Niger Delta
#EndSARS: Damage To Property In C’River Shocks Senate
The Senate Joint Committee on National Security & Intelligence, Defense, Police Affairs and Judiciary and Legal Matters, on Tuesday, visited Calabar, Cross River State capital, to assess the level of damage to property in the state during the October 2020 nationwide #EndSARS riot.
Led by its Chairman, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, the Committee expressed shock and sadness at the level of destruction of both public and private property in the state, while the mayhem lasted, almost one year ago.
The Committee visited several places including the Tinapa Lake Resort, the Calabar International Convention Centre located at Summit Hills, the Calabar Garment Factory, Ayade Industrial Park, Federal Psychiatric Hospital and the World Health Organization (WHO) office, amongst others.
Speaking when the Committee paid a visit to Governor Ben Ayade, shortly after inspecting the damaged properties, Senator Gobir said members of his committee were “saddened by the event and especially the mindless level of destruction visited on all the properties we saw.”
The Committee chairman said the committee felt the need to visit the state and see things for themselves before concluding its report.
“Immediately we landed, our first port of call was Tinapa and what we saw was unbelievable because we never expected that kind of destruction we saw in that place.”
Gobir recalled that he was “in Tinapa some years back and I know the kind of things you could find in Tinapa because what was there was second to none in this country, but unfortunately when we went there yesterday, the situation was so bad and the destruction was so much.”
Lamenting, the Chairman said: “Sometimes we wonder why people should go to that extent. But because people are senseless they tend to sabotage or go on that kind of wanton destruction.”
In spite of the gloom, the Senator said its members could not help but notice the scale of industrialisation undertaken by the governor.
“Despite all these, we have seen the kind of development through industrialisation under your watch and of course, we are not surprised because you are a man of intellectual capacity,” Senator Gobir stated.
Thanking the Committee for its evaluation tour of the state, Governor Ayade, who described the attacks as wilful, vicious and mindless, lamented that “for the little intellectual money we have struggled to be able to push in value, some people came in and destroyed everything.”
“We have people on video while destroying saying: ‘Let’s see how Cross River will be boasting about their Tinapa, let’s see how they will be talking of this Industrial park’. Truly, the highest destruction in the whole country was in Cross River, as most of our assets including our piles and pylon factory which you could not go because it is in far away Akamkpa were destroyed.
“It is the major factory that will build the sub-structure for the deep seaport. So there was somebody behind the strategic attack because even the looting they did was just too much. All the persons arrested in connection with the violence happen to be non-indigenes.
“When we did door to door search, the people in whom we found some of our looted assets were linked to a certain ethnic nationality. So, for us as a state, it is like we lost a whole generation”, Governor Ayade bemoaned.
According to Ayade, “What happened in Cross River State during the EndsSARS was something I will say was not natural because when the protest started across the country, Calabar and indeed, Cross River was totally at peace. I, therefore, took proactive steps by putting out broadcast offering scholarships to all indigenes of the state in the Cross River State University of Technology, including announcing massive programs of incentives.
“I spoke to the youths, encouraged them to be cautious that Cross River State was the state with the least federal allocation. I told them that the destruction would hurt us as a state.
“In one of our security meetings we were told that there was a team of people who were going to come through the waters to come and attack us because they think it was an embarrassment that everywhere else was burning except Calabar,” the governor explained.
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
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has restated his administration’s commitment to providing more support to security agencies operating in the state.
He stated this on Tuesday when he received heads of security agencies, including Commander of the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS), Rear Admiral N.M. Madugu, Flag Officer Commanding Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ahmed Gaya, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 16, Yenagoa, Tolani Alausa, in Government House, Yenagoa.
The Governor assured security agencies across board that his administration would collaborate with them to protect lives and property as well as critical national assets on land and the waterways by providing patrol vehicles, boats and other necessary logistics.
He informed the new OPDS Commander that the task force had a responsibility to protect critical national, state and community assets contributing not only to the daily oil production output for the federal government but also to development and growth of the state.
