Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani

THE National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, Halima Shehu was allegedly suspended over the ongoing probe into the N37,170,855,753.44 laundered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, under former Minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouk. Impeccable senior officers of the EFCC, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, revealed that Shehu was indicted in connection with the alleged 37.1bn fraud as the former National Coordinator of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme under the Ministry. “Halima was the National Coordinator in charge of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme under the…

THE Federal Government has banned and suspended more universities from Ghana, UK and US operating campuses in Nigeria. This move followed the Federal Government’s suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo after an investigative report by Daily Nigerian Newspaper titled “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks”. According to the investigation, the investigative reporter bagged a degree from Cotonou University within six weeks and also participated in the mandatory one-year scheme organised by the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. Below is the list of foreign universities banned by the National…

THE Federal Government has suspended the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo. This move followed an investigative report by Daily Nigerian Newspaper titled “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks”. According to a statement on Tuesday signed by Augustina Obilor-Duru on behalf of the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, the government lamented that “some Nigerians deploy nefarious means and unconscionable methods to get a Degree with the end objective of getting graduate job opportunities for which they are not qualified”. “This report lends credence to suspicions…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Monday disclosed that the 2024 budget includes N100 billion allocation for the school feeding programmes. He made this statement during the signing of the 2024 appropriation bill into law in the State House in Abuja. Tinubu stated that the provision will serve as a stimulant to encourage attendance in schools and reduce the problem of out-of-school children. “One of the priority areas of the bill we just passed is the N100 billion provision for the feeding of school children. I believe that is a stimulant that will encourage school enrolment and also address malnutrition among school…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has signed the N28.7 trillion 2024 Budget into law. He assented to the 2024 Appropriation Bill at a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday. Among those with the President while he signed were the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Abubakar; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, were on hand as well. Also on the ground were the Chief of Staff…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will address Nigerians on New Year’s Day, according to presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale. The nationwide broadcast will be on Monday, January 1, 2024, at 7 am. “Television, radio stations, and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigeria Television Authority and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria for the broadcast,” Ajuri said in a Sunday statement. READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW: STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE JANUARY 1ST 2024: PRESIDENT TINUBU ADDRESSES THE NATION President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will make a New Year’s Day broadcast to the nation on Monday,…

THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has stated that the low turnout in payment of Hajj fares for the 2024 hajj pilgrimage will not affect its December 31 deadline as it would work with the number that pay. In a statement by its Assistant Director of Press, Fatima Sanda Usara, it was noted that the commission made it clear from the outset that it was “prepared to work with any number of registered pilgrims able to pay the N4.5million Hajj deposit by the December 31 deadline.” The statement was in response to a story by a national newspaper on…

THE Senate has approved the sum of N28.7 trillion as the 2024 appropriation bill. The Senate, at plenary on Saturday afternoon, passed the N28,777,404,073,861 budget, which it increased by about N1.2tn. The President presented N27.5tn to the joint chambers of the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the sitting, said the National Assembly approved that Statutory Transfers would be N1,742,786,708,150, Debt Service would gulp N8,270,960,606,831; Recurrent Non-debt Expenditure would be N8,768,513,380,852 , while N9,995,143,298,028 would be for contribution to development fund for capital expenditure. The borrowing plan submitted by the President was…

THE Senate has summoned has summoned service chiefs and others over Christmas Eve killings in Plateau State. Those summoned include the Chief of Army staff, Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Director General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, as well as the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. This move was occasioned by a motion raised by Senator Adams Oshiomhole during plenary on Saturday. He said they have to give adequate explanation on the inadequate…

THE police authorities in Nasarawa State have rescued a lecturer with the state university in Keffi, Isaac Igbawua, from his abductors. Igbawua, of the Department of Microbiology, was kidnapped by gunmen from his residence along Old Barracks, Kokona Local Government Area on December 27, 2023. A day after his abduction, the Nasarawa State Police Command arrested a student of the Federal University Lafia, Daniel Favour Chukwuebuka, and allegedly recovered arms and ammunition from his residence. This was disclosed on Friday by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Ramhan Nansel, in a statement. He said the lecturer was rescued by operatives in…

