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The Sorry State Of Nigeria’s Judiciary Among Others Makes The Battle Cry For A Revolution Inevitable By Francis Adewale

Lawyers

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
– President John F. Kennedy (1962)

This week may be one of the worst weeks for Nigerian judiciary and they might have made the much vaunted Sowore’s revolution inevitable. The first salvo was the list of judges released by the National Judicial Council replete with the names of their sons and daughters as well as hangers on. Second is the farcical decision in EFCC vs Kalu where the Supreme Court “suo motu” created a new section to the constitution of Nigeria by vacating a conviction duly given under an extant law. The strange rationale by the Supreme Court is that the presiding judge, now elevated to the Court of Appeal should not have pronounced the sentence. The Court conveniently ignored the fact that the accused counsel had invited the judge to come back and continue the hearing by a formal letter!

Gone are the days when Nigerian judiciary is famously celebrated as the last bastion of defense for the common man. The days of Kayode Esho, Chukwudifu Oputa, Muhammed Uwais is long gone. Our judiciary is no more like Caesar’s wife, above board. The problem however is not necessarily down to the hydra headed monster of corruption alone but a more sinister evil called, nepotism. It is my humble opinion that an opaque process for selection of judges led us to where we found ourselves this week. And the problem did not start with the current chief justice. The dysfunction and bastardization have been long in coming, and as we will find out in this piece, the cancer has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. The revolution is inevitable.

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What precipitate this write up is a social media post by a good friend of mine and I obtained his permission to repost his comment with my personal edits:
“It took Orji Kalu only 4 months including Covid lockdown challenge to move from the High Court to Supreme Court to get his so called sound judgment from Supreme Court while it took ten years to get his case completed at the High Court level. Ten good years! And we are told justice in Nigeria is not cash and carry? The Supreme Court is preparing the ground for a revolution and very soon something extraordinary will take place. The same Supreme Court that will give 2021 and 2022 court date for poor defendants, sat and summarily decide a case within 4 months while cases of those facing a life sentence languish in the labyrinth of jungle justice!”

My first response to the post, is to retort that the problem did not start with judiciary, but they seem to have led the “nunc dimitis” for the internment of democracy in Nigeria. The judiciary may have pushed us to the praecipe but they were not the only one. We all recalled the impunity days of PDP rule and how they ride roughshod on people’s right, celebrating acquisition of jets obtained from corrupt practices while hordes of masses suffer the indignity of scrapping for foods from the gutter. Towards the end of that era, we all thought, if we can just get a man of integrity into Aso Rock, someone who will brook no atom of corruption, we will change the country. The election of 2015 seems to have lulled Nigerians into thinking that all we need is someone or a duo with integrity, so we elect Buhari and Osinbajo, a puritan and a pastor and went home satiated. What we were not prepared for or more appositely choose to ignore is the fact that the vehicle that brought them into governance is none other than the decrepit system that PDP used to feather their nest. In the first 4 years, we were told that the problem is with the National Assembly where the legistlooters shifted their control of the vortex of power in Abuja, opposing every anti-corruption moves of the executives. Then come the last election where the ruling party now controls the executive and legislative arm, but corruption runs through the gamut of the judiciary and Aso Rock looks the other way while nepotism festers in its rank.

It is as if the cancer has completely swallowed up the entire fabric of the nation. Cases involving the poor dragged on for years while those who can afford senior advocate can get quick justice. Many warned that this will sound the death knell of democracy in Nigeria. Every attempt to even build on free and fair election has been truncated by the judiciary. What with the recent confounding judgment from Imo and Bayelsa. Our two gargantuan political parties now owned our judiciary lock, stock and barrel. They sit in smoke filled rooms to determine who will be governors, legislators and judges, and those who will play ball are readily appointed as pawns in the chest board of the Nigerian ruling class, wives, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters are made judges and senior advocates overnight without recourse to any modicum of meritocracy. A friend of mine recently quipped that the problem of nepotism is not just that it defeats meritocracy and breeds mediocrity but that it infects the entire body politics and renders it comatose. Corruption can be traced, and ill-gotten wealth recovered but nepotism is more sinister. Those who obtain position of power and authority through nepotism hold fealty only to their masters who appointed them. Such appointee will readily twist the constitution, made up section that does not exist all at the behest of their “godfather”. It is insidious and evil.

I graduated from Nigerian Law School 30 years ago, after an excellent stint at Great Ife. My class at Ife, drawn from the north, east, west middle belt and south-south has in its rank some of the best legal minds any country will be proud of. We graduated with high hopes to take on the world and change the land. Few of us found ourselves abroad on scholarship where we flourish and excel. Those in legal practice in Nigeria, either at the federal or state ministry of justice or private practice are the ones my heart bleeds for, especially those without access to members of the National Judicial Council. I have had the privilege to advance my career abroad as an attorney and public defender. I frequently sit on panels that recommend colleagues for appointment as judges in a fair, open and transparent process; something my colleagues in Nigeria could only dream of.

When I look at the state of Nigerian legal practice my heart bleeds. The career growth of colleagues in the legal profession in Nigeria is stunted not for lack of excellence but influence in the right place. Influence peddling is an art form in Nigeria and politicians used to have the exclusive preserve of selling it to the highest bidder, but our Judicial Council seems to have mastered the art. The problem will not be this pronounced if the sons and daughters they are foisting on Nigerian judiciary are steeped in the Nigerian experience or have a modicum of merit. As many of my colleagues are apt to complain, majority of the recent appointees hardly spend few years in Nigeria. They all went to schools abroad. Totally devoid of the Nigerian experience, and constantly removed from the everyday life Nigerians suffers under. Majority of them lives in the gilded mansions of their forbears in Abuja and other state capitals, where they are rarely touched by the “better angels of our nature” to use the phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln. It is therefore no surprise that they care only for what their “godfather” demand.

Let me however warns that the biggest mistake we could make is to think that the rot is only in the heart of our judiciary. Think again. Nepotism is next door, next street, next town and everywhere in Nigeria. It rampages through the land, be it North, East or West. Just look at our churches and mosques, who do you see minister or lead the prayers when the founder/visioner is not around? You guess right, if you say their sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Pa Fadayomi push to have a meritorious doctor of aerodynamics succeed him. Gone are the days when the leader of the faithful in Nigeria is selected by their aptitude in the knowledge of the Quaran. Nowadays, the exit of the leader is the beginning of the reign of the progeny. It has infected our colleges and universities, scholarship and opportunities that used to be available on merit are now exclusive preserve of the vice chancelor’s children and family members. Woe betide the school senate members that dare ask questions. Advertisement for jobs that has already been reserved for the children of the privileged are means to extort money in the form of application fees a la Abba Moro immigration recruitment scheme. A recent recruitment without advertisement at our apex bank reported by Sahara Reporters shows that successful applicants names were picked out of the rolodex of the governor. Commercial Banks staff are not an exemption, they are either recruited based on sex appeal or influential ministers/senators’ “recommendation” which doesn’t come easy for the educated but less privileged applicants.

A friend concluded an animated discussion on social media on this issue with a distinctively Nigerian resignation: “It is clear that those who do not want things to work properly in Nigeria are more powerful than those who are working towards finding solutions to our problems.” Again, my response is what do we have to lose if we embrace Omoyele Sowore’s revolution, even with its youthful disdain for experience? Especially when our current experienced leadership seems to treat the Nigerian masses with contempt. Look at it this way: They do not need our votes to win election, as they could procure midnight judgment in Abuja a la Bayelsa and Imo. They do not need to legislate to fill any lacunae in our constitutional experience as the Supreme Court proved in Kalu’s case. In fact, as long as oil flows and they have the means to fill their Cayman Island bank accounts, we may as well not exist. Greed and avarice have become the directive principle of Nigerian ruling class. To rescue ourselves from their vice grip, we need revolution now!

Francis Adewale
Tioluwanimi@gmail.com

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May 9, 2020
No Evidence That Shekau Received €5m Foreign Fund From An NGO

Boko Haram Terrorists

Fact-checkers at HumAngle online newspaper have described a news report published on Opera News that Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram was in disarray after it received a donation of five mIllion euros from an “unidentified” international non-governmental organisation as false.

The publication claimed that senior members of the group have also turned against each other over how the fund should be shared within the group.

The story claimed that a military source said “Shekau is getting blind as such only the very close ones of his aides have access to him. The issue of €5m is causing serious disaffection in their camps.

“Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past and he was never able to build his terror infrastructure beyond what is currently being dismantled. Our commanders are not concerned that he is still defrauding those sponsoring him, if there is any concern it is that we should be able to capture him before his own fighters kill him,” the military source said as claimed by the news report.

Boko Haram Terrorists

But according to HumAngle newspaper, the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, when contacted to verify the claim said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

The newspaper also said it searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog.

“Fact-checkers at HumAngle contacted the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, to confirm the veracity of the claim and he said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

“We searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog. Also, no reliable medium reporting terrorism published the story. Other conflict and insurgency reporters were contacted by HumAngle but none was aware of the “verified intelligence report”.

“As the name of the NGO was not disclosed, it became difficult to trace its operation history.

“However, Nigeria’s military had suspended several NGOs from operating in the North-East following allegations of collaborating with the terrorist organisation. But no NGO has ever been charged to court by the authorities and the suspended NGOs were later allowed to resume operations in the region.

“Scholars and experts on Boko Haram have suggested different methods of terrorism financing, from state sponsorship to external support by other terror groups like ISIS and Alqa’eda. But Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram relies on self-funding streams through fishing, farming, crowdfunding, extortion, taxation, raids and ransom taking to finance its operations,” the newspaper published.

Quoting a report on Boko Haram sources of funding, it continued, “Much of Boko Haram’s funds are transported through human cash couriers, which are able to move rather easily between the porous borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad… very little evidence of either Gulf or other foreign funding exists,” a report on Boko Haram sources of funding concluded.

“Due to the strict surveillance of monetary operations to avoid terrorist financing in Nigeria, financial regulations have forced Boko Haram to avoid remittances of funds online. Such a huge amount is not possible to be transferred without its being intercepted by international and local intelligence platforms.”

The newspaper further said Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit follows any suspicious transaction with the aim of curbing terrorism financing.

“It collates information of all beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance to avert financing of terrorism through covert operations, thus making it impossible for any NGO to follow “previous channels and beneficiaries’ templates” of funding terrorism as claimed by the report.

“Humanitarian organisations work hand in hand with EFFC Department of Special Control against Money Laundering (SCUML) to checkmate their activities to curb terrorism financing, according to Abdurrashid Ibrahim a worker at the financial unit of an NGO in the North-East.

“Any transaction from five million naira must pass through a special control unit against money laundering (SCUML) clearance process be it for individual or corporate organisation,” he said.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that an NGO was allowed to operate after the military discovered that “Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past” as claimed by the news.

According to HumAngle findings, Abubakar Shekau does not operate or rely on an advisory council (Shura).

He is reported to be ruthless and brutal to any opposition within the group, making it unlikely for any Boko Haram commander to disagree with the leader.

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May 9, 2020
Staying the course really matters

Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley and Managing Director Karin Risi discuss the challenges of timing the market and moving to cash.

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April 10, 2020
Assuaging Plight Of The Poor In This Perilous Time By Okechukwu Nwanguma

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Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre has been monitoring and receiving information on public compliance with the Federal Government ordered lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states, which contain measures to contain the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.

Our monitoring of the compliance with the lockdown and stay-at-home orders in Lagos, Abuja and few other states indicate that most people are finding it difficult to effectively comply for various reasons.

First, there are those, who still don’t believe that Covid-19 is a real life-threatening pandemic and that precautionary measures such as social distancing, personal hygiene and other outlined measures can prevent its infection and spread.

In fact some have been made to believe that the lockdown is a deception by government to achieve other ulterior motives. Those, who promote this narrative are mainly the apocalyptic Pentecostal ‘Men of God’, who push arguments linking Covid-19 to 5G mobile technology, which they argue is a part of the biblically ordained designs of the Anti-Christ.

Second, some Nigerians are simply lawless or lack discipline, just like when passengers are asked to switch off their phones prior to flight take off and you still find some people, seemingly ladies and gentlemen, fiddling with their phones.

To illustrate, a relative of mine called me yesterday to complain that he was arrested by the police somewhere in Lagos when he drove out to buy pap for his baby. I asked him whether he knew about the lockdown order and whether there was nowhere around his neighbourhood he could walk down to buy the pap. He said ‘but other vehicles are on the road’. I told him that he had broken the law as much as those other people. Everybody may not be arrested at once.

He wanted me to talk to the police officers, who arrested him and ordered him to drive to their station. I asked him what he wanted me to tell them.

Third, and most significantly, there are yet others, who are forced out of their homes by want and hunger. They can’t stand the site of their tender children crying for hunger.

As I said elsewhere, majority of the population fall within the poor and vulnerable category. Usually, many feed themselves and their dependents on their daily earnings. They live from hand to mouth.

Under the prevailing difficult and uncertain situation, many families and individuals are already suffering and starving, just one week into the lockdown, with one more week left to go, with the probability of an extension.

The Federal Government’s Social Intervention Policy, the so-called conditional cash transfer is not yet addressing mass poverty, deprivation and hunger. The billions, which government announced that it has released and made available for conditional cash transfer to the poor and vulnerable in communities are not reaching the targets. There are still cries of woe and anguish in most communities.

We have seen videos of caricature of the ‘social intervention’, of food items shared to some communities. In one video, we saw a street in Lagos of over 30 families, who said they were given two loaves of bread and few cups of rice and garri and few condiments (tomato paste sachets) to share. And we see members of the community lamenting and asking how a whole street of over 30 families could be given such quantity of food items not enough to serve one family for two days to share!

Corruption has become our national culture. A seemingly intractable challenge to our progress and development. Most of our politicians and public office holders are unscrupulously avaricious.

Given our past experiences where public funds meant for and released to assuage the sufferings of poor and vulnerable communities were either unconscionably used to ‘cut grasses’ or inexplicably got ‘swallowed by snakes’, we call for transparent and community-based approaches to the management and disbursement of social intervention funds.

Considering complaints by many local communities about not benefiting from the released billions of naira announced and meant to alleviate poverty and hardship, especially during this difficult and uncertain period, we call for a transparent and effective investigation of the management of the funds so far allocated. Efforts must be put in place to ensure that the funds are not diverted as usual.

Independent community committees must receive these funds and be charged with identifying those in their midst, who qualify to benefit.

The management of the funds should be monitored by a multi-stakeholder committee including government and community representatives as well as credible media and civil society representatives.

Government must put effective measures in place to check corrupt public officials, who want to steal or divert funds meant to relieve the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable people in this perilous times.

This is the only way to help the people comply with the law and stay at home for now!

Finally, since government has been announcing huge numbers of beneficiaries of cash transfer program running into millions and claiming to have paid billions, can the government make the system transparent by publishing the names and addresses of the beneficiaries on an electronic portal so that Nigerians can do the verification?

Okechukwu Nwanguma is the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre

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April 9, 2020
Don’t wait until 50% losses to grant wage subsidy, govt urged

PETALING JAYA: The government has been praised for introducing a Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) that is clearer where payment goes to the employers instead of the employees.

This is a great move to alleviate the cash-flow of the employers during this critical time, Knight Frank Malaysia Managing Director Sarkunan Subramaniam said today.

However, whether the requirement for businesses to still demonstrate that they have a reduction in income of at least 50% was not further clarified, he pointed out.

“In fact, as the amount given is not significant comparatively, it is impractical to keep this requirement as by the time the companies can prove that they are making losses of at least 50%, they are already in a bad shape and may be closing down,” he said in a statement.

“The WSP initiative should not be restricted only to SMEs as well. It should be opened to all Malaysian companies. A fresh and clearer guideline is needed for this subsidy.”

In welcoming the third stimulus package worth RM10 million rolled out to mitigate the severe social and economic impacts arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and the on-going movement control order (MCO), he pointed out that the allocation for the WSP has been increased by RM7.9 billion to RM13.8 billion.

Knight Frank LLP is a leading independent global property consultancy.

[READ MORE: Govt urged to help all companies, not just SMEs]

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April 8, 2020
WHO and UNICEF to partner on pandemic response through COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
WHO and UNICEF as we speak introduced an settlement to work collectively on COVID-19 response, through the historic COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund powered by the United Nations Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.

The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund has been arrange to facilitate an unprecedented world response by supporting the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. As a part of the settlement, an preliminary portion of the cash from
the Fund – which presently stands at greater than $127 million – will circulate to UNICEF for its work with susceptible kids and communities everywhere in the world.

“COVID-19 is an unprecedented pandemic requiring extraordinary global solidarity to urgently respond,” stated Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “I’m happy that UNICEF joined the Solidarity
Response Fund. With their in depth expertise each in fundraising and in implementing programmes, this partnership will assist us to work collectively carefully to save lives.”

The cash collected through the fund can be used, amongst others, to practice and equip communities and health-care staff to forestall, detect and deal with COVID-19. It will assist international locations broaden their health-care capability and mitigate its social impression, particularly
on girls, kids and susceptible social teams. And it should speed up analysis and improvement of therapies and preventive vaccines.

As a key partner on this joined-up effort, UNICEF will lead emergency efforts to guarantee households and communities in probably the most susceptible international locations are totally engaged within the response and have entry to water, sanitation and hygiene and different an infection prevention
and management measures. UNICEF may even guarantee kids, caretakers, and frontline responders corresponding to social staff, academics and healthcare staff are supported through evidence-based steering through its huge group outreach and nation
packages.

“This is an extraordinary emergency that demands an extraordinary response, and we need all-hands on deck—individuals, corporations, foundations, governments and other organizations around the world,” stated UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta
Fore. “UNICEF is happy to be a part of the Solidarity Response Fund. It will bolster our efforts to strengthen well being and sanitation techniques and assist shield probably the most susceptible households from knock-on impacts of COVID-19 on already overstretched well being
techniques.”

Funds raised can be spent in alignment with the worldwide response plan, and the place wants are biggest. At the path of WHO management, it’s anticipated that sources will go immediately towards:
- WHO, for its work to monitor the unfold of the virus, assess gaps and wants, equip frontline well being staff with private protecting gear, guarantee lab and testing instruments can be found in international locations around the globe, and maintain communities
  and frontline responders knowledgeable with the most recent technical steering.
- UNICEF, to guarantee kids and households around the globe are outfitted with all of the evidence-based data and newest WHO steering in addition to domestically related data to shield themselves from the unfold of COVID-19; to assist
  susceptible international locations by offering entry to water, sanitation and hygiene, and primary an infection prevention and management measures; and to present entry to look after susceptible households and kids.
- CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a key partner main the financing for analysis and improvement for novel vaccines to fight COVID-19, working carefully with WHO.
The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was arrange at WHO’s request by the UN Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and launched three weeks in the past. It is the one manner for people and organizations to contribute immediately to WHO’s
world efforts to deal with the pandemic. To date the fund has $127 million raised or dedicated from greater than 219,000 people from everywhere in the world plus greater than 90 world corporations and organizations. The partnership can be an amazing
demonstration of solidarity throughout UN organizations in coordinating, partnering and supporting one another in coping with the instant and longer-term impression of the pandemic.

“There has never been a more urgent need for global cooperation,” stated Elizabeth Cousens, President & CEO of the UN Foundation. “The COVID-19 pandemic reveals us that all of us can play a component to cease the unfold. The unimaginable
generosity proven to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund from around the globe will assist WHO, UNICEF, CEPI and companions speed up their lifesaving work, particularly to assist probably the most susceptible communities and velocity the event of a
vaccine.”

###

Notes to editors

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in a few of the world’s hardest locations, to attain the world’s most deprived kids. Across greater than 190 international locations and territories, we work for each little one, in every single place, to construct a greater world for everybody.

About WHO

WHO is the United Nations’ specialised company for well being. It is an inter-governmental group and works in collaboration with its Member States often through the Ministries of Health. The World Health
Organization is accountable for offering management on world well being issues, shaping the well being analysis agenda, setting norms and requirements, articulating evidence-based coverage choices, offering technical assist to international locations and monitoring
and assessing well being tendencies. Learn extra at www.who.int.

About the United Nations Foundation

The UN Foundation brings collectively concepts, folks, and sources to assist the United Nations drive world progress and deal with pressing issues. Our hallmark is to collaborate for lasting change and innovate to handle humanity’s biggest challenges.
Learn extra at www.unfoundation.org.

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April 4, 2020
Nigeria’s Unhealthy Healthcare In Eye Of Coronavirus By Runcie C.W. Chidebe

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is right here to show us a lesson; I hope we be taught. Nigeria’s healthcare is unhealthy. But as an alternative of fixing it our rulers have been busy flying up and down to profit from different nation’s productive well being system. With Coronavirus, actuality is upon us. No extra operating abroad for medical trip. Our rulers can’t journey to the United Kingdom, United States of America or India anymore for medical care. These nations are additionally hanging on their final breath, battling to outlive the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari spent 103 days in London receiving medical therapy for an undisclosed sickness, spending taxpayers’ cash as an alternative of investing within the nation’s healthcare. Thousands of Nigerians died in the identical interval from totally different sicknesses. More than 3,000 girls died of breast most cancers, greater than 2,000 girls died of cervical most cancers and greater than 1,500 males died of prostate most cancers, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) figures on annual most cancers mortality.

I had hoped that on his return to Nigeria, President Buhari would declare a state of emergency within the nation’s well being sector. Painfully, nothing of such occurred. Nigeria’s funds allocation to healthcare has remained lower than 5% of the whole funds for the previous 5 years. Simply put, in 2020 the federal authorities budgeted N2,000 (£4.2) for every Nigerian with a complete of N427.Three billion as funds allocation to the well being sector whereas the United Kingdom budgeted £2,159.6 for every citizen with a complete well being funds of £143.4billion. It is similar dismal story within the states throughout Nigeria. Healthcare isn’t a precedence. In some states in Nigeria, a hospital is a 20-minute boat journey and an hour-long automobile journey. Because many poor Nigerians don’t personal boats, a girl in labour may bleed to loss of life earlier than she reaches the hospital.

On March 22, 2018, Bill Gates, founding father of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, criticized Nigerian authorities’s poor funding of healthcare within the nation. In his phrases, “One in three children is chronically malnourished.” This tragedy has large implications for the economic system. According to the World Bank, addressing the stunting disaster in Nigeria would add virtually $30 billion to Nigeria’s GDP. It is painful that regardless of Mr. Gates assertion, nothing has modified. Nigeria has remained one of many nations on this planet with the worst healthcare system with over 60 deaths per 1000 stay births. Nigeria has one of many worst most cancers survival charges on this planet, with solely 2 to three most cancers radiotherapy machines working at any time and fewer than 70 oncologists for a inhabitants of over 200 million.

COVID-19 is exposing the insensitivity of our leaders to issues that matter most to us. That Nigerians are disobeying the federal government’s security recommendation on COVID-19 is a transparent reflection of residents’ distrust for his or her leaders. Many Nigerians belief their non secular leaders greater than they belief our political leaders. Successive governments have failed the nation, and it doesn’t appear like factor will change anytime quickly.

Nigeria is a rustic the place our rulers make legal guidelines as we speak and break the identical legal guidelines tomorrow. The Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline and strongly inspired all Nigerians coming from sure nations to self-isolate and monitor themselves, as a method to comprise or to delay the unfold of COVID-19. The president’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, returned from Germany and as an alternative of isolating himself he was leaping from one state to a different, attending occasions and conferences with totally different folks, breaching the federal government’s personal advice and inserting the lives of different Nigerians in danger!

Now that COVID-19 is in Nigeria we have to face it with all that we’ve. But can we? The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is now the nation’s solely perceived hope. Many Nigerians have been calling NCDC scorching traces, criticizing NCDC for not testing sufficient folks. But we must always face the music and never the dancer. NCDC is crippled and never effectively outfitted to guard Nigerians from the illness.

In 2016, NCDC budgeted N3.7m for its recurrent and N248m for capital allocations. That is a complete of N251.7m. Out of this, solely N155m was launched to the centre. In the identical 12 months, 1,166 Nigerians died of Cerebrospinal Meningitis. In 2017, the NCDC had a funds of N1.5b. Only N782m was launched. In the identical 12 months, greater than 120 Nigerians contracted Monkeypox and 7 folks died from the illness. That identical 12 months, the Presidency budgeted N77m for Aso Rock lease, N1b for journeys and sitting allowances, and N94m for meals. In 2018, the NCDC had a funds of N1.9b. Only N654m was launched. In the identical 12 months, N7.2b was proposed for Presidential Air Fleet. N440m was proposed for necessary improve and set up of stay TV and web service within the presidential aircrafts, N375m for brand spanking new cabin administration, N418m for the touchdown gears. In whole, over N1b was budgeted for the presidential aircrafts which is used for medical tourism and frequent journeys overseas.

On November 12, 2018, the NCDC institution invoice was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, because of the efforts of Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, the then Chair, Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases. On this premise, the NCDC was empowered with a laws for its work in stopping and making ready for outbreaks of infectious illnesses. Interestingly, the NCDC acquired the worst funds in 2019, the 12 months following the passage of the NCDC Act. The Centre had a funds of N1.4b, however solely N224m was launched. In the identical 12 months, over 472 Nigerians have been identified with Lassa fever and over 110 folks died from this viral hemorrhagic fever. Clearly, NCDC can’t carry out magic. They need assistance. Nigeria is grossly under-testing for COVID-19, the laboratories usually are not sufficient, and NCDC and its affiliate businesses wouldn’t have sufficient manpower and sources.

Months in the past, being unwell evoked empathy; as we speak being unwell evokes concern. The concern of COVID-19? No! It is the concern of not gaining access to the care that you just want, the concern of absence of ventilators, the concern of a damaged well being system. It is the concern of loss of life. Our political leaders have stolen from the sick by corruption. Many Nigerian governors construct non-functional hospitals of their states. Usually, after the commissioning of those hospitals, all of the CT Scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and different medical machines—a few of them faux—are returned to the place they have been bought or left to rot.

Hospitals in Nigeria are among the worst on this planet. Our educating hospitals at the moment are museums the place lower than 5% of medical trial and analysis is occurring due to poor laboratory. Medical tourism has due to this fact grow to be the norm. Dubai hospitals, Saudi Arabian hospitals, and so on., are promoting in Abuja and Lagos for Nigerian sufferers. They are recruiting Nigerian docs, together with consultants. Nigeria isn’t solely going through “brain drain,” we’re additionally going through “patient drain.” Our docs and nurses work within the worst situations. Hazard allowance for well being staff is about N5,000 whereas wardrobe allowance for members of the National Assembly runs into hundreds of thousands.

Now is the time for Nigeria to confront its healthcare disaster. The Nigerian authorities should settle for its failure. Our political leaders should brace as much as their duty and critically replicate on the issue their greed has delivered to Nigeria. This is the time to put money into a result-oriented healthcare system. Health is wealth because the saying goes. healthcare system is the muse of any nation.

If we survive COVID-19, we have to contemplate a legislation to limit all public officers from searching for medical care overseas. It could also be perceived as strict, however it can save future generations since we don’t know which pandemic would come subsequent and when.

Let’s give each Nigerian an area to stay and a not probability to die.

Runcie C.W. Chidebe is Executive Director, Project PINK BLUE. He is at the moment a Commonwealth Scholar on Transforming and Leading in Health Care at Birmingham City University, United Kingdom. He tweets @runciecwc

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April 4, 2020
Zoo Negara in need of food donations

KUALA LUMPUR: Zoo Negara wants extra donations in the shape of animals’ food comparable to meat, greens and fruits to make sure sufficient food provide in the course of the Movement Control Order (MCO) interval.

Its zoology officer Wan Noor Hayati Wan Ab Aziz stated this was as a result of the food had beforehand been obtained by ticket gross sales, venue leases, firm sponsorships and public donations.

“The important food specifically meat, greens and fruits are wanted in giant portions to feed the herbivorous and carnivorous animals in the zoo. We welcome any donation at the moment,“ she instructed Bernama when met after receiving donations from Tesco Malaysia and Maruki Ramen restaurant by the Kembara Kitchen right here in the present day.

Those who want to donate uncooked materials can contact the zoo by way of electronic mail at veterinar@zoonegaramalaysia.my or go to https://www.zoonegaramalaysia.my/adopt.html for money donation. — Bernama

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April 3, 2020
Nigerian Red Cross Calls For Support To Scale Up Coronavirus Response

The Nigerian Red Cross has appealed to members of the public to support its ongoing efforts at creating more awareness on the dangers of Coronavirus and how citizens can avoid contracting the pandemic.

In a briefing with journalists on Tuesday, the organisation said that support in form of food and other essential items were needed to distribute to households in order to help cushion the effect of the lockdown ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday.

The lockdown is to be observed in Lagos, Ogun and FCT.

Head of Communications and Advocacy of Nigeria Red Cross, Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, said they will continue to work with relevant stakeholders to help curtail the spread of the virus in the country.

Nwakpa said, “Following the first confirmed case in Nigeria, the Nigerian Red Cross Society trained and mobilised 100 volunteers in Lagos and Ogun states for intense mass mobilisation to create awareness on preventive measures through radio jingles, live radio shows, distribution of flyers, sensitisation in religious centres, markets, motor parks and streets for two weeks.

“As we all are aware, number of confirmed cases is still rising, thus there is urgent need for the Nigerian Red Cross Society to scale up her response in all affected states and neighbouring states.

“Thus, the Nigerian Red Cross Society is planing to scale her response to 20 states including the Federal Capital Territory.

VIDEO: Nigerian Red Cross Boss Answers Question About Underreporting Of #COVID19 Cases In Nigeria @nrcs_ng @NCDCgov #Coronavirus #COVIDã¼19 #CoronaVirusNigeria #COVID19Nigeria pic.twitter.com/UJaWtolVsD

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) March 31, 2020

“The Nigerian Red Cross hereby calls on donor agencies, international agencies, well-spirited Nigerians to partner with it to be able to scale up the fight against COVID-19 spread and imminent hardship should the lockdown persist.

“The Nigerian Red Cross therefore will be willing to receive support in cash, food, household items.

“All Nigerians should adhere strictly to government’s directives at all times including staying at home and observing optimal personal hygiene.”

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April 1, 2020
3 reasons not to move your portfolio to cash

Thinking of moving from stocks to cash? Here are 3 reasons to reconsider.

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March 31, 2020