The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Yenagoa

  • Bayelsa monarch sets up committee to probe violence in community 

    The Amayanabo of Nembe Kingdom, Bayelsa State, His Eminence, King Edmund Daokoru, has established a seven-member committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing of a youth, destruction of houses and other valuables in the kingdom.

    Violence erupted in the community on April 19, shortly after the king presided over an event to replace dead chiefs and recognise newly-installed traditional rulers of satellite towns.

    Daokoru, who inspected the massive destruction at the kingdom, held an emergency meeting with his council of chiefs and resolved to establish a committee to probe the development with a view to restoring peace in the community.

    The committee, which was inaugurated Saturday at the Nembe House, Opolo, Yenagoa, had Chief Inatimi Iriakuma-Yemainain as Chairman and Chief Solomon Olali-Igabo as Secretary.

    Other members of the committee are Chief Theophilus Obiene-Ilegimokuma, Deputy Chief I.J. Graham Maduabebe, Elder Bio Dienagha, Lady Ayebaene Yusuf and Otonteye Jim-Dorgu.

    The committee was asked to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the disturbances; identify the parties involved, the victims and the ownership for the properties destroyed.

    The committee was further asked to make necessary recommendations to forestall future occurrences and restore peace and harmony among the youths.

    The king charged the committee, which was given 14 days to submit its report, to be objective and fair in its approach to the assignment.

    King Daokoru warned the committee members against presumptuousness adding that the inauguration initially scheduled to hold at the Nembe City Hall was shifted to the Nembe House in Yenagoa for want of time.

    He commended security agencies for timely intervening to restore peace in the community and asked the committee to consult them to succeed in its assignment.

    Performing the formal inauguration of the committee, the Alternate Chairman of the Nembe Chief Council, Navy Capt. Walter Feghabo (retd) promised to provide required logistics to help the committee succeed in its task.

    Also speaking, the chairman of the committee promised to be fair to al, persons and interested parties to come forward with their suggestions without fear.

     

  • Group to FG: Set up committee to identify local refineries

    The Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Peace and Progress (NDYCPP) has urged the Federal Government to set up a committee to identify local refineries in the Niger Delta

    The Acting National President of NDYCPP, Mr Olayinka Jude, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Sunday that the measure would ensure proper documentation of those refining sites in the region.

    NAN recalls that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, few months ago in Port Harcourt, announced government’s plan to integrate illegal refiners into the proposed modular refineries for the region.

    According to Jude, having detailed information about the capacities and amount of crude refined in the illegal sites would give accurate data on how to involve the local refiners.

    He pledged the readiness of the youth group to collaborate with all stakeholders towards identifying these illegal refineries.

    “Our coalition consists of proactive, pragmatic and forward-looking youth groups who are desirous of contributing meaningfully to the socio-economic growth of the country.

    “We suggest that government sets up a task force comprising the police, military, NNPC, oil companies, advocacy groups and other relevant bodies to go round the region to identify the sites,” he said.

    Jude said that operators of the artisanal refineries should be encouraged to form co-operatives for easier integration when the modular refineries came on stream.

    “The bunkering sites are known and those behind them are also known.

    “While they are waiting for the proposed government’s plan, those whose biometrics may have been captured during the documentation should be engaged in securing the environment.

    “They will help to prevent the establishment of new illicit bunkering sites,” he said.

     

  • Women at menopause can bear children – Expert

    Dr Omuku Samuel, a gynaecologist at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, has said women at menopause can still bear children with the aid of Invitro- Fertilisation (IVF).

    Samuel stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Wednesday.

    He explained that the oestrogen of such women that were lost could be regenerated medically to keep them healthy and strong to bear children again.

    ‘‘The IVF process is not difficult. It is normally carried out with the help of doctors.

    ‘‘The process is by joining the female and male sperms together; this can help the persons to have many kids as they want.

    ‘‘Menopause does not start suddenly, it occurs gradually and it can take up to five years before it can be noticed’’, he said.

    ‘‘Menopause starts between the ages of 45 and 55 in a woman. Yes, there are some components that make the woman look younger like the oestrogen hormones.

    ‘‘Once a woman lacks such component, her breast and vagina become dry.

    “It is the oestrogen that maintains the woman’s private part; signs of menopause include waist and back pain, heat and hot flashes.

    ‘‘I am advising women with menopause not to lose hope because IVF can make them to reproduce children again”, Samuel said.

     

  • Labour, Dickson disagree on education tax

    Labour, Dickson disagree on education tax

    The Bayelsa State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday, disagreed with Governor Seriake Dickson, on the introduction of compulsory education levy in the state.

