Author: straightnewsng.com

Though no Nigerian won the just-concluded Grammy Awards held on Sunday, a Nigerian-American producer, writer and filmmaker has broken the jinx by bagging his first Grammy Award. Under Best Music Video category, Ibra Ake won for producing Childish Gambino’s visuals for “This is America.” Reacting to his win, Ake excitedly tweeted with the username @ibralikezebra saying: “I can’t believe I just won a Grammy. Where’s the catch? Royalty forever.” Ake, who is a visual artist, creative director and writer, is based in Los Angeles, California. While he has spent most of his life in America, Ake constantly credits his Nigerian…

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, grew by 2.38% in real terms (year-on-year), in the fourth quarter of 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has reported. The growth “represents an increase of 0.27% points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017 which recorded a growth rate of 2.11%,” according to NBS. The report also said that the growth “indicates a rise of 0.55% points when compared with the growth rate recorded in Q3 2018.” On a quarter on quarter basis, real GDP growth was 5.31%. The fourth quarter growth performance implies that real GDP grew at an annual growth…

Akwa Ibom State government has frowned at what it called illegal deductions of N8 billion by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) from its two-month allocation. Governor Udom Emmanuel who spoke on Monday at the Nigeria Labour Congress House, Atan Offot in Uyo local government area said FAAC has deducted N4 billion each from its December and January allocations. Emmanuel who was later adopted by members of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC and United Labour Congress, ULC in Akwa Ibom as their governorship candidate for the March 2 election lamented that the money would have been ploughed…

The Department of State Services, DSS, Monday, warned that it would not stand idly by and watch trouble-makers and miscreants cause avoidable crisis during the polls. The warning came on the heels of Saturday’s presidential and March 2 governorship elections in Nigeria, calling on trouble-makers and carriers of fake news capable of sparking violence, to keep off the election space or face the consequences. The agency in a statement issued by its spokesman, Peter Afunanya, in Abuja, In particular, the DSS warned that while it would conduct its operations professionally in line with its mandate, it would not hesitate to…

Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate) has assured the people of Akwa Ibom State that the President has approved the completion of an abandoned bridge project at Okopedi, Itu local government area of the state. Enang disclosed this while addressing the people of Okopedi, Itu on Monday on the need to vote for President Buhari during the general elections coming up on Saturday. He also said that the Federal Government has awarded a 40x60x233 MVA Power generating Station to an indigenous contractor who would soon be mobilised to site at Ididep…

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said it would publish campaign expenses of political parties immediately after the elections. Consequently, INEC has engaged the services of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Financial Investigation Unit, FIU, to track campaign finances of political parties and their candidates. Speaking during the inauguration of the Inter-agency campaign finance monitoring group Monday, Prof. Anthonia Okosi-Simbine, INEC national commissioner, said the report of the 2019 campaign finances would be released immediately after the elections. National Broadcasting Commission NBC, Nigeria Communication Commission NCC Centre for Social Justice CSJ, the Nigeria Police Force,…

More trouble awaits the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, as the National Judicial Council, NJC, on Monday ordered him to respond to a fresh petition lodged against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The Council, which took the decision at the end of its emergency meeting in Abuja, further constituted a Preliminary Complaints Assessment Committee, to consider responses of both Onnoghen and Justice Tanko Muhammad, the Acting CJN, to various petitions against them. The NJC, in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, said it would reconvene on Wednesday…

The Nigerian Army has vowed to break the unholy alliance between the Boko Haram terrorists and Islamic State West Africa or ISWA. Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff, made the assertion Monday in Abuja, when he declared open a two-day maiden “Career planning and management’’ seminar for senior officers. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buratai maintained that the army was making gains in the counter insurgency operations in the North East. Buratai said: “I am glad to note that we are making strides against the Islamic State West Africa or ISWA in our bid to…

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to stop harassing its members, saying their unlawful arrest and detention was an invitation to anarchy. The party described the recent arrest of its spokesman in Kaduna State as highly provocative and one capable of derailing the nation’s democratic order. National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this Monday while addressing a press conference at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja. According to him, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is bent on instilling fear in the electorate in a bid to scuttle the 2019 general elections.…

The suspension of Nigeria’s most senior judge by President Muhammadu Buhari broke international human rights standards on independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, Diego Garcia-Sayan, UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, said Monday. Buhari, who was a military ruler in the 1980s and was voted into office in 2015, is hoping to win a new term in a presidential election scheduled to take place on Saturday. The chief justice could preside over any dispute over the election result. Nigeria’s judiciary has helped resolve electoral disputes in past votes, some of which have been…