Owner’s Mismanagement may Force the Closure of Oyo Popular Radio Station
A popular radio station in Oyo State may be winding up to get out of broadcasting business soon. The station, which boasts as the first ‘three-language’ radio station and owned by a southwest activist seems not able to adapt to current economic realities.
According to an old member of staff who prefers anonymity, “the proprietor of the station has the habit of using and dumping his staff and not paying. He is also fond of taking actions to frustrate his staff out of the company just to avoid paying any outstanding salaries. I was owed several months salary and not paid till date. Anytime I remember the time I spent working in that organization, I always feel I invested and wasted the meaningful part of my life with an unworthy organization”.
It was also gathered that the station has been blacklisted by several clients (agencies and companies) due to transmission inconsistencies. The source revealed that the proprietor enjoys to tamper with transmission procedures of the station without notice, making himself the alpha and Omega of the station’s operations. This news outlet also got reliably informed that the proprietor runs the accounts at will without transparency, making it very difficult for any management team to work independently.
While some so called activists complain about leadership at the national level, we must also check their private leadership roles vis-a-vis what they claim to stand for. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
While this news outlet compiles other authentic proofs, we assure you of more updates soon.
The Great Ifẹ̀ Empire and Its Legacy: A Blueprint for Mending Our Broken World- Akin Ogundiran
Excerpts of the Keynote Address Presented by Prof. Ogundiran at the Opening of the International Conference, “Ile-Ife and Yoruba Civilisation: The Nexus between Tradition and Modernity,” at Ojaja Arena, Ile-Ife, October 10, 2023
I pay homage to His Imperial Majesty, Ọ̀ọ̀ni Adéyẹyè Ẹniìtàn Babatúndé Ògúnwùsì, Ọ̀jájá II. I salute government representatives, all the Ọba, Olori, Chieftains, Princes and Princesses, Vice Chancellors, University Administrators, Fellow Scholars, and Conferees—distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. I am honored to join you this morning. I commend the Imperial Majesty for his vision and generous support for this conference on Yoruba history. My commendation also goes to the conference conveners led by eminent historian Professor Siyan.
In the next three days, the conferees will explore different aspects of Ife history, ancient, recent, and contemporary. They will do so from several disciplinary angles. A multigenerational cast of speakers will showcase their recent discoveries from archaeology to archives, oral tradition to rituals. My contribution this morning focuses on answering the following questions: How can we use the past to guide our present? How can the true knowledge of our history, unmitigated by politics and ideology, set us free from the bondage of ignorance that has broken our world?
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I chose “The Great Ifẹ̀ Empire and Its Legacy: A Blueprint for Mending Our Broken World” as the title of my keynote address because of my sincere belief that history has a purpose. In our clime, the ultimate purpose of historical study is to uplift our spirit, explain how we got here, and use historical knowledge to restore and repair our broken selves. Like many of you at this conference, I am committed to studying history so I can use the knowledge of the past to create a new mirror that we can use to look at ourselves. Those who use other people’s mirrors to look at themselves are bound to see distorted images of themselves. The mirrors we create must give us a balanced view of who we are as a people and account for the brilliance and shortcomings that make us human.
The Yoruba believe that Ile-Ife is the origin of their civilization. A century of historical and archaeological research has confirmed this. It also shows that the origin of the civilization is different from the origin of the deep-time Yoruba-speaking people. Those ultimate Yoruba ancestors (proto-Yoruboid) originated from the western part of the Niger-Benue Confluence in the present-day Okun-Yoruba area as early as 2,500 BC. This research has also given us insights into how Ile-Ife spearheaded a revolution about 1000 AD that gave birth to the present-day Yoruba cultural identity. The name, Ile-Ife, hints at how special this city was over the past 1,000 years.
Contrary to the oft-repeated folk etymology, Ile-Ife does not mean “House of Love.” Rather, it means “House of Abundance” and “House of Expansion.” The ancient city also has several aliases, such as “City of Daybreak,” City of Sunrise,” and “The Source.” These names and monikers illustrate the Yoruba belief that Ile-Ife is the ground zero of humanity. It is the place where the earth and humanity were created. The Yoruba ancestors knew that what makes us human is not biology. It is culture and consciousness. So, these labels refer to Ile-Ife as the birthplace of classical Yoruba civilization as we know it.
