Nation

THE STATES

Published

11 years ago

May 8, 2015

Benue
At least five persons have been arrested by the Police
in Benue in connection with the recent rampage at Kanshio area of Makurdi.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, ASP Austin Ezeani, disclosed this to newsmen last Wednesday in Makurdi.
Ezeani said the people of Kanshio Community went on rampage last Saturday and burnt down the house of Ter Makurdi, Sale Abenga, claiming that his son was the head of cultists that had been terrorising the neighbourhood.
He said the rampaging group blocked the roads in the community and prevented people from going about their normal businesses.

Borno

The 79 Composite Group of the Nigerian Air Force
(NAF) has donated foodstuff to the Fatima Sheriff Motherless Babies Home, Maiduguri.
The Commander of the group, Air Commodore Christopher Egoba, said the gesture was part of the NAF 51st Anniversary celebration.
The items include: five bags of 50kg rice, eight cartons of noodles, eight bags of semovita, 10 cartons of custard powder and five tins of Nido milk.
“We are here to present our token donation to the Fatima Sheriff Motherless Babies Home, Maiduguri, as part of our 51st Anniversary celebration nationwide.
He said that the aim of the gesture was to identify with the babies in the home by showing them love and care.

Ekiti

The Chairman of Ekiti State Petroleum Products Con
sumer Protection Agency (PPCPA), Mr Samuel Adeyemi, has warned petrol dealers in the state against inflicting hardship on the people by hoarding the product.
Adeyemi gave the warning in an interview with newmen in Ado-Ekiti, recently.
He said that any fuel marketer caught hoarding the product or selling above the approved pump price of N87.00 would be made to face the wrath of the government.
“Meanwhile, anyone caught, the dealer, filling station, manager of such station, the trailer and its attendants will be dealt with,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the marketers to bring the allotted supply to the state to reduce the hardship currently being faced by the people.

FCT
The Federal Ministry of Finance said the Federal Gov
ernment was not responsible for the failure of state governments to pay workers’ salaries.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman to the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Abuja last Wednesday.
“Regarding difficulties in salary payment, certain governors are trying to blame the federal government for their predicaments.
“This is wrong. They had been told through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee to prioritise salaries, they chose not to do so, hence the backlog that some states are experiencing”, it said.

Gombe

The Women Wing of Christian Association of Nigeria
(WOWICAN), Gombe State chapter, says it has trained about 500 women on various skills acquisition.
Chairperson of the association, Mrs Ruth Ramadan, said this in an interview with newsmen in Gombe recently.
Ramadan said that the women were trained in tailoring, knitting pomade and soap making as well as poultry production.
She said the training was conducted at CAN centres across the 11 local government areas of the state.
She said the three-month programme was free of charge as participants only paid N100 for registration.
“Most of the women that benefited from the programme became self reliant as they cater for the immediate needs of their families,” he said.

Jigawa

The Jigawa State Government has given approval to
its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to recruit 2,882 personnel to fill existing vacancies in 2015.
The state Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Mustapha Aminu, made the disclosure in Dutse when officials of ministries presented their hand over notes to members of the transition committee of the incoming government.
He said that the budget for the payment of the salaries of the personnel was included in the 2015 Appropriation Bill.
He said that 85 new staff had so far been recruited and posted to various ministries, agencies and departments.

Katsina

The Katsina State Elections Tribunal has received pe
titions from the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP), governorship candidate, Alhaji Musa Nashuni, and three others.
According to sources, Nashuni is challenging the election of Alhaji Aminu Masari of All Progressives Congress (APC), on three grounds.
Nashuni insists in the petition that Masari was not qualified to contest the election at time of the said election.
He alleged that the election was “characterised by corrupt practices and non-compliance with Electoral Act.’’
Nashuni stated that Masari was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast during the election.

Lagos

The Lagos State Government says it rehabilitated 456
classrooms in 28 primary, junior and senior secondary schools in the last one year.
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, gave the figure at the presentation of the ministry’s scorecard in Lagos.
Some of the rehabilitated schools include GRA Primary School I and II, Ogudu; Pobuna Junior Grammar School, Poka, Epe, Festac Junior and Senior College and Ilupeju Senior Grammar School, Mushin.
Estate Senior Grammar School, Mushin, Iju Junior Grammar School II, Iju, Navy Town Junior Secondary School, Agboju, and Central Junior High School, Okota are also among the schools.

Nasarawa

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to
give adequate attention to agriculture to fight unemployment and enhance food security in the country.
The Proprietor of Odumu Memorial Nursery and Primary School in Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Alhaji Idris Odumu, made the call last Wednesday in Mararaba Udege, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen he said the incoming administration would also be able to fight poverty and boost the socio-economic development of the country, if it prioritises agriculture.

Sokoto

A total of 52 new medical doctors that graduated from
the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, have been inducted into the medical profession last Tuesday.
According to sources, the doctors that graduated during the 2012/2013 academic session, were sworn-in at a ceremony in Sokoto.
The state Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association ( NMA), Dr Abdulgafar Jimoh, who represented the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, advised the new doctors “to be advocates of clinical governance.”
He also advised them to serve with decorum and respect laid down rules governing the profession.
In his comment, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, urged the doctors to abide by their professional oath and be good ambassadors of the institution and their families.

Yobe

No fewer than 6,000 Nigerians dislodged from Islands
on Lake Chad have returned home through Geidam, Yobe State.
Director Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, stated this in Geidam.
The director said Nigerian authorities relocated inhabitants of the Islands to pave way for military operations against insurgency in the area.
He said NEMA, along with security operatives, was profiling the returnees for onward transportation to their states.
“The returnees are mostly from Taraba, Benue, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Borno states, who were fishermen and displaced persons taking refuge on the Islands.
“There are two categories of the returnees; we have those who settled there living a normal life and those taking refuge from the insurgents’ attacks, they are all returning,” Otegbade said.

Zamfara

The United Kingdom Department for International De
velopment (DFID) will spend N3 billion on child development grant programme in Zamfara State.
DFID National Project Manager, Alhaji Abubakar Ahmad, made the disclosure in Gusau when he paid an advocacy visit to the State House of Assembly.
He said the pilot programme was being undertaken in Jigawa and Zamfara states, adding that Anka and Tsafe local government areas had been selected for the commencement of the programme in Zamfara.
The manager said the five years programme is being implemented under the International Non-governmental Organisation (INGO) the Save the Children International, which started in April 2013.
He said the programme would end in April, 2018.
Ahmad said the advocacy visit to the legislature was to solicit the support of the legislative arm of government to ensure smooth implementation of the programme in Zamfara.

L-R: Minister of State for fct, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, Senator representing fct, Sen. Philip Aduda, chairman, Senate Committee on fct, Sen. Smart Adeyemi, Minister of fct, Sen. Bala Mohammed and the Chief of Staff, Brig.-Gen. Jones Arogbofa, welcoming President Goodluck Jonathan to the official inspection of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua express road project (airport road) in Abuja. Photo: NAN

Nation

HYPREP Marks 15 Years Of UNEP Report, Highlights Major Cleanup Milestones

Published

1 week ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has commemorated the 15th anniversary of the release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland, reaffirming its commitment to restoring the environment and improving the livelihoods of affected communities.

In a statement signed by the Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, to commemorate the anniversary, HYPREP described the anniversary as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s environmental restoration efforts, noting that the project has made remarkable progress in implementing the recommendations of the landmark UNEP report released on August 4, 2011.

The UNEP report had revealed extensive oil pollution across Ogoniland, severe environmental degradation, and serious public health risks resulting from decades of petroleum operations. It also recommended an initial $1 billion fund to commence the cleanup of the affected communities.

According to HYPREP, the Federal Government formally launched the Ogoni clean-up in 2016, while the Project Coordination Office was established in 2017 to drive the implementation of UNEP’s recommendations.
Zabbey said the current administration has continued to prioritise the project under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Providing an update on the cleanup, the Project Coordinator disclosed that 30 of the 65 contaminated sites identified by UNEP have been fully remediated, while work is ongoing at several medium- and high-risk locations. It also stated that more than 1.5 million mangrove seedlings have been planted as part of what it described as the world’s largest restoration of oil-degraded mangroves, with over 1,000 hectares of shoreline already rehabilitated.

Zabbey further revealed that 49 Ogoni communities have been connected to potable water schemes through multiple water projects and booster stations aimed at providing safe drinking water across the region.

In the health sector, he said the 100-bed Ogoni Specialist Hospital in Kpite and the 43-bed Cottage Hospital in Buan are nearing completion, adding that several existing health facilities have been upgraded with modern medical equipment, while five ambulances have been donated to improve emergency healthcare services. The Project Coordinator also disclosed that a three-year human health biomonitoring study is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

On economic empowerment, Zabbey stated that the Project has created more than 8,000 direct jobs and trained thousands of Ogoni youths and women in various vocational and technical skills, including software development, cybersecurity, aviation, commercial diving, seafaring, mechatronics, and creative arts. The project also reported awarding scholarships to more than 1,000 students, providing grants to small businesses, and supporting persons living with special needs through skills acquisition programmes.

The statement further highlighted ongoing legacy projects, including the Ogoni Power Project and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, which it said is about 96 per cent complete. HYPREP also welcomed the recent designation of the Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site of International Importance and pledged to continue promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of the ecosystem.

Marking the anniversary, Zabbey said the progress achieved over the past 15 years demonstrates the collective commitment of government, development partners, stakeholders, and local communities to restoring Ogoniland. He called for renewed collaboration to sustain the cleanup effort, promote environmental sustainability, and support the long-term development of the region. 3

Nation

REAN, SON synergise to curb fake renewable energy product

Published

2 months ago

June 29, 2026

The Tide

The Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) says it has strengthened collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to enhance quality control and enforcement frameworks.

Mr Oisereime Lloyd-Dietake, the Head of Communications, REAN, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said the collaboration would also involve stakeholder engagement on testing, certification and capacity building in Nigeria.

He said the synergy would strengthen quality control and enforcement frameworks, promote policy alignment, and ensure stronger regulation across the renewable energy value chain.

“REAN reaffirms its commitment to standardisation and quality assurance; tighter collaboration with SON is critical to eliminating fake and substandard renewable energy products from the Nigerian market.

“Enforcement and gaps in existing standards have continued to allow inferior products to circulate, undermining consumer confidence and slowing sector growth.”

Lloyd-Dietake said that at high-level discussions, REAN also highlighted the need for stronger regulatory coordination to address emerging challenges in the renewable energy space.

According to him, the issues include inconsistencies in standards, affordability issues linked to certification processes; and the increasing presence of substandard solar and renewable energy equipment in the country.

“The association further raised concerns about delays in product testing and approval, calling for the establishment of more testing laboratories and certification facilities to improve efficiency and reduce bottlenecks in the system,’’ he said.

Lloyd-Dietake urged closer collaboration among key regulatory bodies, including the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the Rural Electrification Agency.

He said such team work would ensure harmonised standards and more effective enforcement against fake renewable energy products in the Nigerian market.

In response, SON acknowledged the important role REAN continued to play in supporting standardisation within Nigeria’s renewable energy industry and reaffirmed its willingness to deepen collaboration with the association.

SON further confirmed that REAN would be actively involved in future standard review processes and upcoming stakeholder engagements related to renewable energy and electric mobility standards development.

Lloyd-Dietake said REAN affirmed its willingness to formalise the partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

He said the MoU is aimed at deepening cooperation, promoting quality assurance, and accelerating Nigeria’s transition towards reliable and standardised renewable energy solutions.

Nation

Self Help Africa programme expands water access for 320,000 Nigerians

Published

2 months ago

June 29, 2026

The Tide

The WASH Systems for Health (WS4H) Programme, implemented by Self Help Africa, has expanded access to safe water and sanitation services for more than 320,000 people in Kano and Cross River States.

The organisation disclosed this on Tuesday at the WS4H National Results and Learning Workshop in Abuja, where stakeholders reviewed achievements and lessons from the intervention.

Speaking at the event, Self Help Africa Country Director, Joy Aderele, said the programme demonstrated that sustainable WASH improvements require strong institutions, effective governance, adequate financing and collaboration.

Aderele said the UK-funded programme was designed to strengthen systems that support sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services.

According to her, the intervention focused on improving governance, planning, financing, accountability and sector coordination to ensure resilient service delivery.

“More than 320,000 people now have improved or restored access to water services through programme-supported interventions,” she said.

She added that more than 5,520 household toilets were constructed in Yala and Makoda Local Government Areas, boosting sanitation, public health and efforts to end open defecation.

Aderele said the programme also strengthened public investment in WASH, with Cross River increasing its sector budget by 211 per cent in 2026 and Kano by 169.07 per cent.

She added that dedicated WASH budget lines had been established across 40 Ministries, Departments and Agencies in both states, strengthening accountability and institutional commitment.

According to her, both states reviewed and adopted updated WASH policies, while key planning documents were developed to guide future investments and service delivery.

She said Cross River also recorded a major legislative milestone through the passage of the Water Law and Open Defecation Prohibition Bill.

Aderele added that lessons from interventions in Yala LGA were already informing expansion efforts in Obubra Local Government Area.

While commending the achievements, she noted that capacity gaps, resource constraints and climate-related pressures remained challenges to sustainable WASH services.

“The sustainability of these gains will depend on continued government leadership, adequate financing, strong partnerships and investment in institutional capacity,” she said.

Also speaking, the Programme Manager of WS4H, Mr Timothy Ibeawuchi, said the intervention focused on strengthening systems needed to sustain gains and attract future investments.

According to him, the programme engages stakeholders in developing strategies that preserve achievements and support long-term service delivery.

“System strengthening work takes time because it addresses the fundamental issues responsible for sustainable and resilient service delivery,” he said.

Ibeawuchi said the programme strengthened policy development, planning, financing, monitoring and evaluation systems across the WASH sector.

He said two pilot local government areas were supported to develop WASH strategic plans outlining sector goals, targets and activities between 2026 and 2030.

According to him, the plans will guide future interventions and improve service delivery in the affected councils.

Earlier, the representative of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Chidera Chukwu, reaffirmed support for Nigeria’s development efforts in spite of the programme nearing completion.

Chukwu commended the Self Help Africa-led consortium for delivering the programme with professionalism and a strong focus on systems strengthening.

He said the consortium contributed greatly to strengthening Nigeria’s WASH sector through policy reforms, improved coordination and enhanced accountability.

“Together, we have advanced key policy and legislative reforms, including open defecation-free laws and strengthened state WASH frameworks,” he said.

According to him, the reforms represent enduring system-level changes that will continue delivering benefits beyond the programme’s lifespan.

In his remarks, Mr Jamilu Habu, Director of Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, commended the programme’s achievements.

Habu, who represented the Permanent Secretary, said the intervention strengthened governance, coordination, evidence-based planning and institutional capacity in the WASH sector.

He described the workshop as an opportunity to review achievements, share lessons and identify pathways for sustaining and scaling successful interventions.

According to him, the programme’s innovations and best practices will guide future policies and investments aimed at expanding access to safe WASH services.

Habu stressed the need for continued collaboration among governments, development partners, civil society organisations, the private sector and communities.

He said stronger partnerships remained essential to achieving universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6.