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Category: Special Report

  • KIDNEY FAILURE: Metamorphosis of a not-so-silent killer

    KIDNEY FAILURE: Metamorphosis of a not-so-silent killer

    A recent visit to a public health centre by Southsouth Regional Editor, Shola O’Neil ignited a deep interest in probing the ordeal of kidney disease patients and the challenge of treating them . His finding reveals an alarming escalation in kidney-related disease, which transcends all ages and flipped known norms about the disease. Specialists who spoke on the looming epidemic deconstruct how the rise in the face of an unprepared public health system across Federal and state facilities, brain drain, and low morale in the sector spells doom for patients and their families.

    The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, like most government hospitals in Nigeria, is usually a beehive of medical activities. The emergency unit on Thursday, September 8, was swarming with patients many of whom perched  on makeshift beds.Others had spent days on stretchers because of  unavailability of beds in the wards. The flow appeared to be  endlessly turning the transitory unit into an open ward.

    In that milieu, a young man in his 20s sat on the floor in a corner. His legs were swollen and he had an inimitable sickly mien about him. A middle-aged woman stood over the effete youth, a mask of worry covered her tired face.

    “He is suffering from kidney failure”, one medical personnel whispered in response to the curious look on this reporter’s face. “Yes, it is (kidney failure)”, another volunteered in response to the reporter’s look of disbelief. “We are seeing more of these cases recently; it is on the increase. Look around and you will see,” she mumbled and trudged away, with her oversize scrubs adding to the cacophony of sound.

    The reporter, indeed, looked around and what he found truly  frightening.

    Across health institutions in Delta, Rivers, Abia and Lagos States the situation is grim. Many patients, including teenagers, are being diagnosed with kidney diseases.A health official claimed t the disease accounts for up to 40 per cent of referrals to tertiary health institutions across the country.

    Four years ago the National Association of Nephrologists (NAN) warned about  the steady rise in renal diseases. 25 million Nigerians (about 14 per cent of the estimated 180 million population),it said, suffer from kidney related  diseases. Nephrologists (experts in the treatment of kidney diseases) say the situation is more worrisome today.

    “More people in the lower age bracket are coming down at various stages; most do not even know it yet because screening is rare; people hardly go for medical checkups until the signs become unmistakable. Chronic Kidney Disease is about the last stage and that is where you see the symptoms that you talked about in the young man,” a source at the hospital said.

    “Usually, high blood pressure, diabetes, and environmental pollution are the primary causes of CKD. The recent spike can be traced to increased cases of hypertension resulting from economic hardship, social pressure, and lifestyle and drug abuse by youths. These are just a few of the  causes,” the sources added.

    Dr Akpowaye Akpomiemie, a consultant nephrologist at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Delta State, provided more insight into the trend: “Quite a number of things are responsible for the increase: infections and drugs/medications, we have quite a number of body creams and soaps that contain harmful chemicals these days that were not available to us (in the past).

    “There is also exposure to environmental pollution such as crude oil spills and other environmental conditions, metals, hard metals, cambium, chromium that lead to enteritis and kidney diseases. Those are some of the reasons that may be responsible for the increase in kidney and other chronic diseases. Even global warming is a factor.”

    He noted drug abuse, excess alcohol consumption and undue use of painkillers overwork the organ, noting that although most metabolisms (of drugs and other substances) in the human body occur through the liver, the elimination of those wastes is mainly done through the kidney.

    Dr. Simon Musa Tada, Director, FEAT Kidney Foundation, blamed poverty, lifestyle and persistence in traditional beliefs. “Poverty is the reason people cannot afford hospital; instead they go to chemists and babalawo (witch doctors) and drink all forms of drugs (concoction) that destroy their kidneys.”

    Harping on the effect of crude oil exploitation and exploitation and illegal refining, Comrade Sheriff Mulade of the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice painted a gloomy future of renal failures in the Niger Delta. “The situation is worse in the Niger Delta region where nobody cares. It is hard to know the prevalence and havoc wreaked by the diseases in the region and other industrial hubs,” he said.

    “Incidents of kidney diseases will worsen because of weak regulatory framework and inefficiency of regulatory and security agencies in controlling activities of oil companies and illegal bunkering gangs.”

    He said the toxic wastes and chemicals used by oil firms pollute the environment, and water sources, and find their way into farmlands, and fish, which are caught and eaten by inhabitants.

    CKD Epidemic Raging While State, FG Are Sleeping On Duty – Nephrologists

    Amidst the galloping rise in the cases of CKDs, checks conducted in about a dozen government health institutions show inadequate preparations both in manpower and facilities. For instance, Delta State, one of the biggest oil-producing states in the country, has less than 100 dialysis machines for a population of over four million Deltans. Experts said the machines are key equipment in the management of renal failures.

    “The kidney plays an essential role in the human body as the organ responsible for removal of wastes, drugs and extra liquids from the body. A failed kidney is not able to perform these essentials and therefore sufferers need regular (up to thrice a week) use of dialysis machines. The frequency of use depends on the state of the patient’s kidney,” one source said.

    Amidst the gaping deficiency in public healthcare, investigation also shows  that private health centres charge  an average of N40,000 per session; patients usually need up to three sessions weekly (N120,000/month). Justifying the charges, a technician in a private centre in Port Harcourt, said, “dialysis machines are not cheap; a brand new APD machine costs more than N7m ($10,000) and there are other costs – servicing the machine, good water source, paying personnel, electricity bill or diesel.”

    kidney transplant
    •Uduaghan and beneficiary of kidney transplant at DELSUTH

     

    Efforts to ascertain the number of centres offering the service across the states sampled proved abortive; records of dialysis treatment centres or available machines are scanty or outdated.

    “Most hospitals in Nigeria do not have dialysis machines; those hospitals that do have two, three or five at the most and most times they do not work. Teaching hospitals should have up to 100 dialysis machines, but go and find out the situation. In other countries, India for instance, you see centres with 200 to 300 (dialysis) machines,” Dr Simon Tada said.

    Dr. Chimezie Okwuonu, a consultant physician and nephrologist and former chairman of Abia State Chapter of NMA, had also identified the lack of dialysis facilities, and the high cost of drugs as some of the factors militating against proper management of kidney health in the country.

    In Asaba, the capital of Delta State, there are just two nephrologists to  nearly 1.5million residents of the north district. One of them is Dr. Akpomiemie of the Federal Medical Centre, who confirmed the huge chasm between need and help across the country. “I know of several institutions in Delta state that are looking for nephrologists,” he said.

    Dr. Tada, a consultant nephrologist, said the situation is not any better in other parts of the country. He said the problem is not fully appreciated because of the lack of a database of nephrologists or their services in the country.

    “I will not be telling the truth if I tell you we have the number of registered nephrologists in Nigeria. It is just recently that we started updating the registry of nephrologists in Nigeria. We do not know the number of nurses, doctors, technicians who are encompassed in the treatment.”

    Our findings show that the problem is deeper than just  shortage of nephrologists; ancillary services are also in short supply. Specifically, it was learnt that the  number of nurses, radiologists and other technicians in the field has steadily reduced over the past year, with the extant seven-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) across the country further decimating the rank of professionals in the health sector.

    At RSUTH (former Braithwaite Memorial Hospital) in Port Harcourt, it was gathered that the flow of interns and trainees health workers has reduced drastically because of the ongoing ASUU strike. Our reporter learnt that only medical students from PAMOL (a private university in the state) are currently honing their skills at the fast-growing medical centre. A staff of the centre showed our reporter a brand new wing of the hospital, which he hinted would be dedicated to renal diseases when inaugurated.

    Read Also: Lady offers to donate kidney hours after Ekweremadu’s daughter cried for help

    Dr Tada said incessant strikes critically impact quality renal health services delivery, noting that the situation would only worsen with most young people now preferring to study medicine abroad because of the uncertainty they face in public tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The normal four-year courses in government higher institutions extend up to six years because of incessant strikes by the various unions.

    “Manpower shortage is a challenge, “he said. “People (medics) are running away from Nigeria – from people who are trained to those who want to be trained – they are running to other parts of the world where the education calendars are stable. Imagine lecturers have been on strike for up to seven  months now. How do you discourage students who have the opportunity not to choose somewhere else? Those who want to return (after studies) would think of the situation here and what they have there. This has led to a real shortage of manpower in the health sector.”

    The ongoing Russian/Ukraine war has also hit the Nigerian health sector, our findings showed. Some 4,000 Nigerian medical students were at various levels of study before the war broke out in February. Some of them are currently scattered across the eastern Europe country , preferring to brace the war than return home. Those who returned are  at a crossroads over how to continue their studies. A Federal Government directive that the returnees continue their education in Nigerian schools could not be fully implemented because of the ongoing ASUU strike.

    “There is no doubt that this will affect the profession,” Dr Clinton Umokoro, a Delta State-based medical doctor told this  reporter. “We need a steady flow of professionals, doctors, nephrologists and other specialists into the field. There cannot be a lull because illness doesn’t take a break. When there is a strike as we regularly have, and there is a war that disrupts study in Ukraine, you can imagine how this will affect critical health manpower far beyond the present.”

    MEDICAL BRAIN DRAIN: HEALTH WORKERS GO FOR GOLDEN FLEECE

    The NMA recently revealed that in just two years, over 9,000 medicals left Nigeria for the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA. Dr. Innocent Ujah, NMA President, said, “available records show that between 2016 and 2018, Nigeria lost over 9,000 medical doctors. The loss left Nigeria with only 4.7 per cent of its specialists to service the healthcare needs of the most populous black nation in the world. This does not paint the country in a good light.”

    As grim as the picture those figures paint, findings show that the medical brain drain has worsened since 2019 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. European and American countries with better packages for medics continue to dangle irresistible offers to Nigerian medical personnel, including renal diseases specialists.

    Findings show that a resident doctor in Nigeria earns N200,000 – N300,000 (less than $500), while their colleagues in the USA earn 20 times more ($10,000 monthly), aside from mouthwatering bonuses that would make most professors in Nigeria envious.

    Nephrologists associate President, Professor Fatiu Arogundade, in an interview with Punch’s Heathwise, said fewer than 250 nephrologists are available to 200 million Nigerians. “By WHO’s standard, we should have one nephrologist to 75-100 dialysis or transplant patients. If our population is 200 million and we assume that about 10 per cent of the population could have kidney disease that translates to about 20 million.”

    All the doctors who spoke to our reporter last week agreed that the brain drain syndrome has deteriorated  in the wake of economic hardship occasioned by the global economic meltdown, a tumbling naira, and worsening insecurity, particularly with kidnappers and terrorists targeting doctors, especially in northern Nigeria.

    One doctor said the prospect of fleeing to practice outside Nigeria is “quite enticing” in the face of those challenges. “Even when you say there were  300 (nephrologists) yesterday, that figure could be less today. At least one person might just have taken a flight out to a ‘saner clime’. That is how serious the brain drain is now; it is scary.”

    For Akpomiemie, “It takes a lot of patriotic zeal (for doctors) to remain (in Nigeria)”, adding, “It is not just about the pay – that is something we try to let the government know. You cannot pay doctors and specialists enough for the services we render. The basic thing a doctor is looking for is to get access to simple amenities and take care of our families; give them a good life, give our kids a good education and all that. Is that too much to ask for?”

     

    KIDNEY DISEASE MANAGEMENT NUMBERS

    Nigeria’s population                                                200m

    Nigerians with kidney disease                                25m

    No of Nephrologists                                                <250

    Available dialysis machines                                    N/A

    Cost of dialysis (session)                                          N35,000

    Average cost of dialysis machine                            N7 million

    Cost of kidney transplant                                         N15 million

    Teaching Hospitals that have done transplants      +/-12

    Doctors that have left Nigeria in 2 years                 >9,000

    Monthly salary of a Resident doctor (Nigeria)        N300,000

    Monthly Salary of resident doctor (USA)                N60million

     

    He encapsulated the dilemma facing doctors thus: “Sadly, every doctor is one illness away from poverty and that’s the sad reality. If a doctor suffers a stroke today that is all. We do not have a good pension to cater for us, no guarantee of anything. It seems that after everything we put to save other lives, just one illness our world will unravel before us”, Akpomiemie said in an emotion-laden voice.

    Dr. Tada said lack of professional and modern equipment and job satisfaction are among the reasons nephrologists and doctors are fleeing the country. “They are running to places with good environments and working conditions.”

    He said government underestimates the anguishes of medical doctors who watch helplessly as their patients succumb to avoidable deaths due to lack of equipment. “It is painful for a doctor to watch patients die; you cannot do anything about it because there is no equipment. If you have a kidney emergency, for instance, it has to wait because it is likely that the dialysis machine has broken down and the functional one has someone who is also in a dying state using it.”

    KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS: PRIVATE HOSPITALS TAKING THE LEAD

    A permanent treatment for chronic kidney diseases is transplantation (replacing the sick kidney with a healthy one from a donor). Medical experts say although humans are born with two kidneys, they can survive and function effectively with just one. Members of the public are encouraged to donate to those in need, without making monetary demands. “It is unethical to make a donation based on financial inducement.”

    However, our findings show that the quest for financial reward for such donors outweighs altruism, resulting in many, mostly young, Nigerians travelling to liberal Asian countries to sell theirs.

    In spite of that, there has been some progress in kidney transplantation in the country. Records showed the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan blazed the trail in nephrology practice way back in the 1960s, but the field has expanded with the involvement of private hospitals like St Nicholas (in Lagos), which carried out its first transplant in 2000. Twenty years later (2020) the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  reported over 700 transplants.

    Multiple sources confirmed that over 1,000 transplants have been done since, yet CKD is still generally perceived as a death sentence because of the high mortality rate in Nigeria. A senior nephrologist was recently quoted as saying, “Only about one per cent of our End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients benefit from kidney transplantation.” The factor militating against rapid transplantation is the huge cost involved.

    A 2020 record showed that there are about 100 government teaching hospitals in Nigeria, yet only a handful have  carried out transplants.  The records place Aminu Kano University as the most successful government hospital in this regard, while Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, FMC Umuahia, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, OAU, Ife, and Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Abraka, have also done a few.

    Uhawha and Arogundade

     

    Government hospitals are crippled by a lack of equipment and poor funding. Most doctors said they or their colleagues had conducted emergency surgical operations/treatment relying on light from their mobile phones or hurricane lanterns because the public power supply went off before or during the operation. Where hospitals have power generators there is no diesel (fuel) to power them.

    Eight years after DELSUTH performed the first in the Southsouth region in January 2014, the multibillion naira medical complex lays supine owning  to paucity of funds. The incumbent  governor, feanyi Okowa, a medical doctor like his predecessor, Emmanuel  Uduaghan, is accused of starving it of funds. Patients in the state now travel hundreds of miles in search of renal treatments, while the governor is running to become Nigeria’s Vice President next year on the platform of the PDP. Only last Monday hundreds of protesters seized the facility to demand better, regular funding.

    A PhD student of the University of Ilorin in Kwara State, who underwent a transplant at a medical centre in Abuja in July, told The Punch that he paid N15 million for the operation. But that is not the end of the story.Like any patient who gets a new kidney, he has to be on medication for the rest of his life. Doctors and analysts believe that only government’s genuine dedication to the cause can help patients.

    “Without government support, transplant beneficiaries could spend the rest of their lives just trying to stay alive. All their labour and focus would be on getting needed meds, others the body defense mechanism would destroy the kidney, as it is seen as a foreign body,” one medical source said.

    Apart from the costs, the problem of availability of follow-up treatments and other care is immense. Some patients travel up to 500km to get treatment, sometimes on bad roads and under constant security fears. These factors burnish the credentials of CKD as an irrevocable death sentence.

    Prof. Fatiu Arogundade, who is the Registrar of the National Postgraduate College of Nigeria, tasked FG to rise up to the challenge of making CKD treatment affordable. In his address at the 34th Annual Conference in February, he advocated a National Renal Care Policy that “will standardize what is done for Nigerians with kidney disease and government’s subsidy for renal care.”

    He decried a situation where most deaths from the ailment occur just weeks after diagnosis.

    FEAT Foundation called for the  overhauling of the health sector. “Government has to rise up to the stage as what is happening in other parts of the world. In those lands when someone is in danger they go and use the (dialysis) machine without the fear of who pays the bill. In Nigeria, even if patients are dying, it is ‘no money, no dialysis’ because the cost of the process is very expensive and nobody is ready to shoulder them.

    “The hospitals in Nigeria cannot do it; it has to be done by the government. There is a need for deliberate policy, just as what was done with HIV/AIDS that has brought the epidemic down,” Dr. Toda added.

  • Our pain, our losses by Southeast residents

    Our pain, our losses by Southeast residents

    Residents and business owners across the Southeast states of Nigeria lament the pains and damage the Monday sit-at-home imposed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to protest the continued incarceration of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is having on the region. Gboyega Alaka with reports from Damian Duruiheoma (in Enugu), Sunny Nwankwo (in Umuahia), Chris Njoku (in Owerri), Nwanosike Onu (in Awka) and Ogochukwu Anioke (in Ebonyi).

    When will the Monday sit-at-home in Nigeria’s Southeast region come to an end?

    This must be the question on the lips of sundry people in the five states of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states.

    The restriction, initiated by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) following the arrest and detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the federal government, commenced on August 9, 2021, as a way of pressing home their demand for his freedom.

    Many had thought it would be a flash-in-the-wind exercise that would peter out and normalcy would return in no time, considering the choice of Monday, which is a day the mainly business-minded Easterners would not joke with, but thirteen months after, the restriction remains, with palpable fear hanging in the air. This of course, has been gingered by the violence inflicted on those who dared to come out on the ‘forbidden’ day.

    Even when IPOB announced the cancellation of the restriction two weeks after in August last year, following complaints by residents, some overzealous elements in and outside the group continued the enforcement by inflicting untold violence on those who dared to step out of their homes on Monday.

    As a result, government officials, security operatives, hospital officials, traders, courts, even schools, have mostly complied for fear for their safety.

    In Enugu, enforcers of the sit-at-home have been attacking traders who as much as attempt to open shops; even transporters conveying goods to any part of the region have not been spared. Shops, goods and vehicles have also been set ablaze.

    They attacked Old Park, Enugu where inter-state transport vehicles were loading, killing two passengers and burning a Siena vehicle in the incident. Some passengers and drivers attempting to run for their lives also received gunshot injuries.

    Enforcers of the sit-at-home order also set ablaze a truck loaded with cement at Beach Junction Nsukka town, in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, destroying 600bags of cement.

    In Obollo-Afor town in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, hooded gunmen enforcing the sit-at-home attacked residents of the community for disobeying the order, flogging traders who opened for business and destroying their wares. They also set ablaze a tricycle after discharging its passengers and destroyed a Sienna bus belonging to Udenu Central Neighbourhood Watch.

    At Emene, Enugu, a shop, fully stocked with provisions, cosmetics and household wares, was set ablaze by the hoodlums.

    Another incident at Eke Obinagu along Abakaliki Road, also saw the hoodlums attack and set ablaze a container truck conveying goods to Abakaliki. The driver of the truck belonging to a popular transport company thankfully escaped unhurt.

    Several other residents have not lived to tell their stories, as they have been wantonly murdered.

    Without doubt, residents of Enugu State have become tired of the exercise but seem quite helpless on how to begin a normal life on Mondays.

    Speaking with The Nation in Enugu, some traders in the markets of Ogbete, Kenyatta and New Markets alongside transporters said they were tired of idling away on Mondays.

    One of the traders at Kenyatta, Chief Jonas Amah said, “Everyone in the market here agrees that this is no longer in our favour, more so when IPOB has announced cancellation of the sit-at-home. But, how do we stop it? You don’t even know who you are avoiding. Everybody is afraid because enemies and competitors may use the opportunity to strike. You will agree with me that some people have lost their goods worth several millions of naira to this thing.”

    He said it is for fear of such unfortunate incidences that people are sacrificing the day and not because of solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu.

    “All of us love Nnamdi Kanu and that is why any day he is making appearance in court, we stay at home for him. But you see that Monday own, we don’t have solution to it yet.”

    Another resident, Ike Aneke, said his expectations were that the exercise would be one-off.

    “All of us came back in January and started normal businesses with banks and parks opening for businesses, but some boys decided to show that they run the town by attacking people with guns at Topland Junction, Agbani Road.

    “That particular incident changed the narrative as all markets hurriedly shut before 10.30 am that day. That is how we have been since that time.

    “I can tell you that some of us who operate our shops in plazas and many others are fed up with this imprisonment. I call it imprisonment because you stay at home going nowhere except in your house.

    Chioma Omeje, who sells food stuff at New Market, Enugu, told The Nation, that the reason they still observe sit-at-home is fear.

    On the second Monday in January, Omeje said she lost goods worth over N120,000 because of the chaos created by hoodlums monitoring movements and attacking harmless people.

    Omeje, who said she learnt that businesses were operating in other Southeast states, called on the state government to find a means of helping people get back to business on Mondays.

    “The state government should borrow from them and help us get back on Mondays,” she said.

     

    Anambra loses N9billion

    In Anambra State, the story is very much the same, as banks, schools, civil service offices and private businesses and shops remain shut every Monday, crippling all business and social activities.

    Since the inglorious exercise started, all the 164 markets in Anambra State do not open for business on Monday, culminating in the governor of the state, Charles Soludo estimating revenue loss in the state at N9billion.

    Government, public and private property have been destroyed, while many have lost their lives to criminal elements enforcing the sit-at-home.

    A business man, who did not want to be quoted, told The Nation that what Nnamdi Kanu has succeeded in doing is to kill the entrepreneurship of Ndigbo.

    The man, who noted that customers from other regions visit the Southeast markets every Monday to buy goods, said Ndigbo has lost that opportunity because of IPOB.

    He also said the sit-at-home has brought about laziness in many Igbo people, adding that “that is not the way to achieve Biafra. I support the idea of Biafra, but is that the appropriate way to achieve it? IPOB has bungled that opportunity.”

    Anambra, especially, has witnessed several attacks, killings and destruction of property by self-appointed enforcers of the sit-at-home, causing losses and pains.

    This may not be unconnected with the replacement of three Commissioners of Police before the present one, CP Echeng Echeng.

    One of such attacks on the 26th September, 2021 at Afor Nnobi, Idemili South LGA had three vehicles burnt by unknown gunmen.

    A 73-year-old woman, who gave her name as Lucy, told The Nation how hoodlums stormed Agulu, Anaocha LGA in February, 2022, killing five persons and burning two vehicles all in the name of enforcing the restriction.

    The octogenarian, who stated that she is yet to come out of the trauma seven months after, said, “It was like what we witnessed during the war,” and prayed not to witness such again before joining her ancestors.

    For the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the federal government should listen to the agitations of the youth to know how to tackle the problem.

    The National Vice President (Southeast), Ichie Damian Okeke-Ogene, told The Nation that the zone has lost a good number of people as a result, stating that those killing people are not members of IPOB.

     

    Imo traders count loses

    In Imo State, businesses, big, medium and small are also feeling the pains of the unending Monday sit-at-home.

    Ndidi Igwe, an electronics dealer at Alaba International market, said his business is dying gradually as a result of the exercise.

    Igwe said goods now stay longer in his stores because the sit-at-home has forced them to do business for only five days a week.

    “I lose about N200,000 every sit-at-home on Monday,” he lamented.

    Isiagu Umunna, a market leader at New Market, Douglas Road, usually took bank loans to run his spare parts business. But the last time he secured a loan, he did not record enough sales to repay it.

    “I used to make 80 per cent of the bank loan from sales, but today, I can’t make up to 40 per cent.”

    Shaking his head in despair, Isiagu, who is chairman of his association in the market, told our correspondent: “We are going down every day; businesses have collapsed. And those whose businesses have collapsed may pick up arms one day to fend for themselves. Insecurity and crime rate may double.”

    A provision seller, Sister Margret Anolu, said she does not even attempt opening her Mondays and other sit-at-home days.

    She said traders always scamper for safety once the alarm that IPOB militants were coming on such days was raised.

    “We do not sell anything during sit-at-home days. There is usually fear (of attacks) among traders. You won’t even see people to sell to. The roads are usually dry,” she said.

    Sounding rather despondent, another business man, Jude Owuama said, “We can’t go to the market, so we can’t sell.

    And Mr Nwigwe, who sells agrochemicals, said, “The rainy season will even worsen the situation because the few days we have to do business (within a week) could be ruined by rainfall.”

    The businessman, who said he loses N400,000 on any sit-at-home day, maintained that the state government’s insistence to open markets on such days has not yielded results because the people are too scared to do so.

     

    Experts, businessmen count losses

    Apart from Soludo’s N9billion assessment of losses in Anambra, a financial expert and former Economic Adviser to Abia State government, Chief Agu Ojukwu, said Abia State “is losing nothing less than N2billion any day businesses are shutdown in Aba alone.”

    Ojukwu, who expressed fears over the dangers the state and the entire Southeast may face as a result of the continued sit-at-home, spoke of the danger of growing relocation of businesses by business owners who see the exercise as detrimental to their interest.

    “What Southeast loses on each sit-at-home day cannot be calculated.

    Read Also: Uzodinma can’t stop sit-at-home order – IPOB

    “We all knew what happened during the Osisikankwu saga; where businesses relocated out of Aba.

    “The danger in the continued sit-at-home is that a lot of persons who are calling for continued Monday sit-at-home do not have serious business in Aba, Abia or any Southeast state.

    “Those with serious business are not happy with what is happening and what it means is that they will relocate their business outside Aba, Abia or the Southeast.

    “Some of the persons coming to Aba or Southeast will look elsewhere to do their business on Mondays.

    “For governors of other zones, it is to see this as an opportunity to improve the economy of their states. I am sure that there are people, including shoe makers, who are not finding it funny with the every Monday sit-at-home and are willing to go elsewhere to establish their business.

    “Those in Lagos backing what is happening in the Southeast on Mondays, do they close their shops on Mondays? The answer is an obvious ‘No’. If we don’t want to lose the few strong businesses that we have in the Southeast, it is time we have a rethink.”

    Aba-based lawyer, Emperor Ogbonna noted that the sit-at-home has not only crippled the economy of Aba, but the state at large.

    “Monday is the most important day of everyone in Aba, as that is the day the entire West Africa comes to Aba to buy things.

    “This money brought into Aba every Monday circulates to doctors, banks, lawyers, house owners, businessmen and women, etc all over Abia state.

    “Shutting down Aba every Monday until Nnamdi Kanu is released by the federal government will cause exceptional hardship in our land,” he stated.

     

    Hope rising

    The Nation can however report that unlike in the past, major commercial motor parks at the popular Milverton have started opening for business on Mondays, except on days Nnamdi Kanu is appearing in court.

    Though some of the park operators who pleaded for anonymity, lamented low patronage on Mondays, they stated that it was a clear departure from what obtained in recent past.

    Equally, there has been an increase in intra-city transportation, with many bus and tricycle operators recording more patronage in the last few Mondays in the state.

    Shops on some major roads, including the popular School Road spare parts market, now open for business on Mondays; same for traders at Ehi Road, Umungasi-Abayi market.

    Some residents of Aba who were not able to go to work, also now utilise the early hours of the day for their routine physical exercise.

    However, no security personnel were seen on the roads, save military personnel stationed at various locations in the commercial city.

    While financial institutions have yet to resume Monday operations, bank customers who have need for financial transactions now use the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), while others patronise POS operators.

     

    Apprehension

    Many are however still apprehensive, stating that the only condition under which they would dare to open for business on a Monday, is guarantee of security and safety by security agencies.

    A respondent, Chinonso Ifedigbo, said the only thing keeping the residents at home was the inability of security chiefs and government to assure their safety.

    “As you can see for yourself, business has improved and many people are willing to open shop, but what do you expect them to do when the people who are supposed to provide security are nowhere to be found?”

    A staffer of one of the commercial banks in the state told our correspondent that things have not been the same with financial institutions operating in the state.

    “Those of us in the financial institutions understand the huge negative impact of the sit-at-home on the economic life of the state and its citizens. I know what we used to have in our vaults before the Monday sit-at-home begun, and what we have now.

    “Even the blind knows that economically, Abia and indeed, the entire Southeast states have been battling to stay afloat since the sit-at-home started and when it turned violent by the enforcers.”

    He also stated that no reasonable person would want to invest or site business in Igbo land at the moment.

    Talking of the social implication, the banker said many now prefer to hold burials and traditional marriages outside Igbo land due to fear of insecurity.

    “A client of mine narrated how his kinsman buried his wife outside their village because he was told not to bring any car with policemen or uniformed personnel into the village.

     

    Ebonyi suffers ripple effect

    Although the sit-at-home is no longer being observed in Ebonyi, the fact that it is still being observed in other Southeast states means the ripple effects impact it greatly.

    This is because businessmen can’t come into the state on Mondays, leading to loss of revenue.

    A visit to major markets like the International Market and the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill Industry shows that though they are open, it experiences low turnout of customers compared to other business days

    A rice miller at the Abakaliki rice mill, James Ezike said though the market is open on Mondays, many residents avoid the market.

    A foodstuff seller at the international market, Stella Kwadoro, lamented the fact that they cannot go to the markets in other Southeast states whenever their market days fall Mondays.

    “You know we depend on goods we get on wholesale from those markets on their market days and if we miss it that week, then we will not have enough goods to sell,” she explained.

    A manager of one of the major transport services in the country, who pleaded anonymity, said transport businesses and companies lose hundreds of millions to the sit-at-home exercise.

    He said: “My brother, I don’t have the figures but I can tell you that it will be in hundreds of millions. Imagine the hundreds of buses that you see here in central park and the fact that on Mondays they are all grounded and cannot load passengers because other states in the region are shut down.”

    Last year, Governor David Umahi, who is also the chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, said the region loses over N10billion each time it observes the sit-at-home order.

    The situation, analysts have said, is worsening the economic situation in the region, as it has the tendency to drag more people into poverty.

    A resident of Abakaliki, Mr Abel Ofor, urged those enforcing the sit-at-home to consider the plight of the poor masses in the region.

    “They say they are fighting for our freedom but how do you convince me of that and get my support when you inflict such suffering and poverty on me and my household?”

    Ofor said, “Whether it is observed in Ebonyi or not, the fact is that every state in the Southeast is affected because we are economically interdependent on each other.

    “If the three major markets in Onicha, Aba and Enugu, where we go to get our foods wholesale are closed, and the ones we produce like rice cannot be transported out, then it will have ripple effects on everybody.

    “I think the organisers would have a rethink and come up with better strategies to fight for our freedom; if at all that is what they are doing.”

     

    Opportunity to rest

    Interestingly, some residents are however at home with the restriction.

    For some of them, especially those on paid jobs, Mondays have now become a day to rest.

    A staff of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, who preferred anonymity, told our correspondent that the Monday sit-at-home enables him to attend to his private endeavours.

    “I use Friday to Monday to take care of business. We usually work half day on Fridays; and from there, I move on to continue my business which truly is not affected by sit-at-home”, he said.

    Some respondents in Anambra told The Nation that they are gradually getting used to it. While many are still lamenting that it has caused more harm than good, some traders say, they now use Mondays to enjoy themselves.

    An Onitsha based trader, Mr Boniface Nwigwe, told The Nation that he no longer regrets the sit-at-home idea, as it has turned out as additional rest day for him.

    He said some traders in the commercial city of Onitsha now use it to gather some friends where they engage themselves in drinking spree.

    Also, Mrs Ebele Okafor, a business woman at eke-Awka market, said Mondays now gives her the opportunity to relax after weekends activities.

    She told The Nation that she no longer goes to market on Mondays, adding that she uses Mondays to take adequate care of her family.

     

    Supporters

    The Nation also observed that a few others, who have become the apostles of the detained Nnamdi Kanu, see nothing wrong in the sit-at-home. They believe strongly that it is the only way to force government to look their way.

     

     

    Story By

    Gboyega Alaka, Damian Duruiheoma (Enugu), Sunny Nwankwo (Umuahia), Chris Njoku (Owerri), Nwanosike Onu (Awka) and Ogochukwu Anioke (Ebonyi).

  • ‘How my husband, five relatives died 12 hours after marriage’

    ‘How my husband, five relatives died 12 hours after marriage’

    • Newly-wed lady recalls tragic incident

    • They might be victims of poisoning, says doctor

    A newly married woman, Nebechi, whose husband Obinna Dieke and five relatives died just 12 hours after they returned from her traditional marriage ceremony in Enugu State, has narrated her ugly experience.

    The victims died on Saturday, August 27 at Eka Utara, Adani community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the state.

    The 31-year-old Makurdi, Benue State based businessman and his relatives had returned from the ceremony held in the bride’s home in Obollor-Eke community, Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State on Friday, August 26 and continued with the celebration into the night when they returned to Adani.

    The following morning, however, none of them came out of the room where they slept, prompting the decision to force the door open.

    “All of them in the room were found to be unconscious with foams coming out of their mouths.

    “They were immediately moved to the hospital where six of them were confirmed dead and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy, while the others are responding to treatment,” a statement from the state police command had said.

    It was gathered that their in-law, Joseph Ogbonna, and his two sons, Chijindu and Obinna, also died in the tragic incident.

    Villagers suspect that the victims died of carbon monoxide inhaled from a generator that was brought onto the veranda of a house where the victims slept while it was raining after they returned from the wedding ceremony.

    Nebechi, her sister-in-law and mother-in-law, alongside seven others, were among 10 other victims admitted in the hospital. While some others have been discharged, Nebechi and a few others were waiting to be discharged from the hospital.

    Read Also; PRINCESS LARA FASHOLA: Why I sacrificed my marriage to serve Olokun goddess

    Speaking on her hospital bed, Nebechi told our correspondent that she could not remember what happened after they got home that night.

    She said: “After my traditional marriage rites, we entered vehicle and left for my husband’s house.

    “When we got home, we prayed and went to bed. That is the only thing I can remember. I’m yet to see my husband’s corpse because of my condition,” she said.

    The groom’s sister, Ada Nweke, added that she passed out without remembering anything and only woke up in the hospital.

    “The only thing I can remember is that on August 26 when my brother did his traditional marriage, we all returned home and commenced another round of celebration.

    “Those who accompanied my brother to the event and those who couldn’t make it all gathered in our house to make merry.

    “After eating and drinking, we bathed and went to bed. But I woke up in the hospital after two days. I can’t even explain what happened to us.

    Providing insight into the possible cause of the death of the victims, Dr. Godson Chinedu Ezugwu, who managed the victims at the Igwe Agbata Memorial Hospital, Adani, attributed the incident to acute poisoning.

    According to him, it was only an autopsy result that could determine whether the deceased died of food poisoning or generator fumes.

    “What happened to them is called acute poisoning. We are still suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning that might have come from the fumes that came from the generator they used that night, which paralysed them.

    “We are also suspecting insecticide or pesticide which might have touched their food that led to this huge casualty.

    “However, we are still going to rely on autopsy results whenever it is done,” he said.

    Dr. Ezeugwu advised users of generators to always keep them away from their rooms if they must be used for longer hours in the night.

    He added: “I want to advise people who use generators to always keep them away from their rooms. Generator fumes kill faster than poison. So, you will be on a suicide mission if you still use generators close to your house.

    “Again, anyone handling insecticides and pesticides must know that it should always be kept away from the reach of children. These things are poisonous and they are not supposed to be kept where it can be touched by children.

    “We thank God that it is through us that the 10 persons who went into coma were revived.

    “We also thank our people who heard about the incident and brought oxygen tanks with which the victims were revived.”

  • ASUU Strike: Mad rush for Medicine, Law courses in private universities

    ASUU Strike: Mad rush for Medicine, Law courses in private universities

    The protracted strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) appears may have done a lot of damage to the psyche of many students and their parents. To save their children from further delay or complete abortion of their life ambitions, many parents have decided to pull their wards out of public universities to enroll them in private ones including those in the neighbouring French-speaking Benin Republic.  Checks showed that some parents have had to go aborrowing to pay as much as N3 milion for competitive courses like Law and Medicine in those universities. INNOCENT DURU reports. 

    • Courses go for between N3m and N6m per session, excluding other bills

    • Pay N3m within 24hours or lose admission, varsities tell parents

    • Wards sent to Jordan, others with cheaper fees, better facilities

    The pain that the lingering strike action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is causing for many parents and people around them stood out like a sore thumb last week when our correspondent had his appointment with a news source disrupted.

    While they agreed to meet at Ketu,  a Lagos suburb by 8 am for a trip to Epe, another part of the city, the news source called some minutes after our correspondent had arrived at the agreed spot, to plead that he would be coming much later.

    When he finally showed up, he pleaded for forgiveness and went on to explain why he could not keep up with the earlier agreement.

    “Sorry, I branched into a bank to send money to a friend whose daughter is seeking admission into a private university,” he said. “As I was coming, he called to ask for my assistance to pay his daughter’s tuition fee.

    “The  daughter wanted to study Medicine. After passing the interview, the parents were given just 24 hours to pay the sum of N3 million or the daughter would lose the admission.

    “The parents saw it as an opportunity their daughter must not miss but the money was not there.

    “To make sure that the girl did not lose the admission, her father started calling those of us who are his friends to bail him out.

    “That was how we all started contributing money to help him out. Some of us contributed sums ranging between N50,000 and N150,000 or more.

    “The stress on the parents was too much at that point in time that I wondered if the study of Medicine is so lucrative that parents would have to go borrowing to raise money to pay their children’s school fees.

    “We have doctors as friends and relations and they are not that rich. They are just comfortable. So why the fuss about paying so much to have one’s child study Medicine or Law?

    “In spite of the high tuition fee, the parents said the venue of the interview was jam packed. This kind of stress would not occur if the public university system is working well.”

    Checks on online portals of some private universities showed that tuition fees for Medicine and Law go for as high as N4 million and N2.5 million respectively. But in spite of the high cost, many parents are willing to sacrifice everything to ensure their children have unbroken academic life in private varsities even if ASUU calls off the strike today.

    Another parent, who identified himself as John Olugbenga, said he was filled with awe at the number of students he met at a private university he took his daughter to for admission.

    Olugbenga said: “ASUU has done a lot of damage to  public universities. The ruins brought upon public primary and secondary schools are being visited on public universities. From every indication, people have lost hope in public universities.

    “I was shocked by what I saw when I took my daughter to a private university on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The number of applicants for medical courses was something else.

    “My daughter wanted to study Nursing but she couldn’t get it. They offered her another course and the fee was put at over a million naira.

    “If Nursing would cost that much, you can imagine what the tuition fee would be for Medicine.

    “My daughter does not want any course outside Nursing, so I have to make her sit for another post JAMB examination and that comes at extra cost.

    “The tuition fee is quite high but it is better to struggle and pay that and have your child graduate in a record time than waste his or her time in public universities where ASUU can decide to go on strike for as long as a year without any consideration of the effect it would have on the future of the children.

    “I don’t mind sacrificing other things to give my daughter a good education. It is better than sending her to a public school for a four-year programme  that may end up becoming an eight-year programme.”

    Following the high tuition fees charged by private varsities in the country, especially for courses like Medicine, it was learnt that some parents now search for cheaper varsities outside the country for their children to pursue their academic ambition. This much was revealed by a respondent, who gave his name as Amos Abi.

    He told of how a relation of his saw the fees being charged by private universities in the country as outrageous and had to send the daughter to a university in Jordan where the fee for Medicine was found to be cheaper than what obtains here in Nigeria.

    Abi said: “That is the decision being taken by many privileged parents now.

    “Before now, some Nigerians went to Ukraine to study. But with the outbreak of its war with Russia, that is no longer possible.

    “If you check online, you will see different universities outside the African continent offering Medicine at far cheaper fees than than obtain in the country. “Some parents now prefer to send their children to such places instead of paying so much in a private university here, because when you complete your studies there, you can easily get a job without having to go through the stress of writing one examination or the other before you are accepted into the system.

    “Besides, you can get a loan to pay your bills over there; unlike here where you have to provide all the money by yourself.

    Tunde, a student of the University of Ibadan, also spoke of his colleague who he said had left the country to pursue his dreams in the UK.

    He said: ”I know of a school mate who has travelled to the UK to continue his education. The parents have the means.

    “But for those of us whose parents are not so financially blessed, we have to wait for as long as the strike action lasts.

    “I don’t feel comfortable about it, but that is the situation we have found ourselves  in and we have to endure it.”

    More lamentations over ASUU strike

    Besides parents whose children are seeking to study Law and Medicine,  checks revealed that students studying other courses are also looking away from public varsities.

    A Lagos based journalist, Morenikeji Muyiwa, told our correspondent he and other family members had to cough out N1 million to get admission for his nephew.

    Muyiwa said: “My nephew, a  200 level student of the University of  Lagos (UNILAG), was taken to a  private university last week because his colleagues who started schooling in private institutions at the time he  gained admission are already in their final year.

    “The parents went out of their way to cough out  more than N1 million to pay the tuition fee in the new school. I was the one who went to pay the bills. “It is very annoying that the situation we have found ourselves in the country is stretching parents  beyond their limits financially and psychologically.

    “The parents of this boy were paying less than N100,000 as his tuition fee in UNILAG. But because of the incessant strike actions that has made the boy to be far behind his peers in private universities, they had to go out of their way to pay this exorbitant fee.

    “You can imagine the strain on the parents. They had to do that to save their son’s future.”

    Decrying the effects of the ASUU strike on the future of students, he said: “It is annoying that ASUU has blatantly refused to call off the strike. They have set back the lives of many young people.

    “Unfortunately, many of them are part time teachers in private universities. Even now that they are on strike, they are still teaching in private universities and earning salaries.

    “Now they are asking the federal government to pay them salaries for the months they did not work. Where is that done? Would they also return all the time that the students have lost as a result of the endless strike that they have embarked on?

    He added: “If I were the federal government, I would sack all of them and nothing would happen.

    “Margaret Thatcher did it to striking coal workers and nothing happened. The same  thing can apply here.

    “The productive  years of these children are being wasted by the striking lecturers who are using the federal government’s time that they are not using to work to earn money for themselves in private universities.”

    Debby, a student Ondo State University, said: “I have many colleagues who have left for private universities.

    “By now, we are supposed to be rounding off our studies but because of the strike actions, we were just resuming for  the third academic session when this strike action  began.

    “Before the current strike action, our school had been shut for some time because the lecturers went on strike.

    “I would have loved to go to a private school too but my parents don’t have the wherewithal to pay the bills.

    “In the last seven months that this strike has been on,  some of my young female classmates have become pregnant.”

     Nigerians troop to Benin Republic in search of admission 

    Aside from private varsities in the country, findings revealed that many students in the country are now moving to Benin Republic to save their academic dreams.

    A student in one of the universities in the French speaking country, Zainab Olufemi, said: “There is an influx of Nigerian students coming to school in Benin Republic now. Many of them, seeing that those of us who originally came here to school are completing our education in record time, are joining us.

    ” Even some who are in their final year have joined so that they can make the Batch C of the NYSC. I have many admission seekers and others in different levels coming to the country to make enquiries on how to gain admission.

    “Here, universities don’t go on strike. When you come in here, you can be sure that you will graduate within three to four years, depending on the course you want to pursue.”

    Sade, another Nigerian student Benin, said: “Many Nigerians are coming to school in Benin Republic because the tuition fees are relatively cheaper compared to what is charged in Nigeria.

    “Here, we pay about N250,000. This is far below what the average private university would charge in Nigeria.

    “One thing you can be very sure of any university in Benin Republic is that they have good lecturers and the environment is very serene. That is why the number of Nigerians coming here to school is rising consistently.

    “I am sure that if more admission seekers are aware of what obtains here, they would not be wasting their time in Nigeria.”

     Genesis of ASUU strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) seven-month-old strike began in February when the union announced the commencement of  a four-week nationwide strike.

    ASUU president, Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, who said the industrial action was  going to be “comprehensive and total” had lamented that the union’s demands on the revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, and inconsistencies in Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) payments had been neglected after meetings with Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.

    Negotiations between the union and the federal government failed to yield fruits. Not even interventions by different  groups and organisations made the union to change its position. Neither could the no-work-no-pay threat by the federal government make the varsity workers call off the strike.

    Worried by the hopeless situation that the strike had kept them in, the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) embarked on protests which saw them block the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Murtala  Mohammed Airport in Lagos among other strategic places.

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) during the week ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its ongoing strike.

    The federal government’s counsel, James Igwe, prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction to restrain ASUU from continuing with the strike pending the determination of the referral by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.

    Ngige on behalf of the Federal Government had filed the matter before the court by way of referral to resolve the issue of the ongoing strike by ASUU.

    Igwe informed the court that the application for the injunction was dated Monday, Sept. 12, and was filed on the same date.

    Femi Falana, counsel to ASUU, however, argued that the interlocutory injunction should be dismissed and the court should instead grant an accelerated hearing for the referral earlier filed by Ngige.

    Falana in addition argued that the minister lacked the power to order the court in the referral to direct ASUU to call off its strike.

    Justice Polycarp Hamman in his ruling on Wednesday dismissed Falana’s argument and granted the government’s application to call off the strike.

    When stakeholders thought the order would bring an end to the strike, ASUU stood its ground, insisting that it would not call off the strike until its demands are met.

    ASUU President, Osodeke, during an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday night, spoke about the far-reaching effects of the judgement.

    According to him, the outcome of the verdict would be catastrophic.

    He said: “Let me tell you the catastrophe of what has just happened. The last time this happened was during the military era.

    “I can assure you, when this strike is over a large number of our lecturers are going to migrate from this country because you are using force to push your lecturers to class.

    “First of all, they said, ‘If we owe them, if we don’t pay them, they will come and beg us.’ Seven months, it didn’t work. Our members are still alive. And then, they went to court, you want to force them. It is a catastrophe.”

  • Patients, officials relish new face of public health centres in Niger

    Patients, officials relish new face of public health centres in Niger

    Lack of drugs, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities as well as staff shortage in health centres have been the bane of good healthcare delivery at the grassroots level. JUSTINA ASISHANA visited some local government areas in Niger State and reports on how much the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) has changed the narratives.

    Saidu Aisha, 35, almost lost her son in 2020 when the infant was running a high temperature fever, and there was no equipment at the laboratory of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in her community to conduct a test on the sick boy.

    “At the time, there were also no drugs at the health centre,” said Aisha, a housewife who lives in Nasarafu Ward in Bida Local Government Area of Niger State, North-central Nigeria.

    “After examining him, the health worker on duty wrote on a paper the type of tests we needed to run, saying that they could not do them there.”

    Aisha and her son spent hours in a long queue at the General Hospital where they went for the tests. After that, they shuttled between the hospital and the PHC for tests and other medical services.

    Nearly two years after this sordid experience, Aisha is full of praise for the government for making drugs available at the PHC.

    “Now there are drugs at the centre,” Aisha said.

    Drugs are essential to medical care that improves patients’ health and quality of life. They can save lives and improve health. On the other hand, the scarcity of drugs in a health care facility has drastic implications for patients.

    If drugs are in short supply, their prices may rise, imposing financial burdens on patients and their families and causing mortality if the sickness is severe.

    According to Adamu Bashir Fatima, the officer in charge of the centre in Nasarafu, the health facility could not dispense drugs or conduct laboratory tests before the availability of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

    However, the primary PHC at Nasarafu is among the 274 focal PHCs in Niger State under the Federal Government’s health intervention programme.

    Due to shortage of funds and drugs, Fatima said, she and her colleagues at the facility used to merely prescribe medications for patients and direct them to go to and conduct tests outside the facility.

    She said: “Before the basic healthcare provision fund, we had no drugs. We did not receive any funds from the government, so we ran the health centre as we could. We would write out tests for patients and they would to the general hospital to do the tests.

    “But now we have enough drugs bought with funds allocated to us from the BHCPF. We have also brought some equipment.

    “Then, it was only pregnancy and malaria tests that we could carry out. Now we test for hepatitis, typhoid, urinalysis. We check blood pressure and sugar level, which we could not do before.”

    The Federal Government had initiated the BHCPF under Section 11 of the National Health Act 2014 as catalytic funding to improve access to primary health care.  The fund is meant to provide free minimum primary healthcare to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians through accredited PHCs in each of the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.

    According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the overall aim of the BHCPF is to significantly move Nigeria towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

    The fund aims to achieve at least one functional public or private primary health care (PHC) facility in each political ward.

    In addition, the fund seeks to have the same in at least 30 per cent of all wards over the next three years, 70 per cent within five years, and 100 per cent within seven years.

     Focal PHCs wear new looks

    Most of the 274 focal PHCs across Niger State assessing the BHCPF are wearing new looks of blue and milk colour to depict their renovation. Entering some of these PHCs, a visitor will see some new ceilings, new roofing and, in some cases, an extension of the buildings.

    For instance, residents described the Maternal and Child Health Center in Central Ward in Kontagora Local Government Area as a ‘hospital under the tree’. A one-room building was the only thing to show as a health facility.  They do delivery, family planning services and palpitations in the one room.  They carry out other services like general consultation, malaria testing with RDT kits and immunisations under the tree.

    Primary health care centres are the foundation of the health care system meant to solve short-term and uncomplicated health issues. But many facilities have previously suffered neglect and lack of qualified health workers.

    The PHC at Central Ward in Kontagora has seen transformations. Bernice Eigbochib, the supervisory officer at the Central Ward PHC, says they have used funds from BHCPF to transform the facility.

    They constructed a building that now houses the reception area, the male and female wards, the laboratory, the pharmacy and other rooms for delivery, family planning and the staff toilet.

    “They called us ‘hospital without a roof’. Before now, we were operating under the tree while any delivery or private service to women like family planning and palpitation was done in that small house,” Eigbochib recalled.

    Residents testified to the improved infrastructure and services at the facility. For example, one of the women at the hospital, Hassan Habiba, said she gave birth to her second baby at the hospital.

    “It is closer than going to the general hospital. This PHC is where most of us in the community come to for treatment. It is closer than taking a motorcycle to the general hospital,” Habiba said.

    “I am happy that there has been a change. The change is beautiful, now, it is not just one room; there are plenty of rooms.”

    “Also, we can carry out our tests here and buy drugs conveniently. So it is much cheaper than going to buy at the pharmacy. Although sometimes they run short of some drugs, before you know it, they restock and we can get them easily.”

    WASH facilities upgraded

    Before now, patients who visited the Maternal and Childcare Centre in Mokwa, headquarters of Mokwa Local Government Area, often went into the bush to defecate because there was no toilet at the facility, said Abubakar Victoria, the officer in charge of the centre.

    The absence of a toilet, residents, particularly the women among them said, discouraged them from using the facility. Amina Mafura, whose house is close to the health centre, confirmed that she witnessed it when workers were constructing the toilet.

    She said: “There was no toilet there before. There was a time when I needed to do a pregnancy test; I had to go to the back of the building to urinate to get the sample for the test. Imagine going to a clinic and rushing back home when you are pressed and going back to continue what you were doing. It was as bad as that.”

    The story has, however, changed as funds from the BHCPF have enabled authorities to provide toilet facilities.

    The funds have been beneficial to us. For example, we didn’t have patient toilets, so we built one, because when patients came, we usually felt ashamed that they would outside to excrete or urinate, thereby exposing themselves,” Victoria said. She recalled that the health centre was on the verge of collapse but for the intervention through the BHCPF.

    She added: “We were lacking outpatient cards but now have many. We have repaired the chairs and tables for the offices.

    “We also bought drugs because we didn’t have drugs. We used to use our money to buy drugs and recover it after selling to the patients.

    “We also didn’t have laboratory testing equipment, but now we have bought some. Before now, we could only do pregnancy, malaria and HIV tests. Now we test for sugar level, blood group, urinalysis, blood pressure, typhoid and other tests.”

    During the visit, one of the patients at the PHC, Isah Mahmud, said he never knew the facility was receiving any funds.

    Mahmud said: “The health centre used to be an eyesore. I was surprised to see some of the changes it has gone through, especially with the laboratory and the toilet.

    “To be honest, I never knew where the fund was coming from, but I was happy to see the changes.”

    How BHCPF rescued Gabas Kudu Maternal and Child Health Clinic, other facilities

    The Maternal and Child Health Clinic in Gabas Kudu Ward in Lapai Local Government Area was a no-go area two years ago. According to residents, the PHC was uninhabitable and bat-infested. The sorry and almost haunted state, residents said, discouraged them from using it.

    But the fund from the BHCPF was used to give the centre a facelift. Those who spoke with the reporter said renovation work on the building began last year and they are currently enjoying health services there. According to Fatima Saidu Mohammed, a Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW), “with the fund, we have been able to undertake massive renovations, upgrade the laboratory, get a generator, get more ad-hoc staff and get security to secure the building.

    “Before, whenever rain fell, everywhere was filled with water because the roof was leaking. But we have been able to repair the roof, paint the building and do the windows as we had lost a lot of our things to burglars,” Mohammed said about the work done so far.

    “We bought equipment and reagents for testing and bedsheets for our beds. Patients did not like sleeping on our beds because there were no bedsheets and the mattresses were not okay. We can now boast of enough drugs.”

    A member of the ad-hoc staff in the facility, Ibrahim Adamu, said that the toilet facilities were unusable before, but now they have been fixed. He also pointed out that they are no longer short-staffed as the funds enabled them to pay the staff and provide volunteer allowances.

    Hamza Hulera and Mary Jonah, both residents of Gabas Kudu, who were at the facility at the time this report was being filed, commended the work done on the PHC. Hulera noted that the change seen in the facility was commendable, especially the fact that residents can get all their tests done there instead of visiting the general hospital.

    Jonah, on her part, recalled how bats almost took over the PHC, which made it to have a horrendous smell. However, she said all that has changed with the renovation that has taken place.

    The nursing mother said: “Before, I couldn’t use their toilets. I would prefer to go home whenever I needed to use the restroom.

    “But, everything looks nice now. They said they are getting some money from the government.”

    Despite engaging five ad-hoc staff to ease the centre’s running, Mohammed says the clinic still needs more health workers to enable it to run night shifts, especially in times of emergency.

    The funds have also impacted Arewa Yaman Comprehensive Health Centre. Officials said they used part of the funds to renovate the once dilapidated building, including its fence.

    “We now have better client flow because we have upgraded our services. For example, before, we did not have adequate drugs; now we have enough drugs and carry out different laboratory tests,” Abdulkadir Mohammed, a health worker, told this reporter.

    He said the facility can now take care of accident victims as they have procured dressing forceps using the funds, while there is an improvement in the procurement of drugs. The health centre currently operates 24 hours, according to him.

    The officer in charge of the maternity ward, Aliratu Mohammed Bobi, said they had been able to get more beds, sheets and delivery coaches with the fund, which makes pregnant women comfortable visiting the hospital.

    Ndagi Halima, who brought her six-month-old son for routine immunisation, was upbeat when she registered at the health facility for ante-natal. She was confident the facility was good enough after the face-lift.

    Halima said: “I gave birth to my other children at the General Hospital because this place was nothing to write about. “I did not visit it because of the way it looked.

    “But some of my neighbours told me about the changes and I decided to try it. The service was up to my expectations. The bedding was good, and all drugs were available.”

    This reporter was shown around the facility wearing a new look. It looked like the building was newly painted. The beddings at the maternity ward have BHCPF written on them, just as there are same inscriptions on the chairs.

     How residents can get drugs and services with N7,200 under BHCPF in Niger PHCs

    Getting drugs by residents at the Arewa Yaman comprehensive health centre has become much easier. Alhassan Amina, a mother of two who was at the facility to get malaria drugs, commended the availability of drugs at the centre and the affordable nature of yheir prices.

    Amina said the health facility’s improvement was commendable, noting that many women prefer the facility to the General Hospital at the moment.

