The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lagos

  • ‘I have nothing to do with campaign against Mouka’

    The General Overseer of Christ Healing Grace Church, Lagos, Pastor EzeNnamdi Ofoegbu, has disowned a DVD/VCD titled “The naked truth about Chosen” where he was alleged to have made damaging statements against the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Church and its founder, Pastor Lazarus Muoka.

    Ofoegbu, who described the VCD as blasphemous and wicked, said he had nothing to do with.

    The cleric, in the VCD, was shown casting aspersions on the church and Muoka, alleging the latter defrauded him and was involved in several spiritual manipulations.

    The lead testifier in the VCD, a certain Juliet Idu, corroboratedOfoegbu’s alleged statement, adding that Muoka also promised several women marriage once they join the church, which has not been fulfilled.

    Speaking with reporters last week in Lagos, Ofoegbu said such statements and utterances attributed were fabricated and malicious.

    According to him: “I never granted interview nor did I authorise the use of my name, photograph or publication in any form.

    “The said statements or documents or photographs were fabricated to achieve their wicked intent of pulling down the man of God and the church.”

    Ofoegbu, who is also the Diawa I of Umudiawa Kingdom in Abia State, said he could not have had anything to do with the VCD in circulation because of his respect for Muoka and the church.

    “Pastor Muoka led me to Christ. He is my spiritual father and I have nothing but respect for him. He did the best for my life and I have no reason whatsoever to fight him for anything,” he stressed.

    He admitted he once fell out with Muoka over some issues, which he insisted had since been resolved in 2009.

    This, he reasoned, could have provided an opportunity for the sponsors of the VCD to capitalise on.

    On his resolved rifts with Muoka, Ofoegbu said: “I had issues with my pastor in 2007 and he invited me for a peace meeting where we resolved everything.

    “There is no misunderstanding again and I could not have done this considering I never did even when I had grievances against him.”

    He appealed to security forces to investigate the source of the damaging VCD and arrest those involved for making unsubstantiated claims against a reputable man of God.

    Muoka, he vouched, “preaches Christ and serves God in spirit and truth. The allegations of any form of occultism or magic are false and outright blasphemy.”

  • Lagos to host 1st Nigeria e-health summit

    Lagos State will host the first Nigeria e-health summit slated for 12th September, 2013 at the Eko Hotel, Lagos.

    Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, and his Communication Technology counterpart, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, are expected to declare the summit open.

    Other notable participants at the summit include the Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, and his counterpart from Ogun and Oyo states respectively.

    The summit which is being organised by AAJIMATICS and its partners, Global Health Project & Resources and the Anadach Group, has as its theme “Understanding Current E-Health Ecosystem in Nigeria and the Role of the Private Sector in Harnessing Potential Opportunities to improve health for all Nigerians.”

    The objectives of the summit, according to Mr. Adekunle Ajiboye, CEO of Aajimatics, is to improve understanding of current e-Health ecosystem in healthcare in Nigeria – from government and private sector perspectives; identify key opportunities and constraints in leveraging technology to improve health care delivery in the country and facilitate discussions around the development of a private sector- led e-Health for the country.

    Ajiboye explained that the essence of the summit is to develop and maintain a spirit of cooperation and communication among healthcare professionals and institutions, with the primary goal of improving healthcare practices in medical standards and patient care by promoting excellence, professional ethical behaviour through the creation of comprehensive environments that support organisations in the continuous investments in people and technology to meet the challenges of tomorrow in urban and rural healthcare delivery.

  • Lagos displaced traders recount ordeal

    Lagos displaced traders recount ordeal

    The expansion of the ongoing Ikorodu road in Lagos which started a year ago has almost paralysed the popular Ikorodu market.

    Traders have become helpless; they are now limited to small spaces they created for themselves.

    Some of them spoke with The Nation shopping. Alhaja Showemimo Adigun sells pepper at the market. “My wares are perishable. If don’t manage like this, I will lose them. I don’t want to lose two things at the same time. I have lost my shop, I don’t want to lose my wares,” she lamented

    Mr Chukwuka Nwosu, who sells foodstuffs said he is happy with the road construction, but he has lost his life fortune to the demolition.

    According to the Iyaloja of Ikorodu market, Alhaja Alimo Anifowose, “We understand why some parts of our market are demolished and we are also trying to help displaced traders with some amount of money to start all over again. I believe the government would hear our cry and provide a more conducive place for us.”

