Category: South East

Edo State Government will on August 1 this year begin clampdown on all unregistered vehicles across the state, with the violators risking prosecution.

The disclosure was made yesterday at Government House, Benin by Edo Acting Governor, Philip Shaibu, while constituting a task force to enforce the clampdown.

He urged owners and operators of unregistered vehicles in Edo state to register them on or before July 31, to avoid prosecution.

The acting governor stressed that the directive became imperative, in view of the need to sustain security in the state, noting that recent security findings revealed how criminal elements had been operating in Edo, using unregistered vehicles.

The task force is headed by Edo Commissioner for Transportation, Osasere Evbuomwan, while the state’s Commissioner for Local Government, Monday Osaigbovo, is a member.

Other members of the committee are drawn from Edo Internal Generated Revenue Service (EIRS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Edo Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV), and the Nigerian police.

Shaibu said: “All motorcycles, tricycles and vehicles, both private and commercial, especially Toyota Yaris, must be registered in Edo state. We are giving them till July 31, 2022 to register, as any vehicle that is not registered will be seized.

“We urge the owners/drivers of the vehicles to comply or face the consequences of disobeying government’s directives. We want to ensure that the vehicles are providing legal services in the state, as our findings have shown that some of the people provide illegal services with their vehicles.

“Edo state government is working to ensure a peaceful and safe state for our people. We are dealing with security issues in our state. We want to clear our state of criminal elements.”

Irate youths from Koluama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have shut down oil facility operated by ConOil Producing Plc over alleged non-implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with host communities.

It was gathered on Friday that the breached oil facility, Ango 2 field, operated by Conoil since 2013 has a crude oil production capacity of over 30,000 barrels per day.

It was also gathered that the aggrieved indigenes comprising women, youths and elders, caught the security personnel stationed at the facility unawares.

The protesters were said to have invaded the place brandishing placards with inscriptions such as ‘No MoU, No Crude oil exploration’, ‘Conoil pack, and go, we are tired of suffering’ and “Koluama people are suffering” and demanded the shutdown of operations at the facility.

The protest by the aggrieved community indigenes was also backed by the members of the Koluama Oil and Gas Committee (KOGC).

The KOGC insisted that the oil firm had failed in the implementation of the MoU which spelt out social obligations of the oil firm to its host communities.

The Chairman, KOGC, Chief Jonathan Amabebe, said some of the community’s demands included clean-up of oil spill sites in the various communities and carrying out medical outreach to communities affected by oil spillages.

Amabebe noted that other demands were issuance of employment letter to one of the community’s qualified indigenes who was successful in Conoil’s last employment exercise in 2015 and award of contract across the five host communities in Koluama clan — Tamazo, Koluama 1, Koluama 2, Olobia and Kalaweiama, embedded in the MoU among others.

Also speaking on the protest, the Technical Assistant to Special Adviser to the Governor on Oil and Gas Prince Tare Ekubo  said the community had sent several warnings and letters to the oil major.

When contacted on the phone, spokesman for Conoil, Richard Edegbai, dismissed the protest, saying it was just a minor disagreement.

The police in Akwa Ibom have rescued 28 fishermen who were abducted by sea pirates in Akwakpa, Uruan council area of the State.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Olatoye Durosinmi disclosed this yesterday during an interaction with journalists in Uyo, the state capital.

CP Durosinmi said the fishermen were kidnapped by a five-member gang suspected to sea pirates.

He said the fishermen were rescued through intelligence, adding as soon as he got the report he drafted the marine officers who were able to rescue the victims at the creeks, where they were held hostage for over eight hours.

He explained that the pirates always pose as fishermen to carry out their nefarious act on unsuspecting fishermen

According to him, “the 28 men and women you see here are the people rescued by police marine officers. The victims at about 18: 00hrs yesterday were attacked on the sea by a five man gang pirates. They seized their boat and put them where they will not come out.

“These men of the underworld will pretend to be fishermen and we’ve actually caught five of them before and they are in detention, the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.

“The five armed gang pretending to be fishermen bumped into them and asked them to get into the boat. Fortunately, one of them had the phone number of the local government chairman who later alerted me. The usual practice is that they go out on Thursday and come back on a Sunday.

“They were there all through the night searching where they were and by 10:00hr my officers found them around a creek with their boats. As I speak, the detachments of the marine officers are still trailing the suspects.”

Scores of residents in Okpoko in the Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State were yesterday rendered homeless following the demolition of illegal buildings, including a three-storey and shanties blocking waterways by the state task force.

Governor Chukwuma Soludo had, soon after his inauguration, visited the Okpoko Community, a major slum in the state where he promised to transform the community.

Some victims who spoke to reporters decried the shortness of the notice, saying they were not given ample time to remove their property and relocate. They, however, commended the government for coming to their rescue.

Emmanuel Egbe said: “We have no problem with the demolition and we believe it is for the best. The diseases we suffer here and the stench coming from the blocked drains and refuse heaps are nauseating and surprisingly, we have lived with this all these years.

“Now that we have a governor with the political will to change things, we are hoping that this initiative will be completed as planned and this place opened up.”

The Vice-President-General of Okpoko Community, Mr Nwanze Francis, expressed support to the Soludo-led administration for embarking on the demolition exercise, saying it was in the interest of the people.

He said: “I am not against the demolition because the governor met with us and explained the need to embark on this exercise.

“Soludo is the kind of governor we need in the state to turn around many anomalies.

“We are however not excluding the option that government may look on us with pity and decide to give us some sort of compensation.”

The Chairman of Anambra State Town Planning Board, Chike Maduekwe called for the people’s support, saying if the buildings are not pulled down, it will be impossible to access the Sakamori drainage for desilting.

He insisted that the government is not wicked but only trying to safeguard the lives and health of the people through its slum recovery initiative.

He said: “The houses being pulled down are not up to 10 meters from the drainage, contrary to the 30-meter stipulation. The Governor has promised the Anambra people a livable and prosperous homeland.

“But you can’t have that when people have blocked waterways and drainages. When it rains consistently, most of these houses are flooded and we may even record deaths and so much loss.

“I have read on social media where people are talking about government being wicked but that’s not true,” he said.

The ANSPPB boss pleaded with the people of the State to understand that the move was for their own safety and posterity.

He called on developers to always endeavour to do what is right, stressing that the present administration would leave no stone unturned in transforming the state.

He further pleaded with those whose buildings have been marked to comply with the government’s directive to relocate, warning that the government must make good its directives.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has handed over utility vehicles used during the physical verification phase of the forensic audit of the commission’s projects across the Niger Delta region, to security agencies.

Speaking during the presentation of the vehicle documents and keys to the security agencies at the NDDC warehouse in Port Harcourt, the Interim Administrator, Dr Efiong Akwa commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the procurement of 33 Ford Ranger vehicles for security operatives during the forensic exercise.

He also commended security agencies, which formed part of the Joint Security Committee of the audit exercise, comprising officers from the Nigerian Army, Navy, Police, Directorate of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), for their commitment to ensuring that the audit exercise was conducted without any security hitches.

Akwa said: “The vehicles were provided for the security agencies as directed by President Buhari. The President also instructed that the security vehicles are handed over to the security agencies at the end of the forensic audit exercise and that is why we are doing this today.

“The ceremony is very symbolic because it tells a very good story about the security agencies. They did their job successfully without hitches. The forensic exercise has helped the NDDC to show projects that were uncompleted.

“The President graciously directed that upon completion of the job which they did, without any loss of human life that the vehicles should be handed over to various security agencies as part of Federal Government’s contribution in solving their logistics problems.”

Receiving the security vehicles on behalf of the security agencies, the representative of the Nigeria Navy on the Joint Security Committee, Rear Admiral Bamidele Oluwagbamila thanked President Buhari and the NDDC for supporting security agencies.

He noted that the security agencies would not relent in their efforts to ensure the security of lives and property in the Niger Delta.

Oluwagbamila said: “This is a good day for us, the security agencies and the NDDC. The task the Federal Government gave us to support the forensic audit was successfully carried out. The audit was carried out without any ugly incidents. We are grateful that the vehicles have been handed over to us for internal security activities.”

The Director, Research, Planning and Statistics, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Alfred Abba, who represented the Permanent Secretary, thanked President Buhari for supporting the Forensic Audit exercise and commended the Joint Security Committee for ensuring that the exercise was carried out safely.

Also, the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has scheduled October 13, 2022, to deliver judgment on a suit to compel the Federal Government to publish the forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The suit was filed by Odighonin Nwadighi Adienbo for herself and on behalf of the Wailing Women of the Niger Delta (WWND); the Integrity Friends for Truth and Peace Initiative (IFTPI) and nine others.

Defendants to the suit are the Attorney-General of the Federation and the NDDC.

The plaintiffs are seeking an order of mandamus compelling the Federal Government to comply with the NDDC Act by dissolving the Interim/Sole Administratorship and restraining the government from further constituting same in the running of the NDDC in line with the Act.

They also seek orders compelling the Federal Government to publish the Forensic Audit report on the NDDC and to move the commission out of any ministry.

When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, one of the lawyers representing the NDDC, S. Brisibe, withdrew a motion he earlier filed challenging the perpetual injunction the court granted on February 4, 2022.

The court had directed that the NDDC should not be placed under any ministry and issued and restrained the Federal Government from further constituting an Interim/Sole Administrator to run the affairs of the commission.

The lawyer to the NDDC had told the court that the application was no longer necessary since it had been overtaken by events.

The court, however, granted the withdrawal of the motion dated April 18 and filed on May 4 and struck it out.

The court presided over by Justice Isah H. Dashen adopted all the processes and adjourned to October 13, 2022, for judgment.

The Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in Niger Delta (MOSIEND) has sent a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the tenure of former Governor Godswill Akpabio as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

Bayelsa State Government has urged Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to contribute more to standards of living in the state by investing more in energy and infrastructure development.

Mrs Abimbola Essien-Nelson, Media Relations Manager, SPDC, in a statement yesterday quoted Bayelsa Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, as making the call during a business meeting with the company’s management in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

SPDC had, in 2015, divested its equity interest in the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29, and the asset was acquired by an indigenous firm, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited for $2.4 billion.

However, the company retains gas gathering infrastructure across Bayelsa that feeds the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas for export.

“The relationship between Bayelsa State and SPDC is cordial. Thank you for your investments in our state.

“Thank you for your contributions to support development efforts in the state. But how do we improve on this and bring dividends to our people? There is still so more to unearth in our state.

“This meeting is to see how we can work together to create a suitable environment for SPDC to operate and generate value for all of us,” Ewhrudjakpo said.

He said the state government was ready to partner with Shell to expand its portfolio in Bayelsa with a view to reducing unemployment, youth restiveness and drug abuse.

He said the state had recorded a huge success using sports to keep youths away from vices particularly drug abuse and violent crimes.

According to Ewhrudjakpo, Bayelsa youths have shown that if we give them encouragement, they could deliver good value.

He said the state finished in the 3rd position at the last National Sports Festival in Edo even as the government also organises the annual Bayelsa Wrestling Classic to encourage more youths in the state to embrace sports.

Essien-Nelson also quoted the Managing Director, SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, as pledging the company’s support for the government’s efforts to improve the environment in Bayelsa.

“It means that there is a plan. As a company, we key into your vision because we know that if you are successful it will help us and help our business environment.

“We commend you and His Excellency, Governor Douye Diri, for what you are doing to support business in Bayelsa State,” Okunbor said.

Okunbor was represented by an SPDC Director and Head, Corporate Relations Nigeria, Mr Igo Weli.

He commended Bayelsa State Government for its successes in sports development.

The Bayelsa State Government’s delegation included the Chairman of the State House of Assembly Committee on Sports, Hon. Tare Porri; Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Mr Baraladei Igali; Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Dr Ebiere Jones; and Director of Sports, Braveman Wodi.

The Coalition of Civil Society Workers and Human Rights Defenders (COCSWAHD), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Enugu State has appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to lift the ban on night transportation on tricycles and shuttle buses in the Enugu metropolis.

The state government had, in April last year, banned tricycle operators and commercial buses from operating between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in the state capital.

The government had cited security in the overriding interest of the people as its reason for the directive to ban tricycle operators.

But, reviewing the ban more than one year into its operation at a briefing in Enugu yesterday, the coalition said the restriction had caused some hardship to the residents of the Enugu metropolis, particularly those who have no personal vehicles.

According to the convener of the Coalition, Comrade Osmond Ugwu, the ban was an “abuse on fundamental human rights of people and unjustified hardship imposed on the poor that do not have vehicles as a result of the ban on movement of Keke and commercial vehicles from 9:00 p.m. in Enugu.”

Ugwu called on Governor Ugwuanyi to act on the report of a representative of Civil Society in #ENDSARS-related judicial panel on police brutality and other related extra-judicial killings, making public, report of the administrative panel on #ENDSARS as well as full implementation of recommendation of National Economic Council as regards to EndSARS protests and mitigation of police brutality in the country.

The coalition also urged the state government to expedite action in the payment of seized salaries, allowances and benefits of 14 former legislators of Enugu State that were unjustly seized by former Governor of Enugu State, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani during his regime.

Ugwu regretted that most of the affected lawmakers were now shadows of themselves.

“Most of them need serious medical attention but cannot afford the same because what they worked for is being withheld because of their patriotism.

“We call on our governor to look into the plight of these men and give them their entitlements,” he pleaded.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has insisted that fiscal federalism and devolution of power are key to the development of the country.

Emmanuel, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Moses Ekpo said this yesterday at the stakeholders’ meeting on the transmitted constitution (Fifth Alteration) Bills, 2022, organised by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Ad-hoc committee.

He commended the leadership of the State legislature for convening the public hearing on the alteration of the 1999 Constitution, stressing that Akwa Ibom must play a key role in the cardinal task of nation-building.

“The Constitution can be said to be the most consequential document in a constitutional democracy, the making or remaking of the document is inevitably a solemn act.

“There was and I believe there continues to be a consensus of opinion that the Nigerian project is a great project; that we have the human and natural resources to be greater and that the multi-level diversities in our nation can be a source of strength rather than weakness.

“There is still a consensus of opinion that to grow as a nation we must let go of parochial interests and embrace goals bigger than ourselves and most importantly, learn from the mistakes of our distant and recent past.

“It is still our position that true, fiscal federalism and significant devolution of powers from the central government to the other federating units is in the best interest of Nigeria.

“We believe that the control of natural resources states bearing them will trigger a healthy competition among federating units to discover their potentials and become more productive, thereby driving our economic indices in the right direction.”

The governor also reiterated the need to decentralise the Police Force, to enable states to establish well-equipped and well-motivated police to effectively complement the Federal police that will checkmate insecurity in many parts of the country.

“We cannot afford to toy with the education of our young and productive population nor with the empowerment of our women.

“Education from the primary to secondary school level should be a right in every state of Nigeria, and it should be free. No country prospers where the female gender is not enabled to prosper,” the governor added.

The Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee on Fifth Alteration of Bills, 2022  Udo Kerian Akpan assured that the outcome of the meeting would be collated and shall form the basis of recommendations to the House in plenary as a guide on how to vote on each of the bills.

“As you may be aware, the National Assembly began the process of amending the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for the fifth time sometime in 2020. This action stemmed from the consistent clamour by the Nigerian public for an amendment and/or review of several sections of the constitution currently being used in the country.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe has said food insecurity in the country is a growing problem, in view of the escalation of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the crisis of the COVID–19 pandemic, and the rising number of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Umakhihe, who hails from Edo North Senatorial District, stated this yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, at the maiden roll-out of agricultural inputs and equipment, as special intervention support for small-holder farmers in the state.

He said: “The inputs’ distribution is targeted at smallholder farmers, who form about 70 per cent of the food producing populace. For the past seven years, issues relating to food security have constituted a major focus of the policy thrust of the Nigerian government. It formed part of the major goals, which the world leaders initially agreed to devote resources to actualise by 2015, which has now been shifted to 2030. These goals are aimed at ensuring no poverty and zero hunger by 2030, as one of the SDGs.

“To address the food insecurity occasioned by the crises of national insecurity and COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, came up with strategic policies such as the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP), the Green Imperative, Agricultural Promotion Policy, NATIP, and the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), among others.

“These policies are aimed at ensuring food security, economic growth and job creation, especially during this post-COVID-19 era.

“Smallholders are the most vulnerable in times of crisis. It becomes imperative for the government to support them with the much-needed inputs, especially seeds, the most important factor that influences farmers’ yield, in order to enable them to recover quickly from the setback of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the insecurity.”

The Permanent Secretary also stated that the COVID-19 pandemic worsened poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria while stressing that the reduction of economic activities due to the pandemic led to food price hikes, as high as 120 per cent across markets nationwide.

He said that the ministry supported Edo farmers free with equipment such as a food dehydrator, motorised oil palm harvester, cashew cracker, three HP water pump, knapsack sprayers, agrochemicals, growth enhancers, power tillers, cassava stems, planters and cassava processing equipment, as well as seed yams, maize, cashew and groundnut seeds, coconut, oil palm and cocoa seedlings.

Umakhihe noted that the support would open up investment opportunities, create jobs for stakeholders, and facilitate increased production, as well as food and nutrition security.

He said: “In this inputs’ distribution effort, 35 per cent are targeted at women farmers and processors, in line with the target set in our national gender plan and policies aimed at ensuring increased opportunities for women.

“Similarly, 10 per cent is targeted at people with special needs, and this has been communicated to the farmers’ associations, to act accordingly.

“This year alone, the ministry has distributed different equipment, improved seeds and seedlings of various crops to farmers in Osun, Plateau, Kaduna and Taraba States. The next major input and equipment distribution will be in Katsina State.”

The Permanent Secretary also stated that the various inputs for distribution to farmers were part of the federal ministry’s measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and insecurity on food production in the country.

Edo Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Stephen Ideheren, insisted that Governor Godwin Obaseki was committed to agricultural development, with the administration also fully supporting farmers in the state, in order to ensure food security.

The National President of All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Rabiu Mudi, who was represented by the association’s National Legal Adviser, Lukman Mohammed, a former member of Edo House of Assembly, hailed Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for the initiative, which he assured the members would fully support, since agriculture held the ace in Nigeria’s development, and to diversify the economy.

Edo State Chairman of AFAN, Alhaji Bako Dogwo lamented that the state did not have a single tractor, while calling on the Federal Government for assistance, in order to boost agricultural production.

The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has told Abia State Government that any doctor being owed wages is unhappy and constitutes a serious security risk to his patients.

NMA Chairman Abia State chapter, Dr Chimezie Okwuonu, who stated this during a press conference yesterday in Umuahia, regretted that three weeks after doctors downed tools in compliance with the directive of their national body following backlog of salary arrears owed some of them, the State Government was yet to meet their demands.

Doctors in the state proceeded on “every Tuesday strike action” to register their grievances over 25 and 11 months of salary arrears owed doctors in the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, ABSUTH; and the state Hospital Management Board, respectively.

The NMA Chairman, who bemoaned the plights of the affected doctors urged the state Government to quickly do the needful or the strike action would be escalated.

“May we use this opportunity to call on the state government to respond to the request of offsetting the perennial salary arrears of the medical doctors in Abia State, specifically in ABSUTH and HMB; and set the stage for robust health care delivery which the state was once known for.

“The general is hereby put on notice of this our modest way of registering our displeasure at this time and implore the Government of the day to do the needful. After the 4th week, there is the likelihood of escalation of this strike to the magnitude of affecting health services adversely in Abia State. A stitch in time saves nine.”

He noted, however, that the government had paid four months instead of six months bulk payment it had earlier agreed to pay for doctors in ABSUTH, but nothing had been done for those in HMB.

Okwuonu said Government was also not forthcoming on payment of arrears of two months every month till the backlog was cleared, explaining that up till July 11, nothing has been paid to the affected doctors for the month of June.

The NMA boss decried the condition of the health sector in the state and pleaded with the state government to save the sector from total collapse.

“Service delivery, residency training, the teaching of Medical Students and research have been adversely affected by epileptic and sub-optimal services in the teaching hospital.

”The 18 General and cottage hospitals have been grossly underperforming due to poor service delivery occasioned by low morale among our colleagues in the Hospital management board. All of these have adversely impacted our health indices as a state.

“With our General hospitals not functional and the teaching hospital below its usual capacity to deliver services, the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia becomes overstretched and our colleagues in those areas become overburdened with work and burnout usually set in.

“In addition, our members suffer untold hardships as a good number of us have no money to pay rent, school fees, settle family issues, not to talk of feeding our parents who invested so much in training us as doctors.

“A doctor, who is owed such a humongous amount of money is unhappy, cannot concentrate to take good care of another person’s health and is a security risk if not paid on time.”