Category Nigeria News

A Magistrate Court sitting in Bolade Oshodi on Tuesday remanded 34 persons in prison custody till July 22, 2025 for engaging in street trading along the median of the Alaba Rago, Ojo, on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

The arraigned persons made up of 32 males and two females were arrested over the weekend in an operation by the operatives of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) and the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to clear the median of the Alaba Rago Ojo Road which has been taken over by different traders who erected illegal structures.

Some of those arrested include suspected miscreants who slept in makeshift sheds erected on the median to perpetrate crime in that area.

READ ALSO: Death Toll In Sokoto Explosion Rises To Eight

While speaking on the development, the state Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, reiterated the resolve of the present administration to enforce the law on all those who exhibit deviant behaviours.

Dignitaries on Tuesday gathered in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, to inaugurate the rehabilitated and refurbished Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja.

The event was attended by President Bola Tinubu; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Ministers Wale Edun (Finance and Economy) and Lateef Fagbemi (Justice), among others.

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The Federal Government’s first quarter 2025 savings following the removal of petrol subsidies increased by more than 500% compared to previous periods, according to data released by the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

The Agency, in its newly released report titled “Two Years Later: Key Benefits of Subsidy Removal”, noted that the subsidy removal has led to a significant increase in government revenue as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) began transferring savings to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The 45th edition of NOA’s ‘The Explainer’ focuses on President Tinubu’s 2023 subsidy removal, which ended decades of economic strain.

The savings from the declaration that stopped the subsidy freed vast resources, boosting government revenue from ₦154 billion to ₦836 billion in Q1.

As a result, states saw FAAC allocations jump to ₦15.26 trillion in 2024, allowing salary payments and ₦1.85 trillion debt reduction.

Foreign reserves also grew to $38.9B despite forex obligations.

The savings also funded major investments such as a N20 trillion infrastructure fund, NELFUND student loans of ₦54 billion, agriculture, ₦1.5 trillion, solid minerals, ₦ 1 trillion, and CNG transport conversion to lower costs, the report explained, adding that capital expenditure now exceeds recurrent spending.

The removal of the petrol subsidy by President Bola Tinubu ended a historic financial drain that cost Nigeria over $84 billion.

The report added that the savings have helped finance 40 critical road projects across the country in the two years of President Tinubu’s administration.

“For decades, particularly since the advent of the current democratic dispensation, a major albatross of the Federal Government had been the oil subsidy regime. Successive administrations’ zeal to tame the menace had proved a fiasco while the economy continued to haemorrhage profusely. However, by 2015, many Nigerians had reached a consensus that it was high time the subsidy was consigned to the dustbin of history, as the subsidy budget in 2022 rose by 700 per cent to N4tn, the highest ever in subsidy history.

According to the report, the subsidy removal saved Nigeria from bankruptcy.

“Between 2005 and 2022, successive governments spent $84.39bn on fuel subsidies. These subsidies consumed over 70 per cent of potential federal revenue, pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy. But with the bold decision to remove it, Nigeria is now saving billions and investing in real infrastructure,” the agency stated.

According to the NOA, Tinubu’s widely debated “subsidy is gone” declaration on his first day in office ushered in tough reforms that have since yielded tangible fiscal gains across various sectors. One of the major outcomes of subsidy removal, the NOA noted, was the improved financial autonomy of state governments.

It said, “Removal of subsidy not only saved the entire economy from imminent collapse, it also rescued several states of the federation from bankruptcy. Upon the take-off of this incumbent administration, Nigeria was spending 97 per cent of its revenues to service debts until its debt profile exceeded N100tn.

“Fuel subsidies consumed more than 70 per cent of the potential Federal Government’s revenue, forcing both the central and state governments to resort to heavy borrowings to finance their budgetary expenditures, but the removal helped the country to save billions.”

However, the NOA insisted the reforms were necessary to reset the economy and redirect resources toward long-term growth. It likened the pains of subsidy removal to “a woman in labour,” whose suffering eventually gives way to new life, adding that “Nigerians are already reaping the gains.”

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Oil Revenue Rises As Bonny Light Hits $78/b, Above 2025 Benchmark

It also stated that most states, previously struggling to pay salaries, have become financially stable despite recent increases in the minimum wage.

“States now swim in inflows of funds, paying salaries as at when due despite more than 100 per cent minimum wage increase and drastically reducing their debt portfolios because subsidy removal puts more money into their hands.

