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Tag: consultant

  • The consultant who saw tomorrow

    The consultant who saw tomorrow

    Politicians have many consultants. Since they battle with executive stress, those who are high up usually have paid personal physicians.

    Some have advisers, or political aides domiciled in the universities and human rights enclaves. Others tap the media for problem solving

    Many patronise pastors, sundry spiritualists, including babalawos and other seers who claim to see tomorrow.

    The last category is more relevant during electioneering. It is because they can predict victory and failure, and they can also appease some supernatural forces to avert failure or convert it to success.

    To one of those who claim they can read the signs of the times went four politicians. The four are A, B, C, and D. One of them, A, was jostling for the position of party chairman. B was eyeing vice chairman. Since B was the only candidate for vice chairman, it was certain that he would be vice chairman unopposed. B did not need prayers again.

    But upon getting to the man in an Ijebu town of coastal Lagos, the powerful consultant picked another person, B, out of the four, saying that the crystal ball has told him he would be chairman. The three – B, C and D – protested, reminding him that they came because of A. The man shook his head, meaning ‘no way.’

    He insisted that B, who was not contesting for chairman, would be the chairman. They went back disappointed because B never bought form for chairmanship position.

    Upon request before they departed, the man reluctantly prayed for A. But as they were departing, he still pointed his finger at B, saying that he would still be party chairman. They ignored him and left. They doubted his capacity, competence and claim. They regretted consulting him. They lamented that they gave money and other things to a fake.

    READ ALSO: FULL LIST: Fully funded scholarships for Nigerian students in 2026

    The party congress came. A was defeated by his rival from another camp or caucus within the big party. But B was elected unopposed as vice chairman.

    However, suddenly, the chairman resigned, and since the state chapter could not hold a new congress, the party asked B to step into the shoe of chairman immediately.

    It was at that stage that the three of them remembered the prediction of the Ijebu man who claimed to see tomorrow.

    Trust replaced doubt. Henceforth, he became their permanent spiritual consultant in whom they were well pleased.

  • Benefits of IVF

    Dr Kenneth Egwuda is a Consultant, Gynaecologist and IVF Specialist with 12-year experience in assisted reproduction technology and minimal access surgery. He works at ALPS Hospital and Diagnostics, Rayfield in Jos, Plateau State. In his piece titled Ask Dr. Ken, he speaks on assisted reproduction technology, In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

    IVF is the series of fertility treatment aimed at fertilising the woman’s egg outside the body.

    The conventional way that pregnancy occurs is when fertilisation takes place in the fallopian tube and then implantation in the uterine cavity.

    In IVF, the eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and the sperm of the spouse or partner is used in fertilising the eggs. I will explain the process of IVF in four to five basic steps.

    The first step in IVF is administration of a series of medication that tend to grow a certain number of eggs from the ovaries of a woman.

    This process is called super ovulation and the medications are usually injectable to a large extend. The essence of the injection is to make a woman grow between five and 10 eggs. These eggs are retrieved in the theater and fertilised.

    The second stage of IVF is egg retrieval. After monitoring the eggs and have gotten to the size of about 18-20 millimeters in diameter, the final injection human chorionic gonadotropin is administered 34-36 hours after the egg retrieval is done. The retrieval is usually a minor procedure carriedout in the theatre under mild sedation. The eggs are retrieved using the ultrasound guidance. The procedure will last five to 10 minutes, after which she will be taken to a recovery room where she will stay for a while before going home.

    The third phase of the IVF treatment procedure is the fertilisation itself. The prepared sperm from the partner is added directly to the eggs in a glass ware or injected directly into the eggs with the aid of aspecial microscope. The product of fertilisation is kept in a controlled environment called the incubator where further development occurs.

    The fourth phase is the culturing of the fertilised egg. The fertilised eggs are usually cultured in the incubator. The incubators are special devices that have been programmed to stimulate the conditions that are obtainable in the normal human body. The fertilised eggs are cultured for three to five days as the case may be after which the next process, the embryo transfer is done.

    Usually one, two or three embryos may be transferred into the uterine cavityof the woman. The number of embryos to be transfer depends on a lot of factors. The policy governing assisted production technology in the state, region or country, the wish of the woman, her state of health, age and the possible complication that may arise following transfer of multiple numbers of embryos.

  • Consultant arraigned for alleged N2.23m visa fraud

    A consultant, Daniel Akpan, yesterday appeared at an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for alleged N2.23 million Australian visa fraud.

    Akpan, 34, who lives in Ikotun, Lagos, is charged with conspiracy, obtaining money under false pretence and stealing.

    He pleaded not guilty.

    Prosecuting Inspector Victor Eruada said Akpan and one other at large committed the offence between November and December 2018 at 22, Modupe Ayode Street, Araromi, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos.

    He alleged that the defendant obtained N2.23 million from the complainant, Mr. Osita Nnamani, with a promise to secure an Australian visa for him.

    Eruada said Akpan failed to procure the visa and refused to return the money.

    Chief Magistrate M. I. Dan-Oni admitted the defendant to N500, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    “The sureties should be employed, show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government and have their addresses verified.”

    The case continues on April 3.

  • 100 die from pregnancy complications, says consultant

    100 die from pregnancy complications, says consultant

    About 100 women were recorded to have died in Zamfara in 2016 due to pregnancy related complications, a medical consultant with the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Dr Abubakar Danladi, has said.

    Danladi said this on Tuesday in his presentation at a one-day meeting of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media on maternal mortality in the state, organised by the Advocacy Nigeria Network, an NGO.

    He said while Nigeria only contributed to about three per cent of the world population of seven billion people, it had remained responsible for most of the health care related burden on the globe.

    He also noted that this position was largely attained through the northern part of the country.

    He said pregnancy related death cases among Nigerian women had been discovered to be caused by eclampsia and loss of blood.

    According to him, there is poor political will on the side of the government to provide standard health care facilities with qualified personnel, drugs and equipment.

    He said most of the women, especially at the rural areas, did not get to access services where such issues were being addressed in appreciable level.

    He, therefore, urged the CSOs and the media to be more proactive in their activities, to ginger the government to do more in ensuring good health care delivery in the state.

    Responding, the chairman of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Mr Maiharaji Sala, assured that the media was always ready to carry out its responsibility.

    He pointed out that “we cannot, however, create news reports; so all stakeholders should be forthcoming with information whenever the need arises so that we can give the required publicity’’.

  • Court orders AGF, Army, IGP to produce WHO consultant

    Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Army to produce in court a medical doctor, Mohammed Mari Abba, who was accused of having a link with Boko Haram

    The court also ordered the Army to otherwise charge him to court.

    Abba, a consultant with World Health Organisation (WHO), was allegedly arrested in Yobe State in 2012.

    He had asked the court to declare his arrest and detention since 2012 without a valid court order as illegal and unlawful, grossly unconstitutional and a grave infringement on his fundamental rights to personal liberty.

    He asked the court to award him N500 million as damages for his illegal detention.

    In her ruling, Justice Nyako  told the Army to show cause why she should not order that the suspect should be released unconditionally, if they fail to produce him.

    Joined in the suit to enforce his fundamental rights are Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Federal Government, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Nigerian Army and the Director-General, State Security Service.

    Justice Nyako held: “The first thing I wish to raise in this case is on the case of the applicant. This applicant (Abba), who is suing in person is ‘missing’?. From the applicant’s case, which is not by proxy or on his behalf , is rather puzzling to me. The applicant, according to his wife, who deposed to the affidavit in support of the application is being kept by the respondent in an undisclosed place and his whereabouts are unknown.

    “However curiously, I have come across a process in the file dated 10/06/16 on behalf of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th respondents (AGF, FG, IGP, CDS), which claimed that the applicant has been charged in suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2015.

