These headlines from Nigerian newspapers highlight urgent issues that demand more than just discussion.
1. ‘National Assembly passes N54.99 trillion 2025 budget’ – Daily Trust
The National Assembly has passed the N54.99trillion budget for the 2025 financial year, increasing the initial proposal by N700 billion from N54.2 trillion.
Our Take: With the National Assembly’s passage of the budget, the real work begins, which is ensuring that every naira serves the people, not just political interests. Nigerians need a budget that works for them, not one that disappears into bureaucratic black holes.
We also encourage citizens to keep track and monitor the budget from now till its implementation phase to ensure the right thing is done.
2. ‘UI medical students protest halls’ exemption from restored power in UCH’ – The Guardian
University of Ibadan (UI) medical students studying within the premises of the University College Hospital (UCH) staged another protest on Thursday, vowing to continue protesting until their hostels located inside UCH are reconnected.
Our Take: IBEDC seems to have mastered the art of selective power restoration, lighting up UCH but leaving its medical students in the dark. Future doctors shouldn’t have to practice survival skills before saving lives! IBEDC must reconnect their hostels immediately because a teaching hospital without power for its students is as absurd as a pharmacy without medicine.
3. ‘North West communities blame fresh killings on troops withdrawal’ – Punch
Communities in the northwest of the country have lamented the resurgence of killings and abductions in the region, alleging that the fresh surge was a withdrawal of troops from the zone.
Our Take: Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, might want to reconsider the strategy of ‘flushing out’ terrorists only to give them room for a grand comeback tour. If the goal is lasting security, then redeploying troops and sustaining military offensives should not be treated like a seasonal event. We urge the CDS to ensure that the people of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara are not left to play helpless spectators in this tragic cycle of violence.
