Idoo is a community in Osun State. One of its sons, Flt.-Lt. Opeyemi Adeshina, was one of those who died in the crash, which also killed the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru. Another Osun community, Ora Igbomina also lost another son, of ACM Oyedepo. TOBA ADEDEJI visited the communities and spoke with the people.

When an aeroplane drops from the sky, the sorrow it spreads travels far beyond where the debris is scattered. The people of the Idoo community in Egbedore Local Government Area and Ora Igbomina in Ifedayo Local Government Area of Osun State did not envisage that they would share in the grief the moment they heard the news that a military aircraft, Beechcraft 350 crashed in Kaduna.

The aged mother of Flt Lt Opeyemi Adeshina was said to have retired to his home after returning from her shop where she sells provisions and even when residents and relatives heard of the tragic end of the fine military officers on board the ill-fated plane, nobody could break the sad news to her.

She was lured away from Ede where she lives to Lagos where her other children are and until she got there nobody could tell her that her son had died in the crash.

The family members and residents of Idoo heard about the demise of their own on the radio after they retired home from farms on Friday night.

Our correspondent, who visited the rustic community, observed that the community was wearing a mournful mood despite that the bereaved mother was not around and the father of the gallant officer had died some years back after he retired from the military and as the pride of the family, his picture was hung at the first room of the Opeyemi’s family house in Idoo.

The family head, Pa Tunde Oladepo, said about eight members of the family are serving in the military.

The compound of Flt.-Lt Opeyemi, Balogun’s Compound, is one of the first compounds that you come across in Idoo. The compound head said: “I could not believe it that Opeyemi won’t be part of those that will bury me. He grew up in my two hands and, unfortunately, I am the one mourning him. The same mouth I used in singing cradle and soothing songs when he was born in Kaduna was the same mouth I am using to render threnodies for him.”

Pa Oladepo disclosed that when the family heard the news of the crash, they prayed for God’s protection for Flt Lt Opeyemi not knowing that he was one of the victims of circumstance.

“When we returned from the farm on that day, it is my custom to listen to the news while my family sitting round about me will also refresh with the evening news on the radio. We heard the news of the military crash and we all pray for Opeyemi that God will continually protect him from evil not knowing that he was already dead.

“Opeyemi’s siblings had sent someone to Ede community, which is not far from here to lure his mother to Lagos before they broke the news to her. We were suspecting that something was wrong with the sudden invitation of the mother to Lagos.

“On Friday’s night, we heard that Opeyemi died in the crash. This saddens our hearts, we abandoned our dinner that night. As the head of the family, I was bitter, I am his father’s younger brother and I must look for ways to console the entire family members. My people cried all night and I could not imagine the state of the mother in Lagos. The father, Akanji Adeshina, served in the military and retired home. That is his picture on the wall of our family house. He was a very brave officer who witnessed war before he retired.

“Opeyemi was gentle and he loved his family. He was the third born of the family. He has an elder sister who is in Nigerian Airforce and a brother named Sunday Adeshina who is a soldier. He got married three years ago. He has been helping us in the family. He will be greatly missed by all.”

Pa Oladepo urged the Federal Government to support the welfare of Opeyemi’s family, adding that the death of their son would not discourage any willing member of the family from joining the military.

“There are about eight members of our family who are in the Nigerian military. They followed the steps of Akanji Adeshina, our brother to serve Nigeria wholeheartedly. We are greatly pained of the demise of Opeyemi but we will not be discouraged to give the Nigerian military any of our will children to serve Nigeria,” he said.

The community pleaded with Federal Government to immortalise Flt Lt Opeyemi Adeshina in the village.

The coordinator of the youths of Idoo community, Abdullahi Olohunlomerue, urged the government to help the wife of the deceased because she did not have a job. “We are pleading with the government to immortalise Flt Lt Opeyemi Adeshina in our community. They can build a school, water system or any project and named it after him, this will encourage any of our youths to sacrifice for Nigeria. The name of Opeyemi should not be forgotten in our community.”

For the father of ACM Oyedepo, Mr Jacob Oyedepo, an indigene of Ora Igbomina, the pain would take a long time to heal. Speaking with our correspondent on phone, he said: “I spoke to my son 24 hours before the crash and prayed that God will continually guide his steps.

“I spoke to my son on Thursday that proceeded the day he died. I prayed for him. I did not see or have any sign that he would die. I only prayed for him and charged him not to forget the precept of the home training. I do not have any dream indicating that my son will die. The loss of my son will forever be indelible, I will never forget him. He was the one that was taking care of me, his brothers who are not employed. He took care of their welfare.

“I implore the government to help in securing jobs for those who are not employed, since his death nobody would be there for us again. My son is the last born in a family of six. With this incident, I will not be discouraged, any of my children who is willing to join military, I will permit with all sense of service to the nation.”

The preponderance of substandard cables in the Nigerian market has remained a hydra-headed problem for the government. While the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says it is trying its best to end the scourge of substandard goods in the country, the regulator seems to be losing the fight to unscrupulous Nigerians who daily smile to the bank from their proceeds on such items. Can Nigeria ever win the war against substandard products? OLUWAKEMI DAUDA x-rays the scourge, government efforts and why the substandard goods market may just continue to thrive.

The near-death experience was enough to scare in the early stage of marriage for Isaac Okoro, a young banker in his early 30s. Barely two weeks into their union, Okoro returned home from work only to meet his wife, Tina, lying unconscious on the floor. Beside her was a burnt electric kettle, from which suffocating stench oozed.

While Tina was eventually revived in a nearby hospital, her husband was to later discover that she had suffered from an electric shock. According to a technician called in to check the electrical connection, the cable used in wiring the apartment was substandard. For instance, he explained that although it appeared the correct 2.5 millimetres (mm) of cable was used for the socket areas in the house, when tested it was a lesser capacity cable of 1.5 (mm) that was labelled as 2.5mm.

The resultant inability of the cable capacity, the electrician explained, led to its melting and subsequent cause of shock Tina experienced. He said the capacity of the electric cooker was too high for the wire used for it.

But for the quick response of his neighbours, perhaps Elder Segun Omogbemi, a pensioner, would have become homeless by now. On a fateful day, Omogbemi explained that there was an electrical spark from his air conditioning system outlet, leading to a fire outbreak in the house. The pensioner explained that findings after the incident showed it was a result of the substandard wires used in the building.

The foregoing paints the sordid state the country has found itself has it has become a dumping ground for all manner of substandard products from other countries. From cables to textiles; from automobile spare parts to medicines, the list of substandard commodities in the country is endless.

