News

Flooding Threatens Education In Nigeria, UNICEF Laments

Published

3 years ago

October 28, 2022

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICE) has said that the current flooding in about 31 states in Nigeria was taking a toll on education as schools and learning facilities have been submerged in many communities across the country.
According to UNICEF, some 1.3million people have been displaced, over 600 are believed to have lost their lives, and about 200,000 houses damaged.
It estimated that over 1.5million children’s education and health were being jeopardised by the flooding.
A senior lecturer at the Federal University, Otuoke in Bayelsa State, Oyintonyo Michael-Olomu, described the situation as unbearable, with almost the entire state submerged by the flood.
“It is not a funny experience, most communities in Bayelsa State have been submerged and lives lost in their numbers. Children can’t go to school because educational institutions are underwater,” Michael-Olomu said.
According to her, the floods have resulted in inequality in learning across the country.
“The affected tertiary institutions can longer continue with their mapped curriculum and scheme of works because they are shut out by the flood.
“The inequality is heightened by the fact that most of these universities are just coming out of the eight-month strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), while those in private universities were having their lectures, and now the public universities are forced to shut down again. Without any iota of doubt, this amounts to learning inequality. The flood has jeopardised learning.”
The Ahoada West Zonal Coordinator of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in Rivers State, Kalu Nnachi, said the flood was a big blow to education in both private and public schools.
“We are out of business now, and even after the waters have gone down, the damage cannot be overcome immediately. Academic activities are put on hold for now, and this is very disturbing considering the well-being of the children and the learning disruptions this will cause them,” he said.
Similarly, the Ahoada East Zonal Coordinator of NAPPS in Rivers State, Esor Faith, explained that the situation was horrible, with the floods disrupting the normal daily activities and property, including schools in more than 15 villages in Ahoada East.
“Over 22 schools, both public and private in Ahoada East have been submerged, and educational activities are adversely affected, putting access to education in the state and other parts of the country in a mess,” she said.
A senior lecturer in the Department of Education Management at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Shola Thomas, lamented that the affected students, especially at the primary and secondary school levels would miss a term.
He said, however, that this could be harmonised when the floods would have been over.
“It is for the time being, and the children would be made to cover up the missed schemes of work. It does not really have anything to do with out-of-school or access to education as both are two different issues,” she noted.
The moderator at African Thinkers’ College of Education, Oyigbo in Rivers State, Ijeoma Ireh, said the floods have grounded education, and jeopardised the future of many youth as there were little or no education activities going on in the affected states across the federation.
“All the schools are flooded, and the students are now in what is called ‘flood break’, even as the governments have taken some of them to settlement centres such as internally displaced centres (IDPs) for camping when situations normalise.
“No education is happening in those ad-hoc IDP centres; hence the children are missing out on their academic scheme of work. They might not even write their first-term examinations due to this development, and when they resume for the second term, it will lead to drawing back in the scheme of work. In fact, there is little or no access to education in those states, especially in the northern region,” she said.

By: John Bibor

News

NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Portal

Published

2 days ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has alerted the public to a fraudulent message circulating online, claiming that the NELFUND Student Loan Registration Portal is open.

The message directs applicants to a third-party link (http://gvly.xyz/Nelfund-Student-Loan, which NELFUND confirms is unauthorised and fraudulent.

In a post obtained from its X handle, yesterday, NELFUND urged students and the general public not to click on the link or provide any personal information, emphasising that the official loan registration portal is only accessible through the Fund’s verified channels.

The agency reminded applicants to exercise caution online and to report any suspicious links or communications claiming to be from NELFUND.

“Applicants are encouraged to always verify official announcements via NELFUND’s official website and social media channels,” NELFUND said.

This advisory comes as part of NELFUND’s ongoing efforts to safeguard students and ensure the integrity of the student loan application process.

News

Eastern Port Police Boss Promises On Crime-Free Operations

Published

2 days ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

The new Commissioner of Police Eastern, Ports Command, Mr Tijani Fatai has promised to ensure a crime- free ports operations in the zone.
He said effective policing will be mounted across the ports in the zone in tackling the high rate of community unrest, activities of port rats and other social vices.
Fatai while speaking to newsmen shortly after taking over as the 17th commissioner said he wants to be remembered as a peace maker during his tenure as Commissioner of Police in the Eastern Ports Command.
According to him,’’the community policing is the sure way of addressing most conflicts and other social vices bedeviling our society today and I will explore it to its fullest” .
The Commissioner also assured officers of the rank and file of improved welfare whoch he described as a cardinal objective of the present efforts of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
He said,” the Inspector General of Police has sent me to assure you all of welfare, promotions as and when due,no officers particular rank and file will be left behind in the coming months.
Fatai before his recent posting was an operational officer,who spent most of his years with the Police Mobile Force (PMF) where he served as Unit Commander (UC) and Commander, PMF.
Before his redeployment as a Commissioner of Police,(CP), he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, DCP, Operations, Lagos State Command.

News

Kalabaris Celebrate New Year Amid Fanfare

Published

2 days ago

November 19, 2025

The Tide

Thousands of Kalabari indigenes from Akuku- Toru, Asari-Toru, Degema and Port Harcourt City Local Government Areas last Sunday gathered at Elem Kalabari in Degema Local Government Area to celebrate what they said is the Kalabari new year amidst pomp and pageantry
According to stakeholders, the event which started over 200 years ago normally falls on the 16th of November every year.
The of this year’s celebration which was organised by Kalabari Renaissance Foundation was “Our Heritage, Honouring Our Waters and Renewing Our Spirit.”
Stakeholders said this year’s celebration was symbolic as it was holding at Elem Kalabari which is the home of the Kalabari people.
The event also featured various masquerade displays from cultural troupes within Kalabari and beyond.
Speaking on the significance of the event, the Amanyanabo of Elem Kalabari (The Source), HRH Mujahid Asari Dokubo, said the celebration signaled a return to the traditional values of the Kalabari people and the need for self-recreation.
“It’s not just about celebration, It’s about recreating ourselves, bringing us back from death.
“The organisation that has come to take over this celebration – Renaissance – really fits the description of what ought to happen to us as a people.
“It’s not just Kalabari; it’s about all of us and our values. We have to look at ourselves and our values,” he said.
Dokubo called on all Kalabari citizens to join hands together to revive their traditional values and heritage in order not to lose their cultural identity and spiritual trajectory.
Also speaking, Harry Awolayeofori MacMorrison, Chief Administrator and Chairman of Kalabari Renaissance Foundation, organizsers of the Kalabari new year festival, said the event marks the beginning of a new calendar year for the Kalabari people, after November 15 of every year when the tide cleanses the pollution from the Sombreiro River inflows, describing it as a renewal of the Kalabari people.
“It’s the renewal of the people. Kalabari area is saline environment and at a time, the Sombreiro River comes in and pollutes the river.
“On the 15th November, across Kalabari, the tide turns and takes all the fresh water that polluted the saline river back to the Sombreiro River
. “On the 15th is the end of the year. Normally when there is an end, there is a new beginning. On the 16th (November) is the beginning of the Kalabari calendar,” he said.
Awolayeofori Mac Morrison said the Kalabari communities had been holding the new year festival separately in the past until the Renaissance Foundation decided to champion a unified celebration to enable them forge a common front of trado-cultural and socio-economic development across the entire territory.
He said last year’s event held at Abalama while they decided to bring this year’s celebration to Elem Kalabari because of it significance to the Kalabari nation.
Also speaking, a member of the planning committee and media lead, Journalist Ibiba Don Pedro, said there was need to reawaken the consciousness of their people on the need to embrace their traditional values without reservations, noting that there was nothing fetish about the festival.
She said the celebration was to unite the Kalabaris as well as project the cultural heritage of the people.
Don Pedro said time has come for Africa to go back to their root , adding that development will continue to elude African countries until the people rediscover themselves.