Author: Farouk Abbas

NO fewer than 40 million telephone lines were barred by MTN, Airtel, Glo over the weekend following the expiration of the February 28, 2024 deadline issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission mandating telecom consumers to link the Subscriber Identity Module to their National Identity Numbers. This represents a 28 million increase from the 12 million telephone lines initially planned to be deactivated by telcos, following the NCC directive. In a December 2023 notice, the NCC had asked telcos to bar SIMs that had not been linked to their owners’ NINs by February 28, 2024. On Thursday, the NCC Director of…

THE Federal Government through the Nigerian Bar Association has commenced the prosecution of some staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission and political party members indicted for various electoral offences during the 2023 general elections. Electoral offences remain a major threat to credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria, as they often heighten political tension and trigger violence. Following the February 25, 2023, presidential and National Assembly elections, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, said over 700 offenders were arrested by men of the Nigeria Police Force for violating electoral laws. INEC had on May 2, 2023,…

COMPREHENSIVE data on the pattern and quantity of energy mineral Lithium are available at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency for businesses interested in  establishing lithium companies in Nigeria. Solid Minerals Development Minister Dr. Oladele Alake made this disclosure in Doha, Qatar on Saturday at a meeting with Qatari businessmen on the sidelines of the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Arab country. Responding to enquires on the quality of Nigerian lithium by Qatari business mogul Sheikh Shahid Jawad at the meeting held at the prestigious Sheraton Doha, Alake said mineral exploration initiated by the Federal Government has identified…

THE Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has summoned the Chief Executives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over the worsening power supply in their regions. The Minister in a statement by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, Saturday, also summoned the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Ahmed Abdulazeez over the deteriorating power situation. “Wilful non- performance by any DISCO could suffice as a reason for severe punishment or outright license revocation,” Adelabu was quoted as saying by the media aide. He said Adelabu is to meet with the discos next…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of four Nigerian professionals to serve as Executive Directors of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), for a renewable term of four years. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, Friday. According to the statement, the President expects that these Nigerians who have been appointed on the strength of their experience, competence level, qualifications, character, and dedication will commit themselves wholly to realizing the innovative and expansive energy vision of his administration, in addition to delivering consistently excellent service to the Nigerian…

A BUA truck conveying cartons of spaghetti has been attacked by a group of protesters at Dogarawa axis of Zaria-Kano expressway. Dogarawa is a settlement located on the outskirt of Zaria along the expressway. This is coming barely one week after protesters hijacked trailers loaded with foodstuffs in the Suleja area of Niger State, stealing bags of rice and other food items amidst widespread hardship in the country. The trailers were said to be heading for Abuja from Kaduna when the thugs blocked the road and made burnfires on the highway. An eyewitness disclosed that the Friday incident occurred around…

A FORMER Ward Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Alhassan Sidi Kawu, was among the 23 persons abducted by gunmen numbering about 40 who stormed Kawu Community in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT in the early hours of Thursday. The Kawu community shares boundaries with Kaduna and Niger states. The councillor representing the community, who is also the Deputy Speaker in the council, Abdulmumini Zakari, told newsmen that the gunmen arrived the community on Wednesday, from the Kuyeri Forest in Kaduna State. He added that among the gunmen’s victims were the wife…

IN its latest move to resolve challenges around power supply in the country, the Federal Government said it has bought over a total of 10 mobile power stations. Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu revealed this on Wednesday, February 28, when he met with the Forum of Commissioners of Energy in Nigeria, in a bid to strengthen collaboration between the Federal and State governments towards achieving regular power supply. A press statement signed by the Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Ministry of Power, Bolaji Tunji on Thursday, said while addressing the forum which had 23 States in attendance, Adelabu…

HUNDREDS of travellers are reportedly stranded in Kaduna as residents of Gonin Gora community in Chikun Local Government Area of the State have blocked the Abuja-Kaduna highway following an attack on the community by bandits. Following the attack on the night of Wednesday, February 28th, 2024, several members of the community were said to have been kidnapped and several injured. Our correspondent at the scene of the attack reported how angry residents took to the streets on Thursday morning, blocking the busy Abuja-Kaduna highway. The development has caused heavy traffic on the road, with hundreds of travellers left stranded. News…

A NIGERIAN lawyer has been charged by the FBI with multiple felonies arising from an alleged $2.1 million bribe, which he received while serving as an officer at Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) in connection with negotiating favourable drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil company. The man identified as Paulinus Okoronkwo, of Valencia, who practices immigration and personal injury law out of an office in Koreatown, was charged in a five-count indictment. Okoronkwo is also been charged with three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, one count of tax…

