The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday Magazine

  • ‘Our leaders have lost moral authority’

    ‘Our leaders have lost moral authority’

    Philip Asiodu has held different positions at various times in the country but not many are aware of his dexterity in cracking jokes. Before the commencement of this interview with INNOCENT DURU, he showed his skill in cracking jokes and spoke about his wish for Nigeria before he exits to the world beyond. Excerpts:

     

    You will be 80 years old in a few months time but you really look agile and far younger than your age. What is the magic behind this?

    I am glad to hear that I look younger than my age. Thank you very much. First you thank God if you are not born with some genetic disease that might worry you. Next is to acquire early enough good habits like eating moderately, if you drink, drink moderately. Then obey the rules of hygiene. Keep as clean as you can and exercise yourself so that you don’t become too fat because the body must maintain a balance. When you become too obese you over task your heart. For every extra pound of kilogramme more capillaries, your heart has to work harder to push blood to all those parts of the body. There used to be this American doctor who tried to counsel people that were a bit over fat. He would ask them ‘would you imagine putting the engine of a Volkswagen beetle to drag a nine-seater Cadillac? Try to avoid needless obesity, work hard enough, play well, take exercises but learn to sleep enough. If one may add, because these days with our processed food which is not as good as the natural food which our elders used to eat, people sometimes look at suggestions by dieticians and doctors about taking vitamin supplements especially anti-oxidants like vitamin A. People think you have to be a very old man before you can use it but quite early in the middle age, you supplement dieting with recommended supplements. I think it is simply all about doing things moderately.

    How has life been after your retirement from public service; how do relax and do you socialise?

    I told you that we were brought up in this tradition where games and athletics were as important as or even more important than academic work. While in school, I played and represented the school in cricket, tennis, squash, and hockey. After leaving school, one played a little of cricket in clubs but, after sometime, became too busy to participate in sports and games involving so many people. You can’t hold 21 people waiting because you couldn’t finish your meeting in the office and of course you grow older. So gradually, one played no more cricket, one played no more hockey but one kept to playing tennis and squash and when because of developing arthritis, one couldn’t play squash and tennis anymore, I moved on to golf. I started my public service career in a foreign office. If you are a games’ man and you go to the cricket club or squash club, you make friends easily. Even after retirement I kept playing tennis and occasional squash but now I play golf. I was a member of Island Club, Ikoyi Club, one goes there occasionally and we have Kings’ College Old Boys Association, I associate with them. We also have the Oxford and Cambridge Club here in Lagos and London. I belong to both. I have been able to keep socially meeting people that you like and that has been extremely useful.

    Your profile shows you are a man of many achievements but given the opportunity to turn back the hand of time, is there any part of your life you would want to amend?

    Strictly looking at it, I have been fairly lucky and fortunate in the decisions I took. There is no part of my life that I really regret. It is true when I was in school; I thought I might engage more actively in political matters. Therefore I chose that I would try to become a lawyer because as a lawyer you could still have time for politics. If I became a doctor, I thought it may not give me time. So when I first went to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics I was expecting that at the end of that I would do Law, come back as a lawyer and be able to practise the profession of law and also have time to engage in politics. But as I drew nearer to the time of graduation and saw the way politics was developing, it was no longer of much interest to me. Although when I left Oxford I went to London with the intention to study Law but when the British were leaving, Nigeria had to have a diplomatic service and they advertised for people to come in as trainees for the foreign service. I applied, I was interviewed and accepted and I gave up the idea of reading Law and came back as one of the 12 pioneers of the Nigerian Foreign Service. It is possible that if my father had not died when I was 16 years, he might have influenced me to be a lawyer. If I were a lawyer, I probably would have gone to the root of private practice and politics but he died just about when I was about to take school certificate and he was the only person who could have influenced my decision. Looking back really, there is nothing to regret about myself. Thoroughly, I enjoyed myself as a young boy born in Lagos in February 1934. Before I became conscious, my father who was a Customs Officer was transferred to Calabar. Calabar was where I became conscious, started schooling, learnt to read and write Efik as my first language and ten years later he was transferred back to Lagos.

    At what point did you find love, especially getting married to somebody outside your tribe at a time inter tribal marriage was not common?

    (Cuts in) Not so uncommon. I married in 1964 December. Asaba people have been pioneer civil servants if you like. Even in the census of 1961, the two towns with the greatest numbers of pensioners were Abeokuta and Asaba. Throughout the Warri province, Asaba people were the first teachers. Being literate people they were among the first civil servants. They were found everywhere; you would find them in the Customs, in the P & T . It was one Nigerian civil service and you could be transferred from Lagos to Calabar. My father served in Lagos, he served in Burutu and Calabar. Asaba people, because they were posted to all these places, many of them had wives from there. If you go to Asaba today, there is no language that you speak that somebody would not answer you. Inter marriage was not so unusual especially in the south but in our own case, you grow up somewhere, you go to school, you socialise with people around, your father was literate, so you grow up in a sort of cosmopolitan atmosphere where people visiting you were not confined to tribes. In a place where you grow up, you may pick up an association that may lead to marriage later. In short, there was in the background, approach to life, I am a Roman Catholic same with my parents, my wife also came from a Catholic family so in terms of religion there was an affinity. Although I speak Asaba because my parents came from there, I have never really lived in Asaba so the chances of finding a damsel there when it came to marriage, geographically, was not that easy.

    You took a shot at the presidency in 1999. Why have you become so inactive politically?

    Well one is 79 years old and who am I going to appeal to? The younger ones will say ‘this old man should go and sit down his time has passed’ or they may say that we created problems for them. But more importantly what are the conditions of politicking today? Unfortunately the 1999 constitution insists that you cannot be a candidate except a political party sponsors you. There is no provision for independent candidacy and as far as I am concerned there is no proper political party in Nigeria today. Properly defined, a political party has a manifesto. It says this is what I want the country to be. It cannot tell you that I am going to power to loot the state or to enrich myself. It has to say I am going to power because when we implement our policies, the nation will develop and the people will be happier. There is no party today with that; they are not issues oriented. They are simply cabals for selecting people for office. That system must be changed. What are their demands for you to be their candidate; to come and take a form for N50million. Even in my days trying to campaign, I fixed a meeting in Asaba, Delta State for 11 o’clock in the morning. There’s no point from Delta in those days you would not reach Asaba if you left your house by 8o’clock that you would not reach there before 11 and I made sure the meeting would end before 3 o’clock so that they could go home on time. Even the man in Igbuzor that is 20 minutes from the meeting would say I should send money for transport and money for hotel accommodation. You see what we have become? In my days as a student, I used my pocket money to go to Glover Memorial Hall to listen to Zik. Now we are saying that a man coming 10 minutes away from the venue of a meeting is saying send me money for hotel. The cost of seeking political office is too high and compounds corruption; we would have to address it. Secondly, parties must become issues oriented. Planning, like I said earlier, is important. We abandoned planning effectively after the coup of 1975. Never mind jokes we cracked about holding plans which were never respected.

