News
The Omicron-fuelled wave of Covid-19 infections has led wealthy countries to intensify their recruitment of nurses from poorer parts of the world, worsening dire staffing shortages in overstretched workforces there, the International Council of Nurses said.
Sickness, burnout and staff departures amid surging Omicron cases have driven absentee rates to levels not yet seen during the two-year pandemic, said Howard Catton, CEO of the Geneva-based group that represents 27 million nurses and 130 national organisations.
To plug the gap, Western countries have responded by hiring army personnel as well as volunteers and retirees but many have also stepped up international recruitment as part of a trend that is worsening health inequity, he continued.
"We have absolutely seen an increase in international recruitment to places like the UK, Germany, Canada and the United States," Catton said in a Reuters interview based on a report he co-authored on Covid-19 and the global nursing force.
"I really fear this 'quick fix solution' – it's a bit similar to what we've been seeing with PPE (personal protective equipment) and vaccines where rich countries have used their economic might to buy and to hoard - if they do that with the nursing workforce it will just make the inequity even worse."
Even before the pandemic there was a global shortage of 6 million nurses, with nearly 90% of those shortages in low and lower-middle-income countries, according to ICN data.
Some of the recent recruits to rich countries have come from sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, and parts of the Caribbean, Catton said, saying that nurses were often motivated by higher salaries and better terms than at home.
The ICN report said this process was also being facilitated by giving nurses preferred immigration status.
"The bottom line is that some people would look at this and say this is rich countries offloading the costs of educating new nurses and health workers," he said.
Even wealthy countries will struggle to cope with the "mountains of backlog of unmet care" when the pandemic winds down, Catton warned, calling for more investment and a ten-year plan to strengthen the workforce.
"We need a coordinated, collaborative, concerted global effort which is underpinned by serious investment, not just warm words and platitudes and applause," he said.
Reuters
Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says it took over control of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Limited over inability of the DisCo to clear its acquisition loan from Skye Bank, now Polaris Bank.
IBEDC distributes electricity to consumers in Oyo, Osun, parts of Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti states.
After a court ruling empowering AMCON to take over the asset, IBEDC came under receivership on Thursday, January 20.
The DisCo was acquired by Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited (IEDML) the same firm that acquired Yola DisCo, all during the 2013 power sector privatisation exercise.
It later returned Yola to the federal government over insecurity issues in the franchise area. It was only in December 2021 that another private firm took over Yola DisCo from the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE.
IEDML got 60 per cent stakes in both DisCos to become the core investor.
However, the funding for the assets acquisition were loans taken from banks and have had repayment issues eight years after acquiring IBEDC.
Just in November, AEDC, another of the 11 DisCos had acquisition loans settlement issues with UBA, prompting UBA to takeover the DisCo in full receivership.
AMCON in a public notice, stated that it had appointed Osayaba Giwa-Osagie to take over the the entire undertakings, assets of IEDM including shares and interests in related companies and entities, and also monies kept in banks in Nigeria.
AMCON said it executed the takeover of IEDM following a default in a Loan Servicing Agreement executed with Polaris Bank.
“AMCON has pursuant to Section 48 and 61 of AMCON Act 2010 been appointed Receiver/Manager over all the Assets of Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited as stipulated in the instruments executed in favour of AMCON by virtue of the Loan Purchase and Limited Servicing Agreement executed with Polaris Bank Limited dated 30th November 2018 and a Notice of Appointment of the Receiver/Manager dated August 6th, 2021, which was duly stamped by the Commissioner for Stamp Duties” the statement read.
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had previously fined IBEDC N50 million for ”its failure to secure a refund of an interest free loan the Board of IBEDC granted to its core investor group.”
Also in a memo to the staff by the IBEDC Chief Operating Officer (COO), John Ayodele, AMCON would not sack the management of IBEDC unlike the AEDC case where the management and board were reconstituted.
“Further, to the judgement wherein the Federal High Court on the 8th of September 2021 granted preservative orders in favour of Asset Management Corporation (AMCON), (being the Receiver/Manager of Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited); the court has appointed Kunle Oqunba to act as Receiver/ Manager Nominee in the receivership action.
“Based on the foregoing the Receiver/Manager came in today 20th January 2022 to the IBEDC Headquarters to take charge formally and subsequently met with the Management team. Therefore, I hereby wish to inform all staff that there is no cause for alarm.
“We are assured of job security which entails our position/ duties in the company, being entitlements to our salaries and other benefits etc.
“On behalf of the Management, I urge us all to kindly go about the efficient discharge of our duties to ensure a speedy and mutually beneficial resolution.
“I wish us all the best, while I appeal that we continue to remember IBEDC in our prayers,” Ayodele stated in the memo.
Daily Trust
Independent National Electoral Commission on Friday said it would beam its searchlight on politicians and political parties to track the sources of funds for their campaigns in the 2023 general election.
The commission, therefore, promised to set up committee to monitor election expenditure ahead of the elections.
Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, represented by a National Commissioner, Kunle Ajayi, stated this in Abuja during a policy roundtable conference on political campaign finance organised by The Electoral Forum, an organ of the Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development with support from MacArthur Foundation.
He said, “As long as we have not notified anybody that the race to the 2023 general election has started, we are not unaware of what anybody is doing. We follow the law strictly.
“We have not officially declared notice for the 2023 general election, but when we so declare, we will put our monitoring committees to motion like the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS, EFCC, ICPC, (commercial) banks and other law enforcement agencies. We have that plan already.
“Every candidate must be made to declare his bank asset. That is where they draw out their money, so we will make them present their statement of account right from the onset.
“We will make it mandatory for them to turn in their bank statement so that if they say they are doing billboard and the account remains the same, then there is a problem.”
INEC chairman also said that INEC would also monitor the movement of money on election days to help tackle vote-buying at polling units.
Mahmood said that through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, commercial banks would be mandated to report all suspicious transactions ahead of the election.
The INEC chairman also threatened to prosecute any bank that failed to cooperate.
Speaking on the issue of vote-buying, Mahmood said, “We are going to establish finance monitoring teams and they will be among the electorate but they (politicians and political parties) won’t know.
“We are going to do it in a way that the influence of money will be reduced because we want to make the electoral field a level playing ground for both rich and poor candidates and electorates. Everybody will go on an equal economic level so that you won’t influence the voting pattern.”
Punch
Abeokuta Grammar School Old Boys Association, Agsoba has urged the Ogun State Government led by Prince Dapo Abiodun to follow the rules of law and be impartial on the land crisis between the school and those alleged to have encroached on their lands.
This appeal was made in a report by the President-General of AGSOBA GLOBAL, Chief Sunday Oduntan with an appeal to the government not to politicise the issue or create a crisis that could affect the government if it shows bias on the matter.
He hinted on a note allegedly forwarded by one of the illegal occupants, one Mr Kuforiji to the State Governor, in a bid to blackmail and politicise the land issue with Graceland community Olokuta and Abule Nla community.
The President-General assured all old students of the school that, "nobody can deny Abeokuta Grammar School the ownership of the land bought by the school founding fathers since late 50s and early 60s, since they have proper documentation and receipts of purchase as the rightful owner in their possession".
He expressed shock at how those who encroached on the lands have prevented their contractors from bringing blocks to the site through Abule nla and Olokuta for fencing.
In his words he alleged that, "the illegal occupants have brought fetish pot to the site, they also brought thugs to come and haras the workers on site".
Chief Oduntan however assured that the Agsoba will never resort to violence or illegal acts saying "we will never use thugs, the law is on our side, we shall only use the rule of law".
He appealed to the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun to follow the rules of law and be impartial in his interference.
Police in Ogun State have arrested a man, Oyedele Joseph, and his wife Elizabeth for allegedly invading Toyon High school, Ere village in Ado Odo local government with thugs to beat a teacher, Abel Thomas for beating their son.
The suspects were arrested after the policemen attached to Ado Odo divisional headquarters received distress from the school, that parent of one of their students had beaten and injured one of the teachers.
Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi who confirmed the arrest of the couple in a statement in Abeokuta explained that the teacher, Abel Thomas was said to have corrected an SS3 student of the school, Joshua Joseph who went home to inform his parent that he was beaten by the teacher.
He pointed out that the parent mobilised some thugs and descended heavily on the teacher, beating and injuring him.
Mr Oyeyemi said the suspects also damaged the back screen of a Toyota Corolla vehicle belonging to another teacher of the school, Jolayemi Sunday.
He noted that the injured teacher had been taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police, Mr Lanre Bankole has ordered that the escaped thugs who accompanied the couple to attack the school should be hunted for and brought to justice.
