NaijaPolitico

By Ummul Idris

The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, has taken its sensitisation on oral health to Government Science Secondary School, Maitama and Roberto Group of Schools, Wuse.

Dr Roland Aigbovo, the branch Chairman of the association, who led his colleagues to the schools, told the students and teachers that the issue of oral hygiene must be tackled from the grassroots.

He said that it was necessary to carry out oral health talks and provide free dental check for the students and staff as a way of giving back to the community.

“I encourage that everyone should go for a routine oral check for a healthy life. Oral hygiene is a sure way to a robust life,’’ he said.

Aigbovo said that a person’s mouth was the first part of their body that would project them to the world, adding that there is need to take adequate care of the mouth.

He called on the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHDA) to hasten the integration of oral health services into primary healthcare.

The ARD chairman said that this would further increase access to basic dental services.

Aigbovo said: “We appeal for the domestication and implementation of National Oral Health Policy in the country.

“The policy has the goal of achieving optimal oral health for all Nigerians, and this can be achieved by setting up dental units in all districts and general hospitals.’’

The Naija Politico (NAN) reports that free tooth brushes and toothpaste were distributed to students and teachers at the schools visited, while they were being examined.

Garuda, Indonesia’s national carrier has cancelled a multi-billion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes involving the plane, the first formal cancellation for the model.

“We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled,” Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said.

“The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have the confidence” in the plane, he said, adding that the airline was awaiting a response from Boeing.

The spokesman said that Boeing officials will visit Indonesia next week to discuss Garuda’s plans to call off the order.

Garuda had already received one of the planes, he said, part of a 50-aircraft order worth $4.9 billion at list prices when it was announced in 2014.

Garuda is also talking to Boeing about whether or not to return the plane it has received, the spokesman told AFP.

The carrier had so far paid Boeing about $26 million, while the company’s head told Indonesian media outlet Detik that it would consider switching to a new version of the single-aisle jet.

“In principle, it’s not that we want to replace Boeing, but maybe we will replace (these planes) with another model,” Garuda Indonesia director I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra told Detik.

Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, said Garuda’s announcement appeared to mark the first formal plans by a carrier to cancel an order for the 737 MAX 8.

It “will probably not be the last. There is a risk that Garuda’s rival Lion Air, which also has many 737 MAX 8 orders, might make the same decision,” he said.

This month, Lion Air said it was postponing delivery of four of the jets after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

Budget carrier Lion — Southeast Asia’s biggest airline by fleet size and a major Boeing customer — said the planes had been on order for delivery this year, but the company was re-evaluating the situation.

Lion Air operates 10 Max 8 jets, part of a then-record $22 billion order from Boeing made in 2011.

The airlines are the only two that use the Max 8 in Indonesia.

The Ethiopian tragedy came after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people on board.

Both planes reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents as well as fluctuating airspeeds before crashing shortly after takeoff.

Investigators have honed in on an automated anti-stalling system introduced on the plane that is designed to point the nose of the plane downward if it is in danger of stalling.

Boeing’s state-of-the-art model will be outfitted with a warning light for malfunctions in the anti-stall system, an industry source told AFP Thursday, standardising a feature previously sold as an optional extra.

The development comes as the US manufacturer struggles to cope with the fallout from the two crashes, which have cast a spotlight on the safety certification process and shaken confidence in a plane that is crucial to its future plans.

About 47 people have died and more than 600 people are receiving medical treatment following the huge explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China late on Thursday, in one of the country’s worst industrial accidents in recent years.

So powerful was the blast that it triggered a small earthquake felt several kilometres away, knocking down several factory building and smashing windows of homes.

Among the 600 people in hospital following the accident at the industrial park in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, at least 90 are seriously injured. City officials had previously said that at least 12 people were killed and 30 injured in the explosion.

“We knew we’d be blown up one day,” said one 60-year-old woman surnamed Xiang.

She said she had harboured concerns about safety and pollution at the site for a long time.

Hundreds of rescuers have been dispatched to the scene, local authorities said, and more than 3,000 people have been evacuated from the blast site.

The blaze from the explosion has been extinguished, said local officials Friday, after firefighters battled raging flames through the night. Three chemical tanks and five other areas had been on fire.

Authorities, who are investigating the cause of the accident, said an unspecified number of people were taken into police custody.

The chemical facility involved in the explosion belonged to Tianjiayi Chemical, a firm with 195 employees established in 2007.

According to local officials, the Jiangsu-based company mainly produced raw chemical materials, including anisole, a highly flammable compound.

The force of the explosion blew out windows and dented metal garage doors of buildings as far as four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the site, said AFP reporters at the scene.

Nearby residents — many of them elderly — have started sweeping up glass, and in some cases, seemed to have abandoned their homes entirely. Black smoke could still be seen rising from the chemical plant on Friday morning before dissipating.

On the road where Xiang lived, consisting of basic two-storey homes, almost all the windows and some window frames were blown in.

The woman was sitting at home when the explosion occurred and said the force rocked her house and badly damaged her front door.

There was no immediate government help, she said, and residents were clearing the street themselves.

Images broadcast on local media showed how the blast toppled factory buildings, trapping workers inside. State broadcaster CCTV showed rescuers pulling a survivor from the wreckage.

Workers covered in blood were seen running out of the factory, said official news agency Xinhua on Thursday, citing witnesses.

An aerial view of the blast area showed a large swath of destruction in the industrial park, where multiple fires had initially raged.

Deadly industrial accidents are common in China, where safety regulations are often poorly enforced.

In November, a gas leak at a plant in the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou that will host the 2022 Winter Olympics killed 24 people and injured 21 others.

A report published by local authorities last month revealed that the Chinese chemical firm responsible for the accident had concealed information and misled investigators.

In 2015, China saw one of its worst industrial accidents when giant chemical blasts in the northern port city of Tianjin killed at least 165 people.

The explosions caused more than $1 billion in damage and sparked widespread anger at a perceived lack of transparency over the accident’s causes and its environmental impact.

By Salisu Sani-Idris

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has inaugurated a Medical Guidelines Review Committee on existing medical guidelines for pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Alhaji Abdullahi Muhammad, the Executive Chairman of NAHCON, inaugurated the Committee for the 2019 Hajj on Thursday in Abuja.

The Head, Public Affairs Division of NAHCON, Mrs Fatima Usara, said the committee, consisted of members drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, State Pilgrims’ Welfare Boards (SPWB) and members of staff of the commission.

Usara said the committee was expected to review existing medical operations’ guidelines due to the dynamism of Hajj operations, which required constant appraisal and re-strategising.

According to her, the review will focus on the medical team recruitment procedure, composition, recommending minimum and maximum duration of engagement of medical personnel during the 2019 Hajj operations.

She also said that the review would recommend reasonable remuneration for medical personnel, taking financial capabilities of individual states into cognisance; Identifying and reviewing performance of medical personnel in the 2018 Hajj.

“This will enable the committee to propose methods of improving; proposing a budget for drugs, medical consumables and ratio of funding by states and NAHCON.

The spokesperson said the committee was also expected to educate members of the medical team on terms and conditions of engagement and the need to abide by them once they become signatories.

She said the committee was also expected to make recommendations on how to improve on the successes so far recorded.

Usara said that the Chairman had expressed appreciation to the members of the committee for accepting to serve in spite of the short notice.

Responding, Chairman of the committee, Dr Ibrahim Kana, thanked the Executive Chairman for the confidence reposed on the members; and pledged the committee’s commitment to discharging its mandate faithfully and within a short period.

According to Usara, the committee is expected to submit its report within one week from the date of inauguration. (NAN)

By Tukur Muntari/Kano

The Police Command in Kano State said the movement of motor vehicles, tricycles and all other means of transportation would be restricted across the 44 local government areas of on Saturday, during the supplementary election.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna said no vehicle, motorcycle or tricycle would be allowed to move between 06:00hrs and 18:00hrs during the election period.

According to the police, the measure is to ensure free and fair election.

He advised all eligible voters to trek to their respective polling units in order to exercise their civic responsibility.

The Independent National Electoral Commission scheduled the election to resolve the winner of the 9 March poll, between incumbent Abdullahi Ganduje and his main challenger, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who is former Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso’s son-in-law.

By Peter Amine/Jos

Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau said it will be stupid of him to lose the supplementary election scheduled for Saturday as he needs only 2000 votes out of 49000 to claim victory.

The Independent National Electoral (INEC) declared the Plateau governorship election, along with the elections in Bauchi, Kano, Sokoto, Benue and Adamawa, inconclusive, because the vote difference between Lalong and his challenger, Senator Jeremiah Useni was less than the cancelled votes

Lalong who spoke in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Jos, said that he was sure of victory.

“The coast is very clear for me. I am going for just 2000 votes.

“It will be stupid for me to lose election with 2000 votes with the popularity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on ground and what I have done for the state.

“We have 49000 registered voters in the places that the election will be conducted and I am leading with almost 45000.

“What magic will they do in the places?” he asked.

The governor said that Mangu which had about 25000 registered voters for the supplementary election was his stronghold.

He stated that he had won in those areas before the votes were cancelled because of issues of over-voting and card reader failure.

Lalong however, said that he was ready for Sen. Jeremiah Useni, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cnndidate, if he decided to challenge his impending victory at the tribunal.

Convalescing Gabonese President Ali Bongo will return home this weekend for the third time since he fell ill, his office said on Thursday.

Bongo, who is convalescing in Morocco after suffering a stroke five months ago, “will leave to return to Gabon on Saturday March 23,” presidential spokesman Ike Ngouoni said in a statement.

“(He) is delighted to return to his fellow countrymen… and wishes to give his warmest thanks… to the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, for his excellent welcome and incomparable support throughout his stay.”

Bongo, 60, was taken ill on October 24 while visiting Saudi Arabia.

He has returned only twice since then, staying less than 48 hours each time, although the government has insisted that he is in good shape.

In late February, Bongo led a cabinet meeting during which a raft of appointments were announced and several close aides were dismissed, although no media were on hand for the event.

His prolonged absence has stoked concern about a vacuum of power, apparently sparking a brief attempted coup by renegade soldiers on January 7.

It has also sparked rumours that he has a body double for public appearances — a scenario that the president’s office vigorously dismissed on March 7.

Bongo took office after an election in 2009 that followed the death of his father, former president Omar Bongo, who took office in 1967.

Brazil has arrested a former leader, Michel Temer, accusing him of embezzlement and money laundering and of being the leader of a criminal organisation.

Seventy-eight year-old Temer, who is the predecessor of current President Jair Bolsonaro, was arrested in Sao Paulo, as part of a sprawling anti-corruption probe.

He is the latest ex-leader of the Latin American country to be caught up in the so-called Car Wash investigation that has claimed scores of political and corporate scalps.

Former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is serving a lengthy jail term after being convicted in two corruption cases.

The investigation into Temer had uncovered “the existence of a criminal organisation in full operation, involved in concrete acts of clear gravity,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Former mines and energy minister Moreira Franco was also arrested along with several others.

Temer, Brazil’s most unpopular leader ever, faced several corruption accusations on leaving office last year.

Brazil’s Congress voted to dismiss two allegations in 2017, cementing his reputation as the ultimate survivor in one of the world’s messiest and scandal-ridden democracies.

A third accusation was filed days before Bolsonaro’s mandate started on January 1, leaving Congress no time to evaluate the charge.

The accusations in the federal prosecutor’s statement on Thursday described a “sophisticated criminal system” which by the end of 2014 had made illicit payments of some one million reais (the equivalent of $500,000 at the time) in connection with the construction of a nuclear power plant that was never completed.

But investigations suggest the group may have “committed various crimes” with public agencies and state-owned companies involving 1.8 billion reais ($470 million), the statement said.

Starting as an investigation into money laundering at a car wash in the capital Brasilia in 2014, the probe expanded to uncover a vast graft operation involving state oil firm Petrobras and major construction companies and bribes to politicians of several parties.

The scale of the corruption uncovered stunned Brazilians, who have grown weary of graft among their leaders.

Temer is just the latest former president caught up in the probe that has rocked Brazil’s business and political elites.

The centre-right politician of the PMDB party took over as a caretaker figure after the last Workers Party president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and removed from office in 2016, accused of cooking the government’s books.

While Rousseff was not directly implicated in the Car Wash scandal, she was damaged by association, having chaired the board at Petrobras between 2003-2010, when much of the alleged corruption was flourishing.

Far-right leader Bolsonaro campaigned on a hard line against corruption and crime and his victory in October’s election was in part attributed to the Car Wash investigation.

Temer did not contest the ballot.

The probe was originally overseen by Brazil’s current justice minister, former judge Sergio Moro, who jailed Lula. He has been replaced by Gabriela Hardt.

Local TV channels broadcast live coverage of the latest arrests — much to the delight of many viewers.

