The Rivers State Government has reiterated its commitment to prioritize healthcare education in the State.
Rivers State Deputy Governor, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu, stated this during the Commissioning of the 400 seating capacity classroom block constructed by the State Chief Executive, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, at the Rivers State College of Nursing Sciences, Emekuku Street, D/Line in Port Harcourt yesterday.
Prof Odu said the new facility represents a significant step forward in the Governor’s commitment to healthcare education in compliance to the Nursing and Midwifery guideline.
According to the Deputy Governor, “As we dedicate this classroom block, we are not just opening a building, we are expanding opportunities for our future nurses and healthcare professionals”.
Prof. Odu, who said this investment in education is also an investment in health, insisted that the increased capacity would allow the State to train more skilled nurses to address the growing healthcare needs of our communities, noting that Nigerian nurses are the most sort after in the world over.
She expressed appreciation for Governor Siminalayi Fubara and commended the State Ministry of Health, the College Administration and all those who were involved in bringing the project to fruition.
In her remarks the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Chidinma Oreh, said there are four classrooms with a seating capacity of 100 each, fitted with offices and conveniences, noting that there are also digital learning equipment’s and projectors.
The Commissioner revealed that they have a total of 615 students, which comprises 397 in midwifery and 218 students in nursing, stressing that the project would create an enabling environment for teaching and learning, while thanking Governor Siminalayi Fubara for making the project a reality.

The Presidency has stated that 24 million Nigerians are set to benefit from the Federal Government’s Human Capital Development initiative, which aims to improve education, healthcare, and skills training across the nation.
The Deputy Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the HCD core working group, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, along with the Acting Coordinator of HCD and Special Adviser to the President on NEC and Climate Change, Rukaiya El-Rufai, gave the assurance at the strategy validation stakeholders engagement workshop, held in Abuja, yesterday.
They highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s intention to address the ‘japa’ syndrome through strategic investments in education, health, and skills development.
While talking to journalists, Hadeija emphasized the crucial importance of Human Capital Development (HCD), noting that President Tinubu plans to build on the successes achieved by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
In response to a question about how this will curb “japa” (a Yoruba term meaning to leave for better opportunities), the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President encouraged Nigerians to participate in all HCD initiatives to help address their challenges.
He said, “We live in a global setting, and with technology, the world is borderless. First of all, we can’t stop people from leaving Nigeria. What we will do is embrace the HCD initiative that creates opportunities for people to stay at home. This way, they don’t need to leave the country to earn a living. With the HCD initiatives, they can do that here in Nigeria.”
Hadeija assured that by increasing access to quality education, enhancing healthcare services, and offering skills training and employment opportunities, many Nigerians will experience improvements in their lives.
“Through collaboration, learning, and growth, we will shape the quality and effectiveness of the Human Capital Development Programme in building resilient healthcare systems, ensuring equitable access to education, and fostering an inclusive, future-ready workforce,” he said.
He added, “This workshop is an avenue to deliberate on and validate our strategies. This is the day to acknowledge that the solutions we seek lie within our collective wisdom and experience. By sharing insights, best practices, and innovative ideas, we can identify the most effective pathways to achieving our goals.
“It is through our combined efforts that we can create a comprehensive and sustainable framework for human capital development that will benefit generations to come.
“Through collaboration, learning, and growth, we will shape the quality and effectiveness of the Human Capital Development Programme in building resilient healthcare systems, ensuring equitable access to education, and fostering an inclusive, future-ready workforce.”
In her remarks, the Acting Coordinator of HCD emphasized that Human Capital Development is the cornerstone of sustainable economic growth and social progress.
She stated that investing in people’s education, health, and skills not only improves individual well-being but also fosters innovation, productivity, and global competitiveness.
Rukaiya revealed that “ The HCD 2.0 target 24 million additional healthy (under-five-year-old children surviving and not stunted), educated (completing secondary school) and productive (youth entering the labor force) Nigerians by 2030.”
According to her, “Our goal is ambitious yet achievable: to develop a comprehensive strategy that not only addresses the unique challenges we face but also leverages the vast opportunities available. This strategy must mainstream gender, ensure equal opportunities for all, and incorporate climate change and climate action, recognizing the critical intersection between human capital and environmental sustainability.
