ELVIRA’S PEN

A GOOD TIME TO START - Elvira Jordan For over a week now I have been lying in a hospital bed.  (If you’re tempted to stop this message and check up on me, no need. I am very much okay. 😁) It’s not really funny being confined to a place, especially for a wakaholic like me. It has indeed been a humbling experience for me. It has given me the opportunity to appreciate good health, life, and our everyday abilities even more. It is so funny how many lessons I have learnt just by sitting still for a while. This past week has taught me a lot and has helped me to go through some thoughts that I have been putting off. It has also forced me to review some parts of my life I may have ignored; to rethink some of my decisions, to restrategise, to replan and to restructure my cards.  Once in a while, my world tends to experience these kinds of pause; giving me a moment to do some self reflection and see some aspects of my life that my usual busy routine will not let me see.  A good ex...

Before Nigeria became known as Africa's oil giant... before pipelines stretched across the Niger Delta... before oil money shaped politics, cities, and the economy... the land told a very different story. For generations, communities across the Niger Delta lived by farming, fishing, and trading along winding creeks. Life moved with the rhythm of the rivers. Beneath their feet lay a treasure so valuable that no one could have imagined the future it would create. The search for that treasure began long before Nigeria gained independence. In the early 1900s, foreign companies arrived, convinced that the country's soil held vast petroleum reserves. But finding oil was anything but easy. They battled dense forests, endless swamps, tropical diseases, floods, and the disruption of two World Wars. Expedition after expedition ended in disappointment. Wells were drilled... only to come up dry. Years turned into decades, and many began to believe Nigeria simply wasn't meant to become ...

ONE MAN COURT, JUDGE AND JURY - Elvira Jordan (Revised) Good Morning Beloved!!! Have you heard of the best court in the world? A court that needs no judge or master.  A court that follows you wherever you go, and sometimes passes judgement even before the deed is committed. Strange but it does exist. Not in any state, country or region but within the consciousness of every RATIONAL HUMAN BEING that exists on this earth. At the core of every rational thinking man, there is an inner voice that always whispers within us. A voice that can clearly differentiate good from bad; right or wrong; evil or just. It is an inner knowing that presents us with the best options, and also holds us accountable for our decisions and actions, whether good or bad.  It is called CONSCIENCE. This court is the most efficient because it is a one-man-court that plays the role of a defendant, a witness, a judge and a jury. Even when you think no man sees, you see yourself and so does your inner conscious...

PORT HARCOURT, Rivers State | July 20, 2026   For 13 years, FirstLove Assembly in Rukpokwu has opened its doors to a community seeking faith, purpose, and practical tools for life. This August, the church is turning that milestone into a moment. From August 12 to 16, 2026, the auditorium in Rukpokwu will host the church’s Annual Faith Conference and 13th Anniversary Leadership and Business Session — themed “The Supernatural Life.” And the lineup suggests the organisers are going big. The Voices Headlining the 5 Days Leading the charge is Dr. Dakuku Peterside, former Director-General of NIMASA and one of Nigeria’s most quoted voices on leadership. He will deliver the keynote: “The Ten Greatest Leadership Lessons I Learnt From Public Service — And Why Every Entrepreneur Should Know Them.”   For many in the room, it’s a rare chance to hear the author of Leading in a Storm and Strategic Turnaround break down what crisis, governance, and pressure teach about running both institutio...

PORT HARCOURT, Rivers State – The State Advocacy Team, SAT, of the ATM Networks in Rivers State has called on the Rivers State Ministry of Education to approve sensitization programs on Gender-Based Violence, GBV, and Gender-Related Human Rights, GHR, in secondary schools across selected Local Government Areas. The team, led by the State Coordinator of the TB Network, Mr. Messiah Fyneface Muzan, paid an advocacy and familiarization visit to the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Dr. Peter Nwagor, on behalf of the Global Fund-supported Integrated Community-Led Monitoring, CLM, Project. Purpose of the Visit Mr. Muzan said the ATM Networks, which comprise the TB, HIV and Malaria Networks, are implementing the CLM Project to promote community ownership of health facilities, accountability in service delivery, and improved access to healthcare. He explained that through community engagements, the network has observed rising cases of GBV and human rights violations, including sexual abus...

Partners agree to share data, restore diagnostic equipment, and expand community-led monitoring PORT HARCOURT, Rivers State – In a bid to improve the fight against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Rivers State, the ATM Networks on Monday paid an advocacy visit to the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, IHVN, Rivers State Office. The ATM Networks — comprising the AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Networks — led by the TB Network, met with IHVN officials to review progress on Global Fund-supported programs, identify operational gaps, and agree on joint actions under the Integrated Community-Led Monitoring, I-CLM, Project. The meeting held on June 30, 2026 at the IHVN Office, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, had in attendance IHVN State Saturation Officer, Mr. James Ugba; IHVN-TBFP, Mr. Moses Uze; the admin officer; and ATM coordinators.  Reviewing 6 Months of Community-Led Monitoring Presenting an overview, State Coordinator of the ATM Network, Messiah Fyneface Muzan, sai...

SEEING IS FREE - Elvira Jordan Good Morning Beloved! 😁 When it comes to thoughts and imaginations, I am often delusional in my line of thinking. I know that when God peeps into my daydreams    and visions, he will just smile and say “you’re a greedy little thing, aren’t you?” 🙊 As one who has birthed a lot of things in my life through my imaginations, I have come to rely on it a lot. Especially when you did not grow up as privileged as others, you weren’t born into a system where you simply get things without needing them, you need something and they’re provided or you simply ask and it is given. For some of us who didn’t grow with this privilege, I have used my imaginations to call in things that nearly seemed impossible to reach from where I stand in life. I simply did because I could see beyond where I was standing, and could feel and taste these things, even when they seemed impossible. In my years of being asleep, I just imagine and end there. Sometimes these things com...