The Igbo has lost one of its great sons.
Professor Obioha Chima Nwana, a scholar of international repute, a great academic, passed on in Atlanta, United States of America, on Friday.
Aged 86 years, Nwana was a past Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
He was from Arondizogu, Imo State.
By Adesina Soyooye
Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has stopped the payment of pensions, gratuities and other allowances to former Governors, Deputy Governors and Speakers of the House of Assembly.
The Governor did that on Friday when he accented to a Bill repealing the law that created pension allowances and gratuities to former Governors, Deputy Governors, Speakers and Deputy Speakers.
In doing that, the Governor has savef the state billions of Naira, annually.
Speaking after accenting to the Bill at Sam Mbakwe the Exco Chambers, Government House, Owerri on Friday, the Governor noted that the law has become necessary because it runs contrary to the 1999 constitution as amended, which stipulates that a pensioner must have worked for at least 10 years and must be up to 45 years of age.
He noted: “Apart from the inconsistency of such a law to the provisions of the grundnorm, which is the Constitution of 1999 (as amended), this has led, for a very long time, a precedence that does not encourage diligence and prudence in service delivery.’’
He regretted a situation where some of the beneficiaries of such payments equally get huge amount of money as salaries and allowances in other positions they occupied such as seating Senators or Members of the House of Representatives.
While thanking the Imo State House of Assembly for rising to the occasion and embracing totally the desire of government to strengthen the internally generated revenue base of the State, Governor Uzodimma assured of his commitment and desire to grow an economy that will stand the test of time.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the exercise, the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chiji Collins informed that they presented two Bills for the Governor’s accent: the Bill on Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and Bill on the repeal of Pensions and Gratuity.
Collins said that the Bill on Pensions and Gratuity has long been repealed in many States of the Federation when it was discovered to run contrary to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The Bill on Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, the Speaker explained, is to ensure that the University is moved to where it belongs: the Imo State College of Agriculture Umuagwo where the National Universities Commission (NUC) visited for accreditation and not Aboh Mbaise as people are clamouring.
Present at the signing of the Bill to repeal the Law on Pensions, Allowances and Gratuities include the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prof. Placid Njoku; the Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Amara Iwuanyanwu; the Majority Leader, Uche Ogbuagu and other members of Imo State House of Assembly, as well as some members of the State expanded Executive Council.
By Akinwale Kasali
The Lagos State Government, through the State’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, on Thursday, disclosed that it has spent, at least, N800 million in conducting 16,000 COVID-19 tests in the state.
Abayomi stated this while briefing newsmen on COVID-19 weekly situation report, held at the Press Centre, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja.
Responding to questions from newsmen he said each COVID-19 test cost between N40,000 to N50,000, while 16,000 tests have been conducted so far, fully, all expenses paid by the state government.
He added that the LASG have so far performed 16,000 COVID-19 tests in Lagos, which is higher than anywhere else in Nigeria.
“We are planning to test up to about 1,000 people per day, very soon, in the next month or two we are going to be ramping up our capacity to test.
“For now, the government is providing testing free of charge and the government pays about N40,000 to N50,000 per test.
“But as we ramp up our testing we are going to try and use some means of subsidy for the test, either through insurance or through some contributions from donors or from development partners to help us to subsidize the test.
“For now the state government is providing COVID-19 testing free of charge and all citizens who need to be tested for COVID-19 either because they are not feeling well or had a close contact can get it done free of charge at any of our COVID-19 testing sites on the four laboratories,” the commissioner said.
Abayomi said the State government was in the process of conducting clinical trial on hydroxychloroquine and “with the solidarity trial the state is participating in, two months from now we (Lagos) should get information on the drug either as preventive or cure.”
The government listed some of the centres where the hydroxy Chloroquine trials would be conducted with consideration for various dietary supplements that can boost or improve the immune system to resist the virus.
According to Abayomi, the spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lagos was due to the increase in its testing capacity.
“The state government has decentralised sample collection centres with about 20 sample collection sites across the metropolis,” he stated.
In order to ramp up testing, the state government has concluded plans to integrate the concept of home-based care of COVID 19, even as he urged residents to be available for test, and warned against stigmatisation of COVID-19 patients.
As part of preventive measures against the spread of the virus, citizens were urged by the Health Commissioner to always use standard face masks in the public always, and in the event of exhibiting any symptom, they should quickly, present themselves early for treatment.
The deaths recorded were attributed to late reports, but it noted that though, Lagos and Kano have the same demography, Lagos was recording more cases of COVID-19 because it was doing more testing than Kano.
“While Lagos has four testing laboratories running for almost three months now and doing three shifts, Kano has just one laboratory which is yet to properly kick-off because of some initial teething problems,” Abayomi was quoted.
Nigerians are, however, querying the rationale behind the huge sum the LASG claimed it has spent.
Some Social Commentators queried how the 16,000 people were picked with Covid-19 tests done on them, and the LASG should be bold and magnanimous enough to bring out the people that they carried the test on.
It also asked how a Covid-19 test could cost that much.
By Akinwale Kasali
There seems to be sign of relief for Private School owners, teachers, lecturers, students and pupils following the move by the Federal Government to direct all schools to get back to business.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has announced June 8th, 2020, as the official resumption date for Universities, polytechnics, and other schools.
Mustapha, who also serves as the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, assured and raised the hope Nigeria students and the general public when he stated that President Muhammadu Buhari will open up all financial Institutions, schools and also spiritual houses after this second stage of lockdown which will end June 1 and activities will begin normal on 8 June, 2020.
Details Later….
By Tosin Olatokunbo
The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Saad Abubakar III has warned that congregational eid-el-fitri prayers could aid the spread of corona virus in the country.
Therefore “Eid-el-Fitr congregation in the outskirts of towns and cities should be temporarily suspended.
The said ‘Eid-el-Fitr Prayer be observed at home with family members or alone in case there isn’t anyone with him or her, at home,” the Sultan said in a statement by the JNI on Thursday.
Sultan Abubakar is the spiritual head of Muslims in Nigeria and leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, SCIA also known as JNI in Nigeria.
States like Kano, Bauchi, Yobe have directed that the yearly prayed to hold despite fear that the action will lead to spike in the number of corona virus infected persons.
The Northern Governor’s Forum had on Thursday said the north has 54 per cent of COVID 19 infected persons in the country, even as some religious leaders and other prominent Nigerian Muslims have expressed concerns that virus could spread exponentially if open religious gatherings are allowed to hold..
The Eid prayer is held by muslims to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
JNI said state governments where the Eid prayers are allowed to hold should take full responsibility.
The umbrella body for Muslims in Nigeria said “However, in states where Governments have reached concrete decisions to observe the ‘Eid-el-Fitr prayer, based on their medical experts’ advice, strictest measures of distancing, face masks and sanitizers be taken to protect worshipers.”
Meanwhile, the Oyo state government said on Thursday that it has not lifted ban on religious gathering, contrary to speculation.
Congregational Eid Prayers, will therefore, not hold in the state, the Seyi Makinde-led government said
By Fola James
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed has finally admitted that efforts by the federal governments to salvage the country from the devastating effects of the corona virus will not be enough to save the economy from an imminent recession.
She said the only way out is for Nigerians to embrace farming to make food abundant for all,
Within five years, the country has faced economy downturn after the very first one experienced in 2016, a year after President Muhammadu Buhari took power.
The minister based her projections on the revelation by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics that the nation’s economy activities have greatly slowed down in the last three months.
Recent efforts made by the government to put the economy back to work after the slow down resulting COVID 19 include borrowing from international partners such as the IMF, World Bank and sale of bonds to raise funds for critical infrastructure.
But Speaking in Abuja on Thursday after the virtual National Economic Council, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the minister said the economy has bit badly hit, but added that all will be done to put it back on full throttle.
Citing the NBS, the minister said, “The National Bureau of Statistics has made an assessment. So, it is the NBS assessment that Nigeria will go into a recession measuring at an average of -4.4 per cent.
But with the work that the Economic Accessibility Committee is doing bringing stimulus packages, we believe that we can reduce the impact of that recession.
She explained that recession is certain that Nigerians should be ready to whether the storm.
From all indications, there’s no escape route to recession “And if we applied all that have been proposed and we are able to implement it we may end up with a recession that is -0.4 per cent.
In any case, we will go into recession but what we are trying to do is to make sure that it is shallow so that we will quickly come out of it come 2021.”
Life after COVID 19 will not remain the same again, she stated, adding that Nigerians should take their destinies in their hands by engaging in full time farming so as to escape full scarcity.
The minister warned that “This is a very difficult time because the challenges we have now are double. There is health challenge, there is an economic challenge.
Even as we are addressing the current health challenge, we still have to look at how we can support the economy so that the economy does not fall into a depression.
We have to feed the people and you can only feed the people if people go out and farm. We are a very large population, we don’t want to take the risk and we don’t have enough funds to cushion the effect.”
By Adesina Soyooye
The Visitation Panel on the Imo State University Teaching Hospital, (IMSUTH), on Thursday, opened a can of worms. It said the IMSUTH is sick. It said there is no cheering news out of the institution. The College of Medicine has no accreditation. And the National Universities Commission, NUC, has since stopped giving admission to students into the institution. The Panel also declared the School of Nursing dead. In sum, according to the Panel, headed by Prof. Frank Akpuaka, IMSUTH needs a surgical operation to stay alive.
These revelations were made when the Panel submitted its findings to Governor Hope Uzodimma in Owerri. Uzodinma was so shocked by the report that he declared:”If the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH), Orlu, is sick, then the entire health sector of the state is in trouble.”
GGovernor Uzodimma emphasized that all critical sectors of the state are sick, ranging from the Civil Service, power sector and several other sectors, a situation he described as ‘bleeding’. He thanked the Panel for identifying all the critical areas that government needs to look into and assured that the report will be put to good use.
The Governor pointed out that IMSUTH is an institution that is positioned to be self-sustaining and provide effective healthcare services to the entire state and beyond if properly managed, especially in the area of germane drug procurement for Imolites.
The Governor promised to change the ugly narrative in the financial statements of the hospital by making sure that all financial leakages are plugged by streamlining IMSUTH into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system already in operation by his administration.
Governor Uzodimma however, regretted the non accreditation of the College of Medicine since inception which he attributed to sheer negligence by the past School Administrations and past governments, adding that it will no longer be business as usual for contractors and individuals who take advantage of the administrative lapses in the institution to set back the wheel of progress of the hospital.
Presenting the report, Prof. Frank Akpuaka in an Executive Summary listed a litany of problems besieging the institution to include: poor roads, poor funding, infrastructural decay, inability to retain staff, and loss of accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC), which has resulted in non-admission of medical students for the past four years.
Others include low patronage of hospital services, maladministration, and deficiency in management where the CMD works as a Sole Administrator, among others,
The report noted that the Nursing Unit is nothing to write home about, the Works Department leaves much to be desired, the Surgical and Laboratory units are in very bad shape as well as the Intensive Care Units.
Furthermore, the report highlighted the state of the mortuary as being in total dilapidation, while all equipment in the Radiography Unit which include: MRI, CT scan, and the Mammography are all obsolete.
The panel, however, made sweeping recommendations that include computerisation of the Pharmacy Unit, improvement on the Pathology Unit, improved supply of electricity, provision of three more boreholes, resuscitation of the library section to an e-library, completion of the Amphitheatre and most importantly, financial autonomy for the institution.
The Panel also advised on the handover of the satellite centres of the University to the LGAs, where they belong to serve as Primary Healthcare centres since they are not serving the purpose for which they were established.
The Panel canvassed for improved IGR, automation of the Accounts Department as they discovered that the institution maintained 23 Bank accounts, when only 10 are active and advised on the need to further reduce the number of bank accounts to guard against fraud.
The Panel suggested the need to implement Procurement laws, especially as it concerns award of contracts and the need for Staff audit to reduce the level of ghost-worker syndrome, which they feared could have been responsible for bloated wage bill of N148m a month when the school’s IGR is only N15m-N20m per month.
Former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan alongside other 27 global leaders in collaboration with Kofi Annan Foundation have urged governments and civil society to act to ensure democracy does not become the silent victim of the Coronavirus pandemic.
While noting the urgent need for the protection of the health and safety of citizens under the present circumstance, the leaders also pointed out the imperative of adopting protective measures to safeguard the integrity of elections.
