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RSG Wants Govt Media To Be Competitive

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The Rivers State Government has charged state media organs to de-emphasise the use of government stories and pictures on the outside pages of the newspapers and as major news on radio and television stations and strive to compete with the independent and privately-owned media in the state and the country at large.

Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who threw the challenge last Friday at a Dinner/Award night at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, organised by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as part of its 2009 Press Week, said government was not interested in the use of stories emanating from its activities as a priority.

The governor, who was represented at the event by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, said a situation where state media organizations splashed four to five stories emanating from activities of the governor on front and back pages with related pictures or used government stories as major news on radio and television had made them boring sources of information for majority of the reading, listening and viewing public.

Mrs Semenitari stressed that the over reliance of the state media organs on government stories had seemingly narrowed the vision of most reporters in the government media, thereby making it difficult for them to undertake investigative and developmental journalism.

She regretted that most of the stories in the state media lacked depth, intellectual dexterity and purposefulness, emphasising that the dependence on stereotypes was neither enhancing their capacity to inform nor educate the people.

Semenitari noted that in a highly competitive environment, it was meaningless and unprofitable for government media organs to concentrate on use of unworthy government stories, adding that while stories with high public interest potentials should be given prominence, those that were likely to put off the greater majority of readers, listeners and viewers should be played down in order to be commercially viable.

The commissioner pointed out that the government was committed to restructuring, repositioning and adequately funding the state-owned media in order for them to break even and compete with the private media establishments in stories for stories, advertisements for advertisements, saying that government as a business-man would commensurate returns on its investments, and therefore would not tolerate unproductive, indolent and lazy staff in the affected media organizations.

Earlier, chairman of Rivers State Council of NUJ, Mr Opaka Dokubo, had said journalists reflect, take stock and unwind, while also rewarding deserving members and past leaders as well as the state governor for his courage, exemplary leadership and transparency in governance.

Also speaking, Sen. Benneth Birabi tasked journalists to see themselves as mirrors of society, be constructive in their criticisms and strive to avoid yellow journalism, and commended the leadership of the NUJ in the state for putting together such an all-embracing programme for its members.

 

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana

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FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

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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.

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FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

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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.

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KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

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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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