Author: Khadija Abubakar

THE National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has increased the fare for this year’s pilgrimmage to Saudi Arabia by N1,918,032.91, setting a deadline of March 28, 2024. The Commission announced this in a statement by its spokesperson, Fatima Sanda Usara. It attributed the development to the forex crisis, which Nigeria has been battling for months. NAHCON had initially pegged the fare for this year’s Hajj at N4.9 million, with many stakeholders calling for the Federal Government’s intervention. However, on Sunday, the commission asked those who had paid the initial amount to add N1.9 million balance, raising the total amount to…

A 300-LEVEL student of the Department of Geography, Federal University, Gashua in Yobe State, has been killed in a fire incident at the female hostel of the school in Bade Local Government Area of the state. The Executive Secretary of the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, Mohammed Goje, confirmed the incident to News Point Nigeria via telephone. One of the students who spoke to this newspaper on an anonymous condition said the inferno started around 1pm on Saturday, forcing the students to run for their lives; others were being evacuated to the specialist hospital in  Gashua for medical attention. The…

A BILL seeking to grant five-month leave to persons who lose their spouse has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Honourable Saidu Abdullahi, the bill seeks to enable the widow or widower mourn the deceased spouse and make immediate arrangements for the challenges ahead. Honourable Saidu argues that there is a need for consideration of the bill on cultural and religious grounds. Abdullahi said the bill is designed to place Nigeria among the top countries in the world in terms of workers welfare as the law exist in many countries. According to him, research findings had…

THE National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Service Chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa and some governors from Northern states are currently in a closed-door meeting, this newspaper gathered. Although, the agenda of the meeting was not officially disclosed, it was reliably gathered that the discussion centred on strategic plans on how to rescue the internally displaced persons, schoolchildren and Tsangaya students recently abducted by terrorists in Borno, Kaduna and Sokoto states respectively. The meeting, which started at about 2:10pm was coming on the heels of a marching order given by President Bola Tinubu to the…

THE Federal Government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely. Akintunde Sawyer, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), stated this in an interview with ARISE NEWS, which was monitored by News Point Nigeria. The loan which was formally slated to take off on Thursday, has been postponed again, as there are some corrections that are being made around the launch according to Sawyer. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody…

THE Senator representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, has resigned as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum. Although the resignation letter was dated March 11, a copy was made public shortly after Ningi was suspended for three months by the Senate over his statement on the alleged padding of the 2024 budget. Ningi, in a letter sent to the forum, wrote, “I will like to resign my position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators forum. “This is of course necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large. “I will like to especially…

THE World Trade Organization (WTO) has inaugurated a $1.2m (N2.4bn) standards trade development facility in Nigeria to strengthen food safety, among others. The standards trade development facility is a global initiative that seeks to strengthen food safety, and animal and plant health capacity in developing countries by encouraging the use of good practices. While speaking during the event on Tuesday, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi  Okonjo-Iweala, explained that although Nigeria has huge potential in the production and export of Cowpea and sesame, the rejection of the two products remains a huge challenge owing to poor…

THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union have declared a 7-day warning strike to demand the payment of four months of withheld salaries of their members, after the 2022 nationwide strike. The decision was part of the resolution of the joint action committee of the two unions, after a meeting which held in Akure at the weekend. According to the SSANU president, Mohammed Ibrahim, who read the communiqué of the meeting to journalists in Abuja on Monday, the decision to embark on the warning strike was taken as a last resort since several protest…

POLICE authorities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have arrested 15 suspects over the looting of a warehouse in the area. Some residents had on Sunday morning looted a warehouse belonging to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Department of Agriculture in the Tasha area of Abuja. But hours after the incident, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command said 15 persons had been nabbed over the looting of the warehouse. “The FCT police command is fully informed about the impulsive attack on Agric Department Strategic food store located at Tasha, Abuja, on 2/03/2024 by some irate mobs, which resulted in…

THE wife of the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Hajiya (Dr) Maryam Abacha has called on governors and other wealthy individuals in the country to purchase food items to support the needy, especially during these trying times as the month of Ramadan approaches. Hajiya Maryam made this statement to journalists in Abuja during the commemoration of the first anniversary of her son Abdullahi’s death. She noted that many people are currently in dire need of help and called on governors to utilize the additional funds provided by the Federal Government to serve their constituents. “I urge the…

