News

Nigeria @62: More Knocks; Few Kudos

Published

3 years ago

October 1, 2022

As Nigeria clocks 62 today, The Tide takes a look at how the country has fared since attaining independence in 1960, using people’s opinions as basis. Expectedly, people differed in their assessment. While many Nigerians said the country has failed to realise the dreams of its founding fathers, others described the present situation in the country as a process of nation building, expressing the hope that the country will soon overcome its present challenges.
Below are some of the views got by our correspondents.
Speaking with The Tide at his palace at Woji, the Paramount Ruler of Woji community, Eze Emeka Ihunwo, said the country was at a zero level at the moment.
Ihunwo said it was regrettable that the country at 62 was still grappling with the challenges of insecurity and bad governance.
“Nigeria at 62; we are at zero point: Insecurity in this country has rubbished Nigeria.
“I wouldn’t know if insecurity has added to make our money look like rag. I can’t understand! Today, there is inflation; at the same time, people are being killed at will”, he said.
The Woji monarch said for Nigeria to get it right, people must do away with tribalism, and wondered why people in their 80s still want to govern the country when they are quality, competent young men everywhere.
He commented the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, for his purposeful leadership in the state.
Also speaking, the Okan-Ama of Ataba Kingdom in Andoni Local Government Area, King Benson Mgbowaji Egwenre Oruk, said the country has disappointed its founding fathers.
He said that at 62, the country has not met the expectations of her people, nothing that Nigeria has continued to slide into a pariah state.
He also said that gone were the days when Nigerian currency was at per with the American Dollar and the British Pounds, adding that at the moment, the Naira had been reduced to nothing.
Egwenre said what was needed at the moment was a committed and God-fearing leader to pilot the affairs of the state.
The royal father also commended Governor Nyesom Wike for providing quality leadership in the state.
He used the occasion to call on politicians in Ataba Kingdom and the rest of Andoni to embark on issue-based campaigns while urging the people to remain peaceful.
However, in his opinion, the EzeIgbu Ubie 111 in Ahoada West Local Government Area, Eze Okpokiri Maxwell, said Nigeria was passing through its period of growth and development.
He said the dreams of the founding fathers had not been misplaced as every nation has her challenges.
The royal father said political independence has brought freedom to Nigerians, stressing that all challenges presently confronting the country would be surmounted one day.
Speaking further, an activist, Prince Williams Chinwo, also decried the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria, and expressed the hope that the country would come out of the conundrum one day.
For a university lecturer with the Rivers State University, Dr Monday Didia, Nigeria at 62 ought not to be celebrated given the rate of killings and economic downturn in recent times.
Didia said that no parent would be happy to birth a child like Nigeria who has chosen to be a toddler at 62.
“I don’t think Nigeria at 62 is worth celebrating unless for the fun of it. How can we celebrate nothing? Ranging from the economy to the least, no remarkable impact has been made”, he said.
The university don frowned at the over seven months industrial strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which he said has caused setback in the education sector.
Another respondent, Mr Bobby Amadi, an agriculturalist, described Nigeria as a near failure at 62.
Amadi recalled the oil boom era in the early1970s and how farmers were seen as lords, regretting that Nigeria squandered the oil money on frivolities and became poor.
He narrated how the Malaysians took palm seedlings from Nigeria and has become the highest producer of palm oil in the world while the natural owner of the product [Nigeria] trails far behind.
“Well, we are Nigerians, what we are celebrating is Independence Day and nothing more. The reason is that we cannot sincerely point out one thing that we have independently achieved”, he said.
Meanwhile, a top Immigration Officer, who pleaded anonymity, noted that Nigerians were leaving the country in droves for other parts of the world due to bad governance..
According to him, passport offices throughout the country are busy everyday attending to applicants who want to leave the country with their families in search of greener pasture.
A political scientist and lecturer at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Port Harcourt, Dr Oboada Alafonye Uriah, said Nigerians are wallowing in a vicious cycle of development.
‘’You prove to be developing, but you improve by six steps forward and then you move seven steps backwards. So, are we really making progress? No, we are not’’.
He lamented the high level of insecurity, economic hardship and poor standard of education in the country.
‘’Nigeria has depreciated to the level that every right thinking Nigerian should be worried about whether we have the country Nigeria or not. In fact, Nigeria has failed. By all standards, we have failed’’, he lamented.

As a way forward, Uriah advocated transparency and accountability in governance, saying once there is sanity at the top, it will permeate every sector,

Another respondent, Barrister Sunny Igwe, who is a legal practitioner, said Nigeria at 62 is painful ‘’because we appear visionless’’.

He said that in spite of Nigeria’s abundant human and natural resources, the country is wallowing in misery and penury due to what he called ‘’visionless leadership’’.
He wondered why the country keeps on spending trillions of Naira on fuel subsidy when we should have used the money to fix the nation’s four refineries.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to elect good leaders who have the potentials to move the nation forward.
Speaking in the same vein, a banker, Erasmus Amakiri, described Nigeria at 62 as a complete failure.
He said Nigeria is going backwards in the area of economy, power supply and job creation.
‘’Beside this, Nigeria is owing a debt that even our great-grand children can not pay off. Over N4trillion. That’s crazy. We are not making progress, for me, Nigeria is a complete failure.
‘’It’s my country. I love it, but then, the leaders are not helping us. At 62, we are supposed to be grown-ups but we are still like babies’’, he said.
A Medical Doctor and Head of Department, Pharmacology, Rivers State University (RSU), Dr Ekene Woke, also hit Nigeria below the belt.
According to him,’’there is nothing to celebrate or remember about it. A 62 year-old is a full grown man and should be able to correct his mistakes but to Nigeria, the reverse is the case. We have learnt nothing from our past mistakes. The country is at war at itself. Citizens are being killed every day and government can only give excuses at every time.
‘’Nigeria at 62 is a complete failure. Which area is left out? Is it water? Water is a basic necessity of government but people are using borehole for their water supply. Is it security? People are building up vigilantee. The state police has been shut down by people who are benefiting from the system. It’s only Nigeria that copied the federal system from the USA but only removed the part of state police for reasons that people don’t understand.
‘’However, the only thing we can celebrate in Nigeria is that the country has not divided. But the unity must have reasons to make the citizens happy. If we have been divided, things would have been much worse than this. So, we only have celebration of unity.
In his own view, President, National Association of Surface Tank Oil and Gas Retailers of Nigeria and Professor of Engineering, King Onyeche Promise Obinna, said that Nigeria has not got it right with leadership.
He said Nigeria needs a purposeful and creative leadership that could turn things around for the better, noting that the ability to provide policies of governance that will generate and recreate wealth and make it envy for all nations is lacking.
However, Prof Isaac Zeb-Bipi of the Rivers State University, said Nigeria has experienced some positive changes in the area of education.
‘’At least, now we can talk about having more institutions both at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. We can talk about the introduction of private institutions to complement public schools. We can talk about producing a good number of our citizens through these institutions for them to be able to read and write’’, he said.
He, however, said that the nation’s education could have done better in the area of infrastructure and manpower if right policies were put in place.
‘’Yes, we could have done better in terms of having schools that are well equipped, we could have done better in terms of having products of these schools that are properly and thoroughly educated, we could have done better by having education providers properly catered for, we could have done better by having our institutions meet the demands of industries’’, he said.
Zeb-Bipi hailed the state of infrastructure at the Rivers State University, attributing it to the visionary leadership of Governor Nyesom Wike and the pragmatic leadership of the Vice Chancellor, Prof Nlerum Sunday Okogbule.

BY: Tonye Nria-Dappa, Lady Godknows Ogbulu, John Bibor,
King Onunwor, Susan Serekara-Nwikhana & Oreoluwa Adigun

News

RSG Moves To Diversify Rivers Economy …As Farmers, Others Laud Ibas Over Implementation Of RAAMP

Published

2 days ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

The Rivers State Government has restated its readiness to diversify the economy of the state from oil to Agriculture.

This is as farmers and other stakeholders have commended the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Retd) for approving the implementation of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing project (RAAMP) in the state.

Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this during a meeting on implementation of RAAMP in Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas.

Ogolo said the programme would create an agricultural industrial hub in the 23 local government areas, and urged the people to embrace the project.

Meanwhile, rural farmers and other stakeholders in the State have lauded Ibas for approving the implementation of RAAMP in the State.

