Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 8th March 2024.
1. Over 280 pupils and teachers of Government Secondary School and LEA primary school at Kuriga, Kaduna State were abducted by bandits on Thursday, triggering national outrage. The bandits reportedly invaded the Kuriga area of the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, shooting at their victims before taking away at least 280 of pupils and teachers from both schools.
2. The House of Representatives has called for a review of the 2024 budget projections owing to the free fall of the naira in the past few months. Rising from plenary session on Thursday, the lawmakers adopted a motion on matters of public urgent importance titled, “Need to evaluate the implications of the current exchange rates on the 2024 national budget implementation to ensure a balanced budget and increase in the standard of living of Nigerians.”
3. The Anambra State Government has opposed the trial of the immediate-past governor of the state, Willie Obiano, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The EFCC on January 24 arraigned Obiano on nine charges bordering on N4bn theft.
4. The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested 48 suspected Internet fraudsters and a herbalist for offences bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretence in Lokoja, Kogi State capital. The Ilorin zonal Command office of EFCC covers Kwara, Kogi and Ekiti states, with the zonal headquarters in Ilorin, Kwara state capital.
5. President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad with three other executive directors of the agency. He also appointed a new team of five persons in the management of the REA, with Abba Abubakar Aliyu as Managing Director and CEO.
6. An EFCC witness, Bamaiyi Mairiga on Thursday told an FCT high court, Maitama, that the signatures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, were forged. Mairiga, a forensic document examiner with the EFCC, said this while testifying in the ongoing trial of the immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, before Justice Hamza Muazu.
7. Former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and decried the growing economic hardship in the country. He said the situation “is getting bad by the day,” and there was a need to tackle the challenges headlong.
8. Two pilots of the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, suffered mishap while returning from a routine training flight, on Thursday. According to Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, the accident occurred at about 3.5 nautical miles from Kaduna Military Airfield.
9. The Police Command in Jigawa State has said that suspected robbers killed three persons in Birnin Kudu LGA of the state. This is contained in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Lawan Shiisu, on Wednesday in Dutse.
10. The Federal Government has said the recovery process from beneficiaries of the Nigeria Education Loan, NELFund, scheme would commence two years after the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, scheme. The Executive Secretary, NELFund, Dr. Akintunde Sawyer, disclosed this in an interview with NAN, in Abuja on Thursday.
