Author: straightnewsng.com

A high-powered delegation to ripen a marshal plan for implementation against 200,000 children who are at risk of dying annually as a result of baby factory, child trafficking and criminal activities is underway. Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouk, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development expected to lead the ministry’s delegation to the National Consultative Conference on Protecting Children and Vulnerable Persons will present a keynote address. The address which will focus on strategic action plans to protect children and vulnerable groups towards achieving UN Sustainable Goals on Children in Nigeria will seek ways to solve more than 20,000…

By Akanimo Sampson Last October in Geneva, Switzerland, delegates during the 31st session of the Committee of Participants held that South-South trade offers promising opportunities for developing countries in the face of uncertainties arising from heightened trade tensions and the impasse in multilateral processes. Revitalising South-South trade cooperation under the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) is, therefore, an urgent task, they insisted. The GSTP was established in 1989 as a framework for preferential tariff reductions. Within the framework of the GSTP, three “rounds” of negotiations for preferential tariff reductions have taken place to date, including the latest São Paulo…

After five years of marriage, Sinach, the Nigerian sensational gospel singer, has welcomed her first child. The 46-year-old singer got married to Joe Egbu, a pastor in Christ Embassy Church in Nigeria on June 28, 2014. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome broke the news at the just-concluded LIMA Awards held on Sunday at the Loveworld Convocation Arena, Lagos. At the event, she coasted home $100,000 (N36 million) for winning the 2019 Song of the Year Award with her hit There’s An Overflow. “Thank you for that song. We are all excited about what the Lord has done in your life, of course, in the…

By Akanimo Sampson Investment promotion agencies and special economic zone authorities from China, South Africa and Sri Lanka have won awards for their excellence in promoting sustainable investment in special economic zones. They received the awards on November 11 during the eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Investment, Enterprise and Development Commission held at the UN’s offices in Geneva, Switzerland. The awards were presented at the second Ambassadors’ Roundtable on Investing in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event attended by 31 ambassadors from developed and developing countries as well as those with economies…

By Rowland Udoh The murky water of Nigerian politics has been stirred again in Bayelsa State. Betrayals, intrigues of politics and the politics of intrigues have shown tendencies of many a political elite. The real manifestation of the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest or George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Man, truly is a poor student of history. It is common knowledge in the political circle in Nigeria that at your best in a second term, an incumbent Governor can at best by himself deliver only one Senatorial district. Many who tried winner takes all, ended up being disgraced; worse…

The National Legal Adviser of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described Hate Speech Bill as a prototype of Decree 4 enacted by Muhammadu Buhari as the Nigerian Military Head of State. Though the Bill has passed the first reading in the National Assembly, Decree 4 promulgated in 1984 was seen as the most dreaded, most repressive press law enacted in Nigeria, leading to arrest and trial of two journalists- Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of The Guardian were among the journalists who were tried under the decree. Emmanuel Enoidem while speaking with newsmen in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital accused…

By Akanimo Sampson Human blood is still flowing in Nigeria as politically inspired and sectarian killing of citizens is yet to abate. While the death toll in the bloody Kogi State governorship election keeps rising, suspected herdsmen and bandits are busy leaving bloodstain on their trail. In Song local government area of Adamawa State, herdsmen allegedly aborted the lives of six hunters in a farming community. Local sources say the killer herdsmen arrived Aljannaru in a night, destroying farms, shooting at people, and getting the six hunters killed. The Adamawa State Command of the Nigeria Police which confirmed the killing…

As the campaign for sex-for-grade legislation is being intensified, 1,700 change agents have signed the on-line petition to fast track the passage of Sexual Harassment in Educational Institutions Prohibition Bill by National Assembly into law. Of the number, 56 percent of the petitioners are women while 44 percent are men, indicating that men and women are equally concerned about the sex-for-grades pandemic in tertiary institutions. A press release issued by Ike Onyechere, the founding Chairman of Exam Ethics Marshals International on Monday said “We are also painfully aware that the first effort to pass this bill started in 2016. And…

By Akanimo Sampson With the world fiercely focused on a decarbonised future, the Baltic Exchange says fossil fuel movers and traders should be reconsidering their future seriously. But, it, however, pointed out that there are still reasons to be cheerful about job prospects for the 2020s and beyond. Baltic Exchange is the world’s only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivative shipping contracts. Its international community of over 600 member firms encompasses the majority of world shipping interests and commits to a code of business conduct encapsulated in the motto our word…

By Akanimo Sampson The principal agencies of the United Nations on migration are gearing up for 2020 challenges. To this end, they are calling for the roll-out of the Network work plan, at regional and country levels, to ensure that 2020 sees the acceleration of collective efforts to demonstrate the benefits of international cooperation on migration. The Principals of the Executive Committee of the UN Network on Migration met at the weekend in New York to discuss United Nations system-wide assistance to member states in their implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). There was…