Author: Farouk Abbas

GOMBE State Government is poised to unlock the full potential of the Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve towards enhancing food security, economic prosperity, and livestock productivity in Gombe State. This indication was given by the Gombe State Coordinator of the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, Professor Umar Bello Abubakar while receiving a delegation from Wawa-Zange Community during a courtesy call in his office. Recognizing the long neglect of animal production in Gombe State, Professor Abubakar highlighted Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s commitment to upscaling productivity and ensuring food security while maximizing the benefits of the reserve, which is one of the largest…

TWO loyalists of the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, including the lawmaker representing the Aboada West Constituency of the state House of Assembly, Sokari Goodboy; have been arrested at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Also arrested by the police was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state identified as Ezebunwo Ichemati. The duo was allegedly arrested by policemen outside the venue of the National Executive Committee meeting of the PDP in Abuja on Thursday. In a viral video seen by our correspondent, a lady who claims to be a member of Fubara’s media team, said the two…

– Say, Rush To Arrest Yahaya Bello Despite Appeal Court Hearing Shows Political Persecution ANTI-CORRUPTION Civil Society Organisations have advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission not to desecrate the courts in the course of carrying out its constitutional role of fighting corruption. The CSOs and human rights crusaders cautioned the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies against trampling on the rights of supposed suspects of corruption in order to avoid breaking a law to enforce another law. The activists, who spoke at an emergency press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, noted specifically that the recent public face-off between the EFCC…

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has adjusted the previous blunder of September 2015 date in their charges against former Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, his media office revealed. Recall the EFCC had accused Yahaya Bello of converting over N80bn Kogi State funds to personal use in September 2015, even before he became Governor. According to the media office, in a bid to amend that embarrassing charge, the EFCC approached another court  stating that about N80 billion was now stolen by Bello in February 2016, arguably in less than three weeks after he assumed office for the first…

THE Kwara State Government is set to renovate the indoor sports hall of the state stadium at the cost of N2.06bn to make it an ultra-modern sports facility. The sports hall was constructed under the administration of Brigadier-General Agbazika Innih (retd.) in 1977. Speaking with sports writers in Ilorin on Wednesday, the chairman of the state’s sports commission, Bola Magaji, said previous administrations in the state had neglected the indoor sports hall, adding that it led to its decadence. Magaji, who said that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was determined to bring the stadium back to its pride, added that the renovation…

GOVERNORS elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are currently in a closed-door meeting at the Akwa Ibom governor’s lodge in Abuja. The agenda for the meeting is still unknown at the time of filing this report. However, already present for the meeting are six out of the 11 governors namely; Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta State), Douye Diri (Bayelsa State),  Siminalayi Fubara (Rivers State), Bala Muhammed (Bauchi State), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom State), and Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State. This meeting is happening ahead of the PDP caucus meeting which has been scheduled for 8 pm tonight. The…

PROTESTERS have taken over the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, throwing their support for the Acting National Chairman of the Party, Umar Damagun and the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike. The protesters who display placards with inscriptions pledging support for Wike and Damagun, alleged that some people within the PDP are trying to cause disaffection among the leadership. The protest is happening barely an hour before the meeting of the PDP governors forum, and 24 hours before the PDP national executive committee meeting of the party, where issues regarding the leadership of the PDP…

A FORMER Senator, who represented Kwara South Senatorial District, Rafiu Ibrahim, is dead. The lawmaker died in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 57. Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said that he received with shock and profound sadness reports of the death of Ibrahim of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The governor sent his heartfelt condolences to the family of the late senator, the people of Ojoku in the Oyun Local Government Area, and the PDP. In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, AbdulRazaq said “this shocking…

IN an unprecedented move, Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced further reduction of the price of diesel to from 1200 to 1,000 naira per litre. While rolling out the products, the refinery supplied at a substantially reduced price of N1,200 per litre three weeks ago, representing over 30 per cent reduction from the previous market price of about N1,600 per litre. This significant reduction in the price of diesel, at Dangote Petroleum Refinery, is expected to positively affect all the spheres of the economy and ultimately reduce the high inflation rate in the country. Recall, Aliko Dangote, on Wednesday, in Lagos,…

COMMITTEE of Corner Shop Owners At Federal Housing Estate, Sharada, Kano State has petitioned the State Governor, Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf and the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Dije Aboki over an unlawful attempt to occupy their plots by some persons posing as staff of Federal Housing Authority. The Committee, in a petition signed by it’s Chairman, Alhaji Sani Maikusa, and the Secretary, Alhaji Hafiz Mato, pleaded with the government and stakeholders “to stop this dangerous experiment by the new management of FHA”. According to the acknowledged copies made available to News Point Nigeria on Monday, the arrowhead of…

