THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Thursday said it does not deal with adulterated petrol. NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, disclosed this in a statement made available to News Point Nigeria, Thursday night. “NNPC Retail Ltd does not deal in adulterated products as it adheres to rigorous standards and quality control measures at every stage in its operations to ensure that only high quality, safe, and reliable petroleum products are available at its stations nationwide,” the statement read. Soneye also rejected a viral video showing a customer claiming to have bought bad fuel, allegedly from an…
Author: Maryam Garba
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JUSTICE Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court Abuja has issued an arrest warrant against the Managing Director of Dana Air, Hathiramani Ranesh, over alleged refusal to appear in court to stand trial. In a Ruling, Justice Egwuatu held that the arrest of Ranesh is necessary following his refusal to appear in court after he was served with the charge and several proceedings taken in the matter. The Judge held that in line with Section 184 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, the court can issue an arrest warrant against any defendant who refused to appear in…
TWO media houses and 65 Nigerian journalists were attacked in nine months, the International Press Centre (IPC) has said. In a report released on Saturday by the IPC’s Safety and Protection of Journalists Hub (SPJ-Hub), it said the attacks took place between January and September 2024. “No fewer than forty (40) cases of attacks involving over sixty-five (65) journalists and two (2) media outlets were reported and documented as follows: Male – thirty-six (36), Female – five (5), Not applicable/mentioned – (24),” the report read. The affected states are Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Ogun, FCT Abuja, Oyo, Katsina, Abia, Delta,…
KEMI Badenoch on Saturday won the election to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party. She is the first person of African heritage to lead the Tories. The Conservative Party announced her win in a post on X on Saturday. ANNOUNCED: @KemiBadenoch has been elected Leader of the Conservative Party,” the party tweeted. Badenoch, 44, beat Robert Jenrick after a four-month contest after Sunak’s resignation. The vote saw a turnout of 72% according to Conservative MP Bob Blackman. Most people said they had not formed an opinion of Ms Badenoch yet, according to a YouGov poll. But 40…
THE Federal Government has issued a nine-month ultimatum to individuals that are keeping dollars outside the banking system. Briefing journalists on Thursday after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the government has unveiled a new policy for Nigerians to deposit dollar bills held outside the formal banking system without scrutiny. “There will be no penalty; there will be no taxes, and there will be no questions,” the minister assured. “There is going to be a release today, details by the federal government through the Ministry of…
THE Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced that the ongoing repairs to the damaged transmission line that led to a blackout in northern Nigeria will be completed by Sunday, 3 November 2024. It noted, however, that alternative measures have been implemented to transmit 400 megawatts to certain areas within the next 24 hours. The Managing Director of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, disclosed this development at a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, updating Nigerians on efforts to restore electricity to the northern region. On 22 October, TCN reported a power outage in the north-east, north-west, and parts of north-central Nigeria after…
THE Senate is set to begin screening of seven ministerial nominees recently announced by President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday (tomorrow). This follows the earlier request to the Senate by President Tinubu to confirm the new ministerial nominees. The Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado, in a statement on Monday, confirmed that ministerial nominees have commenced documentation ahead of their screening and confirmation by the Senate. He stated that the nominees were already submitting relevant documents as first in the series of procedures for the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees. The nominees are expected to…
THE Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, KAEDCO, has asked customers to pay their light bills despite a protracted blackout in the North. This newspaper reports that there has been power outage in Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa following the vandalism of towers along the 330KV Shiroro-Kaduna Lines and also the tripping on the Ugwuaji-Makurdi 330KV Line 2. The damage has left the affected states in darkness for days. But in a statement issued by the company’s head of corporate communications, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, the company asked the customers to pay for service provided before the power outage. While acknowledging the difficulty the…
THE U.S. on Thursday deployed a plane outfitted with medical supplies and 6-man special forces to retrieve Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of Binance Holdings Limited, from Nigeria. According to The New York Times, Gambaryan left the country after the Federal Government dropped money laundering charges against him. This newspaper had earlier reported that on Wednesday, the FG withdrew the money laundering charge filed against the detained Binance Holdings Limited’s executive, Tigran Gambaryan, due to his ill health and diplomatic intervention. Gambaryan has been detained since February due to a government crackdown on the exchange for alleged manipulation of the naira.…
AFTER nine years, Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday, recounted the experience of losing the 2015 presidential election, saying it was a tough moment in his political life. The ex-president admitted that he was emotional when he learned the result, adding that it felt as if the whole world was against him. He made the confession in Abuja at the 1st Raymond Dokpesi Annual Diamond Lecture, organised by the management of Daar Communications in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. Jonathan, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, was defeated in the 2015 election by…
A FEDERAL High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the release of Mr Tigran Gambaryan, the detained Binance Holdings Limited’s executive, from Kuje Correctional Centre. Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s counsel, R. U. Adagba, informed the court of the decision of the Federal Government to withdraw the charge against Gambaryan. Adagba, who held the brief of Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, premised the decision on Gambaryan’s deteriorating health and the diplomatic intervention. This newspaper reports that Gambaryan was the 2nd defendant in the charge preferred against the cryptocurrency platform (1st defendant) by the…
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday, filed 14 fresh charges of alleged N5.78 billion fraud against the former Kwara State governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed, and his Commissioner of Finance, Mr Ademola Banu, before a Kwara State High Court presided by Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar. The duo were charged with alleged diversion and misappropriation of public funds meant for the execution of some projects and security of the state. The fresh re-arraignment of the former governor and his finance commissioner followed the withdrawal of the case last week Wednesday from the Federal High Court, Ilorin where they were formerly standing trial…
THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has promised a backup or buffer system to ensure that Nigerians won’t be thrown into blackout whenever the national grid collapses. TCN Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz, stated this Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme. He blamed aged infrastructure as old as 50 years for the frequent grid collapses in the country. Abdulaziz said, “Presently, we are doing the scatter system for the whole network and it is funded by the World Bank, and the project will take two years to be completed, and now, we have done 70% of the project. “Almost a month ago,…
ONE person has reportedly been killed and another one injured as bandits invaded the Oreke-Okegbo community in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara state. This newspaper gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday when the bandits reportedly in military uniforms invaded the community at about 7:00 p.m. According to a credible source, “they shot one person at Awere River, and all efforts made by Kabiesi Oloreke to contact the army at Oro Ago proved abortive.” However, speaking to this newspaper on the telephone on Sunday, the traditional ruler of Oreke, Oba Joseph Sunday Adefila, confirmed the attack, adding that…
FAISAL Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, son of former Governor of Kaduna state, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, is dead. A family source who did not want to be mentioned confirmed his death to our correspondent, saying the deceased was involved in an accident. This newspaper gathered that the accident happened along Kaduna-Zaria highway on Saturday evening. “The accident occurred along the Kaduna-Zaria highway this evening. He was taken to an undisclosed hospital where he was declared dead. His father was at the hospital; his corpse has been conveyed home for burial arrangements. Makarfi, a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), could…
THREE major revenue-generating agencies in Nigeria deducted a total of N533.11bn as costs of revenue collection in the first seven months of 2024, according to findings by this newspaper. The agencies include the Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Inland Revenue Service, and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. This figure, derived from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee reports published by the National Bureau of Statistics, marks a substantial increase of 99.85 per cent compared to the N266.75bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2023. The FIRS and NUPRC deducted about four per cent of the cost of revenue collection, while the NCS…
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to dismiss an application filed by the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, seeking to stop the forfeiture of some properties and monies linked to him. On August 25, 2024, the court authorised the EFCC to temporarily take custody of the cash sum of $2.045 million, seven choice landed properties, and shares linked to Emefiele. At the resumption of proceedings on Friday, Emefiele’s counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olalekan Ojo, asked Justice Deinde Dipeolu to stay further proceedings in…
THE Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has urged the nation’s civil and public servants to be abreast of information communication technology (ICT) and digitalisation so as to boost their professionalism and contribution to national development. She said this on Wednesday in Abuja while undergoing inspection of the 2024 OHCSF Senior combined confirmation and promotion (COMPRO) examination exercise for senior para-military officers and others. She said that would be part of the ongoing reforms under the digitalization pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 25). She noted that it…
PARTICIPANTS at the 2024 Abuja International Trade Fair(AITF) have been thronging the pavilion of the Dangote Group to make inquiries about the company, and its state-of-the-art oil refinery, which recently commenced the discharge of petroleum products. Dangote Group is one of the major sponsors of the 19th Trade Fair organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry(ACCI). Many of the participants were seen milling around the company’s other business units, which include: Dangote Fertiliser, Dangote Sugar, NASCON(Dangote Salt), and Dangote Cement. A participant and block Moulder, Peter Ibrahim, told newsmen: “I am here at the Dangote booth to find…
THE Federal Government is set to implement the New Minimum Wage with effect from July 29, 2024. It also approved the revision of the Salary structure for lecturers, doctors, military and other civil servants. The development comes after FG and the Labour Union on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the ₦70, 000 new minimum wage. A statement by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, and signed by the Head, Information and Public Relations, Eno Olotu said the committee on salaries for civil servants has agreed that the new minimum wage will be implemented…