The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lawrence

  • Bayelsa plans more residential quarters to open up new Yenagoa city

    Bayelsa plans more residential quarters to open up new Yenagoa city

    The Bayelsa State Government has promised to build more residential quarters to open up the New Yenagoa City to meet the growing accommodation needs of the state.

    The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made this known when the state chapter of the Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN), a professional body of legal practitioners in the employ of the government paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Yenagoa.

    Ewhrudjakpo said the government was currently building new residential quarters for commissioners and House of Assembly members at the New Yenagoa City layout, adding that more of such quarters would be built for other top government functionaries and civil servants in the state.

    Responding to some of the requests of the Association, Ewhrudjakpo assured them that the government would look into the backlog of rent subsidy, unpaid conference fees, and grants for cars, by clearing them in instalments.

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    On the issue of payment of legal practicing fees for 2024, the Deputy Governor directed the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Biriyai Dambo (SAN), to quickly raise a memo for the payment before the expiration of the deadline in March.

    Speaking on behalf of the LOAN, the State Chairman, Mr. Maxwell Ishiusah, enumerated the non-release of statutory benefits such as rent subsidy, conference fees and car grants as challenges the law officers in the state are being confronted with.

    In another development, the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has said the present administration was doing its best to market Bayelsa on the platform of sports.

    Ewhrudjakpo stated this when he granted audience to the president and members of the Bayelsa State Elite Table Tennis Club International in Government House, Yenagoa.

    The Deputy Governor, who gave a pass mark to the Bayelsa Elite Table Tennis Club for defeating their counterparts from Rivers and Delta states, gave an assurance that the government would support the training of two of its coaches and equally support their proposed trip to engage their counterparts in Lagos State by April.

    He said: “Bayelsa’s battered image has to be improved. What you are doing is improving the public image and reputation of the state. You are playing to change the image of Bayelsa State.

    “We are doing our best to change the narrative. We are marketing our state on the platform of sports.

    “We will encourage the training of the coaches as you have canvassed. Government will also render support for your Lagos tour within available resources.”

    In their separate remarks, the Majority Leader of the House, Rt Hon Monday Edwin Obolo, who is a member of the tennis club, and the President, Mr Zibs Tonbra, thanked the Deputy Governor for always rendering support to the club, even at a very short notice.

  • Bayelsa deputy governor urges doctors to uphold professional oath

    Bayelsa deputy governor urges doctors to uphold professional oath

    • Young lawyers enjoined to promote human rights advocacy

    Bayelsa State Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has reminded medical workers, particularly doctors, the need to obey their professional oath at all times in the performance of their duties.

    He urged young lawyers to take interest in promoting and protecting human rights of the people, as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.

    Ewhrudjakpo spoke yesterday when the Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa chapter and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Community Development Service Legal Aid Group paid him visits at the Government House, Yenagoa.

    He decried a situation where most doctors disobeyed with impunity the Hippocratic Oath they swore to before being inducted into the medical profession.

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    Ewhrudjakpo said the Hippocratic Oath makes it mandatory for medical professionals to place premium on saving life first before considering the financial implication of doing so.

    Addressing the NYSC Legal Aid Group, Ewhrudjakpo drew parallels between contemporary legal practice in Nigeria and what was obtainable during the times of legal luminaries like Gani Fawehinmi, Rotimi Williams and Nikki Tobi.

    He noted that legal practice had suffered terrible setback, and therefore, challenged upcoming young lawyers to avoid the apparent blunders in the Nigerian Justice delivery system in recent times.

    Assuring his visitors of government’s support, Ewhrudjakpo urged the NYSC group to initiate a radio programme to educate the public on fundamental human rights, stressing that many citizens were being oppressed due to ignorance of their basic rights.

    He said: “I want you to focus on what you can do. I believe that quite a number of persons are not aware of their rights, and that is a major issue.

    “And that will dovetail to the issue of domestic violence and human rights abuses that take place. I want you to find out whether we have any programme on air that educates us about our rights, otherwise we initiate one. “

    In their remarks, the President, Association of Resident Doctors, FMC Yenagoa Chapter, Dr. Sintei Shadrachson, and his NYSC CDS Legal Aid Group counterpart, Mr Fiwasayo Akintayo, hailed the Governor Douye Diri-led administration for supporting health and NYSC programmes.

    They, however, solicited government’s continued support to enable their organisations function more effectively.

  • ‘Prioritise development of human resources in health sector’

    ‘Prioritise development of human resources in health sector’

    Bayelsa State Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo has called on the Federal Government to prioritise the development of human resources in the health sector in its Renewed Hope Agenda.

    He made the call yesterday while granting audience to a delegation from the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, led by its National Deputy President, Venerable Dr. Nengi Brown, at the Government House in Yenagoa.

    In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, the deputy governor said what the country currently needs most is concerted investment in building a critical mass of health and medical practitioners to run the health system.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday, while launching the Health Sector Renewal Compact on the sidelines of the Universal Health Coverage Day celebrations in Abuja, announced his administration’s  commitment to revamping the health sector by tackling infrastructure issues.

    Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who represented Governor Douye Diri at the Abuja event, however, maintained that efforts to revamp the health sector by paying skewed attention to building more health infrastructure at the expense of the human capital driving the sector would achieve little or nothing.

    Identifying human resources and nutrition as key components of any virile health system, he urged the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, to take care of the telling needs in implementing the National Health Act.

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    He said: “My advocacy to the Minister of Health and the President is that we should not take health infrastructure as a priority in the Renewed Hope Agenda for health. That shouldn’t be our focus.

    “I have said many times that if we must get health right, we must go for the human resources because when the health workers are available and present in the various communities, health care will become more efficient and affordable.

    “I believe we can achieve much if we build the human resources we need to run our health system with the level of health infrastructure we have on ground. Building infrastructures without the people to man them does not make any sense to me.

    “I am also one of those who believe that nutrition is a key component of health that we have neglected in this country over the years. And for us to get it right, we must take nutrition seriously. You cannot give vaccine to a malnourished child.”

    Thanking the association for their prayers and support to the Governor Diri-led administration, the deputy governor urged them to avoid mudslinging and strive for professionalism to carve a respectable niche for themselves.

    The National Deputy President, National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr Nengi Brown, congratulated Governor Diri and his deputy on their well-deserved victory in the November 11 governorship election.

    Brown appreciated Ewhrudjakpo, whom he described as one of their own, for making them proud in office and solicited his continued support to the association.