The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • Breaking another jinx

    President Muhammadu Buhari last week Monday broke another jinx especially in the fourth Nigerian Republic starting from the period when democratic rule was restored in the country in 1999.

    As part of marking the first 12 months of his democratic administration, Buhari hosted State House correspondents to a Presidential Lunch at the seat of power.

    That was novel as the previous administrations never saw the need to bring the media as the fourth estate of the realm closer in such gathering.

    Last week Monday was also the second time President Buhari was formally meeting the State House correspondents in such a gathering within one year. No past President or Head of State of Nigeria did that.

    Those past leaders were always shielded from journalists and most often made to believe that it was a taboo to meet with the group.

    To them, journalists were just in the Villa to cover and report any open public function in the State House.

    But President Buhari as a true democrat saw journalists as partners in progress and felt the need to engage them beyond their official reportage of activities and events in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, despite the group being the watchdog of the society.

    He sat for about two hours through the Presidential Lunch to dine with the journalists after brief speeches by himself and the Chairman of the State House Press Corps, Kehinde Amodu.

    A member of the State House Press Corps, 84 years old photojournalist, Ladan Abubakar, popularly called Baba Ladan, was specially presented to the President during the lunch.

    Baba Ladan, who has put in about 42 years as photojournalist with the Triumph newspaper, has been combining his career with tailoring.

    His joy knew no bounds as he was called out to pose for snapshots with the President along with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, and Kehinde Amodu.

    It was the first time Ladan was called out for such recognition since he started covering the seat of power from the regime of Late General Sani Abachi in 1994.

    A Director and Head of Department of Media and Publicity at the State House, Mr. Justin Abuah, who has served 8 Presidents and Heads of State since 1986 was also specially presented to the President by Mallam Garba Shehu, who served as the Master of Ceremony at the event.

    Abuah is often seen as a technocrat needed to make the engine room of the media office operate effectively from one government to the other.

    He has not only been a dependable hand in the concise and timely press statements the administrations have churned out, but he ensured members of the State House Press Corps, who needed to work on the statements, get them.

    To get the work done, Abuah has also severally followed some late night press statements with telephone calls to members of the Press Corps.

    The gathering was also the first time Abuah was being recognized by a sitting President at such a forum.

    At the end of the Presidential Lunch, President Buhari also stood to shake hand and posed for photographs with each of the 88 members of the Press Corps that attended the dinner. About 20 accredited State House correspondents did not attend the lunch.

    Many members of the State House correspondents present were elated by the President’s novel gesture and will not forget the experience in a hurry.

    Like stated above, the Presidential Lunch was the second jinx President Buhari was breaking as far as State House correspondents were concerned. The Lunch also broke a third record being the first time a sitting President will meet the Press Corps twice within a year.

    The first one he broke was his first meeting with State House correspondents on his first working day in the Presidential Villa, Abuja on 22nd of June last year after operating from the Defence House for about three weeks.

    Journalists were not just stunned by President Buhari’s sharp memory about each publisher or owner of any media organization introduced to him at that first meeting, but they could not help but compare him with the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, who did not find time to really fraternize with the group throughout his six years sojourn at the seat of power.

    Like Oliver Twist, majority of the journalists still want President Buhari to find time from his tight schedules to take the new gesture to the next level.

    They are looking forward to a regular interactive session like those held by the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama with correspondents covering the White House.

    As such meetings, Obama not only fielded questions from the journalists but also expressed a good knowledge of the journalists by calling the journalists by their names and organizations.

    With time, we will definitely get there.

     

    Envy or Rivalry

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps last week Monday also had what can be referred to as its bad side.

    It brought to the fore a sort of rivalry or envy from some other workers in the Presidential Villa.

    To digress a bit, some of the other categories of workers at the seat of power apart from the media include protocol staff, security personnel, cooks and stewards, and drivers.

    Some of those workers who were envious of the journalists could not understand what made them special to enjoy such Presidential Lunch when they have not had such privilege.

    Apart from their sadness clearly showing on some of their faces, some of the workers made some unpleasant remarks in low tunes as they served journalists on their tables during the Presidential Lunch.

    Before last week Monday, they were used to having journalists stand or hang around to cover open public functions, but never at the centre of the President’s focus.

    The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps however ended on a good note that afternoon.

    But some of the envious workers became alarmed when they saw journalists again arriving to attend the Presidential Dinner for National Assembly members on that same Monday night.

    At the dinner, speeches were made by President Buhari and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from which many newspapers published stories the following day. It is important for those workers to know that above every other consideration, journalists’ main role at such function is to get the news for the public.

    Many other happenings even under past administrations have shown the need for a kind of training or workshop to enlighten every category of staff on the roles being played by the various workers in the Villa.

    This, no doubt, will ensure harmony among workers in the Villa and also prevent any kind of rivalry or envy.

    Apart from journalists being the fourth estate of the realm, there is nothing wrong in dedicating and reserving some tables and seats, as the case may be, for journalists covering an open public functions, especially at the big old Banquet Hall of the State House.

    The era where non-journalists take the front seats while journalists stand during press conferences or other media events in any part of the country should be a thing of the past. Journalists should be accorded their deserved respect.

     

  • NGO spends over N50m on Abuja indigent patients

    Surgical Aid Foundation, a non-governmental orga-nisation (NGO), has spent over N50 million in the last four years to assist less privileged patients undergo Minimal Access Surgery (MAS) in Abuja.

    MAS uses tiny instruments, sometimes the one that is like a puncture needle to perform surgical operations with less bleeding and pain on patients. The patients go back home the same day after the surgery.

    The NGO had earlier dedicated one week to perform surgical operations on patients with various kinds of ailments including kidney stone.

    Speaking at a lecture on MAS organised by Surgical Aid Foundation in partnership with Kelena Hospital, an Abuja-based urologists, Undieh Kelena, disclosed that MAS is the current trend of performing surgical operations globally.

    The Foundation, according to him, is also partnering with the hospital to train young doctors on how to perform the minimal access surgery.

    “Basically, the purpose of the programme is to bring expensive, high tech surgical procedure to the general population who cannot afford this surgery. The NGO underwrites and pay some of the bills for them and those who have been waiting for a long time and could not have the money are able to benefit from the high-tech surgeries.

    “We also use the opportunity to show younger doctors who don’t have the experience in this area what the surgeries are all about and they can join us in the hospital to learn from what we are doing.

    “We are also trying to explain to Nigerians that some of the things they travel abroad to do may not be necessary because they are now available in the country,” he said.

    He also said the gesture will help curb medical tourism, which has been a huge source of capital flight.  ”The rich always travel to other countries of  the world to get what they want but there are some other people who actually need these surgeries and there is no any other method of treating them, but unfortunately, they cannot afford these surgeries, so we liaise with the Surgical Aid Foundation who can assist these patients to bring the surgeries down home to them and make them more affordable,” he said.

    Also speaking, a gynecologist at the Wuse General Hospital, Dr. Seyi Ashaolu, disclosed that the procedure is for everybody, but however, warned that patients must be carefully selected so as  to optimised the result one wants to get.

    He, however, warned women with pregnancy that is more than 14-16 weeks to tread with caution when undergoing minimal access surgery.

    “Pregnancy is not an absolute contra indication, but you must be careful. Any pregnancy that is more than 14 to 16 weeks are advised not to go in and why would not want to do minimal access surgery during pregnancy?

    “Sometimes some women have what is called ovarian cysts, that is partly what we can go ahead to do laparoscopy, however, in late pregnancy, we don’t advice laparoscopy.”

     

  • Child care champion decries insensitivity to children plight

    Child care champion decries insensitivity to children plight

    Most of the news these days do not border on children winning awards and doing their country and family proud, but are on children being battered, abandoned, raped and abused.

    These days, children are abused repeatedly by those suppose to protect them.

    Agencies, individuals and non-government organisations (NGO’s) have been taken up the challenge of fighting back those hurting children and trying to take away their childhood. One of such NGO’s is the Yellow JerryCan Save a Child-Lend a Hand Foundation, initiated by popular broadcaster with the Africa Independent Television Adaora Onyechere.

    The initiator, who accused institutions, of insensitivity to the plights of children, said the judiciary, which should protect the rights of the child, is busy fighting political wars of corruption and allowing children to suffer. Instead of resolving cares brought to them, she said the courts, most times, advise parties to go and resolve the issue with the abuser.

    Speaking during the Yellow JerryCan’s Children’s Day celebration in Abuja, she said the group is dedicated to reaching out to children and women in the society who do not have a voice and also fighting for the homeless, child abuse victims, domestic violence victims and people who lack of access to good education.

    Onyechere, in trying to find solutions to the plight of children in the country and their continuous state of abandonment and neglect said they are taking up an initiative where they advise politicians most especially those in Abuja like the senators who all reside in Abuja to at least adopt a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) school, which does not have toilets to help eradicate disease to children due to open defecation.

    Her words: “We are not only reaching out to the Federal Government but other NGO’s so that we can work together, we need to look inwards because the government cannot do it all on their own and look at how we can help humanity by making sure that people that are in the lowest cadar will be able to encounter some form of mediation from us.

    “By the end of 2015, we where handling 112 cases of abuses including people who are older now but did not get justice when they were abused at a young age, I dare say this that we have a judiciary that is not really child sensitive, in the sense that we are teaming up with a set of political cases and corruption allegations that we are forgetting the level of interaction that is supposed to be done via the judiciary, the police system. You find out that cases of rape and abduction are still lodged in police head offices without any bureaucracy with the courts. What we found during the times that we encountered some of these children is that a lot of times, we are asked to go and settle out of court, a lot of times we are given dates and when we go, we are told that the person in charge is not on seat or don’t have a gender or child unit.

    “There is a lack of sensitivity to children in our institutions and I think, beginning from the ministry of women affairs to other agencies, you find that the only people who have some level of understanding are agencies that are affiliated with the federal government who bring them to light but the FG cannot be everywhere at ones, it needs watch dogs and NGO’s that can mediate between the government and the children. For me, it is not enough to talk of children out of school and children abused by the government but I will ask, who are your support groups, who are the agencies and organisations willing to help, we are concerned about commitment, if it is not ones child today, who knows it could be tomorrow so we do not have to wait until it happens to us.

    “This is our fourth year of operation and the objective of our foundation is to be advocates and voices for the voiceless especially IDPs, women, girls and physically disabled. We have often wondered when you look at the statistics of the children out of school and you will find out there is a high level of poverty, women do not have jobs, so for us the most important things is to begin to look at the empowerment of the gender which are women, mother of the child and also help the child and also help the child have access to some benefits to schools and also the public who are able to help.

    “For us the significance of the celebration is the fact that we have a number of children in the IDP camps out of school and today is a day set aside to commiserate and help us remember that we have lost some children as a result of insurgency. So, the children at the camps are brought into fusion with children from public schools to be able to experience a day together and through this medium the teachers from this school will be able to go the camps and help teach the kids, we bring relief materials to them through the medium as well.

    “Now we know there is a need to be able to have a learning centre within the IDP camp before they are even reconsidered taken back to their communities, it is a very long term project for us because some of the projects we are embarking on is to save the reading culture, we are also doing something we call adopt a school, which means that across states, beginning with the FCT, the number of public schools without sewage systems toilets is appalling and so we are trying to make sure that we are reaching out to people like the ministries, parastatals and the National Assembly who reside within the FCT, since they all have houses in Abuja, so why not pick up a school and build a toilet you will see that there will be less diseases and infections, there will be less environmental pollution especially when children are allowed to defecate in bushes, it is something we think that we cannot do alone and are calling on spiritual individuals and stakeholders involved.”

  • Talent hunt brings out the best in teens

    It was an evening when individual’s talents were showcased as the Voice of Ministries International (VOM) organised a ‘Talent Hunt’ show for its teenagers.

    The teenagers exhibited various talents including singing, dancing, choreography, speech and poetry reading, drawings, drumming, playing of saxophone amongst others.

    The Judges who were drawn from various fields scrutinized the youngsters as they were shown their strong and weak points and how their talents could be improved upon.

    Charging the youths before the commencement of the show, Pastor Flora Peters said the talent hunt was organized to enable the teenagers showcase God’s deposit in their lives adding that talents have to do with the natural abilities God have deposited in everyone.

    According to her, a lot of people lose their talents because nobody could guide or direct them urging the youths to allow the Spirit of God to guide them to enable them do exceedingly well with their talent.

    “Nobody is empty, there is a deposit of God into the lives of everyone. We do not want the talent in these youths to die in them. This talent show is not for competition or pride but for the name of God to be glorified.

    “You cannot enter into your glory when you have nothing to present. As you keep on doing what have been deposited in you, you will be recommended”, she told the teenagers.

    At the end of the talent hunt which trilled everyone present, the General Overseer of Voice of Mercy Ministry International, Pastor Ojo Peters commended the youngsters for having the courage to showcase their various talents adding that greatness does not start in one day but starts in a step.

    He said that they all have a chance of improving their performance by training harder and getting more training.

    Peters urged them not to neglect their books as education is also important in getting their talents just as he admonished them to avoid sin which have the capacity of terminating their destiny.

    He also promised the teenagers to get them musical instruments to aid in their practices.

    Some of the youths who were interviewed after the talent show expressed their happiness in being able to showcase their various talents. They appreciated the leadership of the church for giving them the opportunity.

    The teenagers said they now know where their strength lies as most of them promised to get more training in order to improve on their talents.

  • A painful progress

    Not a few agree that the past one year has not been what  they expected from the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. That is not difficult to explain. Government business is no longer conducted the way it usually was. Avenues for free money that some corrupt civil servants had feasted on have been shut down. The falling oil prices in the international market in the past one year did not help matters in the lives of the masses on the street.

    The pain was so much that Nigerians were left with no option but to start adjusting in order to meet up. The falling oil prices and dwindling national income resulted in a weak naira against the dollar, thereby inflating prices of goods and services in the country.

    A basket of tomatoes that used to sell for about N3,500 was recently sold for over N30,000 and a bag of rice that used to go for about N8,000 now sells for about N15,500.

    The recent increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N86.50 to N145 has also impoverished more Nigerians.

    But the Buhari administration, which said it was laying a solid foundation for the country’s greatness, has challenged Nigerians to start measuring its achievements from its first full budget implementation, which is the 2016 Budget.

    A concrete foundation for a bright future, some political watchers say, were being laid in the last one year in such areas as anti-corruption, national security, governance and national image.

    Some economic policies implemented by the government are believed to have started yielding results through government’s smart move of engaging the duo of Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

    Over N3 trillion has been saved through the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) aimed at plugging identified leakages in the system.

    Enforcement of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has also saved the government billions of naira monthly as “ghost workers” are being uncovered and weeded out of the payroll system. The BVN is also easily exposing looters hiding stolen funds in multiple bank accounts.

    To reduce government spending, the government also cancelled sponsorship of pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and directed all top government officials to prioritise foreign travels and use only business class tickets.

    To ameliorate the pains of change and the effect of bad management of the economy by past administrations, the Buhari government is introducing social protection with data of would-be beneficiaries already being collated by the economic planning office of the Vice President in conjunction with the World Bank.

    The government is also believed to be committed to ending shortage of petrol and aviation fuel with focus on the downstream sector of oil and gas sectors. To this end, Kaduna Refinery and the one in Port Harcourt have begun production.

    It is said to be focused on attaining self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products and making Nigeria net exporter of petroleum products. This alone, some economic analysts say, will reduce demand for foreign exchange needed to import refined products into the country.

    The government, unlike past administrations, is also believed to be fully committed to diversification of the Nigerian economy away from oil dependence.

    Some of the areas of emphasis included expansion of agriculture to generate more employment opportunities and promote agricultural produce’ exports.

    These the government aims to achieve through attainment of self-sufficiency in rice production by 2018, sufficiency in tomato paste by 2016, and also attaining local production of maize, soya beans, poultry and livestock.

    To boost all-year-round farming and in turn food security in the country, the government is using 5,000 hectares of arable land in 12 River Basin Development Authorities and the available 22 dams for commercial farming by prospective investors.

