PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed sadness over Tuesday’s derailment of an Abuja–Kaduna passenger train, which left at least six passengers injured and forced the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to suspend operations along the corridor. In a statement posted on his official X handle, @officialABAT cited by News Point Nigeria, the President said he was following developments closely, even while on an official visit to Brazil, and awaiting a full briefing on the circumstances that led to the mishap. “Even while in Brazil, I have received reports of today’s Abuja–Kaduna train derailment. “I am deeply saddened by this incident. My…
Author: Sadiq Abdullateef
Read More
THE controversy surrounding the alleged diversion of ₦6.5 billion from the Kano State treasury has taken a new dimension as former State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs and an aide to former APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,, Muhammad Garba accused the state government of engaging in a “media trial” and resorting to “propaganda” instead of providing clarity on the matter. In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday made available to News Point Nigeria, Garba responded to an earlier press release by the Kano State Government dated August 25, 2025, and signed by its Director General of Media,…
AS part of activities marking its 25th anniversary, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has engaged leading Northern social media influencers, urging them to use their platforms to amplify the forum’s vision of unity, peace, and development in Northern Nigeria. News Point Nigeria reports that speaking at the interactive meeting held in Kaduna, ACF leadership acknowledged the growing influence of digital platforms in shaping public opinion, particularly among the youth, and emphasized the need for strategic partnerships between traditional institutions and the online community. In his opening remarks, the ACF representative, former Minister of information, Lai Muhammad welcomed the influencers, noting…
PANIC gripped passengers on Tuesday morning after a train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna derailed, forcing terrified commuters to scramble for safety. News Point Nigeria gathered that the incident, which occurred along the Kaduna corridor shortly after the train departed Abuja around 11am, once again raised fresh concerns about the safety of one of Nigeria’s busiest rail routes. Eyewitnesses described the moment as tense and chaotic. “People were shouting and trying to get out. Nobody knew what was happening, everyone was afraid,” one passenger told News Point Nigeria, noting that fear of possible attacks compounded the confusion. Although details remain…
THE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced bold plans to activate a 260,000-strong rapid deployment counter-terrorism brigade, with an annual budget of $2.5 billion to combat rising insecurity across the region. News Point Nigeria reports that the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray, disclosed this during the 2025 African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit held in Abuja, themed: “Combating Contemporary Threats to Regional Peace and Security in Africa: The Role of Strategic Defence Collaboration.” Represented by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, Touray said the initiative would focus on…
THE Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bashir Ojulari, has warned that crude oil theft in Nigeria and across Africa is not merely a localised crime but a sophisticated operation driven by international and continental syndicates exploiting security lapses. Ojulari made the declaration on Monday at the opening of the Africa Chiefs of Defence Staff Conference in Abuja, where military chiefs and global stakeholders gathered to deliberate on pressing security challenges facing the continent. “Crude theft and its attendant illegal activities are by no means a purely localised occurrence; rather, these operations involve specialised…
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has deducted a staggering N235.6 billion between January and July 2025 to bankroll oil exploration in northern Nigeria, according to its latest financial records. News Point Nigeria reports that the deductions, made under the Frontier Exploration Fund (FEF) as stipulated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), represent 30 per cent of Profit Sharing Contract (PSC) proceeds earmarked for new oil discoveries. These frontier basins include the Chad Basin, Benue Trough, and Kolmani field straddling Bauchi and Gombe States. The fund, designed to diversify Nigeria’s oil production base away from the Niger Delta, has…
THE Federal Government has announced plans to submit the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly by September 2025, in what officials describe as a renewed effort to end the country’s long-standing tradition of late budget presentation. This disclosure was contained in a 2026 Personnel Cost Budget Call Circular issued by the Budget Office of the Federation and signed by its Director-General, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu. The circular, dated July 7, 2025, was obtained from the agency’s official website by The PUNCH on Sunday. News Point Nigeria reports that the directive was addressed to ministers, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, chief executives…
AFTER years of distancing herself from her Nigerian roots, Kemi Badenoch has turned her fire on the UK, revealing that she has been shaken by the scale of racist abuse directed at her since rising to the top of the Conservative Party., despite having previously dismissed race as a major barrier to progress in the country. Badenoch, who was elected Tory leader in July, told the Sunday Times she had been surprised by the scale of hostility directed at her since assuming office. She accused some of her critics of being unable to accept her victory and suggested that race…
AFRICA’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, narrowly escaped a sophisticated fraud scheme involving foreign contractors and local collaborators, according to revelations made at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Court documents filed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) sighted by News Point Nigeria detailed how a group of foreign nationals allegedly attempted to defraud Dangote Refineries of $50 million, while a local truck driver diverted truckloads of heavy-duty iron pipes belonging to Dangote Cement, valued in billions of naira. The alleged fraudsters, identified as He Jun, Sun Yuzhu, Yong Li, Dr. Feng, Jaykumar Sagar, and Rajnish Gupta, mostly Asians were…
