The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS has urged the Senegalese authorities to urgently schedule a new date for the country’s presidential elections that was earlier postponed.

The ECOWAS Commission made the appeal in a statement issued on its website on Sunday.

Recall that the Senegalese President Macky Sall had on Saturday announced the indefinite postponement of a presidential election scheduled for February 25, just hours before official campaigning was due to start.

Sall, in an address to the nation, said he signed a decree abolishing a previous measure that set the date, because lawmakers were investigating two Constitutional Council judges whose integrity in the election process has been questioned.

The ECOWAS Commission said it has taken note of the decision of the Senegalese authorities to postpone the presidential elections, but “expresses concern over the circumstances that led to the postponement of the elections.”

The bloc therefore appealed to the authorities in Senegal to expedite the various processes to set a new date for the elections.

“The Commission further urges the entire political class to prioritise dialogue and collaboration for a transparent, inclusive and credible election,” ECOWAS said.

ECOWAS encouraged President Sall to continue to defend and protect Senegal’s long-standing democratic tradition, assuring that it would continue to monitor the situation in the West African nation.

$2bn balance will be cleared soon

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the country will soon be free of its $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog, as $2.3 billion has already been paid to foreign airlines and other sectors.

Cardoso spoke during an interview on Arise TV monitored by TheCable on Monday.

On September 26, 2023, the CBN governor, had said the apex bank was working on settling the $7 billion FX backlog liabilities.

The apex bank, which began clearing the debt in November 2023, recently released $500 million to various sectors to address the backlog of verified FX transactions.

On January 30, 2024, the CBN said it had concluded the payment of all verified FX claims by airlines with an additional disbursement of $64.44 million to the concerned foreign aviation firms.

‘WE INHERITED $7 BILLION FX BACKLOG’

Providing updates on the backlog liabilities, Cardoso said his leadership inherited the $7 billion debt, noting the central bank discovered that $2.4 billion of the sum was invalid following an enquiry into the transactions.

He assured Nigerians that the FX backlog issue would soon come to an end as only about $2.2 billion currently remains unpaid.

“When we came into the leadership of the Central Bank a few months ago, the issue of foreign exchange backlog was something that we met — obviously for something that had been accumulated over a period of time. It is very important as a sovereign nation to be able to keep your integrity intact, and as a bank, to be able to show that we consider obligations as obligations that must be met,” Cardoso said.

“Now, approximately $7 billion was what we were told, and we looked at these and commenced the process of starting to pay.

“We were settling some which we believed were valid and due for payment, and obviously this isn’t something we could just do in one shot or take a bit of time,” he said.

“Now, as we went along, we now had reasons to believe that we needed to take a harder look at these obligations. So we contracted Deloitte Management Consultants, to do a forensic of all these obligations and to actually tell us what was valid and what was not.

“We were committed to ensuring that we would pay all valid transactions and the result that came out of this was startling.

“We discovered that of the $7 billion, roughly about $2.4 billion had issues and had no business being there, and the infractions on that range from so many things, for example, not having valid important documents, and in some cases, even entities that did not exist, and in some cases, beneficiaries, account parties who had asked for exchange and got more than they asked for and some who didn’t even ask for any, got.

“Well, we’re not paying, if you don’t qualify. They are not valid.

“We have settled about $2.3 billion and that applies to the airlines and a whole load of different entities spread throughout the economy.”

Cardoso said what remains is about $2.2 billion “and I am confident that we will shortly be addressing those and be able to move on and make progress”.

The Presidency has revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu saved Nigeria from economic recession in 2023.

The disclosure was made by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in response to Atiku Abukabar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, in the February 2023 election.

Atiku, a former Vice President, had criticised Tinubu’s economic reforms for creating pain and despair for Nigerians.

However, in reaction to Atiku, Onanuga said Tinubu’s recent economy on fuel subsidy removal and Naira floating are steps in the right direction.

He explained that the 2023 budget, with 97 per cent of revenue, was spent on debt servicing, foreclosing economic growth, and job creation.

“The national budget Tinubu met in 2023 showed that 97 per cent of revenue was to be spent on debt servicing, with little reserved for capital, thereby foreclosing growth and jobs.

“Confronted with this grim economic reality, President Tinubu faced a difficult choice of balancing reforms’ political and economic costs against the risks of economic recession. His government chose the former to keep the economy afloat and set it back on the path of growth and prosperity”, he said.

Residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, on Monday, protested high cost of living in the country, blocking major roads within the metropolis.

The protesters, including women and youths, were heard chanting protest songs, while security agents including policemen looked on.

The protesters said the rising cost of food items and poor government effort to arresting the situation forced them to block major roads so that government will hear their cry.

The Deputy Governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba, while addressing the protesters, said the government is aware of the pain and hardship families are faced with at this time.

