The Nation Newspaper

Tag: practitioners

  • Practitioners to renovate Badagry herbal hall

    •Association urges members to register

    The National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP) is renovating the Traditional Medicine Practitioners’ Hall in Badagry to produce herbal drugs.

    Its Lagos State chairman, Dr Yekini Akande, said this became necessary because most practitioners could not afford the cost of production.

    “So, this is why we are renovating the three-pillar Traditional Medicine Practitioners Hall. We want our practitioners who may not be able to build their own factory to begin herbal production in the facility as soon as possible,” he said.

    Akande said the needs assessment showed that the hall was constructed on one and a half plot of land with six rooms and a large sitting room of 30 by 80 feet.

    “It is presently dilapidated and as such needs renovation,” he added.

    He said there was a letter from chairman of Badagry Local Government and traditional ruler of the area backing the plan of the association.

    The chairman urged the practitioners to register with the association in the states where they reside.

    “This is important because we want to work with the government,” he said.

    According to him, there are many unregistered traditional medicine practitioners operating without the necessary authorisation from the board and our association.

    Akande urged people to patronise only accredited centres, adding that quacks are operating under the guise that they are registered with the association.

    The association, he said, has spoken to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), about its desire to have a  centre. “It then gave us the go ahead to get a befitting place for laboratory and manufacturing of herbal products,” Akande said.

    “NAFDAC, Advertisers’ Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) have been supporting us to promote our profession”,he added.

    Having a common production centre, he said, would help  promote traditional medicine.

    The chairman said there are practitioners who have efficacious herbs that can be developed into herbal drugs, which the Federal Government can export to other countries.

    “However, the encouragement is not there. Everybody has been doing his own thing but now we need to work together for a common good. This will be of benefit to us all. And the country will be better for it.

    “In some advanced countries, traditional medicine is on the front burner. But it is a different case in Nigeria. We practically have to struggle for everything,” Akande said

    NANTMP Secretary, Dr Lambo Adebisi said the practitioners need the help of government, adding that they cannot do anything without it.

    “The government did not tell us not to have association but we have to get registered with the parent body, which is NANTMP and the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board (LSTMB).

    “So unregistered members are quacks because they are not under any association, and as such cannot be monitored,” Adebisi said.

  • Expert advises practitioners on effective approach to brand building

    Expert advises practitioners on effective approach to brand building

    The Regional Managing Director, Impact Porter Novelli, Mr. Tim Walmsley, has urged PR professionals to adopt story-led communication when designing messages for the brands in their portfolio and depart from brand-led communication approach which often bores the target audience.

    During his visit to Nigeria recently, Walmsley observed that most PR practitioners are led by brands architecture to communicate messages to the target market. According to him, this trend is fast fading out as researches have shown that story-led communication have proved to resonate with consumers better.

    “Now, communication agencies are moving to the idea of story-led communication through multiple led channels into communication eco-system, which surrounds individuals and consumers,” said Walmsley.

    He said this method would make brands more compelling and powerful in their communication because the brands are put in a story to project its value and propositions, thus putting the brand in the centre of communication.

    Walmsley view contradicts the norm in the country where PR experts bore consumers with the brand stories which are rather overhyped with unnecessary adjectives. To change this trend, he said: “We need to think of the content we are creating and how the content fits in the environment. Essentially, we need to think the way journalists think which is the primacy of the story, dialogue and consumer feedback. When you think in that form, we will act differently as Communication Company.

    “If you look at advertising done by creative agencies, they believe that brands are the story teller, they believe that the brands are the centre of communication, but we all know that the consumers are the end of brands. It is what we think about the brands that make the brands to work.”

  • Cross River state gets film agency

    Cross River state gets film agency

    AS part of their contribution and efforts to position the state film industry beyond its usual physical structural representation, practitioners of the film industry based in Cross River State have taken the bull by the horns to unveil the strongest brand of a state film agency in Africa.

    The agency, named Cross River Film Agency (CRFA), will enjoy a grand unveiling in the Cross River State capital, Calabar, by November this year, launching the state as the first in Africa to take the bold step to position its film industry for the benefit of all subsectors of the industry.

    According to the agency’s director, Mr. Obaji Akpet, the body is aimed at keying into the current Cross River government to position the state entertainment industry as the second largest in Africa after the Nigerian Films.

    “CRFA is the film agency for Cross River to ensure that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film production are effectively represented in the state. Our sole intent is to aid the structure of the film industry in the state,” according to the statement of appreciation addressed to the governor of Cross River and signed by the agency publicist, Solomon Asha.

    The unveiling ceremony, which was rescheduled from October 30th to November later this year, is expected to be a point of unification for both stakeholders and potential investors of the film industry, where the governor of Cross River, Senator Liyel Imoke, is expected to carry out the unveiling, while several practitioners in the Nigerian entertainment industry, including practitioners of international repute of Cross River descent, are expected to grace the event.

    Entertainment drivers expected at the event include Actors Guild President, Ibinabo Fiberisima; Producers Guild President, Zik Okafor; Directors Guild President, Andy Amenechi; The Nation newspaper Entertainment Editor, Victor Akande; popular presenter and founder of Ebony Life, Mo Abudu; International Film Festival’s Madu Chikwendu; veteran actor and producer, Lari Williams; Hollywood actor Nyambi Nyambi; Kate Henshaw; Shan George; Igoni Archibong; Eric Anderson; Bernard Khawaja. Music crooners Sunny Neji; Felade; Iyanya; Spiderman; AJ; Gziyoung; DizzBaby; Real P and a host of others.

    The establishment of CRFA in Cross River is another bold step to maintaining the state’s pace-setting role in the industry since it dedicated a physical structure to the Nigerian Films in 2005 at Tinapa, which has continued to recognise the state as headquarters of the Nigerian film industry. The state also plays a key role as the highest entertainment-paying state since it launched Africa’s biggest entertainment event, Christmas Calabar. It has also played a contributory role to the production of Nigerian high-budget films including Biyi Bandele’s Half of a Yellow Sun, Jetta Amata’s Amazing Grace; Street of Calabar; and the now renowned Cross River Movie Awards. And has remained the only state that welcomes and encourages initiatives by individual practitioners to push the state entertainment industry forward.

    The governor of the state, Senator Liyel Imoke, in his unveiling of this year’s Calabar Christmas festival theme, earlier this month, said the state’s vision remains making the state entertainment market as the second largest in Africa after the Nigerian entertainment industry.

    The unveiling of CRFA, which included the official unveiling of the agency website to the outside world, would serve as platform to deeper revelations to the state film industry potentials and expected to lunch a newer beginning for the industry.

  • Govt, outdoor advertising practitioners, meet

    Following a visit by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola to its new office complex, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), has hosted members of the outdoor advertising industry.

    The meeting, which was held under the leadership of the agency’s Managing Director, Mr. George Kayode Noah, was aimed at addressing some of the issues affecting the business in the state.

    Key on their agenda was the rate review for all outdoor advertisement structures. The billboards within military formations, discounts on vacant billboards, tightening the regulation on mobile advertisement as well as potential outdoor advertising opportunities within the new concession corridor, were also discussed.

    Noah said LASAA would explore all avenues to ensure that billboards within military formations are properly regulated, adding: “We have reduced our rates to the lowest at the moment. I believe writing letters to you is the only responsible way to ask you to pay all outstanding dues to the agency.”

    He also cleared the air on use of billboards, saying: “LASAA billboards are used as a vehicle for social communication to support and propagate the various programmes and projects of the state government.”

    On their part, stakeholders at the meeting sought continuous understanding from the agency regarding outstanding payments by defaulting members.

    The Managing Director of 21st Limited, Mr Femi Ogala, who sought more protection from LASAA, praised it and urged it to constantly organise such sessions to resolve some of the issues affecting the industry.

  • Stakeholders fault new bill on market practitioners

    Stakeholders fault new bill on market practitioners

    Some capital market stakeholders have faulted a new bill that is seeking to replace the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) with the Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI).

    The bill is being sponsored by former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, and it is intended to replace the law that set up CIS and will bring other capital market operators under the supervision of CISI.

    The Association of Asset Custodians of Nigeria (AACN in a memorandum to the committee said the bill violates the constitutional freedom of association for all practitioners in the market.

    They noted that to be forced to belong to an institute that is being sponsored by stockbrokers when they do not have anything in common violates principles of fairness.

    “No major stakeholder was consulted by the CIS in lobbying for this bill that has significant implications for our survival and well being of the market. It violates the principle of fairness and fair play for a subset of the market to go behind everyone else and lobby for a bill that would force everybody in the market to come under its own umbrella without any discussion or consultation with those it seeks to appropriate,” the group stated.

    According to them, stockbrokers do not understand the market intricacies and challenges faced by the other trade groups who are specialists in their various fields and as such, CIS could therefore not bring any value to these other bodies.

    AACN argued that it does not know of any country in the world where a chartered institute is the same as institute that licenses stockbrokers, trustees, investment bankers, fund managers, custodians, registrars, among others, noting that if it must be pioneered in Nigeria, it must be by consensus.

    Earlier, the CFA Society Nigeria (CSN) had expressed concerns on the bill, requesting the Senate Committee on Capital Market to reject it.

     

  • Traditional medicine practitioners seek self-regulation

    The Chairman, Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board (LSTMB), Dr Bunmi Omoseyindemi, has called for self-regulation of natural and traditional medicine practice.

