The Federal High Court, Lagos has ordered the interim attachment of funds allegedly belonging to an oil company, Ontario Oil and Gas, over alleged fraudulent sale of refined petroleum.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
The trial judge, Hadiza Shagari, made the order, following an ex parte application filled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking attachment of the funds.
The commission, in the application marked FHC/L/CS/1464/17, joined as first and second respondents respectively, Ontario Oil and Gas Limited and Mrs. Ada Ugo-Ngadi (Managing Director of Ontario).
EFCC’s affidavit of urgency endorsed by an investigating officer, Mr Abdukarim Acheneje, in support of the ex parte motion, said: “That the EFCC received a petition from one Barrister Joan Ganadanu against the second respondent, complaining of fraud, diversion and conversion of proceeds of sale of refined petroleum products valued at N1.96 billion.
“That the petition alleged that the first respondent is a customer to Union Bank Plc, of Stallion Plaza Branch, Marina Lagos.
“That Union Bank granted a loan facility to the first respondent in the tune of $70 million to import and/or purchase locally refined petroleum products PMS, DPK and AGO.
“That the loan was to be repaid from sale of the products and the second respondent guaranteed repayment of the said loan personally.”
Acheneje also swore that further investigations revealed that the respondents have lifted the product on the order financed by the bank for 10,000 metric tons of AGO, since July 2016, adding that the respondents have sold same, but have refused to lodge the proceeds in the company’s account and pay back the facility to Union Bank.
His words: “That the respondent have refused to authorise Union Bank to repossess the unloaded order of PMS from the Petroleum Products Marketing Company; that the respondents have breached the terms of transactions between them and Union Bank.
“That investigations reveals that the respondents instead, diverted the funds to the account of Renoir Logistics Limited and intelligence further reveals that Ontario oil and Gas has an outstanding 15,000 metric tons of DPK and 5,000 metric tons of PMS.
“That intelligence report gathered shows that the respondents are at the verge of dispensing with the said properties and that the order of the court is urgently needed to attach the property mentioned in paragraph nine.
“That unless the application is urgently heard and determined, the respondent will tamper with the property sought to be attached.”
Consequently, Justice Shagari held: “Upon reading the affidavit in support of the ex parte originating summons, and after hearing Nkereuwem Anana, counsel for the applicant moved in terms of the application. It is hereby ordered as follows: “That the property mentioned in paragraph nine of the affidavit viz, Renoir Logistics Limited currently under investigation be interim attached/forfeited pending the determination of the investigation and possible prosecution of the case.
“That the said property attached/forfeited, ad-interim be managed and controlled by the EFCC.”
The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Lagos has awarded the sum of N10.3 million against Lagos Travel Inn over a disabling injury suffered by one of its employees, Mr Emmanuel Abah, in the course of his duties.
The National Industrial Court
Justice J. D Peters held that the NIC was a court of law and also of equity, which is governed by the rule of law.
The court noted that, with the damage done to the leg of the claimant, there was no market where he could purchase a new leg.
The court accordingly awarded the sum of N10.3 million against the defendant, as damages for the injury suffers by claimant.
The judge also awarded interest of 20 percent on the judgment sum from date of judgment until the said sum is fully liquidated.
The court ordered that the judgment should be complied with within 30 days.
Counsel to Abah, Mr. Daniel Onwe, had commenced the suit marked NICN/LA/548/14, in November 2014, on behalf of the claimant.
Abah is seeking declarative reliefs, that the termination of his appointment due to his condition is wrongful and unfair.
In an affidavit in support of his suit, Abah avers that he was offered appointment in the defendant’s security department on March 3, 2012.
He said that he was absorbed into the defendant’s housekeeping department with effect from May 1, 2012.
The claimant avers that the lift at the defendant had been dilapidated, malfunctioning, noisy and on several occasions had trapped its occupant.
He contends that the management of the defendant had, at all material time, been aware of the state of the said lift, but had urged it’s staffs to use same to avoid notice from visitors.
He asserts that, on November 13, 2013, he was discharging his duties and accordingly was to use the said lift from the ground floor to clean the rooms upstairs.
He said that as he stepped his left foot onto the floor of the lift while lifting his cleaning materials, the lift swiftly took off in the upward direction with the doors trapping his left leg, pulling and dangling him headlong.
He said that his ankle-bone was crushed against the over-head concrete lintel causing a disabling injury, while he was rushed to the hospital.
He averred that on his resumption to work on July 1, 2014, he was reluctantly admitted and redeployed to the laundry section.
He said that he subsequently applied to the defendant for a loan of N40,000 to enable him defray the sum outstanding treatment expenses, but his application was ignored.
The claimant contends that on July 12, 2014 (almost two weeks after resumption), he received a letter from the defendant, terminating his appointment, without any reason.
Mr Emeka Arinze, a suspected accomplice of alleged Kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike also known as Evans, on Monday, October 16, 2017 sued the Police before a Federal High Court, Lagos seeking his immediate release from detention.
Evans
Arinze, in the suit, filed on his behalf by Mr. Ogedi Ogu is claiming the sum of N100 million and a public apology from the police, jointly and severally, for infringement on his fundamental rights.
Joined as respondents in the suit are the Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police in the Lagos State Police Command and one Inspector Christian who is IPO SARS.
Ogu is seeking a declaration that the arrest and detention of the applicant without any order validly made in accordance with the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is unlawful and illegal.
He is seeking an order of the honourable Court, directing and mandating the respondents to produce the applicant before the court.
In an affidavit of urgency sworn to by one Mrs Nkem Nwaka (younger sister of the applicant), she averred that the applicant was arrested on June 27, at Festac Town in Lagos, by the third respondent and taken to the office of the second respondent.
She said that he has, since then, been so detained in custody.
She averred that, since his arrest, the applicant has been kept in solitary confinement, and has been denied access to his medications, family and lawyers.
The deponent averred that since the applicant was taken into custody, he is yet to be informed of his offence till date, and the respondent have refused to give reasons for the continued detention of the applicant.
She averred that the applicant has been in the custody of the respondents for over three months now, without any formal charge.
According to her, the applicant’s fundamental rights as guaranteed under Sections 35 (4) and 36 (4) (5) of the 1999 Constitution have been violated.
She further swore that the applicant is a hypertensive and second-degree diabetic patient, whose health is now in serious jeopardy.
The applicant’s counsel is, accordingly, seeking an order of the court, releasing the applicant forthwith.
He also seeks an order, directing the respondents to pay, jointly and severally, the sum of N100 million to the applicant, being damages for the breach of his fundamental rights as protected under sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Ogu also seeks an order, mandating the respondents to render a public apology to the applicant for violently violating the provisions of Section 35 (4) (a) of the 1999 Constitution which provisions constitute an integral part of the applicant’s fundamental rights.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the new suit.
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos has dismissed the “no case” submission filed by the embattled former director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi, and others.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
The court instead held that they should go and defend themselves in the alleged N2.6 billion fraud leveled against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Akpobolokemi and five other co-defendants, Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan and two firms, Blockz and Stonz Ltd and Al-Kenzo Logistic Ltd., are facing charges bordered on the allegations.
The judge ordered them to enter their defence on October 30.
Justice Buba said the arguments on the no-case submission by defence counsel, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), was without merit and upheld the argument of the EFCC through its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, who maintained that a prima facie case had been established against the defendants.
Justice Buba held: “From the evidence of the first prosecution witness, it is well established that all the defendants have a case to answer.
“The exhibits tendered and testimonies of other witnesses have established that there is a prima facie case against the defendants. I see no merit in this application. This application lacks merit, so, it is overruled. The defendants should open their defence to prove their innocence.”
On December 4, 2015 the EFCC arraigned the defendants on a 22-count charge of diverting N2.6 billion from NIMASA coffers between December 2013 and May 2015.
The anti-graft agency claimed that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan approved the release of the funds for the implementation of a security project.
The alleged offences contravene Section 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
The defendants pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution closed its case after calling 12 witnesses.
But the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed no-case submissions, claiming that the EFCC failed to link their clients with the alleged funds diversion.
“Now that we have a law in place, drought and diseases will become history as we will be able to apply modern technology backed by research for better yields,” this is the kind of excitement Joseph Katushabe, a farmer in Ibanda district in western Uganda, expressed upon hearing that Parliament passed the National Biotechnology and Biosafety (NBB) Bill, 2012.
Farmer Joseph Katushabe attending to his tomato garden in Ibanda district in Western Uganda. Photo credit: Hope Mafaranga
The controversial Bill, which was passed at the beginning of October 2017, has been on and off the shelves since 2012, leaving both politicians and scientists divided.
Among the clauses that were controversial included transporting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for export or import without the approval of a competent authority will become criminal in Uganda.
Defaulters risked paying a fine of 2.4 million Uganda shillings or be jailed for five years.
