The Nation Newspaper

Category: Health

Expert panel identifies significant gaps in chronic kidney disease care

By Justina George

Lack of awareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is leaving this life-threatening condition underdiagnosed and undertreated across the Middle East and Africa.

This was the warning by eminent healthcare professionals, who also proposed measures to prevent cases from continuing to rise and to improve outcomes for people already living with CKD.

The analysis and recommendations of the Middle East and Africa CKD steering committee (MEA-CKD) were published this week in the International Journal of Nephrology and Renovascular Disease. CKD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing as well as developed countries. It is associated with 35.8 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), one-third of which is attributed to diabetic kidney disease.

The paper demonstrates that, despite the severity and prevalence of CKD, steps to improve prevention and treatment of the disease in the region remain minimal.

It notes that many primary healthcare professionals are not trained to identify CKD warning signs and that novel and upcoming therapies that have been shown to improve kidney outcomes are not accessible across different healthcare settings in the regions.

The authors recommended that governments and healthcare providers should take urgent measures to improve patient outcomes, including awareness campaigns, increased screening; augmentation of epidemiological studies to include more participants from these regions; implementation of evidence-based international guidelines related to CKD; and improved access to novel therapies.

“The rise of chronic kidney disease in the Middle East and Africa is alarming but not inevitable. This paper establishes a set of clear and cost-effective measures for governments to take to stem the rise in cases and slow the progression of the disease in those who already live with it, while also tackling life-limiting risk-factors including diabetes and hypertension,” said Prof Mohamed Hassan, Consultant Nephrologist, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi.

“Tackling the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, including chronic kidney disease, should be a priority for governments in our region. To do this effectively, more epidemiological studies looking specifically at patients with CKD in the Middle East and Africa must be performed,” said Dr Ali Abu-Alfa, Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.

The publication acknowledges that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can face additional hurdles to tackling the rise of CKD, including a lack of functional health insurance systems to secure access to novel treatments.

To address this disparity, it suggests practical studies to evaluate the cost effectiveness of novel therapies and financial support or subsidised programmes to ensure their availability.

April 13, 2023
Ike Ekweremadu: How healthy are your kidneys?

Many Nigerians learn no useful lessons from history. This has nothing to do with the suspension of history from high school curricula. Many of us are not contemplative persons. We rush through our daily experiences, experiencing nothing from them, and making no useful meaning of our lives. We fail to “live in the present”, and   make the most of it, but in a pipe dream future and, worse still, “in the past”. I say so because, despite all the media noise about the Ekweremadu family, many persons I spoke with lately could not answer the following questions:

Where are your kidneys in your body?

What functions do they perform there to keep you healthy?

What signals do they give you when they are not fairing well?

How can you keep them healthy everyday and add more years to your life?

You won’t believe it, everyone I spoke with failed this simple test!

Let us set our bearing. Ike Ekweremadu was the Deputy Senate President of the Nigerian Ninth Senate, of which Dr. Bukola Saraki was President. Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, was in a London hospital waiting for any good Samaritan who would donate one of his or her kidñeys to her to replace one of hers. Back home in Nigeria, her parents searched for a donor. One account said Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, lured David Nwaminiukpo, 21, a Lagos trader, to London with a job offer. David Nwaminiukpo, long dreaming of a London job, accepted the invitation. Another account was that, in London, David Nwaminiukpo was taken to Royal Free Hospital for medical checks and that the doctors, following protocols, informed him about the procedure he would soon undergo. That procedure was the surgical removal of one of his kidneys as a kidney donor. David Nwaminiukpo complained that that was not what he was in London for. The police were called immediately. Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical practioner, Doctor Obinna Obeta,were charged and convicted of procuring David Nwaminiukpo for illegal organ transplant and modern slavery. They all denied the charges, will be sentenced on 5 May, 2023. The convictions soiled the reputation of Ekweremadu, a lawyer who, ironically, was behind the drafting of Nigeria’s law against human organ trafficking.

The court proceedings dragged on for months, enough time to awaken the interest of Nigerians in kidney disease and why a kidney donor for Sonia was such a big deal. Between 20 and 25 million Nigerians are believed to suffer from kidney disease in various stages. To test the claim that Nigerians are hardly educated by events around them, readers of this column may wish to answer the aforestated questions. Living in the present means internalising or absorbing events which happen around us everyday for the lessons they have in stock for us. For they are “messages” packed with profitable lessons for us.

So, away from seeing the Ekweremadu as a couple who sought to remove the roof on someone else’s house for implanting on their own roofless house, please answer those questions about your kidneys and score yourself to know if you are a person who “lives in the present”.

THE KIDNEYS

Whenever I pick beans for cooking to keep busy as a septugenerian or whenever I have them for a meal, I do not fail to remember my kidneys. The kidney, bean sharped, is a possible signature tune of a dietary health relationship between them. Red kidney bean, in particular, appealed more to some ancient people in this regard. The Yorubas of Southwestern Nigeria call it EWA POPONDO. It is bigger and more brownish or reddish than other bean species, and takes much longer time to cook, one of the reasons it lost favour with today’s woman in the kitchen and the farmer in the fields. But its POD is in good demand in the world herbs market which offers it for cholesterol and weight control as well as for kidney offsets such as dropsy, a condition of fluid build up in the body caused by kidney insufficiency or failure. Everyone has two kidneys, each one almost as big as the size of his or her   fist and located just below the rib cage on either side of the spinal column, the right kidney a little lower than the left because of an allowance for the liver.

FUNCTIONS

What do the kidneys do? They are not where they are by accident, and no other organ can successfully perform their functions, although one kidney may add the job of the other to its own without much ado.

The chief job of the kidney is to maintain homeostasis. This is the upholding of balance throughout the body. If we observe our existence and environment well enough, we should discover that THE LAW OF BALANCE, a law of nature, holds everything together. It prevents the sun, the moon and the stars from falling upon our earth and disallows collisions among the planets which orbit our sun. Architects and builders respect it with beams, pillars and countlevers apart from the right mix of cement, stone, sand and water mortar. It is there in the pot of soup on the stove in the right amounts of salt, pepper, oil and other ingredients. We cannot fail to observe it in the right blend of colour in the dressing of many women.

In homeostasis, the fluid balance of the body must balance the minerals or health challenges will occur. Maintainance of their balance is one of the ways the kidneys help blood pressure balance. Thus, sagging or faulty blood pressure may indicate the need for a check not only on the heart and blood vessels but also on the kidneys.

The kidneys also help to maintain acid and alkaline balance. This balance is checked on a 0-14 PH scale. Readings below 7 are on the acid side, those above on the alkaline. Many experts say the body fares well between 7.35 and 7.45 on this scale. Below 7.35 brings acidosis and above 7.45 PH aikalosis. In either case, protein molecules become damaged and dysfunctional and, in extreme cases, may cause death.

Many people do not realise that their kidneys help them to produce red blood cells without which the oxygen in the air they inhale cannot get into their cells and the carbon dioxide waste in their bodies cannot be evacuated to their lungs for expulsion through exhalation. So, when they are weak and the problem is neither low nor high blood sugar nor vitamin B12 deficiency, they gulp blood tonics. It is little known that the kidney produces an hormone, ERYTHROPOEITIN, which stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. The liver also makes ERYTHROPOEITIN. This is why frequent bouts of weakness or tiredness calls for a kidney function test.

ELECTROLYTE BALANCE is another kidney function. Like CALCIUM and MAGNESIUM which must be in balance to prevent kidney or gall bladder stones or some forms of arthritis, sodium and potassium must be in balance to prevent such problems as primary hypertension, sore and tired muscles, and even tumours and cancers. Like other functions, this one may involve life if it goes awry. The two chief electrolytes are potassium and sodium. Potassium is the salt inside every cell. Sodium is the salt outside the cell in the interstitial or extracellular fluid as the fluid around the cells is also sometimes called. Sodium pushes into the cell, potassium pushes it out. This produces an electrical circuit which takes oxygen and nutrients from the blood plasma in the interstitial fluid into the cell and brings out wastes and toxins. Both potassium and sodium must exist in the right ratios inside and outside the cell for homeostasis to occur, and for the system to be in a state of equilibrium. Every day, many of us do not make this task easy for the kidneys. The homeostatic ratio of potassium is higher than that of sodium. Yet we do not consume enough potassium rich foods and overdo sodium. Women boil beef or chicken or fish or yam or potato with sodium. They add sodium to sauce and rice or beans. Then, they add monosodium glutamate (MSG) to the entire stuff to achieve that extra taste they believe makes food more palatable, believing the way to a man’s heart is through his pallate. But MSG is a load of sodium. Intriguing is the medical finding of Dr. Max Gerson that tumours and cancers assail tissues and organs in which sodium has invaded the cell and evicted potassium. (Please see the Gerson therapy online). His hypothesis is that it is potassium which extracts oxygen from blood plasma and that its deficiency and consequent shortage of oxygen makes the cell convert from oxidative or oxygen using existence for fermentative or non oxygen using life. Thus, can we infer that the onset of cancer is preceded by the failure of the kidneys to maintain the necessary balance between the electrolytes potassium and sodium? Dr. Gerson tried to prove his cancer hypothesis by infusing his patients with potassium-rich juices and through organic coffee enemas to remove the toxins many of the eliminative five organs ( lungs, liver, intestine, skin and kidneys) did not reasonably eliminate.

Many Nigerian women who are experiencing cases of breast and other cancers as well as uterine fibroids may wish to slow down on MSG. Uterine fibroids may be a benign tumour, it is, nevertheless, like cancer, a tumour.

This column cannot address all functions of the kidneys or the complex pathways through which they carry it out. This is the expert field of the urologists and other medics. The job of this column here is to bestir our souls to awaken to the messages in events that the environment is passing to us. Is the environment not inviting us through Ekweremadu experiences, to remember our kidneys and take care of them?

How do the kidneys work? Each kidney is made up of about one million nephrons. A nephron is made up of a sieve or blood filter known as the GLOMERULUS (singular) and a tube known as TUBULE through which urine, wastes and toxins filtered from the blood by the glomerulus, are sent to a receiving cup and from the cup into the urinary bladder via two larger tubes called the URETERS. The ureters bring the urine out of the body through another tube called the URETHRA.

The nephrons are a wonderful filtration system. If all the 2 million or so glomeruli (plural) in the two kidneys are arranged in a single file, that line will measure about 19 kilometers in length. Whenever there is an imbalance in the system and the brain sends the necessary instructions to the kidneys, the glomeruli do the needful, and there is equilibrium. The glomerli of the two kidneys filter about 200 liters of blood every day of which about two liters are urea, waste, toxins and water.

How do the kidneys tell if they are not faring well?

From about the age of 40 or 50 onwards, depending on the degree of care or abuse of the body, the kidneys begin to exhibit varying degrees of insufficiency, disease or failure. The damage may be due to infections, formation of stones, searing, blockages of the filtration channels, calcification etc. Some of the causes of high blood pressure are evidence here. These include ATHERIOSCElEROSIS ( blockage of blood vessels by cholesterol or other plaque) or arteriosclerosis (hardening of blood vessels by calcium deposits). Cold drinks cause the kidneys to shrink, and should be avoided.

Some of the signs through which we may obtain such hints include, but are not limited to, the following…

A) Sharp or dull pains in the upper section of the back, side and upper abdomen below the rib cage(s)

B) Scanty urine output

C) Cloudy, brownish or bloody or smelly urine

D) Nausea, vomiting, weakness and fatigue

E) Skin itch and rashes

F) Confusion

G) Water logging in the feet, hands, face or around the eye lid.

H). Foaming urine. This sugguests protein is leaking from nephron into the urine. Brownish or cola colour urine may indicate blood leakage. Albumin, a protein and creatinine may be descovered through blood test. Albumin in urine may cause the blood to not return enough water to the body.

Kidney damage is measured on a scale of 100 per cent for efficiency to zero for complete damage and failure. Some causes of damage or failure may include high blood pressure, diabetes or excessive blood sugar, prolonged use of painkillers and other dangerous pharmaceutical drugs, excessive exposure to chemicalised foods and drugs, sugared foods and drinks, free radicals ànd insufficiency of antioxidants to annihilate them, dehydration etc.

    How may we help our kidneys?

A conscious care for the health of our kidneys should begin with the knowledge that the human body generates wastes and toxins throughout its existence and that it is designed with five outlets for capturing and eliminating them. Besides, we should stand in the knowledge that mother nature anticipated environmental impacts through food, water and air and, before the body came about, provided in the plant kingdom plant tonics for the kidneys in health and medicines in sickness. The five eliminative organs are the lungs, liver, intestines, skin and kidneys. When one is subnormal, its workload is shared by the others. Many people do not use their lungs to up to 40 per cent capacity, for example, because they are sedentary and do not excercise. Thus, carbon dioxide builds up in the system which must be eliminated. If the liver is weak, poisons build up in the body. Many people do not move their bowels everyday, whereas the food transit time should not exceed 18 or 20 hours. There are other people who do not sweat even on hot days or force themselves to not with the application of aluminium based (and other) deodorants in the armpits and groin. Others block pores in their skin with heavy paints of body creams. The kidneys may overwork and, to worsen their condition, they may not be given enough water to do their jobs well. Rather than drink clean alkaline water, many people ignorantly drink acidic water and so called “soft drinks”, sugared malt or fuzzy drinks or beer.

Thus, in my view, to help the kidneys, the best way may be through high colonic irrigations or organic enema coffees advocated by Dr. Gerson. Once the other eliminative organ, cell, tissues and systems are clean, the urinary system and the kidney should have less work to do.

    KIDNEY HERBS

I know of some persons who, down or not, periodically kit up with lemonade diet, a fast programme on maple syrup, lime or lemon, cayenne and water which may be run for about one month or more. If it will cure polycystic kidneys, I do not know. What is clear is that it is an intense detoxification diet and stimulant which has helped some kidney conditions.

Recently, some animal and human studies were carried out which recommended some herbs well known in respect of other organs as good for the kidneys as well. For example, milk thistle was found to help the revival of the nephrons. I will ever remember aloe vera in respect of nephritis, inflammation of the nephrons. About 15 or more years ago, the KOREA ILLUSTRATED magazine reported the case of a Korean man beset with some terminal diseases. Soon, nephritis of one kidney joined them and the kidney was surgically removed. When the second kidney became nephritic, a friend advised him to live on aloe vera juice for whatever it may be worth. A dying man will cling to any straw. He did as he was advised and all his ailments cleared. KOREA ILLUSTRATED published his story in respect of his venturing into aloe vera plantation farming and for his export of this plant to the United States.

Now, we are told the anthroquinones of aloe vera do wonders in the kidneys! We cannot forget dandelion, the traditional liver and kidney herb, Red kidney bean pod which, like aloe, addresses dropsy.

In the treasure trove of mother nature, there are, also, chanka piedra for dissolving kidney stones, golden seal root for fighting bacteria, viruses and fungi, lecithin and magnesium for dissolving the stones, propolis, an anti microbial, rhubarb root and stinging nettle, both of which are great blood cleansers, and cordyseps, which energises the kidneys.

According to the publication in March last year of the findings of a study titled PROMOTING PLANT BASED THERAPIES FOR CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASES in the JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE, the following herbs were topnotchers. Ginger, turmeric, beetroot juice, onions, grape, bitter leaf. The researchers were Muhammad Ali Khan, Andrew J. Kassannos and Wendy E Hoy.

On the shelves of health food stores in Nigeria are some helpful proprietary blends of these herbs and many more. Among them are curcumin 2000X, kidney cleanse and function tea, kidney rescue, Amazon kidney support, KDCL, kidney health and many more. To these ones, we may add grasses such as Alfalfa, wheatgrass and bailey grass. To them, we may also add horse tail for its silica. Silica alkalises, for which reason we may not forget diatomaceous earth (DE) or DIATOM. When I am uncomfortable with my urine colour, I add any of them to my diet and achieve clear urine.

If we have learned to periodically clean the fuel filters of our motor vehicles, why should it be a big deal for us to periodically clean our kidneys which are far more useful to us than the filters of an inanimate object which is replaceable, anyway?

April 13, 2023
Five effects of cyberbullying on mental health

Cyberbullying, which involves the use of electronic communication to bully, threaten, or harass an individual, can have serious consequences on mental health.

Here are five effects of cyberbullying on mental health:

*Anxiety and depression:

Cyberbullying can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression, which can have long-term effects on mental health. It can make a person feel isolated, helpless, and even hopeless. Cyberbullying victims often experience a sense of fear and distress that can interfere with their ability to function normally. The persistent harassment and negative comments can lead to feelings of low self-esteem and even suicidal thoughts.

*Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

Cyberbullying can be traumatic for many individuals, and it can trigger PTSD, which is a severe and debilitating condition. PTSD can be characterized by flashbacks, avoidance, and emotional detachment. Individuals who experience cyberbullying may struggle to move past the trauma and may need professional help to cope with their symptoms.

Read Also: CSOs outline 10-point agenda for Mental Health Act

*Substance abuse:

Cyberbullying can lead to substance abuse problems as a coping mechanism. Some individuals may turn to drugs or alcohol to numb their emotional pain or to try and escape their situation. This can lead to a cycle of addiction and worsen the individual’s mental health.

*Eating disorders:

Cyberbullying can also trigger eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder. Individuals may turn to these behaviors as a way to cope with their negative feelings, or they may develop a distorted body image due to the bullying they receive. Eating disorders can have severe consequences on physical health and can even be life-threatening.

*Self-harm and suicide:

One of the most severe consequences of cyberbullying is the risk of self-harm and suicide. Individuals who experience cyberbullying may feel overwhelmed by their negative emotions and may feel like there is no way out. This can lead to thoughts of self-harm or suicide. It is essential to take any talk of self-harm or suicide seriously and seek professional help immediately.

Cyberbullying can have serious consequences on mental health. It is essential to recognise the signs of cyberbullying and take appropriate action to prevent it. If you or someone you know is experiencing cyberbullying, seek help from a mental health professional, school counselor, or law enforcement. Together, we can work towards creating a safe and healthy online environment for everyone.

April 12, 2023
mPharma unveils mutti+ to boost healthcare access for patients

To mark this year’s World Health Day, mPharma, Africa’s leading patient-centered technology-driven healthcare company, has launched mutti+, a health subscription plan aimed at further improving access to quality healthcare for patients.

The launch complements its deep commitment to increasing patient access to affordable and quality healthcare in Nigeria. The programme, which is set to reach over 200,000 beneficiaries within its first year of launch, provides non-urgent primary care to subscribers at a mutti pharmacy, and includes free primary care consultations, free lab tests, and 150 medications for less than N1000 monthly.

mPharma’s analysis of over 500,000 patient visits to mutti pharmacies identified the most common diseases for which patients sought care. Fourteen diseases, which drove the most spending were identified and include conditions such as malaria, diarrhea/gastroenteritis, peptic ulcer, pneumonia, diabetes and hypertension. The data was then used to build a treatment plan and formulary using drugs from the WHO Essential drugs lists.

By using generic drugs and point-of-care testing (PoCT), mPharma said it has created a subscription plan that costs less than N1000 monthly. “By launching mutti+ on World Health Day, we reaffirm our commitment to improving patient access to affordable and quality healthcare in Africa. We believe that the mutti+ programme will help to drive better health outcomes for patients, and support the goals of World Health Day to build a fairer, healthier world for everyone,” said Gregory Rockson, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at mPharma.

To achieve this goal, mPharma said it remains committed to working closely with partners and stakeholders to drive innovation and expand access to quality healthcare for Africans.

April 6, 2023
Orthodox medicine and natural medicine

Happily, the lamps of peace are gradually lighting up the twilight aftermaths of the 2023 general election, with the political thunderstorms abating. About two weeks ago, I found myself hooked on a Radio Lagos programme. A pharmacist was trying to explain the differences between orthodox or hospital medicines and natural medicines. It was a Yoruba programme. As is often the case with such interviewees, he lacked not the acumen, but sufficient vocabulary to expertly sail through. He gave me the idea for this column to, with all respects due to him, fill up some gaps.

The pharmacist correctly outlined both medicines. Orthodox medicine is pharmaceutical medicine. It does not address root causes of health challenges but merely suppresses the “cries” of the cells or organs, such as pain or excessive daytime sleepiness, that something wrong is going on. Besides, it localises the suppression. In excessive daytime sleepiness (sleep attack) or insomnia (inability to sleep at night), the pharmaceutical drug forces the brain to awake or to sleep, as the case may be, rather than addressing what is forcing it to sleep or making it to not sleep when it should. In other words, if you are knocking off during the day or cannot sleep at night, Orthodox medicine will single out your brain for treatment and force it to obey you. Natural medicine attends to you by looking at your entire body for whatever is amiss and missing anywhere, and gently strengthen the wobbling organs by giving them what they need to probably do their jobs. It is not a task master which forces workers striking for unpaid salary back too work; rather, it pays them their unpaid salaries, probably with a bonus as icing on the cake. This is why it is rare to have dangerous side effects in natural medicines.

From his clinical experience as a practitioner of natural medicine, the pharmacist gave us the example of one of his patients. . She saw him after many pharmaceutical prescriptions failed to help her to sleep well. He discovered that she had surgery to be delivered of her last baby, the third by that process. Then, he concluded that the surgeon’s knife interfered with the right flow of energy from her womb to her brain. He treated her by unblocking the blockage with gentle hand massages of the energy flow lines, and she became able to sleep again.

Such was a natural treatment I learned about 20 years ago at a seminar of The Guardian newspaper co-sponsored by Sheraton Hotels, Lagos on reflex zone therapies. A woman who had just been delivered of a baby could not produce breast milk , despite the consumption of pharmacy drugs. Eventually, she saw a reflex zone therapist who discovered that she received drips on both arms. Soon after, the baby was born. In the language of and visualisation of the therapist, energy flow to and from the breasts had been disrupted. Thus, the breasts did not have the adequate natural stimulation to produce milk. They began to do so only after the therapist had massaged reflex zones on the breasts in the feet, arms and elsewhere, unblocking blockages.

This is the realm of energy medicine, a portion of NATURAL MEDICINE. Other forms of natural medicine include, but are not limited to, nutrition, detoxification(for example, high colonic irrigation, organic Enema coffee etc), precious stones therapy, flower essence therapy, juicing, oxygenation( hyperbaric oxygen chamber), anti oxidation, hydrotherapy, colour therapy, incantation, hand laying/ prayer and faith healing, reflex zone therapy etc.

In respect of the woman who could not sleep well, the pharmacist relied on energy medicine. The practitioners believe that we human beings are not the physical bodies in which we move about, driving our cars, flying aeroplanes or fighting wars. We are not the bodies which Pooh- Pooh into the water closet of our toilet or on which we wear beautiful dresses after painting our faces with cream and powder or brushing our teeths or combing our hairs. The practioners believe that we human beings are Spirit beings from the Spirit world who “live” in earth bodies during our sojourn on earth for a purpose. We have had of Angels and of the world of Angels. Spirits are as real as Angels. The Spirit world lies immediately below the world of Angels and is often called PARADISE. So we are not are Bodies which will die some day and be burried in graves while we, the owners, spirit beings, continue to exist and move on with our existence, like Mosses and Elijah who appeared with the Lord Jesus at his TRANSFIGURATION.   The Spirit is the ” BREATHE OF LIFE” in the earth body. The Spirit, therefore, animates the body or drives it. When the Spirit is happy, its radiates joy and happiness to the body, and the body looks calm, energetic, fresh and young. But when the Spirit is sad and sorrowful, the body appears wrinkled, washed up and old. Thus,we learn that the Earth body has no life of its own and must fall away in earthly death when the in-dwelling human Spirit discards it when it is old, diseased, in a state of shock or malnourished. Therefore, the earthly body is like a garment which the Spirit can put outside at any time as we pull off our work or party clothes at bed. The Spirit is the “breath of Life” in the mud body. It provides the mud body living energy from different locations known as the SEVEN CHAKRAS and distributes the energy uninterruptedly through defined pathways or channels known as the MERIDIANS.

This therapy teaches us that the five fingers and toes are not decoration but integral to the energy supply and distribution network. From the head,five energy routes emerge in the left and in the right hemispheres of the brain.They track down the neck to either shoulder and, from there, down the arms to the fingers,and down the trunk and the lower limbs to the toes. On their journeys to the fingers and to the toes, these energy routes pass through various organs which are fed by them. Thus, a blockage of energy flow in one route would mean energy deprivation or loss in the organs it passes through, be it an eye, teeth, bones, the heart, the lungs, kidneys, the liver or the circulatory and reproductive systems. Additional to this wondrous design is the knowledge that one sperm cell which fertilized an egg, together with the egg, produced about 100 trillion cells in the average adult human body which, though differentiated in location and function, are connected by a genetic code and wired to terminals in the hands and feet and other special parts of the body. When these “terminals” are massaged, the cells and the organs in which they work positively respond because energy easily flow through them.In the case of a woman who could not sleep well despite the use of Pharmaceuticals sleep inducers which “force” the brain to sleep rather than resolve the root cause(s) of her insomnia, the pharmacist descovered on investigation that she was delivered of her third baby, as were the   other two, by surgery. Obviously, the Surgeon’s knives must have caused energy blockages. That is why some men become impotent or suffer from rectile dysfunction after hemorrhoids surgery. I witnessed a case in which the breast were not producing milk. The herb sage and motherwort failed to induce them. Apparently, this was a case of energy blockage. The woman had drips in both arms in hospital, and the needles prinks may have blocked or impeded etheric energy flow from or to the breast. There is a spot on the back of each hand which can be massaged as a reflex zone to determine the health of each breast. Many adult women forcibly withdraw their hand during such routine examination in the back of the palm because, simultaneously, they feel pain in the affected palm and breast. Where the menstrual cycle is misbehaving, there are places in the wrist and in the ankles which may be massaged for beautiful results. This is contraindicated in pregnancies, for obvious reasons.

Armed with knowledge such as the foregoing, there is a tendency for Natural medicine practioners to assume orthodox medicine is inconsequential and the practioners not valuable in the health and sick care systems. Orthodox doctors by virtue of their meticulous training are the experts in anatomy and physiology and protocols which save life in emergency. With this notion, I do not under value Natural Medicine in emergencies. I once witnessed an emergency situation in which a natural therapist revived a woman who fainted. She was in a Lagos apartment where she and her friends were commensurating with the family of a thirty- years old man whose remains were interned hours earlier. She couldn’t beat the emotional pressure, slumped and fainted. There was no doctor around. The “prayer warriors” sprung to work,not realising that the noise could compound the problems. Natural therapist sat one foot down and asked some-one to do the same with the other foot and do exactly what he was doing. When the foot is sat down, big toe up, heel down, we observed shape of the body for basic reflex zone therapy purposes. The big toe represents the “head”. The “neck”is where the toe joins the foot. The “Spine” is the trajectory from the neck down to the heel. The heel is the “colon”. Heels that are prone to infections may be indicating already infected colons. Thus, people who suffer all sorts of fungal infections on their heels should care for their colons before it is too late. Oral thrush, that white patch on the tongue which makes the pink colour of the tongue only partially visible, or not visible, may be indicating gastro-intestinal problems at various stages of fungal colonisation..

The therapist began to massage the under side of the big toe right down to the “neck” zone, interchanging once in a while with the other big toe. The same was done for the two thumbs and appropriate zones in the palms and in the feet. Ten minutes seemed like eternity. She opened her eyes. We all rejoiced. How would it have sounded that a guest died in the home of a bereaved family on the day the remains of his beloved one were interned?.

Headaches

Doctors throws pain-killers at headaches. But that is not to say that is all they do for headache. The trouble is that they see local inflammation and pain as the major culprit in this case. One Israeli man’s headache, which would not go away, was probed by scanning his brain. What looked like a tumour was found. But when the brain was opened up, a baby tapeworm was found nestling there. It was possible an egg scaped digestion in the stomach and intestine and found its way, through the blood, to the brain.

In natural medicine, too much blood or too little blood in the brain or spasms of the soft muscles of blood vessels are thought as possible culprits. The sufferer may dip a face towel in cold water and press it against the nape of the neck. This is to constrict blood vessels and reduce blood influx if too much blood is the problem. Simultaneously, the feet are soaked in warm water to dilate blood vessels for them to hold more blood, thereby reducing excess blood flow to the brain. Sometimes, the blood is too thick and the osmotically dehydrates brain tissue, causing pain. This calls for the culture of drinking water about 30 minutes before a meal, two to three hours after, in-between meals or when the stomach is empty, before bed at night and on rising in the morning. Constipation may also cause headaches. The intestine is like a pit toilet. It produces all sorts of gases, such as methane which may enter the blood circulation and irritate nerves in the brain. Hormonal imbalances,like chemicals in food , water, and the air, may play a role as well.

There are many recipes for headaches in natural medicine. Herbs such valerian root, blue vervain, skullcap and feverfew silence nerve and muscle spasms. So does Magnesium. Too much calcium and too little magnesium may be a culprit. CONSTIPATION may arise because of dehydration,absence or insufficiency of fiber in the diet, deficiency of digestive enzymes or magnesium or vitamin B1 ( thiamine) deficiency. Thiamine deficiency may cause incomplete carbohydrate metabolism, heaping pyruvic and lactic acids on the system. These acids irritate muscles and nerves. Soluble fiber hastens transit time in the intestines. Insoluble fiber delays it and mops water. It is important to know which is Which. People who consume calcium for bone density but hardly add magnesium to the diet may experience muscle lock-down in the intestine cause by excess calcium. This minerals contracts the nerves and muscles while magnesium relaxes them. Contraction and relaxation bring about Peristaltic motion which moves the bowels. Thiamine is important as the vitamin of muscles and nerves which are what keep contracting and relaxing to produce bowel motion. Where there is too much gas or foul smell in the intestine, this may be reduced by taking activated charcoal capsules or the powder in water. It absorbs gases and toxins. In the alternative, the food grade ( not pest grade,please) Diatomaceous earth or DIATOM may be consider once in a while.   Organic coffee enema may be added to the therapy. It is not edible coffee. It is designed exclusively for detoxification to pull out toxins from the liver and intestines. It is even used in cancer therapy as a detoxifying agent.

Depression

Low self-esteem, grief, sadness, hatred, withdrawal are some of the symptoms. In the final analysis, they may originate from the in-dewelling Spirit. The physical body has no life of its own. The in-dewlling spirit impacts it for good or for ill. The body is incapable of experiencing joy or sorrow.That is why we speak of being” in high spirits”. In colour therapy, white, green, blue and violet may be calming and helpful. Yellow may be help the third chakra,where the soul connect with the body at the SOLAR PLEXUS. Red help, being the colour of the first chakra or ” groundedness” on earth,or of security where insecurity is the root of the problem. Can we ignore PURPLE, the colour of the Spirit?

Doctors often minimise the role of diet to help the body scope with or to offset negative spiritual impact on the body, and believe only in anti-depressant drugs which many of their patients despise from fear not only of addiction but, also, because it may turn them into vegetables. Yet, the phosphate biochemic or cell(tissue) salts have been found to help stabilise many patients. This comes from the recognition that isufficuency of certain nutrients in the brain due to whatever reasons may cause back firing of its biochemistry and normal functions. Several studies have shown the important, also of the minerals magnesium and zinc. DOPAMINE does not exist in pharmaceutical drugs alone. It is in foodstuff. Recently, I learned from a young patient who is helping himself with dietary supplementation of his hospital drugs that he specifically went for VELVET BEANS because he discovered from antidepressants literature that it was the richest- source of Dopamine in the plant kingdom.

Many psychiatrists did not study nutrition and are not interested in it as natural medicine for anxiety, schizophrenia, panic attack, depression, fibromyalgia,low energy, poor motivation and the likes of them. Yet many human and animal studies are suggesting that deficiencies of brain neurotransmitters, largely caused by deficiencies of their basic building materials, are the leading causes of brain dysfunction and malfunction.

Mucuna Pruriens (elvet bean) is, for example, the most abundant food source of L-Dopa. This is the precursor (parent) of DOPAMINE, the “happy juice” of the brain which enhances sleep, improves mood and self esteem, apart from helping the body to produce large quantum of brain and other hormones, and to balance them. Velvet bean is seven to ten percent by weight of L-Dopa and other non-addictive psycho-active nutrients which beneficiary impact the brain. In several studies, velvet beans have been used two weeks on, one week off or indefinitely without the negative side effects of hospital medicine. In addition to its brain calming benefits, which have made it useful in the treatment of even Parkinson’s disease, velvet beans has been found to stimulate the hypothalamus,a gland in the brain, to produce human growth hormone, (HGH). These hormones improve the texture and strength of muscles and support the production of testosterone, the male sex hormone, hormonal sufficiency and balance and mental balance. Many Asian countries now sell velvet beans products in their health food stores.Globally, natural medicine literature on the treatment and reversal of depression and other brain challenges are pointing to certain foods now known as “power food” for the brain. Among them are whey protein, pine pollen, chlorella, Nori (seaweed for iodine), vitamins and minerals, especially zinc and magnesium, Acetylcholine, lecithin, phosphatidylserine (PS) fish oil, brain antioxidants and detoxifiers. Space does not permit a discussion of clinical observations of the use of this dietary nutrients in depression therapies, for example.

   We cannot exhaust the treasury troves of Mother Nature. The conversation will, therefore, continue from time to time.

April 6, 2023
WHO calls for better access to fertility care

Worried by the rising number of infertility globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for better access to affordable, high-quality fertility care across all nations.

The United Nations health agency made this call in a statement yesterday.

To compile the new in-depth estimates, WHO analysed relevant studies on infertility from 1990 to 2021. The new research shows that 17.5 per cent of the adult population experience infertility in their lifetime, which is approximately one in six worldwide.

The new estimates show little difference in rates across high, middle and low-income countries, indicating that this is a major health challenge globally.

The proportion of adults affected by infertility is 17.8 per cent in high-income countries and 16.5 per cent in low and middle-income ones. WHO defines infertility, which affects men and women, is a reproductive condition defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. It said infertility can cause significant distress, stigma, and financial hardship, affecting people’s mental and psychosocial well-being.

WHO said despite the prevalence of infertility, diagnosis and treatment – such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) – is funded by individuals rather than national health services, which can result in financial hardship for many. People in poorer countries spend a greater proportion of their income on fertility care compared to richer people, according to the report.

High costs are seen as a factor preventing people from accessing treatment and ultimately being unable to conceive when natural methods fail. According to Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom, the report shows an important truth: infertility does not discriminate.

“The sheer proportion of people affected shows the need to widen access to fertility care and ensure this issue is no longer side-lined in health research and policy, so that safe, effective and affordable ways to attain parenthood are available for those who seek it,” Adhanom said.

Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO, including the United Nations’ Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Dr Pascale Allotey, said millions of people face catastrophic healthcare costs after seeking treatment for infertility. He added that infertility is a major equity issue and too often, a medical poverty trap for those affected.

Not only are services insufficiently available, but so also is adequate research. WHO also highlighted a “persistent” lack of data related to infertility in many countries.

To remedy this, WHO has called for better national infertility statistics which are “disaggregated by age and by cause” to target interventions and support prevention.

April 6, 2023
SCFN gets new chairman

The Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria (SCFN) has appointed Chief Tunde J. Afolabi, the Chairman and CEO of Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited, to head its board. This took place on March 23.

Afolabi is a long-standing benefactor of SCFN, who has played a very significant role in its programmes and initiatives – particularly in the funding of its Bone Marrow Transplant Programme. A board room guru, Afolabi is certain to champion and drive the SCFN’s mission of seeking effective solutions to problems associated with sickle cell disorder in Nigeria and beyond.

Afolabi takes over chairmanship of SCFN from Prof Olu Akinyanju, the founder and first chairman of the foundation.

Akinyanju served as chairman since inception and during his tenure, made significant contributions to the organisation’s growth and success, including the establishment of the National Sickle Cell Centre, the establishment of a state-of-the-art Bone Marrow Transplant Centre in collaboration with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), free hip replacement surgeries for patients, stroke prevention and development of a world-class DNA molecular laboratory for early diagnosis of foetal genotypes among others.

Through Akinyanju’s contributions in the sickle cell space, persons diagnosed with the disorder now have a higher chance of living long, productive lives. “We thank him for his dedication, commitment as he continues to serve on the board,’’ the Board said.

SCFN said it looks forward to working under the leadership of Afolabi as it enters a new phase of the foundation’s journey, remaining committed to its mission of improving the lives of people living with sickle cell disorder.

April 6, 2023
Stakeholders task pharma firms on patent right
for HIV, Hepatitis drugs

Stakeholders have demanded an open licence for the generic production of HIV and hepatitis C drugs to allow low- and-middle income countries access to life-saving drugs.

The call was made at a briefing organised by AIDS HealthCare Foundation (AHF) in Abuja.

Dr. Echey Ijezie, the Country Programme Director, AHF Nigeria, called on Gilead, a pharmaceutical company based in the United States, to stop evergreening patent on HIV and AIDS drugs like Truvada.

Evergreening is a strategy through which pharmaceutical companies extend the lifetime of their patents that are about to expire to retain revenue from them.

According to Ijezie, the company had priced several of its HIV and hepatitis C drugs out of reach for many people by refusing to register some drugs in developing countries. He added that Gilead had blocked attempts to introduce cheaper generic versions of its medicines, which should benefit humanity.

Ijezie said Gilead, which was listed among the 15 largest biopharmaceutical firms in the world, puts profit before people’s lives, adding that in 2021, the pharmaceutical giant generated over $27 billion in revenue.

The Country Programme Director said the advocacy was a call by AHF on Gilead to, firstly, “Stop evergreening patent on HIV and AIDS drugs like Truvada. Secondly, they should open the licence for the generic production of the hepatitis C drug Harvoni to allow middle- and -low income countries have access without exception. Thirdly, they should license technology for the production of treatment for cryptococcal meningitis to generic manufacturers among others,” he said.

Director for Advocacy and Marketing for Africa Breau AHF, Ms Oluwkemi Gbadamosi, said Gilead should be held accountable for placing a price on the most effective, modern and lifesaving medicines. She decried the astronomical profit made by the big pharmaceutical companies at the expense of people’s lives.

According to her, Gilead is notorious for exploiting patent monopolies on blockbuster drugs to enrich itself and its shareholders.

“The research and development are often funded by U.S. taxpayers, but for their generosity, the public is rewarded with astronomical drug prices. For example, a highly effective hepatitis C drug cost $1,000 per pill and 12-week course of treatment has a retail price of over $90,000 in the U.S.

“A generic version of the same drug costs only $4 per pill in India, but, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres, Gilead has excluded 50 middle-income countries from access to the generic discounted price. These excluded countries like Jamaica, Tunisia, the Philippines, Ukraine and Venezuela, among others,” she said.

Gbadamosi said over the years, Gilead has been criticised for blocking access to affordable treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, a deadly fungi disease that often affect people living with HIV.

“Gilead holds a patent on the technology needed to produce the drug.Therefore, generic manufacturers cannot produce it at a lower cost. The company has promised, but failed to deliver on a commitment to provide the drug to 116 countries at $16 per vial and has not even registered the drugs in these countries, but relying on local suppliers.”

The Advocacy Director added that for decades, Gilead had exacted a heavy toll on people living with HIV around the world by securing successive patent on tenofovir-based formulation for over two decades.

According to her, the company generated billions of dollars in profit by maintaining a monopoly on some of the most effective and well-tolerated antiretroviral drugs.

“In 2016 when the estimated cost of Atripla in the developing world was around $100 per patient per year, the U.S. government paid $30,000 per patient per year for the same drug,” she added.

Ms Amber Erinunwinhe, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/AIDS (NINERELA), said the group was standing strong on the advocacy in ensuring millions of people have access to affordable lifesaving drugs. She said the lives of people must matter first before profiteering; hence calling on Gilead to end its monopolistic behaviour and ensure the license for generic production was made available. “It is important that we look at the lives of people, the people you are producing these drugs for should be the number one before your profit. This is because if the lives are not there tomorrow I don’t think they would make such profit, and am happy the advocacy is not just Nigeria but a global one,” she said.

Mr Micheal Edoh, Advocacy Specialist, Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWAN) called on the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research to wake up to more research in producing local vaccines for the citizens. He further lauded AHF for taking the lead in the advocacy by ensuring millions of people, especially the community of persons living with HIV and AIDS, have access to lifesaving medication.

Mr Ade Atambi, Secretary, Alliance for the survival of COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), said health was a fundamental right of citizens and a social service that must be provided by the government. “The governance system in all countries, especially Nigeria, must be serious with the business of government in making resources available to fund public health institutions. They must stop the narrative of partnering and privatising with private sector but to advance the public sector in a manner that they are well funded for the citizens.”

April 6, 2023
SSB tax should be earmarked for health – Experts

By Omolara Akintoye

The government has been urged to earmark tax accrued from Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) for Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

The Executive Secretary, Osun Health Insurance Agency Dr. Adeniyi Oginni said this at a regional stakeholders forum on sugar sweetened beverages tax by Corporate Accountability Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) in Ikeja, Lagos.

According to Dr. Oginni, when government earmarks SSB Tax for health, it allows for autonomy in the utilisation of the revenue from tax.

“It also increase the fiscal space for health and makes fund available for targeted interventions in addressing Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country,” Oginni said.

Executive Director CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said: “There is abundant science confirming a significant nexus between consumption of SSBs, obesity and risk of NCDs. NCDs account for over 29 per cent of deaths in Nigeria.

“The most forward-looking policy direction on obesity is the intervention framework contained in Nigeria’s National Multi-Sectoral Action Plan (NMSAP) for prevention and control of NCDS in Nigeria 2019-2025.”

He noted that the NMSAP specifically identified obesity as a metabolic risk factor to CVDs, diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and cancers, while setting the target of reducing obesity in Nigeria to 10.73 per cent by 2025.

In-Country Coordinator, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) and sponsor of the event, Joy Amafah, canvassed collaboration with operatives and government in health campaign.

In his presentation titled: “The burden of SSB consumption on public health,” public health Consultant, Dr. Francis Fagbule, said reasons for Increasing Consumption of SSB in Nigeria to include : Availability, lack of public education/awareness about the health risks, Westernisation of our diets, Affordability, among others.

“We should avoid free sugar. It is one of the recommendations from World Health Organisation (WHO). SSBs do not confer any nutritive value, instead you’re pumping in high calories,” Fagbule warned.

Research Associate, Centre for The study of The Economies of Africa (CSEA), Austin Iraoya, speaking on ‘Economics and Public Health Impacts of SSB Tax’, observed that the pro-health tax would correct market failures and incentivise companies to produce healthier alternatives.

Oyo Commissioner for Health, Dr. Bode Ladipo, represented by the Director, Food and Laboratory Services, Mrs. Bisi Akande, admitted that relevant agencies have not been doing enough to promote healthy living.

“We need to make our people know the negative impact of high sugar consumption to our health,” Akande said.

April 3, 2023
Stress, hypoxia, hypertension, depression, worry everywhere

Initial Labour Party (LP) thunder claps of ethnic irredentism have diminished to mere flashes in the pan and hopes of a Lagos conquest to mirages. But the stormy weather left many people breathless, oxygen deficient (Hypoxia), stress up and set for blood sugar blues and depression. If anyone has had his or her health impacted, he or she is to blame, because this column warned over five weeks that those storms were coming and they should all dive for cover.

The season of unreason, as I call political campaigns and general elections, has taken its leave of us. But before we can rebalance our brains, it may impact us with FORGET ME NOT SIGNS. My wife always made a joke of a FORGET ME NOT sign on my forehead untill about 10 years ago. It was an injury which had healed since the early 1980s, leaving a dark spot. My childhood heartthrob impacted it with a sharp object before she walked away. The FORGET ME NOT SIGN of the season of unreason is a far more dangerous sign.

