The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Cross River: Group petitions APC over governorship primary

    The election monitoring team of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has petitioned the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) over its governorship primary elections in the Cross River State, calling for the cancellation of the entire process.

    The leader of the team, Comrade Kingsley Edet, in a statement made available to The Nation in Calabar yesterday alleged the election did not hold in over 84 wards of the 196 wards  in the state.

    According to the team, the exercise was marked by hijacking of materials as well as display of thuggery across the state.

    “An observer who gave reports from the Central District said he was almost killed when he questioned the disenfrachisement of one of the guber aspirant, Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong.

    “It was also observed that party membership registers were not available for use in almost all voting points.

    “We are calling on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to, as a matter of urgency cancel the exercise. IPAC presented some picture documents of Ward 9, Calabar South as one amongst several others, whereupon a particular candidate who won on vote cast was not announced as winner in the said ward. We pray the NWC to critically look into all the issues the process has raised,” Edet said.

  • 2019: Bayelsa trains corps members on violent-free elections 

    The Bayelsa State Ministry of Information and Orientation has commenced a two-day specialized training for new members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) on violent-free elections in 2019.

    The training was designed to cover strategic public engagement, civic enlightenment and new media campaign on the need for voters in the state to elect the right leaders during the election.

    The training also involved modalities of  conveying messages on the effect of violence during elections and the importance of a peaceful electoral process.

    Inaugurating the training in Yenagoa, the Commissioner in the Ministry, Daniel Iworiso-Markson said it became important to raise the level of awareness on the need to elect credible people that would help sustain the legacies of the present administration.

    He explained that Bayelsa could not afford to go through another path of retrogression adding that the people must be wise in their choice of representatives in the state and National Assembly.

    The commissioner further explained that part of the problem that bedevilled the state in the past was the inability of persons elected to work together to bring development because of parochial interest and unnecessary political mudslinging.

    He said: “The conversation on the performance of the Restoration Government and the huge investment it has made in key sectors should be brought to the fore, to remind Bayelsans that all of it will be wasted without having people who share the same vision of the new Bayelsa.

    “Everything needs to be done to avoid a repeat of what characterized the last general elections that claimed several  innocent lives and loss of properties”.

    Iworiso-Markson disclosed that at the end of the training, the corp members would be exposed to basic tools in political communication.

    He said they would be integrated into the ministry’s new media team to enable them unleash what they have been taught via the social media.

    While urging the corp members who are mainly from Batch B Stream 1, to see the training exercise as a great opportunity to enhance their capacity, Iworiso-Markson added that they would find it useful even after their service year.

  • BEDC signs MoU to boost electricity in rural communities

    The Benin Electricity and Distribution Company (BEDC) has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mountain Institute (RMI), Colorado, U.S.A and Rubitec Nigeria Limited to boost electricity supply to rural communities.

    The MoU signed in Benin would ensure deployment of mini-grid electricity in its franchise area as a bold step to connect rural communities without electricity supply.

    NAN reports that the tripartite MoU was signed by the Managing Director, BEDC, Mrs Funke Osibodu, Rubitec boss, Mr Bolade Soremekun and RMI Manager, Mr James Sherwood.

    Osibodu said it was part of the move by BEDC to boost power availability to customers in rural communities within its franchise area of Edo, Delta Ekiti and Ondo.

    She said based on this, BEDC was expected to facilitate the choosing of locations for mini-grid solar power.

    The BEDC boss said while Rubitec would construct solar mini-grid facilities, RMI would provide expertise in developing renewable electrical solutions and advise implementation of a pilot mini-grid in the chosen location.

    Osibodu said the initiative was aimed at bridging the service gaps for areas within the company’s network with an existing but poorly supplied or non-functional distribution system or those without an existing distribution system.

    While expressing delight at the partners based on their pedigree, she said the mini-grid initiative was also necessitated by the need to reduce dependency for power supply to customers through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    Osibodu said one community in Edo would be used as a pilot for the project before it would be extended to other locations.

    According to her, the project will entail an interconnected mini-grid, using BEDC distribution lines in the selected locations to distribute solar power to the residents in the communities “who are also expected to sign contract agreement with the suppliers.

    “The agreement will be completed after the joint visitation by a combined team of BEDC staff and officials of the partnering firms to assess the situation on ground at the locations and determine the feasibility and commencement date of the project’’.

    On his part, the Rubitec boss, Soremekun, said, “collectively, Rubitec and our partners are proud to execute the pilot project to provide more knowledge and insight to the interconnected mini-grid space so as to enable more rapid scaling of the concept and model all over Nigeria’’.

    Similarly, RMI’s Sherwood said it was an opportunity to test a new model for delivering clean, reliable, and affordable power to customers.

    He said that this would build on the mini-grid implementation work already being done by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and others across Nigeria.

    Sherwood further said this could directly support developments of local economies and also provide an insight that would benefit the entire industry.

  • 171, 163 PVCs unclaimed in Akwa Ibom, says INEC official

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said 171,163 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) are still uncollected in Akwa Ibom State.

    INEC Administrative Secretary Lebari Nduh made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Uyo yesterday.

    Nduh said the commission registered a total of 2, 121, 126 million persons in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in state, lamenting that most of the PVCs were yet to be collected.

    “We registered 2, 121, 126 million people in the state in the CVR from 2016 till date.

    “But only five percent of PVCs have been collected, as 171, 163 people are yet to collect their own,’’ he said.Nduh noted that only 4, 208 people have collected their PVCs and urged the electorate to go and collect their PVCs so they can vote for candidates of their choice in the 2019 general elections.

    “PVC is very powerful, PVC is very important, with your PVC you can determine who get what, when and how,” he said.

    Nduh explained that the commission had published names of people whose PVCs were still in its custody, so they can come forward for collection across the state.

  • NAPTIP rescues 52 victims of human trafficking in Edo, Delta

    The Benin Zonal Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) rescued no fewer than 52 victims of human trafficking in the third quarter of this year.

    The Zonal Commander of the agency comprising Edo and Delta, Mr Nduka Nwanwenne, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin yesterday that the rescue was made from July to  September.

    He also disclosed that within the period under review, 15 suspected human traffickers were arrested.

    He disclosed that 37 cases were reported within the same period, while the zone secured one conviction,with 34 cases still pending in courts.

    The Zonal Commander said the Edo judiciary had designated two courts to handle  cases of human trafficking.

    He explained that with this development, there would be speedy trial of such cases, thereby enabling quick dispensation of Justice.

     

  • Fed Govt starts N1.07b erosion control project in Akwa Ibom

    The Federal Government yesterday started a N1.7billion erosion control work on Nduetong Oku-Ikpa road, cutting across Uruan and Uyo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom.

    Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), did the flagging off ceremony.

    He said the project would alleviate the suffering of the people and boost economic activities.

    Enang sympathised with the people for the inability to convey their farm produce to the market due to the deplorable condition of the road.

    He assured them that the Buhari administration would continue to implement projects to alleviate the suffering of the people.

    The presidential aide said that government was committed to improving the living standard of the people by addressing their plight.

    “Let me bring greetings from the Presidency to you. President Muhammadu Buhari cares for every life and communities in this country.

    “For about seven years this road had been impassable, for some years the children and people of this community had not been able to cross to the other part of the community.

    “The Federal Government is committed to improving on the plight of its citizens,” Enang said.

    Speaking to reporters, the Project Manager, Mr Friday Iniobong, said that the project would be completed within the next six months.

    He solicited the cooperation of the community to ensure timely completion of the project.

    Responding on behalf of the community, the Clan Head of Oku community, Chief Enefiok Ukpong, thanked Buhari for the gesture.

    The royal father said that the project when completed would reduce the suffering of the people.

     

  • Bayelsa aspirants dump PDP, lament imposition, impunity

    Two prominent Ijaw youth leaders from Bayelsa State yesterday dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the fallout of the party’s primary elections in the state.

    A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri and Bayelsa Youth Council ex-President Elvis Donkemezuo, who were aspirants in the elections, complained bitterly that the process was marred by irregularities and violence.

    Donkemezuo, immediately defected to the Young Democratic Party (YDP), to actualise his aspirations of representing Kolokuma-Opokuma Constituency 2 in the State House of Assembly.

    But Eradiri, who aspired to fly a PDP flag for the Yenagoa-Kolokuma-Opokuma Federal Constituency, in a press briefing in Yenagoa said he was still consulting with his supporters and family members to decide his political future.

    He described the Wednesday primary election in which a former Secretary of State Government (SSG), Steve Azaiki, was declared the winner, as a sham adding that thugs mobilized by state forces attacked delegates and shot at him.

    Eradiri lamented that delegates from 12 wards in his constituency were not allowed to vote saying he witnessed the highest level of intimidation despite promises of a free and fair election by the party.

    He said with his experience as an aspirant, the PDP leaders had learnt nothing from the lack of internal democracy and imposition of candidates that made them lose the 2015 general elections.

    He said: “I am dissatisfied with the way the primaries went, right from when ward congresses were conducted. The ward congress election did not hold. Names were wriiten, we protested but nothing was done about it.

    “At the primaries,  I saw the height of an undemocratic process. In fact 12 wards from my Federal Constituency were excluded. It was marred by violence. People were mobilized to violently attack our supporters and I was shot at.

    “Above all the principles of the true free and fair democratic process was not adhered to. It is not as if I wasn’t expecting this but I thought that as a party which came out of 2015 wounded as a result of lack of internal democracy and inposition of candidates probably leaders would have learnt some lessons.

    “The PDP is going into an election with an opposition and ruling party that has everything that it takes to win an election. We saw what happened in Ekiti and Osun states so the only way the PDP can make progress is by ensuring internal democratic process.

    “So, having considered all the factors surrounding it I have come to the conclusion that the PDP is not where I would be able to express myself. I am a young man with a lot of energy and drive to add value to the society.

    “I think that the agitation for justice in the Niger Delta must migrate from the streets to the table of political discus and that is when people who are knowledgeable find themselves in the law-making part of governance”.

    Eradiri said it was unfortunate PDP chose to treat him like an outcast despite his loyalty and contributions to the party.

    He said: “I have learnt the hard way. I want to formerly thank the leadership of the PDP and the leadership of the state for giving me the opportunity to learn the ropes of politics.

    “I want to formerly inform the world that today the 4th October 2018, l formerly exit the PDP. My letters will be ready and I will forward it to my ward through which it will be forwarded to the leadership of the council.

    “Going forward I am engaging in conversation with my supporters and I will communicate again to the world the next line of action”.

    On his part, Donkemezuo, who was received by the leaders of the YDP described the PDP as a wilderness and expressed happiness that the YDP had given him the light.

    “It was unfortunate what happened in the PDP. We have seen imposition of candidates. We have seen lack of internal democracy, violence, intimidation and impunity in the highest order.

    “My constituency was not allowed to vote in the National Assembly primaries. My ward chairman was beaten and stripped naked. Monies and phones were stolen and that is not the kind of ideals l have for politics.

    “Violence and intimidation does not conform to my principles in politics. It is part of these reasons l chose to pursue my ambition in other platform where there is decency”.

  • Bayelsa votes for pro-restructuring aspirant, says Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson yesterday said all Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  delegates from the state would vote for a presidential aspirant with the capacity to restructure the country.

    The governor said the state’s bloc votes in the Presidential Convention scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the candidate that, displayed enough courage and capacity to restructure the country. Dickson, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, spoke  during a meeting with leaders and other stakeholders of the party in Government House, Yenagoa.

    He said that the state and the entire Ijaw nation would only vote for a candidate that is ready to promote mutual respect for all Nigerians as well as create a level-playing ground for all, irrespective of ethnic and religious leanings.

    He said the Ijaw nation would only support and work with a candidate that would give the people equal opportunities and stake in the oil and gas industry adding that the Ijaws had been relegated to the background over the years, despite, their enviable role as oil-producing areas.

    Dickson said: “Why I have assembled you all is about the position that we will all take as a state and the entire Ijaw nation. All the delegates will vote at the PDP Presidential Convention in one direction and as a bloc. No one delegate’s vote will be lost because the 2019 general election is a very serious election for our people.”

    Describing the primaries that had taken place across the state as largely peaceful and transparent, he said the full weight of the law would be brought to bear on all those involved in the attempt to disrupt the process no matter how highly placed.

     

    He said: “I have made it clear to the party and the panel that, we don’t want any more violence or any attempt at violence. The exercise in our state has gone on fairly smoothly. And, I condemn those who shot guns yesterday at the Sports Complex and at Ogbia Town and I have directed investigations.

    “When people take the laws into their hands and do what is wrong, there are consequences and those consequences must flow irrespective of who is concerned. And when the consequences come, people should not read meanings.  When the law takes its course, they will now be looking for people to blame. We will punish each and every one who took part in that. Investigations have already started.”

    Dickson also urged all political aspirants in the state to exhibit team spirit, stressing that, politics should be seen as an opportunity to serve the people and not a one man game.

    He said: “In politics, things change. There are some people, if it is not their own way, it is the highway, everybody will go and crash, they don’t care. Those are not politicians but mercenaries.

    “This game is a group game and never about one man or one woman. The day we worked for them and they became senators, it was not imposition. Some stayed there for 8 and 12 years and others for 4 years. They tend to forget that this game of political service requires loyalty.”

    The governor said he would convene a meeting with all those, who lost out of the primaries, noting that, the political system had a way of making them relevant by offering them other opportunities to contribute to the development of the state.

  • Ijaw professionals worry over ecological disasters in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa

    The Niger Delta region has been going through ecological challenges. These environmental teething troubles are fast snowballing into disasters that threaten human existence.

    The horrid situation has been a source of concern to the Ijaw Professionals Association (IPA), a group of intellectuals championing environmental rights, justice and remediation. The group said it was piqued by the fact that despite obvious threats of extinction facing the region, relevant authorities are paying lip service to the life-threatening natural disaster.

    IPA raised the alarm over ecological disasters that threaten to wipe out many communities in the region after its general meeting recently.

    At the meeting IPA, whose activities cover Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states, unanimously agreed to bring the ecological emergencies and humanitarian crises in the region to the notice of authorities for appropriate actions.

    Leaders of IPA that attended the meeting were President, Homeland Chapter, Iniruo Wills; Vice-President, Stella Alaere Raine and Publicity Secretary, Marie-Therese Teibowei. The trio signed the communique issued after the meeting.

    In the communique, the group identified floods, looming earthquakes, toxic soot and continuous hydrocarbon pollution as major environmental challenges that needed urgent attention in the region.

    IPA lamented that massive floods that ravaged communities in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers displaced hundreds of thousands of residents of these areas. The situation has left the people with no shelter, food, water, medication and other necessities. It said the development heightened fears of disease epidemic that is capable of spreading beyond national and international borders.

    The group commended the “selfless and courageous efforts of the Ijaw Flood Control Unit (IFCU) Ijaw Women Connect (IWC), Ijaw Youths Development Association (IYDA) and various individuals and community-based organisations that mobilised resources and coordinated community self-helps in the last two weeks in the face of gross neglect by local, state and federal governments”.

    IPA called on governments of the affected states to immediately swing into action to provide adequate social reliefs and effective short, medium and long-term measures in order to control floods and other ecological catastrophes.

    The group expressed disappointment that the authorities didn’t learn any lesson from the human casualties and social consequences that resulted from the 1999 and 2012 floods, the annual warnings by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Hydrological Surveys Agency (NIHSA).

    It said the state and the Federal Government ignored the reports and recommendations by relevant authorities and committees and the several months of warnings by the agencies this year.

    The group said: “Neither the Federal Government nor the state governments took any action to protect our vulnerable communities from floods. They only resorted to fire brigade and cosmetic approaches after many people have been displaced.

     

    “We condemn the Federal Government’s typical attitude of burying its head in the sand whenever Ijaw and Niger Delta communities are affected by ecological disasters and the discrimination against our communities reflected in the difference between how much and how fast the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) responds to emergencies in other parts of the country and how little and slowly it responds to disasters in our homeland.

    “We equally condemn the utter neglect of the environment by governments in the Niger Delta states and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    “These governments and NDDC have been receiving billions of dollars (hundreds of billions of Naira) every year since 1999 by way of the 13 per cent petroleum derivation funds, the statutory NDDC Fund and the Ecological Fund, mostly for the protection of the Niger Delta.

    “Yet, they are culpable for the near-zero budget provision for environmental exigencies.”

    On other disasters, it said: “The rain of toxic soot, black particulate matter in and around Rivers State, has continued unchecked and unabated for over two years now; leaving the entire population increasingly at the risk of cancer and other terminal or debilitating diseases.

    “We are worried about the warning issued a few days ago by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NSRDA) about impending earthquakes in five states, including Bayelsa State, especially around the petroleum-producing communities of Igbogene, Biseni and others, thus adding another troubling dimension to the mortal cocktail of environmental hazards faced by the Ijaw and the people of the Niger Delta.

    “There has been continued menace of hydrocarbon pollution of our communities, waters and forests; with grossly ineffective regulation or control for 60 years and counting.”

    But the group commended the action of the Bayelsa State government for setting up a committee to assess and respond to the damage caused by the floods. It, however, appealed to the state government to take proactive steps to prevent future occurrences.

     

    Solutions

     

    Beyond highlighting the problems, IPA proffered solutions. It called on the Federal Government to immediately deploy adequate relief materials, shelter and services to all the flood-affected and threatened communities in the region.

    The group also called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the environment in the affected areas and mobilise required personnel and materials to deal with the situation within international humanitarian best practices and law.

    It also urged the government to direct the Ecological Fund Office, NDDC, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the Federal Ministry of Environment to work in collaboration with the concerned state governments to urgently commission an integrated ecological and water resources management master plan.

    IPA said such master plan must be backed by clear implementation time lines, a credible monitoring and evaluation framework, dedicated funding and sovereign/World Bank guarantees for service providers.

    The group further asked the Federal Government to adequately fund the Nigerian Geological Surveys Agency (NGSA) to commission or conduct, in consultation with concerned state governments, a thorough study to monitor and predict earthquake flash points and adequately prepare to avert or deal with any event or risk of earthquakes and tremors, to avoid the national threat and shame of being caught unawares.

    The group called on the government to promptly release all the held-up funds due to Bayelsa State and other affected states from the Ecological Fund, and avoid any politicisation or discrimination.

    It called on the governments of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers to co-operate with the IWC and IYDA to improve efforts of the Ijaw Flood Control Unit.

    Addressing the states, it said: “Demonstrate that charity begins at home by equipping, funding and deploying the respective State Emergency Management Agencies and Ministries of Environment to respond robustly to the scandalous humanitarian crises that our flood-ravaged communities experience.

    “Work with the states’ Houses of Assembly to present and pass a supplementary budget for the purpose, and declare and implement a constructive state of environmental emergency, as prescribed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “Enact laws to establish and equip State Ecological Management Boards for effective protection, enhancement and economic benefits of the states,” it said.

    Also, the group called on donor agencies, including private sectors, such as the Red Cross to come to the aid of affected communities with medical support and other forms of aid and pay special attention to vulnerable persons, the aged, children, physically-challenged persons and women.

    IPA asked the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and the Minister of Environment to take action to stop the toxic soot rain on Port Harcourt and its environs caused by petroleum operators and save peoples’ lives.

    It further urged the Ijaw and Niger Delta federal lawmakers to be alive to their responsibilities by working actively to ensure that respective federal and state authorities implement all the recommendations.

     

  • ‘Dokubo’ll achieve much for amnesty programme’

    The National Chairman Phase 2 Ex-agitators under the Amnesty Programme, Mr Stephen Ebisinte, has expressed his happiness over the appointment of Prof. Charles Dokubo as the new Coordinator of the amnesty programme, describing him as a vibrant and resourceful technocrat.

    He maintained that with Prof. Dokubo at the helm of affairs, the programme will be taken to the next level.

    He said one of the good aspects of the programme is that training of ex-agitators is still ongoing; adding that he hoped the government will fulfil its promises to ex-agitators.

    He said he is confident that Prof. Dokubo will succeed in his assignment because “being a Niger Deltan who recognises the pains and challenges of the youth, he will ensure that government’s plans for ex-agitators are fully implemented.  We ex-agitators under Phase 2 of the programme have a strong belief in Dokubo’s capabilities.

    “That Dokubo is at the helm of affairs of the programme is a good thing that has happened to it. He is a man who understands the pains of the people of Niger Delta. I advise detractors to allow him do his best for the ex-agitators,” he said.

    On the recent protest by some ex-militants, Mr. Ebisinte said the protest was staged out of ignorance and misinformation.

    “The protesters had thought that the N150, 000 transition safety allowance paid to ex-agitators by the former coordinator of the programme, Hon Kingsley Kuku, was a yearly house allowance for ex-agitators. It was because of that they protested,” he said.

    On whether they are owed by the programme, he said: “The amnesty programme under Dokubo does not owe us any salary arrears. There was no time house allowances were paid to ex-agitators since inception of the programme. But we appeal to the Federal Government to consider payment of house allowances to ex-agitators.”

    He advised the beneficiaries to always clarify issues concerning the programme from their group leaders before embarking on any protest.

    I also want them to know that our present coordinator is a man of integrity who is working for their well-being. He should be encouraged in order to achieve set goals.