Miss Elizabeth Christopher Etim, switched from the business of selling fruits to selling premium motor spirit (PMS) in measured plastic kegs popularly called “black market”, by the roadside.

She was sitting behind her kegs of petrol along Ikpa Road in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State when our correspondent engaged her in a chat. According to her, since the economic hardship in Nigeria is squeezing life out of the ordinary Nigerian, ingenuity is required to navigate the ugly tide of the galloping inflation of the country.

“The government officials in this country are not treating us well oo. We thought we were voting for development and for a good government, but now, it’s worse than before.

“I mean, it was a little bit better during the Buhari government but when President Bola Tinubu came, everything has worsened. Everywhere is hard.

“The masses are complaining. I believe that it is only those in government positions that are not complaining in this country as of today,” she lamented.

Elizabeth, who hails from Ibiono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, holds a secondary school certificate; unable to proceed to the university because her parents are indigent, she ventured into selling fruits, then petrol business, rather than prostitution, to evade hunger and privation.

Having witnessed, first hand, some better days in the past in Nigeria according to her, Elizabeth ventured into the labyrinth of his journey and ongoing struggle for survival.

She tells her story:

“There has never been a time when petrol is sold for N700 in this country.

“If someone had told me two years ago that I would be buying fuel for N900 per liter in the black market, I would have cursed the person to go to hell with his misfortune but now, we are having it worse.

“A distance that one could cover for N50 before, is now up to N200. Sometimes I wonder how Keke (tricycle) drivers cope with the increase in the prices of fuel.

“I’m 26 years old. I am not married. I have parents but I believe that I am an adult so I shouldn’t depend on my parents to feed.

“Also, they are struggling and as a grown up lady, I should be the one supporting them not the other way round.

“I finished secondary school in 2015, though I had loved to have a tertiary education, there was no money to do so.

“After I finished my Senior Secondary Certificate Education (SSCE) in 2015, there was nothing for me to do since my parents did not bother about sending me to the university because of lack of funds.

“In 2020 after the lockdown, a friend of mine took me to a lady’s sewing shop where I learnt how to sew, and in 2022, I was done with my training, but there was no money to get a sewing machine so I went to stay with my elder sister who later bought me a machine after a year.

“When I was staying with her, I was helping her with her fruit business. Later, I decided to leave her to start up my business.

“Though there is profit in the fruit business, I decided not to continue because of the stress involved in going to different bush markets to buy good fruits at cheaper rates so that you can get profit after selling to consumers.

“So, I decided to sell fuel by the roadside (black market) so that I will have what to eat. With the economy of the country, I couldn’t stay idle waiting for somebody to feed me.

“If your hope is having someone feeding you all the time without doing something to earn an income, you might have problems with the person as a result of consistent dependency.

“I started this business about a week ago. Before I decided to venture into this business, I was working as a seamstress; I have a sewing machine at home. I learnt the trade after my secondary school.

“Since I haven’t been able to get a lucrative spot for my sewing business, I decided to use the small money I had with me to start this business.

“I wanted to start working as a sales girl to raise money for my sewing skills but decided to start with the fuel business first.

“I buy fuel at the rate of N750 from the petrol station and sell at the rate of N900 per liter. So far, the business has been profitable.

“I make about N12,000 to N15,000 daily. Good thing I haven’t faced any form of harassment since I started. So I like this business. If I have money, I will like to expand it.

“I think what I make from this business complements the increase in the price of foodstuffs in the market. Now, two cups of garri is N500, so selling this fuel, at least I will have money to buy the garri.

“I prefer sitting outside like this with these liters of fuel to sitting down idle waiting for a man to feed me. Men don’t pay and so does idleness.

“I can’t go into prostitution or hookup all in the name of waiting for someone to pay my bills when I have hands and legs.

“In fact, men don’t pay these days because they are also struggling with the economy of the country to survive.

“It’s better I buy a liter of fuel for N750, sell it and make a profit of N150 than to sit idle and beg for food.

“I still have plans of going back to my sewing skills and I believe that one day, I will make enough money to be able to open a big fashion house.”

src[Tribuneonline]

Governor Siminalayi Fubara has called for unity and cooperation from traditional rulers across Rivers State, highlighting the importance of collective efforts in fostering peace and progress.

Speaking to the esteemed leaders, Gov. Fubara recalled a past incident where a predecessor had issued threats to a traditional leader during a visit to Ahoada-East in Ekpeye land.

Reflecting on this experience, Gov. Fubara emphasized a different approach. “I remembered when we went to Ahoada-East, Ekpeye land, to perform an activity,” he recounted.

“A former Governor openly threatened one of you and warned that if you try it, I will do this, I will do that.”

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, has asked the affected workers to undergo one-year mandatory training before their conversion from Executive to Officers cadre.

Yemi-Esan said this at a virtual interactive session with civil servants in commemoration of the 2024 Civil Service Week with the theme: “Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Life-long, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa.”

The one-year mandatory training programme to bridge the gap between polytechnic awarded Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree has been a subject of controversy between the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

Stakeholders have over the years called for an end to the age-long disparity between HND offered by polytechnics and bachelor degrees offered by universities.

A bill was passed at the ninth national assembly in 2021 to end the dichotomy but it was not signed into law by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Thus, NBTE, which regulates technical and vocational education, had to introduce what it describes as a one-year top-up programme which offers a platform for HND holders to level up towards obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

The move was rejected by NUC on the basis that it was not within NBTE jurisdiction to determine what is required to bridge the two certificates, the Commission argued were diametrically different by curriculum content and faculties which produce the students in each case.

While fielding question from one of the civil servants during the virtual meeting, Yemi-Esan, corroborated that the curriculum for HND and B.Sc holders were not the same, hence, HND graduates would have to undergo mandatory one year training before conversion from Executive to Officers’ cardre.

Mr. Adebayo Bamidele Hassan on Grade Level 14 had earlier asked on the dichotomy between B.Sc and HND holders in the Service and what the Federal Government was doing to bridge the gap.

Speaking on the theme of the 2024 Civil Service Week, Yemi-Esan emphasized on the need for education to be accessible, inclusive and of high quality, while highlighting the need for it to constantly remain relevant to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern world.

According to her, ”The theme also speaks to how the Nigerian Civil Service is leveraging learning and development to enhance the capacity and capability of its workforce with a view to delivering on national priorities.”

She further stated that the first priority area/pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 25), is Capacity Building and Talent Management, which is in line with the theme selected by the African Union for this year’s celebration.

Yemi-Esan affirmed that the lessons learned in the recent years further underscored the need for civil servants to commit to continuous self-development, particularly in view of emerging global challenges and emerging technologies and the new world of work.

The Head of the Civil Service disclosed that the rapidly changing work environment as well as demands for greater efficiency have necessitated the adoption of Performance Management System (PMS) by the Nigerian Civil Service, adding that PMS Policy and Guidelines have been developed and circulated to all Ministries, extra-ministerial Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

She pointed out that core teams for its implementation have been duly constituted.

According to her, “PMS implementation has been cascaded to the Ministries, with the Permanent Secretaries serving as the primary drivers.

“In this regard, performance contracts are to be further cascaded down to the last officer in each MDA.

“This new system will assess each officer’s performance solely based on their respective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and it will enable tracking of job objectives across all MDAs.

“By implication, each officer across the Service can clearly link his goals and objectives with those of his department, those of the respective Ministry and the national KPIs.

She described the digitalisation of work processes in the Service as another reference point in the on-going transformation of the Federal Civil Service.

She further stressed that the Office has fully digitalised all personal and policy files and is implementing digital transaction of workflow processes, as all official correspondences, in the form of memos, internal and external circulars, are now being processed electronically through the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office (CMO), in the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Adeleye Adeoye, while welcoming participants, noted that education is the most powerful weapon which can be used to change the world.

He further noted that Africa stands a chance to be the best Continent in the world, if only Africans have the best of education.

Adeoye urged civil servants to improve and equip themselves on daily basis with necessary skills and expertise in order to enhance productivity as well as ensure service delivery in the overall interest of the citizenry and the nation at large.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, Sanusi Bature, has declared that Aminu Ado Bayero was never an Emir of Kano.

Bature said former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje appointed Bayero as Emir of the eight Metropolitan local governments of Kano city.

Featuring on Arise Television, Bature said Ganduje made Bayero emir of the metropolitan Kano city due to the bastardization of the emirate.

According to Bature, Ganduje introduced politics into the Kano Emirate that predates Nigeria.

He said: “The action of the governor was to protect the integrity of the emirate as an institution. The Emirate of Nigeria pre-dates Nigeria and the country’s constitution, it’s over a thousand years history of people living together under one Emir.

“The previous administration of Ganduje decided to bastardize that history and bring politics into it.

“The politicisation of the Emirate is what the Yusuf promised to restore the lost glory during the campaign.

“This is not the first time an Emir was deposed, Ganduje did it and Sanusi left Kano for peace to rain. Sanusi is now back to Kano after the repealing of the law.

“I want to put it clear that Aminu Ado Bayero was never an Emir of Kano, he was appointed an Emir of eight metropolitan local government of Kano city.

“So, with the revision of the law under one United Kano, the Emirate Aminu served no longer exist. He was an Emir of Kano city Emirate, he was at that status because the main Emirate was bastardized by Ganduje by the 2019 Emirate law.

“He was the 14 Emir of Kano but his jurisdiction was not for the 44 local government of Kano, he’s just only for the eight metropolitan areas which is now abolished.”

Governor Yusuf had deposed Ado Bayero while reinstating Muhammed Sanusi as Emir of Kano.

Despite the action of the governor, Ado Bayero has refused to vacate his Nassarawa palace.

Bayero had since contested the action of the state government in court.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has confirmed that Nigerians will begin utilising the proposed three-in-one identity card services in August this year.

Recalls that on Friday, April 5, 2024, the NIMC announced that it had launched a new card layered with payment capabilities and social service features in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System.

It explained that the identity solution was equipped with payment capability for all types of social and financial services.

An official of NIMC, in an interview with Punch, said the commission had been working tirelessly to meet its goals, stressing that the plan remains on track and will be launched in the upcoming months.

The official, whose name was not disclosed, added that the commission had begun the testing and deployment stage.

The source said, “We actually plan for July although there have been a few delays but we are still hopeful that it would come in July. So we are hoping to get it done between July and August. We are still on plan and if there is any shift, the public will know.

“When you are deploying a new technology, there is a lot of work to be done, you need to configure the card, enable the outlet, and enable the wallet to work. We also have to do tests and that is what is ongoing.

“The deployment is ongoing, the portal that people need to access the service has to be deployed, and we have to make sure that it is scaleable and those are the ongoing works.

“There are integrations that all the banks need to do to enable the card and all of those little details are ongoing. We have that target and we are working extra hard to make sure that we achieve that.”

Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has attributed the success of his administration in the first year in office to President Bola Tinubu.

The clergyman-turn politician disclosed this on Friday during his thank-you tour to Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency.

Alia said every achievement recorded in the state was the handiwork of Tinubu, including the construction of roads, underpass, payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities, remodelling of the Assembly Complex, and State Secretariat.

According to him, Tinubu had given him unimaginable support and urged the people of the state to be patient with him as the President had “very good intentions for the citizenry.”

He also promised to renovate and upgrade the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) Square in Makurdi to international standard.

Gov. Alia further disclosed that from now on, payment of salaries and pensions would start from the 22nd of every month.

An unidentified young man was late Friday electrocuted while vandalising a transformer near the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) centre in Otukpo, the headquarters of Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Naija News learnt that the man was suddenly electrocuted when power was restored by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

According to Daily Post, the lifeless body of the victim was discovered dangling from the high-tension pole on Saturday morning, with a large crowd of passersby gathered around the corpse.

A source who spoke to the publication above said the electricity distribution officials are retrieving the lifeless body of the suspect from the electric pole where he was suspended.

The source added, “We came this morning and found the body suspended from the electric pole at a transformer with tools in his hand.”

Armed Robbers Invade Delta Varsity
In other news, academic activities at Western Delta University in Oghara, Delta State, were briefly disrupted on Thursday due to an attempted armed robbery on the university’s campus.

The invasion by suspected armed robbers was halted by the prompt actions of students and law enforcement agents, preventing any injuries or significant disruption.

According to reports from PUNCH Metro, the robbers accessed the university through an unfenced section of the perimeter at the rear of the campus.

Their attempt to rob students was thwarted when students quickly detected the threat and raised an alarm, fleeing to safer areas nearby.

The Delta State Police were quick to respond to the distress calls from the university. The Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Command, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident, noting that the suspected robbers had entered through a broken fence but fled upon the arrival of police forces.

In the wake of the incident, a student leader, Simeon Okpoko, emphasized the ongoing security challenges facing educational institutions

A promising new HIV prevention drug called lenacapavir has shown 100 percent efficacy in a clinical trial among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa and Uganda.

The twice-yearly injection was found to be superior to daily Truvada, the current standard for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This is according to Gilead Sciences, the developer of lenacapavir.

In a release signed by Kay Marshall, Senior Communications Advisor for AVAC, the organization welcomes the groundbreaking results of the PURPOSE 1 study which enrolled over 5,300 cisgender adolescent girls and young women ages between the age of 16 and 26 in South Africa and Uganda.

The study evaluated injectable lenacapavir for PrEP and daily oral emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (F/TAF) for PrEP.

An independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB), at a scheduled review of the trial data, found the regimen to be safe and highly effective, with no infections seen among trial participants who received injectable lenacapavir. 

Regulation

HIV prevention advocate and AVAC’s executive director, Mitchell Warren hails the lenacapavir trial results as a significant advancement. He emphasized the potential of long-acting injectables to increase adherence, improve access, and reduce strain on healthcare systems.

“We expect to see a timeline that takes into account a full analysis of PURPOSE 1 data and the coming data from PURPOSE 2 from Gilead as soon as possible, and we urge regulatory agencies to prepare to fast track regulatory review.

“We look forward to working with civil society partners, Gilead, international donors, normative agencies and national governments to ensure that this groundbreaking HIV prevention option is made available as quickly as possible and that we don’t squander this opportunity to drive down new HIV infections,” Warren said. 

The Regional Stakeholder Engagement Manager for AVAC, and a member of the PURPOSE 1 Global Community Advisory Group, Nandisile Sikwana said, “We are incredibly excited about this result, especially about what it can mean for women in Africa. We applaud Gilead’s commitment to Good Participatory Practice in this and the other PURPOSE studies. 

“While we wait for full data from the study, including adherence data of oral F/TAF, it is imperative that planning for rollout of lenacapavir be accelerated. We know that even with the most ambitious timeline, it will take time for lenacapavir to be rolled out”. 

A companion trial, PURPOSE 2, is underway in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the US, testing twice-yearly lenacapavir for PrEP among cisgender men who have sex with men, transgender women, transgender men, and gender non-binary people. Results from PURPOSE 2 are expected by early 2025. 

… additional studies

Additional studies in critical populations, including PURPOSE 3 among cisgender women in the US and PURPOSE 4 among people who use injection drugs, are also underway, and it will be imperative to understand how today’s results influence these trials. 

Gilead’s plans for submission to regulatory agencies and future access, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are not yet clear. But the results reported today make this urgent. 

“We also call on WHO to be prepared to quickly include lenacapavir, if approved by regulatory agencies, in HIV prevention guidelines. There is no time to waste if we are to translate these exciting clinical trial results into actual public health impact and expand the toolbox of HIV prevention choices,” he continued. 

“We now know that lenacapivir for PrEP is safe and highly effective among women. Even as we await the results of the trial among other essential populations and for regulatory submission and review, there is urgent work to be done now by communities, policymakers, funders and program implementers to design and build HIV prevention programmes and prepare health systems to deliver the growing array of biomedical PrEP options, including the addition of twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir.

“The full range of PrEP products – including oral PrEP – must be made feasible choices for all people who need and want HIV prevention options,” Sikwana added.

Says, ‘The comic actor was crying like a baby and gnashing his teeth’

Stella Maris, wife of late comic actor John Okafor popularly known as Mr Ibu was visibly overwhelmed with emotion Monday, when she attended a joint night of tribute in honour of her late husband alongside two other legendary actors, Amaechi Muonagor and Zulu Adigwe. The actors died between March and April this year.

While Mr Ibu passed away on March 2, after battling with a protracted illness, Amaechi Muonagor died two weeks later, on March 24, after suffering from kidney disease, diabetes, and stroke. Similarly, Zulu Adigwe died on the 23rd of April.

The joint night of tribute was organized by the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, and held in four cities across the country, including Abuja, Lagos, Asaba, and Enugu.

Mr Ibu’s widow, Stella Maris who attended the night of tribute alongside his three kids reminisced on how she lost her beloved husband to the pangs of death.

“I am feeling so sad that I am not with my husband here. I am not happy at all after all the efforts and sufferings we went through to save his life,” Mr Ibu’s widow echoed emotionally in a chat with our reporter.

She added: “I don’t know what to say! Where do I start from? It’s so painful seeing my husband cry like a baby with me, saying “Oh first class is this me?” I was watching my husband crying and gnashing his teeth. I was in the hospital with him.

According to her, their effort to fly the late actor abroad for further treatment was aborted as the four hospitals they approached abroad rejected him.

“There was a time we wanted to fly him abroad for further treatment. We sent letters to two Indian hospitals, America and Germany, but they all rejected him.

“They said he might not make it. So, we tried our best to save him from dying. I tried as a wife. And if it were to be something that money could save him, my husband wouldn’t have died.

“It’s so sad that he was not here with us. Last Sunday was Father’s Day and my children were feeling alone because their father was not there with them. We used to celebrate Father’s Day together,” the mother of three kids bemoaned.

Narrating what led to Mr Ibu returning to hospital after he was discharged initially, the deceased’s wife said he was discharged following the advice of his doctors to save cost.

“He was discharged from the hospital then, not because he was that strong. His doctors said that instead of the hospital spending money, it would be better for him to go home as they would get him a pain and caregivers at home. That was why he was discharged in the first place,” she added.

The remains of Mr Ibu will be buried on June 28, 2024, in his hometown of Amuri, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.