Good day and Happy New Year, good citizens of Nigeria, here are headlines from Nigerian Newspapers that may interest you today, Monday, January 3, 2022.
1. Budget: National Assembly faults Buhari, insists on 6,576 extra projects [Punch Newspaper]
Members of the National Assembly have insisted on the amendments made to the 2022 Appropriation Bill, including the reduction of allocation to 10,733 projects and insertion of 6,576 new ones.
The lawmakers stated that by the power of appropriation conferred on the National Assembly by the constitution, the parliament has the right to tinker with the Federal Government’s budget like any other bill.
2. External reserves gained $5.12bn in 2021 on Eurobond debt, IMF fund, others [Punch Newspaper]
The country’s external reserves rose by $5.12bn in 2021, according to the data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN revealed that the reserves, which ended December 2020 at $35.37bn, rose to $40.53bn as of the December 30, 2021.
The CBN data showed that the external reserves, which fluctuated during the period under review, received boosts from Eurobond inflow and the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right.
3. 2019 Audit Report: 178,459 Firearms, Ammunition Missing from Police Armoury [ThisDay Newspaper]
The Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAuGF) has disclosed that about 178,459 different types of arms and ammunition got missing from the Nigeria Police armoury in 2019, without any trace or formal report on their whereabouts. Of the figure, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles and 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols from different formations nationwide. These could not be accounted for as at January 2020.
Details of the missing arms were contained on pages 383 to 391 of the Auditor General for the Federation’s annual report on non-compliance, internal control weaknesses issues in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2019, which was submitted to the National Assembly.
4. Olubadan throne: All eyes on Lekan Balogun as Oba Adetunji passes on at 93 [Vanguard Newspaper]
ALL eyes are on Otun Olubadan of Ibadan land, Senator Lekan Balogun, who is next in line as the Olubadan of Ibadan following the demise of Oba Saliu Adetunji according to the laid down hierarchy of ascension to the Ibadan throne.
Oba Adetunji Aje Oguguniso I, joined his ancestors, aged 93, yesterday, after a brief illness and has been interred according to Islamic injunctions.
He was laid to rest at his Popo Yemoja palace in a ceremony that Otun Olubadan, and other chiefs did not attend. The Otun Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun and other members of the Olubadan-in-Council were absent at the burial except for High Chief Rasheed Ladoja, who accompanied Oyo State Deputy Governor, who represented Governor Seyi Makinde. Read more.
5. World Drug Report: Nigerians supplying Mpuru Mmiri to South Africa [NewsWireNGR]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has fingered Nigerian drug syndicate for supplying methamphetamine, locally known as ‘Mpuru Mmiri’ or White Stone, to South Africa.
According to the UN World Drugs Report, the traffickers have set up two major transnational supply routes from Nigeria and Afghanistan through which the deadly narcotic is trafficked to Western Cape Province, South Africa. Read more.
