Author: straightnewsng.com

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,…

“I dedicate the award to every journalist in Akwa Ibom State,” a PREMIUM TIMES’ journalist who emerged the best investigative reporter in West Africa on Saturday declared. Cletus Ukpong was adjudged to have produced the best investigative story among all the entries received in that category at the 2019 West Africa Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA) held in Accra, Ghana. Speaking with Straightnews after carting the prestigious award, he said “I also dedicate the award to Governor Udom Emmanuel for making bold effort to tackle the rot in public schools in the state. I thank him for that because he has…

Few days ago, prominent and other Nigerians joined Yakubu Gowon, the retired general and a former head of state in Nigeria in celebrating his 85th birthday anniversary. Gowon who presided over the Nigerian Civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970 was overthrown by the late General Murtala Mohammed in 1975. President Muhammadu Buhari described Gowon as a living legend and a symbol of national unity. As Nigeria’s youngest leader since Independence, President Buhari affirmed that Gen. Gowon’s visionary leadership style, wisdom and disciplined outlook kept the country as one, extolling the former Head of State for faith and steadfastness…

As kidnappers abducted Musa Rambo, an Assistant Commissioner of Police who is the Area Commander of Suleja in Niger State and his driver, a popular Nigerian social media critic and commentator on public issues is worried over the safety of other Nigerians. This is as Kaduna State police command has confirmed the kidnap of an Assistant Commissioner of Police along Kaduna-Jos road on Saturday. Femi Fan-Kayode, a one-time minister of Aviation wrote in his Twitter handle “Musa Rambo, an Assistant Commissioner of Police who is the Area Commander of Suleja in Niger State and his driver have been abducted by…

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…