Nelly's SmartBriefs

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has felicitated with the good people of the State as they celebrate Easter, which commemorates the persecution, death and resurrection of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. In an Easter message, Governor Fubara urged the Christian faithful to use the period to emulate Jesus Christ and walk in His examples by promoting peace, unity and living in love. This was contained in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, Nelson Chukwudi, at Government House, Port Harcourt on Sunday, March 31, 2024. Governor Fubara noted that the Easter celebration signals an assurance of a new beginning, not only in the life of an individual Christian but for the entire State, adding that his Administration will continue to chart the course of providing the required leadership. The Governor said: “At the heart of Easter is the triumph of light over darkness. It is a season that reminds us that the Almighty God can turn an unpleas

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, and his wife Lady Valerie Fubara, have commended the extraordinary resilience and creative ingenuities of women and girls, which they said have helped propel sustainable development in the society. They made the remarks while congratulating women all over the world in celebration of the 2024 International Women's Day on Friday. Speaking in a statement digned by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Boniface Onyedi in Govetnment House, Port Harcourt, the governor described women as unique creations and formidable assets endowed with the grace and capacity to foster peace and development in society. He commended Rivers women for their unwavering support to his administration, and urged them not to rest on their oars but to continue praying for the peace of the state. The governor further urged the women to continue to play their motherly role to save  the society from moral decay and rot. Fubara, who highlighted the fundamental position

The Secretary to Rivers State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, has tasked members of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) restore the confidence of Nigerians in the Capital Market. The SSG regretted that many Nigerians have lost hope in the Capital Market following its collapse with no recourse to retrieve funds or make stock brokers accountable to give dividends. Speaking to members of the IST, led by its Chairman, Hon Amos Azi, during a courtesy visit in his office on Friday, he maintained that the huge potentials for wealth creation through the stock market is still enormous, while calling on the IST to work assiduously to restore the optimism of Nigerians through its mission and provide efficient resolution of capital market disputes with fairness, flexibility, transparency and without fear or favour. Speaking, the Chairman of the Investment and Securities Tribunal, Hon. Amos Azi, informed that the tribunal was set up to promote financial market integrity and stability in th

United States President, Joe Biden, has laid out his case for re-election in a fiery State of the Union speech that accused his predecessor and challenger in the forthcoming presidential election, Donald Trump, of threatening democracy, kowtowing to Russia, and thwarting a bill to tackle U.S. immigration woes. Biden, a Democrat, in a 68-minute address to Congress on Thursday, March 7, 2024, drew sharp contrasts with his Republican rival and gamely challenged Trump’s supporters in the chamber during the speech. Biden charged Trump, his Republican challenger in the November 5 election, with burying the truth about the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault, bowing to Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and blocking a bill to tighten restrictions at the U.S. border with Mexico. On the Middle East, the president said he had been working for an immediate ceasefire to last six weeks between Hamas militants and Israel, and he warned Israel against using aid to Gaza as a bargaining chip. The greater

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has ordered for a complete rehabilitation of the Psychiatric Hospital in Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. Fubara, who said the rehabilitation work should commence immediately, pointed to the importance of the healthcare facility to persons with mental health disorders and medical students in the state who use the facility for their training. A statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor of Rivers State, Boniface Onyedi, in Government House, Port Harcourt, said the governor gave the directive, yesterday, when he inspected work on the ongoing new building of 44-bed space centre for drug addicts, with another 10-bed space for private patients. According to the governor,  "On my way, I noticed that the Psychiatric Hospital I knew many years ago, is still what it is. I think we need to do a total rehabilitation of the facility. This is to enable it compete and also meet the standard o

The Councillor representing Ward 9 in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Achor Nna, has resigned his position both as the Leader and member of the Legislative Council. The former governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is from the same ward. Nna resigned in a letter dated March 7, 2024 and addressed to the Clerk of the House, Mrs Rosemary Brown. In the letter, which went viral, Nna declared support for Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who had seen serious attempts by Wike’s loyalists in the state House of Assembly to impeach him on October 30, 2023. Following the failed impeachment, a protracted political crisis had ensued, with Wike threatening fire and brimstone, while cronies have done everything within their powers to scuttle the administration of Fubara. On December 18, President Bola Tinubu midwifed a lopsided peace deal, which the governor accepted, and has been implementing, except only one line item: budget representation.  The letter

The House of Representatives is set to probe the N200billion spent on the suspended 2023 Population and Housing Census. This followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Clement Akanni (PDP-Osun),  during plenary in Abuja on Thursday. Moving the motion, Akanni said the immediate-past administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari, planned to conduct another census in 2022 but the programme was later postponed to 2023. He said the former minister of state for budget and national planning, Mr Clem Agba, said a total of N869billion would be required for the exercise. “This figure, according to the minister, included Post-Census-Activities, adding that the National Population Commission (NPC) said, it spent about N200billion to prepare for the 2023 population and housing census.” According to him, the exercise was, however, suspended indefinitely by Buhari, a few days before leaving office. He added that the need to provide the nation with accurate and reliable demographic data for polic

The Governor Siminalayi Fubara-led Rivers State Government is poised to attract the best brains in the state and beyond to help the administration in piloting the transformation of the state to the fast lane of accelerated development. The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, disclosed this in Port Harcourt, while playing host to a delegation of the NNPC Eastern Zone Retired Staff Investment Cooperative Society Limited, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, recently.  Johnson, who himself is a retiree of the hydrocarbon behemoth, noted that the NNPC senior citizens have a lot to offer in advancing the course of development in the state, given their wealth of experience, which he said, the state government was willing to tap from. He expressed gratitude to the management committee of the group for the courtesy visit to identify with the Rivers State Government, emphasising that their visit has given him a sense of belonging. Johnson expla

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has promised that more funds would be invested in the state cassava processing factory, located in Oyigbo Local Government Area, to improve productivity for food sufficiency and security. Fubara gave the assurance when he visited the plant on Thursday, March 7, to ascertain what has been achieved with the initial investment made by the state government in the factory. This was contained in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor of Rivers State, Boniface Onyedi, at Government House, Port Harcourt.  The statement quoted governor as explaining that the team managing the factory had requested for support to enable them complete two more production lines to increase capacity utilisation and churn out more products. "I got a request from the people who are managing the cassava processing plant that we need to extend our support for them to complete two production lines. "That will give them a standar