President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja directed all the security institutions to immediately leverage Fifth Generation (5G) technology, when deployed, to enhance security in the country.

The President who launched the National Policy on 5G for Nigeria’s Digital Economy, said the Federal Government will take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the 5G to address challenges in the economy, security and well-being of the nation.

President Buhari, while allaying fears over health safety of 5G, affirmed that such issues have been ”effectively addressed” in developing a Policy that suits the country.

The concerns over the deployment of the 5th generation technology has been further heightened by recent reports of United States’ leading airlines calling on the Biden administration not implement 5G technology near airports, stating to do so would cause “significant operation disruption” to air passengers, shippers and supply chains.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has stopped the registration of alcohol in sachet, small volume PET and glass bottles below 200 millilitres.

Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General, NAFDAC revealed this in a statement on Monday where she mentioned that the ban was effected following the recommendation of a high powered Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC on one hand, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and Industry represented by the Association of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE), Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) in December 2018.

“Producers of alcohol in sachets and small volume agreed to reduce production by 50 percent with effect from January 31st, 2022 while ensuring the products are completely phased out in the country by 31st January 2024,” she said.

In addition, the agency will ensure that the validity of renewal of already registered alcoholic products in the affected category does not exceed the year 2024.

This move by the food and drug regulator is part of measures to curb the abuse of alcohol across the country.

With all things considered, the Federal Government, yesterday, soft-pedalled on its initial plan to remove subsidy on petrol, setting aside its much-trumpeted Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to continue paying about N4.6 trillion provided crude oil price hovers around $85 per barrel.

The Guardian had exclusively reported last Friday that petrol may sell for N403 per litre, representing the current landing cost of the product, as against its current price of N165 from July 1, this year.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited had revealed that Nigeria consumes about 19.535 billion litres of petrol yearly, averaging 1.6 billion litres monthly. With about N241 now paid on every litre as subsidy, this brings yearly subsidy to about N4.6 trillion.

The battle over the region to produce Nigeria’s next President took another dimension, yesterday, as over 1,000 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) barricaded the headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), requesting both parties to pick their presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections from the southern part of the country.

The protesters, under the auspices of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria (CCSG), displayed banners and chanted solidarity songs in Abuja, insisting that heeding the call would save the nation from possible instability

Some of the inscriptions read, “Please respect power rotation, power rotation is not negotiable,” “We support a united Nigeria, one nation great people,” “Southern presidency now, the southern presidency for national unity.”

President of CCSG, Bassey Etuk Williams, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, restated that the appeal was also to engender fairness and uphold the unity of the country.

President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, yesterday, hinted that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and six other lawyers believed to have aided judges in the issuance of conflicting orders might soon face the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.

He made the disclosure at a press conference in Abuja, where he addressed stakeholders on the rationale behind this year’s Justice Sector Summit held today in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It is organised by NBA in conjunction with others.

Akpata, while fielding questions from journalists on the position of the association’s committee earlier set up to look into the roles of lawyers in the issuance of conflicting orders by some judges, confirmed that a full report had been submitted to the body’s National Executive Council (NEC).