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Lagos
The Lagos State Government said it has no intention of implementing the improved Teachers Salary Structure (TSS) this year.
The statement which was disclosed to newsmen in Lagos by the Special Adviser to the Governor in Education, Elijah Odewale, came on the heels of the strike embarked by public school teachers in Lagos State.
Elijah said the government will not do anything in line with the teachers’ agitation until the 2010 budget is passed.
He said it is wrong in the first place for public school teachers to embark on strike without finishing negotiation with the state.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and other states embarked on an indefinite strike to press for the implementation of the new Teachers’ Salary Structure (TSS).
Ogun
Chinese investors have made commitments to establish industries that will commence operations in Ogun State by the end of this year.
To this end no fewer than 57 of them have signed a pact with the state government to set up their firms at the state-owned industrial park along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The investments are a fallout of the state Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel recent tour to some Chinese cities, during which a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the companies and their partners were endorsed by the governor as part of the new economic focus for the state.
Some of the cities visited include Taiwan, Sumjian, Chang, Shanghai and Zhejiang.
In July, a 70-man delegation from the Province of Zhejiang visited the state and had indicated interest to invest in Ogun.
Some of the proposed firms will be involved in the production of goods and services, oil and gas and construction, and also assist in the development of roads, power, agriculture, textile and timber.
Another visit by Daniel to Hangmin Group, a village like cooperative cluster of business and industries with multi-million dollar annual turnover with interest in textile, agriculture and real estate development, has also facilitated an investment of another set of companies.
The state government also offered free land to companies that accepted to come into the state with the governor saying that the industrial park will be partnered after trade mart, which is regarded as the largest global commodities market in the world with 129,600 shops.
To prepare ground for the expected economic turn around of the state, the government has also embarked on provision of other infrastructure, among them is the Olokola free trade zone and the cargo airport projects.
Kaduna
Three industrial unions in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, have appealed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo to intervene in the ongoing dispute between Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government.
The unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), The National Associationof Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU).
In a letter joint issued by the Chairman of SSANU, Mr Alfa Gimba, NAAT Mr Jerry Bale and NASU, Mallam Abdullahi Sham in Zaria, the union called on the former president to mediate in the ongoing dispute in the university system. “Baba, you will recall that in April 2006 your administration empowered the negotiation team headed by Deacon Gamaliel Owosode as chairman. The union have been negotiating for the past three years, but no result, hence the need for your quick intervention to save the university system from collapse, the letter said.
It described as contentious the 65 year retirement age and the issue of staff welfare, adding that while an agreement had been reached on salary increase, the government opted for arbitrary awards.
It will be recalled that workers in the university system have been on strike over improved working conditions.
The government has agreed to pay a 40 percent salary increase to university lecturers and 20 percent to other workers in the system but the unions have rejected the offer.
Kwara
Kwara State Commissioner For Information and Communications, Mr Ben Diutoye has commended the Governor Dr Bukola Saraki for taking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) to greater height and introduced a breath of fresh air into the hitherto moribund forum.
Saraki is Chairman of NGF an association established to encourage fair competition and peer-review among the governors. The organisation has since the tenure of the governor adopted some refreshingly new and exciting features, including the establishment of a functional secretariat and more pro-active programmes.
“We have a better organised NGF now which is active with a visible secretariat. The secretariat has professional hands that advise and give support to the forum. NGF has been used to promote greater relationship between the federal and states governments. There is therefore a better inter-governmental relationship, just as the U.S. Governors Association often give technical support to members,” Diutoye said.
On the succession plan for the governor who would complete his two terms in May 2011, Diutoye said Saraki had delivered good governance to Kwara people and wishes the people would be included to supporting some one who would continue the governor’s legacies.
Abuja
The State Security Service (SSS), has foiled an alleged plot by three university undergraduates to kidnap the Minister of Education, Dr Sam Egwu and his labour and productivity counterpart, Adetukumbo Kayode.
The suspects are said to be undergraduates at the University of Abuja, while a fourth suspect is described as dubious businessman.
Parading the suspects the SSS spokesperson, Meriline Okah said the suspects were planning to use the ongoing strike by university lecturers as an excuse to carry out the plot.
She also said, in the alleged plot the Minister of Education and his labour and productivity counterpart would have paid N300 million ransome and the Minister of Education made to sign the controversial agreement to end the ASUU strike.
Jos
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), hinted that it has concluded plans to train 154,800 emergency volunteers across the federation. Besides it said it has approached Universities in the country to include Masters Degree on Emergency Management in their courses.
