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Flood: Community Cries For Help
Forty-two years after the first flood disaster befell the people of Agwagune community in Biase Local government area of Cross River state, the promise made by the Federal government to relocate them to a safer area had remained unfulfilled.
This was the views of the people of Agwagune community that suffered another major flood disaster on August 11, 2012 which claimed more than seven persons and property worth millions of Naira destroyed.
Some of the property lost include farmlands, economic trees, houses, as well as personal belongings leaving the victims at God’s mercy.
Narrating their experiences, Chief Esu Oyom, said that it is sad that uptill now there is no government aid or assistance in any form. The Federal government had promised to build houses for our relocation, but regrettably, it has not done so.
He noted that over seven persons lost their lives during the flood disaster and “wondered why both the state and federal governments have refused to complete the buildings and relocate us”.
Chief Oyom said, “we are tired of making appeals to state and federal government. All we need is to relocate us. We are ready to move. We have lost our dear ones, personal belongings, farmlands and houses.”
He stated that only ten houses were built by the state government which is not enough for a community with over 2,000 population.
Chief Oyom commended the media for reporting their problem to the entire world and hoped that these reports would ginger the governments to come to our aids.
Also speaking, Mr. Eko Imoh, alias with five children said, “I am helpless and displaced. I lost my brother as a result of the flood. I need help from the state and federal governments.”
Answering reporters’ questions, he burst into tears and slummed before the team of journalists on a fact-finding mission to the area.
In his contribution, the youth leader, Mr. Ukom Ogbor Onjehe, described their experiences as very sympathic and need urgent attention, adding “This is a natural disaster which had also affected other communities in Biase”.
He said, “there is no health centre, no school, but God is on our side that is why we are still surviving till today.”
Mr. Onjehe called on the federal government to do everything possible to commence the relocation of Agwagune community.
Similarly, Baunchor Community, in Boki local government area of the state suffered an earth tremor on July 14, 2012, said the Secretary of the community, Mr. Abang Thomas Kito while narrating the story, said “the incident occurred on July 14, 2012, during their cassava festival, noting that first of such incident occurred in 1970.
According to him, “it rained for three days for several hours and we heard something like dynamite scattering the entire community,” adding that over 92 houses were washed away while 15 others were flooded.”
He noted that the only Secondary School in the community with science equipment sank into the ground leaving only the roof., pointing out that the community has not received any assistance from both state and federal governments since the incident occurred.
In his reaction, Mr. Rubeen Takim, Personal Assistant to the leader of Boki Legislature, Hon. Issac Obi Kekung, regretted that since the incident, only 400 bags of sachet water was sent to the community.
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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