Author: Hamza Rufai

THE vice president, Senator Kashim Shettima Friday commissioned the Jumu’at Mosque built by the Muslim community in the National Assembly. Shettima who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the event called on leaders to act with humility as they discharge their responsibilities while in positions of authority and seek their hereafter through similar projects and charity. Shettima said they should also be mindful of the transience of power and life as they must one day leave their positions and the world. He said he has packed his belongings from his former office as a senator adding that, in two weeks,…

FORMER Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, on Wednesday, said he has a cordial relationship with the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso. Last August, in the build-up to the 2023 general elections, Shekarau fell out with Kwankwaso, also a former Kano governor. Shekarau had left the All-Progressives Congress in May to join Kwankwaso’s NNPP but dumped the party in the same month While Shekarau pitched his tent with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kwankwaso is of the NNPP. Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria, Shekarau admitted…

VICE President Kashim Shettima assumed for work at the Vice President wing of the State House in Abuja on Tuesday at 12.39pm. Speaking to State House Correspondents in his office, the Vice President restated the commitment of himself and President Bola Tinubu to improving the lives of the Nigerian people. When asked about the fuel scarcity currently being experienced following the subsidy removal pronouncement made by the President at the inauguration on Monday, Mr Shettima affirmed the statement made by President. He promised the Nigerian people better years ahead under the Tinubu-Shettima administration.

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has welcomed the pronouncement of President Bola Tinubu on the removal of fuel subsidy. The President, in his inaugural address on Monday, had declared an end to the era of subsidy payment, saying the 2023 budget made no provision for fuel subsidy, so further payment was no longer justifiable. Responding in an emergency press conference at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, NNPCL told Nigerians that the move was in the best interest of the company. According to the GCEO of the company, Mele Kyari, the company has been spending a substantial amount of its…

THE newly sworn-in Governor of Katsina State Dikko Radda on Monday called on bandits to turn a new leaf or face the consequences of their actions.  He issued the warning during his inauguration in Katsina, the state capital. “To the bandits, I say abandon your cause and reintegrate into society or face the full wrath of the law,” he warned. “I urge our youths to shun drug abuse, time-wasting, and criminality. We will work with relevant law enforcement agencies to promote social order and overall security in the state.” While vowing to deploy all available resources to end banditry and…

PETROL stations in Lagos started witnessing queues few hours after President Bola Tinubu announced that “fuel subsidy is gone”. This newspaper observed that NNPC stations in Ikeja, Alausa were crowded by motorists who rushed to buy the product. Many private stations were not selling as of the time of filing this report. In his inauguration speech, Tinubu had said subsidy was benefitting the rich at the expense of poor. “We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor. Subsidy can no longer justify its…

Full Text Of Buhari Farewell Speech My fellow Nigerian brothers, sisters and friends of Nigeria. 2. I address you today, in my last assignment as a democratically elected President of our great and well-endowed nation, with a deep sense of gratitude to God, a great deal of appreciation to the Nigerian people and a modest sense of fulfilment. 3. Today we mark and celebrate another peaceful transition of power from one elected government to another in our steady march to improve and sustain Nigeria’s democracy. 4. This year we witnessed the most keenly contested Presidential Elections since the first Republic…

DESPITE the inclusion of access to potable water on Sustainable Development Goals and efforts of the Nigerian government, several Nigerian communities still rely on unsafe sources of water. But a non-governmental organisation, Halima Shitu Charitable Foundation is working on changing the narratives as it continue to provide potable water to communities in northern Nigeria that are adversely affected by lack of potable water. In a memo made available to News Point Nigeria, the convener of the foundation, Sheikh Abdallah AbdulWahab calls for provision of potable water project for communities in Kano and Bauchi states. The communities include: Kunkurawa, Kekasa, Gidan…

THE Senate has amended the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to extend the implementation year from the 30th of June to the 31st of December, 2023. The National Assembly extended the implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act from 31st December 2022 to 31st March 2023. This was to allow full implementation of the budget, especially in light of the 2022 supplementary budget approved in December 2022. News Point Nigeria reports that the extension had allowed the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of government to utilise a large proportion of funds released to them. However, according to Senate Leader, Abdullahi Gobir,…

TWO days to the end of the eight-year regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, and handover of power to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on May 29, the Presidency has said ministers will not be allowed to leave office with their official vehicles. It said they would only get what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission prescribes as their severance benefits. It noted further that Buhari and the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), would also leave behind their armoured, luxury vehicles, which would be taken over by their successors, Tinubu and his deputy, Kashim Shettima, respectively. The Senior Special Assistant…

SENATOR Smart Adeyemi has urged President-elect Bola Tinubu to question the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele and those involved in the naira redesigning. The lawmaker representing Kogi West based his argument on the agony the heavily-criticised process caused Nigerians. “I will call on Emefiele and others to come and explain what happened and what was the reason behind the redesigning of the naira notes,” he said on Friday when asked what he would do about the naira redesign policy if he were in Tinubu’s shoes. The senator who was a guest on Friday’s edition of Channels Television…

THE inaugural airlift of Nigerian pilgrims has unprecedentedly began with a rescue operation as Aero Contractors failed to produce an aircraft for the transportation of the first batch of Nigerian pilgrims to 2023 hajj in Saudi Arabia. Aero Contractors is one of the five air carriers selected by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to airlift the 75,000 state pilgrims and officials to Saudi Arabia this year. The other four are Flynas, Max Air, Azman Air, and Air Peace. Findings from NAHCON revealed that Aero Contractors, which was also allocated 7,833 pilgrims, was to perform the inaugural flight with…

IN an apparent bid to temper expectations, the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, says the administration of his principal, Bola Tinubu, may not be off to a rosy start. Both Tinubu and Shettima are expected to be sworn in on Monday, signalling the end of the administration of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari after the completion of two four-year terms. Shettima, in an address delivered on Friday at the 2023 Presidential Inauguration Public Lecture at the National Mosque, Abuja, assured Nigerians that Tinubu would hit the ground running. “The starting point might not be rosy, let me be very honest with you.…

A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by three individuals seeking to stop the inauguration of President-elect, Bola Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima over age falsification and citizenship status in the document Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission. Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on Friday, held that the suit by the trio of Praise Ilemona Isaiah, Pastor Paul Isaac Audu and Anongu Moses was frivolous and an abuse of the court process. Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to file the suit, adding that the court could…

THE former governor of Kano State Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has advised Niger State Governor-elect, Umar Bago to hit the ground running immediately after his swearing in for the socio economic development if he must be a performing governor Kwankwaso stated this at the inauguration lecture of the Niger State Governor-elect with theme, ‘Addressing the challenges of socio economic development at sub national level in Nigeria held in Minna’. He revealed that lack of competence and knowledge has made some elected governors who claimed to know all to failure and have nothing to show in their states after four or eight…

AHEAD of the May 29 inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the police have deployed special personnel to protect the Presidential Villa, provide security at and around the Eagle Square in Abuja, and man all Nigerian borders, seaports, and airports. Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed this on Thursday in a statement, saying operatives would equally be deployed to man the entry and exit points of the capital city and other critical government installations. Personnel for the inauguration were drawn from Special Forces namely, the Police Mobile Force, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Special Protection Unit, Anti-Bomb Squad, FIB-Intelligence Response Team and…

SOME hajj administrators and intending pilgrims have rejected the decision of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to arbitrarily deduct $100 from the Basic Traveling Allowance (BTA) of 75,000 Nigerian pilgrims. This newspaper gathered that some of the officials from the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards have vowed to go any length to stop the commission from deducting the BTA, saying it is “arbitrarily and illegal.”      On Monday, NAHCON officially announced that it will deduct $100 from the BTA of the 75,000 pilgrims and pay to the four local airlines – Max Air, Air Peace, Azman Air…

A NORTHERN political pressure group, the North West Arewa Youths has called on the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu not to betray the North West in it’s quest to produce the next Senate President of the 10th Senate. This was as the group rejected the endorsement of the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio by the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and urged the president-elect not to allow politicians from other geopolitical zones of the country to ambush him over the Senate Presidency seat. The youths under the aegis of Arewa Youths of Nigeria…

THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has deducted 810 hajj seats allocated to Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states, thereby triggering another fresh controversy few days to the commencement of airlift of intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. This is coming at a time the hajj commission is still embroiled in another controversy over its arbitrary deduction of $100 from the BTA of each of the 75,000 pilgrims going through the state pilgrim boards to shore up hajj fares of some of the pilgrims. The hajj commission announced this cuts in a letter dated May 22, 2023, and signed by NAHCON’s…

THE Presidency, late Wednesday, explained that President Muhammadu Buhari gave the nod for last-minute funds a few days away to handover to the administration of Bola Tinubu because the government needs funds to clear debts. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria, while assessing the performance of Buhari’s eight-year tenure in office. “A wicked man owes and pay not, that is what the good book says. When you owe and you refuse to pay, the Bible says you are a wicked man. If…