Category: South East

Young Progressive Party (YPP) House of Representatives candidate for Awka North and South Federal Constituencies, Kingsley Uyammadu, has identified political instability, inconsistency in policy making, among others as factors denying Nigeria the opportunity of attracting foreign and local investors.

Uyammadu, who spoke in Awka, Anambra State capital, at an interactive session with members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said his constituents and the nation would experience divine turnaround in policy making if he was elected.

He said he had been anointed by God as the messiah to salvage his constituency in 2023, stressing that no force or power under the earth could stop his ambition.

Uyammadu promised to attract vocational institutions to the two council areas he was aspiring to represent, as well as establish a trade zone targeted at raising job creators and employers of labour.

Ex-Minister of Power Prof. Barth Nnaji has urged Enugu State governorship candidates to focus on non-inclusive economic growth, macroeconomic instability, infrastructure deficit, human capital deficit and skills gap if any of them is elected.

He said focusing on those areas would help to reposition the state to the path of growth.

Nnaji was delivering a keynote address at a ‘Policy Dialogue on Enugu State of Our Dream: An Agenda Setting for Enugu State’s Development Plan’, held in Enugu, the capital, by Hilltop Club, Abuja.

The club used the occasion to engage the governorship candidates in a dialogue, to provide a roadmap for an orderly and comprehensive development of the state.

The former minister lamented that youths “are now seeking greener pastures outside the country because the government has failed to make the state conducive for economic activities.”

He said it was possible to reinvent Enugu and make it a place for investments.

The Chairman of Hilltop Club, Abuja, Chief Chris Okafor, listed the seven thematic areas of focus by the governorship candidates to include: agriculture/food security/rural development, education, health services, transportation, among others.

Landlords and property owners of over 2,000 properties on the Right of Way of the second Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta states have protested the non- payment of their compensation for the past five years by the Federal Government .

They said the Minister of Works, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, assured them of compensation at the beginning of the second Niger Bridge over five years ago.

The protesters, who sang solidarity songs, marched on the Federal Secretariat premises, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Fashola, Tell Buhari the Truth”, “Compensation is our Right”, “Fashola, Please, Stop the Lies, our Eyes Are Opened” ,”Is Five Years Not Enough? ,”We will Not Allow the Diversion If you Don’t Pay Us”.

Bamidele Imona, who spoke to reporters in Asaba yesterday, accused the Federal Government of deceit, stressing that Fashola refused to agree that his ministry was in possession of the compensation funds.

The protesters said they were confused as to who was in possession of the compensation funds, adding that Fashola and the consultant were trading words over compensation fund.

Bamidele said the Federal Government agents collected their banks details “and told us that they have compulsorily acquired our properties. And we should not go there again, but for the past five years, nothing has been done, nothing has been said.”

He said they were told the returned Abacha loot would be used for the completion of the bridge and payment of compensation, but “up till now we have not heard anything. This is disturbing.”

Bamidele said rather than complete the project and pay compensation to the property owners, the Federal Government was planning to inaugurate an uncompleted road.

Another property owner, Mrs. Josephine Crossday, lamented that their land and other properties were forcefully taken by the federal authorities without plan to compensate landowners.

Uche Onuorah said the area on the Asaba axis covered Okwe, Oko, Ibusa and Okpanam and on the Anambra axis, Obosi, Umuoji, Mkpor, Ogidi, Umuyan and Ogbunike.

He said the protesters were representatives of the over 2,000 property owners from Anambra and Delta states.

Another protester, Nkemchor Kashy, said the contractors had constructed almost 2km of the road towards Okwe axis, but the road ended abruptly.

She added: “Many have died. Some have gone back to the village.  I want my own right. My money should be paid to me with the current economic value, not the past value. If you give me one million naira, I will not accept it. I need the present economic value. Everything has increased.”

A woman, who preferred anonymity, said: “My husband died in 2014. He used his benefit to build the house there.  Now I cannot go forth, I cannot come back. I’ve been suffering since 2014. No money to feed my children.

“No money to pay my children’s school fees. They have been deceiving us that they have released money to pay us. They have been ‘posting’ us here and there. We are tired. Enough is enough. I’m homeless, no house, no food.”

•POS operator stabbed to death

A Point of Sales (PoS) operator in the late evening of Friday was stabbed to death around Bishop’s Court in Okwu Uratta area of Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State.

The victim, identified as Esther, was said to have closed for work for the day and had gone to a nearby salon to fix her hair.

An eyewitness told the Nation that the young lady was accosted by some motorcycle operators suspected to be robbers.

“They accosted her and an argument ensued and in the process they stabbed her and fled,” the source said.

Esther was said to be living with her sister who’s a student living in one of the students lodges in the area. The area, close to Imo State University, is mostly populated by students.

The situation led to a pandemonium on Saturday morning as students who got wind of the development, attacked motor cycle operators plying the area.

Another eye witness told our correspondent that incident of stealing money from PoS operators has increased in the area in recent times.

A member of the Students Alliance, a body that takes care of the welfare of students in the area, who did not want his name mentioned, said that hoodlums had changed their pattern of robbing PoS operators.

He said, “Their tactics now is that one of them will deposit large sum. Few minutes later, they will strike since they know that the money will still be with the operator.”

He added that they (hoodlums) usually do such huge lodgment between 6 pm to 8 pm.

As at the time of filing the report, a detachment of police have been deployed to restore peace in the area.

The Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Michael Abattam, has not responded to enquiries on the matter.

THe Imo State Government has launched the Connect Imo Project aimed at ensuring quality broadband coverage and extension of telecommunications services to all villages, communities and towns in the state.

Disclosing this on Wednesday at the 2022 National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Stakeholders’ Engagement meeting held in Owerri, the Commissioner for Digital Economy and e-Government, Dr. Chimeizie Amadi, said the step would bolster quality service delivery, economic prosperity and good governance.

“The administration is collaborating with some telecommunication companies and service providers to deepen broadband penetration in unserved and underserved areas with weak or no telecommunication/Internet coverage in the state.”

As part of the aggressive drive for broadband penetration, Dr. Amadi who represented Governor Hope Uzodimma at the occasion disclosed that the governor has signed an Executive Order No 002, 2020 significantly reducing Right of Way (ROW) charge in the state from N4, 500 to N145 per metre in tandem with the Federal Government harmonisation policy.

“This is in bid to create a friendly business environment that will drive broadband penetration, spur tech driven investment, job and wealth creation in the state.”

A socio-political group, Liberated People for Transparency and Good Governance has absolved Akwa Ibom state governor, Udom Emmanuel of blame over the imprisonment of the Young Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.

Akpan, who is the Senator representing Akwa Ibom Northeast senatorial district in the National Assembly, was on Thursday sentenced to 42 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Uyo over corruption.

The development has sparked reactions and counter reactions especially from supporters of the YPP guber candidate.  For instance the Akwa Ubok Abasi campaign organisation, a group working for Senator 2023 governorship, has pointed accusing fingers at Governor Emmanuel.

A statement signed by the Chairman, Campaign Council of the YPP guber candidate, Sir Emem Akpabio, specifically said: “On Thursday, December 1st, 2022, Akwa Ibom State citizens nay all Nigerians witnessed judicial absurdity in its rarest form. They saw how justice was turned on its head, just to please the powers that be in the State.”

But the group in a press conference addressed on Saturday in Uyo by its President Comrade Enefiok Umoh and Secretary Edet Afia keke made it clear that the law of the land is supreme and no man no matter his position in the society is bigger than the law.

“In May 10, 2010, Obong Bassey Albert Akpan (then the Akwa Ibom state Commissioner for Finance) was alleged to have received from Jide Omokore, a business man (who was later picked by the EFCC for questioning,) a BMW X5 (Bulletproof) worth N50 million; in December 2012 another Infinity QX 56(bulletproof) worth N45 million was also received from the same source, and 4 other luxury vehicles worth millions of naira each.”

•Obi will sweep presidential poll, says gov candidate

The Bayelsa State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) on Saturday officially opened its state secretariat complex along the Isaac Boro Expressway in Yenagoa, the state capital, for the coordination of activities for the 2023 general elections.

The LP also inaugurated local government coordinators and several committees that were earlier constituted for the party’s presidential campaign.

Speaking after performing the inauguration of the edifice, the LP governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Uduak Udoh, expressed confidence in the leadership abilities of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, saying that Nigerians were clamouring for him.

Udoh, who was accompanied by his running mate, Charles Ebong, and the Akwa Ibom LP deputy chairman, Iniobong Nyong, among other officials, described Peter Obi as “a man of proven integrity” who had the capacity to administer the country effectively.

Udoh said: “Everybody is yearning for Peter Obi. We know that he has what Nigeria needs. Nigeria needs a man of proven integrity, a man that can deliver. And who else do we have than Peter Obi? Nigerians want him. He talks about industrialisation; he talks about human capital development; Nigerians need someone who can eradicate poverty and Peter Obi would do that for us.

“He is not just saying it, he has done it before when he was a governor and we know he will do it again. We know his records, it is clean and he will do it for us.”

In his remarks, the Bayelsa State Coordinator of the LP Presidential Campaign Council, Alagoa Morris, said the party was working hard to convince the electorate in the state that Peter Obi was the right person for the job.

Morris urged people to sacrifice for Peter Obi’s electoral victory, saying: “We need to be free and this country needs to be in alignment with the Peter Obi movement. It is a movement to free Nigerians from the parasitic Nigerian political class.

“Nigeria need someone who can manage public finances efficiently; and human capital development of Nigerians. This, Peter Obi will give to Nigerians.”

Also speaking, the Bayelsa State chairman of LP, Eneyi Zidougha, said the party was vigorously mobilising grassroots support for Peter Obi.

National Population Commission (NPC) in Anambra State said it has so far received over 12,000 applications in the ongoing e-recruitment exercise ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.

Federal Commissioner representing the state in the Commission, Mr. Chidi Ezeoke gave the charge in Awka during a two-day training workshop for state and local government area recruitment team for the census.

Ezeoke had, during the inauguration of online e-recruitment portal, revealed that over 30,000 field officers would be recruited for the Population and Housing Census in the State.

He blamed the death of state’s accountant, Mrs Theresa Okeke recently strangled by her step son who served as an ad-hoc staff during the trial census on lack of in-depth screening, warning against future recurrence.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has said that his administration is determined to put in place a dependable health delivery architecture that would help carter to the health needs of Imo indigenes.

He spoke on at weekend in Owerri while declaring open the 12th annual Nigerian Academy of Neurological Surgeons Scientific Conference at the Beland Hotel with the theme – Evolving Subspecialties of Neurosurgery in Nigeria.

Governor Uzodimma who appreciated the Academy for the choice of Owerri for the conference, described it “as a well informed decision to visit Imo State.”

The Governor stated that the conference was holding at a time when “many still believe that there is no peace in Imo State.”

He said: “There is no doubt that our improved security situation and our famed hospitality and readiness to provide conducive ambiance for conferences must have informed your choice of Imo State as the venue for this conference.”

Uzodimma noted that in the last couple of months, Imo State has hosted a number of high profile conferences, including that of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police, Accountants, and Guild of Editors.

“At the end of their stay, they came to the obvious conclusion, just like you would, at the end of your own conference, that Imo is very safe and nothing near what the detractors wanted to say to the world.”

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Success Prosper Ohayagha in his remarks stated: “We are now conducting complicated neurosurgeries in Imo State.”

At least 161 students have bagged first class honours in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in combined convocations for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic sessions.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Owunari Georgewill, who spoke in Port Harcourt at the weekend said the 161 first class graduates were among the 9, 536 graduates, who participated in the event from various disciplines.

He said the ceremony, which started on December 1 with a lecture ended with the award of degrees and honours on December 3 in the university campus.

He said the convocations were combined following the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic and the eight-month strike by the various university unions.

He said: “You will agree with me that it (convocation) appears to have been delayed. Obviously, we all know some of the reasons. One, COVID-19 and two, eight months of strike by different unions on campus.

“In this convocation that is combined we are graduating about 9, 536 Bachelors Degrees, out of which 161 obtain the first class honours.

“We are also expecting to convoke about 9, 699 Post Graduate Degrees and Diplomas. Of this number, about 1028 are P HDs, 3745 are Masters Degrees in various disciplines, 4, 926 are Post Graduate Diplomas.”