Interviews
There Is Need For Energy Solutions In Nigerian Hospitals To Have Better Healthcare System – Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, CMD-UMTH
There Is Need For Energy Solutions In Nigerian Hospitals To Have Better Healthcare System – Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, CMD-UMTH
Energy remains one of the most challenging things in managing health institutions in Nigeria. This is because of the inadequate quantity that we required and also because of the inadequate quality of energy as required. As long as we are moving in the direction we are now, without changing the system the way it should, it is very unlikely that we will give the optimum healthcare to the society. These were observed by Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, CMD, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) during an Exclusive Interview with NEWSng in Abuja. James Bwala and Lazarus Balami sent except:
Q: Thank you for having us Professor. May we know you?
My name is Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, I am a Professor of Interventional Radiology. I am from Askira/Uba local government area of Borno state, in northeast Nigeria. To be precise, I am from a village called Yimirgo. I did my early primary school at Yimirgo Primary school after that I moved to Government Secondary School Uba where I did my form one to three. In those days, they would choose the best student to go to science schools. I was chosen to go to WAKA Biu science school to complete my secondary school. From there I went to ABU Zaria then it was the school of Basic Studies, where I did my A levels. I return to Borno state and register at the University of Maiduguri to study medicine. Thereafter, we started the residency training programme – that is the Post Graduate medical training to become a Consultant. I was at the West African College of Surgeon faculty of Radiology and also the National Post Graduate College of Nigeria bagging two fellowships with specialization in Radiology.
Immediately after that, I felt the need to further my education, so I went to the Medical University of Vienna in Austria where I studied Interventional Radiology and became the first person in the West African sub-region to do interventional Radiology. I was also at the University of Washington to further study interventional Radiology as a specialty. I completed that study within a year and returned home to establish interventional Radiology in Nigeria.
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Administratively, I was Head of Radiology Department at the University of Maiduguri and University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for almost ten years. I became the pioneer Head of Radiography Department to start training of Radiographers in the 19th Northern states. I also became the Deputy Provost College of Medical Sciences for a period of two years. Thereafter, I became the Provost, College of Medical Sciences University of Maiduguri. I was also the secretary National PostGraduate Medical College of Nigeria in charge of Radiology training in the country for a period of four years in Lagos. From there I became the Chief Medical Director –UMTH. Within the period I also worked at the World Head Organization’s Headquarters in Geneva in Charge of all the Radiology devices globally with 198 member countries. I was also a Research Scholar at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland. Since becoming the CMD for over three years now I have been working in the office.
Q: There are so many reports of your achievement in the hospital especially at the managerial levels. Do you mind sharing your experiences and any Managerial skills to have informed the flow of your administration at UMTH?
Yes, thank you. I studied Leadership in health from Washington University. That is the qualification I had in management. That was before I became the CMD and this is one of the most respected managerial courses across the globe in healthcare. However, skills sometimes you learn over a period of time. From the beginning I have been in the leadership position. Since my student days, I was a student’s union leader and at residency I was ARD President. I was also Chairman of the Consultants, so I have been in the union side, in administration and then I started as Head of Department and I moved up to the peak professionally to become the Provost of the College without jumping post. I went step by step and I have taken all the posts I am supposed to take to rise to the top. So, in addition to the qualification, I was actually along the line of practical skill acquisitions in management positions. So that is why sometimes when you are managing a system, you get conversant with those systems. It became easy to manage them. If you are talking as a Head of Department, I was a Head of Department for ten years and I know what it means to be one. If you are talking as an ordinary doctor in the hospital, I know what it feels to be one. I know what it takes to be one and I know the duties of one. If you are a nurse, I have interacted with one. If you are a Radiographer, I have interacted with them. So, you get all these skills over decades.
Q: Tell us more about the difference between being CMD and the ordinary staff in the hospital or any?
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There are a lot more differences. When you are from the position of the ordinary staff of the hospital you look at things from one angle and when you are from the position of a unionist, you look at that from another angle. When you are an administrator, you also see things from the administrative position. So, very few people may be lucky to have exposure in all these so that they can have a holistic picture. Most of the time as an ordinary person, you know the idle thing to be done. You want the idle thing to be done in material of how or which is the way that this thing is ought to be done that is not your pain. All you want is that if they are doing this in London, you want it to be done in Maiduguri. As a unionist, you have all the laws in your head. The circular said we should pay this. The constitution said this is what is to be done. It is our own rights and it should be done. Now as an administrator, you look at the laws, you look at the loads and you also look at the resources. Then you now look at how to manage it. So, if you take all the three, you will have the bigger picture of how the ordinary man views things, how the unionists view it and how practically you are there to solve all these problems. So, as an administrator, you have a bigger picture to solve them. That is what makes the difference in the way people look at things, the way people perceive things and the way people talk about things. Most of the time, if you do not have the complete knowledge and clear picture of any issue you are unlikely to give good judgement.
Q: Healthcare is one of the most important foundations for development but it also requires huge resources to run it. Tell us about the Nigerian health system and the Hospitals?
Thank you very much. We all know healthcare is one of the most important foundation pillars in any development. There is no system or community or society that develops without a good health system because it is only when you are healthy that you can be productive. And as long as you do not have a healthy population, the population will not be productive. As long as they are not productive there is no way you can prosper as a society. So, we must understand the value of healthcare in the economy of any nation. A sound healthcare system provides a good platform for economic development. They are directly proportional. If you look at the graphical representation, you will agree that it is a linear relationship between healthcare and economic development. So spending as a nation in our healthcare is very important and not only spending but spending wisely. Everybody knows that it is easy to spend money. If they give you money and you enter a supermarket, you can spend it the way you want it. But at the end of the day, if you come out of that super market you asked yourself. Have I done a proper need assessment before I go in? Did I buy the things that I really need and not the things that I want? You evaluate your purchases whether your spending is on your real needs and anything that you do, if you want a proper development you must lay a foundation. There is no way you can expect a child to start running without first sitting and crawling.
