The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Warri

  • FG urged to reform prisons run like ‘concentration camps’.

    FG urged to reform prisons run like ‘concentration camps’.

    The federal government has been charged to take urgent steps to salvage the nation’s prisons system, which is now run with services said to be below the least human standards.
    Giving the charge in a statement issued to journalists in Warri, Delta state on Saturday, a human rights outfit; the Centre for the Vulnerable & the Underprivileged (CENTREP), said the prisons across the country have lost all the qualities of what the system should be, now mostly run like ‘concentration camps’.
    In the statement signed by its Executive Director, Oghenejabor Ikimi, CENTREP also called for the immediate suspension of all ongoing military operations across the country, describing them as aberration in a civil society.  Instead the organisation asked the federal government to replace the military with well equipped police force.
    Citing the deplorable state of the Federal Prison, Warri, where a slave camp with facilities for 307 persons was converted to a prison institution, now housing close to 2000 inmates, with no improved provision, the organsation regretted the inhuman circumstances to which prisoners are now subjected to.
    “We call on the Federal Government to renovate all the Federal Prisons across the nation to make them reformative centres as they have transformed gradually over the years from mere prisons to concentration camps reminiscent of the Nazi concentration camps described in Hitler Mien Kamp.
    “For instance the Federal Prison, Warri, which was renovated into a prison from a slave camp in the year 1907, meant for 307 inmates, now houses close to 2,000 inmates with zero facilities on ground. The feeding and welfare of inmates most of which are awaiting trial are below acceptable human conditions”, the statement said.
    Calling for the immediate stoppage of ongoing military operations across the country, CENTREP said ““it is an aberration for the military to be engaged in the internal security of a nation. Internal security of our nation should be left for the police to deal with while the military should be saddled with wading off external aggression and the Boko Haram insurgents.
    “The frustration in the South-East geopolitical region is understandable. No wonder the rumour in Abia and Enugu States that the military are spreading monkey pox with vaccines being administered in their medical exercises. We insist the military cannot and are not responsible for monkey pox attack,” CENTREP stated.
  • Tanker fire destroys property in Warri

    Tanker fire destroys property in Warri

    Property worth several millions of naira, including one house and 12 stores, were Thursday night destroyed in a fire incident, sparked by a loaded tanker accident at Ifie community, Warri South council area of Delta state.

    The Nation gathered that the accident occurred at about 9:00pm, involving a tanker with plate number XA 331 LTD, which had loaded the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from Pinnacle Oil and Gas Depot at Ifie community.

    Although there was yet to be any official confirmation of the cause of the accident, the Nation gathered from community sources that the bad state of the road was the most obvious explanation. It was gathered that the tanker tripped on the badly damaged Ifiekporo-Ubeji Road, resulting in the fire which spread to the razed road side property.

    “A Petroleum Tank laden product gutted fire around the private depots at Ifie community, after the Warri Refinery and two houses were affected in the inferno.
    No causality but property were lost and took frantic efforts of people and firefighters in the area that help stop the fire from spreading”, a source, Ojobor Cogent, narrated

    Confirming the incident, the chairman of Warri South council, Mofe Edema, who visited scene early yesterday said quick response to distress calls by fire service organisations curtailed further spread of the fire as well as prevented loss of lives.

    “Thank God many fire response bodied responded promptly apart from only Shell which said they needed clearance from Port Harcourt before coming to quench an emergency fire.

    “About 12 stores and one building went down with the fire. I put the Governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa on the phone he spoke to Chief Mode Akoma, Olare-Aja (Head of Elders Council) because there were echoes of community protest.

    “The Governor has directed the Commissioner on Special Duties to promptly visit the area immediately and assess the extent of damage. I am also, sometime today, meeting with owners of the concentrated tank-farms in the area”, Edema said.

  • Two killed in renewed Ugborodo leadership crisis

    Two killed in renewed Ugborodo leadership crisis

    Two persons, Pa Benson Okoturo and Samuel Mayomi, have been reported dead following a violent confrontation between two factions in the lingering leadership crisis in Ugborodo community, Warri South-West council area of Delta state.
    The incident, which was sparked by an attempt to prevent leaders and members of the recently inaugurated Ugborodo Community Management Committee (CMC) from gaining access into the community, by a group opposed to the Austin Oborogbeyi-led committee, also led to the alleged abduction and later release of five members of the committee’s entourage.
    The committee and a host of other members of the community, numbering over 300, had embarked on the journey to their home community, Ugborodo, to attend a congress, reportedly called by the Eghara-Aja (oldest man), Pa Wellington Ojogor, to address the community on how the committee intended to execute its task.
    There had been a long drawn conflict over who should constitute the local authority over the community, with some interests, led by the community’s Olaja-Orori (spiritual head) of the community, Benson Omadeli, rejecting what they viewed it as an attempt by nonresident elites of the community and the state government to foist the then Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Interface Committee, on them.
    However, to calm the tension in the oil-rich community down, the Dr Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration, in May 2017, inaugurated the new committee, which included the EPZ committee and representatives from the community. The committee was inaugurated in Warri, but to make its debut entrance into Ugborodo when the situation turned ugly on Tuesday.
    The Nation gathered that trouble started when a group of community youths, led by the Ugborodo Youths President, Ofe Nene Penda, resisted the boats carrying the committee’s party from landing on Ugborodo soil, saying they were not recognised by the community.
    Narrating the incident, a member of my Ugborodo CMC, Alex Eyengho, said while Pa Okoturo collapsed as a result of shock he suffered on hearing gunshots fired by the resisting group and later died at a hospital in Warri, Mayomi drowned when the attackers caused the boat he was in to capsize.
    Eyengho, who alleged that those who attacked his group were heavily armed, also called on the federal government to immediately militarise Ugborodo and environs to curtail the dangerous lawlessness going on in the area and also called for an immediate proscription of all youths activities in Delta state.
    “I can now also confirm to you that one Samuel Mayomi got drowned and died yesterday as a result of the attack on one of the boats by Ofe and co.
    “Also, a member of the Ugborodo Community Management Committee, Mr. Benson Okoturo also died from the shock of sporadic gunshots. He was about joining a boat from the Madangho jetty to Ode-Ugborodo for the meeting when the sporadic shooting started between Kpokpo and Madangho. He collapsed on the spot and  was rushed to a Warri hospital where he died.
    “We formally applied to the Delta state police command who gave us about a 100 man police team lead by Superintendent Sola Adebayor. Shockingly, these security operatives watch like spectators as the armed men intercepted us between Kpokpor and Madangho.
    “They told the police they won’t allow us to come down to convene the meeting. They openly fired their guns in the air in the presence of the police. In presence of the police they rammed one of their boats into one of our boats which sank and resulted in drowning of Mayoma.
    “They were wielding guns and other dangerous weapons, and Superintendent Adebayo’s only response was that they have no mandate to use extreme force, advising us to retreat. The police complacency gave the criminals liberty to also abduct five of us, tortured them mercilessly before releasing them through navy.
    “The criminals in the community are not faceless. Those sponsoring this unending violence are same community criminals engaged in ceaseless bunkering in the community. They want the community to remain inaccessible to protect their oil crimes. It is difficult to explain that with a naval base and army post in the area, these criminals still enjoy impunity to steal oil, kill and destroy,” Eyengho said.
    When contacted, Benson Omadeli, Olaja-Orori (Spiritual Head) of Ugborodo, an authority on ground, said, “I am not in town, I am away, travelled, so I cannot say what is actually happening at the moment”, promising to forward a contact of another home based authority to speak which he never did.
    Efforts to get a confirmation of the development from the state’s police command was not immediately possible as the Police Commissioner, Zanna Ibrahim, could not be reached on phone and the spokesman of the command, DSP Andrew Aniamaka, who was in Abuja for a training, pleaded for more time to get his facts together.
    However, when reached for conirmation, the Commander of the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, said he had not been briefed of the entire story yet, but knew there was a confrontation in the community, involving two groups from the community.
    “I heard the groups that was going to the community were in their boats, approaching the community when the group resisting them came in another boat and ran into one of the boats of the visiting team to hit them.
    “I’m just coming from the security council meeting so I don’t really know the outcome of everything; I don’t about the people who lost their lives. I only heard about it from the DSS Director who was briefing, but I know that in the community, a group was coming to gain access, another group stopped them. I don’t have the full details, but I know there was problem yesterday,”Dewu said.
  • Incest: Man on the run after impregnating daughter in Warri

    Incest: Man on the run after impregnating daughter in Warri

    One Lucky Akuna, a man in his mid-40s, is now on the run, along with one of his unnamed sons, for allegedly sleeping with one of his daughters; 14-year old Elizabeth Akuna, and getting her pregnant.

