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The Trained Doctors Are Back In Borno, All Thanks To VP Shettima

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The Trained Doctors Are Back In Borno, All Thanks To VP Shettima

By Stanley Nkwocha

Gratitude, they say, does not play around. It goes straight for the heart. It is what happens when we stop long enough to notice all the good stuff. So, it was not surprising that a group of medical doctors were among well-meaning Nigerians who availed themselves of the opportunity created by the Eid-el-Fitr celebrations on Thursday to pay the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, a thank-you visit at his residence in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The medical doctors were among the 60 female medical students sponsored for MBBS courses in 2014 when the administration of Senator Shettima in Borno State awarded scholarships to students studying different health professional fields abroad.

In 2014, then Governor Shettima took it upon himself to sponsor female citizens of the state to study Medicine at the El-Razi Medical University, Khartoum in Sudan and other citadels of great learning. During the launch of the Female Medical Intervention Programme of his administration and presentation of scholarship letters at the Government House Maiduguri, Shettima had said the female students were drawn from the 27 local government areas of the state.

“Having 30 female medical doctors which the state desperately needs is the greatest legacy the government can give the state, in view of the fact that women have peculiar health challenges arising from maternity, menstrual and other issues that women would be in the best position to handle as a result of the African culture and religion,” Shettima had said, noting that 30 female candidates would be sent every year for training as medical doctors and that no amount of money spent on their training would be a waste.

Not satisfied, Shettima had directed the then commissioner for Higher Education, Mr Bello Ayuba, to add three more Christian female candidates and two female students from the Northern part of the state to the 30 scheduled for the training, imploring the candidates to be good ambassadors of the state and the country.

True to his words, as good ambassadors they were urged to become, the medical doctors were back on Thursday with an unquenchable desire to thank and appreciate Kashim Shettima for his capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.

Recounting their experience and how they were recruited, one of the 60 girls picked from across Borno State and sponsored by Shettima to study Medicine abroad, Dr. Aisha Kaumi, told journalists immediately after the Sallah homage to the Vice President that they have since graduated, with 50 of them working as medical doctors in the state.

She said, “My name is Dr. Aisha Kaumi, one of the medical doctors sponsored by Vice President Kashim Shettima while he was governor of Borno State. So, we came here today to pay a visit to thank him for all he has done for us and to congratulate him on his well-deserved position as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Alhamdulillah, we met him and everything went well, and he (the VP) assured us that in case we want to specialize he was 100 percent ready to assist us.

“We were 60 then, 30 of us from El-Razi Medical University, Khartoum in Sudan, and the other 30 who graduated from the National University of Sudan. Alhamdulillah, all of us graduated and currently, about 50 of us are working with the state government here in Borno State. The remaining ten are yet to pass their medical exams but, Insha Allah, we are hoping that they will catch up with us.”

On the motivation behind studying Medicine and the impact on them and the state, Dr. Kaumi said, “It was indeed a dream come true because I never ever thought I will become a medical doctor. So, Alhamdulillah, I’m very grateful to the Vice President. Without him, I don’t think I would have become a medical doctor today. It was not easy; it was a kind of roller coaster of hardship and the courage to study well so that we can come here and help our people in Borno State. So, we are very grateful to him. His Excellency, the governor of Borno State is really doing well in trying to equip the hospitals. We are really grateful.”

Retrospectively, the health and education sectors received adequate attention in Borno State under Senator Shettima as governor. Apart from human capital development which led to foreign scholarships for the ever-grateful medical doctors to study abroad, the then Governor Shettima utilized available resources at his disposal to rehabilitate hospitals destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents and for the procurement of equipment for some reconstructed health facilities.

As Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an opportunity given to him by his boss, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, VP Shetima is poised to replicate the same leadership of lifting the vision of Nigerians complementing Mr President’s effort at raising performance to a higher levels as well as improving standard of living beyond normal limitations.

The signs are becoming very clear in just less than a year of the Tinubu-led Renewed Hope administration. As the administration advances in the course of changing the narrative for Nigerians, it will become glaring to all why President Tinubu settled for a Vice President who is trustworthy, visionary, loyal and capable.

Nkwocha, spokesman of Vice President Kashim Shettima wrote in from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The Trained Doctors Are Back In Borno, All Thanks To VP Shettima

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Zulum bans thuggery in Borno state

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Zulum bans thuggery in Borno state

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has said that thuggery has since become a thing of the past in the state.

He said this while inaugurating the new Governing Council of the Borno state owned Kashim Ibrahim University in Maiduguri recently.

Speaking during the occasion, he said that his administration has achieved giant strides in the education sector as a whole adding that his administration is making unprecedented investments in this all important sector.

” We have constructed 139 new mega schools, rehabilitated many others and recruited thousands of teachers to keep the sector going.

“We are establishing six centres of excellence and have banned political thuggery to redirect the energies of our youth towards scholarly and vocational pursuits”. He posited.

Zulum bans thuggery in Borno state

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ISPON Pushes for Stronger Safety Education Reforms in Nigeria

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ISPON Pushes for Stronger Safety Education Reforms in Nigeria

By: Michael Mike

The Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) has renewed calls for comprehensive safety education reforms across the country, stressing the need to instill a culture of safety in workplaces, communities, and public spaces.

The call was made at the Abuja Safety Summit themed “Safe Cities, Sustainable Tomorrow: Pathway to Responsible Development.”

ISPON President, Chief Udezi Stephen, emphasized that membership of the institute is a statutory requirement for anyone practicing as a safety professional in Nigeria.

“ISPON membership is a must for anybody that wants to practice as a safety professional in Nigeria,” he declared.

Udezi warned that there are legal penalties for individuals and organisations that fail to comply with the ISPON Act.

“For an individual, it is 100,000 Naira… For an organization that employs a person that is not a member of ISPON, that organization can be fined a minimum of 500,000 Naira,” he explained.

Highlighting the institute’s role in streamlining safety training nationwide, Udezi stressed the need for proper accreditation of training bodies.

He noted that: “The body that is licensed and qualified and asked to do safety training in this country is the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria.”

He further underscored the importance of building a safety-first culture across Nigeria.

He said: “If we have safe cities, then you can go home, close your eyes and sleep… We must start with talking to ourselves, getting educated, being trained, so that once we have been trained and we are doing things correctly, it forms part of what we call the culture of what we are doing.”

Also speaking at the summit, the Director-General of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Barr. Oluwaseun Faleye represented by Technical Director, Dayo Alawo, stressed that safety must be seen as a national commitment rather than just a policy.

He said: “Safety is not just a policy, it is a commitment. A commitment we owe to every worker who steps into a factory, every driver navigating our highways, every builder on a construction site and every citizen walking the streets of our federal capital territory.”

Faleye explained that NSITF’s approach to workplace safety rests on three critical pillars.

“Our philosophy is rooted in three pillars which is safety. Prevention. This is our first and most critical line of defense. Compensation. Rehabilitation… to restore human potential,” he explained.

Calling for stronger partnerships, he added:

“Collaboration. Safety is a shared responsibility No agency, institution or company can achieve it alone.”

On the role of technology, Faleye urged the adoption of data-driven safety systems.

“By embracing technology and strengthening data collection, reporting and analysis, we can anticipate risks before they happen or escalate into issues and design interventions that save lives,” he said.

In her remarks, ISPON Abuja Chairman, Mrs. Ifeoma Okpara, outlined the summit’s purpose of building safer cities through collective action.

“As our theme implies… we’re looking for collaboration. We have regulators, policymakers and all of them within this space, all to create a better space and create a safety culture among the citizens of Nigeria, Abuja in particular,” she explained.

Okpara noted that progress has already been made in Abuja through multi-stakeholder cooperation.

She said: “We have done a good length, we have a lot of good collaborators… There are a lot of audits going on, inspections and sensitization, awareness and policymaking going on in the area of safety.”

She further revealed that ISPON plans to expand safety awareness campaigns beyond urban areas into rural communities.

“We are working on campaigns, we are working on sensitization sessions, even to the extent we want to bring some things down to local languages… We’re going to the market spaces, we’re going to the villages, we’re going to communities, we’re going to be advocating for all types of safety,” she stated.

The summit reinforced the urgent need for coordinated reforms, stronger enforcement of safety standards, and wider outreach to build a truly safety-conscious society in Nigeria.

ISPON Pushes for Stronger Safety Education Reforms in Nigeria

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Bandits abduct, rape victims in Zamfara community

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Bandits abduct, rape victims in Zamfara community

By: Zagazola Makama

Suspected bandits have abducted several women in Maniya forest, Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, with some of the victims alleging sexual assault.

Sources told Zagazola on Wednesday that 39 women and girls had gone into the forest on Monday to fetch firewood but were attacked by armed men.

According to sources, 11 of the victims managed to return home the following day, while the rest remain in captivity.

The returnees reportedly said they were sexually assaulted before being released. They have since been taken to hospital for medical examination.

Efforts by security forces, local volunteers and vigilante groups are ongoing to trace the abductors and rescue the victims still being held.

Bandits abduct, rape victims in Zamfara community

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