Editorial

Time To Resolve The Pension Crisis In Rivers

Published

4 hours ago

October 12, 2026

The prolonged suffering of Rivers State pensioners who have remained unpaid since retiring in July 2025 demands urgent executive and legislative intervention. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rightly put its finger on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as the root cause of this crisis. The state government must now bite the bullet, dismantle this failed experiment, and bring the pensioners’ protracted ordeal to an end.

Since July 2025, the affected retirees have been left high and dry, their monthly pensions unpaid, and their dignity worn away. The NLC, under the leadership of Comrade Alex Agwuanwon, has also linked this deplorable situation to the political storm that engulfed the state, while expressing cautious optimism that the prevailing calm will pave the way for the payment of outstanding arrears. The Tide shares that optimism. However, optimism alone will not put food on the table for men and women who gave the best years of their lives to the service of the state.

The genesis of this crisis is not shrouded in mystery. The CPS was introduced in Rivers State in 2012 under the administration of former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, pursuant to the Rivers State Pension Reform Law of that year. The scheme was ostensibly designed to bring the state into line with the federal Pension Reform Act of 2004, which had established a contributory framework for retirement benefits across the country. What was sold as a progressive reform has, in truth, become a millstone round the neck of the very workers it was meant to protect.

The CPS has failed in the state, and it has failed spectacularly. Its fundamental flaw lies in the government’s chronic inability, or unwillingness, to honour its counterpart funding obligations. The arrangement was meant to be a joint endeavour: employees contribute a portion of their salaries, and the employer matches it. But the state has consistently failed to keep its side of the bargain, leaving the pension fund anaemic and unable to meet its obligations. The result is as predictable as it is unconscionable. Retirees are left with only their own contributions to fall back on, a mere pittance that cannot see them through their twilight years.

The human cost of this institutional failure is staggering. Men and women who devoted decades to the civil service now find themselves cast adrift, their legitimate expectation of a secure retirement shattered. The psychological toll of such betrayal is beyond measure. A pension is not an act of charity. It is a contractual obligation, a deferred wage for services already rendered. To withhold it is to break a sacred trust. The authorities must understand that every delay in resolving this crisis costs lives, both in the literal sense as elderly retirees struggle to pay for healthcare and sustenance, and in the figurative sense as the social contract between the state and its workforce wears thinner with each passing month.

This development does not show the government in a favourable light. For a state to allow people who served it with dedication and integrity to languish in penury after retirement is morally indefensible. It sends a chilling message to serving civil servants that loyalty will be repaid with abandonment. This is precisely why organised labour must not rest on its oars. The NLC’s call for the termination of the CPS is not mere grandstanding. It is a necessary corrective. The scheme, as presently administered, is irredeemably broken and must be done away with.

The most damning indictment of the CPS since its inception is its one-sidedness. The government has failed to pay its counterpart funding, reducing the scheme to a hollow shell. Of what use is a contributory arrangement when only one party contributes? Retirees cannot be expected to live on the meagre sums they themselves set aside, sums which have been steadily eroded by inflation and administrative charges. Workers have been short-changed, left to carry the can while the government looked the other way. It is a quiet expropriation of their future.

The time to put this right is now in the interest of justice, equity, and fairness. The NLC should push harder for the swift implementation of its committee’s report to Governor Siminalayi Fubara. That report contains a sensible and pragmatic recommendation: that the CPS should apply only to those employed in the year it was enacted, thereby allowing existing civil servants to remain under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) to which they were originally entitled. This is not a radical proposal. It is a reasonable compromise that recognises the legitimate expectations of long-serving workers and rights the wrongs of the past.

The authorities must act with dispatch. Governor Fubara should, without further ado, send a draft amendment of the Pension Law to the House of Assembly for passage into law. With such legislative intervention, those who retired from July 2025 to date would be returned to the DBS, receiving pensions calculated on their terminal salaries and years of service rather than the paltry sums available under the failed contributory arrangement. The NLC, for its part, should keep its foot on the pedal through dialogue, advocacy, and, if necessary, peaceful protest. Pensioners deserve not just fine words but concrete action.

