The Nation Newspaper

Tag: relief

  • Non-profit body partners others to provide training, relief

    Non-profit body partners others to provide training, relief

    Non-profit organisa tion, Everlasting Fountain Welfare Initiative, has empowered residents of Magboro in Ogun State with relief materials at New Covenant Church, Magboro.

    Rice, garri, fish, noodles, tomato paste, and vegetable oil were distributed to beneficiaries,  in addition to clothing and footwear.

    Residents were also taught fishing, and small-scale farming, including tomato, pepper, and vegetable cultivation.

    Speaking at the event, Mrs. Abiola Adeniyi, founder said: ‘‘We are touched by the plight of our people and decided to make an impact in their lives’’.

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    A beneficiary, Mrs. Bimpe, a widow with three children, said ‘‘I am overwhelmed by this kindness. I am also excited about the farming training’’.

    Another beneficiary, Mr. Kenneth, noted: ‘‘I am grateful for the relief materials and the opportunity to learn skills.’’

    Volunteer, Samuel Olayemi, hailed the initiative, saying: ‘‘Seeing smiles on the faces of beneficiaries is rewarding. It’s fulfilling to know we are making a difference in lives.’’

    Partners include New Covenant Church, Enclave Homes and Bio Constitution, Lagos Food Bank Initiative, Food Clique Support Initiative, Agrothentic, Glitmond Cargo & Logistics Services, Justweb Technology, Sparklight Properties, The Links Properties, and Gabriel Okavie.

  • Sigh of relief but….

    Sigh of relief but….

    • The problem of banditry persists in spite of the freed 137 children

    The name Kuriga is like Chibok. No one knew about them in geography lessons or curiosity until tragedy struck, and they pertained to the kidnap of the most vulnerable citizens in the country: children, especially school children.

    Chibok school girls were spirited away in Borno State about nine years ago. 

    We are happy as a nation that 137 students who bandits abducted from a primary school in Kuriga, Kaduna State, have returned.

    We, however, mourn a teacher who succumbed to death, the circumstances of which remain a cloud. It is assumed that his health could not withstand the physical demands of the horrors of being kidnapped and subjected to pain and illness as they trekked over a hundred miles from Kaduna State to Zamfara State.

    We congratulate the Federal Government and the government of Kaduna State for bringing home the students, all of them alive, according to the reports. We cannot say the same of the Chibok girls episode and several others over the past decade.

    But the kidnap and rescue of the 137 have continued to raise questions. First is the numbers. How come what many assumed as 287 children when they disappeared became 137 when they reappeared? Not that the kidnap of 137 gives any comfort since the death of one person or the kidnap of one person is tragedy enough. But the false and confusing data give reasons to worry.

    It is believed that one of the teachers misled the nation on the numbers and everyone accepted it like a gospel truth. But it reflects how we treat data in this country. Even if a teacher said so, the state ministry of education ought to have taken an inventory of the students who were in school and who were not. Some have asserted that such headcounts are problematic because students don’t often attend schools in that part of the country every day. But that makes that number even more doubtful and should have energised efforts for accuracy. The Department of

    State Services (DSS) was working on fantasy. They ought to have made efforts to ascertain the names and other identities of those kidnapped, and could have interacted with the parents, guardians and loved ones.

    We still need to establish a data culture. In modern times, development is not possible without numbers. It took one of the rescued children to inform the world that they were 137, and not 287 children.

    The other question refers to how the children secured freedom. The word rescued has been employed to characterise how they got out of the bandits’ noose. Some want to be sure if the right word is not released. If they were rescued, it will be in tandem with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration that no ransom would be paid to bandits. But many are asking if it was true that the soldiers adhered to the president’s assertion, how did it happen that no one was hurt other than the teacher who died? There is no report that the teacher died from a gunshot wound. Was it an Entebbe Raid sort of thriller that redounded in the

    happy day for the children? Or did they take advantage of the absence of the kidnappers? Were they asleep? If it was a military operation, many expected that there would be a few bandits’ corpses to leaven the tale or some children who might have been wounded or traumatised by a daredevil rescue mission.

    Whatever the story, the nation and the families and relatives, including the sleepy village of Kuriga, are delighted that no tears are being shed for a boy or girl because of the unfortunate episode.

    The big question, though, remains. How come the bandits were able to storm a village and take over one hundred persons, many of them less than 10 years old through long, arduous treks through the village?

    It is said that many of the communities have no contact with modern electronic gadget like cell phones. They do not have police stations along the way. So, they could not contact the nearest security outfit. It is doubtful that those who did not escape, like some of the school officials and neighbours could not have made contact within a few hours out of desperation.

