Welcome to Tuesday’s roundup of Nigerian newspaper headlines, where we scan the papers and then gently remind power that citizens are still awake.
1. The Guardian: One year after: 50 percent telco tariff hike leaves operators happier, consumers frustrated
The Guardian reports that one year after the NCC approved a 50 percent telecom tariff increase sold to Nigerians as a ‘sustainability intervention’, subscribers are still stuck paying more for services that barely work. The idea was simple: higher prices would help operators survive inflation, a weak naira and diesel costs, and in return Nigerians would enjoy better network quality, but 12 months later, dropped calls, sluggish data and failed messages remain stubbornly familiar.
Our Take: Nigerians should now demand proof, not promises: clear quality of service benchmarks, real penalties for poor service, and public accountability on how higher tariffs are improving networks. Paying more for dropped calls, vanishing data and ‘no service’ bars is not sustainability, it is satire, and subscribers should insist the joke finally ends.
2. Punch: Amnesty deal: Outrage mounts as Katsina moves to release 70 bandits
Several major socio-political groups, Afenifere, the Arewa Consultative Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Middle Belt Forum and others, are pushing back hard against Katsina State’s plan to release 70 suspected bandits in a bid to rescue a shaky peace deal, calling it reckless and a direct threat to national security.
Our Take: Citizens should demand an immediate stop to the releases, full disclosure of the peace deal, and a justice process that puts victims before criminals. Peace built by freeing suspected killers is not a strategy but one that tells law-abiding citizens to suffer quietly while violence gets rewarded.
3. Vanguard: Confusion over alleged kidnap of 172 worshippers in 3 Kaduna churches
Confusion reigns in Kajuru, Kaduna State, after reports that over 170 worshippers were abducted from three churches during Sunday services, an account confirmed by CAN but flatly denied by the police and local government officials. Residents insist the attacks were real. So, while terrified communities recount coordinated assaults carried out in broad daylight, authorities say nothing happened, leaving Nigerians once again to wonder whether insecurity now disappears simply because it is inconvenient to acknowledge.
Our Take: Nigerians should now demand immediate, transparent clarification from the Nigeria Police Force, an independent verification of what truly happened, and swift protection for worship centres, because security by press statement is not the same as security on the ground. Nigerians must insist that authorities stop playing hide-and-seek with facts while communities count missing loved ones.