NOLLYWOOD comic, John Okafor, better known as Mr Ibu, is dead, Channels Television has learnt. A close associate of the family confirmed to Channels Television that the ace actor died on Saturday afternoon after he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Evercare Hospital, Lekki a few days ago. Mr Ibu, 62, died of cardiac arrest after he had a relapse about a week ago and was rushed to the Lagos-based hospital. Also, the President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas, confirmed the actor’s death. Last year, the actor underwent surgery to remove one of his…

THE questionable contract award of Cargo and Crude Oil Tracking Note Scheme to a Belgian firm, Antaser BV by the Federal Government of Nigeria has now become a subject of international investigation, which may burst a can of worms and expose top Nigerian public and private officials involved in the perennial scotch of oil theft, which denies the country over eighty percent of its oil revenue. Donnington Nigeria Ltd and its technical partner Vortexa UK,the companies that were allegedly shortchanged in the wrongful award, had been at legal loggerheads with the Government of Nigeria, as well as Antaser Belgium and…

IN line with the promise of Chairman, Dangote Cement, Aliko Dangote at the company’s 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM), of an enhanced return on Investments to all the shareholders and other stakeholders in Dangote Cement, Plc, the company’s Management for the year ended December 31, 2023, has proposed an increase in the dividend payout to the shareholders, by 50 percent, to N30 per share. The proposed increase in dividend is subject to ratification by the shareholders at the forthcoming, AGM. Proposing a dividend of N30 per share at a period when many firms are declaring losses is an indication of…

THE United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Thursday announced the donation of 25,000 tons of wheat from the Government of Ukraine that will help provide emergency food assistance to 1.3 million crisis-affected people in northeast Nigeria. This vital contribution – part of Ukraine’s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine” initiative launched by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – arrives as prices of staple food in Nigeria have risen, pushing basic meals out of the reach of millions of vulnerable families across the country. The shipment was made possible by a collaborative effort from the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Norway, the Republic…

THE Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, on Wednesday, disclosed that the Federal Government had enrolled about 750,000 Nigerians into the National Health Insurance Scheme. Pate stated this at the third edition of the ministerial press briefing series initiated by the Ministry of Information in Abuja, noting that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration will unveil a comprehensive programme to digitise the nation’s healthcare system in the next two weeks. The briefing series was initiated to provide a platform for public officials to reel out their achievements and apprise Nigerians of the challenges of governance. The Special…

THE police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have arrested one Samaila Wakili Fafa also known as Habu Ibrahim, a kidnap kingpin on the wanted list of the Command. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the police command, Josephine Adeh, said the suspect was arrested on February 24, 2024 when operatives stormed Sardauna Forest, Toto, in Nasarawa State. The suspect was one of the two kidnappers the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had placed a N20m bounty on, as the other suspect, Saidu Abdulkadir also know as Dahiru Adamu, had earlier been arrested by the command. “He confessed that…

THE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has suspended the distribution of seized food items over a stampede that claimed lives at NCS Old Zonal Headquarters in the Yaba area of Lagos State last Friday. A spokesperson for the Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, announced this in a statement on Monday. The Customs had on February 20, 2024 said it would disposed seized food items to cushion the hardship and cost of living in the country. To start with, the Customs disposed food items at its Yaba office last Friday in the presence of other security agencies like the men of the Nigeria Police…

THE National Examination Council (NECO) has released the 2023 senior secondary school examination (SSCE) external results with 67.35 percent of candidates who sat for the examination earning five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics. The Registrar and Chief Executive of the council Professor Dantani Wushishi while declaring the results on Monday, 68 days after the last examination, said 74,342 candidates sat for the examination for 29 subjects. According to the breakdown, 52.28 percent of the candidates were male and 47.71 candidates were female. The registrar also said that 8,518 candidates were booked for various forms of malpractice showing…

A GROUP, Arewa Professionals Forum (APF) has urged the judiciary, and the EFCC to be just and fair in the trail of former Accountant General of the Federation, Malam Ahmed Idris. The group made the call on Friday in Kaduna during a press conference. According to the group, the call was made in response to an earlier one issued by a group, Southern Solidarity Forum, last week,in Osogbo the Osun state capital. The secretary, Arewa Professionals Forum, Comrade Muhammad Auwal stated that, “The former AGF, Mallam Ahmed Idris has served this country meritoriously, regardless of the many lies and half-truths…

NIGERIA’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has joined other African First Ladies to affirm that closing the gender gap is not an act of charity but of justice. She explained that without education, girls lack skills to support themselves and access information to make informed choices about their health and future with school dropouts further fueling the cycle of poverty and gender inequality. The First Lady, according to a statement by her media aide, Busola Kukoyi, said this while addressing the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) in Addis Ababa the Ethiopian capital on the sideline of the…