    The Nation gathered that Akuna who is also known as Orutebe, an indigene of Ogulagha Kingdom in Burutu council area of Delta state, had admitted being responsible for his daughter’s pregnancy, having been held and interrogated by the leaders of Ugboroke community, where he is resident.

    The lid was let off when neighbours started observing that Elizabeth was showing signs of pregnancy. It was gathered that the girl told those on the inquest that he had been impregnated by her father, who had slept with her a couple of times.

    Confirming the development to the Nation, a community source, who wished his identity to be kept anonymous, said this would not be the first time the husband of two wives would be involved in ugly incest issues, citing cases where he had been accused of sleeping with and impregnating his niece.

    “This is not the first time he is indulging in such act as he also impregnated his niece on two separate occasions. The girl upon further interrogation also revealed that aside her father, her elder brother from another mother who is also on the run, deflowered her and had also been sleeping with her”, he said.

    Also confirming the incident, a source at the Warri ‘B’ Division where the case was reported, disclosed that one of the wives of the suspect, Grace Akuna was arrested in connection with the incident.

    “The wife has since been released following intervention by an Ijaw monarch. But we are still looking for the man and his son,” the source added.

  • Super Falcons coach Florence Omagbemi ‘son’ killed in Warri

    The head coach of African Women Nations Cup winning team, Super Falcons’ Florence Omagbemi is crying foul, following the killing of her 15-year old ‘son’, Samson O. Atamako, a JSS 3 student of Challenge International School, kolokolo, Udu road in Warri, Delta State.
    Atamako and his friend, Darlington Taire, also a student of the school, were said to have been killed by a yet to be identified person on Monday shortly after they completed their JSS 3 examination.
    Atamako and Taire were allegedly lured into Golden Tulip hotel, along PTI Junction, Effurun, by some of their teachers under the pretence of celebrating the smooth conclusion of their JSS 3 examination.
    “Nobody in my family was aware of such arrangement between the school and my son,” Omagbemi lamented in a chat from her base in the United States of America on Thursday.
    “The lifeless body of my son and his friend were thrown into the hotel swimming pool with bruises all over their body. Somebody must have killed them.”
    Speaking further, Coach Omagbemi who led the Falcons to capture the 10th AFCON title in December last year, beating their host, Lionesses of Cameroun 1-0 in front of their home crowd in Yaounde said: “I was told that the school sent the students to different schools for the JSS 3 examination without the knowledge of their parents or guardians. While the examination was going on, one of their teachers was said to have asked the students to contribute N500 each for the purpose of the celebration in a hotel.
    “As I said, nobody in my family was aware of such plan. Now, the teacher is nowhere to be found, and the policemen at Ebrumede Police Station are not doing anything to bring the killers of my son to book. I am in great pain right now.”
    Coach Omagbemi hinted that she took the boy (Samson O. Atamako) as her son saying: “I took him as my son because the mother, who is my elder sister, died when Samson was very young. He did not know any other person except me as his mother. I want the police authority in Nigeria to help me fish out the killers of my son.”
    Omagbemi’s elder brother, Henry Omagbemi said in a separate interview on Thursday that the entire family was still in shock over the killing of the boy.
    He called on Delta State Police Commissioner and officers of Ebrumede Police Station in Warri to act fast by bringing the killers of Atamako and his friend, Darlington Taire to book.
  • Comedians live up to ‘Waffi’ spirit at Warri Glo Laffta Fest

    Comedians live up to ‘Waffi’ spirit at Warri Glo Laffta Fest

    The Warri edition of the Glo Laffta Fest comedy show which held penultimate Sunday at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Warri, was nothing but a re-enactment of the ebullient Waffi spirit of the oil rich town, as the comedians on duty received  a rousing ‘Waffi’ reception from the mammoth crowd which spilled outside the hall.

