As countries continue to struggle towards containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and scramble towards getting the vaccines for their people, focus is being drawn away from other life-threatening diseases to COVID-19. Justina Asishana analyses how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted a host of services for other life-threatening diseases.

While the COVID-19 has infected millions and claimed more than 4.5 million lives, experts are warning that the consequence of the neglect of other diseases due to the pandemic may be critical in the months and years to come. Neglected tropical diseases which are a group of chronic, disabling, disfiguring conditions, occur most commonly among people living in extreme poverty in rural and urban areas.
Nigeria contributes 40 percent of the NTD burden globally and carries roughly 25 percent of Africa’s NTD burden.

The National Coordinator of NTDs, Dr. Nseobong Akpan says an estimated 122 million people, two out of every Nigerian, are at risk of one or more of the neglected tropical diseases  such as  Trachoma, River blindness  Elephantiasis,  helminthiasis (diseases caused by parasitic worms such as Hookworms), schistosomiasis, (Bilharzia), Leprosy, snakebite, Yaws, Rabies, Leishmaniasis, Sleeping Sickness among others which are endemic in the country.

“Of the number, 20 percent are pre-school age children, 28 per cent of school-age children between the ages of 5 to 14 years and 52 per cent are adults 15 years and above,” Dr Akpan said during a media forum on neglected diseases held at Port Harcourt last month.

He explained that an estimated 119 million people are at risk of getting elephantiasis, 51 million for River Blindness,  28.8 million school-age children and 20.5 million pre-school-age children were at risk of getting parasitic worm diseases, 26 million people risked going blind from trachoma while 23.8 million school age children were at risk of getting soil-transmitted hermits, 26.8 million people for trachoma and 23.8 million school-age children were at risk of getting infected with Bilharzia.

Approximately 85% of the NTD disease burden results from worm infections. For example, hookworm infection occurs in almost half of the continent’s poorest people, including 40–50 million school-aged children and 7 million pregnant women in whom it is a leading cause of anaemia. Hookworm is a parasitic roundworm that causes types of infection known as helminthiasis. Hookworm infection is common in areas with poor access to adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of hookworm is approximately 29%, corresponding to nearly 200 million people being infected. The WHO recommends —albendazole (400 mg) and mebendazole (500 mg) tablets as an effective, inexpensive and easy way to deworm those at risk such as children.

Another drug which the WHO was this year expected to include Ivermectin (produced for human use) for use in the management of hookworm and other parasitic infestations. Ivermectin formulated for use in animals, has been abused during the COVID-19 pandemic by individuals under the mistaken and unfounded belief that it can manage or treat those infected with the coronavirus.

Schistosomiasis or Bilharzia as it is commonly known, is a water-borne parasitic worm disease that affects about 258 million people worldwide. Sub-Saharan African countries account for about 90% of the world’s total cases. In Nigeria, an estimated 20 million people need to be treated for the disease annually. One way of managing the disease is through mass drug administration programs —where everyone in a targeted region at risk of an endemic disease such as Bilharzia, receives treatment without individual diagnosis.

The Nigeria government has been running school-based deworming programs with Praziquantel (PZQ) as the main drug because of its cost, efficacy against all species of parasitic worms and ease of administration.

In 2001, WHO member states including Nigeria, endorsed the World Health Assembly Resolution resolution on schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths  committing to attaining at least 75% regular treatment benchmark of all school-aged children in endemic communities by 2010.
“While this resolution generated a greater political commitment in many member states, it took Nigeria more than a decade to come up with a national action plan for control of NTDs,” Dr Oyetunde Oyeyemi, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo state says in this research paper published in ScienceDirect, a database of  multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal articles.

A new roadmap set out by the WHO to address Neglected Tropical Diseases set three time-bound goals which envisaged the elimination of Bilharzia by 2020.

“Conflict might have contributed in part to the non-realisation of control of schistosomiasis in Nigeria. Although COVID-19 pandemic has been suggested to impede interventional programmes of many diseases, it is not certain that with the level of development in the schistosomiasis control implementation programmes in Nigeria that the WHO NTD 2020 target could have been realized in the absence of the current pandemic,” says Dr Oyeyemi who is a public health parasitologist whose research interests are epidemiology and control of transmission of parasitic disease.

The Nigeria National Malaria Elimination programme (NMEP) has confounded earlier predictions that it would not be able to maintain its seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns. The NMEP, with the support of the MAlaria consortium was by August this year expected to have provided nine million children under five years with a combination of two safe and efficacious drugs – amodiaquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine to protect them against Malaria. The drugs given to eligible children once a month over a four month period (July to October).
The NMEP has ramped up its distribution of long lasting insecticide nets, increased is malaria diagnostic testing, preventive treatment for pregnant women and is public campaigns aimed at social and behavioural change.

The public awareness campaigns have been gaining momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic reported last year to encourage people to visit health centres for diagnosis and treatment. Many people have been reluctant to visit hospitals for fear of being diagnosed with the coronavirus or ‘catching’ it there.
Nurse Rakiya of Nkangbe Primary Healthcare in Minna said the centre has been receiving fewer patients seeking treatment.

“During the lockdown period, we did not get a lot of patients for malaria and other diseases. People did not come for treatment or testing because they were scared that they would be referred to another clinic where they would be isolated.

” Even before the COVID-19, many people in this area did not come to the hospital for malaria treatment. They feel once they buy these drugs and take them, they will be okay. So the COVID-19 just gave them another reason to avoid coming to the clinic”, she said.
Isaiah Yisa has suffered two bouts of malaria over the last 18 months. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Yisa would have gone to the hospital for proper diagnosis and treatment. But with the advent of the pandemic, Yisa has opted to self-medicate by buying over the counter anti-malarial drugs. His biggest fear? Running the risk of his symptoms being misdiagnosed as COVID-19 resulting in being ordered to self-quarantine or at worst, being forced to isolate in a health facility.

Antimalarial self-medication practice in Nigeria is very common. It is considered an alternative way for people who cannot afford the cost of healthcare services. While the initial treatment of malaria fever often takes place at home without consulting trained professionals, Yisa and others who self-medicate run the risk of developing resistance to the readily available anti-Malarial drugs making them ineffective.

A Clinical and Medical Microbiologist, Dr Adam Mustapha of the Department of Microbiology, University of Maiduguri said antimicrobial resistance is a big challenge in Nigeria driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics.

” In Africa excessive use of antibiotics has become the norm as these drugs are available from the unlicensed and unregistered ‘chemists’ who litter our neighbourhoods. There are more such outlets than registered pharmacies. In Nigeria, such outlets are not supposed to sell antibiotics without prescription  but you find them selling them without any concern or knowledge of the impact this might have,” he says.
Dr Mustapha said the emergence of the COVID-19 has further aggravated  the situation as people presenting symptoms similar to the virus have been self-medicating using antibiotics and other prescription-only medicines in the mistaken belief they would protect them from catching the virus.

Bolanle Ojo was four months pregnant when she went to the hospital for malaria treatment. Bolanle did not want to join the estimated 11% of pregnant women who die because of malaria. Malaria in pregnant women leads to several complications, ranging from anaemia, low birth weight, miscarriages, placental parasitemia, neonatal mortality and death.

Malaria is also responsible for 11 per cent of maternal mortality in Nigeria, with pregnant women being one of the groups most vulnerable to this. On average, one in four Nigerians or  53 million suffer from malaria annually. Every hour, 11 Nigerians die from Malaria contributing to 94,070 or 23 per cent of the 409,000 annual global deaths.

As a preventive measure, the Federal Ministry of Health recommended that pregnant women receive intermittent preventive treatment using two doses of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP/Fansidar) during the second and early in the third trimester of pregnancy.
Bolanle said she was prescribed artesunate which is usually given to pregnant women for free. But she was told she had to go and buy the drugs as the hospital did not have any and health personnel cited disruption in supply as the cause of the lack of drugs.”I had to take the prescription given to me to buy the malaria drugs outside the health centre which was not what usually happened. I brought the drugs for N800″, she says.

Malaria and COVID-19 are different diseases and have different ways of transmission and infection. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, and humans become infected by mosquito bites. COVID-19 is spread by respiratory droplets that are inhaled through the nose or mouth. However, the two diseases share some common symptoms—fever, headache and fatigue— which have made people suffering from malaria reluctant to go to the hospital for treatment for fear they may be diagnosed with COVID-19.

The common symptoms shared by malaria and COVID-19 include but are not limited to: fever, breathing difficulties, tiredness and acute onset headache, which may lead to misdiagnosis of malaria for COVID-19 and vice versa, particularly when the clinician relies solely on these symptoms.

Public health entomologist and president of  the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA), Professor Charles Mbogo said cases of people having malaria in Africa increased from March 2020 when most countries imposed lockdowns to November 2020 because all equipment and focus were redirected into combating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysis of the effect of the disruptions caused by COVID-19 indicated that 19,000 additional deaths among people of all ages were likely to occur if access to treatment was reduced by 10% and would go upto 100,000 additional deaths if access to treatment was reduced by 50%.

“In some countries, malaria cases have increased. This is because whenever one has a fever, people think you have COVID-19 and fever is one of the symptoms the virus shares with malaria. It is befuddling that when one needs to be tested for malaria due to these signs, the health facilities test the people for COVID-19 and the patients are left without diagnosis and treatment.”

Mbogo, who is also part of the Wellcome Trust Research Programme, said many health facilities lacked the reagents and equipment for testing malaria. “All equipment and focus have gone into testing for COVID-19.”

He said many countries had also suspended their seasonal chemoprevention programmes which involves administering monthly doses of antimalarial drugs to children between the ages of  3 months to under 5 years during the peak malaria transmission season.

Data from Global Fund spot-checks of 504 health care facilities which include a mix of community sites, primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities in urban and rural areas across 32 countries in Africa (including Nigeria) and Asia in 2020 revealed a 31% drop in malaria diagnosis over six months compared to the previous year and a 13% drop in malaria treatment.

Measles

Nigeria is one of  ten countries with the highest number of reported cases of Measles.

According to the Center for Disease Control information on global measles control, Nigeria was ranked first among the top 10 countries with global measles outbreaks with 6,170 cases as of June 2021.

In Borno state, in north-eastern Nigeria on May 17, a total of  5,902 suspected cases of measles had been confirmed which included 4,653 cases in children under 5 years old. At least 72 deaths caused by measles have been recorded since the beginning of the year.According to the WHO, an estimated 16.6 million children in Africa missed planned supplemental measles vaccine doses between January 2020 and April 2021 and eight African countries reported major measles outbreaks that affected tens of thousands during the period.Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can result in severe, sometimes permanent, complications including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage  and even death. Measles is caused by a virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person and spreads easily through breathing, coughing, and sneezing. When someone with measles coughs, sneezes, or talks, infected droplets spray into the air (where other people can inhale them) or land on a surface, where they remain active and contagious for several hours. If others breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected. One of the tell tale signs is a rash which develops on the face and neck before spreading to other parts of the body.At least 95% immunization coverage in the population is required to prevent outbreaks, yet coverage with the first dose of the measles-containing vaccine has stagnated at around 69% in the WHO African Region since 2013. Only seven countries in the region achieved 95% measles-containing vaccine coverage in 2019.requiring at least 95% immunization coverage in the population to prevent outbreaks, yet coverage with the first dose of the measles-containing vaccine has stagnated at around 69% in the WHO African Region since 2013.

Only seven countries in the region achieved 95% measles-containing vaccine coverage in 2019. Statistics from WHO indicate that 15 African countries had postponed immunization drives against measles and other diseases in 2020 to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti said recent outbreaks of measles, yellow fever, cholera, and meningitis were an indication that there were still many gaps in immunization coverage and surveillance in Africa.“1 in 5 children in Africa does not receive all the vaccines they need.

A number of countries are off track in their efforts to reduce tetanus, measles and rubella – vaccine-preventable diseases that were once thought to be on the verge of elimination,” she said urging governments to double down on essential health services, including life-saving vaccination campaigns.

Around 9 million children in the African region miss life-saving vaccines each year and one in five children remain unprotected from vaccine preventable diseases, which claim the lives of over 500 000 children under 5 years in Africa every year.

In Niger State, the commissioner of Health Dr Muhammad Makunsidi said the existing gaps in immunisation coverage and surveillance had been exacerbated by the ongoing insecurity in some regions in the country as well as the focus on COVID-19. The government has however instituted public awareness campaigns as well as launched door-to-door immunisation programmes especially targeting children, many of whom have not been able to access vaccines for childhood diseases such as Measles, Rubella , Polio, TB , Diphtheria, Tetanus and Hepatitis B among others.

Tuberculosis

According to the 2019 Global TB report, Nigeria is ranked number one in Africa and sixth globally amongst the 30 high TB burden countries. Nigeria is also among the 14 countries in the world with the triple high burden of TB, TB/HIV and Drug Resistant TB (DR-TB). It is estimated that 429,000 people in Nigeria have TB each year. In addition, there are an estimated 53,000 HIV positive people that get TB each year and an estimated 157,000 people die from TB in Nigeria including an estimated 27,000 people living with HIV.

Like malaria, COVID-19 and tuberculosis share similar symptoms, including fever, dry cough, fatigue, sputum production, shortness of breath, sore throat, headache,, chills, nausea or vomiting, nasal congestion and in extreme cases, haemoptysis —where patients start coughing up blood from the lungs.

The similarity in some symptoms saw the WHO and other health partners integrate tuberculosis case finding into the COVID-19 structure in its outreaches but the fear of contracting and being misdiagnosed with COVID-19 discouraged people in need of timely diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis from accessing health services.

Disruptions in tuberculosis services of up to 78 per cent have been reported, based on survey data by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund) in 106 countries as of June 2020. Nigeria and South Africa, the two high-burden tuberculosis countries in Africa, have reported a 34 per cent and 33 per cent decrease in active tuberculosis case notification, respectively, at some point during the lockdown. missed drug refills have also been reported in other African countries.

Overall, the current measures taken to contain COVID-19 as well as repurposing of resources for the pandemic response are likely to limit access to treatment and diagnostic services potentially increasing new cases including drug-resistant tuberculosis and deaths.

Cholera

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria. It is passed on from faeces through contaminated food, drinks and unhygienic environments, and causes severe dehydration. Infected people can die if their illness is not quickly managed with oral rehydration therapy, which involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.

In Nigeria, huge outbreaks of Cholera were recorded in 1991, 2010, 2014 and 2018. In 2018, there were 43,996 cholera cases and 836 deaths: a case fatality rate of 1.90%.

Nigeria is currently battling with yet another cholera epidemic which has been exacerbated by poor access to clean water, open defecation, poor sanitation, and hygiene.Between January 1 and September 5, 2021, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)  reported there were  at least 69,925 suspected cholera in 25 of Nigeria’s 36 states and in the capital, Abuja, At least 2,323 people have died from suspected Cholera.

The NCDC, the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Cholera Emergency Operations Centre has deployed rapid response teams to the most affected states of Benue, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Bauchi and Plateau States.

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency with the support of the WHO conducted a five-day cholera vaccination campaign targeting persons over one year. At the end of the campaign on July 28, a total of 710,212 persons had been vaccinated.

Nsikakabasi George is a public health expert based in Kano state who is currently monitoring the cholera outbreak in Kano state  said  Cholera outbreaks said access to water and sanitation for the urban poor and the rural communities should be prioritised. “We also have inadequate supplies of vaccines and personnel to cover all the areas where the outbreak has been recorded. The heavy rainfall has made things worse and we also face problems accessing some of the areas due to security concerns,” he said

A community physician and health systems economist, Professor Chima Onoka said the government should strive to increase budget allocations for health. Nigeria has consistently failed to meet its obligation of allocating 15 % of the budget to health. This is a commitment that Nigeria and other African governments made in the 2000 Abuja Declaration.

In 2013, the Federal Ministry of Health launched an elaborate plan to control or eliminate the seven most common NTDs —elephantiatisis, river blindness, bilharzia, parasitic worm infections, trachoma, Leprosy, Buruli ulcer,  sleeping sickness and guinea worm disease. The government set itself a target of controlling or eliminating these diseases by last year. Huge gaps in funding —$400million based on the 2016-2020 strategic plan has hampered the programmes to eliminate these diseases across the 774 local government areas in the country.The budgetary allocation to the health sector has never surpassed 7%. The highest it has ever reached is 6.2% in 2012 which is still far below the 15% commitment in the Abuja Declaration. The health allocation in the 2021 fiscal year is 4.5%.
A report analysing the government’s health allocation and spending carried out The Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale recommended that the government increase its health service delivery, address waste and consider other sustainable funding sources.

“Unless the government commits to adequately funding the health sector and particularly programmes aimed at eradicating chronic endemic diseases, Nigerians will continue to die. Ignoring these diseases is not an option,” says Prof Onoka.

This article was produced by the Africa Women’s Journalism Project (AWJP) in partnership with the ONE Campaign and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).

• Alcoholic children risk myriads of health challenges- Expert
• How addiction to entertainment industry negatively influences children -Study

Moral decadence in the society appears to be taking a turn for the worse with underage children indulging in alcoholism and sexual escapades in public places. Most of the unwholesome acts, unfortunately, are carried out in the presence of adults who often applaud and cheer them on instead of discouraging, them, INNOCENT DURU reports.

IN the good old days when the society placed high premium on decency and morality, his action would have attracted thorough scolding or even flogging from grown up members of the public. But in the modern world where decency and morality are thrown to the winds in the name of entertainment, the underage boy’s misdemeanor was greeted with thunderous applause and noisy approval.

The young lad, in a video apparently shot at a party, is seen clutching a bottle of alcoholic drink to his chest while miming the song of a popular hip hop artiste, Techno. With hair tinted gold, earrings in both ears, gold wristwatch on his right hand and a handbag strapped across his shoulder, the dark complexioned boy sipped the drink at intervals, paced around  the dancing ground screaming  “allow me to enjoy myself” as he sang along the Techno song titled ‘Enjoy’.

Thunderous applause and deafening cheers reverberated from the crowd comprising adults and younger ones as he sipped the drink, intermittently hit the bottle with his forefinger and artistically gesticulated to the song.

The young boy’s public show of indulgence in alcoholism is just one of the numerous videos of underage children consuming and abusing alcohol.

Underage children are barred from consuming alcoholic drinks in the country, but the law appears to be only active on paper. At bars, club houses and social functions, among others, underage children, including females who are generally considered fragile are seen gulping alcohol.

In fact, some parents openly share alcoholic drinks with their children, arguing that it would have no effect on their lives.

In another video that went viral recently, a little boy is seen downing a bottle of beer while the adults present at the event cheered ecstatically.

