The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said that the Federal Government’s reforms, if sustained, have the potentials to pull through critical deliverables for the economy to return to a growth path.This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lagos by the Director General, LCCI, Dr Chinyere Almona, in reaction to the November inflation rate figure of 34.

60 per cent The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) pegged November core inflation at 28. 75 per cent, food inflation at 39.93 per cent as against the October figures of 28.37 per cent and 39.16 per cent respectively.Almona said that while the country witnessed weak impact of interest rates curbing inflation, a better performance of the reform measures implemented was expected to boost production.She, however, noted that the persistent rise in inflation, reaching a 28 year record high of 34.60 per cent, fuelled a tense business environment as elevated prices constrained various business operations.The D-G said that the LCCI was concerned because with the persistent and unabated rise in inflation, businesses should prepare to experience more stress from the burden of higher interest rates in the new year.“With the raging inflation rate, the unsuccessful attempt of the Central Bank to reduce the currency in circulation, and approaching a high-spending festive period, we are set to contend with even higher interest rates.“The high inflation rate has far-reaching implications; one of its primary effects is reduced consumer spending.“High food and core inflation erode disposable income, reducing demand for non-essential goods and services and businesses also face increased business costs and shrinking profit margins.“While we are all confronted with a weak impact of interest rates on curbing inflation, we see a better performance of the reform measures implemented to boost production,” Almona said.The LCCI D-G said that there was hope that the country would witness more impact of the reforms on fundamental indicators like inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates.She also said that a coordinated effort was required to drive oil production to earn more foreign exchange needed to defend naira in the short term.Almona further advised that the new investments recently entering the oil fields should be well supported with sound regulatory environment to sustain and attract more.“The renewed fight against terrorism, kidnapping, and all other vices that make our farms unsafe must be sustained with more funding.“Nigeria must engage the use of intelligence and surveillance technology, and the constitutional amendment to enable multi-level policing,” she said.(NAN)

President Bola Tinubu has appointed eight new permanent secretaries in the federal civil service to fill existing and upcoming vacancies across various states and geopolitical zones.

This marks the second set of eight permanent secretaries appointed by President Tinubu.

The new appointments follow those made last June, which included individuals from Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Jigawa, Ondo, Zamfara, the South East, and the South-South regions.

The information was provided by Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President’s spokesman, in a statement regarding the latest appointments.

“The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation recommended the new appointments after a thorough selection process,” the statement said.

The new appointees are: Onwusoro Ihemelandu (Abia), Ndiomu Philip (Bayelsa), Anuma Nlia (Ebonyi), Ogbodo Nnam (Enugu), Kalba Usman (Gombe), Usman Aminu (Kebbi), Oyekunle Nwakuso (Rivers), and Nadungu Gagare (Kaduna).

President Tinubu urged the new permanent secretaries to demonstrate increased commitment, diligence, and innovation in their service to the nation. (NAN)

The Borno Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Prof. Baba Mallam, has blamed the rate at which Nigerian women die during child birth on indecision by most families.

Mallam spoke on Monday, when he received a donation of two tricycle (keke) ambulances from an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Doctors Without Borders, in Maiduguri.

He said: There are many  reasons Nigerian women are dying at the point of labour.

“The indecision by the family of the pregnant women during labour has been a major cause of women’s death.

“The indecision comes in because the pregnant women are surrounded by families.

“They tell them, no you can do it.

“Give it a push and from one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, after the woman is exhausted they now say you can go to hospital and there is a problem of transportation, she doesn’t have a car and their neighbours do not have a vehicle and, therefore, this adds to the quagmire.”

Mallam said that available statistics show that 120 Nigerian women die hourly due to delivery-related complications.

According to him, Nigeria is only better than Southern Sudan and Chad in the world, in terms of maternal mortality.

“Nigeria contributes 28.9 per cent of maternal deaths in the world,” he said, adding: “It is important for Nigerians to realise this.

“Despite the fact that Nigeria’s economy is one of the best in Africa, our medical indices are very poor.

“We are 200 million now and by 2050 we will be more than 400 million and that will make Nigeria the third largest country, in terms of population after India and China.

“You can imagine how many pregnant women will be dying.

“At the moment, every two minutes, the country loses a woman during delivery in Nigeria.

“So, if we spent 10 minutes here, 20 women would have died.

“So, it is very important we realise this as Nigerians and take everything necessary to mitigate this carnage of young women.

“And that also includes new borns because they also suffer from simple basic problems.

“As I speak here, children are dying from a blockage of airway to breathing and Nigeria is number three or four in the world, in terms of death of new borns,” Mallam said

He described the donation of the emergency transportation system as very crucial.

He said the tricycle ambulances in rural communities of Borno would go a long way in saving the lives of many pregnant women.

He expressed appreciation to the NGO for donating the “innovative tricycle ambulances” to Borno Government for the enhancement of the transportation of pregnant women from remote villages to nearby medical facilities.

Earlier, Stewart said: “We are presenting these two ambulances to the Honorable Commissioner for Health, together we have been working on how to do innovative projects so that they can be sustainable.

“We believe that these will do a good job for the human family.”

She said that the NGO had been doing a lot of innovative projects in the state, hoping that the ambulances would serve the purpose for which they were donated.

Stewart said that the organisation was committed to bringing innovative ideas into its projects in the state for sustainability.

She further said that the organisation had  observed of late that many projects were unable to survive due to the lack of funds for their sustainability.

She said that the idea of converting tricycle through local fabrication to ambulance was geared toward establishing the concept of sustainability due to its low level of fuel consumption.

Stewart, therefore, called on the government to put necessary measures in place and ensure the ambulances were deployed to where they could serve the purpose they were meant for. (NAN)