But who are those behind the importation of fake electric cables and wires into the country? How do these items beat the eagle eyes of the managers of the entry points into the country like the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)? In all of this, what is the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are doing to arrest the situation?

While builders, electricians, among other stakeholders are urging the government to as a matter of urgency find a solution to this menace, it is instructive to also note that have pointed accusing fingers at some unscrupulous Nigerians for their role in the influx of substandard products into the country.

The Chief Executive Officer, Dala Foods, Kano, Ali Madugu, argued that Nigerians are to be blamed for this trend. He explained that some unpatriotic Nigerians go to Asia and deliberately ask that the quality of products be reduced when placing orders for shipment into the country. “Some of our brothers tell these Asian manufacturers to reduce the quality of a product they intend bringing into the country. This saves them a lot of costs, yet they get here and sell at the price of the high-quality product. It is indeed a shame,” Madugu said.

Source

Investigations conducted by The Nation revealed that many containers laden with substandard electric cables and wires escape from the ports and border stations into the markets than SON can apprehend. Findings have also shown that most of the substandard electric and fake products are shipped into the country from Asia while some are smuggled in from the neighbouring countries.

A senior official of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who does not want his name in print blamed unscrupulous importers of substandard products who are desperate in circumventing established procedure for conformity assessment of imported products with the full support of some security officials at the port and border stations for the crime

“I still remember that in 2014, the Nigeria Customs Service Federal Operations Unit intercepted two container load of imported cables declared as made in Nigeria and already cleared from the seaport. The question is: who are the importers of these fake products? Who are those responsible for the release of those containers? What happened to the importer (s) and the release officer after the containers were intercepted? Until we are to apprehend, prosecute and jail instantly those that are putting the investment and lives of our people online because of their gains, the importers of these substandard products will continue with their dastardly act.

“Although the original made in Nigeria cables and wires are among the best in terms of quality and durability, investigation revealed that their manufacturers are faced with a lot of challenges. Apart from the fact that many of them have received International Standards Organisation (ISO) certification, which makes their products global commodities, yet the industry contends with cheap and substandard cables from Asian countries worth over N50 billion,” the NPA senior official said.

SON return

Nigerians who spoke with The Nation on the issue have raised concern over the decision of the Federal Government to keep SON out of the seaport since 2011, which they claimed has led to increased importation of fake foreign electric cables and wires worth over N50 billion into the country by unpatriotic and unscrupulous importers.

A maritime lawyer and University Don, Dr Dipo Alaka, contends that the government should as a matter of urgency, return the SON to the port. He also charged the leadership of SON, NCS and other regulatory and security agencies at the nation’s seaports and border stations to wake up from their slumber, take charge of their responsibilities and end the dangerous trend of fake importation of goods to save lives and properties of millions of Nigerians.

Speaking with The Nation, the Director-General of SON, Mr Farouk Salim, said the agency is doing its best to arrest the situation. Salim explained that from the Organisation’s data, most of the fake and substandard products are shipped in from Asia while some are smuggled in from neighbouring African Countries.

“That is why SON has been working in collaboration with the Cable Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CAMAN) on information sharing to apprehend importers of substandard electrical products in the marketplace, warehouses and a few times from the ports and borders. We have also been enhancing our testing capacity to ensure that test results can be promptly generated while our cable testing Laboratory in Ogba, Lagos recently attained international accreditation. We have been destroying products that are irredeemable and prosecuting perpetrators. We have also been engaging with the stakeholders including importers, dealers, clearing agents and freight forwarders as well as sister regulatory and security agencies. That is why collaborating with other international agencies to stop the exportation of fake electrical products into the country.

“For instance, we have an offshore Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) in place to certify all Nigeria bound SON regulated products including electrical products. Many unscrupulous importers circumvent this process to bring in substandard products even faking the SON Conformity Certificate in some instances. Others fake certified made in Nigeria electrical products and ship into the country. Unfortunately, we are not positioned at the entry points to be able to apprehend them before spreading to the nooks and crannies of the country,” he said.

While responding to the question of the SON’s capacity to do the job at seaports and border stations, the image-maker said the organisation is grossly understaffed and sought proper positioning of the agency at the entry points and access to the electronic clearing system of the Nigerian Customs Service to assist them in apprehending substandard products before they leave the entry points.

Although he could not give the value of the substandard products shipped into the country in the last two to three years which stakeholders said is around N50 billion or the numbers of fake electrical products containers seized by SON and the number of offenders prosecuted but he said: “the issue of number can only be looked at within a period, however, our regular market survey shows that far more substandard products escape into the markets than we can apprehend. We prosecute all standards infractions diligently for all manner of products including electrical materials.”

In 2017, SON intercepted over N8 billion worth of substandard electric cables. Its former Director-General, Osita Aboloma, told reporters in Lagos that the cables were cloned versions of 20 popular Nigerian brands.

According to him, the cables were shipped into Nigeria from China and were discovered by the enforcement team of SON around two residential buildings in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos State.

The former DG, who was represented by the agency’s Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, Bede Obayi said the cables were imported by a certain Estobest Electrical Limited, which targeted and cloned Nigerian cables already certified by the agency in fraudulent packages.

“You know we are proud of made-in-Nigeria cables because they are about the best cables in the world. This illegal act will not be accepted; we are going to go after the importer and prosecute him,” Aboloma said.

Speaking on the collaboration between SON and Customs based on the huge number of containers of substandard electrical products that escape the ports, Aileku said: “We have a very robust collaboration with the Nigeria Customs at the highest level, in fact, some of our officers were recently trained on the NICIS. We are looking forward to SON integration into the latest version to allow us to flag suspected substandard products for a thorough examination at our facility close to the ports to avoid delay at the Ports.

While lamenting a situation where the agency has been kept us out since 2011, Aileku pointed out the following measures put in place by SON to sanitize the system: “We have since 2011 undertaken many reforms, including automation of our processes, training and retraining of our staff, publication of our requirements for transparency and huge Investment in a facility at Amuwo-Odofin where suspected substandard products can be examined to avoid congestion at the Ports.”

An electrician, Mr Jide Omolola, said: “If there is any made-in-Nigeria product that builders, electricians and buyers have confidence in, it is electrical wires and cables produced in the country. Over the year, many of its producers have positioned themselves as competent players outshining foreign manufacturers in all the markets across the country and beyond. Although their contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are very small, some of them are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). However, many of them are not happy because they are still struggling to survive the stiff competition they are facing from scrupulous importers of substandard, fake and cheap imported cables and wires in all major markets in the country.”

Other stakeholders and users, who spoke with the paper, claimed that the various causes of fire outbreaks in homes and offices to imported cables, which are usually below specification with exaggerated grade. The stunted growth in the sector has also been traced to faking and sub-standardisation. Manufacturers said faking and sub-standardisation is caused by unscrupulous importers who travel to China and India to not only fake original brands but also ask for a reduction in the diameter of copper content of the cables and wires, adding that this is the cause of frequent fire in many homes and offices. The reduction, which affects the quality of the cables, is sometimes from 2.5 square metres to 1.73 square metres, which make them hot and unable to carry the current and the voltage that consequently leads to the frequency of fire outbreaks.

It was also gathered that the importers can achieve these evil machinations due to weak regulatory institutions, poor legal framework and poor policy implementations. This brings into question the capacity of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to stem the tide of the importation of fake and sub-standard cables into the country.

An electrical engineer, Mr Sesan Adegoroye, said the preponderance of cheap and substandard cables in the country is due to a low level of compliance with regulations and laws made by the government.

How fake and substandard cables come into the country

According to Adegoroye importers fake documents including specification and other information about the products they bring into the country. He said: “Some of these importers come in with fake documentation, incorrect specification and information on the cables and wires they imported into the country from these Asian countries especially China and India.”

He also said a major factor encouraging the importation of fake and sub-standard cables and wires is the decline in the value system in the economy as the system gets easily compromised. He stressed that any system that can be easily compromised cannot be effective. He regretted the inadequacy of consequences for the infraction and urged for an adequate penalty for offenders.

Way out of the problem

The Vice-President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayide Farinto, said local manufacturers should assist the regulatory agencies with intelligence reports. He noted that except they have such intelligence reports they will not be effective in their regulatory mandate. He also stated that because the local manufacturers have their distributors in the markets, it makes it easier to get vital information through their various such as knowing those behind the importation of fake goods and the warehouses they are stored.

“The major problem has to do with the nature of the distributive sector of the economy. It is similar to a jungle where the rule is the survival of the fittest. Because of competition, people do all manner of things to make sure that they stay afloat and in the process, they compromise standard, safety and basic values just because they want to make it big. “People engage in cutting corners. I think it’s an orientation and culture issue that needs to be addressed by those in the position of authority and Nigerians as a whole. Our system should have deterrent functions that penalise offenders because its absence has created chaos with those doing genuine business losing money while those engaged in shady deals are making a huge profit from it,” he said.

A member of the Staff of Coleman Technical Industries Limited, who pleaded anonymity, said local manufacturers are not only faced with the challenge of importation of fake and substandard cables into the country but also that of sufficient funds to expand their capacity.

Integrity of locally-made cables

Most of the electrical engineers and electricians, who spoke with the paper, said indigenous cable makers are among the best in the world. One of them, Mr Shola Adebayo, said Nigerian cables have a reputation of being of high quality, adding that they are a bit expensive than the fake imported ones because of their good quality.

A seller of cables and wires at Alaba Market in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, Mr. Sunday Anthony, said some of his colleagues may not be free of the accusation of importing low-quality cables. He blamed some officials of the Nigeria Customs Service for not doing their jobs well and the government for not providing an enabling environment for business people, arguing that this makes a lot of them bribe their ways out of the ports and border station to feed their families.

What Customs say

Reacting to the allegations that most substandard electrical products find their ways out of the ports because of the unpatriotic attitude of some Customs officers, its Public Relations Officer PRO) at Tin-Can Island port, Mr Ushe Ejesieme, debunked the allegations. He said they have a strong relationship and collaboration with SON on every imported goods coming to the port.

“We don’t allow any container laden with cables and wires to exit the gate without inviting the officials of SON to perform their core responsibility. We have a very robust collaboration with the Nigeria Customs at the highest level, in fact, some of our officers were recently trained on the NICIS. But we are looking forward to SON integration into the latest version to allow us to flag suspected substandard products for a thorough examination at our facility close to the ports to avoid delay at the Ports.”

Results of the weak legal system

A builder, Mr Rotimi Ogunsiji, said the judicial system needs to help the manufacturing sector to keep sanity in the polity. He pointed out that if the saboteurs have been apprehended convicted and publicised, others would have sat up and done the right thing. He regretted the unwinding legal process which makes it almost impossible to ensure that fraudulent people are convicted.

Solutions expected from government

Aileku said the National Assembly has passed all the necessary legislations. “The solution is multi-dimensional. Proper positioning of SON to apprehend imported substandard products at the entry points, a collaboration of genuine local manufacturers and importers to fight the perpetrators of substandard products, provision of information to regulatory agencies by all stakeholders to apprehend our common enemies, improved staffing of SON to enhance its capacity, continuous prosecution of perpetrators as we are doing now and maybe entering into some form of agreements with major countries were the products come from to blacklist and prosecute manufacturers/exporters and importers of substandard products,” he said.

Lack of or under-immunisation against diseases should not be a problem for a country like Nigeria. But many still find themselves in this tight corner of not getting the appropriate vaccines. The entry of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s sole focus on tackling it worsened the vaccination situation for other vaccine-preventable diseases. Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows a decline in Nigeria’s immunisation coverage in the year 2020 compared to 2019, writes MOSES EMORINKEN

On a hot afternoon in Maiduguri, Borno State, Hajia Bintu Mustapha sat alone outside her room in the Gwange 3 area of the city, dressed in a full-length black hijab. The house was silent as was much of the city whose residents were mostly fasting. But the silence in Mustapha’s compound was from a broken heart.

It was exactly one week that her five-year-old daughter Zara succumbed to an ‘attack from evil spirit’. Mustapha had lost seven other children to sickle cell anaemia but, according to her, the ever bubbly Zara was the first to die from ‘a spiritual attack.’ She has had 14 children with only six surviving.

“I never took Zara for routine immunisation appointments, but I believe she died of a spiritual attack,” said the 45-year-old. Mustapha rummaged for a while in a white paper carton for Zara’s death certificate before remembering that she had yet to collect it at the Maiduguri University Teaching Hospital.

Sickle cell disease runs in the family. But Mustapha maintained Zara did not die of an anaemic condition. Zara was a healthy child, unlike some of her other children.

“Zara was not a sickle cell carrier. She never spent a day in the hospital. Unlike my other children, she crawled and walked at the right time. She was never sickly or frail. I was ill for some time after Zara was born. Another child was also ill at the same time. I forgot to take her to the clinic for immunisation in the confusion. But to me, this was a spiritual attack,” said the bereaved mother.

However, a neighbour, Hassan Kachallah, an engineer, disagreed with Mustapha. Kachallah runs a popular after school Islamic centre in the Gwange neighbourhood. Zara had been a punctual student.

“Unlike her usual character, I noticed that Zara had started lying on the mat complaining of headache at the centre. When I spoke with her mother, she said Zara had been administered Paracetamol. This continued for about a week and she kept coming to the centre with the same complaints. At a point, we thought it was a spiritual attack, so we invited a Mallam for spiritual prayers.

“But her condition got even worse. Suddenly, Zara started clenching her left palm and it would take a serious effort of the right palm to force the left palm open. I never knew the mother did not take her for routine immunisation. This is just negligence. By the time we rushed Zara to the MSF clinic close to the house, the left side of her body had started drooping. We were told to rush her to the Teaching Hospital and we did. She died two days after her admission,” said Kachallah.

Kachallah stressed that the untimely death of little Zara could have been averted had her mother taken her for routine immunisation. “This is looking more like a vaccine-preventable death,” he added.

Zara’s death is one too many. While immunisation is the right of every Nigerian child, Zara, like many other children, have become victims of lack of or under-immunisation against diseases that could have been prevented had they taken appropriate vaccines. Sadly, for those that survive the claws of death due to treatment, their lives never remain the same as they perpetually grapple with lifelong disabilities.

The national immunisation outlook for the country is worrisome, as data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows a decline in Nigeria’s immunisation coverage in the year 2020 compared to 2019. In 2019, a total of 6,842,505 children were immunised. This dropped to 6,616,734 in 2020.

Furthermore, there has been a decline in the number of children immunised across the country in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 2020 and 2019.

According to Patrick Akor, a UNICEF Immunisation Specialist, “in terms of the absolute number of children immunised in Nigeria in the first quarter (January – March) of 2019, 2020, and 2021, a total of 1,710,665; 1,683,011; and 1,626,644 children were immunised respectively.

“However, at the state level, nine (9) states performance was higher in 2021 compared to 2020. The states are Anambra, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Kano, Ondo, Oyo, Yobe and Niger.”

Why Nigeria must ramp up routine immunisation?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), immunisation currently prevents 2 to 3 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles.

The WHO maintains that the very low risk of an adverse event caused by a vaccine greatly outweighs the risk of illness and complications caused by natural infection.

There are now over 26 vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the WHO. Some of the main vaccine-preventable diseases are – Tuberculosis, Poliovirus, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Measles virus, Hepatitis B virus, Rotavirus, Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Yellow fever virus, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Hepatitis A virus, Varicella-Zoster virus.

While commemorating this year’s World Immunisation Week, with the theme ‘vaccines bring us closer,’ the Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, disclosed that thanks to vaccines, measles deaths fell dramatically from 2,600,000 in 1963, to 200,000 in 2019.

Also, 30 million children were saved between 2001 to 2010, and 40 million lives saved between 2011 to 2020. Ghebreyesus further stated that 50 million lives will be saved between 2021 to 2030 if global targets of immunising more children are met.

“By 2030, the Immunisation Agenda aims to achieve 90 per cent coverage for essential vaccines given in childhood and adolescence; halve the number of children who completely miss out on vaccination, and introduce 500 new vaccines in low and middle-income countries,” the WHO boss stated.

The big question is: can this be achieved domestically when globally, Nigeria is also not looking good; being garbed with the highest number of under-immunised children.

A 2019 estimate of the National Immunisation Coverage by the WHO and UNICEF, revealed that 10 countries account for 12.2 million (62 per cent) of the 20 million under or unvaccinated children globally. This list includes some countries with moderate or high coverage and very large birth cohorts, and other countries with substantially lower coverage. Middle-income countries occupy an increasing share of this list.

Ten countries account for 62 per cent of unprotected children. Nigeria accounts for 15 per cent, which translates to 3 million under or unvaccinated children globally. Other countries like India, accounts for 2.1 million; DR Congo, 2.1 million; Pakistan, 1.4 million; Ethiopia, 1.1 million; Brazil, 0.8 million; Philippines, 0.7 million; Indonesia, 0.7 million; Angola, 0.5 million; and Mexico, 0.5 million.

With the staggering figure of 3 million Nigerian children not fully immunised, if this number represented countries like Jamaica, Qatar, Namibia, Gambia, Botswana, Gabon, etc., with almost the same population number or less, it would mean that their citizens would have either died from vaccine-preventable diseases or rendered disabled.

The United Nations bodies posit that the African Region and countries affected by conflict are home to large numbers of “zero-dose children.” Among the countries, Nigeria is considered the most fragile, conflict-laden, and vulnerable.

‘Nigeria’s polio-free status still fragile’

In August last year, Nigeria celebrated her hard-earned and long-awaited poliovirus certification from the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) of the WHO. This is coming against the backdrop of decades of hard work by present and past patriotic Nigerians.

However, UNICEF has called for caution and the need for the country to ramp up efforts, and not celebrate too early to avoid a resurgence or importation of the disease on account of a drop in routine immunisation coverage, especially in conflict-ridden states. Also, two countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan are yet to be cleared of poliovirus, hence, the global health body’s warnings.

Will Nigeria let the labour, tears and blood of her heroes past (who created the template for the eradication of poliovirus) be in vain?

Speaking during a media dialogue on Routine Immunization and COVID-19 vaccination in Yola, Elizabeth Onitolo, the Communication for Development (C4D) Specialist with UNICEF, said: “Nigeria’s polio certification calls for cautious celebration. The success recorded is still fragile because immunisation coverage is still low. Many parents are still not compliant, while many children have not been vaccinated.

“Because of the COVID-19 lockdown last year, we told our mobilisers to urge mothers to go to health centres for immunisation. Many missed their schedule due to the lockdown. The mobilisers collected the numbers of the mothers, called and followed them up.

“For children under two years to combat recurring measles disease, one dose of measles vaccination is no longer enough. It has now been increased to two. Environmental sanitation and personal hygiene in communities are still very low, providing a possible ground for disease outbreak.

“Major causes of death amongst children are vaccine-preventable diseases. We must work assiduously to avoid a resurgence or importation of polio. Afghanistan and Pakistan are still polio-endemic. Routine Immunisation is very low in the country.

“Children are more vulnerable, therefore there is an urgent need to vaccinate them. We need to maintain herd immunity. This means that every child must complete routine immunisation. All caregivers must take their children for immunisation and ensure they complete their routine immunisation. We also have targeted mobilisation efforts at leaders including heads of households.”

Another issue is the frantic efforts by countries, including Nigeria, to ensure that their citizens are vaccinated against the deadly COVID-19 disease. As much as this is a worthy cause, health experts have warned that other vaccine-preventable diseases are suffering a decline in vaccination.

