Category: South East

IN fulfillment of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) to its host community, the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder partnered Rumuolumeni Community of Obiokpor Local Government Area (LGA), Rivers state to carry out a one-day environmental sanitation exercise.

The three hour exercise which lasted in the early hours of Saturday morning was led by the Commander NNS Pathfinder, Suleiman Ibrahim and Rumuolumeni Community Development Committee(CDC), chairman of the community, Williams Ikechukwu.

The activity led to the momentary deserting of the entire stretch of Aka-Base road where the exercise held sway deserted momentarily by both human and vehicular movements, even as shops and other businesses along the road were shut down within the period.

However, some persons and vehicles who hit the road unaware or with genuine excuse to be on the road at the point in time where made to participate on the exercise one way or the other before they were allowed to go, even as some residents who ignored cleaning their environment, frontages were forced out by the Navy personnel to participate in exercise.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the exercise, Ibrahim said the cleanup activity of the Navy personnel was part of the way to appreciate Governor Nyesom Wike’s gesture of building the road and to maintain it so that it does not wear out quickly.

THE Ebonyi State Government yesterday expressed concern over the persistent destruction of the perimeter fencing of the State International Airport by the host communities.

The State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji in a statement said the state government has taken measures to ensure the safety of the fence and the properties of the Airport.

He stated that the measures taken would enable the smooth take-off of the airport this year.

Orji stated that going forward, any further destruction of the fence of the Airport or part thereof, the Traditional Rulers of the host communities, the Town Union Presidents of the host communities, the Councillors of the host communities must provide the perpetrators or risk being arrested.

Others that may face arrest according to the state government include Development Centre Coordinators of the host communities and the Village Heads of the host communities.

“It is unfortunate that the state government has in the past six months been rebuilding the destroyed fences by members of the host communities. The state government is worried that this development may hamper the 2022 smooth take-off of the airport operations.”

“The state government notes with worry that all over the country where airports are located within communities, that the fences or properties of those airports are not being destroyed or vandalised by those host communities,” he said.

THE Edo State Government has disclosed plans to recruit 1,000 new secondary school teachers and train 650 others on digital teaching methods.

The Commissioner for Education, Dr. Joan Osa-Oviawe said this during an interactive session with journalists on the preparedness of the Ministry of Education for the 2022/2023 academic calendar in the State.

She noted that the ministry has been engaged in a series of planning, stakeholders’ engagements and town hall meetings to improve the education sector.

Hailing Governor Godwin Obaseki for his relentless commitment to improving the quality of education in the state, the Commissioner said, “We thank the governor for his effort in re-enacting education in the State, covering the full spectrum from basic to tertiary education.

“In partnership with UNICEF, we will roll out digital learning in our secondary schools, commencing with 40 pilot schools. 650 teachers will be trained in digital learning this August ahead of resumption in September.”

BAYELSA State Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has reiterated his call on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take deliberate steps to check the decline in legal practice standards in the country.

He spoke on Saturday while granting audience to a delegation of the NBA Women Forum, Bayelsa Chapter, led by its Chairperson, Barrister Dise Sheila Ogbise, at Government House in Yenagoa.

Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, expressed concern that the reputation and public image of the legal profession was being eroded by the conduct of some lawyers.

The Deputy Governor, who is a lawyer, particularly charged all organs of the NBA to play a pivotal role in promoting professional standards for which the legal profession is known, warning that if urgent measures were not taken, the profession would be worst for it.

Ewhrudjakpo challenged the NBA to come up with a framework that would make it mandatory for young lawyers freshly called to bar to be under the tutelage of more experienced practitioners for a specific number of years before they are given the silk.

He assured them that government would look into their request for support to acquire an office accommodation, and sponsorship of their members to attend the 2022 Annual NBA Conference in Lagos.

Earlier in her remarks, the State Lead of the NBA Women Forum, Barrister Dise Sheila Ogbise, thanked the state government for its good disposition towards female lawyers in the state.

The NBA Women Forum Yenagoa branch facilitator, Barrister Douye Ebiokpo-Kemebigha, and her Sagbama counterpart, Barrister Ebiere Ekpese, were part of the delegation.

The highlights of the visit included the presentation of an award of excellence on the Deputy Governor by the State Lead of the NBA Women Forum, Barrister Dise Sheila Ogbise.

LEADERS of Ndi-Igbo Youth Organisation have called on the Southeast to approach the 2023 presidential election with a united front.

The leaders, who said a summit is being planned in Enugu, tagged: “Emerging Igbo Leaders’ Summit 2022,” said prominent people of Igbo extraction would meet to decide on the way forward.

Chairman of the Central Planning Committee (CPC), Dr. Chibuike Echem said: “We are going to sit as a group, as a people and address issues that bother our region; address issues that affect our people – security, hunger, suffering are issues that are pertinent on the table right now because they affect every person from the Southeast.

“Ndigbo, despite our natural and divine endowment to create wealth, transform societies, and contribute optimally toward the development of any environment we find ourselves, have suddenly found ourselves in political captivity and socio-political slavery within the context of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

A former senator representing Cross River South senatorial district of Cross River State, Chief Florence Ita-Giwa has called on political leaders to exhibit servant leadership that is exemplary for today’s youths.

Ita-Giwa gave this advise recently at the unveiling of ‘Ini Nnyin Edi Emi’ for the realisation of a governor of Cross River South extraction for the state.

She said “all Nigerians need is service; leadership based on service. And the fact that youths have become conscious of their socio-political realities is encouraging.

She also explained that ‘Ini Nnyin Edi Emi,’ meaning ‘It’s our turn’, was a rallying philosophy for the realisation of the rotational governorship seat of Cross River state.

“The next generation is waiting. They are becoming aware and involved. So we cannot let them down.”

“Rotation is an understanding. It’s not constitutional. But a service-oriented leaders must realise how these kind of understanding aid the people’s welfare.

“Ini Nnyin Edi Emi is not just a rallying cry. It is a philosophy that will drive our political consciousness.”

BUSINESSMEN and professionals in Enugu State under the auspices

Enugu State Coalition of Business and Professional Associations(ECOBPA) have applauded the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for the sterling partnership they have enjoyed under his administration.

The group said that businesses in the state are thriving because Governor Ugwuanyi created an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

Speaking during the 2022 annual general meeting of the group held in Enugu, the chairman of the group, Barr, Jasper Nduagwuike disclosed that Ugwuanyi, in his effort to ensure that businesses thrived in the state, had created an enabling environment by adopting the group’s recommendation on the Revised Enugu State Business Agenda Documents.

Nduagwuike, who is also the president of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mining and Agriculture (ECCIMA), disclosed that has committed both time and resources to realise the dreams of the founding fathers which aimed to create a pressure group for the organised private sectors.

While reaffirming the group’s commitment and proactiveness, Nduagwuike, disclosed that the group would continue to engage with Center for International Private Enterprise(CIPE) for technical and financial assistance.

“The Enugu coalition of business and professional associations is slowly but surely getting back to the times when it was the toast of CIPE both here in Nigeria and the headquarters in the United States.

“The founding fathers of this association had a huge dream of not just making it the advocacy arm of the Enugu Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture, but to, through it, create a pressure group for the organized private sector.

“To this end, ECCIMA has given time and resources to realize the dream, further it and make it real. Our profound thanks must therefore go to ECCIMA for its continuous and unyielding commitment to ECOBPA.”

“May I also put on record the sterling partnership we have been privileged to enjoy under the current government of his Excellency Rt, Hon. Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi, governor of Enugu State. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and industry has been a veritable bridge for this partnership and deserves our unfettered recognition for all he has done and continues to do. The adoption by the state government of our recommendations of the Revised Enugu State Business Agenda Document is a case in point.

