Category Nigeria News

The Rivers State Government has unveiled a coordinated plan to combat malnutrition through stronger health systems, sustainable food production, and expanded community engagement.

The Administrator of the State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), stated this during the launch of the Rivers State Nutrition 774 Town Hall Stakeholders’ Workshop in Port Harcourt.

Ibas, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Ibibia Worika, called for urgent and united action.

Themed “Strengthening Capacity to Drive Action for Nutrition Delivery,” the initiative brings together government agencies, communities, and development partners under a single framework to improve nutrition security.

It will be driven by clear priorities, reliable data, sustainable financing, and outreach to every household.

According to Ibas, the state has already taken key steps, including allocating 10.8% of the 2025 budget to the health sector, creating nutrition departments, and establishing dedicated budget lines across ministries.

He also said the state will revitalise major health facilities such as the Mother and Child Hospital and the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Diagnosis Centre.

On food security, he cited the planned revamp of the Songhai Integrated Farm and the reactivation of the Rivers State Cassava Processing Plant in Oyigbo to strengthen agricultural value chains.

READ ALSO: GMO Foods Are ‘Not Bad For Us,’ Should Be Labelled — NAFDAC

The Rivers State Council on Nutrition will lead implementation with data-driven monitoring and measurable results. National and local stakeholders also pledged support.

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Health in the Presidency, Uju Rochas-Anwukah, described malnutrition as a national emergency, adding that Nutrition 774 is designed to deliver integrated interventions in health, education, agriculture, social protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Imaonyani Ephraim-George, has urged participants to turn plans into concrete action through inter-agency collaboration.

Traditional rulers and local government administrators are also committed to the campaign.

Unruly behaviour in aviation is a serious offence that threatens lives and must be met with strict action, forensic expert Abiodun Osiyemi has warned.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily on Channels TV on Wednesday, Osiyemi said, “Unruly behaviour can range from hijacking a plane, in other words, you go to the cockpit, punch the captain or whatever — and that is a very heinous, serious offence.

“It can include beating any passenger or any cabin crew member. It can even prevent the motion of the plane, which threatens other people and other persons in the Airdrop,” he said.

He stressed that aviation offences are as serious as those in medicine because errors can cost lives.

“Unruly behaviour in the aviation industry is particularly serious, just like the medical environment because the damage is usually as a result of life,” he explained.

On in-flight instructions, Osiyemi explained that compliance rules differ across jurisdictions but can be absolute.

READ ALSO: FG Orders Withdrawal Of Case Against Ibom Airline Passenger

“’Switch off your phone’ is different from ‘Put your phone in flight mode’. In some air spaces, they permit you to put your phone in flight mode. In some environments and flights, it is switched off. Therefore, there is no ambiguity about compliance with the instruction; it is absolute.”

He commended Nigerians, regulators, and law enforcement for their handling of the ValueJet and Ibom Air cases.

“What should have come first is to thank the entire citizens and public in Nigeria because of their concern and interest in the subject matter… to also thank the regulators on their recent decision because it is a learning curve and very proactive, and to thank the law enforcement agents and the police for their role.”

On passenger awareness, he criticised the current ticket agreement process as inadequate.

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun investigating one Duru Ikechukwu Damian, who was arrested by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for allegedly failing to declare the sum of $59,000 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

This was made known via the Commission’s official X handle on Wednesday

According to the EFCC, Damian was intercepted by customs operatives on Monday, during a routine check at the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Currency Declaration Desk. He was scheduled to travel to Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.

The suspect reportedly declared only $10,000, but a search revealed an additional $49,000, bringing the total amount in his possession to $59,000.

During the formal handover to the EFCC on Tuesday, the Area Comptroller of the NCS at the airport, E. I. Harrison, said the process was part of ongoing enforcement measures.

“Today, we are having a process that we have been doing over a period of time. When we intercept currencies, we do the needful of handing over to the appropriate agencies of government. We have carried out sensitisation and public announcements. At the airport, announcements are made at intervals on the need for travellers to declare their currencies, and the electronic signages in the halls display these messages. Yet, at intervals, we also have people who fail to adhere to the extant laws and regulations,” Harrison stated.

READ ALSO: EFCC Warns ADC Against Politicising Corruption Cases

Receiving the suspect, the Acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC, ACE I Ahmed Ghali, stressed the Commission’s resolve to uphold the law.

A security consultant, Dickson Osajie, has called for the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) systems in all correctional facilities in the country owing to the spate of jail breaks in Nigeria. 

Osajie spoke on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief after 16 inmates escaped from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

“The Nigerian prison facilities, we need to know if they have CCTV monitoring systems in place. CCTV plays a role in psychological deterrence,” he told the breakfast show crew. 

“If these criminals are aware they are being monitored by CCTV systems, they will not take a step to carry out prison break activities. So, for the most part, they need to have the CCTV in place and have officers monitor it live.”

Osajie questioned how inmates could escape while officers were on duty and called for the need for technological surveillance, noting that every prison should have a control room to monitor all activities in real time.

“If we have a prison facility, we must have a control room in place that will monitor everything going on in the prison facility. Where are the technological systems to send a signal to the control room?” the Managing Director of DBreeze Protection Service asked. 

READ ALSO: FG Installing CCTV, Solar Lights On Third Mainland Bridge, Says Umahi

He said the recent jailbreak is proof that the current system has been breached, stating, “The crime has been committed, the escape has been committed, and that tells you that your security system has been defeated, and when your security system is defeated, you need to come on board and reassess.

“What we need to start looking at is the training of the correctional facility officers, let them understand and look within.”

He proposed that every prison facility should operate with “the concentric cycle of protection which has to do with three zones the outer zone, the middle zone, the inner zone because for a prisoner or for an inmate to escape, he must have passed through these zones from the inner zone where they are kept to the middle zone where you have the administrative blocks and to the outer zone before you can escape.”

Osajie wondered, “why these guys escape like that as if they are living in a bungalow or two-bedroom flat.

Public policy analyst and social commentator, Okonzuwa Osawaru, has called for a restoration of civility and public etiquette, stressing that disruptive behaviour in public spaces, especially in sensitive sectors like aviation, should not be tolerated.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief in reaction to the recent incidents aboard Ibom Air and the controversy involving Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Osawaru said aviation safety is a delicate matter and “not the kind of place to go and engage in prohibited conduct.”

“We have to learn to be civil and be polite and courteous,” he said on Wednesday, commending the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development for taking swift action on the incidents.

READ ALSO: FG Orders Withdrawal Of Case Against Ibom Airline Passenger

Osawaru noted that it was important for those not involved to understand that such misconduct would not be condoned in the future.

He underscored the importance of re-learning public etiquette, starting from schools, to lay the right foundation for societal conduct.

“The law is already there. It is just the implementation and how it is going to be done evenly. So the minister has done well,” he added.

Addressing the public interface between airline crew and passengers, he said most of the problems could not be solved overnight and would require a detailed study. He emphasised that disruptive behaviour in any public space must be addressed firmly to maintain order.