Avoidance of sedentary lifestyles can help reduce the risk of thrombosis, a medical expert, Dr. Adebukola Orolu has said.

She gave the advice during the commemoration of this year’s World Thrombosis Day organised by the Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos. It had the theme “Eyes open to Thrombosis”.

Orolu, a Consultant Heamatologist and Head Hematology Department of the hospital, listed  Deep Vein Thrombosis  (DVT)  symptoms as leg swelling, pain and redness symptoms of Pulmonary Embolism, such as shortness of breath and chest pain.

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She sought healthy weight, avoidance of sedentary lifestyle, short stay in bed after surgery, leg exercising every two hours.

“Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot in the blood vessel; and when it forms in the deep veins of the legs or arms, is called Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and if the clot dislodges, and travels to the lungs, it causes life-threatening condition called Pulmonary Embolism (PE).

Orolu, who noted that thrombosis accounts for one in four deaths worldwide, should be of concern to everyone. She called for more  awareness on the disease.

She tasked healthcare workers on patients at risk of clot formation, by conducting Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment and administration of clot prevention drugs.

A Lecturer in the Fine Arts at the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Dr Chika Obeagu, has been appointed by the Board of Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) to curate this year’s LIMCAF grand finale.

A multi-talented artist and scholar, who finds creative expression through painting, photography, installation art and poetry, he has won several awards, including First Prize for the 2011 National Arts Competition in Nigeria, the UNODC Award for Partnership in Combating TIP (Trafficking in Persons) and SOM (Smuggling of Migrants), the W.K Kellogg Foundation/Ford Foundation Awards, and Prince Clause Fund for Culture and Development.

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Obeagu has participated in major exhibitions, biennials, residencies, and workshops in Nigeria and internationally.

He is a co-founder and creative director of FAbA (For Artists by Artists) studios and also an instructor with Art is Everywhere project.

Chike is also involved in several cultural initiatives and over nine curatorial projects, including LIMCAF 2018 and 2019.

To promote literacy and the reading culture in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, members of Aweleka Social Club of Nigeria are targeting secondary school pupils.

The club held  its quiz and debate for about 60 public and private secondary school pupils.

Tagged: ‘Ogwashi-Uku secondary schools quiz and debate competitions’, the maiden edition held at FrankBryan Event Hall, Ogwashi-Uku.

One highlight of the contest is the institution of a prize in honour of award-winning writer and professor of African Studies, Carleton University, Canada, Nduka Otiono.

The chairman of the organising committee, Mr. Harry Odibe, said:  “It was aimed at stimulating intellectual development and healthy competition among public and private secondary school pupils. It is hoped that competitions such as these would help improve literacy and the reading culture among our wards. Founded in 2008 as a not-for-profit organisation, we, as a club, are committed to charitable, educational, and humanitarian services for the less privileged in society. We used the opportunity to do a tour of the schools. And we are always open to partnerships: this year’s edition was co-sponsored by Ifedinma Social Club of Nigeria along with kind-hearted individuals and institutions from the town with donations of different prizes worth thousands of Naira for the pupils to compete.”

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The awards includeThe Prof. Ikechukwu Enwemnwa Award for the Best School in Quiz, Professor Nduka Otiono Award for the Best School in Poetry, Dr. Celestine Iwendi Award for the Best School in Debating, Derry Nwaduba Foundation Award for the Best School in Drama, Global Lives Touching Foundation Award for the Best School in Talent Display and Comrade Cyril Ohai Award for the Best Debating pupil, among other  awards and recognitions for outstanding students.

The club’s President, Mr. Tony Mordi,  said: “The club will continue to engage in such activities that will encourage our young ones to embrace education and focus on their studies,” Mr. Mordi said. The club has been engaged in different activities to support the young ones educationally. These include the award of scholarships to some primary school pupils, the provision of writing materials, school uniforms as well as the supply of lawn mowers to the schools to reduce manual labour by the students and in turn create more time for their studies, sports and other recreational activities that would promote intellectual and physical well-being.”

Otiono praised the organisers of the contests and offered a brand-new laptop for the winner of the poetry prize.

Also,  the Executive Secretary of Local Education Board, Aniocha South LGA, Mr. Jude Elue, stated that the contest was the first of its kind. He  added that it should be sustained as it would help in the reduction of crimes and youths’ restiveness as well as other vices associated with idleness and ignorance.

The President of Ifedinma Social Club of Nigeria, Mr. Michael Anialua, an engineer, noted: “This is a valuable project in the town for well-meaning individuals to support. Supporting our educational system through programmes of this nature will further encourage and provoke our youths’ self-confidence and intellect, and will help in building their social capacity, thereby making them responsible members of our society in attaining their desired goals in life.”

National Museum of Unity Ibadan in Oyo State has been rebranded for tourists’ accessibility with upgraded, well-equipped galleries, children’s play park.

The museum was inaugurated on Saturday, August 20, this year by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Director-General, Prof. Abba Isa Tijani.

The museum collects heritage and research into them, communicates ethically and involves communities, open and accessible to the public.

In the museum, an exhibition (gallery) is due for a change after a decade. This has been the yearnings of  tourists.

Established in the early 70s, after the civil war to foster unity among the multi-ethnic groups, it opened to the public in 2002.

“No one pours a new wine into an old jar”! Similarly, the first giant stride of the museum is for the galleries to undergo reconstruction. The first exhibition had as its theme Our Cultural Heritage in retrospect.

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The gallery calls for exploration. Its various sections portrays the nation’s heterogeneous cultural heritage.

The story line cuts across – religious practices and worship, ancient cultures, royalty, symbols of power and Paraphernalia, local crafts and technologies, pottery, divination, marriage institutions, traditional wears/dressing and body adornments, trade, exchange and currency, and motherhood.

The ambience of the new exhibition is aided by the digital illustration of the subsections of the galleries on electronic screen devices side by side the exhibition, particularly demonstrating the utilitarian purposes of the exhibited objects.

The guide brochure is an accompaniment to the new galleries to create a lasting experience for tourists.

Complementary services are Children Play Park, which has a restroom and other facilities where children can easy their limbs after expository tour of their cultural background and identity through the gallery tour.

Adults can also be treated to good and healthy food at the place.

This hospitality is further enhanced at the health stand where herbs and roots are health boost and guide are available if so desire. So is craft shop for sournir items.

The museum has become all-inclusive and all-encompassing.

• Abakun is Assistant Director (EST), National Museum, Ibadan

Title: Breaking Coconut with your Head (Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism)

Author: Lanre Arogundade

Publisher: Great Tentacles Integrated Global Limited

Number of Pages: 241

Reviewer: Rotimi Olatunji, PhD

Tenth of October yearly is World’s Mental Health Day. We may as well begin this review by asking: What happens when a sane person attempts to stop a moving articulated vehicle with his hands? What happens when someone else breaks the coconut on your head? And what happens when you break the coconut with your head?

Obviously, there will be different outcomes to the above scenario. There is, obviously  a world of difference between allowing someone else to break the coconut on your head and breaking the coconut with your head.  In the former case, you may not live to tell the story, but not so when you break the coconut with your head.

Accordingly, the reason we are here is because Lanre Arogundade did not allow others to break the coconut on his head. Rather, he broke the coconut with his head.

The choice of the title of Lanre’s autobiography- Breaking Coconut with your Head (Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism) is very intentional and most apt. Intentional because when you break the coconut with your head, it tells of the very hard choices that you make, for which of course, you are very well-prepared to bare the consequences.

Again, breaking the coconut with your head requires that you use your head (that is, your senses, or operating in wisdom) to carry out the task without getting consumed in the assignment. Even at that, when you break the coconut with your head, you are most likely to experience one degree of headache or the other.

The story of Breaking Coconut with your Head (Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism) is the story of a young man who deliberately stirred the hornet’s nest. (Omo ti o ba tu Ile Oyin, o gbodo ri ija Oyin – A child that tries to hurt the Bees in their hive will necessarily experience bee’s attack.