    “If this is correct, then, it will be safe to assume the 1st, 2n?d, 3rd and 5th respondents have an idea where the applicant may be.

    “I hereby order the 1st, 2n?d, 3rd and 5th respondents to produce the applicant before the court within 60 days? or charge him to court. On the alternative, they should show cause why I should not order them to release the applicant unconditionally.”

  • Consultant allegedly rapes colleague twice in office

    Consultant allegedly rapes colleague twice in office

    •Banker ‘rapes’ niece

    A consultant and a banker were yesterday arraigned before two magistrates’ courts’ in Ikeja, Lagos, for alleged rape.

    The consultant, Ayodele Agboola, 27, and the 33-year-old banker, Cyril Eze, were charged before Magistrate Y. R. Pinheiro and Magistrate Tajudeen Elias.

    Agboola was accused of raping his colleague, Victoria, 21, twice inside their office, Afolabi Aina Street off Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.

    Eze was charged with raping his 15-year-old niece in Dopemu, Lagos.

    Prosecuting Police Inspector Uche Simon told Magistrate Pinheiro that Agboola deliberately kept Victoria behind after the close of work to rape her. The prosecutor said the accused committed the act in his office when others had closed.

    “Immediately the complainant entered, he bolted the door behind her and pushed her on the ground. The complainant struggled with him, but the accused overpowered her, she shouted but no one could help as all the workers had gone home. He tore her pant and inserted his manhood inside her and forcefully had sex with her,” Simon said.

    Simon told the court that the accused committed the offence on August 20.

    Simon said the complainant concealed the incident because of shame and stigmatisation until the accused raped her again.

    “The complainant did not report the accused to the management because she does not want it to be made public, but when the incident repeated itself, she cried out,” he said.

    The offence, Simon said, contravened Section 258 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

    Agboola denied committing the offence and was granted N100,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    Magistrate Pinheiro adjourned the case till January 15.

    In Eze’s case, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Corporal Abibat Sulaiman, told Magistrate Elias yesterday that the accused committed the offence on December 4 at his home on Shomorin Street, Dopemu.

    According to her, the victim, who stays with the accused, ran outside the house after the incident.

    “She took to her heels but was rescued by some ‘Good Samaritans’ who brought her to the police station and the accused was apprehended,” she said.

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Elias granted him N250,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    He adjourned the case to January 6.

  • Consultant calls for stress-free homes

    A Consultant Psychiatrist with the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, Dr Fauziyah Oduguwa, has enjoined couples to maintain psychological, social and spiritual stability.

    In a lecture titled: Maintaining emotional and psychological balance for status change (Marriage) at a yearly seminar organised by The Criterion, Dr Oduguwa explained that marriage has four different stages – the newly married stage, which is the first 12 months of marriage; the early years, which are the first five years of marriage; the middle years, which are between five and 20 years of marriage and the later years, which are over more than 20 years of marriage.

    She explained that of all the stages, the third stage is the most characterised with emotional, psychological and physical stress which can all lead to emotional distress if not properly managed.

    “Emotional distress is a range of symptoms and experiences in a person that are commonly troubling, sometimes confusing or out of the ordinary which can lead to depression, illness, anxiety and psychosis,” she explained.

    She urged them to understand their rights and duties as husband and wife, communicate with each other, trust in Allah, be patient, forgive and relax to maintain emotional well-being.

    She said: “If however, emotional distress comes in, consider seeing a marriage counsellor, a psychologist or a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist may prescribe some medications and if they do not work, the couple may be advised to live separately and if none of these work, divorce is the last resort”

    Amir (President), Islamic Study Group of Nigeria, Alhaji Nurain Titilayo Odunsi, who spoke on Sustaining Social and Spiritual Stability in Time of Marital Stress, explained that marital stress is often caused by failure in spousal obligations, infertility, unforgiveness, lack of emotional and social support and impotency.

