Rivers
UNIPORT Unveils Testing Facilities, Treatment Centre
The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has inaugurated two Covid-19 testing centres to serve the school community ahead of resumption of academic activities scheduled for today.
The management also unveiled a world class treatment facility provided for the school by the Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Stephen Okodudu, who showcased the facilities, said the provisions were made to safeguard the health of students and members of staff amidst academic activities.
Okodudu said the university will put in place adequate measures, including online lectures for large classes to ensure the safety of the students.
Okodudu said: “We can sustain it. We did not build from block up. We suspended them on ceramics. The treatment centre we got is a donation from a company and those who gave it to us are committed to supporting us.
“The testing centres too; we have come a long way. We have been on it since November. On the whole, I think it is sustainable if we have come this far. It is to begin that is the difficult aspect of it, sustaining it is easier.”
Okodudu said the university would ensure strict compliance to COVID-19 protocols by the students.
He said: “The thing is that we have put up advisories to the staff members and students to maintain all COVID-19 protocol. At least, use a face mask. If you cannot afford a surgical face mask, you can use the ones made with clothes.
“We have also said that globally, everybody is encouraged to carry a hand sanitiser and it is within the reach of every student. We have also trained responders to ensure that nobody enters the campus without obeying COVID-19 protocol.
“For large classes, we have facilities that they (students) can stay in the comfort of their homes and take their lectures. There will be no reason for them to come around for lectures.”
He insisted that the university would not permit sale of hostel rooms or crowded spaces, adding that only those the institution allocated spaces to would be allowed to reside in the hostels.
He said: “What we have to deal with now is the issue of room occupancy ratio. We have had before a situation where six students stay in one room, including squatters and we will not allow that this time. What we have decided now is no squatter in the hostels. It has been outlawed; we will enforce it this time.
“We have allocated bed spaces to known students, known matriculation numbers with known departments and facilities. But somehow, we find a situation from the report of the Dean of Students Affairs where some students sell off their bed spaces to their fellow students and probably go out and get an apartment. It is not going to be healthy for us in the circumstance of this pandemic.
“Especially, to engage in contact tracing because the name we have on the register is the name of the person who the space was allocated to. The person who bought will not have his name there. The Dean and his team are under some kind of obligation to ensure that anybody who comes there is the person that is supposed to be there”.
He also warned that the university would not allow students without nose masks to take lectures.
He said: “Those who do not have a nose mask will not enter the classroom. One year down the line, I think the lesson is there. It is not a punishment on the students. The pandemic is not a joke. So, no lecturer will allow any student without a nose mask to come into the classroom.”
The Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board (RSPHCMB) says it will commence Supplemental Immunization activities on Saturday, May 3, 2025, to vaccinate children from 0-5 years across the State.
The State Health Educator, Dr. Diana Babbo, who stated this during a sensitisation meeting with Media Advocate for Health, Rivers State, on the update of immunization exercise in Rivers State, said the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) is a re-enforcement of the routine immunization at the health facilities.
According to her, it is aimed at boosting polio immunisation against the circulating variance of polio virus currently threatening the total eradication of polio in the country.
She further stated that there are four pillars of polio eradication, namely routine immunization (administered on babies in the health centre), supplemental immunization activity (supplements to boost the babies), surveillance (searching for children that have weakness in their legs or some oart of their bodies), and outbreak response.
The Health Educator noted that the Novel Oral Polio Vaccination Type 2 (NOPV 2) will be administered to children under the age of 0-5 years, which targets a specific polio still in existence in communities and capable of causing paralysis among the stated categories of children, despite the country being certified a polio-free nation.
Dr. Babbo further stated that this year’s NIPDs will address the high number of unresolved non-compliance cases in the State.
She debunked what she tagged a false rumour by mischief makers which claimed that the vaccines are responsible for the development of autism in children.
She said, “vaccines are not known to be responsible for the development of autism. We’re just hearing that. The truth is that one cannot know everything.
“That aspect that has been found, have we looked into other aspects, such as genetically modified foods, drinks, and milks that our children are taking?
“Have we also looked at genetic compatibility between couples before we now say vaccines are causing x, y, z things?
“Are we looking at the environment where these things are happening, what they are peculiar to?
“It must not be peculiar to all the families, there could be something also that’s happening around that we have not known. Research is evolving, let us not accuse our precious vaccines that have succeeded so far in my knowledge, to keep as many sicknesses at bay.
“The reason we do not have small pox in our world today, apart from the lab (a bio-lab) is because we vaccinated to the point where we were able to move small pox totally out of existence from human beings. We can succeed with that same pattern with all kinds of viruses”.
She stated that the connection between autism and vaccination could merely be coincidence.
Babbo, therefore, urged all parents, churches, and school owners to avail their children/wards the opportunity to be vaccinated against polio the stated exercise.
Sogbeba Dokubo
Engr Obi Fortune, a renowned philanthropist, has donated 80 desks to four secondary schools in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State. The donation is part of his commitment to advancing education in the area.
The schools that benefited from the gesture includes- Community Secondary School Umuoye.
Community Secondary School Akwa- Government Secondary School Ozuzu and Community Primary School Okehi 2 and all the schools got 20 units each of the desks.
Speaking during the brief handing-over ceremony held recently in okehi recently, Engr Obi stated that the donation fulfills his promise to use proceeds from his book sales to procure desks for schools in the LGA.
He disclosed that more desks will arrive soon and expressed his continued commitment to supporting education in the area.
Obi urged the schools to make good use of the desks and called on other individuals to contribute to the educational needs in the area.
This gesture demonstrates Engr Obi’s dedication to improving education in Etche LGA.
A professor of social and political philosophy at Rivers State University (RSU ) Nkpolu Oroworukwu port Harcourt, Prof Agha Eresia _Eke has emphasized that citizenship participation is crucial for achieving true democratic government. He stressed that citizens’ involvement in exercising their basic rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, is essential for a democratic institution to thrive.
Eresia _Eke stated this while presenting his inaugural lecture at the 111 university’s inaugural lecture series with the topic “Nigeria Democratic practices:a contextual paradox”held at the university senate auditorium in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday.
According to him, core democratic values which include:,- Respect for individual rights and freedoms, Protection of human rights and fundamental freedom, Equality before the law, Freedom of speech, assembly, and association, Protection of privacy and personal autonomy.
“Through out history, the problem that has agitated social and political philosophers has been to work _out a model for the realization of the common good of man.
Man has always sought and developed methods and systems of organising himself according to his true nature as a rational being.”he stated.
Eresia-Eke notes that Nigeria is not practicing a true federalism and highlights the importance of a pragmatic approach to democracy, where ideas and solutions are tested and refined in real-world environments.
He emphasized that citizens must hold their leaders accountable and demand respect for human rights, stressing that by doing so, citizens can undertake their civic obligations and responsibilities, strengthening society as a whole.
Earlier in his address, the Vice chancellor of the university, Prof Zeb _Obipi commended the lecturer for his brilliant performance, adding that he has justified and proven that he is a professor in his area of specialization.
The VC averred that the university has been consistent in the inaugural lecture monthly and assured that his administration will continue to continue to keep the trend.