The Nation Newspaper

Tag: hope

  • Workers losing faith, hope in Nigerian project, says labour

    Organised Labour, made up of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) said yesterday that the Nigerian worker has continued to lose faith and hope in the Nigerian project because of the harsh living condition on the country.

    Addressing a pre-May day press conference in Abuja, Chairman of her May Day committee and Deputy President of the NLC, Comrade Najeem Yasmin, said the living condition of Nigerian workers and citizens have continued to deteriorate in the past few years without corresponding action to better their lots.

    Yasin, who is also the National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, said to worsen the precarious condition that workers have found themselves in is the absence of meaningful social cushioning, especially by way of decent wages and dignified working conditions.

    He said that even the minimum wage promised by the government is yet to materialise, while the broader economic and political dynamics in the country has continued to tempt many workers to lose faith and hope in the Nigeria promise.

    He said further that it is under these dark clouds in the country that Labour seeks to inspire strength, confidence and hope in the Nigerian worker and ordinary citizens who currently feel shortchanged.

    Also speaking, the co-Chairman of the May Day committee, Amodu Olayinka, said measures have been put in place to ensure that the rowdy atmosphere that characterized the 2017 May Day celebration does not repeat itself.

  • Hope for infertile couples through ART

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, UITH, Ilorin, Kwara State, Prof Waheed O. Olatinwo, has described infertility as a global problem.

    Olatinwo, who delivered the 178th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, titled Help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless: The medicine of reproductive possibility, at the university main campus recently, claimed “generally, the prevalence is about 10-15%, but reports from sub-Saharan Africa ranges from 20-26% depending on the population, while up to 20-30% has been reported in Nigeria.”

    He also stated that about 180 million couples are infertile globally, with a major contribution of these from developing countries. According to the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O & G) specialist, when all attempts, orthodox or traditional, to become fertile and then produce children fail, “an infertile couple becomes helpless and hopelessness may set in.”

    Olatinwo said after several couples with infertility problems find no respite to the problem, some give up and accept their ‘fate’ while others employ the blame-game.

    He, however, enthused that there’s help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless, through what is referred to as Assisted Reproductive Technology, ART. Olatinwo stated that it’s ‘medicine of reproductive possibility’. ART, according to him, “refers to all treatments or procedures that include in-vitro handling of the human oocyte and spermatozoa or embryo for the purpose of establishing pregnancy.”

     

  • Sani: Reconciliation is last hope for APC

    Sani: Reconciliation is last hope for APC

    Senator Sheu Sani, who is representing Kaduna Central District in the Senate, spoke with Tony Akowe in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the challenge of reconciliation in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Excerpts:

    What is your view on the committee recently set up by the President to reconcile members of the party?

    First, let me say that I am here at the national secretariat of the APC for two reasons. First is to personally express my support and solidarity to the effort of the president in setting up a reconciliation committee headed by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. We are confident that his intervention could most likely address the fundamental issues that are facing the party at both the national and at the state level. It is no more news that the APC is faced with crisis in some states where it holds sway as a party and this crisis has defiled solutions for over two years and efforts that were made in the past has not been able to address the problems. Nobody could have solved this problem other than President Muhammadu Buhari himself through Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The governors cannot solve the problems of the APC because they are party to the crisis; APC Senators and members of the House of Representatives cannot solve the problem because they are party to the problem. The party at the national level cannot solve the problem because there is disrespect and disregard for the leadership of the party in the last two years. The very fact that the party itself has been inhibited with lack of funds and other challenges made it impossible for the party to bring to order what is happening. What we need to understand very clearly is that crisis within a ruling party is not new and not strange. Each time you have a group of people who organise themselves and take over political power, you are bound to have internal crisis within the party. It is so in the National Liberation Front in Algeria, it is so with the African National Congress, it is so in any political party you can think of in history that has taken over power. The APC crisis started earlier and hopefully, it will be healed in other to prevent it from inflicting some damages that could affect the fortunes of the party.

    Are you worried that the party that came into power with so much goodwill is today engulfed in a crisis that is threatening its very foundation?