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    The solution to this problem has to be the use of technology. The offer by the United States and other western nations will be of help. But the north needs introspection on how it will deal with its own insecurities.

    The preponderance of the attacks and the mushrooming of the hoodlums is a failure of leadership in the north, and the elite must work with the streets to fight a problem that is depriving them of their peace and prosperity.

    They need to come together and speak some truths to themselves. No matter how large an army, the people are the first line of intelligence, and peace cannot

  • Artistes gear up for ‘Comic Relief with Elder O & Friends’

    Come November 26, Fountain Multi-Purpose Hall, Surulere, will play host to the second edition of comedian, Elder O’s annual comedy show, ‘Comic Relief with Elder O and Friends’.

    Speaking on the show, Elder O said that comedy lovers should expect quality, original and decent jokes.

    “Spontaneity will also be on display too and we are going to show them that comic relief has come to stay. We are parading an array of seasoned rib-crackers. They include Koffi, Owen Gee, Igos, Mc Shakara, Elenu, Senator, Funnybone, Mc Abbey, Josh2funny, Mc Shaggi, Mr Patrick, Edo Charles and Destalker among a host of others. Special guest appearances will be by Okey Bakassi, Charles Inojie and Lolo1 of Wazobia FM,” he said.

    This year, the comedian branded his car for the event because, according to him, he bought the car through the hustle.

    “You know I always brand BRT buses for my events so I just decided to brand my car this time around so that I will join the BRT buses in advertising the show all around Lagos. Now I fill my fuel tank and drive from Surulere to Ketu, stopping at every bus stop pretending as if I am making calls and watching people gather around the car to snap pictures,” he states.

    On why he tagged the ‘Comic Relief with Elder O’, the humour merchant says that it is because of the hard times Nigerians are facing now.

    Just like we make use of comic relief in tragic movies so too I am making use of it for my show. The beauty is that the comic relief is coming at a point where nobody is ‘supposed’ to be smiling so we just have to find a way to smile through our problems,” he adds.

    Red Carpet starts 5pm while main show kicks off by 6pm.

  • Relief, as LTV reporter saves blushes for Baby Michael

    Relief, as LTV reporter saves blushes for Baby Michael

    Somehow, reason seems to have prevailed and sick Baby Michael, whom the mission to treat and rehabilitate was abandoned a few months ago, following disagreement between his family and his rescue team, were raising funds for his treatment, have now agreed to bury the hatchet and continue his treatment. Gboyega Alaka reports.

    Baby Michael Alvez, remember him? That’s the baby all hopes of a normal life seemed to have come to a stand still for last May, when actress Kate Henshaw, together with her fellow rescuers, Temitope Oluwagbemi and Aramide Kasumu and the administrating NGO, Project Alert, decided to withdraw their treatment and rehabilitation efforts and return donated funds to all donors.

    The rescuers, had happened on very sick Michael soliciting alms in traffic around the Lagos Museum in March 2016, got hold of him, located his mum and offered to help. Michael’s ailment was later diagnosed as Facial Hemangioma at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH and in no time, over N8million was raised towards his treatment, which the doctors at LUTH said would take some time. Treatment commenced in earnest, with Michael spending eight months between March 2016 and February 2017 in the hospital.

    Trouble however started, when the family began antagonising everyone involved in the project. According to Project Alert’s Executive Director, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, “The antagonism was not limited to the rescuers and Project Alert, but to the different government agencies responsible for care and protection of children like Michael. Not only did his mother, Mary abandon him in the wards, she was maltreating him… and even beat up another woman in the ward, and threatened to burn down the ward when accosted by the matron.”

    The problem climaxed in February this year, when a meeting of all parties, called by the Lagos Social Welfare Department at the secretariat collapsed, with the family vehemently refusing to give up their son to Lagos State government for proper hygienic care. They also signed an affidavit to reject further medical interventions and Baby Michael’s aunt, Syndi Ezeanyeji, got a law firm, Beacon Solicitors, to write to Project Alert about the fund. These were aside personal curses sent SMS to the rescuers.

    This angered Henshaw and her co-travellers, who wondered why the family should be more interested in the fund than the baby’s treatment and wellbeing and they promptly called a media conference to announce the commencement of a refund process to the donors. They would rather refund the money to the donors than hand it over to the family.

    But luck smiled on the poor baby, when an LTV reporter, Solomon Gbadebo picked up the story and decided to probe further.  According to Effah-Chukwuma, Gbadebo, who presented the now rested Sunday Evening Show, took the initiative to interview both parties, going further to play the role of an intermediary and finally resolving the impasse.

    “The result of their stepping in is why we are gathered here today. They followed up with the family to write to LUTH, requesting for an official estimate for the various treatments Michael will have to undergo and for what period. While following up with the family, they also followed up with the rescuers, and members of the public, by airing two episodes of the case, and calling on the rescuers and the donors not to please take their money. Their intervention helped.” Effah-Chukwuma said.

    To this effect, a cheque deposit of N1, 383,500 has been made by Project Alert towards the continuation of the medical treatment of the child and handed over to Michael’s family, represented by Ezeanyeji. The cheque was in fulfilment of the surgery estimate sent to Ezeanyeji by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (Ref. No: CS/103/Vol.XVIII) and signed on behalf of its Chief Medical Director by its Head, Corporate Services Division, K. O. Otuneme.

    The cheque is for the next stage of treatment and Michael is expected to be in and out of hospital eight times.

    Effah-Chukwuma expressed joy on behalf of the rescuers at this positive turn of event and pledged their commitment to the cause.

    Syndi on her part apologised for all the past disagreement and commended the role of LTV in helping to resolve the matter.

    The man at the centre of the reconciliation, Solomon Gbadebo, said he only played his role as a journalist and because he felt the future and wellbeing of an innocent child should not be sacrificed on the altar of some adults’ ego. He implored the family, the rescuers and Project Alert to ensure they always find a meeting point until the mission to treat and rehabilitate Michael is accomplished.  “I am only a staff at LTV and who says I cannot leave the next minute; so I implore Syndi, mama (Michael’s grandmother who was also present) and Project Alert to always find a meeting point in this matter.”

     

  • NEMA donates relief materials

    NEMA donates relief materials

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has donated two trucks load of relief materials to flood victims in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.

    The Head of NEMA Operations, Abuja Office, Mr. Idris Mohammed, who led a delegation to Lokoja, said they were in the state because of the flood, which displaced people.

    He added that some of the victims were living in camps and others with their friends or relatives.

    Mohammed said the materials comprised 500 mattresses, 500 mosquito nets, 500 blankets and 133 (50kg) bags of rice, noting that the donation would be continuous.

  • Trump pledges $1m of his personal money to Harvey relief

    Trump pledges $1m of his personal money to Harvey relief

    American President Donald Trump will pledge one million dollars of his own money to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Thursday.

    “I am happy to tell you that he (Trump) would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people that we have seen across this country do.

    “He is pledging one million dollars of personal money to the fund,” Sanders told reporters at a White House briefing.

    More than 4,500 people and 113 pets stranded by Hurricane Harvey have been rescued by the U.S. special flood response teams this week, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said.

    The Coast Guard said in a statement issued on Thursday that it had deployed assets and resources from across the country to create a sustainable response force.

    “Currently, there are 33 Coast Guard helicopters and nine Coast Guard Flood Punt Teams, with 12 shallow-draft vessels capable of operating in flooded urban areas, which helped in rescuing the 4,500 who were in peril.

    “On Wednesday alone, Punt Teams took more than 940 people in the Houston, Texas area to safety,’’ it said.

    SERVPRO a cleanup and restoration works franchiser in based in the U.S. and Canada had mobilised some 9,000 personnel from across the U.S. to respond to the aftermath of the tropical cyclone Harvey.

    Bryan Stone, the company’s Director for Northwest Texas, East Texas, South Texas and Louisiana said that SERVPRO would mobilise or employ approximately 8,000 to 9,000 personnel throughout this event.

    “Often, we are even able to utilise local residents who are unable to work due to the closing of their employer’s business,” Stone said.

    “Over 250 SERVPRO franchises were currently responding to the emergencies in the area with an expectation of approximately 400 or more joining the effort in the days to come.

    “Each franchise will bring their personnel, equipment and other necessary resources to handle their work loads.

    “In addition, SERVPRO Industries is providing dozens of 18-wheelers of drying equipment, generators and other critical supplies to help with the cleanup,” Stone said.

    He said that the company had to deal with all types of jobs when it came to an event like that of the Hurricane Harvey.

    Stone said that many roadways in the affected areas were still flooded and areas were inaccessible.

    Hurricane Harvey descended on Texas on Saturday and was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm by the U.S. National Hurricane Centre that same day.

    The storm affected mainly south-eastern Texas, including the city of Houston, in addition to south-western Louisiana. Harvey is the largest storm to have hit the U.S. since the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

  • Joy, relief as FG begins work on Calabar-Odukpani highway

    Residents and commuters of Calabar, the capital of  Cross River State, have expressed joy over the immediate intervention of the Federal Government on a gully that had eaten up a portion of the PAMOL axis of the Calabar-Odukpani Highway.

