Yes, painfully the boy died

A distressing video trended on social media last weekend. If you love children your heart will sink while watching it. It was about a boy-child who was choking and struggling for life in a footage of about 12 seconds. There were other videos associated with the tragedy. Though his age and name were not given, the boy must certainly be less than 10 years-old. He had tubes passed through his nostrils ostensibly to aid his breathing. But the tubes were crude. And so his breathing came across like sounds from a snoring adult. Every breath in the short video hits the heart like an evil arrow from the bowstrings of a shooter who is adept at shooting to kill. The image was haunting. And then the boy died. It was shattering. He must be the child of a nobody. He may already have been buried in an unmarked grave. In my Igbo part of Nigeria, and probably elsewhere in Africa, no parents would want to behold and be constantly reminded of the burial spot for a child who died so young, almost while still in the cradle. PLEASE READ: Human trafficking: NAPTIP rescues two young boys in A’Ibom This depressing incident reportedly happened in Ebonyi state in the south east of our country. It was posted on social media by a netizen who goes by the title of Asiwaju of Igboland. This person may be mimicking the Asiwaju of Yorubaland who happens to be the current president of Nigeria, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Because this netizen and the president share a title, it may just be necessary for  the president’s aides to bring the video of the boy that eventually died to the attention of the president. Why? We will return to the ‘why’ presently. The sad story was that no hospital in Ebonyi state including federal government health institutions could readily provide appropriate tools to attempt saving the life of the stricken boy. The father of the child was reported to have lamented moments before the kid died: “God don’t let anything happen to my son! Ebonyi state is your forefathers home, nothing will happen to you. Since 12pm, it’s now they are accepting to treat you. The whole of Ebonyi state does not have a tracheostomy tube to suck out groundnuts… I came back home to Ebonyi with my family, putting everything behind to start a new life but today I regret my decision. Since 12pm I have been running round Abakaliki (Ebonyi state capital) to do an X-ray for my son that swallowed something that has been affecting his breathing and no hospital can tend (attend) to us. I am currently at FETHA (and) they are referring us to UNTH ( University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital), Enugu”. And that’s the summary of how Nigeria happened to an innocent child and his ostensibly grief-stricken young parents. Needless death Ordinarily, an object such as a groundnut lodged in a child’s throat, if that was what happened, should not be a death sentence. Some medical professionals said that such objects can be dislodged within hours with the availability of appropriate equipment and personnel, and the patient discharged from the hospital in hours, at most in 24 hours. Not here. Because we do not care. Francis Nwifuru is the governor of Ebonyi state who was anointed and installed by his predecessor David Umahi, the current federal minister of works. Umahi was alleged to have transformed Ebonyi state in terms of infrastructure which included the establishment of a medical university. It appears the closest thing to achievement by Governor Nwifuru in the health sector was his discovery and arrest late last year of some workers in a primary health facility who were engaged in the business of selling the facility’s branded stationery. The video of the governor’s unscheduled visit and discovery made the rounds on social media. PLEASE READ: Africa at crossroads: Power, progress and the AI Revolution There’s no intention here to isolate Umahi and Nwifuru, not even Ebonyi state, for the purpose of calling them out or making them the fall guys, and an errant state. No. To varying degrees, what happened to this kid and his parents in Ebonyi state could happen anywhere else in our country. Like Umahi and Nwifuru, the dividends of democracy for our rulers are defined by the construction and provision of infrastructure and facilities that the eyes can see such as roads and white elephant projects like airports. The 700 km Lagos – Calabar coastal highway and the Badagry(Lagos)-Sokoto 1,068 km desert highway are two of such ongoing projects. Whenever our rulers manage to grudgingly construct school classrooms and build hospitals, they barely bother to furnish them with requisite tools and equipment. Once they are done with the aspects that eyes can see which, by the way, are often poorly executed, they leave us to our own devices. Classrooms are hardly equipped with teaching and learning tools, and hospitals are usually bereft of the latest health gadgets and trained, skillful and dedicated professionals and ancillary staff. Our rulers get away with murder because we do not hold them to account. We do not hold them to account because our rulers have systematically and radically weaponised poverty. They make us scramble for crumbs. They make us feel extremely grateful to them whenever they use a little portion of our common patrimony to minister to our basic needs. Systemic failure A preponderant majority of Nigeria’s rulers are not just insensitive, they are thoroughly wicked. They offer us run down schools while they send and keep their own children abroad for quality education in safe environments. They leave us with hospitals that are actually morgues, worse than ‘mere consulting clinics’ while they and their families travel abroad on medical tourism to treat headaches and toothaches. They throw us to the dogs to contend with death traps called highways as they fly across the country in scheduled commercial aircraft and private jets. While on the roads, if

FG Will Begin Immediate Reconstruct Of Collapsed Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway Bridge – Umahi

FG To Reconstruct Collapsed Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway Bridge – Umahi

The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi has said the Federal Government would begin immediate reconstruction of the collapsed Enugu/Port Harcourt expressway. Umahi said this when he and Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State visited the scene of the collapsed bridge for an on-the-spot assessment as part of his working visit to the state. He said that the reconstruction of the bridge would end the plight of commuters plying the road, adding that the collapse of the bridge was unfortunate, and the government would in the meantime, provide alternative road for the people. According to him, “We are going to look at the second bridge and see how far the remedial work will be done on it. We are going to scale up the reconstruction of the two bridges alongside with the road construction. “I want to assure you that I have directed the contractor to do everything possible to provide an alternative road. “We are going to work on the second bridge to ascertain the integrity of the bridge and see if we can use it while we demolish the collapsed one and start the reconstruction. “I believe the contractor is hearing us and the process will start immediately. I want to have a memo which I will send to Mr President.” The minister added that the report and pictures of the collapsed bridge sent to him were the same with what he was seeing. He explained that the collapse occurred because the pipes were exposed, adding that the bridge was constructed in 1968. He assured the Enugu Government of his support, and thanked him for his initiative in dualising the Enugu to Abakaliki town road. “We have gotten your letter on that and I will be sending my men to come and evaluate it. I can assure you that within the next 7 days you must hear from us; we are doing the drains, and will give you our standard and bills of quantities. “It is difficult for me to assure any governor that wants a refund, I cannot say, because we came into office and inherited an economy that has more than 90 per cent of its income being used to service debts. Mbah thanked Umahi and the FG for the prompt response to the bridge collapse, saying that it underscored the president’s commitment when he took the oath of office. “He is committed to lead with compassion and run an inclusive government, and that is what we are seeing here today.” He explained that when the incident happened, he reached out to the FG immediately and within 48 hours the minister was in the state for inspection to find solution on how they can get at least one section of the road done to accommodate the people. “This is a major gateway road so we cried out to the FG for expeditious action,” Mbah said.

Umahi bemoans dilapidated federal roads in Anambra, South-East

Umahi bemoans dilapidated federal roads in Anambra, South-East

The Minister of Works, Chief David Umahi, has decried the poor state of federal roads in the South-East geo-political zone, especially in Anambra and Ebonyi states. Umahi made his feelings known during a courtesy call on the Anambra Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, on Saturday night in Awka. The Minister said Anambra and Ebonyi were competing for the worst in terms of poor federal road projects in the country. He said that he had recently visited Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states before coming to Anambra, saying that the situation is the same on the state of federal roads. Umahi, who before meeting Soludo had inspected the Enugu-bound lane of the Onitsha/Enugu Expressway, passed a vote of no confidence on the consultants supervising the reconstruction of the road. He regretted that the handlers of the very busy road were exposing road users to untold hardship. “I am a bit disappointed with the state of Enugu/Onitsha expressway; I have called both the contractors and consultants to a meeting this evening with the Governor. “I have equally passed a vote of no confidence on the consultants,” he said. He directed the firm to immediately rehabilitate the bad spots, which have caused vehicles to fall and other sundry hiccups on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway. The Minister said he was personally concerned due to a series of calls and complaints coming from the same road. “While MTN Nigeria says they have 100 per cent funding, the chairman of RCC construction firm, will say the opposite, complaining of funding problem. “We will all meet and sort out these problems because we cannot have one or two contractors doing 200 kilometers of road for seven years,” he said. Umahi, who noted that states in the South-East geo-political zone were not fairly treated on MTN Nigeria Tax Credit decision, said he was confident that Mr President would look into the matter in due course. “Yes, Enugu and Abia states benefitted, but that cannot be compared with other zones which got on the MTN Nigeria Tax Credit sharing formula. “I know as a man of justice and equity, President Bola Tinubu will look into the matter because development thrives on fairness and equity,” he said. Responding, Governor Soludo said he was overwhelmed when President Tinubu appointed Umahi his minister of works. “Umahi’s appointment is a prayer answered for me because it is like a perfect round peg in a round hole,” he said. He regretted that the entire federal roads in Anambra were all bad, adding that urgent actions were needed to reduce the sufferings facing road users on the roads. Soludo who appealed to the minister to replicate what he did on road construction in Ebonyi across the country, advocated for what he tagged mega-budget for road projects. According to him, the initiative would encourage the National Assembly to make adequate budgetary provisions for road projects which have lasted more than four years. He said when this is done, government would no longer required to talk about budgetary allocation on existing roads yearly, but would be spending on already approved fund to end problem of poor funding,” he said. Before the courtesy visit, Umahi visited Enugu/Onitsha Expressway, Oye-Oranto Ukpo Road in Dunukofia, and Otuocha-Iheaka-Ibaji Roads.

Umahi stops payments to South East road contractors

Umahi stops payments to South East road contractors

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi has stopped some road construction in the South East pending the review of the existing and additional contracts. Umahi gave the directive on Thursday in Enugu during the inspection of some ongoing construction/rehabilitation of federal roads across states in the South-East. The minister expressed dismay that four bridges and three kilometres of additional work were costing N15 billion. “I have directed directors in the ministry to sit with the contractors and review it. “I strongly believe that there is no way that the project will cost us more than three to four billion naira, and when a project is too expensive, and the budgeting process is very low, then contractors will remain on site for 10 to 15 years,” he said. Some of the roads inspected included the Ozalla- Akpugo-Amangunze-Isu Onicha (Enugu-Onitsha) with a spur to Onunwere in Enugu State done by Arab Contractors and rehabilitation of Old Enugu- Onitsha Road also done by Arab Contractors. Others were the construction of the Nenwe-Nomeh-Mburubu -Nara Road with a spur from Obeagu-Oduma road, Enugu State, Rehabilitation of Nsukka -Ikem, Eha Amufu – Nkalagu in Ebonyi State among others. Umahi commended the quality of work done on some of the roads in Enugu, adding that he stopped certain payments until contractors, and the ministry reviewed the existing contracts and additional works. The former Ebonyi governor said he stopped payment of RCC and Arab Contractors until they all sit down to review the cost of the projects and methods of construction. He also said because of funding he had directed works on spots should come in the second phase to enable contractors to complete carriage ways first. He equally directed the contractor handling the Mmaku road seven days to return to the site to cover the binder course. He also directed that the right-hand side of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway be done with concrete to save costs. “I discovered something unprofessional where contractors put a binder course and leave it up to five to eight years, and within that period, the binder course fails. “Henceforth, no contractor will leave the binder course for more than one month without covering it because the binder course admits water which affects subgrade. “It is not healthy for contractors as they lose money for the equipment they are using to maintain the work,” he said. The binder course is an intermediate, bitumen-bound aggregate layer placed between the base layer and the surface of an asphalt pavement. The minister explained that Nigerian roads failed because of the bad asphalt placed on them as a result of adulterated bitumen imported into the country.  According to him, most of our roads are not failing because of sub-base or subgrade but fail because of bad asphalt placed on them. “So the fight of turning to concrete is a continuous one, and we will not give up until our roads are able to last up to 30 years to 40 years without maintenance when built. “At Enugu section three to Port Harcourt section 3, I have also directed that the second carriage be totally done on concrete as we are safer with concrete in southeast roads,” he said. To buttress his point on the concrete road, Umahi, who took newsmen to Nigercem – the first cement factory in Nigeria, said the factory road built in 1950 with concrete was still stable as well as other roads in Nkalagu built with concrete seven years ago. “This is what we are advocating and basically, South East, South-South, and South-West roads shall be on concrete because of their terrain,” he said.

Akpabio announces Bamidele Senate Leader, Ndume Chief Whip, others

Akpabio announces Bamidele Senate Leader, Ndume Chief Whip, others

Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio has announced Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) as the Senate Majority leader and former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) as the Senate Chief Whip. Reading the letter from the All Progressives Congress, APC, Akpabio also announced Senator Dave Umahi, APC, Ebonyi South as the Deputy Leader and Senator Lola Ashiru, APC, Kwara South as the Deputy Whip. Akpabio who entered the hallowed Chamber at 11:18am, immediately prayed at 11:20am and asked Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, APC, Abia North to move for the adoption of Votes and Proceedings of 14th June and seconded by Senator Ezenwa, Imo East. Recall that the four candidates nominated by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for Senate and House of Representatives leadership won their elections in June. The four anointed candidates are Senate President Akpabio; Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau; House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas; and Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu. While Barau and Kalu emerged unopposed, Akpabio prevailed after a tough battle and Abass recorded a landslide victory over his two opponents. In the Senate where all the 109 senators took part, Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and one-time Senate Minority leader, polled 63 votes to defeat former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari (APC, Zamfara West) who polled 46 votes. In the House of Representatives, it was smooth sailing for Abass as 353 of the 359 lawmakers inaugurated gave him their votes. His challengers, Idris Wase and Aminu Jaji polled three votes each.