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Tag: women

  • NGO trains 500 women, youths

    Worried by the awful plight of the downtrodden, the Blessed Gumpat-Foundation (BGF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has expressed its concern over the alarming rate of poverty in the country, even as it said many are busy accumulating wealth for themselves.

    Founder of the NGO, Pastor Prisca Timpaul has continued to advocate the need to uplift the living standard of the people, including women and youths by empowering them in order to be self-reliant.

    She said there is no going back in building a more economically viable society that will provide a favourable environment for the needy.

    According to her, empowering women and youths with skills is the best option in checking the rate of social vices such as stealing, kidnapping, rape, prostitution and under age marriage, among others that are prevalent in the society.

    She said the government is not doing enough to put in place adequate infrastructure that will enhance job creation for the people. She, therefore, appealed to public-spirited individuals, non-governmental organisations and the church to be more aggressive in tackling unemployment in the country.

    Timpaul also said her skill acquisition centre does not only train its participants but also equips and empowers them to be financially independent and self-sufficient.

    According to her, participants are trained in such areas as hat making, bead making, snacks (pastries), cake making, event decorations, dishes (African), tie-dye and production of liquid soap, bleach, hair/body cream, air freshener, stove thread, shampoo, cocoa beverages, disinfectants such as izal and dettol.

    “We will no longer hear any woman say I am not doing anything in this church. The intention is to make sure that our people don’t complain that I they are not doing anything, and that has been accomplished. As an organisation, we are building people, empowering them and making sure that they are avenues through which the lives of others would be affected positively,” she said, adding that the training was free for all participants.

    The foundation, which she said began about eight years ago in Ikotun-Egbe, a Lagos suburb, before it was relocated to Ogun State, was borne out of the need to reach out to the indigent women many of whom, she said, were living with men but were not legally married to them due to poverty.

    On what informed the establishment of the Social Welfare for the Needy and Unemployed, Timpaul said it was an act of God.

    The Social Welfare for the Needy and Unemployed in Nigeria and in the Diaspora led by the Chief Executive Officer/President, Peace Ambassador Joy Kolawole had donated much hospital equipment, ranging from beds, crutches, needles, syringes and mattresses to the Blessed Gumpat-Foundation to be distributed to hospitals.

    Receiving the donation, Timpaul said Ajuwon Health Centre, Akute, Otta General Hospital and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) are among the beneficiaries.

    While appealing to the federal and state governments and other public-spirited individuals to support the organisation, Pastor Timpaul urged those who have received the training to give freely to others. She expressed disappointment that after the training, some of the beneficiaries find it very difficult to help others.

    While donating the items, Mrs. Kolawole decried the rate of unemployment in the country. She urged the Federal Government to put in place adequate infrastructure that would help in the establishment of small and medium enterprises that would create job opportunities.

    She said the organisation has secured employment for over 125 members in Agro Farm at Mokolo-lucky community in Ogun State. She called for sponsorship from groups and individuals, corporate bodies and government agencies in carrying out the selfless service.

    Contributing, Israel Nneke said the country will be a heaven for all when those who are richly endowed begin to use their riches to help the less-privileged.

    He, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to support the good work of the organisation.

     

  • UNESCO builds leadership capacity in women

    UNESCO builds leadership capacity in women

    Worried by the low response of Nigerians to issues of governance and leadership ahead of the 2015 general elections, the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has engaged women on a series of trainings to increase women participation in leadership and governance.

    The training entitled “Gender Transformative Training Workshop (TOT) had been held in Lagos and Gombe before coming to Rivers State. It was organised with the support of four other international bodies.

    The organisers said it was aimed at helping women unleash their potentials in the development quest of the nation.

    Prof. Funmi Soetan of the Department of Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife,  a  Gender and Development Specialist,  said the workshop was necessitated by the fact that: “We’ve noticed that although women constitute roughly 60 per cent of Nigeria population, when it comes to their participation in leadership and decision making, they are less than 10 per cent. What this means is that we are neglected, wasting, overlooking roughly half of our human resources, their contributions and potential.  They cannot contribute their potential to development.”

