The reaction of the Nigerian Government to the plan by the United Kingdom to offer asylum to “persecuted” members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Government on Tuesday expressed anger over a plan by the United Kingdom to offer asylum to “persecuted” members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, said the plan was disrespectful to Nigeria as a nation.
Mohammed stated this as there were indications on Tuesday that the Federal Government might summon the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, over the asylum offer.
But socio-political groups including the Middle Belt Forum, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere and the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, supported the asylum offer by the UK and berated the Federal Government over the development.
The UK Visas and Immigration issued new guidelines to its decision makers on how to consider and grant asylum applications of members of Biafran secessionist groups in Nigeria.
In the guidelines published on assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government, it stated that the asylum would be granted to “persecuted” members of IPOB and MASSOB.
The newspaper says that President Muhammadu Buhari is to receive the recommendations of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group on how to revamp the economy soon, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said on Tuesday.
She said this at a press briefing in Abuja where the NESG presented the recommendations that were put together from its 26th National Economic Summit.
“We will transmit the recommendations to the President and in deed make the report of this summit available to the Federal Government,” Ahmed stated.
She further stated that the government would put in place policies that would ensure the implementation of the recommendations in ministries, departments and agencies.
The Chairman, NESG, Asue Ighodalo, said the proper implementation of the recommendations would go a long way in revamping the Nigerian economy, particularly after the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said part of the recommendations included the empowerment Nigerian youths, as he urged the government tackle youth unemployment, underemployment, employability, and entrepreneurship.
ThisDay reports that barely a month after the death of Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, from a heart-related ailment, Africa yesterday lost another of its leaders, Chad’s President Idriss Déby, who died of injuries following clashes with rebels in the north of the country.
Déby “breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield”, an army general said on state TV yesterday. He had gone to the frontline, several hundred kilometres north of the capital N’Djamena, at the weekend to visit troops battling rebels belonging to a group calling itself Fact (the Front for Change and Concord in Chad).
He had battled for control of the country against rebels who have been advancing on N’Djamena. The Chadian military had on Monday said troops killed over 300 members of the FACT rebel group.
The movement of rebels towards N’Djamena led the United Kingdom to advise its citizens to leave the country. The United States government also asked all non-essential diplomats to leave.
The announcement by the country’s army came a day after provisional results of the April 11 presidential election projected Déby would win a sixth term in office. The government and parliament have immediately been dissolved, a curfew has also been imposed and the borders have been shut.
Déby, 68, spent more than three decades in power and was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. An army officer by training, he came to power in 1990 through an armed uprising.
The newspaper says that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured exporters that they will continue to have unfettered access to their export proceeds. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, during a presentation at Zenith Bank’s 2021 Export Seminar, which held via a virtual platform yesterday, however, urged them to reciprocate the good gestures of the central bank by repatriating their funds.
According to him, supporting greater trade within Africa and the global community is vital to the CBN’s objectives of enabling greater economic growth and creating employment opportunities for the country’s growing population.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting implications on crude oil prices in 2020, which led to a significant decline in government revenues and forex earnings, had strengthened the case for the diversification of the economy.
Emefiele expressed optimism that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) offers opportunities for the Nigerian private sector to expand into new markets and seek new export opportunities, particularly in the area of manufacturing, ICT, agriculture and financial services.
The Sun reports that the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mela Kyari, has assured motorists that fuel queues, that resurfaced in petrol stations in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, would disappear in no time.
He gave the assurance while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari to give updates on the industry and goings-on in the country around the oil and gas business.
Asked why the fuel queues were back in the nation’s capital, Kyari said: “These queues will go away. It’s because there was an industrial action by petroleum tanker drivers against their employers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners around their compensation package and those issues were not resolved up till yesterday, until we intervened to ensure that there’s an amicable settlement between the parties so that they will have peace and then normal loading operations will commence from the depots.
The Guardian says that the Federal Government has announced plans to increase milk production from the current 600,000 metric tonnes to 1,700,000 metric tonnes by 2024.
Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who gave the short-term target, said the government will provide the needed infrastructure to enhance milk aggregation and distribution and that the plan will reduce the $1.3 billion dairy importation bill.
The Vice President represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Niyi Adebayo, at a webinar organised by Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc to launch its Value4dairy Consortium, said dairy was one of Nigeria’s priority products for domestic production as it is a source of demand for foreign exchange, adding that it also has the potential to create wealth for farmers.
“These priority products include oil palm, cassava, starch, cotton, textile and garments, sugar and dairy.
“With Friesland Campina WAMCO as a processor to deliver the end chain, the partnership will drive increased consumption of processed milk, milk products and the expected industry growth,” he said.
GIK/APA