The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

Anguish, pain as UCH doctors strike shuts down hospital

•Management, Doctors trade blames
•MDCAN urges them to embrace peace

If there is anything to remember in the on-going industrial action embarked upon by the the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University College Hospital (UCH) chapter since May 1st, it is the untold hardship that it has brought many patients especially those who needed urgent medical attention were turned back by the hospital.

Right now, UCH patients are faced with series of pain and agony as a result of the strike action. Some families are losing their loved ones due to lack of care at the hospital, while others are now seek solace in either private hospitals or traditional clinics including Traditional Birth Attendants, and Faith Based Clinics. One of such unfortunate families was the Owolabi’s that rushed one of their family members to the hospital but was asked to go back home due to the strike. In pain, Wasiu, was rushed to the hospital on Friday morning. He was said to have been bleeding from the nose a night before he was rushed to the hospital in the early hours of Thursday.And because, there was no doctor on ground to attend to any patient, he was advised to go to other hospitals that were open to patients. Similarly, many people have been facing the same agony as a result of the doctor’s strike action.

A preganant woman, Mrs Waliyat was rushed to the Maternity ward, but was turned back. Although, she has been attending her ante-natal clinic in the hospital, she was rejected at the entrance of the hospital based on the ground that nobody will attend to her

And because her condition was critical, she was rushed to a state hospital in the city on emergency and there, she was saved. As if it was not enough, an old man who had a car accident lamented the ordeal he passed through when he came to the hospital on the second day of the strike action. He came from Ikire to Ibadan but was rejected at the entrance of the hospital, despite his critical condition. He was told to look elsewhere for help.

However, those who would not let their families to die now prefer to patronise other hospitals in the city.

Meanwhile, investigation has shown that the in-flocks of pregnant women to the Traditional Birth Attendants clinics are enough to tell the scenario of the after-effect of the indefinite industrial action. Compliance with the strike was total as several clinics departments in UCH were devoid of the usual beehive of activities as the doctors stayed away from their duty posts, forcing hordes of patients, several of whom turned up as early as 6am to seek treatment elsewhere.Another patient, Mrs Yemisi Banjoke, exprssed hope that the strike would not take a long time to be resolved so that people would have access to medical care at the hospital. According to her, accessing a private hospital is totally unaffordable, adding that the level of poverty in the country will not give room for equal rights of the citizenry.

“I cannot afford the cost of treatment at private hospitals that is why I use the general hospitals. This strike will make a lot of people suffer in terms of finance. I appeal to the government to dialogue with the doctors so that the strike does not become indefinite,” she said.At the outpatient department as well as medical and surgical emergency wards, skeletal services were available, but priority was being given to critical cases. Only a handful of patients were encountered waiting for service. One of them, who spoke to The Nation said he was only able to obtain a card because he was familiar with one of the staff duty.

Another patient encountered who identified himself as Taiwo, recounted how he brought his father from Omi-Adio to UCH. “I feel so bad to have come from that far distance only to be told that doctors are on strike. I also feel bad spending money bringing my father yet no doctor to attend to us. It is very painful,” Taiwo lamented.

Another patients, Alhaji Saheed Lamidi lamented the attitude of some nurses at the hospital and appealed to the doctors to return to work, adding that the nurse spoke to patients with little or no respect. In his remark, the President of the ARD, UCH, Dr Lukman Ogunjimi alleged that the university management was reluctant to implement their request for over seven months they have been having negotiation with them. He said casualisation of medical officers and the refusal of the UCH management to honour a circular issued by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on the welfare of doctors were issues at the centre of the strike.

He said: “We have about 600 doctors in this hospital. The reasons why we are on strike are clear. What we are against is casualisation and we want skipping to be implemented as directed by the Federal Government in circulars issued by the Head of Service of the Federation and that issued by the Federal Ministry of Health.”

The Federal Government in the circular said a particular grade level should be skipped by all health workers. It has been done for all other health workers while some centres have started doing it for doctors. This is backed up. Here in UCH, it has not been done.”He went on that: This strike is a local one and we are following a national directive from our national leaders. Some centres are enjoying all this benefit already and they do not need to join us in the strike action. Just yesterday, Abeokuta branch. Started their own and within two hours their hospital management has resolved their demands” The ARD boss said they have been attending to patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the emergency centres, stressing that the care of their patient is very paramount to their hearts.

Ogunjimi appealed to the members of the public and well meaning Nigerians to prevail upon the hospital management to fulfil their demands, threatening that they will not call off the strike. Meanwhile, Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Temitope Alonge, had denied having doctors with casual status in the hospital. Alonge said that some of the issues raised were internal matters that had been resolved, adding that the issue of salaries and wages that are due to workers are not the prerogative of the ministries.

”Funding for the hospital is coming directly from the federal government and when you prepare the budget, it captures specific part of personnel cost, but the issue of Skipping doesn’t exist in the calender of the federal government. When we had a meeting with the resident doctors we explained to them that the budget of 2014 which was approved in 2015 only has the issue of the correction of anomalies of relativity and the issue of Skipping was not captured. It is the prerogative of the National Salary and Wages Commission. So, the issue of employment is resident in the Head of Service and what the resident doctors presented to us was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

A letter is an intent and does not carry much weight as an MOU. The next one is a circular which is something that has been agreed up and has received the backing of government, it can be issued by government establishment on behalf of government. What we got from the resident doctors was an MOU and not a circular. ‘’In the circular that we have from the National Salary and Wages Commission, there is nothing like skipping for doctors. So, whatever conflict that has arisen, the only body that is empowered to provide an answer is the National Salary Wages Commission. You don’t pay what you don’t have.

No Chief Medical Director (CMD),can unilaterally wake up and change the salary table. He said any CMD in the country that has paid the Skipping allowance will be summoned next week to explain to the Ministry of Health where he got the money from, which salary table he is using and who gave the approval. Alonge assured the people of Oyo State and Nigeria that he does not have any power to withhold salaries that has been appropriated to any healthcare worker.

Also, the consultants, under the aegis of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria(MDCAN) rose from an emergency congress over the weekend, urging both the striking doctors and the hospital management to sheath their swords for the sake of the patients.The consultants equally revealed that MDCAN has set machinery in motion to address “the contentious issues in collaboration with resident doctors and UCH Management.”A statement by MDCAN General Secretary for UCH, Dr. Victor Makanjuola after the congress said the consultants considered all issues being raised by the resident doctors, declaring them(the issues) as legitimate and urging the hospital management to speedily address them.

May 13, 2015
Insurgency: Tearful exodus from Niger

DUKU JOEL reports the horrific return of 6000 Nigerians evacuated from the Lake Chad end of Niger following insurgents’ attack on the area

The only good part is that most of them returned alive. Otherwise, on the balance, life has been quite unkind.

Boko Haram insurgency forced some to flee to Niger Republic, some to other neighbouring countires. A good number crossed the border in search of greener pastures in the form of fishing in the Lake Chad end of Niger.

In any case, violence erupted right in their midst. The insurgents hit a military facility in the area, claiming many Nigerien casualties, among them civilians and about 45 soldiers.

The Nigerien authorities had to evacuate the entire area in order to, according to them, properly engage the terrorists and prevent further casualties.

The evacuees reportedly turned down a Nigerien offer to relocate to a camp in the country, choosing to return home.

The homecoming proved costly. Some of them trekked for days and finding no food or water, quite a number died, including children.

According to the directives, the Boko Haram attack prompted the government of Niger to issue a quit notice to all nationals including Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria in the area to vacate the area.

•The deportees

The returnees relived their ordeal, alleging some brutal treatment at the hands of the soldiers. Some said they were actually chased out of Niger, though the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) said ‘chased out’ was not the word, rather ‘evacuated’.

They look gloomy, anxious, desperate and hopeless. None of them had kind words for the government of Niger with their soldiers when our correspondent spoke with some of them coming through the Geidam axis of the Niger-Nigeria border.

Some embarked on an exhausting endurance trek lasting more than three days, just as many others watched their loved ones including children die for lack of food and water.

Our correspondent gathered that the fleeing people, mostly fishermen from the Lake Chad axis of the Lelewa community, settled in Niger where they carried out their legitimate fishing business for between five and 10 years.

Thirty-five-year-old Garba Musa from Taraba State said that he watched his son die in his arms for lack of water as he trekked for three days without food and water to get to Geidam from Lalewa, a fishing community in Niger Republic.

“I watched my son died in my hands for lack of water,” he manage to speak amidst tears in his eyes.

•A man in a makeshift shelter with his family after returning from Niger

The fisherman who left everything behind including his chunck of fish and a fishing boat wondered how he can start life again but surely the thought of going back to Niger is the last thing on his mind.

“I can’t believe what happened that the government of Niger will just wake up and decide to chase us out of a place that we have been doing business for years. I had 76 cartons of fish and my wife had 42 that we were planning to take to the market but we left everything including my fishing boat. I honestly don’t know where to start but I will never go back to Niger again,” Musa vowed.

Danjuma Ezekiel is a student in Nigeria who went to Niger to catch fish, make money and return to school in Nigeria but he is now caught up in the quagmire. He said he felt there was a diplomatic problem between Nigeria and Niger Republic when he narrated his experience in Niger.

”I don’t know the problem between Nigeria and Niger government because what they did to us suggested there is a problem.

“One fateful day, we were living in one surrounding. There was a day Boko Haram attacked one village called Taranga and killed many soldiers. After two days the Nigeriens sent soldiers to the water areas to go and pack the dead soldiers and they told us to leave the area. We now left Alawai to Daba Masara near Lelewa where the soldiers were camped and they came and pushed us out of the place.

“Some of us trekked for a distance of over 100km to one local government. They took us to Gigimi to Diffar. But what I want the whole world to know is that Niger drove us out of their country. I think our government has to do something about this because many people died in the process,” Ezekiel informed.

Aisha Bintu from Doro Baga said she also lost two of her children while running from Lelewa.

“My son died in my hands and I could not trace the whereabouts of the other one. I lost two of my children because of how this Niger soldiers treated us,” Aisha said.

Forty-five-year-old Ibrahim from Kebbi State who fished in the community for over 10 years, said he counted more than 50 people that died on their way to escape the brutality of the Nigerien soldiers whom according to him were pursuing them like animals.

“I counted over 50 people that died on our way out of Lelewa when the Niger soldiers were chasing us as if we are animals. Many children also died due to lack of drinking waters as we were trekking for over three days to Diffar.

“I have been living in Lelewa for the past ten years doing my fishing business and everything that I have got is gone. The Niger government is not fair to us at all. We could not carry anything from our houses,” Ibrahim lamented.

Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has so far registered more than 6000 deportees in Geidam, just as the agency has equally evacuated thousands of them to their various states of origin.

Explaining the role of NEMA in the operation, the Director of Search and Rescue operation in NEMA Air Commodore Charles Otegbade disclosed there job is to profile the deportees and make necessary arrangements for their return to their states of origin.

He said: ”We are here in Geidam for an operation and the operation essentially started from a report that we received from the Government of Niger that some of our citizens that are living in some of the islands of the Nigerien portion of the Lake Chad and Nigerians that were displaced by the insurgents to that areas should be evacuated.

“The need arose because the Nigerien government wanted to conduct military operations in those areas. They offered to relocate the Nigerians citizens to some of the IDPs camps within Niger but the people refused and choose to come back home so the Nigerien government decided to move them to Nigeria and the best they can do is to take them to the border. So they choose the border crossing at Geidam and they have been bringing them.

“Our job here is to receive the Nigerians that are returning and to facilitate their various homes. When we got the initial information from the government, they gave us an estimate of about two thousand people. But so far, since the operation started yesterday, we have received a little over three thousand and the operation is still ongoing. This morning too we got information that from the same Nigerien government that another six thousand are on their way and we will be receiving that this afternoon.

“We are making do with a primary school and a mini stadium. That is where we are keeping them. We do not intend to create permanent camps in Geidam here because the desire of these people is to go back to their homes. We are just using those two points to sort them out according to their states of origins. We have contacted their states of origin through the State Emergency Management Agencies. After sorting them out, we will arrange for their transportation to their various states,” he said.

Yobe State Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency Mr. Idi Jidawa told The Nation in Geidam that he has contacted all the State Emergency Management Agencies concerned and the response is very encouraging.

“I arrived Geidam today (Thursday) and what we have done is to contact all the SEMAs in the affected states. I have earlier sent my team which has been on ground with NEMA all this while. I called my Deputy Governor and spoke with the Deputy Governor of Bauchi and the Governor-elect of Kano State and the response is very encouraging.

”The good thing about the evacuation is that the people are not looking for anything more but just to be transported to their various states of origin and NEMA is providing that adequately,” Yobe SEMA Boss informed.

The Nation gathered that NEMA has so evacuated deportees to over ten states of their origin. The states include Benue, Taraba, Bauchi, Imo, Kano, Kebbi, Borno, Adamawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Niger.

Some of the deportees who arrived Geidam look tired while the children look pale and malnourished.

•An aged woman arriving one of the temporary camps in Geidam from Niger

Elderly people were seen struggling to carry their personal belongings with little energy left in them apparently due to exhaustion from the scourging sun on open trucks from the long journey.

The Borno state government has received the first batch of deportees from Niger through Geidam in Yobe State. Speaking to newsmen while receiving the first batch of 1,200 deportees at Njimtilo, the entrance to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, the chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Grema Terab said the t state government decided to establish a new camp for them because of their special case. Grema, also informed that another set of 17 mass transit buses have been sent to Geidam to bring in the second batch of 1,200 people, disclosed that more people are still expected as the Nigerien government continues to repatriate more people.

He said, “The 2,400 are not the only people we are expecting back in Borno from Niger and provisions have been made to get them housed one of the 400 Housing Estate along Gubio Road.”Grema said the camp was created specially for them because of their peculiar situation, stressing that “some of them though Nigerians were born in Niger and have never been to Nigeria, we have to keep them in a camp for now, console them and treat those that are traumatized with the intention of allowing them to mix with other Nigerians in not too distant a time. We are equally looking at the possibility of assisting them to start a new life in the country by given them economic assistance.”

He said the state government is not ruling out collapsing the new camp into the 20 already in existence after few months.Grema said: “When we are sure the local government of the deportees, we will allow them to mix up with their people in the other local governments, we will also involve them in the larger programme of rehabilitation of the victims of the insurgency.”

May 12, 2015
Skills for IDPs

A lone woman is helping to put the cheer on the faces of internally displaced persons (IDPs), not by giving them money but teaching them skills, writes GRACE OBIKE

It sure feels like blows coming from all sides. So many of them worked so hard to provide for themselves and their families. Some managed to raise properties. Then, suddenly, everything came crumbling down and they had nothing to call their own.

They now beg for food.

That has been the fate of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Northeast, who have lost all they worked so hard to acquire. They are now homeless.

Apart from witnessing the death and disappearance of their loved ones and neighbours, they also saw the assault by Boko Haram insurgents. One wonders if they will be able to recover from all this. While some are lucky enough to stay with relatives in other parts of the country, others are forced to settle in camps in inhuman conditions.

But with the rescue of about 1000 persons who were kidnapped by the Boko Haram insurgents by Nigerian military, most of these people are eager to return home and start life afresh.

