President Muhammadu Buhari’s appeal to Nigerians not to allow those he described as a few mischief mongers to destroy the country’s unity and the signing of agreements for the construction of 10,000 per day methanol plant and a gas processing plant in Nigeria are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
ThisDay reports that President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday urged Nigerians not to allow those he described as a few mischief mongers to destroy the country’s unity.
Buhari also acknowledged the efforts of frontline health workers in the nation’s fight to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president, in his Easter message to Nigerians, issued in Abuja yesterday by his media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, commended law enforcement agents and military personnel, who continued “to confront evil-minded individuals through the darkest of nights to keep us safe”.
Buhari expressed the conviction that the new resolve of the security personnel to combat insecurity would be successful.
He said: “We should not allow the antics of a few mischief mongers to fragment the unity and faith that the vast majority of citizens of this country cherish and believe in. As I’ve said before, we are better and stronger as one nation under God.”
The Guardian says that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Brass Fertilizer and Petrochemical Company Limited and DSV Engineering have signed agreements for the construction of 10,000 per day methanol plant and a gas processing plant.
The agreement was jointly signed in Abuja by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote; the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, NNPC, Usman Yusuf and the Managing Director of BFPCL, Chief Ben Okoye, signed for their respective organisations.
The 500 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing plant will be sited in Odeama, Brass, Bayelsa State.
He insisted that the Nigerian oil and gas industry could not continue to wait for international operating oil and gas companies to lead project development.
The NCDMB boss maintained that creating job opportunities for young Nigerians was the best strategy to curtail restiveness and insecurity in the polity.
He hinted that the methanol project provides opportunities to add value in-country and further diversify the utilisation of the nation’s gas resources.
Wabote said the 10,000 tonnes per day methanol plant will, upon completion, bring Nigeria onto the world map as one of the top 10 producers of methanol.
The newspaper reports that there are fears the poor health indices recorded by Nigeria and the spread of COVID-19 may get worse as the ongoing strike by resident doctors paralysed activities in 98 percent of government hospitals nationwide.
When The Guardian reporters visited Federal Government-owned hospitals and health institutions across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, patients and their relatives were seen groaning in despair.
Most of the hospitals had started discharging patients while others had stopped admitting new ones.
Resident doctors in most of the hospitals visited complied fully with the strike directive from their parent body. Only medical consultants and nurses were seen offering skeletal services.
The implication is that since resident doctors offer more than 50 percent of medical services in Federal Government-owned hospitals and health institutions, patients with critical conditions are more likely to be affected if the strike continued.
The Guardian also says that the Federal Government has extended the deadline for linking Subscriber Identification Modules with valid National Identity Numbers by one month.
It announced the extension on Friday in a statement issued in Abuja by the spokesperson of the National Identity Management Commission, Kayode Adegoke.
The deadline was extended from April 6, 2021, to May 6, 2021, after participants at the meeting of the Ministerial Task Force on NIN-SIM data linkage agreed to have an extension of the process.
The statement stated that based on the updates of the NIN registration process, over 51 million people had been assigned NINs.
“There are many people who have enrolled and are in the process of being assigned NINs,” it stated.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Air Force has said that the Alpha Jet aircraft (NAF475) that went off the radar days ago may have crashed with the cause unknown.
The jet, which had two pilots on board, was declared missing by the Air Force on March 31.
A statement by the Air Force on Friday gave the names of the pilots as Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele, adding that their whereabouts remain unknown.
The statement was signed by Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet and titled ‘Update On Missing NAF Alpha Jet Aircraft.’
“At this point, the NAF is not ruling out anything regarding the incident. It however remains hopeful that the crew would soon be found and rescued,” the statement added.
The Nation says that the Nigerian Government said it had directed two PayTv platforms – GoTv and StarTimes – to migrate their signals from self-carrying to any of the two licensed FreeTv signal distributors.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, said the directive was in line with the Digital Switch Over (DSO) process.
DSO is the process of transiting from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting and the country has set April 29 for the resumption of the roll out of the second phase in the remaining 31 states.
The first phase of the roll out had covered the Federal Capital Territory and the five states of Plateau, Kaduna, Kwara, Osun and Enugu.
According to the minister, the laws of the land recognise a single frequency network, which is being operated by two licensed signal distributors – Integrated Television Services (ITS) and Pinnacle Communications.
He said the two PayTv – StarTimes and GoTv – which are currently carrying their respective signals, is in negation of the law and must migrate to any of the licensed signal distributors of their choice.
“We have directed National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to ask Gotv and StarTimes to go to either Pinnacle of ITS.
“They cannot carry their signals and that is the only way the licensed signal distributors can survive,” he said.
GIK/APA