    It is also bent on completing Ajaokuta Steel Plant and encouraging mining of non-oil mineral resources to generate revenue for the government.

    To improve power, the Federal Government has signed a 50 million Euro loan agreement with French government for capacity-building and upgrade of power training facilities in Nigeria.

    It also signed a $237 million agreement with World Bank towards improving power, while initiatives to bring solar power price down to five US cents per kilowatt hour, (approximately N10) as against the price of 17 US cents (N34) per KW/h tariff, is being discussed with China.

    Chinese Solar power manufacturers have also agreed with the Federal Government to set up solar panel manufacturing business in Nigeria.

    To ease transportation, the government is said to be committed to completing the Kaduna-Abuja-Ajaokuta railway lines this year. It will also construct the Lagos-Kano standard Gauge Rail line and finalise the negotiation on the Calabar-Lagos rail line. Over 500 new roads have also been penciled down for construction across the country.

    Another key area the government has been given kudos in the past one year is the fight against corruption including initiating the amendment of the Anti Money Laundering Act to strengthen the EFCC and other relevant agencies.

    Apart from appointing 30 new Federal High Court Justices to improve the hands on deck in the Judiciary, the administration also appointed Prof. Itse Sagay Anti-Corruption Committee to provide support to anti-corruption agencies and ensure that the administration of justice is effective and efficient especially in corruption cases.

    The government has also been given high marks in providing national security, especially in the fight against insurgency.

    Apart from overhauling the dysfunctional topmost hierarchy of the Nigerian military which resulted in degradation of the Boko Haram elements, the administration was able to bring back military allies, making the United States of America and the United Kingdom governments commit their resources to the fight against the insurgents after backing out of negotiations with the previous administration.

    The government also introduced motor cycle battalion in the battle field to help the Army travel to remote areas that aren’t accessible to cars and trucks.

    It also deployed satellite images and geographical information system to fight insurgency.

    The administration’s successes against Boko Haram have removed roadblocks and curfews which in the past impeded free flow of movement.

    From the new efforts, the government said no Nigerian territory is currently under the control of Boko Haram.

    Apart from renewing its fight against oil bunkering, the government also deployed sophisticated weapons to ensure vandalism is contained by setting up a pipeline security force. It recently captured a major ring of pipeline vandals in Lagos.

    While engaging effective management of the separatist Biafran uprising, the government has also improved the technical capacity of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) among other agencies to boost internal security.

    A more IT integrated Police force in the country now has a forensic laboratory and a GSM tracking device.

    While the deadly herdsmen’ hostilities were getting out of hand in various parts of the country, the government has set up joint operations involving various security agencies to curb the menace.

    The government is also putting to use surveying and updated mappings across the country to prevent threats among ethnic groups in Nigeria.

    While governance is being taken to a higher level, the Buhari’s administration has also embarked on some foreign trips towards boosting the national image of Nigeria.

    With the many wonderful plans the administration has lined up in the various sectors and what is already on the ground, it is hoped that the next 12 months will really impact positively on the lives of Nigerians in order to ease the pains of the first one year.

     

  • Minister woos children on clean environment campaign

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Muhammed Bello has urged children in the FCT to encourage their parents to maintain a clean environment.

    Bello who spoke with the Students Parliament in the FCT, urged them to enact laws to encourage children to ensure that their parents clean their environments.

    The minister made the plea in Abuja when he met with the 7th Assembly of the FCT Students Parliament led by its Speaker, Master Oral Nwaka.

    Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Muhammed Sule stated this in a press statement.

    He said, “FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has urged the Students’ Parliament in the Federal Capital Territory to enact laws to encourage all the children in the Territory to ensure that their parents keep the environment clean.

    “The Minister said that the law to be enacted should ensure that every morning, everybody cleans his house and to also ensure that all the refuse is dumped in designated areas or dustbins.

    “We need laws from your parliament that will encourage all the children in the FCT to ensure that their parents keep the surroundings clean; to ensure that every morning, everybody cleans his house; to ensure that all the refuse is dumped in designated areas and also to encourage everybody to use dustbins.”