•Amina Muhammed with her two-week-old baby

A mother of three, Amina Muhammed, in an interview with Abuja Review said: “When peace returns to Gwoza, I will like to return. I don’t like it here because as a person, you feel free in your own house rather than having to squat in such conditions. Some of us were landlords back home. Most of our men had good jobs and businesses but now it is all gone. We are suffering here; staying in Abuja is not fun at all.”

Although some individuals have taken it upon themselves to provide food and clothes for the IDPs in different parts of the country, another individual has taken it upon herself to empower the women. They call her Mama IDP at the Area 1 Camp and a lot of them have nice things to say about the woman who prefers to remain anonymous. She said at first, she, like other well-meaning Nigerians, had began with providing them with food and clothing items weekly but she went further to provide them with skill acquisition programme where the women are taught bleach making, liquid soap making, making of dusting powder and vaseline.

“They have lost everything and need support in starting life afresh when they return home. The idea is for them to make a little money and learn few necessary skills before they return back to their states, where, hopefully, they can use it to start life afresh.

“Five months ago when we visited here, we began bringing food on weekly basis and realised that there was no learning centre and the children were not going to school; they were always running around dirty and their parents could hardly control them.

“So, with the help of friends, we were able to open a learning centre in the uncompleted building where 13 families lived for the past nine months but the woman that owns the building needs to continue with her building so she has asked them to vacate.

“Five weeks ago, we began a training programme that will empower these women so that when they go back home, they will be able to have some kind of skills to help them generate income so that they can help their families because they have lost everything back home.

“We need volunteer teachers for the learning centres. We have children that are of secondary school age but because we don’t have the facilities for them, they cannot come to the school. We have almost 20 children that should be in the JSS category. We still need funds to buy sewing machines and teach them how to make pastries like akara and other things so that they can raise funds for themselves.

“This camp needs things as little as sanitary pads for their monthly periods and pants. Most of the children do not have pants to wear. We need pairs of slippers, clothes and we need things that people may not want as they are valuable here. We also need old toys.

“We need counselling for these people. We need prayers and support. They have lost everything; they saw their children being slaughtered in front of them. For me, my emphasis is on women because they run the home, my emphasis is to develop the skills of the women because most of them have no skills and they just wait on their men to bring money for food.

“My emphasis is also on the men; they need a source of livelihood, they need their pride and dignity restored. If they can go out and source for a job and bring food on the table that will be a thing of pride for them. Most of them do not have it now so they can resort to any kind of menace.

“These women are very hard working. In two days, they have mastered how to produce the soap, dusting powder and Vaseline among others. They are not only hard working, they are intelligent. We have been training them for the past five weeks, we intend to harvest the best hands here and take them to another IDP camp to train those ones as well, so that when they return home, they have some skills to do. It’s not about anybody taking the glory but about man helping man.”

Amina Muhammed added: “I have stayed in this camp for seven months. From Gwoza, we trekked to Madaghalli and I was pregnant at the time. From Madaghalli, someone gave us a lift to Maiduguri and we got another free transportation to Abuja.

“While in Abuja, a woman, Aunty Habiba came here and took us the pregnant women to the police hospital for antenatal and when it was time for me to be delivered of my baby, she took me to the hospital and I had my baby through caesarean. She took care of the bills. When peace returns to Gwoza, I will like to return. I don’t like it here because as a person, you feel free in your own house than having to squat in such conditions. Some of us were landlords back home; most of our men had good jobs and businesses but now all are gone. We are suffering here; staying in Abuja is not fun at all.

•Their unsanitary living space

“The owner of the building has asked us to vacate because she has actually helped us with her place but she needs to complete her building. Some people are unable to provide the money to pay for their shacks but I gave them money for mine to be built and for the others that cannot afford to pay for theirs, mama IDP is assisting them with it.”

Woman leader of the camp told Abuja Review that although they appreciate residents of Abuja that provided them with food item often, they have better appreciation of the programme because they can earn a living on their own someday without having to live off other people or continue to beg.

She said: “Yes, all our women took part in the skills acquisition programme provided by Mama IDP. When we go home, we will have things to do that will help us a lot compared to how people simply provide us with food. But this is something that even if we return home, we will have something to do instead of staying idle. We will be able to purchase the chemicals ourselves and make the products for sale.

“Honestly, staying in Abuja is only for people who are accustomed to it because if not for people that have been assisting us in this city, how would we have survived? To eat is a problem. We have to buy. Who will want to live his home where things are much simpler? Staying in the village is so much easier than this Abuja life.

“We are not safe even from security officials who harass us all the time. They came in the middle of the night the other day and packed all our men away for no reason although all of them have been released now. When we asked questions, they said it is a simple routine patrol but what kind of patrol will make them take people away in the presence of his children for no reason. Why then will we want to stay in a place like this with all the troubles?

“Unfortunately we enjoyed learning this work and hope to continue on our own, we do not have the startup capital to purchase all the chemicals required. So, we are pleading with well-meaning Nigerians not to be tired of us. They should continue to help us as they have been doing. They should provide us with the startup capital and direct us to where to buy all the chemicals needed to produce all these things.

