A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Joe Igbokwe has blamed the deteriorating security situation in the South-East on activities of some citizens of the region.

In a controversial post on his official Facebook page on Monday, Igbokwe exonerated Fulani herdsmen that were hitherto accused of causing the mayhem in the South-Eastern part of the nation.

According to Igbokwe, Igbos are the ones “destroying” the five states in the geo-political zone.

He wrote, “From Anambra to Enugu State, from Enugu to Ebonyi State, from Ebonyi to Abia State and from Abia to Imo State it is no longer Fulani Herdsmen.

“It’s Igbo kidnapping Igbo, it is Igbo killing Igbo, it is Igbo destroying Igboland. So that you know”.

JomogNews reports that the APC chieftain has been vocal against the wanton killings allegedly being carried out by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Some prominent personalities were recently kidnapped and killed by the daredevil criminal elements.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, has agreed to restore electricity supply at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan.

The announcement was made on Monday during a visit of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu to the hospital.

Recall that UCH has been having power crisis in the last one year.

The power supply to the hospital was cut of by IBEDC three times in 2024.

The electricity distribution company has now agreed to restore the power supply within 48 hours.

This was part of the resolutions of the tripartite meeting between Adelabu, the Chief Medical Director of UCH, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, and the management team of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, led its Managing Director, Francis Agoha.

Our correspondent reports that while the meeting was ongoing, some medical students were protesting close to the venue of the meeting.

Adelabu, who spoke after the meeting, said that all the issues relating to the lingering power crisis had been resolved.

He described the lingering power crisis as not only an embarrassment to the management of the hospital but the federal government.

“Power crisis in the UCH has gone to embarrassing level. It is quite embarrassing to have the hospital in total darkness for so long. I have intervened in the matter several times but the problem still lingers.

“Other Teaching Hospitals, including the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH), University of Calabar, Maidiguri and Abuja that had similar issue were able to surmount it through the Federal government intervention of Solar mini grid.

“Similar thing will be done at the University of Ibadan and the College of Medicine. The Federal government will install 50 mgw solar mini grid which will be completed within the first and second quarter of the year.

“Also, while this is going on, the IBEDC has agreed to restore electricity to some sections of the Hospital within 48 hours while N283m will be settled on an instalment basis.

“The management of the UCH has agreed on immediate settlement of the debt on instalment payment which is going to be between 8-12 months in addition to the current bill,” he stated.

Polaris Bank and one of its strategic CSR partners, Evolve Trust Charity on Wednesday stormed Gbaja Girls (Junior and Senior) High School, Surulere, Lagos in continuation of its presentation of school essentials programme to selected public school students in the country.

The partnership which birthed in 2021 and primarily focused on empowering the girl-child and their male counterparts has reached over 15,000 students across 35 public schools in nine states including Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Imo and FCT, Abuja. Amongst other things, the initiative includes empowering young learners with brain training techniques and emotional intelligence education alongside making and distributing user-sized school essentials (bags, uniforms, sandals, books, and pens). The initiative also captures training of teachers in the respective schools, all sponsored by the Bank.

Speaking at the presentation on Wednesday, the Bank’s Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Mrs. Abimbola Ozomah emphasized that the Bank being a signatory to United Nations’ (UN) Principles for Responsible Banking aligns its practices and strategies with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement thus igniting its sustained interests in the training of the girl-child.

According to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), there are about 10.5 million out of school children in Nigeria with six million of them being girls.

“This event is not just about distributing educational materials but empowering girls for bigger roles because educated girls grow into informed women. At Polaris Bank, we are committed to bridging the educational gap, empowering girls and building sustainability aligning with global framework,” she said.

The Executive Director further charged the students to embrace the opportunities inherent in education while stating that the Bank will stop at nothing to support them.

“Education is most powerful tool at your disposal and you have to utilize it to the maximum. Polaris Bank will not relent in supporting this laudable mission to empower girls who will drive the needed change to better our country and world. This intervention is in line with the Bank’s ongoing sustainability efforts aimed at reducing out-of-school children population and increasing access to quality education, especially for the girl-child and we urge you all to take full advantage,” Ozoma noted.

Also speaking, Programme Manager at Evolve Charity Trust, Ejeh Godwin thanked Polaris Bank for keying into the Trust’s mission of supporting the girl-child nationwide. Godwin noted that while the initiative commenced in 2020, Polaris Bank partnered in 2021 and the Bank has never for once backed out since then.

“I want to specially appreciate Polaris Bank for their tremendous support since 2021 that the partnership started. We couldn’t have done this alone nor come this far without their support. We’ve expanded our reach and hope to even bring more schools in other states on board this year, all thanks to Polaris Bank,” Ejeh said.

The Principal, Gbaja Girls Junior High School, Mrs Dabiri Nwabuoku Adetoun Iyabo in her remarks also appreciated Polaris Bank for including the school in the intervention programme.

“I want to specially thank Polaris Bank on behalf of staff and students for finding us worthy of benefitting from this laudable programme. You can feel the energy in the hall that the students are happy and so are the staff. This has boosted our morale, and we are incredibly happy about it,” the Principal enthused.

One of the beneficiaries and Assistant Senior Girl of the school, Bankole Oreofeoluwa Emmanuella also thanked the Bank for symbolic gesture while promising to put the items into judicious use.

“My friends and I are happy about this gesture from Polaris Bank, and we can’t thank the bank enough. These items will further ease our learning, and we promise to not only put them to judicious use, but imbibe good maintenance culture,” Bankole said.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of the items to students by officials of Polaris Bank and Evolve Charity Trust.

Photo caption:
PHOTO CAPTION
L-R: Divisional Head, SURULERE Business, Dr. Bimbo Akorede; Principal Gbaja Junior Girls School, Mrs.Tawakalitu Dahiru; ED, Corporate & Investment Banking, Polaris Bank, Mrs. Abimbola Ozomah; ED PaceGate Limited, Raj Totlani, Group Head, Customer Experience & Value Mngt; Bukola Oluyadi & GM, Evolve Charity Trust, Mr. Godwin Ejeh when Polaris Bank & Evolve Charity Donated over 200 Schools essentials to both Gbaja Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in SURULERE last week in Lagos