Historical records show that Ile-Ife occupies a special place in African history. When Ibn Battuta, the Berber-Moroccan traveler, visited the Mali Empire in 1352-53, he was told about Ile-Ife as one of the biggest kingdoms in Africa and its king (the Ọ̀ọ̀ni) as one of the greatest kings in the Land of the Black People (Sudan). Duarte Pereira Pacheco, the Portuguese explorer and soldier, was informed in the court of the King of Benin in 1475 that the King of Ile-Ife was the mighty lord of the region, and the explorer likened the status of the Ọ̀ọ̀ni (Oghoni/Owoni) among the Blacks as similar to that of the Pope among the Europeans. The people of Oyo (Old Oyo) told Richard Landers in 1830 that it was in Ile-Ife where their first parents were created and from where all Africa was peopled. The Yoruba people that Leo Frobenius (German scholar) met in Timbuktu (Mali) in 1909 told him that their forebears originated from Ile-Ife and turned into stones which are to be found in Ile-Ife.
The accomplishments of Ile-Ife in arts, science, technology, commerce, statecraft, religion, and philosophy are the reasons for this fame. Based on archaeological research that several scholars and I have done in Ile-Ife and other parts of Yorubaland, we now know that Ile-Ife is the oldest continuously occupied city in West Africa. Its leaders developed one of the oldest urban planning systems in West African history.
Ile-Ife was one of Africa’s most powerful economic engines during its heyday, 700 to 1000 years ago. The city was famous for glass, iron, and steel production, and its products were sold as far as Ghana and Mali Empires during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries. The material scientists of Ile-Ife invented a unique glass technology, and the city’s political leaders and merchants used this technology to create a glass-bead currency system that integrated the economy of many parts of West Africa, from Igbo-Ukwu in present-day Nigeria to Walata in Mauretania. This is a feat that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has yet to accomplish. Through its glass industry, Ile-Ife was a pacesetter in African history on the principle of technological independence. By 1200 AD, the political entrepreneurs of Ile-Ife had converted their vast networks of colonies, trading stations, and client states into the first empire in Yorubaland. It is also the first empire in all parts of Africa that lie south of the River Niger, from Lokoja (Nigeria) to Cape Town (South Africa).
Ancient Ile-Ife was also a centre of learning in all branches of science and arts, including philosophy, material chemistry, Ifa divination, and astronomy. This Yoruba city was a contemporary of other intellectual cities in the world, such as Oxford and Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Timbuktu in present-day Mali. As a centre of education, research, knowledge, pilgrimage, and high art, Ile-Ife was a tourist center, attracting visitors across West Africa.
Unfortunately, the above stories are not taught in Nigerian schools, from nursery to the university. There is hardly a home in Nigeria that is aware of these accomplishments. Even some of our elders and traditional rulers who should know better often mislead us with wrong stories that cater to their ego rather than scientific, historical information. This lack of knowledge about our past is a symptom of our broken world. It is a world beset with little regard for knowledge and innovation and the discipline that goes with it. No respect for human dignity and life. I’m talking of a world where the gaps between political leadership and common people widen daily. In this broken world, there is a lack of confidence and appreciation for African indigenous culture and history, and the priority of the general population is the consumption of imported goods over locally produced goods.
We can’t blame the poorly educated and ill-informed citizens for thinking their ancestors accomplished nothing and that their salvation lies outside the shores of their country, in the hands of those who look different from them. This conference must energize us to re-educate the youth and the old so they can become conscious of the depth and richness of African history. With that consciousness, we will understand that Ile-Ife anticipated and accomplished many aspects of modernity that we often erroneously attribute to the Europeans. In ancient Ile-Ife, respect for human dignity, including people with disabilities, was promoted as the foundational ethos of civilization. In Ile-Ife, it was required that citizens must be educated and become knowledgeable in history, philosophy, arts, and crafts. The Ife ancestors also developed indirect democracy, a system that curtailed and, for the most part, prevented autocracy. They reminded us that you cannot have a true democracy where there is scarcity, hunger, and insecurity. To this end, the philosophers and economic planners of classical Ile-Ife developed an economic theory that was based on the principle of abundance. This is opposed to the principle of scarcity that drives Western economic theories today.
To begin to mend our broken world, our political leaders, educators, teachers, and university administrators must be deliberate and strategic in integrating the accomplishments of the Ife Empire into the history curriculum, noting that these accomplishments are the pride of all Africans, not the Yoruba people alone.
This conference is the beginning of a long conversation and action plan that must be put in place. It cannot achieve everything our royal father and conveners have outlined as the rationale for this three-day gathering. There is so much we still do not know about the history of Ile-Ife and the Yoruba. Therefore, we must continue searching and studying. To convert our talk into action that will yield long-lasting desired results, I urge Ọ̀ọ̀ni Ogunwusi to use his vast social networks and influence to coordinate the setting up of a 100 Billion Naira Global Endowment Fund for Yoruba Historical and Cultural Research. The priority is to use the fund to create a Center for the Advancement of Yoruba Studies that will coordinate such research endeavors, build a top-notch ultra-modern Museum and Library of Yoruba Civilization in Ile-Ife, and provide year-to-year research grants and fellowships for the study of Yoruba archaeology and history.
Every Oba in Yorubaland must also take up the challenge to work towards establishing a Museum of History and Culture in their respective towns and cities. They should rally their sons and daughters at home and abroad to fund and establish these museums. This proposition is not an assignment for the federal, state, or local government. It must be solely a community effort. When you visit any European town or village, they will take you first to their museums. Sometimes, a European town of 5,000 people will have ten museums that tell different aspects of the town’s history. Yoruba towns and cities have as deep a history as those European towns if we can learn to tell our stories with imagination and historical evidence. This is a task we must pursue. We owe it as a duty to our ancestors and the unborn generations. Thank you.
Akin Ogundiran is a Professor of History and Cardiss Collins Professor of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University (Evanston, USA), President-Elect of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, and a Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters. He is the author of The Yoruba: A New History (2020).
BREAKING: Super Eagles draw Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau in AFCON 2024 Group
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been drawn in Group A with hosts Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations.
The draw ceremony took place in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, where the tournament is scheduled to be held from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
In the qualifiers, Nigeria finished top of its group with 15 points, scoring 22 goals, including a 16-0 win on aggregate against Sao Tome and Principe.
The Super Eagles were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the competition at the last edition in Cameroon after a 1-0 loss to Tunisia.
Nigeria last won the tournament in 2013 and will look to win its fourth after recording success at the 1980 and 1994 editions.
Just In: President Tinubu Appoints Ola Olukoyede as EFCC Chairman
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday approved the appointment of Mr. Ola Olukoyede to serve as the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
This comes nearly four months after he suspended the erstwhile anti-graft agency chief, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa.
“Mr. Olukayode’s appointment follows the resignation of the suspended Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa,” a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, read on Thursday.
The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu appoints new EFCC. Chairman and Secretary of the Commission.’
Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence.
He has extensive experience in the operations of the EFCC, having previously served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016-2018) and Secretary to the Commission (2018-2023). As such, he fulfills the statutory requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.
Below are key things to know about the new EFCC boss:
Olukoyede was born in Ikere-Ekiti on October 14, 1969.
The new anti-graft agency chair is an indigene of Ekiti State.
He is an alumnus of Lagos State University; University of Lagos; Institute of Arbitration ICC – Paris, France and University of Harvard (Kennedy School of Executive Education).
He is an experienced lawyer specialised in compliance management, corporate intelligence, and fraud management.
Olukoyede has extensive experience in the operations of the EFCC, having previously served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016-2018).
He is a Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
In same vein President Tinubu also approved the appointment of Mr. Muhammad Hammajoda to serve as the Secretary of the EFCC for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
Hammajoda is a public administrator with extensive experience in public finance management who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters in Business Administration from the same university.
He began his career as a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. From there, he went into banking, including successful stints at the defunct Allied Bank and Standard Trust Bank.
The president tasked the new leadership of the commission to justify the confidence given to them in this important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption undertaken through a reformed institutional architecture in the anti-corruption sector remains a central pillar of the President’s Renewed Hope agenda.
There is no Evidence Tinubu Forged Certificate – BBC Disinformation Team
There is no evidence that the diploma Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu submitted to the country’s electoral commission was forged, the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team has found.
Allegations that President Tinubu’s certificates were faked went viral on social media following the release by Chicago State University (CSU) of his academic records last week.
We have looked at some of the most widely circulated claims.
The release of the president’s academic documents is the culmination of a judicial case filed in August by one of his main rivals in February’s presidential election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr Abubakar was hoping to have the victor disqualified after accusing him of falsifying the CSU diploma of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration awarded in 1979 that he submitted to the electoral authority (Inec).
