The ministers of justice, health, police affairs, power and industry on Friday presented their achievements in office at the Sectorial Ministerial Briefing ahead of the first anniversary of the Bola Tinubu administration.
The ministers are; Lateef Fagbemi, Muhammad Ali Pate, Ibrahim Geidam and Adebayo Adelabu and Doris Uzoka-Anite.
Several other ministers including those of the Federal Capital Territory and Petroleum, had on Thursday made their own presentations at the Radio House in Abuja.
The Attorney-General of the Federation ( AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, said at the briefing that the case of the detained leader of the Indeginous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a difficult one and since it’s already in court should be left to the law to take its course.
Fagbemi, while responding to questions from newsmen at the briefingpointed out that there is a remarkable difference between Kanu’s case and that of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore.
He said, “Sowore and Kanu are not the same, when it comes to the first one I didn’t have difficulty to say go, but I have difficulty with the second one”.
While pointing out that Kanu is being held in accordance with the Constitution, he observed that, “the matter is still in court, let’s wait for the court”.
Sowore was arrested in 2019 and prosecuted for allegedly calling for the forceful take over of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the federal government through the office of the AGF in February this year filed a notice of discontinuation of the case.
He also said FG has secured 250 convictions from the prosecution of terrorism and criminal offices in various courts of law in the country.
The AGF who reeled out the achievements of the Ministry of Justice in the year under review, said in furtherance of the Ministry’s mandate of enhancing national security and safety through prosecution, the FG has secured 160 convictions for criminal offences, 87 convictions for terrorism cases, 3 novel convictions in the last one year for extremist terrorism actors involved in the radicalization of children and violence against women.
Fagbemi hinted that the Justice Ministry in conjunction with relevant security and law enforcement agencies (LEAs), have developed a framework for joint investigation and collaboration geared towards the engagement of prosecution-guided investigation in various criminal cases, to address the challenges to successful prosecutions.
“There is also enhanced inter-agency synergy for prosecution of Maritime Cases, Electricity offences, collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders on cybersecurity protection and cybercrime prosecution, the AGF said.
Following the Ministry’s intervention for the upgrade of facilities designated for trial of terrorism cases, Fagbemi said the Ministry has resumed trials of terrorism cases in conjunction with the Legal Aid Council, National Human Rights Commission and other stakeholders.
The percentages of terrorism cases initiated and corruption cases concluded within the reporting period has been significant, the Justice Minister said.
In addition, the AGF stated that the Tinubu administration has facilitated international cooperation on terrorism financing and other trans national crimes.
Fagbemi said the FG has secured conviction of 13 terrorism financing cases, and have also concluded 150 mutual legal assistance requests and 12 extradition requests from law enforcement agencies and foreign countries.
“The Ministry places priority on enhancing the prosecutorial and litigation capacity of its staff, to this end it organized capacity building programmes to improve knowledge on various aspects of the law including Darknet and Cryptocurrencies applied to terrorism financing, investigation and prosecution of financial and wildlife crimes in Nigeria.
“The coordination of the effective implementation of the National Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Proliferation Financing (AML/CPF) Strategy 2023 – 2027 is also a top priority for the Ministry, the AGF said.
More so, in line with the cardinal principle of the present administration in the fight against corruption, the Justice Ministry, the AGF said, has achieved successes under its international asset recovery and management efforts.
The asset sharing agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Bailiwick of Jersey was signed in February 2024, for the return of £2,125,944 (Two Million, One Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Nine Hundred and Forty-Four GBP) proceeds of corruption, the AGF revealed.
“This has been approved by the President to be utilized, for continuation of works on the Abuja-Kano Road project” Fagbemi said.
On the Glencore settlement, the Justice Minister said the Ministry on behalf of Nigeria on April 25, 2024, concluded negotiation of a settlement agreement with Glencore International A.G. wherein the firm is expected to pay the sum of $50 million USD as penalty and compensation for certain activities in Nigeria.
Also, speaking on the development of the proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Regulation, 2024, by the Ministry, the AGF said the objective of the regulation which is being developed with relevant agencies is to ensure transparency, accountability and standardization in the management of recovered assets, in line with global best practices.
“This document is being finalized for validation, the AGF said.
Muhammad Ali Pate, the minister of Health on his part said the government examined the experiences and expectations of Nigerians, the burden of diseases and how it is evolving, what is working well and what is failing, the state of health infrastructure, human resources, financing, and the overall state of health of Nigeria.
We consulted with the States, development partners, civil society, and the private sector to articulate an agenda that aligns with the President’s overall reform agenda (The Renewed Hope Agenda). This agenda in health aims to save lives, reduce
physical and financial pain, promote health, and ensure it is accessible to all Nigerians.
Since announcing the health agenda, we have been actively implementing it. Over the last several months, we have made considerable progress implementing the four pillars, which I will report on regarding our accomplishments, not just our future
aspirations, to build human capital, improve health and well-being of our people to drive future prosperity in our country.
First Pillar: Improve the Governance of the Health Sector. While not as tangible, improving governance is crucial for advancing the health and welfare sector. It requires collaboration between the federal government, states, development partners, private sector and civil society.
We have embarked on an ambitious digital transformation agenda to be on the path of electronic records, quality data for decision making and stronger data governance.
Second Pillar: Population Health Outcomes: Now, concerning the substantive second pillar—improving the population health outcomes of Nigerians—it is important to note that the federal government is only one part of this effort. Other sectors of the
government also contribute significantly at the Federal level, as well as State Governments and intergovernmental entities.
At the federal Ministry of Health, we oversee 30 teaching hospitals, 22 federal medical centres, and 21 specialty hospitals, along with five core agencies, 16 regulatory bodies, 10 departments, and three special units.
At the primary health care level, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, in collaboration with the States, we outlined a plan to revive 8300 primary health care centres across the nation to make them fully functional and to expand and upgrade to 17,000 Primary Health Care Centres over the next 3-years.
Over the next three years, at least 120,000 frontline health workers serving rural populations will be equipped with the
necessary skills, supported by the infrastructure and equipment we will provide.
At least 1,400 Primary Health Care Centres are now equipped to provide skilled birth attendance, funded through the NPHCDA and the NHIA, covering the 8,300 facilities.
More than 2,400 health workers, including nurses, doctors, and midwives, have been recruited to provide services to Nigerians, many of whom are women in rural areas delivering essential services.
In the area of vaccination, over 5 million Nigerian children have been vaccinated against diphtheria using pentavalent vaccine. More than 10 million Nigerian children received the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. We are working hard to stop the circulating variant polio viruses showing up in Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi States. We have delivered measles vaccines to more than 5 million children to protect them against measles, and 4.95 million girls 9-14 years in 15 States have received HPV vaccines to protect them against cervical cancer, representing 80% target, among the highest in the world. 6 million more are planned to receive the vaccines in the next phase for 21 states starting from May 27, 2024.
In terms of hospital equipment and infrastructure, the federal hospitals have successfully executed 201 specific infrastructure projects in the last 1 year.
Additionally, 179 specific pieces of important medical equipment were procured by the federal government and distributed across the six geopolitical zones.
In 33 of our federal tertiary hospitals, approximately 4.5 million Nigerians accessed outpatient health services, and 1.6 million had inpatient admissions. Showing that Nigerians are using the services provided by the Federal Government in those facilities, supported by an amazing army of health professionals.
We are witnessing substantial upgrade in healthcare infrastructure, a testament to the President’s leadership. Plans are underway for the ground breaking ceremony of10 healthcare infrastructure projects, through the NSIA, across the six geopolitical zones, including diagnostic centres and oncology centres.
These developments are part of a broader initiative involving public-private partnerships. We are moving forward with a major PPP to get to the full business case stage for expanding infrastructure and equipping 6 teaching hospitals.
Addressing the critical issue of the health workforce, we have doubled the intake capacity of our educational institutions. Enrolment quotas for medical schools, nursing schools, and other health professional training institutions have increased significantly from 28,000 to 64,000 annually.
Now the hard work of getting educational institutions to enhance infrastructure, teaching materials to ensure quality is not eroded by expanding the quantity. This is necessary given the shortage of health workforce.
We have also approved a managed migration policy for health and are looking at how best to address the excessive workload of medical providers, especially the medical doctors.
In the last 7 months more than 100 young medical graduates secured residency positions in the US and we issued the certificates of need for them to be trained and return home, and changed the policy to include domestic as well as internationally trained medical graduates.
We are working with Ministry of Labour as well as Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission to address long standing legacy issues of compensation and allowances which will take time and more patience from health workers.
FG Establishes National Criminal Data Fusion Center
Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, in his presentation said the federal government has established the National Criminal Data Fusion Center for the Nigeria Police Force to serve as a platform for collaboration among various law enforcement agencies.
The minister pointed out that the center was established to consolidate criminal data, conduct analysis, and share key intelligence products to bolster internal security operations.
He added that it would facilitate intelligence sharing with security agencies in Nigeria and the broader international security community.
Gaidam recalled that in the past year, significant investments have been directed towards surveillance systems, drones, and communication technologies to bolster the Force’s capacity for real-time data collection and response.
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