Dr. Jonathan who was recently appointed as a member of the Kofi Annan Elections Integrity Panel of Senior Figures and the other global leaders made this known in an open letter in which they expressed concerns that the legitimacy of democracy itself is being challenged.
The signatories made up of statesmen, diplomats, technocrats, activists and entertainers, included Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, sixth President of the Republic of Indonesia , Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia, Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada, Ruth Dreifuss, former President of the Swiss Confederation. Others are Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chair of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Alan Doss, President of the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF) and Graça Machel, former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa.
A statement issued by KAF in support of the action of the leaders observed that with over 50 elections already postponed across the globe, and 19 having gone ahead in unclear times, “questions are being asked about the sweeping executive powers some governments have used to impose emergency measures and how to limit their long-term impact.”
In the open letter the leaders set out the key steps that global democracies need to take to ensure hard-won democratic rights and the integrity of elections are protected. It recommended ways of striking the right balance between legitimate public health concerns and democratic rights and freedoms in line with the following identified principles including the rule of law, building consensus around constitutional changes, proportionality as well as clear and time-bound communication with the public.
Six of the 12 survivours rescued from the eight-story building that collapsed last month at Yar’Adua Drive, New Owerri in Imo State by the state government have been discharged from the hospital.
The discharge has also coincided with the completion of the evacuation at the site by officials of the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA).
The General Manager of the OCDA, Hon. Innocent Ikpamezie told newsmen on Wednesday that his office has completed the evacuation, which started on Thursday, April 30.
Ikpamezie noted that the prompt response from government was instrumental to his crew being able to rescue 12 persons. He said six out of them have been discharged from the hospital with all expenses paid by the Government.
However, he regretted that four dead bodies were evacuated from the site of the collapsed building.
While expressing his appreciation to the Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma for providing them with all the necessary support, the OCDA boss stated that lives were saved as a result of the timely intervention from government.
Ikpamezie assured that a repeat of such incidence will not occur again in the State, noting that Governor Uzodimma has put machinery in motion to forestall such occurrence in the future.
Speaking on behalf of the six survivors discharged from the hospital, Mr. Odinaka Eliasim thanked the Governor for being a father who hears the cries of his children. He stated that government made sure they got the best treatment and lacked nothing while in the hospital.
Mr. Eliasim, who hails from Amiri in Oru East Local Government Area solicited the assistance of government in providing jobs for them. This, he said will help them overcome their present travails.
By Akinwale Kasali
Minister for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chris Ngige, has taken a swipe on University Lecturers, saying they are at home playing Ludo games and other Indoor games when they should be busy doing educational researcher, unraveling new theories and methodologies, like their Colleagues elsewhere. And, yet, he said, they are paid salaries.
But Ngige’s statement has attracted a rebuke from the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
The Minister, had challenged them to get busy and not stay home playing ludo and other indoor games after receiving salaries, instead of engaging in research activities that would lead to new drugs and medical equipment to combat the raging COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Union called on the Federal Government not to see the payment of their February and March salaries as a favour, as it is their legitimate rights and government’s duty to meet its obligations to its workers.
The union said: “Government should have been ashamed to have unlawfully and wickedly withheld members’ salaries and paid only two out of three in the month May on account of disagreement over their enrollment into the newly introduced Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).”
The Chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos(UNILAG), Akoka branch, Dele Ashiru, reacting to these assertions on behalf of ASUU national, said it is disheartening that a serving minister whose mandate is to ensure peace and harmony in the labour sector and who also superintendent over the government’s failed promises to develop the university education could now be acussing lecturers of idleness while appraising self for paying salaries.
According to him, Ngige’s statement does not only show that he is not only fueling crisis, but he also lacks knowledge of what the lecturers are actually doing during this COVID-19.
Ashiru said the minister should know that Nigerian academics are part of frontliners in the fight against COVID-19 in the country.
He said so many researches had been carried out in Nigerian ivory towers during this time of pandemic including the UNILAG team who has just developed a ventilator.
He, however, asked the minister to name any of the discoveries by Nigerians including scholars for COVID-19 or from those before now that Nigeria’s government had adopted let alone supported or encouraged.
