Port Harcourt Mundial

By Lanre Olagunju At 96, Dame Stella Obuoforibo Okuyiga has found a way to outlive herself. Not through science or medicine, but through her book.  At the launch of The Origin of Police Women in Nigeria: The Story of the Pioneer Women Officers and My Journey in the Nigeria Police Force, the retired Deputy Commissioner of Police expressed excitement at the thought of her book living on in libraries across the world. Even when she is gone, she hopes her story will continue to speak.  On October 13, in Port Harcourt, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, Inspector-General of Police, joined her in preserving that history. His presence as chief launcher was more than a gesture of respect. It was an opportunity for the Nigeria Police Force to confront a fundamental question: how well does an institution remember those who made its progress possible?  In 1955, the first 20 women joined the Force at a time when policing offered women limited opportunities. They entered unfamiliar territo...

By Constance Meju (National Point ) Participants at the Gelegel training for farmers on Organic Fertilizer and Pesticide Production As campaigns for smarter agricultural practices with more nature friendly options grow, over 60 smallholder farmers in Gelegele community, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, were on Tuesday, April 28, trained on how to produce biofertilizers and biopesticides for use in their farms. The practical step-down agroecology training, which took place in a farm site, was facilitated by Gbolekekro Women Empowerment and Development Organization (GWEDO) in collaboration with the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF). Executive Director of GWEDO, Cynthia Bulubiere Bright, said the decision to train the farmers using organic “materials that are available in our society,” rather than inorganic, was to create awareness that nature is best and has less unhealthy consequences. Environmental Scientist, Cynthia Buluebiere Bright, who f...

. .. to Ask INEC to Conduct Elections within 90 Days By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt The Hon. Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Tuesday declared the seats of 4 members of the House vacant for breaching the provision of the 1999 constitution on absention from plenary. The affected members are Edison Ehie, currently chief of staff to the state governor, Victor Oko-Jumbo, current factional speaker of the Assembly, Adolphus Timothy Oruibienimigha and Sokari Goodboy Sokari, representing Ahoada East II, Bonny, Opobo/Nkoro and Ahoada West constituencies respectively. Ehie served briefly as factional speaker of the Rivers Assembly and was the one who declared the seats of Amaewhule and his group of other 26 members vacant after they announced their now controversial defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress, (APC). He later resigned his membership of the Assembly to serve as Chief of staff to Governor Sim...

... as 80 Women test Positive to Benzene in Otuabagi Community By Kelechi Nwaucha Women from communities in the Niger Delta have dragged international oil companies, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total E&P and Agip Oil Company, before an Environmental Tribunal, sitting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, accusing the multinationals of gross environmental degradation and destruction of their ecosystem. This was as report indicate "serious cases of benzene accumulation" among women living in Otuabagi, the first oil-bearing community in Nigeria, with 80 of those sampled testing positive to the existence of the carcinogen in their blood. Laying their complaints before a 'Mock Environmental Tribunal,' organised by Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, with support from WoMin African Alliance, Niger Delta women from Okwuzi, Eleme, Rumuekpe (in Rivers State) and Otuabagi (in Ogbia, Bayelsa State) presented a long list of woe...

By Kelechi Nwaucha Women in the Niger Delta have commended the House of Representatives over its decision on the controversial divestment of onshore holdings by oil multinationals. The House of Representatives had passed a resolution against granting of consent, by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to divesting International Oil Companies (IOCs) until there is full compliance with the guidelines for decommissioning and the regulations made under the Petroleum Industry Act. In a statement on behalf of oil-impacted community women in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta and others in the region on Thursday, executive director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Dr. Emem Okon, said the Niger Delta commends the House of Representatives, especially the Committee on Environment, "for heeding to the voices of Niger Delta Women, by speaking up against the illegal divestment without proper consultation with the communities and full restoratio...

By Godwin Chukwumaechi The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has faulted what it described as the misrepresentation of the ongoing process for the return oil exploration in Ogoni to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing persons with selfish motives of falsely presenting themselves as the drivers of the process. Factional MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, who made the allegation in a statement after the group's emergency meeting in Port Harcourt, described the action as economic sabotage, accusing the representatives as impersonators. He said that some of the persons who claimed to represent the Ogoni people in a meeting held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 with the President in Abuja, lack the mandate of the Ogoni people. He described those who claimed to represent the Ogoni people as paid chiefs driven by selfish interests, which contradicts the expectations of the Ogoni people on the development aspect of oil resumption. "MOSOP wants to emphatically state th...