The Allergy and Clinical Immunology Society (ACIS) has lamented the difficulties encountered in caring for allergy conditions owing to a lack of training, access to drugs, and the cost of drugs.

Chairperson of ACIS, Dr Olatunde Odusote, decried the lack of awareness in this region regarding allergy diseases while noting that the increase in these conditions, though not fully understood, can be attributed to climate change and global warming.

This was stated at a media parley yesterday, ahead of the two-day World Allergy Training School (WATS) starting today in Lagos, organised by ACIS in partnership with the World Allergy Organisation (WAO).

He noted the need to develop a curriculum within the context of the nation to offer basic training to practitioners who can care for allergies at the primary level.

He added that participants for the training would cut across the various medical spectrum, and lectures would cover disease processes, necessary tests to run, their interpretation, and how to go about it.

“One of the major problems we have had in the world of allergy is that people think when one has such conditions, you must do a test, but it is not necessarily so. You need to listen to their story first, and if there is a need for a test, you can go ahead,” he said.

Odusote stated that the organisation is focused on creating awareness, promoting advocacy, and empowering healthcare practitioners and the community with the right information.

President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Prof. James Tracy, said the training would deal with a catalogue of allergies such as asthma, food allergy, and practical training on how to treat severe allergic reactions.

He noted that disease awareness, genetic components, and environmental pollution are possible causes of increased allergic conditions globally.

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has stated that Nigeria is “technically bankrupt” and urged the Federal Government to implement urgent restructuring for the country to progress.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Obaseki said the nation is unable to cover its expenditures due to insufficient earnings, while government spending remains high.

“Nigeria is technically bankrupt. And I mean it,” Obaseki said, comparing the situation to the U.S. Chapter Eleven bankruptcy process, where organisations restructure to meet their obligations.

He noted that Nigeria is not undertaking such restructuring, continuing to act as though it still had significant financial resources.

The governor also criticised the Federal Government’s centralised management of resources, arguing that individual states should be allowed to exploit their own economic opportunities. “

“It (Nigeria) has been in trouble for a while. I won’t say insolvent, but technically so, in the sense that we don’t have enough to cover our expenditure, we are not reducing our expenditure, and we are not earning more,” he said.

“First, the Federal Government does not have the capacity to manage the economy at the scale and in the way it is currently doing. You’re producing 1.3 million barrels of oil, right? Because you are trying to do it centrally. We have 147 oil wells in Edo, and only 53 or fewer are producing.

“Unless you create a new design that allows the individual states to take advantage of the economic opportunities they have, stressing the assets of this country and paying what they need to pay to the central government, the federal government cannot sit and try to micromanage the country and its assets. It has shown that it cannot. It doesn’t have the capacity to do so.”

Obaseki also expressed concern that the government is “stuck in the past” and lacks the courage to make difficult decisions necessary for restructuring.

He stressed that the current governance structure is outdated, noting that the current structure “is expired; it’s outdated” and Nigeria needs a new structure to run the economy of the state.

He added, “I think for me, it’s like this federal government is stuck, and stuck in the past. Because you cannot resolve a malignant problem using the same tools you have used over the years.

“It’s not that the people there are not smart; it’s not that they’re stupid. It’s more that they just don’t have the courage to make the decisions they need to make.

“The problem with Nigeria today is structural. The structure we have is expired; it’s outdated. We need a new structure to run the economy of the state. If it doesn’t happen, we are not going anywhere.”

Special Adviser to the Delta State governor on trade and export promotion, Mrs. Shimite Love, has raised concerns over the practice of slavery and forced labour in Delta State.

Shimite, who spoke to journalists in Asaba yesterday, frowned upon the practice of modern-day slavery, mostly in restaurants.

“I was told Delta practises slavery, but I didn’t believe it until I went out to see things for myself. I saw people really working in restaurants; they are not being paid, while some borrow money and are made to work for it for years. That is slavery.

“People are suffering slavery in the state. I don’t know about other states, but in Delta, we have already been marked as people who engage in child labour and slavery. So, we must frown upon it, and whoever engages in the act should be held responsible,” she advised.

The dehumanisation occasioned by slavery, according to her, is too much. So it is important we seek their freedom without delay.

The governor’s special adviser also revealed that “Nigeria has no business being poor or hungry, even in the midst of a high exchange rate.”

For her, opportunities abound everywhere for anyone to earn a means of livelihood and stop crying about hunger across the nation.

She expressed displeasure, however, that “Nigerians have turned themselves into a palliative country. I’m not a party to palliatives. But, while others see hunger and poverty, I see opportunities around me.”

Speaking on the issue of the pandemic and how the harsh economy affects export business, she said her office believes that when an economy is down, it is a business opportunity for someone else. When there is a pandemic, it is a business opportunity for someone, and where there is war, it is a business opportunity for someone.

Regarding the untapped opportunities in the export business, she called on those interested to tap into export business and patronise the Koko Port to ease the export of their agricultural products.

She encouraged Deltans and other Nigerians who experience delays in clearing their products for export in other seaports to patronise the Koko Port for speedy clearance, even at the lowest cost.

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has disclosed some of the benefits of the new Electronic Central Motor Registry (E-CMR), a digital innovation designed to modernise vehicle registration and improve road safety.

The Force Spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, announced the benefits of the innovation on Thursday.

Adejobi said the E-CMR will eliminate the need for physical vehicle documents and enable real-time verification of registration information by police officers

He explained that the Electronic Central Motor Registry system was launched to make roads safer and the policing process more efficient.

Adejobi also stated the new E-CMR system elimination of paperwork, saying, “NO MORE PAPERWORK! With the NPF’s new E-CMR system, you don’t need to carry around physical documents. Access all your vehicle info digitally – quick, easy, and secure.

He added that this new system allows vehicle owners to immediately flag their vehicle as stolen through their online profile if it goes missing, triggering alerts to field officers nationwide within seconds.

With this new E-CMR system, according to Adejobi, there is no more need to stop and check papers, as officers are equipped with cutting-edge technology to verify documents in real time.

Adejobi stated, “If your vehicle is registered with the NPF E-CMR and gets stolen, you can instantly flag it as stolen through your online profile. All field officers nationwide will be alerted within seconds! Let’s make our roads safer together,”

“Inspector-General Egbetokun is revolutionising how we keep our roads safe with the new E-CMR system! Now, no more stopping to check papers; our officers are equipped with cutting-edge tech to verify documents in real-time.”

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, South West zone, on Thursday rejected the N70,000 minimum wage that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) negotiated, which was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.

They urged organised labour to return to the negotiating table while blaming them for allowing the Federal Government to trick them into accepting the amount in the first place.

The NUP Southwest noted that before the N70,000 was even implemented, the federal government had gone ahead to further increase the price of petrol, saying that the NLC and TUC that went into that negotiation were blindfolded and naïve.

The pensioners also said that they wholeheartedly support the autonomy of the local government, provided that whatever arrangement is being put in place, the pensions of primary school teachers and the local government pensioners at the local level are not to be tampered with.

The NUP Zonal Public Relations Officer and Secretary of Oyo State NUP, Dr Olusegun Abatan, stated this in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, while addressing newsmen after the zonal meeting of the pensioners.

He said that labour leaders ought to be more clever when dealing with politicians.

“There are two burning issues that we need to put forward to the public domain. The first issue is the agreement between labour and the Federal Government over the minimum wage of N70,000,” he said.

“The NUP Southwest debated it extensively and we found out that before the N70,000 was even implemented, the federal government had gone ahead to further increase the price of petrol. And we concluded that the two labour centres that went into that negotiation were blindfolded; they went there naïve.

“They forgot that when you are dining with the devil, your spoon must be very long, and when you are dining with the politicians, your spoon must be longer than that of the devil. So, the federal government took advantage of their naivety and the inexperience of Comrade Ajaero and Osifo by tricking them into accepting N70,000 and that they would not increase fuel prices.

“But no sooner did they agree than the federal government went ahead to increase the price. To that extent, the NUP Southwest is rejecting the minimum wage that the labour has negotiated and advises that they should go back to the negotiating table and insist on the N250,000 they initially wanted.

“What is the value of N70,000? It is just about sixty litres of fuel. We say they should return to the negotiating table, and if going on strike will bring about an improvement, then we will support it. These people are not reducing their level of enjoyment; rather, their level of profligacy is increasing minute by minute. It is only the workers that are expected to tighten their belts; they don’t even have belts because their stomachs are too big to take a belt.”

On Local Government Autonomy, Abatan said, “NUP wholeheartedly supports it. But with the condition that whatever arrangement is being put in place, the pensions of primary school teachers and the local government pensioners at the local level are not to be tampered with. The salaries of working teachers should also continue. The salaries of LG workers and allowances of the traditional rulers should be taken care of as the first-line charges.”

An analysis of Nigeria’s Multidimensional poverty index by ActionAid Nigeria has revealed that about 65 percent of poor people, that is 86 million people live in the northern part of the country, while 36 percent, nearly 47 million people live in the South.

The analysis indicated the poorest states in the country to include Sokoto, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Gombe, and Yobe, but cannot determine which of these states is the poorest.

The organisation disclosed this at the launch of its report on Austerity Measure, poverty and Gender Inequality in Nigeria in Abuja, saying Nigeria’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for 2022 found that 63% of the population, amounting to approximately 133mn Nigerians, are multidimensionally poor.

Analysing the report, the Country Director of ActionAid Andrew Mamedu noted that Poverty and inequality do not just happen; they result from economic, social, and political decisions made by the state and citizens.

He said “The critical policy decisions reflected in the key macroeconomic indicators show the rate and trend of poverty and inequality. Extant Nigerian negative indicators on gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation, interest rate, unemployment, debts, and deficits, among others, can only lead to one direction, increased poverty.”

Mamedu further stated that the underlying cause of the current spate of poverty is rooted in the heavy burden of austerity measures, imposed as part of broader macroeconomic policies.

He disclosed that based on their research, from 2010 to 2020, Nigeria’s debt stock ballooned by over 300%, reaching a staggering ₦31 trillion by the end of 2020​ , and as of March 31st, 2024, debt stock stands at USD 91,463.99, an equivalent of N121, 670.49. trillion consuming 74% of government revenue and leaving little for vital sectors such as education, healthcare, and social protection​.

He pointed out that keeping large numbers of people excluded from access to economic resources, employment, healthcare, adequate food, clean water and sanitation, education, skills, and technology, will result in a reduction of future productive human potential.

He stressed that well-designed and sustained investments in areas such as maternal and child health, education, and social protection would yield significant dividends for society.

“Conversely, no society can expect to achieve sustained economic and social progress while significant numbers of its population often disproportionately women and girls – are poorly nourished, in poor health, and lack the education and/or skills needed for their own and their families’ development,” he stated

The Minister of Budget and National Planning Atiku Bagudu who was represented by the Director of Microeconomic Philip Okwonkwo wondered if poverty and inequality could be tackled at the same time.

He maintained that the issue of poverty is a global phenomenon as it is not unique to Nigeria and Africa alone and harped on the need for stakeholders to collaborate to empower the poor people in society.