Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Naija News roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Monday, 18th March 2024.
1. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday expressed deep displeasure over the killing of army officers and soldiers on a peace mission in a Delta State community, describing it as a direct affront to the nation. The military, which expressed indignation, was ordered by the President to fish out the killers and bring them to book.
2. The Federal Government is seeking to raise N450 billion from the investing public in a new debt issuance aimed at bridging the government’s deficit and deepening the domestic capital market. It was learnt last night that the Debt Management Office, DMO, which oversees the issuance and management of Nigeria’s sovereign debts, will today conduct a Primary Market Auction, PMA, for three issuances, through which it aimed to raise the funds.
3. Vladimir Putin has secured another six-year term as Russian president, exit polls showed Sunday, paving the way for the hardline former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years.
4. Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State says he is yet to receive any salary since he assumed office two years ago. Soludo disclosed this Sunday in Akwa, the state capital, during the celebration of two years anniversary of his administration.
5. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Sunday condemned the destruction of Okuama community in Delta State due to the killing of soldiers. In a statement he personally signed, Falana called for an end to attacks on innocent citizens, saying collective punishment is a serious offence under domestic and international law.
6. The Senate has warned the executive against increasing the budget size through a supplementary budget, advising the government to use the excess savings that are expected to be made from the recent depreciation of the naira to fund the deficit. This came against the backdrop of the depreciation of the local currency against the United States dollar from N900/$r to over 1,500/$, following a series of moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to unify the parallel and official market exchange rates of the naira.
7. A Chinese national, identified simply as Yespon, is currently on the run after allegedly using an electric shocker on one of his father’s employees, known as Kelvin Godwin, at a timber factory in Ijebu-Ode. It was learnt that the incident occurred at a timber forest on the Ijebu-Ode-Owa Express Road last Tuesday.
8. The eight lawmakers suspended by the Zamfara State House of Assembly, on Sunday, said they have been hounded out of the state by political thugs for exposing the increasing wave of insecurity in the state. They also said the House has written to them to return their official vehicles to the clerk.
9. The Jigawa State Police Command has confirmed the death of three students in a tragic accident on the Jahun/Kiyawa Road in the state. The command’s Public Relations Officer, Lawan Adam, confirmed the incident in a statement issued to newsmen on Sunday.
10. Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a 20-year-old hair stylist, Josephine Odunu and a dispatch rider, Edesemi Ikporo, 30, for selling and distributing illicit drug-laced chin-chin to students and at social parties in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Sunday.