    Led by the Warri-born joke merchant, Bovi, comedians such as Gordons, Dan D’Humorous, De Don, Frank D Don and Arinze Baba, were cognisant of the rule of ‘Waffi’ engagement that the crowd would never tolerate any dull moment.

    Playing the home advantage card, the Warri crowd reserved a special “Waffi warm reception” for its own people including Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD), who is of Urhobo and Itsekiri descent,  Bovi, who shares Abraka and Ukwani blood, Gordons and De Don.

    The crowd also warmed up to Arinze Baba, Asaba boy, Frank da Don and Dan D’Humorous. However, Arinze Baba gave the most dramatic session as he laced his performance with music. His brilliant rendition of Osondi Owendi, a track by the late Chief Osita Osadebe, got him a standing ovation as he exited the stage. The show also featured up and coming acts, including fast-rising Warri-based comic, Emmanuel Debekene, popularly called Emmaralo, Kelvinsapp, Young Chief and Ericardo who all gave a good account of themselves.

    Nollywood actor, Kanayo O. Kanayo, was also present.

    A high point of the night of fun piloted by delectable actresses, Mercy Johnson and Ebube Nwagbo, was the calling up on stage and presentation of goody bags by Globacom to mothers who wore green attires midway into the show.

    Subscribers who participated in dance competitions were also rewarded with goody bags. In the ladies category, Janet Nwachukwu, Lilian Ukwamefune and Hope Ogodogun emerged winners while  Kelvin Sunday, Godson Ogaga and Emmanuel Sunday won in the men’s category.

    Warri was the fifth stop in the nationwide comedy show that has held in Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu and Owerri. Over the next five months, Glo Laffta Fest will go to other major cities including Awka, Ikeja, Ikorodu, FESTAC, Ajah, Asaba, Calabar, Aba, Suleja, Kubwa, Ibadan, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta, Ekpoma, Kaduna, Akure, Lokoja, and Anyigba.

    To attend the show, Glo subscribers are expected to use up to N2,000 credit within one month and text LOL and preferred location to the short code 240; for example, “LOL Yenegoa’ to 240

  • Educationist advocates re-introduction of teachers’ training colleges

    Mrs Oghenekvwe Abigor, the Headmistress, Olodi Primary School, Warri, on Wednesday suggested the re-introduction of Teachers’ Training Colleges (TTCs) into the country’s educational system.

    Speaking with newsmen in Warri, Abigor said that the return of such colleges would help address the falling standard of teaching in the country.

    She said that TTCs were the foundation through which the basic rudiments of teaching was taught and imparted in aspiring teachers.

    While commending the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) for its effort at improving the teaching profession, Abigor said some of the basic things TTCs were known for could be introduced into the Colleges of Education curriculum.

    “TTCs are the foundation of teaching where teachers are exposed to the basic rudiments of the teaching profession.

    “I appeal to the TRCN to re-introduce the TTCs or incorporate some of those things taught in the colleges into the Colleges of Education,to improve on our teaching standard.

    “How can you send somebody to go and study Psychology and ask him to go and teach?

    “I make bold to say that without a Teachers’ Grade Two Certificate, which you get on graduation from a TTC, you are not a teacher”

    Abigor commended Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta for his doggedness towards improving the standard of education in the state.

    “New teachers posted to my school under this administration, are paired with qualified teachers who train them on how to teach pupils,” she said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the TRCN has threatened to eliminate unregistered and non-professional teachers from 2018, to bring sanity into the teaching profession.

     

  • Farmer wants government subsidy on animal feeds

    Sir Lucky Ikukaiwe, a poultry farmer and Chairman, Sparrow Agro-Vet Services, Warri, Delta, has called for government subsidy on animal feeds to boost production of poultry products in the Niger Delta.

    He made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Sunday.

    He said government needed to also subsidise piggery feeds to enable the people of the region, especially the youths, to participate more in agriculture.

    The chairman said increased participation in poultry production and piggery would create jobs and ensure adequate supply of protein needs of the people.

    According to him, the Niger Delta region has more comparative advantages over other zones in the country in poultry farming, piggery and fish farming.

    He added that “in this region, we have very good weather for poultry.”

    Ikukaiwe said that the people of the region, especially the youths, had been distracted for a very long time such that their focus had been misdirected.

    He said that except for the oil spillage in the region, the Niger Delta environment was suitable for fish farming.

    He noted that “the problem we are having in the Niger Delta is that we are looking at where we should not be looking.

    “We do not have the comparative advantage for maize cultivation like the northern part of the country with its vast land mass but we have good weather for poultry, fish farming and piggery.”

    The farmer said that for the youths to be properly engaged, states in the region should concentrate on areas they had comparative advantage.

    “This region can produce all the poultry products, fish and pork needed in this country because our environment is suitable for it.

    “What obtained in the past was a situation where government acquired and gave day old chicks to some ‘political farmers’ in the name of empowerment and leaving the real farmers.

    “With subsidy, the true farmers will buy more birds and feeds and produce more,” Ikukaiwe said.

     

  • Nigeria refining capacity increases by 29 per cent

    Nigeria refining capacity increases by 29 per cent

    …NNPC cuts losses by 16.19 per cent

     

    The combined installed capacity utilization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna increased by about 29 percentage points in January 2017 compared with their performance in December 2016.

    In the latest of the Corporation’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report for January released in Abuja Monday, NNPC said the capacity utilization of the refineries rose to 36.73 per cent in January, 2017, as against 7.55 percent in the previous month of December, 2016.

    The report attributed the improvement to the implementation of the 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFAS) strategy introduced by the Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru.

    The corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu made this disclosure in a statement Monday.

    According to the report, the refineries benefitted from the introduction of a new Refineries Business Model under the 12 BUFAS strategy which has transformed them from “tolling plants to merchant plants” thereby placing them on the path of profitability.

    The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC ) and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) also posted surpluses of Five Billion, One Hundred and Fifteen Million Naira (N5,115,000,000) and Four Hundred and Four Hundred and Four Million Naira (N404,000,000) respectively.

    Under the new refinery model, each refinery purchases crude oil at export parity price, processes and sells the corresponding products on its own account.

    “This is different from the previous Tolling Plant model where the refinery does not take title to the crude, but rather charges a tolling/processing fee to the owner of the crude which was PPMC on behalf of the Corporation”, the report stated.

    Apart from PHRC and WRPC, five other subsidiaries of the Corporation also posted surpluses. These include the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the Nigerian Gas Pipelines and Transport Company (NGPTC), NNPC Retail, the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), and the Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL).

    According to the document which is the 18th in the series of Monthly Financial and Operations Reports since the NNPC began publishing its business transactions, the Corporation recorded a Two Billion, Seven Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N2.75billion) reduction in its trading deficit in the period under review putting the total trading deficit atN14.26billion.

    “This represents about 16.19 per cent improvement compared toN17.01billion recorded in December, 2016, in spite of the Corporation’s challenging situations which limit its aspiration to profitability”, the report stated.

    It listed some of the factors that impeded the Corporation’s performance to include the production shutdown of the Trans Niger Pipeline and Nembe Creek Trunkline due to leakages; the shutdown of Agbami Terminal for a mini Turn-around-Maitenance; and the subsisting Force Majeure declared by SPDC as a result of the vandalized 48-inch Forcados export line after its restoration in October 17, 2016.

     

  • #BBNaija: Warri residents organize prayer session for Efe

    #BBNaija: Warri residents organize prayer session for Efe

    As the race to Sunday’s Big Brother Naija grand finale gets more interesting, residents of Warri have organized prayer sessions for one of the housemates, Efe at “God’s command church”. The sessions which held this morning saw men and women dressed in branded shirts of Efe praying for him to emerge victorious. In a video that was released on twitter earlier, a congregation of about twenty gathered to pray having the 24 year old’s picture placed in a Bible.

    Tboss, Marvis, Debbie-Rise and Efe are finalists in the ongoing entertainment show and the person with the highest number of votes wins an SUV and twenty five million naira.

     

    In recent days, fans of the housemates have intensified  campaigns  for their favorite housemates on various social media and many celebrities are already publicly supporting their favorites.