Bola Tinubu's Victory Speech As APC Presidential Candidate

Special Report On Okada Ban In Lagos  

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To better prepare and protect the world from global disease threats, H.E. German Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization Director-General, will today inaugurate the new WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin.

“The world needs to be able to detect new events with pandemic potential and to monitor disease control measures on a real-time basis to create effective pandemic and epidemic risk management,” said Dr Tedros. “This Hub will be key to that effort, leveraging innovations in data science for public health surveillance and response, and creating systems whereby we can share and expand expertise in this area globally.”

Read More :https://mapnews24.com/who-germany-open-hub-for-pandemic-and-epidemic-intelligence-in-berlin/

Ejike dreams of becoming a governor. He arrived in Lagos in January 2020, leaving his parents in Ebonyi state. His brother promised to send him to school. But he’s in Lagos, selling CDs in traffic- just like his brother. Making between N6,000-N10,000 a day, Ejike supports his brother’s family of four. Ejike wants to become a governor in Lagos state. He says his brother promised to send him to school next year. He’s told he can’t go to school this year because of COVID 19. Ejike is 14 years old.

Farouk is 17 years old. His mum sells herbs in Ibadan while his dad is an Alfa (Islamic scholar). He travelled to Lagos on his own and caters to himself, calling passengers at the motor park and sometimes bearing load for money in the market in Oshodi. During the COVID19 lockdown, Farouk says he barely survived. He couldn’t make money as markets were open only temporarily and buses were not moving. He said one of the few women who came to the market fed him throughout the lockdown.

Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul, an NGO, has appealed to the Federal and State Governments to award bursary to students with disability in tertiary institutions.

Rev. Sister Fidelia Unigwe, the National Coordinator of Child Empowerment Programme of the organisation, made the appeal in Abuja during the NGO's ``Disability Learning Exchange" programme.

She said that the exchange programme was organised for the NGO's local partners, persons with disabilities (PWDs), Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and boards responsible for disability affairs at the State level.

According to Unigwe, the financial support, if awarded yearly, quarterly or monthly as the case may be, will reduce the challenges faced by the PWDs in their academic pursuit.

In a bid to empower women in poor and marginalised communities where it works with children, the NGO Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) recently launched Empowered Mothers for Development Actions (EM-MODAS). According to the NGO, the initiative will empower women with the right information and economic resources for the maximum development of their children and wards.

The Federal Government has begun investigation into the death of a 21-year-old Richard Gbadebo at Ibadan-based factory, Expand Global Manufacturing Limited.

The factory located in the Oluyole area of the city was sealed on Wednesday by officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Mr Femi Fatoki, the Federal Controller of Labour, Oyo State Office of the Ministry, said that the factory was sealed following findings of a preliminary investigation.

"Immediately we got knowledge of the accident, we came for a report.

"We wanted to do a kind of investigation to actually know what happened and what led to the accident. We came here but we could not do much.

"All the information we requested for and the document could not be supplied.

"But despite that, we are able to put up a preliminary investigation and it was based on the preliminary investigation that we ordered the sealing up of the factory.

"This order is in conformity with Section 38 of the Nigerian Factory Act. It has been identified as a dangerous workplace and we should seal it up."

Fatoki said that the factory would remain sealed pending the outcome of a more comprehensive investigation report, which would determine whether or not the order would be lifted.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gbadebo was, until his death on the 28th of July, a 300-level student of the University of Ibadan.

The deceased, a factory worker with a third party company - Henkel Nigeria Limited- was reported to have slipped into a soap making machine during production and died.

NAN recalls that Mr Aliyu Jubril, the Human Resources Manager of the company, had in a statement described the loss as 'a sad development'.

Jubril, who sympathised with the family and friends of the deceased, stated that the company was working closely with the police and Ministry of Labour to ascertain the cause of the tragic incident, in spite of the stringent safety protocols in place for all workers.

He stated that the company's representatives had met with the family, along with representatives from the student council to express their deepest condolences.

Jubril, in the statement, also gave assurance that the company would continue to engage with the family of the deceased to provide necessary support.

Dr Adaora Obu, a staff of the ministry, said the preliminary investigation was inconclusive, but was optimistic that a statement would be issued upon conclusion of the ongoing full investigation.

She said that some contraventions, which were identified, had been communicated to the company manager in writing.

"We are still investigating, looking into the autopsy report and all that.

"When we finish with the investigation, I am sure, there will be a statement," Obu said. 

Credit : (NAN)

virtual conference

Quotes from Speakers:

The Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Balarabe: (the role of Government)

The issue of trust in public institutions is not peculiar to Nigeria alone as many countries around the world are also under pressure to meet rising citizens expectations. She however stated that the Kaduna Government has rebuilt trust by providing functioning primary healthcare centres, laying-off incompetent teachers and revamping the education system in the State. She noted that signing up with the Open Government Partnership has also fostered the state’s culture of transparency and accountability.

Dr Amina Salihu (on the role of Civil Society)

Trust is earned as a result of being accountable, responsive and capable and civil society organisations are strategic pathfinders who need to enable citizens to recognise their right to access basic needs and improved public services and how they can use their voice and actions to drive change.

Dr Joe Abah (on the role of citizens and other issues):

The decline in trust is traceable to a number of things and reasons, and issues like the current corruption allegations in NDDC awarding billions to themselves in so called COVID- palliatives will continue to dispel public trust.

Mr Fisayo Soyombo: On the role of the media

Although the media has a huge responsibility to play, the Government has the bulk of the job. He added  that people who want trust have to earn it.

Most of the things that we consume as news are actually PR. This shows that journalists are being manipulated especially because they are not well paid. Government must be responsible for providing better governance, the media must ensure that public institutions are not deceiving citizens by engaging more investigative reporting. While stressing the need for more investigative reporting, he called on the public to support good journalism especially with funding. “If we want a media that is more alive, people have to support good journalism.” He also encouraged journalists to be objective in their reports. He noted that we need a value-reorientation in this country.

Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive, Connected Development:

In 2019, what we learnt engaging government MDAs post elections informed our overall objective at Connected Development (CODE), which was to begin a campaign that was intended to increase trust among citizens and government. CODE’s strategy was to create platforms for informed debate between public institutions and citizens and also advocate for more government agencies to leverage digital communications to foster trust, increase transparency and ensure better accountability. This has led us to organise this conference that seeks to increase conversations and raise citizens and government’s consciousness towards rebuilding trust.

More than 8.8 million cases have now been reported to WHO, and more than 465,000 people have lost their lives.

“Blood donation is very critical component of patient care, ranging from those we have in Trauma, following road traffic accidents, those that are going for surgeries and those with critical illnesses that require blood transfusion.

“So, it is a very important day for awareness to be raised across the globe and in our own case in the country for need for people to willing, voluntary donate blood.

“Voluntary donors have been found to be safer than those who donate blood for replacement, maybe for family relations and those who are doing it for business.

The consultant emphasised that those who voluntarily donate have blood safer product than those who do it for monetary gain or for relations.

WBDD is a set aside by World Health Organisation (WHO) for member states’ and countries around the world to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products.

It is also a day set aside to thank blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

According to WHO, blood is an important resource, both for planned treatments and urgent interventions.

“It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions to live longer and with a higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures.

“Blood is also vital for treating the wounded during emergencies of all kinds (natural disasters, accidents, armed conflicts, etc.) and has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care.

“A blood service that gives patients access to save blood and blood products in sufficient quantity is a key component of an effective health system.’’