LABOUR Minister Nkiruka Onyejeocha says the Federal Government has achieved about 90% of the agreement it had with the Organised Labour last October. “We’ve done virtually everything in agreement. 90% of everything,” Onyejeocha said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday monitored by News Point Nigeria. According to her, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (TUC), Joe Ajaero, told government representatives at a meeting on Sunday that the protest was not about the government’s commitment to the October agreement but food inflation. The minister said food security and economic prosperity were part of the priorities of the President Bola…

THE President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has handed over their letter of demands to the National Assembly. The demands included full implementation of the welfare provisions, employment generation, immediate subsidy to farmers, immediate subsidy to farmers to boost agricultural production, and fixing the four refineries among others. Ajaero handed over the letter to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment, and Productivity, Senator Diket Plang on Tuesday. Ajaero in his remarks at the National Assembly, said Nigerians embarked on the peaceful protests because there was hunger in the land, adding that “Nigeria is becoming like Zimbabwe.” Ajaero…

THREE siblings of the same parents – a boy and two girls – have died of suffocation inside a car parked in their residential quarters in Ilorin, Kwara State. The incident happened on Sunday. Their mother, Shade Silifat, who had out to buy noodles for their school meals on Monday, fainted due to the incident which occurred at No 8, Boluke Line, Zango-Kulende quarters in the Ilorin metropolis. The incident occurred at about 2 p.m. when the children locked themselves in the car which their father borrowed from his sister. Their mother discovered their footwear outside the parked car and…

THE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede, says in less than 100 days of his assumption of office, the anti-graft agency received over 5,000 fraud petitions and recovered N60bn loot. Of the 5,000 petitions, he said the EFCC had approved 3,000 for investigation. Olukoyede, speaking on Saturday in Lagos as the guest lecturer at the 20th-anniversary lecture of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resources Centre, said the EFCC had recovered over N60bn and $10m, in less than four months since he assumed office. He said, “When we set out to investigate, people see it…

THE Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to show the total annual generated revenue from toll gates and parking lots fees in all Federal Government-owned airports and how much it remitted from January 2015 till January 2024. Justice Ibrahim Kala who granted the order, also compelled the FAAN (the Respondent) to provide details of the revenue to a public interest applicant, The Registered Trustees of The Centre for Law & Civil Culture. The judge gave the federal agency three months to comply with the order. The applicant filed the suit following…

FORMER Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfattah Ahmed, has been granted bail by the Federal High Court Ilorin in the sum of ₦50,000,000 with two sureties with landed properties in Ilorin, the state capital. Ahmed is to deposit his international passport with the court among other conditions. More details shortly…

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned former governor of Kwara State Abdulfattah Ahmed at Federal High Court Ilorin. However, journalists were barred from covering the arraignment of the former governor as they were denied entry into the court. Ahmed was taken by the anti-graft agency on Monday where he was being quizzed over transactions running into billions of naira during his time as governor of the state. Ahmed was governor of the North Central state between May 2011 and May 2019 before he handed over to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. He was once quizzed in May 2021 by…

THE Board of Directors of Media Trust Group has appointed Maude Rabiu Gwadabe as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust and chairman of its Editorial Board. A statement issued by the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the group, Ahmad Shekarau, said the new Deputy Editor-in-Chief will serve both the print and digital arms of Daily Trust. Gwadabe served as the Head, Hausa Service of Media Trust Limited from January 2023 where he led the team to triple the digital footprint of Aminiya Trust. A former lecturer at Bayero University Kano, Gwadabe bagged a PhD in Mass Communication in 2019 after an…

SOLDIERS opened fire, on Thursday, when suspected thugs hijacked trailers loaded with foodstuff in the Suleja Area of Niger State. Alhassan Abdullahi, a witness, told our correspondent that many trailers coming from Abuja and heading for Kaduna were blocked by the hoodlums who burnt tyres on the road. He said many bags of food stuffs, especially rice, were stolen before soldiers arrived the scene. “It took intervention of soldiers who arrived the scene and started firing gun shots in the air to scare the hoodlums away. But even with that, many of them went away with bags of rice and…

DR KAYODE Fayemi, the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State and ex-Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), has commended the Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje-led National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the decision to cancel and reschedule the controversial gubernatorial primaries in Edo State. According to a statement by the Head, The Fayemi Media Office, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh made available to News Point Nigeria, Thursday, Fayemi noted that this decision had restored the confidence of members of the Edo State chapter of the Party in a fair, impartial, and transparent exercise and showed that the APC is…