PRESS STATEMENT

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria – Abuja Branch, is saddened by the recent incident of the abandonment of a day-old baby by its mother, somewhere in Mpape, Abuja, as widely reported in the media. Such acts not only jeopardize the safety and well-being of innocent children but also undermine our collective humanity and the values we hold dear as a society.

While we acknowledge that the pressures of life – ranging from economic hardship, domestic violence, unplanned pregnancies, and lack of support systems – may push some women into desperate situations, child abandonment is neither justifiable nor acceptable. The dangers associated with such actions are grave: abandoned children are left vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, malnutrition, and death, while such mothers risk criminal prosecution, societal stigmatization and deep emotional trauma.

As an organization dedicated to the promotion, protection and preservation of the rights and wellbeing of women and children, FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch urges government to strengthen welfare programs, create awareness on lawful alternatives for childcare, and ensure that mechanisms are in place to prevent incidents of abandonment. The biological duty of birthing children which women bear is a collective gain of humanity and deliberate efforts should be made to ensure that necessary resources and facilities are made available to aid any challenged woman bearing this noble duty. 

It is pertinent at this point to condemn the irresponsible trend of husbands or fathers abandoning their family without sustenance. This is not only immoral, but also unlawful as it contravenes our laws, particularly the VAPP Act and the CRA. Lawful and dignified options should be explored by men who find themselves in challenging situations instead of resorting to abandonment of their family/dependents.

We also appeal to the public to foster a culture of compassion and support. Together, we can build a society where no mother feels so overwhelmed that abandonment seems like her only option. The combined efforts of adequate provision of necessary resources and facilities, and a generous expression of the right sense of humanity by the society, will be a sure way of eliminating the possibility of any woman submitting to such extreme option.

Importantly, FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch calls on women facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, to seek lawful and humane alternatives.

Some of these include:

1. Engaging family and community support systems: With our general commendable communal way of living, women in distress should speak out and seek help from trusted family members, friends, or religious and community organizations that can offer necessary support.

• Accessing support from government and non-governmental agencies: Various organizations, including FIDA Nigeria, are available to provide legal aid, counseling, and social welfare services to distressed mothers. With FIDA’s presence across Nigeria with 44 branches in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, one can easily locate a FIDA branch closest to them.

• Exploring legal child adoption services: For women unable to care for their children, legal child adoption remains a lawful and dignified option. This ensures the child’s well-being and provides them with a stable and loving home. It also helps save the mother from any trauma of abandonment that they may expose themselves to if they pursue any less than noble option.

• Exploring legal child fostering services: Just as child adoption, the CRA also provides for child fostering, all towards protecting children. Though not as popularly known, challenged mothers may consider putting up their children for fostering – that way, they can regain custody of their children after the period of their challenge.

• Reporting cases of violence: Since diverse forms of domestic abuse is one of the challenges that may trigger a recourse to condemnable desperate options, women experiencing domestic abuse should report their circumstances to the appropriate authorities like the Police, NAPTIP, NHRC and such other law enforcement authorities, or support organizations to receive the help they need.

• Accessing medical help: Statistics show that some women may suffer diverse post-natal mental disorders that can trigger them into even unconscionable actions. Psychological evaluations should be made easily available to new mothers to ensure their mental wellbeing to better protect them and their vulnerable newborns.

Finally, we encourage adults to consider safe family planning options that protect them from unwanted or unplanned pregnancies pending when they are ready and able to bear the responsibility of raising a family. The negative consequences of unplanned pregnancy can be dire on the woman, the child, the family and the society at large, and is best avoided.

FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch reiterates our commitment to supporting women in distress in the FCT by offering pro bono legal services, counselling, and advocacy for better human rights protection and social protection measures. For legal assistance or further inquiries, please contact FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch at Room GA 15, Ground Floor, Federal Ministry of Justice, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja.

Please also follow us across social media for enlightening posts that educate the public on the promotion, protection and preservation of the rights and wellbeing of women and children.

