Girls in Aba start sex at age 10 , research shows

By Ijendu Iheaka

Oct. 27, 2016

 A medical practitioner, Dr Godwin Uwaoma, said on Monday that girls in Aba, Abia engage in active sexual activities from the age of 10, raising higher chances of contracting HIV.

Uwaoma, the Chairman of the Thematic Working Group at the Nigerian Faith Based Advisory Council for AIDS (NFACA), told our correspondent in Aba that a 2014 research revealed the development.

He said that the study was conducted to find out the awareness of preventive measures among youths in the secondary schools for the Department of Public Health at the Imo State University.

“We discovered that some girls in Aba start sexual activities at the age 10 to 12 and that at the age of 12, girls in Aba have “regular boyfriends” with whom they agree to have sex regularly.

“This was not known before.  Usually HIV prevention was targeted at age 15 upward but we now know that before 15 they have become sexually active.

“And there is a lot of difference between when you are forced into it and you remove yourself thereafter and when at this age you now have a regular partner.

“That was what we discovered and it is not normal but an aberration but obviously the fact is there,” he said.

At a lecture organised by the Aba chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to mark their week, Uwaoma called for prevention rather than cure which was unavailable for HIV cases.

He urged the students to desist from watching pornographic films, playing sexual games with opposite sex and keeping bad friends to save them from sexual temptations.

In another lecture titled “Sex and Puberty,” Dr Kenneth Ngwogu, a lecturer at the Abia State University, said that puberty brought changes in character and body composition to young people.

Noting that most youths ruined their lives through dangerous actions like early sex, Ngwogu urged them to consult doctors or adults to manage the challenges of puberty.

He charged the youth to desist from sexual activities which could refocus their attention while in school to reach their goals of becoming successful people

Partial compliance : Abia Judiciary Workers vow to continue with strike

By Ijendu Iheaka
October 25, 2016

The striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Tuesday said it would continue its strike unless the Abia state government ensured full compliance with the 2014 court order.

The Abia state chapter of JUSUN had gone on strike on October 10, 2016 to pursue the full implementation of a court order granting the judiciary financial autonomy in all Nigerian states.

The state Chairman of JUSUN, Mr Emmanuel Onyemereibeya disclosed this in Umuahia on the sidelines of events to mark the 2016 /2017 Abia State Legal year.

He said that the state government had not attended the meetings scheduled to discuss resolution of the strike which he interpreted to mean that “They have no interest in resolving the matter”.

Onyemereibeya therefore said that the strike would continue until the state government complied totally with the provisions of the court order as directed by the national body of judiciary workers.

NAN reports that Ikpeazu in 2015 began partial compliance with the order with payment of the Consolidated Judicial Salary Structure (CONJUSS) to Abia judicial workers with a N40, 000 minimum wage.

However, the Abia JUSUN Secretary, Mr Chinedu Eze said that other aspects of the order which included payment of capital and overhead costs to court heads had not been complied with.

The Secretary who noted that their strike was not exclusively because they were owed some months salaries, added that the state government still owed them the 2015 CONJUSS arrears.

Eze said that JUSUN was concerned that funds accruable to the courts which should be given to heads of courts to manage is instead said to be kept in the Abia government house.

“Right now, the state government has not paid the judiciary workers since August 2016 and yet they have paid the State House of Assembly for September. This is not fair.

“If they say that that there is no money in the state, then all the workers should feel it not that some workers will be paid and others will not be paid. It is not right”, he said.

He noted that the body would not stop the strike unless the state government complied fully with the whole provisions of the court order.

Asked if the strike was not ill-timed considering Governor Ikpeazu's several court cases with two still pending in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Eze said there could be no better time to obey a court order.

Abia residents call on federal government to start work on Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway

By Ijendu Iheaka
Oct. 20, 2016

Abia residents on Thursday called on the federal government to quickly deploy to site the contractor awarded the rehabilitation of the Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway.

Some of the residents of the state made the plea in Aba and Umuahia in separate interviews with our Correspondent.

They explained that this was to reduce the carnage on the road especially on the Aba – Umuahia stretch..

The residents said that unless the reconstruction was done before Christmas more lives could be lost through accidents on the dual-carriage way which had been reduced to one lane because of failed portions.

Mr Chima Onuoha, a trader in Aba, said: “my mind is never at rest when I am travelling through the Enugu – Port Harcourt express way.

“This is because it is now full of potholes and often accidents happen on the Aba – Umuahia stretch as a result of potholes.

“Since January the road has been in deplorable condition.’’

He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had in his Oct. 1 speech said that the road had been awarded to a contractor but added “we have not seen any company working on it.”

Onuoha called for immediate deployment of the contractor adding that if nothing was done urgently the coming months would be hectic and dangerous for commuters preparing for the yuletide.

A business man Mr Mike Emeka, also said that plying on the wrong lane by motorists struggling to save their time had turned the road into a nightmare for users.

“The government should start work on the road before Christmas to save lives and the time which is usually wasted in long traffic queues.

“If the president said that the road has been awarded to a contractor he should send monitoring team to know if work is going on or not.

“He should be aware that we are yet to see any company working on the road,” he said.

Another resident, Mr Ikechukwu Akabogu, said he travelled from Aba to Umuahia three times a week but always felt unease because of the rate of accidents on the road.

“One day I was returning to Aba when we witnessed an accident where a Tipper crushed a commercial bus and killed all the passengers because both vehicles were struggling on one lane,’’ he said.

Akabogu expressed regret that the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) saddled with the responsibility of patching failed portions of roads in in the country  had not done much  in the past four years

NAFDAC seizes 14 cartons of expired drugs from counterfeiters

By Ijendu Iheaka
October 19, 2016


 The Abia office of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has seized 14 cartoons of expired amino acid drugs being re-validated in Aba, Abia.

The Chief Regulatory Officer of NAFDAC, Abia Office, Mr Olisa Okeke, made the development known in an interview with our repoter in Aba on Wednesday.

He said that the product, named “Amino-fit”, with red colour containing 10 tablets in a sachet and with batch number, B00313D, was manufactured in April 2013 with March 2016 as expiry date.

Okeke, however, noted that the dealers decided to clean the original expiry date and write a new  date on the pack  after the drug had expired to enable them to continue selling it to unsuspecting people.

“Some days ago, we got a tip-off that some persons were re-writing (re validating) expiry dates on amino-acid drug “Amino Fit” with ox-blood red colour and they went to investigate it at 21, Abagana Street, Aba.

“I told them to find and mop up the re-validated drugs. On getting to the place, they met a lady who operates a hair salon in the building.

“While speaking to the lady, a young man suspiciously answered the question posed to the lady from an opening behind a locked gate.

“This led the team to look in different directions only to find the expired products being re-validated stacked inside a shop next to the salon lady through an opening by the door,” he said.

Okeke said that the team then forced the doors of the shop open and found the re-validated products inside.

According to him, the suspects escaped through the fence into another compound behind the building housing the shop.

Okeke, however, said that 14 cartons of the re-validated expired pharmaceutical product were carted away while the search for the culprits behind the deal continued.

He said that the premises had been sealed pending the time the culprits or the owner of the property would come to give account of what happened in the building.

Okeke also said the team recovered the screen-printing equipment that the suspects were using to re validate the products.

Okeke advised the public to be careful and check the expiry date on the products they bought to avoid buying expired products.

“Buyers of food and drug products around us now have to be extra-careful because unless you are very careful, and look very well, you will not see that they changed the expiry date,” he said.

People in poverty seek government assistance

People in poverty seek government assistance
Oct. 17, 2016

By Ijendu Iheaka

 People in poverty in Aba on Monday described poverty as a big social problem which denies people of opportunities and better livelihood and called for government’s assistance to them.

Some of the people in poverty spoke to our reporter in separate interviews from the slums of Ngwa road in Aba, Abia state on the International Day for Poverty Eradication.

This year’s theme is “Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms”.

They said that the life of people in poverty was painful and has so much challenges needing assistance adding that they would “not pray for such” for their worst enemies.

Ozoemenam Uche, 39, a wheelbarrow pusher whose daily income is between N750-N1000 said that his income was not enough to cater for his family with wife and one child in school.

“With my income, I can only manage to pay N5000 for my child’s school fees. If things continue this way, I do not think I will be able to send him to the university.

“Some days, I starve to see that I provide for my child’s needs yet it is not enough. If they are sick, I cannot take them to the hospital because I cannot afford it.

“When they are sick, I give them N100 to N200 to go to the nearest chemist shop to get some drugs mixed for them. People in poverty in most times are forced to seek help against their wish”, he said.

Chinedu Odo, 37, said he has wife with two children in school stressing that while one is in the private school, the other is in public school because he cannot afford to keep both in private schools.

He said that the money he gets from his menial jobs was not enough to take care of his family.

“I am not settled in my mind because if things continue this way, they may even come out of school and find what to do. That is not my wish but it is what poverty can lead to”, he said.

Okechukwu Kalu, 36 another wheelbarrow pusher said that to get N500 daily in the present economic situation is very hard for him adding that it has increased his family’s sufferings.

Kalu said that when his four children and wife are sick, he directs them to a chemist around their house because he cannot afford to pay hospital bills.

“I will not lie to you, my children were in school until some months ago when I could not pay their fees so they are no longer going to school now. It pains me that this situation may mar their future and make them suffer like myself but I do not want it so.

I am begging that whatever government can do to ensure that people like us can find food and live a decent life, they should do so for us. It will be worse if after we may have died suffering; our children would also go on suffering”, he said.

These three persons said they live in one room with their families because they cannot afford better and larger accommodation.

They urged government to help them with better jobs to enable them feed and take care of their families.

Ekene Nkwoego, 18, Chimaobi Nwangene, 19, and Uche Nwaji, 18, said that their parents’ poverty led them to pushing wheelbarrow instead of being in school like their mates.

They said that they were doing the job to raise West African Examination Council fees to enable them sit for the examinations next year.

They asked government to help them by either provinding work for their parents or to give them full scholarship from secondary to university levels to be able to live their dreams of becoming better human beings in future.

We pay over N200m to Abia government annually – School Proprietors

By Ijendu.Iheaka - Nigeria 

October 14, 2016 1:23 pm  

The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools has said that it paid over N200 million annually to the Abia Government which may not be getting to government treasury.

The Abia Chapter Chairman, Mr Okey Ufomba, made the   disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Aba on Friday.

“The private schools sector has always been very supportive.

‘’By way of revenue, we generate over N200 million for Abia  annually but our worry is: does this money get to government coffers?

“Does it get to them? This is my worry. Our worry is that most of this revenue we pay does not get to Abia state government.

“Now we are working with the Abia State House of Assembly to check this. They are trying but they need information to work,” he said.

Ufomba said that by furnishing the state House of Assembly with more information on their transactions with revenue agents, the government could improve the state’s revenue.

“We want to see how they can guide the Board of Internal Revenue and other revenue agents to reduce the amount of money we pay to what we can afford.

“We also want them to define a proper channel for us to be paying the money to the government so that the government can get money to work with.

“We are very prepared to work with the governor and the government,” he said.

He noted that the members of the association paid for over 40 revenue items to government agents which resulted in each member paying more than N450, 000 annually.

Ufomba listed some of the items as Infrastructure levy  (N50,000  – N200,000), Fire Extinguisher  (N25,000-45,000), Advert fee (N5,000 – N50,000), Borehole (N7,500 –  N25,000) and Consumer Protection Council fee (N10,000 – N20,000).

Others are ASEPA Bucket  (N2,500 – N10,000), Environmental levy (N10, 000 – N24,000), Operational Permit (N5,000 -N10,000), Business Premises (N5,000 -N10,000) and Ministry of Education annual renewal fee (N20,000 –  N80, 000).

He said that the rates differed from one school to another depending on the presence or absence of Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools in the complex.

The chairman stressed the need for the government to stop taxing the proprietors of private schools indiscriminately if it wanted them to remain in business and support the education sector.

“The government should have pity on us because if they continue like this, we will not remain in business for long and the people in the state will suffer for it,” he said.

Repay your loans and get more, association tells members

By  Ijendu.Iheaka - Nigeria

October 12, 2016 1:54 pm

 The President, Leather Products Manufacturers Association of Abia State (LEPMAS), Mr Okechukwu Williams, on Wednesday called on members to repay their loans from the Bank of Agriculture to benefit more.

Williams gave the advice in Ariaria, Aba, on Wednesday during the inauguration of the association’s 50-man Loan Monitoring and Recovery Committee.

He said that if the members of the association would borrow funds and repay according to their agreement with BoA, it would make them eligible to borrow bigger sums in the future.

According to him, the timely repayment of the loans from BoA would ensure that more funds were provided to the clusters and the funds recycled at a faster pace to reach all members.

Williams said that the loans would also help the members to collectively source raw materials and reduce cost while improving on their bottom-line.

The LEPMAS president said members desired the funds because making funds available to the leather workers would boost their businesses, improve their profit and help to stabilise Nigeria’s economy.

He said that the Loan Monitoring and Recovery Committee was set up to ensure that the association’s project with the Bank of Agriculture was sustained.

“When we were trying to attract the facility, we said we would ensure that there is no default. So to fulfill our promise, we had to put this committee in place to ensure repayment.

“We have a maximum of 50 in the committee and they are drawn from the benefiting Cooperative Societies within the association and the zones.

“We expect to have 12 persons from the zones and then 30 members from the Cooperatives that have already benefitted.”

He said that the BoA at Obehie was lending N150,000 to all members now but had upgraded the amount to N250,000 for members of two cooperative groups that completed their repayment

Ikpeazu promises to provide land for permanent trade fair complex in Aba

Ikpeazu promises to provide land for permanent trade fair complex in Aba

 By  Ijendu.Iheaka - Nigeria
 October 11, 2016 7:05 pm

Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has promised to provide land for the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) to build a permanent trade fair complex.

Ikpeazu made the promise in Aba on Tuesday at ACCIMA’s 2016 Business Luncheon in Aba, Abia.

The governor, represented by the Comissioner for Finance, Chief Obinna Oriaku, said that the state could not talk of promoting Nigerian made products without a trade fair complex to showcase its products.

He said that he signed a waiver running into a huge undisclosed sum of money last week to enable the core investor in Swiss International Enyimba Hotels, Aba start work on the project without further delay.

Ikpeazu said improving infrastructure was key to improving Aba’s economic status hence he paid N1.4 billion to SETRACO Construction Company to resume work on Faulks road leading to Ariaria Market.

He said that getting Ariaria market right was important in repositioning the state’s economy.

Ikpeazu thanked the chamber for being resilient in business in the face of economic difficulties in Nigeria and urged the members to put Aba in the lead in commerce in the South East.

ACCIMA President, Mr Emma Nwakpadolu, said there was need to harness Aba’s development potentials in markets, skilled man-power, raw materials and industries for economic growth.

He lauded Ikpeazu’s efforts in reviving Aba’s position as the nation’s foremost technology centre and contributions to development programmes of ACCIMA.

Nwakpadolu said ACCIMA had engaged in talks with Goemetric and Azura Power Ltd to provide full and uninterrupted power supply to the city and its environs to improve productivity.

The Founder of Gregory University, Uturu, and Resource Person at the event, Dr Greg Ibe, delivered a lecture titled “Revival of our National Economy by Enhancing Agricultural, Industrial and Technological productivity”.

Ibe said Nigeria’s economy needed people, business firms and higher agricultural output to develop and sustain its economy.

He said that of the three, agriculture was most important to develop and sustain a nation’s economy, adding that agriculture-based economies did not often fluctuate like other economies.

He urged government’s to support businesses by providing infrastructure, adding that the government owed such provisions to the people to improve its economy.

He said Nigeria’s failing economy could only be revived if the nation improved its agriculture, technology and general productivity.