UN Charter and Delta state Born Physically Challenged ‘Keke’ Operator In Lagos Acting on a recent emotional words and compassionate description by a professional colleague of one resourceful 32 years old Mr. Gift Captain Tonmene, a Delta state-born but Lagos-based physically challenged tricycle (Keke) operator in Mile 12 area of the state, I took a trip in the evening of Monday, July 2023 to Mile 12 Motor Park, Lagos, to ascertain my friend’s narrative. “My face-to-face encounter with the man in question not only satisfied my journalistic instinct for social justice and fed my curiosity for unearthing societal ills, but…
Author: JEROME-MARIO UTOMI
The July 7, 2023, reported arrest of a vessel, MT Tura II (IMO number: 6620462), along Escravos River in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State. by Tompolos Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd, with about 150,000 metric tonnes of stolen crude oil valued at about $86.8million, has increasingly confirmed as true the words of Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, on August 2022, that the Federal Government made “the right decision contracting Tantita Security Ltd., a private security contractor to handle the multi-billion naira Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s oil pipeline surveillance contract. The above feeling evidently…
It is a pedestrian information that the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (NHRC), on tuesday July 11, 2023, as part of programmes lined up to mark the 20th anniversary of the Maputo Protocol, an essential instrument for the advancement of women’s rights on the African continent, expressed its commitment to upholding the principles enshrined in the Protocol, which recognizes gender equality and the empowerment of women in Africa for sustainable development. Also known as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Maputo Protocol was adopted in Maputo, Mozambique…
One of the most exciting teachings I received during my formative years was the lessons on prophecy. It was during my catechism class as a Catholic Christian, and prophecy as a topic posed a huge but thrilling challenge to me. On that day, at that time and in that place, the Catechist (teacher) told the class that ‘prophecy is the certain foretelling of a future event by a person supernaturally informed of it and supernaturally moved to announce it. This, he added, comes in two ways; prophesy of foreknowledge and prophesy of denunciation’. While the prophecy of foreknowledge, according to…
There exists no ambiguity to the fact that Nigeria is a Federal state with three tiers of government, which consists of the Federal Government at the centre, 36 federating states and 774 Local Government Areas. What is however newsy is that like its global counterparts, the Federal system currently practiced in Nigeria is characterized by high level of debates, controversies arising from structural imperfections and riddled with calls on the Federal Government to identify in the nation the imperfections and have them amended according to the changing time o its political sovereignty . In December, 2020, for instance, Asiwaju Bola…
For those unfamiliar with the acronym, ‘DESOPADEC’, it is simply a contraction of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission. The interventionist agency was created by the enabling Act in Delta state, to secure 50% of the 13% Oil Derivation Fund accruing to Delta State government and the received sum used for rehabilitation and development of oil-producing areas of the state as well as carry out other development projects as may be determined from time to time. From the above, it becomes evident that the Commission was designed to play a key role in attracting development, build infrastructure and…
There are clear thinkers, muddled thinkers and people that fall in between. Clear thinkers -are the ones that can cull everything down into the right points-are very hard to find. But if you get yourself a team of clear thinkers, the possibilities are endless. These are men who see tomorrow, trailblazers and high level executives, but most often misunderstood by some fellow countrymen still stuck in the old normal of yesterday. Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, in my view, falls into the bracket of a clear thinker as outlined by Justin Merkins above. This assertion is gleaned in the…
It is pedestrian information that while Nigerians were waiting for the commencement of governance, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the day of inauguration, precisely on Monday May 29, 2023, announced the removal of fuel subsidy without putting palliatives in place to assist ameliorate the harsh impact of such policy reversal. Also newsy is that before the dust raised by such a decision could settle, another was up, as the Federal Government again implemented a coordinated but thoughtless hike in fees paid by students of most of the tertiary institutions of higher learning in the country. What is however different is…
……Assures Nigerians That He Will Deliver in His New Position The Alumni Association of United States of America based Institute For Community And Adolescents Resiliency-Unifying Solutions (ICAR-US), the training arm of the Agora College USA has congratulated the former Governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio on his electoral victory as the Senator representing Ikot-Ekpene Senatorial District and his recent emergence as the Senate President of the nation’s 10th National Assembly, describing him as the best man for the job who will ensure a rancor-free relationship between the lawmakers and the Executive arm of government. This was contained in a…
Even though its has been noted long ago by the sage that no individual, society, state or nation becomes great by living on borrowed funds, a critical look by this piece at the recent approval of a credit facility amounting to N40 billion by the Delta State House of Assembly for the Delta state Governor, Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, for the purpose of assisting the 25 local government councils settle their accumulated pensions owed to retired primary school teachers and local government employees in the state, reveals that the state government’s action was laced with ingrained merit(s). Also in agreement with…
Even when it is obvious that as humans, it is always convenient to forget and uncomfortable to remember, one invaluable asset the out gone 9th National Assembly left behind that will be too difficult to forget by Nigerians particularly, the people of the Niger Delta region, South South geopolitical zone of the country is the 2021 passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, after over 17years of back and forth movement, and its subsequent signing to law by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Aside being the most audacious attempts to overhaul the petroleum sector in Nigeria, stakeholders believed that If properly and…
A Delta state born renowned human, environmental and development rights advocate, Comrade Mulade Sheriff has dragged the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, former Governor, Dr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) and the Attorney-General of Delta State to High Court, Warri. The claimant who is an indigene and former chairman of oil rich Kokodiagbene Community in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State said that he is dragging the two former Governors, DESOPADEC board and the Attorney General of the State to court for…
A cursory look at the Oil and Gas host communities in Delta state reveals an area tensed up with a lot of issues, intrigues and hiccups. Their anger in the present moment, going by media reports, is precipitated by the alleged opaque manner the former governor of the state, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, managed the 13% Oil Derivation Fund that accrued to the state. Correspondingly, It will not be characterized as hasty to conclude that there is presently in Delta state no agency or commission that is troubled as the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission(DESOPADEC), an agency created by…
If there is any reason as to why Elder Sheriff Oborevwori led Delta state Government must pay disciplined attention attention to funding education in the state, it is the recent news report that the senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District of Delta State, Chief Ede Dafinone, recently, paid an unscheduled visit to Sapele Technical College, the second oldest technical college in Nigeria, where he bemoaned the present state of dilapidation of the institution. The development apart from vindicating well meaning deltans that persistently advocate for proper funding of education in line with UNESCO budgetary requirement, also painful is the lawmaker’s…
Objectively speaking, the purpose of this piece is not to merely identify the physical location of the Lagos State Water Corporation. This author, like the generality of Lagosians, is aware that its headquarters are in Water House, Ijora, Lagos, while the corporation’s supervisory ministry, the Lagos state Ministry of Water Resources, is located within the state secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, the state capital. Beyond this highlights, what essentially necessitated the question ‘’ Where Is Lagos State Water Corporation?’’ stemmed from the awareness that the Lagos State Water Corporation, a public institution established to provide Lagosians with safe drinking water in sufficient…
Delta State, Youth Unemployment and Agbero Phenomenon Few days ago, I posted a piece ‘’Multiple Taxation and Oborevwori’s Paradigm Shift in Delta State’’. The referenced intervention described as understandable and appreciated the Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, recent declaration when the State Chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria ALGON, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Asaba, that his administration would collaborate with local government councils to pay the backlog of pensions owed retired primary school teachers and local government retirees. The said piece also categorized as both timely and essential the Governor’s cautioning of…
It is a pedestrian information that in his effort to cushion the effects of the rising cost of living in the country triggered by the recent removal of subsidy on petroleum products in the country, the Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki , raised the minimum wage for workers on its payroll from N30, 000 to N40, 000. Also heartening is the awareness that the workers have been permitted work from home twice a week and show up in the office three days per week, measures which the governor noted were taken as the state’s immediate response to the stoppage of…
Going by available information at public domain, Delta State Governor, Rt Hon (Elder) Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, will on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at the Delta State House of Assembly Complex, proclaim and inaugurate the 29 Member-elect of the Delta State House of Assembly. It is equally a statement of fact that immediately after the inauguration; members shall meet head-on, and perform their first in-house responsibility, of electing the Speaker of the House and other Principal Officers to direct the day-to-day administration of the chamber for the next four years. Also working in favour of the proposed Assembly’s election is the well rooted zoning…
if there is any concrete evidence in Nigeria’s recent political history that supports the aphorism ‘simplicity is always more appealing than complexity, and faith always more comforting than doubt’, it is the rousing welcome- back- home party put together by Ika nation of Delta state, for their illustrious son, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, the immediate past Executive Governor of Delta, on Saturday June 3, 2023, at Agbor, Delta state. Essentially, for keen political watchers, there is a reason that qualifies Okowa’s ‘triumphant welcome’ as both deserving and understandable. Aside from his possession of people-focused leadership scorecard, particularly in the areas…
Orji Uzor Kalu, the chief whip of the Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, called on President Bola Tinubu to scrap the ministry of Niger Delta affairs, because it is tantamount to a duplication of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). As expected, the comment has elicited reactions from Niger Deltans, stakeholders and the general public. But each of these reactions/comments shows a ‘profound shock’ to our nation’s conscience and brought to the fore the bizarre and troubling manifestation of how seriously off track Niger Delta Ministry right from creation has taken the region via politicization…
Every May 27, the global community celebrates one of its ‘annual rituals’ tagged ‘’the Children Day’, aimed at promoting mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to promote the ideals of the UN Charter and the welfare of the world’s children. Historically, the event has been celebrated since 1950; it is celebrated on June 1 in most Communist and post-Communist countries. World Children’s Day is celebrated on the 20th November to commemorate the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1959. In some countries, it is Children’s Week…
On Monday May 22, 2023, policymakers and captains of industries from across the world converged at the Lekki axis of Lagos state for the commissioning of the world’s Largest Single-Train 650,000 barrels-per-day petroleum refinery, built by Dangote Group. Going by commentaries, the refinery when become fully operational will give a boost to efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil and save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products. Again, aside from the expert reports that the refinery can meet 100 per cent of the country’s requirement of all…
9th NASS Scorecard of Diminishing Liberty : To every society where the media is free, the marketplace of ideas is allowed to sort the unaccountable from the responsible and reward the latter. Likewise, the Ahmed Lawan led 9th Nigeria National Assembly four years reign which is coming to a close few days from now has come under intense public scrutiny. Briefly, Nigerians are particularly not happy that the 9th NASS have in the past four years demonstrated no curiosity to finding any new legislation that might produce a deeper understanding of the problems and policies that the Federal Government is supposed to wrestle…
It is now a secondary information that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Tuesday presented a N71 billion 2023 supplementary budget to the State House of Assembly for approval via a letter read during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Christopher Ochor in Asaba. For a better understanding of the piece, the budget is made up of N5.6 billion recurrent expenditure and N65.5 billion capital expenditure. While noting that the supplementary budget has become necessary for appropriation to pay for some critical projects and activities of the government as well as fund ongoing projects across…
With a few days to the May 29 inauguration of the new administration in the country, it is glaringly evident that President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government of Nigeria has successfully completed its constitutional two terms of eight years. Though there exists no codified, metered or iron cast way of assessing the administration’s performance, it is, however, assumed that an administration that spanned 8years must have milestone(s) of achievement to point at. Indeed, while there are flicker and recognizable flashes of achievements in some sectors of the nation, interim particulars in my view suggest that infrastructural provision is the administration’s…
If there is any perfect example in recent times that demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that Nigeria is a nation reputed for doing one thing repeatedly and expects a different result, it is the present intrigues surrounding the nomination or better still, selection of principal officers for the incoming 10th National Assembly. For a better understanding of where the piece is headed, the National Assembly is one of the three arms that made up Nigeria’s presidential system of government. It is statutorily referred to as the Legislative arm. It is independent from the other arms (Executive and Judiciary) and headed by…
With the 2023 general elections over and the intrigues that surrounded the electioneering rested, the incoming Federal Government, when inaugurated on May 29, 2023, shall, in the enlightened national interest, be faced with the task of delivering Nigeria and Nigerians from the snare of dangerous political and socio-economic delusions. More specifically, the outcome of the Saturday February 25 Presidential election organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has made , Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-Elect. But even as you (Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu) celebrates, it is equally an open secret that in the present circumstance, you are both…
It is a pedestrian knowledge that the Delta State University, Abraka, Delta state, on Saturday April 29, 3023, held her 15th Convocation that produced 58 first class graduands with Obuseh Emmanuel Ewere of Electrical/Electronic Engineering emerging the Overall Best Graduating Student with a C.G.P.A of 4.91 on her grand finale of the 15th Convocation Ceremony. What is ,however, newsy is that the week-long event which was held with varying activities has more than anything else revealed two separate but similar developments within the institution. First, the convocation ceremony provided guests made up of parents, media professionals, development professionals and critical stakeholders, the opportunity…
Though it’s been long known via research that when traumatic events –those involving anxiety and pains occur or are told to those who feel linked by identity to the victims- whether the shared identity is ethnic, religious, historical, cultural, linguistic or nationalistic, it can never produce emotional and physical responses similar to those experienced by the victims. The above fact notwithstanding, Nigerians a few days ago received with rude shock, disbelief and excruciating pain, the news about the demise of Mr. Peter Enahoro, eminent satirist, celebrated author, and journalist-extraordinaire. To many, the pains that emanated from that news were to…
It is a time-honored belief that for an average Nigerian leader, once a direction is chosen, instead of examining process meticulously and set the right course; one that will allow us to overcome storm and reach safety before we can progress and achieve our goals, many obstinately persist with the execution of such plans regardless of a minor or major shift in circumstance. While the above scenario partially explains why Nigeria as a nation still has its head stuck in the mud of underdevelopment, there are, however, hopeful signs that not all public office holders or government agencies in the…
