Author: Emmanuel Obe

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, has raised an alarm that about one million people might lose their jobs by the end of November if government failed to intervene urgently to save those jobs. PETROAN said the inflationary trend in the downstream petroleum sector was forcing retail outlets to close shop as they no longer could afford the spiraling prices of petrol. According to the National Publicity Secretary of the association, Dr. Joseph Obele, policy inconsistency, instability and financial turbulence in the sector have compounded the challenges of retail outlets and have made it difficult for…

Bayelsa State Government has received the sum of N3 billion from the Federal Government as its share of the flood preventing fund for flood prone states. The Technical Adviser on Treasury and Accounts to Bayelsa Governor, Mr Timipre Seipolou, disclosed this while giving a breakdown of revenue profile of the state for August and September 2024. Bayelsa was among the 21 states at risk of flooding by the National Emergency Management Agency’s 2024 Flood Alert. The highlights of the revenue figures show that while Bayelsa’s oil derivation revenue for the month was N 8.69 billion, the state got N22.99 billion…

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said that the commission will leverage evolving technology to improve agricultural productivity in Niger Delta states. Ogbuku, who was speaking at the opening session of the NDDC Food Security Innovation and Investment Summit in New York, United States, said the Commission was committed to creating an enabling environment for investors by streamlining processes and providing incentives for those who wish to invest in the agricultural sector. Ogbuku, who was represented by the NDDC Executive Director, Projects, Sir Victor Antai, explained that in seeking innovative solutions to address…

Bayelsa State Government has assured that public power supply would be restored to Bayelsa State by the end of November following assurances it received to restore the vandalized power transmission towers that supplied power to the state. The Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, said after an inspection of work at Okogbe in Rivers State by the contractors, said government was impressed by the progress being made on the project. The whole of Bayelsa State was thrown into darkness on July 29 following the vandalism on several 132 KVA twin circuit transmission towers that feed the state.…

Rivers State Government has set up a committee charged with the responsibility of rehabilitating and redeveloping the Old Port Harcourt Township. The project, according to a press release from the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, would also include redeveloping the waterfronts and other adjoining lands to the old Port Harcourt Township. The Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, who inaugurated the Committee on behalf of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, said the work of the committee is to restore the beauty, infrastructural and town plan of the old Port Harcourt City alongside adjourning lands and waterways. Danagogo…

The Chairman of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, has applauded the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which on Friday affirmed his appointment. In the judgment delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, the court dismissed a suit filed by oil-producing communities in Bayelsa and Delta against President Bola Tinubu over Ebie’s appointment on the grounds that Ebie’s was not from an oil producing community. Justice Abdulmalik ruled that the prayers sought by the plaintiffs had become a mere academic exercise since it had become statute-barred, stating that the plaintiffs failed to institute…

…new NIA chairman calls for stricter supervision of building projects Barely two weeks after a multi-storey building collapsed at Iriebe in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, another two-storey building under construction at Ogbogoro, also in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area has collapsed killing the carpenter working on the roof of the building. The collapse came as Arc. Tosan Omatsone, the new Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, NIA, called for greater collaboration between government agencies and professionals in the building industry for safer buildings and supervision of building projects. Eyewitnesses told National Point that the building collapsed at…

…calls for involvement of professional architects, builders in building projects The Rivers State branch of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) has expressed concern over the increasing spate of building collapse in Port Harcourt, the state capital and its environs. Reacting to the recent collapse of a three-storey building under construction at Iriebe in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, the Chairman of NIA in Rivers State, Arc. Toku Fiberesima, attributed the building collapses to the failure of government agencies in the building sector to engage the services of qualified professionals in the sector. While expressing sympathy with the…

…sets up committee to reconcile Wike, Fubara, others Former Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr. Godknows Igali from Bayelsa State has emerged the new National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).Igali and other members of the national executive committee of the apex Niger Delta socio-cultural organisation were nominated and inaugurated on Thursday at the Special General Assembly of the organisation in Port Harcourt.The forum also set up a committee headed by former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Victor Attah to reconcile political conflicts in the Niger Delta.The new national leadership of PANDEF took over from the one led by Senator…

Despite the controversies that greeted the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, a new governor will be inaugurated on November 12 to replace the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki, whose second and final tenure comes to an end with the swearing-in of the new governor. A fresh political and administrative dispensation will then begin with Monday Okpebholo, 53, as the governor. Okpebholo, a serving Nigerian senator and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was declared winner by the state Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Adamu Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Minna. Okpebholo defeated Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of…