Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Tuesday, 5th March 2024.
1. The organised private sector has expressed concern about the spate of looting of trucks conveying food and raw materials by suspected hoodlums, warning that it can lead to a shutdown of industries across the country. The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gabriel Idahosa, said the current economic hardship was ushering in anarchy.
2. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, advised that Nigeria should approach the government of Zimbabwe for a solution to the current all-time high inflation in the country. He noted that since Zimbabwe was recently confronted with the same problem and came out of it, the southern African country would have useful advice for Nigeria.
3. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday, indicted banks as being linked to about 70 per cent of the financial crimes in Nigeria. EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, disclosed this while speaking in Abuja at the 2023 Annual Retreat and General Meeting of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria.
4. The House of Representatives, on Monday, called for the arrest of the top executives of Binance Holdings Limited, which is facing fraud allegations. Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, was accused of exploiting the Nigerian currency, Naira, leading to its free fall in value.
5. The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun corps, has arrested no fewer than 67 men for allegedly engaging in kidnapping and some other crimes in the state. The suspects were said to have been arrested by the Amotekun corps in collaboration with the police, army, the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, in various parts of the state in the last two weeks.
6. Several people, including a soldier were reportedly killed by suspected bandits in separate attacks in Kwande and Apa Local Government Areas of Benue State. The attacks, according to some locals, happened between Saturday and Sunday in the Udedeku community of Maav-Ya, Mkoonmom district of Mbaikyor, Turan Jato-Aka and Ochumekwu in Kwande and Apa LGAs respectively.
7. Crash involving an articulated vehicle, along the Zaria-Kano Expressway claimed not less than 12 lives, while 28 others suffered varying degrees of injuries. The accident, as confirmed by the Federal Road Safety Corps, occurred at Tashar Yari Village at about 7.36 am on Monday, which the FRSC blamed on overtaking, speeding and overloading.
8. The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, yesterday, declared that Sunday’s looting of a warehouse at Gwagwa-Tasha by hoodlums was a criminal act. She made this declaration at the end of her assessment visit to the site to ascertain the level of damage on the warehouse.
9. President Bola Tinubu has returned to Abuja after a two-day State visit to Qatar at the invitation of the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Tinubu, who arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, around 6:37 pm, was received on arrival by senior government officials led by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
10. The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday adjourned a fresh N1 billion suit filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, against the Federal Government until March 18 for a hearing. Justice James Omotosho had in January fixed the hearing for Monday. But counsel to the defence, I.I. Hassan, told the court that they were yet to be served with the processes.
