Kogi guber: Clerics endorse Usman
…Say, ‘he will do better than other aspirants’
As the people of Kogi State prepare for November 16 governorship election, a group of clergymen under the aegis of Council of Ministers in the State, has endorsed Vice Admiral Jibrin Usman (rtd), saying that the Lord has told them that among the myriads of aspirants, he is the only one that will lead the state to the promise land.
Bishop Paul Johnpaul, spokesman of the group, while speaking at a press conference in Lokoja, said their decision to back the retired Naval officer, besides spiritual revelation, was based on his pedigree, capacity and ability to move the state to enviable heights.
He pointed out that Admiral Usman, who is contesting on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a man of integrity, who has all it takes to take the state to another level of development.
He stressed that they decided to speak out because the state needed credible leader at the moment, considering the fact that they are at crossroads, adding that Kogi under Admiral Usman would witness accelerated development.
He maintained that Usman has vision and would put the state on sound economic footing if given the opportunity to lead the state, as he equally called on well-meaning people of the state to work in synergy and ensure a positive change come November.
Johnpaul stressed the need for the people of the state to support the retired military officer who, he said, has a laudable and peopleoriented programmes aimed at repositioning Kogi.
He equally enjoined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do its best, in ensuring a credible, free and fair process, stressing that considering the ugly experience of the last three-and-half years, the state deserved a better deal.
He further emphasised the need for the people of the state to shun all acts capable of causing crisis before, during and after the governorship poll, saying election should not be seen as a do-or-die affair.
BDSUNDAY gathered that members of the group were drawn from all the different Christian denominations, including the Pentecostal, Protestants and Catholic. REGIS ANUKWUOJI, Enugu
Enugu State Primary Healthcare Development Agency has commended UNICEF Enugu field office for the assistance and encouragement it has been giving to carry out sensitisation on exclusive breastfeeding programme in the state.
Loveth Onwuzuluike, assistant nutrition officer in the agency, who gave the commendation while speaking to BDSUNDAY on the 2019 World Breastfeeding Week and the state’s activities, with the theme ‘ Empower patents, enable breastfeeding now and for the future’, said the agency has embarked on grassroots sensitisation of women in all the health facilities in the 17 LGAS in the state, with the hope of achieving up to 95percent compliance in the intervention.
The sensitisation exercise, she said, was to educate nursing mothers in the rural areas to have exclusive breastfeeding and all the benefits the children and the mothers stand to gain from it, especially the first yellowish milk.
She advised that a mother of a new born baby supposed to place the baby on breast from zero to one hour after delivery, saying that doing so would help in the production of the milk and that the milk has all the nutrients and water the baby would require to fight against any disease in a new born baby.
The Agency, she also said, carries the activities of retraining their workers in the health facilities at the rural areas who are in contact with the mothers because
we do not want high rate of death in new born babies.
BDSUNDAY gathered that despite all the assistance and advocacy from UNICEF, some of the council chairmen in the state have not really taken the campaign or given it the desired attention in their domain 9rural areas).
However, in Awgu Local Government, Bene Okolo, nutrition officer, told our reporter that the campaign for women to key into exclusive breastfeeding was ongoing and that health workers in all the health facilities in the communities give talk on exclusive breastfeeding to nursing mothers and its importance to the children and to the mother who carries out exclusive breastfeeding for six months.
Further investigation revealed that lack of fund is a major challenge for the health workers to carry out sensitisation. Local government chairmen believe that the programme to save lives of the children is mainly for Donor Agencies and not their responsibility.
Some mothers who spoke with BDSUNDAY called on the state government to extend the maternity leave period for nursing mothers to enable them recover well enough to face the demands of office. They also called on relevant authorities and agencies to carry out more sensitisation on immunization and streamline when the exercise can be carried out in various councils to avail the people the opportunity to partake.
It was discovered that whereas immunization exercise is conducted once a week in some local government areas, it is once a month in some other places.