The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SOS

  • SOS to Ambode

    SOS to Ambode

    In Saturday, April 25, 2015, my eldest son Jotham Edgar-Oluwa Ororho left me at home to go to our place of worship to help in cleaning the House of God, in company of his younger brother Johan. They had gone to prepare the place for a programme we were to have that evening.  This was after he had prepared breakfast for the family. But 15 minutes later, I received a call from Brother Baldwin Eze. He said, “Good morning brother, where are you?” I replied that I was about to have my breakfast. “Hurry downstairs and you will meet Brothers Shadrach Ochuba and Bayo, they are taking your son to the hospital.”

    I hurried downstairs and when I got into the car, Jotham was already unconscious. He remained that way until Saturday, May 16, 2015, a period of 21 days. Those three weeks were the worst three weeks of my life. His journey started from Medical Emergency at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), to the Theatre and after a two-hour surgery, he was bed-ridden to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Surgical Emergency Department and placed on Life Support Machine.

    His surgeon, Dr Idowu told us that our son was suffering from Inter-Cranial Haemorrhage. This means that there is a rupture in the veins supplying blood to his brain and as a result, a part of his brain has been clothed by blood. The CT scan we did confirmed the surgeon’s fears. My wife Omolara and I were perplexed beyond compare as we never bargained for this.

    However, God was with Jotham and the medical personnel, starting from Dr Idowu and his team, through to the staff at ICU gave us reason to hope that our boy would live. I would describe them as some of the nicest people I ever met. After about one month plus some weeks, Jotham was transferred to the BT Cardiac and Neurology Ward where we spent another one month plus. On the total, we have spent some four months and two weeks as at Saturday, September 12, 2015, sleeping on the floor and waiting for our boy to get well.

    •Jotham

    Our balance now stands at one million, one hundred and fifty-five thousand Naira (N1, 155,000). To be candid, our resources have been depleted and it is impossible for us to pay the balance after spending about two million Naira (N2,000,000) at LASUTH.

    My wife works at one of the local council development areas in Lagos State. Besides, her mother is from Lagos State. When she sought assistance from the State Government in taking advantage of Lagos State Free Health Care Programme, she was asked to write a letter to The Chief Medical Director at LASUTH THRROUGH the Director, Clinical Services and Training.

    She did. A later directive was that she should write to the State Government. She did again and the letter was addressed to the State Government, which ought to give the directive to LASUTH to release Jotham after his discharge from hospital. The Government wrote back to the Chief Medical Director asking LASUTH to allow us take advantage of the state’s Free Health Care programme.

    Unfortunately, after Jotham’s discharge was issued, the authorities at LASUTH asked my wife to go back to the State Secretariat at Alausa, Ikeja to get a clearance from the State Government that it will pay the balance.

    At Alausa, she was told that the state is broke and that we should go and pay half the cost before our son can be released from hospital. As it stands, we can’t settle the bills for now and Jotham can’t go home. This development has prevented us from continuing with his treatment for we are told that he cannot attend clinic as an inmate-only out patients can be attended to at the Out Patient Department (Clinic).

    Jotham is a 14-year-old SS2 student and was preparing to write his Senior School Certificate Examination before he took ill. The youngster is emotionally drained and sometimes suffers emotional breakdown and cries. As his father, I would do my best to give my eldest son all the support that a loving father would give his son; sick or healthy.

    I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Governor Akinwumi Ambode, the peoples’ governor to assist us take advantage of the state’s Free Health care programme.

    His Class Teacher’s Remark on his Report Sheet reads: “He is a Promising Boy.”

    • Anthony Edgar-Oluwa Ororho is

    Jotham’s father.

  • Siasia sends SOS to Sokari, 4 others

    Siasia sends SOS to Sokari, 4 others

    Dream Team VI coach, Samson Siasia, has called-up five players to beef up his squad of the crucial 2nd leg African Under-23 Championship qualifier against Congo in the first week of August.

    The Olympic National Team have their back against the wall after managing a slender 2-1 win against the opponents last Sunday.

    Esperance new signing Kingsley Sokari has returned to the squad, having missed the first leg after he returned late from Tunisia, where he went to formalise terms with the Tunisian side.

    Osmanlispor forward Umar Aminu has also been invited alongside Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira), Semiu Liadi (Warri Wolves) and Ndifreke Effiong (Abia Warriors).

    The invited home-based players are to report to the Nigeria U-23s Port Harcourt camp immediately while the overseas-based contingent are expected this weekend.

  • SOS to PMB on Kabba-Okene -Lokoja roads

    Sir: Following the withdrawal of soldiers from manning of military checkpoints nationwide, the spate of kidnappings has increased on the ever busy Kabba-Okene, Kabba-Lokoja and Okene-Lokoja roads in Kogi State.  Within a period of less than one week, not less than three cases of kidnapping have been reported on the aforementioned roads.

    Without mincing words, the frequency of nefarious activities of the men of the underworld and kidnappers along these roads and in Kogi State in general calls for immediate action on the part of both the Federal Government and the Kogi State government.

    In addition to the promise of deployment of more policemen to Kogi State by the Inspector-General of Police in order to check the rampant kidnapping saga and bank robbery cases across the state, the state government should look into the possibility of drafting the services of local hunters in the state to complement the efforts of the police in providing adequate security for the life and property of the people.

    Considering the strategic positions of these roads notably the Kabba-Okene and Okene-Lokoja ones as  the only link between the Federal Capital, Abuja on one hand and most of the southern states such as Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Edo and Kwara states and two senatorial districts of West and Central in Kogi State on the other hand, appeal is being made to our security-conscious president, to please reconsider the return of soldiers to these and other roads in Kogi State to stem the dastard acts of criminals who have no doubt laid siege on Kogi State and whose activities continue to send jitters down the spines of the people, travelers and commuters who ply these roads.

    • Odunayo Joseph,

    Mopa, Kogi State.

  • SOS to Buhari over planned demolition

    Some indigenous residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) seeking to save their shops from demolition have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and keep the bulldozers away.

    The residents, who were mainly youths, said there were “renewed moves” by the Federal Capital Development Authourity (FCDA) to pull down their shops in the Apo resettlement area.

    They explained that the planned demolition will cut off their sources of livelihood and cripple the local economy, ultimately leading to multi-faceted crisis.

    Comrade Daniel Vudabo, leader of the youths who gathered at the resettlement with intention of staging a peace protest, said that the shops in the area remained the indigenes only sources of income, since their farmlands have been taken away from them.

    “We had no other choice, but to collect loans from community banks to build this shops, so that we can rent them out and use the money to cater for our families and send our children to schools. We do have any other source of income and now that the FCDA is coming to demolish our shops, we are confused.

    “We were living comfortably at Garki village. We did not beg them to relocate us to this place, because in Garki we have our shops and farms, now that the government brought of us without any alternative sources of income, what do they want us to do?” he said.

    Vudabo appealed to President Buhari to call the FCDA officials to order, so that the officials would not as a result of their selfish ambition, spoil the good works his government has started. We know President Buhari is a listening leader and he will hear our cry,” he said.

    The President of Greater Gbagyi Development Initiatives (GG-DIN), Prince Gimba Gbaiza, described the actions of the FCDA officials as improper and wicked.

    “If anything thing has to be done, they have to follow the right procedure of the ressetlement. If anybody wants to demolish our shops they have to write to us properly and not to act based on their selfish interest.

    “We have the right to resist any demolition attempt, but we choose to give them the opportunity to explain to us why they want carry out the demolition and yet no concrete reason was given by the FCDA.

    “We are victims of injustices done by the previous administration of the FCT and we have cried out to the government endlessly and nobody cares to listen to us. We will not stop in Mobolising ourselves if eventually the FCDA comes.

    “Imagine, they took people’s houses, they could not give them better houses, they took one hectares of land belonging to one man and they gave him 50 by 50. Their farm lands where taking away without alternatives farm lands and when the people sort for an alternative way of income and you come with the bulldoze to demolish their shops, that is injustice,” he said.

  • Residents send SOS to Ogun govt

    Residents of Akute, Baale Akin-Osi and Oke Aro communities in Ogun State may soon become homeless , if the Urban and Regional Planning Board makes real its seven-day demolition notice served on Tuesday.

