The Atlantic Bell

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Duoye Diri and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri have lamented the inability of host communities of oil companies and facilities to access funds for the development of communities through the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), describing the Act as “a time bomb” that could trigger fresh crisis in the Niger Delta.

Speaking separately at the triple celebrations of a book launch, 60th birthday and 25th marriage anniversary of the chairman of Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Bubaraye Dakolo in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, both officials bemoaned the hurdles which communities face accessing funds as host communities of oil companies and facilities.

Governor Diri said the only way to resolve conflicts in the Niger Delta oil-producing communities was for the federal government to take a fresh look at the PIA.

The governor spoke in reaction to a comment by the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who said litigations in host communities had made it impossible for them to access monies in the Petroleum Industry Trust Fund meant for their development.

Governor Diri revealed that when the PIA was a bill during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the state had argued in a presentation it made that excluding the oil-producing states and local councils from administration of host communities, as provided in the then bill, would result in crisis.

He said, “The PIA, as it was designed, is a time bomb because the Federal Government cut off states and local government councils to deal directly with communities. It is my submission that the percentage due to oil companies, conspiratorially reduced from 10 per cent to 3 per cent be reviewed.

“I also call on the Federal Government to immediately review the aspect where states and local government were excluded from administering what is due to the communities.

“The states and councils are closer to the communities and it was wrong to have excluded them from the administration of these communities. The current situation is a recipe for crisis and I urge President Bola Tinubu to review it.”

While congratulating Dakolo, who is the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, on the launch of his books, “The Pirates of the Gulf” and “The Kingfisher,” Diri described the monarch as a rare king, and urged the younger generation to see him as a role model.

He also described Dakolo as a literary giant, who took up the challenge after his ordeal at the Nigerian Defence Academy to fight injustice in the Niger Delta, emphasising that he has made positive impact on the Ijaw nation and the country as a whole.

Governor Diri launched the books with the sum of N100 million on behalf of the state government, and further directed the Ministry of Education to adopt “The Kingfisher” as part of the state’s secondary school curriculum.

“King Dakolo has served Bayelsa and Ijaw nation. Dakolo and l had been together in the Ijaw struggle. He is sound and very intelligent. He is a literary giant and l urge our youths of the ljaw nation to see him as their role model.”

In his remarks, Lokpobiri, who was chairman at the occasion described Dakolo as a man of many parts and a visionary leader and congratulated him on the various feats attained.

He lauded the monarch for his advocacy for a better deal for the Niger Delta people through his literary works, and equally called on operators of illegal refineries to desist from their activities as these contribute to the degradation of the environment.

Lokpobiri also bemoaned oil communities’ inability to access the trust fund for their development as a result of the crisis and litigations emanating from them.

The chief launcher and Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, equally commended Dakolo for documenting his experience, which he said would create more enlightenment about the struggles of the Niger Delta.

Ogbuku, who said the commission would buy as many copies of the two and distribute to schools in the region, expressed optimism that the gesture would help to promote education.

“The Pirates of the Gulf” was reviewed by Dr. Ebidenyefa Nikade, while Air Vice Marshal Kurotimi Obidake, representative of Major General Solomon Udounwa, reviewed the “Kingfisher”

A lecturer in the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Professor Loveday Asonye Nwanyanwu, has identified reasons why Nigeria’s economy has failed to show remarkable improvement in the last eleven years. This is in spite of policies and programmes initiated and aimed at improving and stabilising the economy.

According to him, some of the policies initiated by various administrations aimed at resuscitating the economy, including the privatisation of over 121 public enterprises between 1988 and 2009, the removal of subsidy on fuel on May 29, 2023 and the floating of the Naira in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market by the Central Bank of Nigeria in June 2023, among others have failed to make significant impact on the economy.

Professor Nwanyanwu stated that for the periods 1992-2008, a study of the impact of financial deepening on economic growth, which drew evidence from Nigeria, found that “broad money velocity and market liquidity promote economic growth while money stock diversification, economic volatility and market capitalization do not,” adding that those studies failed to consider “accountant’s ethics” as a major factor for economic growth.

Professor Nwanyanwu, who is of the Department of Accountancy in the Faculty of Administration and Management of the University, made these disclosures while delivering his Inaugural Lecture titled, “Managing A Nation’s Economy: The Quantitative And Qualitative Accounting Distinction,” on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at the university.

He recognised that for a nation to measure its economic growth, which is through its Gross Domestic Product, that ethical values, a qualitative accounting characteristics must be incorporated as an in-built moderator of human behaviour in the development and implementation of economic policies.

The university Don noted that Accountant’s ethics have the capacity to minimize or eliminate fraud in the environment. He further noted that “an economy devoid of ethics, as seen from the accountant’s perspective of integrity, objectivity, competence, due care and diligence, confidentiality, and professional behaviour aimed at countering negative national value systems of money, ego, power, coercion, ideology, and greed, is an economy devoid of sustainability.”

Prof. Nwanyanwu, whose model for sustainable national economy, states that budgets and other economic statistics are enriched with two inputs: qualitative accounting measures (accountant’s ethics) and qualitative accounting tools and techniques. He said that the application of this model produces economic blueprints that sustain economic growth and economic development because “it considers today, emphasizes tomorrow and focuses on the people.”

