Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Tuesday morning

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:

1. The Federal Government is not considering requests from any country to establish a military base in Nigeria, Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris said on Tuesday. Idris dismissed as unfounded reports that the government was considering the citing of a military base in the country, saying Nigeria “is not in any such discussion with any foreign country”.

2. The federal government has declared that it will take the naira off of all peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges. During a virtual conference with blockchain stakeholders on Monday, Emomotimi Agama, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, made this declaration.

3. All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has faulted reports by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the party did not hold a primary election in Ilaje Local Government Area. It described the report as ‘shocking and lacking credibility’.

4. Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has bared his mind on the toxic relationship between him and the House of Assembly, saying the lawmakers led by Martins Amaewhule no longer exist in the eyes of the law. The Governor spoke when he received on a courtesy visit the Bayelsa delegation of political and traditional leaders led by former Governor Henry Seriake Dickson at Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.

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5. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has directed banks in the country to implement a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on electronic transfers. In a circular signed by Chibuzor Efobi, Director of Payments System Management, and Haruna Mustafa, Director of Financial Policy and Regulation, the apex bank disclosed that the implementation of the levy would start in two weeks time.

6. Vice-President Kashim Shettima has taken a detour and returned to Nigeria, thereby aborting his planned trip to the United States of America to attend the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas.

7. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested six senior officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps over alleged N6bn fraud. The senior officers are currently being grilled by EFCC interrogators at the commission’s headquarters, Jabi, Abuja.

8. The Presidency, on Monday, tackled former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his claim of conflict of interest in the award of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway by the Federal Government. Atiku, in a statement on Sunday, claimed that the road project was awarded to Hitech Construction Company because the owner of the firm, Gilbert Chagoury, had business ties with President Bola Tinubu.

9. One middle-aged woman was shot while many others sustained varied degrees of injury in Ughelli on Monday as operatives of the Delta State Police Command resorted to forceful dispersal of a group of protesting women. The women from Oteri-Ughelli in the Ughelli North Local Government Area were protesting alleged incessant harassment and extortion by policemen in the community.

10. Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, have given the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, till May 12 to withdraw the recent hike in electricity tariff or face unprecedented industrial action. The ultimatum was issued in a joint letter to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, CEO and copied to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Ministers of Labour and Power and the electricity distribution companies, DisCos.