“Powerful entities, countries, strong men and their ways always lead me to Wago’s story. South Africa brought the long word ‘xenophobia’ into my consciousness. And, I am not alone. In business, they loathe, bully and muzzle whatever is Nigerian – even on our own soil. They milk us right here – how much was your DSTV subscription three months ago? How much is it now? Their telecoms foothold here, MTN, what is your experience doing business with it? Television station owners in Nigeria should also have stories to tell of their experiences with their South African host. So, it was not a surprise to see Nigerians on Saturday fully backing Cape Verde in wishes and prayers against South Africa. My friends who supported South Africa said they did so not out of love. They said Nigeria peeling and munching the Bafana Bafana in the semifinal would be sweet revenge for that country’s past and present monkeying acts. Another friend who has relations in South Africa did not want Nigeria to face that country in the semifinal “because we will defeat them and our people may be targets of attacks in South Africa.” But, for how long will that fear alter the direction of our supplication?”

Sports, especially football, have opiatic effects on Nigerians. I call it kinetic booze. The ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) football competition has been remarkable in numbing the people’s terrible pain and pangs of hunger. Since this thing started, morbid fears of violent death and of mass abduction get forgotten every night in sporty ecstasy. “Let’s give them opium, and let them sleep and dream.” That is from Miguel de Unamuno’s Don Manuel, a fictional Catholic priest with no belief in afterlife but who keeps himself happy doing good. We kill our misery drinking football to stupor. We dream of winning the next match and the next with the cup of victory. We are happy. The government should be happy too – and I think it is. Like all festivals, however, this season must end – and it will on Sunday, 11 February. But then, government won’t be government again if it does not have for the people another means of “illusory happiness.”

But what is at stake in AFCON’s semifinal match on Wednesday between Nigeria and South Africa is more than football. Every goal scored by either side will go to settling some mordant scores. We watched the AFCON quarter final match between tiny Cape Verde and big South Africa on Saturday night. Was that really a match between those two? Nigerians took it as their war; they say South Africans are not our friends. We invested money, men and emotions in their freedom from apartheid. We lost every kobo of those investments. The harvest from that field has been barns of hurtful engagements on all fronts. They do not hide their disdain for us; they dislike us – in sports and in politics, in business and in everything.

Trapped tigers when freed feed on their helpers. That is why we say ingrates are not better than thieves (Eni t’a se l’óore tí kò dúpé, bí olósà kóni l’érù lo ni). We push delicious bush meat to them, they unleash on us snakes. People have died; people have lost valuable investments in South Africa just because they are Nigerians. When President Bola Tinubu and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa met at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September last year, they hugged as brothers and their countries as friends. But, “what greater wound is there than a false friend” (Sophocles). Even in international relations and politics, friendship should be a two-way street. Here, it is breached. A Nigerian diplomat was quoted by Paris-based English quarterly magazine, The Africa Report in its September 2023 edition as saying that “there are over 100 South African businesses in Nigeria” but “there are less than 10 registered Nigerian companies in South Africa.” The magazine goes further to note that “several Nigerian businesses have experienced little success in South Africa and exited.” It gave examples. Every fair and foul move you see on the football field of play is displayed across other sectors where Nigeria and South Africa engage. In most cases, the Nigerian side always loses because of unfair deals -and because of the Nigerian state’s peculiar I-don’t-care attitude to such challenges.

There is this character, Wago, in Elechi Amadi’s The Great Ponds. Wago is a fearsome, fearless champion who does not fight fair. He does everything to have his way: he bullies, he threatens, he does sorcery. He does not say sorry and will not beg whenever he is proven wrong; even his plays are hard tackles. “I am Wago, the leopard-killer,” boastful and haughty, he tells his terror-stricken listeners. He thinks his strength represents his village’s superiority over the other villages. He sets out to subdue his opponents and hoists up his community as the ultimate dispenser of favours. And he has had his way many times. Now, he must fight this war over the great ponds of Wagaba. Wago has an old rival to fight and settle all claims, once and for all. If his rival falls, he rises above all men, and his village becomes the exclusive owner of the ponds that serve all. The story ends with Wago and his land failing, disastrously – a victim of his own dark ways of doing the business of war.

Powerful entities, countries, strong men and their ways always lead me to Wago’s story. South Africa brought the long word ‘xenophobia’ into my consciousness. And, I am not alone. In business, they loathe, bully and muzzle whatever is Nigerian – even on our own soil. They milk us right here – how much was your DSTV subscription three months ago? How much is it now? Their telecoms foothold here, MTN, what is your experience doing business with it? Television station owners in Nigeria should also have stories to tell of their experiences with their South African host. So, it was not a surprise to see Nigerians on Saturday fully backing Cape Verde in wishes and prayers against South Africa. My friends who supported South Africa said they did so not out of love. They said Nigeria peeling and munching the Bafana Bafana in the semifinal would be sweet revenge for that country’s past and present monkeying acts. Another friend who has relations in South Africa did not want Nigeria to face that country in the semifinal “because we will defeat them and our people may be targets of attacks in South Africa.” But, for how long will that fear alter the direction of our supplication?

What they do to us here, we dare not do to them there. I maintain more than one telephone line because my job demands that I do. I have a Glo line and an MTN line. I have one other. Two weeks ago, my MTN line stopped working. The company said the line was barred because I had not linked the SIM with my NIN. But that was a lie. I did that a long time ago – the same day I linked my Glo line which is still working – perfectly. It turned out that I was just one person out of millions of Nigerians who suffered that barring of lines. While the problem was across all service providers, the difference has been in how customers are treated. The unjust penalty was not the biggest headache victims have had to contend with. Getting it fixed is a pilgrimage of sorts to the way the behemoth from South Africa treats its Nigerian customers. It has been a yellow-fever experience for millions everywhere they go. At all the centres where I went to try to do as I was ordered, I met people under the searing rays of the sun – waiting for attention. They are still there in tens and scores, suffering and sweating. I finally got my line fixed on Friday but I will be naive to think that it will not happen again.

The Ogiyan of Ejigbo in Osun State, Oba Omowonuola Oyeyode Oyesosin, who clocked 50 years on the throne a few days ago, is one of the deepest speakers of Yoruba language I have (yet) met. About a decade ago, he told me that people who are too big for reprimand will ultimately ruin their society (a tóbi má se é bá wí, wón máa nba ìlú jé ni). South Africa is big in everything good and bad. Until 1989, it was a nuclear power on the African continent. I remember I joked with my friends when in October 2015, the Muhammadu Buhari regime slammed a $5.2billion fine on MTN for failing to disconnect unregistered phone lines. I told my friends that if at all anything would be paid, the money would not come from the South African pocket. I told my friends that they and all other Nigerians who were on that network would pay the fine. Reports said the company eventually negotiated its way out, settling Nigeria with $1.7billion. But, who really paid? Certainly, Nigerians. And the practice that led to that fine, was it fixed? If it was properly fixed, my line and millions of others would not be axed two weeks ago. The same company recently declared a trade dispute with Globacom over interconnectivity fees. MTN claimed N7.05 billion from Globacom; Globacom fought back with counterclaims. A threat to disconnect Glo lines was made and was rebuffed by the threatened. The Bola Tinubu government did well here; it intervened and asked both parties to do reconciliation. Reports say the reconciliation exercise brought the figure down from N7.05 billion to N2.3billion. I had thought that hyperbole existed only in literary and rhetorical heavens. However, with this, I could see that making exaggerated claims can serve as havens if you are big enough. But, should there not be consequences for such a hand-of-God attempt at scoring a goal against an opponent? There will be none. We are dealing with a well-heeled pampered behemoth here.

If you call your food bowl a po, your neighbour will poo into it. It is how you dress that you will be addressed. We allow free-range hunters to poach our elephants. And, because big misfortunes have wrestled down the giant, small ones are finding the courage to play with its balls. Someone said it wasn’t only in Nigeria they do what they do. They say business cemeteries in Ghana, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, etc contain skulls of those who dared the powerful. For too long, we’ve played soft with South Africa and its twigs. We’ve got wounded and stretchered off the field. That is not how to win against a team of bullies. There should be reciprocal gestures – you bite me, I bite you. A country that will survive and be respected will protect its own and, while dealing with the outside, do as Niccolo Machiavelli counseled: Act as “a true friend and a true enemy” at the same time.

The AFCON semifinal match coming up on Wednesday is a metaphor for settling scores. People who think they are powerful wear the costume of the gods. They toy with the rules and do whatever they like without consequences. Powerful persons and entities are gods; impunity is their turf. Whatever they do, you can’t call them to account. That is why they are gods – they are pampered with sweets of unquestionableness. South Africa, a country beautified with our feathers, with its businesses, does that with us routinely at home and abroad. As of 2019, official records in Nigeria showed that we lost 118 lives to xenophobic attacks in South Africa, 13 by the South African police. I do not have more current figures. That country looks down on us with disgust because we indulge it – even when the field of play is built on our soil. My history teacher in secondary modern school took me through the stories of imperial Rome, Hannibal, Carthage, the three Punic Wars and delenda est Carthago – the patriotic, defiant phrase which ended Cato’s every speech in the senate. Defeating South Africa on Wednesday will serve some poetic justice.

When death comes (and it will surely come), we do not have a choice in the matter. Death is inevitable, and because we are mere mortals, we cannot fight back. Even when we do, due to advances in medical science, the effort does not last the distance. We eventually surrender when death knocks on the door.

Why should we even be afraid of death anyway? Didn’t William Shakespeare write about “Death counterfeiting sleep” in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’? What is the difference between death and sleep? As our mum laid-in-state, beautifully draped in a white apparel, you could think for a moment that she was sleeping. So, death can imitate sleep? Even in death, Mama was beautiful.

Death has a way of teasing, taunting and challenging us to a contest: in the red corner is where you would find death in its massive and ebullient frame, jumping up and down and behaving like a bully, ready to strike and deliver the deadly upper cut, while the rest of us are sequestered in the blue corner, absorbing all the punches until we are down and out.

Death also oppresses. How do we, for example, restrain cancer that has become the harbinger of death in many forms? If it was possible to cut a deal with death, I am sure Steve Jobs, the American inventor, entrepreneur and co-founder of the highly successful Apple Inc. that now has a market cap of more than $2.85 trillion, would still be alive. When Steve surrendered to pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011, he was only 56 years old.

While we are still alive, it is the impact that we make on the lives on others that is important than the money we have in the bank. We must constantly aim at making the world a better place through our humanitarian interventions.

Until our mother, Mama Rose Osovbakhia Braimah (nee Abebe), passed away on November 4, 2023, she always talked about a humanity that thrives, spreading joy, happiness, success and peace. Each time a new administration was inaugurated in the country, Mama used to wonder whether it will be better than the previous one.

During her lifetime, Mama was a dependable care-giver, gracious philanthropist, engaging story teller and unrelenting activist for a better society. Mama was an extraordinary woman in several ways. As she grew older, Mama was concerned about the pervasive economic hardships and deteriorating quality of life of Nigerians.

Mama was born in Ughodin Quarter in Iruekpen, Ekpoma, in Esan West local government area of Edo State. Ughodin is one of the 12 contiguous quarters of Iruekpen, my home town. The others are Ikhin (where I hail from), Idumebo, Idumogo, Abia, Idumemalua, Idumoza, Ogbomo, Idumehonle, Idumeke, Idumegbede and Evbokpe.

The late Christopher Ebhodaghe Abebe, foremost human resources executive and distinguished Nigerian who later became the chairman/managing director of the United African Company (UAC), established in 1879 as a trading company and evolved as a conglomerate – where he spent his entire career and became the first indigenous African to be appointed to that position in 1975 – hailed from Abia in Iruekpen.

Pa Abebe was the father of late Stella Obasanjo, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. So, elder statesman Obj (Baba Iyabo) is our in-law. Pa Abebe retired in 1980 and was honoured with the Order of the Federal republic (OFR). He died in 2018 at the ripe age of 99 years.

Our Matriarch, Mama Braimah, was a beautiful woman, resourceful wife, highly respected community leader and exceptional fountain of knowledge. Her worldview was shaped by the values of hardwork, respect and perseverance which she imbibed from her parents. It explained why she was a strict disciplinarian.

As a young woman of 23 years, Mama was betrothed to our late father and she travelled from Iruekpen to Kaduna by rail – escorted by our late uncle, Pius Akuza and Alfred Ilenre, a noted Iruekpen emissary who has also passed away – to meet him to start a family.

My father worked for the government in the ministry of education. Due to his frequent postings, Mama had to traverse the length and breadth of Nigeria with our father.

Mama was an enterprising small-business owner. While at Ughelli (now in Delta State), for example, she travelled frequently to Onitsha for her business. The transition from being a member of a large community of farmers in the village to becoming self-employed in different cities was remarkable.

If Mama wasn’t buying and selling food items and other merchandise, especially bags of rice, you would see her behind her Singer sewing machine. She was also a seamstress. At other times, she was either cooking or praying. Mama was a kind and generous soul, always ready to hand you a gift and lend a hand.

Our late mother was a Deaconess in the Christ Chosen Church of God International where the presiding pastor is Apostle Promise Okafor. She worshipped at the Upper Lawani Street Parish in Benin City, and devoted her life in the service of God.

Her commitment to the Christian faith was profound. She could pray and fast for long hours. Mama averred that every course of action in life was ordained by God. She believed in destiny.

Mama always told his children that quality education is priceless, and she explained that it was the best meal ticket for a child to escape the shackles of poverty. As far as she was concerned, illiteracy is a disease!

Our mother had a strong analytical mind, and instilled the values of discipline, hardwork, love, kindness, courage, perseverance, selflessness, humility and leadership in all her children and those who had the opportunity to drink from her fountain of wisdom and knowledge.

Mama provided exemplary leadership in all her civic engagements, and she frowned at our permissive society that encourages impunity.

Deaconess Braimah was fond of singing and dancing, praising God in her elegant dance-steps. Mama lived a life of purpose. One of her wishes was that parents, teachers and religious leaders should uphold strong family values in a decent society that is fair and equitable.

Before Mama’s glorious life ended peacefully in her home in Benin City, she lived in the ancient city from 1980 to 2023. This was after our mother and her family lived in Ughelli for 10 years. During this period, I completed my primary education and gained admission into Government College, Ughelli – one of the best secondary schools in Nigeria – as a young lad.

Mama Braimah was blessed with nine children. Sadly, three of them preceded her in death. She was also survived by three step-sons, a brother, two sisters and grandchildren. When Mama’s funeral obsequies were announced, it was a week-long activities from January 23 – 29, 2024 to celebrate her life: service of songs, funeral service and interment, reception and thanksgiving service which held in Benin City.

But her traditional and final rites of passage held in Iruekpen, Ekpoma on January 29.

Meanwhile, we had to perform the final burial rites of my old man who died 27 years ago on January 19 in Iruekpen before we could commence the burial rites of my mother. For most young members of the family who asked questions, we had to explain to them that tradition and customary laws must be obeyed.

In the village, respect for one another and the rules of engagement are based on a hierarchy of leadership that has been passed on from generation to generation. Age grade determines everyone’s position and station in the village and there are sanctions and fines for bad behaviour. Interestingly, the women in Iruekpen have a strong voice which cannot be ignored in the conduct of community affairs.

As I travelled with family members by road from Lagos to Benin City (twice) and between Benin City and Iruekpen (thrice), we had our hearts in our mouths due to the “unfriendly” condition of the roads. We also feared for our safety but the presence of policemen and soldiers on the way allayed our concerns.

I am using this opportunity to appeal to the federal government to fix these roads as soon as possible and consider a minimum of 50 metres setback after the thick bushes on either side of the busy highway must have been cleared. Most accidents occur as motorists struggle to avoid the numerous potholes and failed sections of the highway. The Benin – Iruekpen road is a death trap.

On January 24, our mother was laid to rest at her home in Benin City. During the service of songs the previous day, it rained briefly – for about five minutes and stopped – as I read her profile.

We are thankful to family members, friends, colleagues, associates and well-wishers for their support, generosity, kindness, prayers and participation.

May Mama’s memory continue to be a blessing.  

Braimah is a global public relations and marketing strategist. He is also the publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://ntm.ng) and Lagos Post (https://lagospost.ng), and can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

More than 500 personnel of the National Hospital, Abuja (NHA), left its services in search of greener pastures in the last two years, its Chief Medical Director, Mahmud Raji, has disclosed.

According to the CMD, most of them went abroad in search of better working conditions.

“The way they leave is a very hurtful thing for all hospital administrators.

“The most pitiful and worrisome aspect of it is the amount of money the Nigerian government has invested into each of these individuals as a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist or whoever it is that leaves.

He said that the brain drain syndrome was an almost everyday activity as he treats two or three files of young people wishing to leave.

“Sometimes, not only young people; some people have actually gone through the ranks with lots of experience that they could teach other people. So, Nigeria is losing so much, painfully.

“Here, we have lost a number of quite senior doctors, especially the middle cadre doctors, and the very young ones.

“Nurses have also left from the middle cadre and the younger ones. Some of our medical engineers are hotcakes outside and have left.

“I must tell you, Nigeria trains people so much, Nigerian graduates and staff are well sought after, all over,” he added.

On reasons for their departure, he said that remuneration and job satisfaction had always topped the list.

“For instance, if a doctor or a nurse comes here, he or she needs to see an environment that is quite serene, quite beautiful, even to rest in a very comfortable area during their one hour break.

“At least you are able to have something to eat, replenish your energy before you go back to the next phase of work, but usually, in our hospitals in Nigeria, we don’t have such.

“In terms of the remuneration, it may not be as good as what you would expect elsewhere. Even though I must say the purchasing power in Nigeria is far better than the purchasing power elsewhere and our money is still able to buy something.

“We should also look at the unsolved problem of inter-professional rivalry that also eats into people’s psyche. People should be comfortable with the next person they’re working with, be it a nurse, a physiotherapist or whoever.”

Raji also said that the necessary equipment needed to work were not there and when these equipment are either non-existent or obsolete, the healthcare practitioners feel that more should have been done.

He, however, said that past governments had tried by taking very decisive stance on matters of health.

The current government has also put in a lot to rejig the health sector, he added.

“From what we can all see, the current administration has actually rekindled that hope in us that in the next couple of months, at couple of years, we will be able to see a change or a shift in this mindset among Nigerian health professionals eager to leave the country.

“Hopefully, we should even be able to attract them to come back while we retain the ones that are here.”

He, however, said that NHA had employed various strategies to try to retain the healthcare personnel working in it.

