Television Nigerian

THE Federal Government has formally petitioned CNN over the airing of its investigative report on the Lekki toll gate shooting of EndSARS protesters titled ‘How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement.’

The report was aired on November 18, 2020.
Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a letter, addressed to the CNN Vice President on Communications, Mr. Jonathan Hawkins, on November 23, 2020, described the report as blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organisation.

He also protested that the report did not just fall short of journalistic standards, but reinforced the disinformation being peddled around on the issue.

Mohammed described as inexcusable and indefensible CNN’s failure to live up to the principles of journalism on balance and fairness by rushing to air the story without presenting the government’s side.

The federal government also cited another breach by the Atlanta, Georgia-based network in its investigation by relying on unverified footage which it sourced from social media while it had no reporter on the ground at the Lekki toll gate gate on the night of the incident.

“In airing its ‘investigative’ report, CNN conveniently forgot that on October 23, 2020, it emphatically tweeted, from its verified Twitter handle, that the military killed 38 people when it opened fire on peaceful protesters on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

“Almost a month later, the same CNN – after a supposedly exhaustive investigation – is now reporting only one death from what the world was made to believe was a massacre. Is CNN not embarrassed by this sharp climb down? Has CNN owned up to this and apologised for its faux pas?

“It is also interesting that while CNN obtained footage showing when the vehicles carrying soldiers left their barracks and arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate, it could not obtain any footage showing the bodies of those supposedly killed in the ‘massacre’.
After all, forensic ballistic experts will most likely testify that firing military-grade weapons into a crowd will not leave anyone needing a microscope to look for blood or bodies at the scene,” Mohammed said.

The Federal Government subsequently demanded an immediate retraction from CNN asking for an exhaustive investigation into its ‘investigative’ report on the Lekki toll gate incident to determine, among others, its authenticity and if it met the basic standards of journalism in addition to the selective use of unverified social media videos to manipulate public opinion.

THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said a total of 138 members of the National Youth Service Corps have tested positive for Covid-19.

The NDDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this today in Abuja, while briefing the presidential task force on Covid-19.

He, however, said the safe reopening of the NYSC orientation camps across the country was successful.

He stated that none of those who tested positive was allowed into the camps.

According to him, “a total of 34,785 corps members and members of the camp communities have been tested so far in the last weeks of which only 138 was found positive, which is 0.4 per cent prevalence and 1 in 200 people.”

Ihekweazu said those who tested positive were either managed at home or in a treatment centre depending on if they had symptoms and what state they were in.

The DG said the next challenge would be how to work with education stakeholders to ensure safe reopening of the universities.

“Universities have proven to be slightly risky; it has its unique challenges but we are confident that we can address this as we have done in other sectors like aviation,” Ihekweazu stated.

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has approved the promotion of 82,779 junior police officers to their next ranks.

This development was contained in a statement by the Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, titled ‘IGP promotes 82,779 junior officers.’

According to the statement the promotion of the officers was part of the efforts at boosting the morale of personnel and repositioning the police for greater efficiency.

The statement noted 56,779 Sergeants were promoted to Inspector, 17,569 Corporal to Sergeants and 8,431 Constables to Corporal
About 38 policemen were reportedly killed while many others were injured during the violence that rocked the country.

Those promoted on Monday also include 86 junior officers negatively impacted by the #EndSARS riots, 16 of whom got special posthumous promotion while 70 others injured during the violence arising from the protests were equally elevated.

The statement that announced the promotion read in part, “The IGP while congratulating the officers, charged them to see their promotion as a mark of additional responsibility and a call to rededicate themselves to their professional calling.

“He enjoined them to continue to carry out their duties diligently and in conformity with best practices and respect for the rights of the citizen. He noted that the promotion albeit, posthumously, of the officers who were killed by some ENDSARS protesters is a symbolic gesture in recognition of the ultimate price they paid in the service of the nation.”

The statement further said the IG also promised to work with all relevant agencies, organs of government and other stakeholders in driving a successful reform of the police for improved welfare and conditions of service “towards better service delivery to the people.”

As Nigeria slips into recession for the second time in five years, President Muhammadu Buhari, says it came about because of the severity of the global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said this on Monday in Abuja, while declaring open the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit with the theme: “Building Partnerships for Resilience’’.

The summit was organised jointly by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

Mr Buhari, who was represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said that the decline in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came after 12 successive quarters of positive growth.

He said the downturn caused by the pandemic included lockdowns, disruption in global supply chains, business failures and rising unemployment.

“We can all recall that during the lockdown, farming did not take place, businesses were closed; schools were closed as were hotels and restaurants.

“Also, airlines stopped flying, while inter-state commerce was disrupted.

“The economy only began to recover when these activities resumed and if we are able to sustain the nearly three percentage point increase from the second quarter decline of minus 6.1 per cent, the performance in the fourth quarter could take us into positive territory,’’ he said.

Mr Buhari said that it was to mitigate such impact that the federal government introduced the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

According to him, all the programmes in the ESP are reliant on the private sector playing a key role in creating and conserving jobs and the production and delivery of services in agriculture, housing, solar power and digital technologies.

He added that the speedy pathway out of the current recession was to quicken the implementation of the ESP.

“Of course, an improvement in global economic conditions, including the restoration of global supply chains and resumption of exports and remittances, should enable a V-shaped recovery.

“We expect, in the same spirit of partnership, that the private sector will complement these efforts by making maximum use of the provisions of the ESP and the Finance Bill when it is passed by the National Assembly and also by retaining and creating jobs so as to keep people at work.

“In a similar spirit of partnership, private sector enterprises should also pay their due taxes,’’ he added.

Speaking on the theme of the summit, he said that partnerships remained essential to attract the resources for building a solid national infrastructural base.

Mr Buhari said that as was evident when the nation was combatting COVID-19, partnerships were essential and also necessary for framing medium and long-term development plans.

He added that the government had always emphasised that the private sector had a key role to play in the efforts to build a more resilient and competitive economy as expressed in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

Mr Buhari said that private companies in design, construction, logistics and finance were very much engaged in the nation’s infrastructure projects in power and rail as well as road and bridges.

“I am pleased to inform in this regard that we are working actively with the CBN, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and state governments under the auspices of the National Economic Council to design and put in place a N15 billion Infraco Fund, which will be independently managed.

“The Infraco Fund will help to close the national infrastructural gap and provide a firm basis for increasing national economic productivity and growth,” he said.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said that the current recession would be a short one, as the government and key stakeholders were proactively working together to put in place sustainable measures to curtail and improve the situation.

She added that in spite of the recession, Nigeria had out-performed many economies in terms of economic growth.

Mrs Ahmed said that the federal government, in partnership with the NESG had been working together on the national implementation plans as well as the regional and local development plans.

“Since the inception of the NESG 25 years ago, it has become one of the largest annual gatherings dedicated to finding solutions to the challenges facing the Nigerian Economy.

“It has helped to shape government policies, reforms and sector transformations,’’ she said.

Asue Ighodalo, the Chairman of the NESG, said the summit must be different as it must emphasise the execution of endless dialogues.

He said that the summit was about building partnerships as sectors could no longer succeed independently.

“We come to the table each year with clear and defined obstacles in search of solutions. The NESG and the private sector must do more to address policy needs.

“Let this 26th summit be the one where we collectively resolve to shun greed, nepotism and corruption.

“It is time that we are brave with facing our realities with strength, sense of purpose, and integrity.

“Our reflections would be incomplete if we did not also examine many more policy recommendations that have not been acted upon over the years and acknowledge those that have been actioned,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day summit ends on Tuesday.

(NAN)