Miss Nina Akporiaye, the Technical Immunisation Facilitator for the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta, says a case of poliomyelitis has been reported in the state..

Akporiaye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri that the poliomyelitis case was reported in the Bomadi Local Government Area this year.

``A confirmed and recorded case of wild polio virus has been reported in the state this year,'' she said.

The facilitator said the state government had been ``very serious'' about its immunisation programme and added that the new case had added more aggressiveness to the current round of National Immunisation Plus Days.

She said that in the last immunisation exercise, ``we immunised as many as 82,895 children under-five years in Warri South alone''.

Akporiaye said the local government council had 10 immunisation wards that cut across the riverside and land communities in the area.

Strategies, she said, had been mapped out to increase the number of immunised children and ensure the eradication of polio in the area.

According to her, ``in these four days of the programme, we expect every care giver and mother in the state to bring children that are under five years for immunisation.

``The immunisation workers will move from house to house, to schools, churches and in transit points to make sure every child is reached.

``We are fighting against polio. Polio must be eradicated from Warri South and Delta as a whole; there is no over-dose in polio vaccines.

``We have booster doses for every round. Believe me, there is polio in Delta. I think Delta is the only state that has a new case of polio in the country this year.

``That is why we are just on our toes to make sure that every child is protected; we want the children protected.''

Akporiaye also said that measures had been put in place in the case of non-compliance by mothers through an intervention strategy.(NAN)

The Forum of South-South Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture has pledged to reach out to other regional bodies to ensure economic ties.

The forum comprising city chambers of commerce in the Niger Delta region was inaugurated in Warri, Delta on February 15, with Warri as the secretariat of the forum.

The inauguration was performed by the National President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr Simon Okolo.

The President of the new forum, Mr Billy Harry, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the body would reach out to other regional chambers of commerce for improved economic activities.

``At our inauguration, the NACCIMA president said our region was the bedrock of the nation's economy and that our forum will be the voice of business in the region,'' he said.

Harry said the forum would learn from the experiences of similar bodies in the northern states, South-West states and the South-East economic groups.

``Our interest is to move the nation's economy forward. I believe good interaction with other regional bodies will yield fruitful results in this regard,'' he said.

Harry, who is also the National Vice President of NACCIMA, said the forum would ensure that the post amnesty programme was successfully implemented.

``We will ensure that militancy did not dampen the zeal with which investors are coming to the Niger Delta region. (NAN)

Rampaging thugs wielding dangerous weapon allegedly on the order of a Benin chief yesterday invaded the premises of a Benin-based Lebanese businessman, Ali Fawaz, destroying properties worth millions of naira.

The thugs numbering about 30 came in a two Toyota buses and a car and smashed the entire windows of the multimillion naira business enterprise of the man before gaining access through the roof and carted away properties before the arrival of the police.

The hoodlums who were acting in apparent disregard to a court injunction restraining the said Benin Chief from forcefully ejecting the Lebanese from the business premises according to an eye witness boasted that the Lebanese must vacate the premises.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the invasion, Ali Fawaz, the managing director Al-Hussein Limited said he had been occupying the property along Muritala Mohammed Way which he said belongs to Mrs Oloyede since 1993. He added that at the time the lady wanted to sell off the property he indicated interest to acquire it at the rate of N32million, but she declined selling it to him.

He also disclosed that he had pleaded with the landlady not to sell the property until his rent expired since there was an existing agreement binding the owner and the tenant.

Cash and food crops farmers in Eket, Akwa Ibom have raised an alarm over imminent poor harvest due to damage caused by frequent rainstorms in the area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that more than 100 households were rendered homeless following a violent storm that accompanied the first rain in the year a fortnight ago.

A cross section of the farmers, who spoke to NAN in Eket, said that frequent violent rainstorms in the area had brought misfortune to farmers.

The farmers said that several locations in the area where farmers planted crops in large scale suffered damages, adding that some of the crops had grown to near maturity.

Chief Maurice Edohoeket, a community leader in Eket, said that though rainstorm was a natural phenomenon in coastal settlements, the frequency was becoming disturbing.

``The implication of all this is that there is likely to be poor harvests in the coming harvest season for farmers because a lot of growing crops were damaged by last month's windstorm.

``The plantain plantations were the worst hit and as you know, it is the staple food here. Already supply has dropped and we are noticing shortages with prices hitting the roof tops,'' he said.

Mr Ette Hansen Ette, a farmer appealed to Akwa Ibom government to protect subsistence farmers from such losses by providing financial relief to affected farmers.

He noted that there was the need for the country to develop an agricultural insurance scheme to provide cover for all categories of farmers.

``Farmers need support from government to achieve food security and this disaster that has just happened will definitely have a negative effect on the food supply during the harvest period.