Good morning, Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 1st November 2023.
1. The Federal Government on Thursday said a new minimum wage regime would come into effect on April 1, 2024. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja, said the current N30,000 minimum wage would expire at the end of March 2024.
2. The Federal Government has directed universities to begin to admit more students into Medicine and Surgery as a strategy to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector occasioned by the relentless exodus of health workers abroad in what has been termed japa. The Vice Chancellor, Nile University, Prof. Dili Dogo, revealed the Federal Government’s directive in a statement on Thursday.
3. The Lagos State Government has said it will not back down on its decision to reclaim the drainage within the seven-metre setback by demolishing some structures despite reported threats and propaganda from some quarters in the state. The state government made this vow on Thursday through the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab.
4. The House of Representatives has promised to scrutinise the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu. It said it would examine the document the same way it did and discovered the N5bn provision for a presidential yacht in the 2023 supplementary budget presented to it recently.
5. The Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Lokoja has been adjourned indefinitely pending the completion of an inspection of election materials by the Social Democratic Party. At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the SDP said the INEC was cooperating with the inspection of materials as granted by the order of the tribunal but sought more time.
6. President Bola Tinubu met with the British monarch, His Majesty, King Charles III, on Thursday, on the sidelines of the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. In a post on his X account, the President said he had a productive engagement with the 75-year-old monarch.
7. A pastor, Abiodun Sunday, has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing his wife, Tosin Oluwadare, in Ido-Ile in Ekiti West LGA of Ekiti State. The Ekiti State Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect was with the command and that investigation was ongoing.
8. The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the application by the Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker, Olamide Oladiji and other lawmakers seeking the impeachment of the state’s Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. The panel of justices at the Court of Appeal dismissed the application on Thursday after the lawmakers withdrew same citing “interest of peace.”
9. The Senate on Thursday, pledged its readiness to support the Nigerian military to achieve its set goals of providing national security. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, gave the assurance when he received the management of the National Defence College (NDC), led by its Commandant, Rear Admiral Muyiwa Olotu, in his office on Thursday.
10. The naira on Thursday appreciated to N1,165 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,167 per dollar on Wednesday. However, the naira depreciated to N832.32 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