    Now we are again trying to say we believe in planning but like I showed recently in a comparison of statistics of budget allocation in 2010 to 2012 compared with the planned provision of the planning estimate, you will find that the allocation in vital sectors like education, infrastructure, productive sector hovered around 36 percent. The allocation to the assembly was about 647 percent. That just shows we have not accepted the discipline of planning. If we could have a situation now on which parties could build their manifestoes on the desire for Nigeria to become what we said it should be in 2020, and let the partisan competition be which party can deliver it quicker, then you are back to issues. I am disappointed that we are talking about forming APC to challenge the PDP, but on what basis.? Some people want to replace some people. I have not seen a party that comes out to say Nigeria’s approach to governance must change; we believe in good governance. First we believe in re- arranging allocation of resources so that capital projects led by education, health and infrastructure take the majority and they get 60 percent. We now believe that the cost of governance must be reduced, therefore these are the salaries which would apply to party officials, apply to party members in executive ministers and apply to the legislatures. We establish career long training pattern but merit and productivity would be the yard stick of promotion. If we can do this and remove this question that you can only be a candidate if you are sponsored by a political party, remove this question of paying money from public purse to political parties automatically and if we must, go to the German model whereby a party has to win a minimum percentage of votes to qualify for any public support so that you are limiting the number of people who can say I am a party. If we do these things, we must encourage people of talents, of good pedigree, people who have gone through a good educational system which emphasises honesty and integrity, people who are not hungry, people who are not looking for public office in order to survive, we must then encourage them to participate in politics. It would be too late for me but I will be happy to see that situation because it will then give me the comfort of knowing that Nigeria will be on the mend so that my children and more particularly, my grandchildren do not have to be sentenced to a life of being economic fugitives.

    How do you wish to be remembered?

    Me? Well, how do I want to be remembered? We are not the type of people Nigeria remembers a lot. As I said, one has enjoyed a reasonably good life. I was able to come to a Nigeria which could give you good education, I was able to go to the best educational institutions, I have enjoyed my career. I will just like to be remembered as a Nigerian who had hoped that before he disappears Nigeria would have helped to restore the respect for the black man which we lost with the introduction of the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century. Unfortunately, we thought we could have done that by the end of the 20th century but we have not. I hope that before I go, the basis would be laid and good governance will return to Nigeria so that at least latest by 2050 we would have been able to do for the black man what the Japanese did for the yellow man in 19th century. They restored them to international respect. Then I will be remembered as one of those little public servants who tried to contribute to creating the basis for this renaissance

    You worked with many leaders in the country from the pre independence era to the post- independence era. Which of these leaders would you want to work with again if given the opportunity and why would you?

    Well that would be a negative way of putting it. I would rather be more positive and say that while in school, we used to take our pocket money to go and listen to late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe talking about freedom, and African renaissance and Nigeria being a vanguard of African renaissance. He was a leader who considered himself as a citizen of the world, preaching that Africa must resume the respect that it had before. I am still inspired by that kind of idea and when you met somebody like Dr Azikiwe, he was urbane, friendly and at home with you. When I became permanent secretary in 1965, it was before him I swore an oath of allegiance. Later on, I had the opportunity in the time of General Gowon when eventually politicians were brought into the cabinet after the military coup because after the January military coup when Ironsi became the supreme commander, the army did not want politicians in the cabinet. In fact, they wanted perm secs to assume that title but we said no. No ministers were appointed, so permanent secretaries played their old roles of coordinating inputs for policy, preparing council memoranda for policies which the ministers under the civilian regime then took to cabinet and when decisions were taken the permanent secretary was responsible for coordinating the resources of men, material and money in the ministries to implement decisions of government. That was quite fulfilling. Now with no ministers, permanent secretaries presented the memoranda themselves to the supreme military council and when decisions were taken, unlike when there were ministers to explain to the public the decisions of government. The permanent secretaries had to play this role and that gave us an unusual exposure to the media and the public.

    One was happy working under Prime Minister Balewa who was the leader of the federal government. Later on briefly, Ironsi was in power for about six months. He left the civil service intact and we were able to play our roles. After him General Gowon came along; very fair minded, genuinely patriotic, wishing to do his best for Nigeria. Of course his first years were difficult with the rejection of his succession to Ironsi by Ojukwu, the attempted succession, the civil war and the attempt to have reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction after the civil war then unfortunately for him, he delayed handing over and was removed by a military coup. He was genuinely patriotic, he respected civil service, he genuinely listened, and took decisions to move the country forward. I was quite happy to work with him. Of course when he was removed in 1975, quite soon around September of the same year, I was asked to retire, of course with full benefits. I was asked to retire in public interest. But before they went public, I must say, the chief of staff supreme headquarters, the secretary to the government and I think the IGP, three leading members of the supreme military council, called me and said ‘you have to retire because you can’t fit in into the new image of the permanent secretary that we want’. May be they were correct because I was brought up in a tradition where you spoke the truth on the basis of objective data you could gather; you did not doctor your recommendations to suit any whims or caprices. You honestly told government what the options were. You made suggestions but it was left to them to take the decisions and once the decisions were taken, it was my duty to implement it faithfully and that I did. I would not have liked the situation in which civil servants were not allowed to say clearly, objectively and fearlessly what they thought was correct. They were correct because I couldn’t fit into that image, so I retired with the pension of the time.

    After my retirement, I was able to go into private sector, do one or two investments and on the basis of my reputation in service I was invited to serve on the boards of a number of multinational companies. So in terms of personal comfort, probably I was better off, but in terms of satisfaction as a Nigerian and in terms of satisfaction as an instrument for positive change, of course my career was truncated. I believe that if we had continued on that path of development and if the abrupt coup of 1975 did not end the Gowon regime, I think we might have been able to influence the general to go through an orderly handover to the civilians more or less on the Brazilian pattern. With the destruction of the public service which happened after I was removed when 10, 000 people were retired even from states which didn’t have enough civil servants. Newly created states were even forced to even bring people for retirement. They retired people who were obeying rules correctly. I didn’t mind if I as permanent secretary and few others associated with top policy suggestions and implementation were asked to go. But for them to go below us and retire deputy perm sec, senior assistant perm sec; people who were obeying lawful orders, some of whom were being recommended on the basis of excellent performance, that demoralisation, that injustice has impacted so badly on subsequent development in Nigeria.

