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Employ Sign Language Interpreters, Foundation Urges Nigerian Banks

Published

5 months ago

May 21, 2025

A foundation, Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL), on Wednesday, called on all Nigerian banks to employ signs language interpreters across the country.

Mr Benji Benjamin, the Programme Manager of the foundation made the call in Bauchi during a one-day programme focused on policy discussions, compliance and awareness regarding inclusive services for Persons With Disability (PWD).

According to him, the move would greatly help and make banking services more accessible to people with disabilities especially, the hearing impaired individuals.

He explained that the one-day programme would add to the several conversations that were already ongoing on how to make communities, societies and infrastructures, whether public or private, more inclusive for everybody, including PWDs.

“At the end of the day, each and everyone of us that has been invited for this conversation will add to the discussions.

“It is expected that we leave here with a direction on how each and everyone of us will contribute to making our public and private spaces more inclusive for everybody,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Mainas Ayuba, from Bauchi State Network of Disability Forum, observed that there would always be people with impairments but it shouldn’t be seen as a barrier.

He recounted how someone complained bitterly about the non availability of sign language interpretation in banks as he had an issue with his account and was going to the bank without resolving the issue.

“Apart from not resolving the issue, they didn’t give him correct information, apart from not getting the right information, sometimes if he went there, he will be asked to sit down and they will forget about him.

“A lot of persons with disabilities who yearn to have bank accounts are resolving to opening online banking as they can’t go to the conventional banks because they are not getting well treated as expected.

“Sometimes, some services of banks are upstairs and someone who is on the wheelchair or crutches can’t go there and sometimes if they are told that there are customers downstairs, they won’t come down.

“They rather give them forms to fill and that’s how they will end up walking around in the bank with the form and usually, the person that is subjected to that rigour is the one who takes the customer to the bank,” he said.

He called on all and sundry to conceptualise disability as this would bring change in the way people see and treat persons with disabilities in their various environments.

Ayuba also called on institutions of learning to allow people on wheelchair to use their chairs while receiving lectures and writing examinations instead of taking them off their chairs to sit on desks.

Also, Malam Haruna Pali, Chairman, Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, expressed concern on how his people are being marginalised and denied inclusivity by some quarters.

Responding, Mr Morris Choji, a representative from Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Bauchi branch, said they learned a lot of things by coming to the programme.

He promised that when they assemble for the next bankers committee’s meeting, all the issues discussed would be tabled for them to be effectively addressed.

Other stakeholders present at the programme included a representative from Wema Bank, Ministry of Women Affairs and Child development, Civil Society Organisation, state’s Agency for Persons With Disabilities, among others.

Some of the participants in their separate remarks, also advocated for the full implementation of the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities Prohibition act, 2018.

News

Back To School: Lions Club Distributes Educational Materials In Edo Schools

Published

7 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

The Benin Etete Unique and Edo Heritage Lions of the International Association of Lions Club on Friday jointly distributed educational materials to two schools in Benin City as part of the association corporate services to humanity.

The two clubs in District 404-A4 Lions Nigeria, jointly carried out the distribution of notebooks, maths sets, school bags and sandals, pens and other writing materials to excited pupils in Ivbioba Primary School and Oghede-Ivioba Primary School, Ugbighoko, Egor Local Government Area, and Evbiyenava Primary School, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.

Themed, Back to School Project, pupils were also engaged in Reading Action Program (RAP) and Spelling Bee Competition, after which winners were presented with special prizes.

In their remarks, Lions Darlington Uyi and Franca Nikoro, presidents of Benin Etete Unique and Edo Heritage Lions Clubs stated that the vision of the Lions International is to serve humanity.

They, therefore, tasked pupils on commitment to their studies in order to attain their fullest potentials in life.

“Emulate Lions in your visions for tomorrow. We have various professionals as members, and if you are committed to your studies, obedient to your parents and teachers, you will attain great heights,” Lion Uyi Darlinton Stated.

“Our vision is to serve, and we are here like we do every period to ensure Literacy is inculcated in pupils to enable them to attain their full potential. It is our earnest desire that you grow into well rounded personalities. Literacy is important in order to actualize that aspiration,” Franca Nikoro stated.

Earlier, in his address, Lion Sir Dede Henry Idemudia, Zone 6A Chairperson, tasked the pupils on good conduct, honour to parents and guardians and obedience to instructions of school authority.

News

NAFDAC Gives Nigerian Food Companies 18 Months To Cut Trans Fats

Published

8 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has set an 18-month grace period, effectively giving food companies until early 2026 before facing full enforcement of regulations to eliminate industrially produced Trans-Fatty Acids (TFA).

The initiative, launched as a comprehensive strategy and roadmap for TFA regulation, moves Nigeria from simply having the policy to enforcing its world-class standard: a regulatory limit of no more than two grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat or oil.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, emphasised that the roadmap moves the country beyond policy creation to aggressive enforcement and implementation.

This was contained in the NAFDAC DG’s keynote speech posted on the agency’s official X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

Adeyeye stressed the moral imperative of the Agency’s mission.

“The removal of industrially produced trans fats from the food chain is not only a technical achievement, but a moral imperative.

“Eliminating industrially produced trans fats is possible, achievable, necessary, and urgent,” Adeyeye stated, calling for national collaboration.

The moratorium period is designed to allow manufacturers to exhaust existing stock with outdated labels and reformulate their products to comply with the legal limit.

NAFDAC’s action targets a dangerous dietary risk factor strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature death globally.

Adeyeye emphasised the significance of the move beyond technical compliance, noting, “The removal of industrially produced trans fats from the food chain is not only a technical achievement, but a moral imperative.”

This aggressive step builds upon Nigeria’s existing reputation; the country was recognised by the World Health Organisation in 2023 for adopting best-practice TFA elimination policies.

The new roadmap is key to securing WHO validation of Nigeria’s full TFA elimination programme, establishing the nation as a regional leader in public health interventions.

News

Mohbad’s Father Urges Lagos AG To Prosecute Wife, Nurse, Others

Published

8 hours ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Joseph Aloba, the father of late singer Mohbad, has urged the Lagos State government to initiate criminal proceedings against individuals named in the coroner’s inquest into his son’s death.

Mohbad passed away on September 12, 2023, following an injection administered by auxiliary nurse Feyisayo Ogedengbe.

Despite being buried the next day, public outcry and ongoing investigations led to the exhumation of his body on September 21, 2023, for an autopsy.

In a letter dated October 3 and addressed to the attorney general of Lagos State through his lawyers, Aloba demanded that criminal charges be filed against those indicted within 14 days.

“Specifically, we refer to persons indicted by the coroner’s verdict hereunder: Miss Ogedengbe Fisayo, indicted for unlawful medical practice and gross medical negligence; and Mrs. Omowunmi Aloba, indicted for negligence,” the letter reads.

“This includes Ibrahim Owodunni, a.k.a. Prime Boy, and others who either facilitated the invitation of the auxiliary nurse or refused to take him promptly to a recognised medical facility for treatment.”

Mohbad’s father said he was concerned that despite the coroner’s clear verdict, no prosecutorial steps had been taken against those indicted nearly three months after the judgment.

He asked the attorney general to exercise prosecutorial powers within the 14 days, or, in the alternative, grant him and his legal team a fiat to prosecute the matter on behalf of the state.

“Our Client, as a bereaved father desirous of ensuring that justice is done and seen to be done, is deeply concerned that notwithstanding the clear indictments contained in the Coroner’s Verdict, no prosecutorial steps have been taken against the aforementioned persons since the delivery of the Verdict on 11th July, 2025,” the letter reads.

“The judicial observations amount to clear indictments warranting the prosecution of the said individuals in order to give full effect to the Coroner’s findings and recommendations, and to ensure that justice is manifestly and adequately served in this matter.

“We request that you exercise your prosecutorial power on the above subject matter within 14 Days Next, in view of the high sensitivity of this matter and the public attention and outrage it has generated.”

In October 2023, Naira Marley and Sam Larry were arrested over allegations linking them to Mohbad’s death, but were released on bail after five weeks in detention.

By February 2025, a magistrate court cleared them of any involvement in the singer’s demise.