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WHO launches year-long campaign to help 100m quit Tobacco

Mercy Chukwudiebere
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The World Health Organization has launched a year-long global campaign for World No Tobacco Day 2021.

The campaign- tagged “Commit to Quit.” gives  more than 100 reasons to quit tobacco”.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to millions of tobacco users saying they want to quit. The campaign will support at least 100 million people as they try to give up tobacco through communities of quitters.

WHO says “Commit to Quit” will help create healthier environments that are conducive to quitting tobacco by advocating for strong tobacco cessation policies; increasing access to cessation services; raising awareness of tobacco industry tactics, and empowering tobacco users to make successful quit attempts through “quit & win” initiatives.”

WHO, together with partners, will create and build-up digital communities where people can find the social support they need to quit. The focus will be on high burden countries, where the majority of the world’s tobacco users live.

It welcomes new contributions from partners, including private sector companies that have offered support, including Allen Carr’s Easyway, Amazon Web Services, Cipla, Facebook and WhatsApp, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Praekelt, and Soul Machines.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says quitting tobacco is challenging, especially with the added social and economic stresses that have come as a result of the pandemic. Worldwide around 780 million people say they want to quit, but only 30% of them have access to the tools that can help them do so. Together with partners, WHO will provide people with the tools and resources they need to make a successful quit attempt.

“Smoking kills 8 million people a year, but if users need more motivation to kick the habit, the pandemic provides the right incentive,” he stated.

WHO released a scientific brief earlier this year showing that smokers are at higher risk of developing severe disease and death from Covid-19. Tobacco is also a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes. Moreover, people living with these conditions are more vulnerable to severe Covid-19.

Both global and regional cessation tools will be rolled out as part of the campaign. WHO’s 24/7 digital health worker to help people quit tobacco is available in English and will soon be released to support people in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

WHO Director of Health Promotion, Dr Ruediger Krech, says “Millions of people worldwide want to quit tobacco and must seize this opportunity and invest in services to help them be successful, while we urge everyone to divest from the tobacco industry and their interests,” 

To create environments conducive to quitting tobacco, WHO has worked with partners and countries around the globe to implement tobacco control measures that effectively reduce the demand for tobacco.

The Organization calls on all governments to ensure their citizens have access to brief advice, toll-free quit lines, mobile and digital cessation services, nicotine replacement therapies and other tools that are proven to help people quit. Strong cessation services improve health, save lives and save money.

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere

Inspector General of Police visits Ebonyi State

Emmanuel Ukoh
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The inspector General of Police, IGP Mr Mohammed Adamu has directed his officers and men in Ebonyi state to go back in discharging their normal duties in the state.

Mr Adamu disclosed this during his visit to the Nigerian police headquarters in Abakaliki the state capital.

The IGP condemned the gruesome attacks on his officers and men of the Nigerian Police during the ENDSARS protest hijacked by hoodlums.

“The criminals who were not comfortable with the police used the opportunity to attack the police and my men”.

“Maximum restraint in using firearms by police during the ENDSARS protest does not mean the police was weak but a demonstration of professionalism” he said.

He warned that the Nigerian police will never allow any kind of violent protest in the country again.

“From the look of things, the ENDSARS protest was not targeted at the police alone but also on the Nigerian government” he added.

He advised officers and men of Nigerian police to defend themselves with firearms when threatened.

He urged them not to be demoralised in the discharge of their duties.

The commissioner of Ebonyi state command Mr Philip Maku thanked the IG for coming to encourage them.

Mmed He also thanked the staff and members of Alex Ekwueme federal teaching hospital Abakaliki for treating and discharging his officers and men wounded during the protest.

APC extends tenure of National Caretaker Committee

Confidence Okwuchi
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By Timothy Choji, Abuja

The National executive Committee of the All-Progressives Congress APC, has extended the tenure of the National Caretaker Committee of the party, under the leadership of the Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni for another six months.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

He also announced that the Executive Committee approved the expulsion of the former National Vice Chairman of the party for the South-South zone, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, for failure to withdraw the court case instituted against the caretaker committee.

Other Resolutions
Other resolutions of the National executive Committee included the dissolution of all Ward, State, Zonal and National Party structures of the party.

He said: “We have been mandated by the National Executive Committee of our party to brief you on the outcome of our meeting which just ended. The meeting was a mixture of physical and virtual attendees, with all the President, Governors. leaders of the National Assembly in the NEC physically attending while other members of the NEC joined us virtually.

“So, the NEC of the APC met today and resolved as follows; the National Executive Committee of the party approved the extension of the tenure of the Caretaker Committee of the party led by the Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni, which expires on the 25th of December, 2020 for another six-month period to terminate on the 30th of June, 2021. This is to enable the Caretaker, Executive and Convention Planning Committee to conclude its assignment as laid before NEC.   

