The African Women Water Sanitation and Hygiene Network (AWWASHNET) has decried the state of water infrastructure in communities across Lagos, even as it demands innovative financing of the sector within the realm of public control.
Observers believe that the bulk of the Lagos population have limited access to potable water
AWWASHNET made the demand after carrying out a fact-finding visit to different communities in Lagos, including Orile-Iganmu, Okokomaiko, Orile Agege, among others, drawing the conclusion that the state’s water infrastructure were in dire straits.
The group said women bear the brunt of the lack of water as they would have to go the extra mile to ensure they have adequate water for drinking and other domestic uses.
Vice Chairperson of AWWASHNET, Vickie Uremma, said: “In the communities visited, the stark reality of lack of water and rotting water infrastructure stared us in the face. Clearly, all the talk of the state government about guaranteeing access to water has only remained within the realm of talk.
“We observed broken pipes, commissioned water facilities that have never run for a single day and the attendant terrible sanitation situation that endanger the communities but most especially women that are generally known to be more susceptible to diseases related to lack of water.”
Uremma said that the situation would worsen if the state government presses ahead with plans to embark on Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the water sector instead of committing to democratically-controlled water systems.
“The solution to the water crisis we are witnessing in the communities is a sincere commitment on the part of the state government to ensure sustained funding of the sector just like it funds security and other sectors.”
She averred that water is a right and as such it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that it is available in adequate quantity for every citizen irrespective of their ability to pay or not, while exploring other not-for-profit innovations.”
The AWWASHN is a network of women activists and women-led organisations in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in Africa formed in August, 2015.
The Dangote Foundation and GBCHealth have joined forces to forge a new model of partnership tagged: African Business Coalition on Health (GBCHealth) in Africa.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote
Chairman of Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote, shared plans to build an African Business Coalition on Health (ABCHealth), during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, he co-hosted. The event took place alongside the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York.
According to him, the African-led coalition of companies and philanthropists will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of Africans, both within the workplace and within the broader communities. He stated that the partnership would develop and deploy impactful health programmes across Africa, deepening knowledge, building evidence for future investment and strengthening coordination among African philanthropists, business leaders, companies and local business networks.
The Coalition is building on the leadership, reputation and convening power of the Aliko Dangote Foundation and the experience, reputation and global reach of GBCHealth. Critical issues that will be the focus of the partnership ranges from nutrition to malaria, with priorities identified and agreed by local leadership.
Through his Foundation, Dangote is said to have made an unprecedented grant and seed contribution to GBCHealth of $1.5 million over three years as a call to action and a signal to the African business community of the importance of working together and investing in health.
“The time is ripe for the private sector to proactively demonstrate its value in partnering to lead a new era in development,” said Mr. Dangote. “The coalition can provide much needed guidance to ensure activities and investments are driving results in areas where the
private sector can have real impact, focusing on holistic and integrated solutions that cross borders. We look forward to working with other business leaders as partners in development to drive this impact.”
Co-chair of GBCHealth’s Board of Directors, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said, “This coalition brings together two heavyweights in the health and development arena. Together we have an opportunity to demonstrate how investing in health and creating healthier populations, can help business maximise shareholder value, accelerate economic growth and make entry into new markets more feasible.”
The coalition will have five primary objectives over its first three years:
Incubate partnerships on priority health programmes to enhance and accelerate results;
Work directly with companies to optimise workplace and community health programmes;
Advocate for policies and initiatives that drive system-level changes; Create a hub of data and insights specific to Africa and African business; and
Curate leadership events to convene and drive action around common health issues, across sectors.
The programme will kick off in Nigeria and roll out through business regions in Africa and beyond over the next three years.
The continent currently has 400 companies with revenue of more than $1 billion per year, and these companies are growing faster, and are more profitable in general, than their global peers. Coupled with these fast-moving regional leaders, small and growing businesses create 80% of the continent’s employment and are stoking the engines of growth.
Against this backdrop, according to Dangote, there’s a new cadre of responsible business leaders and philanthropists who understand the value and promise of sustainable large-scale investments in African countries, and are poised to make an even bigger impact on the
continent’s people and economies.
Investments in better training, healthcare and supply chain accountability have demonstrated direct financial return through gains in productivity and efficiency, while support for social programs has accelerated economic growth and raised incomes which in turn unlocks a
wider consumer base and makes entry into new markets more feasible.
In her comments, CEO of the Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said, “GBCHealth has a strong track record of bringing diverse groups together to improve the health wellbeing of communities,We look forward to collaborating to build an African business community united as a force for healthier and more inclusive development.”
“What is needed now is an approach that combines the value of local insights and trusted networks with the leverage of a global platform and expertise to support the more coordinated and impactful involvement of the African private sector across the continent and within the global development community,” commented Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede.
“The coalition builds on the local-to-global business approach we have developed in Nigeria through our work with the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA). The Aliko Dangote Foundation has demonstrated expertise in implementing result-oriented health programmes in Nigeria and across Africa. We look forward to our collaboration to
bring insights from this work to a global audience,” said Nancy Wildfeir-Field, President of GBCHealth.
Immediate plans include hiring an African based CEO for ABCHealth, and building a support base for the coalition working towards a launch in early 2018. The foundation is generously providing office space and support for coalition staff over the first three years of development.
“It’s an ambitious and bold project,” said Dangote, “but the only way to move Africa forward is to take bold moves, to think big, dream big and do big things together – breaking down silos, working across borders and working across sectors.– with government and with each other.
The Appeal Court, Lagos Division, on Monday, September 18, 2017 fixed hearing of an appeal filed by a former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, against the temporary forfeiture of the sum of $5.8 million to November 3.
Mrs Patience Jonathan
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court, Lagos had on April 26, in a ruling on an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made the order.
The judge had also ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N2,421,953,522.78 found in an Ecobank Nigeria Ltd account number 2022000760 in the name of La Wari Furniture and Baths Limited, which the commission said is linked to the former First Lady.
But, dissatisfied with the ruling, Patience Jonathan, through her counsel, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling and also to ask that the order be vacated.
Although, the suit, which was initially assigned to three Justices: John Ikyeh, Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo and Abraham Georgewill last July 5, could not hold at last sitting on July 12 following the withdrawal of Justice Abraham Georgewill from the panel.
As a result of this, Justice Ikyeh, who presided over the appeal, at the last adjourned date had noted: “Three judges were required to form a quorum before an appeal could be heard”.
However, at the resumed hearing of the matter on Monday, the new three-man panel of the appellate court Justices, Mohammed Lawal-Garba, Nimpar Yargata and Inyang Ogakwu, granted a prayer by the former First Lady seeking to amend her notice of appeal and file additional grounds of appeal.
The lead justice, Lawal-Garba, also directed lawyer representing La Wari Furniture and Baths Limited, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), to file separate notice of appeal for his client within 48 hours.
The order was sequel to the striking out of the name of La Wari Furniture and Baths Limited from the main appeal filed by Mrs Jonathan.
The court had earlier granted leave to the company to appeal against the decision of the lower court.
Consequently, the hearing of the two appeals has been adjourned to November 3.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, has directed all Heads of Courts in the country to compile and forward to the National Judicial Council (NJC) comprehensive lists of all corruption and financial crime cases being handled by their various courts.
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen
This is even as the CJN equally ordered the Heads of Courts to designate at least one court in their various jurisdictions as Special Courts solely for the purpose of hearing and speedily determining corruption and financial crime cases depending on the volume of such cases in their jurisdictions.
The Hon. CJN read the riot act on Monday, September 18, 2017 at a special session of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to mark the commencement of the 2017/2018 Legal Year and the swearing-in of 29 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) in Abuja.
To ensure the effectiveness of this new policy, the Hon. CJN marching orders to all Heads of Courts to clamp down on both Prosecution and Defence Counsel who indulge in the unethical practice of deploying delay tactics to stall criminal trials.
To this effect, the Heads of Courts are to henceforth report cases of unnecessary delays to the National Judicial Council which in turn, would transmit them to the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), in the case of SANs, and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), in the case of other legal practitioners.
In the event where such cases come on appeal to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, the Hon. CJN directed relevant departments to fix special dates solely for hearing and determining such appeals.
To properly monitor and effectively enforce the new policy, Justice Onnoghen announced that the NJC would constitute an Anti-Corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (ACTMC) at its 88th meeting to be saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that both Trial and Appellate Courts handling corruption and financial crime cases key into and abide by the renewed efforts at ridding the country of the cankerworm of corruption.
The CJN said that, with pre-election appeals cases now out of the way, the Supreme Court would henceforth channel energy towards clearing as many of the corruption and financial crime cases as possible.
“We in the Supreme Court, having reduced the pre-election appeals in the course of the Third Term of the last Legal Year, will devote much of this First Term in dealing, by way of task work, with the identified 18 EFCC, ICPC, and Economic Crime cases alongside the normal Civil, Criminal, and Political cases,” he said.
The CJN also warned bribe givers to desist from their dastardly act and vowed to bring the full wrath of the law on anyone caught in the act.
His words: “I encourage members of the public to cut off the supply side of corruption by stopping the offering of bribes to judicial officers. The full wrath of the law will be visited on all those caught in this nefarious activity that is capable of eroding integrity and confidence in the Judiciary.”
Calling on the 29 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to guard their ranks jealously, the CJN warned that the award was a privilege, which stood to be withdrawn if abused.
“I must remind you that being a privilege, it can, and shall be withdrawn if abused. The privileged you are conferred with today is not intended as a weapon of intimidation or licence for rudeness and arrogance,” he warned.
The CJN also used the medium to announce the advances the Supreme Court had made in the use of technology towards achieving fair and speedy resolution of cases to include a technology-enabled Judges’ bench, high-definition audio/video recording equipment, FTR software to enable real-time transcription and transmission of court proceedings, high-tech mobile podium for presentation, document camera to display exhibits, and viewing screen in the gallery, among others.
Police has arraigned a banker with Keystone Bank Plc, Mrs. Chinonye Okafoagu, before a Chief Magistrate Court in Ebute-metta, Lagos for allegedly stealing the sum of N3 million from the bank’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
The ATM machine
The banker is facing a four counts charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, forgery and false modification of ATM’s data.
The accused was charged and arraigned before the court by the men of State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti-Yaba, Lagos.
Police in the charge marked N/73/2017, alleged that the banker and others now at large, committed the offence in March 7, 2016, at the Festac Branch of the bank.
The police alleged that in order to steal the N3 million from the bank’s ATM machine, the banker without lawful authority modified the ATM’s data, and thereby making the machine not to dispense money to the bank’s customers.
The Offences according to the police are contrary to and punishable under sections 409, 285(7), 389(1), and 365(1) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos state of Nigeria, 2015.
The banker was also accused to have allegedly written the name of one Elizabeth, who supposed to handle the bank’s ATM machine on the said date, and equally append her signature in the ATM’s loading staff register, which she equally presented to the management of the bank.
However, after the charge was read to the accused banker, she pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Consequently, the presiding Magistrate, Mrs. A. O. Salawu, admitted her to bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in the same sum.
The Magistrate also ordered the sureties to furnish the court with evidence of three years tax paid to the Lagos state government, means of livelihood, and have their addresses verified by the court’s registrar.
The matter has been adjourned till September 25, for commencement of trial.
A considerable number of nations around the world have resated their commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, even as the United States continue to dither on the global treaty.
Participants at the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action in Montreal, Canada
The Paris Agreement, which entered into force on November 4 2016, brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so.
At a Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action convened by Canada, China, and the European Union, a majority of the participants expressed the fact that the Paris Agreement was irreversible and that it would not be renegotiated.
The United States, however, re-confirmed that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement but that it is open to re-engaging on terms more favourable to it.
The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts.
The meeting, which featured representatives from 34 governments of major economies and other key players on climate change, was aimed at advancing discussions on the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and to demonstrate continued political commitment to global action. It held on Saturday, September 16, 2017 in Montreal, Canada.
Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji facilitated the meeting with representatives from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, EU, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Recognising that the environment and the economy go hand-in-hand and that ambitious climate action will protect the environment, spur clean growth and sustainable development, create jobs, and improve human health, participants emphasised that global efforts are at a critical juncture, even as they indicated a strong commitment to the full implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Participants also underscored the importance of providing clarity and certainty to all actors, including investors, and thus acknowledged their political commitment to complete the Paris Work Programme in 2018.
Many expressed the importance of the Paris Agreement and its modalities, procedures, and guidelines to continue to build trust and help solidify confidence in the global commitment to climate action. It was highlighted that technical negotiations at COP23 should build on the spirit of Paris, and be constructive and balanced to advance consensus on modalities, procedures and guidelines that will help all Parties in the implementation of their Paris Agreement obligations.
There was support for the efforts of the Moroccan and Fijian COP Presidencies in determining the modalities for the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue, based on consultations with Parties. It was reiterated that the Dialogue should help Parties take stock of progress made and further drive ambition, including in collaboration with non-state actors.
The importance of pre-2020 action and the need to build on current efforts were acknowledged. Many also pointed to the importance of financial, technology and capacity building support and recognised the progress being made. Furthermore, participants highlighted their support for the Marrakesh Partnership on Global Climate Action, pointing out that sub-national governments, Indigenous and local communities, and non-party actors are essential in achieving these objectives, and that multilateral processes should continue to be more inclusive and recognise the importance of gender equality.
To share lessons and best practices, many participants highlighted their countries’ approaches and experiences in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change, and broadly emphasised their steadfast determination to implementing these efforts and their NDCs. It was underscored that taking action now is critical in order to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy. A number of participants welcomed the momentum and movements of the market in that regard and underscored the importance of carbon pricing.
In light of the commitment to moving forward together and demonstrating progress, a message was sent to negotiators to carry forward the positive and open spirit of the Ministerial on Climate Action to advance their work on implementing the Paris Agreement through the completion of the Paris Work Programme and the 2018 Facilitative Dialogue.
Canada, China and the European Union were thanked for taking this initiative and for their offer to co-convene a second meeting in 2018 in Europe.
According to emerging theories, the world’s standing forests may be protecting continents against cyclonic storms, such as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. But, as these forests disappear, scientists anticipate more frequent and more destructive storms.
A view of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Sint Maarten Dutch part of Saint Martin island in the Caribbean, Sept. 6, 2017.
Recent research conducted in collaboration with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) suggests that forests and cyclones share a fundamental link in atmospheric dynamics, and that changes in one can trigger changes in the other.
Both cyclones and forests are characterised by striking amounts of rain, which derives from the atmosphere. Evidence suggests that by importing atmospheric moisture from the ocean, forests deplete the vapour available to generate and support cyclonic storms.
“Our work suggests that forests may protect continental regions from extreme storms,” explains Douglas Sheil, a Senior Research Associate at CIFOR. “Both the formation and maintenance of cyclones appear to depend on sufficient supplies of water vapour. We believe that cyclonic storms cannot maintain themselves over, or near to, extensive forests, as they draw away moisture over the land.”
In addition to reducing the number and intensity of cyclones, forests may also reduce the incidence of devastating floods, droughts and tornadoes. Sheil and his colleagues Anastassia Makarieva and Victor Gorshkov argue that sustaining natural forests is a sound strategy for water security and climate stabilisation.
A growing body of evidence
The emerging “biotic pump” theory argues that vegetation and tree cover may influence rain and rainfall patterns to a greater extent than is generally assumed. While the prevailing view is that winds are determined by temperature gradients, recent studies describe how evaporation and condensation influence atmospheric dynamics.
The physical details of the theory and its implications have been published in peer-reviewed physics journals (1, 2, 3) and atmospheric science journals (4, 5, 6, 7). In advancing these ideas, researchers have described failings in the temperature-driven theory of winds (8) and revised the fundamental equations governing atmospheric dynamics (9).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change, is calling for nominations of authors for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
Governments, Observer Organisations and IPCC Bureau Members have been requested to submit nominations of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors by Friday, October 27, 2017 (midnight GMT +1). The Bureaus of the three IPCC Working Groups will then select the author teams from the lists of nominations.
The call for nominations follows agreement on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report at the IPCC’s 46th Session in Montreal, Canada, earlier this month.
