Chioma Umeha

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in partnership with Sebeccly Cancer Care, provided free breast and cervical cancer screening, and prostate cancer screening for female and male participants respectively at the 2019 NSE Corporate Challenge which held on Saturday, July 6, 2019, at Muri-Okunola Park, Victoria Island, Lagos. The NSE Corporate Challenge, a one-day competitive and fun-filled 5 kilometer walk, jog and run event, has since inception in 2014, been a vehicle for creating awareness on the early detection of cancer and raising funds to support the fight against the dreadful disease in Nigeria. Speaking at the event, Mr. Bola Adeeko, Divisional Head, Shared Services, NSE said, “this year, the Exchange took the fight against cancer a step further by providing on-site cancer screening and treatment in the form of colposcopy, cryotherapy and histology for participants with identified irregularities. Over 110 participants were screened for breast, cervical and prostate cancer at the

Buhari   A coalition of Women Groups in the country have written to President Muhammadu Buhari remind him of his meeting with female parliamentarians and at the Advocacy Summit of August 30, 2018 where the implementation of 35 percent affirmative action was raised. The women said President Buhari assured them of his full support because this would ‘improve the representation of women in our politics.’ They told Buhari, “You said women are dedicated and more principled and that you are confident women can make great leaders.” “You said Nigerian women are resilient and dedicated to their responsibilities. You desired ‘an enabling environment forwomentoparticipateinpolitical process as women constitute more than 50 percent of voters.” They urged the President to create a worthy legacy by appointing 35 percent women across board, as he begins to put his cabinet together and make appointments across parastatals and agencies. “We believe that a step in this direction is critical now, given t

  T he Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court (ICC), Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, urging her to investigate Nigerian authorities on the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria and to determine whether it is violence against children and crime against humanity. SERAP urged Mrs. Bensouda to push for those suspected to be responsible for the problem, including current and former presidents and state governors since 1999, who directly or indirectly have individually and/or collectively breached their special duty toward children, and are therefore complicit in the crime, to be tried by the ICC. The organisation in a petition on July 19, 2019 and signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, said, “Investigating and prosecuting high-ranking Nigerian officials and providing reparations to victims will contribute to serving the best interests of Nigerian children, the most vulnerable citizens in our country, and

Many governments are making progress in the fight against tobacco, with 5 billion people today living in countries that have introduced smoking bans, graphic warnings on packaging and other effective tobacco control measures – four times more people than a decade ago. But a new World Health Organisation(WHO) report shows many countries are still not adequately implementing policies, including helping people quit tobacco, that can save lives from tobacco. The seventh WHO Report on the global tobacco epidemic analyses national efforts to implement the most effective measures from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) that are proven to reduce demand for tobacco. These measures, like the “MPOWER” interventions, have been shown to save lives and reduce costs from averted healthcare expenditure. The MPOWER report was launched in 2007 to promote government action on six tobacco control strategies in-line with the WHO FCTC to: Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies;

Evangelist-Ogunyemi-Mrs.-Kofoworola-Elder-Ebenezer-Kopunu A part from limited choice and access to methods, fear of side effects, poor quality of services, myths and misconceptions, men’s poor dispositions are part of the factors militating against successful family planning programmes in Badagry Community. These are the emerging facts recently from an advocacy visit to Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, organised by Media Advocacy Working Group (MAWG), in conjunction with Public Health Sustainability Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI). In fact, absence of men’s support for women to use modern contraceptive methods was discovered to be responsible for increase in unplanned pregnancies, among other reproductive health challenges. Their non-acceptance of reproductive health programmes such as contraceptive and safer sexual behaviours account largely to low patronage of family planning in the community. It goes without saying that Nigeria cannot achieve increase in the Modern Contrace

Some-of-the-personalities-at-the-launch-at-Sheraton-Hotel-Lagos-on-Tuesday. Pharmaplus Nigeria Limited and Brookes Pharma (PVT) Limited has launched a wound care product ranges of Pyodine Solution 10 per cent, Pyodine Scrub 7.5 per cent, Pyodine Mouthwash one per cent, and Pyodine Gel. Speaking at the launch in Lagos Sheraton Hotel, on Tuesday, Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai, immediate past President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) who is also founder and Chairman of Pharmaplus Nigeria Limited said the products were a long-awaited wound care management intervention in the country. Yakasai who is also the Hon Consul General of Pakistan to Nigeria noted that infection is one of the most frequent complications of wound healing despite the use of antibiotics and modern sterile techniques. He said, “It accounts for considerable patient morbidity, discomfort and prolonged hospitalisation and must be avoided to permit proper healing. A myriad of families had lost their loved ones due to wound

Osun State Government has vowed to stamp out truancy from public schools across the state. Governor Oyetola disclosed this at Ataoja Government High School Hall, Osogbo while speaking as the guest of honour at the maiden End- Of-Session Evaluation and Award Ceremony for Education Task Force otherwise called Education Marshals. Oyetola who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG), Prince Wole Oyebamiji reiterated the commitment of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led-government in the state to stamp out truancy among public schools to enhance the quality of education in the state. He reminded the gathering that the APC led-government on assumption of office in the state about Nine years ago inherited so much rot in the State’s education sector, hence the need at that time to declare an emergency in the education sector which led to the creation of the Edu Marshals. He explained that to salvage the situation, the government took proactive steps to address the na

Federal and state governments have been urged to devise a revolutionary new approach to education to ensure a secured future for our children. The new Executive Director of Lekki British School, Mr Christian Idehen, a scion of the late Proprietor, Dr. (Ms) Biodun Laja, said with governments’ active support for education, schools would develop and perfect excellent academic methods and standard of teaching Idehen, who spoke in Lagos, described his late mother as an educationist per excellence, who took calculated risks and showed the example of courage, perseverance determination and the knack to turn impossible situations to possible. Mr Idehen assured parents and students of the school that enduring legacy left by his mother would be built on and even go beyond. He said: “We will be a failure if we maintain the legacy already built and we are going to go beyond what able she had done.” According to him, the new directors were determined to approach the administration of the school wit

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that Violence Against Children (VAC) costs Nigeria N1.42 trillion yearly and called for increased spending on child protection services. UNICEF said the money was equivalent to 1.6 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Profit (GDP). It called on Nigeria to reallocate 0.1 percent based on the current levels of consolidated CP expenditure of Nigeria’s budget to increase total consolidated CP expenditure by 63 per cent. UNICRF made the call on Tuesday at the launch of two survey documents,” A Financial Benchmark for Child Protection, Nigeria Study, Volume 1 and “The Economic Burden of Violence Against Children” in Lagos. President Muhammadu Buhari had in September 2015 called for a National Campaign to End Violence against Children (VAC) in Nigeria. Juliane Koenlg of UNICEF Abuja presented the report of the studies on behalf of the consultants of the survey. Koenlg said, “The analysis of the economic costs shows that violence against chi

The multiple goals in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include, reducing all forms of violence against children, the creation of safe learning environments and eradicating child labour. Similarly, the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children is to make societies safer for children, protect childhood, and end violence against children everywhere. It envisions a world in which every child grows up free from violence and exploitation. This entails building political will to end violence against children and promoting evidence-based strategies that lead to significant, sustained, and measurable reductions in violence. To facilitate action, countries within the partnership will receive technical support to execute a whole-of-government approach to violence prevention. This includes development of a road map for the implementation of evidence-based solutions and a national commitment to increased financing. Despite Nigeria’s commitment to the SDGs; it loses N1.42 trillion