Author: straightnewsng.com

BEING THE TEXT OF THE EASTER BROADCAST BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MR. UDOM EMMANUEL, GOVERNOR, AKWA IBOM STATE, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, UYO – APRIL 18, 2019 My dear Akwa Ibomites, My wife, Her Excellency, Mrs. Martha Udom Emmanuel, and I wish you a Happy Easter. Easter is a season of sacrifice; of circumscribing one’s interest, desires and needs for causes that are greater than ours; it also symbolizes victory over the forces of hatred, betrayal, anger and vile temperaments. No one epitomises this selfless quality than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Saviour endured excruciating and harrowing pain;  was put through…

Easter reminds us of God’s unflinching love for man. God had, out of his benevolence, sacrificed his only son for the atonement of the sins of man on a day like this. Today is a day that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price of laying down his life for us, his friends, to be redeemed. Even though we never asked for or deserved it, he did it anyway. Christ endured the sufferings, persecutions and shame for our sake. He died and resurrected on the third day to restore the hope of man. Greater love has no man than this- that…

Despite the signing of New Minimium Wage into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, employers with less than 25 workers are excluded from paying the new wage. Mr. Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), who briefed State House correspondents after meeting the president on Thursday, said the employers are exempted from paying it. According to him,  “workers of a ship which sails out of the country and other persons who are in other kinds of regulated employment which are accepted by the act” are also excluded from the new wage. Enang said the signing of…

President Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, signed into law the Minimum Wage Repeal and Re-Enactment Act, 2019. By this act, employers of labour are pay to their workers N30,000 the new minimum wage. The President assented to the Act in Abuja, mandating all employers of labour across the country to pay workers a minimum of N30,000 monthly wage. The National Assembly had submitted the minimum wage bill to the President on March 27. The bill approving N30,000 as the new national minimum wage was passed by both chambers of National Asaembly before they went on break for the 2019 general elections. Earlier…

The Code of Conduct Tribunal, Thursday, found the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen guilty of false declaration of assets and ordered his removal from office. Consequently, the tribunal has banned him from holding public office for the next 10 years for contravening the Code of Conduct for Public Officers . Reading the lead judgment, Danladi Umar, the tribunal chairman, ordered the immediate removal of Onnoghen from office as the CJN, Chairman of the National Judicial Council and the Chairman of the Federal Judicial Service Commission. The tribunal also ordered the forfeiture of the five accounts which defendant…

There is palpable anxiety within the judiciary, as the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT is set to deliver judgment on the non-assets declaration charge the Federal Government preferred against the resigned Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen. The Mr Danladi Umar-led three-man panel tribunal which had earlier announced that it will deliver the judgment by 9 am today has however deferred it till 12noon. Though the embattled former CJN arrived the CCT at about 8.40am ahead of the verdict, no member of the prosecution team was available when the panel conveyed its decision to shift the delivery time.…

Fernando Llorente was the hero for Tottenham as his late goal send Spurs through to the Champions League semi-finals on away goals, despite losing 4-3 to Manchester City on the night. Manchester City’s bid for an unprecedented quadruple of trophies ended in dramatic fashion as Tottenham progressed to the Champions League semi-finals on away goals as a pulsating 4-3 win for City on Wednesday was not enough to overturn their 1-0 first leg deficit. Pep Guardiola recalled Kevin De Bruyne and Bernado Silva to the starting XI after missing the first leg. And it was the Belgian who was involved…

Liverpool crushed FC Porto 4-1 in Portugal on Wednesday to win their Champions League quarter-final tie 6-1 on aggregate and march on to a last-four showdown against Barcelona. Sadio Mane gave the Reds a first-half lead in the second leg at the Estadio do Dragao, effectively killing off a Porto side that had lost 2-0 in England a week ago. Mohamed Salah, substitute Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk added further goals after the break for Jurgen Klopp’s team, with Eder Militao netting a consolation for Porto. (AFP)

After 17 years, the Senate during plenary on Wednesday reworked and passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Electoral Act amendment Bill 2019, and five other bills rejected by President Buhari. The Senate passed these bills after its technical committee worked on President Buhari’s observations and re-drafted the affected clauses. The PIGB seeks to make the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) the sole regulator overseeing the licensing, monitoring and supervising of petroleum operations. It also gives the NPRC the powers to enforce industry laws, regulations, and standards. On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, President Buhari had explained that he declined…

The Supreme Court, Wednesday, affirmed Kayode Fayemi as the incumbent governor of Ekiti State. The court dismissed the suit filed by Chief Segun Oni against the incumbent for being incompetent. Oni in the suit claimed that Fayemi was not eligible to run as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for not resigning as Minister of Mines and Steel Development 30 days before the party’s primary election. The ex-governor who came second in the APC governorship primary also claimed that Fayemi should not have contested on the strength of an indictment by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by former…