The visit of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Nigeria on Thursday as persistent unrest and human rights concerns prompt calls for a rethink of the US relationship with Africa’s most populous nation is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that the Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Nigeria on Thursday as persistent unrest and human rights concerns prompt calls for a rethink of the US relationship with Africa’s most populous nation.
The top US diplomat is on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa where he is looking to champion President Joe Biden’s key priorities of promoting democracy and fighting both climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
On his first stop Wednesday in longtime ally Kenya, Blinken called for African-driven solutions to the continent’s crises including the spiralling war in Ethiopia — where Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has been leading mediation.
With 20 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population and its largest economy, Nigeria is critical for any continent-wide strategy and successive US administrations have courted Nigerian leaders since the restoration of civilian rule in 1999.
But US views of Nigeria, already marred by years of violence and rampant corruption, hardened last year after security forces unleashed deadly violence during massive protests against police brutality.
Biden, in an unusually forceful statement as a candidate, voiced solidarity with the protesters and urged President Muhammadu Buhari — whom Blinken will meet Thursday — to rein in security forces.
Senator Bob Menendez, a member of Biden’s Democratic Party who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at a hearing with Blinken called for a “fundamental rethink of the framework of our overall engagement” with Nigeria.
Congressional objections have held up the sale of 12 US Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria amid calls to probe whether the military is doing enough to prevent civilian deaths as it battles the two-decade Boko Haram jihadist insurgency.
The newspaper says that hundreds of Nigerian Boko Haram jihadists who are being held in a camp after surrendering to the military rioted on Wednesday to demand the right to slaughter cows for meat, sources said.
The riot prompted residents in the northeast city of Maiduguri to lay siege to the camp, wielding swords, daggers and clubs, and threatening to kill anyone who left the facility, security sources and locals told AFP.
The incident illustrated the sensitive task authorities face in re-inserting former fighters back into communities that have often suffered from years of attacks and kidnappings during a 12-year Islamist insurgency.
The army presents the surrender of hundreds of Boko Haram fighters and families in recent months as a sign of success in ending the conflict centred in northeast Borno State, but many residents still see them as a security risk.
Around 250 Boko Haram members, including women and children, staged a violent protest in the Gidan Taki outskirts of the city, smashing windows and doors and threatening to move out of the camp if their demand was not met, the sources and residents said.
“The Boko Haram inmates went on a rampage this morning, breaking doors and windows and even attempted to leave the camp,” said Konto Garga, a member of an anti-jihadist militia that helps the army.
The Punch reports that power consumers nationwide may start to pay more for electricity, following plans by the Federal Government to carry out a review of power tariff, The PUNCH has learnt.
This came as the Federal Government said on Wednesday it had commenced the procurement of four million meters meant to be distributed free of charge to unmetered power users nationwide.
It also put the number of unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria at about eight million, adding that over 860,000 meters were distributed for free to power users under phase zero of the National Mass Metering Programme. It was learnt on Wednesday the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission would review the country’s power tariffs by next month, barring any unforeseen circumstance.
On the four million free meters being procured, the Deputy General Manager, Consumer Affairs, NERC, Shittu Shuaibu, described it as the phase one of the NMMP, which had commenced. Shuaibu, who spoke during a live radio programme monitored in Abuja, said the Meter Asset Providers, working with the distribution companies, had been able to deploy about 860,000 meters under phase zero of the mass metering programme.
He said, “The programme is supposed to run in three phases which include phase zero, phase one and phase two. Phase zero was rounded up around the end of October.
The newspaper says that Nigeria’s remittance inflow is set to hit $17.6bn and push inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa to $45bn in 2021, a new report by the World Bank has indicated.
Remittance inflow to Nigeria was $17.2bn as of December, 2021. The World Bank report, titled, ‘Recovery COVID-19 Crisis Through a Migration Lens: Migration and Development Brief 35’, which was released on Wednesday, showed that remittance inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa returned to growth in 2021, increasing by 6.2 per cent to $45bn. The Washington, United States-based bank said,
“Several developments are supporting a return to growth in remittance inflows during 2021, estimated at 6.2 per cent to $45bn.” The bank noted that the recovery in Nigeria’s remittance inflows could be partially attributed to the increasing influence of policies intended to channel inflows through the banking system.
The global bank also said remittance inflows to low and middle-income countries would reach $589bn in 2021. It said, “Nigeria continues to dominate remittance inflows into Sub-Saharan Africa given the exceptional size of the Nigerian migrant base (an estimated 800,000 persons) concentrated in two key host countries, the United States (375,000) and the United Kingdom (220,000).
The Sun says that the National Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has lamented shortage of semi-skilled labour, saying it is having serious implication for both businesses and the economy.
The President of the association, John Udeagbala, who made the remark at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said it was becoming difficult to find semi-skilled workforce like electricians, plumbers, welders, fitters, machinist, bricklayers, plasters etc.
He explained that the manufacturing and construction sectors were experiencing some shortage and needed collaboration to resolve this growing challenge.
Applauding the Federal Government for realising the need to partner the organised private sector (OPS) to find a lasting solution as contained in the Executive order 5, Udeagbala urged government to walk the talk by actively collaborating with the association to work with member companies whose factories can also be used as training centers to ensure that the identified gaps are closed.
“The MDAs shall work with the OPS in consultation with other relevant government agencies both at federal and state levels to achieve sustainable personnel development, training of Nigerian professionals, contractors, and technocrats contractors.” He called on companies that have factories and were ready to join in this project to contact the association.
ThisDay reports that the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has stressed the need for Nigeria to embrace digital entrepreneurship and innovation in order to remain relevant with the global digital transformation initiative.
Abdullahi gave the advice in Lagos, during the ICT Growth Conference and Awards 2021, organised recently by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), with the theme: ‘Harmonising ICT Sub Sectors Towards A Digitalised Nigeria’.
Abdullahi who was represented by the Head, South-west Zonal Office of NITDA, Mrs. Chioma Okee-Aguguo, said although digital entrepreneurship and innovation were relatively new concepts in developing countries, business owners were already implementing the new standards in order to stay competitive and increase product and service efficiency, which is required in order to keep up with the new norm and avoid becoming obsolete.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who was represented at the event by the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, said the thematic focus of the event: ‘Harmonising ICT sub-Sectors towards a Digitised Nigeria’, was quite timely and apt, as it provided NCC as the telecoms industry regulator to share thoughts on how it could collectively create synergy among the various sub-sectors of the ICT industry.
GIK/APA