66 Medical Centres shut in Abuja

FCT Minister - Muhammad Musa Bello

The FCT Health Management Board said it shut down 66 medical facilities that fell short of professional standards in addition to not having operating licences last year.

This disclosure was made by the Acting Secretary of FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS), Mrs. Achu Odey at a media briefing on the activities of the HHSS for last year.

Mrs. Odey said the facilities were sanctioned by Private Health Practice Committee, which after an assessment sealed them up for not complying with best medical practice standards.

While offering more explanation on the development, the FCT Director Medical and Diagnostics, Dr. Uche Egheyi, said 39 of the affected facilities were medical laboratories discovered to be operating without approved licences.

According to Egheyi, the Private Health Practice Committee, following a routine and intensive inspection of some laboratories in the council areas of the federal capital territory, placed locks on the facilities for illegal operation.

She said the committee would adopt a strategy where all certificates of the various medical laboratory practitioners would be referred to the various regulators of health professionals and medical laboratories of Nigeria to verify if the practitioners were genuine.

Egheyi advised FCT residents to look for license of practise, whenever they go to any private medical facilities, including laboratories, adding that any centre where the licence was not displayed in the reception portend that the centre was not registered and permitted to conduct medical services.

Meanwhile the HHSS has confirmed receiving the FCT own share of $1.5 million for the Save 1,000,000 lives project.

Dr. Mohammed Kawu of Health Planning, Research and Statistics said the naira value of the fund was received last week and had started to implement the programme that also focused on the wellbeing of mother and child.

Kawu said the fund was being managed by a technical committee headed by him to be disbursed to all the units captured under the programme.

Culled from Thisday Newspapers

Nigerian Mercenary Judges irk Gambia

Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle and President Yahaya Jammeh

Gambian lawyers and members of the country’s opposition have accused the country’s leader, Yahya Jammeh, of using “mercenary judges” from Nigeria, and other officials sent as technical assistants to the country’s judiciary, to hound dissidents.

The Gambian Bar Association also accused the Chief Justice of Gambia, Emmanuel Fagbenle, of plotting to use Nigerian judges to overturn the outcome of the December 1, 2016 presidential election in which Mr. Jammeh lost to Adama Barrow.

Accounting firms to manage States fiscal compliance

Finance Minister - Kemi Adeosun

The Federal Government has commenced independent review of State financial management by appointing eight reputable accounting firms including KPMG, Ernst & Young and PWC.

The firms are to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the 22-point Fiscal Sustainability Plan which specified the conditions under which 35 State Governments in June 2016 started accessing N510 billion Budget Support Facility, a statement by the finance ministry said Tuesday.

Ndume removed as Senate Leader

Senator Ali Ndume

The All Progressives Congress members of the Senate have removed Ali Ndume as their leader.

The development was conveyed by Senate President Bukola Saraki who read a letter he claimed was sent to him by the caucus.

The caucus elected to replace Mr. Ndume with Ahmed Lawan, the letter read by Mr. Saraki said.

FRC explains why Churches must comply with Govt. directives

Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the FRC, Jim Obazee, at the weekend said that though only 89 out of the 23, 216 registered churches in the country have complied till date, the council would be unrelenting till the right thing is done.

NUPENG strike imminent

Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, will begin a three-day nationwide warning strike on Wednesday, over disputes with International Oil Companies, IOCs.

NUPENG explained that the decision follows indiscriminate sack of workers without benefits and refusal to allow their workers to join union.

MMM adopts Bitcoin

Ahead of January 14 when the pop­ular ponzi scheme, Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) is expected to lift suspension on payment of participants, the operators of the scheme have intro­duced Bitcoin as its cur­rency for payment.

Bitcoin emerged the world’s best performing means of payment in 2016 and is tipped to become the safest asset globally.

The Bitcoin currency had been in demand but had not gained much pop­ularity among Nigerians compared to the MMM ponzi scheme which mil­lions of Nigerians patron­ised in 2016 before it was suspended in December last year.

Although hopes among the participants of the ponzi scheme are still high in Nigeria, many have continued to turn to Bit­coin which had been there but had little patronage like it was with the ponzi scheme.

According to the new arrangement, partici­pants to receive payment in bitcoin, and watch their monies grow in bitcoin which the MMM were allowed to provide help with before the accounts were frozen in December 2016.

A statement to partic­ipants yesterday by the MMM operators on Fa­cebook read: “Due to the recent sharp price fluctua­tions of Bitcoin, MAVRO-BTC is being introduced in the system”.

“So far, we have only had Mavro-Naira in the System. Even though you provided help via Bitcoin, your Bitcoins, anyway, were recalculated into the Nigerian Naira at the ex­change rate at the moment of providing help, and you were credited with Mavro-Naira in your PO.