The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla, has charged personnel of the Nigerian Navy to remain professional in the discharge of their duties and remain committed to protecting the nation’s democracy.

Ogalla, represented by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Admiralty Integrated Farms Limited, Rear Adm. Julius Nwagu, gave the charge at the 2025 Second Quarter Route March on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the route march was organised as a show of force to prepare personnel to be mentally and physically fit.

According to him, it is aimed at developing personnel physical and mental alertness to meet the dynamics of contemporary security operations as well as fostering esprit de corps and providing an avenue for relaxation.

“I enjoin you to be more professional in the conduct of your duties and day activities.

“Furthermore, I encourage you not to engage in any act of misdemeanor or take laws into your hands that could bring the service into disrepute in the course of your duty.

“Furthermore, I charge you all to show dedication to duty and unflinching support to our democracy and constituted authority,” he said.Ogalla pledged his commitment to continue to support the personnel by providing all the required needs to function optimally in the area of their responsibilities.

He said the Nigerian Navy was also a major contributor to the Gulf of Guinea maritime security arrangement, as well as a major participant in internal security duties all over the country.

This, he said, made it imperative for them to be mentally and physically fit at all times.

“Thus, the exercise and physical training remain the bedrocks of naval personnel’s daily mental and physical readiness for sea show and ashore duties. It is pertinent to state that the commitment of the Nigerian Navy towards enhancing mental and physical fitness has yielded dividends.

“This has been witnessed with the sterling contributions of the Nigerian Navy to national security, peace and prosperity. It is in recognition of this fact and the desire of the service to keep the personnel physically fit that the route march, amongst other physical fitness exercises, is sustained in the Navy schedule of events.

“As you are aware, the Nigerian Navy has just concluded Operation Obangame Express. “The exercise was aimed at partnering with regional and global maritime stakeholders on the security of maritime domain awareness of littoral states within the African continent,” he added.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday left many Nigerians amused after he publicly promised to increase the wages of his official music band during a project commissioning in Abuja.

Wike made the announcement while commissioning the newly completed collector road from Mabushi to the Judges’ Quarters in Katampe, a project executed by a Chinese construction firm.

Midway into the event, the band’s lead singer entertained the crowd with a hilarious twist, mimicking a song in what appeared to be ‘Chinese’, in a nod to the nationality of the contractors.

Impressed by their performance, the Minister announced that he would increase their wages.

“Now that my band can sing in Chinese language, I’ll now increase their fees,” the minister said, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd.

Shortly after his statement, the band broke into another tune, chanting, “Agreement is agreement,” repeatedly calling Wike’s name before ending with the phrase “Chi hu chan.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Council of Ministers, Ambassador Yusuf  Tuggar, has warned against continued economic dependence on former colonial powers.

Tuggar gave the warning at the opening ceremony of the 94th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers on Thursday in Abuja.

The two-day session is focused on deepening economic integration and tackling key developmental challenges in the West African subregion.

Addressing ministers and delegates gathered, Tuggar stated, “For newly independent African countries, if you stay alone and isolated from your neighbours, you remain dependent on the former colonial master, forever consigning yourself to being an exporter of agricultural cash crops and raw materials to the metropolis.”

The chair urged West African nations to reclaim control of their destinies through regional trade, joint infrastructure, and collective self-reliance.

“Conversely,” he continued, “if you trade freely with your neighbours, develop infrastructure jointly to strengthen that trade, you develop indigenous industries, collective self-reliance, and take control of your destinies.”

The minister reminded delegates of the ideological roots of ECOWAS and similar African regional blocs, noting that they were “borne out of our yearning for economic decolonisation and not the other way round.”

The minister called on member states to revisit the founding purpose of ECOWAS, not simply as a bureaucratic institution but as a revolutionary response to the structural limitations imposed by colonial legacies.

As ministers prepared to deliberate on a broad agenda covering trade, infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, and institutional reform, Tuggar urged a collaborative spirit.

“I invite us all to approach our discussions with an ethos of collegiality, compromise, and flexibility with a broader vision for a strong, united, and resilient Regional Economic Community,” he said.

“This session should be defined not only by the depth of our deliberations,” he added, “but also by the courage of our decisions.”

In his opening address, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar  Touray, acknowledged ongoing institutional efforts to advance regional integration and presented key agenda items for the session, including trade liberalisation, industrial development, and responses to emerging global economic shifts.

Touray drew particular attention to the persistent issue of non-tariff barriers, describing them as a “perennial obstacle to boosting regional trade, investment, industrialisation, competitiveness, and economic growth of our region.”

“In May, I travelled by road from Lagos to Cotonou to see the situation along the regional corridor and the joint border post established at the Seme/Krake border between Nigeria and Benin. I saw firsthand the challenges posed by non-tariff barriers along the corridor.

“We must do everything to put an end to this and facilitate economic exchange across the region,” he said.

The session is reviewing recommendations from the recent Joint Meeting of ECOWAS Ministers of Trade and Industry.

Among the proposals are the adoption of a regional Trade and Investment Promotion Strategy and accelerated ratification of key agreements, including the WTO Fisheries Subsidy Agreement and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Also under review is a proposed Cooperation Agreement between the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority and Member States to enforce competition and consumer protection rules.

Touray urged countries to act swiftly, saying, “The ministers have considered the Cooperation Agreement between ERCA and member states… and requested member states to take necessary measures for its signature by the end of June 2025.”

On inter-regional and international trade, he said ministers also discussed the West Africa–European Union Economic Partnership Agreement and implications of new US tariff policies.

“The ministers recommended further national consultation with key stakeholders, in particular the private sector, to propose a way forward,” he added.

Addressing regional peace and security, the ECOWAS commission president announced a shared understanding with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to tackle terrorism and violent extremism together.

“We have secured an understanding with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger on the need to work together to build confidence to collectively confront terrorism and violent extremism,” he said.

He also shared updates on dialogue with Guinea. “With Guinea, discussions have resumed on political transition, and we are working to create the right environment for the people of Guinea to determine the political future of their country,” Touray noted.

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria has called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene in what it described as the growing domination of medical doctors in the health and education sectors.

ACPN warned that such practices are detrimental to national development and inclusive governance.

The pharmacists made this known in an open letter signed by their National Chairman, Ambrose Ezeh, and his Secretary, Omokhafe Ashore, dated June 16, 2025.

The letter titled, “Call off these bluffs in national interest,” followed reports of industrial action by members of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria at the University of Calabar, who downed tools over the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor.

According to the ACPN, the protest is part of a wider trend, referencing a similar situation at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, where the appointment of a VC was nullified by the Federal Ministry of Education because MDCAN members at the institution went on strike.

It said in the last few years, the Nigerian Medical Association, MDCAN, and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have become audacious in Nigeria because the FG inadvertently boosted a culture of fascism in the health and labour sectors between 2015 and 2023, and now the Health and Education Sectors through the appointment of physician–ministers in these crucial sectors.

According to the association, since 1985, only physicians have been appointed as Chief Medical Directors or Medical Directors of federal health institutions based on a misinterpretation of eligibility criteria.

“In Nigeria, contrary to the dictates of common sense, only physicians are designated as CMDs/CEOs of FHIs since 1985 (40 years ago) because they wrongly interpreted the condition precedent for such appointments, which ties eligibility to being ‘medically qualified’ as implying that only physicians meet the eligibility criterion.

“In more damning circumstances, the Ninth NASS actually fraudulently passed a Federal Medical Centre bill later signed into law without public hearing which now makes it mandatory that only personnel registered by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria can be appointed as MD/CEO of Federal Medical Centres in Nigeria in 2023.

“Despite these insultingly ancient methodologies of physicians in Nigeria, to unlawfully create a dozen exclusive privileges for themselves in Nigeria, they have now with the blessing of Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, perfected a thriving culture of blackmail to proceed on strike everytime there is a contest for the position of VCs and the rules which are grounded in having a Ph.D. as condition precedent is applied because most of these physicians have professional qualifications of fellowships and not Ph.Ds. which are academic qualifications. Most public sector appointments have strict conditions precedent, which make the appointment lawful.