“NEC has also donated its powers as enshrined in the APC constitution, to the caretaker and convention committee. NEC has also approved the granting of waivers to persons who have recently joined our party and those desirous of joining the party in the nearest future. By this, such new members will enjoy all the benefits and privileges accruable by their membership of the party. So, they will be able to contest for positions or election without any requirement of being members for a number of years or certain period of time.

“The third resolution is that NEC approved the expulsion of Ntufam Hilliard Eta, from the party, for flouting the directives of NEC to discontinue all litigation against the party and its members. Number four, NEC approved the immediate dissolution of the party organs at the polling unit, ward, Local Government, State and Zonal levels, as well as the non-National Working Committee (NWC) component of the National Executive Committee. NEC also approved the immediate reconstitution and composition of the dissolved EXCOs to serve in their respective offices in a caretaker committee capacity but excluding the no-NWC members of NEC.”

Governor El-Rufai also informed Journalists that the APC NEC condemned in very strong terms, calls by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the resignation of President Buhari.

“NEC observes that security challenges, though regrettable, can only be addressed when all interests, civil and military, government and opposition, security forces and indeed every citizen collaborate irrespective of party affiliations. This is not the time to politicise security,” he said.

Confidence Okwuchi

Flooding kills 68, displaces129,000 others across Nigeria

Mercy Chukwudiebere
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The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, says flood killed about 68 people, while the devastating impact affected 35 States of the federation including Federal Capital Territory FCT, 320 Local Government Areas, with over 129,000 people affected.

The Director General of NEMA, Muhammadu Muhammed stated this at the opening of the 2020 flood After Action Review Technical meeting’ with State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and other key stakeholders in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Muhammed explained that the incident also posed a big threat to the nation as it washed away farm lands leaving their owners to grapple with the attendant losses.

To address the challenge, a flood after action Review Technical meeting was organised in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital to proffer solutions to the challenges facing the emergency sector related to flood disaster and management in Nigeria.

According to Muhammed, the meeting is a platform to enhance disaster risk reduction governance.

” The technical meeting therefore is planned to review various activities carried out in respect of 2020 flood preparedness, mitigation and response with a view to capturing lessons learnt and to make recommendations that can improve the ability of our Institutions to coordinate actions that will guide future actions on flooding in Nigeria. An after action review also geared towards improving performance by reflecting on activities, thereby avoiding past mistakes and replicating successes, capture lesson learned and identify recommended changes for implementation,’’ he explained.

Muhammed reiterated the agency’s commitment to support State Emergency Management Agency, SEMAs to build their capacities and enhance their response capacity.

“I wish to say that we are aware of the challenges some of SEMAs are facing such as low capacity and use of ad-hoc staff causing inconsistency in response coordination with NEMA and other relevant stakeholders. Let me reiterate that we are determined to support SEMAs to build their capacities and enhance their response capacity,’’ the NEMA boss stated.

The Director General, Nigeria Hydrological Agency NIHSA, Clement Nzeh, said that there was need to develop plans that would help to build resilience among venerable communities.

Nzeh said; “The year 2020 has been particularly significant, flood had affected all the states in the country causing loss of life, property and livelihood. The impact of flooding on farm lands and farming activities posed a big threat to food security. 

“We are all aware of the imputation to farm lands and critical Infrastructure in Kebbi and Jigawa State and by extension to other part of the country, despite the issuance of flood early warning information by NISAH and response measures that were put in place by NEMA and SEMAs. This experience is point to the fact that emergency and disaster preparedness and response is a dynamic circles. Flood disasters are highly prone to climate change and further supported by human activity on the environment. Hence the realisation for an integrated approach to flood management and the need to build the resilience of the vulnerable communities is inevitable,’’

On behalf of the SEMA’s Executives, the Chairman SEMA Kebbi State, Mr. Sani Doododo, noted that the meeting would broaden the understanding of states emergency agencies in responding to flood related crisis.

“Flooding has come and now subsided so we have to look at the aftermath of it. What are the consequences that we have seen so that we can go back to our drawing board and see what we can do to solve the problem in the future? Honestly we have seen a lot of devastating flood this year, coming here today we are going to reason together with all the stakeholders and come up with a strategic plan to tackle the issue.

“Now Harmattan season is approaching, this when we have a lot of fire outbreak disasters, you see we are yet to deal with Covid-19 Pandemic, the flooding is also here and now harmattan is around the corner…All these are serious issues so coming here gives us the opportunity to reason and get ideas  one another especially from  experts, then go back home and implement what we have learnt.’’

Stakeholders were urged to focus more on coordination, policy and procedures, strategic level multi-agency coordination and decision making as well as training and staffing, preparedness and contingency planning, information and data collection.

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere

 

China condemns US sanctions on Chinese officials over Hong Kong crackdown

Oluwasola Akintonde
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China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office condemned U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials over their role in a national security law for Hong Kong as “purely double standards”, reports said on Tuesday.

The office expressed “strong indignation and condemnation” at the U.S. State Department decision to sanction the 14 Vice-Chairpersons of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature.

The United States on Monday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on the officials over their alleged role in Beijing’s disqualification last month of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong.

A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry’s office of the commissioner to Hong Kong also condemned the U.S. move.

“This bullying by the United States once again reveals its evil intention to create chaos in Hong Kong and harm China’s sovereignty and security,” the spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.

Reuters

Protest demonstration in Armenia calls for PM to step down

Oluwasola Akintonde
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Opposition demonstrators blocked streets in Armenia’s capital on Tuesday to mark the start of a protest campaign after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ignored their call to step down over a ceasefire deal struck with Azerbaijan.

Hundreds chanted “Nikol, traitor” and “Armenia without Nikol” in the streets of Yerevan, answering an opposition call to protest after a deadline of midday Tuesday set by the opposition for Pashinyan to quit passed with him still in power.

Pashinyan, who swept to power in a peaceful revolution in May 2018, accepted a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal last month to end a bloody conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces over the Nagorno-Karabkh enclave and surrounding areas.

Pashinyan’s opponents want him out over what they say was his disastrous handling of the six-week conflict that handed Azerbaijan territorial gains.

Pashinyan has accepted responsibility for the conflict’s outcome, but said he is now responsible for ensuring national security and stabilising the ex-Soviet republic of around three million.

Ishkhan Saghatelyan, an opposition politician for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party, announced the start of coordinated civil disobedience on Tuesday after the deadline passed.

“Nikol, you will go anyway. Leave peacefully,” he said.

“…from now until 17:00 Armenia’s citizens have the legitimate right to use their right to peaceful actions of disobedience to express their demand and to make it heard,” he said.

The opposition has said it plans to block streets nationwide and to paralyse the national transport network if needed.

Armenian spiritual leader Karekin II said in a statement that he had met Pashinyan and urged him to resign.

Pashinyan did not comment on the protests publicly on Tuesday.

Reuters

”We must sustain discipline in our party”-President Buhari

Mercy Chukwudiebere
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President Muhammadu Buhari has advised leaders of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to sustain discipline within the party at all levels, to maintain the achievements already gained by the National Caretaker Committee of the party.

President Buhari made the call in his opening remarks at Tuesday’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the APC, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Her said: “I am convinced that in the last five months, since the appointment of the National Caretaker Committee, the initiatives taken have brought a remarkable new atmosphere of hope in the party. Healthy debates are now taking place and the potential for organs of the party to affirm majority positions as the decision of the party is now possible.

“What is required now is for all of us as leaders of the party to maintain discipline and ensure that this new momentum is protected, sustained and that decisions of the party organs are respected by every member.

“Despite the challenge to restore peace in the party and the series of elections at hand, the fact that we have gained more members and that we are not losing members to the opposition under the present interim leadership, indicates improvement for the party.

“In fact, we have begun to win back our members who left us and other notable political leaders are being attracted to our party, particularly, David Umahi, the Governor of Ebonyi State.”

Appeal
President Buhari therefore, appealed to the teeming members of the APC to make the required sacrifices for the party, to enhance development in Nigeria.

“I want to appeal to all our party members and leaders at all levels, to try and make the required sacrifices so that we are able to collectively restore our progressive and democratic political party, which can nurture and give expression to our collective dream of building a strong united and developed Nigeria,” he said.

The Nigerian leader, who doubles as the leader of the APC, urged the party to retrace its steps and explore the kind of consultations that gave birth to the governing party.

“May I use this opportunity to remind all of us of the need to recreate our negotiation spirit of 2012-2013 under our legacy parties; what guided our success to achieve the merger that produced the APC with the respect we were able to have for each other.

“In those times, decisions reached at both formal and informal meetings, every one of us ensured that those decisions were respected because they were required to produce the needed political platform that could guarantee electoral victory.

“I have, through consultations with the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee and other leaders of the party agreed that our challenges in the party require that we take steps to rebuild the party from ward to national levels. The initiative to carry out membership registration revalidation, is therefore, a necessary step,” he said.

The President urged all attendees at NEC to dispassionately consider all the recommendations of the caretaker committee.

He said: “The responsibility of our party’s NEC at this meeting is to adopt and dispassionately consider all the proposals submitted by the caretaker committee and grant all the necessary approvals requested to rebuild the party.

