News
Celebrate Jubilee Citizens, Activist Urges RSG

Rivers State elder statesman and Niger Delta activist, Sokari Soberekon has called for government monetary bonus to Rivers State citizens who are 50 years and above as part of the Golden Jubilee anniversary celebration of the State.
In an interview with The Tide, Saturday in Port Harcourt, Sokari who is also called “Rivers Strongman” said the bonus would enable the recipients to “celebrate the Jubilee and plan their families.”
He said, “as part of Rivers State 50th anniversary celebration, I call on Governor Nyesom Wike to use his good offices to grant every 50-year-old Rivers indigene alive, N50,000 each to celebrate the jubilee and plan their families.”
Sokari said the governor should not subject the bonus to legislation by the Rivers State House of Assembly but use his executive powers to take the action which, he said, “will never be forgotten in the history of the State and the Niger Delta Republic that would be created in the future. The gesture, Sokari said, should be non-partisan.
On the 50th anniversary celebration proper, Sokari appealed that the event be held at the Isaac Boro cenotaph in Port Harcourt where men and women who fought for the creation of the State are being remembered and not in any “air conditioned enclosure.”
According to him, the creation of Rivers State was fought for, through the barrel of the gun and not by a stroke of the pen.
He called on the Federal Government and international organsiations including the United Nations to give active support to the call for the restructuring of the Nigerian State, saying at 50, it is time to create the Niger Delta Republic.
While commending the State government for its development strides, the Rivers Strongman said Wike’s fulfillment of his election campaign promise of completing and commissioning the Trans-Kalabari Road will endear him to people of Kalabari Kingdom.
Sokari called on the State government to introduce a modern mass transit system in the State that would phase out the small “kia kia” buses and introduce state-of-the art buses that would ply the good road network.
He reiterated his demand for the rebuilding of the old Port Harcourt Main Market destroyed during the Nigerian Civil War, urging Wike to ask the Federal Government to undertake the project.
According to him, the Nigeria Police unilaterally built a Police Children School on the site of the market when Police Commissioner Fidelis Oyakhilome (rtd) was military Governor of Rivers State.
He requested that the Police should move its school to the old Police Football field which is now being used as a vehicle scrap dump in the old Port Harcourt Township.
If rebuilt Port Harcourt Main market will improve trade and commerce in Port Harcourt as well as check trading at unauthorized places, which the State government is fight, Sokari said.
Donald Mike-Jaja
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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