Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

A 10-YEAR-OLD physically challenged girl in Awka, Anambra State, Habiba Umar, has received a wheelchair worth N85,000 from NANA SmileProject Africa Foundation.

Habiba, from Benue State, crawled daily to the pedestrian bridge at Nnamdi Azikiwe University temporary site to beg, with her mother and four siblings. .

Founder of NANA SmileProject Africa Chinasa Chukwuneke said she had a passion for helping indigent persons, women and children  in Africa.

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Chukwuneke said she bought the wheelchair and decided to give it to any indigent person, irrespective of tribe or gender.

She said Habiba was the only indigent person on  on the bridge when she got there.

Habiba and her brothers thanked her for the gesture.

She regretted her inability to go to school following her parents financial incapacitation.

“My father is at home in Zakibiam where he carries yam for people. Whatever I get here is what I use to eat. I can’t attend school because of lack of money. My mother can’t send me school.”

 Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Editor

URHOBO Progress Union (UPU) has said the probe of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will not achieve result.

The socio-cultural group called for the swearing in of Bernard Okumagba as managing director of the agency because he had been screened by the Senate.

Its President-General, Olorogun Moses Taiga, said the starting point was to halt the injustice in the commission by allowing Okumagba to assume his position. He told reporters in Lagos at the weekend that the probe was a mere drama.

Taiga lamented that NDDC lacked good leadership, stressing that those without the training and skills for running democratic institutions were at the helm of affairs.

He said:”Every problem must have cause and effect. It is a shame that what we fought for to alleviate the suffering of our people is being mismanaged.

“Okumagba should be the managing director. He has been sworn in by the Senate. The probe will lead to nowhere. It is a drama. What is the level of involvement of indigenes in NDDC contracts? We wait for the forensic probe, although nothing will come out of it.

“We need to know those who have done contracts with NDDC to know the proportion that has come to Niger Delta.”

Read Also: NDDC petitions police over alleged N1.62bn unexecuted contracts

Taiga defended the 13 per cent derivation approved by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, recalling that he acceded to the demand of Niger Delta governors for resource control.

He urged  governments to provide infrastructure in Urhobo land .

Taiga said:”We need federal roads, particularly the East-West road, which has remained uncompleted for over 20 years, the Ughelli/Asaba road and Benin/Sapele road.”

The Urhobo leader urged the government to develop the Okwagbe/Ganagana Port inUghelli South Council, Delta State.

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for naming railway stations along the Itakpe/Ajaokuta/Aladja/Warri corridor after Urhobo sons, including Major Gen. David Ejoor and Olorogun Michael Ibru.

Taiga said government should provide security to attract investment.

Our Reporter

CROSS River State Governor Ben Ayade ishopeful the return of peace to Southern Cameroon will allow refugees return home.

Ayade spoke when the Cameroonian Consul-General in Calabar, Onono Patrice, led a delegation of consular officials to visit him at the Governors’ Office.

He said: “I am delighted to host you today as you deliver the message of my counterpart’s impending visit. I am happy to hear that your country is making efforts for peace to return to its troubled parts. I am particularly happy to hear that you have started rebuilding the provinces because what makes us human is the spirit of compassion.

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“Anything we can do to help our brothers return home , we will do.”

Patrice said: “Our visit was instructed by President Paul Biya, who sent us to visit our refugees here since you host about 62 per cent of the Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria.

“We appreciate your hospitality to our people and we would also like to have our governor visit you. We are proposing them to visit Obudu because Obudu is very close to some areas where we have refugees.”

 Elo Edremoda, Warri

CHOICE Clinic and Maternity in Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State, has been shut for operating illegally.

Health Commissioner Health Dr. Mordi Ononye said the facility was sealed up because the ‘clinic has not been properly licensed’.

This followed a video, which surfaced online at the weekend, showing teenage boys receiving training as auxiliary nurses. The video was shared by Stephen Akatugba.

But clinic owner Dr. Choice Onojome disputed reports he was operating illegally.

He threatened legal action against Akatugba for accusing him of breeding quacks.

A visit by The Nation on Saturday confirmed the sealed stamp at the clinic’s entrance. Onojome denied knowing any of the boys in the video. He described it as a ‘set up’.

According to him, Akatugba threatened to deal with him for refusing to treat his relative for a cheap fee.

Onojome, scheduled to face a panel in Asaba, said COVID-19 prevented him from getting his license.

“I applied for license and the process is on.  Because of COVID-19, the licensing officials could not visit me but as soon as everything is over, they will come and accredit us,” he said. Onojome added that the clinic had four active registered nurses.

Read Also: Delta PDP fixes Aug 8 for congress

But Akatugba disputed claims he had problems with the doctor. He said Onojome might have concocted the story to enable him get bail from the police.

Akatugba explained he did the video as part of his effort to combat quackery in the nursing profession.

He said: “We have been trying to fight quackery in nursing. The doctor cannot say he does not know what he is doing. Before posting the video, I contacted a colleague in the area who said the doctor had been confronted on the issue…”