Author: straightnewsng.com

Akwa Ibom State government has pledged to offer the overall best local government area N10 million, N5 million for the second position and N3 million for the third respectively during the second edition of youth sports festival billed for March this year. Monday Uko, the commissioner for youth and sports, who announced this Tuesday, said the government would also give cash prizes and merit awards to deserving athletes at the competition. Uko hinted that the competition would begin with the local government elimination series in February and the state finals in March this year. Briefing journalists at the Godswill Akpabio…

Akwa Ibom state College of Health Technology, Etinan is in the vanguard of regular training of health professionals in various cadres who are currently providing health-care services across Akwa Ibom state and beyond. So far, the 30-year-old institution has trained more than 15,000 holders of certificate, national diploma and higher national diploma in different health-related programmes. The Provost of the college, Mr. David Udo who stated this during the matriculation ceremony of 572 students for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic session said the college is running 16 academic departments in six professional programmes. Udo applauded governor Udom Emmanuel for demonstrating what…

A Nigerian cleric who allegedly committed advanced fee fraud by duping unsuspecting victims ranging from N300,000 to N36 million has been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ondo State Command. Oladele Ayuba alongside two other suspects was paraded for alleged offences ranging from obtaining by false pretence, illegal possession of counterfeit money and vandalism of transformer. Pedro Awili Ideba, the Corps Commandant, who gave the names of the other two suspects as Abiodun Oluwaseun and Jayeola Tosin said the Pastor Ayuba duped many who went to him for prayers of various amounts. Ideba stated “but he was…

Zambian authorities have arrested and detained a Nigerian pastor for allegedly trafficking 26.29 kilogramme of ephedrine, a medication and stimulant drug, a spokesperson said. Isaac Amata, 42, is known for having predicted that President Edgar Lungu would win Zambia’s 2016 general elections. Amata was arrested by anti-drug officers on Wednesday upon arrival at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, the country’s capital, according to Drug Enforcement Commission spokesperson Theresa Katongo. She said the Nigerian pastor was arrested upon arrival at the airport from Nigeria aboard a South African Airways plane. Katongo said the suspect is currently in police custody…

Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, has vowed not to resume work until the Federal Government settles the N9 billion arrears owed its members. The Joint Action Committee, JAC, of the three non-teaching staff in the universities, comprising NASU, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, had embarked on strike December last year over non-payment of Earned Allowances, among other things. Speaking Tuesday in Abuja, Comrade Peter Adeyemi, General Secretary of NASU, said the union would sustain the on-going strike in research and development institutions across the country. Adeyemi stated…

Oil prices were firm on Wednesday, receiving ongoing support from healthy economic growth and supply restrictions led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia. NAN reports that Brent crude oil futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at 70 dollars a barrel, up four cents from Tuesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at 64.59 dollars a barrel, up 12 cents. In the latest sign of healthy global economic growth, Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in almost four years in January, a survey showed on Wednesday. Economic growth is translating…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Tuesday, said it earned $239.10 million from crude oil export and gas in November 2017. The NNPC, in a statement on its Monthly Financial and Operations Report for November 2017, stated that the crude oil and gas export figure in November was 25.68 per cent lower than the previous month’s performance. Giving a breakdown of the figures, the NNPC declared that crude oil export sales contributed $113.97 million, or 47.7 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with $227.83 million contribution in the month of October 2017. It added that export gas sales amounted…

The House of Representatives is considering a law to discourage international medical trip by public office holders in the country. This is against the background of the terrible state of Nigeria’s health-care system due to government neglect and the huge drain on foreign exchange caused by the unchanging appetite of Nigerians for medical treatment overseas. It is a ”Bill for an Act to Regulate International Trip for Medical Treatment by Public Officers to Strengthen the Health Institutions for Efficient Service Delivery and for Related Matters”. The bill, which was consolidated with a similar proposal Tuesday, is being sponsored by Sergius…

An Osun Magistrate Court sitting in Ile-Ife, Wednesday, remanded a tipper lorry driver in prison for allegedly killing a passenger. The Magistrate, Mr. Olalekan Ijiyode, ordered that the accused, Makinde Mutairu, 35, be remanded in prison custody pending the consideration of his bail application. The Prosecutor, Insp. Emmanuel Abdullahi told the court that the accused on January 13, 2018, knocked down and killed the motorcyclist at Akeredolu village near Ile-Ife. According to him, the accused drove a Bedford lorry with number plates: OYO XE 494 BDT dangerously on a public highway and without a driver’s licence. The prosecutor explained that…

The police and Taraba government have disagreed over claim that a helicopter loaded with arms landed in Jibu, a village in Wukari local government area of the state last weekend. Mr. Dave Akinremi, Commissioner of Police in Taraba at a press briefing in Jalingo described Tuesday the report as false, misleading, unfounded and a deliberate attempt to misinform the people of the state. However, Mr. Bala Dan-Abu, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Darius Ishaku on Media and Publicity insisted that the Taraba State government still stood by its earlier statement. “We also have our channels of getting information, and I…