    A trader Mr Kazeem Awe appealed on the government to come to their aid and provide a suitable place for his colleagues, adding that most of them cannot feed well and would not be able to rent new shops.

     

  • That research may thrive

    That relevant authorities need to urgently address the challenges students and academics face conducting quality research and writing competitive research proposals is no longer news.

    Sometime last year, Education Minister, Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufa’i lamented that the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) could not get enough academic publications of good quality to support with the book fund provided by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

    Just last week, the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Julius Okojie was presented with the report of a committee that assessed proposals from 54 universities bidding for the World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence project which will inject over eight million dollars into schools in West and Central Africa to improve facilities and research output.

    He complained that universities did not show enough interest in the project, describing the number of applications as low. He also said public universities would get more funds from the Federal Government if only they could access the Book Development and Research Funds.

    However, not many universities access this fund because their academics are unable to present acceptable research proposals.

    A member of staff of a state university in the north confirmed Okojie’s claims to me. She said grants dedicated to book development and research have never been accessed by the institution. When some academics managed to send a proposal to NUC and it was returned for corrections, which she said they never made.

    The Editorial board of the Journal of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) has also had issues with bad academic papers. Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Prof Okechukwu Abonyi said in their National Officers Report that out of 56 research publications it received for the 48th Volume of the journal, only nine met its benchmark for publication.

    Abonyi also said out of 97 articles submitted for the conference proceedings of the association’s 54th conference, only 58 were found publishable.

    Since the authorities are aware of the problems institutions are facing in this regard, I think it is time the FME and NUC address the issue holistically. This is especially true because the problem is not a local one. It is affecting the ranking of Nigerian universities internationally.

    When Prof Oka Obono addressed the issue of measuring research performance in Nigerian tertiary institutions at a workshop in Dubai, he said Nigerian academics normally complain that the Webometric rankings is unfair as it is based mainly on what can be accessed online. However, he noted, importantly, that we cannot afford to turn our backs on the world. Indeed we cannot afford to isolate ourselves, especially if we are not ready to do like China, which decided to look inwards and create its own standards.

    Like Obono advocates, the education authorities should come up with a national standard – a checklist for academics to use scrutinise themselves as they conduct research. That way, we will be sure that whether located in Lagos or Kafanchan, if assessed by anybody anywhere in the world, it will be relevant.

    Also, institutions should not just tie promotion to the number of publications that academics can produce but measure their quality as well. This is another suggestion by Obono, who said the practice of publishing articles in backyard journals that have little credibility and limited circulations for the purpose of promotion should be discouraged.

    Rather than for assessment committees to be impressed by the number of publications, they should encourage academics to undergo the rigours of publishing in internationally-recognised journals so that their work will be available to more experts, and as a result be more impactful.

    To enhance wider circulation of research works of our academics, journals of our local professional associations should also be published online and subscribe to world-acclaimed databases for scholarly work. STAN, with the aid of grants from the TETFUND, has started uploading its journals online. Given the advantage of Information Communication Technology in making knowledge accessible, other associations should follow suit. Who says our institutions cannot be among the best in the world?

  • Jonathan to commission public health lab

    President Goodluck Jonathan will Wednesday commission a newly completed ultra-modern Public Health In-Vitro Diagnostic Control Laboratory in Lagos.

    The landmark event which will be Chief Hosted by the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu holds at the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) office on Harvey Road, Yaba.

    Registrar/CEO of MLSCN, Prof Anthony Omeribe will play host to the official opening of the facility.

    The laboratory will enable the Council effectively regulate public health in-vitro diagnostics, 50 per cent of which are said to be fake, expired or substandard in the Nigerian open market. This is against 17 per cent less than fake or sub-substandard drugs and food products.

    MLSCN is a National regulatory Authority charged with the regulations of various medical ramifications of laboratory services including infrastructure, training, processes and practice.

     

  • Oil spill: Lagos moves to sue NSCDC for ‘illegal arrests’

    Oil spill: Lagos moves to sue NSCDC for ‘illegal arrests’

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has directed the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) to sue the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for “illegally arresting” eight residents of Ejigbo, whose wells were polluted by petrol spillage.

    Eight residents of No.17 and 30, Aminatu Ilo Street, were arrested last week by NSCDC officials for allegedly digging their wells to the level of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines to steal petrol.

    OPD Director Mrs. Omotola Rotimi said owners of the wells claimed that they reported at the Ejigbo Police Station when they noticed petrol coming out of their wells.

    They claimed the police took them to NNPC to report the spillage, adding that NNPC officials took samples from the wells before sealing them, with a promise to return on August 26.

    Mrs. Rotimi said the residents were waiting for NNPC to address the problem when NSCDC officials stormed the place and arrested eight people, including an expectant mother.

    She said Fashola and former Governor Bola Tinubu had written the Federal Government in the past to replace the pipelines to protect Ejigbo residents.

    Mrs. Rotimi said: “Despite these letters, nothing was done by NNPC or the Federal Government to alleviate the difficulties faced by the residents due to spillage. It would have been more appropriate for NSCDC to investigate the issue, instead of arresting, detaining, dehumanising and criminalising eight people, including an expectant mother.

    “This is against jurisprudence and human rights justice. These people are the victims, whose homes, livestock and crops have been destroyed due to the pollution of their wells and environment. Their health is also at risk.

    “They should be the one heading to the court to enforce and exercise their fundamental rights, including claiming damages, rather than a law enforcement agency harassing them.”

     

  • Lagos and LCC

    Lagos and LCC

    •Politics is trumping economics of Lekki infrastructure concession 

    In the Lagos Lekki corridor, the economics of infrastructure concession appears giving way to its politics. In the short term, the consumer appears the winner and beneficiary. But that cannot be in the long term.

    This is because for a developing economy with terribly scarce capital chasing a mountain of pressing demands in social infrastructure (education and health) and physical infrastructure (roads, rail and housing), infrastructure concession, warts and all, remains a viable option. But that would dry up if the economics doesn’t add up.

    For now however, both the Lagos State executive and legislature deserve praise for the courage to promptly step in, to nip in the bud a short-term bomb, without necessarily throwing away a development instrument, which short-term tariff gluttony was set to consume its long-term benefits. That would appear the real story behind the state buying back the Lekki Concession Company Ltd (LCC) 30-year design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) agreement, originally to lapse by 2038.

    What that means, according to Ayo Gbeleyi, the Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, and Ade Ipaye, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, is that whereas LCC remains an ongoing business concern, its ownership would revert to the state government, courtesy of N7.5 billion buy-back scheme, just approved by the Lagos State House of Assembly.

    That way, the state government would be in pole position to adopt a more pocket-friendly tariff policy. That is the easy end of the new deal. The more difficult part would be guaranteeing the integrity of collected tolls, given the proverbial basket-leakage of revenue in previous government-run toll exercises.

    Indeed, the galloping tolls, not the quality and durability of the road, have been the bone of contention in the Lekki 50-kilometre road project (Phase 1) and the follow-up 20-kilometre stretch (Phase 2).  The toll regime of N50 (motorcycles), N80 (commercial mini-buses) N120 (saloon cars), N150 (sports utility vehicles, private minibuses and pick-up trucks), N250 (light trucks) and N350 (heavy trucks and buses) was way too high for most commuters but came as a practical response to the economics of financing a gargantuan project.

    Yet, the economics of the concession was demanding even higher tolls (for instance, the saloon car segment rising from N120 to N144), citing the devaluation of the naira, high interest rates on locally sourced loans and the investors’ eagerness to pass any extra costs to the already screaming consumer, aside from opening up tolling at the second plaza, if they were to meet their obligation to secure funds to deliver on the concession mandate.

    But while self-preservation and tariff review or tariff-freeze are no crime, the economics must still be right. That is the challenge now facing the Lagos State government. The original aim at the concession, it must be repeated, was to seek private capital to develop that crucial corridor, to conserve public capital for more pressing developmental matters. Even with tariff review, that goal must be kept in view.

    The government can do that by putting in place fraud-proof systems in the new LCC.  The new managers must get a mandate of zero-tolerance for leakage. If that happens, the full development of the Lekki 70-kilometre road would still be on course, even if it is a bit slowed down, since downward review of tariff will, other things being equal, lead to less revenue.

    But aside from the business integrity of LCC, the Lagos State government must ramp up its mass enlightenment campaign on the project. Antagonists have gone on an emotional binge on high tolls. That is not illegitimate, particularly when it hurts the pocket. But the government has a duty to educate all about the long-term benefits of the project. With well-reasoned arguments, even those opposed will gradually buy into the project. It is only then that it would achieve its developmental goal.

