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Tag: help

  • Help for IDPs in Jos

    Help for IDPs in Jos

    Hope is fading among internally displaced persons (IDPs). They are homeless, poorly clothed, barely feeding and in woeful health. Thankfully, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) is providing free medical treatment for those in Jos, the Plateau State capital. YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU reports

    It is not hard to imagine what would have become of internally displaced persons (IDPs) without non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Thousands count themselves lucky to escape from their communities in the Northeast as Boko Haram insurgents invaded. Many more were killed, some kidnapped. Those who fled have been grappling with a wide range of challenges at relief camps: bad weather, terrible accommodation, insufficient food, even diseases. Fate hurts. But the deepest cut may be that government has essentially turned its back on those who were violently pushed out of their comfort zones.       Thank goodness, the NGOs have been providing the little that the IDPs have, from camps to clothing items to meal rations. Now, in Jos, the Plateau State capital, one interventionist group has also treated thousands of IDPs for various health conditions. Boys who fled with their parents before they could be circumcised went  through the surgery at the camps. Eye patients’ vision improved. There was even talk of a school for IDP kids.

    The IDPs once thought the government would promptly come to their aid. They have since known better.

    The Stefanos Foundation provided the camp for the IDPs in Jos but the NGO is also losing hope as no government agency ever made attempt to show sympathy for the displaced persons.

    “I offered this camp to the IDPs since four months ago,” said the coordinator of the NGO, Mr. Mark Lipdo. “The camp is supposed to be a temporary one; we intended to move them out of danger zone and bring them here for safety, after which we expected relevant government agencies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA ) to come and take over from us and provide relief for these innocent Nigerians by providing them permanent homes and rehabilitate them, but up till now no government has come up in spite of our appeals.”

    Continuing, Lipdo said, “More than 20 communities were sacked by Boko Haram in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states. Most of the inhabitants of those communities were so lucky to escape. We were able to rescue some of them and brought them to this camp. There are more than 2,000 of them in Jos camps; there are 3,000 of them in Taraba State and another 3,000 in Abuja; they are all under the care of the Stefanos Foundation.

    “My most worry now is those IDPs that are still in Cameroon, there about 28,000 of them in Cameroon and they are in a very deplorable condition there. Recently there was an outbreak of cholera in the Cameroon camp and over 300 of them died of cholera due to the deplorable condition they are living in there. We are making frantic efforts to bring them down to Nigeria.

    “But while we are making efforts to reach out to those in Cameroon camps, we are facing serious medical challenges at the Jos camp which we have to address, especially with the harsh cold weather of Jos, these people are coming from warm zone and they are finding the Jos weather a challenge, many of the especially the kids are already victims of pneumonia due to the effect of the cold, so many of them are down with malaria, Hepatitis etc. So, since I am not a medical expert, we have to reach out to another charity organisation to come to their aid by offering free medical assistance. That was when we got the consent of Tina Bawa Ministry International to help out.

    The NGO organised a three-day medical outreach in the IDPs camp to attend to various medical challenges. The medical team comprising nurses, doctors and community health workers, set up clinics to handle specific cases. There was an eye clinic, sections for children and women, and there was a dental clinic as well as surgery theater, a laboratory and dispensary. There was a section for consulting medical doctors.

    The team treated such cases as pneumonia, malaria, hepatitis, among but they also found that most of the male children in the camp were not circumcised at infancy. Now between the age of 5 and 12 most were made to face the medical procedure at the camp. More than 50 of them underwent the surgery of circumcision during the free medical outreach.

    Most of the adults at the camp were tested fro eye problems like cataract and glaucoma. Some were given lenses to enhance their sight while some were given eye drop to correct their conditions. The drug dispensary unit attended to all the victims based on prescription the medical doctors. As many as the IDPs that are in the camp had their health challenges were attended to within the three day allocated for the medical outreach.

    The consultant medical doctor and head of the team Dr. Daniel Odom said the major challenge at the camp was malarial infection. Almost all the IDPs at the camp had cases of malaria, some diagnosed for Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, pneumonia, eye problems among others.

    The coordinator of Tina Bawa Ministry International, Rev Mrs. Tina Bawa, who sponsored the free medical outreach said, “The ministry is a church run by me and my husband. But like a non-governmental organisation, we have programme for the welfare of the less privileged especially children and women. I was moved when I was told of the plight of the women and children in this camp. We help vulnerable women and children of this nature, and we have done it in so many places across the country. It is a pity that in all crisis situations, women and children suffer the consequences. This is what is going on in this camp; these innocent children have been driven out of their homes for no fault of theirs. Now a Good Samaritan assembled the IDPs in camps for government to take over their responsibility. But as you can see, government has turned their attention away from these people.

    “So my ministry had to contact our volunteer medical personal across the country to come for another humanitarian work in this camp about 8 of them headed to the call, some are to busy to come, but those volunteer we have here are good enough to offer the best medical assistance to these IDPs. We know government have refused to cater for these innocent Nigerians, but we want to move from the level of lamentation into the level of action. If all other Nigerians will come to the aid of these people, they will not need government for anything. So, let us stop lamenting government inadequacy of carelessness, let us help them the little way we can.

    “Like I said, over 8 volunteer doctors were engaged in the four-day free medical program, with the aim of bringing soccure to these women and children. We need to  make them feel that despite their challenges there are people who care for them. That is what is expected of us as fellow Nigerians”

    The joy of the IDPs over the free medical program knows no bound, in spite of their deplorable condition, they could still put on some smiles to demonstrate their appreciation. One of them, Dauda Buba said, “I don’t know the last time I went to hospital for medical treatment, that should be over six months now. Since we were drove out of our homes by Boko Haram five months ago, I thought of only what to eat with my family, but today these angels of God decided to bring the hospital so close to us for free treatment. I ve been down with malaria since this new year, now I have been treated and given free drugs”

    Hamisu Dogo, 20, “I was treated for malaria, I was also screened for Hepatitis, but they said I did not have Hepatitis symptoms so I was given the prevention vaccine by the medical team”

    Founder of the Stefanos Foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo said, “I will not be discouraged by government’s refusal to cater for these people, I will continued to do my best to assist them, we are even making efforts to bring other IDPs trapped in Cameroon back to Jos.

    Mr. Lipdo also revealed the school plans for the IDPs, “It is obvious that government is not ready to come to the aid of these people, but the children of the IDPs deserved to be in school. So we have concluded arrangements to organize classes for them. We have so far identified about 405 children in the camp. We have purchased some exercise books and other instructional materials and very soon, the lessons will commence.

  • 2015 Politics: Oh God our help in ages past…

    2015 Politics: Oh God our help in ages past…

    As we pray for divine help in relation to the 2015 presidential and other elections, let us not forget that choosing a leader through elections is basically a terrestrial and not a celestial endeavour

    For a society that is world famous or notorious for having more prayer warriors than any other country of its size on the planet to have gone in the last few weeks into a higher praying gear must mean  that citizens are more apprehensive than they normally are. The source of apprehension appears to be the polity, particularly the conflict between the politics of tradition and change. So manifest is the perceived threat to Nigeria’s peace and progress that even the Pope found time to ask for a special prayer for Nigeria.  Obasanjo has also called for special prayers and fasting for Nigeria. Political and religious leaders and their followers are calling for divine intervention from various corners of the country in matters that are essentially human constructs. Those with the courage to recognise separation of church/mosque and state are calling in their own recommendations for caution and restraint on the part of politicians, as a way to save the country from the abyss in 2015.

    Given the stridency of calls on God to save the country, first-time visitors to the country would have thought that Christianity and Islam had just come to the country and that those in positions of leadership in the country have just known Jesus or Mohammed. Such people would not realise that there had been no time since 1960 that the country’s leaders had not been persons of Christian or Islamic faith. Even during the decades of military rule, all the dictators from Gowon to Abacha and their assistants were Christians or Muslims. Nothing is new about the current enthusiasm of political and cultural leaders to push political issues to God. This practice is in consonance with the habit of the average Nigerian to give unto God what is Caesar’s. Buck passing is an aspect of the proverbial Nigerian Factor.

    There seems to be no cogent reason for the palpable fear and tension that have enveloped the nation since the emergence of Buhari and Jonathan as presidential candidates of the country’s two major political parties. It is hard to find any reason for the panic that has become manifest in all sections of the polity, particularly among direct and indirect spokespersons for the status quo. Many young people are wondering why elders and adults in public life are worried stiff about 2015,  to the extent that those not calling frantically for prayers seem compelled by the look of things to call for  special protocols to replace the constitution.

    Just recently, a one-time minister of foreign affairs called  (apparently out of concern for peace and stability in the country) on presidential candidates and their parties to sign a special memorandum of  understanding in which they pledge not to allow their supporters to get violent after the presidential  election. One wrong assumption about post-election violence is that it is candidates and party leaders that allow voters to protest against election malpractice when citizens perceive that their votes have been stolen. In all the elections that had led to violence on account of rigging in this country: 1965 Western Nigeria’s parliamentary election; 1983 Ondo State gubernatorial election; and the spontaneous one at the end of the 2011 presidential election; there was no evidence that it was candidates or party leaders that instigated voters to get on the streets to defend their votes.  A more realistic and dependable way to prevent post-election violence is for INEC to ensure that the elections are not only free and fair but are also seen by members of all political parties to be free and fair. This is a surer way to prevent any violence than making candidates sign special Memorandum of Undertakings.

    It is INEC that is charged constitutionally to conduct free and fair elections.  It is not the job of the president to promise free and fair elections.  All encouragements should be given to INEC to do its job in such a way that it does not throw Nigeria into avoidable crisis on account of poor or substandard performance of a task that is crucial to the country’s peace and stability. The constitutional responsibility of the president vis-à-vis election does not go beyond ensuring adequate funding of the agency charged with conduct of election. It is not the job of the president to conduct election; he only needs to guarantee the independence of the electoral body. President Jonathan also has no reason to be promising that the election will be free and fair, as doing so implies that there is a role for the president in conducting an election constitutionally assigned to an independent electoral commission.

    Given the erratic nature of release of PVCs to registered voters, INEC does not appear to be doing enough to give citizens time to collect their PVCs.  The system of giving out PVCs on and off in different parts of the country at different times does not make for the efficiency required for the important task of ensuring that no duly registered citizen is disenfranchised. Part of the tension in the air must be related to the fact that there are still thousands or even millions of voters who are yet to collect their permanent voter cards six weeks to the election. For example, Elebu in Iddo Local Government area of Ibadan still had at the beginning of this week thousands of permanent voter cards waiting to be collected by their owners. There may be many more of such wards all over the country that are yet to release PVCs to potential voters.

    Instead of asking for memorandum of undertaking from candidates, efforts can still be made to ensure that INEC is able to give out all permanent voter cards before the elections. PVCs that are not collected by the end of January should be invalidated and their numbers published in national dailies. In other words, the best way to assure Nigerians that their votes matter is to ensure that INEC is able to conduct free and fair elections in an atmosphere that is devoid of any form of intimidation of voters. What happened in Ekiti and Osun States earlier in the year should not be a model for the 2015 elections. It is reassuring that President Jonathan had promised in his New Year message that INEC would be given all the support it needs to conduct free and fair elections in 2015.

    Our democracy must be prepared to experience whatever difficulties are part of electoral democracy. We should do everything to organise a credible election and have the courage to abide by citizens’ verdict at the polls. The strength of democracy is that candidates-be they incumbents or not-have the same chance to persuade citizens to vote for them at elections. And once an election is free and fair, any party that becomes violent then becomes an enemy of democracy and the country. And citizens should be up to the task to resist any senseless violence driven by any individual’s inordinate ambition. In other words, what needs to inspire pundits and citizens about the elections of February of 2015 is the imperative of free and fair election.

    Furthermore, media pundits need to avoid misleading the average voter through sensational headlines about perfect candidates for the presidency. There is no candidate anywhere in the world that is perfect for any office. It is not part of the culture of democracy to look for perfect candidates or messiahs.  Let our media assist our people to do what people do in other democracies: choose the best fit for the job at hand out of the many candidates presented by political parties. As we pray for divine help in relation to the 2015 presidential and other elections, let us not forget that choosing a leader through elections is basically a terrestrial and not a celestial endeavour. Putting electoral matters in hands of God may not be enough to guarantee free and fair elections.

    Let us remember that our responsibility as citizens and leaders is to ensure that the election to choose the next set of leaders to govern the country is transparently free and fair. Once an incontrovertibly free and fair election is assured, we can be sure that all the gods that 160 million Nigerians worship in different ways will be around to help shame anyone who opts for violence.

  • Wanted: Help before death comes for these babies

    Wanted: Help before death comes for these babies

    At the Hearts of Gold Hospice, Surulere, Lagos Mainland, two babies lay in abject pain waiting for mercy. Corporate bodies or individuals can heal their pains. They need corrective surgeries that can make living somewhat bearable for them.

    Unless help comes quickly, the angel of death may visit at any time and end the perpetual pain in which these babies alive.

    One of the babies, christened Baby Latoya who was brought to the hospice by officials of the Lagos State government after she was picked up from the point where she was abandoned by her parents, suffers from two devastating defects-Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. While the first is a condition in which a baby is in the womb and the spinal column does not close all of the way causing a variety of mental and social problems which would make the life of any child with the defect incomplete. Hydrocephalus on the other hand is derived from the Greek words “hydro” meaning water and “cephalus” meaning head. It  is a condition in which the primary characteristic is excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. Although hydrocephalus was once known as “water on the brain,” the “water” is actually cerebrospinalfluid (CSF) — a clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The excessive accumulation of CSF results in an abnormal widening of spaces in the brain called ventricles. This widening creates potentially harmful pressure on the tissues of the brain.  The most common indication of hydrocephalus in infants is often a rapid increase in head circumferenceor an unusually large head size. And children with the condition suffer a variety of conditions including vomiting, sleepiness, irritability, downward deviation of the eyes, and seizures.A visit to the Hospice would leave even the stone hearted sober for a number of hours. During our visit to the home last week, a lady cried without control until she was escorted out of the home by one of her colleagues. It is a place where you are reminded of the everyday privileges that we take for granted.

    Like the duo, children at the Hearts of Gold Hospice generally suffer from a wide range of congenital defects, some of which may be correctable through surgical interventions while others are terminal. Some other conditions which children in the home suffer from include congenital heart deformities. These defects leave most of these children in conditions which make them bed ridden for life and incapable of participating in mixing with members of the society, a reason for which a lot of parents terminate the lives of these children or abandon them in places where they are either picked up or left to die over a period of time.

    The Hearts of Gold Hospice was, in response to the pathetic way in which children with these physical and mental deformities are treated in October 2013. According to the Founder and Proprietor of the facility, which has 63 severely physically and mentally challenged children, Mrs Laja Adedoyin: “We opened our house on October 2, 2003 in response to the steadily increasing number of abandoned, orphaned and sick children suffering from a vast range of congenital abnormalities. The hospice offers free 24 hours, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, service for children with terminal or life threatening illnesses, offering a comfortable, caring and loving environment for them to live for the short period that they may have with us in the world. We provide respite support, palliative care, comfort and pain management even as we seek for assistance towards securing corrective surgeries for those children whose conditions give them a chance to live”

    Explaining that the hospice has children from every part of the country, Mrs Adedoyin noted that a lot of parents abandon their children with birth defect because there is no support system. In her words:

    “Parents of some of my children are usually not economically strong and have no idea where to go for help. These children are kept in obscure places, away from the society because of the stigma attached to having these class of children. They are often abused and rejected by their blood families. Some fathers would give the mothers ultimatum, chased out of her matrimonial home and faces rejection by in-laws.”

    Further showing concern for the plight of parents who have children with congenital defect, Mrs Adedoyin noted that: “ for majority of my children, surgical intervention is required to give them a new and near normal life and so when parents cannot afford this, they resort to all sorts of methods which is mostly not in the interest of the children. She therefore counselled parents  to parents, especially mothers is to hold on and seek help through the respective government institution insisting that there is always a measure of help that this governmental organisation can provide even if it is just to link them up with the right home to go to. Mrs Adedoyin who said that she is very fulfilled with what she is doing explained that the major challenge that her home has is getting the needed assistance and sponsorship for timely surgeries for the children. She noted that the lack of help sometimes jeopardises the lives of the children and expresses the hope that more Nigerians would come forward and lend a helping hand to secure the survival of more of the children in the home.

    She thanked the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fasola for the unquantifiable assistance that the home has received from him as well as corporate bodies and individuals who have continued to take care of my children, my prayer is that God almighty will take care of them too.”

     

  • ‘Help, my daughter is dying’

    ‘Help, my daughter is dying’

    •Woman needs N7m to tackle daughter’s ailment

    What have I not sold to see my daughter regain her peace since a year now? Where else will I run to, God?” Mrs Hawawu Moronkola, a teacher, fought back tears yesterday as she bemoaned the worsening plight of her ailing daughter.

    Three-year-old Sofiyyah Moronkola, according to her mother, was full of life until about a year ago, when it was discovered that her brain was harbouring a tumour. She has since remained in pains.

    The girl needs an urgent corrective surgery in an Indian hospital where her problem is being handled. Her helpless mother is hoping that Nigerians will come to her aid and give her daughter the opportunity to live well again.

    She first underwent a surgery at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, but her condition later relapsed, hence her referral to India.

    Doctors attending to her in an Indian hospital said the successful removal of the tumour would gulp a whopping N7 million.

    Dr Shibu Pillai of the Department of Neuro Surgery, who is attending to her at the hospital, told her family that because of her age, Sofiyyah would “need chemotherapy instead of radiotherapy.”

    Also Dr Sunil Bhat of the Paediatric Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Department of the hospital said she needs urgent attention to make her live.

    “I wish to state that Moronkola Sofiyyah is under our care for tumour of the brain. She has undergone surgery and has significant neurological impairment. The prognosis of this condition is poor. In view of her young age, we are not planning radiotherapy for her at this point of time. She needs to have chemotherapy in order to cure her,” Bhat said.

    Mrs Moronkola, who said the family had so far spent about N7 million on the girl’s ailment, urged kind-hearted Nigerians to come to their aid to save their child’s life. For donations, an account, Moronkola Sofiyyah, with number, 3084586338, has been opened with First Bank Plc.

    “Since the doctors at the UCH discovered the tumour in her, we have been borrowing, begging and spending. So far, we have spent about N7 million on her medical bills. It has been rough. We are crying out for help again because the tumour still persists and doctors have said we still need N7million for the treatment. I have lost my sleep because I don’t want to watch her die. This is why we need urgent help from anybody or organisation and time is fast running out on her,” she said.

    Saying that she could be reached on 07046302898, the embattled woman also gave her husband’s number as: 07084845018.

     

  • Women living with HIV/AIDS seek help

    Women living with HIV/AIDS seek help

    Some women living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) under the aegis of Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (COWHAN) have urged the government to come to their aid.

    The women, through their National Coordinator, Mrs Lucy Attah, made the appeal at a media briefing in Lagos.  Mrs Attah, who has remained infected for 17 years, with none of her three children infected, said the condition of the women living with HIV/AIDS is pathetic since there is no support from any quarter of the society.

    “We live with stigmatisation and discrimination and at the stage of child giving we are mostly rejected and abandoned; this is a serious case because the doctors and nurses are not ready to carry out their duties. Some of us lack proper counselling at clinics on infant feeding and this boosts HIV/AIDS among the young ones.

