Author: Emmanuel Obe

Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, has declared that his administration is committed to catering to the needs of the people and not in taking on personality battles. The governor made the declaration while flagging off the 20,000 housing units for low-income earners project along Obiri -Ikwerre- International Airport road on Friday. Fubara said his administration would continue to do what was right while encouraging a robust participation of the people in governance. He said, “For our people, I want to assure you, our government has nothing to do with fighting anybody. Our governance is to take care of…

For more than eight years, the people of Rivers were not privileged to see the details of the budget of their state government. All they heard were the budget summaries that were sent to the House of Assembly for approval and subsequently assented to by the government. Try as much as they could, the civil society could not get the government to open up the details of the budgets and their sectoral allocations for all the years that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Chief Nyesom Wike, held sway. If they could not access the budget, which was the…

The Divisional Council of Chiefs of Ogu in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State has appealed to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to site legacy projects in their community. The council of chiefs made the appeal when its members paid a solidarity visit to the executive director, Finance and Administration, Alabo Boma Iyaye, an indigene of Ogu at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt. The council pledged their solidarity to the executive management of NDDC in the task of urgently developing the various communities in the Niger Delta region. Speaking during the solidarity visit, the chairman of the…

Rivers State Government has signed a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU) with two private firms for the development of 20,000 housing units and a central motor spare-parts market in Port Harcourt, the state capital. The MoUs were signed at a special ceremony on Saturday at Government House, Port Harcourt by the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN) for the state government, Mr. Aaron Obelley for New City Development Authority (former Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority), and the Chief Executive Officer of RIV/TAF Africa Global, Mr. Mustapha Njie. The housing project tagged RIV/TAF City Housing Project will be…

The burial of the former Amanyanabo of Okrika, King Alfred Semenitari Abam, has been scheduled for December 16 at Okrika. In a press announcement, Okrika Local Government Council in conjunction with Ado Royal Family and Central Burial Planning Committee, listed several events that will precede the burial of the king, who died on 8th September, 2021 at the age of 82. The statement issued on behalf of the Central Burial Planning Committee by the Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee, Dame Ibim Semenitari, gave the detailed activities for the burial are as follows: Monday 4th Dec. 2023 – Sekeni (Kiri-Owu) and…

The Martins Amaewhule-led faction of Rivers State House of Assembly met on Wednesday at the Assembly Complex, Port Harcourt and passed a vote of confidence on Amaewhule, the speaker, and his deputy, Dumle Maol. The members also elected Major Jack of Akuku-Toru 1 as the new Majority Leader to replace Edison Ehis that the faction removed four weeks ago. Similarly the assembly also elected Hon. Franklin Nwabochi, representing Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Constituency 1, as the new Whip of the House to replace Jack, following his new position as leader of the house. The house also gave First Reading to the Bill seeking…

Former Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mr. Waziri Adio, has said governance is a moral enterprise which those given the opportunity to serve in must see as a public trust. Adio, a prominent journalist and public affairs expert, stated this last Saturday where he was hosted at the 2023 August Meeting in Port Harcourt where his book, The Arc of the Possible was read publicly to highlight how public officers can use their positions to strengthen governance. Adio, who admitted that public servants were always under pressure to do things that negate good governance and ethical…

The 1982 Class of Holy Rosary College, Port Harcourt on Friday inaugurated the school’s Physics Laboratory, which they undertook to rehabilitate. The laboratory was inaugurated by Dr. Patience Osaroejiji, who was the school’s Chapel Prefect in 1977/78 and a favourite prefect if the 1982 Class. The President of the 1982 Class, Mrs. Gloria Akujobi (Nee Fubara) said they felt the need to givebclback to the school where they were formed. “The physics lab was so dilapidated and we felt we should give the children a good landing,” she said. Dr. Osaroejiji said she was so excited by the gesture of…

Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has commenced oral interviews for over 1,050 candidates for its foreign postgraduate scholarship programme. The interviews, which is spread over 11 days, are for candidates that were successful in the computer-based test written by 5,000 applicants earlier in the month. The NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, who was at the venue of the interview with the Executive Director Finance and Administration, Alabo Boma Iyaye, the Executive Director Projects, Sir Victor Antai, and the Executive Director Corporate Services, Hon. Ifedayo Abegunde, said that the guiding principle for the interview was equity, fairness and transparency. He…

Eminent Niger Delta activist and leader of Ijaw ethnic nationality, Alabo Nengi James, has condemned the way voters in the last Off-Cycle Governorship Election in Bayelsa State sold their votes in the election. Alabo James, who spoke to National Point while monitoring the election in Yenagoa, the state capital, said he was thoroughly disappointed with the voters, who used their votes as bargaining chips in the election. “For the voters, I think I am so disappointed. I see a lot of vote buying, especially in areas that I have been to in the state capital. It has never be so…