Author: Editor

Ben Ezechime, Enugu The Zonal Director, South-East Legal Aid Council, Mr Oliver Chukwuma, has said that, Enugu State and Anambra were the only states giving financial support to the Legal Aid Council in Nigeria. He said this in Enugu at a one-day sensitisation of stakeholders workshop on the Role and Responsibility of Legal Aid Council in the Administration of Justice in South-East, organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice. In his paper entitled “the Statutory Role and Responsibility of the Legal Aid Council,” he said that lack of adequate funding was the biggest challenge facing the council. “The Legal Aid Council is faced with…

Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki Stakeholders in Ebonyi State have called for measures to ensure sustainability of the interventions being supported by the United States Agency for  International Development (USAID) State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness, (State2State) Activity in the state. The stakeholders comprising senior government officials and members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who constitute the State Transformation Committee (STC) made the call  during the STC’s Quarterly Meeting which held at Cirenes Hotels Abakaliki. Speaking at the event, the State Team Lead of USAID State2State Activity, Dr. Sam Onyia, recalled that the STC was established in April 2021 by Governor David Umahi,…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative journalism, WSCIJ, Dr Motunrayo Alaka, has said that both accountability journalism and democracy are under threat in Nigeria. The WSCIJ boss who made the remark at the 17th  Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporters held in Lagos, noted with deep concern, the pool of risk journalists are faced with daily in the discharge of their duties. She regretted that although Nigeria is a democratic state, journalists still operate under hostile environment, a sad development she said, should not obtain under democratic dispensation. Dr Motunrayo, however, noted that despite the…

By Ike Okonta Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. When you cease to participate in political activities in your country, other actors will rise up and take your place, and their doings may not be to your liking. That is what has happened to the Nigerian Left since 1999. It is beyond dispute that this political tendency, with the support of students, workers, peasants, market women, the unemployed and plain ordinary folk broke the spine of military dictatorship in our country and ushered in the democratic government that has now been in place for 23 years. But an unfortunate development…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka Spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, has been awarded the certificate of excellence as the best crisis communication manager on security affairs, among the spokespersons of security agencies in the South-East. The award was conferred on Ikenga  by the Jury of Security and Emergency Management (SAEMA), during the Police Public Relations Officer Conference in Kakanfo Inn & Conference, Ibadan, Oyo State, Monday.  The Chairman of the Panel of Jury, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas Rtd, while conferring the honour, lauded Ikenga for his effective media relations and professionalism.  He noted that since the appointment of…

By Sylvanus Isa There are certain routine events and developments within the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) that are worthy of mention. Just on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, in Abuja, NAFDAC flagged off its nationwide media sensitization workshop on dangers of bleaching creams and arising from those dangers, the obligatory regulatory controls, which was organized for Association of Nigerian Health Journalists. The agency’s decision to carry along a critical stakeholder group in the sensitization exercise was surefooted: the media will deploy their various platforms in expanding and extending the frontiers of advocacy for government’s effort through the…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war, alleging that it is ineffective and selective. FENRAD which gave the verdict at a press conference in Umuahia, Abia, said it had carefully reviewed the anti-graft crusade mouthed by Buhari’s administration in the past seven years, and discovered that corruption had remained endemic in the country “despite the noise” about the war against the monster. The pro-democracy and environmental advocacy group said it was ridiculous that Nigeria still occupied a high place in the global corruption index under the watch of a…

Ben Ezechime, Enugu The Nigeria Police Command in Enugu State has denied social media reports alleging that, it has ordered all personnel back to the Barracks to protest attacks on Police. In a statement issued by the Command’s spokesperson, Mr Daniel Ndukwe, DSP, the police described the report as unfounded and baseless. “The Enugu State Police Command is in receipt of a viral social media message and picture of a purported Police Wireless Message, stating that the Command’s authority has ordered its personnel to ‘desert the street, their offices, duty posts and remain confined to barracks due to prevalent security…

By Osmund Agbo On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the President of the Central African nation of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down by unknown persons. Extremists belonging to the slain president’s Hutu tribes known as the Akazu, blamed ethnic Tutsi rebels for the attack. The rebels vehemently denied it and blamed the murder on members of Habyarimana’s own government. With the demise of that nation’s leader, the Akazu took over the reins of power and initiated a bloody campaign of retribution and ethnic cleansing throughout Rwanda in a genocide that only ended…

By Godwin Onyeacholem If all goes well as is expected, the whistleblowing and whistleblower protection draft bill which sprung from a five-day stakeholders’ retreat on the whistleblowing policy organized by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in May 2021 in Keffi, Nasarawa State, would be considered this month at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting and then transmitted as an executive bill to the National Assembly for passage into law. Many stakeholders, local and foreign, including citizens who are enthusiastic about the efficacy of whistleblowing as an anti-corruption instrument, are agreed that in addition to mustering the…