    The notices were served to owners of houses, schools, churches and mosques located on the Akute-Odo to Adiyan water pipeline right of way.

    In a statement by the Community Development Committee (CDC) Appeal Committee yesterday, the residents have called on the governments of Ogun and Lagos states to reduce the initial 50metres setback to 20metres so that thousands of residents will not be homeless.

    “As it stands, no fewer than 6,000 houses, public and private schools, churches and mosques will be affected, if government goes ahead with the 50metres setback.

    “We wish to intimate the government that most of the affected house owners are aged retirees who have no steady means of livelihood,” the statement said.

    The Chairman of the CDC Appeal Committee, Rev. Joshua Adegbola, said though the water project is people-centred, the government should also take into consideration the well being of the residents.

    He said the affected residents share a peculiar status of being Ogun and Lagos indigenes by virtue of residence and work place.

  • PMAN sends SOS to Jonathan, Tambuwal

    The Performing Musicians’ Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN), has sent an SOS to President Goodluck Jonathan and Hon Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker, House of Representatives, calling for the immediate liberalisation of collective administration in Nigeria.

    “The forced monopoly in the copyright administrative system in Nigeria is killing entertainment business even more than piracy. We have demanded for audience and written series of letters to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) on the issue, but have received no response,” Lucciano lamented in a chat with The Nation.

    According to Gabriel, in August 2010, a group of entertainment practitioners, under the aegis of Concerned Copyright & Intellectual Property Owners (CCIPO), protested against the imposed monopoly and the Attorney General promised to reverse the situation within two weeks.

    “Four years on, the problem is still there and this is unacceptable,” Gabriel continued, recalling that in May 2013, PMAN, alongside other stakeholders, also participated in the Investigative Public Hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committees on Justice and Judiciary, which presented its report and recommendations to the plenary session of the House of Representative on December, 18, 2013. This was followed by the adoption of the report and its recommendations which culminated in the passing of far-reaching resolutions directing the NCC to immediately end the monopoly.

    Gabriel disclosed that one of the resolutions was that the NCC should approve MCSN as a collecting society immediately. He described the continued refusal to register MCSN as casting NCC as being compromised and pursuing the interests of a particular section of the industry among others.

    “More than nine months after, the NCC has done nothing to carry out the directives of the National Assembly and this is tragic! Now we are faced with a regulatory agency which is acting with absolute impunity in order to protect the vested interests of a cabal. What NCC is saying by their determination not to obey the National Assembly’s directive is that the National Assembly is a toothless bulldog!

    “NCC is equally rubbishing the Transformation Agenda of the President, which is aimed at enthroning the rule of law and respect for the fundamental human rights of citizens and opening up the entire economy for all Nigerians to participate.

    “It is on this basis that PMAN is calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into this matter and call the officials of the Nigerian Copyright Commission to order and save the music industry. PMAN equally calls on the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, to bring the powers of the National Assembly to bear on NCC.

    ”If Monopoly is bad for all the other sectors including the political sector where we have more than 50 political parties jostling for power, definitely, it cannot be good for the music and the creative industries at large,” Gabriel concluded.

  • PMAN sends SOS to Jonathan, Tambuwal

    The Performing Musicians’ Employers’ Association of Nigeria (PMAN), has sent an SOS to President Goodluck Jonathan and Hon Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker, House of Representatives, calling for the immediate liberalisation of collective administration in Nigeria.

    “The forced monopoly in the copyright administrative system in Nigeria is killing entertainment business even more than piracy. We have demanded for audience and written series of letters to the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), and the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) on the issue, but have received no response,” Lucciano lamented in a chat with The Nation.

    According to Gabriel, in August 2010, a group of entertainment practitioners, under the aegis of Concerned Copyright & Intellectual Property Owners (CCIPO), protested against the imposed monopoly and the Attorney General promised to reverse the situation within two weeks.

    “Four years on, the problem is still there and this is unacceptable,” Gabriel continued, recalling that in May 2013, PMAN, alongside other stakeholders, also participated in the Investigative Public Hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committees on Justice and Judiciary, which presented its report and recommendations to the plenary session of the House of Representative on December, 18, 2013. This was followed by the adoption of the report and its recommendations which culminated in the passing of far-reaching resolutions directing the NCC to immediately end the monopoly.

