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The US State Department estimates there are 24.9 million human trafficking victims worldwide. This does not occur only in dark alleys. It is happening around the world every day.

Human trafficking is considered modern-day slavery and there are more slaves today than at any time in history.

People are forced into harsh employment under horrible conditions, and then have no freedom to leave. They are beaten, violated and told they are worthless—that no one else wants them anymore.

”Once a victim who only identified herself as Mary from Imo State Nigeria spoke to our correspondent her ordeal how she was lured by a friend to come meet her in India.

“I was working with Shoprite in one of the Lagos branches where I was earning up to N50,000 monthly and I was doing well in my own little way, not until my long-time friend [name unknown] asked me, babe, what are you still doing in Nigeria where nothing works?

“She promised to bring me over to India in three months adding that the process is going to be free that I don’t need to spend any money because the company will take care of my coming,” Mary said.

“My one month in India was fine and I was hoping to get a job. Two months later, I was forced into prostitution the job my best friend promised me was all lies.

“I was told that they spend N900,000 for my process coming to India that I need to pay back the money and if i failed I will be jailed,’ i got scared and had no other choice than stick to their threat.

“My stay in India for two years was a nightmare, I managed to pay off my debt after that I returned to Nigeria early 2019.”

Poverty

Poverty alone does not necessarily create vulnerability to trafficking, but when combined with other factors, these can lead to a higher risk of being trafficked. Like in Africa where over 75% are poor and can not afford a better life for themselves and families. These ends as a result of many taking the risk of traveling to the US, Canada, Europ for a better living.

Human trafficking has become rampage in West Africa like Nigeria where you see young Nigerians deceived by traffickers promising them jobs in Europe and Spain and at the end many of them will end up being sold as a slave in Libya.

Poor governance

In the case where bad government, corruption, lack of human right, economic disruption, family disruption, lack of access to education and jobs, insecurity takes over the country and the rate of human trafficking will be high.

Read Also: Human trafficking: FG launches ‘Not for Sale’ campaign

It’s A Lucrative Industry

Along with illegal arms and drug trafficking, human trafficking is one of the largest international crime industries in the world. A report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) says forced labor generates $150 billion in illegal profits per year.

Two-thirds of that money came from commercial sexual exploitation, while the rest is from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture, child labor, and related activities.

Every continent in the world has been involved in human trafficking, Human trafficking is both a domestic and global crime, with victims trafficked within their own country to neighboring countries and between continents.

Victims of trafficking can be of any age and any gender

Women and children are often used for sexual exploitation, while men are more likely to be used for forced labor. Globally, about one in five victims of human trafficking are children. Children are also exploited for the purposes of forced begging, child pornography or child labor.

All over the world, people are on the move. Many have been forced to become migrants because of conflict and economic instability.

For a number of people, the thought of public speaking is enough to upset and unsettle their insides. Nevertheless, public speaking is one of those skills that need to be developed because of its inevitable use at certain points in our lives and careers. Find below five ways to improve your public speaking skills

Understand the message of your speech

It is important to understand the message your speech is trying to pass across. Try to relate the message of your speech to a personal experience or something close enough to drive the message home to you.

When you understand the message of your speech, it makes delivering it much easier because if you forget one or two things, you can easily fill the gaps with the right alternatives. Remember that one of the worst things you can do in public speaking is to cram the content of your speech without trying to understand it. Cramming rather than understanding your speech increases stress and anxiety over delivering the speech, impairing your ability to concentrate and deliver your speech well.

Practice

Please don’t let the moment you deliver your speech be the first time you have ever done so. It is important to practice before hand and perfect the art of your speech delivery. Every speech has a way it should be delivered, and you need to understand this and go a step further to personalize the style of this delivery so it is more authentic and thus more effective. This can only be done in the place of practice.

You should take note that practice is not advised to give you time to perfect the cramming of the words of your speech, but to give you time to understand the message of your speech, discern the best style of delivery for the speech and tailor this style to suit your personality, strengths and abilities.

Consider your audience

This should be done alongside understanding your speech and practicing to be perfect. This very important step should be kept in mind from the very beginning of your public speaking preparation.

Firstly, your speech – its content and message – should be relevant to your audience and something they can relate to. When you are done with the speech (if it is written by you), the next step is to consider your audience in preparing to give the speech. Consider what style of delivery will appeal to them (alongside the style of delivery that suits your speech type). Equally in personalizing the style of your speech delivery, you should also consider what will agree with or be offensive to your audience.

In all, consider your audience at every stage because in the end your speech is about them not you. Learn as much about them as you can and use the information to deliver a speech that will be effective and memorable.

Read Also; Five mistakes you make while charging your phone

Remember your gestures

Liven up your speech delivery with gestures that communicate confidence. You really don’t have to feel confident to use them – that’s the beauty of gestures. All you need to know are the right gestures to make at the right periods and you are good. The interesting thing is, most times in the course of making these gestures, you are likely to get comfortable and actually relax as opposed to when you are standing stiff and staring down the audience.

An important thing to remember here is that the appropriate gestures for your voice, hands and even legs (in terms of walking from one point to another as you give your speech) are things that can be learnt. A visit to YouTube to see the many videos on this can help you. You can also consider hiring a public speaking coach, if you have the money to spare. Once these gestures, alongside how and when to use them are learnt, it will make the public speaking exercise easier for you and eliminate the possibility of overdoing or misusing these gestures.

Accept and make peace with your emotions

The truth is, the nervous feeling might never go away, no matter what you do. It helps to accept this and do it anyway. Don’t waste time, energy and emotions hoping you stop feeling nervous, your hands and voice stops shaking or your knees stop buckling. Instead, learn the gestures, actions and reactions that can help you mask your visible cues of nervousness. As for your emotions, just remember that the fact that you feel nervous is known only to you, you don’t have to show it to the world.

Make peace with the nervous feeling; know that you can even joke about your nervousness in the course of your speech (if you consider yourself someone with a good sense of humour) and go on to deliver a great speech.

We all love our air-conditioning systems. However, experts suggest that unfortunately, the homeowners are often guilty of making expensive errors that cause significant damage to their HVAC systems. Proper awareness of these mistakes will not only help the homeowners extend the life of their air-conditioning units, but also save them loads of money that they have been spending so far on AC repair.

The simple tips mentioned below can help minimize the repair cost of your air-conditioning system.

Maintain the exterior unit:  The exterior unit or the condenser of an air-conditioning unit does a lot of hard work by extracting all the heat and dissipating it outside. These outdoor units are exposed to the elements of nature and need cleaning from time to time. Heat and humidity always put the air-conditioners through a lot of stress while cooling a space. The unit’s performance and efficiency can suffer even more if the condenser is not clean.

There is no need to worry because cleaning the condenser is a remarkably easy task. A monthly visual inspection followed by hosing off the machine should be sufficient. If you are looking to clean the unit thoroughly, follow the steps mentioned below.

• Switch off the unit.
• Use a wet/dry vacuum cleaner with a soft brush to remove leaves, dirt, and debris from the fins.
• Remove any debris or dirt buildup from areas around the condenser.
• If you notice that the fins are bent, you can straighten them with extreme caution using a butter knife or fin comb. However, please ensure that nothing is inserted between the fins.

Finally, please ensure that there is nothing in the vicinity of the condenser to obstruct its functional efficiency.

Clean the registers and indoor vents: The logic behind this task is the same as the previous point. It is particularly important to clean the intake register because all dirt particles accumulated there will ultimately get circulated all over the system.

Failing to clean the vents regularly will have a drastic negative impact on the home’s air quality. It also causes loss of system efficiency and the air filters to get dirtier. If you can see clumps of dirt around the vents, be prepared for a surprisingly high electricity bill. Use a microfiber cloth to clean the vents and use the butter knife to clean the tiny crevices. You may also remove the vents and soak them in warm and soapy water for a minute or so. Don’t forget to dry the vents before putting them back in their place.

