INEC proposes life ban for politicians, parties involved in vote buying; APC to officially unveil Shettima as VP candidate today | 5 Things That Should Matter Today

  • INEC proposes life ban for politicians, parties involved in vote buying
  • Cholera outbreak kills 5 in Kano
  • CBN raises interest rate for the second time in 2022
  • APC to officially unveil Shettima as VP candidate today
  • ASUU strike: Buhari issues ultimatum to minister to resolve university disputes

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top Nigerian news stories you shouldnt miss:

INEC proposes life ban for politicians, parties involved in vote buying

The Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, has proposed a life ban for any politician or political party caught in the act of vote buying.

Returning Electoral Commissioner, Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini said “assume the level of an epidemic and it is the greatest thing that we need to deal with”, in a reference to vote buying.

“We have traveled to many parts of the world. In 2013, when we traveled to Kenya, we were there for the 5th of March election.

“On that day, we were monitoring, a campaign manager of a senatorial candidate was caught with different envelopes containing money, that he was using to induce buy voters.

“He was arrested that same day, he was charged to court, the second day he was convicted to three years imprisonment. So why is it that people who have been arrested over time do nothing about them?

“The only way you can make that impact is to quickly arraign them. In the United State of America, over 400 cases were arraigned before the 2020 election, they were all determined before the take-off of that election”, the Electoral Commissioner said.

Cholera outbreak kills 5 in Kano

Kano State government, yesterday, reported that 5 persons have died, following a cholera outbreak in the state.

Commissioner of Health, Dr. Aminu Tsanyawa, who confirmed the outbreak to newsmen at a briefing on the Cholera outbreak, said the state recorded a total of 189 cases, out of which five lost their lives.

According to him, “On April 16, 2022, a case of watery diarrhea and vomiting, suspected to be due to cholera, was reported in Dambatta, which was promptly investigated. Since then, we had a total of 189 cases in 20 LGAs, out of which 184 have fully recovered, zero active cases, and five deaths.

“It will interest you to know that last year, at this time, we recorded 12,116 cases across the state with 329 deaths. This is unconnected with the prompt and multi-sectoral collaborative response by the state.

“The Kano State government, under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, is fully committed to providing adequate and qualitative healthcare services to the good people of the state in order to eliminate cholera outbreak and other diseases in the state.”

CBN raises interest rate for the second time in 2022

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised its key interest rate from 13% to 14%.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made the announcement while addressing reporters after a committee meeting at CBN headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Emefiele said a rate hike would help Nigeria deal with rising inflation.

MPR represents the base rate at which all other loan rates revolve.

In an attempt to combat inflation, new developments have forced the central bank to raise rates for the second time in 2022.

“Committee thus voted unanimously to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR),” Mr. Emefiele said.

“One member voted to increase the MPR by 150 basis points, six members by 100 basis points, one member by 75 basis points, and three members by 50 basis points.

“Consequently, Committee resolved to increase the MPR by 100 basis points from 13 percent to 14 percent. In summary, MPC voted as follows: Increase MPR to 14% from 13, retain the Asymmetric Corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR, retain the CRR at 27.5 percent and retain liquidity ratio at 30 percent.”

APC to officially unveil Shettima as VP candidate today

Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will unveil Kashim Shettima as presidential running mate to Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.

The party, in a statement posted on its verified Twitter handle on Tuesday, said Mr. Shettima will be formally unveiled at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre in Abuja at 11 am.

Tinubu had, on July 10, announced the former governor of Borno State as his running mate, following the resignation of Ibrahim Masari, who served as a ‘placeholder”.

The spokesman of the Tinubu Campaign Organization, Bayo Onanuga, noted that the team has followed the heated debate that the choice of Shettima has generated in the country.

“The TCO restates that religion or ethnicity was far from the calculations of the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in picking his running mate”, he stated.

According to him, if Asiwaju intended to cash in on ethnicity, “he would have picked a running mate from the North Western part of Nigeria, which has the highest number of registered voters”.

He said to now succumb to the base ends of identity, by further straining Nigeria’s already difficult ethnic and religious cleavages, is a great disservice to the country and to citizens who had no choice about their parentage, ethnicity, or religion at birth.

ASUU strike: Buhari issues ultimatum to minister to resolve university disputes

President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to resolve the ongoing strike by university lecturers, ASUU, and other university staffers.

The President reportedly gave the directive on Tuesday after he received briefings from the relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies involved in resolving the face-off with the university unions.

ASUU has been on strike since February while other workers’ unions in the universities later commenced their own strike.

Tuesday’s meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja was held so that officials involved in the negotiation with the university workers could brief the president.

Those at the meeting with the president were the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Mr. Ngige; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.

It was reported that the president, after hearing from the relevant MDAs, ordered the Minister of Education to ensure that the impasse was resolved within two weeks and to report back to him.

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