To obtain evidence for his case in Nigeria, Mr Abubakar approached a US court in August, requesting it to compel CSU to release Mr Tinubu’s academic records through a process called discovery, where the parties exchange information including documents ahead of a trial.
Mr Tinubu’s lawyers opposed the discovery application, citing privacy concerns, but the US court decided it should proceed.
The documents requested by Mr Abubakar were:
A copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979
A copy of the diploma CSU gave to Mr Tinubu in 1979
Copies of diplomas with the same font, seal, signatures, and wording awarded to other students that are similar to what CSU awarded to Mr Tinubu in 1979
Documents from CSU that were certified by Jamar Orr, who was then a staff member of CSU, in the 12 months from 1 August 2022
In response to request one, CSU submitted seven diplomas covering different disciplines with the names of the students redacted. According to the university’s registrar, these diplomas had not been collected by the students.
In response to request two, CSU stated that it could not find the diploma they issued to Mr Tinubu in 1979, because they do not keep copies of diplomas already collected by students.
In response to request three, CSU stated that it produced for Mr Tinubu a replacement diploma dated 27 June 1979. It also released diplomas awarded to other students that bore similar font, seal, signatures and wordings as Mr Tinubu’s diplomas.
In response to request four, CSU submitted other academic documents initially attested to and released by Mr Orr.
In line with the judge’s ruling, Mr Abubakar’s lawyer Angela Liu last week questioned Caleb Westberg, CSU’s current registrar, in a deposition.
The BBC was given access to the deposition transcript by Mr Abubakar’s spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.
Some social media users in Nigeria allege that the deposition and the diplomas released by CSU confirm that the diploma submitted to Inec by Mr Tinubu was forged. This claim was also repeated by one of Mr Abubakar’s lawyers, Kalu Kalu, at a press conference last week.
We found there was no evidence to support this claim.
The CSU released several diplomas issued between 1979 and 2003. We analysed all of them.
There are three different diplomas for Mr Tinubu that we refer to throughout our analysis:
The original one, from 1979, which he has said in the past was lost when he went into exile in the 1990s
The second one, that he submitted to Inec – supposedly a replacement diploma from CSU (it is similar to diplomas issued by CSU in the 1990s)
Additionally, CSU holds another replacement diploma for Mr Tinubu that they say is probably from the early 2000s that he never collected
The allegations on social media are based on a comparison between the document Mr Tinubu submitted to Inec and the 1979 diplomas released by CSU.
During Mr Westberg’s deposition, Mr Atiku’s lawyer focused on the copy of the diploma President Tinubu handed to the electoral commission and suggested that it was unlike any of the diplomas released by CSU.
However, while Mr Westberg agreed with Ms Liu that the diploma in question does not look like the samples from 1979, he stated that the certificate actually looks like three of the diplomas CSU released to Mr Abubakar. Our analysis confirms this.
It turns out that the discrepancy in the appearance of the diploma is down to it having been re-issued in the 1990s.
Mr Westberg said the template of CSU’s diploma has changed several times over the years. He said any request for a new diploma would resemble the current template at that time, no matter when the student graduated.
As such, if Mr Tinubu had reordered his diploma in the late 1990s, what he would have been given would look like what was obtainable then.
Three of the diplomas dating from the 1990s that CSU submitted were similar to Mr Tinubu’s.
One of them, which bears the date 18 December 1998, is identical (aside from the names, class of degree, and dates) to the diploma Mr Tinubu handed over to Inec.
Mr Westberg also stated that CSU does not keep notes of when a graduate asks for the reissuing of a diploma and therefore Mr Tinubu’s request for a copy of the diploma was not recorded.
The copy he gave to the election commission had part of the university logo missing, which Mr Westberg said in his deposition was possibly “cut off” when it was photocopied.
We analysed the diploma. It appears in fact that its bottom part was not included during the photocopy process.
The BBC reached out to Mr Tinubu’s team to get a copy of the diploma in question. They sent what they said was the only existing copy of the diploma. It is a black and white photocopy identical to what was submitted to Inec.
Another claim, made by a fact-checking organisation in Nigeria, was that the diploma Mr Tinubu submitted was not from CSU as its diplomas do not include the phrase “with honors” under the degree name.
But the BBC found that while this was not reflected in the other diplomas released by CSU, it does appears in Mr Tinubu’s diploma issued in the early 2000s, which was authenticated by Mr Westberg during his deposition.
