Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki will today kick-start the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination to inoculate more residents against the deadly virus.

The kick-off for the rollout of the vaccines followed weekend’s successful delivery of 76,712 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 65,016 doses of Moderna and 11,696 doses of AstraZeneca.

The Health Educator, Edo State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ESPHDA), Mrs. Irene Uabor, told reporters yesterday in Benin, the state capital, that Edo State residents must come out and get vaccinated against the virus.

She said: “Governor Obaseki will, on August 23, 2021, kick-start the second phase vaccination to enable more residents to take the vaccines to protect them from COVID-19.

“All is set for the rollout of the vaccines to all communities across the 18 local government areas of the state as the government is committed to ensuring the health and safety of residents.

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“We charge all those who took the first dose of the vaccine to make themselves available for the booster dose, meant to provide full protection against the virus.

“We are also calling on everyone who is yet to be vaccinated to come out and get the vaccines as they are safe, free and effective.

“Vaccination is very important in the war against this common enemy of mankind. We charge you to visit the nearest vaccination points at events centres, churches, mosques, banks, markets, private hospitals, parks, schools, primary healthcare centres, government hospitals, among others, to take your shots.”

Uabor also urged Edo State residents not to disregard the state’s preventive protocols against the spread of the deadly virus to avoid infection and achieve total victory over the pandemic.

Connected Development (CODE), an NGO, has urged the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to set up a monitoring and evaluation team that will ensure that primary healthcare centres in the country maintain standards.

The Nasarawa State Lead of CODE, Amb. Salisu Oloko, stated this at a town hall meeting on COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project at  Kofar Pada, Keffi.

Oloko emphasised the need for the NPHCDA to ensure that all primary healthcare centres across the country have the capacity to host, store and administer COVID-19 vaccines.

He added that the healthcare system must be strengthened to be able to efficiently respond to health emergencies, such as COVID-19.

According to him, the NGO is concerned by the condition of the centres, where average citizens receive treatment and where COVID-19 vaccines sre stored and administered.

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“CODE recommends that the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) should set up a strong monitoring and evaluation team to routinely track PHCs to ensure that they maintain minimum standards, as stipulated by the agency.

“After three months of fieldwork and data analysis, we discovered that many primary healthcare centres fall below the minimum standards set by the NPHCDA.

“The centres are faced with grossly dilapidated infrastructure, poor and inadequate staffing, and lack of capacity to administer vaccines.

“Two out of every 10 facilities do not have any form of electricity; they supplement natural light with lanterns or torch lights, while some of them do not have access to clean water, thus relying on water from sources, like wells and rain water stored in tanks.

“With regards to vaccines’ storage and administration, only 56 out of the 90 PHCs assessed have the recommended pharmaceutical fridge to host vaccines,” Oloko said.

He said that some PHCs had shown effort in providing minimum standard health services, with the common service denominator amongst all the PHCs being the provision of ante-natal and maternity care recorded in 90 per cent of the facilities.

“ Although, the absence of sufficient personnel brings into question the quality of care mothers and babies received,” he said.

On his part, Mr Abdullahi Jamilu, Discipline, Environmental Health and Education Officer, advised government at all levels to address the challenges of understaffing of primary health care centres in the country. (NAN)

By far, President Muhammadu Buhari as of today ranks as the best president in agriculture. Never since the return of democracy in 1999 has Nigeria witnessed such resurgence in agriculture with all its value chain endeavours. NIRSAL is the silent driver behind the wheel.

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) was launched in 2011 and incorporated in 2013 wholly by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. And it has been discharging its mandate with clear-headed reforms for the rebirth of agriculture as of old.

The statistics are impressive. Over 12 million Nigerians are today actively engaged in the agriculture value chain. The evidences are manifest; at home and in the factories. Rice, cassava, palm produce and many others including poultry that constitute a staple in Nigeria are being produced in commercial quantity with value addition in a manner never before seen. The growth indices are in our faces. Unfortunately, it appears a few people are not happy with the strides made in agriculture. They are at pains to see well-produced local rice becoming the preferred by Nigerians. They cringe at the sight of local rice occupying huge spaces in Departmental Stores, major markets and in neighbourhood stores across the country. They suffer heart ache when they see locally produced palm and vegetable oil now beautifully packaged and branded. They are not happy that Nigeria has saved millions of dollars in forex from not importing wheat, millet, rice, beans etcetera as she used to.

