Nigerian female team qualifies to the finals!

The Nigerian female under 20 World Cup Team defeated their Korean counterpart to book a place in the finals of the ongoing Female World Cup Soccer Tournament.

We are very proud of you girls......

Group Accuses British American Tobacco of Misleading Police On Tobacco Law!

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has accused the British American Tobacco Nigeria, BATN, of embarking on a mission to thwart the implementation of the tobacco control law in Lagos State.

The group accused the tobacco company of "deliberately misinterpreting" the recently-passed Lagos State bill regulating smoking in public places.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Monday, ERA/FoEN said the series of visibility events organised by BATN, including a sensitization exercise last week for police officers in Lagos on enforcement of the anti-smoking law, were nothing more than gimmicks to confuse the public and police officers.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability, said while the intent of the Lagos State government in fashioning the legislation is targeted at saving lives, the interests of BATN are strictly commercial.

"We are not deceived by BATN seeming interest in ensuring the implementation of the bill when in actual fact it is attempting to rewrite the law strictly for its commercial interests through deliberate misinterpretation of the meaning of smoke-free public places," said Mr. Oluwafemi.

Mr. Oluwafemi noted that BATN would stop at nothing to confuse the general public and other regulatory agencies of government that are charged with enforcing the legislation.

"In the months since the bill was signed into law by Governor Babatunde Fashola we have seen a host of articles syndicated across media organisations poking the law and urging so-called smokers groups to challenge sections that protect non-smokers from the hazardous tobacco smoke," he said.

"Is it not ironic that the same industry that sponsors those groups is now trying to lecture the police and general public on provisions of the law?"

The group urged the Lagos State government to "read the lips" of BATNofficials engaging in public trainings on implementation of the bill.

"What we hear is double-speak and outright misrepresentation of the intent and spirit of the law," Mr. Oluwafemi said.

"The Lagos State government must wake up to its responsibility of interpreting in clear terms the letters of the law so as not to leave the citizenry in a state of confusion as intended by the tobacco industry.

"This is simply unacceptable. We must again draw the attention of the Lagos State government and the implementing agencies of government at all levels to Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which de-normalises the kind of interactions that BATN is involved in with the Nigeria Police and other agencies.

"Tobacco industry interests run counter to public health interests.

The Lagos government must henceforth stamp its feet and put a rein on such exercises," he added.

Northern Delegates Seek Amendment Before Final Report Is Submitted to Jonathan!

Despite the unanimous adoption of the National Conference reports at the plenary session last Thursday, a document signed by the Chairman of the Northern Delegates Forum (NDF), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, who is also the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lt. General Jeremiah Useni, has outlined discrepancies in the final report of the conference.

In the letter addressed to the Chairman of the Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, the Northern delegates demanded that the identified errors in the reports must be corrected before submission to President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday.

The Northern delegates listed misrepresentations on how the Inspector General of Police should be appointed, the mistake in the removal of the land use act, the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commission from the constitution as some of the issues that were contrary to the decisions of the national conference.

Also, the Northern delegates said some of the criteria for the creation of new states were not adequately represented in the final report, while criteria for the payment of royalties, infrastructures for border towns, extension of the continental shell project were missing in the final report.

According to Coomasie and Useni, "Page 257 H2.4 - Appointment of IGP contradicts provisions of page 258 K; Conference recommendation is the provisions captured on page 257 H. Page 260 C 5.11 (4) (C): This amendment was rejected by the conference"

On the land use, they said: "Page 21: The following recommendations contained in Chapter 6 of Vol. 2 of the final draft are missing in chapter 5 of Vol. 1:page 678 (3) Infrastructure for border towns, page 678 (4) Bakassi, page 680 (10) Nigeria's Extended Continental Shell Project (NECSP), page 680 (6.10 3(1)) Royalties page 682 (iii) Boundaries enforced and Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use."

The document further said: "Conference recommendation on Wednesday 9th July was to retain the Land Use Acts in the constitution. See page. 249 para. 52 (a) of Vol. 1 of the Draft Report. Equally on pg. 657 (1) the Land Use Act was retained in the constitution with some amendments.

However the document titled: Draft Constitution" on page 267 proposes the deletion of Section 315 of the Constitution contrary to the resolution of conference. This by implication puts the total laws of the country in complete jeopardy and specifically deletes the Security Agencies Act, NYSC Act and Public Complaints Commission Acts".

On Citizenship, they said on Page 107 (G), the way it was couched appears to be contradictory and discriminatory. It should therefore be deleted from the report. The recommendation as amended by the Votes and Proceedings of Wed. 21st May, item 13 "page 18, 1.4th paragraph additional recommendation (d) persons incorporated into Nigeria by plebiscite after Independence" was omitted from the final report.

"Another recommendation omitted from the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday 22nd of May, 2014 at page 23, para. 33 (J) (ii) additional recommendations "A person born in a state or who marries an indigene of a State acquires automatic residence status in the State".

"Another omitted recommendation: The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are very close to the grassroots people and have mandates that should be adjusted to make them more responsive to the conditions of internally displaced person (IDP).

Source: ThisDay

A Passenger in Lagos Boat Explosion Still Missing!

Information says two days after a boat reportedly exploded in Lagos, one of the passengers involved is yet to be found.

The missing person identified as Emmanuel Onu was involved in the accident which injured several passengers who were immediately rescued and taken to different hospitals in Lagos island.

"The boat which was said to belong to Aquitien Oil and Gas, took off from V-Craft Jetty, Lekki Phase One, and while trying to refill gasoline at Capital Oil Jetty at Victoria Island, the engine exploded," Ibrahim Farinloye, Spokesperson, South-West, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

"A relative, Sunday Ezugha, of one of the missing passenger Emmanuel Onu, called and narrated that the owner of the boat Aquitien Oil and Gas could not be reached since the incident occurred.

"Emmanuel Onu has not been found as a report indicated that he was rescued and taken to hospital but his whereabouts is not known till now," Mr. Farinloye added.

Nigerian Research Firm Submits Sample Drugs to FG!

A pharmaceutical research center in Abuja, Ben Amodu Firms and Research Center, yesterday said it has submitted drug samples to the Federal Government that have the efficacy to tackle Ebola virus.

The Chairman of the Center, Pharmacist Ben Amodu, said the center had produced drugs for the treatment of haemorrhagic fevers, which could also be used for Ebola virus. He said the drugs have been submitted to the committee set up by the minister of health recently on Ebola adding that the drugs could cure Ebola virus.

"We gave the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and World Health Organization (WHO) samples of the drugs but the WHO later phoned and said they were not supposed to verify Ebola drugs. I gave samples to the committee set by the Minister of Health on Ebola virus and I hope that due process will be followed in determining the cure for Ebola."

He said the Center was into research of neglected tropical diseases, adding that the drugs made by the Center had the efficacy to cure Ebola symptoms.

He said, "We got the drugs that cure Leishmaniasis and they have been previewed. We invented a drug, DAABS 2 which also cures Dangue fever which is viral Hemorrhagic fever and as you know Ebola is also a viral Hemorrhagic fever. Their symptoms include fever, intense weakness of the body system, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and internal and external bleeding.

If you remove the bleeding aspect the disease becomes typhoid and hepatitis. The International Organisation for Scientific Research based in US, Japan and India have also previewed us for the management of hepatitis A,B,C,D,E and F, of which we have treated so many people. We have a drug that stops bleeding, including those from cervical cancer and uncontrolled menstrual flow.

Our drug called SAABMAL was tested by the World Health Organization to have 97 per cent effectiveness in all forms of fever symptoms, including dengue, malaria and Ebola. It presently cures typhoid. Another drug, TAABS 2 also has effects on fever while SAAB 6 has very strong Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as confirmed by National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD). Also one other drug SAAB is a very good immune booster."

Source: Daily Trust

Nigeria Records First Ebola Survivor!

The doctor who treated Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who brought Ebola into the country, at First Consultant Hospital, and was subsequently infected with the virus, has reportedly recovered and has since been discharged from the Isolation centre in Lagos.

The doctor was the first Nigerian infected with the virus and had been receiving treatment at the Isolation centre.

The Director of Communication and Community Mobilisation for the Nigerian Emergency Operation Centre on Ebola Virus Disease, Adebayo Onajole, confirmed that the doctor had been discharged.

He however declined to give further details, saying the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, would hold a press conference later tonight to fully brief the media about the doctor's recovery.

The spokesperson to the Minister of Health, Dan Nwomeh, also confirmed the development.

"Yes, yes, that's true. I'll send you a statement on that immediately," Mr. Nwomeh said.

The patient, understands, was discharged following series of laboratory investigations that declared him fit to go home.

Nigeria has recorded 10 cases of the disease out of which four people have died; six persons were quarantined while 169 others have been kept under surveillance.

The patient was among the six people receiving treatment at a Lagos treatment centre.

The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu had on Thursday told journalists that some of the patients were already responding to treatment.

Nigeria was free of Ebola until July 20 when Mr. Sawyer arrived.

He became terribly ill on his flight and was rushed to the First Consultant Hospital Obalende, Lagos, where he died on July 24.

Mr. Chukwu had said on Monday that although the Liberian government has apologized for the incidence, it was pertinent to note that Nigeria was free of Ebola Virus until its importation by the Liberian-American.

Mr. Sawyer's action, he said, has placed unnecessary stress on Nigeria's health system.

An apparently angry President Goodluck Jonathan also described Mr. Sawyer's action as "madness".

Since the Liberian's death in a Lagos hospital, three other persons who had contact with him have died of the virus.

President Goodluck Jonathan has since declared a national emergency on the disease while the Federal Ministry of Health in conjunction with health ministries in the 36 states are working to prevent the spread of the virus, which has killed over 1,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Source: PREMIUM TIMES 

'False Alarmist' Indian Doctors to Leave Nigeria!

Daily trust reports that the four Indian doctors who raised a false alarm of having being forced to treat Ebola patients will be leaving Nigeria today with the Indian High Commission facilitating their return, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported, quoting an official.

Spokesperson of the Indian ministry of external affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said the four doctors who are employed by Primus Hospital are leaving after the Indian High Commission facilitated the return of their passports which had been taken away by the hospital authorities.

On Wednesday, Akbaruddin had clarified that no case of Ebola had been reported in Abuja, where Primus Hospital is located. He said there were a few cases of the disease in Lagos, which is hundreds of kilometers away.

He had also clarified that with the hospital being Indian-owned and the doctors also Indian, the doctors had the choice to leave their jobs.

When contacted, Director of the hospital, Mr Sunny Ukachukwu, confirmed that the four Indian doctors would be leaving to India with the help of the high commission.

He said it was unfortunate that the doctors were allowed to return home without first issuing a public apology for raising a false alarm on Ebola.