It has the words “with honors” – a match with the diploma with the same detail submitted by the president to Inec.
Mr Westberg said that the school could authenticate this particular diploma because it was still in its possession as it was never picked up.
Not every student graduates from university with honours. Mr Tinubu, as attested to by CSU in several court documents seen by the BBC, did graduate from CSU with honours.
The BBC contacted CSU with questions about its diplomas and it referred us to a statement that read in part: “We are confident and always have been in the veracity and integrity of our records regarding Tinubu’s attendance and completion of graduation requirements”.
Another allegation making the rounds on social media is that the person who attended CSU with the name Bola A Tinubu is female.
Mr Tinubu attended Southwest College (now known as Richard J. Daley College) before transferring to CSU in 1976. In Southwest’s transcript, there is an “F” (for “female”) in the column where gender is indicated, leading to claims that it was a woman who attended the school and Mr Tinubu “stole her identity”. Mr Atiku’s lawyer, Mr Kalu, alluded to this in a press conference last week.
However, in his deposition, Mr Westberg stressed that there was no confusion about the gender of the person who attended CSU as he was a male named Bola A Tinubu. He said the university used other factors other than the name to authenticate the student’s identity.
According to him, the Social Security Number (SSN) in the transcript from Southwest College matches what it has in other documents in which the student’s gender is clearly marked as male.
However, the released documents did raise questions about Mr Tinubu’s birth date and the secondary school he attended.
One of the documents stated that Mr Tinubu attended Government College Lagos in 1970. However, information available on the school website stated that it was only founded in 1974.
Aside from the gender discrepancy, the birth dates in some of the released documents differ from the official birth date of President Tinubu, which is 29 March 1952.
His transcript from CSU has his date of birth as 29 March 1954. His undergraduate admissions application form has his date of birth as 29 March 1955.
Mr Atiku’s lawyer said during Mr Westberg’s deposition that on the forms submitted to Inec, Mr Tinubu had given his date of birth as 29 March 1952.
Mr Westberg, during cross-examination, responded that the discrepancies could have been due to human error.
We contacted Mr Tinubu’s team for comment about these discrepancies and a spokesperson directed us instead to his party – the All Progressives Congress. We then contacted Mr Tinubu’s presidential campaign spokesperson Festus Keyamo, who is also a minister in the government. He did not take our calls or respond to our text and WhatsApp messages.
We also sent questions to Mr Abubakar’s team. They did not respond.
With Joy, Oshodi-Isolo Chairman, Otunba Kehinde Almoroof Oloyede Congratulate MC Oluomo on New Appointment
Following the news that, the leadership and members of National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) have unanimously appointed Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya as the Acting chairman of Zone 2 of the union, friends, family, political stalwarts and allies rejoice, commends his doggedness and tenacity.
Speaking after the announcement was the chairman Oshodi-Isolo local government Chairman, Otunba Kehinde Almoroof Oloyede, he described the talisman as an industrious goal getter with foresight.
In his words, he said “MC Oluomo can be described as a round peg in a right hole. He is a team player who understands the terrain like the back of his hand. I want to seize this opportunity to congratulate him and wish him well in his new position.”
He also note that he was so excited with the new development after the crisis the union experienced saying “I am super excited on his new appointment. This is an appointment well deserved. He should go on and make huge impact, I wish him wisdom, brilliant ideas, and all resources that he needed to succeed in the new responsibility.” He concluded
The union however during the conference held in Ikirun, Osogbo, Osun state where the leaders agreed that Musiliu Akinsanya fondly called MC Oluomo should take over the mantle of leadership of the zone in Acting capacity pending the time an election will be conducted pleaded with Governor Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) and Governor Seyi Makinde (Oyo) to reinstate the activities of NURTW in their states which will afford them the opportunity to nominate candidates for the national president of the union zoned to southwest.
Adebola Akin-Bright: NMA, Private Medical Practitioners, Others Hail Lagos Assembly
– Health commissioner, others affirm ‘infraction’ in surgery done by private hospital
– More revelations unearthed
Stakeholders in the Nigerian health sector on Thursday hailed the Lagos State House of Assembly over its investigation into the case of ‘missing intestines’ involving late Adebola Akin-Bright.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, officials of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPNP), Lagos State Chapter and other medical practitioners spoke at a public hearing over the case which led to the death of Master Akin-Bright.
In attendance also were the parents of the late Master Akin-Bright and Dr. Abayomi Baiyewu of Obitoks Hospital where two initial surgeries were carried out on the boy before his referral to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
While commending the House and its ad-hoc committee, chaired by Hon. Noheem Adams, for what they described as diligent investigation, they also agreed that there were infractions from the surgery as earlier reported by the House.
It would be recalled that ANPNP had issued a statement saying the committee carried out its investigation without having a medical doctor in the panel. The body had also accused the lawmakers of engaging in a witch-hunt by reducing the investigations to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ session for Dr. Baiyewu.
However, a video documenting the investigation carried out by the committee which was watched by participants showed that Dr. Baiyewu was given enough time to defend himself.
In the video, he admitted to taking out three parts from Master Akin-Bright during surgery and agreed that the parts were ‘mistakenly discarded’ instead of taking them for histology.
It was also discovered from the video recording and evidence that Obitoks Hospital used only auxiliary nurses during the surgery.
Dr. Baiyewu also confirmed that the video played was a true reflection of what happened during the investigation.
Speaking after the video was played, Dr. Abayomi, who said the House carried out a thorough investigation, added that the Ministry of Health, through the Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) had temporarily suspended the operation of the theatre of Obitoks Hospital, which, he said, lacked standard medical procedures.
He said when Master Akin-Bright was brought to LASUTH, he was very unwell and needed to be stabilised before he would be operated upon.
He said that at the time of the surgery at LASUTH, the doctors found something unusual about the stomach, adding that a major part of the small intestine was discovered to be missing.
“They (LASUTH doctors) found a chaotic environment in the stomach. They found the upper part and the lower part of the digestive tracks open. It is very unusual to operate on a human being and find that he did not have small intestines. It is not logical.
“What we observed is that Dr. Baiyewu had two surgeries on the boy, the second one more detailed. He removed a certain part of Akin-Bright’s small intestine,” he added.
According to Prof. Abayomi, the most likely medical explanation could be that the private hospital “may have inadvertently injured the blood supply to the small intestine and when this happens, the organ would start to die and the body would start to absorb the organ.”
He said the findings by the State Ministry of Health had been forwarded to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for further investigation and sanction if needed.
“At LASUTH, we removed what was needed to be removed and sent it for histology. I admit that you carried out a detailed investigation,” he told the committee.
While commending the House, the NMA described the investigation as fantastic but urged that the MDCN be allowed investigate the case.
Dr. Kayode Akinlade, a former NMA chairman in Lagos, thanked the House for diligently probing the case adding that the private practitioners were only particular about public perceptions concerning their practice.
Another participant, Dr. Tunji Akintade, said the incident is a lesson for medical practitioners and the government.
“We need to have an adaptive referral system. What we have now is monologue. When we refer patients to a secondary facility, there should be feedback, a kind of communication,” he said.
In his remark, Hon. Adam, who serves as the Majority Leader of the House, thanked the participants and said the report of the public hearing would be presented to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, and the whole House for further action.
Eromosele Ebhomele
Media Assistant to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Dollar Scarcity: FG Begins talks with World Bank, solution underway – Wale Edun
Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has assured Nigerians that a solution to the Dollar scarcity crisis in the country is underway.
He made this disclosure yesterday following a meeting with World Bank officials on how to address liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
Speaking in Abuja at the Business Lunch hosted in his honour and three other Ministers, Edun revealed the Federal Government’s plans to tackle the economic challenges facing the country.
“I have just risen from a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee as stipulated by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make sure that there is collaboration, coordination and cooperation. And, as you can imagine, full communication in terms of the economic management of our dear country.
“And so we went through things like the economic management framework, which would include a lot of consultations, step-by-step with other stakeholders, including the private sector that will serve as one of the key ad hoc committees that we put together and the updated and expanded national development plan.
“Even earlier, we were meeting with the World Bank. As we know, this is a time of very tight foreign exchange liquidity. So, it must be sought and found wherever.
“And one of those cheap and viable ways is foreign exchange funding, which virtually comes free. A lot of it has zero interest from the World Bank, a multilateral development institution set up to help developing countries such as ours.
“And of course, you have to be able to tell them, this is the economic plan. You all know the measures that Mr. President has taken. We have briefly dealt with the issue of subsidy that was draining government revenues. He has briefly dealt with the foreign exchange situation and multiple windows, which was deterring investors.
“But as we know, there is much to be done. So, this morning’s session (Thursdays) was a way of explaining our plan to attract the cheapest or most available of those funds.
“So that’s just to spend the time I have with you, explaining myself, communicating and there’s much more of that to be done,” Edun said.
More Insights
Speaking further, Mr. Wale Edun appealed to the public, emphasizing that the Federal Government is racing against time to proffer solutions to the nation’s economic problems.
He said
“President Tinubu is ultimately encouraging investments that will increase productivity that will grow the economy, create jobs and reduce poverty.
“All these will certainly be put on the right trajectory which will yield results in the not-too-distant future.”
What You Should Know
Nigeria’s foreign exchange market has maintained a steady decline as the naira continues to fall freely against the dollar, hitting the threshold of N1,000 to 1$ at the parallel market.
According to Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance, this incessant decline is due to the overdue backlog payment of $6.8 billion, resulting in a shortage in the supply of dollars at the CBN.
The Federal Government, however, has said that at the top of the administration’s priority is stabilizing the currency.
The President has recently appointed new CBN leadership to oversee the monetary policies of the apex bank and drive the net inflow of dollars into the country.
Sex Scandal: DSS Arrested UNICAL Suspended Dean of Law
The suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, UNICAL, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, has been arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS.
His arrest, it was gathered, was at the instance of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, following his alleged refusal to turn himself in for questioning, despite several invitations.
It was gathered that the ICPC had sought the collaboration of the DSS on the UNICAL Sex Scandal matter involving the erstwhile Dean of Faculty of Law of the Institution.
The Commission had complained that Ndifon refused to honour its several invitations and thereafter sought the assistance of the DSS to get him to answer to the allegations of sex leveled against him.
The Spokesman for the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya, confirmed in a statement yesterday that Ndifon was eventually arrested in Calabar, Cross River State by its operatives on Wednesday based on a Court Order.
“However, the Service, following the ICPC’s request and in the spirit of interagency cooperation, supported it for a successful operation,” Afunanya explained.
“This is to guide public understanding of the latest developments on the matter,” the statement added.
Recall that following outcry by female UNICA law students over alleged Ndifon’s sex exploits against them, the University suspended him and raised a panel to probe the allegations against him.
The panel, which submitted its report earlier in the week, recommended that Ndifon be sanctioned for various offences, including extortion of funds.
Over-Bloated Payroll: Reps Task FG on Workers’ Forensic Audit
The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government, through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to carry out forensic audit of its staff to address the problem of ghost workers, with a view to saving money and reducing increasing wage bill.
It also urged the government to embark on cost-cutting measures to reduce other non-debt recurrent expenditures and mandated the Committee on Legislative Compliance to ensure implementation.
This followed the adoption of a motion on ‘Need to Investigate the Nation’s Galloping Non-Debt Recurrent Expenditure’, moved by Ademorin Kuye from Lagos, at plenary, yesterday.
Moving the motion, Kuye noted that the federal government personnel expenses, pensions and other non-debt recurrent expenditures increased by 241 per cent in 13 years from N2.4trillion in 2011 to N8,27trillion in 2023.
He also noted that the total non-debt expenditure from 2011 to 2023 was N51.97trillion, while N42.24trillion expended from 2015 till date represented 81.8 per cent of the total expenditures of the period under review.
According to him, the country’s revenue within the period received massive hits from debt servicing obligations.
Consequently, he said the government had little or nothing left for the recurrent expenditures and had resorted to borrowing.
“The debt servicing obligations gulped 97 per cent of the total revenue of the N3.42 trillion generated in 2011, Nigeria expended N3.34 trillion on debt servicing, meaning all federal government’s salaries, overhead and capital expenditure was financed with loans and Central Bank of Nigerian’s support.
“The country’s revenues of N3.42trillion in 2020, N4.39trillion in 2021 and N7trillion in 2022 could hardly fund the wage bill of N5.7trillion, N5.76trillion and N7.1 trillion in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively,” the lawmaker argued.
He expressed worry the federal government’s wage bill, pension obligations and other non-debt recurrent expenditures continued to grow significantly, despite the marginal increases in revenues and apparent increases in debt servicing pressure;
Kuye lamented that the sharp difference in the wage bill from N2.4 trillion in 2011 to N8.7 trillion in 2023 in a country of 113 million people living in multidimensional poverty was alarming and unjustifiable.