Rivers State cannot lay claim to be progressive while its retirees are forced to go cap in hand for their rightful entitlements. The measure of any civilised society is how it treats its elderly. By that yardstick, the present situation is a blot on the state’s escutcheon. The government must clear the backlog of arrears, scrap the CPS for the category of workers it should never have applied to, and restore the DBS in full. Nothing less will suffice.

Editorial

Forestalling Ondo Herbal Drink Tragedy

Published

4 days ago

October 9, 2026

The Tide

The recent public health disaster in Ondo State, which claimed 48 lives and left 182 people severely ill, is a gloomy reminder of the dangers posed by unregulated beverages. According to NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the victims consumed contaminated local alcoholic and herbal drinks in communities in Odigbo Local Government Area. The drinks contained high levels of industrial methanol, while 11 of 15 samples also contained Cannabis indica. The substances were linked to organ failure, neurological deterioration, and permanent blindness. The tragedy should serve as a warning to the entire country.

The incident underscores the wider problem of unregulated and adulterated drinks across Nigeria. From roadside kiosks and motor parks to informal markets, unverified alcoholic and herbal products are readily available, often marketed as cheap alternatives or medicines. The World Health Organisation estimates that about 25 per cent of alcohol consumed globally is unrecorded. Such products operate outside formal regulatory control and may expose consumers to toxic substances and serious health risks.

The problem is compounded by deliberate evasion of regulatory requirements. Products under NAFDAC’s mandate must be registered and subjected to regulatory checks before manufacture, distribution, or sale. Yet some producers ignore these requirements for profit, while others falsify NAFDAC registration numbers and markings and use them on substandard products. Such practices deceive consumers and undermine public confidence in the regulatory system.

The reported arrest of 15 suspects linked to the Ondo distribution network is an important first step. Those found responsible should be prosecuted and, where convicted, appropriately punished. However, enforcement must go beyond responding to tragedies. NAFDAC should strengthen preventive measures through regular post-market surveillance, random testing at transit points, and intelligence-led inspections of informal production centres.

Consumers also have a responsibility to exercise caution. Economic hardship, high inflation, and declining purchasing power have created opportunities for unscrupulous producers to market cheaper but potentially dangerous products. Consumers should, therefore, avoid unlabelled drinks, suspiciously cheap products, and goods sold through unverified outlets. Public education and consumer vigilance can help deny unscrupulous traders the opportunity to put profit before human life.

The danger extends beyond alcoholic and herbal drinks to medicines. Counterfeit and substandard medicines have entered both formal and informal supply chains, causing treatment failure, poisoning, and avoidable deaths. The WHO estimates that at least one in 10 medicines in low and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified, although the prevalence varies. Ensuring the safety and authenticity of medicines is essential to protecting lives and maintaining confidence in the healthcare system.

Food safety is another concern. Poor practices in food handling, processing, and preservation expose consumers to serious health risks, particularly when commercial interests override safety. Concerns over the improper use of chemical agents such as calcium carbide to accelerate the ripening of fruits further demonstrate the need for stronger monitoring throughout the food-supply chain.

These challenges expose weaknesses in Nigeria’s regulatory system and reinforce the need to strengthen it. NAFDAC faces the enormous task of monitoring products across all 774 local government areas. Meeting this challenge requires greater operational capacity, reduced bureaucratic delays, and modern systems capable of tracking regulated products from production to the point of sale.

Inadequate personnel, laboratory facilities, equipment, and logistics remain major obstacles. NAFDAC field offices, especially those serving remote communities, need modern testing equipment, reliable screening tools, and adequate transportation. The Federal Government should provide sustained funding to recruit specialised personnel, upgrade laboratories, and deploy technologies capable of rapidly detecting dangerous substances such as methanol.