“As we collaborate over the next few days, I encourage each of you to share your insights, challenge assumptions, and propose innovative solutions. Your expertise and experiences are invaluable, and together, we can craft a strategy that truly transforms lives and drives sustainable development.”
Highlights of the event included a panel discussion, presentation on the HCD regional strategy, and a strategy validation and collaboration session, among other activities.
The workshop was attended by representatives from the Gates Foundation, the World Bank, ECOWAS, the Dangote Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program, among others.
Recall that in 2018, the National Economic Council launched the National Human Capital Development Programme to tackle poverty and promote sustainable economic growth, emphasising the importance of HCD.
This initiative aims to expedite targeted investments in people, fostering equitable economic growth across Nigeria.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has declared a state of emergency on crude oil production in Nigeria.
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, disclosed this while giving a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja, yesterday.
According to the NNPC Limited boss, there is need to ramp up oil production to grow local capacity saying the Company is working vigorously to close the two million barrels per day oil gap as Nigeria currently produces between 1.2 million and 1.4 million barrels per day.
He said it is time to take the bulls by the horns by tackling those challenges that are creating obstacles to Nigeria’s crude oil production. He added that the era of debate has gone while calling on all stakeholders to come together to remove principalities “hindering our production.”
“We can’t continue talking, we cannot continue debating. Debate don’t produce oil, debate produce conflict. This industry is about producing oil and gas. Yes, we can do so many other things as you have heard the OPEC Secretary General and the GCF Secretary General have said but the world expect many other things from us. But more importantly for all of us in this room, I’m sure the biggest interest is to produce more oil and more gas. We don’t need to talk about reserves we have reserves. It is all dream until you produce it.
“Therefore, what we are focused on with our partners today is to produce more oil and to grow the production. It is to produce more oil and how do you produce more oil? It’s common knowledge also that we must put money, we must get the right people to work, we must have the right technology and the will to produce it so that we can benefit from it.
“But what really happened in our country, we went down in our production in both oil and gas. Nowhere near our capacity and our capability. You can blame anything; oil theft, integrity and so on and so forth. But the bottom line is that what we did recently is to take a deeper look at where we are and when we look at the data for our production by assets in the last three months without doing anything, without mobilising any rig, we can talk about decline as it has been said, but decline don’t happen in three months.
“Even when we took a look at our production in the last three months by assets, we discovered that we are actually at two million barrels per day. That means we’re unable to sustain it. Yes we can blame anything for lack of sustainability, theft is one of them, vandal action but also the sheer inability of all of us, our partners no exception including NNPC, our inability to act quickly in the timely manner.”
Kyari said a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria can conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs, but the major impediment to achieving that remains the inability of players to act in a timely manner.
“Also, we can blame anything, access to capital, yes. Why don’t we have access to capital. We can blame anything but what we have seen is that we are actually at two million barrels per day without doing any of the major things we are talking about,.without the new 700,000 that has been talked about. And that is why we (NNPC) as the partner of 80 percent of those who produce oil and gas in this country have decided to stop the debate. We have declared a war and war means war. We have the right troops. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets and we’ve engaged our partners.
“Any partner that doesn’t do what it should do will get it done. We can’t wait for anyone, we are moving on. We cannot afford to negotiate any further. So, we have stopped the debate. And by war what it means is that we are looking at every asset, every issue that is associated with it. We’ll partner with our counterparts but if it doesn’t happen, we get it done and this is the meaning of the war. From security, assets to integrity to everything you can think of.
“As a matter of fact and as you all know, our pipeline network today, the major trunk line delivering crude to Bonny and Forcados and Brass and all of them as you all know are all constructed in 1970. No pipeline survives this. With or without the vandal action or the theft, we have taken another major decision that we’ll replace these pipelines. On this no debate. And when we replace them everybody must flow his crude inside this line. It’s not just a business decision, it’s a national decision. We are very determined to deliver on this and we will move on.”
The NNPC helmsman called on all players in the industry to collaborate towards reducing the cost of production and boosting production to target levels. He expressed the Company’s commitment to investing in critical midstream gas infrastructure such as the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines to boost domestic gas production and supply for power generation, industrial development and economic prosperity of the country.