General
Day Oguta Stood Still for Ugboma
By Walter Duru
Thursday, June 13, 2019 marked a new beginning in the annals of governance and representation in Imo State. It witnessed the inauguration of the 9th Imo State House of Assembly. The Assembly came to life, following a proclamation by the Governor of the state, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, represented by the Deputy Governor, Mr Gerald Irona.
The 27 members of the State House of Assembly took their oath of offices, heralding the commencement of the 9th Assembly. But that is not the story. The gist is that the lawmaker representing Oguta State constituency, Mr Frank Ugbomah got an overdose of honour and celebration after his inauguration, as the entire Oguta Local Government Area was literarily locked down, following celebration of his inauguration.
The celebration got to a head when people from all walks of life gathered at St. Mary’s primary School, Orsu Obodo, Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, in honour of their own and member representing Oguta State Constituency in the State Assembly.
It was a roll call of who-is-who in the area. From the Deputy Governor of the State, Mr Irona and his adorable wife, Ogbuefi Vivian Irona, to other political leaders, Religious and Traditional Rulers, members of the academia, among others.
In his remarks, Mr Irona congratulated the lawmaker for emerging victorious at the polls, urging him to do his best towards fulfilling his electoral promises to people of the area.
He reiterated the resolve of the administration of Mr Ihedioha not to interfere with the activities of the Legislature, promising that the principle of separation of powers shall guide the present administration in all that it does.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the inauguration, a political leader in the area and former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Imo State, Mr Williams Ejiako described Mr Ugboma’s emergence as divine, urging him not to disappoint his people.
Speaking earlier, member representing Oguta State Constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly, Mr Frank Ugbomah reiterated his commitment to ensuring effective representation of the people at the State Assembly.
He expressed gratitude to the people of the area for the confidence reposed in him to represent them, promising not to disappoint them.
According to him, “my stay in Imo State House of Assembly shall witness effective representation of my people. Lawmaking is serious business and I will ensure the strengthening of the legal framework for massive development of our area. I will ensure that quality laws are introduced to promote good governance in Imo State. I can assure you that gaps identified in existing laws will be closed and new laws made for the good of Imo State. I am impressed by the quality of lawmakers I have interacted with so far and I can assure you that there are a lot of sound minds in the 9th Assembly. We shall make Imo people proud.”
Commenting on the person of the lawmaker, a legal practitioner from the area, Chief Kingsley Njoku described Mr Ugbomah as an honest and brilliant gentleman, whose footsteps are worthy of emulation.
“I have known Ugboma for nearly twenty years now. I have had several dealings with him. He is brilliant, objective, honest and thorough. When I learnt that he emerged the lawmaker representing Oguta State constituency, I had a sigh of relief, knowing that we are back to the days of quality representation of Oguta State Constituency in the State Assembly. You can see for yourself what is going on here. You can see the mammoth crowd and quality of persons that attended his inauguration reception. You can hear what people are saying. All these show that we made the right choice in Frank Ugbomah.”
“History shows that our House of Assembly members hardly go more than once. But watch it. Ugbomah may break the record in Oguta Local Government area. If it is about quality representation, forget it, Oguta people should go to bed with their both eyes closed.”
“With Gerald Irona as Deputy Governor and Hon. Frank Ugbomah as our House of Assembly member, the age-long prayers of Oguta Local Government have been answered. Indeed, good governance has come.”
The highlights of the reception were special cultural and masquerade dances, speeches, presentation of gifts, among others.
The event was attended by many important dignitaries, among whom are: Interim Management Committee Chairman of Oguta Local Government, Hilary Eberendu, Williams Ejiako, Dr Walter Duru, Uchenna Ogbonna, Oguta Local Government Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Fred Opia, traditional and religious leaders and members of the academia.
Others are: Barr. Charles Jaja, Princess (Lolo) Queen Igwe, Professor (Eze) Dele Odibo, traditional ruler of Nkwessi ancient kingdom, Eze (Dr.) Asor, traditional ruler of Obudi, Agwa, among others.
With this development, Mr Ugbomah is indebted to people of the area. The debt is good governance, through effective representation in the State Assembly.
To whom much is given, much is also expected. Considering the encomiums showered on him by stakeholders in the area, it is obvious that his people trust and believe in his ability to deliver. He must not fail.
The only language people of the area want to hear is good governance and effective representation. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
In addition to making outstanding laws that will enhance the living standards of the people, the lawmaker must ensure periodic meetings with critical stakeholders in the area, particularly, core professionals, with a view to informing them of his activities, while also getting their opinion on issues that affect them.
Effective representation requires regular consultation with the people. The entry point is to conduct a stakeholders’ mapping and evolve strategies for engaging each of the stakeholders.
This should go beyond party leanings. The time to act is now!
Dr Walter Duru is a Communication and Public Relations expert. He can be reached on: [email protected]
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The new interim board of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDC) has been inaugurated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The body was inaugurated by the regulator on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, pursuant to its intervention order issued recently.
NERC had, through Order No. NERC/2026/08, dissolved the board of directors of KAEDC following repeated failures to meet market obligations and other prescribed performance indices.
It subsequently constituted a five-member interim board of Special Directors, chaired by Mr Abdullahi Garba, for an initial period of one year, alongside an interim administrator, Mr Abubakar Umar Hashidu, appointed for an initial six-month period, to drive the reset of the distribution company.