A Nigerian artiste known as Jumbee was dazed by a recent incident of a 13-year-old boy he saw gulping bottles of beer in a bar. He took to his social media handle, Instagram, to share the disgusting video.

Jumbee said he watched the boy consume four bottles of beer at a go while watching football a match on the television.

According to him, the teenager said he had been going to the bar with his uncle since he was 11 years old.

Jumbee said: “I was in a meeting with friends at a bar in Benue (State) and dis (this) young boy bounced in with so much confidence, sat and ordered for a bottle of beer.

“As an African man that I am, it was difficult for me to ignore because the question I asked myself was what if he was my kid brother.

“Then I asked him how old he was. He smiled and said, ‘Brother, why did you ask?’ I then replied, saying because you look too young to be here. He then said I am 13 years old, but I’ve been coming here with my uncle since I was 11.

“In shock, I asked again how he got the money. Then his countenance changed like I was asking too many questions.

“So I walked back to my sit, video taped how he ordered for four more bottles, swinging his legs, watched his match and digested it all with a coke bottle

“Now ‘am really getting scared for this generation because we don’t pay attention to these kids anymore.

“Parents, please look out for your kids, the friends they keep and the things you do in their presence.

“For the youths our love for money shouldn’t make us ignore our morals.”

Sometime last year, another disturbing video of underage children who became tipsy after taking alcoholic drink surfaced online.

They were reportedly given a popular alcoholic drink known as “Captain Jack.

“I dey kolo (I’m losing my senses)”, one of them screamed as he tried to regain composure alongside his drunk friend.

One unimaginable video that has gone viral in recent times is one in which adults gleefully watched and encouraged male children to grab their female counterparts from their seats and dance with them in a way that suggested they were making love with them from behind.

The offensive video saw girls placing their two hands on the ground while the boys raised their legs up and pushed their manhood repeatedly into their backside as a music lyrics apparently promoted the obscene gesture blasted from the loud speaker.

Some have argued that the video is not Nigerian, but there are fears that similar actions could be copied and practised young Nigerians.

A public health physician, Dr Rotimi Adesanya, said underage children who indulge in alcohol risk suffering myriads of health problems.

He said: “It may affect their coordination. Their vision may be distorted and they may have haring issues. Their judgment may be impaired and they will start talking anyhow.

“For children, they may not have to take much before they start to manifest abnormal behaviour that may lead them to accidents.

“They may also have medical issues which may come after a long time. These include liver damage, because their liver is not so okay.

“They may have stomach problem or memory loss if the alcohol is too much.

They may have problem in the school.

“Some of them may be sexually active earlier. They may start molesting or bullying others. Those are the things that may happen at that age. “

The World Health Organisation defined alcohol as a toxic and psychoactive substance with dependence producing properties. In many of today’s societies, alcoholic beverages are a routine part of the social landscape for many in the population.

“This is particularly true for those in social environments with high visibility and societal influence, nationally and internationally, where alcohol frequently accompanies socializing.

“In this context, it is easy to overlook or discount the health and social damage caused or contributed to by drinking.”

Alcohol consumption, according to the world health body, contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally as well as to the disabilities and poor health of millions of people.

“Overall, harmful use of alcohol is responsible for 5.1% of the global burden of disease.

“Harmful use of alcohol is accountable for 7.1% and 2.2% of the global burden of disease for males and females respectively.

“Alcohol is the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability among those aged 15 to 49 years, accounting for 10 per cent of all deaths in this age group.

“Disadvantaged and especially vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalization.”

Beer sectoral group campaign against underage drinking

The Beer Sectoral Group (BSG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Quality Education launched the SMASHED Project in Calabar recently.

The BSG, which consists of leading beer manufacturers in Nigeria, including Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc and International Breweries Plc, says ‘The SMASHED Project’ is aimed at breaking the culture of underage drinking and reducing alcohol-related harm among underage persons in Nigeria.

In his address, the Chairman of Beer Sectoral Group, Jordi Borrut Bel, stated that part of the initiative’s focus is to help teenagers build confidence in the face of peer pressure as it is considered one of the causes of underage drinking globally.

“The SMASHED Project is a global campaign against underage drinking, aimed at educating and enlightening adolescents on the dangers of underage drinking and ways to prevent and avoid it.

“With this Project, parents are also engaged as this enables them to understand the vulnerability of the teenage years and how to sensitise their children on the dangers of underage drinking.

“This is in addition to being encouraged to help preclude their underage children from consuming alcohol by being better role models and talking to them about how to overcome peer pressure during their formative years,” he stated.

Mr. Borrut Bel went on to reiterate BSG’s commitment to campaigning against the harmful use of alcohol, saying that its members will continue to enlighten the public on the inimical effects of abuse.

“The campaign against underage drinking is only a part of a broader aspect of the discourse on the harmful use of alcohol, which the BSG and its members continue to advocate against.

“The key notion here is that the dangers associated with alcohol consumption arise from the harmful use of alcohol,” he added.

Entertainment industry influencing alcohol consumption, sexual recklessness – Study

Research conducted by academics have shown the relationship between addiction to movies and musical videos and rising cases of indulgence in alcohol and sexual perversion among children.

In their work titled ‘Influence of Home Video on Sexuality Aspirations of Secondary School Students in Ibadan, Nigeria” Koblowe Obono and Oka Obono, both of the

University of Ibadan, Ibadan Oyo State, wrote: “Home videos are entertainment media, but their use by adolescents transcends leisure to sexuality aspirations. A survey of 180 students in selected secondary schools in Ibadan showed that viewing influenced their sexuality knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP).”

The paper argues that exposure to home movies affect young people’s life aspirations as higher viewership (95.6 per cent) corresponds with high negative sexuality response (93.3 per cent).

Accordingly, the media teach 87 per cent of students about girlfriend/boyfriend relationships, expose 82 per cent to sexual relationships, arouse 85 per cent and encourage premarital sex among 53 per cent students.

“While entertaining, the media provide information that teenagers use to construct their sexuality, having far reaching health implications.

“Home video content and packaging thus place adolescent lives on a reproductive health disaster. This calls for alternative models of entertainment communication as well as critical censorship of home movies to help checkmate worsening sexual and reproductive health conditions in Nigeria.”

Also in his work, “Mediating alcohol use in Eastern Nigeria: a qualitative study exploring the role of popular media in young people’s recreational drinking” submitted to the Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, London, UK, Emeka W. Dumbili, said: “Alcohol consumption in entertainment television, especially drinking by principal characters in films engenders young people’s intention to use alcohol and their onset drinking.

“It also has been found to influence the consumption of larger quantities among those who already consume alcohol. A key reason is that attractive media characters have considerable appeal for young people, serving ‘as ‘super peers’… and providing models and information about alcohol use that may not be available in peer group or family.”

The dearth of research in the Nigerian context is serious because Nollywood (Nigerian movie industry) is not only ranked the third largest movie industry worldwide, it also produces the largest number of films per month (between 200 and 250 films).

Additionally, psychoactive substances are common in Nollywood films.

For example, out of 479 local films Aina and Olorunshola examined, 268 portrayed at least one scene of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, cocaine or heroin use. Importantly, 197 out of these 268 films depicted alcohol consumption, making it the most-used substance. Therefore, it is possible that those who are exposed to these alcohol depictions may be influenced to consume alcohol.

Although alcohol consumption among young people is culturally taboo in Nigeria, young people in contemporary Nigeria do drink, with many using heavy drinking to ‘perform gender’ (i.e. to construct/express a range of masculine/feminine identities). There is also evidence of diverse drinking patterns and motives among students in Nigeria and alcohol-related problems such as accidents, mental disorder, anxiety, amongst others, are increasing. But to date, there is no empirical evidence on how the media may be part of these trajectories.”

• Victims count losses as farming activities return
• Real reason Igboho waded into crisis — Community leader
• Community seeks N193m compensation for 70 victims

Four months after an ethnic clash left 15 people dead, many wounded and multi-million naira property destroyed in Igangan, the Oyo community in Ibarapa North Local Government Area is enjoying fragile peace, thanks to the bravery of youths and community leaders who organised themselves to confront criminal herders that had turned the community into a kidnapping and killing field, writes Southwest Bureau Chief BISI OLADELE

MASSIVE rocky hills adoring the skyline, big logs of wood narrowing roads with youths who fasten guns on their shoulders and peep into passing vehicles in search of intruders among their occupants, farmlands on both sides of the road and outgoing big lorries loaded with cassava. These are the current features of life in Igangan, the agrarian Oyo community in Ibarapa North Local Government Area in the vortex of a recent ethnic clash between the indigenous Yoruba population and the Fulani residents.

The once bubbling town had virtually turned into a ghost community since the outbreak of hostility between the inhabitant farmers and crime-minded herdsmen allegedly responsible for the killings and kidnappings in the community. About four months ago, the community had caught the attention of the world after a night attack that left no fewer than 15 people dead following the forcible ejection of the Seriki Fulani of the town, Alhaji Soliu Abdulkadir, for allegedly fronting for kidnappers.

But life has started returning to the community once again as the farming population are returning to their farms and the cassava business for which the area is renowned is once again on the bounce.

Igangan, an agrarian community, perches on the northern part of Ibarapa land on the Nigeria-Benin Republic border. It was a largely unknown community until last year when Sunday Igboho visited Abdulkadir and ordered him to leave the community or face his wrath. He gave him a seven-day ultimatum.

