Author: straightnewsng.com

President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate and  Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate were absent at the 2019 NEDG/BON Presidential debate held on Saturday at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The two presidential heavyweights later gave reasons for their absence at the debate. Meanwhile, Oby Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of theAlliance for New Democracy (ANN) and Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) were at the debate. On his part, President Buhari of APC has given reasons for his absence at the presidential debate. Speaking through Festus Keyamo, SAN,…

A major upset. A big shock as Caroline Wozniacki’s reign as Australian Open champion ended with a three-set defeat by Maria Sharapova in the third round. The battle of two of the biggest names in the game did not disappoint but in the end Sharapova’s fierce hitting won the day as she surged to a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory on Rod Laver Arena. The Russian said: “I thought the level was quite high. I knew I was going to get a really tough match. I haven’t played a lot of matches in the last year, especially against top players. These…

Access Bank and Diamond Bank Plc have obtained approval in principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on proposed merger plans. Mr Victor Etuokwu, Access Bank Executive Director, Personal Banking, said in Lagos that CBN and SEC had granted both banks approval in principle for the merger process. Etuokwu said that the banks were awaiting the final approval which would be granted after convening shareholders meeting. “So far, we have gotten approvals up to approval in principle. There are three approvals that we need for this process. “The first one is the…

Tekno, popular Nigerian music maestro, has dropped `Woman’ his first single for this year which eulogises women. The Made Men Music Group artist took to his Instagram handle @teknoofficial on Friday to announce the release of the song. #WOMAN link in my bio, enjoy and share, produced by @wisdombeat’’ The 26-year-old Bauchi born songwriter and dancer from Ebonyi State glorifies women in the four minutes and 18 seconds song. Known also as Augustine Kelechi, the `Jogodo’ crooner in the lyrics of the song explains that women were not just meant to be in the kitchen or excluded from important meetings.…

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja has granted bail to Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West in the Senate. Melaye is currently being held in Department State Security Health facility in Abuja. Ruling on an application brought by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Justice Yusuf Halilu granted Melaye bail on health ground. Justice Halilu was of the view that the Senator must be healthy to stand trial. Ozekhome said since the Senator cannot be arraigned on the stretcher or ‎on his hospital bed, he should be allowed on bail to attend to his health.…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Thursday, presided over the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting convened to discuss the new national minimum wage and other issues. In attendance at the meeting which started by 11:26 a.m. at the council chamber of the Presidential Villa,  Abuja were governors of Zamfara,  Lagos,  Jigawa, Ekiti, Kebbi, Bauchi, Niger, Plateau and Adamawa states. Our correspondents reports that some Deputy Governors and ministers including that of Labour, Chris Ngige were also in attendance, though decision of the meeting was not made available to the press. Daily Trust gathered that neither Akwa Ibom governor Udom Emmanuel nor his…

The Super Falcons of Nigeria bowed 3-0 to host, China women football team in the on-going Four-Nation tournament in China on Thursday afternoon. The four-nation tournament is meant to be a pre-world Cup preparation tourney ahead of the FIFA World Cup coming up in France later in the year during the summer. Zhang Rui scored one goal in the first half. Li Ying netted a brace in the 60th minute and completed her brace in the second minute of time added on to end the match at 3-0. The Nigerian side will face Romania in their third placed match after…

Mr. Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential hopeful, has arrived Washington D.C. for US-Africa Summit, 12 years after he touched the country. Atiku accompanied by Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s Senate President tweeted his arrival in the United States via his verified Twitter account. The former vice president said he will be meeting with US government officials during his stay in America. “Just arrived Washington D.C for meeting with US government officials, Nigerians living in D.C metropolis and the business community,” he tweeted with his signature AA. @ATIKU ABUBAKAR Just arrived Washington D.C for meeting with US government officials, Nigerians living…

Serena Williams stepped up her drive for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam Thursday by swatting aside Eugenie Bouchard, but top seed Simona Halep had to dig deep to stay in the Australian Open on a day of epic battles. The American great followed up her first-round 49-minute romp by spending just 70 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to dispose of the Canadian 6-2, 6-2. “It wasn’t an easy match tonight,” said the 37-year-old. “So I knew ‘Serena, you’ve got to come out hot, you’ve got to come out firing, she’s a really good player and I haven’t had many matches…

Facebook, Tuesday, announced that it would invest $300 million (N109,200,000,000) for three years in various projects related to journalism. The investment, which basically intends to promote local news hit hard by the digital age, follows the one Google News Initiative, a US internet search giant, unveiled last year. The move comes with online platforms under pressure for dominating the internet advertising ecosystem, making it harder for news organizations to make a transition to digital. “People want more local news and local newsrooms are looking for more support,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president in charge of global news partnerships, said in…