Author: straightnewsng.com

After four years of legal sparring and finger-pointing, oil-industry giant Exxon Mobil went to court on Tuesday for charges that the company lied to shareholders and to the public about the costs and consequences of climate change. The case turns on the claim that Exxon kept a secret set of financial books that seriously underestimated the costs of potential climate change regulation while claiming publicly that it was taking such factors into account. It follows a sprawling investigation that included millions of pages of documents and allegations of a chief executive’s secret email account. It is only the second climate-change…

South Africans living in Mpumalamga province have attacked Nigerians in a fresh wave of xenophobic violence. Channels Television correspondent in South Africa reports that further information concerning the attack is still sketchy as the crew is on its way to the province for details. The leadership of Nigerian Citizens In South Africa (NICASA) and Nigeria’s Consular General to South Africa are also on their way to Witbank in Mpumalanga province to gather more information on the attack. This fresh attack comes a few weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari visited South Africa, and called for the protection of Nigerians and other…

The early passage and publication of budget is now a brisk business to any tier of government in Nigeria wishing to benefit from a foreign financial windfall. Consequently, Mr. Akan Okon, Commissioner for Economic Development and Ibom Deep Seaport speaking during a one-day public hearing on A bill to appropriate monies out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Capital Development Fund to the service of Akwa Ibom State Government and for other matters connected therewith organised by House Committee on Appropriation and Finance wants the House to speedily pass the budget into law. Okon presenting a position paper of his…

By Akanimo Sampson The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is currently helping the Government of Ukraine to provide immediate assistance to the victims of human trafficking.  On European Union (EU) Anti-Trafficking Day on October 18, the Ministry of Social Policy and the National Police of Ukraine revealed the details of a shocking case of mass trafficking during a press conference in the capital Kyiv. Over 80 jobless Ukrainians from the Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk regions were allegedly lured to work at a farm by promises of free accommodation and meals, as well as salaries of $170 per month (well below the average…

By Akanimo Sampson In a seeming frantic bid to end the kafala system and to mark a momentous step forward in upholding the rights of migrant workers, Qatar has announced sweeping reforms to its labour market. The Council of Ministers of the State of Qatar on October 16 unanimously endorsed new legislation allowing workers to change employers freely. Workers in Qatar had previously required a no-objection certificate (NOC) from their employer in order to do so. A Ministerial Decree by the Minister of Interior was also signed, removing exit permit requirements for all workers, except military personnel. Together, these steps…

The public hearing of the 2020 Akwa Ibom government budget now before the state House of Assembly has brought to the fore some duplicitous allocations and non-existing offices. At the public hearing of a Bill for a Law to appropriate monies out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and Capital Development Fund to the service of Akwa Ibom State Government and for other matters connected therewith organized by House Committee on Appropriation Committee, Civil Liberties Oganisation (CLO), Akwa Ibom State branch raised red flag on some doubtful budgetary allocations. During the event held at the Old Chapel, House of Assembly, Uyo…

The public hearing on the 2020 budget proposals presented by Governor Udom Emmanuel to the seventh Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for approval has sparked another serious concern on the health status of the state government-owned industries. Though it is claimed that Udom Emmanuel administration has established more than 15 industries, Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Ltd, Kings Flour Mill, Ethanol Plant, Sweet Factory, Gabriel Coconut Processing Factory, Garri Processing factory, Plywood Processing Factory, Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Ltd (MSMSL), AKEES Pencil Factory and Greenwell Technologies producing fertiliser, among others are the prominent ones. But Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa…

The 2020 budget proposals presented to Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for approval has begun to experience heat from the stakeholders. The budget christened The Budget of Industrialisation for Poverty Alleviation Phase 11 and presented by Governor Udom Emmanuel has a budgetary outlay of N597.800 billion against approved provision of N672.985 billion for 2019. Th dissenting voice was registered by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa Ibom Council during a public hearing on A bill for a law to appropriate monies out of the consolidated revenue fund and capital development fund to the service of Akwa Ibom State Government and…

By Rowland Udoh The APC led Federal Government of Nigeria rode to power in 2015 on populism. To pay back the cult- like support given to its standard bearer, then General Muhammadu Buhari, they chose the National Social Investment Programme and domiciled it in the Presidency. Since then, the programme has been dogged by controversy. What is of special interest to this writer is the National Cash Transfer Initiative where beneficiaries are paid a stipend of N5,000 monthly. A careful look at the implementation figures show that 1,491,296 households, 6,056,872 individuals have been captured in the register. The budget releases…

MTN Nigeria says it will go ahead to charge its customers for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) voice or text message which allows them access to bank services via their mobile phones. The telecom said it would start charging its subscribers from today, despite a directive by the Federal Government to halt the plan. MTN’s subscribers on Sunday received messages from the company informing them that with effect from Monday, it will start charging them N4 per 20 seconds for USSD voice or N4 for text message. One of the messages from MTN read: “Yello, as requested by your bank,…