Nation
THE STATES
FCT
The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President (SSAP) on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is partnering with the Albino Foundation to provide succour to those living with albinism.
The SSAP on MDGs, Dr Precious Gbeneol, said this when she received members of The Albino Foundation (TAF) in Abuja last Thursday.
She said the office was partnering with the foundation under the MDGs Albinos Support Programme Initiative (MASPRO).
Gbeneol explained that MASPRO was a special focus empowerment project designed for the vulnerable section of Nigeria’s populace with principal consideration for people living with albinism.
“The initiative is an effective channel to reach a hitherto unreached group of Nigerians.’’
She said her office would address awareness progammes, economic empowerment and social inclusion of albinos.
Gbeneol said that some albinos had been given protective gadgets to prevent their exposure to the rays of the sun which make them prone to developing skin cancer.
She said the office was also planning skills acquisition and how to reduce poverty among the albinos.
Kano
Kano State Hisbah Command has started training prospective couples who qualified for its match-making project, our correspondent reports.
The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mr Musa Tanko, said that the training, which would be held in batches, was aimed at preparing them for wedlock.
The speakers, drawn from various fields, made presentations on topics such as the importance of marriage and reasons for staying in wedlock.
One of the speakers, Dr Yakubu Katchako, who spoke on the rights of couples, said that women had the rights to decision-making in their matrimonial homes.
Dr Sani Shu’aibu whose presentation was on the processes of divorce in Islam, said that divorce was more prevalent in the Hausa speaking communities.
He said that research had revealed that the Hausa community was rated number two in terms of high rate of divorce in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
A participant at the training, Malam Sulaiman Muhammad, expressed optimism that the lessons learnt would guide him through his new marriage.
Katsina
The Katsina State Government has awarded a N600. 8 million contract for the purchase of 5, 000 tonnes of fertiliser for farmers, the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Gide Sani, said.
The contract is in addition to an earlier one in which the government ordered 20, 000 tonnes for the farming season, Sani told newsmen in Katsina on Thursday.
He said the decision was taken at the state executive council meeting on Wednesday, adding that the state still had 17,000 tonnes of fertiliser remaining from the stock of 2011.
The commissioner said the contractors had six weeks to supply the commodity for distribution to farmers at subsidised rates.
The state government last week approved the inauguration of Songhai-Katsina Agricultural and Agro-allied projects worth more than N3.4 billion.
Lagos
A gang of armed robbers has shot dead two residents of Ibereko, Badagry during an attack on a family house in the area.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) CSP Dankoli Mohammed, in Badagry, who confirmed the incident, told newsmen on Thursday that one of the victims died on the spot, while the other died in the hospital the following day.
“It is true that some robbers attacked a private home at Ibereko on Tuesday morning and shot two people during the operation,” he said.
The DPO said that no arrest has been made adding added that the remains of the two victims, Bello Isah and Akeem Oluwarotimi, have been deposited at the mortuary, while police investigation continued into the matter.
Nasarawa
Nasarawa State Government has revoked the contract for the state’s Aerial Geographic Information system (NAGIS) awarded by the past administration in 2010 at a cost of N499 million.
The Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Town Planning, Mr Sonny Agassi, disclosed this on Thursday in Lafia while briefing newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council meeting.
Agassi said that the contractor (JM Technologies) violated the contractual terms and lacked the capacity to deliver on the job.
He said the state government decided to revoke the contract and re-award it to another company (Suraj Engineering Consortium) at a cost of N2.7 billion.
The commissioner said that the new contract had three major components.
“These are digital aerial mapping of the state with the aim of giving appropriate titles, aerial geographic information services as well as detailed district planning of Lafia, Karu and Keffi.’’
Ondo
The Ese-Odo Local Government Chairman, Akinwunmi Sowore, has described politics as an instrument for tackling development challenges in the area.
Speaking with newsmen in Ese-Odo, Ondo, Sowore said politics could be used to influence decisions to favour communities, local government and states
“Politics is worth doing as it involves our day to day activities; my entry into politics has given me a lot of insight into the affairs of Nigeria.
“Since we came on board, we have been trying to impact on the lives of the people through our numerous empowerment programmes and about 500 youths have benefited.
“About 1000 of them are in the pipeline for the oncoming empowerment scheme; we have also been able to set the women up in small scale businesses,” he said.
Osun
The Radio Television Theatre Arts Worker’ Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), Osun chapter, has appealed to the state government to commence the implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wage.
The state chairman of the union, Mr Layi Odekunle, made the appeal on Thursday in Osogbo in an interview.
He observed that the implementation of the wage would improve the purchasing power of workers in the state and make life more conducive for them.
The labour criticised the high salary being paid to political office holders, saying that the monthly salary of a special adviser was more than the salary of three directors in the state civil service.
Odekunle urged Gov. Rauf Aregbesola to ensure that payment of the new minimum wage was across the board, adding that it should not be restricted to officers on grade levels 1 to 7.
Oyo
The Oyo State Government says it has paid N396.7 million as WAEC fees for 67,786 students in the state’s secondary schools.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Adetokunbo Fayokun,made this known during a media briefing in Ibadan on Thursday.
Fayokun also said N21.9million was paid as bursary award for 219 law students from the state in the 2010/2011 academic session.
She said the bursary was restricted to law students alone because the budget inherited by the present government did not take care of other disciplines.
He, however, added that as from the next academic session, the bursary would cover all students in other disciplines.
The commissioner said 250 pairs of furniture was purchased for Igbo Elerin Grammar school under the Education Trust Fund (ETF) while rehabilitation of 35 schools damaged by storm was carried out at cost of N269 million.
Sokoto
The Sokoto State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Jabbi Kilgori, says the state government is set to procure 296,000 bags of assorted fertilisers from the Federal Government for the 2012 farming season.
Kilgori told newsmen in Sokoto on Thursday that the fertilisers would be bought under the newly introduced electronically enabled system called “e-wallet voucher system using GSM.’’
According to Kilgori , the consignments will comprise 148,000 bags each of NPK and Urea brands of the commodity.
“We will buy each bag of the commodity at N5,500 while both the Federal and Sokoto State Governments will provide a 25 per cent subsidy each, on any bag of the commodity.
“Only genuine farmers will get the commodity while private fertiliser companies and agro-dealers will be used in transporting the fertilisers to the 23 local governments of the state.’’
Taraba
The Taraba State Government has awarded two separate contracts worth N10 billion for the construction of 4km roads in the headquarters of each of its 16 Local Government Areas.
The contracts were awarded under the State Joint Account Project to PW Nigeria Ltd and Taraba Road Construction and Management Agency (TARCMA).
Mr Timothy Kataps, the Commissioner for Justice, who signed on behalf of the government, said the roads would be constructed in the headquarters of each of the local government.
“PW will execute the project in 10 local governments in southern and central Taraba, while TARCMA will handle the roads in six local governments in the northern zone of the state,” he said.
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