Author: Emmanuel Obe

Ijaw women from five states of the Niger Delta have rejected the planned sale of the onshore assets of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited in the Niger Delta to Renaissance African Energy.The women, who addressed a press conference on Wednesday in Port Harcourt under the aegis of Coalition of Ijaw Women Voices (CIWV), said the proposed sale of the assets was “shocking and unacceptable”.The text of the conference was read by Ms. Annkio Briggs, a prominent voice in the Niger Delta. SPDC had announced the decision to sell off its onshore assets in the Niger Delta to Renaissance Africa Energy,…

Contractors working on the turnaround of the Old Port Harcourt Refinery have commenced the test-run of the facilities of the plant preparatory to resumption of production of petroleum products. The workers shouted in jubilation on Thursday December 21 morning, as the flare of the old plant was lighted. It had been more than 20 years since the old refinery was last in operation. Though the old plant is part of the entire project to return the Port Harcourt Refinery to operation after a comprehensive turnaround maintenance, the procedures for the new plant had been slowed down to allow workers concentrate…

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Rivers State Chapter, has expressed worries over the current spate of political crisis rocking the State, and called on the warring factions to give peace a chance. In a release signed by Susan Serekara-Nwikhana, chairperson, NAWOJ Rivers State and Ngozi Anosike, the secretary, women journalists regretted the negative social and political impacts the crisis will have on the state, women and children, reiterating the importance of politicians not allowing personal interest to override the general interest and prosperity of the people and the state at large. “No investment would thrive in a political…

Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Joe Johnson, has disclosed that the House of Assembly building being demolished by the state government was no longer fit for human habitation since an explosion occurred there on October 29, 2023. Speaking at the Dinner Night of the 2023 Correspondents’ Week of Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State, last Friday, the commissioner said that the building consultants engaged to study the state of the building after the explosion returned a verdict that the structure be pulled down because it had been weakened. “When there was a…

Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum has vowed to resist the move by a faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara. In a communique issued at the end of their meeting in Port Harcourt on Monday, condemned the impeachment notice on the governor, saying the impeachment notice coming barely six months after the governor assumed office was not acceptable. The meeting was presided over by former Governor of the state, Chief Rufus Ada-George, and attended by former Deputy Governor, Sir Gabriel Toby, former Senate Minority Leader, Dr. Bennett Birabi, Admiral Promise Fingesi, Ms. Annkio…

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku, has said that peace and security were needed to create the necessary environment for the rapid development of the Niger Delta region. Speaking when a delegation from the Nigerian Airforce, led by the Commander 115 Special Operations, Group Captain Ali Idris, visited him at the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt, Ogbuku promised that the Commission would continue to assist the security agencies in the Niger Delta region. He said that NDDC needed the support of security agencies to succeed, noting that security was very important in every…

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…