The North Central Zonal Co-ordinator spoke at a press briefing, marking the Agency’s 10th anniversary, in Jos.
According to Mr. Alhassan D. Aliyu, North Central Zonal Co-ordinator at least 200 emergency volunteers will be trained in each of the 774 local councils in the federation. Represented by the Assistant Zonal Co-ordinator, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulsalam, the zonal coordinator explained that three Universities among the number approached have accepted to introduce Disaster Management Studies.
According to him, many Universities in developed countries were running the course that attention has been focused on risk reduction.
stated that the Agency will in future extend training programmes to primary schools to teach pupils on safety measures.
He told his audience that disaster response activities were not solely the work of experts and emergency “responders”, but also government disaster management organisations, local volunteer organisations, business organisations and citizens. He emphasised that they have active roles to play in disaster management, while lamenting the poor level of disaster awareness among Nigerians.
He pointed out that the zone witnessed about 15 major disasters between January to September 2009, listing them to include those of Niger state flood and River Asa flood disaster, Kwara State, adding that 6,800 were displaced. While two persons were killed.
Consequently, the NEMA chieftain urged stakeholders to cooperate with the Agency to reduce disasters to minimum in the country.
Zamfara
Disturbed by the shortage of buses to convey women only as required by the sharia legal system, Zamfara State government has awarded a contract worth N100m for the procurement of 200 new buses, which would be used by women as means of transportation within and outside the state.
Making this known in Gusau, while fielding questions from newsmen, the state commissioner for Religious Affairs, Malam Tukur Sani Jangebe, said the measure is aimed at preventing women from mixing with men or climbing okada to various locations in the state.
He said government is totally committed to the implementation of the sharia legal code across the state.
Jangebe said the contract was given to a local firm in order to ensure that the vehicles were delivered in good time and based on contract specification.
He said the buses reduce the hardships by women travellers and commuters who “do not feel men while on transit.”
The commissioner said when fully functional, the women-only transport system will ensure that Muslim women who violate the system are arraigned before any of the sharia court in the state.
He said the law banning women from using okada as passed by the State House Assembly has not been repealed. He therefore asked security operatives to Hsbah board in order to ensure that offenders are apprehended.
Jangebe further disclosed that the state government has also awarded contract worth N500 million for the construction of a befitting permanent headquarters of the Religious Affairs Ministry and the state Pilgrim Welfare Agency.
Adamawa
Nigerians have been advised to shun selfishness and sentiments in order to realise the “noble” objectives of the 1999 constitution, Senator Abubakar Halilu Girei has advised.
Girei, who gave the advise in Yola at the weekend, while reacting to calls for a regional constitution by a newly formed group, “change Nigeria”, headed by retired generals, said the 1999 constitution was been made to look inadequate because, the Nigerian politicians have not adopted the right attitude and spirit envisaged by the drafters of the document.
He said the perception that the 1999 constitution was deficient was actually a reflection of the indiscipline in the society, as the constitution has not been fully put to test for a reasonable period of time, for any group to term it unworkable.
Girei, who is currently Monitor General of Course 35, Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS) Kuru, Plateau State, said it was condemnable for some retired generals to group themselves into an organisation, called “Change Nigeria”, stressing that the group’s statement was inciting and should be condemned.
He said the sovereign National Conference and other true federalism sloganeering was not only a sabotage, but potent danger to national security of the country, as such statements were capable of encouraging intransigent militants, who were now on the verge of negotiating a peaceful end to Niger Delta crisis with the federal government.
Girei said Nigerian political leaders should eschew the differences that were capable of drawing the country back to the era of regional and ethnic empires as most Nigerians wee resolved and marching towards being one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.
The President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide and the Mgboh XIII of the Mgboh Royal Family of Emohua Kingdom in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Eze (Barrister) Godspower Onuekwa, penultimate Friday celebrated his 80th birthday with pomp, pageantry and fanfare.
The celebration, which commenced with a symposium organised in his honour at Rivers State University on Thursday, August 21,2025, got to a resounding climax on Friday at Suntai Event Centre in Port Harcourt, where people from all walks of life, including business associates, friends, well-wishers, relatives, community folks, traditional rulers, and admirers, gathered to pay glowing tributes to the celebrant.
Before then, a well attended thanksgiving service was held that same Friday at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Okoro-Nu-Odo, to honour him and return gratitude to God Almighty for the fruitful and eventful life and accomplishments of the Emohua leader and icon.
