Author: straightnewsng.com

The 2019 edition of the Headies award held on Saturday night, October 19, 2019 with Teni, Falz, Burna Boy winning big. A choreography group kicked off the performances for the night with the dancers all clad in white attire at exactly 10 PM. The performance was followed by another choreography with the members of the team dressed in black attires. The 2019 Headies took place at the Eko Convention centre inside the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos. Paul Okoye of Upfront and Personal management was honoured with the Special Recognition award plaque. Burna Boy won the the ‘Artiste of…

By Gabriel Efo The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was established to remedy the failure of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). The nascent democracy following return to the barracks by the military junta in 1999 was concerned about the state of physical infrastructural and environmental development of the Niger Delta basin. The killings in Ogoni land, first was Ogoni 4, later the summary execution of the Ogoni 9 while the Commonwealth Heads of State were meeting in New Zealand represented the sordid state of affairs in the region. The threat to oil prospecting, exploration and production was…

Four years after its inauguration, Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State may commence operations in December. The projects initiated and inaugurated by Godswill Akpabio then Akwa Ibom governor and an initial management agreement signed with Starwood Hotels later turned to a subject of controversy that the present administration said it was inaugurated without a signed Franchise agreement and full complement of requisite furniture and fittings. At the moment, Udom Emmanuel administration has confirmed that the hotel is 90 percent ready and would soon be handed over to the Marriott Group for commercial operations. The Commissioner…

Widows in Akwa Ibom State have smiled as a result of lifeline given them by the state government this year. So far, each of the 600 widows from the 31 local government areas of the state got a boost of N50,000 grant and a wrapper. In addition, the state government sponsored 155 widows to Jerusalem for pilgrimage. Governor Udom Emmanuel who stated this while presenting the 2020 budget proposals to Akwa State House of Assembly on October 6 expalined that this was done to alleviate poverty and boost their businesses. Emmanuel said under social welfare and FEYReP, the state government…

Some Akwa Ibom small-scale entrepreneurs and traders have benefited from a N2 billion interest-free loan of the state government. Presenting the 2020 budget proposals to Akwa State House of Assembly on October 6, Governor Udom Emmanuel said this was done as part of the government’s empowerment and capacity building to improve the living conditions of the people. Emmanuel also told the house that more than 20,000 youths in the state were trained in various skills acquisition. On the sports development, he said Dakkada Football Club formerly Akwa Starlets was promoted to the premier league, thus making Akwa Ibom State one…

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese-born soccer idol, is said to be earning more from Instagram than from playing for Juventus, according to Goal.com. The 34-year-old pockets $47.8 million annually from paid Instagram posts, according to a study by social media firm Hopper HQ on Buzz Bingo contrary to $34 million salary paid by Juventus, according to Goal.com. Ronaldo’s reported income from Instagram makes him the platform’s highest earner, ahead of Lionel Messi and Kylie Jenner. Receiving a reported average of $975,000 per advertised post, Ronaldo’s Instagram earnings far eclipse the world’s biggest celebrities- Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez and Emily Ratajkowski. He…

No fewer than 15 people died after a dam at a Siberian gold mine collapsed and water flooded two dormitories where workers were sleeping. Another 13 people are unaccounted for, prompting a major search operation to search for them, according to Russia’s emergencies ministry. The collapse during heavy rain happened early on Saturday near the village of Shchetinkino, in the Krasnoyarsk region, about 2,100 miles east of Moscow. A criminal investigation has been opened by Russia’s investigative committee to look into possible charges of violation of workplace safety regulations. The Russian news agency Interfax reported that water damaged temporary shelters…

The mention of banned Shi’ites group in Nigeria stuck many listeners to their seats as soon as the resource person rang out the name at the well-attended training programme. The Shi’ite Muslims associated with Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, critical of northern Nigeria’s traditional religious and political elite, including the Sunnis who are the majority of the country’s Muslim population. In recent times, they have been clashing with security forces. At The Next Edition 3rd Annual Training Programme for 200 journalists in Uyo, Ibanga Isine, the managing editor of The Edition declared “If the Federal Government does not handle the…

By Gabriel Efo Kaduna Governor Nasiru El-Rufai is a Quantity Surveyor by training (and acquited himself creditably in many projects), a former representative of AT&T the American telecom company doing business with defunct NITEL. He eventually supervised the controversial concessioning of NITEL while serving as Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The Mallam was rewarded with an appointment as the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. His romance with partisan politics could be said to have started in 1989 when his firm was appointed alongside others like the then Triad Associates and Hassan & Partners to superintend over…

The federal government and organized labour in the country, Thursday, reached a deal on the implementation modality of the new minimum wage. Since the signing of the New Minimum Wage into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in April, both parties had been at each other’s jugular with organised labour threatening to strike. The Minister for Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, stated news of the much-awaited agreement early Friday morning in Abuja shortly after a government team he led concluded a meeting with labour. The meeting, which began at 8:24 p.m. Thursday, ended 3 a.m. Friday. The disagreement had centred…