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18 States perform poorly in Health services between 2019, 2021 – Report

By
Cleopatra Okohai
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Despite the provisions of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund in the country, a new report has shown that 18 Nigerian states perform poorly on health systems indicators and are unable to provide adequate primary healthcare services.

The report revealed that health systems in the states are weak, resulting in poor healthcare service delivery, especially in public facilities. 

This is even as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe blamed the Federal Ministry of Health for not fully utilising the budget allocated to the health sector.

The report titled ‘The state of primary healthcare service delivery in Nigeria 2019-2021’ reviewed the implementation of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the National Health Insurance Scheme, and the National Emergency Medical Treatment gateways.

The report also evaluated states based on enabling legal and policy environments for health and health planning; health financing, human resources, health products and technologies, health management information systems, service delivery, and community involvement.

According a report in 2014, the National Health Act established the BHCPF to address funding gaps hampering effective primary healthcare delivery across the country. The BHCPF comprises one percent of the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue Fund and additional contributions from other funding sources. 

Read Also: NCDC investigating strange illness in Delta

It is designed to support the effective delivery of Primary Healthcare services, provision of a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services, and Emergency Medical Treatment to all Nigerians.

The report published by The ONE Campaign, in partnership with National Advocates for Health, Nigeria Health Watch, Public & Private Development Centre, and other partners, showed that Zamfara state leads as the worst state in Nigeria, to be a citizen in need of healthcare with 38 per cent.

Other states ranked poorly are Sokoto -41 per cent; Taraba – 43 per cent; Kebbi -43 per cent; Katsina -43 per cent; Borno -43 per cent; Yobe -45 per cent; Kogi -45 per cent; Jigawa -49 per cent; Rivers -50 per cent; Gombe -50 per cent; Cross-River 51 per cent; Edo -52 per cent; Bayelsa -52 per cent; Akwa-Ibom -52 per cent; Plateau (54 per cent); Imo (54 per cent); and Kaduna (55 per cent).

Although, the findings showed that the Federal Capital Territory is the best place to need healthcare in Nigeria, the differences between states and the FCT, and within states and the FCT, highlight that access to and utilisation of health services continues to be marred by stark inequalities across Nigeria.

However, the report also ranked Enugu -66 per cent; Anambra -65 per cent; Ekiti -63 per cent; Delta -61 per cent; Abia 60 per cent; Lagos -60 per cent; Nasarawa -60 per cent; Adawawa -59 per cent; Kwara -59 per cent; Benue -58 per cent; Ebonyi -58 per cent; Oyo -58 per cent; Bauchi -57 per cent; Ogun -57 per cent; Ondo -57 per cent; Kano -56 per cent; Niger 56 -per cent and Osun -56 per cent as best performing states, with the FCT topping the pack with 68 percent.

“The findings from this report do ultimately awaken cautious optimism for health delivery across states. In finding that the key challenges driving poot performance amongst states are not insurmountable, this report aligns with many other reports, and yet this report also provides citizens with a tool to demand that the necessary steps be taken to address these challenges,” the report noted.

Speaking at the unveiling of the report, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe expressed disappointment that the FMoH does not fully utilise the budgetary allocation to the health sector.

Oloriegbe said “It is very sad to say that even the budget allocated to health, the health sector does not consume its money. Can you imagine that the health sector returned money back for not spending? It happens in 2022. In 2021, it almost happened.

“We are crying that we don’t have enough but the little given to us cannot be spent despite the fact that the budget implementation was extended up to May 31st, the Federal Ministry of Health did not spend all this money.

“Relating to that, the BHCPF, we have 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 money but it is only two years -2018 and 2019 that has been released. we still have three years of money lying in our account and Nigerians are suffering; why? These are the questions we should raise as advocates. We have a long way to go, not only in getting the money but how do we get the money to do what it’s meant for?”

The senator, however, urged Nigerians to call on their state governments to release appropriate funds and ensure adequate monitoring of the funds to improve public health facilities, especially the primary health centers.

 Speaking with Newsmen, The ONE Campaign’s Nigeria Director, Stanley Achonu said weak governance continues to pose a major obstacle to improved healthcare delivery. 

“It hampers efficiency and effectiveness and results in weak infrastructure, poor user experiences, and poor health outcomes. The burden of strengthening the healthcare systems and services lies heavily on governance and leadership. At all levels, the government needs to take responsibility as a building block of the health system, especially in system design, policy guidance, oversight, regulation, accountability, coalition building, monitoring, and enforcement. The success recorded with polio eradication, containment of Ebola, and the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that Nigeria can deliver on critical health issues given the required political will and leadership commitment. We have to act quickly to avert primary healthcare collapse.”

The Chairman of National Advocates for Health Group, Muhammad Usman, called on the government to provide the required leadership to ensure that primary healthcare is improved across the country. 

According to him, “The Federal Government must ensure timely release of funds allocated for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund and effective utilization of the same at the sub-national level to improve primary health care performance nationwide.”

As part of its recommendations, the report proposes that states should provide political leadership for establishing a State Health Insurance Agency, develop an electronic workforce registry at the state level, support management of human resources for health, and develop a health system-wide accountability and performance management framework.

Once Upon A Time – July 26 – 1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, Arguably World’s First Public Railway, Opens In South London

By
Angel Gimalo
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657 Battle of Siffin during the first Muslim civil war between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I beside Euphrates River

1519 Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America

1533 Francisco Pizarro orders the death of the last Sapa Inca Emperor, Atahualpa

1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London

1908 United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation)

1945 Declaration of Potsdam: US, Britain and China demand the unconditional surrender of Japan during WWII

1953 Fidel Castro leads a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, intended to spark a revolution in Cuba

Historical Events Today

Today In Film & TV

1896 Vitascope Hall, 1st permanent for-profit movie theatre, opens in New Orleans

Today In Music

1882 Richard Wagner’s opera “Parsifal” premieres in Bayreuth, Germany

Today In Sport

1984 Expos Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with his 3,502nd single

More Facts….

1903 Horatio Nelson Jackson, Sewall K. Crocker, and a bulldog named Bud complete 1st automobile trip across the United States; San Francisco to New York in a 2-cylinder Winton (63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes)

2017 3 live king cobras reported found inside potato chip cans by customs officials in Los Angeles

Famous Weddings

1797 US President John Quincy Adams (29) weds Louisa Johnson (22) at All Hallows Barking parish in London

1849 Prime Minister of Canada John Abbott (28) weds Mary Bethune at bride’s parents home

1895 Physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska (27) weds physicist Pierre Curie (36) in Sceaux, France

Nasarawa Performs Ground Breaking Ceremony On One Of Largest Housing Projects In Sub-Sahara Africa

By
Angel Gimalo
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The Nasarawa state deputy governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe on Sunday performed the traditional ground breaking of Domak Garden City Karshi in Karu local Government Council of the state.

The project is said to be one of the largest housing projects in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Dr. Akabe who represented the governor, His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi A Sule pledged the readiness of the state government to provide efficient and affordable housing for low and middle income earners in the state.

In his comment, the chairman DOMAK Group International, Dr. Kingsley Azonobi said the project is targeted at bridging the housing deficit in Nasarawa and Nigeria at large.

He expressed gratitude to Nasarawa State government for partnering with his organization to make this dream a reality.

The ground breaking ceremony attracted the presence of top officials of Nasarawa State government and other stakeholders in the housing sector from the neighboring Abuja.

Traditional dance troupe were around the spice up the event with their performances.

Outstanding comedians also performed at the well attended ceremony.

Not long ago, the Domak Group boss also met with the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa in his office in Harare for housing project for citizens of the country.

The Domak Garden City Karshi project will be completed within a period of 5 years.

Nigerian Govt. Plans Measures to Checkmate Bandits’ Attacks on Schools

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Federal Government of Nigeria is to adopt some specific measures aimed at checkmating incessant bandits’ attacks on soft targets especially schools.

Some of the measures include temporary abolition of boarding schools in rural areas, creating a special security unit for schools and introduction of security studies into the curriculum of our institutions.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, who announced this in Yola at the 81st Joint Consultative Committee on Education, said other measures, included drilling of students and teachers on emergency measures, construction of perimeter walls around schools and the installation of CCTV/alarm system.

Adejo noted that it had “become very pertinent in the light of attacks on our educational institutions, kidnapping of innocent children, wards and even parents and guardians, culminating in an unsettling air of insecurity that threatens our educational systems. The need to ensure the delivery of qualitative education in Nigeria is a common trend that runs through all parents, hence the need to ensure the existence of a peaceful, secure and serene environment for effective teaching and learning, only if we work individually and collectively towards eliminating extreme cases of fear and uncertainty.”

