The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament has urged the citizens and residents of West Africa to ensure that they take the COVID-19 vaccine whenever they get the opportunity.

This is even as he cautioned them to be patient and exercise restraint as the Leadership of the community and member states strive to make the vaccines available to all.

Tunis disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

He said that all negative theories being paraded against the vaccine were unfounded and should not deter any West African from being vaccinated.

As the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, representing the over 300 million community citizens, my appeal to everybody is that you take the vaccine.

When you have the opportunity to take the vaccine, take it.

All of these theories about the vaccine killing people is not true. Take your vaccine, he said.

He, however, cautioned that all, who received the vaccine should also adhere to the safety protocols as advised by the vaccine manufacturers.

Even when you have taken your vaccine, let us continue to follow the health protocols of wearing these masks, let us continue to use our hand sanitisers, let us continue to wash our hands and also do our social distancing.

As a community every government is fighting very hard to ensure that every citizen is vaccinated.

If you are not opportune to be vaccinated now, it does not mean that more vaccines will not come.

People need to be patient, if you are not called at this particular time, do not panic or demonstrate, if you dont have it today you will have it tomorrow.

Until we have immunity, continue to wear your masks, he said.

Source: NAN News

The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Tunis has called for dialogue and youth empowerment to curb the menace of terrorism and banditry in West Africa.

Tunis told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that such engagements would keep the mind of the youth busy.

He said that most of those engaged in violence were youths who would have not taken to such vices if they were gainfully employed.

We need to create wealth for our people; if you notice, most of the people that are involved in banditry are young people, these are people who do not have jobs and believe that they do not have a future.

But if we are able to create wealth; if we are able to create jobs for people, we would not have security issues.

So, I believe that as a region our focus should be on creating jobs and wealth for our citizenry, he said.

The Speaker commended the government of Nigeria for many its empowerment programmes it had set up for youths in spite of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that such programmes could keep the youths away from criminal activities.

That is the sort of thing I think we should be doing in all of the countries in the sub-region.

If we have the youths occupied and they feel belonged; and they feel there is a future for them, we will not have terrorists around, he said.

The Speaker said that dialogue with the various agreed parties would also play a great role because the bandits and terrorists were citizens of West Africa.

Terrorists are our brothers; they are our children and they are not foreigners.

If the bandits are Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans or Ghanaians, they are the same citizens of the community called West Africa and are likely to shield the sword, he said.

Source: NAN News

European countries were divided in their responses to concerns about the AstraZeneca Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, with Germany and Poland continuing to use the jab while Bulgaria joined the ranks of those to stop using it temporarily.

Jens Spahn, the German Health Minister criticised the suspension of the use of AstraZeneca vaccine doses in some countries, saying: the benefit is far greater than the risk.

Denmark and several other European nations had earlier suspended the use of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine after reports of severe cases of blood clots in people who had received it.

After consulting experts at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Spahn said he could confidently state there was no noticeable accumulation of thrombosis cases in connection with the vaccination.

I regret that some countries in the European Union have suspended vaccination with AstraZeneca, he said.

The president of Germanys Robert Koch Institute for disease control, Lothar Wieler, said there is currently no indication that the events in Denmark and other countries are statistically significant.

Polish officials reached a similar decision, saying they saw no reason to suspend the use of the vaccine.

A Polish Health Ministry spokesperson said the deaths in Austria and Denmark were not associated with people having received the vaccine, during a news conference in Warsaw, citing EMAs statements.

Case numbers are rising in Poland, which reported nearly 18,800 infections and 351 deaths on Friday, bringing its death toll to 46,724.

The British variant of the virus is spreading rapidly in Poland, making up around 40 per cent of new cases, a proportion expected to rise to 50 per cent in coming days.

Cases are also rising rapidly in Bulgaria, although officials there temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab.

The Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov said the use of the vaccine would stop until EMA ruled on possible side effects.

The Health Minister, Kostadin Angelov said he expected AstraZeneca to make a clear statement on the matter.

The decision means Bulgaria will only use jabs made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna for the time being.

Bulgaria has recorded 395 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period, according to data that was released on Thursday.

By Friday, there were 39,823 cases of the virus in a country of 6.9 million people, up from 34,237 a week ago.

Bulgarias death toll has reached nearly 11,100.

As cases rise, the country tightened health regulations in 16 of the countrys 28 regions on Friday. (dpa/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Veronica Dariya

The Chairman, Bwari Area Council of the FCT, Mr John Gabaya, on Friday presented the 2021 budget proposal of over N6.6 billion before the members of the councils legislative arm.

Gabaya, while presenting the proposal, pegged N3.4 billion on capital expenditure with Finance and Accounts gaining highest with N1, 613, 590, 926, followed by Works and Housing with N1, 456, 412, 488.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the councils 2021 proposed appropriation estimate also had N1, 128, 901, 718 for Health and Human services and N351, 310, 123 for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The council boss in his presentation tagged, Budget of Revitalization, noted that his administration would stand against the present economic challenges to meet the needs of the people.

Although the economic forecast for the year is still gloomy, but we believe that if this budget is approved, we will definitely improve from our 2020 performance.

In 2020, councils performance in terms of Actual Gross and Net Revenue Realized was 48 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

Similarly, our Actual Recurrent and Capital Expenditure in the same year was 40 per cent and 08 per cent respectively.

Against this backdrop, the focus of councils 2021 budget shall be the revitalization of the local economy and service delivery capacity of the various sectors of our economy.

This is meant to enable our people rebuild their lives.

The chairman added that the goal can only be achieved through concerted efforts and deliberate programmes and projects, targeted to improve the lives and livelihood of the people in the community.

He noted that in-spite of the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, his administration was able to commence and complete some major rehabilitation projects on infrastructure.

This, he listed as the construction and asphalt of Sabon-gari road in Bwari town, comprehensive renovation of Bwari Township Primary Healthcare centre and electrification of Ushafa farmers market.

Others, he added, were the construction of Tokolo community bridge in collaboration with FCTA, the initiation and completion of a number of rural based projects among several other completed ones.

He also noted that the abandoned Bwari township road that linked the towns major market, JAMB headquarters, and other major structures had commenced and attained 68 per cent completion level.

He said: we are determined to complete the road and link it up with the Bwari-Jere express road before the rainy season.

This will no doubt, boost the corporate image of the town and its socio-economic activities.

Gabaya appreciated the moral, financial and material support given to the council by the various institutions in the town towards the success of the project.

The completion of the projects, he further said, would open interior communities for development and other socio-economic benefits because of the joint efforts of all stakeholders.

He also noted that the prudent and judicious management of a poor statutory allocation in 2020 as well as the meagre internally generated revenue as affected by the pandemic, helped achieved the goal.

In his response, Speaker of the legislative arm, Mr Julius Adamu, promised that the house would do the needful to the proposal and return same to the chairman within the shortest possible time.

He commended the chairman on the success of his administration thus far, but appealed for the restoration of dilapidated structures within the councils secretariat, including the legislative chamber.

NAN reports that members of the legislative, councillors and staff of the council were present at the presentation. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Muhammad Lawal

Kebbi State Police Command has confirmed the kidnap of an 18-year-old girl (name withheld) at Gangaren NEPA, Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital in the early hours of Friday morning.

DSP Nafiu Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi.

He said that the police were on top of the situation, as all efforts were put in place to rescue the victim.

Abubakar advised the public to furnish the police with useful information on the matter.

He also urged the public to report to the security agencies any suspicious move to enable it take the necessary action to foil the illicit act.

NAN reports that the father of the kidnapped lady, Faruq Mohammed is a member of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kebbi State Command.

Speaking in an interview with journalists at the scene, Mohammed said the gunmen came into the area and started operation.

*When they came to my house, I noticed some noise and understood that something was wrong. I have two exits in my house.

I decided that we should go out through the garage, unfortunately, on opening the door, we met one of the bandits fully armed by the side of my car, we had to find another route and jumped into neighbouring house.

The bandits broke into my house and started searching from room to room, unfortunately, my daughter was sleeping in her room, when they knocked, she opened the room and they picked her up.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Angela Atabo/Augusta Eke

Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has urged the National Assembly to alter the constitution by including gender diversity under section 14(3) and(4)after the Federal Character.

LEDAP made the call at a news conference in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), with support from U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) under the project titled Supporting Advancement of Gender Equality (SAGE).

Ms Pamela Okoroigwe, Senior Program Manager, LEDAP said that the constitutional amendment would serve as legal backing for the implementation of the National Gender Policy.

Okoroigwe said that LEDAP reviewed some of the laws and policies that provided access to political offices like the Electoral Act, INEC Gender Policy and the Gender and Equal Opportunities (GEO) Bill.

She said that the group made some findings on the existing legal barriers as well as recommendations to policy makers on affirmative action that could be adopted to increase access to political offices for women.

She said that the group therefore, proposed the amendment of identified sections in existing laws and enactment of others which would address the identified gaps and back the implementation of policies.

This ,she said was because women in Nigeria faced many challenges excluding them from entering, remaining and engaging in politics as aspirants ,candidates, delegates and party executives.

We call on legislators to alter the constitution by changing the masculine language of the constitution to all gender accommodating language in line with the preamble of the 1999 Constitution, which states:

We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not the constant usage of he and chairman as found in the constitution .

The alteration of the constitution should include place of residence and other status under sections 15 and 42 in the prohibited grounds to cure the peculiar women-only-discrimination fueled by place of origin versus place of marriage conflict.

Affirmative action should be introduced in the constitution under section 42 to reverse the long years of unequal political participation and serve as legal backing.

Okoroigwe said that the constitution should state under Section 48 that every state should have not less than one female senator while composition of the House of Representative, States Assembly and special advisers should have 35 per cent women.

She added that the constitution should introduce that the president, governor, senate president, speaker and state houses of assembly should have a deputy of a different gender to reflect the true spirit of constitutional non-discrimination.

She said that the composition of the courts, commissions, councils, bodies and tribunals should include not less than 35 per cent as women to serve as a standard core minimum.

Okoroigwe said that the constitution should be altered to also change Federal Character Commission to Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission to redefine federal character in the interpretative section to include gender diversity.

She said that LEDAP wanted the constitution altered to make INEC staff and ad hoc officers to include 35 per cent women and establish gender units and women friendly registration and voting points.

Okoroigwe said the group urged INEC to develop action plans for the objectives in its guidelines, regulations and gender policy with timelines and conduct a baseline gender audit of all political parties.

This ,she said was because LEDEP believed that womens participation was a matter of justice ,being part of Nigerian society and a call to duty because women have obligation to contribute their perspective to its advancement.

Ms Annabel Ugwoke ,National Democratic Institute(NDI) Lead, SAGE programme ,said that the organisation has been working to support democracy in Nigeria since 1999 through engagement with legislative and executive arms of government among others.

Ugwoke said the group sought to address barriers to womens political participation by advocating for reforms of Nigerias laws and political parties procedures and policies.

According to her, the 2019 general elections produced less than 10 per cent of women in elective positions both at the national and state levels.

Therefore the ongoing constitutional review process is a great opportunity to include gender responsive provisions in the amendment to address the issue.

As activities for the 2021 womens day continues with the theme choose to challenge continues, ,I urge the you all to chose to challenge inequality in our political process.

Ugwoke urged the media to engage in positive reportage of women in politics because when women were part of decision making process, the socio economic development of a nation will improve.

Source: NAN News

By Edeki Igafe

The Delta Government on Thursday disclosed that it would inaugurate the Ovwor-Olomu-Effurun-Otor Bridge in Ughelli South Local Government Area, on Tuesday, March 16.

Mr Charles Aniagwu, the Commissioner for Information, made this disclosure to newsmen shortly after inspecting the project at Effurun-Otor.

He said that the project would be inaugurated by Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, who would be accompanied by his Edo counterpart, Mr Godwin Obaseki.

We are happy that in about five days from now, these projects will be inaugurated by Gov. Okowa, in company with Gov. Obaseki, for the use of our people and the good of humanity.

Aniagwu also inspected the rehabilitation and re-sealing of Otu-Jeremi-Okwagbe Road and the construction of Okwagbe-Otutuama-Esaba Road Phase 1, all in Ughelli South LGA.

He said that the state government was happy with the successful completion of the bridge and the use of indigenous contractors.

Ahead of the inauguration of the projects, we have come to look at the readiness of the contractors to welcome Gov. Okowa.

Going round these projects, I can tell you that I am immensely proud of being a member of this government, he said.

Aniagwu said that he was proud to see that indigenous contractors were able to deliver quality work like their foreign counterparts and in good time too.

He said further that the use of local contractors had also reduced capital burden because majority of the workforce engaged by the indigenous companies were Nigerians and majority of them were citizens of Delta.

The more we engage these qualified indigenous contractors the more we are able to build capacity to compete even within and outside the shores of Nigeria.

The more projects they execute, the more funds available to them to purchase machinery and able to train their staff to international standard, he said.

The commissioner also commended the Ughelli South Council Chairman, Dr Richard Kofi, for using youths trained under the councils skill acquisition programme to execute the interlocking of the internal roads within the councils secretariat.

You will recall that over 6,000 youths of Delta have been trained in various skills and given starter-packs to become entrepreneurs.

What Kofi has done here is in line with our prosperity mantra and local content initiative, he said.

Responding, Kofi who conducted the commissioner round the council premises said his administration targeted the training of 3,000 people but was able to train 850 in interlocking, bag and shoe making.

Source: NAN News

By Olajide Idowu

The police in Osun on Friday confirmed that two commercial motorcyclists were killed during a foiled robbery at a commercial bank at Okuku in Odo-Otin Local Government Area.

The spokesman for the police in the state, SP Yemi Opalola, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo that the robbers shot and killed the motorcyclists, thinking they were pursuing them.

Opalola said the incident happened at 1.00 a.m. on Thursday.

When the incident was reported, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Olawale Olokode, immediately deployed special units and mobile policemen to Okuku.

The commissioner of police later visited the scene of the crime with a team and found out that the robbers abandoned their vehicle and ran into bushes.

Two commercial motorcycle operators were killed by the robbers, while they were trying to escape, Opalola said.

She said that the police team, with the support of vigilante, was combing the bushes to apprehend the robbers.

It should be on record that the operation was foiled.

The police are still on the trail of the robbers to ensure they are arrested and brought to justice, she said.

Source: NAN News

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday in a statement, hit out at vaccine nationalism and vaccine hoarding by wealthier countries, one year after the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was declared.

Guterres said the world had faced a tsunami of suffering in the past one year, adding that while vaccine rollouts bring some light at the end of the tunnel, that he was deeply concerned at discrepancies in access to jabs.

We see many examples of vaccine nationalism and vaccine hoarding in wealthier countries, as well as continued side deals with manufacturers that undermine access for all, the UN chief said.

The global vaccination campaign represents the greatest moral test of our times.

Many low-income countries have not yet received a single vaccine dose, while some wealthier countries are on track to getting shots to their whole populations.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had on Thursday declared a global pandemic.

The WHO Chief, Tedros Ghebreyesus, also expressed concern about inequality in vaccine distribution.

He has repeatedly warned that if the virus spreads unhindered in some parts of the world, mutations and variants can pose a threat everywhere.

The COVAX vaccine equality mechanism is set to provide around two billion doses of vaccines for underdeveloped countries by the end of 2021.

So far, 14.7 million doses have been delivered to 22 countries via COVAX, the chief executive of vaccine alliance Gavi had tweeted on Thursday.