    Dickson signed the Bayelsa Education Development Trust Fund Law 2017 compelling civil servants, goverment officials, contractors and taxable citizens to pay monthly education levy.

    The governor explained the reasons behind the tax insisting it was part of the measures to protect the future of education in the state.

    Dickson, who said he was the highest contributor to the funds insisted that anybody opposed to the tax would be considered as an enemy of the state.

    According to him, the fund would guarantee the sustainability of huge investments of the government in the educational sector.

    Dickson said: ”From now on, funds will be pumped into the EDTF account to support the free feeding, free uniforms and other items of the students. And it will take little contributions from every Bayelsan; some will pay as little as N400, N500 per month. There are others that will have to pay N1,000 or more depending on their business”.

    But the NLC chairman, Mr. John Ndiomu, said that while the workers were in support of the education development of the state, they believed that the government had the capacity to finance it without resorting to imposing further taxes on them.

    Ndiomu appealed to the government to review the levy because workers were still grappling with how to survive the current recession.

    On his part, the TUC chairman in the state, Mr. Tari Dounana, described the levy as “an antipeople’s policy” by the executive and the legislature without any inputs from the stakeholders.

    Dounana said: “It is unfortunate that such a law that requires civil servants to make contributions about their salaries was passed and assented to without a public hearing for the stakeholders to make their views known

    “We have already agreed to support the proposed Health Insurance Policy into which workers will also make contributions. This is one deduction too many. We are opposed to it.”

    But the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, said that the levy had noble intentions insisting that the state needed it to move its education forward.

    He said: ”We have built infrastructure and built boarding schools for which 16 of them will commence soon. We need to put up a system that can sustain them. The Government will be doing the job of providing infrastructure, but the essence of this is that we must run a boarding school and if we are to provide boarding facilities as we have done and we want to run them, we must put up a system that must sustain it outside of the direct government’s funding.

    ”And that is why the government has said that five per cent of its internally generated revenue will be channelled into the  EDTF and that everybody in government – political appointees and elected political officials including the civil servants and all citizens of the state will pay something into that fund which will be used primarily for students’ feeding and immediate needs in the boarding schools we have established in the eight local government areas for which the Ijaw National Academy is one.

    ”So, what we are doing is to sustain our educational system and also move Bayelsa out of the educationally disadvantaged state  to a state that will compete favourably with other states in the comity of states as a state that is educationally advantaged.”

  • Our nine-year-old boy at risk over cut of genitals – Mother

    …Says genitals cut out of malice

     

    The nine-year-old boy, whose penis was cut off during an ill-fated circumcision, is suffering excruciating pains and at health risk, his mother, Mrs. Eudora Michael, 35, cried out Monday.

    The mother, who spoke at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, said that she and her husband were poor and could not afford the specialized care the baby needed to stay alive.

    She said: “Since this sad incident occurred in February this year, we have been running around to raise money. We have borrowed up and down and are in big debt. My husband has gone to the village to gather money but people are not forthcoming.

    “People who had given us loan are not willing to give us more when we have not paid what we borrowed.

    “We are even surviving at the mercy of doctors who are spending their own money when they see that we are unable to provide the drugs they prescribe, the baby is in pains, always crying he cannot urinate and his bladder is swollen.

    “I have to stand near the bed or bend down to breastfeed him so that the pipes connected into his genitals doesn’t shift and go off and further complicate the situation”.

    She appealed to the wife of Bayelsa Governor, Dr.Rachael Dickson, and other kind-hearted Nigerians to assist financially with medical bills to save her baby.

    She insisted that her husband was jobless and had no means to settle the exorbitant medical cost.

    Medical experts at the hospital said the baby lost a lot of blood, but had been stabilised adding that he might be scheduled for corrective plastic surgery to reconstruct the urinary system to enable him pass urine normally.

    Michael accused her step-father Mr. Ziworitin Keke, 59, of deliberately cutting off the baby’s penis during circumcision.

    The incident occurred at Odenwari, a coastal community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa on February 5.

    Michael, a mother of eight children, four male and four female noted that the nine month old Oyintari was her first child to be circumcised by Keke.

    She claimed that  Keke ‘did it out of ‘malice’, explaining that the pains caused by the incident was too excruciating for a nine month old boy to bear.

    “It is not a mistake at all as it is being speculated. On that day I was asleep and the man sent a message that I should bring my baby for circumcision. My husband is still angry because I didn’t tell him.

