Author: straightnewsng.com

With a wobbling Gross Domestic Product of $1.8 trillion, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are on the cusp of economic transformation, with the imminent coming on-stream of the $12 billion Dangote refinery and petrochemicals complex. The region is expected to be the direct beneficiaries of the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery as the project is expected to drastically reduce the countries’ fuel import majorly from Europe with expected impact on foreign exchange outflows. These are part of the submissions by oil and gas stakeholders at this year’s Ghana International Petroleum Conference, GhIPCON, in Accra, Ghana themed ‘Regional Collaboration; A Catalyst for Transformation’, which…

Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, weekend in Lagos said it would engage the Federal Government on infrastructure development and other related issues to ensure Nigeria gained from the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AFCFTA. At an interactive session between TUC’s newly elected National Administrative Council, NAC, and a cross section of journalists, President of the body, Quadri Olaleye, acknowledged that there were challenges that needed to be addressed now that Nigeria had signed the trade pact after initial hesitation. He contended that the nation’s hesitation for over a year before signing AFCFTA was not misplaced as Nigeria…

By Akanimo Sampson In spite of the Thursday blunt denial by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there was no plan to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol in the country, industry insiders say whosoever will eventually replace Ibe Kachikwu as the new Minister of Petroleum Resources will steer the controversial issue. NNPC advised motorists and other petroleum products consumers to disregard trending rumour of a planned hike in the pump price of petrol, claiming that the statement of the corporation’s new Group Managing Director, Mele Kolo Kyari, at the National Assembly on…

Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has urged clerics to avoid taking undue advantage of their followers, saying religious leaders ought to be servants of the people, not their exploiters. Onaiyekan spoke Sunday during the ordination ceremony of five new priests at Catholic Church of the Archangels, Gaduwa, Abuja. Noting that clerics were in short supply compared to the people, he, however, hinted at his looming exit from the service of the Church. He said: “Generally, in the world, clerics are not enough. So, we are glad to have more people ordained to serve as religious leaders. “Every cleric…

Appeal Court in the country is said to have determined 1,769 appeals and disposed 3,517 motions from January to April, 2019. This was contained in the summary of cases in the Court of Appeal Divisions by Barr. Adaeze Oby Aziwe, the Head, Legal Services Unit, and made available to the Media Officer of the Court. According to Awiwe, “In the document, a total of 2,397 appeals and 5,120 motions were filed during the period under review. ‘Similarly, reports filtering in from the office of the DCR, Court of Appeal, Election Petition Tribunal, Mrs. Rabi Abdulazeez Yakubu, Esq say that a…

The Manchester City midfielder, Riyad Mahrez scored a sensational free-kick in the 95th minute as Algeria beat Nigeria 2-1 to seal their place in the Africa Cup of Nations final. Algeria led thanks to William Troost-Ekong’s own goal but Nigeria hit back through Odion Ighalo’s penalty, awarded following a VAR check. Extra time was looming until Algeria, who have not been to the final since winning the tournament on home soil in 1990, won a free-kick on the edge of the box. And the 28-year-old Mahrez, star man for the Desert Foxes, bent the ball around the wall to beat Nigeria goalkeeper…

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic battled past Switzerland’s Roger Federer in the longest Wimbledon final in history to match Bjorn Borg by winning his fifth title. This is as Djokovic earned £2.35 million as the prize money at Wimbledon. In one of the most dramatic matches the All England Club has ever witnessed, Djokovic defied a crowd screaming for his opponent by becoming the first player to win a singles match on a deciding tie-break. Djokovic had saved two match points when Federer served for victory at 8-7 in the deciding set and went on to take it 7-6 (5) 1-6 7-6 (4) 4-6…

Lewis Hamilton, Sunday, claimed a thrilling victory at Silverstone to win a record-breaking sixth British Grand Prix. It looked as though teammate Valtteri Bottas would spoil the party for the 141,000 visiting fans, but a timely safety car intervention gifted Hamilton first place. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed an impressive third place after an intense, wheel-to-wheel battle with Max Verstappen throughout the race. Victory moves Hamilton 39 points clear of Bottas at the top of the driver standings after also securing the bonus point for fastest lap. But Sebastian Vettel’s bid to stop Hamilton from winning a sixth world title is…

By Akanimo Sampson The United Nations is currently making speedy efforts to re-energise world leaders and the global community in a bid to get the world back on track and kick-start a decade of delivery for people and planet. To this end, the global body will be hosting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Action Summits as well as other crucial meetings during the high-level week of the 74th Session of the General Assembly in September. The latest UN’s report on the SDGs has warned that the impacts of climate change and increasing inequality across and within countries are…

By Akanimo Sampson Contrary to the official refrain in Nigeria that the rampaging terrorist group, Boko Haram has been technically defeated, the humanitarian crisis in the North-East axis of the country is certainly far from being over, going by the latest updates from aid agencies that are active in the region. According to them, the crisis has continued to uproot the lives of tens of thousands of civilians as hostilities between the security forces and the non-state armed groups enter their 10th year, and even endangering the lives of a large chunk of the population as the rainy season gets…