LAGOS:Doctors resume strike Monday

The Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos Branch of the Association of Resident Doctors is to resume its strike on Monday, the association said in Lagos on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the President of the association, Dr. Omojowolo Olubunmi, said in a statement that the resolution to resume strike was reached at an emergency general meeting of the association, held on May 28.



He said, “Rising from the emergency general meeting, the association unanimously agreed to resume our suspended industrial action and embark on an indefinite strike, commencing on Monday, June 2, by 8 a.m.”

He said the strike was due to the lack of progress in negotiations and deliberations with the hospital’s management on the issues raised in the three-day warning strike in April.

The association had embarked on a three-day warning strike in April, issuing a 21-day ultimatum to the management of LUTH.

AKWA IBOM:EX-SPEAKER REACTS TO PENSION LAW

Mr. Uwem Udoma

JUNE 1, 2014 BY ETIM EKPIMAH

A former Deputy Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Uwem Udoma, tells ETIM EKPIMAH that if the new pension bill passed by Akwa Ibom Assembly is signed into law by Governor Godswill Akpabio, the law will be challenged in court. Udoma belongs to a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state led by Umana Okon Umana

How do you see the amendment of the 2006 pension law in Akwa Ibom State?

The generality of Akwa Ibom people feel the present amendment of the 2006 law is very atrocious. In fact, we call for it to be rejected. The law has been passed; it has not yet been signed by the governor. When it is signed by the governor, it becomes a law.

Beyond calling for its rejection, are there steps you are contemplating towards stopping it?

We have two ways to go about it. The incoming government can amend the law or repeal it, or we can go to court to challenge it. Any law that is not accepted by the people can never stand. You make laws for Akwa Ibom people, the Akwa Ibom people were not made for the law.

I see a lot of greed in the framing of this particular bill. You spend up to N350m on single individual; that is about N1.4bn for a year; and N1.4bn a year is almost equal to some states allocation for a month.

The government can do a lot with N1.4bn. If you are paying four people N1.4bn a year and we are 3.9m people in Akwa Ibom; how are you going to take care of the remaining 3.8m people if only four take N1.4bn, it is outrageous. It is not nice, at all.

What other grouse do you have with the bill?

The exclusivity clause in pension is not acceptable. If it is the pension law, it should be enjoyed by everybody, but this present amendment of the pension law 2006 that has been passed into law in 2014 has excluded so many people. Like the former governor of old Cross River State, Mr. Donald Etiebet, has been excluded, former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Uffot Ekaette, has been excluded, the former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Nsima Ekere, has been excluded, the present Deputy Governor, Valerie Ebe, as well as former deputy governor, Mr. Michael Udofia, has also been excluded.

In pension, you do not exclude anybody. You can only earn pension if you are up to 10 years in government service. This means if you have been working as a public servant, you can earn pension, but if you are an elected office holder, after your tenure of office, it is severance gratuity that you get.

But because the governors are chief executive officers of the state, they tend to make this law so that they can safeguard their lives. Coming through the back door to pass this law shows that this government is self-serving; the government is not protecting the interest of the people, at all.

In fact, we are wasting a lot of funds that we should use to invest in agriculture, which we should use in establishing industries that the government promised, at least, each in the 31 local government areas of the state. The government is not doing anything about that.

What alternative use do you think the amount can be put into?

Again this N1.4bn can be used to provide security of lives and property of the Akwa Ibom people. There is a lot of insecurity in Akwa Ibom. It is just one man that the bulk stops at his table, that is the governor. We urge the governor to go a step further by practising what he is preaching. If the governor wants the state to be peaceful come 2015, the state is going to be peaceful.

Taking you back to the pension law, the Speaker, Mr. Sam Ikon, said governors’ pensions in Rivers and Lagos states were higher than the one just approved by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Is this not true?

It is not so. The bill is everywhere. That of Akwa Ibom State is almost 300 per cent higher than any other state in the country. I can say that as a former lawmaker. It is higher, it is outrageous; we do not accept it, at all. He is not correct.

Culled from Punch

AKWA IBOM: EX GOVERNOR CRITIZISE AKPABIO's PENSION LAW

Ex-Gov. Attah attacks Akpabio over scandalous pension law: Says “Publish what you pay me”


Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom with Sunrise crew that interviewed him.

Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Victor Attah, has challenged the incumbent, Governor Godswill Akpabio, to publish how much he has paid him (Mr. Attah) and past leaders of the state as pension.
This followed claims by Mr. Akpabio that the government had been spending huge resources in taking care of former governors as well as deputy governors and their spouses.

Mr. Attah, who spoke in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, also berated journalists, especially those who recently interviewed the Akwa Ibom state governor, for not asking Mr. Akpabio pertinent questions about his management of the state resources.

He said, “If Godswill Akpabio says he conceived the new law to put a ceiling to the expenses made on previous leaders of the state, somebody should have had the guts to ask him how much he has been paying to the past leaders.

“You journalists are afraid of Godswill Akpabio and that is why you have always shied away from asking some pertinent questions.”
Governor Akpabio, who appeared on a breakfast show on Channels Television earlier in the day had described as laughable, the criticisms that have trailed the new law that would enable him earn over N200 million as pension annually.

Mr. Akpabio said, “It’s a laughable situation that people generate controversy over the pension law. The law has been in existence in Akwa Ibom State. I am the one implementing it.

“I know what I am talking about and because I wear the shoe, I know where it pinches. All the former elected governors and their deputies have been enjoying the pension. The pension was first established in 2000 and was further amended with certain provisions added in 2006.”
While explaining the general principles of the new law, he said, “It’s really not a retroactive law, neither is it a new law. It is an existing law that went through amendment.

He noted that the old law was open-ended in terms of benefits payable to past governors, deputies and their spouses.
He said, “We had a situation where bills from former deputies and their spouses worth N29 million were brought from several hospitals they claimed they went for treatment abroad.

“Because the bill did not specify whether the hospital should be in Nigeria or not, most of what I have seen in the past seven years has been bills from hospitals abroad.”

In the course of implementing the existing law, Mr. Akpabio said some former governors and their deputies have brought bills ranging from $50,000, $70,000, and sometimes $112,000.
He argued that it was against decorum to question the medical bills of past leaders on grounds that there are high, and mentioned an instance where a former leader requested for funds to hire an airline to take his spouse for treatment abroad.

But Mr. Attah, who sounded angry said,  “Why don’t you people ask him how much the state has paid to its past leaders? Why don’t you people ask him how much has been paying to Obong Attah and others?

“I don’t like it when journalists always come to ask me about what is wrong in Akwa Ibom State instead of asking Godswill Akpabio.
“He is the one who said he has been paying so much to past governors and wanted to put ceiling on what is paid out to check wastage of public funds. Those who interviewed him should have asked him to mention just how much he has paid so far.

“They didn’t ask him such questions; they didn’t ask him to clarify on the projects he said he has been carrying out in the state.

“I don’t have anything to tell you since you do not have the guts to ask Governor Akpabio to present proofs of what he has been paying to past leaders of the state.

“You journalists should go and look at the law critically and ask him whether Obong Attah has been enjoying any of the benefits provided for in the law.
“You should also ask him whether he built a retirement home for me either in Uyo or Abuj

NIGERIA:Boko Haram sect has kidnapped two first class traditional rulers in Borno state

The extremist Boko Haram sect has kidnapped two first class traditional rulers in Borno state – the Emir of Uba, Ismaila Mamza and the Emir of Gwoza, Idrisa Timta, security officials aware of the incidence have told PREMIUM TIMES.
The two emirs were seized by gun-wielding insurgents at 10a.m Friday near Shaffa while they were travelling to Gombe to attend the funeral of the Emir of Gombe, Shehu Abubakar, who died on Tuesday evening at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
The two abducted emirs were elevated to First Class traditional ruler status only in January.
The Borno state government is yet to issue an official statement on the abduction.
The abduction came 46 days after the Boko Haram sect whisked away over 250 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok.
Over 200 of the girls are yet to be freed.

BOKO HARAM: US indites Muslim Clerics and Government Officials

Muslim Clerics Recruiting, Gov’t Officials Take Bribes From Boko Haram – US Military Report
MAY 26, 2014
Nigerian soldiers of the 'Operation Flush' stand in a military camp in Maiduguri capital of Borno state on June 6, 2013 . (Photo Credit: Quentin Leboucher/AFP/Getty Images)

Nigerian Muslim clerics living in the border towns of Cameroon and Nigeria are recruiting Boko Haram members in their mosques, the government of Cameroon has alleged. Worse still, government officials in the North East states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa collaborate with the terrorists and take bribes from them, thereby, hindering the fight against the terrorists. Governors of these states also capitalise on their civilian fears to berate the army and the federal government.
These allegations were published in a report, yesterday, by US-based online military news agency, StrategyPage. The magazine explains that the army wants governors in the affected states removed because “many officials in those states are cooperating with Boko Haram (to avoid attack) and are taking bribes from the Islamic terrorists.

“Some of these officials are covering themselves in case Boko Haram should gain power and the governors are often just responding to civilian fears of army misconduct,” it noted.

The magazine said: “Cameroon is also concerned about pro-Boko Haram clerics from Nigeria quietly preaching and recruiting for Boko Haram in Cameroon mosques.

“Islamic conservative clergy are not unusual on either side of the border, but those who do not denounce Boko Haram are suspected of quietly recruiting young men to join the “jihad” (struggle) and fight (and often die) in Nigeria. These preachers have to recruit quietly because otherwise police in Cameroon will arrest and deport them, sometimes after a vigorous interrogation. Evidence of this recruiting is showing up when some of the recruits return from Nigeria with tales of disillusionment and adversity while with Boko Haram,” the report said.

The magazine said that the Cameroonian government is “being criticized because recent claims of large (over 5,000 weapons) arms seizures near the Nigerian border could not be verified by reporters. Civilians living in villages near where the government said the seizures took place said they saw nothing. The government responded that the smugglers operated in remote areas and avoided civilians as well as security forces. There are also concerns that even if weapons were seized they would, as often happens, be sold back to black market arms dealers so that government officials could keep the cash.”

On the military, the report said: “Residents of those three states have justifiable complaints about the army, in particular the casual attitude of the military towards the safety of civilians and their property.

“The army is also unreliable when it comes to sharing information on casualties. Thus Boko Haram related deaths so far this year are believed to be (based on local reports) at least 1,500, which is 50 per cent more than what the army reports. Boko Haram related deaths from 2010 to 2013 were about 3,600, so the violence is not declining.

“The government has been saying, for several years, that Boko Haram would be crushed within a year and never happens. More insightful observers point out that the problem is mainly one of corruption and poverty, as well as the appeal of Islamic radicalism as a magical cure. All of Nigeria suffers from corruption.

“Poverty is more prevalent in the Muslim north, in part because of climate. That’s because the semi-desert Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert is found in the north. Another problem is the more conservative nature of Islamic populations and the lower education levels.”

NIGERIA:Breaking News: Gunmen Who Snatched School Bus In Nyanya Arrested

By editor on May 6, 2014


By The Paradigm

At least, two members of an armed gang that attacked a school in Nyanya this morning has been arrested.

The Paradigm learnt the the gunmen who are suspected to be Boko Haram members snatched a school bus in Nyanya, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory where two bomb exploded within a span of two weeks.

The men stormed the school at about 7am on Monday and snatched the school bus after it dropped off some pupils at the school.


They were arrested in Lafia, Nasarawa state while transporting themselves in the bus they snatched from the school.

NIGERIA: Ebony: Man dies in female hostel during intercourse

A middle aged man, yesterday, died in Abakaliki while having marathon sex with a female student of Ebonyi State University, EBSU, Abakaliki. Vanguard report.

The incident happened at the girl’s hostel room near the Presco campus of the university. Sources however disclosed that the man died during the day, inside the room of the female student located at Goddy Ogbaga Avenue during a marathon sex with her.

The lover girl after the incident took the lifeless body of the deceased to his car before calling on the police. She was immediately arrested and is currently helping the police in the investigation of the incident.

According to a hostel resident account, the arrival of the police threw the entire hostel residents into confusion as everybody began to run helter-skelter  to evade police arrest. Some of the hostel residents have been arrested by police.

“I did not know what was happening until when police stormed our hostel and began to arrest everybody on sight. But from what I heard the man visited the girl and in the process of making love, he died.

“I cannot say for sure if the man was a mere acquaintance to the girl or not. All I can say for sure is that I have not been seeing the man visiting the girl in the past.

“I don’t know the girl very well because our hostel is very large. It is a three-storey building and many students are living there. I do not know who is who except my friends. So I don’t know the name of the girl, department or her level in school.”

Police spokesman in the state, ASP Chris Anyanwu, confirmed the incident.

- Vanguard News

NIGERIA:Boko Haram Is Fighting Against 13% Derivation – National Confab Delegate Junaid Mohammed

By Editor | The Trent on May 6, 2014


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Second Republic lawmaker and a delegate at the National Conference, Dr Junaid Mohammed, in this interview, speaks on why the North wants derivation reduced to five per cent, accusing former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) of unleashing injustice on the polity with the help of Justice Niki Toby.

By Gbenga Oke

On what informed the northern delegates’ call for reduction of derivation from 13 percent to five percent
Part of the confusion arising from the derivation is the way it has been applied or misapplied to the detriment of all the 36 states of the federation and this has to do directly with the way former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar introduced the term ‘derivation’ and it to be loosely applied as to include other funds which are significant and which are not covered by oil.

This injustice done by Abdusalami was in violation of the Constitution and the principle governing this great injustice was put into the constitution without any debate and the constitution itself was never passed by referendum.



Derivation principle
In short, what is contained in the derivation principle is the understanding that first, oil producing communities do suffer deprivation arising from  oil exploration/exploitation and need to be compensated but not through a smuggled phrase coined by Niki Toby and smuggled with the help of Abdusalami Abubakar into the constitution.

There has been mention of the need to compensate the communities who suffer directly or indirectly in terms of environment degradation, their means of livelihood and other adverse effects of oil exploration. Decree 20 of 1992 created OMPADEC and what was at stake then was that in passing Decree 20 of 1992, Ibrahim Babangida took it to the then legislative arm of the Nigeria government which is the Armed Forces Ruling Council but in the case of Abdusalami, he did not do that.

Secondly, as to what percentage to accord those oil producing states, you decide to call it derivation which is misnomer. Thirdly, the wording of the derivation section was deliberately and loosely defined to mean all monies accruing to the coffers of the Federal Government which is what we call Consolidated Revenue Funds; the Niger Delta states must take 13 percent of it. If you give them a fraction of what belongs to them, you cannot also rake others and give to them.

For example, the value added tax which is a consumption tax and which is an indirect tax of everything you buy in Nigeria, others like export duties, import duties, etc are now included into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and 13 percent is automatically removed before anything is shared to anybody including the Federal Government.

Abdusalami should have known that this kind of arrangement is unacceptable. What he did was to set in motion what may break up Nigeria because people are not going to live in a country where there is half-free and half-slaves. We cannot allow this kind of lopsided application of fiscal principle to undermine the integrity of the nation and there is no way this revenue allocation law can subsist and we will have peace.

The International law provides what is called law of the sea convention and it provides that a state bordering the sea has what is called territorial waters of 12 kilometres, beyond that the state may also claim what is called a contiguous zone of another 12 kilometres, beyond that, everything at sea is a common heritage of mankind which however have been structured in a way that nations who are contiguous with the sea can benefit from what is common heritage of humanity.

By any standard, international law is superior to domestic laws because there are many laws that have been passed in Hague which make international laws superior to domestic laws to a certain limit. What they are now saying is that anything found in the sea that has to do with oil production belongs to them.

NIGERIA:BREAKING NEWS: Children School Bus Hijacked In Nyanya

By editor on May 6, 2014
 


By Abusidiqu

Report just reaching Abusidiqu.com indicates that a school bus has been hijacked in the Nyanya axis of the Federal Capital territory where two separate bomb explosions occurred i the last two weeks.

Although details of the incidence remains sketchy, the bus belonging to a private school, Divine Kiddies Academy was said to have dropped off students of the school having routinely picked them from their various home when some armed men stormed the school premises and took away the bus.


One of the gaurdian of the school pupil who spoke to Abusidiqu on phone however said the students had already disembarked from the bus before the gunmen striked.

Parents have reportedly began trooping to the school to withdraw their ward for fear of any attack.

It is not immediately clear if the latest incidence was carried out by members of the Boko Haram sect which claimed responsibility for the Nyanya bomb blast or if it was just an incidence of theft.

NIGERIA:Terrible: Why I sell human skulls for N20,000 – Grandma reveals

 (PICTURED)

Posted in wpzoom Odd World on May 6, 2014 8:26 am

A grandmother in Lagos has been arrested by the police after she was alleged to be a dealer in human parts.

54-year-old Sukuratu Salami along with 2 others was paraded in the Ikeja area of the state after she reportedly confessed to being a dealer in human parts.

She was said to have admitted to selling human skulls for N20,000 and human innards for N5,000 or more.

Nigerian Eye reports:

The suspect, who was paraded alongside a cemetery guard and two others, were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in Joju area of Sango Ota, with a human head, intestines, bones, kidney and other human parts.

Salami, who admitted to have been into human parts business for a year, said she started as a herbs dealer.

Narrating how she ventured into the business, the mother of three said: “A herbalist approached me last year and demanded for human parts. When he told me how much they buy the parts, I was tempted.

“I approached one Tantoloun, who works in a grave yard. He sold a skull for N10,000 and I sold it in return for N20,000. Greed made me to continue until I was arrested.

“I buy pieces of bones for N2,000, liver and intestines for N1,000 each and resell for N5,000 or more depending on the buyer’s bargaining power.

“I am not a killer. I have never killed anyone. I only request for decomposed human parts. I needed the money to feed my three children of ages 30, 27 and 23 respectively.

“Those who patronize me are herbalists and trado-medical practitioners. The parts are used to prepare concoction for sick children. So far, I have only sold 10 human skulls.”
She promised never to go back to the illicit business again if left off the hook.

On his part, the cemetery guard, Rasheed Tantoloun, from Oyo State, said he usually dig dead bodies out of their graves with the aid of one Ibrahim, whom he hired.

He alleged that his employer instructed them to exhume dead bodies that have stayed long in order to get spaces for fresh ones.

He said: “Anytime old corpses are exhumed, we usually collect the parts and sell to ready buyers who are usually agbo sellers (herbs dealers).

“My salary is N5,000 a month but since I started doing the business, I made three times more than the amount. We also dug corpses buried without caskets.”

Another suspect, Waheed Ibrahim, an Arabic teacher, said he was paid N3,000 for exhuming dead bodies.

According to him, “we usually tamper with dead bodies buried without caskets and those whose relatives never showed up after burial. My job is to exhume and dismember the bodies and at the end of which I would be paid N3,000.”

How they were arrested
The suspects reportedly met their waterloo after operatives of SARS, who got wind of their alleged dealings, posed as buyers.

The state Police Commissioner, Umar Manko, who paraded the suspects, said the command took interest in the case following the mysterious disappearance of persons.

According to him, “detectives led by the SARS commander, Abba Kyari, posed as buyers and bought a human head from Salami at N120,000.

“After arresting the suspects, Salami’s house was searched during which a human head, liver, intestines and other parts were found. We picked interest in this case because of the disappearances of people. With their arrest, we hope that we’ll get to the root of these disappearances.

“We discovered that most of these bodies are fresh. It is criminal to deal in human parts. A few weeks back, Soka Forest was discovered in Ibadan. As you can see, this crime happens all over.”

NIGERIA:First Lady planned to humiliate me - Borno gov’s wife

Wife of the Borno State Governor, Hajiya Nana Shettima, on Monday explained why she was absent from the meeting organised by Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja, saying she knew she was going to be humiliated at the meeting.



The President’s wife on Monday reportedly accused the Borno Governor’s wife of showing less concern over the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, because she did not attend the meetings called by Mrs. Jonathan at the Villa on Saturday and Sunday.

The Press Secretary to the governor’s wife, Aisha Hassan, in a reaction on Monday said while Dame Patience painted a different picture, Mrs Shettima had actually travelled to Abuja all the way from Maiduguri on April 28 and met the First Lady at the Villa same day.

She said the governor’s wife took two hours to brief her on the schoolgirls abduction as well as her (Mrs Shettima) personal efforts and that of her husband towards securing the release of the girls.

She said some wives of service chiefs and National women leader of the PDP, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, were present when the Governor’s wife met with the First Lady, noting that the First Lady appreciated the efforts of the Governor’s wife and even consoled her when she noticed that she was obviously depressed.

Hassan noted that it was therefore shocking to the Governor’s wife when she heard Dame Patience on the television accusing the Governor of Borno as being responsible for the abduction.

She said, “It became clear to the Governor’s wife that from the body language of the First Lady and some of her close associates at the Saturday meeting, there was high possibility that the First Lady’s demand for the Governor’s wife on Sunday was to humiliate her, by accusing her husband to her face in the midst of participants at the meeting. She thought it was better she concentrates on her planned trip to Chibok on Monday morning.”

Hassan explained that before her meeting with Dame Patience on April 28, the Governor’s wife had held a meeting with a coalition of women groups that included stakeholders in Chibok; officials of the National Council of Women Societies; wives of security chiefs in Borno State; the Christian Association of Nigeria; and the Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria.

Others, according to her, include the Association of Christian Widows, Association of Muslim Widows, the National Association of Women Journalists, selected female professionals that included university lecturers, political appointees and the Principal of the attacked school after which a communique was issued as was reported by the media.

Having it in the plane

A ‘drunken’ British woman has been questioned by police in the US after she reportedly having sex with a man in the toilets of an airliner.

Cabin crew were said to have intervened after the woman, who is in her 20s and flying with her parents, disappeared into the toilets with a man sitting next to her.

The woman was taken was later taken away for questioning by US authorities, after a row broke out with air stewards following the incident on a Virgin Atlantic flight.

Daily Mail report:

Another passenger told The Sun: ‘She started getting heated with the guy next to her.‘They went into the bathroom and people could hear loud noises. The cabin crew forced to door open, then she really kicked off.’The paper reported the incident happened on a flight from London Gatwick to Las Vegas in the US last week.The woman was questioned by police but released with a warning before continuing her holiday in the notorious Nevada resort.It comes just week after an Australian was arrested for apparently mistaking the cockpit door of a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Bali for the toilet, triggering a hijack scare.

GUINEA: Ebola kills 80

Guinea: Ebola Outbreak Claims Over 80 Lives
2 May 2014 , Source: CISA
Conakry
The deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea has so far led to the death of 84 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The rise in death toll comes even after WHO said the outbreak remains in a "limited geographic area" adding that it was neither an epidemic or unprecedented and cautioned against any imprecise characterization of the spread of the virus.

"We need to be very careful about how we characterize something which is up to now an outbreak with sporadic cases," WHO spokesman Mr Gregory Hartl told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

WHO further stated that cases of Ebola in the capital Conakry which has a population of two million people and neighbouring Liberia can be traced to the south-east of Guinea where the outbreak began in the forest region where bats, a local delicacy are believed be carriers of the virus; their sale and consumption have since been banned since the outbreak.

Sierra Leone another neighbour to Guinea has also reported five suspected cases, none of which has yet been confirmed leading to other countries bordering the West African nation to take up measures in order to try and contain the spread of the virus; Senegal has since closed its land border with Guinea.

On Tuesday April 01, Saudi Arabia suspended visas for Muslim pilgrims from Guinea and Liberia as a result of the outbreak in what as reported by state news agency SPA, the Saudi health ministry termed "preventive" measures carries out "due to the danger of the disease and its highly contagious nature."

The tropical virus is named after Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), where one of the first outbreaks occurred in 1976. Ebola spreads by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims. It leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.

Meanwhile the Chief Administrator of the Lutheran Church-operated Curran Hospital in Zorzor District, Lofa County in Liberia is seeking support from government and international partners to pre-position needed equipment and supplies to make the hospital more effective in combating the Ebola virus.

Mr Peter Flomo said the hospital currently needs an additional ambulance, washable mattresses, and protective garments, among other essentials, to be used in isolated rooms for the treatment of Ebola patients.

Mr Flomo pointed out that the Curran Hospital serves as a referral hospital for people in Zorzor and Salayea Districts, as well as some towns in neighboring Guinea, and stressed the need for additional logistics to enhance the performance of health workers at the hospital in combating the Ebola disease.

In related development, Mr Flomo has disclosed that health workers in Salayea and Zorzor districts, in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, have begun an awareness campaign on the Ebola virus, to educate citizens of the area about the dangers of Ebola and preventive measures to avoid contracting the deadly virus.

He said the awareness campaign began since the outbreak of the disease in the county about two weeks ago.