    It is of concern that a party that came to power with so much good will and hope has found itself in a civil war with itself. Right now, the APC is both the government and the opposition because most of the criticism and opposition that is going on in the country is within the APC itself. So, one tragedy that usually become the symptom that extinguishes a political party is absence of internal democracy. You can see the supremacy of the party in South Africa and in Ethiopia. But in Nigeria, there is no supremacy of the party because people holding position of executive power think that the party should be under them and not them being below the party. That is where the crisis starts. If the state chairman of a political party can go and kneel down before a state governor for money to pay the rent of his office and feed his family, political parties in the Nigeria setting seems to be parastatals of the state government and that is totally unacceptable. There is also the syndrome of the party is our own. If a clique of people believe that they founded the party and other people are strangers, then the recipe for crisis has been set. What we need to understand is the very fact that PDP was not destroyed from the outside, but from the inside. It is the elements within the PDP that were marginalized and oppressed that became the final nail on the coffin of her party. If the APC must learn anything, it must learn from the history and I believe that some of the people who left the PDP to join in this merger should not come with that bug and bacteria because those fundamental issues need to be addressed. If all party members are not treated equally and fairly, certainly there will be problem.

    Few days after the President set up the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led committee to reconcile members, a parallel secretariat was set up in Kaduna. Can you explain why this is so?

    You are right that in Kaduna State today, we are having a problem and there are two APC secretariats. There is the one which the governor set up for himself and serves as his personal convenience where he can do whatever he wants to do and we also have our own APC secretariat, so, we have twins APC in Kaduna. Our own is the genuine one because the chairman of the party that was duly certified and elected and recognised by INEC was not the one the governor is dealing with. So, as far as we are concerned, we are here to tell the national secretariat that Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and other party stalwarts in Kaduna will not accept, tolerate, endorse any form of tyranny by the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai. He has pocketed the party and wants to impose his will and is exploiting his proximity to the President to unleash a rain of terror on the party. Right now, the party is already divided in Kaduna and it is for the national secretariat to note this and we have said it in clear terms. The problem has defiled solution for two years, but we believe that we believe that Asiwaju can do a lot of reconciliation and we hope that he will be able to achieve a lot because if Asiwaju fails, it is going to be doom for the party. When you see people fighting within the party, it is because they want to remain in the party. If they don’t want to remain within the party, the will simply walk away from the party. So, we are saying in the 21st century Nigeria, there are those of us in the APC that will not accept any governor going into a room to write the list of his concubines, friends, his errand boys and guides and send them as executive of the party. We are going to remain in the APC and pursue this agenda and my presence here at the APC is to send a clear message appreciating Tinubu’s appointment and so to tell them that it is in the best interest of the party that they don’t take sides or the most they can do is to give us equal treatment as far as Kaduna is concerned.

    Is it possible to see the parallel executive in Kaduna State happening at the national level?

    I don’t know anything about national level, but I can tell you that as far as Kaduna is concerned, we have parallel APC and it is left for Asiwaju to build the bridges. Lagos is known for bridges. So, we hope that there will be seventh mainland bridge to connect the divide. But we are not sure of that.

    What is your take on Buhari contesting the 2019 presidential election?

    One thing which Nigerians have refused to recognize is that people have the right to say they want the President to contest or not and he a³so has the right to accept what they are saying or reject it. As far as I am concerned, any opinion on whether he should contest or not is simply an exercise of freedom of speech and it is left for him to decide. However, in every sense of the word, he is constitutionally empowered to decide on whether he wants to contest or not. But I think it is in the interest of the country and in the interest of the party that President Buhari makes his position known because right now, it has been his Aides that are speaking on his behalf. Whether they are doing it with his consent or not, no Nigerian for now knows whether President Buhari will contest or not.

    We have seen a lot of Shehu Sani for governor posters in Kaduna. Are you contesting for governor in 2019?

    Well, in politics, there are things you want and there could be decision later of what may be or may not be. In the process where reconciliation is taking place now, I think it is in our interest to put our ambitions in our pockets for now in accordance with the plea of Mr. President and wait for Asiwaju to address the problems. It is going to be a tragedy, if he fails. This is what I know and I can speak in parables. The pronouncement of the appointment of Asiwaju to reconcile members has been able to avert the tragedy of people decamping from the APC to the other parties. It has been able to do so at least for now.

    Few months to election, the National Assembly wants to reorder elections and this is generating a lot of heat in the polity. What was really wrong in INEC deciding that the presidential election holds first.

