African press review 2 November 2018

Nigerian governor offers hefty award to criminals in his violence-wracked state who hand in their AK47 rifles. Presient Ramaphosa sacks his chief and Kenya's leader Uhuru Kenyatta promises a shock when he picks his heir.

We begin in Nigeria where the Governor of the northern Zamfara state has offered a reward of N1 million on every illegal AK 47 rifle returned to the state government.

Vanguard reports that Governor Abdulaziz Yari made the offer at a news conference in Gusau, Thursday as part of his plan to curb an upsurge of armed banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping in the state.

The paper says that Governor Yari also announced the recruitment of 8,500 youths to serve in a civilian task force, set up to help detect crime suspects and suspicious movements by armed groups especially in rural areas where they reportedly kill, maim, abduct people and burn houses, shops and other properties.

Meanwhile Punch highlights a new report by the United Nations Children's Fund expressing concern at the falling numbers of girls going to school in northern Nigeria.

According to the newspaper UNICEF official Geoffrey Njoku told a conference in Kano that that only 45 per cent of girls in northern region are enrolled in schools. He reportedly identified the North east and North-West ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency as the worst hit areas.

Punch says the UNICEF specialist also cited poverty, early marriage and cultural beliefs as some of the determining factors that have worsened Nigeria's out-of-school children statistics standing at 13.2 million.

In South Africa, the sacking of Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday dominates comments in today's papers.

Business Day reports that Ramaphosa had accepted the recommendation of the SARS commission of inquiry's chair, retired judge Robert Nugent, to axe Moyane on Thursday.

The Sowetan recalls that the embattled SARS boss was suspended in March after a string of controversies around his running of the Revenue Services agency.

Times Live says, Tom Muyane failed to explain a R50-billion Rand hole in revenue collection in 2017 and a decline in taxpayer compliance under his watch.

And in Kenya Standard says President Uhuru Kenyatta has broken his silence on the ongoing debate on his succession, saying he will be actively involved in what will happen after his retirement.

According to the newspaper in the clearest indication that he would be at the center of succession politics towards the end of his final term, Kenyatta lashed out at unnamed critics, saying his silence on the matter should not be seen as weakness.

The Standard's "my pick will shock you" headline, doesn't sound too good for the odds on favourites to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta who is barred by the constitution from seeking a third term in the 2022 elections.