The concerns expressed by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and other Nigerian leaders about the worsening security situation in Nigeria dominate the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
ThisDay reports that President Muhammadu Buhari was put on the spot yesterday as leaders of opinion, including Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, expressed deep concerns about the worsening security situation in the country.
While Soyinka said the abduction of students of Government Science Secondary School (GSSS), Kankara, Katsina State at the time Buhari was in neighbouring Daura on a private visit to the state was a dirty slap across the president’s face, the sultan lamented that insecurity is worsening across the nation.
The two weighty comments came as the presidency reported progress on efforts to rescue the schoolchildren, saying their abductors had made contact with the state government that had begun talks with them.
Although various numbers of the abductees were being bandied about, Governor Aminu Masari said on Sunday that 333 pupils, out of the 839 student population as of the time of the incident, were yet to be accounted for.
The governor travelled to Daura yesterday to update the president on the rescue efforts.
The newspaper says that a South African military contracting company, Conella Services Ltd., engaged by former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to contain the Boko Haram insurgency in 2014, yesterday expressed its readiness to return to the country, if asked to by the federal government, to finish the job of routing the deadly sect.The military contractor told ARISE NEWS Channel that although as a sovereign nation, Nigeria could decide whether to allow negotiations, which will pave the way for its returning to the country, it is important for the government to review its strategy for defeating the insurgents.
A director and spokesperson of Conella Services, whose identity was concealed for security reason, said on The Morning Show, the flagship breakfast programme of ARISE NEWS Channel, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, that it degraded Boko Haram and liberated many communities within one month for the first time in three years.
The group, contracted by the then National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), explained that while it would like to return to the country if invited by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, it refused to see its possible return as an indictment of the Nigerian military.
It added that it would only offer its own capabilities, while the Nigerian armed forces would “lead from the front.”
The Vanguard reports that Resident Doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, on Monday warned that Nigerians should be wary of COVID-19 second wave as some patients discharged of COVID-19in the past are coming down with the virus again even as they posited that recent event suggests the country is in the middle of another pandemic.
Briefing journalists, the President of ARD LUTH, Dr. Judith Jolayemi, called on all citizens of Nigeria, organizations, institutions, and the government to return to the status quo by reinstating the previously initiated precautionary actions towards preventing the spread of the virus.
Jolayemi said: “Schools after vacating this month maybe considered to remain closed until the epidemic curve begins to reverse. Government at all levels should continue to enforce laws regarding adherence to safety protocols, scale-up covid-19 testing, improve infrastructure and services across boarding including the airports and ensure the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines at the earliest time possible.”
Speaking, a Senior Registrar at the LUTH COVID-19 Isolation Centre, Dr. Folarin Opawoye, noted that Nigerians attitude towards the non-pharmaceutical guideline are making the country lose the gains it achieved in the past.
The newspaper reports that Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the kidnap of over 300 students from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State.
In a recorded 4 minutes 28 seconds audio released on Monday night December 14, Abubakar Shekau, said contrary to what was being reported, it was yet to make any demands.
HumAngle quotes Shekau as saying, “What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet.
“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam. It may be subtle, but Allah the Lord of the skies and earths knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims.” “In a nutshell, we are behind what happened in Katsina.”
The Punch says that Nigeria recorded $414.79m Foreign Direct Investment in the third quarter of 2020 out of a total of $1.46bn capital inflow into the country during the period under review.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its ‘Nigerian capital importation’ report for the third quarter of 2020.
Part of the report read, “The total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $1,461.49m in the third quarter of 2020. “This represents an increase of 12.86 percent compared to Q2 2020 and -74.03 percent decrease compared to the third quarter of 2019.
“The largest amount of capital importation by type was received through other investment, which accounted for 43.75 per cent ($639.44m) of total capital importation, followed by Foreign Direct Investment, which accounted for 28.38 percent ($414.79m) of total capital imported and portfolio investment which accounted for 27.87 percent ($407.25m) of total capital imported in Q3 2020.”
The Sun reports that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is providing rural banking to its customers through partnership with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in order to support the sustainable development goals of the Federal Government.
Its General manager, E -commerce and Logistics, Kunle Oladapo, dropped the hint at the Lagos Trade Fair, where he explained that financial institutions like NIRSAL will be at the counters to attend to customers.
Oladayo noted that NIPOST is developing micro finance banks so that customers can access soft loans to boost their business.
He explained that the micro finance system is not limited to PoS alone. “We have counter transactions where you can save your money and apply for soft loans. Most of the banking activities will be carried out in our offices.”
“NIPOST is supporting sustainable development goals by providing rural banking to the unbaked through partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said.
GIK/APA