The Nation Newspaper

Category: Health

  • Foundation embarks on three-week free medical outreach

    Foundation embarks on three-week free medical outreach

    The Giwarex Foundation, an apolitical, non-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has initiated a three-week free medical outreach in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara state.

    The outreach, focusing on indigent residents of the Ilorin Emirate, encompasses HIV tests, A1C tests for blood sugar levels, blood pressure checks, malaria rapid diagnostic tests, as well as medical consultation, treatment education, and counseling, among other services.

    Prof. Pharm. Abdulganiyu Giwa, the founder of the Foundation, stated that the purpose of the medical outreach is to provide assistance to indigent vulnerable groups, including children, women, and the elderly in the community, adding that the initiative is in response to the challenging economic conditions prevailing in the country.

    Giwa, who is the first Professor of Pharmacy in Ilorin Emirate, revealed that his recent appointment to the professorial position by the University of Ilorin prompted a realization of the imperative to intensify his endeavors in contributing to the society that had been instrumental in his achievements.

    According to him, the Foundation is exclusively dedicated to alleviating the plight of the less fortunate by offering healthcare services, arranging complimentary summer lessons for secondary school students, and granting scholarships, among other initiatives.

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    He said: “The medical outreach that we’re organizing now came up as a result of the recent pronouncements of my professor chair as the first pharmacy professor in Ilorin Emirate, I just concluded within me that I’m not going to take it for granted.

    “I have to use the opportunity to quickly try to give more than ever before to society. That’s why we organized these medical outreaches in Ilorin metropolis.

    The exercise which began on Saturday, 9 December will traverse the city through the end of the month.

  • Patient influx overwhelms Abuja FMC

    Patient influx overwhelms Abuja FMC

    The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Jabi, Abuja, is seeking the expansion of its infrastructure due to the surge in patients, revealing the inadequacy of its current building infrastructure and facilities.

    In 2020, the monthly outpatient count at the hospital ranged from 5000 to 6000, in contrast to the current figure of 20,000 outpatients per month the Chief Medical Director(CMD/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hospital, Prof. Saad Ahmed has said.

    The surge in outpatient numbers, according to the CMD, is exerting pressure on both facilities and the workforce.

    Ahmed made the plea during a visit to the hospital premises by the Senate Committee on Health, led by its Chairman, Sen. Banigo Ipalibo, as part of the Committee’s oversight visit.

    Highlighting the importance of optimal service delivery at the FMC, Ahmed explained that allocating additional land, especially the area adjacent to the hospital, would facilitate the construction of new departments and expand the hospital’s capacity for service delivery.

    He pointed out the presence of only one chemotherapy suite for cancer treatment, emphasizing the necessity for a bunker-like structure to install linear accelerators for handling cancer cases, which the hospital currently lacks.

    Acknowledging the capital-intensive nature of equipment like the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, Ahmed informed the lawmakers that the allocated budget for the hospital might not cover its purchase. However, he highlighted ongoing advocacy efforts to secure additional funding for acquiring such equipment.

    Expressing concern over the potential hindrance to optimal service delivery resulting from such a shortage, the CMD also appealed for an increase in the budgetary allocation for the medical center.

    He welcomed the lawmakers’ oversight visit, expressing appreciation for the opportunity it provided to address the challenges faced by the institution, saying, “The Senate Committee on Health’s oversight visit will enable them to see what we do and also see what challenges we are facing so that they can interface and solve some of those issues.

    “I will say for the surgeries that we have the equipment to do them. The only thing is we need to expand in order to give more services.

    “With regards to manpower issues, it is a global challenge but the Federal Minister of Health, the National Assembly, and also the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation are trying to see how this can be made seamless so that even if others go, we will be able to replace it in no time.

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    “Equally on the area of increasing the workforce, the Federal Minister of Health is focusing on training institutions to see how they can increase their capacity based on the specialists that we have on the ground and the equipment that can accommodate that.

    However, he informed the Committee that the hospital is not falling behind in Residency training.

    In seeking the hospital’s audit report, the Committee expressed concerns about the insufficient equipment, specifically highlighting the presence of only one MRI machine, which could impact service performance.

    Additionally, the Committee urged the hospital to reconsider the remuneration of its resident doctors, noting that their payment structure, not managed by the hospital, might affect the level of service delivery they provide.

  • Cancer of the blood, sick liver, right foods, drinks

    Cancer of the blood, sick liver, right foods, drinks

    If you are clairaudient, you may  hear whispers of cancer of the blood  knocking heads, agitating nerves and elevating blood pressure. In some healthcare circles, this cancer is believed to be a death sentence. Yet, in  others, reprieve is sometimes found. Death or reprieve may depend on the method of healthcare and of how far gone out of hand is the sickness. At an Indian children’s hospital, doctors   saved  lives with bone marrow meal prescriptions. The information led me to a  New Zealand company which made bone marrow meal from the bone marrows of organic grass-grazing bovines. The product helped  some cancer and sickle cell challenged persons.

     According to spiritually inclined followers of mother nature healthcare systems,  cancer cannot afflict any human body in which the liver is healthy and optimally performs its job and the bloodstream is well composed and radiates in its fullest capacity. This information first shown the light on any cancer when it was  released to humanity of the 1920s in a spiritual tiding. For many persons beset with cancer before then, at that time and even  now, the liver must be in various stages of weakness, the blood is poorly composed, vibrating less than it should and,  therefore, unable to disintegrate any life from foreign to the body.

     I understood so in the 1970s while I  struggled, as I still do, to understand human existence, creation, and the laws of nature as the Language God speaks to His Creatures in His  Creation.

