By Ebi Perekeme  More than 40,000 Nigerians from the Ogale and Bille Communities in the Niger Delta will take their legal fight against Shell to the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. The case will be heard via video link and will be live-streamed online. The hearing is listed for one day. The

Worried by the continued delay in the Ogoni clean-up exercise, right groups, Amnesty International Nigeria, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), and Friends of the Earth Europe said there will be no justice from Shell’s pollution in the Niger Delta unless clean-up is carried out. The groups raised the alarm that so far,

By Ebi Perekeme  Stakeholders from the nine States of the Niger Delta region have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately replace the five-man probe panel into the alleged fraud in the Presidential Amnesty Programme with a substantive coordinator for the programme. The stakeholders made up of groups under the aegis of the Niger Delta Restoration

By Loveth Ojogun  The 21st Century Youth of the Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience (21st CYNDAC), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review the 16-point demand tabled before him, 2016, by the people of Niger Delta through Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF. Leader of the group, self-professed “General” Izon Ebe, in a statement, Sunday,

By Ebi Perekeme  A group, Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF), Lagos State Chapter, has urged the Federal Government to stop the reckless destruction, auctioning and exploitation of resources of Niger Delta region and its environment. In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Barrister Efiye Bribena and Engr Ben Okoro, IEF said the ecosystem

By Ebi Perekeme  The management of Global West Vessels Specialists Ltd has said its attention has been drawn to a publication by a group known as Central Youths of Escravos and Forcados, that GWVSL had once handled pipeline surveillance activities in the area. The insinuation which was contained in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari

By Ebi Perekeme  The Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI) has called for the termination of the pipeline surveillance contract of Warri-Escravos, Trans-Focados and Egbema awarded to Ocean Marine Solution Limited. IPDI, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mayor Timi Ogobiri, on Friday, maintained that the company had been meting out poor treatments to the

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, revealed that his administration has restored peace in the Niger Delta region. The President said the maintenance of oil production levels and engagement of youths by his government had restored peace in the region. Buhari said this during his nationwide broadcast on Friday in celebration of Democracy Day. “With sustained

The Oil and Gas Producing Communities in Nigeria (HOSCON) has said a total of N44 trillion had in the last 20 years accrued to states in the Niger Delta region through the 13% Derivation Fund. HOSCON, in a statement issued by its National Director of Media and Publicity, HOSCON, Chief Okakuro Monday Whiskey, said paying

Ex-Niger Delta militants are threatening to shut down oil pipelines, government houses, and the National Assembly, over plans by National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, to end the Amnesty Programme. The ex-militants claimed that the NSA was planning to shut down the Presidential Amnesty Program in a bid to cover his tracks after allegedly looting the

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) says it will soon conduct the second series of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates. This was made known in a press statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES by the spokesperson of the council, Demianus Ojijeogu, on Wednesday. “We have done the first series

By Joseph Nwoye  The Senate on Tuesday directed its Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases to meet with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) with a view to unraveling the cause of mysterious deaths allegedly recorded in Bonny Island, Rivers State. The upper chamber while urging the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and

By Joseph Nwoye  The Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the N40 billion corruption allegation against the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has presented an update on the matter to senators. The Senate and the House of Representatives are probing an allegation that the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC squandered N40 billion within three months. The

By Joseph Nwoye A bill seeking to tackle erosion across the country has scaled through the Second Reading in the Senate. The bill which seeks to establish the Erosion Control and Prevention Commission, with a special focus on the South-East. Sponsor of the bill, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP, Anambra South) in his lead debate on

By Joseph Nwoye  AS Nigeria’s confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassed 12,000 and the death toll hit 342 on Sunday, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said the country may just be starting to experience the epidemic. The PTF lamented that Nigerians were avoiding being tested; a situation he said was responsible for the low testing ratio

By Ebi Perekeme  Following the directive by the Rivers State Ministry of Health that staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, should self-isolate in view of the Commission’s index case, all suspected cases have been requested to present themselves for testing, line listing and contact tracing in order to ensure public health safety. A

Elder Statesman and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Senator Edwin Clark, who turns 93 years today, has said that everything he had looked for, wished for and prayed for in life, God gave all to him, therefore, he is grateful to the Almighty for keeping him alive. The South-South leader, who spoke to Vanguard on

The Federal Government has advised those above the age of 55 to stay away from congregational worships. This was contained in the guidelines released by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for religious centres to resume activities. During a briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, PTF National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, said, “In view of the widespread

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has denied allegations that he sought inclusion of his constituency as beneficiary of some Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) intervention projects. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Peter Nwaoboshi, had, at a press briefing last week, brandished some letters allegedly written to him by

By Ebi Perekeme  THE Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF and the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, on Monday, restated calls for the Federal Government to relocate the mega dry dock, specifically designed for the region, from Lagos waters. The groups said the dry dock had been lying unused and should be relocated

By Ebi Perekeme  The acting Director of Finance and Accounts of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC), Chief Ibanga Bassey Etang, is dead. According to Daily Independent, Chief Etang is said to have died at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH), in Port Harcourt after he allegedly took ill and gasping for breath at about 2am,

By Ebi Perekeme Barring any last minute interven­tion, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), a non-political organ­isation of the Niger Delta people, has warned that it would not hesitate to drag the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations (UN) over what it described as “an

By Ebi Perekeme  The Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the establishment of Niger-Delta and South-South in Nigeria. In a statement he sent to newsmen, through Emma Powerful, the group’s publicity secretary, Kanu argued that Abia, Cross River, Akwa Ibom are the same people. He said there

The Federal Government has told Nigerians to prepare for the worst in the COVID-19 battle. It however said it was doing everything within its powers to curtail spread of the virus. Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, stated this on Tuesday during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. He urged health workers

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has described as ‘unfortunate and condemnable,’ the continued obstruction of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) by the governments of Kogi and Cross River State. “This impedance is despite the lofty provisions in the NCDC Establishment Act (2018) which empower the organization to “prevent, detect, monitor and control” activities

—Calls South-South governors cowards in sharing of palliative & relief fund A Niger Delta activist and Coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group, Comrade Joseph Evah, has told President Muhammadu Buhari not to be intimidated by the World Health Organisation in his bid to adopt Madagascar’s herbal drug for the treatment of COVID-19 in the country. In

By Ebi Perekeme  Niger Delta leaders under the aegis of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) have condemned what they called lopsided appointments into top management positions at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries and departments in favour of the northern part of the country. Their position was contained in an open letter