Today's National Newspaper Headlines/News - 20/4/2015

Good Morning...new day!

National Newspaper headlines complied from various papers just for ya!

PUNCH

*S’AFRICA ATTACKS: NIGERIANS LOSE N21m, SAYS ENVOY

Nigerian Consul-General in South Africa, Amb. Uche Ajulu-Okeke, said on Sunday that Nigerians lost more than N21m Rand (1.2m) in the on-going xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Ajulu-Okeke told the News Agency of Nigeria by phone from Johannesburg, South Africa, that the loss included looted shops, burnt shops, two burnt mechanic workshops, 11 burnt cars and two stolen cars, among others.

“Nigerians have compiled the cost of the damage to their property and it is totalling about 1.2m Rand or N21m, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action,” the ambassador said.

She said that two of the three Nigerians who were wounded during the attacks in Durban had been treated and discharged from the hospital.

The consul-general said that she would go back to Durban to assess the situation on ground and meet with the provincial authority on the security of Nigerians in that province.

She said, “The Nigerian mission in South Africa is on top of the situation. We are working hard to protect Nigerians in South Africa.

SCRAP N100bn FOREIGN SCHORLARSHIPS, CYC TO BUHARI

he Commonwealth Youth Council has urged the President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to abolish foreign scholarships in the country after he assumes office on May 29.

In a statement issued by the CYC chairperson, Ahmed Adamu, in London on Saturday, the council said close to N100bn is spent on foreign scholarships annually by the Federal Government.

According to Adamu, who is also an economic expert, the expenditure had resulted in the abuse of the naira and triggered devaluation of the currency.

He said, “This figure is extremely higher when adding the cost of other self-sponsored foreign education programmes and I am using this medium to call on the Nigerian President-elect to consider this as one of the immediate policies he will adopt in the first 100 days in office.

“Nigerians and other internationals studying in United Kingdom contribute 2.3 per cent to Britain’s Gross Domestic Product growth and their patronages contribute 2.6 per cent to the overall UK employment. How different are foreign universities from Nigerian universities?

“We may talk about access to energy, Information Technology, resources, facilities, conducive atmosphere and efficiency, but all these can be provided in all Nigerian universities with the savings that will eventuate from abolishing foreign scholarships. If you divide N100 billion by the number of federal universities, you will see that each university will get N2.5 billion a year.”

OBASANJO PLOTTING MY EXTRADITION TO US, SAYS KASHAMU

A Peoples Democratic Party chieftain in Ogun State and the Ogun East senator-elect, Buruji Kashamu, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of working with local and foreign security agencies to extradite him to the United States of America through illegal means.

Buruji said Obasanjo was involved in the alleged plot to extradite him to the United States over drug-related indictment in the US because of the defeat the former President had suffered in the PDP.

The senator-elect, through his lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, said this in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission, seeking investigation into the alleged plan to abduct him and forcibly extradite him to the US.

The petition, dated April 15, 2015 and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, was entitled, “Prince Buruji Kashamu: Abduction plans by United States of America’s agents in collaboration with law enforcement agencies in Nigeria.”

“The current plan to abduct him (Kashamu) is an admission by the US authorities that there is no case against him and is a design instigated and commissioned by Obasanjo who seeks revenge against him for the comprehensive political defeat Obasanjo suffered because of Kashamu in the PDP,” Oluyede wrote.

Oluyede urged the NHRC to urgently intervene “in accordance with the jurisdiction expressly given to your commission by the National Human Rights Act 1995 as amended to carry out an inquiry into the matter in order to establish the culpability and compromise of certain institution in this despicable plan and to protect our client’s fundamental human right to liberty, life and dignity of his person.”

Kashamu said despite previous court decisions both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom exonerating him of the alleged offences, “desperate politicians” were still mounting pressure on the Attorney General of the Federation to resuscitate the US indictment against him in Nigeria and extradite him to the US....if his hands are clean then he should travel by himself to the US to free himself from the allegations.

*My plea for forgiveness not cowardice –Fayose

*Pesticide responsible for Ondo deaths, says WHO

*APC NEC to ratify zoning of N’Assembly posts this week

*I didn’t spend N2tn on elections –Jonathan

*Xenophobia: Concerns grow over Nigeria’s ties with S’Africa

*700 migrants feared dead in boat accident

*Lack of internal democracy caused PDP’s defeat – Nnaji

*Police probe 104 over electoral fraud

*Mutiny: Fired ex-UN peacekeepers beg Buhari for reinstatement

*Chukwumerije dies of lung cancer at 75

*I’m not on the run – Rivers PDP

*A’Ibom APC to challenge gov poll

*NANS threatens S’African investments, citizens

*Ekiti APC plans to tamper with ballot papers – PDP

*PDP pulls out of rescheduled Edo Assembly poll

*Ex-PDP chairman Ogbulafor meets Oyegun, denies defecting to APC

*PDP chairmen to meet Mu’azu over polls

*Police arrest politician’s wife over electoral materials

*Group hails zoning of senate presidency

Mu’azu: Babatope, Oyedokun disagree with Gulak

VANGUARD

*Obasanjo plotting to abduct me to US – Kashamu

*The realities of fighting poverty – World Bank President

*Grant presidential pardon to Ibori, Ijaw group urges Jonathan

*Nigeria shuns World Bank-backed zero gas flaring summit

*Mark, Ekweremadu, Wogu, Etiebet, others mourn as Chukwumerije dies at 75

*Nigeria’s AYC title defence in jeopardy

*Pinnick: NFF not dribbling Keshi

*The strategies we used to rout Boko Haram – Minimah, Army Chief

*Jonathan’s, National Assembly’s last battle

*Modern world has no space for ethnic politics – Gov. Oshiomhole

THISDAY

*Dangote: Business Backs Nigeria, Tasks Buhari on Unemployment, Economy

*PDP Accuses APC of Planning a One-party State

*Xenophobia: Students Threaten to Shut Down S’African Companies in Nigeria

*Chukwumerije, Senate Committee Chair, Dies at 75

*Fire Burns 6-Month-Old Baby to Death in Lagos

*Buhari Appeals to Nigerians for Time to Deliver on Promises

*Ondo Strange Disease: We Suspect Ethanol Poison, Says Commissioner

*Falana Faults Jonathan for Rejecting Amendments to 1999 Constitution

*APC Must Act Fast on Zoning, Says Kwankwaso

*Impeachment: Fayose Not Serious about Peace Move, Say APC Lawmakers

*Electricity Workers Kick against FG’s Plan to Build Nuclear Power Plants

*Corruption: Saraki Calls for Thorough Accountability in Governance, Public Administration

*Gunmen Invade President Jonathan’s Special Assistant’s Home in Yenagoa

*We Have Confidence that Buhari will Deliver to Nigerians, Says Nigerien President

*Mimiko: I will Not Be Distracted

*Probe: Enugu Speaker Denies Impeachment Plot against Chime

GUARDIAN

*Uduaghan urges electorate to shun violence in Delta run-off polls

*Catholic groups seek free education, health in new constitution

*France, Russia negotiating solution to frozen warship deal

*Uneasy calm in Johannesburg after anti-immigrant riots

*LP, APC reject INEC's verdict on guber polls in Delta, Taraba

*Iran's leader urges military to increase 'preparedness'

*Husband sets wife on fire in Pakistan 'honour killing'

*Nigerians rank low in personal wellbeing, others.