THE Senate on Monday commenced the screening of the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees forwarded by President Bola Tinubu, interviewing 14 of them. The screening commenced at the upper chamber during a plenary session that started around 12:41 pm upon the arrival of Senate President Godswill Akpabio. Among those screened were former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and former governor of Jigawa, Badaru Abubakar; Abubakar Kyari from Borno State; Nkiruka Onyejeocha (Abia State); Bello Muhammad (Sokoto State) and Sani Abubakar Danladi (Taraba State). Others are Joseph Utsev (Benue State), Olubunmi Tunji Ojo (Ondo State), Betta Edu (Cross River…
Author: Amina Ibrahim
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PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will today (Tuesday) attend the 63rd independence anniversary of the Republic of Benin, his spokesman, Dele Alake, has said. The President, who is also the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States, was invited by President Patrice Talon of the Republic of Benin. The President will be accompanied on the one-day visit by six governors, Alake said in a statement early Tuesday. The governors are Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq (Kwara); Nasir Idris (Kebbi), and Mohammed Bago (Niger). “President Tinubu…
THE organised labour on Monday maintained the stand to proceed with its planned protest over the removal of petroleum subsidy. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, spoke with State House reporters after another round of meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives at the presidential villa, Abuja. He said the plan for workers to proceed on a peaceful protest from Wednesday has not changed. Ajaero, who dismissed fears that the peaceful protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, said such had never happened in the history of workers’ protest. He, however, said it was the responsibility…
AFTER DARKNESS COMES THE GLORIOUS DAWN My fellow citizens, I want to talk to you about our economy. It is important that you understand the reasons for the policy measures I have taken to combat the serious economic challenges this nation has long faced. 2. I am not going to talk in difficult terms by dwelling on economic jargon and concepts. I will speak in plain, clear language so that you know where I stand. More importantly, so that you see and hopefully will share my vision regarding the journey to a better, more productive economy for our beloved country.…
FORMER Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says President Bola Tinubu won’t regret nominating him to serve as a minister in his cabinet. Wike stated this when he appeared before the red chamber for screening on Monday afternoon. Wike is the only chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the ministerial list of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration sent by the President to the Senate last Thursday. Wike told the Senators that during his time as governor of the oil-rich Niger Delta state from May 2015 to May 2023, he started and completed many projects to improve the…
ALL is set for the screening of the first batch of ministerial nominees forwarded by President Bola Tinubu to the Senate. News Point Nigeria reliably gathered that 20 of the 28 today ministerial nominees have completed their documentation for the screening at the Senate today (Monday). Those yet to complete their documentation, it was gathered, are currently out of the country. About 24 hours after the Senate unveiled the President’s first batch of ministerial list on Thursday, July 27, 2023, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Abdullahi Gumel, asked the ministerial nominees to complete…
HEADS of State and Government of ECOWAS on Sunday in Abuja called for the immediate release and reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum as the legitimate Head of State and Government of the Republic of Niger. In a communique at the end of the Extraordinary Summit on Socio-Political Situation in the Republic of Niger read by the President, ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, the leaders also rejected any form of purported resignation by President Bazoum and declared him as the only recognised and elected President by ECOWAS, the African Union and the international community. ‘‘In this regard, only official acts of…
ON day four of its total and indefinite strike action, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has restated its position as it insists that the Federal Government has yet to accept their demands. The NARD President, Dr Emeka Oji, during a press conference in Lagos State on Saturday to review of the industrial action declared earlier this week, pledged to continue the nationwide strike “until reasonable progress is made by the government to address our demands as contained in the ultimatum issued to the Federal Government on the 15th of July, 2023”. While reeling out the demands, Oji stated…
NO fewer than 205 Nigerians stranded have been evacuated from the war-torn Sudan, the Federal Government said on Friday. The returnees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Pilgrims terminal, Abuja at exactly 12:15 pm. Onboard the Tarco Airline flight, the returnees were received by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), among others. Of the 205 evacuees, 160 of them are adults, and 45 are…
UNITED States Vice President Kamala Harris and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed strong support for Nigeria’s efforts toward the restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. They offered their support in separate telephone conversations with President Bola Tinubu on Thursday evening in Abuja, according to a statement by President’s spokesperson, Dele Alake on Friday. The US Vice President Harris also confirmed the conversation with the Nigeria leader in a post on Twitter on Friday. Today, I spoke with President Tinubu of Nigeria about the strong ties between the Nigerian and American people and our shared work on…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu’s administration has hinted at the possibility of creating new ministries in the country. This is according to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja. “Mr President intends to separate portfolios or restructure the ministries in such a way you might be hearing of new ministries that were not standalone ministries before. So the process continues,” he stated. Tinubu submitted the ministerial list to the National Assembly through Gbajabiamila before it was read by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Noting that the nominees were chosen after undergoing thorough personal screening…