The service which was officiated by Rt Rev Wisdom Budu Ihunwo, Bishop of Niger Delta North had other renowned and respected clerics like Most Rev(Dr) Blessing Enyindah, Dean, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion); Rt Rev(Dr) Emmanuel Oko-Jaja, Bishop, Diocese of Niger Delta; Rt Rev Innocent Ordu, Bishop, Diocese of Evo; and Ven Solomon Eze Nelson, Archdeacon, Okoro-Nu-Odo; among others lined up as officiating ministers.
The service lived up to its billing, as it featured powerful and soul-lifting praise and worship; point-blank prayers; and beautiful renditions, which electrified the entire atmosphere, essentially packaged to thank God for the life of the celebrant.
However, the crowning moment actually came when the who is who, the crème de la crème of the society, thronged the terraces and fabulously decorated expansive hall of Suntai Event Centre, to celebrate Eze Onuekwa, amid accolades, aplomb and panache, wining and dining, and clinking of glasses with him and all.
The chairman of the colourful ceremony, Chief Evans Woherem, who was represented by Eze(Prof) Christian Akani of the prestigious Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, praised the celebrant for his youthfulness in spite of clocking 80 years, generosity, humility, humaneness and selfless services to the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, the Niger Delta and Nigeria, and called on all and sundry to emulate his good legacies and simple disposition towards life and existence.
Goodwill messages also poured in in torrents to underscore and salute the doggedness, resilience, astuteness and uniqueness of the endearing life of the celebrant, with Prof Emenike Wami, the Ochia Ohna Ikwerre(XIV), taking the lead.
Prof Priye Iyalla, the wife of late renowned writer, novelist and playwright, Dr Elechi Amadi, held the audience spellbound as she masterfully reeled out the profile of the celebrant, amid intermittent applause from the crowd.
The Tiv Community from Benue State, resident in Rivers State, were not left out, as they honoured and decorated Eze Onuekwa in their complete traditional regalia.
Cultural displays from Baptist Church, Rumuowhor; ADNA Wogbuji Dancing Group, Egbeda; Tiv Dancing Group; and Promoter Eze and Rumu-Mgboh Emohua Wrestling Group, equally added colour and grace to the occasion, with the celebrant and his wife, Dame Ann Onuekwa, joining them to wriggle their waists and bodies in ecstasy.
In his response, the highly elated celebrant, Eze Onuekwa thanked all those gathered to celebrate with him, saying, celebrations would never cease in their homes, and attributed everything he represents in life, including his modest accomplishments to God.
Eze Onuekwa, while addressing newsmen, harped on the need for hard work among the youths and members of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide, as a way of sustaining and giving meaning to the motto of the organisation, which he noted is anchored on peace, unity and progress.
He specially thanked God for sustaining his life, and for making everything possible for him and his family, saying, he was joyous that he has today become an octogenarian and elder statesman in Rivers State.
His son and medical practitioner, Dr Samuel Chizia Onuekwa expressed delight that people from far and near had come together to celebrate the father, whom he described as a role model and great inspirator.
He said it was a good thing that the children were celebrating their father when he is alive, stressing that the last time Eze Onuekwa was celebrated in such magnitude was 20 years ago, during his 60th birthday celebration, and prayed God to grant him many more years in good health.
Among dignitaries who graced the event were Senator Andrew Uchendu; Chief Sampson Agbaru; Prof Emenike Wami; Dr Peter Didia; Eze(Prof) Samuel Ugo Onyeka; and a host of others. Justice Iche Ndu(rtd); and C O Kattey were among personalities that attended the thanksgiving service, while the Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof Isaac Zeb-Obipi led the academics who graced the symposium, alongside Eze G A O Omodu.
As the 100 Ogoni youths trained by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in Creative Arts close out their training on Tuesday at the Theatre Arts Department, University of Port Harcourt, the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, has urged the beneficiaries to use the skills acquired to ensure that the Ogoni stories are told and heard in the right way.
The trainees, who had completed a four- month training in script writing, film production and make-up are beneficiaries of the HYPREP sustainable livelihood programme, aimed at providing high demand skills to Ogoni youths in the lucrative creative arts and entertainment industry.
Zabbey described the Creative Arts training as well as other programmes and interventions as HYPREP’s strategic sustained effort to create alternative sources of livelihood.
