Residents groan as refuse takes over Yenago

 

Residents of Bayelsa State, particularly those living in Yenagoa, the state capital, are groaning as refuse has taken over the metropolis.

Investigation by Saturday PUNCH show that many designated refuse dumps along some roads in Yenagoa are filled with waste.

It was observed that the affected roads had been narrowed by refuse, preventing vehicular movement.

Some of the roads are Yenizue-Gene, Biogbolo-Epie, Ekeki, Amarata, Onopa, Opolo-Epie, Okaka, Okutukutu and Etegwe.

A resident, Fyneface Preye, lamented the development, blaming the Bayelsa Environmental Sanitation Authority for not removing the refuse.

Preye pointed out that the odour oozing from the refuse dumps could have serious health implications for the residents.

Government can’t fund public schools adequately –Commissioner

The Commissioner for Education in Ogun State, Dr. Segun Odubela, says the quality of education is higher in private schools than in public schools because of inadequate funding of the latter by the government.

Odubela said this at an international schools and colleges exhibition organised by Edumark Consult in Lagos on Thursday.

 “Government may not be able to finance education and bring it up to the same standard with the private schools because there are so many sectors that are also struggling for attention from the very limited resources available,” he said.

The organiser of the programme, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, said the programme was to assist parents, schools and children to access information that will help them.

“We invited schools that are actively and consistently developing their human resources and we made sure we invited the schools that were doing the right thing,” she said.

Rivers: Mbu accused of releasing suspected thugs

Former Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu

The immediate past Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Joseph Mbu, has been accused of releasing six armed thugs suspected to be working for two lawmakers in the state on the orders of the President’s wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

The suspected hoodlums were arrested on their way to Ogu in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area of the state on January 3, 2014, with seven AK47 rifles, 164 rounds of 7.62mm, special live ammunition, 10 live magazines and six locally made cannon launchers.

The Joint Military Task Force had confirmed the arrest of the suspected political thugs, but insisted that the suspects had no link with any politician.

The hoodlums identified as Sunday Elisha, Uche Jenikachi, Ibinabo Lawson, Okechukwu Okoro, Jerry Tonye and Daniel Ibito-Anga, were riding in a Range Rover SUV with registration number JJ441BZ when they were apprehended.

Ibito-Anga was said to have been parading himself before his arrest as the security adviser and personal assistant to the lawmaker representing Rivers- East Senatorial District, Senator George Sekibo, and a member representing Ogu/Bolo State Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Mr. Evans Bipi.

‘Impersonator to exonerate aspirant from Ige’s murder’

Bola Ige

The family of the late Attorney-General  and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, has alleged that a governorship aspirant in the state is planning to bring an impersonator to the public to exonerate him from the murder of the politician, who was assassinated on December 23, 2001.

The family said this in a statement obtained by our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday.

The statement was signed by a daughter of the deceased, Mrs. Funso Akingbola, and Mr. Akin Ige.

Although the family did not mention the name of the aspirant, they urged security agencies to watch out for the  person, saying none of the members of the Ige family would exonerate the suspected killer of their patriarch.

The family also urged members of the public to disregard any impersonator, whom they said, might have been “bought” to make statements exonerating the aspirant.

They said that the plan was to “further irritate the lingering pains of the murder of our patriarch and dance on Ige’s grave.”

Missing $20bn oil revenue: No presidential directive on kerosene subsidy –NNPC

 

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi
| credits: File copy

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said it never received any presidential order to stop subsidy payment on kerosene during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua administration.

The acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, told Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Thursday that the corporation should not be blamed for not implementing the directive on kerosene subsidy because the NNPC did not get any instruction to end subsidy payments on kerosene.

He said, “The point of contention is about kerosene subsidy. We do not doubt that there could be a directive. But what the NNPC is saying is that it is one thing for the President to give a directive, it is another thing for the directive to be communicated down to the various agencies of government.

“The communication line in matters like this is between the President and the minister. And the minister will direct subsidiaries or parastatals working under the ministry. So in a situation where a directive was given by the President to a minister, then for reasons that are best known to the minister or the ministry, that information was not communicated to the parastatals, then you can’t hold us responsible for not implementing the directive.  As far as we are concerned, we have not received the directive.”

He argued that the NNPC was a structured organisation and would not take decisions based on “hearsay.”

Asked to comment on the allegedly missing $20bn, Ibrahim said the corporation would be able to reconcile its account before the end of the week. According to him, the NNPC would brief the Senate on its findings soon, stressing that “a large chunk of this amount is what we are reconciling now and we believe that by the end of the week, we should be able to give our report to the Senate.”

Jonathan can’t grant Ibori pardon – Clark

Former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark

Ijaw leader and First Republic Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has dismissed calls for a presidential pardon for the embattled former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, who was convicted by a United Kingdom Court.

Clark said only the Queen of England could grant Ibori pardon.

According to him, Ibori must show good character and repentance before being given amnesty by the Federal Government, adding that “amnesty is not granted overnight.”

He spoke with Saturday PUNCH in Abuja when a group of Niger Delta protesters under the aegis of Coalition of Urhobo Nation Youth Leaders and Stakeholders led by a civil rights activist, Mr. Rex Anigboro, besieged his (Clark’s) Asokoro residence demanding a state pardon for Ibori.

The group also alleged marginalisation of the oil-rich region in federal appointments.

Clark said, “The question of granting amnesty to James Ibori does not arise because he wasn’t sentenced by a Nigerian court. He is serving imprisonment in Britain and it is only the Queen of England (that) can grant him amnesty and it is only when he is in Nigeria that he could be granted pardon. You can’t grant amnesty to somebody in another man’s country.”

But when asked whether he would subscribe to the idea that the ex-governor should be granted amnesty after serving his imprisonment in UK, he retorted with some conditions.

APC carpets Jonathan over youth neglect

 

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
| credits: File copy

Interim Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Bayelsa State chapter, Mr. Tiwe  Orunimighe, said President Goodluck Jonathan had failed the youths of the country.

Orunimighe said this during the inauguration of the interim leadership of the party in Yenagoa on Thursday.

He told the youths that President Jonathan, though from the Niger Delta region, had failed to guarantee their future.

He said politics should be devoid of ethnic sentiments, urging the people to forego tribal politics and identify with positive change.

“They have always said our son is the President. Yes, we agree. But you and l know that as youths, you don’t have a future,” he said.

He said PDP, both at the centre and in the state, had been hijacked by power people whom he said were lording it over other members of the party.

“Have you ever seen where sitting governors abandon their party to embrace the opposition? This is to tell you the level of impunity that exists in PDP,” he said.

Orunimighe said the APC with 16 states was already in control of the majority in the country, explaining that APC states boasted of population “two times the population of PDP-controlled states”.