Author: straightnewsng.com

At least, seven persons died, thousands displaced and whole towns destroyed by the furious 100 wildfires that raged in the Western US states. California, Washington state and Oregon have been the hardest hit by the blazes, fuelled by heat waves and windy conditions. BBC NEWS reports that Oregon’s governor said this “could be the greatest loss of human life and property” to fires in state history. Nine other states in the region are also seeing wildfires raging. Three deaths have been blamed on the wildfires in Oregon, with another three in California and one in Washington. According to the National…

Nigeria, Thursday, notched 197 more COVID-19 cases even as the number of people who have recovered from the pandemic inches to 44,000. Plateau State which has now become the pandemic epicentre in the country had the highest infections for the day – 83 – according to a tweet, Thursday, by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The agency said the new infections were reported in 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Of the new cases, Lagos had 48 infections, Kaduna – 17, FCT – 16, Ogun – 11, Katsina – 7, Imo– 4 and Edo – 3. Nasarawa had three…

As reported rape cases spread like epidemic across Nigeria, Kaduna State House of Assembly has okayed castration as punishment for anyone convicted of the crime in the state. This follows the passage of a bill to amend the Kaduna State Penal Court Law, 2017, by the lawmakers during Thursday’s plenary. The assembly, which announced the development via its Twitter handle on Thursday, said the bill was passed into law on Wednesday. The majority leader of the assembly, Haruna M A Inuwa tweeted about the development on his official twitter handle. “A bill to amend the Kaduna State Penal Court Law…

As the October 10 Governorship election in Ondo State draws nearer, more than 5,000 Smart Cards Thursday were gutted by fire in the state. The fire burnt was said to have razed a section of the Ondo state Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) complex in Akure, the state capital has destroyed a container loaded with smart card readers. The cause of the fire outbreak is not known as at the time of writing the report while the fire is still raging as 8:55 p.m. on Thursday. The inferno which was noticed around 7:03 p.m. affected the ICT unit of the…

P&ID has entered muddy water as a United Kingdom judge has ordered the company to make an interim payment of more than £1.5 million to Nigeria within 21 days. This money is to cover legal costs the country incurred as part of its successful application for the extension of time to challenge the arbitration award of $9.6 billion to the company. The judge gave the order on Thursday when Nigeria appeared before in a hearing held to decide procedural and costs issues relating to the FRN’s applications to challenge the arbitration award and to determine the short-term directions to trial.…

Following an agreement reached with Federal Government, National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended the nationwide industrial action. Confirming this to Channels Television on Thursday evening, Dr Aliyu Sokumba, the President of NARD stated that the union would review the progress made in talks with the Federal Government in two weeks. The Federal Government and the doctors reached an agreement on Wednesday to end the industrial action. During the meeting which almost took the entire day, NARD had stated that it will liaise with the executive council with a view to calling off the strike. Both parties had been…

After a three-day statewide blackout, Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), in Akwa Ibom State has restored electricity supply to its teeming consumers. The truce was brokered by Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) at the national level between the NUEE at the state level and PHED management on Thursday. Though members of NUEE in Akwa Ibom State Council have called off their three-day strike, their grievances have not yet been settled. The members began the strike Tuesday morning after the management of PHED, Akwa Ibom was alleged to have turned deaf ears to their five-point grievances. As at Thursday…

The Portuguese soccer maestro, Cristiano Ronaldo Tuesday scored twice against 10-man Sweden to take him to 101 international goals for Portugal. The mythical 100-mark was broken on the stroke of half-time of a UEFA Nations League match against Sweden. The 35-year-old Juventus attacker curled in a free-kick from 25 yards over the wall and into the far left corner beyond Sweden’s stranded goalkeeper Robin Olsen for a memorable milestone in his trophy-laden career. The bonus second goal, and his 101st, came in the 72nd minute, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player cutting back inside the Swedish defence and…

From March and June, 2020, Nigeria’s public debt rose from N2.381 trillion to N31 trillion, a Debt Management Office (DMO) report, released on Wednesday, has shown. Already, the country has spent $287,043.07 million on debt servicing within the same period. The nation’s Public Debt Stock, which comprises the Debt Stock of the Federal Government, the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory as of June 30, 2020, stood at N31.009 trillion or SD85.897 billion, according to the report. This represents N2.381 trillion or USD6.593 billion increase over the N28.628 trillion or USD79.303 billion figures for March 31, 2020. According…

Five persons were Tuesday sentenced to death by hanging for kidnapping and murdering a Shell staffer. The five defendants out of seven in suit number PHC/324/2017 were found guilty by  Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt for killing Anthony Okoro. The convicts are Oluchi Charles (1st defendant), Miracle Anumuna (2nd defendant), Ifeanyi Simon (3rd defendant), Koko Basset (4th defendant) and Uchenna Stanley Amaechi (7th defendant). They were convicted of the 10 charges preferred against them by the Inspector General of Police bordering on conspiracy, stealing, armed robbery, kidnapping and murder. Chukwudi Etete (5th defendant) and Anthony Ugwu (6th defendant), the remaining…