Abia Police Parade Two Fake Doctors

Mike Okiro

Zone Nine Police Command, Umuahia, Abia State have arrested two suspected fake doctors operating illegal hospitals in Imo State, few months after a teenage girl died in their hands as a result of unsuccessful caesarean operation.
Parading the suspects before newsmen, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the Zone, Mr. Olusegun Efuntayo, said officers attached to the Anti Human Trafficking Section of the zone were able to carry out the arrest following a tip off.
He said the suspects, Phat Agha and John Odumukwu who had their hospital at Nkwoala Market Square and Eziama in Ngor Okpala, Imo State, confessed to the crime.
Mr. Efuntayo maintained that as soon as investigation was concluded, the suspects would be arraigned in Court.
In an interview, the two suspects admitted that they were not trained medical doctors but had knowledge as theatre attendants.
Correspondent, reports that items recovered from them include a stethoscope, syringes, injections, local herbs, bed spreads and the hospital sign posts.

Forum Calls For Review Of Land Use Act

A national forum on how to properly harness the nation's mineral resources for the development of the nation has called for urgent review of the Land Use Act to allow ownership of minerals and other extractable resources in the hands of communities so that the masses and the communities can in turn pay tax and royalty to government, as done in other countries like the United States of America.
“We call on the National Assembly to abrogate Section 1 of the Minerals and Mining Act 1999 which places ownership and control of all minerals in, under or upon any land in Nigeria, its contiguous continental shelf and all the rivers, streams and water courses throughout Nigeria in the Government of the Federation for and on behalf of the people of Nigeria,” the gathering suggested in a communiqué.
The forum, made-up of media practitioners and members of the civil society organisations [CSOs] described the provisions of the nation's Land Use Act as oppressive and structured to oppose the communal right to ownership and should have no place in our statute books.
“Considering that in other democracies, the owner of the land owns everything on it and in the land including the mineral resources found therein; and Section 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 generally acknowledges ownership of land in stipulating that: "No moveable property or any interest in an immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria...", the National Assembly should set in motion the process for the immediate review and abrogation of Section 1 of the Land Use Act, 1978 which vests all land comprised in the territory of each state (except land vested in the Federal Government or its agencies) compulsorily in the state.”
Laws which are in place against “blood diamond” should also apply to “blood oil,” the forum implored arguing that this way, the nation's extractive resources would be of maximum benefit to the generality of the people.
The interactive forum called on the National Assembly to ensure that NEITI audit processes are not limited to oil and gas resources alone but should be extended to solid minerals for the benefit of the country.
It recommended that the Hart Group (official Auditor to NEITI) should not be involved in validating Nigeria because the laws required that each audit should be handled by different audit firms.
One controversial suggestion which would interest media owners was the recommendation that the Nigerian newspaper, television and radio houses be merged and consolidated, just like the banks to strengthen the industry and increase its capacity to employ and remunerate journalists in the process of transparency, good governance and investigative journalism.
The review meeting on the NEITI process in Nigeria was put together by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with support from PACT Nigeria and it attracted 30 participants from the media, civil society organisations, PACT Nigeria and the NEITI secretariat and was held at Nanet Suites, Abuja. Executive Director of CISLAC, Alhaji Auwal Musa Rafsanjani and Mr. Aniagwu C. Ehiedu jointly signed the communiqué.