Author: Drum Africa Correspondent

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, today (Friday 18th Sept) in Geneva, Switzerland urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to deliver concrete outcomes on public stockholding for food security and investment facilitation. Kalu spoke during the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization, PCWTO which had the WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a special guest, warned that prolonged delays are eroding confidence in the multilateral trading system. Co-chaired by Hon. Bernd Lange of the European Parliament and Ms. Anda Filip, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),…

The management of the Abia State College of Health Sciences and Management Technology (ABSCOHMAT), Aba, has reveled that come October 2026, the institution will begin commercial production of biogas. The Rector of the institution, Aloysius Ekeleme Okezie, while speaking to newsmen, said that inasmuch as he met the school at a low stage, the management under him has intensified efforts to ensure that the effects of the new Abia, a vision of Governor Alex Otti, are seen and replicated in the institution. Explaining what led to the vision, Okezie said that when he became the rector of the school, he…

The Executive Director of National Institute For Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Prof. Ogbonna Onuoha, has hailed the NINLAN International Schools (NIS) Alumni for her voluntary contributions to the development of their alma mater. Prof. Onuoha said he was excited at the curious and active involvement of the Alumni in helping to maintain standards at the NIS through rehabilitation of dilapidated infrastructure and furniture. The Executive Director who made his feelings known during an interaction with principal officers of the Association in his office recently, thanked them for their massive contributions. Godson Ugbor, Public Relations Officer of NINLAN in a statement said…

The Imo State Government has demolished identified criminal hideouts around the Coca-Cola area and other locations along Onitsha Road, Owerri, as the ongoing operation to dismantle criminal enclaves across the state intensifies. DrumAfricanews reports that the operation was led by the Office of the Governor on Monitoring and Compliance, headed by Nze Chinasa Nwaneri. Nwaneri as gathered went on the operation with technical support from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, Imo State Command. During the operation, several suspected bandits were arrested, while weapons, quantities of suspected hard drugs and several vehicle number plates suspected to have been…

The Imo State Government has stepped up efforts to increase cassava production across the state, with a target of between 40 and 45 tonnes per hectare. Records available to DrumAfricanews has it that Imo State currently boast of average yield of about 30 tonnes per hectare. The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Chief Longers Anyanwu, disclosed this in a release while calling on farmers, traditional rulers and community leaders to support a renewed return to agriculture and make greater use of available farmlands. Chief Anyanwu said the state government, under Governor Hope Uzodimma, has continued to introduce measures aimed…

The Enugu State Government has inaugurated a Joint Technical Committee to develop a framework for implementing financial autonomy for the state judiciary, with the committee mandated to submit its final report for presentation by 12 noon on October 19, 2026. The committee was inaugurated on Wednesday by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, on behalf of Governor Peter Mbah, pursuant to the agreement reached between the state government and the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on September 17, 2025. According to Onyia, the primary purpose of the committee is to develop and recommend a comprehensive, structured,…

The Abia State Government has described as false and malicious, the statement by an Ibeku-born political stalwarts, Chief Charles Ogbonna (Evulogu Ibeku) where he alleged that Governor Alex Otti described the entire Ngwa clan of Abia State as people without brain, and challenged him to produce evidence as claimed. According to the government, it says it has “noted with dismay a video and statement credited to Chief Charles Ogbonna, in which he falsely and maliciously alleged that His Excellency, Governor Alex Otti, said that ‘Ngwa people have no brains,’ among other irresponsible utterances.” Ferdinand Ekeoma, Special Adviser to Governor Otti…

The slogan, “Imo’s potential in energy is becoming harder to ignore and invest in Imo state now before it is too late”, are becoming obviously visible to the blind and audible to the deaf following influx of major oil, gas a petrochemical industries into the state. DrumAfricanews can officially report that a lot is quietly happening around the state’s energy and industrial sector, particularly in Ohaji/Egbema, one of the areas where Imo’s natural gas resources are concentrated. Anyone following the recent presentation by Gulf Power Innovation Limited (GPIL) where they highlighted some of the projects the company says it is…

By Ferdinand Ekeoma Before the government of Dr. Alex Otti came on board, people’s houses and shops were “painted” with all kinds of demand notices ranging from Property Rate, Infrastructure Levy, Business Premises Permit, Business Licence, Operational Permit, Operational Licence, ASEPA fee, Property and Tenement Rate, House Fitness Permit, Excavation Permit, and many other illegal levies. ASEPA had multiple collection agents and offices in all the zones and streets in Aba and Umuahia. While heaps of refuse littered our streets, illegal agents harassed innocent residents. I make bold to say that era of impunity and negligence is gone, and sanity…

The Indigenous Igbo Congress (IIC) of Rivers State has declared its opposition to what it termed a selective application of ethno-linguistic regionalism in the proposed restructuring of Nigeria. The IIC, in a communique signed by its President, Comrade Chimenum Amadi (Ikwerre); its Vice President, Comrade Azubuike Okere (Ndoki); and Comrade Dimma Iworiso Ojimba (Okirika), its Director of Communication, demands a single, undivided Igbo Region inclusive of the Igbo-speaking peoples of the Rivers frontier. Other signatories to the communique include Comrade Felix Israel (Ekpeye) Legal Adviser, IIC Rivers State, Comrade Osoruchi Okwudu (Ikwerre) Financial Secretary, IIC Rivers State, Comrade Henry Ukwuoma (Etche)…