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  • CMD: we’re restoring LUTH’s glory

    Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Chief Medical Director (CMD) Prof. Chris Bode has just been appointed for a second term in office. He spoke with some reporters on his experience in the past four years, and his determination to improve the 57-year-old institution. ADEKUNLE YUSUF was there.

    Past challenges

     

    When I came on board four years ago, the system was suffering. The greatest challenge was lack of confidence in the system, both among the workers and the people who come here. Our various clients stopped believing in the system. Now, with the co-operation and collaboration of others, that narrative has changed. It’s humbling to know that the same environment that was so hostile has gradually embraced change. We had stormy relationships, stormy reception from the trainees, from workers group, but I guess through appealing to their good side and showing by example from the leadership of the institution in the past four years, the situation has improved appreciably.

    We have been able to change the mindset so that all workers at LUTH now appreciate what we were established to do – render services to people. That is what matters; any other thing will be excuse; people are not interested in that. No matter what you do, if you do it very well, people will come to you and if you don’t they would go elsewhere. So we don’t want them to go elsewhere for many reasons because even our own livelihood depends on it and the mandate given to us would be a failed mandate if we don’t fulfill it.

     

    Re-positioning LUTH

     

    There has been enormous support in the last four years from top management team, the nurses, the head of nurses and all heads of departments; they have been marvelous as they embraced the experiment. The change we tried to implement has yielded very good results, with all modesty. We must give thanks to the Federal Ministry of Health; the minister (Prof Isaac Adewole) and his team, they have really risen to the challenge, done very well for us and also the workers in LUTH have been marvelous. I must say that our people know good things when they see it. I think that is what has been driving us. When you do something good and people see it, they comment. But we know that we need to do more.

    The entire workforce, all are eager to reflect the new order. The changes are manifest. For instance, our dental school that was disaccredited last year because we didn’t have dented chairs has now been re-certified. Through joint efforts between the university, alumni and management, we have been able to put LUTH back on the path to its former glory. Good things are happening, that’s my message and we must do more. The greatest enemy of progress is to be complacent; there is no resting here. We must commend the management board led by Alhaji Isa Sali Bello and his team for astutely leading the hospital at this time; we have been able to accomplish a lot.

     

    Noticeable changes

     

    Of great importance has been that there is calm in the system now. I recall there was a year we didn’t work for eight months; our salaries were paid by government. At another time, we went on strike for five months. All that had to stop. The healthcare sector cannot afford such disruption. So we had to start whittling that down with support from members of the public, members of our staff and even government. With time, government started listening to what the agitations were and government was fulfilling them, promising and fulfilling; coupled with delivering on low hanging deliverables, intermediate term and long term plans. All these have now started bearing fruitful results and I like to add that it has really brought LUTH to the fore again.

    A lot has been done during the past four years. We now have reliable power supply through our gas fired electricity; we now have a very good blood bank; good water supply; our wards are beginning to be rehabilitated and other facilities as well, including the acute stroke care center. We are repositioning our radiology department. We are putting up a new structure for the care of over 8,000 HIV patients and our advanced facility center has been up and running and is doing very well. Workers are going through further training and we have crowned it with the $11 million NSIA-LUTH cancer center, which President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned in February.

     

    Looking ahead

     

    A lot more needs to be done, looking ahead. The reward for hard work is more work. Because our facilities are aged, they have been there for 57 years now, we need to rehabilitate, complete rehabilitation of our wards, our out-patients department and many other structures. The out-patients facility is inadequate; we want to build an extension so that patients can be seen more promptly rather than being given long appointments. We are going to do the same thing for our operation theatre facilities and other facilities that need to be upgraded and expanded.

    We are having the Lions Club International partnership. We are appealing to all like-minded bodies to assist LUTH. Late Chief Isaac Olusola Dada, who was the district governor of the club, promised to build a renal dialysis center for us before he passed away suddenly. It is going to cost more than N200 million. It will have 36 dialysis machines and will be one of the largest in the country for modern renal dialysis. The Lions Club and the family of Chief Dada will build and furnish it on a PPP basis. Experts in dialysis, institutions that supply equipment and consumables can just come and use it; we will make the services affordable to ensure that Nigerians come here rather than go abroad.

    We are still going cap in hand. Already, we have immense support from the Sovereign Wealth Fund; they have promised to sustain the cancer centre so it will be a modern cancer center that would render services and give meaningful returns to investors. It will serve as a beacon for public-private collaboration in health care delivery. If they don’t see us as valuable, they won’t bring their money to tie down.

    We are planning a hospital-wide information management system to reduce the paper work, improve efficiency and reduce the stress faced by patients. Another plan is to expand operation theatres, intensive care unit and eye treatment unit. The ultimate goal is to make LUTH a comprehensive and reliable hospital in one structure so that we don’t refer any patient. We want to achieve 100 per cent proficiency. If LUTH refers somebody to any other place, it’s like telling them to go and die because we ought to have everything. Even if our accident and emergency ward is full, I would rather you move patients straight to the ward and begin emergency care at the ward rather than tell them there’s no bed. We would do all what we can to increase bed space. Even while doing this, we must appeal to all Nigerians, services in LUTH are highly subsidized between 30 and 80 per cent. Depending on the services, for an average operation, you may pay a million naira outside. Here you might pay just N200,000.

     

    Appealing for more support

     

    We are a government institution, but we must agree that services are not free. We need to review the concept of healthcare financing so that there will be universal coverage. There should be a safety net provided by the national institutional scheme for those who may easily fall through the cracks. The elderly, children, pregnant women and accident victims should be taken care of under a solid health insurance scheme. Public health institutions must continue to treat patients that are not able to pay and we cannot reject anybody brought as an emergency. We found out that such obligations are a big drain on the finance of tertiary institutions, not only at LUTH; it happens everywhere. May be because this is a large hospital, we feel it a lot.

     

  • Trump’s Dangerous Predation Agenda

    It was a refreshing of an old wound last Monday, when the American President, Donald John Trump, fortuitously designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organisation. And, in a prompt reaction, Iran also declared the entire American military forces as a gang of terrorists. Coming up just a couple of weeks after the same Trump mischievously recognized a Venezuela opposition leader, Juan Guaido, who did not contest in the recent election for the office of the President in that country but declared himself as President with a swearing in ceremony, Trump’s seeming neurotic actions these days could not have come as a surprise. Here is a man who unilaterally decided in 2017 to erect a fence covering about 1,933 miles at the US border with Mexico and insisted that the latter must pay the cost. Also, like a neurotic patient, this man has thrown both the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU) into an embarrassing disarray on many issues with his garrulous international posture.

    Today’s article is not new. It is rather a repeat of an earlier article published in this column in November 2018, albeit with a different title. The article is being repeated here today on the demand of some prominent readers of this column who are strongly concerned about the gathering particles of an impending World War 111 the drum of which President Trump has been beating aloud in recent time with no reflection on its consequences Thus, capturing the vivid mood of those readers and based on their tone of demand for the repetition of this article,  ‘The Message’ column decided to migrate, from the insanity of Nigeria’s unwarranted political, economic and insecurity rigmarole to that of a global implacable tempest if only  for a momentary change.

    After all, elasticity has its limit. And by so doing, even if temporarily, some relief might come, not only to the readers of this column but also to the writer who is currently writhing in the dust of unimaginable suffocation in Nigeria. For now, that may be a way of ventilating the atmosphere for a relatively peaceful existence.

     

    Trump’s Predation Agenda

    At the instance of American President, Donald Trump, an unexpected global war may soon break out, the consequences of which will be very difficult to  predict. As a matter of fact, the motivation for this assertion had started gathering momentum with the swinging of a dangerous pendulum from the premise of the US imperial tendencies since Trump’s assumption of office as the 45th US President in 2016.

    When and how such a war will break out may just be a matter of guessing for all agitated minds around the world.

     

    The Immediate Cause of Iran/US Tango

    About four years ago, Al-Jazeera Television throbbed with   breaking news, reporting that a United States’ military aircraft strayed into the airspace of Iran and the latter promptly responded by shooting it down. The incident occurred when Dr. Barack Obama was the President of the US. And that was the climax of an allegation of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, especially, nuclear armament, levelled against Iran by the US.

    That disturbing development which dragged Iran to the United Nation’s Security Council for explanation further heightened the already existing tension between the US and Iran. The tension had started in 1979 with the Iranian revolution that uprooted Shah Pahlavi’s imperial despotism which had caged the country’s citizens for decades.

     

    U.S.’ Reaction

    In reaction to the fortuitous incident of the American intrusion that led to Iran’s prompt military reaction, the US authorities said that the destination of the shot aircraft was Afghanistan and not Iran.

    They explained that its pilot accidentally lost control and strayed inadvertently into Iranian territory. But then, the die had been cast even as the US has since been looking for an opportunity to revenge.

     

    Genesis of Faceoff

    The faceoff between Iran and certain Western countries, particularly the US and Britain, can be traced to a grand design by the West as expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman who observed as follows:

    “There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspiration. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another… If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

     

    Follow Up

    Sir Bannerman’s observation was tacitly a further pursuit of an earlier demand by an Austrian Jewish lawyer and Journalist, Theodor Herzl, the initiator and leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879.

     

    Theodor Herzl’s Demand

    In the euphoria of a chauvinistic ambition, shortly after the establishment of the Zionist movement,  Theodor Herzl, made a demand thus: “Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation. The rest, we shall manage by ourselves…”

     

    The Balfour Declaration

    In furtherance of the West’s clandestine agenda expressed by Bannerman as quoted above, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour, issued an insensitively   devastating declaration that now bears his name in history. That seemingly conspiratorial declaration, which forcefully conceded a major chunk of Palestinian land to the Zionists as a home, became a thorny point in the serenity of the world.

    Since then, the infamous Balfour declaration has put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil to the discomfort of the world’s peace and harmony. The declaration read partly as follows: “His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”

     

    Implementation

    To facilitate the effective implementation of that agenda, some other Middle East countries had to be decapitated economically and politically through an imperial excision of some juicy chunks of their lands from them. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq. The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation quoted above.

     

    Iran Connection

    Now, how does Iran come into this scenario when she is not an Arab country? That is the logical question that anybody who is not quite familiar with the Middle East and the intricacies of its political and economic set up may ask.

    Naturally, Iran is affected by three major factors: culture, economy and politics. By culture here, we mean ISLAM. Iran is a foremost Muslim country even if her official language is Farsi and not Arabic.

    And, as a Muslim Country, whatever affects other Muslim countries must affect her. Thus, as a major neighbour to the Arabs in the Gulf region, she cannot but play a major role in the politics of that region. Also, as an economically strong nation in the primordial and contemporary times, Iran, a current member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), occupies a very strategic position in the Middle East especially with her proximity to the Persian Gulf.

     

    How Ayatullah Khomeni Emerged

    It was in 1963 that the late Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatullah Ruhullah Mousavi Khomeini, embarked on his country’s liberation struggle that culminated in a successful revolution of February 1979.

    In that struggle, Ayatullah Khomeini took a retrospective view of the incident that almost obliterated Islam under the iron rule of Mustapha  Kamal  Ataturk of Turkey in the 1920s. With that review, he knew that without a clear-cut culture, man couldn’t be better than a beast. He knew that such values as law, education and religion, which had guided man in his peregrinations on earth, were the attributes of culture. He knew that any nation that surrendered its culture and adopted that of another nation had enslaved herself permanently to the caprice of the latter nation. Thus, Khomeini saw Islam, the spiritual culture of over one billion Muslims in the world at that time, as the target of the Western imperialists, which needed defence and protection.

     

    The Iranian Revolution

    No one believed before 1979 that a mass protest which started like a small political billow and was engendered by the country’s unarmed Mullahs could eventually grow into such a great magnitude of political ‘earthquake’. But by the time the foggy dust of that protest finally settled, a new Iran had emerged from the debris of the old. Thus, against the wish and expectation of the capitalist West, the hitherto secular, monarchical Iran became a democratic, Islamic republic. The drama was quite electric.

    Characteristic of the West, all hands were put on deck, at that time, to ensure that an Islamic republic did not succeed the tyrannical monarchy headed by the Shah Pahlavi who had been serving as a front for the oppressive West. America was most active in that ambitious but vain effort. She would not easily allow the massive benefit she had been enjoying for decades in that oil-rich country, under the Shah regime, to slip out of her hands just like that.

     

    Rescue Mission

    Thus, under the pretext that she wanted to rescue her citizens from the siege laid by Iranian students on her embassy in Tehran, the US attempted an invasion of the country.  The espionage activities by the American diplomats, inside that embassy, against the new Islamic government in Iran, had warranted the siege.

     

    The Strategy

    While a number of US F15 jet bombers were approaching Iran, the then American President, Jimmy Carter cunningly engaged his country’s pressmen in a media chat without giving them any hint of the impending military operation in Iran. The tactics was to divert the attention of the press and that of the country from the illegal Pentagon’s military expedition going on in Iran. But no sane person can ever fault the contents of the Qur’an. Almost 1400 years before that incident, a verse of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “They (the unbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed. Allah is the supreme schemer”. Q. 3:54.

    Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would be finishing his media chart, the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran. He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’, successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of his address. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have it, instead of the expected news, what he got was a shocker of his life.

     

    The failure of the Strategy

    Miraculously, two of the F15 fighters deployed for the operation collided in the air just at the point of entering Iran crashing with their contents, and consuming the lives of all the 16 top air force officers on board while the other jet fighters had to turn back having run into confusion. When this devastating news reached Carter, it was too much to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

    Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to decipher and explain convincingly. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave. Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald Reagan) of the Republican Party. For about 444 days (well over a year) thereafter, the 52 American hostages remained under the siege of the Iranian students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to get them released.

    Yet, America was not done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of about $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions with the intention of running that country’s economy aground. The only Iran’s offence in this case was to chart an independent political course that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

    That relationship however, further deteriorated recently when Iran started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because the latter could not be trusted with such a project.

     

    The World’s Greyhound

    Only a fool will not know that the United Nation (UN), as presently constituted, is the greyhound of the US through which the latter barks randomly at the rest of the world.

    But for the recent Iraqi episode that became regrettable for the self-appointed policeman of the world, and of course, the North Korean case, which suddenly became a cancerous sore on the head of the US, another Gulf war would have either ensued or become advanced in plan by now.

     

    Secret of American Power

    The secret of America’s military successes in various parts of the world is neither in technological advancement, nor military superiority per se. The failed rescue mission in Iran shortly after that country’s revolution has confirmed that.

    Rather, the secret of America’s military successes in various wars around the world are in her ability to cause schism among some other nations and races.

    Iran has never been a prey to America’s direct military aggression because that Gulf country has never played a fool dancing to the sour music of the predatory country called America in a seeming military arena.

     

    Sanction as a Weapon

    Now, with the threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against Iran by the US on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend ever since her withdrawal from her self-isolationism in 1945. The success of her internal politics has been regularly dictated by her foreign policy. Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. Will this also repeat itself? The days ahead will answer this fundamental question as events continue to unfold. But with the objection by China and Russia to using suffocating economic sanctions against the people of Iran, the US may need to watch her steps carefully especially with respect to the aloofness of most European countries to her unilaterally planned invasion of Iran. It must be remembered that Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan. The world cannot afford another World War now. No individual or country should attempt to plunge it into one by taking a country’s military capability for granted. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Customs seizes smuggled items worth N10.6b

    The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has seized smuggled items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N10.67 billion in the first quarter of this year.

    The Controller of the unit, Comptroller Aliyu Mohammed, in an interview yesterday with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the items were seized within 90 days.

    He said they included 25 assorted vehicles with a DPV of N111.06 million.

    “The command intercepted 16,117 bags of 50kg parboiled rice, 447 cartons of frozen poultry products, 594 vehicles, 42,412 kg of seven pallets of raw hide and skin as well as 2,471 cartons of alcoholic wine.

    Read also: Customs’ Q1 revenue collection hits N312.6b

    “The intercepted goods also include 710 cartons of Tramadol capsules, 510 cartons of various medications, including Chaka pain, Codeine and Rally Extra.

    “Others are 111 bags of used clothing, three sacks of footwear, 210 kegs of 25 litres of vegetable oil and 106 cartons of 5 litres vegetable oil,” he said.

    The controller said 16 suspects were arrested in connection with the total of 254 seizures recorded between January and March.

    He advised would-be car buyers to verify the authenticity of the import and clearance documents with the appropriate Customs Area Controllers (CACs) at ports, saying buyers should avoid buying smuggled vehicles.

    Mohammed, however, hailed the efforts of the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali and his management team for providing the unit with necessary incentives and logistics.

    He urged the public to join the service in the fight against smuggling, considering its economic consequences to the nation and the society at large.

     

  • Reward galore for Finecoat’s loyal customers

    It was reward galore for distributors of products by Chemstar Paints Industry Nigeria Limited, manufacturer of Finecoat and Shield paints, when the company feted them during its 2019 Customers Forum held in Lagos, recently.

    The Group Managing Director, Chemstar Paints Industry Nigeria Limited, Mr Aderemi Awode, said the firm was aware of how hard it was to sell paint and was determined to keep up its 23-year old tradition of saying ‘thank you’ to those who made its products reach the nook and cranny of the country.

    “We have this every year and this year makes it the 23rd year that we are having this.  It is not easy selling paint. Paint is not something that we consume so we realise that our customers put in extra efforts to ensure that they push our products to the end users.  So, we felt it would be nice to have a forum to appreciate and celebrate our customers,” he said.

    To this end, all distributors of the various categories of products sold by the firm – including the home décor wallpapers as well as chemicals sold by its subsidiary firm, CPIN, and the paints, smiled home with various home appliances – which increased according to their level of sales.

    The best performers went home with brand new cars. Three best customers/distributors in the Finecoat and Shield paints category were presented with Honda Pilot SUV and a 4×4 Runner Toyota SUV; and under CPIN, five distributors/customers went home with two Toyota Camry cars, two Honda Pilot SUV and a 4×4 Runner Toyota SUV.

    The winners of the cars included: the Most Outstanding Distributor, Mr James Chinedu Egwu of CJ Jammy King Nigeria Limited, Abuja; the first runner up, Mr. Chidi Ejiofor; and the second runner up, Mr Chima.

    Many others got a whole lot of electronics enough for each to set up a home or open their own stores if they wished.

    Some got 45’ LCD television sets along with two-door refridgerators, 2.5KVA generators, home theatre systems, microwave ovens, four burner gas cookers, and standing fans.

    Lower categories of winners got fewer electronics.  Nevertheless, the least gift consisted of a pressing iron, electric cooker and sandwich maker.

    Next year, when the firm clocks 25, Awode said the best performing customers would be travelling out of the country on holidays to such destinations like London, Paris, Singapore and Malaysia.

    “We are already in talks with our foreign partners.  You will not need to spend money on tickets and accommodation.  Five people will travel on holidays.  But the work starts today,” he said.

    Despite the bleak economic outlook, Awode said the firm had been able to maintain profit without increasing the prices of its pain products by sourcing more of its raw materials locally – with local content increasing to 50 per cent from 30 in the last two years.

    He attributed the success to the firm’s vibrant Research and Development unit.

    Awode praised the government’s efforts to improve infrastructure and check corruption, urging it to do more in this regard.

     

  • Kwara revenue service targets N5b monthly

    Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) said on Thursday that it is targeting monthly revenue of N5 billion for the state government.

    KWIRS added that it has raked in N6.279 billion to the coffers of the state government in the last three months.

    Executive chairman of the revenue agency Prof. Muritala Awodun spoke with reporters in Ilorin, the state capital.

    According to Awodun, the agency generated N2.16 billion in January; N1.76 billion in February and N2.38 billion in March 2019.

    The KWIRS boss said the revenue agency was yet to achieve its target of generating annual revenue of N60 billion for the state.

    Awodun added that the service had been developed to a point that it would not make less than an average of N2 billion every month.

    He said the agency started with N17.2 billion annual revenue generation in 2016, and N19.6 in 2017 and generated N23.1 billion last year.

    He said inauguration of the agency in 2016 had prevented abandoned projects in the state with monthly contribution of N500 million into the state infrastructure fund (IF-K) for completion and initiation of new infrastructural projects.

    Read Also: Kwara teachers accuse leaders of sell-out

    Prof. Awodun, who said the state government had augmented monthly Federal Allocation with proceeds of the revenue agency to pay workers’ salary, added that the measure was made possible through ingenious financial engineering of the agency.

    On the delay in completion of ongoing under-pass project in the Ilorin metropolis, Awodun said the delay was brought about by complications that were not initially factored into the project, including 2019 electioneering activities.

    He said some heavy underground water pipes were discovered on the construction site, adding that the contractor had to depend on other experts for technicalities before work could resume on the project.

    He also debunked allegation on the invitation of some of the staff of the revenue agency by the Economic and Financial Crime and other related offences Commission (EFCC) over financial malfeasance, saying that no staff of the agency was invited or arrested by the anti-graft agency.

     

  • UNILAG students charged with attempted rape

    Two University of Lagos (UNILAG) students on Thursday appeared at a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly attempting to rape their course mate.

    Ikedi Okpanlanedu, 21, and Samuel Idongesit, 20, are also accused  of conspiracy,  assault, impersonation and threatening violence.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Modupe Olaluwoye alleged that the undergraduates invited their course mate, a make-up artiste, to a hotel room and attempted to rape her.

    She said the defendants committed the offence on April 1, at Peace Land Hotel, Fola Agoro, Shomolu, Lagos.

    Olaluwoye said the defendants promised to introduce the make-up artiste to someone, who needed her service.

    She alleged that the defendants attempted to rape her on arrival at the hotel room.

    “My lord, they strangled her because she called for help. A hotel worker, Mr. Ohaeri Godlove, who heard her screaming, called the guard.

    Read Also: UNILAG medical students seek more security

    “Okpanlanedu claimed to be an Army personnel and threatened to stab her with the knife he was holding, if she did not cooperate with them.

    “The knife was recovered from the crime scene. We intend to tender it in evidence,” Olaluwoye added.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty. They were granted N200,000 bail with two sureties each in the like sum by Chief Magistrate Peter Ojo.

    The sureties must be employed and possess evidence of three years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

    The case continues on June 26.

  • Oyo lawmaker fit for House Speaker, say youths

    Should Oyo House of Representatives member Olajide Olatubosun heed the advice of a youth-based group, the ATISBO/Saki East/Saki West Federal Constituency may join the race for the House Speaker.

    The socio-political group – Youths for Good Governance (YGG) in a statement said the time has come for someone from the state to aspire to lead the Green Chambers.

    It said that Olatubosun, being a ranking member of the lower chamber has what it takes to lead the House.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi is rallying House of Representatives from the Pacesetter State to back House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, who has declared interest in the position.

    YGG’s spokesman Shola Lawal said in the statement said:  “We will be so happy if Hon. Olajide Olatubosun presents himself for leadership position of the House. For long, Oyo has been relegated to the background especially in the progressive fold.

    Read Also: Oyo to enact law to end farmers/herdsmen clashes

    “We should appreciate the fact that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has zoned the position to the South West. It is now incumbent on Olatubosun especially to come out and contest.

    “Our people shouldn’t concede everything to other people. We see it as not too good. If others aren’t coming out, Olatubosun is qualified. He should contest the speakership position.

    “There is no harm in trying something. Those who have achieved greater things took risk. Anything that is easy isn’t worth it; he should signify interest and we will do what is within our reach to support him.”

    The group, however, urged the lawmaker not to relent in his good deeds for his constituents, adding that they have rewarded the good things he has done in his first term by re-electing him.

  • NECO reschedules entrance exam into unity schools

    The National Examinations Council (NECO) has rescheduled the National Common Entrance Examination into unity schools to 27th April.

    It’s Head, Information and Public, Relations Division, Azeez Sani, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    According to the statement, the date for the examination was shifted to give states with low registration of candidates the opportunity to register for the examination.

    Read Also: Questions on NECO 2019 registration

    The statement said 70,720 candidates have registered for the examination.

    The statement reads: “The examination which was initially scheduled for 13th April, was re-scheduled to give states with low registration of candidates the opportunity to register for the examination.

    “Candidates are advised to download the new Examination Time-Table from the Council’s website: http://www.neco.gov.ng.”

  • After 23 days, EFCC frees ex-NBA Vice President, Monday Ubani

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at about 11am today released a former 2nd Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Monday Ubani, after 23 days in its custody.

    Ubani was arrested and detained on March 19, along with ex-Senator Christopher Enai for allegedly failing to produce a former Managing Director of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme, who both men stood for as sureties.

    Read Also: Alleged fraud: EFCC opens case against bank, staff

    Olojeme is facing a N6.4billion fraud charge preferred against her by the EFCC.

    Ubani had maintained his innocence over Olejeme’s disappearance insisting that she absconded after the EFCC raided her home

    He also stated that his decision to stand surety for Olejeme was because he compelled her to return to Nigeria to face the charge against her and all effort to secure her bail was frustrated by the EFCC.

  • Emir proposes Muslim Family Bill to tackle child spacing, domestic violence

    The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi Il, said arrangements have been concluded to present the proposed Muslim Family Bill to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for onward presentation to the State House of Assembly for legislative action.

    The emir, who confirmed this yesterday at a round table discussion organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria in Kano,  said the bill was conceptualized to address the challenges of child spacing, family planning and domestic violence among others.

    The monarch said having realized that the idea might not be realized if solely pursued by himself, he decided to set up a committee of lawyers and scholars to  put together the proposed document

    He said even though he got only 80 per cent of what he wanted in the bill, if passed into law, it would address a number of socio-economic problems bedeviling the state.

    Emir Sanusi hoped that the governor would be able to lobby the state lawmakers to ensure passage of the bill, adding that the President of Niger Republic had approached him (the Emir) that he would be patiently waiting for the passage of the bill into law to enable the country to adopt it.

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    The monarch has predicted that if the present fast growing poverty in the country is not checked, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will shoulder 40 per cent of the people living in extreme poverty across the globe by the year 2050.

    The emir said by the year 2050, Africa continent will have 86 per cent of people living with extreme poverty in the world and Nigeria would get half of the population as well as maintain her top ranking as the world poverty capital.

    He linked his position with the overwhelming fast-growing population in the country where an average of a poor woman bears eight children to a poor man with four wives and ended up raising 32 children in poverty, hence contributing to the 77 per cent of poor people in Kano State.

    The monarch, who also berated payment of fuel subsidy to the detriment of other social amenities, lamented that the leaders must have the goodwill and proffer better long term solution to remedy the situation.

    Emir Sanusi also warned politicians to stop thinking about the next four years’ election, adding that they should initiate robust strategies towards securing the future of the younger generation.