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Ministerial nomination: Nurses express concern over alleged neglect
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has expressed disastisfaction over alleged neglect in the ministerial nominations of President Bola Tinubu.
Deborah Yusuf, Chairman of NANNM, FCT Chapter, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday at the cultural carnival of the nurses, food beverage and craft exhibition.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the event was part of the activities marking the 2023 FCT Nurses Week, which began on Friday.
Yusuf expressed disappointment at the president’s ministerial nominees, saying there was no single nurse on the list, and that this did not go down well with the association.
The chairman who stated that nurses were relegated to the background, wondered if there were no nurses to represent the profession in the president’s cabinet.
She, however, appealed to the president to look into the issue and redress it by appointing nurses into his government in ministerial positions, personal assistants and special assistants.
“We are not happy with this situation; we are appealing to President Tinubu to look into that.
“We have so many nurses with good qualifications that can stand the test of the time; government should be fair in whatever it is doing, all other professionals are accommodated on the list but there is no nurse.
“This is unfair, nurses are respected all over the world, we have nurses who are surgeons general, directors general outside Nigeria, but in Nigeria nurses have been relegated to the background.
“We are not happy about this, all we are looking for is fair share because we are part of the society; let us equally enjoy the same privileges other people are enjoying, nurses are vital to the healthcare delivery system.
“You can have the best doctors, the best radiologists, the best life scientists but if you don’t have the nurse that will administer the medication, the exercise is in futility; nurses are always on duty 24/7.
“So we are calling on the government to look at the nurses and elevate us; let us have a voice; let us have our own share,” she stressed.
One of the cultural displays at the event.
The chairman also called on government, particularly the minister of health, to look into the challenges confronting the nursing profession in terms of reviewing and upgrading the Consolidated Health Workers Salary Structure (COHESS).
Yusuf, who noted that COHESS had not been reviewed for a very long time, also called for a review of allowances the nurses were entitled to such as hazard, uniform, rural, shift and call duty.
She said part of the challenges were the
reasons medical workers, particularly the nurses, were leaving the shores of the country, calling it the Japa syndrome.
She stated earlier that the cultural carnival was basically organised to promote unity among the nurses while in their workplaces and the nation at large.
According to her, the nurses want to show the world that they are also in the cultural diversity of the country and to unite Nigerians, adding that whatever the country is doing without the unity of the people, it has not gotten it right.
She called on nurses nationwide to be united, and keep away ethnicity and religion differences for the betterment of the country and nursing profession in particular.
The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .
Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.
“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.
“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.
“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.
“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.
He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.
“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.
NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.
Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.
The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.
On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.
The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.
Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.
Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.
His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.
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