    According to him, “Since I came in as the Minister, one of my greatest challenges is how dirty the environment is, especially in the Area Councils. If you are able to do that during your tenure in office, you would have done a great service to us”.

    “Malam Bello promised to provide the Students’ Parliament with a bus and driver to be conveying the Parliamentarians to all official functions.

    “In addition to that, the Permanent Secretary told me that by the grace of God, he will buy you one bus and I’m sure the Social Development Secretariat will make sure that it employs a very good driver who will take care of that bus for you and also make sure that the bus is fueled at any time, so that you don’t have to ask for any bus anywhere again” he stressed.

    “Speaking earlier, the Speaker of 7th FCT Student’s Parliament, Master Oral Nwaka said the they are representatives of millions of children in FCT and promised to represent their interests very well to ensure that the children live to be good leaders of tomorrow.

    According to him, “we had our sitting this morning on the theme of this year’s Children’s Day, which is “Protecting the Rights of the Child and Child Marriage.”

    Master Nwaka added, “We want to make a passionate plea to the Hon. Minister, our dear Daddy to support the parliament as we aim at being a role model to other such parliaments across the country. We start by requesting a bus that can be conveying us to places we carry out our advocacies.”

     

  • A lift for displaced children

    A lift for displaced children

    A charity effort by some United Kingdom university students thrills children displaced by Boko Haram, reports OLUGBENGA ADANIKI

    When the children saw the bags of maize, rice, sorghum, beans and other items, they smiled. Then they started praying for the donors.

    Life in a displaced persons camp in the nation’s capital has been tough. Some of them are orphans, their parents killed by the terrorist group Boko Haram. It was by sheer providence that they survived and were taken to Abuja. But at the Durumi Camp, food is in short supply, as is everything else they need.

    A donor built a makeshift school there where the children receive some education. One of the pupils, six-year-old Peter Ishaku dreams of becoming president, though he probably imagines that his chances are pretty slim.

    Peter, an indigene of Gwoza Local Government, Borno State, like his schoolmates, needs all that charity offers. He is one of the 13,481 IDPs living in unpleasant conditions in the camp. There are about 157 pupils, out of whom 137 are spread through Primary 1 to 3 while 20 are in the secondary school.

    The International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IMDC), in its preliminary study estimated that about 2,152,000 persons as of December 31, 2015 were displaced as a result of the Boko Haram crisis.

    Statistics released by the Director of IMDC, Alfredo Zamudio said about 3.3 million persons have been displaced in the Northeast. Nigeria is ranked behind Syria with 6.5 million IDPs and Colombia having 5.7 million IDPs. This positioned Nigeria as the nation with the highest number of displaced persons in Africa. The Federal Government has made consistent efforts to ensure the survived victims are relocated to their natural abode.

    To ease their pain, a group of Nigerian students from the Nottingham University, United Kingdom (UK) donated educational and food materials worth over 1000 Pounds to the Durumi IDPs. The project was also supported by The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Nasrul-Lahi-iL-Fatih Society of Nigeria (NAFSAT) and Harvest Chapel International, all in Nottingham. Even if the sum seems little, it was a product of deliberate efforts, sacrifices and service to humanity. Some of the students donated two pounds, some 10 pounds, some 50 pounds.

    A representative of the students, under the platform of University of Nottingham Nigerian Society, Mrs. Amina Ahmed could not conceal her excitement when the pupils expressed their joy at the donations.

    One of the guardians, Hajia Binta said, “I’m a widow but I pray for you; may God also put smiles on your faces.”

    She asked if the President, University of Nottingham Nigerian Society, Victor Udeozor, understood that God answers prayer of the widows faster than anyone else’s.

    At the camp, some of the food items donated include bags of maize, rice, sorghum, 100kg of beans, groundnut oil and noodles among other staple foods. Educational materials includes story books, crayons, pencils, biros, over 1, 000 exercise books, school wears including shoes, chalks, drawing books among other materials needed for a mini-school to function properly.

    Mrs. Ahmed, the Welfare Secretary of the society said, “It was a collective effort from all the Nigerian students and executive committee in the University of Nottingham Nigerian Society. We came together to have a programme for our charity giving event and we concluded that since Nigeria, as one of the largest population of internally displaced persons in the world, certainly the largest in Africa, we thought we could contribute our widows-might towards alleviating the sufferings of people displaced by various crises, including natural disaster all around Nigeria.”