Katushabe, other farmers and scientists will be able to use technology in farming, after the Bill that is now awaiting the President Yoweri Museveni’s signature to become law without any legal fear.
Ugandan Parliament where Members of Parliament (MPs) sat and passed the Bill
If the president signs it into law, it will consolidate all regulatory frameworks that facilitate the safe development and application of biotechnology by establishing a competent authority, designating a national focal point, a national biosafety committee, institutional biosafety committees and also providing mechanisms to regulate research and the general release of GMOs.
Biotechnology is a technique that uses living organisms or substances from living organisms to have or modify a product, improve plants, animal breeds or micro-organisms for specific purposes. Biosafety means safe development, transfer, application and utilisation of biotechnology and its products.
While presenting the report of science and technology committee that studied the bill, the chairperson, Kafeero Ssekitoleko, said Uganda has no specific law regulating the development and use of modern biotechnology, it had, on the other hand, ratified a number of international treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993 and the Cartagena Protocol Biosafety of 2001.
“Our scientists are working for Uganda to own its patents and technology so that we are not obliged to foreigners,” Sekitoleko said.
The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, whom the country is waiting for to sign the Bill into Law
The Bill gave a green light to the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNSCT) as the competent authority for biotechnology and biosafety that will approve the development, testing and use of GMOs.
Dr. Peter Ndemere, also Executive Secretary of UNCST, said biotechnology is very critical with many exciting products being developed especially in agriculture in trying to address food security, climate change and nutritional needs.
Dr. Ndemere also said GMOs have been used in Uganda for many years by several industries to process wine and beer, cheese and yoghurt, bread, extraction of cobalt and welcome it a positive thing to enhance food security and fight crop diseases and pests.
“With law in place, our food insecurity worries and climate change challenges are solved. We are proud that the policy that started in 2008 transformed into a Bill in 2012 is finally becoming a law,” he said.
The UNSCT will work alongside the Ministry for Water and Environment which will act as the national focal point for the purposes of the Cartagena Protocol, the registrar of biotechnology and biosafety and institutional biosafety committees.
The advocates of the Bill note that GMOs have the potential to boost food, fuel and fiber production, which will accelerate economic growth and foreign exchange earnings, like in South Africa and Burkina Faso.
Dr. Barbara Zawedde Mugwanga, the co-coordinator of the Uganda Biosciences Information Centre said the passing of the Bill means that the country can regulate what is coming in.
“We can now also choose what we want to use in modern biotechnology in agriculture, medicine, environment management and medicine,” she said.
Dr. Godfrey Asea, the director of National Crops Resources Research Institute, Namulonge in Wakiso district, congratulated Parliament for passing the Bill.
“I am happy that we have a legal framework to conduct research outside the institutes,” he said.
The Bill was passed a few after the Agri-Biotechnology and Biosafety Communications (ABBC) (2017 Africa Symposium) held in Uganda recently.
Dr. Margaret Karembu, director, ISAAA
The symposium that was organised by a consortium of partners led by the Africa Biosafety Network of Expertise in partnership with UNCST, Uganda Biosciences Information Center (UBIC), and the International Service for the acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and the Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS) had called upon parliament to pass it to give a better working environment to scientists.
Dr. Margaret Karembu, the director ISAAA, said agriculture continues to remain the backbone of many African economies which is facing several constraints including climate change, pests and diseases.
“Adoption of new technologies like genetically engineered crops will offer an opportunity for advancement an addressing these challenges,” she said
Dr. ELlioda Tumwesigye, minister of science, technology and innovation, said Uganda boasts of having the best research scientists on the continent especially in the areas of agriculture in general and biotechnology in particular.
He further noted that the Government of Uganda is aware of this fact hence continues to create enabling environment for scientist and innovators to excel in order to have a vibrant technology and science driven society.
Prof. Yaye Gassama, the former Minister and Vice-chair Senegal Academy of Science, said biotech has set deep roots in lives of people, causing new paradigms.
“We need to capture this favorable momentum to communicate the benefits of biotech,” she noted.
Christopher Kibazanga, the state minister of agriculture, said the sector plays a central role in in economic growth, development and poverty alleviation in Uganda which is key to why ‘Vision 2040’ and the National Development Plan.
Kibazanga stated that the majority of the Ugandan population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture which has a huge potential to transform Uganda’s economy.
Describing the country’s biotech research capacity, the minister said institutions like National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and Makerere University among others are producing important novel technologies to improve farm productivity.
He said such technologies should be promoted adding that ignoring such research and innovations would mean nullifying the efforts of the country’s scientists.