Preventing the spread of adulterated products also requires coordinated action by federal and state governments. The Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, and other relevant agencies should intensify operations to remove unregistered alcoholic and herbal products from motor parks, transit centres, and informal markets. The National Assembly should review existing laws and strengthen penalties for deliberately producing, falsifying, or distributing toxic and unregistered food, beverages, and medicines.

NAFDAC should expand its digital verification systems to enable consumers to confirm product registration before purchase. State ministries of health, local government councils, and community institutions should intensify grassroots education on the dangers of unlabelled drinks, unsafe food practices, and counterfeit medicines. Traditional, religious, and community leaders can also help identify and report illegal production and distribution activities.

The Ondo tragedy must not become another statistic that is quickly forgotten. The loss of 48 lives and the permanent blindness suffered by some survivors are devastating and unacceptable. Nigeria must respond by strengthening regulatory institutions, providing adequate funding, enforcing the law, and educating the public. A sustained, coordinated effort is essential to protect the nation’s food, beverage, and medicine supply chains and prevent another tragedy caused by products that should never have reached the market.

Editorial

Flooding in Rivers: Decisive Action Now!

Published

1 week ago

October 5, 2026

The Tide

The call by the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to take immediate steps to alleviate the plight of flood victims could not have come at a more appropriate time. According to the Speaker, “We are calling on the Rivers State Governor to take immediate steps to ameliorate the situation. That is why we have a government. That is why we have funds. A lot more needs to be done to help our people.” Beyond partisan considerations, this intervention underscores the urgency of the humanitarian crisis confronting the state and reminds the government of its primary responsibility to protect lives, property, and livelihoods.

What the state has endured in recent weeks has been devastating. Flash floods have swept through several communities, submerging homes and destroying properties on a scale that has caused widespread distress. From Nkpogu, Mile 1 Diobu, Azuabie, Okuru-Ama and the Peter Odili axis in Port Harcourt to Rumuigbo, Rukpoku, Rumuepirikom, Mgbuoba, Eneka, Alakahia, Rumuagholu, Igwuruta, and several other parts of Obio/Akpor and Ahoada West, many households have been severely affected. The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has consistently identified Rivers among the states at high risk of flooding, underscoring the seriousness of the threat. This is not an isolated incident but part of a recurring pattern that demands a sustained response.

One allegation repeatedly raised by residents also deserves urgent investigation. Some residents have linked the worsening flooding in certain areas to debris from the ongoing construction of the Port Harcourt Ring Road, particularly during the period when construction activity was disrupted following the emergency rule. They contend that, in some places, poorly executed sections of the project have obstructed water channels and natural waterways, restricting the free flow of stormwater. The allegation should be independently investigated by the Ministry of Works and the supervising contractor. Where such obstructions are established, the affected corridors and drainage channels should be cleared without delay. Development projects must not become a source of hardship for the very people they are intended to benefit.

Beyond the immediate emergency, Rivers State has several communities that have historically been vulnerable to flooding. Areas along the fringes of the Orashi and Sombrero rivers, as well as parts of Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Abua/Odual, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Andoni, have experienced recurrent inundation. NiMet’s 2026 Seasonal Climate Prediction forecasts an early-to-normal onset of the rainy season, normal-to-late cessation, and normal-to-above-normal rainfall and season duration across the country.

It also identifies Rivers among the states where the rainy season is expected to cease earlier than the long-term average. These forecasts reinforce the need for preparedness rather than reaction. A comprehensive hydrological study should be undertaken to establish the precise causes of persistent flooding in these communities, whether related to tidal surges, low elevation, inadequate drainage, or insufficient discharge capacity. Such a study would provide the basis for lasting corrective measures.

At the heart of the problem is a more fundamental failure: inadequate development control. This is unfortunate and unsustainable. Across the Greater Port Harcourt area, for instance, structures are erected without the necessary approvals, wetlands are indiscriminately reclaimed, and buildings are constructed on natural floodplains with inadequate regulatory supervision. The consequences are evident in blocked waterways and neighbourhoods where houses now compete with natural drainage channels for space.

