Nation
THE STATES
Bauchi
Some patients suffering from tuberculosis have advocated for measures to check social stigma against them that would also enhance treatment and control the spread of the disease.
A cross-section of the patients in Bauchi made the call on Thursday, while speaking with The Tide’s source on their plight.
Malama Safiya Usman, a TB patient, said the call was imperative in view of the growing stigma against sufferers in some communities in Bache.
Sofia said that the trend had made it difficult for them to access treatment and check high prevalence of the disease.
“Many people are afraid to go for tuberculosis test because of stigma. People in the community and even your immediate family members are developing feelings of indifference and show no sympathy toward TB patients.
“Many of them stopped talking, eating or sharing anything with you because you have TB. A great number of TB patients preferred to remain silent and die from the disease”, Sofia said.
The Benue House of Assembly has passed a resolution calling on FERMA and the Federal Controller of Works to hasten repair work on federal roads in the state.
The Assembly directed the Chief Maintenance Engineer (CME) of FERMA and the Resident Federal Controller of Works to appear before its Standing Committee on Works.
The resolution followed a motion on a matter of urgent public interest by the member representing Okpokwu Constituency, Solomon Onah.
Onah, drew the attention of the assembly to the slow pace of construction work on the Otukpo-Enugu road which, he said, passed through his constituency.
He said because of the excavation of the Otukpo-Enugu road, cars, heavy duty vehicles have diverted traffic to the Ike-Ugbokolo road.
According to him, the use of the road by many vehicles had caused an increase in cases of hit-and run by motorists.
The AU Commission says it is ready to intensify its campaign against human trafficking in the continent in a bid to curb the menace.
Ms Cisse Mariama, Coordinator, Department of Stoical Social Affairs, AU Commission, told The Tide’s source in Abuja recently that there was the need to increase campaign and enforcement of the various action plans and charters.
Mariama, who was participating in the AU-ECOWAS Workshop Initiative against Human Trafficking, said: “As you are aware, the AU has adopted the charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child in a bid to combat human Trafficking in Africa”.
She called on member-states and regional economic communities (RECs) to ensure the implementation of the charters and protocols on trafficking and migration.
Mariama said the Commission was putting in place mechanism to rehabilitate children “who are victims of trafficking, and punish perpetrators of the crime”.
Jigawa
The Jigawa government has selected 17 science students who had good results in their Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) to study medicine in Cairo, Egypt.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufia addressed the students in Dutse on Thursday before they departed for Cairo.
She advised the students to be well-behaved and pay attention to their studies.
Rufai said government had confidence on the students and urged them to work hard and not to betray the confidence and government’s investment on them.
She advised them to come back to contribute their quota to the development of the state.
Jos
Troops of the Special Task Force (STF) on the Jose Crisis have averted a renewed violence in Bukuru, Jos.
Three persons including the Divisional Police Officer of ‘B’ Division, Bukuru, were injured while four suspects were arrested during the aborted violence.
A statement from the Task Force signed by Brig. Gen. Donald Oji in Jos said the violence which started about 5.30 p.m. involved two persons who started fighting after a game of football.
This developed to a situation in which youths started blocking the major roads and thereby attacking passers-by.
The STF therefore, appealed to public, especially youths to desist from taking the laws into their hands and causing a breach of peace.
Kaduna
Prof. Ephraim Okon, World Bank Consultant on ‘STEP-B’ project has urged the Federal Government to ensure adequate funding of the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT) to enhance research.
He made the call recently in an interview with The Tide’s source after inspecting facilites at NARICT, Basawa, Zaria.
Okon said that adequate funding was fundamental to research and development, hence the need for government to redouble efforts.
The consultant applauded the institute for focusing attention on innovation and new findings relevant to the needs of the society.
He said, “NARICT is credibly doing well in terms of research and development.
“Though, it is a research institute, it is also an economy driven establishment if supported.
“The World Bank is satisfied with activities of the institute which is directed toward national development”, Okon added.
The Kwara Government has inaugurated a nine-member task force to curb the menace of deforestation, desertification and their adverse effects on climate change.
Chief James Ayeni, the Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, who inaugurated the task force in Ilorin, said that the team was to prevent revenue losses arising from illegal exploitation of forest resources.
He, however, commended the contributions of chainsaw/plank operators in the state to the feats of the forestry department in revenue generation.
Ayeni congratulated the task force members for their appointment and urged them to carry out their assignment diligently and complement government’s efforts to improve the revenue generated in the sector.
He also charged them to regulate the activities of chainsaw/plank operators.
The commissioner stressed the need to promote honesty, teamwork and cooperation among the members in efforts to standardize the activities of the operators and ensure the safety of the environment.
Lagos
Mr. Shola Tinubu, the Managing Director of Scib Insurance Brokers has urged stakeholders to evolve a structure that would make micro-insurance take root in the country.
Tinubu told The Tide’s source in Lagos that a perfect structure was vital for easier collection of premiums from rural dwellers.
He said that most insurance companies and brokers had not been able to develop products and market them because of that shortcoming.
According to him, micro-insurance marketing is more of retail thing and it has to be done in a most cost efficient way.
Yobe
The Yobe Fadama III Project is to disburse N100 million to its user groups before the end of July.
The state’s Fadama Coordinator Malam Musa Garba, told The Tide’s source in Damaturu recently that the project was targeting more than 2.2 million users as direct beneficiaries.
Garba said more than N18 million was disbursed to 10 farmer groups in five local governments in September 2009 during the first phase.
“Now, we have commenced the second phase of the project and as at March 2010, we had disbursed N10 million while the remaining N72 million will be disbursed before the end of July 2010.
“The total package for the state under Fadama III from the World Bank is 7.852 million dollars and the counterpart fund from both state and the 17 local government is N450 million.
Zamfara
The exit of credible personalities from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has marked the “death of the party beyond resurrection”, Gov. Mahmud Shinkafi of Zamfara said in Gusau.
Shinkafi, who spoke at the formal defection of ANPP federal and state lawmakers to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, said the ANPP could no longer provide a credible platform for the actualisation of genuine political dreams.
“A dream party should be one that has a national outlook in terms of membership, structure, as well as an articulated agenda for development and progress”, he said.
The governor noted that the exit of respected personalities such as retired Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari from the ANPP was an attestation of its final collapse as a leading opposition party in the country.
He said the PDP in the state had mapped out strategies to ensure victory in the 2011 general elections.
Eminent personalities who graced the occasion included Gov. Sule Lamido of Jigawa and the deputy governors of Katsina, Niger and Sokoto States.
The PDP National Chairman, Mr. Vincent Ogbulafor; Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole were represented at the event.
Nation
OYO SUBEB Monitors 2nd Term Unified Exams
Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Nureni Aderemi, has announced the commencement of the board’s monitoring of the second term unified examination in all public primary schools across Oyo State.
Adeniran made this known while inspecting schools in Ibadan North-East Local Government area of the state, Wednesday.
He said the motive behind the examination exercise was to ensure simultaneous participation of all schools in the examination process.
The chairman appealed to school head teachers to ensure adherence to the time-table given to them by the State Government.
He expressed satisfaction with the level of preparedness of schools and students describing it as ‘quite impresive’.
Adeniran, who said the conduct was smooth, added that efforts and arrangements put in place by the State Government in printing unified question-papers for all schools in the state would ensure better performance of pupils.
According to him, the introduction of a unified examination time-table and questions was to give better credence to the exercise.
He further commended the schools and pupils for their adherence to the examination instructions.
The board’s monitoring team visited schools in Ibadan North; Ibarapa; Ibadan North-West, Ibadan South-West and Ibadan South-East Local Government areas.
Nation
VC Advocates Grantsmanship As Condition For Promotion
Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin UNILORIN) Professor Wahab Egbewole, has advocated a restructure of the university system in Nigeria where grantsmanship will be recognised in promotion guidelines.
Egbewole made the suggestion when he received a team of facilitators of the Train The Trainers’ (TTT) workshop on ‘Research Proposal Writing and Grant Management’ in Ilorin, midweek.
Egbewole, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)), identified fundable research grants as one of the problems that researchers in Nigeria are battling with.
The Vice Chancellor lamented that some professors in Nigeria did not know how to write research proposals that can attract so much funding.
According to him, this is where the universities have to focus their attention, while expressing optimism that the workshop initiated by TETFund would facilitate the required enablers.
He, therefore, urged the organisers to put up some measurable indices to evaluate the success or otherwise of what has been invested in the training.
He also encouraged researchers to redirect their energy to publications that are impactful to the society and address local challenges instead of publications that are left to decay on the shelf.
The vice chancellor said that UNILORIN would also organise a similar workshop that would accommodate more staff.
Earlier, TETFund TTT team facilitator, Mr Nuhu Ogirima, said the significance of the workshop was to conduct a stepping down of knowledge earlier acquired by the facilitators on fundable research.
Ogirima explained that Nigeria is struggling among the developing nations because most of the policies of the government are not based on research from academia, which makes them unacceptable by the people.
He observed that there is no difference between academic writing, writing for promotion, writing to impact policy and writing to galvanise the economy.
“TETFund has taken a giant stride towards getting cutting edge research sponsored towards advancing the nation”, he said.
Nation
FG Begins Registration Of Medical Laboratories
The Federal Government has begun an online registration of medical laboratories in Nigeria to enhance service delivery.
The Registrar, Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, Dr Tosan Erhabor, made this known in Abuja, recently at a meeting with stakeholders and the agency’s consultants on automation led by Prof. Effiong Akpan of the University of Calabar.
He called on stakeholders to avail themselves of the great opportunities offered by the new framework to enhance service delivery.
Erhabor said the registration would scale up efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, speed of service delivery, and data collation and management.
According to him, the purpose of the meeting was to enable stakeholders to witness firsthand and possibly critique the ongoing digitalisation of the medical laboratory registration process.
“This is the latest in the series of council processes to be moved from the manual to the digital platform.
“In spite of our meagre resources, the council has successfully transformed other processes including Licensure, Examination, Indexing, Accreditation Service, and External Quality Assurance and now the registration of medical laboratories”, he said.
Erhabor urged medical laboratory proprietors to continue working with the council to enhance service delivery.
He said proprietors would henceforth be able to register their laboratories seamlessly and from their preferred locations without the need to visit the council’s headquarters in Abuja.
“I am pleased to note that automation has raised our profile among stakeholders, and we must commend the consultants for a job well done”, he said.
Responding, Akpan lauded the council management for scaling up hitherto manual processes into the digital environment to enhance service delivery despite the prevailing economic challenges.
“My team and I are proud to be associated with the council and we encourage other agencies should emulate you in this respect”, he said.
Akpan expressed confidence that the stakeholders would also be proud of the council’s efforts.
Recall that in September 2022, the Federal Government threatened to shut down unregistered medical laboratories in the country.
The council was warned not to relent or rest on its oars in the discharge of its statutory duties.
-
SMEs4 days ago
NDE Trains Unemployed Women On Shoe, Bag Making
-
Featured4 days ago
Naira Scarcity: NLC Postpones Protest by Two Weeks
-
Politics2 days ago
Adamawa North: Supreme Court Throws Out Suit Against Sen. Abbo
-
News2 days ago
Pensioners Demand Separate Ministry Under Tinubu’s Govt
-
Editorial4 days ago
Ending TB Mortality Rate In Nigeria
-
Agriculture2 days ago
Naira Scarcity: Catfish Farmers Bemoan Low Patronage
-
Nation2 days ago
VC Advocates Grantsmanship As Condition For Promotion
-
Niger Delta2 days ago
Delta Governor-Elect Receives Certificate Of Return