The Nation Newspaper

Tag: news

  • More news than rejoinder

    More news than rejoinder

    I would not have bothered to acknowledge the rejoinder written by spokesman Paul Ibe to my last week’s essay on his master Atiku Abubakar.
    But I decided otherwise because he, perhaps, unwittingly revealed a piece of news and confirmed my speculation in that piece: That embattled Nasir El Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State is now a partner with Atiku.
    Coming from Atiku’s spokesman, it is clear the fellow has no place in APC, where he fought and dined last season. So, it is clear why he also followed Atiku’s footsteps by visiting the former president, Muhammadu Buhari.
    He even visited a northern monarch and pledged his allegiance to the Adamawa fellow. This is even more potent as the APC in the State pledged their loyalty to Governor Uba Sani.
    It was a feast of allegiance. Enter Speaker of the House of Representatives , Hon Tajudeen Abbas. Enter former Governor Mukhtar Yero. Enter Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi. Enter party bigwigs.

    Read Also: Nigerians aren’t people to share good news with, says Erica Nlewedim


    Exit El Rufai. The big-mouthed man can now take shelter under the roofs of Adamawa since he is now politically homeless.
    It is a season of sealed lips for him as he tries to parry attention to his over N400 billion fraud allegations and an EFCC’s sword of Damocles hangs in the clouds over his head.
    It is amazing now that all his troops have fled, just like the general Sisera in the Bible.
    Are they going to be accommodated under the shadow of the Adamawa chieftain, too. Pity Atiku has no powers to stop a corruption trial or to free anyone. He may be a shelter but not a refuge for El Rufai and his minions. Even his followers are not coming back to the nation yet. They are crouching abroad with their loots?

  • Robert Mugabe (1924 – 2019)

    •Although he started well, he ended badly

    Ousted from power in November 2017, after nearly four decades of political dominance, ex-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe ended poorly. But he had started well. His death in Singapore on September 6, aged 95, raised questions about his place in history.

    Mugabe was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987, and then president from 1987 to 2017.  His rise to political prominence is a story of courage and conviction. Born in Southern Rhodesia, he was educated at University of Fort Hare, Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa and worked as a teacher before joining the anti-colonial struggle. Opposed to white minority rule in Southern Rhodesia, which was a British colony, Mugabe’s enthusiastic nationalism led to his imprisonment for sedition between 1964 and 1974.

    After jail, he fled to Mozambique, and became the leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980, as well as its successor political party, the ZANU-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) from 1980 to 2017. Mugabe was in the vanguard of ZANU’s guerrilla war against the white government, known as the Rhodesian Bush War. He participated in the peace talks that produced the Lancaster House Agreement, which ended the war and prepared the ground for the 1980 general election, in which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory and became prime minister of the renamed Zimbabwe. He announced that Rhodesia would be renamed Zimbabwe in his inauguration speech, which emphasised Africanism.

    The success of the anti-colonial war was a statement on black majority rule, and was expected to lift the socio-economic conditions of black Zimbabweans.  Mugabe’s transformation from freedom fighter to prime minister placed him in a position to put his governance ideas into practice. He focused on healthcare and education.  The number of secondary schools in Zimbabwe increased from 177 in 1980 to 1,548 in 2000. The adult literacy rate in that period rose from 62% to 82%, reportedly one of the best records in Africa. Child immunisation levels rose from 25% of the population to 92%.

    It was a measure of his revolutionary zeal that Mugabe pursued the redistribution of land previously controlled by white farmers to landless blacks. Impatient with the initial approach of “willing seller-willing buyer,” from 2000 Mugabe encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms.  This method attracted international criticism and sanctions, and was considered counter-productive. Ultimately, it affected food production and led to famine and economic problems.

    After seven years as prime minister, there was a twist to his trajectory that set him on the path of decline and a final fall.  The Zimbabwean parliament, under Mugabe’s influence, amended the constitution, and declared him executive president. His new position made him head of state, head of government, and commander-in chief of the armed forces. In addition, the position gave him the power to dissolve parliament, declare martial law, and run for an unlimited number of terms. Also, the constitutional amendments abolished the 20 parliamentary seats reserved for white representatives. The context supported authoritarianism.

    Mounting opposition to Mugabe diminished his earlier glory.  He was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013, in elections characterised by violence and irregularities. Clearly, Mugabe was obsessed with power, and perhaps planned to remain in office till he died. In his nineties, he clung to power with the passion of a megalomaniac.

    Mugabe fell dramatically and disgracefully. He was forced out of power by a military intervention in collaboration with members of his party. His nephew was quoted as saying: “Imagine people you trusted – people that were guarding you, looking after you – (turning) against you. He was very bitter and it dented his legacy. It was not an easy thing for him to take.”

    Mugabe’s anti-colonial achievement and post-colonial successes and failures present a complicated picture. It is unsurprising that his legacy is a controversial subject.

  • Deadly parcel from South Africa

    In the colonial era, it was normal to see whites brutalizing and oppressing blacks as aptly epitomized by the atrocious Trans-Atlantic slave trade and other similar obnoxious acts. Although, colonialism has effectively ended in Africa, but the chilling news from the Rainbow Nation simply shows that the equation has changed.

    In South Africa, whites no longer brutalize blacks. Rather, it is blacks that are maiming blacks. How sad! Brothers are now killing brothers. Iconic Reggae maestro, late Bob Marley, legendary Afrobeat singer, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti and many other departed black singers who have variously sang about the unity of Africa would be whimpering in the grave. Why not? Africa has failed her illustrious sons.

    What is currently going on in South Africa is contrary to the traditional African spirit of brotherliness and hospitality. It is also contrary to the spirit behind the formation of the African Union, AU, which encourages freedom of movement and other related activities among African nations. According to the vision of the founding fathers of the AU, Africans should be able to seek legitimate livelihood anywhere in the continent. Unfortunately, that laudable vision is being dealt a deadly blow in South Africa.

    In what has now been termed as xenophobic attacks, nationalists of other African nations have become targets of crude attacks by South Africans. Victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa are from various African nations, including Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia and Ethiopia. In the last three years, about 127 Nigerians have been reportedly killed. Intriguingly, 13 out of these were allegedly killed by South African police.

    What actually complicates the whole issue is the perceived complicity of the South African Police. From January to June, 10 Nigerians were reportedly killed, either by South Africans or by members of the South African Police Service. It is quite worrisome that most victims of xenophobic attacks do not usually receive swift help from the police. Could this seeming indifference be considered as official approval of the dastardly acts of some heartless and crude South Africans?

    Without sounding like a prophet of doom, if the issue is not quickly addressed by the concerned authorities, it could snowball into a serious crisis between the two countries. Lots of Nigerians are aggrieved at the uncivilized manners our compatriots are being treated in South Africa and they are already demonstrating their resentment through several means.

    Recently, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) picketed branches of South African telecoms giant MTN, and those of supermarket chain Shoprite, turning away staff and customers all in the bid to draw attention of the federal government and, indeed, the whole world to the barbaric happenings at South Africa.

    But then, in dealing with the sad subject, one doesn’t really approve of any action that doesn’t portray civility. In-spite of obvious provocations, NANS and other such groups should toe the path of courteousness.  Indeed, on the long run, we are not likely to profit from any crude action against South African business interests in the country.  Attacking business concerns such as MTN, Shoprite, MultiChoice, and the many other South African companies in the country could have adverse effects on our already struggling economy as well as our staggering unemployment situation.

    While it is logical to disapprove of what is going on in South Africa, our compatriots need to exercise patience and have faith in the ability of the governments of the two nations to diplomatically sort out the issue. According to reports, the leaders of the two countries are scheduled to meet in October in South Africa and chief among what they are billed to discuss is “issues relating to the wellbeing of citizens of both countries”.

    According to experts of South African politics, the genesis of the attacks is traceable to the issue of migrants, mostly from other African states and Asia, who have moved to South Africa in huge numbers since white-minority rule was terminated in 1994. Many South Africans have accused these immigrants of taking the available jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is 24%.

    Thus, the attacks in South Africa cannot be divorced from the worsening poverty and unemployment rate in the continent. In Africa, the reality of poverty is quite frightening as most Africans live on less than a dollar income per day. Perhaps more niggling is that, with 34 out of a total of 49, African countries account for a greater proportion of the Least Developed Countries, LDCs, in the world. This, perhaps, explains why poverty indicators such as extreme hunger, malnourishment, homelessness, diseases, high crime rate, slums, lack of opportunities, low productivity and illiteracy abound in larger quantity in the continent. The African poverty situation is further compounded by the failure of governments across the continent to properly harness human, natural and material resources for the common good of all.

    Though the poverty and the unemployment situation in the continent should not be an excuse to justify the evil being perpetrated in South Africa, it is, nevertheless, a clarion call for African governments to tackle poverty on the continent. For instance, if there are enough opportunities for gainful employment and better life prospects in our country, most Nigerians that are being traumatized in South Africa and, indeed in other nations across the world, would certainly have stayed at home to eke out a living. After all, it is often said that there is no place like home.

    Meanwhile, the AU should prevail on the South African government to take immediate measures to protect and safeguard the lives and properties of African migrants and, indeed, all nationals resident in South Africa and ensure that real compensations are paid to the families of all who lost their family members and relations and also for the loss of properties.

    The whole of Africa rose up against the deadly apartheid regime in South Africa. Indeed, Nigeria was in the forefront of the struggle to liberate South Africa from the evil of apartheid. Ordinarily, this ought to place a huge moral burden on the South African government to protect all Africans, and especially Nigerians, living legitimately on its soil.

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • When Tomorrow Comes

    “Let there become of you a nation that shall call for righteousness, enjoin justice and forbid evil. Such are people that shall surely triumph (in the end)”. Q. 3: 104.

    This is not just an article. It is rather a letter of admonition coming from ‘The Message’ column to Nigerian politicians. Similar letters had been written through this column to this same generation of politicians in the recent past. But letters of this type seldom come to an arena of politics where conscience is banished and virtually everything in Nigeria’s political life is based on whim engendered by self aggrandizement which is considered to be the ultimate goal. Coming up at this precarious time of political labyrinth in Nigeria, this letter is necessitated by the current frightening political tension that is fast becoming a bubble that may burst anytime from now unless the Almighty Allah comes to the rescue of our country with His divine mercy.

    If, Nigerian politicians think that they can escape any calamitous consequence of their ceaseless political machinations which they are tendentiously weaving around Nigeria without an iota of remorse, they may be day-dreaming. The evil plans of those who engaged in similar machinations before them in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s had ended up in a forlorn. There is a lesson in that for those amongst them who are wise enough to seek the guidance of Allah.

     

    Functions of Conscience

    “Conscience”, according to Uthman Dan Fodio, “is an open wound which only the truth can heal”. But one can talk of healing a wounded conscience only where and when it has not become cancerous.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once gave a vivid description of the signs by which hypocrites can be identified.

    He said “hypocrites are known by three signs: When they talk they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”.

    In other words, conscience is not a befitting garment for any hypocrite to clad in.

    Most of Nigerian politicians so much typify the above Prophetic description of hypocrites that one wonders if the Prophet had Nigerians in mind when he was expressing that axiomatic Hadith.

     

    Deceptive Motive

    It will be recalled that when most of those politicians started agitation for a return to democracy for the fourth time in the late 1990s while a despotic military demagogue held sway, their seeming focus was on liberation of the Nigerian citizenry from the crushing claw of military despotism. And you did that in the name of freedom fighters or human rights advocates. But hardly had you succeeded in leading the masses to drive away the military boys than some of you began to agitate for your own negative political enclave through your selfish interest by claiming to want ‘to serve your people’.

    Thus, based on that claim, your godfathers or godmothers warmly embraced you not minding your hidden agenda especially when such agenda did not contradict theirs. That claim, which was the bait with which you deceptively lured ordinary Nigerians into the struggle that ended up in raising your own political pedestal to the height upon which you stand today was a covenant. And that covenant was not just between you and the people you claimed to want to serve but also between you and the Almighty Allah who knows every manifest and hidden agenda. Allah will surely hold you accountable for whatever agenda you adopt to exploit the innocent masses of this country.

     

    Fraudulent Constitution

    To you, it does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or surreptitiously smuggled into office through the back door by your godfathers thereby  depriving others (who are more qualified than you), of their legitimate rights. Such could not have mattered to you since the constitution under which you operate politically is, itself, fraudulent. Here is a military constitution imposed on the populace without any impute from the same populate who constitute the electorate. In that constitution is the immunity which is exclusively reserved for some political demagogues to fraudulently authorize them to steal public funds unlimitedly and commit any unquestionable crime with impunity in the name of governance. What else is called despotism?

    And now, an addendum has been added to that fraud with the promotion of ‘Not Too Young To Rule’ bill into a law which is actually meant to replace yourselves, as   politicians, with your own children. That is a way of empowering those children to utilize your massively stolen wealth to continue your rule over Nigerians.

    Whether you knew it or not, you are hereby reminded that your original claim before you were smuggled into whatever position you occupy today will be weighed against your action or inaction in that position after you eventually vacate the stage by displacement or by death. And you will be judged not just by history but by the Almighty Allah whose divine judgment cannot be appealed.

    Remember that just as you will call on Allah for justice if you were in the shoes of the deprived ones so will those you deprive take your case to Allah’s court in quest of justice. And the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers a denial.

     

    Reminder

    As some of you once shamelessly graded figure 16 higher than figure 19 sometime ago and audaciously classified unbridled theft as a lesser crime than corruption, all in the name of politics, you must remember that Allah’s justice can neither be manipulated nor subverted. And no matter how long it may take, Allah’s justice will take its course perhaps when you least expect in life.

    When some of your colleagues were made to face the music of their criminal acts recently, you were expected to learn a lesson from their plights. But since a dog that will die in perdition will never heed the warning whistle of a hunter, it is not surprising that despite your conspicuous political misdemeanour, you are still arrogating the nation’s leadership to yourselves without thinking of the lessons that the younger ones including your own children can learn from your conduct on their way to the top. In words and in actions, you have evidently demonstrated that you are not in anyway, qualified to bequeath any sensible legacy to the future generations, an indication that once you can satisfy your satanic greed, the future is of no relevance to you.

    If anything, your thoughtless public utterances, your shameless public actions and counter actions as well as your devilish body language are more destructive to Nigeria’s future than ever imagined. In fact, you can be called any name other than patriotic gentlemen and women of honour that you deceptively call yourselves. As a result, you are unprecedentedly a disgrace not only to Nigeria as a country but also to the entire civilized mankind. However, since you have permanently enlisted immorality as a vital political instrument without thinking of its consequences, you are free to behave like typical intoxicated horses gallivanting aimlessly around without reins.

     

    Life without Justice

    In Islam, three issues are fundamentally sacrosanct, none of which Allah takes lightly. These are non association of anything with the oneness of Allah, sacredness of life and dispensation of justice. It is almost an unforgivable iniquity for any human being, especially Muslims, to associate anything with Allah or engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially in the name of religion, ethnicity, politics or even economy is nothing but an agent of Satan. In Islam, killing a fellow human being deliberately under whatever guise, without passing through a due process of law, is such a grievous sacrilege that cannot andshould not be perpetrated without commensurate penalty. If such a penalty is not applied here on earth, it will definitely be applied in the hereafter. Yet, killing fellow human beings directly or clandestinely is the major political means of gaining power and access to illegal wealth by you Nigerian politicians.

     

     

    Legislative Duty

    In Islam, rule of law is the foundation of justice but legislation is the material with which that foundation is built. Those of you who voluntarily chose to legislate for the rest of us hardly see yourselves as the foundation layers of justice who should not betray the course of justice. As legislators, you are looked upon by most Nigerians as honourable leaders neither because you are more qualified intellectually than those for whom you legislate nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you legislators in the lower or upper chamber of the legislative arm of government is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which gives room for open gerrymandering and audacious manipulation. If such opportunity comes your way illegally, let it not be mistaken for good luck. It may rather be a calamity waiting to strike your lives in the near or far future.

    And when it strikes, no one except Allah can tell the extent of its effect. At least you can see how the consequences of the heartless annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election have become a draconian spectre chasing the ghost of every Nigeria today even more than two decades of licking the political wound inflicted on our country by that satanic annulment.

