The headlines of mainstream Nigerian newspapers for Thursday, August 31, are focused on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and the court trial of Billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (Evans).
The Nation reports that the kidnap kingpin Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (aka Evans) yesterday, August 29, pleaded guilty to a two-count charge.
He was arraigned by the police before a vacation judge, Justice Hakeem Oshodi of an Ikeja High Court, for alleged kidnapping of Dunu Donatus, a Lagos businessman.
Evans was arraigned alongside five other suspected members of his gang, including a woman, Ogechi Uchechukwu, the third defendant; Uche Amadi, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwunonso Aduba, second, fourth, fifth and sixth defendants.
The Nation Newspaper
The Guardian reports that after four hours of a closed-door meeting on Wednesday at the Enugu Government House, the governors of the south-east zone could not convince the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to drop his agitation for Biafra Republic.
It was also learnt that the meeting failed to stop Kanu’s threat over the planned November 18 governorship election in Anambra State.
The governors were said to have invited Kanu to discuss issues bordering on the said violation of his bail conditions for which the Federal Government has asked an Abuja High court to issue an order to re-arrest him.
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The Guardian Newspaper
The Punch reports that there seems to be no end in sight to the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities as the Federal Government says it is still studying the fresh demands made by the union.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, disclosed this on Wednesday while responding to an enquiry by one of our correspondents.
The correspondent had, in an SMS, asked if a date had been fixed for a meeting between the Federal Government and ASUU.
The Punch Newspaper
This Day reports that abysmally low student enrolment into private universities in the country has been identified as the major reason the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently lowered the minimum cut-off mark for Nigerian universities in the 2017/2018 academic session to 120.
According to data released by the spokesperson of JAMB, Dr.iol.co.za Fabian Benjamin, most private universities already had their minimum cut-off marks set at 120, even before the decision by the board and other stakeholders involved in tertiary education (including private and public polytechnics and colleges of education) nationwide.
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