News
Gokana HIV/AIDS Prevalence Worries Stakeholders
Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, currently has
the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the State with 19.8 per cent.
The Executive Director, Rivers State Agency for the Control
of AIDS (RIVSACA), Dr Chimezie Okeh stated this yesterday during the first
stakeholders forum on HIV/AIDS in the local government area.
Dr Okeh, who stated this in his presentation at the
occasion, also noted that Asari-Toru LGA was the least in prevalence with 1.9
per cent, followed by Ogu/Bolo LGA with 1.9 per cent.
He stated that like Rivers State which has a prevalence rate
of 6.0 per cent, higher than the
nation’s 4.1 per cent, 13 of the 23 LGAs in the state also have
prevalence rate above the national status with Gokana, Oyigbo, Ahoada East,
Etche, Khana and Port Harcourt City Local Government Area leading the pack.
The RIVSACA boss further revealed that the increase was as a
result of several factors which include low patronage of antenatal care
services.
According to Okeh, a survey carried out in 2010 revealed
that out of 523 women who attended antenatal care services in the general
hospital, none delivered in the hospital.
In 2011, out of 993 who attended antenatal in the hospital,
only 22 returned to deliver in the hospital, while so far in 2012, only 10 had
come to deliver out of 1,063 who had been attending anrenatal services the
hospital, Dr Okeh revealed.
In his presentation, the Director, HIV Prevention, RIVSACA,
Dr Naziga Francis identified the cause of the epidemic in Gokana to include.
multiple concurrent sexual partners, lack of sexually transmitted infection
(STI) services and cultural factors.
Others, he said, are cultural norms that encourage men to
have multiple sexual partners, widowhood practices as well as sirah” culture
which does not allow first female children to be married even when they can
bear children.
While reacting to the increase in the prevalence’s rate of
HIV/AIDS in Gokana, the Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District,
Senator Magnus Abe, placed the blame on the doorstep of the council leadership
for not giving adequate attention to issues concerning HIV/AIDS.
Senator Abe urged the leadership of the LGA to immediately
come up with a strategy to massively mobilise and sensitise people of the LGA
on HIV/AIDS, and promised to personally lead the campaign.
Chairman of the Local Government Council, Hon Demua Ledee
Demua assured of his readiness to aggressively carry out programmes that would
check the trend.
Sogbeba Dokubo
News
I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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