Nation
THE STATES

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs Uzamat-Yusuf and the Permanent Secretary, Youth and Social Development, Hakeem Muri Okunola, at a news conference by Lagos Commissioner for Youth and Sports to mark one year of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in office, in Lagos yesterday.
Bauchi
Bauchi State is to train 900 women across the 20 Local
Government Areas in new trades to make them self reliant.
Hajiya Asabe HAmma, the Commissioner for Women Affairs in the State, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Bauchi.
According to her, the training would be in new “marketable trades” that would require small amounts as capital.
She said that the number of participants would be based on the size and population of each local government.
Hamma said that women development officers at the local government levels would be charged with the responsibility of selecting those to be trained.
Ekiti
A Muslim cleric, Malam Abdul’kareem Adeleke, said he
was optimistic that the current economic challenges facing the country would soon be over.
Adeleke, of the Central Mosque, Ikole, Ekiti State, spoke with newsmen after the Jumat prayers.
He appealed to Nigerians to endure the hardship and urged the rich to always support the poor in the society.
According to him, the rich have a duty to support government in alleviating poverty and to assist the needy with food, cash and other things that could improve their condition.
He cautioned the less privileged in the society against engaging in crime as means of survival saying God would not be pleased with such act.
FCT
A 55-year old farmer, Aminu Ma’aji has appeared in a Kado
Grade 1 Area Court for alleged mischief.
Ma’aji, who resides in Gwarimpa village, pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of mischief.
The Prosecutor, Zeera Douglas, told the court that Peter Omobighe of Gwarimpa village, reported the matter at Gwarimpa Police Station on February 27.
Douglas said that the defendant deliberately removed the roof of Omobighe’s room, who is his tenant, without any reason to do so.
He said that rainfall destroyed all his property, which included mattress , kitchen cabinet, electronic cabinet, gas cooker, standing fan, two seater chairs, all valued N86,000.
The prosecutor added that the crime was punishable under Section 327 of the Penal Code.
The presiding officer, Malam Abubakar Sadiq, granted bail to the accused in the sum N50,000 with a surety in like sum.
Kano
The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria has successfully resolved
14 out of the 22 cases it received in Kano State in March, the state Coordinator, Alhaji Abubakar Umar, has said.
Umar told newsmen in Kano that the council received eight criminal cases and 14 civil cases in the month under review.
The coordinator added that the 14 resolved cases comprised of five criminal and nine civil ones.
According to him, the 14 cases were resolved through arbitration while the remaining ones were still ongoing in court.
He also said that most of the civil cases were over inheritance, marriage, debt, land dispute among others.
Katsina
Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina State has
inaugurated a response committee as part of its efforts toward preventing the prevalence of Lassa fever in the area.
The acting chairman of the council, Alhaji Abba Lawal, who inaugurated the committee, said its members were selected based on their proximity to the people.
“They would be able to quickly inform the authorities of any outbreak”, he said.
Lawal said the council, through its health, water and sanitation departments, had embarked on educating food vendors and individual families as well as other rural dwellers on the dangers of Lassa fever and the prevalence of other communicable diseases.
“Public lectures, interactive sessions and house-to-house mobilisations are being conducted to educate the people.
Kwara
The Kwara Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed has urged
religious bodies to join hands with the government to move the nation forward.
Ahmed made the call at the 2016 Nigerian Baptist Convention in Ilorin.
Governor Ahmed, who was represented by his Deputy, Elder Peter Kisira, charged religious organisations to entrench good governance and play complementary roles to the government.
The governor said that the government was ready to partner any religious body or organisation to achieve all- round development of the state.
Lagos
Ato Arinze, a specialist in sculpture, has called on the Federal
Government to provide stiffer penalties for cross-border theft of art works.
Arinze told newsmen in Lagos that government’s intervention was necessary to curtail the nefarious act.
“Our artefacts are being stolen daily and it is crossing Nigerian borders without check.”
He advised artists in the country to properly document their works, so as to make the task of identifying them easier.
The artist added that most stolen art works taken across Nigeria’s borders were difficult to trace because of poor documentation by owners.
Nasarawa
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Lafia,
disbursed resettlement tools and equipment worth N1.5 million to 18 graduate trainees of vocational skills programme in Nasarawa State.
The Acting Director-General of NDE, Mr Kunle Obayan, who distributed the tools, said that the gesture was to enable the unemployed graduate trainees become self reliant and contribute their quota to national development.
Obayan, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Special Public Works, Mr Monday Dalyop, said that the Federal Government was planning to create employment opportunities for unskilled and unemployed Nigerians, hence the need for the gesture.
“NDE came into existence in 1986, saddled with the responsibilities of training people especially the youths and women in different skills acquisition programmes in the country.
Niger
The Niger State Police Command has arrested a suspected
robber, Gideon Ezechukwu, who allegedly uses the Hijab as camouflage during operations.
Police Public Relation Officer in the state, ASP Bala Elkanah, made this known during an interview with newsmen in Minna.
“On April 13, 2016 at about 6.00am one Gideon Ezechukwu of Dutsen Kura Gwari, Minna who dressed in women hijab was arrested by the police.
“The suspect was arrested while trying to escape with an allegedly stolen red colour Jincheng motorcycle (rubber rubber),’’ he said.
Plateau
The Plateau Government has closed down 62 poultry
farms and destroyed more than 190,000 birds affected by bird flu across the state, an official has confirmed.
Director, Veterinary Services, in the state’s Ministry of Agriculture,Dr Doris Bitrus, told newsmen in Jos that the disease had continued to spread.
She attributed that spread to the non-compensation of farmers, whose farms were affected by the disease in 2015.
“With compensation not coming, most farmers now prefer selling their sick birds to the marketers,” she said.
She explained that the disease was more prevalent in Jos South, Jos North, Jos East and Bassa Local Government Areas of the state.
According to her, government is working toward promoting more biosafety measures to check the spread of the disease.
Ogun
A 28-year-old man, Tunde Oduntan, who allegedly
punched off a commercial motorcyclist’s incisors, has been hauled up before an Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court.
The court, however, granted the accused a bail of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The accused, whose address is unknown, is facing a charge of unlawful assault.
The prosecutor, Insp. Augustin Ozimini, told the court that the accused had on April 15 at about 3.20 p.m. beat up the commercial motorcyclist, Abu Joseph, and removed two of his teeth in the process with punches.
Yobe
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar,
said that the Federal Government’s intervention in the welfare of the Internally Displaced Persons was to enable them to return to their communities.
Abubakar stated this at the handing over of relief materials to the IDPs in Damaturu.
Abubakar was represented by Air Commodore Paul Dimfwina, Commander 79 Composite Group Nigeria Air Force, Maiduguri.
He said that the donation was in fulfillment of a presidential mandate given to the Comptroller-General of Customs to transfer items seized by the Customs and legally forfeited to the government for the use of IDPs in various camps across the North-East.
Abubakar said that the intervention should be seen as laying foundation for full relocation of the displaced persons to their communities.
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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