Health and Life Style
Covid-19: FCTA tasks clergymen in fight against the pandemic

Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has tasked clergymen in Nigeria to support the government in the fight against the global pandemic called Coronavirus.
The Chairman, FCT Task Team on Enforcement, Mr Attah Ikharo made the call during an enforcement exercise on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Ikharo, while preaching the danger associated with congregational prayers at this period, urged the clergymen to engage their members into worship through online and divert social media platforms such as wattsup, facebook and instagram.
Attah who was satisfied with the level of compliance by the FCT residents in some of the area the team visited, rated the success at 96 percent.
He urged them to continue to collaborate with the government and report any worship center and social gathering within their vicinity that fail to comply with the stay at home directive by the government at this trying period.
” Well I think we went round most part of the metropolic, we went round Kubwa, Byanzhi, Gwarimpa and I think the compliance from my own point of view from the churches, I can put it at 96 percent which is total compliance.
“They all work closely with government, they all shot down worship center and so far so good, they are all home praying and doing their prayers. I think for compliance to me is very very high”, he reiterated.
The Chairman who addressed a community at Byanzhi in Kubwa, stressed that government is not banning Church or Mosque services for ever but it action was just for this trying period and was optimistic that very soon it will be over and people will go back to their live.
According to him, ” We have move round Abuja and all churches and Mosque are closed and the one that is opened is around this place. Please we are begging all of you, is your own area, so please, we are begging all of you, we are not saying any church or mosque is banned for ever, no. Now that we all know that we get problem, we all know Corona. Those of us who are Muslim, do ablution and pray in your houses and those of us who are Christian, make we sing praises prayer for our family and the country”.
In one of the worship center the team visited in Byanzhi at Kubwa, a suburb of the FCT, ” Rhema Assembly Church”, the Pastor of the church, Pastor Prince Onyekachi and three other members were seen playing gospel music and engaging other members of the church at home through online worship.
While speaking to Journalists, Pastor Onyekachi who commended the government for taking such action noted that, government is after their health and that they don’t have any reason to disobey them.
” So this morning what you met here is not a church service. Most of the people you see here leave here which if you go in there you will see their bags and clothing. So we just came out to make sure we get to the rest members at home through social media which if I get my tablet and open it, you will see the messages that I sent to them this morning which we did from here”, he added.
It could be recalled that FCT is second in the country with recorded cases of 45 with one death after Lagos State who has recorded more than a hundred cases with two death.
Author Profile
Latest entries
News2020.10.23#EndSARS: Senator Aduda Distance Self From Protests, Cautions Youths
News2020.10.23#EndSARS: FCTA To Compensate For Vehicles, Properties Destroyed By Hoodlums
News2020.08.09FCT Court convicts Naira Marley, see why…
Metro2020.08.09There would be Improved Budgetary Provisions For Physical Planning – Aliyu
Health and Life Style
Group Urges FG To Ensure Affordable Access To Drugs For PWD

The Diabetes Association of Nigeria, has called on the Nigerian government to ensure affordable access to fundamental care for people with diabetes(PWD).
Speaking during sensitization exercise to commemorate the 2021 World Diabetes Day, National President of the Association, Dr Alkali Mohammed, stated that access to care which include information, drugs, technology, and support is a right to all citizens and will go a long way to reverse the emerging ugly trend of the diabetic epidemic.
“Diabetes has become a major global epidemic being the leading Non-Communicable Disease (NCD).There are 537million people living with diabetes globally and is projected to reach 743 million by 2030 unless urgent steps are taken. Almost 1 in 2 of the people living with diabetes are undiagnosed while 4 in 5 of them are in the middle and low-income countries.
“In the year 2021,diabetes is responsible for 6.7million deaths. Although no reliable National Data is available in Nigeria, about 6 million Nigerians are estimated to have diabetes.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that almost everyone in Nigeria has a relation or friend that is diabetic and might have lost one. This is only going to worsen unless concerted efforts are put in place,” he said.
He also called on government to develop appropriate policies to improve the presentation of type 2 diabetes and also improve screening to ensure timely diagnosis and prevention of diabetes related complications.
Mohammed urged for implementation mechanisms to engage with diabetes meaningfully in the development of policies to tackle diabetes.
He revealed that this year’s commendation of the event is unique because of the COVID-19 epidemic as people with diabetes have higher complications and mortalities among the infected patients.
The national president also added that this year also mark the 100 years since the discovery of insulin which was a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes.
“However, despite the existence of insulin for a decade, 1 in 2 people in need of insulin globally cannot afford it. In Nigeria, the gap in access is even more as our health care system is mainly funded through out of pockets system.
“Additionally, the current economic realities and high inflationary trend is a major challenge to the effective management of diabetes as most patients cannot afford the minimum basic care since they do not have money,” he said.
The World Diabetes Day is celebrated on the 14th of November annually to serve as the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world.
Author Profile
Latest entries
News2023.05.06Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu, Wife, Doctor Sentenced To Various Prison Terms
AWF2022.09.21IIJ and Creativity Spark Foundation Throw 10 days Creative Writing Course
News2022.09.04Several Persons Trapped As 7-storey Building Collapses at Lekki
News2022.08.29Abba kyari; Justice Inyang Ekwo Dismissed Case For Lack of Merit – Counsel
Health and Life Style
UNICEF Organises Workshop On COVID-19 Vaccine For Journalists On Demand Creation

