Nation
Pay N10m To Late UNIPORT Undergraduate’s Family, Senate Orders Police
The Senate has mandated the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to pay N10million as compensation to the family of a final year student of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Chinedu Obi, allegedly killed by its personnel.
This directive followed the consideration of a report of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Public petition presented at plenary, yesterday.
The Senate committee, at the close of its investigation on the petition filed by the late Obi’s family lawyer, Omemiroro Ogedegbe, found the police guilty of extra-judicial killing of the young man.
The lawmakers said the amount was to help to mitigate the pains of late Chinedu Obi’s demise.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, in his presentation, reported that the late Obi was arrested on July 19, 2019, after a disagreement with a phone seller, who accused him of assaulting her.
According to a petition to the Senate by Ogedegbe, the undergraduate met his untimely death at Otta where he visited his friend in a controversial circumstance in the custody of the police, who denied him access to his family and medicare.
According to the report, late Chinedu had issues with a phone seller at Otta, which led to his arrest.
Testifying before the Senate committee, Ogedegbe said the deceased did not resist arrest contrary to a claim by the police.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ogbadu Aliyu, in his presentation, had claimed that the deceased was arrested, detained and later granted bail.
“That after his release, he went back to the woman and started beating her and even tried to throw her down from a story building,” he said.
The police boss said the deceased when rearrested became violent and tried to demobilise an officer, who shot him on his buttock instead of one his legs that he aimed.
But Ogedegbe, who countered the presentation, stated that the deceased was shot from behind in the right buttock, “which meant that it was not the officer he was alleged to be pursuing that turned round and shot him from behind.
“That all entreaties by the deceased who was in the pool of his own blood to speak to his father were rebuffed by the officers of the NPF who allowed him to die before taking him to Otta General Hospital.
“That the men of the police force lied as the deceased neither committed a capital offence, resisted arrest nor was he armed at the point of his arrest.”
But Senator Akinyelure, in the report, observed that the offence of assault alleged by the phone seller was not a capital offence and should not have led to the suspect being handcuffed.
“That the men of the NPF did not handle the matter professionally, and therefore, the force is culpable over the death of Obi.”
The Senate condemned the action of the police for the unprofessional manner it handled the civil matter between the phone seller and the late Obi.
The plenary, presided over by Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, urged the police to fish out the personnel who shot the late Obi to death for prosecution, according to the laws of the land.
By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has commemorated the 15th anniversary of the release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland, reaffirming its commitment to restoring the environment and improving the livelihoods of affected communities.
In a statement signed by the Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, to commemorate the anniversary, HYPREP described the anniversary as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s environmental restoration efforts, noting that the project has made remarkable progress in implementing the recommendations of the landmark UNEP report released on August 4, 2011.
The UNEP report had revealed extensive oil pollution across Ogoniland, severe environmental degradation, and serious public health risks resulting from decades of petroleum operations. It also recommended an initial $1 billion fund to commence the cleanup of the affected communities.
According to HYPREP, the Federal Government formally launched the Ogoni clean-up in 2016, while the Project Coordination Office was established in 2017 to drive the implementation of UNEP’s recommendations.
Zabbey said the current administration has continued to prioritise the project under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Providing an update on the cleanup, the Project Coordinator disclosed that 30 of the 65 contaminated sites identified by UNEP have been fully remediated, while work is ongoing at several medium- and high-risk locations. It also stated that more than 1.5 million mangrove seedlings have been planted as part of what it described as the world’s largest restoration of oil-degraded mangroves, with over 1,000 hectares of shoreline already rehabilitated.
Zabbey further revealed that 49 Ogoni communities have been connected to potable water schemes through multiple water projects and booster stations aimed at providing safe drinking water across the region.
In the health sector, he said the 100-bed Ogoni Specialist Hospital in Kpite and the 43-bed Cottage Hospital in Buan are nearing completion, adding that several existing health facilities have been upgraded with modern medical equipment, while five ambulances have been donated to improve emergency healthcare services. The Project Coordinator also disclosed that a three-year human health biomonitoring study is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
On economic empowerment, Zabbey stated that the Project has created more than 8,000 direct jobs and trained thousands of Ogoni youths and women in various vocational and technical skills, including software development, cybersecurity, aviation, commercial diving, seafaring, mechatronics, and creative arts. The project also reported awarding scholarships to more than 1,000 students, providing grants to small businesses, and supporting persons living with special needs through skills acquisition programmes.
The statement further highlighted ongoing legacy projects, including the Ogoni Power Project and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, which it said is about 96 per cent complete. HYPREP also welcomed the recent designation of the Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site of International Importance and pledged to continue promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of the ecosystem.
Marking the anniversary, Zabbey said the progress achieved over the past 15 years demonstrates the collective commitment of government, development partners, stakeholders, and local communities to restoring Ogoniland. He called for renewed collaboration to sustain the cleanup effort, promote environmental sustainability, and support the long-term development of the region. 3