Email Address: [email protected]

Contact Number: 08060774236

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SIGNED

CHIOMA U. ONYENUCHEYA-UKO

Chairperson, 

FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch.

In March 2024, Muhammad Pate, Nigeria’s health minister, disclosed that about 16,000 doctors left the country in the last five years. The General Medical Council of the UK revealed that no fewer than 12,198 Nigerian doctors are in the United Kingdom. Several others are in the US, Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world.

However, despite Nigeria’s poor healthcare system, the Federal Government and 21 states have allocated merely N3.846 trillion for healthcare in their 2025 budgets. This amount represents only 6.02% of the proposed N63.898 trillion for the year. The allocation falls significantly short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 13% and the African Union’s Abuja 2001 Declaration target of 15%.

And while the majority of Nigerians grapple with decaying healthcare, the recent revelation that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved an extravagant retirement package for top military officials has sparked a nationwide debate, raising critical questions about governance priorities, fiscal responsibility, and the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

Under the revised Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTCOS) for the Nigerian Armed Forces, the retirement benefits for service chiefs and other senior military officers include bullet-proof SUVs, $20,000 annual foreign medical allowances, personal aides, and a range of domestic staff.

Signed into effect on December 14, 2024, these provisions have drawn fire from various quarters, including medical professionals, civil society organisations, and concerned citizens. Critics argue that the lavish perks symbolise a troubling disconnect between the government’s actions and the dire socioeconomic conditions plaguing Nigeria.

Recently Nigerians were inundated with reports that the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan was under a spell of darkness and water shortage that belie its pedigree as a top-notch medical centre for the training of doctors, healthcare delivery and research; a narrative that reflects the lack of serious attention to the health sector, and life itself, in Nigeria.

Premium Times in a 2024 Editorial, wrote: “Our public hospitals cannot be ‘mere consulting clinics or human abattoirs…The UCH must be made to recover its groove, which made it a hospital of first choice for members of the Royal family of the oil-rich Saudi Arabia in the 1960s and ranked the fourth best in the Commonwealth then. However, the truth is that this can only happen if President Bola Tinubu’s administration stops its binge of misplaced priorities. The N15 trillion 700-kilometre Lagos–Calabar coastal Highway and Sokoto to Badagry coastal highway – which is longer than the former and which has also been commissioned – provide pungent contexts of this.”

In 2024, only five states — Kaduna, Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, and Abia — allocated 15 percent of their budgets to healthcare. Others allocated between three and 12 percent. At the federal government level, only 4.6 percent of the 2024 budget was allotted to the health sector. From 2008 to 2021, the health allocations were less than five percent of total budgets in Africa’s most populous nation.

As of now, 33 of the 36 states have unveiled their budgets, with only Imo, Kwara, and Rivers yet to do so. Out of these, 21 states have disclosed their healthcare budget allocations, based on information from their websites and statements made by their governors in their Houses of Assembly.

Among the 21 states, only five — Kano (16.50%), Kaduna (16.07%), Borno (15.39%), Benue (15.09%), and Abia (15%) — have met both the WHO and African Union healthcare funding benchmarks. Ogun (13%) also met the WHO’s recommendation. In contrast, the Federal Government’s allocation of N2.48 trillion for healthcare in its N47.9 trillion 2025 budget amounts to just 5.18% of the total proposed spending.

Some states have allocated significantly lower percentages to healthcare, including Bayelsa (2.77%), Delta (3.12%), Cross River (4.22%), and Enugu (4.72%). Other states with relatively low allocations include Anambra (9.39%), Ebonyi (9.84%), Lagos (6.79%), Ondo (7%), Oyo (8.76%), and Gombe (10%).

Here is a breakdown of healthcare allocations in the 21 states:

Abia: N750.28 billion total budget, N38.6 billion for healthcare

Anambra: N607.992 billion total budget, N57.1 billion for healthcare

Enugu: N971.8 billion total budget, N45.016 billion for healthcare

Lagos: N3.005 trillion total budget, N204.005 billion for healthcare

Ondo: N655.23 billion total budget, N46.016 billion for healthcare

Oyo: N678.087 billion total budget, N59.411 billion for healthcare

Borno: N584.76 billion total budget, N89.97 billion for healthcare

Gombe: N320.11 billion total budget, N32 billion for healthcare

Bayelsa: N689.4 billion total budget, N19.1 billion for healthcare

Cross River: N498 billion total budget, N21 billion for healthcare

Delta: N979.2 billion total budget, N30.55 billion for healthcare

Edo: N605 billion total budget, N63.9 billion for healthcare

Jigawa: N693.3 billion total budget, N40.1 billion for healthcare

Kaduna: N790 billion total budget, N127 billion for healthcare

Kano: N549.1 billion total budget, N90.6 billion for healthcare

Katsina: N692.245 billion total budget, N43.882 billion for healthcare

Zamfara: N545.015 billion total budget, N64.384 billion for healthcare

Benue: N550 billion total budget, N83 billion for healthcare

Nasarawa: N382.57 billion total budget, N36.2 billion for healthcare

A Breakdown of the Generals’ perks according to Atlantic Post.

The HTCOS outlines an extensive list of retirement benefits for senior military officers, reflecting a hierarchy of privilege. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and service chiefs are entitled to bullet-proof SUVs, maintained and replaced every four years, in addition to a backup Peugeot 508 or its equivalent.

These vehicles come with a full suite of support, including three service drivers and an orderly. Retired service chiefs are also provided with five domestic aides, including two cooks, two stewards, and a civilian gardener.

Medical benefits are equally generous. While lieutenant generals are entitled to $20,000 for annual medical treatment abroad, it is speculated that service chiefs receive significantly higher allowances. These perks extend to include local and international security escorts, personal firearms (retrievable upon death), and retention of military uniforms for ceremonial occasions.

For lower-ranking generals, such as major generals and brigadier generals, the benefits slightly taper off but remain substantial. They include Toyota Land Cruisers or equivalent vehicles, domestic staff, and annual medical allowances ranging from $10,000 to $15,000. Even colonels are entitled to free domestic medical care and Toyota Corollas.

The Healthcare Irony: A Vote of No Confidence?

Perhaps the most contentious aspect of these benefits is the foreign medical allowance. Medical professionals and civil society leaders have criticised the government for institutionalising medical tourism, which they argue reflects a profound lack of confidence in Nigeria’s healthcare system.

Prof. Bala Audu, President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), lambasted the decision, stating, “Any retirement benefits received by government officials should be invested within Nigeria.”

Echoing this sentiment, Prof. Muhammad Muhammad of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) emphasised the need to revamp Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure.

“The decision to send retired officers abroad for treatment signals the government’s lack of faith in our local healthcare facilities,” Prof. Muhammad noted.

This critique highlights a glaring contradiction: while the government is willing to spend exorbitantly on foreign medical care for elites, millions of Nigerians struggle to access basic healthcare services. Dr. Tope Osundara, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), argued that Nigeria possesses the medical expertise required to meet these needs but suffers from inadequate funding and outdated infrastructure.

Governance or Gluttony?

The timing of these extravagant benefits is particularly troubling. Nigeria is grappling with an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation, a depreciating naira, and widespread poverty. Millions of Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day, yet resources are being channelled into luxury perks for a privileged few.

Friday Odeh, Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, described the development as “alarming.” He questioned whether the retiring service chiefs have earned such rewards, given the ongoing security challenges plaguing the nation.

“For over 12 years, Nigeria has been battling insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping. Have the service chiefs truly delivered enough to justify these packages?” Odeh asked.

The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria has expressed great sadness over the death of Chief Saka Abimbola Isalu, SAN, FCI, Arb.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria was the Principal Partner Saka Isau (SAN) & Co. from 2011 until his death on 4 January 2025.