“I believe that as leaders, our shared vision is to ensure that we are able to produce leaders that will not inherit any of the problems that led to the decision to dissolve our last National Working Committee. There should be no debate about the fact that we all want to have a united leadership for our party the APC at all levels.”

In his welcome address, the National Caretaker Committee Chairman and Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni thanked President Buhari for his total support to the interim leadership of the party.

Buni commiserated with his Borno State counterpart, Professor Babgana Zulum, over the Zabalumari incident, where over 40 rice farmers were gruesomely murdered by terrorists.

Giving the caretaker committee’s abridged report, the Chairman noted that a lot of aggrieved members of the party have been reconciled.

“Before the emergence of the caretaker committee, our party was a theatre of infighting both at national level and in many states. There was a need to start the process of replacing our party leadership and to achieve that, we set up a reconciliation committee across the country.

“Tempers within our party have substantially come down although the works of our respective reconciliation committees are yet to be concluded. The NEC may therefore wish to review developments and direct accordingly,” he said.

Buni emphasised on President Buhari’s earlier call that all litigations involving members of the party be discontinued.

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere

EU Barnier says Brexit talks need patience

Oluwasola Akintonde
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EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that he had met his British counterpart to prepare the next steps and what the Brexit talks needed was “a school of patience, even a university of patience”.

“I just met David Frost this morning to prepare the next steps,” Barnier said on Tuesday.

Reuters

Governor Zulum reaches out to vulnerable citizens

Lateefat Ibrahim
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Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has been on a humanitarian visit to Gwoza towns of Ngoshe, Warabe and Pulka, all in Gwoza Local Government Area of Southern Borno.

While in Ngoshe, Governor Zulum supervised the distribution of food items and 24 million naira in cash to 1, 200 vulnerable citizens of the town, who returned from Pulka and Maiduguri.

Each household received a 50 kilograms bag of maize, 1 bag of 50 kilograms of sorghum, a 25 kilograms bag of beans, a 12.5 kilograms bag of rice, 5 litres of cooking oil, other condiments and 20,000 naira cash.

Resettled communities

During the distribution, Governor Zulum said the intervention was aimed at continually supporting resettled communities before the rainy season, during which they would be expected to undertake agricultural activities in safety in farmlands as part of livelihoods.

It will be recalled that the returnees to Ngoshe went back on October 15, 2020, after due clearance from the military.

The Borno State Governor also assessedsome basic amenities in the town and immediately ordered the State Universal Basic Education Board to urgently provide furniture and ensure the reopening of the Ngoshe Central Primary School within the next two weeks.

The school project is currently at 95 percent completion level.

Governor Zulum also visited an ongoing Ngoshe Primary Healthcare Centre, where he charged the contractor to accelerate efforts and ensure its completion, to enable health workers provide services to the community.

After leaving Ngoshe, Governor Zulum traveled to Warabe, where he also inspected 350 houses being built for residents whose homes were destroyed by insurgents.

The Borno State Governor also visited Pulka and inspected the construction of a mega secondary school.

Lateefah Ibrahim

Resident Doctors Association urges IPPIS to improve payment service

Lateefat Ibrahim
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The Association of Resident Doctors FCTA (ARD  FCTA) has advised the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System to be more thorough in discharging their duties.

This is to prevent none payment of the Doctors salaries.

The President of the Association, Dr. Roland Aigbovo, gave the advice at a press briefing on the associations’ 2020 Annual Health Week in Abuja.

He said that “one of the challenges facing the association is irregularities associated in the payment of promotion allowances of its member by the IPPIS.”

Untold hardship
Dr. Aigbovo said that the none performance of the IPPIS has caused untold hardship to workers all over Nigeria.

He urged the government to put mechanisms in place to ensure that people do their work or get punished for not doing it.

“IPPIS has become a hydra headed monster. It is the failure of the system. People have been employed to do something and they are not doing it, those systems do not update themselves. People do. So, if they are not doing what they are paid to do, they should be sjown the way out and allow those who want to work to do so,” Dr. Aigbovo said.

He also appealed to the minister of the FCT to look into the issues affecting the NMA FCT.

“There are still a lot of issues yet to be resolved. We hope that they’ll be resolved soon. Like promotion and skipping areas,” Dr. Aigbovo said.

On the 2020 Annual Medical Week, the President noted that a lot of activities have been mapped out, including a medical outreach to Egbu community in the FCT that is ravaged by Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by infectios from water.

He added that papers would be presented by eminent personalities.

The theme of the FCT NMA 2020 Health Week is ” Disease Outbreak in Nigeria. Are We ever ready”.

 

Lateefah Ibrahim

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