Nation

THE STATES

Published

14 years ago

February 11, 2013

Borno

The Defence Headquarters said last Thursday that all the terrorism suspects in the custody of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri would soon be screened.

The Deputy Director, Civil-Military Relations’ at the Defence Headquarters Abuja, Air Commodore Ademola Onitiju, made this known at a town hall meeting with religious and political leaders in Maiduguri.

He said the screening by an investigative panel had become necessary to determine the level of their complicity in the charges against them.

Onitiju added that the military would collaborate with the civil authorities toward the speedy trial of those found wanting. “We are going to require the assistance of the political authorities toward trying the suspects in law courts,’’ he said.

FCT

Justice Oluseun Shogbola of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, last Thursday advised the parties in a suit to respect court order to avoid contempt of court.

Shogbola said this during hearing in a case of unlawful termination of employment filed by Mr Espedis Omo-Osagie against Loyola Jesuit College and Fr Ehi Omoragbon, the President of the collage.

The Judge noted that the counsel was bringing the issue to the notice of the court for the first time and cautioned the defendant to reconnect the light and water.

She also noted that such behaviour should not emanate from a Christian institution and warned the defendants not to take laws into their hands.

The defense counsel, Mr Gbenga Adesina, told the court that effort to settle the matter out of court had proved abortive and that defense was ready to open its case.

Jigawa

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State said that the alliance between the major opposition political parties in the country would not succeed.

Lamido, who said this in Dutse when he spoke at the Jigawa chapter of the PDP stakeholders meeting, also dismissed the alliance as “political jamboree perfected to deceive the electorate”.

He added that the alliance posed no potential threat to the PDP.

Lamido observed that the opposition parties had divergent interests, ideologies and manifestoes, which could jeopardise their effort to work as a single political entity.

The governor, who said that the architects of the alliance were former PDP members, explained that the development would promote PDP and make it more relevant in the country.

The state’s PDP Chairman, Alhaji Salisu Mamuda, said that the meeting was designed to appraise the party’s performance and fashion out ways to move it forward.

Mamuda said the party had conducted congresses, elected new officials to run its affairs in the state and concluded plans to construct a permanent office complex in the area.

Kano

The Police Command in Kano State, has declared three persons wanted in connection with the recent attempt to assassinate the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, and series of armed robbery operations in the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Ibrahim Idris, made the announcement while briefing newsmen at the command’s headquarters in Kano last Thursday.

He gave the names of the wanted persons as Na Allah, a shopkeeper at Sabon Gari Market implicated in the attack on the Emir and Babangida Salihu of Sauna Kawaji, a Jigawa State indigene, suspected of being the gang leader of armed robbers and an associate of Na Allah.

The third person, Adamu Safiyanu, also known as Adamsy of Kafur in Katsina State, was declared wanted in connection with the recovery of arms, ammunition and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) abandoned at Sauna Kawaji quarters.

Kebbi

Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State last Thursday assented to the amended budget of N125 billion passed by the state legislature.

Dakingari had in November 2012 presented a budget proposal of N114 billion to the state House of Assembly.

The budget comprised a recurrent expenditure that was reduced from N34 billion to N30 billion, while the capital expenditure increased from N85 billion to N95 billion.

The Acting Speaker of the house, Alhaji Garba Bena, who presented the amended budget to the governor at a ceremony in Birnin Kebbi, said the increase was sequel to under estimations in many aspects of the budget.

He said the SURE-P and Oil revenue to the state were not captured in the proposals, stressing that the anomalies were rectified with the support of officials of the state Ministries of Finance and Budget and Planning, respectively.

Assenting to the bill, Dakingari said he would ensure that 80 per cent implementation was recorded in 2013.

Kwara

The Kwara State Government is to spend a total of N810 million to build a College of Engineering Technology at the state- owned university at Malete to boost youth empowerment.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said last Thursday during the foundation laying ceremony of the college, said that the amount was for phase one of the project.

