Rivers

Rivers Crisis: Group Urges Media To Advocate Peace

Published

7 months ago

May 22, 2024

The Manager, Peace Building Foundation for Partnership Initiative in Niger Delta, (PIND), Dr David Udofia, has advised media practitioners to be advocates of peace in the face of Rivers political crisis.
Udofia gave the advice during a meeting between PIND and the Step-Up Media for Women Initiative (SWIJ), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in Port Harcourt.
PIND is also an NGO that promotes peace and equitable economic growth in the Niger Delta region through strategic partnership and collaboration.
The PIND boss said the organisation is open to ideas, partnerships and collaboration in order to work towards creating positive impact within the region.
He also said for peace to reign and economic activities to strive in the region, the two pillars must move together.
According to him, when there is peace, there is transformation for economic development and the economic development can also foster peace.
Udofia urged media practitioners to continue to play a significant role to ensure that the political crisis in the state did not escalate through their reportage.
He said under the peace building programme pillars, the organisation had two mega projects, which were Partners for Peace and Integrated Peace and Peace Development Unit.
According to him, PIND works within the peace building programme to create enabling environment for socio-economic and political activities to thrive in the region and also for media practitioners to move and work freely in the state, noting that PIND had at least 11,000 peace actors across the region within the peace building programme.
“Recently, we carried out intervention activities in four states against specific headers-farmers crisis in Delta, Ondo, Cross River and Edo States.
“We also had trainings in an early warning and early response platform unique to PIND”, Udofia said.
He gave assurance that PIND would partner with SWIJ, having seen that its work fell in line with the PIND’s core values, which centred on sustainability, mentorship, integrity, transparency and accountability.
“We will collaborate with your organisation to change the narratives in the region, especially as it affects women and girls in the region”, he said.
Earlier, the Executive Director of SWIJ, Mrs Ann Godwin, said the aim of the visit was to collaborate with PIND to further the groups’ objectives towards peace building, women empowerment and equitable economic development in the region.
Godwin said SWIJ had observed with interest, the programmes and policies of PIND in promoting, training and empowering women and deemed it necessary to collaborate with the organisation to amplify the voices of women, build their capacity and change the narratives on gender-based issues.
She further said that SWIJ, as an organisation that promotes excellence among women and girls, also focuses on issues of gender mainstreaming as one of its core values.
She argued that the era of gender disparity, when women were relegated to the back stage, was over.
According to her, there is a phenomenal rise of African Women, who are making great impact in different sectors of the economy.
She expressed optimism that the collaboration with PIND would engender richer impacts among women and girls in the region.

Rivers

MNCH Week Ends Today … As Rivers Prepares For Malaria Vaccination In Jan

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2024

The Tide

The 5-day Maternal and Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) Week, which started last Monday, comes to a close today in Port Harcourt.

The MNCH Week, which is part of healthcare campaign and interventions for Rivers people, witnessed interventions for pregnant women, non-pregnant women, children under five years old, and men as well.

Disclosing this during the 2024 last quarter strategic meeting of the “Media Advocacy For Health in Rivers State”, the State Health Educator, Dr. Diana Babbo, of the Primary Health Care Management Board, said, the MNCH Care Week, is part of several health campaigns and interventions planned for Rivers people.

“We call it MNCH Care Week. Our ‘one-stop-shop’, from 9th to 13th December, we will be in the health facilities, we hope that our care givers and mothers will bring their children, and partners/spouses to come amd access care in our facilities”, she stated.

According to the State Health Educator, the second part of the campaign and intervention is the roll out of MPox or Monkey Pox vaccination which is a targeted immunisation campaign, and scheduled to last for ten days in Rivers State.

Dr. Babbo, said the Monkey Pox vaccine will be rolled out in six states: Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bayelsa, FCT, and Benue States.

She stated that the MPox vaccines roll out, which started on the 2nd of December, will also end today.

She explained that the MPox vaccination is targeted at communities, health workers, who are the frontline workers, and key population.

Such key populations include: commercial sex workers, People Living With HIV, transgender community, People Who Inject Drugs (PWID), and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM).

“We’re also saying that after the COVID-19 year, we noticed that there was a drop in immunisation generally worldwide. So, the world is trying to catch up”, she explained.

Towards this end, she stated that a team of Nigerians have been put in place with an aim to quickly close the gap, through intensification of routine immunisation.

Dr. Babbo said, “we will go to different communities where they are found and carry out what we call ‘Zero Dose Children'”.

Zero Dose Children, Babbo said, “means that they have not got their series vaccines, which are pental vaccines. They are those that have not completed their vaccines despite having started. So, we are going to target those categories of children”.

She further disclosed that in continuation of the interventions, malaria vaccines will be rolled out in Nigeria in January 2025, with Rivers State being one of the beneficiaries to have the vaccines in the public space.

Rivers

Expert Advocates IT Driven Security In Rivers

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2024

The Tide

A security expert and analyst, Charles Inkoh-Tariah, has recommended an Information Technology (UT) Communications driven security network in Rivers State.

Speaking during a live interview, “Viewpoint”, on radio, he said IT is very useful in reducing all forms criminality.

According to him, IT driven security is proactive and not reactive, while expressing regret that weakness in the security system stems from failure to adopt a modern and updated relevant IT-driven technology like other developed climes.

He also observed that there’s a lot of gap between the people and security agencies leading to weakness and failure.

Inkoh-Tariah, therefore, recommended a consolidated intelligence gathering system that will enhance effectiveness through adoption of technology and support of the people.

The security expert emphasized the need to revive the Neighborhood Watch , which, he said, is backed by law made by the State Assembly in 2008.

He insisted that there is need to also upgrade security facilities and improve performance of security personnel.

Furthermore, he called for adoption of Artificial intelligence, “which is more effective than all local or former security systems”.

By: Kevin Nengia

Rivers

Diaspora Group Wants Respect For Ogoni Traditional Rulers

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2024

The Tide

A United States of America-based socio-cultural organisation, Gbaaloo Nyo-Khana, which is an umbrella body of Ogoni, in Rivers State, Nigeria, has called on the people of Ogoni Kingdom to accord traditional rulers their deserved respect.

A statement jointly signed by the group’s President, Comrade LeBari Nzidee, the Secretary-General, Comrade Samuel Nwibana, and the Public Relations Officer, Barineka Akponi, condemned several utterances and derogatory statements by some youths against traditional rulers in Ogoni land, who they described as “natural custodians of Ogoni cultural heritage”.

The organization said such statements and behaviour doesn’t accord the high respect due traditional rulers in Ogoni land and called for a change of attitude towards traditional rulers who have the traditional blessings of the land.

According to the statement, the association condemns in its totality, recent unwholesome statements against a frontline traditional ruler in Nyo Khana Kingdom, saying it does not demonstrate a show of respect for traditional institutions in the area.

The statement said, “in as much as the organization will not support the ills or misbehavior of any traditional ruler, there’s the need for their subjects to address any act of misconduct with serious caution.

“If traditional rulers in other parts of the country are treated with dignity, such treatment should be accorded Ogoni traditional rulers and leaders at home and in the diaspora by the Ogoni people.

The group also accused some Ogoni indigenes in diaspora who are believed they be sponsoring the charade to get political recognitions because of their selfish interest to contest for elective positions in 2027.

Describing their intentions as “wild elephant dreams”, the group promised to expose such people.

The statement read in part: “some disgruntled ogonis in the diaspora are disrespecting our traditional rulers to score cheap political recognitions.

“We have come to realize that their intentions are borne out of the fact that they have an intention to contest 2027 elections, using falsehood, unscrupulous allegations to instigate fake news, through which they seek popularity in Ogoni”.

The group reaffirmed its commitment to “stand against any action that is not healthy in Ogoni land, especially when it has to do with not according traditional rulers their due respect and honour, specifically in Nyo-Khana Kingdom, and Ogoni at large”.

By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos