The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has disclosed that more than 75,000 nurses and midwives relocated abroad in the last five years. The relocation happened under President Muhammadu Buhari, who will round off his two terms, two weeks from now. The association lamented the exodus of its members to the developed countries due to lack of social protection and indecent working environment in the country. It also revealed the brain drain was connected to other woeful experiences such as lack of insurance, and inadequate compensation including other incentives. The National President of NANNM, Comrade Micheal Ekuma Nnachi, said this on Friday at the 2023 International Nurses Day Flag off in Abuja. Nnach further revealed that said insecurity within and around the health centres was a major challenge facing nurses in Nigeria. At the event held with the theme: ‘Our Nurses, Our Future’, Nnachi said: “We have had various situations across the country where nurses are kidnapped for ransom, occupational hazards, and violence at the workplace while discharging their lawful duties.” “As a result of poor wages, and lack of decent work environments, over 75,000 nurses and midwives have migrated from Nigeria within a period of five years.” He also spoke on other challenges bedeviling nurses and midwives in the country, adding, “Lack of social protection, insurance, and inadequate compensation including other incentives for the nurses and midwives. “Insecurity within and around the health facilities is a major challenge facing nurses in Nigeria. We have had various situations across the country where nurses are kidnapped for ransom, occupational hazards, and violence at the workplace while discharging their lawful duties. “Shortage of nurses and midwives especially in certain areas of specialisation and geographic region, the increased rates of atirition and a chronic shortage of nursing personnel in the country increase workloads on nurses without compensation, exposing them fo more health hazards and compromising the quality of healthcare delivery. “A deplorable state of infrastructure and Lack of modem equipment and tools affects the output of nurses resulting in Nurses often working in high-stress environments which can lead to burnout, poor service delivery, higher morbidity and mortality rates, and even mental challenges.”

  Fisayo Soyombo, pioneer editor of TheCable, has been named a 2023-24 Knight-Wallace fellow. A statement released on Thursday by the Wallace House Centre for Journalists and the University of Michigan said the 2023-2024 class is a “cohort of 19 accomplished journalists representing nine countries and a broad cross-section of the US”. The fellows will pursue ambitious journalism projects, audit courses at the university and participate in weekly seminars with journalism leaders, renowned scholars, media innovators and social change agents. Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House, said the fellows were selected to show the challenges journalists encounter while trying to report socially changing stories.   “These journalists and their compelling range of projects reflect the breadth of challenges journalists must understand – from the far-reaching societal impacts of climate change, to the rise of social media-fueled disinformation, to the unique challenges of reporting from countries ensnared in media crackdowns, wars or rampant violence,” Clemetson said. “Now more than ever, the work of these and all journalists is essential to protecting and expanding democratic values. We are honoured to support them.” At Michigan, Soyombo will write an expanded version of his 2019 investigation of the Nigerian criminal justice system, and simultaneously explore related themes, including prison reform movements around the world, and the social and commercial history of the prison industrial complex in the US.   SOYOMBO, THE MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST The Knight-Wallace fellowship is the latest in Soyombo’s recognition-laden journalism career. The former editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and Sahara Reporters was one of the winners of the Karpoor Chandra Kulish International Award for Excellence in Journalism 2021 — for his 2019 undercover investigation on the failings of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, for which he got himself detained at a police cell for five days before spending another eight in prison after he had been arraigned in court. The same year, he was a finalist in One World Media’s International Journalist of the Year award, the second time in a row he had made the OWM shortlist, having been longlisted for the award in 2020 before going on to earn a place in the three-person shortlist. Three months earlier, he had won the second prize in the Outstanding Investigation category of the Fetisov Journalism Award, described by organisers as “the most lucrative journalism award in history”. In December 2020, Soyombo also won the Local Reporter category of the 2020 Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism. It was the third time in six years, the others being 2014 and 2016, that he had been short-listed for the Kurt Schork Awards, which recognise “excellence in courageous reporting of conflict, corruption, human rights transgressions and other related issues”. A three-time winner of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, Soyombo founded the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) in 2020 as an independent, not-for-profit organisation that combats injustice, holds power to account and speaks for the voiceless, seeking to uncover the truth by bypassing officialdom and neutralising propaganda. The outfit started publishing on January 20, 2021. Soyombo is a current fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) at the University of Oxford.

  Umbrella body of the telcom companies, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators in Nigeria, ALTON, has provided more details on its dispute with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) over N120b USSD debt. ALTON issued a statement on Friday to confirm that its members have gotten the nod to withdraw USSD services rendered to the banks. The statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Head of Operations of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo and Gbolahan Awonuga respectively, said the approval was granted because despite multi-party stakeholder efforts to resolve the situation and prevent any impact on services, especially the efforts made by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami and the NCC, the banks have continued to incur greater and greater debt, without making the commensurate payments. According to the statement, “every time some progress is made, the Deposit Money Banks, DMBs come up with reasons to take stakeholders several steps back, in this matter.” ” Members of the public will recall that Mobile Network Operators, MNOs and DMBs have had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions, transparency of charges, mode of collection and liability for payment of the outstanding and continuous service fees due to the MNOs (which currently stands at over N120 Billion). “Due to the inability of MNOs and DMBs to reach an agreement on the issues, MNOs in 2021 sought to disconnect DMBs due to the unpaid debts which stood at N42 Billion as of that time. ” It is now obvious that the level of debt is unsustainable given the time/value huge cost of the continuous upgrade and operation of the systems and infrastructure dedicated to supporting USSD transactions of DMBs. “In view of the foregoing, unless DBMs meet their debt obligations, MNOs will disconnect all banks indebted to them for USSD services rendered, ” the statement added. Although, the statement did not state when the action will take effect, Vanguard gathered reliably, that disconnection started 7.00pm today.

  Elon Musk has named Linda Yaccarino, the former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, as the new chief executive of Twitter. She is to start at the social media platform in about six weeks. The confirmation came after NBCUniversal said Ms Yaccarino was leaving “effective immediately”, after 12 years with the media company. Mr Musk had posted on Thursday, earlier that he had found a new boss for Twitter but did not reveal their identity. Mr Musk, who bought the social media platform last year for $44bn, had been under pressure to find someone else to lead the company and refocus his attention on his other businesses, which include electric carmaker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX. Mr Musk said he would remain involved at Twitter as executive chairman and chief technology officer. Linda Yaccarino Linda Yaccarino At NBCUniversal, Ms Yaccarino oversaw roughly 2,000 people, and was involved with the launch of its streaming service. She joined the company in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment and has been credited with bringing the network’s ad sales operation into the digital future. She will bring to Twitter a rich background in advertising, which the social media company relies on to make money and which has dropped sharply since Mr Musk’s takeover. “If Twitter are looking to monetise better than they have been, then that would be the place to start and Linda would be the ideal person to make that happen,” said Claire Atkinson, chief media correspondent at Business Insider, who has followed Ms Yaccarino’s career for two decades. “She’s the kind of person that I can imagine Elon Musk needs,” Ms Atkinson added. “She won’t be rolled over.” Ms Yaccarino’s departure had appeared to take NBCUniversal by surprise. On Thursday the firm had told news outlets that she was busy preparing for an upcoming conference.

  Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has ordered the immediate payment of salaries to all workers in the state. Ikpeazu disclosed that he is highly committed to the welfare of the workers till his last day in office as Governor. Vanguard gathered that the state government was yet to pay March and April 2023 salaries due to a court order freezing all bank accounts belonging to the state government. Following the delay in the payment of the March and April 2023 salaries, the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, had on May 8, 2023, embarked on strike. Secretary to the State Government,Mr. Chris Ezem, explained that the protracted court order freezing government bank accounts affected payment of salaries to ministries and parastatals for the months of March and April 2023. His words; “The attention of Government has been drawn to the on-going strike by Nigeria Labour congress, Abia state chapter, which commenced midnight of Monday 8th May and has paralyzed government activities across the ministries, parastatals, cabinet office and office of the Accountant General which is responsible for payment of salary. “Despite the current challenge of the state government with its bankers, the Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the office of the Accountant General to commence payment of salaries to ministries and parastatals from today Friday, 12th May, 2023. “Government direct all affected staff to resume work at their offices and ensure resumption of activities in all ministries and the office of the Accountant General for implementation of this directive. Any breach of this directive will frustrate the ongoing transition process and other activities. “Government wishes to place on record that no core civil servant and or ministry are owed salaries before now. Furthermore, salaries of local Government staff are up to date save for the inherited 5months arrears out of which 3 months has been paid and the outstanding 2months is being addressed. Government has further directed local Government authorities to commence immediate payment of salaries of health workers across the 17 LGAs. “It is important that all staff of the local Government remain at their duty post as that will ensure completion and commissioning of all ongoing projects for the benefit of our people and a smooth transition process. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration is conscious of its obligation to its work force and will ensure there are no half measures as it affect the welfare of Abia workers till his last day in office.”

  The Kano State Police Command has arrested 25-year-old Rahama Sulaiman for allegedly kidnapping her six-year-old daughter and demanding a N3 million ransom from her husband.   The woman allegedly took the daughter to a nearby relative in Madobi Local Government Area (LGA) to keep for her and claimed she would be away for four days. Speaking at the Kano Police Command’s headquarters on Friday, the Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Usaini Gumel, said they received a report from the husband, Kabiru Shehu, that his daughter had been kidnapped. In a follow-up investigation, the victim was rescued in Madobi LGA and the wife, who was earlier divorced by the husband, confessed to having planned the kidnapping of her daughter.   The suspect explained that her ex-husband had not given her money to feed the children for over 10 months, so she decided to kidnap their daughter to get money to take care of his children. Sulaiman said, “I called him and told him that our daughter was missing, and we went to the police together and reported the matter. Inside the police station, I gave him the number of the guy that would receive the ransom.” The woman expressed regret over her actions and announced that she had reconciled with her husband. The husband confirmed that they had reconciled, adding that his wife had never done such before. The Kano State Police Command also paraded other criminals, including kidnappers and drug dealers.   The police recovered over 600 parcels of Indian hemp during their operations. The suspects will be charged after investigation, according to the police commissioner. Among the suspects paraded was Ashiru Mohammed, a 23-year-old man from Rijiyar Lemo Quarters, Dala LGA, Kano. He was said to be in possession of five parcels of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp at Kofar Mata Quarters, Kano Municipal LGA, Kano State. The police recovered an additional 605 parcels of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp during an intelligence-led operation. The Kano State Police Command also paraded suspected armed robbers who were arrested while ammunitions recovered from them were displayed. The police warned criminals to desist from their activities, saying they would not be spared by the law.

  Kenyan investigators unearthed 29 more bodies on Friday bringing the number of victims linked to a doomsday starvation cult to 179, many of them children. Police believe most of the bodies found in a forest near the Indian Ocean town of Malindi belong to followers of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a taxi driver-turned-preacher who is accused of inciting them to starve to death “to meet Jesus.” Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha, who announced the latest figures, said no person was rescued on Friday in the vast bushland. Heavy rains had stalled the search and exhumation operation last week with the exercise resuming on Tuesday.   Some 25 people — including Mackenzie and an “enforcer gang” tasked with ensuring that no one broke their fast or left the forest hideout alive — are in police custody, Onyancha said. Mackenzie has not yet been required to enter a plea but a court ordered on Wednesday that he be detained for three more weeks pending further investigations over what has been dubbed the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”. The 50-year-old founder of the Good News International Church turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest. While starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims — including children — were strangled, beaten, or suffocated, according to chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor. Court documents filed on Monday said some of the corpses had their organs removed, with police alleging the suspects were engaged in forced harvesting of body parts. But Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki urged caution, telling reporters on Tuesday that “it is a theory we are investigating.” The case has stunned Kenyans and led President William Ruto to set up a commission of inquiry into the deaths and a task force to review regulations governing religious bodies. Another pastor accused of links to Mackenzie and to the bodies found in the forest was released on bail at a court hearing last week. AFP

  The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr Paul Odama, on Friday evening, paraded a middle-aged medical doctor, Ayodele Joseph, over alleged sedation and rape of a nurse while operating on the nurse in his hospital in Ilorin. Joseph, the Chief Medical Director of Ayodele Hospital, Sawmill Area, Ilorin, was among the 13 suspects paraded before newsmen at the Police Headquarters. Parading the suspects, Odama said that Joseph was one of the most dangerous medical practitioners in the state and warned people to be wary of patronizing him. The police Commissioner said, “On the 5th of May, 2023, one female victim (name withheld) a nurse by profession reported to the Police that she went to Ayodele Hospital at NO. 290, Sawmill Area, Lagos Road, Ilorin for surgery, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Ayodele Joseph, during the treatment sedated the patient which led her to become unconscious. “Before the sedation, fearing any mishap, the patient activated her telephone and placed it in a vantage position to record the surgery unknown to the doctor, before the expected surgery. “She woke up from sleep after the surgery to find herself fully naked and when viewing the recorded video, she discovered that the said Dr. Ayodele Joseph had unlawful sexual intercourse with her while under sedation. “Investigation led to the recovery of the video recording of the sexual activity of the said doctor on the victim which was also corroborated by the medical examinations conducted on the victim”, he said. Odama continued, “This same suspect (Dr Ayodele Joseph) had recently been arraigned in court by the Police for the offences of Criminal Conspiracy, Negligent Conduct, Causing Hurt by Act Endangering life or Personal Safety of Others and Culpable Homicide arising from his unprofessional conduct resulting in the death of one Nneka Akanike ‘F’ in his hospital under questionable circumstances which led to him being charged to court.” The police boss who said that the leadership of the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association had been contacted on the case said that the hospital premises had been cordoned off adding that the medical doctor would be charged to court again for rape after the conclusion of the investigation. However, Joseph denied the allegation of rape being levelled against him adding that the nurse he was alleged to have raped was his girlfriend. The medical director who said that the nurse was his employee and had been his girlfriend for eight years described the alleged rape as a set-up by the nurse. He confirmed that the nurse who was treated and operated on for utopic pregnancy in his hospital decided to set him up to extort money from him. “She is my girlfriend and we have dated for eight years, I trained her as a nurse, I sponsored her to a School of Nursing in Lagos and I employed her, how can I rape a lady that I have had intercourse with several times, what else do I want to see in her body. She only wants to set me up to rip me off some money. Already, she has collected a substantial amount of money which is with her. She had already collected about N500,000 from me on this issue and she is still demanding more money.