News
Reps Reject Request To Honour Late Ken Saro-Wiwa
An articulated move to arouse a special recognition for late environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, 22 years after his death, was yesterday, roundly stepped down by members of the House of Representatives who saw it as a controversial path to tread in Nigeria’s national history.
The development came on the heels of a motion subsumed under “Matters of Urgent Public Importance” by the member representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State in the House, Hon. Kingsley Chinda.
Chinda had while moving the motion titled, “Remembering Saro-Wiwa and Eight Other Ogonis 22 years after their death and Urgent Need to Expedite Action on the Clean-Up of Ogoni Land”, craved for an observation of one minute silence in honour of Saro-Wiwa alongside other prayers, which included condemnation of continuing pollution of Ogoniland and other parts of Niger Delta region, declaration of Ogoniland as an ecological disaster zone.
He also prayed that the House mandate its Committee on Environment and Petroleum to monitor level of progress or otherwise of the implementation of the clean-up and report to the House quarterly.
The lawmaker said, the “House notes with dismay the despoliation of the Ogoni environment, and indeed, that several other Niger Delta communities occasioned by decades of oil exploration activities in the region.
“Further notes that following this, and at the request of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) conducted an independent assessment of Ogoniland and proffered options for remediation.
“Conscious of the clear provision of Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as variously amended) that ‘the State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria’ which environment of course includes that of the Niger Delta region.
“Aware that the UNEP study amongst other things showed the nature and extent of oil contamination and covered contaminated land, ground water, surface water, sediment, vegetation, air pollution, public health, industry practices as well as the implications for affected populations and provides clear operational guidance as to how that could be addressed”.
It would be recalled that Saro-Wiwa was executed by the General Sani Abacha’s regime after he was found guilty of killing four Ogoni indigenes, who were opposed to his crusade through the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) by a law court.
Reacting to the one-minute silence prayer, some lawmakers reminded the House that it would be controversial to reverse what was ‘duly considered and endorsed by the government.’
For instance, Hon. Benjamin Wayo (APC, Benue) said it would be out of order to heed the prayer.
He said: “While I agree that the environmental situation in Niger Delta is pitiable, we have to be careful in adopting the prayer in the motion, calling for one minute silence for the late environmentalist.
“Section 33 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution says every person has right to life. It’s only permissible to be taken through constitutional means, just as it was done in this case.
“Therefore, it will be out of order to observe a minute silence for him (Saro -Wiwa) under this circumstance”.
Also rejecting the call, Hon Ali Madaki (APC, Kano) called for caution in order not to breach procedures regarding government’s pronouncements.
Similarly, the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun reminded the House of a possible negative implication of taking such action against the state.
For Hon. Mojeed Alabi, it would amount to reversing an “act of state”, without following due process.
On her part, Hon. Onyemaechi Mrakpor (PDP, Delta), said one-minute silence in Saro-Wiwa’s honour would be inconsequential in the light of the environmental degradation of the region.
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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