The top 10 Nigerian newspaper headlines for Tuesday, 16 January 2024, can be accessed below.
1. Nigeria is on the verge of economic recovery and prosperity, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said on Monday. He lamented past decades of waste and theft of public resources by a few people under the subsidy regime. The President is confident that the pains of subsidy removal and harsh economic conditions will soon disappear.
2. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, on Monday opened a bid to privatise the operation of its Port Harcourt Petroleum Refinery. In an Expression of Interest, EO, available on its website, the company said the decision was to ensure reliability and sustainability.
3. The Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, has invited the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo for interaction over his link to New Planet Projects Limited. New Planet Projects Limited allegedly got a N438million consultancy contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
4. Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has assented to the 2024 Appropriation Bill. The governor on December 13, 2023, presented a N2.2 trillion ‘Budget of Renewal’ to the House of Assembly. The House, however, increased the total budget size to N2.267 trillion, with N1.315 trillion allocated to capital expenditure and N952 billion allocated to recurrent expenditure. This represents a ratio of 58:42.
5. For the first time since he was sworn into office, President Bola Tinubu and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo were seen together in public. The duo were among the guests who witnessed the inauguration of Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.
6. Commissioner for Public Complaints Commission, PCC, representing the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Hon Ezekiel Musa Dalhatu, has said FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, has not been properly briefed on the high level of insecurity in the nation’s capital. Addressing a press conference in Abuja, on Monday, Dalhatu said insecurity had risen to an all-time high.
7. Political economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has said the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, and New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, have agreed to form a mega party that would wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2027. Utomi disclosed this in an interview on Channels TV.
8. No fewer than seven members of the same family have reportedly perished in a midnight fire outbreak in Tudun Wada, Nassarawa Local Government area of Kano State. The incident was said to have occurred as a result of an electric spark when power was restored.
9. Five passengers were reported dead, while eight others were injured in an accident which occurred on Monday at about 1:58 pm around the Fidiwo end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The fatal crash involved a Mazda bus with registration number EKY582 YE and another Mercedes Benz truck with no plate number.
10. A yet-to-be-identified member of a four-man robbery gang was shot dead by the operatives of the Anambra State Police Command. The suspect was killed for pulling out a pistol in an attempt to shoot police officers who were at a checkpoint.
