Top Nigerian Newspapers Headlines For Today, Thursday, 16th December, 2021

Good morning Nigeria, welcome to Ezenwoko’s Blog roundup of top newspapers headlines in Nigeria for today, Thursday, 16th December 2021

Starting from January 2022, officers of the Nigeria Police Force will start to receive a new increased salary.

Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, made this known on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

According to the minister, police officers will also receive a six percent increase in their duty tour allowance and shift allowance starting from next year.

He said the FEC also approved the release of N1.2 billion for the payment of uninsured benefits and the release of N1.2 billion for the payment of outstanding allowances.

Dingyadi said the council approved a 20 percent upward review of salary for the police force in order to improve the relationship between the force and the citizens.

He added that the approval was in consonance with President Buhari’s promise to enhance police personnel pay as demanded by #EndSARS protesters.

President Muhammadu Buhari since assuming power in 2015, has done much more than previous administrations in tackling insecurity in Nigeria, the government has declared.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed made the submission on Wednesday in Abuja during a press conference he addressed on the security situation in Nigeria.

Mohammed in the text of his conference titled “TACKLING INSECURITY: PRESIDENT BUHARI HAS DONE A LOT, HAS MORE TO OFFER – FG” stated that some people for political or other reasons have however failed to give due credit to the current administration.

He argued that while the Boko Haram terrorists, insurgents and bandits had a filled day operating almost unchallenged before Buhari came into power, the current administration has boxed them into a corner and is not relenting in its efforts to eliminate them totally.

The Minister added that security is one of the cardinal objectives the Buhari administration set out to achieve and would see to it that it is achieved.

In his view, if Buhari had not acted decisively in dealing with them, the terrorists would have declared an Islamic State in some parts of the country.

Alhaji Mohammed also cautioned the citizens of the country and opinion leaders against using languages and making comments capable of overheating the polity.

Bandit terrorists have reportedly killed a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Honourable Rilwanu Aminu Gadagau.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the lawmaker representing the Giwa West Constituency was confirmed killed in a post on Twitter on Wednesday by Senator Shehu Sani.

Shehu, a former lawmaker, had earlier called for prayers for a member of the state house of assembly as of 10:15am without disclosing many details.

However, he later noted that Gadagau was shot by bandits while on his way to Kaduna and had given up the ghost.

The federal government on Wednesday dragged suspects linked with the invasion of the Abuja residence of Justice Mary Odili to court.

The suspects arrived the federal high court in Abuja around 1:45 pm and were brought in by operatives of the Nigeria Police.

Ezenwoko’s Blog gathered that when arraigned before Justice Nkeonye Maha on an 18-count charge, they pleaded not guilty.

Recall that some security operatives on Friday 29th October, illegally stormed the Maitama home of the Supreme Court Judge in Abuja.

The operatives were said to have gone to the judge’s home to execute a search warrant as part of investigations into her husband, Peter Odili, who is a former Governor of Rivers State.

The annual inflation rate has dropped for the seventh consecutive month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that the Bureau made this known in its Consumer Price Index report for November 2021 released on Wednesday in Abuja.

The NBS stated that the inflation rate dropped from 15.99 percent in October to 15.4 percent in November.

According to the agency, the drop represents a 2.77 percentage point decline since March when the inflation rate peaked at 18.17 percent.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has accused some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors of putting pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign the Electoral Amendment Bill.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria made the accusation at TheCable Colloquium on Wednesday in Lagos.

Falana said the APC governors do not want the President to sign the bill because they will no longer have any influence on the election of party officials.

The popular lawyer added that some of the governors are worried about certain amendments in the electoral act such as direct primaries and the provision of electronic voting.

According to Falana, the APC governors are sacred of electronic voting which would make rigging of election difficult for them.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed a date for members to take a stand on embarking on another nationwide strike action over the disagreement with the federal government.

ASUU zonal coordinator in charge of the Sokoto zone, Jamilu Shehu disclosed on Wednesday during a press conference that the union will take a decision on Saturday.

He said the members will have a meeting and take a final stand on going on strike if the federal government refuses to accede to their demands as contained in December 23, 2020, Memorandum of Action signed by both parties.

Ezenwoko’s Blog understands some of the issues raised by ASUU include lack of full implementation of funding for the revitalization of public universities, and payment and mainstreaming of Earned Academic Allowances.

Others, according to him, are the implementation of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, and inconsistencies in Salary Payment with the Integrated Personnel Payroll System.

Former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande has revealed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and some elite northern leaders never supported the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

He said they opposed his candidacy because they believed making Buhari president of Nigeria will bring about serious problems.

Akande however added that regardless of the opposition, it was clear Buhari was going to be the APC presidential candidate as the merger which brought about the formation of the APC was majorly to support the candidacy of Buhari in 2015.

The elder statesman made the revelation in his recently unveiled autobiography “My Participations.”

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources.

Ezenwoko’s Blog reports that Buhari had in 2015 declared himself as the Minister of Petroleum, appointing a Minister of State for Petroleum to overseer the ministry on his behalf.

Speaking at on Wednesday at the TheCable Colloquium, Femi Falana said the ministry of petroleum needs an active head as it plays an important role in promoting economic advancement.

While insisting that it is important to get a full-fledged minister of petroleum, Falana noted that Buhari has been busy with other affairs of the state.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has advised Nigerians not to engage in panic-buying of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.

As the people prepare for the coming Christmas and New Year celebrations, the company assured them that it has enough petrol in reserve that will last the nation beyond the festive period.

The Group General Manager (Group Public Affairs Division) of the NNPC, Garba Muhammad, gave the assurance in a statement on Tuesday.

He thanked Nigerians for their continuous compliance with the company’s advisories not to engage in panic buying of petrol.

Muhammad revealed that NNPC’s stock rose from a reserve of 1.7 billion litres of petrol to over two billion litres within the last month.

Rather than getting apprehensive over the availability of the product, he asked Nigerians to enjoy the spirit of the festive season.

Those are the top Nigerian newspapers headlines for today. Read more Nigerian news on Ezenwoko’s Blog. See you again tomorrow.

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