ABCDEFGGHI=Avoid Bribery & Corruption Daily Everywhere For Good Governance Here Immediately.
All tribute to Pa Akintola Williams, eminent accountant and distinguished Nigerian professional colossus, reputation unscathed, at 100 years of age and an age rarely achieved in any world context. It would be interesting to have notes on his diet and that of all over 80s as diet is identified as an important contribution to healthy longevity. But be aware there is no rigid diet for long life. Remember it is written that ‘Man does not live by food [and drink] alone’ Long life is by the Grace of God but you can help by good choices in lifestyle and regular exercise, but not necessarily strenuous exercise, dealing adequately with stress and refusing excess of everything- particularly sugar, salt, oily foods and alcohol.
Genes and the environment, clean or dirty of smoky, also play key roles. Being content and of happy disposition are essential as anger and hatred eat the body of the angry and hating. Poor environment is bad for the brain and the body especially the lungs. Congratulations sir, for a balanced and exemplary life. Citizens be aware that everyone, everywhere in Nigeria, in West Africa, in Africa, in every continent can take a step towards a universal healthy long life if they practice and teach their family and friends and workers and students one thing. You remember that we have taught girls and women and now men to do a Monthly Breast Examination, MBE, looking for lumps requiring further investigation to prevent cancer of the breast. It works even though too many young girls, captive in schools escape being taught properly this important preventive measure!
It should be easy for the WHO and ministries of health to drive everyone, worldwide, to extend this success to the rest of the body and recognise the importance of the next big step – the Monthly Total Body Examination. The MTBE is a monthly exam of your body, by you and for your benefit, from head to the sole of your feet, including everywhere, neck, arms, armpits, groin, legs and soles of the feet- all best done while initially standing, if possible in front of a mirror. Then the abdomen is best examined lying down on the floor or your bed and pressing the abdomen in from top to groin feeling for masses in the abdomen, while breathing in and out. Draw a body on a sheet of paper and pin it up in your bedroom, your children’s room, the classroom, office, school and office notice board. Maybe every Ministry of Health needs to recommend this and even suggest a date eg 1st or 25th of the month for a national MTBE by all citizens.
We are so busy with the shards and shreds of life politics throws at us that we have forgotten that we really can delay unnecessary death by servicing the needs of life including self-examination to catch disease early.
We had an expressway. It was taken away from us. Government incompetence is brilliantly manifest by the catastrophic chaos that is mistakenly and nostalgically called the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, after 20 year zero maintenance -perhaps a million vehicle, 10 million citizens a week. This is a disaster of Nigerian proportions. The expressway has fallen from a mid-70s ’45-minute drive’ to Ibadan to a travel nightmare of unpredictable length. Yet no single government official has apologised for such incompetence, corruption and no name has been shamed by ICPC or EFCC.
Government has historical and current guilt in this travesty of maintenance by allowed tolling with no maintenance, no pothole filled and no grass cut routinely, robbers, redirection of N150b by the 8th NASS and a total national failure to reduce maximum axle loads. When will it be as it was in the beginning? Germany’s Autobahn, Britain’s M1, built in the 50s-60s are still good due to ‘Compulsory Maintenance’. Why is ‘Compulsory Maintenance’ such a dirty and neglected and optional words in Nigerian politics? Complete the dismal picture with the Apapa Port road, our $9.6b fine and the tens of unproductive billions ‘misspent’ on ‘no electricity’. Add the cost and losses of the Enugu airport closed till December.
Re-think VAT please! With any new VAT charges we require new VAT distribution rules. Let us keep VAT in the states of origin or allocate 60 -80% of VAT for use within the state of origin of the VAT. States who ban alcohol and terrorise nightlife have no right to demand VAT benefits from states which allow such activities. Morality is morality. Already this is a very amoral society when funds are wrongly distributed, by previous and ingrained and apparently immovable government fiat, between federal and states and LGAs. It is common knowledge that the states and especially the LGAs where immorally distributed between North and South giving serious financial benefits to the North. It is time for the VAT to stay where it was made.
Nigeria’s slow discourse with the US on reducing our fees resulted in the US imposed a ‘reciprocity’ fee. It did not have to come to this if the government was acting in the interests of Nigerian. This is the typical fire brigade approach to local, state, national and international issues. Our leadership is allowed to ‘postpone the day of reckoning’ with no consequence except to the victims, innocent citizens of Nigeria, at every societal level.
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