In the election campaigns, political violence killed some people, raised blood pressure nationwide. Many people must have experienced blood sugar spikes with complications such as brain, nerve, kidney and other organ damage. Many people may be on the verge of depression. Worried about Lagos State for obvious reasons, I found sleep difficult on March 17, 2023, eve of the governorship elections. My mother came to live in Lagos in the 1930s, her mother and uncle 10 years earlier. In 1948, my mother was handed out in marriage in a house on CLIFFORD STREET Yaba, owned by one of my maternal uncles, Pa Torimiro, from Ijebu Isoyin. My grandmother’s younger brother left Clifford Street to build his first two houses on 10 and 12 Odunukan Street, Abule-Ijesha, where three of their cousins built theirs.

Violence unleashed by the Ibo-driven N.C.N.C against the Yoruba party, ACTION GROUP, forced us to relocate as refugees to another house of Pa Torimiro on Okesuna Street, Shomolu. On that street were many houses built by Isoyin people, including Papa S.A. Deru, father of the well known Otunba Femi Deru, I CAN president in his life time and a great figure in the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Community. Some of us children almost drowned in the swamp behind the house as we fled through the backyard, to, first, Christ Apostolic Church, near Myong Army Barracks and, from there, through Morocco Road to Shomolu. The problem with our house was that Mr. Ganiyu Daudu, then organsing secretary of the Action Group (A.G.), a Yoruba party, was one of the tenants and the N.C.N.C, a former Yoruba party taken over by the Ibos, sought to kill him. This was in 1959 or 1960.

Refugee life for us was not a good life. Thus, my uncle, Pa Alphaeus Taiwo Olunaike, a thrift collector better known by his alias, ORI MI PE BI TI BABA ALAJO SHOMOLU, decided to build another house in Shomolu. This was a genesis of 77 OLORUNKEMI STREET, SHOMOLU. No fewer than eight Isoyin folks followed him. My father, too, joined them. This was an Ijebu zone. So was the Fadeyi end of Yaba College of Technology. The Ijebus who were done with Abule-Ijesha began to move into Shomolu, to join forces with Ijebus pushing in from Ikorodu Town until they met at OJOTA. Meanwhile, the Egbas were pushing in from Sango Ota, past Agege and Mangoro towards Ladipo, Alasia,Oshodi,Matori, Mushin, Idi-Oro e.t.c. These developments became possible because all these areas were parts of Western Region which the A.G. of Chief Obafemi Awolowo was opening up with housing and industrial estates in Ikeja, Ilupeju, Yaba, Oshodi, Isolo, Apapa for manufacturing companies to flood in from Europe to create jobs in Nigeria.

LAGOS QUESTION

Two questions grossly unrelated to good or bad governance were the dominant questions in the presidential and governorship elections in Lagos. These questions were: WHO OWNS LAGOS? and is LAGOS A NO MAN’S LAND? Both questuons are related. The Yorubas of Southwestern Nigeria say Lagos is their political capital and that LAGOS is not a NO MAN’S LAND. Ibos say LAGOS is NO MAN’S LAND. This means everyone can come to Lagos and do whatever he or she likes with Lagos. They cite the cases of Nigerians becoming Mayors in the United States. But they forget to remind us that the U.S IS NO MAN’S LAND because Europeans who fled their continent when life became unbearable for them there forcibly took the land from American Indians. In Nigeria, save for the Funlani conquest of the Hausa states, no other nationality conquered another and colonised it. Yorubas do not even have land boarders with Ibos. On January 1, 1852, Oba AKINTOYE of Lagos, not THE OBI OF ONITSHA, signed off Lagos to Great Britain which declared Lagos a colony on March 5, 1862. This ended the quarrel for the throne with Kosoko who fled to Epe, his mother’s town, to become Paramount Ruler under the Awujale of Ijebuland. The Eletu Odibo blocked Kosoko’s way to the throne. Kosoko avenged this later by putting the old Eletu in a drum of oil, set fire on it and threw his remains into the lagoon. Eletu himself had exhumed the remains of Kosoko’s mother from her grave and threw them into the lagoon. This was Yoruba royal politics, not Ibo politics, almost 200 years ago, to which the incumbent Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Babatunde Osuolale Aremu Akiolu, alluded in 2019. AKINTOYE himself had once fled to Badagry and, from there, to Egba. Relationships among Lagos, Egbe, Ijebu-Ode and Lagos, Badagry and Egba show Lagos has been an integral part of Yoruba land, and not Ibo land, for hundreds of years. Yoruba land has a large Moslem population. Ibos are predominantly Christians. The first mosque in Yoruba land was built in 1850 in OYO ILE or OLD OYO. Iwo town built the second in 1865. Lagos built its own, Shitta Bey, between 1894 and 1897.

Nnamdi Azikiwe cunningly tried to become Premier of Western Region but the Yorubas prevented him and made Chief Obafemi Awolowo their Premier. Lt. Col Emeka Odumgwu-Ojukwu, the Biafran leader, tried to militarily invade Lagos and the Western Region, but the Yorubas stopped him at ORE. For some time, since then, the Ibos have joined forces with opposition to the establishment in Lagos to take it over. But each time, they failed.

Thus, the 2023 general elections were another such effort to, this time, directly through the Labour Party (LP) “conquer Lagos”. Ibos jubilated when the February 25, 2023 Presidential election gave LP a 16,000 win over the establishment APC. The victors did not realise the victory was an amalgam of Ibo and prostest Yoruba votes and that Yorubas could solve their local problems and politically re-assert themselves in their land.

PROPAGANDA

Ibos are better propagandists than other Nigerians. In Biafran War, Uche Chukwumerije and Okokon Ndemi sold Biafra better to the world than did Nigeria. In their quest to conquer Lagos in 2023 and secure the Presidency for PETER OBI, their Presidential candidate, aggressive lie telling on the internet knew no bounds. Recall a few…

1. Before the voting for President opened, a viral post said that President Muhammadu Buhari had voted Peter Obi, to generate bandwagon votes for Obi. Buhari had to show on camera his vote for Tinubu.

2. An internet post went viral in which Chief Bode George, a leader of the PDP, said INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, flew to Lagos in the night hours after Presidential voting to see Tinubu at home and then flew back to Abuja before dawn in Tinubu’s private jet! This was to discredit the polls. Bode George denied the post.

3. An internet post went viral in which the DSS (Secret Police) found billions of Naira in Tinubu’s Lagos home. The idea was to paint Tinubu as a vote buyer and to discredit the polls. The DSS said its never searched Tinubu’s house.

4. Another viral post said Nigerian Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola camouflaged in wheelchair in London to meet with President-elect Bola Tinubu at a time Tinubu was in France and the CJN was in Abuja. The motive was to discredit the Supreme Court in advance if Obi lost its appeal before their Lordships.

5. Iwuchukwu Oknowo gave reasons in the internet why Ibos should not look back on the “conquest” of Lagos. The idea was to strengthen Ibo imperialist’s intent on Lagos. Iwuchkwu Oknowo said:

“Lagos is an Island, adjacent to Yoruba territory, Kaliningrad is an enclave adjacent to Germany. If Russia can own Kaliningrad far away from its boader, and US can own Pearl Harbour in Asia, why would it be impossible for Easterners to own Lagos Island near Western Nigeria? Anyway, the weak will have their say, and the strong will have their way. Like nature, we do not hurry. Like nature, we accomplish our objective, as the wind as the Earth as the water and as fire we keep the pressure, untill our opponents cave. Igbo are as inexorable as death, the Masters of Africa”.

6. On March 19, 2023, CHARLES IDEHO, a presenter on JORDAN FM radio station in Lagos, offered another ammunition for campaigners that LAGOS IS NO MAN’S LAND. He said Chief Lateef Jakande, Governor of Lagos State from 1979 to 1983 made the statement in his inaugural speech, and promised his largely pro-Ibo callers that he would post the full text on a website.

As Mr. Richard Olawole, 73, a retired Nigerian U.S. soldier posted:

“We voted in Lagos today not along political lines but along the lines of Heritage. We voted for our pride. We made a statement that our liberal nature should never be abused. What we won’t attempt in yours, do not force on us. We voted to retain Lagos”.

APC VICTORIES

The trumph of APC in Lagos and Abuja should not dampen Ibo Nigerian spirit. Yorubas do not “carry” victory on their heads, “wear” it on their faces or swirl the sword any how. They will be the first to scream if anything is going wrong. They are not clanish. They are equitable, accommodating and trustworthy.   Were they not the leading fighters for Vice-president Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan to become Acting President and, later, encouraged him to be President? Many IBOS, too, are good and reliable people. The trouble is that a people can be stereotyped by the persons among them who negatively impact on other persons. A respectable, helpful and Christianly Ibo woman and I had a long talk on governorship election day. She is married to a Yoruba and asked me a question which touched my heart.

” WHY DOES EVERY-ONE HATE US?”.

In such situations, I am blunt. How would I, too, feel if everywhere I go I am negatively stereotyped?

   I told her:

” Every nationality has its own good, bad and ugly persons. There are miscreants among Yoruba and Hausa/ Fulani as there are among Ibos. A nationality may run into trouble with others if it does not check its ugly ones who are disturbing the peace of other people. The Ibos ought to have checked those among them who are creating tension in relationship with their hosts in Lagos”.

I mentioned to her IFY ONYEGBULUE, a radio presenter in STAR FM station in 2019 when the OKOTA CRISIS broke. Frankly, she told her people on radio several times that they were ” tenants” in Lagos and that “tenants” must respect their “Landlords”. My journalism training began on March 8, 1971 under Mr GEORGE OKORO, Chief sub Editor of the Daily Times. He was a rare professional and gem of a trainer. We came in with Higher School Certificate of Cambridge or London Universities. Many of our Yoruba seniors did not show interest in our on- the- job training. Not GEORGE OKORO. For some of us, our training did not end on the desk at work. He took us to clubs and, because I lived near him, I always ended up in his apartment. I owe alot to him.

Before I went to university, I had the priviledge of coming under another Ibo, Mr ANGUS OKOLI, a thorough gentleman. How can I ever forget Prof. HUMPHREY NWOSU at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka(UNN). He did not care who you were or where you came from if you could stand up to him and challenge his opinions. In his exams, I took positions contrary to his, especially in the turbulent course such as GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF NIGERIA, which his own Professor, EME AWA, also taught. I wasn’t surprised, therefore, that, as the electoral umpire in the 1993 Presidential election, he withstood physical assault by soldiers to let us know Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (a.k.a.M.K.O) won the polls.

There was a gentleman I remember now simply as EARNEST. He was our office assistant at the Lagos Weekend newspaper. REMI GBADEBO was our Secretary. One day, she paid Junior staff the monthly salary via pay envelopes but forgot about 20 of them on her desk in her rush to catch a free car ride home. To her shock on Monday morning, all the envelopes were intact!. Later, he died in a vehicle crash between his village and Lagos. I was at UNN then. Tears ran down my cheeks when I learned that a Yoruba woman in the office adopted his children and kept them in school.

Can I also forget Uncle Maurice? He was my day security-man when I was Editor of THE GUARDIAN newspaper. He was so honest and trustworthy I gave him keys to my house. He took my children to school and brought them home. Every months, I personally topped his official pay.

   If Ibos we interface with are like such men, who would ever feel uncomfortable with an Ibo? Unfortunately, it is the business class Ibo we frequently meet. He sells fake spare parts and   pharmaceuticals,Tramadol, Codeine, import Cocaine, takes his landlord or landlady to court when his rent is due or topped, brazenly tells you your people are stupid because Ibos have bought up your land and they are the new owners and, during an election such as this, provokes you, believing you are a spineless simpleton who would flee at the slightest flex of muscles. He forgets how the Biafran Army was defeated at ORE, how Dr Azikiwe was shown the way back to the Eastern Region. He is poorly educated. All he does is count and worship money which single public policies may evaporate. He tells you Ibos built Lagos. You wonder what the Aworis did from Badagry to Lagos, what the Ijebus did from Ikorodu to Yaba, if he knows the Yorubas built SURULERE to re-settle persons relocated from congested Lagos Island. He sees only the property acquired with drug money. He does realise Lagos has built an export Free Processing Zones (EPZ) on which is sited the biggest petroleum refinery complex in Africa. He does not realise Lagos has built a sea Port near Epe and is building another in Badagry. He probably does not appreciate what it means for Lagos State on its own to build the FOURT MAINLAND BRIDGE, one of the longest in Africa, or of IMOTA RICE MILL, the fourth largest world-wide which would create about 250,000 jobs. This man does not realise that when Lagos trains begin to run at full steam, his motor spare parts business would be gone. What, also, would happen if Lagos State, builds 5,000 corner street Eko PHARMACY stores and empowers Yorubas Pharmacy graduates with soft loans to acquire them and end the era of fake medicines? Can we flash his mind back to the First Republic Chief Obafemi Awolowo built industrial and residential estates in Ikeja, Yaba, Ilupeju, Oshodi, Isolo, Apapa, Matori. Was it the Ibos who built them and brought manufacturing companies there to create jobs which brought many Ibos to Lagos? What did Dr Azikiwe do in Ibo states outside the UNN?

FINALLY

We need to prevent ethno-political tension in Lagos now and in future. There are about 25 million people in Lagos. There are just about seven exist routes out of lagos( Lagos-Ibadan/Lagos- Ota- Abeokuta/Lagos- Epe/Lagos-Ikorodu/the air ports and the seaports. If trouble explodes, and they are blocked, how are we 25 million inhabitants going to survive food bockade, and how many of us will be able to escape through whichever route we choose? Let us learn from history. This was a great challenge in the 1966 northern riots and in the Ibo exodus from Lagos during the ABIOLA death crisis and the Jonathan- Buhari succession fears. We pray it never happens. The semblance of it I experienced as a 10 year-old in Abule-Ijesha is still fresh in my memory. Thanks to Ify Onyebule and to that chairman of the Ibo market in Ladipo who promptly denied Ibo claims on the internet that Yorubas were killing Ibos in the market! They deserve a peace award of Lagos State Government. Finally, Ibos meet regularly nation-wide on village or town basis. That woman I spoke with who asked: “WHY DOES EVERY-ONE HATE US?” asked an appropriate question. The “ugly” Ibos or “red” Nigerians clash with their hosts in South-Africa, Benin Republic, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, China, Lybia, Ukraine,I ndia and even Dubai. Can the good Ibos not check these bad eggs in their basket? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Awka recently, said people who say people everywhere are afraid of them should make friends of people who fear them.

March 30, 2023