Environment
Group Commences Cleanest Local Govt Award
The Rivers State Sanitation Marshalls, a non-governmental organisation has disclosed plans to commence the monthly cleanest local government Award programme in the state.
National Coordinator of the organisation, Prince Sodin Akiapba, who said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt said that the programme which kicked-off in March this year was stalled due to some logistic challenges.
Akiagba said that Bonny Local Government Area won the Maiden Edition of the programme in March, while Degema and Ogu/Bolo Local Government Areas won the April and May edition respectively.
He said during the award ceremony, items such as shovels, pecks and wheelbarrows were presented to the winning local government areas.
The environmentalist said that the programme was to promote the culture of sanitation and cleanliness among Rivers people especially those who reside in the rural areas.
According to him, the programme was to sensitise the people on why they must clean their environment including the water channels around their communities adding that time has come for people not to confine sanitation to only Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor.
“The reason is to promote the culture of cleanliness among people in rural areas using sensitisation programmes on why people must clean their environment.
“We must not restrict environmental sanitation to Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor alone”, he said.
Prince Akiagba further said that the cleanest street programme instituted by the group some time ago had paid off as most street dwellers in the city are now conscious of their environment.
He also stressed the need for people to resist from further dumping refuse into gutters and drainages to check flooding in the state.
Akiagbo further urged for the supports of corporate organizations and government to enable the group achieved its objective.
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The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has launched a N113 million Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) facilities upgrade grant to modernise and expand 14 TVET centres across the Niger Delta.
The Executive Director, PIND Foundation, Mr Sam Daibo, said this in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.
Daibo said the funding would boost youth employment in the region and drive long term economic transformation.
He said the initiative would strengthen the region’s skills development ecosystem by upgrading infrastructure and improving training delivery.
He added that it would enhance the long-term sustainability of TVET institutions operating in Information and Communication Technology, building construction, agriculture, and services.
He listed beneficiary centre locations to include Aba (Abia State), Warri (Delta State), Port Harcourt (Rivers State), Uyo (Akwa Ibom State), and Asaba (Delta State).
These Daibo said would serve as hubs that collectively support thousands of young people transitioning into work and enterprise.
“We are not just upgrading equipment; we are upgrading futures and this investment ensures that TVET centers can train more young people with skills demanded by today’s industries.
“When we strengthen institutions that train youth, we strengthen livelihoods, businesses, and the future of the Niger Delta,” he said.
Daibo revealed that the programme would run from September 2025 to February 2026.
He said it was expected to directly benefit over 10,000 unemployed youths through market-relevant skills and stronger job and enterprise linkages.
He stated that as part of the launch, PIND hosted a strategy workshop in Akwa Ibom with government agencies, private sector partners, and development actors.
This workshop, Daibo said, was to explore pathways for building a more commercially viable and resilient TVET sector in the region.
“By enabling TVET centres to operate at higher standards and absorb more learners, PIND is positioning skills development as a catalyst for youth employment, innovation, and inclusive growth across the Niger Delta,” he said.
Beneficiaries of relief materials distributed during the 2025 flooding in Akwa Ibom State have expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
They gave the commendations on Friday when a NEMA Monitoring and Evaluation Team led by Mr. Manzo Ezekiel visited Uyo to assess the impact of the interventions.
While the residents acknowledged the supports, ranging from building materials to essential household items, they stressed that the relief provided was insufficient compared to the scale of destruction caused by the flooding.
They, therefore, appealed for more sustained and long-term solutions.
Mr Emmanuel Ekong, one of the beneficiaries and resident of Use- Offot in Uyo metropolis, who received bags of cement and bundles of zinc, expressed appreciation to the federal government and NEMA for the support.
Ekong, however, said the relief materials were “grossly inadequate, as it could not completely assuage the suffering experienced during the flooding”.
“NEMA came here and donated some bags of cement to us to help rebuild the fence that collapsed due to flooding in this community.
“I want to thank NEMA, Federal Government immensely for what they have done. I also want to urge that they should take steps to completely take away flood water from this community.
“We want NEMA to do more, because what they gave us was negligible, considering the magnitude of flooding in this area,” Ekong said.
The team also visited the Afaha Offot community, widely prone for flooding, and met with the Village Head, Chief David Etuk, who thanked Tinubu and NEMA for the support to victims.
