DAILY T RUST Thursday, June 9, 20 11 PIC: BALOGUN 8ASHIR
Maternal, infant deaths still national tragedy - Ali Pate Frtm bmaI MudaWr, Kaduna E.."'(EClJIlVE Director of the National Primary Health Care Devilopment Agency, Dr. M\lhamm~ Ali Patt, y~terd.ay said maternal and infant dl"3ths remain a national tragedy;md reitrr.!.led thecommitmcnl of his as"nq' to R:vtrt the trend. D«laring open an orientation programme for beneficiui~ or the MkI.\\i\'t:S Suvice Scheme (MSS) in Kaduna, Pate id entified three factors as being responsible for such deaths inthccountry. "E,n)' Nigt'rian life lost is a 10SIi to our dear nation's capital. The 10S1I oflivcs ofmothcrsand newborns is linked 10 three delays. One, dday to recognise that there is problem, deJa)' due to lack. of means to access health care and deJay due non-a."ailability of needed service and skilled manpow~ [0 pn:r';de the needed healul scrvict'; h~said
He said his agency (oncei...ro Iht' MSS as an impor'lllnt t'ntry point for
r (i§ kidnap of colleague in Anambra
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From BulriceOnudlUkwu, Awka DOCTORS at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teac hing Hospital, Nnewl in AnaJT1bra Stat e yesterday protested against thc recent kidnap of theircoUeague, DoctorOnochie Udemezue, from his residence at Nnewi by unknown anned persons. Two hundred doctors conV!.'rged at the Government House in Awka with placards criticizing Ihekidnap. The placards had inscriptions
if ,
such as, · I..~ave doc:torsalone~ - Fr«
saying their lives were under thrcaL
our c::ol1eague now·, ·SIOp kidnap-
Nwabune laterhandtdo\'craleller for the: govc:morand urged government to :wist In fmding Dr. Ude:mc:uzc. The OIairman, Medical and Dental Council oCNigeria, Nnewi branch, Dr. Gerald Udigwc:. in his speech, lamented thai Udemueze who is a senior lecturer at thc: College: of Health Sc:iences.. UNIZlK was abducted on Sundaybetwecn 6
ping doctors in this slale·, and ·We
bt doctors. stop kidnapping us·, They called on government 10 go after his kidnappers and release:
him. Thto Chai rman of the Nigerian MedicalAssocialion(NMA)Nnewi brandl, Dr. Mbachu Nwabun:r:, said their mis.sion to Government House was to lodge a complaint on the incessant abduction of doctors.
and 7pm. saying nothing had been heard about him since then.
Delay of irrigation project worries Adamawa farmers Fmm IbrahIm Abdul'Azlz. Vola FARME RS in AdaJT13.wa Statt' who arc affected by the continued delay in the completion of the 13-year-old Chouchi irrigation project have called on the Federal GOI'f'rnment to ulRently cOllle to tlu:iraid.. The affected farmt'n said since til e commenct'ment of the project, it had been handled with snail speed, and urged the Ff,dt'm1 Government to addres.s the problem militating against tht' completion of the proj« l. Olouchi irrigation projeclls one of the projects handed over to the ministry by tht' defunct Petroleum (Spe<ial) Trust Fund (PTF). Impresit Balmlori won th e N5 billion contract. Speaking to newsme n ),estt'rday, some of th e farmers said their hopes had bt't'n dashed by slow pact' of work ilSonly 20per cent completion could be said to havt' beocn achieved "Indeed, when tht'government ini-
tiated the programme, we were all Jubi lating, but unfortunately for over 10 yean the project isstill at infancy stage; said MaUam Umaru Muhammad, the spokesperson of the farm ers. ·We arc appealing and advising the concerned authorities to look Into the matter with all the seriousness il deserves ;u over 5,000 farm ers arc seriously affected; he further said He said if (Ompleted, the project would change the lives of farmen not only in Yola, the state C1pital, but also in the neigbouring com muniti~ When COni acted, the Chief Resident Engineer of the project, Engr. Tony Ologbosere, confirmed the situation, blanling the co ntrac ting finn fo r th e non-co mpl etion of the project. He said the delay in completing th e project cou ld be medulIliCll, human and likcly funds. He de nied that farnlers wt're not eompensatcd, '"No, it's not true, beCluse compensation.h;u been done sinct' last year, wt' are not owing anybody; hesaid..
