Author: nationalpoint

Group picture of participantsNigeria’s economy is heavily dependent on the extractive sector and apart from the oil environment, the country is, also blessed with untapped solid minerals, most of which are being extracted and traded illegally. Employment at these two sectors favours able-bodied men while women and women with disabilities who are often displaced by extractive activities,  continually experience marginalization and deprivation with no real records of their plight.As world attention is now beamed on the promotion of inclusion and equitable distribution of opportunities for development as a more sustainable means of improving society, Arden and Newton, a strategy consultancy…

By Ibiba DonPedro Senator Douye Diri, Governor Bayelsa: State All Eyes on him to take actionWhenever it appears as if the matter of the disputed Atala Oil OML 46 has died down, overtaken by news of fresh trouble in a season of daily occurring troubling events in the land, it manages to bob to the surface, defiant. Clearly, the charged matter of the marginal oilfield, Bayelsa State’s prized oil resource possession will neither simmer, nor just fizzle out soon.In the midst of celebrations in the state as the oil and gas rich state with the sobriquet, Glory Of All Lands’,…

THE NIGER DELTA YOUTH COALITION FOR PEACE AND PROGRESS, a Pan-Niger Delta advocacy group salute Mr. President, Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR, for appointing an outstanding and astute industry technocrat, Mele Kolo Kyari, as the Group Managing Director (GMD), of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the NNPC.From when Mele K. Kyari assumed office as the GMD of NNPC to date, he has left no one in doubt, especially industry watchers, has to where the Corporation is headed.As a very visionary professional with a towering repertoire of the inner workings of the industry; having served in several positions over the years, he hit…

By Clifford Christopher CliffordNational President, Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), Comrade Kennedy Tonjo West, has bared his mind on certain issues around the Presidential Amnesty Program which late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua painstakingly put together to restore peace in the once troubled region.The MOSIEND leader congratulated Col. Milland Dikio rtd on  his  reappointment for a second tenure and commended the federal government for the reappointment but, with some misgiving.The Presidential Amnesty Programme is a security programme that is meant to cater for 30,000 ex-freedom fighters who on their own volition, submitted their…

By Clifford Christopher SolomonComrade Kennedy WestNational President, Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta, MOSIEND Comrade Kennedy West in a chat with National Point newspaper on Monday October 18, 2021 in Port Harcourt dismissed widely held insinuations that the problems of the Niger Delta region are caused by the Northerners.He said Nigeria is a country where you have several ethnic nationalities in decision making and so Niger Deltans in power have failed to develop the region.“Nigeria is a heterogeneous state where you have several ethnic nationalities that rise to the stardom of governance and take…

The President Standup for Women Society SWS, Barr Deborah Ijadele-Adetona, has called on Nigerian Women not to accept the word Impossible as everything is possible with determination. She made the call while inaugurating the FCT SWS Executives at the Tangier Hotel, Abuja.In her two page address she called on Nigerian Women to wake up to their responsibilities of being care givers. Adding that every woman must pick an enclave to touch lives. She commended the Executives of the FCT for hitting the ground running with the Empowerment Project, adding that this is a summary of SWS objectives.Earlier in her welcome…

FG SHOULD MAINTAIN BAN ON IMPORTATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE- PASTOR KINGSLEY WORDU… TASKS YOUTHS TO EMBRACE FARMING By Clifford Christopher SolomonFollowing rising unemployment in both the government and private sectors in Nigeria, a cleric in the Redeemed Christian Church of Godband and farmer, Pastor Kingsley Wordu, has called on the federal government not to lift the  banning on the importation of agricultural produce in the country.He said the ban is helping Nigerian farmers as well as creating employment opportunities in the country.“Buhari’s administration’s banning the importation of agricultural products into the country has been a very big help to farmers…

The UN says there appears to be more glimmer of hope for things to return to normal in a couple of years in Nigeria’s insecurity-troubled northeast.Addressing reporters in Abuja on Friday, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Ahunna Eziakonwa, said remarkable progress had been recorded in the region.Mrs Eziakonwa who is also UN’s Regional Director Africa said UN’s intervention had already brought remarkable progress.The UN official who is in Nigeria on an official visit to access the impact of the UN’s intervention noted, however, that there was still much work to be done.She described her mission as an emotional one, having been born…

Story by Matthew Johnson-Ettefiah, today.ngChiwetalu Agu, the ace Nollywood actor, has stated that security operatives treated him with respect while he was in their custody.The veteran actor was first arrested on October 7 by soldiers for wearing an outfit themed after the Biafra flag.According to sources, the army publicly manhandled Chiwetalu, searched his vehicle, and fired shots to scare off the crowd that gathered.In its response, the army stated that Chiwetalu was arrested after he publicly displayed his solidarity for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed separatist group.Amid the public outrage, the film star was later released last…

BY SAM MEDNICK (AP) OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Africa’s largest film festival kicks off Saturday in Burkina Faso amid both the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing jihadi insurgency in the West African nation that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 1 million in recent years.Alex Moussa Sawadogo, head of the Pan-African Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou said organizers wanted to go ahead with the event known by its French acronym, FESPACO in spite of the challenges to show Burkina Faso can still “inspire imagination through cinema.”“This event will be a FESPACO of resistance because it is…