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Ensure Justice In Female Student’s Assault Case, CSO Tells UNIPORT
A human rights advocacy group, Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign has called on the management of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) to properly investigate the case in which a male lecturer in Foreign Languages and Literature Department alleged that he was physically assaulted by a female student.
The centre, in a statement, last Friday, by its National Coordinator, Prince Wiro, which was made available to newsmen, said the university should give fair hearing to parties involved in the matter as some other reports from course mates of the female student, alleged that the lecturer was beaten when he attempted to sexually assault the female student in her off campus room at Aluu when he visited her.
Wiro urged the university to ensure that witnesses of the lecturer and female student were considered and allowed to make voluntary statements at the panel investigating the matter.
He stated that the centre believed in the capacity of the new Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Owunari Georgewill, to ensure justice to the parties involved.
Wiro enjoined students of higher institutions who are experiencing sexual harassment and extortion to approach the rights group for guidance and advise.
It would be recalled that a press statement signed by the University of Port Harcourt’sPublic Relations Officer, Sam Kpenu, reads, “The attention of the Management of the University of Port Harcourt has been drawn to an online story with the caption: “Uniport Lecturer beaten, tells Senate he was kidnapped.”
The story is credited to an online platform.
The statement said, “This is to inform the public that a case of assault was reported by a lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures against a female student in same department of the university.
“The management wishes to confirm that it has received such complaint which is currently being investigated by the appropriate authorities. The findings would be made public in no distant time. However, it is not true that the case was reported to Senate of the university as the online blog insinuated in its report.
“Members of the public are, therefore, enjoined to remain calm as the institution will spare no effort to deal decisively with anyone found culpable in line with the policy document on sexual harassment of the university which is made available to all staff and students.
“The management wishes to reiterate that it welcomes inquiries as the institution runs an open-door policy, and wishes to thank members of the public for their continued faith in the Institution and for believing in it as socially responsible.
“In the final analysis, the university will continue to promote love, excellence, integrity and accountability in all it does and will never harbour staff nor students with questionable character.”
By: Akujobi Amadi
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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