United Igbo Elders Congress - News Blog

 The House of Representatives passed the constitutional amendment bill to establish state police across Nigeria on Thursday.  The bill which proposes a major constitutional shift from the current centralized policing system to a dual Federal and State Police structure to tackle local security challenges was passed with overwhelming vote support—289 votes in favor, 1 against, and 1 abstention.  The legislation, officially titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to Provide for the Establishment of State Police; and for Related Matters (Sixth Alteration) Bill, 2026," is a major step toward decentralizing the country's security architecture. Key details and provisions of the bill: 1. Core Constitutional Changes  Legislative Shift: The bill moves policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, empowering the 36 state governments to establish, fund, and manage their own police forces along...

State By State News Roundup Friday, June 12 — Democracy Day Abuja (FCT) / National President Tinubu marked Democracy Day with a national address, touting a record N5.41 trillion 2026 defence and security budget and the recruitment of over 50,000 new police officers amid a security emergency. He acknowledged the day's mood was dampened by ongoing child abductions in Oyo and Borno states. [Premium Times](https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/887063-june-12-what-tinubu-told-nigerians-on-democracy-day-2026-full-text.html)  Oyo State The school-abduction crisis from the May 15 attack in Oriire LGA continues — it's now been 26 days since gunmen seized over 40 pupils and several teachers, with the Air Force deploying aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations. Politically, the Oyo PDP is mid-screening for its 2027 governorship candidates ahead of party primaries. [Childreninfobank](https://childreninfobank.com/26-days-in-captivity-oyo-borno-school-abductions-spark-air-sur...

UNITED IGBO ELDERS CONGRESS (UNIEC) Mobilizing the Strength of Ndigbo in the Diaspora   BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION The United Igbo Elders Congress (UNIEC) is a noble assembly of distinguished Igbo elders and patriots drawn from across the world. The organization is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) under RC No. 8583834, and guided by principles of integrity, unity, wisdom, and moral reawakening within the Igbo nation and beyond A CALL TO IGBO ELDERS, PROFESSIONALS, AND STAKEHOLDERS ABROAD To our brothers and sisters across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania: The story of Ndigbo is no longer confined to the geographical borders of Nigeria. Today, millions of Igbo sons and daughters are spread across the world—excelling in medicine, engineering, academia, business, technology, law, diplomacy, faith institutions, and public service. Yet, despite our remarkable global achievements, the collective voice and strategic infl...

 AN URGENT CALL FROM THE UNITED IGBO ELDERS CONGRESS TO NDIGBO  Otu mkpịsị aka adịghị awa ọjị. The Igbo have never been defeated by the courage, intelligence, or industry of our people. Instead we have often been defeated by our disunity. This is the truth that our enemies know and that we must finally accept. The United Igbo Elders Congress — speaking with the authority of accumulated years, with the grief of those who remember Biafran war, with the hope of those who see what our people have achieved against every obstacle — calls on every man and woman of Igbo extraction to rise to this historic moment. A. Register. Vote. Dominate. The 2027 elections are a referendum on whether the Igbo will remain perpetual spectators in the political arena of the country our labor and blood helped to build. Every Igbo man and woman who is eligible to vote and has not registered is a soldier who has abandoned the battlefield. We call on every Igbo person from the age of 18 upward: Go to you...

 The camouflaged fighter roared over us in a south-easterly direction following the trace of the muddy Imo River. Several kilometres downstream, the plane suddenly turned in a wide sweeping arc on the other side of the river, tilted on to one wing and swung low as it performed one orbit over us, engines roaring and flew back. It aligned itself with the dirt road, flying so low that we could clearly see the grim-faced, heavily goggled and helmeted white pilot peering down at us. His thin lips were drawn even thinner in a wicked grin. His stern and unfriendly visage neither frightened nor disturbed me because we children knew that white "aeroplane drivers" normally throw down bags of money to children. So believing that this was certainly my luckiest day (having escaped death by drowning just a few minutes earlier) and that my second miracle for the day was about to unfold, Uche and I raised our voices in song to the unknown pilot, "Aeroplane, turalum akpa ego-oo..." ...

THE AGE OF FERRIES — LIFE BEFORE THE BRIDGE Canoes and the Ancient Crossing The earliest crossings at Onitsha were made by dugout canoe — the long, hand-carved vessels that Igbo and Ijaw boatmen had perfected over generations. These were not primitive crafts but sophisticated tools: some large enough to carry several passengers and considerable cargo, paddled by men who read the river's currents with the intimacy of those who had grown up on it. In the pre-colonial and early colonial period, the crossing by canoe was the only option available to most people. Traders from the Onitsha market would descend to the waterfront laden with goods: palm oil in clay pots, dried fish, yams, kola nuts, groundnuts. On the Asaba side, people from the Ika Igbo communities of the west — cassava farmers, kola traders, government messengers — waited to cross in the opposite direction. The crossing was cheap but slow. It depended on the skill of the boatman, the temperament of the river, and the seaso...