“On assumption of office as the chairman of this body. a beleaguered association stared us in the face and we had to embark on astute brinksmanship to ensure that it is salvaged. Behind the scene moves ensued that gave birth to what you see today. Special thanks to Mr. Uchechukwu Mba. Dr. Victor Agunwa of CIBN. Mr. Arinze Emenike of NASSI, Engr. Nneka Nwagugu of NSE. Mr. Amadi of SEPTA and others who contributed to making this day a success.

“We shall continue to engage to engage with CIPE for technical and financial assistance which I am sure they will continue to oblige us as long as we are committed and proactive.

“We shall make available our program of action in 2022 and 2023 to you so that we shall all be on the same page especially in this election period,” Nduagwuike said.

THE Federal Government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has commenced the disbursement of cash grants of N20,000 each to 2,219 poor and vulnerable persons in Bayelsa State.

The Minister, HADMSD, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, who performed the ceremony in Yenagoa on Friday, explained  that the beneficiaries were drawn from the eight local government areas of the state.

Some 500 beneficiaries of the social intervention programme were empowered at the ceremony.

Farouq said the gesture was Federal Government’s cash grant for vulnerable groups in the society and digitised payment for conditional cash transfer programme.

She said the exercise was part of government’s efforts to consolidate the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), designed by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration  to effectively give a lifting hand to some poor and vulnerable citizens in the society.

Addressing beneficiaries,  Farouq explained that the grant for the vulnerable persons  was introduced in 2020 with a national target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.

The Minister said that the grant  would be disbursed  to 70  per cent of  women, while the youths and persons with disabilities would share the remaining 30 per cent.

She urged beneficiaries to make good use of the grant to improve productive activities that would generate more income and improve their living standard.

The minister also appreciated the Bayelsa State government for partnering the Ministry to ensure that the NSIP is effectively implemented in the state.

A beneficiary of the programme,  Mrs Pere Ebinade, expressed joy and thanked President Muhammed Buhari for the gesture, promising to invest the fund to revive her ailing business.

The event was also used to inaugurate the digitised payment for conditional cash transfers and to train a second stream of Independent Monitors to monitor the programme’s implementation in the state.

EDO State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Col. David Imuse (rtd.), has stated that religion should have no place in Nigeria’s politics.

He declared that besides competence, political value and ability to win elections were considered to pick Alhaji Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Imuse stated these yesterday in a telephone conversation.

He said: “Religion is not a yardstick for winning elections or to determine leadership. What we want is somebody with the capacity to deliver. The decision to pick or elect leaders, candidates, running mates or representatives for political offices should not be based on religion.

“In politics, you must always talk about winning elections. The critics of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the APC are entitled to their opinions. The truth is that most of the Christians in the North are not capable of winning elections in their units, wards, local government areas, states and geo-political zones.

“In democracy, besides competence, political value and ability to win elections are considered in the choice of the candidates and their running mates for polls, in order to deliver the real dividends of democracy to the people.

“Most of the Christians in the Northern part of Nigeria are good and reliable, but you are not valuable politicians, if you cannot win elections. Politics is a game of numbers.”

ABIA state has recorded three cases of monkeypox in the state even as the state government has called for caution on the part of residents.

The cases, according to sources were recorded in three local government areas of the state; Aba North, Umuahia South and Ikwuano LGAs respectively.

It was gathered that there was apprehension in the said communities over fear of those who may have come in contact with the infected persons as the government of the state has started contact tracing of index persons.

A staff of the Abia State Ministry of Health that spoke anonymously  said “We have done all we are supposed to do, including contact tracing, and the patients are doing well.

“We have given all the support we are supposed to give. The surveillance is everywhere and the contact tracing on. We have listed a lot of contacts and taken their samples for investigation.

“Some of the samples are out and were negative. We are still expecting more sample results from Abuja, the only place they do it.”

A source stated that the state government has done the necessary sensitisation and the positive cases have been contained.

“We have done a lot of things about them and have visited vicinities and their facilities at their homes. “So, there is no cause for alarm. They are doing well.

“The information there is that we talk about personal and environmental hygiene. You should be on the lookout for people with a lot of rashes and you try to isolate yourself from and refer to the health facility nearer to you.”