President Buhari 'broke promise to end medical tourism'

A leading Nigerian doctor has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on a promise to end "medical tourism" by seeking treatment in the UK.

Nigerians spent $1bn (Ј690m) on foreign medical trips in 2013, most of which was unnecessary, said Dr Osahon Enabulele.

Nigerian politicians were mostly treated by Nigerian doctors in the UK, he added.

Mr Buhari flew to London on Monday to be treated for an ear infection.

It is unclear where the 73-year-old would be treated for what his office described as a "persistent" infection.

Dr Enabulele, vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a "national shame" that Mr Buhari went to the UK for treatment when Nigeria had more than 250 ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, as well as a National Ear Centre.

Mr Buhari should lead by example by using Nigerian doctors and facilities, and ensure government officials do not go abroad on "frivolous" medical trips, he added.

The UK had more than 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, and the US more than 5,000, Dr Enabule said, accusing the government of failing to address the brain drain by improving working conditions and health centres.

Mr Buhari, in a speech delivered on his behalf to the Nigeria Medical Association in April, said the government's hard-earned cash would not be spent on treating officials overseas, especially when Nigeria had the expertise.

Nigeria is one of Africa's biggest oil producers but most of its citizens live in poverty.

Mr Buhari took office last year on a promise to tackle corruption and waste.

BBC

President Buhari branded "national shame" for seeking medical treatment overseas

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has broken his promise to end medical tourism by seeking treatment for an ear infection in the U.K., according to a senior doctor.

Dr Osahon Enabulele, a former president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said in an open letter to the president that about $1 billion was spent funding foreign medical trips in 2013, mostly for Nigerian public officials.

Buhari traveled to London on Monday for a 10-day holiday, during which he will see an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist for treatment of a persistent ear infection. The president has canceled several high-profile engagements in recent months, including a planned trip to the restive Niger Delta region to launch a clean-up operation in Ogoniland, a community affected by multiple oil spills in recent years.

The 73-year-old leader, who was elected in March 2015 on an anti-corruption ticket, said in a speech to the NMA in April that the government would cut back spending on sending public officials abroad for treatment when there was evidence of expertize in Nigeria. The office of the Nigerian presidency said Buhari traveled to London after being evaluated by his personal physician and an ENT specialist in the capital Abuja.

Enabulele, who is also the vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a “national shame” that Buhari was seeking treatment in London, despite the presence of more than 250 ENT specialists in Nigeria and a National Ear Center in Kaduna state, northern Nigeria. Enabulele stated that the U.K. had some 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, most of whom had emigrated due to the Nigerian government’s failure to address problems in the West African country’s health service.

Enabulele even stated that he himself had received treatment from an ENT specialist in Nigeria in April “in line with my patriotic commitment to the Nigerian dream” and said he believed that Nigerian physicians “are skilled enough, and with the right equipment in place can handle any complicated ENT problem in Nigeria.”

Newsweek

Nigeria football legend Stephen Keshi dies at age 54

One of African football's best-known figures, Stephen Keshi, has died at the age of 54, the Nigeria Football Federation has said.

A former captain of the Nigeria national team, Keshi was one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations both as a player and a coach.

He also managed Togo and Mali, and his playing career included a spell for Belgian club side Anderlecht.

He is thought to have suffered a heart attack, local media reported.

As a player, Keshi was part of the Super Eagles team that won the Nations Cup in 1994 and narrowly missed out on a World Cup quarter-final place the same year.

He coached the national side over three spells, leading Nigeria to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

His contract was not renewed after the World Cup but he later returned on a match-by-match deal following the team's failure to reach the 2015 Nations Cup finals.

He was then sacked as caretaker coach but reinstated after intervention from then Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan. He was sacked for a final time last July.

BBC

Video - Impact of Nigeria's oil pollution

Take a look at the effects of decades-long oil spills in the Niger delta region on farming. Although a program to mop up the oil spills was launched recently-it could take another three decades before the environment in the area is fully restored. CCTV's Kelechi Emekalam spent a day with a farmer in the Ogoni land and filed the following report.

Tomato crisis in Nigeria might be coming to an end

Nigerian scientists believe they have found a cure to a pest that has ravaged the country’s tomato crop and seen the price of the fruit increase more than 30-fold.

The tomato leaf miner moth, also known as Tuta Absoluta, has destroyed around 80 percent of the tomato farms in the northern state of Kaduna, leading the local government to declare a state of emergency. Prices have skyrocketed and a basket of tomatoes that cost $1.20 less than three months ago now sells for more than $40.

Nigerians have been desperately searching for a solution to the crisis, which has even been blamed on the Boko Haram insurgency by Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed. The minister said that the lack of tomato farming in the northeast was a direct result of the armed group’s campaign, which began in 2009 and has displaced more than 2 million people.

The shortage of what is a common ingredient in many Nigerian dishes has also forced many to close their farms, including business mogul Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, whose Dangote Tomato Processing Factory suspended operations in May due to the shortage.

Now Nigeria’s National Research Institute for Chemical Technology says it has come up with a pesticide that can be used to tackle the moth. The institute’s public relations officer, Alhaji Bala Aliyu, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the vaccine had proven to be “very effective” during testing and that the institute was working with regulatory agencies to getting the pesticide certified and distributed to farmers.

As well as depriving Nigerians of a favored food stuff, the scarcity has also seen citizens of the West African country casting envious eyes at Spain, where residents of the eastern town of Bunol celebrate the festival of La Tomatina each August by throwing tonnes of near-rotten tomatoes at each other. Nigerians took to social media to poke fun at the disparity in the amounts of the red fruits available in the two countries.

Newsweek