Nation
THE STATES
Ekiti
A Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti last Thursday sentenced 17 men to two years’ imprisonment each for attempting to plant 18 kilogrammes of Indian hemp (Cannabis) without lawful authority.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice Emmanuel Obile, however, granted each of them an option of fine of N60,000.
Those convicted included David Luke (24), Friday Nwakana (26) Lucky Onyausuma (20), Olu Sounmi (28), Godwin Ogbu (19), Akpan Samuel (40), Bolaji Aluko (32), Bassey Akanima (22) and Anselem Urama (32).
The rest are Raymond Abenu (32), Amechi Akanu (42), Saturday Ileoben (25), Mathew Okah (27) Friday Ejeh (35), Taiye Echaruku (28), Okonye Chukudi (28) and Ezekiel David.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Iliya Waji, a Senior Legal Officer with the NDLEA, had told the court that the convicts were caught attempting to cultivate 60 acres in order to plant 18 kilogrammes of Indian hemp seeds. He said that they were caught on March 6, 2012 at the Ise-Ekiti forest of Ekiti State.
The Defence Counsel, Mr Benson Nduka, had earlier pleaded with the judge to temper justice with mercy, considering the ages of most of the convicts, who could still be useful to the society.
FCT
An Abuja Magistrates’ Court, has ordered that a 23-year-old commercial sex worker, Charity Achibong, be remanded in prison for biting off her lover’s tongue.
Achibong of Jabi village, Abuja, appeared in court on a one-count charge of causing hurt contrary to section 245 of the Penal code.
The Police Prosecutor, Insp. Clement Egwu, said that one Mr Ephraim Okoronkwo reported the accused on July 9, at the Life Camp Police Station, Abuja.
He said that the complainant and the accused had a misunderstanding and heated argument in his room on the day of the incident.
Egwu said that the accused jumped on the complainant in the midst of the argument and bit off his tongue, adding that the accused tried to run away but was apprehended by a security man nearby.
The prosecutor said that the bite caused Okoronkwo serious injury, resulting in his being admitted at the Gwarimpa Hospital, where he is still receiving treatment. The accused pleaded guilty to the charge.
The Magistrate, Mrs Jacinta Okeke, asked that the case be suspended and that the accused be remanded in prison, while the condition of the accused was being monitored.
Gombe
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has called on the Gombe State Government to implement the 2006 Local Government Scheme of Service.
National President of the Union, Mr. Ibrahim Khaleel, made the call at the official inauguration of the state NULGE Secretariat last Wednesday.
He said most workers in the local government service in other states were already enjoying the scheme.
Khaleel also urged the governor to provide a housing programme for local government workers in each council headquarters as applied to other state workers.
The Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress in Gombe State, Mr. Ahmed Maisakala, urged the governor to pay the arrears of N18, 000 Minimum Wage owed workers in the state.
In his remark, Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo, represented by his Deputy, Mr. Tha’anda Rubainu, assured the workers that the government would look into their requests with a view to meeting them.
Jigawa
The Jigawa Government, has awarded N500 million contract for the construction of two ultra-modern mini-stadia in the state.
The Director of Sports, Alhaji Muhammad Yahaya, who disclosed this in an interview on Thursday in Dutse.
Yahaya said the projects would be executed in Dutse and Kazaure.
He said the contracts were awarded to Mandh and Lidiano construction companies, respectively, adding that the projects were designed to meet national standard.
The director said the gesture was part of the state government’s commitment toward encouraging sports development at the grassroots.
He said the state had concluded arrangements to enable its athletes to participate in the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos in November, tagged “EKO 2012’’.
According to him the athletes would compete in the male and female football, volleyball, basketball and athletics. “Our players are ready to participate and win trophies at the tournament”, he said.
Kebbi
The Kebbi World Bank-assisted Community and Social De
velopment Project will train 118 traditional rulers on ways to reduce environmental degradation, says the acting manager of the project, Mrs. Esther Jatau,.
Jatau said in Birnin Kebbi last Thursday that the project would support the government, corporate bodies and individuals to checkmate the menace of environment degradation.