Q: So, did you hinge on that theory to change the system in your hospital and change the story as it is today, talking about the UMTH model?
As I was saying, if you have a child and you want that child to start running without learning how to sit and how to crawl, he will fall down. So, for any system to work very well, you must do your homework. Do I have a proper foundation for that system? If you do, move ahead! It’s easy. You can now have a sound system at the end of the day, but as long as you do not have a proper foundation it is very unlikely that you can make an impact. And anything that you do, if you do not have a proper assessment of what you want to achieve you are unlikely to meet that goal. When I was about to come in as the Chief Medical Director, UMTH, the first thing I did was to look at the data of the hospital for the period of ten years. I do not want to talk to anybody about anything yet. I know data does not lie and I went for the data. I can say clearly with clarity of mind, the current registrar, Nigerian Health Record Board Mr. Babagana is the person I approach for data. He was the Head of the Department of Medical Record in the hospital. I met him and said, Babagana gave me the health record statistics of this hospital for a period of ten years. That was before he became the registrar of the council. He gave me the data of the hospital for ten years. I refused to talk to anybody; I sat down and looked through the data. I knew how to do statistics, I can analyze data. I have known this for a long time. I know Excel, database management and SPSS, so statistics is not a problem. I put all the data and analyze the most commonly diagnosed diseases in the hospital (UMTH). I look at the most commonly perform operations in UMTH , the most common killer disease, the most attended clinic , the wards that always has bed occupancy 100% all the time, departments that has few patients that their beds has no patients, the structure of the A and E, how many patients come in a day, or a month.
These are what I analyzed before I became the CMD-UMTH. So, I established some statistics on what needs to be done to make the hospital a holistically acceptable and advanced institution. I finished all that before I became the CMD. So, all I needed to do after becoming the CMD is to implement what I have done. I will give you an example, the Department of Medicine for example, the non-surgical department. They have the Male and Female medical wards that one everybody knows. I realized that all the time there are no free beds in those wards. Each time they would phone me to say that there is no bed in the wards and therefore that became an issue. I now went back to the statistics and asked the staff, who are the people occupying these beds and they said mostly they are patients with stroke. You know if you admit a patient with a stroke, they can stay up to two or three months because it is a long term disease and not like malaria which is a short term disease. There are also diabetic patients, they are also long term chronic diseases, and they stay in the wards for a long time. There is also nephrology –Kidney disease patients. Once admitted they stay for a long time in the hospital, they occupy the beds. So, this tells me where to expand and I said ok, if it is Kidney disease patients that occupied the beds, if it is diabetic patients that occupy the beds, if it is stroke centre patients that occupy the beds , the first thing is to build a dedicated Kidney centre with admission facilities and take them off the wards. I realized 30% of the patients in the medical wards are Kidney disease patients, so if I remove 30% from the medical wards, I will have a free bed. That is what moved us to have an 85 beds extension of the Kidney centre.
Again I looked at the next inline; I discovered it was struck related cases. Stroke also occupies 30% of the bed space in the medical wards and we are building the first stroke dedicated centre in the whole of West Africa, a 150 bed capacity for the first time anywhere in the West African sub-region. I challenge anybody to check this if there is ever anything like this except at UMTH. So, by doing this, already 60% of the beds in medical wards are free. So, nobody will come and say to me that there are no beds again in the medical wards. This is just one example. Let me also give you the example with A and E. The A and E when I came, it was a five bed crash room and that means only five patients can be put on a couch for emergency assessment.. If you bring 30 patients or 100 patients then the patients have to be kept on the floor. So, I said now what option do we have? And we came up with the idea of building a trauma centre.
We built a 150 bed capacity trauma centre. So by moving the trauma away the other A and E will be for only emergency cases. Now by moving the bulk of the patients to the trauma centre, you have solved the problem. But again we knew that during crises period’s trauma is associated with for example, villages being burnt and what have you. So, burns are associated with trauma and the trauma centre cannot care for burns. So we decided to establish a burns centre – a dedicated centre for the treatment of burns. Now the next thing is, if you treat these patients that have sustained injury and they are disabled, how do you rehabilitate them? That is what prompted us to build a N1.3 Billion Physical Rehabilitation Centre so that by the time these patients lose a leg or arm; they can be given an artificial one and continue with their normal lives without people even knowing. All these are examples of needs assessment, which we were able to undertake at the UMTH.
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On the other hand, the hospital was built purely as a tertiary hospital. There are no provisions for primary and secondary services in the UMTH by planning, because it is a tertiary hospital but these days there is no way you can run away from patients coming directly to the hospital. There is no way you can run away from NSIH patients. We have almost 22, 000 registered; there is no way you can run away from retainer-ship. So, there is a need to have a standard GOPD. We are prompted to have the largest GOPD in Nigeria. Thirty doctors can consult at the same time. We have 30 consulting rooms and it makes life easy for everybody. This is what is lacking and we have solved the problems. The whole of the northeast there is no centre for treatment of Cancer, they have to go to Zaria or Sokoto or Abuja which are also epileptic. So by establishing a Cancer centre it means all our patients from the villages – Magumeri, Monguno and others do not have to go to Zaria. Imagine telling a villager from Azare or Magumeri to move to Zaria and he may have a two months waiting period. It is like telling him to go and die. He may not have the resources and even if he has the resources moving there is very difficult for such patients. So, we established the multi-billion naira Cancer centre. What I was doing in the hospital was based on scientific data. It is not that I go and ask this or that because I know that human beings are subjective in their assessment but data do not lie. That is how we were prompted to do what we did. That is how we were prompted to move the hospital from being a 630 bed capacity hospital to the current 1200 bed capacity hospital. LUTH has 850 bed capacity hospitals; UCH is 1000 and it used to be the largest. The UMTH today is the largest hospital in Nigeria with 1200 bed capacity and all the equipment associated. If I mentioned a centre it means a centre with all the associated equipment.
