A haul of heroin hidden inside packs of baby food has been intercepted at Lagos’ main airport, according to an anti-drugs force.
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with smuggling 23kg (50lb) of the drug on a South African Airways from Johannesburg, said National Drug Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Femi Babafemi on Sunday.
In a separate case, the anti-drugs agency said a public transport driver was arrested at the same airport on suspicion of “ingesting 90 pellets of cocaine” before attempting to board a flight to Dubai.
Officials in Nigeria have often described the prevalence of drug consumption in the country as alarming and endemic. It is also a transit point for various illicit drugs.
There is a possibility that a merger between Peter Obi and Kwankwaso would work out ahead of the 2023 presidential election. But there are challenges they are facing which may threaten the possibility of that merger if not peacefully resolved. One of the problems is the issue of who would be the presidential candidate and the running mate between Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
But Kwankwaso who is the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, has said that the electorate in the North won’t vote for the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi if Obi becomes the candidate of the proposed NNPP-LP alliance for the 2023 general elections. The former Kano Governor stated this while featuring on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television.
According to him, the northerners would always vote for their northern candidate. When asked if he was willing to be Obi’s running mate, Kwankwaso said that what he was saying was that if anybody from the South-East now, under this circumstance, becomes the presidential candidate of their party or any other party, the implications is that because of the activities and other issues that are really on the ground, northern voters would certainly go for their northern candidate and another party.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says progress is being made on the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor and on issues around the movement of goods and services.
Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said the vice president spoke with newsmen after the 61st Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held in Accra, Ghana.
The Lagos- Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway is part of the Trans-African Highway within the ECOWAS region.
The vice president said that at the meeting, President Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau assumed chairmanship of the West African regional body, ECOWAS, alongside a newly composed Commission.
Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says expectations are high from President Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau as he assumes chairmanship of the West African regional body, ECOWAS, alongside a newly composed Commission, regarding the output of the body.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Sunday while speaking with journalists at the end of the 61st Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held in Accra, Ghana.
He said the leaders must work harder to resolve lingering issues in the region, according to the Vice President
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently recover “missing N105.7 billion” of public funds from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to fund the Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions, improve welfare of staff members and ensure the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) returns to class without further delay.
The group also implored the Nigerian leader to redirect some of the Presidency’s budget of N3.6 billion on feeding and travels, as well as the N134 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the 2022 budget to meet lecturers’ demands.
ASUU has consistently accused government of lacking commitment to payment of academic earned allowances, poor funding of universities, continued implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and alleged refusal to adopt the Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), among others.
The General Officer Commanding 8 Division, Nigerian Army Headquarters, Sokoto, Major General Uwem Bassey, has charged troops to always maintain discipline while discharging their constitutional responsibilities.
General Bassey made the charged at the inter-denominational church service held at the Saint Bartholomew’s Military Church, Giginya Barracks, to mark this year’s Army Day Celebration in Sokoto State.
According to General Bassey, discipline is the bedrock of all the achievements expected to records especially in dealing with terrorism and other forms of criminality.
“Discipline is the bedrock of Armed forces particularly the Nigerian Army, because if you want to remain in an institution like Army you must have discipline,” General Bassey noted.
Bassey reminded the Army that a good soldier is characterized by endurance, loyalty, discipline and tolerance.
He however called on Officers and Men of the Nigerian Army to work towards promoting unity of the country through religious tolerance for effective service delivery.
The GOC added that religious tolerance is Central to achieving peace and unity for socio-economic and security development of the nation.
“Despite ethics and religious differences, Nigeria is still standing as one indivisible nation, because of the unity and loyalty among the Nigerian armed forces who is the lifeline in the defense of the nation,” he added.
General Bassey called on religious leaders to always preach tolerance for peaceful coexistence in the country.
According to him, the ongoing insurgency in the North West would soon be over, while stressing that Nigerian Army is capable of accomplishing it’s assigned duty of protecting lives and properties of citizens of the country.
