Author: straightnewsng.com

Senator Godswill Akpabio is a known name in the politics of Akwa Ibom and in Nigeria. As a one-time Akwa Ibom Commissioner, governor and now a Senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West, he has caused an unusual impact in various facets of human life. This has earned him many admirers and haters. In an interview conducted by Straightnews on February 23 (President/National Assembly Elections) day, Akpabio talked on a number of exciting issues. Excerpts: Why do you still have people who admire you and your style of administration? I believe strongly that if you have a life of service, and the…

The  Presidency, yesterday, explained that the Nigeria Special Economic Zones Company, NZESCO, was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle to deliver Project MINE (Made in Nigeria for Exports), a Presidential initiative. A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina explained that the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, identified the development of Special Economic Zones as a major strategic tool to accelerate the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP. According to him, “Project MINE was envisioned by the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, MITI, to develop…

To achieve considerable improvement in girls’ enrolment and arrest the growing rate of out-of-school children in the North, government at the state and the federal levels in the region must step up employment of more female teachers, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has said. The body which asked the federal and state governments to employ more female teachers in schools in northern Nigeria, said the development will no doubt raise girls’ enrolment in schools and eradicate the out-of-school children growing population. It its two reports on the Effect of Female Teachers on girls’ Enrolment and Retention in Northern Nigeria,…

The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, has pledged to provide air assets to the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, DSS, and other security agencies to arrest the worsening cases of kidnapping and armed banditry in the country. The measure, according to NAF, was part of inter-agency cooperation to address security challenges in the country, especially the issue of kidnapping and armed banditry on the Abuja-Kaduna Highway and Kaduna-Birnin Gwari axis. The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar made the disclosure in a statement by NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, while playing host to the acting…

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, yesterday, made a request for N472.8 billion for its 2019 operations. He made the disclosure to the Rimamande Shawhulu (PDP, Taraba) led Committee on Army while defending the army’s 2019 budget. He also said that the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Airforce do not have any form of conflict as being alleged in some quarters. On the breakdown of the budget, he said that N350.5 billion is set aside for personnel emoluments, N43.6 bn is for overhead costs while N78.5 billion is for its capital budget of the Nigerian Army in 2019.…

House of Representatives, yesterday, demanded explanation from the Federal Fire Service more than the N60 million increase in recurrent expenditure for the 2019 budget. The House noted that the Service proposed N473.9 million for recurrent cost in a budget proposal of N9.4 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. In 2018, the sum of N413.5 million was appropriated for recurrent expenditure while N343.5 million was released and the service utilised all the N343.5m released. At a budget defence organised by the House Committee on Interior, members queried the acting Controller General, CG, Federal Fire Service, Mr Liman Ibrahim on the rationale…

As part of its mandate to promote citizen’s engagement, popular participation and inclusiveness in governance in Nigeria, the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, with the support from MacArthur Foundation has launched a radio programme to amplify corruption related investigative report. A statement by the organisation’s Executive Director, Augustine Agbonsuremi said the programme which will also disseminated using the social media, seeks to de-emphasize unethical practices and address lack of accountability in Nigeria’s public and private sectors Agbonsuremi said that the project underscored by the fact that corruption was identified as one of the greatest threats to democracy in…

Avocats Sans Frontières France, ASF France, has condemned the execution of a Nigerian woman by the Saudi government for drug related offences on Monday April 2, 2019. ASF France in a statement by Angela Uwandu, Head of Office, called on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to refrain from further executions of foreign nationals. It recalled that drug related offences do not fall within the ambits of the ‘most serious offences’ under international law and urged the Saudi government to repeal the death penalty from its statutes book and especially for drug related offences. It also urged the Nigerian government and…

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new Instagram account has gained more than 2.4 million followers just 24 hours after it was created. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the account broke the Guinness World record for the fastest time to gain one million followers on Instagram. The account, named ’sussexroyal’, was set up on Tuesday and reached the one million milestones in just five hours and 45 minutes. The royal couple has taken the title from K-Pop star Kang Daniel, who achieved 1 million followers in 11 hours 36 minutes – double the amount of time it took Harry…

The Federal Government, Wednesday, approved N6.17 billion to augment the contract for the construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri Road, Section 1, Phase 1. Briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Suleiman Zarma, Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing said that the contract was awarded in 2012, but the augmentation had to come following some observations by the contractor. “FEC has given approval for the augmentation of the contract for construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri Road, Section 1, Phase 1 and the length is 11.26km. “The…