    She said she had enrolled for the Niger State Contributory Health Scheme (NiCARE), under which she gets most of her medications.

    Amina added: “Tests are done, freehand medicines are collected without payment after paying the premium of N7,200.

    “Before now, the place was not good, and I wasn’t coming here. There were no bedsheets, most of the ceilings were off, the smell that was coming out of here at that time, I cannot just explain it.”

    “I couldn’t use their toilets. I would prefer to go home whenever I needed to use the restroom. But everything looks nice now. I learnt they are getting some money from the government.”

    The premium of N7,200 under the NiCARE covers the drugs, treatment and tests annually. After paying the premium, patients do not pay for drugs or tests.

    The NiCARE programme is under the NHIS gateway of the BHCPF. Anyone not covered under NiCARE will buy his or her drugs at the facility, which are always available.

    For the BHCPF, the funds make the facility to be able to stock up their pharmacy with drugs which would be sold to the patients at affordable rates, and the funds would be used to restock. So unless one is covered under NICARE, one cannot get free drugs, an official explained.

     How the BHCPF works

    Under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), there is a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) gateway that ensures that the most vulnerable Nigerians have access to the BMPHS through the State Social Health Insurance Agencies (SSHIA).

    The BHCPF receives 50 per cent via the NHIS Gateway to provide the Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS) to citizens in eligible primary and secondary health care facilities.

    According to the policy, health insurance helps to provide improved health care access for low-income earners.

    It is meant to provide social health insurance in Nigeria, where health care services of contributors are paid from the shared pool of funds contributed by the participants of the scheme.

    Niger State Contributory Health Scheme (NiCARE) is the Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS) that provides insurance for the populace. The scheme covers vulnerable groups. In contrast, those not within the vulnerable groups can pay N7,200 for the informal sector, while those in the formal sector pay N3,600 monthly from their salary.

    Fatima Umar Koloche, a health worker at the PHCC Makala in Bida Local Government Area, said there are 124 enrollees for NiCARE in the health facility. In contrast, Shehu Tijani, the officer in charge of the Masaha PHC in Kontagora, noted the facility has 100 people already enrolled.

    Most of the health facilities visited complained about the slow approach of the Niger State Contributory Health Scheme Agency in charge of administering NiCARE to enrolling the people in the community, while several others pointed out that the numbers enrolled were just like a drop in the ocean. Koloche said that out of eight settlements the PHC covers, only two benefit from NiCARE.

    “In the ward, some communities complain that those nearby have not enrolled because those enrolled are from communities far from the PHC.

    “We are appealing to them to enrol more community people so those around us can benefit from the funds,” she said.

    Victoria Abubakar, who supervises the Maternal and Child Healthcare Centre, Mokwa, disclosed that out of the 13 settlements, only four had been enrolled.

    “We often get those who have not been enrolled coming to participate in the free services. When we explain, they start shouting and demanding that we cannot register them.”

    Dr Mohammed Usman, the Executive Secretary of the Niger State Contributory Health Scheme Agency, said in an interview that the agency had enrolled 46,196 residents of the state who are in the informal sector.

    Usman added that over N295 million had been paid to primary and secondary health care facilities across the state as of the second week of August.

    He said further that 182 PHCs across the state was actively offering NiCARE services while 23 secondary health facilities had been accredited, noting that there were plans to add more PHCs before the end of the year.

    Usman said: “NiCARE covers common and rare ailments that bother the state’s residents. It also covers delivery, caesarian and other operations, laboratory tests, ultra-scan and x-ray services.  The coverage is for up to 155 illnesses.

    “We engaged the services of private organisations, which we call third-party agents, to be involved in the enrolment as the state is large and we cannot cover it alone.”

    “For now, we are working with the informal sector but are yet to commence with the workers because the government workers are having issues trusting the government with their money due to previous programmes where the monies were deducted from source but not remitted.”

    He said the agency proposes N3,600 monthly for government workers, covering the worker and six family members. At the same time, those in the informal sector, which include farmers, traders and others, pay N7,200 per person for one year.

    “The payment covers all ailments. You don’t pay anything, not even for a card. Once you go to the hospital and are prescribed drugs in the benefits package, the facility must give that drug. Unlike the NHIS, where you pay a percentage, with NiCARE, you pay nothing.

    “The facilities are faring better because PHCs across the state, before the BHCPF, had not been receiving money from the government. Now some of them get up to N300,000 in a month. If they have about 1000 people, they will get N570,000. For each enrollee monthly, we give the PHC N570.”

    Duma PHC where BHCPF is used to fix only ceiling, tiles

    While several beneficiary PHCs have shown different positive ways in which the BHCPF has impacted them, the PHC in Duma Zago Ward of Lapai Local Government Area cannot be said to have benefited from the intervention fund.

    Unlike others that have received facelifts, the Duma facility remains a colourless structure that could not be identified with the cream and blue colours that are the usual features of renovated PHCs.

    For a visitor, the facility could easily pass for an abandoned building. It has a bench and a table both of which had seen better days, and a waste bin that stands behind them.

    The components and posters show the building as a healthcare facility. Yet, there is also a new structure that is under construction but has been abandoned too.

    The old building has four rooms. One of the rooms serves a dual purpose: consulting room and office of the officer in charge. One of the remaining three rooms serves as a ward, the other is the labour room, and the last is the store housing files and other things.

    The ceilings looked like they had just been repaired with cardboard materials. The office used as a consulting room had a chair, table and a bench where the patients would sit.

    Alhaji Faruk Ndako, the officer in charge of the facility, was not at his desk when the reporter visited. However, Tofida Aishetu, a CHEW, disclosed that the facility had existed for more than 60 years without renovation of any kind.

    She revealed that the uncompleted building meant to serve as part of the facility had
    been abandoned due to a lack of funds.
    But Aishetu was unaware of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).  She had to
    call in Mohammed Usman, a Junior CHEW, because she could not say if the health
    centre had benefited from the fund.
    Usman disclosed that a former officer in charge of the PHC had received such funds.
    However, according to him, the unnamed officer only fixed the hospital&#39;s ceiling while
    the new officer in charge added some tiles to the walls and floors of the toilet and labour
    room.
    “We were selected for the programme and collected some batches. The former in charge
    was handling everything. Before he left here to Kawu, the work he did in our presence
    was ceiling and tiles,” Usman said.
    In addition to its dilapidated status, this reporter observed that the PHC does not have
    adequate drugs to dispense and no laboratory. It also has no pipe bore water.

    Patients who came around were told to buy drugs from outside the facility.
    &quot;We do not have drugs apart from malaria drugs. So if there is a need for the patient to
    take drugs, we would write out the prescription and tell them to go and buy it,” Aishetu
    said.
    “We do not do tests because we have no lab and equipment. We only carry out malaria
    tests because we have the kits. There is no water, and we always go out to look for water.
    The toilet is manageable.&quot;
    Findings revealed that authorities failed to ask the former officer in charge of the health
    centre to account for the funds allocated to the centre. Instead, they transferred him to a
    remote PHC as a punishment. The officer also could not account for drugs allocated to
    the health centre. As a result, expired medications were discovered in his office when he
    left the facility.
    Usman told this reporter that his former boss kept the drugs away and did not dispense
    them to needy patients. “He never gave out drugs to people, and when we asked him
    about the drugs, he would not give any tangible explanation,” he said.
    This is already defeating one of the objectives of the BHCPF scheme, which is to achieve
    at least one fully functional public or private primary health care (PHC) facility in each
    political ward. The Fund seeks to have the same in at least 30 per cent of all wards over
    the next three years, 70 per cent within five years, and 100 per cent within seven years.
    The current situation at the health care centre is frustrating as locals believe the facility
    is not fit to be referred to as a health care facility because of its neglect over the years
    and its current unhygienic condition.
    Ahmed Duma, a youth leader in the community, said the facility had not seen any
    renovation before.
    He lamented that residents pay through their noses to access healthcare services at the
    PHC.
    The District Head of Duma, Alhaji Abdullahi Isah, said that due to the state of the health
    facility, the community had tried to undertake some work in the new structure. Still,
    lack of finances has limited the communal efforts. However, Isah said the district would
    contribute and try to ensure work continues in the new building.

     

    We have a robust monitoring mechanism- NSPHA Executive Secretary

    While reacting to the irregularity at the Duma Zago PHC, Dr Ibrahim Ahmed Dangana,
    the Executive Secretary of the Niger State Primary Healthcare Agency (NSPHA),
    insisted there are several accountability mechanisms in the system.
    “If a PHC is found wanting in any quarter, we will not receive authorisation to disburse
    funds to that PHC. However, we have utilised our funds and retired them, and we have
    the authorisation to disburse other funds this quarter,” Dangana said during a press
    conference.

     

    Dr Dangana said all PHCs are adequately monitored, noting that no defaulting PHCs
    have been brought to his attention.
    “Before each fund is disbursed for every quarter, they have to present their business
    plan and the implementation documents to ensure that the funds have been judiciously
    utilised,” he explained.
    He, however, said there had been no report about any anomalies in the fund usage.
    According to him, the Director in charge of Primary Health Care in the local government
    councils is responsible for the monthly supervision of the fund implementation.
    At the same time, the state team does its supervision every quarter. A team, he said,
    monitors, evaluates and tracks the activities of the PHCs and the usage of the funds.
    https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN1_kUEg7Ho5bj1Ln_Ug_3YycqEqjp6sZaNgT
    6dQ3ER0gjendx_T21iZFQev49oFA?pli=1&amp;key=OU5QQ001Y1dyMWZZbGlZdG1MV05y
    NUNOcHROWE9B

    This report is supported by the International Budget Partnership and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).

  • Celebrating sixty years of medical excellence

    Celebrating sixty years of medical excellence

    For almost three months, the management and staff of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) have indulged in revelry to celebrate many giant strides recorded by one of the country’s foremost tertiary hospitals, which clocked sixty years this year. Besides the festivities, the three-month roller-coaster event designed to celebrate the teaching hospital’s birthday also provides an opportunity for stocktaking and recalibration for the future, reports Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF

    Many Nigerians, old and young, appear to be losing hope in their country, but not 88-year old John Olaoye Abioye, an academic retiree. Recently, the retired professor had another reason to rekindle his hope in Nigeria, believing once again that the country can actually work and reclaim its lost glory in spite of multi-faceted challenges currently inhibiting its destined march to greatness.

    This was in June this year when Abioye, who retired from the services of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1999, woke up with a severe toothache, which landed him in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). As the retiree, who joined the services of UNILAG in 1969, was led to the Dental Care Clinic gate at LUTH for the much-needed treatment on June 29 this year, he was both “shocked and happy seeing a beautifully-mounted signboard that reads: Faculty of Dental Services.”

    Expressing his joy in seeing the departmental upgrade, Prof Abioye added that he was also tremendously satisfied with the state of infrastructure renewal taking place in the teaching hospital as well as the quality of medical service he received. While commending the management of LUTH, the retired professor described the LUTH medical team as “diligent, cheerful, respectful and professional.” He made bared his mind on infrastructural renaissance taking place in LUTH in a commendation letter, dated July 25, 2022, which he addressed to Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Vice Chancellor, UNILAG. The retired professor is one of many stakeholders who are happy seeing what is taking place in LUTH.

    “In spite of my tooth ache, I stopped, gazed and gazed, looking as if I was visiting the LUTH for the first time. I feel very excited in the wake of seeing, for the first time, on Wednesday June 29, 2022, that part of our famous College of Medicine (which used to exist, until I retired in 1999, as either a Department or School) has been upgraded into a full-fledged Faculty (of Dental Sciences). I hereby congratulate the authorities of UNILAG (past and present) for this praise-worthy elevation.”

    Weeks after the commendation letter, the management and staff of LUTH have been locked in a revelry mode celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of its birth. The teaching hospital was enacted into existence by a cabinet decision made in April of 1961, following recommendations made by the Sir Eric Ashby’s Commission on Post-Secondary Education in Nigeria.

    At a press conference to flag off its 60th anniversary celebrations, LUTH) unfolded plans to perform its first bone marrow transplant for cure of sickle cell anaemia. The Chief Medical Director (CMD), LUTH, Prof Chris Bode, made this known during the opening ceremony and unveiling of anniversary logo to herald the diamond jubilee. According to him, the three-month celebration would feature an art exhibition, sports, seminars, health walk, gala night, student funfair, visit to Oba of Lagos, presentation of awards, among others. Also, many landmark projects would be inaugurated.

    “We shall be performing our first bone marrow transplant for cure of sickle cell anaemia. A new 30-bedded Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is about to be completed and put to use. A new outpatient complex is under construction. This complex comprises five buildings, each comprising four floors to house 256 consultation rooms, 16 waiting areas, 16 nursing stations, eight meeting rooms, eight patients’ lifts and many other facilities, including a car park, cafeterias, shops, amongst others,” he said.

    Bode said since LUTH admitted its first patient on August 9, 1962, the teaching hospital has gone on to continue its commitment to improve public health through innovative solutions as well as contributed in the training of medical and paramedical personnel both within and outside the shores of Nigeria. “Over the years, LUTH has remained one of the best teaching/specialist hospitals in the country. The hospital is designated a centre of excellence in dentistry. A major breakthrough of the successful conception and delivery of the first authentic test tube (In-Vitro-Fertilisation) baby was performed by the duo of Prof Osato Frank Giwa-Osagie and Prof Oladapo Ashiru at LUTH.

    “The hospital also renders services in specialised areas of medicine like neuro-surgery, haemo-dialysis, radiation, oncology, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiothoracic surgery, urology, paediatric surgery, maxillofacial surgery, ear nose and throat surgery, haematology, medical microbiology, community health, child dental health, restorative dentistry, maternal health, psychiatry, orthopaedic surgery, etc.

    “LUTH has the highest concentration of skilled medical and paramedical staff in different areas of medicine. This explains the reason the hospital is always the focus when foreign countries, oil companies and even highbrow private hospitals in Nigeria are on recruitment drive for manpower. It has pioneered small incision cataract excision surgery in Nigeria and trained over 40 doctors from all over the country in the procedure in the past years. The hospital has also commenced laparoscopic general and gynaecologic surgery, which has dramatically reduced the duration of hospitalisation after surgery.

    “LUTH boasts a comprehensive diagnostic centre and VIP clinic, state-of-the-art laboratories, radio-diagnosis, radiotherapy and renal dialysis facilities. From a humble beginning of 330 beds, LUTH is the largest teaching hospital in Nigeria with over 1,000 beds and with the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, LUTH is involved in the training of hundreds of medical, dental, pharmacy and other allied health science students.

    “The hospital has produced thousands of nurses, laboratory scientists, health records officers, biomedical engineers and other para-medical cadres. Various members of the consultant staff have made significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in major areas of medical science, notably in the separation of conjoined twins and In-Vitro-Fertilisation. LUTH is a unique institution in not only having such a large catchment population, but also having a large concentration of highly specialised manpower that enables it to respond to a variety of health conditions and trainings.

    “It has also taken advantage of the FGN Public Private Partnership Initiatives, and partners private organisations in providing state-of-the-art facilities. The flagship of such partnership is the multi-million dollars NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre (NLCC), the first of its kind in West Africa. Others are LUTH Blood Banking System, Radiodiagnosis Centre, Independent Power Project, Sickle Cell Centre/LUTH Bone Marrow Transplant Centre, and Olusola Dada Dialysis Centre and Renal Institute. LUTH is the only Federal Teaching Hospital with independent power project that generates its electricity, and, therefore, has been enjoying uninterrupted power supply since December 2017.

    “The biggest renal institute in Nigeria, Isaac Olusola Dada Dialysis Centre and Renal Institute, is already inaugurated and functional. Alima Atta Oncology Wards (60-bed wards) is near completion. LUTH has also partnered Smile Train since 2007. With this, Smile Train has supported free surgical treatment of patients with orofacial clefts, with over 800 surgical repairs of cleft lip and/palate done in LUTH so far.

    “Other areas of care being supported by Smile Train include orthodontics care, speech therapy and nutrition for patients with orofacial clefts. Kids Operating room [KidsOR), a global health charity focused on brining equitable access to safe surgery for  children, and Smile Train supported LUTH with a grant of over $500,000 for the renovation, furnishing and equip two state-of-the-art (paediatric) theatres, dedicated only for children surgical procedures.”

    While appreciating the Federal Government as well as the management and staff of LUTH, he enjoined stakeholders to work towards the betterment of the institution. “As we look to the future, we must reflect on the past 60 years and imagine what LUTH shall be at its centennial in another 40 years. Let us dream dreams and come up with lofty goals which shall be our own legacies to be celebrated by posterity. As we celebrate, we are also engaging stakeholders to define the new goals and projects for the future of our institution,” Bode added.

    Regarded as one of the foremost teaching hospitals in the country, LUTH, many stakeholders in the healthcare delivery believe, has lived up to its billing, gradually facilitating into a highly functional, professional, patient-focused, and results-oriented health institution. Prof Bode, who became the CMD in March 2015, shortly after he was drafted to be the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of the hospital, is popularly applauded for the whirlwind of reforms and positive changes his tenure has brought to LUTH.

    He confronted and strategically tackled immediate problems of the tertiary hospital: poor staff morale, incessant strike actions, and dilapidated infrastructure. The institution, which almost lost its accreditation in surgery year back, has since found its way for ensuring service delivery through collaboration, culminating in landing several world-class facilities through Private-Public Partnership (PPP), thus boosting the nation’s healthcare as well as research and training in line with global acceptable best practices.

    “Efforts in the past 7 years led to several modest contributions to elevate the LUTH brand, thereby improving both human and infrastructural capacities hospital-wide. Immediately after reaching out to a couple of low-hanging fruits; on-going projects were strategised and completed on both medium and long-term spans.”

     

  • Exposed: Inside the perilous world of illegal crude oil refiners (2)

    Exposed: Inside the perilous world of illegal crude oil refiners (2)

    In this concluding part of a series, MIKE ODIEGWU delves into the world of illegal crude refining and uncovers the collusion of some security agents with the key players.

    Wholesalers are the fuel that keeps illegal refineries burning

    Illegal refiners are in business because their products are seriously sought after by customers. To get to the end users, the products travel from forests and creeks in the Niger Delta to villages, cities, suburbs, towns and even filling stations through wholesalers. The wholesalers in the chain of distribution act as the fuel that keeps the illegal refineries burning. They take the risk of visiting camps at night to buy products and transport them through rivulets and other water channels to jetties and waterside.

    John Warioko is one of the wholesalers. He usually brings his products to Nembe jetty in Port Harcourt. Warioko embraced the business in 2020 and has vowed not to abandon it because of its profitability. He said: “I started this business around June or July 2020. During that time, I was struggling to survive. I used to drive a commercial bus before, but when I saw my friends and mates joining the business and making it, I decided to start. I joined because it is one of the businesses that make you grow fast, and many of my friends were already doing the business. So when I decided to join, I met my friends and they agreed to help me; so I started buying diesel from them from the jetty to sell to my customers.”

    Warioko said persons involved in the business only prayed to escape security agencies who could arrest them and destroy their products. Describing the profitability of selling illegally refined products, he said: “When you buy one drum, let’s say you buy at the rate of N17,000 from the point (cooking point), you can sell at the rate of N70,000 to N80,000 on the jetty. So when you multiply that amount by the number of drums you sell per day, then multiply that for one week, you will see your profit.

    “You can buy a drum of diesel for N17,000, but because of the so many settlements on the way when you are coming back with the product, you will increase the price when you reach land (jetty). You must settle boys (pirates) who come for collecting (looting); those boys will even want to kill you to collect (steal) your product and sell. You must also settle government (security men) along the way. That is why before you reach land, you will sell at the rate of N70,000 to N80,000.

    “Some people who buy from the point (cooking point or camp) make more money because they buy at a cheaper price; they use pour-put boats and vessels; their own is not measured; they just charge according to the size of the boat and they gain more. Those people, in turn, sell in drums and tanks, they will also use pumping machine to fill their products into drums for their customers. But those who buy in smaller quantities sell to their customers like hotels, hospitals and other small businesses that use diesel.”

    Warioko said sale of illegally refined products is the commonest business in the rural or riverine areas. He likened it to a point of sale (POS) business, saying it is everywhere. He said illegally refined products took over the riverine areas because residents had no access to products from conventional refineries. Having grown up in a riverine community, he said it was easy to learn and understand the business. He mentioned some of the risks involved in the business as possible arrests by security personnel; attacks by pirates and fire outbreaks at the cooking camps.

    He said: “Another risk is fire; if there is a fire accident at the cooking point (camp), it is hard to survive there because the fire will spread very fast. The fire can run on the water more than you; so unless God saves you, you will be burnt to ashes. Then another risk is boys (pirates), who can attack your boat and take away your product and go and sell it the way they like.”

    Narrating one of his experiences, he said: “I remember one day when we were carrying our products along the creeks using two boats, I was on the first boat in front and the second boat engine behind us was disturbing; the engine would turn off on its own as we were going. As the second boat driver tried severally to restart the engine, the engine sparked a fire and coupled with the hot sun that day, the fire spread to the product and became serious fast. All efforts to extinguish the fire didn’t work.

    “All the boys in the second boat have to jump into the water and run away fast. It was one of the boys, I can’t remember his name, who could not swim so he remained inside the boat and was burnt to death. The entire boat and the product inside burnt; it was the next day that we recovered the body of the boy who was burnt and buried him.

    “Fire has burned my two legs before forcing me to stay indoors for three months; it was a nurse that treated me at my place till I recovered. I discharged fuel from one of our boats that day and the fuel poured on my trousers, but I didn’t mind it. I didn’t change it. I wore it to smoke Indian hemp. It was while I was smoking that the fire started. It burned my trousers, my legs and my manhood. I am glad I didn’t lose my private part, but the next day, my skin started peeling off; it was a painful experience, but I survived it.”

     

     Playing hide-and-seek game with security agents

    Warioko said manoeuvring security agencies and their checkpoints while evacuating the products remains an important aspect of the business. He narrated how they compromise corrupt security personnel and get intelligence from them on the positions of their colleagues along the waterways. He said: “We calculate the weather; we have our intels (intelligence) within security agencies. The work of our intels is to observe and give us information about their colleagues; where they are and where they are not, so you know the alternative route to follow when you are moving with the product.

    “Sometimes, when the security personnel are at a point, you divert and wait for a signal from your intels before making any move. We bribe the security people; even some boys who come to disturb us. One thing about this business is that you must know the routes very well, so you can use them during emergencies. But, most times, we rely on luck because if you are not lucky, you can be arrested. If you meet the government (security agents), they will shoot you.

    “At that point, if you are a good swimmer, you can jump into the river and escape and they will either burn your boat and the product or seize them. I remember one time when we bought drums of diesel worth N3million. Unfortunately, on our way back, we meet security agencies, and they seized everything. It’s part of the business; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

     

    Illegal refining booms despite crackdown

    Illegal refinery operation popularly called Kpofire has become a huge menace in the Niger Delta. Its proliferation is dumbfounding. From Ondo to Akwa Ibom states, the story is the same. It is a common sight in many communities. While working on roads, riding on speedboats or plying major highways in almost all the states and communities in the region, signs of their prevalence are seen through thick dark smokes billowing into the atmosphere.

    Udengs Eradiri is a former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide. He said illegal refinery operation has become part of the lives of the people in the region. He says: “It has become a quest for survival. Come down and see what is happening. You will find out that communities are now involved in it. You can’t even find speedboats anymore because they are all involved in the value chain, over a million young people. While I was President of the IYC, I was always in the waterways to see what was going on. I did helicopter flights to assess the damage in the region. What is happening is a war against our country.”

    The boom has continued despite military operations to end illegal refineries. The Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Delta Safe have been at the forefront of clamping down on illegal refinery camps. They usually storm identified camps in commando styles, destroy and set them ablaze. They also impound vessels loaded with illegally refined products and destroy them.

    Also, some states in the region, like Rivers under the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike, have launched onslaughts against illegal refinery camps. Wike declared the war following the threats to the lives of residents caused by soot emanating from illegal refineries that dotted the landscape.

    He personally led some clampdowns on such cooking sites in the creeks and forests of the state, directing all the local government chairmen to identify and destroy all the illegal refinery camps in their domains. Though such bold state-backed operations have helped to deplete the number of such sites, illegal refineries have continued to spring up.

    The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Limited, Malam Melee Kyari, admitted the prevalence of infractions on oil assets in the region. He said NNPC had been forced to shut down some pipelines because of illegal connections on them by oil thieves in the Niger Delta. He said in some instances one pipeline had 70 to 80 per cent loss.

    Kyari said: “We have a massive scale of infractions on our assets along the Niger Delta region particularly in the last six months. We are convinced that the number of illegal refineries is massive and there are many illegal connections to our pipelines. We have more than 300 connections in one single pipeline. Community engagement is necessary. Whenever we have such infractions we shut down our facilities.

    “So, we have lost production. We are now producing about 1.4m barrels while we can do about 2.1m barrels. You can technically say that we lose about 700,000 barrels per day of production. It doesn’t mean 700,000 is stolen. But we have 200000 direct losses per day to thieves. At some points, one pipeline gets up to 70 to 80 per cent loss. So, in such instances, we have no option but to shut down the facilities and, once you do this, we count it as loss because it affects the production we should have taken into the market.”

    The Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Shola Odumosu, admitted that despite the clampdown, illegal refinery operations had continued to boom. He said: “Between January to July, we have apprehended over 426 suspected vandals. Between 2019 till date, we have been able to arrest 884 vandals out of which 821 are undergoing prosecutions. 168 are already convicted. We discovered that there are many illegal refineries everywhere in the creeks. We have destroyed 444 illegal refineries. We have continued to launch attacks. But there is a need for us to also engage the host communities.”

    Read Also: Exposed: Inside the perilous world of illegal crude oil refiners (1)

    Finding lasting solutions to the menace

    Some stakeholders believe that military operations cannot stop the proliferation of illegal refineries in the region. Institutions of government, security agencies, civil society groups and leading voices in the Niger Delta are on the same page that community engagements should be explored as the only strategic tool to end the menace.

    Recently, as part of efforts to engage communities in the region, the government awarded a N4billion surveillance contract to a former ‘General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the defunct Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly called Tompolo.  The contract is currently enmeshed in controversies, with major stakeholders insisting that awarding such contracts cannot provide a permanent solution.

    The stakeholders and NNPC seem to be in disagreement on the best approach to ending the economic crisis. Eradiri said the Presidency had agreed to the legalisation of artisanal crude oil refining as the best approach to ending the illegality to save the economy, the environment and the future of the Niger Delta. He said Senator Eta Enang was appointed to chair a technical committee established by the Presidency with a mandate to work out modalities of including artisans in the refining process.

    He said: “In the North, illegal miners of gold were organised by the Federal Government into cooperatives and they have been integrated into the mining business through a process controlled by the government. It is the same strategy that the government agreed to adopt in the Niger Delta. I remember that these artisanal refiners had a strategic meeting with representatives of the government and with a slide presentation, they showcased the local technology they invented to refine crude oil.

    “They have even gone sophisticated in their refining business. They told the NNPC at that meeting to set up dedicated zones and give them at least 1000 barrels every day to refine; while they (NNPC should) monitor the process. For us, legalising artisanal refining will stop the ongoing hide-and-seek and environmental pollution.”

    But Kyari insisted that the NNPC had no plans to legalise the local refineries. He said the company would only support the award of licenses to persons desiring to set up modular refineries.

    Eradiri, however, said the NNPC had failed to understand the difference between artisanal refining and licensing modular refineries. “A modular refinery costs about $50million. The local people involved in this operation don’t have much money. With less than N5million, people have already set up their cooking pots. We are saying the same working relationship existing between the government and local gold miners in the North should also exist between artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta and the government,” he said.

