The Nation Newspaper

Category: SouthEast

  • Elechi assures corps members of safety

    Ebonyi State Governor  Martin Elechi has assured the over 1,889 Batch ‘B’ members of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) deployed to the state of adequate security, despite the challenges facing the country.

    The governor spoke during the terminal parade of 2014 Batch ‘B’ corps members at the NYSC permanent orientation camp, old Macgregor College, Afikpo.

    Elechi, who was represented by the  Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Sam Mgbada, called on the corps members to explore the peace in the state to impact positively on the well-being of the people.

    “I want to assure you that Ebonyi people are hospitable, warm, peaceful, friendly and accommodating. I therefore urge you to promote the objective of national unity and integration which the NYSC scheme has championed in its over 41 years of existence.

    “I re-echo my earlier directive that rejection of corps members by employers on flimsy reasons will not be tolerated by government. Corps employers are hereby advised to accept these youths and make judicious use of their knowledge in the interest of the state and the country.”

    The state Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Ngozi Dorothy Nwatarali urged the Corps members to utilise all the orientation programmes and empowerment schemes which they had gone through to better their lives and the society.

    Nwatarali, who appreciated the corps for their comportment, discipline and commitment during their stay at the camp, expressed her optimism that they (corps members) would perform creditably in their places of primary assignment.

     

  • Ebola: Doctors sensitise FRSC officials

    Ebola: Doctors sensitise FRSC officials

    Since the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa and Nigeria, government at federal, state and local levels have embarked on various awareness campaigns.

    Other organisations, including churches and others, have also joined in the campaigns aimed at educating Nigerians on how to prevent the deadly virus.

    Some people, including medical professionals, who came in contact with the first index case, Patrick Sawyer and other victims have either died or isolated to prevent further spread of the virus.

    Worried by this development and as part of its efforts to sensitise the public on how to stop the spread of the disease, the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) organised a sensitisation and awareness seminar for personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Aba Unit Command.

    The event held at the premises of the FRSC in Osisioma on the outskirts of Aba, the commercial nerve city of Abia State.

    Leader of the group and Chairman of AGPMPN, Dr. Kingsley Enweremadu, said the group decided to take the campaign to the agency because of the sensitive and strategic role corps personnel play in saving human lives, especially accident victims. This, he said, could expose them to the disease.

    Enweremadu said: “The duty of members of staff of the FRSC is similar to that of doctors, though with a little difference. We are life savers. By the nature of our job, we come in contact with human beings on a daily basis. They stand on the road while we sit under a roof to do our own job.

    “The FRSC assist accident victims and sometimes administer first aid treatment where necessary, hence, the need for this seminar.”

    On ways to avoid contracting the virus while assisting accident victims or in the line of duty, he called for caution. He advise those on duty to “wear hand gloves and nose masks, washing of hands with detergents always, especially after attending to any accident victims with blood stain, imbibe personal hygiene habits, avoid eating roasted bush meats that were not well prepared could help a great deal in preventing one from contracting the virus.”

    He further solicited synergy between FRSC and the group to make their work effective and productive.

    Aba Unit Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Akachukwu Chika-ero thanked members of the group for their visit and the seminar, adding that the seminar couldn’t have come at a better time than now when the spread of the Ebola virus is causing panic among Nigerians.

    On synergy between the group and the agency, Chika-ero pleaded that accident victims brought to private or government hospitals should be admitted and treated without necessarily demanding initial deposit which the officers that brought the victim (s) might not afford immediately.

    He pledged that they were willing to partner with the group to ensure that lives were saved, adding that the agency was going to take lessons of the lecture seriously.

  • Akunyili: A drug Czar goes home

    Akunyili: A drug Czar goes home

    Greatness is all about being recognised by an anonymous many. Again, what counts is not how long one lives but how one impacted on the lives of others; how one enhanced the socio-political lives of the people.

    One would have lived a fulfilled life when one’s personality and character could recognise each other when they meet in the dark. The late Prof. Dora Akunyili played a major role in impacting the lives of those who came across her during her life time.

    Though dead, the late Mrs Akunyili’s legacy will remain indelible in the minds of those who knew her, either in her Agulu community, Anambra State or Nigeria.

    The late Mrs Akunyili was the former Minister of Information and Communication and one-time Director-General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    But there are mysteries surrounding the life and times of the late amiable Amazon that keep reverberating.

    Did she have an inkling that she was not going to live long? This question is tenable based on the fact that most of her actions tilted towards enhancing the well-being of others, especially the less-privileged. It seemed she quickened her benevolent actions to accomplish many tasks in good time.

    Even before the end of her short life, the late Mrs Akunyili loved helping the poor and the less-privileged.

    One of such people was her gate man, whom she later adopted as her house help. She identified the innate intelligence in the young man and his zeal to learn. She had to send him to school. Today, he is an accountant in one of the biggest accounting agencies in the country.

    Not only that, the late Mrs Akunyili was given money by the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) to enable her to treat her diagnosed tumor abroad. She returned the money to the Federal Government when it was clear the diagnosis was inaccurate.

    Apart from all these and many more, her husband, Dr. John Chike Akunyili, told reporters in Agulu that since the death of his wife, things have been working in mysterious ways in the family.

    First, he said there was a time they ran short of cash and a call came from Iyom Josephine Anenih who made the funds available. The family, he said, was astonished.

    Dr. Akunyili said the woman told him that it was the money she owed his wife.

    He said: “Although she is dead, I know her spirit hovers around because, since her death, everything has been easy and working for me mysteriously.”

    Besides, he said the late professor of Pharmacology amassed over 800 awards, with another post-humous award to be received in November in the United States.

    Again, she will be the first person to be buried in Agulu community between August 15 and 30, as the people see it as a taboo to bury anybody on those dates.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that it was the period the community celebrates their new yam festival and commune with their gods with the monarch of the land performing his festival rite on August 29.

    Some source said: “The burial, which has been scheduled in this community by the Federal Government within this period is likely to have adverse effect on the people because such a thing has never happened before in the area.

    When our correspondent contacted Igwe Innocent Obodoakor, the traditional ruler of the community on the issue, he said the dead must be buried.

    Furthermore, it was gathered that Mrs Akunyili would not be buried in her Nkitaku Village. She will rather be buried in Nneogidi Village close to NAFDAC office where the family built a house.

    Some of the residents of the community believe that it is an anomaly to bury somebody from another village in the community.  When the late Mrs Akunyili was ill, it was said that she was suffering from cervical cancer but after her death, the husband revealed that she died of “Endometrial carcinoma”.

    According to him, it was rare type of cancer that spreads fast in the body without anybody knowing.

    He said: “We were told that people with such condition will only live for seven months. But with prayers, she survived it for two years and two months until she became ill again.”

    The woman whose life and times were surrounded by mysteries died on June 7, this year after a two-year battle with cancer at an Indian hospital. The burial takes place today in Agulu community.

    The husband described her as an elephant, who loved her country even during her travails, even though she vowed to fight for the country with the last drop of her blood.

    Dr. Akunyili said: “Her love for Nigeria was phenomenal and beyond words. Even in her last days when she was very ill, she insisted that she would serve the country with her last breath.

    “She wanted a home called Nigeria where citizens could live and enjoy but it is unfortunate she did not live to see such a country.”

    Her last wish was for the girls abducted from Government Girls’ Secondary School Chibok in Borno State by the Boko Haram insurgents are released because, according to her, they are all innocent girls.

    The only area where such mystery did not work was when she ventured into politics for the Anambra Central Senatorial zone where she lost to Senator Chris Ngige.

    Some of her awards included the Transparency International Integrity Award in 2003 for being one of the sincere and honest persons in the world.

    She was equally recognised as one of the 18 Heroes of its Global Health 2005 for her relentless battle to rid Nigeria of the menace of fake and adulterated drugs.

    This led to another mystery in her life. Some drug barons attempted to eliminate her but she mysteriously escaped the attack.

    She was described as Nigeria Drug Warrior who did her job of ridding the society of fake drugs diligently.

    Prof. Akunyili was also the first African to win the 2005 edition of the coveted British Grassroots Human Rights Awards series.

    The award was given to unsung Heroes of Human Rights, who daily risk their lives in pursuit of truth and in defence of the defencless, among others.

  • ‘De-regulate steel production in Nigeria’

    An expert in Metallurgical Engineering, Mr. Daniel Obikwelu, has said Nigeria will experience rash development if she de-regulates steel production and all materials and metallurgical industries, including aluminum smelting, glass and cement industries.

    This, he said, would redeem Nigeria from dying industrially, even as it would boost the country’s industrial life.

    Obikwelu, a professor of Metallurgical Engineering and former Head and founder of the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Nigeria Nsukka, spoke at the 79th Inaugural Lecture of the University in Nsukka.

    Presenting his lecture titled, “Metallic Materials: Challenges in the 21st Century Nigeria and Didactic Lessons from the 18th Century Industrial Revolution”, he said that steel is strategic to the country’s socio-economic and industrial development. As such, all efforts to replace imported consumables with locally available materials for use in the Nigerian steel industry would help in making steel production a feasible project in Nigeria, adding it will create employment for the youth.

    Steel production, according to him, is a serious business and the government and people should be involved in the development, adding that no opinion of the World Bank and/or International Monetary Fund would be allowed to derail the country in her survival efforts and policies.

    Obikwelu urged the government to empower entrepreneurs to establish mini-rolling, billets mills/medium electric arc-furnaces, ferroalloy production industry, refractory production industry, beneficiation plants of low capacity, lime plant, foundry shops and mini-iron ore reduction plants, among other small units. These units, according to him, would preferably be located at regions where there are iron ore deposits and where iron smelting was practised early in history.

    He argued that closing the blacksmith’s shops is not the better way to develop skills envisaged for industrial revolution in Nigeria. He said the best way to achieve industrial revolution in the country is by repositioning the mindset of Nigerians through education and radical policy measures by government to absorb the local blacksmiths, encourage, control and equip them.

    If the government cannot run the steel industries, he suggested that other people or group of professionals should be allowed to run the industries for the government on some conditions. This, he said is because, without steel, Nigeria cannot develop.

    He noted that importing almost everything from other countries places the country at acute disadvantage in all aspects of life, thus leaving the country in a downright poor living situation.

    Obikwelu regretted that there is no effective defence industry in Nigeria for the manufacture of such simple combatant weapons like rifle, grenades and land missiles for the defence industrial sub-sector.

    According to him, Nigeria has become a dumping ground for arms, especially pistols and automatic hand weapons used or manufactured elsewhere, making the country vulnerable to foreign attack.

    Colonial masters stopped ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical practices which were widespread in many cultural groups in Nigeria. Obikwelu said if these practices were not stopped by the Whiteman early in history, Nigeria and other African countries would not have missed this important industrial revolution phase, and would have been in the same position industrially with Britain, Europe and America.

    “Awka people used a type of furnace in the form of anthill to produce pig iron which they forged to domestic implements like knives, hoes and machetes for farm work. In the Nok, Igboukwu and Benin cultures of the 9th Century, there were non-ferrous metallurgical practices with bronze, brass and tin ore. These people had used iron and its furnace in one form or the other to improve their standard of living,” he said.

    Obikwelu condemned the cut-and-paste or turnkey approaches adopted by the government; where some technologies from countries such as Russia, India and Germany were cut and pasted in Nigeria as if Nigeria was a piece of blank paper. These are the cases with Ajaokuta Steel Company, Itakpe Iron Ore Company and Delta Steel Company. According to him, these cut-and-paste approaches were counter-productive for the development of Nigeria.

    He praised the government for having successfully and wisely recovered Ajaokuta Steel Complex from the Global Steel Holdings/Infrastructural Nigeria Limited (an Indian-based company). He suggested, as a short-term measure, that government should make money available to accomplish the following for a final outright selling of the steel industries to the prospective entrepreneurial persons or consortia.

    These measures include inaugurating Billet Mill, Light Section and Structural Mill, Thermal Power Plant Forge and Fabrication, Mechanical Repair Shop, Rubberising and Refractories and Lime Plants which have been 100 per cent completed; inaugurating all completed units namely, the Thermal Power Plant, Power Plant Repair Shop, Refractories and Lime Plant Production Plants, Foundry Shop and Mechanical Repair Shop and selling them outright; repairing Itakpe Iron Ore Company and selling it; selling all the seven units at the Delta Steel Company: the Pellet Plant, Steel Melt Shop, Lime Plant, the Foundry Shop, Central Mechanical Maintenance Shop and Auxiliary Plants.

    As Nigeria has missed the industrial revolution phase in her development, Obikwelu said the government should go back to the drawing board, taking a cue from Japan which also missed the industrial revolution phase sometime by using the veritable human resources in the universities, research institutes, existing highly skilled blacksmiths in the existing blacksmith’s shops all over the country to develop the indigenous technologies.

  • MASSOB to resist arrest of leader

    Members of Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) have warned that the group will resist any move by the police to arrest its leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.

    They noted that arresting Uwazuruike would amount to flouting a court order to that effect, adding that such action would force the group into discarding its non-violence approach to the struggle.

    Addressing reporters in Aba, Abia State capital, the Acting Director of Information of the group, Mr. Sunny Okereafor, said the warning became necessary following intelligence report the group received hinting that the police were planning to arrest their leader against a court injunction restraining police from arresting him.

    Okereafor condemned Uwazuruike’s invitation by Imo State Police Command over the Okwe incident which he said their leader knew nothing about.

    He said: “The Okwe incident is a family matter that does not require the involvement of police for settlement.

    “The unfortunate incident at our headquarters in Okwe was a family matter, we are going to handle it the way the Igbo communally resolve their problems which do not require the involvement of police.

    “Before inviting our leader, they should first account for the thousands of MASSOB members they massacred and have not told the public their whereabouts.”

    He said that there was no crack in the group, adding that what happened was an infiltration of the group’s hierarchy by a politician with the intent of causing discontent among its ranks.

    He called on Ndigbo to rally round the movement which, he said, was determined to liberate them from bondage through its non-violence struggle.

    It was alleged that serious hostility had broken out at the headquarters of MASSOB at Okwe in Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo State between some members of the movement and loyalists of Uwazuruike which allegedly led to the death of four people.

    As a result of this development, Imo State Police Command invited Uwazuruike for questioning and threatened to declare him wanted if he declined to report to the command’s headquarters in Owerri.

    Uwazuruike later headed for an Owerri High Court where he obtained an order restraining the police from arresting or declaring him wanted if he fails to honour their invitation.

  • Don seeks end to harmful widowhood practices

    Don seeks end to harmful widowhood practices

    Like the voice in the wilderness, Prof. Catherine Ikodiya Oreh has raised her voice in support of the crusade against dehumanising practices on widows in Nigeria and most Third World countries. She urged men to desist from giving support to those harmful practices that dehumanise widows.

    Oreh, a professor of Adult Education/Community Development at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, spoke at the 80th Inaugural Lecture of the university at Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Nsukka Campus.

    In her paper entitled“Igbo Cultural Widowhood Practices: Reflections on Inadvertent Weapons of Retrogression in Community Development”, Prof. Oreh said the loss of a spouse (particularly the husband) is associated with extreme painful and distressful experience in addition to other risks and challenges to the wife.

    She condemned the practices which subjugate widows, leaving them with no hope and no security. She listed other challenges widows encounter to include disruptions of relationships, deteriorating health and physical capacity as well as declining financial resources.

    The practices, she maintained, have far-reaching consequences on the widow, her children and the community. All these, she said, are factors affecting development in various communities.

    She described community development as a process that “brings about improvements in the life of people through changes in the conditions of their community”, and that “women generally have greater potential for community development.”

    The 80th Inaugural Lecture emphasised the position of the United Nations General Assembly on widows which, she said, called on member-states and other international organisations to end all negative practices associated with widowhood.

    Prof. Oreh noted that no matter the challenges associated with widowhood, the practices would soon be brought to an end. To achieve this, she recommended education as the only tool to cope effectively and the bedrock of community development.

    She, therefore, called for sensitisation and empowerment of widows to improve their knowledge on how to avoid being victims or perpetrators as well as knowing when their rights are trampled upon and to fight against it. The enlightenment, she said, would improve widows’ standard in education, health and finance. It would help them play active roles in the society.

    Moreover, she recommended the joint ownership of properties by husband and wife as it would not require letters of administration for either of the partners to claim the estates when a partner dies.

    She also stated that it would be acceptable and pleasing if fathers and/or husbands would write wills, stating clearly how their properties should be shared in the event of death.

    She urged them to update their wills with data of their wives rather than that of their siblings or parents. This, she said, would go a long way in helping their wives not to experience such dehumanising practices when they die.

    Prof. Oreh called on Christian organisations, such as Christian Council of Nigerian (CCN) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), to speak with one voice against the malpractices and come up with consistent policies against infringement on widows’ rights.

    She also said the government should enact laws that will protect widows, even as she advised that such laws should have clear structures of implementation at the grassroots. She said community-based organisations should be involved as a task force to monitor and enforce sanctions on defaulters.

    Prof. Oreh also asked the Ministry of Women Affairs in various states to scale up activities which will integrate and involve women groups at the grassroots to provide information for widows on who they can take their complaints to when harassed.

    Urging the audience to join in the fight against harmful widowhood practices, she spoke of the intention of the Department of Adult Education, in collaboration with the Agencies for Mass Literacy, Adult and non-formal Education to develop programmes on Probate Education which would aim at sensitising the entire polity on the rights of widows.

    She opined that enforcement of harmful widowhood practices is violence against women, adding that it would make widowhood exhaustive and traumatic.  Noting that it would require a radical approach to change the plight of widows, the don said community development movement should function as a radical movement for social change.

    Prof. Oreh noted that if development in Nigeria and in every community must be enhanced, it would be appropriate if all traditional or cultural practices that inhibit full participation of women in development process are removed.

    “All legal, political and cultural constraints that tend to impede women’s access to higher productivity must be checked and removed to ensure adequate and proper exploitation of their potential for national and community development.

  • Abia youths hold prayer summit

    The National Youth Wing of the Abia State Town Unions Association (ASTUA) will hold a prayer summit on September 20 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

    Its President, Prince Ikenna I. James said this during a briefing in Lagos.

    He said the youth are presenting the state Governor, Dr. Theodore A. Orji, before God and also interceding for all Abia youths and people for overall success.

    He noted that the governor represents the life and image of the state. That, he said, necessitated the need for prayer for all-round success in his programmes.

    James said the summit would hold in Lagos first and later in Umuahia.

    He added that the elections of the association would hold in October, stating that the president and the vice-president are the only elected officers.

    Officers such as Legal Adviser, Director of Protocol and National Coordinator are appointed positions which are held by James Nwabuche Esq., Prince Kelechi, Ulu Torti and Dr. Emeka Nwaogu.

    Assessing Orji’s administration, James praised his efforts, particularly the empowerment of youths. He prayed that God would grant the governor more knowledge and good health.

    On the purported claim by one Okey Ezekwe as the public relations officer (PRO) of ASTUA youth wing; he said the group had no PRO, adding that such false claims are common given that the elections are drawing near.

    The youth leader expressed his belief that the prayer summit will strengthen Abia youths and open channels of blessing for them.

    Evangelist Uma Ukpai will be the chief guest speaker.

  • Traditional ruler decries arrest of staff school principal

    The traditional ruler of Okahia Community in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, His Royal Highness, Eze Okey J. Ananaba, has condemned the leadership tussle among the six governing members of the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Aba.

    Eze Ananaba, while addressing journalists in his palace, condemned the use of policemen by a faction of the institute’s governing board to arrest Mr. Chukwudi Adibe (newly appointed principal for NINLAN Staff Secondary School). The action, he said, would have brought chaos in his community if not for the intervention of some members of his community and the Aba Police Area Commander, ACP Peter Wagbara that exhibited professionalism and sound judgment on the matter.

    He said: “I am condemning the invasion of NINLAN city campus by police officers from Aba Area Command, who were led to the school to arrest the school principal by a faction of the governing board members. When they came, they were thought to be gunmen who came to abduct the principal. If not for the prompt intervention by some elders in the community, the story would have been different from what we are talking today.

    “I am a land donor and a stakeholder in the institute. We don’t want trouble in our community and cannot fold our arms to watch things go wrong in a school sited by the Federal Government in my community.

    “The reason why I called for this press conference is to call on the Federal Government and the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, to wade into the leadership crisis in NINLAN to avoid further harassment of the institute staff by any faction of the governing board.”

    On ways to end the leadership tussle, the traditional ruler suggested complying with the Umuahia Federal High Court judgment with suit no FHC/UM/CS/84/2007, which calls for the reinstatement of Prof. Ben Elugbe to complete his tenure as the executive director of the institute to avoid contempt of the court, He added that if there were reasons why the judgment of the court would not be obeyed, the Minister for Education should send directives which everybody including the governing council members should obey.

    The Nation gathered that since the squabble among the governing council members grew out of proportion, members of the staff of the institute have continued to express worries over the development and will appreciate moves by the Federal Government to end the prolonged leadership tussle which, they said, has affected academic and administrative activities in the institute negatively.

    A member of NINLAN academic staff who spoke anonymously was optimistic that a united governing council would provide the enabling ground for an executive director that understands the institute’s mandate which is to preserve Nigerian Languages.

    The NINLAN, four years after it was proscribed and ceded to the University of Nigerian (UNN), Nsukka, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, regained its autonomy after the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education in October 2013 reinstituted it as an independent institute; but leadership tussle has since prevented the school from hitting the ground running.

  • Igbo and the razzmatazz of new yam festival

    Igbo and the razzmatazz of new yam festival

    New yam festival or iriji as it is called, is one of the most significant and popular traditions of Ndigbo. It is celebrated at the beginning of every harvest season to thank the gods of the land for blessing the people with bountiful harvest and to mark the beginning of another farming season.

    In Igbo land, new yams are not eaten, especially by titled men, until the new yam festival has been celebrated as a mark of respect for the crop that can only be cultivated by men and regarded as the king of all crops.

    Celebrated in the time of ‘plenty’ as the harvest season is known in Igbo land, the New Yam Festival is associated with heavy eating and drinking. Friends and visitors are lavishly entertained with various yam delicacies like pounded yam, yam porridge and roasted yam eaten with vegetable soup, red palm oil and smoked fish.

    In the past, it was a time great farmers with large barns of yam are recognised and rewarded with traditional titles. But in this day and age, New Yam Festivals are no more the exclusive reserve of great yam farmers. It has become socio-cultural event where the rich cultural heritages of the Igbo people are displayed.

    At this year’s edition of the annual “Iriji Mbaise” Festival in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, although heavily marred by political interferences, the people relived the good old days when hard work and commitment to farming were rewarded and celebrated.

    At the event, which held at the Chioma Ajunwa Stadium, great farmers proudly displayed their prized yams, some of them so big so much so that one could wonder if they were actually dug out from the earth or produced by a craftsman.

    One of the greatest yam farmers, Ezeji Felix Onwere, attributed this year’s rich harvest to the benevolence of God who had blessed the people with good climate. He noted that yam farming is one of the most intricate aspects of farming.

    He said Imo State has the potential of producing yams enough for the entire country and for export.

    “Imo State is known for farming and we have the capacity to produce enough yams for the entire country and for export. You can see the sizes of the yams on display today, which tells you what we can do. But we need the support of the state government to enable us to go into large-scale farming,” he said.

    Prominent among the dignitaries that attended this year’s “Iriji Mbaise” Festival were the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri and Governor Rochas Okorocha, among other politicians and illustrious sons of Mbaise nation.

    In his speech, the Chairman of Mbaise Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Chidume Okoro, thanked God for a successful and bountiful farming season, even as he declared open another farming season, which he prayed will be better than those of yesteryear.

    He seized the opportunity to commend the government for encouraging farming through its numerous agricultural policies, especially the grants given to farmers for palm cultivation, adding that if the agricultural policies of the present administration are sustained, they would guarantee food security and prosperity for the state.

    The royal father further thanked Governor Okorocha for the massive infrastructure development, especially the flag-off of the Mbaise/Ngor-Okpala Campus of Imo State University and the free education programme, which, he noted, the people had benefitted from.

    In his speech which was greeted with thunderous ovation by the crowd, Governor Okorocha said his Rescue Mission administration has approved the Mbaise/Ngor-Okpala Campus of Imo State University to demonstrate his love for the Mbaise people.

    He disclosed that a lot of Mbaise sons and daughters have benefitted from his personal free education project through the Rochas Foundation.

    He said: “Mbaise people are the greatest beneficiaries of the free education policy of my administration because of their population.  My administration has constructed more than 45 kilometers of road in the three local governments that make up Mbaise.

    “My administration has constructed three ultra-modern hospitals in the three local government areas in Mbaise, and new school buildings in all the wards in Mbaise.  I have given key appointments to Mbaise sons like the Commissioners of Housing, Public Utilities and Public Safety, Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants, among others.”

    Earlier in his speech, Ihedioha, who was incidentally the chief host, decried lack of state government’s presence in Mbaise, accusing the governor of deliberately neglecting the zone in terms developmental projects.

    The Deputy Speaker, who had earlier presented the traditional kola nut to Governor Okorocha, said:  “My Governor, we are happy to have you in our midst at this time. Mbaise people are peace-loving and hospitable. As our governor, who has graced this occasion for the first time since you assumed office, we are glad that you will personally address issues of neglect and marginalisation of Mbaise Nation before handing over to Owerri Senatorial zone, and particularly to me in 2015.

    “There is no single state government presence in the entire three local government areas of Mbaise land and it calls for worry. What we see are Federal Government projects while the state government has ignored the area completely. It is our collective wish that the issues be addressed soon enough as the 2015 general elections are approaching when you will leave office for my administration as the Governor come 2015 to address the issues of neglect and decay in our land.”

    Prof. Onwuliri, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at the event, also accused the Governor of abandoning the zone, adding that, “since Okorocha assumed office in 2011, he has never attended the “Iriji Mbaise” until this one that proceeds the election year.

    “This is not the ground for venting personal animosities. He even left before the actual ceremony began. He just brought trouble to the event and this is an embarrassment to the state and its people. I am positive that by 2015, we will all have a chance to redress this anomaly.”

  • Obiano orders rebranding of agency

    Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano has ordered the rebranding of Anambra State Traffic Agency (ASTA), even as he suspended the activities of the agency in Ihiala, Nnewi, Onitsha and its environs, except Awka.

    The agency will now bear Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency (ATMA).

    This was revealed in Awka by the Commissioner for Transport, Chuma Mbonu, while he led the traffic decongestion team at Aroma during the gridlock.

    According to him, the bad eggs in the old agency, which had been identified, would be sacked after what he described as rescreening of the workers.

    Mbonu said: “We are re-organising and re-branding the agency. It will come in a new form and new shape for greater efficiency as ordered by Governor Willie Obiano.

    “Those of them who are good will be retained after the re-screening exercise while the bad eggs will go. We have the data of all of them.

    “Already, we have suspended their activities in areas such as Ihiala, Nnewi, Onistha, Ekwulobia. We have retained their services in Awka for close supervision.

    “The new agency will be made up of men and women of integrity. You know their reputation before now had not been wonderful. Obiano has a passion for road transport matter,” Mbonu said.

    Again, he said the state government would rely on additional information from the public to act accordingly, adding that Anambra State was no longer for miscreants.