“But even as COVID-19 vaccines give us hope of light at the end of the tunnel, the pandemic has caused severe disruptions to immunisation services around the world. New WHO data shows that as a result of COVID-19, 60 immunisation campaigns are currently suspended in 50 countries. That means about 228 million children are vulnerable – right now – to deadly, vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, yellow fever and polio.

“Measles campaigns are the most affected, accounting for 23 of the postponed campaigns. Many measles campaigns have now been delayed for more than a year. In addition to targeted campaigns to prevent or respond to outbreaks, routine childhood immunisation services also continue to be disrupted by COVID-19.

“The latest WHO pulse survey shows that routine immunisation services were disrupted in more than a third of countries in the first quarter of 2021. While this represents a significant improvement over last year, it remains a serious concern. Gaps in vaccination coverage are already having grave real-world consequences.

“Serious measles outbreaks have occurred in several countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and Yemen. And the risk of measles outbreaks is mounting elsewhere, as more and more children miss out on the vaccines they so urgently need. So we must turn the tide quickly and rebound from these disruptions,” Ghebreyesus said.

UNICEF Chief of Immunisation Dr Robin Nandy added: “On the importance of delivering COVID-19 vaccine in parallel to existing childhood vaccinations as well, as more and more COVID-19 vaccines are available, there is a chance of further disruption of routine immunisation services. What we don’t want to see is the concurrent outbreak of other vaccine-preventable diseases, as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic because that will be a disaster to the health system, economy, families and communities.”

Economic consequences of lack of or under-immunisation

The WHO stated that: “every dollar spent on childhood immunisations yields US$44 in economic benefits. These include savings on medical costs and productivity loss.”

Immunisation does not only save lives and protect people, it is also an investment in the economic future of any country, as it improves the productivity index of its people.

Lack of immunisation is one of the major reasons for disabilities. With a lot of children being incapacitated by vaccine-preventable diseases, one can only imagine the kind of obscure and uncertain future they will have.

Since children are most at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, once any of these precious little ones contract the disease, they usually would get some kind of disability, even after treatment. Some of the disabilities include (not exhaustive): loss of limbs, retarding of brain functions, loss of sight, and other malfunctions of psychomotor organs required for optimal productivity.

A disabled person does not only become a burden to himself or herself, family and friends, but also an economic burden to his or her country. Such a person contributes little or nothing to the economic growth and development of a nation, but a substantial amount of the country’s collective wealth will be spent (directly or indirectly) for their daily well-being. Also, because such a person always needs proper care and attention, an additional person (usually a family member) will be rendered unproductive while taking care of them.

Collective responsibility for government and citizens

Making a success of protecting the Nigerian child from vaccine-preventable diseases is a collective responsibility of both the government and its people. While governments at all levels play a pivotal role, mothers and heads of families must ensure that their children are properly vaccinated and that they complete their immunisation schedule.

Like Hajia Bintu Mustapha who strongly believed that her daughter’s affliction and eventual demise was the result of an “attack from evil spirits,” many parents and guardians still belong to the same school of thought. Some wrap it all with trite religious statements like – “it is an act of God,” or “it is the will of God.” They waste too much time seeking spiritual interventions until it is too late for any medical intervention to save the soul of the child.

Rumours, myths, and misconceptions are as old as vaccines themselves, which go far back as the 20th century. This further complicates and emboldens false beliefs and conspiracy theories about diseases, vaccines, hence, the inertia of some to be immunised.

The government, civil society organisations (CSOs), international and local partners, and the heads of families have very important roles to play. So does the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

Speaking with The Nation, Dr Ejike Orji, a Public Health Specialist and Advocate, said: “In terms of impact, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has been making sure that routine immunisation goes on irrespective of the pandemic. I know that during the lockdown, there have been some little itches. However, after that, the immunisation has continued.

“Routine immunisation is one of the most important interventions to reduce infant and under-five mortalities. Even in malaria, we have been able to achieve a lot in terms of reduction. However, we will lose all of that if we don’t put our eyes on the ball. That is where strategic leadership, interventions, and prioritisation comes in.

“No health worker will go to an insecure place to have himself or herself killed. Therefore, the level of insecurity is disrupting our normal lives and social interventions. That is also where strategic leadership comes in. In those areas, logistics is not the primary concern; what is important now is securing the place. That is why we are saying people should pay attention to issues of security, and make sure that anyone who wants to do anything should have a secure environment to do his or her work.

“We have been talking about public education and community engagements. For me as a public health person and an advocate, that is what I have been talking about. We need to educate our people and engage the community in some of these issues.

“At the federal level, we are not doing so badly, but at the states level, the Governors are not doing enough. We need more advocacy at the state level so that they can put it as their line items when they are doing their budget appropriation.”

University College Hospital (UCH) Professor of Virology David Olaleye debunks the lies about COVID 19 vaccine affecting fertility, shortening life expectancy and other bogus unverifiable claims. In this interview, he provides insights into the complexities of vaccine development and tells why the COVID 19 vaccine marked an early entry for human vaccination.

Between the AIDS vaccines and the COVID 19 vaccines

You know, there are some basic things you must understand, the insinuation or suspicion is understandable especially as you said, we have HIV/AIDS now for over 30 years actually and medical science is still struggling with the HIV vaccine, even the treatment; the best of the treatment for HIV today which we have gone a long way from single monotherapy to two to now triple therapy, even with the triple you now have one pill a day, which is amazing how medical science have gone in terms of treatment but in terms of vaccine, yes it is been long and I would say, some people are frustrated because of the length of time but if people understand the nature; that is the biology of the two viruses, that is the HIV and the Corona SARS COV 2, you might be able to explain why it has been possible for the medical science community, particularly the NIH in the US and the other funders that supported the development of COVID 19 vaccine to come up with the vaccine so quickly.

One is that, the HIV is a virus that changes so frequently, the diversity of HIV is so wide, that coming up with a vaccine that is broadly protective is so challenging, developing a vaccine that will be broadly protective is the target.

If you look at the subtypes of HIV all around the world almost the same way within an individual, the variability; the virus gets into the system today and in 24 hours you already have very little variant because of the structure of the virus, that virulent complexity is not the same as with COVID or SARS COV 2, but apart from that, the knowledge that has been acquired over the 30 something years of HIV has been so amazing in the medical science, before HIV  people talked about influenza virus, it has been so well studied over generations, since 1918, the major pandemic, the Spanish flu, the knowledge gained over time have brought a lot of sub disciplines of biomedical science together –biochemistry, molecular biology and then virology, the available knowledge and technique together since the first outbreak of corona virus 2002/2003 has all been combined to help hasten the corona virus vaccine production. So it is not entirely correct that the corona virus vaccine was developed under one year, since 2002/2003 that the corona virus broke out in China, what we call SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), people recognise – the NIH and funders like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that this is a respiratory virus unlike HIV that spread sexually; blood transfusion and mother to child, that you can decide as an individual to avoid exposure but with respiratory viruses it is difficult, the mood of transmission in respiratory virus is difficult to control, it is a major public health challenge, so when you look at the relative risk of becoming infected with respiratory virus, it is in tens of hundredth of folds than those transmitted by sexual intercourse or blood transfusion, so before the outbreak of COVID, certain studies have been going on since the first outbreak of SARS in 2002/2003, so the technology of the mRNA vaccine the one by Pfizer and Modena has been developed years back before SARS COV 2. So, the studies have been ongoing long before now.

The urgency and mass infection of the COVID 19 virus

My submission to this is that anything that is life-threatening is considered important, but you look at the risk of exposure, the risk of becoming infected, look at the population base, in population health, which one spread faster and the control is beyond or maybe beyond one individual so efforts on funding will most likely go towards such at a higher degree.

COVID 19 vaccines, wearing masks, social distancing 

One interesting aspect of science is the wide range of people looking at the same thing from different angles and they see it differently, the biggest of what is being said is perception and perception is in the mind and that becomes very difficult to manage.

The basic thing is that science is truth; it deals with facts. When people set out to conduct a study, the aim of the study is very important, it links in almost all the time with the outcome, but the truth at the end of the day is the fact of the matter, when you say 2 plus 2, it remains 4 anywhere in the world, under any condition, that is science for you.  In medical science or in biological science, we know that all these things are there in nature that is why our study is different from what they do in physical science; physical science and engineering base their outcomes on principles of sciences but in medical or biological science, you are only uncovering what is already there, so your approach is very important and it will be related to your findings at the end of the day. So these so called scientists, the question is how do they design their studies?

What we know is that this virus is concentrated in saliva, and it comes out in breathe, the virus multiplies in the lining of the respiratory track, it multiplies there and it is expelled when we are talking, the force with which we speak or talk is very important because it is proportional to propelling what is released from the mouth; so when you cover your mouth, you prevent release of the things coming out to infect the next person.  And that is why distance is very important, if you are not shouting; we know, it has been studied by physicists and physiologists combined that the farthest that is released from one person to the other is 3 feet, one meter and that is why it is recommended that the distancing of two meters is required when you are in a gathering, people who are in crowded places are at higher risk than people in large open area from influenza; all respiratory viruses, it is not just peculiar to the SARS COV, it is applicable to all respiratory viruses generally.

So that is the principle of covering, so you prevent as much as possible the release and the other person that is covering you prevent from inhaling, so it is known that if two people cover, the risk of infection is almost negligible, if only one person cover, the risk of being infected is about 90 something percent, if none is covered, it is 100 percent risk. And then the basic principle of hand washing; when we talk there are secretions that comes out, we have droplet particles are so small that cannot be seen with ordinary human eye, by reflexes one can easily pass on the droplets from surfaces to the face. That is why it is advisable to wash hands with soap regularly.

Fear of depopulation and infertility

You have to give those with such thinking some benefit of the doubt; the virus seemingly to them emerged from nowhere, it destabilised peoples’ plan, by the year 2020 people had plans but today millions of people are gone! It’s unbelievable! But you know whatever is been said against the virus is all fear message without scientific citation, so part of what we need to do as science community is to use education to push back against these unverified claims. We should use information, use science to educate more people. The whole world is overwhelmed, so one must back up claims with science; people need to be rightly informed.

I am a member of the Oyo state COVID 19 taskforce, at the meeting, the governor said he wants to be guided by data, and that is the way to go, we must provide data; data to show real situation. I think what we need in the science community is a lot of information and date to show proof against what the mischief makers are trying to achieve. You have to be able to develop short straightforward messages backed with scientific proves to counter fear messages. It will be helpful to engage the religious leaders also, you mentioned the claim on infertility, I can tell you that there is nothing; absolutely nothing related in any way to show that the vaccine has such component to cause infertility. It was the same as the time with the polio vaccine. But the response was engaging the traditional institution to help make people better informed. That is what we must continue to do; people will come up with all kinds of mischief and hypothesis, as scientists we need to constantly use science and information to educate the public.

Infertility, reduction of life expectancy and other claims

You know I talked about perception, I think generally they are spreading fear. But the other side of the coin is that it is mischief. It is direct deliberate mischief. You know the human mind is very strange, some do this for commercial reasons, and others do this because of the state of mind that enjoys seeing people in serious problems. You know in the early days of SARS, people said they will be picking dead bodies along the streets and all sort of things, we haven’t seen that happen and that will not happen. Some are doing this for economics, look at when the pandemic broke out, ordinary simple lab equipment jumped in price, some people don’t just care, and they are more concerned about the money they want to make.  The other side is what you call the religious/political aspect. I am not a politician but as political scientists will tell you that all man belongs to that political classification, there is a strong divide and differences politically so you must see all kinds of people coming with different unfounded claims. The religious aspect is the one I consider very important, like I said we need to seriously and massively educate the men of God, the pastors, the Muslim cleric and other faith leaders. So it is a combination of factors; ignorance and mischief.

The variance of the COVID-19 virus in the UK, South Africa

One thing I want people to understand is that viruses will always mutate, it is the nature of the organism. Viruses don’t have the sub-units that are required to build structure, it is taken from the host cell…sometime the change is a result of the immune pressure of the host, some other viruses are because of their structure like the influenza virus assortment, so this organism mutate generally but what is important is what does it translate to, we talk of phenotypically (the physical structure of the virus) does it translate to faster transmission, which is what we have now, does it translate to a more virulent pathogenic that kills faster and kill more people like the AIDS virus?

So, generally it is in the nature of viruses to mutate into different variance. The vaccines that are available are also targeting the spike protein, that is where the virus is attached to the host cell, so when this variance is reported it is good but the real information is what does it mean? What does it translate to phenotypically? That is the most important thing. The one that is very critical is the ones we call the escape mutant, the surveillance and monitoring must be sustained.  People have been talking about herd immunity; herd immunity is the portion of people in a particular population to that have protective immunity, generally about 70 to 80 percent of a population to achieve what we call the dead end host situation.

Possibility of re-infection

There is the possibility but it is very rare, it is not a common occurrence, it is possible but not common, it is possible because of what is called the escape mutant; escape mutant is a variant that is different from what people have been exposed to or built immunity against. That is why monitoring is very important, we do not have enough data yet but people think what is currently happening in India could be some level of re-infection, they may be dealing with a variant that they were not exposed to before because it should ordinary at the level of the outbreak no matter what they would have had some level of herd immunity to protect them to some level, so it is possible with this escape mutant that is why surveillance and monitoring are very crucial.

Is it possible to be with COVID over three months or more?

What we know is that the range about 80 percent should be infected for no more than 14 to 21 days, beyond that we have also observed some people who have 50 to 60 days of infection but 90 days is probably what we need to do more study on, it could be serious to carry the virus for that long, but also you have some asymptomatic patients and some people that are called poor respondents in terms of immunity but pathologically it could be very serious if one carries the virus for that long, but from what we know of respiratory virus, is we know that within 6 weeks, it could be with the same infection but if its more than 6 weeks, you have probably been re-infected. Re-infection is common; it has been reported in Nigeria.

COVID 19 and local herbs

The herbs that are being used are things that are called anti-inflammatory agents. The anti-inflammatory agents have shown to help, but they are not anti-viral, anti-viral will clear virus, not anti-inflammatory agents, so some of these like bitter kola, bitter leaf, ginger and all some of things are either anti-inflammatory or immune boosters some of these products have been shown to boost the immune system, it is not peculiar to COVID, they are not specific for treatment. Then a lot of vegetables that we eat as food are known as anti-inflammatory agents and as anti-oxidants, so all those will help till the body immune system will help until the virus is eliminated by prescribed treatment. The immune system is a big factor to fight off diseases.

Can asymptomatic patients infect or not?

I think that is part of what enhanced the spread, the thing is that once you have the virus you can infect if you have the symptoms or not. In fact, that is the danger. Let me give you this statistics from our study, it’s just that I don’t want to sound as stigmatising, what we find is that among the population of those most infected are people working in crowded places, those working in an environment that are enclosed in air-conditioned offices. You see people who are not showing symptoms infecting others.  That is why it is so difficult to control.

When do you think the world will begin to normalise?

Globally, it is what the world will have to learn to live with, once vaccine becomes available as we now have and still developing, then the problem is almost solved, so it will be whether it will be an annual jab just like influenza, that we will know in another few years, there is this thing we call new normal, I think we may have to live with this as new normal, it may not just disappear overnight. Once this virus comes and gets established in human population, it is difficult to get rid of it.

The excuse of inadequate funding as one of the reasons for the protraction of the counter-insurgency war in the Northeast and other pockets of insurrections across the country has remained a source of concern, writes OKODILI NDIDI

How much can be given to the military that can be said to be sufficient? The Nigerian Army got N1 trillion in 28 months and yet troops in the frontline have continued to complain of inadequate weapons to fight.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, while appearing before the Senate Committee on Army, said the Army got N1,008.84 trillion as budget releases between January 2019 and the first quarter of 2021.

Briefing the Committee chaired by Senator Ali Ndume, the Finance Minister also revealed that apart from the budgetary provisions, there were instances where the Service Chiefs get special approvals for the fund from the President.

The minister gave a breakdown of the N1,008.84 trillion that was disbursed to the Army in the past two years as: N129.69 billion (Capital Expenditure); N39.76 billion (Overhead Cost); N681.79billion (Personnel Cost); and N157.6 billion (Special Releases). On capital funding, the Minister said: “In 2019, what was budgeted for the Nigerian Army was N19.6 billion, adding that N12.84 billion was released, representing 64.37 per cent.

She revealed further that in 2020, the total capital budget for the Nigerian Army was N34.37 billion “and this amount was released 100 per cent”.

According to her, “in 2021 (that is this current year), the total budget for the Nigerian Army is N29 billion as of April. We have released N17.98 billion of that, which is 68.92 per cent. It means we are on course to also release 100 per cent.

“There was outside-of-budget spending because the need was higher than what was provided for in the budget. There was a total provision of N64.5 billion for procurement of military equipment that was provided for through special approval of Mr. President.

“In terms of overhead cost, in 2019, what was budgeted as was N15.64 billion out of which we released N14.299 billion representing 91.01 per cent.

Read Also: Insecurity: States, varsities, others adopt self-defence measures

“In 2020, what was budgeted for overhead was N20.634 billion and N20.471 billion was released, representing 99.21 per cent.

“In 2021, which is the current year, the total budget for the year is N20.63 billion and three months releases that we have done so far on overhead totalling N4.99 billion representing 96.75 per cent of the prorated budget for the three months because the year is still running.”

On personnel cost, she said: “In 2019, what was budgeted as Personnel Cost for the Nigerian Army was N192.155 billion but because of the adjustment that we have had to make for the minimum wage, the releases were 122.91 per cent over the budget at N237.42 billion.”

Despite this, the Army is still asking for more funds to be allocated to it in the proposed supplementary budget that will soon be presented to the National Assembly.

Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru said troops lacked weapon to defeat the terrorists.

According to the Army Chief, it is difficult to curb banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, secession threats and other forms of criminality without the required weapons and hardware.

Attahiru appealed to the Senate to consider the financial need of the Army, which he termed critical while appropriating funds.

According to him, “to finally defeat the current security threats, the Nigerian Army requires equipment, weapons, armoured fighting vehicles, platforms and other combat enablers.

“I urge you to as a matter of urgency, consider these critical needs as you legislate and appropriate funds. I will be counting on your support so that we can efficiently perform our constitutional roles and defeat all our threats”.

The country is on the verge of submitting to terrorists’ threat. There are increased and brazen cases of mass abduction and murder of students and travellers. The bandits are becoming more emboldened in the daily attacks. Security and Police Formations have come under attack across the country by ‘unknown gunmen’, with feeble or no resistance at all.

Policemen and soldiers are killed in their numbers daily in what appears to be Nigeria’s worst case of insecurity, yet there are not enough weapons to stop these merchants of death.

Ndume has called for more funding for the Army to prosecute the war against Boko Haram and other terror groups.

During a recent visit to the Chief of Army Staff, Ndume said the Senate is not interested in probing how previous funds released for the purchase of arms were managed but was looking forward to ways of sourcing more money for the military.

He added that the concern of the Senate was how to adequately motivate the Military to win the terror war as soon as possible.

A security expert and a former State Director of the Department of State Security (DSS), Peter Ejiofor, blamed the woes of the Nigerian Military on underfunding and misappropriation of funds.

According to him, the military needs adequate funds but more should be done to ensure that available funds are put to good use.

He said: “It is a combination of both underfunding and diversion of funds. You can agree that security generally according to our Constitution, is the primary purpose of government. So we must give our security priority, even if you give one N1 trillion in the last 28 months, what does it translate to in terms of the security challenges we have today.

