Author: straightnewsng.com

The last may not have been heard of yet as the war of attrition raging between the Chief Press Secretary to Akwa Ibom Governor and members of the Government House Press Corps, Uyo over allegation of stealing of money continues unabated. The battle between the press secretary and press corps of more than 50 members has shifted from official government channel to the Facebook court where the two combatants are locked in a war of unprintable words. The cold war that started on Sunday, April 5 dovetailed into Monday, April 6 with no ceasefire yet in sight. One Ekere Umana…

By Akanimo Sampson Women are carrying a higher economic cost of the rampaging coronavirus pandemic than men. Globally, women are said to be more vulnerable to economic shocks wrought by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Isabelle Durant, and its Director, Division on International Trade and Commodities, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, say the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not gender-neutral. According to the two UNCTAD chiefs, “it affects men and women differently. Therefore, we must not be gender blind in our responses to the pandemic, or else women will…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has tasked higher institution admission seekers to disregard admission cut-off marks circulating in social media. The board said it was yet to release the cut-off marks for 2020 admissions, saying the ones in circulation were from fraudsters who in their usual ways, were out to dupe unsuspecting admission seekers. JAMB also said it had reinforced its Central Admission Processing System, CAPS, mobile app to enable candidates to access to information regarding admission-related issues in the comfort of their homes without visiting any Computer-Based Test, CBT centres or cyber cafe. The board in a…

By Akanimo Sampson Scientists across all International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) hubs in West Africa have been trained on data management. The purpose of the training themed Creating a living data management plan for research reproducibility, was to educate them on data management planning (DMP). The Institutional Data Manager, Olatunbosun Obileye, lectured on areas such as the meaning and reason for DMP, elements of DMP, and how to create a winning, functional and living DM plan. “At the end of the lecture, participants should be able to come up with a winning DM plan, when there is a request…

It is sad that Nigerian society still holds onto archaic beliefs about women. These beliefs form certain stereotypes held about women by the misogynists. In 2020, these stereotypes held about women must die. Women are their own enemies This would have been true if it wasn’t so ridiculous. Going by this logic, every Nigerian woman hates every Nigerian woman. But in reality, Nigerian women are collaborating together to start companies, run businesses, form supportive girl squads and change the narrative. The gaslighting of this stereotype is simply trite. Women are weak You must not be acquainted with the fact that…

By: Israel Umoh Akwa Ibom State in the South-south region of Nigeria featured prominently on Wednesday, April 1 and other days in the traditional and social media at the state and national levels for the wrong reason.  The state government expected to play a pacesetting role in all aspects of human endeavours naively entered the black book of Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control over its poor response to the agency’s publication of coronavirus cases in the state. Unlike other states that have been hearing and accepting NCDC’s report in good faith only to explore ways to stem the dreaded virus…

By Akanimo Sampson The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the health services of countries. “COVID-19 pandemic has brought countries’ health services into sharp focus,’’ ILO says, pointing out that while governments move to slow the spread of the virus, health workers, especially women, are on the front lines of the epidemic. But, with more than half of the world’s population lacking access to essential health care, what happens when there are not enough doctors, nurses and support staff? As part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, all member states agreed to achieve universal health…

By Akanimo Sampson The United Nations is calling for a $2.5 trillion aid package to enable developing countries cushion the damaging effect of the COVID-19 crisis on their economies. The global body seems to be concerned because two-thirds of the world’s population is living in developing countries (excluding China). Developing countries of the world including Nigeria are facing unprecedented economic damage from the corona virus crisis. There are 167 developing countries some of which includes Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Chile, Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, and Iran, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia,…

Today is Palm Sunday, a Chrisitan moveable feast that falls on Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It marks the first day of the Holy Week, the last week of Christian solemn season of Lent preceding the arrival of Easter. More details later…

By: Israel Umoh Nigerian politicians make the mistake of thinking that money is what motivate the people. During the elections, they would ‘bribe’ the electorate by paying salaries/bonuses to public servants, gratuities/pensions to pensioners, scholarships/bursary awards to students and ‘perks’ to political hangers. Since money answers many things, they woo the electorate to do their biddings. The problem, according to Ross Gitiri, an Economics writer is that decades of the rising living standards has done nothing to make them feel happier. Rather, they slump into depressing thought. On the contrary, some politicians make the mistake of thinking that food is…