     The Nation had earlier in the  week reported on fear of the imminent loss of lives among the people  if something was not urgently done about the erosion.

    The FG has been lauded for its timely handling of  the problem.

    The situation had reportedly  been a terrible one, with a wide gully  taking up the entire road, forcing vehicles to precariously use a lane of the road. It was also observed that even the side of the road that vehicles were forced to use had been eroded from under and likely to collapse any moment.

     Commuters had expressed strong fears that with the rains and heavy traffic including heavy-duty cement and petroleum trucks plying the road, a tragedy was imminent if nothing was done urgently.

     The Nation gathered that the anxiety of the commuters and residents was heightened because  the road was the only path leading into and out of the state capital. “If the road had collapsed, besides the imminent loss of lives, Calabar would be completely cut off from other parts of the country,” a resident said.

    When our reporter visited the site where the contractors, Sermatech Nigeria Limited, were working yesterday, it was observed that a diversion for vehicles to be passing through had been created, while works were going on the main road.

    The site agent for Sermatech, Engr Desmond Ewa, assured that with clement weather, the project would be concluded in three months.

    “Right now we are working on a diversion to divert traffic from the failed portion so that we concentrate on the construction of the road,” Ewa said.

    He said, though, they had not been mobilised yet, they had to move to site, trusting the Federal Government would keep to their end of the bargain.

    Assistant Director of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing supervising the project, Engr Bassey Nsentip, said the minister approved emergency repairs and they had to swing into action immediately.

    A commercial driver,  Mr. Effiong Udo, said the urgent intervention had saved a lot of lives.

    “We are so grateful to the Federal Government and Sermatech for their  intervention on the road. If they had treated it with the usual delay, a lot of people would have died here and businesses would have suffered in Calabar,” Udo said.

  • Unity Bank donates relief materials to IDPs’ school

    Unity Bank donates relief materials to IDPs’ school

    Unity Bank has donated relief materials to The Praxis Catholic School for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and Vulnerable Children. The donation was made during an excursion of the pupils to the bank’s regional office in Abuja. A delegation of the school led by its proprietor, Ben Onwujifor, received the items.

    The bank’s Head, Corporate Communications, Matthew Obiazikwor, in a statement, explained that the gesture was part of the lender’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), aimed at partnering government, institutions, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations and humanitarian agencies for Northeast rehabilitation, particularly by reaching out to the IDPs.

    Such gestures, he said, would ameliorate the sufferings caused by the insurgency in the North East. “Beyond our CSR and the bank being in the forefront of private sector intervention initiative in the Northeast, it has equally kept faith in the Northeast, being the only lender that did not close operations to its teeming customers even in the thick of the insurgency experienced in Borno State,” he said.

    Commending the bank for hosting Praxis School for the IDPs, Onwujiofor urged the bank to open a dedicated IDPs account to assist in collecting voluntary donations from other public-spirited individuals and organisations wishing to support IDPs cause.

    He noted that Praxis Catholic School for the IDPs has an ambitious educational programme for its pupils and this can be sustained if there is increased assistance and inflow of donations to execute outlined initiatives to fully reintegrate the IDPs into the mainstream of activities in the society.

    “We are grateful to Unity Bank and for the opportunity of the excursion and we use this platform to call for greater partnership from all well-meaning members of the public to bring succor to the victims of the insurgency”.

    The stament said the Praxis Catholic School for the IDPs was opened in December 2016 by the First Lady  Hajiya Aisha Buhari.

    In 2016, Unity Bank supported Borno State Government with the donation of relief materials worth millions of Naira, having also been acknowledged by Governor Kashim Shettima for another donation of N25million made in the previous years.

  • Relief for Abuja IDPs

    Relief for Abuja IDPs

    Senate President Bukola Saraki donates food items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kuchigoro, near the Games Village, Abuja, GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports  

    In Kuchigoro near the Games Village is an unflattering community of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who relocated from the Northeast due to the activities of Boko Haram. Life has been quite tough there, so when the Senate President Bukola Saraki came with his team, the residents were expectant. They were not disappointed, for Saraki came with food items.

    The Senate president took the opportunity of the holy month of Ramadan to express their love for the less privileged in the society.

    The delegation was received by the evangelist of the camp, Mr. Jude Kaghala and other leaders of the camp.

    The Senate President donated food items including rice and toiletries for distribution to inhabitants of the camp and said while the executive was working in collaboration with the legislature to rehabilitate and resettle the IDPs in their original communities; it will ensure that their life is made better on a daily basis.

