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The unfortunate happenings in the health sector has become a source of concern for every Nigerian, access to basic health care is now almost an impossibility, this is in addition to the proliferation of fake drugs and the increasing rate of quackery in the sector. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that the need for sound health is one of the major factors that would determine the voting pattern of Nigerians in Future Elections.

The health sector is in a very bad state, and there is the issue of the proliferation of fake drugs to contend with in addition to the unabating rate of quackery in the sector, all these combined makes it difficult for Nigerians to access basic health care delivery service. What do you think can be done to salvage the situation ?

Of all the fundamental essence for the survival of human beings the health sector takes an important position. Besides the provision of food, clothing and shelter, upon which the health of everybody depends to be sustained. Unfortunately, Nigeria is short of all these physiological needs demanding the urgent need to visit health care centers and hospitals regularly.

The dire need for sound health is one of the major factors that would ever propel the people to vote and give their mandate to those who will rule them in future elections.

Government service on provision of basic amenities and functional infrastructure that are adequate to serve the overwhelming population of over 200 million are yet to be achieved.

The question arising from this ought to have been a very good guide for government. Such questions should include :

Against the backdrop of the world’s standard rating of personnel/people to serve ratio, what is the position of Nigeria ?

Considering the Number of certified hospitals in the country based on state by state account and ward by ward record, what is the record and where is the evidence ? If they exist , what is their status ? In terms of structure, personnel , drugs and percentage efficiency.

All these data are expected to be on government lines of action for effective and adequate planning.

Against the backdrop of the World Health Organization(WHO) stipulations, how far has Nigeria fared ? For example, the WHO stipulates 15 per cent minimum benchmark of the annual national budget on the health sector but Nigeria sways between 3.95 per cent and 4 per cent.

This may be the reason why Government personnel and those who belong to the elite class in Nigeria, have had cause to run abroad for mere ailments which ought to have been attended to in Nigeria.

This is another reason why many Nigerians prefer to avoid hospitals in the country, until the ailments afflicting them becomes uncontrollable and unmanageable, which could eventually result in permanent infirmity or sudden death.

This may be the major reason why most health professionals seek to work abroad, where the environment is conducive.

The most worrisome aspect of the health sector challenge is the emergence of unregulated and not certified health establishments.

The general challenge for the nation, is therefore that of lack of quality healthcare from those certified government establishments and those supposed to be certified in the private sector.

Government at all levels, therefore need to be challenged on when Nigerians would begin to have adequate number of hospitals, with sufficient number of health professionals and the right type of equipment to treat various health conditions. Nigerians should be conscious of the fact that every profession has its code of conduct, ethics and rules and regulations.

To this extent, Government regulations and controls would only become effective, when we all stand by the concept of zero tolerance for corruption and institutional indiscipline which by right extends to the wholesome rejection of fake drugs and quackery. Let the whole country wake up from the long slumber.

Nigerians have continued to express reservations over the nonchalant attitude of government at all levels on issues bothering on affordable housing for the citizenry.

Indeed, a number of unscrupulous government officials in connivance with private estate developers have taken advantage of the very obvious housing deficit in the country to exploit and extort homeless Nigerians. In a number of cases, house owners are dispossessed of their property through dubious means, while a sizable number of citizens have been victims of questionable professionals in the building industry.

Government’s response to this development has been the repeated issuance of political statements with no visible steps taken to address the worrisome challenge. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that when sanity returns to the government establishments, the hope of Nigerians having their own houses would be rekindled. Excerpts :

What measures do you think government can put in place to address the housing deficit in the country ?

The United States of America wondered aloud that the same Democracy operated in that country to ensure development, is the same been operated in Nigeria that has been used to oppress and impoverish Nigerians. This statement is highly pregnant with meanings, insinuations and implications.

Regarding the issue of housing for all, the National Party of Nigeria(NPN) in the 1980s promised to provide housing for all to justify its victory at the polls for a second tenure. However, its manifesto was merely a paper tiger, while its promise to provide housing for all was a mirage.

Up till today, the reality regarding the housing challenges remain the same old story-insufficient housing for the ever increasing population of Nigeria.

In the face of this shortcoming, prices of building materials are ever increasing with the negative effects manifesting on those who manage to put up structures. The issue of sub-standard houses now trail the daily lives of the owners whose strictures are located in remote areas. The distance now brings about problems of transportation.

Theses built houses could easily collapse due to the inferior materials used for their construction, this is in addition to the use of quacks rather than professionals. Even though cost is saved, but the problems associated with building collapse now takes the center stage. Most of the edifices in different locations not owned by government, must have been built through treasury looting.

Also, Shylock Landlords overrun and overtake homeless Nigerians, thereby making life difficult. As a result developers take advantage of the situation by embarking on an aggressive marketing drive through the media to acquire lands at cheap rates, divide it into plots and estates and later sell to Nigerians through hire purchase.