    According to her all the students made contributions of, “5 pounds and above and after several weeks of intense campaigns, including uploading several videos on our facebook page.”

    “We were able to raise over a thousand pounds. That is what we made to make the several purchases for the IDPs,” she noted. As youths, the student group felt it was imperative to provide books and educational materials including items that would essentially make life easier for

    the less privilege children.

    “I heard a lot of heartbreaking stories when I came,” she said.

    So out of their magnanimity, the youth volunteers were nice enough to extend their warm gestures to the adults by providing anti-malaria mosquito nets. The insecticide-treated nets are expected to protect both parents and their wards from mosquito bites as malaria remained

    one of the deadly infections that cause infant and maternal mortality in the country.

    “Our focus is not on food per se but things that are sustainable and support that will last three years from now. The society of students also wanted to complement the fantastic efforts the federal government is doing to relieve the IDPs in Nigeria.

    “The kind of hope they have is the reason why you know things will be right eventually,” she said.

    Aside from donations, there is high tendency that students who exhibit exceptional academic quality among the disadvantaged pupils would have better chance of getting scholarships. Already the youth organisation has commenced plans to facilitate such outstanding gesture.

    “I will discuss with their teacher now about the kid that shows the greatest promise and where he thinks they could use specific, tailored support, academically or in terms of psychological assistance.”

    “Obviously, we are students ourselves and we have a lot of needs but when you weigh the needs, they need more than we do but we will pick up the little we can and see what we can do to better the lives. We will see what we can do to sponsor some of the students but it depends on what the society back in UK concludes.” The representative however urged the federal government not to relent in its effort to reintegrate the IDPs back to their community.

    The Secretary, Durumi IDPs Camp, Bala Yusuf lauded the kind gesture of the student group. As for him, the Nigerian students in the UK have been helpful to supporting the IDPs. Yusuf was more particular about the Nigerian Society in Nottingham University, stressing that it was the second time representative of the society would be visiting the Durumi IDPs camp.

    “You can see the challenges we have been facing. This sister on behalf of the Nigerians in Nottingham University has been thinking about us and our welfare.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Minister to council chiefs: steal and face the music

    The newly elected chairmen of the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) have been warned to shun corruption or face the consequence.

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello gave the warning while declaring open an induction course for the new Area Council chairmen, Vice chairmen and councilors at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

    The newly elected chairmen of the Area Councils are Abdul_Rahman Ajiya-Abaji; Abdullahi Adamu Candido-AMAC; Musa Dikko-Bwari; Adamu Mustapha Denze-Gwagwalada; Abdullahi Galadima- Kuje and Joseph Shazin-Kwali.

    Bello who was represented at the event by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye insisted that the anti-corruption drive of President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration is serious because it has gone beyond lip-service.

    The minister said that Buhari has taken a holistic approach to confront corruption in all its ramifications in order to save Nigeria’s image and economy.

    While recalling President Buhari’s inaugural speech that says, “people have nothing to fear, but the consequence of their actions,” he said this is a clear indication that the present administration would ensure that no action or inaction that negates the current war against corruption goes unpunished.

    Bello urged the new councils’ officials to imbibe the tenets of Mr. President’s Change Agenda anchored on prudent management of public resources, transparency and accountability as well as diversification of sources of revenue and efficient service delivery to the residents within their domain.

    According to him, the FCT administration organised the induction course in order to properly acquaint them with knowledge and skills that are necessary to lead their councils in this era of dwindling revenue from the Federal Government and the ideals of Change Agenda of the present Administration under President Muhammadu Buahri.

    Bello enjoined them to build synergy in the FCT Administration’s efforts to meet the infrastructural and public utilities need of the residents.

    He explained that the workshop is aimed at assisting the new councils’ officials to effectively drive the goals of the FCT Administration especially environmental sanitation.

    The minister noted that as council officials, their primary responsibility is to ensure that they clean their environment and properly dispose of refuse in their respective councils.

