The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Researchers seek redesign, extension of Amnesty Programme

    Researchers seek redesign, extension of Amnesty Programme

    A group of researchers have described the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme as a smoke screen.

    The group said the five- year-old rehabilitation programme failed to address the main issues which led to insurgency in the region, insisting that it is a failure, just as the N65,000 monthly stipends paid to ex-militants as of no value.

    The study was conducted by Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), an NGO through the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Port Harcourt, the exercise also identified some factors that would likely degenerate the relative peace the program has so far achieved if not well managed.

    Speaking in a one-day Policy planning/dissemination workshop on the research in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, stakeholders blamed the failure on its original design and implementation, which according to them focused on ex-militants only, but neglected the communities and other youths of the region and called for a redesign.

    Speaking with reporters, the technical team leader of the researchers, Sofiri Joab-Peterside, said the workshop was meant to give stakeholders from the region the chance to make look at the report and make inputs on what would form a policy brief for President Mohammadu Buhari’s government on amnesty programme.He said:  “The team has completed their research and has presented the report of their findings to the wider stakeholders, with the view of making inputs on what ought to be the policy publication of the outcome of the study.

    “This basically was aimed at assisting the incoming government of President Mohammadu Buhari on what to do with the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta region.

    Speaking on the outcome of the study, he said: “It showed that most of the issues being generated by militancy in the Niger Delta have actually not been addressed, for example the issue of development.”

    He added: “The research carried out in six of the nine states of the region including, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa Delta, Edo, Rivers and Ondo revealed that the way the amnesty programme was designed and implemented did not actually address most of the challenges which we see in the area in terms of development.

    “There is also the issue of exclusion. Some segments of the population felt that they were excluded from the design and implementation of the programme.

    “We also discovered some likely conflict escalators in the post Niger Delta period, like we discovered that there was a decline in violence but upsurge in oil theft, and emergence of illegal refineries across the region, a development that have created more environmental hazards in the area.

    “There is also the likelihood of escalated political violence in the post amnesty Niger Delta region, if not well handled.

    “These findings ostensibly are meant to draw attention on what needs to be done to solve these problems. Also the trauma created by the issue of displacement of persons as a result of militant activities in these communities and the extent in which the programme has not actually made provision for the reconciliation and of these former militants with their communities also poses a challenge the way we found a post Niger Delta region amnesty.

    “ Again the government thinks that the program should end in 2015, but facts available shows that the program was originally designed to carter for 16,000 persons, later it was increased to 20,00 and at present there are over 110,00 persons that are yet to be trained in skill. If that is not properly addressed and also with the issue of the plan to stop the payment of the N65, 000 stipends to the ex-militants, we are therefore of the thinking that these are issues that if not well handled may relapse into violence which the amnesty program sort to checkmate.

    “The essence of the stakeholders meeting therefore is to present our findings to them and allow them to make inputs and decisions before we can come up with planned policy brief document for the program to the in-coming government to look at.”

  • Pipeline surveillance contract no solution to oil theft

    Pipeline surveillance contract no solution to oil theft

    Former militant leader, ‘Commander’ Bibi Duku, headed a group on  security in the Niger Delta for President Mohammadu Buhari. In this interview with SHOLA O’NEIL, he speaks on the alleged fraud in the amnesty and pipeline surveillance contracts awarded by the past administration, expectation of Niger Deltans from the new government, among other issues.

    Kidnapping and other vices have prevented people from coming to invest and settle in the region, how do you think this can be avoided?

    How to handle kidnapping, killings, sea piracy and other vices found in the region have being well mapped out since two years ago. I came out with how these issues will be dealt with and I went to see the former president to seek his consent, but because I was not in the government, they did not listen to me. We know these criminals and we are ready to collaborate with the new government to tackle this issue once and for all. If the government had been taking care of the youths in the region, I believe that none of them will want to go out and carry out these nefarious activities.

    Despite the award of surveillance contracts to ex-militants, pipeline vandalism has continued, what is the solution?

    Because of the selfish interests of the immediate past government, they gave these contracts to people they thought will secure the pipelines. Yes, they are capable of securing these facilities, but because of their criminal nature they decided to look the other way. They cannot tell me that they do not know those that are involved in carrying out this vandalism. As a leader in a community, you are supposed to know those that are capable of vandalising pipelines and where all these illegal bunkering is being carried out. If you know and you do nothing, it means you are involved too.

    If I was the president, I would arrest all those that were given the power to secure these facilities because they cannot claim to be ignorant of what is going on in their areas. What I am saying is that people who were giving the contract to secure these facilities did not do their jobs because they know those that are vandalising these facilities and they refused to arrest them because they are also part of the rogues.

    On the recent renewal of the pipeline contracts and calls for review

    These are issues that the new administration has to look into again. We will find out if the contract was really renewed, or they paid the money to these bad leaders and they did not pay the boys.

    Do you support calls for scrapping of the surveillance contracts?

    If the government comes out and say they have all it takes to guard these pipelines, they should revoke the contract and do the surveillance themselves because I believe that they are the government and they have all it takes to guard lives and property in the country. I don’t see why they should give a security contract to bloody civilians when they have the army, navy and police and other paramilitary outfits.

    Some people think that think illegal bunkering cannot take place without the active collaboration of the military

    Military officers bribe to come to the Niger Delta region. The military cannot tell me that they do not know anything about illegal bunkering in the region. How will you explain how the barges manage to pass the military checkpoints in the river? Let us not be deceived; we should know whether these people are carrying out their duties or not. This only shows that the military are taking bribes from the illegal oil bunkerers. I know that my people can bribe their way out of anything. The new administration should take these things into consideration.

    As somebody that worked for the victory of the new administration, what role do you think you should play?

    The role I want to play in this new administration is to fight corruption to a standstill and bring criminality in the creeks and land to its barest minimum. I will fight the bad characters that we have in the region to a standstill and I will not allow any individual to hold us to ransom. I have the capacity to mobilize my men to bring anybody who wants to cheat the people of the region to his knees. I am going to fight against cultism. We are going to monitor all corrupt individuals in the region and report them to the appropriate authorities because we do not expect President Buhari to come down from Abuja to fight the fight for us.

    We have a lot of bad leaders in the region who are bent on tarnishing the image of other good leaders. My advice to them is that they should not fight against God because if they do, they will die. Anybody who is fighting against the Niger Delta struggle will die. I also want us to give this new administration some time to settle down. Let us first see what they have for us whether it is for our benefit or not before we start to make any trouble.

  • Fed Govt trains fishermen

    The Federal Government has disbursed 24 Yahama out­board marine boat engines, 50 bundles of fishing nets, 10,000 pieces of SH-20 floats and 100 units of marine ropes to Itsekiri Fishermen Cooperative in the Niger Delta.

    Deputy Director, Ar­tisanal Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Olusegun Babatunde, while presenting the equipment and inputs in Abuja, said the gesture was in line with government’s effort in increasing local production of fishes with additional 200,000 metric tonnes in Nigeria.

    A statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Information, Tony Ohaeri, said artisanal fishing has contributed 80 percent of fishes produced locally in Nigeria.

    The Federal Government, he said, has designed a programme targeted at 27 states engaged in artisanal fishing with focus on 200 fishermen per state.

    He added that such fish­ermen were expected to ben­efit from the empowerment drive in form of fishing in­puts like boats and canoes as a way of support and not subsidy from government.

    Receiving the fishing in­puts on behalf of Itsekiri Fishermen Cooperative, Mrs Ritalori Ogbebor said the gesture would reduce restiveness in Niger Delta.

    She, however, said gov­ernment’s gesture would also address some of the grievances in the region and pleaded for more as­sistance in swamp rice pro­duction and piggery.

    According to her, such assistance could be in the area of equipment for rice processing, harvesting and polishing.

  • Bayelsa knocks oil companies, content board

    Bayelsa knocks oil companies, content board

    Bayelsa State is not happy with oil companies operating in the state and the Niger Delta region. It could not hide its loathing for operational strategies of multinational oil companies when its Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Wodu Kemasuode, led a team on Tuesday to the headquarters of the Nigeria Content Development  and Management Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    Everybody thought that the commissioner and his team came for a courtesy visit, especially as the board has a new Executive Secretary, Mr. Denzel Kentebe, who hails from the state. He replaced the former administrator, Mr. Ernest Nwakpa.

    Kentebe also thought that it was a courtesy call. But it ended up being more than a familiarisation visit. Though the commissioner with his team after settling down in the exotic office of Kentebe congratulated him on his new portfolio, he wasted no time to spell out the grievances of the state against the board and the oil companies.

    First on his list was the recent sale of the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunkline by the Royal Dutch Shell Plc whose operational name in the country is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    Shell sold the oil facilities located in Nembe Local Government Area of the state to Aiteo Eastern E&P Co Ltd for about $1.7billion. But the state is angry at its exclusion from the transactions that led to the sale of OML 29.

    The commissioner said state’s expression of interest to acquire the oil assets was turned down by the multinational company. Kemasuode told Kentebe, that the interest of the state was not considered in the bidding that led to the sale.

    “Bayelsa State Government submitted its bid for OML 29 but we are not happy that our bid was not considered. We feel that the board did not consider the interest of the state in the bidding. Our interest was not protected,” he said.

    He said the state suffer greatly from all the environmental problems arising from oil exploitation and should have been considered first in the sale of the oil assets.

    Second on his list is the establishment of headquarters of oil companies outside their areas of operations in the state and the Niger Delta region. Undoubtedly, most companies who explore and exploit petroleum products in the state and the region have their headquarters outside  their operational areas. While some have their offices in Lagos, others operate from Abuja.

    But the commissioner said such practice account for the reasons why the states in the region have not developed to their full capacity. He demanded immediate relocation of oil companies’ head offices to oil-producing states including Bayelsa.

    He said the government was considering exploring legal options to compel oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the state. He said the absence of operational offices of the companies has adverse effects on the economy and environment of the state.

    He said: “What we suffer from the absence of these offices in the state cannot be enumerated, even in terms of taxation, the economy and real estate. Once these oil companies come here, so many other companies will follow them and this will boost our economy. Once they come, Bayelsa state will be something else.

    “So, we are suffering tremendously as a result of the absence of these companies. There is absolutely no basis not even issues of security. The place is secure enough for everyone. If it is so secured that these companies carry out their production, it should also be secured for them to bring their head offices here. The government is doing all its best to ensure that there is security and the government will still do more.”

    Without mincing words, the commissioner pointed out that the board is also guilty of what other oil companies are doing. He said the board has its most effective and efficient office outside the state.

    He said the board by so doing contravenes Section 71 of the Act establishing it which requires that it carries out its business and locate its headquarters within the oil-producing state. He said the board has reduced its Yenagoa office to a mere symbol while running most of its affairs in its Abuja office.

    He said against the spirits of the law, the board undertakes most of its activities in its Abuja office adding that if the board carries out its programmes in the state as envisaged by the act, they will improve the programme of the state.

    He said: “Then another major issue of concern to us as a state government is the fact that the board has in contravention of the Act, that is section 71 of the Act, established office outside the oil-producing state where mutual activities are carried out.

    “In the last programme that the board and the governor held last year, the governor did allude to that because I am aware that in the last regime, most of the activities took place there and that is to the detriment of the state because if you carry out your activities here as envisage by the act the economy of the state will improve.

    “The Act simply says you can have offices only in the oil-producing states. You should have your headquarters here then if you want branch offices you can build. As a goverment we are calling on the board to close that office in Abuja and carry out its businesses here.

    “The Abuja office of the board is illegal, it’s contrary to the provisions of the Act established by a particular section 71. These are serious legal issues and the state is quite serious serious about it.”

    Another issue bothering the state is the employment opportunities in the board. Kemasuode reminded Kentebe of the provision of the Federal Character in the Nigerian Constitution as it relates to employment. He said though the state lacks knowledge of composition of the board’s employees, there must an effective representation of indigenes of the state in the employment of the board.

    “For now we will call on the board to ensure that there is effective representation at all levels of indigenes of this state in the operations of the board not only at one level.

    “These are serious issues, which we have quietly talked about before coming to you.

    “We hope that these issues will be treated with the seriousness with which you would have been doing your work,”, he said.

