Author: straightnewsng.com

It was a black Saturday as members of a protestant church in Ethiopia watched helplessly as their pastor who was baptising faithful at Lake Abaya was reportedly attacked and devoured by a crocodile. The lake covering 1,162 km² is known to host huge crocodile population and is close to Arba Minch city, some 500 kilometres to the South west of the capital Addis Ababa. An eye witness accounts who took the news to social media simply identified the victim as Doche. According to the eye witness, the pastor was reportedly baptising members of his congregation in the Lante locality of…

The Ramadan, the most important religious festival for Muslims, has turned awry for a 33-year-old man who now faces execution for excessive farting in the mosque seen as a blasphemous act, Islamabad Herald reported. Ramadan typically includes the increased offering of salat (prayers), recitation of the Quran and an increase of doing good deeds and charity. Farting is associated with bad smell. Islam prohibits a person from going to the mosque after eating too much onion or garlic as it causes foul smell in the mouth of the person. It is said that any odour discomforts persons who gather for…

As a way of turning Akwa Ibom State in the South-South region into a one-stop economic hub in the country, Technical Committee On the Actualisation of Ibom Deep Seaport and Industrial City may complete the certification process of the project before the end of this year for commencement of business. So far, the committee inaugurated in 2015 has completed a Pre-Bid Conference with three qualified bidders and other stakeholders for the seaport development. As a result, a consortium of Bollore and Power China, China Road Breach Corporation, CRBC and China Harbour Engineering Company of Nigeria have scaled through preliminary bidding…

As the nation’s technological drive continues to slide, Federal Government has come out with concrete measures to curb the ebbing technological education. As a step, Federal government has scrapped the award of Higher National Diploma (HND) by the nation’s polytechnics and shut out admission of students for the programme. Again, non-technical courses in the nation’s polytechnics are phased out to make room for technical courses to revive the country’s ailing technology. Moreover, polytechnics are to become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities…

President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, assented the Constitutional Amendment Bill that provides for the funding of State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciaries directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) into law. A Twitter account by the President said the Bill, now an Act of the National Assembly, alters Section 121 of the 1999 Constitution. In October 2017, the National Assembly sent only 15 bills to State Houses of Assembly for adoption out of the 21 bills adopted by the National Assembly. It appeared the presiding officers of the National Assembly committed a technical error during voting on the bills and…

The Aluminium Smelting Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, would come on stream later this year or latest early next year. Mr. Alex Okoh, Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, said, “Government has revoked the sale to BFIG.  We have reverted to Rusal. We are in the process of conducting a Technical Audit.  Rusal has submitted to the BPE what it will take for the plant to commence operation. Okoh noted that “Nothing should prevent the plant from going into production at the end of the year or early next year.  We are not sentimental in…

Federal Government says there would be no public holiday on June 12, this year. Wednesday this week, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a press release, saying “Dear Nigerians, I am delighted to announce that, after due consultations, we decided to declare June 12 Democracy Day. A Twitter account issued by the Presidency Friday said “There have been questions regarding whether or not there will be a FEDERAL public holiday on June 12, 2018. “The answer is NO. Presidential Order says June 12 “in FUTURE YEARS will replace May 29th as a National Public Holiday in celebration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day.” Recall…

An editorial member of Straightnews, one of the vibrant Nigerian online newspapers has emerged as the Chairman of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Akwa Ibom State chapter. He is Nsemeke Udoakpan, a one-time secretary of the institute, is a graduate of the Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Udoakpan polled 19 votes after the disqualification of Okokon Robert, the immediate past Vice chairman of the institute on grounds of re-certification. Other elected members for the institute are Joseph Eton, head of Public Relations Unit, Akwa Ibom Secondary Education Board is the Vice Chairman; Imoh Uwoh, head…

Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, said it will soon issue guidelines that will facilitate the smooth issuance and operation of Green Bonds in Nigeria. This is coming after the Federal Government raised over N10 billion in its maiden green bond programme in 2017 to fund environmental friendly projects. Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office, DMO, said it was planning to issue another federal government Green Bond in the fourth quarter of the year. Ms Mary Uduk, acting Director-General of SEC, speaking at the launch of Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme by FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, said the…

to Tony, Tony The World Health Organisation (WHO), an agency of the United Nations, has warned that the ongoing Ebola outbreak is posing a significant risk of spread to nine countries bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the basis of proximity to the current outbreak and the current capacity of their health systems to cope with the disease. The nine  countries are Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. WHO at the moment is supporting the nine countries to scale up their national emergency preparedness and response capacities. Just this…