Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know this Saturday morning

Good morning! Here are 10 things you need to know this morning:

1. There seems to be a New Year gift from the Federal Government as it has been revealed that Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol will as from January 1, 2016 be officially sold for N85 per litre. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, made this disclosure to journalists at the Port Harcourt Refining Company, Rivers State, after an inspection of the plant.

2. It was a sad Christmas for some residents of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, as more than 200 shops were Friday razed in a major plank market at Alaro area of Sango. Report says the fire which started around 3pm destroyed property worth over N200m.

3. Christmas activities on Okpanam road by Macdon fast food, Asaba, Delta state capital was disrupted after Anioma filling station located in the area went up in flame. The fire was said to have started when a tanker attempted to discharge fuel.

4. The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has disclosed that state-owned refineries would make direct payments into the federation account as from 2016. According to Kachikwu, the NNPC was adopting a plan that would give the refineries some sort of autonomy, without privatising them.

5. Senate President, Bukola Saraki has further assured Nigerians that the 2016 Budget proposal already presented to the two chambers of the National Assembly would be given priority for quick passage. Saraki disclosed this when he joined other Nigerians to pay Christmas homage to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

6. Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, has commended the Federal Government for the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget already presented to the National Assembly, stressing that the content of the budget must be implemented for the benefit of Nigerians. The ASCSN President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and the Secretary-General, Alade Bashir Lawal also commended the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to recruit 500,000 unemployed graduates and holders of National Certificate of Education, NCE, to tackle unemployment.

7. President, Olusegun Obasanjo has called on Nigerians to stop squandering the nation’s commonwealth, but to be ready to make sacrifices in the coming New Year. In his Christmas message after a church service on Friday, Obasanjo admitted that the country’s resources had been squandered by its past leaders, advising Nigerians to adjust to the reality of the current economic gloom.

8. Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed his administration’s readiness to ensure that the Boko Haram militants embrace peace. Buhari made the promise while playing host to a delegation of residents of the Federal Capital Territory which included the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who paid him Christmas homage in his official residence at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

9. It was a sad Christmas in Ancha village, Guma local government area of Benue state, when a Honda Sedan car and a motorbike conveying three young men and a lady to church collided, killing four persons in the process.

10. President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his heartfelt sympathy to the people of Nnewi following the gas explosion that rocked the industrial town. In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the president expressed great shock over the large-scale loss of human lives in an industrial accident.