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Revealed: Governor Umo Eno’s Communication to Senator Akpabio and His Response

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… Hosts State Banquet in Honour of Senate President, Akpabio

Governor Pastor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State is reaching out to the federal government to foster collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of the Ibom Deep Seaport and an Oil Palm refinery.

Speaking at a State Banquet organised in honour of the president of the 10th Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio at the Government House Banquet Hall, Uyo, he urged the Senate President to help facilitate the projects for the good of the State and country at large.

He noted that it is a privilege and a blessing for the State to have a Senate President under his leadership as State Governor, and urged him to bring the dividends of democracy back home.

According to him, “Your Excellency, I had some requests while we were in my office, and I want to please make it public, they’re just three. The first thing I want to request is that you help facilitate a partnership with the Federal Government on the Ibom Deep Seaport.

“The second request is that we want to partner with the federal government to develop our oil palm plantation and to have an industrial oil mill in this state. This is the kind of thing that will bring employment and benefit our people. Finally, Your Excellency, we would like to pay a Thank You visit to Mr. President across party lines. We would like to go thank him for standing by you and supporting you.

“Your Excellency, we thank you and we want to assure you that we will continue to collaborate with you to bring development to our state and our nation at large,” he said.

Governor Eno appreciated President Bola Tinubu for the support given to an Akwa Ibom son to emerge as Senate President and assured the President of continuous support to enable him succeed.

“We want to thank the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We thank him for standing by you, and supporting the vision of your colleagues that today, Akwa Ibom has the number three citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“That’s the joy we have and that is the prize we carry, and we will continue to assure you that we will partner with you, partner with the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the Governor added.

The Governor who had earlier recieved the Senate President in his office on a courtesy visit, appreciated Sen. Akpabio for his visionary leadership when he served as governor of the State, and urged him to do even more as number three citizen of the country.

Pastor Eno who was elated by the visit, said “Your Excellency, it is very clear from Psalm 133:1, “how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! For me as a person, I believe that God brought me here by grace to bring about reconciliation. There is this saying that “together we stand, and divided we fall.

“Tonight, that portion of scripture has come tru3

Sitting here again as a man who laid the foundation and built this edifice many years ag is heart -warming . I know you have been in Akwa Ibom State many times, but this is the first official visit of the distinguished senate president to the seat of Government of Akwa Ibom State.

“We do not take it for granted. We want to thank God for lifting you up as a beacon of light for our State. We want to thank your colleagues that found you worthy to be made the leader of the Senate, and the Senate President,” he said.

He appreciated all his predecessors for laying good foundation for the state saying, “we have a very proud genealogy, and each and everyone of you that went ahead of us have done such a fantastic job that our role is just to keep maintaining like you have noticed and attempt to add few more things by the grace of God.”

The Governor appreciated other Senators for the support shown their president and especially for accompanying him on the courtesy visit as well as the gala night, and urged them to keep up the team spirit.

Earlier in his remarks, Senator Godswill Akpabio appreciated Governor Umo Eno for his spirit of peace and unity, and described him as an apostle of peace.

He specifically appreciated the Governor for the honour done him by the warm reception and for always identifying with him and others irrespective of political party affiliation.

Senator Akpabio commended the Governor for his achievements so far, and urged him to continue the good works and strive to do more.

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Peddle Drugs and Die: NAFDAC Goes for the Jugular

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By Eric Elezuo

Drug peddlers and their sponsors are in for a harder time if recommendations and proposal of death penalty, by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye, sails through.

The formation of NAFDAC was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries’ help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals

Speaking bitterly at a live television show on the hard-heartedness of peddlers, whose actions, direct and indirect, have caused the deaths of not a few Nigerian children, and in some cases, adults.

According to the Director-General, only stiff penalties will deter peddlers, especially when it leads to the death of children.

She noted that “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall,” the NAFDAC chief said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty.

“Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine,” Adeyeye said.

The NAFDAC DG is also seeking the cooperation of the judiciary and the National Assembly to make such a move a reality. According to her, the agency is open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.

“You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem,” she said.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000?

“That is part of our problem. There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die,” she said.

While NAFDAC has a lot on its plate in stemming drug peddling, Adeyeye decried the shortage of manpower in the agency.

She believes with about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities.

“So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better,” the NAFDAC DG said.

It would be recalled that in times past, and in recent times, the deaths of children from medicine intake has been rift, prompting a form of emergency in the medical sector to checkmate the activities of the saboteurs, who are bent on reaping gains at the expense of life and wellbeing.

Mrs Adeyeye has promptly toed the lines of former NAFDAC DG, the late Dora Akinyuli, who declared an all out against drug peddlers and couriers.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is a federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Health that is responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale, and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water established in 1993 under the health and safety law.

 

The establishment of NAFDAC was to counter the production and sales of adulterated and counterfeit drugs, which has become a menace in Nigeria, and to Nigerians. It would be recalled also that in one incident in 1989, over 150 children died as a result of paracetamol syrup containing diethylene glycol, among a list of other horrifying incidents.

At a certain stage, fake drugs issue was so severe that neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Sierra Leone officially banned the sale of drugs, foods, and beverage products made in Nigeria.

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El-Rufai Lacks Capacity to Win Even Senate Seat – Presidency

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Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has stated that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the lacks the influence to “unsettle” President Bola Tinubu.

Bwala made the remarks during an interview with TVC News on Thursday, stating that former Kaduna State governor does not have the capacity to win even a senate seat.

He emphasized that President Tinubu is not troubled by El-Rufai’s ongoing criticisms of his administration.

Bwala also noted that el-Rufai only gains political prominence when aligning with a strong, revolutionary leader, adding: “Let me tell you something about my elder brother, el-Rufai, and whether we should be concerned.

“There’s a dynamic around him. El-Rufai needs a solid revolutionary figure to thrive. On his own, El-Rufa’i might not even secure a Senate seat.”

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Reps Propose Creation of 31 More States

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The House of Representatives Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has proposed the creation of 31 additional states in the country.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary on Thursday read a letter from the committee containing the proposed states.

If approved, this will increase the number of states in Nigeria to 67.

The letter read: “This is to inform members that the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), has received legislative proposals for the creation of states and local governments in the following order:

NORTH CENTRAL

1. BENUE ALA STATE from the present Benue State.
2. OKUN STATE from the present Kogi State
3. OKURA STATE from the present Kogi State
4. CONFLUENCE STATE from the present Kogi State
5. APA-AGBA STATE from Benue South Senatorial District
6. APA STATE from the present Benue State.
7. A 37th state, namely FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

NORTH EAST

8. AMANA STATE from the present Adamawa State.
9. KATAGUM STATE from the present Bauchi State.
10. SAVANNAH STATE from the present Borno State.
11. MURI STATE from the present Taraba State.

NORTH WEST

12. NEW KADUNA STATE and GURARA STATE from the present Kaduna State.
13. TIGA STATE from the present Kano State.
14. KAINJI STATE from the present Kebbi State.
15. GHARI STATE from the present Kano State

SOUTH EAST

16. ETITI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
17. ADADA STATE from the present Enugu State of Nigeria.
18. URASHI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
19. ORLU STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
20. ABA STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.

SOUTH SOUTH

21. OGOJA STATE from the present Cross River State.
22. WARRI STATE from the present Delta State.
23. BORI STATE from the present Rivers State
24. OBOLO STATE from the present Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

SOUTH WEST

25. TORU-EBE STATE from the present Delta, Edo, and Ondo States.
26. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
27. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State.
28. IJEBU STATE from the present Ogun State.
29. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State and Ogun State
30. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
31. OKE-OGUN and IFE-IJESHA STATES from the Present-day Ogun, Oyo, and Osun states.

The request for states’ creation can only materialise if at least “the third majority of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (National Assembly) and the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly.”

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