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Govs Insist On Polls In Adamawa, Borno, Yobe
Governors of the North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe rose from an emergency expanded security meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, insisting that elections must hold in their states next month.
There have been fears in many quarters that general elections may not hold next month in the three states that are considered to be the hotbeds of the Boko Haram sect.
Jonathan had on May 14, 2013 declared a six-month state of emergency in the three states and renewed it twice at the peak of the sect’s activities.
His attempt to further renew the emergency rule in November 2014 was rejected by the National Assembly.
At the end of yesterday’s meeting also attended by security chiefs and relevant ministers, the governor’s were of the view that if elections could be held recently in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war-torn places, that of the North East part of the country could not be an exception.
Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam, told State House correspondents that the governor’s told the President to deploy more troops ahead of the general elections.
Geidam said the troops on ground in the affected states were not enough to handle the security situation.
The governor said, “We have come to brief the President on the security features of our various states, we have come to greet him and we told him of the challenges we have been facing.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to deploy more troops in addition to what we have on ground to arrest the situation in our various states.
“We need more troops, the troops that we have on ground in our various states are not enough to contain the situation, so we have appealed to the Federal Government to deploy additional troops with full equipment to tame the situation.
“Elections will hold in the states. Election will hold, that is the position of the electoral commission and definitely in all those areas where insurgency exists, elections will hold.”
Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, on his part said elections must hold in the affected states to send a strong signal to the insurgents.
He said by not holding elections in the states, the government would be seen to have given in to the antics of the sect.
The governor argued that elections could be conducted in Internally Displaced Person’s camps.
President Goodluck Jonathan had yesterday met behind closed doors with governors of the North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
The meeting which was aimed at finding a lasting solution to the insurgency in that part of the country was also attended by security chiefs and relevant ministers.
All those who spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting expressed the hope that elections would hold in the troubled parts of the country next month despite the violence there.
They however said the need for the deployment of more troops to the troubled areas ahead of the elections formed part of discussion at the meeting.
Those who spoke with journalists included the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh; and the governors of Borno and Yobe States.
President Yiinu Kpean Young Fishing Co-operative Investment and Credit Society, Mr Eric Y. Nwinee (right) chatting with Chairman of the occasion and Rep. Co-operative Federation, Chief S. A. Idasefiema during the launching of the Co-operative at Kono waterside. With him is President Rivers State Co-operative Financing Agency Mrs T. T. Dappa. Photo: Nwiueh Donatus Ken
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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