Folarin Kehinde

The Federal Government on Tuesday said it will abolish kerosene lighting in Nigeria by 2030.

President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed this during a message delivered at the 15th Annual Banking and Finance Conference organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

He said the plan would help to address the problems associated with climate change as well as eradicate short-lived pollutants in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

Nigeria’s quest for energy transitioning is to develop its natural gas for the export market.

Represented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the President said that “long-term greenhouse emissions have resulted in hotter temperatures, more severe rainstorms, increased drought and food security issues.

To tackle this issue, the government has set plans in motion to significantly reduce greenhouse emissions from Nigeria. More specifically, by 2030 we aim to eliminate Kerosene Lighting as well as Short-Lived Pollutants in the Oil and Gas sector.”

Buhari noted that the government will continue to cushion the adverse effects of inflation through its social safety net programmes, stressing that for a developing country like Nigeria, he said the effects of inflation are felt more strongly by less privileged citizens.

He attributed the raging inflation across the world to pent-up consumer demand after the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking on the theme of the conference, the President noted that repositioning the finance services industry involves valuable innovations to ensure global solutions reach local indigenous customers.

In repositioning itself, President Buhari urged the finance sector to “serve not just as an intermediary for lenders and borrowers but in creating a new ecosystem consisting of platforms where ordinary Africans can buy and sell their locally made products despite currency disparity.”

To this end, the President commended the regulators of the industry particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) “for their diligent work which has ensured financial system stability in the country over the years.”

The President, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) Prof. Taiwo Obindo that more than 60 million Nigerians are suffering from mental illnesses.

Obindo, who is also the Chairman, Faculty of Psychiatry, West African College of Physicians, Nigeria Chapter, said this in an interview with the Newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.

Mental healthcare is in a sorry state given that we have more than 60 million Nigerians suffering from various mental illnesses and the fact that only about 10 per cent of them were able to access appropriate care.

“We are left with more than 90 per cent who are unable to access care and this group is called the treatment gap for mental illnesses,’’ Obindo said.

He said the gap was as a result of various factors like the knowledge gap in which people do not have appropriate information about the causes and treatment for mental illnesses.

Obindo said some factors hindering the management of mental illness in Nigeria included myths and traditional beliefs; inadequate mental health facilities and number of mental health professionals.

According to him, the few available mental health facilities were located in the city centres.

“Knowing that 60 per cent of Nigerians live in the rural areas, they do not have access to appropriate care and have to travel long distances to access facilities,” Obindo said.

He also said that the number of mental health practitioners was low as it fell below the ratio recommended by the World Health Organization.

According to him, the few that were trained were often eager to leave the country.

“The environment in which we practice, the security situation and the remuneration that people were given in the country tend to push them out.

“And then of course, the pull factor from the developed countries where they tend to poach on the already trained medical practitioners in the country, particularly the psychiatrists,” he said.

Obindo said that the cost of hiring practitioners in low medium income countries was low; so ”it was easier for developed countries to poach the already made products rather than training such professional locally.”

He said there was the need for Nigeria to implement its Mental Health Policy on the practice of psychiatry.

Obindo added that although the document was last reviewed in 2013, it was not being implemented.

He said one major component of the policy was the integration of mental health into primary healthcare, which was yet to be achieved after nine years.

The psychiatrist added that the law operational in the country was the “lunacy act”, which was first enacted in 1916 and reviewed in 1958.

”The Mental Health Bill by the mental health stakeholders led by the Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria (APN), in conjunction with the National Assembly and the Ministry of Health was yet to be assented to by the President.

”This is the most recent effort in 30 years,” he said

The Acting Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Dauda Ali Biu, has directed commanding officers nationwide to ensure that officers under their purview maintain political neutrality and avoid any form of participation in political rallies and campaigns.

Biu also warned them against piloting political convoys.

A statement by the Corps Public Education Officer, Assistant Corps Marshal, Bisi Kazeem, said Biu issued the warning ahead of the September 28 commencement of political campaigns for the 2023 general election.

The statement noted that the directive was in line with the FRSC (Establishment) Act which stipulates the status of the Corps as a public service agency that does not have any political affiliation but is solely established to provide essential services to all citizens, irrespective of their political interests or representation.

The commanding officers were, however, directed to be sensitive to the plight of road users and prepare to tackle any traceable traffic gridlock that could arise as a result of the aforementioned political activities by ensuring adequate deployment of personnel for ease of movement in form of traffic controls and traffic calming.

He reassured the public of the Corps’ readiness and commitment to making the roads safer at all times and admonished them to always abide by established road traffic regulations.

By, Kenny Folarin & Nelson Uguwagbo, Abuja

Like a nightmare in reality, the plight of Nigerian Students of graduating duly is being dashed as many of them has engaged in unplanned entrepreneurship activities but worse of all is the unperturbed and neglecting attitude of the federal government to meet the ASUU demands.

Sadly, the campaign for the 2023 General Elections is around the corner, undoubtedly, students that are supposed to be in school would be used as campaign tools to bring in the next government.

Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities declared strike action on the 14th of February, 2022 to press their needs to the Federal Government.

The strike has shut down all 48 Federal Universities and most State Universities, effectively stagnating the education of over 1.5 million Nigerian undergraduates at the moment.

These constant disruptions of academic activities in the nation’s public universities come with serious impacts on the students, many of whom have been expressing their frustration on the painful inability of the federal government and the academic union to resolve their crises.

The academic union is demanding for 220 billion Naira that for the revitalization of Nigerian Universities and 50 billion naira for their Earned Academic Allowance.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government whose duty it is to settle the dispute they have with the Academic Staff Union have been mostly nonchalant and half-concerned about the whole situation.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has come out to say that they do not have money to settle ASUU as they are other sectors of the nation that they need to attend to.

This is however a very dishonest statement by the Buhari administration

Over 80 billion Naira was looted by the former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris. This money could have been channelled to the needs of the Academic Union, but the Government has been adamant.

Also, $23 Million dollar Abacha loot was repatriated back to the country by the United States.

This amounts to near 10 billion naira using the official exchange rate of 426 naira to dollar.
FG however instead of using this money to settle the needs of ASUU, have kept it to be used for political purposes.

The plight of students has been sacrificed on the alter of their 2023 elections ambitions as students who are kept at home without any thing productive would be recruited by politicians to be used as thugs and carry out pre-election violence.

Politicians spent billions of naira in the last presidential nomination race. Tickets were bought by APC politicians for 100 million while that of their PDP counterparts went for 40 million naira.

Rumours have spread about how the current ruling All Progressives Congress have budgeted over 6 trillion Naira to be used for campaigns and election expenses.
Who knows what these huge sums of money is budgeted for?

A popular saying goes that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The stagnation of the educational activities of over a million students, makes the students available to be used for dirty political activities.

As election season is drawing closer, politicians who are looking for thugs to perpetrate violence on the opposition will see the idle students as opportunity.

Like the politicians have done before, the students will be used for ballot snatching, hired assassins, agents of harassment, bribery agents amongst other unconstitutional activities.

The consequences of these actions are disastrous to the nation.
Not only does the use of undergraduates are election tools undermine the transparency of our elections, it also makes it possible that bad leaders would be elected, pushing the nation into another four years of suffering.

Also, harm may come the way of the students who engage in such acts, this could be in the form of a fatal injury or death.

Any harm that comes the way of an undergraduate would bring untold sufferings to their parents/guarding’s, their friends and their community in general.

Such a student might even be in final year, on the verge of graduating, loss of life would then be tantamount to four to five years of wasted efforts by the parents or guardian.No parent would be able to endure such a loss.

Meanwhile, the children of the politicians are not in any way affected by ASUU strike since they mostly study outside the country, or worse in the most reputable and expensive private institutions within the nation.

Two months ago, the child of Governor Wike graduated from an institution, her father went there to celebrate with her, even posting the pictures on social media.

The same Wike has not said anything concerning the lingering ASUU strike, even though people from his state are affected by it.
This dire situation needs to be salvaged before the patient of the students is finally pushed to a limit.

While voters apathy is not encouraged, Nigerian Students should make sure that they are not used as campaign tools or any form of elections irregularities l, rather they should be at pooling units to demand for thier educational rights from the politicians.