In his Sermon, the Chief Reverend of the Church, Lieutenant Elemi Clement, charged officers and men of the Army to work towards ensuring their mandate through righteousness, religious tolerance and love for one another for peaceful coexistence in the country.
Reverend Clement explained that the choice of the theme is apt and timely, ” because no other time to reflect on the defense of the country’s sovereignty than no.”
He called on Nigerian Army not to be involved in politics as 2023 general elections is around the corner.
The theme of the Sermon was “Promoting National Unity through Religious Tolerance and Peaceful Coexistence”.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has sealed 10 packaged water companies in Ondo State over non-compliance with the regulation and standards.
The Ondo State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr. Benu Philip, disclosed this in an interview on Sunday, that the affected companies which spread across the state, had their premises sealed between January and June.
He explained that all the affected companies were operating with an expired licence and producing in an unhygienic environment.
Philip said the licence issued is not forever, adding that renewal periods should be sustained to avoid regulatory interruption.
He advised Nigerians to always look out for the NAFDAC registration number on sachets and bottled water, batch information, and date markings.
“Our mandate, specifically, is to ensure, regulate and control the manufacturing of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, and chemicals, which we refer to as regulated products.
“What we do in Ondo State majorly is to engage the stakeholders to keep them abreast of our mandate, to ensure that they follow the rules.
“Most of the packaged water, popularly called pure water that I know of in Ondo State since I came on board, have been operating with an expired licence.
“The licence is the marketing authorisation that enables you to sell your product in the market as verified and safe for consumption.
“Once you have that number on your certificate, it shows that you have gone through the regulatory processes to ensure that you make safe products to the consuming public but it is not forever, it has a timeline,” he said.
He said the agency will continue to collaborate with other agencies to ensure its set goals and targets were achieved.
The Governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, had commissioned a 2.17 kilometre road with drainage at Wulari ward in Maiduguri. The new constructed road links from Ramat Polytechnic junction down to Wulari, with easy driving, the governor also unveiled a new 30 bed primary health centre at the same community.
The hospital is fully equipped with diagnostic equipment, a mini theatre room, solar system, water system and storage tanks, among others
The Governor urged the management under the Borno State ministry of health, to ensure delivery of medical services to citizens with functional equipment and availability of doctors, nurses and other health personnel.
The governor also ordered for the distribution of free maternal care drugs and other items worth over N300 million.
The Governor had directed the State Commissioner of Health and Human Services, to ensure none of the drugs is sold in whatever form since they are meant to be given free of charge for maternal health services.
He handed over keys of apartments to resident medical doctors quarters, which was earlier commissioned by the vice president of Nigeria, His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbanjo.
Governor Zulum headed over the keys in company of top government functionaries, including the senator representing Borno south senatorial district, Senator Ali Ndume, the 13 blocks at the quarters have combined number of 78 flats, while another story building sited at Muhammadu Shuwa memorial hospital, has three additional flats, making 81 flats. Two out of the 81 flats were fully furnished, while 79 were yet to be furnished.
Zulum presented cheques worth N1m as furniture support to 79 doctors who were allocated the 79 unfurnished flats.
Governor Zulum said, the government would look into the possibility of providing the quarters with standby generator even though the cost of diesel is high, he urged them to maintain the facility in a very appreciable manner.
The Governor also directed for the provision of two buses to be permanently stationed at the quarters for transporting them to hospitals for healthcare services.
Kenya’s imports from South Africa more than doubled in the first three months of 2022 after rising by 64 percent to Sh 17.7 billion from Shs10.8 billion reported during a similar period in 2021.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics(KNBS0 indicate that overall, imports in Africa registered an increase of 24.7 percent from KSh 54.0 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to Shs67.3 billion in the period under review.
While imports from Tanzania increased by 23.7 percent compared to a similar period last year, the import bill was a decline from the previous quarter which stood at Shs14.8 billion.
The country’s total imports increased from Shs508.7 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to Shs 593.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
“The bulk of the import bill was attributable to Asia accounting for 67.8 percent, with China remaining the dominant
source of imports from this region, “KNBS’ quarterly Balance of Payment report indicated.
This, according to KNBS, was mainly on account of increased import values of petroleum products, animal and vegetable oils; and medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
“Expenditure on imports of petroleum products increased from Shs65.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to Shs100.2 billion in the first quarter of 2022, while the import bill on animal and vegetable oils and; medicinal and pharmaceutical products increased by 33.8 percent and 32.5 percent to Shs 34.6 billion and Shs 28.5 billion, respectively,” KNBS says.
Similarly, increased expenditure was recorded on imports of textile fabrics, paper and paperboard; and organic and inorganic chemicals by 50.2, 64.7, and 62.1 percent, respectively, during the period under review.
Notably, imports from Malaysia and India increased by 87.9 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively. The increase was partly due to rise in imports of crude palm oil from Malaysia, and medicaments from India.
A new study has indicated that women who have experienced infertility, recurrent miscarriage, and loss of a baby before or during birth could be at a higher risk of stroke.
According to the researchers, early monitoring of these women, as well as healthy lifestyle changes, could lessen the risk of stroke.
The researchers conducted the study using data from eight studies from seven countries namely; Australia, China, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The researchers analysed the data from the InterLACE consortium which was established in June 2012 and provides pooled individual-level data on reproductive health and chronic disease.
The cohort study already published in the BMJ Journal consisted of 618,851 women aged 32 to 73 years with a history of infertility, miscarriage, or stillbirth and at least one outcome event, non-fatal or fatal stroke.
Data for non-fatal strokes was gathered using self-reported questionnaires or hospital records and fatal strokes were identified through death registry data.
The researchers noted that 93,119 women were excluded and of the remaining participants, 54,716 only had data on non-fatal stroke and 288,272 only had data on fatal stroke.
In addition, the researchers said factors that could have altered the results such as ethnicity, weight, smoking status, education level, and underlying conditions were considered.
According to findings from the study, women with a history of infertility were at 14 per cent increased risk of non-fatal stroke, women with stillbirth were at 31 per cent higher risk of non-fatal stroke and women with recurrent loss of a baby before or during birth were at 26 per cent higher risk of fatal stroke.
Also, recurrent miscarriage was associated with an 11 per cent higher risk of non-fatal and fatal stroke compared to women who had not had a miscarriage. The risk of stroke rose with the number of miscarriages a woman had: one, two, and three miscarriages led to a 7 per cent, 12 per cent, and 35 per cent increase respectively.
The reseachers in the study report said, “Globally, stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability in women.
Stroke symptoms
“In 2019, around three million women died from a stroke, and women lost over 10 million years of healthy life due to disability caused by stroke — 44 per cent higher than the number for men.”
“Current stroke prevention guidelines have identified some risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, but these are insufficient to explain the difference in risk of stroke between women and men.”
The lead study author, a professor of Life Course Epidemiology at the University of Queensland, Dr. Gita Mishra, said, “Infertility and pregnancy loss, especially recurrent miscarriages, and stillbirths, were associated with women’s later risk of non-fatal and fatal stroke.
“The risk of stroke (non-fatal or fatal) associated with infertility or recurrent stillbirths were mainly driven by a single subtype of stroke (a non-fatal ischaemic stroke or fatal haemorrhagic stroke, respectively), whereas the risk of stroke (non-fatal or fatal) associated with recurrent miscarriages was driven by both subtypes.
“These findings extend our current knowledge on the associations of infertility, miscarriage, and stillbirth with stroke, and highlight the need for future studies on the underlying mechanisms, linking the subtype, severity, and prognosis of stroke.
“A history of recurrent miscarriages and death or loss of a baby before or during birth should be considered a female-specific risk factor for stroke. Early monitoring of women with recurrent miscarriages or stillbirths and tailored healthy lifestyle interventions are recommended to lower the risk of stroke,” she said.
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