Author: straightnewsng.com

A teacher in a private Nursery and Primary school (names withheld) in Calabar, Cross River State capital involved in a four-man robbery gang died in a gun duel between the gang and men of the Uwanse Police Division, Calabar along Goldie-Mount Zion road, Calabar south local government area of Cross River State. The police who responded to a distress call engaged the gang in gun battle resulting in the injury of one person and escape of the driver, while the police recovered from them two locally made pistols, phones, laptops and cash, StraightNews gathered. A close source said the gang…

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, has spoken on why disciplinary actions have not been taken against those behind the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina into the service. Maina, former chairman of the presidential task force on pension reforms, was recalled and deployed to the Ministry of Interior, under controversial circumstances. Amid the outcry of the news of his reinstatement, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered his sack and asked Oyo-Ita to probe the embarrassing situation. Following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service, the Federal Civil Service Commission dismissed Maina in 2013 for absconding from…

The Federal Government says it is alarmed by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria, saying 70 percent of the 500 million translating to 350 million of such weapons in West Africa are found in the country. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, retd, Minister of Interior, stated this at a high level meeting on proliferation of small arms and light weapons as well as drug abuse in Nigeria Tuesday in Abuja. He stressed the need to check the trend before the 2019 elections, attributing the proliferation of the illegal weapons to Nigeria’s porous border. “Following the meeting we had…

Hate speeches in Nigeria spread like a raging fire devouring harmonious relationships, severing age-old ancestral ties and endangering communal spirit. The purveyors of the vitriolic messages usually ply their trade on Facebook and other social media where they have absolute control and unhindered access to spew their venoms. In 2015 general elections, All Progressives Congress discovered this willing tool- hate speech and used it effectively to wrestle political power from the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party. Few weeks ago, Facebook and other social media were awash with hate speeches and messages during the purported feud between Senator Godswill Akpabio and…

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has given President Muhammadu Buhari hard knocks on three glaring areas of his inertia, telling him not to seek re-election in the forthcoming general elections. In an 18-page letter to President Buhari, Obasanjo outlined the three major areas he has run aground to include nepotism, lack of understanding of the workings of internal politics and blame game. “But there are three other areas where President Buhari has come out more glaringly than most of us thought we knew about him. One is nepotic deployment bordering on clannishness and inability to bring discipline to bear on errant…

The Federal Government has given official recognition to Messrs UC Rusal, a Russian Company, as the core investor of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, following the signing of the Renewed Share Purchase Agreement between Government and the Russian company in Abuja, on Friday. The Renewed Share Purchase Agreement, was signed during a brief ceremony at the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Abuja, witnessed by the Minister, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Minister of State, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari; Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Alex Okoh; Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Nickolai Udovichenko; CEO/Member…

“I have spent many years of my life in stadiums, but today is a feeling like no other,” elated President George Weah told the mammoth crowds in the capital, Monrovia. Former international soccer star, Weah was sworn in as Liberia’s new president Monday, taking over the impoverished West African nation from Africa’s first female leader soon after 13:00GMT in front of an estimated 35,000 people. It is Liberia’s first transition between democratically-elected leaders since 1944. The 51-year-old, who was FIFA’s 1995 player of the year, took the oath of office dressed in all white at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports…

Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned the on-going arms deal trial of former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Olisa Metuh to Tuesday. The adjournment came after counsel to Metuh informed the court Monday that his client is currently on admission at the Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital for an undisclosed ailment. The case was, therefore, adjourned to Tuesday, January 23, 2018 by the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang for the cross-examination of Metuh’s 9th witness. Recall that Metuh had allegedly collected N400 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) via…

The Senate Monday began investigation of local content elements and huge cost variations of the over $16 billion Egina Deep-sea oil project. This is as major stakeholders in the execution of the almost completed offshore oil project have been invited. This was disclosed Saturday by the Ad-hoc Committee set up to investigate the alleged abuse of local content by the company, led by Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West). Adeola noted that those invited for the five-day investigative hearing include chief executives of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPIMS, Nigerian Content Monitoring Development Board, NCMDB, Total Upstream…

Growth Enhancement Scheme Agro-dealers Association of Nigeria, GESAAN, has raised alarm over looming food scarcity in the country following the recent killings of famrers by suspected herdsmen in Benue and Taraba states. Kabiru Umar, National Chairman of GESAAN, who expressed the concern weekend, called on the federal government to quickly intervene on the matter to cushion the effects on food production and prices in the market in affected areas. Umar said: “The clash between the herdsmen and farmers in Benue and Taraba states will definitely affect food production in that part of the country. ”The problem of this country is…