Niger Delta

Delta PDP Moves To Reconcile Agrieved Members

Published

2 years ago

February 28, 2024

The Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it has begun move to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party
This accordijg to The Chief of Staff to the state Governor, Honourable Johnson Erijo ,reconciliation of aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State after the 2023 gubernatorial election is ongoing.
The former member of the state House of assembly spoke on the Nigerian who to newsmen on the issue said that one of the aspirants, who was backed by a former governor in the state, Chief James Ibori, in the party primary, Olorogun David Edevie and others have not been appearing in the state public functions since May 29, 2023.
Erijo said that Edevie and other aspirants have put issues of the election behind them to join hands with the current government to take the MORE agenda of the administration to greater heights.
He said: “It is not only Edevie that was an aspirant in the PDP primary. You see prominent aspirants like the former deputy Governor, Kingsley Otuaro. You have been seeing him in state functions. You have been seeing James Manager, high ranking senator in public functions.
“Probably at the moment Edevie may not be in the country, so just one person of the lot; you wouldn’t say you have not been seeing them in state functions. You have been seeing majority of them.
“If you count the various stalwarts that indicated interest in the PDP race, majority of them have been coming around so of the lot, it may not be total but I don’t think it is anything untoward.
“For Edevie, a very strong PDP member, I haven’t heard from him lately, maybe he is out of the country. You know he used to shuttle, maybe he is taking a break and thereafter, he would be back. But one thing I know is that the PDP family in Delta is unbreakable, we are still very much intact.
“The reconciliatory effort is still very much on course and like I said, there is no way Edevie could be more aggrieved than people like James Manager, who was the founding PDP chairman in the state.
“So if Manager, could put aside whatever difference or ambition and has come back, working tirelessly as he did in the general election, I don’t think if there’s anyone else who cannot put behind any development to join hands with the current government.”
The Chief of staff said it was noteworthy that former governor James Ibori congratulated the governor after his Supreme Court victory.
Recalled that Chief Ibori and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, the immediate past governor of the state were in different boats while the 2023 election lasted.
While Okowa presented Oborevwori for the primary election, Ibori stood behind Edevie a situation that almost tore PDP apart.
However, the Chief of staff said members of the same family were bound to quarrel and thereafter settle for progress.
“They will all still inhabit their natural abode. Whatever has happened attest to the fact that everything is fine with PDP members in the states.
“ I am sure you are aware that Ibori’s daughter ran under the platform of PDP and is now at the national assembly under the platform of the party.
“That Ibori sent kind words to Governor Oborevwori is a clear indications that all is well with us as a family.”
On palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal, Erijo said the state government has taken enduring measures to ameliorate the burden confronting workers and indeed the people of the state.
According to him, aside allowance to workers, the governor had approved other measures one of which is the use of CNG buses.
“Particularly, the CNG buses, they are not things you just pick from the shelves. Government is taking those measures to ease transportation, I know the ministry of transport is already working in that direction on the approval of the Governor in ensuring that those long and lasting measures are put in place to cushion the effects of hard the economic situation we are facing in the country.
“We need to build the stations , import the CNG vehicles …all these processes are in place as the governor has graciously approved.”
He said the construction of three flyovers in the oil city of Warri and Effurun showed the seriousness Gov Oborevwori has towards ensuring the fulfillment of his electoral promises and his MORE agenda.
“You will recall that during his inauguration, he emphatically announced he was going to ensure Warri comes back to life as a commercial nerve center of the state.
“ Some of those serious measures he has taken are in the direction towards fulfilling those promises and I think Deltans are happy for it. The entire country has applauded the very bold initiative of engaging the giants of construction ,Julius Berger ,and to ensure that not only the infrastructure are put in place in Warri but as well ensure that the infrastructure are lasting, of high standard and that is why he engaged Julius Berger.
“Not just that, there is an agency saddled with the development of Warri /Effurun and environ. Only recently, the state Executive Council meeting approved the construction of the third phase of storm drainage project and other axillary projects. There are lots of other projects that are going on. When he starts the phase of project commissioning to mark his first year in office, we shall unveil most of the achievements .”
Speaking on the bolstered numbers of aides to the state governor, the former lawmaker opined that the people he engaged as aide are not people from outside Delta State .
He said it was all meant to shore up the economy of the state even as he lashed those critiques on why a governor should have too many aides.