Q: These of course are without challenges; can you share some of the challenges you have in the hospital building it to the largest in Nigeria today?
Well, there are general challenges, there are local environmental challenges, and there are institutional challenges. There are various forms of challenges if you want to classify these challenges. If you recall when I was talking I talked about a proper foundation for any system to thrive. There is no institution that will succeed without the basic infrastructure. This is talking about Energy, Water and Clean and a good environment that is secured. These are non-negotiable. For us to go to where we are targeting to go– ‘The Freedom City’ as I call it, we must have all these in place. No matter what we do, if we do not have the supportive basic infrastructure, it will be very difficult for the system to be where it wants to be. Secondly, the staff attitude is another challenge. People are used to working in a small system, now they have expanded the system where administration becomes a bit difficult. But one has to come up with a system that will checkmate them. In doing this, I set up a new department of clinical governance. This new department did not exist before now.
The aim is to ensure that the patient is the king in a hospital environment and he obtains all the services that are required to his normal stage and every person in the hospital environment is supposed to do his job in the way it is prescribed in the public service rules. This is the work of this new department. We have got the approval; I established it and we are on the course of sending them abroad because there is no similar large department in the country now. Their job is to ensure staff perform their duties in accordance with the rules. The third challenge is the changing pattern of our economy. If you plan something today, tomorrow is a different scenario in the market. That is a big challenge. You can have a plan with somebody today or you award a contract to somebody today and you are expecting him to deliver it but he goes to the market from the time of planning to the time of execution everything has changed. He will run away because the business is no longer profitable for him. You try to call him, he will not come and you will be wasting time trying to pursue him rather than constructing similar things that are of benefit to society. So, you have to make a decision whether to go on pursuing such a person or to go ahead to make an impact in other areas of needs. So, this changing market dynamics is affecting a lot of things in developing a system. Also I really want to ensure that the people that are supposed to do their work outside the institution that they do it in the way that is constitutionally right.
Q: Talking about the economic situation of the country, the changing dynamics, how do your patients meet up and what are the gains or losses?
Well, this is similar to what I have been saying about the changing dynamics in the market. For example, let’s say the patients are supposed to pay this and that and maybe it is done yearly or in two years’ time or three. Today, everything in the hospital setting the government has put it as a revolving fund. The government is no more giving the hospital money to buy drugs, X-ray facilities and day to day running costs. That is expected as a revolving fund from you to continue your operations. Now, what it means is that you have to involve contractors to supply these things to the hospital at a price. The hospital charges are fixed and yet the contractor brings in things in line with the current market price. So you may reach a situation where if a billing system of an institution is done maybe in 2019 and you are now in 2022. What the patient is paying may not be half of the price the contractor is supplying because that bill was made based on the market price of 2019. If you change it frequently, society will begin to hit you hard and say that you are not sympathetic to society. If you keep quiet, you are running the system and not paying the suppliers. So, that is where you have the challenge and maintaining balance in the hospital for sure and institution like our own, we are not a profit making organization. This is very clear.
We are not supposed to charge one kobo more than what is obtainable in the market. So, we are not making money for anything, but again I am not having any money for subsidies for anybody. If the billing system is done in January 2022 and suddenly there is a rise in the items if you did not change the billing system, it means that you are subsidizing a patient and that means who is going to pay the balance. This is a big challenge. Again, many people may not know that there is the procurement law of the land and they have prescribed clearly for any Federal Government Institution where we operate there is certain amount of money that it has to be in a contract form that is why today you may go the UMTH and you may found that the amount you pay for a paracetamol is more expensive than what you get across the road because it is the law of the land that you buy the drugs through contract system. The contractor will expect some amount of money in addition to his cost for the services provided and you are expected to pay the taxation. You pay 5% withholding tax, in some circumstances you pay 7.5% VAT and then 1 % stamp duty. So, in most items – that is non drugs item, you are paying 13.5% more because of taxation. This is not to talk of the amount the contractor is demanding for his services. These are the challenges that need to be addressed so that there will be some level of ease in our operations.
Q: What are you doing currently to meet up with these challenges?
There are so many ways to address these challenges. We may choose to review our billing system frequently like the naira and the dollar is changing in the market, but the outcry will be very loud. Many times, we have to go out and meet with nongovernmental organizations in order to have some help. When they help we add it to the pool and that will bring the price to a lower level otherwise we will be operating at negative because we cannot pay the contractors.
Q: You also talked about challenges of electricity in the hospitals. What is the management doing about it, especially at UMTH, looking at the size of the hospital and what is expected that the government, organizations or well-meaning individuals should do?
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Thank you very much. Energy remains one of the most challenging things in managing health institutions in Nigeria. This is because of the inadequate quantity that we required and also because of the inadequate quality of energy as required. As long as we are moving in the direction we are now, without changing the system the way it should, it is very unlikely that we will give the optimum healthcare to the society using this energy that we have. Generally, there is a need for the government to look at how to optimally or how best to supply energy in this country, especially the hospitals and health institutions in general. Providing that electricity I think will do well to the whole of the country and not only the healthcare system. Once energy is supplied to the country, the healthcare institutions, it means the services will be there. From the experience I had in the past few years, energy is one of the most difficult things that we are supposed to have in the whole of the management of the hospital system in Nigeria. If the government provides energy to the hospitals, that will ease a lot of things. Many countries do that and this is one of the most needed infrastructures in Nigerian hospitals. If they cannot provide, at least let it be subsidized because it is going to be very difficult looking at the way we charge our patients now.
To pay for the best electricity supply is what we needed to have the best in the hospitals. But where is the money? For example, the gross IGR of my hospital in April this year was Forty-two million (N42, 000,000.00) and Diesel alone gulps Sixty –Seven million and Five hundred thousand (N67, 500,000.00). This is not practicable. The best way is to look at how to assist these hospitals with energy supply. If the National grid cannot give priority to hospitals, let independent power plants especially now that diesel is very expensive, gas generators be provided to healthcare institutions – the Federal ones and let them buy the gas. That will help a lot because buying gas plants may be too expensive for the federal healthcare institutions for now. If the government can procure these big generators and give it to these federal health institutions and let them use gas to supply the energy that they need, this will really alleviate the system otherwise virtually most of the hospitals in this country have cut the energy supply hours because of the hike in diesel price. There is a need for us to look into energy solutions in our healthcare delivery system. Let the government key into this in an attempt to give the hospital the needed energy so that they can give the needed healthcare in line with the National strategic healthcare plan for Nigeria.
Q: Finally sir the award, you received a prestigious award from the National Productivity Centre where Mr. President was in attendance and so much was said about you and the award. How would you share your feelings on this?
Thank you so much but I really cried that day. Maybe I will start with that. I cried because of two things. There is a hope for a poor person; there is a hope for the hopeless in the country. I look at my background. I come from a remote village in Askira/Uba local government area of Borno state. Still the population is so small, I went to the local primary school and the local secondary school and a local university. I rose to become a Professor and as a Medical Doctor, I attended a peak that I will have a handshake with the President. It means there is hope for anybody that can work hard to reach his peak and be recognized best for his hard work. I cried inside the banquet hall of the Villa. After having a hand shake with the President and I left, I did not know how but tears were running down my cheeks. I am nobody and I came from nowhere and because of hard work, I am having a handshake with Mr. President.
Secondly, I cried because I wish my father was alive because we are the first generation in our family to go to school. Our Parents did not go to school. I wish he would have seen the benefit of taking us to school. So, the award is a thing of joy but not for me alone. I as a person can never get the requirement that culminated into this award. There are many people involved and I only lead the team. One of the areas for recognition is that I am the first person to introduce Interventional Radiology Service in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. This is also as a result of the government sponsoring my training. Without the government sponsoring my training in Austria it is unlikely that I will get the skills and it is unlikely that I can impact the skills. Although my training in the United State was purely sponsored by the United State, at least the beginning was done by the Nigerian government. Again, the award was as a result of the work I have done at the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital; therefore, I am not alone in this as there are so many people involved. From my hospital staff, from the state government, from the political class, from the nongovernmental organization, from the federal government and so many people are involved to ensure it is successful. Without my own staff there is no way we can do a proper planning package to achieve what we have achieved. Without funding it would have been only a pipe dream to have executed the projects in the hospital and without skills and knowledge, we may not have people that would have made this a reality. So, it is a general thing and that is why I said all that have been involved in the successes we have achieved, I dedicated the award to them.
There Is Need For Energy Solutions In Nigerian Hospitals To Have Better Healthcare System – Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, CMD-UMTH
Interviews
Interview: NHRC paid over N480 million to 120 people for rights infringements after the SARS investigative panel saga, – Hilary Ogbonna.
Interview: NHRC paid over N480 million to 120 people for rights infringements after the SARS investigative panel saga, – Hilary Ogbonna.
In this interview, Hilary Ogbonna, a senior human rights adviser to the executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, speaks after a recent stakeholders consultative forum on the tripartite partnership to support national human rights institutions, Bodunrin Kayode sent an excerpt:
Q: Who are the three parties in the tripartite agreement you mentioned earlier during the stakeholder forum, and how long will it last?
A: It’s a partnership to support human rights institutions. It is also a partnership started by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions. And this is supported by the Norwegians, who are big supporters of the partnership. The three of them came together with their respective mandates. Undp is the front-runner organization for the UN in terms of development, cooperation, rule of law, and governance. The office of the high commissioner for human rights is the gatekeeper for global human rights, and the global alliance for national human rights institutions is the coalition and secretariat of all national human rights commissions across the world, over a hundred of them. So the three of them came together to decide to support the national human rights institutions to be able to achieve their mandates of promoting and protecting human rights and ensuring that they work with stakeholders in civil societies across the world. They pick and choose which national human rights commission they will support at any given time, and this is Nigeria. So they decided to support us from January 2024 to December 2024. By January 2025, they will decide whether to continue and how. So what are they supporting? The main support they provide is the capacity of national human rights institutions to enable them to achieve their mandates for human rights monitoring and reporting, sourcing data for human rights, and supporting national organizations to establish frameworks for business and human rights. Training and capacity building for human rights commissions and for their subnational-level offices. Since we have an office in Borno, the reason we are here is to use this week to build the capacity of our staff so that they are able to support the people of this state. So under the TPP, we are also doing a lot around promoting women’s rights, gender equality, and human rights education. So for all of this, we are going to support the Borno State Office of the NHRC, and it will be done throughout the year. The overall goal is to ensure that human rights commissions are effective in implementing their mandates, which is why we came here.
Q: Speak on the final document you intend to propound as a roadmap for a business and human rights framework to hand over to the Federal Government, the planned pillars inside, etc. How would you put it?
I can tell you that we have already set up that standard. We have all the necessary documents. The only person without the document as I speak to you is the Borno State Government. At the federal level, we have these two documents, one of which is the national action plan on the protection of human rights. That is a human rights obligation of Nigeria under the Vienna Declaration. President Buhari approved this in April 2023. So instead of presenting another action plan on business and human rights to them, we included it as a chapter under this national action plan. So in passing this, they have passed the two of them. The implementation of this one is ongoing by all the ministries. It’s a national document for everyone, not just the Human Rights Commission. As the ministry of environment or information, there is a role for you to play here. But this one is a specific national human rights mechanism for business and human rights. It is under this one that we have established the national working group on business and human rights. This is the one we want to establish in Borno State. So for us, we have outlined this road map, and under it, we will first develop a consent note that we will hand over to the government on what they need to know and do. And when the government understudies that note, we will also include these processes. They will do stakeholder mapping to know who is who and who is doing what. After that, they will convene a state consultative forum on business and human rights, which will mandate the state government to go ahead and develop a state action plan on business and human rights. This action plan will take into consideration everything that is contextual to this state as it concerns the human rights of the people of the state. They will copy a lot from the national action plan, but they will also make their own specific Borno plans. And then the action plan will say who will belong to the state working group, and they will inaugurate the state working group. Then they will begin the process of implementation, where they will stipulate what they will do, such as the capacity building that must be done to ensure that businesses conform to the national human rights principles and standards. Across Nigeria, with the social challenges we are having, any company that decides to have social responsibility will go and bring bags of rice, ask people to queue up, and there will be a stampede. People will even die due to the struggles for palliatives, which are human rights violations. So we need to have a standard for what to do, and we are already developing one, especially when it comes to business compliance on the issues of social care. You don’t kill people while trying to help them.
Q: Cuts in… like what happened during the customs palliative saga?
It’s not only Nigerian customs that make such mistakes; even churches do it. Churches say they are coming to help with food. You will not ask how many people will come; you did not issue tickets; nor did you ask for a central exit or entrance so that when the place is full, you will close the door. And then, you don’t have emergency medical response units in case anything happens. It’s a general Nigerian thing, even where we are now. If someone collapses in this hotel now, God forbid, I am sure they do not have a system to evacuate them. And if they are evacuating you, do they have ambulances or amenities to use? So it’s just a whole gamut of unsolved problems.
Q: Finally, if there is a violation of the UN guiding principles on human rights between now and December 2024, what is the guarantee that everything will be ready?
A:…..cuts in. Everything depends on the state government. If they ask us to jump, we will ask how high you want to jump. So it’s up to them, but if they don’t have this state action plan, our own action plan will cover them. Because human rights are a federal thing, they cannot do state action plans for the protection of human rights because the Vienna Declaration is very clear about it. But they can do a state action plan on business and human rights because even the state government taxes and also regulates businesses.
Q: Alternative justices—speak on it—and judicial remedies—will they be embedded in this package of the action plan?
A: Alternative justices will be embedded in the state-based package on non-judicial remedies. There are state-based judicial mechanisms and non-judicial mechanisms. The state-based non-judicial mechanisms include the Human Rights Commission. The ulamas are non-state-based judicial mechanisms, and they can equally perform some functions with limited quasi-judicial roles. The good thing is that each of them can actually perform judiciary roles and award compensation. Like the HRC will award compensation based on its laws, if it’s the DSS or police that infringed on your rights, we will ask them to insert the same in their budget, and it will be paid to you. And I tell you, we have been successful in all this. But whether we speak about it enough or not, I can tell you we don’t. But like the special anti-robbery squad (SAS) panel, I can tell you that we paid over N480 million to 120 people for all the infringements that were incurred by their personnel in that incident.
Interview: NHRC paid over N480 million to 120 people for rights infringements after the SARS investigative panel saga, – Hilary Ogbonna.
Interviews
Kashim Shettima is focused, trying to bridge gaps across people, culture, and religion in Nigeria. – Dr. Bwala
Kashim Shettima is focused, trying to bridge gaps across people, culture, and religion in Nigeria. – Dr. Bwala
Dr. James Bwala, PhD, is a media practitioner, consultant, and author. He is one of the closest media men to Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. Ahead of the May 29 celebration of democracy day in Nigeria, he spoke to newsmen about his long-time relationship with the VP and why he writes in his own style to promote and defend Nigeria’s Vice President on many fronts and other sundry issues. NEWSng was there and sent an excerpt:
Q: Thank you for having us. It was indeed very important that we meet you. Can you please tell us about yourself?
A: I guess I am not in a hot seat. I really did not expect this question. It reminded me of some interview questions I was asked while I was seeking job opportunities with the NGO some time ago. But since this is not a job interview, I figured that I would relax and try not to be nervous. My name is James Bwala, as you all know. I am a journalist and have practiced in the media space for over two decades now. I studied mass communication for my first and second degree programs and earned my PhD in management with a specialty in disaster management. Currently, I run a media organization as the managing editor as well as managing public relations on behalf of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). I am also into politics, trying to follow in the footsteps of my principal, Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, who has graciously been a very good teacher and mentor. And I hope that my learning will bring positive fruits and add value to Nigeria’s politics at any given opportunity to make a mark and to sell the Nigerian dream in the renewed hope initiative of Mr. President.
Q: You are a prolific writer, and we are happy to say that you are doing well and encouraging young media professionals with your style. We have read a lot of writings from you defending and promoting the Vice President before, during, and even after the general elections. Do you have any political appointments in this government?
