ELON Musk has revealed that Twitter will roll out new updates for its verification system on Friday, December 2.
In a Tweet, Musk said the verification would be manual and the check multi-coloured to differentiate companies, governments, and individuals
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.
Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.
The Chief Twit categorized the checks as follows: “Gold for companies, grey for government and blue for individuals (celebrity or not)”, he also added that authentication would be manual.
After its launch, the platform’s CEO halted the new Twitter Blue due to impersonators and revealed it would continue on November 29.
But on Tuesday, Musk postponed the November 29 launch.
Based on the results of Wednesday’s poll, the Twitter boss posted that the platform will offer “general amnesty” to all suspended accounts starting from next week.
A NON-GOVERNMENTAL Organisation, Stand With A Girl (SWAG) Initiative has sensitised Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Wassa Camp in Abuja on Gender-Based Violence.
The event took place on Wednesday, November 23, at the Wassa IDP Camp.
The WeLead program, funded by Hivos, is aimed at making sure that women are able to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights.
SWAG initiative carried out a three-fold intervention which offered family planning commodities, menstrual cups and micro-grants to the women in the IDP camp.
The Program Coordinator of SWAG, Mercy Bolaji, said to commemorate the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Campaign starting November 25, the WeLead program is aimed at creating awareness around Gender-Based Violence and family planning for women.
“We are here to sensitise the community on the harmful gender practices that they do, particularly on sexual and gender-based violence and also family planning.
“So, we are here to dialogue with the community members because we know that its important for the community to take ownership if they are going to support women and if they are going to make sure that women do not experience violence, especially from their partners or people in the community,” she said.
Bolaji further explained that the conversation was centered around myths and misconceptions that people have about gender-based violence and family planning, with a focus on child spacing.
The program coordinator further said change doesn’t happen immediately but SWAG believes constant messages influence people over time, particularly when they are doing something wrong.
The United Nations data on Gender-Based Violence reveals that 7,349 incidents were reported from January 2020 – July 2022, with 72.3 per cent being sexual and physical violence.
Hafsat Hamman, Women Leader Wasa IDP Camp. Source: Stand With A Girl (SWAG) Initiative
During the event, Women Leader Wassa IDP Camp Hafsat Hamman said SWAG has enlightened the IDPs about gender-based violence by training a few women as advocates, and also opening helplines where victims can call and report abuses.
“We really appreciate SWAG for their efforts, especially for the 3000 women in the camp. They have enlightened us on gender-based violence and how we can report cases to them,” she said.
Hamman further revealed that the family planning talks have educated them on how they can take care of themselves and plan their lives.
Head of Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization of the FCT Primary Health Care Board, Hajiya Nana Hauwa Yusuf. Source: SWAG
Head of Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization of FCT’s Primary Health Care Board, Hajiya Nana Hauwa Yusuf commended the sensitization program saying that the board is pleased that an NGO is complementing government’s efforts.
“We have a clinic here and we are happy that an NGO could identify this community and help us with some services.
“So, the sensitization is on access and utilization of family planning tools, sexual and human violence,” she said.
Yusuf also explained that abuse and violence hinder progress, noting that it is important for the girl child to be well trained from a young age and to be educated about their bodies.
A report by Humangle noted that in the first four months of 2022 about 335 persons have experienced different forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) across Nigeria.
An Assistant Director in the IDP Department of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Ijeoma Uduak, said the initiative is a way of creating awareness among the people and training the trainers.
“What we did today is like train the trainers. These people we have talked to today would take it to their various communities to also enlighten others that are not here.
“So it is a good awareness that we have created today, to inform them, telling them it is good to space their children,” she said.
Uduak added that men shouldn’t beat their wives. She warned that they should not molest the girl child because it is a crime and perpetrators get punished.
The Chairman of IDP Camp Wassa Geoffrey Bitrus appreciated SWAG Initiative. According to him, husbands and wives always have issues but from the teachings received, they have learnt some things they didn’t know.
He added that the camp leaders would spread the word to others that were not in attendance.
Annually, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence kicks off on November 25 and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women campaign is ‘UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls’.
THE Pulitzer Center is accepting applications for the Global Health Inequities Fellowship and the Climate Science Fellowship.
The Pulitzer Center raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms.
Fellows will receive mentorship from the Pulitzer Center staff and grantees, network with professional reporters and editors and participate in workshops to build journalism—virtually or in person, when feasible.
Student journalists can compete for reporting fellowships by submitting proposals focused on global health inequities and climate science.
Fellowship winners will receive a US$3,000 stipend. Fellows will also be invited to participate in the Pulitzer Center’s annual Washington Weekend event in D.C.
Students and recent graduates from a variety of colleges can apply for a fellowship. The applicants’ college must be a Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium partner.
The application deadline is December 1, 2022. Interested applicants can apply here.
Journalists will learn how to integrate data collection, analysis, visualization, and reporting for holistic coverage of the environment, with a special focus on the impact assessment of solutions being deployed.
The masterclass will be held on November 30, 2022.
African journalists can participate in a hybrid masterclass in Lagos, Nigeria.
Participants will receive six-month free access to the advanced geo-journalism tools on Nigeria’s digital geo-journalism platform— www.econaiplus.com— courtesy of Eco-Nai+.
Early this year, he took to his verified Instagram page to apologise to his wife, Ozioma, for cheating on her with another woman in the United States.
The incident reportedly happened in 2021.
This led to the singer taking time off from ministration in order, according to him, to retrace his step with God before returning to ministry after a few months.
In May this year, the gospel singer also escaped death in a ghastly car accident while driving at the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The gospel artiste said he was saved from the hands of the devil and his cohorts in a statement on the accident.
Okposo was an internationally-recognised music producer, psalmist, and CEO of Zamar Entertainment.
He started his music career as a soundtrack producer for Nollywood movies in 1992 and released his first album titled ‘Addicted’ in 2004.
Vox Populi, Vox dei in Latin means “The voice of the people, the voice of God”.
This seems to be the Chief Twit’s new mantra for Twitter stemming from his commitment to make the microblogging site an environment for free speech.
On Saturday, Twitter lifted it’s ban on former United States President Donald Trump‘s suspended account after 22 months.
He also reinstated Kanye West (Ye) and Andrew Tates, who were also suspended.
Musk did not state how the suspended accounts would be recalled.
After purchasing Twitter, Musk has made some dramatic changes to the social media platform which include Twitter Blue subscription, company layoffs, and amnesty, amongst others.
More changes are expected as the CEO has promised to restore “truth” to the platform.
THE Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON) has called on the federal and state governments to intervene in reducing the effect of floods on its members.
National President of SWOFON Mary Afan made the call at a press briefing during a training on Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK) organised by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), in Abuja, on Thursday, November 24.
SWOFON President Mary Afan with members of her executive during the press briefing
Afan said the association’s members have faced difficult times since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the recent floods across the country.
“The year 2021 was a year for us to begin recovery from the global pandemic. Some states made efforts in prioritising agriculture and capturing women farmers in their state budget. However, because the response of the Federal Government was slow and women farmers were not well captured in the government’s intervention, there was no way we could escape from the high cost of food, which we had earlier forwarned the nation.
“In spite of all these challenges, our women farmers have remained resolute in the course of feeding the nation and contributing to seeing that Nigeria attains food security in no distant time,” she said.
Speaking further, she noted that the recent flooding experienced across the country was a big challenge.
“The recent flooding experienced in many states of Nigeria has necessitated that we call the attention of the Federal Government to speedily take action to save the livelihood of our members.
“The loss of our means of livelihood and the flooding of our homes are two bitter pills too hard to swallow. This is double jeopardy for women farmers across the country.”
She stated that the role women play in agriculture could not be overemphasised. According to her, women make up 60 per cent of the agricultural labour force in Nigeria.
She went ahead to state SWOFON’s demands: “The federal and state governments should, as a matter of urgency, begin to distribute improved seeds and seedlings to our members for dry season/irrigation farming to cushion the losses made during the wet season.
