Author: straightnewsng.com

A Federal High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital has granted five persons N5 million bail each for allegedly dealing on adulterated rice. The accused with charge number FHC/UY/70C/19 were arraigned before Justice Anulika Okeke on Tuesday. The five accused persons pleaded not guilty to the 17 Count Charges brought against them by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). According to the prosecutor, the five accused were arrested and arraigned for advertising and displaying for sale defective, unsafe and re-bagged rice, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 11 of the Consumer Protection Council Act, Cap C25,…

By Akanimo Sampson For the first time, a seeming startling report has revealed the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia who are returning to their communities, their condition, and their needs. Completed this October, the shares findings from data collected in July via site assessment of 1,163 sites throughout the country, and that reflects 1,642,458 people as internally displaced.  The biggest causes of displacement were conflict which displaced 1,089,856 IDPs, followed by drought which affected 424,845 IDPs and seasonal flood which affected 35,995 IDPs. The government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has however endorsed the International…

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said Monday that the ever busy Abuja-Kaduna rail line will take delivery of 10 additional coaches to ease challenges faced by passengers plying the route on a daily basis. The Minister stated this in Lagos Monday while on a tour of railway facilities linking different part of the city to neighbouring state of Ogun. When added, Amaechi said the challenge of standing faced by some passengers on the two-hour ride from Abuja to Kaduna and vice versa would be addressed reasonably. “The reason we are allowing standing on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line is because the…

By Akanimo Sampson From January to June this 2019, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency, says it tracked 238,219 movements along a dangerous route in Africa. It has pointed out that Ethiopian nationals are by far the majority (95%) of those moving along the Eastern route, followed by Somalis (almost 5%), while other nationalities observed accounted for less than 0.1 per cent. These facts are contained in a new report on mobility trends across the East and Horn of Africa region, released by the agency’s Regional Data Hub: A Region on the Move – Mid-year Mobility…

The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation said Monday, that 446,002 federal ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, workers, were captured under the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS. Acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Mrs. Folashade Yemi-Esan, stated this yesterday at a budget defence session with the House of Representatives committee on public service matters. Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had during the presentation of the 2020 budget proposal before a joint session of the National Assembly announced that as from end of October, any staff not captured in the IPPIS will not…

By Akanimo Sampson As part of their sustainable reintegration process, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has delivered a seed capital to 25 migrants returned to Honduras, in order to take productive actions. The $25,000 invested will allow the beneficiaries to buy raw material, merchandise or work equipment, depending on the type of enterprise. The supported initiatives are distributed in various sectors of the economy such as industry, agribusiness, commerce and services. Beneficiaries receive approximately $1,000 per person, depending on the scale of their enterprise. One IOM official explained the process as follows: IOM makes a study of each case; an IOM team purchases…

The Federal Government, Monday raised the alarm that wrong perception about Nigeria to other countries of the world and the international community was stopping the country from nipping in the bud the insecurity challenges currently facing it. The government also argued that the issue was making it difficult for it to acquire the equipment necessary to deal with the problem of insecurity. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who raised the alarm when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, said the negative image was seriously hindering the support Nigeria ought to get from outside…

The Senate Monday asked the federal government to be to wary of signing agreements it could not implement. Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, stated this when the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, led by its president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, visited him in his office, in respect of plans by government to capture universities in  the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS. Lawan said that he was worried that the Federal Government would sign agreements that were not only difficult but also impossible to implement. The ASUU president had told the Senate that the introduction of IPPIS into federal universities would only…

By Akanimo Sampson A rampaging flood has displaced over182,000 people in Somalia, destroyed farmland, infrastructure and roads as well as disrupted livelihoods in some of the worst-hit areas, the Protection Return Monitoring Network (PRMN) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has disclosed. According to the report, in Hirshabelle State, the Shabelle River levels in Belet Weyne town and surrounding areas reached bankfull on October 26, leading to spillage which has submerged the town. Three people, including two children under the age of 10 years, drowned. Latest reports received on Monday indicated that a boat carrying 20 people…

Worried by the wave of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, has taken the case to the October Session of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace, IPTP, holding in Ethiopia. Speaking at the opening plenary of the parliament in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Monday, Ekweremadu, who chairs the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee of the IPTP, urged the Parliament to pay special attention to problems of xenophobic attacks on the African continent. In a statement Monday by his Media aide, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu said: “Since we are…