Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the US, his first trip outside the country since becoming Nigeria’s leader in February, and the presence of a ship fully loaded with toxic waste, made newspaper headlines this week.
Also in the news during the period was the declaration of interest for the 2011 presidency in Nigeria by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.
“Jonathan’s visit to US, beginning of new phase of Nigeria/US relations,” was the front page story of the Tribune on Friday.
The paper said the South-west Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and the Consul-General of Nigeria in the US, Mr. Chudi Okafor, in Atlanta, Georgia, reviewed the visit and declared that it marked a new phase in Nigeria/US relations.
It said the duo drew the conclusion in Atlanta, on Wednesday, at a luncheon organised by the Consulate-General in honour of Governor Oyinlola who was also in the US on a working visit.
On Friday, Thisday newspaper captioned its story “Jonathan Returns, US Trip Successful, Says FG”, reporting that Jonathan returned to the country Thursday after a four-day working visit to the US, where he attended the Nuclear Security Summit, met President Barack Obama and had other engagements.
The Sun newspaper, reporting Jonathan’s visit, said the Acting President was a guest at the Centre for Global Development (CGD) in Washington DC and just before departure, he met with the members of the Black Caucus in the US Congress at the Capitol Hill, Washington DC, during which he urged them to take urgent steps to stem the tide of proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Africa.
The Daily Independent on Friday also headlined its story “U.S. Trip A Success – FG” while The Punch’s headline Tuesday was: “Fight corruption, rigging, Obama tells Jonathan”.
In its coverage of the toxic waste story, the Punch on Saturday said “Toxic ship: Customs grills Maersk Line agent, 20 crew members”. It said the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has detained 20 crew members aboard the ship that allegedly berthed in Lagos with toxic waste.
The detained crew members, including the Captain and a Maersk Line Agent in charge of the consignment, are also being grilled by Customs and other security agencies.
Thisday newspaper ‘screamed’ “Toxic Waste Ship Berths”, alerting the reading public that a ship laden with toxic waste has berthed at the Tincan Island Port, Lagos.
As expected, all Nigerian newspapers ran stories on the declaration of interest by Babangida to run for the presidency in 2011.
The Punch, Sun and Tribune all had interesting headlines on Babangina. “2011: Group kicks off bid to stop IBB next week” and “Prove That I’m A Thief, IBB Dares Nigerians” were the headlines in the Tribune while the Punch wrote “Opposition mounts against IBB’s presidential ambition”.