Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
The Adamawa State Government has announced the release of over 3,000 of its workers for in-service training in various institutions of learning in the country.
The Head of Service of the state, Mr Musa Kaibo, said this at the opening of a five-day workshop on “Plan And Budget Management At the State Level.”
The event was organised by the North-Eastern State Governments in conjunction with National Centre for Management Development, in Yola last Wednesday.
Kaibo said that providing quality knowledge and skills to civil servants to improve their capacity and efficiency was among the top priorities of the government.
The head of service also said that 6,962 staff were engaged in different training by the State’s University, Mubi in 2012.
Earlier, the Director-General of the centre, Dr Kabir Kabo, said the workshop was to bring together planning and budget officers at the sub-national levels of government in the country.
Benue
Following the recurring crisis between herdsmen and farmers in Benue State, a legislator has appealed to the Federal Government to deploy more soldiers to Makurdi, Guma and Gwer West Local Government Areas.
A former Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, Mr Emmanuel Jime, who made the appeal on Wednesday in Makurdi, said the deployment would quell the crisis between farmers and herdsmen in good time.
Jime, who is a member of the House of Representatives, representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency, said at a news conference that the measure would enable farmers to return to their homes to commence farming activities in earnest.
He expressed regrets that the crisis was happening when the rains have just begun for farming activities to take off in the affected areas, and commended Gov. Gabriel Suswam for restoring relative peace to the crisis torn areas.
In their remarks, the Chairmen of the three LGAs, Godwin Donko, Usar Adi and Eunice Mbajuwa stressed that the soldiers deployed to their local governments should ensure the safety of lives and property.
Kaduna
The Director of Education Quality Assurance Board in Kaduna State, Mrs Elizabeth Garba, says the state has recorded 44 per cent improvement in the 2012 WAEC examination.
She said the board was established by the state government to raise literacy level of students, which had been very low in spite of huge investment in the sector.
According to her, since the establishment of the board, the state has constituted compulsory self evaluation practises in all schools below tertiary level.
She said the schools were being evaluated and screened before getting full accreditation that would qualify them to present candidates for external examination.
The director said that the board was also responsible for the evaluation and re-accreditation of schools at least once in every three years.
Kano
Kano State Scholarship Board said it would begin e-payment of scholarship allowances to students in various institutions of higher learning this year.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Alhaji Usman Ririwai, said last Wednesday in Kano that the measure would check fraud among students and staff of the board and ensure transparency and accountability.
The executive secretary said the board had selected School for Rural and Community Studies Rano, for the pilot scheme, stating. “As soon as the pilot programme is completed, we shall commence the e-payment in all the institutions, where we have students.”
According to him, each student will be required to open an account with one of the commercial banks for the implementation of the programme.
Ririwai said the board had begun screening of fresh students to ensure speedy payment of their allowances, and added that the board would ensure prompt payment of the allowances to the students, to enable them to concentrate on their studies.
Kebbi
Top officials of Kebbi State Ministry of Education are invigilating students in the ongoing Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) to prevent examination malpractice.
The Birnin Kebbi Zonal Inspector of Education, Alhaji Shehu Wali, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday. Wali said that students from the public schools preferred to write the examination in private schools because they stood better chances of passing the examinations in the schools.
He said that such practice would be checked to forestall decay in the public schools and collection of examination fees.
The zonal inspectorate department, he said, would invigilate examination in all the schools within the zone to ensure that they comply with the rules of the examination.
Kogi
Six councillorship aspirants last Wednesday dragged the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) to court, seeking an order to stop the May 4 Local Government elections.
The PDP chairmanship aspirant for Omala Local Government, Labaran Oyigebe, and the Attorney-General of the state, were joined as co-defendants.
The plaintiffs, Akpa Salisu, Amodu Omada, Josiah Achimugu, Zackari Abubakar, Karim Paul and Onuh Abraham, contested in the March 15 PDP council primary elections in Omala council.
They prayed the court to determine whether KOSIEC could validly conduct local government election in Omala Local Government as well as the entire 21 Local Government Areas.
Nasarawa
Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has urged the newly appointed commissioners and Head of Service to see their appointment as a call to ‘selfless service and public trust’.
