Author: straightnewsng.com

Liverpool booked a Champions League final meeting with Real Madrid after beating Roma 7-6 on aggregate in the semi-finals on Wednesday despite losing a breathless second leg at the Stadio Olimpico. After a 5-2 first-leg win last week, a 4-2 defeat on the night could not prevent the five-time champions from reaching their first final since 2007. Jurgen Klopp’s men built on their Anfield victory with first-half strikes from Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum sandwiching an unfortunate James Milner own goal. Needing four unanswered goals to force extra time, Roma piled on the pressure in the second half, but failed…

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris’ refusal to appear before the Senate for a second time has drawn the ire of the Nigerian Senators. Idris who was supposed to appear a week ago to answer questions on the arrest and detention of Senator Dino Melaye as well as the rampant killings of people in the country rather accompanied President Muhammadu Buhari to Bauchi State on a state visit. Instead, he sent a deputy Inspector-General of Police, Joshak Habila. The senate had rejected the representation of Habila, insisting that the IGP must appear before it in person. He, however, failed to…

The local currency maintained the same rates of N362 against Dollar, N505 per Pound rate and N442 per Euro as it closed on Tuesday, May 1. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues to intervene in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in line with its determination to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability. At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira exchanged at N362 to a dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed N504 and N436, respectively. Trading at the investors’ window saw the Naira closed at N360.67, while it closed at the CBN window…

World football governing body, FIFA at the weekend alerted that it would not consult with any of the parties fighting for the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) before it htorws its big hammer on the country over meddling in the nation’s football affairs. The Nigerian football community was jolted by a Supreme Court decision on Friday directing the parties fighting for the leadership of the NFF to go back to the Jos High court to sort out the suit filed by one of the parties claiming it is the right board to lead the federation. In the FIFA…

Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, was on Wednesday re-arrested by security agents shortly after Magistrate Court in Abuja had granted him a N90 million bail. Melaye was taken to the court on a stretcher. Well armed security operatives guarded the court. Journalists were not allowed into the court premises. Despite the bail granted Melaye, he was arrested again by security agencies. His whereabout is not known to many who watched as the security operatives ferried him out of the court premises. It would be recalled that Melaye was hospitalised following the injury he sustained when he tried to…

At least, 31.4 million customers have been captured in the Bank Verification Number system, Central Bank of Nigeria has stated. The apex bank’s director in charge of banking and payment system, Dipo Fatokun, said in Abuja. “As at December 2017, the implementation of the project recorded 31,426,091 registered BVNs and 43,959,282- accounts linked with BVN,’’ he said. “To address the absence of a unique identifier in the Nigerian banking industry and to facilitate the creation of inclusive financial services environment, the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee launched the BVN Project on February 14, 2014, with biometric solution, as…

Ambassador Cajetan Akpan, a one-time National Secretary of Producers Forum of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers ( NUPENG), does not absolve government from casualisation of labour, describing it as cheating for someone to work in the oil company for 30 years without employment being regularised. Excerpts: Ambassador Cajetan Akpan Ambassador Cajetan Akpan is a young man from a humble beginning who rose to an enviable height by the special grave of God. I come from Ikot Akpandem village of Okon Clan in Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State. A holder of Master’s degree in Peace…

President Muhammadu Buhari who seems undeterred by outrage and vituperation that greeted his comment that some Nigerian youths are lazy, has dropped another verbal bomb: youths in Northern Nigeria are school dropouts and uneducated. At the Commonwealth Business Forum on Wednesday, April 18, in London, Buhari had slammed a section of Nigerian youths, saying that “a lot of them haven’t been to school but are after free things based on the notion that Nigeria is an oil-rich nation. “About the economy, we have a very young population. Our population is estimated conservatively to be 180 million. This is a very…

In sustaining a cordial relationship with workers, Akwa Ibom Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has announced the successful implementation of about 80 percent of demands presented to his administration by the organised labour unions in the state. Emmanuel stated this Tuesday while addressing workers during the 2018 International Workers Day celebrations hosted by the state councils of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) at the Uyo Township Stadium. The governor, who said he has an emotional attachment to the state workforce, said a mechanism has been put in place to clear back-log of gratuities to retirees. “There are three…

By Ray Ekpu Someone copied this message to my daughter: “Ray Ekpu made a confession that startled everybody present. He pointedly said the media would never support PMB’s regime because all media houses that collected huge sums of public funds from Johnathan’s regime were compelled to refund what was given to them by PMB. He said that is the grouse of the media against PMB and so we shall not expect the media to be fair – Obono-Obla (SAN)”. My daughter copied the message to me and asked: “Daddy, is this true?” I promptly replied: “Of course not. What I…