He said his administration was determined to ensure that the university produced, “highly skilled engineers, equipped to become entrepreneurs in the competitive global economy of the 21st century”.

Ahmed said that this was also in line with the vision of his administration in establishing an International Vocational Centre in Ajasse-Ipo, designed to produce middle-level manpower.

Lagos

The X-Squad at the Police Command in the Lagos last Thursday arrested two suspected fake policemen operating illegally on highways and extorting unsuspected members of the public.

The suspects, a fake corporal and a dismissed sergeant, were arrested separately while terrorising motorists and other road users in Lagos. The fake corporal claimed that he was attached to the Railways Police Command in Lagos.

During interrogation he could not name his immediate past Commissioner of Police and the present one as well as other principal officers he was working with.

He could neither remember the duty post assigned to him in the acclaimed Railway Divisional Police Office at Iddo, nor remember the name of his Divisional Police Officer.

The corporal was caught in police black uniform with the service written on his left side and his names on the right side of the uniform as against the opposite at Oshodi, Lagos.

Oyo

The National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) has appealed to the Federal Government to ensure uninterrupted power supply at the centre to prevent the extinction of Nigerian crops.

The Director of the centre, said in Ibadan recently that the major constraint of the Ibadan-based centre was power.

He said that some of the germplasm or living organisms of both crops and animals inherent in Nigeria, had spent about 20 years in the centre’s gene bank.

Odofin said that the conservation was possible, in spite of the erratic power supply in the country, because the centre had no choice but to resort to the use of electricity generating sets, adding that the centre was the only government institution that had the mandate for germplasm conservation.

“God forbid for instance, if all the yams of our farmers are eaten by rodents, they must come to us to get new varieties or replacement from our gene bank to plant or else yam will become extinct,” he said.

Plateau

The Plateau State Government says it would achieve 40 per cent of the MDG on sanitation by 2015.

The Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Malam Idi Waziri, gave this indication while inaugurating the State Task Group on Sanitation (STGS) in Jos.

He said that the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) required urgent action so as not to truncate development and accelerate poverty in the state and disclosed that inaugural ceremony was aimed at establishing the State’s Sanitation Task Group, noting that the national body had been in existence since 2002.

“The role of the task group is to have a manpower that will strengthen the sanitation transformation and will serve as a backup to the existing sanitation service delivery in the state.

Sokoto

The Sokoto State Government has earmarked N1.3 billion for the environment sector in 2013, Dr Jabbi Kilgori, the state Commissioner, has disclosed.

Kilgori said in Sokoto on Thursday that some of the projects earmarked for the year included the provision of adequate facilities for modern refuse collection and disposal.

According to him, the ministry has developed programmes to “intensively’’

sensitise the people of the state on best practice in waste disposal, with a view to curbing the menace of indiscriminate waste disposal.

The commissioner said that the state government would expend N6 million on the establishment of 30kms shelterbelts in the frontline local governments of Sabon-birni, Isa, Gada, Illela, Tangaza and Gwadabawa.

Nation

HYPREP Marks 15 Years Of UNEP Report, Highlights Major Cleanup Milestones

Published

1 week ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) has commemorated the 15th anniversary of the release of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Assessment Report on Ogoniland, reaffirming its commitment to restoring the environment and improving the livelihoods of affected communities.

In a statement signed by the Project Coordinator, Prof Nenibarini Zabbey, to commemorate the anniversary, HYPREP described the anniversary as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s environmental restoration efforts, noting that the project has made remarkable progress in implementing the recommendations of the landmark UNEP report released on August 4, 2011.

The UNEP report had revealed extensive oil pollution across Ogoniland, severe environmental degradation, and serious public health risks resulting from decades of petroleum operations. It also recommended an initial $1 billion fund to commence the cleanup of the affected communities.

According to HYPREP, the Federal Government formally launched the Ogoni clean-up in 2016, while the Project Coordination Office was established in 2017 to drive the implementation of UNEP’s recommendations.
Zabbey said the current administration has continued to prioritise the project under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Providing an update on the cleanup, the Project Coordinator disclosed that 30 of the 65 contaminated sites identified by UNEP have been fully remediated, while work is ongoing at several medium- and high-risk locations. It also stated that more than 1.5 million mangrove seedlings have been planted as part of what it described as the world’s largest restoration of oil-degraded mangroves, with over 1,000 hectares of shoreline already rehabilitated.

Zabbey further revealed that 49 Ogoni communities have been connected to potable water schemes through multiple water projects and booster stations aimed at providing safe drinking water across the region.

In the health sector, he said the 100-bed Ogoni Specialist Hospital in Kpite and the 43-bed Cottage Hospital in Buan are nearing completion, adding that several existing health facilities have been upgraded with modern medical equipment, while five ambulances have been donated to improve emergency healthcare services. The Project Coordinator also disclosed that a three-year human health biomonitoring study is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

On economic empowerment, Zabbey stated that the Project has created more than 8,000 direct jobs and trained thousands of Ogoni youths and women in various vocational and technical skills, including software development, cybersecurity, aviation, commercial diving, seafaring, mechatronics, and creative arts. The project also reported awarding scholarships to more than 1,000 students, providing grants to small businesses, and supporting persons living with special needs through skills acquisition programmes.

The statement further highlighted ongoing legacy projects, including the Ogoni Power Project and the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration, which it said is about 96 per cent complete. HYPREP also welcomed the recent designation of the Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site of International Importance and pledged to continue promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of the ecosystem.

Marking the anniversary, Zabbey said the progress achieved over the past 15 years demonstrates the collective commitment of government, development partners, stakeholders, and local communities to restoring Ogoniland. He called for renewed collaboration to sustain the cleanup effort, promote environmental sustainability, and support the long-term development of the region. 3

Nation

REAN, SON synergise to curb fake renewable energy product

Published

2 months ago

June 29, 2026

The Tide

The Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) says it has strengthened collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to enhance quality control and enforcement frameworks.

Mr Oisereime Lloyd-Dietake, the Head of Communications, REAN, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said the collaboration would also involve stakeholder engagement on testing, certification and capacity building in Nigeria.

He said the synergy would strengthen quality control and enforcement frameworks, promote policy alignment, and ensure stronger regulation across the renewable energy value chain.

“REAN reaffirms its commitment to standardisation and quality assurance; tighter collaboration with SON is critical to eliminating fake and substandard renewable energy products from the Nigerian market.

“Enforcement and gaps in existing standards have continued to allow inferior products to circulate, undermining consumer confidence and slowing sector growth.”

Lloyd-Dietake said that at high-level discussions, REAN also highlighted the need for stronger regulatory coordination to address emerging challenges in the renewable energy space.

According to him, the issues include inconsistencies in standards, affordability issues linked to certification processes; and the increasing presence of substandard solar and renewable energy equipment in the country.

“The association further raised concerns about delays in product testing and approval, calling for the establishment of more testing laboratories and certification facilities to improve efficiency and reduce bottlenecks in the system,’’ he said.

Lloyd-Dietake urged closer collaboration among key regulatory bodies, including the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the Rural Electrification Agency.

He said such team work would ensure harmonised standards and more effective enforcement against fake renewable energy products in the Nigerian market.

In response, SON acknowledged the important role REAN continued to play in supporting standardisation within Nigeria’s renewable energy industry and reaffirmed its willingness to deepen collaboration with the association.

SON further confirmed that REAN would be actively involved in future standard review processes and upcoming stakeholder engagements related to renewable energy and electric mobility standards development.

Lloyd-Dietake said REAN affirmed its willingness to formalise the partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

He said the MoU is aimed at deepening cooperation, promoting quality assurance, and accelerating Nigeria’s transition towards reliable and standardised renewable energy solutions.

Nation

Self Help Africa programme expands water access for 320,000 Nigerians

Published

2 months ago

June 29, 2026

The Tide

The WASH Systems for Health (WS4H) Programme, implemented by Self Help Africa, has expanded access to safe water and sanitation services for more than 320,000 people in Kano and Cross River States.

The organisation disclosed this on Tuesday at the WS4H National Results and Learning Workshop in Abuja, where stakeholders reviewed achievements and lessons from the intervention.

Speaking at the event, Self Help Africa Country Director, Joy Aderele, said the programme demonstrated that sustainable WASH improvements require strong institutions, effective governance, adequate financing and collaboration.

Aderele said the UK-funded programme was designed to strengthen systems that support sustainable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services.

According to her, the intervention focused on improving governance, planning, financing, accountability and sector coordination to ensure resilient service delivery.

“More than 320,000 people now have improved or restored access to water services through programme-supported interventions,” she said.

She added that more than 5,520 household toilets were constructed in Yala and Makoda Local Government Areas, boosting sanitation, public health and efforts to end open defecation.

Aderele said the programme also strengthened public investment in WASH, with Cross River increasing its sector budget by 211 per cent in 2026 and Kano by 169.07 per cent.

She added that dedicated WASH budget lines had been established across 40 Ministries, Departments and Agencies in both states, strengthening accountability and institutional commitment.

According to her, both states reviewed and adopted updated WASH policies, while key planning documents were developed to guide future investments and service delivery.

She said Cross River also recorded a major legislative milestone through the passage of the Water Law and Open Defecation Prohibition Bill.

Aderele added that lessons from interventions in Yala LGA were already informing expansion efforts in Obubra Local Government Area.

While commending the achievements, she noted that capacity gaps, resource constraints and climate-related pressures remained challenges to sustainable WASH services.

“The sustainability of these gains will depend on continued government leadership, adequate financing, strong partnerships and investment in institutional capacity,” she said.

Also speaking, the Programme Manager of WS4H, Mr Timothy Ibeawuchi, said the intervention focused on strengthening systems needed to sustain gains and attract future investments.

According to him, the programme engages stakeholders in developing strategies that preserve achievements and support long-term service delivery.

“System strengthening work takes time because it addresses the fundamental issues responsible for sustainable and resilient service delivery,” he said.

Ibeawuchi said the programme strengthened policy development, planning, financing, monitoring and evaluation systems across the WASH sector.

He said two pilot local government areas were supported to develop WASH strategic plans outlining sector goals, targets and activities between 2026 and 2030.

According to him, the plans will guide future interventions and improve service delivery in the affected councils.

Earlier, the representative of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Chidera Chukwu, reaffirmed support for Nigeria’s development efforts in spite of the programme nearing completion.

Chukwu commended the Self Help Africa-led consortium for delivering the programme with professionalism and a strong focus on systems strengthening.

He said the consortium contributed greatly to strengthening Nigeria’s WASH sector through policy reforms, improved coordination and enhanced accountability.

“Together, we have advanced key policy and legislative reforms, including open defecation-free laws and strengthened state WASH frameworks,” he said.

According to him, the reforms represent enduring system-level changes that will continue delivering benefits beyond the programme’s lifespan.

In his remarks, Mr Jamilu Habu, Director of Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, commended the programme’s achievements.

Habu, who represented the Permanent Secretary, said the intervention strengthened governance, coordination, evidence-based planning and institutional capacity in the WASH sector.

He described the workshop as an opportunity to review achievements, share lessons and identify pathways for sustaining and scaling successful interventions.

According to him, the programme’s innovations and best practices will guide future policies and investments aimed at expanding access to safe WASH services.

Habu stressed the need for continued collaboration among governments, development partners, civil society organisations, the private sector and communities.

He said stronger partnerships remained essential to achieving universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6.