Today's National Newspaper Headlines/News - 6/5/2015

Good Morning,the National Newspaper headies look good today....Did you know that Buhari met with the Journalist he jailed when he was military head of state?Both men have hugged and made peace!.....#Epic!

PUNCH

***I’m Cautiously Optimistic About Buhari, Says Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says he believes that the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, cannot be worse than past presidents because he will be guided by a sense of history.

He, however, said that he “is cautiously optimistic” about Buhari’s performance.

Soyinka said this while delivering a lecture titled, ‘Predicting Nigeria, Electoral Ironies’ at the Harvard University Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research in the United States, according to a gazette by the institution.

A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, had asked Soyinka if Buhari could reform Nigeria like the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

In his response, Soyinka said he was optimistic. He added that Buhari might deal ruthlessly with corrupt politicians.

Soyinka said, “I am very, very cautiously optimistic.”

He predicted that Buhari would be influenced by those around him to “keep his nose to the letter of the law. In his zeal to absolutely eradicate corruption, he might take advantage of ambiguous areas in the law and the constitution to empower himself to deal very ruthlessly and quickly with those who have robbed the nation blind.”

Soyinka reasoned that Buhari was unlikely to do worse than his predecessors.

He, however, said it would be naive for Nigerians to think that Buhari is the messiah.

He said, “I think that Buhari has a sense of history. He knows that he must make a mark, a very positive mark, on Nigeria to be able to live with himself, or die with a clean conscience. We must make sure that Nigerians are not allowed to forget his past. They should not think that the messiah has finally arrived.

“I think we stay on guard and continue to do what has needed to be done for the past 20 years or so.”

Soyinka said he believed that terrorism would continue for a long time because those perpetrating the act were of the belief that they were doing God’s work.

*****Buhari Meets With Tunde Thompson, The Journalist He Jailed 31 Years Ago

The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday met with Tunde Thompson, one of the journalists jailed for violating Decree 4 in 1984 when he was a military Head of State.

Buhari met with him when he hosted members of his Media Team and Social Media Influencers at the Defence House, Abuja on Tuesday.

The President-elect cracked jokes with Thompson and praised him for rising above his jail experience to forgive and support his presidential bid.

He reminded Thompson, who is a member of his media team, that what happened under his military regime was one of the challenges of that period.

Buhari also applauded his campaign media team led by Mallam Shehu Garba for running “a very decent media campaign” despite the hate campaigns mounted against him by the Peoples Democratic Party.”

**FG Borrows N473bn In Four Months To Fund Budget -Nkonjo-iweala

The Federal Government said on Tuesday that it had borrowed the sum of N473bn in the past four months to finance this year’s budget.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated this during a media briefing on the budget, which was passed by the National Assembly last week.

The Senate had last week Tuesday passed the national budget of N4.493tn for the 2015 fiscal year, about five months after it was presented by Okonjo-Iweala.

The budget, which was passed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago, was N51bn higher than the N4.425tn submitted to both chambers of the National Assembly by the Federal Government.

But the minister said despite the fact that the budget had not been signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan, the constitution allowed the Executive to incur expenditure within the first six months into the fiscal year.

She, however, said the drop in oil revenue, which began in 2014 and lasted up to the first quarter of this year, had impacted negatively on the gross federally collectible revenue.

For instance, Okonjo-Iweala said the country experienced 50 per cent cut in revenue owing to drop in oil prices coupled with low revenue receipts from non-oil sources as most companies had yet to file in their tax returns in the first quarter of the year.

This, according to her, made the government to resort to borrowing the sum of N473bn out of the N882bn provided for borrowing in the 2015 budget.

The minister said in as much as the government had in the past tried to reduce the level of borrowing, such could not be achieved this year due to cash flow problems.

*40 migrants feared dead in latest Mediterranean accident

*Impeachment: Pandemonium in Niger Assembly,Enugu House shut

*Praise singers misled Jonathan,

*says Mu’azu • I have evidence PDP chair worked for APC –Fayose

*Ex-Mint boss appeals extradition order, wants execution halted

*Reps oppose fuel subsidy removal

*Court to deliver judgment on Nyako’s impeachment May 11

*Soldiers foil B’Haram ambush in Borno

*INEC officials arrested for alleged card reader theft

*Speakership: Rep warns APC against disqualifying N’West

*Assembly seeks sanction for non-use of pedestrian bridge

*Adesina denies granting waivers to rice importers

*Strike continues as UCH, doctors’ meeting fails

*Robbers attack fuel station manager, snatch N6.8m

*Gunmen kill 71-year-old cleric in Benin

*Expatriate, others injured in Lagos accident

*Unpaid duty: Customs to prosecute rice importers

*FG says Asaba airport not safe

*N20bn Calabar Port Channel dredging stalled

*Ashakacem pledges support to redevelop North-East

*Pacquiao may be punished for injury

VANGUARD

*Two arraigned for mugging woman at ATM

*Govt borrows N473bn to meet up with recurrent expenditure, says Okonjo-Iweala

*Two mothers, 25-yr-old boy shot dead, as Benin cult war rages

*Nebo meets Gencos, Discos over worsening power supply

*Credit to private sector hits N12.6trn

*Fayose tackles PDP’s CWC, says he only got N30m for polls

*MTN/Visafone deal: ‘This acquisition may breed monopoly’

*33-yr-old truck driver kills friend

*APC group wants House of Reps speakership zoned toS-South

*Don’t be deceived, Ibori’s spirit is leading us in Delta — Amori, Senator-elect

*Oil workers are operating under great risk —Shell

*Shell trains 60 Niger Delta youths in arts, crafts

*Timaya, Klint ‘D Drunk, Maleke, Bovi shut down Okere for Warri billionaire

*Nollywood seeks special tribunal on piracy

THISDAY

*Soyinka: Buhari was better of two evil

*Anyaoku Nigerians owe Jonathan

gratitude

*Okonjo-iweala: President to assent to 2015 budget soon

*NNPC to supply gas from $662M east-west pipeline by 2017

*Ex-mint boss appeals judgment ordering his extradition

*PDP crisis: Jonathan asks combatants to sheath swords

*Ugwuanyi broker peace meeting between warring factions in Enugu assembly

*Ijesa traditional rulers congratulate Buhari

*APC govs ask Buhari for bailout, say states can't pay salaries

*Niger evacuates 4,000 Nigerian refugees from lake chad island

*Military commences court martial of general blamed for loss of Baga to Bokoharam

*Niger house speaker impeached

*Rice duty waivers: House directs customs to ignore political directives

THE NATION

*Okonjo-iweala, minister of state,70% finance ministry staff hypertensive

*Mu'azu, others must go - Fayose

*Edo: pupils find freshly dug grave in classroom

*Cash crisis - APC governors urge Buhari to rescue states

*Fed govt borrows N473B to pay salaries, overheads in four months

*Jonathan sacks PEF Boss

*PDP: Governors shun post-poll review panel inauguration

PDP: GOVERNORS SHUN POST-POLL REVIEW PANEL INAUGURATION

*Tribunal allows Agbaje to inspect election materials

THE GUARDIAN

*South south urges APC to cede reps speaker slot to region

*Jonathan orders PDP to end internal hostilities

*Buhari Meets APC govs, urges patience from Nigerians

*Edo escapee prisoner Re-arrested

*Sambo, Mimiko urge support for Buhari, eulogize Jonathan