Author: straightnewsng.com

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered a stay of execution on the suspension of Adams Oshiohmole as the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC. Justice Danlami Senchi of the FCT High Court, Jabu in Abuja had suspended Oshiomole as the APC National Chairman. In a ruling by a three-man panel of Justices led by Justice Yahaya Dattijohe, the appellate court also issued an interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents from taking steps to give effect to the high court ruling, pending the determination of appeals Oshiomhole filed before it. The court of appeal warned political parties to resolve…

By Akanimo Sampson The United States of America is currently exploring a partnership with international organisations for the Ibadan campus of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Already, Ms Claire Pierangelo, the US Consul-General, and her team have visited the IITA Ibadan campus in Western Nigeria. The purpose of the visit on March 11 was for the Consul General to understand the activities of IITA and help in areas of advocacy and partnership with international organisations. After giving the team a warm welcome, the Acting Director-General, Kwame Akuffo-Akoto, gave a brief introduction of IITA and a video was shown…

By Akanimo Sampson If all goes well, Nigeria will be conducting her national population census every 10 years. The Red Chamber of the National Assembly is introducing an amendment bill to alter Section 213 of the 1999 Constitution as amended to give legal backing to 10-year compulsory conduct of a national census. In 2012, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics puts the total population of citizens in Nigeria at around 166.2 million people. In 2016, it was estimated to have over 178.5 million people although United Nations projections placed the population as high as 186 million. At independence in 1960, Nigeria recorded an estimated…

By Akanimo Sampson The COVID-19 shock will cause a recession in some countries and depress global annual growth this year to below 2.5%, a United Nations trade agency says. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the spread of the coronavirus is first and foremost a public health emergency, but it’s also a significant economic threat. Even if the worst is avoided, the hit to global income, compared with what forecasters had been projecting for 2020, will be capped at around the trillion-dollar mark. But could it be worse? UNCTAD published an analysis on March 9,…

By Akanimo Sampson Many federal ministries, departments and agencies under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration have been spending money in the last five years without recourse to the Appropriation Act. This is the worrisome revelation from the Senate Public Accounts Committee on queries raised against most agencies of the Federal Government. Apparently disturbed, the Senate Committee is therefore, launching a full scale probe into the Federation Account from 2015. The Committee Chairman, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, says “we have discovered that the ministries, departments and agencies of government spend money that was not appropriated.’’ According to Urhoghide, the National Assembly was yet to…

“The North has become a region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement. Bandits in the North have become a state. They impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without challenge” – Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna State, March 2020. I wish that historical Lord Lugard and the King or Queen of England who granted him the powers to rule and ruin our lives are alive today to behold the explosions being set off by the time bomb they planted in this part of Africa in 1914. History does not tell us its alternatives.…

By Akanimo Sampson Director of Technology and Logistics at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Shamika Sirimanne, says gender bias can be illustrated using a simple Google exercise. Type into Google Translate: She is a scientist. He is a nurse. “Translate it into a language that does not have gender pronouns, such as Georgian or Turkish. When it comes back in English, the result shown after automatic translation is: He is a scientist. She is a nurse. Just as the devil is in the detail, the bias is in the algorithm,’’ Shamika Sirimanne said. According to the 2015 UNESCO…

By Akanimo Sampson Rwanda has launched its Soil Information Service programme. The launching was done by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources through the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) in collaboration with the IITA in Rwanda. The programme, which has a duration of two and half years, aims to develop fertilizer and lime recommendations for Rwandan crops, provide information on different types and occurrence of erosion, and design a functional and interactive National Soil Information Service to monitor changes in soil properties. RAB Deputy Director-General, Dr Charles Murekezi, says “mainly, as a government, we aim…

By Israel Umoh Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital in the South-South Region of Nigeria means different things to many people. It could mean the ecosystem of mango trees. To some historians, it can mean a voice laden in rulership and authority. But, it may sound strange to discover that Uyo shares a near-homophonous link with another place. In far away, Ikot Udo Obobo in Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom is a place called Anwa Uyo, a family setting. Both share Uyo in common. The former is a cosmopolitan area while the latter is rural. Yet, Anwa Uyo said…

By Akanimo Sampson A rare outbreak of Pellagra, a disease triggered by Vitamin B3 deficiency, is sickening almost 4,000 people in Sofala, Mozambique, with the numbers increasing rapidly. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says this is coming a year after Cyclone Idai devastated much of central Mozambique limited funding for essential reconstruction is preventing many of the hardest-hit people from getting back on their feet. WFP is, however, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. In the…