Author: straightnewsng.com

Algeria suffered its deadliest ever air catastrophe Wednesday when a military plane crashed after takeoff, killing 257 people on board, mostly army personnel and their family members. An AFP photographer at the scene saw the charred wreckage of the plane after it caught fire in a field near the Boufarik airbase, 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Algiers. Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of fire trucks with sirens wailing rushed to the scene of the crash, in an uninhabited area where one person was injured on the ground by debris. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and security forces set up a…

The atmosphere at Skye Bank Plc, 56 Nwaniba Road, Uyo, in Akwa Ibom State was somber. In particular, some staffers of marketing department of the bank wore long faces. Others looked speechless and morose. The trending story hitting the department still sounds like cock-and-bull. “I do not believe Ubong is dead. He has gone to work. He will surely return someday,” one of the colleagues of Ubong Ekpe who died Sunday evening at Ibeno Beach, Iwuokpom in Ibeno local government area of the state, noted. Another colleague who for officialdom did not mention his name said “I am lost of…

Nigerians have continued to react to President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration to seek another term in the office in 2019 general elections. The president gave the indication during a closed-door meeting of the National Executive Council, NEC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, held at the party’s headquarters in Abuja. Buhari said he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians to re-contest in 2019, adding that he wanted to give NEC the honour of notifying them first. Shehu Sani, Senator representing Kaduna central district in the National Assembly has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s intention to seek a second term. Sani,…

It was a pathetic scene as a seven-year-old pupil drowned in a drainage channel over the weekend along two lanes at Akwa Efak by Nsikak Eduok Avenue in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital. It was learnt that the downpour, which occurred on Saturday evening and lasted many hours, submerged homes and destroyed properties worth thousands of naira. The boy, Jeremiah Alphonsus accompanied by a guardian was struggling to pick his pair of slippers that slipped into the drain, but he fell into the drain and was swept off by the flood water. Governor Udom Emmanuel, who visited the bereaved family…

The Federal Government confirmed Wednesday that it has received $322.51 million from the Swiss government as part of looted funds recovered from former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha. Oluyinka Akintunde, Special Adviser, Media and Communications to Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, who stated this in a statement in Abuja, said the federal government received the money in December 2017. Akitunde said there was no controversy surrounding the recovery of stolen funds by the former head of state from the Swiss government. “In the statement, Adeosun wishes to dissociate herself and the Federal Ministry of Finance from recent…

Worried by the delay in the passage of the N8.612 trillion 2018 budget by the National Assembly, Bukola Saraki, Senate President Wednesday mandated the Appropriation Committee led by Senator Danjuma Goje, APC, Gombe Central, to submit its report next week. According to Saraki, the appropriations committee should tidy up reports from other sub- committees latest 6:00pm on Friday for submission to the Senate next week. Saraki said: “The Chairman Appropriations should please ensure that by Friday this week, collection of reports from various committees end . “There should be no more extension for that purpose because the appropriation committee itself…

AS Roma pulled off one of the great Champions League comebacks by knocking Barcelona out with a remarkable 3-0 win in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, overcoming a 4-1 deficit from the first game to reach the last four on away goals. Roma’s Kostas Manolas headed the decisive third goal in the 82nd minute, putting the Italians in the semi-finals for the first time since they reached the European Cup final in 1984 and making amends for his own goal in the first leg at the Nou Camp. Roma forward Edin Dzeko had opened the scoring when he beat…

Nigeria has so far won four Gold and four silver medals in the on-going Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. Abdulazeez Ibrahim made it a clean sweep of gold medal for Team Nigeria in the Para-Powerlifting event on Tuesday as he emerged tops in the men’s heavyweight category at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Completesportsnigeria.com reports. Ibrahim made a lift of 191.9kg to finish ahead among a field of 10 contestants. The silver medal was won by Yee Khie Jong from Malaysia won lifted 188.7 kg, while India’s Sachin Chandhary won bronze with a 181.0kg effort. Nigerian trio Roland Ezuruike,…

Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, Tuesday, barred members of the Nigerian Army from attending church services outside the barracks. Buratai, speaking at the opening of the chief of army staff first quarter conference holding in Abuja, said henceforth no personnel was permitted to attend church services outside the barracks especially when the Army has made provisions for the spiritual needs of its personnel. According to him, the Nigerian Army recognises the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant (Anglican) and Mosques, all of which have their prayer houses in all its barracks, formations and units across the country. He warned that…

More than 10 structures sited in government reserved areas and designated as illegal by Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) along Uyo village Road in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital are at the brink of demolition. The Akwa Ibom government has accepted this recommendation contained in the 17-page White Paper on the report of the commission of Inquiry (Collapsed Church Building) 2016 published Monday, April 9 by the government. The structures, which include churches, petrol filling stations, event centres and residential building also marked for demolition by UCCDA in 2017, are brimming the road. In an advertorial, The Weekend Pioneer…