The President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has said there was nothing worth celebrating as Nigeria marked Democracy Day yesterday.
Buttressing his stance, he cited increasing insecurity, bad economy and undemocratic tendencies among leaders.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, Osodeke said the administration of President, Muhammadu Buhari has failed to provide Nigerians with the benefits of democracy.
He lamented that cost of living has hit the roof, with the poor becoming poorer and infrastructure rapidly collapsing.
“With a minimum wage of 30,000, which is less than a bag of rice, Nigerian workers are languishing in abject poverty,” he said, noting that people’s standard of living was even better during military regimes. He added that the education sector was also better funded under the military.
Osodeke, therefore, appealed “to Nigerians to vote out people who think they can buy votes with money, and vote for people with clear-cut plans to move the country forward.”
The newspaper says that as the nation marks Democracy Day, the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, called on Nigerians to take back the country from the hands of corrupt politicians through the procurement of their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) and voting for credible candidates during the forthcoming general elections.
In a statement in Abakaliki, the Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Mazi Okechukwu, mandated all eligible Nigerians, especially youths, to take advantage of the ongoing voter registration exercise and get registered, insisting that their PVCs are their only weapon to retake and rebuild the battered image of Nigeria.
He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the enrollment of eligible voters till September 2022 as it appears that the commission is under pressure to disenfranchise Nigerians from participating in the 2023 general elections.
Isiguzoro noted that there are secret meetings to pressurise INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to end the voter registration exercise by June 2022.
The statement reads: “Ohanaeze has commended Nigerians, especially the youths, on their efforts to end voter apathy and take back Nigeria in 2023, and this is the best time to take advantage of the ongoing voter registration exercise and get all eligible voters registered.
“There will be no democracy without Nigerians; the power to get the best leaders in 2023 will be in the hands of Nigerians; we should awake from our slumber and demand that INEC extends voter registration to September 2022.
“Starting from June 12, 2022, Nigerians should use peaceful mediums and constitutional ways to pressurise INEC to extend the time of the voter registration exercise till September 2022.”
The Punch reports that there was widespread blackout across the country on Sunday following the collapse of the national power grid, making it the fifth collapse of Nigeria’s electricity grid in 2022.
It was learnt that the grid collapse on Sunday occurred around 6.49pm, leading to the shutdown of the outgoing electricity feeders of some power distribution companies.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company in separate messages obtained by our correspondent confirmed the grid collapse.
Findings had earlier shown that the quantum of power on the grid as at 6am on Sunday was 3,628.6 megawatts, but it was gathered that this crashed significantly in the evening leading to the eventual grid collapse.
Nigeria’s power grid had collapsed twice in March and twice again in April this year, as the power generation on the system had continued to fluctuate due to various concerns such as gas constraint, water management challenges, gas pipeline vandalism, among others.
Confirming Sunday’s collapse in a notice on its verified Twitter handle, entitled, “Power Outage In Our Franchise Due To Grid Collapse,” Kaduna Disco said, “Dear esteemed customers, we regret to inform you that the power outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to system collapse of the national grid.
“The collapse occured at about 18:47pm this evening hence the loss of supply on all our outgoing feeders. Power supply shall be restored as soon as the national grid is powered back. Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience.”
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Medical Association has decried the deplorable state of health facilities owned by state governments.
The association said some state hospitals lack the required medical experts, equipment and could not boast of a complete department.
The NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, during an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, stated that state hospitals are the worst hit by brain drain in the country.
“Workers in some state hospitals are being owed several months’ salary arrears. So how can they function,’ Ojinmah wondered.
He added, “States are being neglected, some state teaching hospitals as of today cannot boast of a complete department. You go there and see only a skeletal number of people, and the state governors are happy. The doctors overwork but everybody expects them to behave well.”
Ojinmah called on state governments to focus on improving secondary health sectors for effective management.
He said, “That it is a state hospital doesn’t mean it should be a shadow of itself; it should be able to render services to the people. That is why you come to the teaching hospitals and see somebody with malaria coming for treatment.
“As a dermatologist, there are some dermatological issues I should handle, not eczema, ringworm. They are not what I am trained to handle. An average person in a primary or secondary health system should be able to take care of those things if they are functional while I focus on more serious things like skin cancers, and tumours. But the primary health care system is gone. The state hospitals are overgrown with weeds.
“It’s only the teaching hospitals that are functioning, so everybody comes to the teaching hospital.”
The Sun reports that in its bid to enable women to scale up their businesses and increase their household incomes, Nestlé Nigeria, recently launched the 4th phase of its “Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria Project” in Port Harcourt.
The firm in a statement noted that the initiative was aimed at helping more rural women in Nigeria build financial security and improve their standard of living.
The company further revealed that an additional 50 beneficiaries from the South South region of the country, selected from the company’s value chain, were inducted into the program at a ceremony that included several training
At the training and induction session in Port Harcourt, Nestlé Nigeria’s Commercial Manager, Khaled Ramadan said, the company is happy to fulfil its promise of expanding Nestlé Empowering Rural Women in Nigeria Project to reach more women in other parts of Nigeria.
“We are pleased with the progress made so far by the 150 currently benefiting from the project. The beneficiaries who currently enjoy the training and mentorship provided by Nestlé and her implementation partners – FDConsults, are reporting faster turnover and increased revenue as well as stronger visibility of their outlets within their locations. We are therefore confident that these additional 50 selected retailers in South-South, will also reap the full benefits of the support we are providing through training, mentorship and grants.” Ramadan said.
He added that the beneficiaries comprising female retailers in Nestlé’s value chain, will receive grants valued at 300 per cent of their monthly sales in form of Nestlé’s products and participate in training and mentorship programs which will enable them to scale up their businesses, thereby increasing their household incomes.
GIK/APA