African press review 9 June 2016
Nigerian government launches massive operation to recruit 500,000 teachers, while tributes stream in for Nigerian football icon Stephen Keshi who died of heart attack on Wednesday.
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We start in Nigeria where the government has announced the launch of a massive program to recruit 500,000 teachers.
The paper reports that the unprecedented social investment program is set to cost 500 billion Naira (2.2 billion euros).
According to the Premium Times, a statement by the vice president's office said on Wednesday the recrutiment will be carried out on internet through a website to be launched on the 11th of June.
The paper claims that President Muhammadu Buhari formally launched the “unprecedented social investment programme" already provided for under the 2016 Appropriations blaw in his May 29 Democracy Day broadcast to the nation.
It adds that the candidates for the direct jobs creation and training schemes can start applying for from Sunday, June 12. The package includes 25,000 vacancies in the area of technology, and another 75,000 posts in the sectors of construction, utilities, hospitality and catering, automotive vocations, aluminium and gas services.
Stephen Keshi
Meanwhile ,several Nigerian papers carry a tribute to ex Green Eagles captain and coach Stephen Keshi, who died suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 54.
This Day reports that Keshi who lost his wife from a concer-related illness in December suffered a heart attack in the Edo state capital Benin, quoting family members. The paper says President Muhammadu Buhari, took a few minutes off his medical vacation in London to deliver a tribute to the late football icon.
"Nigeria today lost a great sportsman, football player, coach and citizen who gave this country his all,” Buhari is quoted by the paper as saying.
ThisDay also reports that there has been a trail of tributes from other prominent Nigerians, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, former President of the Senate, David Mark, and Governor Okowa of Delta State.
"Big boss bows out" headlines the Nation, recalling that news of his death hit the country as a bomshell. The paper reports that his death was all the more devastating, because he died barely six months after his wife, Kate who lost a battle with cancer. The Nation says Keshi will be remembered in his country as the only Nigerian to have won the African Nations Cup as a player in 1994 and as a coach in 2013.
The newspaper carries a message of condolence from Ghanaian football chief Kwesi Nyantakyi.
He describes Keshi as a great, noble spirit, and a shining example of dedication to football in several countries including Ghana.
The Ghana football chief said they had decided to fly flags at the Federation's headquarters in Accra at half-mast in a gesture of the deepest respect for Stephen Keshi.
Punch
Punch recounts the ordeal of a Kaduna-based carpenter who almost lost his right eye after an attack by Muslim youth on Tuesday accusing him of not observing the Ramadan fast.
The paper reports that the six Muslims spotted 47-year-old Emmanuel who is a Christian, eating at his shop about 2.30 pm in a locality south of the capital of the north-western Kaduna State.
Punch quotes eyewitnesses as saying that Emmanuel received deep machete cuts to his head and other parts of his body during the attack and was rushed to the St. Gerard Catholic Hospital, where he is currently receiving medical treatment.
Finally today, the Kenyan publication leads with findings by the Health Ministry that Tuberculosis infections killed 10,000 people in the country last year with more than 81,000 others reportedly infected over the same period.
The head of the TB department in the Ministry of Health told the newspaper that the figures are “higher than thought”. Daily Nation says the statistics released on Wednesday also show that up to 14.4 million Kenyans (one-third of the country's population), have the Tuberculosis bacteria but are not ill and do not have symptoms.
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