Victor EzejaHere we present to you the top ten stories from Nigerian newspapers today, Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
1. Buhari hits Obasanjo over dismal rating of his government, Wike, LP Taunt Atiku, Tinubu on Obi’s endorsement
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday night rereleased a statement in response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s new year message which criticised the current administration. This grabbed the attention of national dailies.
Obasanjo had in a six-page letter on January 1, made scathing remarks against the administration of President Buhari making reference to what he considered the shortcomings of the Buhari regime, especially as regards insecurity among others.
Obasanjo also endorsed Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi for the 2023 election. This also generated responses from members of opposition political parties and their presidential candidates like Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike and Labour Party also joined the fray taunting Atiku and Tinubu over the endorsement of Obi by former president Obasanjo. Wike on his part claimed that for Obasanjo to endorse Obi, leaving Atiku who served under him as vice president between 1999 and 2007 shows that Atiku has a significant flaw with his candidacy.
2. Bolanle killing: DPO, Other Police officers redeployed from Ajah police division
The dailies also reported issues around the killing of a 41-year-old female pregnant lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, on Christmas Day allegedly, by a police officer attached to Ajiwe Police Division, Ajah, Lagos.
All policemen including the Divisional Police Officer of the station have been transferred by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Abiodun Alabi.
Meanwhile, the police officer allegedly involved in the shooting of the lawyer, Drambi Vandi, has been charged with murder. Vandi who was suspended from duty on Wednesday has since the incident been remanded in custody according to the order of a Lagos Magistrate Court.
3. Politicians Buying PVCs are wasting their time – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned politicians buying Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to desist from that as they are wasting their time, energy and resources.
INEC gave the warning while restating its commitment to conducting free and fair elections this year.
4. Scarcity of New Naira Notes Worries Nigerians
Issues around the circulation of the new Naira notes also appeared in the dailies.
There are concerns that the new Naira notes (N1,000, N500, N200) released last month by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are scarce in commercial banks. According to reports, many in different parts of the country have no access to the new currency notes, especially at banks’ Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points. The ATM points are currently dispensing old Nair notes. The CBN which released the new notes on December 15, set the deadline for phasing out the old notes by January 31, 2023. This worries the citizens as the deadline is only 28 days from now.
5. FIRS Unveils Instant Tax clearance certificate
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has launched a system for issuing tax clearance certificates with a single click through its flagship Taxpro Max solution.
The TaxPro Max, a tax administration solution introduced by the apex tax authority in June 2021 is a one-stop-shop for taxpayer registration, tax returns filing, tax payment, tax clearance certificate requesting, among other functionalities.
6. New year: Issues of subsidy, inflation and insecurity worry Nigerians
With the onset of 2023, a year of election, Nigerians are worried about issues like proposed fuel subsidy removal, inflation and insecurity which have far reaching socio-economic effects on the people.
With inflation rate currently at 21.5 per cent, there are concerns that prices of commodities in the country will continue to rise. Subsidy removal is expected to compound inflation levels except if drastic steps are taken to mitigate the impact.
Insecurity on the other has led to the destruction of lives and properties with a great negative impact on productivity levels, discouraging foreign investors and keeping farmers out of farms.
7. Insecurity in Imo: ex-governor Ohakim, Police station attacked
Issues of insecurity in Imo State, Southeast of Nigeria has continued to be a source of worry to the residents.
A former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, on Monday escaped death by a whisker during an attack at Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, on his convoy. Four people in his entourage feared being killed including the driver.
Ohakim, who thanked God for sparing his life narrated how he escaped death by a whisker during his Monday encounter with gunmen.
8. Nigerians groan as fuel scarcity, queues at petrol stations persist
Fuel scarcity for the past six months has continued to persist across Nigeria leaving citizens with the challenge of high prices of transportation, and commodities.
Reports show that it appears there is no end sight yet for the fuel scarcity as many outlets are closed. While private outlets selling are selling as high as N250 or N300 per litre. Only a few stations are selling at N178 but always have long queues of motorists.
10. Lekki Port Opens Talks With Liquid Bulk Terminals For Phase 2 Devt
Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL), yesterday, disclosed that it had opened discussions with three potential operators of the liquid berth terminals.
This comes after the successful completion of the first phase of the Lekki Deep Seaport.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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