    Saraki said: “We have not forgotten you and we will not forget you. We will continue to work to ensure that you return to your individual villages and towns. But while you are here, we will ensure that your life is made better every day.

    “This is why we decided to come and identify with you, to know how you are coping and to comfort you. We share your pains and we are doing what needs to be done to make your towns and villages habitable once again. We will make sure you live a better life.”

    Senators who accompanied Saraki on the visit to the Kuchigoro IDPs camp included Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, Philip Aduda, Abubakar Kyari, Mohammed Hassan and Baba Kaka Garbai.

    The Evangelist of the Camp, Mr. Khagala thanked the Senate President and his team for the visit and the food items and toiletries he donated for use by the IDPs.

    He promised that the rice, soaps, deodorants and body spray he donated will be evenly distributed among the IDPs, especially the pregnant women and children. He said the food could not have come at a better time than this Ramadan period.

    While praying for the Senate President and his delegation for the august visit and donation of items to alleviate their plight, he called on other well-meaning individuals in society to emulate the Senate President’s kind and fatherly gesture.

    “We are honored to receive you in our midst today. We want to thank Mr. Senate President and all the distinguished Senators for this visit. We also thank the Senate President for the rice and all the other items he has donated to us.

    “We will distribute them to our people here to help them as they partake in the Ramadan fast. We cannot thank him and the Senate enough. We also thank you for the work the Senate has done in passing a bill to create the North East Development Commission. We pray the Almighty Allah to reward you,” Kaghala said.

    At the end of the visit, it was as if the senators should not leave them as the children told Abuja Review that they have never felt happy like this since in the camp with the presence of the lawmakers, urging them to keep visiting with season till they relocate back to their respective states.

  • A welcome relief

    •We salute the Supreme Court’s decision against frivolous order of stay of proceedings in criminal trials

    Last week’s judgment of the Supreme Court in Olisah Metuh’s case, validating section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) and section 40 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act (2004), both of which prohibit trial and appellate courts from granting order of stay of proceedings in criminal trials, is a welcome development. Perhaps, it is only in Nigeria that criminal trials are obfuscated by irrelevant interlocutory order of stay, and it is our hope that the judgment will bring an end to that perfidy.

    But just as we celebrate the Supreme Court’s judgment halting ambush against our criminal justice system, the antics of allowing interminable claim of bias by accused persons, to truncate trials must also stop. To set a standard, the recent decision of the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, to transfer the five-year old trial of the former Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Mr. Farouk Lawan, yet again to another judge, should be investigated.

    Justice Bello, relying on a petition from Lawan accusing the trial judge of likelihood of bias, transferred the case from Justice Angela Otaluka of the Lugbe Division to Justice Yusuf Halilu of Jabi, even after the prosecution had presented four out of its five witnesses. We support the complaint raised by the private prosecuting counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), raising queries over the precipitous decision of the chief judge to transfer the case, even when as the learned silk noted, Lawan is “notorious for making undeserved allegation when he feels he is likely to lose”.

    With the chief judge’s decision, Lawan’s trial, like in similar cases, will be starting de novo (afresh), for the fourth time. Yet, Lawal is facing a simple allegation of receiving $500,000 out of the $3 million bribe allegedly demanded from Femi Otedola to remove his company’s name from the list of firms indicted by the House committee investigating the abuses of fuel subsidy in 2012. Chief Awomolo complained to the AGF that the chief judge took the decision “without opportunity to us (the prosecution) for comment and without due regard to the long history of the case, the antecedent of the defendant (Lawan) and the damage to the case of the prosecution.”

    So, while the erudite decision of the Supreme Court to bring to an end the obnoxious practice of using interlocutory application for order of stay of proceedings to frustrate expeditious trial deserves commendation, the decision of chief judges to allow accused persons to use frivolous claims of bias to frustrate their prosecution deserves the intervention of the apex court and the National Judicial Council (NJC). In terms of abusing court process, Lawan’s case is not different from that of Metuh, who was seeking a stay after accusing the trial judge of bias.

    To halt the abuse, we call for concerted effort by stakeholders to bring our criminal justice system to international best practices. The antics of using ridiculous applications and odious interpretation of our constitution and criminal justice laws to ensure that criminal trials last for years ridicules our country.

    We commend the panel of justices of the Supreme Court and identify with their finding that: “The appellant/applicant’s (Metuh’s) motion for stay of proceedings is violently in conflict with the provisions of Section 36(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Section 306 of ACJA and Section 40 of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, as well as the plethora of case law authorities cited.”