Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Dr Aliyu Shehu, Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA) says many rounds of polio vaccines are not harmful to children.
Shehu told newsmen in Minna that parents should not be afraid because it boosts the child’s immunity.
“Many rounds of polio vaccination do not affect the child, they boost the immunity of the child.
“We have gone a long way to eradicate polio and we are succeeding and we will not want to fail, especially now that the country is being praised by the whole world,” he said.
Shehu called on parents to collaborate with the government on the fight against polio to make the country polio-free.
According to him, the agency will ensure that parents are educated before the next round of immunisation exercise.
Bauchi
Senator Iliya Audu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi State, has urged CPC to resolve the crisis rocking the Bauchi chapter of the party.
Audu who made the call when members of the Caretaker Committee of the party paid him a courtesy visit in Bauchi on Tuesday said that the commission would support members of the party to enable them run its affairs smoothly.
The REC explained that the Electoral Act provided that all parties should notify the commission 21 days before holding any meeting.
Borno
The price of livestock has remained slightly stable in Borno State as the Eid-el Kabir celebration approaches, a survey conducted by our correspondent has shown.
Our correspondent who visited some livestock markets on Tuesday, reports that prices have either gone down or record marginal increases.
At Damboa market, a middle size ram which sold for N18,000 in June, goes for between N18,000 and N19,000, while the price of a big one has remained unchanged N30,000.
Similarly, a small size ram which sold for N12, 000 in June, is now selling for between N10,000 and N12,000 at the same market.
Ekiti
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State says the House of Representatives’ resolution asking the Accountant-General of the Federation to stop further allocations to local governments in the state is advisory.
He said it was not binding on the state.
The House had at its sitting on Tuesday, passed a resolution that the AGF should stop allocations to the councils, following their dissolution by the governor.
The governor had dissolved the councils’ executives and legislatures, regardless of their three-year tenure which was still subsisting at the time he replaced Segun Oni.
Oni’s election was recently voided by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin.
The chairmen and councillors were elected on the platform of the PDP in December 2008 for a three-year tenure.
Fayemi’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Mojeed Jamiu, however told newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, that the resolution was not binding on the government since it was not a law.
Also reacting, former spokesperson of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, said the resolution was aimed at making the government to respect the nation’s Constitution.
FCT
The National Committee on Job Creation says about 15 million jobs will be created in five years if its recommendations are fully implemented.
The Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, made this known on Tuesday at the presentation of the report on job creation to the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) in Abuja.
He listed the recommendations to include massive overhaul of the national skills acquisition capacity to help facilitate job creation in the country.
“A key recommendation in our report is therefore the massive overhaul of our national skills acquisition capacity in order to better align the skills that our citizens have to the skills that the country needs to grow and develop.
“Central to this is the need to resuscitate structured, credible and respected vocational programmes to provide the skills that will fuel the growth of local industry and improve that attractiveness of vocational careers,’’ Dangote said.
He said the committee also recommended that core sectors such as agriculture and agro- allied, manufacturing, building and construction, should be adequately explored, adding that a deep examination of the small and medium industries would help to create jobs.
Gombe
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is now a united and indivisible family, its National Chairman, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, said in Gombe State.
Onu told newsmen on Monday that his submission was based on the fact that members of the party had resolved their differences.
“With this, our members and the party are now poised to spring surprises in the coming elections,” he said.
Kwara
Dr Bukola Saraki has explained that he is in the presidential race to reform the country and place it among the comity of developed nations.
He told newsmen at Government House in Ilorin on Sunday that his administration would focus on commercial agriculture to make food abundant and secure.
He pointed out that with commercial agriculture, more employment opportunities would be created for the youths.
He said agricultural revolution would also help the country fight against over dependence on oil. “it is high time the nation diversified its sources of revenue.”
He promised to make graduates embrace self employment as against chasing scarce white collar jobs.
On the PDP primaries, the presidential aspirant urged the leadership of the party to ensure level playing ground for all aspirants.
Saraki warned that anything short of that would wreck the party, saying that he was optimistic of winning the primaries if a level playing ground is provided.
Lagos
The Anglican Bishop of Awori Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Akin Atere, on Monday cautioned against money politics, saying it would undermine democracy if unchecked.
Atere told newsmen in Lagos that politicians should woo the electorate with their records of achievements and not bags of money.
Atere also urged that political aspirants should not receive donations for their electioneering campaigns from the citizens to avoid being influenced by the donors.
He said that money politics had no place in a true democracy and that it should be avoided in 2011 by politicians who meant well for Nigeria.
The cleric spoke against the backdrop of the fundraising for President Goodluck Jonathan’s electioneering campaign.
Some groups including the Conference of Nigeria Peoples Party (CNPP) had criticised the fundraiser during which N450 million was realised.
However, the Goodluck-Sambo Campaign Organisation had said that nobody was allowed to donate more than a million naira at the event.
Niger
Nigerians should take personal hygiene seriously, Dr Mohammed Usman, Director Public Health, Niger State Ministry of Health, has advised.
Usman told newsmen that personal hygiene and proper environmental sanitation was key to prevention and control of most diseases.
“Take your personal hygiene seriously, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation is key to prevention and control of most disease. Prevention is better than cure,” Usman said.
He urged people at the grassroots to make use of the facilities at the primary healthcare centres, where most treatments are free.
Usman said in an effort to prevent malaria, the state had evacuated all the waste, cleared all drainages and brought back the environmental sanitation exercise days.
“After all this, we still give health talk to the people to educate them on how to take care of their health,” he said.
Usman added that the state had concluded plans to introduce ‘indoor-residual spray’ to complement the Long Lasting Insecticide-treated Mosquito Nets.
Ondo
The Ondo State Government has promised that 140 of the 150 rural transformation projects planned for the year will be completed by the end of November.
Mr Clement Faboyede, the Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, told newsmen Tuesday in Akure that contractors handling the projects had been given six weeks to deliver them.
He said that N600 million was spent on 80 such pilot projects in 2009 in three local government areas.
Faboyede said that the N1 million approved for the second phase of the programme was grossly inadequate for the type of projects the communities were demanding, which were estimated to cost between N8 million and N20 million.
He, however, promised that in spite of the development, government was determined to give the communities what they asked for.
Plateau
A Don, Prof. Etannibi Alemika, has tasked Nigerian security agencies to be proactive in their strategies toward curbing violent conflicts.
Alemika was speaking at a workshop organised by Governance and Social Research Institute, Jos.
While blaming the elite for most of the nation’s crises, he challenged the security agencies to deal decisively with people responsible for any conflict no matter the status in the society.
“Experience has shown that most of the conflicts are caused by the rich and the influential; it is only they that stand to gain from such crises. “The ordinary person, who is concerned with making ends meet can never be the cause of any crisis,” he said.
Alemika advised the ordinary people against allowing themselves to be used by the rich as they would be abandoned thereafter.
He urged the people to strive to understand each other, saying that there was the need to discard religious or ethnic differences that could prove to be useful tools for the elite.
Taraba
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the Federal Government to fully harness the environment and natural resources available at the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba.
The President of PSN, Mr Azubike Okwor, made the call during a courtesy call on the Taraba acting Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar, on Monday in Jalingo.
He said such a step by the government would enhance pharmaceutical development and tourism.
He suggested the establishment of a National Hospital on the Mambilla Plateau because of its unique climate.
He said there was no point for Nigerians to seek medical treatment in China or in India when Nigerian pharmacists could develop the required drugs for production locally.
Responding, Abubakar stressed the importance of the society in the medical field, saying that “no meaningful healthcare delivery system will be successful without its members”.
The President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide and the Mgboh XIII of the Mgboh Royal Family of Emohua Kingdom in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Eze (Barrister) Godspower Onuekwa, penultimate Friday celebrated his 80th birthday with pomp, pageantry and fanfare.
The celebration, which commenced with a symposium organised in his honour at Rivers State University on Thursday, August 21,2025, got to a resounding climax on Friday at Suntai Event Centre in Port Harcourt, where people from all walks of life, including business associates, friends, well-wishers, relatives, community folks, traditional rulers, and admirers, gathered to pay glowing tributes to the celebrant.
Before then, a well attended thanksgiving service was held that same Friday at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Okoro-Nu-Odo, to honour him and return gratitude to God Almighty for the fruitful and eventful life and accomplishments of the Emohua leader and icon.
