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New ministers: Senate clears 7 ministerial nominees

ABUJA—THE Senate, yesterday, confirmed seven of the 34 ministerial nominees presented to it by President Goodluck Jonathan. Before the confirmation proceedings began yesterday, the Senate approved 20 Special Advisers for the President.

Three of the Special Advisers were Gen. Andrew Azazi (rtd.) National Security; Senator Joy Emodi, National Assembly; and Mr. Kingsley Kuku, Amnesty Programme. The remaining 17 approvals are to be filled in the next few days.

Emodi commenced duty after being briefed by Presidency officials yesterday by leading the ministerial nominees to the Senate for the screening.

The seven nominees confirmed by the Senate after an elongated sitting session that stretched from 10.00 am till 4.30 p.m. were Emeka Wogu, (Abia); Bala Mohammed, (Bauchi); Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke (Bayelsa); Elder Godsday Orubebe (Delta); Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu (Ebonyi); Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (Ekiti) and Professor Ruqquaya Rufai (Jigawa).

All the nominees confirmed at the Senate session presided over by Senate President David Mark, yesterday, served in the immediate past Federal Executive Council.

Rigorous screening

Expectations of a rigorous screening of the nominees as promised by the Senate Leader, Senator Vicftor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, on Tuesday did not materialise, yesterday, as the Senate did not honour its promise not to allow any of the nominees to bow and go.

Erstwhile Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Allison-Madueke spent the longest time during the Senate sessions that commenced with erstwhile Labour Minister, Wogu. Allison-Madueke explained how the government was able to curb the incidence of kerosine explosion and the reason for the onslaught against her nomination to the cabinet by some segments of the society.

Asked on his performance as minister of Labour in the past administration and his opinion on the calls for a review of the revenue sharing formula, Wogu said that the country needs a new revenue sharing formula as the existing one is no longer realistic.

Speaking on how the minimum wage of N18,000 was obtained, Wogu, said it was a product of wide consultation between the Federal Government and other stakeholders including state governments, local governments, organized labour and employers of labour.

He said: “The minimum wage was as a result of painstaking consultation with state governors, local governments, organized labour and other stakeholders. It is coming ten years after the last minimum wage was arrived at. A lot of issues were taken into consideration including the availability of funds and how realistic it is for states to pay. All these issues informed the choice of N18,000 as minimum wage.

InformAfrica.com » Uganda eliminates tetanus, eradicates the ...

This means that maternal and neo-natal tetanus, which had in the past claimed thousands of Ugandans, is no longer considered a public health problem.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Uganda, Dr. Joaquim Saweka, presented the certificate to health state minister Dr. Richard Nduhuura at the ministry headquarters in Wandegeya.

The country moved from being ranked among the 16 countries with the highest maternal and new-born tetanus cases and deaths in 1998, to the top 20 that have eliminated the disease.

According to Nduhuura, 3,433 tetanus cases were recorded in new-born babies in 1998, 2,403 of whom died. The disease affects women during pregnancy and babies during their first month of life. The disease, according to experts, results from unhygienic birth practices which lead to contamination of the umbilical cord with tetanus spores when it is being cut or dressed after delivery.

Uganda’s validation as having eliminated tetanus means that cases dropped to less than one per 1,000 live births.

The country declared that tetanus among mothers and babies had been eliminated in 2009, which was confirmed by international experts, led by WHO in a validation survey last year.

The survey was conducted in Kibaale district, which had the highest incidence of the disease.

“No case was observed during the survey period,” Nduhuura said.

In 1995, according to Nduhuura, tetanus immunisation coverage for pregnant mothers stood at 55%. This dropped to 48% in 2003 and shot to 88% by 2006.

He said the ministry intends to vaccinate all women in the child-bearing age (15-49 years).

UNICEF chief of health and nutrition Dr. Claudia Hudspeth said 25 high risk districts were targeted between 2002 and 2009 and close to two million women were vaccinated.

Saweka warned that unlike polio and small pox, tetanus cannot be eradicated because the spores live in the environment.

He said unless immunisation of pregnant women, those in child-bearing age and children, is routinely carried out, people would still contract the disease.

-By Anne Mugisa and Esther Namusobya  About Inform Africa Inform Africa regularly publish news and information that influence the African people. If you have a story for the African people and would like to have it published on InformAfrica.com; send your article along with images/video to publish@informafrica.com. If you are a journalist and would like to be a writer on InformAfrica, send an inquiry to support@informafrica.com.