News
Disabled Persons Protest Lack Of Empowerment
Barely a week after the Delta State Government set aside five percent of vacancies in recruitment exercise for disabled persons, a group under the aegis of Delta State Physically Challenged in Oil and Gas Producing Communities has protested over lack of empowerment from the government.
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, as part of his administration’s commitment to the welfare of persons in that category has at the 2009 International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Asaba announced that the Delta State Government has reserved five percent of vacancies in any recruitment exercise into the state’s public service for qualified disabled persons.
The people from Warri, numbering more than 60 had in anger the previous day, gone to the entrance gate of the State Government House, along Anwai Road , asking to see the State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to lay their complaints to him , but they were refused entry, and at the State House of Assembly, the protesters blocked the gate , preventing vehicles from either going in or coming out of the complex. At a point, while many of them were trying to cross the road to gather at the Assembly gate, they caused an obstruction which affected other road users.
According to their leader and Spokesman , Mr. Daniel Ogor, “We were stranded.
We came to the government House at 1.00pm yesterday . We waited and had to stay their in front of the government house gate till this morning when we decided to come(here) to the State House of Assembly in a peaceful protest to let the lawmakers know our problem.”
Asked what their problems are, Mr. Ogor who said they came from Warri area of the State, said,” we need empowerment from the government , our hospital bills which government promised to pay, have not been paid for long, as a result, we are no longer receiving treatment at Rafa Specialist Hospital, Warri .
According to the group, “we had written series of proposals for the government to engage us in Skills Acquisition , but nothing has been done to that effect.
The Spokesman further said that the government has denied them their monthly allowances for some time , a reason for which they were protesting also.
To crown their requests, the disabled people also slammed the government for not listening to their request , that the Special Assistant to the Governor on the Physically Challenged, should be a physically challenged person, one of their own.
They decried a situation where the position is given to an able bodied person who does not know and feel the pains of physical disability, as is the case presently.
While the people are yet to have the above requests granted, they are also asking that government should also do something good for them to enable them celebrate the Christmas happily with their families.” We want them to make sure that they give us something for us to celebrate Christmas with our families. Let government celebrate our Christmas by giving us things to make our families enjoy with us”
To assuage the anger of the group, a lawmaker, Honourable Victor Ochei spoke to them imploring them to take it easy as government will address their problems and asked them to come back, Thursday this week.
On his part, Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Publicity, Honourable Abel Oshevire said that they physically challenged have every right like any of us as contained in the Constitution , stressing that it is unfortunate they are in that condition, , . He however advised them to channel their grievances to the appropriate quarters ,”and I believe that the government would address their issues accordingly.” The House during its sitting , amongst other things, screened and confirmed members of the local government pensions board.
Meanwhile, during the 2009 International Day of Persons with Disabilities held last week in Asaba, the governor represented by his deputy, Professor Amos Utuama (SAN), explained that “Since the inception of this administration, concerted efforts have been made to improve the living condition of persons with disabilities in the state though several programmes.
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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