The service which was officiated by Rt Rev Wisdom Budu Ihunwo, Bishop of Niger Delta North had other renowned and respected clerics like Most Rev(Dr) Blessing Enyindah, Dean, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion); Rt Rev(Dr) Emmanuel Oko-Jaja, Bishop, Diocese of Niger Delta; Rt Rev Innocent Ordu, Bishop, Diocese of Evo; and Ven Solomon Eze Nelson, Archdeacon, Okoro-Nu-Odo; among others lined up as officiating ministers.
The service lived up to its billing, as it featured powerful and soul-lifting praise and worship; point-blank prayers; and beautiful renditions, which electrified the entire atmosphere, essentially packaged to thank God for the life of the celebrant.
However, the crowning moment actually came when the who is who, the crème de la crème of the society, thronged the terraces and fabulously decorated expansive hall of Suntai Event Centre, to celebrate Eze Onuekwa, amid accolades, aplomb and panache, wining and dining, and clinking of glasses with him and all.
The chairman of the colourful ceremony, Chief Evans Woherem, who was represented by Eze(Prof) Christian Akani of the prestigious Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, praised the celebrant for his youthfulness in spite of clocking 80 years, generosity, humility, humaneness and selfless services to the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, the Niger Delta and Nigeria, and called on all and sundry to emulate his good legacies and simple disposition towards life and existence.
Goodwill messages also poured in in torrents to underscore and salute the doggedness, resilience, astuteness and uniqueness of the endearing life of the celebrant, with Prof Emenike Wami, the Ochia Ohna Ikwerre(XIV), taking the lead.
Prof Priye Iyalla, the wife of late renowned writer, novelist and playwright, Dr Elechi Amadi, held the audience spellbound as she masterfully reeled out the profile of the celebrant, amid intermittent applause from the crowd.
The Tiv Community from Benue State, resident in Rivers State, were not left out, as they honoured and decorated Eze Onuekwa in their complete traditional regalia.
Cultural displays from Baptist Church, Rumuowhor; ADNA Wogbuji Dancing Group, Egbeda; Tiv Dancing Group; and Promoter Eze and Rumu-Mgboh Emohua Wrestling Group, equally added colour and grace to the occasion, with the celebrant and his wife, Dame Ann Onuekwa, joining them to wriggle their waists and bodies in ecstasy.
In his response, the highly elated celebrant, Eze Onuekwa thanked all those gathered to celebrate with him, saying, celebrations would never cease in their homes, and attributed everything he represents in life, including his modest accomplishments to God.
Eze Onuekwa, while addressing newsmen, harped on the need for hard work among the youths and members of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide, as a way of sustaining and giving meaning to the motto of the organisation, which he noted is anchored on peace, unity and progress.
He specially thanked God for sustaining his life, and for making everything possible for him and his family, saying, he was joyous that he has today become an octogenarian and elder statesman in Rivers State.
His son and medical practitioner, Dr Samuel Chizia Onuekwa expressed delight that people from far and near had come together to celebrate the father, whom he described as a role model and great inspirator.
He said it was a good thing that the children were celebrating their father when he is alive, stressing that the last time Eze Onuekwa was celebrated in such magnitude was 20 years ago, during his 60th birthday celebration, and prayed God to grant him many more years in good health.
Among dignitaries who graced the event were Senator Andrew Uchendu; Chief Sampson Agbaru; Prof Emenike Wami; Dr Peter Didia; Eze(Prof) Samuel Ugo Onyeka; and a host of others. Justice Iche Ndu(rtd); and C O Kattey were among personalities that attended the thanksgiving service, while the Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof Isaac Zeb-Obipi led the academics who graced the symposium, alongside Eze G A O Omodu.
As the 100 Ogoni youths trained by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Creative Arts close out their training on Tuesday at the Theatre Arts Department, University of Port Harcourt, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, has urged the beneficiaries to use the skills acquired to ensure that the Ogoni stories are told and heard in the right way.
The trainees, who had completed a four- month training in script writing, film production and make-up are beneficiaries of the HYPREP sustainable livelihood programme, aimed at providing high demand skills to Ogoni youths in the lucrative creative arts and entertainment industry.
Zabbey described the Creative Arts training as well as other programmes and interventions as HYPREP’s strategic sustained effort to create alternative sources of livelihood.