Igboho’s ultimatum was borne out of alleged oppression of locals by criminal elements among herders in the community. They allegedly robbed residents, grazed their cattle on their farms, attacked farmers who dared to confront them, and sometimes set their farmlands ablaze after grazing.

Although members of the community had cried out against the criminal activities of herders in the area for years, but no serious attention was given to their cries. Local and state governments as well as security agencies were only able to placate victims while farmers were allegedly poorly compensated, thereby emboldening the criminals to sustain their illicit trade.

Gradually, grazing grew into kidnapping and developed into murder until it metamorphosed into a full-blown crisis which pitted the Fulani sub-community against their hosts. The numerous cases of kidnapping and murder stirred anger and bitterness among locals as fear gripped the entire Ibarapa land comprising three local government areas. Farmers were afraid to go to their farms while commuters no longer felt safe in a community where farming and transportation are the mainstay of the economy.

The situation stirred anger and bitterness among the locals as crime turned the once peaceful and quiet community into one governed by fear.

Igboho came in at a point the inhabitants of the community were at the peak of despair.

Several cases taken to the local government headquarters in Ayete and the Police Area Command in Eruwa were allegedly not resolved in ways that engender justice. Locals alleged that they were discouraged by unresolved reports to the police and the local government headquarters.

Worse still, they alleged that on occasions when kidnappers are arrested by vigilante personnel or hunters and handed over to the police, the criminals are released after a few days with police assuring that investigations were ongoing on such cases only for the suspects to return to trouble the community.

The last straw was the gruesome murder of Dr Fatai Aborode, a United States returnee hacked to death while returning from his farm. His murder was one killing too many, considering that he was a leading light in Igangan. His death threw the town into deeper anger because the government did not seem to show enough concern or the will to stop the heinous crimes.

Igboho, The Nation learnt, had spent about five years in the town trading, and his sojourn made him see Igangan as home of a sort. In the video clips of his January 7 visit to the community, during which Abdulkadir was sacked, Igboho accused the Seriki of aiding and abetting criminals among Fulani herders, making it difficult for the community rout them.

He also accused Abdulkadir of helping kidnappers to negotiate for ransoms on kidnapped locals on some occasions. Before he arrived at the community with his army of aides, Abdulkadir had fled with his kinsmen.

Elated by Igboho’s move, angry youths in the community took the opportunity to vandalise the seriki’s palace which harbours several other houses to prevent him from returning.

But the Fulani are a people reputed for not giving up easily accept defeat. And this fact was not lost on the youths. Hence a massive reprisal attack of the town on June 5 was somehow contained by them. But it was not until the attackers had murdered 11 residents, including women and children, in the most gruesome manner. But they also lost four of their fighters, putting the causality figure at 15.

The June 5 attack, which was the crescendo of the crisis age-long crisis, inflicted huge pains and losses on both sides in terms of loss of lives and property. Igangan has not remained the same since that night.

Eyewitnesses told The Nation how gunshot boomed for about three hours when the attackers, numbering about 200, descended on the sleepy town at about 11pm. Before local vigilante personnel could muster an organised effort to repel them, some residents had been robbed, injured or gunned down.

An eyewitness, Mr. Adewole, whose hand was chopped off by the marauders and also had her sister robbed with her shop vandalised, said that he and members of his household had just gone to bed after a hard day’s work when the community was attacked. He said he had slept while other members of the household were preparing to sleep when gunshots started booming loudly in front of their house. In the process, they broke the main door and entered their house, which is just a stone’s throw to the palace of the Asigangan, the traditional ruler of the community, where the alleged Fulani gunmen attacked first.

He said: “I was asleep already when I suddenly began to hear noise of people crying that war had come. Then I heard something humming over my head. Wondering what it could be, I lifted up my hand to chase away whatever might be humming but the next thing I saw was that my hand was chopped off with a mini electric saw which the Fulani men brought.

“Sensing that I was facing death, I pretended that I was dead. That was why they left me and went to other people in the house. The moment they left my room, I escaped and went into hiding as they wreaked havoc on others.”

Also reliving the terror, a member of the vigilance personnel, Osintayo Olasunkanmi, who also sustained a serious injury in his right thigh, told The Nation how he was caught in the web of gunshots while he, his colleagues and local hunters were trying to repel the assailants.

He said: “It was around 11 pm when we heard a loud gunshot. We didn’t know the source.

“Then I got a call from my boss who also wondered where the gunshot came from.

“He asked me and other vigilantes to get ready. Then we confronted them through another side.

“They were armed with sophisticated weapons but God helped us to minimise the havoc.

“We fought from 11pm to 3am. The gunshot hit me around 3 am. Our chairman was killed in the confrontation. It was a tough experience.”

Explaining how the crisis developed, Osintayo said: “Some criminal herdsmen were originally operating in the thick forest where government has melina plantation. The forest is very vast. It borders Benin Republic.

“They were robbing and killing people passing through a part of the forest to Elekokan Market by way of Iganna. That was why the government recruited us some years ago.

“We used to arrest some of them and we would hand them over to the police, but the police used to release them and tell us that they were investigating their cases.

“They used to kidnap our people on their way to their farms. They ambushed them with some collaborators among our people.

“We didn’t know the collaborators, but we defeated them by coming together to rain curses on whoever was doing that among our people.

“They were taking their victims into the forest where they either killed or used them to collect ransom.”

Counting the losses

List of Igangan indigenes killed on June 5 include Bolanle Oguntoyinbo, Jimoh Ogunlana, Adeagbo Adelowo, Raji Rabiat, Olaewe Oguntoye, James Peace, Ewebiyi Ramon, Akindele Akinola, Olaogun Ajani, Adeniyi Lateef, Seun Adetogba and four unidentified Fulani men.

The property destroyed included the Asigangan palace, more than 20 shops, a petrol and gas filling station, several vehicles and motorcycles.

Prior to the many 2020 killings and the June 5, 2021 attack, several women were allegedly raped by criminal herders in 2018 and 2019 while going or returning from the farm.

The development forced youths, hunters and vigilante personnel to mount roadblocks to screen those that were entering or leaving the town day and night. The self-help and communal efforts are keeping the town safe for now.

Contacted by our correspondent, Seriki Fulani Soliu Abdulkadir denied all the allegations leveled against him, saying that he and his kinsmen were unjustly ejected from Igangan. He denied conniving with criminals or sponsoring the June 5 attack. He said his accusers were only jealous of his success in Igangan.

Recounting his ordeal during the January 7 attack of his palace by irate youths, he said he lost nine houses and several expensive vehicles. He put his personal loss in the attack at over N300 million, adding that over 200 of his cows were also confiscated during the crisis. He estimated his total loss at over N400 million.

He said: “The crisis was due to the fact that those people do not fear God. Only God helped me to escape on that day. I never offended them. I know nothing about the June 5 attack. If truly I rear foot soldiers, wouldn’t I have revenged the second day? I didn’t offend them. They never accused me of grazing on their farms.

“Talking about kidnapping, more Fulani were kidnapped in Ibarapa land than Yoruba. In fact, two of my friends’ children were kidnapped, and some of the kidnappers are still in Agodi prison as we speak. They are just envious of me because of God’s prosperity in my life.

“In all of the kidnap cases, only three Igangan indigenes were kidnapped. Was I the one kidnapping Fulani? Was I the one arrested for kidnapping people? The accusations are merely excuses to deal with me because they are envious of me. I’ve handed over my case to God and I am sure He will avenge for me.”

Why Igangan youths struck, by community leader

Prince Omoloye Kamardeen, who spoke for the Asigangan, described the incident as a sad one

He said: “It is sad. Before the June 5 attack, we had been hearing that some herdsmen were planning to attack us. Igangan people are accommodating. We are hospitable. But the Fulani used that against us.

“They used to attack our farmers on their farmlands after grazing their cattle. They attacked anyone that confronted them. They sometimes raped our wives. The situation got worse when they started kidnapping successful indigenes.

“The last straw was the killing of Dr Fatai Aborode, who was a shining light in Igangan. That was why our people rose up and said enough is enough. We had to put a stop to the killings and kidnappings.

“They threatened to attack us and they carried out their threat on June 5. The losses we suffered were huge.

“They killed people, injured many and looted shops. They also robbed many people before killing or injuring them. But we thank God because nobody would ever believe that this town would not be reduced to rubble.

“Since they left, peace has returned to Igangan. Our farmers now go to farm peacefully. Farm harvest has increased geometrically. Let them just stay away from Igangan for now.”

He appealed to the state government to come to the aid of victims before it is too late.

The Vice Chairman, Ibarapa North Local Government and political head, Ibarapa North West LCDA, Igangan, Mr Olusola Adegbenjo, also insisted that Abdulkadir used to frustrate the cases involving grazing on farms, stressing that he became too powerful in the community.

He said Abdulkadir used to blame the community’s farmers for farming on certain pieces of land which he would argue were grazing routes. He said the herdsmen destroyed many farms and thereby impoverished farmers.

As the then caretaker chairman and now head of the LCDA, he said his administration wrote several letters to the Commissioner of Police and the governor seeking intervention as the situation worsened. He recalled that government facilitated some meetings to resolve the problem but it was not fully successful.

He said: “We wrote series of letters to the governor and CP when I was the caretaker chairman of the council, requesting assistance on this problem. They called security meeting with the Fulani in attendance to be able to get to the roots of the crisis, yet the problem persisted. That was the foundation of the crisis.

“It was when it climaxed that the people said the Seriki must leave. He refused to leave, saying he had been living in the community for about 50 years. But they told him that he had to leave because he was the cause of the problem.

“It was when we could not resolve it that Igboho came and investigated. He was part of us before, trading in cassava and maize. He has friends and family here. And since the Seriki has been sent away the town has been peaceful.”

According to Adegbenjo, the state government sent mobile policemen when the crisis of murder and kidnapping was at its height. He said a major problem confronting the government was the vast forest reserve which the criminals used as a hideout.

The mobile policemen supported efforts of Operation Burst, a joint security outfit established by the state government.

“You see, the criminals had already taken kidnapping as business. So it was difficult for them to stop it,” he explained.

He said government was already looking into how to compensate victims.

Clamour for compensation

For the property destroyed during the June 5 attack, the community is seeking N193 million compensation from the government for 70 victims. The Convener, Igangan Development Advocate (IDA), Mr Oladokun Oladiran, called on the government to stop the unending promise by bringing Aborode’s killers to book.

He also emphasized that one of the farmers lynched on his farm by criminal herdsmen earlier in the year is a retired principal who could no longer use his hands and hence in desperate need of help.

His words: “We want to call the state government’s attention to victims of the herdsmen menace, especially retired civil servants like Pa Ojedokun, our retired principal who was lynched and maimed by Fulani herdsmen on his farm, among many others.

“Pa Ojedokun in particular cannot use his two hands again for anything productive as they are both severed. To compound his ordeal, his retirement gratuity remains unpaid so he cannnot start a business to keep body and soul together.”

Oladiran also urged the government to recruit more Igangan local vigilantes into Amotekun,who would be based in Igangan with trucks and bikes to patrol the surrounding hamlets, being the community most prone to security breaches in the local government.

On compensation, Adegbenjo explained that the state government’s response has been slow because it was following due process in considering the list.

In all, Igangan residents are currently enjoying peace as they now go about their farming and trading without fear though they are mindful that their attackers could return any time.

No fewer than 50 big lorry loads of cassava leave the town daily. The economy is back to strength! It is hoped that the current peace will not be punctured.

Banking sector has come to represent a strong unit of the Nigerian economy. The sector has seen top players show interest in raising foreign capital but done little or nothing to actualize their plans. Access Bank Plc has raised $1 billion through the Eurobond to sustain its business growth plan. The fund raising, which enjoyed strong investor demand, highlighted the positive perception of the bank’s credit story and the management’s clear strategy, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

The strength of a commercial bank in the marketplace is determined by the volume and value of capital in its vault.

That explains why many financial institutions are doing everything possible to raise new funds for the strengthening of  their operations, competing favorably and meeting stakeholders’ demands.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has made it pretty difficult fir many financial institutions to approach the International Capital Market (ICM) to raise new funds.

While many other banks have continued to wait for the right business environment to approach the ICM, Access Bank has moved ahead to raise new capital through the Eurobond.

The bank has announced that it had successfully issued additional $500 million tier-1 Eurobond. This came less than two weeks after the bank successfully issued a $500 million Eurobond, bringing the total amount raised by the bank to N1 billion.

In emailed report to investors, Renaissance Capital (RenCap),  a leading emerging and frontier markets investment bank, said the offering enjoyed strong investor demand, highlighting the positive perception of the bank’s credit story and the management’s clear strategy.

Standard Chartered Bank said the net proceeds of the Eurobond will provide medium term funding and help to enhance the capacity of Access Bank to support its general banking purposes.

The transaction saw a significant demand from top quality investors globally including United States, Europe (incl. the UK), Middle East, Asia and Africa, anchored by a number of large tickets.

The phenomenal success of this transaction is a strong testament to global investors’ confidence in Access Bank as well as Standard Chartered’s deep knowledge of the banking and financial markets industry, access to diverse global and local investor pool and strong relationships with the key stakeholders.

Standard Chartered’s Executive Director, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Nigeria & West Africa, Olukorede Adenowo noted that “Standard Chartered is proud to partner with Access Bank on this momentous transaction. The success of this issuance demonstrates investors’ confidence in Access’s strategy as a leading banking group out of Africa. We continue to work with our clients across Africa to deliver on their growth aspirations and also use our market leading position in the international bond markets and sustainable financing space to drive inclusive growth and development in Africa”.

Access Bank with presence in 11 African countries, Europe, Middle East and Asia, announced the fresh capital raising in a statement that was signed by its Company Secretary, Sunday Ekwochi.

It explained that the offering achieved a pricing of 9.125 per cent yield and coupon and was oversubscribed by two times it order book which peaked at over $1 billion.

According to the bank, the additional tier 1 Eurobond which was issued under its medium term note programme was a, “Basel III compliant perpetual non-call 5.25-year subordinated Note to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.”

It added: “The Eurobond may be called anytime from October 7, 2026, subject to conditions including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval.”

Commenting on the transaction, the Group Managing Director of the bank, Herbert Wigwe stated: “At Access Bank, we remain fully committed to the execution of our vision to become the ‘World’s Most Respected African Bank.”

According to Wigwe, the success of the transaction, which he said was the first in the Nigerian banking industry and the first of its kind in Africa outside of South Africa, would significantly enhance the bank’s tier 1 and total capital ratios ahead of Basel III implementation in Nigeria.

Additionally, the bank boss said the fresh capital would provide room for significant growth through ongoing execution of the bank’s strategic objectives.

“In particular, it follows our recently announced Group reorganisation which is aimed at capturing the strategic opportunities in payments, agency banking, and insurance across the continent which we expect will further enhance the growth profile and diversification of our business.

“Our growth and diversification strategy is also underlined by the recent expansion of our regional footprint where we continue to monitor opportunities. “This additional tier 1 Eurobond issuance, following our recently concluded $500 million Senior Unsecured Eurobond, underscores the formidable confidence of a diversified range of global and local investors in the bank’s strategy”.

RenCap, in the capacity of Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner, said it successfully completed Access Bank plc’s $500 million Additional Tier 1 Eurobond offering.

This Basel III-based USD-denominated PerpNC5.25 Regulation S/144A Additional Tier 1 bond was priced at 9.125 per cent, which implies an optimal premium to Access Bank’s earlier launched senior bond issue and is in line with comparable AT1 issues from the broader CEEMEA region. The bond issue was placed as part of a broad $1.5 billion funding programme.

RenCap said the offering enjoyed strong investor demand, highlighting the positive perception of the bank’s credit story and the management’s clear strategy. Regulatory approvals allowed Access Bank to comfortably tap markets for a benchmark $500 million AT1 transaction – the first from a Nigerian bank.

Acting CEO, Nigeria, Renaissance Capital, Samuel Sule, said: “The success of this transaction highlights Access Bank’s solid credit story and sets a strong benchmark for Additional Tier 1 issues from Nigerian banks. The transaction follows the release of new regulatory capital guidelines from the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Renaissance Capital is pleased to have been a part of this concerted effort to deepen the Nigerian capital markets and support economic growth.”

Citigroup, JP Morgan, Mashreqbank and Renaissance Capital acted as Joint Bookrunners on the transaction; and Chapel Hill Denham and Coronation Merchant Bank acted as Financial Advisers and Joint Bookrunners.

Indeed, following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 on economies in the world, a growing number of proactive financial institutions are turning to the debt market to strengthen their balance sheets. Also, the urge for the international debt market is buoyed by the need for banks to position for big ticket transactions, especially in a country like Nigeria that has wide infrastructure deficit.

Read Also: OneBank App: The 100%digital bank changing the banking in Nigeria

Nigeria is a loan market and investors have been tapping into treasury bills and bonds issued by the country for a very long time. Additionally, the country remains a growing investment destination, attracting capital equity and debt investors, notwithstanding security and political risks that beclouds its outlook.

Traditionally, commercial banks have short-term deposits. So, if they want to lend long-term, if they use their current stock of dollar, it would be a mismatch. So, they try to lengthen the amount of liquidity they have by issuing debt instruments such as Eurobond.

“Remember, you can’t go to the international capital market without meeting very high standards of governance, which is why Access Bank must be commended,” a source said.

In its assessment of the recent Eurobond issuance by the bank, the International Financial Review(IFR), noted that Access Bank, “scored something of a triumph for itself when it became the first Nigerian lender to issue AT1 debt.”

According to the report, while Central and Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) issuers sat on the sidelines hoping for a better market tone, Access Bank’s management held its nerve, deciding there was little to be gained from waiting.

“There wasn’t any benefit from waiting for a better window,” the IFR quoted a source at the bank to have said.

“We had gone through a marketing period. We had got specific feedback. There’s still a lot of supply waiting to hit the market. I don’t think holding off would have been best,”

That call proved to be on the money, even though no one could be sure how the session for financial markets would pan out.

Those away from the unrated deal, though, also supported the decision to go ahead.

“This is a very rarefied part of the market. I think it will go well,” said one banker away after books had opened.

“His view turned out to be correct. After opening books at 9.5 per cent area, leads were able to launch a $500 million perpetual non-call 5.25-year bond at 9.125 per cent. The book at guidance was $1 billion, with the bond’s size at the top end of that targeted.

“It’s a pretty impressive book in this market, as they still managed to tighten prices aggressively,” said one investor.

Given the yield on offer, one thing in Access Bank’s favour was that it was less likely to become caught up in any rates volatility. “It’s well insulated from rates,” said a second lead.

Even so, given the poor performance of recent AT1s, albeit from very different credits issuing at very different yields, it was still a big decision to go ahead. Some investors are sitting on their hands given the fickle nature of markets.