Niger Delta

MNCH Week Begins Today … As Consultant Urges Parents To Vaccinate Children, Others

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

The second phase of the Optimised Maternal Newborn Child Health Week (oMNCHW) is billed to hold from today to Thursday, July 12, 2026.

In an interview with the Behavioural Change Consultant for the Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Sandra James, she disclosed that although the programme is tagged Maternal Newborn Child Health (MNCH) Week, it is not for only children.

“We are looking at everybody. That we tagged it MNCH does not make it strictly for mother and child. It’s a one-stop-shop, as we usually call it, for mother, children, adolescents, and fathers.

“Everybody can work into a Primary Healthcare facility, because it’s going to be a major facility-based activities: you just work in for your deworming exercise for your children under five; for your sexual gender-based violence services for girls and boys that are sexually assaulted; for Family Planning (FP) for both adolescent and everybody of reproductive age; for free delivery during the week; and for nutrition in which you check the children who are malnourished and you ensure that their nutritional status are improved through counselling, through dispensing of nutritional therapeutic ready-to-eat meal”, she said.

She continued that it also include malaria treatment, and HIV treatment counselling to prevent maternal child transmission. All of these will be available during the one week period of he programme.

She said, “any person that works into our health centres within the period in the 23 local government areas will access the services.

“The Executive Secretary, Dr. Chituru Adiele, has ensured that all the 23 LGAs have their health facilities up and running to ensure that there is, and will be, a successful maternal health week.”

She adviced parents to access the facilities within the period, saying the services “are not mainly there for mother’s to go and deliver their babies, they are not mainly for immunisation services, they’re not there for antinatal care, they’re not for post-natal services. It’s for everybody.

“That’s your first place of call to ensure that you’re healthy. Per adventure, you go to these health facilities, and anything is beyond them, they have been trained to know when to refer.

“So, please, minimise self-medication, herbal medication, and ensure that you utilise the services of these primary healthcare centres in our communities.”

Speaking on areas currently experiencing diphtheria in Rivers State, the State Immunization Officer, Dr. Joseph Urang, said the focus is on Oyigbo and Agbandele, both in Oyigbo and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas, respectively.

According him, so far, one case in Oyigbo, and two cases (twins) in Agbandele of clinically diagnosed diphtheria have been identified, with one of them already dead, due to the fact that the twins, who are four years old, are both zero dose, while the single case in Oyigbo (15 years) has however been vaccinated in childhood.

Dr. Urang explained that when the team of health officers moved into both areas, the parents resisted their children being immunised, and only succumbed after much persistence and persuasion by the health team.

Explaining the diphtheria vaccine, he said it is part of he pental vaccines: “what happens is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that at between 3 and 5, the effect actually weans out. That’s why they recommend that when you give your child the vaccine, you have a booster dose at 5, 10, and 15 years.

He said after the booster dose at 15 years, the person will have protection for life.

Diphtheria, he explained, “is a bacteria, and it has strong affinity to the respiratory system. It’s an infection in the respiratory system. It’s all around us, in the air we breadth.

“That’s why it requires continuous vaccination, because once you stop vaccination, it comes back to infect our system. The way we, as humans, are struggling to survive, that’s how these organisms are struggling to survive.”

He urged everybody to avail themselves the opportunity of accessing the available services in health centres close to them.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo

Niger Delta

Eno Promises To Actualise Ibom Deep Seaport Project

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has reiterated his administration’s commitment towards actualising the Ibom Deep Seaport project

This is contained in a statement by the Information Commissioner, Dr. Aniekan Umanah, in Uyo on Saturday.

The statement disclosed that Eno made the expression at a high-level technical engagement and working session with Africa Global Logistics Group in Paris, France.