“The federal and state governments should swiftly procure farm inputs and equipment, especially fertilisers and water pumps, which will be distributed to our farmers for the dry season.
“The Federal Government should create an intervention fund aimed at cushioning the suffering of women farmers.”
She added that the federal and state governments should consider giving waivers on all agricultural loans and debts owed during the wet season farming.
The association also demanded that early warning systems should be strengthened to alert farmers about impending natural disasters such as flooding or drought.
SWOFON is a coalition of women farmers across Nigeria working together to promote women-friendly agricultural space.
Delivering his goodwill message at the event, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, said the government would continue to increase citizen participation in the country’s fiscal governance.
“Let me use this opportunity to say the Budget Office of the Federation, and indeed the Federal Government of Nigeria, will continue with efforts targeted at increasing citizen participation in government and, in particular, the fiscal governance of the country.
“The Budget Office of the Federation is implementing a number of reforms aimed at deepening citizens’ participation in the budget process from formulation through implementation to monitoring and evaluation.”
Akabueze said the Budget Office has collaborated with critical stakeholders, state and non-state actors, and development partners, including the IBP, to further deepen reforms and improve Nigeria’s fiscal governance.
Also speaking at the occasion, Country Manager IBP, Austin Ndiokwelu, stated the importance of transparency and accountability in the budget process.
“We are a community of organisation. What we do is that we engage the fiscal governance system, the budget of public financial management system, and we do this in other to ensure that the budget is transparent, is participatory and that budgets are actually used to better the lives of the people.
“We believe that citizens have the right to have a say in how their revenues are raised because its called public budget, its called public revenue.
“We have been supporting budget analysts and think-tanks to engage the budget system.
“In Nigeria here, when we started four and half years ago, we had a couple of initiatives. However, we started with SPARK. SPARK is about building on transparency, and participation has increased,” he said.
Ndiokwelu explained that instead of working with typical civil society organisations (CSOs) or traditional civil society groups, the IBP works directly with people impacted by the challenges, hence the collaboration with SWOFON.
The International Budget Partnership (IBP) was formed in 1997 to advocate for transparent, inclusive and accountable government budget processes to improve governance and reduce global poverty.
THE Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Olarewaju Suraju has charged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the media and Nigerian youths to study the new Electoral Act in order to monitor the 2023 general elections effectively.
Suraju made the call on Thursday at a workshop held in Abuja on the theme, ‘Towards Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections’.
The workshop, organised in partnership with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre (WARDC), engaged youths, CSOs, journalists and security personnel on the Electoral Act, 2022.
He said: “Once we are able to get the Electoral Act right, we wouldn’t have much to do in terms of dealing with corruption and corrupt practices. But if the electoral process is bedeviled with all forms of abuses, corruption and manipulations, inevitably the winners of the electoral process are bound to want to recoup whatever they might have invested in the process of the election.”
He stressed that INEC through the Electoral Act is trying its best to conduct credible elections in 2023.
Suraju expressed concerns over vote-buying and noted that security agencies and financial institutions should do more to address the problem.
“It’s not just about INEC, police and NACDC, we have now seen that EFCC and ICPC are also getting involved. I also think that very crucially, the NFIU has more to do in dealing with movement and flow of funds.
“For us at HEDA, we just don’t like taking position without consultation and since we have 2023 elections looking at us, judging from what we saw in the primaries of leading political parties where contestants were openly accusing one and another of heavily inducing their delegates with monetary compensation, we can imagine what is likely to happen in the 2023 election.
“To ensure the integrity of the 2023 election, that is why HEDA has dedicated this Anti-Corruption Situation Room to discussions around the issue of the electoral process, the ultimate elections itself, the process leading to the final result and how we want to be sure that we are not having an election concluded and the only argument and discussion will be around who bribed more, who compromised more,” Suraju said.
Speaking on the uniqueness of the new Electoral Act, a former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mike Igini said power has returned to Nigerians.
“Power has been returned to the Nigerian people. One of the things I said when leaving INEC was that we are leaving the place better than we met it because of the 2022 Electoral Act that has secured INEC innovation.
“If only people knew that power has been restored back to them, that the polling unit is now the center of universe, election are now won and lost at the polling unit and no longer at ward collation centre, local government collation centre or at other levels of collation, it’s over,” Igini said.
According to him, the innovation in the Electoral Act has caused panic amongst politicians who intend to rig elections.
“Every year we made proposals, but the proposals were rejected many times by the lawmakers until the present 2022, when they had the Damascus experience and all the rejected proposals were passed and accepted on the 26th of February this year.
“That legal framework is the basis of the moral panic in the land because INEC’s procedures and innovations have been secured by this 2022 Electoral Act and that’s why there’s moral panic everywhere.”
He also disclosed that INEC made a total of 91 proposals to the National Assembly of which 48 were accepted by the lawmakers.
MANY Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in Akwa Ibom State have deteriorated over the years due to neglect, but the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) has brought hope to the otherwise hopeless state of the sector. Daily Trust on Sunday writes on the disbursement of the fund and its effect on the health facilities.
A lot of community health workers in primary health centres in Akwa Ibom State are forced to keep their jobs running by using their salaries to keep the facilities afloat owing to many years of neglect by the government, Daily Trust on Sunday has learnt.
Many of them battle with challenges such as poor working conditions, inadequate tools, shortage of personnel and insecurity, as well as infrastructural decay, while providing services to members of the public.
More than 461 primary health centres across the state have stories of rot and decay.
Findings revealed that over the years, many of such centres have had little or no funding, but health workers are expected to report to duty on a daily basis. This is in addition to the hostility of some community members, who also steal from the already deteriorated facilities.
Investigations across five local government areas of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Ikono, Oron and Ikot Abasi outlined various challenges faced by the health centres and how workers have fared over the years, especially with the implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which is composed of one per cent Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federal government and contributions from other sources, including donors, to salvage the primary health sector.
At the Community Health Centre, Atan Offot in Uyo Local Government Area, where Blessing Udo Albert is a community health extension worker, the environment is serene and very welcoming. A first-time visitor would feel at ease and happy with the ambience, which elicits hope, but beyond the physical outlook, the facility lacks basic amenities, as confirmed by Albert.
“The pump in our borehole was stolen two years ago. We have not been able to replace it because there is no fund to run the facility. We go to nearby boreholes to fetch water.
“We don’t get funding from anywhere; rather, we pay revenue to the local government every month, which depends on the number of patients we have,” she said.
According to her, since the health facility operates without electricity, they make use of lanterns to sometimes deliver pregnant women of their babies.
“There is no power supply here, so we use lanterns. In cases of emergency, we refer complications to the teaching hospital,” she said.
Albert, who said she was not aware of the existence of the BHCPF, also complained of inadequate number of staff, noting that the facility operates with three community health workers and an unpaid casual security man, who is not equipped in case of any attack.
Edemaya 1 PHC, Ikot Abasi LGA
“We don’t have midwives here; however, the community health extension worker can take delivery, but it must be with the assistance of a midwife. So, we need a midwife.
“We have three community health extension workers. We have only casual security men, and they are not paid. So we need security men because insecurity is serious,” she said.
Unfortunately, the health centre, which was said to have been built by a community member and handed over to the government, operates without a signpost, making it difficult for a first-time visitor to even identify the facility.
Albert said, “We don’t have a signpost, so people find it difficult to locate this place. Such funds will assist us to put things in place.”
At the primary health centre in Idoro, the officer-in-charge, Mary Victor Edem, who took our correspondent round the facility, said although the facility witnessed a lot of patronage, especially on Wednesdays, the place is small; therefore, there’s the need for expansion. She said the delivery room was so small that there’s no place to keep a newborn baby after delivery.
“When we had delivery here in the night, the woman’s mother-in-law had to hold the baby because there was no place to keep it. She sat here with the baby while her daughter-in-law remained on the bed for over an hour before she left for home. I want another building that would accommodate the maternity section so that women can deliver their babies and sleep. We have land for expansion,” she said.
