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Nigerian Student, Others Develop Medical App For Diagnosis

Published

2 years ago

April 20, 2023

Editor

Nigerian students in different parts of the world keep making impressive strides in different disciplines.

Couple of weeks ago, Tony Okeke, 20, who was the winner of the 2018 edition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, National Science Quiz and presently studying Biomedical Engineering in Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, collaborated with five other international students (four Nigerians and one Indian) to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Medical Assistance App, which they named ‘Meddibia’.

Okeke’s team, named, ‘Team Meddibia’, comprises Okeke, Dishika Goel, Elochukwu Enwerem, Dalu Okonkwo, Michael Moemeke and Victor Uzo.

The team’s project, ‘Meddibia’, was one of the ten AI projects that won at the Philly Codefest 2023, a contest that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA during the 10th year of the software and hardware hackathon hosted by College of Computing & Informatics, Drexel University, Philadelphia.

Explaining how difficult it was for the panel of judges ot determine the winners, Dave Raiken, Assistant Director of Operations, said the 46 teams that took part, presented great technical projects that aligned with the theme: AI Everywhere— that is, “real-world, scalable software and hardware solutions to improve and expand artificial intelligence’s positive societal impacts.”

Presenting their project on behalf of his team, Okeke explained: “The inspiration behind our latest project came from a deep desire to improve the accessibility of medical care for people living in rural areas.

“As developers from third-world countries, we understood all too well the struggles faced by those who lack access to proper medical facilities.

“Our team wanted to create a solution that would bridge the gap between these individuals and medical professionals, so we set out to create an app that would allow users to receive medical advice and diagnoses using machine learning models.”

What it does

Meddibia is a personal AI health assistant that puts greater control over health in the hands of users living in rural communities. With it, users can describe their symptoms to a chat assistant and receive a likely diagnosis, along with more information about their diagnosis and symptoms.

Additionally, it enables users to get diagnosis for skin conditions and aberrations by simply taking a picture of the affected area. This feature is especially important for those with limited access to healthcare professionals or specialized facilities. By providing personalized care and making it easier to manage health conditions, Meddibia empowers users to take control of their health and improve their quality of life.

How it was built

To accurately identify skin conditions, the team experimented with various pre-trained models, including VGG16 and EfficientNet, to extract features from images from the dermnet dataset.

They then trained and evaluated deep neural network classifiers, ultimately selecting a model with approximately 70% accuracy. For symptom identification, they employed GPT-3, a state-of-the-art language model, to preprocess natural language input from users into symptom labels, which served as input to our machine-learning model.

This approach resulted in about 87% accuracy in predicting disease labels. To further assist users, and used GPT-3 to provide helpful descriptions of the predicted disease. The app’s backend was built using Flask API and deployed on Heroku, while the cross-platform frontend was developed using Flutter, making our app easily accessible to users across multiple devices.

News

Uproar As Senate Okays Non-indigene As Rivers Electoral Commission Chairman

Published

1 hour ago

June 25, 2025

Editor

There was an uproar in the Senate on Wednesday following the approval of a non- indigene, Dr. Michael Odey as the Chairman, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC.

The confirmation of Odey, who hails from Cross River State, alongside other members of the Commission followed the consideration of the report of the Ad- Hoc Committee on Oversight of Emergency Rule in Rivers State presented by its chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central).

The development sparked as a few senators objected the appointment of a non-indigene to head a sensitive position as that of a state electoral commission.

Those confirmed as members of the RSIEC are Mr. Lezaasi Lenee Torbira, Prof. Author Nwafor, Prof. Godfrey Woke Mbgudiogha, Prof. Joyce Akaninwor, Dr. Olive A. Bruce and Prof. Chidi Halliday.

Objecting to Odey’s confirmation, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi Central) said bad precedent should not be set by allowing a non-indigene to head the electoral commission of a state.

He said: “I objected as observed because if it is allowed and becomes the norm, it will not be well for the country.

“I do not see the necessity of having someone from another state to chair an electoral body.”

Also kicking against the approval, former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, (APC Borno South), said it is wrong to scout for a non-indigene for such sensitive position when there are over one thousand indigenes who are qualified.

Referring to a comment by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, the Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South), said politics was infused into the matter.

“It is here that politics is brought into this matter. Nobody is objecting to the personality but to a question of morality this appointment has raised.

“I am not a lawyer and not talking law, we are talking about ethics. This is unethical. We should not intrude politics into what we do here,” Moro said.

But the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), argued that Odey’s appointment is constitutional and that there is nothing wrong im the confirmation by the Red Chamber.

He said: “The constitution is the ground norm and inasmuch as there is no provision in the constitution that is against appointing a non-indigene, the confirmation is then in order.

“Any Nigerian is free to take up appointment in any state. I can be a governor in Benue State. We are talking about constitution, not morality.”

The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele while appreciating concerns raised, however, appealed that it is a matter that should not be politicized, saying “The matter does not call for grandstanding.”

He argued that Odey is both eligible and qualified as a PhD holder.

Bamidele disclosed that the committee had also raised similar concern during the screening exercise where he called on Odey to provide constitutional evidence of his eligibility.

He said the Odey is eligible and qualified, adding that having the six other members from Rivers State, picking a non-indigene as chairman would create room for transparency and neutrality.

In his remarks, the Deputy Senate President, Barau, who presided over the session, insisted that anybody can work anywhere in Nigeria.

Barau cited an example of an indigene of Edo State who is the Head of Service in Abia State.

He said the objection “is purely politics because it is coming from APC”.

In the same development, the Senate also confirmed the appointment of members of the Rivers State Civil Service Commission and Local Government Service Commission nominated by President Bola Tinubu.

The Civil Service Commission consists of five members, including its Chairman, Dr Livinus Bariki, and Ambassador Lot Peter Egopija, Mrs Maeve Ere Bestman, Mrs Joy Obiaju and Mrs Charity Lloyd Harry as members.

Also confirmed are the chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Mr Isreal N Amadi and Mr Linus Nwandem, Lady Christabel Ego, George Didia, Dr Tonye Willie D Pepple, Barrister Richard Ewoh, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ofik (rtd) and Dr Sammy Apiafi, as members.
(DAILY POST)

News

Nigerian Senate Passes 2025 Budget For Rivers State

Published

1 hour ago

June 25, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian senate on Wednesday, passed the 2025 budget of Rivers State, to the tune of N1.485 trillion.

The passage came after the third reading of the appropriation bill on the Senate floor.

This came after the upper chamber considered the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Rivers State during the Committee of Supply session.

DAILY POST reports that the bill seeks to authorize the issuance of N1,485,662,592,442 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Rivers State for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.

According to the approved budget breakdown, N120.8 billion is for debt servicing, N287.38 billion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, and N1.077 trillion is for capital expenditure.

Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), while supporting the passage of the bill, however, raised a concern regarding the additional 50 billion naira earmarked for the payment of outstanding pensions and gratuities.

The lawmaker charged the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee to carry out more rigorous oversight to ensure that the funds reach the rightful pension beneficiaries without delay.

DAILY POST reports that with the passage, the Rivers State 2025 budget will now proceed for assent and implementation.

It will be recalled that President Bola Tinubu in May submitted the 2025 Appropriation Bill for Rivers State to the National Assembly for consideration, after the suspension of the state’s House of Assembly.

In a letter addressed to the Senate President, Goodwill Akpabio, the proposed budget totals N1.481 trillion, with major allocations aimed at revitalizing key sectors.

The president also wrote to the House of Representatives for the Rivers State budget approval, reminding the House that the Supreme Court had nullified the 2025 budget presented by suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

News

Kebbi Govt Mulls Death Penalty For Bandit Informants

Published

1 hour ago

June 25, 2025

Editor

Kebbi State Government has said it would review existing laws to impose death penalty or life imprisonment on convicted informants aiding the criminals in the state.

This is coming in the wake of renewed attacks by armed bandits in parts of the state.

The State Governor, Nasiru Idris made this disclosure on Tuesday, when he paid condolence visits to Tadurga village in Zuru and Kyebu in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Areas, both recently targeted by bandits in attacks that claimed 30 lives.

The governor, while describing informants as deadly to society, reiterated his administration’s zero-tolerance stance on insecurity and promised to treat the issue with utmost seriousness.

He expressed sorrow over the tragic loss of lives, praying for the victims and asking Allah to grant the deceased Aljannah Firdausi and a quick recovery to those injured.

“We are here to see things for ourselves, commiserate with you and reassure you of the urgent steps we have taken to improve security,” he said.

The Governor called on the public to refrain from politicizing security issues or spread unverified information on social media, warning that such actions could jeopardise ongoing efforts to restore peace.

Responding, the Chief of Danko, Ibrahim Al’aji, and the Chief of Dabai, Suleiman Sami, appreciated the governor for his swift intervention and called for enhanced security measures, especially along routes used by bandits entering from neighboring states.

The Emir of Zuru, Rtd. Major General Sani Sami also expressed appreciation for the governor’s visit and ongoing commitment to security in the emirate.