News headlines for the 13th of March 2021

Table of Contents

FG apologize to Nigerians over N212.61 per liter new petrol price

The Federal Government, Friday, apologized to Nigerians over the latest N212.61 petrol price confusion in the country.
Speaking at the groundbreaking for the Rungas composite cylinder manufacturing plant in Alaro City Free Zone, Epe, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipreye Sylva, urged Nigerians to disregard the increase, explaining that it was a mix-up.
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, has declared that its publication of monthly template, does not amount to increasing the price of petroleum products, as such increases are supposed to be determined by market forces, under the current deregulation of the sector.

The House of Representatives ad hoc Committee on purchase of arms and ammunition on Friday insisted that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim must appear in person to clarify issues on purchase of arms by Nigerian Army.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Bede Eke (PDP-Imo) at a public hearing in Abuja.
Ibrahim has sent a team of officers led by Maj.Gen. Charles Ofoche to represent him at the event.
Rep. Ifeanyi Mouma (APGA-Anambra) while raising a point of order at the hearing said that a written invitation was sent to COAS by the committee to appear in person.
Ofoche had tendered the apology of COAS for his inability to appear in person.
He explained that the COAS has been on tour of formations in the country to get first hand information on the state of troops.

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing allegations of human rights abuses against the disbanded police Special Anti-Robbery Squad on Saturday gave a cheque of N7.5m to a 40-year-old man, Marc Nwadi, unduly incarcerated for six years in at the Kirikiri prison without trial.
Nwadi had during his appearance before the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel recounted how his inability to pay a bribe of N10,000 to policemen in the Idimu area of Lagos led him to prison where he spent six years unjustly.
In her ruling Justice Okuwobi said “The petitioner was incarcerated in the prime of his life without justification for six years and was never tried or sentenced for any crime despite enduring a long six-year stay in prison and losing a vital part of his youth and opportunities.
Nwadi had told the panel that he was only 18 years old when he was picked by policemen at a bus stop in the Egbeda area of Lagos State in May 1999.

The Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Enugu and Akwa Ibom state governments on Friday commenced the vaccination of frontline health workers in the state against the deadly coronavirus as part of efforts to reduce the spread of the pandemic.
This is just as the Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his Delta counterpart, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, received the first jab of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Also, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and Governor AbdulRamon AbdulRazaq took their first jabs.
Sanwo-Olu, who received the vaccine on Friday at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, along with is deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, and the Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, said there was no reason for anyone to panic over the desirability of the vaccine.

Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has stated that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum will meet with organised labour on the implementation of the minimum wage.
Tambuwal made this known after leading the Chairman of States Legislators Conference to meet with the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Tambuwal also noted that the governors had given their backing to financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciary.