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THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) took its two-day protest in support of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Assembly on Wednesday. Members from affiliates of the NLC gathered in thousands in front of the National Assembly complex, with scores carrying placards urging the Federal Government to resolve the impasse with ASUU and other striking university workers in the country. Leaders of major civil society organisations, including the Country Director, Actionaid, Ene Obi, joined the workers in the protest. A former senator who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, was also at the protest. Addressing the gathering, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the government should not allow ASUU’s five-month-old strike to continue. He threatened that should the government fail to meet ASUU’s demands within a short time, the NLC would proceed on a nationwide strike.   “If there is no intervention, no urgency, the issue remains the way i

CHIEF Judge of Akwa Ibom State Justice Ekaette Obot on Wednesday sent a lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, to jail for one month from the courtroom. Justice Obot also ordered the arrest of a Premium Times reporter Saviour Imukudo, who was in the court to cover Effiong’s case. Effiong, a human rights lawyer, was handling a case for his client before the judge sent him to prison. Shortly after the court sitting, the lawyer announced his travails on Twitter. “I have been sent to Uyo prison by the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, for one month for defending Leo Ekpenyong in a libel suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel,” Effiong said. The Premium Times reporter, Imukudo, was also arrested by the police in the same court on the orders of the Akwa Ibom Chief Judge. Imukodo was covering the court sitting when he was harassed and ushered out of the court before Justice Obot ordered his arrest. Imukudo was in the court to cover the defamation case between Akwa Ibom State g

It was over breakfast with former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Jude Agbaso when he said to me, "Obinna, if there is one thing I am certain about, it's the fact that Gov Hope Uzodinma really wants to work for Ndi Imo. We have seen governors come and go and you don't need a soothsayer to tell you that Uzodinma wants to leave a legacy behind by the time he leaves office." I agree with Sir Jude Agbaso. Listening to Gov Hope Uzodimma flagging off the Owerri to Umuahia road the other day, I heard a man with a passion to work for his people. A man who is not distracted from the mission to give his people they best he can offer to give them. Gov Hope Uzodinma became governor of Imo State at a very peculiar time, when the insurgency and banditry we used to read on the pages of newspapers as regular occurance in the North, suddenly decided to come down to the South East. From Chief Achike Udenwa to Dr Ikedi Ohakim, down to Senator Rochas Okorocha, it has never been this ba

...Imo people are my only asset. The Governor of Imo State, Sen. Hope Uzodimma has reiterated his commitment and administration’s resolve to serve and work for the common good of Imolites especially as it concerns development and wealth creation. These he tends to achieve by placing the state above personal interest. In his emotion-laden speech at the flag-off of Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa road construction, Gov. Hope Uzodimma reinstated that upon assumption of office, he entered into a covenant of shared prosperity with only the people as his asset. “I entered into a covenant of shared prosperity, I *own* no hotel or property in Imo State, my only assets are the people.” as declared by Gov. Hope Uzodimma. This declaration is not far from the truth as the Governor has continued to live up to the mandate of shared prosperity and ensuring that the State is lifted up from poverty through his administration’s numerous achievements. Since the inception of the Shared Prosperity Government in the Stat

The Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma has charged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on a flawless win in the upcoming 2023 General Elections. His Excellency stated this during the APC South East Zonal Stakeholders' meeting held yesterday, at Rockview Hotels Owerri with notable party stalwarts from the region in attendance. Speaking one after the other, the leaders expressed conviction of victory at the poll and encouraged all party faithful to form a united front ahead of the 2023 General Elections. Among other Party Chairmen and Leaders who spoke, the Imo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), McDonald Ebere Ph.D, outlined the numerous giant strides of the Shared Prosperity Government, their strategies as well as the achievements of the party on ground. He further stressed the need to focus the campaign on purposeful governance to the people. #HopeNewAndElectronicMediaCenter

Over the years, the people of Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Oru East LGAs that make up the Imo State Oil Producing Communities, have been subjected to what they never bargained for in exchange for their God-given natural resources, mined from their soil. In a recent development on the activities of the Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC) towards the development of the oil-rich communities, N41m electricity bill backlog accumulated since 2011 for the three Local Government Areas of Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Oru East. This is a follow up to the electricity rehabilitation project of the ISOPADEC across the oil producing communities, having purchased and delivered all the needed electricity equipment to reactivate the electricity network in these Local Government Areas. Receiving the bank draft on behalf of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), Mr. Ezeoha Nnamani, the Operations Manager, commended the Shared Prosperity administration of His Excellency the Di