Author: straightnewsng.com

The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Most. Rev. Mathew Ndago-Manoso, Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to quit office if he doesn’t have the capacity to govern the country or lacks answer to the myriads of the country’s problems. Ndago-Manoso stated this in an interview with journalists at the on going Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Nigeria Catholic Diocese Priests’ Association taking place at the Catholic Social Centre, Kaduna. More Nigerians have gone into poverty, according to the Catholic cleric. He noted that many people now come to his office to beg for food, saying: “You see, in governance or…

Debt Management Office, DMO, Tuesday, stated that the federal government would tap concessionary long-term loans to finance its 2019 budget, in addition to borrowing at home It also stated that the federal government had no plan to float Eurobond this year. The Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, who stated these at an Islamic finance conference in Lagos, said after a sixth outing in November 2018, the federal government raised $2.86 billion and would no longer go for Eurobond this year. Oniha said: “The government has said it wanted to tap concessionary long-term loans to finance its 2019 budget in addition to…

The Presidency, Tuesday, insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari won the February 23, 2019 presidential elections with a clear margin. The Presidency also defended the suspension of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen by Buhari over the controversy surrounding his Asset Declaration Form before the last general elections Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in a statement expressed reservations over the joint report of the International Republic Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on the 2019 general elections in Nigeria and recommendations for the 2023 general elections. Shehu said it was…

Two institutions, the International Republican Institute, IRI, and the National Democratic Institute, NDI, Tuesday, called for urgent national conversation to harmonise recommendations of various committees on electoral reforms. This is even as Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, Head of European Union Election Observer Team, Tuesday said the body contributed over €100 million to support electoral reforms in Nigeria. But the All Progressives Congress, APC, in a swift reaction, said the reports of the international observers should be ignored, saying ”we are no kids, we can take care of ourselves.” However, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on its part, said the report by…

No fewer than 10,665 lives were allegedly consumed in violence across the federation in 2018, Nigeria Watch, an annual report supported by the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) and the French National Research Institute for Development (IRD), said. The fatalities rose from 10,515 in 2017 to 10,665 in 2018. The watch, which primarily monitors lethal violence, conflict and security in Nigeria on annual basis, has also claimed that there was a 1.4 per cent increase in the number of violent deaths in the country in 2018. The report, which is contained in the IFRA’s official website forwarded by…

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N208 billion for the upgrading of facilities in the federal universities. Announcing this at the 23rd convocation of the University of Abuja on Saturday, Buhari said Nigeria could overcome its challenges by developing its human capital. This amount is against N1.1 trillion demanded by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as revitalisation fund for the universities. Represented by Sonny Echono, permanent secretary of the education ministry, he said his administration would continue to address the concerns of the tertiary institutions. “The present administration will continue to improve on the infrastructural facilities in the universities,…

More than N14.5 billion banks’ commitment has been secured by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL for agricultural lending in the last five months. Stating this in Abuja, Monday, the agency said further commitments worth N48 billion are at various stages of approval. NIRSAL said it was engaging banks with a view to constituting Joint-Technical Committees with NIRSAL in order to pursue this new and innovative agriculture/agribusiness financing framework. The agency said that the prior perception of agriculture being a high-risk area by banks was gradually giving way to a new-found faith in the new business…

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said it lacked the constitutional power to de-register any of the existing 91 political parties in the country. The INEC Federal Commissioner in charge of Nasarawa, Kogi and Kwara States, Malam Muhammed Haruna, made this known on Monday in Lokoja while declaring open a post-election review meeting on the last general elections. Haruna said that the clamour by Nigerians for a reduction in the number of registered parties could only be done through an amendment of the Constitution. He agreed that the provisions in the 1999 Constitution that state that parties must be national…

Acting Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Apapa branch , Mr. Joe Onyebu, has said that many businesses were going through very difficult times, following a drop in power supply in recent months. It is estimated that over 40 percent of cost of manufacturing in Nigeria goes into generation of electricity. Speaking at the Environmental and Safety seminar organised by the association in Lagos, Onyebu, said Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, appeared to be the worst hit by the epileptic power supply, leading to closure of many. He explained that once an SME shuts down, it sets up…

By Akanimo Sampson The largely unknown oil barons that have been sabotaging Nigeria’s oil economy appears to have staged a major comeback, and are busy making mincemeat of the country’s oil industry in spite of the heavy security presence all over the oil and gas region. In Bayelsa State, the Aiteo Group, operator of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line to Shell’s Bonny export terminal, has been one of the hardest hit this year, halting flows through the link at least three times since January. Aiteo is, however, one of Africa’s fastest-growing energy leaders. The company is an integrated energy group with…