Nigerian business magnate and Politician, Benedict Murray-Bruce has lambasted the people, President Muhammadu Buhari associates himself with. The Bayelsa East Senator accused the President of being surrounded by people who cannot find an ultimate solution to the end of killings in Nigeria He tweeted ; The people you surround yourself with reflect who you are and when I look at the people that President Buhari surrounds himself with, I see a reflection of failure! How can you be surrounded by people who are still ‘cracking their heads’ after three years of killings in Nigeria! Meanwhile the Senator is also advocating that Nigerians be allowed to vote by SMS in future elections. The Bayelsa State Lawmaker is advocating this method as a means to help check electoral malpractice following the fallout from Saturday’s election in Ekiti State. (Read more here) Leave a Comment... 0 comments

At least over 2,000 persons have benefited from a health intervention scheme carried out by the Cross River State Government in collaboration with Save A Life Foundation and the ABC Network.

The intervention, which kicked off in Akpabuyo Local Government Area penultimate week and continued in Bakassi LGA, saw hundreds of persons trooping to the open field in Anantigha where the Calabar-South LGA programme was declared open.

Southern City News learnt on Friday that some patients with chronic ailments had been referred to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital for further treatment.

Declaring the programme open, Governor Ben Ayade, who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Rosemary Archibong, said he was happy partnering the groups for the sake of bringing healthcare to the doorstep of the people.

Ayade noted that it is sometimes difficult to get money as low as N50 for transportation to a health care facility, adding that such situation could kill due to such lack.

He used the opportunity to call on the people of Cross River to be their brother’s keeper by partnering  the government to make health care get to the most indigent citizens even in remote areas.

“People of Cross River should be their brother’s keeper by sponsoring some indigent people through the Ayade Care initiative to make health care accessible to all,” he said.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer of Save A Life Foundation, Mr. Saviour Nyong, said the outreach focuses on touching the lives of the poor in the society, many of whom could not access medical care due to paltry sums.

“This development is for the benefit of the less privileged, many of whom die because of N1,000 worth of medication that they could not afford. So, having the value and sanctity of life in our hearts, we thought it wise to first cater for the health needs of the people even as the government looks into the other needs,” he said.

Nyong noted that going forward, the NGO would liaise with other international organisations to expand the scope of the outreach.

President of the state Medical Women Association of  Nigeria, Dr. Jacintha Okoi-Obuli, said the week-long intervention programme will cater for the medical needs of patients in the LGA.

She noted that the programme, which involves a lot of logistics, had so far catered for over 2,000 out patients in the three LGAs visited so far.

In her comment, the Head of Local Government Administration in Calabar-South LGA, Mrs. Christiana Elemi, urged residents to take advantage of the programme irrespective of their political affiliation.

Copyright PUNCH.