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Wike’s Superlative Performance Behind Our Success -Ariolu
The Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Barrister George Ariolu, has said that Governor Nyesom Wike’s excellent performance in the last seven years in office was the motivation behind the council’s success story in the last one year on office.
Ariolu said this in an exclusive interview with some senior Editors of The Tide in his office at Rumuodomanya, last Wednesday, as part of the celebration of his one year in office.
He said the governor’s superlative performance was the driving force behind the various people-oriented projects his administration carried out in the last one year in office.
Ariolu said that despite doing his last term in office, Governor Wike was still embarking on people-oriented projects across the state.
According to him,Obio/Akpor is a beneficiary of the numerous bridges and roads embarked upon by the Governor Wike-led administration in the state.
“We are learning from him positively, and it was the basis for our motivation”, he said.
He said that within the last one year,the council had embarked on some people-oriented projects with a view to fulfilling its electioneering campaign promises to the people.
Ariolu reeled out some of these projects to include the provision of alternative power supply to provide steady electricity to the council to motivate the staff to put in their best, adding that to this end,a 500KVA Generator was purchased to ensure a 24hour power supply to the council.
“On assumption of office, the first thing we discovered was that there was no alternative power supply and that was affecting the zeal of the workers to do their work. So,we promised to provide alternative power supply, and within three weeks, we delivered on that promise”.
He said his administration also embarked on the renovation of the council secretariat to provide a conducive working environment for workers as well as ensure improvement in the aestheticsof the secretariat with a view to bringing it to international standard, and give it a facelift.
Ariolu said his administration also provided more office space for staff through the construction of 30-room office complexes, which are now at roofing stage, and would be ready in the next two months.
He said the expansion of the drainages in front of the council’s secretariatwas ongoing to check flooring within the premises, saying that work on the project was 70percent completed.
Ariolu listed other projects to include the fencing of the council’s fish farms at Rumuekini,provision of a waiting house at the Rumuolumeni jetty, which areat various stages of completion,while six transformers were also procured and donated to some communities upon request, adding that more communities would get the similar gesture once resources were available.
In the area of human capacity development, Ariolu said grants were approved and released to 50 doctoral and 50 Master’s degree students each, while 13 law students received N100,000.00 each.
Others include training of nine persons atCharkin Maritime Academy, and approval of N10,000 monthly stipend for them; training of 200 persons in various skills acquisition programme.
Ariolu said the various programmes were not only for indigenes as non-indigenes also benefitted from the council’s policy to build human capacity in the area.
He said the council intended to sustain the yearly grants to post graduate students from the area until the end of his tenure.
By: John Bibor
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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