“In 2023, the 36 states of the federation and 774 local government areas got a total of N6.16tn as FAAC allocations, implying a 28.6 per cent increase from the N4.792tn they received in 2022, but in 2024, revenues rose astronomically to N15.26tn as a result of subsidy withdrawal, giving the states and 774 LGAs N9.58tn, which was N3.42tn higher than what they received in 2023.

“Thus, as records from the Debt Management Office have shown, in the last 18 months, the total domestic debt profile of the 36 states and FCT had declined from N5.82tn in June 2023 to N3.97tn in December 2024. This implies that subnational administrations had repaid N1.85tn debts within one and a half years.”

The government also disclosed that it is investing part of the savings in large-scale infrastructure. For the first time in decades, capital expenditure in the 2025 Appropriation Act surpassed recurrent spending.

The 2025 Hajj pilgrimage ended Monday, the thirteenth of Dhul Hijjah, corresponding with the ninth of June, with over 1.6 million Muslims from more than 150 nations that participated in this year’s exercise.

Saudi authorities from the Hajj and Umrah Committee announced the conclusion in Mina, declaring it free of any health, security, or service-related incidents.

On Monday, the Deputy Emir of the Makkah Region, Prince Saud bin Mishaal, who made the announcement, praised the Kingdom’s leadership for ensuring the event was incident-free.

Prince Mishaal, who commended the efforts of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, attributed the smooth and successful conduct of the 2025 pilgrimage to their leadership.

READ ALSO: [Hajj] Saudi Authorities Deploy 40,000 Security Operatives

While maintaining that the Kingdom and its leadership take great pride in serving the holy sites and visitors, they revealed that preparations for Hajj 2026 have commenced immediately.

Marking the end of Hajj 2025, pilgrims left Mina, the tent city, after spending three days performing the stoning of devil ritual and other acts of worship and returned to Makkah, where they performed the Dawaaf Al-Ifadah: circumambulation of the Holy Ka’abah and the Sa’e: the running between the hills of Safa and Marwah and exited the state of Ihram; the state of ritual purity.

This year, Saudi authorities put in place several measures, including amenities, security, health, and infrastructure, ensuring that pilgrims performed a comfortable and safe pilgrimage.

As the 2025 Hajj came to an end, the authorities announced that there were no major health, security, or service-related incidents recorded.

‘This Year is Excellent’

Some Nigerian pilgrims who participated in the pilgrimage narrated their experience to Channels Television in Mina, the tent city.

A Nigerian pilgrim from Osun State, Muritala Fakunle, said, “This year’s Hajj has a greater impact on the pilgrims than last year. More facilities are deployed, I must confess to you in Mina, Muzdalifah, as well as Arafat, we have more facilities. The beddings and the cooling are of high quality.’

“For this year, the people who came here last year and came this year, they will know that this year is a top-notch year.”

Another Nigerian pilgrim from Katsina State, Nasir Yahaya, shared similar remarks, saying, “Operations for this year’s Hajj 2025 are excellent, there is no problem with the Nigerian Hajj pilgrims. There is no problem, 100 percent in terms of food, the activities, even in Mina, very neat, not like before, not like last year. This year is excellent, there is not too much crowd.’

A first-time Nigerian pilgrim, Nurudeen Babajide, noted that, “This is my first time coming to Hajj, I always heard some complaints from people that used to come before but for this year, I think they changed the system entirely because what I have seen for this year Hajj is quite different from what I heard before. It is perfect, the service from Madina to Makkah, and we have visited different places. I think the services are well-arranged.”

Another Nigerian pilgrim, Qomorudeen Bello, hailed the people of Saudi Arabia for their warm reception of visitors.

He said, “Saudi Arabia is one of the forefront countries in the world because there is nowhere in the world that people are congregating or converging for a religious purpose that cuts across the world except Saudi Arabia. Another thing I observe in them is sincerity and love above all, they are so magnanimous, they give Sadaqah (charity) at any time, so with this, I believe there is beauty in Islam.”

This year, over 1.6 million pilgrims from more than 150 nations were served with more than 130 digital services, over 50,000 healthcare personnel and 40,000 security forces deployed, seven new hospitals opened, 23,000 trees planted, 300,000 square meters of shaded areas introduced, emergency care expanded by 60 percent, over 20,000 buses and trains used among other services with the goal primarily to ensure that the Hajj journey is comfortable and spiritually fulfilling.

According to official figures, over 1.6 million pilgrims performed the 2025 Hajj, comprising 877,841 male pilgrims and 795,389 female pilgrims, with 1,506,576 pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia, and 166,654 domestic pilgrims, comprising citizens and residents.