    In essence, you are saying that there is none of the leaders you worked with that you cannot work with again?

    As a civil servant as I said, I worked quite happily under Balewa, under Ironsi, under Gowon and then I retired. Subsequently, briefly in 1983 I now came back not as a civil servant but as an economic adviser under President Shehu Shagari. Shagari had good intention but unfortunately a bit too lenient to some errant ministers in his first term. In fact as a private adviser, I know that we made some presentations to him to remove some of them but he didn’t. He waited until the second administration and in his second administration, in selecting the people, the guidelines he gave for the functions of government were quite clear that he was determined to give us an excellent administration. Under the 1979 constitution the president was entitled to seven special advisers, two for the vice president and two for him. In selecting those seven only two were from the north. He wasn’t going to play the politics of just taking anybody putting him there. Every memo under his new guideline had to indicate that the ministry of economic planning had contributed to it. In short he was going back to planning and observing the discipline of planning. The abandonment of two principles has left Nigeria in the unfortunate situation we have found ourselves today. I was quite happy to work with President Shagari but it was very brief. Then later on in 1992 -1993, when things were so bad and the people were crying out, General Babangida was obliged to form the transitional council under Chief Ernest Shonekan and selected quite a number of people based on past technocratic records to be part of that transitional council. I went in as secretary for petroleum and mineral resources. I thought we were meant to serve for at least 18 months. My understanding was that we were supposed to be the people to organise election for a succeeding civilian administration but we would not be candidates so that there would not be question of conflict of interests. If we were able to do 18 months of implementing more or less civilian administration and were seen to supervise genuine free election, then the take-off into democracy would have been smoother. That did not happen and it was unfortunate.

    In your early days and some few years ago this country was never like this. Where in your opinion did we get it wrong?

    If we come to the latest situation, that destruction of the public service in 1975, the mass purge of people that needed not to be purged as it was established later when Monsignor Pedro Matins was asked to look into it he found out that more than 95 percent of those that were retired should not have retired if due process was well followed. That destroyed the morale and the fearlessness of the public servants.

    A good number of these people that were prematurely retired had no resources anywhere. They thereby enthroned the principle of make hay while the sun shines which is a euphemism for corruption. Once civil service lost its prestige and fearlessness and could not keep telling ministers, sir these are the financial instructions, this is possible this is not possible; it would destroy checks and balances. That was terrible for Nigeria. Unfortunately for us, even though Gen Murtala Muhammed and Gen Olusegun Obasanjo were members of Gowon’s cabinet which approved the 1975-1980 plan which stressed that oil is a wasting asset and in the meantime we must use the resources of oil to diversify the Nigerian economy and develop it and proceeded to identify a number of capital goods and intermediate good industries, metallurgy from iron ore to steel, oil and gas to petrochemical, fertilizers, all these plans were there but unfortunately in the process of denigrating what happened under Gowon, were abandoned. But most seriously abandoning the discipline which planning imposes; where you before hand identify priorities for national development and when resources come, you will apply them to that. What has then happened is that having abandoned the plan, money came and was spent but where is it? What can we show for it? I keep emphasizing this point and you media people should please take it up because we must be saved from the present waste of resources and excessive self-seeking by people in leadership positions.

    Insecurity has almost become a way of life in Nigeria. What is the way out of this?

    What is at the bottom of insecurity and why are we not effectively anticipating incidents of terrorism? The answer, I believe are twofold. First, the signals coming from the top down are not signals which will enforce the core values of integrity, honesty and transparency. The cost of seeking political office is too high. The behaviour in office of then seeking to cover that money leads to massive corruption. So when the signal coming from the top is that anybody can take as much as possible as he likes from the coffers of the state and flaunt it, it doesn’t give you the moral authority to tell the people to be patient. Because of that resources have been shifting from what we should be spending in order to enable Nigeria go to higher levels of development into private pockets. The self -seeking is too much.

    What is your view about sanctioning of corrupt officers?

    What do we do about sanctioning people who have been found guilty of corruption? You saw the terrible case in which somebody who misappropriated N26 billion was fined N760, 000 and somebody who stole a goat is sentenced two years. What signal do such send? Those are part of the underlining factors. Now because of corruption there is a situation in which we are often as a country, am sorry for the government, operating as if we are blind and do not have the data to anticipate problems. In the old days, money for security votes trickled down the ladder even to the position of the police inspector, making and rejoicing with people in the market square in the village pubs. Here was a situation of having little money to entertain and whosoever stranger that came into the village within 24 hours the residents knew. Now is there the resources for intelligence gathering at the bottom for us to be able to do that? This is another terrible situation. When you have a situation in which the citizens because of the massive self -seeking and self -appropriation of resources by the people at the top are not caring for the public good, the citizens become, if you like distanced from the leadership; the willingness to obey is not there and even the willingness to exert sanctions for corruption is not be there, the resources at the bottom to gather intelligence data is not there, then this terrible cocktail results in the situation in which we find ourselves.

    We must communicate good values from the top. We must re-instate the situation in which the leadership has the authority and that can only come from exemplary behaviour; behaving according to precepts, making sure that there is discipline, making sure that what you are doing is in the interest of the public good and not of private interest.

    What is your take on the state of emergency declared in three states in the north?

    I am happy and in support of the state of emergency. I am in support of trying to find the people who have declared war on the state but that is the first step. The next big step is for the president to proclaim an ethical revolution to bring us back to the core values of discipline, transparency, honesty, integrity, respect for the public good, pursuit of the public interest and the utilization of resources maximally to improve the possibility of Nigeria resuming rapid economic progress, diversification, and wealth creation for the people.

    The hope of the common man seems to have been dashed. What is the way out?

