LESS than 12 hours to Eid-Al-Kabir nationwide, the prices of rams have surged by an average of 100 percent across the country. Traders and farmers have attributed the sharp rise in ram prices to the surge in demand and supply chain disruptions caused by the Niger government’s export ban on livestock to curb surging domestic prices. Africa’s most populous nation imports the bulk of its livestock from Niger, Mali and Chad owing to the worsening insecurity that has hindered new investments in the sector locally. “The upcoming Sallah celebration and the export ban enforced by Niger are the main factors…
Author: News Point Nigeria Reporters
Read More
AS Nigerians prepare for the 2025 Eid al-Adha festivities, the traditional joy of the Ileya festival is being dampened by an unprecedented surge in ram prices, the central element of the sacrificial rites. Visits to various ram markets by our correspondents, reveal a stark reality; many families are unable to afford even the smallest ram and are leaving empty-handed. “Last year, I sold this size for N300,000. Today, if you don’t have N500,000, you can’t even touch it. Even I am shocked at the price. But feed costs, transport, everything has doubled!” said Abdullahi Musa, a veteran ram seller. According…
NIGERIAN workers have lost at least 25 per cent of their real income in the past year as the general price crisis and rising cost of living continue to deplete the value of their wages, raising concerns about the survival of low-income employees. Adjusted for inflation, the N70,000, the wage floor would have lost about N17,000 of its real value by July (a year after it was signed) supposing the inflation rate remains at its current speed – 24 per cent. This leaves a worker on a minimum wage with N53,000 in real terms to take care of their basic…
YOUNG demonstrators under the aegis of the Take-It-Back Movement on Monday defied police warning and staged protests in Abuja, Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, among other states. Clad in their signature orange berets, the protesters began their rally in Lagos at the Ikeja Under Bridge, marching through major roads in the state capital while chanting solidarity songs, under the watchful eyes of police officers. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had earlier urged the movement to cancel its planned nationwide protest, describing the timing as “ill-conceived and mischievous.” However, in a swift response, activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore dismissed the police’s…
AFTER initial hesitation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has increased the pump price of petrol to N925 per litre at its retail stations in Lagos and N950 per litre in Abuja. The new price regime, effective from April 2, 2025, represents an increase of N65 from the previous price of N860 per litre in Lagos and an N70 difference from the N880 previously sold in the North. Recall that last week, MRS and other independent marketers increased the price of petrol, raising its pump price to N930 per litre in Lagos and N960 for residents living in the northern…
WHILE Nigerians continue to bask in the euphoria of a crash in food prices, traders who have hoarded grains are bemoaning the 40% drop in prices between December and March 2025. In December, many traders bought grains for storage, intending to sell when prices rose by February-March, as has been the norm in the last two years. Unfortunately for them, grain prices have continued to decline. For instance, a 50kg bag of beans that was sold between N100,000 and N140,000 has dropped to N75,000–N85,000. Rice, which cost around N114,000 in December, is now about N52,000 in some places. Also, a…
OIL marketers have declared that filling stations should not be blamed for the hike in the pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, as queues for the commodity surfaced in various locations nationwide on Saturday. Many filling stations in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, among others, were closed on Saturday, as dealers explained that they were monitoring developments to make adequate price adjustments. This newspaper reported that petrol prices had risen to between N1,050 and N1,150/litre depending on the area of purchase, following the hike in the cost of the commodity by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and…
BARELY three weeks after jerking up the price per litre of petrol, retail outlets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) adjusted the pump price of the commodity on Tuesday in Lagos from ₦998 to ₦1, 025. In Lagos, this newspaper observed that many NNPCL outlets sold a litre of the essential commodity for ₦1,025, from the ₦998 it was sold between October 9 and October 28, about ₦28 higher. This newspaper visited six NNPCL outlets in Lagos and observed that most of the filling stations in town weren’t selling fuel as they claimed they didn’t have stock.…
THE country’s economic crisis and soaring petrol prices have forced Sani Basheer to give up his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle. He is struggling with spiking living costs. Basheer is not alone. Many in Africa’s most populous country are abandoning their cars as the costs strain disposable income. The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023. “I parked it at my brother’s house. I use public transport now,” Basheer, a 42-year-old health worker, told this newspaper. “It is not convenient, but it is what the economy demands.” Since…
TWENTY-SEVEN states and the Federal Capital Territory have yet to set up committees to implement the recently approved N70,000 minimum wage. The states are Plateau, Kebbi, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Delta, Osun, Ekiti, Zamfara, Benue, Enugu, Taraba, Gombe, Kogi, Enugu, Adamawa, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Katsina, Kaduna, Cross River and Yobe. However, seven other states — Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Borno, Jigawa, Ondo, and Abia — have set up implementation committees. Only Lagos and Edo claimed to have started paying the minimum wage. Recall that President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage into law on July 29,…
THE #EndBadGovernance protesters have converged at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, on Monday, to continue their demonstration despite the nationwide broadcast by President Bola Tinubu. The determination to continue the pretest follows a Sunday statement by the organisers signed by Hassan Taiwo, Ayoyinka Oni and Adegboyega Adeniji, on behalf of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria Organising Committee, saying the address by President Bola Tinubu had yet to address their demands. They said they had listened with rapt attention to President Tinubu’s broadcast on Sunday and “consider it rather unfortunate” that it took President Tinubu three days of protest to address the country.…
OIL marketers have explained that the reappearance of queues at filling stations in many states is because of the halt in the supply of petroleum products by dealers in a bid to avert losing their assets due to the ongoing nationwide hunger protests. Many states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, witnessed varying degrees of queues about two weeks ago, which the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited blamed on a “hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels.” While the company and stakeholders worked together to tackle the challenge, the nationwide protest against hunger and economic…
MANY depots for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, are currently dry, leading to fuel scarcity and attendant queues in Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Rivers and parts of Abuja, Niger, and some other states across the country. This newspaper reports that black marketers have taken advantage of the situation, selling as high as N1,300 per litre and N1,500 per litre in parts of Lagos and Ogun states. Long queues started building up at fuel stations in Kano, Abuja and Lagos on Saturday and have persisted. On Saturday, while reacting to the long queues and scarcity in some parts of the country,…
IT is a tale of woes as an acute scarcity of one of Nigerians’ most popular staple foods, bread, has hit Kaduna, Katsina, and Kano States. Checks by this newspaper correspondents revealed that the most-favoured staple was now as scarce as petrol or the highly-prized precious metal, Gold. It was observed that whereas the commodity was very hard to come by, its prices have hit the roof. Many of the residents could no longer afford the staple and, as such had turned to other not-too-cheap alternatives like noodles, millet porridge, and bean cake, as well as bread and beans, among…
STRIKING workers have downed tools across the nation as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) begin their industrial action over the hike in electricity tariff and a lack of consensus on a new minimum wage. While the National Assembly had stepped in at the last minute to avoid the industrial action declared on Friday, the discussions ended in a stalemate, leading to the commencement of the strike. In compliance with the order, some workers in several parts of the country were shut out of their offices. From River State in the South-South region to Kaduna…
MEMBERS of the organised labour have started picketing the offices of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and distribution companies (DisCos)’s premises nationwide over the hike in electricity tariff. The action of the workers follows a joint directive from the leadership of both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at weekend to their members to picket these offices in protests of the tariff hike. “We write to inform you of the picketing action scheduled to take place in the offices of the NERC and Electricity Distribution companies (DISCOS) in all states, including the FCT,” the…
By Abdullahi D Muhammad NO nation thrives in isolationism. Urbanization, cooperation, and globalization almost eliminate human and non-human boundaries between countries. As cooperation deepens, so does the need for integration, potentially boosting sociocultural, economic, and political ties for mutual benefits. The United States of America is among the nearly 150 countries Nigeria has ties with. The relationship between Nigeria and the US has gone beyond mere diplomatic and bilateral agreements; it has assumed a profound and ebullient dimension. Through American Spaces, the US Department of State seeks to bridge deficits in Nigeria, especially in education, culture, democracy, and civic engagement.…
MEMBERS of the Nigeria Labour Congress have started gathering across the country for the scheduled two days of nationwide protests. Reports gathered by our correspondents showed a heavy presence of security personnel in various states of the federation, as protesters expressed their frustrations at the current nationwide hardship. Our correspondent who was on the ground at the scene of the protest at the Ikeja under the bridge area of Lagos State gathered that the Labour Congress has been joined by some other Unions, such as the Nigerian Union of Teachers, (NUT), The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), National…
– Kogi Govt Says Rogue Politicians Conniving With Commission To Tarnish Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Image – Insists Kogi’s Money Working For It’s People Not Missing THE Kogi State Government has raised the alarm over what it described as a desperate attempt by “criminals masquerading as politicians” to tarnish the image of the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, HE Yahaya Bello, for selfish reasons, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The state government said, in its desperation, “which would leave Nigerians wondering who exactly is afraid of Yahaya Bello”, the EFCC has, in an amended charge, accused the former…
AMID palpable hardship occasioned by some policy changes by the Federal Government in 2023, the need to be hopeful was constant in the 2024 New Year messages to Nigerians by most political leaders. The message of hope coming from the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and state governors is in line with that of President Bola Tinubu, who in his nationwide New Year broadcast on Monday, appealed to Nigerians to remain steadfast as tough times they are currently experiencing won’t last. In a New Year message signed by his Special Adviser on Media…