Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Naturenex roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Wednesday, 7th August, 2024
1. Customs To Start Implementing Tinubu’s Directive On Food Import Waiver Within One Week
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would start implementing the directive by President Bola Tinubu for waiver of taxes on food and drug imports within one week.
This was made known by the Comptroller-General of NCS, Bashir Adeniyi, on Tuesday, August 6, at a joint press briefing by service chiefs and heads of security agencies at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Adeniyi added that the delay in the implementation was due to the need to work out details by the Ministry of Finance.
The Customs boss expressed the belief that the implementation of the tax waivers would reduce the cost of food in the market and urged Nigerians to exercise a little patience for the policy implementation to take off.
2. ‘Violent Protest In The North Was An Attempt To Overthrow Tinubu, Money, Flags Were Shared’ – Shehu Sani Reveals
Former Kaduna State federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has alleged that the violence which trailed the #EndBadGovernance protests in the north was an attempt to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking on Tuesday as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Sani disclosed that a day before the protest, money, as well as some foreign flags were shared among the youths in the region.
He argued that the protest was not squarely about the harsh policies and programmes of the government affecting the citizens, as the organizers wanted Nigerians to believe.
The former Senator alleged that someone behind the scenes was driving the protest to create room for anarchy and lawlessness in order to pave the way for an unconstitutional change of government.
3. The Fuel Subsidy That Was Removed Is Not Gone, It Has Come Back – Obasanjo Faults Tinubu’s Govt
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, has condemned the style adopted by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to remove fuel subsidy.
He argued that the incumbent government should have first considered the hardship the subsidy removal would cause people and how to ameliorate them.
Obasanjo shared his reservation during an interview with Financial Times.
Speaking on the promises that Nigerian refineries will be fixed, he asked, “How many times have they told us that? And at what price?
“Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone away. They have even increased. So if you have a problem like that and that problem is not removed then you aren’t going anywhere.”
Obasanjo expressed concern over youths’ restiveness caused by unemployment, fearing that Nigeria might be sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
4. #EndBadGovernance: It Is Not A Protest But An Act Of Treason – IGP Speaks On Russian Flags Saga
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has warned that it is implicating to be seen with flags of other countries during a protest.
Egbetokun said that a lot of protesters have been apprehended over the Russian flag situation and they will be dealt accordingly.
He insisted that the situation is no longer a protest but now an act of treason.
Egbetokun stated this during a press briefing on national security on Tuesday amid a nationwide protests against economic hardship in the country.
He warned youths to desist from accepting flags from people he described as agents of destabilization.
5. FG Places #EndBadGovernance Sponsors On Watchlist
Authorities of the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) have placed sponsors of the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest on its watchlist.
Naturenex reports that the Comptroller-General of NIS, Kemi Nandap, made this known on Tuesday, shortly after a strategic meeting convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa.
In the bid to implement the crackdown order given by the President, Bola Tinubu, the Defence Chief and other heads of intelligence agencies as well as other heads of para-military agencies, held a closed-door meeting at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Nandap also said sponsors in the diaspora would also be arrested immediately they step foot into the country.
The Immigration Boss said the Service has, in response to the protest, deployed more officers to borders, both land and airports, to ensure effective manning of those entry and exit points.
According to her, the Service has also stepped up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.
6. APC Summons Ndume, Moves To Reinstate Him As Senate Chief Whip
The National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), led by Abdullahi Ganduje, on Tuesday, summoned Senator Ali Ndume to explain his recent utterances against President Bola Tinubu, which led to his removal as Senate Whip.
Ganduje, while speaking after the meeting with Ndume, said the party is satisfied with Ndume’s apology and would convey same to the leadership of the Senate with a view to having it review its position.
Recall that the Senate removed Ndume as the Chief Whip, after the NWC wrote the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate, complaining of the Borno senator’s utterances against Tinubu.
Ndume, on his part, conceded that rather than raising some issues on national television, he should have complained to the party leadership.
7. Military Takes Action Against Those Calling For Coup In Nigeria, Freezes Bank Account Of Violent Protest Sponsors
The Military and other security agencies in Nigeria have launched a search for those calling for a coup in the country and trying to force an undemocratic change of government.
This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, during a joint press briefing by security chiefs on Tuesday, August 6, at the Defence Headquarters Abuja.
Musa said it is clear that those calling for a change of government are sponsored, hence the military is trailing and will arrest those sponsors.
He added that some sponsors of rioters flying foreign flags have been arrested, while their bank accounts have been frozen.
8. ‘Your Speech On Protest Very Annoying, Return Fuel Subsidy’ – Okonkwo Tells President Tinubu
Nollywood actor cum politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s Sunday broadcast to Nigerians on the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests, describing it as boring and annoying.
Recall that President Tinubu addressed Nigerians on Sunday following the events of demonstrations across states over the increasing cost of commodities and hardship in the country.
However, Okonkwo, a former spokesman for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in 2023, said it would have been better if the President did not make such address, which according to him, is ‘bad’.
He also advised Tinubu to sack his media aides for letting his speech leak out a day before the nationwide broadcast.
“The people are protesting for hunger and hardship, deprivation and degradation. And the president was compelled to speak,” Okonkwo said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
Okonkwo asserted that President Tinubu failed to address any of the protesters’ demands. He emphasized the importance of protest in a democratic society while denouncing the violent actions of a minority.
He argued that the President ought to have streamlined his cabinet and reconsidered the decision to acquire a new presidential jet.
Okonkwo contended that rather than removing the petrol subsidy and replacing it with inadequate palliatives, the government should reinstate subsidies on petrol and electricity tariffs, as he believes that “subsidy itself is a palliative.”
9. Chief Of Naval Staff Reveals Sponsors Of #EndBadGovernance Protests In Nigeria, Discloses Next Action
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, has disclosed that some subversive elements are the ones behind the #EndBadGovernance protest which has rocked major cities across Nigeria since the beginning of August.
He added that the protesters didn’t reveal their real intentions to Nigerians, but it has become clear that they are being sponsored by subversive elements who are bent on destroying the peace that the country has enjoyed in the last 25 years of democratic governance by calling for an unconstitutional change of government.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday at a joint press briefing by the Armed Forces of Nigeria in Abuja to address the violent turn of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests.
Ogalla, however, said the Navy would not sit back and allow them to harm the country but would stand firm in the constitutional responsibility of defending the country along with other sister security agencies.
10. National Grid Did Not Collapse, It Was Only A Tripped Line – TCN
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has denied reports of a national grid collapse on Monday.
The TCN, in a statement on Tuesday, said it was only a tripped line at the Benin-Egbin 330kV isolator that caused a blackout in some parts of the nation on Monday.
The TCN spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah, clarified that the arcing on the Benin-Egbin 330kV did not result in the collapse of the grid system but did affect the power supply in some areas of the country.
He stated that the line tripping began around 2:47 p.m. yesterday, caused by a significant system surge that resulted in the arcing of the Benin-Egbin 330kV line isolator fingers at the Egbin Transmission Substation switchyard.
Mbah added that the issue has been resolved, and power supply has been restored to the substation.
That’s the top Nigerian newspaper headlines for today. Read more Nigerian news on Naturenex. See you again tomorrow.
