Beneficiary patients calling on MP Toffey to express appreciation
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, is relishing the joy in extending a helping hand to patients in her electoral area who, hitherto, could not afford to pay their medical bills after undergoing surgery.
This was after the Legislator paid the medical bills covering a number of patients in her constituency.
She made this known when some of the patients paid a courtesy call on her to express their gratitude for taking care of their health expenses.
Dorcas Affo-Toffey has been providing medical support to individuals in her constituency and personally taken the initiative to pay medical bills for those in need, ensuring that they received the care they deserved.
MP Dorcas Toffey catering for cost of surgeries for patients
Additionally, the Legislator has gone the extra mile to provide wheelchairs to individuals with mobility limitations.
According to Affo-Tofey, one of the most satisfying achievements was organising a free health screening exercise within the constituency.
The programme, according to her, helped to detect health issues at an early stage, ensuring that individuals receive timely treatment and care.
“I have taken it upon myself to cover the costs of surgeries for individuals who couldn’t afford them, giving them access to life-changing procedures and improving their quality of life.”
Through these endeavors, the Jomoro Legislator said she had witnessed at firsthand the positive impact that medical support could have on people and their families.
“By relieving the financial burden of medical bills, I have seen the relief and gratitude in the eyes of those I have helped.
“Providing wheelchairs has brought joy and newfound freedom to individuals who were previously limited in their mobility.”
She continued however that, the health screening programmes she organised had not only saved lives, but also promoted a culture of preventive care, by detecting health issues early.
“We have been able to intervene and provide the necessary treatments, ultimately improving the overall health of my constituents.
“Covering the costs of surgeries has been a deeply rewarding experience.”
She continued that, witnessing the transformation and gratitude of individuals whose lives had been changed by these procedures had reinforced her commitment to serving her constituents.
“I am honoured to be able to make a positive difference in the lives of those around me,”
Being a leader, Toffey pointed out, had allowed her to showcase the power of compassion, kindness, and collective support.
“Together, we can continue to make a lasting impact and improve the lives of those in need.”
GSR Management making the presentation of medical equipment
Golden Star Resources Wassa Limited (GSWL) has donated US$70,000 worth of medical equipment to ten health facilities in its catchment communities.
The beneficiary centers are Akyempim Community Clinic, Nsadweso Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound, New Subri CHPS Compound, Atieku Health Center, and Benso Health Center. The rest are Mpohor Health Center, Senchem CHPS Compound, Brofoyedur CHPS Compound, Ayinabriem CHPS Compound, Daboase Health Center and Daboase Ahmadiya Hospital.
They will be stocked with incubators, protective equipment, basic diagnostic equipment and non-medical consumables.
The donation formed part of Golden Star’s pandemic preparedness programme in partnership with GIZ and the District Health Directorates of Wassa East, Mpohor and Tarkwa. The medical consumables will support quality and effective healthcare services to Golden Stars host communities.
The choice of GIZ and the District Health Directorates as partners was to ensure the sustainability of the programme beyond the life of the mine. In a speech read on his behalf, The Managing g Director (MD) of GSR, Shadrach Sowah, explained that responsible mining was based on shared values, where the host communities were empowered economically and socially, because of the mining activity in their areas. It is a position GSWL took seriously as captured in their mission to benefit more people with development.
The Brofoyedur Queenmother, who represented the Divisional Queenmother, was full of praise for the mining company for going over and beyond to provide impactful programmes and donations for the benefit of uts host communities.
The pandemic preparedness programme, with funding to the tune of 4,320,916 to be expended on the three year project, is committed to develop, maintain, and improve robust data collection in GSWL host communities.
This would aid effective decision making in times of crisis or pandemics like COVID-19. The programme would also develop a road map for increased access to health, safety, financial wellbeing and enhance social protection for GSWL host communities.
To that end, GSWL has supported various activities and programmes, including the distribution of sanitary towels to Senior High School students in its host communities. In addition, it has also registered over 7,000 host community members onto the National Health Insurance Scheme.
First Lady Oluremi Tinubu with some of the players
The First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Monday, hosted the Super Falcons at the State House in Abuja a week after the players’ exit from the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The First lady, who received some of the players, their technical team and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said the girls displayed dedication, resilience, team spirit with the zeal and strength that defines Nigeria.
The Nigerian side reached the 2023 Women’s World Cup round of 16 but narrowly lost to England’s Lionesses via penalties.
The President’s wife, in her tribute to all the players, said they represented Nigeria well on the global stage, noting that the world took notice of the dexterity of the players.
“Although the final result did not go our way, I am here to remind you that victory is not solely determined by the score on the field. The unbreakable spirit and unity that you demonstrated are true markers of success,” the First Lady said, according to a statement by her spokesperson, Busola Kukoyi.
“You have not only represented Nigeria on the global stage but have also become role models for our youth, especially young girls who now see their aspirations mirrored in you.
“I salute you today and welcome you back home and our goodwill and best wishes go to other players who have gone back to their base. You gave your all, and we stand with you. We are so proud of you”.
In his remarks, the President of the NFF, Ibrahim Gusau, thanked the First Lady for the warm reception and assured her that the players would continue to give good and qualitative representation to the country.
The captain of the team, Onome promised that the team would continue to press on relentlessly to ensure they make the country very proud on the football field.
The First Lady received the players with the wife of the Vice President, Nana Shettima; and wife of the Senate President, Ekaette Akpabio.
Residents of the Gashaka Local Government Area in the central geopolitical zone of Taraba State are counting their losses after heavy rainfall.
The rainfall lasted about six hours on Sunday, submerging several houses and washing away goods worth millions of Naira. Farm produce and domestic animals were also swept away by the flood.
They have urged the state government and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, to come to their aid. They also called on National Assembly members representing the zone to assist them.
Dauda Ali, who claimed that his farm had been washed away by the flood that ravaged Serti, the administrative headquarters of the council and its environs, said his dreams and that of other farmers experiencing bumper harvest had been cut short by the flood.
He lamented that the money spent on farms was loaned from cooperatives and individuals.
Another resident, Suleiman Abba, said goats and sheep were nowhere to be found since the flood ravaged the community.
Some of the victims, who are taking shelter in public places, said the flood was due to the lack of drainages in the area.
A 33-year-old suspected armed robber, Akeem Owonikoko, has alleged that a police inspector, identified simply as Ola, supplied him and other gang members with guns, the Ogun State Police Command said on Sunday.
According to a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, Owonikoko was arrested along Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode Expressway during a sting operation led by the Area Commander for Ijebu Ode, ACP Omosanyi Adeniyi.
The suspect, said to have been terrorising residents of the Obalende area in Ijebu Ode, was sighted around 12:30 am in a Toyota Camry around Ososa Ijebu driving towards Ijebu-Ode.
On sighting the police team, the suspect and other members of his gang reportedly diverted their car away from the expressway, fleeing into the bush and later abandoning the car.
Owonikoko who allegedly dressed in disguise as a member of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria was thereafter arrested during a search of the area.
Searching the bags abandoned in the vehicle, the police said items recovered from the bags included 32 expended cartridges, 78 live cartridges and a locally fabricated short gun.
Others allegedly found in his residence when searched were a magnum pump action rifle, a double-barrel shotgun, one locally fabricated double-barrel pistol, a stunt pistol choker, an unregistered silver Toyota Camry, a green Toyota Sienna Bus (KNN 58 TD – OGUN), a black beret with the insigma of Aiye Confraternity, phones, and hard drugs, among others.
Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, said he is committed to a peaceful restoration of constitutional democracy in the Niger Republic rather than sacking Abdourahamane Tchiani with force.
Mr Tchiani, the commander of Niger’s presidential guards, sacked the country’s constitutionally-elected government on 26 July, arrested Mohammed Bazoum, the country’s president and dissolved the government.
One of the President’s media aides, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, contrary to the war narrative being speculated by some groups and opposition politicians, said those pushing that the Nigerian government should use the military to remove the junta from power are deliberately spreading fake news or an ignorant of the processes of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Mr Abdulaziz made the statement during an interview in Hausa aired by multiple stations in the north on Sunday.
An opposition politician, Naja’atu Muhammad, in a series of media discussions, accused the Nigerian president of planning to cripple economic activities in Northern Nigeria by waging a war on the Niger Republic.
“With the border closer (following the ECOWAS sanction) Goods worth billions of naira belonging to northern Nigerian businessmen were wasted, Ms Muhammad claimed.
But Mr Abdulaziz said the president is mindful of the long-existing bond between Niger and Nigeria in his commitment as ECOWAS chairman to mediating the crisis.
“Using Nigerian military force in Niger is just propaganda and fake news being pushed by some people, but the truth of the matter is that the issue in Niger is being mediated through diplomacy.
“ECOWAS also believes in the diplomatic resolution of the dispute in the Niger, not war. When the incident happened, in less than 24 hours, the president dispatched the first team of delegation to Niger to meet with the military junta but to no avail.
“The president, in his determination to a peaceful resolution, later sent the Chadian President, Mahamat Deby-Itno, to the Niger Republic despite his country not being a member of ECOWAS this was also to no avail”.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the critical role of Ghana’s youth, as key agents of change and development throughout the history of the country could not be underrated.
In his view, deliberate efforts must be made to empower a generation of skilled youth, create decent jobs and support the youth to transform Ghana, Africa and the world at large.
This, he explained, would ensure a brighter future by serving as an antidote to rising unemployment, increased cost of living, and lack of opportunities, which he said, have rendered many young people hopeless and tested their sense of patriotism to the limit.
He has, therefore, promised that any future government under him and the National Democratic Congress would work urgently to equip the youth with the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills needed for a sustainable future.
Mr Mahama made the call in a post to celebrate Ghanaian Youth on International Youth Day which has been set aside by the United Nations to promote better awareness of the World Programmed of Action for Youth on Saturday, 12th August, 2023.
He said “on International Youth Day, I celebrate the creativity, enterprise and passion of Ghana’s youth. I want to use this occasion to highlight the importance of our young people as the driving force of positive change and innovation”.
According to Mr Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were committed to urgently turning the situation hopelessness around by paving the way for nurturing a generation of skilled youth.
A new NDC administration, he explained, would introduce a 24-hour economy with incentives and tax breaks for manufacturers who would run extra shifts to create more room for employment.
“We will work to ease the burden of taxes imposed by this NPP administration on Ghanaian businesses and investors, which has robbed Ghana of its envious position as one of Africa’s leading destinations for investment”, he added.
The NDC’s policy priorities, he said, would imbue the youth with the “knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”
He further promised that any new government under him would maximise the potential of agriculture and agribusiness and provide critical social and IT infrastructure to stimulate economic growth.
The 2023 International Youth Day was under the theme: Green Skills For Youth, Towards A Sustainable World
Members of parliament from the minority side, led by Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, have described an attempt by the Central Bank of Ghana (BoG) to justify the loss of a whopping GHȻ 60 billion and the negative equity of GHȻ55.1 billion it recorded last year, as insubstantial and shameless.
According to the minority caucus, the BoG’s press statement was full of deliberate distortions and flimsy justifications which did not address the serious matters that they raised in their “Moment of Truth” presser.
It would be recalled that the NDC at a press conference last Tuesday, took on the Governor of the BoG and his deputies for being responsible for the loss of an amount of GHȻ 60 billion last year.
Dr Ernest Kwamina Addison, Governor of Bank of Ghana
According to the NDC, Governor Addison and his collaborators within government have not just been clueless, but unresponsive, insensitive and reckless in all their dealings, which have worsened the plights of Ghanaians.
Among others, the minority leader vehemently called for the resignation of the Governor of the Central Bank within 21 days, from the 8th of August, 2023 or they would force them out through a massive demonstration.
Bank of Ghana’s response
Meanwhile, the BoG has responded to the claims by the minority caucus, saying “comparing 2022 financial performance with 2021, without taking cognisance of the economic and social crisis in the country is misleading”.
According to the central bank GH¢53.1 billion out of the GH¢60 billion losses reported in the 2022 financial statement was as a result of phases 1 and II of the government’s domestic debt restructuring exercise.
For instance, the BoG explained that vehicle maintenance expenses line as captured in their annual report was a generic name for expense covering fuel cost for all BoG operations, insurance of all BoG fleet of vehicles, car parts replacements and other maintenance cost.
Under the Communication expenses, BoG pointed to electronic data transmission charges, including Reuters and Bloomberg platforms, which supported their reserve management.
Among others, the BoG clarified further that the process which also assisted in the management of petroleum funds as well as currency and exchange rate, constituted about 57.4% of the total communication expenses cost.
This was followed by publications and gazettes 15%, advertisement 10%, local newspapers 0.75% and foreign newspapers which also cost 0.46% of the amount stated for the communication expenses.
Giving details of the Computer expenses as captured in the report which was used by the minority, the BoG explicated that the jump in computer expenses was mainly due to the bank’s asset replacement policy which was implemented in 2022.
Per the policy, most of the desk top computers were replaced with laptops and this, according to the BoG, was in line with the bank’s business continuity policy following lessons learned from the Covid 19 pandemic to allow for flexible working arrangements.
In addition, BoG indicated that all these hardware and software licenses were in US dollars, therefore, the exchange rate depreciation and domestic and global inflations impacted the cedi equivalent on the books of the central bank.
Minority’s rebuttal
In a sharp contrast, the minority caucus intensely disputed the BoG’s explanations saying it did not address the most fundamental issues they had earlier raised, including the printing of money for the government in 2021 and 2022.
The printing of the money, the minority in a statement signed by Dr AtoForson stated, was in clear contravention of Section 30 of the Bank of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 2016 (ACT 918).
“Indeed, throughout the statement, BoG does not and could not have offered any reasonable justification for printing a whopping GHS35 billion in 2021 and GHS42 billion in 2022 to finance the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, in clear breach of their governing law,” he asserted.
Dr AtoForson further stated that the amount of monies printed by BOG for the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government in both 2021 and 2022 far exceeded the legally acceptable threshold of 5% of the previous fiscal years’ total revenue.
“Indeed, the facts show that BOG acted as law unto itself by wilfully engaging in the illegal printing of monies to finance the recklessness of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, both in 2021 and 2022,” he said.
In his views, this conduct by the BoG’s Governor constituted a criminal offense under section 67 of the Bank of Ghana Act which could not be washed away by what he called flimsy justifications mounted by the BoG.
Levelling of allegations
Dr AtoForson alleged in his statement that though the governor of the BoG and his deputies claimed that they were committed to promoting a cash-lite economy, they have been printing higher denominations of new GHS100 and GHS200 notes.
This, together with the large injections of money into the economy, he said, caused currency-outside-banks to increase from GH¢14 billion in 2019 to GHȼ31.4 billion by 2022, representing an increase of over 124%.
Bank of Ghana
As a direct consequence of the illegal printing of money by the Bank of Ghana, he added that the rate of inflation in the country spiraled to hyper levels last year when Ghana recorded a record-high inflation rate of 54.1% in December 2022.
According to Dr Forson, a recent World Bank report indicated that the hyperinflation which was mainly occasioned by the recklessness and mismanagement the BoG, pushed over 850,000 people into poverty.
He said, “It is, therefore, totally irresponsible for the managers of the Bank of Ghana to conveniently ignore these serious legal infractions, which have brought untold hardships on Ghanaians and rather engage in flimsy justifications and needless equalisations”.
Conclusion
According to the minority caucus, there was no gainsaying the fact that the Governor, his deputies and directors of BOG have compromised their independence and made their continuous stay in office untenable.
Dr Forson posited that their failed attempt to cite non-best practice as justification for their recklessness and mismanagement was most irresponsible, which justified that they must pack out of the Bank of Ghana immediately.
“In fact, it will take the nation more than 20 years to fix the mess that the current managers of BOG have created and move the bank from its current negative GHS55.1 billion equity to positive equity,” he said.
Canadian born US Rapper, Drake is worried over audience tossing bras on stage as his son joined him on the latest stop of his ‘It’s All A Blur Tour.’
Adonis watched his dad perform on stage during the ‘Take Your Child to Work Day.’
The presence of Drizzy’s 5-year-old son prompted the rapper to remind concertgoers to avoid throwing bras onto the stage at the Kia Forum in Inglewood.
“Hey look to be honest with you, I can’t talk about titties tonight and I love you,” Drake told the crowd as seen in a video circulating on social media. “‘Cause my son is at the show for the first time ever.”
“So we are gonna keep it PG tonight, y’all, keep them bras on,” he added.
Back in July, a woman became a viral celebrity after throwing her bra on stage. The moment happened during a Drake show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, when Drizzy witnessed a 36G-sized bra land on stage.
“36G?” Drake said as he got a hold of the bra. “Locate this woman immediately.”
A total of $14,300,704 (11 billion naira) was made by Nigerian Artistes from streaming platform Spotify in 2022.
The online streaming platform through their Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy revealed this in Lagos, Nigeria.
Muhutu-Remy said that Spotify launched its annual report, Loud & Clear, to increase transparency in the music industry by sharing data on Spotify’s royalty payments.
According to her, Artistes deserve clarity about the economics of music streaming.
“In 2022, revenues generated by Nigerian artistes from Spotify alone reached over $14,300,704, while Nigerian music industry revenues overall have grown by 63 per cent from 2021 to 2022.
“Revenues generated by Nigerian artistes from Spotify alone grew 74 per cent over this same period.
“The number of Nigerian artistes who generated more than N5 million and N10 million in royalties from Spotify alone has increased by nearly 25 per cent over in 2022.
“This figure represents revenue generated from Spotify alone, and does not take into account earnings from other services and recorded revenue streams, concert tickets or merch,” she said.
Muhutu-Remy said that Spotify is committed to ensuring African creators earn from their art, by exposing them to 550 million active users on the platform.
She said in addition to the data on the revenues generated by Nigerian artistes, there were also new data on top exported Afrobeats albums, top exported Afrobeats artistes, top exported Afrobeats tracks and top exported female Afrobeats tracks.
The managing director said some of the top cities outside of Lagos, where Afrobeats is getting the most streams are London, Paris, Abuja, Nairobi, Amsterdam and Accra.
“Our commitment at Spotify is to ensure that professional musicians make a living from their work.
“Releasing the revenues generated by Nigerian artists in 2022 on our platform is our way of keeping ourselves accountable, and keeping true to our mission to enable artists to live off their art,” she said.
Muhutu-Remy explained that Afrobeats’ surge in popularity could be linked to several factors including international collaborations, the power of social media, t rise in music streaming and the African diaspora.
According to Spotify-commissioned research conducted by Kuvora, 28 per cent of fans believe that international collaborations are one of the key factors driving the growth of Afrobeats.
