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NHIS recovers N2 billion debts from HMO’s
File Photo The National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, on Tuesday says it has recovered the sum of N2 billion debts from Health Maintenance Organizations, HMOs, and unpaid bills to Health care facilities. NHIS General Manager, Enforcement Department, Pharmacist Mohammad Ghali, disclosed this during a stakeholders sensitization workshop held in Kano to strengthen effective operations of the scheme. Ghali said it received complaints from the health care providers over HMO’s non-payment of services rendered to enrollees and to that effect, the scheme came up with a principle of reconciliation between the HMO’s and healthcare facilities leading to the recovery of the monies, N2 billion, which was later paid to the healthcare facilities. According to him, “over some period, what the NHIS witnes...
National Assembly raises 2021 budget by N580 billion, approves N13.588 trillion
The two chambers of the National Assembly yesterday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, increasing the budget size from N13.08 trillion presented to them by President Muhamnadu Buhari 11 weeks ago to N13.588 trillion. The passage of the 2021 budget followed consideration and adoption of harmonised reports separately submitted to them by their Committees on Appropriation. The two chambers increased the 2021 budget by about N580 billion and pegged daily crude oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day, while oil benchmark price was fixed at $40 per barrel. They approved N379 to dollar as the official exchange rate while GDP growth rate was pegged at 3 per cent. Highlights of the report approved by the Senate showed aggregate expenditure to be N13,588,027,886,175, statutory transfer of N4...
Ijaw youths block East-West road over NDDC
Pool Photo The ripples over the appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) reached a boiling point on Monday as hundreds of Ijaw youths blocked the popular East-West road, causing many travellers to be stranded. The youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) said the protest was for the immediate removal of the Sole Administrator, Mr Effiong Okon Awa, and the inauguration of the substantive board. The protest held travellers stranded for hours and attempts by some armed soldiers backed by an Armoured Personnel Carrier and led by a Major to persuade the protesters to leave the East-West road proved abortive. A plea by a former Secretary to Bayelsa State Government and ex-Nigerian Ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Dr Godknows Iga...
Farm labourer ‘kills’ colleague in hemp plantation
A 23-year-old laborer, Benedict Owalun, has been arrested by the police in Ondo State for allegedly killing his colleague simply identified as Ekong inside an Indian hemp farm in Ipele in Owo Local Government Area of the state. The suspect allegedly beheaded Ekong during a fight between them inside an Indian hemp plantation. Both the suspect and the deceased were said to be working with others on the plantation located at Ipele in Owo Local Government Area of the state when the incident happened. Owalun, an indigene of Cross Rivers State said that he had suspected the deceased to be behind his predicaments, hence his action. He said the deceased had threatened to deal with him spiritually. Owalum said he had noticed that his manhood was no longer functioning and the deceased often threaten...
Thousands protest in Sudan in call for faster reform
Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman on Saturday, demanding an acceleration of reforms on the second anniversary of the start of an uprising that ousted Omar al-Bashir. The veteran leader was deposed by the military in April 2019 after months of mass protests against poor economic conditions and Bashir’s autocratic, three-decade rule. Many Sudanese are unhappy with what they see as the slow or even negligible pace of change under the transitional government that has struggled to fix an economy in crisis. The government was formed under a three-year power sharing agreement between the military and civilian groups which is meant to lead to fair presidential and parliamentary elections. Sudan’s state TV aired footage of thousa...
Akwa Ibom cancels state events, caution residents
The Akwa Ibom State Government has cancelled all state events requiring large gatherings as it confirmed 48 new cases of COVID-19 in the state. A statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Chairman of the COVID-19 Management Committee, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, cautioned residents against acts that might lead to another lockdown with its attendant consequences. He said; “large political meetings are discouraged until the current spike of COVID-19 infections is reduced. “Religious leaders must adhere strictly to the guidelines and protocols for programmes as developed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and submitted to the government. “School administrators must ensure compulsory and proper use of face mask by students, teachers and everyone in the school premises.” T...
Akwa Ibom bans large gatherings as coronavirus surges
As a precautionary measure against the second wave of COVID-19, the Akwa Ibom State government has announced the cancellation of “all state government events requiring large crowds”. The Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Emmanuel Ekuwem, who disclosed in a statement on Friday, said “test results from our PCR laboratory clearly indicate a sharp increase in the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our state”. The statement said Governor Udom Emmanuel has directed strict enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines and protocols at the Christmas village in Uyo, the state capital. The government said large political meetings are to be discouraged until the current spike of COVID-19 infections is reduced. It said the use of face mask and adherence to other COVID-19 guidelines and proto...
Edo APC writes off former chairman’s defection claims
Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday described claims by a former charman of the party, Anselm Ojezua that he was leaving the party with 150,000 members as spurious and unfounded. A statement yesterday by the State Assistant Publicity Secretary of the APC, Ofure Osehobor, said Ojezua had long left the party but that he was not popular enough to gather such a number of supporters being claimed. He said “This is deliberate falsehood because Edo people know that this man has no such followership. Moreover he left the party long before now. What is sad is that instead of staying quietly in his new party, he has chosen to embarrass himself with these claims. “Here is a man who has lost political relevance, in all its ramifications but decided to lurk around by hold...
Nigerian polytechnic workers to begin strike January 4
The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANU) is beginning a warning strike on January 4 next year, the President of the association, Adebanjo Ogunsipe, says. In a press statement on Thursday, Mr Ogunsipe said the strike will last 14 days. He said the declaration was owing to the nonchalant attitude of the federal government towards issues bordering on education. Mr Ogunsipe said the polytechnics and tertiary education system generally have a myriad of problems militating against their development. “You may recall that for the past three years, the union has consistently presented these issues in our various communique at the end of our NEC/GEC meetings which comes up at least four times every year for the avoidance of doubt,” he said. Mr Ogunsipe said the association’s dema...
Osun mechanic to die by hanging for armed robbery
An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa, on Thursday, sentenced a 29-year-old mechanic, Sola Emorua, to death by hanging for armed robbery. The defendant was first arraigned before Justice Isiaka Adeleke on January 29, 2018, on two counts of conspiracy and armed robbery. Justice Adeleke, in his judgment after a trial that lasted almost three years, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and subsequently sentenced Emorua to death. The lead prosecution counsel from the Ministry of Justice, Motolani Sokefun, had told the court that the convict and others at large, on May 7, 2015 around 5.30pm in Osu, on the Ilesa-Akure Expressway, while armed with weapons, robbed a tanker loaded with 33,000 litres of kerosene belonging to one Ismaila Azeez. The counsel further expl...
2023: There was no pre-merger agreement in APC on zoning – Senator Yerima
A former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, has denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had any premerger agreement to rotate the presidency between the north and the south. Yerima disclosed this yesterday during a media interaction with reporters covering the activities of the APC. His claim was contrary to the views of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently said that the party had a gentleman agreement on zoning. Yerima said: “I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr. President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal. It has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is co...
Nigeria loses 250,000 babies to preventable, treatable causes annually – experts
Despite the global efforts to end preventable newborn deaths by 2030, through the Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, experts have raised the alarm that Nigeria loses over 250,000 babies yearly due to preventable and treatable causes, even as the country ranks second highest globally in infant deaths. According to a Professor of Paediatrics at the College of Medicine University of Lagos, and Clinical Lead, Newborn Essential Solution and Technologies, NEST360, Professor Chinyere Ezeaka, with current slow progress, it may take Nigerian 100 years to meet the goal. Ezeaka identified causes of newborn deaths in Nigeria to include prematurity, infections, birth asphyxia, congenital abnormalities among others, she said these would be reduced with the wide-scale adoption of comprehensive newborn car...
