1. Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has called on governments at all levels to do more to address the current hardship in the country. In his Sallah sermon shortly after observing the two units Eid prayer at the Fakon Idi, the monarch said Nigeria is grappling with a lot of challenges, while its citizens are facing untold hardship.

2. The Presidency has said the present economic crisis being experienced by Nigerians is caused by previous administrations, and not the Present government. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, said this in a statement issued in reaction to a piece on the Nigerian economy published by the New York Times.

3. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday said Nigeria needs sacrificing citizens to fulfil the dreams of its founding fathers. The President stated this while addressing journalists after observing the Eid-el-Kabir prayers at Dodan Barracks, Lagos.

4. A Special account with a $2.9 billion deposit has been created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the foreign exchange (forex) market. The apex bank, which identified the special account as Gazelle Funding Account, dropped the hint during the last Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

5. Lagos State Police Command has begun an investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of a businessman, Onyejekwe Izuchukwu, whose remains were found in a hotel room in the Ikoyi area of the state. It was gathered that Izuchukwu, who was based in Texas, USA, returned to Nigeria for some business dealings when the tragedy that claimed his life struck on June 9, 2024.

6. Ondo State Police Command on Sunday said it had begun an investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of a man and his girlfriend in the state. A middle-aged man identified as Eric and his yet-to-be-identified girlfriend were reportedly found dead at a new apartment located in the Ayeyemi area of Ondo State, on Thursday.

7. The Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced two men, Ugwu Chijioke and Ibrahim Adekunle, to 46 years combined jail term for impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and executing a fake court order. This is according to a statement by the EFCC on its Facebook page on Sunday.

8. No fewer than six persons have been reportedly killed with more than 100 persons also abducted as suspected gunmen attacked a community in Sokoto State in the early hours of Sunday. The police in Sokoto, through their spokesman, Ahmed Rufai, confirmed the killing of over six persons and abduction of scores of residents at Tudun Doki, Gwadabawa Local Government Area of Sokoto.

9. Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested two siblings in Abia, recovering cocaine and methamphetamine consignments worth over N4.1bn. The siblings identified as Kelechi Nwaobasi and Chinwe Nwaobasi were arrested during a special investigation conducted between June 13 and 14, 2024.

10. The police in the FCT have arrested a man, Muhammad Kabir, for allegedly trying to kidnap his neighbour, Abdulwahab Yusuf, at the Shagari Quarters in Zuba in Gwagwalada Area Council. It was gathered that the suspect came to the area from Kogi State some months ago and along with three others was squatting in the community’s central mosque with no specific work apart from soliciting alms.

The Presidency has reacted to a report published in the New York Times criticising the Nigerian economy as facing the worst trajectory in a generation.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, responded on Sunday to the report by Ruth Maclean and Ismail Auwal.

According to the Presidency, the feature story, titled ‘Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation’ and published on June 11, reflected the typical predetermined, reductionist, derogatory, and denigrating way foreign media establishments have reported on African countries for decades.

Onanuga stated that due to the ‘misleading’ slant of the report, the government needed to clear up some misconceptions conveyed by the reporters regarding the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which took office at the end of May 2023.

He noted that the report painted a dire picture of some Nigerians’ experiences amid the inflationary spiral of the last year and unfairly blamed it all on the new administration’s policies.

He argued that the report, based on several interviews, is at best jaundiced, portraying all gloom and doom without mentioning the positive aspects of the economy or the amelioration policies being implemented by the central and state governments.

Onanuga emphasized that Tinubu did not create the economic problems Nigeria faces today but inherited them.

“As a respected economist in our country once put it, Tinubu inherited a dead economy.

“The economy was bleeding and needed quick surgery to avoid being plunged into the abyss, as happened in Zimbabwe and Venezuela,” he noted.

He explained that this context led to the policy direction taken by the government in May/June 2023, including the abrogation of the fuel subsidy regime and the unification of the multiple exchange rates.

Onanuga highlighted that Nigeria had maintained a fuel subsidy regime for decades, which consumed $84.39 billion between 2005 and 2022 from the public treasury, in a country with significant infrastructural deficits and a high need for better social services.

He also alleged that the state oil firm, NNPCL, had accumulated trillions of Naira in debts due to unsustainable subsidy payments.

He noted that when Tinubu took office, no provision was made for fuel subsidy payments in the national budget beyond June 2023.

“The budget itself had a striking feature: it planned to spend 97 per cent of revenue servicing debt, with little left for recurrent or capital expenditure. The previous government had resorted to massive borrowing to cover such costs.”

Onanuga further explained that like oil, the exchange rate was also subsidized by the government, with an estimated $1.5 billion spent monthly by the CBN to defend the currency against the unquenchable demand for the dollar.

“This low rate led to arbitrage and failures to fulfil remittance obligations to airlines and other foreign businesses, drying up foreign direct investment and investments in the oil sector.

“To address these issues, Tinubu rolled back the subsidy regime and floated the naira on his first day”, Onanuga said.

Despite initial challenges, Onanuga noted that some stability is being restored, with the exchange rate now below N1500 to the dollar and prospects for further appreciation.

He cited a trade surplus of N6.52 trillion in Q1, as opposed to a deficit of N1.4 trillion in Q4 of 2023, and renewed interest from portfolio investors as indicators of improving economic confidence. Loans from the World Bank, AfDB, and Afreximbank are also contributing to Nigeria’s renewed bankability.

Onanuga highlighted efforts to control inflation, especially food inflation, through increased agricultural production and state-led initiatives to sell food at lower prices.

“The Tinubu administration has invested heavily in dry-season farming and provided incentives to farmers.”

He concluded by comparing Nigeria’s economic challenges with those faced by the USA and Europe, emphasizing that the Tinubu administration is working hard to overcome these difficulties.

“Our country faced economic difficulties in the past, an experience captured in folk songs. Just like we overcame then, we shall overcome our present difficulties very soon.”

The Nigeria Police Force says none of the protesters arrested during the October 2020 demonstration against police brutality and extrajudicial killings is still in detention. 

Force spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi made this known in a statement on Sunday.

The police described as untrue, claims by Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District, that some of the youths detained for the #EndSARS protest are still in custody.

In 2020, some Nigerian youths took to the streets to protest against police brutality and the situation in the country. But in the wake of the protest, some police stations, formations, and officers were damaged across the country, leading to some arrests.

While some of the arrested protesters were released, others are believed to being held up in various police stations.

At special dinner Organised to mark Democracy Day held at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja on June 12, 2024, Sani had said those who took part in the protest should also be considered champions of democracy.

The former lawmaker had asked President Bola Tinubu to pardon those incarcerate over the #EndSARS protest in 2020.

However, the police said the matter had been concluded, “lessons have been learnt. We have forgiven ourselves and moved on”.

“The Nigeria Police affirms that no individual is being unlawfully detained by the Nigeria Police Force or any other security agency in Nigeria due to the EndSARS protes,” the statement partly read.

“All arrested individuals have been processed according to the law, and none remain unlawfully detained. In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu pardoned approximately 100 suspects arrested by the Police during the protest.

“For emphasis, no one anywhere in Nigeria is under Police detention or being wrongly persecuted for participating in the EndSARS protest. The issues surrounding the protest have been debated, researched, and documented, and lessons have been learnt. We have forgiven ourselves and moved on.

“We urge the public to disregard this claim and remain assured of our commitment to upholding justice, the rule of law, and human rights.”