THE naira has continued its resurgence against the United States dollar, appreciating N1,136/$ at the official market and N1,050/$ at the parallel market at the close of trading activities on Monday. This was as traders predicted the dollar’s fall to below N1,000 before the end of the week. At the official foreign exchange market, data from the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, revealed that the naira surged by 6.1 per cent or N69 from N1,205/$ recorded on Friday to N1,136/$ on Monday. The total daily turnover dropped slightly to $251.60m on Monday, from…

THE Ganduje Ward Executive Committee and Dawakin Tofa Local Government Executive Committee have vehemently denounced the purported suspension of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Ganduje. Ganduje Ward in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State had suspended the APC chief. But in a joint press conference on the same day,  the Ganduje Ward Chairman Ahmed Koko said: “Those who addressed the press conference were sponsored by the NNPP state government, and from the record of the party at the ward, local government, and state, are not card-carrying members of the APC”. Koko insisted…

NIGERIA’s inflation rate jumped to 33.20% in March 2024 compared to February 2024 headline inflation rate which was 31.70%. This was according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Monday. “Looking at the movement, the March 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.50% points when compared to the February 2024 headline inflation rate,” said the NBS. “On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.16% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023, which was 22.04%. “On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2024 was…

ELECTRICITY distribution companies on Monday, reported loss of power supply to their customers as a result of a fresh collapse of the national grid.  The grid experienced a fresh shutdown, slashing power generation to 64.70 megawatts as of 2:42 am on Monday, as confirmed by officials of some of the DisCos. According to the latest data from the Independent System Operator (ISO), the grid shortly after the collapse, was generating a meagre 266.50mw of electricity from Okpai, Geregu and Ibom power. Confirming the collapse in a statement, Jos DisCo said: “The current outage being experienced within our franchise States is…

THREE persons have been killed while an unspecified others were injured after a Nigerian Army patrol vehicle hit a Keke Napep rider, causing injuries on the driver and his passengers. An eyewitness, Adamu Hassan, told this newspaper, that the incident happened on Sunday afternoon at the popular Garin Alkali market via Gashua, the headquarters of the Bade Local Government Area of the state. “After the incident happened, the association of the Keke Napep riders mobilised and staged protests in some locations blocking the main road leading to Gashua, the headquarters of Bade local government area. “The Army personnel who became…

THE naira held onto its bullish momentum despite the dollar’s most recent aggressive gains this week, as concerns about persistent inflation remained unabated despite weaker-than-expected March US producer prices. This reinforced the belief that the Federal Reserve would postpone raising interest rates this year, reports Nairametrics. The naira rose to a four-month high of N1,120 per dollar on the black market amid high activity in Nigeria’s money market, driven by a series of foreign exchange (FX) reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that has unlocked dollar liquidity. Price action shows the pathway for the bulls seems clear as…

THE Minister of Works Dave Umahi says the Lagos-Calabar coastal road construction will take eight years and cost N4bn per kilometre. Umahi spoke on Thursday while fielding questions about the project on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief monitored by News Point Nigeria. “We are looking at eight years in the life tenure of Mr President [Bola Tinubu],” he said. The minister said each kilometre of the coastal road would cost N4b but said the government’s prudence made that possible. “You know, there are other projects not awarded by me that are also going for about N4 billion per kilometre,” the…

THE Association of Online Media Guild congratulates the Muslim Ummah on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr celebrations. In a statement by its Interim Chairman, Abdullateef Abubakar Jos, and Secretary, Abbas Yushau Yusuf, the guild emphasized the significance of the Muslim Ummah peacefully completing 30 days of Ramadan despite soaring food prices across the country. The guild then urged the Muslim community across Nigeria and other faithfuls to keenly watch over their wards during the festive period to avert incessant reports of missing children. Furthermore, the guild called on the federal government to intensify efforts in fixing the economy to alleviate…

THE Chairman of Nigerian indigenous carrier Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has raised the alarm that foreign carriers operating the Nigeria-UK route are allegedly conspiring to send Air Peace out of international operations by crashing airfares on the route. There is an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines to use lower pricing to eject Air Peace from the Nigeria-London route, alleged a visibly displeased Onyema on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday monitored by News Point Nigeria. “If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be…

THE Sultanate Council Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs in conjunction with the National Moon Sighting Committee has said that it did not receive any report from various moon sighting committees across the country confirming the sighting of the new moon of Shawwal 1445AH, On Monday. A statement released Monday night by the Advisory Committee on Religious Affairs, Sokoto Sultanate Council, therefore said Tuesday, April 9th is the 30th day of the month of Ramadan 1445AH. It was further confirmed by Yahaya Muhammad Boyi, Sarkin Malaman Sokoto, who added that, “Eid-Al-Fitr will hold on Wednesday, April 10th. “His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad…