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Coronavirus: Nigeria Can’t Cope With Explosion, NMA Warns

The President, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Francis Faduyile, has disclosed, yesterday, that 70 per cent of Nigerian hospitals have no running water which is critical in the containment of COVID-19 and other epidemics.
Aside that, NMA said its members and some other health workers are not financially motivated and also not adequately prepared and provided with the necessary equipment/kits to respond outbreak of the epidemics.
Faduyile who appeared on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily, yesterday, said that sanitary situation in public hospitals in Nigeria could be counter-productive to the efforts of the Federal Government to contain the spread of Coronavirus in Nigeria.
He was particularly unhappy with the non-involvement of NMA in all the committees and other plans of the Federal Government as regards response to the increasing cases of Coronavirus in Nigeria.
He said: “It will be unwise and Coronavirus when he or she has no adequate kits to respond to that. You have to be alive to save another.
“However, our members would continue to do their best within the available resources and equipment to offer quality medical services to Nigerians irrespective of the situations.”
Similarly, the Senate President, Dr Ahmed Lawan, has asked senators who just returned into the country from foreign trips to go for the Coronavirus test.
Senate’s Spokesperson, Godiya Akwashiki, disclosed this while briefing reporters after yesterday’s plenary.
The Red Chamber went into about two-hour executive session, after which it announced the suspension of all public hearings and shutting of its gallery to visitors as part of measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
According to Akwashiki, the Senate President, during the closed-door session, told the affected lawmakers to undergo Coronavirus test from tomorrow.
Though he didn’t give the names of the affected Senators, Daily Trust learnt that they were at the chamber today.
Akwashiki said, “He (Lawan) urged those that just returned from foreign trips to go and test themselves from tomorrow because as leaders we should show example to others.”
On Senate’s Wednesday resolution urging President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation on the situation of COVID-19 in Nigeria, Akwashiki said it was “too early for us to question why the President has not addressed the nation.”
He, however, said, if the president didn’t address Nigerians “in the next one week”, the leadership of the Senate would engage him.
“You know that there are procedures for the president to address the nation. I want to believe in the next one week, if he didn’t address the nation, the leadership of the Senate will engage the Executive arm of government because it is a serious issue.
“The disease does not know a Senator or President or a farmer. Once you catch it, you are going. I want to ask for a little patient with the president to address the nation,” the lawmaker said.
Akwashiki also said some senators, during the closed-door session, wanted the National Assembly shut down today, but the Senate President cautioned against such move.
“At the end of the discussion, the Senate President said we cannot just wake up and shut down the complex.
“We all came through election, if we are closing down the National Assembly, there are ways to do it.
“So, we decided that we should avoid public hearings because public hearings will bring in a lot of people and shaking of hands.
“The influx of people into the complex should be limited. We only want the Senators, media and the aides,” he said.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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