Citing some of the ag-biotech research on-going in the country especially on key food security crops such as cassava, banana and maize, Kibazanga said there was evidence from research conducted by NARO showing that modern biotechnology can be used to address some of the most difficult constraints in crop and animal agriculture.
The Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) has donated an ultra-modern ICT Centre and science laboratories to African Church Community Secondary School in Ewupe, a community hosting the company’s facilities in Ota area of Ogun State.
L-R: Operations Manager, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG), Mr. Niyi Salami; Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota; and SNG Managing Director, Mr. Ed Ubong, at the formal handover of science laboratories and ICT centre to African Church Community Secondary School in Ewupe Ota by SNG… last Tuesday.
The donation was the second phase of SNG’s intervention in the school to bring it to a competitive standard. The company had in 2016 donated a block of five classrooms, a 12-room stand-alone toilet facility, school water system, upgraded football field, and a rehabilitated five blocks of 19 classrooms for shared use by the school and the co-located Ebenezer African Church Primary School in the first phase of the intervention.
“Our goal is to support government and other relevant agencies to close the gap of educational inequality between pupils of public schools and their counterparts in private schools,” Managing Director of SNG, ED Ubong, said at a ceremony marking the completion and handover of the projects to Ogun State government.
“We recognise education as the topmost need of the people of our neighboring communities and what we have done is a progression of our longstanding support to the school and to the communities,” Ubong added.
Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota, who received the facilities on behalf of the state, commended SNG’s investment in public schools in the community and charged the students to take full advantage of the facilities to “upscale their academic performance and competitive exploits”.
“This singular act of Shell Nigeria Gas depicts the company’s fulfillment of its social responsibility for the development of its host communities and is worthy of emulation by others,” she said.
In his remarks, the school principal, Mr. Gbolahan Adekunjo, acknowledged the improved academic standard and the growing number of enrolment in the school following the series of upgrade by SNG. “The interventions have resulted in an enabling environment for teaching and learning and the impact is felt by the students, staff, parents and catchment communities.”
The Chairman Community Development Association Ewupe, Alhaji Monsuru Akande, thanked SNG on behalf of the community and appealed to the state government to continue to create the enabling environment for SNG and other companies to support education in the state.
Shell Nigeria Gas Limited is a fully owned Shell company for the downstream distribution of gas to industries in Nigeria. SNG currently operates a gas transmission and distribution network of approximately 115km and serves industrial customers in Ota, Ogun State and Aba in Abia State.
A builder and engineer in private practice, Dr. Samson Opaluwah, has been unanimously elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON). The election took place during the 107th meeting of the Board on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 in Abuja.
Dr. Samson Opaluwah
The meeting is sequel to the inauguration of the 15-member 6th Council by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, on July 18, 2017. They are to serve as the governing Board for next four years.
Dr. Opaluwah is expected to, in the next four years, bring his knowledge and wealth of experience to bear in the Council’s policy making and management decisions for the overall growth of the building profession in Nigeria.
CORBON describes Opaluwah as “a seasoned professional who has held very prominent positions and worked in various capacities as a builder, procurement professional and public servant”.
He is a member of professional bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).
Established through the Builders Registration, etc. Decree No. 45 of 1989, now Act Cap B. 13 LFN 2004, CORBON is mandated to regulate and control the practice of the building technology profession in all its aspects and ramifications.
Thus, the provisions of the Act charge CORBON with the following responsibilities, among others:
To determine who is Builder for the purpose of the Act;
To determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as Builders and reviewing those standards, from time to time, as circumstances may permit;
To secure, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, the establishment and maintenance of a register of persons entitled to practice the profession of building and to publish, from time to time the lists of those persons;
To regulate and control the practice of the building technology profession in all its aspects and ramifications; and
To perform such other functions conferred on the Council by the Act.
On the premise of the Act and to effectively regulate building production processes, CORBON has embarked on the following:
Registration and licensing of Builders
Registration and licensing of Building Consultancy firms
Licensing of Building Trades Artisans and Craftsmen
Licensing of Companies that are involved in Building Technology services, especially Building Production (Construction) contracting.
In the spirit of the 2017 Global Handwashing Day, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) has stated that the future of the African continent lies in its hands.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary, African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW)
Dr Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary of the Abuja-based AMCOW, who made the submission in a statement to commemorate the event observed on Sunday, October 15 2017, pointed out that the organisation considers handwashing as an integral part of its water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions.