Declaring the workshop open, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, among others, said, “ While the general security lives and properties of all Adamawa citizens remain our paramount priority, more important is the security of the schools that hatches the younger ones to take up the task of the nation building.”

Fintiri added that “Government has a duty to carry on the responsibilities of the provision of the required infrastructure. I must add that we all have vital roles to play; school managers, facilitators, teachers, administrators, role models, parents and guardians have to play these roles responsibly. It is indeed, one thing, to secure the schools from external aggression and an entirely different thing to keep.”

NECO Deploys Software for Grading, Bemoans Deductions from TSA

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The National Examinations Council (NECO) has deployed cutting-edge software to ensure efficient grading of candidates in its various examinations.

The examination body also lamented that the initial placement of NECO on the list of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that remit 25 per cent of generated revenue to government coffers was taking a toll on the exam body’s activities.

The Registrar/Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, made this known in Minna, during a press briefing to mark one year in office.

Speaking on the new grading system, Wushishi who listed several achievements recorded since assuming office, said the software would ensure precise grade value for every subject.

He said: “One of the innovations that will bring to bear in the conduct of the examination is determining the way and manner we determine the grade number, which relates to the allocation of grades for various subjects to students.

“Formerly it was done manually and there are processes that are followed in doing that manually but when I came felt it is necessary to align ourselves and some of our operations with the in-thing, which is technology, and we felt there is need for us to have a software that will enable us determine precisely real values for subjects after our exams. so we had a workshop for that and we were able to now deploy standard software to determine grade and marking.”

On the successes recorded in recent times in the conduct of the school-based Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and its external version, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) as well as National Common Entrance Examination of unity schools, Wushishi said he had been able to put in place mechanisms to drastically reduces cases of malpractice and other challenges.

The NECO boss listed some of the measures to include deployment of robust security surveillance for exam papers and officials, improved welfare mechanisms for staff and examiners, use of foolproof software in selection of NECO staff on monitoring duties, among others.

“In 2020, we had over 30,000 cases of exam malpractice. In 2021 we had just about 20,000 and this year and this year we have confidence it will reduce to the barest minimum. In our last BECE the malpractice was about 600 cases and this year it was less than 100,” he said.

Wushishi said though NECO was removed from the list in June 2022, over N6 billion had been deducted from its and paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the first six months of 2022, adding that the exam body needs money to meet its obligations.

“From 2021 to date, to June (this year), the Minister of Finance has deducted from NECO’s Treasury Single Account, the total of N6,023,145,000”

Asked about the debt owed to the Council by some state governments, Wushishi revealed that NECO has recovered parts of the money, even as he lamented that over N2 billion still remained unpaid.

“When you talk about the issue of debts, we have done a lot, we have recovered some, some states are still indebted to the Council to the tune of over N2 billion. This is for over so many years, from 2012 till date. We are making efforts and some states are responding.

“And through our efforts to make sure we solve our problems, we have a commitment with the Accountant General of the Federation, and the states we have MoU with, we can take the MoU to the Accountant General Office to deduct from source but we are very tactical about it, because we also have to sensitize the state governments on the need to keep this place afloat, and it is the payment of what they have subscribed for in the council that will keep this place afloat.

“So we are tactically doing that and we are getting the result and we have not yet taken any state to the Accountant General office.”

ASUU Resolute on Renegotiated Agreement

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted on the signing of the draft agreement reached with the Federal Government for university teachers.

Its president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said the union was yet to receive official communication from the government regarding a new proposal on salary review.

Labour said it would go ahead with its planned pro-ASUU protest, but electricity workers would not withdraw their services.

Activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) backed Labour, saying the right to protest was fundamental.

He urged the police to provide security for those protesting.

The government reportedly had agreed on increasing the salaries of professors by 100 per cent, with each earning N1million monthly.

This is against the 180 per cent increase said to have been recommended by the Prof Nimi Briggs Committee that renegotiated the 2009 agreements with university unions.

The government has rejected the figures reached in the draft agreement with ASUU.

Osodeke said: “That (the 100 per cent pay rise proposal) is still a social media report; we are not aware.

“We have a negotiated agreement. If they have issues, they should come back to us, not go to the public.

“There is no offer, nothing from the government. When we see what they bring, we will look at it. That is collective bargaining.

“It has not been offered to me. When they bring their offer, we will look at it at the collective bargaining table. What we have as a draft agreement is their offer. It is not ours.”

Also, ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan, Prof Ayo Akinwole, said signing and implementing the renegotiated 2009 agreement would end the over five months strike.

“Until we rise above sentiments to get responsible and responsive people who will be accountable to Nigerians into public offices the cycles of strikes will not end in Nigeria,” he said.

Akinwole called on Nigerians to join the struggle to revitalise public universities to give children of the masses hope.

He said unless that was done, the children of the ruling class trained overseas will return to take over from their “wicked parents” and continue to enslave Nigerians.

Akinwole added: “We got here by collective negligence of electing incompetent people into public offices.

“The fight for quality education for the children of the masses has become a class war among the economic elite, the working class and the ruling class.

“Until we rise and demand accountability from those in office to do what is in the best interest of the majority, the cycle of strikes and underdevelopment will not stop.

“Our renegotiation ought to have ended by 2012 but here we are in 2022 and yet the government is playing games with us.

“We are asking for a renegotiation of existing agreements that will position our members as human beings working in a decent place.

“We are asking for the revitalisation of public universities through appropriate funding; and a better homegrown alternative of University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS).

“We are saying check the proliferation of universities that you cannot fund and we are saying Nigerians deserve to be ranked among the top 100 in the world if our leaders invest in education.

“We should be developing our own solutions not depending on others.

“This strike is not about ASUU. It is about the future of the Nigerian children.”

Agency Establishes Clubs In Schools To Tackle Violence Against Children

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says it has established clubs in 10 secondary schools in Kaduna State to propagate its End Violence Against Children (EVAC) campaign.

The clubs were established by the agency in collaboration with the state Ministry of Education and UNICEF.

The state Director of NOA, Zubairu Galadima-Soba, said that the aim was to sensitise students on issues surrounding violence against children and how to end it.

Galadima-Soba represented by UNICEF Focal Person, Yusuf Balarabe, urged students to join the club.

He advised them to organise debates, quizzes and dramas to sensitise other students on the dangers of violence against children.

He listed the different forms of violence to include physical violence (inflicting physical pain on children), emotional violence, sexual violence and negligence.

“Any students that experience or know someone experiencing any form of violence should speak out and report to their parents or school authorities.

“The school authorities will take it further by reporting to Salama Sexual Assault Referral Centres in the state,” Galadima-Soba said.

The Principal of the school, Charity Omomugwu, described the establishment of the club as necessary and timely and commended NOA for the efforts.

Omomugwu said the school was teaching students to say no to any form of violence, especially sexual violence.

“The establishment of the club is a motivation to do more.

“We had an incidence, where a pupil was sexually abused by her elder brother at home and the parents were hiding the matter, when we heard it, we reported it to the authorities,” she said.

A student, Grace Sample, who was appointed the President of the club, said she would ensure adequate sensitisation of other students on issues that border on violence against children.

The Secretary of the club, MacArthur Olorunagbe, said that they would organise quizzes and dramas that centre around violence against children as part of the advocacy.

Nigerian State Govt Sanctions Head Teachers Over Illegal Fees

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Oyo State Government has sanctioned some head teachers for collecting illegal fees and denying pupils access to examination halls in the ongoing Public Primary Schools Unified Examinations.

The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Nureni Adeniran, made this known in a statement on Monday in Ibadan, while monitoring the examination.

Adeniran said that five head teachers of Methodist Basic School (School one to five), Gan-gansi, were found culpable in the alleged illegal collection of fees, spearheaded by the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) of the school, who chased the pupils home.

He said that the present administration had abolished collection of any development levy in all schools across the state.

Adeniran frowned at the role of the school authority who compelled parents to contribute the said fee.

“No doubt, SBMCs, PTAs can contribute to the development of their local schools, but it must not in any way affect the education of pupils.

“No child should be discriminated against in the state education sector,” Adeniran said.

According to him, some parents had reported to the board that head teachers of the school denied their children access to the examination hall for failing to pay the N100 development levy charged by the school’s management and SBMC, through a popular radio station in Ibadan.

Adeniran said that the present administration, under Gov. Seyi Makinde’s leadership, would not fold its arms and allow saboteurs to ridicule its efforts in mandating free education.

“For denying Gov. Seyi Makinde’s pupils access to write examinations, queries have been issued to head-teachers of the affected  schools,” he said.

The SUBEB chairman, also directed that all learners should be allowed to sit for examinations without any form of hindrance.

He urged teachers in all public schools to adhere strictly to the state government’s policies and directives on education.

Adeniran, who led a team of officials from SUBEB said that the monitoring exercise would continue in the course of the week, which would also be extended to other zones of the state, including Ogbomoso, Oyo, Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa.

Banditry: Ministry Shuts Abuja Unity Schools, Vacuates students

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Federal Ministry of Education, has directed the immediate closure of all unity schools domiciled in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, while ordering immediate evacuation of students over concerns of impending bandits and terrorists’ attacks,

The decision was as a result of rising insecurity and threat to the lives, properties and well-being of the students therein.

While some schools had directed students to vacate latest on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, other schools disseminated messages to parents on Sunday asking them not to fail to come pick their children on Monday, unfailingly, due to rising fear and anxiety emanating from reported threats.

An unconfirmed report had trended on social media on Sunday, indicating that there were heavy shootings at Federal Government College in Kwali, Abuja, a report which prompted parents to rush down to the school to ascertain the safety of their wards and possibly return home with them until calm was restored.

Some members of staff at the Federal Government Girls’ College, Bwari, also confided in our correspondent that they received a directive from the Federal Ministry of Education to allow students vacate the school before Wednesday.

Members of staff also told news correspondent, in confidence, that the school would be shut down today not minding the Wednesday deadline as parents had been asked to come pick up their children before noon on Monday.

Efforts to reach the authorities for reactions to the incident have been futile; however, some parents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claimed that a message came from the school authorities informing parents to come pick up their children not later than Monday noon.

Although sources within the Federal Ministry of Education confirmed to news correspondent that the schools were directed to be closed due to security threats and  concerns over impending bandits and terrorists’ attacks.

ASUU: NLC to Embark on Three-day Warning Strike After Protest

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that it will embark on a three-day warning strike immediately after the Tuesday and Wednesday nationwide protest in solidarity with the striking lecturers.

It further stated that it might extend the warning to an indefinite strike if the federal government fails to resolve the issues with the university unions and have the schools reopen for Nigerian students.

The labour movement said it has mobilized workers across the country for a nationwide protest in all the 36 states of the federation and Abuja Tuesday.

The protest is to compel the federal government to resolve all the lingering issues to re-open universities for academic activities.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, stated this while speaking to journalists at the ongoing 18th NLC Rain School in in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

“The protest happening tomorrow is not a solidarity protest but a protest of NLC against government actions that lead to our universities being shut down and our kids staying at home instead of going to school. All the unions directly involved in the strike are NLC affiliates and their members are part of NLC.

“We have taken three levels of decision. First is the protest, which is going to be national tomorrow. After the protest, a three-day national warning strike will start, and if they fail to resolve the issues and bring back our kids to school, we go on indefinite strike.

“That is the decision of our National Executive Council. And what will be helpful for them is to check the timeline we have given for them to resolve the issues. We are optimistic that they will be willing this time because we are also willing to get our children back to school,” he said.

Speaking on the harsh living condition of Nigerians, Wabba said that it is not only the education sector that is in a shambles but the economy.

Wabba said: “I never knew that the exchange rate has moved within a week from N630 to N670. This is very frightening and it erodes the purchasing power of workers. There is no way we can continue in this direction and expect that there will be shared prosperity within workers, and within the large portion of Nigerians that are in the lower echelon at the economic ladder.

“Importantly is the issue of our children that are out of school for five months. Basically, it also requires a political decision for the issue to be sorted out. What is even more worrisome is the fact that they keep posting the graduation of their children in universities out the country on social media and then the universities where the children of the working class study are closed down.

“I was told today that we have three sets of students that ought to be in the university but unfortunately they have not even sorted out their admission challenges. So it is really a very frightening future for Nigerians, particularly the youths.”

He said the irony of it is that most of the political elite today benefited from free public education, wondering why it is impossible for them to fix our public education.

“Is it about the class divide, it honestly beats somebody’ s imagination. That is why all of these issues resonate that we need to engage politically. We have also realised the fact that they have used different approaches to divide Nigerians.

“Unfortunately for them, NLC is a pan-Nigerian organisation that cannot be divided and workers should not allow themselves to be divided along ethnic or religious lines. This is just diversion of interest. Their division tool is happening now. Workers should be wiser, citizens should be wiser. We should work assiduously to unite Nigeria and not to  divide Nigerians.”




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