She noted that open defecation, especially during the rainy season, had become rampant and posed a threat to human health.
Meanwhile, Mr Musa Umar, t the General Manager of the Kebbi State Environmental Protection Agency, who is also the Desk Officer on Environment in the project, said that a total 280 people would be trained.
According to him, the second category of those to be trained include Directors of agriculture in local government councils, vigilance groups, farmers’ associations, media practitioners and NGOs.
Lagos
Some residents in Lagos last Thursday said the new Lagos Tenancy Law had not made the required positive impact on tenants I8 months into the implementation of the law.
The law prohibited a landlord in the state from demanding or receiving rents in excess of six months from a sitting tenant paying monthly and one year rent from a tenant paying yearly.
Fashola signed the Tenancy Bill into law on Aug.24, 2011.
Mr Akeem Folarin, a resident in Yaba, said that he was made to pay two years rent with high commissions to secure his new apartment.
“Three of us were negotiating to rent the place; it would be stupid of me to offer to pay one year when two others were ready to pay two years.
“Some people were lucky to meet law abiding landlords that accepted one year rent, but not all the landlords are complying with the law and it is frustrating,” he said.
Mr Jolomi Ogunlana, a prospective tenant in Surulere area, said the tenancy law had not made the needed impact.
Nasarawa
Relatives of some patients last Wednesday attacked workers of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia, for allegedly denying them access to patients.
A statement on Thursday by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr. Ahmed Ashuku, said the incident occurred at the maternity ward of the hospital.
Healleged that the relatives broke the burglary proof of the ward, threw food and other objects at the workers for asking them to keep to visiting hours two workers sustained injury during the fracas and had been treated.
Ashuku in the statement described the action as embarrassing and urged visitors to the hospital to respect official visiting hours.
“It should be noted that the hospital is not a social ground or a place for merriment, but a place for medical attention for the sick.”
Niger
The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), says it has trained 86 communities in 17 local government areas of Niger State on shea butter processing and production to boost their earnings.
The GIZ Country Representative, Mr Christian Vidmann, said this on Thursday in Minna during the opening of the stakeholders workshop on pro-poor growth and promotion of employment.
Vidmann said that the community members were trained on group formation and how to increase the quantity and quality of shea butter produced in the state for sale in Nigeria and aboard.
According to him, the communities were provided with processing machines under a partnership arrangement between the state government, GIZ and some companies.
He said that the GIZ was ready to partner with the Niger government towards the attainment of its vision of becoming one of the top three most developed economies in the country by the year 2020.
Osun
The Osun Commissioner for Health, Mrs Temitope Ilori, says plans are underway to procure modern technological equipment for the use of physiotherapists in the state.
Ilori disclosed this in Osogbo on Thursday at a scientific conference organised by the Osun chapter of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy.
She noted that physiotherapy was a distinct professional practice with specialised functions in health care and medical rehabilitation services delivery.
The commissioner, who was represented by the Acting Director in the ministry, Mr Adeboye Adelowokan,said procurement of modern equipment would boost health care delivery.
Ilori charged physiotherapists to be more committed and dedicated to duty as part of their contributions toward the reformation of the state’s health sector.
Earlier, the state chairman of the association, Mr Segun Oluwafemi, called for the declaration of a state of emergency in the area of physiotherapy, stating that there was a gross shortage of professionals and equipment.
Oyo
The Managing Director, LNG Ship Manning Limited, Dr
Grant Akata, last Thursday in Ibadan said organisations must effectively deploy the mechanism to rate and reward employees.
Akata said this in a lecture he delivered at the 2012 Annual Branch Conference of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Oyo State Chapter.
In his lecture was entitled: “Managing Performance and Reward for Organisational Success,’’ Akata, a human resource expert, said organisations must plan, ensure continual monitoring and review of performance as well as develop capacity to rate and reward performance.
He said individual and team members constitute the driving force for the delivery of organisational goals, adding that their contributions must have linkage with the team’s objectives.
Mr Sunday Adeyemi, the Registrar of CIPM, urged members to always update their knowledge, adding that the human resource remained the cornerstone of every organisation.
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
