The Brief: Fired ministers; Zamfara abduction; IPOB bombs

Another school kidnapping, again in Zamfara. At least 73 students have been taken from Government Day Secondary School in Kaya, Zamfara.

Federal government has an alternative to why Amnesty International’s entreaties deserve a deaf ear. It says IPOB has amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs.

More ministers to go

More heads are expected to roll as President Muhammadu Buhari begins an unprecedented move to weed out non-performing ministers from his cabinet, Daily Trust learnt.

The president on Wednesday announced the sacking of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, and that of Power, Engr Sale Mamman during the weekly Federal Executive Council (NEC).

President Muhammadu Buhari has said the impact of his project will be felt after he leaves office in 2023. The president said this after inaugurating new board of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

At the brief ceremony which held at State House, Abuja, Buhari tasked the board to make more investments that support economic diversification, as global oil prices were projected to drop to around $40 per barrel by 2030.

Nigerian airline, Air Peace, on Wednesday signed a four-year partnership deal with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to become the exclusive airline sponsor of the country’s national teams.

The deal is worth N300m annually renewable every year for the next four years.

A total of 73 students were abducted from Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, according to the police.

Daily Trust had reported how gunmen invaded the school in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara on Wednesday morning.

The governments of Katsina, Kaduna, Niger and Zamfara states have locked down most of the communities prone to banditry and other criminal activities. These states suffer most from the activities of bandits.

On Nigeria Daily, we are looking at the level of effectiveness of this new development, and how the members of the involved states feel about it. Listen to or download the podcast here.

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The Presidency Wednesday said the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement titled ‘Why Amnesty’s Entreaties Should Be Ignored, By Presidency’.

The statement was in reaction to the last report of Amnesty International on the way security agencies had been handling the IPOB debacle in the South East region.

The House of Representatives has threatened to stop banks that have refused to remit billions of naira collected as customs duty to the federal government, saying four out of 18 banks failed to remit N10.6 billion.

This was the position of the House Committee on Customs when the banks appeared before it on Wednesday. The banks were Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Standard Chartered Bank, Ecobank and Providus Bank.

Primary school teachers in Taraba State have raised concern over the non-payment of their salaries for months, which has subjected them to untold hardships.

The state, which has about 22,000 teachers in primary schools across its 16 local government areas, is said to owe teachers in its employment five months’ salaries.