     In the battle against cancer, pharmaceutical  weapons such as injections and drugs are often deployed. This approach is a direct attack on the cancer and not on the cause(s). This is like stoking a fire. The cancer grows  angrier, bigger and more devastating.  Biochemist Dr Robert Young suggests in his PH MIRACLE that this is like fighting against Nature. He says that, inside every cell, plant, animal or human, there is a microscopic organism called Microzyma. Mother Nature placed it in the cells to make the cell die and decay when it is becoming acidic. If expired bodies do not decay and then become turned into dust, would there be space left today on earth for those bodies on the life curve? Dr Young puts radiant health down to how much alkaline or acidic our bodies are. THE ACID / ALKALINE SCALE is 0-14. Seven is a safety valve. Readings below seven are progressively acidic from 6.9 to 0, while those above seven are progressively Alkaline from 7.1 to 14. Excessive alkalinity is dangerous. The safe level is about 7.34, according to many researchers and physicians. Dr Young says that Microzyma is inactive  in the right alkaline  medium, but active in acidic environment, devolving into bacteria, viruses and mold as the acidosis increases. These organisms cause irritation, disease, inflammation and pain. A doctor who is trained to wage war on bacteria with dangerous anti-bacterial drugs prescribes antibiotics. Antibiotics would wipe out some of the bacteria and leave acidic residues in the tissue and blood. Angry remnant bacteria would reproduce in bigger multitudes which become resistant to the drugs. The doctor would change his prescriptions to even mightier dosages and the scenarios would continue. I have seen a scenario of this in Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency. The harder the Nigerian Army pounds them, the more the Boko Haram troops  re-emerge to fight. They flee  from air bombings to return like yeast leavened bread in the oven.  In the human body, says Dr Young, more acidosis brings viruses and, then, mold out of michrozyma in its devolving procedures. In laboratory and human blood circulation scenarios, these micro-organisms  evolve into Michrozyma when treated with alkaline factors.

     This process is more natural and bears fulsome testimony to the spiritual guidance of the 1920s that

    • Cancer cannot exist in a human body in which the liver is healthy and

    • Neither drugs nor injections, but the right kinds of foods and drinks bring lasting health.   

        Accordingly, Natural Medicine inclined physicians who understand The Language  of the Creator in His Creation do not wage war on bacteria, viruses and mold, because they are performing their  natural roles in the human body. They  clean up the liver, the cells, organs and tissues and the blood stream, The River Of Life. When this is well done, the organs regain their balance and  health and Microzyma returns to whence it came. 

     Everyday, our bodies generate potential cancer cells. A healthy liver pulverises and disintegrates them.  These cells too commit suicide by literally pulling on themselves the triggers of their P.53 genes. Where they cannot do this, as Dr Karl Folkers and his research team have shown, it is because they have become devitalised and de-energised. In the Finnish landmark experiment in which nutrition, in particular Co-enzyme CoQ10 and ubiquinol were given to scores of women with terminal breast cancers and they recovered, we observe evidence of THE RIGHT KINDS OF FOOD AND DRINKS and of the RECOMPOSITION OF THE BLOOD.

     You should please permit that I talk more about The Blood.  Its  radiation is meant to be the strongest of any life form in the body and to destroy life forms incompatible with the body’s health.

    The Blood

     What is it? Why does the blood of the foetus growing in a woman’s womb  not start to circulate, and the foetus has to depend on the mother’s blood circulation, until it gives the pregnant woman the first kicks of pregnancy? Why is it that the blood starts to circulate then but ceases to after death? Are the first kicks of pregnancy due to the entrance of a vital force in the foetal body, and does the exit of this vital force from a young, adult or old human body the cause of death? There are two schools of thought in this great debate about The Mystery of The Blood, its functions, composition, and how the blood can cause various diseases, including cancer of the blood. The first school sees no big deal in the blood. It seems the human body as being mechanistic, simply an arrangement of specialised cells into tissues, those tissues into specialised organs and the specialised organs into the various systems. The mechanists reject the idea of a Vital Force as the switch which activates or inactivates the systems. However, they are confused when they have to explain why the blood of  humans  and of animals have different compositions when the human body originated from the advanced animal body. Most of them bow before the explanation that the human blood has an advanced or superior composition because it is formed by the Human Spirit which dwells inside the body as its housing during its surgeon on earth for a purpose, while the animal blood is composed by the animistic essence from the animistic spheres of existence which lies below the spiritual spheres and is, therefore, less energetic than the Spirit.  For the Vitalist school of thought which opposes the Mechanist school, this vital force is the Soul. Many persons confuse the Soul with the Ghost.

     To understand the Soul in relation to the formation, composition and maintainance of healthy blood, the knowledge of the Spirit is important. Man, that is you and I, is a Human  Spirit from the Spirit or Spiritual World, our home, Paradise. We are a specie of Creation. We are on Earth for a purpose. There are many spheres of existence between the spiritual realms and the earth. As the spirit journeys  to the earth, it covers itself with the material of each of these lower spheres of existence. These coverings of the spirit and the spirit,  but without the covering of the earth picked up in a mother’s womb, is the Soul. When the earth body or covering is added, the spirit man on Earth is the Earth-Man. Until the soul picks up the earth covering growing in the womb, it stands beside the pregnant woman, directing development in the womb. In the middle of pregnancy, the soul enters the  growing body, the baby begins to kick, and its own blood, not the mother’s any more, begins to circulate within its body. The day the soul leaves that body at any age, that earth covering falls apart in death This suggests something… THAT THE SOUL FORMS THE BLOOD AND MAINTAINS  ITS   HEALTH AND CIRCULATION.!