    She went on: “This is a great loss to our nation, and we want to rectify it.  It is for this reason that the UKaid, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),  European Union (EU), and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), are supporting United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),  to organise the workshop.

    For Prof. Rosemary Oko of the Department of Agric-Economics, Delta State University, contrary to the assumption in many Christian quarters that politics is not for serious Christians, she encouraged Christians to embrace politics.

    She said: “One of the issues that have been identified as hindrance to women participation in politics and other leadership position is the mind-set that politics is not for certain group of people, women, Christians, among others.

    “For the Christians, men and women, I don’t believe that God is against politics but sin.”

    Dr. Eteng Etobe, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology of the University of Calabar, called on women to take the lead.

    “Our women in Nigeria have been relegated to the background to the extent that their potential/ contributions to societal development have been shielded off.

    “I am advocating for a chance for women in core leadership positions in the country. The ideas some men hold about women being too tough, stringent in their decisions among others are the stereotype we are strongly campaigning against.

    “I call on women to rise up against this injustice on them by coming out enmass and embrace politics and leadership and give massive support to their colleagues when they come out in the next year’s general elections.”

  • Why women entrepreneurs need mentors

    No fewer than 30 women at the weekend held a mentoring walk in Gbagada, Lagos.

    Organised by Ideas Builders Initiative, the event is held on November 16 yearly worldwide as a platform for women who are established in their careers and young women who are aspiring to make it.  During the walk, the women talked on issues of empowerment and their problems. They also discussed the importance of women’s leadership, and the impact of women leaders through mentoring.

    According to the group’s Executive Director, Lucy Kanu, mentoring is critical to women empowerment to enable them build their potential and succeed. She said those mentored were likely to succeed compared to those who were not.

    She said: “Mentoring corresponds with strengths that are often associated with women; building personal relationships, caring and nurturing of others. It is an effective support system for meeting challenges that women face in common or that affect women in particular. For instance, the glass ceiling or the obstacles to career growth that women commonly face in corporate and professional environments.’’

    She said mentoring helps to draw the potential from women, noting that successful women could share their experiences with their younger ones and guide them into success, adding that such guidance helped to overcome any obstacle on their ways.

    On the merits of mentoring, she said they include helping the mentees to reach their goals in life. “These same mentees often become mentors, paying it forward by empowering even more women to be successful leaders,” she said.

    She described mentoring as flexible, adding that it is different from coaching and professional development programmes,”which often take place only in a professional setting and have a set schedule with a beginning and end; a mentoring relationship is more organic – growing and changing as a relationship progresses’’.

    A guest speaker and Health Consultant to Nestle Nigeria PLC, Dr. Eno Attah, said one’s altitude determines his attitude, urging women to always aim high. She also urged women to stay fine despite the stress they face.  She listed good food, healthy living, and regular exercises, among others as panacea for good living.

  • Social factors limit African women researchers, says don

    The Acting Head, Department of Hospitality and Tourism, College of Food Science and Human Ecology (COLFHEC), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) and a Fellow, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), Dr. Mobolaji Omemu, has said that social factors hinder the careers of African women researchers.

    She identified cultural norms, family demands, gender inequality, lack of role models, lack of leadership skills, organisational support, and age barrier as some of the major challenges that stall the progress of women researchers.

    Delivering her address at a Role Modelling Event of AWARD, held recently in the University with the theme: “Blocking the Leaky Pipeline: Career Advancement Strategies for Young Women in Science,” Dr. Omemu noted that the number of women that enrolled into agricultural sciences and other related courses was steadily increasing, but is not commensurate with the number of women researchers who move up the career ladder.

    She called for greater commitment, focus and determination from women researchers and encouraged them to always choose younger women that they can mentor.