”Targeted capacity building for Ogoni youths and women remains a central strategy in HYPREP’s livelihood restoration and improvement efforts. Our goal is to reach every part of the Ogoni community and ensure that no group or talent pool is left behind. This training is a deliberate step to empower young people who aspire to make their mark in the creative and entertainment industry”, he said.
While commending the trainees for producing four short films within the training period, one of which was premiered at the ceremony-Dirty Festival, the Project Coordinator noted that the training would serve as a springboard into the industry, and enable them earn a living, become entrepreneurs, and open new doors of opportunities for themselves and their communities. The three other movies are Open Pain, Bomu and Green War.
He enjoined them to utilise their skills and platforms to promote civic responsibility, peace, and environmental sustainability, urging them to ensure that Ogoni is heard in the right way, speak for HYPREP and highlight the progress being made in implementing the recommendations of the UNEP Report.
Other speakers at the event, including the Director of Technical Services of HYPREP, Prof. Damian-Paul Aguiyi; Dr Ovunda Ihunwo, Head of the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Port Harcourt; Chief Douglas Experience, the Project Coordinator of Halibiz Consult Limited; and Mrs Josephine Nzidee, Head, Sustainable Livelihood of HYPREP, all applauded HYPREP for the training, and charged the trainees to maximise the opportunity.
The trainees were later presented certificates of participation.
Visibly elated Ms Lebee Tornwe, one of the beneficiaries, thanked HYPREP and the Project Coordinator for offering the trainees the rare opportunity to acquire skills in the creative arts and entertainment industry, and expressed delight that Dr Ihunwo and Halibiz Consult Limited gave their all in grooming them.
With the wrapping up of the Creative Arts training(100), HYPREP has trained 230 Ogoni youths in high demand skill sets ,viz; seafaring(100); and aviation (30). The Project will this year, commence training in other skill areas, including Mechatronic, Aviation, Full-Stack Development, Commercial Diving, Underwater Welding and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Still in the offing is the training for Ogoni Persons Living with Disabilities in five skill sets- fish farming; basic computer skills; photography; fashion and design; and shoemaking in line with their Needs Assessment and HYPREP’s policy of inclusivity.
The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) had called on stakeholders to work collaboratively towards the development and empowerment of Ogoni youths.
NYCOP made the call in a communique issue over the weekend after an emergency Congress in Port Harcourt and signed by its President, Comrade Raymond Nwibani Marcus.
In the communique, NYCOP endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s appointments of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees (BOT) members of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), particularly Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah as Chairman of HYPREP’s BOT.
It respectfully appealed to the President to consider appointing a representative from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) under the leadership of Engr. Olu Andah Wai-Ogosu, being the pioneering social vehicle for Ogoni advocacy since the inception of the Ogoni struggle, adding that it would significantly contribute to the decision-making process.
The body commended the overall management of HYPREP and urges the President to continue funding the HYPREP project.
NYCOP furthermore recommended considering the conversion of HYPREP from a project to a full-fledged agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The communique also stated that NYCOP thanked President Tinubu for establishing the Federal University of Environmental Technology, and for appointing key staff, forming a dialogue committee, and initiating infrastructural projects like the Eleme axis of the East-West Road and the Bonny-Bodo Road, significantly enhancing regional connectivity and economic prospects.
In solidarity with the Renewed Hope Agenda, the endorsed President Tinubu’s second-term bid, saying it believes his leadership embodies the aspirations of the Ogoni people and Nigerians at large.
“After thorough consideration of the Disciplinary Committee’s report, NYCOP resolves:
” To indefinitely suspend Comrade Nade Nade Burale from his position as Secretary General due to misconduct.
“To declare Comrade Saviour Imeabe persona non grata on Ogoni youth issues, given his actions’ potential to instigate crisis in Ogoni and beyond” the communique stated.
NYCOP in his resolution issued a 7-day ultimatum to former HYPREP BOT Chairman Mike Nwialeghi to explain the $100 million HYPREP fund investment, warning of potential litigation.
NYCOP reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding Ogoni youth interests and preventing personal aggrandizement.
According to the communique the resolutions demonstrate NYCOP’s efforts to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth.
“We will no longer tolerate any individual or group using the name or issues of Ogoni youth for personal aggrandizement.
” Our mandate is clear: to promote the collective welfare and advancement of Ogoni youth” the communique said.
NYCOP passes a vote of confidence in Hon. Emmanuel Nwika Deeyah, acknowledging his impeccable credentials and credibility to lead the BOT of HYPREP effectively.
Kiadum Edookor
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