    Gabriel disclosed that one of the resolutions was that the NCC should approve MCSN as a collecting society immediately. He described the continued refusal to register MCSN as casting NCC as being compromised and pursuing the interests of a particular section of the industry among others.

    “More than nine months after, the NCC has done nothing to carry out the directives of the National Assembly and this is tragic! Now we are faced with a regulatory agency which is acting with absolute impunity in order to protect the vested interests of a cabal. What NCC is saying by their determination not to obey the National Assembly’s directive is that the National Assembly is a toothless bulldog!

    “NCC is equally rubbishing the Transformation Agenda of the President, which is aimed at enthroning the rule of law and respect for the fundamental human rights of citizens and opening up the entire economy for all Nigerians to participate.

    “It is on this basis that PMAN is calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into this matter and call the officials of the Nigerian Copyright Commission to order and save the music industry. PMAN equally calls on the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, to bring the powers of the National Assembly to bear on NCC.

    ”If Monopoly is bad for all the other sectors including the political sector where we have more than 50 political parties jostling for power, definitely, it cannot be good for the music and the creative industries at large,” Gabriel concluded.

  • Imo communities send SOS to state, Fed Govt

    Imo communities send SOS to state, Fed Govt

    What tops this comm-unity’s list of needs? Is it food, shelter or security? Whatever comes first, the people of Umukabia in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State know that roads are among their priorities. The residents want help from the state and federal governments.

    Umukabia does not only need good roads; they also require healthy water and electricity.

    Umukabia community, made up of 14 villages, is divided into two: Umukabia Ancient Kingdom, governed by HRH Eze Levi Anyaogu (Abia II of Umukabia) and Eze Virginus Onuoha (Imo 1 of Amaimo-Umukabia). These agrarian villages are known for their yam cultivation. They produce cassava, palm oil and livestock, among others.

    The Nation gathered that traders from all parts of the state and neighbouring Abia used to patronise the two most popular market days (Ekeala and Eke Umuodu) in the two communities to buy their farm produce.

    The community has produced great men such as the former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) boss, Dr. Maurice Iwu and his younger brother Sir Cosmos who was once the Secretary to the Imo State Government (SSG), Sir Desmond Agu, (Bayelsa State Civil Defence Commandant), Chief Johnson Ekpunobi (Ehime Mbano PDP Chairman) among others. But what they need urgently now is state and federal government’s help to breathe life into it and restore the years of the locust and cankerworm.

    They say they will be happy if Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina who is promoting food security through farming will assist Umukabia farmers.

    The Nation reliably gathered that the agrarian Umukabia communities are gradually losing their dominance as one of the food baskets of Imo State due to bad road especially during these rainy days.

    Spokesman of the communities, Mr. Celestine Ike told our reporter that Umukabia Road, a major link to several other communities, has remained in a sorry state, full of pot-holes and dangerous gullies. Many call it a death trap.

    Said Ike, “Our people have suffered neglect since the defunct East Central State till the present administration; nothing has been done to alleviate the sufferings of our people. Most of us don’t go to the village except in the dry season.

    “Some of us including some of the prominent men that we have in the country don’t even try going to the village with our cars now that we are witnessing rainy season. If you do, you have to pack your car in a nearby village where you think that the vehicle can be safe until you want to go back to the township.

    “For me, I don’t stay beyond two or three days and when I know that I am going to stay longer, I go with public transport. It is indeed a terrible situation and how I wish you can come and see things for yourself.

    ”The last time government showed its presence in our area was during the Ohakim administration when the state government through NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission) tried grading and rehabilitating the road but the situation grew from bad to worse after the contractors abandoned the road project; nothing has been done to address the situation we are facing here.

