A Non Governmental Organisation, Nigeria Health Watch, has called on States in the country to expedite action on Health Insurance Laws to cater for the health needs of their residents, especially the vulnerable who find it difficult to access quality healthcare.
Health Communication Advisor of the NGO, Ifeanyi Nsofor made the call at a State Health Insurance Experience Meeting in Goshen City, near Abuja, for participants drawn from 16 States of Nigeria, with experiences on State Health Insurance Bill.
The meeting was for the States who were at different levels of the Health Insurance Law process to share experiences in their law formulation, passage and implementation with each other, as well as other participants drawn from communities, civil societies and professional bodies.
“As the call for better healthcare and health access increases, we at Nigeria Health Watch think it is important, more than ever before, to deepen discussions on health insurance in Nigeria and awaken Nigerians to the possibilities that exist for the health insurance sector to move forward this year,” Ifeanyi said.
According to him, Nigeria Health Watch is working hard to help states come up with laws that are applicable in their domains and acceptable to their populace.
He told State representatives, “we are confident that this meeting would be an important avenue for you to share with Nigerians your experience in the health insurance journey in your state.”
He had earlier told AFICA PRIME NEWS that, “At last count, nine States either have existing health insurance laws or recently signed laws establishing state health insurance laws including Lagos State which successfully signed the Lagos State Health Scheme into Law this month. This has led to a rise in the expectations of many Nigerians, including health sector professionals, NGOs working in the health sector, and the international donor community.”
The meeting supported by Christian Aid, an International NGO, featured paper presentations by various states on their experiences in the health insurance. it also featured panel discussions.
A soldier attached to Command Secondary School Kaduna by Command Junction along Kachia Road, northwest Nigeria, on Friday shot dead a 35 year old father of one, Solomon Andy.
Reacting to the incident, the Army said “the attention of Headquarters 1 Division Nigerian has been drawn to tension arising from an incidence that occurred at about 10:00am today 9 June 2017.
“A soldier of the Division Internal Security Force deployed at Command Secondary School Kaduna opened fire on some youths suspected to have encroached into the school premises. One of the youths was hit and died at the spot.”
The statement signed by Colonel Kingsley Umoh, Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 1 Division Nigerian Army said “officers have been deployed to the scene of the incidence in response and the Police have also been invited to take control of the situation.”
Speaking at an emergency meeting to resolve the impasse with some traditional rulers and youth leaders from Television community, the representative of the State Governor and coordinator of Operation Yaki, Col. Yakubu Soja (Rtd), assured citizens of the state that government would conduct investigation into the incidence with the sole aim of prosecuting the culprit.
He said, the governor is saddened with the development and appealed for calm among the citizens of the state.
He advised citizens not to take the law into their hands as the Army Command has commenced the process of penalizing the Soldier that shot dead the civilian.
He advised the people of the area not to interpret what happened with religious coloration, but a clash between civilians and soldiers.
His words, “We cannot allow this to go unpunished, we shall investigate the cause of the incidence and ensure the law take its course. The Army authority has already taken action against the soldier that shot dead the civilian. We are assuring the people that justice shall take its course,” he said.
But an eye witness account said the boy was packing sharp sand from a gully close to the fence separating the Military Secondary School and the community close to the burial ground when the soldier shot him.”
The eye witness said soldiers have been having a running battle with youths from the community over the packing of sand in the area, with the particular soldier always threatening to deal with anybody found within the vicinity.
But on Friday morning the Youths were said to have taken to their heels on sighting the gun welding soldier. However Solomon refused to run instead pleaded with the soldier to allow him pack the sand to get something to eat, since he was packing inside gutter that belongs to nobody but in the burial ground.
The source however said, the soldier “got angry when Solomon refused to run and shot at him, while the boy was approaching and pleading with him.
The development prompted an outrage as youths from the vicinity took the corpse to the gate of the command secondary school and started protesting that the killer soldier be brought out for justice.
They barricaded the entrance of the school, the roads along the School leading to Kachia and the NNPC refinery in Kaduna and the other leading to Romi and Gonin-Gora and Abuja expressway causing traffic gridlock for almost 4 Hours as motorists have to negotiate alternative routes.
Efforts by the Police Officers on ground to broker a deal with the youths was not successful necessitating a reinforcement of combined operatives of soldiers MOPOL and regular police in two trucks and over 15 Toyota Hilux vans.
But the youths remained adamant insisting on seeing a high ranking government officer who can promise them that justice would be done before allowing the police to take away the corpse.
The situation however deteriorated when the police insisted on taking the corpse and the Youths started throwing stones. The impasse that followed left three others injured and are now receiving treatment at St. Gerald Catholic Hospital, Kakuri.
Coalition of Northern Groups, tagged ‘Kaduna Declaration’ have urged the federal government of Nigeria to as a matter of urgency, initiate the process for a peaceful referendum to allow the Igbo to go.
The groups had on Tuesday came up with a position paper presented as the Kaduna Declaration called on the authorities and the international community to step in to formerlize the actualization of the dream of a people who say in words and in action, and the whole nation appears to concur, that they are Biafrans not Nigerians.
In a joint press statement on Thursday issued through its spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman and made available to newsmen in Kaduna, northwest, said, “We are today compelled to make this further statement to clarify our stand on some after our meeting to review the fallout of that Tuesday’s Declaration, our groups have arrived that some elements have for reasons best known to them, mischievously distorted the intent of our original script by alluding such words as ‘violence, ‘ ‘threat, ‘ ‘war’ and ‘mass action’ to it.
“We find this mischievous because as cultured thoroubred Northerners, we have never anywhere and at anytime, under whatever circumstances, called anybody to violence as a means of conflict resolution.
“In strict observance of that tradition, we never employ violence as a means of pursuing our interest and at every opportunity, we opt for peaceful engagements and implore people to eschew violence in all its ramifications.
“This informs why, a majority of discerning Nigerians, not necessarily northerners alone, understood and identified with our express call for the Biafrans to be allowed to actualize their long-held secessionist aspiration.
“We wholeheartedly endorse the moves made variously by our leaders to allay those fears and urge people to be peaceful and law-abiding while at the same time resolutely insisting on having the right thing done by allowing the Igbo to have and move to their dream country in accordance with the universal fundamental right to self-determination.
“We restate our determination and commitment to ensuring that the North will never partake in any contrived arrangement that would still have the Biafran Igbo as a component.
“We reiterate our call on Nigerian authorities and recognized international bodies such as the ECOWAS, AU and UN to hasten the initiation of the process for the final actualization of the Biafran nation and with it the excision of the Igbos out of the present federation.”
The groups noted that despite the minor distortions that caused some measure of anxiety, “We make bold to say that the cheerful responses to our position which flowed through the internet and by way of personal telephone conversations nationally and universally has resonated that peace-loving Nigerians who have been tormented and menaced by the irredentist proclivities of the Igbos are overwhelmingly desirous to put an end to it.
“As we acknowledge this outpouring of patriotic support across the nation, we implore people, particularly our cultured northerners to remain restraint in the face of any provocation from any quarter and to debate intelligently.
“We assure them that we shall be firm and resolute in honestly and painstakingly pursuing what we all know is a noble and just cause without hurting anyone.
“We have taken time to analyze the reactions that trailed our Declaration, and were nauseated by the comments of some disgruntled northern political power mongers.
“We are particularly disappointed by the treacherous positions assumed by Nasir Ahmed El-rufai and Kashim Shettima who in pursuit of their blind ambition for the vice presidency, chose to side with the cesessionist Igbos against the interest of peace-loving Nigerians.
“El-rufai and Shettima are openly known to be waiting in the wings for Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari to die so they can further their plots to seek the presidency.
“It appears that characters like elrufai have no limit on how low they can fall in their inordinate desire to achieve their long held dream of power grab at the expense of the peace, well being and stability of our country.
“We would like to assure elrufai and his ilks that we shall continue to expose their recalcitrant treachery and opportunistic proclivities.
“We also assure them that the drive for a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria in which the Igbos are not partners, will continue unabated.
“Similarly, we are irked by the hordes of lies and misleading innuendos issued by Kashim Shettima, ostensibly on behalf of 19 Northern governors in which he refered to us as faceless and violent.
“By our antecedents and track record, no politician or leader of honorable pedigree and impeccable character will associate us with such fabrications and this goes to prove that Shettima has disconnected from reality as he gets intoxicated by immoral wealth and property acquisition at the expense of people of the state suffering the devastation of Bolo Haram,” the groups explained.
Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, GPFN, in its determination towards ensuring peaceful coexistence in Southern Kaduna, has led to true reconciliation of Fulanis and the natives in Kaninkon Chiefdom, Jema’a local government area of the State.
In a recent reconciliation meeting in Kaninkon Chiefdom, organized by Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, the meeting had in attendance all the ethnic groups in Kanikon Chiefdom in attendance, an effort towards restoring peace following the incessant killings that consumed unimaginable number of lives and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
Report has it that the crises in the chiefdom between Fulani and Kaninkon natives began as a result of dispute over farm land claimed to be Fulanis’ major cattle route that was blocked by farmers.
Both parties became aggressive and consistently harboring hostile against one another to the point farmers could no longer access their farms – persistent killings of natives in the area was the order, while the Fulanis were also denied freedom of movement within the natives’ domain as they too might be killed.
The impact of the aforementioned peace making processes brought about reconciliation and dialogue meeting with both parties agreeing to shield their swords and come to a round-table discussion in Unguwan Fari.
Rev. John Joseph Hayab, the Northern Coordinator of GPFN in his submission made reference to the Bible with a view to soften and calm their tempers for peaceful deliberation, adding, “God in the Bible categorically stipulated that if you love Him and do not love your neighbour, your love to Him is not genuine and can be rejected in the hereafter.”
He observed that several meetings were held separately with the key different stakeholders in the area and aggrieved parties in Dangoma, stressing, “We later realized the need to and held different meetings in Amban, Goska and Bakin Kogi.”
Rev. added that the chief of Kaninkon was a peace loving person for availing us the opportunity to converge this meeting with a view to reach a truth consensus for lasting peace in the area.
He further stressed that both Fulani’s and natives’ youth were consulted and agreed for a dialogue meeting to broker peace, stressing that at the end of the meeting, both parties would forgive one another and transmit the message of the peace agreement to their respective youth that are behind the carnage.
Sheikh Halliru Maraya, the Northern Co-Coordinator in his submission reminded participants of their origin, saying, “Ancestrally, we all belong to one parent which is Adams and Eve, hence, we are brothers and sisters. The devil that masterminded the killings of our brothers and sisters in the area would be ashamed at the end of this meeting. Shaitan (devil) was enemy to us even our forefather, Adams and Eve were deceived to have disobeyed our Creator by which they were asked to exit from paradise to dwell on earth.
“Therefore, today, the devil that also deceived us would be disappointed by seeing this gathering coming together for the first time to embrace peace and live with one another without any rancor.”
“We are not here to discuss what happened in the past but the way forward. According to Maraya, I know you have offended one another but please forgive, as God is Forgiver and loves those that forgive.”
He preempted that all of them were happy and full of hope as they come together to dialogue the infeasible before the upsurge of the violence.
He pleaded with Kaninkon people to forgive Dangoma for their faults and vice versa, pointing out that ethno-religious violence must be condemned as they were not opportune to choose what religion or tribes to be born into but the will of God.
Sati Minisi, the secretary of Unguwan Fari Development Association, said since there was a peace agreement already signed by both Dangoma and Goska, there was no need to draft another one but all of them should continue to abide by it so that peace would reign in the area.
He urged them to restore the good working and harmonious relationship they had in the past, adding that the shadows should please tell the invaders to relinquish as they now forgive and embrace one another for peaceful coexistence.
Kennedy Dauda from Bakin Kogi, one of the victims of the attacks whose houses were set ablazed, said that their father strengthened their faith to leave everything in the hands of God, noting that they have forgiven everyone and also demanded that both Muslims and Christians should pray to one another as they began a new life
Gonzaka, the youth leader from Bakin Kogi, expressed to witness this day of coming together between them and Dangoma for peace talk. He was exonerated Dangoma’s Fulanis from the incessant attacks but transitional Fulanis.
Zakariya Magaji- Bakin Kogi commended the effort of GPFN to have achieved another milestone of their good work. He prayed that those that were mentioned in their statements have forgiven them from their heart.
Mr. Istifanus Ezikiel from Goska appealed to Dangoma people to forgive them on what happened in the past as they also forgive them. “I tell you that nobody can deny the fact that we have wrong one another, hence seeking for your forgiveness as we forgive you.”
Hardo Ayyuba Ladduga, a Fulani man with intimate relationship with Dangoma, said, “I am here present today to bear witness on the peace agreement that is taking place, l believe the leaders will eventually be able to convince their youths to make peace with one another.”
All the traditional rulers present at the meeting expressed delight at move by the Global Peace Foundation Nigeria for their foresight and the people’s resolve d to live in peace with one another for the overall peace, unity and development of the area, Jema’a local government area and Kaduna State in general.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in 19 Northern States and Abuja, has expressed shock with press conference organized by Northern youths asking Igbos to leave the region within three months.
A statement by its Publicity Secretary, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, notes that, “It is very sad to read what some shortsighted and ignorant group from our region are calling on Igbos to leave the North before October. Such call is evil and a threat to national security and unity.
“Leaders of this group and their sponsors should be arrested and prosecuted immediately.
“If we may ask, Which North do they claimed to be speaking for and making these evil threat?
“We are Northerners and can not recall any meeting where such decision was taken and we will never support or encourage anyone to champion such evil idea.
“What our country need today is unity for progress not threat from people who don’t know and understand the positive contributions and sacrifice our parents and many people have made to keep this country united to this level.
“The police should arrest them now without delay.They are not representing the North but some enemies of Nigeria.
“We are appealing to peace loving Northerners irrespective of tribe and religion to come out to condemn and disassociate themselves from this group that want to plunge this nation into confusion.
“CAN in the 19 Northern States and Abuja is calling on her members not to accept this evil calls, but be loving to all Nigerians from all regions and faith as enjoined from the Bible “Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be call sons of God.”
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), LOGO
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, arraigned the trio of Onukaogu Onyinyechi Esther, Ebenuwa Chinazo Jennifer and Onukaogu Joshua before Justice A. S. Adepoju of the FCT High court sitting in Wuse, Abuja, on a 13-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence.
EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement pointed out that, Esther allegedly abused her office while being a staff of Soft Alliance, consultants to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation on IPPIS between 2012 and 2013, to input her name and two of her siblings (Jennifer and Joshua) into the IPPIS database as staff of Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Works respectively, for the purpose of receiving salaries from the federal government.
The statement added that, Esther and her co-defendants were said to have drawn salaries as ghost workers from their ‘respective ministries’ for three years, to the tune of N9million before the law caught up with them, noting that, the offence breaches Section 1 (1) (a) and is punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, No. 14, 2006.
Count six of the charge reads: “That you Onukaogu Onyinyechi Esther and Onukaogu Joshua between January 2014 and December 2014, at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intention to defraud, obtained the sum of N1,860,865.72 (One Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty Five naira, Seventy Two Kobo, only), from the Federal government of Nigeria, under the false pretence that Onukaogu Joshua is a civil servant working in the Federal Ministry of Education, which pretence you knew to be false.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In view of their pleas, counsel to EFCC, Elizabeth Alabi, urged the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the suspects in prison custody. But, the defence counsel, M. M. Hirse, informed the court that he had pending applications for the bail of the defendants.
Responding, Alabi urged the court to refuse the application adding that, “they were once granted bail and they jumped it”.
However, Justice Adepoju opined that “the purpose of bail is to secure the attendance of the defendants in court. It is their constitutional right to be granted bail”.
The judge, therefore, granted each of the defendants bail in the sum of N5million with one surety each in like sum. The sureties must be civil servants not below salary grade level ten.
The matter has been adjourned to September 21, 2017 for hearing.
Meanwhile, the defendants are to be remanded in EFCC custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) has named Omeiza Balogun of Fedreal Radio Corporation of Nigeria as its Journalist for the month of June.
The media development organisation selects a journalist each month to showcase what they have done and contributed to journalism, especially in Africa.
According to AMDF Balogun is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with over ten years post graduate experience in Journalism, development practice, event management, public relations, writing, acting, conflict resolutions, crisis management and media relation consultancy.
He is from Igarra, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, Edo. Balogun is a Senior Reporter: News and Current Affairs with Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN.
Currently Balogun is researching on the use of Short Movies for Development: Mirroring the Options before the People – with a view to revolutionizing the mind-set of people in the rural areas towards developmental discourse; an attempt to stimulate a discourse that will lead to building a link between aesthetic values of rural people’s experience and development.
According to him, one of the major challenges I face as a reporter is people’s attitude towards the profession. In recent times, the profession has witnessed a lot of quacks whose activities has led to vote of no confidence by those who hitherto were willing to give timely and useful information that would help in the job.
I was motivated by the strong impact the pen profession has on the society. The impact was driven by my passion to make a change in the society. While growing up I saw a lot of things going wrong due to lack of information, so I had the drive that someday I will have the voice to change negative narratives, send right information, and get the people and society at large to change for better.
My most challenging report was when I had to investigate the extra judicial killing of a UNIBEN undergraduate. It was challenging in the sense that my Superiors in the office felt that I should not venture into the matter, while the high officers of the Nigeria police were also not interested in changing their earlier claim that the boy was an armed robber and was killed during a cross fire between him and the police. Despite discouraging tunes, I went ahead with my investigation which eventually saw to the arrest of those involved.
A coalition of Northern Youth Groups tagged “The Kaduna Declaration” have given a three months ultimatum to Igbos in Northern Nigeria to vacate the region.
They have also directed northerners residing in the East to relocate back to the North within the same period.
The spokesman of the groups, AbdulAziz Suleiman, while briefing newsmen in Kaduna on Tuesday, said, “With the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 06, 2017, all Igbos currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria are hereby served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the East are advised likewise.
“All northern civil society and pressure groups are by this declaration mandated to mobilize for sustained, coordinated campaigns at their respective State Government Houses, State Houses of Assembly, Local Government Council Secretariats and Traditional Palaces to mount pressure for steps to be taken to ensure enforcement of the directives contained herein.
“The North hereby openly calls on the authorities and other national and international stakeholders to acknowledge this declaration by taking steps to facilitate the final dissolution of this hopeless union that has never been convenient to any of the parties.
From today, June 6, 2017, when this proclamation is signed, the North, a critical player in the Nigerian project, hereby declares that it will no longer be disposed to coexisting with the Igbos and shall take definite steps to end the partnership by pulling out of the current federal arrangement.
“This conclusion is necessitated by the realization that it since ceased to be comfortable or safe to continue sharing the same country with the ungrateful, uncultured Igbos who have exhibited reckless disrespect for the other federating units and stained the integrity of the entire nation with their insatiable criminal obsessions.
“Rather than certain sections holding the whole country to ransom at every stage, each should be allowed to go its own way as we categorically proclaim today that the North is fed up with being the same country with this pack of acrimonious Igbo partners.
“The persistence for the actualization of Biafra by the unruly Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria has lately assumed another alarming twist which involved the forceful lockdown of activities and denial of other people’s right to free movement in the South-East by the rebel Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its overt and covert sponsors.
“This latest action and similar confrontational conducts which amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo, are downright unacceptable and shall no longer be tolerated.
“Concerned by this persistent Igbo threat to national integration, the above-named Pan-northern groups met with several others and reviewed the current position of the North and jointly came up with the following observations:
“The Igbo people of the South-East, without remorse for the carnage they wrought on the nation in the 1960s, are today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history.
“Emboldened by the apparent indifference of the Nigerian authorities, the Igbo secessionist tendency is widening in scope and action at every stage, with adverse effects on the law-abiding people of other regions residing in or passing through the East, while the Igbo leaders and elders by their utterances and direct action or inaction appear to support and encourage it.
“The cruel Igbos have done and are doing more damage to our collective nationhood than any other ethnic group; being responsible for the first violent interference with democracy in Nigeria resulting in a prolonged counter-productive chain of military dictatorship.
“The Igbos similarly orchestrated the first, and so far, the only civil war in Nigeria that consumed millions of lives and sowed the seed of the current mutual suspicion and distrust.
“The Igbos are also responsible for Nigeria’s cultural and moral degeneracy with their notorious involvement in all kinds of crimes, including international networking for drug and human trafficking, violent robberies and kidnappings, high-profile prostitution and advanced financial fraud.
“At the peak of the devastating Boko Haram violence in some parts of the North, available records show that the Igbo people have variously been apprehended while attempting to convey catches of dangerous arms and ammunition to the troubled regions.
“There are today sufficient reasons to suspect that some Igbos masquerade as Fulani herdsmen to commit violent atrocities across the country in order to cause and spread ethnic disaffection.
“It is also on record that since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, the Igbos have shown and maintained open contempt and resentment for the collective decision expressed by majority of Nigerians at various stages via generally acceptable democratic processes.
“While these provocative acts of aggression persist and grow in dimension with each new move, leaders of the North whose people are at the receiving end of the threats, appear helplessly unperturbed.
“Rather than endorsing a concise framework for pre-emptive action to protect and safeguard the interest of the North and its people, leaders of the region at every stage tend to seek the cover of a flimsy and long-discarded excuse of having fought in the 60s to keep Nigeria united.
“Without pursuing a resolute action-plan, these northern leaders have adopted and have been dragging its people into a pitifully pacifist position in order to sustain an elusive national cohesion that has long been ridiculed by the Igbos.”
He noted, “Since the Igbo have clearly abused the unreciprocated hospitality that gave them unrestricted access to, and ownership of landed properties all over the North, our first major move shall be to reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the ingrate Igbos in any part of Northern Nigeria.
“Consequently, officials of the signatory groups to this declaration, are already mandated to commence immediate inventory of all properties, spaces or activity in the north currently occupied by the Igbos for forfeiture at the expiration of the ultimatum contained in this declaration. In specific terms, the groups are directed to compile and forward an up-to-date data of all locations occupied by any Igbo in any part of Northern Nigeria including schools, markets, shops, workshops, residences and every other activity spaces.
“We are hereby placing the Nigerian authorities and the entire nation on notice that as from the 1st October 2017, we shall commence the implementation of visible actions to prove to the whole world that we are no longer part of any federal union that should do with the Igbos. From that date, effective, peaceful and safe mop-up of all the remnants of the stubborn Igbos that neglect to heed this quit notice shall commence to finally eject them from every part of the North.”
A soldier attached to Command Secondary School Kaduna by Command Junction along Kachia Road, northwest Nigeria, on Friday shot dead a 35 year old father of one, Solomon Andy.
