A Vet doctor as they are often called is a person trained in treating the diseases of animals.

Do you love animals and pets?

Then think about studying Veterinary Medicine in the university, then you can always treat sick animals.

The post A veterinary doctor appeared first on The Nation.

DENNIS was busy entertaining some friends of his who had come visiting when I arrived his house that Sunday evening. We were supposed to go out on an outing but I was not in the mood. So, after his guests left, I took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom.

He looked up at me askiance as I stood, gazing down at him.

“What’s the matter, Meg? You look so serious! Did anything happen?”

“That’s what I want to know. What’s with you and my Mum?” I queried.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, looking at me quizzically.

“I want to know what you’ve done to her that she seems to dislike you so much! That she doesn’t want you around me! What is it?” I demanded.

He shrugged.

“I don’t have a clue. Perhaps you should ask her…” he stated.

“Please don’t give me that! I know there’s something going on and I want the truth!” I was determined to get to the root of the matter no matter what it took.

Dennis was silent for a while, then he said quietly:

“I think it will be better if you ask your mother. She will explain things to you better.”

“Explain what?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

But no matter how much I pressed him, he refused to speak more on the matter.

The revelation

Back home, I confronted my mother as soon as I stepped in through the front door. We had the house to ourselves as my father was at a meeting and Harry was at the home of a friend  who lived on our street.

Initially, she was reluctant to speak but on seeing the determined look in my eyes, she later opened up.

What she told me shocked me to the core of my being.

“It happened over ten years ago,” she began softly. “It was that time your dad travelled abroad for a course his company sent him for. Remember?” she stated.

I did. I had finished secondary school and was preparing to go to the university.

I nodded, impatient for her to continue.

“When your dad left, I missed him terribly. I felt so lonely without him. To add to my loneliness, you were away on campus and your brothers, Joe and Paul were in boarding school. Harry was not born then. I’m not trying to make excuses for my behaviour but just to give you an idea of what made me do it.”

She paused briefly then continued:

“I met Dennis one evening on my way from work. My car had a flat tyre. I was standing by the car confused and wondering what to do as I didn’t know how to change a tyre when this young man came up to me. He helped with the tyre and out of gratitude, I gave him a ride home. His office back then was close to where I used to work before my resignation. So, after work, I would wait for him to close and I would drop him at home. That was how we became friends. And before long, it developed into something else and we became lovers.”

I just stood gaping at her as the words sank into my mind. Was this real or a dream? Was this really my mother, a woman I loved and respected more than any other person on earth confessing to an affair? With my fiance? Was she really telling me she had cheated on her husband, my dad while he was away? But she was still speaking…

“I know, Meg that this must come to you as a shock. I don’t know what came over me that made me do it. It was temptation and I guess I was too weak to resist. You are now a woman and you can understand these things,” she stated. She added that she ended things with Dennis when my Dad returned to Nigeria.

She then said that because of the affair with Dennis, I could not continue with the relationship with him and should call off the wedding.

I gazed at her as she spoke, my mouth turned up in what must look like disgust to her. It was bad enough her cheating on my dad with my fiancé. Now she was even justifying her bad actions!

“Mum, how could you do that to dad? Don’t you have any conscience? Don’t you know it’s a big offense in our culture for a married woman to have an affair outside her matrimonial home? How could you?” I raved at her, getting increasingly worked up.

The thought of my mother with my beloved fiancé, the man I loved so much and wanted to marry was nearly driving me crazy. After I had screamed and ranted at her, I stormed up to my room and began packing. I couldn’t bear the thought of continuing to live under the same roof with such a woman who could betray her husband so cheaply. To the outside world, my Mum presented this veneer of respectability of a married woman. She covered herself with a moral veil, as if she could do no wrong. This was a woman who was always advising me about men, not to be loose and to respect myself. See what she had done!

The veil was torn now, revealing her true face!

I called my friend Pat to come and pick me up. As I was throwing my clothes and other stuff into my suitcase, my Mum came into my room. She looked surprised to see what I was doing.

“What are you doing?” she queried.

“What does it look like?” I countered angrily.

“Don’t tell me you are moving out of the house! It’s late. Where will you go by this time of the night?” she stated.

I didn’t care where I went as long as she was not there.

As I dragged my large suitcase downstairs and made for the front door, my mother kept begging me not to go, that I should stay so we could sort out things.

“Please don’t go, my daughter! What will your father say when he hears you have packed out of the house?” she said, holding onto my hand.

I shook her hand off. That was her problem not mine. She caused the whole mess and she should clean it up.

A few days later, Dennis came to see me at my friend’s place where I was staying temporarily. I was still angry at what they had done but after he spoke to me, I calmed down a bit.

“I was young and stupid then. It was all so long ago. Please honey, don’t let what happened in the past between your Mum and I spoil our relationship. I love you,” he pleaded.

That was the problem. I love Dennis so much that the thought of breaking up with him is making me ill. How could I go on without him? If I listened to my mother, that was what would happen. But why should I sacrifice my happiness because of what my mother did in the past?

I love Dennis too much to give him up. Based on that, I have decided to ignore my Mum’s words and continue with my relationship with him.

My problem now is my Dad. He is still unaware of the reason I moved out of our home. He has been calling, wanting to know what caused the quarrel between my Mum and I. There are times I feel like opening up to him and telling him what my Mum did to him. But when I think about the devastating effects it could have on their marriage and our family life, I keep quiet.

I don’t know what to do. Should I tell my Dad or let what happened in the past remain in the past? And did I take the right decision by staying with Dennis despite his affair with my Mum in the past? I’v been told it’s a taboo in our culture for a mother and daughter to sleep with the same man. Please I will appreciate if readers can advise me. Thanks.

Concluded

Names have been changed to protect the identities of the narrator and other individuals in the story.

Send comments/suggestions to 08030822400, psaduwa@yahoo.com or psaduwa007@gmail.com

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The Starwood group, owners of Sheraton, Le Meridien, Four Point by Sheraton, has announced a new partnership with Uber, accelerating Starwood Preferred Guests, SPG, members’ drive to great experiences.

This exclusive partnership between SPG and Uber builds on the success of previous partnerships with Emirates Skywards, Delta SkyMiles and Caesars Entertainment, as SPG continues to enhance their members’ holistic travel experience beyond the hotel room.

The group has properties in 72% of the cities where Uber services are offered around the world, giving them the ability to provide a seamless travel experience for their members in and out of stay.

With this partnership, SPG members can link their SPG and Uber accounts, and after completing one qualifying stay in 2015, will earn one Starpoint for every 1 USD spent on Uber rides with bonus earning awarded while in-stay. There are no additional costs to hotels from this new partnership.

Starwood is the only international hospitality loyalty programme that is integrated with Uber.

The post Starwood forges ahead appeared first on The Nation.

Hello beautiful children!

Were you happy to see your teachers and mates this new term?

Get excited about school, so that you can get the best out of it.

Why don’t you make a timetable for yourself this term for personal study. Ask your mum to wake you up 30 minutes or 1 hour earlier for you to pray and study your notes before going to school each day.

That way, you will be ahead of your classmates in all subjects.

Sample time-table…

Monday: Read through your science notes.

Tuesday: History and Civic Education

Wednesday: Solve some numeracy or maths sums.

Thursday: Social Studies and Home-Economics

Friday: Religious Knowledge and Language

Saturday: Answer questions from your English textbook.

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Without guidance and care, they took to the streets for abode and survival. HANNAH OJO writes on the weird experiences of street children and the dangers they are exposed to.

They roam the streets without hope of a permanent abode. They take wherever they find themselves at the time night falls as home. It could be the inside of an abandoned vehicle, the top of a pedestrian bridge, the frontage of a shop or the underneath of a flyover. They pay to have their baths in public conveniences or do so in open space before sunrise. Although they differ in terms of age and intention, they are united in the fact that they are street children confronted with horrifying social problems.

Tunde Bakare is already 18, but one would take him for a child on account of stunted growth. Looking dirty and unkempt, Tunde, who completed his secondary education at Model College, Ikorodu, Lagos, last year, said he was forced to the streets because of a cruel fate that befell him.

He said: “I came here because I don’t have parents. My mum died during my early years in secondary school, while my father also died after an auto accident he had in 2013. Now, I work as a bus conductor, alaaru (head loader) or agbero (motor park tout) to fend for myself. I sleep wherever I find myself at nightfall. If my mother were alive, I would not be out here.”

Tunde, who kept his toothbrush in his pocket for fear that his peers might steal it, said he trained as an auto mechanic but had to quit because his boss preferred to keep and exploit him long after he was due for graduation.

Tunde, who refused to be photographed, said: “I was due for graduation but my boss would not let me go because there was nobody to finance the ceremony. Sometimes, I could handle a job worth N5,000 only to receive N200. I couldn’t survive with that, so I called it quits. Out here, I make between N1,000 and N1,500 daily. I feed with some of the money and keep the balance with a Hausa man in the market. I want to sit the Joint Matriculation Examination (JME) and go to the university.”

Ordinarily, Daniel Maxwell, a 16-year-old indigene of Abia State, should have no business wandering about the streets. Daniel, who also works as a head loader in Oshodi, told our reporter that he had only been on the streets for two weeks.

He added: “My friend who introduced me to this place has been here for two years. Sometimes we wake up at 4 am to have our bath in open spaces and canals. I have not experienced much cold but mosquitoes feast on my body inside the Danfo bus at Challenge Bus Stop where I usually pass the night. Some boys have also been prodding me to take Indian hemp but I have promised my mother that I will never smoke.”

Given the way he conducted himself, it was easy to believe that Daniel was not yet given to the rough life of his fellow street dwellers. But how much longer he can withstand the pressure on him to toe their line remains a matter of conjecture. For now, his immediate ambition is to raise the sum of N35,000 he says he needs to write the West African Schools Certificate Examination (WASCE) “in a special centre.”

With the death of his father in 2007, Daniel, the second in a family of six children, left school after he was asked to repeat a class in a public secondary school he attended in Gbagada area of Lagos. With the aunt he was staying with out of town, the stress of going to school from Ikorodu where his mother stayed was daunting. He followed the advice his mother gave him to quit school at SS2 and work to gather money to sit WASCE in a private school.

Daniel said: “My mother stays in Ikorodu and I cannot be coming from there to Gbagada. I cannot go to another public school because Lagos schools do not accept transfer. My father’s family left my mum with six children. Government also demolished my mum’s shop in Alaba Suru where we were staying before she relocated to Ikorodu.”

The lad said he hoped to be on the streets only for a short period within which he hoped to raise the money he would need to continue schooling.

According to a UNICEF statistics, physical abuse accounts for 27 per cent of children who are forced into the streets. The figure includes Somto Ibe, a child that had fled to Lagos from their home in Anambra State after breaking a glass cup. His father had unleashed massive beating on him with a horsewhip, while his mother kept mute. “My Mum didn’t say a word as he beat me. I ran from our home in Onitsha and jumped into the back of a vehicle that was coming to Lagos,” Soft spoken Somto recalled.

He recalled that he had sustained injuries from the beating unleashed on him by bigger boys. The street, he said, seemed to be taking a tough toll on him with fresh scars on his body.

Asked if he would be willing to reconnect with his family, Somto stared into the empty space unsure of an answer. As the probing continued, he simply walked away.

At another part of the city, a recreational centre near a motor park on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, were some boys in their late teens and early 20s, many of whom had developed hoarse voices and darkened lips from as a result of smoking. Their reeked with alcohol and their teeth were stained and dirty. It was evident that they had given personal hygiene a wide berth for long. They looked like a pack without hope or ambition as they wandered around in torn clothes weather-beaten bathroom slippers.

Not able to meet their basic personal needs from the meager sums they make carrying loads for passengers at the park or occasionally working as bus conductors, they also engage in anti-social acts like picking pockets and snatching phones. Adebola Street is regarded as their popular fun spot where they watch movies, smoke Indian hemp and romp with fellow street girls who have taken to prostitution. Some of the girls were discovered to have been used as debt bonds to pimps.

At 14, one of them named Qudus Ibrahim had started smoking Indian hemp. He expertly held a wrap of the substance in his hand, puffing into the air with reckless abandon. Surprisingly, he came across as an amiable teenager in his manner of approach. Asked if he would like to go to school, he said no.

“My father is a policeman but we have family issues. I am here to hustle and work on my own. I am what God decided that I would become,” he said in a manner indicating that he had resigned to fate.

But some of the teenagers are not as care-free as they appear on the surface. Some of them share in the fears that are usually associated with their lifestyle. “Smoking igbo (Indian hemp) can cause one’s brain to scatter, but we cannot stop smoking. It is the devil’s handiwork,” one of them said laughing.

A social worker, Mrs. Taiwo Olowoyeye, who also runs a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) believes that most of the street kids are products of broken homes.

She said: “Most of them are neglected children. Also on the streets are children who cannot find their ways back home. Others are children from extremely poor homes who had to come on the street to search for job and shelter. In the process, they engage in child labour, substance abuse and even prostitution.”

She added that street children are at a great disadvantage because being homeless denies them the right to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, moral and social development.

Despite the fact that police often raid the hideouts of these kids, some of them told our reporter that they always bribe their ways out of the nets of law enforcement agents.

With the high number of welfare homes in Lagos, one cannot but wonder why so many of these children roam the streets. Upon a visit to the Lagos State correctional centre for boys in Oregun, our reporter was directed to the Ministry of Youths and Social Development where the Public Relations Officer was not available for comments. Repeated calls and text messages sent to her phone also went unanswered.

Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, a chartered mediator and Director of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), which has helped to reconnect many street children to their parents, called on parents and guardians to take proper care of their children. She advised them to come to the government if they needed assistance rather than expose their children to danger on the streets.

She recalled that the OPD had helped in placing many children in the custody of the state. “There was a case where we rescued a boy on the street and by the time we went back to the family to find out what was going on, we discovered that the boy had lost his father as a baby and had also lost his mother. The only person left for the child was the grandmother. When we went to interview her, the woman was already paralysed and had to be taken to the village, so there was nobody to cater for the boy. He was hungry and could not go to school.

“In that kind of scenario, we had no choice but to put the child in protective custody. We cannot arrest the grandmother for child neglect because she was lying ill and there was nobody to take care of the boy.”

She, however, warned that the case of parents who are negligent and would not take proper care of their children could be taken to the family court where they would be prosecuted for child neglect.

The post Our lives as street children appeared first on The Nation.

When the late Prince Gabriel Adefemi Ogundipe returned to Nigeria after staying in the United States of America for 35 years, he had no inkling that he could be killed by some armed robbers who struck in Owo, Ondo State recently. Taiwo Abiodun captures the fate that befell the America returnee. 

The well polished wooden casket bore the logo of the All Progressives Congress (APC). As it was lowered into the grave in an expansive compound in Ipenme, Owo, Ondo State, wailing sympathisers and family members rained curses on the dare devil bandits that sniffed life out of Prince Gabriel Adefemi Ogundipe a.k.a Londoner.

At 75, the late Ogundipe was certainly not a young man. But the way and manner the politician died was what pained the sympathisers. The deceased’s children could not hold back tears as they beheld his lifeless body in a wooden casket. Family sources said that some of the children had actually expected him to pay them a visit in America in February but the journey was postponed because of an important ceremony he had to attend last month.

Penultimate Thursday, a wake was held at his residence while a church service was held at St. James’ Anglican Church, Upenmen where sympathizers paid their last respects. At the event, the church’s Vicar, Reverend S.O Akinro, spoke glowingly about the late Ogundipe.

How he was killed

Family sources said Ogundipe was killed by bandits who invaded the ancient town of Owo and rained bullets on innocent souls during a robbery operation. Many of the sympathisers could not help wondering why he was shot by the robbers after he had released his car key and other items to them.

According to an eyewitness account, the deceased septuagenarian was attending a meeting of the APC when the news began to spread that armed robbers had attacked some parts of the town. While some of the people at the meeting ran away and others went into hiding, the late Ogundipe decided to return home. Unfortunately, he took the route where the robbers had barricaded.

The robbers accosted him and asked him to alight from his vehicle. He obeyed and was immediately dispossessed of the money and other valuable items he had on him. Thereafter, the robbers asked him to start running. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and started running. One of the robbers was said to have fired a shot at him but missed target. A terrified Ogundipe then looked back and pleaded with the gun-wielding men not to kill him.

Unfortunately, his plea fell on deaf ears. The robbers fired another shot that caught him in the back and came out from his chest. He fell beside his Camry car, soaked in blood. Efforts made to revive him after the robbers had left failed. Some good Samaritans took his lifeless body to the Federal Medical Centre in the town.

 Life history

Born in Ipenme near Owo, Ondo State in 1940 to the families of Ogundipe and Ogundampe, he was the last child of his parents. He had his  primary education at St. James’ Anglican Primary School, Ipenme , then St. Andrew Primary School, Owo in 1952 where he completed his primary education. He went to Methodist Modern School and completed it in 1960. Life became worse when he had a broken leg in one of the football games in which he participated while representing his school.

After he recovered, he proceeded to Accra, Ghana, to join his late uncle, Rufus Ogundipe. He later attended O’ralley Secondary Grammar School in Accra, Ghana, where he was the school prefect. In 1969, he went to the United States of America to join his cousin, Ademola Adetula. Adetula assisted the late Ogundipe to gain admission into LSD College, Salt Lake City , UTAH. Ogundipe later went to the University of Chicago where he bagged his Bsc and MSc degrees in International Relations.

He came back to Nigeria to work as a lecturer at the Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti. But when he found the environment not conducive, he went back until he finally retired in 1991 and stayed behind, preferring to live the remaining of his years in his country. Thus he came back to Nigeria in 2013 and started full-scale farming, growing yam, cassava and fruits, among others.

He later joined the APC in order to contribute his own quota to the community. His brilliant ideas earned him such nicknames as Obafemi Awolowo, Kwame Nkrumah and Adekunle Ajasin.

 Premonition of his death

While the small town, Upenmen, was mourning, a woman who said the small community had been praying against any calamity, said: “We did not know that this was what we were praying against. As a cooperative community, we were asked to hold on to a pole at the King’s palace and pray that no pillar of a household should die. We all did this as we were told not knowing that this was what was going to happen. Ogundipe was a pillar of Upenmen, not just of a household.”

The late APC chieftain was said to have planned to travel to the United States to see his children but postponed it in order to participate in the burial ceremony of his father in-law, which was slated for the second week of April. He however did not live to participate in the burial. According to reports, he had sent out invitation cards and had prepared fully for the event before the cold hands of death snatched him away.

While paying his tributes, Prof. Ibisesan Ayodele, who was visibly touched, described him as an epitome of character and an intelligent man.

He wrote: ” Omoh”, ” Awe”!! ,”Elemele !!! The information on your demise en route the wicked and cruel hands of the men of the underworld on the fateful Thursday of March 26th 2015, after we had just parted for about 15 minutes, constitutes the greatest tragedy not only on me as a childhood friend but also as on ULAC where I am the chairman and you were the Vice President, the age group where both of us worked, and relentlessly acted together to move the community forward as leaders…..”

An Ondo State governorship aspirant in the state’s last election, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, said: “It was a death too painful. The tragic news of the gruesome murder of Prince Gabriel Ogundipe Salokun of Ayiwoye Akinola ruling house of Upenmen land came as a rude shock to many people, especially those who saw him a few moments before his life was cut short by some brigands who came to wreck our peace in Owo. He will be sorely missed. May his resourceful soul rest in peace (amen).”

Dr (Mrs) Lambo could not control her tears as she spoke about the deceased. She said: “Prince Gabriel (Ogundipe) was my cousin. We were very close. I saw him last about 40 years ago. He was clean, humble and an easy going man. I was not myself when I heard of his death, It is too painful.”

Mr. Samuel Olu Aragbaiye, a cousin of the deceased, described him as an epitome of character who could not hurt a fly.

He said: “The news came as a rude shock to me. I believe God will surely expose the killers.”

Mr. ‘Demola Adetula, a former Managing Director of Owena Press, publisher of Hope Newspaper, described the late Ogundipe as a good man. “He has good exposure, very brilliant and humble. He is a colossus and a party chieftain who contributed brilliant ideas to the party.”

Dele Adene said: “The old man was my uncle. He was the last born of his parents and he played a fatherly role in the family. I thought he would be as old as my late father who died at 110, for there is longevity in our lineage. But it is a pity these wicked robbers did their worst.

“My consolation is that he was a good Christian in his life time and surely he would be at the right hand of God.”

In tears, one of the children of the deceased, Adeola, wrote: “My father was a caring man who loved his family and his country very much. I could really go on for days on how great he is. But anyone who knows him personally would say a lot of the same thing. I pray that all his efforts towards a better tomorrow for Nigeria comes to fruition.”

Tola, another daughter of the late Ogundipe, wrote: “My father always tried to see the best in people even though they proved him wrong time and time again. The country lost a great man .I hope now they finally know what they have lost.”

The post Pathetic story of 75-yr-old shot dead after 35 yrs sojourn in US appeared first on The Nation.

They waved the guide goodbye as they walked away.

Amah suddenly clapped her hands as they walked down the street.”I have a surprise for you!”she said happily. Amin’s heart raced with adventures as he imagined where next they will be going.

“Magic Bicycle, take us to Kakum National Park!”

Amah commanded the bicycle and in no time they found themselves in front of a big gate with a sign that read “Kakum National Park”

A guard in a brown uniform welcomed them and asked for their tickets. They did not have any and also had no money to buy them. When he saw that they had no money, he told them that they can’t go in but he will tell them about the park.

He pointed towards the park and the children could see a long stretch of grasses and trees.Amin suddenly shouted “what is that big animal?””oh that is Rose and she is a baby elephant.!”The guard told them. As they watched, the elephant  lifted it’s trunk playfully and other elephants came around too. As the elephants stumped away the sound they made was so much!” They look bigger than how they look on television! “Amin said.

We have over 40 species of large animals living in these park, buffalo, Mona-meekats and Civets. If you are lucky, you will see a lion or two.

Amah smiled ar Amin’s look of surprise! She was smiling because she had visited the park with her family before and had been very afraid to look at the lions! Amin, how ever, was lost in thought! He was thinking of how wonderful it will be to work where he will see animals daily.”I think I want to be a Veterinary doctor.”

The post The magic bicycle appeared first on The Nation.

Local and foreign tourists were treated to a special display of  culture  as the people of Ikate, Lagos marked their annual Elegba Festival.

The event, which was held on

Monday, April 27,  was the  climax of the week-long celebration.

The ancient festival is celebrated annually to reunite the people of the ancient community with their ancestors.

Sons and daughters of the community who trooped out with enthusiasm to celebrate the festival, which symbolizes prosperity and peace, were not disappointed as the Elegushi of Ikateland, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi, ably assisted by his aides, ensured the ceremony was successful.

The ceremony started with a visit to the Elegba Shrine, called Agbo Elegba, where various  sacrifices are performed to appease the deity.

Earlier, wives of traditional white cap chiefs in ankara uniform, embarked on the sweeping of the community amid singing and jubilation. They moved from one royal family to another. They first called at the Palace of Elegushi where their service received a financial reward from the traditional ruler.

An elated Oba Elegushi and his white-cap chiefs trekked to the shrine, to perform the traditional rites and  pay homage to the gods amid drumming and singing. They also performed the traditional breaking of kolanuts called Ikunlepabi to get the approval of the deity to continue with the celebration.

This was followed by the divination session and sharing of kolanuts among the people. The divination was performed by the Ejure of Ikate who is the custodian of the shrine. Animals, including pigs, goats, cocks and snails were also killed to appease the god.

The outcome of the traditional divine consultation was subsequently conveyed to the monarch who was anxiously waiting for the message of the god at the outer side of the shrine.

In the evening, Oba Elegushi and his chiefs retired into the recesses of his palace to witness a parade of the masquerades that came to entertain and celebrate with the people.

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Some female devotees of Elegba at the event

The Elegba Festival is celebrated by the descendants of Olofin, the progenitor of the original founders of Lagos to mark the beginning of a New Year and ensure peace in their community.

The Olisa of Ikateland, Chief Moruf Elegushi, told journalists that the peaceful conduct of the recently concluded general elections was as a result of the special prayers offered by Omo Olofin at various Elegba shrines.

Prince Anofi Olanrewaju Elegushi, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Eti-Osa Local Government Area, said Oba Elegushi used the occasion to bless the people of the community and Nigerians in particular during propitiations at the shrine of the deity.

He described as untrue the notion that the cane is used to beat people during the festival.

Oba Elegushi said he was satisfied with the successful conduct of the ceremony, saying:“Just like last year’s event, today’s ceremony has also turned out to be successful, and we shall have enduring prosperity throughout the year in Ikateland.

“ Our prayers for peace in Lagos and Nigeria in particular have been accepted by the god of our ancestors, and we shall live to celebrate many years of  the peaceful Elegba Festival.”

The post Pomp as Lagos community celebrates Elegba Festival appeared first on The Nation.

THE Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group, last month, approved a $500 million International Development Association (IDA) credit forNigeria.

The IDA is the window of the World Bank which offers grants and low- to zero-interest rate loans for projects and programmes that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve standard of living. The facility granted Nigeria was designed to bring about significant improvements in maternal, child, and nutrition health services for women and children in the country.

Domestic reforms aimed at improving cogent primary healthcareindicators in the country and engagements with multilateral funding agencies and donors fructified the credit. In 2012, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and Chelsea Clinton, in her capacity as Board Member of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), arrived in Nigeria to join President GoodluckJonathan and (then) Honourable Minister of State for Health,Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, to launch theSaving One Million Lives (SOML) initiative with support from CHAI. The rationale for the initiative was that in Nigeria, an estimated one million mothers and children die each year from preventable causes. As a result, the Federal Ministry of Health decided to set new goals to improve quality healthcare from 2013 and save the lives of Nigerian mothers and children.

Health sector experts and stakeholders credit Dr. Pate as the initiator of the SOML initiative.He had come into Nigeria’s healthcare limelight following his trailblazing work at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA),where he served asthe Executive Director from 2008 to 2011. Prior to his appointment, Nigeria was one of the four polio endemic PAIN countries; the others being Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. Dr.Pate tackled the polio epidemic headlong. By June 2009, he had instigated a grassroots-oriented campaign of engaging respected traditional rulers in the North, under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, to assist with delivery of the immunisation programme messages in combination with the development of an effective primary healthcare system. A decade earlier, the national immunisation programme had suffered severe setbacks, especially in the North.

The effectiveness of the strategic approach adopted by Dr. Pate caught the attention of the international and local stakeholders in less than two yearsof his appointment. In 2010, incidences of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) fell to only 11 cases from a staggering figure of 803 in 2008.  His work also entailed the consolidation of the National Programme on Immunisation (NPI) into the broader framework of NPHCDA, in line with international best practices. The merger sought to address old issues of structural constraint, fiscal decentralisation, mismatched burden of disease and low quality spending.

This effort resulted in the strengthening of core diagnostics, systems development and human resources capacity development within the new NPHCDA. With the critical arms of the agencythus strengthened, the national Midwives’ Service Scheme (MSS) was launched, to mobilise midwives to selected primary healthcare facilities in rural communities to increase the pool of skilled birth attendants and boost delivery of services. The overarching objective of this programme was to significantly reduce high maternal and child mortality and morbidity. The level of work done to achieve the targets of the MSS paved the way for the Saving One Million Lives initiative.

Subsequently, at the time of his appointment as Minister of State for Health by President Goodluck Jonathan in July 2011,Dr. Pate already had a clear focus on what his priorities were, namely continued fight for polio eradication and mobilization of public-private coalition for SOML.Nigeria is now at the verge of being declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation. However, Dr. Pate resigned his appointment in 2013 to take up a professorial chair at the United States’ Duke University’s Global Health Institute. The position would see him serve as Senior Adviser to the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (a major player in Nigeria and other developing countries in the fight against major diseases like Polio), among other high-level engagements.