    While addressing the participants, the lead resource person, Dr. Abdul-Hamidu Abdullahi of the Department of Local Government & Development Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said the induction course will prepare them for people oriented leadership.

     

  • ‘Why you should donate blood’

    A non-profit organisation, Centre for Family Health Initiative (CFHI) has made a case for blood donation, explaining that despite some previous campaigns, there is not enough blood at the ready to save people in emergency.

    The group was speaking in Kubwa, a suburb of the FCT, during an advocacy outing to mark the 2016 International Day for Families.

    CFHI urged families not just to donate blood but also consult their doctors regularly, go for eye screening, blood and HIV tests, among others.

    The group said the drive was to sensitise families on the need for voluntary blood donations and other health needs.

    Director of CFHI Princess Osita-Oleribe, “We believe that if we can re-write the wrongs within the families, then we will be ready to make a healthy society and we will have less of the issues bedeviling our society, our hope is that it will transition to the re-ignition of the love and support the family can offer to individuals. It turns out that this is not a very popular day even though the UN assembly declared this day since 1993 but not many Nigerians are not aware of this day.

    “We reached out to several families and their was a lot of excitement from them, it was almost imperative that the centre for family health will be interested in the health of families, we tried to do a family health rally and talk about health issues that affect everyone, beside that people have a lot of phobia for blood but we believe that if blood is readily available many family members will not continue to die anyhow.”

    A member of CFHI board, Obinna Oleribe added, “We tried to bring families together to try to make them relax and have a little fun and just be a family. Family health is universal, it affects everything. The blood donations will help us raise some pints of blood that will help save some families and give them peace; the HIV screening will make people aware of their status and other talks on how families can live healthy despite the level of hardship in the society. We want to give families the tools and capacity they need to live a healthy lifestyle.”

    One of the blood donors Bright Amadi told Abuja Review that he has never had any issues with donating blood because he believes that he can save a lot of lives through it.

    “I see blood donation as the opportunity to save and preserve someone’s life someday; the thing is that the person’s life your blood will save might actually be somebody so dear to you but you may not know; if you were to donate to somebody you know it might be easier but although you might feel that you might be donating to somebody you do not know but the truth is that somebody you know somewhere might be involved in an accident and the blood you donate might just be the thing to save their live.”

  • Lawmaker’s jobs tools for constituents

    Lawmaker’s jobs tools for constituents

    Some got sewing machines, some motorcycles or tricycles. But even as Federal House of Representatives member, Alhaji Zakari Angulu-Dobi gave out those items to his Abuja South constituents, he assured them of more to come.

    Angulu-Dobi said the gesture was a way of giving back to his people who voted him in the last election.

    “We were voted into the office and not appointed,” he said. “Politics is all about giving back the dividends of democracy to the people. It is not about beauty; it is not about being proud. It is all about reciprocating the gesture given to you.

    “I am fulfilled that I was able to bring happiness and excitement to people of my constituency by giving them these few items that were shared across my constituency comprising Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali and Abaji. It is a laid foudation. This not a first time I have been voted into power. I have always benefitted from giving out, being honest with the people and carrying them along,” he said.

    Angulu-Dobi also said that his people should expect more of such gestures and promised to pursue with all seriousness whatever is meant for his constituency as it contain in the year’s budget.

    “I want to assure the people of my constituency and FCT in extension because I am the only highest elected person in APC. I know I have a challenge. I have a fight ahead of me. I am ready and capable to face it and it gives me joy.

    “The people of my constituency should expect continuity. We will continue to do what we have done. The good thing is that budget is signed, I will pursue what is meant for my people to ensure that all ministry, agencies and parastatals where projects are domiciled are dully executed to the benefit of my people,” he said.

    Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, APC party chairman in Abaji area council, Alhaji Haruna Yaba, described the gesture as first of its kind in the history of Abuja politics while pledging their support for the honourable member.

    “It is a kind gesture we have never experienced before. It will help to eradicate poverty. It will create a way  to make a living. He has done well and I urge everyone to support him,” he said.

    Apart from tricycles, motorcycles and sewing machines and generators were also presented to women and elders of the constituency at d occasion.