Nigerian Newspapers Daily Front Pages Review | Thursday 5th January, 2023

Naija News looks at the top happenings making headlines on the front pages of Nigeria’s national newspapers today Thursday 5th January 2023.

The PUNCH: Electricity distribution companies have quietly increased the tariff payable by power consumers across the country. Although most of the Discos did not make this public, electricity users have kicked against the move, describing it as “a perfect robbery” amidst the harsh economic realities in Nigeria currently.

The Guardian: For 11 months, last year (January to November), the Federal Government spent a staggering N5.24 trillion servicing its debt obligations to different local, as well as foreign institutions and individuals. This came as the government looks forward to accumulating a fresh N8.8 trillion debt from domestic and international markets to implement its ambitious 2023 budget.

Vanguard: Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said yesterday that the Federal Government was borrowing money to fund petrol subsidies, insisting that the subsidy regime had become totally unsustainable. Ahmed, who disclosed this at the public presentation of details of the 2023 budget in Abuja, stated: “Fuel subsidy cost was a very high one; We have been funding it from borrowing.”

This Day: The federal government has revealed that the incoming administration would inherit about N77 trillion debt by the time President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure ends in May next year. Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists at the public presentation and breakdown of the highlights of the 2023 Appropriation Act.

The Nation: A huge crowd of party faithful and supporters converged yesterday on the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano for the presidential campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The rally was organised by the Northwest zone of the ruling party.

Daily Trust: The 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory have proposed to spend over N11.5trn in the 2023 financial year, an analysis by the Daily Trust has shown. The breakdown indicated that N6.482trn will be spent on capital projects while N4.989trn is for recurrent expenditure. Daily Trust reports that 20 states have already passed their budgets while the remaining 16 are yet to.

Thank you for reading, that is all for today, see you again tomorrow for a review of Nigerian newspapers.