The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Delta

  • Armed gang takes over Delta community

    Armed gang takes over Delta community

    Knocks for governor

    RESIDENTS and business operators in Effurun, Ekpan and other communities in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State now live in perpetual fears as armed gangs continue to unleash mayhem on them.

    Investigations by our correspondent revealed that no fewer than 10 persons have been killed, while over 100 have been wounded since the beginning of the year. Properties worth several millions of naira, including Shoprite and other shops in the Delta Mall, have either being destroyed or looted within the same period.

    Distressed residents condemned the seeming nonchalant attitude of the state government for the mindless killings, robberies, abductions and breach of the peace in Uvwie and environs.

    A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The governor seems to have ceded Uvwie to armed gangs, while residents live in perpetual fear, sleep and wake up to the sound of gunfire and flying bullets.”

    Reports that could not be independently confirmed indicated that at least three persons were killed on Thursday morning in a renewed bedlam in the area.

    While speaking with The Nation, a victim of Thursday’s mayhem, Mr Olatuden Daniel, stated: “I don’t know what Delta State government is doing about this high level of insecurity, especially in Uvwie LGA, Ekpan and Jakpa.

    “I almost got killed by flying bullets early on Thursday morning on my way to office because some youths were fighting. A responsible government shouldn’t fold its arms and allow youths to take over the government.

    “This has been on for a month now and I hope Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa will wake up to his responsibility. “

    It was gathered that, in another violent fracas, hundreds of persons who were on their way to their places of work were trapped in another bloody shootout around the Ekpan area of the community.

    According to sources, the latest spate of violence in Ekpan and other parts of Uvwie was triggered by a battle for the control of motor parks in the area and its subsequent face-off between the council chairman, Chief Baro Henry and the state governor.

    Sources said the interplay of forces working for Baro’s return and those bent on perpetrating the current occupant on the seat is responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the council.

    “There are those working hard to demonise Baro in order to ensure that he does not return and there are those working to ensure that the council becomes ungovernable if the elected chairman is not allowed to return to his seat,” a source who spoke on condition of anonymity added.

  • Delta set to create 60,000 entrepreneurs

    Delta set to create 60,000 entrepreneurs

    With plans to create 60,000 jobs in the next four years, Delta State Government, last week, passed out the first batch of youths who completed a six-month skills acquisition programme. Okungbowa Aiwerie examines the government’s drive to combat poverty through entrepreneurship schemes.

    Last week, no fewer than 700 youths graduated from a government-sponsored six months intensive skills acquisition and entrepreneurial programme at the Songhai Delta, Amukpe, Delta State.

    Songhai Delta is an agricultural and research training facility designed to provide practical training experience.

    The event, which was the passing out ceremony for the first batch of beneficiaries in the Delta State Government job and wealth creation programme, had youths drawn from the three senatorial districts of Delta State.

    Gov Okowa had on August 26, 2015 inaugurated the job and wealth creation scheme with a mandate to create direct employment for 60,000 persons over the next four years.

    The existing job and wealth creation programmes available to youths include Youth Agricultural and Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), Production and Processing Support Programme (PPSP) and Micro-credit.

    The programme, primarily, is designed to teach youth skills, tackle unemployment and raise entrepreneurs.

    Under YAGEP, unemployed, youths are trained and established in their choice of agricultural enterprise, including poultry, piggery, fishery and crop production.

    STEP is designed to train and establish unemployed youths in preferred skill or trade. Youths are made to go through a three-phase training plan comprising life skills and orientation course, vocational skills training, and business entrepreneurship training.

    Under STEP, the skills or trades include computer hardware maintenance and repair, catering and confectionery, electrical installation and repair, barbing, bead-making, cosmetology, decoration and event management, hair-dressing and makeover, fashion design and tailoring, tiling, block-moulding, Plaster of Paris (POP) and interlocking. Youths dressed in sky-blue baseball caps and crested white tee-shirts celebrated with kiths and kin in a carnival atmosphere. The mood was buoyant, as music blared from loudspeakers placed at strategic locations around the tree-lined streets of the training centre.

