The Minister of  Health in Uganda, Dr. Ruth  Aceng has emphasized the importance of laboratories in addressing health issues.

Dr. Aceng made this position known on Wednesday  during the dissemination of the Ministry's Laboratorya policy at its headquarters in Kampala.

''Laboratory services play a critical role in diseases prevention and effective survveillance laboratory systems help detect early, thereby  massive outbreaks and in the case of outbreaks , to facilitate effective management'', Dr. Aceng stated.

Millions of Nigerians experience great difficulties accessing quality health care. This is as result of corruption and rot in the system.

Inadequate funding, shortage of qualified personnel and non- availability of modern equipment are just a few of the several challenges affecting the health sector.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Wordlwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says government needs to do more for the people to access quality health care services. Excerpts :

What do you think the government at all levels can do to address the myriad of challenges of the health sector ?

First and foremost health care delivery falls into three categories, the primary, secondary and tertiary.

The Local Government is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that primary health care gets to the people at the grassroots. Expected services involve the traditional birth methods by licensed Mid-Wives with operational hours from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm.

At the advanced level, a comprehensive health care center which is supposed to have at least one Medical Doctor, who can perform at least cases of minor surgery. At this level, referrals are usually made.

 At the state level, the secondary health care represents the curative management of peoples’ health, while at the federal level, there is the tertiary health care delivery, which focuses on rehabilitation, cases are referred to this level of medical services.

All the three categories need to co-exist because health challenges vary in degree and does not respect the status of anybody in society.

However, there are challenges weighing down the three health care delivery systems. Firstly, the services are not adequate to cater for the population and geographical spread.

Also, there are the challenges of proximity, shortage of staff and drugs.

Assessment and affordability are also setbacks.

The areas that need them most are grossly neglected, that is the rural areas.

Government needs to understand that shortages result in peoples’ untimely death.

For the primary health care to be effective in serving the people, the following areas must be given adequate attention-health education, availability of sufficient drinking water, immunization, treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases through the use of standing order, provision of essential drugs. For example, the timely treatment of health challenges using Oral Polio Vaccines(OPV) at preventive measure level.

It is imperative for government to make proviso for adequate medical services with these characteristics-management, availability, accessibility, affordability, proximity to the users, scientifically based with attendant quality and standard of World Health Organization, socially acceptable, even when it needs cost effectiveness and the use of locally available resources.

In several hospitals, grass roots level and otherwise, services are poor and government is yet to come out with policies which are people friendly.

For example, at the local level, hospitals are needed, which would be accessible to people and there would be satisfactory service delivery.

Medical centers or hospitals are supposed to have conducive environment, with good hygiene and quality facilities. Also health workers should not be in short supply and drugs should be sufficient enough to treat ailments.

Government should realize that of all the needs of man, health management cuts across the three physiological needs. Food administration that would not lead to health problems.

Clothing culture that would prevent another health challenge that may arise from extreme weather situations, while provision should be made for shelter in ways that would not result in negative health conditions.

The incoming government therefore, need to allow all professionals to practice in line with professional ethics without political interference, so that they would be able to contribute positively. The recruitment of suitably qualified personnel is highly essential in this respect.

Government must take to their professional advice and recommendations, on ideas that can make their services reach the appropriate target and goals, with the people in focus.

When the welfare of the people is addressed with all seriousness by government, productivity at work would be enhanced with dramatic efficiency for government programs to be appreciated.

Statistics of the population, based on the enumeration of the houses with specified geographical locations, wards or local governments must be addressed, to enable government know the actual number of primary health care centers and if there is need to establish more.

Peoples’ feelings on the services of the primary health care centers near them must be taken with all seriousness by government, as a a step towards addressing shortages in terms of drugs and staff, including the ethical practices assessment needs to normalize services as required by the World Health Organization.

The Government of Namibia has said that community group saving schemes was crucial to affordable housing in the country.

This disclosure was made, recently, by the  the Deputy Director in the Ministry of Urban Development,, Naomi Simion at an event in Windhoek.

The program in named Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.

Simion, who doubles as  board member of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) and the Namibia Housing Action Group, also stated that  the government decided to provide an annual grant to the federation at independence through the Build Together Programme. 

“The government has since recognized the critical role of community-based group saving schemes such as the Shack Dwellers Federation as a viable and sustainable solution to informal settlements and the provision of affordable housing,”  Simion disclosed.

 The government has spent  $59 million for the construction of  2 , 284 housing units nationwide in the past  19 years. 

Also speaking at the event, First lady, Monica Geingos,  said people must speak the language of humanitarianism to address the housing situation in informal settlements.

“I think what we forget when we look at informal settlements, into slums and we see these shiny zinc boards is that there are people inside,” the First lady stated.

The major discussion among Nigerians presently, is the fallen standard of education and the erosion of morals and values in society.

Cultism, gangster ism, banditry and prostitution are the past time of students in various educational institutions in the country.

A new set of leaders have been elected in the general elections and Nigerians are hoping that these new set of leaders at all levels of governance would salvage the education sector from total collapse.

In this interview the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says the Governors elect in the states ought to overhaul the education sector

What do you suggest the Governors elect in the states should do to save the education sector from total collapse ?

The major problems the new set of Governors would have, is the problem of godfather ism, whose objective is to hijack programs, while also dictating their terms for the newly elected Governors. This is for the purpose of justifying the means through which they emerged as Governors elect.

So it might not be easy predicting the path the Governors elect will thread, unless they are resolute in their plans to serve the people and correct the wrongs of the past, irrespective of whose ox is gored.

On education, the major break through they may have, is to use the period of between when they are elected to when they would be sworn in, to put in place a number of think thank groups, which would serve as the brain box of what ever they intend to do, using SWOT analysis to map out the areas of strength and opportunities as well as areas of weaknesses and threats in terms of material sourcing and human capital.

These groups must be saddled with definitive path of achieving worthwhile results.The Governors elect are equally expected to look well for capable hands with whom they would steer the ship of governance of the states, while making good use of the research reports from the think thank groups. The Governors elect must avoid putting round pegs in square holes.

On education for example, the sector needs a complete overhaul.

Public schools need renovation, that would be in line with the accepted standards of conducive environment for learning. Provision must be made for durable structure, facilities, utilities and furniture.

Government must make it a criminal offense for parents, whose grown up children are not is school.

This will reduce, drastically, the present challenges of 13.6 million out-of-school children, constituting nuisance to the society, most especially in the areas of street hawking and various other abuses.

Mechanism must be put in place to prevent truancy in schools and to promote punctuality as the soul of business.

Teachers must not be owed their monthly salaries again, while the issue of retirees must not only stop at effective and prompt payment, but government must have a way of utilizing their experiences.

The 6–3–3–4 educational system is still relevant, if government could be more serious in the area of facility update for the graduates to be rightly fortified with scientific tools for problem solving. This is so, because they are the very foundation for Nigeria’s future prospects and also reservoir for tertiary institutions.

Much as we have insufficient number of tertiary institutions in terms of the Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities, the capacity is still low to absorb millions of prospective applicants yearly.

Regardless of this, for the economy to become timely sustainable, vocational and technical education are vital. And the establishment of such institutions must be at a reasonable cost.

The essence of TIVET is to complement the entrepreneurship education for final year students in higher institutions, on the challenges of job creation and small and medium scale industries.

Government needs to focus more on adequately funding the programs, which if allowed to flourish, will be the solution to the rush for white collar jobs.

However, the sensitization of parents and the society to remove stigmatization of this sector is highly necessary because products of TIVET are semi-skilled and they may need some short term proficiency courses from the universities and polytechnics to met up with the expected standard and quality.

 Above all, adequate funding is the bedrock of realizing the goal of education, which is to empower students in knowledge and skill for competence as well as to reform his or her character to be able to meet up in the world of career management and progression for him or her to meet up with global best practices.

Government needs to beam its search light on the accreditation of programs for schools, public and private alike, since their products would be confronted with the future challenges of the labor market.

Currently, the statistics of the history of education funding in Nigeria has always been from 7 per cent to 10 per cent characteristics allocation from the annual national budget. This is contrary to the minimum benchmark of 26 per cent, recommended by UNESCO.

Besides this, UNICEF stands on the fact that education is a right that every child must go to school, for education to be functional. Equally adequate funding is essential and this must take care of the capacity building needs of the teachers while poor parents must equally be relieved by government’s prompt intervention. 

Performances in the states, most especially in WAEC and NECO always reflect the level of seriousness of such state governments on the education of our pupils and students.

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The  President of American International University West Africa (AIUWA),  Dr. Dinesh Shukla, has disclosed that the institution is set to introduce latest technology in The Gambia.

Dr. Shukla made this disclosure in a symposium at the  AIUWA conference hall in Kanifing.

 “We want to set-up a Virtual Reality Simulation Lab in the next two years that will be the first in West Africa.”

''This university was established with the view to train and educate health professionals so that they can serve the general population, to do that, we need outside help to guide us through the process.” he stated.

American International University West Africa (AIUWA) is a registered and approved institution of higher education by Gambia’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, providing effective and World-Class education to qualified and motivated students directly after high school.

Women have been called upon to speak out when they are sexually harassed at  the work place.

This call was made  recently, by Liberia's Assistant Labour Minister for Labour Standards, Atty. Welma Baye Sampson, 

at the Installation of Officers of the Ministry of Labour Women Association (MOLWA), held at the Ministry of Labour in Monrovia.

“Our workplace should be a safe haven. Sexual harassment should not be the basis we change our career path. When we feel we are being sexually harassed, we should not hesitate to speak about it. We should look in the face of our harasser and say stop. If you are too shy, get a sister involved, share with your network and they will find a decent way to approach the harasser.''.

“People use the internet to degrade women, gossip, throw hints and share degrading articles and nude photos about women. Innovation is shaping and changing the way we live as a people and we have to be intentional about its use to positively impact the lives of women and girls. That means, it is time we got involved in making sure that women and girls are not only consumers of innovation, but take our place as innovators.”

“We have been creating awareness on the rights of women at work including paid-for maternity leave, nursing breaks and flexible work schedule for nursing mothers at work'', the Minister concluded.

Also read : Labour Should Pressure President to Assent to New MinimumWage Bill-AWC-https://bit.ly/2F8EyDA

The governorship and state houses of assembly elections were conducted, some days ago, in all the state of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory. The elections were characterized by ballot intimidation, threats, box snatching, violence, killings and cover ups.

Nigerians lament that in during the second leg of the elections, several innocent lives were lost again, with the security agents doing virtually nothing to prevent the ugly situation.

Indeed, hoodlums and the security agents had a field day, not ensuring the safety of lives an property, but terrorizing, maiming and killing harmless citizens. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabit Olagoke says, despite the irregularities that characterized the general elections, Nigeria remains one by the grace of God. Excerpts

The Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections have come and gone, what is your impression on the electoral process ?

Structurally, the electoral process should be regarded as an improvement over the past ones.

One can, however, say the the problem with the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), ahs been the headache of politicians. For example, the ruling party would humanly want to win the elections at all costs, not minding the peoples’ perception about their performances in governance.

The main opposition party would equally want to win at all costs, capitalizing on the weaknesses of the ruling party.

Expectedly, the voters are the major determinants of those that will win elective positions in the elections, no matter how perfectly or poorly conducted.

In the case of 2019, the issue of ballot box snatching must have been widespread, indeed, the two major political parties are guilty of the electoral offence.

Equally, killing of perceived political enemies and innocent citizens were recorded across the country.

Indeed, unprofessional reports on social media almost set the nation on fire.

General observation on the structure put on ground by INEC viz-a-viz the INEC officials, security agencies, the National Orientation Agency(NOA) could have been passed to be very credible, but for some unsavory reports of unholy romance with politicians.

For example, some has more than adequate number of security agents at alert, while others had just one or two security agents, without arms.

In quite a number of areas, reports of security agents killing harmless voters, were rife.

Although there were several detected cases of already thumb printed ballot papers, these cases passed without any action been taken.

Also, in several polling units, ballot papers were inadequate, considering the number of voters. This was deliberate, to further diabolic intentions.

However, against all the odds, results of the electoral process, defective or perfect, were conclusive, except for six states, according to INEC.

Now that winners have emerged in most of the states, what Nigerians should appreciate is the courage displayed by some of the losers, in congratulating the winners.

Suffice it now to say, that winners must look beyond their party lines to serve, so that e will be able to have an inclusive government for an inclusive society, which the United Nations has been working on, for all nations to realize and imbibe, as their political culture for the sake of having equity practice on ground, peace and sustainable development in place.

For those who are not happy with the results declared by INEC, redress must be sought through the election tribunal or the law court.

This should be the only way to address grievances, so as not to further charge the already heated polity into violence.

Though, many Nigerians are clamoring for e-voting, I believe that it is possible, but not until we sensitize and train ourselves to that acceptable level of technological know-how.

Even when we must have attained the state of electronic voting, our attitude must have been worked on, as patriots and sincere Nigerians with the culture of integrity and as die hard believers, in bequeathing an acceptable legacy of development to the coming generation.

For the incoming government to be put in place, the areas of moral discipline, ethical values and practice, quality and standard, must be emphasized in the code of our democratic practice, if we are to justify the divine intervention that still holds us as a nation together, despite the inherent irregularities that mark and dot the lines of the 2019 electoral process.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has called on leaders in the country's public and private sector to develop the right attitude and mindset to ensure good governance.

President Kagame made this call on Tuesday at the end of  the 16th National Leadership Retreat, Umwiherero, which was attended by more than 350 leaders from the public and private sector at Rwanda Defence Force Combat Training Centre in Gabiro.

“Have a better attitude, the correct mindset and the implementation based on some of the good policies we actually have. We should not just be coming here to repeat apologies. We need to be explaining why we are falling short on our goals,” he said.

“Everyone is committed and claims they want to do their best. How can we turn things around, so that the commitment portrayed from you, actually matches the results we get?” 

“We need to turn around our attitude of when there is a task ahead of us…don’t start by thinking things are not doable, start by thinking they are doable, if they become difficult along the way that is Ok, you will have tried,” President Kagame stated. 

Leaders Ought to Develop the Right Mindset for Good Governance. Read more-https://bit.ly/2UzjsVi