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FG Mourns Victims of Niger Boat Mishap

FG Mourns Victims of Niger Boat Mishap

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The federal government has extended deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the government, and the people of Niger State over the boat mishap in the Borgu area of Niger State, which claimed the lives of about 32 people.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said in a statement Friday that the federal government received the distressing news of the boat mishap with a heavy heart.
He said this tragedy was particularly painful coming barely four months after devastating floods wreaked havoc in Mokwa, also in Niger State.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the Government, and the people of Niger State. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected by this tragedy.
The Federal Government, through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), will provide the necessary support to the victims’ families and survivors, working closely with the Niger State Government to ensure prompt relief and assistance,” he said.
The minister extolled the Niger State Government, through the State Emergency Management Agency, for its swift rescue operation, which ensured that all passengers of the ill-fated boat were accounted for.
He stated:”I will use this opportunity to once again remind the people to always prioritize safety when travelling on our inland waterways. In particular, no one should embark on boat journeys without wearing appropriate protective jackets. Safety precautions can make the difference between life and death.
“Furthermore, the Federal Government has directed the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to mount a massive nationwide sensitization campaign to raise public awareness on safety measures when using inland waterways”.
He prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased and wished the survivors a speedy recovery.

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Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has extended deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the government, and the people of Niger State over the boat mishap in
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Religious Body Seeks Collective Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria

Religious Body Seeks Collective Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Greater Evangelism World Crusade (GEWC) has called for a collective fight against corruption in the country.

The International Director of Greater Evangelism World Crusade, Pastor Isaac Olori, made the call during a press conference at the church headquarters in Port Harcourt, ahead of its 53rd anniversary.

Responding to questions from journalists, Olori noted that corruption was naturally endemic as a result of fallen man. He noted that “the only challenge is that the level of manifestation and greed differs from society to society”.

Olori said, “In Nigeria, we have the challenge of spirit of corruption and those in leadership are perpetuating it and because they perpetuate it, is becoming difficult to arrest but the church has a place”.

He said the place of prayer, church teaching her membership to live by example, would create positive changes, stressing that “some of those who are in politics belong to churches but do they live up to the example of Christ in the public service?”

Olori regretted that “Some of us who work in the public office, because corruption is not only in the political place. They are in the grassroots. You deal with people in the office, files could be missing. You go to the road, the police will stand, they have to collect something before you pass, and all the rest with different dimensions.

“So, is a total thing because men have yielded to the depraved nature, and so the answer is prayer, every church, every minister should live up to the calling of preaching the true gospel, and we stand on the gospel of Christ”.

He added that, “We pray, but the greatest work is to work on your community. If there is darkness in this place and you bring light it will make a difference. The challenge is that we should raise a generation that should make a difference. I believe that this nation be changed”.

Speaking on the achievements of the church in the years past, Olori said “In line with our Mission statement, the Ministry provides support and relief materials to flood-displaced persons in the Orashi region of Rivers State and Bayelsa State affected areas whenever the need arises.”

He said recently, the Ministry sent foodstuffs and cash support to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to armed conflicts between herders and farmers in Benue state”.

On the goal of the ministry, he said “By God’s grace, the Ministry has spread to various parts of Nigeria, Africa, the United Kingdom, and the USA. The Greater Evangelism World Crusade has impacted many lives, leading thousands to salvation through Christ Jesus.

In addition to preaching, we have published several Christian literature and literary documentation of the history of the Ministry, which has provided knowledge of indigenous church history.”

He recalled that the ministry was founded on Saturday, September 9, 1972, by founder and Pioneer International Director, late Apostle Geoffrey Dabibi Numbere, during an all-night prayer meeting in Port Harcourt, the Capital of Rivers State.

According to him “The name, the logo, and the motto were all given by the Lord through a vision. Amid much persecution, opposition, and difficulties, the Ministry pioneered indigenous Pentecostal evangelism in old Rivers State (now Rivers and Bayelsa States) of Nigeria in the early 1970s”.

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Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt The Greater Evangelism World Crusade (GEWC) has called for a collective fight against corruption in the country. The International Director of Greater Evangelism World Crusade,
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SERAP Trains N’Delta Women on Access to Justice

SERAP Trains N’Delta Women on Access to Justice

*Women decries exclusion in family inheritance, community decision-making

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Women from various communities in the Niger Delta region have decried injustice in the distribution of family inheritance and decision making in their communities.

The women spoke at a three-day interactive session on strategic litigation and women’s role in advancing justice in the Niger Delta by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

SERAP had organised the training to strengthen key stakeholders and develop a plan action to advance women participation in promoting transparency and accountability in the management of natural resources in the region and other oil-producing communities in Nigeria.

The workshop which was supported by the Ford Foundation, attracted women stakeholders including women leaders, female traditional rulers, market women leaders, women groups, people living with disability, female journalists and women activists in the region.

The workshop also availed women the opportunity to understand how they could participate in the natural resources and development of their communities.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs Naamon Grace, a native of K-Dere community, in Gokana LGA, expressed that women in her area are not recognised in terms of family inheritance despite their roles in peace, and development of their community.

Naamon, who narrated how she and other women from the Ogoni ethnic extraction in Rivers State struggle for the cleanup of the polluted environment, said “When Ken Saro-Wiwa brought up the issue of MOSOP, I was among the first women that embrace it, and because of the level of illiteracy that was in my area, I was given an office, like Secretary of the Ogoni Federation of Women Association from the beginning”.

She explained “The women, we are working very hard, because at a time the military did not allow any organisation to function. So, they started chasing us, men were the target, the women mount protest for the interest of the community’.

She said “The problem we have now, is when all the problems became low, politicians hijacked the struggle because the leader (Ken Saro-Wiwa) and others 12 agitators were killed.

“During the struggle, the women were raped by the military personnel, they were tortured, we were chased into the forest. One of the women named Saturday, from Biara community was amputated during the struggle. Then I was pregnant and gave birth to my child in the bush. It was a broken bottle that was used to cut the umbilical cord of the child because there was no instrument to use, no nurse. By the grace of God he survived.

Today, cleanup issue came up, but non of women that was in the struggle were recognised including myself.”

She however pleaded with SERAP to support the women in the Niger Delta region achieve justice in their demands, noting their valuable impact in their communities.

On her part, Peace Mgbenwa, a native of Okwuisi community, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA, lamented that leadership of her community do not care about the welfare of the women.

She decried “In Okwuisi community, women are not included in leadership, just like what we are discussing now, we don’t have woman leader we selected by ourselves. They (men) pick those that hardly speak for women as a leader.

The women leaders don’t care about their rights, what they are after is the annual rice gift they receive from the community or Agip company. But with the series of training we have heard so far, we now understand our needs and how to achieve it.”

Martha Egbe, a native of Aleto-Eleme, and President of the Voice of Eleme Women Association, said despite the over 400 companies operating in her Eleme community, women are not carried along as beneficiaries, except you’re a politician.

She stated that women are most hit by the pollution and other disadvantages, saying that “Pollution has caused us so many damages. We can’t lay our hands to our God given natural resources.

“Interms of benefits, women are excluded. They don’t remember women and that is why we are crying that, since we are most affected, we need serious help.

“We are calling on SERAP to come to our aide and fight this injustice, so that our women will be remembered that we are part of the living in the community. We can’t go to farm or rivers because of pollution.

“We have palm tree plantations in my place. Before now, we used to go early and harvest the palm fruits, we sell some and use others to prepare palm oil to train our children.

We are crying that women should be remembered, we are the most suffering in the society. If they can remember us in terms of problems in our father’s house, why can’t they do same in terms of beneficiary”, Egbe added.

Meanwhile, during the training which ended yesterday, SERAP pledged support for women from the region who desires to seek and get justice over unfair treatments they have suffered and still suffering from their environment and society.

Deputy Director, SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, who reacted on the concerns noted at the training said the appeal by the women for justice, would be addressed, stating that the group’s lawyers have taken note of the issues.

He said: “We are going to support them. Our lawyers are here and they are taking records of what they (participants) are saying. They are going to hear from us.”

Lead Research Consultant, Emilia Okon, in her report presentation on “Mobilising Natural Resource Communities to Use Strategic Litigation as a Tool for Social Justice”, noted ignorance as part of the challenges faced by Niger Delta women from getting social justice.

She said the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) is supposed to be used by the women to address their social injustices, adding that women at the rural communities should be more enlightened.

She emphasised that communities need legal literacy in local language through women-led and trusted platforms; combine legal aid and economic empowerment.