RAAMP is a world bank program with support from the International Development Association ( IDA), the French Development Agency and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

According to a statement made available to newsmen, the programme aims to strengthen the institutional and financial base for sustainable management of state and rural networks, fostering historic development to enhance food security, creating access in rural communities to boost agricultural processes through creation of durable access roads and agro logistics centres/hub.

Tide source confirms that the program has been in operation since 2020 with 19 states benefitting.

The benefitting states are Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Bauchi.

Other beneficiaries are Plateau, Kwarra, Ondo, Niger, Gombe, Anambra, Cross River, Taraba and Benue states.

The source said that 12 new states including Rivers State recently completed their requirements for inclusion into the RAAMP 3.

Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting at Isiokpo, Nchia and Omoku, headquarters of Ikwerre, Eleme and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas respectively, a cross section of farmers described the programme as timely as it would boost food production as well as create markets for agricultural produce.

At Eleme, HRH Emere J D Nkpe warned against politicising the project.

The people also complained against incessant destruction of crops by herdsmen and called for it to be checked.

Also speaking at Omoku headquarters of Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area,Eze Allison Dan and Barrister Lola Nwaribe commendation the government for the program but warned against it going the way of other programmes.

For Barrister Nwaribe Women in the area needs assistance to break free from subsistence agriculture

Speaking at the three ocal government areas Ogolo said Rear Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas rtd needs to be commended for approving the implementation of the program in the state.

Ogolo said the program is aims at diversifying Rivers economy from oil to Agriculture.

He said the program will also enable farmers to move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, adding that access roads will not only be created to farms but markets will be built for farmers to sell their produce.

He listed other benefits to include creation of employment for the youths and helping small traders to boost sales.

Also speaking the state RAAMP Coordinator,Mr Joshua Kpakol said the “the essence of this project is to provide rural access roads and improve agricultural marketing systems across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state”

Kpakol said the project is divided into three components which are improvement of Rural Access and Trading Infrastructure, Sector Reform,Asset management and Agro logistics performance Enhancement and Institutional Development, Project Management and Risk Mitigation.

He urged farmers and traders to embrace the project as it would go along way in changing their fortunes.

At Ikwerre and Eleme local government areas respectively, the sole administrators of the two councils Hon Isaiah Christian and Dr Gloria Obo Dibiah said the councils will work towards the success of the program.

They commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Sole Administrator of Rivers state for ensuring that their respective councils benefits from the programme.

John Bibor

News

Defamation: Court Grants Natasha N50m Bail

Published

2 days ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

The FCT High Court in Abuja, yesterday, granted the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, bail in the sum of N50 million and one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.

The trial judge, Justice Chizoba Orji, made the declaration in a ruling after taking arguments for and against the bail application from the parties in the suit.

The Attorney General of the Federation, in a three-count criminal charge marked CR/297/25, accused Akpoti-Uduaghan, the sole defendant, of making defamatory statements against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during a live television broadcast.

The charge, which lists Akpabio and the former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as nominal complainants, alleged that Akpoti-Uduaghan claimed Bello had conspired with Akpabio to orchestrate her assassination outside Abuja, disguising it as a mob or local attack.

According to the Federal Government, these allegations were made during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.

The Federal Government claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan knowingly or recklessly made these imputations, fully aware that they could harm the reputation of the individuals involved.

The charge alleged that she said, “Let’s ask the Senate President, why in the first instance did he withdraw my security, if not to make me vulnerable to attacks? He then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. What is important to me is to stay alive, because dead men tell no tales. Who is going to get justice for me?”

The charge also cites her statements during the programme as saying, “That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.

“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night, to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi. You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.”

The senator is also accused of making defamatory statements about Akpabio during a telephone conversation with Sandra C. Duru in Abuja on March 27, 2025.

The alleged statement is as follows, “That girl that was killed, what’s her name, umm…. Imoren Iniubong, her organs were actually used for the wife, because the wife was really ill… when they killed the girl, and her organs were used for the wife.”

The Federal Government contends that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan knew or ought to have known that this claim would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bello, and four others have been listed as witnesses in the trial.

The arraignment of Akpoti-Uduaghan was initially scheduled for June 3, 2025. However, the strike action of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria stalled the arraignment.