    We must try to be constructive. I do not believe in extreme pessimism. I believe that people ruling today should please look again at where the country is going and if it is sustainable. What we are doing now is not sustainable and it is time now for us to say from the top down enough is enough and to go back to things which would enable this country to resume growth, development and to know peace. First thing is this we must drastically reapportion the allocation of the resources available. We cannot continue with the amount of money being paid to the legislatures and the executives. We can’t! Whatever anybody is able to earn legitimately in the private sector is okay. At independence the salary of a minister, a permanent secretary and a professor is about equal. The difference was about N2, 000 to N3, 000 or thereabout. What is it today? It is terrible. The executive too would have to look at it. If you look at our economy, by the time you pay the chief executive of Nigeria, the President N30 million per annum that is salary and allowance, of course he would live in presidential house, he would entertain with public votes, I think that is okay. We need to reach the situation again where we can devote may be for a start 60 percent and little more later to public expenditure and a great deal of this public expenditure to education because education is the route to escape from poverty; it is the route to upward mobility. Many of us who look okay today and many of them in government it is the education they had that made them to get to that position. It is the primary duty of any religious leader to try to ensure that the broad masses of Nigeria are enabled again to get good, quality public education. America is a land of capitalism by excellence but there is no American who doesn’t have access to quality public education and that is what we must do here. We must also put in place good health care and infrastructure. If we had enough power (electricity) available today, a lot of the people who are going into crime because of joblessness would be employed. A tailor who can only manage one machine now will have four and four apprentices. The poor woman who comes home to grind pepper for two hours on stone, in five minutes would do it and have more time for other things.

  • Blazers all the way!

    Blazers all the way!

    A blazer is one fashion item a woman should have in her wardrobe. It goes well with several occasions these days; it fits perfectly with jeans, gowns and any other dress you can name. However, here are ways you can jazz up any dress with a blazer.

     

    On a Sunday:

     

    You want to go all churchy on a Sunday? A blazer with any of your favourite pants or skirt can be worn and you are good to go!

     

    Friday nights:

     

    Partying with your girls on a Friday night is something every girl loves. Nothing looks classier than a blazer and a pair of shorts. You can wear the blazer as a top but if you need extra convenience, you can wear a colourful tank top underneath to spice it up!

     

    Office girl?

     

    A black blazer over a floral maxi skirt goes well for a modern look. Style it with lovely heels and you would just look chicly as ever!

  • Jilted and lonely Nigerian women abandoned by overseas husbands lament fate

    Sandra Obaze (37) is in a dilemma over her marital status. At 35, she remained single. Not because men were not coming her way, but because none of them was talking about marriage. Luck, however, smiled on her when her close friend connected her to a male friend based in the US for a marital relationship. In spite of the distance, they struck a relationship and became so intimate that a day hardly passed without them talking to each other on the phone or through the social media.

    A month into their relationship, the man arranged to come home for the traditional marriage, after which they would go to the registry for the formal wedding. It was a development that wiped away the woman’s misery and set her mind on a bright future. Not only was she happy that she was going to get married at the end of her travails, she was also looking forward to enjoying the benefits of being married to a man based overseas.

    True to her expectation, the man arrived in Nigeria and both of them travelled to the woman’s home town in Delta State to visit the woman’s parents and arrange for both the traditional and court weddings. After a week of honeymoon, the man left for his base abroad, assuring his wife that he would soon arrange for her to join him. On the day he was billed to travel back, she saw him off to the airport where he again promised to keep his marital vows and fulfill his responsibilities as a husband.

    But all that changed a few months after he returned to his base. He sent the marriage certificate he had taken along back to the woman and cut off communication with her, leaving her confused as to whether she is single or married.

    But hers is just one of the numerous cases of women whose marital dreams have been dashed by their male partners abroad. The victims include single ladies and those who are already married with children. Investigation revealed that many of the victims had been married before their husbands travelled abroad and abandoned them. Some others like Sandra were connected to their partners by friends or relations before they were jilted.

    Findings also showed that many young ladies who were previously engaged to their partners for many years have ended up losing them after the husbands relocated abroad for greener pastures.

    But how does it feel for a woman to be married or engaged to a man who lives overseas in the hope of a better future only for her to be abandoned?

    To this, Sandra said: “Initially, I felt like committing suicide, because it was traumatising. It was with the help of my counsellor that I overcame the temptation to hang myself. But the whole incident still haunts me.

    “I got married at the age of 35. Before then, all the men that came my way were only interested in a casual relationship. Luckily for me, my friend connected me to a guy based in the US. He got in touch with me and we started a relationship immediately, since both of us were out to get married. We agreed that the wedding, both traditional and court, should take place within a month of our relationship.

    “Like magic, the whole thing started working out as planned. He came home and met my parents. They reached an agreement and instantly fixed a date for the traditional and court weddings. Initially, I thought it was a dream. When it dawned on me that it was real, I shed tears of joy. It appeared as if my patient dog was going to eat the fattest bone. My friends and even those who previously mocked me rejoiced with me. My story became a testimony for others in similar condition. We eventually had the wedding done in our home town in Delta State.

    “After the wedding, we returned to Lagos and spent a week in a tasteful hotel at GRA, Ikeja. He showered me with gifts and also bought things for my parents. On the day he was going, I saw him off to the airport and prayed for him from the bottom of my heart. He took the marriage certificate with him with a promise to work out the documents that I would need to join him.

    “From that period, my status changed. Friends and other people started treating me with great respect. My husband consistently called each other on the phone for about five months. Thereafter, a gap in communication started appearing.

    “After some time, he stopped calling. And even when I called, he would promise to call me back but would never do. My parents intervened and started calling him to know what was wrong. At a point, he told them that if the marriage certificate was their problem, he would return it. He returned the marriage certificate and has never bothered to communicate with me for the past two years.

    “I am at a crossroads because I don’t know what to do. I am neither married nor single.”

    Uju Ofoegbu, a former employee of one of the leading media houses in the country, also shared her experience.

    She said: “The experience is heart rending. It is not something I can never forget because it has left an indelible sore in my mind. My fiancée travelled abroad and promised that as soon as he settled down he would begin to work out my travelling documents so that I could join him immediately.

    “Before he left, he gave me an engagement ring, because he said he didn’t want to lose me to another man. I was so elated by his commitment that I vowed to keep the engagement ring on my finger always. With the engagement ring, I sent away other young men who sought my hand in marriage, even though I knew that age was not on my side.

    “I was always quick to announce that my fiance was abroad. He sent me money and wonderful gifts, which earned me some reverence among my friends, who also wished they had life partners abroad.

    “For nine years, I waited for him to settle down. But thereafter, he would not call or send anything. His family members withdrew totally and did as if they were not aware that a relationship existed between us. By then, it was difficult for me to tell people that I was no longer engaged. Worse still, serious minded suitors were no longer coming. I suffered mental, psychological and emotional trauma, and shamefully threw my engagement ring away.

    “Thereafter, I slumped into serious depression. I later fell in love with my managing director, who was married with kids. That also compounded my woes as younger male colleagues who were interested in me could not approach me for fear of losing their jobs.”

    Thirty-year-old Moji Oni is also at a crossroads about her relationship. She told our correspondent how her overseas-based partner has been using different excuses to prolong their relationship.

    She said: “I entered into a relationship with my colleague in the university. We were known to each other’s families. After our studies, he travelled out of the country and told me that he would soon come home for us to get married.

    “After about two years, he told me that he was yet to settle down. When he eventually settled down, he said I should allow him to have enough savings. While waiting for him to save enough money to come for our wedding, he lost his job and that became a good excuse for him.

    “I kept praying that he would get another job. Fortunately, he got another job and asked for time to settle down into the new job. When his grandmother died, he said it would be an opportunity for him to come home to attend her burial and also for us to have our wedding, but he never came. He gave another excuse for not coming.

    “When his father travelled abroad for medical check-up, he said he would come home with him. He never did. He has continued to give excuses and I am confused because time is going and I don’t know what he is up to. It is even very difficult for me to fall in love with another person because I have given him all my heart. If he fails to show up at the end of the day, what would I do?”

    Another respondent, Biola Samson, said she got married to her fiancé in absentia.

    She said: “We were dating before he travelled out of the country. After some time, we agreed to get married. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond his control prevented him from coming for the wedding, so we did it in absentia. This was six years ago, and he has only come home once after the wedding.

    “He has kept telling me that he is working out plans for me to come over. But I am scared. All my friends who got married about the same time and even after already have one or two children while I am still not certain about the fate that awaits my marriage.”

    But investigation revealed that in spite of the plight of the foregoing victims, many young Nigerian women are still surfing the Internet for life partners based abroad. One of them, who gave her name simply as Agnes, told our correspondent that the fact that it did not work for one person does not mean that it would not work for another.

    She said: “It applies to everybody. I have a cousin who got her husband from abroad through the social media. She has gone there and they are peacefully living together with their children. This is what I also desire, and I believe that God will grant it to me.”

    Explaining why many young ladies prefer men who are based abroad, a psychologist and marriage counselor, Mrs. Ganiyat Olokodana, said: “There is this thing about my husband or my fiancée is abroad that make many to do so. There is a kind of status it gives some people. The initial euphoria that somebody based abroad has come to seek her hand in marriage may make the woman to say yes, with the hope of relocating abroad subsequently. It is all about hoping that something good will come out of it.

    “In most cases, the men are not legal immigrants. They are just there to hustle. But that hope that their husbands are based abroad gives some women a sense of elevation, and it works for their self esteem.

    “Some have their engagement prolonged unnecessarily because the man has not been able to achieve what he wants to achieve. Some of the guys break the engagement after some time by getting married to another person abroad in order to get their residence papers.”

    Reflecting on some cases she had handled, Olokodana said: “We have cases of couples who live countries and even continents apart. In most cases, it is the wife that lives here in Nigeria while the husband is based abroad, supposedly seeking greener pastures.

    “When such men want to travel, they always say they will be back in six months or that they will start working on the wife’s papers so that she would relocate. But you find that in many cases, the months turn into years and and nothing is HYPERLINK “http://done.in/” \t “_blank” done. In fact, after a while, you will see that the couple is more or less estranged. You find that the reason why the husband is abroad and cannot come back is because things are not easy for him. With time, he would stop calling and stop sending money down, leaving the woman hanging because she is not sure of what her status is.

    “In most cases, part of what the men do to get their papers is to get married to a national of the country they have travelled to. They get married and continue with the semblance of marriage while the woman left at home is hanging. She can’t have any other relationship because that would be like committing adultery. Such a woman would only be married on paper because she can’t be considered a married woman. It is usually a trying experience for whoever is involved.

    “Under Islamic rules, what we call Sharia, there is a minimum number of months that a husband and his wife can live apart from each other. Anything longer than that, the marriage is like null and void, because you can’t just leave a woman hanging. She has needs that only the husband is supposed to meet.”

    Another marriage counselor, Pastor Dolapo Onipede of the Redeemed Christian Church of God gave various reasons for the trend. He said: “There are diverse reasons why many ladies prefer to get married to men based abroad. But the basic reason is that many people don’t know the meaning of marriage.

    “God ordained marriage for the purpose of multiplying human race. If you read Genesis Chapter One, you will find that God does the match making. But the ladies of nowadays don’t involve God in their choice; they want to do it by their own knowledge. Any marriage where God is missing cannot be stable.

    “Another reason is the urge for material wealth. Nobody wants to build from the scratch again. When you want to build a house, you start from the foundation. Many ladies and young men are in a hurry because of material things.

    “Yet another reason for this is poverty. They feel that the person based overseas, even when they don’t know what he is doing over there, will bring in money. Ladies want money and they see the people overseas to be better off than those in the country, without knowing what they are doing for a living.

    “Pressure from parents and friends also make ladies to jump at anybody that comes their way without duly considering what it takes.

    “Another thing is self-pity. That also boils down to age. It comes from within and not from outside. The lady in question feels she is already 30 and getting late for marriage, and she wants to jump at any man that comes her way.

    “Some ladies misuse their body at younger age, and because the world is a global village, she would want to go outside her environment so that all her past deeds will be covered. The next place that will be on their minds would be outside the country.

    “It has also become an in thing these days because it comes with ego. Many women see it as status symbol for people to say that their husbands are based abroad. The craze for people based overseas make ladies to want to jump at them, just to boast to people that their husbands too are in the US or UK.

    “There is the case of man that I know. Any time he comes into the country, ladies in their early 20s flock around him. At the end of the day, he got married to one of them, only to realize that the man was more than 50 years old and was already married with children in the US. The man comes home only once in a year. Do you call that marriage? Whether you like it or not, she is a second wife.”

    Recalling his experience as a counselor, Pastor Onipede said: “I have discovered that about 90 per cent of such relationships don’t end well. It is only very few ones that succeed. I have an example of one that ended well because from the beginning, God was there. It was God that did the match-making in the first place, but it happened that one had to travel legally and officially. So it was easy for the man to easily come back and pick the wife. They lived apart for about four or five years, but because God was at the centre of their marriage, they were able to go through that period without any difficulty.