”Targeted capacity building for Ogoni youths and women remains a central strategy in HYPREP’s livelihood restoration and improvement efforts. Our goal is to reach every part of the Ogoni community and ensure that no group or talent pool is left behind. This training is a deliberate step to empower young people who aspire to make their mark in the creative and entertainment industry”, he said.
While commending the trainees for producing four short films within the training period, one of which was premiered at the ceremony-Dirty Festival, the Project Coordinator noted that the training would serve as a springboard into the industry, and enable them earn a living, become entrepreneurs, and open new doors of opportunities for themselves and their communities. The three other movies are Open Pain, Bomu and Green War.
He enjoined them to utilise their skills and platforms to promote civic responsibility, peace, and environmental sustainability, urging them to ensure that Ogoni is heard in the right way, speak for HYPREP and highlight the progress being made in implementing the recommendations of the UNEP Report.
Other speakers at the event, including the Director of Technical Services of HYPREP, Prof. Damian-Paul Aguiyi; Dr Ovunda Ihunwo, Head of the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Port Harcourt; Chief Douglas Experience, the Project Coordinator of Halibiz Consult Limited; and Mrs Josephine Nzidee, Head, Sustainable Livelihood of HYPREP, all applauded HYPREP for the training, and charged the trainees to maximise the opportunity.
The trainees were later presented certificates of participation.
Visibly elated Ms Lebee Tornwe, one of the beneficiaries, thanked HYPREP and the Project Coordinator for offering the trainees the rare opportunity to acquire skills in the creative arts and entertainment industry, and expressed delight that Dr Ihunwo and Halibiz Consult Limited gave their all in grooming them.
With the wrapping up of the Creative Arts training(100), HYPREP has trained 230 Ogoni youths in high demand skill sets ,viz; seafaring(100); and aviation (30). The Project will this year, commence training in other skill areas, including Mechatronic, Aviation, Full-Stack Development, Commercial Diving, Underwater Welding and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Still in the offing is the training for Ogoni Persons Living with Disabilities in five skill sets- fish farming; basic computer skills; photography; fashion and design; and shoemaking in line with their Needs Assessment and HYPREP’s policy of inclusivity.
The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) had called on stakeholders to work collaboratively towards the development and empowerment of Ogoni youths.
NYCOP made the call in a communique issue over the weekend after an emergency Congress in Port Harcourt and signed by its President, Comrade Raymond Nwibani Marcus.
In the communique, NYCOP endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s appointments of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees (BOT) members of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), particularly Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah as Chairman of HYPREP’s BOT.
It respectfully appealed to the President to consider appointing a representative from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) under the leadership of Engr. Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, being the pioneering social vehicle for Ogoni advocacy since the inception of the Ogoni struggle, adding that it would significantly contribute to the decision-making process.
The body commended the overall management of HYPREP and urges the President to continue funding the HYPREP project.
NYCOP furthermore recommended considering the conversion of HYPREP from a project to a full-fledged agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The communique also stated that NYCOP thanked President Tinubu for establishing the Federal University of Environmental Technology, and for appointing key staff, forming a dialogue committee, and initiating infrastructural projects like the Eleme axis of the East-West Road and the Bonny-Bodo Road, significantly enhancing regional connectivity and economic prospects.
In solidarity with the Renewed Hope Agenda, the endorsed President Tinubu’s second-term bid, saying it believes his leadership embodies the aspirations of the Ogoni people and Nigerians at large.
“After thorough consideration of the Disciplinary Committee’s report, NYCOP resolves:
” To indefinitely suspend Comrade Nade Nade Burale from his position as Secretary General due to misconduct.
“To declare Comrade Saviour Imeabe persona non grata on Ogoni youth issues, given his actions’ potential to instigate crisis in Ogoni and beyond” the communique stated.
NYCOP in his resolution issued a 7-day ultimatum to former HYPREP BOT Chairman Mike Nwialeghi to explain the $100 million HYPREP fund investment, warning of potential litigation.
NYCOP reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding Ogoni youth interests and preventing personal aggrandizement.
According to the communique the resolutions demonstrate NYCOP’s efforts to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth.
“We will no longer tolerate any individual or group using the name or issues of Ogoni youth for personal aggrandizement.
” Our mandate is clear: to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth” the communique said.
NYCOP passes a vote of confidence in Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah, acknowledging his impeccable credentials and credibility to lead the BOT of HYPREP effectively.
Kiadum Edookor
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