    Underscoring the importance of planning to career success, the Chairperson, Admissions Committee, FUNAAB, Prof Yemisi Eromosele, recommended that young women researchers should make plans for what they hope to achieve five to 10 years after graduation.

    In his keynote address, the FUNAAB Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olusola Oyewole, said that women who had reached the peak of their careers and fought for their dreams, deserved to be celebrated.

    He added that he lookred forward to a time women would hold 40 percent of leadership positions in the university system.

    He encouraged women to strive for excellence despite the challenges they might face.

  • Group plans workshop on women empowerment

    Women across Africa under the aegis of Women Building Communities (WBC), are coming together in the UK, to chart a new cause for the development of individuals and communities within the continent.

    The event, according to the Media/Public Relations Director of Women and Youth Empowerment Network (WOYEN), Mrs Rashidat Hassan, the event will hold from November 24 and 28. The event, she said, is jointly organised by WOYEN and Network for Development, a development training facilitation partnership between ICONNECTUK Limited and Mulirahd Group in Dubai and Nigeria respectively.

    WBC is a development intervention project with an initial five-year plan aimed at mobilising and enhancing the capacity of women and other stakeholders in building African communities through increased and effective women involvement.

    The group said: “The goal of this five-year plan is to achieve community development in Africa led by inspired and skilled women.”

    The organisation, along with other partners, shall work hard to   inspire 20 women across Africa yearly for them to take up development initiatives. The intention is to develop them the needed skills and capacity for embarking on effective projects within their communities.

    The group will also empower the women by creating avenues for networking and collaboration with those in the Diaspora. It will establish links and provide information on how to harness opportunities both within and outside their localities. Part of the strategies is to achieve this will be to bring together three major stakeholders in community development, community women and leaders, the Diaspora and international development organisations for the building of community development capacity among women in Africa. It will motivate the women by celebrating their achievements and awarding deserving individuals within the African communities through the organisation of a yearly award as part of the WBC event tagged Mother Africa Award (MAA) for Community Development.

    “The campaign hopes to spread to many parts of communities in Africa through our train-the-trainer toolkit. Participants would be trained to use the WBC capacity building to train the trainer,” she said.

    The toolkits are expected to train at least additional three women in their own local community.

    The programme, which has been strategically scheduled to debut in London, United Kingdom, is a strong indication of how Africans, particularly women of African origin, in the UK are determined to use the opportunity of their exposure in the UK and other developed parts of the world, to take Africa out of the shackles of under-development and bring about sustainable community development in African countries.

    WOYEN reiterates that the WBC is part of the organisation’s commitment to the advancement of women and youths wherever they are across the globe. This is because the world can only enjoy peace and unity when people’s lives and existence within communities are enhanced and valuable.

    The organisation, therefore calls on all stakeholders and people interested in African development to join in the campaign of building African communities through inspired and skilled women.

  • Council inaugurates APC women forum

    Council inaugurates APC women forum

    The massive Alhaji Yinusa Akinola Memorial Hall at the headquarters of Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State was filled to capacity.

    Though the sun shone brightly out of the azure sky, exerting discomforting heat on those who converged on the council’s headquarter to witness the inauguration of the APC Women Forum and launch of their 2015 Calendar, the coolness of the hall calmed frayed nerves.

    The six giant standing air conditioners and the 14 ceiling fans oscillating at their best aided the comforting state of the hall painted in cream colour and decorated in a most classy manner. But a close look at the ceiling painted in white revealed some huge strands of cobwebs which gave an embarrassing coating to the topmost wall and the ceiling.

    Women from all walks of life attended the event coordinated by the Supervisor for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Hon. Charity Ogbulipetu and the Majority Leader of the Legislative Arm of the council, Hon. Princess Rita Arabome-Odofin.