Nevertheless, this high profile exit from Nigeria’s health policy sector, raised concerns on continuity of some of the programmes that had begun to gain traction under the purview of Dr. Pate. To address the concerns, he offered to continue to provide his services on part-time basis as chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and the public-private coalition for Saving One Million Lives initiative, in fulfilment of his previous commitments to”see to conclusion of these important national priorities.”

It becomes obvious that Dr. Pate, a consummate Nigerian health professional, has a strong passion and exceptional commitment to improvements in healthcare delivery in Nigeria, especially to the most vulnerable groups.It always instils confidence when donors are able to associate someone of this quality with a development programme they are giving funding consideration. The $500 million credit will serve as a necessary fillip to the policy drive towards a Nigeria where maternal, child, and nutrition health services for women and children would be significantly improved. Not least because of the existing constraint in the fiscal space as a result of the sharp drop in oil prices.

The healthcare challenges the $500million credit is supposed to help address are enormous. Nigeria accounts for 14% of all annual maternal deaths worldwide, second only to India at 17%. Similarly, the country accounts for 13% of all global deaths of children under the age of five years, again second only to India at 21%.

To address the challenge of estimated annual 900,000 maternal and child deaths, SOML focuses on increasing the use of high-impact reproductive and child health and nutrition interventions, and improving the quality of these services; strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems and measurement data; encouraging private sector innovation; and increasing transparency in management and budgeting for Primary Health Care (PHC) in the country.

The World Bank Group says it is expectedthat the new health operation will start implementation on August 1, 2015 and run till December 2019. TheBank’s support for SOML will utilize the Programme-for-Results (PforR) instrument to encourage a greater focus on results, increase accountability, improve measurements, strengthen management, and foster innovation. Importantly, the PforR funds will only be disbursed to the Federal and State governments for independently verified improvements in key services such as vaccination coverage among young children, rates of contraceptive use, Vitamin A supplementation, skilled birth attendance, HIV counselling and testing among women attending antenatal care, and preventing new malaria infections among children by using insecticide-treated bed nets. Also, the Federal and State governments will receive incentive payments for effective tackling of governance and management issues in the health sector and for improving the quality of basic health services.

The incoming administration of General MuhammaduBuhari now has the responsibility of successful utilisation of the IDA credit. Based on the passion of the President-elect to serve, there is high hope that the $500 million funding will deliver its objectives, and that further general improvementin healthcare delivery in Nigeria will be realised over the next four years.Appointment of a competent Nigerian with experience in result-based budgeting as Minister of Health will boost the chances of success in the implementation of health policies and foster judicious use of available resources. The need for such a professional to have exposure to the international health policy community and global funding agencies cannot be overemphasized, considering the significant international resources to be mobilized for healthcare under the Sustainable Development Goals which will replace the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.

The WHO asserts that”the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.” This means children should have access to healthcare when they need it. It also implies that pregnant women should be able to receive antenatal care and deliver safely with the assistance of skilled birth attendants.

• Moghalu is Head, Corporate Communication Department, Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank.

The post World Bank’s $500m facility: improving maternal, child healthcare in Nigeria appeared first on The Nation.

With the recent successful conclusion of the Skye Bank SME Roundtable, the bank has upped the ante in SME development in Nigeria, a sector long touted as the likely driver of growth for the Nigerian economy.

The sector accounts for about 20% of the country’s population – 35/40 million people, and therefore making it imperative that the bank pays close attention to the sector.  Why the Skye Bank intervention is crucial is that, as findings show, over half the number of the country’s 17 million SMEs identified by the National Bureau of Statistics may not make it through the next five years.

The fatality rate for this class of business, experts say can be attributed to a number of factors, including poor infrastructure, inappropriate tax regime/multiple taxations, limited access to finance, unfair competition, poor managerial capacity and accounting/marketing/operational planning issues.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) groups the militating factors into four namely: unfriendly business environment, poor funding, low managerial skills and lack of access to modern technology (FSS 2020 SME Sector Report, 2007).

Yet the sector, according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has a significant role to play in economic development. They form the backbone of the private sector; they make up over 90 per cent of enterprises in the world and account for 50 to 60 per cent of employment. They also play an important role in generating employment and poverty alleviation.

“Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are critical to the development of any economy as they possess great potentials for employment generation, improvement of local technology, output diversification, development of indigenous entrepreneurship and forward integration with large-scale industries”, observes the CBN.

With such importance, it is little wonder that government is deliberate about developing the sector, especially by creating access to finance, albeit a fractional level to the needs of the economy. All Banks, including Skye Bank, are expected to contribute a fraction of their annual profits to financing SMEs.

In 2010, to improve access to finance by SMEs, the CBN approved the investment of the sum of N500 billion debenture stocks to be issued by the Bank of Industry (BOI). The structure of the financing was such that in the first instance, the sum of N300 billion was applied to power projects and N200 billion to the refinancing/restructuring of banks existing loan portfolios to Nigerian SME/manufacturing sector.

The objective of the CBN was to fast-track the development of the SMEs and manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy and improve the financial position of deposit money banks. Complimentary to that, the CBN also established a N200 billion Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS), for promoting access to credit by SMEs in Nigeria. The Scheme is be wholly financed by the CBN.

The objectives of the SMECGS is to provide a guarantee for credit from banks to SMEs and manufacturers; increase the access of promoters of SMEs and manufacturers to credit and set the pace for industrialization of the Nigerian economy.

The overall goal of these two initiatives are to increase output, generate employment, diversify the revenue base, increase foreign exchange earnings and provide inputs for the industrial sector on a sustainable basis. But government intervention, while crucial and a necessary ‘first step’ can only go so far. Interventions such as that by Skye Bank, with its Business Roundtable platform, play a complimentary role.

That role, beyond providing finance is that of nurturing and mentoring, a clear recognition of the fatality rate in the sector. Business owners need to be guided on their journey to entrepreneurial success. It is in the spirit for laying the groundwork for this journey that the first SME Roundtable on Distributive Trade was organised at the Lagos Oriental Hotel in Lagos last week. It is the harbinger of a long line of Roundtable events lined up by the Bank in the course of the year.

The business roundtable, which is part of the bank’s initiative to connect with stakeholders in the different sectors of the economy, was well attended by stakeholders in the distributive trade sector.

It was kicked off by the bank’s GMD/CEO, Timothy Oguntayo who assured participants of the bank’s commitment to serve customers better as symbolised by its customers’ service charter.

The audience benefited from the experiences of the keynote speaker, Dr. Abiodun Adedipe and Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries (LCCI), Muda Yusuf.

Quoting UN sources, Adedipe harped on the importance of distributive trade saying

The post Skye Bank’s in-road into SMEs’ development: the stakes, impacts appeared first on The Nation.

The first time Nneka was raped, she got bruised in the hips by her only grandson. Nonso, 21, had visited her room the third night after she celebrated her 85th birthday; “He said he came to shut my windows and I seized the opportunity to thank him once again for the role he played in making my 85th anniversary a memorable one,” said Nneka. That fateful night, Nonso offered to apply sheabutter on his grandma’s ankles and wrists like he usually did since she developed joint pains. “It was soothing the way he rubbed it in my joints but just as I was drifting off to sleep, his grip became fierce on my wrists. Suddenly, he climbed over me and covered my mouth with his left palm. With his right, he yanked off my wrapper and rubbed sheabutter on my private part. I warned him that what he was about to do was an abomination but he ignored me and shoved his groin against me very roughly. I told him, ‘My child, my body is too old for you; my bones will break under you’ but he ignored me and warned me to cooperate and he would be gentle. But he was not gentle,” said the 85-year old. Thus when her entreaties with her grandson failed, she resigned to his power and lust.

As she recounted her experience, Nneka’s eyes glistened with tears she would not shed. Fighting back tears, she reached for a fresh orange in a bowl on a stool by her bedside and sucked on it with conquering immersion, all the piteous miseries of her life seemingly summoned in her toothless mouth. Her face, hard and pear-shaped provided a soiled, pale background to her sunken eyes; her eyes, twitching open and close in rhythm with the groove where her mouth met with the fruit rind, seemed in search of something; comfort perhaps.

Soon she lifted her mouth off the orange to emit a yawn, her mouth straining wide open like she meant to vomit in one breath, the agony interred in her buried narratives. With submissive sternness, she said: “That was only the first time. Nonso visited my room thrice afterwards. The fourth time he did it, Jecintha, his mother, and sister were awake in the living room. They were watching television. I was sore all over and I hurt in my private part but he didn’t care. He said he was only taking compensation for the stress he goes through living with me and caring for me…But I never requested that he come live with me. In fact, his mother came to dump him with me few days before he turned 15. She said she couldn’t handle his frequent tantrums and disrespect to his stepfather. Nonso’s father had died and when his mother remarried, he couldn’t get along with his stepfather.

“So, tell me, how did I do wrong by accepting him? The fourth time he raped me, I told him to be gentle but he wasn’t. When my entreaties failed, I begged him to use the sheabutter. In his haste, he used the one that had been mixed with a very searing mentholated balm. This caused my private part to bruise and by the time he finished, I was smarting from within and outside my genitals. When he finished, he cleaned my vagina with a wet cloth. I am sure he intended to use my body fluid for money ritual. But he has failed. It won’t work,” said Nneka.

The situation persisted until Chiamaka, Nneka’s second daughter and Nonso’s aunt came visiting. Chiamaka, who had been shuttling between Lagos and their family house in Enugu in preparation for her marriage discovered blood and pus stains on two of her mother’s wrappers and the genital area of her pants. Worriedly, she asked her mother if she had suffered any wound on her private part or if she was experiencing any bacterial infection in her genitals but the 85-year-old responded in the non-affirmative, stressing that the bloodstains were probably from bruises she sustained from washing her private part too vigorously with local sponge.

“But mama stopped using local sponge a long while ago. After she told me, I visited her bathroom and discovered that she had only the foamy sponge I bought for her few months earlier,” said Chiamaka. At that point, she suspected that something foul was going on. She did not want to believe the suspicions coursing through her mind hence she invited their family doctor, a distant cousin who pleaded anonymity.

Following tests conducted on the grandmother, the doctor invited one of her colleagues, a resident doctor in a teaching

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•Another scene from a protest in
southeast Nigeria; women in the
region have taken to the streets
in recent times to protest sexual
assault against elderly women and
young ladies in their communities

hospital, to reexamine the 85-year-old. To their chagrin, the results showed that their frail 85-year-old mother had suffered severe vaginal scarring and bacterial infection in her genital area.

Hell broke loose and Nonso fled from their Enugu abode. Although Nneka initially declined to talk, “Due to my persistence, I was able to force the truth out of her. My poor, old mother cried uncontrollably like a baby as she recounted her ordeal in the hands of Nonso. That boy had been defiling my dear mother, his grandmother at will. She was terribly bruised but he continued raping her until her genitals started emitting pus and a foul odour. The stench was so great that mama had to be subjected to a heavy dosage of antibiotics which was too much for a woman of her age…Now I know that the world has turned upside down. All Jecintha (her elder sister and Nonso’s mother) could say was that we needed to investigate further. She said we should look for Nonso first instead of accusing him in his absence. Can you imagine? Why did he run away if he was not guilty? She said she did not raise her son like that,” said Chiamaka.

Chiamaka subsequently relocated their mother to live with her and her fiancé at her residence in Ogba-Aguda, Lagos. Efforts to get in touch with Nonso proved unsuccessful; when The Nation visited two of his friends he reportedly squat with whenever he visits Lagos, the duo claimed they did not know of his whereabouts. His mother on the other hand would not “make any hasty conclusions on the issue” until she sees her son. “I have to see Nonso and hear his side to the story. They claimed he ran away because he is guilty; what if he ran away because they threatened him to confess to what he didn’t do. Mama is old now. She had been having trouble with her memory and sight; what if it was someone else that did it (raped her)? Youths in the area have been raping elderly women for a while now, for sport and money ritual; my Nonso would never do that to anyone. Why would he do so to his grandmother? My son may be a hard guy but he is no rapist,” said Jecintha.

The jury is surely out on Jecintha’s take on the ugly incident, while her argument in defence of her son seems tenable to her, not a few relatives and family friends have frowned at her insistence on her child’s innocence. Chiamaka argued that she is living in denial claiming that Jecintha will never understand the gravity of her son’s transgression “until he rapes her like he raped mama.”

Living in denial oftentimes leads to grievous consequences. “When families of elderly rape victims live in denial, they aggravate the severity of psychological damage inflicted on the poor, old women,” noted Bilkis Hussein, a psychiatrist. According to her, elderly victims of sexual abuse or rape become even more vulnerable to further abuse and even death if their families or care-givers fail to support them with the necessary aid and protection.

Take the case of Rebecca a.k.a Iya onidiiri (hair weaver), a 91-year-old widow who lived with her widowed daughter and her live-in lover in Atan, an Ogun State border town. According to Adenike, 23, her grandma got disabled by rheumatoid arthritis few months before she clocked 91. She was also cognitively impaired and deaf. “Earlier, she was taken to a nursing home but when the bills became too much, mother had to withdraw her and bring her home. I advised against it but she wouldn’t listen to me. She was hell bent on following the advice of her toy-boy (live-in lover) who was only concerned about saving my mother’s money so that she could have more money to spend on him. I knew grandma would not get the care she deserved at home so I made it a point of duty to always come home on weekends to check on her,” said Adenike.

The 23-year-old revealed that on one such visit, her grandma tacitly told her things that led her to suspect that she was been sexually abused. “We had only one male in the house and that was my mother’s toy-boy. I confronted my mom over mama’s claims but she slapped me and told me I was an evil child. She said grandma was a witch who was going senile and she wouldn’t let both of us ruin her life just when it was beginning to get rosy,” said Adenike.

Adenike later admitted that at some point, she also became confused over the veracity of her grandma’s claims and that was because she had lost her sight and her memory seemed too far gone. But when suddenly she received a call that her grandma was seriously ill, Adenike rushed home to meet her lifeless body. “She died before I got home and the neighbour who bathed her told me that she found what seemed like fresh male semen on her thighs and genitals. I could say nothing because it would give our family a bad name but when I told our pastor about my fears after grandma’s funeral, he advised me to forget the incident and say nothing about it. He said I should let the dead rest in peace…I hope my mom suffers the same fate as her mother,” said Adenike.

In another incident, Mabel, 78, lived with her youngest son, Vitus, in relative peace in their Umuahia, Abia State residence until the 36-year-old college dropout decided to turn her into a sex toy. Vitus, unskilled and jobless, was forced to live with his mother by necessity and Mabel had no choice but to give him shelter even though many of his childhood friends had moved from home to seek a livelihood and start their own families. The 36-year-old’s two elder brothers are resident in Amsterdam, Netherlands hence Mabel also felt she could use the company. Trouble, however, reared its ugly head to ruin their picture-perfect life when Vitus developed a drinking problem. The 36-year-old, according to a neighbour, had too much money at his disposal for someone who was unemployed. Vitus reportedly lived on money remitted back home by his siblings. Mabel, his mother, disclosed that things worsened after Vitus’ visa application to Europe was denied. Heartbroken, the 36-year-old took solace in drinking. According to Mabel, she struggled to condole his drunkenness to no avail. Soon, Vitus, severely drunk, hung-over and angry,  began to walk around the house naked.

“Twice, he masturbated in my presence; the first time, I walked in on him doing it in the living room. He knew I was at home but he made no attempt to relocate to his room even after I saw him. The second time he did it, he came to meet me in the kitchen stroking his organ. He said he came to ask what I had prepared for breakfast. That day, I lost my cool and slapped him. I told him he was a bastard and that I would report him to his brothers abroad. Normally, he would beg me not to report to them but he told me to go to hell. He said he didn’t care what I told them and accused me of treating them as my favourite sons because they were doing very well abroad.

“I couldn’t tell his brothers. If I did, they would have dealt with him severely. They would cut him off. He later came to apologise to me and told me he was turning a new leaf,” said Mabel.

If she believed his show of remorse, it was to her own peril. Vitus soon began to take pictures of her while she took her bath and dressed in her bedroom with his phone.

“It was easy for him to get in my room at will because the lock was bad. I was worried and scared stiff; so, I decided to get a lock fixed on my door on a Friday afternoon while he was away. He had gone partying and clubbing as usual and he came home very drunk at midnight. I knew he was around because he kicked the door open and broke the lock from the hinges. I startled awake but I could not shout because it was very late and I didn’t want the neighbours to find out what was happening in our home. They had always known me and my late husband to be disciplinarians.

“When he got inside, he blamed me for ruining his life and accused me of not doing enough to help him. He said he was going to punish me for my wickedness. As he spoke, he unzipped his trouser and urinated all over my bed, bathing me with urine as he did. He called me a witch claiming he was peeing on me to neutralise my evil powers.

“I tried to get off the bed but he shoved me back and pinned me to the bed. He punched me on both shoulders and my knees. The pain shot through my whole being and it was unbearable. He mounted me roughly. I was too weak to resist; then he tore my panties off and raped me. He raped me twice on that night,”  revealed the 78-year-old.

Mabel is convinced that Vitus acted so because he was under a spell. “I had never seen him like that. He was very agitated and his eyes were glazed over. He raped me like he was on drugs. The following morning, I was sore all over,” she said.

Things, however, got to a head when Vitus raped his mother just before her childhood friend came visiting. Mabel tearfully confided in her and the latter in turn, alerted Vitus’ two siblings abroad. Pleading anonymity, the woman, a retired school principal who claimed to have taught Vitus in high school, said she was worried that the community would impose severe penalties on Vitus given rising resentment against incessant rape of elderly women in their community. No sooner she informed her friend’s older children than the eldest son, Christopher jetted back to the country. But just before he arrived, Mabel reportedly gave Vitus a sizable sum of money and urged him to flee. “I wasn’t in support of her action because that boy, (Vitus) needs help. But she said she was scared of what his brothers might do to him,” said the retired school principal and the victim’s childhood friend.

When the rapist is family…

The Nation findings revealed that older women without intimate partners may be particularly vulnerable to abuse by other family members. Sons and grandsons, for instance, have been implicated as perpetrators of sexual violence against their mothers as exemplified by the cases of 85-year-old Nneka and 78-year-old Mabel.

Further findings revealed that sexual abuse of elderly persons and outright rape in most cases are rampant yet under-reported by victims and their family due to fear of stigmatisation. According to a victim of elderly sex abuse, “When you are a mother, left behind with children who are boys, there is one amongst your children … he wants to sleep with you and wants that you must not talk about it. … You are afraid because you do not have the strength. He does that thing as he pleases.”

Elders assaulted by spouses as well as other family members, including adult children or grandchildren, face a host of problems.“Victims of familial elder sexual abuse frequently rely upon their abusers for care and assistance. During later life, need for assistance generally increases. It is natural to prefer to receive help from family members rather than strangers. This interdependency makes victim self protection via separation from the offender quite difficult. Without separation, continued sexual abuse is likely.

Assault is more psychologically injurious when inflicted by someone expected to provide love, protection, and support. Many elderly victims of familial sexual abuse experience powerful ambivalent feelings towards their abusers. These feelings complicate the trauma response, and make it difficult to accept intervention. Many victims fear that intervention will lead to negative consequences for their abusers – perhaps consequent homelessness or even criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Familial bonds of attachment make it difficult for victims to trigger such consequences, according to

Although studies have shown that sexual abuse against elderly women is usually perpetrated by a relative, it can also be inflicted by unrelated domestic caregivers or by random assailants. While many people think that rape is a “sexually motivated crime” that affects only younger women, it is also, in fact, perpetrated against older women, whose perceived or actual vulnerability makes them likely victims.

Profile of the rapist as a random culprit

In several other cases, the rapist turns out to be a neighbour next door or someone living few blocks or streets away. Take the case of Abdullateef, for instance, the skinny, 16-year-old and Senior Secondary School (SSS1) student cut the picture of an innocent boy; he looked pretty odd to be a suspect undergoing interrogation at the anti-robbery section of the Department of Criminal Investigation, Ogun State Police Command. But the allegations against him are quite damning.

Abdullateef was arrested on January 18, 2015 at Lambe area of Ajuwon, Ogun State, after he allegedly entered the residence of a 52-year-old neighbour late in the night to rob her of the sum of N16,500. After dispossessing her of the money, he went ahead to rape her, not minding the age difference between them. Abdullateef allegedly threatened to hurt his prey with an iron rod and warned her to keep her mouth shut, claiming he had a vicious gang waiting for him outside. Of course, she complied and even though she was visibly shaken and mortified by his decision to rape her after robbing her off her money, there was nothing she could do about it. Thus the 52-year-old lay quietly, without a fight, as the 16-year old mounted her to satisfy his carnal lust. Even though she knew her assailant to be a neighbour’s son, she did not let him know lest she put herself in even greater danger.

At day break, she put a call through to her husband to inform him of her experience. The husband in response rushed back home but not until he visited the Ajuwon police station to report a case of robbery and rape. During interrogated, the teenager confessed his deeds and was promptly transferred to the Department of Criminal Investigation, Eleweeran, Abeokuta, for further interrogation.

Nnanna on the other hand operated in a more organised and dangerous manner until he got caught. The native of Opi community in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State recently stunned security operatives and other inhabitants of the agrarian community when he revealed his delight in raping elderly women. Jobless and in his 30s, he claimed to nurture a lust for elderly women because they are better than most young ladies of his age group. According to him, due to his impoverished status, he could not afford to woo girls below his age group or his age mates hence he resorted to raping old women and grandmothers in his community.

For several months, Nnanna had successfully raped about a dozen elderly women whose ages averaged 60 years. Luck, however, deserted him when his last victim defied his threats to kill her with a knife and raised an alarm. This drew the attention of passersby who rushed to the elderly woman’s rescue.

Nnanna was apprehended and given a sound beating before he was handed over to the police. He was later transferred to the Enugu State Criminal Investigations Department. When confronted with the allegation that he was using the women for rituals, he denied the allegation, claiming he only ‘used’ the women to satisfy his sexual urge.

Why rape elderly women?

Although “gerontophilia” (defined as an age-discordant sexual preference) has long been known to exist, gerontophilic rape has rarely been subjected to empirical scrutiny. The analysis of rapists’ attraction to elderly victims raises the question of whether or not such sex offenders constitute a separate type of paraphilia, that is, the need for an extreme or dangerous stimulus such as a sadistic or masochistic practice in order to achieve sexual arousal or orgasm.

The issue with rapists of elders may be polymorphous sexuality where the person is not only aroused by non-social objects but also age-inappropriate persons. The critical point is that the offender is acting on his impulse, has a loosening of internal and external controls, and has proximity to a vulnerable victim. As observed in Nneka and Mabel’s cases, the perpetrators exhibited disregard for getting caught. The urge, impulse, desire and actions come quickly. This is a matter of understanding the conditions of the actions not condoning the actions. As noted with the dynamics of rapists, there is a strong element of power combined with the abuse according to Ariyike Bello, a consultant clinical psychiatrist.

Bello acknowledged that sexual offenders are attracted to vulnerability. Perpetrators seek out potential victims who they perceive as easy to overpower and manipulate. They look for those who would be unlikely to report the assault and who would not be deemed credible if the assault were reported.

There are a number of reasons to support the inherent vulnerability of elder women when compared to younger women as a factor to place the elder at risk for crime occurring at her residence. Firstly, if elderly women are not dependent upon care, they are more likely to live alone due in large part to a longer life expectancy and higher risk for widowhood. Secondly, vulnerability is related to physical size and strength and elder women are perceived to be less capable than younger women to flee or resist a physical attack.

Thirdly, as women age, there are changes in skeletal, neuromuscular, and other systemic changes that restrict mobility and thus reduce their abilities to defend themselves. Elderly women are less likely than younger counterparts to have guardianship of a younger male or partner and more likely to be perceived by motivated offenders as suitable targets.

Older adults are especially vulnerable to sexual violence, and elder sexual assault is one of the  most hidden crimes. Unfortunately, while elder sexual assault victims may require more assistance and specialized help, they often receive less services and intervention than younger victims for a number of reasons. Certain factors associated with the aging process put the elder population at heightened risk. In some cases, people of advanced age need others to provide basic necessities and assistance with daily functions. These circumstances increase one’s risk of sexual assault; elders are often victimised by those assisting them or those closest to them. Reduced cognitive or emotional functioning may also render older people more susceptible to sexual assault. Even for well elders, the social stigma of old age make them an easier target for perpetration and more likely to remain silent if victimised.

Study identify boys and young adults as major perpetrators of rape

In a study conducted last year, 2014, by Dr. Uchendu Obiorah Jude of the Department of Pathology, Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara and Dr. Nwogoh Benedict of the Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State, perpetrators of rape were identified in the lower age group. The study which was conducted over six months at the central hospital, Benin City, Edo State, aimed to analyse the demographic parameters of perpetrators of rape, the instruments of abuse and the environment of the assault. A total of 100 cases were documented during the study period and the mean age of assailants was 20 years with peak age range of 21-30 years. Neighbours were the highest culprits and majority of abuse were carried out during the day.

Impact of rape on elderly victims

Problems confronting elderly victims of rape and sexual abuse include feelings of shame, humiliation and fear of repercussions for disclosing abuse or seeking help. Often times, however, problems experienced by elderly victims of sexual assault are even more challenging according Seun Taiwo, a psychiatrist. Taiwo noted that given the social climate in which many seniors were raised, feelings of shame and self-blame for sexual abuse are often more intense than those felt by younger victims. “Many of them grew up in a world of sexism, where even the rape crisis movement discriminated on the basis of age, race, and gender. This affects how elders experience and view sexual victimisation, and how society and professions dealing with crime victims respond to elder victims, “she said.

A battered or raped woman suffers much deeper wounds than the immediate physical effect of the trauma. The testimony of Roseline Ugwuunwoli, a rape victim and widow in her late 70s, captures this feeling. Ugwuunwoli, who has a daughter and seven grandchildren, narrated her ordeal thus: “It was only one person that attacked and raped me. It rained heavily that night but he came when it was drizzling. I don’t know the exact time. He kicked and pulled down the door before he came in. I shouted and called on Jesus to come to my aid as I looked and saw a young man standing naked by my bed side, wielding a knife and torchlight. He jumped on me on my bed and held my throat as if he wanted to strangle me to death. He warned me to keep calm or he would kill me. I kept quiet and he descended on me. People in my neighborhood who heard the sound of the door when it was violently pulled down and my cry for help woke up their grown up sons to come to my rescue. But it was late as my attacker had fled before they arrived. I was already unconscious; so they carried me to their house and started searching the entire neighbourhood but they could not find him.

“I was living with my only grandchild and when the child wanted to shout, he warned her to shut up or he would stab her to death. My relations came the next morning and took me to hospital for treatment. As it is now, I cannot hear properly as a result of the beating I received from my attacker before the actual rape. If you are talking to me and you don’t speak louder, I won’t hear what you are saying. He thoroughly beat me before he attempted strangling me because I resisted him initially, but after much beating and the attempt to strangle me, I surrendered and he pounded me to unconsciousness before help came my way. Even after the hospital treatment, I still couldn’t sit down properly; local herbs were collected, boiled and used to massage me just like woman who just gave birth to a new baby.

“It was after the local massaging that I started sitting down without much pain. My case was one of the worst. The knife the attacker came with was found on my bed the following day and it was taken to my church. All I am saying is that nobody but God gives life and only he can take it when it pleases him. Now, I feel dizzy sometimes. I also feel somehow inside of me but I can’t describe the kind of feeling. All I can say is that the effect of the incident is still very much with me.”

A worrisome epidemic

While speaking on the rising incidence of rape in the state, the Edo State Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, linked it to money rituals, wealth, power, longevity voodoo, cultism and psycho-social problems. And despite dearth of adequate data, information from states and non-governmental organisations, show that rape is a nationwide epidemic across Nigeria. The Ondo State Police Command, for example, said it recorded 45 rape cases in 2013, but did not state the number of prosecutions or convictions. In Edo, 96 rape cases were recorded between January 2012 and August 2014. Ninety-two of those cases were prosecuted and nine convictions secured.

