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A gas plant located in the Rumukurusi axis of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, went up in flames early on Tuesday, causing panic among residents and business owners in the area.

It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 5 am when most people were still asleep.

Residents said they woke after hearing people shouting from the location of the gas facility owned by Hydropet Oil Services Limited.

A shop owner in the area who simply gave her name as Grace, said she saw the fire when she woke up around 5:20 am

She stated, “So I quickly came out to the road leading to Eneka, lo and behold it was Hydropet gas plant that was on fire. The fire was huge. I was so afraid because My shop is close to that place.”

Leading Reporters learnt that it was the Shell fire service that extinguished the fire which lasted for about four hours.

“Imagine from Artillery to Eleme Junction there is no fire station. Even when the Federal Fire Service came within a short time they ran out of water.

“Thank God for the Shell Fire Services because we don’t know maybe the tank would have exploded.”

Meanwhile, many residents and business owners thronged out to catch a glimpse of the fire, while some expressed worry over a possible explosion.

Scores of policemen and the fire service team cordoned off the area with red lights and prevented vehicles from further accessing the road.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Grace Iringe-Koko, said she would find out from the police division and get back to our correspondent.

She had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report on Tuesday morning.

The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has fixed December 5 to commence hearing in the lawsuit filed by the factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, seeking to take control of the state legislature.

Ehie had announced his emergence as Speaker following the crisis that rocked the Assembly in the wake of the move by the original Speaker,   Martin Amaewhule, and 23 other lawmakers to impeach Governor Siminialayi Fubara.

He later filed the suit, praying the court to restrain Amaewhule from parading himself as Speaker or presiding over the affairs of the House.

Earlier, the court had ordered parties to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of Ehie’s suit.

But Ehie later commenced contempt proceedings against Amaewhule, alleging that his faction conducted legislative proceedings despite the court order.

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At the Monday’s proceedings, two lawyers clashed over the right to represent Ehie in the matter.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, K.C.0. Njemanze, told the court that he had been hired to take over from N O. Akporuvweku,  who was originally in charge of the case.

But  Akporuvweku argued that he had yet to be served any notice of change in counsel and insisted that he and the team remained the plaintiff’s counsel.

Meanwhile, counsel for the first and second defendants, Ferdinand Oshoke, prayed the court to consolidate and accelerate hearing on all applications filed in the matter since the matter borders on the legislative arm of government.

Justice Phoebe Ayua adjourned the case till December 5 to enable  Ehie’s lawyers to regularsze their appearances and also for parties in the matter to serve processes on each other.

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Chief Pius Akinyelure, as the Chairman of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Leading Reporters can authoritatively report.

This is just as the President has retained Mallam Mele Kyari as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited following his impressive performance which has been described as unrivalled in the entire history of the national oil company.

Before his appointment as Chairman, Akinyelure was a member of the board of the NNPC Limited.

Akinyelure, a seasoned and distinguished administrator, and an oil industry practitioner is being appointed to Chair the NNPC Limited Board about five months after the President dissolved the board of federal government’s agencies and parastatsals including that of the NNPC Limited.

Before the President’s dissolution of board of federal government parastatals on June 19 this year, the board of the NNPC Limited was chaired by Mrs Margary Okadigbo who was appointed on January 5, 2022 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

She occupied the position for 17 months before the dissolution of the board by President Tinubu.

Findings by Leading Reporters revealed that she is being replaced by Chief Akinyelure who is a certified Accountant with a Master of Science Degree in Management, specializing in organizational behaviour.

Chief Akinyelure also had over 30 years working experience in the Oil industry at top management/executive levels, both Upstream and Downstream.

Prior to his retirement from Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc on June 1, 1997, he was the Executive Director, Finance and External Relations for the company.

He has been Chairman/Director of several companies/financial institutions in the past, which include Wema Bank Plc, Credite Bank Ltd, Odu’a Investment Limited, Oluwa Glass Plc, Okitipupa Oil Palm Plc, Odu’a Telecomunications Limited, Cocoa Industries Nigeria Ltd, Hallmark Bank and West African Portland Cement Plc.

