The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) FCT Chapter has demanded for an unreserved public apology from the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) over alleged bullying of one of its members.

Dr Charles Ugwuanyi, Chairman of NMA-FCT made the demand during a news conference on Thursday to express NMA’s displeasure over an allegation against Dr Sunday Atinko of the National Hospital Abuja (NHA), a member of the association.

The chairman stated that Dr Atinko was alleged to have been involved in a physical altercation with a nurse, Marvis Ebalu at the NHA on June 13, 2022 while both of them were on duty at the hospital.

”The nurse alleged that the said doctor was drunk while on duty and physically abused her to justify her refusal and insubordination towards executing the patient management instructions prescribed by the doctors during ward rounds.

”The scene created by this nurse during this unfortunate incident attracted the immediate attention of the medical communities across the globe,” he said.

The chairman said that following the perceived bullying of the nurse by the doctor, the NANNM FCT Chapter mobilised its members, without recourse to any fair hearing from the both parties.

He said that because of this incident, the NANNM launched a very damaging street protest against the said doctor, calling for his head and was subjected to cyber bullying of unprecedented dimensions from nurses across the globe.

In the heat of all this, the chairman,said the NMA appealed for calm among the medical community because it believed that NHA has inbuilt administrative mechanism to investigate the incident.

“We are aware that the NHA management first called for calm and quickly set up an investigative panel to this effect in that same June.

“We are also aware that following the submission of their report, the matter was referred to the Appointment and Promotion and Disciplinary Committee for ratification and dispensation of their findings and recommendations.

“It is instructive to note that this committee published her report in December 2022 and completely absolved Dr Atinko Sunday of all allegations leveled on him by the nurse.

“There was never physical abuse by this doctor, but there was a clear case of insubordinate by the  nurse,” he said.

During NMA Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) in December 2022, he said, the NMA received an update on the matter but the report was not published then and the Congress still appealed for calm among her agitating members to allow NHA management more time for thorough job.

The NMA-FCT chairman appreciated the management of NHA for its courage, resilience to perform a thorough investigation on the matter and for publishing its findings without fear or favour of any of the parties in the matter.

He said that the findings had further shown that the doctor had dedicated much of his life and career to patients, adding that he is a proud husband and father of several children with moral standard.

He said that the findings of management of NHA had not only cleared Dr Atinko, but indeed the whole hippocratic brethren in the medical profession throughout the world as leaders of the profession.

He called on NANNM-FCT to immediately initiate talks with Atinko as a means of creating workable environment within the two parties, and to halt further deterioration of this matter. (NAN) 

From Dan Amasingha, Minna

Despite the outcry that greeted the hitches recorded with the use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines during the 2023 General elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is planning for a fully digitized election in 2027.

National Electoral Commissioner in charge of Niger,  kwara and kogi states, Prof.

“There is no harm in introducing technology in the 2023 General election, it was a game changer for us.

“We conducted one of the finest elections, it will go down in history as one of the fairest, free and most credible in the history of Nigeria”.

He pointed out that, Democracy ii taking structure in Nigeria and from the progress made so far, it clearly shows that Democracy has come to stay.

“Governors should serve the people, not themselves, from what we witness during the last election it was obvious that, people voted whom they wanted not because they were forced to”.

Professor Adams urged elected officials to stick to their campaign manifestos, by ensuring that they not only improve on infrastructure, but build human capacity. 

Responding on behalf of other recipients of Certificate of Return, Niger Governor- elect. Hon Muhammed Umar Bago assured people of the State that he would run an open door administration and call adding that,  he will  prioritize security, infrastructure development, expand revenue base as part of his five point agenda.

“This mandate is a collective mandate to reshape Niger State “

Nigeria’s total public debt stock as at Dec.31, 2022 stands at N46.25 trillion (103.11 billion dollars).

This is according to a statement issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) in Abuja yesterday.

The DMO said the total public debt stock of the country consisted of the domestic and external debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the sub-national governments.

The sub-national are the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The comparative debt stock for Dec. 31, 2021 is N39.59 trillion (95.77 billion dollars)

The DMO said in terms of composition, total domestic debt stock stood at N27.

“Among the reasons for the increase in total public debt stock were new borrowings by the Federal Government and sub-national governments, primarily to finance budget deficits and execute projects.

“The issuance of promissory notes by the Federal Government to settle some liabilities also contributed to growth in the debt stock,” the office said.

It, however, said that on-going efforts by the Federal Government to increase revenue from oil and non-oil sources through initiatives like the Finance Acts and the Strategic Revenue Mobilisation Initiative are expected support debt sustainability.

“Meanwhile, the total debt-to- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio for Dec. 31, 2022 was 23.20 per cent. It indicates a slight increase from the figure of Dec. 31, 2021 at 22.47 per cent.

“The ratio of 23.20 per cent is within the 40 per cent limit self-imposed by Nigeria and the 55 per cent limit recommend by World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“It is also within the 70 per cent limit recommend by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” it said.

The total public debt stock as released by DMO excludes the N22 trillion Federal Government’s indebtedness to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through Ways and Means advances.

The Ways and Means advances are presently awaiting securitisation by the National Assembly, and can only be added to the country’s public debt after such securitisation.