Author: straightnewsng.com

Tunisian club Esperance this weekend became the latest victims of a jinx that has prevented any club winning the CAF Champions League three consecutive times. Zamalek of Egypt defeated the 2018 and 2019 trophy-holders 3-2 on aggregate in a quarter-final after losing the second leg 1-0 in Tunis Friday. Esperance joined Al Ahly of Egypt and TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (twice each) and Enyimba of Nigeria as back-to-back title winners who could not complete a treble. The Tunisians, who also lost to Zamalek in the one-off CAF Super Cup match last month, were hit by a…

By Akanimo Sampson More than 20,014 migrants have perished in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014. The death toll was pushed up by a tragic shipwreck off the coast of Libya last month and more than a dozen other recent fatalities elsewhere. Director of the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, Frank Laczko, says “the disappearance and presumed drowning of at least 91 people reported missing aboard a dingy north of Garabulli, Libya, on February 9 is the latest in a series of so-called ‘ghost boats’ that have vanished en-route to Europe, claiming hundreds of lives. “Two-thirds…

By Akanimo Sampson The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) does not want any expectant mother to fall victim to the rampaging coronavirus. UNFPA is urging pregnant women to take routine preventative actions to avoid infection with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). These preventative measures, recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), includes diligent hand-washing, avoiding close contact with people exhibiting symptoms of infection, covering sneezes and coughs, and thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Public health officials are rushing to contain the rapid spread of the virus. More than 95,000 cases have been confirmed across 79 countries. The illness, caused by…

As the controversy over the status of the embattled Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole rages on, feelers have emerged that the governors in the party are already shopping for his replacement. The Federal High Court, Jabi in Abuja on Wednesday, March 4 suspended Oshiomhole over claims that his ward in Edo State had suspended him, though Federal High Court in Kano on Thursday quashed the judgment. Governors’ Mandate exclusively gathered that most of the governors are seriously looking in the direction of picking one of the three former governors from the South-South, the region to…

By Akanimo Sampson President Muhammadu Buhari is currently warming up to flood Nigeria with Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs). The Buhari administration wants to use SAPZs as integrated development initiatives with the goal of concentrating agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential to boost productivity, integrate production, processing and marketing of selected commodities. To this effect, a workshop was held in Abuja last February 17 to 18, to address the categorisation and location of the SAPZs, which are meant to kick-start the agriculture sector. Also, African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the Federal Government has held a meeting…

By Akanimo Sampson Oil-producing governors of Southern Nigeria are persuading President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately constitute the governing board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). According to them, the interventionist agency will play a great role in the regional development of the Niger Delta. The governors have also agreed to restart the BRACED Commission and ensure that they provide the necessary logistics for it to function properly. The commission as established was to help the governors look into the issues of the regional economy and the need for them to develop the environmentally despoiled oil and gas region collectively,…

By Akanimo Sampson Barbados has become the latest Caribbean country to launch an online investment guide, iGuide. This is coming as it is preparing to host the 15th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) quadrennial conference in October. Last February 14, it unveiled the one-stop repository that provides foreign investors with up-to-date information on opportunities and conditions for doing business in the country. The site, www.theiguides.org/barbados, offers a comprehensive overview of business and labour legislation and various taxes including corporation, property and value-added tax. It provides current information such as legislation, steps and costs of starting a business on…

The 178th (Extraordinary) Meeting of the Conference of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has ended in Vienna, Austria, with the recommendation of 1.5 million barrels per day, bpd output cut until June 2020. The recommendation made to the 8th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, which would be applied to pro-rata between OPEC (1.0 mb/d) and non-OPEC producing countries (0.5 mb/d) participating in the Declaration of Cooperation also seek to extend the adjustment levels agreed at the 177th Meeting of the Conference and the 7th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting for the remainder of the year. In a…

By Akanimo Sampson The coronavirus outbreak has helped to push the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index down. This is coming as higher maize outputs in West Africa and Ukraine, affected cereal supply and demand. Its estimates for 2019 world production is expected to hit 2 719 million tonnes. FAO forecasts world trade in cereals to rise by 2.3 percent to 420 million tonnes in 2019/20, the second-highest level on record, with wheat shipments accounting for more than half of the expected increase. Interestingly, world food prices declined in February for the first time in four months due…

By Akanimo Sampson Italian oil major, Agip, is currently under intense pressure in Bayelsa State, to halt oil spills caused by leaks on its pipeline at Taylor Creek. Foremost environmental rights group, Environmental Rights Action (ERA) has joined community groups in pressing the oil company to remediate the despoiled environment. ERA which also doubles as Nigeria’s wing of a global federation, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), says site visits to the impacted area by its field monitors in October 2019 showed that the leak was a result of vandalism which occurred around September 2019. Head of ERA’s Field Operations,…