Across the thirty-six states of Nigeria, these are the five biggest stories you shouldn’t miss out on:

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Ngige: Workers threatening to switch off national grid over Kaduna strike

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to call off the strike in Kaduna – The Cable reports

The NLC had embarked on a five-day notice strike on Monday to protest the disengagement of 4,000 workers across the state.

“This is because we have it on good authority, following complaints by the Minster of Power that workers have threatened to trigger a nationwide blackout by interfering or switching off the national grid,” Ngige said.

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Hisbah arrests Kano ‘couple’ for allegedly buying baby for N900,000

The Kano State Hisbah Board has arrested Salomi Jerome, a 40-year-old woman and Saomi Igina, her husband, for allegedly trafficking a newborn child from Delta State – The Punch reports

This update was contained in a statement by the board’s Commander-General, Sheikh Harun Ibn-Sina, which was made distributed to journalists in Kano on Tuesday, 18th May.

“On May 15, 2021, our men attached to a motor park arrested a woman, Salomi Jerome, 40, who was with a newborn boy. She was accompanied by a man, Salomi Igina, 50, whom she claimed was her husband, which we found out to be untrue. She also pretended to be breastfeeding the baby in order to deceive the public that the baby was hers,” he said.

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Nigeria receives £4.2m Ibori loot from The UK

The federal government has disclosed that it has finally received the £4.2million recovered from former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori’s associates and family members, from The UK – Premium Times reports

This update was disclosed by Nigeria’s Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on Tuesday, 18th May.

Malami disclosed that the “naira equivalent value” of the total £4,214,017.66 “has been credited into the designated Federal Government account” since May 10.

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NIS suspends processing of new passports for two weeks

Mr. Muhammad Babandede, Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has announced the suspension of receiving and processing of all fresh passport applications nationwide until June 1 – The Nation reports

The Comptroller-General revealed this while briefing reporters yesterday in Abuja, as he disclosed that a new passport regime would take effect from same date.

“What we are saying is that because of the situation of backlogs, all passport control offices are hereby sealed between today and May 31 to enable them to clear the backlogs. So, there will be no operation in passport offices from today, payment portal has already been closed locally as of yesterday night until May 31. Payment from June 1 will be purely online, no cash to passport office, no cash to any immigration officer and the focus is to ensure that no person that is not supposed to be in the passport office goes there,” he said.

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AFN/MoC Invitational attracts 300 African athletes to Lagos

Over 300 athletes from different African countries will participate in the inaugural AFN/MoC Invitational, to hold on Saturday, May 22, at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos – The Guardian reports

The athletes are expected from Kenya, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin Republic, Togo, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Senegal and Uganda. The athletes will use the event to pursue their qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.