The Governor stressed that the partnership between the state government and the task force had ensured that crime rate in the state was reduced.
“As a government, we are working round the clock with the security agencies so that our people can sleep with their two eyes closed and also ensure that national assets are safe for the benefit of the people and the government.
“Often, it is misconstrued as though these assets are only for the federal government. Rather, they are for the state, communities and the federal government. So we must work hand-in-gloves to ensure they are safe.
“Therefore, it is our responsibility to always ensure that these critical national, state and community assets are kept safe”, he said.
Responding to the request of the Flag Officer Commanding Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ahmed Gaya, the Governor stated that he had signed the Certificate of Occupancy of the land allocated to the Nigerian Navy at the New Yenagoa and approved a secondary school at Toru-Ebeni in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state.
He said the State Government was waiting for the naval authorities to commence development of the land.
The new JTF Commander, Rear Admiral Madugu, stated that the visit was to formally introduce himself and to solicit the government’s support to achieve his aim of protecting the critical oil and gas facilities in his area of operation and fulfil the presidential mandate of increasing oil production to 2.5mbpd.
While promising to work with the Nigerian Police to maintain peace in the state, Diri admonished AIG Tolani to be repentant and be more professional in his duties having attained a top position in the force.
The Governor, who recalled the role Tolani played when he was Commissioner of Police in the state during the 2023 governorship election, said: “Let bygone be bygone and work according to your conscience. Ensure that you are repentant and do what is right. Your zone covers Bayelsa and Rivers states and let the interest of both states be uppermost on your mind.”
On disputes among community youth associations, the state’s helmsman wielded the big stick and announced the dissolution of such body in Famgbe Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area.
He directed the Commissioner for Youth Development, working with the Commissioner of Police, to ensure a proper election is held in the community.
Diri also warned that traditional rulers whose communities were embroiled in conflicts would be sanctioned.
“Every other feuding community, including Ogboinbiri, we are still watching you. I have told all traditional rulers, if you cannot ensure peace in your domain but waiting for my wrath to dangle on you, then both traditional rulers and youth bodies will be sacrificed”, Diri said.
Ariwera Ibibo-Howells,
Yenagoa
The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has said no profession in the health sector was superior to others, saying there was need for cooperation among workers in every health facility to achieve optimal results.
He stated this during a courtesy visit by the Bayelsa branch of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) to his office in Government House, Yenagoa, on Tuesday.
He assured that a good number of certified and competent medical laboratory scientists, as well as other medical and health practitioners would be employed based on the needs assessment indices at government’s disposal in the ongoing civil service recruitment exercise.
While appreciating their contributions to quality healthcare service delivery, he said government was ready to collaborate with the Association and other critical stakeholders in the sector to make health services more affordable and accessible to people of the state.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Doubara Atasi, said the current recruitment drive was aimed at addressing manpower needs in some critical sectors, including health, to improve service delivery in the state.
“We’re making progress in the health sector in Bayelsa. But we also admit that there is still much room for improvement.
“As you’re aware, applicants are applying to the state civil service, and some employment slots have been approved for Medical Doctors and Laboratory Scientists to be employed.
“We need competent and highly qualified personnel to be employed into the service to provide quality services.
“Every health worker has a role in health promotion. No profession in the health sector is superior to another. We are ready to collaborate with you to make health services more affordable and accessible to all Bayelsans”, he said.
Earlier in her presentation, the State Chairman of the AMLSN, Eunice Ayamaere Lelei, said there was need for government to employ more qualified laboratory scientists, and provide modern laboratory equipment in all its medical facilities across the state.
Lelei, who emphasized that laboratory scientists play a critical role in healthcare services in Nigeria, called for the implementation of the approved call duty allowance for members of the Association, and funding support for their Mandatory Professional Continuing Development programmes.
Ariwera Ibibo-Howells,
Yenagoa