The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says the state government will designate one of its general hospitals as a centre for ophthalmic speciality to improve care for patients with eye conditions.

Abayomi said this during the 4th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Africa Retina Society on Thursday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was themed, “Upscaling Retinal Services in a Resource-Constrained Economy.”

Abayomi said the centre would provide world-class diagnostic, medical, surgical and ophthalmic services in Lagos and Nigeria. He stressed that the state would prioritise eye health, noting that the state was working on developing screening capacity of all its primary healthcare facilities to detect eye diseases early.

“The conditions that affect the eyes very much reflect the conditions of the community in which you live. HIV, for example, was a major problem in South Africa, and I certainly experienced the impact of HIV on our day-to-day medicine and practice.

“Here in Nigeria, we have other things. We have hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell, and lots of trauma. These are the kinds of things that we see in our clinics here in Lagos and in Nigeria.

“We need to be able to understand how these prevailing conditions really affect us,” he said.

The commissioner further said that efforts are ongoing to promote eye screening, especially in schools, starting with the training of teachers to detect students exhibiting challenges with their vision. He added that the state would leverage social health insurance to screen, detect and treat eye diseases as patients present at health facilities.

The commissioner further said the state would strengthen public awareness and understanding of eye health, especially glaucoma and visual acuity.

Abayomi disclosed that the state through its Ministry of Health had forged a partnership with the Chagoury Group to develop a specialist eye hospital in Lagos to boost access to eye services. He acknowledged that ophthalmology was equipment-intensive, stressing that the government would pay attention to that and human resources to enable practitioners to make appropriate diagnoses, and treatments to reverse medical tourism.

Earlier, Prof. Linda Visser, Head, Division of Ophthalmology Stellenbosch University, South Africa, called on policymakers to formulate policies that would integrate eye screening into diabetes care from the primary healthcare level, noting that cases of diabetic retinopathy were on the increase among Africans.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a chronic progressive disease of the retinal capillaries (small blood vessels) associated with prolonged raised blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.

Visser cited data from the International Diabetes Foundation that showed that 537 million adults aged 20 to 79 years are living with diabetes globally, a number that was predicted to reach 1.3 billion in 50 years.

“The high prevalence of type 2 diabetes continues to rise worldwide and is particularly rapid in low- and middle-income countries.

“Most of these countries have limited availability and affordability of healthcare services for screening and treating diabetes-related complications, such as retinopathy, to prevent vision loss.”

According to her, all persons with diabetes are at risk of developing DR, however, those with poor blood glucose and blood pressure management and hyperlipidaemia are most at risk.

Visser, Past President, of the Vitreoretinal Society of South Africa, emphasised that early detection would lead to timely treatment of DR, which could prevent 95% of vision impairment and blindness.

Also, Dr Asiwome Seneadza, Chairman, of the Africa Retina Society, said that the theme was timely and critical as efforts are made to navigate the complexities and challenges in delivering advanced retinal care across the continent.

Seneadza said, “That’s why we are advocating for improved diabetes care and regular retinal screening made available and accessible for every individual living with diabetes,” he said.

Similarly, Prof. Bassey Fiebai, Chairman of, the Vitreo Retinal Society of Nigeria, said the meeting was critical to proffering solutions to the challenge of offering standard retina care, improving outcomes and reducing visual loss from retina-related disorders among low to medium-income countries.

Fiebai said that the government plays a critical role in providing funding, training of personnel, and provision of equipment to improve screening, detection and treatment of retinopathy disease.

The professor noted that retina specialists are few in Nigeria, placing the figure at about 100, stressing that it was inadequate to cater to the teeming population who require eye care.

“Right now in the country, we have just a little over 100 retina specialists. And we know that the population of Nigeria is about 230 million.

“So we’re looking at a situation in which one retina specialist is supposed to cater for 2.3 million people. How does anyone cope?” she queried.

NAN reports that the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Africa Retina Society which began on June 26 to June 28, had participants from various African countries brainstorm on enhancing retinal care.

Adeola Adedipe, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has applied to withdraw his representation for Yahaya Bello, former Kogi governor.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is seeking to arraign Bello on 19 counts bordering on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds to the tune of N80.2 billion.

However, the former governor has failed to appear in court on every adjourned date.

At the court session on Thursday, Adedipe told the court that a letter has been sent to the chief judge of the federal high court seeking to transfer the case to Kogi state.

Kemi Pinhero, EFCC counsel, urged the court to compel the defence lawyer to explain why the defendant was not in court despite an undertaking he made on June 13 to that effect.

He prayed the court to dismiss “the story of the defence lawyer as dilatory and a further attempt to treat this court with scorn”.

Pinhero also prayed the court to punish the two senior lawyers representing the former governor, insisting that they have breached the rules of professional conduct.

“My lord, our application is that since one of the lawyers is present in court, he should be moved to the dock and dealt with summarily. That is what the law says,” the EFCC lawyer said.

“We urge the court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction over the lawyers so as to preserve the integrity of the judiciary.

“If a chief justice of Nigeria can be docked before an inferior tribunal, who then is a SAN or a former governor in terms of status?

“Even a former president of the United States of America was docked. These senior lawyers have been helping the defendant to treat this court with scorn.

“For five consecutive sittings, the defendant refused to make himself available for his trial and his lawyers have continued to use all forms of chicanery to frustrate his arraignment.

“If this sort of conduct is not punished, then we will be sliding to a situation that will be worse than Animal Farm.

“The world is watching. Punishing these senior lawyers will send a very clear message.”

‘ONLY AN AFTERTHOUGHT’

Responding, Adedipe told the court that he was not Bello’s lead counsel, adding that he also did not sign any undertaking to guarantee the presence of his client in court.

“My lord, the narration by the prosecution counsel is very untrue and it is accentuated by malice. I am not the lead counsel in this matter,” Adedipe said.

“What the learned prosecution counsel has tried to do was to pitch my person against this court.”

He submitted that the EFCC has failed to execute the warrant it obtained for the arrest of the defendant.

Adedipe said his team had earlier notified the court that it was not aware of the whereabouts of the former governor.

He noted that given the direction the case had taken, he would like to withdraw his appearance for the defendant pursuant to Section 349(8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

The EFCC lawyer submitted that it was too late for the defence lawyer to withdraw his appearance.

“My lord, he should be used to set an example that this is not a lottery game. His request to withdraw is only an afterthought and it should not be countenanced by this court,” he said.

“I urge your lordship to invite him to the dock immediately.”

Emeka Nwite, trial judge, is yet to rule on the matter.

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says some private jet owners use their aircraft for money laundering and drug trafficking.

Keyamo spoke on Thursday, during the inauguration of a ministerial task force committee on illegal private chartered operations and related matters in Abuja.

The minister said he had set a five-point agenda that would guide him and his team in discharging the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he assumed office.

He said the five-point agenda encapsulates safety, infrastructure, support for local operators, human capacity development and revenue generation.

Accordingly, he said the ministry has identified issues within the aviation industry “that we must tackle headlong”.

“It has come to my attention, through a series of disturbing reports, that the practice of illegal charter operations is thriving within the aviation industry, thereby undermining the efforts of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and other regulatory bodies,” he said.

“These illicit activities have not only resulted in significant financial losses to the Federal Government but have also raised security and safety concerns as the operations of private aircraft owners have remained largely unchecked and unregulated.”

This, Keyamo said, has also resulted in using private aircraft for other illegal activities.

“Last week, the National Security Adviser wrote to us, alerting us of the spike in money laundering, drug trafficking and other illegal activities through the use of private aircraft in the country,” the minister said.

“It appears that Private Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF) operators have become increasingly emboldened, continuing their illegal operations with the assistance of Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders who collect tolls and list these illegal charters under their AOCs.

“We have received alarming reports that some crew members have not attended mandatory simulator trainings for nearly three years and are flying with fraudulently-obtained renewed licenses.

“Many of these individuals are operating planes registered under PNCF but are conducting illegal charter operations with impunity.

KEYAMO CONSTITUTES COMMITTEE

To combat the illegal operators, the minister announced the immediate composition of a ministerial task force on illegal private charter operations and related matters.

He said some of the responsibilities of the task force include taking “inventory of all permit for non-commercial flights (PNCF) holders and air operator certificate (AOC) holders, to determine why the practice of illegal charters by PNCF holders persists in the country despite regulatory controls”.

The task force, according to the minister, was also created to “call in all professional licenses of pilots and crew in the country and determine their authenticity and validity, and to recommend to the Minister any additional measures to be taken by regulatory agencies to stem this ugly tide”.

He said the committee is expected to recommend appropriate penalties to be imposed by the regulatory agencies on defaulters and additional measures to monitor private aircraft operations in Nigeria.

The minister added that the members of the task force have been carefully selected from within the aviation industry and are people of high repute and integrity.

He named Ado Sanusi as chairman of the committee, Roland Iyayi, as vice-chairman, and acting director of air transport, aviation ministry as secretary.

Other members of the committee, he said, include Theresa Babayo, director of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); Olayinka Oyesola, commander of the presidential air fleet; Daniel Quansah; Patrick Ogunlowo; and Obafemi Bajomo, Keyamo’s special assistant (SA).
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