Author: straightnewsng.com

By Benjamin Blum New Zealand’s men’s rugby sevens team retained its World Cup title and completed a Kiwi sweep after defeating England 33-12 on Sunday. Similarly, the women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens trophy will remain in Kiwi hands after New Zealand successfully defended its title with a 29-0 win over France on Saturday. For men, Sione Molia scored a pair of tries, while Joe Ravouvou Akuila Rokolisoa and Trael Joass each added one apiece. Kurt Baker kicked three conversions and Scott Curry kicked one. Curry was named the AIG Player of the Final, while Ravouvou earned the UL Mark of Excellence Award.…

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, described reports of “juicy offers” made to him to remain in the All Progressives Congress, APC, as mere speculations. Specifically, Saraki denied being offered oil bloc and nomination tickets by the APC to stop him from defecting from the party. He is believed to be among the aggrieved ruling party chieftains considering pulling out of the APC before the 2019 elections. The Presidency and the party are making last-minute efforts to have him rescind his decision to pull out of the APC In a statement issued by Yusuph Olaniyonu, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,…

The bill for an Act to repeal the Nigeria Press Council Act, 1992 may have died a natural death after the public hearing organised by the Senate Monday in Abuja. Criticising the bill during the one-day public hearing by the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation, led by Senator Suleiman Adokwe, PDP, Nasarawa newspaper publishers, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, BON, editors and Nigeria Union of journalists, NUJ, unanimously asked the Upper Chamber to throw away the bill. They argued that the bill was not only draconian, unconstitutional, anti-people, anti-business and anti-free speech but also seeks to criminalise journalism practice,…

Gill Onwudiwe, a security expert of the American Emergency Alert System, has proffered that training the locals with the newly invented emergency alert systems could end the herdsmen attacks among other violent crimes in the communities. This was even as Rev. Father Kizito Onyeka, a Catholic priest in Imo state, Sunday, said as result of the level of reported killings in the country, the citizens are in search of a good shepherd to rescue them. Onwudiwe, who looked at the possible solutions to the spate of killings linked to herders in the country, rolled out it strategies to end the…

Confusion is enveloping the purported setting up of a seven-man committee by Imo state Chief Judge, Mr. Paschal Nnadi, to prosecute the impeachment of Eze Madumere, the Deputy governor of the state by the state House of Assembly. However, our reporter could not confirm from Mr. Marcel Ekwezuo, the Chief Press to the Speaker of Imo state House of Assembly was not certain whether the state House of Assembly had been officially notified on the said committee by the Chief Judge. Ekwezuo gave as excuse that he was busy participating in the congress of the Imo state All Progressives Congress, APC, during the…

Despite the explanation given by Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment over delay in the inauguration of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday, still threatened to expel him from the party. Oshiomole and Ngige have been at loggerhead over purported refusal of the minister to inaugurate boards of parastatals under his ministry, several months after they were appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari. Ngige had told Oshiomhole that the delay in the inauguration of the Board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Funds, NSITF, was as a result…

The Auditor-General of the Federation has faulted the 2016 Financial Statement of the federal government as having several undisclosed revenues and poorly disclosed expenditures. In the report submitted to the National Assembly, Mr. Anthony Mkpe Ayine, the AuGF expressed disappointment at the shoddy job by the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, which led to the late submission of the report to the National Assembly. According to Ayine, the non-disclosure and non-remittance of revenues by some agencies of government into its coffers has become a critical factor militating against the economy. The report indicated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,…

Neswpaper publishers in the country, editors and Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, have described the New Media Bill currently before the National Assembly as draconian, unconstitutional, anti-people, business and free speech. Consequently, the Nigerian Press Organisation, NPO, and other media stakeholders have asked the National Assembly to drop the bill. They also asked the Senate to borrow from best practices in other jurisdictions that had expressly provided for and guaranteed press freedom without any form of government interference. The NPO and others equally implored the Senate and, indeed, The National Assembly, to enable the media in the exercise of its…

The Federal Government, Monday, restored the embattled Amaju Pinnick board of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to office. An unconfirmed report had it that Department of State Security (DSS) moved in and whisked the factional leader, Chris Giwa and his board. During the heat of the crisis between Pinnick and his rival, Chris Giwa, Gianni Infantino, FIFA President had announced two weeks ago that he recognised Amaju Pinnick as the NFF President. Muhammed Sanusi, the General Secretary of NFF, spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from his office in Abuja on Monday. “I am back to my office to…

The continued killings of innocent Nigerians in various parts of the country gnawing many appears to have no solution. In a twist, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State has stirred the hornet’s nest that the killings would continue beyond 2019 if the present administration is allowed to remain in power. The attacks will not stop because, according to Musa, the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari was weak and irrelevant. In a report culled from Vanguard, Musa said it was clear that President Buhari lacked ideas on how to stop the killings, adding that the only end to…