Good Morning, Welcome to Daily News 24 Roundup of Top Nigerian Newspapers Headlines for Friday, Dec. 3rd 2021.
- Omicron: States resume testing, demand funds, variant spreads to 23 countries
State governments have said they will resume and increase mass testing for COVID-19 following the detection of the Omicron variant of the virus in the country.
Top government officials in states including Cross River, Benue, Delta and Akwa Ibom who disclosed this in separate interviews with The PUNCH, however, described funding as a major obstacle to community testing.
They sought the assistance of the Federal Government on funding of community testing, particularly running of molecular laboratories. The states made the demand as the World Health Organisation said the new variant had spread to 23 countries.
2. Osinbajo: Poverty Will Multiply If We Break Up
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says problems like poverty facing Nigeria will multiply if the country experiences breaks up.
He said this while receiving a delegation of the Muhammadu Buhari Osinbajo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.
He said many of the security challenges in the country would be resolved in due course and that Nigeria would be stronger and greater.
3. Why Shekarau Lawyer’s Office Was Sealed – Kano Govt
The Kano state government has shed more light on why the building housing the chamber of Barrister Nuraini Jimoh was sealed.
Daily Trust had reported how Jimoh, one of the lawyers of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, and his staff were trapped in the lawyer’s chamber for hours over the action of the government.
The incident happened 24 hours after Shekarau’s All Progressives Congress (APC) faction defeated that of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in court.
4. Glo missing as NCC qualifies MTN, Airtel, new firm for 5G auction
Globacom and Emerging Markets Telecommunication Service Limited are set to miss out on the deployment of Fifth Generation network for at least two years as the Nigerian Communications Commission qualifies MTN Nigeria Plc, Airtel Networks Limited and one new player for its 5G auction.
The NCC announced on Thursday only three qualified bidders met its criteria for the licensing process for the 3.5 gigahertz spectrum which is required for 5G deployment.
These three companies paid at least $19.74m each in order to qualify, it was learnt.
5. Pressure on Buhari to reject Electoral Amendment Bill
President Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, it was learnt yesterday.
Governors are urging the President to decline assent until the conflict over the direct primary is resolved.
However, leaders of civil society groups, who organised a protest in Abuja, advised the president not to pander to the wishes of governors who opposed the primary mode from the onset.
6. PDP chieftain kicks as Kalu hosts national exco, fuels defection rumour
AN Abia State chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Isaac Nkole, has cautioned the party against re-admitting the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Uzor Kalu.
This call came on the heels of a visit by a high-powered PDP delegation led by the incoming National Secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, at his Aso-Villa, Abuja home.
Nkole alleged that Kalu, “Is in a desperate move to return to the PDP having discovered that his days in the All Progressives Congress, are numbered.”
7. Nigerian investors lose N553b in four days
Investors in Nigerian equities lost N553 billion in four days, market report showed yesterday.
The successive declines were triggered by massive profit-taking deals and a rush to safety in the fixed-income market.
All the indices at the Nigerian stock market yesterday closed lower, capping a four-day session of market-wide selloff. The pressure almost entered panic mode with two losses in every three deals.
8. Current Leadership Has Created Mistrust Among Nigerians – Na’Abba
A former speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, has expressed concern over the spate of distrust in the country, saying the current leadership has created mistrust among Nigerians.
Na’Abba who spoke at the Sule Maitama annual lecture, with the theme, “Constitution, Constitutionalism and the future of Nigeria” organised by the Student wing of Coalition of Northern Group (CNG), at the Nasarawa State University, yesterday, stressed the need for the federal government to secure the nation’s forest amidst increase in kidnapping and banditry attacks.
“More has to be done by the federal government to secure our forests,” he said.
9. Why I Set Up Almajiri Schools – Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has explained why he set up almajiri schools in the North.
He also said several Nigerian governors were not happy with the Almajiri schools he created, characterising them as a ticking time bomb.
He said, “When I was in office, I had to step in at a time, to even attempt to build Almajiri schools. I know that some of the governors probably were not happy but then, they didn’t tell me they were not happy, it was when I left office, they said they weren’t happy.
10. Nigeria ranks 9th, needs $1.1bn for humanitarian assistance in 2022
World leaders must go beyond “grand gestures” to feed the 45 million people around the world who are on the brink of famine, 120 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have warned.
The group of 120 NGOs joined forces in an open letter calling on world leaders to do more to halt a devastating global hunger crisis as new analysis shows 17 per cent of the global population are likely to need humanitarian aid by 2022.
This follows a Global Humanitarian Overview 2022, released yesterday by the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which warned that 274 million people could be in need of humanitarian assistance next year. This is up from 235 million people in 2021 and 168 million in 2020.
