President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the Dangote Group for its significant contribution to Nigeria’s economic growth, citing the conglomerate’s strategic investments in key sectors as instrumental in boosting domestic production, creating jobs, reducing dependence on imports, conserving foreign exchange and strengthening the country’s industrial capacity.

The President gave the commendation during a visit to the Dangote Group pavilion at the ongoing 32nd Nigeria Economic Summit at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, on Monday. He was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Tinubu praised the Group’s performance across its business operations, highlighting the critical role of private-sector investments in expanding productive capacity, stimulating economic activities and supporting national development.

The Dangote Group has investments spanning cement manufacturing, fertiliser production, sugar refining, salt processing and petroleum refining.

These investments contribute to local value addition, employment generation and the development of domestic supply chains, while supporting efforts to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported products.

He said his administration is creating conditions for public and private sectors to invest, expand and generate productive employment.

Dangote Group is the second biggest employer of labour after the federal government.

The 2026 Nigeria Economic Summit, themed “Growth That Works: Delivering Jobs, Productivity and Shared Prosperity,” was declared open by the President, who used the occasion to defend the Federal Government’s ongoing economic reforms and emphasise the importance of industrial harmony and private-sector-led growth.

The summit brings together policymakers, business leaders, investors and other stakeholders to discuss practical strategies for accelerating economic growth, improving productivity, generating employment and ensuring that the benefits of economic expansion reach more Nigerians.

The President’s commendation underscores the importance of sustained collaboration between government and the private sector in building a more productive, competitive and resilient Nigerian economy.

He said Nigeria has performed below its potentials for far too long, but “there is no shortcut for economic development.”

We came to rewrite the story of a nation that has performed below its potentials for far too long,” he said.

Through its investments in strategic industries, the Dangote Group remains a major private-sector participant in Nigeria’s industrialisation drive, with the potential to deepen local manufacturing, strengthen supply chains and support the country’s broader economic development objectives.

Through the Dangote Group’s diversified operations, the conglomerate has established a substantial presence across critical sectors of the economy, providing products and services that support construction, agriculture, manufacturing, energy and other productive activities.

One of its investments is the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals complex in Lagos, which has the potential to transform Nigeria’s downstream petroleum industry by increasing domestic refining capacity and reducing the country’s reliance on imported refined petroleum products.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a no-case submission filed by former Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State in his ongoing trial over alleged unlawful interception of the telephone communications of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in a ruling, held that the State Security Service, SSS, had placed before the court sufficient evidence to warrant the court to call on the ex-governor to enter his defence if he so desires.

The judge, therefore, ordered El-Rufai, the sole defendant in the charge, to enter his defence.

The defendant had opted for a no-case submission after the SSS closed its case by calling two witnesses.

Mr El-Rufai, through his counsel, Akinyemi Aremu, had urged the court to hold that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring the former governor to enter a defence.

In response, the SSS lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, SAN, adopted their counter affidavit in opposition to the no-case submission.

Mr Aladedoye argued that the defence failed to address Exhibit “B”, which the prosecution said contained El-Rufai’s alleged admission concerning the tapping of Ribadu’s phone.

He submitted that since the prosecution had established a prima facie case against El-Rufai, the defendant was required by law to enter his defence.

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‎By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
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‎The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the provision of a N100,000 weekly allowance for each of the 53 isolated contacts traced to the female Ebola patient in Abuja.
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‎Jide Idris, NCDC director-general, told reporters on Sunday, stating that the stipend became necessary after isolated people complained about the financial impact of their isolation on their families.
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‎“We are paying for their accommodation; we are paying for their feeding. Some of them are asking for a stipend to maintain their families,” the NCDC boss said.
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‎He added, “We are providing N100,000 per person per week just to maintain their comfort and feeding, because they were complaining.”
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‎Mr Idris explained that the allowance is an unplanned emergency measure that could be reviewed as the situation evolves.
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‎“This was not planned for, but it is an emergency. We will continue to review it as we go along,” Mr Idris said.
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‎That the Ebola patient was discovered in FCT, according to Mr Idris, did not mean the responsibility for managing the outbreak rested solely with the FCT government.
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‎He enjoined other states to prepare to support persons impacted by public health emergencies, should any case be detected in their jurisdiction.
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‎“This is not the responsibility of the FCT alone. What we have to do for the FCT, we have to do for any other state, just in case,” he said.
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‎He confirmed the isolation of seven additional persons linked to the Ebola virus patient in Abuja, raising the number of isolated persons to 53.
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‎Peoples Gazette last week reported that NCDC added the patient’s two domestic staff to the 44 isolated persons.
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‎“As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts,” the NCDC boss said at a press briefing on Sunday.
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‎He explained that the newly traced contacts were largely the healthcare workers who first attended to the patient in Julius Berger Clinic before she went to Nizamiye Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Ebola.
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‎Mr Idris said none of the isolated people has, so far, tested positive to the virus.
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‎A 42-year-old female patient, who was born in Uganda and married to a Swiss diplomat, tested positive to the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease on October 20.
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‎She had departed Uganda for Nigeria on October 3.
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‎Nigeria’s health minister Ali Pate said genomic analysis indicates that the virus identified in Nigeria is highly similar to the case reported in Kenya.
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‎He implied that there was a high possibility that the patient in Nigeria crossed paths with a Kenyan man at the airport in Uganda. The Kenyan man died days after arriving in Nairobi.
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‎Uganda’s Ministry of Health denied exporting the virus to Nigeria, reaffirming its Ebola-free status as declared by the World Health Organisation in August.
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