By Adeola Aderounmu.

I stumbled on this piece of news 630am this thursday morning in the Nigerian Guardian:

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Amputee Eagles seek funds for World Cup.

By Olalekan Okusan

THERE are indications that Nigerian amputee soccer team may miss the Amputee Soccer World Cup holding in Turkey as the N5 million needed to prosecute the trip is yet to be raised.

Efforts by the Amputee Football Association of Nigeria to source for funds are yet to yield results.

For 18-year-old Augustine Ugwu, a striker with the team, featuring at the global championship would ignite his hope of better future.

But Ugwu is worried that the fund needed by the team is yet to be raised despite efforts by the association to source for funds from corporate bodies.

President of the association, Prince FeyisetanAre told The Guardian on Monday that he was optimistic that Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola would come to the aid of the team as they have written to his office.

“We have written to corporate bodies like Globacom, MTN, Oceanic Bank and the Ogun State governor including our sports loving governor of Lagos, Barrister Fashola to assist the team to ensure that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted at the championship.

“The organisers have assured us that the feeding, accommodation and other things will be catered for while the N5 million is meant for the ticket, kits and allowances of the team to the championship,” said Are.

It would be recalled that the team had to travel six days by road to be part of the first African Amputee Soccer competition in Sierra Leone. Though the team arrived late for the competition and their performance against host, Sierra Leone and champion, Ghana was able to convince the organisers to be listed among the teams that will feature at the tourney in Turkey.

The team is planning to depart on November 6 for the competition starting on November 11 to 21 in Antalya, Turkey.

Brazil and Russia have won the championship more than any nation, while Brazil, who are the defending champions will be aiming to defend the title it won at home in 2005.

Other countries taking part in the competition include England, France, Ghana, Iran, Liberia, Moldova, Russia, Sierra Leone, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Amputee soccer was invented by Don Bennett of  Seattle in Washington, United States (U,S,), while the first international amputee soccer championship was held in 1984.

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Adeola says: this is a country where some idiots stole more than 10 billion US dollars each as politicians. This is the same country where a house will be renovated for 628 million dollars.

Yet, we are being told that getting 5 million naira to allow our Eagles play in a football tournament is a big problem so much that newspapers have to write about it on their front pages online.

Please can someone send a message to the IDOKO panel that they should just take 10 million out of the 628 million and give to these sportsmen. Our sportsmen and women have brought us fame around the world and they are more honourable than the useless politicians who continue to ridicule the name of Nigeria.

 

By Adeola Aderounmu.

There is absolutely no reason to cry for being deposed as the Speaker of the House of assembly. Life itself is a passage while power is transient. Nothing last forever! Nothing!

To have dragged on for this long was unnecessary in the first place. Nigeria lost a medical doctor in the ugly scenarios that accompanied the tug of war in the dishonorable house. The death of Aminu Safana was a sacrifice too big for the process that requires only a simple removal of an erring officer. There are serious lessons to be learnt.  

A word to Segun Adeniyi and Yar Adua: please can you guys shut up and stop embarrassing Nigerians further with you press releases. How on earth can you describe the resignation of Patricia Etteh as voluntary? 

The process that led to the exit of Patricia was tumultuous and it claimed a life. She was forced to resign, the other dead end option was to be impeached. Yet Yar Adua through Segun Adeniyi can still tell us to our face that such a resignation was voluntary. Are you guys alright? Nonsense!   

Goodnight Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, think about your errors and learn from them. Think about what you can do to make Nigeria a better place. SOMETIMES, the best efforts are made from ordinary positions. Being in the spotlight is not a prerequisite for performance. 

This experience should shape the rest of your life which I expect you to dedicate positively to humanity.  

AND TO Nigerians, let’s add this event to one of the corners of our turning points…I see it coming. It’s our GLORY

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By the way Patricia, maybe you will be prosecuted, who knows. I hope 628 million can fetch you the best liars in town.

By Adeola Aderounmu.

A recent report in the Nigerian Guardian (23/10/2007) revealed that the Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange promised free Medicare for children and pregnant women. She pointed out that some states in Nigeria are doing that already. These two related declarations are absolutely welcomed developments. To those who do not know, a pregnant woman will become sick more easily than a non-pregnant woman and that is not because she is lazy. The simplest reason is because her immunity is now compromised (not as efficient as when she wasn’t pregnant). The immune system of a pregnant woman is saddled with the protection of more than one person. A new baby on the other hand will possess an immune system that is immature and hence can be easily weighed down by different kinds of infections. It takes time before babies develop acquired immunity which coupled with the natural (inherited immunity) can confer some degree of protection against common diseases and infections. There are quite a number of factors which will affect the maturation or development of acquired immunity. When babies are overwhelmed by infections or diseases, they could succumb and give up the ghosts.

 From the foregoing therefore, it would seem very appropriate to place premium emphasis on the care of these categories of people amongst us. My past experience in malaria research opened my eyes to the un-abating trend in the death of children due to malaria, respiratory diseases and other kinds of infections, many of which are preventable or curable. For so many years now, the introductory expression in any malaria research manuscripts or published papers have read something close to or exactly like this: An estimated 300-500 million cases each year cause 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths globally of which more than 90% are in children under 5 years of age in Africa (some use sub-Saharan Africa). The population of Nigeria shifts the bulk of these deaths to our doorsteps. In addition, my MSC thesis from 1999 revealed that probably up to 65% of Nigeria’s general population experience at least one attack of malaria each year. The estimated results were based on statistical analyses of data obtained from LUTH. I am also aware that we have a number of disturbing intestinal and respiratory infections with alarming statistics on the effects on babies and children. To include the effects of HIV in the list adds to the distress.

The pronouncement credited to the honorable Minister that it is possible to make free medical care available for pregnant mothers and children under five years of age is not new to us in Nigeria. Prof. Grange went further to pledge reduction of maternal mortality and reduction of diseases burden on Nigerians. The prevailing maternity mortality in Nigeria today reveals the overall deficiency that laden the successful deliverance of health services in Nigeria. If we go by the recent report on maternal mortality released jointly by the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA (United Nation Population Fund) and the World Bank, then the statement by the honorable minister was good timing. For 2005 only in Nigeria, up to 59 000 women may have died nationwide in cases related to maternity. One of out every 18 deliveries carries the risk of death and a whooping 1 100 deaths were estimated from 100 000 live births. This is huge and alarming if the parameters used at arriving at these estimates are dependable. Nigeria was conspicuously missing from the list of countries with good death registration and good attribution of cause of death. Hence, the report on Nigeria and other countries in Group H (the last group) were simply formulated. The republic of Ireland which recorded only one maternal death from 100 000 live births in 2005 is in group A. There were 58 other countries among those who kept National records on maternal health. Sweden recorded just 3 maternal deaths per 100 000 in 2002, the United States had 11 per 100 000 in 2003 while the United Kingdom recorded 8 deaths per 100 000 in 2004. Here are figures that Nigeria’s Millennium Development Goals should be aiming at; after all human lives ought to have equal values.  

The implication of our present shortcomings in the health sector is that the success of our health ministry will (like most other things in Nigeria) depends on everlasting standard procedures that will define the workings of the health department as an institution and not as a minister-dependent organ.  Prof. Grange may not the Minister of Health next year or in 4 years but there ought to be procedures that will ensure that a serving or a new minister does not start all over from the scratch every New Year. Obviously, there should be room for new ideas and innovativeness but continuity to reach certain goals such as MDG on Health should be standard. When Ministers come in every other year and make the same old pronouncements (like we are starters), then one can detect that we have simply been toying not only with the health of the vulnerable groups mentioned above but also with that of the elderly and the rest of us as well.

Nigeria has actually reached that point when words must be translated into non-stop actions without delays and not just some documented events. In this country, there are a lot of scientific and medical research reports that are wasting away. Many of these reports are awashed with blueprints on eradication of medically important diseases. No one is opening the books or database. Perhaps things are just been done shabbily or half-heartedly. That would explain why despite the popularity of interventions like RBM (Roll Back Malaria) which took off in Abuja on April 25th 2000; the reports on reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality are still indicating slow progress. So much that the documented incidence of malaria in 2003 was higher than in 1990! There should be more and more of government funding for research and development. It is time we took our health issues more seriously. After surviving all these deadly childhood diseases, isn’t it appalling that life expectancy in Nigeria is still estimated to be less than 50 years? Nigeria must look inwards and purposefully too.

Let us begin to apply our medical research results with our peculiarities in mind so that we can make giant strides in the health industry. The ministry of health must enforce national objectives that will remove the obstacles hindering the eradication of polio in Nigeria. That particular problem should be given a permanent solution once and for all. Polio is one disease we must put behind us this year by taking care of the cultural and religious hindrances attached to it. The other states of the federation that have not started implementing free medical care for children and pregnant women should be ordered to do so as soon as possible. The health insurance scheme should also cater for pensioners and old people in general so that they can also have access to cost-free or subsidized health care. For everyone, the cost of receiving excellent health care should be affordable. Public and private Health institutions at various levels (Federal, states, local and community) should be upgraded and standardized forthwith in order to meet the challenges of an ever growing population and the diversities of our health problems. The continuous public health education or enlightenment of the citizenry and the significance of family planning in all of these scenarios cannot be overemphasized. The importance of health is huge: a healthy nation is a wealthy nation.  

aderounmu@gmail.com__________________________________________________________________________

Adeola Aderounmu is a Medical Parasitologist and author of the book: The Entrapment of a Nation (http://www.bokmaskinen.se/index.php?page=2&link=2&view=1149) 

By Sonala Olumhense.

ON September 11, 2006, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized $13.5 million dollars (US) from Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of then Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The International Herald Tribune quoted the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Osita Nwajah, as saying that the seizure was made after Mrs. Jonathan had allegedly laundered the money through an associate.

It was the second time in one month Mrs. Jonathan was hitting the scandal headlines. In August, the EFCC had obtained a court order to temporarily freeze N104 million she had allegedly tried to launder through one Mrs. Nancy Ebere Nwosu. The EFCC said it had reason to believe the seized funds belonged to the public. In a sworn statement, Mrs. Nwosu implicated Patience Jonathan, the EFCC said.

But remember, her husband was the Bayelsa State Governor at the time. And Mr. Jonathan’s government dashed to the defence of the First Lady of Bayelsa, alleging that the reports were part of a “plot to destabilize” the state. Government spokesmen were falling over each other to speak for Mrs. Jonathan. The Governor’s spokesman, Dennis Sami, described the allegations as a “charade,” the target of which was the Governor.

“We are aware that the said Nancy Ebere Nwosu is a very remote relation of Her Excellency who has lived abroad for several years,” Mr. Sami said. “She is a successful businesswoman of no little means whose business concerns do not involve Mrs. Jonathan.”

Mrs. Jonathan’s spokesman, Kenneth Ekpelu, fired an e-mail to Vanguard newspaper in which she spoke of “her husband’s opponents who strangely perceive her as the soft spot in his political armour and won’t stop hammering away at her until their decisions to oust him from office are met.”

It is funny how these canned money-laundering defenses sound alike. Didn’t former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s United States lawyer, Mr. Kunle Fagbenle, say last November that Andy Uba – who used part of some funds laundered by means of the executive jet (allegedly without Obasanjo’s permission) to shop for Obasanjo’s farms – could not be accused of money-laundering because Mr. Uba was “already a rich man”? And did not Obasanjo say the Uba scandal was only a “calculated attempt” to ruin his name?

Anyhow, despite the massive protestations of Governor Jonathan, the EFCC pressed ahead. On August 22, 2006, Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja authorized the freezing of the N104 million “pending the conclusion of the investigation of the activities of the said persons in connection with their involvement in the acts of money laundering and other economic and financial crimes related offences.”

And then, barely three weeks later, Mrs. Jonathan was in the news again, reportedly being separated from an astounding $13.5 million in US dollars. She must have been one angry woman. But all that was one year ago.

Since then, the Jonathans have moved up in the world. They have left the relative squalor and poverty of a mere state governorship for the Vice-President’s estate. They have left the petty limitations of Bayelsa for the limitless expanse of Abuja. Only one man now speaks before Mr. Jonathan does.

Yes, Mr. Jonathan is the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the second most powerful man in the country. He is also the man President Yar’Adua is trusting with the challenge of the Niger Delta, where billions of dollars are expected to be spent over the next few years.

He has also been talking about democracy, corruption, the rule of law, and development. Just over a week ago, at the All-Delta Peoples Conference in the United States, Mr. Jonathan disclosed that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had authorised the release of all funds due the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). In addition, “Special funds will be provided for special projects in line with the master plan,” he said.

And Mrs. Jonathan has been speaking, too, telling Nigerian women how they can become more fulfilled citizens. Up in the rarefied air of federal authority, you can preach any sermon, even while you have around your neck diamonds and jewels of $13.5 million, and gold bracelets of N104 million.

This is all quite ironic. The Jonathans are living in a dream state. They moved into the governorship in Bayelsa when Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was consumed in a corruption blaze, and into the vice-presidency when the PDP sought someone to balance Umaru Yar’Adua on the PDP presidential ticket.

But they take quite a few scandals with them. Mr. Jonathan left Bayelsa State in a thick cloud of suspicion. Many Bayelsans believed his government had fleeced the treasury. While Mr. Jonathan said upon assumption of office he had inherited a state treasury N25 billion thick, he refused to say what was left there as he vacated office. Bayelsans alleged he had swept the commonwealth clean, and that most public projects were left uncompleted.

Two months after he assumed the vice-presidency, Mr. Jonathan came under severe national pressure to follow the lead of his boss and make his assets declaration public. It took several nerve-wracking weeks of trying to dodge the responsibility, but he finally released the document, which showed the former university lecturer was worth an absolutely unbelievable N295 million. He had only been the Governor for 17 months, and this means he had been growing richer at the rate of close to N17 million per month. Naturally, wink-wink, he did not include his wife in his declaration.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Jonathan…

In its report of last April’s election, the New York based Council on Foreign Relations observed that Patience Jonathan was generally regarded as the “greediest person in Bayelsa State” and a woman of great cruelty. Last June, the Niger Development Monitoring and Corporate Watch (NIDDEMCOW), a local non-governmental organization, asked the EFCC to publish its report on Mrs. Jonathan.

The EFCC has not. This is not particularly strange; the Commission is not in the habit of issuing such reports. But nothing has been heard from the Commission since the flurry of activities of August and September last year. That coincides with the period before Mr. Jonathan emerged Yar’Adua’s running mate.

Apparently, even scandals of that magnitude are no obstacle in Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan got the vice-presidency, and the only man he is answerable to is about to put into his hands, theoretically for the Niger Delta, all the diamonds and gold a man could want.

And his wife? Patience Jonathan apparently hates that kind of snail-pace to fortune. Indicted by the EFCC in only eight months as First Lady on a charge of laundering a few Naira bills, she moved to dollar bills in the millions the following month. That same month, the EFCC report to the Senate called her by name.

Again, this does not seem to matter in Nigeria: weeks later, in October, the Owu Kingdom, President Obasanjo’s people, honoured the Jonathans with chieftaincy titles. In that culture, Obasanjo is the Balogun of Owu; Mr. Jonathan became the Obateru.

If Mrs. Jonathan was thrilled on that day, she must be over the moon today. An EFCC indictment, and yet she can get on any of our presidential jets at any time and drink champagne at State functions.

And how much taller she must be, these days as she stands on the authority of the vice-presidency! From such heights, not only do you dwarf an EFCC, but you also are invincible. What a country!

What I really fail to understand is: If Mrs. Jonathan can so effectively laugh at the so-called war on corruption, does that not make her the First Lady? On what basis does she perform her functions – the recommendations of the EFCC? Why has Mrs. Jonathan assumed the status of untouchable, or is she truly the nation’s most powerful woman?

sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

Culled from the Nigerian Guardian Sunday 28th October 2007

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This is Osun State Politics:

THE recent report of the abduction and rape of a young schoolgirl by suspected thugs of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ilesa, Osun State, conveys the extent of barbarism and criminality that characterises partisan politics in our land. The young girl was reportedly ravaged by a gang of party thugs. The act is condemnable. Weeks after the incident, it is scandalous that nothing has been done to bring the assailants to book.

The victim, Miss Tosin Ajakaye, a senior secondary school student, apparently a relation of a supporter of the Action Congress (AC), was allegedly abducted and raped in the course of her ordeal because she refused to give false evidence against an opponent of the incumbent PDP government in the state. The girl and other members of the AC in Ilesa were abducted and allegedly taken to the house of a certain PDP chieftain where they were severely tortured and brutalised.

According to Miss Ajakaye who narrated her horrible ordeal to the police on her sickbed at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where she was being treated, a member of the PDP in Ilesa forcefully entered her residence located in the Isokun area and gagged her. The man subsequently subjected her to torture and rape. She said she could neither resist nor shout because the rapist completely overpowered her.

After debasing her, he blew a whistle and his accomplices emerged from their hideout around the residence and quickly bundled her into a waiting vehicle outside the house. She was then taken to the residence of a PDP chieftain where she met three other AC members who were said to have been tied to the stakes!

 There and then she was stripped naked and her pubic hairs forcefully shaved and forced down her throat. She said that the psychopaths made jest of her and poured dry gin into her private part. When she attempted to shout, they were infuriated and decided to poke her private part with sticks and broken bottle while laughing her to scorn. She said she was released the following day.

There is no doubt that the act as narrated by the victim is odious, shocking and horrifying. It amounts to pathological sadism for supposed human beings to conduct themselves in such savage manner. Certainly, the girl has been traumatised for life and only a methodically administered psychological counseling process would help her recover from the trauma.

When the incident occurred, the State police command quickly swung into action to apprehend the culprits. The police have also declared five other suspects now on the run wanted. We call on the police to spread its dragnet to apprehend all the fleeing rapists. The so-called PDP chieftain in whose house the act was perpetrated should also be arrested and tried.

A situation where party stalwarts run a private police and cells in their homes where their opponents are tortured is detestable. The practice makes nonsense of the principle of democracy and the rule of law. The police should pay extra attention to the activities of party stalwarts and take decisive steps to curtail their excesses.

It is scandalous that PDP supporters are being accused of perpetrating the nefarious act. The PDP supporters in Osun State are apparently taking the laws into their own hands. But this is not really politics; it is madness. The political conflict in Osun State has clearly become dangerous. Life has become brutish in the face of intolerance and bitterness. People are afraid to hold contrary political opinion.

Since the April general elections, Osun State has been turned into a theatre of brigandage. Lives have been lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed. Killing, assassinations and arson have become the order of the day. The situation is unending and is getting out of hand.

The various political parties should call their members to order. The state will not develop in the face of unending political feud. The destruction in the state so far should prick the conscience of all the players so that peace can be given a chance.

 Culled from the Guardian Editorial on Saturday October 27 2007.