Source: NAN News

By Oluwafunke Ishola

Dr Ebun Bamgboye,a Consultant Physician and Transplant Nephrologist, says the prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Nigeria is estimated at 20, 000 new cases yearly.

Bamgboye, also a Clinical Director at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, made this known at a virtual webinar in commemoration of the World Kidney Day in Lagos.

The webinar was organised by the Medical, Pharmaceutical and Allied Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Theme of the event was: Kidney Diseases: Common Causes, Early Symptoms and Treatment.

Bamgboye said kidney disease was a global health problem that affects 850 million people worldwide.

He said that the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was the final, permanent stage of chronic kidney disease, where kidney function had declined to the point that it could no longer function on their own.

Bamgboye said that in such a situation, a dialysis that comes in two forms: hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis would be required to assist the patient remove wastes and extra fluid from their blood.

Roughly, there are about 100 new cases per million population yearly in Nigeria; with our population at 200 million, we expect that there will be 20,000 people requiring care, dialysis or transplant yearly.

If you add that to our pre-existing patients, we should have close to 100, 000 people on dialysis, the expert said.

He said that the total patients with ESRD on management at all the dialysis units in the country were less than two thousands.

According to him, estimated expected expenditure on dialysis yearly is N316 billion.

Currently, there are 188 dialysis units all over Nigeria (102 public, 88 private), with over 180 trained and actively practicing nephrologists in the country, he said.

Bamgboyesaid that the financial burden of renal therapies was huge, with three sessions of dialysis costing N75,000 weekly per person, which amounts to about N4 million annually.

According to him, a kidney transplant cost about N7 million to N10 million; medication for post transplant care cost about N150, 000 per month for life, amounting to N1.8 million annually.

He added that there were additional costs for follow up and tests.

The nephrologist noted that renal transplant compared to dialysis confers the best possible quality of life and reduces mortality risk in ESRD patients.

Bamgboye disclosed that 770 renal transplants had been done thus far in the country, adding that all were live donors.

Our experience at St. Nicholas is that we see about 150 patients yearly, thats about 10 to 15 patients per month, and we do over five thousands dialysis yearly.

We tend to have a younger population of people that require kidney care than in the western and developed countries, he said.

Bamgboye said that to reverse the trend, the country must accept that the provision of Universal Health Care was a fundamental human right which must be respected and implemented.

He said the country must ensure that it develops capacity to deal with full range of care; noting that services should be available for all at affordable cost and at urban and rural locations.

Bamgboye said that screening and early diagnosis were critical to reduce prevalence and outcomes of treatment.

Also, Prof. Oluwatoyin Amira, Consultant Physician and Nephrologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said that the prevalence of chronic kidney disease was about 11 to 20 per cent in Nigeria.

Amirasaid that at least 22 to 36 million Nigerians suffer from various degrees of kidney disease.

In LUTH, on average, we get about 40 to 50 new cases of chronic kidney disease per month from the emergency units and clinics.

In Nigeria, it affects people in the economically productive age group of 30 to 50 years, she said.

Amira said mortality was high due to high cost of treatment and late presentation, adding that 10 of their patients on dialysis were alive by one year.

She said hypertension and diabetes mellitus account for about 70 per cent of the disease worldwide, stressing that it was cheaper to prevent it than to treat it.

Commenting, Mrs Toki Mabogunje, President, LCCI, said that the increasing number of Nigerians with kidney disease and a large proportion being unaware at early stage of disease makes its management difficult.

Mabogunje, represented by Mr Gabriel Idahosa, Vice-President of LCCI, called for increased awareness and orientation on kidney disease to curb the progression of the disease into advance stage.

She also called for the strengthening of the countrys healthcare system to ensure effective management of the disease and improve access to healthcare for those living with the disease.

Mabogunje said that the coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme should be improved to cover cost of kidney treatment so as to lessen the financial burden on the patients.

Commenting, Dr Niyi Osamiluyi, Chairman, Medical, Pharmaceutical and Allied Group, LCCI, said that issues of kidney disease and its management were critical to health sector development, considering its high prevalence in the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News