*Governor Wike declares for 2023 presidency

*Minister says fuel subsidy is ‘a criminal enterprise’

*Nigeria records six Lassa Fever deaths, 29 new infections

*Soludo directs sit-at-home devotees to resume

*SSANU, NASU join strike to cripple activities in varsities

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top news stories you shouldn’t miss:

Governor Wike declares for 2023 presidency

Rivers Governor, Nyesome Wike, has declared his intention to contest for president of Nigeria in the 2023 election.

Wike disclosed this while visiting his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom, in Government House, Makurdi, on Sunday.

The governor’s declaration is also posted on his Facebook page.

Minister says fuel subsidy is ‘a criminal enterprise’

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has described the Nigerian government’s controversial subsidy regime as “a criminal enterprise.”

Sylva, who lamented the controversies surrounding the amount of petrol that the nation consumes daily, said the subsidy regime encourages criminal activities like smuggling which in turn impact negatively on the nation’s oil resources.

According to Punch newspaper, the minister said this in an interview with his media team, led by his Senior Adviser, Media and Communications, Horatius Egua.

Nigeria records 6 Lassa Fever deaths, 29 new infections

Nigeria has recorded 29 additional Lassa fever infections and six deaths across 11 states of the federation.

The latest situation report released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday shows that the new cases were reported for the 11th week of 2022, spanning March 14 to 20, 2022.

The report shows that the number of confirmed cases decreased from 33 in the previous week to 29 cases, raising the total number of infections recorded in 2022 to 659 across 91 Local Government Areas in 23 states of Nigeria.

Soludo directs sit-at-home devotees to resume

Anambra Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has directed all markets, schools, banks and motor parks in the state to resume normal activities with effect from Monday, April 4, 2022.

Soludo gave the directive during a town-hall meeting at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in Awka, at the weekend, with market leaders and transport unions.

He cautioned market leaders and relevant authorities to ensure compliance. The governor lamented that the sit-at-home in the South East was gradually sinking the region’s economy, maintaining that the targets of IPOB’s anger were not feeling the impact of the disruptions caused in the region.

SSANU, NASU join strike to cripple activities in varsities

The Joint Action Committee (JAC), of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU), have joined other university-based unions to cripple both academic and administrative activities in public universities.

The two unions have directed their branches across the country to embark on a two-week warning strike starting today.

The unions also said they were ready to present to the federal government its preferred mode of payment, the University Peculiar Personnel & Payroll System (U3PS), which they said would address all the challenges unions members were facing in the payment of their salaries.