The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • My baby is in danger, says quadruplets’ mother 

    A mother of quadruplets, Mrs. Alice Akor is concerned that one of her babies may not survive if financial help does not come quickly.

    The four babies were delivered on April 23, 2013 at the National Hospital in Abuja, who was admitted in the Kubwa General Hospital.

    Akor who spoke to newsmen stated that the baby went down with a fever. She said she rushed him to hospital, adding that she was in need of money to pay the medical bills for the treatment.

    Akor, a mother of five, delivered the quadruplets in April last year and have since been pleading with the government and well-meaning Nigerians for assistance.

    When our reporter visited the hospital, Akor was with her baby boy, worried about his fate and that of her family who have been struggling to make ends meet.

    “I have to get to the pharmacist to get his drugs. And I need to rush home to bathe the other children at home. It hasn’t been easy. My husband has to collect money from people to offset our medical bill. And now one of the children is sick again. We need assistance from anybody that can help us,’’ she said.

    Mrs. Akor, a National Diploma (ND) holder, stated that before giving birth to the quadruplets, she was earning money from selling clothes, but had to stop due to the financial burden and physical demands of raising her children.

    She stated that her husband had to borrow money to pay for the medical bills after she delivered, before she and the newborns could be discharged from the hospital.

    Akor, a native of Kogi, and her husband were already parents to a boy when she gave birth to the quadruplets.

  • Cancer treatment machine for women

    Help came the way of women in the Federal Capital Territory who are suffering from cancer, as the Society for Family Health (SFH) donated a Cryotherapy- a machine used for the treatment of pre-cancerous lesion of the cervix to Saffon Hospital, located in Nyanya a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Society for Family Health also donated equipment for the testing of cervical cancer in over 10 hospitals spread across the capital city.

    Cervical cancer is said to be the second most common cancer among women in Nigeria after breast cancer. About 9,659 women in Nigeria are reported to die of cervical cancer annually.

    Speaking with journalists after presenting the machine to the management of the hospital, the President Board of Trustees of the SFH, Prof. Shima Gyoh said: “Cancer normally increases with age and I will say that women who are 40 years and above are more at risk than the younger ones, but it can occur at any age. It does not follow any pattern. It just happens that it is commoner in older women.

    “We want to stress that this machine is not for treating cancer of the cervix. We have discovered that cancer of the cervix is caused by a virus and anytime that virus infects a woman, it may be there for several years before the cancer manifests.

    “If we can find out that the virus is there before it causes cancer, we want to kill it. This is what the machine is about.

    “So, this machine is about normal women who have no trouble at all coming for test and if the virus is found, the virus is killed before it stays long enough to cause any trouble.”

    Gyoh, however, advised the Federal Government to purchase such machines for use in all public hospitals in the country.

    “This machine costs only 3,000 dollars and it should really be present in every hospital and clinic in Nigeria. Nigeria can afford it, if we put our priorities right,” he stressed.

    Earlier, the Managing Director of SFH, Sir Bright Ekweremadu, said the SFH has, through its social franchise system, partnered with over 300 private health facilities for the provision of quality healthcare services that are accessible and affordable, especially to the poor and vulnerable in the society.

    He urged women to “avail themselves of this wonderful privilege of being screened for cervical cancer and if positive, at the early stage, to come in for cryotherapy here at Saffon Hospital.”

  • Trading on the bridge

    Trading on the bridge

    Almost all the pedestrian bridges in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been taken over by traders. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports

    BEFORE the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed started building six pedestrian bridges in the metropolis, pedestrians were knocked down by speeding cars everyday.

    This ugly incident lingered for many years before Mohammed in 2012 listened to the outcry for pedestrian bridges.

    The Minister remarked at a public function that the development was a great concern to his administration. He then identified six critical locations where the pedestrian bridges should be constructed which included: Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway by Tafawa Balewa (Old Secretariat); Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway by Olusegun Obasanjo (Wuye Junction); Shehu Yar’Adua Way by Okonja Iweala Way (V.I.O Mabushi); Shehu Yar’Adua Way by Ladi Kwali Street (Sheraton Junction); Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway by Ahmadu Bello Way (Banex Junction) and Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway by Shehu Shagari Way (Nicon Junction).

    The bridges which were supposed to be completed six months from the date of the contract. Some of them remain unfinished.

    Abuja Review investigations revealed that the completed ones are sometimes hardly used by pedestrians. Why? Petty traders have since converted the bridges to veritable business posts. At night, the bridges come alive offering a variety of articles.

    When Abuja Review visited one of the bridges at Nnamdi Azikwe Expressway by Shehu Shagari Way, at the popular Nicon Junction bus stop, traders were seen enjoying their trading with their customers without fear of been arrested. Products displayed at the bridge included Shoes, under wears, fairly used cloths, Belts, fruits, groundnuts and so on.

     

  • Immortalising Lar

    Immortalising Lar

    The late Chief Solomon Lar, the first civilian governor of Plateau State, is fast becoming an institution. In death, his impact is still felt everywhere, including the campuses. The state government named the state university after him and also proceeded to expand the institution’s curriculum to include new courses on the legacies and virtues of the most accomplished politician Plateau ever produced.

    The proposed courses are ‘Love, Peace and Unity studies, Political Emancipation Studies, Political Tolerance and Peace Development studies.

    The Vice Chancellor of the Solomon Daushep Lar University, Prof. Doknan Danjuma Sheni, who announced the introduction of the new courses in the University, said the programme was aimed at creating room for the study of the legacies of the late Lar, adding that these are the principles the politician spent his entire life to defend and protect with enthusiasm.

    As a mark of honour to late chief Lar and as one of the ways to imortalised him, Plateau state governor, Jonah Jang has earlier renamed the state university to Solomon Daushep Lar university.

    Prof Shenyi disclosed this while paying tributes to the first civilian governor of the state during the funeral rights and final interment in Langtang, Langtang North local government of Plateau state.

    According to the vice Chancellor,  ”the university is setting up a chair to examine the late elder statesman’s last three words; Love, Peace and Unity as revealed by his wife, Prof. Mary Lar.

    ”Normally in universities, we have Peace and Conflict Studies but our own will go a bit more as we will add “love” The reason I mentioned love is the spiritual background that Solomon Daushep Lar has, from his Church route up till the dying bed. That spiritual background gave him the desire to naturally love people. He loved widows and orphans, the poor and oppressed. And that is why he worked throughout his 50 years (in politics) emancipating”, he said.

    Giving reasons for the proposed new courses, Prof. Sheni said, “I think Chief Lar may have been the only governor, at that time, to bring people from other states to come and work in his own state. He brought people from different ethnic groups, some from the legal fields, some as commissioners and some as special advisers. So we want to study that political pragmatism to see how it will enhance political tolerance in Nigeria.

    “The other thing is his role in conflict resolution, he was a peace maker in Plateau State, and in Nigeria at large. During the crises on the Plateau, the President appointed him to head the committee on the Jos crisis and he went and interracted with people of different faith, interacted with people of different political backgrounds and different categories of persons. That ability to bring people of different persuations together towards restoring peace on the Plateau is what we want to study even to the Masters and PhD level.

    “We want to also see books, papers and other intellectual materials written on how we can better unite our country Nigeria following in the footsteps of the late Lar who lived his life completely as a detribalized Nigerian. That is why we need that Love, Peace and Unity studies”  the VC added.

    He further disclosed plans to enter into collaborations with different groups and institutions within and outside the country to attract the needed development that would support learning in the university.

    He said the university authority will liase with the state house of assembly to create the legal foundation for the renaming of the university to Solomon Daushep Lar University Bokkos.

  • My baby is in danger, says quadruplets’ mother 

    A mother of quadruplets, Mrs. Alice Akor is concerned that one of her babies may not survive if financial help does not come quickly.

    The four babies were delivered on April 23, 2013 at the National Hospital in Abuja, who was admitted in the Kubwa General Hospital.

    Akor who spoke to newsmen stated that the baby went down with a fever. She said she rushed him to hospital, adding that she was in need of money to pay the medical bills for the treatment.

    Akor, a mother of five, delivered the quadruplets in April last year and have since been pleading with the government and well-meaning Nigerians for assistance.

    When our reporter visited the hospital, Akor was with her baby boy, worried about his fate and that of her family who have been struggling to make ends meet.

    “I have to get to the pharmacist to get his drugs. And I need to rush home to bathe the other children at home. It hasn’t been easy. My husband has to collect money from people to offset our medical bill. And now one of the children is sick again. We need assistance from anybody that can help us,’’ she said.

    Mrs. Akor, a National Diploma (ND) holder, stated that before giving birth to the quadruplets, she was earning money from selling clothes, but had to stop due to the financial burden and physical demands of raising her children.

    She stated that her husband had to borrow money to pay for the medical bills after she delivered, before she and the newborns could be discharged from the hospital.

    Akor, a native of Kogi, and her husband were already parents to a boy when she gave birth to the quadruplets.

  • Tika residents bemoan lack of facilities

    Tika residents bemoan lack of facilities

    Residents of Tika community in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are lamenting the lack of basic infrastructures in the community. They have appealed to the Chairman, Mr. Shaban Tete to come to their aide.

    When our reporter visited the community, it was discovered that the community is far from development, because there are no basic social amenities that could give meanings to life and the people are having the feeling of total neglect by the government of Kuje.

    Some of the residents, who could not hide their pains and disappointment, said that the community has been neglected for a very long, that since its existence, no government’s presence has been felt by the people.

    According to Mr. Zack Adamu an indigene of the community, they have tried to draw the attention of past administrations to come to their aide by providing the community with basic infrastructures, but no administration has listened to the yearning of the people.

    “This community is backward in everything, because, there are no pipeborne water, no electricity, no healthcare centre, nothing that one would say can give real meanings to life. This community has been left behind in all areas and we are appealing to the chairman, Hon. Shaban Tete to come to our aide.

    “Our pains is that during elections they always remember to come to our community, and they make passionate promises, that you would think if they are elected, they will not waste any minute before fulfilling their promises. But, once they get the votes they want, they forget about their promises to the people,” he said.

    Another resident, Baba Yerima said that the past council leaderships have neglected the community completely, and that has made them to feel dejected and abandoned each time they go out of the community to town and they see the good life most people are enjoying in Kuje town.

    “We are not been treated well at all in this community. The truth is that the reason for setting up local government leaderships is for the people at the grassroots to benefit from the federal or state government through the council chairmen. But, in our case, we cannot say that there is anything we have benefited from the government of Kuje.

    “We have been neglected for too long and we are tired of this painful neglect, we need the present council boss to put an end to this suffering by providing basic infrastructures for us, we want to part of those enjoying the dividends democracy, we are part of the government and we should not be suffering this way.

    “Enough of these fake promises that politicians go to communities like ours to make. What we need is reality and that is the responsibility of government to the people. We need to be considered as people that contributed to the government through our votes during elections, because most of us are supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but we have never partook from the dividends of democracy of the government of PDP. That is painful,” he said.

  • Cancer treatment machine for women

    Help came the way of women in the Federal Capital Territory who are suffering from cancer, as the Society for Family Health (SFH) donated a Cryotherapy- a machine used for the treatment of pre-cancerous lesion of the cervix to Saffon Hospital, located in Nyanya a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Society for Family Health also donated equipment for the testing of cervical cancer in over 10 hospitals spread across the capital city.

    Cervical cancer is said to be the second most common cancer among women in Nigeria after breast cancer. About 9,659 women in Nigeria are reported to die of cervical cancer annually.

    Speaking with journalists after presenting the machine to the management of the hospital, the President Board of Trustees of the SFH, Prof. Shima Gyoh said: “Cancer normally increases with age and I will say that women who are 40 years and above are more at risk than the younger ones, but it can occur at any age. It does not follow any pattern. It just happens that it is commoner in older women.

    “We want to stress that this machine is not for treating cancer of the cervix. We have discovered that cancer of the cervix is caused by a virus and anytime that virus infects a woman, it may be there for several years before the cancer manifests.

    “If we can find out that the virus is there before it causes cancer, we want to kill it. This is what the machine is about.

    “So, this machine is about normal women who have no trouble at all coming for test and if the virus is found, the virus is killed before it stays long enough to cause any trouble.”

    Gyoh, however, advised the Federal Government to purchase such machines for use in all public hospitals in the country.

    “This machine costs only 3,000 dollars and it should really be present in every hospital and clinic in Nigeria. Nigeria can afford it, if we put our priorities right,” he stressed.

    Earlier, the Managing Director of SFH, Sir Bright Ekweremadu, said the SFH has, through its social franchise system, partnered with over 300 private health facilities for the provision of quality healthcare services that are accessible and affordable, especially to the poor and vulnerable in the society.

    He urged women to “avail themselves of this wonderful privilege of being screened for cervical cancer and if positive, at the early stage, to come in for cryotherapy here at Saffon Hospital.”

  • Rooting out pension thieves

    They toiled for the country. They gave their best for Nigeria’s growth and development. Unfortunately, they are living in abject poverty. Some have lost their lives while waiting for their entitlements as a result of some of the stringent procedures introduced into the processes of collecting their pension arrears.

    This is the sad story of many pensioners in Nigeria, no thanks to pension thieves who manipulate and beat the system to divert pension funds to their private bank accounts.

    Large sums of money running into billions of Naira have been stolen by many top officials who are saddled with the responsibility of managing and ensuring payment of pension arrears. They transmuted from petty thieves to racketeering syndicate.

    Initially, they modus operandi was lodging the funds meant for paying the pensioners into their private accounts and deliberately allow the funds to be in their accounts for months before eventually paying the poor pensioners their entitlements. This was with a view to earning fat bank interests. But now, total diversion of the funds is made with no payment made at all to some of the pensioners on flimsy excuses.

    Even as some of the thieves from Police Pension Funds and other government agencies have been exposed, taken to court, convicted and released on bail, it appears there are no strict laws in place aimed at discouraging those at the helm of affairs from tampering with the funds for their selfish gains.

    Two months ago, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arrested 13 senior civil servants in connection with a fresh fraud in the pension unit of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

    On the fresh fraud, the Media Consultant of PRTT, Mr. Olajide Fashikun told journalists that some saboteurs were bent on destroying the future of retirees in the country by falsifying documents to defraud government to the tune of N35 billion.

    Alhaji Kazeem Musa, who worked for several years and retired from the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Sokoto, has not received any pension arrears since 2007. There are many other worst cases which have resulted in the untimely death of some of the affected retirees.

    Apart from other measures already taken to sanitise the system, President Goodluck Jonathan, before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last Wednesday, inaugurated a new board for the National Pensions Commission (PenCom).

    He urged the new team to bring to a halt bad reports associated with pension payments in the country by ensuring that pensioners receive their retirement benefits as at when due.

    Jonathan said: “Government is also mindful of the fate of retirees who have served this great nation. It is therefore of paramount importance to this administration that pensioners receive their retirement benefits as at when due. PenCom is statutorily charged with the responsibilities of regulating and supervising all pension matters in Nigeria.

    “The enormity and sensitivity of the mandate of the Board of PenCom can therefore not be over-emphasised. The negative reports associated with the administrations of pension under the old scheme in the public sector in recent past have become an issue of grave national concern.”

    Stressing that several radical measures have recently been taken to restructure the scheme, he said: “This included the setting up, as provided by law, the Pension Constitutional Arrangement Department. It is our expectation that the Board of PenCom will work in synergy with this agency to engender a more robust pension system.

    “In addition, it is expected that the board will work to secure increased compliance with the Pension Reform Act, expand the coverage of the contributory pension scheme to include the informal sector, explore means of utilising the pool of funds towards Nigeria’s economic development in line with global best practices and maintain the existing culture of transparency and accountability in the management and custody of the contributory pension fund.

    “We know that other countries that have similar funds are even coming to invest in Nigeria, there is no reason for PenCom not to invest within and outside this country to even improve on the funds,” he added.

    Former Bauchi State governor, Adamu Muazu newly inaugurated as the Chairman of PenCom said: “Mr. President, your inaugural speech is very instructive. I have heard and I assure you under my supervision, PenCom will comply with your instruction and with the law.

    “I also assure you that we will ensure that compliance is made by the various states that have not complied, that the various Federal Government’s agencies and, indeed public sector and all informal sectors, will be made to comply as soon as possible.

    “In addition to that, Mr. President, we will take due diligence and we will consult with various government agencies, private sector organisations, the PFS and indeed, if need be, with other very successful pension commissions abroad to find ways and means of unveiling these monies that are made available for providing infrastructure and housing to the public.

    “In so doing, I want to assure you that these monies that are in the confines of the PenCom are owned by individuals. We will make sure, with the best of our ability, that whatever investment we make, is capital guaranteed.”

    Promising that pensioners will not only get their entitlements as at when due, but will also get good returns on their funds, he said: “We will make sure that the returns on the investment must beat inflation and possibly make very good returns for the pensioners.

    “By the grace of God, we will do whatever it takes. We will make you proud of our work in Pension Commission.”

    The provisions of the law should be reviewed to stipulate stiffer penalties for offenders in order to act as deterrent to others.

    Offenders also ought not to enjoy options of fines and bail grants when convicted since their actions, even though not through violence or gunshots are silently sending thousands of Nigerians to their early graves.

     

  • Community hails council chief on performance

    Natives of Kpaduma II community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have commended the chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Hon. Micah Jiba for the rural electrification project taking place in the community after being in darkness since the beginning of existence.

    The Secretary of Kpaduma communities Simon Baba, who spoke on behalf of the natives in Abuja, thanked the council boss for reaching out to them in 2013, adding that the rural electrification taking place in the community has given the natives a sense of belonging which they have been denied from the beginning of the community.

    According to him, the people of Kpaduma II have spent years without electricity, and the AMAC chairman is doing all he can to ensure that there is developing in every community in his area council.

    “We were informed that the job would have been completed in December 2013, but it is yet to be completed. The council boss has assured us that the project will be completed in January this year and we believe him, because he always stands by his words.

    “Like Oliver Twist, although we are aware that everything has to go gradual, we hope that in his administration he will help us a get health centre in our community, because, the only hospital we make use of is Asokoro general hospital, which is about 5kms from our community,” he said.

    He therefore appealed to the council to also provide the community with a primary school, and health care centre which they know is one of the priorities of the council boss as a leader who has passion for his people.

    “The council boss has almost touched the lives of everybody in rural communities, by providing water boreholes, electricity transformers, access roads and we believe that he will do more to make life easy for those at the grassroots.

    “I strongly believe that 2014 is going to be better than 2013, base on the steps the council boss is taking to reach out to natives at the grassroots and we will continue to support his administration,” he said.

  • My baby is in danger, says quadruplets’ mother 

    A mother of quadruplets, Mrs. Alice Akor is concerned that one of her babies may not survive if financial help does not come quickly.

    The four babies were delivered on April 23, 2013 at the National Hospital in Abuja, who was admitted in the Kubwa General Hospital.

    Akor who spoke to newsmen stated that the baby went down with a fever. She said she rushed him to hospital, adding that she was in need of money to pay the medical bills for the treatment.

    Akor, a mother of five, delivered the quadruplets in April last year and have since been pleading with the government and well-meaning Nigerians for assistance.

    When our reporter visited the hospital, Akor was with her baby boy, worried about his fate and that of her family who have been struggling to make ends meet.

    “I have to get to the pharmacist to get his drugs. And I need to rush home to bathe the other children at home. It hasn’t been easy. My husband has to collect money from people to offset our medical bill. And now one of the children is sick again. We need assistance from anybody that can help us,’’ she said.

    Mrs. Akor, a National Diploma (ND) holder, stated that before giving birth to the quadruplets, she was earning money from selling clothes, but had to stop due to the financial burden and physical demands of raising her children.

    She stated that her husband had to borrow money to pay for the medical bills after she delivered, before she and the newborns could be discharged from the hospital.

    Akor, a native of Kogi, and her husband were already parents to a boy when she gave birth to the quadruplets.