We’re innocent, we’re naïve, we thought it was harmless, we did not know that it will be our waterloo as it was intended to prevent the already escalated skirmishes and pandemonium that ravaged almost all the northern states in the country. It was when the results of the gubernatorial elections were to be announced it dawned on us that the curfew imposed on the state by his Excellency Governor Shema penultimate week was nothing but a veritable strategy to rig the elections. We had earlier on complained to INEC on the need to relax the curfew in order to have a free and fair election but our concerns did not reach fruition.
It was a fine Tuesday morning we woke up to finish what we had started about two weeks ago via the Federal seats and the presidential elections. The exercise progressed calmly and without any interruptions in Katsina metropolis as all the election officials and materials were already on ground even before the arrival voters to the polling booths albeit the voters turn out was quite low when compared with the previous elections but it was just enough to have the elections won and lost.
I went to my polling unit for verification and it took me less than an hour to sort out everything, I then decided to return home and take a nap since the pooling unit is just a stone throw from my house. When I came back at about 1.00pm voting was already in progress, I joined the queue and my turn to vote came at about 1.45pm. The whole exercise came to calm close by about 4.40pm with the announcement of the result as 345 for the CPC 7 for the PDP and ACN had 2 votes.
I was astounded to hear from a friend that elections could not take place in some local government areas as election materials were not brought to the centers. I was not disturbed by the piece of news; I thought it was one of those INEC’s logistics problems that could be sorted out soon. It was much later I realized it was a deliberate action not to send election materials to some areas to give way for manipulation.
In Danmusa local government area for example, elections did not take place at all because cases of ballot box stuffing, pilferage and snatching were reported and investigation was carried out by no less than the National Commissioner who was in Katsina to monitor the elections. He caught about 30 people red handed and were immediately handed over to the police for prosecution. But that did not help matters as the result sheets for that local government were brought to INEC office and were dully announced as having conducted an election there. In other areas cases of votes soliciting and purchase during voting were rampant and all these dovetailed throughout the local government areas of the state but INEC turned a blind eye. In some cases result sheets were completed and brought to INEC office surreptitiously without necessarily conducting any election.
The results for all the 34 local government areas were brought to the state INEC office and the compilation and computation of the result sheets were concluded at about 7.00pm but for reasons best known to the Resident Electoral commissioner the announcement was deferred to 9.00pm and many of us who were within INEC premises were asked to go home as the curfew has begun, we had no option than to move to our houses. The result was announced where Shema garnered about a million plus votes and Masari got a little above five hundred thousand votes. That is the import of the curfew a friend whispered to me. It is instructive to mention that Buhari’s votes during the presidential elections in Katsina surpassed Shema’s by a little above a hundred thousand votes, what an irony. It is apparent that the result of the governorship election had already been determined even before the polls.
That singular declaration by INEC has dashed the hopes of the people of Katsina and by implication is a betrayal of confidence reposed on Prof. Jega who clearly told the whole world that every vote will count and that he would ensure credible free and fair elections this time around. Our votes did not really count as Jega prophesied and that even reminds me with nostalgia the blasphemous Obasanjo when he opined that even Jesus (AS) could not have organized a free and fair election in Nigeria. I don’t want to agree with Obasanjo but then if what INEC did in Katsina and elsewhere is anything to go by, then our quest for free and fair elections in Nigeria will still be a mirage.
We really wanted to bring about change to the good people of Katsina State who have suffered for the last 12 years in the hands of the PDP. We intended to engage all and sundry to bring about the desired change through purposeful leadership. Our attention would have been the provision of portable drinking water to the entire state which the PDP government was not able to provide. The situation unfortunately has made us and our children to become ‘Yangaruwa’ as each and every one of us has to go out every morning to fret and fetch water for domestic use. Cases of dysentery and diarrhea are so prevalent as the result of drinking contaminated water. Whereas, very little effort is required here to bring water to our teeming population as Katsina State lies within the luxurious sedimentary structures of the Sudan Savannah which has formidable aquifers that will make bore hole drilling easier and cheaper. The dams at Zobe, Sabke, Mairuwa etc are other sources to provide not only water for domestic uses but could also be used to generate employment for our youths. Unfortunately the water dam stability is carelessly allowed to be wasted through evaporation and seepage.
The provision of quality education to our students in the primary, secondary and our tertiary institutions is another area of great concern. The present situation where education is treated as a second fiddle is not accepted. To anybody who cares, or who thinks am politicking, what he needs to do is to go round any public school of his choice in the state, there is no exception and see for himself, the number of students in a classroom, the teacher/student ratio, the number of core subject teachers, the availability of facilities and instructional materials and you will be surprised at the outcome of your visit. You will also agree with me that the free education program provided by the PDP administration in the state is nothing more than the payment of school and examination fees. How much is the school fees any way? For a day student, parents pay N30.00 per term and N90.00 per annum and those in the boarding houses pay N50.00 per term and N150.00 per annum. Free education in Katsina state!!! Surely we deserve more.
Alas, all these and many more lofty intentions have come to naught as the result of the rigged election but the consolation is that the outcome of the election is now in the public domain and is for the tribunal to adjudicate and decide on those that have issues hanging on them like the one from Katsina.
Meanwhile, what remains to be seen is how the depleted and disintegrated CPC in Katsina will pick up the pieces after going to the battle field with a single bullet. The State Chairman of the CPC has lost his credibility and legitimacy for ignoring extant rules and regulations of the party with vehemence and impunity; his ouster from the party is just a matter of time.
I think the onus now lies with the Masari group and other like minds to take up the gauntlet and come together, re- strategize and forge ahead with the struggle as 2015 is by the corner and the time to start is now.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
A LETTER TO GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI
Compliment of the season your Excellency,
First, I would like to commend you for the efforts you are putting towards the emancipation of the downtrodden in the society. For that, I pray to the Almighty to give you long life, good health and the fortitude to bear with the intrigues of the Nigerian politics.
I also would like to commend you for the steps you have taken in reaching out to the masses by opening a facebook page for those us who cannot reach out to you physically to send our concerns on how to strength our party the CPC and brighten its chances towards the 2011 general elections and beyond.
The CPC is a unique political party, it is unique in terms of its composition and ideology and for that reason it should conduct its activities based on the dictates of its constitution and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not at the whims and caprices of any individual. It is based on the above premise I would like to offer some suggestions which I believe if taken seriously will bolster the chances of the party in the general elections and beyond.
1. VOTERS REGISTERATION
Awareness and Enlightenment should be the watchwords here. Party members should be made to understand that for anybody to participate and vote for any candidate of his choice a voter’s card is necessary. The cards can only be obtained when INEC starts to register Nigerians in the designated centers. It is therefore mandatory for anybody wishing to exercise his franchise to obtain it without which he cannot vote for the candidate of his choice. No matter your numerical strength if you don’t have the voter’s cards you are inconsequential.
Party members should be made to go into all corners of our wards, local government areas and the states at large and ensure that all members of 18 years and above got registered whenever the registration exercise begins. This is very important if we want to make any appreciable impact in the elections.
2. INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
To ensure that we are different from other political parties we have to allow our party to develop through strengthening our internal democracy by subjecting all contestants to the congress. In fact, this has already been echoed by INEC, that no congress no elections. In other words it is the congress that determines who represents them in any elections.
A situation whereby some senior party elders endorse candidates of their choice for certain position or decide who stands for election will not be accepted or tolerated and is not going to help our course rather candidates should be encouraged to establish their campaign machinery and solicits for votes from congress. It is sad to point out that some elders have started to plant seeds of discord within the party by either endorsing members even before it is time for the election or dissolving party officials without recourse to the party National Headquarters this is a very bad development and is surely a prelude to chaos if it is not checked.
Another area of concern is in the choice of the Deputy Governor, crisis usually erupts between the Governor and his deputy for one reason or the other. This type of problem to my mind is encountered because the Governor has always not been given the opportunity to choose who is to be his running mate without interference by the party. To prevent such crisis Governors should be allowed to choose their deputies, the party can zone the office of the deputy to an area different from where the Governor comes from. If this is done am sure it will minimize the frequency at which these crisis erupts.
Thank you
Isa.
First, I would like to commend you for the efforts you are putting towards the emancipation of the downtrodden in the society. For that, I pray to the Almighty to give you long life, good health and the fortitude to bear with the intrigues of the Nigerian politics.
I also would like to commend you for the steps you have taken in reaching out to the masses by opening a facebook page for those us who cannot reach out to you physically to send our concerns on how to strength our party the CPC and brighten its chances towards the 2011 general elections and beyond.
The CPC is a unique political party, it is unique in terms of its composition and ideology and for that reason it should conduct its activities based on the dictates of its constitution and that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not at the whims and caprices of any individual. It is based on the above premise I would like to offer some suggestions which I believe if taken seriously will bolster the chances of the party in the general elections and beyond.
1. VOTERS REGISTERATION
Awareness and Enlightenment should be the watchwords here. Party members should be made to understand that for anybody to participate and vote for any candidate of his choice a voter’s card is necessary. The cards can only be obtained when INEC starts to register Nigerians in the designated centers. It is therefore mandatory for anybody wishing to exercise his franchise to obtain it without which he cannot vote for the candidate of his choice. No matter your numerical strength if you don’t have the voter’s cards you are inconsequential.
Party members should be made to go into all corners of our wards, local government areas and the states at large and ensure that all members of 18 years and above got registered whenever the registration exercise begins. This is very important if we want to make any appreciable impact in the elections.
2. INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
To ensure that we are different from other political parties we have to allow our party to develop through strengthening our internal democracy by subjecting all contestants to the congress. In fact, this has already been echoed by INEC, that no congress no elections. In other words it is the congress that determines who represents them in any elections.
A situation whereby some senior party elders endorse candidates of their choice for certain position or decide who stands for election will not be accepted or tolerated and is not going to help our course rather candidates should be encouraged to establish their campaign machinery and solicits for votes from congress. It is sad to point out that some elders have started to plant seeds of discord within the party by either endorsing members even before it is time for the election or dissolving party officials without recourse to the party National Headquarters this is a very bad development and is surely a prelude to chaos if it is not checked.
Another area of concern is in the choice of the Deputy Governor, crisis usually erupts between the Governor and his deputy for one reason or the other. This type of problem to my mind is encountered because the Governor has always not been given the opportunity to choose who is to be his running mate without interference by the party. To prevent such crisis Governors should be allowed to choose their deputies, the party can zone the office of the deputy to an area different from where the Governor comes from. If this is done am sure it will minimize the frequency at which these crisis erupts.
Thank you
Isa.
Friday, September 17, 2010
AN ASSESMENT OF CONTRIBUTORY PENSION IN NIGERIA
A CRITICAL LOOK AT CONTRIBUTORY PENSION IN NIGERIA
The main objective of the new pension scheme that came into operation in 2004 is to ensure that every person that work in Nigeria in either public or private sector of the economy receives his/her retirement benefits as and when due. The new scheme covers all employees in the public service of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory and the private sector.
The characteristic of the scheme is that; it should be fully funded (contributions from both employer and employee); it should be privately managed (management by Pension Fund Administrator) and third party custody of Funds and assets (pension Fund Custodian).
The import of this paper therefore is to critically examine how far the scheme has fared 6years after its commencement. I feel 6years is enough a time to asses and evaluate its success or otherwise. In so doing I intend to look at the roles played by the major stakeholders of the scheme, i.e. The National Pension Commission (Pencom), The Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the contributors.
My candid assessment in this regard is that the three stakeholders enumerated above have failed to leave to expectation and if things are allowed to continue the way they are now the objective of the contributory scheme will be a mirage, as some of the problems associated with the former pension plans have started to manifest in the new regime while other problems are abound.
The main functions of Pencom; is to issue licenses to the Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians, regulates their actions and generally formulates, direct and oversee the overall policy guidelines on Pension matters in Nigeria. While it can be conceded that the Supervising organ of the pension matters in the country has performed well in terms of issuance of licenses to PFA’ and Custodians but it is kilometers away from regulating their activities. The failure of the commission to provide for biometric machine to detect multiple registrations has allowed the Administrators to perpetrate this act with impunity. The consequence of this singular act is so devastating and if concerted effort is not made to remedy it will only leave the contributor in a state of confusion as to which of the numbers he would use before eventually get paid. Another area where Pencom is found wanting is in the area of enforcing full compliance on the provisions of the legislation. It is the responsibility of Pencom to do everything possible to ensure that the scheme does not suffer or run into problems and to sustain willful compliance this it can do by decentralizing its operations by establishing zonal/regional offices or at best branch offices. The excesses of the PFAs and employers can only be checked when these offices are established. I can not see how Pencom can operate from Abuja and expect to monitor the activities of the PFAs and the employers that are not ready to comply with the legislation, even those that are complying need to be checked once in a while to verify contributions deductions and remittances. Sometime ago Pencom published in the national dailies a list of employers that did not comply with the legislation apparently reported by the Pension Fund Administrators but several months after the publication nothing came out of it and am sure nothing will come out of it as long as Pencom remains indifferent to issues of enforcement. For Pencom to generate Personal Identification Numbers (PINS) takes several weeks now instead of 24hours, to process benefit claims takes about a month or even more is some instances. The issue of transfer of accounts from one PFA to the other by contributors is yet to commence 4 years after the market is supposed to have opened, this is a right of the contributor, when he is not satisfied with the services of his Administrator he can transfer his account to another as stipulated in the extant legislation. The issue is even more poignant when you consider those who contributed under the NSITF scheme as they can’t move their NSITF contributions to their PFAs largely because the transfer market has not yet opened. I think Pencom has not really appreciated the enormity of this problem until a contributor realizes that his right has been infringed by this obvious laxity and takes the matter to court.
