Author: straightnewsng.com

As COVID-19’s second variant rages, 1,325 more people have died in the United Kingdom- the biggest figure reported on any day since the pandemic began. It means there have been just short of 80,000 deaths by that measure within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test. This is as UK recorded another 68,053 new COVID-19 cases. It comes as a third COVID vaccine received emergency approval for use in the UK. The government has pre-ordered 17 million doses of the jab, made by US firm Moderna. It joins the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in being approved, with close to 1.5…

Boeing has accepted to settle $2.5 billion (£1.8 billion) US criminal charges over accusation that it hid information from safety officials about the design of its 737 Max planes. The US Justice Department the firm chose “profit over candour,” impeding oversight of the planes, which were involved in two deadly crashes. About $500 million will go to families of the 346 people killed in the tragedies. Boeing chief executive David Calhoun said: “I firmly believe that entering into this resolution is the right thing for us to do – a step that appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our…

More than11 million people in Chinese Northern Province of Hebei are under lockdown, in an effort to contain the country’s worst Coronavirus flare-up. Chinese government has barred residents of Shijiazhuang, a provincial capital close to Beijing, from leaving the city, as major highways were blocked, train and bus stations closed and flights canceled. The lockdown comes as a total of 117 COVID-19 infections including 67 asymptomatic cases were detected in Shijiazhuang on Wednesday. On Thursday, Shijiazhuang identified another 66 positive cases, according to the Hebei provincial health commission. Since January 2, a total of 304 positive cases have been reported…

The US economy shed 140,000 jobs in December last year, according to government data released Friday, a sign the recovery from the pandemic’s damage has stalled. “The decline in payroll employment reflects the recent increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and efforts to contain the pandemic,” the Labor Department said. The recent spike in infections, which saw the single-day death toll top 4,000, led to renewed restrictions on businesses, which hit the leisure and hospitality sector particularly hard. Those businesses lost 498,000 jobs in December, according to the report. While the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 percent, 10.7 million people…

A human rights activist and convener Civil Society Society Situation Room, Esther Uzoma, is dead. Uzoma was the National Coordinator of Proactive Gender Initiatives (PGI). The legal practitioner was also the convener of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room. A statement by the body on Thursday said she died after a surgery at a hospital in Abuja, the nation’s capital. “Esther was very energetic, and a committed human rights activist that has been in the forefront of driving Nigeria’s democratic reforms. “She will be sorely missed by all who came in contact with her,” it read. The family will make…

As the strike action embarked upon by workers of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) enters Day 2, enrollees of National Identification Number (NIN) are in for more anguish and frustration. The workers allegedly capitalizing on the huge crowds wanting NIN began the nationwide strike on Thursday to press home their demands. Straightnews learned that the possibility of most of the enrollees meeting the February 9 NIN to SIM registration and verification deadline may hit the rocks. The workers said they propped up the action based on their exposure to COVID-19 risks, lack of personal protective equipment, irregularities in promotion and…

Radio analysts in Akwa Ibom State do not see the rationale of Federal Government issuing a directive that allows many Nigerians to embark on what looks like a panicky National Identity Number registration in the face of COVID-19 surge in Nigeria. The Federal Government had directed Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to suspend mobile numbers of people without a NIN before February 23, 2021. On Tuesday, December 15, last year, the NCC released a statement ordering the suspension of the registration of new SIM cards by all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the country. Later, NCC shifted the date requiring mobile…

The Federal Government has directed the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the adjusted electricity tariff till the end of January this year. This is to forestall the implementation of the duly performed minor review from N2 per kWh to N4 per kWh till the conclusion of the Joint Ad-Hoc committee’s work. The Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman via his Twitter handle on Thursday, said the development would give room for the outcome of all resolutions from the Committee to be implemented together. Electricity tariffs will be reverted to what it was in November 2020, following the agreement…

Vice Chancellors of Federal Government-owned universities are directed to begin academic activities on January 18, in accordance with the directive of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) team on COVID-19. Nigerian universities closed since following a strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as well as during the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic last year. ASUU suspended its nine-month old strike on December 23, 2020 after the federal government met their demands, including paying the lecturers their outstanding salaries using an older payment platform, GIFMIS, different from the controversial IPPIS. The National Universities Commission (NUC) that gave the directive…

Twenty-four Nigerian states including Federal Capital Territory recorded 1,565 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths on Thursday. Of the number, Lagos State has 807 confirmed cases while FCT and Kaduna recorded 236 and 79 respectively, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported. NCDC tweeted ‘’On the 7th of January 2021, 1,565 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. ‘’The 1,565 new cases are reported from 25 states- Lagos (807), FCT (236), Kaduna (79), Oyo (57), Plateau (47), Rivers (37), Katsina (35), Edo (30), Sokoto (30), Delta (26), Kebbi (23), Ondo (20). ‘’Enugu (18), Abia (17), Ogun(17), Benue(16), Bayelsa…