The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Bayelsa’s 17-storey edifice fuels support for local contractors

    Bayelsa’s 17-storey edifice fuels support for local contractors

    Niger Delta is rising to greatness. An edifice rising in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, symbolises the great future of the region and holds within it the promise of better tomorrow. When completed, the architectural masterpiece, a 17-storey building, will be the permanent headquarters of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

    In fact, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Local Content, were amazed to behold the rise of the imposing structure recently. The committee members were in the state for their oversight function on the board.

    At a glance, some of the lawmakers concluded that such superimposing edifice could only be the brainwork of prominent construction companies. When they saw the design and the quality of work so far done at the site, which is located close to Ox-Bow Lake in Yenagoa, some of them even dropped names of foreign firms.

    But the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, shocked them. Everything about the rising building is local content. It is completely indigenous from the design, drawing, substructure and the developing superstructure. Many foreign firms wanted it but in the spirits of developing the local content, the board awarded it to an indigenous firm.

    Some of the foreign firms, which lost out laughed at the board. They taught it was not possible for an indigenous firm to embark on such project. But the Mega Star Construction proved them wrong. The lawmakers were also surprised at the speed of work on the project, which is fully supervised by employees of the board.

    Mega Star took over the project in May 2015. Already, the company has taken the massive structure to the eighth floor. The building is designed to accommodate over 1000 workers with a conference hall of 1000 sitting capacity. It has a separate building to be used as a multi-level car park, which had already got to an advanced construction stage. The car park is designed to house over 350 cars.

    In fact, the progress of work on the building, described as the first of its kind in any Niger Delta State, thrilled the lawmakers. For the first time in the history of public projects, none had witnessed such rapid progress. The board is hopeful that the building will be handed over to them in December 2018.

    Wabote, who described himself as the chief accounting officer for the project, explained to the lawmakers that the board decided to keep the project in-house to drive down cost.

    The elated Chairman of the House Committee on Local Content, Mr Emmanuel Ekong, poured encomiums on the Federal Government and the board. “In the history of the Nigerian government, this is the first time government has started a project and achieved this progress in a very difficult terrain in less down two years.

    “Some foreign companies struggled to get this project we just inspected. The question  I kept asking myself as I was walking round this project is, ‘how do we diversify the local content into construction so as to project this company’?” He said.

    Pointing at the Chief Executive Director of Mega Star, Ekong said: “This man needs to be shown the whole world. We need to sell him within the Nigerian market and we need to sell him to the whole world. No foreign company should come and tell me that a project like this cannot be constructed by a Nigerian firm.

    “I am not talking because I am a true son of the Niger Delta, I am saying this because I am a patriotic Nigerian. The technology deployed here is amazing. I have seen things that made me so happy because it is happening in Nigeria.”

    Ekong also appreciated Wabote for showing high level of commitment to the project. He said the committee would help the executive secretary realise his dreams of completing the project in record time.

    But he appealed to Bayelsa youths to support the project. He said though local content is a national law, the youths should count themselves lucky for having such gigantic project in their domain out of 36 states.

    Before inspecting the building, Wabote first led the committee members to a site of the proposed Pipe Mill project in Polako, Yenagoa. The lawmakers observed that the board had done a lot of work to prepare the site, which borders River Nun, to create irresistible environment for investors.

    The area had been sand-filled  and an access road cutting off the host community was being created. Wabote explained that the environment for the project was close to the required facilities such as water and a gas gathering plant in Gbarain.

    He clarified that the board was not engaged in partnership with investors but was merely acting as a catalyst to create an enabling environment for investors. He insisted that without preparing the ground for investors, no firm would like to operate in a difficult terrain like Bayelsa and other Niger Delta creeks.

    “This project will create jobs, retain the much-needed foreign exchange. So, any Nigerian partner who wants to partner with the Baird to act as a catalyst for in-country investments, the board is prepared to do so.

    “Any foreign company who wants to invest in the country and wants the board to act as a catalyst for that investment it is within the mandate of the board to support the investment. It is the concept of domiciliation and domestication”, he said.

    The executive secretary stunned the committee with various strategies adopted by the board to develop content in the petroleum sector. Most of the products hitherto imported by multinational oil companies are now manufactured in the country.

    He noted that the board had increased the marine vessel utilisation, which was just about three percent  when he took over  to 36 percent. .

    “There is still room. Although the current downturn has affected us. Prior to 2010, nobody thought fabrication could be done in Nigeria. But today Nigeria has the capacity. We have numerous fabrication yards today.

    He clarified that the focus of NCDMB is not ‘Nigerianisation  or indigenisation’ but the domiciliation of value adding activities in the sector.

    “ It’s more about how to add value in-country. We seek to close supply gap by promoting local production and maximising utilisation”, he said.

    He also told the committee that local content should not be restricted to the oil and gas sector alone. Arguing that employment generation in the petroleum sector was not as much as other sectors, Wabote asked the lawmakers to introduce local content in the construction, information and communication technology, telecommunication and the power sectors.

    “We require the support of the National Assembly to see how we twig the Local Content Act to cover most of these sectors. We don’t want to create many local contents but the law can be twigged to bring these sectors under the local content”, he said.

    Following the success of the local content in the oil gas sector, Ekong informed the executive secretary that the process of diversifying the content act was in progress. he said a bill to expand the Act had already been introduced in the assembly.

    He said henceforth the lawmakers would not take local content infractions by companies lightly to ensure adequate participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas sector.

    He said: “The multinationals must patronise these people, even CBN which is still building its headquarters using foreign companies must patronise these people (construction engineers)

    “We hit multinationals to remit 1% of their funds which is enshrined in the law. Like I said the first reading has been passed. We are waiting to do some legislative fireworks fine-tuning the bill for assent by the president before the end of this year.

    “ The infraction in the oil and gas industry and construction is child’s play compared to what happens in the oil and gas. It is unimaginable. Telecoms, power and ICT, these are major sectors we are looking at.”

    Ekong urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to fully comply with the content Act since charity begins at home.

    “The law is already there. That’s why we are here . The NNPC , NPDC which are Nigerian-owned cannot be above the law. If they have caused infraction in one way or the other, we are looking into it. They can’t be above the law.”

  • apbn bemoans non-involvement of professionals in national development

    Last week, the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) held its presidential retreat in Asaba-the Delta State Capital.

    The 3-day retreat, which was attended by over thirty professional bodies from across the federation, had as its theme, “Roles of Professionals in the Economic Recovery and Growth”.

    The retreat featured paper presentation by renowned professionals from different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

    Delta Deputy Governor, Kingsley Utuaro, who declared the event open in an address admonished participants to cooperate with government at all levels in shouldering the task of economic recovery and growth.

    Utuaro was represented by Executive Assistant, (Boundary Matters), Chief Gweke Akudihor.

    He praised APBN for organizing the event stressing, “That this gathering is timely and long overdue considering the economic constraints, unfriendly regulatory policies, lack of professional touch to drive the economy, falling Naira rate, lack of consistency and continuity has led to the impoverishment of the Nation’s economy”.

    He bemoaned the lack of involvement of professionals to redirect the economy, stressing that their wealth of experience is required to salvage the Nigerian economy.

    He said the State government has through its SMART agenda revitalized the various entrepreneurial skills acquisition for unemployed, adding that it has also encouraged the establishment of various self-sustainable jobs for her unemployed.

    President, APBN, Dr. Omede  Idris said the retreat  was an annual capacity building program for the leadership member bodies of the association, stressing that the event “is a conscious effort to appreciate and address perceived limitation in our professional organization and pratices”.

    He said the themes and subthemes were carefully crafted to cover most or all aspect of our economies, professions and polity, adding this will further “stimulate our thoughts, interactions and contribution to nation building.

    He said the retreat will proffer recommendations on ways government can partner and collaborate with individual professional associations with its high pool of professional resources and competences while serving the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

    Olutoyin Ayinde, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, in a paper titled – “Developing Sustainable Human Settlements: Organise or Agonise”, examined the non-involvement of professionals in national development.

    Ayinde said  Nigeria has over 840 urban centres with well over 10 cities with populations of over a million…In another  decade, four additional cities will qualify as mega-cities, adding that most of them are unplanned and undergoing degradation.

    He said the “inevitable result of neglecting physical or urban planning is chaos in the settlement system”, stressing that this neglect is demonstrated in the failure of the physical and economic infrastructure of the Nigerian State.

    According to him, “No economy has ever grown to maturity if the human settlements fundamentals to development are dysfunctional or unorganised, because unsustainable human settlements and economic development are inversely related just as poor management and development are mutually exclusive.”

    He argued that the problem with Nigeria is not a lack of resources but inadequate planning and bad management of resources for the development of human settlements.

    Tony Agenmonmen, President, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, in his paper titled, “Promoting Locally Made Products as Strategy for Recovery and Growth: The role of Marketing Professionals posited that under the prevailing economic climate, promoting locally made products was crucial, adding that it will stimulate the economy ,while strengthening local business and conserve foreign exchange.

