Author: Amina Ibrahim

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…

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday lamented what he described as the inability of Nigeria to live up to expectations since independence in 1960. Obasanjo spoke virtually at the public presentation of a book titled ‘Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa’, written by former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga. The event was held in Abuja. The former President stated that the country has disappointed Africa and the world. He also blamed the nation’s level of development on inconsistent policy by previous administrations. Besides Obasanjo, another former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who also spoke virtually, stated that policy consistency…

THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, is to meet with President Bola Tinubu in a move to avert the planned industrial action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). Abbas, who met with the national leadership of NARD in Abuja on Monday, also announced the setup of an ad hoc committee to meet with all the stakeholders and address the matter. The Speaker further appealed to the resident doctors to give the house leadership a two-week period to find solutions to the issues raised. The meeting was held largely behind closed doors. NARD, on July 5,…

THE Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, has appointed Professor Muhammad Ibn Abdullahi as Chief of Staff; Professor Bashir Muhammad Fagge, Special Adviser (Policy & Monitoring), and the Deputy General Editor of Daily Trust Newspapers, Ismail Mudashir, Special Adviser (Media & Publicity). In a statement by his media office made available to News Point Nigeria, Sunday, Senator Barau also named Idris Abiola Ajimobi, the son of the late Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, as Special Adviser (Special Duties); Yusuf Aliyu Tumfafi, Special Adviser (Political); Mrs. Ngozi Ndawi Nkemdirim, a pioneer staff of the National Assembly, Special Adviser (Administration); and Shitu…

THE Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima will represent President Bola Tinubu at the United Nations Food Systems Summit in Rome as well as the Russia-Africa Summit. Shettima is scheduled to depart Abuja on Sunday for the two major international Summits in Rome, Italy and St Petersburg, Russia. This was disclosed in a statement on Sunday by his spokesman, Olusola Abiola. At the Rome event, the Vice President will join other global leaders for the first Stocktaking Moment (STM) Summit themed “Transforming Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity,” scheduled from Monday, 24th to Wednesday, 26th July. During the summit, the…

IT was a rude shock to a notorious drug kingpin who specializes in sponsoring young Nigerians to traffick Class A drugs to Europe especially Italy, when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), stormed his hotel room in Okota area of Lagos late on Friday 21st July when he was preparing a recruited courier to swallow 93 pellets of cocaine meant for distribution in Italy. The 48-year-old drug kingpin, Charles Uwagbale, had recruited Uju Dominic, 35, from his base in Italy with a deal to come to Nigeria, ingest 100 pellets of cocaine on Friday 21st July and…

THE Senate yesterday denied being in possession of the ministerial list from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It notes that while it is waiting in the wings to do justice to any communication sent to it by the president, no one has violated the law when it comes to the issue of appointment of ministers. Speaking with LEADERSHIP last night, spokesman of the Senate, Yemi Adaramodu, said they were yet to receive the ministerial list. The Red Chamber was responding to reports by some media platforms that President Tinubu has sent the names of his ministers to the Senate for screening…

THE House of Representatives Tuesday mandated its committee on finance (when constituted) to investigate the alleged non-remittance of N2trn and other due taxes by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited into the federation account. This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Uduak Odudoh who said the Federation Account Allocation Committee had severally accused the NNPCL of allegedly short-changing it by refusing to pay over N2trn to the Federation Account from crude sales, royalties and taxes. He said the NNPCL had averred that the Federal Government owed it over N4trn of subsidy payments, power debt and other sundry charges…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has ordered a review of his administration’s plan for a monthly N8,000 transfer to 12 million of the poorest households in the country for six months, in a bid to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy. The plan was contained in a letter read last Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding the $800 million loan request of the previous Muhammadu Buhari administration for a social safety net programme. The President’s Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, in a statement on Tuesday, noted that the cash programme…

THE Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, says market forces are responsible for the rising pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol. Kyari spoke on Tuesday afternoon after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Rock. He said with deregulation of the oil sector, market realities will force the price of petrol up sometimes and at other times force it down. The NNPCL boss said the increase in the pump price per litre of petrol from N540 to N617 is not a supply issue, assuring Nigerians…