The Nigerian Army has postponed its 77 Regular Recruitment exercise earlier scheduled to hold from February 26 to March 9 till further notice.
A statement by Col. Aliyu Yusuf on behalf of the Director of Army Public Relations yesterday, said a new date for the exercise would be communicated in due course through the media and Nigerian Army Recruitment Portal (recruitment.army.mil.ng).
Yusuf said the authority “highly regretted inconveniences caused” by the postponement.
Nigerians have been urged to always go for routine medical checkup so as to know their numbers.
According to Dr Feziy Nnaji of Exogen Consulting Limited/Simeon Hospital, Sanya, Aguda, preventive health examination is important because such regular health examinations and tests can help detect problems before they start. They also can help find problems early when the chances for treatment are better.
Dr Nnaji said this when a non governmental organisation (NGO)- Soughtout Emeka Matthew World Outreach Ministry Inc., conducted a medical mission for residents of Ayobo, via Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos.
Nnaji said health campaign globally is towards preventive medicine, hence it is recommended that people should be aware of five key numbers which are: Total Cholesterol, HDL (good) Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar and Body Mass Index (BMI).
“Your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and body mass index (BMI) numbers are key indicators of your risk for serious illness. If you know these important numbers, you can make changes to improve your health and reduce your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. A thorough physical examination includes a variety of tests depending on the age and sex and health of the person. And that is what we have come here to do in this neighborhood. We have attended to over 75 people and still counting.
“For many that are showing grave indicators, we have given them drugs, counseled them as well, especially on the role of nutrition and exercise and being at peace with God always, “ said Nnaji.
The organiser, Matthew S. Emeka, said the compassion he had for the residents gingered him to organise the medical programme. ‘’As an apostle of the gospel when I feed with the word- which is spiritual, it is also good to attend to the physical, mental and medical needs of people. There is no immediate primary health centre (PHC) within this Megidda/IBTC area of Ayobo, so I used this medical mission to reach out to the needy. We can do more with good funds as well,” Emeka said.
His wife, Love, said the ministry is looking at setting up a school. She said: “Because there is no public school, primary or secondary in the neighbourhood, the private ones that are available are either expensive or the ones affordable do not have the standard. The residents can do with a lot of humanitarian services.”
Residents of Lagos and its environ should avail themselves of the free HIV counselling and testing every six months, if they tested negative during screening, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency(LSACA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Oluseyi Temowo has said.
He stated this at this year’s Workers’Day, which coincided with the Golden Jubilee of the state in Agege Stadium.
Temowo said an HIV-positive person could be symptom-free for about 10 years and infect others, if unchecked and untreated. “Being an HIV-positive person does not translate to death with appropriate medication. That is why knowing one’s status is very important,” he explained.
He said access to HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) services would avail an individual the opportunity to take steps to stop the progression to AIDS through lifestyle modifications and change in health-seeking behaviour.
The celebration had as theme- Labour relations in an Economic recession: An appraisal.
Th agency brougt to the venue its mobile HIV counselling and testing truck, where over 257 received free HIV counselling and testing.
Temowo implored residents of the state to visit the General Hospital close to them to get free HIV counselling and testing and that its mobile trucks could be moved to reach some difficult areas of the state for that purpose, if invited.
He said all should remember that abstinence was the best option.
“Be faithful to your partner, use condom correctly and consistently. Together, we will achieve an HIV/AIDS-free generation and HIV-free Lagos State to celebrate and continue the golden jubilee of the state with the theme- Enhance the heritage advance the future.
“And together we all can achieve the eradication of the virus by 2030 through 90-90-90 initiative, which means 90 percent of the people living with HIV know their status, 90 percent of people who know their status are accessing anti-retroviral treatment and 90 percent of people on anti-retroviral have suppressed viral load,” he said.
There will be regular water supply in Lagos soon, Group Managing Director (GMD)/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), Mr. Muminu Adekunle Badmus, has said.
Badmus, an engineer, over the weekend at the corporation’s headquarters in Ijora, Lagos blamed irregular water supply in the last few days on the vandalism of gas pipelines in the Niger Delta, which affected electricity supply.
Apologising to Lagosian, Badmus said: “No responsive and responsible government will ignore an issue as important as water without a proactive plan that will proffer a solution to the challenges occasioned by lack of water in an urbanised state like ours.
“We know that the population is increasing. We know that water demand is high. On our part, we are working to ensure that this essential service is effectively and efficiently delivered. The unstable water supply has become a source of worry because the state has put the facilities needed in place to ensure potable water supply, but the erratic power supply from the national grid and the Independent Power Plant (IPP) affected water production and supply.
“But we are not relenting in our efforts to ensure that water runs in every home. This is our desire and we are committed to it.”
The corporation, he added, has reconnected some of its waterworks to the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and generators, despite the high cost of diesel.
Badmus said: “We take this opportunity to appeal to residents to be patient, as we are working to ensure water supply in every part of Lagos. The corporation has just inaugurated Mosan Okunola Mini Waterworks, which will produce two million gallons of water per day and Otta Ikosi Regional Waterworks that will produce four million gallons of water per day to complement the production capacity of existing water facilities.
“In addition, LWC has completed arrangement with investors to implement commercial water distribution kiosk projects as a pilot scheme to install, manage and generate revenue from the venture, using prepaid meters.”
Badmus said LWC has an installed production capacity of 210 million gallons per day (mgd), adding that the three major surface water treatment plants of Adiyan (70mgd), Iju (45mgd) and Isashi (4mgd) had a combined production capacity of 119mgd with the balance from ground water treatment plants-mini and micro waterworks.
According to him, the total installed capacity can only meet about 49 per cent of the present demand of 540 million gallons per day.
Badmus said the state’s population of about 20 million is projected to hit 29 million by 2020, making it the third largest megacity after Beijing and Mumbai.
He stated: “Water demand by 2020 will be 733 million gallons per day. This is why the government has developed Lagos Water Supply Master Plan as a road map and employed pragmatic approach by building more waterworks and expanding reticulation across the state to guarantee water supply to every home. The government has started the building of Adiyan Phase II of 70 million gallons per day. It will be completed by the end of the year.
“Negotiation is on with investors on the construction of 100mgd Odomola Water Scheme Phase I. When completed, water will be in abundance in the state. I urge those involved in illegal water supply and vandalism of water pipes to desist. This is not safe, as experience has shown that illegal connections and uncertified water source lead to cross contamination in water and result in water-borne diseases, such as gastric-flu that may lead to cholera, diarrhoea, among others.
“We advise the public to report anyone engaged in illegal connections to water mains through the LWC help line or customer care line: 07015973012 or our email: info@lagoswater.org. Supply of potable water to every home in Lagos is a pact the government has signed with Lagosians, and the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration is committed to that pact.”
To ensure physical wellbeing, the people of Ifelodun Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos State, have been charged to engage in regular brisk walk.
This, according to the former chairman of the LCDA, Mr Shuaib Ajidagba, will help them maintain sound health.
He spoke at the maiden edition of Ajifat Fitness Walk he organised. It had about 10,000 participants in attendance.
Ajidagba, also known as Ajifat, said walking was important for maintaining physical fitness, and as such ensures total health.
“This fitness walk is for everyone, if you are suffering from obesity, it would help you a lot. Fitness walk is an aerobic sport of brisk, rhythmic, vigorous walking, intended to improve cardiovascular efficiency, strengthen the heart, control weight gain, and reduce stress,” he said.
Ajifat Fitness Walk is the first ever fitness walk in Ifelodun and it is going to be an annual event.
“The crowd is not a surprise to me. They are over 10, 000, I feel so impressed because I know people love me and they show it,” he said.
The participants walked from Okoya Junction through Ojo Road to Alaba Express. The walk also extended to Mosafejo Road Iyana Ajegunle and after two hours, ended at Jimoh Ojora Primary School in Ojo Road.
The organiser said he introduced health mission and made sure everybody benefitted from it.
The statistics of those who go blind from avoidable causes is scary. Some have lost their sight to ignorance. Ophthalmologists, however, believe they are misinformed about eye care. They think the situation can be corrected if people visit their eye doctors for regular checks. WALE ADEPOJU writes
Mr Adelani Adebesin (not real name) lost his sight to glaucoma. He was an insurance officer bubbling with life when it happened.
He thought it was the handiwork of his enemies and forces beyond his control. But, investigation by ophthalmologists, who attended to him after the loss showed it was caused by glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a disease, according to experts, is a ‘silent thief of the eye’.
Unknowingly, many Nigerians are living with this problem.
Another pitiable story was that of Mrs Chioma Onu, who lost her vision to cataract. She had complained to her husband that her vision was failing. Her eyes were blurry gradually. But she kept to herself afterwards, thinking that it will soon go away. When it didn’t, she applied some local preparation on it. But unknown to her, the condition was at an advanced stage. Family members and friends urged her to seek the help of a doctor, but by then, it was a little too late. She lost her sight to cataract, a condition described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the major cause of blindness.
Like Mr Adebesin, many people who lost their sight to glaucoma, do not know they have the condition.
And many of them delay their treatment by wishing their problems away.
Glaucoma is one of many causes of blindness. The others are cataract, which is the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), corneal opacities, diabetic retinopathy, childhood blindness, trachoma and onchocerciasis.
Ophthalmologists, however, believe that people can prevent sudden loss of sight by having regular eye checks.
The National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey in Nigeria conducted between 2005 and 2007 says 84 per cent of blindness was due to avoidable causes.
A consultant ophthalmologist at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof Adebukunola Adefule-Ositelu, said: “It is people’s rights to have good vision. It is also their right to have functional vision”.
The awareness, she said, is increasing and, as such, people are realising that their eye problems are not caused by fetish means or witchcraft.
She urged people to seek treatment from the real care eye givers, which leaders are, the ophthalmologists.
“They should make sure they see them. But when there are no ophthalmologists around they should go to their health centres, where their concerns can be addressed.
“So, if they need to be referred, they would be referred. But they should not take their eye health for granted because they can lose it,” Prof Adefula-Ositelu said.
Ophthalmologists, she said, see a lot of patients with irritation, dust and dryness.
“Now that everybody is using generators, there is also an increase in eye problems because of the fumes. They can get irritation; otherwise, the most common eye disease, these days, is cataract,” she said.
Why? She said: “This is so because it is more common with ageing. As people grow older, there are changes in the body. The eye also ages as people age.
“Apart from cataract, there is also glaucoma, which is more serious with black people. Its incidence is increasing in the country. Before parents don’t tell their children about their eye problem. But today, they tell them so that they too could get screened for the condition.”
She said visual impairment cases are decreasing, but it seems they are actually increasing because “more people are becoming aware of the problem and are seeking help from doctors”.
Dr Rafiu Ladipo, the President-General, Nigeria Football Supporters’ Club (NFSC), on Thursday urged Nigeria to ensure that it participated in every Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.
Oladipo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it was befitting for Nigeria to have qualified for the 2013 AFCON in South Africa.
“It is a long time we last won the AFCON, precisely in 1994 in Tunisia. Since then, it has been from one calamity to the other and winning either silver or bronze and later we even stopped winning. It was so bad that we failed to appear at the last edition of the competition jointly hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. That was the height of the disappointment. A nation like Nigeria should make it its birth right to feature in every Nations Cup,” he said.
Ladipo said that he thanked God that Nigeria had qualified to be part of the continental competition in South Africa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10. He advised the team’s technical crew not to allow sentiments in the selection of players for the competition.
“The Stephen Keshi-led technical crew of the Super Eagles should not allow sentiments to becloud their judgment in the selection of players. The only qualification for any player to get selected should be readiness to put up 100 per cent of his very best, meaning absolute merit. They should be players who are ready to make good and big names for themselves and their country. The players themselves should seize the opportunity of being selected to write their names in the good books of our nation. So, they have to be committed, determined and patriotic enough to give their best. The players at the competition should see their call up as an opportunity to further project themselves to the outside world,” he said.
Ladipo warned Nigeria not to be deceived because every country in Africa was a potential winner of AFCON because there were no minnows in football any longer. “Every country in Africa wants to qualify for the Nations Cup, do well and win,” he noted.
The president-general then called on the Nigeria Football Federation to encourage the team with generous allowances and bonuses which should be paid as and when due.