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Norwegian ambassador to Nigeria visits Hyprep, pledges his government’s support to the restoration of Ogoni environment.

The Norwegian ambassador to Nigeria, Jens-petter Kjemprud had on Monday (February 5th) visited Hyrep, the company handling the Ogoni oil spill clean up in Portharcourt.

Mr Kjemprud was accompanied by the renowned environmental activist, Nimmo Bassey and the representative of Campaign For All, Mrs. Ifeoma Malo.

The ambassador said that the reason why they had come to Hyrep’s office is to show his government’s support to the total restoration of the Ogoni environment.

He said that the dedication of his government to the cleanup and the restoration of the environment has made some students of the country to donate funds in support of the cleanup.

Mr Kjemprud said that he was around to seek more areas of partnership between Hyrep and the Norwegian government.

In his remarks, the project coordinator for Hyrep, Mr. Marvin Dekil, thanked the ambassador and his team and pledged the company’s commitment to the total restoration of the Ogoni environment.

Mr Dekil also conducted the delegation to Nsisioken in Ogale area of Eleme where the pollution went as far as six meters deep down as was discovered during the demonstration.

Earlier on, the Ogoni caucus of the Rivers State House of Assembly visited Hyrep project coordinator’s office on a fact finding mission.

The caucus said that they were impressed with the work done so far by Hyrep. However, they demanded for an increase in pace.
They also pledged to continually support the project.

We are at the threshold of the biggest drug epidemic in modern history and we are not doing anything about it.

The truth that most people would not like to admit is perhaps the fact that Nigeria is swimming in midst of many man-made crises: the economic downturn occasioned by ruthless leadership that has led to the loss of millions of jobs; the hydra-headed insecurity across the country that has left thousands dead and many more displaced, and the upcoming general elections that will soon occupy our minds.

The worst crisis that has little to no attention paid to it with a reaching effect is the rising drug epidemic among the youths in Nigeria.

It is so high that in a decade’s time , Nigeria might have more junkies within the youth age bracket than any other country in Africa.

Presently, there are no official statistics in this regard. The government seems to be sleeping while privately owned organizations are putting themselves at the forefront, waging war against drug abuse among the teens and creating awareness.

However, these efforts have been found not to be enough. Much more is needed and we should all be concerned.

Seated inside a crusty danfo bus on a work day , I observed two boys in their early 20s exchange a plastic bottle of coca cola with each other. One sat at the front, nodding to an afro pop song that the bus stereo dished out as he discussed with the driver, who in my estimation is also below 30. The other was the conductor of the bus.

He will occasionally look back at the conductor for the exchange of dark the liquid and on and on, the exchange went.

One might think that, perhaps, they were just close friends sharing a bottle of coca cola for the tingling taste associated with the beverage.

However, on the average, there is about 200 milligrams of tramadol popularly referred to as TM dissolved into a bottle of beverage like that with the contents concealed in the coke’s dark colour.

Such a scene as described above happens everyday and everywhere. Our higher institutions have become breeding grounds for these drug abuses.

We are on the threshold to the worst drug epidemic in modern history and we are not doing anything about it.

Codeine, Rephnol and Tramadol have become the new oil in present day Nigeria, according to a pharmacist who has made millions selling these products to teen addicts.

Pharmaceutical store owners have capitalized on the ever increasing demand for these controlled substances by teens and adults in their 20s to make a fortune in a business that is estimated to be raking in about 50 million dollars per year .

In a bid to make fortune, they discard the fact that these drugs are not sold without prescription.

As one Pharmaceutical store owner boasted in the midst of his friends at the GRA area of Portharcourt in January:
“We are in the era of new oil and they are not dug from the ground. They are in tablet forms”

There is an increase in school drop out among university students, especially the boys. The nation is grooming a generation that feels that education is a waste.
This, coupled with easy access to controlled drugs portends doom for a country like Nigeria.

Although government agencies have responded by confiscating these controlled drugs from retailers not licensed to sell them, it has made little efforts at monitoring those licensed to sell them and in effect, made smuggling of these drugs a lucrative business with the introduction of middlemen who supply them to those retail outlets leading to a price hike.

The ever changing price has necessitated a spike in criminal activities among the youths with these young ones willing to do everything possible to fund their addiction to these drugs.

Tramadol is believed to enhance sexual activities among other perceived inducements on the body according to a teen who constantly makes use of it.

The after effect of this constant drug abuse is not just psychological but it has given rise to teen pregnancy and increased cases of HIV /AIDS as these teens engage in the now popular NSA Sex (No Strings Attached).

The government can dust itself up and take a holistic approach to ending this growing menace.

There is an urgent need for job creation and reassurance given to these teens on the need to take their education seriously.

The streets, schools and religious institutions should be flooded with awareness about this menace.

The government should begin a crackdown on the merchants of these drugs.

Let us rescue our youths.

Group raise cervical cancer awareness in Portharcourt.

The medical women’s association of Nigeria (MWAN) staged a walk against cervical cancer in Portharcourt on Sunday.

The campaign which is aimed at sensitizing the public on the dangers of the dreaded disease took place on major streets of Portharcourt.

Cervical cancer which affects women, begins slowly and takes many years before causing hardship and at some point, death.

The disease begins on the cervix, which is the opening of the womb. Cells on the cervix begin to grow abnormality and sometimes, if they are not treated, they become cancer.

The group, in their address, urged women to undergo regular screening tests as it helps in the early detection and management of the disease.

Local government elections to hold in May – Wike

Rivers State government has set a timetable to guide the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, in the conduct of local government elections.

Governor Nyesom Wike had during the weekend , sworn in six new members of Rivers State Electoral Commission (RSIEC) in Port Harcourt.

While charging the body on credibility and commitment, Wike challenged the new members to, “Show Nigerians that you can conduct credible elections into council offices.”

He said that if the commission issues notice for elections in February, elections could hold first week of May, setting the stage for elected councils’ inauguration by May 25, 2018.

The amended RSIEC law, he noted, stipulates 90 days notice before the conduct of elections, recommending that RSIEC should commence the process for the conduct of councill elections as soon as possible.

“Yes, we are in court, whatever the outcome will be, by May 25, 2018, the issues would have been resolved. The tenure would have lapsed by May 25, 2018,” he said.

He assured of release of funds for the conduct of council polls as appropriated by the state House of Assembly, vowing never to interfere in the workings of RSIEC.

Meanwhile, the All Progressive Congress (APC) had in their reaction, advised Governor Nyesom Wike not to waste Rivers state resources conducting the local government elections as the matter is still being decided in the court.

The party chided the Governor in what it termed “lack of obedience to the rule of law” saying that Rivers state is not a garrisoned state and urged him to take a clue from president Mohammedu Buhari on how to manage a state.

Rivers United desperate for away point after derby win – Eguma

Rivers United on Sunday, defeated Go Round FC 1:0 at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium Portharcourt , in the first historic Rivers Derby in the NPFL match day 7 fixtures.

An Oche Salefu 82nd minute penalty was the difference after Go Round’s Awala fouled Akinbinu in the box.

In his reaction after the game, Coach Eguma commended the efforts of his players for getting the three points.

On his side’s next away game against Yobe Stars and on getting away points since the start of the season , Eguma said that his side is desperate:

“We would go there with the hope of wiining the game, you know we’ve travelled three times and have not gotten points, so we’re very desperate.

“We are going there for the three points or at worse a point, but we must surely go for three points because at this point in time if we don’t get points now, it’s going to be difficult for us and so we have to start getting points.

“The players are aware of this and we’ll work as a team and see that we get the needed result from Yobe”

Rivers United sit 10th on the NPFL log after match day 7 and will travel to Yobe to take on Yobe Stars at the Damaturu Stadium on Sunday 11th February, 2018 in a match day 8 tie.

CHAN 2018 : Morocco demolish Nigeria to win title.

Result: Morocco put four past Nigeria to win African Nations Championship title

Morocco have become the first host nation to lift the African Nations Championship title thanks to a 4-0 win over Nigeria in Sunday’s final at Casablanca’s Stade Mohamed V.

Goals from Walid El Karti, Ayoub El Kaabiand a Zakaria Hadraf brace saw the Atlas Lions coast to victory over the Super Eagles, who had Otekpa Eneji sent off early in the second half.

The hosts began brightly and thought that they had taken the lead on 10 minutes when El Kaabi headed the ball into the back of the net from Ismail Haddad‘s corner.

However, the goal was ruled out off as the ball had curled out of play before reaching the forward.

Morocco continued to dominate and were rewarded for their perseverance with the opening goal on the stroke of half time.

Abdeljalil Jbira received the ball on the overlap from Badr Banoun before squating for Hadraf to fire home from 10 yards out.

Nigeria then suffered another blow on 48 minutes as Eneji was sent off for a second bookable offence after a foul on Mohamed Nahiri.

From then on it was all one-way traffic as El Karti headed home Jbira’s cross on 61 minutes before Hadraf scored his second of the match three minutes later.

The rout was completed on 73 minutes through El Kaabi, who grabbed his ninth goal of the campaign from close range to seal victory and his place as the CHAN tournament’s top scorer.

IBB to Buhari – Don’t contest again.

Former President Ibrahim Babangida has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to step down in 2019 to allow a generational shift that should reinvent the wheel of leadership and spur healing in the land.

Babangida in a special statement issued on Sunday also lamented the failure of the All Progressives Congress, APC to advance its change mantra in several areas of the polity saying that the party failed to push ahead with the programme to restructure the country as canvassed to Nigerians.
Babangida in the statement issued on his behalf by his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua particularly lamented the flow of blood in the country saying that it was a thing of irony that the country that himself and other Nigerians fought to keep together is daily being drawn to the seems by the flow of blood across the land.

Babangida also lamented the herdsmen/farmers clashes as he called for the adoption of ranching as a way of stemming the crisis just as he lamented the recycling of analogue leadership as he called for a more youthful and digital leadership to push the country in the comity of nations.

Babangida who governed Nigeria as military head of state between 1985 and 1993 while lamenting the recycling of analogue leadership said:

“In the past few months and weeks, I have played host to many concerned Nigerians who have continued to express legitimate and patriotic worry about the state of affairs in the country. Some of them have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly worried why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a country with so much potential and opportunity for all. Some, out of frustration, have elected to interrogate the leadership question and wondered aloud why it has taken this long from independence till date to discover the right model on account of our peculiarities. At 57, we are still a nation in search of the right leadership to contend with the dynamics of a 21st century Nigeria.

Having been privileged to preside over this great country, interacted with all categories of persons, dissected all shades of opinions, understudied different ethnic groupings; I can rightfully conclude that our strength lies in our diversity. But exploring and exploiting that diversity as a huge potential has remained a hard nut to crack, not because we have not made efforts, but building a consensus on any national issue often has to go through the incinerator of those diverse ethnic configurations. Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to the borders of the political elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter how young or old, has an opinion on any national issue. And it is the function of discerning leadership to understand these elemental undercurrents in the discharge of state responsibilities.

WHERE WE ARE.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is at a major crossroads at this moment in its history; the choices we are going to make as a nation regarding the leadership question of this country and the vision for our political, economic and religious future will be largely determined by the nature or kind of change that we pursue, the kind of change that we need and the kind of change that we get. A lot depends on our roles both as followers and leaders in our political undertakings. As we proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve the leadership question, we must bear in mind a formula that could engender national development and the undiluted commitment of our leaders to a resurgence of the moral and ethical foundations that brought us to where we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic society.

Nigeria, before now, has been on the one hand our dear native land, where tribes and tongues may differ but in brotherhood we stand, and on the other hand a nation that continues to struggle with itself and in every way stumbling and willful in its quest to become a modern state, starting from the first republic till date. With our huge investments in the African emancipation movements and the various contributions that were made by our leadership to extricate South Africa from colonial grip, Nigeria became the giant of Africa during that period. But having gone through leadership failures, we no longer possess the sobriety to claim that status. And we all are guilty.

We have experimented with Parliamentary and Presidential systems of government amid military interregnum at various times of our national history. We have made some progress, but not good enough to situate us on the pedestal we so desirously crave for. It is little wonder therefore that we need to deliberately provoke systems and models that will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace new generational leadership evolution with the essential attributes of responsive, responsible and proactive leadership configuration to confront the several challenges that we presently face.

In 2019 and beyond, we should come to a national consensus that we need new breed leadership with requisite capacity to manage our diversities and jump-start a process of launching the country on the super highway of technology-driven leadership in line with the dynamics of modern governance. It is short of saying enough of this analogue system. Let’s give way for digital leadership orientation with all the trappings of consultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and utility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the process of enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.

I am particularly enamored that Nigerians are becoming more and more conscious of their rights; and their ability to speak truth to power and interrogate those elected to represent them without fear of arrest and harassment. These are part of the ennobling principles of representative democracy. As citizens in a democracy, it is our civic responsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected leaders owe us that simple but remarkable accountability creed. Whenever we criticize them, it is not that we do not like their guts; it is just that as stakeholders in the political economy of the country, we also carry certain responsibilities.

In the past few months also, I have taken time to reflect on a number of issues plaguing the country. I get frightened by their dimensions. I get worried by their colourations. I get perplexed by their gory themes. From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from Benue state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of blood with cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently, North-West of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable reason. The pogrom in Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is the same country some of us fought to keep together. I am alarmed by the amount of blood-letting across the land. Nigeria is now being described as a land where blood flows like river, where tears have refused to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both mourning and grieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of crimes. The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though there has been commendable effort by government to maximally downgrade them. I will professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner fortress of Sambisa Forest rather than responding to the insurgents’ ambushes from time to time.

THINKING ALOUD.

In the fullness of our present realities, we need to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari to complete his term of office on May 29th, 2019 and collectively prepare the way for new generation leaders to assume the mantle of leadership of the country. While offering this advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former president, concerned Nigerian and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in our shared commitment to get this country running. While saying this also, I do not intend to deny President Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted for, but there comes a time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition should not override national interest. This is the time for us to reinvent the will and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate their entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to grow national economy both at the micro and macro levels.

Contemporary leadership has to be proactive and not reactive. It must factor in citizens’ participation. Its language of discourse must be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must give room for confidence building. It must build consensus and form aggregate opinion on any issue to reflect the wishes of the people across the country. It must gauge the mood of the country at every point in time in order to send the right message. It must share in their aspirations and give them cause to have confidence in the system. Modern leadership is not just about “fighting” corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and building systems that will militate against corruption. Accountability in leadership should flow from copious examples. It goes beyond mere sloganeering. My support for a new breed leadership derives from the understanding that it will show a marked departure from recycled leadership to creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air into our present polluted leadership actuality.

My intervention in the governance process of Nigeria wasn’t an accident of history. Even as a military government, we had a clear-cut policy agenda on what we needed to achieve. We recruited some of the best brains and introduced policies that remain some of the best in our effort to re-engineer our polity and nation. We saw the future of Nigeria but lack of continuity in government and of policies killed some of our intentions and initiatives. Even though we did not provide answers to all the developmental challenges that confronted us as at that time, we were not short of taking decisions whenever the need arose.

GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR HANDS.

The unchecked activities of the herdsmen have continued to raise doubt on the capacity of this government to handle with dispatch, security concerns that continue to threaten our dear nation; suicide bombings, kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other divisive tendencies. We need to bring different actors to the roundtable. Government must generate platform to interact and dialogue on the issues with a view to finding permanent solutions to the crises. The festering nature of this crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions and polarizations that exist across the country. For example, this is not the first time herdsmen engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in the land is suggestive of the absence of mutual love and togetherness that once defined our nationality. We must collectively rise up to the occasion and do something urgently to arrest this drift. If left unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence as one nation bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another internecine warfare that would not be good for nation-building.

We have to reorient the minds of the herdsmen or gun-men to embrace ranching as a new and modern way to herd cattle. We also need to expand the capacity of the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Army, the Navy and Air Force to provide the necessary security for all. We need to catch up with modern sophistication in crime detection and crime fighting. Due to the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community policing to close the gaps that presently exist in our policing system. We cannot continue to use old methods and expect new results. We just have to constructively engage the people from time to time through platforms that would help them ventilate their opinions and viewpoints.

THE CHANGE MANTRA

When the ruling party campaigned with the change mantra, I had thought they would device new methods, provoke new initiatives and proffer new ways to addressing some of our developmental problems. By now, in line with her manifesto, one would have thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of devolution of powers and tinker with processes that would strengthen and reform the various sectors of the economy. Like I did state in my previous statement late last year, devolution of power or restructuring is an idea whose time has come if we must be honest with ourselves. We need to critically address the issue and take informed positions based on the expectations of the people on how to make the union work better. Political parties should not exploit this as a decoy to woo voters because election time is here. We need to begin the process of restructuring both in the letter and spirit of it.

