FocalPoint Reports

ABUJA — National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said Nigeria is on the path to becoming a stronger and more prosperous nation as the country marks its 66th Independence anniversary. Yilwatda, in an Independence Day message signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, congratulated Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, describing the anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate the resilience, unity and faith of Nigerians in the country. He commended citizens for their sacrifices, patience and determination in navigating the challenges confronting the nation, saying Nigeria had consistently demonstrated the capacity to overcome adversity and move forward since independence. The APC chairman said the administration of President Bola Tinubu inherited a difficult economic situation and embarked on fundamental reforms aimed at addressing longstanding structural challenges. He cited the removal of pet...

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has declared that he will step down from his cabinet position if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fails to secure victory in both the FCT and Rivers State in the upcoming 2027 presidential election.   Speaking during an engagement with leadership and members of the Apo Mechanics and Traders Association in Abuja, Wike stated that his continued tenure as a cabinet minister is directly tied to his ability to deliver political results for the president in his primary areas of influence.  Setting a specific timeline, the Minister announced that should the ruling party lose in the FCT and Rivers State at the presidential poll scheduled for January 16, 2027, he will formally tender his resignation the very next day.   “If I cannot deliver where I work, then I’m not worthy to be here,” Wike said, emphasizing that his political mandate requires concrete electoral success. “If I lose FCT, I’m not ...

President Bola Tinubu will be away from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on October 1, as the country celebrates its 66th Independence Day. His media aide, Bayo Onanuga disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday ahead of the president’s return from France. Onanuga said on the Independence Day, Tinubu, who is expected to land in Lagos Tuesday evening, “will attend the premiere of a movie honouring Abiola, the winner of the June 1993 election, at the Wole Soyinka National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. According to him, while in the state, the president is also expected to hold “strategic meetings with political leaders and associates over several days in preparation for the 2027 elections”. The president is expected to address the nation from Lagos State as the country mark another Independence Day on low-key.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, said it has commenced urgent rehabilitation work on Towers J4 and N9 to N12 along the Ikot Abasi-Eket 132kV double-circuit transmission line following recent acts of vandalism. TCN made this disclosure in a statement on Monday. According to TCN, during a site inspection on Friday, September 25, 2026, the Regional Manager, Engr. Nasir Bello, represented by the Assistant General Manager, AGM, Transmission, Port Harcourt Region, Ubani Raymond, spoke of the need to ensure strict adherence to engineering specifications. He further urged residents of Ikot Abasi to remain vigilant and actively protect critical power infrastructure within their communities from criminal elements. On his part, the Head of Lines, Port Harcourt Transmission Region, Engr. Azuh Lucky, noted that the challenging terrain and persistent rainfall had slowed the pace of work.

ABUJA — Nigeria and the United States have signed a framework agreement aimed at deepening American investment in Nigeria’s mining sector and developing the country’s mineral resources, estimated by the Federal Government at about $700 billion. The agreement was signed and exchanged on Wednesday at the Nigeria Mission House in New York by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. The framework is designed to use the Nigeria-US government relationship as a foundation for business-to-business transactions and greater investment across the country’s mineral value chain. It covers geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity building. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Alake said the agreement marked a new phase in Nigeria’s efforts to attract investment into the mining sector and move beyo...

Former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, has challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to explain why it declared him wanted.  Maina made the challenge in a statement on Thursday by his Senior Media and Legal Assistant, Emmanuel Umahi Ekwe. It would be recalled that the EFCC on Wednesday declared Maina wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen property. The notice by the anti-graft agency on Wednesday identified 61-year-old Maina as an indigene of Biu, Borno State and asked members of the public with useful information about his whereabouts to contact the EFCC or the nearest police station and other security agencies. However, his legal team said the notice did not disclose the nature or description of the alleged stolen property, the transaction involved, the person or persons from whom it was allegedly received, or the date and circumstances of the alleged offence. It therefore urged the EFCC to mak...

ABUJA — The Federal Government has declared child labour intolerable in Nigeria, describing it as a criminal offence and directing relevant agencies to immediately report cases involving children engaged in hazardous work, including mining, agriculture and construction. Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr Kamil Shoretire, gave the directive at a training workshop for labour reporters organised by the Labour Correspondents Association of Nigeria, LACAN, in Abuja. Shoretire also clarified the responsibilities of ministries, departments and agencies in monitoring and enforcing regulations against child labour, stressing that specialised sectors such as mining must be monitored by the agencies regulating them. He said although the ministry had a clear policy on the elimination of child labour, monitoring activities in specialised sectors remained primarily the responsibility of the relevant regulatory authorities. According to him, legal mining op...

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Tuesday questioned who is exercising Nigeria’s presidential powers as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima remain outside the country. The opposition party said Tinubu’s absence had crossed the 21-day period referenced in Section 145 of the Constitution, raising questions over whether the constitutional procedure for transferring presidential functions had been followed. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC asked whether Tinubu had transmitted the required written declaration to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives. “President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August and has now been away for more than 21 days. We therefore demand to know whether the required declaration was transmitted by the President. If he did not, we would like to know why the National Assembly has ignored Section 145 of the Constitution,” the ADC said. The party...

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigeria to tap its agricultural potential instead of relying heavily on imports. According to him, part of the reason Nigeria is poor is because it has failed to properly harness agricultural production. The former president spoke during an interview on C-Suite Cafe, hosted by Ikem Okuhu. He said Nigeria has the land, water, rainfall and human resources needed to produce enough to meet its needs and create wealth. “Give me one reason why Nigeria should be poor. Is it the land that we don’t have or the desert that we are in or the people that we don’t have or the water that we don’t have or the rain that we don’t have?” he said. Obasanjo cited his experience during his tenure as chairman of the African Union, when he travelled to Guinea-Bissau with John Kufuor, then chairman of the Economic Community of West African States. According to him, the two leaders observed that the country had abundant agricultural resources but relied o...

