The seeming hide and seek game former President Goodluck Jonathan is playing with the undying speculation of his interest in succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 is not going down well with Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF). The group wants Jonathan who has been rumoured to have defected to President Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) in a bid to perfect his return bid to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to consult them first if he really wants to succeed Buhari in 2023. This is even as Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) is calling…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Former Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, has started wooing economic and political leaders of the defunct Eastern Region to sink their perceived differences and ills of the past, in a honest bid to lay a new foundation of economic prosperity for the children of the area. According to him, fashioning out a new sustainable economic hub in Nigeria with states of the old Eastern Region is very possible if leaders have the will to do so. With the exception of Delta and Edo States that emerged from the ashes of the defunct Mid-West Region, states that sprang up from…
Rising from its Town Hall Meeting/Capacity Building Conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has resolved to assist in ensuring that, frivolous and unserious electoral candidates, as well as those who have not demonstrated any capacity for leadership, are weeded out from the 2023 race. The Guild has also resolved that ahead of the 2023 general election, editors should engage more with other stakeholders like civil society groups, Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies and others in deepening the democratic process. In a communiqué signed by NGE’s President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary,…
The dredging of the Escravos channel in Delta State by the Buhari administration is already halfway done. The goal of the dredging is to enable the port in the state to have a better draft, and record fewer incidences of vessels running aground when completed. Escravos River is however, a tributary of the River Niger in southern Nigeria. Its 56-kilometre westerly course traverses zones of mangrove swamps and coastal sand ridges before entering the Bight of Benin of the Gulf of Guinea. There are no ports on the river, but the Escravos is linked by a maze of interconnected waterways…
Following the exit of Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio, the people of the oil and gas region have renewed their agitation for President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), an interventionist agency. Buhari has already met with 10 of his ministers who have tendered letters of resignation from the cabinet over their aspirations in the 2023 elections. Young Professionals for Peace, Transparency and Development (YPPTD), an advocacy group, has commended the Nigerian leader for calling for the resignation of his appointees including Akpabio over their presidential ambition. The group wants President Buhari to…
A bill seeking to repeal and re-enact the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) 2015 has passed for Second Reading in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) that made this public on its website said the Senate Okayed the bill for second reading last April 27. The sponsor of the bill, Senator Jibrin Isah (APC: Kogi) in his lead debate, stated that there is a need for a holistic reform of the law to bring its provisions in line with current realities. VAPP was enacted to address the mounting problem of violence against…
A social critic in Akwa Ibom State has advised the late MKO Abiola’s son, Kola, who is seeking to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 on the platform of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) to adopt social democracy as his political war cry. Effiong Etuk, a social scientist, told this reporter in Uyo, the state capital that social democracy will help Abiola to ward off the deepening extremism in the country if he becomes Nigeria’s president in 2023. Kola Abiola has declared his intention to contest the presidency on the platform of PRP, a pro-left wing party. According to Etuk, ‘’the…
The discreet investigation launched by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into the finances of the 18 political parties in the country and their presidential aspirants has received a standing ovation from some concerned citizens. Ofonime Etokudo, a public affairs commentator says it is high time the anti-graft agencies began to transparently to question public functionaries about the source of their funds. ‘’In a country where a public officer can easily take out N100 million to buy a party’s nomination form, makes mockery of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war. ‘’I am of the view that all those who bought party…
Communities around the Benin River in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State are currently jittery over six unidentified male corpses found floating on Opu-Binideyei Creek. The area is a boundary community between Warri North Local Government Area and Warri South-west Local Government Area. The jitter is coming even as the widow of a wood merchant who was allegedly stabbed to death by unknown hoodlums in Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state is crying for justice. Mrs Gift Ovigue Afejuku is calling on the Nigeria Police, Delta State Command, to fish out the killers of her 44…
Eight years after National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) declared Bayelsa State the oil-polluted state in the Niger Delta, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), an environmental rights advocacy group, is pushing for a state of emergency in the area. Bayelsa, the home state of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was pronounced as the most polluted by NOSDRA in 2014. NOSDRA was established in 2006 as an institutional framework to co-ordinate the implementation of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) for Nigeria in accordance with the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC 90) to which Nigeria…
Institute for Security Studies’ (ISS) Senior Researcher for African Futures and Innovation, Kouassi Yeboua, says the 2023 elections are providing Nigerians a unique opportunity to choose developmentally-oriented governing elite. According to him, six decades after independence, ‘’Nigeria has made little meaningful development progress. Changing Nigeria’s economic growth model would have the most significant effect on long-term development.’’ Yeboua states this in ISS Today, a newsletter of the Institute. ISS partners to build knowledge and skills that secure Africa’s future. Its goal is to enhance human security as a means to achieve sustainable peace and prosperity, and its work covers transnational…
Governments of the six oil-bearing states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers, have come under severe criticism for allegedly failing to tackle the menace of out-of-school children in the geopolitical zone. Gender rights activist, Dorathy Ene Eyo, told this reporter on telephone on Saturday that many children in the oil and gas region are currently growing up the hard way. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he’s worried about the growing number of out-of-school children in the country. According to her, ‘’in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers and other states in the larger Niger Delta area, there…
Past leaders of Akwa Ibom State have been blamed by the Udom administration for allegedly abandoning the state’s Master Plan for flood control. This is as signs are emerging that flood will again wreck havoc in the state this year. Heavy downpour on Friday night created artificial rivers in most streets in Uyo, the state capital. This is however, coming on the heels of warning by Water Resources Minister, Suleiman Adamu, that 233 local government areas within 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, are at a high risk of flooding in the country. In Eket Local Government Area…
Tens of All Progressives Congress (APC) players in Akwa Ibom State invaded the home of a governorship aspirant, Austin Utuk, to demonstrate their support and solidarity as the aspirant returned from Abuja to Uyo, the state capital. Utuk appreciated his followers for their undying support and urged them to work hard towards actualizing their dreams which is halfway feasible with the purchase of the form. “This is the form and it is for all of us. I have done my part as an individual. It is now your call to reciprocate by going to the field to work. At the…
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an agency of United Nations says market transparency is crucial to tackling the global menace of food shortages. Adding, FAO says that is why it welcomes every effort to strengthen and expand the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS). AMIS is an inter-agency platform designed to enhance food market transparency launched in 2011 by G20 Agriculture Ministers following the global food price hikes in 2007/08 and 2010. AMIS is hosted by FAO. FAO’s Director-General, Qu Dongyu, on Saturday called on G7 nations to help anticipate future food shortages, as the war in Ukraine squeezes supplies, pushes…
Founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, is advising Christians in Nigeria to be united. But a church elder in Akwa Ibom State is saying that it might be difficult to achieve that pretty too soon. Speaking in Uyo, the state capital, Ini Edoho, said churches in Nigeria are divided along doctrinal lines. ‘’So many churches in this country are seeing themselves as better than others. ‘’There is an unhealthy competition that breeds envy and jealousy, clerics attacking one another. The craze for ‘my church is bigger than yours’ is not helping to build the much required unity…
The two major political parties do not appear to be concerned about our young people. Their scramble for power in 2023 has left the young people far behind at a time the world is yearning for the voice of younger people to be heard. The United Nations has launched a campaign on Wednesday in collaboration with the Youth Envoy to support young people’s political participation and amplify their voices in public life. We are hoping this will sink into the major political parties in Nigeria whose nomination forms are wearing price tags beyond the reach of the young people. UN…
Workers in Rivers State are currently not with Governor Nyesom Wike in his 2023 presidential aspiration. Concerned activists in the state say the organised labour has every reason to oppose Wike’s presidential ambition until he meets their demands. Despite Wike’s combative posturing, checks by this reporter tend to show that there is a larger threat looming from the governor’s current disposition. The aggrieved labour in the big oil and gas state says it has since longed for a negotiable settlement to all outstanding issues which the state has the resources to implement. But the Wike administration does not seem to…
The Ogoni mass movement in Rivers State, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), is not pleased with the way and manner President Muhammadu Buhari is handling their issues. MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, is therefore appealing to the Nigerian leader to pay serious attention to the Ogoni issue and settle it before leaving office in 2023. Nsuke says addressing the Ogoni problem will be President Buhari’s most celebrated achievement. He was speaking in his message to the Gokana congress of MOSOP, held in Bera, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers. According to him, it is the responsibility of…
Ugborhen community In Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State is currently on the boil. The community is demanding from their President, Dr Nelson Ukoko, who is also known as Jenekpo, the full details of the recent happening in Seplat, an oil company. Ugborhen elders, women, and youths are already calling for the head of Jenekpo. They said he must go. One of the elders of the community says the community were mobilised to march round the village, demanding that they want Jenekpo to return all the community documents in his possession. A community youth, Frank Umukoro, is claiming that…
Former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside, says his frequent criticism of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State over the years is neither driven by personal ambition nor pecuniary comfort. Rather, Peterside who is anxious to succeed Wike in 2023 on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) said his tongue lashing of the governor is for his love for the state which, in the past seven years, has been allegedly robbed dry by the governor. He was speaking in response to Wike’s remarks at a Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in Port…
From August 7, 2022, individuals in Nigeria can no longer be directors in more than five public companies. Assistant Director of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Tolulope Adeola Sonaike, said so in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital Sonaike who was a keynote speaker at the 2022 Governance Practitioners day, an event of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) I explained that some of the new provisions of CAMA 2020 and the complementary Companies Regulations (CR) 2021 have redefined the business landscape in Nigeria and need professional guidance. The event was hosted by the Akwa Ibom…
Apparently burdened by the deepening global campaign to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all, the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has started mobilizing stakeholders in the Niger Delta to show greater interest in the maritime sector. PAP’s Interim Administrator, Milland Dixon Dikio, a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army who is from Ijaw, is seriously challenging the people of the vastly polluted oil region, to take advantage of the maritime opportunities in the area. The anti-fossil fuel movement is pushing for the acceleration of the transition to a new, just clean…
Signs that the 2023 politics in Rivers State might take a more dangerous turn have started to emerge as the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) takes on Governor Nyesom Wike mercilessly. Wike who is also a presidential aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), drew the ire of APC following his unguarded outburst on Sunday at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, situated along Garrison, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.. The Rivers strongman was in the church for a thanksgiving service to celebrate the legal victory secured at the Supreme Court in the oil well dispute between his state and Imo State.…
A river port in the landlocked nation that joined United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) port management programme is helping importers and exporters overcome logistics challenges. General Manager of Port of Jennefer in Bolivia, Bismark Rosales, has seen the country’s trading fortunes improve dramatically since the port earned international status in 2018. “Our country had a very large supply of soybeans, urea and cement to export, but we were not competitive in international markets’’, Rosales says. “The reason,” he says, “was not a lack of quality or technology, but the very costly logistics required to transport the goods…
Forty-five-year-old Rebecca Ezekiel, a farmer in Song Local Government Area of Adamawa State has been trained in good agricultural practices (GAP) by the USAID-funded Feed-the-Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity (IAA). Rebecca, a wife of a farmer and mother of 10, grows rice, soybean, maize, and groundnut. But, she is not a mere farmer. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says she is putting the training to good use in cultivating these crops, pointing out that she is paying particular attention to all GAP conventions, including using IAA’s improved seed varieties, correct fertilizer application, and spacing—a technique she was unfamiliar with. “I…
The representative of Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency of Rivers State in the House of Representatives, Dumnamene Robinson Dekor, has hailed Governor Nyesom Wike for living true to his promise of putting the State first in the management of its affairs. Dekor was speaking on the heels of the epochal Supreme Court victory in favour of Rivers in its legal battle over the disputed 17 oil wells in Egbema and Ndoni communities of the state. This House Committee Chairman for Host Oil Communities described the Supreme Court ruling as another landmark of the Wike administration which according to him, is unprecedented in…
Chairman of Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, Victor Ebonka, is calling on residents of the area to embrace government’s policies on environmental protection and preservation. Ebonka spoke while monitoring the excavation and evacuation of long aged refuse heaps at various locations in the locality. According to him, the quest to keep the area clean will not be compromised, we will continue to engage every available strategy to ensure we have a healthy environment. Speaking further, the council chairman warned against the dangers posed by the poor waste management system to human beings and the environment. According…
Special Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Youths Development, Buchi Omenogor, says has distributed empowerment equipment worth millions of naira to the people of Amai. Sources in Asaba, the state capital, say it is in line with the job creation programme of the Okowa administration. Presenting the equipment to the beneficiaries at Amai, in Ukuani Local Government Area he said that he decided to embark on the project to enable him create job and job opportunities for the people. The idea, according to him, was also to support the state governor, who according to him, had created…
A new report by International Labour Organisation (ILO), a United Nations agency says over one in three employees in 98 countries currently have their wages, working hours and other professional conditions set by collective agreements. But there is a considerable variation across countries, ILO said, ranging from over 75 per cent of workers having a collective agreement in many European countries and Uruguay, to below 25 per cent, in around half the countries where data was available. In the fast-changing world of work, ILO highlights how important dialogue between workers and management is to the global post-pandemic recovery – and…
