Author: straightnewsng.com

The fatal shooting of a Chinese-born coronavirus researcher on US soil has fuelled conspiracy theories around the world. Bing Liu, a 37-year-old assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was found dead in his house on Saturday. Colleagues said he was close to making “significant findings” on his studies of Covid-19, sparking online speculation it was an assassination. But police say it was a murder-suicide. Why did Liu die? He was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso and extremities at his home in the Pittsburgh suburbs, according to the local police department. The…

By: Israel Umoh Like a leprous finger, the COVID-19 is sticking out its scary head. The pandemic has thrown open the vacuous systems of developing and developed countries. For the developed countries, the pandemic has been randomly decimating their citizens, thus making their arrival mentality in the health-care system nonsensical. For the developing countries, the virus has shown that they are little pawns in the health-care chessboard and the people are surviving on the mercies of God. Nigeria, the hitherto Giant of Africa of yesterday has become the Lilliputian of today in the comity of developing ones. The health system…

By Akanimo Sampson A political risk consultancy, Menas Associates, has warned in an intelligence report that the focus of attention of jihadism in the Sahel is shifting. According to it, the focus is shifting from the three borders region — between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — to the Lake Chad region. Menas Associates which also provides actionable intelligence for its clients, says the development follows the March 23 attack by Boko Haram’s Bakura Doron group on the Chadian army garrison on the Bohoma peninsula. The political risk consultancy has also been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle-East, Africa…

By Akanimo Sampson Apparently jolted by the emerging People Power on his controversial Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has agreed to subject the draft bill to public hearing. The bill was being fast tracked for passage in the Green Chamber of the bicameral National Assembly. According to Wikipedia, People Power is a political term denoting the populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organised corporate or political forces. Continuing, the free encyclopedia says People power can be manifested as a…

The Federal Government is open to the possibility of using local herbs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who stated this when the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefed members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, insisted that the Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development must first certify any such remedy. Ehanire said the government was not ruling out the possibility of using local herbs for the treatment of COVID-19, adding that what the government was saying was that those who claim to have found cure should subject it to test by…

By Akanimo Sampson The departure of the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, who died of COVID-19, is changing the dynamics of policy making and implementation in the Presidency. Excerpts from Nigeria Politics & Security, a weekly intelligence report on Nigeria by Menas Associates indicate that the numerous economy advisers and ministers in Abuja are working under a new order following the exit of President Buhari’s gatekeeper. Menas Associates is, however, a political risk consultancy that provides actionable intelligence for its clients. It has also been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle-East, Africa and other emerging…

By Akanimo Sampson The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, has denied responsibility for the dead fishes floating and littering the coastline of the Niger Delta. The oil major Nigeria’s main oil and gas region as the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). The massive dead fishes floating near the Atlantic coastline in the vastly polluted oil and gas region sparked off a worrisome row. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) had said it found no oil spills linking the dead fishes floating near the coastline in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. But, Furoebi Akene, an…

Nigeria’s new COVID-19 cases have soared to 245 with 93 deaths in the country. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control stated this in its Twitter handle, bringing the total number of cases to 2,802 in the country. NCDC tweets on Monday “245 new cases of #COVID19; 76-Lagos 37-Katsina 32-Jigawa 23-Kano 19-FCT 18-Borno 10-Edo 9-Bauchi 6-Adamawa 5-Oyo 5-Ogun 1-Ekiti 1-Osun 1-Benue 1-Niger 1-Zamfara. According to it, “2802 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria Discharged: 417 Deaths: 93.″ Meanwhile, 4,000 Nigerians from across the world need evacuation in the face of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffery…

By Akanimo Sampson The war of attrition between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, does not appear to be in a hurry to end. The two prominent Ikwerre political leaders have been locked in a bitter politics since the electioneering campaigns of 2015, and in the process kicking dust and fueling unease in the state, the oil and gas capital of Nigeria. At a time political watchers were expecting a ceasefire following Wike’s defeat of Amaechi again in the power contest for the soul of Rivers in 2019, the COVID-19 crisis appears to provide the…

Emir of Rano’s burial Monday, May 4. Rano is one of the Emirates carved out of Kano Emirate. The Emir is said to have died of coronavirus. See how people gathered and how they are rushing to touch the corpse of the late Emir.