“I may not be able to change their remuneration since this is within the purview of government, we try to pacify them because remuneration is usually the first thing people complain about.

“Secondly, in terms of welfare, at least we have tried as much as possible to relieve some of them.

“We have established cooperatives to assist staff, either financially or in whichever way they can be supported to get mortgages for their homes and other things.

“On our own, we sometimes get these mortgage organisations to come and assist our staff. We have been able to get some buses to relieve the stress that the staff get in conveying themselves from work back home and from home to work.

“We are trying to also make the environment where they work a bit more serene and accommodating for them. This would require a lot of funding, but at least with the little that we are able to get, we are able to do bit by bit.”

In terms of training, he said that since training out of the country may be expensive, the hospital arranges local trainings and, when it is able to, it supports them to go for trainings within the country and sometimes out of the country as the funds allow.

The CMD said the hospital was also trying to fix the equipment that were not working efficiently or not working at all.

“Through budgetary and intervention pathways, we are also trying to get in some more new equipment that will make them happy while doing their jobs.

“When you go to our laboratories now, you will see that they are not as they used to be.

“We have so many automated machines; with these machines, all you need to do is just to put in samples and then the thing runs by itself, unlike earlier on where a person will have to run this, after this, you do that. So, now, they have it a bit easier.

“They also feel like, yes, we are working where we would wish to have flown to, to work. So we are upgrading our laboratories or rather, to a very large extent, we are comfortable to call them automated laboratories.

“That’s what we are trying to do, at least in our own little ways, to make life better and the good thing is, some of them do appreciate it.

“But, however much you try, some people are already fixated on leaving,” he said.

On the issue of inter-professional rivalry in the healthcare profession, he said that even though it exists in other institutions, at NHA, there has been some sort of a very harmonious relationship.

He added that hardly were there local strikes at NHA in the last couple of years because of that harmonious relationship.

“But the staff are not in isolation as they also mingle with other people outside.

“So, once in a while you would hear such complaints, but then some of these issues are actually realistic that you find in other centres and it can really be quite bad.

“It sometimes affects the function of some of such organisations but we are lucky here that we are able to, at least, control it.”

To put an end to it or at least control it, he said that several attempts were made to resolve the problem, but sometimes when solutions were about coming, some other bodies may lobby to stop it.

He recalled that a couple of years ago, a certain committee was set up by the Federal Government to look into it and the committee made some recommendations.

“I am not sure those recommendations have been fully implemented, but things might probably have changed now such that it’s time to probably have a new committee set up to look into this.

“I assure you that with the current administration and the mandate given by the president to resolve the issues in healthcare and the ministers we have running the ministry, people have the confidence that they have the roadmap to solving this problem.

“We have to look at it holistically such that you don’t just see doctors as a group, solve their problem, but while solving their problem you will have problem of nurses.

“So also, when you call the nurses and solve their problem, you cause a problem for the radiologist or the pharmacist and things like that.

“From the feelers we’re having from our interactions with those of our leaders in the ministry now, they’re likely going to look at it in that holistic manner, where it should be a win-win for all facets of healthcare.”

Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has released a report showing that no fewer than 36 oil blocks are under concession to international oil companies operating in Nigeria and their indigenous counterparts in the country.

Eight blocks are located in deepwater, five blocks are continental shelf, fifteen blocks are on land, five blocks are located in swamp and another three blocks are located in partially swamp terrains.

The blocks are classified into Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL), and Oil Mining Licence (OML).

The national oil company’s financial statements outlined the blocks on concession to include OPLs 244, 242, 214, 223, 251 and 325. For the Oil Mining Licences, they include OMLs 154, 139, 119, 60-63, 111, 148, 65, 26, 28 and 30.

The Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, on Sunday, conducted an election (congress) to pick delegates that will participate in the party’s February 22 governorship primary.

The exercise was, however, trailed by an uproar as nine out of the 11 PDP governorship aspirants boycotted the exercise.

Also, the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, who was the chairman of the three-man committee in charge of the Edo delegates election, withdrew from the exercise.

But the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, who is said to be the deputy chairman of the committee, commended the large turnout of party members for the delegates election.

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, described Makinde’s withdrawal from the process as unfortunate but said it would not undermine the credibility of the exercise, which, he said, witnessed a large turnout of party members.

The nine governorship aspirants, who boycotted the delegates election, were Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, Anselm Ojezua, Felix Akhabue, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, Hafia Hadizat Umoru, Omosede Igbinedion, Dr Earl Osaro Onaiwu and Arthur Esene.

They wrote a protest letter to the PDP acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and sent a copy to the National Vice Chairman South-South, Chief Dan Orbih.

The nine aspirants complained about the composition of the committee conducting the delegates election.

Speaking to party members at the George Idah Primary School, GRA, Benin, the collation centre for Ward 2, the Enugu State Governor said, “This is democracy where our people come to exercise their franchise. We appreciate this turnout. Our party is known for the principles of fairness, equity and justice. I wish you to all conduct yourselves properly as we hold this election.”

In Ward 7 at Ugbekun Primary School in Ikpoba-Okha Local government, Dr. Major Itemowe led others to conduct the exercise while in Oluku Ward, Kunle Koya from Lagos State conducted the exercise.

Speaking to journalists in his Ward 4 collation centre, Idia College, Governor Obaseki said the crisis in the party was being blown out of proportions and that it would not affect the outcome of the governorship election.

He said, “You can see from the crowd here that it is a lot of success due to the huge turnout. We had over 600 people coming out to participate here; our people are very politically aware and we are happy with this turnout to elect delegates for a our governorship primary. We are also expecting this huge turnout in the main election.”

On the resignation of Makinde, Obaseki said, “It is unfortunate that Makinde withdrew. There are three governors and he is only one of the three that withdrew, which does not remove the credibility of the process. What makes a process credible is the quality of the participation. You can see the turnout; so it is unfortunate that Governor Makinde had to take such a decision. I hope that all our efforts to continue to unify the party and pacify all stakeholders will continue. We are not deterred at all, we are going to make sure that the PDP plays its role in the politics of this country.”

Speaking on the non-participation of members of the Legacy Coalition of the PDP, he said, “You cannot have a 100 per cent participation. You can see the crowd here. When we were in the APC before we joined the PDP, we didn’t have these numbers. So, it is clear that the people we met in the party are still in the party.

“The crisis is hyped; it is not as fundamental as it is made to look. There is very little crisis, the crisis is fanned from outside and our people are smarter than that. You will see during the main election, we are not going to allow ourselves to be sold.”

When contacted to react to the Edo situation, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said,”It is publicly known that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, for personal reasons known only to him, resigned as Chairman of the PDP Edo State Ad Hoc Delegate Congress Electoral Committee. We are not aware of any other person who boycotted.”

Also, when contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to Makinde, Sulaimon Olanrenwaju, said he was not aware that his principal resigned.

“I’m not aware that he resigned. I’m not aware,” he said.

More Nigerians have continued to express concern over the proliferation of counterfeit drugs, drinks, food items and other products in the country.

They want relevant authorities to initiate a comprehensive national inquiry into the issue and quickly reverse the trend to prevent worsening health situations and other implications.

LEADERSHIP Data Mining Department’s findings revealed that substandard drugs are responsible for the annual deaths of 500,000 individuals in sub-Sahara Africa. The report also highlights that, approximately, 267,000 deaths annually are attributed to counterfeit and substandard anti-malarial medications.

A substantial number of individuals have taken to online platforms to urge the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) to conduct an investigation and enunciate effective measures to address the escalating presence of counterfeit products in the Nigerian market.

Business owner at the popular Utako market in Abuja, Ugochukwu Henry, said the report had affected businesses, but it had not stopped people from buying products in the market.

A customer at the market, Ruth Ode, said the current economic situation in the country is responsible for the menace.

A health expert said there’s a need to clamp down further on the people involved as it may lead to an epidemic.

Experts told LEADERSHIP’s data miners that the surge of counterfeit and substandard goods in numerous Nigerian markets, along with their consumption, is a contributing factor to the rising death toll in the country.

They say the prevalence of fake drugs is   an assault on the country’s healthcare industry, asserting that it results in the loss of lives and undermines confidence in medicines, healthcare providers, and in the entire health system.

Most Common Fake Food Products In Nigeria

Findings showed that the most common fake food products in Nigeria include counterfeit and adulterated drugs, fake rice, adulterated vegetable oil, fake alcoholic beverages and expired and substandard food products.

These products do not always meet safety and quality standards, posing risks to consumers.

Just last month, numerous counterfeit products were uncovered at Ezukwu Market (Cemetery Market) in Aba, Abia State, by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

This has triggered reactions from stakeholders in the health sector.

NAFDAC’s intervention led to the confiscation of approximately 2000 adulterated products, including alcoholic drinks, beverages, and other expired items. This action resulted in the closure of more than 240 shops that were functioning as factories, producing, repackaging, and marketing fake products in unhygienic conditions, according to a statement from the food agency.

The director-general of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, put the street value of the confiscated and destroyed fake products at over N750 million. At the end of the week-long security sweep, 10 suspects were arrested, and the agency shut down the market.

LEADERSHIP Friday reports that the consumption of fake foods has far-reaching health implications.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported that 4.7 percent of overall cancer cases in Nigeria in 2019 was attributable to the consumption of adulterated alcohol.

A quality assurance analyst with a pharmaceutical company in Nigeria, Adekunle Ilori, who defined fake products as counterfeits bearing a striking resemblance to the original or quality products but with deviations in the manufacturing process, said that in the face of a weakened health system, economic challenges, and factors such as cash scarcity, rising transport fares, and low purchasing power, fake products are exacerbating the difficulties faced by many Nigerians.

Ilori urged NAFDAC to adopt more proactive measures in combating fake and substandard products.

He told the food and drug control agency to be uncompromising in its fight against fake products, increase its surveillance, publicly disclose the names of fake products, and engage in public sensitisation.

Following the confiscation of adulterated products in Aba, concerns about fake drugs, cosmetics, and other household items resurfaced on various social media platforms, with fake drugs being highlighted as the swiftest path to death among substandard products.

A Lagos-based pharmacist, Yemi Alabi, lamented that the peddlers of counterfeit products exhibit a high level of adaptability, engaging in large-scale production of fake replicas across a spectrum of items, spanning food products to pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

Recently, NAFDAC chief executive, Adeyeye, issued a public warning, particularly to healthcare providers, about a batch of counterfeit Meronem, a one-gramme antibiotic used in treating skin and abdominal infections, flooding the markets and posing a significant risk to patients.

Alabi, however, urged that both NAFDAC and its counterpart, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), should be  adequately equipped with manpower, resources, and funding to effectively combat the inflow of counterfeit and substandard products, both from abroad and from local counterfeiters.

Effects Of Fake Foods On Economy

Beyond the health risks, counterfeit products also cause adverse economic effects.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates suggests that Nigeria loses approximately N200 billion annually due to counterfeit medicines, excluding substandard drugs.

According to a non-governmental organisation, HealthWise International, quantifying the precise economic implications is challenging; the production and distribution of fake foods can have numerous adverse effects at both macroeconomic and microeconomic levels which include: healthcare expenditure, productivity decline, reputation damage, erosion of consumer trust, agricultural productivity, trade barriers, resource diversion, rising regulatory costs, impact on small businesses, and social and economic disparities among others.

A report by HealthWise states: “The counterfeit food industry is already estimated to generate $49 billion annual revenue; any product you think you bought from a reputable and trustworthy outlet can be one of those adding to the $49 billion revenue streams.”

“A large study, involving almost 20,000 adults, found that eating more than four servings of processed food daily was linked with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. For each additional serving, all-cause mortality risk increased by 18 percent.

“Another large study, involving more than 100,000 adults, found that eating 10 percent more ultra-processed foods was associated with above 10 percent increase in the risks of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disorders.

“Indeed, there is no way to know to what extent food fraud is contributing to stunting, which affects 34 percent of under-five African children, with lifelong impacts on physical and intellectual development.”

Tips To Identify Potential Fake Food Products

Pharmacare, an advocacy group on genuine drugs, has listed tips to help Nigerians identify potential fake food products.

1. Check labels and packaging. Look for spelling errors, unusual fonts, or poor print quality on labels. Examine packaging for signs of tampering, such as broken seals or unusual openings. Verify that the packaging information matches the product inside. Check for proper seals and packaging. Authentic products usually have proper seals and packaging. Be wary of products with broken or damaged seals. Look for holograms, barcodes, and other security features that are typically present on genuine products.
2. Verify brand authenticity. Purchase food products from reputable and well-known brands and retailers. Check the official website of the brand for information on authorised distributors and retailers.

iii. Pay attention to price: be skeptical of food products that are priced significantly lower than the market average. Extremely low prices may indicate a counterfeit or adulterated product.

iv: Check the physical characteristics. Examine the colour, texture, and overall appearance of the food product. Any unusual or off-putting characteristics may be a sign of adulteration. For example, check for unusual discoloration or an abnormal texture in fruits, vegetables, or meats.

1. Verify Expiry Dates.

vi.Use Your Senses. Trust your senses—smell, taste, and appearance. If a food product looks, smells, or tastes unusual, it’s best to avoid it. Be cautious of strong chemical or off-putting odors. Purchase from reputable retailers.

Strategies To Combat Menace

Experts have urged the government to strengthen regulatory framework, increase inspections and surveillance, collaborate with industry stakeholders; launch public awareness campaigns to educate consumers about the risks associated with fake foods and how to identify them; improve traceability and labelling.

The government should also invest in food testing laboratories, by strengthening the capacity of food testing laboratories to enable quick and accurate analysis of food samples, among others.

Medical expert, Dr Mohammed Badru, told LEADERSHIP that addressing fake food production requires coordinated efforts from various sectors, including government agencies, industry players, and the public. He also said that regular evaluation and adjustments to strategies, as well as continuous monitoring and enforcement, are essential to maintaining the effectiveness of these measures over time.