    “There is a Yoruba adage that says oruko t’oba wuni lanje loke okun (he who lives abroad chooses whatever name pleases him). That is what happens to these guys when they travel overseas, most often because they don’t have genuine papers to stay there. They engage in false marriage to get their papers and abandon their partners in Nigeria.”

     

  • Why impact Journalism Day?

    Why impact Journalism Day?

    Readers all over the world today are hungry for stories with a difference. Stories that bring hope and concrete solutions, at both a local and global level. They are looking for signs of change they can identify with. Change that will make them think… and act.

    The media has a key role to play in this – to alert us about problems AND share solutions. This is called Impact Journalism.

    Stories like these are often hard to find. As the proverb says, “a falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest”.  That is why Sparknews is working with the media to track down stories that are changing our world.

    We invited editors of major newspapers to give more space to these inspiring initiatives. Twenty-two papers said yes, and today, the special pages they are dedicating to solutions will reach up to 50 million readers in 20 countries. Others are keen to join us and we hope 100 newspapers, TV and radio stations will participate in the next edition.

    This has been a collaborative effort. The Sparknews team prepared a package of original articles, and the newspapers in turn reported on innovative projects in their own countries. The editors then made a selection for their own readers.

    We at Sparknews hope the pages you are about to discover will be the start of a long adventure. Once this campaign is over, we will bring together our partner editors to share best practices and develop future collaborations.

    The media are on board.  Now what about us? Are we, ordinary readers, doing our bit to share solutions? A father complains his son is falling behind at school and losing confidence in the future but then he realizes he’s the one who comes home at night moaning about problems at work, the financial crisis and political scandals.

    In other words, it’s up to each one of us to pass on news that could inspire others and give them hope.

    So once you have read these pages, why not show them to your children, friends or colleagues? Why not use the social networks to share a video or an inspiring project you discovered on the Sparknews website? Why not become a force for change yourself, by talking about solutions?

    Join us on www.sparknews.com or, if you would like to contribute: impact@sparknews.com

    Thank you and welcome aboard!

    •Christian de Boisredon is founder of Sparknews

  • IMPACT: How a single article sparks big change

    Behind ‘impact journalism’ are the people who write it, and what the readers do next  

    It’s happened to nearly all of us at some point.  Whether leafing through our daily newspaper, or reading it online, one story just sort of ‘jumps out’.  We might even cut it out, or share the link with a friend.  But some ‘ordinary’ readers go further than that, and end up starting something much, much bigger.

    What does a fair trade store in France, a charity ball in New York and a bank in Chile all have in common? A well-told, well-timed story. This is what happened when a businessman, a campaigning mom and a disenchanted banker all chanced across news articles that sparked something unexpected.

     Coffee

    Tristan Lecomte was getting bored at his desk-job at French multinational L’Oréal when his sister tore out a two-page spread for him from one of the newspapers sold by the homeless, Le Réverbère. It was about coffee, and something called fair trade, which Lecomte had never heard of. “At the time, I remember thinking it was kind of odd to mix ethics with business, and I buried the article in the bottom of a drawer,” he says.

        That was back in 1998. Some months later, he quit his job to start his own business with his university mates: they tossed around the idea of fair trade, brainstormed how to apply it, and finally ended up founding the first fair trade store in France, Alter Eco. After a rocky start, the company now distributes products to major retail stores around the world, including the United States, Australia and Brazil, certifying respectable wages and working conditions for the producers of the goods.

    Congo

        A very different story is that of Jennifer Williams, from an affluent suburb in Westchester County, New York. A former banker turned mom, Williams sat down to catch up on the news one Sunday not long after she had had her second son. Opening the front page of the New York Times to a story about rape in the Congo, Williams was shocked: “Why had I never heard about women and children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo whose lives were being ripped apart by unimaginable violence?” she says.

        She sent the article out to her group of power-mom friends, and shot off an email to the author, Africa correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman, for advice on what she could do to help. He got back to her and put her in touch with some key figures—such as playwright Eve Ensler and her foundation, V-Day, which was planning the construction of a special retreat center for rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, called the City of Joy.  Williams and her friends began to hatch plans for an up-scale benefit called Women of the Congo, inviting speakers like Gettleman and Ensler, but also actresses Whoopi Goldberg and Glenn Close. That first gala in 2008 became an annual event, and Williams and her friends have now managed to raise $250,000, or about one-third of the total funds needed for the construction and operation of the City of Joy hospital wing in Bukavu, which opened its doors in July 2012.

        “It’s a massive undertaking, but I liked the challenge,” Williams says. Before getting involved with V-Day, she had never done anything like this before. “There are a million causes, but it feels great to know that I’ve made a difference in one,” she adds. “We read about an issue, we were touched by it, we wanted to do something. And we did. There’s no better feeling than that.”

        Some journalists strive to have exactly this effect: one of them is Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times columnist Nick Kristof. “We’re in the lighting business,” he says of journalists. “And by and large our power comes from shining a spotlight on something that would otherwise be neglected.”

        Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn set off on a global trip to report on the subject that they saw as being paramount to 21st century development: women. Their book, Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, met with critical acclaim, was turned into a 3-hour documentary and also spawned a Facebook game which has raised $321,400 in charitable donations since its launch this March.

        Ranging from maternal mortality to sexual abuse to education, Half the Sky paints a rather dismal picture of the challenges still facing women today. But Kristof and WuDunn spare their readers from despair by also introducing them to individual women who are working towards a better life however they can. The book raises, and also genuinely tries to answer, the urgent question: what means do you have?

        But doesn’t this mean that the roles of the humanitarian activist and the journalist get blurred? “There’s a very fine line that journalists have to walk here,” Kristof warns. “It’s great to aspire to change the world with your reporting, but you can’t cover every city council meeting as if it’s the moral equivalent of genocide.”

      Magazine-journalist-turned-documentary-maker Claire Ward was inspired, as a student, by the New York Times’ “Fixes” column to take a closer look at how the non-profit sector works. But after putting together The Cola Road, her film about ColaLife, a project that is bringing basic medicines to rural populations in Zambia by piggy-backing on the vast Coca-Cola distribution network, she agrees with Kristof. “’Feel-good’ land is murky territory in the world of the supposedly objective,” says Ward. Nonetheless, she is convinced the film “could teach the general public a lot about what development and social entrepreneurship look like on the ground.”

