Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. Former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is dead. He died in the early hours of Friday. He was 95. Mugabe was the longest serving president of Zimbabwe and was forced to resign in 2017 following protracted intra party crisis. He was succeeded by his estranged deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
2. South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Thursday revealed that at least 10 persons have been killed, two of them foreigners, in a wave of xenophobic riots and attacks in the country. Ramaphosa stated this in a televised address in Johannesburg. The South African leader said over the past few days, the country has been deeply traumatised and troubled by acts of violence and criminality directed against foreign nationals and its own citizens. He added that people have lost their lives, families have been traumatised.
3. South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, on Thursday acknowledged that prejudice against people from other African countries was one of the causes behind deadly attacks on foreign-owned businesses. This is coming a day after Pretoria was forced to shut its embassy in Nigeria over threats of retaliatory violence. At least, five Africans have been killed in attacks on foreigners in South Africa this week. Pandor said the government decided to temporarily close the embassy in Nigeria for security reasons after a protest march was planned there and threats of violence were received. Pandor said South Africa was in constant contact with Nigerian authorities and was also working to restore calm in areas affected by the violence.
4. Bobby Moroe, Acting High Commissioner of South Africa to Nigeria, during the week in Abuja, held a meeting with some Nigerian youth groups and proposed cultural exchange programmes between the two countries. Moroe said that South African government would partner Nigeria to implement an exchange programme with the youths. The high commissioner said that the initiative provides that Nigerian youths and students leaders travel to South Africa on cultural exchange and dialogue with their counterparts, as a way forward to the present situation. According to him, this is to encourage exchange of ideas and views to promote relations between the two countries from the prism of youth leaders and come up with progressive recommendations.
5. United Nations, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has condemned the renewed wave of violence against foreigners and their property in parts of South Africa. He said UN strongly condemn the acts of violence that have been reported in different provinces in South Africa, including attacks against foreigners and the destruction of their property. The Secretary General urged all political leaders to clearly and openly reject the use of violence. The UN Chief avoided the xenophobia tag, choosing rather to describe the attacks as acts of violence. 6. Due to the fear arising from attacks by Nigerian youths, the South Africa High Commission to Nigeria yesterday shut down its offices and consulate. The acting High Commissioner, Ambassador Bobby Moroe, confirmed the development to reporters on Thursday morning, saying that he had directed the Mission to suspend all consular activities until the situation improves. The Ambassador explained that the reported attacks on South Africans in parts of Nigeria informed the decision to close down the Mission.
7. Flood triggered by incessant rain has destroyed over 3,000 farmlands and about 120 houses at Zugo town in Guri Local Government Area of Jigawa. The Information Officer in the area, Alhaji Sanusi Doro, said that the incident occurred in the late hours of Tuesday. He said the flood also washed away the Una-Zugobia road, hindering movement of people and farm produce to the market.
8. The Federal Government, on Thursday, reaffirmed its decision to end the operation of joint accounts by state and local governments. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, made the remark while stating that the Federal Government would no longer condone mismanagement of local government funds by states. Mustapha, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties in the Office of the SGF, David Attah spoke at the national summit on local government administration in Abuja. He accused state governments of using their control of the joint accounts to starve local government areas of statutory allocations.
9. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has warned Nigerians against further reprisal attacks on South Africans and their businesses in Nigeria. The government through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a press conference on Tuesday, also spoke about videos in circulation on social media. The Minister further recounted Federal Government’s efforts to bring justice to those who have been affected by the attacks in one way or the other.
10. The Lagos State House of Assembly, on Thursday, demanded that the South African government be made to pay compensation in huge amounts to the victims of the latest xenophobic attacks in the country. The lawmakers said this at a sitting where many condemned the incident and called on the Nigerian government to further prove its will by supporting its citizens abroad. Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa said Nigerians abroad should be able to enjoy government support while carrying out their legal activities. Obasa further called on the government to push the recent attacks in South Africa to the attention of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).
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