    “The government is not doing enough to see to our plights. We have been subjected to neglect and stigmatisation, hence we are appealing that the government to do something about this to curb further spread of the disease,” she said.

    Mrs Attah, who admonished every HIV/AIDS-positive patient to use his drugs, take his dose completely as instructed, warned that some of the drugs administered on patients by doctors have negative effects that could cause mental disorder and miscarriage among other dangers.

    The National Secretary of the COWHAN, Mrs Priscilla Ingbian, lamented the inhuman treatment meted out to them at hospitals. She said the Viral Loads Machine which are meant for tests are not available, adding that less than eight centres in the whole world have the machines.

    The group’s National Treasurer, Mrs. Blessing Obius, said: “For a long time now, patients do not have access doctors owing to their strike. On September 27, I lost a patient that I referred to the hospital for TB check; owing to their lack of dedication to the profession, the patient died. They told me there was no light for screening sputum and he gave up”.

  • Associated Aviation crash survivor seeks help 10 months after

    Associated Aviation crash survivor seeks help 10 months after

    Ten months after an Embrear 130 aircraft belonging to Associated Aviation crashed near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, one of the surviving cabin attendants, Ms Oluwatoyin Yemisi Samson, yesterday accused the airline’s management of neglect.

    The former cabin attendant said she had been suffering since the October 3, 2013 crash.

    She accused the airline of insensitivity to her plight, adding that the airline had failed to pay her compensation, as spelt out in the Montreal Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

    The former airline worker narrated her experience at the second memorial lecture of the former Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the late Engineer Zakari Haruna.

    Samson said she brought up her matter to the public because she was disenchanted by the inhuman treatment meted out to her by the airline.

    She urged the NCAA to call the airline to order adding that the injury she suffered in the crash would not enable her to secure another cabin attendant job again.

    According to her, the trauma she is grappling with is affecting her medical certification to secure a job in any airline.

    Samson said: “Because of the way the management of Associated Aviation neglected me after the crash, I can no longer fly. I am not medically fit.

    The psychological trauma I am suffering is now as a result of the crash. All these did not happen to me before the crash. I buy drugs and feed from hand to mouth, getting food from family members. I have become a shadow of my old self.

    “I was advised to go to court because I do not have anyone to fight for me. But I know God, who saved me from the crash will fight for me.

    “The airline neglected me. I am, therefore calling on the NCAA to intervene in this matter so that the airline can wake up to its responsibility to provide physiotherapy rehabilitation and appropriately compensate me…”

  • Chima delighted to help Molde win

    Chima delighted to help Molde win

    Molde continue to top the Tippeligaen standings in the wake of their 3-0 thrashing of Sogndal on Saturday, with Daniel Chima opening scoring for the two-time Norwegian champions after 11 minutes.

    The Nigerian striker, who has bagged three goals in his last two matches in all competitions, has admitted that it was a stroll in the park for Molde, having dominated proceedings throughout the encounter at Aker Stadion.

    ”I went on the pitch with a feeling that I was going to score in the game, with the two goals I had in our last Cup game. My morale was high and I never for a bit doubted the fact that I would score,” an excited Daniel Chima told SL10.ng.

    ”The game was full of life from my team because we dominated the game from the beginning to the end of it, the kind of game you wouldn’t want to end.

    ”Now, we are topping the League with nine points ahead of Strømsgodset, it gives one a great feeling.”

    Molde will travel to face Akeem Latifu’s Aalesund at the Color Line Stadion in the 15th round of matches on Friday.

  • Help from abroad

    Help from abroad

    Brown and the UN plan to protect northeast schools reveals failure of Jonathan’s government

    The symptoms of a failing state, especially in view of the near breakdown of law and order in most parts of the north, are prominently apparent for all to see now. Yet, the Nigerian government has not exhibited convincing capacity to curb the security threat that is threatening the nation’s cohesion. In view of the debilitating prevailing circumstance, we are not astonished that the United Nations is considering assisting Nigeria in protecting schools in the Northeast, in the wave of persistent armed attacks on the schools and abduction of students/pupils by Boko Haram terrorists. This is at least a refreshing contrast to our own president dancing at a political rally hours after the abductions. It tells of how we value human lives, compared to how people in more civilised climes value same, especially when students and children generally are involved.

