₦airaland Forum

Mynd44: “

So the minister finally realizes that the Lagos state government was smart when it did that.

Good job all round sha......

Some other States already have their own isolation units ready without waiting for Abuja?

In the midst of the gloomy news that Nigeria is often associated with comes a ray of hope that the country can indeed get things right when its officials and people put their hearts to work.

This is the story emerging from the handling of Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where Nigeria’s officials have been able to contain its spread in Africa’s most populous country with over 168 million people.

This response has received huge commendations from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the international community.

Following fear and anxiety the lethality of the Ebola outbreak has generated since it came into the country through late Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, on July 20, 2014, Nigeria is racing to halt Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from spreading, including tracing individuals known to have had contact with confirmed cases, training health care professionals to identify EVD, and raising public awareness of symptoms.

This cheery news comes as contact tracing in Nigeria has resulted in a range of between 94 percent and 98 percent of contacts of EVD cases being identified and followed up, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

With Nigeria recording 12 confirmed EVD cases, this development comes as a relief and provides a window to wipe out the disease before it gets out of control, as it has in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, claiming 1,066 lives, with 1,963 EVD cases confirmed since the outbreak began in December 2013.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, minister of health, had announced yesterday that four additional confirmed cases of EVD who had been managed successfully and were now disease-free had been discharged.

“The four persons include two male medical doctors and one female nurse. The three participated in the treatment of the index case, while the fourth person was a female patient at the time the index case was on admission,” a statement from the ministry said.

This brings to five the total number of patients diagnosed with EVD who have now been discharged from hospital.

On the Federal Government’s containment efforts, Chukwu told BusinessDay that state governments were urged to institute a communication strategy to ensure mass awareness creation and sensitisation for individuals and communities on EVD in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.

Federal and state ministries of health and the human services secretariat of the FCT administration were also directed to provide adequate incentives to health workers participating in the management of EVD patients, he said.

Chukwu said Nigeria’s partnership with WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities and international partners in the area of technical capacity, health facilities for isolation of EVD patients and other containment efforts was aimed at halting EVD spread.

“The Ministry of Health is procuring isolation tents to quicken the pace of providing isolation wards in all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. We are also setting up a special team to provide counselling and psychosocial support to patients, identified contacts and their families,” Chukwu explained.

“189 persons are under surveillance in Lagos and six persons under surveillance in Enugu. All the persons under surveillance were secondary contacts. All the patients under treatment have now moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolating ward provided by the Lagos State government. Additional equipment has also been made available to the new isolating ward by the Federal Government,” he said.

Chika Mordi, CEO, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, said Nigeria has done creditably well in containing the spread of EVD in the country. While Nigeria is perceived in the international community not to have functional institutions, Mordi said the case management of EVD in Nigeria has proven that the nation has functional institutions.

He said “If you compare the way Nigeria have handled the case of EVD outbreak when compared to other Ebola affected countries within the West-African sub-region, you will agree that we have done an excellent job. We can also improved upon the success.

“You may remember that the outbreak started in Guinea and then spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Remember that the index case who brought EVD into Nigeria was visibly ill when he stopped over in Togo and yet Togo said they dont have any case of EVD. Ivory Coast which borders Guinea say they dont have EVD cases.

Don’t forget that in the last few months, Nigeria has been on the front burner on CNN and other news channels in the area of insecurity, suggesting that we don’t have functional institutions. The way we have effectively managed EVD in Nigeria suggests that the country has functional systems in place which could be improved upon.”

Another impressed observer of Nigeria’s handling of the Ebola outbreak narrated his experience at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday. He said, “I was at the airport this morning (yesterday) to see off a relation and as she went in to board, she and other passengers were screened by health officials who not only checked their temperature but asked questions like how they felt, where they had been and it was damn effective. A rare case of us doing the right thing. I was so impressed and it shows how far we can go if we do the right things.

Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, said the government was not shying away from its primary purpose of protecting and saving lives, as the state House of Assembly had approved additional expenditure to fund efforts at containing the spread of the disease.