Who are these developers ? Most of them are either professionals in the building industry, estate agents or the ones who must have been very successful in romanticizing with people in government.

Nigerians are now preys to the above mentioned, to the extent that they worry about how to source for funds to meet up with the demands of those in the building industry, in the face of non payment of salaries by their employers either government or private concerns.

Governance goes beyond the accumulation of wealth, it is about the provision of basic amenities and functional infrastructure for every Nigerian to be actively involved in the development process of the nation.

In the light of the foregoing, the Judiciary must be given a free hand and the anti-corruption agencies must be strengthened to ensure that justice is done and the era of sacred cows would be seen to be gone for good.

This would encourage government officials to achieve maximally, in the areas of Democracy for service and service to humanity. To this extent the issue of sharp practices, when it comes to the 17 point agenda of the Unsuitable Development Goals(SDGs) would have been taken care of as regards the realization of housing for all Nigerians.

Communities have been called upon to take active part in the fith against the  Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV).

This call was made  in a Press Statement by  the The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima.

“I believe in communities. Communities make change happen. Communities are the best hope for ending AIDS because communities have fought against HIV right from the beginning! As the epidemic raged through our countries, cities, villages, women held communities together and bore the higher burden of care for their families. For far too long we have taken their volunteerism for granted.''

“Twenty-five years ago, a Burundi woman called Jeanne was the first person to disclose that she was living with HIV. Today, Jeanne is holding leaders accountable and fighting for the right to health care. Pioneers like Jeanne have been joined by younger leaders, like 20-year-old Yana, who was born with HIV in Ukraine. Yana founded Teenergizer, a group bringing together young people across Eastern Europe. In a world where power resides with old men, she wants her peers to have a voice and a choice,”  Byanyima stated.

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ibadan Grammar  Students Association(IGSOSA)Chief Goodie Minabo Ibru has expressed optimism that the school's Information and Communication Technology(ICT) complex and E-Library would serve as  a centre of excellence for E-Learning in Oyo state.

Chief Ibru made this known last Saturday, in his goodwill message during the Annual General Meeting of IGSOSA, held at the Emmanuel Alayande hall, Ibadan Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan, Nigeria.

''I would also like to thank Professor Venerable Jaiyeoba for attending the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, 20th November, 2019 at which we touched on issues as IGSOSA foundation which was incorporated November, 2014. The school reverting to its owners, the title Deed of Ibadan Grammar School and encroachment on the school property. We also discussed the ICT complex and the E-Library, which is the only school in Oyo state with a first  class ICT centre, a millenium library cum E-Library. It should therefore serve as a centre of excellence in E-learning in Oyo state like the Higher School Certificate(HSC)did in 1960 as the secondary school to start HSC in Nigeria(after Kings College, Lagos'', Chief Ibru stated.

In his address, the National President of IGSOSA, Professor Kolawole Jaiyeoba expressed hope that all the issues impeding the take off of the foundation would be resolved soon, adding'' it gladdens our hearts that  the school is a reference point in post primary education not only in Oyo state but in Nigeria as a whole''.

The National Executive Council of IGSOSA  emerged through consensus during its  Annual General Meeting in 2018 .

Millions of Nigerians in the six Geo-political zones of the country are complaining bitterly about the absence of potable drinking water.

Indeed, Governments at all levels insist that in the course of governance, the provision of potable water is no longer a problem, but Nigerians argue that the availability of potable drinking water is not only a problem but a set back to governance, considering the moribund state of several bore hole projects across the country.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says that corruption and inefficiency pose major threats to the plans of the Federal Government to privatize the water sector. Excerpts :

What do you think can be done by Government at all levels to ensure the availability of potable drinking water for Nigerians ?

Simple biological analysis, with respect to the significance of water, points out that 75 per cent of human composition is water, making us to heavily depend on potable water for survival.

Simple geographical analysis equally expresses that the whole earth is 75 per cent water. Cycle of evaporation and condensation is responsible for rain seasonally.

The abundance of water on earth, ranging from running water, estuaries, lagoon and ocean are at their raw stage containing debris of impurities making them to be unsafe for drinking and other purposes.

With this background, part of the mandate of service given to political office holders is therefore focused on the provision of basic amenities of which potable water is of significant value because of its direct relevance in human sustenance.

The United Nations and the World Health Organization(WHO) work on the standard qualities that must be met in the provision of potable water that would be safe for human consumption.

In the spirit of this, to avoid the violation of this rule the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration(NAFDAC) mandate equally covers the quality of water for human consumption.

However, in Nigeria the history of our struggle in providing potable drinking water was that of lapses and retrogressive moves on the part of government.

In the 60s, urbanization was premium, with the costly neglect of the need to develop the villages as well as in the areas of the provision of primary infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, electrification and potable water.