    Mr Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and a United Nations special envoy on education, unfurled the global body’s plan through a piece that was published in The Guardian of London and on CNN’s News Live while expressing the international community’s concern over the recent abduction of 234 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by members of the Islamist sect.

    Brown was very clear on the initiative when he declared: “We’ve got to help Nigeria to do this. The UN is going to make proposals on how to protect school areas …The disturbing news like this goes beyond Nigeria. If young school girls are kidnapped in Nigeria, and it is happening in Pakistan and Iraq, it raises huge question about the future, the first thing for now is the safety of the girls. Boko Haram means western education is a sin and the Islamic militant group is determined to use schools as battleground to prosecute its campaign. We’ve got to make schools more secure. Nigeria needs international support to correct this and we’ve got to deal with lack of facilities and safety too.”

    We are aware that the violent killings through bombings and abductions going on, not only in the northeast, but also in the entire north have defied domestic control. We cannot but agree with this proposition because, to deny the need for foreign assistance at this point will be tantamount to denying the obvious, and the consequence might be too severe – an absolute annihilation of the entire region with very dire consequences on the general wellbeing of the nation at large.

    The gory catalogues of bombings and abductions have terrible effect on the already traumatised psyche of people of this troubled nation. In Yobe State alone, over 137 students were reportedly killed in four separate attacks on its schools between June 2013 and February, 2014. The Boko Haram sect has serially invaded and wantonly killed students of Government Secondary School, Damaturu, and Government Secondary School, Mamudo, Potiskum local government of Yobe State, where 29 students were slaughtered in a midnight attack. The untiring terrorist group also stormed College of Agriculture in Gujba local government area, also in the state, where not less than 40 students were killed in another midnight raid.

    We recollect that at a point last year, schools in Yobe State were shut down because of serial attacks on schools and students. Such wanton assaults on public schools and students’ lives are equally rampant in Borno State, with the latest being the abduction of yet-to-be rescued 234 students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok.

    It is alarming that Boko Haram has been callously responsible, in the past five years, for the killings of a conservative 5,000 people in northern Nigeria. More worrisome is the harsh reality that majority of the victims were pupils and other innocent civilians caught in the web of this group’s senseless actions against the state. Consequent upon these heinous acts, most parents have withdrawn their wards from schools in a region where literacy level is far below, not only international standards, but also the appreciable literacy level in other regions of the country. If only to create safe havens for learning by students in the entire north, we agree with Brown that henceforth, schools should become protected places, under the auspices of the United Nations, like hospitals and the Red Cross. The Nigerian government has failed in its duty of protecting educational institutions in that region.

    This UN initiative is very good but it is technically a signal to the world that Nigeria is at war with herself and needs foreign intervention to put her house in order. It is sad that outsiders are now more concerned about protection of lives in Nigeria’s territory than the country’s government that has proved, through tepid approach, that the enormity of the challenges is beyond its ability.

    Why then is the Federal Government against the idea of a state police which could have considerably helped in this regard?  Except this foreign aid comes in earnest, which is an equivalent of outsourcing the state, the country might be on her way to destruction since safety of lives and property can no longer be officially guaranteed.

  • This boy needs help

    This boy needs help

    He is a well-behaved boy, never failing to do his homework, but once in a while he would break down  holding his chest and crying of pains in his chest. He does not eat like other normal children, and would sometimes ignore food or reject it outright when the pain comes.

    He hardly spent two months  in school without spending two weeks in the hospital. Yet, he passed  all his subjects. He is a brilliant boy. The last time he  was promoted to Primary Six at Fourah Bay International school, Owo, Ondo State.

    That has been how Abegunde  Adewale, 12, has been coping. He lives with his parents in Owo.

