The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Reports

  • MTN donates equipment to Gombe Federal Teaching Hospital

    MTN donates equipment to Gombe Federal Teaching Hospital

    MTN Foundation Nigeria yesterday donated multi-million naira hospital equipment to Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe.

    The equipment includes two sets of dental chairs, ENT console treatment unit and a set of laparoscopy and hysteroscopy.

    Executive Secretary of the foundation, Mrs. Odunayo Sanya, said MTN is driven by a policy that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life.

    “And when we talk of a modern connected life, it is beyond the glitters and the voice because we believe that the success of our business is tied to the wellbeing of the communities. This is evident in the annual dedicated commitment of one percent of MTN profit after tax to the MTN foundation.

    “Today, we are grateful to the management of the Teaching Hospital and the people of Gombe State. The MTN Foundation has actually been partnering with Gombe State in the past. We have been present in Gombe State through the upgrading of Primary Health Care centres in Dukku, Shongom and Biliri local government areas, through the donation of furniture to schools in Funaksye Local Government Area, through installation of solar-powered boreholes in Balanga and Kaltungo local government areas and the donations to various orphanages in Gombe, Kwami and Akko local government areas,” she said.

    She said in December 2021, the foundation launched the Yello Mobile Doctor Initiative, which has been able to offer free medical consultation to a total of 4,375 people in five local government areas of Akko, Gombe, Biliri, Yamaltu Deba and Shongom in Gombe State.

    Sanya said the same free medical services will be extended to the remaining six local government areas of the state while the foundation is still planning to do more for the state in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR.

    “We are not stopping at that, as we have other projects ongoing still in Gombe State. We are setting up ICT lab in the state, we are also upgrading Pantami Primary Health Care Centre and we are installing solar-powered bore in Gombe Science Secondary School,” she said.

    Sanya said the foundation is inspired by the many lives it has impacted and energised by the professionalism and dedication of members of staff.

    The Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Malam Isa Pantami in his address said MTN remains number one most successful company in the telecommunications sector in Nigeria.

  • Ortom to Miyetti Allah: we’ll meet in court

    Ortom to Miyetti Allah: we’ll meet in court

    Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has insisted that the law banning open grazing in the state is irrevocable. He also told the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that he is prepared to meet them in court for any legal battle.

    The Secretary-General of the group, Saleh Hassan, at a briefing in Abuja on Monday, threatened that they will take legal action against the Benue State Government over what he claimed were illegal seizures of cows belonging to their members on account of violation of the ban on open grazing of cattle in the state.

    Governor Ortom, through his Chief Press Secretary CCPS) Nath Ikyur dismissed claims by the group that the cattle seized in the state by the Livestock Guards for violating the anti-open grazing law in the state were done illegally.

    “There is a law in place. And it is very clear that anyone who allows his or her cattle to roam freely in the state violates the law.

    When such herds are seized by the Livestock Guards, a time frame is given for owners to come forward and claim them,” he stated.

    Governor Ortom maintained that “everyone is free to ply his or her legitimate business in this state in so much as they do not infringe on the provisions of this law against open grazing.”

    The governor said he will not compromise the security and welfare of all citizens and inhabitants of the state.

  • Niger Speaker seeks legislators’ return to Assembly

    Niger Speaker seeks legislators’ return to Assembly

    The Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly Abdullahi Bawa Wuse has expressed his desire to see a substantial number of legislators return to the Assembly after the 2023 elections.

    Wuse, who stated this while welcoming the Legislators back from the Ramadan and Sallah break yesterday, stated that the reason for his desire for the legislators to be re-elected was to enable them to complete the projects they had started in their various constituencies.

    “The legislative arm is a very peculiar arm of government that requires lots of experience. It will be good if we have a substantial number of people here coming back because it will speed up the legislative process.

    “Several of us are first-timers and we hope to return so that we will be able to complete the projects we have mapped down for our constituencies,” he said.

    The Speaker wished everyone successful primaries. He also urged them to take their responsibility as legislators serious by sitting up to their oversight functions.

    “We have to take our responsibility seriously so that we can round off on a good note,” he stated.

    During plenary, the Bill for a Law to provide for the establishment of Niger State Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Agency was passed.

  • NGO launches Noma treatment centre at National Hospital

    NGO launches Noma treatment centre at National Hospital

    The Nigeria Aids Noma Initiative (NANI) yesterday began laying the foundation stone of the second National Noma Treatment Centre in the country, situated within the National Hospital, Abuja.

    With the intervention by the German charity organisation formally known as Hilfsaktion Noma eV, the 100-bed capacity treatment centre, asides from providing reconstruction sugery free to children with the disease, will also provide for their feeding and schooling while they are undergoing treatment.

    At the groundbreaking ceremony for the centre which is expected to be ready in one year, the Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire explained that the centre will be the second after the 70-bed Noma Children’s Hospital in Sokoto State which was established in 1999.

    He said: “Noma is an infectious and noncontagious disease which rapidly eats away soft tissue and bones around the face, resulting in an awful disfigurement that does not fail to draw attention.

    “Noma has a mortality rate of up to 90 per cent and almost invariably affects children from the age of 2 to 6 years, with poor health status defined by abject poverty and malnutrition. Those who survive it suffer life-long disfigurement from defects of the face that make eating, speaking and social relationships difficult. Social exclusion and stigma are the results.

    “Noma is primarily an illness that thrives under severe malnutrition, neglected oral health and personal hygiene, and poor environmental sanitation, all among illiterate and in most rural areas. Predisposing and triggering factors are vitamin deficiencies, opportunistic infections, including measles and malaria, and any immune compromising condition.”

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the National Hospital, Dr Jaff Momoh, explained that the hospital was selected out of others because of its manpower support and specialities, and also being centrally located to provide the service.

    “Because the disease disfigures the face, muscles and the bones of the mouth, we are going to require maxillofacial surgeons, plastic surgeons, dentists to fix the teeth and rearrange them, and even speech therapists, all of whom we have at the National Hospital,” he said.

  • Fed Govt gets COEASU’s 21-day ultimatum

    Fed Govt gets COEASU’s 21-day ultimatum

    The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) yesterday gave the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to meet its demands.

    The union resolved that if the government failed to do the needful within the period of the ultimatum, it would declare appropriate industrial action.

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of COEASU took the decision at a meeting held at the Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State on Friday.

    The union said it compiled the outcome of the referendum conducted across all chapters nationwide, re-assessed the seriousness of the government towards resolution of festering issues and decided the way forward.

    In a statement jointly signed by the President, Dr Smart Olugbeko and General Secretary, Bazza Lawan, respectively, COEASU said it observed with consternation that the Federal Government had been ridiculously unfair to the union by taking the understanding shown over time for granted and leaving issues unaddressed despite the union’s entreaties.

    The statement said: “After extensive deliberations on the outcome of the referendum conducted across Chapters of the Union, NEC resolved to issue the government a 21-day ultimatum beginning Monday, May 9, 2022.

    “NEC further resolved that in the unexpected event that the government fails to do the needful within the period of the ultimatum, the Union shall declare appropriate industrial action.

    “The NEC called on well-meaning Nigerians and stakeholders in the tertiary education sector to prevail on the government to urgently take appropriate actions before this ultimatum lapses.”

    Some of the demands of COEASU include a lack of progress in the renegotiation of the COEASU-FGN 2009 agreement; non-release of pledged N15 billion revitalisation funds and the recalcitrant insistence on IPPIS against a more reliable alternative of UTAS.

  • 66,000 benefit from IITA agric activities in Adamawa

    66,000 benefit from IITA agric activities in Adamawa

    No fewer than 66,000 farmers in Adamawa State have benefitted from an agricultural development programme implemented by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and a partner organisation.

    The Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity and Partners, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in Adamawa State by the duo of IITA and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), has indirectly touched the lives of about 400,000 people.

    These were made known in Yola, the Adamawa State capital where an agricultural input trade fair is ongoing. It was organised by the Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Activity and Partners.

    Giving insights to the programme during a chat with reporters in the course of the ongoing Agricultural Inputs Fair in Yola, the Chief of Party of the programme, Mr Prakash Silwal said: “For the past three years, we have been introducing different technologies in the farming community. We organise this fair so that people can come around and share knowledge and learn new things.”

    Explaining further the gains of the fair, Mr Silwal said: “Participants and visitors adapt what they learn in their farm practices. They get quality and greater output from their agricultural activities.”

    According to him, what individuals thus gain have multiplier effects.

    He said: “The economic capacities of well-groomed farmers are enhanced and the food security for the general populace improved.”

    The Agricultural Inputs Fair of the Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity and Partners is a week-long three-venue event which began on Monday, May 9, and is scheduled to end on Saturday, May 14.

    The Yola fair holds on May 9 and 10 at Mahmud Ribadu Square in Jimeta, while May 11 and 12 is fixed for the fair in Song Local Government Area at the Presidential Lodge, Song.

    The same fair will hold at Demsa Local Government Area in Pavilion Square, Demsa between May 13 and 14.

    The fair attracts manufacturers of farm mechanisation machines, agricultural chemicals and fertilisers, improved seedlings, and various kinds of farm produce, among others.

  • Fed Govt launches policy document on diagnostic testing

    Fed Govt launches policy document on diagnostic testing

    As part of its obligations to ensure that Nigerians have unhindered access to quality and affordable diagnostic testing services, the Federal Government, yesterday kicked off and disseminated the Nigeria National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL).

    Aside from being successful in facilitating access to treatment and promoting affordable prices, the NEDL is anticipated to improve patients’ care, in-country diagnostic capacity, affordability of tests, regulation and quality of diagnostic tests, and capabilities of laboratories across the country.

    The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who made this known in Abuja, said the policy document, which was developed with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Global Fund, makes Nigeria the first country to develop her Essential Diagnostics List (EDL) in Africa and second in the world after India.

    He said: “Over the past few years, there has been increased recognition of the importance of diagnostic testing in healthcare, and especially in achieving the goal of UHC, but until recently, there have been few strategic efforts designed to develop the evidence base on which policymakers can rationally increase and improve access to diagnostic testing.

    “To ensure nationwide implementation of this important document, we have also ensured the approval of this guidance document at the Emergency meeting of the National Council on Health. By this, all states in the Federation are encouraged to implement the use of the document.

    “The NEDL enlists 145 diagnostic test categories comprising 65 general In vitro diagnostics (IVDs) to aid the diagnosis of a range of disease conditions; 73 diseases specific IVDs in clinical settings covering primary, secondary, tertiary and national reference laboratories and 7 IVDs for screening of the blood donations. It also includes 12 general IVDs and 15 disease-specific IVDs for use in community and health settings without laboratories.”

    The Country Representative of the WHO, Dr Walter Mulombo, praised the government’s achievement in joining the list of countries such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan that have adopted the WHO concept of EDL.

    Represented by Dr Alexander Chimbaru, Public Health Emergencies Advisor of the WHO, he said: “I encourage all the states and health facilities to use the National Essential Diagnostic List as this will not only improve the health system capacity to reach accurate diagnosis but will also save health resources wasted on inappropriate treatment and long-stay in the hospital.”

  • Ganduje praises Kano NLC’s support

    Ganduje praises Kano NLC’s support

    Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje yesterday expressed appreciation over the role the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is playing in the sustenance of industrial peace and harmony in the state.

    The governor, represented by his deputy Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, stated this during the Labour Merit Award organised by the Office of the Head of Service of the State held at the Government House as part of activities to commemorate this year’s May Day celebration.

    He pointed out that the industrial peace has amply demonstrated the level of esteem, maturity, confidence and patriotism the labour and its leadership have exhibited towards the development of Kano State.

    Ganduje added that since the inception of his administration, the government accorded priority attention to policies and programmes that have a direct bearing on the life of workers and will strive to consolidate the gains recorded for the betterment of their condition of service and welfare to the highest possible limit.

    The Chairman of the NLC Kano Council, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir appreciated the effort of the state government for releasing N1billion recently for the settlement of retirees’ benefits, even as he further said the annual event’s theme: “Labour, Politics and the Quest for Good Governance and Development in Nigeria” is unique due to the fact that labour and politics are co-related.

    The Head of Civil Service Usman Bala Muhammad said the government has maintained implementation of various reform initiatives in order to reposition the service for better results in which the outcome is translated to the general well-being and improved service delivery for the benefit of the entire citizens of the state.

  • Fintiri pledges sustained agric schemes in Adamawa

    Fintiri pledges sustained agric schemes in Adamawa

    Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has pledged to sustain the integrated agricultural programmes of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to ensure food security in the state.

    Fintiri made the pledge at the 2022 Agricultural Inputs Fair yesterday in Yola.

    Fintiri, represented by the Commissioner for Livestock and Aquaculture, Alhaji Usman Diyajo, commended IITA and other partners for providing solutions to hunger and for improving farmers’ capacities and enhancing job creation in the state.

    He said IITA’s intervention had given farmers in the state the opportunity to produce an improved variety of seeds.

    “I thank IITA and I want to assure you that we are going to put mechanisms in place to improve on what you are doing and to sustain this programme for the benefit of our people,” he said.

    Mr Prakash Silwal, Chief of Party, Feed the Future, Nigeria integrated agricultural activity, said the fair was aimed at showcasing their modest achievements and enlightening farmers on the need to go for improved seeds for good yields.

    He noted that IITA, in collaboration with National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), had, in 2021, trained 1,185 community-based seed producers on improved production and marketing techniques in the state.

    Silwal added that in 2022, additional 800 producers would be trained to ensure the availability of quality seeds for farmers in the state at affordable prices.

    Chairman of Agro Input Dealers in the state, Alhaji Usman Rubadu, advised farmers to always use improved seeds that would enhance good yields at the end of the planting season.

    He also advised farmers to always create time for such occasions in order to acquire more knowledge that would help improve their production.

    The District Head of Yelwa, Alhaji Ya’u Dahiru, encouraged his subjects to key into farming, irrespective of their status, to ensure food security in the state and the country at large.

    He commended IITA and other partners for their interventions in the state and urged the beneficiaries to utilise the opportunity to improve their production and impact the knowledge acquired on others.

  • Nurses seek solutions to insecurity, poor welfare

    Nurses seek solutions to insecurity, poor welfare

    The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has urged the government to find a lasting solution to the persisting insecurity, poor workers’ welfare, and infrastructure deficits, among other frustrating problems endangering the practice of nursing and midwifery in the country.

    The Association noted that while nurses and midwives constitute the backbone of the health sector, they are currently short-staffed, undervalued and poorly remunerated, leading to a large migration of its members to other countries in search of greener pastures.

    The President of the NANNM, Comrade Michael Nnachi, made this known during the Association’s 2022 International Nurses/Midwives Week and Scientific Session, with the theme: “Nurses, a Voice to Lead: Invest in Nurses and Respect Rights to Secure a Global Future.”

    He said: “Nurses are frontline health workers, and are vulnerable to all forms of risks. Worthy of note is that over 5,000 nurses and midwives lost their lives during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We call on the Federal Government to invest in nursing to improve not only the workforce but also the conditions of service of the workers, particularly the nurses and midwives.

    “It is obvious that nurses are working under terrible conditions, and have suffered tremendously during the pandemic. They have suffered setbacks due to delayed proper grading, attacks, victimisation, kidnapping, understaffing leading to workload, underpaid and undervalued with the unpredictable political environment, insecurity which has accounted for thousands of people leaving Nigeria for areas of safety and greener pastures, and value-oriented expectations.”