Today’s News from Nigeria-May 18, 2021

NGF urges calm over NLC strike in Kaduna

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to exercise calm and restraint in its engagement with the Kaduna State Government.

The Forum made the call in a statement signed by its Chairman and Governor of Ekiti, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Monday in Abuja.

Fayemi called for cautious introspection on the part of Labour, saying no meaningful progress had ever been achieved in an atmosphere of conflict and chaos.

He advised the NLC to explore the already open avenue of rapprochement that the Kaduna state government had provided to resolve the matter and join the state to evolve a suitable working environment that would be befitting for all.

Activities in the state have been paralyzed as the five-day warning strike directed by the NLC over irregular sacking of civil servants began on Monday.     

   Source: NAN

INEC meets security chiefs as burnt offices rise to 21

• The Independent National Electoral Commission will this week meet heads of security agencies as part of moves to end attacks on its offices in some parts of the country.
• It was gathered on Monday that the meeting with security chiefs would be held after the commission’s meeting with its resident electoral commissioners on Wednesday.
• A top official of INEC disclosed this to our correspondent just as the number of the commission’s offices burnt by hoodlums rose to 21 on Sunday night with the attack on the Enugu State headquarters of the electoral body.
• A breakdown of the incidents showed that the most affected states include Akwa Ibom (four), Abia (three) Anambra (two) and Imo (two).
• Other states that witnessed fire incidents between February 2019 and May 2021 are Borno, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano, Ondo, Plateau and Rivers. Abuja was also affected.

Source: Punch Newspaper 

Governors meet on May 19 over Executive Order 10, COVID-19

• Governors of the 36 states of Nigeria are to meet on May 19, to address matters arising from a variety of challenges facing the country.
• The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) disclosed this in a statement issued by the Head, Media and Public Affairs of its Secretariat, Mr Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo in Abuja on Monday.
• Bello-Barkindo said the governors at their 30th teleconference meeting scheduled to start by 2pm, would discuss issues such as ongoing conversation over the contentious Executive Order 10 and the third wave of COVID-19
• He said the meeting would be the seventh this year and would also discuss an update of the States, Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, (SFTAS) report among other things.

Source: Vanguard Newspaper 

Residents panic as robbers attack 10 Lagos homes in three days

• Residents of Ifelodun, Kuburatu-Agbede and other areas in the Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State have been living in fear after armed robbers invaded 10 houses and dispossessed occupants of their valuables.
• It was gathered that no fewer than 15 armed robbers attacked the residents in their various homes around 1am, snatched a car belonging to a resident, and shot three persons attempting to stop their operations.
• The robbery operations were said to have been carried out within the space of three days.
• It was learnt that the fear of the robbers returning for another attack had sent shivers down the spines of residents, who expressed concern about the activities of miscreants in the areas.
• A community leader, Alhaja Tawakalitu Adigun, told our correspondent that residents of the affected areas were still in shock over the last robbery, adding that the hoodlums also burgled a traditional healer’s office.
• When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said he would find out about the incident and get back to our correspondent, but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

Source: Punch Newspaper 

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US court dismisses Olukoya’s suit against UK-based blogger

• The United States District Court, Northern District of California, has dismissed the N500m damages registered in the United Kingdom on behalf of the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (Worldwide), Dr Daniel Olukoya, and the church against a UK-based blogger, Maureen Badejo.
• The court also declined personal jurisdiction over the defendants and denied plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment.
• Badejo was said to have published a libelous publication against Olukoya and MFM for which Justice Abiodun Akinyemi of an Ogun State High Court in Abeokuta, awarded a N500,000m damages.
• But the US Court District Judge 1, Haywood Gilliam Jr., in his judgment obtained on Monday, denied the motion for default judgment, and dismissed the case for lack of personal jurisdiction.
• The judge said in determining whether the exercise of personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant was proper, a district court must apply the law of the state in which it was sitting when there was no applicable federal statute governing personal jurisdiction.

Source: Punch Newspaper 

Inflation reverses 19-month trend, drops marginally to 18.12%

• Headline inflation fell to 18.12 percent in April representing 0.05 percent point year-on-year (YoY) decline when compared to 18.17 percent recorded in March.
• This also represents the first decline in inflation since August 2019 when inflation rate stood at 11.02 percent.
• Similarly, food inflation fell YoY by 0.23 percentage points to 22.72 percent in April from 22.95 percent in March.
• The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosing these yesterday in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, Report for April, stated: “The CPI which measures inflation increased by 18.12 percent (year-on-year) in April 2021. This is 0.05 percent points lower than the rate recorded in March 2021 (18.17) percent. Increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
• “The urban inflation rate increased by 18.68 percent (year-on-year) in April 2021 from 18.76 percent recorded in March 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.57 percent in April 2021 from 17.60 percent in March 2021.

Source: Vanguard Newspaper