Author: straightnewsng.com

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…

A Brexit deal has been agreed between the UK and EU before a meeting of European leaders in Brussels. Boris Johnson and Jean-Claude Juncker called it a “fair” outcome – and the EU Commission President said there was no need to extend the Brexit deadline. He said: “We have a deal so why should we have a prolongation.” This will be a boost for the PM, but he still faces a battle to get the deal through Parliament with ex-allies the DUP opposing it. Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will leave the EU on 31 October and he urged…

By Akanimo Sampson More than 18 million female international migrants under 20 years of age, have so far embarked on migration journeys, according to a report by the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The global migration agency however, recognised this on the International Day of the Girl Child. Within this context, a new IOM report on young women and girls and labour migration in South-East Asia and the Pacific provides a timely contribution to understanding this phenomenon. The IOM publication, Supporting Brighter Futures: Young Women and Girls and Labour Migration in South-East Asia and the Pacific, aims to…

By Akanimo Sampson The conflict and related economic crisis in Ukraine are currently steering people to make unexpected choices to earn their living. To this end, a trumpet player who became an industrial climber and a tech specialist is now producing felt footwear. This fact and much more, were revealed in a new IOM survey on displacement, presented last week in Kyiv. Six years on, the conflict in the east of the county has displaced over 1.4 million people. Most of them have found some paid work, and while only seven per cent of the economically active displaced population are…

Akwa Ibom government has appointed an acting Provost for College of Education, Afaha Nsit in Akwa Ibom State with effect from Thursday, October 17. He is Dr. Daniel George Udo, who until the appointment was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, University of Uyo. A press release signed by Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, Secretary to Akwa Ibom Government, says Governor Udom Emmanuel has given a nod to the appointment.