17022021 - Insecurity: Nigeria heading to point of no return, unless....

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021
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COMMISSIONING: From left: Mr. George Ajayi, Special Guest; Mrs. Alexandra Ogiaga,
Mr. Omoniyi Benson-Orifa, Chairman, Chadon Hotel; his wife, Juliana and Mr. Babajide
Shodeinde, former FirstBank staff, during the official commissioning of New Chadon
Hotel in Mende, Maryland, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez
Okowa opts for private burial, lays his
father to rest
By Festus Ahon
ASABA—
Governor
Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta
State, yesterday, opted for a
private burial for his late
father, Chief Okorie Okowa
and laid his remains to rest
at Owa-Alero, Ika North East
Local Government Area of the
state.
Chief Okorie Okowa, a
Knight of Saint Christopher
of the Anglican Communion,
breathed his last on January
28, 2021, after a brief illness
at the age of 88.
Beside family members at
the private funeral,
Archbishop of Bendel
Province, Anglican
Communion, Archbishop
Cyril Odutemu; Deputy
Governor of Delta, Mr
Kingsley Otuaro; Speaker of
the Delta State House of
Assembly, Chief Sheriff
Oborevwori; former
Governor James Ibori and
former Deputy Governor,
Benjamin Elue, were at the
ceremony.
Others include Chief Jide
Omokore, Senator James
Manager, Ndudi Elumelu
and Chief Judge of Delta,
Justice Marshall Umukoro.
Speaking during the
funeral service in the home
of the late octogenarian,
Governor Okowa thanked
Nigerians for their show of
love, saying because he had
announced that the
ceremony would be private
for the family, “those who
came are truly family
members.”
He said as a teacher, his
late father fought for the
ordinary man and suffered
victimisation for daring to
stand for the truth.
Okowa said: “On behalf of
my siblings, I welcome you
to my father’s home. He is
no more, he has just been laid
to rest. He has been a strong
pillar in my life and we
wished he had lived longer,
but it pleased God to call him
at this time.
“Our father was a good
man who fought for the
church, the children and the
ordinary man, especially as
a teacher and suffered
consequences for standing
by the truth and at the end,
God vindicated him.
“We thank God that he
played his role in the
community. He was very
passionate about the
development of Owa-Alero
and I am glad that he saw all
we did for the community.
“He did not compromise
his faith even as an Okpara-
Uku of his quarter and that,
we can attest to as his
children.”
•Ibori, Odutemu, Otuaro, Oborevwori,
Elue, others in attendance
While apologising to those
who could not attend the
funeral because he had
declared it a family burial, he
said: “We do not know when
it is best to die but we thank
God he took our father at a
ripe age.
“For those who couldn’t
come, I apologise, there is still
a time to celebrate his life and
times and that will be August
21, 2021, his birthday, and we
will all be there by the grace
of God.”
Earlier in a homily, Bishop
of Ika Diocese, Church of
Nigeria, Anglican
Communion, Rt. Rev.
Godfrey Ekpenisi, said the
late Pa Okowa contributed
immensely to the growth of
the church and education in
Ika nation.
The Bishop urged
Christians to fear God and
keep his commandments,
saying: “This is the whole
duty of man.”
PIB: N’Delta CSOs vow to ensure
protection of host communities' interest
By Chioma
Onuegbu
UYO —AS Nigeria hopes
for the passage of
Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB,
civil society organisations in
Niger Delta have vowed to
ensure that the bill
accommodates the interest
of host communities to oil
companies.
Representatives of the
CSOs, who spoke during
stakeholders PIB postpublic
hearing engagement
in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,
facilitated by Order Paper
Nigeria, decried the
situation where the oilproducing
areas that bear
the brunt of oil extraction in
the country were prevented
from making inputs during
National Assembly’s public
hearings.
Executive Director of “Wethe-People,”
Mr Ken
Henshaw, said it was an
insult to prevent host
communities to speak at
both the Senate and House
of Representatives public
hearings, whereas
representatives of
government and oil
companies were allowed to
speak extensively.
Henshaw expressed
concern that while
government body language
indicated its commitment to
a bill that reflects the needs
of the people, the content of
the bill in its current shape
and form meant the exact
opposite.
He said: “The governance
structure does not have full
participation of
communities, but gives too
much powers to oil
companies. For example, it
allows oil companies to
decide who the host
community should be, how
the funds coming to the host
communities would be
managed, and to determine
composition of the Board of
Trustees of the Host
Community Trusts, and that
they may not necessarily be
from the host communities.
“And it goes further to say
that if there is any sabotage
on any oil facility, in any
community that the
community would lose its
share of benefits from the
host communities’ funds.
Omatseye makes case for
state varsity in Itsekiri land
By Jimitota
Onoyume
WARRI— Prominent
Itsekiri professor, Jim
Omatseye, has called for the
upgrade of College of
Education Warri to a full
fledged university.
Omatseye, who retired
from University of Benin,
said the campus of the
university can be in Koko,
Warri North Local
Government Area of the
state, if the state government
was looking at the problem
of land.
Omatseye, who is former
And we think that is quite
strange.
“We know that oil theft is
a multinational business
controlled by armed cartels
of different origins, not
necessarily a practice of oil
communities.
“It is unfortunate the PIB
proposes that oil theft is the
action of host communities,
this is unacceptable. So, we
are saying you cannot give
the responsibility of
protecting oil pipelines to
unarmed communities.
They formed the Joint Task
Force, JTF, to protect the
pipelines and they failed
and you did not punish
them, now you want to
punish host communities
when they fail to protect
those facilities."
Dean of Education,
University of Benin, Director
Institute of Education in the
university, said the state
government should not
ignore Itsekiri areas.
He said: “If you look at the
spread of tertiary institutions
in Delta State, the Itsekiri
area has no university. The
only College of Education in
Warri area can be
transformed to a university.
To say there is no land is
unfair. The College of
Education can be
transformed to a university
with the campus in Koko,
Warri.”
Amaechi lauds maritime
academy’s restructuring effort
By Dirisu Yakubu
MINISTER
of
Transportation, Rotimi
Amaechi, yesterday, lauded the
management of Maritime
Academy of Nigeria, MAN,
Oron, Akwa Ibom State over its
restructuring of the institution
to meet international standards.
Amaechi spoke at the just
concluded 2020 Ministerial
Retreat in Oron, shortly after
commissioning the newly
acquired simulators to be used
for training of the academy’s
cadets.
According to him, the Rector
of the institution, Duja Effedua,
has shown commitment and
dedication in transforming the
institution without any form of
monitoring from the ministry,
adding that the ability to work
without supervision is the
hallmark of competence and
preparedness for any
assignment.
Amaechi in a statement by Eric
Ojiekwe, Director, Press and
Public Affairs, Federal Ministry
of Aviation said the academy
was dilapidated and almost on
NDDC plans post graduate
scholarship in Nigerian
varsities
NIGER
Delta
Development
Commission, NDDC, has said
it was making plans to run its
post graduate scholarship
programme in Nigerian
universities, especially those in
Niger Delta.
NDDC Interim Administrator,
Mr Effiong Akwa, made the
disclosure during a courtesy visit
by a delegation from University
of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, led
by the acting Vice Chancellor,
Professor Stephen Okodudu, at
the NDDC permanent
headquarters in Port Harcourt,
Rivers State.
Akwa, who was reacting to a
request by the vice chancellor
for another hostel in the
university, promised to assist in
elevating the educational
institutions in Niger Delta to
make them suitable for the post
graduate programme.
Ijaw leader berates Bauchi gov for
backing herdsmen carrying AK-47
By Etop Ekanem
AN Ijaw leader, Chief
Julius Babogha, yesterday,
lambasted Governor Bala
Muhammed of Bauchi State
over the statement credited to
him supporting Fulani
herdsmen owning sophisticated
weapons such as AK-47 to
unleash mayhem on the citizens
of the country.
Babogha, who addressed
newsmen, called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to
caution the Bauchi governor
over the inciting comments
capable of causing crisis in the
country.
It will be recalled that
Governor Muhammed had at
a forum discussing the excesses
of the Fulani herdsmen across
the country, said the herdsmen
have the right to own and carry
around AK-47 rifles for the
protection of their cows.
the verge of being closed down
because of lack of training
equipment, infrastructural
deficit, over population and
other challenges, which led to
the setting up of an interim
committee to look into the
problems facing the institution
at the time.
He said: “There is nothing
about the achievements,
anybody can achieve that, but
what worries me is that all this
while that the school was
created, why could they not
achieve what he has achieved?
“Anybody could do what he
has done but the commitment
and dedication on their part is
impressive. If we don’t have this
kind of person that has
commitment to his assignment,
then we have a problem.
“I think the Ministry of
Transportation must set up
machinery to monitor the
agencies, so that we know their
objectives, what they have set out
for themselves to achieve. The
ministry will ensure these
objectives are achieved and
sanction those who are not able
to deliver."
The NDDC boss observed that
in an era of COVID-19
pandemic, it was necessary to
assist universities to properly
and comfortably
accommodate students in order
to ensure sufficient provision for
social distancing in the hostels.
He told the Vice Chancellor
that the university’s request
would be taken care of in the
2022 budget of the NDDC,
describing UNIPORT as a
flagship university in the Niger
Delta region.
Akwa advised the university
to write formally to the
ommission for appropriate
budgetary provisions and
presentation to the budget
committee of the National
Assembly.
He expressed confidence that
the National Assembly would
be willing to accommodate the
request since the project would
impact on the quality of the
learning environment, as well
as the welfare of the students.
Babogha, who is GMD/CEO
of Babsfield Corporate Ventures
and Tamfel Global Resources,
said the statement was nothing
but abuse of office, saying:
“Niger Deltans can equally
carry arms to protect their fish
farm, waterways and other
farms that generate income for
them.
“In this direction, l appeal to
President Buhari to caution
some of the Northern governors
on their choice of words in order
not to plunge this country into
another round of war, because
we cannot allow one ethnic
group to constitute so much
threat to the rest of the country.
“We call on the Buhari
government to consult the
history books. If he does, he will
discover that the same events,
which led to the 30-month civil
war between 1967 and 1970 are
playing out now and those who
fail to learn from history will be
forced to repeat it.”