Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Adamawa government has spent N10 million on flood and other related disasters’ sensitisation campaign, the Deputy governor, Mr Bala Ngillari, has said.
Ngillari, who received the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, in Yola last Thursday, said the campaign was initiated following the early forecast and warning by NEMA on the possibility of flooding in some parts of the state.
Sani-Sidi was in Yola for the consultative meeting of Heads of States Emergency Management Agencies.
“Adamawa state received the warning early this year and acted immediately through continuous sensitisation of the various communities,’’ he said.
Through this campaign, disaster prone areas took actions that reduced effects and losses in some parts of the state, especially in Guyuk, Numan, Demsa, Lamurde and Yola which were flooded.
Bauchi
Some rural farmers in Bauchi state want a review of the fertiliser distribution system in the state, our correspondent learnt that most of the farmers in some rural settlements on the outskirts of Bauchi metropolis were not satisfied with the distribution method being adopted by the state government.
In separate interviews with farmers in those settlements, they told our correspondent that they see the channels through which the commodity was being distributed as unreliable.
They pointed out that the year 2011 has been the worst, in comparison with the problems experienced in previous years.
Malam Babaji Yakubu, a 56-year-old maize farmer in Inkil village, blamed lack of fertiliser for the poor harvest on his farms this year.
Mohammed Muktar of Sabon-Layivillage, noted that the situation should have been better in spite of the problems of rainfall.
Borno
A Borno High Court will on Sept. 30 deliver its judgement in a case involving a house wife who allegedly killed her daughter by setting her ablaze after poisoning her.
The woman, Rebecca Emmanuel, allegedly burnt her seven-year old daughter in Biu Local Government Area of Borno.
Emmanuel was standing trial for alleged culpable homicide punishable with death under section 221 of the Penal Code Law.
The accused was said to have taken her daughter to a bush in Biu where she gave her a bottle of maltina beverage adulterated with poison to drink.
According to the report, the seven-year girl, thereafter, became unconscious after crying of stomach pain.
The girl who later died in the bush was covered up with dry leaves and grasses by her mother who reportedly set her ablaze. However, the judgement of the case which was earlier slated for Sept. 20 was adjourned, due to the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Purtum Ngadda.
FCT
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) says there is the the need for the country to simplify its judicial processes to ensure prompt adjudication of cases.
This was one of the recommendations of the 16th summit of the Group which ended last Thursday in Abuja.
The Group advised “all tiers of governments to simplify judicial processes on election petitions, commercial disputes and other cases in the nation’s judicial system,’’
“There is the need to reverse the culture of impunity by ensuring compliance with existing laws, procedures and regulations,” it said.
NESG urged the government to promote value-based ideologies and to intensify the war on corruption in both private and public sectors.
“Public and private sectors should have the will to allow the system to run effectively through good administration and corporate governance.
“Governments should create a rallying point for citizens to buy-into Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 in order to deliver power, deregulation of downstream petroleum sector and education reform in the next 12 months,” it said.
Kaduna
TheFederal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has decried the spate of indiscriminate parking on the nation’s highways by drivers of articulated vehicles.
FERMA’s North West 1 Zonal Director, Mr Kaboshiyo Avongs, told newsmen last Thursday in Kaduna that many lives had been lost due to indiscriminate parking by mostly tanker drivers.
Avongs recalled that several measures had been taken to tackle the menace of indiscriminate parking to no avail.
He, however, said new measures, including outright impounding of such vehicles, were being contemplated.
Avongs expressed regrets that several discussions held with the tanker drivers union aimed at changing their attitude to indiscriminate parking were not yielding results.
He commended the Kaduna State Government for providing land to build parks for trailers at Tafa in Kagarko Local Government Area and Mararaban Jos in Igabi Local Government Area.
Avongs said the two areas were noted for the high frequency of accidents involving articulated vehicles, adding that the facilities would reduce the rate of such incidents when completed.
Kebbi
The Kebbi House of Assembly Committee on Women Affairs is to collaborate with state ministry of women affairs in tackling issues affecting women and children for sustainable development.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Alhaji Garba Bena, told journalists in Birnin Kebbi last Thursday that an enabling environment that included logistics,useful advice and any other relevant observation, would be created for effective performance.
