Author: straightnewsng.com

Worried over the dilapidated nature of inter- roads across the country, the Senate, Tuesday, asked the Federal Government to ensure the rehabilitation and repair of these roads in Nigeria in this 2018 fiscal year. Against this backdrop, the Senate yesterday, mandated the Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South) led Committee on Works to, as a matter of urgency, investigate the award and execution of the Idah-Odolu-Nsukka-Adani-Otuocha-Onitsha federal road which has been in a state of total disrepair. The Senate also urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, to, as an interim begin immediate repair of the bad portions of the…

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused the Federal Government of trying to cover a “huge fraud in the presidency by “declaring it spends N24 billion monthly (N774 million per day) to subsidise fuel in the country.” StraightNews had reported that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation claimed it was spending N774m daily (about N23.99 bn monthly) as subsidy on the 50 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit consumed across the country. But in a statement released Monday, by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiya, the PDP described the figure as “fictitious and cleverly fabricated to retire the already exposed stealing…

Driven by upsurge in exports of agricultural goods and solid minerals, Nigeria’s foreign trade peaked in 2017 with a N4 trillion trade surplus from a deficit of N290.1 billion in 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has stated. The NBS made this known in its Foreign Trade Statistics report for the fourth quarter of 2017 (Q4’17). The report showed that Nigeria exported N13.5 trillion worth of goods in 2017, up by 59.47 per cent from N8.523 trillion in 2016, while it imported N9.56 trillion worth of goods in 2017, up by 8.5 per cent from N8.82 trillion in 2016.…

Confusion enveloped an Italian court Monday as two lawyers purportedly representing the federal government surfaced in the trial of Shell and Eni executives over alleged corruption in Nigeria. Online portal, Premium Times, gathered that although the Italian court postponed to May 14 the start of the trial, one of the lawyers, a certain Mr. Sedu, declared his intention not to ask for damages from Eni. It reported on Saturday the expected postponement of the trial and possible transfer to another court. The trial was originally expected to start Monday but sources said the court might not be able to deal…

More than 46 million Nigerians are said be practising open defecation, Federal Ministry of Water Resources has stated, saying that federal government plans to eliminate it by 2025. Suleiman Hussein Adamu, the Minister of Water Resources, stated this during the official celebration of local government wide open defecation free status by Dass local government area under the Sanitation, Hygiene and Water in Nigeria (SHAWN) project held at the Waziri Mazadu primary school at Dass in Bauchi state. Adamu, who was represented by Musa Ibrahim, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said more than two third of the Nigeria…

Father and son were Friday arrested by the Operatives of the Rapid Response squad of the Lagos State Police Command for selling Tramadol and other hard drugs to primary and secondary school pupils in Itire, Lagos. The father, Ibrahim Sheu (40) and Franku Ibrahim (23) were arrested after officials of the Office of Education and Quality Assurance, Lagos State, alerted the Rapid Response Squad officers about the incident. The suspects, who are petty traders of a kiosk in Adedeji Bus stop, Itire were caught selling the drugs to school pupils- some whom were interrogated and later released to their parents.…

The heavy indebtedness by African countries a few years after they were relieved of their debts by international financial institutions is causing the United States of America growing concern. The US Department of State, during a background briefing on the first trip of Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State to Africa, said such loans were unhelpful to the continent. Mr. Tillerson will meet with Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and also leaders of Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya during his travels from March 6 to 13. To date, debt reduction packages under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, HIPC, Initiative have been approved…

No fewer than 173 members of the House of Representatives have begun moves to override the rejection of the Peace Corps bill by President Muhammadu Buhari. Already, the lawmakers have appended their signatures to a document initially sponsored by four lawmakers in the house for the bill to become a reality, New Telegraph reports. They began coalition of signatures to veto President Buhari’s assent and make it an Act of Parliament. It was gathered that a lawmaker from Rivers state who spoke under anonymity said: “We need just 240 members to overturn the table against him (president) and we are…

Liberian government has solicited Nigerian counterpart to assist in providing her 6,000 teachers as part of the technical assistance agreement between the two nations. President George Weah of Liberia, who made this plea after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Monday, said his government inherited many problems which can only be tackled with assistance from countries like Nigeria. Premium Times reports that while speaking Monday, March 5, shortly after a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the State House Presidential Villa in Abuja, Weah said his government inherited many problems which can only be tackled with assistance from countries…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Sunday announced that it was spending N774 million daily (about N23.99 billion monthly) as subsidy on the 50 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit consumed in the country. Maikanti Baru, the NNPC Group Managing Director, said the multiplication of filling stations had energised unprecedented cross-border smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries, making it difficult to sanitise the fuel supply and distribution matrix in Nigeria. A statement issued on Sunday by Ndu Ughamadu, the firm’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division quoted Baru stating this when he led a management team of the corporation on…