Author: Emmanuel Obe

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, has said that the state government would explore ways of using artificial intelligence, AI, to drive development and resolve political crises in the state. The governor stated this at Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday when participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC-17 Syndicate 5) of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) paid him a courtesy visit. He stressed that leveraging AI would significantly enhance operational efficiency and transform citizens’ experiences, emphasizing that advanced societies were accelerating the use of AI because it enables a faster data-driven decision-making process and allows administrations…

Governors of the South-South geopolitical zone have decried the involvement of the military in community, boundary and family disputes in the Niger Delta. The governors, who met in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital on Tuesday at the 12th Meeting of the BRACED Commission, called for the immediate withdrawal of the military from occupied communities in the region to allow displaced villagers to return to their homes and lives. In a nine-point communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the governors condemned the killing of 17 officers and men of the Nigerian Army at Okuama in Delta State and condolences to…

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, has promised to implement salary increase for workers in the state in line with the recent wage increase announced by the Federal Government. Governor Fubara made the promise during the 2024 May Day rally at Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt. He said he is touched by the bad economy and the attendant inflation, which have impacted adversely on the purchasing power and well-being of workers and their families. He therefore said, “Let me assure you that we are going to work with the Federal Government to implement necessary measures, including the continuation of the…

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has sworn in 14 new commissioners, newly-elected chairmen of the eight local government councils, their vice chairmen as well as the chairman of the Bayelsa State Board of Internal Revenue, Daniel Iniekezimene. The re-appointed cabinet members, who served in the governor’s first term and retained their portfolios, include Biriyai Dambo SAN (Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice), Moses Teibowei (Works and Infrastructure), Maxwell Ebibai (Finance), Dr. Gentle Emelah (Education), Daniel Igali (Sports Development) and Preye Brodricks (Special Duties, Bayelsa East). Others who returned but were re-deployed are Dr Ebieri Jones, who was assigned…

The Coalition for a Cleaned Niger Delta (CCND) has called on President Bola Tinubu to issue an executive order creating a Niger Delta Environmental Project (NDEP) to commence a health and environmental audit as well as a cleanup of the Niger Delta region. The coalition, which is made up of eminent environmental rights activists, said in a press statement that the proposed project should be devoid of the pitfalls of the ongoing Ogoni Cleanup being executed by HYPREP. The press statement was signed by Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Otive Igbuzor, Founding Executive Director,…

Friday night’s fire in front of Indorama Fertilizer Company gate at the Eleme axis of the East-West Rd near Port Harcourt, which claimed an unspecified number of lives and completely burnt over 120 vehicles has continued to draw anger and grief from people. The fire occurred at about 8.30pm when a stream of fuel that leaked from a petrol tanker in front of Indorama’s main gate on the road, got ignited by a spark and exploded into a conflagration. A truck conveying fertiliser from Indorama complex to Onne Port had collided with the petrol tanker and caused a hole from…

Nigerians yearning for pump fuel price reduction will have to still wait because the promise by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that production of petroleum products at the Port Harcourt Refinery would begin in the second quarter of this year is not realistic. National Point investigations reveal that a lot of work still needs to be done to get the old refinery, which has achieved mechanical completion, working again. A reliable source in the project disclosed that the earliest the old refinery can roll out products will be in the third quarter of 2024 because of the nature…

Mr. Isaac Kamalu, the former Rivers State commissioner for Finance, and Prof Zacchaeus Adangor, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, resigned their membership of the Rivers State Executive Council after the governor reassigned them to new portfolios. The resignation of the two former commissioners came a few days after the governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, disclosed that the internally generated revenue of the state had risen sharply from N12 billion monthly to N27 billion. A few days after this disclosure, the governor authorised the reassignment of Kamalu from the Finance ministry to the ministry of Employment Generation, and Adangor from the ministry…

Friday night’s fire in front of Indorama gate at the Eleme axis of the East-West Rd near Port Harcourt, which claimed an unspecified number of lives and completely burnt 69 vehicles has continued to draw anger and grief from people. The fire occurred at about 8.30pm when a stream of of fuel that leaked from a petrol tanker in front of Indorama’s main gate on the road got ignited by a spark and exploded into a conflagration. A truck conveying fertiliser from Indorama complex to Onne Port had collided with the petrol tanker and caused a hole from which the…

…Fubara urges navy to be firm against oil thieves The Nigerian Navy has formally relocated its training command headquarters to Rivers State. The new headquarters, located at the former Nne Kurubo Model Secondary School, Ejamah, Ebubu in Eleme Local Government Area, was inaugurated on Friday by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Fubara said at inauguration that the partnership between the state and the navy has been yielding fruitful results. The compound of Nne Kurubo Model Secondary School was donated to the navy by the immediate past administration of Chief Nyesom Wike after the navy requested to use the school as its training…