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has warned the Federal Government against inviting, arresting or interrogating African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar over a corruption petition before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Melaye said the ADC and its supporters would mobilise against any attempt to use the petition to target Atiku, insisting that Nigerians were far more numerous than those in government. “This is our note of warning, if due to this frivolous petitions you invite, arrest, or interview Atiku Abubakar, and we are not saying it with fear or favour, we will prove to you that those in government are less than one percent of the population of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We will prove to you that the people own government,” Melaye said in a video shared on his X account on Friday. Melaye’s warning followed a petition submitted to the EFCC by former House of Representatives member Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, urging the agency to...

A lawyer who retains a retired judge for the purpose of reaching a serving judge is as culpable as the person who accepts the assignment. Law firms must therefore review the manner in which they engage retired judicial officers. Any consultancy arrangement should be transparent, properly documented and confined to legitimate services. A retired judge who provides an opinion should not participate in any communication with the judge handling the matter. Litigants must also be warned. The desperation to win a case at all costs is one of the factors corrupting the administration of justice. Some litigants appear less interested in retaining competent counsel than in locating someone who claims to know the judge. They move from one supposed intermediary to another, paying enormous sums for promised interventions. In many instances, the retired officer’s name may even be used without his knowledge. Fraudsters and influence merchants thrive because litigants are willing to purcha...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said its 2027 presidential campaign will focus on the performance of President Bola Tinubu’s administration rather than personal attacks on political opponents. The Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulazeez Yari, disclosed this in Gusau, Zamfara State, after meeting behind closed doors with Governor Dauda Lawal and traditional rulers in the state on Wednesday. Yari said the party would use the campaign to tell Nigerians what the Tinubu administration had achieved and what it planned to do if given another term. He said the campaign would be based on issues and the records of the government, rather than making promises or attacking individuals. According to him, Nigeria has gone through difficult periods that made some people doubt whether the country would remain united, but Nigerians have continued to protect the unity of the nation. “Nigeria is a wonderful country. We have been seeing so many thin...

President Bola Tinubu has challenged Nigerian banks to rethink their approach to risk and play a more active role in driving economic growth and improving the welfare of Nigerians, insisting that strong profits alone are no longer enough. The President spoke at the opening of the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja, yesterday. Represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, President Tinubu said banks must move beyond celebrating huge profits and shareholder dividends to financing productive sectors of the economy. He said: “For years, we have measured financial institutions by balance-sheet growth, profitability and shareholder returns. These remain important. But we must increasingly ask: what is the financial system doing for the real economy? “A resilient banking system cannot exist indefinitely where businesses cannot obtain affordable credit, man...

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has recalled making nothing less than ₦10 million monthly from his akara and bread business before venturing into politics. Eno’s comment comes months after the Nigerian First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, sparked reactions after encouraging Nigerians to explore small businesses such as akara and kuli-kuli as part of efforts to improve their livelihoods. Speaking after a Renewed Hope Initiative meeting with wives of state governors in Abuja in June, Oluremi said such businesses could be started with relatively little capital. She said at the time, “We’re trying to give hope, and to start Akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn, or somebody even said kuli kuli doesn’t take much. We didn’t give them a loan; we gave it to them as a grant.” Speaking during Akwa-Ibom State’s monthly covenant prayer service on Tuesday, Eno, in a video trending online, said he started the business by selling akara and bread, which he packaged a...

The Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, has criticised the campaign by opposition politicians over the alleged United States government documents concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday evening, Agbese described it as an attempt to damage Nigeria’s collective image abroad. A Washington-based lobbying firm has been spearheading a campaign to draw the attention of officials in the Donald Trump administration and members of Congress to allegations concerning Tinubu. Speaking jointly for concerned lawmakers and civil society groups on the matter, the lawmaker said political disagreements should not be pursued at the expense of the reputation and wellbeing of Nigerians living, working and doing business outside the country. According to him, the circulation of old documents and unproven allegations in foreign political circles could create consequences far beyond the individuals being targeted, particu...

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu will have an easy ride in the 2027 presidential election. Wike said the emerging opposition coalition would not pose a serious challenge to Tinubu. He added that the President would return to the Presidential Villa without facing much pressure. The minister spoke during a media chat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while discussing the opposition coalition and preparations for the 2027 election. “This will be an election where a president will be walking to the Villa with no pressure,” Wike said. Wike also spoke about the Rainbow Coalition, saying its main objective was to support Tinubu rather than promote the interest of any particular individual. “Rainbow coalition is not about one person. What is important is that we are supporting Mr President. No one party takes everything,” he said. The minister further dismissed the strength of opposition parties, arguing that ...

Digital payment platform OPay has threatened legal action against a 𝕏 user after a social media post claimed the fintech company would shut down its operations on September 1, 2026. The user, identified as Cute Hafserh (@Haifah_Er_Abba), reportedly shared the publication online, prompting OPay to issue a formal warning and demand its removal. The company, through its Chief Legal Counsel, Akinfolabi Moses Rokosu, accused the social media user of circulating false and misleading information that has harmed the company. OPay directed the user to delete the post, warning that it was prepared to pursue legal action. The development followed the company’s earlier clarification that it had no plan to suspend its operations on September 1, after a shutdown rumour circulated across social media. OPay had reassured its customers that its services would continue without interruption, urging them to disregard the unverified claims. In the warning issued to the 𝕏 user, OPay said it wo...