Speaking, Constance Meju, a veteran journalist and activist, called for intensive sensitisation noting that women are suffering from what she described as “money, political and legal illiteracy” in the society.

THISDAY at the training observed that the participants were drawn from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers States.

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*Women decries exclusion in family inheritance, community decision-making Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt Women from various communities in the Niger Delta region have decried injustice in the distribution of family
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How Dapo Abiodun is Transforming Ogun With Road Construction

How Dapo Abiodun is Transforming Ogun With Road Construction

By Olaniyi Ajibola

The 49-year old Ogun State remains a significant federating unit among the rest, considering it’s cosmopolitan posture in location and history, as well as the sophistication of it’s human endowment; the gateway state is without doubt a leading light in all ramifications.

Like many other sub-nationals, the state had its share of the suffocating military Junta with resultant stagnation in development and absence of direction in leadership, as inherent potentials of the state left untapped and in the state of inertia.

Successive civilian governments, however, made some efforts to change the ugly trend, especially between 1999 and 2003, when rural roads were substantially constructed and rehabilitated for smooth connectivity within communities.

Meanwhile, the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun from 29th May, 2019 came with aggressive determination to change the old order and transform the existing projects of value, strictly working in tandem with the maxim,” Building Our Future Together “.

In a swift and decisive move, Governor Dapo Abiodun left his friends and foes in total astonishment. In less than six years of being in the saddle, he has constructed over 1200kms of roads, the feat that surpassed the combined efforts of all his predecessors in road construction.

Of profound significance and fascinating is the Abeokuta-Sango-Ota -Lagos Expressway. The road that was not only frustrating and a nightmare but constituted total embarrassment to the state with serious economic quagmire.

As a responsive and responsible leader, Governor Dapo Abiodun made frantic efforts to take over the construction of the road from the Federal Government during his first term in office, unfortunately, the man that held sway as the Minister of Works at that time remained insensitive and indifferent to the issue, he even reiterated his illogical stance on the National Television, claiming the road belongs to the Federal Government and the State has no legal authority to work on it irrespective of what the road users were passing through daily.

Governor Abiodun perseverance and consistency later paid off in this dispensation, as the new man in charge of the Ministry thinker along with the Governor and saw reason for quick action, thereby granting the request of the Ogun State Government to repair the road.

The conspicuously elated Governor broke the 21-year jinx of stagnation and frustration by flagging off the construction of the 70-km road on 23rd August 2024, with assertions of commitment and completion within 18 months.

As it stands, and about a year after the flag off, the Governor has truly proved to be a talk and do leader, a rare attribute in the political enclave of Africa. As the construction of the road nears it’s completion, motorists and commuters alike have begun to praise and commend the Governor for his ingenuity, sincerity and clarity of purpose.

Five gangs are working simultaneously at Olomore, Midgad/Metroxide, Papanlanto Junction, Owode, and the Toll Gate axis, where earthwork, stone base, and drainage have been completed while asphalt is being laid.

Also, the failed portions at Brewery, Obada, and Itori Junction up to Lafarge Cement Factory, Ewekoro, have been repaired and opened for motorists, the development that elicited jubilant reactions from different individuals in the axis.

The Olu of Itori, Oba Abdul Fatai Akorede Akamo, said: “This road has been abandoned for so many years, and I thank God that Governor Dapo Abiodun took the bull by the horns and committed to doing the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta road.

“Though it is a federal road, Governor Abiodun said he would complete the road, and he has started it. Our governor is a man of his word, and his word is his bond.

“I have never witnessed such a governor in the state since my enthronement who says something and achieves it. We will tell our stories by ourselves; the giant stride of the governor on this road is still unbelievable.

“Governor Dapo Abiodun is a man of the people; he feels the people’s pain, and the governor is doing fine because he has someone at his back. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been our governor’s pillar of support, what he met on the ground when he became the governor was so sad, but today, we thank God that God has revealed Himself.”

As the people of the state and many road users await the completion of this all-important road in the next few months, the euphoria of this triumph resonates across board, from elite to the peasants and artisans, including students and market women, they continue to say Thank You Mr Talk and Do, Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON.

*Ajibola, is a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Strategic Communications

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By Olaniyi Ajibola The 49-year old Ogun State remains a significant federating unit among the rest, considering it’s cosmopolitan posture in location and history, as well as the sophistication of
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