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Blind graduates in Imo protest, block govt house gate

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Scores of visually-impaired graduates and students on Monday protested against government’s failure to pay bursary and provide jobs, blocking the main gate to the Imo State Government House in Owerri to air their grievances.

The protesters, who alleged marginalisation by the Governor Rochas Okorocha-led administration, said the government was treating them “like strangers in our own state.”

Displaying placards with various inscriptions which depicted their grievances, the blind protesters demanded an end to what they tagged deliberate abandonment and marginalisation by the government.

The demonstrators, who assembled under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of the Blind, Imo State chapter, called on Okorocha to be responsive to their demands.

They vowed not to leave the gate to the government house until the governor addressed them.

Apart from the demand for special job opportunities for blind graduates in the state, the protesters equally demanded the immediate release of accumulated seven-year subvention arrears and bursary allowances for blind students in higher institutions.

The protest caused gridlock on the road to the government house, as security men manning the gate battled in vain to disperse the demonstrators.

The Chairman of the association, Christopher Kalu, said the state government had failed to build a special school for the blind which was promised the association seven years ago.

Kalu said “We visited the governor in December last year to remind him of his promise, but we found out that the commissioners are not helping matters because several efforts to get the governor to implement his promise through his commissioners are not yielding fruits.

“In January this year, we sent a warning note that if we come to the government house as a group on protest, we will not leave until our demands are met.

“Now we are here. We will not leave until our demands are met. We are demanding a sum of less than N4.5m. We are demanding that our graduates should be given job opportunities in our own state. We are not demanding too much.”

An unidentified government official was seen pleading with the protesters to leave the government house gate, but they refused.

The government official said the governor had taken notice of their presence and was committed to making sure they were happy.

In Kwara State, policemen on Monday used tear gas to drive off some protesting students from the College of Education, Ilorin.

The students, who organised the protest to address some alleged shortcomings in their school, said their lecturers were being owed six months’ salaries by the Kwara State Government.

They lamented that the non-payment of their lecturers’ salaries had negatively affected their academic activites and delayed their semester examination.

The students sang songs and displayed placards with different messages, including, ‘Pay our lecturers their six months’ salaries,’ ‘Maigida, are you not collecting salary?’

The students, who started the protest from their campus, marched through Ibrahim Taiwo Road and the Unity area before heading to the state government house.

Their march was, however, halted by policemen at the Unity Roundabout, who fired tear gas canisters to disperse them.

 

The students ran helter-skelter, covering their faces after inhaling the gas.

 

Business organisations, including banks, hurriedly locked their gates, while petty traders on the roadsides and passersby scampered for safety.

 

The Speaker, Student Union Government of COED, Ilorin, Mr Ajamiu Mathew, told PUNCH Metro that five students had been arrested by the police.

 

He pleaded with the state government to address the challenges of the institution so that academic activities would continue.

 

But the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communication, Dr Muyideen Akorede, said the state government had released N125m to all state-owned tertiary institutions as their June 2018 subventions.

 

He said, “The protest by students was unnecessary; government has made good its pledge to make money available to state-owned institutions.”

 

The commissioner explained that the state government used to disburse subventions to the institutions on a quarterly basis but had changed it to monthly in order to assist the institutions to meet their monthly salary obligations.

 

“With the release of the subventions for the payment of June salaries, the institutions now have only one month outstanding salary to clear, which is for July. The July subvention to our institutions will be released soon,” he added.

 

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr  Ajayi Okasanmi, said five undergraduates were arrested because the protest became violent as the protesters started destroying property.

 

He said, “When the protest became violent, the police were left with no choice than to disperse the protesters, while five hoodlums were arrested. They will be prosecuted after investigation.”

*Punch

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The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”

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According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.

It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.

The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.

Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.

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Math Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With 2 Students And Getting Pregnant For One Tearfully Reveals The Baby Was Taken Away From Her

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The UK teacher who had a baby with an underage student while on trial for having sex with another teenage boy broke down in court after revealing her newborn baby girl had been “taken away” from her.

Manchester math teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, sobbed to jurors over how her baby was taken “24 hours after being born” this past January — and now she only sees her for nine hours a week, Joynes told jurors on Monday, May 13, according to the Manchester Evening News.

“At the moment I have contact with her three times a week for three hours and that’s it,” she said through tears.

Joynes was arrested and released on bail on orders not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 after allegedly grooming her pupil, known as Boy A in court, by buying him a $430 Gucci belt before bringing him to her apartment for unprotected sex.

She was suspended from school and eventually fired, but soon after, she began having a relationship with a 15-year-old boy, known in court as Boy B, whom she had a baby with in January.

Joynes, who has denied having sex with either boy when they were underage, told the court that when she learned of the allegations against her she had gone to the second boy in a “panic” and he deleted all of her phone’s content.

The former teacher denied having a sexual relationship with the second boy until after he turned 16 and she was already suspended from teaching.

According to her narration,

She said he had added her on Snapchat twice, which she only accepted the second time because she thought he “wanted to tell her something.”

Joynes said a friendship developed and he quickly became her “best friend” even though the boy would make flirtatious and sexualized comments toward her when he was drunk.

She told jurors that it wasn’t until after his 16th birthday that he messaged her saying “I’ve left school now” with a winky face.

After she received notice that she had been dismissed from her job, he went to her apartment, where following an emotional conversation, they had sex.

The two then entered a relationship that Joynes described as “quite toxic” telling the court how the teenager was “very controlling.”

After discovering she was pregnant, Joynes hid love notes for the boy to find around her apartment.

The notes eventually led to a piece of baby clothing that had the words “I love my daddy to the moon and back” written on it.

The court was told that she gave birth to their baby girl in January, but following an emergency court hearing, the newborn was taken away from Joynes.

Joynes has denied two counts of sexual activity with Boy A; two counts of sexual activity with Boy B; and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.

Her trial is ongoing.

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First Man To Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Has Died

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The first Man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which carried out the procedure in March, announced Sunday, May 12, that Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, has died.

They said there was no indication his death was a result of the transplant.

Transplants of other organs from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past, but the operation on Mr Slayman, who was suffering with end-stage kidney disease, was hailed as a historic milestone.

In addition to kidney disease, Mr Slayman also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

In 2018, he had a human kidney transplant, but it began to fail after five years.

Following his pig kidney transplant on March 16, his doctors confirmed he no longer needed dialysis after the new organ was said to be functioning well.

“Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” MGH said in a statement.

Xenotransplantation is the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.

MGH said it was “deeply saddened” at his sudden death and offered condolences to his family.

Mr Slayman’s relatives said his story was an inspiration.

“Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” they said.

“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.

“To us, Rick was a kind-hearted man with a quick-witted sense of humour who was fiercely dedicated to his family, friends, and co-workers,” they added.

While Mr Slayman received the first pig kidney to be transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.

Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients died a few weeks later.

In one case, there were signs the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.

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