News Roundup

The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has asked Nigerians to be patient with the Bola Tinubu administration, noting that the crises inherited from the previous government will not disappear overnight. He said Tinubu inherited serious active security challenges capable of bringing the country to its knees, citing the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, militancy and oil theft in the Niger Delta region, insecurity in the South-East and banditry in the North-West.

The Federal Government has linked the country’s foreign exchange scarcity to its low export earnings. Speaking at the 40th annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Directors on Thursday, in Abuja, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, said the government was planning to further diversify the economy.

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 A tragedy struck on Thursday morning when a yet-to-be-identified woman, said to be 80 years old, died as the staircase of a storey building caved in in the Oyingbo area of Lagos. The Lagos State Building Control Agency, while condoling with the victims of the collapsed building, blamed the non-compliance on the vacation notice on the part of occupants of the building.

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 The Lagos State Police Command on Thursday arraigned Jerry Ironkwe, the driver who crushed two sweepers of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, namely, 65-year-old Folashade Odufuwa and 60-year-old Ajoke Adefuye, in the Gbagada area of the state. The 45-year-old mechanic was arraigned before Magistrate L.Y. Balogun sitting before a Yaba Magistrate Court on three counts bordering on reckless driving that led to the death of the two persons.

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 The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, will, today, deliver judgment on the governorship election in Bauchi State in which the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Governor Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party the winner. Following the declaration of Mohammed as the winner, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Sadique Abubakar, approached the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in the state, challenging the victory.

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 Naira recorded the biggest fall in recent times exchanging for N1,105 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approved official market. The currency depreciated by over N200 within hours after it opened earlier in the day at N830. However, the fall would not last as the currency bounced back, closing at 841.14 on Thursday.

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 The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has voided the election of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Lawal winner of the March 18 governorship election. On Thursday, a three-member panel of justices annulled the victory of Lawal and ordered a rerun of the election in three local government areas.

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 Necessary sacrifices must be made to generate enough revenue and reduce Nigeria’s high deficit financing, the Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, submitted on Thursday. He foreclosed the government’s reliance on borrowing to fund the next year’s 2024 Budget, saying the cost of taking foreign loans would be too heavy for developing nations to shoulder.

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 Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke on Thursday suspended the Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele-Ojo, replacing her with Justice Yinka Afolabi in an acting capacity. This is despite an interim injunction by Justice Dele Peters of the National Industrial Court sitting in Ibadan restraining the governor from removing the CJ or terminating her appointment.

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 The Federal Government, on Thursday, said it has seized over N45 billion that was illegally looted from the national treasury. It further disclosed that a number of individuals and entities linked to terrorist activities have been identified and designated, with funds traced to them also confiscated

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