VALENTINE’S DAY revolves around sweet treats. While boxes of chocolate and fancy dinners may be on your mind, listen to your heart! Your dietary decisions can affect your heart health – and many of the pastries, sweets and fried foods consumed by Nigerians during this special day contain a toxic chemical that causes heart disease and kills more than 1,200 Nigerians in a year.
Trans fat is a type of fat that occurs at unhealthy amounts in the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that are often used in packaged, processed and baked goods – your favourite biscuits, perhaps, the margarine you cook with, or the confectionary you give your loved ones.
Consuming this type of fat increases “bad” cholesterol and lowers “good” cholesterol. It is proven to cause coronary heart diseases as well as dementia, Alzheimer’s and other cognitive diseases.
More than 537,000 people die globally per year from trans-fat consumption, the American Heart Foundation estimates, using 2010 data. That includes 1,261 Nigerians.
Good nutrition should be a right for all Nigerians, regardless of social status. Yet, more needs to be done to ensure that the foods we eat on Valentine’s Day – and every day – are safe.
Two years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on world leaders to eliminate trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023. At least, 29 countries have taken action already – from Thailand to Brazil, the United Kingdom (UK) to the United States (US). Last month, our National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) proposed to limit trans-fat to 2 grams per 100 grams of fat in the foods we eat – broadly in line with WHO recommendations.
The Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED) in part of a civil society coalition that has called for a #TransFatFreeNigeria, and supports NAFDAC’s regulatory steps. “We are also calling on the agency to clarify and increase penalties to encourage companies to use healthier alternatives to trans-fat
“We all want to enjoy the foods we love – without having to worry about toxic chemicals in them. So, as you sit down for dinner with your Valentine this year, take care of your heart – and insist that others do the same. Avoid PHOs if you can – but also encourage NAFDAC to finish the job and finalise trans-fat regulations swiftly.”
Dr. Mafeni is a Technical Advisor of the Campaign for the Elimination of Trans Fat.
THE Supreme Court on Thursday nullified the election of Chief David Lyon as the governor- elect of Bayelsa State and Mr. Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo as the deputy governor-elect.
The court nullified their nominations because Degi-Eremienyo presented forged certificates to the Independent National Election Commission (INEC).
The Supreme Court also stated that the disqualification has nullified the joint ticket on which he contested the election with Lyon. This nullification, which came to many Nigerians as a shock, came barely two days after the same court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, which ruled against Lokpobiri’s appeal on the outcome of the September 4, 2019 primary of the APC in Bayelsa State. The court ruled that the former minister filed his case out of the time allowed by law.
In a judgment read by Justice Inyang Okoro, the five-member panel held that Section 285, sub-section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not admit any elongation of time when it comes to pre-election matters and affirmed the candidature of Lyon as the authentic candidate of the APC in the November 16, 2019 Governorship election in the state.
The Supreme Court also ordered the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Lyon and Degi-Eremienyo after the November 16, 2019 election and same be issued to Senator Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his Deputy.
This latest judgment of the Supreme Court has raised some posers about the position of our law on tickets jointly shared by gubernatorial candidates and their deputies.
This was first witnessed in the case of the late Prince Abubakar Audu and James Faleke in Kogi State governorship elections held on November 21, 2015. Prince Audu was the governorship candidate and Faleke as his deputy governorship candidate in the hotly contested elections.
However, Prince Audu died before the declaration of the results of the election and that made the INEC to declare the elections inconclusive.
Opinions were divided on whether Faleke should succeed Audu and enjoy the result of the inconclusive elections or whether he should forget the contest and go home.
The Supreme Court stated that, with the declaration of the election as inconclusive, and the consequent death of Audu, Mr. Faleke could no longer lay any legal right in the said votes. This is sequel to Section 187(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that a deputy governorship candidate shall:
“be deemed to have been validly elected to the office of the deputy governor, if the candidate who in accordance with the said provisions.”
With the declaration of the election as inconclusive, and the consequent death of Audu, the appellant can no longer lay any legal right in the said votes. This is sequel to Section 187. (1), which states that: “In any election to which the foregoing provisions of this part of this chapter relate, a candidate for the office of Governor of a State shall not be deemed to have been validly nominated for such office unless he nominates another candidate as his associate for his running for the office of Governor, who is to occupy the office of Deputy Governor; and that candidate shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the office of Deputy Governor if the candidate who nominated him is duly elected as Governor in accordance with the said provisions”
From the above provisions of the constitution, it is clear that in governorship elections, the governorship candidate and his running mate share a joint ticket, which may stand together in victory or fall and collapse together in case of defeat or fundamental breach of the law.
This is what has happened in Bayelsa State, no matter how painful. It is the law as the Supreme Court has spoken.
St. Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated worldwide today, means different things to different people. To an average young person, it provides the opportunity to explore their sexuality. To clerics, it is a day young people should be dissuaded from taking decisions they will live to regret and to business owners, it is an opportunity to make some money, writes CHINAKA OKORO.
The British Airways (BA) considers St Valentine’s Day special. The organisation, some days back, unveilled a special fare package for a getaway.
From February 12, the BA started offering Valentine’s fares starting from N240,000 return from Abuja and about N300,000 from Lagos to London and Europe.
It will end on Sunday. It is part of the airline’s plans for its passengers to experience the romance of Paris, spring a surprise getaway to the Eternal City or hold hands watching a special screening of Pretty Woman at the Rivoli Ballroom in London during Valentine.
The specials extend to the premium cabins, with Club World fares starting from about N1.2 million.
The airline’s commercial manager for West Africa, Kola Olayinka, said the fares were likely to sell out fast as there were endless opportunities to make Valentine’s Day an unforgettable one.
The offer, he said, would afford BA’s passengers the opportunities to sip champagne in Paris, throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and choose the perfect romantic gift at Harrods in London.
“British Airways is a full-service airline and provides complimentary food and drinks, free seat selection 24 hours before departure and a selection of in-flight entertainment,” he said.
As BA was unveiling its package, some women were expressing their views about perfect gifts for Valentine’s Day.
A cross-section of women in Lagos expressed their preference for wigs as Valentine’s Day gift over flowers and chocolates.
The women expressed their views in separate interviews in Lagos.
An entrepreneur, Miss Uzoma Blessing, said her preference for wig was because it added greatly to beautifying her looks.
On why it was preferred over chocolates and flowers, Blessing explained that wigs were more tangible and long-lasting gift items than chocolates, which after consumption could not be seen.
“I would really love a wig and perfume in place of chocolates and flowers and my reason is as a woman, I love to smell really nice and I love to look good hence my need for a wig.
“Also, I love gifts whereby I would always see it and remember you and I cannot say same for chocolate,” she said.
Another woman, Mrs Gift Akhimien, a motivational speaker, said her preference was based on her being an African that cherished better gift items than flowers.
“For me, wig still carries the vote because we women are cautious about our appearance. Give me a wig for Valentine’s Day and I will appreciate it because you have added to my wardrobe,” she said.
Mrs Oluwatobiloba Agbebi said wig was a better choice as it reduced the frequency at which salon visits were made.
“This is Nigeria where we don’t see value in things like flowers (that is likely to wither fast) and chocolate (that would finish in minutes).
“For wigs, it lasts as long as you can maintain it and saves you unnecessary spending on hair styling,” Agbebi said.
Some wig dealers have been smiling to the banks this season of love as sales had gained momentum.
Hemperior Hair Ventures Chief Executive Officer, a popular wigs and weaves merchandise, who chose to be addressed as Mr Afamefuna, said Valentine’s Day could be referred to as a festive season and women loved to look their best during festivities.
Afamefuna noted that purchases had soared a great deal as the season of love approached.
“Many women will want to look good on that day, especially for their men. So, they have been buying things to make them look good. Sales have improved to be honest and that is very good,” he said.
Another wig maker, Mrs Bukola Odeniyi, said since the end of the yuletide, there had not been much to do, but with Valentine’s Day in view, sales had again picked up.
“Though things are hard, some men are still going out of their way to surprise their wives. I have received few orders and I still look forward to more,” she said.
Odeniyi urged women to reciprocate the gesture of love by buying worthy gifts for their men.
“It is not singlets and boxers all the time. Be creative, buy nice shirts, designers’ belts and shoes and make him feel special too,” she said.
Group urges youths to engage in positive vices
But for the Christian Youth for Peace and Development Initiative (CYPADI), its concern is getting youths not to engage in negative acts in the name of St Valentine’s Day.
Its President, Mr Simon Dolly, advised youths to avoid social vices that could tarnish their families’ image and ruin their life.
According to him, some youths in the country have a wrong conception of the day as some use the day to engage in negative acts.
“If you love your country and family, you will not want to do anything that will tarnish the image of your country and family.
Youths in the country should be more patriotic and believe in their country and support government at all levels for the overall development of the nation,” he said.
He advised couples to use the day to renew their vows. Dolly said love should be shown every day apart from the day set aside for showing love.
He said Valentine Day signifies love, to appreciate loved ones and settle with those one may have quarrelled with, adding that it’s a time of forgiveness.
Cleric warns against wild celebration
Christ land Ministry pastor, Charles Abiola, warned Nigerians against wild celebration of Valentine.
According to him, the country’s present situation did not demand elaborate celebration, adding that Valentine Day should be a time to celebrate the loved ones, but in Nigeria’s situation, it should be on a low-key as things are not working well as expected.
“Nigeria is facing an economic down-turn and many things are wrong with the country. We should rather celebrate our loved ones in form of sober reflection.
Every Nigerian should know this is not the time to make merry, rather we should use the opportunity to pray to God for divine intervention,” he said.
He advised the youth not to over celebrate as they had turned valentine to a day to practise immoral things and get out of control by engaging in adultery, drinking, smoking and taking different kinds of hard drugs.
The cleric advised parents, pastors and imams to warn their children and followers against flirting around on Valentine Day and do things in a Godly way.
The cleric said St. Valentine was known to be a ‘philanthropist’ and a ‘lover’ of everybody around him and therefore, deserved his famous hype from every path of the world, saying February 14 date was widely celebrated in the world.
The Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialisation and inclusive economic development. They are the most important component of industrialisation as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). The KPMG Nigeria Banking Survey aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive that banks lend more to SMEs for improved economic growth and development, writes COLLINS NWEZE
The economies of great nations thrive on the strength and capabilities of their Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). In Asia, Europe and North America, SMEs play significant roles in their emergence as global economic powers.
Besides, SMEs are globally recognised as engines of socio-economic transformation. In Nigeria, they are at the heart of a push for economic prosperity.
Together with micro-scale ventures, these businesses contribute almost half of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employ 76.5 per cent of the national workforce and account for 7.64 per cent of export receipts, a joint survey by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in shows.
They also make up more than 90 per cent of the total businesses in Nigeria.
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said to be about 41.5 million in Nigeria, can help re-distribute wealth, improve local manufacturing and diversify the economy. As such, the policies and institutions that support their growth are important variables for Nigeria’s economic ends.
One of such institutions is First City Monument Bank (FCMB), a leading financial services provider. The mid-tier lender in 2019 proved its mettle in the Nigerian banking industry, emerging the best bank in customer experience for SMEs.
The bank leapt to the first position in the SMEs category from a third-place ranking in the prior year. FCMB in 2018 also emerged the third most customer-focused in retail banking.
This is according to the 2019 Nigeria Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey (NBICES) report by KPMG, one of the big four global consulting firms.
According to the 2019 report, analysis of performance in the SME segment reveals dynamism in the latest ranking, with FCMB edging other banks to emerge top.
The 2019 research was conducted via face-to-face and online survey methodology, involving SME owners across Nigeria. It was anchored on six pillars of assessment and performance, namely personification, integrity, expectations, resolution, time and effort as well as empathy. “While the Nigerian banking landscape has constantly been faced with steep competition, the stakes have been raised even higher and performing well on customer experience is the new minimum standard,’’ KPMG said. “As the race for the customer intensifies, front-runners will be those who demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s specific circumstances to consistently deliver a personalised experience”, it added.
The latest positive affirmation received by FCMB is a demonstration that the various supports the bank offers to boost the performance of SMEs and its overall contributions to the growth of the nation’s economy are yielding the desired results and appreciated by the market. FCMB is known for its bespoke products and excellent service offerings cutting across retail, SMEs, transaction, commercial and corporate.
The leap in the rating of FCMB as a leading lender in Customer Experience for SMEs is a proof that the bank is on the right path towards achieving its goal of attaining the highest levels of customer advocacy in the industry and a major contributor to economic development. The bank had, on several occasions, restated its commitment to consistently deliver exceptional service and offering the right propositions to help SMEs and other customer segments fulfil their individual and business aspirations.
For instance, the bank recently organised a training themed, ‘’Supporting Women Businesses to Scale Up in 2020’’, a free and comprehensive capacity building and empowerment programme for women entrepreneurs in Ogun State.
The programme aimed at enhancing the productivity and profitability of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) through funding, capacity building, advisory and other forms of support, held February 5, 2020, in partnership with the Office of the First Lady of the State, Mrs. Bamidele Abiodun.
The bank said it would continue to assist SMEs to overcome the challenges they usually face, especially at the take-off stage, because it wants to be part of their success story.
FCMB Managing Director Adam Nuru said FCMB has built a strong base in the SME segment by consistently championing and executing several cutting-edge solutions that have tremendously impacted on businesses nationwide under the following pillars of support; access to capital, capacity building, advisory services, networking opportunity and technology.
He said the lender is one of the top participating banks in the various intervention funds of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). “FCMB has been commended by the CBN, Bank of Industry, Development Bank of Nigeria, among others, for its strong support to SMEs,” he said.
The lender also partners local and international DFIs to provide various forms of funding, guarantees, grants and capacity building programmes to entrepreneurs. Also, FCMB offers free banking transactions for three months to new to Bank SME customers. It also has in its bouquet tailored products to suit the needs of SMEs customers, such as free accounting applications, Payroll solution and so on.
FCMB has equally automated its lending process for SMEs by adopting digital banking solutions to penetrate and deepen its intervention in the segment through its Quickloans platform. Since the launch of the platform in July 2019, over N10billion unsecured loans have been disbursed to SME customers within three to twenty-four hours of application through the Quickloans platform.
For women entrepreneurs, FCMB’s SheVentures initiative, launched in March 2019 to offer enhanced support to existing and start-up women-owned SMEs through access to finance, training and mentoring, has continued to encourage entrepreneurship, while also turning around the fortunes of existing businesses. Apart from other benefits, it comes with a zero-interest rate for an initial period of three months for beneficiaries. Also, over 2000 women entrepreneurs are being mentored by the Bank through the SheVentures initiative.
Beyond financial support, FCMB has trained over 10,000 SMEs, while also championing and executing several value-added capacity building programmes that have fast-tracked the growth of businesses, thereby upscaling their contributions to the development of the country. The lender organises a comprehensive programme, tagged, ‘’Business Enterprises and Sustainability Training (BEST)’’, SME Clinics and Masterclass for business owners nationwide to equip them with management skills and ensure effective networking.
FCMB has ensured the development of emerging markets, such as renewable energy, agribusiness and creative industry. The Bank hosts several workshops and exhibitions for these sectors. For instance, it organised a workshop on Climate Finance Awareness, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), under the theme, ‘’EnergyEfficiency and Solar Energy Solutions for Your Business”. This was a follow-up to the one held in August 2018 on Sustainable Energy Finance (SEFi). There was also a seminar on tax matters, in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, for SMEs in June.
In the same vein, FCMB in November 2019 hosted a workshop on Energy-Agric Nexus for Rural Economic Development, under the theme, “Stimulating the Agricultural Sector through Off-Grid Energy Development”, in Abuja. It was in partnership with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), The European Union, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) Foundation and Power for All. The workshop provided a rare opportunity for operators in agribusiness and the power sector to engage in constructive and interactive sessions with industry experts and decision-makers on harnessing and deploying alternative, renewable, clean and affordable sources of energy, particularly off-grid ones, to stimulate agribusiness.
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited is a member of FCMB Group Plc, which is one of the leading financial services institutions in Nigeria with subsidiaries that are market leaders in their respective segments.
Having transformed into a retail banking and wealth management-led group, FCMB expects to continue to distinguish itself through innovation and the delivery of exceptional services.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele said the apex bank set up the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) fund as part of its developmental role and mandate of promoting a sound financial system.
This was in recognition of the significant contributions of the MSMEs sub-sector to the economy. It said the sub-sector is characterised by a huge financing gap which hinders the development of MSMEs.
“To fulfil the provisions of Section 4.2 (iv) of the policy, which stipulates that women’s access to financial services to increase by at least 15 per cent annually to eliminate gender disparity, 60 per cent of the Fund has been earmarked for providing financial services to women.
“This informed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to establish the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF). The Fund prescribes 50:50 ratio for on-lending to micro-enterprises and SMEs by Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs),” it said.
It explained that two per cent of the wholesale component of the Fund shall go to economically active persons living with disabilities (PLWD) and 10 per cent provided for start-up businesses.
“The broad objective of the fund is to channel low-interest funds to the MSME sub-sector of the economy through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) to enhance access by MSMEs to financial services, increase productivity and output of microenterprises, create jobs and engender inclusive growth,” it said.
The NBS said SMEs play a significant role as the engine for economic transformation and industrialisation for both developed and developing countries.
Such roles, he said, include improved income re-distribution (low-level capital required), job creation and skills development (particularly for youth, women, elderly), adoption of technology & innovation (competitiveness), industrial diversification, stimulate the local economy (demand down the value chain).
NBS also listed challenges facing SMEs as vulnerable to economic shocks, stable and supportive policy environment, excessive regulation, complex & cumbersome tax process, skills acquisition for youth population among others.
It said the SMEDAN/NBS survey was conducted in all 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Both urban and rural enumeration areas were covered.
“Poor access to finance was highlighted as a major challenge for MSMEs. Also in the list are poor power supply, inadequate water supply, taxation and unfavourable government policies among others,” it said.
According to NBS, 22,200 households, 600 households with enterprises interviewed per state, 15 households selected per enumeration area in getting figures for the micro-enterprises. For the Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs), 4,000 operators were visited across all states, including FCT.
He said that of the 41.5 million MSMEs nationwide, Micro constituted 41,469,947 (99.8 per cent) , Small: 71,288 (0.17 per cent) and Medium: 1,793 (0.004 per cent).
Continuing, it said: “Composition of sectors is different for each business type classification, primarily due to staff requirements of more formal establishments. For instance, Education & Construction are low for small business but top 5 for medium-scale enterprises. Education, Manufacturing, and Wholesale/Retail Trade make up 68 per cent of small enterprises. Manufacturing, Wholesale/Retail Trade, and Human Health & Social Works make up 68 per cent of medium enterprises”.
Other key observations in the report are that wholesale/retail trade, agriculture, and other services activities make up 76.3 per cent of Microenterprises.
Justice Amiru Sanusi, who retired from the Supreme Court last week, has an interesting career. He would have ended up dead. At another point, he escaped being imprisoned, ERIC IKHILAE reports.
JUSTICE Amiru Sanusi of the Supreme Court, who turned 70 on February 2, 2020, took a retrospective look at his journey through life and recalled how he narrowly escaped imprisonment and death.
Justice Sanusi, whom a valedictory court session held in his honour on February 3, sequence to retirement from the Supreme Court, recalled how he narrowly escaped being imprisoned at age 13 and how providence saved him from being assassinated while serving as a High Court judge.
He spoke in Abuja at the valedictory court session witnessed by dignitaries, his professional colleagues, friends, associates and family members.
Justice Sanusi, who hails from Funtua, Kastina State, became a judge after serving as the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. According to him, he almost got imprisoned few days after his father’s death in 1963.
He recalled that he was conscripted, 10 days after his father’s death, to serve as census enumerator with another young boy, whom he shared accommodation with in Dutsi district of the state.
Justice Sanusi said while he and the young boy were strolling around the community to familiarise themselves with their new environment, his colleague misplaced the £3 allowance paid to each of them.
He said although he volunteered to share his £3 with his colleague, he was later arrested and accused of stealing his colleague’s money.
Justice Sanusi said: “Later in the night a native authority policeman was sent to our accommodation and he started calling my name. I woke up and identified myself, he then instructed me to follow him along with my bag to the Alkali’s house.
“On reaching the house, the judge ordered the policeman to search me and my bag and insisted that I should bring out my colleague’s money.
“I told him that I did not take his money and that what I had with me was only my own stipend, which I was paid that afternoon. They counted it, but the Alkali (Native Court judge) insisted that I was the one who stole the money.
“He sent the policeman to go and call the Prison Warder. He ordered that I should be taken to prison because, according to him, I would confess to having stolen the money.
“Having observed earlier the nature of the prison lock-up in the evening when going to the town square, I burst into tears.
“As God would have it, just when I was about to be taken to the lock-up, a small girl, of about four years old, ran out from the AlkalI’s house and said in Hausa language: Baba an gane kudin kurma ne, ya tsinta a bakin rijiya ka gansu nan a fankun ashana.’ Meaning: ‘Daddy, the money has been recovered, look at it here in the matchbox. It was the deaf who picked this money at the well.’
“The Native Court judge and everybody around was perturbed to hear that. The said kurma or deaf was the house boy of the judge, who used to fetch water for the family and he was the one who told the wife that he picked the money at the well.
“That was how God used a small girl of four years old to save me from being incarcerated for an allegation of an offence that I knew nothing about. That was the first trepidation I faced at the early age of 13 years,” he said.
Justice Sanusi said the experience led him into studying Law.
“From that time, I developed an interest in reading Law and possibly, to become a lawyer or judge, so as to correct the injustice and misapplication of law that is being perpetrated by our Native Court judges.
“What kind of jungle justice would that have been, to send a 13-year old boy to prison without any proof of his guilt and, even when the truth came out, he was arrogantly unapologetic.”
The retired jurist said while serving as a High Court judge, he was doubling as the Chairman, Robbery and Fire Arms Tribunal.
He recalled that although the job was very challenging, it was equally very dangerous because many attempts were made to assassinate him.
Justice Sanusi said the most deadly of such attempts on his life was that plotted by some detained robbery suspects, who had the support of prison warden, whose employment, he incidentally, aided years earlier.
“On a Wednesday I went to Dutsinma town on court axis. On my return to Katsina, I was informed that my Chief Judge wanted to see me urgently.
“When I went to him, he informed me that there was a plan by some robbery suspects to escape from prison to go to my house and kill me.
“He advised that I should not sleep in my house on that day. It was gathered that there were seven robbery suspects in a cell.
“The wife of one of them supplied them with saws which they used in cutting the iron bars at night and used black cellotapes to cover the place cut in the iron rod.
“The robbery suspects, seven in number, were brought out on that Wednesday morning to go and take bath. One of them stayed behind and told the escort warder that he wanted to see the officer in charge of the prison, who reluctantly obliged him.
“The robbery suspect went and revealed the plan and he was asked to put his complaint in writing and which was copied to me.
“They planned to escape on the night of that day. The wife (of one of the suspects) was to provide a pistol and a vehicle to carry them to my house.
“A named prison wander was to bring acid in a gallon which would be used in pouring on the prison warders at the gate before opening the gate for them to escape. Incidentally, I was the one who got the job for that particular prison warder.
“Plain cloth policemen were detailed to hide around the spot where the pick-up vehicle was to be parked for the conveyance of the robbery suspect after their escape and arrested those in that vehicle and recovered the gun.
“Also the prison warder was arrested with a gallon containing acid to be used in facilitating the jailbreak when he reported for duty on that night. The suspect who revealed the plan is from Cross Rivers State and was popularly known in the prison as Calabar man.
“In his complaint, he gave a detailed address of my house, both in Katsina and in my home town. That was how God used a Calabar man to save my life,” Justice Sanusi said.
It was a gathering of who is who in the Lagos socio-political firmament at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos as colourful politician and journalist, Mr. Bayo Osiyemi marked his 70th birthday with a public presentation of his book, The Charming Prince in Journalism and Politics.
It was also a day that eminent persons elected to testify to the life of the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Chieftaincy Affairs whose career as a public office holder dates back to the Second Republic when he functioned as the Chief Press Secretary to the highly respected former governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
Former Lagos State Deputy Governor Otunba Femi Pedro, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye and former Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG), Chief Olrunfunmi Bashorun were numbered among the numerous guests who took turns at the occasion to testify to Osiyemi’s life as a consummate professional journalist, a dedicated party man and a workaholic both as a journalist and a politician.
Senator Adefuye, who said he had known Osiyemi as far back as the late 1970s, noted that there are three positive attributes of the journalist turned politician, which in certain ways became liabilities for the birthday boy.
The first, according to the senator, is Osinyemi’s winsome looks as a young professional, which he said elicited envy from many of the politicians he had to interact with, including himself. He recalled that with Osiyemi’s looks and carriage, there was no how he would enter a gathering without being noticed.
His presence, he said, always caused a stir as people would begin to draw their girlfriends closer once they saw him “for fear that they could lose them to Bayo.”
The second attribute, he said, was hard work. “If success in life is determined only by hard work, he (Osiyemi) would not be sitting here with us. He should be somewhere in Abuja as one of the people piloting the affairs of the country,” he said.
Adefuye recalled that as a journalist, Osiyemi was always looking for stories even at night when his colleagues would have slept.
He said Osiyemi replicated that attitude as a politician as he is always working for the success of the party, particularly during the last elections. “If a meeting is scheduled for 1 pm, he would arrive the venue as early as 11 am, preparing the ground for the meeting,” he said.
Osiyemi’s third attribute, according to Senator Adefuye, is his penchant for saying the truth, no matter whose ox is gored. He said because the truth is bitter, particularly in our part of the world, “his mouth has robbed him of favours that he would have got from would be benefactors because his detractors have a way of using his words to poison their minds against him.”
Happily, he said, the truth always prevails and most of the people who victimised the former Chairman of Mushin Local Government Area for telling the truth often turn round to appreciate him for what he stands for.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG) during the Jakande administration in Lagos State in the Second Republic, Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun, described Osiyemi as a loyal, committed and excellent Chief Press Secretary to former Governor Jakande.
He said: “What many people did not know is that Jakande wrote his speeches, but it was Osiyemi who fleshed it up and it would not be seen by anyone again until Jakande was ready to deliver it.”
A retired head teacher, Mrs Ololade Balogun, drew rapturous applause from the gathering after recalling the circumstances in which she began a career in Lagos State Civil Service as a schools certificate holder on account of Osiyemi’s intervention.
According to her, she had finished from secondary school and needed a job badly but did not know how to go about it. As fate would have it, she wondered to the Alausa office of Osiyemi on a certain day while the latter functioned as the Chief Press secretary to Jakande.
There she met some of Osiyemi’s aides talking about him and how nice a boss he was.
“The things they were saying about him encouraged me, so I walked straight to his office, knocked on his door and he asked me to come in. Immediately I went in, I greeted him. He asked what I wanted and I told him I needed a job.
“He said who asked you to come and see me and I said no one asked me to; I just decided to come on my own. He asked what qualification I had and I said school cert.
“He gave me a note to the Ministry of Agric and that was how I secured employment at the ministry.
“Unfortunately, I returned to his office many times to thank him but he would not be available. It was not until he himself came to the ministry one day and saw me. “He did not even recognize me again but I introduced myself and reminded him how I came to his office and how he gave me a note to the ministry.
“He said, ‘Yes, yes, yes. But don’t think you would stop your education because you are now working.’
“He was the one that asked me to go and take the forms for Teachers Grade II programme. He was also the one who insisted that I must go for NCE and degree programmes.”
Pedro, a former deputy governor of Lagos State, who represented All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the occasion, said the large presence of APC chieftains at the occasion was a testimony to how highly Osiyemi is regarded in the party.
Otunba Pedro said: “I bring greetings from the National Leader of our party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has asked me to represent him at this occasion because he is unavoidably absent.
He said I should tell you that he holds you in very high regards and that he would get in touch with you after this ceremony.”
He described Osiyemi as a journalist who uses his wealth of experience to impact on the lives of the people.
“He is a statesman per excellence; he is a rare and respectable practitioner of the pen profession. He is very relentless and a loyal public servant.
“He has been in and around government, serving his fatherland through great writing, ensuring that the society is better. He started serving at the age of 29, when he was Chief Press Secretary (CPS) in the administration of former Lagos State Governor Lateef Jakande.
“He became local government chairman, where his footprints are noted. He equally played his part during the military era by returning to his journalism, to enhance the return to civil rule by ensuring that things were done properly. He is now serving as Special Adviser to Lagos State governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.”
In a congratulatory letter issued by his media office on Tuesday, Asiwaju Tinubu described Osiyemi as a professional journalist, public relations expert of distinction and consummate politician and administrator.
The former Lagos State governor said: “I heartily congratulate you on your 70th birthday. Turning 70, the Biblical three scores and 10 years, is a significant milestone for which we must all join you and your family in thanking God for the wonderful gift of life.
“At 70, you have done remarkably well for yourself, family and country. You are a professional journalist, public relations expert of distinction and consummate politician and administrator.
“Your columns in national newspapers, usually written in your characteristic breezy and lucid style, are a must-read for me and for many others across the country.
The patriotism that shines through, the informed and constructive critique of national issues and the suggestions often offered on the way-forward are particularly noteworthy.
“You shone brilliantly as Chairman of Mushin Local Government, providing and improving on public infrastructure for the people.
“Even now, you are unrelenting as you continue in the service of Lagos in your present position as Special Adviser (SA) to Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu on Chieftaincy Affairs.
“As a politician and administrator, you continue to make significant contributions to the development of your Mushin community and of Lagos State.
“My prayer is that God grant you more years, robust health and renewed energy and vigour to continue to serve God and humanity to the best of your abilities. Happy 70th birthday, my brother.”
Also, Nigerians on Tuesday eulogised Osiyemi as a forthright journalist and dependable public servant.
On his part, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said: “He uses the talent to nurture the overall development of the country.
He has also remained active since he ventured into the path of making Nigeria better. You have continued to make excellent contributions to the politics and development of the country.
You have, by extension, made the people of Lagos to feel your impact through informed opinion at different forums.
“You have been a consistent member of the progressive family; you have successfully combined journalism and politics together. I celebrate you for living a worthy life which others coming behind you are proud to emulate.”
The chairman of the occasion, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, said Osiyemi had distinguished himself as a seasoned writer and politician.
The book reviewer, Muyiwa Adetiba, said the Charming Prince, an autobiography of Bayo Osiyemi, to mark his 70 years, no doubt focused on his years of sojourn in life, which according to him, is simple, narrative and captivating.
The rising influx of mentally challenged persons on the streets, major roads, market places and highways across Delta State is alarming. While not all appear violent, some others may pose danger to normal people.
Often times people have testified of these mad persons throwing stones at unsuspecting members of the public, or bearing objects which could be used to inflict harm.
Where do they come from? Don’t they have relatives? Is there a provision for them by government? Which government authority is responsible for their welfare? How do they survive? Can they be cured? These among many other worrying questions come to mind when the thought of the potential menace they pose to the general public stares one in the face.
Having mad men around has become a normal feature in the society such that one even notices when they suddenly disappear from a known spot.
Sparsely cladded in rags or entirely naked, they walk around streets, roads, markets and highways in the day time.
PANIC as mentally ill persons prowl Warri streets, highways
And at night, they nest in their makeshift abodes, mostly under bridges, bus stops, roadsides and medians of highways. Some of them bear trash luggage which they guard jealously and take with them wherever they go.
In recent times, persons who engage in rituals, have allegedly taken to disguising as mad persons so as to easily carry out u their plans.
One would think that this development should push the relevant authorities to clear the society of mad people, but no, they continue to increase.
Cases of mad women putting to birth have at one time or the other dominated the media space, but what happens to such be the most victims of mental issues.
This reporter took a survey of mentally challenged persons in Warri and its neighbouring towns and discovered a total of 46 mad persons roaming the highways and some major roads.
Of this number are 28 men, 18 women, while 25 looked below 30 years of age. While this may not be an exact number of the entire mad populace in these areas, it is a shocking figure.
Interactions with some residents of Warri metropolis indicated that some of these tagged mad persons will be off the streets if given the necessary healthcare.
A businesswoman, simply identified as Mrs. Efe, said some make their living from doing some sorts of odd jobs. “When I was selling at PTI Junction, they used to help us carry our goods and we pay them little money.
But a time came and they were picked up by probably government people. It really became tough for us after they left because we had to struggle with carrying our things by ourselves,” she said.
While some still have the sense to work in order to eat, others go about begging alms or food. However, there are some who steal. They monitor their target and snatch whatever it is that has caught their eyes. The Nation witnessed a scenario at the popularbe the most victims of mental issues.
This reporter took a survey of mentally challenged persons in Warri and its neighbouring towns and discovered a total of 46 mad persons roaming the highways and some major roads.
Of this number are 28 men, 18 women, while 25 looked below 30 years of age. While this may not be an exact number of the entire mad populace in these areas, it is a shocking figure.
The Nation witnessed a scenario at the popular Jakpa Junction in Uvwie council area, where a known madman snatched a N200 note from a passenger aboard a tricycle, popularly known as ‘Keke Napep,’ and ran away.
There was traffic at the Effurun Market axis of the junction, so she got down calling out the madman, ‘hief, he stole my money.’
Other tricycle riders and people around just laughed and said, ‘Madam, who will chase a madman now?’ Seeing the helpless situation, she boarded the vehicle and left.
A young lady, Blessing Okoh (not real names), also recounted an encounter with one near PTI Junction. “I was returning from choir rehearsals that evening, about 6:40pm.
There was heavy traffic. So, I stood at the junction trying to get Keke. Suddenly, I felt someone smack my buttocks. I was already raising my voice to unleash mayhem when I turned and saw it was a madman, a young one like in his mid 20s.
He sniffed at me. Oh, I was embarrassed and afraid and just stepped away from him. The people in traffic were just staring.
I can’t even tell if they noticed what happened. Imagine if that place was lonely, that guy could have done worse. I don’t even want to think about it,” Okoh added, shaking her head as if to shut out the image.
A longtime resident in Warri, Tony Palmer, explained that the case of loitering madmen has always been baffling because “you will just wake up and see a madman here or there. It is like people come to dump them overnight.
That is why you can hear reports of ritualistic persons who disguise madmen to perpetuate their evil acts. That Otokutu Bridge where they usually carry out their acts, I have noticed no mad person roaming the area for over a month now, especially since one suspect was burnt to death, early December or so. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope it remains so”.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development in Delta State, Mrs Oghenekevwe Agas, noted that the rise of mentally challenged persons on the streets and highways is due to financial constraints.
She explained that no specific fund is made available for their care, but out of the annual budget for vulnerable persons, among which mental persons are grouped, the ministry caters for them.
“We don’t have a budget to take care of mad persons. The ministry, as part of its mandates, takes care of the vulnerable persons. And the category of the vulnerable persons includes people who have mental challenges.
There is no special budget for them. However, sometimes we are called upon, as a ministry, maybe some of the persons on the streets are causing nuisance, we are asked to evacuate them; these are an ad-hoc kind of assignments.
There are some times they just clog the streets. Then, we just have to make provision. Sometimes, we have some of the mentally challenged women that get pregnant. In such situations, we have to safeguard the baby. We take custody of the persons, take them to a mental home.
We have some homes that are registered with us and then, we take the children to orphanages. Talking about the budget now, some of these homes that collaborate with us, we give them stipends for some months, to take care of the persons we have taken to their homes.
“Because of the financial implication, it is difficult to just say, maybe every three months you mop them up. When you take them out of the streets, most don’t know their families, so you have to take them to these rehabilitation centres and that means you are going to pay them (centres) to take care of them (mad persons).
The cost is enormous; so we cannot just say that maybe every quarter, we mop them up. But sometimes, we see that maybe the menace is getting too much, we just do an ad-hoc arrangement to get them off.
But we know that they will definitely come back or new ones will come up,” Mrs Agas stated via the telephone
Meanwhile, a counselling psychologist, Mr. Igho Tietie, attributed some causes of mental illness to biological issues, abuse of drugs and poor treatment of high fever.
He noted that Nigeria, especially Delta State, does not have “real statistic or data base on them”. According to him, early detection and treatment can cure some of these victims and have them living normal lives again.
“It is prevalent because you see them on the streets, unlike other climes where such persons are taken to a psychiatric hospital. Apart from the Central Hospital, Warri, I don’t think there is any other institution for them in this environment.
Again, it has a bearing on our mentality. Our people see every ‘mad person’ as being punished by God, so when someone manifests such characters, instead of treating him, they push the person away. The government is not helpful in this regard.
Those days, once the people get to the street, they are evacuated to professional centers where they are attended to. But our government seems unconcerned; they don’t see it as part of their responsibilities. Again, Warri and environs do not have any social centre that is functional.
“If there is a budget or preparation for them, then it is not getting down to the people who are to use it. If you get to the Central Hospital, Warri, you will find out that the doctors, nurses, and maybe some churches and NGOs are the ones who come to give, as far as provisions, to them, just to keep them for another day.
Many of them (psychiatrists) just love these people because they understand their plight, so they can’t push them away. Even if you get there now, you will find that the population is much. The government seems not to be interested. If they are, something is not connecting,” Tietie said.
Asked about their abilities to inflict harm on normal persons and measures government should take to curb the situation, the counsellor stated, “Yes, they can be very harmful. About two weeks back, I saw one, a lady, with a cutlass.
I had already driven past her before I noticed what she was holding and I thought, ‘Wow, if this woman goes berserk, who is going to hold her down?’ And before they would be able to do that, she may have injured or killed some persons.
Hence, my counsel to government is that it really needs to wake up. This is the duty of the Ministry of Health. Government seems to be far from Warri, everything government does is actually far from Warri.
Even though a budget is appropriated, maybe there is no follow-up. Government needs to budget, and then release the funds that have been budgeted.”
“Because it is not a good sight. Some of them walk on the road, stark naked. Imagine our children will see a man with all his genitals open, a woman with all her private parts exposed. Many times, between Army Barracks and Nigercat area, we do see some of their corpses.
Nobody cares for them. They are human beings. It’s just that they have psychological problems at the moment. And they are entitled to proper attention and treatment. Then families should know that it is not everyone that is a witch.
The advent of, should I say, pentecostalism, with the die, die, die prayers, once you see anybody displaying abnormal behaviour, you say ‘God has touched him.’ No. Our society has to move beyond that. When we see such situations, especially at its early stage, we should consult a psychiatrist.
Early detection and treatment actually help most of them to recover fully. This brings all of us to the responsibility of ensuring that the people around us don’t abuse drugs and substances we have around,” he added.
THE Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced that it would commit up to $100 million for the global response to the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The funding will help strengthen detection, isolation and treatment efforts; protect at-risk populations; and develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. The new funding is inclusive of $10 million the foundation committed to the outbreak in late January.
“Multilateral organisations, national governments, the private sector and philanthropies must work together to slow the pace of the outbreak, help countries protect their most vulnerable citizens and accelerate the development of the tools to bring this epidemic under control,” said Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman. “Our hope is that these resources will help catalyse a rapid and effective international response. This response should be guided by science, not fear, and it should build on the steps that the World Health Organization has taken to date.”
The Gates Foundation is contributing more resources – in close coordination with other donors – to assist the World Health Organization (WHO), Chinese frontline responders and others at the global and national levels. WHO declared the 2019-nCoV outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, citing the risks the virus poses globally and the need for a worldwide coordinated effort to enhance preparedness, especially in fragile settings. The government of China has also declared a national public health emergency and mobilized a nationwide effort to contain the virus and treat those who are infected.
The statement said: “The foundation will immediately commit up to $20 million to accelerate the detection, isolation and treatment of people diagnosed with the virus with the goal of interrupting transmission and containing the disease. This funding will be directed to multilateral organizations such as WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Support will also be directed to national public health authorities in China and other countries that have reported confirmed cases. Current national-level partners include the National Health Commission of China and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The release of fast and flexible funding is intended to help multilateral organizations and national public health authorities rapidly scale up their virus detection capabilities and implement disease modeling analytics so that they can target resources where they can have the greatest impact in arresting disease spread. This funding is intended to help public health authorities cover the initial cost of labor and supplies while international agencies and national governments appropriate the resources necessary to fund ongoing operations.
“Recent epidemics, such as the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, have had a disproportionate impact on populations living in extreme poverty, and sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia together account for 85 per cent of the estimated 629 million people worldwide who live on less than $1.90 per day. Many people living in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia also have limited access to quality primary health care, which is another factor that increases their health risks.
“The foundation will provide up to $20 million to help public health authorities in these regions strengthen their emergency operations centers, implement effective disease surveillance efforts and improve their capacity to safely isolate and treat confirmed cases.
“Among African Union member states, these efforts will be supported by the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) in collaboration with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and WHO-AFRO. AFENET is a non-profit service alliance of field epidemiology and laboratory training programs that currently operates in more than 30 African countries.”
Developing Vaccines, Treatments and Diagnostics for a Sustained Response
The foundation will commit up to $60 million to accelerate the discovery, development and testing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for 2019-nCoV. If 2019-nCoV transmission continues for several months or more, safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics will be needed to help sustain long-term approaches to disease control and to prevent severe disease and deaths.
The foundation will use its R&D funding to help global partners, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, identify and prioritize research needs, address gaps in the R&D landscape, incentivize product development by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and ensure that resulting products are safe, effective and made widely available. This effort will include support already underway for Chinese public- and private-sector research partners focused on the discovery, development and testing of candidate vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.
United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, in this chat with reporters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, shed light on the relationship between the two countries. Pompeo announced a N14b ($40m) aid for Nigeria to address humanitarian crisis. Excerpts:
Pompeo
The foreign minister and I just completed a very productive conversation on how to continue to strengthen the economic and security ties between our two nations. This is a real priority for us in the Trump administration in Africa, because Nigeria is Africa’s most populous democracy and its largest economy.
On that note, let me begin and talk about our economic cooperation. Nigeria is already America’s second-largest trading partner in Africa. U.S. companies from Google to Chevron to KPMG invested over a billion dollars in Nigeria in 2018 alone, creating over 18,000 jobs and indirectly supporting 3 million others.
It’s what American companies do. It’s what we do all over the world every day, and they do it in a spirit of transparency and partnerships with the host nations.
The foreign minister and I discussed how we can tighten our trade ties even further, including in infrastructure investment. Embracing free market policies that attract capital – private capital, ensuring consistent enforcement of the law, and doubling down on anti-corruption efforts are the surest way to grow prosperity in Nigeria and all across the region.
And we’re pleased, too, that President Buhari has prioritised that fight against corruption.
In support of that fight, I am announcing today that the United States and Nigeria have signed an agreement to return to the Nigerian people more than $308 million in assets stolen by a former dictator.
Now I’ll turn to our security cooperation, which has also been expanding.
Case in point: Nigeria’s recent $500 million purchase of 12 U.S.-made A-29 aircraft. This supports President Buhari’s recently stated goal of creating “a security force with the best training and modern weaponry.”
He also pledged that those forces “will be held to the highest standards of… respect for human rights.”
The United States will hold Nigeria to that pledge, and we’ll help you achieve it. The United States has already invested in the training of Nigeria’s military on human rights and the Law of Armed Conflict.
Nigeria was one of the first African nations to join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. America is now supporting the Nigerian fight against ISIS’s largest global affiliate, ISIS-West Africa – a dangerous threat to both of our countries.
In part due to this terrorism threat, on Friday, President Trump announced the suspension of immigrant visas for Nigerians because Nigeria has room to grow in sharing important national security information. I am optimistic that’s going to happen. In the proclamation, President Trump highlighted Nigeria’s importance as a strategic partner in the global fight against terrorism and recognised the government’s commitment to improving information sharing with us.
The foreign minister and I also discussed today the massive humanitarian crisis that the conflict with Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa and other religious and ethnic violence.
We know that these issues are hard. We know that they’re complicated. But I strongly encouraged the Nigerian Government to do more to protect its civilians, including religious communities and the humanitarian organisations seeking to assist them.
To aid in this effort, I’m pleased to announce today an additional $40 million in humanitarian assistance to Nigeria, adding to the nearly $350 million that we provided last year.
Onyeama
Well, first of all, I’d like to say it’s been a great pleasure to be back in Washington to attend the Binational Commission between the United States and Nigeria. This commission for us is a very important and valued framework for the cooperation between our two countries. And as the Secretary has said, we came with a large delegation. And of course, this showed the importance that we attach to our bilateral relations between our two countries.
And the themes of our Binational Commission really keys in to the vision of our president, President Muhammadu Buhari. And so for us, it’s extremely important to develop the roadmap of that vision within the framework of our bilateral cooperation.
We – the three thematic areas that we dealt with, which were also mentioned by the Secretary – of course, security. Security for us has become a major issue, an existential threat. But of course, we know that terrorism is a global threat, and we appreciate and value very much the cooperation that we’ve received from the United States Government. As the Secretary mentioned, there are some fighter planes, A-29 Super Tucanos, that we hope to be able to procure to help us on this fight. But there are other areas – sharing of intelligence with our partners – that the United States has been supporting us in. We appreciate very much that support.
Of course, we are faced with other security issues within Nigeria, and we know that some of them causes of disquiet amongst our partners, and we are addressing a number of those. And in addressing those internal challenges, and especially in the security area, we absolutely make it clear and strive to uphold human rights. We have the greatest interest in protecting the – and respecting the human rights of our population, and we do that.
Of course, the other area that we’ve discussed has been democracy and governance. And as the Secretary has mentioned – and we thank again the United States for it – the sums of money that was restituted to Nigeria with the Bailiwick, it’s called, of Jersey and the United States, $321 million, we appreciate the effort in – and steps that have been taken in accessing these stolen funds. And it’s an area that we prioritise in our country because huge resources have been siphoned out of our country.
And of course, in some of these cases it takes a bit longer than we would like to have these funds returned to our country, but we’re working very closely with the United States and we appreciate the support being provided in recovering and repatriating these illicit financial flow funds, and also, of course, as I said, the government of Jersey.
And corruption has been a real scourge for our country, and our president, President Muhammadu Buhari, has made the fight against corruption one of the real key areas and priorities of the government. And it has not been easy, but it is one that we are determined to win. And it impacts all aspects of our countries, and also recovering stolen funds is another area that we absolutely prioritise.
Then a third area, of course, that we discussed and that is part of the partnership that we have with the United States is on economic development. We went through a recession in our country, and we have had what we would call a mono-economy, where we’ve essentially depended on one commodity, petroleum oil. And as our president would say, once the price of oil came crashing, our economy went crashing with it. So diversification of our economy has been something that our president has prioritized, and in particular agriculture. And we’re trying to promote foreign direct investment and want much greater investments in our countries.
During the Binational Commission we looked at some of the statistics of the trade between the United States and Nigeria, and for two big countries it’s – it really is just too low. And we honestly believe that there’s just so much more we can and we should be doing together. Of course, there have been maybe some disincentives. In the past, we have power challenges in our country, infrastructure, and of course, as I mentioned, governance has also been an issue. But working with the United States, we believe that there’s a lot that the U.S. can do in also promoting and encouraging U.S. businesses to come and invest in Nigeria. President Buhari has put in place measures to make Nigeria a more attractive place to invest in. We have an Enabling Business Environment Council that’s been set up under the vice president, and we have sort of striven to move Nigeria up the World Bank rating on ease of doing business. And we are moving in the right direction, and we feel that we are ready for business and certainly hope that, again, with our partners in the U.S. that we will be able to attract more investment.
We also want to export a lot more, developing our manufacturing and industrial base. And I know, of course, the U.S. market is a very attractive market for us. And you also have the African Growth Opportunities Act. Again, we are very thankful for that mechanism and the facility that allows African countries to have some preferential access to the U.S. market.
And of course, there’s some challenges we face, and one of them is the phytosanitary challenges with regard – for our agricultural products. And we hope to really work with the U.S. to work through that so that we don’t face these market access issues.
And of course, on the way here or just before coming, we were somewhat blindsided with the announcement of the visa restrictions by the U.S. And of course, a lot of people back home in Nigeria understood it and put different interpretations and different spins on it. But it’s essentially very straightforward. It was very gratifying to come here, speaking to U.S. officials and to understand more clearly the reasoning behind this.
And essentially, there are security measure that were taken with regards to passports – electronic passports, lost and stolen passports, data being shared, criminal histories being made available and shared, known terrorists and suspected terrorist information also being made available. And we’ve identified all those requirements and we had actually started working on all of them. And we know – and the U.S. officials have also confirmed – that we have been able to tick most of those boxes.
With regards to lost and stolen passports, we’re putting in place the architecture that will now make that – the information and the data on that immediately available to the U.S. and all the member states, member countries of Interpol. And we hope to have that up and running very soon and no longer going through third parties. And hopefully once that has been achieved, we look forward to being taken off this visa restriction list.
But really have to say, Mr. Secretary, that we do appreciate very much and value very much the cooperation between our two countries in very important areas for us. And the Binational Commission, we’ve identified a very clear basis to move that on and progress, and we really look forward to seeing a lot of gains, win-wins, for our two countries.
And last but not the least, to thank you again, Mr. Secretary. We know you’ve just come back from a very long trip. But nevertheless, you’ve taken the time to be here with us and afford us the opportunity to listen very attentively – and very sympathetically, I might say – to the points that we had to make. And we had a excellent meeting before coming out here, and we’re very, very optimistic that we’ll build on this friendship between our two countries.
If available statistics and reports about the prevalence of cancer described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells are anything to go by, many Nigerians risk being victims of the deadly disease. However, experts maintain that cancers can be prevented by avoiding exposure to common risk factors such as tobacco smoke, and can be cured by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy if detected early, writes MOSES EMORINKEN
THE statistics are frightening, mortality and morbidity rates are unacceptable, and efforts at diagnosis and prevention are, at best, abysmal.
Cancer! The most expensive disease to treat and one that affects mostly the least financially capable to access quality treatment and care, kills more people than HIV, Tuberculosis and malaria combined.
According to the Nigeria National Cancer Prevention and Control Plan (NNCPCP), cancer is responsible for 72,000 deaths in Nigeria every year. There are also an estimated 102,000 new cases annually.
From a report by Globocan, lower-income countries accounts for 57 per cent of new cases and 65 per cent of cancer deaths in 2012. Their share of incidence is expected to increase to approximately 70 per cent of the predicted 24 million people who will be diagnosed with cancer annually by 2050.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. The interesting thing is that almost 50 per cent of these cancers are preventable and 30 per cent of the deaths are avoidable by early detection, diagnosis and treatment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes cancer as the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells. Many cancers can be prevented by avoiding exposure to common risk factors such as tobacco smoke. In addition, a significant proportion of cancers can be cured by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, especially if they are detected early.
Lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach and liver cancers are the most common in men, while breast, colorectal, lung, cervical and thyroid cancers are the most common among women.
Huge out-of-pocket cost for treatment
Treatment of cancer in Nigeria is extremely expensive, with patients having to cough out millions of Naira for payments for drugs and services.
Director of Laboratory Services, Dr. Hassan’s Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, and Chairman of Steering Board, West African Post-graduate College of Medical Laboratory Science, Dr. Godswill Okara told The Nation that for the average patient, unless there is an intervention and subsidy from government, most people will not be able to afford the medication.
“You are talking of drugs that cost close to one million naira for a course; you talk of a drug that will cost between N300, 000 and N500, 000 for a one-month course of treatment. It is usually something you have to take between six and 10 months.
“After that, you are on maintenance dose. The maintenance dose cost the same only that the dose is scaled down. So, how many people can afford it?
“Whether radiotherapy or chemotherapy, the latest in cancer treatment is what you call targeted immunotherapy which is different from radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It involves potentiating the patient’s natural immune system to be able to fight against the cancer cell and clear them from the system,” he said.
Senior Registrar of the Department of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncologist, Dr. Charles Okwonna said: “For now, most patients pay out-of-pocket. That is why for most people, being diagnosed of cancer is like a death sentence because they know they cannot afford the treatment; these are people who are already struggling to feed.
“Chemotherapies and some hormonal therapy are also very expensive because almost all of them are almost always imported. This gives extra cost to the treatment.”
Prevention through early screening and diagnosis
The President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Francis Faduyile who spoke at this year’s World Cancer Day event organised by the association said: “It is disturbing that these deaths are largely preventable through lifestyle modification, vaccinations and screening to prevent cancer and early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer when they occur.
“One of the treatments of cancer is through chemotherapy. The question is – how do we get the drugs? The drugs are not available and if they are there is no civil servant actively working that can afford to take care of himself on chemotherapy if he is sick.
“Treatment of cancer is very expensive. Therefore, prevention, which is the right thing that we are preaching, can take care of a lot of burden that we have about cancer care.
“We need to ask for massive screening to enable us to be able to detect them early when it is still curable. We need to have drugs and other treatment components for cancer, even for diagnosis.”
Dr. Okara added: “The health-seeking behaviour of an average Nigerian is not encouraging. In the West, as a matter of government policy, females from 18 years and above are expected to do cervical screening once a year at government’s expense. Because of this, they are able to track cervical cancer at the pre-cancer stage when the cells have not progressed to cancer stage.
“In Nigeria, however, you find ladies in their 40s and 50s who have never done cervical cancer screening once in their lives.
“There is also what is called human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, which prevents cervical cancer in ladies. In other developing and advanced climes, they have introduced it as part of their national health habits using an insurance system. Every sexually-active female is advised to go for cervical screening once a year at government’s expense.”
Dr. Okwonna told The Nation that while most people delay to get proper screening, the cancer cells keep multiplying. Also, because the multiplication time for cancer cells are double of what the human cells will be, before the patient eventually get diagnosed, the cancer has progressed to more advanced and deadlier stages of growth.
“There should be a law domesticated in states of the federation that makes it mandatory for women of a particular age to undergo breast mammography and men to go for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at least once a year free at designated hospitals,” he said.
Gross under funding, inadequate health infrastructure
The Nigeria National Cancer Prevention and Control Plan (2018-2022) revealed that as a country, at least N93 billion is needed to intervene in the diagnosis, treatment and care of cancer.
Nigeria perpetually fails to honour the sacred promise and commitment it made at the Abuja Declaration in 2001; a meeting of African leaders hosted in Abuja, where they all made commitments to allocate 15 per cent of total annual budget to health.
Till date, the highest Nigeria has gone is only about 5 per cent. This year’s budget for health is about 4.4 per cent – still a far cry from what it ought to be.
Allocating about N427.3 billion to health means that for a whole year, government intends to spend a paltry sum of N2, 136.5 per person in the country considering that our population is estimated to be 200 million.
Hope seems to be rising as the Chairman of the House Committee on Health care Services, Hon. Yusuf Sununu, revealed that the National Assembly has appropriated a supplementary fund of N728 million in the health budget for the treatment and care of indigent cancer patients in Nigeria.
He said: “In our committee we realised that the care of cancer is costly, so we have partnered with the senior committee in the Senate to ensure that in this budget, we introduce funding for cancer treatment to be utilised to supplement and support the care of victims in our six geo-political centres of excellence of cancer treatment.
“The President has assented to the provision of the sum of N728, 861,797 as a supplementary support for patients that will be treated in our centres of excellence in cancer therapy.
“It is different from the catastrophic health fund. It is exclusively for the cancer of the breast, cervix and prostate. We hope it will go a long way in reducing the burden of cancer care in the country.”
There are probably not more than four functional radiography machines scattered around the country, some of which can be found in National Hospital Abuja; University College Hospital, Ibadan; the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. Two others can be found in private hospitals in Lagos and Owerri.
The number of radiotherapy machines available in the country is grossly inadequate for our teeming population.
Dr. Faduyile said: “There is no one-stop hospital in Nigeria that can take care of all the treatment facilities for cancer. There is also no hospital in the country that is fully equipped for the diagnosis of some cases of cancer.
“When we talk of renal (kidney) cancers, we don’t have all that are needed to do the diagnosis in this country. Cobalt Machine that some of our hospitals are using are things that have been phased-out outside this country. The few we have are grossly inadequate for a population of 200 million people.
“To adequately treat cancer, we need a team comprising radiotherapists, medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, oncological nurses and psychotherapists, among others. We don’t have a complete team in any hospital in the country. Therefore, we don’t have enough man power.”
Dr. Okwonna said: “Professionals such as surgical and radiation oncologists are still grossly inadequate. What discourages a lot of people is that you can’t be known as an oncologist and not have tools and equipment to work with. There are plenty radiation oncologists in the country, but there is no radiotherapy machines to work with.
“Again, we need to liberalise the procurement of these machines. Individuals should be allowed to invest, because the more we have these machines, the more the cost of treatment will be reduced. Government can grant some form of waivers so that people can buy and install these machines.
“Also, licences should be cheaper and the bureaucracies they go through at the Ministry of Health to get licence to install these machines should be reduced”.
Dr. Okara, said: “We have a limitation of infrastructure and necessary inputs. It is very capital-intensive to acquire radiotherapy machines, to maintain them and to service them when they break down. We don’t even have the people with the technical expertise to service them routinely to prevent breakdown.”