    In his response, Kentebe said the board would look into the demands of the state and reschedule meetings to discuss them.

    He said: “I had thought that this was going to be a welcome courtesy visit, trying to welcome me to the state and trying to show me where the joints are, but from your presentation apart from being a welcome visit, you have also come with a lot of concerns.

    “I want to say that we will look into these issues. We have been here for five years and we have enjoyed the collaboration and support of the Bayelsa State government and we still continue to look forward to that.

    “These issues that you have brought up, we will look into them. We will schedule meetings to discuss them further with you, so we can continue to have that good relationship that we have had.

    “I can assure you that we are a very responsible board an we will not do anything contrary to the interest of the state of Bayelsa and most especially to contravene the Act that set us up in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

  • A time for reflection

    A time for reflection

    Delta, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom are four Southsouth states with new governors. The governors of Edo and Bayelsa are not new. Adams Oshiomhole is serving his second term in Edo State, while Seriake Dickson is warming up for a second term in Bayelsa State.

    With almost all the governors in this region new, I sincerely believe it is a time to let their Excellency knows that poverty walks on all fours in this region. What better way can I do this other than go back to a piece on this space last September 26?

    The piece titled ‘The common Niger Deltan’ is a food for thought. Here it is:

    I write this for no one in particular. It is just the thoughts of a man who needs to speak out before becoming a patient at a psychiatric hospital. Let me do a brief introduction: I am what many will prefer to address as the common man. But, since I fall into the geographic divide called the Niger Delta, I opt for the option of being addressed as the common Niger Deltan. What sets me apart from the other Niger Deltans? It is simple. I am poor, stinking and not sure of where the next meal will come from. I live in the creeks. My house, made of wood, is covered with palm front, which I have to change from time to time as they wither away.

    For me, luxury is a stranger. It is something I hear about and see when the rich choose to throw their weight about. Some of my children could not go to school. I don’t have to tell you the reason. It is obvious. Did I hear anyone talk about free education? It is a mirage to me and a source of pain too.

    But, do I really have any reason to be poor? I don’t think so. I was born into wealth. Not that my father was rich. My mother was a good friend to poverty. What I mean by being born to wealth centres around the fact that I am from the Niger Delta, where the oil of Nigeria’s prosperity is drilled. A constant reminder of this is some minutes away from my abode: the Residential Area or RA, as we are wont to call it, of the multinational the government gave the licence to drill our oil on its behalf. My house and those of others around me when compared with the RA cannot be described better than saying “heaven and hell, side by side”. Ours is hell; theirs is heaven.  I guess we have sinned and come short of the glory of God to be consigned to that sort of existence.

    On a second thought, I think it is not God that we have sinned against. It is our leaders, the men we elect to lead us. Or, better still, the men who forced themselves on us as our leaders. In my part of the Niger Delta, we never see night. I will explain. The multinational operating in our area has its flow station so close to our homes. It sends out gas flares throughout the day. So, the only way to differentiate between night and day is to check our wrist watch, something that is a luxury to many of us. In my town, oil pipelines are not underground. They are in the open. And often they burst or are burst and our soils and existence are damaged in the process.

    We have shouted, protested and threatened violence over our fate, yet change has refused to come. It is as if the multinational also has another licence: to send us all to our early grave so that our leaders can have all the wealth for themselves, including the little they manage to spend on basic amenities for us. This environmental genocide, as some have called it, is having serious effects on us. Strange diseases are killing our people. Pregnant women are developing strange allergies. Yet, we have only one ill-equipped health centre to take care of our health needs. We have several people with aggravated asthma, increases in respiratory symptoms, such as coughing and difficult or painful breathing, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. Premature death is not uncommon.

    What further baffles me is that this multinational goes about painting a picture of being an asset to us, when it is, indeed, a curse. Every Christmas, the company sends us cows, two cows to be specific, for this big town to share. You need to come and see the fighting this usually causes. Poverty is not good. We end up fighting over something we are supposed to reject and throw back at the bearer.

    I heard the other day that the company says it is all out to ensure no harm comes to us as a result of its activities here. Yet, as I write this, my brain is being flared out by the gas flares from its flow station, which is at the centre of our town. The truth is, they are more interested in the oil than in our well-being. We can die for all they care. Oil is more important than man; that is their mantra. Our government is an accomplice in this man’s inhumanity to man. Once the royalty keeps coming in, to hell with the people. Meanwhile, they will tell us “Power to the people”. Soon, they will come around distributing rice, George and wrapper and all kinds to buy our conscience and votes. Willingly, we will sell. No thanks to poverty.

    It is lost on our government that the richest nations in the world are agro-based. The country used to make so much money from cocoa, groundnut and other cash crops. But, oil has made us mad. We have lost our sense of reasoning. We just don’t give a damn about its down side. The madness has eaten into the youths who are now looking for easy money. That is why they see militancy, kidnapping, illegal bunkering and armed robbery as better than tilling the few good soil left. I agree with the school of thought which argues that our leaders brought about the laziness among the young ones. Someone needs to show them leadership and direction.

    Our leaders must try some radical approach to increase revenue. Agriculture will help. Rice farms will do a lot of magic. We are known as fishermen, but we are not doing it well. If we do it well, we will make lots of cash locally and foreign exchange will also increase tremendously. In many of our communities, crops, such as plantain and banana, just sprout out on their own. We don’t have to plant them. I read somewhere in one of those scarce moments when I come across newspapers that plantain can be imported too. This is something that just grows on its own on our soil. We need to think.  We must harness this potential for the betterment of the state.

    The other time our past governor acquired fishing trolleys. We were happy they would help us get more from our fishes. As I write, these trolleys are abandoned at a waterside, another evidence of how we waste our limited resources. It is a tale of ‘Papa Deceiving Pikin’. We are just one big nation of liars. Leaders lie. Journalists bend the fact. Oil companies twist the facts. It is just a big game of deceit. But, we must not continue like this lest we perish.

    This is where I rest my case hoping somebody will rescue me from the huge oven the flare from the oil giant’s flow station has turned my home. Or, may be my last hope lies in my son, the only one I managed to send to the university but ended up a militant when there was no job. Through the Amnesty Programme, he was trained as a pilot. If he gets a job, may be my sorrow will be over and I will leave this oven I call home and start life afresh. But, like many who benefitted from the Amnesty Programme trainings, he is still jobless and living off his monthly stipend, a percentage of which goes to his former militant camp leader.

    What else is there to say other than that the Niger Delta narrative must change. The common Niger Deltan deserves to tell a better tale, not a warped one like this. And with a Ben Ayade, a young professor in Cross River, and other new ones in the region, things should improve  in the next few years.

  • Boost for midwives in Niger Delta

    Shell Petroleum Development of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture in collaboration with the governments of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Abia and Akwa Ibom states and New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) are set to turn around healthcare delivery system in the Niger Delta area.

    A statement by SPDC said healthcare delivery in six Niger Delta states would take an upswing with the training of 300 midwives that will support government’s effort in getting more skilled health workers to rural communities.

    It said the 18-month midwifery certification training, which commenced in 2014 aims to produce skilled and motivated change agents in the hinterland, where statistics show that 45% of women are delivered of their babies with the help of unskilled birth attendants, thereby increasing the risk of maternal and infant mortality in such areas.

    The initiative, it also noted, is sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture in collaboration with the governments of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Abia and Akwa Ibom states and New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD).

    SPDC’s acting Regional Community Health Manager, Dr. Akinwumi Fajola, said at a cheque presentation ceremony in Port Harcourt, “This is a unique intervention that invests not only in the individual beneficiaries but also in the people hoping to benefit from their newly acquired skills. The training is in line with SPDC’s commitment to improving healthcare in rural areas and will make the much-needed difference in hard-to-reach locations in the Delta.”

    SPDC’s acting Head of Department, Partnership and Collaboration, Dr. Dennis Oyakhire, commended the state ministries of health for their commitment to the success of the partnership.

    He said: “In 2014, the beneficiaries received the first instalment of the scholarship fund and today we are happy to be presenting the second (and final) cheques to them. We are all looking forward to enjoying the benefits of this initiative.”

    The Director of Nursing Services, Abia State Ministry of Health, Pastor Ekeagba Promise, thanked SPDC for training the midwives.

    As part of the programme, the 300 trainees are studying in accredited state schools of midwifery and also sent on clinical attachments in community hospitals, all with a view to preparing them for the final qualifying examination of the Nigerian Nursing and Midwifery Council.

    SPDC said it has provided them with modern laptops to facilitate research and documentation.

    Faith Emerho, one of the beneficiaries from the Delta State School of Nursing, Sapele, said: “I was struggling through school; combining school with work until SPDC provided finances that enabled me resume my studies. I promise to be an agent of change in my community.”

    Faith and the other midwives are expected to graduate this year and return to their communities to provide professional medical care.

  • Bayelsa ministry, pupils partner on environmental sustenance

    Bayelsa ministry, pupils partner on environmental sustenance

    Among all the states in the Niger Delta, Bayelsa has one the most difficult environmental challenges. It is always said that the state has more rivers than Rivers State and is more Deltaic than Delta State.

    The state’s environmental challenges are compounded by incessant oil spills, gas flaring, flooding, reckless sand excavation and improper waste management system. To tackle the challenges, the state Ministry of Environment headed by Mr. Iniruo Wills, is leading a campaign for sustainable environment.

    Wills is worried by the future of the state’s environment. He, therefore, believes that for the environment to be guaranteed, child education on dangers faced by the environment and measures that must be adopted to preserve it should top the agenda of his ministry.

    No wonder the ministry decided to celebrate this year’s World Environment Day with the pupils of the Cedar Court British International School located in Yenagoa, the state capital. The Lead Administrator and founder of the School, Mrs. Wealth Obibi, is also in her own right an environmental activist.

    She initiated involvement of children in the celebration by sending a proposal to Wills who did not hesitate to accede to her request. It was amazing to see the brilliant well-fed children exchanged knowledge and ideas on environmental preservation with Wills and the directors from the ministry.

    The Director in charge of Petroleum and Control, Engr. Japheth A. told the children some aspects of the environment that can be polluted. “Don’t play with batteries. They can kill”, he told the children. He educated the children on the activities of oil companies in the state and the Niger Delta region. He said oil spills occur in the environment and cause environmental damage and hazards.

    He further named illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism and illegal refineries as some of the disturbing environmental challenges in the state. “People break pipe, take crude and cook. It is dangerous”, he said adding that such evil practices pollute the environment and the fish consumed by people.

    Similarly, Judge Kingsley, a Director in charge of Environmental Health, educated the children on waste management and the health hazards of disposing refuse recklessly. He appealed to the pupils to safeguard the environment by properly disposing waste.

    According to Wills, the theme for the year’s celebration, “Seven Billion Dreams, One Planet, Consume with Care”, is apt. He said apart from June 5 set aside to celebrate the environment, everyday is an environment day.

    “The environment is so important that we must do everything possible to protect the environment”, he said. But the children took the centre stage. In breathtaking performances they demonstrated their vast knowledge of environmental issues. In one accord, they chorused the year’s theme as the raised their clinched fists to add momentum to their determination.

    Each of the kids selected for the presentation spoke on an aspect of the environment. They narrated the history of the environment day, climate change and its effects, place of animals and plants in the environment and sustainable lifestyles to safeguard the environment.

    They spoke on importance of biofuel as alternative source of energy. To reduce effects of light, they advised that people should learn to go to bed early.

    After their enlightening performances, the ministry took time to further give the pupils tips on healthy living and environmental sustainability. In a power-point presentation, Augustine, who works in the advocacy department of the ministry spoke of population increase and its pressure on environmental resources.

    “The resources are depleted, the environment is increasing. How then do we survive?” He queried. But he asked the children to stop the practice of cutting down trees. “Trees take carbon dioxide from the environment and give us oxygen. Instead of cutting trees, we should plant more”, he said.

    He further warned the children against cooking of rude oil, reckless dumping of waste, breaking pipelines and sand excavation.

    The curious pupils did not spare the environmental experts. They asked intelligent questions and received answers on issues bordering on oil spills, felling of trees and others.

    Also, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Social Media, Dr. John Idumange, emphasized the environmental dangers faced by people in the region. He said oil companies have devastated the state’s environment through their exploration of crude without corresponding action to reclaim the environment.

    “The first person that will kill us is the oil company. The crude oil that is providing money to the country comes from the Niger Delta. We still have gas flaring and it is very toxic. We have crude oil wells all over the place”, he said.

    The children shuddered at Idumange’s explanations that in the rural areas people defecate into the water they drink from. He said cancer abounds because of of unhealthy food consumed by people.

    The highpoint of the event was the presentation of paintings illustrating the year’s environmental theme to the commissioner by the pupils.

    After receiving the artwork, the commissioner said: “This is one of the most important gift we have ever received. Cedar Court is now a partner of the Bayelsa State Ministry of environment. The artwork will be framed properly and it will be in prominent position in my school”.

    He declared the school, the most environmental-friendly school in the state. Dr. Obibi who was accompanied by her husband said the pupils were initially taken on tour to the Bayelsa Palm and that they would proceed to some parts of the city to engage in environmental sanitation. She promised to upload pictures of the event to the school’s global website and thanked the commissioner for his warm reception.

  • Youth groups sing discordant tune over NDDC

    Youth groups sing discordant tune over NDDC

    as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under Chief Bassey Dan-Abia been transparent? This is a question that youths in the Niger Delta have been unable to answer in one voice.

    To a youth group, the Niger Delta Transparency and Integrity Coalition, Abia has run the agency with utmost sense of responsibility. But another youth group, the Aggrieved Voice of Niger Delta wants President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the Abia-led management of the interventionist agency.

    The leader of the Niger Delta Transparency and Integrity Coalition,  Chief Ngoye Iyalla  also faulted a report which claimed that the Abia-led management has borrowed N2.5 billion from an unnamed  bank.

    The report, which was credited to Chief Ngoye Iyalla, also claimed that the loan is being serviced with N2.5 million monthly.

    In a statement in Port Harcourt, the  Rivers State capital, its National President, Chiagorom Nwonkwo, dismissed the allegations, insisting that the Board has no such powers to borrow money without the approval of the nine governors of the Niger Delta states and the Federal Government.

    The youths stated that the report was a cheap blackmail to discredit the good works of the present NDDC Board, the youths vowed never to fold their arms and watch some disgruntled elements to destroy their (youths), tomorrow.

    They called on the Chief Iyallla to come up with verifiable  evidence to prove his accusations, otherwise refute his allegations, or face legal action by the youths.

    According to them, the present management of the commission has performed well having inherited an empty treasury and debt to the tune of N300 billion from its predecessor, and accumulated unpaid appropriation to the tune of N745 billion since its inception in 2001.

    They maintained that the commission is grossly underfunded and owed by the Federal Government, appealed to President  Mohammadu Buhari to look into this claim, with the view to addressing it and releasing the monies owed the commission.

    “NDDC is an interventionist agency. Every state in the Niger Delta has sitting executives (the governors) and they are involved in different projects. As an interventionist agency, the commission’s mandate is to identify the immediate needs of the people of the area and address them.

    “Between 2001 the commission was established and 2014, NDDC is being owed N745 billion by the Federal Government. The NDDC Act recommended that 10 per cent ecological fund should be given to it, but the commission has  not seen the fund since its establishment.

    “Also oil companies in the region supposed to remit 3 per cent of its annual profit to the commission, but I can  tell you that none of the companies have complied with this directive of the Federal Government.

    “People are complaining of uncompleted projects and projects not being sighted in their areas, it is obvious that any organization that is deprived of adequate funding is completely handicapped, the commission can only work within the limit of the resources within its disposal.”

    The group maintained that the NDDC main thrusts are being followed by the current administration to ensure no  area was neglected but  regretted that they cannot move as fast for obvious reasons.

    “The Act establishing the mission specifically state three main areas, infrastructural development, youth empowerment and other programmes that can bring about peace and development in the area, and the present management of the Commission is religiously  following this mandates.

    “The management has taken it upon itself to ensure that no project by the commission from inception was left uncompleted/abandoned while  initiating new one.

    “He has presently completed several of them; however funding challenge remains a problem and today, the Managing Director (M/D), Dan Abia embarks on projects inspection to ensure things are done well and the people of the  region get value for their resource.

    “2015 budget has not been passed into law and we are now in May, that of 2014 was not fully released, the commission is suffering and suffocating under lack of fund to carry out their projects and programmes; and we the youths of the region understand this plight so well and have severally appealed to the FG to adequately fund them for better results to no avail.

    “One may ask the concern of the youths in this allegation, we are the leaders of tomorrow and whatever that is being built today is for us, should we fold our arms and allow unscrupulous elements to run down our tomorrow today, through unfounded allegations and petitions then our tomorrow can no longer be guaranteed.

    “We therefore demand that chief Ngoye Iyalla retracts his allegations within14 days and render unreserved apologies to members of the Board of NDDC and if he refuses to comply, we the youths of the region will mobilise ourselves and seek redress in the court.”

    However, the Aggrieved Voice of Niger Delta accused Abia–led NDDC of squandering money meant for the award of water- hyacinth to Niger Delta communities, especially communities whose source of drinking water have been affected by oil spill pollution.

    The President of the group, Comrade Amatari Bipeledi, said Buhari must expose anything that could jeopardise his administration.

    He said the youth of Niger Delta were ready and willing to partner with the Buhari government and to give him a full support on any policies that could liberate the people of Niger Delta.

    He regretted that the Abia- led NDDC did not encourage the youths.

    ”We are calling on President Buhari to  immediately set a panel to  probe of the present NDDC board. The board led by Dan-Abia is supposed to protect the lives of those suffering in our riverine communities but they failed to do so.

    ”NDDC is expected to shortlist names of beneficiaries before giving award letters, but today NDDC gave award letters through the back door to their cronies, relatives, pseudo, and proxy companies without due process.

    ”We have many facts and evidence to present to President Buhari whenever he is ready to act on our fact. The purpose for the creation of NDDC has been seriously compromised.”

  • Mathematics contest kicks off in Delta councils

    The second edition of the Ejele Annual Mathematics Competition kicked off last Friday in five designated locations across five council areas of Delta State.

    The competition, which is sponsored by the member representing Warri North Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Michael Diden, who is also known as Ejele, was designed to promote the learning of mathematics in all public secondary schools in five council areas of the state.

    Announcing the commencement of the second edition of the competition in a statement made available to the media in Warri yesterday, Mrs. Judith Diden said all public secondary schools in Ethiope-West, Okpe, Sapele, Uvwie and Warri North  council areas would be participating.

    Continuing, the statement disclosed that the best three students from each of the five participating council areas would contest in the final round, which would take place on June 20, 2015 at a location that would be disclosed later.

    It further added that the final stage would also include the answering of oral questions before an audience in order to select the overall best contestants.

    The competition would award laptops, books and cash prizes to the best contestants, while participation certificates and other prizes would be awarded to some participants and teachers respectively.

    It however pointed out that the academic contest, which is meant for only Senior Secondary Class 2 students in the selected areas, was meant to, among other things, popularize Mathematics among students, raise the awareness of young learners on the relevance of the subject, identify promising students as well as promote hard work among them.

  • Council, NGO empower women, youths though skill acquisition

    In a bid to check the rate of restiveness in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State, the chairman of the area, Mrs Rita Agbo Ayim has entered a partnership with a non-governmental organization (NGO), CUSO International to train youths and women on entrepreneunership.

    The beneficiaries are to specialize on poultry farming, goat raising, fish farming among others.

    Ayim said the move is to make them self-employed, to contribute positively to the development of the economy of the area.

    The Council Chairman who signed an MOU with the organization in Ogoja said about 400 youths and women would benefit from the job-creating endeavor.

    Speaking at the signing of the MOU at the Council Hall, the Chairman adviced the beneficiaries to take the programme seriously in order to help reduce restiveness among themselves and to create job for others.

    Her words, “I am charging the participants and the beneficiaries to put more effort in the programme so they can become employers of labour, and to make sure the essence of the programme is not being defeated.”

    Ayim lauded the CUSO International team that came for the exercise and assured them of her readiness to do everything possible for the programme to succeed.

    Project Director of CUSO, Mr. Chris Braeuel also charged the beneficiaries to take the opportunity given to them in order to create jobs for others and themselves.