Adamawa Gubernatorial Election: PDP Disqualifies Acting Governor Fintiri

 Umar Fintiri

The screening committee setup by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to screen candidates

Fifa rejects the Nigeria Football Federation elections

Fifa have rejected the election of Chris Giwa as the new president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and warned that Nigeria could be banned

Police raid Lagos hotels, arrest 39 foreigners

Men of the Nigerian Police from the Area A Command, Lion Building, Ikoyi, Lagos State, and

Issues; as Nigeria approaches victory line in the race against Ebola

By Evelyn Okakwu

As Nigeria dots the ‘I’s and crosses the ‘T’s in the fight against Ebola; certain

Strike: Patients crowd hospitals as doctors resume

Most hospitals in the Federal capital Territory on Monday witnessed a huge turnout of patients following the suspension of the strike

Students plan N100m hostel in UNILORIN

The University of Ilorin Postgraduate Students Association said on Monday it would organise a N100 million

Ebola: FG to Honour Late Dr Adadevoh

Dr Adadevoh

Following the sacrifice and gallant fight late Dr  Stella Ameyo Adadevoh put up to rescue the rest of country from a more devastating outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the federal government Friday said plans are underway to honour Adadevoh.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu stated this when Association of Private Medical Practitioners visited him in Abuja on the way forward to stem the spread of the virus.
Chukwu while commending the efforts of private medical practitioners said the role of the First Consultant Hospital and late Dr Adadevoh was very crucial in ensuring that the virus does not go viral as it has spread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
He explained that the role of private medical practitioners have become sacrosanct, adding; "particularly now when public medical practitioners,  doctors are on strike."
Details to follow

300,000 APC members to choose presidential candidate

National Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun

The All Progressives Congress has said that it will conduct a primary election in which at least 300,000 of its members will determine the party’s presidential candidate for the 2015 election.

The party said it would not adopt the delegate system in the primary election but the modified direct system, which would involve such large number of people that would be difficult for aspirants to buy over.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said this at the end of the party’s first National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Thursday.

NSCDC advocates 25-year jail term for pipeline vandals

various effects of pipeline vamndalisation

Commandant, Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Donatus Ikemefuna, on Friday advocated a 25-year jail term for pipeline vandals in the country.

Ikemefuna spoke in Lagos while briefing newsmen on the success recorded so far by the command.

He said that the punishment should also be extended to anyone pronounced guilty of vandalising  other public infrastructure or stealing natural resources.

“If the penalty and prison term for oil theft or vandals is amended to 25 years, people will be tired

AU deploys military medics in W’Africa over Ebola

the virus has caused the death of over 1400 people in Africa, since its emergence this year

The African Union Commission is to deploy a joint military medical personnel and civilian humanitarian mission to tackle the Ebola virus outbreak in parts of West Africa.

A statement on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the Commission said its Peace and Security Council mandated the action to tackle the situation in the affected West African nations.

Building Health Bridges

Some community health workers helping people to get treatment, in the absence of medical doctors in government hospitals

With doctors on strike nationwide, Rebecca Ejifoma, of Punch newapers writes about the efforts of a non-governmental organisation to bring quality medical services to the people

While public doctors refuse to go back to work and the virulent Ebola continues to make the headlines, some non-governmental organisations in the country have taken it upon themselves to bridge the gap between quality healthcare and the less privileged of society, by providing free check-ups and sensitisations at the grassroots level. One of such organisations is the Daniel Ogechi Akujobi Memorial Foundation (DOAMF).

At the just concluded health awareness campaign organised by DOAMF and Exxonmobil in Ikota community, a slum in Etiosa Local Government Area, there was free health services for children, youths and the aged numbering over a thousand. The residents responded enthusiastically in mass.

In all, eight medical doctors and other health specialists attended to participants. Also, the specialists took participants on eye screening, high blood pressure, de-worming of under-aged children and adults, as well as treatment for malaria and other common diseases.

The awareness campaign was tagged, ‘Healthy Living’ and was aimed at promoting healthy living in under-served communities.
Besides the free medical care, participants were educated on public hygiene and tips for healthy living, to reduce the prevalence of diseases in the area. There was a major coverage of children in the de-worming exercise, as over 300 under-aged children benefitted and also received gift items donated by Diamond Bank Plc and Chikki Foods Industries Limited.

According to the Programme Manager, DOAMF, Mrs. Clare Henshaw, most people, especially in the low-cost areas, consider appointment with a medical doctor a luxury. The ‘Healthy Living’ programme, she noted, was tailored to address this need by taking free medical exercise to the doorstep of such people.

Henshaw explained: “Such initiative will address the increasing health challenges among the less privileged families by tackling the root causes of various ailments rather than the symptoms.”

She also stated that although their aim was to reach 500 persons, “the massive turn out of over 1,000 indigenes is a glaring fact that people are in dire need of healthcare support, especially the less privileged and low income earners.”

In her words, the event revealed the lack of awareness among beneficiaries on the need for medical help, as they displayed ignorance on how to explain the symptoms of their ailment to medical personnel. She urged: “A lot of attention should, therefore, be focused on poor communities. The enhancement of community healthcare depends on the generosity of philanthropic contributions from corporate organisations and kind individuals, who continue to intervene for change.”

She was also grateful for the support of the programme’s sponsors. “Our appreciation to Exxon Mobil Producing, Viccipharm Ltd, Diamond Bank Plc., Eti-Osa LGA Medical Unit, New Height Pharma, Vita Health Limited, Metro Health Limited, Jawa Int’l Ltd and kind individual donors,” she said.

The Foundation disclosed that it has embarked on other health projects in the past, such as de-worming of over 575 under-five years old children at areas including Ipakodo and Ikorodu; community health programmes and nutritional support for 700 children in Ilaje community, as well as the provision of free medical treatment to children, youths and aged in Ikeduru LGA, Imo State.

According to her, DOAMF’s focus on primary healthcare stems from the belief that it is the bedrock of healthcare service in the nation, providing basic care to the grassroots. “Our Foundation renovated and equipped the Mowe Primary Healthcare Centre as well as the Amaimo Primary Healthcare Centre in Ogun and Imo States respectively.”

DOAM Foundation was established in 2006, in memory of 13 years old Daniel Ogechi Akujobi, who died from injuries he sustained in a fatal highway accident on his way back to school along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Ogun State Nigeria in 2005. He was the only son of his parents.

The Foundation is dedicated to the enhancement of the education and health of less-privileged children and youths in the society. Since its establishment seven years ago, the Foundation has offered scholarship to a number of vulnerable but intelligent children in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. It has also undertaken various life improving programs including de-worming of children, mentorship, educational, nutritional and psycho-social support to over 35,000 children and youths in the society.

It is engaged in the enhancement of primary healthcare centres in rural areas and supports in the building & equipping of Accident & Emergency Response Centres along major highways in the country to save the lives of accident and trauma victims.  The Foundation’s first Accident & Emergency Centre was built in partnership with Diamond Bank Plc., along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mowe, Ogun State.

One of the residents who benefitted from the programme, Eniafe Adesanya, said that most people in the community do not have access to the public and private health facilities in the area. He blamed this on lack of awareness by the people and called for more health campaigns targeted at the ordinary people.

Adesanya, who is also the Community Development Association Chairman, Ikota Housing Estate, explained: “The large turn-out at the event was a clear demonstration of the people’s desire for medical care. This is a worthy initiative and the organisers should continue the good work.”

“I pray that more NGOs and foundations will come up like DOAM to remember the less privileged, those who cannot afford the huge sum of money for medical care. When we see health workers come to us we are happy, because hospitals are not within reach and there are many community members with health challenges. The cost of the health centre is not as high as the private hospitals, but there are other challenges which have been made known to them. Let them equip them with manpower, essential drugs and facilities. I am praying that they quickly address these challenges,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Medical Officer of Eti-Osa LGA, Dr Nurain Ayeola, lauded the initiative, adding that government alone cannot solve all the existing health problems of people in the state.

He described the exercise as a mini-health mission and that such exercise carried out in needy communities would benefit the poor. “One of the major factors militating against the usage of existing health facilities is poverty. When people don’t have the wherewithal to go to the hospitals, particularly when they have reasons to go there, organising free outreach, like this, will benefit a lot of people. If it is possible that we organise this every month, people will come out and it will benefit them,” he said.

Quote: When we see health workers come to us we are happy, because hospitals are not within reach and there are many community members with health challenges

Widows open up on sex life, coping strategies

Her husband is dead. She is jobless. She is saddled with five hungry mouths to feed. The burden of the next house rent lies solely on her shoulder, no companion, no friend. She is being scorned by not a few but also pitied by many others. This is the life of a typical Nigerian widow.

You see her; the picture she paints is that of a helpless woman who is more worried about her financial incapability. Ask 10 widows and nine out of them would tell you their major problem is money. But no, that is not the major predicament, it goes beyond that.

Above all the challenges and concerns, a widow is first of all, a woman who has needs – sexual needs. How does she cope when that urge, that craving and that feeling of wanting to have a man satisfy her sexual needs, comes up? How does she quench her sexual desire?

As you watch her cry at the graveside of the husband, wanting to fall into the grave with the casket, it is not only because she has lost a helpmate. She cries most importantly because she has lost a friend, a companion and of course, a lover- a sex mate

Saturday Punch met with some widows who narrated their ordeal since their husbands passed on.

The perception that a widow doesn’t and shouldn’t have a sexual need lies in the minds of the ignorant. The urge is there, stronger, deeper and certainly more intense.

“I am not too old, somebody should be around me. The urge to have sex comes on once in a while, it is the grace of God that keeps me going all this while,” says 53-year-old school teacher, Getrude Oyetayo.

“Personally, I came to realise that my profession of being a teacher has helped me a lot. I am disciplined. I try to make sure I am myself. I respect myself and forge ahead. I don’t dwell along that line. If I put my interest there, I will lose focus. Peradventure it comes again; I only ask God what He thinks I should do. God has always been there. God will ask me if He is not sufficient for me. If I have any sexual feelings, I engage myself in the house of God. It has helped me not to think of it.

“When I feel the urge, I run to the church. The first few years I lost my husband, I would always go to the church to sweep it. I will listen to the radio. At times, my kids would not be around, they would go back to school. I don’t even have a maid. But I will manage,” she explained.

Oyetayo said she had had to battle with the issue of loneliness since her husband, Williams, passed on five years ago.

“As a human being, the loneliness comes up. It is terrible. If you are not careful, you will lose focus. Loneliness is something a widow battles with. You look right, you don’t see anybody and you look left, you don’t see anybody. You are just on your own. My companion is my transistor radio. If I am not singing praises, I will listen to radio or watch TV. Before you know it, it would be night and I would sleep off and wake up the next morning,” she says.

Five years down, Oyetayo says she is still not used to the fact that she is a widow, saying she would not wish the condition for her worst enemy.

“I was traumatised for a long time. I went through a lot of psychological and emotional pain. But God has been there. It is His grace that has been sustaining me. Being a widow is something you will not wish your worst enemy. I thank God anyway.”

Thirty-year-old shares her experience

Oyetayo’s story is not different from that of 30-year-old Ibienne Ekile, (not real names), a Rivers State banker based in Lagos.

Ekile, whose husband died in 2010, three years after the marriage, said the sexual urge is still as fresh as it was when she met her husband.

“In my own case, I wasn’t devastated because I wouldn’t be able to take care of my home and our son. Thank God I have a good job. But I realised that I would not be able to make love to my husband any longer. Our sex life was very healthy when we were together. I just didn’t know how I was going to manage. I doubt if there is any widow that would say she doesn’t crave for sex.

“I managed to live a life of chastity for three years. I am a human being and I am young. I had to get into a relationship so that I don’t jump from one bed to another. My husband’s death was painful. He died in a motor accident and it has not been easy. For a woman to stay and have nobody to ‘lubricate’ her is not easy at all. I will not lie and tell you that I have not slept with any man since my husband died.”

‘I sewed up my vagina’

But a female catechist of a Catholic Church in Lagos, Mrs. Maria-Rose Aganbi, claimed she has not slept with a man since her husband died 21 years ago and might never in her lifetime.

“My husband died when I was 30 years old and after five years in marriage. It was terrible! I had my five children in those five years. Things were not so good. But I made a vow to God that He would be my husband.

“I will not say the passion was not there. However, I killed it with prayer. If I had slept around or had affairs, I wouldn’t have been able to train my son who eventually became a priest. I sewed up my vagina. I can beat my hand on my chest and say that I have never slept with any man since my husband died. However, when the urge comes, I go to the sanctuary of God and I pray and pray,” she said.

“The urge still comes on so strong even at this age. But I have made a vow to God and I intend to keep it no matter what. I don’t masturbate, I don’t even have immoral thoughts and I don’t play with sex toys. However, I switch off and occupy my mind with other thoughts,” she said.

Aganbi would not likely forget in a hurry what she went through to train her kids.

“Things were so hard. I used to hawk Aloe Vera in Lagos Island. I soaked garri in water and allowed it to rise before I gave it to my children. I used to hawk rice and so many other things. We were living in a thatched house. The life of a widow is certainly not a bed of roses,” she said.

But Mrs. Sandra Maduneme, a clothier based in Egbeda area of Lagos, said she didn’t find it difficult to adapt to the loss of her husband in terms of sexual needs because she has a low libido.

“Naturally, sex has not been ‘food’ for me. I may not be frigid but I can do without sex. So, when my husband died, sex really never came to my mind. In that aspect, I have been able to cope very well. My husband was not always around even when he was alive. He was based abroad but he trusted me so much because he knew I was not too keen about sex.

“But few times when I even thought of it in the middle of the night, I would just call Jesus and I will sleep off again. If I get the urge early in the morning, before I know it, my kids would enter my bedroom and I would play with them and prepare them for the day,” she said.

Advances from men on the increase

One common experience among the widows, as they told our correspondent, was the rise of advances from the men.

Virtually all the widows our correspondent spoke with said men demand to sleep with them mostly before they could assist them in any area.

Recalling her experience, Oyetayo said the first person to make sexual advances at her was her late husband’s best friend.

“He was my husband’s best man during our wedding. Just one month after my husband died, he came to me and asked me how I would be able to pay the rent and my two children’s school fees. Before I could even answer him, he said he was available and he would give me anything I wanted as long as I slept with him.

“Apart from him, I have had several other advances from men even till tomorrow. But I know myself, I don’t intend to mess up and I will always be focused,” she said.

But Aganbi recalled that she actually went out with some of the men simply because she needed to eat and get extra food for her children.

“I remember a man that met me one day that I was crying. He asked me what was wrong with me and I told him I needed N800 for my kids’ food and transportation to school the following day. He gave me the money but also suggested I follow him to a hotel because he wanted to “take me out.”

“While at the restaurant, he ordered for chicken and rice. I devoured my rice and even asked for more. They brought it and the man went to the reception to ‘arrange’ for room. I quickly told him I was going to urinate and I took off with the rice. That was what my children ate that night,” she said.

From a psychiatrist perceptive

A psychiatrist, Dr. Adeoye Oyewole, attributed a number of issues such as religious, economic and cultural as factors that might stop a widow from having a strong sexual drive.

“A widow has a psychological sense of loss. There is the challenge of bringing up the children. There are challenges with the in-laws who want to chase her out of the house. There is also the religious challenge. The widow is expected to be holy and be focused and be satisfied with her life and not desire sex which is carnal because she is expected to ‘need’ God more than any other person.

“There is also the expectation of the society. A good number of widows don’t want to be seen in the hotel. They wouldn’t want to be seen in another man’s car. A widow would feel if somebody sees her with another man, the person might feel she was the one that killed her husband because of that man.”

Oyewole said that most men primarily want to sleep with widows and perhaps, take advantage of them.

“When an average man sees a widow, he knows that she is desperate and can be taken advantage of. A widow is not interested in the sexual release but in the quality and intimacy of the sex and it is difficult to get that. Most of us that are married, our wives are struggling to get that kind of intimacy, talk less of a widow. The men available to those widows are usually friends of their husbands. Most times, they are the ones that would be the first to ask the widow for sex. The woman will see it as a taboo as if she is betraying the dead.

“Most widows also want men who can be economically responsible for them and their children, a problem solver. That kind of man is not common again. The widows cannot go for younger men. The responsible men are the married ones. It gets to a time the widow gets attached to this ‘wonderful’ man who is nice and who picks the bills and solves problems and before you know it, she gets jealous of the wife at home. Wahala will start and the man will tell her that his wife is number one,” he said.

However, Oyewole believes that things are changing with the modern generation.

“Modern widows of this generation are somewhat different. It is a cultural thing but the culture is also melting,” he said.

Findings revealed that many widows who did not have wealthy husbands or inherit wealth or property belonging to their husbands either by will or proxy are either at the mercy of male suitors who would promise heaven on earth in exchange for sex or they just stay away and manage their loneliness.

Source-Punch

Accessing the efforts of government towards curbing the spread of Ebola

The natural host for the virus is the fruit bat

By Evelyn Okakwu 

Since the discovery of Ebola in Nigeria, through the late Patrick
Sawyer, who came into the country from Liberia with the disease, so much has been said
about the deadly diseases and its effects if it spreads across the
country. A couple of days back, Nigerians exhibited their degree of
confusion about the pandemic when rumours about a cure through the use
of salt and warm water dominated the news all over the country, with
the social media playing a key role in misleading a people already on
the verge of confusion.
The Nigerian government has since drafted a committee to look into the
problem, with the President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, declaring a
national emergency on the disease (following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, WHO) and approving the sum of N1.9
billion special intervention fund to tackle the growing challenges
emanating from the outbreak.
Also the international community has played its role in the effort to
deal with what has variously been described as the world’s deadliest
disease in recent times.
 According to WHO “The Ebola outbreak in West Africa constitutes an ‘extraordinary event’ and a public
health risk to other States”.
“The current EVD outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013. This
outbreak now involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and
Sierra Leone. As of August 2014, the above named countries have reported 1 711 cases.
1 070 of which were confirmed, 436 probable,  and 205 cases regarded as suspect". This number, WHO further says include 932 deaths, noting that this is currently the largest EVD outbreak ever recorded.”
    The possible consequences of further international spread are
particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus, the
intensive community and health facility transmission patterns, and the
weak health systems in the currently affected and most at-risk
countries.
    A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop
and reverse the international spread of Ebola.”
While this is true, an equally coordinated response would be necessary
to avert the national spread of the disease in Nigeria.
If the actions of Nigerians last Friday, across the country is any
thing to go by, one thing is certainly derivable-that a hand full of
Nigerians are relatively ignorant about the prose and cones of
maintaining a healthy condition in the face of such a deadly pandemic.
What’s more, the chairman, association of Medical Laboratory
scientists of Nigeria, Dr, Casmir Ifeanyi has stated that the country
is not yet ready to face the wide spread of Ebola, should such become
the case, in the country. According to him, the way to containing any
disease, globally is through preventive health care which can only be
achieved through an authenticated Laboratory based surveillance. A
situation which he says is still lacking in the country.
“We need to begin to build capacity of health care professionals,
particularly, medical laboratory personnel. Diagnoses and surveillance
are all laboratory issues and this is key in dealing with the issue of
Ebola”.
As noted by the chairman the current industrial action embarked upon
by the Nigerian Medical Association has not in any way helped the
fight to rid the country of the wide spread of Ebola.
More so, the discord among medical practitioner, who have variously fed
the public with contrasting information of the state of the
industrial action has only aggravated the fears of Nigerians further
on the possibilities of winning the fight against the deadly Ebola Virus
Other challenges noted by WHO, as regards the virus in West Africa were explained thus ; “In light of States Parties’ presentations
and subsequent Committee discussions, several challenges were noted
for the affected countries: These challenges include:
Their health systems are fragile with significant deficits in human,
financial and material resources, resulting in compromised ability to
mount an adequate Ebola outbreak control response;
    Inexperience in dealing with Ebola outbreaks; misperceptions of
the disease, including how the disease is transmitted, are common and
continue to be a major challenge in some communities;
    High mobility of populations and several instances of cross-border
movement of travellers with infection;
    Several generations of transmission have occurred in the three
capital cities of Conakry (Guinea); Monrovia (Liberia); and Freetown
(Sierra Leone); and a high number of infections have been identified
among health-care workers, highlighting inadequate infection control
practices in many facilities".

Fortunately for us in Nigeria, such a spread has not been recorded.
Both stake holders and some Nigerians have said that the effort of
government towards curtailing the spread of the disease among health
practitioners has been quite commendable.
Yet, as aptly noted by the Dr Ifeanyi; “The way to containing any
global disease, pragmatically is through preventive health care
system"; which implies the introduction of vaccines along with the
acceptable cure for the said disease.
Fortunately, a recent report has revealed the existence of drugs
capable of curing the deadly Ebola Virus.  The drugs which are
produced by tekmira phamacueticals, known as tekmira from the United
States, and a similar drug, called Favipiravir; an influenza tablet
created by a Fuji Films subsidiary, Toyoma Chemicals-co in Japan, are
still been scrutinised for globall acceptance by stake holder
organisations.
However, the discovery of a vaccine to accelerate the final
elimination of this dreaded disease is still far from reach. Also the
inability of the Nigerian government to close borders has not been
without its attending pros and cones.
More so, the response of some Nigerians to the popular call to avoid
some factors that could lead to the spread of the disease has not been
quite encouraging.
In this discussion with Nigerians they share their opinion on the call
to desist from eating or hunting bush meat. Mrs Susan Urhomi had this
to say: “I and my family have been eating bush meet for as long as I
can remember. I can count the number of times I have had to buy meat
from the market, cause my husband always travels and brings home bush
meats of different sizes which goes a long way to help in saving my
money for buying meat. My husband goes to the village very often and
he gets bush meat practically free from his friends and relatives. My
people in the village depend on that a lot for livelihood. How can
they just decide to stop eating and even hunting bush meat, even when
they have no other source of livelihood?
Also these man who refuses to mention his name had this to say about
the need to wash hands often after returning from any place. “I do not
exactly see how that can save people if not for God’s intervention.
Because the body operates a very reflex system. You cannot ask the hand not
to go to the skin, in the event of a scratch, what happens in such a
case when the hand is already infected. And how do you tell exactly
when one’s hand has been infected or not? So the bottom line is that
something should be done to independently curtail the spread of this
disease, especially in Nigeria, because take it or leave it, we are
very hospitable in Nigeria, we have a culture that naturally
encourages mingling with each other in various ways, including through
the use of bodily contacts, that are moral and equally warm".
It has been stated that the Ebola Virus can only be contacted when there
is a contact with a sick person from the disease. But from the survey
conducted during this report, it was discovered that not so many
Nigerian are aware of this fact.  Also the BBC rightly says concerning the
fears created about this disease that; “People are frightened for two
reasons. First and most importantly, because there's no known vaccine,
no cure (except recently); second, because of the ghastly physical
reality of the disease, as portrayed in those lurid posters”
What this means is that while these drugs for the cure could be
described as a welcomed development, there is the need for the
stakeholders involved to work with the media in ensuring that people
become less frightened and more informed on how to manage the
situation