“The ineptitude of the FG to succumb to this shameful blackmail leaves a sour taste in the mouth as lawful stakeholders who are eligible based on the rules wallow in chronic invalidism imposed by the corrupted mechanism embraced by the Federal Ministry of Education,” the letter partly read.

 

The association also expressed disappointment in the Federal Ministry of Health for failing to properly involve pharmacists in key drug procurement processes, including the recent rollout of the MEDIPOOL initiative.

 

It renewed its call for the establishment of a Federal Drug Management Agency to standardise drug procurement and distribution across the country.

 

According to the association, Universal Health Coverage remains a mirage in Nigeria because the strategic pillars to achieve it are hindered by stumbling blocks.

“Your Excellency, we strongly demand a presidential intervention to make the government stand up to its stewardship responsibilities as the government.

 

“The government should change tactics in the skewed appointment of physicians who dominate sectors which are alien to medical practice while resisting ‘incursions’ into healthcare by any other cadre of practitioners, including colleagues, non-physician health professionals.

 

“It is important to inform Mr President that the humiliation health workers in healthcare are subjected to in deference to physicians is beginning to affect the psyche of youths in a generation where nobody wants to be an underdog.

 

“National growth, development, transformation and evolution will gradually become stunted if the Federal Government does not wield the big stick to stop the outrageously incomprehensible dominance of an overpampered group of civil servants who get what they request and are allowed to dictate a pittance for other skilled personnel in the Nigerian workforce.

 

“Your Excellency, the time to act is now in the public interest,” it concluded.&

The traditional ruler of Ifetuntun community in Ife South Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Taofeeq Osunmakinde, the Obawure of Ifetuntun, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, over alleged threats to destroy the community

 

The monarch also appealed to the IGP over incessant clashes arising from a boundary dispute between his community and a neighbouring community in the Ijebu West Local Government Area of Ogun State.

 

The monarch who spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Sunday, urged Egbetokun to investigate and apprehend the perpetrators of unrest stemming from the ongoing border dispute between Ife South and Ijebu West over the 30-mile land area known as Ifetuntun.

 

Osunmakinde recalled that in 2001, during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, a conflict erupted between the settlers of Ifetuntun and the Ijebu communities, prompting the Federal Government’s intervention.

But the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation demarcated the borders, allowing both communities to coexist peacefully until now.

According to him, the Ifetuntun community had been existing before 2010, and the recognition of the throne solidified their peaceful way of life, which has persisted since.

He, however, alleged that some top government officials are threatening to destroy the community, noting that armed hoodlums were beginning to take control of the community while security agencies are victimising his people.

He said, “Ifetuntun has experienced the rule of nine military and civilian administrations without significant conflict or disarray in the community.

“However, in 2016, we faced their first attack led by a forest guard from the Ministry of Natural Resources. They hired thugs who burned homes and caused damage estimated at N2 billion in our community.

 

“Several arrests were made then, while the principal suspects disappeared, and the matter was eventually settled out of court through intervention from the then Ooni of Ife and the former Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.

 

“But in recent times, a group of hoodlums has been harassing our residents along the federal road connecting Ife South to Ijebu West LGs ( in Osun and Ogun states, respectively). The hoodlums have been extorting money from passersby, claiming to be acting on behalf of the state government. Continue reading Osun monarch petitions IG over threat to destroy community

The Anambra State Government has expressed its preparedness to respond effectively to any flood related emergency by taking precautionary measures across the state to avert any disaster.

The Commissioner for Environment, Dr Felix Odimegwu, made this known in an interview with journalists in Awka, on Saturday, adding that the ministry in collaboration with relevant agencies, has intensify the sensitisation of the people to this year’s rainfall and likely flooding.

This is coming ahead of the three-day rainy weather conditions predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency starting from Saturday to Monday across Nigeria.

Also, fears have gripped residents since last Monday when a heavy downpour caused severe flooding around Zik’s Avenue, Iweka Road, near the popular Ochanja Market in Onitsha, the commercial centre of the state, ravaged some shops and disrupted business activities in the area.

