The Nation Newspaper

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  • Counterfeit drugs in circulation, says NAFDAC

    The production and circulation of counterfeit drugs in the country is on decline, National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii has said.

    He spoke at a meeting with Inspectors and Registrars of Medicines from seven West African countries in Abuja.

    According to him, the prevalence of fake drugs, which was as high as 40 percent of medicines in circulation in 2001, has dropped to 6.4 per cent.

    He said: “According to studies conducted by NAFDAC from 2001 to 2012, there is a positive trend which shows a progressive decrease in counterfeit medicines in Nigeria.
    “The studies which were in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that in 2001, counterfeit stood at 40 percent as against 16.7 per cent in 2005.
    “National Survey on Quality of Medicines using Truscan showed that counterfeits stood at 6.4 per cent in 2012.”

    He said anti-malaria medicines are the most affected as about 19.6 percent of the medicines in circulation in Nigeria have been found to be counterfeits.

    “We took 910 samples of anti malaria medicines for the National Survey on Quality of Medicines. 732 of these samples passed, while 178 of the samples failed. The percentage of the anti malaria samples that passed was 80. 4, while the failure was 19.6 percent,” He stated.

    He stressed that the general low percentage recorded now is being threatened by renewed upsurge in the importation of counterfeit medicines into the country by drug barons.

    To really put a stop to the illicit business in Nigeria, he said that the Agency is pushing for review of its law to give life imprisonment for anybody found guilty of importing or producing fake medicines in Nigeria.

    Nigeria, he said, would soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to outlaw the importation of fake drugs from China to Nigeria.

  • Group hails Kingsley Kuku

    A civil society group, Coalition for National Development (CND), has lauded the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affair s and Chairman of the Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, on the success of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
    In a communique signed by the National Co-coordinator of CND, Femi Osabinu, he said the group reflects on issues of national interest. The communique reads: “We resolved that it is significant to appreciate the efforts of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Affair who is also the Chairman of the Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku.
    “We noted that peace has been restored in the Niger Delta region through the initiative if the federal government and efforts Hon Kingsley Kuku owing to the manner he manages the affairs of the Amnesty project with unalloyed dedication and commitment coupled with prudence and accountability.”
    Osabinu said the decision of the Federal Government to extend the Amnesty programme to accommodate additional 3,642 beneficiaries from Niger Delta is apt.
    He said this would guarantee absolute peace in the region and Nigeria as a whole.
    Osabinu urged Jonathan to pay more attention to the Amnesty Office.
    Osabinu said: “Mr. President is hereby urged to make good use of this recent development and repair our local refineries so as to enhance domestic processing of our crude oil. This we believe will reduce drastically the cost of fuel and annihilate poverty in Nigeria to a large extentiön.”

  • How Oyinlola’s administration abandoned N2.5b road, by witness

    MEMBERS of the Osun State Commission of Inquiry yesterday heard how a contractor handling the Honey Comb road project was paid N1.5 billion by the administration of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola for a job not done.

    The N2.5 billion project, now abandoned, was given to Messrs Habok Nigeria Ltd. It was to be financed on a 50-50 ratio by the state government and the 30 local government areas.

    Mr. David Oni, an engineer and former Permanent Secretary in the Works Ministry, who made the revelation, said his advice that the contract be terminated, earned him a transfer to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

    In his testimonies before the panel, Mr. Oni said he declined a directive to raise payment for the contract because there was no justification for it.

    Incumbent and retired officials of the Ministries of Works and Transport, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the BPP and the construction firm, took turns to testify yesterday.

    According to Mr. Adetuberu, who acted as spokesman to all the directors of works in the local government, the council areas began to complain about the project in 2006 when the contractor failed to continue with the implementation.
    He further testified that he and his colleagues were made to counter sign for payment to Messrs Habok Nigeria Ltd at a breakfast they held with the former governor.

    Adetuberu told his audience that they were threatened with transfer to teach at technical colleges if they proved stubborn
    In his own testimony, the Director of Highways, Mr Bamiduro, narrated how the project was taken away from his ministry and that of the local government of bottleneck.

    According to him, the construction had attained 38 per cent completion by the time it was taken away.
    Recounting his ordeal, Oni said he wrote a memo that there was no justification to pay the contractor when he was directed to raise payment.

    He claimed the former deputy governor Erelu Olusola Obada hosted the meeting where the termination of the project was first discussed.

    Erelu Obada is now the Minister of State for Defence.

    According to him, after the initial payment of N400 million to the contractor, another N500 million was paid before the final N250 million was paid even when works were not in progress.

    He said the issue to raise the payment for the contract was mentioned at another meeting allegedly held at the palace of the Oni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade.

    Also testifying, the Director-General of the BPP, Mr. Gbenga Abiola, said the government continued to pay the contractor to ensure completion.

    He said the option opened to the government as of then, was not to terminate but to continue with the project because so much funds had been sunk into it.

    Besides, the government felt the contractor might seek judicial redress for breach of contract.
    The hearing was adjourned till today.

  • 100 couples to get subsidised IVF treatment

    No fewer than 100 couples unable to have children will benefit from a subsidised In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment next month, courtesy of St Ives Specialist Hospital, Ikeja. It is to be sponsored by its foundation and benefactors.
    According to its Medical Director, Dr Tunde Okewale, infertility is a social and medical condition which has been tearing the family system apart and as such needed urgent attention.
    He said the foundation was doing this to alleviate the trauma and suffering associated with infertility among couples.
    “Normally a cycle of IVF treatment costs N1 million but it has been reduced to N400,000 per couple including the cost of injection, drugs and treatment,” Okewale added.
    The requirement for accessing treatment, he noted, is for couples to register between Friday, 14 and Sunday, September 30, at the hospital.
    Okewale said not all couples can achieve pregnancy without some forms of assistance.
    He said the governments of countries such as United Kingdom and the United States understand the importance of fertility by making IVF treatment free but will not allow the transfer of more than one embryo because they pay for their citizens.
    The Federal Government, he urged, should look into how it can assist couples who can’t afford it because it is not any different from tuberculosis or heart problems.

  • Accident claims 11 lives in Edo

    Two accidents that occurred on the Benin-Ore-Lagos Expressway last weekend claimed 11 lives.
    The accidents occurred barely three days after the car conveying four lecturers of the Igbinedion University, Okada, fell into the Ovia River, killing the occupants.
    On Saturday, eight persons died in an accident involving a Delta Line bus.
    Three persons died on Sunday in an accident involving a Benin transport company.
    The bodies were deposited at an undisclosed hospital, while the survivors were taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
    National Coordinator of the Save Accident Victims of Nigeria (SAVAN) Dr. Eddy Ehikhamenor urged drivers to be careful.

  • ‘Implement Mitee’s committee report now’

    The Federal Governemnt has been urged to implement the report of the Ledum Mitee Technical Committee on Niger Delta.
    National Association of Niger Delta Students (NANDS) said the implementation of the recommendations in the report would ensure justice and equity for the aggrieved people of the region.
    Speaking in Abuja at the presentation of award of excellence to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation, Capt. Usman Iyal, at the weekend, the group’s National President, Lucky Emonefe, said the implementation would enhance the Amnesty programme for ex-militants.
    He said Capt. Iyal was recognised for his diligent, patriotic, transparent service to the country’s aviation industry.
    Emonefe also hailed his dogged commitment to nation building as well as his support for the transformation agenda of Mr. President.
    On the implemenation of the Mitee’s report, Emonefe said: “Capitalism has given birth to deprivation, which has crushed the people of the Niger Delta.
    “Whereas sky scrapers and fly-overs are built with oil money in distant parts of the country, the Niger Delta could only boast of a dejected milieu.
    “For example, Nigeria is a conglomerate of different regions that are numerically un-equal. The Niger-Delta is in the minority, though it is the economic base of the nation.
    “It is sad that the Niger Delta struggle is replete with tales of woe and misery; right from Isaac Boro’s 12-day revolution to Ken SaroWiwa’s MOSOP…”
    As part of efforts towards reawakening the people, Emonefe said the organisation is set to launch several initiatives that include seminars on sensitisation and awareness campaign.
    The students urged the Presidential aide to see the award as a catalyst to do more for the country.
    Iyal praised them for being constructively critical of the challenges facing the region.
    He said: “What makes me more proud is what you said about the views and ideas of the people from your place. It will be a total disappointment for someone like me not to give you my total support.”

     

  • Cynthia’s body still at LASUTH

    THE body of slain Cynthia, daughter of Maj. Gen. Frank Osukogu, is still lying unclaimed at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
    Cynthia was killed by her facebook friends on July 22 in Lagos.
    The autopsy was said to have been concluded, but there was no member of her family to collect the body.
    A source, who spoke in confidence, said it could be that the hospital or police have not invited her family to come and claim the body.
    It was learnt that the Commissioner of Police, Umaru Manko, said the pathologist did not complete the autopsy, hence Cynthia’s body could not be released for burial last weekend. The source said the police needed to conclude the autopsy since the report was vital to the trial of the suspects who had confessed to killing the girl.
    Cynthia’s burial, which was scheduled for last weekend in Boji Boji-Owa, Delta State, had to be postponed because her body was still lying at the LASUTH morgue.

  • Edo warns on posters

    The Edo State Government has said residents must take permission from the Ministry of Environment before pasting posters and erecting billboards across the state.
    At a stakeholders’ meeting at the weekend in Benin, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji A. H. Ikhelowa said the indiscriminate pasting of posters across the state.
    The consultant on outdoor media adverts to the state government, Mr. Roland Oriakhi stated that for the good of the state government in creating a better environment to be realized, there was need for the people to key into the vision of government.