According to the review, the bank managed to get a broad buyer base, including some accounts that bought its $500 million 2026 senior bond at 6.125 per cent just two weeks before. Others, though, were solely buyers of this AT1.

“Investors included real money and hedge fund accounts from various parts of the world, including the UK, Asia and the Middle East.

“Access is top-tier bank in Nigeria. Africa is well liked,” said the first lead.

Despite the tougher market backdrop, the Access Bank trade showed that investors are still willing to engage in deals, especially as the emerging market asset class’s performance has been relatively poor this year.

September was one of the worst performing months for JP Morgan’s EMBI GD, which tracks the performance of hard currency bonds for sovereigns, since 2014.

The banker away expects one or two more niche AT1 trades from the CEEMEA region before the end of the year.

“The hunt for yield is definitely on and people are wandering off piste to get it,” he said.

Wigwe had said across Africa, there are opportunities for the bank to expand to high-potential markets, leveraging the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA). He had said AfCFTA, among other benefits, would expand intra-Africa trade and provide real opportunities for Africa.

According to Wigwe, across Africa, there is an opportunity for the bank to expand to high-potential markets, leveraging the benefits of AfCFTA. He said AfCFTA, among other benefits, would expand intra-Africa trade and provide real opportunities for Africa.

He stated that the plan is for the bank to establish its presence in 22 African countries as well as some strategic locations outside the continent so as to diversify its earnings and take advantage of growth opportunities in Africa.

According to him, Africa has enormous potential and there are opportunities for an African bank that is well run, that understands compliance and has the capacity to support trade and the right technology infrastructure to support payments and remittances, without taking incremental risks.

“We believe that we are best positioned to basically do all of that. Our focus is to become an aggregator in Africa and we are building a global payment gateway and providing trade finance support and correspondent banking across the continent. We are focusing on the key markets”.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a leading cause of disability in Nigeria. With medicines worth millions of Dollars provided for free by International Donors, States still demand “transport money” as low as N150,000 from the donors to pick up the drugs from Lagos State to their people. Hence, millions of these medicines are wasted yearly. This is worrying and an indication of the country’s lackluster attitude to public health security and financing. In this Special Report, MOSES EMORINKEN writes about the challenges bedeviling the fight against the diseases and the way forward.

If you have stayed in Nigeria long enough, you will realise that gory sights of persons with morbidly swollen legs, scrotums and disfigured faces, are commonplace, especially along sidewalks of major and minor roads.

Majority of these affected individuals, because of their health conditions, coupled with their poor socio-economic status, resort to begging. They usually would chant prayers for passers-by, sometimes with tears in their eyes and obvious excruciating pains as they move along. They do this in the hope that a good Samaritan with a heart of gold will at least give them some “change” to feed themselves and whoever is assisting them, while they expect a miracle for their deteriorating health condition.

They suffer from a group of diseases called Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). These diseases, caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa, are tagged “neglected” because more often than not, it affects the poor and downtrodden, and because of the nature of the diseases, persons infected are usually neglected, stigmatised, and discriminated against.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 1.5 billion people globally are affected by one or more NTDs. Majority of these people live in the poorest and most marginalised communities. These diseases not only leave those affected blind, disabled and disfigured, it also keeps children away from school, affects the ability of adults to earn a living, and multiplies the cycle of poverty.

Furthermore, while Africa accounts for 40 per cent of the global burden of NTDs, Nigeria accounts for over 40 per cent of the disease burden on the continent. 15 of the 20 NTDs recognised by the WHO have their abode in Nigeria. They include: Onchocerciasis (river blindness), Trachoma, Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis), Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis, Snakebite Envenoming, Rabies, Buruli Ulcer, Leprosy, Yaws, Leishmaniasis, Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), and Guinea-worm disease.

Of these, only Guinea-worm was eliminated in the country in September 2013, under President Goodluck Jonathan. More devastating is the fact that these diseases are one of the major causes of disabilities, especially among children and adults.

Statistics from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that about 122 million Nigerians are at risk of one or more NTDs. Also, of this number, 20 percent are pre-school age children, 28 percent are school age children (5 to 14 years), and 52 percent are adults (15 years and above).

With the population of Nigeria estimated to be about 212 million, according to the latest United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) data, therefore, if 122 million Nigerians are at risk of at least one NTDs, then more than half of the country’s population (58 percent) are vulnerable.

It is therefore logical to assume that the Federal and State Governments will give these diseases priority and premium attention in terms of ensuring the availability of funds to prevent, treat and manage them, especially in an era of increasing epidemics, including the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the government (federal and states) seems to have turned a blind eye to the plight of the common man affected by diseases with high rates of morbidity, mortality and disability. It is disappointing that the funding for the health sector, especially in diseases prevention, control and management is abysmally low. Funding for the country’s NTDs programme is ridiculous, and in most cases, releases are non-existent.

“The country’s over-reliance on foreign donations to support the NTDs interventions and programmes is worrisome. More than 80 per cent of the funding comes from international partners and donors,” said Dr Nse Akpan.

Dr Akpan, who is the National Coordinator of the NTDs programme at the Federal Ministry of Health, during a workshop on NTDs for health journalists, explained that the low funding for the programme and the health sector generally is frustrating the fight against diseases.

He said: “NTDs, which have significant impact on maternal, newborn and child health, and cause end-organ damage due to chronic infection, also pose a devastating obstacle to the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It negatively impacts economic growth, social development and poverty reduction initiatives.”

Government is failing us!

For Lucy Pacey, a 45-year-old mother of three children from Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, and a petty trader with little formal education, the Federal, State and Local Governments have failed her and others like her, who are battling with one form of NTDs or another.

Lucy suffers from elephantiasis, a disease which makes her legs swell, secrete water, excruciatingly painful, and disfigures the affected body part – making it look like an elephant skin, hence the name elephantiasis.

“I am not asking for too much. All I want is unhindered access to affordable, adequate and quality healthcare,” she said in her local dialect. Her painful and agonising journey of over a decade – days and nights – started in 2009, one month after the birth of her last child.

“Because I had limited knowledge about the elephantiasis disease, I thought it was an ordinary swelling as a result of pregnancy. However, it started getting worse. Many people suggested that I seek spiritual help because it was the work of my village people.

“My leg hurts so bad that I can barely put it down. All I do is use my hands to lift it up as long as I can. Although my children try to support me in going from one place to another, however, most of the time, I am alone. Also, as the breadwinner of my family, I have become incapacitated and unable to work to fend for my family.

“A neighbour advised me to visit a public hospital for proper treatment. Although I was hopeful, my hope nosedived quickly when I visited the hospital. I faced a lot of discrimination from health workers. Sometimes, they use demeaning and demoralising words like – ‘this your sickness does not belong here, take it away.’ Eventually, I got the drugs, used them, and I felt better. The swelling also reduced. I had a relapse later because when I went back to the hospital to take the drugs, I was told they were unavailable and out of stock. Hence, my situation became worse.”

Many Nigerians, like Lucy have experienced or are currently experiencing terrible encounters while seeking solutions to their problems. They are left empty, dry and finished.

International partners and donors like UNICEF, European Union (EU), United States Government, World Health Organization (WHO), etc., have over the years supported efforts to reduce the prevalence of NTDs in the country by providing funds to procure medicines to treat the diseases. They also provide technical support to states across the country for Mass Administration of Medicines (MAM), especially in hard-to-reach areas.

Their interventions have resulted in significant reduction in the preponderance of NTDs in communities hitherto burdened with the diseases. However, these kind-hearted and humane international bodies have begun to decry the poor and discouraging attitudes of state governments to providing counterpart funding to ensure that the very expensive medicines (provided for free) to the states, get to those who need them.

States and their fixation to the begging bowl

Many states are on the intervention list of international organisations because of the high burden of NTDs within their communities. In fact, according to UNICEF, every state in Nigeria is endemic for at least an NTD.

Therefore, the relationship between these foreign bodies and the states is supposed to be one that brings rays of hope to the people who suffer from the crippling menace of NTDs. The fact that the drugs to treat and prevent these diseases are procured for states free of charge, should ordinarily spur the governments to ensure that they pick up the drugs when they arrive in the country for their people.

An investigation by The Nation, revealed that several states end up not picking these drugs because they expect the donors to provide logistical support for them to transport the drugs from Oshodi in Lagos State where the drugs are kept when they arrive in the country, to their various states.

UNICEF has decried the attitude of the state government to pick up drugs worth several millions of dollars, which are donated by the United States Government to treat and manage NTDs. It noted that every year, over 500 million tablets of mass administration of medicines, including Ivermectin and Albendazole, which are used to treat some NTDs, are supplied to Nigeria free of charge, and cleared by UNICEF.

However, most states still depend on UNICEF to provide transport money to go and pick up these drugs for their people. The transport money sometimes goes as low as N150,000. UNICEF revealed that because of the attitudes of states to make available transport allowances to pick up the medicines, millions of these drugs end up being wasted. Also, more people are disabled and rendered unproductive (especially children) because of lack of availability of the drugs in states.

According to UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist, Bioye Ogunjobi, “UNICEF has been supporting elimination of NTDs since 1991 and supports Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis control interventions in 12 states.

“The 12 NTDs targeted for control and elimination in Nigeria are Onchocerciasis, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis, Trachoma Onchocerciasis (River blindness), and trachoma.

“We give Rivers and Bayelsa States money to go to Lagos to collect Mectizan drugs because they say they do not have allocation for transportation. This is a big puzzle to us as UNICEF. This is to tell you that some states still do not have money to go to Lagos to collect these medicines.

“There was a time we were giving Oyo and Ogun states between N150,000 to N200,000 to go to Lagos to collect the medicines. We stopped this two years ago. We reasoned that – If they cannot go to Lagos from Oyo state to collect medicines for their people, then nobody is going to help them. We are also going to stop it in Rivers and Bayelsa States in 2022. They should have their money to go and take their drugs.

“It is also frustrating because you have allocations, but you do not have releases. There are economic, health impacts.

“We also need to stop the pilfering of the donated drugs. Some people steal these drugs meant for the community and sell them. Some even use it for their cows, putting human beings needing the drugs at a disadvantage.

“Truth is – the drugs are counted. When the National Coordinator submits requisition every year, it is based on the number of people and doses. Once a person steals a carton, he or she is depriving people that the government has planned to treat.

“There is no development partner in the world that works in a country that does not require counterpart funding. In most cases, you find out that most states do not provide their counterpart funds.

“We had a WASH project where the government was supposed to put in 50 percent, and then UNICEF puts in 50 percent funding. It was funded by the EU. It was meant to be done in Bayelsa, Rivers, Kano, and Delta states. However, we got all the counterpart funding from the state in the North. For example, we had to take the money meant for Rivers State to Kano State to implement because they did not provide counterpart funding.

“A time has come when, if the state is supposed to provide counterpart funding and it does not, we take our money somewhere else. We know that the people in the affected states need support, but if the government fails to provide its own funding, what do we do?

“We are also worried about the attitude of the people. While in other states, the community implementers collect between N1,500 to N1,700, however, we beg the community implementers in Bayelsa to collect N3,000. Some people in the Niger Delta believe that everything that is done for them is because of their oil – ‘oil money.’ We need the people to take ownership of the programme.

“Furthermore, communities need good WASH practices. You cannot wash your hands if you don’t have water. Also, you cannot keep your environment clean if you do not have toilets. Therefore, the government must provide some of these basic amenities.”

NTDs creating a cycle of disability, poverty

According to a report on the ‘cost of disability’ by the WHO, people with disabilities and their families often incur additional costs to achieve a standard of living equivalent to that of non-disabled people. This additional spending may go towards health care services, assistive devices, costlier transportation options, heating, laundry services, special diets, or personal assistance.

“Indirect economic and non-economic costs as a result of disability can be wide-ranging and substantial. The major components of economic cost are the loss of productivity from insufficient investment in educating disabled children, and exits from work or reduced work related to the onset of disability, and the loss of taxes related to the loss of productivity. Non-economic costs include social isolation and stress, and are difficult to quantify.

“An important indirect cost of disability is related to lost labour productivity of persons with disability and associated loss of taxes. Losses increase when family members leave employment or reduce the number of hours worked to care for family members with disabilities. The lost productivity can result from insufficient accumulation of human capital (underinvestment in human capital), from a lack of employment, or from underemployment,” the report added.

Speaking with The Nation, the WHO Focal Person for NTDs in Nigeria, Dr Aliyu Suleiman, said: “Implementation in Rivers and Bayelsa States is difficult because most people have no ownership. You go to a community in Bayelsa that is endemic for lymphatic filariasis. You bring the drug free through UNICEF, and payment has been made, but members of the communities say – ‘if you don’t give us N5,000, we will not collect these drugs.’

“Also, the drugs have shelf lives of two or four years to expire. Hence, millions of tablets that came in will start to get wasted.

“Every NTD that hits you creates one disability or the other – from blindness as a result of onchocerciasis and trachoma, to inability to walk which is for lymphatic filariasis etc. This disability could be functional disability or actual disability. Disability in NTDs is more than the deaths.

“We may not be able to bring NTDs to economic terms but there are physical disabilities. For example, for children with schistosomiasis who cannot go to school, that is a lot of impairment. And because they cannot attend school, this has a long-term economic impact on them. Although they will not die immediately, the disability adjustment life years (DALY) and the quality of living will be affected. For adults who have the disease, it could lead to cancer etc. These people cannot go out to work.

“Although it is difficult to quantify the actual financial value lost to disability, which will depend on a lot of factors and research to come out with a figure, however, the person who has the disease is neglected. Also, because he is neglected, he does not have a job, hence he is poor. To make matters worse, he is now sick. Therefore, he has little or no economic benefits. This is one of the problems that NTDs continue to have.

“It is not called NTD because it is only neglected, but that the people who are affected are very poor, and their contribution to the country’s economy is neglected. For example, the peasant farmers can be affected. They stop going to the farm. This means that the next step and chain in the agricultural value-chain is broken.

“Because they are affected, some other people have to care for them. Therefore, schooling has to be stopped for a child because he or she has to lead the blind man or go to fend for the blind parents or cater for them. This affects the future economy.

“Once a person is sick, his or her child drops out from school to care for him or her. By this, a generation of poverty immediately sets in because the child is not educated, and when he or she grows up, chances of getting good employment with average pay is unlikely. Hence, poverty sets in. Every NTD that hits a person creates one disability or the other.”

Low funding for health, NTDs in the budgetary allocation

The total budget for this year passed by the National Assembly was N13.6 trillion. The health sector however received N549.8 billion budgetary allocations, which is about 4.04 per cent of the total budget for the year.

Furthermore, this is a major divergence from the 2001 Abuja Declaration, where all Heads of State in the African Region, including Nigeria, made a commitment to raise the budgetary allocation for health to 15 per cent.

Despite alternative funding from the service-wide vote (contingency budget) and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), budgetary allocation to the health sector has never surpassed 7 per cent. The highest till date was in 2012, which was 6.2 per cent.

However, out of approximately N550 billion health budget this year, the NTDs programme at the Federal Ministry of Health, got only N175,026,805. This represents 0.032 per cent of the total health budget dedicated to the NTDs programme. This is very discouraging.

Furthermore, The Nation findings revealed that only about N33 million out of the entire NTDs programme budget will be directly or indirectly deployed to support procurement and logistics (transportation) for few NTDs medicines and consumables.

Over N142 million meant for the NTDs programme at the federal level will be used for training, surveillance, committee meetings, surveys, advocacy/awareness creation, office equipment/gadgets, training manual development, etc. The story at the state level is no different.

NTDs Programme Funding Breakdown:

N7,045,627 will be used in the procurement and distribution of 7,500 vials of anti-snake venom to sites, procurement of consumables, conduct snakebite boarding survey and the toll-free lines.

N14,091,253 will be used for strengthening capacity and coordination of NTDs programme management at zonal levels; Hosting of bi-annual NTDs steering technical committee meetings; technical working group meetings; mid-term and annual NTDs review meetings for improved service delivery.

N10,568,440 will be deployed for assessment visits/coverage evaluation surveys; distribution of donated drugs for mass administration of medicines for NTDs; epidemiological/entomological surveys and procurement of anti-rabies vaccines; advocacy visits to the six geo-political zones on NTDs.

N28,182,507 will be used to conduct integrated case research and surveillance for NTD (onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, yaws etc); Guinea worm surveillance and capacity-building of HCWs on NTDs.

N21,136,880 will be deployed to intensify awareness creation for NTDs.

N24,295,265 will be deployed for the assessment of COVID-19 effects on NTDs patients; strengthening/support to 6 NTDs zonal offices; procurement of office equipment and supervision and quarterly monitoring visits to zones/states.

N16,196,843 will be used for the development, review, validation and printing of snakebite policy, guidelines and training manuals for stakeholders use in Nigeria; capacity building and training of snakebite desktop officers/health workers on prevention, control and management of snakebite.

N24,295,265 will be used in the construction and equipping of snakebite treatment centre in Sepeteri, Oyo state.

N12,523,399 will be used to intensify awareness creation for snakebite and envenoming; assess the effect of COVID-19 on snakebite patients; procurement of one Hilux Van for snakebite surveillance and project monitoring and supervision.

N16,691,326 will be used for the distribution of recording and reporting tools for leprosy and Buruli to all 36 states and the FCT; procurement of Buruli Ulcer medicines for 2,000 patients across all 36 states and FCT; conduct mini-LEC in five communities per LGA in 10 LGAs in 5 States; printing of recording and reporting tools for Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer in 1,000 facilities across 36 states and FCT.

Charting a way forward

The health sector in Nigeria urgently needs a restoration, with the ongoing and looming strikes by health workers, mass exodus of human resources, the spread of the ravaging and deadly COVID-19 pandemic claiming hundreds of lives, and the outbreak of other diseases like cholera, ebola and marburg diseases in neighbouring countries.

According to UNICEF, out of the 774 endemic local government areas; 583 are endemic for lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis); 481 for onchocerciasis (river blindness); 429 for soil transmitted helminths; and 582 for schistosomiasis.

However, poor funding for the health sector, particularly the NTDs programmes in-country continues to pose the greatest threat to the WHO road map for 2021–2030, which sets global targets and milestones to prevent, control, eliminate or eradicate 20 diseases and disease groups by 2030. “To guarantee this, quality mass drug administration (MDA) in endemic LGAs for five years to interrupt endemicity is critical. This requires funding,” according to Emmanuel Davies, the Programme Manager of the National Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health.

“As recommendations, the government at all levels need to urgently release a proportion (0.05 percent, that is, N680 million) annually to implement critical activities to fast-track NTDs elimination in Nigeria,” he added.

