Category: General

The Rotary Club of Naraguta District 9125 has renovated the immunisation ward of the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Utan community, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau.

The President of the club, Mr Obidike Ezeadileje, disclosed this during his investiture as the 39th President of the club on Sunday in Jos.

He said that the renovation was in collaboration with RC Utan to enable the centre facilitate safe delivery of babies at affordable rate and in a conducive environment.

“We undertook this project with RC Utan at N1 million.

“We plastered, put tiles and fix water systems and the ceiling, “he said.

The club also presented braille papers and food items to the Zawan Vocational Training Centre for the Blind during the event.

Ezeadileje said that 10 reams of the braille papers were also donated to the centre to enable them produce their text books, adding that two Braille machines would be donated to them at the cost of ?1 million.

“ Our major project for today’s investiture is the school of the blind. We have provided them with braille papers, that is what they will turn into text books to enable them read.

“We also had donations for their Braille machine that will cost ?1 million and we have also through the spirited efforts of our club members donated ?500,000 to aid them in food supply.

“That is one of their basic needs and we have gotten contribution of rice from different individuals for them too,” he said.

According to the president, the donation was part of the proposed projects he had for the 2023 to 2024 Rotary year on its basic education and literacy project.

He said that the club assisted some residents in need of wheel chairs and crutches and would donate 16 wheel chairs to Internally Displaced Persons camps in Makurdi in line with rotary’s theme of the year which is: “create hope in the world.”

He said that as part of its environmental protection project, more than 120 trees had been planted in some schools in Jos.

He added that other projects lined up for the year include dental care outreaches in primary schools, donation of school furniture and empowerment of the indigents among others.

Speaking, the Principal for the school of the blind, Mrs Ruth Tiptu, thanked the club for their intervention and described the club as a friend of the school which had in the past constructed their boys hostel and renovated its braille machines.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the club during the investiture ceremony also honoured six persons with awards for their various contributions in sectors such as health and education. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government has announced plans to set up transit schools to cater for the educational needs of the 11,000 school children displaced by banditry and other violent crimes in Niger State.

According to Dr Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, the project would be executed in collaboration with UNICEF and the Niger government.

A statement by her media aide, Mr Rasheed Zubair, said the federal government would secure a safer location low-cost homes for the victims.

It said the minister was speaking when she visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.

The statement quoted Edu as saying that her ministry would be working with the state government and UNICEF to provide transit learning centres to ensure that the affected pupils’ studies were not truncated.

Edu described as “unacceptable”, a situation where 11,000 students are out of school owing to the continued closure of over 400 schools in Niger.

While calling for immediate action to tackle banditry in Niger, she regretted that lack of basic education had predisposed people to poverty.

The minister expressed optimism that peace would soon return to communities affected by banditry to enable displaced persons return to their homes.

“Government is considering options of providing a resettlement centre in the interim where IDPs can resettle and vacate the school premises so that our children can return to their classes.

“The current staggering figure of out-of-school children in Nigeria is not good for the country.

”Education is the foundation; if we must fight poverty, we must return our children to school because that is the key and the beginning of ending the circle of poverty.

“As a government, we will do all we can to tackle the problem from the root cause so that they can continue with their education,” she said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng).

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

DiFTAS (Disputed Financial Transaction Advisory Services), a financial consultancy, has expressed readiness to assist Africans in the diaspora grappling with frozen or blocked bank accounts, which hinder local and international transactions.

Mr Gbemi Adelekan, Co-founder of DiFTAS, gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

“Many of our people are so used to dealing in cash, and sometimes, upon getting abroad, the bank may decide to block their accounts until they prove they have nothing to do with money laundering.

“When this happens, you cannot have access until the bank completes its investigation.

“With our legal and professional advice, you can get them to unblock your account, thereby providing you access for your transactions in Nigeria and beyond borders, the co-founder said.

Adelekan said that navigating the complexities of frozen or blocked bank accounts was an ordeal for many Africans living overseas.

The DiFTAS co-founder said that the firm was committed to providing expert guidance and pragmatic solutions for those confronted by the challenge.

He said that customers of local banks, bureau de change operators, exporters and importers, students and people living and working in the diaspora could benefit from the services.

Adelekan said that since diaspora communities wielded substantial influence on both home and host countries’ economies, the demand for reliable financial advisory services had become more pronounced.

“The consultancy also provides insightful advisory services regarding anti-money laundering and anti-fraud strategies, while tailoring personalised financial assistance to meet clients’ diverse needs,” he said.

According to Adelekan, DiFTAS also actively collaborates with businesses poised for global expansion, investors seeking optimal ventures, students pursuing education abroad and entities facilitating cross-border transactions.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has pledged speedy succour to families of victims of the earthquake which recorded over 2, 946 fatalities.

The monarch made the pledge following a working meeting at the Royal Palace in Rabat earlier on Thursday, a statement by the Royal Office said on Friday.

The meeting, chaired by the King, was devoted to activating the emergency programme for rehousing disaster victims.

It was also devoted to caring for the categories most affected by the Al Haouz earthquake.

The Royal Office noted that the meeting followed on from the series of measures ordered by the King.

The office said the meeting was aimed at mobilising all resources, with the necessary speed and efficiency, to help stricken families and citizens.

It added that the focus in particular was to deploy rehabilitation and reconstruction measures as quickly as possible, in the localities affected by this natural disaster of unprecedented proportions.

According to the royal office, the first version of the rehousing programme presented to the King, and which was prepared by the inter-ministerial commission set up pursuant to the High Royal Instruction, covers some 50,000 totally or partially collapsed homes in the five provinces affected.

It consists, on the one hand, of emergency temporary rehousing measures, in particular through adapted formulas for on-site accommodation in structures designed to withstand the cold and bad weather; or in reception sites equipped with all the necessary amenities.

In addition, the state will grant emergency aid of 30,000 dirhams to the households concerned.

The office said, in this respect, the king drew the attention of the competent authorities to the extremely high priority of the rehousing operation, which must be carried out under the necessary conditions of fairness and constant attention to the needs of the populations concerned.

It said that, on the other hand, the programme consisted of immediate reconstruction actions, which would be deployed after preliminary expertise operations and land preparation and stabilisation work.

To this end, direct financial assistance of 140,000 dirhams has been earmarked for totally collapsed dwellings, and 80,000 dirhams to cover rehabilitation work on partially collapsed homes.

King Mohammed VI also insisted on the need for the reconstruction operation to be carried out on the basis of specifications and under technical and architectural supervision in harmony with the region’s heritage and respecting its unique architectural features.

The King reiterated his call for a strong, swift and proactive response, while respecting the dignity, customs and heritage of the populations.

In addition to repairing the damage caused by the earthquake, the royal office said these measures would also involve launching a well-thought-out, integrated and ambitious programme for the reconstruction and general upgrading of the affected regions.

According to the office, this will be both in terms of infrastructure reinforcement and improving the quality of public services.

“This multifaceted programme will primarily mobilise the state’s own financial resources and those of public bodies, and will also be open to contributions from private players and associations, as well as from brotherly and friendly countries that so wish.

“The king also raised the equally crucial issue of immediate care for orphaned children, who today find themselves without family or resources.

” The king has asked that these children be registered and granted the status of wards of the nation.”

Also, in order to lift them out of this situation of distress and protect them from all risks and all forms of fragility to which they may unfortunately be exposed after a natural disaster, the King ordered the government to launch the adoption process, as quickly as possible, of the bill necessary for this purpose.

“Through the vision and action of its Sovereign, Morocco is once again demonstrating the resilience that characterises it.

“Enabling it to face up to the trials and challenges with resolve, wisdom and determination, thanks to the strength of its institutions and the solidarity and generosity of its people, ” the statement read.

The working meeting was attended by the Head of Government, Mr Aziz Akhannouch, Advisor to the King, Mr Fouad Ali El Himma, and the Interior Minister, Mr AbdelouafiLaftit.

Also in attendance were the Endowments and Islamic Affairs Minister, Mr Ahmed Toufiq; the Economy and Finance Minister, Ms Nadia Fettah, and the National Territory Planning, Land Planning, Housing and City Policy Minister, Ms Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri.

Others included the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, in charge of the Budget, Mr Faouzi Lekjaa, as well as Lt.-Gen. Mohammed Berrid, Inspector General of the FAR and Commander of the Southern Zone. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), says the council only recognises fellowship certificates obtained by Nigerian doctors to be classified as specialists.

The Registrar, MDCN, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja in response to the quest by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to recognise the membership certificate from the awarding institutions.

The association had as part of its demands in several communiques and correspondences to the Federal Government requested for the reversal of the alleged downgrading of the membership certificate by MDCN.