    According to Agenmonmen, while the efforts of some state governments in promoting locally made products are laudable, there is still the need for proper product presentation in order for locally made products to gain increased visibility, acceptance and patronage.

    He noted that the present economic situation presents an opportunity for local products to thrive if only their presentations conform to defined standards, and their unique selling points efficiently communicated to an identified target audience through the various promotional tools.

  • NDDC donates 500kva generator to Ibom Specialist Hospital

    The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has donated a 500 KVA generator to the Ibom Specialist Hospital in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

    The Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, made the donation on Saturday when he led a delegation from the Commission to the hospital.

    Ekere said the NDDC would partner the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the objective upon which the Ibom Specialist Hospital was conceptualised and built was achieved.

    According to Ekere, the equipment and facilities in the hospital cannot function optimally and efficiently without constant power, a deficiency he noted necessitated the NDDC’s intervention towards solving the electricity challenge of the hospital.

    His words: “NDDC will also partner the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Limited to ensure that the hospital is connected to the national grid.”

    He said the hospital which was built by the Akpabio administration to curb medical tourism in the country has world class facilities that can provide services that meet international best standard.

    Ekere explained that one of Niger Delta’s health challenges is the effect of hydrocarbon emission which causes cancer hence the determination of the NDDC to partner the hospital to have a Cancer Centre that is functional, effective and efficient.

    He commended the staff for exhibiting a high level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties to patients.

    Ekere stated that the Commission remains committed towards partnering the Akwa Ibom State government in ensuring that intervention projects that add value to the lives of the people are done.

    He said: “Whoever takes credit for projects is not the issue. The people who are beneficiaries of the project should take credit.”

    Ekere said the NDDC Governing Board would soon pay a courtesy call to the Akwa Ibom government to work out modalities for a partnership that benefits the people.

    He said: “Our job is to partner with various state governments to have enduring structures in the region.”

    Responding, a director in the hospital, Dr. Kofo Ogunyanrin, thanked the NDDC for intervening to solve the electricity challenge, stating that the generator donated would assist the hospital to function optimally.

  • Udom’s new road links Obot Akara with Abia

    The serene communities in Nto Edino, the capital of Obot Akara local government area of Akwa Ibom State and environs, yesterday ignited as residents thronged out in large numbers to welcome and celebrate Governor Udom Emmanuel who visited the area.

    It was a sight to behold as Governor Emmanuel commissioned the newly completed 6.4km Nto Edino road that leads through Ekwere Azu to Abia State.

    The ceremony was part of activities to mark his two years in office as governor.

    The governor was received by a large crowd of happy indigenes who lauded him for responding to their yearnings.

    Mr Emmanuel said that when he visited the area on assumption of office, the road was so bad that no bicycle could pass as at then, and he decided that whether Nigeria is in recession or not, the road has to be constructed.

    He explained that the road will open up economic activities between Akwa Ibom and Abia State, assuring the people that within the next 90 days the bridge will be ready for commissioning along with the Phase II of the project.

    On his part, the former Deputy Governor of the State, Chris Ekpenyong who is an indigene of Obot Akara commended the Governor for what he described as two years of impressive performance in the state.

    He said that it is not about being a governor but identifying and yielding to the needs of the people.

    Ekpenyong maintained that the road is a better thought-out project that will improve the lives of the people, adding that the commissioning of the road marks the opening of economic activities between Akwa Ibom and Abia State, to which Obot Akara people will forever remain grateful to the Governor.

    He maintained that as the father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he will always remain with the governor in PDP which has brought so many developments to the state.

    He assured the governor that Obot Akara people will support Udom Emmanuel till 2023 and beyond.

    Also speaking, the paramount ruler of Obot Akara, Okuku Uwah Umoh Adiaka said that the governor has saved many lives with the construction of Nto Edino -Ekwere Azu road.

    He told the governor that many school children and pregnant women had lost their lives due to bad nature of the road and bridge.

    The traditional ruler further told the governor that a lot of people from the area had never visited the nearby Ikot Ekpene local government area due to the impassable road and promised the governor that those whose lives he has saved will support him in 2019.

    In an emotional laden voice, the Paramount Ruler of Obot Akara,Okuku Uwa Umo Adiaka, told the gathering that the last time his people ever experienced such a good road was in 1959.

  • Centre, others seek accountability in oil industry

    The Centre for Niger Delta Studies (CNDS), Niger Delta University (NDU) and other stakeholders have called for the strengthening of transparency and accountability in the oil sector.

    At a roundtable for Natural Resource Governance in Nigeria held recently by the centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, stakeholders lamented the appalling state of the sector especially lack of transparency in the award of Oil Mining Licences (OML).

    In a keynote address, the National Coordinator, National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spill in the Niger Delta (NACGOND), Dr. Edward Obi, said the country was in a period of both great expectations and disappointment.

    Obi said he was disappointed to discover that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), a body established by the Act of Parliament to ensure accountability in the revenue receipts, had no documents in its websites.

    “There were no documents to be accessed; no reports of any kind to inform and educate the general public on proceeds of the oil industry.

    “We are, therefore, left simply to conjecture what quantity of oil  we actually produce and export daily, how much we get for it, and how much of that income goes into the public treasury, and is used for the improvement of infrastructure and the welfare of citizens.

    “All conjecture, in the face of numerous indictments of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries for large scale graft and serving as a conduit for siphoning the nations oil wealth into private hands, this is appalling. This is indeed a time of great disappointment”.

    Obi said that natural resources were creating political, social and economic tension because some areas were more endowed than others.

    “Closely related to the matter of ownership is the clamour for transparency, among others, in the award of oil Mining Leases (OMLs), production sharing contract (PSCs), Joint Venture (JV) benefit and burdens.

    “It is also on record that this state, Bayelsa, has suffered, and still suffers some of the  wrost environmental abuses imaginable. If there are better ways of conducting the oil and gas business without destroying the live of local residents, and  we know there are, why are these methods and technologies not being deployed here?” He said.

    In his speech, Prof, Fidelis Allen of the University of Port Harcourt, said the country had so far enacted 25 laws for the protection of the environment in the sector but regretted that the development had not improved accountability in the sector.

    But he said: “Nigeria needs an active civil society to ensure accountable and transparent governance in a troubled oil industry”.

    In his remarks, Prof. Ibaba Ibaba, a former Coordinator, CNDS, said corruption remained the most challenging issue in the oil sector.

  • Men without brains

    Men without brains

    I really do not know how far the NHRC can go on these cases. The killers, I pray, will not go scot free. I do not have the patience to wait till the hereafter for them to pay for the evil ways. They should be caught right here on earth and face the music of killing the Adubes and several others in Rivers, whose families can never truly forget.

    Moments after the men with brawns but no brains left, seven members of the household were down and out. Over 50 shots were fired during the invasion that lasted between 6pm and 7pm on April 3, 2015.

    Mrs Patience Adube, one of the wives of Christopher, the patriarch of the house, who had just been mowed down with two of his sons, his daughter, nephew and driver, was in their neighbourhood in ONELGA, Rivers State when the shots started booming.

    She returned home after the assailants had left to find her husband and six others in pools of blood. The image still gives her jitters over two years after.

    Mrs. Anube broke down in tears while recounting how her husband and others were murdered in their family home in Obrikom, ONELGA one week to the 2015 governorship election in Rivers State.

    “I saw the body of one of my sons lying on my husband’s body both in the pool of their blood. I also saw my daughter’s body lying on the floor.

    “I lifted one, it was a dead body; I lifted another, it was a dead body…oh Jesus!” She said as she broke down in tears while narrating her ordeal to a panel of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) — holding a picture of her late husband and her three children.

    That terrible day, the assailants also left two of Adube’s children, Paul and Ogechi Adube, with permanent scars. They would have died on April 3 when men without brains stormed their home in ONELGA and killed their father and three of their siblings. They also killed their family driver and a family friend who was in their home when they came, dressed like soldiers. The bullets they pumped into then 15-year-old Paul’s leg have ensured he is wheel-chair bound. The hot lead they released unto Ogechi’s legs have also seen rods inserted into her bones and because of this, she cannot fold her legs. You can imagine the pains of walking around with legs that feel like wood.

    Of the 12 children Adube had with his two wives, three were killed with him; two were left practically crippled and the others now live with shattered dreams. They are not sure of where the next meal will come from. Their father’s sin, I am made to understand, was his affiliation with the APC. His children’s sin was being born by him. The evil men applied the Law of Moses forgetting that the coming of our lord Jesus Christ marked the end of that law, which encouraged taking out the father’s sin on the son or daughter.

    Paul and Ogechi need help. They can walk again and lead normal lives. All they need is surgery. Their father did not leave the kind of money that can guarantee them the best of medical care, which will bring them back to normalcy. It will make them forgive, but certainly not forget.

    The NHRC last week began investigating the killings of the Adubes and several others in Rivers before, during and after the last general elections. The victims have shown face. The accused have stayed away and claim ignorance of the NHRC’s invite.

    Some 50 persons were killed in ONELGA alone around that time. The NHRC is investigating about 153 petitions on hate speeches and election-related violence which occurred in the various parts of the country in relation to the 2015 general elections. Twenty-three of the 153 petitions concern ONELGA.

    When the commission began its hearing on May 9, it was sorrow and tears galore. Memories came alive and made men and women shed tears like babies.

    NHRC Project Coordinator and Director of Monitoring Tony Ojukwu told The Punch: “Everybody concerned in the Rivers State petitions were invited. The petitioners were here (Abuja) for the preliminary hearing but those accused of the various allegations did not honour our invitations.”

    He was quick to add: “The failure of anybody invited to attend our hearing will not stop the statutory duties of the commission.

    “Right now, we are at the stage of evaluating and analysing what we got during the preliminary hearing because we have to be sure there are cogent issues to investigate further.

    “If we find out that there are cogent issues that the petitioners can substantiate at the end of the day, we will conduct a public hearing and whoever is invited and fails to attend it must be ready with the findings of the commission at the end of the day.

    “Fair hearing only requires giving an opportunity to the person accused to say his or her own side of the story.”

    The fear of Rivers made the commission conduct the hearing in Abuja after being in various parts of the country for the preliminary hearing of other cases.

    The picture of the leader of the suspected killer gang, donning a full military camouflage, and his lieutenants was hung by the petitioners in the auditorium where the preliminary hearing held on May 9 and 10. There were also flyers showing pictures of bodies and properties destroyed. The auditorium also had large banners, which were enlarged sizes of the flyers, hung on its wall.

    Occupying prominent slots in the banners and flyers were Clever Orikwowu, Mr. Caleb Ahmed, Mr Mbamalu and Mr. Ogbuehi.

    Justice Orikwowu and his mother, Ruth, are yet to get over the killing of their father and husband, Clever. The widow, a house wife, said she collapsed when the news of her husband’s death was relayed to her. Clever is survived by his wife and their seven children. The eldest child was 19 when he was killed. The youngest was 11 months.

    Mrs. Caleb-Ahmed, a native of Emoh in Abua/Odual Local Government, is also left to cater for her children. Her husband left behind four children – 11, 8, 4, and 2 year olds at the time he was killed.

    Another widow, Ijeoma Mbamalu, 21 at the time of her husband’s death, had an 11-month-old baby, whose 27-year-old father is six feet below after being killed at Oprikom.

    Innocent Ogbuehi said his 59-year-old brother, an APC member, was killed while he was shaving in front of his house on the day of the governorship election.

    My final take: I really do not know how far the NHRC can go on these cases. The killers, I pray, will not go scot free. I do not have the patience to wait till the hereafter for them to pay for the evil ways. They should be caught right here on earth and face the music of killing the Adubes and several others in Rivers, whose families can never truly forget.

  • Niger Delta Report causes Benin Ring Road’s clean-up

    Niger Delta Report causes Benin Ring Road’s clean-up

    Benin City centre, the Oba Ovoranmwen Square popularly called Ring Road, is now wearing a new look. Adjoining streets, such as  Lagos Street, Oba market road,Ibiwe, Ebo Street, Omo Street, Lagos Street, Mission Road, Iguisi and Palm Palm, notorious for street trading, have also been cleaned up. All the street traders, hawkers and squatters have been sacked.

    The cleaning-up of the Ring Road and adjoining streets happened seven days after Niger Delta Report published a report on its dirty state despite millions of naira spent by government to beautify it.

    Heavy vehicular traffic that used to characterise the Ring Road has been removed as commercial drivers were barred from entering the place. All motor-parks erected at the Ring Road and all adjoining streets have been closed.

    Before the state government’s recent action, the Ring Road was an eye-sore. Millions of naira spent to plant flowers, built several gardens around the Ring Road appeared to have been wasted as dirts littered everywhere. The gardens were overgrown with weed. Traders took over all spots around the Ring Road to display their wares. Efforts to chase the commercial drivers and traders away were unsuccessful.

    In preparation for the sacking of the traders, Governor Godwin Obaseki set up the Clean Up Edo Project Committee headed by Secretary to the State Government,  Osarodion Ogie. The committee carried out several sensitisation street walk on the need for the traders to stop trading on the walkways as well as leave the streets.

    Perhaps the streets traders had hoped that like in previous administrations,  government officials would attempt to clear them during the day by the use of force and destroying of wares. What the traders had expected that they would gain public sympathy during the destruction or seizing of their wares, especially with television cameras around but they were mistaken.

    Obaseki, instead, delivered a surprised upper cut that the street traders are yet to recover from. On May 8,  the street traders and squatters were shocked to see that all illegal structures they erected were demolished over night and set ablaze. What they saw were burnt tables, chairs, umbrellas, make shift stores among others. Obaseki engaged the services of the Chairman of Akugbe Ventures, Comrade Tony Kabaka, who brought his boys to join officials of the Waste Management Board for the night operation. They started the operation at about 10pm on Sunday till 7am on Monday.

    At dawn, traders who came to sell at the streets and walkways were perplexed and confused. It was not an operation they had expected. Some had already gone to buy goods from nearby villages not knowing that they have been dislodged.

    The displaced street traders expressed divergent views on whether shops were available at various markets in Benin City. Some said available shops at markets were owed my middlemen who are not traders but demanded as high as N150,000 annually while others insisted that all shops at the Oba Market have been occupied.

    They said they were not given any notice to quit the streets and walkways before they were displaced.

    Taju Bamidele, one the displaced street traders, thanked the government for taking the steps to sack them but urged Obaseki to help reduce the cost of securing a shop at the Oba Market.

    Kingsley Okeke said they bought a land at Uteh village to build an international market but the community leaders have stopped them from carrying out the project.

    Acting General Manager of the State Waste Management Board, Prince Aiyamenkhue Akonofua, said five mobile courts were stationed at various locations within the Ring Road to prosecute anybody who flouts the directives.

    Prince Akonofua, in an interview, said the traders were warned several times to quit the walk ways and the Ring Road but the traders refused and explained that the midnight action was to stamp out illegal squatters, hawkers and street traders.

    He urged the displaced street traders to take up empty shops at the Oba Market, Agbodo market and other places.

    His words: “This is is the centre of Benin City and we cannot allow it to remain dirty. Civil society groups were involved in the sensitisation. Illegal squatters, hawkers and street trading have been prohibited. We have stamped it out. They have been outlawed.  We warned them, begged them and adviced them to leave the walk ways but they did not heed the warnings and directives of government.

    “All the market women leaders are in agreement with our move. They have been ordered to make shops available to any trader looking for shops. They are ready to provide space. We have five mobile courts to try offenders. Any offender will be dealt with. They should go into the main market where they are supposed to do business.”

    Ogie said said the action was to send a message that government would no longer tolerate what he described as a “disorganised Benin City”.

    Ogie told reporters that besides the street traders that were sacked, some arms were recovered during the clean-up at the Lagos Street.

    His words: “You recall that about a month ago we had a stakeholders meeting which we invited residents from the streets around the King Square, Ebo Street, Tebite, Ugboagbe and others. We told them that we cannot continue business as usual and there was need to clean up Benin City. In doing that we also agreed that the existing markets have enough spaces for our traders. The governor inspected Oba Market and we found that half of the shop there are unoccupied.

    “The same thing Agbada market. Infact the whole of Uwa Market is empty. So today we started with Ring Road and Lagos Street, we intend to follow it up to other streets. All traders on the walk way are prohibited. We will not allow it, our roads must become passable again, traffic must flow on the Ring Road, Lagos Street and other roads. For over ten years now, Lagos Street has become impassable, but the government has resolved in clearing those areas.

    “Government has identified bus terminals so that buses do not park on Ring Road. And you recall that during the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, certain roads were rehabilitated around Oba market to make traffic movable. We intend to put on ground enforcement units within our traffic agencies to make sure that buses and other vehicles do their businesses without obstructing traffic at Ring road.

    “We have a market coming up at Ute, Ikweniro, one in Oredo, another one at Sapele Road near Ekae, we have several markets in Benin but people choose to abandon them to trade on the roads. Our markets are empty, we are cleaning up all the markets for them to do their businesses but not on the roads anymore”.

    Several traders and commercial drivers who attempted to sneak back to the Ring Road have been prosecuted and sentenced to various jail terms or an option of N50,000 fine.

    This is not the first time Edo State Government would be chasing traders and commercial drivers out of the Ring Road and adjoining streets. The traders and drivers always make their way back as election approaches. The coming months will tell if Obaseki can sustain the policy of keeping the Ring Road clean and free of street traders.

     

     

  • Delta communities draw up economic blueprint

    Aniocha and Oshimili people of Delta State are set to draw up their own economic blueprint for the development of the area.

    To achieve this, a non-partisan and non-profit making socio–cultural organisation known as Njiko Aniochaoshimili has been convened to organize an economic summit to draw up the area’s economic recovery roadmap.

    According to the convener of the organisation, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, “an Economic Summit by sons and daughters of our area will be held in Asaba to interrogate issues like targeting more efficient and effective internally generated funds from Aniocha Oshimili; identifying agricultural potentials of Aniocha Oshimili Axis, with particular attention to institutional and donor agencies intervention and the impact of IT hub on employment and wealth creation in Aniocha Oshimili.”

    Other areas of interest to the organization include the tourism potential of Aniocha-Oshimili Axis of Delta State; the vision of a model Delta State Capital Territory and prospects for a mega/ commercial city; security challenges in Aniocha Oshimili district and wealth creation and job opportunities through private secto initiatives.

    The socio-cultural organization will also consider the area’s oil sector opportunities with a view to creating the enabling environment for foreign and domestic investment.

    To address these issues at the summit, sons and daughters from Aniocha and Oshomili in Nigeria and some in diaspora have been lined up to lead conversations on these sub themes.

    The group will also address the litany of issues that confronts communities within Aniocha-Oshimili.

    Some of these include; quality of public education, unemployment, housing, transportation, electricity and security.

    The Njiko Aniochaoshimili platform aims to work from the community level, by helping to bring citizens and stakeholders together in order to address these issues, while supporting efforts to create enabling environment for the growth and development of the communities.

    To implement its mission effectively, Njiko Aniochaoshimili will serve as a thought leadership and advocacy group that will work with elected officials in the state and local governments to help address issues that affect the constituents.

    The group will periodically invite elected officials to brief the organization on their contributions and claims of developments in the area, thus holding them accountabl as well as work with elected representatives in advocating for legislations that are inclusive and that help address specific issues that affect constituents.

    Njiko Aniochaoshimili will “provide an online platform for stakeholders in the district to work together and share their ideas and research on the development of innovative solutions that will address pressing challenges within our communities” Azinge said.

    The group will also organise workshops and conferences that address topics of common interest in the district such as Agriculture, Security, Energy, Infrastructure, I.C.T and Education. “Resolutions from these seminars will form part of the recommendations presented to stakeholders in the Local State and Federal Governments”.

    Njiko Aniochaoshimili hopes to foster partnership with similar organisations and agencies at the State and National levels in order to create a powerful network of Institutions devoted to similar goals.

    They will equally “engage in public opinion surveys that obtain data on the needs of the district, such as level of unemployment and access to basic amenities by citizens and residents. This will allow for detailed demographic analysis and the development of solutions that would address these challenges.”

    Njiko Aniochaoshimili will rekindle the “I can do spirit” that the district is noted for and provide solutions that will help reposition Aniocha Oshimili as a prime hub for economic activity, I.C.T development, and agricultural growth in Delta State and indeed Nigeria.

  • Edo’s debt profile: Dynamics of govt finance

    Statistics have a deft way of creating one impression or the other, sometimes for good, and at other unwelcome times, for bad.

    The latest Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Quarterly Review shows

    Nigeria’s debt profile and indicates a drastic drop in the revenue profile of most states of the federation. In the Southsouth, the report ominously avers that the debt profile of the state governments is on the increase, consisting of domestic and external debts between December 2015 and June 30th, 2016.

    For instance, Lagos state has the highest cumulative debt of N603.25 billion as against the state’s revenue of N410.5bn for 2016. The second on the debt table is Delta State with N331.95 billion growing debt as against N142.78 of the state revenue. Akwa Ibom State occupied the fourth place on rising debt profiles with N161.23 billion.

    What cannot be ignored in the NEITI report is that it clearly vindicates Edo State on both domestic and foreign debts. The World Bank loan Edo State took is cheaper to service and attracts about 1% interest rate compared to domestic borrowing that attracts 18% interest

    rate. The report maintained that “considering that most states already have a high debt burden,

    the possibility of even higher debts for the states remain quite high.”

    Among the subnational governments, Lagos, Kaduna, Edo, Cross River and Ogun states retained the top spots on the list of foreign debtors. If Nigerian external debt accounts for 20% of Nigeria’s debt profile, how does Edo’s debt constitute one of the highest? Is 20% more than 80%? Is the external debt stock of $11.41 billion (N3.48trillion) which accounted for 20%

    more than the domestic debt stock of $45.98 billion (N13.88trillion), which accounted for 80%?

    A clarification is necessary here. The total debt profile of $57.39bn is made up of external debt stock of $11.41 billion (N3.48trillion) which accounts for 20% and domestic debt stock of $45.98 billion (N13.88 trillion) which accounts for 80%. The external debt of 20% cannot amount to the highest.

    Analysts should stop categorising Edo State as the most indebted states in Nigeria. The rate of the rise in foreign debt has been slower than that of domestic debt. In recent times, the Federal Government has been making attempts to increase the proportion of foreign debt, because of the higher interest rate charged on domestic debts.

    Edo State is just as privileged as Lagos state in Sub-Saharan Africa to access World Bank loans at less than 1% for 20 years, and in some cases, 10-year moratorium.

    For a shared understanding of Nigeria’s domestic debt, a major source of concern is that Nigeria’s public domestic debt has experienced rapid growth over the past 10 years and that debt service outlay is quite high. The domestic debt-GDP ratio is only about 10%; the total public debt-GDP ratio is 12.25%, and compares favourably with the peer group threshold of 56%.

    Although the debt service-revenue ratio is high, the problem needs to be unbundled so we can all agree on the appropriate solution path. Indeed, following the rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP in 2010, the DMO observed that the increase in the GDP did not enhance the country’s ability to service its debts.

    Nigeria’s tax revenue-GDP ratio is still below 6% compared to the average for the country’s peer group, which is 18%. Essentially, therefore, from this perspective, what is being experienced is a revenue problem which impacts the debt service-revenue ratio.

    Already the Federal Government is set to raise its domestic and foreign borrowing ratio under the new Debt Management Strategy (DMS) unveiled by the DMO for the next four years. The DMS is about how funds are borrowed, internally and externally. It is a medium term project from 2016 to 2019 setting out the broad guidelines for four years. A review of the new debt strategy shows that it would slant significantly in favour of external borrowing than domestic borrowing.

    As Mr. Nwankwo said domestic and external borrowings would now be in the ratio of 60:40 per cent as against the previous ration of 84:16 per cent respectively. The new borrowing strategy, he explained further, would progressively increase the percentage share of external financing, taking into account the need to moderate foreign exchange risk in the short to medium term.

    He said the reason for the shift towards more external borrowing was because external borrowing was cheaper, apart from the advantage of lower cost of fund to avoid the risk of crowding out the private sector.

    Only Edo, Lagos, Delta, Ebonyi, Anambra, Cross River, Akwa Ibom,  Kano and Enugu states have paid their workers’ salaries and allowances up to April and are therefore not owing their workers.

    From the foregoing, there can be no doubt that Edo State is on the right path with its borrowing for the development of the state. It is one borrowing ideal that does not commit the state to punitive debt burden that generation unborn will have to bear.

    • Cephas sent this piece from Benin City
  • Ekpeye people seek unity in Niger Delta

    Ekpeye people seek unity in Niger Delta

    In a bid to create a more conducive atmosphere, the Ekpeye people of Rivers State recently held a public lecture titled Towards Consciousness For Collective Development; The Peace Imperative.

    The chairman of the event, Dr. Ndubisi Adhikema, said the aim of the lecture was to bring back all Ekpeye people who were displaced, and fled their homes due to restiveness in the land for the past five years.

    “Our people were killed, harassed, and kidnapped by youths in the area, who destroyed buildings and landed properties in time past. People’s buildings were pulled down because of the continuous crisis in the region,” he said.

    Contributing to the discourse, Dr. Ahamefula Vincent Elemaya said so many died due to crisis in Ekpeye land and therefore the need to foster unity among our people.

    He also recounted how he escaped being killed by people who ambushed them at the community, leaving him with machete cuts.

    “We are trying foster of unity among our people so as to heal and treat the wounds and broken bridges between them after several years of hostility in the land. Some lost loved ones, friends, family, husbands, wives, children in cause of it,” he added.

    He said that there is a need for the community to unite again in coming together as an entity.

    “You can’t find us in any other part of the world unless where we are today,” he concludes.

    In his remark, the publisher of the Post Express, Mr. Ibezin Green, said going into journalism was a gift from God, especially as he was given a natural flair for writing, and compilation of information, and happenings around the globe.

    “I wish to elevate the standard of the publication to a National Paper by circulating nationwide and making it a tabloid of interest. Therefore, I call for a new dawn in the land as we sheath our swords for a better growth and development in the environment,” he stated.