Author: straightnewsng.com

Against interstate lockdown order nationwide, Akwa Ibom people are apprehensive over the mission of 32 youths from the northern part of the country in the state. Vanguard gathered that the COVID-19 taskforce set up in Obot Akara local government area on Wednesday intercepted another trailer conveying the people along the boundary between Obot Akara of Akwa Ibom and Ikwuano in Abia state. Though the state governor Udom Emmanuel said during the lockdown order, he ordered repatriation of the 13 Northern youths after they had offloaded cows in Eket, but the 32 persons are yet to be deported. Akwa Ibom people…

Operatives of Anti-Child Theft Unit in Akwa Ibom State Police Command have smashed a child trafficking syndicate operated by a 27-year-old female pastor and two other women. Consequently, Pastor Ndukeabasi Isaac Bassey, the General Overseer of Alpha Ministry along Akpabong junction, Mbierebe Obio in Ibesikpo-Asutan local government area who deviated from her priestly call to engage in the illicit business was arrested. A press release signed by CSP N-Nudam K. Frederick, the Akwa Ibom PPRO confirmed that Mercy Bokime, an auxiliary nurse and the 26-year-old Theresa Anthony Aaron of Nna Umiang, Mbierebe Obio in Ibesikpo-Asutan were also arrested. The suspects,…

The Federal Government has said it does not know the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors and technicians who came into the country to offer assistance to Nigeria in the Coronavirus fight. The Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire made the shocking statement at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the containment of the COVID-19 in Abuja on Thursday came one month after the controversial arrival of the Chinese medical team. Despite protest by some Nigerians and health workers’ groups, Osagie Ehanire, the Health Minister announced in April that the Chinese medical equipment and personnel had arrived the country…

By Akanimo Sampson A weekly intelligence report on Nigeria’s Politics and Security by Menas Associates has exposed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha. Menas is a political risk consultancy that provides actionable intelligence for its clients, from country entry strategies to due diligence, stakeholder analysis, political risk reports and exit strategies. It has been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle-East, Africa, and other emerging markets since the late 1970s. Its intelligence report says neither Osinbajo nor Mustapha has the kind of unfettered access to President Muhammadu Buhari that his late Chief…

By: Israel Umoh The pale strangers have come again. They have come to Africa, the cradle of civilization. They have landed in Nigeria, the home of ‘black gold’ and home of abundant human and natural resources. They have dark, silver-like hair. Their quint and brown eyes like a squirrel are all over. A mere look: sporty, pint-sized physique, broad foreheads and chins, tell of their nationality. They are the Lis, Wengs, Huis, Chengs, and Zhèngs. The list goes. They are Chinese from East Asia known as the most populous country in the world.  Like their European counterparts, they have raced…

New cases of coronavirus totalling 184 were confirmed in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Jigawa, and 18 other states in Nigeria on Wednesday. Announcing this in its Twitter, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has risen to 4,971. Data from the centre’s website showed that six new COVID-19 fatalities were recorded in the country. Also, 111 patients were discharged after testing negative twice for the virus, making the total number of recoveries rise to 1070. NCDC said, “On the 13th of May 2020, 184 new confirmed cases and six deaths were recorded…

By: Akanimo Sampson A new briefing paper by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says the COVID-19 lockdown and containment measures are threatening to increase relative poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by as much as 56 percentage points in low-income countries. In high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers are estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper-middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points. As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s two billion informal economy workers are affected by lockdown and containment measures. Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or…

The need for the Federal and Akwa Ibom governments to support the informal sector which accounts for 80 per cent of the economic growth in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic has come to the front burner. Chris Ekong, a professor of Economics who made the call on Tuesday, predicted that the country’s economy may drastically nosedive in the next six months if the government folds hand and fails to ginger the sector which was vibrant before the pandemic. Ekong, currently the Director of International Programmes, University of Uyo, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State while answering questions during Team Nigeria…

President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated an Akwa Ibom son as one of the 42 career diplomats to the Senate for confirmation as ambassadors. He is R. U. Brown, a career diplomat, who hails from Ikot Abasi local government area. Buhari forwarded the names of the nominees to the Senate seeking confirmation of their appointments “in accordance with section 171(2)(1c) and Subsection 4 of the 1999 constitution. His letter was read out by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary on Tuesday. The nominnes are C. O Nwachukwu (Abia), A. Kefas (Adamawa), G. A, Odidibo (Anambra), O. C…

An imminent food shortage in the country caused by the ravaging COVID-19 may spell doom for more than five million Akwa Ibom people. A Nigerian university lecturer who expressed this concern Tuesday on Inspiration 105.9 FM, Uyo, said the situation may worsen in the next six months as the World Health Organisation is still searching for a cure to the deadly COVID-19. Chris Ekong, a professor of Economics and currently the Director of International Programmes, University of Uyo, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State was talking on the topic: Informal Economic Sector In A Pandemic Era lamented that most foodstuffs such…