He is also Chairman/Director in several other companies like King Guards Nigeria Ltd, Seg Mahsen & Co.(NIG) LTD, POA Investment Ltd, Eres N.V Nig. Ltd, Transnational Computer Technology, SPA dredging Company Limited, Pak Oil Marketing Limited, ACOP Properties Limited, Betta Consortium (Ikoyi Hotels) and CAT Construction Company Limited.

Leading Reporters understands that Kyari’s retention as NNPC Limited GCEO is a confirmation of the confidence which the President has in the reforms and programmes being implemented under his leadership.

Kyari has kept his promise to the NNPC Limited and Nigeria by increasing the nation’s oil reserves to 40 billion barrels, from 37 billion barrels.

The NNPC Boss has also assisted in resolving disputes around deep offshore bloc to further boost the nation’s oil production and ensuring the successful flag-off of the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project.

The project was described by former President Muhammadu Buhari as a game changer for the oil and gas industry.

The NNPC Group, which became a CAMA Company in 2021 following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, grew its profit from N287bn in 2020 to N674bn in 2021 under Kyari’s leadership.

The N674bn profit posted by the NNPC Group in the 2021 financial period represents an increase of N387bn or 134.8 per cent when compared to the N287bn recorded in 2020.

The 2021 financial year made it the fourth consecutive years that the NNPC will be making its Audited Financial Statement public.

This was one of the innovations made by Kyari when he took over the helms of affairs of the National Oil Company.

Since he assumed office, Kyari has pursued his Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda, a five-step strategic roadmap for NNPC’s attainment of efficiency and global excellence.

Kyari, during the inauguration, had said pursuing TAPE was the only way to turn around the corporation and make it competitive.

Under the roadmap, the Transparency component of the agenda was aimed at maintaining positive image, share values of integrity and transparency to all stakeholders, while the Accountability segment of the campaign is to assure compliance with business ethics, policies, regulations and accountability to all stakeholders.

In terms of the two-prong item of Performance Excellence, Kyari had said the idea was to entrench a high level of efficiency anchored on efficient implementation of business processes which would also emplace an appropriate reward system for exceptional performance among the workforce.

Just last month, the NNPC Limited and the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Malam Mele Kyari, won the 2023 Nigeria GovTech Awards for exceptional service delivery in the public sector.

While the National Oil Company won the Best Federal MDA in Digital Initiatives in Reengineering Government Processes Award, the GCEO carted home the Distinguished GovTech Trailblazer Award.

The awards were in recognition of the GCEO leadership’s proactive steps in activating the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that is hinged on digital automation of the company’s processes.

The single, sure-footed act of automation, emplaced to, among others, mitigate the effects of COVID-19, has brought about efficiency, high performance, and sustenance of the NNPC Ltd’s operations post-pandemic, for which the GCEO is now referred to as “Mr. Automation” in the industry.

Significantly, the GCEO, through the NNPC IT Division, automated Key Performance Indicator Dashboard across the entire IT Enterprise and Architecture, thereby improving reporting efficiency real-time performance tracking.

Kyari also activated Microsoft Enterprise Additional Licenses for NNPC Digital Transformation initiatives, leading to an estimated cost-saving of over $1m to the Company.

Both the NNPC Ltd. and the GCEO shone like a thousand stars at the venue of the awards at the International Conference Centre.

Over forty coalition of Civil society Organizations (CSOs) has supported the ongoing reforms at the National Assembly orchestrated by the Clerk of the House, Sani Magaji Tambuwal, however described recent unverified media report as unfortunate and fraudulent.

The group expressed concern on the negative story sponsored by some individuals and group in National Assembly management without proper investigation by media houses before going to the press.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja over the weekend, the Chairperson of the Conference of Civil Societies, and Coordinator of Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMICO), Comrade Adams Otakwu stated that while the management of the National Assembly is not immune from investigations, the media practitioners should not allowed itself to be used as pawn in the political chess game by those who lost out in any contest in National Assembly management leadership.

Comrade Otakwu noted that the activities of these individuals and groups who hide under the umbrella of Civil Societies to blackmail and extort public officials, perpetrate heinous crimes and indulge in reactionary and fraudulent activities, portray a bad image of the civil society, and undermine national security.

He expressed concern over incessant blackmails of the Armed Forces, Security Agencies, National Assembly and other critical institutions in the country, by subversive elements and so-called ‘coalition of civil societies’ or ‘concerned citizens groups’.

