The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Guinness reinstates commitment to initiative against blindness

    Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Baker Magunda has reitreated the commitment of his organisation along with Sightsavers to the prevention of avoidable blindness caused by cataract.
    Sightsavers is a leading organisation working to eliminate avoidable blindness by supporting cataract surgeries in women and girls in Sokoto and Kebbi States with funding from Guinness Nigeria Plc covering a period of 12 months.
    The project, which is built on the gains of the Coordinated Approach to Eye Health (CATCH), commenced in November 2018 and has recorded 207 beneficiaries of free surgery programmes in Sokoto state.

    Magunda said Guinness Nigeria is determined, in alignment with the United Nation’s Vision 2020, to turn the tide of preventable blindness in Africa: “Good health and wellbeing is Goal 3 of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; and good sight is very essential to good health and well-being of every human. Therefore, we are aware of the challenges caused when one loses his or her sight.
    “We are very touched by the stories of some of these individuals, hence our commitment to this project because we believe everyone has the right to sight,” Magunda stated.
    According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cataract is responsible for 51% of world blindness which represents about 20 million people whereas in many countries barriers exist that prevent patients to access surgery.
    “That possible unsavoury growth in the number of people that may likely come down with cataract and eventually go blind is what we seek to mitigate with our intervention with Sightsavers,” Magunda further said. “As a responsible organisation, we are optimistic about the steady contribution of our quota towards achieving this vision.
    “Currently, fifty-four women in Kebbi state and one hundred and fifty-three women in Sokoto state have benefitted from free eye surgeries and we are happy that the patients are coping very well.” Magunda noted.

  • Fayemi urged to implement erosion control master plan to curb flooding

    The Ekiti State Chapter of Trade Union Congress (TUC) has appealed to Governor Kayode Fayemi to enforce implementation of the erosion control masterplan drawn for the state at its creation in 1996.

    The labour union equally urged the governor to prepare a new masterplan for Ado Ekiti capital city if none had been provided to rescue the situation in the past.

    Chairman of the TUC in Ekiti, Sola Adigun, who led other leaders of the council yesterday on inspection of some of the areas affected, including Onala, Emirin, and Oke Ureje, Polytechnic road, among others, expressed shock at the level of devastation caused by the flood.

    “The level of this devastation appears unprecedented. This is unarguably heightened by the reality of climate change responsible for the rise in water level. Unfortunately, the attitude of our people such as building on water ways, indiscriminate dumping of waste in drainages compound this challenge.”

    Read Also: World Bank to tackle flooding in Aba

    Speaking with newsmen during the visit, Adigun, who commended Fayemi for his prompt visit to the areas and donation of relief materials worth millions of naira to the affected EKSU students, also lauded other agencies which had visited the areas.

    While calling on other agencies to complement the efforts of the state government, he also called for the mobilisation of experts to save the Ureje Bridge from total collapse.

    The TUC chairman stressed the need for urgent dredging of the Ureje River and other rivers prone to overflowing their natural course, pleading with the federal government to provide financial support for the state.

  • Sultan to deliver lecture in Akure, meet religious leaders

    The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, will on Monday, September 9th, 2019, (tomorrow) in Akure, Ondo State, deliver this year’s Ulefunta Public Lecture. The Ulefunta Festival is the brainchild of the Akure monarch, the Deji of Akure Kingdom, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi, who began a process of bringing Akure’s culture into modern remembrance, one of which is the Ulefunta which is now celebrated to impart its lessons on the modern world.

    In a programme released by the organising committee of the ceremony headed by Prince Adebisi Adeniyi, the Sultan will also, during the visit, on Sunday, September 8, (today) hold an Inter-Religious Council meeting with all religious leaders in the state with the aim of getting them to keep peace and sustain Nigeria’s unity, in spite of the differences of religion. The Interdenominational meeting will take place at the St. David’s Cathedral Hall, Oke-Ijebu, Akure by 4pm.

    Read Also: Sultan, emirs to grace Argungu festival

    The lecture, which is the second edition of the annual lecture series, will hold tomorrow at the Main Auditorium of the Federal University of Technology, Akure by 10:00am. Entitled, “Our diversity a divine gift and blessing untapped : wrong path trodden and way to peace,” the Sultan will use the opportunity to proffer the way forward for Nigeria and Nigerians at a period of its historical development when divisive narratives are gaining currency more than ever before in the polity. It will also, among other things, discuss the way to peace and a united Nigeria.

    The lecture, which will be chaired by the renowned entrepreneur, Chief Michael Ade Ojo, will also have the governor of Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, as the Special Guest of Honour and will be attended by prominent traditional rulers, religious leaders, opinion leaders, community leaders, youths and students. According to the release, the Sultan, who is the guest of Oba Aladelusi, is expected to arrive Akure, the state capital, today.

  • Aluyi dies at 79

    THE death has occurred of Prof. Henry Solomon Agbonavbare Aluyi, the pioneer provost of the College of Education Warri and past chairman of the Edo State Post Primary Education Board. He passed away on the 27th of August 2019 and was aged 79 years.

    Aluyi was a graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria and earned his doctorate degree in Microbiology at University of Manchester in the UK.

    He taught Microbiology at the University of Benin, where he retired as an associate professor, and later at the Benson Idahosa University, Benin city, as Professor of Microbiology.

    He is survived by a wife, Mrs. Tina Aluyi, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, among whom is Hon. Justice Isaac O. Aluyi, retired pioneer president of the customary court of appeal, Bendel State.

    Burial details to be announced later.

  • IGR: Group seeks Obiano intervention over traders’ extortion

    CIVIL Liberties Organisation (CLO), South East Zone, has written the Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, over alleged double taxation, extortion and daylight brigandage in the guise of pursuing internally generated revenue for the state.

    The traders had lamented excessive expenses incurred on their goods within Onitsha while conveying them from Sapele where they were sourced.

    Zonal chairman of the group, Comrade Aloysius Attah, in the letter, cited the plight of traders at the Uba Planks and Joints Ltd, UPJA, (Ogbo Osisi) and the Amalgamated Timber Dealers Association, ATDA, at the Bridge Head axis of Onitsha who recently sent a distress message to Obiano over multiple levies.

    The group noted that some of the affected traders revealed that they were forced to pay the sum of N9, 000 per vehicle to one revenue agent identified as Jekwu before such truck load of timber was allowed to pass through the down bridge and proceed for offloading inside the market.

  • Ayade debunks claims of alleged land grabbing by APC

    CROSS River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has debunked claims by the opposition All Progressives Congress in the state that the government was engaging in any land grabbing exercise.

    The leading opposition party in a recent statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the state chapter of the APC, Bassey Ita, had said, “We wish to bring to public knowledge that the recent quit order issued by the Governor, Senator Ben Ayade, on the Cross River Property and Investment Company [CROSPIL] along the Bishop Moynagh Avenue, State Housing Estate, Calabar for a proposed vocation centre is nothing but a renewed bid to illegally grab the said land for his private use.”

    Read Also: Sir Ayade: The making of a noble Knight

    The Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the Governor, Mr. Christian Ita, debunked the APC claims, saying that the state government is establishing a Fabrication Academy to train middle-level manpower requirement of the oil industry and so identified buildings in the CROSPIL estate which the government wants to complete and use same for hostels to accommodate students of the proposed Fabrication Academy.

    “It is not the entire CROSPIL, there are some uncompleted buildings in the CROSPIL premises which the government wants to complete and use for the hostel for the academy,” Ita said.

    “This idea of quitting the company from its location for a phantom vocation centre against the overriding public interest is in our consideration another gross abuse of office by the governor. Nothing can be so tyrannical and draconian than this, especially as it is done through the usual executive tardiness and fiat of this administration.”

  • A’Ibom abrogates user fees for all HIV-related services

    THE Akwa Ibom State government has abrogated user fees for all HIV-related services as part of its commitment towards combating the epidemic.

    The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, announced this when a team from the Office of the Global AIDs Coordinator (OGAC), Washington DC, paid a courtesy call in his office in Uyo, the state capital.

    The OGAC team was led by Bill Paul – Nigerian Chair, Deputy Coordinator for Program Quality, OGAC; Lisa Baldwin – Division Chief, Health Team Leader, Africa Bureau, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Headquarters; Tedd Ellerbrock – Global Care and Treatment Lead, Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Headquarters Atlanta, USA; Emilo Dirlikov of CDC Nigeria and Dr. Chris Obanubi of USAID Nigeria, among others.

    The visiting team acknowledged government effort and hoped that elimination of user fees will abrogate all barriers to treatment by People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in the state.

    The OGAC team that was in the state to assess the ongoing HIV surge response was satisfied with the level of efforts by USAID and other implementing partners.

    The surge response is aimed at HIV epidemic control in Akwa Ibom State.

    The team visited some health facilities including ART Unit, Etinan General Hospital, Mega PCR Lab, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Anua General Hospital, Primary Health Centre, Enwang Mbo LGA and the Surge Situation Room at the Ministry of Health, Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo.

    The Situation Room is a communication hub equipped with sophisticated facilities. The room is linked to all Enhanced Management Sites (health facilities) earmarked to support HIV epidemic control in the state. It is used for monitoring and evaluation, ECHO video clinical mentoring, programme review, teaching and capacity building.

    It may be recalled that the United States Ambassador to Nigeria – Stuart W. Symington – in August 2019 visited Governor Udom Emmanuel to launch USG most important effort – to save lives that would have otherwise been lost.