According to the statement, the session reviewed the recently submitted technical feasibility report prepared by Worley Parsons.

It also examined the critical pathways for investment, project implementation, and long-term sustainability.

During the engagement, Eno emphasised the need to accelerate project delivery, and called for clear timelines, milestones, and actionable steps for project implementation.

He said the state government was committed to working effectively with other partners to achieve the deep seaport initiative.

He described the project as a landmark blue economy initiative with the potential to position Akwa Ibom as a leading maritime, trade, and logistics hub in the Gulf of Guinea.

Niger Delta

Group Bothers Over Oil Pollution-Related Health Hazards In Bayelsa

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

The Tide

The International Working Group (IWG), a non-governmental organisation on Petroleum Pollution and Just Transition in the Niger Delta, has described as highly traumatizing the impact of oil pollution on the environment and health of the people of Bayelsa State.

The NGO, which is currently carrying out a sensitisation campaign on health hazards associated with oil pollution in the state, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the State Governor, Douye Diri, in Government House, Yenagoa.

Speaking through its team lead, Professor Engobo Emeseh, the group expressed concern that average life expectancy in the state has reduced significantly, saying that the citizens and others living in the State are forced to live on contaminated land, air and water.

Professor Engobo, who is of the Law Faculty of Aberyswhyth University, UK, clarified that the IWG was focusing advocacy on the health of the people in line with the recommendations of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report, which was submitted in 2023.

She disclosed that laboratory analysis of blood samples taken from indigenes from across the eight LGAs in the State indicated very high levels of hydrocarbon pollution and carcinogenic metals, causing a sharp increase in mortality and morbid rates in the state.

The academics, who commended the State Government for being the first subnational government in Nigeria to set up a high-powered Commission on oil and environment, said the Group would continue to partner the state and other relevant organizations to mitigate the negative impact of oil pollution on the health of the people.

“Most of us here were constituted as members of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission. We gave our report in 2023; first presented at the House of Lords, and also presented to the Bayelsa State Government here in Creek Haven in October 2024, and then presented to the wider public in Abuja.

“In all of this, the Bayelsa State Government had given us the space and the support to provide our expertise and advice on how to deal with the challenge of the scourge of oil pollution in our state.

“My colleagues and I, who were members of the expert working group, were quite traumatized at what we found in Bayelsa State, and we called our report an environmental genocide.

“Based on that, we committed that even though our commission was de-commissioned in November 2024, we were going to carry on with this work”, she added.

In his response, Diri, represented by his Deputy, Dr. Peter Akpe, described the report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission as one of the most important documents to guide concerted actions in the mitigation of environmental hazards from oil pollution in the state.

He thanked members of the International Working Group for partnering the State Government by making their expertise available to ongoing efforts towards mitigating the impact of oil pollution on the health of Bayelsans.

While calling on the Federal Government and international organizations to treat the issue of oil pollution in Bayelsa as a special case, he assured the IWG of his administration’s support towards environmental remediation and improved healthcare delivery in the state.

“Your visit is very significant. It is to buttress and consolidate the partnership that began with the Bayelsa Oil and Environment Commission. We are happy that the relationship is matured to this kind of sustained international platform of advocacy.

“We recall the presentation His Excellency, the Governor made, in New York. We travelled from Bayelsa to New York because of the importance we attached to the Commission and all your activities.

“The Commission’s report remains one of our important documents, especially concerning environmental condition of our state and the wider Niger Delta. For us, it is not a closed chapter, it is a living document whose recommendations must continue to guide concrete actions.

“We can’t thank you enough for what you are doing already. We welcome your planned health research, interactions and engagements in the state. And we assure you that we are totally in support and we equally expect to see positive results from your work”, the Governor said.

Members of the six-man IWG delegation include Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, representing ODI Global UK; Prof. Michael Watts of University of California; and Dr. Isaac Osuoka of York University, Canada.

Others are Prof. Anna Zalik, also from the York University, Canada, and Dr. Cautlin Strong of the ODI Global, United Kingdom.

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa