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RSG Woos NNPCL Retirees To Buy-In, Invest In Modular Refineries In Rivers

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Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, says his government is poised to attract the best brains in the state and beyond to help transform the state to the fast lane of accelerated development.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, disclosed this in Port Harcourt, while playing host to a delegation of the NNPC Eastern Zone Retired Staff Investment Cooperative Society Limited, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, recently.
Johnson, who himself is a retiree of the hydrocarbon behemoth, noted that the NNPC senior citizens have a lot to offer in advancing the course of development in the state, given their wealth of experience, which he said, the state government was willing to tap from.
He expressed gratitude to the management committee of the group for the courtesy visit to identify with the Rivers State Government, emphasising that their visit has given him a sense of belonging.
Johnson explained that the governor and has been on course in delivering people-oriented programmes and projects through the help of God and the massive support of Rivers people, despite the plans of detractors to divert his attention from fulfilling his mandate.
According to him; “Governor Siminalayi Fubara, as an accountant, is not given to much noise. He is very humane, friendly and ready to serve the state creditably.
“We have lost a lot in the area of human capital development, which the governor is determined to fix.”
He noted that Rivers State, unlike Lagos, has not experienced simultaneous development across all the 23 local government areas in the State due to politicking in the past eight years.
Johnson noted that the governor has come up with a different concept of accelerated development, which despite the efforts of detractors, was beginning to put some legacies in place that would speak for the government in days and years to come.
He told the NNPC retired staff that his office was open to them at all times, even as he enjoined them to offer advice to the government in areas that it was not doing well.
According to him, “Any area we are not doing well, please tell us so that we can adjust. We are humans. We are bound to make mistakes.
“The governor is a human being like all of us. He has been in the public service. But he would leverage on the experience that most of you have acquired over the years at NNPC, which is pivotal when it comes to organizational management.”
The commissioner added, “For example, we have electricity supply challenge which those of you with engineering expertise can make available to the Rivers State Government. This is an area that you can be interested in, and we are ready to partner with you.
“There is no reason why we cannot have a modular refinery to produce fuel and associated by-products for our local consumption to address the high cost of the products.”
He, therefore, charged them to buy-in to the government initiative as a game changer, even as he noted that they (NNPC retired staff) could as well offer consultancy services to the government in the areas of their core competencies.
Johnson urged them to serve as his mirror, so as to point the way to a premium quality service delivery to the good people of Rivers State.
He noted that Fubara’s strategy of silence and focused leadership has discomfited the adversaries, thus making him very unpredictable.
He sued for constant interactions for cross fertilization of ideas that would be mutually beneficial.
Earlier in his remarks, President, NNPC Eastern Zone Retired Staff Investment Cooperative Society Limited, Sir Francis Igwebuike Ifi, had congratulated the commissioner on his well-deserved appointment as a member of the Rivers State Executive Council and Commissioner for Information and Communications in the state.
He expressed absolute confidence in the ability of the state Chief Image Maker to deliver premium quality service to the state, given his antecedents.
Ifi stated that the NNPC EZRSICS, which is the investment arm of the retirees, recognises Johnson as one of their own, a close friend and dependable ally who has the development and progress of the cooperative at heart.
He said that it was for that reason that they associate with him and will continue to support the state government to achieve its mandates in key sectors.
“Our courtesy visit to you today is to show our solidarity and felicitate with you on your well-deserved appointment as Commissioner for Information and Communications of the Rivers State Government.
“We are delighted that you have made us proud to be so appointed into an exalted office. Your appointment has given all of us, cooperators, a sense of joy, pride and happiness”, he said.
Continuing, Ifi said; “We are very happy for your appointment, and pray to God Almighty to grant you the wherewithal to perform your duties efficiently and creditably.
“We also pledge and vow to support you and the Rivers State Government such that, even the governor will be happy with us.
“We also want to urge you to please, convey our warmest greetings to His Excellency, Executive Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.
“We are aware of what has been happening in the state since his assumption of office. Please, tell him that we are convinced in his ability to overcome and chart a new course for the development of the state in line with his constitutional mandate as the duly elected governor of Rivers State.
“We are solidly behind you and the government and good people of Rivers State,” he concluded.
Other members of the NNPC Eastern Zone Retired Staff Investment Cooperative Society Limited’s Management Team on the courtesy visit included the Vice President, Rev. Charles W. George; Financial Secretary, Elder Daminabo Iwo George; and Treasurer, Mr. Monday Ewonubari Yaakor.
Others are Secretary, Elder Blessing T. Kalio; and Assistant Secretary, Mr. Daere R. Amachree.
A minute silence was later observed in honour of the former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the NNPC Eastern Zone Retired Staff Investment Cooperative Society Limited, late Engr. A. M. Alabi, who was said to have slumped and died recently in his Kwara State home.

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Drug Party: NDLEA Arrests Over 100 Suspects At Lagos Night Club 

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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday arrested over 100 suspects at Proxy Night club located at No. 7, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, where a drug party was going on.

Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this yesterday, said the suspects arrested include the owner of the club, Mike EzeNwalieNwogu, alias Pretty Mike, who was taken into custody for screening.

“Cartons of illicit substances, including Loud and laughing gas, were recovered from suspects at the party and the club’s store,” Babafemi said.

The raid followed intelligence about the drug party. NDLEA operatives who were embedded in the party between 11 pm on Saturday, 25th October, however, disrupted the gathering at 3 am on Sunday, 26th October, in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Similarly, NDLEA said a total of 70 parcels of cocaine factory packed in walls of cocoa butter formula body cream containers heading to London, United Kingdom, were uncovered at the export shed of the MurtalaMuhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, with three suspects arrested in a series of follow-up operations across Lagos.

According to the statement, “The cocaine consignments weighing 3.60 kilograms were discovered on 14th October 2025 during examination of cargoes packaged as personal effects going to London, UK on an Air Peace flight.

“A cargo agent, Lawal Mustapha Olakunle, who presented the consignment for airfreight, was promptly arrested while investigations stretching into two weeks led to the arrest of two principal suspects linked to the attempt to export the concealed Class A drug to the UK.

“In a follow up operation on 18th October, a female healthcare worker OgunmuyideTaiwo Deborah was arrested following which Mutiu Adebayo Adebiyi, the Chief Executive Officer of a travel agency, MutiuAdebiyi& Co, was arrested at his 23 LadokeAkintola Street, Ikeja GRA Lagos office on Monday 20 th October”.

In a similar development, an attempt by a 35-year-old Lesotho national, Lemena Mark, to export 103.59 grams of methamphetamine concealed in a diabeta herbs coffee tea pack to the Philippines on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from the AkanuIbiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu on Wednesday, 22nd October, was thwarted by NDLEA officers who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.

No fewer than 21,950 capsules of tramadol 250mg concealed inside a 100-litre water heater were recovered from a suspect, Umar Abubakar, 40, who was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Bode Saadu, Morro local government area of Kwara state, following credible intelligence on Tuesday, 21st October.

In Taraba, the duo of Auwal Musa, 26, and SalihuBala, 22, were arrested on Tuesday, 21st October, with 450,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 at Dan-anacha checkpoint while conveying the consignment in a truck loaded with building materials from Onitsha, Anambra state, to Mubi, Adamawa state.

Also, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Okene/Lokoja highway, Kogi state, seized 162.200kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, from a truck on Friday, 24th October. Operatives in Nasarawa state on Wednesday, 22nd October, recovered 128kg of the same psychoactive substance from a suspect, Abubakar Muhammad, 55, in the Keffi area of the state.

A mother of two, Oyonumoh Glory Effiong, who is a major distributor of Canadian and California Loud, both strong strains of cannabis, in Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and VGC areas of Lagos, has been arrested by NDLEA operatives on Friday, 17th October, during a raid at her Lekki home, where 500 grams of the illicit substances were recovered.

In the Ikorodu area of Lagos, NDLEA officers on Thursday, 23rd October, raided the home of a suspect, OgunyaboAdenigbigbe, at Solomade estate, where 275 litres of skuchies, a new psychoactive substance produced with black currant drink, cannabis and opioids, were recovered.

A 75-year-old grandpa, EchenduOnuoka, was arrested on Wednesday, 22nd October, at Ovum village, Obingwa LGA, Abia state, with 4.7kg skunk seized from him, while a 60-year-old grandma, Aukana John, was nabbed with 225 grams of the same substance at Apanta village, in the same LGA.

While a 150kg skunk was recovered during a raid operation at Lot camp, IkunAkoko, Ondo state, two suspects: Bashir Mohammad, 50, and Samini Ahmed Tijjani, 35, were nabbed with 234.5kg of the same substance at Yan aya ,Saminaka in Lere LGA, Kaduna on Friday, 24th October, just as another set of suspects: IsahUsman, 50, and Salvation Okoler, 18, were arrested with 8,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and rohypnol along Abuja/Kaduna highway.

