Author: straightnewsng.com

Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has petitioned Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, and rejected the recent 500 per cent increase in tariff on locally produced alcohol, spirits and tobacco, saying it will lead to massive job loss. This came as the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees, NUFBTE, said the 500 per cent hike in excise duty of these products had placed no fewer than 200,000 jobs in the sector under threat. NLC in the petition copied Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari and Director General of Department of State Services, DSS, warned that besides the…

The Presidency Sunday pleaded with Nigerians and the international community to exercise restraint in making inflammatory remarks over Farmers/herders clashes, saying President Muhammadu Buhari does not discriminate against any people or religion. The Presidency also reiterated that Farmers/herders clashes had been and an age-long matter, even as it noted that President Buhari was making every effort to put to an end to the animosity between farmers and herders. In a statement by Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, the Presidency noted that climate change had become one of the contributing factors to…

OPINION By: Innocent Okon Chinua Achebe decades ago, identified Nigeria’s problem as leadership! In his treatise: THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA, Achebe observed that the political firmament of the country was unfortunately held captive by a clique who regarded plum leadership positions as a pension and gratuity for whatever sacrifices they made to secure flag independence for Nigeria. If the writer and patriot were to be alive, possibly he would have added lack of foresight as one of the terminal ailments ravaging our body polity! The privileged few in positions of power, authority and influence have this penchant of proffering ad-hoc…

Trouble-prone pop star Justin Bieber is linked to model Hailey Baldwin whom he has dated for one month and may become a married man sooner than expected, reports said on Sunday. The 24-year-old Canadian heartthrob, who has become better known for his off-stage antics, proposed to the 21-year-old over dinner Saturday night at a restaurant in The Bahamas, the celebrity news site TMZ said. The site quoted witnesses at the restaurant, who said that Bieber’s security team asked them all to put their phones away for the proposal. A representative for Bieber did not comment but relatives of the couple…

A Kenyan referee expected to have officiated at the ongoing World Cup in Russia has been handed a life ban after being caught in a bribery sting. Aden Marwa is one of the 22 referees sanctioned by Confederation of African Football (CAF) in an unprecedented clean up, announced at the weekend. Marwa was filmed receiving a 600-dollar bribe during the CAF assignment in Ghana. Expected as a reserve at the 2014 finals in Brazil, Marwa had earlier been removed from the list of match officials due to officiate in Russia 2018. The life ban was handed out by CAF’s disciplinary…

Drake’s new set Scorpion has become the first album to hit 1 billion streams globally across all streaming platforms in a single week, industry sources have confirmed to Billboard. In all, Scorpion’s tracks accumulated more than 1 billion streams globally in the most recent tracking week (June 29-July 5), the set’s first week available, making it the first album to reach the milestone. Previously, Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys held the global record with just under 700 million streams (April 27-May 3), according to industry insiders. Additionally, Scorpion scored over 750 million streams U.S.-only in its first seven days, according…

Buzzing new kid on the block Teni who recently turned heads with a new single ‘Fake Jersey’ that aptly captures the mood of Nigerians in light of the ongoing world cup competition joins MTV Base’s Ehiz on a new episode of the weekly music countdown show dubbed “Official Naija Top Ten.” This week, Phyno maintained his hold on the 10th spot with the Olamide assisted fan-inspired video for “Onyeoma”. Kizz Daniel also continued to chart with his 2018 debut “4 Dayz” which sat on the ninth spot. Fan favourite and Nigerians preferred world cup theme song “Issa Goal” by Naira…

Facebook Inc. co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has overtaken Warren Buffett as the world’s third-richest person, further solidifying technology as the most robust creator of wealth. Zuckerberg, who trails only Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, eclipsed Buffett Friday as Facebook shares climbed 2.4 percent, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In official publication of Bloomberg, it is the first time that the three wealthiest people on the ranking made their fortunes from technology. Zuckerberg, 34, is now worth $81.6 billion, about $373 million more than Buffett, the 87-year-old chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway…

The Trump administration on Saturday halted billions of dollars in payments to health insurers under the Obamacare healthcare law, saying that a recent federal court ruling prevents the money from being disbursed. In the report published by CBNC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers programs under the Affordable Care Act, said the action affects $10.4 billion in risk adjustment payments. President Donald Trump’s administration has used its regulatory powers to undermine Obamacare after the Republican-controlled Congress last year failed to repeal and replace the law. About 20 million Americans have received health insurance coverage through the programme.…

Croatia thought they had won this World Cup quarter-final epic before they actually did. Domagoj Vida will not rate his extra-time header as the most powerful of his career but it was surely the most precious. When he connected with Luka Modric’s corner, the ball had a long way to travel. It got there in the end. The substitute Vedran Corluka had a nibble after it had bounced while another replacement, Russia’s Fedor Smolov, was on the scene. The upshot was that the goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, saw it late and it squeezed into the far corner. Game over? Not at…