The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) has organised a workshop for journalists on ways to support the Federal Government on COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Nigeria.
Speaking during a Two Day Media Engagement Dialogue on Demand Creation for COVID-19 Vaccine organized in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau of the Federal Ministry of information and Culture in Kano, Communication Specialist for UNICEF Nigeria, Geoffrey Njoku revealed that the vaccination exercise was slow in some states because the government were reluctant to provide logistics for the exercise.
He therefore urged journalists in the country to use their various tools for advocacy to both Federal and state government to provide logistics and operational support for the delivery of vaccines to every part of the country. adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Njoku also added that Journalists have to be on the forefront of allaying fears amongst Nigerians who had conspiracy theories about the vaccine, there creating vaccine hesitancy in many parts of the country.
While being optimistic that the workshop will avail the participants on the skills to use to ensure the increase of uptakes of the vaccine, Njoku urged the journalists to use data from World Health Organisation(WHO), UNICEF, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) and other reliable organisations to derive stories that will bring about positive impact on the vaccination exercise.
Also speaking while giving an opening remark, the WASH Manager, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Rafid Salih stated that vaccine hesitancy have to be tackled hands down so as to avoid deaths caused by the virus.
Salih who was represented UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kano State, Maulid Warfa urged the journalists to use that same medium used to perpetrate misinformation about the virus, to propagate the fact to every part of the country.
Author Profile
Latest entries
News2023.05.06Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu, Wife, Doctor Sentenced To Various Prison Terms
AWF2022.09.21IIJ and Creativity Spark Foundation Throw 10 days Creative Writing Course
News2022.09.04Several Persons Trapped As 7-storey Building Collapses at Lekki
News2022.08.29Abba kyari; Justice Inyang Ekwo Dismissed Case For Lack of Merit – Counsel
Health and Life Style
COVID-19 Misinformation: NOA Promises Collaboration With Paged Initiative To Battle Scourge

The National Orientation Agency(NOA) has promised to work with the Participatory Communication Through Gender Development (PAGED) Initiative, a media and advocacy Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) to battle the issue of COVID-19 Misinformation in 19 Northern states of the country.
While the organisation paid a courtesy visit to the Agency, the Director General of NOA, Garba Abari stated that they were ready to collaborate with any organisation on the dissemination of information to curb the COVID-19 virus.
Abari who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Special Duties and State Operations, Mette Edekobi revealed that NOA was well equipped to carry out any awareness in the country as it has staff in all the 774 local government in the country.
“Our strength is the fact that we speak all languages. Our 774 officials are in their local government areas where they can speak the local languages and communicate with the people in the way that they will understand. We are predestined to do what we are doing,” he said.
Abari who lamented that the Agency had to battle with the issue of fake information about the virus and its vaccine, added that collaboration with other organizations would help a great deal as many Nigerians do not believe in their leaders, no matter what they tell them.
“So we need Nigerians to hear from other people that do not come from the government and maybe that will make them believe,” he said.
Earlier while stating the reason for their visit, the Programme Director, Paged Initiative, Ummi Bukar, said her NGO was there to ascertain the challenges NOA has encountered in the dissemination of information about COVID-19 and where the organisation can come in to assist curb the pandemic.
“In terms of COVID-19 media response, what we want from NOA is to know the gaps you have encountered that you will need the media to help address because there are still a lot of people who do not believe that COVID-19 exist. There is a lot of mis-information out there. We are have a lot of media partners across the 19 states that can help in this aspect,” she said.
Bukar added that her NGO in collaboration with European Union and Free Press have helped push for participatory development to ensure that the needs of the communities were met.
Author Profile

- Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.
Latest entries
News2023.05.03Reps Seek UK Government Clemency for Ekweremadu
Sports2023.04.22Banja Luka Exit: Djokovic said hopeful of hitting top form on clay
News2023.03.08FUL College of Health Sciences: FMC Lokoja Turns University Teaching Hospital
News2023.03.08Nigeria Labour Congress Seeks Cordial Relationship Wth Government