At the Seme border area of Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, 22nd October nabbed Jacob Ojugbele with 55kg skunk at Ashipa area of Badagry, while AmusaOluwabukola was arrested with 121.3 litres of skuchies at ItogaBadagry.

In Zamfara state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Gummi-Anka road on Monday, 20th October arrested a suspect, Abubakar Ibrahim, 30, in possession of an AK-47 rifle and 1,746 assorted calibres of ammunition, for AK-47 and GPMG  rifles while moving them from Sokoto  to Bagega forest, Anka LGA, Zamfara. Both the suspect and the exhibits have since been handed over to the appropriate security agency for further investigation.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.

These include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Asabari Grammar School, IluwaIsaleOke, Saki West LGA, Oyo; Government Day Girls Secondary School, BirninKebbi, Kebbi; St. Mark’s College, Nsude, Enugu; Kusaki Secondary School, Gboko North, Benue; Government Day Secondary School, Serti- Baruwa, Gashaka LGA, Taraba; Police Children School 2, Port Harcourt, Rivers and Hajara Ahmad International School, Tudun Wada, Kano state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ondo, Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Seme and Zamfara Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed BubaMarwa (Rtd) urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.

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SERAP Demands NNPCL Account For Oil Revenues, Threatens Legal Action 

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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), BayoOjulari, to provide a detailed account of oil revenues reportedly flagged by the Auditor-General of the Federation in the 2022 annual report.

The report, published on September 9, 2025, raised questions over the management of multi-billion-naira transactions, including over N22 billion, $49 million, £14 million, and €5 million in oil-related revenue, handled by the national oil company.

In a letter dated October 25, 2025, and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, KolawoleOluwadare, the organisation called on Ojulari to ensure transparency by identifying those responsible for any unaccounted funds and forwarding the findings to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies.

“These findings raise serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of public resources,” SERAP said.

The group urged the NNPCL to recover any unremitted or misapplied funds and return them to the national treasury, stressing that proper management of oil revenues was crucial for national development.

“The allegations, if not promptly and transparently addressed, could undermine public confidence and economic stability,” SERAP stated.

According to the organisation, the Auditor-General’s report drew attention to issues such as irregular payments, uncompleted projects, and documentation lapses relating to oil sector transactions.

SERAP argued that corruption and financial mismanagement in the oil sector had long hindered Nigeria’s ability to channel its vast petroleum wealth into improved public services.

“Despite the country’s enormous oil resources, citizens continue to face hardship due to a lack of accountability and transparency in revenue management,” the statement noted.

The organisation maintained that if the flagged funds were properly accounted for, more resources could be made available for sectors such as education, healthcare, and social welfare.

It added that the NNPCL must take proactive steps to comply with audit recommendations, including closing identified loopholes and enhancing oversight on contract execution.

SERAP also warned that it would take legal action should the NNPCL fail to respond within seven days.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel compliance in the public interest,” the organisation said.

The group cited Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates public institutions to prevent corrupt practices and abuse of power.

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N’Assembly Committee Approves New State ForS’East

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The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state in the South-East geo-political zone.

According to a statement by the media unit of the committee, the resolution was reached on Saturday at a two-day retreat in Lagos, where it reviewed 55 proposals for state creation across the country.

The session, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, BarauJibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, resolved that, in the spirit of fairness and equity, the Federal Government should create another state for the region.

Kalu, who joined other lawmakers to champion additional state creation for the region, argued that a new state would give the people a sense of belonging.

When created, the South-East will be at par with the South-South, South-West, North-Central, and North-East zones, each having six states.

The South-East is the only geo-political zone with five states comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.

The North-West comprises seven states: Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Jigawa.

According to the statement, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) moved a motion for the creation of the new state, which was seconded by Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/Ewekoro, Ogun State) at the retreat.

“The motion received the unanimous support of committee members and was adopted,” the statement read in part.

Similarly, the committee also established a sub-committee to consider the creation of additional states and local government areas across all six geo-political zones, noting that a total of 278 proposals were submitted for review.

Speaking at the event, Jibrin urged members to rally support among their colleagues at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly to ensure the resolutions sail through during voting.

“We need to strengthen what we have started so that all parts of the country will key into this process.

“By the time we get to the actual voting, we should already have the buy-in of all stakeholders—from both chambers and the state Houses of Assembly,” the Deputy Senate President was quoted as saying.

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