•Kegs of liquid soap made by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at an Abuja camp

“Although when we make all the items, we will not sell them as expensive as they are selling them here; we will make and sell them cheap so that it will be affordable to the poor and we can exhaust our products and make new ones.”the products IDP’s learnt during the programme

May 12, 2015
Don’t stigmatise freed inmates

The Public Relations Officer of Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Mr. Frances Enobore has praised The Nation Newspapers for effectively informing the public.

Enobore, who is a Deputy Controller of Prisons (DCP), gave the commendation when his team visited the Abuja Bureau of The Nation Newspaper and were received by the Deputy Editor Nation’s Capital, Mr. Yomi Odunuga.

He also seeks further collaboration in the area of educating the society not to stigmatise already freed inmates who had served out their jail terms.

The sad development, he said, is not helping the inmates who have passed through reformation and had learnt several vocations while in prison before gaining freedom.

He advised the society to accept them so as to help them to move ahead with their lives.

His words: “We appreciate The Nation Newspapers for the good job the management is doing for the country through information and for also showcasing the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS). The NPS cannot do it alone without the support of the media.

“We seek further collaboration so that you help the service to inform the public not to stigmatise freed inmates. Doing so will demoralise them in the society and it may not help them showcase what they have learnt in the prisons.

“They learn a lot that is good for the society and I think we should encourage them. The stigmatisation is not helping the reformation we are giving to them in the prison. The sentence is enough punishment for them and the Controller-General of Prisons is strongly not in support of stigmatization of freed inmates. He always tells members of the public to accept freed inmates back to the society.”

Responding, Mr. Odunuga urged the NPS to do more in controlling the excesses of the violent ones among the prisoners.

Odunuga promised to continue to help the service where necessary.

May 12, 2015
Indigenes seek genuine development

Indigenes of Abuja have called on their representatives at the National Assembly to work towards impacting positively on the lives of the people who voted them into power.

A community leader in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Daniel Yepwi lamented that indigenes have been left behind in terms of education and job opportunities, which indigenes of other states are benefiting from.

According to Yepwi, it is time members in the House of Representatives and the Senate used their political offices to attract genuine development to the six area councils in the territory.

He said lucrative job opportunities promised to indigenous people of the FCT are being enjoyed by people from other states at the detriment of the natives.

“People of the Niger Delta are enjoying today, because their leaders stood firm without compromising. It is time chairmen of other area councils started emulating chairman of AMAC, Mr. Micah Jiba for scholarships he has given to our children to study post-graduate programmes abroad, with the promise to do more.

“The incoming minister of the FCT should avoid demolition of our ancestral houses because no nation thrives without a history. Nigerians and government met Gbagyi people here in the FCT and I wondered why every government will come and start demolishing our homes? In countries such as the United States of America (USA), there are still ancestral homes and buildings owned by the red Indians who still live there till today,” he said.

The indigenes, who congratulated the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, further advised him to maintain his principles and integrity by making sure he appoints an indigene as a minister of the FCT. They appealed to the incoming government to carry the indigenes along and avoid any thing that will plunge the youth into crisis such as the Niger Delta youths.

“We want the incoming administration to dwell more on projects and programmes that will benefit us, not like the Bala Mohammed-led administration that used the military to demolish and humiliate us on our land,” he said.

May 12, 2015
Jonathan, Villa worshippers and 2015 polls

Even though the March 28 Presidential election has come and gone with President Goodluck Jonathan conceding defeat to the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, reactions to the outcome of the polls is yet to be over.

Some worshipers at the Aso Villa Chapel inside the State House, believe that not enough effort was made to ensure Jonathan’s re-election.

They felt that Jonathan’s administration failed to exploit the opportunities available to it to garner more votes through worshipers at the Chapel which they believed could have changed the fortunes of Mr. President during the election.

Claiming that they had a high number of influential members in various fields, who would have influenced co-workers, friends, neighbours, families and relatives to vote for Jonathan, some of the worshipers said they were not mobilised for the election.

They specifically complained of not been ‘carried along’ in the scheme of things leading to the presidential election.

The worshipers bared their minds during the Sunday School class, which was attended by President Jonathan, at the Chapel last week Sunday.

One of the worshipers while making contribution to the Sunday School class said: “Before the elections, nobody saw us, nobody carried us along. Now we have lost the election and losing is painful. I don’t like losing. So when we study these things, let’s put it into practice.”

On the issue, Chaplain of the Chapel, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba said: “The church before felt it was dirty to play politics. And I think that is why Church has been losing. Yes, we need to carry everybody along as much as possible.”

“I say as much as possible because people who have studied leadership have come up with the conclusion that only 20 percent of a group given a job will always do 80 percent of what is required. And that has been proven.”

“No matter how you try to carry everybody along, you don’t find everybody always cooperating. In as much as everybody will feel left out, there are some people who always grumble that they are not carried along.”

“And some people just grumble, waiting until they are begged, cajoled, pushed, until they are enticed with something of value before they move. Such people will always grumble. They will never see that they have opportunities where they could have showcased themselves without been noticed,” he added.

But President Jonathan, who was dressed in a cream-coloured traditional attire, did not make any remark on the complains. He read the first lesson from Daniel 11: 32 during the service proper.

It is not only the Aso Villa Chapel worshipers that felt that they were not carried along towards the election by the Jonathan’s administration.

Many staff and other groups in the Presidential Villa, who witnessed the visits of various groups to Mr. President on the re-election bid, also felt that they were not properly engaged by the power-that-be to campaign for Jonathan in their localities.

Unlike the worshipers, they have, however, not been outspoken about their complaints.

In order not to appear to be ‘crying more than the bereaved’, it’s high time the various groups put the election behind them as President Jonathan has already done that and looking ahead to what the future holds for him.

Prayers for Buhari, incoming government

Despite the head of the incoming government, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari being aMuslim, the Christian community at the State House, Abuja have started to give the incoming administration the necessary spiritual backing.

The Aso Villa Chapel, which is located a stone throw from the official residence of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has supported the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and other former Presidents with prayers in their tenures.

Even as the Chapel is praying for President Jonathan to successfullycomplete his assignment as Nigeria’s president on May 29, several prayer points have been outlined for the incoming government.

Apart from prayer points raised for the incoming government at the Chapel during the first Sunday service of May, the Prayer Guide for Nigeria for the month of May 2015 circulated to members of the Chapel had about twenty-one prayer points for the incoming government, spread throughout the month.

One of the prayer point for Sunday May 10th asked the worshipers to “Pray that the incoming administration shall hit the ground running as they resume so as to fulfill both short and long term goals while retaining and complete all the developmental projects of the out-going government in the interest of the nation. Kings 18:6.”

Another prayer point for the incoming government for Friday May 15th reads: “Nigerians have complained of corruption, insecurity and of low economy; pray that the new helmsman, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the new administration at the Federal level shall address these issues frontally as desired 2nd Peter 1: 4.”

Part of prayer points for Sunday May 17th reads: “Commit the fifth month of the year, May 2015 into God’s hand, pray for a peaceful and smooth transition across Nigeria and a new dawn in our socio-political development. Proverb 16:3″

Similar prayer points for the success of the transition was also scheduled for Thursday May 21st, Saturday May 23rd and Friday May 29th.

Monday May 18th prayer points include “Pray for the inclusion of individuals who would add value to the incoming government in the cabinet and very important appointive positions. Mark 3: 13-14.”

Another prayer point for Wednesday May 20th reads: “And thank Him for the President-elect, Gen. Buhari (rtd) who has promised to carry everybody along in his government.”

Prayer points in the prayer guide for Sunday May 24th include “Ask God to use the President-elect to reconcile the northern and the southern part of Nigeria for a true united nation under the living God as Sovereign Lord and ruler. 2nd Kings 3:7.”

Part of prayer points for Monday May 25th reads: “Commit to God the victors from March 28, 2015 Presidential, National Assembly (Senatorial and House of Representatives) election, that they will carry-on with genuine heart, passion for the people and the nation at large. Nehemiah 1: 4-6.”

Meal ticket beyond May 29

All Ministers in the present cabinet of President Jonathan are expected to be out of government from May 29th, while only one of them as at today is certain to remain in government beyond that day.

The lucky one is the Minister of State for Agriculture, Asabe Asmau Ahmed, who was named last Tuesday as the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF).

The new PEF Executive Secretary, who hails from Niger State and holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, respectively, is expected to put her wealth of experience in public service to use in the new assignment.

But how long she will stay on the new job beyond May 29th will depend on whether the incoming government will reverse the last minute appointments or not.

May 12, 2015
Involve women in fight against insurgency

Delta State women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Niger Delta Women Development Initiatives (NDWDI) have advised the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to involve women in the fight against insurgency.

The National Coordinator of NDWDI, Hon. Patience Oyowhose who gave this advice during a press conference at the unveiling of NDWDI in Abuja, said as mothers, they want the incoming administration to work with women, because the insurgents are not ghosts; they have parents.

According to Oyowhose, mothers know where their children are. If Gen. Buhari works with women, they will be able to reach their children at any given time, in order to continue to advise them against being influenced by selfish and wicked Nigerians, who cash in on the disadvantages of the poor to perpetrate evil.

“Mothers are responsible for their children. If the women are carried along in the fight against insurgence, I believe that there will be peace. This is because the women can reach out to the youth.

“The Niger Delta women in the FCT and outside Abuja have not been effectively utilised by previous governments. A lot of things are happening in Niger Delta and the women are the ones farming and fishing, and there is too much pollution. The government just reports that they are doing something on papers, but nothing has been done.

“So, this time around, we are saying that the women must have a voice and that whatever is being done; the women must be carried along. We must know what is happening to our women. How many women are being empowered and employed? How many Niger Delta women are in position to reach out to the women at the grassroots? That is why we are out to speak for our women,” she said.

She also said they envisioned a continent in which women take their rightful place as home and nation builders, with opportunity and access in all areas of development in Niger Delta and the FCT, saying that they want to bring together female executives, professionals and leaders to further advance the leadership status of women in the Niger Delta.

“The Niger Delta Women Development Initiative in the FCT and outside Abuja seeks to advance the status of women in leadership by creating an empowering platform and harnessing the synergies of alliance, by fostering an alliance among Niger Delta women in leadership position among others,” she added.

May 12, 2015
Rotary Club equips Kwara institution

•The science lab

The Rotary Club has helped to put some school challenges at bay. A shortfall in laboratories and scarcity of drinking water are some of the concerns at Senior Secondary School, Isolo-Opin, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA has provided a motorised borehole and also built a science lab for the school. Both facilities were valued at about N2.7 million.

Speaking during the commissioning of the projects, President of the club and former military administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col Theophilus Bamigboye urged well-heeled in the society to partner with government at all levels to boost education in Nigeria.

The retired military officer lamented the falling standard of education in Nigeria, adding, “With what we met here in the school before our intervention, I don’t see anybody passing through this school that can further his education on science and technology-oriented courses. But with what we have put in place I believe the sky is the limit for them.”

He said: “I urge individuals, corporate bodies and other voluntary organizations to partner with government at all levels to move education forward in Nigeria. That is the norm in advanced countries, that is why Rotary Club has decided to assist the community and this will encourage others to do same.

“This community will serve as our star project. After this first phase we will come back to sink more boreholes in the community. We will upgrade the medical centre in the community. Being a global village after my presidency, my successors will continue to visit here.”

In remark, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onimago charged individuals and organizations in the state to emulate Rotary Club to improve the standard of education “in general in line with the state government education reform agenda.”

Represented by Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji AbdulHameed Alabi, the commissioner said “no government, however endowed and benevolent, can single-handedly provide all the needs of its citizenry. It is therefore gratifying to note that notable non-governmental organisations and wealthy individuals are coming forward to fill the gap in the provision of critical infrastructural facilities in our schools. More so at this austere period when governments at all levels are facing acute shortage of funds to execute their projects.

“In line with the club’s spirit of humanitarianism, selflessness and altruism, this noble club adopted this secondary school and embarked on some projects which were considered most critical to the school community. I am most delighted to say that all the projects identified had been successfully completed and we are gathered here today to witness their official commissioning.

“I wish to call on the school community to jealously safeguard the projects with a view to ensuring their longevity and as a way of attracting similar project to the school both now and in the future.

Earlier, the Principal of the school, Mr. Ayo Abegunde listed the areas of the club’s intervention as upgrading of the school laboratories with valuable materials; provision of 85 lockers and chairs; multipurpose water project serving the laboratories; extension of electricity to the school and erection of a befitting signpost.

Narrating what led to the club’s intervention in the school, the principal acknowledged of a former youth corps member who brought the attention of members to the deplorable condition of some the facilities in the school.

His words: “What we are all witnessing today started with the singular efforts of a youth corps member, who decided towards the tail end of her service year in 2012 to build a VIP toilet for the school. Being a rotaract she got in touch with Rotary Club of Ilorin which eventually sponsored and commissioned the project.

“Before commissioning the toilet some members of the club visited the school to assess progress of and saw the deplorable condition of facilities in the school. The club was particularly concerned about the unplastered laboratory block without ceiling and materials; the half completed assembly hall; the block of three classrooms though renovated by the state government, but with broken lockers and chairs; the library at foundation stage and the half completed computer room without computers.

“With the above in terrible state of disrepair not conducive for learning in an institution the club drew the attention of Rotary Club International with a view to finding ways of assisting the school.”

Mr. Abegunde said that the club had therefore, designated Isolo-Opin community and global village and cited star projects at its senior secondary school.

May 12, 2015
Dismissed soldiers seek reinstatement

Soldiers dismissed for their alleged conduct in the anti-Boko Haram war have expressed a desire to be reabsorbed in the Army, saying they were wrongfully sacked in the first place.

•The dismissed soldiers when they protested

In January, no fewer than 227 soldiers protested in Jos after they were reportedly dismissed unjustly from the 3 Armoured Division. The protesting soldiers who could not stomach their plight stormed the Plateau State secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) with placards. They told newsmen there that they were unjustly dismissed and without the benefit of fair hearing.

Leader of the protesting soldiers, Sergeant Abiona Elisha, said “We have just been dismissed from the service of the Nigerian Army after sending us to go and suffer, fighting insurgency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states. We were not told our offence. All of a sudden, we were recalled to the barracks and made to face trial. Even in the trial, we were not given the chance to defend ourselves; they just took a decision and dismissed us.

“We were not even told what our offences were during the so-called trial. We are surprised that we can be treated like this in our own country, we were sent to fight insurgents without weapons, a lot of our colleagues were killed in the course of defending our fatherland, even those who are in hospital treating injuries sustain from battlefield were also dismissed while still on hospital admission.

“We are so pained over this action because we were the ones used to recover Gwoza from Boko Haram at the initial stage, we defended our fatherland even with bare hands, yet we were dismissed in this manner, we need help, this is pure injustice. The worst situation is that, families of our colleagues killed in Adamawa and Yobe are languishing in hunger as the Nigerian Army refused to pay their entitlement.

“So we are calling of President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief of Army Staff to intervene in our case and reinstate us.

When contacted, the deputy director army public relations officer of the 3 Armoured Division Col Texas Chukwu denied any knowledge of the dismissal of the soldiers, saying “I have no knowledge of the issue, I just came back from Maiduguri, I am not aware any soldier was dismissed.”

