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Top 10 daily headlines in Nigeria🇳🇬 Today's Headlines:
Christian To Replace Buhari, No Visa For Nigerians.
Good day, welcome to the PRUDENTJ2 roundup of top newspapers headlines in Nigeria for today, Thursday, 19th August 2021.
Here are the major headlines:
1. Buhari Appoints Committee To Implement Petroleum Industry Act.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday appointed a committee to implement the Petroleum Industry Act. The President appointed the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva as the head of the committee which has 12 months duration for the assignment. Buhari approved the committee on Wednesday while giving a remark on the Act which he assented to two days ago.
The President stated this during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly led by the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He further stated that the concerned bodies have been directed to work with the Minister to complete the implementation process.
2. UAE Snub Nigeria, South Africa, Enlist 70 Other Countries Eligible For Visa-On-Arrival
Etihad Airways on Wednesday, August 18 released a list of countries eligible to obtain visa-on-arrival in the United Arab Emirates, UAE. While Nigeria and South Africa were put aside in the list, UAE included African countries such as Seychelles and Mauritius, Naija News understands.
In an official statement made public today, UAE noted that visitors who had been in Nigeria or South Africa in the preceding 14 days before travel will not be allowed to enter the country.
The new development implies that only the enlisted countries whose travellers landing at Abu Dhabi airport can receive visas from its immigration desks.
3. Supreme Court Denies Trending List Of 2021 SAN Designates.
The Supreme Court has distanced itself from a viral list said to be the names of lawyers penciled down to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) this year.
Reacting to the list which has gone viral, the Director of Press and Information at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande labelled the list as fake. He added that the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), which is a body chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and saddled with the responsibility of conferring the award on deserving lawyers annually, is yet to release any list to that effect.
The spokesperson, therefore, urged members of the public to disregard the trending list.
4. PIB: Buhari Blames Jonathan, Obasanjo For $50bn Oil Investment Loss.
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed past administrations for an estimated loss of $50 billion worth of oil and gas industry investments due to their failure to sign the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
The President made the allegation on Wednesday at the Aso Rock Villa during the ceremony to mark the passage and signing of the PIB into law. MORE recalls the Petroleum Industry Bill was assented by President Buhari on August 16, 2021, after it was passed by the National Assembly but the ceremony to make the passing of the bill into an act was done on Wednesday, 18th August shortly before the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting commenced. According to Buhari, the failures of past governments in the past 10years including those of Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo have resulted in the loss of about $50 billion investment that should have accrued to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
He however said his own administration has done the right thing with the signing of the bill into law and saved the sector from obsolete laws.
5. UNILAG Announces Reopening Of Hostels, Release Exam Schedule.
The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has announced the reopening of school hostels previously shut down due to the COVID-19 scare among the university population.
Apart from reopening the hostels, the university authorities also announced the schedule of exams for the students which it noted will be conducted physically. The announcements on the resumption of physical activities were contained in a statement signed by the institution’s registrar, Oladejo Azeez.
It will be recalled that UNILAG had ordered students to vacate the premises and later shut down the school amidst COVID-19 fears but has now announced a resumption with the second-semester examination scheduled to commence on August 26.
6. Court Orders CBN Suit To Freeze Account Of 8 Investment Companies.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted leave to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to freeze the accounts of some capital investment companies for allegedly executing fraudulent financial activities.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed granted the order filed by former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, on behalf of the CBN. In the ruling, the court empowered the CBN to direct heads of four commercial and one microfinance banks to freeze with immediate effect all transactions on the bank accounts belong to the following companies:
Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Tech. Ltd., CTL/Business Expenses and Trove Technologies Limited. Others are: Chayomi Multi Services Limited, Ningbo Excel Enterprises Limited and Dagang Enterprises.
The court also directed that the accounts are to be frozen between 90 and 180 days pending the outcome of the investigation and inquiry currently being conducted by the CBN.
7. What Buhari Told Host Communities About Petroleum Industry Act.
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked host communities to accept the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.
He made this known during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly led by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.
The President noted that the new law will bring sustainable development and benefits to the host communities, adding that they could get $500 million annually from the new law.
He said the Petroleum Industry Act will create a regulatory environment that would ensure efficiency and accountability across the oil and gas sector.
8. Malami Knocks 36 State Attorney-Generals Over Unremitted Recovered Funds.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has knocked the 36 states over a suit filed to know the status of recovered funds and the government’s failure to remit such funds into the federation account.
Recall that the 36 state Attorney-Generals had filed a suit at the Supreme Court against the Federal Government on the status of recovered funds and failure to remit same to the federation account.
In the suit, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration by the provisions of 162 (1) and Section 162(10) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), all income, returns, proceeds, or receipts derived from confiscated, forfeited and/or recovered assets constitute revenue must be remitted to the federation account for the collective benefit of the Federal, State and Local Governments.
But in a statement on Tuesday signed by his media aide, Umar Gwandu, Malami denied reports that Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission Act has nothing to do with funds recovered from indicted public officers.
9. APC Considers Christian Presidential Candidate For 2023, Tinubu’s Loyalists Kick
Reports have emerged that the leadership of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) is plotting to field a Christian as its candidate to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
It was gathered that in a bid to ensure cohesion the APC is considering giving its ticket to a southern Christian. However, this has not gone down well with loyalists of the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, who is a Muslim.
According to Daily Independent, Tinubu loyalists have insisted that religion should not be a criterion for picking the APC candidate.
10. FG Spent N1.8bn To Feed Ondo Pupils In 3 Years.
Minister The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, has said the Federal Government has spent N1.8bn on the feeding of primary school pupils in Ondo state under the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in the last three years.
PRUDENTJ2 reports that the school feeding programme is a component of the federal government’s Social Investment Programme. Nneka Anibeze, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, disclosed this in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.
Farooq was quoted as saying that Federal Government had done the biometric capturing of the pupils in order to improve data management and efficient implementation of the feeding programme.
These are the top Nigerian newspapers headlines for today.
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