Etuk appealed to governments and NEMA to do more to alleviate the suffering of the people in the community.
“I want to thank NEMA for always finding time to visit us; not once, not twice.
“We have been interacting with the agency periodically, and they have paid on-the-spot visit to flood ravaging areas within this community.
“The flood is so enormous that the village is always taken over by water and we have written to the federal and state governments to come to our rescue, by providing a lasting solution.
“I want to thank NEMA for always being there for us in terms of relief materials.
“They will come and when we take them round, they will invite us to come and get relief items, like foodstuffs, but we still need more,” Etuk said.
Another beneficiary, Miss Mary Dennis, thanked NEMA for the materials she eceived during the period.
“My name is Mary Dennis from Uyo LGA, I collected some items from the Federal Government through NEMA.
“My house was flooded and all my things were damaged and the federal government came to my aid by giving me, a mattress, blanket, mat, stove and bucket.
“I thank them for the gesture” she said.
In his comment after the exercise, Ezekiel, Head of Media, NEMA headquarters, said the visit was to hear directly from the beneficiaries.
Ezekiel said information gathered from the field would be processed and sent to the management for proper planning to serve the people better.
He assured the people that NEMA and the federal government were not just concerned about the interventions, but the plights and difficulties the victims were passing through.
“We are in a mission to connect with people, who were affected by flooding and to interact with them to get some feedback on our interventions.
“The meeting is also to evaluate the support they have received and to give them the sense of belonging that NEMA and the federal government are concerned about their plights.
“The reactions we have received from people, who have benefited from our interventions, are overwhelming.
“It is good that we have come here to hear from them, that they had received relief materials sent to them through our operational office in Uyo.
“They have all appreciated our interventions, but some of the issues mentioned by the people have to do with ecological interventions.
“That is not directly under our purview, but we will take the message to the appropriate authorities for action,” Ezekiel said.
He urged the people to take measures to prevent flooding within their communities by desilting drainage around them.
“There are little things residents can do to avoid flooding – keep your environment clean, stop dumping of refuse into gutters when it rains, and desilting of drainages properly.
“We are happy that the interventions we rendered are receiving positive feedback from the people that benefited from our assistance,” he said.
Oba Oluwambe Ojagbohunmi, the Traditional Ruler, Ayetoro Community in Ondo State, has urged coastal communities in the Niger Delta to unite in the campaign against ocean encroachments.
Ojagbohunmi, the Ogeloyinbo of Ayetoro, made the call at a coastal communities interface organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in Yenagoa on Saturday.
He stated that coastline settlements across Niger Delta should rise up in defense of their environment by seeking measures to tackle ocean encroachments.
The traditional ruler said that rising sea levels and associated coastal erosion had become existential threat to the culture and identity of Ayetoro people.
“In the past, the tidal currents used to add sand to our land, but in the past 25 years, the ocean has alarmingly encroached into our land.
“The loss of land to ocean encroachment is a huge threat, we do not want to lose our identity and culture,” he said.
Speaking on the theme: “Sea Encroachment, Coastal Erosion and Livelihood Losses: Building Community Resilience against Climate Change”, he said that unity among coastline communities was required.
Ojagbohunmi said that Ayetoro’s historical template of communal practices had promoted solidarity in the face of ocean incursions.
He expressed worry that the community had yet to get support after no fever than 25 years of complaints about the threats to their existence from the Atlantic Ocean.
Earlier, Mr Stanley Egholo, the Lead, Fossil Politics, at HOMEF, said that the organisation was committed to supporting communities threatened by climate change.
Also Mr Umo Isua-Ikoh, the Coordinator, Peace Point Development Foundation, urged coastal community dwellers to leverage the support platforms of credible civil society organisations to amplify their voices.
On her part, Obonganwan Elizabeth Eyo, the Village Head, Esierebom Community, Calabar South Local Government, Cross River, identified indiscriminate felling of trees as a threat to her community.
She said that the community was taking steps to orientate the residents on the need to turn a new leaf, and support tree planting
“This effort has rejuvenated the Nsidung Beach, and made it a model for other communities now emulate,” she said.
HOMEF is an ecological think-tank, and environmental rights advocacy group.
The event brought coastal communities residents across the Niger Delta region from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo states.
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