The good thing about it all is that this Akowe  did not act alone;  he acted in concert with other equally revolutionary and progressive youths and patriots who, like the a gang or obstinacy of a Buffalo,  took on a monstrous state apparatus, at one time  civilian and the other time, the military, and came out, though bruised, but not killed.

Who is this personae who broke the coconut with his head?

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The man who broke the coconut with his head and lives to tell the story must truly be an enigma.The rider to the title of the autobiography, Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism gives us a clue.

The onomastic  of AKOWE is found in chapters one and 12, while the ‘madness’ of the secretary or writer ( different meanings of the Yoruba word, AKOWE) for breaking the coconut with his head is  scattered in the other different chapters of the book.

Right from his early days in the elementary school, the precocious boy called Lanre had already made up his mind, so very early in life, and told whosoever cared to listen, including his peers in the classroom,  “Akowe lemi o se, Akowe”, that is,  “I will be a writer, a writer” (p.4). By the time the reader gets to the final chapter, this AKOWE has established himself as an accomplished secretary and writer, and an uncompromising student union leader, but not “Akowe Onijogbon”, (Troublesome Secretary) as Professor Wande Abimbola, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ife,  would want the reader to believe.

I present to you Breaking Coconut with your Head (Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism , the autobiography of Lanre Arogundade, radical student union leader, former Secretary-General, Student Union, University of Ife (UNIFE), legendary President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) (1983/1984 session); human rights and free press advocate; former Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) House Chapel, The Republic newspaper and Chairman, NUJ,  Lagos State Chapter, revolutionary, patriot and orator of the finest global standard the phenomena Writer/Journalist  who, in school and out of school, remains  a  writer who is a thorn in the flesh of powers that be.

As with most other autobiographies, Breaking Coconut with your Head: Akowe’s Journey in Student Unionism begins with the story of Arogundade’s  birth, early life, growing up, the elementary  and secondary education. It is one of a family genealogy rooted in the fluid Southwestern region cocoa-based economy; and one with early contact with Western education, along with its multi-religious compositions including the traditional as well as imported Christian and Islamic religions all of which had profound effects on the personality of the autobiographer. He was not born in any modern maternity home or hospital, but rather as one of the  “Abagbedi Children” (p.1) , a sort of traditional birth attendant. As a result, Lanre’s  belated access  to orthodox  immunisation meant that he successfully wrestled  childhood killer diseases of his time.

He “survived on local herbs” (p.2) and strong doses of   prayers of the  Aladura Church Movement of  the famed Apostle Babalola’s Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) tradition.  It is not surprising that Lanre’s head was not broken when he broke the coconut with his head, later in life.

His parentage was rooted in the Arogundade/Oginni/Osungbohun family of Ijebu-Jesa and Ilesa (present-day Osun State) who migrated to Osi-Ekiti (now Ekiti State), where Lanre was born.

His father, Thomas Akinyemi Arogundade (Akin Onikoko), as a cocoa merchant, was a man of means, along with his mother (Layoonu Hannah Arogundade) ever so dutiful, faithful, supporting, materially and spiritually, even as a prayer warrior, brought Lanre up with all care and love.

Chairman Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON), Mr Louis Mbanefo, has said the Nobel laureate and master playwright Prof Wole Soyinka, will be celebrated at their forthcoming festival.

He broke the news at a briefing in Lagos to announce the events for the feasta. He said the 26th festival, which would hold between October 21 and 30, would kick off with a drama production of Wole Soyinka’s play Childe Internationale sponsored by Chevron. It has as the theme Resurgence.

The organisers said talents such as Afrobeat artist, Made Kuti, Nollywood actor and Tunji Sotimirin and Skit maker, Edgar Eriakha would feature.

Kuti will perform at the Festival Jazz night while Sotimirin and Eriakha will feature in the musical play of Wole Soyinka’s ‘Child International.’

Mbanefo said the MUSON was formed by a group of friends in 1983, “most of whom are now deceased, with the main objective of promoting the understanding and enjoyment of serious music’’.