Afflicted by a strange unpatriotic spirit, this garrulous few have turned the heat on NIRSAL. Their intendment, obviously, is to malign the agency and impugn the integrity of its Managing Director/CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed. Subtly deploying some elements in the media space, they have in recent time launched an articulated attack on the agency and its drivers in a manner intended to rubbish the brilliant feat the Buhari government has achieved these past recent years.

However, some of these critics may be excused. They act on a wrong premise of their misunderstanding of the status of NIRSAL. They figure that it’s yet another loan-granting institution for agribusiness. It’s not. Instead, it holds a $500 million capital obtained through debenture which is fully subscribed to by the CBN. It uses such capital to de-risk loans farmers get from banks. In other words, when a farmer obtains a loan from a bank, NIRSAL stands behind to reduce the risk on such loan for both the loaner and loanee; more like a guarantor than a loaner.

But no matter, it’s hard, almost impossible, to obliterate the landmarks and strides achieved by NIRSAL as it rallies to deepen agribusiness in the country. Even the sworn enemies of the Buhari government cannot deny the impact of NIRSAL in rapidly boosting agribusiness. Except, they are playing politics. But no sane mind would play politics with agriculture. It’s the pathway to food security, source of raw materials for the primary sector and a defining emblem of the sovereignty of the nation.

Abdulhameed as pioneer CEO long ago hit the ground running. Often, pioneers are encumbered by the newness, even strangeness of their office. Some are fazed by the stage they suddenly found themselves. Not Adbulhameed. To fully appreciate the impact of NIRSAL, it’s important to first appreciate its goals one of which is to de-risk agriculture and facilitate agribusiness by sharing credit risks with lenders (banks) and borrowers (farmers) across the agricultural value chain. It’s also to engender an increase in innovative agricultural insurance products available to smallholder farmers and boost the uptake of same.

Other briefs include to provide technical assistance to players across agricultural value chains, supporting them through the transition from agriculture as a way of life to agriculture as a business; incentivize institutions, especially commercial banks, that are responsive to Nigeria’s new agricultural financing paradigm, and to rate these institutions according to their responsiveness.

It is noteworthy that NIRSAL is not an armchair de-risker. Its officials do not generate data from hotel rooms and offices. They are hands-on, moving round the nation to make on-site assessment. Recently, in response to its Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) applications from two farmers, a palm kernel processor in Gbelebu, Ovia South-West LGA in Edo State and an integrated farm in Amafor Imeriewe in Ngor Okpala LGA of Imo State, they conducted pre-CRG issuance visits on both agribusinesses. It’s been the same process of on-site verification and assessment for all agribusinesses covered under its protective wing. The concept of NIRSAL by the government is commendable. It serves as a veritable tool for the promotion and sustenance of agribusiness for the purpose of making it attractive and profitable.

So far, it has facilitated the flow of over N148 billion from commercial banks and other sources into the agriculture sector since 2015. The key instrument in achieving this is the NIRSAL Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) facility which gives money-back assurance to lenders who lend to agriculture in line with laid down guidelines. And with this has come many benefits including creating a total of 373,752 direct jobs and an estimated 1.8 million indirect jobs in the pre-upstream, upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the agriculture value chain.

More than anything else, it has propelled agriculture from the low productivity level of subsistence farming to the profitable and more productive realm of mechanization, input supply, primary production, and processing.  This feeds well into the vision of Abdulhameed who has continued to insist that developing the nation’s agriculture value chain offers the most reliable pathway to achieving genuine socio-economic advancement for Nigeria. He believes that the niggling issues of crime, unemployment and inflation can be addressed by mainstreaming more Nigerians especially the youths into agribusiness. Nigeria has a huge youth population with many of them jobless, some have taken to the dangerous path of all manner of crime including cybercrime. Agribusiness offers a better alternative to wean them of crime and get them off the streets of perdition.

This is the essence of NIRSAL, a CBN initiative given more life under the Buhari government to make granting loans for agribusiness more attractive to lenders (banks). With close to 1,000 different agribusinesses assisted so far to access capital, and a risk crystallization rate of under 1%, NIRSAL’s $300 million risk-sharing facility remains the best option for businesses in the agriculture sector. The values it has added to agribusiness and the return on investment it has generated for the actors in the agribusiness space are inestimable totems that should elicit more funding for the agency rather than the cheap attempt to blackmail its leadership.

