News
S’Court’s Affirmation Of Purchase Of OML 11, Kidney Island Excites RSG
The Supreme Court’s affirmation of Rivers State Government’s acquisition of 45 per cent equity stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 and Kidney Island in Port Harcourt has brought smiles on the faces of officials of the state government.
The Rivers State Government acquisition of OML 11 and Kidney Island was affirmed by the apex court, last Friday, when it dismissed the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s suit, which sought to set aside the N17billion judgment made against it in 2019.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court had in January, 2019, upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which awarded N17billion damages against the company for a devastating oil spill that ravaged farmlands, rivers and streams in Ejama-Ebubu in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State decades ago.
Shell, which was the operator of OML 11 in Ogoniland, and Kidney Island in Port Harcourt, had in July, 2019, filed a suit at the Supreme Court to set aside its earlier judgment on the ground that the apex court did not go into the merit of their appeal before upholding the decision of the Court of Appeal.
But, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment prepared by Justice Centus Nweze, and delivered by Justice Samuel Oseji, asserted that the appeal filed by Shell was frivolous and lacks merit.
Justice Oseji declared that the Supreme Court cannot revisit its earlier decision on the matter.
To this end, the court dismissed Shell’s appeal for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
In addition, the Supreme Court held that parties were to bear the cost of their litigation.
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, had in September, last year, announced the acquisition of Shell’s 45 per cent interest in OML 11 oilfields and Kidney Island in the state.
The governor had directed the Rivers State Ministry of Finance Incorporated to make a bid of $150,000,0900.00 supported by a Bank Guarantee and cash payment to the Deputy Sheriff in the sum of N1billion, the later payable to the Judgement Creditors while the former is domiciled in an escrow account.
The Ejama community had filed a suit against Shell over un-remediated pollution that took place since 1970 as admitted by SPDC vide letters they wrote seeking to clean-up the spill in 2006 while the case was at the trial court.
The suit between Shell and Ejama-Ebubu community was finally disposed of in 2017.
But, SPDC and its parent companies, took out a further appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2017, which appeal was considered and dismissed by that court in a judgment read by Hon. Justice B. Akaahs.
After losing at the High Court, Shell gave the successful Ejama-Ebubu Plaintiffs a Bond Guarantee stipulating that First Bank of Nigeria Limited would pay them the value of the Judgment debt and interests thereon in the event that SPDC’s appeal to the Court of Appeal failed at that court.
Having lost the matter at the Court of Appeal, the Ejama-Ebubu community commenced enforcement by domiciling the judgment in the state High Court, and levying execution on SPDC movables in their Industrial Area in Port Harcourt.
Shell, had invited the community and offered them N7billion as against the judgment debt of N194billion, which the community refused to accept.
Afterwards, the community approached the court for an order granting them leave to sell SPDC’s immovable property comprised in OML 11 and their Kidney Island support base in Port Harcourt.
It was on this basis that the Rivers State Government placed advertisement of the said immovable assets for auction after the Honourable Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Rivers State alerted the government of the state of the matter.
Wike, had said that rather than standby and watch other persons or groups purchase Shell’s 45 per cent interest in OML 11, and further exacerbate the poverty of the people of the State, the state government had to weigh in and bid for the purchase of SPDC interest already set down for auction.
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
-
Sports3 days ago
CAFCL : Rivers United Arrives DR Congo
-
Sports3 days ago
FIFA rankings: S’Eagles drop Position, remain sixth in Africa
-
Sports3 days ago
NPFL club name Iorfa new GM
-
Sports3 days ago
NNL abolishes playoffs for NPFL promotion
-
Sports3 days ago
Kwara Hopeful To Host Confed Cup in Ilorin
-
Sports3 days ago
NSF: Early preparations begin for 2026 National Sports Festival
-
Sports3 days ago
RSG Award Renovation Work At Yakubu Gowon Stadium
-
Sports3 days ago
RSG Pledges To Develop Baseball