Author: straightnewsng.com

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has accepted a fresh suit seeking to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from appointing the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary in substantive capacity. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2019, is praying the court to declare that Justice Muhammad who is currently the most senior jurist at the Supreme Court, was unfit to replace the sacked CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Specifically, the plaintiff, Chief Malcom Omirhobo, who is a human rights lawyer, is praying the court to declare that the Acting CJN, Justice Muhammad,…

Nigeria’s borrowing put at 19 percent to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is low compared to such countries as Ghana, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Angola, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance has said. Ahmed in a statement by her Special Adviser, Media, Mr. Paul Abechi, in Abuja, Tuesday, was obviously reacting to concerns by critics that the current administration was mounting debts. “In the borrowing, we are still at 19 per cent to GDP.  Our borrowing is still low. What is allowed by our Fiscal Responsibility Act is the maximum of 25 per cent of our GDP compared…

Among the highest recipients of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations in the country, Akwa Ibom State is second having collected N272 billion from January to December, 2018. This was contained in a report by Economic Confidential, an intelligence economic magazine, released on Tuesday, April 22, which stated that N8 trillion from the Federation Account was shared among the 36 states and the 774 local government councils in Nigeria last year. Recall that in 2017, Akwa Ibom collected the highest share of N143.6 billion, showing an increase of 25 per cent from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements, Nigeria…

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the North East geo-political zone is safer under his administration contrary to insinuations in some quarters that he was not doing much to curtail killings in the area. President Buhari who was reacting to the comment credited to the Catholic Bishop of Yola Diocese, Rt. Rev. Stephen Mamza, where he allegedly described the President as “sleeping on duty as Commander-in-Chief.” Describing the comment as unfair, the President through Malam Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in Abuja Monday, said that he had done enough to protect the people than previous…

The Republic of Ghana is soliciting the support of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, in its bid to host the Secretariat of the proposed African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA. The Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Botchwey made the request at the ongoing ECOWAS Parliament Delocalised joint Committee Meeting in Accra, Ghana. According to her, Ghana has since its independence in 1957, committed so much to Africa’s unity to deserve the hosting of a continental initiative like AfCFTA. “Our government has decided to and has, indeed, formally expressed its interest to have Ghana…

The Federal Government has concluded plans to introduce solar-powered tricycles and motorcycles into the Nigerian transportation system. Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, stated this at the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected executives of Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners, Repairs and Riders Association of Nigeria, ACOMORAN, in Abuja. According to the Minister, the initiative would solve the fuel challenges faced by motorcycles and tricycles riders in the course of their business activities. Represented by Dr. Anthonia Ekpa, Director of Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration in the Ministry, Amaechi said: “What we have done is to ensure that we introduce…

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Monday, said that telecommunications operators carried out 14,639 Mobile Number Portability activities in February 2019. The NCC made this known in its “Incoming and Outgoing Porting Activities of Mobile Network Operators’ Report on its website. The commission said in the report that 10,650 subscribers ported within the networks in January, hence an increase of 3,989 activities in February. It said that out of the 14,639 porting activities recorded in February, 7,735 were “Incoming Porting Activities,’ while 6,904 were “Outgoing Porting Activities.” The regulatory body said that in the outgoing table, 2,281 subscribers moved from Globacom…

The Benue State Government, Monday, reeled out the achievements of Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration in the last four years as part of activities to mark the governor’s 58th birthday. Mr Tahav Agerzua, Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Information Communication Technology (ICT), in a statement in Makurdi, identified the governor’s political sagacity as a key attribute that was outstanding. “Governor Ortom has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC. He has also defected from the APC to the PDP. On each occasion, he won his elections. Ortom always win against all odds…

Akwa Ibom is second endemic state with out-of-school-children menace in the country, a survey by the Federal Government has revealed. Of the 12 endemic states, Kano State is ranked first with out-of-school-children menace. Katsina is third followed by Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue, Jigawa and Ebonyi states. Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who stated this in Abuja at a weekly press briefing, said based on a recent National Personnel Audit of both Public and Private schools, Nigeria now has an estimated out-of-school children population of 10.193,918. Adamu said based on the census, “Nigeria has one of the…

Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP) has expressed concern over the proposed payment of severance allowances by different states to their elected political leaders in the country. In its Twitter post of April 20, SERAP said “Each of the 14 governors not returning to get N6.67 million as severance allowance; deputies to get N6.34m *434 state lawmakers in 27 states to get N1.88 billion; with each getting 300% of their annual basic salary *+retirement benefits/pension packages VERY SAD!” SERAP, a non-profit, non-partisan, legal & advocacy organisation devoted to promoting transparency, accountability & respect for socio-economic rights in Nigeria, stated “Fourteen governors,…