Author: straightnewsng.com

Hosts Egypt made the ideal start to the Africa Cup of Nations by beating Zimbabwe in the opening game of the tournament in Cairo. Mahmoud Trezeguet scored the only goal of the game with a curled finished just before half time. Liverpool forward Mo Salah came close to doubling his side’s lead in the second half but his low drive was kept out by Zimbabwe keeper Edmore Sibanda. Ovidy Karuru had Zimbabwe’s best chance with a 30-yard strike late on. This year’s tournament is the biggest Africa Cup of Nations ever with 24 teams, and the first to be played…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has promised to offer loans on a seven-year tenor to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members for establishment of small and medium scale enterprises. The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated this while receiving the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig. Shuaibu Ibrahim, in his office in Abuja. Emefiele noted that the loan disbursement was borne out of the need to curb the rate of unemployment in the country. He advised corps members to attend the bank’s entrepreneurship training centres for skills acquisitions in various vocational areas for economic survival after passing out from…

By Akanimo Sampson The economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has pushed 3.9 million persons to migrate or flee, according to recent estimates of the Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants in the troubled country. The figure is bursting out as the 15-year-old Nelsmar, who attended a middle-class school in central Venezuela not long ago, is now in Colombia. Her family is one of those uprooted by the crisis. Nelsmar’s family made the move over a year ago. They walked for eight days, and spent the rest of the journey traveling by bus, before reaching the border with Colombia. When they…

A research group led by Professor Wang Feng at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently developed a method to produce diesel fuel and hydrogen by exploiting light energy (solar energy or artificial light energy) and biomass-derived feedstocks, Rael-Science says. A publication by Nature Energy indicated that Biomass, including agricultural straw and forest waste, is the largest source of sustainable carbon resources in nature and is able to replace petrochemical resources to provide abundant derivative products. As an alternative to photocatalytic water splitting to provide hydrogen, splitting of biomass or its derivatives usually yields…

By Akanimo Sampson In a seeming damning allegation, a Nigerian constitutional lawyer and human rights activist says President Muhammadu Buhari has been giving the murderous Fulani herdsmen the leverage to wreck havoc across Nigeria. In a post on his Facebook wall, Inibehe Effiong stated, “Those who are silent on this evil in our country will not escape the harsh verdict of history.’’ His obviously weighty allegation is coming after a report by the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) claimed that no fewer than 10,665 Nigerians died from herdsmen clashes, banditry, Boko Haram conflict, cultism and other violence across…

The FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura has been appointed as “FIFA General Delegate for Africa” to man the football body for a six-month period. The appointment will begin from 1 August 2019 to 31 January 2020, renewable with the agreement of both organisations. Early this month, the French police reportedly arrested Ahmad Ahmad, the President of Confederation of African Football (CAF), in Paris over alleged corruption charge. As a result, CAF Executive Committee met in Cairo on June 19, 2019, and sought FIFA’s expertise to assess the current situation in the African governing body and help to conclusively accelerate the implementation…

By Akanimo Sampson The Federal Government has dragged the senator representing Delta-North, Peter Nwaoboshi, to the Code of Conduct Tribunal on a three-count of false declaration of assets. The charges were filed by the Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions, Federal Ministry of Justice. Nwaoboshi was recently referred to the DPPF’s office for prosecution by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property led by Okoi Obono-Obla. The Senator is to be tried for allegedly making false assets declaration in his Form CCB1 submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau by failing to declare three bank…

The Super Falcons, Thursday, qualified for the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 20 years. The Falcons have reached the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup just once before now, a quarter-final appearance in the competition in the United States in 1999. They will confront former champions, Germany in the last 16 of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in Grenoble on Saturday. The Falcons qualified as one of the best losers to the round of 16 after finishing third in Group A behind France and Norway but had to endure a torrid time…

Akwa Ibom State Government has reiterated its resolve to continue to empower the less privileged and downtrodden in rural communities in the state, through life touching micro projects. This was disclosed yesterday in Uyo during a One-Day Capacity and Partnership Building Workshop for Stakeholders of Community and Social Development Project in Local Government and State Sectoral MDAs. Speaking during the occasion, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Manpower Planning, Dr. Otuekong Ukut stated that the present administration under the leadership of Governor Udom Emmanuel is focused on alleviating poverty as well as creating job opportunity for rural…

By Akanimo Sampson For the third consecutive year, the global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) appears to be enjoying a downward slide. It nose-dived by 13 percent in 2018, to $1.3 trillion from $1.5 trillion the previous year. This is the third consecutive annual decline, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2019. Largely, the contraction was precipitated by United States Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) repatriating earnings from abroad, making use of tax reforms introduced by the country in 2017, designed for that purpose. Hardest hit by the earnings repatriation were developed countries, where flows…