FG Tasked on Grassroots Campaigns against Dreaded Ebola Virus

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An expert in internal medicine has tasked the Federal Government to kick start aggressive campaigns at the grassroots level across the local government areas in the country,  particularly  the  border towns to check the spread of the dreaded Ebola virus in the country.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Prof. Etete Peters who made the call while fielding questions from  journalists in his office said it became imperative and urgent for government to commence proactive actions to check the Ebola infection in the country.

He argued that since a case of the deadly Ebola virus has been reported in some West African Countries, there was need for everyone to be extra vigilant to prevent spread of  the virus because of its highly contagious and epidemic in nature.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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FG Confirms Additional Case of Ebola Virus in Nigeria.

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 Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu,  told journalists in Abuja that the doctor who attended to the American – Liberian government official, Mr Patrick Sawyer has tested positive of Ebola virus.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Billions of Dollars in Deals and Funding to be Announced at Africa Summit

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 The United States will announce nearly $1 billion in business deals, increase funding for peacekeeping and commit billions of dollars to expanding food and power programs in Africa during a summit this week, U.S. and development officials say.

U.S. officials said the Aug. 4-6 summit in Washington of nearly 50 African leaders hopes to showcase U.S. interest in the fast-growing region through a series of government-private partnership deals to boost trade and investment.

The spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is also a reminder of the vast development needs that persist in some of the region's poorest countries, despite rapid their rapid economic growth and investment.

Administration officials have played down questions over whether the summit is in response to China's growing presence in the region. Instead, they have emphasized that American interests go beyond Africa's oil and minerals, where China is focused.

"You will see a series of announcements on agriculture and food, and power and energy," Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told Reuters. "We will make big announcements that demonstrate these are big ambitions we can take on with our African partners and the private sector."

Shah said there will be new support for Power Africa, a privately funded program launched by President Barack Obama last year to install 10,000 megawatts of new generation capacity and connect 20 million new customers across Africa by 2018.

The program had already met that goal after just one year, Shah said. "Next week we will announce a more than doubling of our aspirations," he added.

Shah said while companies pledged $7 billion to the program last year, next week "there will be several billions of dollars" in new investments. The World Bank is also expected to make a major contribution toward the program, according to Bank officials.

The program is also likely to be expanded from the six nations – Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania – that currently benefit from Power Africa.

FOOD AND FARM PROGRAMS

There will also be significant increases in private sector support for U.S.-backed food and agricultural programs in Africa, including the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, U.S. development officials said.

The program was launched in 2012 to bring together African governments, the private sector and donors to boost investment in agricultural production after a massive 2008/09 food price crisis, which sparked unrest in developing nations.

An announcement worth billions of dollars by a large U.S. beverage company is expected to boost purchases from African farmers, according to a company official, who declined to elaborate because details are still being worked out.

Several African officials said General Electric would finalize investments in some African countries during the summit in rail, health and power.

Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, said the summit represented a shift in the U.S.-Africa relationship from a focus on aid to investment and trade.

"There are still bits of aid needed here or there but fundamentally the relationship is now defined as one of trade, investment, growth and opportunities," Kaberuka told Reuters in an interview. "It responds to what Africans are looking for and responds to expectations of American business," he added.

he summit will include a business conference on Tuesday bringing together African leaders and American CEOs. U.S. commerce officials said close to $1 billion in various business deals will be announced, covering different sectors and involving several African countries.

Trade ministers will spend a day discussing ways to improve the U.S. trade program with Africa, known as the African Growth Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which gives African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets. AGOA expires in September next year and will need congressional approval for renewal.

In other funding increases, the State Department is expected to announce a further $60 million a year for peacekeeping training in six African countries, according to U.S. officials, reports Reuters.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Ebola: Lagos Pushes for Closure of Borders

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Read Time:4 Minute, 15 Second

Worried about the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the West African sub-region, the Lagos State Government has been making efforts to reach out to the federal government to close the nation’s borders with neigbouring West African countries for a period until the deadly infection has been brought under control.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) over the weekend had declared that the EVD had spiralled out of control.

Sources close to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State informed THISDAY over the weekend that there were frantic efforts by the governor to contact President Goodluck Jonathan before his departure to the United States on Saturday night to discuss the option of closing the borders with other West African countries.

