Osinbajo to continue acting for Buhari

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President Muhammadu Buhari, who returned to Nigeria on Friday after medical leave, said he will leave his deputy in charge for the time being and not immediately resume power.

The 74-year-old said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo “will continue” in the role of acting president “and I will continue to rest”. No timeline was given for how long Osinbajo would be in charge.

But Buhari’s aide on digital communication, Tolu Ogunlesi said the president only “joked that he deliberately came back on a Friday so Osinbajo can continue working and he (PMB) can have a few more days to rest.”

But it is not clear when Buhari will return fully to work.

More details to come.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2msUoAY

FG will commit significant share of 2017 budget to Northeast

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama

The Federal Government will commit a significant share of the 2017 budget to confront the security and humanitarian situation arising from the Boko Haram terrorism, the Minister of of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said.

Onyeama made the remarks on Friday at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region, according to a statement by the Office of the UN Secretary-General.

The Minister, however, appealed for the support of the international community to address the huge humanitarian crisis brought about by years of activities of the Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast.

“The Nigerian Government is committing significant budget to confront the security and humanitarian situation arising from the insurgency.

“We also need all the help and support we can get from the international community,” Onyeama said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that giving voice to people affected by conflicts in the region, the global UN-supported humanitarian conference, hosted by Norway jointly with Nigeria and Germany, generated more than 670 million U.S. dollars in pledges.

The fund would help sustain critical relief operations over the next two years and beyond across the four countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, where millions are in need of aid.

The donors forum also agreed on the need to address longer-term development requirements and to seek durable solutions for the crisis-hit countries in the vast region.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one of the UN agencies attending the conference, said the humanitarian response efforts to Boko Haram devastations should enable the people to return to a dignified life.

Dominique Burgeon, Director of FAO Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, in his presentation at the conference in the Norwegian capital, also stressed that aid assistance should focus on providing relief from the looming famine in the region,

“Supporting agriculture is the key to both,” he highlighted, noting that supporting farmers to cultivate food would help freeing many from being trapped in cycles of severe hunger.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in its presentation, also underscored the need to address a public health crisis in the region.

Dr Rick Brennan, Director of WHO Emergency Operations, in the presentation, said the crisis in the region was also a public health crisis “with the rates of death, malnutrition and disease rarely seen over the past 20 years”.

The WHO official explained that “between malnutrition and death, there is always disease.

“Malnutrition lowers the body’s capacity to fight infection.

“A malnourished child is far more prone to contract an infectious disease such as pneumonia, diarrhea and measles – and then to die from that disease,” he said.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lamME4

Adegboruwa withdraws suit against Magu’s confirmation as EFCC chairman

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Ibrahim Magu

Human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has withdrawn the case he filed against the confirmation of Mr Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Federal High Court Lagos.

Adegboruwa filed the suit on the ground of his alleged corrupt practices and lavish lifestyle.

At the resumed hearing Monday, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), appeared for Adegboruwa, while Mr. Wahab Shitu and Rotimi Oyedepo appeared for the respondents. Oyetibo informed the court that upon being instructed to handle the case, he went through the file and decided to persuade Adegboruwa to drop the case, in order to encourage Magu in the anti-corruption campaign.

He stated further that there was a need to give Magu the opportunity to continue the anti-corruption campaign of the present administration and since this case may affect Magu’s confirmation as such, it was better to discontinue it.

Confirming the position of Oyetibo, Mr Adegboruwa himself told the court that he was well persuaded by his counsel, that in his second coming, “Mr Magu will do a good job, to be more rule of law friendly and to be holistic in his approach to the anti-corruption drive of the administration”.

Responding, Wahab Shittu stated: “the respondents are not opposed to the withdrawal of the case and they were very happy on the position that Adegboruwa has taken, which would surely boost the anti-corruption war of the Buhari/Osinbajo administration.

“The government needs the input and support of lawyers and activists like Adegboruwa, to bring their wealth of experience to bear on the fight against corruption,” he said.

Consequently, Justice J. Olatoregun struck out the case.

Adegboruwa maintained that his decision to withdraw the case did not amount to an endorsement of the Buhari/Osinbajo regime but he has only picked a positive aspect of the regime’s policies for his conditional support.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2m0ovRl

China promotes traditional medicine to combat AIDS

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In a 2015 report China told the UN that it had 501,000 cases of HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2014. PHOTO: AFP Photo

China will double the number of AIDS patients it treats with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), officials have said, part of a broader push to increase the use of the ancient practice in the country’s medical system.

The promotion of TCM is part of a five-year plan from the State Council, China’s cabinet, to tackle HIV/AIDS.

“The number of people living with AIDS who are treated with traditional Chinese medicine should be twice what it was in 2015,” the State Council said on its website Sunday.

The plan outlined collaboration between traditional Chinese medicine departments and national health and family planning commissions “to find a therapeutic regimen which combines traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicines”.

The TCM push aligns with a recent effort by the government to make the practice a priority for both development and publicity.

TCM, dating back thousands of years, treats ailments using herbal mixtures and physical therapies such as acupuncture and cupping.

The science behind such remedies has long been questioned. Last month medical researchers disputed a study claiming that acupuncture could cure babies of colic.

In late December the Chinese legislature passed its first TCM law, which will allow practitioners to be licensed and make it easier for them to open clinics.

There are about 450,000 TCM practitioners across the country, according to the State Council Information Office.

The government sees the practice as a cost-saving alternative to modern healthcare.

The new initiative to tackle HIV/AIDS will aim to reduce “AIDS-related homosexual behavior” by at least 10 percent and mother-to-children transmission rates to less than four percent.

In a 2015 report China told the UN that it had 501,000 cases of HIV/AIDS as of the end of 2014.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2jTl79Z