    Failure to do this, he said, would give room to quacks to mushroom the profession.

    He spoke at the inauguration of the Natural Integrative Medicine Practitioners Association (NIMPA) in Lagos.

    He enjoined practitioners to work for humanity, to preserve lives, adding that they need to work together to move the profession forward.

    Omoseyindemi said the practice may be taken over by quacks if nothing is done to curtail their activities, saying practitioners have been operating without registration.

    He urged members of the association to shun anything that can bring down the association.

    The association’s Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Dr Isaac Ayodele, said NIMPA’s inauguration was to empower practitioners to freely use natural treatment to restore health in patients in line with the need of the people.

    “Practitioners can apply herbal medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy and acupuncture, among others, to treat the sick,” he said.

    He said there was a decline in natural therapeutic medicine, adding that the relegation and adultration of the profession was why there is increase in incurable ailments.

    The Natural Integrative Medicine (NIM), he said, would help tackle ailments that defy other forms of treatments.

    Ayodele said NIM practitioners should use natural therapies to provide healing rather than using single therapy.

    He thanked the Lagos State government for establishing the LSTMB. “The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology has remained a strong pillar of natural medicine, especially in research and development. The Federal Ministry of Health is integrating traditional medicine into the curriculum of medical schools,” Ayodele said.

     

  • Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    SIR: The exit of Justice Kayode Eso will certainly remain indelible in our annals for many years to come. The legal profession will continue to miss the erudite jurist, extremely intelligent arbiter of uncommon order and frontline apostle of judicial activism in Nigeria.

    Justice Eso, no doubt, is one of the few, who are destined to right societal wrongs and look oppressors in the face. The fearless Judge was highly revered, not only for his uprightness or Solomonic wisdom, but for his uncompromising stance when it comes to issues of truth and declaration of verdict without any fear or favour.

    Kayode Eso’s name is incontrovertibly synonymous with an incorruptible and courageous judiciary. The man Eso is undoubtedly a blessing to the nation’s Judiciary. He was one of the few judges, Nigeria is lucky to have produced, that held tenaciously to the principles of “Nemini Negada est” (Justice should be denied to no man). As a judge the late Eso believed not in the judgments, but in justice, not only for both parties but also for the society. Eso, as a Judge, right from the lower court to apex court, was like fire that respects its lighter. To him, it is “fiat justitia enruant coelium” (let justice be done even though the heavens fall).

    He was one of the few judges who believed and displayed it obviously to all and sundry, the lordship and independence of judiciary over the two arms of the government, by refusing to bend for pressure or pacification from any quarters or anybody, no matter his rank or fortune. He was a die-hard student in the school of legal thought that “judex habere debet dous sales salem sapientiae, nesit inspidus est salem conscietiae no sit diabolus,” which means that a judge should have two salts; the salt of wisdom, lest he becomes insipid and the salt of conscience, lest he be devilish. And no wonder, he passionately displayed this in many cases that were before him, To mention a few: Fawehinmi V Akilu and ors; Awolowo V Shagari; Omoboriowo V A.G Federation, Ajasin V Omoboriowo; Nwodo V Onoh; State v Wole Soyinka etc.

    As a matter of fact, Eso, a born mediator and a reputably stainless Judge, will be difficult to replace, especially in this era of charlatanisms and favouritisms, when some men in gown, have turned Judiciary to an appendage of executive arm and annex of legislature; when cowards are now seen dominating the positions meant for the courageous. Our longing to have the likes of Eso is a must.

    The passage of Justice Kayode Eso to the great beyond is not only a call for eulogies and encomium, and is not only a call for celebration or adulation, but it’s a call for us to live worthy lives and examine our lives. What do we want people to say after we have stopped breathing? We must think deeply, whether we want praises like the ones being showered on Eso or people’s reactions to the demise of Sani Abacha.

    To the men of the bench who are Eso’s colleagues, the greatest sympathy you can show is to literally put on his gown and his wigs, for in there lay honour, courage and praises. And as corruption is daily eating deeper into Nigerian fabric and escalating in an unprecedented proportion, the nation’s judiciary is highly in need of upright, godly and lion-hearted judges, like Kayode Eso.

    I can hear the voice of this departed man of honour and value, urging and warning our judges to strive for excellence in their acts of adjudication or mediation; that the judiciary should not look as executive arm is looking; that the judiciary should not reason as legislature is reason. Oh, I heard him loud and clear, urging Nigerian judiciary to stand firm and be courageous.

    Justice Kayode Eso, in his message, prefers to be emulated rather than to be celebrated. He wants his principles and ideals cherished and not himself and he wants the judiciary to shelve encomiums and instead to stand for what he stood for. May he rest in perfect peace.

     

    • Bello Destiny Paul,

    Ondo State.