Put a shade for the condenser: Though all condensers are designed to perform in heat, they are more efficient when the heat is less. Please remember that anything that forces the system to work harder will increase its repairing needs for the future. Therefore, put a shade over the outdoor unit to protect it from excessive heat. However, the shade must not obstruct the top or the sides of the condenser.

Change the air-filters: Air filters provide the much-needed protection to your air-conditioning unit again mold, pollen, dust, and debris. If the air filters are blocked, you may face lots of difficulties such as

• Uneven cooling and reduced airflow.
• Complete system shutdown or short cycling.
• Freezing of the evaporator coils.
• Damage to the compressor and the blower motor.

Changing air filters is a simple process that takes no more than ten minutes to complete. Therefore, do remember to change the air filters from time to time without fail.

Annual system tune-up:  This is a critical component of any air-conditioner maintenance plan. This should include the following activities.

• A detailed inspection of all components
• All moving parts should be lubricated.
• All electrical fittings to be tightened.
• Safety check for the system.
• Checking the refrigerant level.
• Blower and condenser cleaning.

 

 

Justina Asishana

 

CLAIM: University of Ibadan (UI) College of Medicine ranks 4th in Africa, says news publication.

FALSE: In the absence of a continentally accepted authority for rating African universities, we resorted to T.H.E. World University Rankings. The metric scale rated the University of Ibadan- College of Medicine as 6th in Africa.

Full Text

On September 12, a number of news publications reported how the College of Medicine University of Ibadan (UI), attained the fourth position in Africa in the World University Ranking.

The reports claimed the assertion originated from the College Provost- Professor Olubunmi Olapade-Olaopa, stating he spoke with newsmen at the end of the Innovative Research Fair of the College.

This fact check is necessary because of the rate at which people and youths rally for the best institutions with the aim of certification and future employment.

Taking advantage of this, most tertiary institutions make claims to be the top in order to attract students to their institutions.

Verification

An extensive search on the World University Ranking 2020 rankings released on September 25 showed that the University of Ibadan is ranked between 501-600.

The search was made on the World University Ranking. This was done owing to the fact that this was the source referenced by the Provost. The parameters used were “Medicine and Dentistry” and limited to the African region.

Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking 2020

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings are a global comprehensive metric. Their performance tables judge universities across all of their core missions.

These include: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. 13 calibrated performance indicators are used to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons. This metric is trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.

The performance indicators are grouped into five areas:

● Teaching (the learning environment);

● Research (volume, income, and reputation);

● Citations (research influence);

● International outlook (staff, students and research);

● Industry Income (knowledge transfer).

The top ten ratings of Africa universities offering Medicine and Dentistry, according to the World University Ranking are –

1 – University of Cape Town, South Africa ranked 136

2 – University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa ranked 194

3 – Stellenbosch University, South Africa ranked between 251-300

4 – University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa ranked between 401-500

5 – Mansoura University, Egypt ranked between 401-500

6 – University of Ibadan, Nigeria ranked between 501-600

7 – Suez Canal University, Egypt ranked between 501-600

8 – Beni-Suef University, Egypt ranked between 601-800

9 – Cairo University, Egypt ranked between 601-800

10 – Ferhat Abbas Serif University, Algeria ranked between 601-800

Additionally, findings from webometrics placed the University of Ibadan as 17th in Africa after the University of Ghana and 1233 worldwide.

However, webometrics does not do its rankings by subjects. Its criteria are based on university presence, impact, openness and excellence.

There is not a continentally accepted authority for ranking African universities. And as such, the results provided are very subjective.

The subjectivity is evidenced by the disparities in the results provided by both ranking systems.

Nonetheless, the Times Higher Education ranking system does not only have global acceptance but ranks universities by subjects. This makes it the most suited choice for verification.

Conclusion

In the absence of a continentally accepted authority for rating African universities, we resorted to T.H.E. World University Rankings. The metric scale rated the University of Ibadan- College of Medicine as 6th in Africa.

Granted, disparities do exist in other metrics with respect to UI’s position; however, the World University Ranking system is globally accepted and rates universities by subjects as well.