The sources however said the president could not be reached before he flew out of the country to Washington DC for the African Leadership Summit due to commence today.

Although the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, had said the federal government was not contemplating the closure of borders, the Lagos State Government held the view that their closure might become imperative given the reports of the return of bodies of persons suspected to have died from the virus in some neigbouring West African countries.

“We have a growing number of cases where bodies of relations who may have died of the Ebola disease are being transported home through the borders for burial here in Nigeria, in accordance with the cultural demands of bringing corpses home.

“We fear that if this is unchecked, it could promote the spread of the infection, especially if the dead persons were victims of the EVD infection,” one source close to the governor said.

Sources in the state further explained that it had become expedient for the federal government to take the effect of the spread of the disease seriously and regard it as a “national security” matter, which should override all other commercial and treaty obligations with Nigeria’s West African neighbours.
They expressed concern that “should Ebola virus spread in a densely populated city like Lagos, it would be difficult to control”.

The sources added that the federal government would need to reach out to families of EVD victims in neighbouring countries and advise them to suspend bringing home the bodies of relations for burial.

“They should be educated that it is safer for bodies of EVD victims to be cremated in the countries where they died, and save others the risk of contracting the disease if the bodies are brought back to Nigeria,” an aide of the governor said.

The aide also made reference to the Anambra State incident last week when the state government ordered the closure of a hospital in Awka where the body of a man living in Liberia was deposited in the hospital’s morgue, preparatory for burial.

The Anambra State Government had explained that although no test had confirmed that the man died of EVD, it needed to take precautionary measures to protect the rest of society.

Sources told THISDAY that the position of the Lagos State Government was further strengthened by the fact that two of the medical doctors who treated the late Liberian diplomat, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who died in Lagos penultimate Friday, had taken ill with fever, compelling the medical authorities in Lagos to quarantine them in special units for observation.

Also, determined not to leave anything to chance, the Lagos State Government in collaboration with officials of the Federal Ministry of Health, yesterday paid a sensitisation visit to The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos, to educate the congregation on the deadly disease, and to discourage the General Overseer of the Church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, from allowing worshippers from affected West African countries into his church.

Led by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, the delegation offered to work with the health team of the church in the areas of technical assistance, medical advice and training to ensure that no victim of the deadly disease comes to the church from any of the affected countries undetected.

Idris said the delegation decided to pay the visit to the church because of the recognition that the church is an international Christian centre whose congregation comprises people from all over the world including countries of the West African sub-region (especially Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone), which have already been affected by the Ebola disease.

He stressed that it is all about preventing the spread of the disease in the country by educating their adherents to avoid escalating the health issues.

Also speaking on the mission of the delegation, Director, Centre for Disease Control, Professor Abdulsalami Nasidi, epidemiologist and virologist, said the visit was also to inform the synagogue leader of the deadliness of the Ebola virus and to ensure that it does not escape into the country, adding that it had become such a big problem in the sub-region and is already affecting the economies of the countries involved.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Hijacked Ship Released Near Nigeria

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Read Time:4 Minute, 17 Second

A hijacked Singaporean oil tanker carrying 21 sailors was released yesterday, a week after being seized by pirates in waters off Ghana in West Africa, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The 3,200-tons tanker, carrying a South Korean captain and chief engineer, was hijacked on July 26 off the southern coast of Ghana, the ministry added.

The vessel, which had loaded in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, was also carrying 12 Chinese, one Singaporean and six Burmese, it said.

“All sailors are unhurt and it appears that some of their fuel has been stolen,” it said, adding that the ship was released in waters off Nigeria.

It did not say whether a ransom was paid, but Yonhap news agency said the hijacking appeared to have been aimed at stealing fuel.

“There has been a sharp increase in piracy activities in waters off West Africa, but in most cases, (they) abandon the ships after taking oil, money, or valuables,” said a senior Seoul official quoted by Yonhap.
“This case appears to be of a similar kind,” it said.

Piracy off the western coast of Africa has been rising in recent years, with attackers targeting ships playing a key role in the region’s thriving oil industry.

The International Maritime Bureau said West African piracy made up 19 per cent of attacks worldwide last year, with Nigerian pirates accounting for 31 of the region’s 51 attacks – the most since 2008.

Caption: NYSC logo

NYSC: Bayelsa Parents Protest Posting of Children to North
Segun James
Parents in Bayelsa State yesterday took to the streets of Yenagoa, the state capital, to protest against  the  posting of their children and wards to the North by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The parents cried that it was callous for the management of the NYSC to post their children to the North given the activities of insurgens in that part of the country recently.

According to them, “The North is not safe,” “We cannot allow our children to be roasted,” “Post our children to the South,” “The corpses of children killed in the past have yet to be seen,” were among the inscriptions on the banners they carried, ”vowing that they would not accept the posting. They said since Boko Haram unleashed mayhem on the country, particularly in the northern part of the country, their children had been murdered in cold blood under the guise that they are serving their fatherland.

The parents feared that the insurgents were on the loose, killing with reckless abandon, saying their actions were to forestall further calamities for their children, while they were unanimous that sending their children to the North was tantamount to a suicide mission.

They therefore called on the federal and state governments to intervene in their collective concerns and prevail on the NYSC authorities to drop the idea.

Though they lauded the scheme because it unified Nigerians, they insisted that the current unabated insecurity in the North had compelled them to reject the posting. The protesters, led by the National Women Leader, United for Goodluck Success Campaign, Mrs. Favour Alafuro, said many of their youths were allegedly murdered in the North in the past and that they had yet to see their corpses.

Aleforo said it was curious that over 95 per cent of youths who graduated from the state-owned Niger Delta University, were posted to the North.

She noted that the intention was to allegedly decimate their youths in the troubled northern region.
“It is said that security is everybody’s business. I want to remind Nigerians that a few years ago, the Niger Delta youths sent to the North, some of them were killed in cold blood.

“Up till now  that we are protesting, many corpses have not been found. Just recently, over 200 Chibok girls abducted by the terror group, Boko Haram, have yet to be found. Nigerians have done all they could, yet the children have not been found.”

“Apart from that, the insurgents have wreaked havoc in many states. It is against this backdrop that we are saying no to this current posting. We feel it is a trap to decimate our children.
“When the region is safe, we have no reason to object to the posting. Unfortunately, the North, including the Federal Capital Territory is unsafe.

“We even heard that Boko Haram had planned with some drivers to kidnap corps members. It will be foolhardy to allow our children to go to the North for them to be salughtered.”

“Through the posting of our children, who finished at NDU, they were spread in Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna and other volatile areas. We (the parents) have resolved to meet with the coordinator of NYSC in the state to post our children and wards to safe areas in the South and not in the North. I have two children posted to the North and I do not want to lose them,” Alafuro said.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NIGERIA: Kano Bombings Traced to Female Beggars

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Read Time:2 Minute, 53 Second

Current intelligence reports on the emergence of female suicide bombers mostly in Kano and other states in northern Nigeria have been linked to the possible conscription of female beggars by Boko Haram members, investigations by THISDAY have revealed.

THISDAY learnt from reliable security sources in Abuja that the female beggars were banned and relocated outside the Kano metropolis by the state government sometime last year but were quickly recruited by the terrorists to disperse the attacks across Kano, Yobe and Gombe States, while the male recruits and Boko Haram members hold sway in Borno State.

A military source, while dismissing the suggestion that some of the suicide bombers might be the abducted Chibok girls, added that some of the female suicide bombers who had been used by the terrorists might have been unaware that they were being strapped with deadly explosives.

The source said: “They are not the Chibok girls and secondly, some of those girls might not really know they were strapped. Don't forget that the Kano State Government sometime early this year or late last year banned and drove out beggars from the city.

“Now the question you should ask is where are those girls who were begging?. Could they have gone back to their various places or have they been hiding somewhere or they are the ones being recruited by Boko Haram to carry out these attacks?.

“Our findings show that these women are easy to recruit and have fallen prey to Boko Haram members who have lured them with a few naira notes. They may also be ignorant of what they are being asked to do.”

In addition to the suspicion that female beggars may have been conscripted into the sect by Boko Haram members, security sources said they were also working on the possibility that the female suicide bombers might be the wives of slain or arrested members of the Islamic sect who have been indoctrinated and brainwashed to take revenge on behalf of their husbands.
Speaking to THISDAY on the issue yesterday, the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said while the use of female suicide bombers was consistent with the terrorists’ murderous behaviour, the involvement of the abducted Chibok girls in suicide attacks had not been confirmed.

Olukolade said: “We can only subscribe to this claim if ongoing intelligence and surveillance activities in relation to efforts to recover the girls indicated such a development.”

He maintained that the involvement of the Chibok girls in suicide bombings remained speculative that needed to be proven.

Following the failed suicide bombing at a military facility in Gombe State by a female bomber in June, the military last month arrested three suspected female terrorists who it alleged had been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the terrorist group.

Speaking on the development, the Deputy Director of Defence Information, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, had said the suspects, Hafsat Usman Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar, were intercepted while travelling to Madagali from where they were to transit to the forest to reunite with their cohorts.

He revealed that the suspects, led by Bako, had been assigned to recruit members into the female wing as well as conduct espionage for the group.
Nwachukwu said the arrested suspects were luring ladies especially widows and young girls by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of their terror group for marriage.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NIGERIA: Gunmen Kill Monarch in Bauchi

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Read Time:1 Minute, 28 Second

Some gunmen, suspected to be armed robbers, on Saturday killed the District Head of Soro in Bauchi State, Mallam Abdulrahman Baba, and injured two other persons.

The Bauchi State Police Command’s spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Haruna Mohammed, who confirmed the killing in a statement issued yesterday, said the incident occurred at 7.45 pm on Saturday.

“On 2nd of August 2014, at about 19.45 hours, six gunmen suspected to be armed bandits, stormed Soro town in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, killing the District Head of Soro, Abdulrahman Isa Baba, and two other traders.

“They carted away an undisclosed amount of money from their victims and escaped to an unknown destination.

“The entire surrounding has been cordoned off and efforts are being intensified to arrest the fleeing suspects,” he said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mohammed also said that a 32-year-old man had been apprehended in connection with an improvised explosive device (IED) that was buried in a building site located at VIO quarters in Azare town of the state.

Last Wednesday, the Explosive Ordinance Unit of the state command had recovered and rendered safe an IED concealed in a fire extinguisher and some assorted ammunition buried in the building.

The spokesperson stated that the man, a resident of Kofar Dumi area of Bauchi metropolis, had confessed to participating in a bank robbery in Misau and Azare towns of the state.
Mohammed said the recovered items from the suspect included three Barreta rifles, two G3 rifles, and one K2 rifle, as well as one double-barrelled gun, among others.

Mohammed said investigations were still ongoing and appealed to the general public to help with any useful information.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NIGERIA: Boko Haram Crashes Real Estate Prices

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Read Time:4 Minute, 24 Second

The unrelenting violence perpetrated by the Boko Haram insurgents has taken its toll on the real estate sector in most states in northern Nigeria, where the prices of properties have significantly been crashed.

Prices of properties have drastically falling to an all time low, THISDAY investigations have revealed.

Besides crashing the prices of property, especially in the North-eastern states, public property worth billions of naira have gone down the drain through the destructive acts of the terrorist group.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State told THISDAY recently that more than 900 schools had been reduced to rubble by the sect in his state.

The destruction of private and public buildings in the region has led to an all time crash of property prices, as has never been experienced in the North-eastern part of the country.
Mr. Mohammed Aliyu, an indigene of Edo State, who relocated to Abuja with his family from Maiduguri last year, spoke to THISDAY, while counting his losses.

He said: “I had a four-bedroom bungalow, with all the appurtenances in a choice area in Maiduguri, going for N500,000 per annum, yet no buyer has come up for it. It is that bad. There are many vacant houses and apartments in the city without occupiers. This is what the insurgency has done to me.”

Mr. Femi Stephen Alao, a Kaduna-based architect and estate developer, said there was no doubt that insecurity has had an adverse effect on the property market in Kaduna city and adjoining towns.

At Tundun Wada, Kawo and Kabala west, an upscale area in Kaduna city, prices for three-bedroom homes have nosedived to as low as between N60,000 and N200, 000 per annum. In the past the apartments used to go for between N400,000 and N600,000, he explained.

“In all of these areas, real estate businesses have ground to halt. You cannot find developers on site working now,” he said.

