Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 19th April 2024.
1. The Nigeria Immigration Service has placed former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello on watchlist. The NIS called for Bello‘s arrest at any point of exit or entry into the country by security agencies.
2. President Bola Tinubu has approved system-wide policies to comprehensively overhaul the education sector to improve learning and skill development, increase enrolment, and ensure the academic security of the nation’s children. One of the policies will take care of a census for all schools in Nigeria, from basic to tertiary level.
3. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake on Thursday said the reforms of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration have started manifesting in the resurgence of the nation’s economy. He spoke while hosting a delegation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Professionals Forum led by former Bauchi governor, Isa Yuguda.
4. No fewer than 577 blind candidates will write this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, in eleven centres nationwide. The 2024 UTME examination will commence today, Friday, in over 700 CBT centres nationwide and end on April 29.
5. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has declared former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, wanted over alleged N80 billion fraud. This was contained in a notice posted on the commission’s official Facebook page on Thursday, April 18.
6. No fewer than 16 persons were feared dead and 20 others injured when a commercial vehicle plying the Baga-Kukawa Road in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State drove over an Improvised Explosives Device suspected to have been planted by ISWAP terrorists.
7. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on Thursday carried out an enforcement raid at two supermarkets in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to ensure adherence to price display and quantity regulations. The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Adamu Abdullahi, said the exercise targeted at reducing the high cost of food commodities nationwide, would be extended to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna and other cities in the coming weeks.
8. Prices of paddy are beginning to come down in many grain markets in the country as the dry season harvest begins. Paddy is rice in its husk before threshing, and is the major ingredient required by millers to produce the finished product for consumption.
9. The Nigerian Navy said it has destroyed 60 illegal refinery sites in the Niger Delta region between January and April 2024. Flag Officer Commanding, FOC, Eastern Naval Command, ENC, of Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral Saheed Akinwande, said the navy also seized and destroyed about 293,900 litres of illegally refined AGO during the period.
10. The Senate has for a second time postponed its resumption from recess. The upper chamber of the National Assembly was earlier billed to resume plenary on April 16, 2024, but the date was extended to April 23. In a statement on Thursday, the Clerk of the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, announced that the April 23 resumption date has also been postponed.
