Author: Emmanuel Obe

Once a contender for Nigeria’s top city, Port Harcourt’s development has lagged behind Lagos and Abuja, raising questions about its potential and the factors that have hindered its progress. But Surv. Samuel Ndubisi Agwor, a former top governorship contender in Rivers State and one of the elders behind Governor Siminalayi Fubara, has said that the governor was working hard to restore the lost glory of the city and indeed the entire Rivers State. In an interview with National Point, Agwor, who has played top politics in Rivers State for over three decades, recalled a time when Port Harcourt was rapidly…

The Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) has expressed solidarity with residents of Bukuma community in Rivers State currently grappling with the impact of the crude oil wellhead blowout in the area for the last one month. MOSIEND said the continued leakage and fire in Bukuma was not only a serious threat to public health and safety but also a severe failure of regulatory oversight on the part of the federal government and related agencies that are charged with maintaining our natural resources and ensuring the safety of communities. In a statement signed…

Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has urged the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Presidency to ignore Senator Ned Nwoko’s call for the dissolution of the Delta State Executive Committee of the party. Nwaoboshi, former senator representing Delta North Senatorial District made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri. Nwaoboshi alleged that Nwoko, currently representing Delta North in the Senate was plotting with some elements in the Presidency to dissolve the State Executives Committee of the party. He said that such move would amount to total disregard to the democratic principles of party as well…

The Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Brain Gokpa, has berated the managements of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, PHRC, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, for neglecting their host communities and youths their employment programmes. Gokpa, who hosted a meeting of the Joint Community Relations Committee, JCRC, of PHRC and representatives of Alesa and Alode communities at the council’s chambers at Ogale on Friday, said his administration would said companies’ neglect of the communities was unjust and deliberate to deny the people their legitimate opportunities in the companies. The council chairman vowed to use his offices to…

The Chairman of Bonny Local Government, Mrs. Anengi Claude-Wilcox, has said that the council would investigate the passenger boat that failed to offer assistance to victims of last Sunday’s boat mishap on the Bonny River. In a statement signed by the Secretary to the council, Mr. John Gabriel-Pepple, the chairman said she was deeply saddened by the incident and has commiserated with the victims and their families. Three people including a toddler drowned when a passenger boat travelling from Port Harcourt to Bonny on Sunday evening. The incident was reportedly caused by a storm at an area called ‘Yellow Platform”…

The Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Chief Brain Gokpa, has said he and other younger politicians in the local government have retired Senator Olaka Nwogu from the political leadership of the local government area. Chief Gokpa spoke on a day that Senator Nwogu celebrated his 60th birthday. Olaka Nwogu, a former Chairman of Tai/Eleme Local Government, was at different times a Member of the House of Representatives and a senator representing Rivers South East. The Eleme council chairman was incensed that Nwogu had failed to demonstrate leadership in the local government area despite holding influential political offices in the past.…

Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund (BYEDTF) has inaugurated a 9,000-litre capacity water project at Comprehensive Secondary School (CSS), Toru Ndoro, in Ekeremor Local Government Area and Angiama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. The projects were in collaboration with the Sustainable Partnership Initiative for Development (SPID) as part of the BYEDTF and SPID’s commitment to improving schools and communities under the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program. Dr Alice Atuwo, Executive Secretary of BYEDTF noted that the projects were the fourth intervention for public secondary schools in the state after similar initiatives at CSS Okutukutu, Yenagoa, CSS Tungbo, Sagbama…

The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has struck out an objection raised by Reynolds Construction Company Limited, the contractor handling the reconstruction of the Eleme axis of the East – West road against a suit filed by property owners along the route to stop the demolition of their property. The court on Friday had overruled the objection of RCC challenging the jurisdiction of the court to try the matter. The property owners association had secured an injunction of the court in 2024 stopping RCC from demolishing their property located along the right of way of the project without paying…

PETROAN, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association, has urged Rivers State government to take steps to check the activities of Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP), a new group trying to enter the oil and gas sector without following proper procedures. According to a statement issued by the National Public Relations Officer of PETROAN, Dr. Joseph Obele, PETROAN was worried that ADITOP was trying to use Rivers State as a testing ground for their nationwide expansion. “It’s impossible for any new group to gain recognition in the Nigerian oil and gas sector without the endorsement of…

Residents of Agum-Bukuma in the Degema Local Government Area of Rivers are lamenting the adverse effect of raging fire sparked off from oil leakage from a yet-to-be ascertained operator. The area hosts a network of pipelines operated by several oil companies who have either denied responsibility or kept quiet over the oil leakage. The fire, which ignited over two weeks ago, has destroyed farmlands, as crude oil polluted the community’s only source of drinking water. The community residents describe the situation as dire, with fears of long-term irreversible environmental and health consequences. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency…