News
PWDs Demand Inclusion In Petroleum Industry Act Benefits
Timi Ebikeme, the Amananowei of Peretoru Kingdom, emphasised the importance of prioritising people with disabilities in community development.
Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have called on the federal government to develop a supplementary Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that ensures their inclusion in benefit structures outlined in the current law.
The demand was made during a three-day workshop on the PIA and Disability Laws in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, and organised by the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD).
The event, titled “Ending Barriers Against Niger-Deltans with Disabilities (EBAND)”, was funded by the Ford Foundation.
The PWDs, drawn from various disability clusters in Bayelsa, presented a charter of demands to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), urging the agency to ensure their voices and needs were included in the PIA’s benefit frameworks.
They noted that while the current PIA recognised the interests of women, youths, and traditional rulers, it was silent on the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
The group called on NUPRC to mandate Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) to integrate disability-related concerns in line with the National Disability Act, which stipulated a minimum five per cent employment quota for the disability community.
“One key provision of the PIA requires oil companies to contribute three per cent of their annual operating expenditure to fund HCDTs, which are responsible for driving development in host communities.”
Mayor Ekpomokumo, the chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Bayelsa, stated that the leadership of various disability clusters was united in demanding full inclusion in the implementation process of the PIA.
“JONAPWD, as the umbrella body of all PWD organisations in Bayelsa, is demanding inclusion in every structure of benefit within the PIA.
“It’s a shared call among all stakeholders,” Mr Ekpomokumo stated.
He added that the charter also involved other actors such as oil companies, traditional institutions, civil society organisations, and the business community.
David Anyaele, chairman of the Abia State Commission for the Welfare of Disabled Persons and Founder of CCD, assured participants of his commitment to ensure that PWDs were not excluded in Bayelsa.
“Globally, more than 1.3 billion people, about 16 per cent of the population, live with some form of disability,” Mr Anyaele said.
Godwin Unumeri, acting director of CCD, explained that from the creation of the Niger Delta Development Board in 1961 to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), PWDs had been consistently left out of development planning.
“When the PIA was being developed, efforts were made to include persons with disabilities, but they didn’t succeed.
“So now, we’re leveraging the opportunity to propose a supplementary framework, supported by the Ford Foundation, to address this gap,” Mr Unumeri said.
Timi Ebikeme, the Amananowei of Peretoru Kingdom, emphasised the importance of prioritising people with disabilities in community development.
“If you look closely at our communities, those who require the most attention are persons living with disabilities.
“Their inclusion in the PIA is not just necessary; it is overdue,” he said.
Gazettengr.com
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged winner of the Ghari/Tsanyawa supplementary election in Kano state
The returning officer, Professor Muhammad Waziri of Bayero University, declared Garba Ya’u Gwarmai of the APC winner with 31,472 votes
Waziri defeated the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Yusuf Ali Maigado, who polled 27,931 votes
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has secured victory in the Ghari/Tsanyawa supplementary election held in Kano state.
Announcing the results on Sunday morning, August 17, the returning officer (RO), Professor Muhammad Waziri from Bayero University, declared APC candidate Garba Gwarmai the winner with a total of 31,472 votes.
He defeated the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Yusuf Maigado, who polled 27,931 votes, according to The Punch.
The supplementary poll was conducted after the initial election in the constituency was declared inconclusive. With a margin of 3,541 votes, Gwarmai’s victory marks a key win for the APC as the party continues to reinforce its influence across the state.
Meanwhile, the NNPP won the Bagwai/Shanono state assembly by-election in Kano state.
Daily Trust and Vanguard noted this update.
Announcing the result at 12:36 a.m. on Sunday, August 17, the RO for the election, Prof. Hassan Adamu Shitu, declared the NNPP candidate, Ali Hassan Kiyawa, winner with 16,198 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Ahmad Muhammad Kadamu, who polled 5,347 votes.
Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is performing well but lacks an effective communication strategy to relay its achievements to Nigerians.
Aliyu made the statement on the Thursday edition of Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, while reacting to the outcome of a recent public accountability session held in Kaduna.
Aliyu, reflecting on the discussions at the Kaduna Forum, said the government is facing public dissatisfaction not because it hasn’t delivered, but because it is failing to tell its own story effectively.
The ex-governor said it is proper for political leaders in the North to make demands from Tinubu’s administration since the bulk of the votes that took power came from the region.
“Let the people understand what is happening on the ground. If by what we say that 63/64 percent of the vote came from the north, it is only logical that the north will be expecting so much from the government.
“But from what we have seen so far is that the government is doing well but they do not know how to communicate very well,” he said.
News
New Twist As El-Rufai Snubs ADC, Announces Another Party To Vote In Kaduna Bye-Election [ Video Trends]
Former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai, appeared to have taken a reverse from the coalition’s adopted political platform, ADC
This is as the former governor took to social media and asked the people of Zaria, Chikun to vote for another party in the Saturday, August 16 (today), bye-elections in the constituencies in Kaduna
Recall that the former governor recently visited Sokoto to canvass support for the ADC, while criticising President Bola Tinubu and the APC government.
Click to watch El-Rufai’s video here
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) August 14, 2025
Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna, has fueled speculations that he dumped the recently adopted coalition political platform, African Democratic Congress (ADC), as he called on the people of Chikun/Kajuru federal constituency and Zaria Kewaye and Basawa state constituency to vote for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
However, in a dramatic turn, the former governor urged the people of Zaria and Chikun to vote for the SDP in the Saturday, August 16, by-election, a poll which was meant to test the opposition’s strength ahead of the 2027 general election.
Recall that El-Rufai defected to the SDP after dumping the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but soon after joining the party, the SDP fell into a leadership crisis, and the former governor has been silent on his membership and allegations against him.
El-Rufai recently visited Sokoto on a mission to gather support for the ADC. He described his action as a patriotic one to rescue Nigeria from the grip of ‘nepotism’ and ‘incompetence’.
During his visit to Sokoto, the former governor attended two important events meant to sensitise the people and political stakeholders working to achieve the agenda of sacking President Tinubu and the APC in the next general election.
During his address at the event, the former governor lambasted the ruling party and called them ‘a failed, clannish, and visionless administration that has plunged Nigeria into deeper socio-economic misery’.
He declared that it was time for Nigerians to rise against the APC and accused the party of ‘broken promises and elite conspiracy’. He warned that any move to vote for the APC beyond 2027 would be a greater doom for the country.
However, in a sharp turn, the former governor, in a video posted on his social media page ahead of the by-election, urged the people in the constituencies where the poll will be held in Kaduna on Saturday, August 16, to vote for the SDP rather than the ADC he went to Sokoto to canvass for.
“I Don’t Pray My Prophecies Come To Pass” – Primate Ayodele Drops Shocking Message [VIDEO]
BREAKING: Winner Emerges In Kano Bye-Election As APC, NNPP Lock Horns
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