    “My husband and I had no immediate plan to circumcise our baby that day, because he has been sick since birth. I carried the baby to him and he cut off his genitals completely after checking the length.

    “I was disturbed because the baby cried much more than two other babies he had circumcised without complications. When I checked the boy I saw the cut, he said that the penis shrunk inside and will come out after treatment.

    “I was not convinced. I knew there was danger and I took my baby to a health centre outside our community at Krokrosei after he told me to leave the baby with him for three weeks,” she said.

    But Keke’s cousin and activist, Morris Alagoa, said it was a mistake adding that the old man was popular in the community for his free services.

    “He was only trying to help”, Alagoa said adding that it was not true that his cousin was known for chopping off penises during circumcision.

    Alagoa said: “The man in question is my cousin and he is like a father to the boy. The incident is like that of a driver with 40 years-experiences having an accident.

    “It is really sad and unfortunate that his free services to over 700 children from neighboring communities have been brought into this ugly scenario.

    “He is a fisherman and engaged in logging of woods for a living. He is even a physically challenge man that offered circumcision services to the community.”

    The police said they were investigating the matter.

  • Man arrested for slicing off toddler’s penis

    Man arrested for slicing off toddler’s penis

    A 59-year-old man identified as Ziwotimin Keke has been arrested by the police in Bayelsa State for chopping off the penis of a nine-month-old boy during circumcision.

    It was learnt that the incident threw the Ondewari community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State into shock.

    The victim was said to be the grandson of Keke, who was known in the community for his generosity in offering free circumcision to families.

    His cousin and activist, Morris Alagoa, who confirmed the incident said the old man was popular in the community for his free services.

    “He was only trying to help”, Alagoa said adding that it was not true that his cousin was known for chopping off penises during circumcision.

    Alagoa said: “The man in question is my cousin and he is like a father to the boy. The incident is like that of a driver with 40 years experience having an accident.

    “It is really sad and unfortunate that his free services to over 700 children from neighbouring communities have been brought into this ugly scenario.

    “He is a fisherman and engaged in logging of woods for a living. He is even a physically challenged man that offered circumcision services to the community.”

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Asimin Butswat confirmed the arrest of the man.

    He said: “We were told the man had been doing this free circumcision for years. But we are investigating.”

  • Grandfather cuts off 8-months-old genitals in Bayelsa

    A 59-year-old man, Mr Ziworitin Keke, has allegedly cut off part of the genitals of his eight-month-old grandson while circumcising the boy at Ondewari, a coastal settlement in Bayelsa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt on Thursday that the baby is currently receiving medical care at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital.

    It was learnt that Keke, a well-known `specialist’ in circumcision in the area, almost “chopped off half of the baby’s genitals.”

    The father of the infant, Mr Joseph Michael, said his wife took the infant to a health centre following the incident.

    “After cutting off my boy’s penis, the man, who is married to my son’s grandmother, told my wife to leave the child with him for at least three weeks so that he could treat him very well.

    “But my wife refused because the boy was bleeding and she rushed him to the health centre at Korokorosei, a neigbouring community to us,” he said.

    He explained that they were referred to the Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa for specialised medical care, adding that he was in financial distress as he could not afford the cost of treatment.

    Michael urged public spirited individuals to come to his aid to save the life of his son.

    Reacting to the incident, Mr Alagoa Morris, a human rights activist, told NAN that the incident would have been avoided if government had provided health facilities to rural communities.

    “My first concern is with the baby going through the terrifying pain. The man who performed the circumcision is a renowned traditional circumcision expert in the community and even beyond.

    “He has successfully carried out the service at no cost to parents for many years including two older brothers of the victim.

    “This must have been a mistake. More than 1,000 circumcisions have been performed by him without any complication.

    “So, calls for his arrest are misplaced. A lot of residents in the community have no access to medical facilities and they believe and resort to traditional medicine men, traditional birth attendants inclusive.

    “It is imperative for the state and local governments to join forces and make orthodox medical service available to rural dwellers in the coastlines and riversides. Only then will the people have a choice,” Alagoa said.

    Meanwhile, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Bayelsa has called for the arrest and prosecution of Keke.

    Mrs Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, Chairperson of FIDA in the state, who made the call after visiting the victim at the medical centre, said they had petitioned the office of the commissioner of police on the matter.

     

  • NIS recruits 38 officers in Bayelsa

    NIS recruits 38 officers in Bayelsa

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Bayelsa Command, has completed recruitment training for 38 officers and men in Yenagoa.

    Mr Oche William, the Comptroller of the command, made this known in his office at end of the training on Wednesday.