The urban city dwellers enjoyed potable water which flowed as public utility with a network of laid pipes at strategic locations, there were reservoirs which helped to ensure an uninterrupted supply of potable water, most especially during the down time of water, when repairs and maintenance are undertaken.

The common diseases then, referred to as water borne diseases such as guinea worm and others, were remote in the urban centers, but rampant in the villages, forcing us into a state of rural-urban drift.

With increasing population and without a corresponding expansion water works resulted in urban threats of potable water scarcity.

The former Public Works Department routine repairs and pipe re-connection stopped abruptly to the extent that even when some water works made attempts to produce, members of the public who were lucky to get water, received dirty and colored liquid due to rust and in most cases the members of the public received nothing from their taps due to leakages, which could not be detected.

Wells are sunk by individual homes, while bore holes were equally sunk by the elite in communities. It is rather unfortunate that successive governments at all levels resorted to sinking bore holes without considering that many of these could not be relied on mainly because of possible geological reasons-earth crust dislocations and future possible landslides.

Besides this, the Nigerian factor of the contractors on the issue of sinking bore-holes has made us to witness many white elephant projects.

Now that government is considering privatization of the water sector, there are some few questions we must ask : What is the success rate of government’s privatization of the power sector ?

What would become of the various grants usually received in the water sector from international donors ?

Are the investors, government have in mind, to invest in the water sector indigenous or expatriate ?

Will the public outcry of the poor performances of the Power Distribution companies, be the same when it comes to the water sector ? If not, then government ought to give Nigerians the strategies it would apply in the water sector privatization.

The Nigerian factor in handling the affairs concerning the welfare of our teeming population has always been a case of woes and deterioration because water is even more crucial than electricity.

If our failures in managing Millennium Envelopment Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) are anything to go by, then the Federal Government must look inwards using the SWOT analysis in both government and the Ministries,Departments and Agencies, to effect sanity, sincerity, patriotism and high efficiency for productive end for the sector.

We have our areas of strength in terms of natural resources and expertise, even if they are not adequate, which may be our areas of weaknesses. Government must be read to fill the gap. Our areas of opportunities are very many, from government resources to that of international aid and interventions.

Our areas of threat is the culture of corruption and weak sanctioning system which government must pay particular attention to, to be able to break even in achieving the needful.

If government is unable to identify and fix all possible loopholes responsible for our inaction, then the crop of people who are there are not qualified to be there.

Government must muster the muscle of political will on the issue of the provision of potable water through our various water works and others that must be built without over relying on sinking of bore holes.

Nigerians, generally, deserve to be served by their government, which must see governance as service rather than been a source for self enrichment.

Frontline feminine activist and university lecturer, Stella Nyanzi has bagged an 18 month jail term for criticising Uganda's President  Yoweri Museveni.

Nyanzi had through a facebook post carpeted Museveni's 33 year rule.

In her reaction Director for East Africa, Amnesty International, Joan Nyanyuki said that “Stella Nyanzi has been criminalised solely for her creative flair of using metaphors and what may be considered insulting language to criticise President Museveni’s leadership''.

“The mere fact that forms of expression are considered insulting to a public figure is not sufficient ground to penalize anyone. Public officials, including those exercising the highest political authority, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.”

“This verdict is outrageous and flies in the face of Uganda’s obligations to uphold the right to freedom of expression for all people in Uganda and demonstrates the depths of the government’s intolerance of criticism,”

“It must be quashed and Stella Nyanzi, who has already suffered enormously for expressing her opinions, left to get on with her life.

“The Ugandan authorities must scrap the Computer Misuse Act 2011 which has been used systematically to harass, intimidate and stifle government critics like Stella Nyanzi.”

Anyanzi was arrested and detained in prison on 2 November 2018, two weeks after she posted a birthday poem considered to be abusive against the President.

The acitivist has already spent 9 months in prison.

Child and Human trafficking have become means to an end for several Nigerians who have lost hope in the system under the present administration.

Reports of these ugly trend are recorded on a daily basis, with the law enforcement agencies struggling to stem the tide.

Baby factories are on the increase while mothers, mostly the young ones, sell their new born babies to cushion the effects of the present economic realities.

Teenagers and adults are deceived into traveling abroad, but end up as prostitutes or slaves. This trend in not abating.

In this interview , the Founder, Spiritual Head and Gran Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that poor governance which has brought about poverty is the major cause of child and human trafficking. Excerpts :

Child and Human trafficking is what a sizable number of Nigerians engage in these days. Why is this so ?

Nigeria was first a country where discipline, control the fabric of all social spiritual sub systems . It was characterized by very low import index and very high export index. Religious laws were in tandem with the societal norms to create a path of sanity for our interpersonal relationship and our general attitude towards values.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian youth in the mufti of the military killed the geese that laid the golden eggs. Since then, value erosion crept in to destroy all agents of socialization for the nation, to stand with very weak legs.

The civil war followed to put us into alien idiosyncrasies, whereby every moral value is replaced with overtures of waywardness and frivolities starting from the home front to push the society into a state of moral decadence.

The most pitiable aspect was the era of searching for greener pastures in the houses of spirituality whereby we replaced sacredness with profanity and we commercialized, against the tenets of the scripture on the word of God.

Sins committed by people became the software which now transformed into the hardware of criminality.

FESTAC ‘’77 promoted culture as if its is a twin brother of satanic practices. We gave voodooism priority to trivialize the essence of puritanism in religious worship, modesty was murdered to be replaced by shameless acts of fraudulent families while dignity of labor was placed into poor second for various malpractices by the youth to be aided by the elders.

The sociopolitical and economic life as well as our state of spirituality thereafter became badly affected.

All media is able to report, is a micro version of the real happenings in the land. The issue of child and human trafficking therefore, emanated in the land as a result of the dichotomy been introduced by the ruling class whereby the suffering masses continue to suffer from impoverishment, while the ruling elite turn democracy into a money makig opportunity through the concept of ego centrism to change democracy into kleptocracy as evident in the rising profile of poverty indices, 15 per cent in the 60s followed by a progressive arithmetic of 28.8 per cent in 1983 , 42 per cent, 54 per cent, 65 per cent under the subsequent military regimes while the National Bureau of Statistics presented the economic experts evaluation in 1999 as 70 per cent.

Since then, up to the 9th National Assembly regime, it is yet to be improved. For example, in 2007 to 2009 more than 849 companies relocated to other African nations because of our bad economic climate for investment.

Many abandoned warehouses became places of worship that could never provide employment for the teeming masses, most especially those who were retrenched as a result of the collapse of companies.

The youth who were mostly affected became ordinary pawns in the hands of dubious elders who played the smart card.

Anti social menace arose, as a result of the emerging proffered alternative to survive in the race and crave for greener pastures. Armed robbery, arson and active participation of the youth in various insurgencies and militant activities were effective as a result of drug addiction with attendant abuses.

The con people hid under the bad economic situation to deceive the youth into the various illicit practices, ranging from visa scam and cases of forgery of documents, with sweet promises of jobs in abundance without consideration for certificate worth.

Many died in transit, most especially those who plied Libya en route the desert to the promised abode of succor. Some of them became victims along the journey, whereby they were always hammered into a corner and their kidneys forcibly removed, resulting in their deaths. This practice brought good money for the smart guys in the medical world of kidney transplantation.

The most popular but destructive form of trafficking , is deceit of the victims by promising them jobs abroad, which later turn out to be prostitution via several underworld conspiracy against legitimate governments.

The bottom line that is making this bad attitude to flourish is the issue of poverty and poor governance which needs to be squarely addressed through the following steps :

One, engaging the citizens through effective sensitization through the National Orientation Agency(NOA), and the mass media on the dangers of getting involved in the trafficking of persons.

Secondly, government must reform all institutions to be effective enough in promoting sanity.

The judiciary must be firm as partners in progress with quick interventions on emerging cases while the agencies which are directly concerned must be rightly strengthened to do their work without fear or favor and timely too.

Thirdly, we must revive, for the purpose of the restoration of core values, all agents of socialization such as the parents, schools, religious houses, voluntary organizations and a host of others.

Be responsive and responsible in the process and crusade of core value restoration.

Above all, let government officials be role models on the issue of decency, chastity, drug free life, with total pursuance of zero tolerance to corruption with no respect for institutional indiscipline.

The issue of role modelling of exemplary lifestyles by parents and the elite is equally sacrosanct to the promotion of the issue of integrity as a key factor to core value restoration.

When government pursues, realistically, the issue of vocation for the establishment of Small Scale Enterprises(SSE) and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(SME), youth restiveness would be minimized because they would be meaningfully engaged with focus on job creation, self-employment and self discipline.

Let government use the SWOT analysis to re examine the situation to do the needful in order that we can walk the talk to correct all aberrations at 59.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has declared that the faulty policies of the Federal Government are fall outs of the external directives under implementation.

The AWC made this declaration through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’President Muhammadu Buhari and his government are obeying directives from unseen foreign forces, to devalue our national currency and the economy, thus the 7.2 per cent increment in the Value Added Tax(VAT). It is more painful that this is coming at a time when workers are making demands for an increase in wages and when such wage increment has not been implemented, government has decided to make goods and services more expensive, thereby, in a way, putting unimaginable burden on impoverished Nigerians.’’

‘’As a matter of fact this policy is not welcomed, it must be rejected by Nigerians and Labor unions should seek its immediate reversal. The AWC joins its voice with Nigerians to call on President Buhari to immediately reverse the unwanted policy’’, Comrade Emelieze stated.