    The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), a non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) propounded the Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI). YEAC Founder and Executive Director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, believes PACORDI, which is in line with Eradiri’s argument, remains the only permanent solution to illegal refining and bunkering in the region. As gold is found in communities in Kebbi, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger and Osun states, among others, so is crude oil found in Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Imo, Ondo, Rivers states, among others. Fyneface noted that artisanal gold and crude oil mining are illegal activities with great consequences on the environment, health and revenue, adding that if steps had been taken to legalise artisanal gold mining, the same should be extended to artisanal refining.

    “Recall that a 2020 report titled ‘Dirty Fuel’ by Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) found out that petrol produced by artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta is cleaner than those imported into Nigeria. The same way government saw that gold produced by illegal refiners in parts of the North and West could stand the quality standard of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). It is also on record that illegal artisanally refined petroleum products and crude alike are exported out of this country and billions of dollars lost to the Nigerian state the same way Federal Government saw that between 2012 and 2018, 97 tonnes of gold valued at over $3billion was illegally smuggled out of Nigeria.

    “In the case of crude, oil worth over $100million has been smuggled out of Nigeria over time and there is the need to immediately establish a Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) as a corresponding initiative for those involved in artisanal crude oil refining in the Niger Delta.”

    Fyneface said PACORDI, if considered, would result in the creation of over one million new direct crude oil refining and formalised jobs and over 10 million indirect jobs, leading to poverty alleviation for more than 20 million households. He added: “PACORDI will allow the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other independent marketers to purchase locally produced PMS, DPK and AGO in naira, save and boost the nation’s foreign reserves that was hitherto spent on petroleum products importation.

    “The establishment of PACORDI that legalises, formalises and regulates artisanal crude oil refining and bunkering activities would address security challenges. With PACORDI, the government would understand and regulate the flow of resources and be able to track markets for their products and movement of funds across the sector.”

    Fyneface said the proposal was receiving serious attention from the Presidency. Senator Enang, in a letter dated April 20, 2022, approved partnering with YEAC to provide a coordinated approach and concerted efforts to ensure the integration of artisanal refinery operations into mainstream refineries. Enang said in the letter: “The partnership is expected to provide the platform for the NGO to harness its mission and vision with the programmes of activities of the office of the SSA for sustainable environmental management and economic self-reliance.”

    For now, no practical steps have been taken by the Federal Government to actualise the proposal or turn the tide against illegal crude oil refining business activities that seriously endanger practitioners, the embattled people in the Niger Delta as well as the nation’s economy.

    • Concluded
  • Climate change: NASA’s quest for a healthier, safer world

    Climate change: NASA’s quest for a healthier, safer world

    The earth is threatened by many forces, including carbon emissions, climate change and depleting ozone layers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States responsible for the civil space programme, aeronautics research, and space research. The Washington D.C.-based agency is engaged in several researches to save the world. At a briefing organised by the Foreign Press Centers, NASA Chief Scientist, Dr Katherine Calvin, outlines the role NASA and space technologies play in studying climate change and in developing scientific responses to that challenge, reports United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    The planet’s climate is changing.  Increases in temperature are being recorded. And over time, changes in surface temperature have been observed. 2021 was the sixth-warmest year on record. The last eight years have been the warmest since modern recordkeeping began. Those were some of the concerns of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Its Chief Scientist, Dr Katherine Calvin, told reporters during a hybrid briefing that aside those concerns, the earth has also witnessed declines in Arctic Sea ice, increases in sea level, and changes in extreme events like heatwaves.

    “So what NASA is doing with respect to climate, we have a broad portfolio of climate research. So we are the U.S. space agency that conducts end-to-end research about our home planet from observations, models in applied sciences, technology development, and much more,” she said.

    With its over two dozen satellites and instruments in orbit, including several on the International Space Station, NASA, she said, is continually looking at the earth. Dr. Calvin said: “And we can see things like vegetation, clouds and precipitation, changes in the mass of ice sheets, and much more. We’ve been making these observations for decades; so we can see not just the state of the earth today but also how it’s changed over time. Landsat satellites, they observe the vegetation, urban areas, snow – they look at land use and land cover, so they can see where we have trees, where there are crops, where there are urban areas. We have just celebrated our 50th anniversary of Landsat; so we have 50 years of observations of the land. And what we can see, when we look through that time series and look starting from 1972 through today, is you’ll see that there are increases in urban areas – so our cities are getting bigger; we’ll see declines in forest area in some parts of the world. And those all have implications for climate, and we can help understand that through our satellite observations.”

     

    Greenhouse gas emissions and international partners

     

    One of its agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, has information of how much emissions are. From satellites, it can observe concentrations of greenhouse gas and it can infer the emissions from it. Dr Calvin said: “So we have two instruments – or two – a satellite and an instrument currently in orbits that are looking at carbon dioxide. So the Orbital Carbon Observatory-2 is a satellite that’s looking at carbon dioxide, and then there’s an instrument on the International Space Station, OCO-3, that’s also looking at carbon dioxide. “There are an increasing number of other missions around the world that provide information like this; so some of the European satellites can provide information. There’s a Japanese satellite, GOSAT, that has methane and carbon dioxide information. And there’s more planned both – all around the world for this kind of information.”

    NASA, she said, works with international partners. One of such collaborations is its Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. “This mission is in partnership with the French space agency, and includes contributions from the UK and Canadian space agencies. SWOT is targeted for launch on December 5th of this year; so just in a few months. And what SWOT will tell us is more about water on the earth’s surface. So it will provide information about the amount of water flowing through rivers and lakes. It’ll also give us more information about the ocean. And the ocean plays a really important role in climate change. It absorbs heat and carbon dioxide, and so it impacts how much warming we experience and how much we might experience in the future. And SWOT will give us more information about the ocean to help us better understand those processes. So it is targeted for launch in December 5th,” she explained.

    Read Also: IMF: $168tr investments needed to address climate change

    It is also working towards planning the next set of earth-observing missions called the Earth System Observatory. These missions will work together to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Earth. This will include from surface up through to the atmosphere. It will be launched by the end of the decade. NASA, Dr. Calvin said, also has a disaster team that works with local response agencies and local governments before, during, and after disasters occur to provide near real time information about what is happening on Earth. “Just as an example there, for a wildfire we can see where fires are burning, we can see burn scars and burn perimeters, we can provide information about emissions associated with fire and the air quality concerns that might emerge from those emissions. And we work to provide that information as near real time as possible,” she said.

     

    Aeronautic research and working in the space

     

    Dr Calvin NASA also has a team living and working in space. It has done this for two decades through the International Space Station.  “And part of what happens on the International Space Station is we have Earth-observing instruments mounted on the side of it… And this is an instrument that’ll help us better understand mineral dust. Mineral dust has an important role in air quality and in local climate. And so this instrument was installed this summer and will be providing information about that using the International Space Station as a mounting platform. And we have several other Earth-observing instruments on the International Space Station that provide information about our earth that we use for climate research and other applications.”

    She explained that some of the technologies NASA developed to live on the space have benefits on earth. It grows crops on the International Space Station. Some of the researches that NASA has done in growing crops are used on earth. This includes a research into LED lighting, which is now used in indoor agriculture facilities around the world. She added that there is also a fertilizer that has been developed with input from NASA researchers that directs nutrients to plant roots at the rate that they need it. “On the space station, that means we’re getting the nutrients to the plant with minimal inputs. Here on Earth, that means less runoff into rivers and lakes. And so we’re continually thinking about how what we develop for space has implications here on Earth.”

    In addition to living and working in space, it has done a lot of research on aeronautics. Its aeronautics team has been working with the aviation industry for decades to help understand and reduce energy use and emissions associated with aircraft. It has been working on technology development, on sustainable aviation fuels, and on airline operations. Later this year, it will test an all-electric airplane known as the X-57. This will be a test of battery and electric technologies.

    “And part of what we do with this is we provide that information to industry so that they can use it in their own design and operations. And this is part of a theme at NASA. All that we do, we make available to the public. So we try to provide that information. And so we have a big effort towards open science throughout the agency – not just in aeronautics, not just in climate, but in everything we do, we make information available to the public.”

     

    Major missions

     

    One of its other major programmes and missions, Dr Calvin said, is Artemis. IArtemis-I will be launched on or after September 27, 2022. “Artemis-I is the test mission; it’s going to test the rocket, the SLS, and the Orion spacecraft. It will orbit the moon before returning to (the) earth. It is an un-crewed test flight. It is the first, though, of a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow us to explore the moon in preparation for missions to Mars. And loaded on board Orion right now are several science payloads. So there’s a science loaded on the Artemis-I that will help us better understand radiation and the moon. So there are 10 CubeSats we’ll be launching along with it, and then there are also payloads in the Orion capsule, things like dosimeters that will help us understand radiation. There are three mannequins that will also help understand the radiation environment. And so we’re really excited about the science there.”

  • Exposed: Inside the perilous world of illegal crude oil refiners (1)

    Exposed: Inside the perilous world of illegal crude oil refiners (1)

    As Nigeria bleeds from the pangs of rampant theft from its oil pipelines, her crude oil production dropped to an historic low of 1.18 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, according to figures from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. That is Nigeria’s lowest daily average output since at least 1997, according to data from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Output never fell below 1.4 million bpd even amid crippling militant attacks in the Niger Delta during 2009-10 and in 2016. Part of the stolen crude is what is refined illegally at many cooking plants in the Niger Delta. MIKE ODIEGWU delves into the world of illegal crude refining and uncovers the collusion of some security agents with the key players.

    He first appeared jovial and friendly when this reporter exchanged pleasantries with him on a Monday morning. The environment was rustic; stains of petroleum products drenched the vegetation and grass in the surroundings. The road was a bit slippery, moist and embalmed with oil sleeks. The coal tar blended with the sleeks, making it brown with the air wafting a choking stench of petroleum residue.

    In a thatched wooden hut sat three able-bodied men, whose rumpled trousers and stained shirts gave them away as petroleum products dealers. This reporter beckoned to one of them. He came out with a smile. But his countenance changed immediately an inquiry was made about the persons locally cooking crude oil. The man, who refused to disclose his name, raised the alarm. He immediately branded the reporter a spy on a mission to destroy their business. It was a tense atmosphere!

    Before now, those who engaged in the notorious business of setting up cooking camps in the bushes and habitable areas did not hide. Not anymore. It is now a highly secretive business because of intensified campaigns against the practice and ongoing mass arrests of alleged masterminds. The operators of illegal refineries are not bothered about the life-threatening risks associated with their business exploits.

    In October 2021, an illegal refinery site in Rumuekpe community, Emohua Local Government Area, Rivers State, burst into flames and burnt over 25 operators beyond recognition. In April 2022, over 100 persons were killed when a notorious illegal refinery site in Abaezi, Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area, a border community between Rivers and Imo states, went up in flames, consuming operators, buyers and workers at the site. All vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed in the midnight fire.

     

    “Illegal bunkering is not stealing”

    Cosmos Ere is a middle-aged man from Nembe in Bayelsa State. In his designer attire and healthy physique, Cosmos exudes wealth. Getting him to talk about his business as an owner and operator of illegal refineries was a thug of war. After many attempts and through a go-between, Ere spilt it all.

    He did not see anything wrong in setting up camps to refine crude oil found in his backyard. For over seven years, he has made it his line of business and he understands everything about it. In the beginning, Cosmos said mastering the technology involved in the process was a bit difficult. “Nobody thought me how to do it. I got the idea from the cooking of kaikai (local dry gin). It is exactly the drum pattern. My grandfather used to cook kaikai; so I do it with him. That’s how we started. The first one we did, the production pipe started giving us issues. We witnessed incidences of fire until we corrected the production pipe and the fire issue stopped,” he said.

    On how he stopped the fire, he explained thus: “From the pot, we brought out a gas pipe. In the cooking of kaikai, there is nothing like a gas pipe. So there was no gas pipe in the first pot. We found out that if the gas is not channelled somewhere, there will be an incidence of fire. So we brought out a gas pipe from the oven and the unexpected fire stopped.”

    Cosmos, who looks neat and wealthy, was of the view that illegal bunkering and refining of crude oil does not amount to stealing. He insisted that engaging in such business was better than stealing and that the high cost of petroleum products in the conventional market makes his line of business profitable and irresistible. He quickly dismissed fears that products of illegal refineries are substandard. “Bunkering is good. The one we produce is better than refinery kerosene or fuel if you follow the right process. Our kerosene is pure kerosene; no chemical, no spirit is added. Even the fuel is pure fuel.

    “For instance, if you buy our fuel 10 litres and bring 10 litres of refinery fuel, pour it inside the two different generators and start them together, the refinery will finish first before our fuel because of the spirit they added in the refinery fuel. The refinery fuel will finish before one hour but our fuel will last for three hours. It is just that the process is very risky and difficult.

    “The fuel that the Federal Government imports is not even enough. Without “Kpofire” (as illegal refineries are called in Ijaw language), the product will not circulate adequately for everybody. There is nowhere you can get Kpofire now because they have scattered everywhere. You can see there is fuel scarcity now in Nigeria. That’s why sometimes, we have to find a way to cook and make some money instead of going to steal. At the filling station, they are selling kerosene N400 naira for one litre but we are selling 25litres for N1000 in the bush,” he said.

    It is not easy to set up a camp. Cosmos said a technological procedure must be followed using unique materials before a cooking camp can be set up. He said: “There are two ways to set up a camp. It is either with a pan or a drum. Pan is very expensive but it is safer. You have the confidence that there will be no fire, just that the money is high because of the cost of materials.”

    He talked about constructing an oven and assembling an “okporoko” pan, production pipe, gas pipe, receiver, waste pipe and valve before an operator can completely set up a camp. He said: “But we have two patterns of moulding: either you use a round pot or a square pot. A round pot is easier to mould than a square pot. The round pot even produces more than the square pot. Before you mould a pot at least after buying the pan, you buy electron; you buy angle iron; you buy galvanised pipe; you buy binding wire in case of any leakage; you use the binding wire to maintain it. Then the welder starts work.

    “You can weld it right inside the camp or somewhere else if you have boys that will help you to carry it. They will just roll it into the camp and set it for you. To set it is very simple. Where the head that is where you put the okporoko will be higher than the downside where you have the waste pipe.

    After cooking the pot, the remaining is the waste. You can still use that waste to cook engine oil. That waste is not waste. You can cook that waste on its own for diesel again. You cannot cook it in the same pot. You put it somewhere else,” he explained.

    Read Also; Oil theft: NSCDC destroys 71 illegal refineries, arrests 501 suspected vandals in eight months

    How products are differentiated

    Cosmos further gives insight into the system adopted by illegal refiners during the construction of the camp to avert fire. During the cooking, various signs are used to differentiate the end products. “After setting the pot, the production pipe will take you the distance of let’s say 15 pipes to avoid fire. The gas pipe will somehow be four metres away from the Okporoko, which is the cooling system while the pot connects the okporoko to the pipe. From the pot to the okporoko, from the okporoko to the receiver where the end product will go. After loading the pot, when they are cooking it, the product will come out from the pot to the okporoko. That’s where you put water continuously with a pumping machine and it will pump till you put out the fire.

    “When you put out the fire after ten minutes, you will see small smoke from the gas pipe. Before the pot will start boiling, fuel will come out. The more the pot is boiling, the more fuel will be pouring out. To make the fuel to be very strong and active, you won’t put much fire on the pot. When the fuel is about to finish, you will notice little white smoke coming out from the gas pipe. When the white smoke stops, kerosene will start coming out. When the kerosene is about to finish, you will notice another serious smoke will start coming out.

    “It shows the kerosene is about to finish, then diesel will start coming out. If you have three receivers- one for fuel, one for kerosene, and one for diesel, you just have to be switching the valves to receive each product. You switch off the ones for kerosene and diesel, switch on the ones for fuel and that also goes for kerosene and diesel. When the diesel is about to finish, you start to smell the finishing odour. If you don’t know, it will make you sneeze. At this stage, the cooker will start reducing the fire little by little and the production will be slow. You don’t need much fire again to get the normal production and quantity.”

    Illegal refiners measure the quantity and the quality of their products using the type of crude sold to them. Cosmos explained that there are two crude types. He said: “One produces more kerosene than diesel while the other crude produces more diesel than kerosene. Like the carton crude, this light crude oil produces more fuel and kerosene than diesel. Some pots will produce 60 drums. Only fuel will give you five drums while the same pot will give you like 40 to 45 drums of kerosene; then diesel will give you like about 12 drums. For the oil crude, which is lighter than carton crude, it will give you less kerosene. Where you expect maybe like 40 drums, it will give 25 drums of kerosene and the rest will go for diesel.”

     

    Extra measures, discipline needed to avert fire

    Illegal refiners adopt extra measures to avert fire at their camps. Cosmos believes that fire at camps is a product of carelessness. He says: “In the process of cooking, immediately fuel starts coming, everything you use there is rubber bucket. Anything metal, including a phone or even wrist watch, is not allowed. It can cause a fire. Everybody in the camp will wear a rain boot.

    “So, the issue of an accident is based on your carelessness because if you avoid anything iron especially as soon as the cooker starts cooking and fuel starts to come out, everything you want to use there will be rubber bucket even if the handle is iron, you remove it and put rope. If your gas pipe is not too long, like for us, we don’t put the pipe close to the oven, you put the gas pipe in-between, let’s say you are putting 12 pipes, we put the gas pipe in the middle after the first six pipes; then gas will not go to the front and the back. Gas will go on its own.

    “But if you put the gas pipe like the old pattern, close to the oven, at the time diesel starts to come out, if the weather is calm, the gas will come down and it moves very fast on the ground. So we use detergent water to pour everywhere on the ground to curtail the gas. The major thing that causes fire is gas. I have not experienced any fire. I worked under somebody. I served the person, welded pots for him and cooked for about eight to nine years without an accident and since I started working on my own, I have not had any accident.”

    How they cope amid a hunt for them, he said: “We do not manoeuvre security agents; we settle them.” Cosmos confirmed that security agents protect their operations by notifying them of impending raids. He explained: “There is no need to manoeuvre police and military officers; we only settle them. It is chop, I chop. The security agents even need it more than us. It is even the military officers that will tell you when to put fire. No police or army comes there at night; they only come in the morning. They are the ones to tell you this time you put the fire, this time you put out the fire so that other agents will not interfere as far as you are giving them their right. No army working around you will come and disturb you unless it is an order that comes from above to scatter everything.”

    To keep the business afloat, there are middlemen who buy the product from illegal refiners and take them to retailers or storage facilities in the city. Cosmos said anybody can buy from them, including security agencies. He said merchants from the North are their main customers. He said: “The main people that buy these products are the Hausas, the Alhajis. They are the main dealers. They are the ones doing this business because they are the ones that will bring tankers, buy and take them to the North. They buy the products in large quantities. They buy in trucks.

    “They are the ones that even help sometimes to finance us to build the pot and set up a camp. They need it more than anything. They will even give you money to find a way to source the product. Some government officials will help us clear the road for the product to pass. Most of our customers are military officers,” he said.

    However, the Defence Headquarters had dismissed allegations that some military personnel and security agencies were involved in oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region. Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Jimmy Akpor, said the allegations were unfounded

     

     How we get crude oil

    Without crude oil, there would not be illegal refineries. Cosmos said there are people whose job is to either burst pipelines or tap them to get crude oil to feed illegal refineries. “Sometimes, the cooker of the pot is not the owner of the crude,” he said, adding: “The people that have the crude are different from the people that have the pot. Our own is just the pot. The people that supply the crude are different. Our own is just to cook.

    “I have never gone to burst pipeline to get crude. Sometimes, we are just informed that somebody has a supply point. I would go and put my pot and the person will supply me. They are inside the bush maybe close to an oil pipeline. Sometimes, you might want to buy and they will tell you there is no pressure or they don’t have any crude. If the pressure comes, they will just call us, load our pot and we pay. Then you cook, anything that comes out is your gain.

    “If where we are cooking is close to where their vessel is, sometimes we use a small wooden boat to buy. It’s either we buy from the upland or inside the rivers. So if your pot is in the upland, the process of selling the crude is different from the process of selling in the sea. People rush for the upland because the process is easier, but inside the river, the expenses are much. There is nobody that does the business in the river that will not involve Alhaji. At least, you will spend nothing less than N4 to N5million. They will use a pumping machine to transfer the crude from their vessel to another point. Everything about Kpofire is a pumping machine.”

     

    ‘Legalise illegal refineries’

    Cosmos urged the Federal Government to legalise the ownership and operations of illegal refineries. He believes doing so will provide jobs for unemployed youths and make petroleum products readily available at reduced prices. He says: “They can look at the size of our pot and impose tax or license fee. There is no machine anywhere that cannot use our kerosene, diesel and petrol. Even major construction companies use it.

    “Not less than six persons work in a camp with the smallest pot. In my camp, I have 11 plates and I am paying eight people. Two persons are cooks and two persons inspect the production. In the morning, one person will stand there to sell and another person will be acting as the secretary; that is six persons. Two persons only specialise in pumping machine operation. Everybody has their work.

    “When it’s daybreak, the cooks will go and sleep till 7 pm. The people inspecting the production will also go and sleep. The people in charge of the pumping machine and the sellers will stay during the day to cool the product and sell it. Then in the evening, they will go and sleep and the cooks will take over. In each department, you have at least two people. If it is a big camp, some people are employing four people in each department. Two persons will work from 7 pm to 12a.m., they will go and sleep while the other two take over.

    “The number of departments depends on the size of your pot. Had the government legalised the cooking process and allowed people to register, by now we would have improved on the technology. We are supposed to have made it a standard modular refinery. If they are not scattering these things, we would have improved on the technology through innovation because the more you do something, the more you improve on it.

    “You employ more people and also produce more quantity; you put more money and gain more experience. Because of the destruction, nobody is bringing up new ideas to create new technology. We still operate the old pattern. We wouldn’t be bringing out only fuel, diesel and kerosene, other things would be involved. We talk about the waste, that waste is another thing; by now we are supposed to be bringing engine oil, other materials used for road construction, many things.”

    • To be continued
  • NASA’s moves against climate change

    NASA’s moves against climate change

    The earth is threatened by many forces, including carbon emissions, climate change and depleting ozone layers. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is engaged in several researches to save the world. NASA Chief Scientist Dr Katherine Calvin, at a briefing organised by the Foreign Press Centers, outlines the role NASA and space technologies play in studying climate change and in developing scientific responses to that challenge, reports United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU.

     

    The planet’s climate is changing. Increases in temperature are being recorded. And over time, changes in surface temperature have been observed. 2021 was the sixth-warmest year on record. The last eight years have been the warmest since modern recordkeeping began.

    Those were some of the concerns of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Its Chief Scientist, Dr Katherine Calvin, told reporters during an hybrid briefing that aside those concerns, the Earth has also witnessed declines in Arctic Sea ice, increases in sea level, and changes in extreme events like heatwaves.

    “So what NASA is doing with respect to climate, we have a broad portfolio of climate research. So we are the U.S. space agency that conducts end-to-end research about our home planet from observations, models in applied sciences, technology development, and much more,” she said.

    NASA astronauts

     

    With its over two dozen satellites and instruments in orbit, including several on the International Space Station, NASA, she said, is continually looking at the Earth.

    Dr. Calvin said: “And we can see things like vegetation, clouds and precipitation, changes in the mass of ice sheets, and much more. We’ve been making these observations for decades, so we can see not just the state of the Earth today but also how it’s changed over time. Landsat satellites, they observe the vegetation, urban areas, snow – they look at land use and land cover, so they can see where we have trees, where there are crops, where there are urban areas. We have just celebrated our 50th anniversary of Landsat, so we have 50 years of observations of the land. And what we can see when we look through that time series and look starting from 1972 through to today is you’ll see that there are increases in urban areas – so our cities are getting bigger; we’ll see declines in forest area in some parts of the world. And those all have implications for climate, and we can help understand that through our satellite observations.”

     

    Greenhouse gas emissions

    One of its agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, has information of how much emissions are. From satellites it can observe concentrations of greenhouse gas and it can infer the emissions from it. Dr Calvin said: “So we have two instruments – or two – a satellite and an instrument currently in orbit that are looking at carbon dioxide. So the Orbital Carbon Observatory-2 is a satellite that’s looking at carbon dioxide, and then there’s an instrument on the International Space Station, OCO-3, that’s also looking at carbon dioxide.

    “There are an increasing number of other missions around the world that provide information like this, so some of the European satellites can provide information. There’s a Japanese satellite, GOSAT, that has methane and carbon dioxide information. And there’s more planned both – all around the world for this kind of information.”

     

    International partners

    NASA, she said, works with international partners. One of such collaborations is its Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.

    “This mission is in partnership with the French space agency, and includes contributions from the UK and Canadian space agencies. SWOT is targeted for launch on December 5th of this year, so just in a few months. And what SWOT will tell us is more about water on the Earth’s surface. So it will provide information about the amount of water flowing through rivers and lakes. It’ll also give us more information about the ocean. And the ocean plays a really important role in climate change. It absorbs heat and carbon dioxide, and so it impacts how much warming we experience and how much we might experience in the future. And SWOT will give us more information about the ocean to help us better understand those processes. So it is targeted for launch in December 5th,” she explained.

    It is also working towards planning the next set of Earth-observing missions called the Earth System Observatory. These missions will work together to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Earth. This will include from surface up through to the atmosphere. It will be launched by the end of the decade.

    NASA, Dr. Calvin said, also has a disaster team that works with local response agencies and local governments before, during, and after disasters occur to provide near real time information about what is happening on Earth.

    “Just as an example there, for a wildfire we can see where fires are burning, we can see burn scars and burn perimeters, we can provide information about emissions associated with fire and the air quality concerns that might emerge from those emissions. And we work to provide that information as near real time as possible,” she said.

    Working in the space

    NASA also has a team living and working in space. It has done this for two decades through the International Space Station.

    “And part of what happens on the International Space Station is we have Earth-observing instruments mounted on the side of it… And this is an instrument that’ll help us better understand mineral dust. Mineral dust has an important role in air quality and in local climate. And so this instrument was installed this summer and will be providing information about that using the International Space Station as a mounting platform.

    “And we have several other Earth-observing instruments on the International Space Station that provide information about our Earth that we use for climate research and other applications.”

    She explained that some of the technologies NASA developed to live on the space have benefits on Earth. It grows crops on the International Space Station. Some of the researches that NASA has done in growing crops is used on earth. This includes a research into LED lighting, which is now used in indoor agriculture facilities around the world.
    She added that there is also a fertilizer that has been developed with input from NASA researchers that directs nutrients to plant roots at the rate that they need it.

    “On the space station, that means we’re getting the nutrients to the plant with minimal inputs. Here on Earth, that means less runoff into rivers and lakes. And so we’re continually thinking about how what we develop for space has implications here on Earth.”

     

    Aeronautic research

    In addition to living and working in space, it has done a lot of research on aeronautics. Its aeronautics team has been working with the aviation industry for decades to help understand and reduce energy use and emissions associated with aircraft. It has been working on technology development, on sustainable aviation fuels, and on airline operations. Later this year, it will test an all-electric airplane known as the X-57. This will be a test of battery and electric technologies.

    “And part of what we do with this is we provide that information to industry so that they can use it in their own design and operations. And this is part of a theme at NASA. All that we do, we make available to the public. So we try to provide that information. And so we have a big effort towards open science throughout the agency – not just in aeronautics, not just in climate, but in everything we do, we make information available to the public.”

    Major missions

    One of its other major programmes and missions, Dr Calvin said, is Artemis. IArtemis-I will be launched on or after September 27, 2022.

    “Artemis-I is the test mission; it’s going to test the rocket, the SLS, and the Orion spacecraft. It will orbit the moon before returning to Earth. It is an uncrewed test flight. It is the first, though, of a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow us to explore the moon in preparation for missions to Mars. And loaded on board Orion right now is several science payloads. So there’s a science loaded on the Artemis-I that will help us better understand radiation and the moon. So there are 10 CubeSats we’ll be launching along with it, and then there are also payloads in the Orion capsule, things like dosimeters that will help us understand radiation. There are three mannequins that will also help understand the radiation environment. And so we’re really excited about the science there.”