The three Working Group contributions will be finalised in 2021, followed by a Synthesis Report in 2022, forming an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the scientific community’s understanding of climate change. The IPCC is already preparing three Special Reports on specific topics as well a refinement of its guidelines for measuring greenhouse gas inventories.
Hundreds of experts around the world in the different areas volunteer their time and expertise to produce the reports of the IPCC. Author teams aim to reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and backgrounds.
The IPCC includes three working groups: Working Group I assesses the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II is responsible for impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III assesses the mitigation of climate change.
“We are seeking scientists with expertise across the disciplines assessed by the IPCC,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “We also hope that more scientists from developing countries and more women scientists will be nominated as IPCC authors to give us diverse author teams that can provide a range of relevant perspectives.”
IPCC author teams include a mix of authors from different regions. The IPCC, it was gathered, also seeks a balance of men and women, as well as between those experienced with working on IPCC reports and those new to the process, including younger scientists.
Mercury, a neurotoxic metal, has been found in high levels across all global regions in women of reproductive age, according to a new study conducted by IPEN (a global public health & environment network), Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) in collaboration with Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental (SRADev Nigeria).
A young mother
Women in the Pacific Islands and in communities near gold mining sites in Indonesia, Kenya, and Myanmar were found to have average mercury levels many times higher than US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) health advisory levels.
The research, titled: “Mercury in Women of Child-bearing Age in 25 Countries”, was undertaken to measure the prevalence of mercury body burden at levels that can cause neurological and organ damage. Mercury in a mother’s body can be transferred to her foetus during pregnancy, exposing the developing foetus to the potent neurotoxin.
Researchers from IPEN coordinated hair sampling from 1,044 women of reproductive age in 37 locations across 25 countries (including Nigeria) on six continents. Analysis, conducted by BRI, found that 36% of women sampled had average mercury levels over the US EPA health advisory level of 1 ppm, above which brain damage, IQ loss, and kidney and cardiovascular damage may occur. The study additionally found that 53% of the global sample of women measured more than 0.58 ppm of mercury, a level associated with the onset of foetal neurological damage.
The study found significantly elevated mercury concentrations in the hair of women in numerous regions of the world related to three predominant causes of mercury pollution: coal-fired power plants (one of the main sources globally that contaminate oceans with mercury that accumulates in fish), artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and local contaminated sites from various industries releasing mercury to soil, water and air.
Key findings are listed to include:
One out of five women in the communities studied near heavily industrialised areas have mercury levels over 1 ppm. This includes women in Nepal, Nigeria, and Thailand, where contaminated sites pollute local land, waterways and food sources. In the Nigerian result specifically, the mean mercury hair concentration for women from these locations slightly exceeded the 1 ppm threshold at 1.053 ppm ± 0.652 ppm (fw), a level indicative that there is contamination of local fish from Lagos Lagoon. Additionally, women near contaminated sites in Albania, Chile, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Ukraine measured average levels above 0.58ppm.
In the Pacific Islands, which is far from all industrial mercury sources but where people eat fish as their primary food source, 85.7% exceeded the 1 ppm threshold, with most women measuring three times above the US EPA standard.
Over half of the women sampled in Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar and Paraguay measured over 1 ppm where communities subsist from small-scale gold mining. Excluding Paraguay, where fish is not the protein staple, 81% of women were above 1 ppm, with women in two Indonesian locations measuring between three and nine times above the US EPA threshold for mercury.
“This study illustrates the unfolding global mercury pollution threat for the women and children of many Pacific Island nations and for most women engaged in small-scale gold mining,” said Lee Bell, the study’s Principle Investigator from IPEN. “The very high mercury levels found in the hair of most of these women point to the urgent need for action to phase-out coal-fired power plants and the international trade of mercury supplying small-scale gold mining, the two most significant causes of mercury pollution.”
Next week, governments from across the globe will convene in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss next steps for the new international, legally-binding treaty, the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The research underscores the need for guidance to identify mercury-contaminated sites, monitor mercury body burden, and take action to curtail the primary sources of mercury pollution – coal-fired power plants and ASGM.
Commented Yuyun Ismawati, IPEN Lead for ASGM/Mining and Goldman Prize winner: “Millions of women and children in communities mining gold with mercury are condemned to a future where mercury impairs the health of adults and damages the developing brains of their offspring. As long as the mercury trade continues, so too will the mercury tragedy.”