As president, Temer was deeply unpopular among ordinary Brazilians. Whenever he spoke on television, horn honking and pot banging could be heard in major cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

He was booed loudly at Maracana stadium when he opened the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) says it has never  made any payment to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for services he renders to the institution as one of its facilitators.

The university was reacting to a story in a national newspaper which reported on Wednesday that the former President earned N40,000 per annum as NOUN lecturer.

NOUN’s Director of Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Sheme, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja,  explained that the story emanated from the press conference the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, addressed  on Tuesday, ahead of the 8th Convocation Ceremony of the institution scheduled for March 23.

Sheme, quoting the NOUN’s Registrar, Mr Felix  Edoka, said, “Whilst we remain grateful to all the media houses that give our activities positive coverage, we insist that their news reports should always be accurate and diligent.

“While it is true that the vice chancellor had told the gathering of journalists and NOUN staff present at the conference that the University had offered the former a facilitation appointment, the honorarium mentioned in the newspaper publications is the generic amount the University issues in the appointment letters of all facilitators.

“Obasanjo, in his acceptance letter to the University, however, decided to render his services on a pro bono basis, that is free of charge.”

He added that  Adamu never said at the press conference that Obasanjo had taken or intended to take a kobo as payment or salary for his services.

The Registrar said that Adamu was emphatic about the magnanimity of the former President and elder statesman in offering his valuable time to work for NOUN at its Study Centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as a facilitator on a part-time basis and free of charge.

“For the records, therefore, we wish to clarify that Obasanjo is offering his services as a facilitator to NOUN absolutely free of charge and with no any strings attached.

” Obasanjo told the University that his decision was premised on the fact that he is giving back to the society out of the great bounties God and the University have given him.

“For this laudable and patriotic gesture of his, we remain immensely indebted to the former President and elder statesman,” Sheme quoted the Registrar as saying.

The Registrar expressed the university’s regret over the inconveniences and embarrassment the newspaper publications caused to the former president.

As part of giving back to the communities where it operates and its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Nestlé Nigeria Plc on Thursday inaugurated some Educational Sustainable Projects Facilities at the Nawair-Ud-Deen Primary School, Owode Egba, Ogun.

The Naija Politico reports that the projects include a renovated block of classrooms, comprising of head teacher’s office, Primay 3 and 4 classes. It repainted, refloored as well as re-roofed classrooms and corridors.

Also, a toilet block of eight units, hand washing stations, Borehole with 2000 litres overhead tanks on steel platform with Gasoline Generator, playground with games facilities and football post were inaugurated.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Victoria Uwadoka, Nestle’s Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, said: “The NUD Primary School is one of our schools for Nestlé for Healthier Kids School programme.

“It is where we teach them further to eat well, hydrate well and play well; they are part of healthy living and growth.

“We are happy today that the school now has these facilities, good toilets, playgrounds and importantly, classroom building, water and hand washing stations.

“We urge the school, pupils and community to make use and keep them well; these facilities will make learning more enjoyable and impactful.’’

Mr Kehinde Keefa, Head Teachers, N.U.D Primary School, commended Nestlé for the project.

According to him, the project has contributed immensely to the overall development of education in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area (LGA) as the school has been transformed to a model primary school in Owode Egba community.

Keefa said the projects would also play a vital role in effective teaching and learning interplay as well as make the environment conducive for both learners and teachers.

The Executive Chairman, Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Abdul-Jeleel Okewole, represented by Mrs Jokotade Agbatiogun, Deputy Director, Education Quality Assurance, also commended Nestle for the projects located in one of Nestlé’s areas of operation.

She said the gesture was a challenge to well-meaning individuals and organisations to give back to their communities in an enviable way as demonstrated by Nestlé.

“I am convinced that the children, parents and school authorities who are the ultimate beneficiaries of this laudable projects will appreciate the gesture and effectively use the facilities to enhance teaching and learning.

“However, the board implores the (School Based Management Committees (SBMC) to judiciously utilise and ensure that the projects are well secured and preserved for continuous use,’’ Okewole said.

Responding, the traditional ruler of the Owode Egba, Oba Kolawole Aremu Sowemimo, called on government at all levels to make education a priority.

According to him, these facilities provided by Nestlé Nigeria should have been the primary concerns of governments for all schools in the country.

He urged organisations, well-meaning individuals and politicians to pay attention to the education sector.

The traditional ruler encouraged the learners to make good use of the facilities, be dedicated in their studies and be committed to becoming honourable and respectable citizens.