     What we call GHOST is  lifeless matter animated by the Soul to interface between it and the body as direct spirit energy will cripple the body. I remember this phenomenon when I wish to launder a sensitive cloth with an electric iron and place another cloth between the two. When the soul pulls away from the earth-body in death, it may pull this interfacing or ASTRAL BODY along or leave it behind with the body. If it leaves it behind, the corpse may take some time to decay , especially if the soul is still hanging around and the Astral Body which is still drawing energy from it is passing it over to the body. However, when the soul moves away and pulls the astral form along, it is this Astral form, now separated from the earth body and the soul but which still manages to exist, that we call THE GHOST. Soon, the “ghost” will disintegrate when the soul is farther from it and no longer draws nourishment from its radiation.

     Function of the blood

    Hematologists and hematopathologists (Blood doctors) ascribe many functions to the blood. These include transport of nutrients and Oxygen to the cells, removal of their metabolic wastes to the excretory organs, movement of immune cells and repair proteins to troubled tissues etc. However, all of these are functions subordinate to why the spirit made the blood. The  blood  is made to  form the bridge for the activity  of the spirit on earth.  The spirit is here on earth for a purpose, and it needs the gross material human body in the gross material earth to gross materially manifest itself to achieve this purpose. Astronauts need paraphernalia homogenous with space consistencies. Divers need paraphernalia homogenous with water consistency. 

    Even the blood is too dense to transmit communication from the spirit to the brains (cerebrum and cerebellum). The spirit glows through its soul bodies to the Silver Cord, the invisible connecting link with the body at the Solar Plexus, which is in the middle of the abdomen where a powerful group of nerves links some critical organs with the brains.The activity of the spirit would have to halt at the solar plexus if there is no finer medium than the blood to move its communication  to the brains and bring back communication from the earthly environment through a reverse process. The problem is resolved by the blood, under promptings of the spirit and the body to a lesser extent, to produce RADIATION fine enough for a two-way communication transport. This is achieved through a specific composition of the blood for the use by the particular spirit or soul which masterminds it.

    In the specific composition and radiation of the blood lies the secret of the four blood groups. No one can take blood transfusion from the blood group not suitable for his or her own without coming to harm. In the knowledge mediated to mankind on earth for about 100 years now, it is shown that more groups are still undiscovered and that, in fact, no two human beings have exactly the same blood, that, someday , the blood of all persons would become their identity cards. Even today, when a person is transfused with another person’s blood from a compatible blood group, the “foreign” blood alters the radiation of the recepient’s own blood and makes the spirit unable to effectively and efficiently control the body and astutely manifest outwardly.

     Thus, a blood radiation ineffective for a healthy activity of the spirit on earth is to be found in the wrong composition of the blood. The natural process is for radiations of the spirit to move across the silver cord to the solar plexus and, from there, for the radiations to impress the back  brain (cerebellum) with picture forms which the Blood Radiation will transport to the cerebrum (frontal brain) which will decode the spiritual information and instruction and carry them out on earth. The fact that the cerebellum, the spiritually receptive part of the two brains, has become “the small brain” is evidence of its disuse and atrophy and why the human spirit has not had a serious foothold on earth. Diseases such as Autism can be explained by the phenomenon of the incompetent Blood Radiation locking the human spirit out of the body and out of its earthly activities. There are no sick souls or spirits but inadequate or even sick Blood RADIATIONS rooted in weak composition of the Blood.

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    When the blood Radiation of a person falls to the level where another soul can take it over and use it, this often happens. Spookish events as knocks on the door,  moving objects, strange noises and smells often arise around such persons. POSSESION may occur when a disembodied earth bound  soul roaming around takes over the brain and body of such a careless person, temporarily or permanently, causing him or her to exhibit a split personality. The real owner of the body, careless with the blood composition and  radiation, struggles with an invading soul  for  control of its brain and body. This may not be insanity as  often assumed and is correctable with the re-composition of the blood to produce the right blood radiation for the owner-soul.

    Blood Cancer

    This is a group term for rapidly over populating, immature and functionally redundant cells. There are three major types…Leukemia, (white blood cells),  lymphoma (lymph cells) and myelema (plasma cells).

    Google describes the symptoms to include:

     “People may experience: Pain areas in the bones or joints Whole body: dizziness, fatigue, fever, or loss of appetite

    Also common: bleeding, easy bruising, frequent infections, mouth ulcer, nosebleed, pale skin, petechiae, shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, unintentional weight loss, or weakness”.

    Chemotherapy,  radiotherapy and pharmaceutical drugs are of little use. The blood needs to be purified, recomposed, nourished and protected. Nourishment includes spiritual nurture as the spirit makes the blood. Spiritual nurture has nothing to do with religious life which, often, is not spiritual. The spirit must be alive, self recognising, discovering creation and its place and role in it, including the spiritual purpose of earthly existence and fufilling it. Above all, there is the need to strive for a “high aim” which survives earthly existence.

    Spiritual life is connected to the Third Chakra in energy medicine. This is also called the Navel Chakra because it is the site of the Silver  Cord and relates, also, with the Solar Plexus. This chakra or energy centre may be blocked by emotional discomfeitures which  must be removed from earthly activities. They include low self esteem, anger, misuse of power etc. Early symptoms of disconnection of spirit and body may include heavy footsteps, problems of digestion, absorbtion and assimilation, blood malformation, excretion, reproduction and respiration. These challenges may profit from  yellow colour therapy or solarisation of water in yellow bottles for drinking. There is more to say on this subject.

    At the level of the body, working with the functional temperament is important. Often, this depends on age (sanguine, melancholia, choleric or phlegmatic), RADIATIONS of the stars and earth forms in the zone of the earth where the challenged person was born.

