Sniffer dogs of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have detected three consignments of heroin hidden inside various sizes of balls as well as woollen carpets. The heroin which was imported from Pakistan through the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Shed, Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) has a total weight of 29.260kg. The rug consignment of 14kg came as cargo on KLM flight while the other two consignments of balls weighing 10.230kg and 5.030kg were imported on Saudi Arabia Airline. The estimated street value of the drug is 351 million naira.
According to the Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar, the goods were abandoned by the importers. “The drug was factory packed in the cartons containing the balls. The rug concealment was also factory packed because we had to tear and unfasten to recover the drugs. Four rugs were found to contain heroin. So far, no arrest has been made but the cases are under investigation”Hamza explained.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade has vowed to incapacitate drug trafficking syndicates in the country through counter measures. “Every drug seizure is important to us because of the value of the drugs and the fact that every seizure made advances the anti-drug campaign. This seizure is important to the country because the damage the drug would have caused cannot be quantified Drug trafficking cartels may be sophisticated in drug concealment, but the seizures are indicators of Nigeria’s counter efforts. We will not relent in protecting the country from the activities of drug traffickers” Giade stressed.
The NDLEA boss added that the Agency will scuttle the plans of drug barons and stop them from using Nigeria in drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, investigation is on-going to unravel the cartel behind the shipments of narcotics.
HON. SAMUEL ARO BAMIDELE CHAIRMAN (ABS) INVESTMENT LTD MIDDLE
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, October 5, 2012 arraigned thirteen suspects implicated in a fresh N3.7billion fuel subsidy scam. The massive fraud was perpetrated using various instrumentalities such as forging of Bills of Lading, Certificate of Quantities and Certificate of Origin among a posse of criminal infractions to fraudulently obtain payments from the Petroleum Support Fund as subsidy for the importation of Petroleum Motor Spirit (petrol).
The suspects comprising eight individuals and five companies were arraigned before Justices Habeeb Abiru and Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja. The individuals involved are Aro Samuel Bamidele, Abiodun Kayode Bankole, Ifeanyi Anosike, Emeka Chukwu, Ngozi Ekeoma Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Maula, George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah. The five companies involved are A.S.B. Investment Company Limited, Anosyke Group of Companies Limited, Dell Energy Limited, Downstream Energy Sources Limited and Rocky Energy Limited.
A.S.B. Investment Company Limited, Aro Samuel Bamidele and Abiodun Kayode Bankole were arraigned before Justice Lateefa Okunnu on an 18 count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain by false pretence, forgery and uttering false documents to the tune of N1,341,471,735.67(One Billion, Three Hundred and Forty One Million, Four Hundred and Seventy One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-Five Naira, Sixty-Seven Kobo ) being payments fraudulently received from the Petroleum Support Fund for a purported supply of 38, 010, 413.00 litres of Premium Motor Spirit.
The accused persons allegedly received N1, 265, 204, 348.20 and N76, 267,387.47 purportedly as subsidy for the supply of 17, 989,540.00 and 20,021,873 litres respectively of PMS.
The products were falsely claimed to have been purchased from Nimex Petroleum Limited and Duport International Limited in Europe and shipped into Nigeria through MT Pacific Innovator, MT Kirill Lavrov, MT Sea Voyager, MT Balisaire, MT Cape Bruny and MT Union Brave.
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
EFCC lead counsel, Rotimi Jacob, SAN, after the suspects had taken their plea, requested for a date for hearing of bail applications, and urged the court to remand the suspects in prison custody. But defence counsel, Dr. Tochi Nwogu, prayed the court to remand the accused persons in EFCC custody, while asking for a short adjournment for hearing of bail applications.
In her ruling, Justice Okunnu adjourned the case till October 9, 2012 for hearing of bail applications and fixed trial for November 22; 27 and 28, 2012. She also ordered that the suspects be remanded in EFCC custody.
Justice Habeeb Abiru similarly adjourned the case involving Anosyke Group of Companies, Ifeanyi Anosike, Dell Energy Limited, Emeka Chukwu and Ngozi Ekeoma to October 9, 2012 for hearing of bail applications following their arraignment on an eight count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain by false pretence; forgery and uttering false documents to the tune of N1, 537,278,880.82( One Billion, Five Hundred and Thirty Seven Million, Two Hundred and Seventy Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty Naira, Eighty-Two Kobo) being payments fraudulently received from the Petroleum Support Fund for a purported supply of 15, 000 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit.
They falsely claimed to have purchased the products from Mercuria Trading N.V. and imported into Nigeria through mother vessel MT Klara and MT Maritina, MT Emocean and Metric Tons SP Boston as the daughter vessels.
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Lead Defence counsel, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, told the court that he had filed applications for bail for the suspects and urged the court to remand them in EFCC custody. All other defence counsel aligned themselves with Nwobike.
Justice Abiru, in his ruling ordered that the accused persons be remanded in EFCC custody.
Also, Downstream Energy Sources Limited, Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Maula, Rocky Energy Limited, George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah were arraigned before Justice Abiru on an eight count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain property by false pretence; conspiracy to forge documents, forgery and uttering false documents to the tune of N789,648,329.25( Seven Hundred and Eighty Nine Million, Six Hundred and Forty Eight Thousand, Three Hundred and Twenty Nine Naira, Twenty-Five Kobo ) being payments fraudulently received from the Petroleum Support Fund for a purported supply of 14,273,0227 litres of Premium Motor Spirit.
The product was falsely claimed to have been purchased from ALCAMO International Limited and imported into Nigeria , allegedly through mother vessel MT La Katherine and the daughter vessel MT D-Roseline.
Again, they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Counsel to the fourth accused person, Kolawole Raheem, informed the court that he had already filed an application for bail for his client and prayed the court for a short adjourned date for hearing of the bail application. He also prayed the court to remand his client in EFCC custody. Other defence counsel aligned their submissions with Raheem.
In his ruling, Justice Abiru adjourned the case till October 9, 2012 for hearing of bail applications and ordered that the suspects be remanded in EFCC custody.
The Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering, SCUML, on Thursday October 4, 2012 commenced the enforcement of compliance with the provisions of the Money Laundering Act 2011 by Designated Non- Financial Institutions DNFIs (hotels, real estate firms, auto dealers, audit and accounting firms, casinos, supermarkets bureau de change, law firms, etc), with the arrest of officials of seven companies in Abuja.
Those arrested include Mr. Austin Olefa, manager, Pent House Properties; Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed , chief executive officer, Abmed Motors; Mathew Abang and Eguakum Ekenema, manager and general manager respectively, Jorany Hotels; Ndubisi Akabogu, accountant, Grand Product Company Limited (Grand Square); Juvita Akwari, and Obinna Ugoma, manager and accountant respectively, Lamonde Hotels; Wole Oladapo and Osayi Gavin, accountant and marketer respectively, Febsons Hotels and Abiodun Adelasu of Nawa Properties.
They were arrested at the start of a special operation designed to compel compliance with the anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism regulations by DNFIs.
Section 5 of the Money Laundering Act 2011, requires existing businesses to submit, within three months from the commencement of the Act, a declaration of their activities and all record of transactions. They are equally required to file returns on transaction within seven days from the date of the transaction in chronological order, indicating each customers surname, forenames and address.
The Central Bank of Nigeria , CBN a few weeks ago also came up a with circular, directing financial institutions to demand evidence of registration with SCUML as condition for doing business with DNFIs
Angel Nworgu, Head SCUML said the arrest of the company executives marks a turning point in the enforcement of the anti- money laundering laws, adding that the days of impunity and non compliance by DNFIs were over. She promised that more arrests would be made as the exercise continues.
Meanwhile, investigations into the activities of the companies affected in the raid continue.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday 24th September, 2012, arrested Mr. Adebisi Adeniyi James, 32, for fraudulently obtaining N630, 000 under the false pretence of securing admission into the University of Abuja for his victim.
The arrest of James who hails from Oke-Imesi, Ekiti State followed a petition by Mrs. Helen Igoni Owuaru, a widow who alleged that sometime in April 2012, while she was travelling to Abuja to seek admission into the University of Abuja for her daughter, she met the suspect at the reception hall of Chisco Transport Company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In the course of their discussion, she mentioned the purpose of her journey to the suspect who immediately promised to help secure the admission for her daughter through his brother, one Deacon Adebisi Adeniyi, purportedly the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University.
Mrs. Owuaru added that barely three weeks after that encounter, the suspect called to inform her that he had secured the admission and needed to make some immediate payments. The complainant said she immediately remitted some money through the bank account provided by the suspect. According to her, she made several other payments totalling N630, 000.00 (six hundred and thirty thousand naira) to the suspect.
She said she became suspicious when the suspect started giving her different dates for matriculation. This, according to her, prompted her to embark on a fact finding visit to the University, only to discover that there was no such staff as Deacon Adebisi Adeniyi on the payroll of the University of Abuja .
Following this discovery, Mrs. Owuaru petitioned the EFCC.
The suspect will be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is concluded.
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has released N1 billion for the payment of outstanding promotion arrears to primary school teachers with further commitment to the welfare of teachers in the state.
Uduaghan in his address to the 2012 Teachers’ Day Celebration, read by his Deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama, while commending the teachers for calling of their strike action, used the occasion to challenge teachers in the state to reciprocate the Government’s gesture by redoubling their efforts.
He assured that the state government would fully implement the agreement that it entered into with the teachers, adding that payment would only be made to identified teachers.
” The State Government has released one billion naira for the payment of outstanding promotion arrears to affected primary school teachers in the state. The Ministry of Education has embarked on staff audit. This is to ensure that loopholes are plugged and that teachers who are physically engaged on the job are paid,” he said.
He observed that Delta State was ahead of most states in the Federation in terms of the welfare of teachers in spite of the fact that it has the highest number of teachers at the highest grade levels .
The governor explained: ” the state has one thousand, three hundred and thirty four teachers on level sixteen, one thousand, five hundred and thirty nine are on level fifteen while one thousand and thirty eight are on level fourteen.
” I am happy to be in your midst today, especially after we have all been able to settle our differences having reached a comprehensive agreement on all the issues involved.
” Let me commend you for calling off the strike. This administration, from inception, has remained and will continue to be labour friendly at all times…You should redouble your efforts to expel the ugly spectre of falling standard of education, which is currently affecting all levels of education in the country.
” I implore you to partner with us in our resolve to raise the standard of education through improved infrastructure, to ensure a most conducive learning environment. Infrastructure alone cannot impact positively on the pupils since your input is the most critical in the learning process,” he said.
He used the occasion to appeal to all Deltans to show concern to their brothers and sisters who have been adversely affected by the devastating flood currently causing much havoc in the state.
Rt Rev Peter Imasuen, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Edo State branch and Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State at the 2012 plenary session of Edo CAN in Benin City
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has warned that the state government will no longer treat tax defaulters with kid gloves, saying tax offenders in the state risk jail term.
The governor said while the poor and low-income people were willing to pay their tax, those who could easily afford to pay preferred to flout the tax law.
Comrade Oshiomhole gave the warning yesterday while speaking as Special Guest of Honour at the Plenary session of the Christian Association of Nigeria at the St. Mathews (Anglican) Cathedral, Benin City.
According to the Governor “in Edo State, we have tried to emphasise that we must re-invent the concept of tax. We must properly manage the taxpayers’ money. Today the University of Benin Teaching Hospital is on strike over the issue of tax. The tax issue is a Federal law not made by me.
“Those people who believe that because they are working in sensitive places is an excuse to evade tax need to rethink. If a sick person is brought to the hospital, the fact of his being sick does not preclude the person from paying for his treatment”.
He noted that he had, a couple of times, paid the hospital bills of indigent patients at UBTH who had been treated but were no discharged by the hospital on account of bills owed.
“If you can detain the poor on account of his being unable to pay for his treatment, who are you not to pay tax?
“We have also at one point sealed up the PHCN, the PPMC for tax evasion. If a motor mechanic pays his tax, Okada rider pays his tax, then there is no reason why a federal agency would think that because they come from Abuja, they would not pay their tax.
“It is very fashionable in Nigeria for people to spend N50 million on weddings, N100 million on birthdays and even much more to celebrate the dead, but for such persons to pay even five percent as tax, he is not ready to pay. In such a situation, it is better to send them to prison, just to remind them that the prison is not meant for only the poor; the prison is meant for those who break the criminal law,” he said.
Comrade Oshiomhole noted that fifty-two years after independence, the people are getting poorer, attributing this to the quality or absence of good governance.
“The state must create good environment for the people to operate. If the politicians try to divert attention the church must stand on the side of truth.
“In Edo State, we have tried our best, first to regain our self-confidence that Edo State is viable and we have made some modest efforts to halt the drift and restore hope. But what we have done is nothing compared to what we need to do to get to the level that we deserve”, Oshiomhole noted.
Earlier, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria Edo State, Rt. Rev. Peter Imasuen said this year’s plenary session with theme: “Fostering Good Governance” is most appropriate.
According to him “Good governance is all about accountability and transparency. Despite increasing democracy and stability in sub-saharan Africa, corruption and conflict remain serious barriers of ending extreme poverty”.
He lamented that the nation’s multifarious woes are effects of bad governance over the years.
President Obama’s reelection campaign, rattled by his Wednesday night debate performance, could be in for even worse news. According to knowledgeable sources, a national magazine and a national web site are preparing a blockbuster donor scandal story.
Sources told Secrets that the Obama campaign has been trying to block the story. But a key source said it plans to publish the story Friday or, more likely, Monday.
According to the sources, a taxpayer watchdog group conducted a nine-month investigation into presidential and congressional fundraising and has uncovered thousands of cases of credit card solicitations and donations to Obama and Capitol Hill, allegedly from unsecure accounts, and many from overseas. That might be a violation of federal election laws.
The Obama campaign has received hundreds of millions in small dollar donations, many via credit card donations through their website. On Thursday, the campaign announced a record September donor haul of $150 million.
At the end of the 2008 presidential campaign, the Obama-Biden effort was hit with a similar scandal. At the time, the Washington Post reported that the Obama campaign let donors use “largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor’s identity.”
The notorious fact that the Nigerian Television Authority is arguably the largest television network in sub-Saharan Africa is not in doubt. What has however remained dominant in most public debate around the issues of modern day broadcast journalism in Nigeria and the rest of black Africa is the level and scope of independence and also the dimension of people-oriented/focused is much of the government sponsored television outfits.
The publicly sponsored Nigerian Television Authority has continued to dominate the spotlight of public discuss even as peoples’ expectation keep rising by the day that this self-acclaimed single largest television behemoth truly reflects the public interest of the people of Nigeria who are indeed the real owners of the nation’s democracy.
Few weeks back, Alhaji Musa Mayaki took over the mantle of leadership from the immediate past Director General Malam Usman Magawata who spent the last one tenure as the Director General to build a formidable and respectable broadcasting outfit that would hopefully gain the confidence support and pride of the generality of Nigerians.
Alhaji Magawata retired voluntarily after his attainment of the mandatory age of 60 years in April 14th 2012 thus creating the avenue for a seamless and smooth transition to the now Acting Director General- a versatile manager of personnel and resources.
As a very close but active observer of the activities of the Nigerian Television Authority in the last two decade, I can state without a shadow of any doubt that virtually all those Nigerians that have held the office of Director General have always listened to the concerns expressed by some of us who are professionally adept at objective criticisms with the mindset that Nigerian Television Authority must truly be transformed to assume the position of pride as the mouth- piece of the Nigerian general public and not only that of those in the corridors -of -power.
Alhaji Musa Mayaki who now pilots the affairs of the publicly owned television station told his staff that his dominant agendum would be to transform the place into the number one most loved and most cherished television station just in line with the transformation program of President Jonathan who recently made a solemn pledge to Nigerians that come 2013 or thereabout, he is sure to become the most loved President of Nigeria.
The new Director General has also promised Nigerians that his management team is committed towards the implementation of the community broadcasting blueprint which by -and- large is fundamentally targeted at making broadcasting people oriented and to give the Nigerian people the voice to express their opinions of varied dimension and to assist the government of Nigeria to achieve the enforcement of good laws that would create the necessary enabling environment for the attainment of good governance and respect for human rights of Nigerians.
His words: “I have being asked to step in into the shoes of the Acting Director General because nature abhors a vacuum. I will continue to champion the administration of NTA pending the appointment of substantive Director General by the federal Government. I appeal to you all our good staff and management not to relent in your hard work and dedication because hard work and dedication are our watch words in NTA.”
On the much important twin professional issues of content and coverage, the Acting Director General who is one of the most respected managers of people, stated that he would ensure an improved and well equipped NTA Stations in order to take the digitalization of broadcasting in Nigeria to the next level.
On community stations he disclosed that there is no going back on the NTA expansion project and the establishment of more community stations in order to take broadcasting and information dissemination down to the grassroots. He made the statement in an interactive session with journalists in Abuja recently.
Mayaki said that only the NTA is strategically positioned to positively impact the people at the grassroots and make a difference in communities since NTA’s content decisions at the community stations are not swayed by any commercial or advertising interest which is usually absent in most communities.
He reiterated that NTA Community stations existing for the benefit and best interest of the community.
According to Mayaki, NTA programmes at the community station are designed to make a positive impact on the quality of life of the people in the communities through the use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire them at the grassroots. He said that the strategy of telling the stories of the communities in their own perspectives is irresistible and veritable tool for national development.
Mayaki said that “at the community level, NTA works in concert with community partners to ensure that the people at the grassroots are informed on local initiatives that affect their lives and also draw greater attention to the wealth of resources and talent in their communities”.
Since his assumption as the Acting Director-General of NTA in May this year, Musa B. Mayaki has focused on consolidating on the achievement of his pre-decessors through continued and diligent implementation of NTA’s policies in all areas including community broadcasting, digitization and the establishment of robust language channel.
With the arrival of the much awaited spares from Rhodes and Schwarz, the expansion project is more real than speculations, accpording to knowleadgeable sources competent in those matters.
The Language Channel which will be focusing on the three Nigerian major languages-Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba will be transmitted through the NTA/Startimes platform using the digital terrestrial transmission.
Mayaki is also keeping an eye on existing stations with a view to expanding its viewership with clean and clear signals to meet with better content and wider out-reach in line with the new trend in broadcasting.
Some of the NTA stations that were off air are gradually coming back on air. Such stations that are back on air include NTA Akwaga, NTA Ogoja, NTA Takum and NTA Ile Ife.
A noticeable attribute I have noticed from the acting Director General of NTA is his appreciation of reading culture. Those conversant with his leadership disposition said he is such a good reader of quality books that he is always ready to listen to the concerns of his staff.
Bill Newman who wrote the scholarly book titled “ten laws of leadership” noted thus; “True success comes from hard work. There are no short cuts. I am not talking about a workaholic but rather one who has learnt to enjoy work. So many want work to get rich so they will not have to work. Most persons with that attitude never make it anyway”.
Newman in his widely acclaimed book aforementioned asked leaders to in his words: “You must be constantly thinking how can I do this better? “Is there a more cost effective way?, how can I conserve time?, can I produced better doing it a different way?”
The Acting Director General is said to have started manifesting these beautiful leadership qualities for which he has been known for, for years that he has worked in the Nigerian Television Authority where he rose to the prestigious position of the Executive Director Finance and Administration.
In an interview with the News Magazine, the Acting Director General unveiled his transformation agenda as follows; “Well, what I met on ground on assuming office was a network that was actually not there. We had a number of stations that were down within the network, such that it was impacting negatively even on our revenue. This is because, when advertisers want it on network, they monitor and they tell you that this station or the other station did not join or were not on, and that they were not going to pay for it”.
He further opined thus: ”Really, when you come to think of it, they are actually paying for the network. So there were so many stations that were not on board. We were just calling ourselves ‘Africa’s Largest Network’ when in actual fact, the network was collapsing gradually. That was the first thing I tried to address. We have basically tried to address all of these”.
He continued thus; “To date, we have brought up about 10 stations. One, Oshogbo was down. Oshogbo is now on. NTA Lafia was down, it is now up. The only thing we need to do at NTA Lafia is to connect it to the national grid because they are still using generators. Then, NTA Ife that was down for more than three years or so, is up now. We are getting full signals. In fact, you can get NTA Ife in any part of Osun State. Ijebu-Ode used to be a very key station in Ogun State because Abeokuta had a problem of visibility, so to say, because of the hill blocking the signals. So we had a complementary station in Ijebu-Ode that was making all the money for us. It was also down for more than one year, but we have been able to bring it up. Takum was also down, to the extent that the minister of state for power, who is from there, kept ‘harassing’ the minister of information over that. But the station is up now. Takum is also very strategic because of Nigerians living near the borders with Cameroon. We don’t want them to receive signals from Cameroon. We don’t want them to lose their identity because of the fact that they are part of Nigeria”. Such is the patriotic zeal of th acting Director General.
He told the journalist further; ” Again NTA Sapele was down too. Now it is up. Also Iruekpe in Edo State was down. The House of Representatives member from there kept calling me. During our budget defence at the National Assembly, he asked me to tell them when the Iruekpe station would come up. We are happy now that the station is up. There were so many stations that we had to battle with. That is what we have been doing in the past three months.”
Those who know disclosed to this writer that the choice of the current Acting Director General is salutary just as they expressed their hope that he can carry through the community broadcasting agenda so that the rural people can have their voices heard since the voice of the people is the voice of God.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA blogs@www.huriwa.com.
Is paternity testing becoming an issue in Nigeria?
We have seen that there is serious need for it because in many homes things are happening that are scary both to the lives of children and their parents. And for the general statistics that is now available, it is found that three out of every ten men are not the fathers of their babies. Similarly, three out of every ten children are not fathered by men they have seen as their biological fathers. What we have found out is that, anytime we take ten men, at least three of them eventually found that they are not the fathers of the children they call their own. And these men would have taken care of the children for all their lives.
Now, the global statistics is 100, 000 out of every 300, 000 men. But what we have found that is that the situation is higher in Nigeria than other places. For example in our laboratory here, 50 per cent of the cases comes out negative. And we also realised that majority of the first-borns are affected. You only need to be here to see big men cry like little kids and watch children weep in agony. It has been that bad. And I dare say it is becoming something every home must do and you may be quite surprised at the level of dastard revelation.
About thirty per cent of fathers are unknowingly bringing up children who are not biologically theirs. And it is suspected that this percentage may be on the increase due to sexual recklessness. According to recent trends in sexual health, especially in Nigeria, it was suggested that unprotected sex and multiple partners are comparatively common occurrences with a large proportion of conceptions still unplanned. So, more than half, that is, 50 per cent of all paternity tests carried out by our lab comes out negative and the most affected are first-borns, except in a few cases.
Do these cases happen mostly in matrimonial settings or in casual relationships?
In both matrimony and casual affiliations! I tell you, we have had series of married men come here and go back home devastated. In one instance, a man came here with his wife. Out of the five children he thought were his own, he discovered that only two belonged to him. And they are both duly married, living together as husband and wife. You see, the major problem we have in our country is that most of these cases are not duly documented. So, people don’t know we have such issues among us. In fact, some even don’t know where to go for the test to determine their child or children’s paternity. And I tell you, if you go to ten homes as we speak, you will be amazed to find that in almost all of them the children there do not belong to the men. It is that rampant.
If it is that rampant, how would you describe the three years since you started testing men?
Now, the general statistics by the American Association of Blood Banks is that globally, 100, 000 out of 300, 000 men are not the actual fathers of their presumed children. And like I said earlier, the Nigerian situation is even alarming. Also, Duess International, the condom manufacturers, once noted that Nigeria has the most reckless sexual life. So, you can then imagine what the outcome would be like if we say okay, let’s start taking statistics one-by-one.
How many families do you attend to each week?
We test about 15 to 20 families. People come here as a result of various types of controversies over the paternity of certain children. You know, families have come to us with claims that a child neither takes after the mother nor the father in looks and character. So, the man of the house would be curious to ascertain facts. And when they come here with such children, the fears of the fathers have often been affirmed. Fathers usually have the doubts; maybe he has been hearing some rumours, and you know, men are often the last to hear such things about themselves. Until many of them come here to take the test, they have nurtured other men’s children before realising it.
What does it take to do a paternity test?
Technology has made it so easy. It is just like any other deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test. In less than two seconds, we take the sample from the man. We use the Helix Swabs like a “big cotton buds” to extract some cells from the man’s mouth. We rub the ‘Swab’ up-and-down the mouth to get some epithelial cells from around the cheek bone. In the nucleus of every cell, there is DNA. Once we collect that, we purify, extract and then multiply it and get the genetic profile which we then send to DNA laboratory abroad for testing.
What happens in situations where DNA samples do not match as we saw with someDANA victims?
So many reasons could be responsible for that. We have had a case in which a boy went to an hospital to claim the body of his deceased dad and on testing him, it was found that he was not fathered by the dead man. The genetic profile of the boy does not match with that of the man he claimed to be his father. And DNAs don’t lie. The medical experts conducting these tests have nothing personal against the people that come to them for testing. Every human being take half of the genetic profile from either parent. Therefore, it is a matter of case closed if the genetic profile of the living does not match with that of the dead man. He is simply not that father.