    You see, there is an impression in the National Assembly which people have from outside and that is the presence of pro Buhari senators and anti Buhari senators. I don’t think that is true. Nobody was elected to be there and be pro or anti. We are all senators and in issues, we vote and decide on what our positions should be or can be. Having said that, let me say that the reordering of the sequence of election was informed by a number of factors. One is that the hitherto position as it is right now where you start with the President and end up with the states is one in which you have the bandwagon effect. The smaller parties felt that each time you have a presidential election and the president wins, nobody other party will win any seat again because it have bandwagon effect. What we are saying now is that let us have the Presidential election last so that Nigerians have the opportunity to vote for Senators and members of the House of Representatives on their own merit. They should be able to reelect those they want and vote out those they don’t want. The reason is very simple. We are trying to avoid mass trial, mass conviction and mass burial of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives. By that, we will allow each member go to his grave or be acquitted before justice electorates.

    You were at the JAMB office with anti-snake venom and some people have said that you went there as a sign of mockery for your party. How true is that?

    My presence in the JAMB office was on a rescue mission to avoid more snakes eating more money. If you have a story where snakes have consumed N36 million, that is very shocking and in order to prevent more money being eaten by snakes, I brought two things to them. Anti snake repellants and snake charmers from my constituency. It is my own personal contribution to the fight against animal based kind of corruption. Again, if this is a drama, it need to be finished and what I did was to finish the last aspect of the drama.

    You said the Kaduna State governor is using his closeness to the President to do what he does in Kaduna. Do you see that affecting the President in 2019?

    He has been constantly bombarding us by dropping the name of the President in every thing he does. He keep telling us the President said I should do this, the President said I should do that and the President has come to Kaduna over 12 times and has never said anything to us. We are only hearing it from him and we are saying that we have been with the President from the onset and not him that is a convertee to being a supporter of the President. We cannot in any way be treated like outcast because you have access to the President. So, we said that we are equal stakeholders in this party and the President has any message for us about Nasir El-Rufai, he should talk to us and not to hear it through el-Rufai because I knew the President before el-Rufai knew him. I have been respecting the President before him and even when he was saying the President was too old to contest, I never believed it. So, if this party will continue to be one and succeed in the next election, we must have a level playing ground. Senators and Governors must live in peace with each other’s. We must address the problems of the state and whatever resolution that is reached by this committee must be endorsed by all interested parties. For now, in Kaduna, I can tell you clearly that we are having two parallel executive of the party and any attempt by anybody to recognize the faction of the governor is going to spell a lot of trouble because we will not agree. I am here to say that clearly and I have told the people at the secretariat. Any attempt to tint toward the governor, we will oppose it to the last.

  • Hope for cancer patients

    Hope for cancer patients

    Can nature treat cancer? Yes, say cancer patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos.

    They spoke at the seminar tagged: ‘Let’s kill it! organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Atinuke Cancer Foundation.

    Despite that some of the patients looked frail, were on the wheelchair, they were bound by one thing – cancer, which they are determined to eradicate.

    Sitting under the well-decorated tent in front of the Oncology and Radiology Department of LUTH, some of the survivors praised an herbal supplement – Jobelyn – for providing succour for them.

    A survivor, Mrs Atinuke Lawal, the NGO’s founder, said Jobelyn stabilises cancer patients’ haematocrit which is why it is recommended for treating and managing cancer.

    She said: “I can recommend the drug to anybody living with cancer or a survivor. I put up this event, and dedicated a day out of the three days, to ensure that people receiving treatment, have adequate information about what worked for me, and others. I intend to let them know this message across our target audience, especially in Lagos,  through the media -TV, Radio, newspaper and the new media – that cancer can be overcome. I will extend the NGO’s frontiers to the rest of the world.”

    Mrs Atinuke urged the government  to assist in the research and development of traditional herbal plants that can treat diseases, especially terminal diseases, such as cancer.

    Another parent who does not want her name in print said narrated her experience with cancer treatment at the hospital. “Though it is expensive, we are getting results. When some of the machines broke down, Jobelyn and other drugs stabilised my relative who would have easily relapsed and turned to a bad condition. It was introduced to us by word of mouth by other patients and we did not regret using it.”

    Health Forever Products (HFP) CEO, Otunba Olajuwon Okubena, the brain behind the product, said the journey  started about 22 years ago through his discovery of the herb now developed and packaged as Jobelyn.