He recalled how MUSON has been holding concerts since 1984, and the Musical school has grown into an accredited institution.

He said: “From humble beginnings, the School has become a diploma awarding institution accredited by the Ministry of Education and the music examination Board in England.The School has produced over 350 Diploma graduates.

“The MUSON Choir, which has won gold medals at international competitions, travelled to Greece just last week and performed to a distinguished audience.”

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The inauguration of Sunday Musical Brunches at the La Scala Restaurant will hold on October 23. “During the brunch, our talented musicians from the Diploma School will provide a continuous concert. Hopefully, this will become a monthly event,” Mbanefo said.

The traditional MUSON Day will be  October 25, and the occasion is to celebrate the birthday of MUSON with a concert by its talented MUSON artists.

On October 29, “We shall celebrate the 70th birthday of Senator Daisy Danjuma, the wife of our distinguished Patron, General T. Y. Danjuma, with the performance of the opera ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and I in her honour’ “.

The gala concert would hold on October 30, sponsored by Total Energies.

“The concert will feature the MUSON Choir, directed as usual by the Emeka Nwokedi, and the MUSON Symphony Orchestra conducted by our visiting maestro, Walter-Michael Vollhardt”.

A member of MUSON, Mr Ayo Ajayi, believes the organisation has impacted music tremendously.

Speaking on the position of MUSON in the tending of Afrobeat and Afrobeats genre, Ajayi said: “MUSON has affected the different strata of music in Nigeria; it would interest you to know that some of the people who started creating Afrobeats got their first platforms with MUSON.”

He explained that the birth of the Open Mic sessions and shows gave the platform for some young upcoming artists.

“The likes of Dare Alade and Timi Dakolo attended the MUSON basic school of Music,” he said.

He added that MUSON believes in giving a platform to both Afrobeat and Afrobeats artists a platform regardless of the generation.

“Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Davido, Banky W and others have performed on this stage, and now we are bringing Made Kuti this year for the Jazz festival.”

Dignitaries thronged the Nigeria LNG Limited Grand Award Night for this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature, Science and Literary Criticism. The event headlined by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo had the usual suspects – glitz, glam and a rich bouquet of suspense of such high-profile events at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, EVELYN OSAGIE writes.

The Grand Award Night (GAN) ceremony for this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature, Science and Literary Criticism, organised by the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) at the weekend in Lagos, was similar to a play with many dramatic scenes.

Themed: “Touching the Stars”, the event headlined by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo underscored the importance of literature and scientific innovation, particularly in agriculture, in nation-building, and economic advancement.

It was indeed a night of memories … one that the winners of NLNG-sponsored prizes would not forget in a hurry. The high-profile guests from all spheres that thronged the GAN held their breath. One could almost feel the suspense as they awaited the announcement of the winners, even as the numeri uno of comedy Alibaba anchored the night.

Winners and their prizes

None of the other two prizes held the kind of suspense that the $100,000 The Nigeria Prize for Literature. This was because early on NLNG had announced the winners of The Nigeria Prize for Science, who were jointly awarded the prize money of $100,000.

The literature prize that has been described as the Nobel Prize of the continent is prestigious not only for the prize money but also for the calibre of past winners.

It was little wonder then that the shouts that followed the announcement of the poet, Romeo Oriogun, author of Nomad as winner by the Chairperson of the Advisory Board, Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, who was flanked by her board members – Professors Ahmed Yerima and Olu Obafemi, while NLNG’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, stood in the background.

The winning book beat two others on the Shortlist of Three: The Call of Water by Su’eddie Vershima Agema, who collected the winning plaque on behalf of Oriogun, and Your Crib, My Qibla by Saddiq Dzukogi to clinch the prize. The book competed against 287 books submitted for the competition.

Although right from inception, the prize has been winner takes all, this year’s edition ruuners-up won’t go home empty-handed. Oriogun will be sharing his USD$100,000 prize money with the two poets. He said this on his verified Twitter handle shortly after being announced winner. Prof. Akachi-Ezeigbo also announced Dr. Sakiru Adebayo as winner of the  Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, which comes with N1 million prize.

