Press zooms in on surrender of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Nigeria, others

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Nwachukwu said the terrorists, who surrendered with their families, had hitherto hibernated around the fringes of Sambisa forest area of Borno before yielding to troops’ heavy artillery and air bombardments on Aug. 2.

He said the surrendered terrorists comprised 19 male fighters, 19 adult females and 49 children from Njimia village and environs.

According to him, the terrorists who also surrendered several assorted weapons and incendiaries, lamented that the condition in the forest have become untenable, hence their surrendering.

Nwachukwu said the firearms and incendiaries recovered from the terrorists included, eight AA47 rifles, one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) two Fabrique Nationale (FN) rifles and one Dane gun.

The Vanguard says that Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Wednesday said that the docility of Nigerians was responsible for the impunity among the political class.

This is as the renowned Kenyan born good governance activist has lamented that Nigeria and indeed the African countries reward corrupt leaders with re-election.

They spoke at the 24th edition of the Wole Soyinka Lecture Series organized by the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) held via zoom with the theme National Conference Against Impunity.

In his remarks, Professor Soyinka said every Nigerian should take responsibility for allowing impunity thrive in the country, adding that the country was paying for not being able to protest and denounce impunity in the country.

The Nobel Laureate, who noted that all the dire events that have overtaken and overwhelm Nigeria were traceable to impunity, pointed out that the topic was timely considering that it was instructive for Nigerians and that it was not late to reverse the trend.

According to him, “I would probably expect that from different perspectives in terms of timing, there might be disagreement I am absolute certain that we would agree that one of the major reasons for the dilemma we are undergoing in this country right now is that we permitted, we nurtured, we even encouraged either by actions or inactions, the mindset of impunity both in leadership and among the people.

“We ourselves are equally guilty. We ourselves allowed it. We watched it happened. We didn’t take to the streets to protest it, to denounce it, to warn of the consequences. Oh yes there were warnings here and there but they were not concerted and structured. So it is not too late to reverse the trend. But at least we must first begin a frank, honest and objective dialogue.”

ThisDay reports that Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has expressed the federal government commitment to finalise the boundary demarcation exercise between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Malami stated this while receiving the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and Sahel, Mahamat Annadif, who paid him a courtesy call last Tuesday.

In a statement made available to journalists by the AGF’s media aide, Dr. Umar Gwandu, yesterday, the minister said: “I wish to assure you that the Nigerian delegation is confident that under your leadership, the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) will continue to achieve more success in its efforts to permanently demarcate the boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria in line with the judgment of the International Court of Justice and other relevant Treaties and Declarations.”

Malami expressed optimism that the steps taken in resolving the outstanding areas of disagreement on the boundary issue between Cameroon and Nigeria would be fully and legally demarcated in no distant time.

According to the minister, “It will be appreciated if all aspects of the disagreed areas of the boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon are resolved and demarcated in accordance with the judgment of the International Court of Justice without fear or favour.”

Malami said the proposed session of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC) that will be convened soon in Yaounde would pave the way for landmark achievements, including the demarcation exercised.

In his remarks, Annadif said his visit has opened an outstanding chapter in the international relations and diplomacy with a view to promoting peace among brother nations.

The Punch says that the Nigerian Government has appointed transaction advisers to facilitate the issuance of Eurobonds in the international capital market. This was contained in a press statement titled ‘Towards financing the 2021 Appropriation Act – FGN appoints transaction advisers for a Eurobond issuance’, which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday by Debt Management Office’s Head of Media, Chinenye Onu.

The statement read, “Activities by Nigeria towards the issuance of Eurobonds in the International Capital Market inched forward today with the appointment of Transaction Advisers by the Federal Government. “Typical of Eurobond issuance, transaction advisers of various categories are required to work with an issuer, in this case Nigeria, to ensure the success of the Transaction.”

The DMO said certain institutions were approved by the Federal Executive Council at its meeting on Wednesday to advice on the Eurobond issuance.

The institutions include International Bookrunner (JP Morgan, Citigroup Global Markets Limited), Joint Lead Managers (Standard Chartered Bank and Goldman Sachs), Nigerian Bookrunner (Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Services Ltd), Financial Adviser (FSDH Merchant Bank Ltd), International Legal Adviser (White & Case LLP), and Nigerian Legal Adviser (Banwo & Ighodalo).

The Sun reports that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has stated that the dominance of Bureau De Change (BDC) market has unpleasant implication for the manufacturing sector, as it sourced foreign exchange (forex) at the BDC window at high cost.

The perspective of the association on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new policy on forex allocation to BDCs was made known in a statement by the Director General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, where he noted that the major challenge of the forex allocation to BDC segment is that the operators always lacked the ability and will to continuously adhere to set guidelines.

Most times, he said the operations of the BDCs drifted into round tripping and other financial incongruities which negate the overall objectives of creating the BDC forex market, adding that the end result was always the escalation of the premium of forex in BDC compared to official window and further depreciation of the naira.

The MAN boss explained that observation of the forex market scenario showed that in 2019, CBN forex allocation to BDC was about $12.65billion and only $1.33billion to the interbank, while the premium of BDC rate to that of interbank averaged 17 percent in last three quarters of the year.