• Obadasha, an agronomist, writes from Abeokuta

Ogun has evacuated indigenes of the State who are students of the University of Jos(UNIJOS) over the threat of insecurity in Jos, Plateau State capital.

The killing of over 22 travellers, including four students with many injured in Jos by suspected hoodlums forced the management of UNIJOS to suspend the ongoing second-semester examination for the 2019/2020 academic session.

The evacuation exercise began on Sunday morning, the Special Assistant to Ogun State Governor on Students’ Affairs, Azeez Adeyemi, said.

Adeyemi told newsmen that Governor Dapo Abiodun provided five buses and security escorts to ensure the safe return of the stranded students.

He explained that the evacuation was carried out in conjunction with relevant stakeholders including security agencies, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS).

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“In line with the policy of Governor Dapo Abiodun on the protection of lives and property of every Ogun State indigene, the Governor has ordered the immediate evacuation of all the indigenes of the State studying in the university of Jos.

“This followed the crisis which erupted as a result of the killings of four students of the institution.

“We have provided five buses and security escorts to bring our children back home safely.

“No indigene of this State will be allowed to suffer or be abandoned irrespective of their political or religious affiliation. They are Ogun people and it is our duty to ensure their safety”, Adeyemi said.

NAOSS President, Oluwagbemileke Ogunrombi, said the state officials have already evacuated about 80 students and some corps members who are indigenes of the State from the troubled areas.

“We requested for two buses, but the state government magnanimously released five buses, not only buses but with a military escort. So, the students have been evacuated and taken to a safe haven.

“As at last time, we spoke with the team, about 80 students have been evacuated. Then, they said some Corp members are also joining them,” Ogunrombi said.

Executive Director of KNCV Nigeria, Dr. Bethrand Odume, has restated the commitment of his organisation, the USAID and the National Tuberculosis (TB) programme to finding the missing TB 300,000 cases in 14 States.

Nigeria has over 440,000 incident TB cases yearly and is ranked seventh out of the 30 highest-burden countries for tuberculosis.

In Africa, Nigeria is ranked second highest burden of the disease.

TB accounts for more than 10 percent of all deaths in Nigeria.

Every hour, nearly 30 people die from the disease, despite effective treatments being available.

In a statement to commemorate KNCV Nigeria’s fifth year anniversary, Dr Odume said: “The drive of our staff has been phenomenal and their commitment to fulfilling our vision and mission is beyond question.

READ ALSO: USAID, firm partner on job creation, food security

“I know that we will continue to ensure that we find the missing TB cases in 14 states where we work in Nigeria as we strive to see a Nigeria free of tuberculosis.

“Our gratitude also goes to our funder, USAID for the resources as well as their technical guidance and to state TB programs and facilities where we work.

“To the National TB Programme, we are grateful for their leadership and continued collaboration.

“KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation Nigeria is a local non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against tuberculosis (TB), the deadliest infectious disease in Nigeria. We are a national center of excellence for TB control that promotes effective, efficient, innovative, and sustainable tuberculosis control strategies in a national context.”

The Board Chairman of KNCV Nigeria, Prof John Idoko, added: “Through the last five years your talents and efforts have helped KNCV Nigeria to achieve significant successes. Together, we take pride in your accomplishments and commitment to excellence. Congratulations on the fifth anniversary.”

The National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) has pleaded Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to evacuate Lagos students from University of Jos (UNIJOS) in Plateau State.

The Nation reports students of the University had raised the alarm over the continued attacks on them by hoodlums, whom they said had killed four students in the last five days.

A statement signed by the union president, Shasanya Akinola and its Public Relation Officer, Hassan Abdulsalm respectively stated that students are helpless in the ongoing mayhem.

“Its saddening to hear that students are in a state where they don’t have family to defend them, rescue and ascertain their well-being in the middle of the ongoing crisis.

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“For that, we are so bittered and concerned about the uncertain and safety of our fellow brothers and sisters, because an injury to one is an injury to all,” the body said.

The Nation learnt some States, including Kogi and Gombe have moved to evacuate their indigenes studying at the University.

“We use this medium to call on the attention of our Governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu as a matter of urgency to look into this and come up with a strategic measure to evacuate our innocent Lagos Indigenous Students who are just schooling in the University of Jos to secure a better future for themselves and their families,” the body added.

The union also appealed to indigenous students in UNIJOS to remain calm and stay safe.