She said the facility operated without power supply and water, adding that they make use of lanterns for any delivery that happened at night.
“The generator we had was stolen two days after I resumed work here. The solar we have is for the solar fridge used for immunisation. We don’t work at night. If we have delivery, we use lanterns. We buy water worth about N500 daily. We need water here,” Edem added.
Speaking on why the BHCPF she collected was not used to sort out the problems, she said the money was used for utility and maintenance as directed.
“I collected the money this year, and that was the first time. I collected N601,500. The money was divided into utility and maintenance. Under utility, I did painting, renovation of windows, bought long span zinc and ceiling boards, benches, table cloths, and fixed the sit-out extension you see,” she also said.
On staff strength and the midwives’ scheme, Edem said, “We have two community health workers and two midwives. I am a staff nurse midwife but we do not benefit from the midwife scheme. I employed additional two persons and paid them from what we make here. We need more hands.”
One of the patients, Mrs Mary John said, “The service here is good, but I want improvement. I want an antenatal room to be built so that when pregnant women come for maternity check-ups they can stay and be comfortable.
“I would also want a place for women who come with their babies for post-natal check-ups. The staff members have social life, they make us comfortable.”
A nurse in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Kufre Inwang, said she came to the facility for treatment because of their services.
At the Primary Health Centre, Ikot Ebo, where a visitor would feel happy to be treated after overcoming the hurdle of locating the facility, the officer-in-charge, Mrs Mandu Samuel, revealed that before now, community members stayed away from the facility because it was unkempt.
Mrs Samuel said patients had been trooping to the facility since she collected the BHCPF in February 2022 and used it to give the facility a face-lift.
“We used the fund to paint the health centre, fix iron doors and make benches. I also bought two mattresses for the ward.
“I received N601,500 for two quarters. This is the first time I received the money. I was happy to receive the money because I was able to make the place neat. When I was posted here in September 2021, the place was dirty and unkempt. So, the money has helped us a lot. When people saw that the place became clean they started coming for treatment,” she said.
It was gathered that the increased patronage has helped the facility to function well as it makes use of the little funds generated from services to buy drugs, which are sold to patients, as well as pay local government revenue agents when they come.
At the Mbiabong Primary Health Centre, it was gathered that the BHCPF has given a boost to services rendered and increased patronage.
The officer-in-charge of the facility, Emem Umoren, said the money was used to purchase equipment for the laboratory, genotype and blood grouping machines, not for renovation.
“In our lab now, we have a genotype machine and one for blood grouping. We now have a laptop in the data unit from that same money. We also acquired syringes and instruments like delivery kits, rubber tables and chairs,” she added.
Umoren, a midwife, said the health centre had an urgent need for specialised hands, adding that the facility has only two midwives.
Bank frustrates access to funds in Oron
In Oron Local Government Area, it was gathered that none of the 10 primary health care facilities has been able to access the BHCPF due to the inability of the Community Development Association (CDA) to fulfill some of the conditions required by the United Bank for Africa (UBA), where the money is domiciled.
It was learnt that the primary health director in Oron met with the chairman, Akwa Ibom State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Martins Akpan, to request that the money be moved to another bank that would not have stringent conditions for accessing it.
An authoritative source who preferred to remain unnamed said that even without the bank hitch, only two out of the four health centres qualified to access the funds would get it owing to the rule that only facilities domiciled in their own properties and not in rented apartments qualify.
The source revealed that unfortunately, most of the health centres in Oron operate from rented apartments due to the unwillingness of the local government authorities and leadership of communities to get permanent properties for them.
The assistant to the officer-in-charge in Uya Oron Primary Health Centre, Atim Usanga, said the hope of the facility benefiting from the BHCPF was slim as it is operating from one of the classrooms in Uya Oron Primary School.
Usanga explained that the permanent facility built for the health centre was under contention as Eiyetung community is laying claim to the property because it was built by a former local government chairman, who is an in-law in that community.
She lamented that the water pump installed in the facility was stolen since it has remained unoccupied due to the contention, and there is no hope in sight for a quick resolution of the matter.
“Among the 10 health facilities in Oron, none has received the fund. Our primary health care director is aware. We learnt that some health care facilities in other parts of the state have collected the money.
“The officer-in-charge here has spent a lot of money going back and forth to the bank to process the funds but without success,” she said.
The Esin Ufot Primary Health Centre borders the sea, and as such, the area, according to the officer-in-charge, Mrs Arit Victor Ntekim, is susceptible to a lot of health challenges.
Fortunately, in addition to building the health centre and handing over to the government, the community also supports the facility financially.
However, Ntekim believes that receiving the BHCPF will be a big relief to the facility as it will help in meeting so many needs. According to her, to keep the facility running, she uses her salaries to buy drugs that are administered on patients.
“The community gave us N30,000 to run this place and I used N10,000 to open an account for the BHCPF. The remaining amount was used to buy some materials for the laboratory for tests. When the community learnt of the BHCPF, they were happy, but we are still expecting the money,” she said.
Mrs Ntekim said the health centre made use of water from a borehole erected by a community member close to the facility. She noted that the centre operated without electricity owing to over N100,000 debt to the power distribution company in charge of the area.
“We rely on the solar power installed by the federal government for the antigen, but someone in the community bought us a generator, which we normally fuel for use.
“The BHCPF would have been used to employ and pay some ad hoc staff like the security man who keeps the environment clean. I paid the security man N2,000 to clear this place. We have not seen the BHCPF,” she said.
Speaking on maternal health care, the officer-in-charge said, “We don’t take delivery of babies here, but we have a lot of traditional birth attendants around who were trained by the government and given kits and certificates.
“So, pregnant women just come here for antenatal but go to traditional birth attendants for delivery. We have a safe motherhood unit in the Operational Base, but we don’t have such units here because we don’t have space. We have three staff.”
At the Primary Health Care Operational Base in Ikot Ekpene, it was gathered that the facilities that benefitted from the BHCPF judiciously made use of the fund.
Janet Orok, a community health officer at the Operational Base and former officer-in-charge in Itu Local Government Area, said the facility was one of the beneficiaries of the BHCPF.
“We were trained intensively for four days on how to utilise the money. Village people like chairmen and treasurers were also involved because these facilities are in people’s communities, so they must know what is being done. You cannot do it on your own. The community people were involved so that the money would be used wisely,” she explained.
Orok said the Operational Base dealt with a lot of referral cases, and as such, the patronage is high. She lamented that some of the facilities had only one staff because many workers had retired.
At Etip Ediene in Ikono Local Government Area, it was observed that the once thriving health centre was neglected and left to deteriorate.
Except the main building where health officials operate from, three other structures within the premises have been abandoned, while the water tank is not functioning.
A faded signpost welcomes visitors to the facility that has become overgrown with grass, and without power supply. Also, the rooms where drugs are kept and patients are supposed to be treated have their windows and ceiling boards broken.
The officer-in-charge of the facility, Christiana Christopher Ekpo, who said the centre was supposed to serve 9 villages in the area, lamented that its deteriorating condition did not encourage patronage.
Ekpo said, “Since I was posted here in March 2022, no money has been received from the government. I just manage the place myself. I buy the disposables myself. JEPAGO helps us with syringes.
“There is no light here (though we have solar), as such, no night services are held. The generator is bad and our water facility is not functioning. I pay N6,000 for people to cut the grass. We cannot take delivery of pregnant women because the place is not good. We refer them to other health centres. We give our phone numbers to them in case of any problem as many of them prefer traditional birth attendants who are trained.”
However, the officer-in-charge of the health centre in Ibiaku Ntok Okpo in the same local government area, Emem Michael Uko, said the facility enjoyed patronage from the community and recorded about 30 patients daily.
Uko explained that the centre benefitted from the BHCPF, and the money was used to provide security, among other things.
Speaking on the challenges confronting the facility, she said, “We don’t have electricity supply, no generator. The one we had was stolen. We reported it to the village head, even the council was aware of it, but they didn’t do anything. If we have delivery, we use rechargeable torches. There is no water here. We buy water from the borehole nearest to the facility and fill our jerry-cans to use.”
At the Primary Health Centre, Ukpon Ikono, the facility was recently given a face-lift.
A volunteer community health worker who said she had been doing the job since 2018, added that the facility benefitted from the BHCPF.
She also said, “We want the government to provide essential drugs because we pay tax to the local government council. And we don’t have support from the community. We have one midwife. We are community health workers, so we stay here.”
In Ikot Abasi, only three primary health centres – Ikot Usop, Ikot Akan and Edemaya 1 – have benefited from the BHCPF.
The one at Ikot Akan is said to be one of the busiest facilities in the area with an average of 10 patients a day. It also records a lot of patronage from pregnant women. The receipt of the fund was a great relief and encouragement to the officer-in-charge, Mrs Patience James.
“We collected the funds in April. There are times we would attend to pregnant women about to deliver without electricity.
“If you check our windows you would discover that some of the louvers are out, so we discovered that one of our pressing needs is security. To make sure the place is secure, we fixed burglary in most of the windows,” she said.
At Ikot Usop, Mrs Christiana Udo, the now retired officer-in-charge who collected the BHCPF, said it was used in painting and repairing the facility. But it was observed that the painting job was halfway completed and possibly abandoned.
It was learnt that despite the repairs, whenever it rains, the halls are flooded due to leakages on the roof. But defending the use of the fund, Udo said the leakages were a recent discovery.
She added, “I employed one ad hoc staff to work with me. We had three workers and one attaché.”
In Edemaya 1 Primary Health Centre, the officer-in-charge, Mrs Imoh Umoren, who said the facility took care of 9 villages, adding that they recorded average patronage.
Umoren said she had not received any money from the BHCPF, but added that her predecessor must have received it and used in renovating the facility.
Reacting to the primary health centres in Akwa Ibom State, Dr Martins Akpan, the chairman, Akwa Ibom State Primary Health Care Development Agency (AKSPHCDA), attributed the deteriorating state of many of the facilities to long time of neglect.
Akpan said the health centres were in shambles before the National Health Act came on board and shifted the responsibility to the state. He said the state government was still in the process of migration, and it involves a lot.
He said the National Health Care Development Agency selected primary health care centres to benefit from the BHCPF, noting that out of the 461 in the state, only 231 were selected.
He lamented that the selection process was not carried out in partnership with the AKSPHCDA, which would have ensured that the worst affected health centres were selected.
He also said, “The problem with the BHCPF is that the amount given to primary health centres is too small. If the money was to come in bulk, it would have made a lot of sense. However, the good thing is that they are coming for a second phase.
“The issue of the BHCPF being trapped in a bank in Oron is about to be resolved.”
Akpan further said the state government was aware of the shortage of staff in the health centres, noting that time is needed to engage quality personnel. He, however, said plans were underway to employ midwives, even if it is on part time basis.
Akpan said the state government was not aware of the alleged levies paid by the health centres to revenue agents, noting that poor policies is the major challenge of the health sector, and called for more partnership with interested organisations.
This report was supported by the International Budget Partnership and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
OYO State governor Seyi Makinde has said falsehood will not save the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state from losing the 2023 general elections.
Makinde also warned the APC to stop spreading what he described as falsehood against his administration.
Makinde, who is a governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), gave the warning on Thursday, November 24, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa.
The statement reacted to recent allegations levelled against the PDP government in the state.
Makinde said the claim by the APC that he approved N578 million to rehabilitate a magistrate court and police station was false.
He further explained that the State Executive Council approved a contract for the construction of a magistrate and police station at the new site of the Agodi Correctional Service in Ibadan
“Again, the APC lied that the governor approved the sum of N578 million to rehabilitate a Magistrate Court and Police Station. This is another falsehood.
“What the State Executive Council approved at its meeting on Tuesday was a contract for the construction of a Magistrate Court and a Police Station at the new site of the Agodi Correctional Service, which is being relocated to the Olomi area in Ibadan,” he said.