     

    Executive Duty

    As members of the Executive arm, when some of you travel abroad officially, at people’s expense, you are never alarmed by the way the systems work in those countries. You never bother to ask questions about the effective functions of electricity, the smoothness of roads, the flow of portable water and the excellent educational system that promotes probity and decorum in those countries. Rather, your primary concerns are the personal ephemeral gains accruable to you at the expense of the Nigeria’s present and future. For the past 19 years of Nigeria’s fourth republic most of you have been at the saddle of government directly or indirectly without being able to show in concrete terms what value has that length of time added to the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Your emphasis is on power with impunity rather than good governance and you often go about it in such a manner that gives the impression that government is much more about destruction than construction. Your brutish law breaking rather than clement law making is an attestation to this fact.

     

    Nigeria as an OPEC Country

    As political leaders that you call yourselves, you do not even feel ashamed that Nigeria has remained the only OPEC country importing refined petroleum products for domestic consumption simply because you are beneficiaries of the corrupt device which you deliberately put in place to ensure the workability of that device.

    Even if Nigeria never had electricity before 1999 but decided to start one at the commencement of the fourth republic to boost her economy, is a period of 19 years not enough to provide a functional electricity especially given the enormous amount of wealth with which this country is endowed? In modern time, no technological device provides as much opportunity for jobs and economic growth as electricity. Yet, it is that major device that you deliberately hold down to deprive the populace of the wherewithal to rise mentally and intellectually. And that is to enable you to the citizens of your country into perpetual slaves to be ruled forever. In such a situation, why wouldn’t corruption be unconscientiously legislated into legitimacy? And now, Nigeria is held to a standstill because every one of you must personally have a chip of juicy future now without caring about what may even become of your own children in that future.

    As fathers and mothers, most of you will say amen when people are praying for responsible men and women, yet, you have nothing in you that can serve as good examples for your children that can accentuate your cry of amen..

    You tell lies with relish. Yet you want your children to be truthful.

    From where do you expect them to inherit truthfulness? You steal public funds with unbridled audacity. Yet you do not want your children to be called thieves. What other names should the children of thieves bear other than thieves?

     

    Sermon

    From the pulpit of genuine conscience, ‘The Message’ column hereby implores you Nigerian politicians to search your conscience if you have obe at all and fear the Almighty God in your own interest.

    Remember that some people had governed this country in the past. Among them were those who tried to combine the roles of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary arms together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état and the barrels of gun. Where are they today?

    Governance has its tenure. At the commencement of a tenure, four years may look endless, but for the wise, it is not more than a flash of lightening  which only a fool will rely upon to walk his way through the darkness of the night. You are in government today. But remember that you will soon become former this or former that just like those before you.

     

     

    Observation

    Some of you, legislators, think or talk of impeachment only when your salaries, allowances or extra budgetary largess suffers a reduction or delay. And some other times, your thoughts along that line are devilishly influenced by blind ambition for power grabbing.

    It does not matter to you whether or not the entire workforce in Nigeria remains unpaid for years. Once you are able to amass whatever comes your way legally or illegally the rest of the populace can go on hunger strike forever. It is rather shameful and disappointing that even some of you who claim to be Muslims are participating in such an evil charade despite your proclamation of Islam.

    Conscience, though invisible, has a mirror which only a few people know of. That mirror is shame. A person without shame is a person without conscience. And that is the main distinction between a genuine Muslim and a nominal one.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once admonished the Muslims thus in respect of shame: “once you are bereft of shame, you can go ahead to do whatever you like”. This means that without shame you are a nonentity who can even strip naked in a market place in readiness for a brawl. We can all see the example of this in a former President of this country who is now menstruating through his mouth at any public place even as an octogenarian.

     

    Admonition

    Dear Nigerian politicians, let it be kept permanently in your brain that the only thing which keeps people alive in history even long after their demise is service to humanity. Prophets Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad (SAW), had neither bank accounts nor estates to bequeath to anybody. Their legacy is more than any material wealth inherited by the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned legacy if only for posterity? That is a big question which only people with conscience can answer. And, as Muslims or Christians, you should be able to answer it if you truly follow the right guidance of those noble men of impeccable character.

    Remember that you are in a ship already cruising actively on the high sea towards the shore. And at that shore are fierce customs officers waiting to check the contents of your luggage and your cargo. Remember that if you cultivate friendship with Satan he will favour your wish.