Born in Ilorin Kwara State on the 5th day of March 1955, Isalu, SAN attended Oke – Ebo Primary School, Ilorin between 1963 – 1971, Ansarul Islam Secondary School Ijomu – Oro, Kwara State – 1972 – 1973, Ilorin College, Ilorin, (now Government High School), Kwara State College of Technology – 1978 – 1980, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria – 1980 – 1981, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria – 1981 – 1984 and the Nigerian Law School, Lagos – 1984 – 1985.

He was called Nigerian Bar in 1985, became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2006 and Fellow Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria in 2009.

From 1985 to 1986, he worked with Wole Olanipekun & Co. Ilorin, Sumaila Sadik & Co. Ilorin – 1986 – 1989, Saka Isau & Co. Ilorin – 1989 – 2003, Ministry of Justice, Ilorin – 2003 – 2010 and in April 2010 he worked at the Governor’s Office, Ilorin.

Chief Isalu, SAN was Member, Board of Directors, Kwara State Library Service Board – 1989 – 1991, Member, of Transition Committee to Civilian Administration set up by the government of Alhaji Sha’aba Lafiagi in 1992, Member, Board of Directors, Gateway Insurance PLC- 1992 – 1993, Chairman, Taskforce on revenue generation Ilorin West Local Govt. Council – 1995, Counsel representing Kwara State at Census Tribunal, Abuja – 1992 – 1993, Prosecutor, Failed Bank Tribunal – 1999 – 2002 and Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association Ilorin branch.

He was equally a member of the Transition Committee to Set up Dr Bukola Saraki’s administration in 2003, Attorney General and Commissioner For Justice, Kwara State – 2003 – 2010, Member, of Kwara State Judicial Service Commission – 2003 – 2010, Member, Council of Legal Education – 2003 – 2010, Member, Body of Benchers – 2003 – 2010, Secretary to the Government of Kwara state of Nigeria from April 2010 to May 29, 2011, and Vice chairman, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC from 2011.

The full text of BOSAN’s statement signed by its secretary Mr. Olumide Sofowora, SAN reads:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Chief Saka Abimbola Isau, SAN, who passed away on Saturday, January 4, 2025, at the age of 69.

Chief Isau, SAN was a native of Ilorin, Kwara State, and had a distinguished career in law and public service. He served as the 14th chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ilorin branch, from 2000 to 2001, and was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on July 18, 2006.

He also held various public offices, including Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for Kwara State from 2003 to 2011, and Secretary to the Kwara State Government. In 2019, he contested for the Kwara State governorship primary ticket under the People’s Democratic Party.

Chief Isau’s burial took place on Sunday, January 5, 2025, in accordance with Islamic rites.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time. May he rest in eternal peace, along with our departed colleagues. Amen.

Signed:

Mr. Olumide Sofowora, SAN
Secretary

In a shocking turn of events, President Hakainde Hichilema fired Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Ms. Mazuba Monze. The dismissal comes after allegations surfaced that Ms. Monze requested a Zambian staff member shave her private parts, a demand the staff member deemed unacceptable and not part of their duties.

According to sources, the staff member refused to comply with the request, leading Ms. Monze to terminate their employment, citing disobedience and insubordination. However, the staff member appealed the decision, bringing the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

An investigation into the allegations was conducted, and upon verification, President Hichilema promptly fired Ms. Monze. The incident has raised eyebrows, with many questioning the judgment and conduct of the former High Commissioner.

In a surprising twist, a concerned Zambian living in South Africa has come forward, claiming that the allegations against Ms. Monze may have been exaggerated or fabricated by her detractors. The individual alleges that a campaign was launched against Ms. Monze, involving false reports and fabrications, which ultimately led to her dismissal.

As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen what further actions will be taken and what consequences Ms. Monze will face. One thing is certain, however: the incident has left a stain on Zambia’s diplomatic reputation and raised questions about the conduct of its representatives abroad.

Credits: The Marabi Post