According to the judges, the winning book, Nomad, stands out as the most technically-accomplished, rendering the topical subject of migration in a language laced with lyrical figurations. They stated that “the 67 poems in the collection were held together by a travel motif, marshalled in each poem with equal intensity, and linked to the African past, including the Middle Passage, and the African Future.”

The farmer-writer

One of the highpoints of the event was the keynote address by Obasanjo, which came after the four winners of The Nigeria Prize for Science were awarded $100,000. Muhydideen Oyekunle, Shehu Ado, Sesan Peter Ayodeji and Emmanuel Olatunji Olatomilola won the prize for their works entitled Gains in Grain Yield of Released Maize (Zea Mays L.) Cultivars under Drought and Well-Watered Conditions, and Development of Process Plant for Plantain Flour.

Obasanjo, whose pastimes are farming and writing, stressed the critical roles science and literature play in national development. According to him, Nigeria could reach greatness through a strong will to change the prevailing narrative

He added: “Nigeria is, as we all know, blessed beyond measure in talents, capabilities, and resources.

“The world has always been fast spinning into areas of scientific breakthroughs and innovations that aim to maintain high standards of living, while sustainably preserving the earth for generations yet unborn. Just like a space launch, a scientific breakthrough can shoot our nation to those seemingly unattainable heights where we can touch the stars.

“We can adopt world-class best practices, and leap with giant strides into the future. We can collaborate on exchanges of ideas and invest in research and development. We can focus on the education and mental development of our people so that we position the nation in the direction it should go.”

Decrying the state of libraries, reading culture and education, Obasanjo charged the organised private-sector to borrow a leaf from NLNG’s example to invest in the creative sector as part of their CSR.

“I speak to the political class, the administrators, business institutions and organisations, small and medium scale enterprises, the creatives and content developers, leaders across all spheres of influence, the man or woman whose heart burns with passion for Nigeria’s good, and to the boy or girl, who is discovering his or her talents and gifts. May we all rise to that place of willingness and do so, collectively,” Obasanjo said.

NLNG boss: The art enthusiast

Mshelbila said the company sponsored the prizes to ensure that excellence assumed a prominent position in creativity and innovation in the country, stating that the entries for the Nigeria Prize for Literature were the most ever in the history of the prize.

His welcome remark was further heightened by his rendition of Maya Angelou’s poem entitled: “I know why the caged bird sings.”

On the theme of the science prize, Innovations in Sustainable Food Security, Mshelbila stated that the prize and the winners were a wake-up call for the country and Nigerians to take responsibility for food sustenance.

“From the mangroves of the Niger Delta, through the rain forests, to the grassy plains and savannah terrains, the nation pitifully boasts of poverty, yet it is bountifully endowed with arable lands and agricultural treasures. Including its aquatic wealth. This is a wake-up call! We must take responsibility for food sustenance, at the very least, and scale up to foreign exchange revenue drive from food/agriculture export once our people are assured of their daily meals. It really is the future of the world, and one for which NLNG should be rightly positioned, to bring Nigeria into that realm. What’s more, we must shun wastages, arising from poor handling or preservation of agricultural produce,” he said.

Other guests at the event were Minister of Science and Technology Adeleke Mamora; Prize Advisory Board member Prof. Olu Obafemi; the Amanyanabo of Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, King Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III CON, JP, Perekule XI; NLNG’s Deputy MD Olalekan Ogunleye; Su’eddie Agema, representative of the winner of the Prize; and Ahmed.

The panel of judges included Sule Emmanuel Egya, who is the chairman of the panel and a professor of African Literature and Cultural Studies, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State.

Other judges were Toyin Adewale-Gabriel and Dike Chukwumerije.

Adewale-Gabriel is a poet and fiction writer. Dike Chukwumerije is a spoken word and performance poet, and an award-winning author.

Prof. Susan Nalugwa Kiguli was the international consultant for this year’s Prize. She is a Ugandan poet and an associate professor of Literature at Makerere University.