Connect with us

News

Road Projects’ll Reduce Mortality Rate In PH, Resident Doctors Affirm

Published

on

The Association of Resident Doctors, Rivers State University Teaching Hospital branch, says the recent commissioning of flyover bridges and road projects across various parts of the state would decongest traffic gridlock faced in parts of the state capital, and reduce high mortality rate among health care seekers in the state.
The state President of the association, Dr George Ela, stated this while addressing journalists after the just-concluded ordinary Annual General Meeting of the body at the PAMO Students’ Lecture Hall at the state University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt, over the weekend.
Ela said that those people criticising the governor over the construction of the flyovers and roads should realise it would decongest traffic in the state, which has become a serious challenge for people struggling to access the health care services in the state.
According to him, many lives have been lost due to traffic challenges in their efforts to access hospital services, adding that with the inauguration of the various flyover bridges in the state, patients can now have hitch-free access to hospital services.
The ARD, RSUTH president averred that the association was happy with the state governor over the various infrastructural development projects going on in the health sector, saying that the gesture was towards improving and upgrading the health sector, with a view giving the expected access to the accreditation of unaccredited departments in the hospital.
“The commissioning of the flyover bridges will reduce the high mortality rate and remove the bottlenecks people experience in getting access the hospitals. We are happy with this bold step taken by the governor to reduce mortality rate on our roads.
“We are happy with the upcoming magnificent hospital, the Mother and Child Hospital. The traffic gridlock affecting health care service delivery will now be minimised”, he stated.
He used the opportunity to appeal to the state chief executive to ensure that all the plans laid down for the development of the health sector through the realisation of the planned accreditation of all unaccredited departments for which funds have already been released, were implemented.
The president, however, used the opportunity to key into the vision and mission statement of the hospital, which according to him, informed the theme of the AGM, ‘Excellence in Training, Research in Service Delivery, Charting the Course’.
“We are going to sensitise our members to make excellence and research in service delivery in the hospitals their watchword”, he stated.

Continue Reading

News

FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

News

FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

Published

on

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.

Continue Reading

News

KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

Published

on

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

Continue Reading

Trending