He said the House would address gender issues, especially the intensification and enforcement of the state law which prohibits child labour,stressing that the Law has reduced the menace of child hawking reducing children to domestic servants.
According to him, the law that prohibits stigmatisation against people living with HIV and AIDS is still enforced, stressing that from the available records released by the State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA) the prevalence of HIV and AIDS has reduced.
Kogi
The newly established Federal University, Lokoja, will formally commence academic activities in January 2012 with 200 students, its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdulmumin Rafindadi, has said.
Rafindadi told newsmen in Lokoja that the university will take off at its temporary site with only two faculties – Arts and Social Science with few departments.
He said the faculties of engineering and education would be added over the next two or three years and said that the student population of the university may not be more than 600 at its peak.
He explained that the pioneer students of the university would be selected from the 961 applicants, who made the school their first choice in the last UTME conducted by JAMB,
More than 2,000 other applicants who made the university their second choice would not be consider for admission at all, he explained.
The vice chancellor stated that the university would hold its first post-UTME screening on Sept. 27
.
Lagos
The EFCC in Lagos has arraigned two men before an Ikeja High Court for allegedly defrauding a local government council boss of the sum of three million Naira.
Augustine Nwokolo, 46, and Kalu Emole, 48, were arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money with false pretence.
EFCC prosecutor, Mr Kayode Oni, alleged that the duo had conspired to defraud Mr Ezekiel Chukwukwere, Chairman of Nwangele Local Government Council of Imo State.
He said they committed the offence on March 15 in the Egbeda area of Lagos by collecting the sum of N3 million from the council boss.
“The duo claimed that there was a petition against Chukwukwere and that the money was to help him sweep the petition under the carpet at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja,’’ the prosecutor said.
He said Chukwukwere had lodged a complaint with the anti-graft body about a phone call which was made by one Mr Linus, demanding the money from him.
Ogun
A gender specialist, Mrs Funmi Hassan, has decried the high level of discrimination and violence against Nigerian women.
Hassan made the observation last Thursday in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun, at a two-day leadership skill training for women farmers.
The theme of the training is“Team building and Women Right”.
Speaking on the occasion, Hassan said women’s rights were those human right issues that related to women as the subordinate group in a male-dominated society.
She noted that violence against women was one of the cruel social mechanisms by which women were forced into a subordinate position.
Oyo
The principal of a public school in Oyo State and his deputy (both names withheld) were among those apprehended on Wednesday in Ibadan over illegal collection of fees.
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Tokunbo Fayokun, announced the arrests at a news conference in Ibadan, saying the task force set up by the education ministry to check the collection of unapproved fees from parents and students took the measure.
She explained that the task force was constituted to make life bearable for parents and guardians, and ensure that the cost of education was affordable.
“The task force proceeded in its task and succeeded in apprehending some principals who engaged in the act.”
Plateau
The Court of Appeal sitting in Jos has dismissed Plateau’s Governor Jonah Jang’s appeal seeking to quash the case of his challenger and Labour Party candidate, Mrs Pauline Tallen.
The Plateau Electoral Petition Tribunal had in its pre-hearing ruling of July 25, 2011, decided in favour of Tallen, while ruling in a case filed by Jang, who had alleged that the LP’s petition against him was not filed on time and should be dismissed.
Dissatisfied with that ruling, Jang appealed against the ruling on the grounds that during the pre-hearing, Tallen willingly withdrew an application, which was the life wire of her petition.
Jang’s counsel, Mr Olu Dundare, had told the appellate court that even though the withdrawal of the application was done with the advice of the tribunal, it was a blunder made by the petitioner, pointing out that it was sufficient ground to invalidate the case.
Sokoto
Sheik Yusuf Alibawa, a Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, has enjoined prospective pilgrims to this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia to pray for peace, progress and political stability of Nigeria.
Alibawa newsmen in Sokoto last Thursday that the nation was dire need of God’s intervention.
He said that prayers by pilgrims as well as other Nigerians would enable the country to overcome the challenges facing the country, especially on security matters.
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