        What is now known as ‘impact journalism’ is therefore about bringing practical possibilities for change to wider attention. But it should obviously remain as free and rigorous as regular news reporting. “Part of journalism is outlining not just problems but also potential solutions. But we shouldn’t be partisans, and I’m wary of becoming too closely identified with any one approach or group,” Kristof says.

    •Anna Polonyi: apolonyi@sparknews.com

  • SOCCKET: How football turns kids into bright young things

    NEW YORK –  As they walked through  the World Science Festival Street Fair near Washington Square in early June, passers-by stopped and looked, intrigued. Between a basketball space and an innovation stage, one little booth was presenting a soccer ball called SOCCKET. Children and parents got closer.

        Some asked questions while others chose to play. After a few football passes, kids brought the ball back to the booth. The presenters of the SOCCKET held it and connected it to a flexible lamp attachment. In a matter of seconds, the lamp lit up.

         SOCCKET could be a perfectly regular soccer ball. It looks exactly the same and weighs barely more. Yet there is a simple mechanism hidden inside that makes this one different.  When you play with it, a pendulum inside it stores energy resulting from the motion, and converts it into electricity. A 30-minute-long match with the SOCCKET might feel like soccer. But that ball will give you three hours of light at the end of the game.

        In five years, the SOCCKET went from being a student project at Harvard College to catching the attention of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. Described as “the kind of thing I would like to see done” by the former U.S. President at the Clinton Global Initiative in March 2012, the development of this energy-harnessing ball is now being taken to a new level. Uncharted Play, a New York-based start-up whose founders created the SOCCKET, is looking to increase the ball’s distribution, hoping to bring light to communities without electricity around the world.

    “It is something simple that resonates in people’s lives,” said Jessica Matthews, co-founder and CEO of Uncharted Play. “You’re making a difference.”  Matthews and her classmate Julia Silverman developed the SOCCKET during their junior year at Harvard when they both enrolled in an engineering class for non-engineers.  In May 2011 the pair founded Uncharted Play.   They have spent the last two years introducing the project in the U.S. and abroad, from the South Bronx to South Africa.

    Melissa Seligmann, vice-president of business development at Uncharted Play, remembers children’s reactions when playing with the SOCCKET in Soweto, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. “There was a true excitement among them when they saw the product,’’ she said. “They started telling us it could help their parents with the energy bill.”

    In the different places Uncharted Play presented the project, children often shared ideas on how SOCCKET could benefit their families and communities. “You see kids playing with the ball, and then their mothers use the lamp,” said Victor Angel, vice-president of product development at Uncharted Play. “It’s very powerful.”

    In Mexico, the company distributed several hundred SOCCKET balls in Puebla, the country’s fourth-largest city, and in the neighboring state Oaxaca.

    “I’m from Mexico, I can relate to these children,” Angel said. “It’s an incredible feeling to see them using the lamp for the first time.”

    The Uncharted Play team launched more pilot programs abroad —in El Salvador and Brazil for instance—and learned from these countries’ users that they needed to make a better product. The ball, which weighed about 800 grams and was difficult to play with at first, went through four major redesigns. It now weighs between 480 and 500 grams —only 50 grams heavier than a typical soccer ball.

    The ball finally became ready for wider distribution this year. Uncharted Play launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter at the end of February, hoping to raise $75,000.  Instead the SOCCKET raised $10,000 on the campaign’s first day, and in just one month had pulled in $92,300, with more than 1,000 people supporting the project.

    “The campaign let us know that there was a market for that, that people were interested in getting involved,” Matthews said.

    The start-up sold 750 SOCCKET balls and obtained between 700 and 800 pre-orders. The price of the ball is expected to be roughly $90, and above, depending on the location. Clients are conscious consumers, people interested in innovation and design, but also parents and teachers eager to show their students the theory behind the ball.

    “A lot of educators think of the SOCCKET as a way to engage kids who wouldn’t think of themselves as science experts,” said Seligmann.

    The pre-ordered balls now need to be ready by August. And the production phase is often a testing moment for a bright young start-up. “Meeting your delivery schedule is the most challenging part of any Kickstarter campaign,” Seligmann said. “But we are currently ahead of schedule to deliver in August.”

    Initially, the SOCCKET will be produced locally, on Long Island, but depending on how the project grows, Uncharted Play hopes part of the manufacturing can eventually be done abroad, in the communities which need the ball, and the jobs, the most. The company has built a partnership with the Department of Energy in Mexico and has had preliminary talks with the Nigerian and Bolivian governments.

    A social media associate at Uncharted Play, Jaime Saltos, 31, is trying to get in contact with government agencies in Ecuador, where he is from. He hopes to bring SOCCKET to public schools there, as 8 percent of Ecuadorians still don’t have access to electricity, according to World Bank figures.

        At the World Science Festival, Uncharted Play presented two new prototypes along with the SOCCKET —a jump rope cord and an American football. “We’re moving to different forms,” said Hailey O’Connor, a lead designer at Uncharted Play. “Globally, football is very popular but not so much in the U.S.” In expanding SOCCKET’s energy mechanism to other sports like these, the start-up is now trying to reach the American market —and populations who have less access to soccer, such as young girls.

        “Each one of us is very ambitious,” said O’Connor. “ Jessica (Matthews) has been very good at pushing us until we fail. And there were failures! But you’re not learning until you’re failing.”

    •Video : http://www.sparknews.com/en/video/soccket-kick-starting-innovative-social-development#

  • Where is Rosemary Osula?

    Edo State-born socialite, Rosemary Osula, is not a stranger to controversy. The well-heeled businesswoman is believed to have made her money during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. Although she tried to lie low after the death of the general, her travails, which set in at about that time, made it impossible to do so. Osula became a regular face in the courtroom where she tried fervently to salvage her properties which some banks had swooped on following her alleged failure to repay some loans that were granted to her.

    Her travails peaked when she got entangled in a messy battle with her former partner, Buruj Kashamu. The aftermath of the distressed union was revelations that topped social discourse for a very long time. Smarting from its effects, Osula veered off the social scene while Kashamu continued to have a ball in the limelight.

    The million-dollar question on the lips of many in the social space now is, where is Rosemary Osula?

     

  • Men’s wardrobe essentials

    WHEN it comes to building a basic wardrobe for men’s formal or semi- formal occasions such as interview, wedding, or a date, one should be able to build wardrobe necessities such as:

    •Suit
    Every man needs at least one well- tailored suit for special occasions that arise, even if it just once a year and it will, of course, save you from feeling humiliated and cheap when everyone else is suited up at some even except you.