A: I just told you that the VP is my principal, whether or not I have an appointment in the government or not. My loyalty to the VP has been there for decades. He calls me brother, and I think he is an older brother I have who also stood with me in my darkest moments. He has demonstrated the brotherly love that I have heard preachers preach, and he never leaves me as would some older brothers do. I am happy that you noted that I have written several pieces on him. Some were promotional, while others were trying to defend both his public and private lives. Yes. I have been given a political appointment in this government, but that is not about me and Kashim Shettima. It was the reward system in a political circle when you played your part in the game and when your loyalty was tested and you gave results. For that also, I will remain grateful to the VP for choosing to consider me for such a political position. And like I said, he never leaves me. I will look up to him as that older brother and respect him. I will also always defend him in the media, where necessary.
Q: How long have you known the VP?
A: About three decades, actually. I was raised in Kaduna, but I grew up in Borno State, which is my state. I am a bona fide citizen of Borno State, and I am proud of that. While growing up in Bullumkuttu, Abuja, in the city of Maiduguri, I happened to leave around the VP’s wife’s family residents. I became friends with some of Her Excellency’s brothers and sisters, and we attended the same Bullumkuttu Primary School in the 1980s. I knew Kashim Shettima around 1988, to be precise, but we became very close when he became commissioner under the Modu Sheriff administration and I was writing for the newspapers as a journalist. I think we became very close because we share the same attitude and vision. Our culture, books, and views of life are the same. So, I would say we think alike.
Q: How would you describe the VP’s activities in the last year of this administration, and do you see distractions?
A: Well, they are too numerous to mention his activities generally. For distractions, there are also numbers. However, the VP is focused. Remember he said in one of his many sayings during the campaign that you should stop throwing stones at every dog that barks at you or you may not reach your destination on time? So, I want to tell you that this is his posture toward distraction. And you can see that he remained focused, building on the renewed hope initiative of the government by trying to bridge gaps across people, culture, and religion. He has also been in and out of the country, connecting and networking to build relationships for security, the economy, and others. For every achievement, there is a working person, and the VP is one of those working to achieve the dreams of Mr. President and give Nigeria hope.
Q: Your writings speak volumes about the VP; do you also consult with him before you write?
A: No. I know him too well to read his lips, and I can also study his moods, especially his reactions to what I wrote. Like I said, he is my teacher and mentor, so I guess there is this chemistry of understanding what to do and what not to do between us, which came naturally. Secondly, I am a professional in my field with good experience in political writing. It is therefore easy for me to look at situations and determine with precision what I need to do as a professional. For someone like the VP, all I need to know are the vital signs, which are obligations to me because of the closeness. I watched his back media wise, and he does mine brotherly.
Q: Recently, you wrote defending the VP on the issue of 2027. Why do you think some people want him replaced? Did he offend those calling for his replacement?
A: You know, this is actually laughable.
VP Kashim Shettima did not offend anybody, but the gang was politically motivated. For me, it is normal in politics to have those who want you there and those who are pushing for you to be out of place. But let me tell you something. Recently, the President appointed the Zenith Bank Chairman to lead the loan team. Jim Ovia was VP Shettima’s boss when he was still working in the bank. What does that tell you? Does it look like there is friction between the VP and his principal? The closeness between VP Kashim Shettima and the Zenith Bank Chairman is well known to Mr. President. As those people claim in their dreams that there is friction, I do not think we have been seeing this development coming. Mr. President is well educated and knows very well those he can work with. He has a history of gathering intellectuals around him. That is also the reason for choosing VP Kashim Shettima as his running mate and partner in the governance of Nigeria. Together, they have been doing tremendously well, and as I said in my writing, there will be no replacement as suggested by those doomsayers.
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Q: You sounded very confident about the political future and the likely play for Tinubu and Kashim Shettima in 2027. What is giving you such confidence, as in some of your writings?
A: I don’t know, actually. But I keep having my dreams, and I believe in them. It has happened in the past and has come to be true. It is happening again, and I keep my belief. So many people fighting over 2027 think they are gods. This administration has only been around for about a year now. If they think they have all it takes to govern better than what the current occupants of the seat of power are doing, I hope that as Nigerians they should be kind to render support through their vision to help Nigeria develop well. The president and his vice president are calling on those who have vision for the development of Nigeria to come forward with suggestions. They must not be in position before they can bring out their good road map to make Nigeria better. If they are waiting to come to a position before they give suggestions or bring their ideas to the table, then I would suggest that those are not thinking of making Nigeria great but are working towards their selfish desires to occupy seats for the betterment of their families and not Nigeria.
Q: Can you at least mention those you think are already fighting over 2027? And those calling for the replacement of the VP?
A: My friends, we know the writing on the walls. You go and read some of the writing floating in the newspaper spaces. We have over one hundred live newspapers in the country, and they have been reporting issues recently. Engaged in some of these newspapers, you can come up with names likely to be those you are looking for. I do not know any of them other than those I have read through on the pages of the newspapers, and I believe you can do the same.
Q:. On May 29, this administration will be celebrating one year. Do you think there are things to celebrate?
A: Well, if I may ask you, do you think there are no things to celebrate? You see, sometimes we ask questions for which we already know the answers. Of course, there are thousands of things to celebrate about Nigeria. I hope you have been following the various achievements made by our military, the police, and other security agencies in the areas of insecurity in the country. I hope you have written about the successes in the economic sector. There are several achievements in health, agriculture, the road, and what have you. I may not have time to mention others, but we have days counting to May 29, and you can do us the favor of going around to hunt on the successes and achievements of the Tinubu and Kashim Shettima administrations since their coming to power on May 29, 2023. Nigerians are eager to hear from you because they can count on you, and I urge you to be fair in your reports.
Q: On a final note, what do you think this government should do based on the assessments of people on what they did or did not do for Nigerians and how to improve on their promises?
A: First of all, let me make it clear that you are asking the wrong question here because I am not a member of the economic team of this administration. Secondly, what I hear people saying may be different from what you hear that people are saying, so do not expect me to give an answer to what is going on about what you hear. However, I can speak for what I hear, and that is a positive note on the many challenges that this administration was able to sum up. Two key issues have been on the board since this administration came on board on May 29, 2023. That is the issue of insecurity and Nigeria’s economy. I think that you would agree with me that the Tinubu-Shettima partnership has done creditably well in tackling these menaces in the areas of security and economy. If you do agree with me, then I can tell you that the government by measurements has done well and should be given the passing mark for demonstrating rear leadership.
Kashim Shettima is focused, trying to bridge gaps across people, culture, and religion in Nigeria. – Dr. Bwala
Interviews
The challenges with IEDs at the “Hadin Kai” theater will soon be history – Former TC General Ali
The challenges with IEDs at the “Hadin Kai” theater will soon be history – Former TC General Ali
Before becoming the 10th Commander of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Chad, General Ibrahim Ali was the last theater commander (TC) of Operation Hadin Kai in North-East Nigeria. He succeeded in getting three Chibok girls and their children out of the Sambisa and vowed to get Lear Sharibu anywhere credible intelligence could locate her. He spoke with Bodunrin Kayode just before proceeding to his present command in N’djamena. Excerpt:
Q: General, before I proceed to matters of this war theater, I would like you to compare and contrast your last command with “Hadin Kai,” which you are about to leave after only 6 months.
The level of threat in the Jos. 3 Division area is quite different from the one in the North East Theatre Command. We know that the threats in the theater Command are more. This is because in the 3 division area, the threats are more like intercommunal clashes—you know, farmers and herders crises, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and things like that—but here in the Northeast, it is insurgency and terrorism. Which is higher in terms of mortality than those ones. So it was not easy, but I came with the experience I had from Jos, and before getting to Jos, I had been to the Northeast five times, and this will be my sixth time coming here. So I came with all those experiences I had earlier, and it really helped me. I had a fair knowledge of the modus operandi of the insurgents and the terrorists, and I was able to counter them. And this time around, we had better equipment to confront the insurgents than we used to have when I came earlier in the five times I mentioned. So, with the additional and improved equipment level and other platforms, we were able to degrade them to a very appreciable level.
Q: Is it true that the rule of engagement in the 3D theater was that soldiers were not allowed to take out anybody, even if the bandit was the aggressor messing around with ancestral lands and you were seeing him live?
A: No! No! That is not true. Because I remember the former President, commander in Chief, shortly after I went to Jos, especially the early period of my stay there. There was a directive from the Presidency in which the President said that “any person seen with an AK-47 rifle should be taken out. I remember that vividly, and it trickled down the Chain of Command and came to us. Which was equally sent to all my troops. Any person carrying an AK-47 rifle and attacking another community will be taken out. This is because he is an aggressor. And I can tell you, if you check the record, that there were a couple of militants that we took out, in Plateau and in Sabon Kaduna. I lost, during my stay as a junior officer in 3 divisions, about 3 to 4 soldiers, if I remember well. So, we cannot sit down and see them eliminating our troops, and we say that we are not supposed to fire because of the rule of engagement. It’s not true; any person carrying a weapon, at least an AK-47 rifle, is an aggressor, and he should be taken down. And that is what I was doing. The only peculiarity of the Jos area, of course, was when you talked about the inter-communal crisis. Communities or tribes fighting themselves, we had to come in between. And in that situation, as long as they are not carrying arms, we cannot start shooting them. Unless, of course, any of the other groups are carrying arms, then you definitely have the go-ahead to take them down.
Q: But is it true that mostly in the night beyond Mangu, Riyom, Ganawuri, etc.,troops were non-operational just pinned down, which is why the senator representing Plateau South, a retired general, was saying recently that he wants the defense chief to re-enact the rule of engagement to make them operational during the night too, to counter the bandits who operate mostly in the night or the wee hours of the morning?
No, we carried out patrols when I was the GOC. You know, I left there almost six months ago. When I was a GOC, we carried out patrols in the daytime and at night. We did carry out our night patrols. So, I am not aware of the fact that troops just stay confined to their locations. We carried out our patrol both day and night when I was there.
Q: Do we have night patrols or operations here in Operation Hadin Kai?
A: ….. Cuts in. Off course we do.
Q: Except that certain areas are shut down as early as 4 p.m., like the Maiduguri-Damaturu road, because of the aggression of the insurgents.
A: Yes, those are supply routes, main supply roads. We shut them down for security reasons, and that has been going on for a long time. You know. It’s for the security of the civil populace that plys the route that we can control the movement. And we make sure that people are not exposed to attacks.
Q: So, looking at the Northeast theater that you managed for about 6 months before shipping out, What, in your own perception, are achievements?
A: I will just mention a few; there are quite a lot of achievements, several achievements in the 6 months I have stayed. First of all, I, my staff, and my officers and men conducted Operation Desert Sanity 2 and Lake Sanity 2. We conducted Operation Mountain Sanity as well. So, these operations have to a large extent degraded the terrorist.
Q: Cuts in. Mountain sanity is the Mandara stretch in Gwoza.
That is right, Mandara Mountains; we made a lot of recoveries. In Ukoba, Sambisa, we made a lot of recoveries. We were able to get very sound intelligence on where they have stashed their arms, ammunition, and weapons. The records are there, the photos are there, and I am very happy to say that I was able to rescue three out of the many Chibok girls that were abducted several years ago. I was able to rescue three of them from the operations we conducted. And there were two non-governmental organizations (NGO) staff that we rescued. Three others have not been seen, and we heard that they were killed by the terrorist. So, I am happy that we were able to rescue those two as well. I am talking about those that were picked up in Gamboru Ngala. Also, we were able to at least reduce the frequency of attacks on people. You can attest to the fact that the attacks that we used to experience in the past have been reduced by the terrorist attacks. We don’t have such attacks as we are used to any more. So, what they are trying to do now is attack farmers. Now that they have been degraded to an appreciable level, they are trying to get soft targets like the farmers. And we are taking adequate measures to counter that. You will know the terrorists once you are able to degrade them. They will look for other exit routes to cause damage. We are happy that we are able to degrade them, even though they will always change tactics. So now the tactics that were adopted were that they were trying to kill farmers to stop them from farming this year. And they intensified the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and bombs along our routes of movement. So we are contending with that as well.
Q: So, what about Lear Shaibu? Did you get close to her?
Lear Sharibu; we are not sure where she is. We have been getting conflicting information about where exactly she is. But we have not lost hope yet; we think she is alive, and if we get good intelligence, we will definitely try to rescue her.
Q: So, what were some of the operational challenges that clogged the progress of troops in sectors 2 and 1?
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The challenges I experienced were, first of all, the issue of equipment. Another challenge is the high attrition rate of the equipment. So, it’s not that the equipment is not available. What I am saying is that the equipment is available, but before you know it, it is damaged. How? Because of the bombs encountered and the IEDs on the way, ok. A lot of Emeralds were bombed. Before you know it, when we go out for any major operation and come back with the troops, those vehicles will have gone over mines, which will damage most parts of the vehicle. We have the time to repair it, so we can deal with the subsequent operations. However, some of them are not going to be repairable at all. So, we need replacements, and this thing takes time. So, these are some of the challenges that we faced.
Q: IEDs have been a major challenge since your predecessor was here. Now you are facing them as a major challenge too. Is there any long-term plan to deal with these IEDs once and for all because the insurgents will still do them anyway?
A: Of course, that is the most preferred weapon for terrorists and insurgents. Especially now that they don’t have vehicles, they lack arms and ammunition. They have resorted to the widespread use of IEDs. We have just identified counter-IED equipment, which the Nigerian Army has purchased and will very soon deploy in the theater.
Q: Sector 3 is very peculiar. Lots of meshes: the Tunbus, the Timbuktu triangle. So how did you handle those challenges in Sector 3? Are they still IEDs, or are there other natural issues other than IEDs and flooding?
A: Of course, one of the major issues in Sector 3 is flooding. So now that we have had some experience in some areas, we have worked out ways to counter it the next time so that it doesn’t happen. By creating dykes, water floods areas to channel the water when it comes back. So, these are some of the things we have done. And we are clearing the waterways of the hyacinths and the giant grasses. So, this thing will also allow us to freely go through the channel linking the Lake Chad Basin area.
Q: And were you satisfied with the cooperation from your colleagues in the air?
A: Yes, absolutely yes.
Q: Cuts in. At times we see them bombing and producing their own reports outside the theater, or are those bombing under your command?
A: Yes, we plan everything with joint operations; you know, we plan together. You know, we mostly get the intelligence, and we pass it on to them to carry out the air rides. Yes, they do conform to our directives here.
Q: What about the Navy guys in Baga and your amphibious troops? What’s next for them? What is their plan to end all of this?
A: The Navy, like I said, is involved in actively clearing the waterways that have been overtaken by the water hyacinths and going forward. They are going to be carrying out more serious amphibious operations in the Lake Chad Basin area.
Q: I believe that when you get over there in Chad, there will be a correlation between that side and this side, so that they will be able to weed out the criminals. This is because I learned that even on Tumbus Island, there are so many that nobody actually knows the number of them for effective planning. But I believe you people will take each day as it comes. Is that correct, General?
A: Yes, that is it.
Q: What then is your message to the people of this whole theater as you are leaving, especially concerning the defected insurgents surrendering daily? We have heard so many reports about them, you know, especially now that you are going to the other side of Lake Chad to do the same job in conjunction with foreign troops.
A: What I will tell them is that they should not look backwards. Of course, they shouldn’t lose hope either; they should continue to give support in times of information and intelligence. They should continue to talk to their brothers who are out fighting and tell them to lay down their arms and come out. I think the Governor has a good heart and wants the best for them. They should give him a chance and listen to him. They should come out of the bushes and lay down their arms. Now we have over 100,000 who have surrendered. Over 100,000. I think that is a sign that we are getting to the end of the tunnel. The crisis is coming to an end. Of course, there will be some die-hards. But of course, such die-hards will find themselves to blame at the end of the day. That is my message to them.
Q: My mind is on the wounded soldiers at the 7th Division hospital. Are you satisfied with the facility, having spent just six months managing the troops? In case you were here for another 6 months. What would you have done differently with the functional medical facility in the barracks?
A: Of course, it is to improve the hospital by buying more equipment. We can increase and buy more. Even though what we have is adequate and there is a system whereby we move some of them to 44 in Kaduna, you know, And even in Damaturu now, we have a few hospitals there. So, we have the capability to take care of the strength of the troops here.
Q: And we believe the new Chief will take care of the tertiary one being built here to ease the pressure on the UMTH and 44?
A: Of course.
Q: Thank you very much, General Ali. I wish you the best.
A: Thank you.
The challenges with IEDs at the “Hadin Kai” theater will soon be history – Former TC General Ali
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