    Whatever happens, the Lagos State Government must maintain investor confidence, to be able to enter into future infrastructure concessions.  Therein might lay its infrastructure salvation, in a skewed federal Nigeria that lands Lagos with extra responsibilities, but not the cash to carry the burden.

     

  • Lagos praises centre for providing free training

    Lagos praises centre for providing free training

    THE Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Mrs Risikat Akiyode has commended the Centre for Vocational Empowerment Programme and Development (CVED), Ipaja, Lagos for complementing the efforts of the government in jobs provision for the people by training 148 people free.

    She spoke at the 11th graduation of the centre in Lagos at the weekend. She said it was good that people were availing themselves of getting training in skills instead of looking for white collar jobs.

    Mrs Akiyode, who was represented by Mrs Adedeji Oluwatoyin described the programme as laudable, saying it was good the owners of the centre Dominion Faith International Church are looking beyond the traditional roles of the church to empowering not only its members but also others.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the centre Rev David Olatona said the vision of the centre,which started in 2007, was initially aimed at feeding 300 less privileged in the community every Friday. But that it was later expanded to skills training in areas such as event decoration, cold water starch, body perfume, insecticides, body cream, hair cream beads making and computer appreciation.

    At the end of the three-month training, certificates are awarded, he added. The first set graduated in 2009.

    “Categorically, through CVED, we aim at helping participants to attain personal, professional and spiritual growth; and we are confident that lives will be enriched, poverty will be alleviated and future-oriented entrepreneurs will be raised,” he further said.

    Co-ordinators of the Programme, Pastor Olajide Esan and his wife Mercy noted the vision of the church ‘’which is connecting people to their destinies in order to impact their world positively’’. They said: “The uniqueness of the programme is that it cuts across every strata of the society; it is platform for every one. The qualification is simply a willing heart and availability for lectures.”

    A Trustee of the church Rev Gabriel Oyediji said at the moment the path to national development is through skills acquisition, urging unemployed graduates to embrace the option. He noted that the era of dependence on certificates was gone, adding that emphasis is on what one could do with one’s hands.

    He also said that is the only way Nigeria can lifted from being a consumer economy to producer, adding that it was through family businesess and cottage firms that Europe and some advanced countries were developed.

  • Bus crushes woman to death in Lagos

    Bus crushes woman to death in Lagos

    A young woman was on Tuesday crushed to death by a commercial bus in Charity area of Oshodi, Lagos.

    The incident occurred at about 9.00am near a block industry along the very busy Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

    The deceased, who was on her way to work, had crossed the expressway before she was hit from behind by a white-coloured civilian bus coming from Mile 2.

    The remains of the lady is still lying on the around on the asphalt road  at the time of filing in this report with visibly shaken sympathizers milling around it.

    The incident, according to eyewitnesses, brings to fore the need for government to enforce the use of pedestrian bridges on the expressway.

    According to them, the accident would have been averted if the lady had made use of the pedestrian bridge sited few metres away from where she was knocked down.

     

     

     

  • MTN donates 25 patrol vans to Lagos

    MTN donates 25 patrol vans to Lagos

    Telecommunications giant MTN Nigeria yesterday donated 25 Hilux patrol vans to the Lagos State government to fight crime.

    MTN’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Michael Ikpoki presented the vans to Governor Babatunde Fashola at the Lagos House, Alausa.

    Some members of the State Executive Council and the Executive Secretary of Lagos State Security Fund (LSSTF), Mr. Fola Arthur-Worrey, were also present.

    Ikpoki said the gesture was part of MTN’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to support security and development.

    He said: “We have been part of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, we have consistently contributed to it and our donation today is in continuation of our support for the Security Trust Fund.

    “We recognise that development can only be achieved in an atmosphere of peace and I assure the government, on behalf of MTN, that we will continue to support you in that regard.”

    Ikpoki said MTN would continue to strengthen its “mutually beneficial” relationship with the state and thanked the government for providing a good environment for businesses to thrive.

    Fashola said MTN’s investment in security was “a sensible one” and pledged that the government would continue to keep the state safe.

    He said LSSF was one of the government’s strategies to tighten security through the provision of equipment for security agencies.