  • Akpabio,Uduaghan,Oshiomhole advocate 50 per cent derivation

    Akwa-Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has urged all zones in the federation tap the natural resources available across the country.
    He urged the Federal Government to increase the 13 per cent derivation to 50 per cent in order to develop the Southsouth.
    Akpabio spoke yesterday in Asaba, the Delta State capital, at the advocacy workshop on Economic Diversification and Enhanced Revenue Generation organised by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
    He urged RMAFC to come with a blueprint that would increase the derivation to 50 per cent, as well as policies that would allow the regions develop at their own pace by exploring other sources of revenue outside oil.
    Akpabio said: “We have resources that are untapped, but because of our monolithic economy and over-reliance on oil wealth, we have failed to explore other areas.
    “When there is a reduction in the benchmark for oil, our resources dwindle because we do not have any other source of income. This clearly reflects the urgent need for us to diversify our economy and broaden our revenue base. The decline in the manufacturing sector and others must be addressed urgently.”
    The host, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, represented by his deputy, Mr. Pius Odubu, also emphasised the need to diversify the nation’s economy from oil revenue.
    They hinged their call for an increase of the derivation revenue on the need to urgently address the degradation caused by oil exploration in the Niger Delta.
    Uduaghan, who opened the workshop, said: “We still believe that 50 per cent derivation should come to the region, because of the environmental degradation and poverty in the area.
    “We need to mitigate the effect of oil exploration on our people; we need to clean up the seas and ensure that there are no more environmental damages.
    “This involves a lot of fund and what is coming now is insignificant. Fifty per cent will be considerate. We appeal to our brothers advocating the removal of the on shore/off shore dichotomy that it is a no go area. The matter has been laid to rest for good.”
    Stressing that some states rely so much on the Federal Allocation that they fail to exploit the natural resources in their domain, the governor said: “We only noticed recently that there are oil deposits in Sokoto State because neighbouring countries, such as Chad and Niger, were exploring the resources in Nigeria’s territory. In the 1960s when agriculture used to be the mainstay of the nation’s economy, we hear of the Groundnut Pyramid in the North and the Cocoa House in the West.
    “I think we should start looking at the things each state can do to avoid going to Abuja every month for allocation. We are supposed to develop our infrastructure and make the state economically viable, such that we generate revenue and pay tax to the federal government.
    “We should focus on things that would unite this country and not things that will divide us. I support the 50 per cent derivation.”
    RMAFC Chairman Elias Mbam said the workshop was the third in the series organised by his commission in the six geo-political zones.
    He said the aim was to sensitise the federal, state and local governments and other stakeholders on the urgent need to diversify their respective sources of revenue.
    Mbam said: “It was also envisaged that by organising these workshops on zonal basis, states in each geopolitical zone would explore their peculiar potentials and share experiences on how to develop their resources to generate more revenue.”

  • ACN chair challenges tribunal’s verdict at Appeal Court

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Chairman in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, Prince Saheed Popoola, has challenged the nullification of his verdict by the local government election petition tribunal at the Appeal Court.

    The tribunal last month nullified the result of the local government by-election conducted in January last year in Offa. It ordered a fresh poll in the council within 120 days.

    Dissatisfied, the chairmanship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Abdulwaheed S. Olanipekun, approached the tribunal for rectification.

    In his appeal, Prince Popoola, through his counsel, H.O. Buhari, prayed the appellate court to set aside the decision of the lower tribunal.

    He also urged the court to “dismiss the petition of the petitioners or in the alternative order a retrial of the petition before another local government election tribunal.”

    The appellants argued that “the tribunal erred in law when it held that; ‘in view of the fact that Section 20 of the Electoral Law is inconsistent with Section 30 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), Section 20 of the electoral law is null and void and we so declare.’”

    His words: “The petitioner never made conflict between the Kwara State Electoral Law and the Electoral Act on issue before the tribunal; the parties never joined issues on what constitutes a valid length of notice. The tribunal raised the issue of conflict between the state local government electoral law and the Electoral Act in its judgment.

    “The tribunal did not invite counsel to address on it. The tribunal erred in law when it held ‘inconsequence, that the rerun election into Offa Local Government held on January 12 last year is invalid, unconstitutional, null and void and the election is accordingly nullified.’

    “The tribunal based its judgment on an already repealed law. Section 20 of the Kwara State Local Government Electoral Act, 2004 has since been repealed and amended by the state local government electoral (amendment) law 2010.

    “The tribunal erred in law, when it held that; ‘the 14 days notice provided by Section 20 of the Electoral law by virtue of which the rerun election of January 12 was conducted is grossly inadequate as against the 90 days provided by the Electoral Act, 2010. The election of January 12 was a by-election and not a fresh election.

    “The phrase ‘rerun’ is unknown to the local government electoral law of Kwara State.”