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The controversy surrounding  the actual  pump price of the Petrol Motor Spirit(PMS) has been described as a kite flown by government officials to deny Nigerian workers a new national minimum wage.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) made this known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''The AWC  concludes that government has a sinister agenda strangulate the Nigerian workers and the generality of the Nigerian people. The question we ask is that even if government will have to take the increased salaries back from the workers what about the unemployed, the retirees and all those who don't receive salaries from any source ? It means that government would visit them with unprecedented agony and pain''

''However, while the AWC is  calling on government to  forget the idea of an increment in the pump price of petrol, VAT or the removal of petrol subsidy, is is also our view that if President Buhari knows he cannot pay the new national minimum wage, he should resign. Finally, labour is called to action and should be prepared for the mother of all protests, if the new national minimum wage is to be realized in the shortest possible period'', Comrade Emelieze  warned.

Algerians have continued to embark on protests for the past eight Fridays to press home thier demands for radical changes and the exit of those in the system.

Just as it happened in the previous Fridays, the protesters poured into Algiers Streets, the main Post Office esplanade and Maurice Audin Place, their favorite place of rally since the first marches on February 22nd.

The most recent protests is coming on the heels of the  appointment of Abdelkader Bensalah as head of state in accordance with Article 102 of the Constitution.

Bensalah summoned the electorate for 4 July 2019 to elect a new President of the Republic.

Nigerians have continued to complain over the unabating hunger and poverty in the land.

Anti-people policies of the present administration have been identified as the major causes of the ugly situation, even though other causes abound.

Sadly, the Federal, State and Local Governments have been nonchalant in addressing the worrisome economic status of Nigerians, just as a report ranked Nigeria among the eight nations in the world, which are homes to the hungriest people in the world.

In this interview,the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says hunger is the dividend of Democracy in Nigeria due to the absence of a leader that would transform the country into a prosperous land. Excerpts :

Hunger and poverty is in almost every home in Nigeria, are you not worried ?

The issue of hunger and poverty started to come unnoticed after the first coup of January 15, 1966 that led to the various military take over ab initio.

 By training the military were never groomed to govern, but to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

Between 1960 and 1970, the poverty index was around 15 per cent, it nose dived to 28.8 per cent, during the second republic, Alhaji Sheu Shagari’s administration, experienced corruption and impunity.

The Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon regime tried hard to reverse the ugly trend, by introducing War Against Indiscipline(WAI) this brought about sanity and it positively affected the psyche of all Nigerians, although under a dictatorship.

However, the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida soft pedaled and allowed the relaxation theory to take over, even though the War Against Indiscipline and Corruption(WAIC) was put in place, it turned out to be a game of deceit.

Despite all the mitigation measures, hunger and poverty defied all programmes-OFN, DFFRI, Better Life and so on.

 This made Nigeria to look like an arid land where no plant could germinate.\

The regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha recorded 65 per cent poverty index, while the fourth republic inherited 70 per cent poverty index according to a report by economic experts.

The truth of the matter is that Nigeria has not been able to produce a leader that is capable enough to transform the nation into a prosperous land.

Hunger could even be said to be the dividends of Democracy in Nigeria.

When one considers the ever depreciating purchasing power of our Naira and ever increasing pump price of petrol, upon which the activities of industries and the transportation system depends, then one would reach the conclusion that all is not well.

The relocation of more than 800 industries to other nations from Nigeria, worsened the employment situation which none of the successive governments since 2007 have been able to address.

The recent balancing wheel of our economic equation, whereby government may assent to N30,000 new national minimum wage and at the same time increase in the Value Added Tax is in the works, would only serve to worsen the already bad situation.

This is so because the consequent effect would reflect on the already two digit inflation figure to be on the increase, while prices of commodities beginning from food stuff to other commodities would sky rocket beyond the reach of the already impoverished masses.

Economic experts have advised government to consider the downward review of the salaries and allowances of the ruling class, this should be effected.

For example, the Senate is the highest in rank with N14.2 million per month. This could be scaled down to N7 million.

The President and Vice President have been reported to receive N14 million and N12 million, respectively. This could also be cut to half.

If this preferred solution could be accepted, the cost of governance would be lower and manageable, while the size of government would require trimming, without necessarily affecting governance negatively.

Besides this, all political appointments including the ministerial ones would need to be monitored for effectiveness and accountability, for Mr. President to be able to take decisions on non performing Ministers.

For example electricity is essential to activate business activities from the industrial sector to the minute level, in order that we may be able to produce abundantly without recourse to importation and at low affordable costs to the people.

For poverty to be drastically reduced and to remove hunger from the tables of families in Nigeria occasioned by our over dependence on oil, attendant cases of fraud need to be effectively addressed.

Furthermore, economic diversification and establishment of several industries by government and private individuals would reduce our over dependence on oil.

An independent economy would ever solve the problem of hunger and diseases.

Nigeria is known all over the world to be the most fortunate fertile land that is full of resources, but for the mismanagement syndrome of the resources and kleptocracy in governance, poverty would continue to slap us on our faces.

Government needs to work on the psyche of Nigerians, on our attitude, while the culture of philanthropy and selfless community service, need to be entrenched to create an environment that would be conducive enough for good idea germination for the benefit of all.

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.