Mr Bankole also directed that the arrested couple should be charged to court without delay.
..says FG violated IPOB leader’s rights
A State High Court in Umuahia, Nigeria’s Southeast, has ruled that the federal government violated the fundamental human rights of detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, when the military invaded his home in Abia state in September 2017.
The court handed down the ruling, Wednesday, in a fundamental human rights suit filed by Kanu through his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor.
The court said the invasion was a violation of Kanu’s right to life, dignity of his human person, his personal liberty and his privacy.
The court, which rejected the government’s objection to the suit, said the government should pay N1 billion as damages to the IPOB leader and publicly apologise to him.
The court, however, refused to nullify the ongoing trial of Kanu for alleged terrorism, saying it lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
Ejimakor, nevertheless, said the ruling would have an impact on Kanu’s criminal trial.
“If your fundamental rights were violated, then it means that legally, you cannot be said to have jumped bail because the idea of jumping bail and the rendition are all related to what happened (the military invasion) in 2017.
“So if what led to his inability to face his trial in 2017 was a violation by the government of Nigeria, then legally speaking you cannot say that he jumped bail,” Ejimakor said.
“People are celebrating, my client is celebrating. I am happy with the ruling,” he added.
The lawyer said the court “most importantly recommended a political solution to the Biafra agitation”.
Apart from the Federal Government of Nigeria, the respondents in the suit included the Attorney General of the Federation, Chief of Army Staff, Brigade Commander, 14 Brigade Ohafia, and Inspector General of Police.
Others were Commissioner of Police, Abia State, Director-General of the SSS, and Abia State Director of the SSS.
IPOB, which is leading the agitation for an independent republic, Biafra, which they want to be carved out from Nigeria’s Southeast and parts of Southsouth, has been accused of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the Southeast and Southsouth.
Kanu was previously arrested and released on bail. He had jumped bail in 2017.
He was “intercepted” in Kenya in June, last year, by Nigerian security agents and brought back to Abuja.
PT
The Ogun State Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, has bagged the “2021 News Direct Commissioner of the Year Award of Excellence”.
The award, according to the organizers, is in recognition of his various economic transformation and re-engineering initiatives which have bolstered the economy of the State and improved its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Conveying the decision of the management of Nigerian NewsDirect newspaper to confer the award on the Commissioner, the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Prince (Dr.) Samuel Ibiyemi, identified deployment of revenue assurance platforms(leveraging ICT), establishment of the Ogun State Land Administration and Revenue Management System (OLARMS), and investment in digital economy, among others as some of the strategies which the Commissioner deployed to achieve the strides.
“As a highly successful financial expert with robust experience in private sector, you have no doubt brought to bear your wealth of experience in re-engineering the finances of the State, thereby making fund available to drive several development projects of this administration.
“It is on good record that with your magical wand, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State has been moved higher by over N40bn(against year 2020, and excluding final figures for December, 2021) and you have also ensured strategic spending such that many developmental projects across the State are receiving attention.
“You have no doubt leveraged on using ICT tool to drive and reposition the economy of the State by blocking all leakages and ensuring that resources meant for coffers of the State government did not stray into any other pockets.
Of commendation is equally the launch of the Ogun State Land Administration and Revenue Management System (OLARMS), which is described as a revolutionary technological initiative in the management of land resources in the country, with capacity to not only boost the income of the State, but also raise its Ease of Doing Business index.
“The Honourable Commissioner should also be informed that the benchmark of the nomination took a comparative juxtaposition of all Commissioners in the country and basically anchored on indices of innovativeness, quality, due process, and impacts, among other deliverables”, Ibiyemi pointed out". Ibiyemi stated.
Responding, Okubadejo noted that the award which will be formally conferred on him at the 11th Anniversary Lecture and Awards Ceremony of NewsDirect Newspaper, slated for January 21, at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, "is an excellent morale booster” which would continue to encourage him and other leaders in both public and private sectors of the Nigeria economy to strive for excellence.
While thanking the newspaper for the honour done him, he promised to continue to contribute his best to the development of the State in his dual role of Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser.
Governor Nyesom Wike has accused a divisional police officer in Rivers State of operating an illegal refinery in the state.
Wike said the officer heads the police division in Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
He demanded his redeployment from Rivers State.
“He must leave this state. I can’t be governor here and the security man owns an illegal refinery. No, it is not possible. The man has to go. Take him to wherever they allow bunkering,” Wike said on Friday in Government House, Port Harcourt in a meeting with local council chairmen and heads of security agencies in the state.
Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Eboka Friday, was at the meeting. The police have yet to comment on the governor’s allegation and his demand.
Wike’s remarks were contained in a statement on Friday from his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri.
The governor said it was unfortunate and unbelievable for security officials in Nigeria to be involved in illegal bunkering. “I can’t believe it,” he said.
He accused the civil defence officer in-charge of vandalisation of oil pipelines in the state of being a saboteur, and demanded his immediate redeployment from Rivers.
Wike has repeatedly said that the soot in Port Harcourt and its environs is caused by the operation of illegal refineries in the state, and has vowed to go after their operators.
The governor at the Friday meeting ordered the local council chairpersons in the state to go after the operators of illegal refineries.
‘It’s total war’
“I’ve called you here to tell you that it’s a total war. It is either we do it or we don’t do it. We cannot allow what is going on to continue. Two things – our people are dying, it’s shortening our own revenue.
“You check from the Federation Account, Akwa Ibom and Delta states are getting more, why? Because, these boys of the cartel have caused so much problems for us. So we will not allow it,” Wike said.
“Now, every council chairman must go and identify where illegal refineries are taking place. If you identify one, you get N2 million. So, go and identify as many as you can. I will pay N2 million for each one. I am going to fight against this. Our people are dying and we owe our people the responsibility to protect them, to save them from death they never caused.
“So, you must, and you’re given 48 hours to go and identify all illegal refineries sites, and those who are in charge of them,” the governor said to the council chairmen.
PT
Credible information indicates that the Islamic State in West Africa Province attacked Mainahari community near Wakabiu in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State.
According to a source from the Biu army barracks, the insurgents threw bombs to the village around 3:00 this afternoon which alerted the army of the impending attack.
However, the insurgents were successfully repelled by men of the Nigerian Army.
“We were at the barracks when we began to hear sounds of bombs around 3pm. Then we heard that they were trying to enter Mainahari village near Wakabiu, but the army was on alert and they immediately engaged the insurgents.
“There was no casualty on the side of the Nigerian Army but we were told the army killed scores of the insurgents, seized a gun truck and many ammunition from the fleeing insurgents,”Zainab Buba, a civilian source at the Biu army barracks stated.
Zainab said the insurgents, having been overpowered by superior firepower of the Nigerian Army, retreated in disarray while the soldiers went in pursuit of the fleeing insurgents.
Punch
At least five persons have been reportedly killed in a fresh farmers-herders clash in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Houses, four maize barns, motorcycles, and other valuables were set ablaze in the clash.
The clash came barely a year after a similar incident claimed scores of lives in the Yewa axis of the state.
Our correspondent gathered that the clash started on Wednesday when the Fulani herdsmen and some Ohori farmers engaged one another in a bloody clash at Idofa Village, leading to the loss of lives and properties worth millions of naira.
It was learnt that the people of Aworo Community in Yewa North Local Government had chased the herdsmen to Idofa in Imeko, killing three of them and their cows.
They accused the herdsmen of destroying their farms and water sources through open grazing of cows; a practice the Ogun State Government had banned.
The locals told our correspondent that residents had started fleeing the village for fear of reprisal.
A source said there was a reprisal on Thursday in which two residents were killed with one burnt beyond recognition.
Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the crisis, said no arrest had been made.
“No arrest has been made yet, but we are on it and we are sure that those who committed that act will be apprehended.”
Daily Trust
More...
Christopher Alao-Akala, a former Governor of Oyo State, is dead.
Details of his death are sketchy but sources close to the politician confirmed the tragic incident.
The politician, who had been battling terminal ailment for a while, died in his Ogbomoso country home Wednesday morning, according to sources.
A top source in the All Progressives Congress (APC) who confirmed his death said he died in his room.
“It is true that Oga is dead. He died in the early hours of Wednesday in his room in Ogbomoso. He was full of life last night. In fact, I heard he was playing with his children before he went to bed. We are in a mourning mood now,” he said.
Akala was governor of the state between 2007 and 2011.
Born on June 3, 1950, at Ogbomoso in the Ogbomoso North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Alao-Akala had his elementary school at Osupa Baptist Day School, Ogbomoso before proceeding to Kamina Barracks Middle School, 5th Battalion of Infantry in Tamale, Ghana.
This is the third known death of a prominent Ogbomosho native in a month.
On December 12, 2021, Oladunni Oyewumi, the Soun of Ogbomoso, passed on.
On January 8, 2022, Taibat Danmole, his daughter who was a professor of education at Lagos State University (LASU), also died.
The deceased was married to another university don, Hakeem Danmole, who is the Dean College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin.
Daily Trust
Nigeria’s external reserve has reached $40.5 billion, data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the daily reserves’ movement has revealed.
The reserve had gained $5.99 billion in October, following a $2.76 million gain in September 2021 as a result of the $4 billion Eurobond secured by the federal government and the $3.35 billion IMF Special Drawing Rights facility.
However, in November it started declining as a result of heightened demand for school fees, travels and other import needs but soon regained an upward trajectory the first week in January.
Analysts at Cordros Capital notes that, “However, foreign inflows are paramount for sustained foreign exchange liquidity over the medium term, in line with our expectation that accretion to the reserves will be weak given that crude oil production levels remain quite low.
“Thus, foreign portfolio investors which have historically supported supply levels in the IEW (53.8% of forex inflows to the IEW in 2019FY) will be needed to sustain forex liquidity levels. Hence, we think further adjustments in the naira/dollar peg closer to its fair value and flexibility in the exchange rate would be significant in attracting foreign inflows back to the market.”
Meanwhile, the value of the naira appreciated by 4.6 per cent week on week to N416 to the dollar at the Investors and Exporters window (I&EW) but depreciated by 0.9 per cent to N570 at the parallel market as business activities picked up after the holidays.
In the forwards market, the naira rate appreciated at the one-month to N416.78 to the dollar, 3-month to N422.70, 6-month to N432.4, and at the 1-year contracts at N442.85 contracts.
Also, analysts at Sigma Pensions forecasts that Nigeria’s growth will stabilise, “we expect Nigeria’s external balance to improve as oil export receipts normalize to trend levels amid persisting import demand suppression on account of the CBN’s currency policy.”
Thisday
Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, the local division of London-headquartered multinational banking and financial services firm Standard Chartered Plc, is discontinuing operation of around 50 per cent of branches in Nigeria, a step targeting prioritisation of digital banking, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing insiders.
The closure teed off in December, which means just 13 branches of the bank will be up and running ultimately, compared to around 25 operating before the move, according to the news outlet.
Lenders are deploying mobile money services on a vast scale in Nigeria to tap the market of the unbanked population comprising approximately 38 million adults, which Dataphyte estimated to be worth N26.2 trillion for the first 11 months of last year.
But formidable competition from mushrooming fintech companies means players late to agency banking rave like Standard Chartered Bank could struggle to gain traction.
The bank is now firming up mobile banking operations at the same time enlisting agents to expand its clientele, according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The lender has centred its operations on corporate banking since it launched in the country but is giving increasing attention to retail banking, which has led to the introduction of digital lending aimed at easing access to soft loans and ramping up the size of retail credit.
Many banks including big lenders see agency banking as a cost-saving alternative to setting up branches and a veritable strategy suitable for reaching rural areas and financially excluded communities.
PT
A former Nigerian leader, Ernest Shonekan, died of “natural causes” on Tuesday morning, his family has said.
Adeboye Shonekan stated this in a statement on behalf of the family.
The late Nigerian leader was 85.
The family said they would release further details in due course.
The Ogun-born statesman was head of the interim government that led Nigeria between the military governments of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha.
Already, condolences have been pouring in for Shonekan, who was popularly known as the Baba Sale of Egbaland.
President Muhammadu Buhari described the late leader as an internationally-respected statesman with courageous wisdom.
Buhari said Shonekan left his “flourishing business career to become the Head of Government, at a delicate time when the country needed someone of his calm mien and pedigree to save the ship of state from sinking.”
In his condolence message, former President Goodluck Jonathan said Shonekan was a peacemaker and bridge builder who left enduring legacies.
“As a leader, Shonekan was well respected because of the enormous goodwill he brought into governance.
“He was a compassionate and determined administrator, a peacemaker and bridge builder who stepped in to lead the nation at a very difficult time in the history of its political evolution.”
PT