Otakwu who further described such needless and mindless machinations as “inimical to the country’s progress” also cautioned against them, and disclosed plans by the Conference of Civil Societies to collaborate with the Armed Forces, Security and Intelligence Community to clamp down on these elements in the interest of National Security and development.

National coordinator of the PYF, Otunba Bamidele Adigun, and National Organising Secretary, Musa Isah, on their part stated that since Tambuwal’s assumption of office as the CNA, there have been a telling improvement in staff welfare and communication in the National Assembly bureaucracy.

“It is a fact that since Mr. Sani Magaji Tambuwal’s emergence as the CNA in November, 2022 and his eventual confirmation in March this year, there have been marked improvement in staff welfare and communication with top management within the National Assembly bureaucracy,” Adigun and Isah stated in the statement.

According to the group, “the payment of N3.7bn CON-PECULIAR and other outstanding entitlements within a few months in office and the upgrade of the NASS clinic with plans for the state-of-the-art equipment, easing the transportation needs of workers with eight new buses and effecting the payment of N35, 000 palliative grant, from September,2023 are few of the pragmatic leadership of Mr. Tambuwal this past one year in office.

“We wish to further state that, we have diligently followed his leadership and management style, it is gratifying to know and see that all outstanding workers welfare packages and entitlements are been cleared as well as increase in trainings and retraining for all cadres of staff in the NASS service.

“It is on this note and many more, we call on Mr. Tambuwal to remain focused, accountable and ignore mischief makers and those given to blackmail and trading in spurious allegations.”People should be guided by their conscience in all that they do so as not to impugn on the integrity and reputation of honest leaders, desirous for the right things to be done.” they added.

The Women Advocate Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) has task government at all levels to expedite action on the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act to reduce cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) recorded across the country.

The Founder/Executive Director, WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi in a recent statement on the sideline of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, with the theme “UNiTE – Invest to Prevent Violence against Women & Girls.” stated that beyond laws, the implementation of the VAPP Act in would reduce the cases of GBV.

Meanwhile, Akiyode-Afolabi explained that the 16 Days of Activism, spanning from November 25th to December 10th, symbolizes a collective call to action against one of the most pervasive violations of human rights – gender-based violence.

She noted that this year’s theme underscores the imperative to invest in proactive measures that can effectively prevent violence directed at women and girls.

Her words:

“WARDC recognizes the importance of fostering a world where every woman and girl can live free from fear, intimidation, and violence.

“Through our unwavering commitment to advocacy, Legal aid, research and documentation, we strive to shed light on the intricate dynamics of gender-based violence, providing valuable insights that inform policies and interventions.

“Investing in prevention means addressing root causes, dismantling harmful stereotypes, and empowering individuals and communities to actively reject violence. By supporting education, advocacy, and awareness initiatives, we contribute to the creation of a society where equality is not just an ideal but a lived reality.”

She further explained that during these 16 Days of Activism, WARDC will engage in a series of events, webinars, and awareness campaigns to amplify the message of unity against gender-based violence.

“We invite the community, stakeholders, and partners to join hands with us in this collective endeavor to build a world where every woman and girl can thrive without the fear of violence.

“Together, let us UNiTE and invest in a future where the rights and dignity of women and girls are upheld, and gender-based violence becomes an intolerable relic of the past.” She added.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended all the wet-leased aircraft under the United Nigeria Airlines (UNA).

This comes a few hours after one of the aircraft of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA) diverted to Asaba International Airport on Sunday rather than the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA).

According to a source close to the NCAA, the regulatory body took the decision on Monday via a letter communicated to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the airline.

According to the source, all the wet-leased aircraft in the operations of the airline would remain suspended pending the outcome of an investigation on the Sunday incident involving one of the wet-leased aircraft in the fleet of the airline.

It was gathered that immediately after the incident gained traction on social media on Sunday, the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Capt. Musa Nuhu called an emergency meeting of the agency, where it was resolved that the excuse given by the airline was not tenable to the authority.

It was further gathered that the report obtained from the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) contradicted the airline’s claim on poor weather situation in Abuja at the time of the diversion.

No fewer than two wet-leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft are in the fleet of United Nigeria Airlines.