“Indeed, the future of Africa is in our hands…lets wash our hands! Happy 2017 Handwashing Day!” he stated.
According to him, in line with AMCOW’s mandate, the Secretariat will continue to work with member states and partners in ensuring improved livelihoods for Africans, while creating the enabling environment for sanitation and hygiene across the continent through the implementation of these commitments.
His words: “October 15 marks yet another Global Handwashing Day, instituted since 2008 to raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap and to spotlight the state of handwashing around the world.
“Handwashing remains one of the most effective measures of avoiding sicknesses and spreading germs to others. Many illnesses and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running water. Pneumonia, a major Acute Respiratory Infection, is the number one cause of mortality among children under five years old, taking the life of an estimated 1.8 million children per year. Diarrhea and pneumonia together account for almost 3.5 million child deaths annually.
“According to World Health Organisation, 42% of this estimate occurs in Africa even as handwashing with soap is estimated to reduce incidents of diarrhea by 30% and respiratory infections by 21% in children under the age of five. Africa has to stand up and ensure every child has access to handwashing tools and services.
“At AMCOW, we consider handwashing as an integral part of our water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions hence the proactive step taken towards the end of the MDGs era in 2015 by African Ministers responsible for sanitation at the 4th AfricaSan Conference in Dakar, Senegal viz the 4th and 6th Commitments of the N’gor Declaration which commits African governments to ensuring strong leadership and coordination at all levels to build and sustain governance for sanitation and hygiene across sectors especially water, health, nutrition, education, gender and the environment; and ensure inclusive, safely-managed sanitation services and functional handwashing facilities in public institutions and spaces.”
At the airport, in the banks, and elsewhere in public, people are wearing protective masks. Gatherings are forbidden and schools remain closed.
Hery Rajaonarimampianina, President of Madagascar
The president is talking about “war” – in the face of the outbreak of the highly-lethal and easily contagious plague that has plunged the island of Madagascar into a state of fear.
The fact that the plague is spreading in the densely-populated urban areas has caused major concern.
In early October, the first long lines were seen forming at pharmacies in the capital Antananarivo as people tried quickly to obtain antibiotic medicines to protect themselves.
The supplies quickly sold out and the government urged people to stay calm.
But then the Health Ministry sent SMS messages to every telephone number registered in the capital, with this warning: “Plague, the quick death.
If you have a cough and some of these symptoms – fever, sore throat, breathlessness, coughing blood – go to the hospital.”
In the meantime, around 50 people have died, with the numbers doubling within a week. About 450 others are ill – half of them in Antananarivo.
Smaller-scale outbreaks of the disease are not rare on the island off of Africa’s eastern coast. But this time the numbers are much larger.
It is also reported that a vacationer returning to the Seychelles from Madagascar brought the disease with him there. An epidemic of this size has not been seen since one in the Indian region of Surat in 1994.
Schools in Antananarivo, a city of 2.2 million people, and in other places are eerily empty, while classes were also called off at the university.
“The university is completely empty,” says one student, Antsa Randriamanalina, 20.
She said only a few students were on campus to work on group projects. “I am getting worried. I hope it doesn’t get worse.”
President Hery Rajaonarimampianina is putting on a show of confidence.
“We are at war, but today we have, I believe, the weapons and munitions to conquer this epidemic,” he said at ceremonies for the handover of aid materials from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which sent some 1.5 million doses of antibiotics, enough to treat 5,000 people who have become infected and to protect 100,000 others.
“The more quickly we act, the more lives we can save,” said WHO chief for Madagascar, Charlotte Ndiaye.
The bubonic plague is caused by a bacteria called yersinia pestis which is chiefly spread by fleas and carried by rats. If a human is bitten by an infected flea, the symptoms will appear up to seven days later, first as if a heavy flu and then thickly swelling lymph nodes.
In Madagascar, the vast majority of people infected with plague have contracted the more serious pneumonic form of the disease, which is passed on by breathing in respiratory droplets.
With an early diagnosis, the chances of healing with antibiotics are high. But in the advanced stages, the bubonic plague can morph into pneumonic plague in the lungs. This is transmitted by droplets in the air, similar to the flu, and can quickly spread, with an incubation period of just 24 hours. Untreated, pneumonic plague can lead quickly to death.
There is scarcely any other disease in human history that has spread so much fear and horror as the plague. In Europe, between 1347 and 1353, the “Black Death” claimed millions of lives, possibly as much as one-third of the total population.
