UbongAbasi Ise

By UbongAbasi Ise All is now set for the conduct of local government election in Akwa Ibom State as the State High Court sitting in Uyo has struck out the suit filed by All Progressives Congress, APC, seeking to restrain Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission, AKISIEC, from conducting local government election on Saturday. In a ruling delivered yesterday in Uyo, the Presiding Judge, Justice Mary Udomah dismissed the suit on the grounds that it constitutes an abuse of court process. While making the declaration, she noted that APC had earlier filed a similar suit at the Federal High Court in Uyo which was struck out and another at a State High Court presided over by Justice Augustine Odokwor, which was also dismissed for lack of merit. Justice Udomah declared that All Progressives Congress lacked locus standing to again file similar suit to stop AKISIEC from going on with the conduct of local government election on Saturday. Meanwhile in a media parley held in Uyo...

By UbongAbasi Ise The Uyo Office’s Head of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr. Charles Amudipe, has opened up on basic limitation faced by his commission in controlling arts and intellectual properties on the internet. Amudipe, who brainstormed on the theme, Copyright Law and the Visual Arts in Nigeria in the University during a roundtable discourse in honour of Dr. Enoidem Udoh at 65 th birthday anniversary which was organized by the Department of Fine and Industrial Arts on Wednesday, said that in the current copyright law, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has no direct power to control copyrights on the internet because of lack of established laws in that regards as he noted that there is a bill at the national assembly, if passed to law, would take care of any drawback on the control of online property rights. He said that currently, the commission is providing a certain level of protection to online materials through a subsisting memorandum of understanding with the...

By UbongAbasi Ise In a bid to bring down high cost of food, Akwa Ibom State government along with traders, farmers and other stakeholders in the state have reached agreement on ways of working towards eliminating bottlenecks rocking free flow of food items in the state. At yesterday’s first interactive public forum organized in Uyo by the Technical Committee on Agriculture and Food Sufficiency for traders, farmers, and other relevant stakeholders as directed by Governor Udom Emmanuel, it was brought to light that multiple taxations, illegal practices by market unions, harassment by tax force, bad road networks, poor market infrastructure and other anomalies are the possible causes of high cost of food items experienced in the state. After pressing issues disturbing traders and farmers were duly discussed, the forum came up with a communiqué that would guide trade activities in the state, and this was signed by representatives of the relevant groups. The forum decided tha...

Four persons have been confirmed dead in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area by yet to be identified gunmen. Sources say that 3 of the victims were killed in Ikot Edet Village and one person was shot in Isio Edem Urua.   Our crime correspondent gathered that 2 of the victims were killed after they hoodlums had missed their target who is said to have received a death-threat letter from the hoodlums but refused to comply to their request of an unnamed amount. Confidential sources explained that the recurrent killings have some political under currents as the sources alleged that the violence is formatted by desperate opposition parties, in their desperate aim to initiate the ruling party with violence to submission. In a related development, the police in Ukanafun has arrested some baby traffickers from Nkek Abak. This paper learnt that the kidnapper of the syndicate and headdresser by name Glory who alongside her cousin who name could not be acertain had taken 2 pregnant scho...

By UbongAbasi Ise As Christmas and New Year festivities are around the corner, residents in Akwa Ibom state may not have to look elsewhere for rice other than within as Agriculture Commissioner says harvesting and milling of homegrown rice begins December in earnest. Speaking in his office with newsmen recently, the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Sufficiency, Dr. Uduak Charles Udo-Inyang, said thousands of hectares of rice cultivated by AGRICON would be ready for harvest and milling in December. According to the commissioner, the company has confirmed that they are going to meet the target come next month. Dr. Udo-Inyang, who said that the climatic conditions are favourable to rice cultivation in Akwa Ibom, asserted that harvest of rice would take place three times in a year as the state is undertaking swamp rice production. “We have the rainfall, bodies of water. So we are undertaking swamp rice production. The yield from swamp rice is three times more than...