Rivers
RSNC, RSTV Bag Merit Awards
The Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC) Publishers of The Tide Group of Newspapers Port Harcourt and the Rivers State Television were among a number of Corporate Organizations and individuals conferred with meritorious Awards at the First Port Harcourt Education Awards.
The event which was organized by celebrity International Education Festival Awards also featured the conferment of meritorious Awards on the Permanent Secretary, ministry of Education, Sir Dagogo Adonye Hart, HRM Lady Josephine Diette Spiff, wife of the First Military Administrator of Rivers State, Alfred Diette Spiff, amongst others.
The Coordinator of the programme Mr. Anthony Adokiye said that the programme was designed to recognise and celebrate institutions and personalities who have played key roles in the educational development of the society.
He said that it was the desire of the group that the educational systems of both Rivers State and Nigeria should be improved to enable the country achieve its desired objectives.
According to him, the focus is not only on the conventional schools, but the informal sector such as oil/gas training centre, Information Communication/Technology (ITC) centres amongst others.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Sir. Dagogo Adonye Hart, commended the organization for recognizing creativity and excellence in the educational sector.
The permanent secretary who spoke to newsmen during the programme said that the awards are coming at a time the state government is investing so much in the educational sector of the state.
He added that the awards will go along way in ensuring that school managers especially those in the private sector improved their learning environment.
Rivers
Macobarb CEO Cries Out, Says No Indigenous Contractor Can Win Case Against NLNG Or Oil Majors in Nigerian Courts …As Justice Nwogu Throws Out Macobarb’s N5.74bn Claim
Justice Chinwendu Nwogu of the Port Harcourt High Court has thrown out the N5.74bn claim filed by Macobarb, an indigenous contractor, against the NLNG for breach of contract and accumulated losses.
Shedrack Ogboru, the CEO of Macobarb International Limited, who filed the claims since 2022 as one of the claimants, in suit number HC/2013/CS/2022, has however cried out, saying the fate of indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts is doomed.
Ogboru told newsmen outside the court after the shock ruling that the judge abandoned the crux of the matter and the terms of the contract to deny Macobarb the claims.
Showing anger and frustration, Ogboru said he felt he presented tight case to the court to show that the NLNG breached terms of payments and that the breaches caused slowdown of the execution of the contract, but regretted that the judge did not agree with any of his arguments.
Saying many indigenous contractors have died as a result of injustices in the hands of the oil majors, he said only abroad do communities and local contractors get some form of justice, never in Nigeria.
Justice Nwogu had ruled that the NLNG did not breach its contract with the contractor and that the gas company did not unlawfully deny Macobarb payments.
The judge said work executed by Macobarb did not amount to ‘work done’ as stated in the contract terms except the NLNG approved it as so, and that the provision mandating the person recognized as ‘contract holder’ nominated by the NLNG as the one to authorize any dealings with the contractor did not mean that he alone could act for the NLNG as relied upon by the contractor. The judge ruled that the ‘contract holder’ was a mere day to day overseer of the project, and that any official mandated by the NLNG can terminate the contract.
The judge also ruled that the contract did not provide for ‘standdown payment’ and that the NLNG did not cause delays in the execution of the contract as claimed by the contractor.
The judge also ruled that the payment failures by the NLNG that the contractor claimed affected the contract did not amount to an offence or breach of the contract but that the contractor misused the loan he obtained from banks.
In the end, the judge ruled in favour of almost all the grounds submitted by the NLNG and none of the grounds by the contractor, and even tongue-lashed the contractor in most of his rulings.
Reacting, Ogboru said: “My case is presented 100 per cent, the NLNG’s case is zero; but surprisingly, the NLNG has rather been upheld, and Macobarb denied. I pity indigenous contractors in Nigerian courts. We are doomed.”