Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to education in the State.

The governor, while inaugurating the newly reconstructed Bonny National Grammar School project last Friday, also awarded full scholarships to students of “Team Rivers” who recently won the National Inter-Schools Debate Championship.

Fubara, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Onwuka Nzeshi, said government must not just fund education but sustain programmes that add value to the people, describing education as the most critical investment for the future of the State.

He described the commissioning of the newly reconstructed Bonny National Grammar School as historic, noting that it was the first time in over 20 years that a state government was visiting Bonny to deliver a project instead of making campaign promises.

“I need to say this, maybe I stand to be corrected but – this is the first time in over twenty years that government is coming to Bonny to commission a project. We’ve been coming here to campaign. We’ve come here to make promises. But now we have gone a step further to ensure that we break that jinx,” he said

The governor said the visit was to demonstrate the importance his administration attached to the Bonny National Grammar School and to reassure the people of Bonny that they remain an integral part of Rivers State.

“So, what we have come here to do today, is to demonstrate the significance of this wonderful institution and to tell the good people of Bonny that government still remembers you and that you’re part of Rivers State,” he said.

Tracing the history of the school, Fubara recalled that the institution began in 1965 as a community initiative and has produced many leaders of Bonny Kingdom.

“The story of this school, for those of you who are indigenes of Bonny dates back to many years ago.  It was a community initiative in 1965 that gave birth to the present Grammar School. When this school started, it was named Government Secondary School, Ogwugwumaka, Bonny. But later on, with improvements and developments and with the growth of the Bonny Kingdom, it was changed to Bonny Grammar School. I believe that the Who is Who in Bonny, a greater number of them, passed through this Grammar School,” he said.

The governor said the project was deliberately sited in Bonny to show that his administration prefers action to promises.

“So, the success we are sharing today, is to water the ground so that when we are coming here to campaign, we don’t need to make promises again because you have already seen action. When I’m coming with our party to campaign, you’ll be confident that your brother did something,” Fubara said.

He linked the importance of the intervention to the economic role of Bonny, noting that education remains the pathway for indigenes to benefit from opportunities in the oil and gas industry.

“Today, we have the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) and other multinationals that are operating in Bonny. Some of our people are working with them and they are working with them because of education. We intend to better the lot of Bonny through education, knowing the importance of Bonny in the hydrocarbon and energy development of Nigeria,” the governor stated.

Fubara commended the Amanyanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom for his leadership in attracting development to the kingdom.

He also acknowledged the contributions of the Federal Government to the growth of the State economy, especially the delivery of the Bonny-Bodo Road project which has made trips to Bonny Island seamless.

“Let me thank everyone, most especially the Amanyanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom, who has stood with the people of Bonny and who has continued to uplift the people of Bonny by attracting meaningful projects to Bonny. What the Amanyanabo has done today has placed Bonny on the map of Africa and the world,” he said.

In a major highlight, the governor announced full scholarships for all members of Team Rivers who emerged champions at the just concluded Presidential Inter-Schools Debate Championship.

“Today is not just about the hardware development because we just celebrated a software – our children who participated in the Presidential Debate and performed excellently even in the most difficult conditions. They came out first in the championship. For this particular outstanding performance, we are giving those students scholarships. The Commissioner for Education and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, take note and work out the modalities. For every one of them that participated, we must make sure that we take full responsibility for their education starting from this minute,” he declared.

Fubara thanked the people of Bonny for their support and pledged that his administration would continue to deliver more projects in the area.

“I’m really happy. I’m happy because it’s happening in our own time. I’m a happy person today because we have done something that looked impossible. I believe that going forward, it will be progress, development, improvement and commissioning of more projects for the Bonny people,” he said.

The Amanyanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom, King Edward William Asimini Dappa Pepple III, Perekule XI, who was special guest of honour at the occasion, described the event as more than the commissioning of a school.

According to the paramount ruler, it is the restoration of a legacy and an investment in the future.

“Today, we are witnessing the renewal of an institution that has formed an important part of the educational history of our dear Kingdom. For generations, Bonny National Grammar School has served as a centre of learning, discipline, and character formation. It has led to the intellectual development of Bonny young men and women who have gone on to distinguish themselves in different professions and areas of public service,” he said.

The royal father noted that the story of the Bonny National Grammar School is inseparable from the story of educational advancement of Bonny Kingdom.

According to him, the event carries so much significance because it is not just about opening renovated classrooms, laboratories and libraries, but giving new life to a legacy.

He expressed profound appreciation to the governor and his administration for undertaking the rehabilitation project, describing the reconstruction works and furnishing of the school as a practical demonstration that the administration recognises the importance of education to the development of the Bonny Kingdom and Rivers State.

The Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Peter Nwagor, who made a presentation on the scope of work done on the school disclosed that apart from the renovation of the classrooms, the school now has fully equipped laboratories for Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, alongside a technical workshop building and a new ICT center.

The renovated facility also has modern hostel facilities, staff quarters, an assembly hall, a dedicated sick bay, a fully furnished library stocked with books, digital tools, and research materials.

Others are a new sports arena featuring volleyball, basketball courts for talent development, internal road networks with drainage systems, solar-powered street lighting, an upgraded low-voltage electrical power distribution network, a perimeter fencing with a security gatehouse, interlocking stone pavements, and a car park.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted consignments of captagon, popularly known as the “Jihadi drug,” and millions of opioid tablets worth over N6.2bn at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The agency disclosed this in a statement released yesterday by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

According to the NDLEA, operatives at the Lagos airport on Saturday, August 22, 2026, arrested a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

The statement partly read, “NDLEA intercepted consignments of captagon, widely known as ‘Jihadi drug’ and millions of opioid pills worth over N6.2 billion at the MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.

The captagon shipment was seized at the Lagos airport on Saturday, August 22, 2026, following the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana aboard an African World Airlines flight.

“A search of his carton of local bathing soap, popularly called ‘Ghana Soap,” led to the recovery of 47,200 pills of the illicit amphetamine drug worth over N1.5 billion concealed within blocks of soap.

“Captagon, which is notoriously dubbed the ‘Jihadi drug’ for its use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria by NDLEA in September 2021 at the Apapa port in Lagos. After his arrest, Akinbile claimed he was meant to deliver the consignment in the North.”

In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and an estimated street value of more than N4.6bn.

The drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the MMIA after no one showed up to claim them.

The agency said three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking, weighing 815.40kg, which arrived on RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.

The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol, weighing 1,972kg, and arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.

The consignments, which had been placed under surveillance, were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA operatives, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.

Also, a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested on August 19 at Ikate, Lekki, Lagos, after he allegedly showed up to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt and recovered a fireproof iron safe containing different illicit drugs.

The agency said the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, leading to the recovery of 237g of Colorado cannabis, 316g of cocaine and 10g of heroin.

In Ondo State, three suspects—Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36—were arrested on Friday, August 28, along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728kg of skunk recovered from their truck marked KRE 120 XB.

Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu Forest on Wednesday, August 26, with 341kg of the same substance.

Similarly, in Delta State, more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol and Molly, were recovered in two interdiction operations conducted between Wednesday, August 26, and Friday, August 28.

Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the operations, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.

Marwa also directed the operatives to maintain the momentum against drug traffickers who, he said, were becoming increasingly desperate and exploring different methods to move illicit consignments.

He specifically warned against attempts to conceal drugs in everyday household items.

“Drug traffickers are desperate to explore every means, including concealment in everyday household items like soap, to move their illicit consignments,” Marwa said.

He urged NDLEA personnel to remain vigilant and sustain their efforts against drug trafficking across the country.

The Management of Kenule Beeson Saro Wiwa Polytechnic (Kenpoly) says grossly inadequate infrastructures in the institution limits academic learning and staff performances.

The Rector of the polytechnic, Dr George Chile Wadike, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the 25th to 32nd Convocation, held last Saturday.

He said the school’s infrastructures were at various levels of decay and limits its operations.

Wadike outlined inadequate infrastructures in the polytechnic to include lack of adequate classrooms, offices, furniture, laboratories and workshop, Studios, Resource Center and sporting facilities.

The Rector also decried the spate of epileptic power supply in the institution, and appealed to the state government to urgently intervene and rescue the institution from years of power outage as the Polytechnic exclusively depends more on diesel powered generators.

He also appealed to the government to improve on its security on the campuses and its environs to safe students lives and property.

Describing the convocation as an achievement, Wadike said his administration had cleared eight years of backlogged of convocations.

“We have cleared eight years of convocation arrears in the Polytechnic,  making the students, staff and the entire Polytechnic community happy,” he said.

 By: Chinedu Wosu