According to him, no meaningful economic policy can survive in the absence of accounting ethics, which is also part of human and business ethics. “If those entrusted with the management of our economy lack integrity, honesty, objectivity, transparency, accountability and reputation, economic blueprints will be devoid of relevance, faithfulness, comparability, verifiable, timeliness, and understandabilty,” he stated.

Prof. Nwanyanwu further stated that accountants who maintain and audit the financial statements of all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, education, banking and other financial institutions, agriculture, health, oil and gas information and technology, real estate, government ministries, departments and agencies, must rise up to resist fraudulent acts from within and without.
This they can do by instituting and implementing internal control systems and state legislation. Specifically, Prof Nwanyanwu noted that the establishment of institutional structures such as external audit, internal audit, and fraud agencies.

Though he acknowledged that the establishment of fraud control agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) Code of Conduct Bureau, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement Acts were aimed at safeguarding the economy from corrupt officials and enhance good governance, “the weight of the eroded value system makes these machineries look like a mirage.”

He lamented that , though little achievements have been made in the battle against fraud, “the attainment of good corporate governance and elimination of fraud will remain an illusion until the national value system is reversed and integrity, honesty, regard for productivity, knowledge and creativity, love for the nation and fear of public fund is restored.”

According to Prof. Nwanyanwu, for the economy of Nigeria to become sustainable, ethics must play a key role. He further recommended that “people entrusted with managing and implementing the nation’s economic policies should adopt critical realism or triangulation in generating data.

He also recommended that persons to be appointed to positions of governance and authority should be technocrats that possess honesty and integrity. “This is based on the realisation that the Fiscal health of the treasury depends not only on developing an economically sound policy that increased taxable capacity of the economy through economic development but also on honest and efficient financial management,” he said.

Other measures recommended by Prof Nwanyanwu include stoppage of the “dollarization of the economy, which causes inflation, leads to increase in interest rates and devalues the local currency.

He also recommended the establishment of a legislation prohibiting companies from remunerating their employees in foreign currencies, among other recommendations.

Speaking at the end of the lecture, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Isaac Zeb-Obipi commended the lecturer for a painstaking and well delivered lecture.

He said that the issue of ethics in dealing with financial figures is critical while it is important for government officials and leaders in all sectors to re-examine their conducts to ensure that they comply with expectations of the rules of engagements.

By: Celestine Ogolo

The Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) held a press briefing to update the public on the progress achieved over the last seven months under the administration of the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral (Rtd.) Ibok-Ette Ekwe Ibas. The briefing highlighted improvements in healthcare services, coverage expansion, and community engagement across the state.

Established by law in 2020, the scheme was signed into existence in June 2021 and implemented in February 2024 under the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Dr. Vetty Agala, Executive Secretary of RIVCHPP, at the event, presented an overview of the programme’s achievements over the past seven months. Among these were the enrollment of 20,000 pensioners and vulnerable groups—including children under five, pregnant women, the elderly, persons with disabilities, widows, orphans, and those living with HIV or other chronic conditions—as well as 2,500 inmates of the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre. She emphasized that, “those who served the state will not be forgotten,” noting that pensioners now retire with dignity and peace of mind, knowing they are protected health-wise by the government.

The RIVCHPP Governing Board, led by Chief Princewill Chike, was inaugurated during this period and has pledged operational support, including the provision of vehicles and expanded facilities.

Additionally, the scheme announced that all civil servants and their households have now been onboarded into the programme, granting them access to healthcare while protecting them from out-of-pocket medical expenses.

RIVCHPP, entrusted with full responsibility for implementing its health plans, has intensified community outreach programmes and taken steps to improve healthcare financing across Rivers State. To ensure effective service delivery, the programme is currently conducting its Quarter 2 (Q2) data validation across all local governments, aimed at producing accurate health data for informed decision-making.

RIVCHPP, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has commenced re-accreditation visits to 204 primary healthcare facilities across the 23 local government areas of Rivers State.

Dr. Agala further disclosed plans to train secondary care providers ahead of onboarding general hospitals into the scheme by September 2025, when pensioners and other formal sector players will begin to receive care.

In line with client needs, RIVCHPP is investing in an efficient system with a 24/7 call centre and an electronic claims management platform for healthcare providers, the Executive Secretary noted. She stated that sensitization campaigns and town hall meetings would continue to be the way forward for the programme.

Under the leadership of Vice Admiral (Rtd.) Ibok-Ette Ekwe Ibas, the scheme currently has 110,000 enrollees, with 64,599 hospital visits and 102,192 services utilized. These include 38,846 malaria/typhoid cases, 9,908 hypertension treatments, 7,616 antenatal care visits, and numerous immunization services. The scheme also recorded 513 referrals and 234 surgeries, among other interventions.

Dr. Agala identified a major challenge: many existing enrollees lack their National Identification Number (NIN), which is an essential requirement for enrollment. She stressed that by September, RIVCHPP will begin revalidating its database and deregistering enrollees without NINs. She urged all residents, particularly the vulnerable, to register and obtain their NIN to remain eligible for coverage.

To participate in the programme, residents in the formal sector are required to pay a minimum of N15,000 annually to be enrolled in the RIVCare plan.

Backed by the full support and commitment of the current administration, the programme aims to protect families from poverty caused by illness, reduce inequality, and lay a firm foundation for sustainable growth.

By: Amaechi Miracle Chidinma