THE Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has said that President Bola Tinubu has directed the Nigerian Customs Service to return all seized grains to their owners for onward retailing in the Nigerian markets. The CGC disclosed this during a stakeholder meeting at Kwangwalam, a border town in the Maiadua Local Government Area of Katsina State on Saturday. He said the directive was given by the president in his magnanimous gesture of ensuring that people of the country have enough food to buy at cheaper prices from the markets. He said, however, the return of the confiscated food items…
Author: Hamza Rufai
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THE Department of State Services (DSS), on Friday, cautioned Nigerians across the country to avoid crowded places or suspicious locations to avoid “potential threats” that may come out from Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs). The secret police, in its message to both Christian and Muslim faithful to felicitate with them at their Lent and coming Ramadan seasons respectively, said the advice became imperative in order to live in a peaceful environment. Peter Afunanya, the spokesman of the secret police, also cautioned clerics from both religions, traditional rulers and other stakeholders to refrain from economic exploitation, sabotage or profiteering during these important…
THE House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a one-week deadline to all private airline operators in the country to account for the sum of N4bn given to them by the Federal Government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic or refund same in the absence of justifiable evidence of how the amount was spent. The committee, chaired by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party from Osun State, Bamidele Salam, issued the ultimatum on Friday at the resumed investigative hearing into the alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 intervention funds by ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government. This newspaper…
THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has debunked reports circulating in some quarters that its warehouse was looted by some hoodlums in Abuja on Sunday. NEMA spokesperson, Manzo Ezekiel, in a statement on Sunday, confirmed that the looted warehouse is not affiliated with the agency, but sympathised with the owners of the looted facility. On Sunday, some residents of Abuja raided a warehouse belonging to the Federal Capital Territory’s Department of Agriculture, looting foodstuffs and other items stored in the facility. The FCT Agric secretariat’s Public Relations Officer, Zakari Aliyu, confirmed to Channels Television via text message that the looted…
THE Federal Government has paid $120m out of the $1.3bn indebtedness to gas companies for the supply of gas to run gas-fired power plants across the country. Nigeria is currently suffering from low power supply because many gas suppliers have reduced, while others stopped supplying the commodity to power-generating companies due to the indebtedness of the Gencos to gas-producing firms. The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, recently revealed that the crash in power generation and attendant poor supply since January was because gas suppliers stopped supplying gas for the generation of electricity due to the indebtedness of the sector…
THE Senate has summoned the Minister of Federal Capital Territory and the Commissioner of Police in the FCT to brief the senate in a closed door session. The briefing will be on security in the FCT against the backdrop of the recent Galadima kidnap incident. The Senate announced the resolution after a motion moved by Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North on the need to urgently enhance security measures in the FCT during plenary on Wednesday. Among other resolutions taken by the Senate include calls on the Inspector-General of Police to urgently increase security patrols and surveillance within Abuja and…
TWENTY students have died in three boarding girls’ secondary schools and the Federal Government Girls’ College in Potiskum and Fika local government areas of Yobe State from a suspected outbreak of meningitis. The Yobe State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education Mohammed Sani-Idris told journalists that “20 students have been confirmed dead in the last few weeks from the suspected meningitis outbreak across some boarding secondary schools in Potiskum and Fika local government areas. Many have been hospitalized but now discharged”. He explained that after the outbreak at the secondary schools, “I as Commissioner, my Permanent secretary and the Executive Secretary…
THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, says himself and his team are not responsible for the current economic woes in the country. He stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the apex bank, the first since he assumed office in September 2023. The apex bank boss, however, said the CBN is taking the necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal. Nigeria is battling rising inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, economic hardship and high cost of living occasioned by the removal of petrol…
THE International Association Of World Peace Advocates IAWPA has congratulated Hajara Ibrahim, a young Gombe State student of Botany, who emerged the winner of the International Quranic Recitation Competition which held in Jordan. A statement signed by the International Director of African Affairs of the association, Amb John Metchie said her triumph at the event shows the resilience of the average Nigerian women. Metchie also congratulated the Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya CON, and people of Gombe State over the International feat stressing that the victory has out the state on the world map. Ibrahim, from Abubakar Siddiq Islamiyya and 200…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Monday ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye report. The implementation signifies that several agencies of the government would be merged, subsumed, scrapped, and relocated. Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, revealed this to State House correspondents after Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. In this article, this newspaper disclosed 14 key things to know about the Orosanye report: 1. Former President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies. He appointed Stephen Oronsaye to head…
THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola has sworn in 11 new Justices to the bench of the Supreme Court, charging them, not to allow their ambition to becloud their sense of judgement. Some of the Justices are Jummai Hannatu Sankey, Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa, Chioma Egondu Nwosu-Iheme, Haruna Simon Tsammani and Moore Aseimo A. Adumein. Others are Justices Obande Festus Ogbuinya, Stephen Jonah Adah, Habeeb Adewale O. Abiru, Jamilu Yammama Tukur, Abubakar Sadiq Umar, and Mohammed Baba Idris. Justice Ariwoola noted the interaction of the new Justices with people of unviable inclinations and pedigree, if any, must be…
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has raised an alarm that rising prices of fuel and other commodities could lead to social unrest in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Angola and Kenya. The AfDB sounded the warning in its macroeconomic performance and outlook for 2024 in which it projected Africa’s economy to grow higher than the 3.2 per cent recorded in 2023. The AfDB projected that growth on the continent will rebound to 3.8% in 2024. However, the bank cautioned that an increase in fuel and commodity prices occasioned by currency depreciation or subsidy removal in Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and Ethiopia could trigger internal…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Saturday said Nigeria is ready to host the African Central Bank in line with the vision of the Abuja Treaty. The Nigerian leader stated this in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia while addressing leaders at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). He said his administration will engage the African Union Commission in collaboration with member states to ensure that the bank takes off as scheduled in 2028. According to Tinubu, Africa’s success in conclusively addressing its challenges hinges on the firmness of its resolution, built on…
BARELY 24 hours after its closure, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has reopened Sahad Stores, a supermarket located in the Garki area of Abuja. A Saturday’s visit by News Point Nigeria to the supermarket which is located at the Garki area of the Federal Capital Territory revealed that business activities are gradually picking up after it was sealed on Friday. On Friday, the supermarket was sealed by an enforcement team, for engaging in “misleading pricing and lack of transparency in pricing”. The FCCPC in a statement said investigations revealed that Sahad Stores displayed lower prices on shelves…
THE Jigawa State Police has initiated an investigation into the tragic murder of Esther Adekamla, a well-known restaurant owner in Dutse, widely known as Hadiza Nakowa. This announcement was made in a statement issued by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Lawan Shiisu, in Dutse on Friday. According to the statement, Adekamla was brutally attacked and killed by unknown assailants at her residence in Dutse. The incident came to light on Friday, 15th February 2024, around 1600hrs, when her neighbors reported that they had last seen her on Monday. Upon receiving the report, detectives from the Dutse Division swiftly responded and proceeded…
JUSTICE Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja has ordered the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to re-open the investigation and prosecution of those who murdered the founder of Newswatch Magazine, Dele Giwa, in 1986. Delivering judgment, Justice Ekwo held the AGF was under obligation to prosecute and penalize killers of media practitioners in the country. Mister Dele Giwa was murdered on October 19, 1986, in his Lagos office through a letter bomb. Apart from Dele Giwa, the court ordered that the killings of other journalists in the discharge of their lawful duties must be…
A FORMER Governor of Kano State, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, has urged President Bola Tinubu to implement some of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference Report on community policing and restructuring. “I have gone through that document. It is 2014 during (Goodluck) Jonathan’s government. He personally handed it over publicly at Eagle Square to President (Muhammadu) Buhari and nothing was done about it,” the former Minister of Education said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday monitored by News Point Nigeria. “I’ll advise President Tinubu to dust it up. May be set up a small committee to review it…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the reconstitution of the executive management teams of parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, Thursday. The appointees are as follows: Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN): (1) Managing Director / CEO — Mr. Shehu Usman Osidi (2) Executive Director (Finance & Corporate Services) — Mr. Ibidapo Odojukan (3) Executive Director (Loans & Mortgage Services) — Mr. Muhammad Sani Abdu (4) Executive Director (Business Development & Portfolios) — Ms. Chinenye Anosike Federal Housing Authority…
THE House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has resolved to sanction Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of government over violation of the Treasury Single Account. The chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, said this at the resumed hearing of the committee in Abuja on Wednesday. The committee also summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Yemi Cardoso, Minister of Finance, Wale Edun and representatives from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, to appear before it on February 20. The committee is investigating alleged leakages and non-remittance of TSA revenue generated through Remita. Salam said that the…
A GROUP of lawmakers in the House of Representatives are seeking amendments to the 1999 Constitution to transition from the current presidential system to the parliamentary system of government. According to the group made up of about 60 lawmakers, the transition has become necessary to reduce the cost of government in the face of dwindling revenue. Titled, ‘The Bills Proposing Constitutional Alterations For a Transition To Parliamentary System of Government,’ the bill was sponsored by the House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, and 59 others. The bill was read on the floor of the House during plenary session in Abuja on…