Author: straightnewsng.com

Twenty two staffers of ExxonMobil arrested for entering Rivers State from Akwa Ibom in violation of the State extant Executive Order restricting movement would face the full weight of law. Addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt on Friday, Wike stated that the ExxonMobil matter will be a test case in legal jurisprudence in the country. He said: “Security agencies arrested 22 staff of ExxonMobil who came into the state from neighbouring Akwa Ibom State in violation of the extant Executive Order restricting movement into the state. We do not know the coronavirus status of these individuals. “Even though security…

Anxiety is mounting as the COVID-19 pandemic has allegedly claimed its first victim, a medical doctor in Akwa Ibom State, South-South region of Nigeria. Until his demise Thursday afternoon, Dominic Essien was the Chief Medical Director of San Dominique Hospital, Ewet Housing Estate, a physiotherapist and lecturer in the Department of Physiology, University of Uyo, Uyo. In a statement signed and made available to journalists in Uyo on Friday, Nsikak Paul Nyoyoko, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Akwa Ibom State Chapter, has condoled its members over the demise of their colleague, Dominic Essien, suspected to have died…

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike is unhappy with companies that seek publicity in the course of supporting the state in the fight against the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, vowing “I won’t collect a loan to fight.” Addressing the press on the COVID-19 update on Friday, Wike, however, said “There is a loan some governors are collecting, but I won’t collect a loan to fight coronavirus. Others can collect but not us.” The governor was shocked when a senior bank official telephoned and informed him that he has opened an account for COVID-19 and credited N28 million in his bank for the…

The United States has so far lost 22 million jobs, wiping out a decade of employment gains and pushing families to line up at food banks for government help, the US Department of Labour said on Thursday. Some 5.24 million Americans filed for initial unemployment benefits in the week ending April 11. The United States has not seen this level of job loss since the Great Depression, and the government is struggling to respond fast enough to the deadly coronavirus health crisis and the economic crisis triggered by shutting down so many businesses. The eye-popping job losses in the past…

By Akanimo Sampson The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has expanded its COVID-19 response plan. It has also launched a revised appeal for $499 million to support vital preparedness, response, and recovery activities in over 140 countries. As the number of new coronavirus disease cases continues to rise, the United Nations agency expanded the scope of its Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) to include far-reaching interventions that aim to mitigate the dire health and socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. The newly-launched SPRP – an update to the previous IOM appeal for $116.1 million – broadens the Organisation’s approach to…

By Akanimo Sampson A molecular entomologist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is linking mosquitoes’ proliferation concerning the spread of Buruli ulcer (BU) to agriculture. The molecular entomologist, Rousseau Djouaka, who is also the Head of the institute’s AgroEcoHealth Platform in Cotonou, dropped the bombshell at IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo State. In his presentation: The IITA AgroEcoHealth Platform, Starting from Ground Zero towards New Challenges, he has revealed the role of agriculture in the proliferation of mosquitoes concerning the spread of Buruli ulcer (BU). According to him, ‘’Buruli ulcer, caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is a chronic and devastating…

By Akanimo Sampson The rampaging coronavirus does not appear to be in a hurry to slow down pretty too soon in Nigeria. That seems to be the case because positive cases in the country are busy racing upward on a daily basis. As of 11.20 p.m on April 15, a total of 407 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Nigeria. While the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that made this known says there are 34 new confirmed cases in the country, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is yet to test negative of the deadly virus. NCDC, however, points…

A former beauty queen, Regina Askia-Williams has attributed promiscuity among the womenfolk in the country to poverty. Askia-Williams an Akwa Ibom indigene was reacting to gossips and beef from videos posted on social media by some women, threatening to expose adulterous women and accusing some politicians of encouraging promiscuity among some women in Akwa Ibom. This was as one Happiness, an ex-pastor’s wife confessed to being a runs girl with a threat to expose the wife of an Uyo-based politician for ‘assaulting’ her of having a relationship with the husband as well as Blessing Ossom, a politician and caterer who…

By Akanimo Sampson Vital medical items are being airlifted to countries in Africa where supplies are desperately needed to contain the spread of COVID-19. The first United Nations “Solidarity Flight” left Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) cargo is being transported by the World Food Programme (WFP) and includes face shields, gloves, goggles, gowns, masks, medical aprons and thermometers, as well as ventilators. The cargo also includes a large number of medical supplies donated by the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Jack Ma Foundation Initiative to reverse COVID-19 in Africa. The African Union, through the Africa…

Barack Obama, a one-time US President, has endorsed Joe R. Biden Jr, his former Vice President, saying the country needed a steady leader to combat the coronavirus pandemic. In a video released on Tuesday, Obama emerged from political hibernation on Tuesday to endorse Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, urging the Democratic Party — including, explicitly, supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — to unite behind its presumptive presidential nominee in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. This is as Senator Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the immediate Democratic presidential aspirants, had also endorsed him. In a lengthy video announcing…