Chioma Umeha

There is growing concern among stakeholders on how to achieve full implementation of laws which protect Nigerian women and girls against abuse from rising Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) which many have said is assuming, ‘epidemic proportions.’ Nigeria has the largest number of child brides in Africa. Nigeria has the third-largest number of women and girls who have undergone FGM in the world. Girls and boys are raised, treated and valued differently from birth to adulthood. Women and girls are solely responsible for caregiving and household chores and this has implications for girls’ school attendance. Also, unfortunately, the country has achieved less than 20 percent implementation of the Child Rights Act, CRA since its adoption 20 years ago, while the prevalence of violence against women and girls still on the rise. Revealing this to journalists at recent two-day Media Dialogue in Ibadan, Oyo State on “End Violence Against Women and Girls in Nigeria” James

Emmanuel Ajah, the Director of Programme Operations for Marie Stopes International Organisation Nigeria (MSION) in this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA, speaks on the risks of the high rate of fertility, poor budgets, unmet family needs in Nigeria among other issues. Excerpts:   In 2020 proposed health budget, N32 billion out of the N46 billion allocated to the Health Capital Budget goes to immunisation. How will that further affect the demands or unmet needs for family planning in the country? We discovered that the budget for family planning in 2019 was dropped. And in the budget for 2020, which is being reviewed, much as there is that for health, we have not seen significant allocation for family planning. It may be interpreted that the government is not paying the needed attention to family planning. Advocacies are already being led to the National Assembly through stakeholders, especially the associations for Family Planning in Nigeria, to ensure that the needed budget

It is no longer news that the Nigerian girl-child has suddenly become an endangered species. No thanks to the daily assault and all forms of abuse directed against her especially rape, violence, child labour, ignorance, disease, malnutrition, maltreatment, you name it. The media is replete with cases of these violations of the girl-child and women. More disheartening is that they are perpetrated by those who supposed to protect them. One wonders what had become of the society, a place now ruled by depravity, abomination, sacrilege and immorality. Or how else would one describe the animalistic behaviour of randy fathers, uncles and male adults who daily defile their own daughters and turn them into sex slaves in their own homes? Of all the crimes against the girl-child, rape is among the most heinous. This is because it causes social problems such as deaths, unplanned pregnancies and abortions, Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV) on those affected, leaving them emotional

Researchers have discovered a way to create artificial neural connections in order to allow stroke sufferers to regain use of their hands in minutes, an online agency reported yesterday. The restoration of motor function after a stroke is typically accomplished after lengthy rehabilitation therapy. However, new research shows that an artificial neural connection can successfully allow a new cortical site, associated with hand movement. This study was published by a group led by Yukio Nishimura, the project leader of the Neural Prosthesis Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science. In the research experimental animals regained voluntary control of paralysed hands after around 10 minutes of the establishment of an artificial neural connection. The animals involved in the study engaged in learning with a functional artificial neural connection demonstrated variable levels of input signals provided by the cerebral cortex*2 as hand movement improved. Throug

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has described as false, reports that the e-certification it initi­ated last year as part of Feder­al Government port reforms was not responsible for cargo congestion in the nation’s sea­ports. In a statement made avail­able to our source recently, the Prof. Christiana Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General, NAFDAC, said the claims were completely un­true, baseless and a bid to mislead the general public on the clearance of products at the various seaports. Adeyeye said, “As part of ongoing modernisation reforms by the federal gov­ernment at the ports, NAF­DAC has assiduously worked towards the automation and digitisation of NAFDAC pro­cesses and licenses respec­tively. This has resulted in the development and deployment of NAFDAC e-licenses for utilisation in the clearance of NAFDAC regulated products. or to the deployment of the e-license on September 9, 2019, NAFDAC had held sen­sitisation worksho

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), in this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA, gives the scorecard of the seven-point agenda of his administration in the first year. Excerpts:   What efforts have you put in place to end the suffering of intern pharmacists? We held advocacy meetings with Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) of which they agreed to central post­ing, but yet to begin implementation; held discussions with Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) and they are agreeable, working on modalities for implementation. We also made it a major issue during advocacy and courtesy visits to institutions and pharmaceutical companies and some accepted to increase their intake, while others even agreed to double the number of interns on their pay roll. I personally undertook through my office to get placements for some interns and included it as a man­date for the Committee on Strate­gy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Empowerment; rewarding the company

Despite the role of family planning in reducing the health risks for women and children, improving the quality of life by increasing opportunities to access education, nutrition, employment and effective utilisation of scarce resources, many factors bedevilled its successful implementation in many communities. “I got pregnant six weeks after my first child, I didn’t expect it because the doctor warned me that I need to stay for at least two years before getting pregnant as my first child was through Caesarean Section (CS).” This was the words of Adeola Agbala, 38-year-old mother and trader, Ikorodu, in Lagos. Adeola said, “But, thank God I was able to deliver my second child also through CS though I nearly died in the process. After that experience, the doctor said I should embrace family planning if I want to live a healthy life. “I discussed with my husband, he initially said that family planning would make me promiscuous. But, I thank God that he has changed his mind