NEWS RELEASE

Governor Ademola Adeleke has reaffirmed the sanctity of Oluwo of Iwoland as the consenting authority over the three local governments constituting Iwo zone under the Iwo Traditional Council just as he restated his administration’s readiness to complete the Iwo-Osogbo road project.

The State Governor also ordered the immediate reversal of any instance where consenting authority has been granted to any traditional ruler under Iwoland, directing the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Local Government to enforce the directive in line with tradition and laws.

In a reaction to widespread complaints over alleged encroachment on the traditional areas of authority of Oluwo of Iwoland, Governor Adeleke affirmed his deep respect for tradition and history which he said duly conferred leadership of Iwo zone on the Oluwo of Iwoland from time immemorial.

According to the State Governor, any granting of consenting authority to any traditional ruler within the Iwo Traditional Council and the exercise of such authority by such beneficiary are hereby nullified and declared illegal and of no effect.

Any installation of a Baale done by such beneficiary is built on illegal foundation and is hereby declared a nullity, the Governor further affirmed, warning against actions and activities within and outside government that may jeopardise the peace and unity existing within the zone.

“I heard of several reports indicating usurpation of the legal authority of the Oluwo of Iwoland. Any such conduct is illegal and is hereby reversed. I have deep respect for the traditional institution. I particularly have deep affinity and respect for the people of Iwo at home and abroad including His Royal Majesty, the Oluwo of Iwoland.

“Our government did not and will not embark on any move or ploy purportedly designed to decimate the areas of authority of Oluwo of Iwoland. Oluwo remains the consenting authority for Iwoland and President of the Iwoland Traditional Council.

“The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs is hereby directed to immediately withdraw any consenting authority that is purportedly granted the Olu of Ile-Ogbo, the Olowu of Kuta or any other traditional ruler who are traditionally under the Oluwo of Iwoland. Neither myself nor our government will be a party to the revision of history that is capable of igniting communal conflict and destruction of cultural heritage.

“Let me state it loud and clear: there is no anti-Iwo or anti-Oluwo agenda in our government. Anybody spreading such is a marketer of fake news. I have a pan-Osun vision and agenda which entails equitable development of all local governments of the state and phased infrastructure upgrade across the three senatorial districts.

“Our government will complete the Iwo-Osogbo road very soon. The contractor already has a deal on the best way to fast-track the road construction with the State Government. This administration will deliver a quality road to revive the economic fortunes of the six local governments on that road.

“It is fake news to suggest that our government has abandoned the all-important road. Iwo is benifitting from our government in many ways that will soon be manifested to Iwo people at home and abroad”, Governor Adeleke was quoted as saying.

Signed:
Mallam Olawale Rasheed,
Spokesperson to the State Governor

The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has commenced emergency repairs at the failed sections of the East West Road between Ahoada and Ula-Okobo town in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, who inspected the on-going repair works at the failed sections of the East West Road between Ahoada and Ula-Okobo town in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, appealed to motorists to cooperate with the contractor undertaking the repairs.

Ogbuku stated that the emergency repairs would restore the link between Rivers and Bayelsa states and observed that the contractor was having challenges with taking construction materials to the bad spots that needed to be fixed.

In a statement by Seledi Thompson-Wakama, Director, Corporate Affairs on Thursday, the NDDC Chief Executive Officer, who was accompanied by other Directors of the Commission, was given an on the site briefing by the engineers of Webster Global Ventures, the construction firm handling the project for the Commission.

Ogbuku observed that the deplorable state of the road, necessitated the emergency measures the NDDC was taking to immediately restore the road and make it motorable.

He apologised to road users, especially truck drivers, who had been stuck at the bad spot for several days, assuring them that the NDDC would support the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Works, which was constructing huge culverts at the sections that were washed away during the 2022 flood.

The NDDC boss assured that the Commission would complement the efforts of the construction company working for the Ministry of Works to urgently fix the failed and unmotorable sections of the road to restore the links between Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states.

He said: “We were here a week ago and we saw it was impossible for any vehicle to ply between Rivers and Bayelsa States. After that visit, we promptly engaged a construction firm to urgently fix about 1.5-kilometres that were virtually impassable. Our inspection today has shown that we need to work on more sections of the road.”

The Managing Director of the construction firm handling the repairs, Engr. Opeoluwa Adara, assured the NDDC that the company would expedite action on the repair work. He regretted that some of the motorists were making it difficult for them to bring in materials for the repairs.

He promised that the road links to Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta State would soon be restored, noting: “It is challenging but we have been working to stabilise the bad sections and make them motorable.

One of the truck drivers, stuck at Okobo, Malam Sani Ahmed, lamented that he had not been able to move his vehicle for over one week. He appealed to the Federal Government and the NDDC to come to their aid by fixing the road, stating that they were at the mercy of criminals who were taking advantage of their helplessness.

How has it been as a member of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly?

It has so far been good carrying out our legislative duties in the Senate. I belong to several committees. I am the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, and I am also the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream. We carry out our oversight functions for the betterment of the country. Also, at home, I have impacted my senatorial district, that is, the Ondo North Senatorial District.

What is the Senate doing to alleviate the suffering of the people, following the rise in the cost of food and commodities, following the inflation that occasioned the removal of the petrol subsidy by President Bola Tinubu?

Nigerians should be patient with this administration. Things will soon be alright. If you are watching things, you will be observing my responses in some of the committees that I belong to as a member, in terms of so many things we need to do here and there. I support making Nigeria move forward and the Renewed Hope agenda of our President. Many things are going on, but if you’re not there, you won’t understand. I’m saying this because I’m also the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream. Efforts are in top gear to ensure that all the refineries are functioning before the end of the year, we have carried out oversight for all the refineries, and we have good promises from them, based on what we saw there, that these refineries will pick up at the time promised. This is part of our ongoing efforts to better Nigeria, so we are not sleeping.

Mr President is working. He’s doing his best to ensure that every other thing in Nigeria is working well. For example, Yoruba would say, somebody is sick, you have to feed that person gradually before he/she becomes fat. Nigeria was sick, now, what we are doing now is a recovery plan. We are trying to do damage control.

How soon will the damage control alleviate the suffering of the people?

You don’t do it in a day. President Tinubu is actually doing all he can to ensure that the country stabilises. Before, we were living in a world of fantasy; we were not getting ourselves that period. Some people were saying when Tinubu came on board, the dollar was this amount, and today it is around N1,500. Yes, it is, because we want to live our real life. The issue is we cannot continue to borrow money to service other areas of interest. Why can’t we come up and say this is the exact situation of Nigeria and, by the time all these things stabilise, we will find out that the country will move fine and we will be used to how we can bring ourselves on board? So we have not missed anything. Immediate interventions are coming up in different areas. Looking at the agricultural sector, fertilisers are being distributed to various local government areas. I can assure people from the Ondo North Senatorial District that before this month runs out, they will see some fertilisers will be distributed. This is in the bid to contribute to agriculture in Nigeria by the President. So, I will encourage us to be a little bit patient and see how we are going to perform. It’s not too long, it’s just one year in the administration, and all these things are coming up.

Are you saying the Senate has no blame in all these?

No, we don’t. I don’t know why people keep blaming us every time. They will blame senators, something we didn’t even do, and people will say we did it. Look at one media propaganda some time ago that said we wanted to use the money to buy aircraft for Mr President, a reason we are trying to appropriate bill. No. There was nothing like that. We only extended the tenure of that particular budget to be able to take care of any abandoned project, which we don’t want, so the extension will allow for the time to do it. That is the essence, we have not appropriated anything, and it’s just a mere budget extension for a particular duration. Those are things that are happening.

You said all the refineries would be functional before the end of the year. Is it not the same old story and mere paperwork?

It is not. As I am speaking with you, the Port Harcourt Refinery is about 90 to 95 per cent optimisation, in terms of retrofitting, and Warri is almost 80 per cent. Kaduna is about 70 per cent now. Dangote Refinery is ready to operate any moment from now. With all these, internal consumption of fuel will not be a problem and we also find out that we have the opportunity to also export our refined fuel, which will address our foreign exchange that is not stable. We are expecting the refinery to operate before the year runs out. So, it is not just mere paperwork. I, alongside other committee members, had gone on an oversight there, it was demonstrated, and I saw it with my own eyes. We didn’t just sit in the office and look at it. We were in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Warri. We went to Dangote too. We saw those things they are telling us are real.

Nigerians complain that many federal legislators don’t perform to the expectation or satisfaction of their respective constituencies, while some abandon projects of their predecessors. What is your take on this?

I made people realise that projects should not be abandoned based on tenure in the office. A newly-elected senator should not ignore what other senators that came before him had done or what the predecessor had started. We must complete it. This is because it is nobody’s property; it is the property of the Federal Government. Based on that, they should make sure they complete it for the betterment of society and the people they represent at the National Assembly. Such facilities must not be allowed to decay.

How much have you done in this regard in the last year?

We have done much. If you go to Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, we have activated solar to light up the place. In some areas in Owo, Ose, Ikare and even North-West LGA, we have asked them to start boreholes, the engineers are there, digging some boreholes in those areas. The immediate response to our community in a period of emergency, we are not very far from that. If you noticed what happened in the Afin area with certain insects when we heard about it, my team immediately went into action, and I think we were able to rescue that situation. So, among other things that we were doing, we distributed palliative items to people, and we distributed rice, and fertiliser too for the farmers through the farmer association, to encourage farming, among others. We have also paid bursaries to about 1,000 students.

At the Senate, we have put in some bills, one of them is the bill to establish a university of information and communication technology in Ikare Akoko. It would be the first of its kind in Africa, if I’m not mistaken. That bill has got to the second reading, and by the time we resume properly now, we will go into the second reading and third reading simultaneously, so that we can have that in place. So many other things, you know, but I will say a few ones. We will continue to do our best to ensure that we all enjoy the dividends of democracy in our respective local governments and the senatorial district as a whole. So on this, we want to appeal to you, the media people too, that when all these efforts come up, help us to propagate them, to let our people know what we are doing in the National Assembly.

Niger Delta Development Commission, has presented its 2024 budget estimates of 1.9 trillion naira to the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC with the commitment that early approval would further fast track socio-economic transformation and improve the standard of life and infrastructures in the Niger Delta region.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NDDC, Chief (Dr) Samuel Ogbuku, while addressing the Committee which has Hon Erhiateke Ibori-Seun as Chairman, highlighted the success stories of the Commission with its last budget estimates, saying that the 2024 fiscal year would witness accelerated development with the support of critical stakeholders.

Ogbuku explained that in preparing the 2024 Budget, entitled “Budget of Renewed Hope”, the primary objective is to sustain robust foundation for sustainable economic development and greener future for the region.

He gave the summary expenditures to include, Personnel cost, 38.5 billion, Overhead cost, 29.2 billion, Internal Capital, 8.9 billion, Legacy Projects, 1 trillion, Projects Development, 835 million, bring the amount to 1.9 trillion naira.

The MD/GEO disclosed that the proposed budget will be funded through federal government contribution, oil companies contribution, ecological fund, arrears owed NDDC by the federal government and recoveries by federal government agencies, revenue brought forward, borrowings and internally realized income.

“Investing in critical infrastructure is a key component of our fiscal strategy under the 2024 Budget Proposals. The present Management re-navigating its process of intervention by adopting Public-Private-Partnership model as a vehicle to drive a sustainable development in the Niger Delta Region.

“To this end, we are in partnership with the Industrial Training Fund to gainfully engage the youths of the region to reduce crime and economic sabotage. We have strategically made provisions towards diversifying our source of funding as we intend to source an aggregate sum of One trillion naira to fund on-going legacy projects of the Commission in 2024”, Ogbuku stated.

On fiscal reforms, he said “we shall introduce new performance management frameworks to regulate the overhead cost. Accordingly, only activities that are tied to measurable programmes will be approved. We have moved away from the previously line item budgeting system to sectoral allocation.

“Therefore, I will once again commend the 10th National Assembly’s firm commitment to stop the unnecessary circle of delayed annual budgets. I am confident that with our renewed partnership, the deliberations on the 2024 Budget shall be completed soon to pave way for 2025 budget as this present Management is poised to normalize NDDC budget calendar.

Ogbuku restated the commitment of the Management of NDDC to deliver inclusive growth and enhance the welfare of the Niger Delta Region.

While seeking sustained support and collaboration of the federal Lawmakers, the NDDC Boss assured of the strong commitment of Management to deepen the relationship with the National Assembly.

Dr Ogbuku had in his opening remarks, highlighted the gains and achievements of the 2023 budget of the Commission, saying that a lot of progress were recorded in the region and that much is being done to complete all ongoing projects embarked upon by the NDDC.

He said “it is my honour to be here today to render an account of what we have done and also present the Commission’s 2024 Budget Proposal to this Hallowed chamber.

“But before i proceed; I wish to express my profound appreciation to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, under whose leadership I have been called to serve and also to the Supervising Minister of Niger Delta Develoment Engr Abubakar Momoh.

“It is a matter of recorded history that we have moved from being transactional to transformational, and transformation is practical. In this regard, we thought it has to be all encompassing, from areas of youth training, areas of supporting our entrepreneurs, areas of Infrastructure and development.

“In the area of our youth training, We came up with Project HOPE to put together a proper data base of the Youths and Artisans of the Niger Delta Region. It will aid us in engaging these youths in their area of competence. Project HOPE is also an of­shoot of the Renewed HOPE of Mr. President, as it made us look out for opportunities on how we can gainfully engage the Youth of the region.

“In the area of infrastructure, we came up with “Operation Light Up Niger Delta Region”, this has seen a reasonable number of the communities being lit up using solar powered street lights which have boosted the economic activities of the communities at night.

Continuing he stated, “Health is wealth, and good health remains at the core of human development. The NDDC through the free medical mission has provided health solutions to over two million Niger Deltans across communities in the Region and remains committed to working with relevant stakeholders to improve healthcare and all other critical sectors that impact positively on the overall development of the health and wellness of the people of the Region.

“In Education, we have awarded foreign scholarships to 750 individuals between 2023-2024 and provided educational grants to 84 individuals. Additionally, we are distributing 45,000 Ulesson tablets preloaded with Nigerian and WAEC syllabus to schools in the 9 States in the Niger Delta region”.

The MD/CEO told the Federal Lawmakers that a new dawn of progress and development is emerging under the present Management of the NDDC as standards and effectiveness are being redefined in driving positive change in the region.

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on NDDC, Hon Erhiateke Ibori-Seun, commended the Management Team team of the Commission for the comprehensive documentation and promised accelerated legislative action on the proposed budget.

Hon Ibori-Seun who represents Ethiope Federal Constituency in the Green Chamber, said the National Assembly is committed to transparency and improved wellbeing of the people of the Niger Delta region.

Flanked by other Members of the Committee, the Federal Lawmaker, charged the NDDC to remain focused and help Mr President to deliver his Renewed Hope mantra in the Niger Delta region.