Author: straightnewsng.com

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC were ready to meet the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate at the February 23 Presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the Supreme Court. Briefing State House Correspondents when he led the APC women to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Comrade Oshiomhole accused the opposition PDP of blackmailing every institution in the country in its bid to take over power.  The APC chairman also jokingly said that if the PDP and its Presidential…

The Federal Government has approved $5.3 billion for the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge rail project. The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja Thursday by his media aide, Mr Israel Ibeleme, after the 3rd Maritime Stakeholders Interactive Forum held in Lagos. “Thursday, we got approval to complete the $5.3 billion Ibadan to Kano rail project and we have also applied for funding to commence coastal rail for the Port-Harcourt to Warri segment,” he said. Amaechi explained that Gbemisola Saraki, the Minister of State for Transportation, had been assigned the responsibilities of overseeing all the…

No fewer than 22,000 persons currently were missing in the North East, due to a decade of conflict in the zone, the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, said Thursday. The ICRC in a statement signed by the President, Peter Maurer, who was on a five-day visit to Nigeria, said the figure remains the highest number of missing persons registered with the ICRC in any country. An insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East, led by Boko Haram, a Jihadist group which seeks to establish an Islamic state in the country, has caused tens of thousands of deaths in the region and…

By Akanimo Sampson The battle for the soul of the Nigerian Presidency between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not likely to end so soon in order to help calm the turbulent waters of the dangerously polarised country. Analysts fear that the lingering political dispute between President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC and former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s deputy, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, all prominent Fulani leaders, could have a negative impact on the economy of the country. At the moment, the unemployment rate in the country appears to be on the…

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate in the last elections, Atiku Abubakar, to apologise to Nigerians for willfully distracting the Buhari administration with a “frivolous election petition,” instead of appealing the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. On Wednesday, the presidential election petition tribunal gave its verdict, dismissing the petition filed by the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, saying the petitioners failed to prove their petition beyond reasonable doubt. In a statement by his spokesperson, Segun Adeyemi, Thursday, Mohammed said while the PDP and its candidate…

President Muhammadu Buhari said Thursday that his administration has no intention of inflicting more suffering on Nigerians. This is even as the leadership of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, told the President that the enthusiasm of workers on the signing into law of a new minimum wage was becoming a nightmare, following the delay in the implementation of payment of the new approved salary. Buhari spoke on a day Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, and some financial experts faulted the proposed increase in Value Added Tax, VAT, to 7.2% from 5%, saying the increment would devalue the new minimum wage.…

In a dramatic manner, three Justices of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Uyo delivered separate judgments in the petition filed by Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, challenging the election of Senator Chris Ekpenyong into Akwa Ibom North Senatorial District. Akpabio, former Senate Minority Leader of the the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 83,158 votes in the National Assembly elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC lost to Ekpenyong of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 118,215 votes. Akpabio, therefore, challenged Ekpenyong’s declaration at the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting…

By Akanimo Sampson With the global shipping industry having just a few months, according to Nicolas Parrot of BNP Paribas, to comply with its new air quality rules, is the sector ready to navigate and finance a more sustainable future? BNP Paribas which has strong roots anchored in Europe’s banking history, supports its clients and employees in today’s changing world and has positioned itself as a leading bank in the Eurozone and a prominent international banking institution. Parrot has warned that as the world’s climate emergency enters unchartered waters, industries are being forced to adapt quickly. In the shipping sector, the…

By Akanimo Sampson The Director of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Division on International Trade and Commodities, Pamela Coke Hamilton, and the Economic Affairs Officer, Alessandro Nicita, have sent a strong warning to the government of the United Kingdom (UK) on the controversial Brexit affair. They are arguing that in the event  of a no-deal Brexit, and in the absence of replacement agreements (rollover deals), the UK will abruptly lose preferential access to these markets and, by default, and will have to export under World Trade Organisation Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs. As a member of…

A member of the House of Representatives for Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency in Cross River State, Dr Alex Egbona, has raised the alarm over threats to his life and family members over his decision to approach the Court of Appeal after the election tribunal nullified his election. Egbona who was a candidate of the All progressives Congress, APC, defeated John Gaul, a candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the February 23 Presidential/National Assembly elections to represent the constituency in the National Assembly. Though the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Egbona winner of the election, National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal…