Author: straightnewsng.com

Federal High Court, Lagos Thursday heard that Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel spent N1.4 billion state funds to hire Senior Advocates of Nigeria who represented and secured him victory at the election tribunal in 2015. At the resumed court proceeding, Abdulraman Arabo, an investigating officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated this at the court presided over by Justice Rilwan Aikawa at the trial of Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, the immediate-past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, who is facing an amended six-count money laundering. Arabo said the governor hired  Usoro who, in turn, invited other SANs…

At last, China has felicitated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for winning the U.S. presidential election. “We have been following the reaction on this U.S. presidential election from both within the United States and from the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a briefing in Beijing on Friday. “We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.” “We understand that the result of the U.S. presidential election will be determined following the U.S. laws and procedures,” Wang said. The acknowledgment came just after Biden defeated Donald Trump in Arizona, one of…

A lawsuit filed by Nigeria against a United States bank, JP Morgan Chase, claiming more than $1.7 billion for its role in the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 deal, will proceed to trial, London’s high court ruled Wednesday. The suit, filed in the English courts in 2017 relates to the purchase of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield in Nigeria by oil majors, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni in 2011, which is the subject of an ongoing trial in Milan. The federal government had filed a claim against the US lender, accusing the bank of negligence in transferring funds from the…

South Africa’s unemployment rate struck a record high of 30.8% in the third quarter, the highest level since 2008, according to government figures released Thursday. This is a big jump from the previous quarter when figures were distorted by lockdown restrictions that prevented people from job-hunting, the statistics agency said on Thursday. The agency only classifies people as unemployed if they are actively looking for work, which meant the unemployment rate was artificially low at 23.3% in the April-June quarter compared to 29.1% in the third quarter of last year. Africa’s most industrialised economy has long suffered from extremely high…

Fresh high transport fares and cost commodities and services loom in the country as the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, Friday, hiked the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, from N147.67 per litre to N155.17 a litre. The company, one of the downstream subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has added N7.50 per litre to the previous cost. In a memo from the Manager Marketing of the PPMC, Tijani Ali, to the Executive Director, Commercial, EDC, of the PPMC, the NNPC subsidiary said the new price would come into effect from November 13, 2020.…

Lagos State led with 71 new COVID-19 infections, out of 212 recorded by the country, Nigeria Centre for Disease Centre has reported. NCDC tweeted on Thursday “On the 12th of November 2020, 212 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria. According to the health agency, “The 212 new cases are reported from 17 states- Lagos (71), Imo (26), Plateau (26), FCT (19), Ondo (17), Kaduna (14), Rivers (9), Oyo (9), Katsina (6), Osun (4), Bauchi (2), Ekiti (2), Nasarawa (2), Ogun (2), Kano (1), Kwara (1), Taraba (1).” “Till date, 64728 cases have been confirmed, 60790 cases have been discharged…

The Federal Government has rejected the use of different payment platforms in Nigerian universities. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, told journalists while also announcing the position of NASU and SSANU on Thursday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, the nation’s capital. This was as Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities (SSANU) have kicked against University Transparency Account System (UTAS) (UTAS) proposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). ASUU had kicked against the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) proposed by the Federal Government for the…

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has pledged the ministry’s commitment to delivering quality East-West Road expected on completion to cost about N1 trillion. Announcing this Thursday at the inaugural virtual meeting of counterparts on the complementary programme for the project, Akpabio said this was to ensure the safety, efficiency and economic viability of the road to avoiding compromise and return on investment guaranteed. The 337km road running from Efurun in Delta State to Oron borders between Cross-River State and Akwa Ibom state. It was awarded in 2006 by President Olusegun Obasanjo. He explained that the huge…

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Former Ghanaian military leader, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, has passed into eternity. Born on June 22, 1947, Rawlings died on Thursday of complications from COVID-19 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, according to BBC reports. The leader of a military junta in Ghana from 1981 to 1992 after he led a military coup as a Flight Lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force. In 1992, he contested and was elected Ghana president after he which he served two terms as democratic president until the year 2000. Though it could not be confirmed how he contracted coronavirus, the former Ghanaian leader died…