WITH the 2027 general elections drawing closer, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) recently adopted as the flagship coalition party for Nigeria’s opposition is grappling with internal challenges and uncertainty as two of its most anticipated entrants, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, continue to withhold formal membership. The coalition, formed in March 2024 to provide a united opposition against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC), is facing dwindling momentum despite high-profile endorsements from Atiku, Obi, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and others. Credible sources within the…
AT least 48 members of the House of Representatives and five Senators failed to contribute to debates, sponsor bills, or raise motions and petitions at the National Assembly over a 12-month period, according to a new performance assessment released over the weekend. The findings were contained in the Deliberative Barometer and Policy-Focus Productivity Report (NASS-DBPFR), published by the Erudite Growth and Advancement Foundation (ERGAF-Africa) sighted by News Point Nigeria, which tracked legislative performance between June 14, 2023, and June 13, 2024. According to the report, the lawmakers recorded no single plenary activity during the period under review. Those listed include…
GOVERNORS elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday, August 23, 2025, convened in Gusau, Zamfara State, where they reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to holding the party’s national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15, 2025, in defiance of growing threats of disruption from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and other aggrieved members. News Point Nigeria reports that the Gusau meeting, the Forum’s 7th strategic session, was hosted by Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, and chaired by the Bauchi State Governor and Forum Chairman, Bala Mohammed. Present were Governors Ahmadu…
WHEN General Christopher Musa, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, recently urged citizens to embrace self-defence and survival training, his words sparked conversations that cut across security, law, gender rights, and daily survival. News Point Nigeria explores these diverse viewpoints. The remarks, delivered during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, ignited national debate, prompting clarification from the Defence Headquarters and sparking fresh conversations on insecurity, resilience, and survival in today’s Nigeria. General Musa stressed that knowing how to defend oneself is just as essential as learning how to drive or swim. “That one should be taken as learning driving, learning…
THE United States has intensified its visa screening process by extending its vetting beyond paperwork and interviews into the digital footprints of applicants. News Point Nigeria reports that under new rules, foreigners seeking American visas must now disclose all social media handles used in the past five years when filling out the standard Form DS-160, and ensure those accounts remain publicly accessible. Consular officers are mandated to review applicants’ online activity, often running search engine checks and leveraging sophisticated investigative tools such as LexisNexis. Officials say the move reflects Washington’s shift toward “comprehensive and thorough vetting”, designed to detect potential…
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is once again engulfed in internal strife, with fresh divisions deepening between rival blocs in the South ahead of the party’s much-anticipated convention in Ibadan. News Point Nigeria reports that the latest storm follows a controversial gathering in Lagos, which some southern leaders denounced as “illegal, exclusionary, and unrepresentative.” The meeting, reportedly dominated by allies of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has widened tensions between his camp and that of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike. At stake is not only the zoning of key party positions ahead of the Ibadan convention, but also…
OGUN, Kano, and Akwa Ibom States have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s ₦163 billion allocation for Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIPs), popularly known as constituency projects, in the 2025 budget. News Point Nigeria reports that the allocations, captured in budget data released by the Budget Office of the Federation and analysed by the civil society group Tracka, reveal sharp disparities across states, raising fresh debates over transparency, accountability, and the political nature of the ZIP scheme. According to the breakdown, Ogun State leads with ₦8.44 billion, followed by Kano with ₦6.46 billion and Akwa Ibom with ₦5.34…
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared Abdullahi Bashir Haske, a businessman and son-in-law of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, wanted over alleged involvement in criminal conspiracy and money laundering. News Point Nigeria reports that the announcement was contained in a public notice issued by Dele Oyewale, spokesperson of the commission late on Thursday. According to the EFCC, Haske, aged 38, is being sought in connection with a case of “criminal conspiracy and money laundering.” “The public is hereby notified that Abdullahi Bashir Haske, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the EFCC in an alleged case of criminal…
AFRICA’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has opened up about his early struggles, humble beginnings, and the trials that shaped his rise to becoming a $28 billion business magnate. In a wide-ranging feature by Bloomberg cited by News Point Nigeria, Dangote recalled how he started his journey into business in the 1970s with a $3,000 loan from his uncle, trading in cotton, cocoa, cashew nuts, and sesame seeds before eventually moving into cement and transportation. By the early 1990s, he revealed, he was earning just ₦7,000 to ₦8,000 a day from cement trading, a modest income that nevertheless allowed him to…
NIGERIA is reeling from one of its deadliest flood disasters in recent years, with at least 165 people confirmed dead and over 119,000 others affected across 19 states as of August 16, 2025. The grim statistics were disclosed by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) through its official X account cited by News Point Nigeria, which provided a detailed “2025 flood dashboard.” According to the update, 82 people remain missing, 138 injured, and 43,936 displaced. The floods have torn through communities, submerging homes, farmlands, and critical infrastructure. A total of 8,594 homes have been destroyed or damaged, while 8,278 farmlands have…