31/10/2023
October 31st summary from Nigerian Newspapers:
1. The Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, says 50 decomposing corpses, including 20 headless bodies, as well as countless skeletons, were discovered by security operatives during a raid of the forest around the Lokpanta Cattle Market in the Umunneochi axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway. According to the governor, it was also discovered that the cattle market was being used by kidnappers as ransom-collection point.
2. The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has assured Nigerians that the ongoing plan by the Federal Government to introduce new foreign exchange rules will reflect the true value of the naira. He also said the plan, which would include a crackdown on illicit currency trading, would result in naira closing its gap with the unofficial rate and reaching a “fair price” before the end of 2023.
3. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has warned that the Boko Haram crisis may consume the nation if it is not contained. Speaking while hosting the reconstituted management board of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) at the council chambers of the Borno State Government House in Maiduguri on Monday, he said the continuous existence of IDP camps in Local Government Areas of Borno is a potential time bomb.
4. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N2,176,791,286,033 for the second 2023 supplementary appropriation. Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, announced this on Monday while briefing State House reporters after the federal cabinet meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
5. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, says Nigeria is in trouble if the Supreme Court implies that crime should be rewarded.