THE Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaibu, has said that an outbreak of diphtheria infection claimed 20 lives of children in Kaduna State. This was just as Shuaibu, also the Co-Chairman of the Presidential Task Force Team on Diphtheria, said a total of 156 cases of the deadly infection have been recorded in the state so far. The NPHCDA boss spoke with journalists shortly after assessing the Kaduna Diphtheria Treatment Centre at Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in the state capital on Wednesday. More Details Shortly…
Author: Maryam Garba
Read More
THE National Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday, said 45 persons have died while 171,545 persons have been displaced as a result of widespread flooding experienced across the country in 2023. This was disclosed by an official of the agency, Dapo Akingbade, during a monthly meeting of the Water Sanitation and Hygiene in the Emergency Working Group in Abuja. Akingbade said as of October 7, showed flood has affected 13 states, with 22,666 homes partially damaged and 5,358 totally damaged homes while 9,179 hectares of farmlands were partially destroyed and 8,754 hectares of farmlands totally destroyed. He added that the agency…
THE National Examination Council will today release the results of the 2023 Senior Secondary School Certificate to anxious students and parents. The delay in releasing the much awaited result, is also delaying the conclusion of admission into universities this year. It would be recalled that NECO, which concluded the conduct of the examination in early August 2023, had slated to release the result within 45 days but the promise did not materialise. Information later filtered in that the results would be made public on September 26th or 30th but the two dates came and passed without any show. Later, there…
THERE are growing concerns over the rising price of cooking gas as a kilogramme is now sold for between N1,000 and N1,200 in parts of the country, checks by this newspaper have shown. There are also fears that the price may rise further owing to the scarcity of the product, which marketers are attributing to supply disruption. Checks by this newspaper across Lagos State yesterday showed that while 12.5 kilogrammes of cooking gas is sold for N12,000 at some retail stations, a kilogramme was sold for N1,150 and N1,200 in Lagos outskirts like Mowe, Ibafo and Magboro, among others, along…
THE Minister, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Nyesom Wike, has said his administration has yet to make a decision on how to expend the ₦5billion palliative fund expected from the Federal Government. This is as he noted his administration may consider transportation and food support while noting that efforts were ongoing to bring back urban mass transportation to the FCT to reduce commuters’ suffering. Wike revealed the development to pressmen in Abuja on Monday night, after a closed-door meeting with contractors handling several projects in the FCT. He said, “We are yet to decide on what to do with the ₦2billion…
THE Federal Government says it has no intention to borrow from any local or foreign organisation with its removal of subsidy on petrol and exchange rate harmonisation. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, revealed this at the end of the inaugural Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday in Abuja. He said that the benefit of the subsidy removal would be ploughed back into various sectors aimed at boosting government revenue and improving the business environment for local and foreign investment. Edun said that with the increased revenue from subsidy removal, various palliatives have…
THE Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite on Thursday received the first ever Nigeria Investment Policy document from the Permanent Secretary of her Ministry, Dr Evelyn Ngige. The Minister said that the policy which was approved for implementation on May 10, 2023, is aimed at giving investors more comfort and attracting more investment into the country to further boost her economy. The Minister also said that the investment policy primarily focuses on investment promotion, and facilitation as well as sustainable economic development. It also promotes responsible investor conduct for sustainable development by influencing investor behaviour in…
FORMER President of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Diezani Alison-Madueke, has been charged with bribery offences relating to her time as Nigeria’s oil minister, the United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Tuesday. Alison-Madueke, 63, has been on bail since first being arrested in London in October 2015. She will appear in court in the British capital on October 2, the NCA said. Soon after her arrest, her family’s lawyer told AFP she would strongly contest corruption allegations that have dogged her during and after her time in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Alison-Madueke, in office…
THE Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has sounded a demolition warning to landlords of properties distorting the master plan of Abuja on his first day in office. “All those people who are distorting the master plan of Abuja, too bad. If you know you have built where you’re not supposed to build, it will go down,” Wike said during a press conference in Abuja on Monday, moments after taking his oath of office at the State House.” He added that for anyone who has developed where they are not supposed to, even if the culprit is…
AFTER dropping out of the ministerial confirmation list, the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has turned to raggea for solace. El-Rufai, on his handle on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday morning stated that his love for Reggae music is due to the songs and music of the late Jamaican legend, Bob Marley. He tweeted, “Bob Marley of the blessed memory is one of most talented musicians of all time. My love for reggae music is connected with his songs and music.” He also mentioned that one of Marley’s songs, ‘Who The Cap Fit,’ is one of his…
THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday lifted ban and unveiled a series of fresh operational guidelines for forex sales by Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in the country. This is coming more than two years after the suspended CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the suspension of foreign exchange sales to BDC operators in that segment of the forex market. Under the new framework, the spread on buying and selling by BDC operators is set to fall within a permissible range of -2.5% to +2.5% of the Nigerian foreign exchange market window’s weighted average rate from the previous day.…
THE Federal Government has appointed 11 new Chief Medical Directors for the Federal Government established medical facilities in the country. This was disclosed on Thursday, in a press statement signed by the Director of Press, FMoH, Patricia Deworitshe, and made available to News Point Nigeria. The statement noted that the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Kachollom Daju presented the letters of appointment for an initial four-year tenure which will take effect from August 1, 2023, to the new CMDs in Abuja. The new CMDs are Prof Nyandanti Yakub Wilberforce – Federal Medical Centre, Hong, Adamawa State; Prof…
FORMER Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State was conspicuously absent when Bello, his eldest son, got married to another wife, Aisha Habibu Shuaibu, on Saturday. A source close to the family told News Point Nigeria that, Bello’s second marriage comes after his marriage with his first wife Kamilah crashed, whom he married in April 2015. This newspaper had reported how El-Rufai jetted out of the country after he pulled out of the ministerial race. The senate had last week confirmed 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu. But El-Rufai and two other nominees – Stella Okotete…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu is currently meeting with former governors of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The two former governors are ministerial nominees. However, while Wike was screened and confirmed by the Senate, the nation’s upper legislative chamber did not confirm el-Rufai because of an alleged security report. The former governors arrived the State House separately. While Wike came at about 1:40pm, el-Rufai entered the presidential wing of Aso Rock at 2pm Sources at the Presidential Villa hinted that efforts are being made to ensure that the Senate confirms Malam El-Rufai…
NIGERIA’s president and head of the West African bloc ECOWAS has not ruled out military intervention in Niger, but believes diplomacy is the “best way forward” to resolve the crisis, his spokesman said Tuesday. Bola Tinubu weighed in for the first time since the soldiers behind the coup in Niger defied the bloc’s Sunday deadline to reinstate elected president Mohamed Bazoum or face the possible use of force. Meanwhile, efforts by ECOWAS and the United States to parlay with Niger’s new rulers have made no headway ahead of a crisis summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday. “No options…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms in Abuja. The President had four weeks ago set up the committee chaired by Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Taiwo Oyedele. The committee has experts from both the private and public sectors as members. Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Adelabu Adedeji, had explained that the President recognised the importance of a sound fiscal policy environment and an effective taxation system for the functioning of the government and the economy. “It should be noted that this committee will not only…
THE Senate on Monday finally concluded the screening of 45 of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu, confirming them as cabinet members after a week of intense grilling for some and cursory introductions for others. Senate President Godswill Akpabio put the nominations to a series of voice votes, of which all but three were approved. The remaining nominees, including former Governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai, Stella Okotete (Delta State), and Abubakar Danladi (Taraba State), are said to still be undergoing security clearance. The confirmation comes over a week after Tinubu’s transmission of a 28-member list to the…
FESTUS Keyamo, SAN, apologised to the Senate on Monday evening over his failure to honour invitations by the relevant legislative committee overseeing the Ministry of Labour and Productivity where he had served as a minister under the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. This followed a rowdy session at the Senate during his ministerial screening earlier in the day where Senator Darlington Nwokocha (Abia Central) accused Keyamo of disrespecting the Ninth National Assembly and accusing the last Assembly of being corrupt. Tendering an apology “without reservation”, the former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity provided more insight into the circumstances.…
SENATE President, Godswill Akpabio, on Monday, rushed to the Presidential Villa minutes after a rowdy session at the Senate over the screening of a ministerial nominee, Festus Keyamo. Akpabio was spotted at the Villa at 02:55pm. Though the agenda of the Senate President at the Villa was yet unknown as of press time, it might not be unconnected to an altercation on the floor of the Senate on Monday afternoon. Minutes earlier, the Senate exploded into a rowdy session when a Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Darlington Nwokocha, moved a motion for the suspension of Keyamo’s ministerial screening. A…
A SENATOR representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Darlington Nwokocha, on Monday, moved a motion for the suspension of the ministerial screening of a ministerial nominee from Delta State, Festus Keyamo. Nwokocha’s motion was seconded by his colleague from Abia-South Senatorial District, Enyinnaya Abaribe. Senate President, Godswill Akpabio thereafter subjected the motion to a voice vote but the lawmakers were divided on the matter. The red chamber immediately erupted into a rowdy session. Amid heated argument between the lawmakers, Akpabio rose to his feet, announcing that the Senate will enter a closed session. Nwokocha had accused Keyamo of disrespecting the 9th…