    •A white shirt (long sleeves)
    A white shirt is a must have for suits, but also for trousers and pants. White shirts never go out in style and they look great with just about anything.

    •Ties (bow and long ties)
    Ties are wardrobe essentials because not only do they beg to be worn with a suit, but they can be worn under a sweater or simply with a shirt. It is important to have a variety of ties to coordinate with other items in your wardrobe or just match your mood.

    •Black shoes and belt
    Wearing black shoes and a black belt is a fashion fundamental and will serve you on many occasions, whether casual or formal. You must have at least one pair of black leather shoes and a black leather belt on hand. A good pair of shoes will last a long, while if you take good care of them, and a belt will likely last for many years. More so, always complement it with a couple of pairs of black socks.

    •Jeans
    Jeans have always being there to complement our looks. You just need to get a couple of denim jeans either blue or black; you can also accessorize your wardrobe with some slim-fit shirts and pants.

    •Blazers
    Blazers are used to make a fashion statement. They are trendy and eye catching. Gone are the days when only a few guys go for blazers; they are soaring high and gaining popularity at socials, events, parties

    •Sneakers
    Also know that sneakers are a very important part of our casual outfit, especially when you are putting on jeans trousers. So, go get it!

  • Antidepressant drug therapy

    Brain activity, including cognition or thinking, is physically mediated through chemicals called neuro-transmitters or nerve chemicals. Such chemicals transmit information, signals, and experience.  Scientists recognize that clinical depression in patients is associated with changes in certain brain chemicals.  These chemicals include serotonin (also called 5-HT), norepinephrine (also called nor-adrenaline), and dopamine – that all have chemical structures known as monoamines.
    The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a group of antidepressant drugs.  They were produced by a process called rational drug design.  These designer drugs act by increasing the availability of serotonin at its cellular sites of action thus enhancing its neurotransmitter function.  SSRIs are used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety and personality disorders (social anxiety, panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder,and eating disorders), posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain.
    SSRI drugs are widely manufactured and used in different countries all over the world showing the universality and high incidence of depression.  Examples of SSRIs (with their trade names) are (from Wikipedia):
    •Citalopram (Celexa, Cipramil, Cipram, Dalsan, Recital, Emocal, Sepram, Seropram, Citox, Cital)
    •Dapoxetine (Priligy)
    •Escitalopram (Lexapro, Cipralex, Seroplex, Esertia)
    •Fluoxetine (Depex, Prozac, Fontex, Seromex, Seronil, Sarafem, Ladose, Motivest, Flutop, Fluctin (EUR), Fluox (NZ), Depress (UZB), Lovan (AUS), Prodep (IND))
    •Fluvoxamine (Luvox, Fevarin, Faverin, Dumyrox, Favoxil, Movox, Floxyfral)
    •Paroxetine (Paxil, Seroxat, Sereupin, Aropax, Deroxat, Divarius, Rexetin, Xetanor, Paroxat, Loxamine, Deparoc)
    •Sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral, Serlain, Asentra, Tresleen)
    It takes about 6-8 weeks of treatment for the body to adjust to SSRIs and for the antidepressant drug action to have full effect. During the first 1-4 weeks adaptation phase various side effects may be observed – from head ache, nausea and vomiting to strange dreams, tremors, mania, and suicidal ideation, depending on the particular drug being used and the individual patient that is being treated.
    Suicidal behaviour may be seen in children or adolescents given such drugs therefore they are very risky if used for MDD in this age group.
    Many of SSRI side effects disappear by the 6th week.  Sexual dysfunction is a major problem caused by SSRIs during long term use in about a third of patients and this side effect is seen after the adaptation phase and can last long after the drug is discontinued or may become permanent (this is called post SSRI sexual dysfunction). The affected patients may manifest loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, or anorgasmia (no orgasm).  Couples need to be aware of this.
    Increased risk of bleeding is another side effect of SSRIs.  Antidepressants are strictly controlled drugs and you should never try to obtain them without a doctor’s prescription and expert monitoring of the effects on you.
    If a pregnant woman needs to take an antidepressant, she must know that: “SSRI use during pregnancy is associated with an increased rate of miscarriages, birth defects, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, newborn behavioral syndrome, and possibly long term behavioral problems. The risk of spontaneous abortion is increased about 1.7 fold” (Wikipedia).   Also, the drug taken by the mother reaches the baby in the womb and the baby could be born with neonatal abstinence syndrome , a withdrawal syndrome caused by the baby missing the drug, just as happens to drug addicts when they cannot have their drug.
    Antidepressants can produce dangerous effects when used together with other drugs or certain food components such as alcohol.   SSRI drugs affect the liver enzymes that degrade various drugs leading to toxic effects of those drugs.  You should discuss your diet and existing drug use with your doctor before startingantidepressant drugs.  Because of the possibility of side effects, antidepressant drug treatment begins with small doses of a chosen antidepressant drug which may be increased safely or the patient is switched to another drug (trial-and-error approach).
    The medical history of antidepressant drug use indicates more harm than good. This is possibly because of some inappropriate use of these drugs in the initial two decades of their introduction into clinical practice.  Many depression cases that could have been resolved by psychotherapy and other means were too quickly resorted to drug use.  The ease of conviction of the general populace through aggressive or clever advertising shot the drugs into unparalleled popularity.  Ignorant demand by patients took over rational prescribing by doctors.

    Dr. ’Bola John is a biomedical scientist based in Nigeria and in the USA.   For any comments or questions on this column, please Email bolajohnwritings@yahoo.com or call 07028338910

  • T. B. Joshua shuns celebration as he hits 50

    Many followers of the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Joshua, were shocked to learn penultimate Wednesday that he had turned 50. Contrary to wide speculations of a high-octane celebration, the prophet chose to isolate himself to pray on the mountain.

    While worshipers, friends and family members organised a reception in honour of their leader, the prophet was conspicuously absent at the event. They had come together to give the celebrant a surprise birthday bash but were shocked to learn that he had opted for a three-day prayer on the mountain top in response to a divine directive. Those who should know told Celeb Watch that Prohet T. B Joshua sent a message to his followers, friends and family members, saying that while he was grateful to God for clocking 50, the golden age would be meaningful only to the extent that he was able to impact positively on the society.