By Laide Akinboade, Abuja

Stakeholders in the health sector yesterday raised the alarm over the prevalence of unsafe abortions in Nigeria.

According to them, the country records over 610,000 unsafe abortions annually, prompting a call for women in the country to opt for contraceptives.

This and other health related concerns dominated discussions in Abuja at a summit to commemorate the World Contraception Day.

The summit, which raised awareness on women’s Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights was organised by an NGO – Media, Health and Rights Initiative of Nigeria.

The theme of the conference highlighted women’s freedom to plan and choose when to get pregnant.

The Country Director, IPAs Nigeria Health Foundation, Dr Lucky Palmer, in his opening address said it’s important for Nigerian women to be able to choose what they want.

According to him, most women are not able to express what they want and sometimes they can’t express their feelings when they get to hospital.

Dr Palmer highlighted the plight of women with disabilities, citing a case of a woman with hearing impairment who contracted sexually transmitted disease.

Dr Palmer said the doctor attending to her had to invite her son to interpret her sign language, which she found embarrassing.

“This is the reality most of our women go through, maybe because of disability or financial constraints or both.

“Unplanned pregnancies are a great challenge but these pregnancies are preventable. We shouldn’t be having unplanned pregnancies if contraceptives are free. Nigeria contributes about 28 percent of maternal deaths in the world,” the Country Director stated.

He charged stakeholders in the health sector not to relent in their efforts in addressing the challenges, saying, “Contraceptives should not only be for married women.

“They should also be for young people. Other animals have sex for procreation but human beings have sex for pleasure. If we are to prevent unnecessary deaths among our women, it is imperative we have this conversation.”

According to him, of the 610,000 unsafe abortions carried out in the country annually, about 285,000 of the women experience complications.

He added that of the 285,000 that develop complications, about 20,000 of them die annually.

Citing unsafe abortions as a major contributor to the country’s high maternal mortality rate, the experts listed Nigeria among the highest in the world with 1,5000 women in every 100,000 cases.

They noted that only 16 percent of women of reproductive age use any form of contraceptives, with even fewer using modern methods with success rates.

According to them, 28 out of every 100 pregnancies in Nigeria are unintended with 48 percent of these pregnancies ending in induced abortion.

They attributed 72 percent of deaths among girls below the age of 19 to complications arising from unsafe abortions.”Despite legal restrictions, cases of induced abortions are quite common with an estimated 1.25 million abortions performed in 2012 alone,” they said.

By David Torough, Abuja

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Maitama, Abuja yesterday issued a public summon against embattled immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.Justice Maryanne Anenih ordered Bello, alongside two other defendants to appear in court on Oct.

24 to answer a fresh 16-count charge pending against them. The other two defendants in the charge are Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu. The court issued the order for public summons in a ruling following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).Justice Anenih ordered EFCC to publish the public summons in a widely circulating newspaperShe ordered EFCC to paste copies of the public summons on Bello’s last known address and in conspicuous places on the court premises.EFCC claimed that it had been unable to serve Bello with the charge filed on Sept. 24, in which the ex-governor and two others were charged with criminal breach of trust to the tune of N110.4 billion.Bello’s absence stalled the arraignment earlier scheduled for yesterday.In a related development, a former governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku was yesterday admitted to bail in the sum of N150 million by an FCT High Court in the alleged N27 billion fraud charges brought against him by the Federal Government.The former governor was granted bail by Justice Sylvanus Oriji with two sureties in same amount.One of the two sureties must be a Federal Government employee of the rank of Director.Similarly, the two sureties must be residents in the FCT with their house addresses to be verified by the Registrar of the court.Besides, Justice Oriji barred the former governor and his co-defendant, Bello Hero from traveling out of the country except with the permission of the court.EFCC, through its counsel, Rotimi Jacobs did not oppose the bail.Jacobs noted that EFCC had on its own granted Ishaku administrative bail and he did not jump bail.Justice Oriji after granting the bail fixed Nov. 4, 5 and 13 for commencement of trial.Ishaku, who left office in 2023 after serving as governor for eight years was slammed with 15-count charge by EFCC but pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on Monday.According to the charge sheet dated Sept. 27, the former governor and the former Permanent Secretary of Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero are the two defendants in the case.In the charge marked CR/792/24, EFCC accused the defendants of diverting over N1 billion to their personal use between Aug. 25, 2015 and March 21, 2016 in Abuja.The agency said the amount formed part of the 2.5 percent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.EFCC noted that the duo committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007 and punishable under same section.Ishaku and Yero were also accused of diverting an aggregate sum of N1,138,082, 097.71 which formed part of the 2.5 percent contingency fund belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.Also, between Sept. 3, 2015 and Jan. 29, 2018 in Abuja, the defendants were accused of diverting the sum of N761,301,000 to defray the loan of N1 billion granted by Zenith Bank Plc. to your company, Worthy Construction Limited.“That you Ishaku whilst being the Governor of Taraba State and Bello Yero whilst being the Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State between July 19, 2019 and February 5, 2021 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacity entrusted with dominion over certain property, to wit: an aggregate sum of N3,348,942,411.15, which sum formed part of the funds belonging to Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Taraba State and Local Government Councils in Taraba State, and you thereby committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property, when you dishonestly diverted the said sum to your own use,” the charge sheet partly read.Other sums of money that formed part of the contingency fund allegedly diverted by the defendants include N650,686,369.99 between Jan. 6, 2019 and April 29, 2021; N193,030,000 between Jan. 2019 and April 29, 2021; and N170,549,842.00 between Jan. 6, 2019 and April 29, 2021, among others.

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

National Pensions Commission (PenCom) has approved the merger of ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Limited and Access Pensions Limited to form a single entity named Access ARM Pensions Limited.

This was disclosed in a statement released by PenCom in Abuja yesterday.

The statement reads: “This is to inform the general public that the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has granted approval for the merger between ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Limited and Access Pensions Limited to form a new entity named Access ARM Pensions Limited.

“The merger is expected to result in the achievement of economies of scale, improved operational efficiency of the new entity as well as improved service delivery to Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Holders.

With the merger, this brings the total number of PFAs to 18.”

Access Holdings had in Jan. notified the No-objection of PenCom and the approval of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission was received through Access Golf, a majority shareholder in Access Pension.

The former Group Chief Executive, Access Holdings, Dr. Herbert Wigwe had said, “We are pleased to have reached this transformative milestone in our pension fund administration journey.

“The proposed combination of ARM Pension with Access Pensions will not only create sustainable stakeholder value but will also contribute positively to the growth and development of the pension industry. We anticipate an exciting future for the combined entity.”

Access Holdings had said that the acquisition of the company complements its bouquet of product offerings in pursuit of its vision of building a globally connected community of ecosystems inspired by Africa for the world.

It said, “In this regard, Megatech will strive to create a world where risk is efficiently managed so that we can confidently seek and seize growth opportunities.”