    Recomposition of the blood through the body would begin with cleansing, alterative and nutritive herbs. Earlier, I described the support Bone Marrow Meal gave leukemia-suffering children in India. There are reports of  Stinging Nettle and Marigold Flowers helping some adults. Jobelyn, the Nigerian herbal blood formula, has prolonged the lives of some leukemia patients abroad, beyond expectations of their doctors. Also, well recommended are herbs such as cleavers, burdock, Red clover, Beets, yellow dock, Golden seal, Bentonite clay, Goji berries. Green foods and juices play a significant role in reviving the blood, recomposing and re energising it. Several years ago, I published an article on this page titled Let’s Drink Green, The Earth is  not  green  for the  fun of it. In this regard, I will also suggest aloe vera juice and liquid chlorophyll. The structure of chlorophyll, that green part of the plant which combines the forces of the air, of water,  of the sun and of the moon and the stars with the forces of the soil to encapsulate plant food and medicines for the human body, is made up of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon and oxygen with magnesium as the central atom which holds the four pillars together. The same structure presents itself in the haemoglobin of the human blood, except for the central atom which is iron. Thus, when we eat green or drink green, the body recomposes and recharges the human blood by replacing magnesium with iron. The treasure trove of Mother Nature is inexhaustible.

  • Lumiere group launches enzyme fuel treatment

    Lumiere group launches enzyme fuel treatment

    Lumiere Group International (LGI) has launched an enzyme fuel treatment known as EcoBoost to the Nigerian markets.

    The launch of the product which was introduced into the country from Ghana, took place in Lagos on Monday during a red carpet event attended by eminent dignitaries from all walks of life.

    Following the emergence of EcoBoost, an enzyme fuel treatment that has the potentiality to clean and save fuel  in vehicle, generator tanks as well as  tanks of other machinery, fuel users would now begin to heave a sigh of relief from fuel scarcity, high cost, adulterated fuel crises as well as poor engine performance.

    Against the backdrop of the basic benefits of the product, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, expressed delight that the product would inspire value for the human race and a blessing to mankind.

    “We are unveiling this product for the benefit of economic privilege and value addition for the entire people of our dear country and the entire human race. It’s a blessing to mankind. Today, I hereby unveil the product,” Oba Ogunwusi said.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Lumiere Group International, Gisele Dede Aklobessi, who was represented by Marketing and Sales Executive, Selina Brobbey,  said that EcoBoost had capacity to stabilise fuel for long time storage, improve engine performance, extend engine’s life and lower maintenance cost.

    “In a world where the demand for fuel is ever increasing, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more pressing. Our team, driven by a passion for environmental stewardship and technological advancement, has tirelessly worked to bring this fuel additive to Nigeria and greater part of Africa,” Aklobessi said.

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    “EcoBoost can save 30 percent of fuel when used. It can remove dirt from engine, clean it and help it to perform better like a brand new one,” she added.

    “EcoBoost enzyme fuel treatment is not your ordinary fuel additive, it is made of natural enzyme extracted from green plants made not only to maximise  fuel efficiency but also to minimise harmful emissions. It is a testament to  our dedication to environmental responsibility and our relentless pursuit of innovative solutions to address the challenges of our time. Using our additive is a small but powerful step towards a cleaner, more sustainable planet and we are proud to be at the forefront of this positive change,” Aklobessi stressed.

    EcoBoost had been a household name in fuel treatment concerns because it is marketed in America and has been satisfying users throughout the world since 1995.

     It is also marketed and distributed under the brand name “EcoBoost” in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and other African countries.

    The Director-General of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, who was represented by his Special Adviser (S.A), Folasade, Aderoju, also expressed delight at the unveiling of Ecoboost in Nigeria.

    She noted that the Organisation did not hesitate to register it due to its confidence in the integrity and efficacy of the product.

    To ensure safety, reliability and sustainability, SON has awarded the product certificate for it’s sales in the Nigerian markets.

     “The product registration certificate is the procedure whereby products to be sold in Nigeria must have gone through the regulatory compliance for it to be certified and sold in the country. We are happy to learn about the product and see how it will contribute to the system in Nigeria,” she stressed.

  • Nursing council suspends Abia PTS exams

    Nursing council suspends Abia PTS exams

    The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has suspended indefinitely the controversial Preliminary Test Session (PTS) examination taken by nursing students in Abia state.

    The suspension of the examination was disclosed by the commissioner for health, Ngozi Okoronkwo while briefing the press on the ugly incident of protest that marred the rescheduled examination.

    Okoronkwo explained that the problem was the over-bloated admission of nursing students conducted by the immediate past administration.

    He said: “This admission happened in April, so they were already in school when we came in. The schools were supposed to have taken at least 75 students only for the training institution but what we met on the ground was 420 students.

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    “So we met that situation on the ground, so, this is what we are trying to manage. We didn’t create it but we have to find a solution.”

    The commissioner informed that after the protest, “the Nursing Council stepped in, sent a Director from Abuja, we held a meeting with them and they said, for the students to take the exams, they must be sure.

    She stated: “We have to now follow strictly the guidelines that the first thing first, would be to verify that they have correct WAEC result.

    “We started the process immediately, we requested the names from the Principals of the two schools; Nursing School Amachara and Nursing School, Umuahia and they provided the names, provided the documents. And have cleared about 500 students out of 7 hundred and something of them.

    It could be recalled that following earlier protests of some nursing students a few weeks ago over the alleged result and admission racketeering.

    The state government cancelled the PTS exam and rescheduled it.

  • ROFWOL launches campaign against cervical cancer, says fight needs concerted efforts

    ROFWOL launches campaign against cervical cancer, says fight needs concerted efforts

    Founder of Rock Foundation for Widows, Orphans & Less Privileged (ROFWOL), Mrs Favour Chika-Okafor, has said that for the campaign against cervical cancer to be won, all hands must be on the deck. 

    Mrs Chika-Okafor, an engineer, made the statement while unfolding plans by the Foundation to offer free cervical cancer services to underprivileged Nigerians, particularly children and widows.