    ”The situation has degenerated so badly that we ended up eating our farm produce ourselves or dumping them on the farms to rot. That was not the situation in the past. People came to our markets to buy goods and give the farmers the opportunity to make more money from what they planted and harvested. They need to buy crop yields for the next planting season and as well, buy other things for themselves and their families. The situation is not the same today as many farmers are getting impoverished and I don’t know what the situation will look like in the future if our roads continue to be in this ugly state? “

    The traditional ruler of Umukabia Ancient Kingdom, His Royal Highness Eze Levi Anyaogu, in a telephone interview, described the state of federal and state roads that transverse his community and other adjourning villages as deplorable and lamented that their farm produce after being harvested from the farms ended up being dumped in various waste bins.

    ”If you can visit my community, in fact, you will cry for us. You will see what people are passing through because of bad roads. We are one of the communities that produce crops in a larger quantity. There is no road to send out some of the agricultural produce that we produce in my community.

    ”We will labour to plant seedlings and harvest them, but there is no way we can go out to sell them or for people to come in and buy what we harvested in the farm such that we ended up eating what we have harvested. Most of the things we produce are either eaten by ourselves or they will end up decaying in the farm.

    ”We produce palm oil, cassava and other things in large commercial quantity but no road to ferry them to the town for sales in the urban areas. We are eating them as well because we don’t see a way to send them out.

    ”The situation got from bad to worse after the Ohakim led administration graded and abandoned the road. We cannot drive our cars or even okada on the road in our communities because it is very bad and some of us because the road is bad trek to other villages.

    ”Motorcycles cannot pass through the roads in my community. My two cars are lying in my compound; there is no road to bring them out. I am appealing to the federal and state government to come to our rescue. The situation is so bad that we cannot do it ourselves and that is why we want government to please come to our rescue,” the traditional ruler of Umukabia Ancient Kingdom pleaded.

     

  • Raju the elephant cries

    Raju the elephant cries

    FOR 50 years, Raju the elephant was abused, held shackled in spiked chains and forced to live off scraps from passing tourists. All that changed when he was rescued last weekend by wildlife conservationists who said the animal cried when he was finally set free.

    Wildlife SOS, a group established in 1995 to protect endangered wildlife in India, set out to rescue Raju on the night of July 2. Raju is around 50 years old and was likely captured as a baby and bought and sold many times over the course of his life. He was forced to work as a begging elephant in Allahabad. His legs were bound in spiked chains that made walking difficult and left him with chronic wounds. He was also beaten.

    Wildlife SOS found out about Raju’s story through India’s Forestry Commission. When the group attempted to rescue Raju on the night of July 2 in the Uttar Pradesh region of India, his owner and mahout — an individual who rides elephants — apparently attempted to dismantle the effort with a standoff, Nikki Sharp, the executive director of Wildlife SOS-USA, told The Huffington Post.

    Raju’s captors layered tighter chains on him and attempted to confuse him by shouting commands, but their efforts proved futile. A team of 10 veterinarians and experts from Wildlife SOS along with 20 Forestry Commission officers and two policemen managed to rescue the abused elephant, according to the Mirror, a British tabloid.

    “Raju was in chains 24 hours a day, an act of ­intolerable cruelty. The team were astounded to see tears roll down his face during the rescue,” Pooja Binepal, a spokesman for Wildlife SOS, said, per the Mirror. “It was incredibly emotional. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed. Elephants are majestic and highly intelligent animals. We can only imagine what torture the past half a century has been for him.”

  • SOS to Ajimobi

    SIR: This is to bring to the notice of the amiable and dynamic Governor Senator of Oyo State, Mr Isiaka, Ajimobi the deplorable condition of our roads in the following areas: Amosander road to Awe to Aba-apata, Emi-abata to Odo-oba which is the boundary between Oyo and Osun State.

    The above mentioned villages are the food basket of Oyo State. I am sure the governor is quite aware of this.

    The governor of Osun State  Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has done his part from Ejigbo to Odo Oba the boundaries of the two states. We the people of this area therefore appeal to our listening governor to please use his good offices to ensure that remaining parts that belong to Oyo State that lead to the above mentioned villages are tarred so that this people of the area can, without difficulty, harvest their produce and take them to the city for sale.

    The people of Amosander, Awe, Aba-apata and Emi-abata will not forget you and your government if these roads are tarred.

     

    • Mustapha Aremu Taiwo,

    Aba Emi-abata Oyo,

    Oyo State.