- Tinubu assures state government he won’t sign the new gaming bill
- Nigeria signs five year healthcare delivery pact worth billions of dollars
- Niger state pupils rescued
- Nigeria suffers billions in export loss after Trump tariff
- Senate President Akpabio headed to court over Senator Natasha suspension case
Tinubu assures state government he won’t sign the new gaming bill
After the news of a central gaming bill passed by the National Assembly got out, President Tinubu reassured state governments of his decision to not sign the bill.
The president insisted that he did not believe that lottery and gaming fell under the Constitutional responsibility of the federal government, while also adding that he understood the limits of his executive and legislative authority as a “constitutional democrat.”
The president shared this decision at the just concluded All Progressive Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which happened over the weekend.
Nigeria signs five-year healthcare delivery pact worth billions
Nigeria and the United States have signed upon a five-year bilateral health pact, with the aim of strengthening the Nigerian healthcare sector.
The pact was signed by the U.S Department of State and the Federal Government of Nigeria and was designed to ensure a focus on the expansion of faith-based healthcare delivery.
The agreement is also expected to provide for a combined investment of over 5 billion dollars in the time period covered by the delivery pact.
130 Niger state pupils finally rescued
The remaining 130 children and teachers from the Niger state kidnapping who were taken from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in the Agwara local government area of Niger state have been released
Their rescue came over the weekend, after over three weeks in captivity. The number of students and teachers who were kidnapped was reported as 280 during the time of the abduction, and while 50 were able to escape unhurt, the federal government was able to secure the freedom of 100 more through a negotiation process.
Now, just three days to Christmas the 130 remaining hostages were rescued by the federal government.
Nigeria suffers billions in export loss after Trump tariff
2025 reportedly saw over 940 billion in loss in the first nine months of 2025 due to the tariffs imposed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
This loss comes after Nigeria had a favorable year in exportation in 2024, data from an analysis of the figures of the first 9 months in 2024, in comparison with the nine months in 2025 showed that Nigeria exported goods worth N3.65tn to the US in the first nine months of 2025, down from N4.59tn recorded in the corresponding period of 2024, representing a decline of 20.5 per cent or N940.98bn.
The deterioration could be linked with Washington’s implementation of its “reciprocal” tariff regime, under which President Donald Trump signed an executive order which effectively raised Nigeria’s tariff rate from 14 per cent to 15 per cent, and caused a huge loss.
Akpabio headed to court over Natasha’s suspension case
The senate president, Godswill Akpabio has made an approach towards the Supreme Court, due to the legal battles that have continued to arise from his suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The senate president’s move was confirmed by court documents filed December 1st, 2025, and is reportedly a decision Senator Akpabio made following a recent judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, which struck out the Federal Government’s brief of argument in the appeal linked to Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension.
The appeal court struck out the case on the basis of it being “incompetent” and failing to comply with mandatory provisions necessary for the court of appeal.
While the senate president has claimed the case was struck out illegally, and has set out to approach the Supreme Court over the judgement, the court of appeal has maintained that the brief in Senator Akpabio’s appeal was defective.
