NAIJAFEED

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Nigeria’s Buhari orders formulation of action plan to prevent flood disasters

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has directed relevant government agencies to develop an action plan for the prevention of flood disasters in the West African country.

According to the president’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, Buhari directed the Minister of Water Resources to lead and coordinate with the Ministries of Environment and Transportation as well as State Governments to develop a comprehensive plan of action for preventing flood disasters in Nigeria.

Nigeria has been hit by perennial floods that caused the loss of hundreds of lives and massive destruction of property.

Currently, more than 2.5 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

Flooding has affected 34 out of the 36 states in the country this year, killing more than 600 people and displacing 1.3 million people.

The UN says the country has recorded a rise in cases of diarrhoea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infection, and skin diseases.

Shehu noted that President Buhari is regularly receiving updates on the flooding situation and is committed to addressing the challenges caused by the disaster in the country.

By Jerry Omondi

CGTN

Video - Aid workers struggling to reach victims of floods in Nigeria

Over 10,000 doctors left Nigeria for UK in last 7 yrs

The Kaduna State Chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, yesterday said no fewer than 10,000 doctors left Nigeria for the United Kingdom, UK, for greener pastures in the last seven years, saying Doctors in Kaduna State are the least remunerated.

The NMA while celebrating its ‘2022 Physicians’ Week’ lamented continued brain drain in the medical profession in the last seven years, amidst deadly deceases in the country that required more medical doctors.

At a news briefing as part of activities to mark the ‘Physicians’ Week’, the Chairman, Kaduna State NMA, Dr. Madaki Sheyin, said a Nigerian doctor is poorly paid, over worked, lacked necessary work tools and has become a target for kidnappers.

“Nigerian doctors have been rendered unimportant by successive governments for inadequate attention to the heath sector.

The one week medical activities has the theme, “Nigeria’s Healthcare Delivery System and The 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time To Change The Narrative’, is in tandem with the most important upcoming event in Nigeria while the sub-themes’, Mitigating The Impact Of Brain Drain On The Dwindling Human Resource For Health In Nigeria and Health Sector Reforms In The Face Of Emerging Public Health Threats’, were chosen as continued reminder to our governments that things are falling apart in the health sector.

“The issue of progressive depletion of human resource for health cannot be over emphasized. With the recent article from an Online Newspaper of 9th October 2022 titled “200 Nigerian Doctors Move to UK in One Month’, the fact that checks on the website of the General Medical Council, GMC, the body which licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the UK, showed that the GMC licensed at least 200 Nigerian-trained doctors between August 31, 2022, and September 30, 2022 was revealed.

“The statistics also showed that between January 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, about 1,307 doctors trained in Nigeria were licensed in the UK as Nigeria continues to battle one of the worst situations of brain drain in its history. Overall, 10,296 doctors who obtained their degrees in Nigeria currently practice in the UK.

“Dispersion of the emigration data for Nigeria trained doctors to UK is as follows: 233 in 2015, 279 in 2016, 475 in 2017, 852 in 2018, 1,347 in 2019, 833 in 2020 in spite of COVID Pandemic and 932 in 2021 during recovery from COVID.

“The Kaduna Doctor is even worse hit by this poor welfare conditions, doctors in the State’s employ as at today receive only 60 percent of the CONMESS salary scale, a far cry from what those in the Federal and other States are receiving. We call on our Governments to quickly declare emergency action in Nigeria’s health sector for the sake of her citizens”.

“This alongside insecurity is largely responsible for the high turnover of doctors in the state and mass exodus causing both internal and external brain drain”.

The doctors therefore appealed to Kaduna state government to immediately implement the report of the Committee on Review of Medical Doctors and other health workers’ salaries in Kaduna State and also domesticate the newly approved hazard allowance for doctors.

By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo

Vanguard

Nigeria suffering from medical brain drain

Nigeria orders final seizure of houses, cars of former oil minister

A Nigerian court has ordered a final seizure of two properties and cars owned by former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, the country's economic crimes commission said on Monday, in the latest ruling related to graft allegations against her.

Alison-Madueke was a key figure in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan who served as petroleum minister from 2010 to 2015. She has been dogged by corruption allegations since she left office but denies the charges.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement that High Court Judge Mobolaji Olajuwon issued the final forfeiture of the former minister's $3 million homes and cars in Abuja.

Alison-Madueke's whereabouts are unclear, but she was last known to be in Britain.

A court has previously ordered the seizure of her upmarket property in the commercial capital Lagos and frozen funds that were said to be part of the rent collected from the property.

In 2017, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil complaint aimed at recovering about $144 million in assets allegedly obtained through bribes to the former minister.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

Reuters

$37.5 million luxury apartment complex seized from Nigeria's ex-oil minister

Monday, October 24, 2022

Video - Nigeria’s ponmo cuisine under threat as the leather sector seeks growth

The Nigerian government is looking to expand its leather export sector which brings in 500 million U.S. dollars annually as it diversifies its economy away from oil and gas. But the plan is a threat to a local delicacy from the cooked cow skin popularly known as “ponmo”.

CGTN

US and UK warn of possible attack in Nigeria's capital

The United States and Britain on Sunday warned of a possible terrorist attack in Nigeria's federal capital Abuja, especially aimed at government buildings, places of worship and schools, among other targets.

Nigeria is fighting an Islamist insurgency mainly in the northeast, but in July the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a raid on a prison in Abuja, which freed around 440 inmates, raising fears that insurgents were venturing from their enclaves.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria said "there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically Abuja" and added that shopping malls, law enforcement facilities and international organisations were among places at risk.

"The U.S. Embassy will offer reduced services until further notice," the embassy said in an alert to citizens in Nigeria.

The United Kingdom government warned that its citizens in Nigeria should stay alert due to an "increased threat of terrorist attack in Abuja."

"Attacks could be indiscriminate and could affect western interests, as well as places visited by tourists," it said.

Insecurity, which has spread across Nigeria, is a major issue for voters when they go to the polls next February to elect a new president to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available to comment.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

Reuters

Video - Older people often an invisible casualty in conflict with Boko Haram in Nigeria