FORMER Governors of Jigawa State and Rivers State, Abubakar Badaru and Nyesom Wike, made President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial list read on the floor of the Senate on Thursday afternoon. News Point Nigeria reports that, Ex-Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi; and presidential spokesman, Dele Alake also made the list. After a long wait by Nigerians, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday, presented Tinubu’s ministerial list before the Senate. Gbajabiamila, the immediate past Speaker of the House of the Representatives, presented the list to Senate President Godswill Akpabio at exactly 01:19pm. Akpabio thereafter read the ministerial…
JUSTICE Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has dismissed a request filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking a 14-day extended detention order for the suspended Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele. News Point Nigeria reports that, the DSS based its application on purported new evidence it had discovered. The application was discreetly filed by the DSS’s legal team on Wednesday and came before the vacation judge today. Justice Muazu dismissed the application, citing it as an abuse of court process and identifying the lack of jurisdiction. Upon questioning by the judge about…
SEYI, eldest son of President Bola Tinubu, has said his father will not fail. The president’s son, who was actively involved in the election campaign, said this in a viral video on Wednesday. Nigerians have been lamenting the petrol price hike as a result of petrol subsidy, with many accusing Tinubu of throwing the nation into hardship. But in the video, the president’s son said he could guarantee Nigerians that renewed hope, slogan of Tinubu’s campaign, was here. “I want to say thank you for the faith you have in our president and I guarantee you that President Asiwaju Bola…
REPRESENTATIVES of the Federal Government are currently meeting with the organised labour comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress at the Presidential Villa, News Point Nigeria gathered. A reliable source privy to the meeting made this known in an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday evening. According to the source, the negotiation committee set up by the government called for an emergency meeting following the strike notice issued by the NLC earlier in the day. The NLC team was headed by its national president, Joe Ajaero, while the TUC team was headed by its president, Festus…
THE Presidency on Wednesday said federal universities in the country remain tuition-free. Dele Alake, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday. The management of the University of Lagos had recently increased fees for undergraduate student from N19,000 to new fees of N190,250 for students studying medicine and N140,250 for courses that require laboratory and studio. This had generated some reactions as many criticised the action amid the effect of fuel subsidy removal. In a statement on Wednesday, the Presidential spokesman said it confirmed that what were considered…
THE federal government has no plan to reduce work days over the hike in the price of petrol caused by the removal of petrol subsidy, the Head of the Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, has said. She said this in Abuja Tuesday during a parley with media executives as part of activities marking the 2023 Civil Service Week themed ‘Digitalisation of Work Processes in the Public Service: A Gateway to Efficient Resource Utilization and National Development’. She said the present administration was assiduously working on palliatives that would sustain civil servants and all Nigerians, hence no cause for…
THE Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors on Tuesday night declared an indefinite strike. The President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, who disclosed this to our correspondent said the strike will begin Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at 12am. Orji said, the decision was made during its July National Executive Council meeting in Lagos. The resident doctors listed their demands to include the immediate payment of the 2023 MRTF, the immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement, and the payment of skipping arrears. The list also noted the upward review of CONMESS in line with full salary restoration to the 2014…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, received in audience the immediate past National Chairman and Secretary of the governing All Progressives Congress, Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Iyiola Omisore, respectively, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja. Tuesday’s meeting comes one week after Adamu and Omisore reportedly resigned their positions just days to the scheduled National Caucus and National Executive Council meetings earlier slated for Monday, July 18 and Tuesday, July 19, 2023, respectively. At the time, Tinubu was away in Kenya for the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union and have not met both former officials until today. Adamu…
THE President of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, Justice Benedict Kanyip, has dismissed a suit filed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), challenging the registration of the Congress Of University Academics (CONUA) and the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions by the Federal Government. Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Kanyip held that Section 27 of the Trade Union Act allows for more than one trade union in employment. He held that the section does not depict trade monopoly. The court held that the then Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and the registrar of…