Category: General News

The Niger Government on Friday said it would establish Contributory Social Health Insurance Scheme to provide affordable and quality healthcare services in the state.

Dr Mustapha Jibril, the state Commissioner for Health, told newsmen in Minna that the proposed Bill would target both the public and private sectors.

“A memo to establish Niger State Contributory Social Health Insurance Scheme has been approved by the State Executive Council to ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the people,’’ he said.

Jibril said that the move to present the health bill before the State House of Assembly became necessary as affordable and quality healthcare was the right of the people.

“The government came up with the scheme because many people find it difficult to pay for quality healthcare services.
Through the scheme our people can afford to pay their hospital bills,’’ he said.

He said under the scheme civil servants and public officers, including political appointees, in the state would contribute 2.5 per cent, while the state government would match it with another 2.5 per cent to accommodate the formal sector.

The commissioner said that government would also contribute one per cent of its annual consolidated revenue fund to the scheme to cater for the less privileged.

Besides, he said the bill would cover pregnant women, children under five years, people with disability, surgery, routine immunisation and family planning services, among others.

Jibril said that the document, which would soon be forwarded to the legislature, has stakeholders such as the state government, Nigeria Labour Congress and Nigeria Union of Teachers. (NAN)

The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Thursday described the death of former Finance Minister, Malam Adamu Ciroma, as a great loss to Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ciroma, an elder statesman, died in an Abuja hospital on Thursday after a protracted illness.

The deceased was a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and also the finance minister during the first term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was 84 years old.

In a statement issued by his Media Officer, Mr Tunde Rahman in Lagos, Tinubu said the country had lost an illustrious leader who played politics with a commitment to serve the people and change society.

He said that the late Ciroma was a consummate politician and an accomplished public servant.

”Malam Adamu Ciroma was one of the illustrious leaders this country has produced. He was a politician of note.

” You cannot but recall his days in the Second Republic National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and in the PDP where he was one of the party’s founding fathers.

”He also made name as an experienced technocrat and skilful public servant particularly as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and in later years as Minister of Finance.

”He was a fine man who played politics with a commitment to serve the people and change society.

”This did not come as a surprise given his background honed by sound education at the popular Barewa College and University of Ibadan and his nationalistic worldview.

”My condolences go to the Ciroma family and the people of government of Yobe State. May his soul rest in peace, ” Tinubu said (NAN)

Pinnick clinches CAF 1st Vice President The embattled President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has been appointed as the 1st Vice President of Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Pinnick’s appointment’s is contained in a letter dated July 5, 2018 signed by CAF’s General Secretary, Amr Fahmy.

The letter reads ” Following resignation of the 1st Vice President, Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi and the prevailing situation in the Football Federation of Nigeria, the CAF President, after consulting the members of the Emergency Committee, appointed Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick as 1st Vice President.

”This decision is immediately applicable in accordance with article 27, para. 2 of the status which will be ratified by the Executive Committee in its session scheduled on Sept. 27 and 28, 2018, ” the communique reads. (NAN)

The Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has appealed to the Federal Government to appoint reputable auditors to carry out forensic auditing of State and Local Government joint accounts.

Mr Ibrahim Khaleel, NULGE National President, made the appeal while addressing newsmen at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

Khaleel said that the forensic audit to be carried out should be in the last ten years in order to ascertain how the funds were expended.

According to him, the audit becomes necessary since there is little or nothing on ground in nearly all the local government areas to show for the huge resources allocated to states and local governments over the years.

“It is unfortunate that state governors have continued to delay the passage of the local government autonomy bill, by arm-twisting state legislators to undermine the amendment process,” he said.

He, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to break his long silence on the vexed issue of local government autonomy, by fulfilling his promise of granting autonomy to local government areas

He added that the president must rise above the perceived political capital in the governors to invest in the trust of the Nigerian majority whom he had promised in his inaugural address.

“That his government was not going to fold its arms to the travesty of governance that was going on in the states and local governments,” he said.

The NULGE president also said that one of the most invasive acts and glaring abuse of power by the governors since the current democratic dispensation was their commandeering of local government funds.

He noted that this was at the expense of the development that they were meant to be provided at the grassroots.

Khaleel, however, said with the recent signing into law of financial autonomy, granted to state assemblies, state lawmakers no longer need to be intimidated in asserting the logic of the constitutional provision.

“This empowers them to check the excesses of governance in their states, ‘’he added.

He, however, said should the state governors and assembly members fail to accede to their yearnings, the union will have no other option than to vigorously mandate all chapters to vote against those standing against local government autonomy.(NAN

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has pledged to engage more meter access providers in the power sector to address the metering problem in the country.

Mr Oyebode Fadipe, Head Corporate of the commission, AEDC disclosed this while addressing newsmen at a roundtable on power by the Civil Society Groups for Good Governance on Thursday in Abuja.

Fadipe, who identified estimated billing known as “crazy billing’’ as the major challenge facing the power sector, however, assured that the problem would soon be a thing of the past,

According to him, it will be solved through engagement of more power sector players in the industry.

“The principal cause or source of the crazy bill or outrageous billing is because a lot of customers have not been metered and that is the principal cause. Only very few are in the prepaid category.

“Those that have the post-paid meters are those who are complaining about crazy billings and overestimated billing,’’ he said.

Fadipe urged consumers on estimated billing with issues with their bills to go through the complaint process to get them addressed.

He said that the Meter Access Provider (MAP) currently in use and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) policy was essential in other to neutralise the metering platform.

Fadipe said that it was no longer the Distribution companies (DISCOS) that had the monopoly of the metering of customers.

“We have more players coming in and again the Discos have to be in agreement with the particular meter access provider.

“When a customer pays money over a time, the access provider recovers the money over that time.

“When the consumer comes to recharge and he or she is recharging about N10,000 value, the consumer is given less than 10 thousand naira recharge in order to recover part of the cos.”

He noted that the AEDC had invested about 10 billion in 2018 for the production of over 200,000 pieces of meters of different categories both single faced and multiple faced meters.

Fadipe also that AEDC had done over 99 per cent of the metering, adding that any issue regarding metering was by new residents who built their factories for power.

He said that the issue of criminalising estimated billing was still in process at the National Assemble, adding that the company was hopeful that the law would meet its purpose.

“We have to wait for the complete process and we hope that it would favour both the providers and consumers concerned.

Mr Sham Kolo, Deputy Director, Surveillance and Enforcement, Consumer Protection Council (CPC), said the outrageous billing was worrisome, especially as the mandate of CPC was to promote and protect the interest of consumers.

He said that the council was working closely with the Discos to make sure that consumers were not short changed in any way.

Contributing, Mr Dominic Ogakwu, Convener, Civil Society Groups for Good Governance,(CSGGG) said that there was need for accountability in the power sector. (NAN)

Researchers from the University of Birmingham.on Thursday warned the public to be cautious when using skin cancer diagnosis apps.

The study led by the university, has been outlined at the British Association of Dermatologists’Annual Meeting in Edinburgh.

It explores the skin cancer apps on the market, ascertaining how accurate they are, and what the benefits and limitations of these technological solutions are.

Examples of apps include tele-dermatology, which involves sending an image directly to a dermatologist, photo storage, which can be used by individuals to compare photos monthly to look for changes in a mole, and risk calculation, which is based on colour and pattern recognition, or on fractal analysis.

The study found that some of these apps have a comparatively high success rate for the diagnosis of skin cancer.

For example, they said Teledermatology correctly identified 88 per cent of people with skin cancer and 97 per cent of those with benign lesions.

The team admitted that these types of technology have huge potential, as early diagnosis can make a huge difference when it comes to five-year survival.

But there still are three major failings with some of the apps: a lack of rigorous published trials to show they work and are safe; a lack of input during the app development from specialists to identify which lesions are suspicious; and flaws in the technology used, namely how the photos are analyzed, according to the study.

Future technology will play a huge part in skin cancer diagnosis, but “until adequate validation and regulation of apps is achieved, members of the public should be cautious when using such apps as they come with risk,” said Maria Charalambides, of the University of Birmingham’s College of Medical and Dental Sciences, who conducted the review.(Xinhua/NAN)