Author: straightnewsng.com

The two football teams representing Akwa Ibom State in the 2019/2020 Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL, are taking the matches to their opponents’ dens by hitting them below the belt. Akwa Starlets also known as Dakadda FC whitewashed Adamawa United by 4-1 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on Sunday, January 7. Similarly, the rejuvenated Akwa United had thrashed Abia Warriors 2-0 on Saturday to move up to top position on the NPFL table. Of the 12 matches played Dakkada FC occupy the fourth position with 20 points while Akwa United from the same match occupy the fifth position…

By Akanimo Sampson Iran is likely to hit the underbelly of the US economy by sparking higher oil prices, Forbes, a global media company that focuses on business, investment, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle has said. While the world is watching to see how Iran will retaliate the death of General Qasem Soleimani who was assassinated in a US drone strike, Forbes says high on the list of military responses could be efforts to restrict the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. This, according to it, will hit Iran’s adversaries in the pocket, driving the price of oil…

By Akanimo Sampson The Mediterranean Sea has so far claimed the lives of at least 19,164 migrants since 2014, according to a report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the migration agency of the United Nations. The sea is, however, connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually referred to as a separate body of…

By Akanimo Sampson Signs of improvement in the global metal market are beginning to drive prices higher. But market watchers say this does not portend a sharp recovery for the metal sector, only a gradual one. Though the global demand for aluminium has remained soft, global inventory levels are not down significantly yet. But global aluminium prices have been inching up, which could help revive the sector this 2020. It was, however, expected that supply disruption in iron ore mining could keep the sector buoyant towards the start of this year, while a demand pickup was expected to see the…

The Akwa Ibom government appears to be facing herculean task following reluctance of the Federal Government to release ecological funds to tackle its myriad of ecological challenges in the state. In 2019, the state government could not tackle such challenges as N21 billion earmarked as ecological funds were not released to it by the Federal Government. For 2020, the state government has budgeted N20 billion as the funds, and the government is yet to access it. Unfortunately in 2019, some parts of the state were submerged, residents sacked, houses and farmlands were taken over by heavy floods and roads rendered…

By Akanimo Sampson Some of the expected changes in the demand for different fuels to meet the new shipping requirements have been slower to emerge than anticipated. The International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) 0.5% sulfur cap on fuel oil started on January 1. The global low sulfur cap on marine fuel and the ramping up of additional capacity this 2020 are likely to have contrasting impacts on the downstream sector. Now Refiners snapping up premium grade crudes to bring down sulfur limits will mean sweet-sour crude spreads widen further but extra refining room will offset the growth in product demand, especially…

Oil prices moved higher Friday after a top Iranian general was killed in a US airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump. Futures for Brent crude, a global benchmark, jumped 3.6% to settle at $68.60 per barrel on Friday. US oil futures gained 3.1%, settling at $63.05 per barrel. Both are on track for their biggest daily gains in about a month and their highest prices since September, when Iran attacked Saudi oil facilities. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was killed in the strike at Baghdad International Airport. The Pentagon said that Soleimani…

The Department of State Services, Friday, arrested the alleged mastermind of a video of the phantom marriage between President Muhammadu Buhari, and one of his ministers. The fake video had a version that depicted the President’s marriage to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq. The suspect who was paraded at the SSS headquarters in Abuja is Kabiru Mohammed, a 32-year-old indigene of Kano. He is also a holder of a diploma certificate in Hausa and Fulfulde from the Federal College of Education, Kano, and also a diploma in Mass Communication from Aminu Kano Islamic School. The…

By Akanimo Sampson More than two months after a female volunteer of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in South Sudan, was murdered by armed rebel groups, her four-year-old boy who was abducted by the rebels has finally been released. The young boy who taken when fighting broke out between armed groups in Isebi, South Sudan last October 27, was on Thursday reunited with his father in an emotional meeting in the capital Juba. The child’s mother was working at the IOM Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Point of Entry screening site in Morobo. While the mother of the child was…

By Akanimo Sampson IHS Markit which boasts of a dynamic team that includes more than 5,000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts and industry specialists, says the global oil market is quite thirsty for Nigeria’s lighter and heavier crude barrels. This may be a cherry New Year news of sorts for the handlers of Nigeria’s economy, the country that holds the trophy of the world poverty capital. IHS Markit however, brings together the deepest intelligence across the widest set of capital-intensive industries and markets. By connecting data across variables, its analysts and industry specialists present customers with a richer, highly integrated…