However, Alao said that the southern parts of Kaduna, like Gonigora, Bana-Wa, Chikun, Angwua and several areas of that state were experiencing a hike in rent because a majority of non-indigenes in these zones believe that the areas are safe havens.

A plot of land in Angwua now sells for N1 million, whereas it used to sell for less than N500,000 per plot a  few years back.

Corroborating Alao’s assertion, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Benue State Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC), Mrs. Brigid Sheidu, said the security challenges in the north had affected the company’s revenue from its property unit in Kaduna State.

“This has affected our guest house facility in Kaduna township. Unlike in the past, business was booming but because of the insecurity, we have lost most of our clientele as not many people patronise like they used to in the past. But we hope that things will change for the better,” she said.

Speaking in the same vein, the National President, Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Mr. Emmanuel Olabode Afolayan, acknowledged that insurgent activities in the North-east and other states in the north had done unquantifiable damage to the real estate sector.

He said: “I can tell you authoritatively that nothing is presently ongoing in some parts of the north, except a few states like Sokoto, Kebbi and Gombe States. In other states, where there is a serious security upheaval, construction and building activities are at their lowest ebb; this is a big problem for all of us.

“For instance, in Borno and Adamawa States, our members are not building at all. In fact, no bank is ready to provide them facilities in states where there are security challenges. No workmen are even interested in working in those areas, so transactions in the real estate sector are today almost non-existent.”

On how much has been lost to insurgency especially in the areas affected, he said: “Honestly, it will be pretty difficult to roll out figures now as we are still counting the losses, but what I can authoritatively tell you is that most of our members have not really lost their building. However activities are practically at a low ebb."

Vice-President, REDAN, North-central, as well as the Managing Director of AIS Ltd, Mr. Sunday Idachaba, said the level of activities as far as the built sector was concerned had no doubt been affected by rising insecurity especially in the North-east.

He explained that the real estate industry involves the movement of various categories of workers like engineers, masonry foremen and other artisans but when an area is undermined, it would be difficult to go there to work.

“No matter the amount of money you offer workers, they will be reluctant to work in an unsecure environment. So certainly the real estate sector has nose-dived for now in those areas. People are not willing to buy homes in a place where there is insecurity.

“Property prices have crashed in cities like Maiduguri and Yobe. People are willing to sell, yet nobody is willing to buy. This is the challenge that we are facing at the moment,” he added.

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Elumelu Commits N2.5bn to Distressed Nigerian Communities

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Read Time:1 Minute, 57 Second

The presidential dinner held last week to rally Nigerians to support the victims of terror realised more than N80 billion in donations as top Nigerians showed they care about their fellow citizens afflicted by the insurgency and terror attacks.

The fund raising event anchored by President Goodluck Jonathan brought together top Nigerians and organisations to donate different amounts to support the victims of terror.

The president, who personally opened the event with a donation of N10 billion on behalf of the federal government, passionately appealed to Nigerians to show that they care by donating generously to the Victims Support Fund (VSF) no matter how small or big the amount donated.

In response to the president’s plea, state governments, individuals and private sector organisations in the oil and gas as well as the banking industry donated handsomely to the fund, bringing the total amount realised to over N80 billion on the night.

It was however Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, who brought an innovative structure for charitable don    ations by committing N2.5 billion to uplifting the lives of Nigerians affected by conflict and natural disasters. The amount represented the highest by any individual on the night.

Elumelu's donation included N1 billion immediately to the Victim Support Fund, while the additional N1.5 billion will go towards establishing and endowing a Nigeria Opportunity and Empowerment Fund over the next three years to support other distressed communities in the country.

The Opportunity and Empowerment Fund, which will be managed by the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will be run according to global best practices and will be used to make investments and provide grants that create economic opportunities for communities around Nigeria that have been ravaged by conflict or where fundamental issues of inclusion have to be addressed such as in the Niger Delta region.
“We want to show that the dynamic and long-term use of capital can create the enabling environment – supporting a generation of entrepreneurs, who themselves can lift a region and a people onward and upwards,” explained Elumelu.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which will manage the N1.5 billion fund, is an African-based, African-funded philanthropic organisation, founded in 2010 by Elumelu to support entrepreneurship in Africa by enhancing the competitiveness of the African private sector.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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NMA Split over Decision to Call off Doctors’ Strike

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Read Time:4 Minute, 43 Second

There appears to be a crack among members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) over whether  of not to call off the nationwide strike the association embarked on last month.

The division among NMA members was obvious yesterday, as attempts to brief journalists on the latest developments was surreptitiously called off.

The Secretary-General of the NMA, Dr. Adewunmi Alayaki, however, pleaded with journalists to “bear with us, we will call you in 48 hours time.”

At press times, an emergency meeting of the NMA leadership which  began by 3p.m. was still ongoing.
The NMA has been on strike over some irreconcilable differences with the federal government bordering on the status of medical consultants and hazard allowance among others.

But THISDAY gathered that at the meeting, which had in attendance some past presidents of the NMA, there were disagreements on whether to shelve the strike or not.

Among those at the meeting included NMA’s immediate-past president and delegate to the ongoing National Conference, Dr. Osahon Enabulele; another past president of the NMA and Kogi State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Omede Idris and Dr. Prosper Igboele.

Others high ranking personnel who were believed to be at the meeting were a member, Board of Trustees of the NMA and Emir of Songa, Dr. Haliru Yahaya; Registrar, National Post-Graduate Medical College, Prof. Wole Atoyebi; and former Chairman, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria who is also with the Benue State Unjversity Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.

A credible source explained that: “The NMA leadership is divided on the strike. While some led by its current President, Dr. Kayode Obembe, are pushing for the suspension of the industrial action, others are saying they would not suspend the action when the federal government has not listened to them.
“If we suspend the action now, the present government and even subsequent governments won’t take us seriously any time we declare nationwide strikes again. That is the major issue and not any insinuation that somebody has been settled.”
Obemeb, had a few weeks after his election, hinged the strike on the inability of the government to address their demands, stressing that government response was only a cosmetic measure.

The NMA had earlier forwarded 24 demands to the government including discontinuation of recognition of non-medical doctors as directors and consultants by any other health worker, other than medical doctors.
The demands also include appointment of a Surgeon-General of the Federation,  clinical duty and hazard allowances and withdrawal of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular on medical laboratory equipment.

“The NMA is taking this painful route because our silence and gentle approach to these contending issues have been taken for granted. We have to take this action in order to save the health care delivery system from anarchy that is palpably imminent. We hereby appeal to all Nigerians for their understanding and to press on government to meet with our demands,” he stated.

Obembe had told journalists that the failure of government to address NMA’s demands had left  the association with no other option than “to call all its members to down tools in order to press home their demands.”

According to him, there was no way non – doctors could be allowed to function as consultants given that they do not oversee patients in the hospital.

According to him, “A consultant is the owner of the patient; many health workers now go about acquiring Ph.D so that they can be called doctors. The title should be restricted to only a medical doctor.”

Also, the strike had thrown several issues and controversies with accusations and counter-accusations. The President of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Steven Oluwole, had last week accused the federal government of attempts to privatise hospitals and proscribe NMA.

The government had challenged striking doctors to a “high-powered debate” before the public on the contentious issues concerning the alleged breach of agreement which warranted the strike.

According to the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, government had met its own part of the bargain by 100 per cent and was surprised why the NMA leadership would still be flexing muscles after pledging to adhere to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the government.
Chukwu threw the challenge during the signing of $15 million agreement with Norwegian government which was offered to Nigeria for the upscaling of maternal and child health.

The minister had told journalists then that :“The update on the strike is that they (NMA) have signed the second MoU with us on the July 3. For two times now, they have said they would call off the strike; they have signed. I don’t know, when someone gives you a check, you are expected to go and cash your money.”

Pressed further if government had sincerely fulfilled its part of the bargain, Chukwu said: “Absolutely, 100 per cent, and that is why I said may be we should have a high-powered debate before the Nigerian public. Let each side state what their issues are, let’s take it one by one. I am assuring Nigerians that as their Minister of Health, on my honour, the federal government, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, has done what it ought to do.

“That is why they signed an MoU. Why will you sign an MoU when you are not satisfied with the negotiation? These two negotiations took place for over 24 hours; that is a whole day without sleep.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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