    According to him, the seven officers and 31 men are all indigenes of Bayelsa.

    He added that the personnel comprised 24 males and 14 females.

    William said that due process was followed in the recruitment of the workers.

    He urged the workers to be disciplined and hardworking.

    William said that the new workers would later be sent for further training

  • We are committed to security on waterways – NAF boss

    We are committed to security on waterways – NAF boss

    The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas, has assured that the Navy will continue to provide adequate security on Nigeria’s waterways.

    Ibas gave the assurance while inaugurating some projects at the Naval Outpost, Odekpe, near Onitsha, Anambra, on Tuesday.

    The projects are an administrative block, armoury, commanding officer’s house, officers’ quarters, senior rates’ quarters, junior rates’ quarters and comprehensive water treatment plant.

    Others are a 33KVA transformer and a 250KVA generator.

    Ibas said that the outpost became necessary as a result of careful evaluation of the security imperatives in the area.

    He recalled that the Federal Government, in 2009, commenced the dredging of River Niger from Lokoja to Onitsha/Asaba.

    “This was aimed at making the river more navigable for commerce to thrive.

    “Additionally, the proposed establishment of strategic infrastructure such as the Green Field Oil Refinery at Itobe, the Inland Water Ports at Lokoja and Onitsha is anticipated to increase marine traffic from Warri to Ajaokuta Steel Company.

    “In this context, the possibilities of the emergence of new security challenges were not far-fetched.

    “This appreciation necessitated the establishment of the Naval presence in the area to curb the envisaged criminal activities and free the largely water dominated environment for legitimate use,” Ibas explained.

    He said that since the establishment of the Onitsha Outpost in 2010, it had operated from a rented accommodation which had been vulnerable and limited in space.

    He said that the new facility would provide an environment conducive to work by personnel and for a greater operational effectiveness of the unit.

    The Navy boss appealed to the Anambra Government to assist in perimeter fencing, road network, drainages and erosion control at the outpost.

    He commended the Federal Government for its support as well as the state government for providing land, gunboats and patrol vehicles towards realising the project.

    In his remarks, the state governor, Mr Willie Obiano, commended the Navy for combating crime in the state, saying that it had helped to arrest some hoodlums who trafficked in arms through the River Niger.

    “Since the inception of my administration, I have had a strong partnership with the Navy and I will continue to render assistance to the outfit subject to availability of funds.

    “We will continue to support the Navy in our little way since you have been playing a critical role in the security of the state.

    “Our assistance will continue as our economy improves,” the governor stated.

    Earlier, the Flag Officer, Central Naval Command, Yenagoa, Rear Admiral Mohammed Garba, said that the projects were part of the commitments of the Nigerian Navy for a working environment conducive for personnel.

    Garba said the inauguration of the projects marked the relocation from the temporary site to the permanent site.

    The occasion was graced by traditional rulers, other service chiefs, government functionaries as well as indigenes of Odekpe, near Onitsha where the outpost is sited.

  • Oil theft: JTF destroys 3 illegal refineries in Niger Delta

    The Joint Military Task Force (JTF) said on Saturday in Yenagoa that it had destroyed three illegal oil distillation sites in Delta and Rivers.

    Spokesman of ODSafe, Maj. Abubakar Abdullahi confirmed the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    “Troops of the Nigerian Naval Ship (NNS) Delta successfully carried out a raid on two illegal refineries along LAPASE CREEK in Warri South of Delta State.

    “During the raid, 11 metal tanks, 5 dug pits with about 1750 Tons of suspected stolen crude oil and 170 Tons of illegally refined AGO were impounded.

    “Also troops of sector three also destroyed a large illegal refinery with multiple dumps at ALAKIRI in Rivers State.’’

    Abdullahi said when the oil thieves sighted the military troops that they set fire on parts of their bunkering camp to deny the force access to the illegal site.

    He said the troops eventually put off the fire and destroyed the illegal refining site.
    The spokesman said the operation was part of renewed efforts to protect the country’s oil and gas infrastructure in the region.

    He said the military had intensified its operation in the region to frustrate the activities of oil thieves and vandals, whom he described as economic saboteurs.

    According to him, JTF has, therefore, deployed Operation Delta Safe (ODS) to secure the area against illegal bunkering.

    He urged law abiding members of the public to support operational activities of ODS with valuable information that would lead to achieving the mandate for which it was set up and securing oil facilities.

    “We are here to protect oil and gas infrastructure, deter and prevent sea robbery, to stop crude oil theft and other crimes within the joint area of operation that could impact negatively on economic activities in the Niger Delta.”