For example, I still cannot reconcile why my state government would not be allowed to fix the Minna-Suleja road, simply because it is called Federal Government road, or why state governments cannot run their own policing system to support the Federal Police. We are still experiencing huge infrastructural deficit across the country and one had thought the APC-led Federal Government would behave differently from their counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to ask; where is the promised change?

LOOKING AHEAD

At this point of our national history, we must take some rather useful decisions that would lead to real development and promote peaceful co-existence among all the nationalities. We must be unanimous in what we desire for our country; new generation leadership, result-driven leadership, sound political foundation, demonetization of our politics, enhanced internal democracy, elimination of impunity in our politics, inclusiveness in decision-making, and promotion of citizens’ participation in our democratic process. The search for that new breed leadership must start now as we prepare for 2019 election.

I get worried when politicians visit to inform me about their aspirations and what you hear in terms of budgetary allocations for electoral contest does not cover voters’ education but very ridiculous sub-heads. A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up budget to cover INEC, Police, Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense, instead of talking of voters’ education, mobilization and sensitization. Even where benchmarks are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and compliance are always difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform the political system. And we must deliberately get fresh hands involved for improved participation.

We need new ways and new approaches in our political order. We need a national rebirth. We need a rebranded Nigeria and rebranded politics. It is not so much for the people, but for the institutions that are put in place to promote our political engagements. We must strengthen the one man one vote mantra. It is often ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries in our West Africa sub-region as handy references of how democracy should be. It beggars our giant of Africa status.

The next election in 2019 therefore presents us a unique opportunity to reinvent the will and provoke fresh leadership that would immediately begin the process of healing the wounds in the land and ensuring that the wishes and aspirations of the people are realized in building and sustaining national cohesion and consensus. I pray the Almighty Allah grant us the gift of good life to witness that glorious dawn in 2019. Amen. I have not written an open letter to the President, I have just shared my thoughts with fellow compatriots on the need to enthrone younger blood into the mainstream of our political leadership starting from 2019.

Court jails football agent.

A Daura Chief Magistrates’ Court in Kaduna on Wednesday, sentenced a 40-year-old football agent Olumide Otule, to one year imprisonment for absconding with a player’s N900,000.

Magistrate Zainab Mohammed in her ruling, gave the convict an option to pay N50,000 fine.

Mohammed also ordered Otule pay back the N900, 000, being the amount owed the complainant.

Otule, a resident of No 7 Kofar Gamji Complex in Kaduna, was first arraigned on May 1, 2016 on a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and cheating.

The Prosecutor, Sunday Baba, told the court that Adebayo Owolabi of No DD5 Kabba Road in Kaduna wrote a letter of complaint to the Commissioner of Police in Kaduna State on April 18, 2016.

According to Baba, sometime in 2015, the accused approached the complainant on the pretext of securing a football club for him in the Republic of Philippines as a player.

The prosecutor said the accused deceitfully collected the sum of N900, 000 from the complainant and told him to travel to Philippines where another agent will pick him up at the airport.

“On reaching the Philippines airport, the complainant was left stranded without anybody to pick him at the airport neither was any club arranged for him.

He said that the offences contravened Sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.

The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

(NAN)

Expect more from me.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang needed just six minutes to make his mark in an Arsenal shirt – and 37 minutes to get off the mark.

Auba’s first meaningful contribution on his debut was a perfect pass to Henrikh Mkhitaryan that allowed his fellow new signing to set up the opening goal for Aaron Ramsey.

Auba himself benefited from Mkhitaryan’s vision to score his first goal for us with a delicious dink over Jordan Pickford to make it 4-0.

“Of course I was really happy,” Auba said after the game. “We won the game in the first half and the second was a bit different. We are all happy today.

“Is there more to come from me? I think so!”

Portharcourt : The colourful Kegite social club’s gyration night.

Kegite social club of Nigeria, University of Portharcourt branch (Ilya Uniport) hosted their 2018 edition of gyration night at the Osmosis center in Portharcourt on Saturday .

The well attended event began with a prayer by the AB Chiefo blessing the occasion and the members of the club before they hit the dance floor, dancing to different rendition of gyration songs.

TPCN’s campus gist was there to cover the event that was glamorous in its own way.

We brought you pictures and videos of the event and if you are karid, gyrate on.

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