    He then urged them to try as much as possible to avoid the causes and offered remedies in the event of any sign of marital stress.

    “Always go back to Allah. Learn more about your faith and teach members of your family. Engage in healthy communication, spend more time alone together, forgive often, have more sex, and learn how to react to stress,” Alhaji Odunsi said.

    He also urged The Criterion to have a body for marriage counselling.

    “Marital stress will be a continuous phenomenon till the end of time. We have to learn how to cope with it and manage it. But do not use that to put more stress on those that are about to get married. Marriage is an essential part of our faith,” he said.

  • Price hike inimical to food security, says consultant

    INCREASED food prices will have negative impact on food security, an expert, Prof Abel  Ogunwale has  said.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunwale, a consultant to the  World Bank, said the  prices  of   commodities, especially those  grown  in the North, were experiencing spikes and could remain higher if there were no increase in local production following insecurity.

    He said markets are sensitive to price fluctuations and there are  impacts on household income and food consumption across the country.

    He  explained  that  acute price hike adds to inflationary pressures and  that poor consumers could spend even higher share of their limited income on food.

    In most  cases,  households of employees in urban areas are most affected by price increases.

    The main income source of paid employees, service sector and industrial livelihood groups is non-agricultural wage, which accounts for over 80 per cent of income.

    Apart from paid employees, he   noted  more low-income households are also affected in both rural and urban areas.

    When floods are taken into account, low-income groups and agricultural income-dependent livelihoods are worst hit, with the highest increase of under-nourishment among sharecroppers.

    However, Ogunwale  said  increasing purchasing power was essential to the undernourished to obtain access to food.

    Meanwhile, the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, Ibadan, has raised the alarm over the rising food prices, blaming the loss of 40 per cent of the nation’s total food production on farmers’ lack of storage facility.

    At the institute’s monthly seminar series held in Ibadan, Head, Productive Sector Group, Economic Policy Research Department (NISER), Dr. Timothy Oni, who delivered a paper titled: ‘Reducing food crop losses through post-harvest management in Nigeria’, said availability and accessibility of most food crops in Nigeria was being threatened, leading to an astronomical rise in food prices. He warned that if not quickly checked by the Federal Government, increase in population and dwindling land resources could lead to adverse impact on food security and economic development.

    He said: “It is necessary to reduce food crop losses in order to combat hunger, raise income and create employment along food supply chain and thus tame poverty in Nigeria.

    “Post-harvest losses due to inefficient harvesting, processing and storage techniques ranged between 20 and 40 per cent of the total food production in Nigeria. Rural areas typically have poor transportation, poor water supply, poor source of energy and poor marketing facilities. All these, coupled with predominance of poor farm implements and rudimentary post-harvest technology, worsen the problem of post-harvest food losses.”

    Oni added that despite the Federal Government’s effort in addressing some issues responsible for the loss, post-harvest food losses were still substantial while food imports bills have been rising in order to meet the shortfall in food availability.

  • Experts differ on ‘consultant’status

    Who should be a consultant?

    Doctors believe the term is the exclusive preserve of their profession. Other health care workers, such as pharmacists, physiotherapists and radiographers, among others, think differently, saying the title should be commonplace.

    A consultant, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, is a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and is employed to give advice about it to other people.

    Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State chapter, Dr Francis Faduyile, said only medical doctors should be called consultants because they link doctors and patients.

    Consultants, he said, are experts in various medical fields, with educational qualification and long years of practice.

    Former chairman NMA Lagos State, Dr Edamisan Temiye, said “consultant” is unique and sacred, thus it serves as a bridge between the doctor and his patient. “So, it serves as a bond between the doctor and the patient,” he noted.

    He said not many doctors can become consultants because there is a process which must be followed.

    This process, he said, takes a couple of years with specialised training in a given discipline.

    “This issue is clear. It is stated in the Scheme of Service about who should be called a consultant,” he said.

    Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) President Olumide Akintayo said professionals who have distinguished themselves in their job with the right education and qualification can become consultants.

    To the President, Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (NSP), Taiwo Oyewumi, medical doctors and their associations need to understand that every profession is evolving and, as such, there can be changes.

    Physotherapists, he said, provide consultation within their expertise and determine when patients/clients need to be referred to other healthcare professionals.

    He condemned Health Minister Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu’s resolve to appoint only medical doctors as consultants.

    Oyewumi said it should not be a must for every profession to conform to a single process or means to be appointed a consultant.

    Explaining who a consultant is, Oyewumi said: “It refers to any individual who possesses high level of expertise in an area of study, be it in engineering field, agriculture or medical field.

    This term, he said is not synonymous with the doctors alone but other professionals as well across various disciplines of human endeavours.

    He said: “One could take time to read bill boads erected at construction sites where names of consultants to a project are written.”

    Oyewumi further said consultants with in and outside the country visit Moore Plantation in Ibadan, Oyo State, on consultancy to teach staff on how to improve agricultural yields.

    He said people attain a particular level of proficiency in the area of patient management through higher studies and longer years of clinical practice.

    This, he said, is because a consultant orthopaedic surgeon does not understand what consultant neuro-physiotherapists do to put stroke patients back on their feet.

    “It is the expert that will apply his clinical expertise to put him back on his feet,” he added.

    Oyewumi said this would include giving instruction to a surgeon who would handle the patient’s recovery process.

    “So, people can attain a particular level of proficiency in a particular area of patients’ management by way of higher studies and longer years of clinical practice are called and appointed “consultants” across the world. It should not be different in Nigeria,” he said.

    The revised Scheme of Service for physiotherapists, he said, should be implemented.

    “The scheme of service expressly stated that Chief Physiotherapists serve as consultants,” he noted.

    He demanded for the implementation of the clause to the letter, adding that physiotherapists can be trained to become specialists and appointed as consultants or clinical specialists.

    Medical doctors, he said, should recognise specialisation and specialised services by physiotherapists and other professionals in the sector.

    President, Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), Mr Felix Faniran said every profession has consultants who grew to that position through education and long years of distinguished service on jobs.

  • Let them subject their methods to scientific proof

    Let them subject their methods to scientific proof

    WHAT are the causes of mental disorder?

    Factors leading to mental disorder are many. Some are genetic and can be passed from one family member to another, especially the major psychiatric disorder. We also have some biological factors, especially in pregnant women, through difficult delivery; the child may have brain disorder when growing up. Any lifestyle that can cause disorder or assault to the brain is biological.

    There are social and psychological issues. We live in an environment where we lack most social amenities; we spend hours in the traffic and return home to darkness. If you live that kind of life constantly, it will have bearing on the workings of your mind. But if you change that environment, you can see the difference when your life changes. Mental disorder can come as a result of all these factors.

    Is there an orthodox cure for mental disorder?

    It depends on the condition. There are different types of mental disorder. A patient may have generic mental disorder; grow up in a dysfunctional family with no support. Another patient may have a psychological disorder, maybe he didn’t get job on time and the two are in the peak of their mental disorder, their symptoms may appear similar but the causative factors are different and one will respond to treatment faster than the other. If the psychological case has a change of circumstances, he may not need to undergo treatment again, he will be well enough to be totally free, while the generic type may need to continue to take his drugs.

    So generic mental disorders take much longer time to cure?

    It makes the illness more severe. It depends on severity. Someone can be laughing at a patient who has mental disorder but if you look at him well, he may be having mental disorder. If you have sleep disorder and you have to be induced to sleep for more than two weeks, it is mental disorder. If you tell the thousands of people with that problem that they have mental disorder, they will deny. If I tell you the people we have managed-pastors, politicians, professionals, celebrities who have suffered mental disorder at some point and they are okay now. The people who have severe conditions are less than 10 percent of mental disorder patients.

    Can the diabolical be responsible for mental disorder?

    Some people believe that the cause is strictly spiritual like the step mum is responsible for the illness. What about the climes where they don’t practise polygamy, mental illness cuts across every race, gender, social economic group even in climes where they don’t believe in diabolical things? Let us not sweep everything under the banner of spiritual attack.

    Are you saying mental disorder cannot be caused by supernatural or diabolical means?

    Why do you have to single out mental disorder? What makes it so unique? Why not hypertension or diabetics?

    Because we can explain hypertension to some extent or even expect it…

    Does it mean what you cannot explain in our own realm must be supernatural?

    So are you saying it is not possible for spiritual forces to be responsible for mental disorder?

    You don’t rubbish people’s belief like that. Let’s look at it this way: some people believe whatever happens to you is the will of God, but does that excuse irresponsible behaviour and its consequences? We take everything that happens only on its spiritual face value; in the climes where things work, we see there is less emphasis on the spiritual.

    So the cause of mental disorder should not be seen only through the spiritual. We see the importance of knowledge, the rate of child mortality has reduced in the last 30 years because of immunisation, and sicknesses that were ascribed to demons in the past are now eradicated. Real knowledge brings fact and it is dependable.

    What is wrong with the traditional herbal treatment of mental disorder?

    We are not saying all our herbal drugs or traditional things are horrible. After all, the drugs we use are synthetic, taken from herbs and roots, but when you keep your methods close to your chest, how can we verify the truth in it? We have patients that were brought from herbalists because the man was just giving orthodox drugs to the patient.

    There was a herbalist who was using urine therapy and the patient ran back to the hospital. This is the problem we have with our people. If you are a herbalist, subject your methods to scientific experiment. If I prescribe a drug, it is open, the patients know the name and they can find out about it. But if you cannot show your methods openly, there is something fishy there.

    All these people claiming to have the cure for mental disorder, I am not rubbishing them, but let them come together; let them refine it in a scientific way. If someone is making claims of curing mental disorder, look for patients who are roaming about naked, pack 20 of them, your organisation can do it as corporate social responsibility, give the patients to the herbalist, let him treat them for one year and let’s see how many of them have been totally cured. Then we can now say scientifically, that this man truly has a cure for mental disorder and his methods can be reproduced. We are not competing with the herbalists at all.

    If they do that, they will lose their herbal secrets and how will they make money?

    Then it means he is selfish. The company that produces the drugs we are using is making money; they should come together and patent their drugs. They will make their money and the world will know it is this person that has invented this drug. It’s not difficult, it must be evidence-based.

    One herbalist said orthodox medicine only suppresses the disorder and does not cure it.

    Here, we don’t just treat, we also manage them. There are psychologists and occupational therapists that would ensure that the patient is not exposed to the conditions that caused the initial mental disorder. We train them in handcrafts.

    I have patients who have gone to become authors and those who are business people. They are doing well. Are you saying they are not totally cured? I have many high flying patients in all professions who have returned to their businesses and doing well, as long as they are still taking their medications.

    Is there an end to the taking of drugs?

    For some of them yes, just like a hypertensive patient still needs to take his medication. But for other cases like social or psychological mental disorder, such an individual may not need to take medications and you won’t know. As you are sitting there, I don’t know if you are taking medications, it’s not written on the face. The person sitting beside you may be a patient. So the duration varies just as the disorder varies.

    What will be your advice to those who may have cases like this? Come to hospital or herbalist?

    Take the patient to the hospital immediately. Don’t present late. When people have mental disorder, they should present it on time, many people shop around and hospitals are the last resort. That should not be so. When we have a problem, don’t let us be myopic and narrow our solution to spiritualism; look beyond that and ask yourself questions. You can pray and take action, but it is not a sin to come to the hospital.