The Nation Newspaper

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  • Nurses fight malaria, other preventable diseases

    Nurses fight malaria, other preventable diseases

    Nurses and midwives under the umbrella of the Forum for Local Government Nurses and Midwives (FOLGONM) are set to curb malaria and other preventable infectious diseases. These diseases are measles, pneumonia, diarrhoea, tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS.

    According to FOLGONM, the diseases account for 70 per cent of the estimated one million under-five deaths in the country.

    The group spoke at its scientific workshop in Lagos, with the theme Child health survival strategies: the Primary Health Care (PHC) approaches. It was sponsored by Reckitt Benkiser.

    Its chairman, Mrs Mary Lateef-Yusuf said malaria is the chief among the diseases responsible for 25 and 30 per cents of infants and young children’s deaths.

    The Lagos State Government, she said, is strengthening the PHC system to be able to treat the diseases.

    Brand Activation Manager, Reckitt Benkiser, Adejoke Akindolie said her company is partnering with the association to educate mothers on the danger of malaria and other preventable diseases.

    “We usually go with them to the various communities in the state to sensitised the people. We are also present in every PHC centre across the state. The company has distributed Mortein insecticide and branded baby towels some of the communities. Over 450 women at Pelewura Market in Lagos were beneficiaries,” Akindolie added.

  • We’re on top of security challenge in Kano, says Kwankwaso

    We’re on top of security challenge in Kano, says Kwankwaso

    FOR Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, his administration and security agencies are on top of the security challenges in the state.

    Kwankwaso, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, said the state has recovered from the security problems it experienced in January with its Internally Generated Revenue increasing from about N450 million to N1.7 billion.

    He said: “So, it(the crisis) is not something that is peculiar to Nigeria or to Kano. What is important is that the authorities -the state government and security agencies are on top of the situation.

    “We are working with security agencies, the general public is working with everybody to ensure that Kano is peaceful. Kano is a centre for commerce and anybody who is there will always want to support commerce. And we cannot run commerce and industries without peace.

    “Of course, we had an unfortunate attack on the 20th of January but if you checked the graph, you will see that it has gone down to almost zero. During the attack, we decided to impose a 24-hour curfew, it was reduced to 18, 12 hours and now it is zero. You could come out 24 hours to do your businesses.”

    Kwankwaso urged Nigerians not to see the Kano incident as an isolated case which cannot be overcome.

    The governor said: “You see, there was never a time in the history of any country or any state that there was no crisis. Some people in Nigeria are very, very forgetful. That is why I have a lot of respect for former President Olusegun Obasanjo. When we came in 1999, there were all sorts of religious crises, ethnic crises, killings of Northerners in the Southwest and in the Southeast, even in the Southsouth and vice versa.

    “We were just sleeping with one eye from 1999 and 2003 because the governors of Niger, Kano and others on the road would say corpses are coming to Kano, watch it.

    “We had few cases they were bringing corpses and immediately people saw them in Kano, they will start rioting. And along the line, they will attack people from those areas who were living in Kano. These are things that people have forgotten.

    “We also had the issue of Sharia which started in Zamfara and came through many other states including Kano. And that was really an issue of interest at that particular time. “So, there were many things. I don’t think there was anytime in the history of this country that leaders were not faced with challenges.

    “And what we have today is our own version of the security challenge that we are facing in Nigeria. That is why we are all up and doing. We are working round the clock to ensure that our states, especially Kano and other states, are safe so that Nigeria can continue to be peaceful and so that people can continue to be running their normal businesses.”

    Responding to a question, the governor said: “People are not deserting Kano, it is not true.”

    On security votes, Kwankwaso said the state has cancelled such a recurrent expenditure because it amounts to a waste of public funds.

    He said most political office holders used to divert security votes into personal use.

    He added: “To crown it all, we looked at areas of wastages; especially various governments are used to this security votes and in the opinion of the state government in Kano, that is an area that governments take money for their personal use in the name of security. So, we decided to cancel security votes.”

    To prove that the security challenge in Kano has abated, Kwankwaso said the state’s IGR has increased from N400million to about N1.7 billion per month.

    He said: “People are always asking where you get the money? It is simple. One, we decided to block all the loopholes, wastages within the government circle and even beyond.

    “Two, we have decided to improve on our IGR. And I am happy to say that when we came in, we were getting N400 million and N450 million from the records of the last administration but now we are well above N1.7 billion per month. Of course, even under the present security challenge.”

     

  • Pain cause of patients’ hospital visit

    Experts have identified pain as the major cause patients, visit to hospitals.

    According to a professor of Surgery and Head, Department of Surgery, Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Babatunde Solagberu, pain can be discomforting.

    Solagberu, who spoke at the launch of Flexilor, a pain molecule (drug) by Glenmark, appropriate assessment and management of pain is the major right of patients accessing care in the hospital.

    Pain, he noted, has several values because it can increase or reduce.

    Quoting the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), Solagberu said, pain is subjective and must be translated subjectively to objective measure.

    He said value should be given to pain being suffered by patients when they are treated to know their progression which is important to the outcome.

    The management of pain is multi-disciplinary and multi-modal because all health experts are involved, he noted.

    “Pain arises when the tissues around joint are ruptured or about to be ruptured. There are chemicals within the body that are called pain metabolise that are released once a tissue is damaged or there is a potential to damage. That is what usually starts off pain,” he added.

    He said efforts are geared towards removing the pain metabolise from the body because of the discomfort it causes.

    “Several measures such as washing away the metabolise chemical, exercise and applying local heat are used to remove the pain.

    “The effect of a pain killer is to maximise the effect of pain metabolise in the body and the way they are appreciated in the brain because of the motional component to the brain.

    About 60 per cent of an adult’s body is water,” he said.

    On the drug, he said, it can be combined with other drugs by specialists to treat serious cases which may include cancer among others.

    An Indian pain expert, Rishi Jain said the drug, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and a non-opioid, can cure all kinds of pains.

    It is different from other pain killers in similar doses because its safe to use by renal patients with digestive impairment.

  • Orji backs calls for state creation

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has supported calls for the creation of a new state in the Southeast.

    He said it would bring equality among the six geo-political zones.

    In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue, Orji said the creation of another state in the Southeast is not negotiable.

    He said though he is at the forefront of the call for the creation of Aba State, the new state can be created from any of the five eastern states. Orji said: “I am not particular about where the state will be created. What matters is that the zone gets an additional state.

    He praised those advocating the creation of new states in the region, especially Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, for their commitment and sacrifices.

    The governor said Ndigbo would not rest until their demand is met.

    He urged those who are not from the zone and are in places of authority to support Ndigbo.

     

  • Controversy trails return of schools in Abia

    Controversy has trailed the return of some public schools to the mission in Abia State.

    On September 14, the state government handed over 19 secondary schools to their original owners.

    Governor Theodore Orji, at the ceremony, said the return of schools to their original owners would be gradual.

    Orji said the certificates issued to the mission for the takeover of the schools were temporary and the government would watch how they run the schools for one year.

    Workers at the school are apprehensive of what their fate would be.

    Some teachers at the Holy Rosary Girls Secondary School in Umuahia North Local Government Area said they were afraid of losing their jobs.

    The situation is worse at Girls High School, Umueze, where the Methodist Church is insisting on an immediate and complete take-over.

    It was learnt that delegates from the church came to the school last Wednesday and told the headteacher to handover to them.

    An eyewitness said: “The headteacher told them to give her some days to prepare her handover note, but they refused. They even came with a mason, who started working on a part of the school fence that had collapsed.”

    A new signboard, which reads: “Methodist Church Nigeria School System, Methodist Girls High School”, has been mounted in front of the school.

    The headteacher, Mrs. J.E. Iroham, refused to comment on the development.

    She said: “I have already spoken to your colleague from the state radio station and will not speak again except I get clearance from my employers.”

    Commissioner for Education Mrs. Monica Phillips confirmed the incident at the school.

    She said: “We have heard of the confrontation by the Methodist Church. Such is expected and we are equal to the task. We are looking out for such problems and will tackle them as they come.

    “There is no ambiguity in the handover policy of the schools. The terms are clear. If they do not want the headteacher, let them bring whoever they want. We shall continue to pay the staff.”

     

  • Committee calls for blood donation

    Committee calls for blood donation

    Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC) has called for more blood donation to save lives.

    Its Executive Secretary, Dr Uwem Olusola-Oyekan said there were people who need blood to stay alive.

    Olusola-Oyekan, who spoke during a blood donation organised by Genotype Foundation at Malaria Research Centre (MRC), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

    She identified sickle cell disordered patients, road accident victims, women in labour and other medical emergencies as those who need blood to stay alive.

    Blood may be needed to reduce paternal, maternal and infant mortality ratio (IMR).

    According to her, only human blood can help these victims stay alive.

    Calling on Nigerians to donate blood voluntarily, she said, this is the only way to make blood available to patients who are in dire need of blood.

    Voluntary blood donation means that the individual is donating his blood without being forced to do so.

    Voluntary blood donors are special and responsible people with good blood quality.

    “When the blood is donated, it is tested for genotype, blood group and HIV/AIDS status which makes blood donors know their health status each time they donate blood.

    “They are not likely to have infections because they are well-schooled on healthy lifestyle, and as such stand a chance of staying healthy.

    “Blood donation is a very safe exercise. There is nothing to be afraid of in donating blood. The blood pressure of the donor will be checked, sugar level, blood sugar, cholesterol level and hypertension before the exercise can begin,” Olusola-Oyekan said.

    This, she said, can also help donors to know their fitness level.

    “The essence of encouraging voluntary blood donation is to ensure that there is enough blood in the blood bank; this will help to make blood ready for use by any patient even before the need arises.

    “Voluntary blood donors are rendering good service to the society. They are helping to save others’.

    Oyekan said blood can be donated between three to four months or at least, once a year. People from 18 to 65 years can donate blood. This has no effect, whatsoever on them. In fact, it will help their blood production.

    “If you do not donate blood, the body has a way of destroying it, because the blood is meant to last in our body for 90 to 120 days after which it is destroyed by itself,” she added.

    “Blood donation makes you healthy because you reproduce new red blood cells which transport oxygen through the circulatory system delivering to the necessary organs and tissues in the body,” she said.

  • US hails Oshiomhole on re-election

    The United States (US) Government has congratulated Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole on his re-election.

    The US Consul-General in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, expressed his government’s felicitations to Oshiomhole during a visit to the governor yesterday.

    Hawkins said: “I have come to congratulate you on your re-election.”

    He and Oshiomhole had a closed-door meeting for almost two hours.

  • Govt, NUT officials meet as schools fail to reopen in Lagos

    GOVERNMENT officials and the leadership of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Union Teachers (NUT) were meeting last night to resolve the dispute over the non-implementation of the 27.5 per cent Teachers Salary Allowance (TSA).

    The emergency parley was triggered by the teachers’ refusal to admit pupils in public secondary and primary schools to begin the 2012/2013 academic session after the long vacation.

    Talks between the government and NUT (state) officials had broken down when the government offered to effect the payment from January next year.

    According to the NUT chairmen in Lagos, Mr. Kayode Idowu, were being paid 9.2 per cent of the TSA, claiming that the government promised to implement the full pay from April 2011.

    Spokesman for the Lagos Ministry of Education, Lanre Bajulaiye said a meeting to resolve the strike was ongoing last night.

    “We are on it. We are in a meeting right now and the meeting may even extend till tomorrow (Tuesday). But I can assure you that something positive will come out of it,” Bajulaye said.

    As early as 7am yesterday, packs-carrying pupils were seen in their school uniforms boarding buses or trekking to schools.

    However, rather than receive lessons and information about the new academic session, they were left to their fate.

    In many of the schools visited, the teachers neither confirmed nor denied the strike but let the pupils loiter until they returned home on their own.

    The compound housing the Ikeja Junior and Senior High Schools were deserted before noon.

    The security man said the pupils had gone home while the principals of both schools were not around.

    Pupils who were seen hanging around the premises said their teachers did not attend to them.

    “They did not tell us anything. We only found that the gate was left open so when nothing was happening, students began to leave,” said a senior secondary pupil.

    At Itolo Girls’ Junior Secondary School, Surulere, the few teachers around refused to speak on the strike.

    “We cannot speak to the press because we were told not to. We cannot comment on the strike. If you want to hear anything at all go to the district office,” they said.

    Oluwaseyi Tako and Fasakin Tayo both from the Adebola Baptist Secondary School Surulere, were still basking in the euphoria of starting the new session having being promoted from JSS3 to SS1.

    However, they were denied entry at the school gate. “We met some of our teachers who told us to return home that they (teachers) are on strike so no school today yesterday” they said.

    At Costain Road, Bolaji Bayan and Faruq Bolaji, both primary pupils of St Paul Primary School, were busy playing when our reporter ran into them.

    With their shirts buttons loosened they were later joined by two other pupils as they hurled pebbles at each other in the heat of their ecstasy.

    “Our teachers asked us to go back home today though they did not tell us why, Bolaji said.

    ‘They asked us to come back on Wednesday if there is going to be school”, his friend, Bayan interjected.

    The scenario was the same at the Eko Akete Senior Secondary School Campbell Lagos Island wehre some of the rather confused pupils stayed back despite the instruction from their teachers to go back home. One of them Mathew Adeniyi said the teachers informed them of the strike late.

     

  • Edo stops Almajiri school project

    •Muslim women: we used grant judiciously

    THE Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has told the state’s branch of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) to discontinue the building of the Almajiri School in Benin, on which the association said it has spent N7.6 million.

    The project is part of the Federal Government’s Almajiri Education Project.

    A SUBEB official, Mrs. Esther Ogedengbe, in a letter to the Association, said the stop-work order was necessary to prevent the association from “misusing or diverting funds meant for the building of a basic three-classroom block”.

    The letter reads: “FOMWAN should discontinue the ongoing Almajiri project as a result of non-compliance with the implementation modalities of the National Commission for the Implementation of the Almajiri Education Project (NCIAEP).

    “The reason is that the SUBEB monitoring team could not locate the project, which is supposed to be on the premises of the association’s school at Iwogban Quarters on Ikpoba hill, Benin.”

    FOWMAN President Hajia Fatima Hassan said the association is not “misusing or diverting” funds meant for the project.

    Hajia Hassan said FOWMAN is developing a 1,000 x 1,000 plot of land it owns at Uteh on the Benin bypass for a 15-classroom block, which would be the school’s permanent site.

    She said the idea of building and equipping only a three-classroom block is contrary to her association’s proposal to NCIAEP, adding that their stay at Iwogban is at the mercy of the Nigerian Army, which is laying claims to the plot.

    Hajia Hassan said she was not aware that SUBEB was supposed to supervise the project, which she said is being supervised by “a competent five-man team”.

    She said the association spent N7.6 million of the grants on drilling a borehole and laying the foundation of a two-storey building.

     

  • Orji to Reps: Don’t overheat polity with threat

    Orji to Reps: Don’t overheat polity with threat

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has urged House of Representatives members not to overheat the polity with their impeachment threat against President Goodluck Jonathan over budget implementation.

    He said it could worsen the tension created by rising insecurity, and called for a peaceful resolution of the issues.

    The governor, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Ben Onyechere, said the “altercation” over budget implementation between the presidency and the National Assembly should be avoided.

    “It will exacerbate the current tension created by insecurity in parts of the northern states.

    “As such, we must be careful not to create unnecessary distractions from our focus, which is to provide and upgrade the living standards of our people while shunning measures that will increase political volatility,” he said.

    Orji said both arms of government must avoid any acts that could be detrimental to the common pursuit of the goal of providing democratic dividends to Nigerians.

    “The important thing now is to promote and protect the factors that project national unity because no one knows it all.”

    “The brewing impasse existing between the executive and legislature can be played down since it is not in the interest of the generality of the people we represent who are concerned with making ends meet at the moment.

    “Nothing can be better than peaceful resolution of misunderstanding particularly when it has to do with two essential arms of government such as executive and legislature.

    “It has become pertinent that we thread with care in order not to attract unnecessary attention from the international community as well as our local populace.”