The newspaper review for Tuesday, January 30, leads with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja saying the growing number of political parties in the country may pose challenges for the commission in the forthcoming general elections among other stories.
Vanguard reports that President Muhammadu Buhari remains electorally unbeatable with his attachment to the people unwavering, despite recriminations by the elite class on social and conventional media, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said.
Governor El-Rufai, who is also Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Committee on Restructuring, also affirmed President Buhari’s endorsement of the committee’s recommendations on restructuring, saying the President was ready to give up his powers if it would help to move the country forward.
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Vanguard newspaper for Tuesday, January 30, photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
Governor El-Rufai’s claim of Buhari’s endorsement of the report was immediately pooh-poohed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which challenged the governor and the APC to forward the committee report to the National Assembly.
The PDP in its response said Nigerians, having been once deceived by the lies and propaganda of the APC, would not be taken in for a second time.
The Punch reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission says the growing number of political parties may pose challenges for the commission in the 2019 general elections.
The Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, said this in Abuja on Monday at a retreat organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.
The Punch newspaper for Tuesday, January 30, photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
While delivering a keynote address at the event, which was titled, ‘The Dynamics of Managing Political Parties Professionally,’ Eyinla said so far, 68 political parties had been registered.
Eyinla, who represented INEC, said with over 100 political associations seeking registration, the number might increase before the elections which could cause logistical problems, including the production of ballot papers.
The Nation reports that what was meant to be a routine visit, but yesterday’s oversight duty by senators at the Customs headquarters turned out to be more. It sparked another confrontation between them and Comptroller General (CG) Colonel Hameed Ali (retd.).
The Senate and Col. Ali had a long row over his refusal to appear before the upper chamber in uniform.
The Nation newspaper for Tuesday, January 23, photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
The drama yesterday was triggered by remarks made by the Chairman ad- hoc committee on “Economic Waste in the Nigerian Customs Service”, Senator Dino Melaye, over the manner in which the Senate delegation was received at the Customs Abuja headquarters.
Melaye noted that Col. Ali, by way of protocol, should have come down from his office to welcome the committee members into the premises.
The Kogi West lawmaker said it was a breach of protocol for the CG to casually meet the delegation at the conference room.
ThisDay reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday canvassed the speedy establishment of a single and unified market in Africa to increase trade, create more jobs and reduce poverty.
In a statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said Buhari made the call while presenting Nigeria’s position on Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou’s report on the establishment of a continental free trade area (CFTA) and related issues at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
ThisDay newspaper for Tuesday, January 30, photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
He quoted the president as saying,“It is Nigeria’s position that as African leaders and principal architects of our union, we must now speed up action to conclude the negotiations and establish the CFTA.”
According to him, even though the continent has missed the timeline set by the African Union (AU) in January, 2012, to establish CFTA in 2017, African leaders still have the opportunity to set it up by March 2018.
The Guardian reports that deep-seated illegality and abuse of financial procedures still bedevil the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) two years after a regime change, Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki declared yesterday in Abuja. Saraki said the problem had continued in spite of efforts to sanitise the oil industry.
Saraki, who was represented by the Senate leader, Ahmed Lawal, at a public hearing on the re-introduction of subsidy being conducted by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), expressed displeasure at what he described as secret and opaque re-introduction of subsidy in the prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) without any budget approval by the National Assembly.
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The Guardian newspaper for Tuesday, January 30, photo credit: snapshot from NAIJ.com.
The Senate President regretted that “government has not done what we need to do to nip this problem in the bud.”He said payments amounting to some N10 trillion were hijacked to favour few individuals. “Findings have brought to light the fact that our downstream oil and gas industry needs critical reforms”, he said.
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Source: Naija.ng