Al-Makura, who made this known when he inaugurated the commissioners in Lafia last Wednesday, said their appointment was in tandem with his administration’s vision, mission and programme of action.
According to him, it is aimed at providing good governance, enduring peace and development. “You should realise that your appointments are a call to selfless service. Indeed, the oath you have just taken is a litmus test to your public service career,” he said.
Niger
The Niger State Government says it will continue to accord priority to the education sector through provision of basic learning and teaching materials.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Saidu Idris, said this last Wednesday when members of the Amalgamated Union of Niger State-owned Tertiary Institutions paid him a courtesy call in his office in Minna, that education had remained the greatest source of empowerment in the world, adding that government would ensure that the sector received the desired attention.
The SSG, who observed that most of the infrastructure in the tertiary institutions in the state were in serious decay, assured that government would rectify the problem.
In his remarks, the Acting Chairman of the union, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, commended the State Government for re-shaping the education sector and improving the welfare of staff of tertiary institutions in the state.
Osun
Violators of the National Environmental (Protection of Endangered Species) Regulations risk seven years jail term or N20 million fine, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has said.
A Regulation Officer with the agency, Mr Hena Emmanuel, while addressing facility managers at a forum in Osogbo tagged: “ Environmental Compliance and Enforcement,’’ last Wednesday, stressed the need to protect and preserve wild life in the environment so that the country could have something to show to the incoming generation.
Emmanuel also warned against the violation of the National Environmental (Control of Bush/Forest Fire and Open Burning) Regulations and advised the public against bush burning in order to protect the ecosystem.
Oyo
More than 50 illegal structures built on major roads in Sabo area of Ibadan have been demolished under the on-going urban renewal initiative of the state government.
Owners of the demolished structures were sighted last Wednesday removing valuables from the ruins of the structures while motorists experienced difficulties passing through the area.
The state Commissioner for Environment, Mr Lowo Obisesan, said that the government’s decision to demolish the structures was to boost sanitation in the area, and described the sanitary condition of the area as worrisome.
“ Before we started implementing the decision, we decided to carry the leaders and youths of the area along so that they will not start to have a wrong impression that we wanted to chase them away from the area,’ he said.’
Obisesan said that government had given owners of the demolished shops three different sites in Ibadan, adding that the sites are located at TCTC motor-park, Eleyele Water Works and the old airport acquired by government.
Plateau
Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State would complete all ongoing projects in the state before the end of his second term in 2015.
The state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Solomon Maren, who stated this on Wednesday during an inspection tour of some projects in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state said the pace with which the indigenous contractors were working had convinced him that the vision of the governor was realisable.
He said, “Our redemption Governor is determined to complete these projects before the expiration of his tenure in 2015, and I think the contractors are toeing the line.’’”I am highly impressed with the pace at which the indigenous contractors are handling these projects within the central zone, just within the last one month they mobilised to their various sites. “What we have seen here today is totally different from what we saw earlier in the southern zone, where some of the contractors have not even mobilised to site.
Yobe
The Yobe State Government has approved the release of N192.5 million to the State Independent Electoral Commission to ensure timely preparation for the June council elections.
The Special Adviser to State Governor on Political Affairs, Alhaji Maimala Buni, made this known in an interview in Damaturu on Wednesday.
“Government approved the funds to ensure timely procurement of ballot papers and all other necessary materials needed for the success of the election. “The commission on its part has commenced preparations, according to the time-table, for a successful and credible exercise,’’ he said.
Buni commended political parties in the state for their commitments to the election time-table and process, and disclosed that the stakeholders forum “has given politicians a true sense of belonging in the forthcoming election’’.
Nation
Accolades, Fanfare As Ogbakor Ikwerre President General Celebrates 80th Birthday

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.
Nation
Ensure That Ogoni Is Heard In The Right Way, HYPREP Urges Creative Arts Trainees

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.
Nation
NYCOP Urges Stakeholders To Develop, Empower Ogoni Youths

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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