Category: General News

Cholera

By Kazeem Akande

Lagos, June 21, 2024 (NAN) The Agege Local Government in Lagos State has suspended food vendors in schools in the area as a way of preventing the outbreak of cholera.

The council has also embarked on rigorous sensitisations to prevent outbreak of the disease in its communities.

Alhaji Ganiyu Egunjobi, Executive Chairman of the council, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

According to the chairman, efforts have been put in place to sensitise market stakeholders and schools on radio to prevent the outbreak within the community.

“We have suspended all school food vendors to ensure safety of the pupils and students.

“We have informed both the pupils and students on radio stations to come with their foods to ensure their safety from the cholera disease.

“This development will allow us to detect and prevent the outbreaks in our community,” he said.

Egunjobi added that schools were visited and inspected to ensure the children are in good health and environmental condition.

According to him, market traders in various communities were also enlightened and sensitised to adopt environmental hygiene in their places to prevent the outbreak.

“We are working tirelessly to prevent the menace of cholera outbreak in our community.

“We are using various means to talk to our people, through landlord associations and others,  to caution them on ensuring hygiene in preparing  foods and drinks.

“We urge residents to acquaint themselves with precautionary measures against the deadly cholera disease outbreak.”

NAN reports that the killer disease has spread to over 30 states with Lagos recording 24 deaths from 417 cases. (NAN)

AKA/CHOM/FAA

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Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Folasade Adeniran

Renewing hope for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs)

A News Analysis by Ahmed Ubandoma, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Centre for Citizens with Disabilities is a non-governmental organisation that has, on many occasions, raised concerns about the population of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the country.

The argument of the organisation has been that without an accurate figure on PwDs, it will be difficult to make adequate plans for their wellness.

It alleges that the 2006 Nigerian census recorded 3.2 million people as living with disabilities, or 2.32 per cent of the total population of 140 million people in that year which, according to it is inaccurate.

It then enjoined the National Population Commission to cooperate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for a fair capturing of the PwDs in future census.

Concerned persons living with disabilities have also observed that the ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2007 and its Optional Protocol in 2010 have no any impacts on the management of PwDs across the country.

According to them, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, charged with submitting reports on progress might not have been doing so, thus limiting the understanding of disability to a treatise of welfare and charity, resulting in total neglect of the several rights of the PwDs.

For instance, Mr James David Lalu, the pioneer Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, explains that it takes 20 years struggle to recognise the rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in the country.

“There are a lot of things to put in place in a particular building before you can achieve an effective accessibility. One of the efforts we are making is to create a programme to bring together experts on accessibility, within and outside the country’’, he explains.

Similarly,Mr Abdullahi Usman, President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities notes that many PwDs live in abject poverty “and if you go to some parts of the country, they engaged in street begging because they are not educated enough to know the dangers of it.

“Our members needs skills acquisition training if the Federal Government can help us to admit our members into skills centres to acquire different skills, we will appreciate that’’.

Concerned by this condition of the people living with disabilities, President Bola Tinubu’s administration through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, announced a new policy direction under the Renewed Hope Agenda that in every social intervention programme undertaken by government, 10 per cent of such would be reserved for PwDs.

Suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Betta Edu who announced the new policy while inaugurating various empowerment programmes for persons with disabilities in Abuja, said that the President directed that the disability community should be given priority in all intervention programmes of government.

“Already, we are into conditional cash transfers for 15 million households; out of this figure, 10 per cent is reserved for the disability.

“So, we are happy and very proud of the disability commission for pushing on all fronts to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is actually achieved,’’ she noted.

“We are providing Point Of Sales (POS) machines to persons with disability across the country so that they can be the last mile distributors of the funds to people living in villages and hard-to-reach areas.

“We also gave N130, 000 each, as scholarship to some physically challenged students in tertiary institutions.

“Beyond this, we have also been able to bring officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission to carry out proper registration of their businesses and N20 million has been released for that purpose.

“We are having several other interventions such as giving out grants to associations linked to persons with disabilities,” she said.

Edu said that the Federal Government would be committed to supporting the educational needs of citizens, persons with disabilities inclusive.

She also said that the ministry would collaborate with the Ministries of Finance, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, among others, to eradicate poverty in the country.

“Some people are poor because they do not have access to education while others are poor because they do not have access to quality healthcare services or are poor because they do not have access to jobs,’’ she observed.

She said that the ministry had been given a full department to coordinate the overall national responses on issues relating to affecting persons with disabilities in the country.

Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Abdullahi Usman, President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, therefore, commended the president for the gesture and for rectifying the African Charter on Human Rights and the rights of persons with disabilities in the country.

Usman, however, decried the slow level of implementation of the presidential directive which he said that only half of his members had so far benefited from the intervention programme.

“First, we must appreciate the government of Tinubu with the Renewed Hope Agenda and for his wonderful job of ensuring that there is equal opportunity for all citizens.

“All we are asking for is to have equal opportunity where inclusive society will be guaranteed because nothing about us is without us’’ Usman pleaded.

Ms Chisom Onyekwere, one of the beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope intervention programme that got POS machine, also expressed gratitude for the gesture.

“I am a living witness of the Renewed Hope intervention programme and for me, the president has made impact in this one year of his government because I was given POS machine and a token of N100,000 to startup my business through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs,’’ she said.

Mr Halilu Gayam, Chairman, Nasarawa State Association of the Deaf, however said that his members had yet to feel the impact of the Renewed Hope intervention programme.

“We in Nasarawa State have yet to feel the impact of president’s intervention but we use to see in television as other states benefit and we hope our turn will come.

“Majority of our members in Nasarawa State are well educated because we have special needs school and the areas we would need Federal Government support is job opportunities,’’ he said.

Also, Ms Brisca Aaron, Executive Secretary, Bauchi State Agency for Persons with Disabilities, said that the state had benefited from the Federal Government’s intervention programmes.

“The policy has been implemented in Bauchi State because the state is benefiting from the relief materials and other social interventions of the Federal Government to persons with disabilities under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

“Bauch is the first in the North-East region of the country to domesticate the discrimination against Persons with Disabilities Law and we have strong synergy with the Federal Government in promoting disability inclusive projects, especially as it relates to their education, health and social wellbeing,’’ she said.

Observers, nonetheless, believe that Tinubu means his promise on the Renewed Hope Agenda when he said that it would leverage the nation’s population and resources with main focus on unleashing the nation’s full economic potential.(NANFeature)(nannews.ng)

**If used please credit the writer and News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Suspects

By Isaiah Eka 08039185152

Uyo, June 21, 2024 (NAN) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it arrested 300 suspects and seized 190.419 kg of hard drugs between July 2023 and May 2024 in Akwa Ibom.

Mrs Obot Bassey, NDLEA Commander in Akwa Ibom, disclosed this at a news conference  to mark the 2024 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Uyo on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme for this year’s International Drug Day is: “The Evidence is Clear: Invest in Prevention”

Bassey said that out of the 300 suspects arrested, 249 were male and 51 female, and that no fewer than 61 drug offenders were convicted in the state within the period.

She said that the command had treated and rehabilitated 24 male drug-dependent persons, and carried out anti drug abuse campaigns at 82 locations across the state.

“Drug abuse negatively impact people’s health and their well-being. Many deadly drugs are permeating the illicit drug market and causing havocs on people’s health,” she said.

She called on corporate bodies and philanthropists to participate actively in the campaign against drug abuse.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

IE/GOM/AZU

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Edited by Gregg Mmaduakolam and Azubuike Okeh

Don tasks churches on balanced provision for congregants

Food

By Victor Adeoti

Ede (Osun), June 21, 2024 (NAN)  A Professor, Afe Adogame, has urged pentecostal and charismatic churches in Africa not to neglect provision of “physical food” for their congregants while satisfying them with the spiritual one.

Adogame, Professor of Religion and Society at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, United States, said this was imperative, especially with the harsh economic situation in Africa and the world at large.

He made the remarks at the maiden lecture series of Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Redeemer’s University(RUN), on Friday, in Ede, Osun.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture had as its theme” Spiritual Ecologies and Moral Imaginaries in African Pentecostal Religioscapes”.

Adogame said that only one who is well-fed would truly enjoy and absorb spiritual food.

He urged religious institutions, including churches in Nigeria, to look into concrete investments and endowments that would deal with ‘stomach infrastructure’.

The don said that such investments should also address food security, job creation, sustainability and employability in the lives of the congregants.

He said this would assist the congregants to find security and contentment in the God they are taught to believe in.

Adogame said although it was paramount to take care of an individual’s spiritual well-being, physical needs should not be overlooked.

He said that institutions like RUN and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, which had already started integrating food production and real estate into their expansion strategies, could serve as model to other institutions and churches.

Adogame said that this would assist them to become ‘food baskets’ and ‘food laboratories’ to cater for not just their immediate environment but the larger society.

In his remarks, Prof. Oluremi Shadrach, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, appreciated the guest speaker for an apt delivery of the lecture.

He was represented by the institution’s Librarian Dr Akinniyi Adeleke.

Also, Prof. Babatunde Adedibu, the Head of Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, discussed the topic “Despite the various religious activities, why is crime a menace in the society?”

Adedibu, the host, also appreciated the guest speaker.(NAN)
VE/SOA

Edited by Oluwole Sogunle

Court remands man, 36, over alleged membership of secret cult

CSO lauds anti-corruption law enactment in Kogi, urges enforcement

Law

By Stephen Adeleye

Lokoja, June 21, 2024 (NAN) A civil society organisation, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), has lauded the  enactment of Kogi State Anti-corruption Law.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Ahmed Ododo of Kogi, on Thursday, signed seven bills into law, including Kogi State Anti-corruption Bill.

The bills were  passed by Kogi State House of Assembly.

Speaking to NAN on the development on Friday in Lokoja, the Executive Director, CHRCR, Mr Miliki Idris, said the passage and subsequent signing of the anti-corruption bill into law, was highly commendable.

“Corruption is absence of integrity which has eaten deep into fabrics of our society at the national level in general and Kogi State in particular.

“It is on this note that we commend the Kogi House of Assembly for the passage and subsequent signing into law of the Anti-Corruption Bill by the Gov. Ahmed Ododo on June 20, 2024.

“The advocacy by civil society organisations for the creation of an anti-corruption agency or institution in Kogi State is bringing positive results.

“We will be glad for the agency to be established with people of proven integrity with diverse backgrounds as soon as possible,” Idris said.

He stressed that corruption had eaten deep into the society, particularly among public service institutions.

The activist emphasised that the signing of the law and the subsequent establishment of the agency would have a strong impact on the fight against corruption in Kogi.

He said that the agency, when established, would complement the efforts of the various federal institutions fighting corruption.

He urged the governor  to be diligent in the fight against corruption.

“From our own end, CHRCR as an organisation, has been involved in fighting corruption in Kogi over a decade.

“We shall be willing to partner with the anti-corruption agency when established.

“We implore the citizens and  the state’s public service to leverage on this new initiative to minimise and reduce corruption in Kogi.

“We call on the governor  to put necessary  machineries in place for proper enforcement of this great law in the interest of justice and development of Kogi State,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
ASA/IGO

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Edited by Ijeoma Popoola

DSS, others warn on dangers of drug abuse

Drugs
By Ijendu Iheaka
Umuahia, June 21, 2024 (NAN) The Abia Director, Directorate of State Services (DSS), Salami Ajege, has warned youths to desist from drug abuse because of its harmful effects on lives and society.

Ajege issued the warning at a seminar organised in Umuahia as part of the efforts to check drug abuse among Abia youths.

He said that the usual alibi by suspects that they committed crimes under drug influences would not set them free.

The seminar organised by a concerned resident, Mr Chimezirim Nnubia, had as its theme, the “Prevalence of drug abuse and its consequential threat to the society”.

The state DSS boss, represented by an officer in the agency, Ikechukwu Obasi, said that drugs lead people to different crimes.

He said that although most crimes by youths were comitted under drug influence, “such claims would not set them free from blame and punishment”.

He, therefore, urged the youths to run from drug abuse to save the future of Nigeria, given that they constitute the country’s future workforce.

Ajege regretted that only a few ladies attended the seminar and called for more female participation in such seminars, considering that women also indulge in drugs.

In a speech, the organiser said that it had become urgent to stop the rampant tendency among the youths to abuse drugs.

Nnubia said that most of the drugs being abused were not only dangerous to their health but could result in their death hence the need to stop them before it is late.

He also said that the dire consequences of drug abuse should make everyone to join the fight against the phenomenon.

The Deputy State Commander, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Binta Anomoris, told the participants to avoid drug abuse at all cost.

“It is alarming that youths sent to school can no longer go to school and many become useless and some even die from drug abuse.

“Curiosity, peer pressure and other reasons make youths to take drugs but there is no excuse for any youth to take to drug abuse.

“Drugs drag you down in life. It makes everyone in the house and community to be afraid of the drug abuser,” Anomoris said.

She warned that they can never control drugs but that drugs will always control them hence the need to shun the act.

The Deputy Director, Programmes, National Orientation Agency, Abia Office, Ndubuisi Anozie, said that drugs had ruined many lives of prospective successful people.

Anozie said that avoiding drugs means preserving their lives and their future.

He admonished them to think about handing over to their children a drug-free society. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

IEI/USO
Edited by Sam Oditah

Ondo  lawmaker donates N7.5m grants to small scale businesses