News
Council Raises Doctors’ Pay To Check Japa
The Chairman of Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area of Lagos, Fuad Atanda-Lawal, has approved a 100 per cent pay raise for the medical doctors attached to all the primary health centres in the council area.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Atanda-Lawal announced this on Thursday after extensive deliberations on the need to ensure that all residents in the council had access to comprehensive, quality and affordable health care.
He said the increment would take effect from February 2024. According to the council boss, the decision follows the need to address the brain drain currently experienced in the nation’s health sector, a trend commonly known as japa.
The chairman reiterated his belief that Nigeria was blessed with doctors who could compete with their peers globally if given the necessary incentives.
“This is coming on the heels of the commencement of the construction of a state-of-the-art primary health centre that will cater for a larger number of people in the community.
“I want to reiterate the council’s commitment to supporting the efforts of our esteemed President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Governor Babajide Sanwolu in delivering quality and affordable health care to all citizens.
“We believe that by investing in our health care professionals, we are taking a step towards achieving this goal,” the chairman said.
In January, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission, Dr Eniayewun Ademuyiwa, lamented that government-owned hospitals were becoming overstretched due to the mass emigration of health workers abroad for greener pastures, in what is commonly called ‘japa.’
He revealed that the acute shortage of manpower in some of the federal facilities had increased the number of patients being admitted to state hospitals across Lagos.
Last year, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors said no fewer than 1,417 of their members relocated abroad in search of greener pastures.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
US President-elect, Donald Trump’s incoming administration plans to immediately order a series of deportation raids targeting illegal immigrants after his inauguration.
Chicago is expected to be the first major city targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of Operation Safeguard, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with planning the undertaking.
The massive deportation operation is expected to target criminals and gang members in the United States illegally and run for one week.
Trump has promised to conduct the largest deportation program in U.S. history.
Up to 200 ICE agents are being sent to Chicago to help kick off the operation on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The agency has already asked agents to volunteer for the post-inauguration raids.
“There’s gonna be a big raid across the country,” Tom Homan, who will be in charge of U.S. borders once Trump takes office, told Fox News in an interview.
Homan has previously said he will instruct ICE agents to carry out raids on illegal immigrants at their workplaces.
In addition to Chicago, the sweeping crackdown will also target other major U.S. cities with large immigrant populations.
Trump is set to take the oath of office on Monday, January 20, in an inauguration that will take place indoors.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A faith-based civil society organization, CSO that monitors and reports on Hajj and Umrah activities, the Independent Hajj Reporters, IHR, has commended the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, for selecting a different Saudi-based Hajj service provider for the 2025 Hajj season.
It said the decision would create healthy competition among service providers interested in efficiently, qualitatively, and satisfactorily serving Nigerian pilgrims.
The CSO, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Muhammed, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and made available to our correspondent on Sunday in Abuja, said the quest for improved Hajj services has been a major challenge for Nigerian pilgrims owing to the repeated failure of providing satisfactory services.
”We applauded the decision to pick another service provider that will cater for the needs of pilgrims within the Masha’ir areas during the five days of Hajj,” he said
The national coordinator, who is currently in Saudi Arabia to monitor the pre-Hajj arrangements, said available information shows that the new company, Mashariq Al Dhahabia, is an experienced provider that has served top-rated Hajj countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, and ranked among the top five Hajj service providers by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
“The company served 249 706 which is the largest number of Hajj pilgrims during the 2023 hajj. They were awarded as the Best Hajj Service Providers during the 2022 Hajj by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah,” he stated.
IHR said it further understood that NAHCON is planning to recruit another service provider to provide services for very important personalities, VIP pilgrims so as not to repeat the experience of previous years, which is also a desired step forward.
It, however, urged NAHCON to set a parameter of performance for the newly selected service providers to serve as a baseline for determining continuous patronage, advising that such criteria should be based on pilgrims’ satisfaction and adherence to contractual terms.
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