Author: straightnewsng.com

By Akanimo Sampson Following a 2018 spate of inter-communal violence, which has so far displaced 800,000 people in the Gedeo-West Guji Zones of Ethiopia, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency has succeeded in bringing the warring parties and their officials together for a discussion on statutory peace building. According to IOM, Aba Gedas are highly respected “cultural leaders” in the Oromia region and Gedeo Zone in Ethiopia. The talks focused on how future conflicts could be prevented and improving social cohesion in Gedeo-West Guji and familiarising community actors with components of statutory peace building. It is…

As the remains of Mama Janet, mother of Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) Worldwide will be interred on Thursday, August 29, President Muhammadu Buhari has mourned with the surviving son. Aged 95, Mama Olukoya who was a prayer warrior in MFM died on Sunday, March 31, 2019, 25 years after she lost her husband. The remains of the matriarch will be interred in Ondo State. A statement by President’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari joined the General Overseer, his family members and all worshipers at the Mountain of Fire…

A former petroleum minister, Dr Edmund Daukoru has hailed the appointment of Mr Maxwell Oko, as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, saying he can vouch for his capacity, integrity and capacity to deliver on his new job. Oko, a former chairman, central zone of the Ijaw Youths Counci, IYC, served Daukoru as Special Assistant. He was among those who spearheaded the move for the famous Kaiama Declaration and has since been involved in the Niger Delta struggle. In the interview with journalists in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Daukoru said his appointment was…

For the umpteenth time, a stakeholder of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Bayelsa State, has warned against the use of direct primary in choosing its flagbearer for the governorship election in Bayelsa State. Chief Richard Kpodoh speaking with journalists in Yenogoa on Wednesday observed that there were worrisome signals which the members were not comfortable with direct primaries. Kpodoh, who is a former chairman of the defunct New PDP in the state, noted that “direct primary will destroy and not build the APC in Bayelsa State. According to him, “I have raised this alarm before now. I am raising…

After 24 years of intensive research, the African Centre of Excellence in Phytomedicine Research Development (ACEPRD) team in the University of Jos, UNIJOS, has discovered anti-snake venom vaccine known as COVIP-Plus. The Vice-Chancellor of University of Jos, Professor Sebastian Maimako represented by the Director of the Research Centre, Professor John Aguiyi announced the breakthrough on Tuesday at the New Senate Chamber at the Naraguta Campus (Permanent Site) in Jos, the Plateau State capital. Maimako noted, “An essential approach to tackling snakebite is to prevent or neutralise snake venom on its arrival at human and animal tissue or blood and it…

Akwa Ibom State Council of Chiefs has implored aggrieved persons at the ongoing 2019 Gubernatorial/State House of Assembly and National Assembly elections to employ extant laws in pleading cases in the tribunal. In a statement entitled, “Let’s Respect the People’s Will for the Reign of Peace, Justice and Progress,” the apex traditional rulers’ council said this necessary rather than “hanging out in the public domain by using the media to misguide the gullible public and by extension muzzle the court away from the facts tendered” which it said “is completely an aberration and a deliberate ploy to steal the will…

By Akanimo Sampson The seeming out of control cyber criminals are currently taking their unwholesome craft to the maritime industry, and in the process, exposing vessels to cyber risks. In a frantic bid to beat them in their nasty enterprise, the existing safety management systems in ships are being broadened to appropriately address cyber attacks. To this end, ship operators have been advised to adhere to their ISM Code, till the first annual ISM audit in January 1, 2021. Initiated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), ISM code means International Safety Management code for safe operation ships and for pollution…

By Akanimo Sampson With Africa said to be facing her worse food crisis since 1945, Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of a United Nations agency, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has charged the continent’s leaders at an event in Japan, to tap into the Asian tiger’s high food safety, nutrition standards, and culture of healthy foods and diets in their fight to end hunger and improve nutrition. The big boss of the UN agency also said that African countries have the opportunity to tap into the East Asian nation’s knowledge of smart technologies, agricultural machinery and marketing. Before giving the charge,…

By Akanimo Sampson Science appears to be inching gradually to discovering the secret code of immortality or longevity if you like. A Rael-Science post says a new research recently published in Nature, reveals how increasing brain stiffness as we age causes brain stem cell dysfunction, and demonstrates new ways to reverse older stem cells to a younger, healthier state. The results have far reaching implications for how we understand the ageing process, and how we might develop much-needed treatments for age-related brain diseases. As our bodies age, muscles and joints can become stiff, making everyday movements more difficult. This study…

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, led by Prof. Nelson Brambaifa as its Managing Director. Consequently, Buhari has approved the reconstitution of the NDDC board with a former deputy governor of Edo state, Dr Pius Odubu as its Chairman. A statement issued by Olusegun A. Adekunle, Esq,  the Permanent Secretary (General Services Office) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation OSGF.  Tuesday in Abuja said the appointments are, however, subject to Senate confirmation. Others in the reconstituted board are Bernard Okumagba (Delta state) who will serve as Managing…