Author: straightnewsng.com

The Lagos State Government has spent at least N800 million to conduct 16,000 COVID-19 tests in the state. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said this on Thursday, on Thursday, while briefing newsmen on COVID-19 weekly situation report, held in Press Centre, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja. Abayomi, while responding to questions from the newsmen, said each COVID-19 test cost between N40,000 to N50,000, while 16,000 tests have been conducted so far fully all expenses paid by the state government. According to him, “We have so far performed 16,000 COVID-19 tests in Lagos, which is much higher than anywhere else…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday hopped to 339 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number of infections to 7,016 in the country. The NCDC stated this on its twitter handle on Thursday night. “339 new cases of #COVID19; 139-Lagos 28-Kano 28-Oyo 25-Edo 22-Katsina 18-Kaduna 14-Jigawa 13-Yobe 13-Plateau 11-FCT 8-Gombe 5-Ogun 4-Bauchi 4-Nasarawa 3-Delta 2-Ondo 1-Rivers 1-Adamawa. “7016 total cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria “Discharged: 1907 “Deaths: 211” NCDC also announced that to limit transmission of the virus, the centre is training healthcare workers to practise standard care precautions at all times.” The…

The Super Eagles’ German manager has signed a new deal with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Rohr’s current contract runs out at the end of June and both parties are keen to continue their working relationship. Gernot Rohr, 66, has been in charge of three-time African champions Nigeria since 2016. The former Niger and Gabon coach qualified the country for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2019 AFCON in Egypt. “The executive committee mandated the general secretary to liaise with Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, with a view to concluding all matters around his new contract within…

The Federal Government has declared Monday and Tuesday – May 25 and 26, 2020 – as public holidays to mark Eid-el-Fitri celebration. The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, made the announcement on behalf of the Federal Government. This was contained in a press statement by the Director of Press in the Ministry, Mohammed Manga, on Thursday. Aregbesola expressed concern over the spate of ethnic conflicts that have resurfaced in some parts of Northern Nigeria in recent times. He advised, “Nigerians to see themselves as a single entity and learn to tolerate one another despite their ethnic and religious differences”.…

By: Akanimo Sampson The combative Rivers State Government under the watch of Nyesom Wike, a seeming vociferous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor on Wednesday ignited a political fire in the state without substantiating its claims with credible security reports. Unarguably, Rivers is the capital of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and very strategic to the petroleum-led economy of the country. But, in spite of its economic status, the state has been suffering a worrisome bloodletting politics of the contending political gladiators. The political heat in the state is coming from the Ikwerre axis of the big oil and gas state…

By: Akanimo Sampson One in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, so declares Mercy Corps, a global civic group. According to it, those going to bed hungry include the 20 million people currently at risk of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria. Mercy Corps is however working to achieve a real and lasting impact in the world’s toughest humanitarian emergencies. The group has been responding to almost every global natural disaster in the last 20 years, including the Nepal earthquake, the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Dorian in…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday said Nigeria recorded 284 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in Nigeria to 6,677. NCDC also said that eight new patients have been confirmed dead to the virus in the country, bringing the total number of deaths to 200. It said “On the 20th of May 2020, 284 new confirmed cases and 8 deaths were recorded in Nigeria” No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. Till date, 6677 cases have been confirmed, 1840 cases have been discharged and 200 deaths have been…

In a quick succession, ExxonMobil with its Operational Headquarters at Ibeno in Akwa Ibom has drawn the bile of a Nigerian Senator for sacking150 staffers and contract workers. ExxonMobil was in the eye of the storm on Sunday following Akwa Ibom Government’s rejection of 10 vehicles donated by the company for COVID-19 contact tracing in the state. Peeved by the sack, Dr. Akon Eyakenyi, the Senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, has called on the company to reinstate the 150 staffers and contract workers sacked from its employment in the state. In a statement signed and made available to…

Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, two states in the country have damned COVID-19 and again flung open places of worship in their states. Bauchi and Cross River Governments have lifted the ban on all religious gatherings earlier placed on the states. A press release signed by Christian Ita, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Governor Ben Ayade thanked the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Pastors, Christians of various denominations, and the entire Muslim community for their support and cooperation during the period of suspension of public worship in the state in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. In the…

By: Ray Ekpu Since 1999, Nigeria has had four Chiefs of Staff who served four of our Presidents. Retired Major- General Abdullahi Mohammed served Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for all of his eight years in office and one year of Umaru Yar’Adua’s term. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had the former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe and later retired Brigadier General Arogbofa. They all served without the trembling of the earth, almost innocuously and almost unconspicuously. Then President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Mr. Abba Kyari, a brilliant Cambridge-trained lawyer who was also a journalist and banker. He gave his Chief of…