The certificates are obtained from the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) and the West African College of Physicians (WACP) and West African College of Surgeons (WACS) as part of the training to become medical doctors in Nigeria.

However, Sanusi said that the fellowship certificate is what is recognised in Nigeria and not the membership certificate.

“Membership was because of some classification from some West African countries because they lack specialists, so membership is not our standard in Nigeria.

“They (NARD) cannot just wake up one day and be telling us what to do, so in Nigeria what we recognise is the fellowship for you to be recognised as a specialist and not the membership.

“That is why NPMCN says no, we cannot water down the value of what we have in Nigeria,” he said.

Explaining further, he said that when they go for residency, at the end of it they obtain the fellowship certificate and not the membership certificate as the membership is not an invention of Nigeria.

He added that it was initiated by the WACP and WACS because of other West African countries and that it could not be forced upon Nigeria.

“All along it has always been fellowship but because of the lack of experts in some other West African countries, they now felt that if they gave them membership with that they could get some appointments.

“However, with membership you have not finished your programme, it is not a terminal thing but because of lack of expertise, that was why and because they were more in number than Nigerians especially the francophone countries, so it is not our own invention.

“Nigeria had to concede to them to be able to do what they want to do but that does not mean that they should water down our own value.

“The implication of that membership they are talking about is that in future we will lack trainers as we will not have people that will be training other people again,” he said.

According to Sanusi, half education is more dangerous than not having an education at all, which is the case with the membership certification.

“They are looking for a short cut, meanwhile they have not finished their programme. Let them go and finish it.

“The membership is not the terminal end of their programme, our standard in this country is the fellowship of NPMCN, anything below that one means that they are not specialists,” he stressed.

Explaining the resident doctors’ part of the issue, the National President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, said that the explanation given by MDCN was not tenable.

According to him, the two colleges in question do not offer training for doctors in Nigeria alone but to doctors in other West African countries as well.

“I mentioned Ghana and Liberia, they also offer training to their doctors there and those countries did not downgrade their own so why are we downgrading ours.

“What it means is that the outside world will be looking at us as if we don’t have good doctors here because it is something that happens in Nigeria and other countries, but our own government institution will use their hand to reduce the quality and that means there is a problem,” he said.

Orji explained that residency training is in two parts.

“When we start residency training, it is in two parts. Part One and Part Two.

“Part one is the training you do as a registrar that takes between three to four years depending on the faculty or the specialty. So, you have two broad training colleges.

“We have the NPMCN and the West African College of Surgeons and the West African College of Physicians.

“They do the same kind of training and after the three to four years, you write what is called the membership examination. The NPMCN calls it part one, the West African colleges call it membership examination.

“So after this examination, when you pass you become a member of the West African College of either Surgeons or Physicians depending on your faculty,” he said.

Orji added that the West African colleges issue membership certificates, while the NPMCN does not issue such certificates but noted that the writer passed the examination and then proceeds to the next stage which is the stage of senior residency training.

He referred to the senior residency training as part two or fellowship.

“So when the West African colleges started issuing the membership certificate, the MDCN graded it.

“MDCN has a grading system with which it registers the certificate if a resident has passed part one or membership and they grade it as grade B, which is specialists and that has been the practice for some years now.

“All of a sudden sometime last year, they started grading it as grade C which is a lower certificate that just means additional training.

“So we have been asking them since last year why they will downgrade from grade B that it was placed before as specialist, you are now downgrading it to Grade C.

“The West African Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons is not only for Nigeria, they take care of other West African countries such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia as they all do the same training there and those countries have not downgraded this same certificate,” he said.

Orji also said that the association had made inquiries from the colleges where these trainings took place and they said they had not downgraded the training.

“So what now gave rise to the downgrading of the certificate that you are issuing after this training?

“They said they don’t know why the MDCN did that and so we had to ask why because it simply means that they are reducing the quality of the products coming out from this training.

“So it was not until we had a meeting with the National Assembly that for the first time we had the Registrar of MDCN say that they have the right to either upgrade or downgrade and we demanded to know why.

“They said that they are doing whatever they are doing in the interest of the profession and that they do not want to release anybody that is not qualified to treat Nigerians to Nigerians.

“So they are saying something that bothers on quackery, so the whole thing is just not good enough, our members are not buying it, because the explanation they are giving is not tenable”, he added.

Lending his voice to the matter, the Registrar, NPMCN, Prof. Akin Osibogun, said that in completing medical school, there are three professional examinations to scale through.

“We have the first, the second and the final professional examination. So will it be proper to call someone who has passed that first professional examination a medical doctor?

“So you have to complete the medical programme and as far as the NPMCN is concerned we do not even award that membership that they are talking about because it does not signify completion of a training programme.

“Our training programme is completed when you finish part two and then we give you our fellowship and you get registered by the MDCN,” he said.

He affirmed that some other West African countries that do not have the type of manpower resources that Nigeria has could allow people with a lower qualification to pass as medical professionals, but that could not happen in Nigeria.

According to him, this is because Nigeria has its required minimum standards.

“So those countries, because of their peculiar needs, wanted an earlier certification even before the training is completed.

“They can do that in their own countries but in Nigeria, the training ends when you complete the final professional examination.

“That is when we know that you are a specialist and that Nigerians will be safe in your hands.

“So as far as the NPMCN is concerned, we award the certificate at the completion of the designed training programme when we are certain that the person is a qualified specialist,” he said.

He further explained that the designed Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme has three stages of professional examinations in between before the candidate gets to the final.

“We do not register anyone who has only done the earlier parts. It is when you finish the final professional examination and you pass that we register you as a medical doctor.

“Also, if you want to be a specialist we also have three parts. Primary, part one and part two. It is when you finish part two that you become a fellow.

“Then we know that you can satisfactorily open a patient and close the patient up and perform other surgeries,” he said.

Osibogun, however, advised the resident doctors to complete the designed curriculum and get their fellowship if they are truly Nigerians and are being trained for Nigerians. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Nenis Auto Care in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering has inaugurated an Automotive Hub and Museum in Bagidan, Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State, for women and youths empowerment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the facility was unveiled on Friday under an initiative tagged Safe Automotive Works Sustainability Centre (SAWSC), Ikorodu.

The facility, sitting on over two plots of land in Bagidan, has six rooms used for library, 3D printing, tyre making, Robotics, shoe making and computer lab.

The metal fabrication and furniture sections are open spaces in front of the facility while a second building serves as raw materials storage filled with condemned auto parts.

NAN reports that during the opening ceremony of the premier facility, 45 graduands were given certificates after presentation of different things they produced from vehicles wastes.

They showcased shoes, tables, chairs and other household items produced from old tyres, seat belts and other accessories of discarded vehicles.

Mrs Osazoduwa Agboneni, Founder, Safe Automotive Works Sustainability Centre (SAWSC), said that the programme was funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Agboneni said the aim of the initiative was to remove huge automobile waste from the environment and reuse them for production of things trainees could sell to make money.

She said that women and unemployed youths in the community had been trained to retrain others as a way of creating mass employment and empowerment in the area.

The founder said being an environmentalist, her “passion is to ensure that automobile waste does not cause harm to individuals but are put to good use”. The Program Leader, Quality/Project Management, University of the West of Scotland, Dr Evi Viza, said taking waste from the environment and reusing them ensured environmental sustainability.

According to Visa, Nigeria has huge amount of automotive waste which should be removed and reused to create wealth and preserve the environment.

She added that the initiative was the first in the area, giving back to the community as well as an opportunity for awareness creation that people of all ages could make money at the hub.

“This is circular economy principles where you take something and finish using it, then you find another purpose for it,” she said.

The traditional head of Bagidan, Chief Owolabi Bashorun, expressed joy that such laudable project came to his domain and thanked the engineers.

Bashorun congratulated the graduands and appealed to youths to desist from internet fraud and other social vices to join the empowerment training.

He pleaded with government and individuals to support and encourage youth empowerment programmes.

Some graduands who spoke with NAN expressed delight for the opportunity to use the hub for creative innovations they could sell to make money.

Oluwafemi Shotikare, an engineering undergraduate of Ibadan Polytechnic, told NAN that the hub would encourage him to work on innovations to contribute his quota to national development.

Another beneficiary, Maria Bashorun, said the hub had made engineering lucrative through creativity, adding that she was already making sales from her inventions.

She appealed to other ladies to join the hub in learning new skills that would earn them money, respect and prestige.

Other speakers shared their thoughts on how the inventions would curb capital flight and brain drain.

The guests also patronised the graduands, as they bought centre tables, chairs and other items. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria