existing register of 84,004,084 voters.
According to him, the preliminary register of voters in Nigeria now stands at 93,522,272. Yakubu said among the invalidated registrations were double/multiple cases, underage persons and outright fake registrations.
“Consequently, the number of valid registrations (post-ABIS) is 9,518,188.
“In terms of demographic distribution, 7.2 million new voters or 76.5 per cent are young people between 18 and 34 years, while there is a slightly higher number of females (4.8 million or 50.82 per cent) than male (4.6 million or 49.18 per cent) voters.
“In terms of occupation, 3.8 million, translating to 40.8 per cent, are students. Hard copies giving the full details of the distribution of the new voters are included in your folders for this meeting,” Yakubu told the stakeholders.
The Guardian also reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, has ordered the Federal Government to pay the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, N500 million as damages, following his illegal abduction and human rights abuse.
The court also ordered the Federal Government to return him to Kenya from where he was extradited to Nigeria on June 19, 2021.
The court, presided by Justice E.N. Anyadike, insisted that the extradition of Kanu from Kenya, without recourse to legal process, was a flagrant abuse of his fundamental human rights.
He held that the respondent failed to disprove the claims of the applicant that he was arrested, blindfolded, tortured and chained to the ground for eight days in Kenya before his extradition to Nigeria.
Kanu, through his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, had approached the court challenging his extradition.
Ejimakor told the court that the suit is sui generis (of a special class) and was primarily aimed at redressing the infamous unlawful expulsion or extraordinary rendition of Kanu, which is a clear violation of his fundamental rights under Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, as well as Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution.
GIK/APA