Good morning Nigeria. Welcome to the Editor roundup of top newspaper headlines in Nigeria for today, Thursday, 4th April 2024.
1.The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has given the go-ahead to raise the electricity rates for customers in the Band A category. During a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, the Vice Chairman of NERC, Musliu Oseni, announced that there will be a rise in electricity tariffs. This adjustment will result in customers paying N225 per kilowatt-hour, up from the current rate of N66.
2. President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, signed the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024, into law. The development follows reviews of the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
3.The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has called on the Federal Government to make retirement easy for Nigerian workers, especially now that the country is facing economic challenges. NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made the appeal on Wednesday when he received a delegation from the XEM Consulting Limited, a subsidiary of XEM Group, organizers of the maiden Pre-retirement Summit, scheduled to hold in Abuja from April 24 to April 25.
4. The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa has said the Nigerian Army was not taking laws into its hands by declaring wanted persons over the recent killing of 17 officers in Okuama community of Delta State. Musa said this in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday monitored by DAILY POST.
5. The detained President of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo, has told a Federal High Court, Abuja that he had no criminal record. Bodejo, who was arrested on the alleged raising of an armed militia in detriment of the nation’s unity, told Justice Inyang Ekwo in a motion for bail filed by his lawyer, Ahmed Raji, SAN, that he has “suffered from grave ill-health in custody.
6. Drama on Wednesday characterised the inaugural sitting of the impeachment panel set up by the Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa to investigate the State House of Assembly’s notice of impeachment against the deputy governor of the State, Philip Shaibu. DAILY POST reports that the panel began its sitting at the judges’ conference hall in Benin City.
7. Turnover at the foreign exchange market plunged to $166 million on Wednesday, 24 hours after hitting the historic $1 billion mark. Data from FMDQ showed that the turnover of FX transactions dropped significantly to $166 million on Wednesday from $1.085 billion the previous day.
8. Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State on Wednesday lashed out at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, for accusing him of renting crowds for thanksgiving. Speaking while receiving members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, who were on a solidarity visit at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Fubara said the large number of people proves the nature of the “organic support his administration has continued to enjoy from the people of the state”.
9. The FCT Police Command, on Monday, stormed suspected kidnappers’ hideouts and routes in the hills and bushes surrounding Apo Resettlement in Abuja.This is contained in a statement by the command’s spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, on Wednesday.
10. The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, says it generated more than N1.3 trillion revenue in the first quarter of 2024. The Comptroller General of NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on its activities in the first quarter of 2024, on Wednesday in Abuja.