The new team has been tasked to restore sanity into the energy distribution firm and deliver quality service to consumers within its franchise area.
It was gathered that shortly after the inauguration at midweek, a joint delegation of NERC, the newly inaugurated board, KAEDC’s management and staff paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of One Division of the Nigerian Army in Kaduna.
At the military facility, the delegation was received by the General Officer Commanding and senior officers of the Division.
Thereafter, the team visited the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, where the Commandant and principal officers of the military institution received them with open arms.
At both visits, discussions centred on ways to collaborate for better efficiency.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has lamented the decline in Nigeria’s technical and commercial talent pipeline.
She canvassed for the rebuilding of the critical talent needs as renewed investment returns to the country’s energy sector after years of underinvestment.
According to her, Nigeria is facing a depleted pool of geoscientists, petroleum engineers and other critical technical professionals, largely as a result of a drop in investments that saw many capable hands jump ship.
She emphasised that Nigeria’s annual oil and gas investment, which stood at about $24 billion in 2014, had fallen to roughly $2 billion by 2023, representing a decline of more than 90 per cent over the period.
Mrs Eyesan, therefore, warned that the country could face a new constraint if investment accelerates faster than the development of the technical workforce required to execute complex upstream projects.
She said the prolonged investment contraction did not only affect capital spending and exploration activity but also triggered a corresponding erosion of human capital, with geoscientists among the first professionals to leave the industry when companies began cutting budgets.
Mrs Eyesan made the remarks during a panel session on Local Content & Human Capital under PIA 2021 & NOGICD, held on the second day of the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) Human Capacity Development Conference and Expo at the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State.
According to her, petroleum engineers were subsequently affected as the downturn deepened, with some made redundant while others were increasingly restricted to maintenance functions as operators moved from expansion to survival.
The official said the industry is now moving in the positive direction, with renewed investment and project development creating an urgent requirement for a new generation of highly specialised professionals.
The shift on her part is particularly significant following President Bola Tinubu’s Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives (Tax Remission) Order, 2026, signed on August 6, providing production tax credits for qualifying deep offshore project developments and is designed to improve the economics of projects reaching Final Investment Decision (FID) within the specified window.
Mrs Eyesan therefore warned that the country could face a new constraint if investment accelerates faster than the development of the technical workforce required to execute complex upstream projects.
The NUPRC boss had previously identified the skills deficit as a major consequence of the prolonged reduction in exploration activity, particularly affecting geologists.
She said renewed investment following the Petroleum Industry Act and business-oriented initiatives of the Tinubu administration was beginning to revive exploration, but warned that human capacity remained a major challenge.
Mrs Eyesan said Nigeria could no longer prepare oil and gas professionals using curricula designed primarily for an earlier generation of petroleum operations.
She identified digitised operations, advanced geoscience, digital twins and digital drilling technologies among the competencies that should now form part of the industry’s core workforce development strategy.
She disclosed that the transformation is significant because modern upstream projects increasingly depend on the ability to integrate subsurface data, real-time field information, automation, modelling and advanced analytics into investment and operational decisions.
For Nigeria, she said, the implication is that training institutions, operators, regulators and academia must move beyond simply replacing workers lost during the downturn.
They must build a workforce capable of operating the digital oilfield of the next investment cycle.
She said, “Training curricula need to evolve,” cautioning that Nigeria was still behind where it needed to be in developing the competencies required by a rapidly changing industry.
Mrs Eyesan also linked human capital development directly to Nigeria’s competitiveness for investment.
Using the analogy that capital behaves like water and flows towards areas of least resistance, she argued that Nigeria’s workforce must become more commercially oriented if the country is to capture greater value from the next wave of oil and gas investment.
She further explained that technical professionals increasingly need to understand the commercial consequences of their decisions, while commercial professionals need sufficient technical understanding to operate effectively within increasingly complex energy projects.
Mrs Eyesan further called for a fundamental change in how Nigeria approaches human capacity development, urging operators, regulators and training institutions to work more closely with universities and other academic institutions to establish a clear pathway for closing the existing skills gap.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu, expressed his displeasure over the way he was addressed by one of the company’s graduate trainees at an interactive session in a viral video.
The financial institution organised a Graduate Management Accelerated Programme graduation ceremony on Thursday, and the former banker was in attendance.
During a question-and-answer session, one of the graduating trainees stood and called Mr Elumelu by his first name, Tony.
“Good morning, Tony,” she said.
Mr Elumelu initially thought the lady meant to say Toyin, but she repeated “Good morning, Tony,” a development the UBA chairman was not happy about.
He quickly responded by saying, “No, you won’t call me Tony. You’ll call me Mr Elumelu or TOE. You won’t call me Tony, or Chairman. I don’t subscribe to that kind of… Oyinbo life, okay?”
Though without offering any apology for the error, the female graduate trainee subsequently corrected herself, saying, “Good morning, Mr Elumelu,” before proceeding with her question.
The video clip from the event has already generated mixed reactions, with many happy that the business mogul quickly rebuffed the lady.
They described her as rude, fearing she could lose her job for being disrespectful to the chairman of the organisation.
However, some others said calling colleagues by their first names in a corporate ecosystem is not new, as such happens in the banking sector.
