Author: straightnewsng.com

By Akanimo Sampson The African Action Congress (AAC), a budding opposition party in Cross River State, appears to be bent on literally making the absentee Governor Ben Ayade dance naked in the market square. Piqued by the festering communal crises in the state under the very nose of Governor Ayade, AAC which is fast emerging as the tormentor-in-chief of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration, is wondering what the governor has been doing with his beefy N7 billion security vote. The rage of the party is coming on the heels of a gory report of how a mother, Aliza, was…

Esther has rewritten history at the Big Brother Naija reality show, as she has earned herself the first female `pepper dem’ Head of House (HoH) in the reality TV show. Before she won, the position had been occupied by two male housemates, Jeff and Nelson. Esther won the position when she won a ”Memory Challenge” where housemates were expected to memorize the numbers of cards found in the house for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes were over, the housemates moved to the Arena but Big Brother, who felt they were uptight, made a twist to the game and asked…

By Akanimo Sampson The killing rings in Nigeria, a seeming failed African giant, appeared to be celebrating the new security measures being put in place by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to contain the worsening security situation with more heartless killings. Agency report says at least 13 civilians were killed in an air raid as the military repulsed a jihadist assault in Borno State, residents and a security source said on Sunday. Multiple inhabitants of Gajiganna village, 50km from state capital Maiduguri, told AFP a military jet on Tuesday targeted jihadists from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) after…

By Akakan Umoh Mr. Udo Ituen retired from Akwa Ibom State Civil Service in January 2016. In his line of work, he was a confidential secretary for the state government for 35 years. After retirement, he received an alert that same month showing that he had been paid his monthly salary. “This is not right. I am not supposed to be paid since I had retired from service. This is too sudden now.” With this, he made a decision and reported to the then accountant in Government House, Uyo. When he got there, he was told to write a letter…

By Akanimo Sampson The international community is currently under intense heat from some agencies of the United Nations to consider the protection of the human rights of migrants and refugees a core element of its engagement. This is coming after more than 50 migrants and refugees lost their lives in an airstrike on the Tajoura Detention Centre in the east of Tripoli, the Libyan capital on July 3. Last week, Antonio Vitorino, the Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, were busy appealing to the European Union and African Union to prevent…

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has on Monday, addressed an open letter to President Mauhammadu Buhari in which he lamented the current situation in the country. Obasanjo also called for urgent steps in curbing the negative happenings ravaging the country, while calling on all stakeholders to work together in the interest of the country. The statement, dated July 15, 2019 was released by Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi. Read the full text below: OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT, GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue…

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…