VOICE AIR MEDIA, VAM News Update

Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. The police have beefed up security at the warehouses belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency nationwide following the looting of food warehouses in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Sunday, by suspected hoodlums. This was as soldiers foiled an attempt to raid a factory warehouse at the Idu Industrial District, Jabi, Abuja, on Sunday morning, arresting five of the attackers.

2. No fewer than 40 million telephone lines were barred by telecommunication operators over the weekend following the expiration of the February 28, 2024, deadline issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission mandating telecom consumers to link the Subscriber Identity Module to their National Identity Numbers.

3. The Senate has said it will quiz some officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria on how the N30tn Ways and Means loan was obtained and spent by the Federal Government during the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. The Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee, Senator Isah Jibrin, made the disclosure on Sunday.

4. The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a one-week deadline to all private airline operators in the country to account for the sum of N4bn given to them by the Federal Government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic or refund same in the absence of justifiable evidence of how the amount was spent.

5. The Katsina State Police Command said on Sunday that it was impressed with the response it was receiving from residents over its request for information on two bandit kingpins, namely Modi Modi and Jan Kare. Its spokesman, ASP Abubakar Aliyu, said that residents have been turning credible information on the two bandits since the command made public the special bulletin on Saturday.

6. The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, says the Federal Government plans to send some medical personnel abroad for training in certain specialties with a view to checking medical tourism and enhancing research. Alausa said the Federal Ministry of Health was working with the National Postgraduate Medical College, Ijanikin, Lagos State towards the plan.

7. Two riot policemen have been beaten to death, and two others injured by a mob at Ikpeshi in Akoko-Edo local government area of Edo State. The mob action followed an incident involving a Toyota Hilux vehicle belonging to escort-duty policemen in the convoy of former Edo House of Assembly member, Emmanuel Agbaje, which hit a motorcycle, resulting in the tragic deaths of the rider, a woman, and her child.

8. Works Minister, David Umahi has said residents of the Southeast have no reason to join other regions to protest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the rising cost of living in the country. Umahi said the President had resolved the incessant farmers/herders clashes in the region.

9. President Bola Tinubu has called on investors to report any of the Nigerian officials who demand bribes from them before they invest in the country. The president said this during the Nigeria-Qatar Business and Investment Forum in Doha, on Sunday, while assuring the Qatar’s capitalists of the readiness of Africa’s largest economy to accommodate and do business with them.

10. Bandits have shot dead two herders and rustled 223 cows at Haying-Dam, in Kachia LGA of Kaduna State. A resident of Gidan-Makeri, Kabiru Awwal, said the incident happened on Saturday, around 6 pm when the bandits in their large numbers, wielding AK-47 rifles, attacked three herders’ camp in the area.