Welcome to Monday’s roundup of Nigerian newspaper headlines, where we scan the papers and then gently remind power that citizens are still awake.
1. Punch: Idle refineries gulp N13tn as NNPC admits waste
Nigeria has once again perfected the art of turning crude oil into something far more refined – monumental losses. After injecting a modest N13.2 trillion into three state-owned refineries that stubbornly refuse to refine anything beyond public patience, the NNPC has now officially confirmed what citizens already knew from lived experience, that the facilities are less energy assets and more ceremonial black holes.
Our Take: Nigerians should demand full public disclosure of how the N13.2 trillion was spent, line by line, contract by contract, alongside an independent forensic audit of the refineries, clear performance benchmarks, and a time-bound decision on whether to fix, concession, or finally stop pouring petrol on a financial fire. Nigerians must insist that NNPC publish quarterly profit-and-loss statements for each refinery, name the contractors paid for ‘turnaround’ that never quite turns, and submit to National Assembly hearings that are more interrogation than photo-op.
2. Daily Trust: Electoral Bill: NLC threatens mass action
So now the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is asking a very simple question that many Nigerians have been quietly shouting for years, why is it so hard to say, clearly and without loopholes, that election results should be transmitted and collated in real time? The labour union has threatened mass action or even an election boycott, warning that the ongoing ambiguity in amending the Electoral Act 2022 is not a technical oversight but a credibility problem, one that keeps public trust in a permanent state of ‘please wait’.
Our Take: We citizens should demand that the National Assembly stop treating election results like classified secrets and clearly mandate real-time electronic transmission and collation. Nigerians must insist on laws that prevent results from travelling by canoe, motorcycle, or spiritual means before reaching INEC servers, with strict penalties for any official who suddenly discovers ‘technical glitches’ only after unfavourable figures appear.
3. The Guardian: NARD mourns doctor who died of Lassa fever, demands improved workplace safety
Another doctor has died doing what the system keeps insisting is ‘normal work’. The death of Dr Salome Oboyl after contracting Lassa fever while caring for a patient has forced the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors to say the obvious out loud, this was not fate, not bad luck, but the predictable outcome of hospitals that send doctors into high-risk wards with weak protection, slow diagnoses, and little assurance that anyone will step in if things go wrong.
Our Take: The Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC, and hospital managements should enforce infection prevention standards so that these doctors are no longer expected to fight Lassa fever with courage, prayers, and recycled gloves. Provide PPE, hazard allowances, insurance, and automatic compensation as policy, not as posthumous generosity after a press statement has been perfected.
