Author: straightnewsng.com

An All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker in the 26-member Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has resumed law-making duty. Effiong Johnson, a member representing Mbo State Constituency in the seventh assembly, will compete the law-making business with the 24 members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the house. Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is yet to conduct re-run election in the Essien Udim State Constituency for Nse Ntuen of APC and Esse G. Umoh of PDP. The Speaker of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey administered oaths of Office and Allegiance to the Mbo lawmaker at 12:35 p.m after…

Nine people of an Idaho Falls family representing four generations were killed in a plane crash in South Dakota during their hunting expedition. Among the victims were two brothers- Jim and Kirk Hansen, executives and founders of health and wellness company Kyäni Inc., who were on the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 with their father, Jim Hansen Sr., when it crashed after take-off last weekend in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Also killed in the crash were Jim Hansen Jr.’s son, Jake Hansen, and Jake’s son, Houston. Kirk Hansen’s sons, Stockton and Logan, and his sons-in-law, Kyle Naylor and Tyson Dennert, died in the…

Four correctional centres in Akwa Ibom State are overstretched in facilities due to the large number of inmates awaiting trial. Currently, the centres with a capacity for 1,336 inmates are occupied by 2,559. A breakdown shows that Uyo correctional centre has capacity for 613 inmates but currently accommodating 1,282; Ikot Ekpene centre has 400 capacity but accommodates 756 inmates; Eket centre has 123 capacity but now holds 365 inmates, while Ikot Abasi centre has 200 capacity but has 156 inmates. Briefing the press on the 1st Inmates’ Rehabilitation Concert Unity For Success Security Week 2019, the State Controller of the…

Argentina superstar Lionel Messi, Monday, clinched his world-record sixth Ballon d’Or at the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris. At the star-studded ceremony, the FC Barcelona star who was crowned the world’s best player for the first time in 2015 saw off strong competition from the likes of Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk, Sadio Mane and his long-time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo. With this award, he has taken his Ballon d’Or tally to six and has become the most successful player since the inception of the award, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, who had five such awards to his name. Notably, Lionel Messi had also…

By Akanimo Sampson The ongoing ordeal of the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, is currently stoking a fresh unease in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s main oil and gas region as the armed rebels in the vastly oil-polluted region are divided on the matter. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has interrogated the embattled airline chief over an alleged $44.9 million wire deals. Onyema has been placed on administrative bail and remains under surveillance. Among others, Onyema in the unsealed indictment by the United States purchased an armoured Lexus LX570 ($204,000); Rolls Royce ($180,000); and Mercedez Benz ($88,500) with…

By Akanimo Sampson A new report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says the consequences of the occupation by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are still being felt in many rural areas where agricultural production was used as both a source of political propaganda and income, or destroyed as the group was forced out. ISIL occupied large swathes of Iraqi territory between 2014 and 2017.  It is estimated that the group’s brutal three-year occupation reduced Iraq’s agricultural capacity by 40 percent. Head of IOM Iraq’s Community Stabilisation Unit, Siobhan Simojoki, said “it is necessary to…

By Akanimo Sampson More than 150 Bangladeshi migrants including conflict wounded survivors of failed sea crossings to Europe and former detainees have returned home from Libya. They returned on Thursday with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) programme. The flight with 152 men aboard left Misrata on Wednesday bound for Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport where they were met by IOM Bangladesh staff. The Organisation worked closely with the government of Bangladesh and the Libyan authorities to facilitate their safe return. Mohammed Akmal, 38, who suffered shrapnel wounds during an airstrike on the…

A 13-man Ministerial Project Coordination Committee has been set up by the Ministry of Police Affairs to recruit policemen and implement new policies to end security challenges in the country. This follows approval the Presidency granted the ministry for the recruitment of 400,000 policemen for the Nigeria Police Force to address its manpower shortage. This is against the backdrop of the ongoing legal battle between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) over the recruitment of police personnel. Already, Mohammed Dingyadi, the police affairs minister, has inaugurated the committee whose members are drawn from the ministry…

Since his defeat at the polls, Dino Melaye has become a drummer boy in the hands of some members of All Progressives Congress, APC. Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was defeated by Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the Kogi West Senatorial District re-run election. Festus Keyamo, the Minister of state for Labour and Productivity wrote in his Twittter handle “God Almighty has just shown us that PMB became President in 2015 because He alone decreed it. “Those who felt they made him President in 2015 & planned to ‘unmake’ him in 2019 have all…

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio said since age has no political boundary, there is a need to give respect to the elders in the society. Akpabio, a one-time Akwa Ibom Governor from 2007 to 2015 stated this on Saturday when he paid a surprise visit to Chief Michael Afangide in his country home in Ikot Umoessien, Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibom. Afangide, the estranged political godfather of Akpabio for more than 15 years, standing throughout the visit, was taken aback by the minister’s visit to his home. Akpabio fell out of political grace…