A Nigerian journalist, Ibraheem Hamza Mohammed, was on Friday released from prison after the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) intervened in his case.

This was contained a statement issued by the Legal Adviser/Chairman, Advocacy Committee, IPI Nigeria, Tobi Soniyi.

Recall that the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police had arrested Mohammed on 1 May after he was accused of falsely publishing that N40 million was stolen from Governor Abdullahi Sule’s bedroom.

The article was published on 22 February 2024 on First News, a Lagos-based online newspaper.

The police then charged him with violation of the Cybercrime Act and secured an order for his remand at the Medium Security Custodian Centre in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, pending commencement of trial.

However, the journalist was released Friday after a Nasarawa High Court sitting in Doma granted him bail.

He spent 10 days in jail.

He was to remain on bail till 13 May when the police are expected to withdraw the charges against him and discontinue the trial.

To secure his release, IPI Nigeria’s delegation led by the President, Musikilu Mojeed, visited Lafia on 6 May, meeting with top officials of the Nasarawa State government, including Governor Sule, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Labaran Magaji and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ibrahim Addra.

The delegation also visited and conferred with the journalist, Mohammed, in prison.

Meanwhile, the management of First News has apologised to Governor Sule over the story, saying it has since found “that the said story lacked any form of truth in it and that the reporter merely concocted the story in his bid to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor.

“While tendering an unreserved apology to the Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, we wish to assure him that such will not repeat itself ever again,” the newspaper added.

IPI Nigeria is hereby admonishing Nigerian journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession, desist from publishing false news, and continue to observe a high degree of standard in their practice.

Members of the Democratic Youth Assembly of Nigeria (DYAN) have visited the Vice-President, Oil and Gas, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Mr. Devakumar Edwin, in his office at the corporate Headquarters of the Pan-African Conglomerate in Lagos during which they presented him with an award of “Icon of Delight Service” in recognition of what they described as his contributions toward Societal Development, Human Upliftment and Selfless Service to Humanity.

Amid discussions of a potential minimum wage increase for workers, the Federal Government is weighing the necessity of a supplementary budget.

Concerns arise as the negotiated amount threatens to exceed the allocated funds in the original 2024 budget, prompting deliberations on fiscal adjustments.

This suggestion was made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its recent staff country report for Nigeria.

“The authorities noted that a supplementary budget may be needed to accommodate the outcome of the ongoing wage structure negotiations which may exceed what they had included in the 2024 budget.

“Staff projects a higher fiscal deficit than anticipated in the 2024 budget, but broadly unchanged from 2023. The drivers are lower oil/gas revenue projections, reflecting IMF oil price forecasts but incorporating recent production gains; higher implicit fuel and electricity subsidies; continued suspension of excise measures included in the MTEF; and higher interest costs.

“Staff factors in an under-execution of capital expenditure in line with past outcomes and estimates an FGN deficit of 4.5 per cent of GDP relative to the 2024 budget target of 3.4 per cent of GDP. For the consolidated government, this implies a projected deficit of 4.7 per cent of GDP in 2024—compared to 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2023 measured from the financing side—which is appropriate given the large social needs and factoring in a realistic pace of revenue mobilisation.

“Over the medium-term, staff projects consolidation in the non-oil primary deficit. With rising interest costs, government debt stabilises towards the end of the projection period.”

The quest for a new minimum wage has been a persistent issue between Organised Labour and the government since the year began, aimed at alleviating the strains of the challenging economic climate.

Recent reforms in Nigeria, such as the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market, have further escalated the cost of living, intensifying the urgency for wage adjustments.

While labour leaders push for a substantial increase from N30,000 to N615,000 as the minimum wage for lowest-ranked workers, indications suggest the tripartite committee may propose a more modest figure of N70,000.

Concerns loom over the sufficiency of the government’s allocated N6.48 trillion for personnel costs in the 2024 budget, with the IMF highlighting potential deficits exacerbated by implicit subsidies and rising debt interest expenses.

However, the Finance Minister Wale Edun had announced the government’s intention to decrease the budget deficit from 6.1 percent in the 2023 budget to 3.8 percent in the current appropriation.