Edo socio-cultural group lauds Gov. Obaseki over anti-land grabbing law

By Isaac Eranga

Chief Dr Omogiade Enoyiogiere Edokpolo

Benin City: The Edo indigenous leader and founder of Edo Progressive Indigenous Association (EPIA)- Chief Dr Bishop Omogiade Enoyiogiere  Edokpolo has lauded the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, for heeding to his plea and that of Edo indigenous people, by  assenting on the bill amending private property protection law of 2017 into the new Edo State private property protection law of 2021. This new law apart from banning the activities of community development association, also put an end to the activities of the Okhaigele. 

According to Bishop Omogiade Edokpolo, "the ousting of the activities of  Okhaigele in Benin kingdom, will help fast track  development in the kingdom. When the governor put an end to the activities of CDAs, the Okhaigele took over the proscribed CDA's activities and turned themselves to warlords in their various communities, thereby confiscating landed property belonging to individuals.

"The same duty they were doing as CDA, was what they were also doing as Okhaigele. At a time when it seems the land grab act has been abandoned, this amendment surprising came on board. With this amendment, both local and international investors in the diaspora will now have trust in the land act administration of Edo State. 

"Local and international investors in the dispora had earlier threatened a rethink in investing in the State. This was contained in a statement signed by the President and Founder of Edo Indigenous Movement (EIM), also known as Edo Progressive Indigenous Association (EPIA) and made available to newsmen in Benin City.

"The Edo indigenous investors and foreign investors in the diaspora made their position known while looking at  the attack meted on the leader of Edo indigenous movement who has been campaigning to attract Edo indigenes and nonindigenes in the diaspora to come to Edo State to invest, assuring them that Edo is a safe haven to invest. The investors opined that if the Edo indigenous leader could be a victim of land grab act and in the process assulted by his fellow indigenes, they have no option than to have a rethink about investing in Edo State. 

"This was a clarion call to Governor Obaseki, traditional rulers, and the various security agencies,  to reassure the investors and Edo indigenous people living in the diaspora who are concerned about the high level of insecurity in the State, that the State is now safe for them to invest. In measuring this assurance, the people needed a clear prove of the enforcement of the land grab act. This should serve as a renewed that the Governor would put in enforcing the land grab act", the statement said.

"However, the Police in Edo State had proved that Edo can be a safe place for investors to put their money, by arraigning in court those land grabbers that assaulted me in Benin in order to confiscate my landed property. The amendment of the 2017 private property protection law, has made Edo State safer for investors to do legitimate business", said Dr. Edokpolo.

While assenting to the amendment of the private property protection law, Gov. Obaseki said  the law affects law and order in the State, saying the law not only ban the Community Development Associations (CDAs) but also all sorts of splinter groups like Okhaigele or  people who have come up to forcefully take other people's landed properties in their communities.

The Governor said a special court shall be set up to swiftly try offenders and if guilty, they will face the consequences.

WHO warns that HIV infection increases risk of severe and critical COVID-19

A new WHO report confirms that HIV infection is a significant independent risk factor for both severe/ critical COVID-19 presentation at hospital admission and in-hospital mortality. Overall, nearly a quarter (23.1%) of all people living with HIV who were hospitalized with COVID-19, died. 

The report is based on clinical surveillance data from 37 countries regarding the risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes in people living with HIV (PLHIV) admitted to hospital for COVID-19. 

It found that the risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19 was 30% greater in PLHIV compared to people without HIV infection.  Underlying conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are common among PLHIV. Among male PLHIV over the age of 65 years, diabetes and hypertension were associated with an increased risk of more severe and fatal COVID-19. These conditions are known to put people at increased risk of severe disease and death. 

This highlights the need for PLHIV to stay as healthy as possible, regularly access and take their ARV medications and prevent and manage underlying conditions. This also means that people living with HIV – independent of their immune status - should be prioritized for vaccination in most settings. An informal WHO poll revealed that out of 100 countries with information, 40 countries have prioritized PLHIV for COVID-19 vaccination.

The analysis is informed by data from WHO’s Global Clinical Platform for COVID-19, which collects individual-level clinical data and characterizes COVID-19 among individuals hospitalized with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection around the globe.

Later this week, WHO will also release updated Guidelines on HIV prevention, testing, treatment, service delivery and monitoring. These guidelines provide over 200 evidence-informed recommendations and good practice statements for a public health response to the prevention, testing, and treatment of people living with HIV.  These recommendations help to ensure that people with HIV can start and continue treatment during times of service disruption as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The report released today will have important policy implications – providing data to confirm that HIV is a risk for poor outcomes from COVID-19 – and increases the urgency to see all PLHIV on treatment and with access to COVID-19 vaccinations." said Dr Meg Doherty, Director of WHO’s Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes.

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed 34.7 million lives so far. To reach the new proposed global 95–95–95 targets set by UNAIDS, countries need to redouble  efforts to avoid increasing HIV infections due to HIV service disruptions during COVID-19 thereby slowing down the public health response to HIV.