    The women were adorned in all-white lace attire and blue head gears, which made them look resplendent. Intermittent chants of their slogan “APC Women, Let’s Lead the Change” inundated the ears.

    In her welcome address, Hon. Ogbulipetu expressed her happiness that gone were the days when women were only heard but not seen, even as she said the presence of women in politics has changed the political landscape as they brought vibrancy and equilibrium in the country’s political process.

    Noting that over the years, women had been relegated to the background in Nigerian politics, she was quick to add that nowadays, they are participating more actively than in the yesteryear as a result of political re-awakening and awareness, even as she added that the feat has not been without some challenges.

    Continuing, Hon. Ogbulipetu said: “Despite the challenges and difficulties experienced by women in politics, they have continued to be forces to reckon with as they refuse to give up their political ambitions. Hence, women have recorded huge successes in their political pursuits and realised their political objectives with limited support and resources at their disposal.”

    She recalled that during the country’s pre-independence era, a couple of women political activists such as Mrs Margaret Ekpo, Mrs Janet Mokelu and Miss Young (all late) were members of the Eastern House of Assembly, adding that Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti though not a fully-fledged politician, was a force to reckon with in the politics of the Western Region while Hajia Gambo Sawaba waged a fierce battle for the political and cultural emancipation of women in the Northern Region.

    She revealed that “many countries the world over, are making frenetic efforts to bridge the conspicuously yawning gap between men’s and women’s active participation in politics. Though the number of women in government and leadership positions has improved substantially in Nigeria, it is infinitesimal when compared with what obtains in developed democracies.”

    Noting with pride that the role of APC women cannot be overemphasised, Hon. Ogbulipetu said women should be celebrated, because, she said, “any society in which women’s voices are stifled always has problems. It must be realised that the roles of women as home makers cannot be disregarded. Women should know their worth and work assiduously towards achieving political success where men have seemingly failed.”

    Speaking earlier, the leader of the forum, Mrs Evelyn Kpodoh said never in the history of Oriade LCDA had an event such as this that witnessed a large convergence of APC women taken place, adding that “as we gather here to launch the first calendar produced by women of Oriade APC. With this, we are sending a strong message and signal to all our women that we monitor and recognise all great women that had contributed immensely to the development of our great party, which is the party to beat. I urge all our women to work harder to ensure that APC wins all elections at all levels in the 2015 general elections.”

    In his speech, the chairman on the occasion, Alhaji T.A.B Adams said what Oriade APC women had accomplished was unprecedented, adding that other local government areas will emulate the strides of APC women of Oriade.

    He urged the leadership of the forum not to relent in its efforts to make APC the party that will win the 2015 general elections, especially the presidential election.

    Some of the dignitaries that attended the event were the Majority Leader of the Legislative Arm of Oriade LCDA, Hon. Princess Rita Arabome-Odofin; the Supervisor for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Charity Ogbulitepu; Senior Lecturer at the Lagos State University, Dr Musa Ajisegiri, Chief of Staff of the LCDA, Adegboyega-Badmus B.K. Supervisor for Agriculture Hon. Bais Balogun; Vice-Chairman of the council, Hon. Gbolahan Dauda; Secretary to the council, Alhaji Kareem Olabanji Sunmola; the General Secretary Oriade APC, Mr Ambrose Ahmed; representative of Hon. (Mrs.) Akinlola-Hassan Ramotalai of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Tunde Musa and President National Council of Women Society Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Mrs E.A. Francis, among others.

  • Women farmers demand grants, capacity building, others

    Women farmers have   advocated for funds tailored for them for extensive capacity building programmes and resuscitation of dilapidated infrastructure at the grassroots.

    They made the demand at the ongoing Agricultural Show organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    The women listed challenges confronting them to include lack of funds, poor market access, inadequate storage facilities and undue processes in accessing credits.

    The National President, Nigerian Women Agro Allied Farmers Association, Mrs Lizzy Igbine, while commenting on the needs of women farmers, said adequate funds were needed for field trials, land preparation, planting and harvest.

    “For women, the budgetary funds cannot be accessed and we have problems with undue procedures in accessing bank loans; many banks don’t even grant loans to rural farmers.

    “Our lands to them have no value; we cannot use them as collateral and especially as women, land papers were not handed over from our forefathers.

    “We, therefore, want President Goodluck Jonathan to give grants, especially to women farmers and  help reduce the bottlenecks associated with securing loans in banks,’’ she said.

    Other women farmers, who listed poor linkages to appropriate markets, urged government agencies to utilise the current farmers’ data through the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to ensure adequate markets.

    They urged government to buy back farm produce direct from farmers to encourage valuable income for them, while creating definite rural famers markets to decrease glut and wastage.

    Echoing similar views, Chairman, ActionAid Nigeria, Prof. Patricia Donli, while speaking on “Agriculture Investment and Nutrition Security”, noted that the sector’s budget was decreasing annually.

    Donli further disagreed the claim by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that Nigeria had already met the MDG Goal 1of halving the number of poor and hungry people in Nigeria.

    “I think Nigeria has not met the MDG Goal 1. We have a lot of poor and hungry people in Nigeria, although the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is a step in the direction.

    “Nigeria’s budgetary allocation has fallen below the target recommended by the Maputo Declaration; we need at least 10 per cent of the national budget, showing we are not yet serious about investment in agriculture.”

    The chairman said low cultivation of arable land in Nigeria, continuous land grabbing issues and the exclusion of women in agricultural financing, discouraged good income for women farmers.

    She, therefore, called for the resuscitation of extension services, restoration of rural infrastructure, climate change mitigation and adaptation measures for an improved agriculture sector.

  • Chibok girls: Women doctors urge action

    Women doctors under the aegis of Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) have urged the Federal Government to step up efforts towards securing the release of the 219 school girls languishing in insurgents’ custody.

    At a public lecture tagged: “Insecurity and the Nigerian Child, Implications, Now and the Future”, organised by the group in Lagos, its President, Dr. Iyabo Tijani said: “After a period of crisis in the health sector, there is need to get together once again and discuss topical issues. Among these is the abducted Chibok girls saga that has become an embarrassment to our country lately, hence, the theme of this lecture. Most importantly, there is need for government and security apparatuses to redouble their efforts to secure the release of the girls.”

    At the event, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who was represented by Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, said: “It is true that in the past years, Nigeria has faced some security challenges. We all aware of the Boko Haram insurgency, prominent in the northern part of the country as well as cases of kidnapping, ritual killings, child trafficking and other abuses in many parts of the nation.

    “The most vulnerable in the face of any insecurity challenge remain children. They are harmless, innocent and still in the care of their parents, yet, they find themselves in difficult situations they cannot ordinarily protect or defend themselves. The case of the over 200 Chibok girls kidnapped on April 15, 2014, remains fresh. It is unfortunate they are still in captivity six months after their abduction.”

    Frontline rights activist and guest lecturer on the occasion, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, harped on the need to tackle insecurity in the country because of its toll on children.

    “According to Global Overview report on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), 470,500 persons were displaced in Nigeria in 2013 alone. About half of these are children displaced due to Boko Haram insurgency while 4.7 million primary school children are still not in school due to insecurity. In Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, more than 56.7 per cent have been denied access to education due to continuous attacks by Boko Haram. Government should acknowledge the failure of the security agencies; hence, there should be a complete overhaul of security system in the country to prevent security breaches. Government needs to act decisively and this can be achieved by implementing the anti-terrorism law and punish culprits of such heinous crimes capable of causing instability in the nation.”

    Odumakin later led the audience to make an open demand for the release of the girls, urging government and security forces to ensure their release and safety. “What we are asking for is the release of the girls, now and alive and we will not keep quiet until that is achieved,” she said.