    Last month, a few days to his 12th birthday, his father asked what clothes he needed to celebrate it,  he shook his head in disapproval, asking ‘why should I celebrate my birthday when I am dying?”

    The mother, Madam Olanike Abegunde, said she  went into her room and wept profusely on hearing her boy’s response. She said she needed to cry out to good-spirited Nigerians to help her save the boy who is suffering from a heart problem before it is too late.

    ”I am on my knees begging Dr. Rahman Mimiko, the Ondo State Governor, NGOs, good-spirited Nigerians to help restore his health  before it is too late,” she said, tears running down her cheeks.

    She narrated how her son’s  problem started.

    “The problem started  two years ago when we discovered that he was coughing. We took him to  the General Hospital, Owo where he was treated. But the cough persisted. I again went back to tell the doctor that I was hearing an unusual sound from his heart; from here he was referred to Federal Medical Centre, Owo where about three doctors now tested him and sent us to do series of laboratory tests in a medical laboratory in Osogbo. I brought the result of the tests and  when the doctors went through  I was told that his condition was heart-related problem. I was shaking like a leaf. I was devastated. We were later  referred to India for medical  treatment. My husband is not around and he does not have money.“

    On the efforts they have made so far to take him to India, Olanike said’ “I am a seamstress. How many clothes do I sew in a week? We are managing, In fact to feed is difficult, my husband too has nothing , I must confess. We have gone out begging for money but I don’t have anything as collateral. We are told that we need about N3 million to take him to India but what the doctors assured me of is that his problem can still be corrected, and the earlier the better.”

    On what he has been living on, Olanike said “We go to the FMC to take drugs for him. We have taken him to places like churches for prayer but  we were later advised to take him to India, and that is the bitter truth. I believe in miracles but I am advised to combine it with medication“.

    For any assistance, you can contact or send your donation to Mrs. Olanike Abegunde on Account number 3026761708, First Bank. Or telephone her on 08064447171. Their home address is 12, Adetula St, Off Okedogbon St., Owo, Ondo State

     

  • Help my son to live, mother cries to Nigerians

    The disease which threatens the life of two-year-old Oluwafeyijimi Benson began when he was just two months old. Unlike any other newly born babies, Oluwafeyijimi would open his mouth for a long time, appearing as if he was breathing through the mouth. Sometimes, he would gasp for breath and unable to explain what ailed him, he would express himself through frequent crying. Also unlike his peers, he falls sick frequently.

    His mother Mrs Toyin Benson, a petty trader did not think much of it until the sickness became more pronounced. “He was always opening his mouth as if gasping for breath. In fact, he was breathing from the mouth. He was also falling sick repeatedly. It appeared his immune system was low. This became a source of worry for everybody,” Mrs Benson said.

    However, nothing could have prepared Mrs Benson or his father, who is a brick-layer for the result of a test carried out on their son which revealed that he had been living with Tetralogy of fallot or hole-in-the -heart.

    “When it became too persistent, I took him to a private hospital in Lagos. It was at the hospital that he was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). There he had an echocardiogram (ECG) which revealed that he has been living with a hole-in-the-heart.”

    Their world has since been shattered by that diagnosis. None of the parents or the extended family could afford the N2 million required for a corrective surgery in India. “There is no way we could afford it; the job of the father could hardly put food on our table. I take him to the hospital every fortnight because I can’t afford to get a bed in the ward,” Mrs Benson said when The Nation visited the family on 6, Irapada street, Agbado Crossing, Ogun State.

    The family had sought the help of the Lagos State Government.

    “It was a consultant at LASUTH, Dr Barakat Animashaun that assisted me by applying on my son’s behalf to the state’s Medical Board. This was when he was just eight months old. So, Dr Animashaun advised that we take him to India for surgery,” she said.

    She called on well-meaning individuals, corporate bodies and the government to come to the aid of her son. Do you have a heart to help Oluwafeyijimi live? A First Bank account with the name Oluwafeyijimi Benson: 3071772551 has been opened to receive donations.