The current epidemic in Antananarivo is above all hitting the poor areas hardest. Many of the streets are piled with garbage – ideal conditions for rats.
To try to prevent a panic, authorities have set up tents at the entrances of the poor areas to provide residents with expert information.
Madagascar, with around 25 million people, for years now has been the country that worldwide has had the most reported plague cases, especially the bubonic plague.
If a village reports a case, the health authorities sweep in to drive out the rats, disinfect houses and spray insecticides to kill the fleas. Close relatives of the victims must take antibiotics as a precautionary measure.
The bodies of those killed by the plague are washed in a chlorine solution and rubbed down with lime, for even the dead can still spread the infection.
Funeral rituals such as the customary wake of several days in the home of the deceased are forbidden in plague cases. And the remains are buried far from the cemeteries.
“Our teams are well-schooled in fighting the isolated outbreaks of the plague in the countryside,” Health Minister Mamy Lalatiana Andriamanarivo told the French radio network RFI.
“But this time it is different. This is the pneumonic plague – and it’s in the city.”
WaterAid Nigeria has renewed its call for improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene in schools as well as healthcare facilities in the country.
Handwashing
According to the organisation, one-in-three schools around the world do not have regular access to water, basic private toilets, or a way to wash hands with soap and an estimated 443 million school days are lost every year because of water-related illnesses.
It adds that as many as 50% of schools in sub-Saharan Africa are without access to water, pointing out that access to water, sanitation and hygiene at school is also a matter of gender equality, as girls are more likely to miss lessons or to drop out completely once they start menstruating if their school does not have a decent toilet where they can change menstrual cloths in dignity and privacy. One in 10 adolescent girls in Africa miss school during their menstruation and eventually drop out due to a lack of gender-friendly toilet facilities.
WaterAid adds that some 38% of hospitals and clinics in low- and middle-income countries around the world do not have regular access to water, and that even more do not have basic, private toilets and a way to wash hands with soap.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, some 42% of healthcare facilities do not have access to water. In Nigeria, almost a third (29%) of hospitals and clinics in the country do not have access to clean water; the same percentage do not have safe toilets and one in six (16%) do not have anywhere to wash hands with soap, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report ‘ Water, sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities: status in low and middle income countries and way forward’.
“This puts patients and healthcare workers at unacceptable risk of infection, including some of the most vulnerable members of society – new mothers and their newborns. One in five deaths of newborn babies in the developing world are caused by infections with a strong link to dirty water, poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions; and Nigeria has one of the largest numbers of neonatal deaths worldwide.”
The organisation stresses that a lack of water and sanitation, combined with poor hygiene, also contributes to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics as, according to it, they are used to stand in for soap and water in infection prevention, resulting in higher levels of anti-microbial resistance.
WaterAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr Halidou Koanda, said: “Clean, plentiful water, good sanitation and good hygiene including handwashing with soap are absolutely essential to effective healthcare, wherever you are in the world. Yet almost a third of hospitals and clinics in Nigeria are without even rudimentary access to water. It is unacceptable that patients and medical workers are exposed to such risk of infection. This Global Handwashing Day, we are calling on governments and donors to take action on this injustice, and on health professionals to join our call to action.
“Good hygiene, and in particular handwashing with soap, have significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the global population. It was one of the ways in which Nigeria fought and won against the deadly Ebola virus; and even though Nigeria is Ebola free now, other diseases such as monkey pox and cholera are threatening public health in the country. These diseases can spread further and faster without sanitation and hygiene practices to block their path and an outbreak in one area can quickly become a city-wide, national or international epidemic.”
Handwashing with soap is also critical for maximising the health benefits of investments in water supply and sanitation infrastructure and combating many health risks, WaterAid contends, adding that out of all water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions, hygiene promotion has proven to be particularly effective in reducing mortality and morbidity from child diarrhoea, and has been identified as the most cost-effective disease control intervention.
“It is important that we promote long-term behaviour change throughout the year and as a crucial part of everyday life beyond just Global Handwashing Day and WaterAid is supporting the Federal Ministry of Water Resources’ year-long hygiene promotion campaign being spearheaded by the National Task Group on Sanitation and aimed at integrating WASH in education and health for improved and holistic outcomes in these areas.
“Through the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, world leaders have promised to ensure everyone everywhere has access to safe water and sanitation by 2030. To keep that promise, ensuring water, sanitation and hygiene at every level of health services must be a priority.
“The WHO Action Plan aims to provide these essential services everywhere by 2030, but requires political prioritisation and financing to succeed.”
