1, punch Newspaper: Twenty-four hours to Christmas, many Nigerians have been unable to travel to different destinations due to astronomical rise in bus fares, acute petrol and aviation fuel scarcity, rising insecurity and declining household income.
Usually in this period, many citizens travel to different parts of the country to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. While some return to their ancestral homes to reunite with their kith and kin, others take breaks from their regular schedules to visit tourist destinations
2, Vanguard newspaper: The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has hit the Federal Government of Nigeria, over the alleged cancellation of the reconstruction of the Eastern Railway project by the federal government.
The leader of MASSOB, Uche Madu, stated this in a statement to newsmen in Owerri, on Friday
3, the guardian newspaper: Senate fixes December 28 for passage of Appropriation Bill.
The renewed face-off between the executive arm of government and the National Assembly has constituted a cog in the wheel of the 2023 budget.
The failure of the N819.5 billion Supplementary Budget Bill submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, to address earlier complaints by the lawmakers with regard to their Constituency projects heightened the face-off.
4, Blueprint newspaper: Eight years after the federal government terminated the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) project; Nigeria has paid over N40.05 billion interest accruable on the loan ZTE, a Chinese firm, obtained from China EXIMBank to finance the project.
ZTE was awarded the CCTV project contract under the federal government’s National Public Security Communications System in 2008 by the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to install CCTV cameras in Abuja, Lagos and throughout the 36 states of the federation and 774 local government areas.
The project which was to cost at $470 million, about N76 billion then, had five components: Global Operating Network Architecture (GOTA); the Video Surveillance Subsystem (VSS) which is the CCTV component; the Video Conferences System; E-Policing Subsystem and the Emergency Collation Response Subsystem.
5, The Nation newspaper: Army, others deployed to INEC offices in Imo – REC
• Burning of commission’s offices must stop, IGP warns
Officers of the Nigerian Army and Department of State Services (DSS), have been deployed to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices in Imo State, to forestall further attacks on the facilities.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Sylvia Agu disclosed this on Friday during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
6, premium times newspaper: Before his landmark victory in the 2015 election, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was widely reputed to be a no-nonsense retired military general who would not condone corruption and use a force of personal example to make an ethical impact on public service impact
In many speeches, Mr Buhari repeatedly said he would incinerate corruption, Nigeria’s ravaging ill.
Therefore in 2015, many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when he won the election and they were hopeful that the president would be able to fight the scourge of corruption in the West African nation.
7, Daily Trust newspaper: The federal government on Thursday said it had spent N5 billion on the rehabilitation of police stations and barracks across many parts of the country between 2019 and 2022.
It also stated that Nigeria Police Force had upgraded facilities in some training institutions among which were the construction and provision of hospitals and health centres.
