Author: straightnewsng.com

The acting Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Niger Delta Development Commission is dead. A source from a family friend in Uyo who spoke on condition of anonymity with Straightnews said the senior official, Ibanga Bassey Etang, died on Wednesday night after a brief but undisclosed illness. Etang had served as the chairman of Esit Eket local government area in Akwa Ibom State and a Special Assistant on Projects to ex-Akwa Ibom Governor. He is reported to have been absent from work at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt throughout this week. He was also conspicuously absent during the flag…

By: Akanimo Sampson About 500,000 persons engaged in N-Power of Social Investment Programme will soon be rendered jobless as the Federal Government is set to dispense with their services. A statement by Rhoda Iliya, a spokesperson for the humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development ministry, said the current beneficiaries have overstayed in the programme, “thereby denying other Nigerians an opportunity to access the programme and gain skills for entrepreneurship and employment.” Iliya noted that their current engagement has contributed to “the administration’s vision of lifting 100 million people out of poverty by creating opportunities to enhance the productivity of…

By Akanimo Sampson The National Assembly, the Legislative arm of the Nigerian government is resuming from a two-week Sallah break this Thursday, against the backdrop of a damaging allegation that the federal lawmakers padded last year’s budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). They will be racing to their bicameral chambers four days earlier than the Tuesday, June 2 resumption date to rejig this year’s federal budget that has been badly damaged by the rampaging COVID-19 crisis. NDDC’s Acting Managing Director, Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, has dented the image of the supposed “honourable’’ legislators with the allegation that the interventionist…

Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 389 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number to 8,733 in the country. Akwa Ibom State recorded 11 new COVID-19 cases, the highest so far, bringing the total number to 35. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on its official twitter handle, said that as of May 27, fatalities recorded in Nigeria have reached 254. NCDC explained that most of the fatalities recorded from COVID-19 were cases with other underlying illnesses known as co-morbidities. A breakdown of the latest results shows that Lagos recorded 256 of the 389 new cases. Other states…

By: Akanimo Sampson Five years ago, 2015 to be precise, the then 17-year old Fatima (not real name) had no idea how quickly life would turn upside down for her. She was a child bride living in the port city of Al Hudaydah, Yemen. She said in her testimony to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), “I was almost 17 years old and happy with my new life. I was a new bride and I got pregnant fast. I thought life was smiling at me.” Like many other women and girls in Yemen, she gave birth at home. But her…

Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel has told children in the state to stay away from such anti-social tendencies as cultism but rather focus on their education and other ennobling pursuits. In his felicitations to the children on the occasion of 2020 Children’s Day celebrations, Emmanuel said “the future is yours to secure and keep.” The theme of this year’s celebration is “Promoting Girl Child Education for Sustainable Development.” A press release by Ekerete Udoh, his Chief Press Secretary, Governor explained “The reason we have invested huge resources in ensuring that our children are made ready for the globalized world of…

As Nigerian children join their counterparts worldwide in marking the 2020 Children’s Day Celebrations amid COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio has observed “Every child is a different kind of flower.” Akpabio who is the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in his official Twitter handle on Wednesday wrote “All together they make this world a beautiful garden. Happy Children’s day to the children of the Niger Delta and every child in our great country Nigeria.” On her part, Aisha M. Buhari said “The theme for this year is Promoting Girl-child Education for Sustainable Development. It tells us that despite…

Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 276 new cases of the COVID-19, bringing the total active cases to 8,344. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on its official twitter handle, said that as of May 26, 2020, fatalities have reached 249, which means that 16 deaths were recorded in the country. The health agency said no new state reported a case in the last 24 hours. The 276 new cases of COVID-19 were reported as follows: Lagos-161, Rivers-36, Edo-27, Kaduna-19, Nasarawa-10, Oyo-6, Kano-4, Delta-3, Ebonyi-3, Gombe-2, Ogun-1, Ondo-1, Borno-1, Abia-1, Bauchi-1. Till date 8,344 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in…

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)’s 2019 budget was inflated with more than 500 non-existing projects. Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, the acting Managing Director of the commission, stated this on Tuesday while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt while making clarifications on allegations of corruption levelled against the Interim Management Committee (IMC). Pondei said that billions of naira were appropriated for the non-existing projects. The acting managing director said the interim management committee made the discovery while investigating the 2019 appropriation to the commission. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 ordered forensic audit of…

By: Akanimo Sampson The political assault boats of Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, in the Rivers State wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are currently attacking Governor Nyesom Wike on his administration’s claim of an underground plot to topple his government. Before 2015, Wike and Amaechi, both prominent Ikwerre sons have been locked in a worrisome political antagonism. The rift between them seems to be worsening every passing day. The previous Tuesday, the state’s Information and Communications Commissioner, Paulinus Nsirim, a church pastor, ruptured the relative peace in the troubled state with a seeming unguarded claim that the Wike administration…