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RSG Gives Scholarship To Big Break Moment Africa Winner, Uzodinma …Recommits To Youth Dev
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has announced an award of scholarship to Chibueze Uzodinma for winning a dance competition on an Edutainment Reality TV Show, Season 2, organized by the Big Break Moment Africa.
The Big Break Moment Africa is a talent search platform with the commitment to recognising the creativity and talents of Nigerian youths.
Fubara announced the scholarship award at a brief ceremony where he was handed over the official prize of a brand-new Changan CS35 Plus luxury car for onward presentation to the winner at Government House in Port Harcourt, last Friday.
The governor said besides the provision of critical roads and houses that most people know as development efforts, self discovery and harnessing innate talents were also aspects of development.
He emphasised the need for youths to devote time to reflect and engage in such ventures that help them to actualise personal dreams in order to attain success worthy of celebration.
The governor said, “I accepted to do this for one reason. It is to send a message to our youths that when you are ready to excel, when you are ready to unleash yourself to the world positively, we will always stand by you.
“I also feel happy that the winner of this show is from my alma mater. I want to say to everyone who is watching, you can still be in school and still become that thing you want to be outside your academics, positively.
“As a government, we are going to support you, see you through schooling. So, we are not going to give you money. I will award a scholarship to you to any level that you know you can get to.”
Fubara enjoined youths to emulate Uzodinma who harnessed his dancing talent to be discovered, shunned criminality and has become a star to celebrate.
In his remark, Rivers State Commissioner for Youth Development, Dr. Chisom Gbali, expressed delight that a Rivers son won the grand prize of the reality show.
He said that winning the prize depicted that Rivers youths were resourceful and exceptional in any area they explore as emboldened by the administration of Governor Fubara.
Also speaking, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Big Break Moment Africa, Tayo Folorunsho, revealed how they used the prevailing opportunity to discover the current winner of their prize in the dancing category to make Rivers State proud.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