    The camaraderie among the trainees was infectious on this hot, breezy afternoon, as they joked and chatted in clusters over drinks and food, awaiting eagerly the arrival of the governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

    The wait was short. Gov Okowa alighted from his vehicle into the warm embrace of enthusiastic youths who sang lustily his praise.

    Trainees shook hands and exchanged banters with the number one citizen of the state, before he inspected a guard of honour mounted by the trainees.

    In an address at a packed conference hall, Gov. Okowa said although cynicism greeted the scheme at the initial stage, the passing-out ceremony was ‘undeniable proof that our critics were wrong’.

    The governor said, ‘A little over six months ago when we commenced this journey, there were not a few sceptics who thought it was another one of those government empowerment programmes that would eventually be scuttled by political intrigue, god-fatherism, corruption and bureaucratic red tape. Even some of the participants here were not left out in this widespread cynicism. Their initial interest was to see how they could as was the norm in the past, get their share of the ‘national cake’ before the programme is abandoned.’

    Okowa declared the programme a success, adding that only five persons dropped out of the course.

    His words, “I am informed that only five persons did not complete the course. Out of the five, one got a paid employment while another person unfortunately passed on. So, technically, only three persons dropped out from a set of 776 trainees. That translates to 99.2% performance, an unprecedented record with a scheme like this.”

    According to him, the high retention rate is the result of the rigoruos screening and selection process of the job and wealth creation scheme.

    He urged the trainees to put into practice the principles learnt from the training, stressing that success in business requires focus, diligence, careful planning, excellent service and prudent management of resources.

    Earlier, the Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof Eric Eboh, expressed satisfaction at the success rate of the pioneer class of YAGEP and STEP trainees.

    He said YAGEP trainees will be provided with infrastructure and facilities, starter stocks (for livestock) and seeds/seedling (for crop) and production inputs, while STEP trainees will be provided with capital items relevant to the skill area and some working materials.

    To ensure enduring success of the programme, Eboh said, ‘trainees will be monitored and mentored throughout the gestation period of their business enterprise. The monitoring and mentoring will be carried out through technical teams comprising specialists in the respective skills or trades.’

    Despite high praise by the trainees, a major complaint has been the issue of inadequate starter packs. Some trainees want the administration to look into the issue.

    Several trainees alleged sabotage by officials managing the programme, a situation, they claimed, has dampened their enthusisasm.

    A trainee Elohor Igbuku, Isoko North L.G.A who trained as a block maker described the programme as excellent, but complained of a dearth of basic tools in the starter pack.

    His words, ‘The programme has been rewarding. All these while, we have roamed the streets unemployed, but Okowa’s government has engaged us through this initiative. The challenge we face is inadequate starter packs. I trained as a block-moulder, we are supposed to get all the required items to start our business. We listed the basic requirements needed to help us succeed, but we are given just two of those items including money. A wooden mould and an overhead tank and the sum of N20, 000. In these modern times, we require a vibrating machine, sand and cement and land to properly start up.’

    Chinyelo Mmalagu, a mother of five, from Abbe Community in Ndokwa West L.G.A, who specialised in crop farming, commended the state government’s efforts, adding that the knowledge gained from the programme will in no small measure help her business.

    Mmalagu claimed she resigned from paid employment to enrol in the programme, adding that with knowledge gained in the last three months, she is hopeful of making success within four months.

    Her words, “Before this time, I was not sure that green peppers, cabbage, cucumber, water melon, carrots, lettuce and other vegetables could be produced in our locality, but the training has opened my eyes to this possibility. In the farm where I did my internship, such vegetables are grown there. So after my training here, I believe I will be able to succeed in vegetable farming.’

    Mmalagu wants the state government to provide her with land, borehole, generator and other farming implements to enable her start her farm.

    Another trainee, Mrs Susan Nwanukwe from Asaba, Oshimili South who specialises in hair dressing and makeover had kind words for the organisers of the programme, but urged government to provide some basic items required for them to succeed in business.

