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Flooding ’ll Affect 67,000 Persons In Rivers -RSG …Gets Two Camps Ready For IDPs
It is understandable that as one of the high risk states listed to experience looming destructive flooding this year, Rivers State was quick to identify five local governments areas, including Ahoada West, Ahoada East, Ogba/Egbama/Ndoni and Abua, among the flash points.
These localities, except Obia Akpor, were worst hit in 2012 when crushing flooding was experienced in the state.
Special Adviser to Governor Nyesom Wike on Emergency and Relief Services, Chris Berewari, while identifying the areas, said, “Entire Rivers State is a danger area, but we expect it more around Orashi areas, Ahoada, Omoku.”
The state Commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Onowu, said, “Obia Akpor came into the envisaged flash points because of Elekha and Rukpokwu axis where we experienced flooding also last year.”
However, even before the recent warnings by relevant bodies, residents in some parts of the state have been grappling with flooding even before the rains peaked.
Worst hit are residents of Nkpolu-Rumuigbo in Obia-Akpor as well as those in Oyigbo and some quarters in NTA area. For several weeks now, Nkpolu flood has sacked several residents as water overflowed the community into East West Road, covering over a kilometer of that major road which has become impassable, disrupting business and destroying properties.
Jane Okoro, who just moved out of Nkpolu, told Sunday Vanguard, “House rent here is now cheapest in Rivers because of the flooding. Imagine sleeping and it begins to rain and you wake up scared because your house is going to be flooded.
“Since the beginning of this week, I have not sold any item because the streets are covered with flood water; customers cannot come here because the water is knee-high.
“It is really embarrassing. This is the home community for several natives. Everybody can’t run away like us who are not indigenes. Government should really help us do something about the flooding.”
Head Chief of Nkpolu-Rumuigbo, Eze Amaehula Chindah, also speaking on the situation, said, “Since the construction of the new road from the boundary of Rumuigbo to Rumuahiolu, the whole water is channeled towards the junction and it does not flow very well. The other part of the road has been occupied by some inhabitants and this does not give room for the passage of natural water.”
Without clearing the drains in Nkpolu Junction, the traditional authority noted, the people’s plight could only get worse with further flooding.
John Amadi, one of worried residents at the bank of the neighborhood canal in Rumuahiolu, said, “Last year our homes were submerged and many of us forced out of their houses. More have run away this year. The canal is a major concern. We are always apprehensive as excess water from the canal always submerges our homes.”
The situation is not different in Oyigbo where many have been sacked by the increasingly rising floods.
Special Duties Commissioner, Onowu, speaking on pre-emptive measures taken ahead of the warning by relevant agencies, said, “Governor Nyesom Wike has approved one IDP camp for Aluu in Ikwerre local government area and another in Ahoada.
“We are looking at about 67,000 persons. We did a memo to the governor which he graciously approved so we can put the camps in order, get mattresses, de-roof and reroof places needed to be fixed and immediately we will begin to evacuate people.
“The governor has warned that he doesn’t want to lose a life to the flood. Properties he noted can be lost and replace, but not life.
“We have visited these high risks localities and the respective local government chairmen have been working with us”.
On his part, Berewari said, “We are trying to educate residents of flood prone areas on how to lessen the effect in case it comes”.
South-South Zonal Director of NEMA, Dr. Martins Ejike, said the agency had put in place action plans on how to tackle the looming disaster.
Ejike, who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt, said, “We did an appraisal of our activities. We will identify areas we have done well and areas we have not. We will identify the resources needed in our activities. Disaster is all about saving lives and all of us have what we do to that regards”.
On self inflicted internal flooding due to careless blockade of major drains and construction on natural drain channels, Prof Rosaline Konya, Rivers State Commissioner for Environment, urged residents to desist from such habits.
Meanwhile, an environmental activist, Meshack Oyi, says Rivers State is not among the states to benefit from the Federal Government N3billion intervention fund on flooding.
The Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency had, in its May Annual Flood Outlook for 2018, allegedly excluded Rivers from the states to be affected by flooding, but the environmental activist maintained that communities in Orashi region of the state are experiencing river flooding and not coastal flooding predicted by the hydrological agency.
He said, “The fund released would not be used to help ameliorate the suffering of people affected in Rivers. I am calling on them to please look at their prediction again to understand that the river flooding they predicted is also affecting Rivers among other states they listed.
“Orashi is a major tributary to the River Niger and the river has overflowed its banks, Orashi has overflowed its banks, hence the flooding of some the communities along the Orashi River. If it continues like this, we could get to the 2012 impact.”
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We’re Determined To Leave Legacy Of Quality Education -Fubara
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has promised to give the best attention to the education sector so that standard and quality learning will never be compromised in the State.
The governor emphasised that in achieving such legacy, schools in the State will be driven with a curriculum that will equip school-aged children to become competitive, innovative and self-reliant.
Governor Fubara made the assertion while inaugurating the Governing Council of Rivers State University at Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He said: “There is a lot of noise everywhere: people asking what we are doing; that we are not focused, and that we don’t have direction.
”But I want to tell the world that we are focused and aware that we cannot grow if our energies are not channeled to education. Not just education, but purposeful education.
”Education that is creative. Education that gives you independence. We have left the era in the world when you speak too much grammar. We are in such times when it is what you can do with your hands.
”Our purpose for education is that we should bring back our academic programmes to where, at the end of your studies, you don’t need a job but you create jobs. When one creates a job, you automatically employ others. That is what I want this council to see as their task.”
Governor Fubara noted the non-existence of public secondary schools for the male child in the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
He said such negligence leaves children in that area who have completed primary education, and whose parents cannot afford sending them to far away secondary schools, to roam the streets, and therefore becoming willing tools for criminality.
Governor Fubara assured that such fundamental problem will be addressed by his administration as a measure to curb the negative impression associated with Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
The governor said he trusts in the capacity of the members of the Governing Council of Rivers State University to bring about positive change in the institution while also contributing their quota to improving the general education standard in the State.
”I charge you, not just in terms of administering the affairs of the university, but let us add something different from the normal things that we already have to see new things.”
In her response, on behalf of the other members, the Pro-Chancellor of the Governing Council of Rivers State University, Justice Mary Odili (rtd), thanked the governor for finding them worthy to serve in such capacity.
Justice Odili assured they will work assiduously as a team to solve the problems that agitate the mind of the governor and ensure their contributions form part of the legacy that will be bequeathed by his administration.
The members included Justice Mary Odili (rtd) as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council with Barrister Mela Oforibika and Chukwuma Chinwo, Esq.
Others were Adata Bio-Briggs, Esq., Dr. Jonathan Nimi Hart, Ngo Martins-Yellowe, Dr. Nancy Nwankwo, Dr. Igoni William-Park, and Mr. Ogbugbu Barisua.
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Fubara, Others Eulogise Rivers First Lady’s Mother
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, his Deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu, and key stakeholders of the State on Wednesday paid glowing tributes at the Service of Songs held in honour of late Mrs Adeline Jaja, mother of the wife of the Governor, Lady Valerie Fubara, at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt.
Speaking at the event, Governor Fubara described his late mother-in-law as a great and visionary woman who lived on truth and conviction in what she believes.
“Mama was a great woman. She wasn’t a materialistic person. When she believes in you, she’ll be all out for you. She stood for me. I feel pained that, like my own mother, she left at this moment.
”Mama believed so much in God, and the wonders of God. I thank everyone, particularly the Church. On behalf of the bereaved family, we will support the Church to immortalise her name,” the Governor said.
In his homily, Vicar of the Church, Ven. A. A. Ijon-Ama, who spoke on the gains of death, said physical departure from earth was not an ultimate end but an opening for higher and permanent gain and perfection.
He pointed out that when a man has a good relationship with God, he stands to gain more in death.
Ven. Ijon-Ama described late Mrs. Adeline Jaja as a devout Christian, who exuded deep sense of hospitality, and endowed with accommodating spirit, noting that she will be greatly missed by all.
The Vicar, who prayed for the repose of the soul of Mrs Adeline Jaja, also solicited for Divine fortitude for the family to bear the great loss, and called for the immortalisation of the deceased to keep her good legacies alive.
Some family members, who spoke at the Service of Songs, extolled the virtues of the deceased, describing her as “a great community leader, counsellor, peace maker, and caring mother, who provided for the needy, and participated actively in Church activities.
Highlights of the event were special prayers for the bereaved family, conducted by the Anglican Bishop of Evo Diocese, Rt. Rev. Innocent Ordu; remarks by key family members, choir ministration, among others.
News
Tinubu Appoints New NACA DG, Two FMC CMDs
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Dr Temitope Ilori as the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
He also approved the appointment of Dr James Enimi Omietimi and Prof. Sa’ad Ahmed as Chief Medical Directors of the Federal Medical Centres in Yenagoa and Abuja respectively.
A statement by presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale, said Ilori and Omietimi would serve for an initial term of four years, while Ahmed is for a second term of four years.
Ilori is a senior lecturer in the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Ibadan. He is also a consultant family physician at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
She was Commissioner for Health in Osun State from 2011 to 2014 and Chairperson of the state’s agency on control of HIV/AIDS.
Omietimi is an accomplished medical professional who graduated from the University of Port Harcourt in 1994 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS), and began his medical career with specialisation in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
He is a fellow of the West African College of Surgeons and the International College of Surgeons.
Ahmed is a Professor of Pathology at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, concurrently serving as the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, for four years during his initial tenure.
He holds fellowships from esteemed institutions, such as the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, the International College of Surgeons (USA), the College of American Pathologists (USA), and the Central East and Southern Africa College of Pathology (South Africa).
The President had also approved the relocation of NACA to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The relocation of NACA to the Ministry is to foster synergy and enhance collaboration in pursuit of the nation’s goal to achieve the 95-95-95 pathway for ending the AIDS epidemic.
“The President is determined to consistently harmonise institutions within and between the different sectors in the country, ensuring improved coordination and synergy among agencies for efficient and qualitative service delivery to all Nigerians,” Ngelale said.
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