News
RVHA Moves To Sanction Firms …Flays Illegal Workers’Sack …Goes Tough On Rape, Battery, Others

The Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA), has warned companies operating in the state against unconditional retrenchments and severance of workers without benefits.
The Leader of the House, Hon. Martin C. Amaewhule, who gave the warning yesterday, while addressing protesters of National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO) against the retrenchment of its members by Daewoo Construction Company in Port Harcourt, said no company would be allowed to maltreat citizens of the state and go scot free.
Amaewhule, who tasked the association to submit official petition against the company to the House, assured the protesters that the House will do justice to the matter without delay.
He thanked the members of the association for their peaceful demonstration instead of resorting to causing crisis in the state.
According to him, the House will take over the matter and address it to its logical conclusion with the company.
It would be recalled that some retrenched workers of Daewoo Construction Company, under the umbrella of National Association of Plant Operators, an affiliate of Trade Union Congress (TUC) embarked on a peaceful protest to the Rivers State House of Assembly with a plea for help over an alleged unconditional retrenchment and maltreatment of its members by the company.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, the Acting President of the NAPO, Rivers State chapter, Comrade Harold Bristol, told the House of Assembly, that the Daewoo Company sacked some of the members of the association without any severance benefits as enshrined in the agreement between the company and the workers.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State House of Assembly, yesterday, read a bill for a law to raise penalties and punishment for any person who commits any offence of rape, marital maltreatment and other related offences on women, child and less privileged in the state.
The bill before the House also sought to eliminate and prohibit all forms of violence in private and public life of persons in the state.
The bill titled: “Rivers State Violence Against Persons (Prohibitions) Bill 2016”, was sponsored by the House Leader, Hon. Martin C. Amaewhule, and the lawmaker representing Emohua Constituency, Hon. Samuel Ogeh, in the House in Port Harcourt.
Presenting the bill at the plenary session of the House, Ogeh said the bill would provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims of rape and other related offences in the state.
According to him, the bill will increase the years of imprisonment for gang rapists to 20 years without option of time.
It also reviewed to 14 years imprisonment for persons less than 14 years of age without option of fine.
The bill further proposed imprisonment of not exceeding three years or option of N500,000.00 fine to any person who abandons a wife or husband, children or other dependants without any means of sustenance.
According to Ogeh, the 46-page bill would reduce violence among vulnerable women and children as well as protect the less privileged persons from unnecessary maltreatments in Rivers State.
However, the bill passed first reading at the plenary session.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Adams Dabotorudima, who lauded the sponsors of the bill, said the proposed bill was a welcome one to increase penalties against offences on less privileged persons in the state.
Enoch Epelle
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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