News
Community Marks 34th Anniversary Of Monarch’s Reign
Oronijah Community in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State has rolled out the drums to celebrate the 34 years of the enthronement of its Paramount Ruler, King Bartholomew Ikan Egopyork vii.
It would be recalled that King Ikan ascended the throne of his father as the Okaan Ama of Oronijah Town on the 28th of October, 1989.
A community source also told The Tide that the enthronement was without challenges as there were series of litigations which were eventually settled in favour of King Bartholomew Ikan Egopyork.
Speaking with newsmen during the celebration, King Ikan said he was grateful to God for making him celebrate 34 years on the throne, stressing that at the time he was enthroned, the community was torn apart by factions but eventually all of them have collapsed by forming a united Oronijah Community.
“The whole factions of the community are now united and speaking with one voice”, he said.
Speaking on the development of the community, the traditional ruler said the greatest challenge facing Oronijah at the moment is lack of land.
He said the lack of available land has made it difficult for the area to develop, stressing that even the cost of building houses in the community is beyond the reach of the people because of the swampy nature of the island.
Ikan said the community’s primary and secondary schools have no teachers, while the Primary Health Centre, which is the only health institution in the community, is in dilapidated condition.
He further said the solar panels approved for the community by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in collaboration with the Andoni Local Government Council has not been fully installed and pleaded with the commission to ensure the community enjoys the benefits of the solar panels.
The traditional ruler used the occasion to call on both the Rivers and Federal Governments to come to the aide of Oronijah Town through: the reclamation of more land and shore protection.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Community Development Committee (CDC), Oronijah Town, Elder Tamuno G. Arunga, said the reign of King Ikan has brought peace and development to the community.
He said the community is more united now than before because of the leadership qualities of the paramount ruler, adding that King Ikan has ensured that no part of the community was neglected.
Assuring that the CDC will continue to work with the paramount ruler to promote peace in the area, Arunga used the occasion to call on the government to come to the aid of the community through the construction of shore protection to save the community from tidal erosion and reclaim more lands for the people.
Also speaking Elder Blessing Jackson Tiko, said the people are happy with their King.
He said King Ikan has for the past 34 years endeared himself to the people because of his humility.
“He is a peaceful and humble king. That’s why the people like him”, he said.
Tiko prayed God to grant the traditional ruler more years to reign over the community.
Also speaking, Women Leader of Oronijah Town, Mrs Helen Conerlius, said the women are happy with the manner in which King Bartholomew Ikan Egopyork has rule over the community for the past 34 years.
According to her, Oronijah is more united now than before, adding that the women are now speaking with one voice.
She said the women will continue to pray for long life for King Ikan to enable him take the community to greater height.
On his part, Engr Andason Otowo, a concerned youth of the community, said the youths are happy with the reign of their King.
Otowo said youths of Oronijah Town never allow cultism to thrive in the community because of the leadership qualities of its paramount ruler.
The celebration, which lasted for three days, was rounded up with a Thanksgiving service at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Oronijah Town.
By: John Bibor
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, has lauded Nigerian Air Force (NAF) troops for exceptional performance in ongoing Joint Task Force in the South-East code-named “Operation Udo Ka II”.
Abubakar said this yesterday in Enugu during his maiden visit and tour of operational and training assets and facilities within NAF Ground Training Command (GTC), Enugu.
He noted that NAF troops had done exceptionally well and recorded series of success in the joint operation meant to keep the South-East safe and secured for all.
The CAS noted that the GTC Command was highly important to NAF as it housed the ground component (non technical component) as well as a unit of air component necessary to ensure the attainment of the mandate of NAF.
He said: “Today, we are in Enugu, which is the host of the GTC Command in our maiden visit and we are here to interact with the NAF personnel, see the facilities and infrastructure on ground.
“We are also here to encourage the personnel to continue to do the good job they had been doing before now.
“The GTC Command and the Air Training Command are key to all of our activities in NAF and the two commands ensure we have the adequate and skilled manpower for all our activities and operations.
“I am also here to strengthen our activities within Operation Udo Ka II, which Enugu is the headquarters, and see how we can achieve greater successes more than what we are having now and ensure that South-East is totally secured.”
He disclosed that 750 personnel were currently undergoing training and would be graduating between December 2023 and January, 2024.
“These training are important to us in terms of our operation; and the current number is very significant amount of manpower to be injected into our operations and other activities in the country,” he said.
On the inspection in the new GTC Command Headquarters, new 553 Base Services Group (BSG) Headquarters and BSG Annex; Abubakar said that he was quite satisfied and impressed with the pace, level and quality of work done already.
“I have taken out time to inspect the projects and asked questions about the projects and I tell you that I am satisfied with what are on ground and all our assets and facilities are well maintained and protected,” he said.
The NAF boss commended NAF officers, airmen and airwomen in GTC Command for “doing a good job and keeping the flag flying high” as well as extolled their sacrifices and commitment to duties as well.
“I am very happy for their performance. We at the NAF headquarters, we are doing all we can to make sure they have all the necessary support and equipment as well as welfare and accommodation to carry out their jobs effectively,” he said.
He assured NAF personnel of doing more by providing all necessary infrastructures to ensure the maximum working of the GTC Command.
The CAS also inaugurated a renovated airmen’s club and new Mrs Rakiya Abubakar Children’s Park as well as inspected the water treatment and reticulation system and the hospital within NAF Base, Abakpa in Enugu.
The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos, has announced Dr Muhammad Ribadu as winner of this year’s Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D thesis in African Studies award.
The Director of the institute, Prof. Muyiwa Falaiye, made the announcement in a statement issued to newsmen yesterday in Lagos.
Ribadu, of the University of Ibadan, will be rewarded with a total of 1000 dollars, a plaque and a certificate.
Falaiye said a total of 18 entries for the 4th edition of competition were received from various universities in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa
He gave the title of the winning thesis as: The Social Context of Gentrification in Lagos State; Ph.D (Jan. 2023) Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan.
“The first runner up for this competition was Oluwaseyi Popogbe, currently a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Crawford University in Ogun.
“The title of his thesis is: Social Exclusion and Poverty in Selected Coastal Slum Areas in Lagos State; Ph.D (Dec. 2022) Department of Economics University of Lagos.
“The second runner up position went to Dr Charles Akwen, currently a lecturer at the Department of English, University of Lagos.
“Akwen’s thesis is titled: Notions of Identity in the Literary Creativity of Odia Ofeimun and Yang Mu; Ph.D (Dec. 2022) English Literature, University of Lagos,” the director stated.
He said that both the first and second runners up would be awarded plaques and certificates in recognition of their contributions and hard work.
Falaiye noted that the competition was in honour of Prof. Rahamon Bello, who was the 10th Vice Chancellor of the university, at the time the institute was inaugurated.
The prize money is usually donated every year for the award by friends of Prof. Bello.
Falaiye said that Dec, 6, had been fixed for the presentation of the awards.
The Tide source reports that the award was first presented in 2020.
The 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government councils have no structure in place to manage Ecological Fund.
The declaration was made in Abuja, yesterday, by the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Project Office, Malam Shehu Ibrahim.
Ibrahim made the declaration at an interactive session with the House Representatives Committee on Ecological Fund.
He said since states and local governments began to share the fund with the Federal Government they had not been able to put structures in place to manage their share.
The Ecological Fund is an intervention fund by the Federal Government to address the multifarious ecological challenges in various communities in the country.
Ibrahim told the house committee that the sharing of the fund among the three tiers of government followed a court decision.
He said governors and local council chairmen never welcomed queries about how they deployed the ecological funds.
“It is a `no-go’ area,’’ he quipped.
“They don’t want to see officials of the Ecological Project Office near them; so we cannot ask them how they spend the money,’’ he added.
Ibrahim said also that all motions by the National Assembly regarding intervention on ecological project matters had been treated.
“The Ecological Project Office acts expeditiously on documents sent to it to solve problems; it looks at some of the gaps within the motion and tries to fill the gaps, and we have had more than five of such motions.
“ The Ecological Project Office does not handle funds; it only appraises projects and makes recommendations to the president,’’ he said.
The permanent secretary explained that it is the Ministry of Finance that manages the fund and the projects.
He stressed that it was a misconception that the Ecological Project Office is in charge of funds and at liberty to decide on where projects would be sited with the money in its coffers.
He said whenever there were interventions; the Ecological Project Office informed affected communities and went with the contractor to hand over the projects to the community.
This is to enable the community to take ownership of the intervention and communicate their observations to the project office.
Responding, Rep. Sani Jaji (APC-Kaura Namoda/ Birnin Magaji), chairman of the committee, said there should always be stakeholders engagement before embarking on ecological fund intervention projects.
He noted that the projects were stakeholders’ projects and failure to include the stakeholders would always lead to security breach.
“So many things happened with UNICEF’s polio vaccine rejection; but when it included stakeholders, people began to accept the vaccine.
“It is critical to involve stakeholders and ensure equity. Security cannot be the reason why you won’t execute projects in certain parts of the country.
“The perception about your office is that there is money out there; so you need to change that perception and let people know that you have limitations about the execution of projects,’’ he said.
Jaji challenged the Ecological Fund Project Office to provide the needed advice to the president to enable him to take the correct steps.