Meanwhile, a similar matter is also lodged before Justice Muhammed Umar, of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

While Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was slated for arraignment before Justice Umar, she, however, did not appear for the arraignment since the prosecution had not been able to serve her as stated in court.

The prosecution, however, applied for a bench warrant to be issued on the suspended senator, which the court refused.

At the commencement of the hearing, the counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation, David Kaswe, told the Court that the matter is for arraignment of the defendant (Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan).

Natasha was docked, and the three-count read to her. She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s legal team, led by Professor Roland Otaru (SAN), afterwards informed the Court that a bail application filed on May 27 has been submitted to the court.

Kaswe, however, informed the court that the Federal Government is opposing the bail application and called the attention of the judge to a counter-affidavit filed before the court to this effect.

He proceeded to ask the court to remand the Kogi Senator in prison as she poses a flight risk.

He said, “In view of the charge, we will be asking for a remand in a correctional facility.

The defence counsel, however, interjected, stating, “We already filed an application for bail. We are in a court of law for Justice. We have a motion on Notice dated May 27, 2025. You represent the Ministry of Justice, not the Ministry of Injustice.

“If your lordship graciously will, we urge your lordship to grant the bail application. This is a case where your lordship has the discretion to grant bail, and nobody can query it, not even the president can query it. Even on self-recognition because it is not a case of murder.”

Referencing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Otaru added that anybody who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. “And she pleaded not guilty. As she is standing there, she is innocent until proven otherwise,” he added.

Justice Chizoba Orji, after listening to both arguments, however, granted Natasha bail in the sum of N50 million, with one surety who must be a person of reasonable integrity resident in F.C.T Abuja and owns a landed property within the Abuja Municipal Area Council.

News

Benin Monarch Receives 119 Stolen Artefacts From Netherlands

Published

2 days ago

June 20, 2025

The Tide

Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, has received 119 stolen artefacts from the Netherlands.

The Oba who disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin, the Edo State capital, said plans by some international cartel to re-loot the artefacts were thwarted after he prayed to God and the ancestors.

He said, “I thank President Bola Tinubu for supporting and committing to the efforts former President Buhari put in place to ensure the artifacts are not re-looted because there were groups in this country believed to be an international cartel that had all sorts of conspiracy to re-loot our artifacts.

“They stole and burnt our Kingdom. They killed my people and tried to kill their spirit and their morale. Today, the boldness, courage, and bravery of the Benin people are still there. Events of 1897 reduced that to a significant level that Sometimes when I see my people, they are afraid of the unknown.

“The return of these objects has reawakened the courage we had in our people. We do not want modern-day politics and partisan politics to diminish the courage of our people.

“The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments has been doing wonderful work. His predecessor was part of the conspiracy to re-loot our artefacts. We had a running battle in this hall.

“I addressed my Chiefs in Benin language, and I said these artefacts belong to my ancestors, and I will not sit on the ancient throne and watch the artefacts re-looted. They would rather remain where they are than be re-looted. I thank the government of the Netherlands for working with us. This is part of the efforts to reawaken the morale and spirit of my people.

“After 1897, the kingdom was reduced. There was a government in this state that wanted to reduce the kingdom more and scatter it. I am angry when I speak about it. Why would anybody want to scatter the kingdom.

“The youths were courageous like the youths of those days. They were not afraid of anybody. I vowed that it would not happen. Not in my reign. Not while I am sitting on this throne. God heard my prayers. My ancestors heard my prayers. This throne is not partisan, but I should support what is good for my people.

“I urge the youths to be tough and strong in the face of adversity. This is not for anybody else. It is for my ancestors.”

The Benin Monarch further prayed for the return of more artefacts.

The NCMM DG, Olugbile Holloway, said the commission and the Benin Royal Palace were working hard to ensure more artefacts were returned.

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, who was represented by the Secretary to State Government, Barr. Musa Ikhilor said his administration would continue to build necessary infrastructure to preserve the returned artefacts as well as collaborate with the Federal Government to improve the storage system for the artefacts.

The General Director of the Wereld Museum, Marieke Van Bommel, said, “The artefacts are looted, and we have a policy in the Netherlands to bring them back. We are bringing back 119 artefacts. We don’t have more. These are the collections in the Netherlands. There are more collections in Europe, but that is not up to us. They have been with us for over 100 years.”