Business
Strike: Lagos Hospitals Doctors Offer Emergency Services
Skeletal activities were
within the week being rendered in both the Federal and Lagos State Government-owned hospitals in Lagos as the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) embarked on sympathy strike with their colleagues.
The Tide reports that the NMA in Lagos State chapter had directed its members in the Federal Government-owned hospitals to join the sympathy strike.
The doctors in the employment of the state government had on March 16 embarked on an indefinite strike over the refusal of the state government to accede to their demands.
The issues in contention include the continued employment of doctors as casual workers and non-employment of resident doctors in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
Other issues were the alleged non-payment of their salary arrears for May, 2012, and July, August and September, 2014 due to the “No Work, No Pay’’ policy of the state government.
The NMA Chairman in Lagos State, Dr Tope Ojo, last Monday directed his members in both the federal and state government-owned hospitals to run only emergency services during the sympathy strike.
Our correspondent’s visit to LASUTH, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba and Federal Neuro-Psychiatry Hospital, Yaba, showed that the doctors were only attending to emergency cases.
Other health personnel including nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists were seen attending to the few patients on admission and in the out-patient unit.
The Tide reports that normal activities were going on at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi and Gbagada General Hospital as the doctors were seen on duty attending to patients.
Mrs Nike Ayo, the Public Relations Officer, National Orthopedic Hospital, said that doctors under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors had written to the hospital’s management on the strike.
According to her, the resident doctors had notified the hospital authorities about the directive of the union to proceed on indefinite strike in support of their counterparts in the state.
The NMA Publicity Secretary, Dr Ibrahim Ogunbi, also told our source that doctors were only on ground to render emergency services.
Ogunbi said that doctors were passionate about their patients and would ensure that they get medical attention in spite of the strike.
He said that the national body of the association might be involved in the strike if the state government refused to accede to the doctors’ demands.
“Lagos State Government has remained unresponsive and has decided not to care for the people. NMA has joined the strike, but we are also providing emergency services.
“If the Lagos State Government does not do the needful, it may be a national issue,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Sa’eid Ahmad, the President, Association of Resident Doctors, LASUTH Chapter, urged the public to appreciate the doctors who make sacrifices to ensure that they were attended to.
Ahmad said: “The objective of this industrial action is not to punish the citizens or watch people dying.
“We are still offering emergency services and as for those patients that have been on admission before the commencement of the action, we are still attending to all of them until they get well and are discharged.’’
He said that there had been no progress on all the doctors’ discussions with the state government in spite of the interventions by both the national and state chapter of NMA.
Dr Wale Oke, LASUTH Chief Medical Director, said the hospital’s management would ensure that patients that need medical attention are attended to.
“We will attend to patients only on emergencies as the doctors have provided services for emergencies,’’ he said.
Dr Raman Lawal, the Chief Medical Director, Psychiatry Hospital, Yaba, also said: ”I cannot make any comments about the strike. “But, the doctors are attending to the patients available and those in the wards are also being taken care of.”
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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