Author: straightnewsng.com

The Senate, Tuesday, approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s $5.513 billion external loan request to finance the revised 2020 budget. Though the Senate stood down a component of loan which the federal government said will help in the execution of its priority projects and for projects to support State Governments in stimulating their economy which has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic on grounds of lacking requisite details, the loan request was however approved after presentation and consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. Lenders for the federal government’s priority projects as approved by the…

A prominent Akwa Ibom pharmacist and politician is among the 38 persons confirmed on Tuesday by the Nigerian Senate as commissioners of the Federal Character Commission (FCC). She is Obonganwan Dorah Ebong, a graduate of The Ohio State University, is the Managing Director of Topcare Nigeria Limited, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State. A woman leader, Ebong is a staunch member of All Progressives Congress, APC. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed the 38 persons to the board of the Commission on April 28, and forwarded the list to the Senate President Ahmad Lawan for confirmation. Those confirmed include Muheeba Dankaka, chairperson;…

By: Akanimo Sampson The Chief Executive Officer of Biovac Institute, Morena Makhoana, says Africa’s public health security requires ramped-up local production. Biovac Institute which is based in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only African vaccine manufacturer of the 40 in 14 countries that are part of The Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network. Biovac currently delivers over 25 million doses of vaccines each year for illnesses such as measles, polio and tuberculosis. According to the Biovac chief executive, if the continent fails to act quickly, its 1.2 billion people will remain vulnerable to shocks in global supply chains and foreign…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Monday, confirmed 416 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths in Nigeria. This is the second-highest daily figure recorded by the centre after it announced 553 confirmed cases on Saturday May 30, since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria. No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. Till date, 10,578 cases have been confirmed, 3,122 cases have been discharged and 299 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The new cases are reported from 20 states – Lagos (192), Edo (41), Rivers (33), Kaduna…

A Lagos High Court in Igbosere Monday sentenced an ex-ExxonMobil engineer  to 15 years imprisonment for raping a14-year-old niece of his tenant. James Onuoha was sentenced without an option of fine after he was found guilty of the offence of rape. At the last adjourned date on January 14, 2020, the court presided over by Justice Adedayo Akintoye had adjourned the case until March 25, for judgment, after the parties adopted their final written addresses. But the judgment could not be delivered due to the COVID- 19 pandemic which led to lockdown in March. At the resumed hearing of the…

The Federal Government has lifted the ban on religious gatherings across the country. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, announced this on Monday at the daily media briefing in Abuja. Similarly, Akwa Ibom Government has approved the reopening of churches in the state on Sunday, June 7, 2020. Mustapha said, “The PTF submitted its recommendations and the PRESIDENT has approved the following for implementation over the next four weeks spanning 2nd–29th June, 2020, subject to review-: “Cautious advance into the Second Phase of the national response to…

By: Akanimo Sampson A new research by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has painted a seeming grim economic picture for Nigeria and other commodity-dependent developing countries. UNCTAD’s findings raise concerns for economies that rely on exports of primary goods, such as energy products, ores and grains. Some two-thirds of developing countries are commodity dependent according to the UNCTAD data. For commodity-dependent developing countries, some of the most vulnerable on the planet, the drop is projected to be between $2.9 billion and $7.9 billion, which will constitute a 9.00% loss in terms of annual growth rate. The…

The Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Godwin Abraham, says the financial autonomy of the judiciary would usher in infrastructure development and capacity building needed to reposition it for an effective administration of justice in the overall interest of the citizenry. President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed an Executive Order No. 10 of 2020, which gives impetus to the implementation of financial autonomy to State Houses of Assembly and the Judiciary across the 36 States of the Federation. In a statement issued and signed by him in Uyo, Justice Abraham expressed confidence “that the new financial dispensation will engender far-reaching…

In a din of five years, Governor Udom Emmanuel has the right to thump his chest that he has attracted 18 industries to the state. In a row of five years, the state government under his leadership can firmly proclaim that it has succeeded in changing the landscape of the hitherto civil service status to an industrial city toga. It is not a mean achievement. This message, as endorsing as it was, came from the Governor as part of activities that marked his fifth-year anniversary on May 29. Like a surprise package, he deftly declared “Industrialization is the linchpin of…

By Akanimo Sampson. Former President Goodluck Jonathan is currently being linked to the $9 billion Process & Industrial Development (P&ID) scandal. Jonathan recently publicly declared that he was pulling back from political activities to support the work of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in promoting peace and prosperity. But Menas Associates in its Nigeria Focus, a monthly intelligence report on the giant of Africa is linking the former president to the $9 billion P&ID affairs. Menas has been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle East, Africa, and other emerging markets since the late 1970s. It brands itself as a…