    But if he grants you one favour, he will surely take ten from you in return. Be Muslims by name, conduct and mannerism. Whatever you do as Muslims will affect the image of Islam in one way or the other. I hope you will return home from your political odyssey as Muslims and not as renegades. Remember all these and adjust now that you may be able to raise your head aloft when tomorrow comes.

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  • Engineers seek stricter regulatory frame work for building construction

    Following last week’s collapse of 5 storey building housing a private primary school and other businesses in Lagos, Nigeria Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), Lagos State chapter has asked regulatory authorities in the Built-Environment sector to implement stricter regulatory authority to sanitise the sector.

    They urged government to do much more to ensure that regulatory authorities are empowered to discharge their duties and also punish infractions to rein in discipline and sanity in the sector.

    Chairman, NICE, Lagos branch, Mrs. Lola Adetona has absolved engineers of culpability in the spate of building collapses in Lagos, but rather blamed quacks who venture into the construction sector without the prerequisite knowledge of the complexities in the sector.

    In a session with The Nation in Lagos she maintained that a quack would never know the right mix of ratio and aggregates of concrete and sand nor be able to supervise a construction site effectively and should therefore not be allowed under any condition to superintend such process.

    The NICE chairman, lamented that quacks has taken over their jobs as some would -be clients prefer to deal with them citing cost implications.

    On the school building that collapsed, she wondered how a school could have been allowed to be situated in that building in such an environment, wondering how they got the necessary approvals from the relevant government ministries and agencies.

    Adetona revealed that from their investigations the building was originally a residential and wondered how it was allowed to accommodate a school and other businesses noting that there is a wide difference between a residential and a commercial building in terms of design and load.

    She said: “The load design for residential buildings are different from commercial buildings and if the order is changed without the necessary adjustment the result will turn out ugly as we are witnessing now. To check incessant building collapse the government, professionals and the public should synergise by sharing information and ensuring proper regulation and implementation of available laws”.

    National Vice Chairman, NICE, Mr. Tokunbo Ajanaku said collapse can occur due to several reasons that include the age of the building if not maintained as every building is constructed to last 50 years. He encouraged stakeholder’s collaboration to see that there is no repeat of the ugly incident.

    He also asked the State Government to strengthen the existing agencies and ensure strict adherence to building code and construction standards.

    He encouraged the public to consciously be part of the vanguard to sanitise the sector by complaining to the relevant agencies and professional body when they believe something is wrong with a particular construction.

    He said: “If you see a construction going on with defects report to us and we will report to government so that necessary sanctions are given out when there is default. The regulatory bodies need to ensure that what they approved is what is constructed. For instance a building approved as residential should not be converted without changing the dynamics. Once you introduce none designed load to a building such as a dead load like generator or any of such that was not envisaged in the original drawing you are looking for trouble. There should be proper appraisal and retrofitting if you convert use of building”.

  • Building collapse: Red Cross, others appeal for blood for victims

    The Nigerian Red Cross (NRC) has appealed for blood donations for victims of the collapsed building on Lagos Island.

    Mr Olakunle Lasisi, Secretary of NRC, Lagos made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

    Publication trending on social media to appeal to the public for blood donations

    Speaking on the hashtags #DonateForItafaji and #savetheitafajichildren trending on social media, to solicit for blood donations from the public, he said Red Cross would partake in the exercise.

    Lasisi added that he spoke with the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service on Wednesday, and confirmed that the information was true.

    “They said, yes, they are aware of it.

    “It was launched by the MD of the General Hospital, so they can have enough blood in the bank to assist the casualties of the collapsed building.

    “When an incident like this happens, blood donations is always required to meet the demand of those in need of blood transfusion.

    “It is a good opportunity for the blood bank to replenish because there are people who want to assist.

    “Some of our members who are due for blood donation will be available,” he told NAN.

    Lasisi commended the Red Cross volunteers and other agencies such as LASEMA, LASAMBUS, NEMA, FED FIRE and Nigeria Police, whose efforts ensured that lives were saved.

    “We left the point at about 12:30 am; we were moving out the debris there.

    “There are a lot of agencies and two construction companies also assisting.

    “The data we were able to collate tells us that we have about 45 persons that were evacuated and a good number of them are students,” he disclosed.