If Pencon has had very little to cheer about in the last 6years, some Pension Fund Administrators have got nothing to cheer as they failed to clearly meet up with the expectations of their contributors as very little effort is put on Education and customer care, the resultant effect is gross disenchantment on the part of the contributors. The role of Pension Fund Administrators in this dispensation cannot be overemphasized, the success or otherwise of this pension plan can be tied up to a large extent with the Administrators. The ‘I don’t care attitude’ put up by some Pension Fund Administrators couple with the attitude of contributors towards pension, what you get in the end is a below average performance. Experience has shown us that workers generally develop apathy in deductions; they abhor deductions of their salaries for any purpose. They don’t like talking about life after retirement when they are in active service but the issue becomes relevant when they retire. To print this picture very clearly, you need to visit any public or private establishment that is complying with the New Pension regime and take a census of 5-10 staff and ask them the following questions; Have you registered with any PFA?; What is the name of your PFA?; Do you have a PIN?; When last did you receive statement of account from your PFA?; and, Are you satisfied with the services rendered to you by the PFA?. The answers to these questions and many more will give an insight as to the performance of these PFAs.
Failure by the PFAs to be alive to the needs of the contributors is a great indication that collection of one’s entitlements after retiring as and when due will be a Herculean task. Contributors are under continuous pressure from PFAs as regards to having to submit the same records/attachments several times even after earlier submissions were receipted and these attachments are a prerequisite for the issuance of PINS and without them nothing can be done. Too much noise has been made about Information Technology as a veritable tool for easing the problems of the new Pension plan but a cursory look at the activities of the PFAs in this regard indicates a huge disappointment as you can not easily hook up with the website of your PFA and get the desired result. Of course you can not register with any PFA on line, you cannot obtain your statement of account, and neither can you process your claims. Infact, the whole situation in the Pension Industry is chaotic and it looks as if it is grinding to a halt.
Finally, it is instructive to note that pension funds are as vulnerable as any public funds in Nigeria. What happened during the stock market crisis a couple of years ago where shares worth billions of Naira belonging to Pension Funds were washed away is an eye opener. Popular concern over pension is an issue well founded it therefore behoves the operators of scheme to do whatever is necessary to prevent it from drifting into chaos and efforts should be made to do the right thing at the right moment.
The main objective of the new pension scheme that came into operation in 2004 is to ensure that every person that work in Nigeria in either public or private sector of the economy receives his/her retirement benefits as and when due. The new scheme covers all employees in the public service of the Federation, the Federal Capital Territory and the private sector.
The characteristic of the scheme is that; it should be fully funded (contributions from both employer and employee); it should be privately managed (management by Pension Fund Administrator) and third party custody of Funds and assets (pension Fund Custodian).
The import of this paper therefore is to critically examine how far the scheme has fared 6years after its commencement. I feel 6years is enough a time to asses and evaluate its success or otherwise. In so doing I intend to look at the roles played by the major stakeholders of the scheme, i.e. The National Pension Commission (Pencom), The Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and the contributors.
My candid assessment in this regard is that the three stakeholders enumerated above have failed to leave to expectation and if things are allowed to continue the way they are now the objective of the contributory scheme will be a mirage, as some of the problems associated with the former pension plans have started to manifest in the new regime while other problems are abound.
The main functions of Pencom; is to issue licenses to the Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians, regulates their actions and generally formulates, direct and oversee the overall policy guidelines on Pension matters in Nigeria. While it can be conceded that the Supervising organ of the pension matters in the country has performed well in terms of issuance of licenses to PFA’ and Custodians but it is kilometers away from regulating their activities. The failure of the commission to provide for biometric machine to detect multiple registrations has allowed the Administrators to perpetrate this act with impunity. The consequence of this singular act is so devastating and if concerted effort is not made to remedy it will only leave the contributor in a state of confusion as to which of the numbers he would use before eventually get paid. Another area where Pencom is found wanting is in the area of enforcing full compliance on the provisions of the legislation. It is the responsibility of Pencom to do everything possible to ensure that the scheme does not suffer or run into problems and to sustain willful compliance this it can do by decentralizing its operations by establishing zonal/regional offices or at best branch offices. The excesses of the PFAs and employers can only be checked when these offices are established. I can not see how Pencom can operate from Abuja and expect to monitor the activities of the PFAs and the employers that are not ready to comply with the legislation, even those that are complying need to be checked once in a while to verify contributions deductions and remittances. Sometime ago Pencom published in the national dailies a list of employers that did not comply with the legislation apparently reported by the Pension Fund Administrators but several months after the publication nothing came out of it and am sure nothing will come out of it as long as Pencom remains indifferent to issues of enforcement. For Pencom to generate Personal Identification Numbers (PINS) takes several weeks now instead of 24hours, to process benefit claims takes about a month or even more is some instances. The issue of transfer of accounts from one PFA to the other by contributors is yet to commence 4 years after the market is supposed to have opened, this is a right of the contributor, when he is not satisfied with the services of his Administrator he can transfer his account to another as stipulated in the extant legislation. The issue is even more poignant when you consider those who contributed under the NSITF scheme as they can’t move their NSITF contributions to their PFAs largely because the transfer market has not yet opened. I think Pencom has not really appreciated the enormity of this problem until a contributor realizes that his right has been infringed by this obvious laxity and takes the matter to court.
If Pencon has had very little to cheer about in the last 6years, some Pension Fund Administrators have got nothing to cheer as they failed to clearly meet up with the expectations of their contributors as very little effort is put on Education and customer care, the resultant effect is gross disenchantment on the part of the contributors. The role of Pension Fund Administrators in this dispensation cannot be overemphasized, the success or otherwise of this pension plan can be tied up to a large extent with the Administrators. The ‘I don’t care attitude’ put up by some Pension Fund Administrators couple with the attitude of contributors towards pension, what you get in the end is a below average performance. Experience has shown us that workers generally develop apathy in deductions; they abhor deductions of their salaries for any purpose. They don’t like talking about life after retirement when they are in active service but the issue becomes relevant when they retire. To print this picture very clearly, you need to visit any public or private establishment that is complying with the New Pension regime and take a census of 5-10 staff and ask them the following questions; Have you registered with any PFA?; What is the name of your PFA?; Do you have a PIN?; When last did you receive statement of account from your PFA?; and, Are you satisfied with the services rendered to you by the PFA?. The answers to these questions and many more will give an insight as to the performance of these PFAs.
Failure by the PFAs to be alive to the needs of the contributors is a great indication that collection of one’s entitlements after retiring as and when due will be a Herculean task. Contributors are under continuous pressure from PFAs as regards to having to submit the same records/attachments several times even after earlier submissions were receipted and these attachments are a prerequisite for the issuance of PINS and without them nothing can be done. Too much noise has been made about Information Technology as a veritable tool for easing the problems of the new Pension plan but a cursory look at the activities of the PFAs in this regard indicates a huge disappointment as you can not easily hook up with the website of your PFA and get the desired result. Of course you can not register with any PFA on line, you cannot obtain your statement of account, and neither can you process your claims. Infact, the whole situation in the Pension Industry is chaotic and it looks as if it is grinding to a halt.
Finally, it is instructive to note that pension funds are as vulnerable as any public funds in Nigeria. What happened during the stock market crisis a couple of years ago where shares worth billions of Naira belonging to Pension Funds were washed away is an eye opener. Popular concern over pension is an issue well founded it therefore behoves the operators of scheme to do whatever is necessary to prevent it from drifting into chaos and efforts should be made to do the right thing at the right moment.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
'OLD WAR HORSES ANDTHE REST OF US'
I had just finished my weekly meeting with the Executive members of Ashaka Cement Factory Pensioners association, a weekly meeting that had been religiously attended by all the members to discuss on issues bordering on retirement benefits of the staff of the factory when Muhammed the office assistant of Gombe branch office of the NSITF brought my cell phone with a call in waiting. It is apparent I didn’t know the caller since there was no name attached to the number but it didn’t make any difference to me as with or without the name I would still take the call, as a marketer several calls from my clients do frequent my phone and majority of them without names attached. Immediately I took the phone, a voice just emerged My Name is Useni Elama I quickly realized my Executive Director was on the line. He called to request for me to see him the following week in his office that he wanted me to discuss some issues.
I waited for that encounter anxiously without having an iota of hint as regards to what was to be discussed. I picked up courage and inform Mohammed Sani the Kaduna State Branch Manager who immediately relieved me of my anxiety by telling me that Mr. Elama would want to work with you at the newly established Trustfund Pensions Plc. He told me that he had similar discussion with him, I was a bit skeptical about that but I just managed to controll my emotions and waited for the encounter which turned out to be exactly what Mohammed postulated. We were interviewed by Trustfund Staff mostly of NSITF extraction and eventually offered employment as Assistant Managers. We were employed to supervise the activities of Trustfund in the six regions.
Even if I didn’t take the Trustfund job I would still be unemployed as NSITF was moribund. So why don’t you take the job, I said to myself. I was initially posted to Benin Regional Office but for some reasons I was asked to go and head the Maiduguri Regional Office. We left for our various offices with full alacrity as we saw our appointments as a challenge. We tried our best to open as many Retirement saving accounts as possible and by extension broaden the revenue base of the company.
One of our high points was the stellar performance we put while registering Police recruits at Maiduguri police College in August 2007. We registered the 2000 recruits available. On the low side, one day when coming back from a presentation delivered by the Head of Business Development and the Company Secretary at Head of Service’s office, Bauchi I was attacked by armed robbers along Damaturu – Maiduguri road, I together with the other passengers had to pass the night in the bush. The following morning I was scheduled for another presentation at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. This is how our itinerary was as regional managers. I really didn’t have time of my own at Trustfund as you are supposed to work 24/7 and in the course of that spending all you have including your monthly salaries just to ensure the job is done. But our effort and sacrifice to increase the fortunes of the company at the Regions is not appreciated by the Head Office as promises made were reneged with vehemence and oversights committed were amplified and punished severely.
The first regional Manager to throw in the towel was Chris from P/Harcourt then followed by your sincerely in March, 2008 and recently Mrs Hassan. But the most recent retrenchment is the most surprising as the top guns, the most influential representatives ’OLD WAR HORSES’ of the NSITF were also put in the cooler. These are people who have wielded so much power and influence blended with such flair of arrogance. Nobody thought they would ever leave the company in such a circumstance and am saying this without any equivocation but – presto!!! - They are gone.
The exercise is in top gear now as the positions of the remaining Regional Managers have been advertised in the national dailies a prelude to disengaging some of them. One wonders why this situation has continued with such impunity. What is even more poignant is the way and manner many of us are chased out, it is really tragic for some of us who are not of pension age to wake up one morning and find out that they are not in the pension business for no cause of theirs. But the fact still remains – it’s our company, we initiated it, we set it up - we built it.
Some people have been insinuating that what is happening in Trustfund was a result of an administrative oversight made by the former NSITF management led by Alhaji Rufa’I by allowing Accenture to produce the pioneer staff of the newly established office. They opined that the management should have allowed us (NSITF) staff to manage the new company given our robust experience in the management of individual pension, an experience running to over four decades. They contended that having been exposed through the various aspects of Business processes Management the NSITF staff are rightly positioned and have acquired all it takes to manage the new pension outfit. I wouldn’t agree more with this opinion but then, what Rufa’i did was in good faith especially when you consider the solid foundation he set by appointing about six management staff all from NSITF. Just look at this line up:
• Mr. Oseni Elama - Managing Director/ CEO
• Ikechuwcku Chukwucha – Head of Business Development and Marketing
• P S Okodua - Head of NSITF Funds
• G. Onokwai - Audit
• Racheal CCO
• Musa Nasir- Company Secretary
• The six Regional Managers
• A host of other staff
This is one of the legacies the Rufa’I led management bequeathed to Trustfund, so for anybody to insinuate that the Management had made a mistake that person is either not being fair to Rufa’i or he is just being mischievous. However, something is definitely wrong and I think it is not unconnected with the way and manner the NSITF ‘old war horses’ handle the affairs of the company abinitio.
Oseni Elama’s departure from Trustfund was a big blow to the Regional Managers but it was celebrated with fanfare by some of the ‘Old war horses’ because they knew that some of them wouldn’t have survived in the company if he had stayed any longer. The calculation was that with him out of the way, they will take full control of the office; several attempts were made to coerce the other side into submission but proved futile. At this stage Pencom interceded by bringing Mr. Bakare to superintend over the affairs of the company as stipulated by the enabling laws. His tenure was silent albeit there were some underground maneuver by the old war horses to outwit the other side so as to enable them have an edge when Bakare’s tenure expires but has not come to fruition as the other side remained resolute.
At the end of it all, Bakare recommended that Bernand should be appointed as M/D on acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive CEO. I was told that the appointment was based on his seniority over the old war horses. Having lost the power game to the other side, they deployed a strategy of ‘survival of the fittest’. To prove your loyalty to the new order you must show disdain for the Regional Managers and anything NSITF. Caution was thrown to the dogs, the company ceased to be a formal organization - a bureaucracy - where things are done with civility. Where the name of the individual does not matter, what matters is, has he done the right thing? Stuff like that. We were totally emasculated and ridiculed, subjected to all sort of intimidating languages and sometimes uncouth. We really became accustomed to this insult, embarrassing as it was; none of us had ever demanded to know why we were so treated. But my only consolation had always been if only Mr. Elama had lived long in Trustfund and was able to implement the decisions taken at the 1st MPR that took place in Kaduna, 2007 things would have been different.
The other side spectated the drama with delight, while at the same time warming themselves into the hearts of the Board members and consolidating their positions with such a managerial brio. But for the Old war Horses they have to contend with the reality. The reality is the fact that they just succeeded in creating in themselves a Frankenstein Monster.
I was told that when their sack letters came most of them were on leave. One of them was cruising the Avensis in his village when it was demobilized, he thought it was a glitch that could be easily rectified but was astounded to hear from one of the Village mechanics that the car was turn off from the office. While the other one had his office’s locks changed an indication of ‘your services are no longer required’. This is the type of treatment you mete out to a common criminal. What a pity!!!
I waited for that encounter anxiously without having an iota of hint as regards to what was to be discussed. I picked up courage and inform Mohammed Sani the Kaduna State Branch Manager who immediately relieved me of my anxiety by telling me that Mr. Elama would want to work with you at the newly established Trustfund Pensions Plc. He told me that he had similar discussion with him, I was a bit skeptical about that but I just managed to controll my emotions and waited for the encounter which turned out to be exactly what Mohammed postulated. We were interviewed by Trustfund Staff mostly of NSITF extraction and eventually offered employment as Assistant Managers. We were employed to supervise the activities of Trustfund in the six regions.
Even if I didn’t take the Trustfund job I would still be unemployed as NSITF was moribund. So why don’t you take the job, I said to myself. I was initially posted to Benin Regional Office but for some reasons I was asked to go and head the Maiduguri Regional Office. We left for our various offices with full alacrity as we saw our appointments as a challenge. We tried our best to open as many Retirement saving accounts as possible and by extension broaden the revenue base of the company.
One of our high points was the stellar performance we put while registering Police recruits at Maiduguri police College in August 2007. We registered the 2000 recruits available. On the low side, one day when coming back from a presentation delivered by the Head of Business Development and the Company Secretary at Head of Service’s office, Bauchi I was attacked by armed robbers along Damaturu – Maiduguri road, I together with the other passengers had to pass the night in the bush. The following morning I was scheduled for another presentation at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. This is how our itinerary was as regional managers. I really didn’t have time of my own at Trustfund as you are supposed to work 24/7 and in the course of that spending all you have including your monthly salaries just to ensure the job is done. But our effort and sacrifice to increase the fortunes of the company at the Regions is not appreciated by the Head Office as promises made were reneged with vehemence and oversights committed were amplified and punished severely.
The first regional Manager to throw in the towel was Chris from P/Harcourt then followed by your sincerely in March, 2008 and recently Mrs Hassan. But the most recent retrenchment is the most surprising as the top guns, the most influential representatives ’OLD WAR HORSES’ of the NSITF were also put in the cooler. These are people who have wielded so much power and influence blended with such flair of arrogance. Nobody thought they would ever leave the company in such a circumstance and am saying this without any equivocation but – presto!!! - They are gone.
The exercise is in top gear now as the positions of the remaining Regional Managers have been advertised in the national dailies a prelude to disengaging some of them. One wonders why this situation has continued with such impunity. What is even more poignant is the way and manner many of us are chased out, it is really tragic for some of us who are not of pension age to wake up one morning and find out that they are not in the pension business for no cause of theirs. But the fact still remains – it’s our company, we initiated it, we set it up - we built it.
Some people have been insinuating that what is happening in Trustfund was a result of an administrative oversight made by the former NSITF management led by Alhaji Rufa’I by allowing Accenture to produce the pioneer staff of the newly established office. They opined that the management should have allowed us (NSITF) staff to manage the new company given our robust experience in the management of individual pension, an experience running to over four decades. They contended that having been exposed through the various aspects of Business processes Management the NSITF staff are rightly positioned and have acquired all it takes to manage the new pension outfit. I wouldn’t agree more with this opinion but then, what Rufa’i did was in good faith especially when you consider the solid foundation he set by appointing about six management staff all from NSITF. Just look at this line up:
• Mr. Oseni Elama - Managing Director/ CEO
• Ikechuwcku Chukwucha – Head of Business Development and Marketing
• P S Okodua - Head of NSITF Funds
• G. Onokwai - Audit
• Racheal CCO
• Musa Nasir- Company Secretary
• The six Regional Managers
• A host of other staff
This is one of the legacies the Rufa’I led management bequeathed to Trustfund, so for anybody to insinuate that the Management had made a mistake that person is either not being fair to Rufa’i or he is just being mischievous. However, something is definitely wrong and I think it is not unconnected with the way and manner the NSITF ‘old war horses’ handle the affairs of the company abinitio.
Oseni Elama’s departure from Trustfund was a big blow to the Regional Managers but it was celebrated with fanfare by some of the ‘Old war horses’ because they knew that some of them wouldn’t have survived in the company if he had stayed any longer. The calculation was that with him out of the way, they will take full control of the office; several attempts were made to coerce the other side into submission but proved futile. At this stage Pencom interceded by bringing Mr. Bakare to superintend over the affairs of the company as stipulated by the enabling laws. His tenure was silent albeit there were some underground maneuver by the old war horses to outwit the other side so as to enable them have an edge when Bakare’s tenure expires but has not come to fruition as the other side remained resolute.
At the end of it all, Bakare recommended that Bernand should be appointed as M/D on acting capacity until the appointment of a substantive CEO. I was told that the appointment was based on his seniority over the old war horses. Having lost the power game to the other side, they deployed a strategy of ‘survival of the fittest’. To prove your loyalty to the new order you must show disdain for the Regional Managers and anything NSITF. Caution was thrown to the dogs, the company ceased to be a formal organization - a bureaucracy - where things are done with civility. Where the name of the individual does not matter, what matters is, has he done the right thing? Stuff like that. We were totally emasculated and ridiculed, subjected to all sort of intimidating languages and sometimes uncouth. We really became accustomed to this insult, embarrassing as it was; none of us had ever demanded to know why we were so treated. But my only consolation had always been if only Mr. Elama had lived long in Trustfund and was able to implement the decisions taken at the 1st MPR that took place in Kaduna, 2007 things would have been different.
The other side spectated the drama with delight, while at the same time warming themselves into the hearts of the Board members and consolidating their positions with such a managerial brio. But for the Old war Horses they have to contend with the reality. The reality is the fact that they just succeeded in creating in themselves a Frankenstein Monster.
I was told that when their sack letters came most of them were on leave. One of them was cruising the Avensis in his village when it was demobilized, he thought it was a glitch that could be easily rectified but was astounded to hear from one of the Village mechanics that the car was turn off from the office. While the other one had his office’s locks changed an indication of ‘your services are no longer required’. This is the type of treatment you mete out to a common criminal. What a pity!!!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Dear Mathias,
I read your piece captioned above in the daily trust newspapers dated Wednesday,July21,2010 and feel obliged to write and engage you with my views albeit the article was full of anger and somewhat abusive but has such an intellectual brio in content.
To start with am not a PDP card carrying member neither am I a member of any political party but I found the agreement entered in 1999 by the PDP to rotate offices between North and South after each eight years interesting and commendable. This is possibly the only way every part of the country would have a feel at the presidency, I feel if this is not done the coveted office might just revolve around a particular zone for ever.
To my mind all political parties in the country should emulate this noble cause and even extend the idea to go beyond the Presidency so that Governorship seats and Council chairmen seats should be rotated in both the states and Local Government areas. This has already been enshrined in our constitution in form of Federal Character and other extant policies.
I really do not know from which State you come from but for me am from Katsina, resident in Kaduna State and if you are conversant with the politics of the state I don’t know what you can do to a southern Kaduna indigene have a shot at the Government House; or if you are conversant with the politics of Kogi State what you can do to the Okun or even the Ibira man have a shot at the Government House, these examples are abound in the country. The point here is that it is democratically impracticable for a certain group of Nigerians especially the minorities to ever be elected into the coveted offices if zoning or power rotation or even constitutional balance as President Jonathan would say is not put in place.
Iam surprised you did not mention that zoning will breed incompetence as many writers oppose to it insinuate. In this time of our National development we do not need the African Union or even the United Nation for that matter to tell us who is competent to lead us to the promised land we have to do it ourselves and I tell you no ethnic group in Nigeria has the monopoly of competent people, they are so ubiquitous.
By the way, I share the sentiment of some of you that President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the presidency in 2011 but going by the dictates of the PDP constitution and the rotational agreement of the party he cannot but surely he can find solace elsewhere.
Thank you,
ISA AHMED
I read your piece captioned above in the daily trust newspapers dated Wednesday,July21,2010 and feel obliged to write and engage you with my views albeit the article was full of anger and somewhat abusive but has such an intellectual brio in content.
To start with am not a PDP card carrying member neither am I a member of any political party but I found the agreement entered in 1999 by the PDP to rotate offices between North and South after each eight years interesting and commendable. This is possibly the only way every part of the country would have a feel at the presidency, I feel if this is not done the coveted office might just revolve around a particular zone for ever.
To my mind all political parties in the country should emulate this noble cause and even extend the idea to go beyond the Presidency so that Governorship seats and Council chairmen seats should be rotated in both the states and Local Government areas. This has already been enshrined in our constitution in form of Federal Character and other extant policies.
I really do not know from which State you come from but for me am from Katsina, resident in Kaduna State and if you are conversant with the politics of the state I don’t know what you can do to a southern Kaduna indigene have a shot at the Government House; or if you are conversant with the politics of Kogi State what you can do to the Okun or even the Ibira man have a shot at the Government House, these examples are abound in the country. The point here is that it is democratically impracticable for a certain group of Nigerians especially the minorities to ever be elected into the coveted offices if zoning or power rotation or even constitutional balance as President Jonathan would say is not put in place.
Iam surprised you did not mention that zoning will breed incompetence as many writers oppose to it insinuate. In this time of our National development we do not need the African Union or even the United Nation for that matter to tell us who is competent to lead us to the promised land we have to do it ourselves and I tell you no ethnic group in Nigeria has the monopoly of competent people, they are so ubiquitous.
By the way, I share the sentiment of some of you that President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the presidency in 2011 but going by the dictates of the PDP constitution and the rotational agreement of the party he cannot but surely he can find solace elsewhere.
Thank you,
ISA AHMED
Thursday, December 24, 2009
ZEE BABY 2
Our flight took up from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport at exactly 2.30pm. It took us about 14 hours to reach the Indra Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi with about an hour stop at the Dubai International Airport.
We had flown an average of about 28,000 meters above sea level with an equivalent ground distance of about 600 km per hour. We arrived the Indra Gandhi Int. Airport at about 7.30 am local time.
I was told a cab would be waiting for us at the airport to convey us to Apollo Hospital, so immediately we were outside the arrivals I started to fret through over a thousand cabs at the parking lots to locate which of them would carry us to the Hospital suddenly Bibi screamed, look Baba she pointed, look that Man is holding a board with my name on it, I then knew our search for a cab was over, we went up to the man who immediately ushered us into the cab and after about 2 hours drive we were at the Hospital.
Apollo Hospital is a gigantic edifice with a large bill board at the main gate with the inscription ‘Welcome to Indrapratsha Apollo Hospital’ from the main gate to the hospital is about 100m. It took us about half an hour to finalize our documentation at the IPL (International Patient Lounge) and our dossier was taken to our Doctor Vikas Kholi.
We were admitted and taken to room No.2449, a twin sharing apartment. When I went to the cashier to effect payment, I noticed a board with the description of the tariffs for all the rooms available at the hospital but to my surprise, it is boldly written that these tariffs are not for foreign patients. It was much later when we were discharged from the hospital I realized that foreign patients pay 25% extra for any room chosen. The following day we were transferred to the pediatric Intensive care unit (PICU) bed No. 3521A, there we spent the next 10 days and on the 29th July, the surgery took place.
The surgeon Dr. Raja Joshi an American trained pediatricardiothoracic surgeon took me through the whole itenery of the exercise, the pros and cons of the Valve replacement and of course which of the 2 valves I will have to choose for Bibi as there are 2, the metallic valve and the animal tissue valve. I chose the metallic.
By Thursday, the 30th Bibi has had mitral valve replacement (29mm St. Jude) with Tricuspid valve repair. After spending about 3 days in the Theater ICU we were moved to PICU, bed No. 3522, we stayed there for 2 days before we moved to the General word (GW) bed No.3534 and exactly after 3 days in the (GW), Bibi was certified fit to be discharged from the hospital on Sunday, the 9th.
We left the hospital and moved to a guest house known as Shubham Palace at Sarita Vihar area and stayed there for 8 days but of course we visited Apollo every other day for a review with our Doctors.
On Monday, August 17, was to be our last day for the review as our flight to Nigeria was scheduled for 04.00 on Wednesday, the 19th but it turned down to be a nightmare for Bibi who was already homesick. I had already purchased the I.N.R machine for her that morning to enable her record the thickness of her blood as required by her Doctor. As we were moving towards the OPD to have her blood checked, I noticed a clot of blood in the saliva she spitted. I quickly rushed and informed her Doctor who without hesitation required that we spend another 2days for him to conduct some tests to establish the extent of the problem. Luckily after spending 2days he certified that she is fit to travel. We left India on the 21st at about 4.30am on Friday by 1.00pm local time we were in Nigeria.
Apollo Hospital is one of the ten 5star hospitals in India and it is the1st internationally accredited hospital there. It is a superimposing structure and has a super market, a business centre and two large lounges namely International Patient Lounge (IPL) and Platinum Patient Lounge (PPL). It also has two important companies, the Apollo Pharmacy and the Restaurant that attend to only the patients and their attendants.
Patients all over the world visit the hospital on a daily basis. From the USA to Europe, Africa and of course Asia. If a census of International patients in Apollo is to be taken Nigeria will rank 3rd, Afghanistan 2nd and Iraq 1st. But in Africa, Nigeria ranks 1st with patients from Tanzania and Somalia in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. If you are in the Internal Patient Lounge (IPL) you will surely mistake the place for the National Hospital, Abuja as Nigerians constitute over one third of the population.
The most common illnesses are cancer, kidney and heart problems but to my surprise I saw 2 Patients who were in Apollo for treatment of diabetics. Discuss with any Nigerian Patient about his case and he would tell you that all the tests results brought from Nigeria are either exaggerated or not true reflection of his sickness. In my own case, we came for mitral valve replacement but we ended up having a replaced valve and a tricuspid repair.
Apollo Hospital is a pure capitalist structure as nothing is virtually free. The cold water from the taps you drink, the tea and coffee you take from the kelvinators in both the lounges to the public lifts you enjoy while moving from one floor to the other, all these and many more amenities have their prices and are lumped as a Miscellaneous expenses in your final bill.
So to every one of you out there who were and still in adu’a/prayer with me I would like to say thank you, perhaps this is the best time to say so and May Allah reward you abundantly. But for Bibi the journey has just begun as she has to contend with the effects of having an artificial valve. If I had chosen the animal tissue valve for her it means she has to undergo valve replacement every 5years but now she has to live with taking warfarin tablets for the rest of her life. The drugs will enable her blood to become thin so as not clot on the metallic valve, the I.N.R machine is used to determine how thin the blood is, the thinnest should not be below 1.5mm and not more than 2.5. If it is below the minimum she will increase the dosage of the warfarin (7.5mg) and if it is above the max, the dosage is decreased to 5mg, this she will be doing for the rest of her life.
We had flown an average of about 28,000 meters above sea level with an equivalent ground distance of about 600 km per hour. We arrived the Indra Gandhi Int. Airport at about 7.30 am local time.
I was told a cab would be waiting for us at the airport to convey us to Apollo Hospital, so immediately we were outside the arrivals I started to fret through over a thousand cabs at the parking lots to locate which of them would carry us to the Hospital suddenly Bibi screamed, look Baba she pointed, look that Man is holding a board with my name on it, I then knew our search for a cab was over, we went up to the man who immediately ushered us into the cab and after about 2 hours drive we were at the Hospital.
Apollo Hospital is a gigantic edifice with a large bill board at the main gate with the inscription ‘Welcome to Indrapratsha Apollo Hospital’ from the main gate to the hospital is about 100m. It took us about half an hour to finalize our documentation at the IPL (International Patient Lounge) and our dossier was taken to our Doctor Vikas Kholi.
We were admitted and taken to room No.2449, a twin sharing apartment. When I went to the cashier to effect payment, I noticed a board with the description of the tariffs for all the rooms available at the hospital but to my surprise, it is boldly written that these tariffs are not for foreign patients. It was much later when we were discharged from the hospital I realized that foreign patients pay 25% extra for any room chosen. The following day we were transferred to the pediatric Intensive care unit (PICU) bed No. 3521A, there we spent the next 10 days and on the 29th July, the surgery took place.
The surgeon Dr. Raja Joshi an American trained pediatricardiothoracic surgeon took me through the whole itenery of the exercise, the pros and cons of the Valve replacement and of course which of the 2 valves I will have to choose for Bibi as there are 2, the metallic valve and the animal tissue valve. I chose the metallic.
By Thursday, the 30th Bibi has had mitral valve replacement (29mm St. Jude) with Tricuspid valve repair. After spending about 3 days in the Theater ICU we were moved to PICU, bed No. 3522, we stayed there for 2 days before we moved to the General word (GW) bed No.3534 and exactly after 3 days in the (GW), Bibi was certified fit to be discharged from the hospital on Sunday, the 9th.
We left the hospital and moved to a guest house known as Shubham Palace at Sarita Vihar area and stayed there for 8 days but of course we visited Apollo every other day for a review with our Doctors.
On Monday, August 17, was to be our last day for the review as our flight to Nigeria was scheduled for 04.00 on Wednesday, the 19th but it turned down to be a nightmare for Bibi who was already homesick. I had already purchased the I.N.R machine for her that morning to enable her record the thickness of her blood as required by her Doctor. As we were moving towards the OPD to have her blood checked, I noticed a clot of blood in the saliva she spitted. I quickly rushed and informed her Doctor who without hesitation required that we spend another 2days for him to conduct some tests to establish the extent of the problem. Luckily after spending 2days he certified that she is fit to travel. We left India on the 21st at about 4.30am on Friday by 1.00pm local time we were in Nigeria.
Apollo Hospital is one of the ten 5star hospitals in India and it is the1st internationally accredited hospital there. It is a superimposing structure and has a super market, a business centre and two large lounges namely International Patient Lounge (IPL) and Platinum Patient Lounge (PPL). It also has two important companies, the Apollo Pharmacy and the Restaurant that attend to only the patients and their attendants.
Patients all over the world visit the hospital on a daily basis. From the USA to Europe, Africa and of course Asia. If a census of International patients in Apollo is to be taken Nigeria will rank 3rd, Afghanistan 2nd and Iraq 1st. But in Africa, Nigeria ranks 1st with patients from Tanzania and Somalia in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. If you are in the Internal Patient Lounge (IPL) you will surely mistake the place for the National Hospital, Abuja as Nigerians constitute over one third of the population.
The most common illnesses are cancer, kidney and heart problems but to my surprise I saw 2 Patients who were in Apollo for treatment of diabetics. Discuss with any Nigerian Patient about his case and he would tell you that all the tests results brought from Nigeria are either exaggerated or not true reflection of his sickness. In my own case, we came for mitral valve replacement but we ended up having a replaced valve and a tricuspid repair.
Apollo Hospital is a pure capitalist structure as nothing is virtually free. The cold water from the taps you drink, the tea and coffee you take from the kelvinators in both the lounges to the public lifts you enjoy while moving from one floor to the other, all these and many more amenities have their prices and are lumped as a Miscellaneous expenses in your final bill.
So to every one of you out there who were and still in adu’a/prayer with me I would like to say thank you, perhaps this is the best time to say so and May Allah reward you abundantly. But for Bibi the journey has just begun as she has to contend with the effects of having an artificial valve. If I had chosen the animal tissue valve for her it means she has to undergo valve replacement every 5years but now she has to live with taking warfarin tablets for the rest of her life. The drugs will enable her blood to become thin so as not clot on the metallic valve, the I.N.R machine is used to determine how thin the blood is, the thinnest should not be below 1.5mm and not more than 2.5. If it is below the minimum she will increase the dosage of the warfarin (7.5mg) and if it is above the max, the dosage is decreased to 5mg, this she will be doing for the rest of her life.
ZEE BABY
Zainab (12) popularly known as Bibi is my 3rd daughter, a promising JSS 11 student at the Queen Anima College, Kaduna was first diagnosed to have juvenile arthritis about 8 months ago when she showed signs of joints pains.
She was placed on hydroxcloroquine by Dr. Umar a senior Consultant on Rheumatoid but before then she was taking as prescribed by Dr. Ibrahim the following pain killers - Feldene, Indocid, Ibrupen, asprin and almost all the known pain killers in our Patent Stores but all to no avail as none of the medication has produced the desired effect.
Arthritis is a disease that causes pain and swelling in the joints of the body, it has no definite medication as what ever is prescribed for the patient is just intended to bring the pain down, a palliative measure sort of. To manage arthritis patients you need to have great deal of patience as you will be having sleepless nights with the patients and more importantly you need to have a fat purse as lean purses will just lead to the proliferation of the sickness. You have to be ready to carry the patients to undergo different tests, x-rays and scanning, what makes managing arthritis cases even more poignant is the fact that the medication you are administering to the patient has several side effects, today you are with the Ear, Nose and Throat {E, N&T} department managing one side effect or the other, tomorrow you are in Radiology department, in short, the rate of complication in the medication of arthritis is very high.
As the name implies -Juvenile Arthritis, it is expected that by the time Zainab reaches adolescent age she would have out grown the signs and symptoms of arthritis and she would be free completely from it and of course she will stop taking hydroxchoroquine with all it’s attendant side effects. During one of our clinic days Dr. umar asked Zainab what she wanted to become after her studies, Arthritis Doctor she said. Umar uttered no word but just smiled at me.
I didn’t know Zainab is suffering from a more debilitating disease and I think none of her doctors knew until when I was away to Bauchi on an errand May, the 30th. I received a call from my wife at about 10am informing me that they had a sleepless night and that Zainab is having difficulty in breathing (palpitation). It looks like Zainab is having a heart problem, she concluded. No, no, nobody has a heart problem. I quickly interjected and assured her.
I immediately left Bauchi for Kaduna and the following morning I took Zainab to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria where the Doctor on call requested that we go for the following tests immediately – Chest X- ray, Electro Cardiogram (ECG) and Echocardiogram and exactly after one week the tests were conducted.
The result of the chest x-ray indicates cardiac failure with moderate cardiomegaly with pulmonary plethora.
• Electrocardiogram suggests left artrial enlargement.
• Echocardiogram showed severe mitral regurgitation with mild pulmonary hypertension. The image of the heart is attached showing mitral valve prolapse.
But one interesting episode worth mentioning was the way Professor Danbauchi the officer in charge of the Echo scan let the cat out of the bag during the scanning exercise that Zainab has a heart failure and she needs to be taken out of the country for operation immediately. He even suggested Egypt, India or Ghana. I was really astounded that no Hospital in Nigeria can conduct the surgical operation on my daughter. That is the level of development Nigeria has attained.
My wife could not control her emotions on hearing Danbauchi’s proclamation, she busted into tears and neither could my daughter.
I wanted to confront him for that; I felt he didn’t have to say that in the presence of the girl but may be he underestimated the intelligence of the little girl, I reasoned. We left the clinic in total confusion, how much time has she remaining? I was asking myself and I knew nobody could give me that answer, somebody who was neither looking pallid nor sickly a couple of months ago, now has a terminal disease. What a tragedy.
I quickly got in touch with some friends and other associates who advised that I should get in touch with some hospitals in India. I did and the result is that Zainab is billed to undergo Valve Replacement by Dr. Vikas Kohli a senior Consultant at the Apollo Hospital New Delhi, India. The flight is scheduled for Sunday, July the 19th.
The import of this rhapsody is therefore to request for your addu’a/ prayers for Zainab to make her dreams good and more importantly, for Journey mercies and a successful operation. This is so as the greatest of mankind (SAW) had requested his companions to pray for him in a particular instance.
I know each and every one of us is going through one tough time or the other but Allah (SWT) has promised to intercede and is ready to bless us in a way that only He can. So keep the faith.
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