Good morning Nigerians, welcome to Egalitarian Voice News roundup for top Nigeria newspaper headlines for today, Friday, 16th June 2023.
Almost 50 years after the General Yakubu Gowon regime instituted the students’ loan board in 1974 to provide Nigerian students with loans repayable after 20 years of graduation, President Bola Tinubu,
on Monday, signed the Student Loan Bill into law which stipulates that beneficiaries start repaying two years after their national youth service. The piece of legislation, which was sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, passed the third reading at the House on May 25, 2023.
Presidential spokesman, Dele Alake explained that the signing of the bill was in fulfillment of the President’s campaign promise to liberalize the funding of education in Nigeria.
2. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again opened up on his controversial third term bid, saying some state governors also wanted a tenure extension.
Obasanjo who had severally denied plans to seek an extension of his stay in office beyond 2007, blamed some governors of masterminding the third term agenda.
3. Releasing Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), will be tantamount to rewarding criminality, Niger Delta leader, Asari Dokubo, has said. Speaking with reporters after meeting President Bola Tinubu on Friday, Dokubo said Kalu should be made to face the law.
4. The National Judicial Council has recommended some names for appointments to the Court of Appeal bench and other judicial posts. In a statement signed by the council’s Director of Information, Soji Oye, on Friday, it made the recommendations for the appointments of nine candidates to the Court of Appeal bench and 27 other judicial officers.
5. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained the Receiver Manager appointed by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria for Arik Nigeria Limited, Mr Kamilu Omokide, over alleged misappropriation and diversion of about N120bn. It was learnt that the EFCC detained Omokide alongside one Captain Samuel Caulcrick in connection with an alleged illegal sale.
6. A communal crisis in the Oju Local Government Area of Benue State has reportedly claimed 14 persons with property worth millions of naira destroyed.
The dispute reportedly started on Sunday when youths of Ibilla and Oju communities engaged one another in a bloody fight over land.
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7. The Nigerian Navy has challenged Niger Delta leader and former agitator, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, to produce the names of officers involved in crude oil theft. Dokubo, had, on Friday, alleged that the bulk cases of oil theft recorded in the oil-rich region were traceable to the Nigerian Army and Navy.
8. The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Mr Chijioke Edeoga, on Friday, told the election petition tribunal sitting in Enugu that he would call 36 witnesses to testify against Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party to prove his alleged certificate forgery.
9. Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship candidate of Kogi State, Dino Melaye, on Friday, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that his claims of electoral infractions in Sokoto, Benue, Borno and Lagos States during the February 25 election were based on the information he received from agents of his party on the field.
10. Justice Hamza Muazu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, on Friday ordered the Director General of the Department of the State Security Services (SSS) and the agency to grant the suspended Governor of the Central Bank (CBN), Godwin Emefiele6 unhindered access to his lawyers and family members. The order was sequel to an oral application by Emefiele’s counsel, Joseph Daudu.
11. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday gave its backing to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) exchange rate unification policy. The policy, which collapsed all exchange rates into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, allows market forces to determine exchange rates.
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