Bayelsa
Bayelsa Airport: Deputy governor debunks reports, declares N56 billion as total cost
Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has dismissed reports making the rounds that the immediate past administration spent about N100bn for the construction of the state Airport. Describing the claim as “mischievous and evil”, the deputy governor, said contrary to the unfounded reports being bandied about, only N56bn was used in constructing the Airport which is adjudged as one of the best in the country. Senator Ewhrudjakpo disclosed this at the Airport while receiving the Bayelsa-born conjoined twins who were flown back to the state weekend after a successful surgery at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola. He noted with displeasure that, apart from the erroneous figures, some opposition politicians went about spreading and demarketing the state just to score cheap pol...
NCDC certifies molecular laboratory in Bayelsa
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has activated the newly inaugurated Bayelsa State Molecular Laboratory, Research and Diagnostic Centre for COVID-19 testing. The facility, which was inaugurated by Gov. Douye Diri, brought the number of NCDC accredited laboratories in the country to 66 in 34 states. The Acting Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Daniel Alabrah, announced this in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Yenagoa. He said that the NCDC in a letter by the Laboratory Network Advisor, Celestina Obiekea, to the Bayelsa Commissioner for Health, stated that the laboratory had fulfilled the necessary requirements to test for COVID-19. He quoted the NCDC as saying that the state would be responsible for procurement of consumables, equipment and other mater...
Nigeria records lowest daily virus cases in three months
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 221 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Wednesday. Newsmen report that the 221 new cases was the lowest number of cases recorded in the country in about three months. It recalls that on Aug. 4, Nigeria reported 288 COVID-19 new cases and 290 one week later, while another low figure of 252 was recorded on Aug. 25. NCDC said that there were more persons who died of COVID-19 related complications in the country in the last 24 hours with the national death toll rising to 1,010. The NCDC said that the number of recovery crossed the 40,000 mark after 317 more people were treated and discharged from isolation centres across the country. The agenc...
Shell employees launch N82 million free feeding programme at isolation centres
Getty Images Employees of Shell companies in Nigeria have launched free feeding programme in COVID-19 isolation centres in seven states under the Shell Employee Care Programme, the General Manager External Relations of Shell Nigeria, Igo Weli, said in a statement on Thursday. “The programme has kicked off in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Lagos, Ogun and Rivers and it is a further demonstration of care to the people following the numerous intervention programmes by Shell companies in Nigeria particularly in support of government at all levels in the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic,” Weli said. The feeding programme, according to Weli, was being funded from personal donations by staff and contractors of the Anglo-Dutch integrated energy giant, the total amount of whic...
APC: PDP rudderless under Uche Secondus
Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been sinking since Uche Secondus became its chairman. The party said this after Secondus criticised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration. In a statement on Monday, the APC said the main opposition party became “rudderless under his (Mr Secondus) watch” and alleged that party’s stakeholders had detached from its activities. “Under Secondus, the PDP has never had it this bad with the opposition party’s stakeholders detached from the party activities as was witnessed with notable PDP leaders boycotting the party’s 2019 presidential campaigns and the recent Bayelsa State Governorship bribe-for-ticket scandal that indicted Secondus. “Little wonder, the recent months have wit...
PDP: We will not accept rigging in Edo election
Ahead of the Edo State governorship election slated for 19th of September 2020, the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have vowed to resist any attempt by opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to rig the election. PDP made the vow during the flag-off of the incumbent governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki governorship re-election campaign in Benin Saturday. Among those who spoke on the issue were the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus. Mr Nyesom Wike (Rivers State governor) who is also the chairman of the PDP National Council, and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State. National chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, while stressing the need for a free and fair election come September in Edo State, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to provid...
Bayelsa set to pay hazard allowances
The Bayelsa State Government has indicated its readiness to pay special allowances to frontline health workers combating the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic in the state. Mr Doubara Atasi, the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor, stated this in a statement on Wednesday. It would be recalled that Gov. Douye Diri, had given the assurance to pay the allowances on Tuesday. He said it at a meeting with the representatives of the labour unions including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and Association of Resident Doctors in Government House, Yenagoa. Other unions represented at the meeting include the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and Association of Medical Laboratory Sci...
US envoy inaugurates emergency health operation facility in Bayelsa
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, has inaugurated a state-of-the-art public health Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Leonard said during the virtual event on Thursday that the facility, which was upgraded by the US, would enable “centralised real-time monitoring and predictive modelling for enhanced coordination of activities.” She commended the federal and state governments as well as other stakeholders for their efforts toward curtailing the coronavirus, stressing that the EOC would also help in making informed decisions about the pandemic and similar public health emergencies. The Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, described the establishment of the EOC as a welcome development that would improve healthcare delivery in the state. He said the cen...
Rivers APC felicitates inaugurated national caretaker committee
The Acting Chairman of All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Igo Aguma, on behalf of the party in the state has congratulated the National Caretaker and the extraordinary convention planning committee led by Malam Mai Mala Buni, Governor of Yobe State. Aguma, who made the disclosure in a statement signed by his media adviser, Livingstone Wedgie, on Thursday, expressed confidence that the new caretaker committee under Buni would work assiduously to bring the much-needed peace and harmony within the party. The Rivers APC acting chairman, also congratulated David Lyon, the South-South Coordinator in the Caretaker Committee, and urged him to transfer the same commitment he showed in the Bayelsa governorship election to the repositioning of the party in the zone. Aguma noted that it was ti...
President Buhari authorises N19.67 billion for completion of East-West road
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate release of N19.67 billion to ramp up efforts in completing sections I-IV of the East-West Road project by 2021. The presidential directive was part of efforts to address infrastructure deficit in the Niger Delta region and boost its economy. Mr Buhari had, in his Democracy Day address, said the funding of the sections of the road project would be duly released to better the lot of his people and would be followed by a forensic audit. “I am determined to ensure that development meant for the people of the Niger Delta get to them so I have authorised a Forensic Audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission,” the president said. The road project, which was first conceived in 2006 by the Obasanjo administration, was meant to be completed ...
PDP urges Supreme Court to dismiss Timi Alaibe’s case
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youths have urged the Supreme Court to dismiss Timi Alaibe’s case before the apex court. The PDP added that any contrary decision by the Supreme Court might ignite crisis in the region. The PDP Youths, under the aegis of South South Youth Vanguard, said that they are aware that Alaibe has been making overture to the All Progressives Congress (APC) so that the apex court will favour him. The PDP Youth Vanguard, in a statement by its National Chairman, James Efe Akpofure, disclosed that they are aware that Alaibe has been wooing, telling the leadership of the party that he will join the APC if he wins at the Supreme Court. The group warned the APC not to ignite any avoidable crisis in the state over Bayelsa state governorship election that has already been ...
Bayelsa sends 25 samples daily to UPTH for coronavirus testing – official
Chairman, Bayelsa COVID-19 Task Force, Inodu Apoku, on Tuesday announced that an average of 25 samples are sent on a daily basis to University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), for testing. Mr Apoku, who is also the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, made this known to newsmen in a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital. “Our surveillance is gathering momentum by the day and we are testing more cases daily. “We now use the UPTH COVID-19 Laboratory. In the past weeks, we have been sending an average of 25 samples daily to this facility. Most of these samples are contacts of confirmed cases,” he announced. On the confirmed new case in the state by the NCDC on Monday, the chairman said it had brought the total number of cases in Bayelsa to 12. “This new case is a 48-year...
