Author: Amina Ibrahim

THE International Monetary Fund has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria and other monetary authorities to deemphasise monetary policy as a way of tackling the resurgence of inflation. In a new report titled “Rethinking monetary policy in a changing world,” the Washington-based lender said the ability of central banks to set monetary policy and control the economy in more fraught times hinges on its independence. According to the report, the low-interest rates and less extreme public debt levels that prevailed after the global crisis of 2008 permitted central banks to ignore what were then relatively inconsequential interactions between monetary and…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled the issuance of certificates of return to elected members of the National Assembly for Tuesday and Wednesday. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this on Saturday morning, while giving his address at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja. Yakubu said winners were declared for 423 legislative seats, indicating that supplementary elections would be conducted in 46 other constituencies. The elected legislators include 98 out of 109 Senate, and 325 out of 360 House of Representatives seats. Seven parties won in the Senate, while eight parties won House of Representatives…

THE President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has congratulated the Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on his victory in last Saturday’s presidential election. The Ukrainian president took to Twitter to send compliments on Thursday, a day after Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “Congratulations to @officialABAT on winning the Nigerian presidential election. I look forward to close cooperation,” he said. “I’m convinced that bilateral interaction will be strengthened is ready to work together to overcome global challenges, including threats to food security!” Congratulations to @officialABAT on winning the Nigerian presidential election. I look…

THE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used in the forthcoming governorship and state legislature elections. Yakubu gave the assurance on Saturday in an ongoing meeting with all Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the INEC headquarters in Abuja. According to him, the BVAS machines will be used for the elections, though the devices are being worked on to avoid a repeat of the glitches recorded with the last Saturday’s elections. The agenda of the meeting was not disclosed to the media, however, journalists…

THE governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has blamed those he referred to as inherited Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the All Progressives Congress (APC) for ‘misleading’ President Muhammadu Buhari on the naira redesign policy. The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes which were initially suspended from circulating by the Central Bank of Nigeria through the orders of the President, remain in circulation till December 31, 2023. The court held that the unlawful use of executive powers by the President, inflicted unprecedented economic hardship on the citizens by denying them ownership of and…

SEVEN states under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba, and Sokoto – which filed a suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court challenging the declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president-elect, have discontinued the suit. News Point Nigeria reports that, the Notice of Discontinuance which was signed by their lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, says “Take notice that the plaintiffs doth hereby wholly discontinue this suit against the defendant herein”. In the earlier suit which had the Attorneys-General of the states as…

THE Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday granted the request of Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, request to inspect the election materials used during last Saturday’s presidential poll. News Point Nigeria had earlier reported that Atiku and Obi approached to Presidential Election Court to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during last Saturday’s poll. News Point Nigeria also reports that Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court. The two candidates rebuffed the gesture…

GOVERNOR Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Friday alleged that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele introduced the naira redesign policy to help the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) win the 2023 general elections. “Emefiele was appointed Central Bank Governor by the PDP originally. So, let’s not forget where he came from,” El-Rufai said at a media chat just after the Supreme Court ordered that old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes remain in circulation till December 31, 2023. The apex court also nullified the Federal Government’s naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront to the…

THE Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq has presented food items to victims of Maiduguri Monday Market fire incident in Borno state. According to a signed statement by the Special Adviser, Media to the minister, Nneka Ikem Anibeze issued and made available to News Point Nigeria, Friday, the minister made the presentation to the Governor of Borno state, Prof Babagana Umara Zulum on Thursday when she paid a condolence visit to the state government. Among the food items presented include 20 bags of 25kg rice, 10 cartons of macaroni and Spaghetti and 5,000 gallons of…

THE Supreme Court on Friday ordered that old N200, N500, N1,000 notes remain in circulation till December 31, 2023. The apex court also nullified the Federal Government’s naira redesign olicy, declaring it as an affront to the 1999 Constitution. The Supreme Court delivered judgement in the suit brought against the Federal Government on the naira redesign policy. Sixteen states of the Federation instituted the suit to challenge the legality or otherwise of the introduction of the policy. The suit initially instituted by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states has been slated as the first case on the cause list for final…

THE Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively have approached to Presidential Election Court to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during last Saturday’s poll. News Point Nigeria reports that Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court. The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday, asked them to support him in the task of…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will conduct supplementary polls after the governorship and state house of assembly elections. Guber and assembly elections will take place next weekend, two weeks after the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly polls. “The Commission is aware that in some Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies, Declarations and Returns were not made. The Commission is compiling the list of the affected constituencies,” INEC’s National Commissioner Festus Okoye said in a Thursday statement. “A date for supplementary elections will be fixed after the Governorship and State Assembly elections.” The electoral umpire also expressed…

ATIKU Abubakar says he is open to an alliance with the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi.  The PDP presidential candidate for the 2023 elections made the comment during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, a day after Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared as the winner of Saturday’s exercise. While the PDP and LP have rejected the outcome of the poll, Atiku, who ran alongside Obi in the 2019 election, says he is open to working with the former Anambra State governor. “So, as far as I am concerned, Peter is welcome to…

THE Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, up on the claim that he won last Saturday’s presidential election, accusing him of attempting to delegitimize the mandate given to its candidate, Bola Tinubu. Tinubu was declared the winner by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday with 8,794,726 votes. INEC said Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes while Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes. Reacting to the result declared by INEC in a press briefing on Thursday, Obi claimed that…

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that prices of food items such as yam, rice and beef witnessed an increase in January. This is contained in NBS Selected Food Prices Watch Report for January 2023 released in Abuja on Thursday. The report said the average price of 1kg beef boneless on a year-on-year basis, increased by 29.72 per cent from N1, 864.70 in January 2022 to N2,418.91 in January 2023. “On a month-on-month basis, 1kg beef boneless increased by 1.75 per cent from N2,377.29 recorded in December 2022.” The report showed that the average price of 1kg rice (local,…

THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in Kaduna State intends to seek for alliance with the Labour Party (LP) ahead of the Governorship election scheduled for March 11, 2023. Chairman of the PDP in Kaduna State and former Minister, Felix Hassan Hyet said at a press conference that the people of Kaduna were tired and had suffered so much under the All Progressives Congress (APC) and had decided to vote for the PDP. “The people have spoken by coming out enmasse to vote for our party and our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. We appreciate the love shown to us. Honestly, we…

THE United States on Wednesday congratulated Nigeria on the election of ruling party presidential candidate Bola Tinubu while calling for calm amid accusations of voter fraud and concerns over technical glitches. Tinubu was declared the winner Tuesday of the February 25 polls in Africa’s most populous democracy. “The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy,” he added. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Tinubu, the candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress, won 8.8…

FORMER Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has congratulated the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his election as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria saying a new dawn has come to Nigeria with his emergence as President-elect. In a statement issued by his media office in Minna yesterday, IBB also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for modifying an election which he said would lead to a new Nigeria just as he commended Nigerians for going out en masse to exercise their voting rights and electing someone like Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the next…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday presented the certificate of return to the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu. News Point Nigeria reports that, the certificate was presented to Tinubu by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, the nation’s capital. His running mate Kashim Shettima also got his certificate of return at the event. The presentation came a few hours after Tinubu was declared the winner of the Saturday, February 25 poll, garnering 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who scored 6,984,520. Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer,…

THE Senate has congratulated the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Mr Bola Tinubu on his victory in the just concluded 2023 presidential elections. After a keenly contested race, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the February 25 presidential election. He polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who scored 6,984,520. News Point Nigeria reports that, during plenary, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, described Tinubu’s victory as historic. He urged all lawmakers to be in attendance for the issuing of the Certificate…