    Symington had explained that the advocacy was to ensure that all those living with HIV know their status and those who are positive are commenced and retained on treatment.

  • Scholars task pupils, students, teachers for new session

    Primary school pupils, secondary school students and their teachers have been tasked to make utmost use of available resource centres as they resume for new academic session on Monday.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Lagos State, Mrs. Abosede Adelaja, while giving the task on Thursday during a two day 4th annual state conference of the English Language Teachers’ Association (ELTAN), Lagos State Chapter, was of the view that making utmost use of numerous educational resource centres would hone teachers’ skills and develop pupils and students’ learning abilities.

    Abosede, who was represented at the conference by the Director, Multilingual International Resource Centre, Yaba, Lagos, Haastrup Taiwo, said that, “Government has many education resource centres, as schools resume nationwide next week those they are meant for should make best use of them.

    She noticed the need to provide more centers because of the nature of Lagos State in receiving many people from different parts of the country and outside the country and afterwards hinted that government would look into providing more of such centers.

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu: we‘ll recruit teachers to strengthen Lagos education

    Speaking in the same vein, the President of the chapter and Principal, Iganmu Senior High School, Mr. Charles Adeniyi, enthused that,” the main essence of the conference is for the teachers to come and refresh for competence development, enhance vocational or professional skills, brush up for programmes, then go back to the classrooms equipped with new ideas and teaching skills.

    “This is 21st century, how can you be relevant? It’s by developing necessary skills that become of a modern teacher in the new session. Don’t go back to the classrooms in the new session, with the way you ended the last session. Get new ideas, get fresh ideas,” he charged.

    In her key note address, Dr. Olufunke Oshikomaya, Senior Lecturer, National Open University (NOUN), Victoria Island, Lagos, tasked the teeming teachers to awake to harnessing Edu-tech by getting accustomed to the use of mobile phones, personal computers, emails, Skype, teleconferencing in teaching and learning.

    In her own response, Oshikomaya, remarked that, “English language is important to economic development, almost everything you know,is centred on English language-it’s the language of economy, industry and commerce, it’s a language of marketing, trading, speaking of it has to be really dealt with….”

  • Inner Wheel trains 50 indigent youths

    About 50 male and female indigents are currently undergoing free vocational training/programme organised by Inner Wheel District 911, Nigeria.

    Speaking at the flag-off ceremony held at Inner Wheel Vocational Centre, Amuwo-Odofin, Lagos, the district chairman, Adejumoke Odulaja, in her goodwill message said that the empowerment project which is the star project of the club has been on-going for five years.

    The move, according to her, is to encourage the ideals of personal service.

    “With the economic hardship we are witnessing now, there is nothing like having a vocation, even if there is no white collar job as a graduate. This skill once learnt, you can start a business and generate money to fend for your household,” said Odulaja.

    Speaking on the criteria used in selecting beneficiaries , the project chairman, IWM Kafila Afodun, said all the representatives in each Inner Wheel Club scattered all over Lagos and Ogun states .

    were instructed to seek for indigent students in their areas.

    “One major criterion is that beneficiaries must show interest and commitment in whatever skills they are learning, since it is free. And by the time they finish the training, Inner Wheel District 911 intends empowering beneficiaries with start-up machines and cash needed to make a difference in their lives,” said Afodun.

  • 35-year-old Oluwakemi needs N1m to treat vaginal cancer

    35-year-old Oluwakemi Sekinat Olooto is throes of pain as a result of a malignant cervical cancer and needs N1million to access adequate treatment and cure at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, idi-Araba, Lagos.

    Olooto, a trader and resident of Itupate Street in Ikorodu, Lagos has for over four months, been diagnosed with Invasive Moderately Differentiated Squamous Cell Carcinoma best described in layman’s language as vagina cancer and as such has been in severe pains, made worse by her inability to raise the sum of N1million for her treatment and rehabilitation.

    A letter from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, dated June 20, 2019, addressed to The Consultant Radiotherapy Unit of the same hospital and signed by Dr Albert, read: “The above named patient who is a known RvDt presented with  a layer growth in her vagina, 8 month history of amenorrhea and one month history bilateral nipple discharge.”

    The letter also claimed that she is being managed at the Obstetrics and Gynecology unit and that a biopsy was done, which showed Advanced Invasive Moderately Differentiated Squamous  Cell Carcinoma of the Vulva.

    Olooto in her desperate search for financial assistance has also written to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu, where she lamented her plight and the pains she has borne since being diagnosed of the ailment.

    But while she waits on the governor, for whom protocol may be delaying action, Olooto is appealing to fellow Nigerians to come to her rescue and save her from the excruciating pain that she says is “causing her serious discomfort and constituting great threat to her life.” Olooto can be reached 09012428354, 09027976083, while donations can be sent to Sekinat Ifagbayi  GT Bank Account number: 0235283288