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Five months to the
next general elections, incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan; former
anti-graft boss, Nuhu Ribadu; and former head of state, Mohammed Buhari
are ranked by Nigerians ahead of other contenders for the presidential
contest, NOI Polls, a non-partisan and non-political polling
organisation, has revealed.

The organisation,
which released the result of its October snap polls, said it used a
representative sampling of phone-owning Nigerians and surveyed the
preferences of some aspirants who have declared their intention for the
presidential race.

The results
revealed that 99% of the people polled said they were aware of Mr.
Jonathan’s intention to contest the presidential elections.

Of this, 87% of
respondents said they feel he should run for office, citing his right
as a Nigerian, experience, innovativeness, and his representation of a
new generation of leaders as their reasons. Some 22% of the respondents
said he should not run, citing a desire for a new generation of leaders
and a respect for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) zoning formula as
their reasons.

Some expressed a
“general dislike,” while others cited the “recent mishaps in the
country” and the difficulty of the electoral agency to conduct a free
and fair election under a incumbent president as a contestant.

About 86% of
respondents acknowledged the intention of former anti-corruption chief,
Nuhu Ribadu to contest the polls, while just a little over half (55%)
think he should run and 41% think otherwise. Some of his supporters see
Mr. Ribadu as a new generation of Nigerian leader, whilst 59% of those
who do not want him to run cite his inexperience as their reason, with
13% generally disliking him.

Mr. Buhari’s
candidacy has the support of 41% of the people surveyed, while 58% said
he should not run. His experience and integrity were the reasons stated
for supporting his candidacy, while 34% of those who said he should not
run mentioned a preference for other candidates and the desire for a
new generation of leaders and his inability to “provide the positive
change need in Nigeria.”

Also in the race

While nearly 97% of
those polled were aware that Ibrahim Babangida is running for the 2011
presidential elections, only 27% think he should run for office on
claims of being a good man and competent to run for the office. But 69%
do not want him to run, citing his reputation as being corrupt.

Another contender
that was ranked is former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, for whom only
27% of the 90% of those aware of his ambition think he should run. Some
21% of those who think Atiku should not run maintain that he is
corrupt, 19% do not like him, and 18% think he has a bad reputation,
while another 18% think he cannot provide the positive changes needed
in Nigeria.

Kwara State
governor, Bukola Saraki’s candidacy had 35% support, while 62% said he
should not run, with 3% being indifferent. Mr. Saraki’s antagonists
cited incompetence and bad reputation, as well as an inability to
provide the positive change needed in Nigeria as their reasons.

NOI Poll said 1058
people took part in the telephone interviews. The organisation said the
poll is part of the ongoing snap poll exercise conducted to rapidly
assess public opinion on various electoral events.

It is a Nigeria-based opinion research organisation which works in
technical partnership with Gallup Polls (USA), to conduct periodic
opinion polls on various socioeconomic issues in Nigeria.

Former governor of
Ekiti State, Olusegun Adebayo Oni, was on Sunday treated to a heroic
welcome when he visited his home town of Ifaki-Ekiti, his first since
he left the state after the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, that
ousted him from office.

Mr. Oni told the
gathering that he never had penchant for amassing wealth, but has
always been concerned with serving the people and would continue to
render services to humanity.

While speaking
during the thanksgiving service held at the Methodist Church,
Ifaki-Ekiti, Mr. Oni, who was in the company of his wife and some of
his former aides, said he was aware that some people were blaming him
for not amassing wealth for himself.

“I want to testify
to the goodness of God because He has made me a man that does not covet
riches, power, and even comfort. I only covet one thing, and that is
service,” he said.

Beyond opposition

In a statement
issued by his chief press secretary, Wale Ojo-Lanre, the former
governor also said the PDP in the state is “too big to be an opposition
to anybody. We will applaud anything that is done in the interest of
the people and vehemently go against anything that is done against the
people.”

He thanked the king
of Ifaki, Oluwole Agbaje, and the people of the town for honouring him
and his wife with the title of Asiwaju and Yeye Asiwaju of Ifaki.

The bishop of the
Methodist Church of Nigeria, Oyo Diocese, Ayo Ladigbolu, eulogised Mr.
Oni, describing him as a worthy ambassador of the church and a proud
son of Ifaki. He said God’s vision for the former governor as regards
the future is bigger than that of the present.

The only way
forward for the nation is for those in positions of authority to
improve the welfare of the poor through the execution of
people-oriented projects, the Primate of the Anglican Church of
Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh, said at the weekend.

Mr. Okoh, who spoke
when he visited the governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, said most
politicians fail to fulfil their promises when they are elected.

He urged Nigerians
to vote out leaders who loot government treasury to enrich themselves
and family members, saying the nation would have a greater future if
leaders see themselves as servant-leaders and not bosses to the people
in all their dealings.

“Politicians should
not make looting their priority; they should focus welfare of the poor
through the execution of people-oriented projects,” he said.

“The nation’s
leaders should make the welfare of the masses their focal point by
embarking on projects that would impact positively on their lives.”

The cleric
commended Mr Mimiko for his achievements in the provision of basic
infrastructure, charging him not to derail in his determination to
bring succour to lives of the poor majority who prayed fervently for
victory at the poll .

Mr. Okoh equally
clarified the issue of criticism of government activities by religious
leaders, stating such criticism is meant to achieve a positive change
in the interest of both the government and people.

Working for people

Mr Mimiko thanked
the cleric for his visit and assured the people of the state and
Nigerians of his administration’s continued determination to embark on
projects that would benefit the majority of the people.

“I can assure you
sir that our administration will continue to embark on programmes that
have direct impact on our people. And I want to say that the interest
of the majority of our people will always be the focus of our
administration,’ he said.

Following security
threats in the country and globally, Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest
commercial carrier involved in domestic, regional and intercontinental
air transport business, over the weekend, said it invested about
$4million for the detection of explosives and hard drugs on board
aircraft.

Speaking at a
briefing to commemorate the carrier’s four years anniversary at its
headquarters in Lagos, Chris Ndulue, the Managing Director of the
airline, said that the motive for such investment was solely aimed at
ensuring safety of lives and properties. “This is to enhance aviation
safety following the events of terror scare and terrorism that we hear
nowadays,” he said, adding that the carrier is working to ensure that
passengers are adequately screened before boarding any of its 26
aircraft, whether those on domestic or international routes.

Mr Ndulue also
revealed that over 5.8 million passengers were airlifted to various
destinations by the airline in four years. “We have carried 5.8million
passengers in these four years, but infrastructure as a major challenge
is inhibiting our expansion,” he said.

Arumemi Ikhide, the Chairman of the airline, while speaking on the
development, expressed hopes that the government will approve the
carrier’s request to develop the General Aviation Terminal (GAT),
located at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos. “We want to
develop a terminal that will be owned by government and operated by
FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria), but we are yet to get
approval from government on this and it has been a challenge,” he said.

Barack Obama was
elected president two years ago by harnessing the hopes of his
supporters. But now, he finds himself at the close of a very different
campaign trying to manage disappointment and discontent.

“Let’s not fool
ourselves,” he said. “This is a tough election. This country has gone
through one of the most difficult periods of our history.”

American voters
will go the polls Tuesday to elect national lawmakers and state
leaders, with two wars, high unemployment, and record deficits on their
minds.

The president
himself isn’t on the ballot, but he’s working hard because as the race
goes into its last weekend, his Democratic Party is facing a debacle.

Pollsters predict
it will lose dozens of seats in the House of Representatives, giving
Republicans majority control. In the Senate, the Democrats are expected
to be reduced to such a slim majority that they won’t be entirely in
control there either.

Obama hasn’t had an easy two years. Now his term is half over and
when the results are in next week, he may find the hardest part still
ahead.

Never before has an obscure animal so captured the popular imagination.

“Will Paul be predicting success for England in
2018?” the BBC asked months ago, following news that the octopus had
been appointed an official ambassador for England’s World Cup bid.

His death, on October 26, at the ripe old octopus-age of two-and-half, has set off a deluge of wit and humour from Nigerians.

“Final whistle blown for Paul the octopus… Bet he didn’t see that coming!” Wunmi Thomas mourned on Facebook.

Obinna Chima took things a bit further. “The FG
would be sending four serving ministers, six members of the National
Assembly and eight governors to represent us at octopus Paul’s
funeral,” he announced.

The fact that conspiracy-theorising is in the
Nigerian DNA was evident: “…who killed Paul the Octopus???”
Facebooker Obasi Paul queried.

Perhaps it was in response to that question that
this viral tweet emerged: “President Jonathan absolves MEND of
complicity in Paul the Octopus’ death.”

During his lifetime, Paul’s astonishingly accurate
World Cup predictions led to an outpouring of hope from Nigerians –
especially on Facebook and Twitter – that INEC would recognise him as
the solution to the country’s age-old inability to produce a
controversy-free electoral process.

But now that he’s dead, expectations are shifting. People are being
warned to expect the following email in the months ahead: “I’m the son
of the late Paul de Octopus. Before he died he left $1bn in vault in
World Bank. I need your help 2 claim it. This is not a scam…”

While other
presidential candidates declined the demand by stakeholders in the
education sector to present their policies on education, three:
Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Nuhu
Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, and Atiku Abubakar of the
Peoples Democratic Party, at the weekend, presented their programmes on
how to tackle the challenges facing the sector.

The presidential
hopefuls made their presentations at a meeting of the Joint Education
Stakeholders Action Coalition (JESAC) in Abuja.

The JESAC is a
voluntary association of eighteen (18) education unions, associations
and organizations that cut across the entire gamut of Nigeria’s
education sector.

Its membership cuts
across academic and non-academic staff in all our educational
institutions. These include the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
Nigeria Union of Teachers, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union,
the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, and the Association of Primary
School Head Teachers of Nigeria.

The group had
invited presidential candidates, including President Goodluck Jonathan
and former military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, to make presentations at
the meeting . Only three did.

Ike Onyechere, the
national coordinator of JESAC, however, absolved the other aspirants
from any blame in not attending the conference.

“Yes, we sent
invitations to everybody (the presidential aspirants). But they don’t
all have equal time. When we are doing the third one (conference), we
are going to take it round the zones so those who did not present their
policies will have the opportunity to do so.” Mr. Onyechere told NEXT.

The three candidates
condemned the decay in infrastructure and promised to take Nigeria’s
educational institutions to a greater height if elected.

The areas where the
candidates stated as needing urgent attention include funding,
infrastructure development, staff training and welfare, research,
science and technology development, regulation and inspectorate
services, as well as education for the less privileged and physically
challenged.

Different ways of addressing challenges

The candidates,
however, differed on how to tackle the challenges facing the educational
sector. Some of the areas where they differed include university
funding and provision, funding of research, and the role of the federal
government in education.

While Mr. Buhari and
Mr. Ribadu in their policies stated that the FG would continue to fund
all its universities, Mr. Abubakar stated that if elected President, the
federal government would only finance and own one university in each of
the six geo-political zones.

While Mr. Buhari
stated that educational research funding will be carried out by the
private sector, former EFCC boss stated that he would establish a
National Research Fund with funding both from government and the private
sector.

Mr. Onyechere, the
JESAC boss, however states that his association is not limiting its
conferences to presidential hopefuls alone.

“It’s not only presidential aspirants that will address our
conferences. There are other conferences coming up around the zones in
Nigeria. Governorship aspirants and local government chairmen will all
be called upon to come and tell Nigerians what their plan is to revamp
our educational institutions,” he stated.

An emergency meeting
of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) was convened last Monday to attend to what the party called “some
burning issues”, especially the controversy that trailed the
dissolution of the executive committee of the Enugu State chapter of the
party.

Two days earlier,
the office of the national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo had, in a
statement dissolved the state executive committee and in its place
appointed an eight-member committee headed by Anthony Agbo, a senator,
to organise a fresh congress.

The state was among
the eight states whose congresses are being disputed by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC). The other states are Adamawa, Imo,
Kogi, Delta, Oyo, Plateau, and Bayelsa.

INEC, in a letter
sent out by its director of political party monitoring, Regina Omo-Agege
last month, said it would not recognize the congresses conducted in the
states because they did not follow laid down procedure and were
therefore inconclusive. The electoral body advised the ruling party to
conduct fresh congress where authentic executive committees would
emerge.

Although, the NWC
met over the matter and resolved to direct the party’s national legal
adviser, Olusola Oke to inform INEC that it was an internal matter, the
commission was to fire another letter to the party, this time signed by
its secretary, Abdullahi Kaugama, insisting that the fresh congresses
must hold in the states.

With INEC’s fresh
letter and the controversy over dissolution of the Enugu State on its
agenda, the NWC went into the emergency meeting at the Legacy House,
Maitama, Abuja, formerly the campaign headquarters of the Obasanjo/Atiku
Campaign Organisation.

The meeting turned
out to be stormy. Chaired by the deputy national chairman, Haliru Bello
Mohammed, members of the committee were reportedly at dagger drawn over
the issue of congress. It was gathered that some of them expressed shock
at the dissolution of the party by Mr Nwodo, who was then holidaying in
the United States, through his media aide Ike Abonyi.

Party chiefs,
especially those sympathetic to the Enugu governor, Sullivan Chime,
viewed the development as an exhibition of personal interest by Mr
Nwodo, who himself hails from the state and was its governor. Some were
said to have argued that since the protest of the chairman of the
dissolved committee, Vitalis Abba had not come to it, there was no need
discussing it.

In the end, the NWC
resolved to set up a three-member committee, comprising Messrs Mohammed,
Oke and Abubakar Baraje, the national secretary, not only to look into
the matter but also to make representation to President Goodluck
Jonathan over the manner Mr Nwodo runs the party.

Besides, the deputy
national chairman was mandated to write INEC explaining why fresh
congress should not hold in the affected states. In his letter the
following day, October 25, Mr Mohammed, said that the congresses had
become matters of litigation in the court of law, particularly in Delta
and Oyo States.

He reminded INEC
that its then Resident Electoral Commissioner in Delta State, Humphrey
Nwangeneh, monitored the congress in the state and subsequently sent a
report to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

“The documents
emanating from your commission do not support the claim of inconclusive
congress in Delta state. While the above suit pending, no fresh congress
can legally hold in Delta state. There appears to be good reason for
the commission to have a second look at the case of Delta State,” Mr
Mohammed said.

In the case of Oyo
State, although the PDP deputy national chairman confirmed that INEC did
not monitor the congress as required by law, he said there was already
an order of injunction issued by a court, hence it would be wrong to
interfere in the matter.

“Our understanding
of the ruling on jurisdiction is that the ex-parte order earlier issued
by the court was never made and that at all materials times, the Oyo
state congress was never legally encumbered by any valid court order,”
Mr Mohammed said.

Mr Mohammed,
however, informed the commission of the party’s desire to conduct
another congress in Imo State between October 29 and November 1.

Although it could
not be confirmed if INEC has replied the party, the controversy over the
conduct of fresh congress is still tearing the party apart.

It is still not
certain how Mr Nwodo, who is due back in the country this weekend, will
respond to the development, especially the reported resolution of his
colleagues in the NWC to report him to Mr Jonathan over his dictatorial
tendencies since assuming office last June.

EFCC gets in the way

As he returns, he
will be confronted with another matter, the list of the alleged corrupt
officials posted on the website of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) but which was unveiled by the media earlier in the
week.

The issue came up
for discussion at the Monday’s NWC meeting, apparently because of the
preponderance of members of the ruling party on the list.

Among the party
faithful listed on the advisory list were formers governors James Ibori
(Delta), Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo), Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Lucky Igbinedion
(Edo), Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Michael
Botmang (Plateau), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Saminu Turaki (Jigawa) and
Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa).

Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello, a senator, two former aviation ministers, Babalola
Borishade and Femi Fani Kayode, former FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai and a
host of other members of the PDP also made the list. Interestingly,
some of them are aspiring to various elective offices in the forthcoming
polls.

A source revealed
that the NWC members were concerned because of the effect it would have
on its outing during the forthcoming general elections. Ahmed Rufa’I
Alkali, the party national publicity secretary was to publicly expressed
this concern.

“When the EFCC,
which is the professional organ responsible for this assignment, issues a
statement like this, many people will be concerned. We should be able
to calm them down to let them know that the party will not go after
their jugular just like that. So we want them to remain calm and
continue with their normal activities as party men and leaders,” Mr
Alkali said.

The PDP spokesman,
who said the party leadership had previously met with the EFCC
chairperson, Farida Waziri to discuss ways of ensuring rancor-free
elections, said it would not take any action based on the list because
the allegations against the politicians had not been established by any
court.

The north-south tango

Curiously, these
issues are trailing the controversial rotation of presidential power
between the north and the south, allegedly adopted some years ago. The
zoning issue had not only posed a serious threat to the unity in the
ruling party, but might mar its chances in the elections.

Already, a
significant number of its members in the north, are threatening protest
votes against the party if Mr Jonathan should insist on contesting the
presidential elections next year.

Besides, four of the
presidential aspirants from the north and their aides having been
meeting with some northern elders under the aegis of Northern Political
Leaders Forum headed by former finance minister, Adamu Ciroma with a
view to picking a consensus candidate amongst them. They are insisting
the north should be allowed to produce the nest president, at least till
2015, to serve out the tenure began by the late President Umaru
Yar’Adua, a northerner.

A 12-member committee appointed by the NPLF to pick the consensus candidate, is currently on tour of the 19 northern states.

But the deep seated
animosity in the 12 year old party has crept into the National Assembly,
where it holds the majority in both chambers. Only last Tuesday, the
Senate threw out a amendment sought by Mr Jonathan to the Electoral Act
2010.

The President had
sought an amendment to Sections 25 and 87, which would have altered the
sequence of the general elections and also allow presidential aides (in
the case of presidential primaries) to be delegates during the party
primaries. The approval of the amendment, many believe would give the
president victory over his challengers.

Interestingly, the
bill was opposed not only by those asking Mr Jonathan not to run but
also those supporting his ambition to succeed himself. Kanti Bello, the
deputy director general of the Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation
led those who canvassed the defeat of the amendment.

Before the amendment
came to the floor, the issue was already mired in controversy following
alleged inducement of the senators and representatives by the
Presidency. The Presidency was alleged to have promised to give each
lawmaker $30,000 to allow the amendment scale through, but the senators
through their spokesman, Ayogu Eze denied it. The presidency also denied
this.

In any case, there
was also another allegation that the lawmakers were reluctant to pass
the amendment because their own interest was not factored into the
entire deal.

For a party going into election in a few months time against threatening opposition, the rising challenges are enormous.

For those still
trying to conjecture why the Special Adviser to the President on Power,
Barth Nnaji, is fast developing gray hairs, two reasons came from the
horse’s mouth at the weekend in Abuja: ‘suffering’ and his presidential
assignment.

Though Mr Nnaji,
who was responding to a toast to his achievements at a special dinner
organised in his honour by ‘Friends of Barth Nnaji’, did not expatiate
on what he meant, he, however, assured them of the present
administration’s commitment to deliver on its promise to give Nigerians
reliable electricity supply before long.

President of the
South-east and South-south Professionals, Emeka Ugbuoju, who said Mr
Nnaji was his former classmate back in St Patrick’s Secondary School,
Emene, Enugu State, had eulogised him for remaining a worthy ambassador
of his generation.

But Mr Nnaji told
his audience, including the Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Emmanuel
Egbogah; former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN),
Paul Usoro, that he has been wondering why his former classmate (Mr
Ugbuojo) has managed to look fresh, while he is graying all over.

“Emeka Ugbuoju said
he used to sit next to me in school. But, look at my hair and look at
his,” he told guests, as he made gestures at the graying hairs on his
head.

“It is suffering
that brought these things. And then, the President decided to heap the
challenge of electricity industry on my head, and literarily said that
my neck is on the line here. So, he gave me more gray hairs.” Mr Nnaji,
who appeared overwhelmed by the gathering, thanked his friends for the
gesture. He described it as humbling, acknowledging that though he is a
people’s person, he always prefers celebrating others than being
celebrated.

The former
Chairman, Geometric Power, who was accompanied by his wife and son,
then declared to his audience: “What I can promise you is that the work
that the president is doing, we, the people in the trenches, who are
working with him, will do everything to deliver electricity for Nigeria
in a reliable way.”

Blazing trails

Don Adinuba of
Discovery International Communicators, who proposed the toast on behalf
of the group, described Mr Nnaji as one of the nicest human beings he
has ever come across.

“We are gathered to
celebrate a man who has risen to the top, but has not lost the common
touch; one who has broken all records and still remains very humble in
his modesty,” he declared, adding that Mr Nnaji has sponsored the
training of about 300 people from primary school to university level,
most of who are currently pursuing different professional careers both
within and outside the country.

Mr Adinuba
described Mr Nnaji’s academic accomplishments as exemplary, as he not
only became a professor before the age of 30, he also broke a 120 years
record in the history of St. John’s University, New York to emerge the
institution’s first black to be named its best graduating student in
1980.

Before presenting a
giant portrait of Mr Nnaji’s image, Barth Okonkwo recalled his tenure
as Chairman of the Nigerian Peoples Forum, an umbrella organisation of
Nigerians in the United States.

He said it was under his leadership that Nigerians, on behalf of the
whole Africa, made a bold statement in American politics, by donating
about $350,000 to Al Gore’s presidential campaign.

Long after
diseases such as polio, guinea worm, tetanus, leprosy, and measles,
among others, have been eliminated in many countries of the world,
Nigeria is still contending with these problems. Even today, the hope
of eradicating some of them in the nearest future remains dim.

The diseases have
been targeted for eradication and elimination by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) which hopes in the short run to lower their
prevalence so that they can more easily be managed.

According to the
Organisation, “Throughout history, only one infectious disease –
smallpox – has ever been eradicated. Today, polio and guinea worm
diseases are on the verge of eradication.” However, experts are worried
that the Nigerian government has at best shown a dubious attitude
towards their eradication.

Dearth of amenities

Some of these
diseases have been eradicated in most parts of the world, and their
continued presence in the country has been attributed to poor hygiene
and government’s inability to provide basic amenities that would help
keep them in check.

“Many of these
diseases have to do with good hygiene, good water supply for the
people,” said Edamisan Temiye, the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the
Nigeria Medical Association.

“For example,
guinea worm. You can contact it if you step into the water containing
the guinea worm larva; it will penetrate the skin and the person will
be infected,” said Dr Temiye.

“If somebody has
polio virus and his stool is not properly disposed of and it
contaminates water that is going to be drunk or food that is going to
be eaten, then the person is going to be infected. They have to do with
water so they are water-borne diseases.

“So, if the
country has been able to supply potable water for her citizens, we
would have eradicated these things; they will not be a big problem,” he
said.

Despite the
success recorded through mass immunisation campaigns, which officials
say had reached hundreds of millions of children, experts say some of
the diseases, like polio, are still widespread in some heavily
populated areas due to ignorance and poor reporting systems.

Ignorance and political interference

During the second
round of immunisation in Lagos State last year, some teams of
vaccinators met with stiff resistance in some areas of the state.

Tunde Oni, the
proprietor of Sam Debo Nursery and Primary School, Gowon Estate, in
Alimosho local government area of the state, resisted attempts to
immunise pupils in his school.

“It is not for the progress of this nation as the government has proposed, so I don’t want it done in my school,” he said.

Mr Oni believed
that the exercise had ulterior motives: “The government knows why it is
carrying this out. Maybe they don’t want it exposed to the people, but
I know the reason,” he said.

Afghanistan,
India, Nigeria, and Pakistan are the only four countries yet to
eradicate polio, according to a United Nations report.

Adebayo Onajole, a
medical professional, blamed the country’s inability to effectively
eradicate the disease on the irresponsible attitude of officials who
see the health institution as an avenue to engage in political
showmanship.

“The issue of
poliomyelitis is more of a political problem than us not doing some of
those things right,” said Dr. Onajole, an associate professor of
Medicine at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

“And the political
problem came as a result of the religious strife from misinformation
about the vaccination against polio,” he added.

A few years ago,
some states in the northern part of the country rejected the polio
vaccines for the immunisation of children after rumours claimed there
was a chemical embedded in the vaccine which would sterilise male
children and destroy the womb of female children.

“That was one of the things that drew us back in terms of the polio eradication programme in Nigeria,” said Dr. Onajole.

“Because
immediately after that, paralysis as a result of polio that was noticed
in far away countries like Saudi Arabia was said to have originated
from Nigeria.

“A lot of people
were sponsored to go out of the country, even to purely Islamic
countries to be able to ascertain that the same vaccines that were
being used in Nigeria are the same that are used in those countries and
it was not deleterious to their health,” he said.

Immunisation is key but…

Various state
governments have embarked on immunisation campaigns to ensure that
these diseases are eradicated but, so far, polio seems to get all the
attention.

“Immunisation is
yielding some results, but they are concentrating only on polio. There
are so many diseases that are vaccine-preventable that are ravaging the
people of this country,” said Dr. Temiye.

“The focus is on
polio. There is no talk about measles, tetanus, and the rest, and some
of these vaccines are quite cheap; the system can afford them. We are
only concentrating on polio because we have funds from international
agencies to eradicate polio and governments have not put their money
down to eradicate other diseases, which are also there and there are
vaccines for them,” he said.

Dr. Temiye said
that a lot of children and adults are dying in large numbers as a
result of tetanus, measles, and meningitis, which are making a comeback
in epidemic proportion.

“If we have had a
system that ensures that every child born in this country is immunised
with all the available vaccines, then our health indices will increase.
We will also be able to eliminate diseases such as measles, tetanus
that are vaccine-preventable,” he further said.

In the case of
measles, however, the WHO states that global efforts to control the
disease have been hampered by low immunisation of coverage areas in
some countries.

“One of the
challenges facing measles eradication is that you can only administer
the vaccine via injection and it is only trained personnel that can do
that,” said Dr. Onajole.

“And you also know
the problems with injections today. A lot of us in the health sector
are trying to limit people getting injections because of diseases that
are spread via blood, especially HIV. Therefore, you will not want just
anybody to start administering injection because there is no advantage
in saving a child from measles, only for the child to have HIV,” he
added.

Ensuring that the
routine immunisation programmes are sustained and that people are able
to access immunisation at locations close to them would give the
necessary fillip to the fight against these diseases, according to Dr.
Onajole.

“Also, the
practice whereby local governments, primary healthcare centres, and
every other places are closed up because government wants to do her
so-called ‘special immunisation’ programme to immunise against one
disease, polio, is a major drawback.

“But, part of the
process of how the polio was eradicated in the Americas is that if a
case of acute flaccid paralysis is noticed as a result of
poliomyelitis, you do what we call a mop-up immunisation campaign
around five kilometre radius of that vicinity,” he said.

The migration of
people from disease endemic regions also weakens the fight against
eradication. Last year, more than 10 cases of paralysis as a result of
polio were reported in Lagos, where the disease was thought to have
been eliminated.

“The Lagos cases have been taken care of and the mop-up has been done,” said Dr. Onajole.

“Polio is easier
to eradicate because there is no reasonable extra human reservoir for
the virus and that means that somebody who has and is incubating the
virus must have been transmitting it to somebody else. So, if you can
eradicate it in the human population, then you are surely going to
eradicate polio virus,” he said.

Uniting to eradicate

Tremendous
achievement has also been made in the area of guinea worm disease, with
Nigeria recording her last case of transmission in 2008.

The WHO attributed
the success to the effective public/private sector partnerships towards
its eradication and elimination programmes.

Last week, some
African leaders demonstrated an unprecedented co-operation and
commitment to drive out polio when they launched a synchronised mass
immunisation campaign to reach 72 million children, capitalising on
gains made this year.

A report released
by the WHO stated that the “synchronised mass immunisation” became
imperative following the spread of the disease from Nigeria to 24
countries across West and Central Africa.

“As a direct
result of these immunisation campaigns, the polio outbreaks have slowed
to a trickle. Across West Africa, only Liberia and Mali have recorded
any case in the past five months, while Nigeria – the only country in
Africa never to have stopped polio transmission – has slashed polio by
98 percent in the past year,” the WHO report stated.

Also last week,
the World Health Assembly expressed worries over the $1.3 billion
funding shortfall, a 50 percent drop in the overall funding for the
polio eradication programme over the next three years.

Dr. Temiye
maintained that Nigeria should be looking inwards for finance, rather
than waiting for handouts from foreign agencies.

“Why should we
depend on donors? We have enough money to take care of ourselves. Why
should we depend on people dictating to us what to do when we know our
own problems?

“Nobody can solve our problems for us from outside. We must solve it
within. We should use our money to develop ourselves. Until we do that,
I’m sorry we’ll still have a lot of problems,” he said.