After several years of infrastructural neglect, the people Oron Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State presently have cause to celebrate following the construction of at least, six inter-connected roads in the first phase of the Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Oron Urban Renewal Programme.

HOW did herdsmen become so powerful to the point of tyrannizing some communities in Delta State?

Despite the passage of time and the change in government, her desire to see the emergence of an imposing architectural masterpiece with the inscription “Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum” remains very strong. The idea of the project, which she conceived in the early 70’s when she was the Chairman of the old Rivers State Tourism Board, rages on her mind like a timeless mirage. As it is, Mrs. Ethel Diete-Spiff, who is now retired from active service, sleeps and wakes up with the mental picture of the multi-purpose centre, which she conceived in her hey days to serve as a reference point for oil and gas production in Nigeria. As a young lady married to a serving military governor, she was bubbling with trail-blazing ideas that could fetch Nigeria a fortune, if they had been harnessed into concrete ventures. One that really hit her on her mid rib like a hurricane was that of developing a World Class Oil and Gas Museum complete with research, recreational, cultural, social and economic empowerment facilities for the teeming population in the country. The idea was so clear on her mind that she wasted no time in reaching out to the then President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and his Vice, Alex Ekweme, one of the country’s best architects to share the vision with the two leaders.

Dr Samson Parker served as the Commissioner for Health and helped to reposition Rivers State into the modern focus of Primary Health Care. During his tenure, he led the initiative to contain the spread of the Ebola in Rivers after a diplomat breached quarantine in Lagos. In this interview, Parker explains the public health importance of the Ogoni clean-up launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, last Thursday..

IT is no news that in spite of the stereotypes and misrepresentations of Nigerians abroad, brought about by few unscrupulous individuals, there are a good number of Nigerians making the country proud in their respective countries of abode.

THE controversy that preceded the recent announcement by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, who doubles as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, of government’s decision to scrap the Petroleum Support Fund, otherwise known as fuel subsidy, raises questions as to the economic value the people derive from the acclaimed payment. Although this came on the heels of prolonged scarcity of the product which sold between N120 and N250 per litre, depending on your location, most people were opposed to the hike in the price of the commodity.

For obvious reasons the talking point in the Nigerian polity as President Muhammadu Buhari marks his first year in office is government’s decision to scrap the contentious Petroleum Support Fund, otherwise known as fuel subsidy, a development culminating in marketers being directed to sell premium motor spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, between N135 and N145 per litre. Not surprisingly the hike in the pump price of petrol elicited mixed reactions, with those against it raising a deafening din of condemnation and demanding that government should immediately revert to status quo: that is, continue to sell the product at N86.50 a litre.

THE Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Pirjo Soumela-Chowdhury, has asked Nigeria to reduce dependency on oil, explaining that the drive to diversify the economy is what every country, including Nigeria has to look towards to.

THE warning by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMeT, that Nigerians should brace up for more hot days, warm nights and heatwave across the country did not come as a surprise. Indeed over the past few months, Nigerians have been on the receiving end of intense waves of hot and humid air currents blowing across the nation, a development which has become a topic of popular discussion and a source of concern among medical and scientific experts.

Relevant stakeholders have described as mere political statement the assurance by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, that electricity generation in the country would be increased to 7,000 megawatts in 2017.

The advocacy against violence among youths resonated with His Imperial Majesty Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi and he did not hesitate to embrace the project which now operates under the auspices of the House of Oduduwa Foundation.

If you reside in a village where you consume brown, muddy water drawn from a pond shared with cows and goats, with your surroundings enveloped in repugnant smell from open defecation, you are already a candidate for diseases and death.

WHEN the former‘General Officer Commanding, GOC’, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, took space in some national newspapers, last week, to criticise the latest militant group in the region, the Niger-Delta Avengers (NDA), it was apparent that there was fire on the mountain.

BEFORE July 2015, cattle rustling had been a nightmare to cattle rearers across the core Northern states in Nigeria, but it only took a Federal Government directive for the problem to come to national attention.

THE widespread belief among Nigerian visa applicants to Ireland is the complexities in securing a permit into the country.