“My view of the fact that we are gaining control is informed by verifiable facts that I receive daily from our health workers that all the cases of those who have either unfortunately died, or those who are sick, and those who are contacts under surveillance are directly traceable to the imported case. This is encouraging news from which our containment strategy can profit greatly; because it means that we do not have any case of unknown origin, which will raise the risk of an epidemic,” Fashola said.

Adebayo Onajole, director of communication and community mobilisation for Ebola in Nigeria, said the country had been able to contain the spread through increased surveillance at the country’s borders (air, land and sea), increased awareness and less of disinformation of the disease in the country.

Onajole, who is also a consultant public health physician, noted that universal health precautions and personal hygiene were currently being encouraged, a situation that would halt the spread of the disease.

“Efforts are currently ongoing to scale up and strengthen all aspects of response, including contact tracking, public information and community mobilisation, case management and infection prevention and control, and coordination,” he said.

“There is now increased disease surveillance system in a bid to monitor, control, and prevent any occurrence of the disease,” he added.

Five committees have been put in place in the country to halt the spread of the disease, BusinessDay investigation reveals. These committees include contact tracing (responsible for tracing contacts of infected person), case management unit (responsible for managing established cases), and point of entry unit, which is charged with the responsibility of examining persons entering Nigeria from various borders.

Besides the Federal Government’s N1.9 billion Ebola Intervention Plan announced by President Goodluck Jonathan, Aliko Dangote, chairman, Dangote Group, announced the donation of over N150 million from Dangote Foundation for the establishment of a National Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at Yaba, Lagos.

The EOC is a key part of Nigeria’s response to the outbreak of Ebola on its shores. Headed by Faisal Shuaib, a US-trained public health expert with extensive international experience, the centre serves as the engine room of national response, providing a coordinating mechanism for prevention, surveillance, patient care, tracking, data analysis and containment of the spread of the virus.

It also facilitates coordination of partners, serves as a platform to link to the medical community across the country and also internationally, especially with countries also battling the virus in West Africa.

Public health experts believe EVD can be stopped through maintaining high effective control mechanism and communication within communities on proper hygiene practice.

“We do know how to stop Ebola. Its old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people and do infection control in hospitals,” said Thomas Frieden, director, United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alexander chiejina

http://businessdayonline.com/2014/08/ebola-containment-a-rare-piece-of-good-news-from-nigeria

Nobody sacked these doctors, government suspended its residency program in all Federal health facilities. These doctors can seek to continue their residency programs in state owned facilities or private facilities accredited by the NMA. There are still thousands of doctors working in different federal facilities and the places are running smoothly.

Aziza: An Irreplaceable Statesman, Laments Uduaghan

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has lamented the death of President General of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Maj. Gen. Patrick Aziza, describing him as an irreplaceable statesman.

Governor Uduaghan in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sunny Ogefere described the death of General Aziza as a big blow and irreparable loss to Nigeria, Delta State and the Urhobo nation.

Dr. Uduaghan noted that the loss itself was devastating but was worsened by the timing when the invaluable contribution and experience of the late general were needed at this critical period of Nigeria's history.

"In General Patrick Aziza we have lost one of the finest military officers, administrators, peace builders, nationalists and more fundamentally a statesman of repute.

"My administration enjoyed unparalleled support and cooperation from General Aziza as President General of the UPU, who was always there to share his wealth of experience with me anytime I called on him," he said.

The Governor also described the late General Aziza as an industrialist whose business interests, ranging from hospitality, oil and gas among others helped to create employment for a sizeable number of Deltans.

"We will miss General Aziza's calm demeanour, wise counsels and stabilising role in the politics and governance of Delta State," he added.

Governor Uduaghan expressed his deep condolences to his immediate family, the Urhobo nation and the people of the State on the loss of General Aziza.

URHOBO nation was Saturday, thrown into mourning as the cold hands of death snatched the President General of the Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, General Patrick Aziza (rtd) away. He died at the age of 67.
Aziza who has been sick of cancer, reportedly died in Abuja about 3:45am . The news of his death took the urhobos and Deltans aback as people were seen in groups discussing the sudden death of the onetime minister of Communication under the military government of late General Sani Abacha.
His kinsmen at Adagbrasa who could not control their emotions were seen wailing and crying; “our iroko has fallen.” Reacting to his death, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, described Aziza’s demise as very sad. “The Urhobo nation has lost a true son, a General indeed who had served the nation in the armed forces so successfully and at a point, he was even a minister in charge of communication in our nation and he performed creditably well.
“He emerged as the President General of UPU and he has been steering the ship of state of the Urhobo nation quite creditably. He has succeeded in promoting peace and unity amongst the Urhobo people. We will all surely miss him, but there is a time to come and a time to go as the saying goes. ‘There is a time when one is born and a time when one dies’.
“If it was possible, we would have prayed God to postpone his death. We all love him, but God loves him more and we wish him a peaceful rest in the bosom of the lord. He will be remembered for his astute management of the UPU and his performance as a very sound member of the Nigerian Army who served our nation creditably.
“He will surely be remembered for being a man that stood for the Urhobo course and promoted the emergence of an Urhobo minister because I can remember, during his first tenure he led a delegation to MR. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to advocate for the appointment of an Urhobo son and today I am one of those that benefitted at the national level, so my missing him is even more.”
On his advice to the Urhobo people, he said “I will tell them to mourn but also accept the will of God as the omnipotent and omnipresent that knows it all. Let them also take solace in the fact that those the lord calls early are the ones he loves most. They should take solace in that and pray for the soul of the reposed in the bosom of the lord.”
On his past, Senator representing Delta Central at the National Assembly, Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo described Aziza’s death as tragic and sad.
He said: “It is so sad that we don’t even know what to think. We have talked to some of our leaders and everybody is still in shock. In fact there is nothing to say now except to say that we are sad, we mourn his passage and we pray that for the repose of his soul that God should accept his soul. Meanwhile we await what the family will say and what UPU will say so that we can all have a meeting on what to do next.
“He stood strongly for the unity of the Urhobo nation and he was a fine soldier, he served Nigeria very well. After all that, he came home to serve his people. He was a true servant of the people.”

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/aziza-dies-67/#sthash.mOVT4bD8.dpuf

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RebelLeader15: why all this rubbish, you get sense at all?

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RebelLeader15: Stupid Wicked man.....
Akutupu e lona orun

Patrick Aziza, Sergeant Rogers, Dr death, Al-mustapha et al

Go join Abacha in Hell fire

Useless Urhobo vagabond

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blink182: and understand my point before you make a fool of yourself.

And what was your point?

Indians lying since 1960 to our government, this time they got stopped.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)-Mittal Energy Ltd, the joint venture of ONGC and steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, has relinquished an oil block in Nigeria after the country refused to relieve it of a $6-billion downstream investment commitment.

OMEL — a joint venture of ONGC Videsh and Mittal Investment Sarl — had in 2005 won the right to explore for oil and gas in offshore OPL-279 and OPL-285 blocks after committing to invest $6 billion in an 180,000 barrels per day greenfield refinery, a 2,000 Mw power plant or a railway line from east to West of Nigeria. It paid a signature bonus of $50 million for OPL-285 and $75 million for OPL-279.

Sources said the company had in 2012 relinquished deepsea block OPL-279 after prospective hydrocarbon zones did not offer any viable commercial development. It offered to continue with the other block OPL-285 provided Nigeria relieved it of the USD 6 billion commitment.

As the waiver was not agreed by Nigeria, OMEL transferred its 64.33 per cent stake in the block to partners Total of France and EMO, a local Nigerian company.

Prior to the transfer, Total held 25.67 per cent interest and EMO the remaining 10 per cent.

After this relinquishment, OMEL is left with just the Al-Furat project in Syria with China National Petroleum Company International. However the oil and gas field has been shut since late 2011 after the European Union imposed oil trade sanctions on Syria due to geo-political developments.

OMEL had in February 2007 singed production sharing contract (PSC) for OPL-279 and OPL-285.

As per the MoU for the blocks, the Nigerian government was to offer OMEL 120,000 barrels a day (6 million tons a year) crude oil lifting rights on a commercial basis, two deep water exploration blocks that would attract a signature bonus structured to reflect an appropriate carried participation in a proposed 180,000 bpd refinery and assurances of LNG off take.

Further, upon commercial discoveries of hydrocarbons in the two blocks and assured uplift of crude, the Indian combine would invest USD 6 billion in Nigeria on construction of railways, 2000 MW coal/gas based power plants, commercial agriculture and upgrade the Petroleum Training Institute in Delta State.

The Nigerian government had the right to decide the order of priority.

However, the downstream commitments had not been stuck to and OMEL has therefore requested the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) for waiver of investment obligations attached to PSC of the blocks for entering into Phase-II, the sources said.

This downstream commitment has been found to provide a negative return as per a study conducted by Foster Wheeler on behalf of OMEL.

http://businessdayonline.com/2014/08/ongc-mittal-gives-up-oil-block-in-nigeria/#

kel4soft: Sleeping dog lies.

He is going for Rivers West Senatorial election.

dumbass piss off, don't want to deal with your level of stup1dity tonight

kel4soft: Just know there is life after GEJ.

Sylvia and Tony Okio are impostors. Anyone from South-South that does not support GEJ re-election is an impostor.

Don't be a dumbass, what is an Odilli thread from 2006 doing here? Are you so fuucck up. Is Odilli running for office.

what value is this thread today? Or the impostors are seeking another field day to spew their normal bullsh1t.

So having an open primary, where the best candidate wins, is now a crime?

sainty2k3: Voices like me, if voice like me go reach, I'll tell them to stop wasting unnecessary blood of our army. Every one knows that the issue ungroiund is more political than any other thing. I've u heard me mention APC or PDP so far, my guy just keep quiet, think of those men in the army they are killing for A political issue as human being. So u know internal sabotage dey army and u still behaving like u don't see a reason for those soldiers apathy

You have no clue, I will allow you, wallow in your ignorance. Keep belittling the force, sooner or later, you will pick up your gun to do the fighting.

sainty2k3: What is new about that.they all know that. Where were u people wen a commandant ordered his troop to pass through a dangerous path as regard their normal route, about 11 lost their life to that set up. Ifu'll die won't it be better to die a honourable death not wen some stupid politicians are using u as pawn. Our soldiers are doing their best, the case in question is just a case of apathy and not cowardice. And to read that u extend ur 'wicked' wishes to their wives and children breaks heart the most

So, you know the facts on the ground, better than the C.O? The Nigerian army is not the place for your PDP/APC politics. The internal sabotage in the army today, are because of voices like you.

Ngwakwe: No, it's 70 days = 10 weeks

Why are you exposing my bad math skills

sainty2k3: Are they one of the 100 we are talking about, if so, I can then understand why u think ligfe of a soldier has no value than to die

Are you just naive? This is the Nigerian army, you are not drafted . You willingly enlist, knowing death is 100% possible.

4. All political Parties Primary will start from
October 2 - December 11, 2014.

Less than 7 weeks to go.

sainty2k3: I hope ur family is not in the army

Senior brother, Uncle and my sister's son.With a dad retired after almost 35 years of service. Ask me another question.

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sainty2k3: While we still never have enough military men to fight the insurgents, they want to kill anoda 100. A beg free dem, we all understand reasons for their apathy, many of them are supposed to spend 6 month at the battle ground ,no replacement yet, they are spending more than a year, they've witness betrayer from the yoga at the tops, that has led to the death of many of their colleague , they know that the insurgents they are fighting is engineered by political rivalry in Nigeria. A beg free them , let them go

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Stick with the crap you understand.

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texazzpete: And you are a morally bankrupt, sycophantic lapdog, an Esau of our time and a traitor to your country.
I do not crave your time. Your kind sicken me. You spin wrong as right, you lack the spine to do the right thing, to speak up against what is wrong.

Away with you, sycophant! You blight the world with your existence.

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texazzpete: Nonsense.

We are a nation of 160m+ people, each with multiple needs. The money the Niger Delta gets right now is perfectly adequate, and would have resulted in a massive transformation of that area if not for the greed, selfishness and incompetence of the leaders of that region.

Sadly, this has not stopped President GEJ from continuing to fraternize with convicted criminal Alams. Then again, Bayelsa would have been a much better place if GEJ had even done anything for the state while he was Governor

You are a troll, not worth my time.

This news brings great joy to my heart. Also, their wives in borno, should be evicted with their children from the barracks asap.

obayaya: There was a curfew in osun from 6 pm on the election eve. The security agents arrested lai Mohammed at 9pm on a road in oshogbo metropolis.

If ogar said he was arrested for loitering, she wasn't wrong.

He was arrested according to Ogar about 11.30pm, not even 9pm. What was he doing out, as elections materials were on the move around the state.

APContherun: You are right about the losses that have been suffered by the Niger Delta. My family though not originally from the Delta has lost vast acres of land to oil spillage but then again I think the Niger Delta is being well taken care by the various intervention and funding agencies like NDDC and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, shouldn't that be enough for now? Instead of spending all on them, we should demand that all monies allocated be judiciously expended and accounted for. We the masses must devise a means to hold those agencies to account.

Can you ask the same of the monies your state spends. No amount of money spent in the Niger delta is too much. Not even the whole Nigerian budget.

OrlandoOwoh: You're a disgrace to every Deltan here. When has 'loitering' become an offence? Agreed, for the purpose of discussion, what threat was the presence of Muhammed posing to electoral materials that were being transported?

Peter Agosu, go deal with chino, I don't have time for confused bigots, so piss off.

Donmams: An affidavit deposed to by Ibrahim Olowopopo, the driver of the national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, before an Osun State high court sitting in Oshogbo, has revealed that Mohammed was arrested during the Osun gubernatorial election for allegedly being in the habit of abusing President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a 14-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Olowopopo, who drove the car that conveyed the applicants from Lagos to Oshogbo, alleged that the event occurred on August 8, 2014, about 9pm, while they were on their way to the Government House to meet with Governor Rauf Aregbesola to honour an appointment.

Lai Mohammed, Salisu Shuaibu, Sunday Dare and Ibrahim Olowopopo (applicants) have jointly instituted a “fundamental rights enforcement” suit before the Osun State High Court, accusing the DSS of political witch-hunting and victimisation.

They have slammed a N500 million suit against the DSS for their alleged arrest and detention by agents of the service during the just concluded governorship election in Osun State.

Specifically, the applicants alleged in the suit, which is expected to be formally filed by their counsel, M. A. Banire & Associates, on Monday, that one of the reasons they were arrested by the DSS as allegedly claimed by one of the officers who arrested them was because the APC publicity secretary “was in the habit of abusing President Goodluck Jonathan”.

Apart from seeking a N500 million compensation for the illegal and unconstitutional violations of their fundamental rights, the applicants also want the court to order the respondents to tender a public apology to them.

They are also praying the court for a declaration that their arrest and detention by officers of the respondent on August 8 and 9, 2014 was unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and in violation of their fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

The applicants are further demanding a declaration that their arrest and manhandling by the respondent on days constituted a violation of their freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment as guaranteed by section 34 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

Some of the grounds on which the suit is based included: that the arrest, torture and inhuman treatment to which the applicants were subjected by officers of the respondent are definitely not approved by law as the applicants neither committed nor were they convicted of any offence to warrant such treatment by the respondent.

Also it states that the arrest, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment to which the applicants were subjected by the respondents were based on a frivolous allegation of loitering as later disclosed by the respondent’s spokesperson, Mrs Marilyn Ogar, in an interview on Channels television on Thursday, August 14, 2014, which offence is unknown to law.

Read more @: http://leadership.ng/news/381251/lai-mohammed-detained-abusing-jonathan

Lies from the demonic party as usual. The DSS will pick you up from your houses, if they needed to talk to you about anything regarding Goodluck. You were stopped because, you were loitering on the night before elections, as voting materials were been moved around.

Asari causing NL ijaws to sh1t in their pants as usual. Useless bastardddds, carry your nonsense back to hell.

Nigerian journalists creating report that as usual never happened. Can this online paper provide IBB's audio. Asari remains an enigma and the respect of him is beginning of wisdom to NL ijaw.