Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Friday, 21st July 2023
1. The National Economic Council, comprising 36 state governors and Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Thursday concluded a plan for state governments to implement cash transfer programmes using state-generated social registers. It said state-generated social registers would better reflect the number of vulnerable Nigerians to be reached with such cash transfer or palliative schemes.
2. The military high command says it has discovered and destroyed no fewer than 23 illegal crude oil refineries and arrested 60 suspected oil thieves in the last two weeks. The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, disclosed this on Thursday during the military’s biweekly press briefing in Abuja.
3. The Independent National Electoral Commission has bowed to pressure and finally recognised the Youth Party as a registered political party in Nigeria. The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC, Festus Okoye, in a statement on Thursday, said the commission recognised the Youth Party following an order by the Supreme Court.
4. The National Vice Chairman for North-West, Mallam Salihu Lukman has warned against replacing the ousted National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, with former Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, saying the action may upset the zoning arrangement of the party.
5. A court in the United Kingdom (UK) is set to order the seizure of more than 100 million pounds ($129 million) from James Ibori, former Delta State governor who was convicted of fraud and money laundering in Britain. Ibori was among the class 1999 governors who visited President Bola Tinubu at Aso Rock last week.
6. The National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Yakubu Suleiman, on Thursday said that even with the sudden hike in the pump price of petrol in Nigeria, the country still has the cheapest price of the product among other African countries. He stated this during a chat with ARISE TV concerning the recent hike in the price of fuel.
7. The Police Service Commission (PSC) has approved the appointment of two Deputy Inspectors General of Police and the promotion of CSP Olumuyiwa Oladunmoye Adejobi, the Force Public Relations Officer to the next rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police. PSC also confirmed 9,016 unconfirmed Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP).
8. All Progressives Congress (APC) governors under the platform of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) have clarified that no powerful bloc in the ruling party coerced erstwhile National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu and the Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, to resign their positions in the party.
9. Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Dankwara, on Thursday, said 53 persons had been arrested in connection with cult-related activities in the state. Dankwara disclosed this in a statement made available to our correspondent in Benin, the state capital. He warned citizens and organisations in the state to stop backing cult groups by providing logistics for their nefarious activities.
10. A lady identified as Chinyere Awuda has allegedly been beaten to death inside Cosmila Hotel in Awka, Anambra State capital, where she went clubbing. The corpse of the deceased, who hailed from Nnobi, in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state, was said to have been found the following morning near the hotel’s swimming pool where it was dumped.
