Welcome to Thursday’s roundup of Nigerian newspaper headlines, accompanied by our advocacy-focused calls on issues that impact citizens.

1. The Guardian: Tax reforms pushback, revenue crisis threaten 2026 fiscal plan

The Presidency has moved to consolidate the 2024 and 2025 appropriation acts into a single fiscal framework, reflecting continued challenges with Nigeria’s annual budgeting process. After extending the implementation of the 2024 budget to the end of 2025, despite no clear public evidence that the 2025 budget has commenced less than two weeks into its lifespan, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked the National Assembly to approve a sweeping fiscal reset.

Our Take: At this point, the ball is squarely in the court of President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Finance, the Budget Office, and the National Assembly, who must decide whether Nigeria still believes in annual budgets or has quietly adopted a ‘whenever-it’s-ready’ fiscal calendar. Lawmakers should resist becoming a rubber stamp for budget gymnastics and demand clear timelines, public implementation reports, and accountability for why one budget is still loading while another is being merged.

2. Vanguard: Arrest, Prosecute Those Funding Insecurity — Labour

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday staged a nationwide protest over worsening insecurity in the country, insisting the federal government must urgently deploy “the full machinery of governance” to reclaim communities, protect workers and restore public confidence.

They also asked the government to ensure that all those behind the funding of insecurity are arrested and prosecuted.

Our Take: Now that the protests have ended, the real work should begin at Aso Rock, the Office of the National Security Advisor, the Ministry of Defence, and the Inspector-General of Police, not with more ‘assurances’, but with visible action. The President must order a serious crackdown on those funding insecurity, the DSS should stop ‘tracking’ suspects indefinitely, and the police should arrest financiers with the same speed used for peaceful protesters.

3. Punch: NMDPRA, NUPRC Bosses Resign as Dangote’s Petition Rocks Sector 

Nigeria’s petroleum sector was plunged into fresh uncertainty on Wednesday after the resignation of Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and Gbenga Komolafe, head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, following a growing controversy linked to allegations by Dangote Group President, Aliko Dangote.

Our Take: Now that Farouk Ahmed and Gbenga Komolafe have taken their bows, the spotlight should shift to the Presidency, the ICPC and the EFCC. Allegations of economic sabotage and Swiss school fees cannot be resolved by resignation alone. Let investigations be public, thorough, and inconvenient to powerful interests.