THE governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, says President Bola Tinubu has asked him to take charge and pull everybody together to spur the development of the state. Aiyedatiwa disclosed this while speaking with journalists after a visit to the President in Lagos on Thursday, a day after he was sworn in as governor following the death of the former governor, Rotimi Akeredolu. He said his visit to Tinubu was to inform the President of the recent development in Ondo State and to thank him for standing by the state during its critical moment. “I am here to see Mr…

PERSISTENT insecurity, armed conflict, and deteriorating livelihoods will continue to affect local government areas in Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara states, and the far north of Adamawa State in Nigeria until May 2024, the World Bank has predicted. This is as it disclosed that poor macroeconomic conditions are restricting access to agricultural inputs in the country. This is set to affect cereal production in the country. The global bank revealed this in its latest ‘Food Security Update.’ Estimated cereal production for the 2023/24 crop year is expected to be 76.5 million tons in West and Central Africa, which is…

THE Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has revealed that the National Assembly will pass the 2024 Appropriation Bill on December 30 to sustain the January-December budget cycle. He disclosed at a session with journalists in Iyin-Ekiti, Ekiti State on Monday, saying all federal lawmakers would have to cut short their holidays to ensure the speedy passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill. He said, “To ensure the passage of the budget, we abridged time to make all ministries, departments and agencies appear before the joint sitting of all the relevant committees of both the Senate and House of Representatives. “This has already…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor of Gombe State,  Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, Inuwa Yahaya have congratulated the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on his 74th birthday. Extolling the leadership hallmarks of the former Governor of Kano State, the President describes Dr Ganduje as a thorough-bred democrat who has devoted his life to the service of the people and Nigeria. “I celebrate the National Chairman of our great party as he turns 74 today. Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje is a consummate politician and accomplished public servant who rose from the bottom of both…

THE Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Secretariat has called for police investigation over allegations of financial misdemeanor made by its former Director of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello Barkindo. News Point Nigeria had reported that Barkindo in a leaked letter addressed to Governor AbdulRasaq and sighted by our correspondent, opened a can of worms on the running of the secretariat, saying the NGF is now more transactional than developmental. Barkindo stressed that it is not an agent of change but “a conduit pipe for a few individuals”, and demanded a forensic audit of all the NGF accounts including those that…

THERE is a crack within the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Secretariat in Abuja, as top officials of the forum are at daggers drawn over alleged financial fraud and recklessness. This has triggered a letter to the NGF chairman and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, by the NGF Director, Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo. Barkindo in a leaked letter addressed to Governor AbdulRasaq and sighted by our correspondent, opened a can of worms on the running of the secretariat, saying the NGF is now more transactional than developmental. He stressed that it is not an agent of change but “a…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has felicitated Nigerians on the Christmas Day celebration, assuring the citizens of his administration’s commitment to alleviate their sufferings. Tinubu in his Christmas message to Nigerians on Sunday expressed optimism that the nation will witness a new dawn of prosperity. “Be confident that by the strength of our joint endeavour, we will shortly emerge into a new dawn of prosperity, peace, and irreversible progress,” he said. “As you celebrate this season, please spare a moment of remembrance and prayer for the men and women of our nation’s armed forces, bearing arms in our names and ensuring our…

FORMER Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has vehemently denied a report alleging his involvement in the alleged illegal withdrawal of $6.3 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The report, published by an online newspaper (not News Point Nigeria), claimed that a special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu uncovered the alleged theft, which supposedly occurred on February 8, 2023 — weeks before the presidential election. The report further alleged that Mustapha, along with the embattled former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, authorised the removal of the cash from the bank’s vault…

THE Federal Government has instructed that Nigerians with expired passports who are planning to return to the country to celebrate the yuletide be allowed in without any hindrance. In a letter dated 22nd December 2023 by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Wura-Ola Adepoju, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, through the Office of Assistant Comptroller General, Border Management, the NIS asked that Nigerians “be admitted into the country with their expired Nigerian passports”. “l am directed to refer to the above subject matter and to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria in…

THE sacked governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele allegedly used proxies and acquired Union Bank of Nigeria for Titan Trust Bank Limited, a report by Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed by President Bola has shown. According to the report, Emefiele used also used proxies to acquire Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank without any evidence of payment. The acquisitions were carried out separately over time as seen in the report submitted to President Tinubu on December 20, 2023. As a result, it recommends that the Federal Government should reverse the sale of the banks and also…