The flood, triggered by several hours of non-stop rainfall and worsened by blocked drainage channels, submerged the entire stretch of Zik’s Avenue, displacing traders and halting commercial operations as well as both vehicular and non-vehicular movements throughout the day.

Videos of the flooding still circulating online showed when traders and residents struggled to salvage goods from flooded shops, while tricycle operators were seen struggling to rescue his vehicles from being swept away by the rising waters.

Reacting to these developments, Odimegwu stated that the campaign and sensitisation was in response to early warnings from NiMET indicating that Anambra was among the states at high risk of flooding during the rainy season.

He said, “After the first six months seasonal prediction by NiMet, we disseminated the information and notified residents, especially those living at the coastal areas about the upcoming rainfall and flooding consequences, and urged the general public to be absolutely careful and prepared for it.

“The state government has consistently sensitises the people to desist from blocking water channels and drainages in and around surroundings of their houses to pave way for easy flow of flooding. The blockage of water drainages is the root cause of man-made flooding.

“What we are doing is that whatever would cause flooding in the urban areas by man, we will try to prevent it. But, if it is the flooding caused by river rising above the sea level, we will give warning to people living in the riverine areas to prepare on how to vacate.”

The Commissioner further said that the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, is equally showing great concerns to flood devastations in the state in the last three years and as a result, has constituted committees headed by the Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachi Ibezim.

According to him, the committees constitute officials of the ministry of environment, ministry of health, ministry of information, ministry of education, local government chairmen, and State Emergency Management Agency.

“The reason for constituting the committees is for us to start in time to strategise and put measures in place ahead of this year’s flooding in case it occurs. The Committees were formed since 2022 when flood devastated about nine local government areas of the state.

“After that 2022 flood devastation, we vowed that such disaster cannot occur again, but if it eventually happens, the effects will not be as severe as it was in 2022 because of the measures we have put in place.

“Now, rains have started, every week I send notice of early warnings to some other stakeholders who are in the standing Committees which local government chairmen are also among them because they have their own local emergency management committees who manage the crisis if it occurs.

“The early warning signs have become important because it will alert to how and when it will rain heavily and provides avenue for them to prepare and be careful whether the rain will cause flooding or not,” he added.

He also pointed out that the weekly early warning alerts will equally help farmers in the riverine areas to harvest their products to avoid being submerged by flood, stressing that the early warning/ signs of rains also helps traders, artisans and civil servants to adjust their movements to avoid being caught up by rain.

The commissioner said, “We will continue posting the early warning signs until we reach the peak of rain season. During this period, we will now embark on manual preventive measure ‘Called Marking’. There is an object that has different coloured edges which we buried in the ground that shows the level of rising water from the sea.

“From the object, when water level reaches the green edge, it indicates that there is no problem, but if it rises from green to yellow edge, it indicates that people should be vigilant and by then, we will tell people to start packing to where we arranged for them. If the water level rises to red edge, then there is great danger. Red edge is a situation where flood begins to carry people and destroy properties.”

The Kebbi State Government has commenced the evacuation and clearance of drainage systems across sensitive areas of the state.

The Commissioner for Urban Development, Hayatu Bawa, made this known on Friday in a statement issued to journalists in Birnin Kebbi.

He explained that the exercise is part of ongoing efforts to prepare the state ahead of the rainy season.

According to the commissioner, the clearance is aimed at removing waste and other blockages from waterways to ensure the free flow of rainwater, thereby preventing the overflow that often leads to flooding in residential areas.

“We have already begun clearing drains to allow water to flow freely during the rainy season. This is intended to prevent the devastating effects of flooding,” Bawa said.

 

He commended Governor Nasir Idris for approving the initiative and for providing the necessary financial and logistical support to the ministry, which he said has ensured a smooth and effective operation.

Bawa also used the opportunity to caution residents against constructing buildings on waterways and the indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

He emphasised that such practices contribute significantly to flooding.

He further advised people living in flood-prone communities to consider relocating to safer, upland areas to safeguard lives and property.

“The clearing of drains remains one of the most effective ways of preventing flood disasters, and we urge the public to cooperate with government efforts,” he added.

The state government reaffirmed its commitment to prioritising environmental safety and protecting citizens from the dangers of seasonal flooding.