The Nation Newspaper

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  • Ekiti lawmakers begin N70m free health mission

    Ekiti State lawmakers have earmarked N70 million for the seventh free health mission (FHM), which starts today in 13 of the 26 constituencies in the state.

    House of Assembly Speaker Adewale Omirin told reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, that the lawmakers pooled a fraction of their constituencies’ funds for the project.

    Omirin said: “Free health mission remains a viable means of reaching the people and making useful impact on their lives. The health mission is part of the constituency projects of the Assembly members, but is being executed by the state government.

    “We decided not to take the constituency fund in cash from the state government because it is illegal for legislators to execute projects. “Project execution is a function of the executive arm. Apart from that, we do not want to be embarrassed like some lawmakers, who were being chased around by anti-graft agencies in the past for alleged poor execution of projects. Hence our resolve to allow the government execute the project.”

    Commissioner for Health Prof. Sola Fasubaa decried the low patronage of the 35 primary health centres by rural dwellers and urged the people to visit them whenever they are ill.

    He said: “The government has invested huge cash in the health sector, especially primary health care centres, and patronage of the health centres would ensure that the investment is not wasted.”

    Urging residents to take advantage of the free health mission, Fasubaa advised expectant mothers to register for antenatal and post natal care to reduce maternal and infant mortality.

    He said the FHM is a cost effective means of providing quality health care services at the grassroots, which can increase life expectancy.

  • Anambra 2014: ACN, PDP, APGA begin mobilisation

    Anambra 2014: ACN, PDP, APGA begin mobilisation

    The next governmorship election is expected to hold in February 2014 in Anambra State. Correspondent NWANOSIKE ONU writes on the preparation for the exercise by the political parties.

    olitical parties are on the track in Anambra State. Eyes are on the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Which one among the big three will produce Governor Peter Obi’s successor?

    Obi assumed the reins seven years ago. His party is formidable. But the ACN and PDP cannot be ignored in the state. They both have senators in the National Assembly.

    The parties have begun underground activities aimed at outsmarting one another.

    However, the major problem with them is that they are deeply enmeshed in intra-party crises. The only exception is the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Other smalleer parties, including Labour Party (LP), are also assailed by leadership tussles.

    The fallout is that their members have been defecting to the ANPP and ACN.

    For ACN, negotiating the bends towards the election has been smooth, beginning from the wards to the council level. Before, only former Chris Ngige, who now represents Anambra Central District in the senate, was the only prominent figure in the party. There is mass migration to the opposition party. Sources said that former Central Bank Governor Charles Soludo is fraternising with ACN. The source added that his romance with the party was responsible for his current ordeal in the hands of the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC.

    Anambra State ACN leader Senator Ngige has not formally said anything about his governorship ambition. However, In December, last year, he gathered the ACN faithful at his campaign office inAwka and showered them with gifts, including cars and bags of rice. Besides, he launched a scholarship scheme with 100 million naira to carter for the less privileged and widows in his senatorial zone.

    Ngige also gave N10m to the state secretariat of the party. He promised party members that, by March 2013, the second phase of the empowerment programme will hold in the state.

    A source said Ngige may surprise many people in the state with his delay tactics. He cited the senatorial race involving him and former Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili. Nobody expected him to appear in the race.

    ACN chairman Chief Amechi Obidike declared that his party will produce the next governor.

    He warned other political parties to stop blackmailing ACN and face the reality. He said the crisis-ridden parties are not fit to rule the state because they have failed to put their house in order.

    One of the ACN lawmakers from Idemili South Constituency, Ebele Obi, said ACN will transform the state, if voted into power.

  • French troops begin ground campaign

    French troops begin ground campaign

    FRANCE yesterday stepped up its military action in Mali, launching a ground offensive against Islamist rebels in a bid to bolster Malian troops who are struggling to push back insurgents threatening to advance on the capital, Bamako.

    The move took France’s intervention in its former colony into a potentially dangerous phase, marking a departure from its initial emphasis on airborne attacks against the al-Qaeda-linked militants in support of Mali’s army.

    French President François Hollande reiterated his country’s commitment to defeat the rebels and restore Mali’s territorial integrity, insisting that the action he authorised last week was “legitimate and necessary”.

    He told reporters in Paris: “Mali would have been entirely conquered and the terrorists would be in a position of force, not just to submit the Malian population to a regime it did not want but to put pressure on all the countries of West Africa.”

    Anxious to maintain the broad political backing for his action in the region, where France has a history of controversial interventions, he said it had “no economic or political calculation” but was “solely in the service of peace”.