    ROFWOL is a non-profit organisation committed to empowering underprivileged children and poor widows. 

    Chika-Okafor’s remarks are contained in a statement, which unfolds plans for the commemoration of the Foundation’s 22nd anniversary in charitable works, and 12 years as a registered trust foundation. 

     Justifying the need for the campaign against cervical cancer, she noted that in Nigeria, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer and the second most frequent cause of cancer deaths among women aged between 15 and 44 years, lamenting the loss of 8,000 women yearly to the disease. 

    She noted that the programme would cost huge amount of money, but said the cost would not deter the Foundation, saying: “When there is a will and commitment, there will always be a way, especially since the project is meant to affect humanity positively and better the lives of the underprivileged; and, more importantly, the project enjoys divine support, through well-meaning Nigerians.

      “It is a non-profit activity to mark 22 years of touching lives positively. ROFWOL is creating awareness on cervical cancer, prevention and treatment and will give free PAP Smear screening tests to poor widows, poor women, and sexually exposed girls.”

     On how to raise the needed fund, she said: “Raising the fund is secondary. The most important thing is that we are driven by commitment, passion and strong desire to succeed. With these basic qualities, other needs, including finance by our support partners, will follow seamlessly.

    “We expect that corporate bodies and individuals will be equally committed to our campaign of eliminating or minimising the deadly impact of cervical cancer. No doubt, they will support us. We will be bringing some of them together on Sunday, December 10 in Lagos to brief them on ROFWOL’s Cervical Cancer Campaign and to solicit their support.

      “At ROFWOL, we are ready and willing to commit all we have to make the project succeed; however, the amount required is enormous, hence, we are reaching out to all Nigerians, corporate and individuals, to support this laudable campaign against cervical cancer. To us, no contribution is too small as all contributions will add up to make the desired great impact. She said the Foundation has impacted humanity in diverse ways, including scholarships for indigent pupils and students.”     

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      Favour, as she loves to be addressed, is from Nnobi in Anambra State, Nigeria. She holds B.Eng & MEng. in Chemical Engineering and MSc. in BioMedical Engineering from the United States of America. 

      She has over 18 cognate years of experience in business management and manufacturing. She has served on the boards of different companies, including the Nigeria American Chamber of Commerce. She retired as Group Executive Director in Chicason Group to run her non-profit Foundation. 

      She belongs to many corporate organisations, such as Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), US; Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE); Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), just to mention a few. 

      She is an author of 13 books. She believes that the day a man stops dreaming, he dies and that learning should be continuous to remain relevant to the society. She concluded her Nonprofit Management Programme from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023.

  • Ministry of health, UNFPA host forum on family planning in Lagos

    Ministry of health, UNFPA host forum on family planning in Lagos

    The Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has organised a High-Level Private Sector Engagement Forum on Family Planning (HLPF-FP) in Lagos state.

    This pivotal event convened influential decision-makers from the government, development partners, and corporations to encourage collaboration and chart a strategic path towards building a sustainable society.

    Representing the First Lady of Lagos state, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the Permanent Secretary, Health District VI, Dr. Cecilia Mabogunje, underscored the significance of family planning as an informed decision made by individuals or couples regarding the number and spacing of children.

    She emphasised its far-reaching impact on socio-economic development, educational and career aspirations of women, and the overall well-being of families. Dr. Mabogunje called for concerted efforts from relevant stakeholders to adequately fund family planning services and address associated challenges.

    The UNFPA Resident Representative, Dr. Gifty Addico, represented by Koessan Kuawu, Deputy Representative, UNFPA Nigeria, highlighted the urgency of addressing maternal mortality in Nigeria, noting its second-highest rate globally.

    According to Addico, family planning could avert 23% of maternal deaths annually. However, challenges persist, with a funding gap of $32 million in 2023, resulting in 19% of Women of Reproductive Age lacking access to family planning, as per the 2018 National Demographic Health Survey.

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    The forum aimed to mobilise private sector support to bridge these gaps.

    In a special address, Daju Kachollom the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, explained Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges and its high maternal mortality rate.

    He emphasised the Federal Ministry of Health’s commitment to improving governance, population health outcomes, the healthcare value chain, and health security.

    Kachollom discussed the significant investments made and challenges faced in increasing demand for family planning services and commodities, noting the rising procurement costs.

    The High-Level Private Sector Forum aimed to secure private sector commitment to family planning, present the family planning investment case for feedback, and discuss plans towards actualizing FP2030.

    The event brought together diverse stakeholders, including government representatives, private sector entities, and civil society organizations.

    Kachollom urged continued collaboration to create an enabling environment for innovative financing, technology-driven family planning programs, and local production of family planning commodities.

  • 2,209 pregnant women, 8 infants test positive for HIV/AIDS in 2023 – Niger govt

    2,209 pregnant women, 8 infants test positive for HIV/AIDS in 2023 – Niger govt

    Niger State has recorded 2,209 pregnant women and eight infants testing positive for HIV/AIDS between January and October 2023 state.

    The Niger State Commissioner for Secondary and Tertiary Healthcare, Dr. Tukur Bello during a press conference to commemorate the 2023 World AIDS Day stated that 34,898 people are currently receiving treatment for HIV across the state.

    According to the commissioner, the figures for HIV prevalence in the state have been fluctuating over the years and have dropped to 0.7 percent.

    The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Mohammed Gana noted that the cases of the eight infants who were tested with HIV were those whose parents did not attend antenatal services.

    The commissioner identified the major drivers of the HIV epidemic in the state to include key populations such as female sex workers, persons in correctional centres, gays and transgender, and those who abuse drugs through injections.

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    He said: “Factors associated with the transmission of new infections include early sexual debut, poor pre-marital screening for HIV, sub-optimal HUV testing services especially amongst children and adolescents, poor knowledge on pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis services.”

    The commissioner noted that birth deliveries by unskilled birth attendants have also been identified as a challenge that has increased mother-to-child transmission.

    He said that 37 healthcare facilities across the state are currently offering comprehensive HIV services adding that at the community level, teams have been set up at the local government areas to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

  • FG restates commitment to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, unveils national strategy

    FG restates commitment to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, unveils national strategy

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume has said that the federal government is committed to ending AIDS by the year 2030, saying that it will ensure no one is left behind in providing access to HIV services across the country.

    The government is leveraging a massive private sector to drive a sustainable HIV response as a part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration.

    A national strategic framework for 2023 to 2027 and the symbol of a new business model for sustainable HIV response in Nigeria was unveiled on Thursday, November 30, by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate to drive the efforts towards meeting the 2030 target.

    Currently, Nigeria has 1.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) on treatment out of the 1.9 Million PLHIVs.

    Speaking during the commemoration of this year’s World AIDS Day in Abuja on Thursday, Akume said: “Nigeria aligns fully with global solidarity and shared responsibilities which requires us to view global health responses in a new way,

    “The government of ‘Renewed Hope’ of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to sustaining the President’s initiative to treat more HIV patients annually using resources mobilized locally.

    “I am happy to note that the key strategy for sustainability and country ownership of HIV to be launched today indicates a pivotal commitment towards ending AIDS by 2030 and beyond, with states providing leadership.

    “I, therefore encourage State governments to key into this agenda for ownership for sustainable HIV response in Nigeria.”

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    The SGF underscored the necessity of prioritizing community-led initiatives, in addition to private sector collaboration while noting that NACA in collaboration with the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA) recently launched a sixty-two billion Naira private sector-driven HIV/AIDS Trust Fund of Nigeria.

    He said: “This is yet another unique achievement in the Sub-Saharan Africa. We call on the organized private sector to ensure the private business community delivers on its pledge to support Government effort to achieve an HIV-free generation where no baby is born with HIV in Nigeria.

    “We recognize the invaluable contributions of communities in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is within these communities that we have found resilience, determination, and the will to make a difference.

    “The strength of these communities has propelled us towards achieving the global goal of ending AIDS by 2030”.

    The Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Gambo Aliyu in his remarks said Nigeria has demonstrated the zeal to meet the 2030 target considering the proactive measures being put in place

    While noting that complacency has no place as the country marches towards meeting the set date, Aliyu said, “Nigeria’s HIV response was the most COVID-19 resilient globally.

    “Over the last four years and especially during the period of the COVID-19 epidemic, Nigeria has demonstrated tremendous capacity for HIV case identification at community level.

    “As the country continues to make commendable progress towards achieving epidemic control necessary to end AIDS by 2030, we are also mindful of the fact that ending AIDS comes with a huge challenge of sustainability of the control.

    “To overcome this challenge, the Government of Nigeria, the United States Government, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund initiated an alignment programme to ensure country ownership and sustainability of the national response beyond 2030.

    “Leadership communities of persons living with HIV, key affected populations, women, adolescent and young persons; policymakers, religious, traditional and political leaders, civil society organizations, development partners, organized private sector, the general public, and our media society to mention a few, have critical roles to ending social, cultural, legal and economic inequalities holding back progress to ending AIDS and elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.”

    December 1 is a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) as World AIDS Day to show support for people living with and affected by HIV and to remember those who lost their lives to AIDS.

    The theme of this year’s commemoration is ‘Let communities lead’.

  • 106 professors flag off O connect teleconference

    106 professors flag off O connect teleconference

    I thought I was on a wild goose chase of an Algerian university, arguably the first on earth to experiment with O connect teleconference, until I was acquainted early this month with Zineddine Lefafta, a 32-year-old marketer.

    An Algerian resident in Skikda, the North Eastern Mediterranean port city of his country, Mr Lefafta is an O founder of onpassive. About 1.47 million of them are to be found in 200 countries. He had just pulled off what, arguably, was the first O Connect Teleconference which has the prospects of making an Algerian university the first O Varsity worldwide.

    I  was thrilled by  the news in a Nigerian chat forum of this  first teleconference in any university worldwide,  but the information was scanty, almost unbelievable. I was interested especially in the identity of the only Nigerian professor who was involved in the epic teleconference because I thought his experience could make him become a catalyst for O VARSITY in Nigeria.

    In the Nigerian O Varsity system, there would be no Nigerian desirous of higher education and qualified for it who would be turned away. In 2018, Nigerian universities enrolled 1.8million undergraduates and 242,000 post graduate students. In 2022, 1.8 million young Nigerians sought higher education. About 1.1 million of them were academically qualified, but there were placements for only about 500,000. About 600,000 were denied this human right. If higher education facilities do not expand, and the scenarios continue, about 3 million young Nigerians would be denied higher education by about 2027. The O varsity, as planned by onpassive, has the potential to clear this backlog in one fell swoop. That was why Mr Zineddine Lefafta toddler step with O connect in Algeria appealed to me.

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     Soon, I will explain how I met Mr Zineddine Lefafta. Meanwhile, when I asked him to advise me about what happened in Algeria, he told me:

     “I’m  an ONPASSIVE brand Ambassador from Algeria. My journey with ONPASSIVE and O Connect began with a chance encounter with a university professor. At the time, I was working in private schools in my village, and the professor had three children who attended one of the schools. Over the course of our interactions, we developed a rapport, and he became open to discussing the potential of technology.

     “In December 2022, the professor posted on Facebook that he would be hosting an international event via Zoom. Intrigued, I reached out to him to learn more about the event and his experiences with Zoom. He expressed his frustration with the platform, citing issues with audio-video quality, buffering, and overall user experience.

     “Having used Zoom extensively myself, I was familiar with these shortcomings. However, I also knew that there was a better solution available: OCONNECT. I enthusiastically introduced OCONNECT to the professor, highlighting its superior audio-video quality, seamless performance, and user-friendly interface.

    “The professor was intrigued by my description of O CONNECT and inquired about a solution for his email woes. He explained that he was constantly receiving storage insufficiency notifications, which hindered his productivity. I immediately introduced him to OMAIL, our innovative email platform designed to eliminate storage limitations and provide a seamless email experience.

    “Impressed by ONPASSIVE’s suite of products, the professor decided to host his international event using OCONNECT. On October 1, 2023, he contacted me to confirm the availability of OCONNECT for the event scheduled for October 8-9, 2023. I eagerly provided him with my ONPASSIVE affiliate link, which he shared with the professors participating in the event.

    “Within three days, an impressive 106 professors from 15 countries registered for the event. These participants hailed from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kurdistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar, Singapore, and the United States. The event was hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Languages at the University of 20 August , 1955, Skikda, Algeria, under the title “International Forum entitled The Journey and the Traveler between East and West.”

    “Following the successful conclusion of the event, I received numerous compliments from the participating professors, who were eager to learn more about ONPASSIVE and O CONNECT. Their positive feedback highlighted the impact of our innovative technology on the success of the international forum.

    “Furthermore, the Forum’s Recommendations Committee officially recognised O CONNECT as an alternative to all teleconference technologies, acknowledging its remarkable performance and contribution to the event’s success.

    “The first time O CONNECT was used at universities in the world left an impact on all the ONPASSIVE brand ambassadors.

    “This experience has been a testament to the transformative power of ONPASSIVE and O CONNECT. By introducing these cutting-edge solutions to the academic community, I have played a part in enhancing communication and collaboration across borders. I am incredibly proud to be an ONPASSIVE Brand Ambassador and look forward to continuing to share the benefits of our technology with the world”.

    The University of 20 August 1955, skikda, founded  in 200I, has about 30,165 students, 1,111 academic staff and 1,191 workers. It took its name from the date of the killing of some Europeans and the retaliatory French massacre of thousands of Algerians.

    Mr Lefafta reignited my interest in a Nigerian O varsity. Every year, about 1 million young Nigerians denied higher education travel abroad. Nigerian universities are aware of this. Some of them have set up branch campuses for “distance learning” in several cities against criticisms of poor quality teaching in these places. The Nigerian government has also set up the open university, but the connection between students and their teachers is still very poor. Additionally, strikes spanning several months by the academic staff union of universities (ASUU)  mangle Nigeria’s higher education. Some students managed to escape from the firestorms with minor “burns”. One of them is Oluwanifemi Favour Olajuyigbe. She graduated this year from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) with a Cummulative Group Point Average (CGPA) of 4.93 out of 5.0 in electrical and electronics engineering. Oluwanifemi showed her colours earlier with 9 A1s in the senior school certificate examination (SSCE) and 306 over 400 points in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). She has been honoured by the Association of Professional Women Engineers in Nigeria as the best female university engineering graduate in 2023. When she took the award, Oluwanifemi made a statement germane to time wastages through strikes in the universities, a problem the O varsity may  clear. She said she over stayed in the university by two years. That meant the strikes wasted two productive years of her life, and may have even derailed her dream.

    I am passionate about the O varsity and about the capacity of O connect to deliver it and avert strikes in the regular Nigerian universities. I see the following scenarios in a Nigerian O varsity… Professors and other senior academic staff would treble or quadruple their income, the public universities would stop depending on the government for their budgets, there would be no paralysing union strikes such as the one which lasted for about eight months in an academic calendar year of 10 months, sometimes wasting between two and three years in the lives of their students.

     If Nigerian professors had about 10 times more students to teach than they now do, and if their salaries grew 10  folds, far beyond the two folds the government cannot afford, would they, their students and society not be better off?, I always wondered whenever I hear of the latest news on O Connect and advances towards the O Varsity.

    I was lucky that Mr Adebayo Olusanya, a Nigerian ONPASSIVE leader in Lagos, read my column of 10 November 2023 titled ONPASSIVE TOPS AT DUBAI HI-TECH TRADE FAIR. He made several photocopies which he sent to his friends nationwide until he learned that he could obtain an online version on NATION ON-LINE to which he referred many people in Nigeria and overseas. Some of these were Mr Mojeed Adetunji, a Nigerian ONPASSIVE leader in Ibadan, Mr Johnson Ejenavi, secretary of onpassive Nigeria vision, the onpassive umbrella body in Nigeria,  and Dr Lanre Akinremi, Nigeria’s country leader of ONPASSIVE. When I informed Mr Olusanya that I advised my professor friends of the prospects of O connect during their last national strike and that I wished to know what happened in Algeria, he mentioned the request to someone who linked me with  Zineddine Lefafta.

    Until I heard from him, my assumptions were that the Algerian university was the university of Algiers and that it had begun to abolish classroom lectures for teleconference lectures for millions of students worldwide. My hope was that if about one million Nigerian students could plug in, there would be no need for them to go abroad and get trapped in such conflicts as the Sudanese war or the Russia Ukraine war. In the end, they have all been repatriated home, money lost, higher education adventure scuttled and their future uncertain. Wasn’t this a problem the Nigerian government and the public universities could have averted if they were open to new ways of doing things better, cheaper, faster, under less stress and yet with more value?

     Mr Lefafta’s response to my chats suggested I was still too futuristic, although I still seriously believe the future is already knocking on the door, asking to be let in.

    WHY ONPASSIVE?

     If you ask me why I am always passionate about ONPASSIVE when I am known for Alternative Medicine or Natural Health,  I would mention no fewer than three factors. From the bottom up, these are

    • ONPASSIVE is going to come up with nutritional food supplements to be produced under the watchful guidance of high grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) three years above present market value.

    • ONPASSIVE is coming up, also, with an application called O HEALTH. It is aimed at changing present Doctor Patient Relations in which middlemen or Interlopers drive medical bills up, govern the thinking of doctors in the consulting room, decree all sorts of labouratory tests and waste a lot of time in the consulting process, among all old features to be swept away.

    3)Finally, ONPASSIVE is to make internet users govern the internet by giving them money for using the internet. Many onlookers of the unfolding new internet world order still cannot fathom this. This aims to shift power, money and ownership from a few individuals to the consumers, many of them poor persons who are so poor and grapple with poverty and daily struggles that they have no time to think about why they exist and what would happen to them after earth life. If the frontiers of existence are moving towards simpler, and better, less stressful, faster, more productive and yet cheaper ways of doing things which, on top of it all, yield more time for leisure and deep inner reflections, wouldn’t that be a better world to wish for and to tell the world about? Couldn’t our health improve if our headaches disappear?

    On “O CONNECT”, a university lecturer can teach about one million students all over the world at the same time and in every language, including Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. All that a student  has to do is to choose the language in which he or she wishes to listen to the lecture. Automatically, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology wired into “O CONNECT” will translate the lecture to the choice language(s).

    In humanity’s march towards a new higher education age called O varsity, Nigeria,  the so-called “giant of Africa” , appears to be  sluggish. By United Nations(UN) account, Algeria’s 2023 population is 45 million, about five times smaller than NIGERIA’S of 225 million. Algeria’s university enrolment  in 2021 was 1.5 million, and comprised 53 percent females and 47 percent males. Nigeria had 1.8 million students in university in 2019, excluding 242,000 in post graduate studies. The data suggests a higher access to higher education in a smallish Algeria than in gigantic Nigeria. Additionally, strict enforcement of Islamic norms would appear to have preserved women against male sexual ravages to enable many of them to end their educational career in the university whereas many young Nigerian girls are sexually devoured and experience education derailment by early pregnancies.

     The cost of higher education globally is one of the problems in universities which ONPASSIVE, through “O CONNECT”, wishes to address with O VARSITY, the trans border global university. Denial of access to higher education because of space facilities in the lecture halls and conference centres is another.

     In O varsity powered by “O CONNECT”, Nigerian students who are qualified for admission to university education  but are edged out by high costs, or space limitations, spearhead of O Varsity, receive their lectures on line at specified lecture times and purchase digital lectures from their lecturers and professors. They can also save cost by working part time and full time while they are O Varsity students. To understand O Connect, imagine these hypothetical scenarios:

     Lagos State University adopts “O CONNECT” for all academic lectures. Every lecturer sits in his regular classroom at the appointed time for his or her lecture, surrounded by some technical aids such as Zineddine Lefafta. The lecturer clicks on a button and O connect becomes live in all the countries where his students are. O connect can accomodate more than one million students in this single teleconferencing global university lecture theatre. There are no classroom wall barriers. There are no university campus gate barriers. The O connect classroom is a global classroom. Imagine that 300,000 Nigerian students scattered all over the country are listening to this lecture and paying for it through not only token cash subscription to the university but also through the purchase of O connect digital application. The purchase of O connect will be one off purchase. It is a data self subscribing application after purchase, through a special design of onpassive. Additionally, the student and the staff who purchase it will be entitled to an appropriate share of 50 percent of the company’s profit on the use of this application globally, if they are on the Affiliate Register  of ONPASSIVE. They will also enjoy from  onpassive  the sourcing of fellow users as teammates for them. From these teammates, they will earn referral bonuses, earning income while they study.There is also something in it for the university and the lecturer and the professor. For a smart university, a student will register as O connect users under it. The university is thus empowered with hundreds of thousands of O connect users. From them,  it will not only derive regular referral bonuses but also a share of the income of the digital textbooks or lecture notes which the students will be purchasing from O cademy, a substrate of O varsity.

     In the foregoing scenarios, the dream of students for higher education is not shattered, the university may earn a thousand fold more income than it is now earning from sky rocketed school fees from a limited number of students. While lecturers and professors will be better paid by the university than the government can ever do, and, everyday, they will receive alerts in any international currency of their choice for their digital lecture notes and digital books which their students are purchasing everyday from O varsity. There is a caveat, though…the lecturers and the professors must be really sound in their vocations because they will be exposed through O varsity to the world academic community market where the students will have a choice. An African American student of Nigerian and American history in the United States will expect a Nigerian teacher to be a guru in this field. He wants real education. If he cannot get it from him or her, the student will shop elsewhere. The same will apply to an American journalism student who wishes to learn about press freedom in Nigeria. If he finds the most suitable teacher not in Nigeria, but in Germany, he cannot be compelled to buy Nigeria.

     I saw this coming during the protracted strike for about eight months of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for more pay and better facilities. I advised some of my vice chancellor friends, professors and lecturers  of ONPASSIVE , “O CONNECT”  and “O varsity,” urging them to not limit their sights to government-funded salaries and consider earning about 10 times more and much, much more than the government can afford to pay them in a shrinking economy.

     Why many of them considered digital incomes undignifying or not worth their time is understandable. They are old and have not acquainted themselves with digital skills in a world rapidly going digital. They may become unemployable in the coming years when millions of secondary school pupils would be demanding digital higher education. In Lagos State, for example, secondary school pupils are no longer taught from the blackboard or the whiteboard but from the slide board. Some of them have learned to use the laptop. The innovation they would  bring to the university may require that only digital literate academics  become vice-chancellors, deans, heads of Departments, professors and lecturers.