  • Endless agonies of Women of Owu

    Endless agonies of Women of Owu

    Not only emotion, but also sympathy, outcry, agony and supplication for help that indeed surrounded the circumstances of the Women of Owu.  The play which is on now at the National Theatre, Lagos, is the re-enactment of part of the 19th Century Yoruba wars in which the city of Owu was besieged for several years by the combined forces of Ife, Ibadan, Ijebu and Oyo.  Owu people had been recalcitrant to the rest of Yoruba and this was not a welcome development.

    With the students of the Drama department of the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, involved in the play this year, it was easy to notice the level of resilience and stage craft and mobility which the youthful artistes brought to bear on the play.  Watching them on stage showed that there is indeed hope for the stage theatre in Nigeria today.

    Their ability to raise the tempo of the play, their ability also to highlight and interpret the nuances in very emotional and sympathetic ways embedded in the play helped the scenes to register in the minds of the audience.  The play itself is a dirge.  It is a dirge anchored on the sorrows of women who had to face the humiliation of defeat.  After the city was razed and pillaged, the palace was despoiled, while some of the shrines were profaned and burnt to ashes.

    In this devastating scenario only women were left.  All the men of the city had been beheaded.  The idea, more or less, was never to let Owu people breed men any more.  It was to teach them an everlasting lesson not to dare the rest of the Yoruba nation in future.  And this worked because on and on the women wept, cursed and mourned and moaned.  Yet no help or intervention came from anywhere.

    The more the women wept, recounting how their woes and problems began and hoping upon hope to have some respite, the more the invading soldiers taunted and hounded them to submission.  It was such a harrowing and colossal situation that Professor Femi Osofisan, the playwright, was able to capture and embellish the play with surplus dances and songs.

    The dances and the songs were well handled by the student actors and actresses.  The total epitome and beauty of the play was found in the flexibility of the dancers whose sorrowful dirges indeed helped in defining the historical importance and sequence of the invasion.  The whole episode is the total manifestation of what historical issues can do to encourage people look back into time.  Osofisan was detailed in his presentation, he looked succinctly at the nuances of the people, even the stubbornness of an average Owu person in those days was replicated over time to make it a vivid historical play.

    In the end, the dramatic effects of what he did become a point of reference.  History is replete with such events that touched the society in various core areas of their social, political and economic lives.  The idea of staging the play is to help students who would offer English Literature in the next West African School Certification Examination, (WASCE).  It is part of the syllabus and so it is imperative that the play is staged now to help literature students master the techniques of the book better.  It is to show them practical theatre.

    Basically, this was why young undergraduate students were used to propel it on.  The age range is not too far from what the secondary students can easily identify with.  In fact, their deep involvement in the play on stage, showed that they too got infused into the story itself.  They were carried away by the emotional aspects of the story, swinging away on stage, attired in simple costumes with other dirty and local linens, just to totally depict the sorry situation of the women of Owu.

    As soon as you enter the cinema hall of the National Theatre where the play was staged, the first attraction is the splendour of the stage.  Built by Biodun Abe, the newly appointed Director of Abuja Carnival, the simple village setting embossed on the painting on stage made the whole exercise look real and convincing.  Known for his practical and daring attitude to stage décor and mesmerisation, Abe confessed that he did the stage to register a real village pattern of the time and to also situate the historical relevance of the story.  “The people have to see what the rural life of the people was like in those days.  This was a bush path, very narrow indeed, through which movements from place to place were made possible in those days.  This becomes your first point of contact as soon as you enter the cinema hall,” he said.

    The representation of mud houses and the thick bushes on both sides of the village settlement, the desolate nature of the village further defined that the people were at war.  The whole village was deserted and that in itself evoked profound pity.  Abe drew on people’s emotions with that stage design that you needn’t be told that a core professional was at work to give opulence to a play that still remains poignant in the annals of Yoruba history.  The play dissects love, it treats romance, intrigues, backbiting and it especially dwells on why most powerful men of history marry or fall in love with bitches.