    According to him, his company has spent the last 20 years researching and have a reached a milestone that could not be ignored in its quest to prove that an African traditional medicinal product has some measure of scientific evidence to support its claim for the treatment and cure of cancer.

    Otunba Okubena said several in vitro and in vivo studies had been done with Jobelyn and the results have been published in peer-review journals. “Natural Immune System (NIS) Laboratory in the US discovered that Jobelyn activates several chemokines and cytokines as well as the natural killer cells which are responsible for destroying cancer cells naturally.

    “We have published the results of our latest research with the title: ‘Newly isolated compounds from West African Sorghum bicolor leaf sheaths Jobelyn® show potential in cancer immunosurveillance’. The full article could be accessed at: http://nobleresearch.org/Doi/10.14312/2052-4994.2016-6”.

    He lamented that Health Forever Product does not have the financial capacity to develop the product to an international standard.

    Otunba Okubena is, however, optimistic that the product could be a break-through for Nigeria in its contribution to cancer cure and enable it to have large share in the multi-billion-dollar cancer drug market.

    He added that a clinical study at a teaching hospital confirmed that breast cancer patients who were placed on Jobelyn maintained their blood levels before, during and after chemotherapy administration.

    Foremost Professor of Radiation Therapy and Oncology, Francis Abayomi Durosinmi-Etti, confirmed that natural medicine requires attention as it could provide a solution to cancer. He believes that the cure for cancer could be nearer to us or could be in our environment but we are not focused on this.

    Prof Durosinmi-Etti praised the presentation by Otunba Okubena, adding that the time had come for us to look inwards for a solution to cancer.

    Present at the event was the former head of department (HOD), Prof Remi Ajekigbe and Dr Muhammad Habeeb, Radiotherapy and Oncology HOD.

  • Buhari’s speech offers hope, say Nigerians

    Buhari’s speech offers hope, say Nigerians

    •PDP: it fails to address security, economic issues

    Reactions are trailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year broadcast. He has been criticised for his comments on restructuring and employment. Below are the various comments from Nigerians.

    The President’s New Year broadcast has been drawing reactions from Nigerians. To many, the address raises hope of a brighter future for the country. Others say it fell short of their expectations.

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s acknowledgement of the pains Nigerians were subjected to during the Yuletide, was lauded by many. But, his comment on restructuring drew flaks by those who took it in isolation.

    The President said the problem with Nigeria was not the structure but the process of doing things.

    According to him, the country had tried many political models in the past and had to dump them because they did not work.

    Buhari explained that if things were done properly by all citizens, the country would perform better.

    He also expressed regrets over the suffering Nigerians were going through, owing to the prevailing petrol scarcity, which he blamed  on blackmailers.

    The President, who promised to get to the root of the matter and sanction culprits, however, assured all that he would intensify the fight against corruption.

    In Yobe State, a cross-section of Nigerians said the speech offered hope for accelerated infrastructural development.

    A retired civil servant, Usman Habibu, told reporters in Damaturu that the government’s commitment to build roads and railways would enhance speedy development in the country.

    Habibu said: “It is sad that these sectors were abandoned for decades. This contributed to the poor economic growth of Nigeria.”

    He said that providing railways would save the roads and the huge resources being used on their maintenance.

    Mustapha Abdullahi, a civil servant, said the attention given to security was gratifying, adding, “the relative peace achieved, especially in the North east should be sustained.

    Alhaji Bukar Makinta, a farmer, said government’s efforts to diversify the economy through agriculture and solid minerals development were impressive, adding, “this gives hope to agricultural development, food security and economic growth.”

    Musa Garba, a politician, however appealed for a working synergy between executive and legislative arms of government to improve the living standard of the people.

    In Adamawa State, the Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Ahmad Sajoh, described the President’s speech as a patriotic leader’s show of genuine concern to the plight of citizens.

    Sajoh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola that the president’s speech had given the nation hope and showed his administration’s commitment to address the challenges facing it.

    He said: “The president has given us hope; he has painted a picture of hope for the nation.

    “The president did a good thing by appreciating the hardships being experienced by Nigerians particularly the fuel scarcity and his show of resolve to address it.”

    The commissioner said that the President’s caution against politics of primordial sentiments as the nation approached election period was timely and a food for thought for politicians that were contemplating using the country’s diversity negatively.

    Some commuters, who reacted to the address in Yola, lauded the commitment shown by the President to roads construction and rehabilitation which they said would greatly ease transportation in the country.

    They said that with good roads and rails, there would be easy and cheaper transportation and the economy would record a boom.

    Iliya Baba, a motorist, identified bad roads as a major problem of commercial drivers and any administration that showed commitment to providing good roads should count on the support of drivers.

    “We commend the present ongoing work on the Yola–Gombe road and hope the project would be completed as scheduled,” Baba said.

    Former Governor of old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, has called for economic restructuring to ensure delivery of positive and impactful governance.

    According to Musa, the country’s problem had always been leadership rather than structures, explaining that regional system failed because leaders were pursuing secessionist agenda.

    Aligning with Buhari’s position that the process of governance needed to be improved, he faulted the economic system being operated currently.

    Musa said the economy was in the hands of the private sector, hence the impoverishment of the masses, and suggested the restructuring of the economy to ensure that the government played a greater role.

    The former governor said: “The economy should be restructured. What we are operating now in which the economy is in private hands cannot help us.

    “We should restructure the economy so that government can play a greater role for sustainable development.”

    He also agreed that saboteurs were behind the lingering fuel crisis, urging the government to address the situation.

    Musa also called on the President to form a government of national unity in the New Year for all-inclusiveness, adding that Nigeria would be better in the New Year if people subordinated personal interests to public interests.

    In his reaction, the Publicity Secretary of the local chapter of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Lagos State, Shakirudeen Olofin, commended the president for restating commitment to the fight against corruption.

    He, however, advised the President to the speedy resolution of all pending cases on corruption to serve as deterrent to others.

    Olofin urged Buhari to be decisive in dealing with the fuel crisis, especially persons suspected to be responsible for the situation.

    The Advocacy for Integrity and Economic Development (AIED) carpeted the President over what he called his decision to jettison the nationwide demand for restructuring, describing it as a retrogressive and callous act.

    In a statement signed by its Deputy Director, Adekoya Boladale, the organisation frowned at the stand of the President, calling it a myopic decision guided by sentiment and archaic reasoning.

    He said: “We read with shock the New Year’s address of President Buhari where he made an open disdain for the resounding clamour for proper restructuring of this country.

    “It is important we draw the attention of the President to his promise on restructuring and power devolution while seeking for power in 2015: ‘Initiating action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit’.

    “It was on the strength of this promise, alongside numerous others that Nigerians voted for President Buhari. It is therefore absurd that he can turn around and betray this solemn oath.

    “Any progressive leader worth his salt will agree that while process is germane for productivity, process without a distinctive structure encourages redundancy.

    “Beyond the goof on restructuring, the President’s address is a cacophony of deceptions, patronizing and a psychological blackmail.

    “There is nothing worthy of celebration in power generation as the much-touted megawatt is a far cry from the promised 20,000MW.

    “Surprisingly, President Buhari did not have a single progress report to give on his flagship anti-corruption campaign having realised that his administration has not only inculcated graft but knighted same in the nucleus of every section of our nation’s life.

    “As a matter of interest, when did President Buhari suddenly realise job provision is no longer the duty of the government? For a government that promised three million jobs per year and has created nothing but hyper unemployment and dysfunctional economy which has collapsed the small, medium and large scale enterprises, this attempt to blame the citizens for its own inefficiency is ridiculous.

    “The Buhari-led administration has failed in all ramifications and an emergency attempt influenced by the desire for a second term will not clean the monumental mess this government has made.” the statement read.

     

  • Healthcare service delivery in Kuje Area Council: The challenges and hope

    The residents of Kuje have, on many occasions, expressed concern about what they describe as poor healthcare system that has been the residents’ major challenge.

    Most of them call on stakeholders in health sector to raise the hope of the residents in 2018 by ensuring robust healthcare service delivery.

    They identified poor access road network, under equipped primary healthcare centres and overstretching of medical equipment at hospitals located in the community as some of the challenges hindering proper healthcare services.

    Others explained that the community dwellers mostly travelled long distances just to access basic healthcare services at better equipped hospitals located in other neighbouring communities.

    Some residents, health workers and ante-natal patients, also called for improvement in the healthcare delivery in the community.

    They, nonetheless, commended the intervention of non-governmental organisations that they claimed to have been providing free medical services and training for health workers in the community.