MNo contact has ~n es tab· IIshed yet We arc worried Ol'er his health and life. He is no longer a young man and may need medical attention, which if nOi immediately available may put his life at risk': he said It would be rccaI.led that a Senio r Registrar (Surgery) in the hospital, Dr. Joseph Abiahu, \~'a5 kidnapped last year, prompting his colleague to match to Government House, Awka to show thclr griev-
delivl!ring bener malemal and ne,"· born health OIItcomes as wt'll as ~vi, talizing the primary health cart' !;)"S' tern. Under the Knnne, he said, tht' ag'!ocr had R:in\~gora ted Ul e ward deI'f'Iopm!'J1tcorrunittetS md w'Ould continue to build capacit>, wiUl in diverse comm uni t), .sIakcholden.. He said O\Tr 3,500 midwil1'S ...."CfC cur· ~tlyservingin I,OOOprimaryhcalth care facililies linked to 250 g~neral hospitals in aU 36 .sIat ~ and Ihe FCf under the MJdwil1'S Scrvict' Scheme.. He urged the beneficiaries to .sec the assignment as a call to service to the nation and that thry should rise to thcdullcngc:.saying. "we hal"!! mutual responsibility forthcsurvi...al of mothersandchildrminNigc:ru..-
Kano civil servants decry non-payment of salaries From Hisham Habib, Kano
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Aliyu to prune cabinet From Ayegba Israel fbl/f, MInna GOVERNOR of NiSt'r State, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, has disclosed plans to reduce tht' number of commissioners and advisers when he submits hi s lisl of nominees 10 the Statt' House of Assembly as he sets to commence his second term. Aliyu made the disclosure yes terd ay In Minna while rect'iving the report of his campaigll organisation in tht' Immediate past election wht're he maintained that a pruned cabinet would engender emciency in tht' administration. He said th e size of a cabint't is not impor. tant bul the effectiveness of handling one with mo re concise functions projected
at giving th e best service which, he uid, would be the focus of hIs adminislration. -, will reduCt' the number of commissioners to at most 20 and also trim the number of advisers and assistants to make governance more efficient and effective and eliminatc redundancy; he said. Aliyu also Intimated Ihat his administration would not tolerate laziness, adding that all must work the produc tion mill of the stale to conform to its vision of becoming one of Ihe best Ihree statc.s in the country by the year 2020. He maintained that appointment of the state c:J(ccutive would not be dont' on the basis of selt'c· lion but subjected to tests as all thost' vying for offices must be qualifieit.
CIVIL se rvants in Kano State have complained over the screening exercise by the new administration to fish out ghost workcrsand other irn:gularitics in the system. The workers who would not want to bt' Identified said the nonpayment of their May salaries had made life difficult for them and their families, adding that the exercise is a waste o f time and had made Ihem face agonizing moments. One of the civil se rvants said he had not even made copit's of his credentials as tht' long queut' at th e photocopying centre in Audu Bako secretariat was worrisome and s.....ore that he had only NSO in his pocket eight days after th e month ended and was not sure when he would receive his salary. Another civil servant who works in th e office of the Head of St'rvict' said thert' wt're indica tions that whatls happening is a partisan issue as most ofthe committee mt'mbcrs. healleged., weR: loyal 10 the government A s taff of tht' tt'achers' boa rd said teach ers weR: also worri ed over thrirsalari es but were not su rprised as it happened In the past when Kwankwaso was governor between 1999 and 2003.