A similar scenario is playing out already as Information coming out from the barracks have it that a group of 300 soldiers has been arrested for complaining of no weapons to fight Boko Haram. The affected soldiers are said to be under detention at the 3rd Division headquarters. It was gathered that the soldiers were all arrested while working in Adamawa State. Reports have it that the soldiers were arrested for refusing to heed the order of their commander to fight on the excuse that their colleagues were killed by the better- armed Boko Haram fighters.

Sources said that the soldiers prefer to die where their family will see their bodies for burial.

But in military tradition, the action of these soldiers amounts to mutiny which attracts severe punishment.

According to the source, in spite of the punishment for mutiny, the issues raised by the soldiers are those of fundamental human rights.

“They are asking: Don’t we have rights, can’t we be given fair hearing, why are they punishing us unjustly, the source said.

Investigations revealed that the case of the 300 soldiers under detention was not a recent issue. It is believed that the agitation of these soldiers may have led to the provision of equipments for the troops who are currently engaging the insurgents

A senior officer serving with the division told The Nation: “At the time the soldiers committed the offence, it was evidently a mutiny to refuse an order from a superior officer to fight the insurgents. It is an unpardonable offence in the military. However, their agitation has brought sanity into the military in the sense that the military authorities have now woken up to their responsibilities to kit, equip and motivate soldiers across the board”.

The severity of the offence of these 300 soldiers is such that no one inside and outside the military is allowed to talk about it because it is being treated as purely military matter. Even journalists are not allowed to talk about it. Any journalists who try to ask why these soldiers were arrested are threatened with the same mutiny offence by the Nigerian Army. When contacted on phone, spokesman of the 3 armored division, who is the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations Col. Texas Chukwu said, “My friend don’t disturb me, who told you some soldiers are in detention here, you should know your limit as a journalist.”

The affected soldiers may have been under detention for the past three months without trial. While the affected soldiers are on death roll, their immediate families in the barracks are languishing in hunger and deprivation. Their children now beg for food in the barracks.

Reacting to the arrest of the soldiers, Defence spokesman Major General Chris Olu Kolade, who was in Jos last week said, “Mutiny, cowardice, desertion are military offences, they are not civilian offences, the Nigerian army don’t take such offences lightly. That is why the Nigerian army is reputed for its discipline. In the whole of Africa you can never have a more disciplined army like that of Nigeria, that is why up till date the UN still looks up to Nigeria army to lead military operations in Africa, and we have never been found wanting in that regard. When people start using certain sympathy and sentiments to defend soldiers who violate the military rules and traditions, I find such unusual and painful.

“In the area of human rights, the day you pick up the military uniform and you put it on your body, you have automatically sacrificed these rights, and you know of this even before you picked the uniform. You know the offenses and you know the penalty if you violate them. Up till this moment, the Nigerian army does not tolerate cowardice, desertion and mutiny. The excuse of saying yes as at the time they soldiers committed the offenses they were truly not equipped, that is not an excuse in the Nigerian military, no matter the circumstances, loyalty in the military must be 100%.

“We at the ranks of Generals in the Nigerian army we have paid our dues to reach this level and we demand that from the junior officers, anything less will amount to destruction of the foundation of the military profession. I want to appeal to all Nigerians not to try to treat military offences in a civilian way, doing so will amount to killing the military profession. So we should drop sentiments and deal with military issues the way they are”.

May 12, 2015
Indigenes appeal for equity

Indigenes of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to involve them in his administration, in order to benefit from the change which they have prayed for, even as they said they had been marginalised by past and present administrations.

The leader of Dagbalo community, Rev. Danjuma Tanko, who made the appeal on behalf of the indigenes in a press briefing on the future of Abuja natives, said the people of Abuja have suffered endless marginalisation.

According to Rev. Tanko, since the existence of Nigeria, the people of Abuja have never been given the chance to participate in the affairs of governance, saying that the North Western State era was the beginning of marginalisation for the people of Abuja.

“This situation continued during the days of the military rules, when we expected participation during the Second Republic. The incoming administration should give hope to the people so that they will feel and participate actively in the change that we have being praying for.

“No political appointment has been offered to the indigenes. The people of Abuja have a lot of graduates today, but there are no jobs for them. Our means of survival has been ceased from us and converted into buildings and road constructions.

“Even with the present degree of development in the city, it is highly worrisome if this is an invasion. We are law-abiding people and we pay our taxes directly and indirectly,” he said.

Tanko further said the federal allocation which the FCT benefited from in theory and not in practical, other Nigerians who are already benefiting from their states also come to the FCT to control the revenue allocation without considering the interests of the indigenes.

“The end result on how they manage the FCT allocation is a total neglect of indigenous communities and advancement of act of impunity, whereby they cease our lands without alternative means or compensation, developing and providing infrastructure on the ceased farmlands, while the indigenes lack good roads and electricity in their communities.

“Our traditional status should also be upgraded and given the chance to contribute actively in the affairs of nation-building. It must be noted that these people have sacrificed their kingdoms for the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria. So, they must be carried along in the scheme of things,” he said.

May 12, 2015