Paul Okah

I hope my N1,000 balance is safe in Firstbank. The kind of messages I have been getting from Firstbank is a matter of concern to me. It is either they're bothering me about unsolicited loans or giving me tips of how not to fall victim for the antics of internet fraudsters. At other times, they will repeat the health tips that health officials and government agencies have been drumming into our hears... without palliatives o! Everyday, it is: "Wash your hands with hand sanitisers (as if they provided any), maintain social distancing (if I hear), apply for loan (in Firstbank, where they may even demand the presence of your late grandfather before granting you loan audience?), we are here for you (story)..." They will have me to contend with if my N1,000 balance gets missing at the end of this COVID-19 pandemic. I don't like what I hate.

COVID 19: FCTA RELEASES NEW GUIDELINES ON CESSATION OF MOVEMENT IN THE FCT 1.    Following a review of the effects and level of compliance of the cessation of movement in the FCT as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID 19, the following observations were  made and new directives issued by the FCT COVID-19  Security Committee chaired by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello. They are: a.  The FCT has been quite fortunate to have maintained a relatively stable number of COVID- 19 positive cases and the FCT Administration is making efforts to ensure that there is no escalation in the number of positive cases returned from the Territory; b. While the level of compliance has been satisfactory at the Federal Capital City (FCC) over the first few days of the lockdown,  the same cannot be said about the satellite towns located at the various area councils where  residents  there have largely ignored the lockdown directive; c....

Exactly one week after the headquarters of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was gutted by fire, there has been another fire outbreak at the headquarters of the Corporate Affairs Commission. The fire, according to sources, occurred on Wednesday morning at the seven-storey building located in Maitama, Abuja. The building is located on the same street that houses other top government offices such as the National Youth Service Corps, the Nigeria Incentives Risk-Based Sharing for Agricultural Lending and the Nigeria Export Promotion Commission among others. The Registrar-General of the CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, confirmed the incident to The PUNCH. He said that there was no loss of document or lives during the fire outbreak. Abubakar said that as soon as the fire outbreak was noticed, men of the Federal Fire Service were quickly mobilised to put it out. He told The PUNCH, “There was a minor fire incident at the CAC today (Wednesday) which was quickly exti...

Did you read John Pepper Clark Bekederemo's poem "The Casualties" years ago, perhaps in secondary school or during your university days? He wrote on the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970. However, many points he raised in the poem are observable in the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the whole world, particularly Nigeria. Read the poem below: John Pepper Clark (The Casualties)  The casualties are not only those who are dead.  They are well out of  it.  The casualties are not only those who are dead.  Though they await burial by installment.  The casualties are not only those who are lost  Persons or property, hard as it is  To grope  for a touch that some  May not know is not there.  The casualties are not only those led away by night.  The cell is a cruel place, sometimes a haven.  No where as absolute as the grave.  The casualties are not only those who started  A fire ...

What could make "respected" appointees of Ebonyi State governor, Engr. Dave Umahi, to suddenly turn touts and enemies to their people? This is the question on the lips of Ebonyians, especially Afikpo residents, following the directive of Ebonyi State governor on Saturday, April 11, 2020, that motorcycles (popularly known as Okada), be it private or commercial, have been banned from operating in all parts of the state; in order not to spread the COVID-19 pandemic in Ebonyi state. In fact, the condemnations and criticisms that greeted the ban were yet to settle when, on Easter Sunday, the governor suspended many Development Centre (DC) Coordinators and other appointees "for allowing human beings to be smuggled into Ebonyi State from neighbouring states through their borders". The suspension of the DC Coordinators was like a sting in the arse for many as some of the yet to suspended appointees raced to please the governor, even if it means going to war wi...

The matrilineal lineage of Nde Abagha Ota, Ibe Anuma maternal family of Ehugbo, in Afikpo North Local Government Area (LGA) of Ebonyi State, has petitioned the Mater Misericordia Hospital, Afikpo to the Police Command in the area over plans by some Catholic priests, acting for and on behalf of the church, to forcefully takeover landed property bequeathed them by their fore-fathers. A document made available to  Paulokahblog  on a letter-head paper of the mission hospital, dated 9th May, 1977, certifies that the grandfathers of the Nde Abagha Ota lineage of Ibe Anuma maternal family, represented by Messrs Oko Ezeali and Michael Otu, both of Ugwuegu and Egwu Idam of Egeburu, had reached an agreement to lease the parcel of land, west of the Maternity Hospital and Laundry, to Mater Hospital, Afikpo, at the rate of N40.00 per annum.  The said lease agreement, according to the document, was subject to review every ten years. In 2003, however, a lawyer, Ben Iguh E...

ADDRESS BY H.E. MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE EXTENSION OF COVID- 19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN AT THE STATE HOUSE, ABUJA MONDAY, 13TH APRIL, 2020 1.   Fellow Nigerians 2.   In my address on Sunday, 29th March, 2020, I asked the residents of Lagos and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory to stay at home for an initial period of fourteen days starting from Monday, 30th March 2020. 3.   Many State Governments also introduced similar restrictions. 4.   As your democratically elected leaders, we made this very difficult decision knowing fully well it will severely disrupt your livelihoods and bring undue hardship to you, your loved ones and your communities. 5.   However, such sacrifices are needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our country. They were necessary to save lives. 6.   Our objective was, and still remains, to contain the spread of the Coronavirus and to pro...