By Jonathan Omoruyi In 2004, I was a young Edo man in my twenties. I had returned from the United Kingdom where I had gone to earn a university degree after which I started doing some work in that country. I made progress rapidly and soon after I returned to my home town, Benin City, to get married to my fiancée who I had left behind as I proceeded to England to study. Upon return, the state in which I met my beloved city of Benin was perplexing and that is putting it mildly. The street in Erhunmwunse area of the town where I was raised with many fond memories, had become a den of armed bandits of various kinds, cultists, armed robbers, hired killers, you name it. Young men moved along the street with assorted weapons ranging from guns to axes, machetes and others. They were said to be untouchable because they were actually armed by and they worked for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of the day at the time. It was a lawless state of affairs. Dog-eat-dog, survival o...

By Elvis Omoregie, Benin Five Doctors, including a former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Edo State chapter, Dr. Emmanuel Ighodaro  were yesterday arraigned before Justice Efe Igbonmwonba of a Benin High Court over issues bordering on “stealing N13.6 million  and conspiracy to commit fraudulent false accounting”. Other  defendants in the charge sheet marked: BLCD/EFCC/8/2017 are:  Dr. Anthony Owolabi, Dr. Quincy Atoghengbe, Dr. Raymond Ogieva and Dr. Oseremen Gabriel Ogbebor. The accused persons  are facing 21-count  charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). According to the charges, the prosecuting counsel, Dr. Ben Ubi, Esq. said the  defendants committed the offence while acting in their capacities as officers of Edo NMA between 2013 and 2014. The statements reads:  “the defendants, knowingly and privies t...

.....Lets do it again-mika Amanokha By Elvis Omoregie, Benin  IT is going to be a back to back of exciting football action this weekend at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin city, Edo state, as the flamingoes, Nigeria's representatives at the U-17 female football, takes on their Cameroonian counterpart in the last stage of qualifier's for the FIFA U-17 world cup in Uruguay this year. The match which is scheduled to hold on Saturday at the  Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, Benin city ,same venue the falconets defeated the besetsana of south africa by six unreplied goals last Saturday. The honorable commissioner for youths and special duties, Edo state, Honorable Mika Amanokha has called on the fans to come out in their numbers and join the executive Governor of the state, His Excellency, Mr Godwin Obaseki, the Deputy Governor comrade Philip Shaibu and the Nigeria football federation to cheer the flamingoes to another goals festival. "Our fan should come out and let'...

By Isaac Eranga IYAMHO – One of the fastest growing universities in Nigeria, the Edo university, Iyamho has made history by being the first State University to be ranked first among State Universities and third University in Nigeria in the first ever Open Educational Resources (OER) conducted by National Universities Commission (NUC) Institutional repository. The ranking which was first of its kind was initiated by the NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Adam Rasheed for the application in Nigeria Universities system. The exercise showed that with 12, 070 qualities OER holding presented by 50 Universities for the inaugural exercise, Nigerian Universities were among the best in Africa in OER. It was gathered that with the full release of the OER holdings, and participation by all Universities, the number may quadruple in the next two years, making the Nigeria University system the richest in OER in Africa. In the OER, 160 Nigerian Universities, both public and private ...

By Azeez Aza In my search for a fitting description of the way and manner the Edo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ravaged Edo State while the party was in power in the state, the Biblical years of the Locust came to mind. Wikipedia describes locusts as “certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious.” The years of the locusts is however beyond the physical appearance of locusts. Biblestudy.com defines the Biblical plague of the locust as the eighth punishment that God sent upon the Egyptians, because they would not let the children of Israel go, as he commanded; and it was a very terrible one indeed.” Explaining what the locusts did, biblestudy.com quoted the Bible as saying: “They covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did...

Edo State Government in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Nigeria, is to set up a pineapple juice industry at Iguobazuwa, the Ovia South West Headquarters, in a bid to empowering some Libya returnees from the state. The decision was reached at a stakeholders meeting attended by Senior Special Assistant to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Anti Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration Issues, Solomon Okoduwa, the IOM team and the Coordinator, Society for Young Persons, Jennifer Ero as well as stakeholders in the community, where they reached a consensus to set up a Pineapple juice industry at Iguobazuwa. The entire Ovia South West local government area is known for its rich pineapple cultivation. The Odionwere of the community, Pa Sunday Erhunmwunse Omokaro satisfied with terms of his guests, immediately ordered the community's Allotment Committee to provide four plots of land to site the industry. Similarly, a 12 man steering committee members will b...

… to set up Forestry Commission The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has said the state government will set up a Drug Control Committee in partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to control the cultivation and abuse of Cannabis in the state. The governor, said this when he received the Edo State Commander of NDLEA, Mr. Wakawa Buba, who was on a working visit to the governor at the Government House, Benin City, the Edo State capital. Obaseki expressed displeasure over Edo State being listed among the highest Cannabis producing states in Nigeria, noting that his administration will provide support to the NDLEA to stem the tide. He said, "Edo State Government identifies with your effort to reduce the demand and supply of Cannabis. We will support your effort through sensitisation, counselling, prosecution and rehabilitation of drug addicts, through the state's ministries of Health, Women Affairs and Social Development.” Obaseki said that ...