    Mr Abraham Isa, a resident of the community, observed that Rije community that is five-kilometre distance from the council headquarters had a dilapidated primary healthcare centre.

    He blamed the government for neglecting the facilities in the healthcare centre for so long a time.

    “The journey to Kuje General Hospital is dangerous and the road is so bad that during the rainy season they are almost unusable.

    “The issue of healthcare centres has been bordering us in this community for a very long time. I am pleading with the council to come to our aid and improve the primary health centre in the area,’’ he said.

    Recently, Mr Haruna Agwai, the Health Care Coordinator of the Council, said inadequate vaccines, bad roads even affected immunisation in the area.

    He said in spite of the challenges, the health workers vaccinated children of zero month to 59 months against oral polio vaccines and children from one year to 29 years against meningitis.

    He also said more than 7,763 children were immunised against these diseases out of more than 17,000 children population in the area council.

    “We area vaccinating the children and taking precautions against the outbreak of meningitis in some parts of the country as well.

    In spite of these challenges, the health workers vaccinated children against meningitis and oral polio vaccines,’’ Agwai said.

    He urged the government to collaborate with the private sectors on funding to improve the healthcare system in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    He said the private sector had a major role to play in driving and improving healthcare services in FCT.

    Mrs AJara Sani, an ante-natal patient in Kuje General Hospital, said high cost of child’s delivery and attitude of health personnel were some of the challenges facing healthcare delivery.

    “The cost of child’s delivery and access to drugs is very high, especially when you are to be operated to be delivered of a baby.

    “Some women even give birth on their way before they get to the general hospital due to bad road,’’ she said, calling the government to subsidise the cost of healthcare services in the area.

    To address some of the challenges, Women Friendly Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, said it had recently trained health workers for comprehensive sexual reproductive health services in the area.

    Dr Francis Eremutha, Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, said the training was aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in the area.

    According to him, it will also check life-threatening complications arising from pregnancy.

    He said the training emphasised, among others, the benefits of contraception, ante-natal attendance, supervised delivery, infection prevention and immunisation services for mother and child.

    “Women and girls face enormous challenges in accessing services, especially in relation to sexual and reproductive health for fear of condemnation.

    “They also face stigmatisation by the society and the negative attitude of some health workers, ’’ he observed.

    He also said the training would help in deepening and sustaining community health-provider’s adherence to guidelines and standards of practice.

    Apart from this, he said the training would facilitate supervision and routine monitoring of trained providers and health facilities.

    “We aim to strengthen local institutions, structures and entities that enhance communities’ health. We are also building the capacity of health service providers for quality comprehensive sexual reproductive health services,’’ he said.

    He, therefore, called on ministries of health and relevant bodies to equip primary health centres with medical equipment.

    However, Mr Abdullahi Galadima, Chairman, Kuje Area Council, said the challenges of healthcare delivery were inherited by his administration but promised that measures had been put in place to tackle them.

    “We are aware that most of the primary healthcare centres are dilapidated and some are out of drugs. I want to assure the people of Kuje Area Council that we are moving on and certainly, will be paying attention to health facilities,’’ he promised.

    Galadima further called on residents to be patient as efforts were ongoing to resolve some of the problems facing the healthcare system in the community.

    All in all, residents of the community insist that concerned authorities ought to make pragmatic efforts at making healthcare delivery service worthwhile in all its 10 electoral wards to ease their sufferings on health issues.

    • Tadanyigbe is of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

  • 2018: Experts express fears, hope

    As the world usher in 2018 tomorrow, Nigerians from all walks of life have expressed mixed feelings as they project into the new year.

    Speaking with a cross-section of experts in key sectors, they confided in The Nation about what they consider their worst fears and hope for the country in the incoming year.

    In the view of Professor Chris Onalo, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) despite the harrowing experiences of the past 12 months, Nigerians should look forward to a better deal in 2018.

    According to him, “There is hope but the Nigerian government should also endeavour to look back and see the difficulties faced by Nigerians with a view to introducing policies that deliver sympathy. And that sympathy I’m referring to is the working of things that are critical for economic growth and infrastructure.’’

    Dr. Austin Nweze, a political economist, and currently a member of the faculty team at the School of Media and Communication (SMC), Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria, would rather the government consider possible policy direction to drive the economy in the coming year.

    Waxing philosophical, he said: “You have to look at the past to know why we are where we are in the present and you have to look at the present to know where we are headed in the future. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) that the federal government came up with, is not enough to really help the economy. They need to take risk; this government is not taking risk. We really need to take risk to say, okay, this is the path we want to follow; I know the pains and sufferings but in the next few years we can be alright again. What has happened is that the government is doing their own thing but the citizens are even fed up with the government. The government has overpromised but underdelivered and that has been a very dangerous situation.”

    Also sharing his outlook for the coming year, Victor Ndukauba, an economic and financial analyst said there is a lot of uncertainty around the coming year. At best, he said the economy will not be bullish in 2018.

    According to Ndukauba, the assurance by the apex bank chief, Godwin Emefiele that interest rate will be at single digit in 2018 for instance, is just mere wishful thinking.

    As far as he is concerned, there is nothing to show that the managers of the economy will get things right this time around if the observable trends of the outgoing year is anything to go by.

    Ndukauba who also doubles as Deputy Managing Director of Afrinvest Limited said: “I don’t see the CBN been able to achieve single digit interest rate for the simple fact that a lot is still wrong with the fundamentals.”It’s an election year no doubt, there will be a lot of liquidity in the system to try to do a few things just to sway votes but other than that, nothing much will give.”

    Echoing similar sentiments, a leading economist and financial derivatives analyst, Bismarck Rewane, in his outlook for 2018, lamented that the federal government is not courageous enough to increase its spending in the 2018 budget proposal. However, when inflation is factored in, there has been no real increase in total expenditure, according to Mr. Rewane. (Full story on pages 12-13)

  • PDP: Christmas presents us strong lessons in hope

    PDP: Christmas presents us strong lessons in hope

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the Christmas season presents the country with strong lessons in hope and collective triumph.

    In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the opposition party called on Nigerians not to despair but to use the occasion to show love, care and encourage one another regardless of religious, ethnic and political inclinations.

    The PDP described the nation’s economic situation as a national embarrassment, which it said cannot be glossed with deceit, lies and propaganda. It urging Nigerians to overcome this very sordid situation by rallying around one another in true love as epitomized in the birth and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    The statement said, “Indeed, this is the worst Yuletide ever. There is no way one can sugarcoat the fact that the anguish Nigerians face today is because of the incompetence of the APC government, which has also amply demonstrated that it does not care about the welfare and happiness of the citizens.

    “Our country’s economic situation has astronomically gone from bad to worse in the last two years and painfully, there is no hope in sight under this APC regime.

    “As we speak, many families are completely stranded; many more can no longer afford their basic needs.

    “Nigerians have become ravaged by economic hardship because the APC-led Federal Government has abandoned them and refused to channel the abundant resources available in the nation for the good of the people. Instead, they are heartlessly diverting such resources for their selfish political purposes while the people suffer.

    “These horrendous realities imposed on us by the APC notwithstanding, we must not become despondent.

    “This Christmas season presents us very strong lessons in hope and our collective triumph over adverse situations as exemplified in the birth and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

  • 2017: Scattered sense of hope and floods of failure

    SIR: So the year 2017 is almost at its terminal end. For us as Nigerians, it will be difficult to say it has not been the same difference. Like the weather forecast, scattered showers here and floods here, sunny there and cold with strange winds there.

    It was the year of operations…from python dance to crocodile smile. For the young secessionist Nnamdi Kanu who referred to us as animals in the zoo he may not be wrong, except that he equally ran away from the zoo.

    Budgets when not padded went missing in action; let us not even discuss the percentage of execution, which was a near miserable 10%.

    In between, the likes of Owelle Rochas Anayo of Imo State was on an, ‘erectus happilus’; erecting happiness all over his domain while salaries were left in voicemail for civil servants and pensioners groaned. His records in owing only bested by Governor Yahaya Bello, the lad in charge of Kogi State. It was strange that these kind of men were those Nigerians were accursed with as governors who reduced governance to comedy and comic relief with their utterances and actions.

    We were continually treated to the politics of rice production but in truth Nigerians barely could put a plate of rice on their tables, at least there were tomatoes yet money was unavailable to have a rich pot of stew.

    It was a year of drama; one recalls the DSS versus judges and lately EFCC versus DSS. The whole anti-graft war was largely media fought and with loads of mysterious recoveries, from Ikoyi to Kaduna the discoveries kept us busy while the economy bit hard. Not one conviction of the high and mighty thieves was gotten.

