Category: South East

The Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA) yesterday donated a large quantity of hospital consumables to the Defence Headquarters Medical Centre at Mogadishu Cantonment Abuja, in the spirit of Eid-el-Kabir.

The President of DEPOWA, Mrs Vickie Irabor, led members of the association to also present tokens to some patients who are receiving treatment at the medical centre.

Irabor said DEPOWA decided to visit the medical centre to identify with the hospital and its patients as well as donate gift items and hospital disposables to the facility.

She said the gesture was the non-kinetic support of the women to the troops of the armed forces to encourage and pray for them.

“We also use this opportunity to say to Nigerians that we should not lose hope in our armed forces.

“We know that in no time, they will defeat the adversaries of our country.

“On this note, we say to everyone in this hospital facility to be assured of our prayers and that in no time you will all walk away from this hospital.

“This is a military hospital where we have more than 50 patients and as wives of military officers, we have come to identify with them,” she said.

DEPOWA President said the association had continued to reach out to military hospitals, adding that they had visited the 44 Re Reference Hospital in Kaduna and Maimalari Cantonment Hospital in Maiduguri for a similar gesture.

The Commander, DHQ Medical Centre, Navy Capt. A.O Aliyu, represented by Col. Olayinka Ojo, expressed appreciation to DEPOWA for the gesture and to Mrs Irabor for her motherly care for a military family.

Aliyu said the visit was an opportunity for the president of DEPOWA to tour the facility which had been serving members of the armed forces in Abuja.

He said the visit would also help the wife of the Chief of Defence Staff to have first-hand information on the needs of the centre and pass the same to her husband.

According to him, the Chief of Defence Staff is very passionate about the health of his troops.

 

The Acting Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has said that Nigeria is in serious need of prayers while reiterating that the country is going through challenges.

He also urged Edo pilgrims travelling to Israel for the 2022 pilgrimage to especially pray for Nigeria, ahead of next year’s general election.

Shaibu stated this yesterday in Benin while addressing Edo’s pilgrims to the Holy Land, urging them to be good ambassadors of the state and take positive steps to promote Edo in the Holy Land.

He said: “We are good people. Ensure that you represent Edo State well. Nigeria is faced with insecurity, economic retrogression and other serious challenges troubling the nation. Pray for the unity and progress of Nigeria.

“2023 is another election year. Let us pray for a peaceful election, so that we can have good leaders that can manage our human and natural resources.

“We should pray for leaders who will be able to transform the nation, tackle insecurity and solve our economic challenges.”

He also stated that Godwin Obaseki’s administration would not lament, but rather take action to change the narrative.

He said: “As you go to the holy land, remember Edo State in prayers and pray for the governor, members of his executive and the entire people of Edo State.”

Edo Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Oyenude Kure, is leading 13 others on the pilgrimage to Israel, and to be assisted by three other officials, including the Secretary of Edo State Christian Welfare Board, Lady Brenda Ezekiel.

The CAN chairman in Edo hailed Obaseki and Shaibu for their commitment to pilgrims of Edo state, which he described as proof that the state government was catering to the needs of the Christian faithful.

Kure said: “Since the commencement of the Obaseki-led administration, Edo State has not recorded any absconding among the pilgrims.”

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has approved a 100 per cent increment in salaries and welfare package of the state’s judicial workers.

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Governor, Mr Christian Ita and made available to reporters in Calabar yesterday.

According to the statement, Ayade made the announcement during the swearing-in of the new President of Cross River State Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Anjor Mbe.

He said the new salary regime effective from August 1, 2022, the state’s High Court judges’ salaries will be increased by 100 per cent.

“Judges of the Customary Court of Appeal will also have their salaries increased by 100 per cent while those of Magistrates will be increased by 50 per cent,” he stated.

He also announced the immediate recruitment of 500 workers in the Ministry of Justice for the first phase.

The governor also granted all judicial officers in the state immediate land allocation.

He expressed optimism that he had addressed the immediate challenges of the state judiciary.

“As a matter of state government’s policy, any judicial officer sworn-in will have his or her official car ready for delivery.

“We have witnessed massive vacancy in the Ministry of Justice occasioned by retirement.

“To this effect, we have approved for the Chief Judge with the support of the Head of Service and the Civil Service Commission, the employment of 500 workers in the Ministry of Justice for the first phase alone.”

He said his administration had equally approved the setting aside of 25 per cent of the gross emoluments to support judicial officers’ allowances.

He said the allowances covered vacation, and travel, among others.

Ayade pledged his administration’s readiness to support the Judicial arm of government as the need arose.

He said he acted in concert with the report of the State Judicial Welfare Review Committee set up in April.

The Committee, which had retired Justice Eyo Ita as Chairman, was charged with reviewing the salaries of Cross River judicial officers.

“For our judicial officers, we know the challenges of this country, for Cross River State in particular, we are quite sensitive to all the concerns raised so far.

“That is why we set up a committee to review the conditions of service of judicial officers to make for better service delivery.

“So, having studied the report of the committee and in order to enhance service delivery, Cross River State Government has hereby handsomely reviewed their salaries and welfare.”

He commended the state Chief Judge, Justice Akon Ikpeme, “for her diplomatic, studious and consistent push in achieving these goals,” he stated.

 

The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police Mr Olatoye Durosinmi has ordered immediate deployment of police personnel to all Nigerian Correctional Service facilities in the state to forestall the breakdown of law and order.

A police spokesman in the state, SP Odiko Macdon, stated in Uyo yesterday that Mr Durosinmi gave the order at the end of a tour of the facilities.

He added that the order became necessary to nip any untoward incident in the bud.

“As a proactive security measure to prevent any untoward incident, CP Durosinmi visited correctional facilities at Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Eket and Ikot Abasi.

“He was accompanied on the two-day tour by Mr Julius Ezugwu, Controller of Corrections, Nigerian Correctional Service, Akwa Ibom State Command.

“Mr Durosinmi advised the officers to be vigilant and courageous,’’ Macdon stated.

The spokesman added that Mr Durosinmi enjoined citizens of Akwa Ibom to go about their normal duties and report any suspicious elements to the nearest police station or through 08039213071, 08189243935 and 08081388797.

On July 5, terrorists attacked the medium-security prison in Kuje near Abuja and freed 879 inmates among whom were about 64 who had terror-related charges preferred against them.

No fewer than 43 Anambra farmers drawn from Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, who underwent dry season training in Egypt, would receive N1 million grants each for takeoff.

Chief Chinedu Obidigwe, a member representing Anambra East and West Federal Constituency said this in Aguleri, Anambra East Local Government Area when members of Aguowulu Progressives Union (APU) endorsed him for a second term yesterday.

APU is an association of youth intelligentsia from Enugu-Otu, Mkpunando and Eziagulu-Otu all in Aguleri Town of Anambra East Local Government Area.

Obidigwe said the beneficiaries were selected from across the communities in the constituency to undergo training on dry season farming techniques in Egypt.

He said Anambra East and Anambra West councils were richly endowed with water resources and that the grants were to ensure all-year-round food production, increase output and liberate more families from poverty.

“Having been empowered with the knowledge, the 43 farmers are going to get one million Naira each with which they will start dry season farming this year,” he said.

Obidigwe said he felt challenged by the Aguowulu group’s endorsement and that the task of his re-election was a collective one.

In their resolution for adopting Obidigwe as their preferred candidate for Anambra East and Anambra West Federal Constituency in 2023, APU said he had surpassed the performances of previous representative from the constituency.The resolution, which was read by Mr Oluchukwu Udemezue said Obidigwe had trained no fewer than 500 youths and women on skills, distributed about N100 million to nine secondary schools and gave free education to students of Col. Mike Atta secondary school.

The group said all the communities in the constituency had benefited from the physical project and empowerment intervention of Obidigwe who also held regular town hall meetings with the people, adding that he was the most qualified among all those contesting for the seat.

Mr Julius Chukwuemeka, Commissioner for Power and Water Resources in Anambra, said Obidigwe had demonstrated through his people-driven representation that he understood the existential challenges of the people of the constituency.

Chukwuemeka, who is also the General Secretary of APU, said the Lawmaker had impacted positively on infrastructure and capacity building and that it was only rational to support him to do more.

Mr Emmanuel Okoye, National President of APU, said the association would continue to support the educational development of the youth of the area while thanking Obidigwe for his Education Trust Fund.

Okiye said with the help of the Trust Fund, APU was paying school fees for students from primary to tertiary institutions, noting that it would embark on the distribution of exercise books and writing materials to all schools in Anambra West council.

The Managing Director of Cross River State Water Board Mr Victor Ekpo has said the N1.2 billion debt being owed the utility company by customers has affected its service delivery to the people.

Ekpo stated this while addressing reporters in Calabar yesterday on a wide range of issues affecting the water corporation and his plans to resuscitate the organisation.

He stated that the debt covered between January 2020 and March 2021, and had made it impossible to replace broken down pipes, fix the generating sets and buy chemicals for water treatment.

The managing director, however, expressed regret that prominent citizens of the state, particularly politicians, formed the major people that were indebted to the board.

He stressed that since the debtors refused to pay in spite of several persuasive means, the corporation would adopt the option of publishing their names to compel them to pay.

Ekpo, who advocated for the outright privatisation of the board, said its revenue profile plummeted from about N50 million in 2007 to less than N1 million at the time he took over in January 2020.

“My first discovery here is the corruption in the board. Some of the staff turned the place to money-making ventures for themselves.

“While some of them created a means of collecting revenue to their personal account, others engaged in vandalism of key components of the board’s generating sets and stealing pipes.

“In fact, many of the staff attitudes to work were not something that will enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the board to service delivery.

“How do you explain the situation where a member of staff procured her own PoS and started collecting and channelling revenue of the board to her personal account?” Ekpo queried.

He, however, noted that, in spite of the challenges he inherited, he had been able to raise the revenue to N9 million.

“I was able to achieve this from a near-comatose state I met the water board.

“More can be achieved if we get the cooperation of our customers and staff who have resorted to vandalism of facilities of the board and some of our customers who bypass our meters.

“We also have challenges of huge electricity bill that amount to about N12 million monthly and the over N180 million electricity debt I inherited,” he said.

While noting that privatisation remained the best option for the Cross River Water Board, Ekpo assured that strategy had been made to ensure better service delivery to the people.

He said: “We are surely going to come out stronger in the next few weeks. All, but one, of our nine stations, will start pumping water to the people.”

He said his target was to raise the revenue of the board to where it would start paying the N29 million monthly wage bills of members of staff.

“I understand more people have resorted to sinking boreholes in their homes, but our water still remains the best. It is well treated for their safety.”

 

The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Enugu State, Rev. Emmanuel Edeh, has expressed worry over what he called the “deliberate destruction” of lives and property in the country.

Edeh said this in a chat with reporters in Enugu yesterday.

He said: “It is regrettable that thousands of Nigerians are being killed daily in different parts of the country.

“It is even more disturbing that the perpetrators could not be arrested and prosecuted.”

According to him, the fact that the perpetrators are still at large and not rounded up has further emboldened them.

The clergyman admonished the government at all levels to realise that its primary constitutional responsibility is to protect the lives and property of the citizens.

“And any government that cannot discharge that responsibility effectively has failed,” Edeh said.

 

A former member of the House of Representatives Elder Chidi Wihioka has resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State, citing the high-handedness of the state party leader.

Wihioka, however, said the decision to leave the APC would not affect his resolve to work for the victory of the party’s Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

The politician, who represented Ikwerre-Emohua Federal Constituency, said the party leader had refused to allow peace reign in the APC.

In his letter of resignation, Wihioka said: “My decision was taken based on the highhandedness of one man, who believes that he owns the party in Rivers State and his refusal to allow peace to reign in the party by giving everyone in the party equal level-playing ground.

“I will announce my next political party when I have found a suitable one to join. Nevertheless, my decision will not affect my support for the presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as I will always drum support for him anywhere.”

 

Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Jonathan Lawani, has called on residents of the state to support the government to ensure a clean and healthy environment.

He made the call yesterday in Benin, during a meeting with leaders of the market women association.

Lawani decried the incessant dumping of refuse in unauthorised places, especially markets and median along market areas, declaring that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the state was kept clean, safe and healthy for all.

He noted that the meeting was to solicit the support of the traders in ensuring cleanliness in the state.

The commissioner said: “Women, as mothers of our homes and markets, play major roles in instilling discipline, especially on environmental sanitation, as part of home training.

“Let there be synergy between members of the association and Edo State Government. You should be environment ambassadors in your respective markets.”

Lawani also assured the traders of the government’s plans to build recycling plants that would not only recycle waste but would also aid in providing a means of livelihood for residents.

He revealed that at the end of each month, there would be an award for the cleanest market and its environs in the city, which according to him, would attract a handsome prize.

President of the association, Mrs Blacky Omoregie hailed the commissioner for the initiative, stressing that illegal dumping of refuse in market places was mostly carried out by residents who had formed the habit of bringing refuse from their homes and dumping them in market areas.

Omoregie also complained of the lackadaisical attitude of some waste managers, who would not evacuate waste from the market on time, but assured of the association’s readiness to partner with the ministry, in order to reduce the menace of dirt to the barest minimum.

The General Manager, Edo State Waste Management Board, Charles Imariagbe, stated that the accredited waste managers were not exempted from sanctions for failing to perform their duties.

Imariagbe stated that the waste management board could be contacted through the customers’ complaints numbers: 08109670790, 08109670791, for complaints concerning waste management in Edo.

 

Enugu State youths, under the aegis of Concerned Enugu Youths, have pledged their continued support for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his administration.

The youth described the governor as the best so far in terms of providing empowerment and employment opportunities as well as creating the enabling environment for them to thrive.

The youth spoke at a conference addressed by Nebo Samuel Ebube, Edeani M. Edeani, Nwodo Thomas-Moore Obumnene and Emmanuel Martina Nyia, after a rally held in Nsukka, Enugu State, in support of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi.

According to Nebo, the rally in support of Obi was never meant to malign the personality of Governor Ugwuanyi, who is loved by the youth for allowing them to occupy majority of elective and appointive political positions in the state.

Nebo maintained that Governor Ugwuanyi enjoys great support from the youth constituency irrespective of political inclination owing to the unprecedented way he had carried them along in the governance of the state.

He commended “the teeming youth of Enugu State in Nsukka zone, who out of necessity and for their sincerity of purpose, came out in their numbers to identify with Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate.

“It is worthy to note that Mr Peter Obi has been engaging the youth on the need to be part of a new Nigeria and encouraging them never to give up on our country while working for better days ahead.

“We want to state categorically that it was Peter Obi’s personality and not about Labour Party that the youth are championing his cause.

“It is pertinent to state openly that Peter Obi has identified with the youth all over the country and that they have their fundamental rights to reciprocate same.”

The youth declared that “Governor Ugwuanyi has identified with the youth of Enugu State and we have reciprocated and will continue to do same.

“We are proud enough to bring to the general public that our decision to stand with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is not in any way because of his political party, but our act of gratitude for what he has done and is still doing in the Enugu youth constituency.

“Our stand is not political party-affiliated, but influenced by our quest for good governance in Nigeria.

“We always believe that it is our future that we are discussing and we are most concerned on who will secure this future for us.

“We openly want to advise other aspirants, regardless of party affiliation to see the young people as their number one priority.

“We further want to advise all the aspirants that wish to hide under the love we have for the governor to note that our love for Ugwuanyi is personal and not political-party affiliated.”