By Our Correspondent

To guide against fraudulent practices in the nation’s financial institutions, an Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating deduction of taxes and sundry charges from civil and public servants earnings and multiple bank charges on customers account in Nigeria has given the commercial banks operating in Nigeria a 4-Day deadline to submit all requested documents on their charges

The House probe panel also insisted on the appearances of the Chief Executive Officers CEOs of these financial institutions at the investigative hearing and rejected representation of any bank CEO without authorization letter to the panel appropriately signed.

Chairman of the House Committee Hon. Kelechi Nwogu in a remark at the commencement of the House panel session on Tuesday in Abuja said that the House probe panel is mandated to ensure that all deductions of charges by banks on customers account must be fined rightly and used rightly.

He further stated that the House Committee had extended invitation to the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation OAGF, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC and commercial banks operating in Nigeria on the investigation.

The House Committee members during the investigation said that the commercial banks are perpetrating illegality by deducting inexplicable charges from civil servants, public servants and other customers bank accounts without remittances.

The House Committee Chairman and some members who rejected representation of the CEOs of GT Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and other commercial banks cannot hold waters as they insisted that they must appear before the panel unfailingly

He said: “You cannot appear here without an identity. We are not here on our own. We are here on the mandate of the people that elected us into parliament.

“We have resolved to meet next week Wednesday. You must submit all requested documents on or before Monday.

“We will go through all the documents and we will put you on oath”.

“It will not be well if we invite you here again and you tell us the same story. We have given a deadline that any bank that failed to submit the requested documents on Monday must be sanctioned”.

The House Committee Chairman said that the House panel is not leaving any stone unturned to unravel why the commercial banks engage in spurious decudctoon of charges on their customers account.

Other members of the panel notably Hon Chidi Mark Obeta,Hon. Engr Dominic Okafor,and other members while speaking in support at the hearing demanded that the bank chief executive officers must appear before the panel unfailingly.

BY David Owei.

Niger Delta Progressive Alliance (NDPA) has felicitated with Chief Ikenna Nicholas Ukwa on the occasion of the Ikenna Ukwa Progressive Group Summit and Empowerement of Youths, Women and the Disabled in Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency on Sunday December 7, 2025.

The occasion, which took place at Ohafia Central School Playground, Elu Ohafia, provided an opportunity for Chief Ukwa, Senior Legislative Aide to the President of the Senate, to once again demonstrate his humanitarian and philanthropistic gesture to the people of his constituency.
Hundreds of youths, women and people living with disabilities were generously empowered with scholarships, skills acquisition training, business capital and other livelihood materials.

In its goodwill message the NDPA commended High Chief Ukwa on his social investment in his people describing it as a testament “of selflessness guided by humility and love for humanity”.

The message, signed by Ambassador Victor Ufoh, President General of NDPA said; “Certain moments in the chronology of a community transcend the ordinary passage of time, embedding themselves within collective consciousness with the gravitas of historical import. These are occasions when society collectively pauses, draws breath, and acknowledges that an occurrence of profound consequence has unfolded in its midst”.
Describing the occasion as one of such moments the NDPA said that it stood as precisely such a watershed moment. “Its significance derived not from theatrical display or calculated political spectacle, but from the substantive gathering of citizens at Ohafia Central School Playground, Elu Ohafia, who assembled to witness a deliberate and transformative act of communal elevation.”
“At the heart of this remarkable occasion stood Chief Dr Ikenna Nicolas Ukwa, Senior Legislative Aide to the President of the Senate, a distinguished leader who comprehends with crystalline clarity the authentic responsibilities they shoulder by virtue of humility and conscience.
“He addressed the assembly with the composed assurance characteristic of those who have discerned their fundamental purpose, projecting a conviction shaped and energized by the unwavering belief that genuine human advancement must be engineered through concrete, measurable intervention. His objective was unambiguous: to furnish the youth, women, and persons with disabilities with the competencies and resources capable of fundamentally redirecting the trajectory of their lives.

According to the group, the occasion was a chapter that found “its foundation in substantive empowerment rather than rhetorical flourish. Representatives from every ward within the constituency participated.

Each beneficiary was selected through meticulous deliberation. The animating principle was not to generate applause but to construct capacity and resilience”.
“To fully appreciate the magnitude of this moment requires examination of the patterns that preceded it. Ukwa’s philanthropic endeavours cannot be reduced to a sporadic collection of charitable gestures. His work has never announced itself through clamour or ostentatious display. Rathe, it constitutes a sustained tradition that has expanded methodically, incrementally, village by village and family by family, through actions that resonate far more powerfully than any declaration.

Across successive years, Ukwa has systematically transformed the physical and social landscape of Ohafia and Arochukwu through manifestly visible interventions”.
NDPA went further to catalogue Chief Ukwa’s interventions in the community; “He has installed solar-powered street illumination throughout rural communities. These installations accomplish far more than mere environmental lighting. They illuminate confidence, enhance security, and fundamentally alter the pattern of daily existence for families who have endured excessive periods shrouded in darkness and apprehension.

He has orchestrated comprehensive medical and ophthalmological outreach programs, visiting vulnerable households, supporting orphaned children, and delivering healthcare services where they remained desperately scarce.
He has championed educational advancement through the systematic distribution of academic materials to both pupils and educators. Chief Ikenna evidently recognizes that education functions as the subtle revolution capable of elevating populations from mere subsistence to visionary possibility.
Agricultural producers have received fertilizers during seasons when the soil proved particularly unforgiving. Women entrepreneurs have obtained support that stabilized their commercial enterprises. Medical interventions have reached remote villages and care facilities where assistance rarely penetrates. Even the Uzuakoli Leprosy Colony has experienced his compassionate attention.
Women and persons with disabilities have occupied not a peripheral position in his strategic vision but rather its very center. His empowerment initiatives acknowledge that these populations frequently stand at the threshold of opportunity rather than within it. By placing implements, capital, and professional training directly into their hands, he relocates them from the margins to the productive core of community life. These are not transient donations but rather invitations to reclaim autonomy and participate comprehensively in constructing more robust communities.
Yet what fundamentally distinguishes Ukwa extends beyond the inventory of accomplishments to encompass the very manner in which he conducts himself. What proves most striking about this leader is the elegant simplicity of his bearing. There exists no grandiosity in his self-presentation, no calculated effort to project an outsized persona. He carries himself as would a neighbour blessed with greater access who consciously elects to deploy those advantages for collective benefit”.

By Joshua Kingsley Kenneth

For over two months Nigerians have been awashed with the threat by the United States President, Donald Trump, to send in troops into Nigeria, to identify and eliminate terrorists and so-called bandits killing citizens and sacking communities.

The statistics have dwelt largely on the gruesome killings of unarmed and innocent Nigerians in different parts of the country- from Benue to Taraba, Borno to Kogi States, just to list a few.

Not long ago the country again woke to a stark reminder of the abduction of school with 300 kidnapped from a Catholic school in Niger State, and another 24 taken hostage from Government Girls Comprehensive secondary school in Maga in Kebbi state.

Added to this horrendous list of insecurities and woes are the killings and abductions in Kwara State, and the general air of danger and fear that has gripped the country resulting in unquantifiable economic losses and a credibility crisis on the part of the federal government.

It therefore did not come as a surprise to many, especially victims of these dastardly attacks, when the United States through the activism of some of its lawmakers inspired President Trump to move against Nigeria, especially seeing that the federal government had failed in its primary responsibility of protecting lives and properties of citizens.

Whilst JOSHUA K B DISABILITIES RIGHTS AND SUPPORT INITIATIVES, a non-governmental organization committed to promoting the rights, welfare and wellbeing of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the country joins the millions of well meaning and right thinking Nigerians and the international community in condemning the heinous and barbaric acts of killings, abductions and the insecurity engendered by terrorists, bandits, non-state actors, other criminals, their financiers and supporters whoever and wherever they may be, we call for urgent attention to Persons who may have been disabled by this phenomenon.

We call on the federal government, especially the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, National Emergency Management Agency, state governments, the armed forces and other intervention partners to urgently identify victim-PWDs from these crises and provide such interventions that would help them integrate into the economic and political lives of their immediate communities and the country at large.

We are convinced that such quick interventions would prevent a stage two crisis such as depression, low self esteem, poverty, and a host of other debilitating post crisis trauma that would further deteriorate their situations.

We also call on military authorities to provide meaningful economic, social, material and other forms of assistance and interventions to service men who are now members of the PWDs community following their sacrifices on the line of duty.

As an organisation focused on advancing the course of PWDs, JOSHUA K B DISABILITIES RIGHTS AND SUPPORT INITIATIVES uses this opportunity to sensitise relevant authorities, CSOs and other stakeholders that the various violent armed conflicts and attacks in the country has caused physical harms, leading to new disabilities or worsening existing conditions.

It has caused families to flee homes, lose livelihoods and resources, forced many, especially old and PWDs, into begging and extreme hardship.

JOSHUA K B DISABILITIES RIGHTS AND SUPPORT INITIATIVES also calls the attention of stakeholders to the struggle PWDs to escape danger due to inaccessible environments, making them targets for abuse, neglect, and exploitation during crises.

Systems and measures must be put in place to pull PWDs from severe neglect, discrimination, and lack of basic needs like food and healthcare which they face in camps and displaced.