Hospital reports in Edo, however, show that majority of the cases are not being reported at the police station. While the police reported 96 cases in 32 months, the state-owned Central Hospital in Benin City disclosed during a recent workshop that not less than 80 cases of rape were treated in eight months between March and October 2013.

In Jigawa State, an average of 10 cases are reported monthly, according to the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Yakubu Ruba. In Enugu State, not less than 51 minors and 45 adults were raped between April and August 2014, according to the Women Aid Collective, a non-governmental organisation. In Lagos State, the office of Youth and Social Development of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development said it recorded 244 child rape cases between January and October, 2011. It listed the most prevalent areas as Yaba, Agege, Ikeja and Surulere. In 2012, the figure increased. The state government listed 427 child rape incidents and admitted that perhaps more were not reported to authorities.

The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, while speaking of the challenges in successfully prosecuting rape cases said of the 427 cases reported in 2012, only six have ended in convictions. Ipaye identified  lack of reliable evidence as a major cog in the wheel of securing convictions.

The punishment for rape as spelt out in Section 358 of the Criminal Code is life imprisonment, while an attempt to commit rape attracts 14 years imprisonment. In spite of the penalty for rape, it still thrives due to impediments occasioned by legal technicalities and unwillingness of victims to press charges due to shame and fear of stigmatisation according to Abayomi Sanya, a lawyer.

The Opi-Nsukka malady

Incidences of sexual assault of elderly women have made the news in recent years, particularly in Opi, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. It would be recalled that two years ago, over 100 women from Ogbaozalla and Ibeku communities in Opi, Nsukka LGA, Enugu, thronged the streets to protest the incessant rape of old women by young men in their community. The perpetrators, aged between 17 and 25 years, had been caught raping old women of 60 to 80 years, including blind women in the area. The protesting women told members of Umuada Igbo Nigeria (UIN) that out of the 13 rape victims, one had died because of bleeding induced by tears she sustained when some sex-hungry boys raped her.

During the protest, which lasted for more than five hours, the women appealed to UIN to intervene to save them from further harassment as they no longer sleep at night. They said they had reported the cases to the police for action, but regretted that the situation had not changed.

The Founder and President-General of UIN, Dr. Uzoamaka Ezeofor, who addressed the aggrieved women, expressed disappointment with the attitude of the young boys. She wondered what form of sexual satisfaction they wished to derive from old women between the ages of 60 and 80 years.

Three years after the protest, serial raping of old women in Opi has continued. Worried about the sad turn of events, women of the area recently called on the relevant security agencies to provide them with adequate security in order to forestall further occurrences in recent times.

The women who made the appeal recently in Nsukka during a public hearing by the Enugu state House of Assembly Seven-Man Adhoc Committee on the alleged continuous raping of women old women in the community lamented that despite their outcry over the matter, serious measures have not been taken to address the situation.

They said young boys in the area have continued to rape old women in the area, including those aged above 70 years, stressing that the situation had made life uncomfortable for them. Speaking on behalf of the women, Ngozi Agbo, a women Leader in Ogbozalla-Opi said some of the youths who are involved in the act were after their lives.

Agbo told the committee that most of the women in Ogbozalla and Ibeku Opi no longer sleep in their houses at night because of fear of being raped or killed by some youth rapists. “We are calling on government to come to our rescue as our lives are no longer safe. Against the feelings that the situation had been brought under control, I can tell you that raping of old women by youths is still on in Opi…The worst is that our traditional ruler is not living in the Ogbozalla community. He lives in Enugu with his family and that is why he is not concerned over our plight,” she said, stressing that the criminal act escalates because “some wealthy people are supporting this evil, as they go to police station to bail these criminal when arrested.”

The women and grandmothers of Ogbozalla, Ibeku Opi and several other neighbourhoods grappling with the plague of teenage and youth rapists might have to seek self-help like the Kungfu grannies of Korogocho, Nairobi, Kenya. At the Streams of Hope and Peace charity training centre in the slum of Korogocho, Nairobi, over 30 local grandmothers enrolled for a free martial arts course to protect themselves from a recent spate of  house robberies and rapes.

Aged 50 to 100 years, the “Cucu Takinge” meaning: “Grannies defending themselves” in Swahili  learn the basics of karate and kung fu, along with “dirty tricks” such as pokes in the eyes and kicks to the groin. The course aims to equip the old ladies with necessary self-defence skills to defend an attack. There are even specific techniques conceived for blind people. At the centre, some of the aged participants  appear strong and fit while others struggle to lift their legs, hampered by age and their long gowns.

The threats elderly women face are indeed real. According to the Gender Recovery Center of the Nairobi Women’s Hospital, 223 out of 2,300 rape  cases registered in 2009 by the hospital concerned women over 60. Perceived as weak and defenseless by their assailants, grannies are also believed to be untouched by the high rates of HIV infection among young women. Since 2008, the situation has gradually deteriorated: old ladies are now openly threatened during the day, in crowded places like water collecting points or main roads. Avoiding going out of the house is however, not an option, because many old ladies don’t receive any pension and live off the limited money they make by selling groceries or keeping small shops.

In Nigeria, some victims and their families that spoke with The Nation on condition of anonymity stated that many of the attacks are carried out on old women by assailants whose intention is to use them for fetish money-making rituals.

Protecting our mothers and grandmas

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.The threats elderly women face are indeed real but while rape of minors and middle aged women frequently make the news, violent rape or sexual attacks against elderly women are hardly reported. Besides terse newspaper reports of incidences of rape of elderly women in the country, there is no dependable statistical base or data of rape or sexual assault against the elderly in the country.

The situation, therefore, calls for urgent steps by the government, law enforcement agencies and civil societies in the country to remedy the situation. “Friends, family and social workers can help to stop abuse by reporting suspected cases to the police and state officials as required by law,” said Abiodun Ishola, a secondary school teacher and social worker.

Investigation and prosecution of an elder sexual crime present unique challenges to victim, the providers, and the criminal justice system. When criminal conduct occurs, rapid detection, sufficient documentation, and referral are critical to permit effective development of cases. After an occurrence of the crime, all necessary elements, including perpetrator identification, must be proven. The competency of the victim to provide evidence must also be determined. These issues are very important with the older adult victim who has physical or mental impairment. It is recommended that a reliable and valid national source of data about the sexual abuse of elders be available to set standards from which prosecutors can base assumptions to secure the prosecution of offenders, according David Ukaga, a sociologist and Managing Director (MD) of City Sentinel, a private securities services provider.

Sade Afuape, a sociologist and geriatric home administrator however, suggested that the government should establish and fund well administered geriatric homes. “After establishing these homes, the government should employ highly qualified staff through a vigorous screening process. Care-givers at the homes should be adequately trained to care for elders and sensitise them on issues of sexual abuse,” she said.

In the case of interventions in established cases of sexual abuse, however, social workers must be trained to avoid actions that cause evidence of sexual abuse to deteriorate. For example, social workers practicing in geriatric nursing homes should educate staff that potential victims of sexual abuse should be referred for forensic evaluations immediately. Alleged victims should not be bathed and clothing and bed linens should not be laundered prior to evidence collection.

Another important part of intervention is supporting elderly victims during and after civil and criminal sexual abuse investigations and criminal prosecutions. Social workers may also play important roles in contributing information to investigators. Intervention may involve helping victims to access court orders designed to increase safety and protective orders may be obtained on behalf of victims who lack mental capacity, according to Afuape.

In a nutshell, forensic nurses, community and healthcare practitioners, family and other caregivers need to become better informed about interpersonal violence, including sexual assault, perpetrated on elders, and how to support and provide opportunities for enhanced comprehensive assessment, medical, legal and psychotherapeutic intervention.

But as the government and other stakeholders return to the drawing board, they will do well to include severely damaged and disillusioned grandmothers like Nneka and Mabel in their loop of schemes.  A journey through Nneka’s mind for instance reveals world-weariness characteristic of the aged who considers hope inconsequential after suffering too many tragic disappointments in her lifetime.

Nneka hurts severely every time she remembers her first experience in her dimly lit room where Nonso, her 21-year-old grandson forcefully pried her wrinkled thighs apart driven by a raging libido in a sexual frenzy. Nonso was terrifying; venomous threats and inexcusable rationalisations sprang from his lips in a torrent of spittle and measured terror; the effect was frightening. It kept Nneka from screaming and putting up a feeble attempt against his youth and power. Nneka occasionally descends into a labyrinth of pain and pitiful paranoia. These days, she talks and curses at no one in particular, disclosed Chiamaka.

“Just recently, I was sitting with her, trimming her toe nails in the verandah, when she started crying and cursing for no reason in particular. It is even more painful to hear her cry in her sleep.  Recently, I heard her call someone bastard in her sleep. She said it in a very mean tone… My mother has not healed at all. Sometimes, I am forced to think she relives every brutal moment of that rape. She is still living in that brutal nightmare,” she said.

And thus is the tragedy of an 85-year-old rape victim; now 86, several months since her rescue from sexual assault by her grandson, “she is still living in that brutal nightmare.”

The post Travails of elderly women raped by younger men appeared first on The Nation.

• Nigerians groan     •Fares skyrocket      •Commuters stranded at bus stops

Innocent Duru, Hannah Ojo,  Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan and  Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

Hope that the lingering fuel scarcity would improve after the Major Oil Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) promised to resume the lifting of the product penultimate Friday was dashed as the challenge failed to abate during the week nationwide.

Contrary to the Executive Secretary, Mr. Femi Olawore’s assurance that filling stations would begin to receive supply the same day, many filling stations visited by The Nation during the week were not selling fuel. The attendants said they were yet to get supplies.

Motorists flocked to the few filling stations that had the product and selling to members of the public. The unusual long queues at some of the filling stations stretched to major roads in some areas, causing traffic  gridlock and untold pains for the people.

Consequently, economic and social activities, which were crippled last week,  further suffered a serious setback across the country, as the scarcity entered the second week yesterday.

Residents of Lagos State who spoke with The Nation lamented that the development robbed them of their productive time and resources as they have either been sleeping at filling stations to get the product or paying exorbitant fares to get to their destinations. A number of commuters lamented that they could not attend to their businesses because they were forced to return to their houses after being stranded for several hours.

Narrating his ordeal, a commercial driver who identified himself as Bode Taiwo, said: ” I spent two days queuing at a petrol station before I could get petrol. When I eventually got, I paid the sum of N200 for a litre. It is not possible for me to charge the fare I used to charge before because it would be tantamount to laboring in vain.

Mauroof Olashebe, another commercial driver, lamented that he has been idle for the good part of the week, adding:  “Our buses are lying idle  because there is no fuel. We have wives and children at home, so staying in business is critical to our survival. We can’t put water into our vehicles and expect them to run on the roads. Government should please come to our plight. I don’t buy at the black market, so I have not been working since the scarcity started.”

A commuter, who simply identified herself as Bisade, said: “ I am going back to my house. I have stood at the bus stop for several hours without getting a bus. The fares charged by the few ones that have passed are too high for me. If I pay such, how sure am I that I would make enough sales to get enough money to return home. I feel it is better to go back home because  the fuel scarcity would even aggravate the lull in business activities.”

Mike Adiaga, a security man at one of the filling stations visited by our correspondent, lamented that his means of livelihood had been under serious threat since the fuel scarcity began.

“As I am talking to you now, I don’t have a dime on me. I have not eaten today and I don’t know what I will take home to my wife and children because I am paid on daily basis and since they have not been selling fuel for sometime now, that means no money for me. Yesterday, I went for a vigil and was almost stranded with my wife and children because fares had increased.   My generator is on vacation for now.”

A manager in one of the petrol stations visited by The Nation absolved filling station owners of any blame for the scarcity, saying: “ The scarcity has nothing to do with hoarding. No filling station will risk hoarding fuel because of its attendant consequences. The price we buy determines the price we sell to consumers. Mind you, we are also consumers because when we don’t have, we also go to other filling stations or black markets to buy.”

Major roads in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were deserted during the week as a result of the scarcity.

A few commercial vehicles were seen plying the roads with most of them queuing at filling stations, hoping that they would get the product to buy at the end of the day.

The Nation learnt that most filling stations had the product, but were not selling it to the people, citing the strike action embarked upon by petroleum workers.

Also, prices of goods and services continued to soar  in the state after commercial drivers arbitrarily  hiked fares by 100 per cent. A trip from  Ojoo to the Iwo Road which used to be N50 has been jerked up to N100.The story was the same at Mokola, Ojoo, Bodija, Challenge and other areas of the state capital.

Residents of  Ado-Ekiti and neighbouring towns in Ekiti State were not left out of the gale of  frustration caused by the scarcity.

They alleged that the lingering scarcity started gradually last weekend, but worsened on Monday when the majority of the filling stations refused to openly sell the commodity to members of the public.

Queues formed at petrol stations in some major roads in Ado-Ekiti  resulted in gridlock that locked up the entire area, causing motorists and commuters to spend the good part of their time on the road.

Some of the motorists told The Nation that they had been sleeping at filling stations in order to get the product.

Most of the filling stations visited by The Nation in Ado-Ekiti and  Ikere-Ekiti were selling the product between N110 to N130 per litre.

Some of the motorists, who spoke with The Nation, condemned the situation which some of them alleged is a plot to frustrate the change of government on May 29.

A motorist, Paul Aribatise, accused marketers of deliberately hoarding fuel in anticipation of an increase in pump price by the incoming administration.

“I have been on queue here for the past six hours. I used to buy fuel at NNPC mega stations, but had to come here because they were not selling at the moment.

I think they are hoarding the product ahead of the handover of government to Buhari on May 29, but this is very unfortunate. I don’t know why we always make life difficult for ourselves in Nigeria, and this is a big challenge to the in coming government,” Aribatise said.

Another motorist, Segun Agbede, wondered what agencies like the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Petroleum Products Consumers Protection Agency (PPCPA) charged with the responsibility of ensuring compliance are doing.

He said: “It is only in Nigeria that this nonsense can be condoned.  There are statutory agencies in place to save consumers from all this exploitation. What are they doing? They are sleeping because if they are alive to their responsibilities, this latest scarcity should not have happened.”

The post Queues persist at filling stations as fuel scarcity enters second week appeared first on The Nation.

The romantic theme in the anthology can be seen in the following poems, Greeting Moon, November In Dakar, Sipi, On this Mount Elgon and Co-existence. Greeting Moon is a poem on the moon when it was at its best. November in Dakar can be likened to the experience of cold in the Northern region of Nigeria in places like Maiduguri, Borno State or Jos, Plateau State. The effect of the harmattan is described as blowing hot in our faces, skins turn into fish scales, lips chapped like crocodile hide, eyes teary from allergies and the nose rocks with sneezing spells. When the night become cool, couples get together to welcome the change in season. Sipi is a poem in which the poet queries the relationship of the fall with River Mississippi, the poet extols the greatness feature of this waterfall. The fall is described as “loud, will in your falls” line 20. In order to understand the beauty of this river, I googled and found out that it is one of the tourist sites in Uganda. On This Mount Elgon is a poem on the expedition of the mountain with a team of explorers. The beauty of nature on the hills and forests is seen in this poem. The poem Co-existence is still about the coexistence of man and different elements of nature still on the same Mt Elgon.

There are themes that pungently reflect the African experience such as HIV/AIDS which is in the poem, At the River’s Edge. This phenomenon has wiped out many people of African descent. The poem opens with a feeling of neutrality by 2 groups of people: Africans who are not affected and the International community. The scourge has turned many children into bread winners. The port implores that Africans should reach out and share love with those affected. Africans care for one another till death. The poem Dear Trevor is about the untimely death of Trevor, a jolly good fellow who had a willing heart to help. However, it is gratifying to know that his life was short but purposeful. Trevor is one of the many victims of election violence and other heinous crimes that are in abundance in Africa. Ears is a poem on internally displaced people’s camp like we currently have it in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria. The people in the camp had to keep mum regardless of the experience in the camp notwithstanding the bombing around the camp.

As typical to Africans who constantly call for revolution, a poem tagged Revolutionaries, is about the efforts of the youths to save Africa after the Darfur crisis and the Rwandan genocide. After a while, factions came up, some leaders died and some were “settled”. This has made the continent to waste on because of lies and betrayal by those that lead and were trusted. Also, the poem, Thief, is the revolution that is expected in the liberation of the language of Africans. The colonialists substituted the language at their advent. Every African nation has been systematically colonized linguistically since their advent. Some school of thought might argue that it is for global intelligibility but the truth remains that many beautiful thoughts in our languages that cannot be contextualized in English and French languages are gradually fading off. The poet vehemently requested for the restoration of language so as to convey her thoughts in her own mother-tongue.

Another group of poems that I want to sum up can be grounded under the theme of Urbanized Africa. Living Out of a Suitcase is a description of the lifestyle of a lady who lived with 8 families in 3 months. The lady is quite helpless because she does not have a steady job. Unfortunately, she loses more than expected because her originality, her creativity and freewill is being traded in an attempt to eke a living. The poet summed it up that it is the way of people who keep walking the streets of life. Skipping is a way of correcting the assumption of youngster about generations that have gone ahead. She made it known that the prevalent challenges of today, namely, marriage, injustice, joblessness, was also experienced by the previous generation. However, at the demise of the older generation, the current generation thinks the past was favoured. Monday Morning is a poem that describes the aftermath of Sunday’s fun. Monday is never easy because it comes with a lot of bodily weaknesses which include indigestion, constipation, exhaustion, hang-ups and hangovers. The joy of an average man is full when it is a public holiday, where there is rainstorm, the roads are impassable and normal routine disrupted. People see it as a gift and they remain in bed on a Monday morning. A Wish is a poem that speaks of one of the issues of urbanized Africa which is depression. The poet wishes that depression has a cure. Many people are suffering from depression. The poet as a female might have suffered a heart-break that lead to depression and other socio-economic problems.

I would want to end this review by showing a myth and proverb that is closely related to that of Yoruba culture in the anthology. In the poem titled, Grandma and I, it was raining and there was sunshine simultaneously, in the poet’s culture, it means the hyena is getting wedded but in Yoruba culture, it is called, “Ekun n bimo” which means the Tiger is giving birth. Also in Ears, the mother cautioned her children making them know that walls have ears and this is similar to a Yoruba adage of the same meaning “Ogiri leti”. The thought pattern of Africans is identical.

The anthology Give Me Room To Move My Feet has a very rich content both that shows that the themes that unify the African cosmology. Barya has shown that it is possible to write in simple English and still give profound description of happenings around Africa. Barya has got a larger room by writing these poems in her own unique way.

The post Similitude Of The African Experience appeared first on The Nation.

For Mrs. Cecilia Olukayode, mother of the late Nigerian Olympic medalist, Oluyemi Kayode, who died in an auto accident more than 20 years ago, living has been difficult. The 76-year-old grandmother, who lost her husband soon after the death of her illustrious son, is sad that her family has been abandoned by the country her son served and died for. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

The belief among most Nigerians is that the nation does not celebrate her heroes, whether living or dead. And in truth, stories abound of many patriotic Nigerians who had served the country in different areas of human endeavour with vigour, but are left to suffer later in life as a result of injury sustained while serving their fatherland.

From Lagos to Abeokuta, Kano to Port Harcourt, monuments erected in honour of dead Nigerian heroes are in ruins.

Interestingly, the sporting world, especially in Nigeria, is replete with stories of sportsmen and women staging showdowns with sports administrators over allowances and bonuses while on national assignment. Such actions, observers believe, are informed by the fate of their senior colleagues who have been forced into abject poverty in retirement.

Unfortunately, the ugly situation is not helped by the absence of a Foundation or Sports Trust Fund, from which sporting heroes who get injured, incapacitated or down with any life-threatening ailment can draw various forms of assistance from.

The story of late Olympian, Oluyemi Kayode, is one of the many Nigerians heroes whose memories have been left to rot. The family of this national hero has been abandoned by successive federal and state governments despite his contribution to giving Nigeria a respected image in the global community.

Oluyemi was an athlete who specialised in sprints—100 meters and 200 meters. The high point of his athletics career was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where he was part of the Nigerian 4×100 meteres quartet that won a silver medal for Nigeria.

The quartet was made up of Davidson Ezinwa, Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken and Kayode who came second behind the American quartet of Dennis Mitchel, Leroy Burrell, Michael Marsh and legendary Carl Lewis.

The feat of Kayode and other members of the relay team was celebrated all over the world as they went on to set a new African record in the 4×100 metres relay race.

Unfortunately, the sun set for US-based Kayode, a native of Ado-Ekiti, when he died in an auto accident on October 1, 1994 on the 34th anniversary of his country’s independence in faraway Arizona, United States of America.

He was on his way to a venue where he and other Nigerians had scheduled to celebrate the 34th independence anniversary when another driver ran into his car, killing him in the process.

Apart from a state burial given to him, a road in Akure, the Ondo State capital named after him (he was at the time an indigene of the then old Ondo State) and the Ado-Ekiti Stadium that was named after him, nothing has been done for the family of the deceased.

Three years after the sporting icon died, his father, Pa Gabriel Olukayode, also died, as he could not bear the shock and trauma of losing his illustrious son.

For Madam Cecilia Olukayode, mother of the deceased athlete, life has not remained the same since, as she is yet to recover from the loss of her son after about 21 years.

The 76-year-old woman cut a picture of somebody who has been robbed of her pride and joy as she trudged on in her battle for survival. Oluyemi, who was the first born of the family, was indeed her pride and joy.

Deprived of the breadwinner of the family, Mrs. Olukayode, who now lives in abject poverty, now feeds from menial jobs she does around Ado-Ekiti and its environs.

His immediate younger brother, Festus, said the family is still grieving on the loss of their famous son, popularly called “Olukay”, whom he described as the pride of the family.

Festus explained that Kayode’s star began to shine at St. Andrew’s Anglican Primary School, Oke Ila, Ado-Ekiti and he continued his career until he won a scholarship to study in an American university in September 1989.

The deceased combined studying with athletics until he commenced a full-time career in 1992 shortly after which he was selected to represent Nigeria at the Barcelona Olympics.

Festus said: “He (Kayode) became a full sprinter in 1992 when he went for the Olympic Games and won a silver medal for Nigeria.

“Thereafter, he travelled to various countries and participated in different sprint competitions and won diverse medals in many world sports competitions for Nigeria.

“Olukay was born to the family of Chief Balemo and Chief Alarierin, Oke-Ila Street, Ado Ekiti.

“He attended St Andrew ‘s Anglican Primary School, Oke-Ila Street, Ado Ekiti and later he proceeded to African Comprehensive High School, Ikere-Ekiti.

“During his secondary school days, he represented his school in several annual school sports competitions and won many awards and medals.

“He also won many medals for the old Ondo State in 100 and 200 metres events before he travelled abroad at the instance of the scholarship.

“When he was in Brigham Young University (B.Y.U) Provo Uttah, U.S.A., he made Nigeria proud through his sports career. He had many outstanding records in 100 and 200 metres dash in the BYU, Provo Uttah, USA.

“He won many medals for Ondo State University at the All Nigerian University Games (NUGA). He was called home to participate in national competitions, making him to come tops among his colleagues in sports.

“He represented Nigeria in the African Games more than three times and won Gold medals in 100 and 200 metres.

“Olukay was invited to the Mobil Track and Field Competition, where he also represented the team to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games held in Spain.

“He participated in 100 and 200 metres and he was a member of the Nigerian relay team that won the won the silver medal prize for Nigeria.

“Olukay also participated in world competition between July and August 1994 in Canada and won silver and Gold medals in 100 metres and 200 metres respectively. Unknown to him, that was going to be his last outing in sports in the world.

“There was an arrangement to celebrate the 34th independence anniversary organised by Nigerians in the U.S on October 1, 1994.

“He was hurrying to get to the venue on time in a vehicle with a colleague when he had a fatal auto crash that claimed his life.

“His remains were brought to his hometown by the Nigerian government on October 18, 1994 and he was buried amidst tears by Nigerians and many relatives and friends on October 19, 1994. His burial was presided over by the then military administrator of the Old Ondo State, Col. Ahmed Usman.

“His mortal body was interred at Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church Cemetery, Oke-ila, Ado-Ekiti.

“To immortalise him, the government named the then Ado-Ekiti sports stadium after him, hence, it became the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium. A Street in Alagbaka area of Akure, Ondo State was also named after him.

“Also, the Oluyemi Kayode Memorial Athletics Competition was organised by Ekiti State Sports Council in collaboration with Ekiti State Athletics Association in 2010.

“It was sponsored by Mr Fatunla and it has become an annual event in which qualified and interested athletes all over Nigeria participate every 1st October till date.

“He was survived by parents, brothers, sisters, wife and two children. Shortly after his death, our father fell critically ill and suffered for three years without adequate care before giving up the ghost on September 18, 1997.

“Our father was an employee of the old Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture and he was relieved of his job in 1989″.

The deceased’s mother, Madam Olukayode, said she had been responsible for the upkeep of five other children since the double loss of her son and husband.

She said: “I feed them in the morning, same in the afternoon and I am just a petty trader. Some of my children helped me in selling foodstuffs until now that I am depending on menial jobs to survive.

“Oluyemi had been the one helping to pay the children’s school fees since their father was laid off, and that is why things became so difficult when he died. I am appealing to the government to please help me employ my children because most of them are unemployed now. If they have jobs, they would take care of me.

“My son was about 28 years old when he died. He had a white woman who has a child for him, but we don’t know where she is in the USA.

“He also had a Nigerian lady who also had a child for him, but she now resides somewhere in Belgium with the child. We are making efforts to reach the Nigerian lady.

“He was a very good boy and his siblings are also good. When he was travelling abroad on scholarship, I sold all my property to aid him.

“He instantly became a breadwinner of the family, as he was always sending money for the school fees of his siblings and feeding of the family.

“When I was told that he died, it nearly took my breath from me because for over five years, I couldn’t eat properly due to the shock.

“At that time, none of us could afford any good thing because we had sold all the property to aid his travelling abroad.

“His father also died about three years later after taking ill due to the shock of the death of his son.”

She appealed to the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to immortalise his son at federal level and assist the family, saying her son died as a national hero and should be accorded such treatment.

The post Sad tale of 76-yr-old mother of late Nigerian hero abandoned to fate appeared first on The Nation.

Emirates, a global connector of people and places, and South African Tourism, the marketing agency for South Africa, have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) that will open the way for the development of joint marketing initiatives aimed at growing the number of visitors from the Middle East to South Africa.

The MoA was signed by Thulani Nzima, South African Tourism Chief Executive Officer, and Orhan Abbas, Emirates Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Latin America, Southern and Central Africa; on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market 2015, currently being held in Dubai. The South African Minister of Tourism, Mr Derek Hanekom, who is attending the travel market, was also present at the signing ceremony.

The agreement extends until 31 May 2016 and provides a framework under which Emirates and South African Tourism will work together and explore various marketing initiatives aimed at promoting South Africa in various regions in the Middle East which will be identified by the two parties.

“In Emirates, we have found a like-minded partner with the willingness to work together in growing the number of visitors to South Africa. We are excited to jointly discover and access markets in regions that have massive untapped potential.

“It is our mission to find and implement the best strategies to market South Africa and position it as the preferred travel destination. We are, therefore, delighted to collaborate with partners who can assist us in accessing new markets and spreading our footprint,” said Mr Nzima.

“South Africa is a very important market for Emirates. We fly to three destinations in the country – Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban – bringing in both leisure and business visitors from across our network, which currently extends to more than 140 destinations around the world.

“ This agreement underpins our commitment to support South African Tourism, which also benefits us as an airline with multiple points and frequencies into the country,” said Mr Abbas.

The agreement will see marketing activities such as attendance of tourism trade shows and fairs, trade familiarisation trips, product presentations and workshops, amongst others, be undertaken to achieve the parties’ objectives.

Emirates, with its hub in Dubai, has a fleet of more than 230 aircraft and flies to more than 140 destinations across six continents. The airline flies four times daily to Johannesburg, twice daily to Cape Town and once daily to Durban.

The post Emirates, SAT sign agreement appeared first on The Nation.

For his unassailable achievements as governor of Lagos State in the last eight years, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) sure deserves all the encomiums being poured on him by those who know him. And expectedly, the governor was celebrated in a book written by about 30 notable people who have one story or the other to tell about him. The book, entitled, ‘The Example: The Era of Babatunde Fashola as Governor of Lagos State’, was launched at an event orgarnised by the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IoD), on Wednesday at Shell Hall in MUSON Center, Onikan, Lagos.

It was all about a man who approached governance with energy and imagination and came out as the gold standard for governance and a governor of example. His colleagues came to see and learn; they freely gave their accolades. For them, Fashola became the governor of example.

On Wednesday, friends and associates gathered for the launch of the book, edited by the Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation, Sam Omatseye, and reviewed by a member of the Editorial Board of The Nation, Olakunle Abimbola. The forward was written by Prof Itse Sagay (SAN).

Among the contributors to the book are former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi; Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello; a personal assistant to Governor Fashola, Oluwaseun Faleye and several others.

The book tells Fashola’s story from the inside, by lieutenants who saw him work; think in the posh office and in the rain-drenched trenches. It is also written by some on the outside who looked in and they present a barometer of the unbiased onlooker. It is a rounded view of his stewardship.

The book launch was part of the activities during the public policy lecture of the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IoD). The theme was: “My stewardship – Eight years of delivering excellence”, with Governor Fashola as the Guest Speaker.

For the main event, the Shell Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, had a formal setting, decorated in black and white colours. Most of the guests were corporately dressed, while others wore native attire.

Comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka, enlivened the gathering with jokes.

The Chairman of IoD programme committee, Mr Yomi Jones, welcomed the guests, while the Vice Chairman, IoD, Mr Kelechi Ozuzu, read the citation of Governor Fashola.

In his speech, Fashola thanked the Chief Host, President / Chairman of the Institute, Chief Mrs Eniola Fadayomi, for the platform and described Omatseye as his friend and a respected columnist.

According to Omatseye, the editing of the book demanded a lot of pressure, but it was also an intellectual fulfillment.

“Trying to get everybody to write, pursuing them, shaping the idea of what they are supposed to write, eventually editing the book, the production and getting it printed was such an interesting and fulfilling exercise; I am very grateful to God that this day has come,” Omatseye said.

The reviewer, Abimbola, said the book is a glorious showcase of the wonders Fashola has wrought in his eight-year governorship, heading to a glorious finishing on May 28.

“The tale, a relay of 36 contributors, is told mainly by participant-observers, cabinet members past and present. The only exceptions are John Kayode Fayemi, a gubernatorial peer and former governor of Ekiti; Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman, Zinox Group; Aderemi Makanjuola, CEO Caverton Helicopters; Marvel Akpoyibo, former Lagos State Police Commissioner; Walter Olatunde, project director of Deux Projects Ltd; Aminu Yaro Idris, Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos State; Prof Adewale Oke, CMD, LASUTH and Mark Eddo, the maker of a triad of documentaries on the renascent Lagos of Asiwaju Tinubu-Babatunde Fashola era, and proud Eko citizen.”

Mrs Fadayomi said as Fashola’s achievements are being celebrated, we must not forget that preservation of worthy deeds are best captured in the quality of the projects executed as well as documented records of how it was done.

She commended Omatseye for undertaking the task of documenting these milestones in the book.

She said the IoD Nigerian public policy lecture is a platform designed to showcase the pride and satisfaction in adhering to good governance and give the governed the opportunity to access the quantitative and qualitative impact of the policies of government and key governmental agencies.

The post Fanfare as directors, associates honour Fashola appeared first on The Nation.

Their tales would melt even a heart of stone. As they try to settle down in the camp of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yola, Adamawa State, the 275 girls and women rescued from the hideout of the deadly Boko Haram sect in Sambisa Forest, Borno State, have been telling the stories of their journey to hell.

Most of them looked extremely malnourished and were even too weak to alight from the trucks that conveyed them from the notorious forest. In most cases, they had to be helped by journalists and officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). On seeing the terrible conditions of the women and their malnourished children, most people at the camp, including other IDPs who had been there before the new arrivals, could not help breaking into tears.

Their steps were feeble as they walked towards the NEMA registration centre at the camp. Adamawa State coordinator of NEMA, Mallam Saad Bello, said that many of the Boko Haram captives had lost their lives because they had no food. Others who sustained bullet wounds had to be rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Yola.

At the time of filing this report, no fewer than 19 of the Sambisa returnees were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Federal Medical Centre, undergoing treatment for injuries sustained from bullets and bombs. Others were admitted at the NEMA Clinic at Malkohi Camp.

Seventeen-year-old Fatima, who was already carrying a baby, recalled that she was in her village near Damboa when gunmen believed to be members of the Boko Haram sect came and started shooting sporadically and ordered her and other girls and women in the village to go with them. She said the invaders first took them to Gwoza town before taking them to Sambisa Forest where they slept in open place for more than nine months.

Another victim, 20-year-old Mrs. Hadiza Yusuf, an indigene of Kafin Hausa village in Madagali Local Government Area, said she was abducted by Boko Haram men who fed her and others with maize flour and water. She said: “They turned us into slaves in the forest and compelled us to be serving them on a daily basis. They killed my husband, Dauda. But we thank God now that the government has brought us here at the Malkohi Camp. We are grateful to them.”

Miss Halima Usman (18), also from Kafin Hausa village, said she was also brutalised by the Boko Haram sect. She said she was married to a man in Madagali before Boko Haram men killed her husband and she returned to her parents’ house at Kafin Hausa. But she was also seized by the gunmen at Kafin Hausa and taken into Sambisa Forest.

Halima said: “At the Sambisa Forest, the gunmen demanded that I married them, but I told them that I was already pregnant. They said once I was delivered of my baby, I should marry them. I agreed to do so but help later came and we were rescued.”

Some of the rescued women who spoke with our correspondent said they had to trek for three days before they were rescued and finally arrived Yola. Reports indicated that the journey to Yola was delayed due to mopping up operations being conducted by the military’s advance rescue team, so as to evade any land mine that might have been planted by the insurgents.

The gaunt looks of the rescued girls and women elicited sympathy from onlookers. Many of them looked hunger-stricken and their children kept wailing as a result of illness and malnutrition. Many of the women and children had to be assisted as they could not walk on their own. Many of them could not even alight from the vehicles that brought them from Sambisa as a result of exhaustion and hunger.

One of the returnee women, 23-year-old Asabe Aliyu, a mother of four and native of Delsak village near Chibok, was seen vomiting blood as a result of an internal injury she sustained from excessive beating, which she said was the order in the Boko Haram enclave. She said the sect’s members hauled all manner of vulgar comments at them, while she was forced to marry one of the sect’s members after series of sexual molestation she suffered from different men on a daily basis. Death, she said, was the yardstick of judgment at any slightest mistake.

Asabe said: “I was abducted from Delsak six months ago when the village was overrun by Boko Haram. First, I was taken from my village to a forest close to Cameroun. They turned me into a sex machine and ended up impregnating me. And with my condition as a pregnant woman, I had to cook for them whenever they needed food.”

Another returnee, Lami Musa, had a three-day-old baby girl. She looked tired and haggard and had to be supported before she could walk. Amid intense tears, she said: “They adducted the whole of my family and killed my husband at Kilkasa Forest while I was four months pregnant. They took us into Sambisa Forest and we slept in open field. At times, we would go without water and food for days. Three days ago, I gave birth to this baby girl. As I am talking to you, I cannot ascertain the status of her health, as both of us have not had a bath since I gave birth.”

Another woman from Michika Local Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Maryamu Adamu, said she saw hell in Sambisa. She said she could not say if her two children and husband were alive or dead because she had not set her eyes on them since she was captured and taken into Sambisa Forest about nine months ago. Mrs Adamu’s temperament was more of thanksgiving because she said she was lost but now found.

She said: “I know that I was dead. My existence was just a mere shadow as nothing moved me. But now that I am here, I confirm that I am a living being. My brother, I thank God that I am saved. I really thank God.”

It was a joyful moment for Mallam Ishaya Amos, an IDP in Malkohi Camp in Yola. He was reunited with four of his cousins and their children whom he thought were dead. They were among the 275 rescued the troops, causing Amos to shed some tears of joy.

Most of the girls and women came from Madagali, Michika, Damboa, Kilkasa, Delsak and some of the villages surrounding Damboa.

The post Straight from HELL! Rescued women, girls relive horrifying tales from Boko Haram’s den appeared first on The Nation.

GOOD morning Harriet, Thank you for enriching us with your words of advice. May God continue to fill you with knowledge and wisdom. Please, I need you to counsel me on how to form and sustain a healthy relationship.

Mr. Charles. N., Abuja

FORMING a healthy relationship is one thing, and sustaining it is another great challenge that people face. Relationship generally is one aspect in life that is ongoing; we interact with people all the time, starting from our family members to friends, colleagues at work and so on. Forming a healthy relationship is one aspect that must not be taking for granted. There are certain qualities that must be considered before going into a relationship in the first place.  Some people, for instance, complain that their partners have changed after marriage.

The truth is that the signs were there from the beginning, but the person involved has a mindset that she or he will change after marriage. The fact is that you can only change yourself and not your partner or spouse, though your new ways and attitude towards your spouse or partner might cause him or her to change. One aspect we must note is that we are of different backgrounds, personalities and ideologies, so the only way we can form a healthy relationship with others is to first understand these facts and know that you must give what you want to get. Our needs change with time, therefore, if you would like to feel understood, try being more understanding. If you want to feel more loved, try giving more love as well.

Relationship is an investment like a bank account, so what you put is what you get. The big question is how to sustain a healthy relationship bearing in mind that there are several factors that might be affecting the relationship. These factors can be traced from different aspects. It could be internal or external, depending on the individual involved. Sometimes it could be as a result of unresolved issues which need to be solved. Other factors are: Effective communication: Being able to communicate effectively minimizes points of friction and makes conflict resolution easier. As we know, communication is actually a life wire of every relationship. It is the fuel on which the engine of relationship runs; it is a building block of intimacy.

Communication involves how we express our thoughts, ideas and feelings to others. Through verbal or non-verbal communication, we convey our attitudes, values, priorities and beliefs. But for effective communication to be achieved, you need to bear the following in mind: Communication is not complete, if the message is not clear. The receiver must listen to get a clear message because most of the time, people can hear people talk, but they are not listening in order to get the right message. To sustain a healthy relationship, you need to listen more and talk less. As obvious as this may seem, many couples, for example, are not very good at communicating effectively, while those who are able to openly express their feelings in an emotionally safe environment typically deals with situations as they come up and avoid burying frustrations which always have a way of coming out at some point.

In addition, the aspect of a good role model cannot be neglected simply because your upbringing forms who you are. If you grow up in a home where domestic violence is the language of the day, that will affect the way you relate with people even your loved ones. You can only give love, care and tolerance when you have it or when you are raised in such a manner.  Moreover is the aspect of “what” which can be seen as the initial attraction. From time to time, it is good to remind yourself what attracted you to that person. What is your common interest? Having different interests shows that you have an exciting life which might be rewarding which does not leave you with dull moments. In such cases, it is not compulsory that your partner or spouse must share in your interests, but it is very vital that you have some that are common to you. This takes us to our next tip: expectation. Be realistic in your expectations. Some people have out-of-this-world expectations, forgetting that we are human and that no one is perfect. Tolerate what you cannot change; know that we cannot be the same and that everybody has his strengths and weaknesses just like you. Sustaining a healthy relationship takes hard work. It doesn’t just happen.

Common goal:  Working towards a common goal that will benefit both partners, for example, will not only support their commitments, but also serve to deepen their feeling of intimacy and connectedness.

Decision making: To form and sustain a healthy relationship, the other person must be allowed to make his or her own contribution. Once you have decided to go into a relationship, you must recognize that it cannot be “ I” always in your relationship, but “we”. Learn to respect the other person’s opinion, even when you don’t agree with it.

Anger: This is said to be a relationship killer, if it not managed properly because it makes you self absorbed and prevents you to see the good aspect of situation. Dealing with people with anger does not solve anything. If you notice you are angry, kindly give yourself time to calm down before discussing or taking any decision.

Financial issues: Although money is not everything in relationship, it could make or unmake a home, if not handled properly. Money is the roots of most problems in marriage. From the onset, it is important to bring the issue of money on the table openly. Talk about your earnings, your spending habit, how you want to apportion money for running the home and savings and so on. If you are able to discuss your finances easily, then you will be able to handle challenges as they come.

Self evaluation: This is another aspect that is very important. It is the ability to tell yourself the truth, if you are at fault or not.

In conclusion, to form and sustain a healthy relationship is a choice. Choose to care about ways of developing your techniques, so that you can have a longer and stronger relationship.

Harriet ogbobine is a counselor and a motivational speaker. Send your questions and suggestions to her on bineharriet@gmail.com or txt message only 08023058805. You can also follow her on twitter: @bineharrietj

The post Forming and sustaining a healthy relationship appeared first on The Nation.

The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Biodiversity Park at the Lekki Conservation Centre has a new addition. Added to the nature park is  what is reputed to be the longest canopy walkway in Africa and  a family fun park at the degraded portion of the complex.

The aim is to use this new addition to increase the number of visitors to the park without having any negative impact on what exist there. Visiting the park has always been fun and the new addition is a further incentive to go back there. The biodiversity park is a jungle. It has tall trees covering the floor of the park. The floor is perpetually shaded from the sun with pockets of sunlight piercing through the leaves to cast bright flash here and there.

Once out of the administration building of the centre, the only noise is that of animals, most especially, the monkeys. Inside the park, the monkeys are most audacious. They hold no fear of human beings. Sometimes, it seems the animals actually expect humans to stand by the corner while they pass. The monkeys are  daring that they even make noise to attract  attention if they feel the visitors do not know they are there.

The addition of the canopy walkway has really added to the allure of the place. It is also good that the metal pillars of the walkway were built with little disturbance of the flora of the park. The aerial foot bridge is 401 metres long and 22.5 metres high.

According to the builders, it is not recommended for persons below the age of 14 years.

Even for adults, it is very challenging. It takes a lot of courage to go on it. For those afraid of heights, they should not bother.

The reward for those who go on it is a spectacular view of the park.

On the top of the canopy walkway, there were some strong-willed monkeys,   despite the fact that they saw this writer and one or two  persons coming. At a stage, one was considering going back to avoid collision with a troop of monkeys.

The monkeys were so indignant at the intrusion on their privacy that they refused to move, even when this writer decided to stay near them and took pictures. They watched lazily. They had no fear.

The other addition to the complex is a Family Fun Park that has fish pond with exotic fishes, sections for family games, barbecue section, gazebos, jungle gyms and many others. At the Family Fun Park, there are so much to do and every member of the family from the youngest to the oldest would have something to engage his attention.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola said the project was one of the efforts of his administration to develop the tourism asset of the state. He also highlighted on the need for man to protect the environment as seen in the NCF.

Mr. Disun Holloway, the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, talked about the project.

“ It contributes to tourism; it contributes to local economy; that is what tourism is all about. It is to regenerate or revitalise persons working in local environment. For example, take souvenir making. When tourism goes to the market, they will buy souvenirs,”Holloway said.

Chief Philip Asiodu, the President of the foundation’s Board of Trustees, gave insight into why the NCF gave a nod to the additions .

“ It is something we have done not easily because the primary purpose here is bio-diversity. There were some degraded parts. When the Lagos State government came with the proposal that would include  a picnic park for families, we supported it. We would make sure that the activities  do not damage the primary purpose of bio-diversity.

“ So, with good planning, this has been done. We have 30 acres here . This is were you can barbecue. There are two ponds , one for Tilapia, one for exotic fish. You can come here with your family. You can play games. If you are adventurous enough, you go on the canopy walkway. And here I see many people, having amused themselves enough, they now want to see what is a nature park. They will see what we intended to do, to preserve what is left of the coastal zone flora and fauna.

“This place has been farmed before. You know if you farm and leave it for long, nature re-establishes itself. So, we think that this will increase positive publicity for this place  Many people will come here and because of that, many more will now go into the bio-diversity reserve and see what is there,”Chief Asiodu said.

He said the NCF board would make sure that the new additions did not affect the park negatively: “ We will make sure that none of the exotic animals brought into the family park goes into the biodiversity park. We bring them, quarantine them for sometime and then we keep them confined. Also, this is the only place that we have allowed exotic fish to come. We are not going to allow exotic animals in the park,”he said.

Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, an environmentalist and a board member of the foundation also added his voice.

He said: “It is absolutely fantastic. As the governor said, nature doesn’t need humanity, nature doesn’t need mankind. If mankind left the planet tomorrow, nature would thrive. Nature doesn’t need mankind at all. But guess what? Mankind in totality, for everything he needs for survival, needs nature. So for us to be protecting something we totally need, to my limited intelligence, makes a lot of sense. So, it is absolutely fantastic that we have done some additional things that would help in the support and protection of this wonderful complex.”

He said the additions would make positive impact in the park.

“It will help us to generate funds because maintaining this place is actually very expensive and we can’t be relying on corporate donors all the time. So, this will actually help us to bring the much needed funds.

“People will come in. It will become a popular tourist site. Of course, we will charge a small fee. People will come in, they will relax here. It will definitely bring the much needed money. It also gives us an awareness tool because a lot of the problems that are associated with the degradation of nature is actually out of lack of knowledge and ignorance.

“Since time gone by, nature has always given us its tremendous abundance. We have always had so much of it that it does not really make any sense when you are telling people you can’t keep on destroying nature.

“ Yes, nature has its abundance, but with massive population growth and development of new technology which are causing even more and more problems, we are actually reaping very negative impact. So, it gives us a great opportunity to create awareness among guests that come, telling that this is a nature park, and we need to preserve and look after our natural resources.

“The founder of the NCF, the late Chief S.L.Edu saw a place where animals would be preserved just like in other countries, people would come relax within nature. That was the main thing. Do you know this place was Igbo Efon? That was a forest of the buffaloes?

“For a place to be named after a certain animal means that there must have been a lot of them here. But nobody below the age of 40 has ever seen a buffalo here. It has gone into extinction.

“So, part of the thinking was that let’s have a park where animals would be preserved and protected. Later on, as the science became more developed,  we started seeing the negative impact of humanity on nature. It became a resource centre for imparting that knowledge of the necessity to protect the environment,”Majekodunmi said.

For those who may not have visited the NCF park in recent time, it is high time they paid a return visit. Much has changed for the better there.

The post Facelift for Lekki Conservation Centre appeared first on The Nation.

Indeed, I feel highly honoured by the invitation to review this reference book ‘Nigerian Laws, Cases and materials on Oil and Gas’ written by my friend and colleague Niyi Ayoola-Daniels  Esq.

Perhaps before I delve into my primary assignment, I will start by sharing with you what motivated the author to embark on the publication of this book. In my discussion with Niyi sometime in 2005, he told me of an indirect challenge thrown at him by two American Investment attorneys whom he met at Columbia University Law Library on a visit to New York. These New York Attorneys requested to know if there was a one-source publication where they could obtain up-to-date information on the complete laws and regulations governing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry (upstream, midstream and downstream).

They claimed to have contacted the Nigeria Consulate in New York and the Embassy in Washington but without any useful and positive outcome. It was upon his return to Nigeria and after our discussion during which he got to know that I was the author of the book “Petroleum Development Contracts between Nigeria and the Multinational Firms” that he decided to respond to this challenge of producing this unique book that is being  publicly presented to you here  today.

You will all agree with me that Nigeria’s oil and gas legal regime is a specialised area of law, regulating the exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas, the supply, distribution, storage and marketing of petroleum products, as well as liquefied natural gas. As diverse as the area of coverage, so diverse is the legal regime governing same in the form of statutes, cases, subsidiary legislations and regulations.

In other words, there has been no one one-stop compendium containing all these laws and cases until now. This is what makes this book unique. The book is unique in the sense that unlike those written by earlier scholars and experts in the field, it goes one step further. It is a one-stop digest of Nigeria ’s oil and gas laws, regulations, relevant cases, materials and commentary and is therefore a welcome addition to the existing works on the subject. Indeed, the book covers laws governing the entire legal regime regulating the upstream, midstream and downstream operators of Nigeria ’s petroleum and natural gas industry.

In content and form, the book is broadly divided into two volumes. Volume One is composed of five parts whereas volume 2 comprises 11 parts. The work is published in loose leaf form which covers the 16 parts and gives complete outline, comments and indexes to all the laws, statutory instruments and judicial decisions. Almost all oil and gas cases decided by Nigerian courts are adumbrated in this work and their relevance highlighted. One great advantage of this loose leaf format adopted by the author is that new changes or amendments in the laws or statutory instruments affecting Nigeria ’s oil and gas industry can easily be incorporated into the pertinent sections of this work by the user. I understand the author will periodically publish updates of the new laws, amendments of statutes, cases and other materials and make them available to subscribers. These updates will then be periodically inserted into this work by the user and the old or outdated ones removed.

Legal framework for Fed. Govt ownership of oil and gas resources, including exploration and production rights available to investors

Part 1 deals with laws and regulations governing Federal Government ownership of oil and gas resources in Nigeria . This part also captures the judicial interpretation of Federal ownership of oil and gas resources including the extent and size of such ownership in the well known “Resource Control” case involving the A.G Federation V A.G Abia State (N0. 2) (2002) 6 N.W.L.R Part 764 pages 542-905, ET this case, the Supreme Court interpreted many oil and gas issues including the determination of the seaward boundary of a littoral state within the federation of Nigeria for the purpose of computing the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from oil and gas resources in those littoral states

Legal framework for evacuation and transportation of Nigerian crude from oil fields, including shipment (export/domestic)

The focus of this part  is on the laws, regulations, cases and materials governing evacuation, transportation including shipping of crude oil in Nigeria from oil fields to storage tanks via Pipelines and Oil Terminals. Also covered here are the laws and regulations on transportation of crude oil by Ocean Tankers as well as Domestic Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) of crude oil and other ancillary services. The author is of a strong view that the scope and applicability of the “Cabotage” Act in Nigeria covers both upstream (domestic carriage of crude oil) and downstream (domestic carriage of  petroleum products).

 Legal framework for Nigeria – Sao Tome and Principe joint development of petroleum resources including exploration and production rights available to investors in the joint development zone

This part focuses on the laws and regulations governing Joint Development of

Petroleum and Natural Gas between Nigeria and Sao-Tome and Principe in areas of Exclusive Economic Zones of the two countries. Covered here are the principles of Joint Development Zone (JDZ) including the legal status of JDZ Treaty in Nigeria as well as guidelines for bidding for petroleum blocks in the JDZ and petroleum exploration and production rights available to JDZ investors.

Legal framework for National participation in petroleum operations including the role of NNPC

The focus of this part  is on the law governing Federal Government’s direct participation in Petroleum and Natural Gas operation in Nigeria especially the role of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Here the Laws that brought about the acquisition by NNPC of all shares, rights including petroleum exploration rights formerly held by Shell British Petroleum Company Limited

Legal framework for petrolem profits taxation and other taxation in Nigeria including royalties and fiscal incentives

This part   covers the law on taxation of companies engaged in upstream petroleum operations (Petroleum Profits Tax Act). This Act contrast sharply with Companies Income Tax Act as amended, which is a law regulating taxation of companies engaged in downstream oil and gas operations (marketing, distribution and sales of petroleum products and natural gas). This part highlights more than 30 headings regarding petroleum profits tax issues including their judicial interpretation. Of special note here are the decisions of the Supreme court of Nigeria in Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited V. Federal Board of Inland Revenue (1996) 8 N.W.L.R Part 466 page 256 on meaning of ‘Petr0leum Profits Tax’ and ‘Petroleum operations’ and Gulf Oil Company Limited V. Federal Board of Inland Revenue (1997) 7 N.W.L.R Part 514 page 535 on

computation of‘ chargeable tax payable under Petroleum Profits Tax Act. Also discussed in this part is the Court of Appeal decision in Texaco Overseas Nigeria Petroleum Company V. F.B.I.R (1997) 4 N.W.L.R Part 501 pages 511.

Legal framework for natural gas development and utilisation in Nigeria, including the West African gas pipeline project.

The theme of part six is Natural Gas Development and Utilisation (upstream). And since the proposed law on downstream gas operations in Nigeria is still a bill awaiting passage in the National Assembly, downstream gas operations is not discussed in this work. It is in this part that the West African Gas Pipeline Project Act and Regulations are covered including the legal status of West African Gas Pipeline Project.

Legal framework for downstream petroleum sector covering supply, distribution, storage and

marketing of petroleum products

The focus of part seven is on the laws and regulations governing downstream petroleum sector in Nigeria , (excluding gas). This part covers the legal framework for the supply, distribution, storage, marketing and sales of petroleum products including the laws governing the construction of Refineries, Pipelines as well as importation and exportation of petroleum products. Covered in this part also are the activities of Petroleum Products

Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), uniform rate/prices of petroleum products including activities of Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) and the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).

Legal framework for managing environmental pollution and

spillage in Nigeria

The concern of Part Eight is with the laws and regulations affecting environmental pollution and spillage in the oil and gas industry. This part covers the laws on Federal Government’s policy on National Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Also covered in this part are the laws regulating the obligation of holders of OPL and OML to adopt measures to prevent pollution of inland waters, rivers, water courses and the Territorial Waters of Nigeria, the Continental Shelf as well as the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Legal framework for transparency and accountability initiative in the oil and gas industry

The theme of this part is Transparency and Accountability Initiative in Oil and Gas Revenue in Nigeria including the powers of Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) to investigate and punish fraudulent manipulation of statement of accounts resulting in wider payment of oil and gas revenue accruable to the Federal Government.

Legal framework for due process and fundamental a principles of public procurement and contract award in Nigeria ’s oil and gas industry

In this part, the work here centers around the laws governing Due Process and Fundamental Principles of Public Procurement in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry especially the application of Public Procurement Act 2007 to all NNPC’s procurement contracts. Also highlighted here is the applicability of Public Procurement Act of 2007 to non-government owned oil and gas enterprises which derive at least 35 per cent of funds appropriated or proposed to be appropriated for any procurement contract from the Federation share of Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Legal framework for oil and gas export free zone scheme in Nigeria

Here the laws and regulations governing oil and gas export free zone scheme in Nigeria is (the focus including the legal procedure for obtaining oil and gas free zone license. A covered under this part are the laws regulating health, safety and environmental matters within the oil and gas free zones.

Legal framework for investment protection and guarantees

in Nigeria ’s oil and gas industry

The theme of part 12 is Investment Protection, Assurances and Guarantees for companies engaged in oil and gas activities in Nigeria . Also covered here are the laws regulating the activities and operations of Nigeria LNG. This part examines the recent decision of the Federal High Court ( Port Harcourt ) in a case involving Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) V. Nigeria LNG (unreported Suit No. FHC/P/CS/361/2007) over

whether or not NDDC is entitled to receive from Nigeria LNG, 3% of the latter’s total annual budget for the years 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004 and thereafter.

Legal framework for oil and gas communities in the Niger Delta

Part 13 focuses on Niger Delta Development Commission Act, the law regulating oil and gas community issues in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria , including its purpose, funding as well as method of rotation of the office of Chairman of the Commission.

  Legal framework for human resources development and capacity development in oil and gas industry

The theme of Part I4 is on Human Resource Development and Capacity Building in the oil and gas industry. Here the law establishing the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) as well as the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) is covered in this part.

Legal framework for strategic planning and survellan of oil and gas policies in Nigeria

The theme on part 15 is on strategic planning, surveillance and co-ordination of National policies in oil and gas and other energy sources in Nigeria . Here the law establishing the Energy Commission of Nigeria is covered.

 Legal framework for the control and management of oil and gas development funds in Nigeria

This is the concluding part of this work and it focuses on the Finance (Control and Management) Act which is designed to provide legal framework for the control and management of public finances and funding in Nigeria as it affects the control and management of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), especially the mechanism for funding, budgeting and disbursement of PTDF including the oversight constitutional powers of the National Assembly as contained in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution over PTDF.

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