“This study underscores the importance of global cooperation to address mercury pollution,” said David Evers, Executive Director and Chief Scientist at BRI and co-author of the study.
“Mercury contamination is ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems around the world. Biological mercury hotspots are globally common and are related to a variety of human activities. For these reasons, it is critical that we continue biomonitoring efforts to track potential impacts on local communities and on the environment in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention.”
“The study exposes a mercury pollution problem that is affecting all of us”. It is alarming because fishing families in the coastal communities and residents in Lagos have the fish as the primary protein source in their diet and a delicacy,” said Leslie Adogame, Executive Director, SRADev Nigeria. “This study underscores the urgency for the ratification of the Mercury Convention by the Nigerian government.”
Cook Islands resident Imogen Ingram of the Island Sustainability Alliance learned that her own mercury levels were two and half times that of the US EPA health advisory threshold. “It is really alarming to learn that you have high levels of toxic mercury in your body and that as a result, you have, without knowing, passed on mercury to your child,” she commented. ”Mercury contamination across the Pacific Islands is high because we eat fish. But I do not want to be told not to eat fish. Coal-fired power, one of the primary sources of mercury pollution in the oceans, is the real offender. It is time to phase it out.”
Worried by the steady increase in reported cases of outbreak of measles, the Federal Government has rolled out its 2017 Measles Campaign. Reported cases of the ailment rose from 166 (affecting 140 local governments areas – LGAs) in 2015 to 183 (affecting 158 LGAs).
Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency
Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, made the revelation recently in Abuja while addressing journalists on the programme of events of the planned Campaign on Measles.
He commended the Federal Government for promptly releasing N3 billion to support the measles campaign, which will commence in October.
According to him, “Persistently, low routine measles follow up Subnational Immunisation Activities (SIA) coverage in 2013 (74%) and 2015 (84.5%) have resulted in a population immunity profile that has allowed increased transmission of the measles virus among children of about 10 years of age, resulting in morbidity and mortality. Movement of internally displaced people from recently liberated security threatened areas is also likely to have caused increased susceptibility and exposure among local populations.
“Case-based measles surveillance that has satisfied key surveillance performance indicators since 2012 indicators that measles virus transmission is extensive throughout the country, with increasing number of cases, outbreaks and increasing numbers of Local Governments Areas. These outbreaks occur in spite of the 2015 measles follow up campaigns. Aproximately 2.4% of all children with laboratory confirmed cases of measles die, likely precipitated by malnutrituion and or vitamin A deficiency.
“Vaccination status among confirmed cases indicates that majority of cases have never been vaccinated with measles vaccine, consistent with inadequate levels of immunisation coverage.
“The number of outbreaks has increased from 166 affecting 140 local governments areas to 183 affecting 158 local governemnt areas in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Survellance data shows that there was a steady increase in measles incidence among children under 5 years in the North from 190/ million in 2014 to 527/ million in 2016.
“The trend of proportion of measles cases among children aged five and 10 years in the North has been rising steadily since 2014, cumulatively in 79.4% and 19.1% respectively in 2016. In the Southern states, though the incidence decreased from 111/ million in 2014, to 11/ million in 2016., the incidence rate is still above the desired less than 5 per million populations.
“It is also note worthy that the proportion of measles cases among the under 5 is 59.4% and 5-10 years is 18.7%.”
He said the 2017\2018 measles Vaccination Campaign would focus on children ages nine months to 59 months and it would be implemented in phases from October 2017 to March 2018, and that 95% national coverage is expected.
The NPHCDA boss added that 22 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are yet to approve the campaign. He listed the states to include: Katsina, Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe, Plateau, Bayelsa,Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu. He added however that Kaduna, Zamfara and Jigawa states have approved but yet to release their counterpart funding.
Kano State is said to have only released N9 million out of N66 million, the remaining balance is expected to be paid by the local governments councils. Kebbi, Borno, Nassarawa and Imo states have released their counterpart funding.
Shuaib therefore said all the states that do not release it counterpart funding by 15 of September, 2017 would not participate in the vaccination campaign.
