Nigeria News Update: 10 Essential Updates for Your Saturday Morning

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

1. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State has faulted the mode that the federal government adopted for the distribution of N500 billion in palliatives for small-scale industries. Speaking through his Deputy, Aminu Abdussalam, the governor said the distribution was heavily skewed in favour of Lagos State and the South-South zone to the disadvantage of other states and zones.

2. An FT-7NI trainer jet belonging to the Nigerian Air Force has crashed in Makurdi, the Benue State capital. NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the incident in a statement on Friday night.

3. Former Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, on Friday, stormed Presidential Villa, Abuja to meet with President Tinubu. However, the outcome of the meeting has not been made public as the former did not address the media after the meeting.

4. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart for Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday, July 15, to participate in the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting (5thMYCM) of the African Union (AU). Presidential spokesman, Dele Alake disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

5. The National Judicial Council (NJC) has appointed the son of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayoode Ariwoola, as a judge of the Federal High Court. In a statement on Friday by Soji Oye, the Director of Information at the NJC, the new judge was appointed alongside one Grand Kadi, 23 judges of the Federal High Court, and four Kadis of the Sharia Court of Appeal in Kano.

6. A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja has dismissed and discharged Senator Rochas Okorocha of all allegations of corruption filed against him when he was the governor of Imo State by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The presiding judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu said the action of the anti-graft agency, to have filed the charge in his court, despite filing the same with a Federal High Court was a gross abuse of the judicial process.

7. A bid to secure bail for the suspects linked to the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State, Muritala Yakubu has suffered a setback. The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Friday, refused the applications for bail of suspects. The suspects were arrested on their way to Abuja on March 26, 2023.

8. Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has disclosed that the South East region lost over N4trn to insecurity in the last two years. Mr Kalu said this in his address at the annual all-markets conference in Lagos on Friday.

9. The 8th Edition of the Big Brother Naija Television Reality Show is to premiere July 23 as an “All-Star” show, with housemates from the 7 previous editions. Dr Busola Tejumola, Executive Head, Content & West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, disclosed this during a media briefing held in Lagos on Friday.

10. Despite recent criticisms of plans to increase the price of service charges, the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria has said current economic conditions have prompted point-of-sale operators to reconsider their plans to implement the new framework starting next Monday.