The old Port Harcourt Township provides an instructive contrast. Flooding is less frequent in areas such as the Old GRA and the main Township, not necessarily because they receive less rainfall, but because they were designed with properly aligned drainage systems, adequate setbacks and defined building lines. This demonstrates the value of orderly urban planning and effective development control. A well-planned city is better positioned to manage the effects of heavy rainfall.

While the government must be held accountable for failing to discharge its statutory responsibilities, residents must also accept their share of responsibility. Improper waste disposal has reached alarming levels in many communities. Public drainage channels are routinely used as dumpsites, with plastics, household refuse, and even faecal matter dumped into waterways intended to carry stormwater. Such behaviour is unacceptable. The government must enforce existing sanitation laws and impose appropriate penalties on offenders to deter others.

Given the severity of the current situation, the state government should, as a matter of urgency, provide relief materials to the flood victims and ensure that such assistance reaches those for whom it is intended. Food items, mattresses, medical supplies, and financial assistance would help cushion the immediate hardship. There have also been concerns about the distribution of relief materials along partisan lines. The Deputy Governor, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu-led Government Flood Management Committee should investigate such allegations and ensure that assistance reaches victims irrespective of their political affiliation. Human suffering should not become an instrument of partisan politics.

For those whose homes have been rendered uninhabitable, the provision of food and other relief materials alone is not enough. The governing authorities should provide temporary accommodation for displaced persons until they can safely return to their homes. Such shelters must provide adequate water, sanitation, and healthcare to protect displaced families from further hardship and prevent avoidable public health challenges. Establishing properly managed temporary shelters should, therefore, be an essential part of the emergency response.

Regrettably, some landlords are reportedly taking advantage of the crisis to exploit displaced families. There are reports of property owners demanding exorbitant rents, in some cases doubling or tripling previous rates, from people desperately searching for accommodation. This is a time for compassion, not profiteering. Landlords and other members of the community should show consideration for families who have lost their homes or possessions to flooding. Rivers people have a long tradition of communal solidarity, and this is a moment to demonstrate that spirit by being their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

The rainy season does not come without warning. As the current rainy season draws to a close, the government must resist the temptation to return to complacency and wait for the next downpour before taking action. It must work proactively with the flood predictions and early-warning information provided by NiMet and NIHSA. NiMet continues to issue weather and climate forecasts to support disaster preparedness, while NIHSA provides flood outlooks identifying areas and communities at risk.

Desilting drains and waterways before the rains, ensuring that drainage channels are properly connected to their outfalls, and enforcing development-control regulations must become routine government responsibilities, not emergency measures. If the authorities act ahead of time, the state can significantly reduce the devastation caused by heavy rainfall. Preventing and mitigating flooding must be an intentional and sustained act of governance, not an afterthought.

Editorial

Addressing The Housing Crisis In Rivers

Published

2 weeks ago

September 25, 2026

The Tide

The recent appeal by the Cross River State Government to landlords to exercise compassion over frequent and excessive increments in house rents deserves applause, even if it is unlikely to achieve much on its own. The Commissioner for Lands, Mr Erasmus Ekpang, while addressing journalists in Calabar, captured the prevailing mood succinctly when he observed that there is already enough suffering in the land, with residents grappling with escalating costs of food, transportation and other essentials. His entreaty that property owners should view their holdings not merely as investments but as homes deserving of dignity and stability is a moral intervention that resonates far beyond Calabar.

While Cross River has chosen the path of moral suasion, the situation in Rivers State, particularly in its capital Port Harcourt, presents a far more acute and pressing emergency that demands more than pleas. The Cross River experience merely provides a mirror for a deeper, more entrenched malady here. If accommodation has become expensive in Calabar, in Port Harcourt it has become prohibitive, and indeed, for many low and middle-income families, unattainable.

In Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor today, securing decent shelter has become an ordeal defined by exorbitant charges. A modest one-bedroom flat now commands as much as one million naira per annum in many areas, while a finished apartment with Plaster of Paris ceiling can attract between N1.5 million and N1.7 million. These figures are not isolated; they represent the new normal in parts of Diobu, Rumuokoro, Peter Odili Road, and other densely populated axes. The consequence is a relentless displacement of tenants who have occupied premises for years but can no longer meet arbitrary increases.

The weight of this crisis is felt most keenly by the ordinary citizen. The average civil servant, whose minimum wage remains grossly inadequate against market realities, finds it increasingly impossible to reside within the city he serves. In Bonny, the situation is even more outrageous, driven by the presence of oil and gas operations, where rents rival those of highbrow districts in Lagos and Abuja. Families are being frustrated out of their homes, livelihoods are being disrupted, and workers are forced to relocate to distant peripheries, with attendant costs in time and transportation. It is a burden too heavy to bear.

This local agony must be situated within a national catastrophe. Nigeria faces an estimated housing deficit of 28 million units, a figure consistently cited by the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (2023) and corroborated by the World Bank (2023). The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported in its Consumer Price Index of late 2024 that housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed significantly to headline inflation, which peaked at 34.19 per cent in June 2024. When shelter, a fundamental human need, becomes this unaffordable, the social contract begins to fray.

Affordability indices further illuminate the hardship. According to the NBS Nigerian Labour Force Survey 2023, over 63 per cent of Nigerians are classified as multidimensionally poor, spending more than 60 per cent of their income on housing and food alone. For a civil servant on Grade Level 08 in Rivers State earning less than N150,000 monthly, a rent of N1 million per annum consumes over 55 per cent of annual income, far above the 30 per cent threshold recommended by UN-Habitat (2022) for housing affordability. This is not merely a market fluctuation; it is a systemic impoverishment.

We cannot feign ignorance of the role of government inaction in compounding this deficit. For a protracted period, the Rivers State Government has largely abandoned the housing sector as a social responsibility. The low-cost housing estates at Aggrey Road and other locations built under former Governor Peter Odili provided modest relief. His successor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, initiated some developments, notably the Golf Estate and other schemes, but many remained incomplete or inaccessible to the poor. Under Nyesom Wike, there was little demonstrable interest in mass housing for low-income earners, with priority accorded to roads, flyovers and other infrastructure.

Regrettably, the housing projects undertaken by the present administration appear not to be tailored for the average citizen or the indigent. They are priced beyond the reach of the very people most in need of intervention. When government housing is targeted at the affluent, it ceases to be a social programme and becomes a commercial venture, leaving the chasm between supply and demand to be exploited by speculative landlords and agents.

Part of that exploitation is fuelled by the spiralling cost of building materials. Data from the NBS Construction Price Index (2024) and the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (2024) show that the price of a 50kg bag of cement rose from about N4,500 in early 2023 to between N12,000 and N15, 000 by 2026, an increase of several per cent. Sharp sand, granite, reinforcement bars and agency fees have followed a similar trajectory. The Central Bank of Nigeria (2024) also linked this to foreign exchange volatility and high logistics costs. When construction becomes this expensive, only high-rent properties can guarantee returns, thus perpetuating the cycle.

It is for this reason that moral appeals alone, such as that issued in Cross River, will not suffice in Rivers. What is imperative is legislative intervention. Ebonyi State has provided a worthy precedent, where government fixed rental ceilings for different categories of accommodation and drastically reduced agency and legal fees to two per cent, with enforcement mechanisms. Rivers State should act likewise, enacting a tenancy law that curtails arbitrary rent hikes, standardises agency charges, and provides protection against capricious eviction. Shelter cannot be left entirely to market forces.

The long-term solution lies in massive public investment in housing. The state government must return to direct construction of low-cost and medium-income estates in Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor, Eleme, and Bonny, as a deliberate strategy to flood the market and force down rental values. Concurrently, it must collaborate with the Federal Government and private sector to subsidise building materials, streamline land titling, and regulate the activities of housing agents. The burden on the average individual is already too heavy. To restore dignity, stability and productivity to our people, government must treat housing not as a privilege, but as a right.