    With total and bewitching beauties, most of the women were able to hoodwink powerful generals of the invading armies to evade punishment and possible death.  They all added to the import of the power of female anatomy, but also gave the play its proper place as an epic, a didactic expose of the norms of the people and their likes and dislikes.

  • Bayelsa tackles sexual assault against women

    Bayelsa tackles sexual assault against women

    Defilement of girls and sexual assault against women in Bayelsa State will soon be a thing of the past. The state has constituted committee to tackle the problems.

    The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Kemasuode Wodu said said sexual abuse and assault leave leaves lasting emotional scar on the victims.

    He said some victims even commit suicide, as was the case in Yenagoa recently.  “The government takes this issue very seriously,” he said.

    “The state government has consequently constituted a committee to deal with this issue. The committee which works under the office of the Attorney–General and Commissioner for Justice, is also involved in the prosecution of such cases through the office of the Government Special Prosecutor, A. S. Arthur.”

    Speaking on the new legal year, he said:  “The judges, magistrates and judiciary workers have done exceedingly well.  Succeeding Chief Judges have built on the very solid foundation laid by Justice David Koripamo Ngbuku of blessed memory, who was the pioneer Chief Judge of the state.  He was an apostle of an incorruptible judiciary.

    “Discipline was his watchword, he always sat at 9am.  He was known for swiftly moving against any worker in the judiciary, be it a judge or magistrate or any other staff, that was found wanting, especially with respect to issues of corruption and indiscipline.

    “The state  Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri, has kept the flag flying.  Not only is there discipline in the Judiciary, justice delivery in the state is commendable both in terms of quality and speed.”

    The state government, he said, is aware of the need to increase the number of judges in the state High Court to enhance justice delivery.

    Wodu praised the governor and the President of National Industrial Court (NIC) on their efforts in establishing a branch of the court in the state.

    Wodu said: “Upon my assumption of office, the governor graciously supported our quest for the establishment of a Division of the National Industrial Court in Yenagoa.  This became necessary as all labour and industrial relations matters now go to the National Industrial Court and the nearest functional Division of the Court to us is in Calabar, Cross River State.  This means that  for labour or industrial relations matters, we must go to Calabar to seek justice.

    “It is gratifying to report that following efforts of  the governor, the President of the National Industrial Court has approved the establishment of a Division of the Court in Yenagoa.  The state government has, in conjunction with the state Judiciary, provided the necessary facilities for the take off of the court such as furnished Court Hall and accommodation for the judge and other staff.”

    Wodu also called for the establishment of a Division of the Court of the Court of Appeal in the state.

    He said: “The state is blessed with a beautiful riverine  and coastal environment.  We, therefore, have very many communities located far away in the creeks. Though the  government has commenced concerted efforts towards constructing motorable roads to most of those communities, due to the nature of the terrain and the enormity of the funds required, this may take quite some time to achieve.

    “Thus, to be able to access Yenagoa from some of those communities, one would travel for about two to three hours by boat to Delta State before proceeding to Yenagoa by road for about four hours.

    “For these people to proceed again to Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt for the determination of their Appeals is too burdensome to bear.  Oftentimes, because of such constraints, people abandon their appeals.  The end result is that such persons would have been denied access to justice for no fault of theirs.

    “This situation is unfair and not in tandem with the provisions of Section 6(6) of the Constitution, which guarantee access to the court for the determination of one’s civil rights and obligations.

    “There is  the need to establish a Division of the Court of Appeal in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State in order to address this pitiable plight of the people of the state.”

    The Governor, he said, is willing  to partner with the Court of Appeal in the provision of facilities for the take off of the court.  “We must also commend the Chief Judge  for playing a lead role in this issue and for also being ready to support the establishment of a Division of the Court of Appeal in the state also in the area of the provision of initial take off facilities,” he said.