Author: straightnewsng.com

Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, Monday, said it has cut down the number of partner universities in the United Kingdom from 60 to 15. The agency said it also suspended requests for extension in scholarship programmes beyond the stipulated period. Speaking at the 2018/2019 PTDF Overseas Scholarship Scheme for MSc and Ph.D scholars under the United Kingdom Strategic Partnership in Abuja, Mr. Aliyu Gusau, Executive Secretary of the PTDF, stated that henceforth, scholars must endeavour to complete their programmes within the stipulated time. According to him, the Fund will no more condone any form of extension, except in ‘extenuating circumstances.’…

As part of the Federal Government commitments to support the growth in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, 36 finalists have been selected for national MSME awards expected to hold in Abuja on August 2. A statement by Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, office of the Vice President, in Abuja Monday, explained that the 36 finalists were selected from businesses across the country. Akande further said that the selection process started on July 3, 2018, adding that the 36 finalists comprised three MSMEs in each of the 12 award categories designed for…

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Monday, traded barbs as both described themselves as mischievous, compulsive liars. While Saraki lambasted Senator Adamu, APC, Nasarawa West, describing him as a latter-day supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, Adamu alleged that the Senate president plotted to succeed the President when he (Presient Buhari) was sick and undergoing treatment in London. Saraki, who vowed to expose Senator Adamu on unpalatable stories he told him about President Buhari in Morocco last year, said Adamu’s sudden support for Buhari came after men of the Economic and Financial…

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said Monday that there was need for Nigerians to get value from the N123 billion Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund, NEMSF, provided by the Federal Government as subsidy to operators in the sector. Dogara stated this at the public hearing held by the House Ad-hoc committee set up to interface with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, on the Multi-Year Tariff Order, MYTO. The speaker explained that the investigative hearing became necessary in order to critically examine and re-assess all inputs and assumptions in the Multi-Year Tariff-Order, MYTO, system in the electricity…

The Chairman of Reformed All Progressives Congress, R-APC, Buba Galadima, has said the cosy relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was an afterthought. In a tell-all account in the current edition of The Interview magazine, Galadima said he was principally responsible for the alliance between the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, against Buhari’s wishes. Buhari and Tinubu were the leaders of CPC and ACN, two of the five legacy parties that formed the APC in 2014. Galadima said, “Buhari was the one…

Oando Plc recorded N8.5 billion profit in the first half of 2018 (H1’18), the company’s seventh quarter consecutive profit. The company’s profits swelled as oil prices increased. An analysis of Oando’s financials shows that the company’s turnover grew by 11 percent to N297.3 billion from N267 billion (H1 2017); gross profit increased by 53 percent to N51 billion compared to N33.4 billion (H1 2017); and profit-after-tax increased by 86 percent to N8.5 billion compared to N4.6 billion (H1 2017). In its upstream business, Oando recorded a net profit of N27.1 billion ($75.2 million) compared with N16.3 billion ($53.2 million) in the comparative…

The panel’s report of the House of Representatives indicted President Muhammadu Buhari’s special assistant on prosecutions, Mr. Okoi Obono-obla over forgery of his secondary school certificate and wrongful utilisation of public funds. Obono-Obla and members of the Special Investigative Panel were asked to refund the N17 million excess funds collected as honoraria for sittings and indicted for violation of the presidential order on flying business class. Reacting, Obono-Obla, who the committee asked to be subjected for prosecution, said he had challenged the propriety of the House Committee to investigate the presidential panel, saying that the House does not…

Jose Mourinho says Liverpool are ‘’big candidates’’ for the title having spent 170 million pounds on four players this summer. Yet, Jurgen Klopp on Friday laughed off suggestions by Jose Mourinho that Liverpool’s transfer spending spree meant the club faced greater pressure to win the Premier League title. Liverpool have spent heavily this year as they attempt to close the gap on champions Manchester City, splashing out more than 200 million pounds for Alisson, Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Virgil van Dijk. Mourinho said earlier this week that Liverpool’s transfer activity ought to increase expectation of a title victory.…

Not everybody is a people person. If this sounds like you, your best approach for finding a job could be searching for work where people skills aren’t all that necessary. To find these jobs, we averaged data from the Occupational Information Network, or O*NET, a US Department of Labour database full of detailed information on 974 occupations. O*NET rates each occupation on a scale from zero to 100 on how much a job requires workers to be in contact with others and how much a job requires workers to be pleasant with others. We averaged these ratings to find which…

A detachment of soldiers from the military base in Akwa Ibom State, Sunday, went berserk, setting some market stalls and houses ablaze in Iwukem village, Etim Ekpo local government area, following the killing of their colleague and five persons by armed militants. It was gathered that the militants numbering about 50 stormed the small community at about 10 p.m on Saturday, attacked members of the civilian Joint Task Force and immediately opened gunfire at the village roundabout where the soldiers stationed, killing a soldier and five civilians at the checkpoint. Two others who sustained injury, according to Sifon Akpan, one…