Three persons have been arraigned by the Police from Orile Division before an Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly having canal knowledge of a 14 -year-old girl.

PORT HARCOURT – A group in Rivers State, Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, has kicked against the appointment of the President of Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Peter Agumagu as acting Chief Judge of the state, saying that Governor Rotimi Amaechi violated the provisions of the 1999 Constitution in the appointment.

Sapele—Residents of Oghara, the administrative headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, have expressed worries over indiscriminate packing of tankers on the Oghara/Ajagbodudu dual carriage way, waiting to load petroleum products at Rain Oil Depot in the community.

TROUBLED by the crises his party and the emergence of more political parties, President Goodluck Jonathan has entreated former President Olusegun Obasanjo to throw his weight behind him to surmount the opposition to his re-election in 2015.

ONITSHA—The Labour Party in Anambra State will on August 28 hold its governorship primaries to nominate the party flag bearer for the November 16 governorship poll in the state.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt Caleb Olubolade, has explained why he decided to run for the governorship election in the state, assuring that he would revive the fortunes of the state for the better.

Former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, has stated that for a meaningful transformation to take place in the country, government at all levels must be ready to fund the education system adequately.

The royal families of Osogbo in Osun State have disowned the traditional ruler of the town, the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, declaring him as an illegal occupant of the Ataoja stool.

Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences, yesterday, impounded a Police-registered bullion van with cash and arrested the driver for violating the state road traffic law, 2012.

Truly speaking, we have a very, very long way to go as a people,” commented Iyke as the commuter bus glided through the surprisingly light traffic along the Oshodi – Oworonshoki road, en route to Obalende via Third Mainland Bridge. “Everything is just wrong! We are specialists in the copy and paste business, yet, we have not been able to copy the western world correctly.”

Eleven Nigerian poets have been shortlisted, out of over 200, to compete for this year’s CORA/NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Existing and prospective customers of pension fund administration will enjoy even more convenience as Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, deploys an innovative mobile office, the first of its kind in the pension industry in Nigeria.

Currency notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in the denominations of N200, N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 are currently not readily available on demand in banks in the Lagos area. Even the currency notes in denominations of N500 and N1000 given out by the banks are not clean and do not have a few new notes in the packs as has been the practice in the past.

Stakeholders in the health, finance, industrial and oil and gas sectors have called for the adoption of the Public Private Partnership, PPP, model in reaching the grassroots and in sustaining of healthcare initiatives in Nigeria through.

The stakeholders, in a communiqué at the Livewell Initiative, LWI, Strategic Focus Group Meeting on Promotive Healthcare in Lagos, said the PPP model, in addition to a proactive and deliberate strategy, will help facilitate wellness promotion and health status awareness among the populace.

The communiqué signed by Mrs. Bisi Bright, Chief Executive Officer, LWI, emphasised the need for healthcare services to be made available to the general population, especially in view of the burden of diseases which is a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency affair.

“The starting point should be advocacy, awareness and thereafter, there should be leadership by government and the private sector, and, lastly, legislation and enforcement.

“Health insurance should be offered to workers through their employers so they can access healthcare. Out of pocket expenditures for healthcare should be minimised with community health insurance for the informal sector and for poorer populations who pay for health out of pocket.

“Preventive measures should be emphasised in order to avoid loss of health, financial costs of treatment, and loss of ability to work, which can lead to further impoverishment. “A lack of awareness and understanding of current public health resources including the Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHIS) exists, which results in wasted resources due to underutilised staff. Raising awareness of this, health fairs, screening opportunities, and other healthcare resources must be made a priority,” the communiqué noted.

Participants at the meeting include: Dr. Dr. Olufemi Olugbile, Permanent Secretary Health Lagos State , who acted as the Chairman; Dr. Mona Khanna,  Clinical Associate Professor, University of Illinois, USA, and Fox Chicago News Medical Contributor, who doubled as the  Co-Chairman; Dr. Edet Edet, Public Health Adviser, Shell Petroleum Development Company; Mrs. Kemi Ajayi, Chief Operating Officer, Banwo & Ighodalo; Mr. John Edheku, National Sales Manager, May & Baker, Mrs. Bisi Bright and Dr. Adebola O. Hassan, Technical Specialist Health, USAID SHOPS, among others.

The participants expressed concern over significant increase in the statistics of maternal mortality rate in the country, calling for a synchronisation between the government and the private sector with the advocacy and increased primary healthcare activities.

They also advocated the need for collaboration between the communities, partners, NGOs and the health system.

The participants blamed the negative socio-behavioral and attitudinal response of low literacy women to the health facilities, was responsible for high maternal mortality rate, adding that the statistics can be brought down through community engagement programmes.

Port Harcourt-based Axel Enterprise Systems Limited, in partnership with global business solutions developer SAP, has collaborated to showcase the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) computer systems recently in Port-Harcourt.