Stakeholders recommend that NTDs interventions should be mainstreamed with the following and covered with funds allocated for the projects: The north east development/rehabilitation programme; Niger Delta/Ogoni cleanup Project; Sustainable Development Goals projects across the country; and ensure home grown school feeding project.

Others are: mandate the Office of the Sustainable Development Goals programme to include funding for NTDs activities on an annual basis; use NTDs endemicity to prioritise provision of safe water sources nationwide, as was the case when Nigeria was Guinea worm endemic; approve privatisation of safe water supply sources of the local portable water sources by Ministry of Water Resources in all NTDs endemic communities in Nigeria; and give NTDs same priority and vision that are given to HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

Biotechnology will address challenges in the agricultural sector and others, JULIANA AGBO writes

Nigerian farmers are mostly challenged with low yields due to pest infestation, lack of high yielding seeds and drought.

Crops such as cotton, beans and maize are highly susceptible to pest infestation which negatively affects yields, thereby reducing farmers’ income.

For cotton, pest such as bollworms has the capacity to damage over 60 percent of its yield, while pest such as Pod Borer insect also called Maruca Vitrata has the capacity to damage over 80 per cent of beans pods and pest such as Fall Army Worm (FAW) can result in the loss of over 70 percent in maize production.

However, statistics have shown that the cotton industry alone had over 120 factories. But today, only 33 factories are said to be standing with many employment opportunities lost due to the challenges faced by farmers.

It has also shown that the country produce only 12 million tonnes of maize against the 18 million tonnes required annually with a deficit of 6 million tonnes due to pest and drought, while cowpea has a deficit of about 500,000 tonnes alongside the European Union ban on Nigeria bean export  due to high application of  harmful pesticides on farm produce to protect against pests and insect invasion.

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These challenges have made many farmers of these crops abandon them for crops such as soybean, sesame and groundnut.

To this end, policymakers in the country admitted that low yields have been contributing to the decline of productivity in the agricultural sector. This has resulted in a number of initiatives focused on providing farmers with quality seeds to boost productivity  as part of the great efforts to diversify the economy from crude oil to agriculture.

In 2018, Nigeria recorded a major breakthrough in crop biotechnology by commercialising its first genetically modified crop, approving pest-resistant Bt cotton varieties MRC 7377 BG 11 and MRC 7361 BG 11 as a means to revitalise its comatose textile industry, boost farmers earnings and contribute to economic development.

The two homegrown cotton varieties were developed by Mahyco Nigeria Private Ltd in collaboration with the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

The first is for medium duration of 160 to 170 days with a big boll size, while the second is an early duration of 150 to 160 days hybrid with good tolerance to sucking pests.

Marketing Development Officer for Mahyco Nigeria, Amos Phiri said both varieties yield up to 4.1-4.4 tons per hectare respectively and produce good fibre strength and quality cherished by textile industries.

Similarly, in 2019, the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties gave approval for the commercialisation of the genetically modified Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) cowpea variety, commercialised as ‘SAMPEA-20-T.

The cowpea variety (SAMPEA 20-T) was developed locally by Nigerian scientists at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, in collaboration with the various partners, under the coordination of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) after 10 years of extensive research.

This variety is not just resistant to Maruca vitrata, but also resistant to two notorious parasitic weeds known as striga and alectra.

The Nation learnt that farmers who adopt this new variety can harvest up to 2.9 tonnes per hectare after 70 to 75 days of planting, as against the 0.9 to 1 tonnes per hectare most cowpea farmers get from their farms after 100 to 120 days.

However, the decision to approve the genetically modified (GM) cowpea and cotton have boosted hopes for farmers across the country.

Currently, farmers are heaving a sigh of relief over what they describe as good riddance to some major hitches in farming these widely grown crops.

A middle aged farmer in Adamawa State, Idris Saleh, who said he inherited cotton farming from his parents, noted that many farmers lost hope in farming the crop due to a lot of challenges associated with it before the introduction of the new Bt cotton varieties.

Idris, who told The Nation he rarely, gets up to 100 kg per hectare with the conventional cotton, noted that the new varieties gave him up to four tons per hectare during the last harvest.

He said: ‘‘BT cotton farming has reduced the use of pesticides, cost of cultivation and hazards associated with its application on humans, animals and environment.

“Before now, we were planting the conventional cotton and do multiple of spray to control the bollworm because it can reduce quality and quantity of cotton by 60 percent, but now, the seed variety has tendency to protect itself from this pest, it has reduced the waste we used to get from our cotton farms, in terms of yield, it gives twice or more the yield of normal cotton variety”.

Another cotton farmer, Bitrus Elijah who told the Nation he has been into cotton farming for 20 years, said farmers were suffering using the local varieties with little or no gain at times.

“Before, farmers had to spray chemicals repeatedly at different growth stages to control these pests. Despite these repeated sprays, bollworms continue to cause yield losses to a considerable extent.

“These new hybrid seeds have brought relief, I have not had the experience like what I felt with the Bt cotton during the first trial, people could hardly notice I was in my farm because of how the plant grew so tall and produced a lot of bolls. With this and the testimonies from other farmers like me, we hope the government will revive the textile and garment industries”, he said.

On farmers’ adoption, the Marketing Development Officer for Mahyco told The Nation farmers are not just returning to cotton farming, but Bt cotton farming.

“The first time we got the seed, we gave farmers a free sample, they tried it in their farms and they saw the difference between what they used to have and this, which has made them adopt the technology.

“This has helped them to adopt the technology, some farmers that used to have 800 to 900 kg are now boosting from 2.5 tons to 4 tons per hectare.

“The yield of the Bt. Cotton hybrid varieties has brought many back to cotton production, we are hoping that more would join in continuous planting seasons”, he said.

On training, he said: “We train farmers particularly in every stage of the crop, we call them for farmers’ meetings, tell them how to go about the crop like what to spray, how to spray and when to spray.”

A visit to farm sites in Kaduna, which is among the nine states (Bauchi, Jigawa, Plateau, Adamawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory), of cowpea production zones in the country, a 40-year old farmer in Zaria, Ahmed Jumai who said she’s been into cowpea farming for a long time explained that the PBR cowpea performed

Comparing the cost of production of the GM crop and the conventional crop,  she said the seeds have high potential.

While explaining on the yield, she said, “using this variety, one can get triple the use of the old variety that we have been using, it indicates that this variety has high potentials”.

A 35-year-old smallholder farmer in Kano State, Khalid Salihu, said he spends less planting PBR cowpea compared to planting the conventional variety.

Salihu said in a hectare of PBR cowpea farm where he used to spray pesticides up to nine times and regularly weed off striga before he could harvest something significant for the conventional cowpea, said he now saves over N20,000 he used to spend buying chemicals to control pests and weeds.

Corroborating Salihu, another farmer, Aliyu Mohammed who noted that the PBR cowpea reduced the burden of buying chemicals, said farmers won’t have to spend much on preserving beans after harvest.

“The use of insecticides to preserve cowpea has left many lovers of it shiver, farmers and sellers of cowpea are being blamed for being selfish and insensitive to the dangers that such chemicals can pose to human health

He however said the new variety which requires only two sprays within a season has given cowpea farmers up to 20 percent yield.

Gonap Victor, a young farmer in Jos, Plateau State, who told The Nation he inherited cowpea farming from his father said, his experience with the conventional cowpea was capital intensive compared to the PBR cowpea which he sprays just twice before harvesting.

“When we got the new variety and we planted it the same time we planted the conventional cowpea, for the conventional cowpea, we kept on applying chemicals all day long which is capital intensive, but the new variety which is SAMPEA 20T, we applied chemicals twice and we got high yield,” Victor said.

Analysing what Nigeria stand to gain if more farmers go into farming PBR cowpea, Principal Investigator for the project, Professor Ishyaku Fagus of the Institute of Agricultural Research ABU, Zaria, revealed that the production of the cowpea variety has the potential of saving the country N16 billion pre-harvest losses every year.

According to him, economic benefits to Nigeria from one million hectares of the crop will translate to over N16.2 billion yearly.

For the don, the insecticides are expensive and dangerous to humans and the environment. He emphasised that the economic benefits of the crop could even go beyond N16 billion, as absence of insects could give one-fifth more yields to farmers, with financial value pegged at about N48 billion.

Speaking generally on biotechnology crops, a scientist, Augustine Phillip said, GM crops will make a whole world of difference for Nigerian farmers.

While explaining that GM crops are not harmful to humans, animals and the environment, he said there is no evidence to show that GM foods are not safe for consumption.

Hope for farmers on further biotectech crop development

A visit to the IAR research farm in Samaru Zaria between October 2020 and April 2021 shows that a new Bt maize variety, TELA which resistant to drought and stem borer (FAW) is a work in progress that has gone through three experiments of Confined Field Trials (CFT).

The TELA Maize Project which builds on progress made from a decade of excellent breeding work under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) is expected to be made available to farmers in 2022.

The principal investigator of the project at the IAR, Professor Rabiu Adamu, explained that Nigeria lost about 80 per cent of maize production annually to devastating impact of biotic and abiotic agents including army worm and droughts adding that the proposed solution would eliminate farmers constraints and enhance maize value chain in the country.

On the economic impact, he said it would save the country its import bill which it spends, importing over 4 million metric tons of maize annually, adding that it would reduce the use of pesticides by farmers.

A 29-year-old farmer in Kano, Raliatu Mahmoud, told The Nation she is optimistic that the TELA maize would give high yield.