“There was a time I did a study and discovered that over 70% of the military budget is on recurrent and not on capital expenditure, the money that would have been used to purchase equipment and that only that in that budget, how much is released, so you can make a budget for N1 trillion and at the end of it, only N500 billion is released, the records are there. So it’s coupled with underfunding, lack of release of funds and again corruption. The little ones that they have are not judiciously used.

“Government is a continuum, if anyone comes and takes over, he gets a handover note and to say this is what we have. The Chief of Army Staff (Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru) was at the National Assembly and was even rude to the Senate that he cannot answer their question that they should go and call the former Chief of Army Staff (Turkur Buratai), as if he didn’t take over from the former Chief of Army Staff and what did the former Chief do, he was the same person being rewarded with ambassadorial appointments, that means that the government was satisfied with what he was doing.

“What is the National Assembly doing, they have now called for a supplementary budget for the military, do they follow up to say, as their oversight function to find out how this money is spent? Well, they want to tell you that it cannot be audited, it is for security, but you get an appropriation for security and say that it cannot be audited, where on earth does that happen. You have a lot of challenges.

“There are areas you can say that are classified, you can go and google and see the military strength of each country. The military of every country is determined by the armament and equipment they have, so what’s the secret about that? But there are some areas like the intelligence services and the SSS, there are many things they can do that does not come to the public domain. But what is wrong that we come out open about these things.

“Okay, when the money was released by the National Assembly for us to purchase aircraft, didn’t you know that they paid for twelve Tucano aircraft and that they were taking delivery of those aircraft? What’s the secret about that? We are just lazy and not only being lazy, but we are also corrupt.

“The National Assembly, on the other side, will be asking for money to pass a budget. And when the budget is passed, they will be looking for contracts from the military. So before you know it, all these monies are diverted, both the National Assembly and the Executive, everybody is looking for money at the detriment of the welfare and the security of the people, that is where we are now.

“The way out is that we have said that there should be increased funding for security but not just increasing the funding, it must be monitored to see that they are judiciously used and how do you do that, there should be periodic review of spending and the equipment purchased if they’re serious, not going to ask for money. When you go there, most of the contracts are being done by representatives of National Assembly members and when they want to buy, they buy substandard equipment.

“What is wrong if we have drones that will show us, yes, these bandits move in large numbers, they don’t hide their movement, they move in in groups. They move in motorcycles and vehicles, if you see that they are coming out from somewhere, of course, our military will wait for them, open fire and there will be casualty but when you allow them to kidnap people, they will begin to demand ransom, is that the way out?

“There should be strict monitoring of spending to ensure that they comply with the requirements because, in the budget, they specify what they want to buy, so why are you hiding what you’ve bought when you have told them what you wanted to buy. I know of one Agency that used their money to buy 16 items, with the money given to them and another agency that was given the same amount of money could only buy two items, so how do you reconcile that.

“Now how much was spent on buying cameras for Abuja and Lagos about $400 million? Is any of these cameras working? Is anyone talking about it? So, we can’t be moving round in a vicious circle and expect to make any progress.”

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry dubbed those querying how funds released for arms were expended ignorant.

It insisted that the monies so far approved for arms purchase were put to good use.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Musa Istifanus, stated that the $1 billion released by the Federal Government to procure arms was expended on the purpose it was approved.

He said the contractual agreement with the suppliers, the United States of America, was that the products would arrive three years after payment was made.

According to him, “those that were raising dust about the funds were doing so out of sheer ignorance of how the funds were used for the purpose it was raised. The Nigerian Government had spent N1 billion dollars in acquiring weapons for the war it is facing.

“Some ignorant people say they have not seen any weapon. I know where the weapons are. They are yet to come.

“We paid $496millon to the American government and it is getting to three years now, the Super Tucanos are yet to arrive. Last week, we received an email that it will come by 21st of July.”

By Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Mrs. Esther Omotayo, 42 and mother of one undergoes dialysis twice every week at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) as a result of renal complications.

Mrs. Omotayo’s present predicament started December 2nd, 2020 and was subsequently moved to Gbagada, General Hospital in Lagos. Parents and husband of the kidney failure victim have spent fortune. The dialysis is just to temporary reprieve from pains as the way out according to medical experts, is urgent kidney transplant.

The cost of the transplant and others put together is about N16.5 million, according to a private hospital in Abuja, the parents contacted to that effect. Unfortunately, the husband is a civil servant with the Lagos state government, while the father is a retired teacher and mother petty trader.

According to management of Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre, Abuja “a bill estimate covering the cost of kidney transplantation surgery, HLA, Crossmatch and DSA and dialysis with medications, immuno-suppressive drugs, laboratory investigations and nephrology consultation post transplant and a probable plasmapheresis session(s) is approximately N12,000,000 only.

Although some fees may arise, this can affect the listed bill below.”

Breakdown of the surgery expenses include kidney transplantation surgery N7.3 million; HLA, Crossmatch and DSA 1,060,000; dialysis (6weeks) – N630,000; immune-suppressive drugs (six months)-N1.6 million; laboratory investigations (six months N519,000; nephrology consultation (six months)-N30,000 and plasmaspheresis-N730,000.

Speaking with The Nation on her daughter’s ordeal, Mrs. Victoria Owa said that moved with empathy, they (parents) requested that Esther be referred to UITH as they (parents) reside in Ilorin.

Mrs. Owa said: “Esther has one and half years old boy. Esther has been diagnosed to have kidney disease. The whole thing started December 2nd, 2020 and since then she has been on dialysis and in and out of the hospital.

“She undergoes dialysis twice per week. And for every dialysis and other things we spend over N40,000. We also spend about N21,000 to buy two pints of blood per session for transfusion. For now we cannot give accurate record of what we have expended in monetary terms since the ailment began. But we have spent fortune all in the name of getting her on her feet. My husband is a retired person while I am a petty trader. Since this ailment started I have not had time for my

business. I spend every minute on her. I had to employ the services of helper to assist me.

“When the ailment showed up she was initially admitted at the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos. Later on we wrote a referral letter the management of the general hospital for to be transferred to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) in Ilorin here. as the burden of taking care of her would be too much for the husband.

“The cost of kidney transplant sent to us by the Zenith Hospital,

Abuja is in the region of N12 million without a donor, but, a donor according to the hospital would collect between N2.5 million and three million. The six weeks after the transplant we have to start buying the drugs and the drugs will go for about N120,000 per month. And she will be on those drugs for a whole year. Altogether the cost of all these is about N16.5 million.”

The Owas are accordingly sending a save-our-soul (SOS) to well meaning Nigerians and organisations to assist in saving the life of their daught.