The Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan, led by the Archbishop, Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin, has donated a waiting lounge to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, for patients and relatives’ relaxation.

Speaking at the inauguration of the ‘Caritas Waiting Lounge’, on Friday at UCH In-Drive of the Emergency Department, the UCH Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, said the lounge brought a great relief to patients and their relatives.

Otegbayo said the project fitted perfectly into the catchphrase of his administration, which is “Patients’ comfort and staff welfare”.

The CMD said that the location of the facility (very close to emergency department) is strategic to the operation of the hospital.

He added that the Emergency Department of the hospital is the first point of contact for most of the patients.

“It plays host to a large number of relations who do not have where to wait when the stainless metal chairs are occupied.

“I recall that prior to my assumption of duty as the CMD, patients’ relations were sitting on bare floor. But within a few months of being in office, we provided stainless metal chairs for their comfort, which still subsist today.

“This building will, after commissioning, be readily available for use,” he said.

Otegbayo emphasised that UCH is a collective legacy and pride, and called on all to be active to make the hospital functional and efficient.

He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians, corporate organisations and philanthropists to come to the aid of the hospital for effective healthcare service delivery.

“The management, staff, students and our teeming patients remain eternally grateful to the Catholic Diocese of Ibadan for this kind gesture of making life comfortable for our patients and their relatives.

“This will go down in history as a step toward ameliorating the hardship being faced in the course of accessing treatment.

“We thank the Caritas Foundation through the office of the Archbishop, the Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin, for this generous donation.

“We assure you that we shall make optimum use of this facility for the service of God and humanity.

“Our institution will be strengthened for greater efficiency if all within the different strata of the society, join efforts to make provisions that will make life more meaningful and capable of bringing sucour to people.

“Apparently, we have had a fair share of what makes life better for our teeming patients, even though our space is always available for more.

“It is of great importance for us to appreciate what we received today,” Otegbayo said.

Abegunrin remarked that the church donated the building out of its kindness to ameliorate the burden of patients and relatives at the hospital.

“Over the years, I see patients’ relatives lying on the floor at the corridors and it was pitiable, so I had the burden with the church to do something to help.

“The materials used for the edifice are expensive and they are the type that will last long, so we thank God for making today a reality,” Abegunrin said.

November 30 has been fixed for the burial of former Senate President Joseph Wayas, who died three years ago.

Wayas, who served as senate president from October 1, 1979, to December 31, 1983, died on November 30, 2021, at a London hospital after a protracted illness. He was 80 years old.

On July 10, his remains arrived in Nigeria after several controversies that followed the repatriation of his corpse.

Speaking on Thursday at a press briefing in Calabar, the capital of Cross River, Dorn-Cklaimz Enamhe, secretary of the central planning committee for Wayas’ burial, thanked Bassey Otu, governor of the state, and other individuals for repatriating Wayas’ body.

Enamhe noted that the committee, in collaboration with other authorities in Nigeria and the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom (UK), worked together to ascertain the authenticity of the body.

He also appreciated the media for constantly reminding the nation that the body of the former senate president was yet to be buried.

“Unfortunately, the body has been kept this long due to issues and disagreement among members of his family,” he said.

“We had to wait for these issues to be resolved, and as of today, they have been resolved; that is why we are going ahead with the burial.”

Nsa Gil, the chief press secretary to the governor of Cross River, added that the funeral would be held at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar and later at the deceased’s hometown in Bassang, Obanliku LGA.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and many other dignitaries are expected to attend the burial.

A federal high court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of $2.045 million linked to Godwin Emefiele, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a ruling delivered on Friday, Deinde Dipeolu, presiding judge, ordered the permanent forfeiture of the monies, seven choice landed properties and the two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust.

The judge held that Emefiele was not able to connect his lawful earnings as a staff of Zenith Bank and the CBN to the acquisition of the properties.

The court held that the former CBN Governor failed to provide documents or links to show that he owned the properties.

On August 15, Akintayo Aluko, a vacation judge, issued an interim order of forfeiture against Emefiele following an application filed by Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel.

Oyedepo said the forfeited assets were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

The court directed the EFCC to publish the order for any person interested in the funds to explain why it should not be finally forfeited to the federal government.

At the hearing on October 11, the EFCC counsel applied for the final forfeiture of the sum as well as share certificates, which he said were not contested by the interested party.

Emefiele had denied any connection between him and the companies in whose names the properties were purchased. Representatives of the companies had also failed to appear before the court to claim the properties.

In his ruling, the judge held that “the conclusion that can be deduced is that there must be something dark about the acquisition of the properties which Emefiele and the companies does not want to come to light.”

“I therefore order the final forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of all those properties…which are reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities,” the judge said.

The companies listed include Amrash Ventures Limited, Modern Hotels Limited, Finebury Properties Limited, Fidelity Express Services Limited, H & Y Business Global Limited and SDEM Erectors Nigeria Limited.

The forfeited properties include two fully detached duplexes of identical structures situated at No. 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an undeveloped land, measuring 1919.592sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos; a bungalow at No. 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos and a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi.

Others are an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State; eight units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.