    Agitations grew, from fiscal federalism, to resource control, regionalism and then we had the war of words led by the General without rank Nnamdi Kanu and some jobless corporals on the other side.

    As usual NNPC wasn’t an establishment that would be left behind, whatever the figure or currency there was bound to be a billion attached to it as they regaled is with their usual jumbo scandals. The latest being the TSA-less N55bn.

    At home herdsmen, farmers, pastoralists or any nomenclature we used, were engaged in a seemingly one-sided war of cleansing. That raised questions with each attack than answers. No culprit was arrested and prosecuted and convicted. Counter accusations, allegations and counters. The economy and Nigerians suffered all the imbroglio of phantom Fulanis and indigenous AK47 wielding criminals.

    There were talks of billions everywhere, whether it was the River Niger Bridge or the various express roads we heard the figures we saw no new roads. Both bad roads and criminal entities fought for right to kill and maim citizenry. As the year ends, we are talking another billion to fight the Boko Haram ideology. Remember we took some billions for Chinese trains and tracks. Anyway without being an unrepentant pessimist we spent billions on a few repairs at the Nnamdi Azikwe airport; in essence big men things. And it was successful!

    We were engrossed with politics and religion, at different time frames, it was either we fought over which faith was in the school’s curriculum and one faith or the other cries wolf in terms of employment and sectionalism in appointment neither of which translated to progress for the group.

    The educational sector was not left out…strikes everywhere, from ASUU to NASU; we did the same thing over again and expected a different result. Kaduna State then exposed the shame of a nation with their illiterate teachers and as usual we debated for and against and where are we now?

    Political masquerades everywhere. As PDP attempted rebranding, Atiku sought to articulate, and President Buhari’s body language pointed towards 2019.  In a nation where we are hardly in agreement on any one issue other than maybe soccer, it remains difficult a task to get us to agree whether we made snail speed progress or we still remained stagnant or we have retrogressed.

     

    • Prince Charles Dickson,

    pcdbooks@outlook.com

  • When hope is forlorn

    SIR: If corruption does not kill your spirit in Nigeria it will be because you hope to survive to see the corrupt perish.  Leaders have sold their conscience to the devil just so they can amass public wealth for themselves.  Projects that enhance social well-being of the citizens are abandoned because officials compromise their responsibilities for personal gain.

    People suffer and die because their fellow beings or are they monsters have stolen the wealth that should be sufficient to provide a decent living standard for all. Travelling on the highways is like living a nightmare.  Broken down roads have turned drivers into redeemers. They stay alert while driving like cats dodging and jumping potholes. Meanwhile, their eyes are beaming the distance watching for armed robbers.

    Stressed out citizens antagonize each other for the misery of their lives.  They engage in useless cursing and fighting.  The devils that mastermind their destitution mask themselves in white kaftan and jolly faces preaching the gospel of restructuring and indissolubility of the nation.  They distance themselves from the anguish of the masses by providing maximum comfort for them and their families at society expense.

    The people are suffering from high price of food items in the market and the rogues are failing to realize that a hungry man is an angry man.  It will flash in their eyes when the mob goes on rampage.  The sky will be burning with disgust.

    Sweet talk of the wicked will not appease the appetite for disaster by the resurrected cannibals they created from their mischief making.  When talking to the ear and it turns deaf when the head is chopped off, the ear goes with it.  The despondent populace has given up faith in their leaderships to protect their interest. Officials at every level are viewed through the murky lens of corruption. Anarchy incubates in rumbling quarters.

    The hammer will fall to shatter to pieces the glass wall.  Despair in society cannot be contained when the oppressors are dancing naked in gaudy mansions.  It is an indisputable fact that the brew of frustration will boil over. When in every direction one look hopelessness abounds, spirit of judiciousness will grow wings and fly into the wild.

    The bottom has fallen out of the system and the rot must be allowed to empty into the ocean. The mindset of corruption has pervaded the national landscape. Torrential rainfall with catastrophic flooding of a hurricane will sweep through the land to cleanse the nation.

    Doom looms like fear of danger from climate change. Devastation of the structures of government by the privileged does not give recourse to intellectual redeeming of the system. Where is hope for the ordinary Nigerian?

     

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State.