    Her words, ‘In the last six months we gained a lot. The programme was very rich and rewarding. It was very tasking. In the last three months, we had to daily attend training sessions that lasted the whole day, but I think it is a privilege for me to be enrolled in this programme.

    ‘My starter pack does not have a generator and you know in this country, power is a challenge. So that is the problem I as a hair dresser will face. But the organisers have assured us to write those items we might need so that they will provide it. I pray they do as they have promised.’

    Reacting to the issue of inadequate starter packs, Kingsley Emu, Economic Planning Commissioner and Chairman, Ad-Hoc Steering Committee Job Creation had this to say: “Some of the expectations of the trainees are unrealistic, but trainees can assess micro credit administered by Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency. The resources of government are limited, especially with falling oil prices in the international market. Hardworking entrepreneurs can expect such financial assistance. The Okowa administration is not unmindful of the hazards of the business world, so measures have been put in place to help the trainees succeed. I make bold to say that all the basic items in the starter packs are intact, be rest assured. “.

  • One killed as manhunt is launched for Delta council chair

    One person was feared dead yesterday in the aftermath of last Friday’s attack on the Shoprite complex at Effurrun in Delta State.

    Residents of the town and its neighbouring communities in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State have since been living in fear.

    Effurun, Ekpan and Ugborikoko residents were jolted yesterday when guns were fired near Jakpa, Orumaro and Ekpan areas of the troubled town.

    The lone casualty was feared killed on PTI Road yesterday when armed youths invaded the area.

    The development followed the launch of a manhunt for the embattled Chairman of Uvwie local government area, Henry Baro, who the police accused of prompting the attack.

    Trouble started Friday morning when a fracas involving the council chief and a naval rating, led to the invasion of the mall by dozens of weapon-wielding youths, purportedly on Baro’s behest.

    A police source claimed that a closed circuit television (CCTV) on the scene showed Baro in the thick of the action.

    “He ordered the youths,” a source said.

    But Baro denied the allegation, claiming he was a victim of a drunken naval rating who beat him up.

    The police said the council chairman failed to honour their invitation, prompting a siege to his Jakpa Road home from Friday night till Saturday evening.

    Eyewitness said about 100 heavily armed mobile policemen in over 20 vans invaded Baro’s home on Saturday evening.

    It was learnt that Baro had fled before the policemen arrived at his home.

    But as the police were manning the gates to the council chairman’s home, armed youths were unleashing mayhem on motorists and passengers at Jakpa and other parts of Effurun.

    A police source told our reporter that Baro was believed to have fled to Lagos or nearby Edo State.

    It was learnt that an initial appraisal of the security arrangement at the popular mall blamed the ease with which hoodlums overran the city on porous security lapses.

    “We have reviewed the video from the CCTV and I can tell you that there is a strong need for urgent review of security at the mall,” a top police officer told our correspondent yesterday.

    The source, who pleaded not to be named, blamed the management of the mall for the deplorable security situation.

    He noted that the security lapses at the mall made it easy for hoodlums to loot shops and cart away mobile handsets, laptops, cash and other valuables.

    “The incident at a shopping mall in Kenya last year should serve as an eye-opener. People cannot just set up businesses without consideration for the security and safety of their clients and customers.

    The source added: “After a review of the CCTV, we discovered that the youths, numbering over 200, gained unrestricted access to the premises. The security operatives on the ground were few and some of them were not armed.

    “The private security on the premises appeared untrained on how to deal with such a situation. That is unacceptable, in view of the bombing and other incidents in the country and beyond. You see that vehicles come and go without scrutiny of their boots. They have kiosks for such exercise but nobody is manning them.

    “From what we found out, if the boys had targeted shoppers instead of the goods they went to steal, the casualty would have been high. This is because they just had a field day.”

  • Vigilantes kill commercial motorcycle rider in Delta

    Three members of a vigilance group on Oveto Street, Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, allegedly killed an unidentified commercial motorcycle (Okada) rider at 10.30 pm on New Year Day.

    The vigilantes were arrested by soldiers attached to the 222 Battalion at Agbarha-Otor, Ughelli.

    The suspects, who were handed over to the Ughelli “B” Division Police Station the following day, were identified as Peter Oghenechuko of the Ughelli Vigilante Council (UVC), Sunny Oyovwire and Fidelis Onwah.

    Two single-barrelled guns, four live cartridges and a cutlass were allegedly recovered from them.

    A female passenger, who was said to have witnessed the killing, said the man was shot in the back of his head, following an argument between the Okada rider and the vigilantes.

    Accepting blame for the death of the Okada rider, Ogheneochuko said he was attempting to shoot in the air when the bullet hit the Okada rider.

    He said: “I wanted to shoot into the air to scare him while he (Okada rider) tried to ram into me with his motorcycle when the gun exploded and hit him in the head.”

    Police spokesperson Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the victim was rushed to the Ughelli Central Hospital where he died.

  • Delta community’s indigenes honour achievers

    For indigenes of Ubulu Unor living in Lagos, all roads led to St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja, Lagos, on November 29. That was the day the Ubulu Unor Union, Lagos State Branch, held its Annual Thanksgiving and Award Ceremony. Ubulu Unor is a community in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State.

    By 1pm, the church auditorium had already filled to the brim. The occasion was to mark the end of the year and also to celebrate those who have impacted positively on the community in one way or the other.

    In his welcome address, the President of the union, Hon. Chris Aniagwu, underlined the significance of the occasion, saying that the gathering offered the opportunity of saying “thank you” to those who answered their clarion calls to service.

    Aniagwu, who said the gathering was to seek possible ways they could join hands and develop their fatherland, lamented the state of social facility in the town. For instance, he said electricity supply has been abandoned over the last 16 years. This, he added, has resulted in the decay of electric poles and wires that were used to connect the town to the national grid earlier.

    The President said: “Suddenly, the government is waking up from its slumber and now wants to restore power supply. But, it wants every community to contribute towards the effort. We know the humiliation of cruising in our cars from Lagos to Ubulu Uku or Ogwashi Uku, only to go at a snail pace when we approach Ubulu Unor because of bad road.”

    He decried the fact that unemployed youths have now resorted to breaking into peoples’ houses, a practice which, he said, was alien to Ubulu Unor lifestyle.

    Nevertheless, Aniagwu is optimistic that things will change soon. His words: “However, hopes are not lost because we still have illustrious sons and daughters who believe in Ubulu Unor. They believe that they can invest in their fatherland, no matter how long it will take to recoup their investments. Therefore, we appreciate our sons and daughters who are blazing the trail in this regard.

    No fewer than 12 indigenes went home with different categories of award. Some of the recipients are: Monsignor J.K. Aniagwu of St. Leo’s Parish, Ikeja, Lagos; the chief executive officer of Brilliant Group of Companies, Chief Joseph Nkenchor; the managing director of I.T. Identity Database, Mr Chuks Onyepunuka; Barrister Godwin Okoh; Mr. Glory Abunwa; Mr. Moses Uzunwe; and Mrs. Uchechukwu Mordi.

    In his acceptance speech, Nkenchor thanked the Ubulu Unor Union for the prestigious award, saying: “I feel very much encouraged, though I know something more than this is still coming. I am a social worker and I know what it takes to impact on the society in a positive way. My joy is when I see people around me smiling.”

    Nkenchor, who dedicated the award to Obidinma Okonkwor, an indigene who made efforts to rehabilitate roads in the town, said his desire to venture into road rehabilitation for his people was the mentorship he got from the philanthropist.

    Similarly, Onyepunuka commended the union for the award, saying he would not relent in contributing to the development of the town.

    Another awardee, Mordi, said for her, it was a honour and privilege to serve the community and as such that she cherishes the award from her people.

  • Police, delta communities unite against cultism

    There is growing tension in Delta State following an upsurge in cult- related violence.

    To reclaim their neighbourhoods, many communities have taken matters into their hands organising vigilance groups to checkmate these murderous bands of youths.

    As a direct response to the menace of cultism, many neighbourhoods in Asaba have formed vigilance groups.

    Vice-Chairman of Asaba Community Policing (ACP) a.k.a anti-cult, Azuka Okonji, said: “The cultists looted shops in Asaba metropolis, collecting illegal levies and harassing street traders so this was killing business. We had to put a stop to these killings.”

    Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr. Alkali Baba Usman, in an interview with Niger Delta Report said the police have not relented in its fight against cultism.

    His words: “We have taken the war against cultism to their camps. The command has had diligent clamp down on cult groups in different locations in the State.”

    He said some of the successes recorded by the command’s special anti-robbery squad (SARS) include raids on cult hide outs in Oghara, Ethiope West where 48 cultists were arrested and are already in court.

    At Agbor, Ika South, another cult hotbed, Usman said, nine cultists had been arraigned in court, noting also that at Jesse community about 13 members of Sparrow Junior Eye were also busted and are facing the wrath of the law.

    Relating a dare-devilry attack on police officers at Ibusa, Oshimili North, Usman said: “Cult members engaged a SARS team, threw stones at their Hilux van and in the process damaging the vehicles windscreens”.

    Usman noted that as a follow up on that attack, the command arrested 33 male and 2 female members of the Supreme Viking Confraternity.

    According to him, over 252 cultists have been arrested since the beginning of 2015, with the majority having been prosecuted and convicted.

    Ordinary citizens have not been left out of the crusade to rid the State of cultism; Chikelu Arinze is the PDP councilor representing ward 13 Oshimili South L.G.A.”

    “The ward I represent comprise of Hausa, Igbos, Yoruba in short all the tribes in Nigeria are fully represented there

    Chikelu Arinze, is a politician with a difference aside from having a deep commitment to better the lot of his people, has also spent his hard earned cash on equipping the local vigilance group and the Police.

  • PDP acting out of fear of rerun in Delta -Emerhor

    PDP acting out of fear of rerun in Delta -Emerhor

    In this interview with Bolaji Ogundele, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, talks about his appeal against the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which affirmed Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as winner of last governorship election and the plans to revive the economy of the state under an APC-led government in the state. Excerpts

    How ready are you and your party to pursue the appeal of the tribunal’s judgement, delivered in favour of Governor Okowa recently?

    Our solicitors have received our instructions to appeal the judgement. They have equally received the certified true copy of the ruling and are already working on the grounds of appeal. They would be more authoritative than me in spelling out the grounds of appeal but I can give you a few indications here: We believe the tribunal erred, when after holding that INEC has powers to issue guidelines, including the use of card readers, nonetheless, failed to find that Okowa/PDP/INEC breached those guidelines through their admitted resort to manual voters accreditation.

    We believe the tribunal erred when it ruled a duly certified INEC generated card readers accreditation report that showed total voters accreditation at 715,392, inconclusive based on unsubstantiated oral evidence. We also believe that the tribunal erred when it expunged our star witness, Barrister Ore Ohimor’s analysis that had earlier been admitted as exhibit, on the premise that it was only front loaded during the reply of the petitioners to the respondents’ reply. This analysis was core to our case of over accreditation/voting. It showed over voting in 1,847 polling units or 61% of polling units in Delta State. We believe based on this alone, the elections ought to have been cancelled.

    Furthermore, we believe the tribunal erred when it applied the recent case of Balogun v Akpatason (August 2015 ) to dismiss our case on the basis that it was signed by only one of the two petitioners ignoring the subsisting legal authority at the time the case was instituted ie Ibrahim v Sheriff (2002 ) that allowed one signatory!  We believe the petitioners couldn’t and were not expected to anticipate the recent Balogun v Akpatason ruling.

    These, among others, I believe will form the many grounds of our appeal.

    Another issue is this belief that the national leadership of your party rather sees you as not popular enough to execute a campaign that will deliver the state to APC and thus is not in your support, like the cases in Rivers and Akwa Ibom. How true is this?

    You have raised two issues here. First, I’m not aware that APC as a party and government are the ones directing the tribunal judges on which elections to cancel or not. The APC and PDP have won and lost a number of tribunal cases all over the country. APC lost Gombe’s judgement even before losing in Delta. Akwa Ibom was only partially won. Rivers is the only clear win by APC so far. This trend cannot be interpreted to mean APC is directing judges on which states to deliver to it. Your inference of APC’s direct intervention is highly untrue and I can only say it falls into the narrative that the PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been pushing to falsely smear our great party. Secondly,  I believe it is the PDP in Delta State that stand to gain by pushing the story that I’m not popular enough to win Delta State or that my national party leaders are not in my support. They are only pushing this out there out of fear for a possible rerun. I’m the candidate of the party. The party supported me during the April 11, 2015 elections and has been supporting me since then. It is the PDP that did not allow an election in Delta State that would have established who was more popular.  Instead they resorted to rigging and allocation of votes. They are the unpopular party and candidate that are waiting for embarrassing rejection by Deltans. Their strategy, therefore, is to sow doubt in the mind of Deltans who now know that the federal might is now with APC and no longer with opposition Delta PDP. This is rerun politics already at play and Deltans must be wary. With the spate of defections from PDP to APC already happening in Delta and with more envisaged once a rerun is ordered, the PDP is acting out of fear!

    Why then did the minister representing the state in the federal cabinet not picked from the ranks of the party in the state, if not that national body of the party feels indifferent about the Delta APC chapter?

    This again is untrue!  Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, from what I understand, was targeted as an oil industry professional to manage the petroleum sector, a key sector that President Buhari is serious about revamping. My take is that Kachikwu just happened to come from Delta State. The story would have been the same if he came from any other state. Moreover, Delta is not the only state where the appointee was not from the core APC family. The same issue was protested in Kaduna, Sokoto and Gombe. My further take is that the President in making these appointments placed Nigeria’s national interest ahead of APC local state interest.  True, every state wanted one of their own as minister. This definitely empowers the local party and helps it to grow stronger and even win elections. In our case, yes, we would have liked one of us but definitely, national interest comes first.  Also, the appointed Minister is a Deltan and it’s only a matter of time and he will identify with us and support the party.  Again, those who want to divide the APC family in Delta are the ones eagerly pushing the above narrative.

    Should the appeal favour you and a rerun is ordered, how ready is Delta APC to take over the state from PDP?

    You only need to seek the opinion of the average Deltan to know that in a one man one vote free and fair election, the PDP does not stand a chance. For 16 years and more, the state has been under PDP’s misrule. The state is crying for change and in April 11, 2015, the PDP again scuttled the people’s opportunity to throw them out by disallowing an election. Instead, they resorted to allotting votes to themselves with the active connivance of a compromised INEC staff and security forces. The Okowa/PDP government has admitted to inheriting over N700 billion in debt. It has in the space of less than 5 months, borrowed over N50billion Naira. At a conservative estimate of N10 billion monthly, the PDP government had received from Federal Revenue Allocation over N1, 970 billion in its 16years and 5 month reign in the state. Now, outside the state’s Internally Generated Revenue,  adding funds available from loans/debts plus federal allocations, the PDP government had spent a total of N2.72 trillion in the state in the 16years. The PDP has wasted this colossal amount without any visible development to show for it. The road network is totally broken and dilapidated. Unemployment is at the highest. There are no industries and 90 percent of those in formal employment are government employees who are, ironically, owed several months of salaries. Contractors, mainly with government, are owed billions. The economy of the state is in comatose.

    Deltans are looking to APC to liberate them from financial squalor and imposed poverty. Even members of the PDP are in large numbers preparing to bail ship. Deltans see the declaration of a rerun as their day of freedom in the state; they are only looking for an arrow head, which I, as the candidate and the APC, am already providing.

  • Delta plans education summit

    Delta plans education summit

    The Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, has inaugurated a six-member committee to organise an education summit.

    “A good education system has the capacity to produce transformed individuals in the sense that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to develop the society they live in and make a success of their careers and lives,” Okowa said while inaugurating the committee in Asaba last week.

    He said the proposed summit has become necessary to checkmate falling standards and noticeable deficiencies in the education system in the state and the country in general.

    Okowa said the summit, which would hold in the first quarter of 2016, would have as its theme: ‘Leap Frogging Education in Delta State’.

    Okowa appealed to the committee, which has Prof Patrick Muoboghare and Mr Vincent Magboma as chairman and secretary respectively, to consider ‘learning goals, value orientation, social transformation, community participation, learning climate, service learning and centre of excellence,” while choosing resource persons for the summit.

    Buttressing the need for the summit, Governor Okowa said it was part of his campaign promises to refocus school curriculums in the state.

    Said Okowa: “There is a sense of realisation that our present education system is grossly deficient and out of touch with the realities of the 21st Century society; in fact, those who say we should declare a state of emergency in our education sector are speaking the minds of many Nigerians.

    “In today’s knowledge economy, education, not oil or natural resources, has become the competitive edge of serious countries all over the world; the meteoric rise of countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China and South Korea that have leap-frogged other third world nations and joined the elite league of developed nations is due largely to the development of their human capital.

    Responding on behalf of members of the committee, Muoboghare thanked Governor Okowa for deeming them fit to serve in the committee. He promised that the members are capable and would live up to expectation.

    Other members of the committee include: Chiedu Ebie, Sir Jude Sinebe, Mrs Pat Ejeteh, Prof Mary Edema and Mr Jackson Ekwugum.

     

  • Okowa, Delta roads and government of ‘madmen’

    At a time residents of urban cities in Delta State are contemplating whether to adopt canoe or camel as means of transportation due to the awful condition of roads in the state, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa dropped a bombshell on Sunday, October 11.

    He told newsmen at the Olu Palace (Aghofen) in Warri, after paying a condolence visit to the Regent of Warri Kingdom, Prince Eroro Emiko, on the death of the 18th Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, that “only a mad man constructs roads in the rainy season, because you would just have destroyed the roads rather than repair it. In the dry season, we will attend to the roads.”

    Some commentators see the statement as a veiled jibe at his predecessor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, who governed the state from 2007 till May 29, this year. The cold war between the former associates and leaders of the PDP is an open secret.

    A section of the debaters flayed the governor’s choice of words as unbecoming of his position as the highest political officeholder in the land.

    There is no doubt that the condition of roads in the urban areas of the state, particularly in the commercial axis of Warri-Effurun, leaves much more to be desired from those who administered and are administering the affairs of the oil-rich state.

    Roads in Warri and its environs have deteriorated to an unbearable level since Okowa took over the reign of government five months ago, and this probably led to the question that brought the ‘Madman’ analogy. The governor was seen as not only passing the bulk, but flaying his forerunner in office.

    Recall that, in the dying days of the Uduaghan administration, a contract was awarded for the resurfacing of Airport Road, one of the busiest roads linking the twin cities of Effurun and Warri.

    In a mad rush to complete the project, the contractor, a well-known politician in the state, worked in the rain and shine in those last weeks. The result of the desperate move was a new coat that did not cohere with the old, leading to its peeling off even as the new layer was being laid.

    The effect, to rephrase Okowa, was the destruction of the road, rather than repairing it. It was not the first time such contract would be awarded, and like many before that, the road and its users have been worse off.

    The Airport Road project is the first and the only road to receive the attention of the present administration in the Warri area. The contract awarded was not to repair the road, but to remove the new ‘surface’ that was debarking and making driving on the road a nightmare for motorists.

    “It is a shame that what one government spent money to lay another is spending even more money to remove! This can only happen in a society where we are led by mad men,” an aged retired civil servant, who asked not to be named because of security reasons, lamented.

    Equally sad is the fact that the contractor handling the scraping job has left the site with a large portion of the road undone, thereby making it worse off.

    There is no respite anywhere for motorists and the rains bring even more hardship.

    On a normal day and time, driving round the twin-cities–from Effurun Roundabout, through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Expressway, to Warri/Effurun/Sapele Road-should not take more than 30 minutes. But, in the present time, it could take up to three or four hours, depending on the time of the day, weather and other factors.

    During a torrential downpour on Monday, it took over two hours to manoeuvre from the Ogunu, through the flyover bridge to Ajamimogha Road – a distance less than half a kilometre. Those going to Ubeji from the Ekpan axis of Effurun spent up to five hours through the less than five kilometre road.

    The gridlock returned to the cities after another downpour on Tuesday and like the previous days, it not only affected those living in the cities, but also travellers passing through Efurun to Ughelli, Bayelsa communities and other towns in the region.

    Mr Sunny Fole, a businessman who was taking his mother to the clinic in nearby Oghara, spent several hours at the Effurun Roundabout. But fortunately for him, the medical need was not urgent.

    Okowa has promised a new dawn for residents of the area during the dry season. But residents of the areas are used to failed promises by their government officials and so residents have adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ stance.

     

     

  • Okowa’s defence lawyer loses N44.6m in Delta hotel

    Okowa’s defence lawyer loses N44.6m in Delta hotel

    •Complainant refuses to show up at police station, says commissioner
    •Tribunal delivers verdict today

    A senior counsel in the defence team of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has lost $200,000 in a popular hotel in Asaba, the Delta State capital, it was learnt at the weekend.

    It was gathered that the black market value of the stolen money was about N44.6 million.

    But the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Baba Alkali Usman, confirmed to The Nation that $100,000 was stolen.

    It was unclear what the money was meant.

    The three-man panel of the State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Nasir Gunmi is set to deliver judgment today in the two petitions by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) challenging the declaration of Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The defence lawyers to the governor were lodged at the hotel adjacent to the tribunal throughout the duration of the election petition.

    The lead lawyers in the defence team are: Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN) representing Okowa (the first respondent); Mr. A.T. Kehinde (SAN) for  the PDP  and Damien Dodo (SAN) for the third respondent (INEC).

    It was learnt that the money was stolen from Chalet 111 in the hotel, where one of the lawyers resided.

    It was learnt that four suspects – two females and two males – were arrested and detained by the police over the theft.

    Of the four, a female believed to be the girlfriend of one of the suspects was also arrested.

    The suspects are Uchechukwu, Florence , Favour and  Chidozie.

    It was learnt that the suspects were granted N180,000 bail.

    One of the male suspect paid N80,000. Another suspect coughed out N50, 000.

    The last two suspects, who were unable to pay the bail sum, were held until their relatives paid N50,000.

    The suspects were kept at the Police ‘A’ Division for three weeks before they were transferred to the state police headquarters, where they spent another three weeks.

    A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the girlfriend to one of the suspects was apprehended on the ground that the money might have been hidden in her house.

    The Nation gathered that subsequent search on the lady’s home by the police did not produce any incriminating evidence.

    It was gathered that the management of the hotel, unsatisfied with the conduct of the investigation by the police, petitioned the state police commissioner, who ordered a transfer of the matter to the State Criminal Investigating Department (SCID).

    The suspects were released last Thursday.

    The police commissioner confirmed that $100,000 was stolen at the hotel, adding that the hotel’s chief security officer lodged a complaint to the police.

    He said the police were constrained to act because the lawyer refused to formally lodge a complaint, adding that the police had to release the suspects.

    Alkali debunked the claim that the police received N180,000 as bail, stressing that bail was free and that his men would not indulge in such criminal activity.

    His words: ‘We have received a case of stolen money from Grand Hotel by the chief security officer of the hotel, who reported that one of his guests lost the sum of $100,000.We incidented the matter at the Police ‘A’ Division and requested that those who worked overnight and those who had the keys to the chalet and those on night duty on that day appear at the police station.

    “We visited the scene of the incident. When we did not see the complainant, we had to release those four persons pending when the complainant will come and formally lodge a complaint.

    “But the CSO petitioned the Police ‘A’ Division and the matter was transferred to the State Criminal investigation Department. We released the four suspects when the complainant still failed to turn up. We held four suspects .Two of them – members of staff of the hotel, but the other two are not members of staff. The only connection is that one of them is the boyfriend to one of the suspects.

    “On the issue of paying N180, 000 as bail, as far as I am concerned, the officer in charge says he does not know anything about it.”