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Kidnap: PDP’s Plot To Disrupt Peace In Rivers -APC
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has described as frivolous, absurd and untrue the Peoples Democratic Party allegation that the Rivers State government led by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the APC were responsible for the kidnap of its members.
Mr Ikechi Chinda, Hon. Chinyere Igwe and Mr Allwell Ihunda, all PDP members were allegedly kidnapped in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
PDP State Chairman, Mr Felix Obuah made the allegation at a press briefing in Port Harcourt , yesterday.
But the APC interim State Chairman, Dr Davies Ibiamu Ikanya said the Rivers State government having successfully dislodged criminals from the state would not in any way or form encourage criminality in the State.
According to him, it was the leader of PDP in the state and Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, the PDP and ex-Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu that re-introduced crime and violence in the state after Governor Amaechi’s commendable and successful effort.
He spoke when he addressed journalists at the party secretariat in Port Harcourt yesterday, and accused the PDP of trying to cause mayhem in the state through devious means.
The party said Governor Amaechi should be commended for his zero tolerance for violence, kidnapping and criminality, and urged the PDP to show prove of their baseless allegations. Otherwise, they should shut up and stop obstructing police work.
Ikanya said: “You are all aware His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State has been in the forefront of the fight against criminals. The governor is the one that sent all the criminals packing from Port Harcourt before Nyesom Wike and the PDP and the former Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mbu brought them back to Port Harcourt and in Rivers State, so that same governor cannot be associated with anything criminality or kidnapping.
“His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State has zero tolerance for violence. In APC, we have zero tolerance for violence. We have zero tolerance for criminal activities, therefore, we would not condone any act of criminality in Rivers State.
“You are also aware that before we started our registration exercise on the 5th of February, we alerted the whole nation that PDP had planned to disrupt our registration activities and you are witnesses that they actually carried out the threat and we were attacked on all fronts where we were registering members into our party”.
The party chairman lamented that it was the APC that had been the serious victim of the antics and plots of the PDP in the state.
He therefore called on the new Police Commissioner in the state to get down to the root of the kidnap and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“APC has been on the receiving end of atrocities of violence against our party and indeed in our last meeting with the new Commissioner of Police, I had told the Commissioner of Police that our problem is that we suffer a lot of violence from PDP and I called on the Commissioner of Police to plead with PDP to eschew violence in the conduct of their political activities in Rivers State.
“We therefore condemn the kidnapping that took place yesterday (Wednesday). Our heart as a party and the APC government in the State indeed goes out to the families of the victims of this ugly incident. We therefore urge the police to unravel those behind it.”
He appealed to all Rivers people to continue to support Governor Amaechi in his unparalleled effort to transform lives in the state.
He urged them to equally support the new Police Commissioner in the state.”We therefore call on the people of Rivers State to continue to support the APC government of Chibuike Amaechi and to also give their support to the new Commissioner of Police to do his work.”
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
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RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.