At least over a thousand delegates cutting across the clergies, amongst them Archbishops, Bishops, and hundreds of Laity in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) from the 165 dioceses in the Church of Nigeria, representing the clergy, laity and the women ministry of the church”. The meeting began on February 20, 2022, but the official opening ceremony held on Wednesday, February 23 while the meeting is to end February 25.

The Most Reverend Dr. Henry Ndukuba, the Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, presented the awards to the awardees at St Andrews Anglican Church at Rumuobiokani in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, 23^rd February, 2022. He noted that the awardees were considered to be courageous in their stands and duties to their people and humanity at large in the most trying times.

He noted in his speech that “This award supersedes religion. We are tired of leaders that are not responsible and that is why we the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion deemed it fit to honour those who have excellently proven themselves worthy in serving their people: Our intentions are to bring to the fore the selfless service of leaders in such a trying time and these awardees stands out”, Primate Ndukuba declared amidst ovation in the Church.

The Primate noted that “Professor Zulum, Hon. Otom, Dr. Okowa and Senator Aberibe are true leaders, worthy of emulation and we are proud to have them among leaders in the country. Some of them have been attacked severally while discharging their duties but continued to show zeal and passion to bring hope to their people. He praised Professor Zulum for daring the insurgents in Borno state that has suffered 12 year insurgency. We pray God to continue to guide, protect, bless and uplift Professor Babagana Zulum now and always” the Primate added.

While other recipients came personally to receive the award, the Borno state governor was ably represented by the Borno State Head of Service, Barrister Simon Malgwi.

The governor had signed three other bills presented to him by the Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, accompanied by principal officers of the house into law.

The bills include the Delta State University (Amendment) bill 2021, Delta State Printing and Publishing Corporation (Amendment) bill, 2021, Delta State House of Assembly Service (Establishment etc.) bill, 2021; Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) bill, 2021 and Delta State Judiciary Fund Management (Financial Autonomy) bill, 2021.

According to him, the bills were very important in the life of his administration, explaining that the amendment to Delta State University Law was needed in order to give effect to the Dennis Osadebay University to return the faculties of Agriculture, Management and Environmental Sciences from Asaba to Abraka.

“But, very important are the two bills that give autonomy to Delta State House of Assembly and the State Judiciary.

“You will recall that in the last two years we have been operating autonomy for the House of Assembly, but because of the recent events in our nation, it became necessary to have an amendment to that law which we had previously passed as a state to conform with that being done across the nation.

“We had to repeal the initial law to re-enact the Delta State House of Assembly Fund Management Bill which has just been signed into law.

“In the same vein, the State Judiciary Fund Management Law had to be repealed also and to be re-enacted in conformity with the agreements reached among all the states of the federation.

“I am truly glad that today we have given full and acceptable financial autonomy to both the House of Assembly and the Judiciary.

He thanked the lawmakers for their cooperation and collaboration, noting that his administration had achieved a lot because of the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature.

Earlier, the Speaker, Oborevwori had said that the assembly had been enjoying financial autonomy since 2019 but needed to repeal the existing law to conform with the agreements reached by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and relevant stakeholders.

He said that the Delta State University Amendment Law would enable the state government to transfer the Faculties of Agriculture and Management Sciences from the defunct Anwai campus of Delta State University to the main campus at Abraka following the establishment of Dennis Osadebay University, Anwai-Asaba.

Source: Nigerian Tribune

The Governor made the comment on Saturday at an event in Asaba.

The Southern Governors had met on Tuesday in Delta state to discuss critical issues, including the farmer-herder crisis which has caused ruptures across the country.

A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf had criticised the move by the Governors to ban open grazing, saying they did not consult with Fulani leaders.

On Friday, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, also said Governors should be careful in how they approach the issue of restructuring.

But Okowa, who had hosted Tuesday’s meeting, said the Southern Governors were only re-echoing the voices of their people.

What Okowa said?

“We thank all our brothers in the south for coming together to speak for our people. The things that we’ve said are not new. It’s just the voice of our people that we have continued to echo.

“But unfortunately I read in the papers that somebody says we ought not to talk about certains things, being elected people. If the voice of your people has been heard madly and they’ve continued to talk and you are an elected person and you shy away from giving further voice to their voices, then you ought not be in the position that you occupy.

“We reaffirmed that as a people, as elected Governors, we believe in the unity of our country. But we also went forth to advance the need for certain things to be done in order to give strength to that unity. That cannot be a reason for us to be vilified, obviously not.

“We talked about restructuring, which has been on the table for so long. Both the voices of the PDP and the APC itself have endorsed restructuring. And restructuring is all-inclusive and all-encompassing. We may have different views, different approaches to the restructuring, but when we sit on the table in dialogue, we will be able to agree best what is good for Nigeria and what is good for the component parts of Nigeria.”