The, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar expressed his gratitude for being voted as the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate (PDP).
Atiku, in a message on his official Facebook page shortly after the results were revealed, said “The fight to restore and unite our wonderful country continues today. I am honored to be the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate “..
“I’m looking forward to speaking with Nigerians all around the country and spreading the message of optimism and togetherness as we work together to build a better future for all Nigerians.
Atiku emerged as winner with a total of 371 votes, defeating other frontline aspirants – Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki who polled 237 and 70 votes respectively.
Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, is a former vice president (PDP).
Atiku scored 371 votes out of 763 total votes, defeating Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state, who scored 237 votes.
Bukola Saraki, the former President of the Senate, came in third with 70 votes.
Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom state, scored 38 votes, while Bala Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi state, scored 20 votes.
Pius Anyim, the former President of the Senate, scored 14 votes, while Mazi Ohuabunwa scored one vote and Tariela Oliver, the sole female candidate, scored one vote.
Dele Momodu and former governor of Ekiti state scored zero votes respectively, while 12 votes were voided.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arch. Olamilekan Adegbite has called on the federal government to invest more in the mining sector inorder to diversify the country’s economy from oil and gas.
He, however, thanked president Muhammadu Buhari for making it possible for the ministry to get two grants that has helped in transforming the sector like never before.
Adegbite make this call at the presentation of the digital innovation in federal government category for the year 2022.ng Awards won by the Nigerian Mining Cadastra office (MCO) to him in his office on Monday in Abuja.
He promised to create a dedicated account to render returns to the Federal Government.
According to him:” This is the first time our ministry is enjoying some funding that we never had. The has extra budgetary value which was given to us out of the natural resources of 30 Billion was granted in 2017.
” We also have the World Bank facilitated projects loan. With the combination of the two funding helped us to where we are today.
” The Nigeria Mining Cadastre (MCO) has gone through a lot, if you look at the evolution of MCO from where they using using poligonal geometry for designating areas of mining to what they now use globally the block cadestre. It’s easier and simplier. They have come from analog to digital way of keeping records and doing business.
” MCO is the ministry revenue generation agency, we have quantum led from revenue generated by MCO year in year out since the current director general assumed office. At times it doubles that of the previous years”, he added.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade said it is gratifying that MCO is rated the best in digital innovation among the Federal establishment of Nigeria for the year 2022 by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA).
She congratulated the Director General and the staff for attaining this feat. This accomplishment did not come without challenges but challenges must not deter us, instead, should spur us to develop innovative ideas for achieving our targets.
She, however,urged Directors, Head of Departments and Agencies to key into the service improvement agenda of the Head of Service of the federation particularly in the area of digitalization and innovation by developing new ideas that can be usher in addressing emerging challenges.
Meanwhile, Director General of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre, Engr. Obadiah Simon Nkom said the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office was nominated under the category of “Digital Innovation in Federal Government”.
According to him:”Following the initial screening, the category was pruned down to six (6) finalists listed below: Federal Inland Revenue Service; Corporate Affairs Commission ; Federal Road Safety Commission ; Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office; National Pension Commission ; and Nigeria Communications Commission.
“The next and final stage involved a complex process which included public votes and a Jury decision. The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office emerged winner in this category, indicating that NiRA Awards considered MCO to be the most innovative organization in Federal Government, using Internet Technology.
“This Award winning is indicative of the contributions of MCO so far towards repositioning the mining sector as well as grounds already covered which includes the followings: The MCO has witnessed tremendous legal, institutional and technological developments since its inception which can be summarized thus: Pre-Cadastre: Inventory of extinct Mineral Titles, migration from polygonal geometry to cadastral block system, implementation of a functional manual cadastre – 2006 to 2007. Development of a legal framework (creation of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act) – 2007″, he said.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) began combing all of the woodland near Jiwa, Dei-Dei, and its environs in an attempt to defuse tensions following the deadly brawl at Dei-Dei, which claimed the lives of over 15 people.
A week after the mayhem, residents of Dei-Dei and the surrounding settlements are still terrified, frightened that miscreants hidden in the nearby woodland will launch another attack.
The forests of these settlements are said to be well-known hideouts where criminals are supposedly recruited to spread mayhem in the area.
HRH Alhaji Idris Musa, the Sarkin Jiwa, who backed the raid, also stated that the forests are home to criminals who disturb the peace of the communities.
Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Comrade Ikharo Attah hinted the operation was necessitated by public outcry against the activities of scavengers, popularly known as Baban Bolas.
He said that while residents confirmed the involvement of the scavengers in the Dei-Dei crisis, it has been also established that a lot of notorious crimes were traceable to them.
He, however, bemoaned a situation where scavengers are often found to be moving around with dangerous weapons and attacking innocent residents.
He said, the operation will be extended to other places where these criminal elements, to guarantee maximum safety and security for all residents.
Attah added that FCTA had no plans to stop legitimate business of waste collection and recycling, but have the responsibility to tackle the crimes and criminals operating under anu guise.
According to him: ” We got intensive complaints about insecurity around Jiwa axis and communities that have come under attacks by people believed to be baban bolas. This areas is also notorious as it was the place where two police officers were ambushed and their rifles were also taken away, before they were later recovered.
” This is why we have to come out today under the directives of the FCT Minister, to clean all the dangerous forests where these people are taking shelter and wreaking havoc on the residents. We have arrested over 15 persons.
” Waste collection and recycling are not crimes, but the crimes associated with Baban Bolas, is what we will not fold our hands and watch”, Attah noted.
Speaking also, a man who works in Kagini Community, Chidiebere Nwajiuba, with a heavy heart confirmed the notoriety of the scavengers in the area, saying that he had falling victim several times.
Further, with a sorrow ladened voice, he alleged that his car had been vandalised , while buildings under construction in his site within the same area were attacked and all iron stolen by the scavengers.
Nwajiuba also corroborated the claims that scavengers were involved in the crisis that rocked Dei-Dei and it’s environs last week.
The Government of Spain on Tuesday donated 4,400,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria.
The Spain Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Juan Ignatio Sell, during the handover of the vaccines at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA) disclosed that, this was the largest COVID-19 donation to any African nations.
Sell said that the donation was in fulfilment of his country’s commitment to supporting developing countries in ramping up vaccination against COVID-19.
“In 2020, the world was faced with the challenge to develop an effective vaccine. In 2021 the challenges evolved to the production and distribution of the vaccines. Today in 2022, we need to put these vaccines within people’s reach.
“As we want to leave the acute phase of the pandemic behind, we dare not linger and there are lessons to be learnt.
“One of them is the need to improve global mechanisms for technology transfer to decentralize the production of health products in all regions, Africa in particular. And that is why Spain has joined the WHO Technology Access Group.
“And that is also why the EU has launched a Team Europe Initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa, with 1 billion euros, and that will benefit Nigeria.
“And we need to protect, safeguard and invest in health and health workers, and this is the effort line that Spain is co-leading in the framework of the Global Action Plan, and we have committed 300 million euros for further donations and projects to strengthen public health systems,” he advised.
Receiving the donation on behalf of the Nigerian Government, ED/CEO NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, thanked the Spanish government for the donation, said the gesture came at a time the country most needed.
Shuaib used the opportunity to call on eligible Nigerians who were yet to be vaccinated to do so.
According to him, if we keep up with the vaccination, the likely scenario is that even though the virus continues to evolve, the severity of the disease will reduce over time as the immunity increases due to vaccination.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), reports that also speaking at the event, were EU Ambassador to Nigeria, WHO and UNICEF Country representatives all commended Nigeria in its efforts to vaccinate all eligible Nigerians.
The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has enjoined Government at all levels to increase funding for healthcare delivery and health worker capacity development in the country.
The president of the association, Dr. Victor Makanjuola made the appeal, while speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.
Makanjuola said the call came at the MDCAN National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Rivers state, were it was unanimously resolved to make the plea.
“The NEC advises the Government to be wary of actions that could result in loss of remunerations to the health workers, especially in the face of worsening inflation in the country.
“We call on Government to immediately resolve the issues of the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s strike, to allow students to return to school.
“State Governments owing our members several months of salaries and other emoluments are enjoined to pay the arrears of what is owed to the medical and dental consultants working in their hospitals and continue payment of their monthly emoluments as at when due, with particular reference to Abia and Ondo State Governments,” he appealed.
According to him, government at all levels are encouraged to prioritize allocation of resources to the health sector for infrastructure and human capacity development.
Makanjuola said the association demanded the immediate implementation of hazard allowance for workers in the hospitals without further delay.
He said that the association also called for the speedily address on the issue of the shortfall in remunerations of its members without further delay, especially that of the Clinical Lecturers.
He, however appealed for government to put all processes in motion to stop the mass exodus of the Nigerian Doctors to other countries.
“The Federal Ministry of Health, National Council on Establishments and other relevant Agencies of Government should expedite action on the implementation of the upward review of retirement age for Health workers.
“Further delay might result in irreversible damage to the nation’s health security from brain drain of experienced and highly skilled health workforce,” he stressed.
MDCAN is a group medical specialist in different field of medicine and dentistry. Consultants are those practitioners that have the highest qualifications in medical practices.
Their responsibilities includes training medical doctors, offering specialist services to patients and also conducting research in medical fields.
MDCAN has membership in government and non-government hospitals, tertiary and secondary health facilities across the country.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA), has said to Nigerians that there are no quick-fix ‘cures’ except to get vaccinated and avoid the riot of long COVID-19.
Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director, NPHCDA, said this on Tuesday during the handover of four million, four hundred thousand (4,400,000) doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Government of Spain.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that according to World Health Organisation (WHO), Long COVID-19 is a condition characterised by long-term consequences persisting or appearing after the typical convalescence period of COVID-19.
It is also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID-19 condition, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, or chronic COVID syndrome.
According to Shuaib, for those who feel they can easily recover from COVID-19 if contracted, yes this is possible but for some who get this virus, they may recover from the acute phase of the infection but still have long term side effects of this disease.
According to him: “Long COVID can affect nearly every organ system, with sequelae including respiratory system disorders, nervous system and neurocognitive disorders, mental health disorders, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal pain, and anemia.
“A wide range of symptoms are commonly reported, including fatigue, malaise, headaches, shortness of breath, anosmia, parosmia, muscle weakness, low fever and cognitive dysfunction,” he said.
The NPHCDA boss said that the functional impairment associated with long COVID-19 has significant social, psychological and economic effect on individuals and the communities.
He said, in addition, management of this syndrome was likely to continue to be an additional burden on the already heavily strained healthcare systems.
He said that as May 24, 2022, 29,651,708 eligible persons have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, and this represents 23.4 per cent the country’s eligible population.
“14,179,966 persons have received the 2nd dose and 17,702,018 are fully vaccinated and represent 15.8% of our eligible population. 1,178,604 persons have received the booster dose,” he said.
Shuaib said that the donation came when it was most needed as the country were rapidly ramping up its full vaccination coverage.
“The single-dose regimen of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will enable us to move rapidly towards achieving herd immunity,” he said.
The ED said that these figures show that the country were a far cry from its target of 70 per cent of its eligible population.
“However, these donations will help towards achieving our target.
“If we keep up with vaccination, the likely scenario is that even though the virus continues to evolve, the severity of the disease will reduce over time, as the immunity increases due to vaccination.
“ But if majority of our eligible population in Nigeria and globally continue to remain unvaccinated, what we may see is that a more virulent and highly transmissible variant could emerge, sooner or later which would be worse than any variant seen,” he explained.
According to him, new estimates from the WHO, shows that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic which is described as excess mortality, between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 globally was approximately 15 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).
“This means that we lost about 15 million persons globally within two years as a result of the pandemic. This is heart-wrenching,” he said.
He disclosed that a few weeks back a country which had closed its borders and had refused to accept international assistance finally announced to the world that they were having about 200,000 cases of COVID-19 per day.
“We all know that a number of these cases could have been avoided if the vaccines were made available to its citizens. We would like all Nigerians to know that the COVID-19 vaccines are available, they are free and they are effective.
“Vaccines don’t save lives, vaccinations save lives! A vaccine is of no benefit if it sits on the shelf and does not actually get deployed or if the arms of the eligible population are not available for vaccination.
“I therefore urge all persons aged 18 years and above including pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers who are yet to receive their COVID-19 vaccines or who are due for their second or booster dose to visit the nearest health facility and get vaccinated,” he appealed.
He said that striving to vaccinate 70 per cent of the eligible population of every country remains essential for bringing the pandemic under control and Nigeria is working hard to ensure its citizens has access to the lifesaving vaccines.
According to him, We will continue to work with all stakeholders, partners and communities to ensure an inclusive COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Nigeria.
He said to improve access, the agency have integrated COVID-19 vaccination with routine immunization and other Primary Health Care (PHC) services.
“This means that parents and caregivers can take along their children when going for their COVID-19 vaccination as childhood vaccines have been prepositioned for vaccination of children against childhood killer diseases at health facilities and other COVID-19 vaccination sites.
“Also, PHC services such as blood pressure checks and assessment for diabetes are available for adults,” he said.
The NPHCDA commended the Government of Spain and the European Union for their support to Nigeria as they collectively work towards a world without COVID-19.
“We thank our partners and donors for their sustained support,” he commended. (NAN) (www. nan news. ng) AIR/
Over the weekend, Mpape community leaders protested to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) about miscreants and suspected criminals reclaiming tourism sites that they had previously removed.
The Crush Rock Spring Water is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the nation’s capital, a spectacular untapped tourism property with the potential to generate enormous annual earnings.
When they met with Comrade Ikharo Attah, Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection, and Enforcement to FCT Minister, the community leaders conveyed their concerns.
They expressed their delight in having a peaceful environment free of traffic jams and marauding street urchins following the recent clean up.
They added that their joy of having a serene environment, void of traffic gridlock and marauding streets urchins, after the last massive clean up exercise embarked on in Mpape by the FCT Ministerial Committee on City Sanitation had been cut off.
However, Mpape’s Paramount Ruler, Chief Musa Ahmadu noted with dismay that all the places where the Taskforce dislodged illegal occupants, had been fully rebuilt against their wish.
He express regret that the miscreants had even deepened their criminal activities at the tourism sites, and were scaring would-be tourists from visiting the Area.
He, however, appealed to FCTA to immediately send its Taskforce to come back to the community and remove the illegal market extension and all the lodges of the criminals within the tourism sites.
Responding , Attah hinted that it was unfortunate that few people had continued to force government to waste scarce resources on demolishing illegal structures.
According to Attah, “If government is forced to expend public funds to come back to Mpape, the clean up exercise will be very brutal.
“The miscreants who are illegally retaking the tourism sites will be arrested and prosecuted, he affirmed that the traders who are rebuilding the illegal extension may lose their goods.
” FCT Administration had expected that all residents would have heeded the warnings and stop promoting illegalities, as a way of helping the government save resources for better development”.
He, however, assured that the demolition bulldozers would soon return to Mpape Community to sustain the clean up exercise.
Attah also warned the miscreants and all the residents who have disregard for extant laws, and are rebuilding the demolished illegal structures to desist from it.
…Promises to Address Journalist Harassment, Build Capacity
On Saturday, Mr Jide Oyekunle, a distinguished photojournalist/reporter with the Daily Independent newspaper in Abuja, was elected Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Correspondents Chapel, a moment of delight and expression of hope and excitement.
Mr. Oyekunle served as the Union’s Secretary General for two terms, serving under two different chairs in the process.
The ace journalist, who informed colleagues of his determination to combat security operative harassment of journalists as well as wage war against fake journalists in the FCT, ran unchallenged alongside his Vice, Ms Grace Ike of the Silverbird Group to succeed Mr Philip Nyam of the New Telegraph, Abuja Bureau, and Huram King of Gotel television respectively.
Both Mr. Oyekunle, the new chairman and his Vice, Ms. Ike cover the National Assembly alongside, with the latter currently chairing the House of Representatives Press Corps.
Out of the four-man executive elected and inaugurated on Saturday, the House Press Corps produced three, including the Treasurer, Mr. Emmanuel Ehijene of Plus TV Africa while Raphael Oni of Diplomat Magazine emerged as the Secretary.
Speaking shortly after their inauguration, the Chairman said himself and the outgone Exco had to “rescue the Chapel three years ago from the hands of those who wanted to trade with it and bring the image and reputation of our noble profession into disrepute.”
According to him: “But today we did not regret any of our action because we have brought the Chapel on the path of honour.
“I am proud and happy to tell you today that we are one of the vibrant, active and performing Chapels in the FCT Council.
“We have organised and participated in different novelty football matches and table tennis tournaments and won medals, though we did not win the trophy.
“We have organised intellectual programmes such as lectures, symposia, correspondents roundtable, medical check-ups and health talk for our members. We achieved these within 3 years despite the scourge of Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
While listing out his agenda for the new executives, the Chairman said the Chapel under his leadership will focus on training and capacity building for members, just as he expressed determination to stamp out fake journalism and tackle acts of violence targeted at journalists by security operatives in the territory.
“Attacks and Impunity on crimes against journalists under this government has been on the increase because of their intolerant posture to criticisms and dissenting voices.
“Our members have become subject of attacks in the hands of security operatives while carrying out their statutory and constitutional duties,” he said.
Oyekunle stressed that “Journalism is not a crime. Journalism is about development and positive change of any democratic society,” adding that “we will not abdicate our responsibility to uphold the fundamental objectives of the directive principle of the state policy irrespective of intimidation and harassment. Because if democracy is about good governance, accountability and transparency then, the freedom of the press should not be curtailed in anyway.”
The new executive according to the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Council, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbeche, has a 90-day window to organize a bye election into the offices of the Assistant Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Auditor.
This was due to the inability of the contestants to scale through the screening exercise, as they were disqualified on various grounds in conformity with the NUJ constitution.
Reducing maternal mortality in rural areas is currently one of the most important unmet public health needs in Nigeria. It is not only a matter of equity and gender equality, but it is also one of the human rights and social justice.
Having a child anywhere in the world is by no means easy. From the stress of carrying a baby for nine months to the stress of actually giving birth, it’s a lot for any woman to handle in Nigeria.
Mrs Hadiza Musa, 39, years- old shared her experience with her first pregnancy and after carrying the baby for nine months she lost the baby due to out of pocket expenses for maternal health, that her husband could not met the demand from the health facility that is two hours away from her resident.
Poor maternal health indicators have been reported in Nigeria since the 1990s. Advocacy and awareness programs have been carried out and many maternal mortality interventions have been implemented to reverse the trend.
Health experts have continued to call on the Federal Government to address these factors through adequate budgetary provisions, programs to reduce out-of-pocket expenses for maternal health, adequate staffing and training, innovative methods of transportation and male involvement are critical in efforts to improve rural women’s access to skilled pregnancy care in primary health care centres in the country.
Corruption, inadequate funding and administrative Bureaucracy are some of the key reasons Nigeria’s health system has remained unimproved.
A lack of political will however stand as the biggest obstacles to improving the nation’s health system. Any progress will be inadequate until the country’s brimming population living below the poverty line have access to quality and affordable healthcare without financial burden, health experts said.
This is the twenty-third year of Nigeria’s uninterrupted democracy – in the fourth republic – after 33 years of military rule. The health sector under this era has evolved but remains weak, inequitable and dysfunctional in faring for citizens.
The COVID-19 pandemic that hit Africa’s most population nation in February 2020 further exposed the country’s weak and inefficient health system.
Players in the health sector have long linked the problem to poor funding, mismanagement, and lack of political will. They say successive governments have failed to prioritize health.
Politicians across party divides know this, and Nigerians have been expecting health and health security to feature prominently in political speeches and media appearances.
As the 2023 general elections draws closer, health advocates are calling for a change in what should be in top political discussions especially by aspirants. They say health and education should take centre stage.
However, given other competing national priorities such as food and insecurity, to get health at the top of political issue might still be an uphill task.
Insecurity is still a major problem in many parts of the country, just like fragile and incomplete democratisation and fiscal weakness. These trends have complicated progress towards improving the health system.
An analysis by civil society organization BudgIT shows that nearly half of the states are struggling to pay workers’ salaries and fulfil election promises such as roads construction and job creation, issues that are absorbing the attention of many governors more than improving the quality of health centres that already exist.
But Nigeria’s staggering health indices cannot be undermined in the dynamics of priorities.
Nigeria is ranked the forth worst country with maternal mortality rate. Nigeria is also the most dangerous place to give birth in the world. One out of every five pregnant women in the world who dies in pregnancy (or within six weeks of childbirth) is a Nigerian woman. Yet some pregnant Nigerian women put safety pins on their cloth for “protection”.
According to experts, The real reasons why pregnant women die in Nigeria: Unsafe abortions, High Blood Pressure in pregnancy; Convulsion from high blood pressure,;Lack of proper antenatal care; Heavy Bleeding during pregnancy,Heavy Bleeding during/after delivery; Infections during pregnancy/after delivery.
Life expectancy of a Nigerian according to Union Nation world population prospects is 55 years , Egypt is 72, Tunisia is 77, many other African countries including Ghana, Togo, South Africa have higher.
Chronic diseases, a high infectious disease burden, and an ever-present risk of epidemics of Lassa fever, meningitis, and cholera, present additional challenges.
Further compounding these issues, population health has not been highly prioritised in national and state budgets throughout the country’s modern history.
The list is endless.
Stakeholders familiar with this trend point to a lack of political will as the chief denominator, faulting citizens’ inability to hold leaders to account.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the political will to deliver “health for all”, including universal health coverage, has been grossly inadequate, due, partly, to the limited ability to effectively demand improved health services in the country by citizens.
As next year polls approaches, many Nigerians are calling for the creation of a new social contract that redefines the relationship between citizen and state.
They argue that health has been neglected by successive governments and must be prioritised as a vital investment in the population, one that will reap political and economic benefits.
Last month, a citizen-led health agenda during a stakeholders workshop organized by the UHC 2023 Forum in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat and Chatham House was unveiled.
The health manifesto is aimed at shaping the health policy direction of the major political parties and their flagbearers in the forthcoming general elections.
It also contains clear health goals based on national priorities and international benchmarks, and also identifies strategic policy shifts that should be prioritized by the political class toward achieving the health goals.
Dr Gafar Alawode, a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) expert and Project Director, Prevent Epidemics Project called on the political class to incorporate the citizen-led agenda into their manifestoes and ensure they are implemented.
A recent Institute of Economic Affairs report makes the case that Nigeria could do more to partner with high-income countries to secure investment, and do more to attract global investors and international financial institutions to finance its healthcare systems. For healthcare workers to want to stay in the country, they must be supported by better working conditions, training, equipment, and insurance related to workplace risks, and remuneration.
Human Right Activist, Mr Femi Falana started; Issues are not being raised, we are not being told, ‘If this man wins his party primary and the national elections, he will address insecurity, unemployment, illiteracy or remove 16 millions young people from the streets.’
Falana recalled that at a time, Nigeria was the envy of other nations, and witnessed lots immigrants coming to the country to work, but the situation has changed, as the country has retrogressed.
Mrs Gift Phillip, a mother of two, said her experience at a primary health centre during delivery is an urgent reason for revamping the system.
“The PHC, here cannot attend to women with my type of problems. Healthcare is more than an antenatal care, and women giving birth cannot do so in the health facility that does not have all inclusive,” she said.
Philip, who is also a Resident of Waru community in the FCT, said that everyone has an important role to play in helping prevent pregnancy-related deaths in the country.
She said that she was not ready to vote for any politician or political party that has no health on its agenda.
“Political actors have been speaking on issues of unemployment, insecurity, Association of Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and economic downturn, and they have practically ignored health, forgetting that health is wealth. We need to a live to be able to vote.
“The 18 political parties should agree to put improving the health and wellbeing of Nigerians at the core of their party’s priorities and recognise it as the main challenge across the country.
“Maternal mortality in Nigeria is one of the highest in the world. I wonder what proportion of mortality is attributable to the Nigerian obsession with giving birth like the Hebrew woman, ” she said.
According to her, birth Rate surpasses Death Rate leading to overpopulation in Nigeria.
Ebere Okereke, Senior Technical Adviser, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) said political manifestos should consider healthcare priorities.
Okereke, who is also a Public Health Expert, said that politicians should be made to recognise that health goes beyond National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“With improvements in life expectancy flatlining and health inequalities widening, improving public health and prevention should be a high priority in Nigeria’s politics.
” Any politician that is serious about improving health will prioritise public health, leveraging on lessons learned from the COVID-19.
” Genuinely supporting population health and wellbeing requires more.
“If a politician wants to see people’s health improve, Nigerian need to see bold action, using all the levers politicians have at their disposal to improve the health and wellbeing of the population,” she advised.
She said to shift the dial, manifestos could exemplify a ‘health in all policies” approach, look out for commitments to supporting the best health systems for the children, and more.
“The health and care systems need clarity and certainty on funding, and all the parties must be clear about how much money they will provide for the NHIS, social care, public health, the workforce, and capital budgets.
” It is right that the public should be able to understand and compare these commitments,” she said.
It is not necessarily an entirely bad thing if discussions about health are become dominant during the campaign.
Political parties should find common purposes around the challenges that lie ahead around health reform and commit to collectively to help Nigerians better understand them.
This involves being honest about the tough choices that lie ahead.
