The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Curbing

  • Afrinolly: Curbing pirates’ excesses

    Afrinolly: Curbing pirates’ excesses

    With a developmental bank like the Bank of Industry (BoI), taking an interest in providing structural facilities for Nigeria’s thriving movie industry, which today is attracting investors, the onus of taking the industry to the next level now rests with the industry practitioners. But there lies one snag; Piracy.

    This formed the thrust of a presentation by Chika Maduegbuna, the founder of Afrinolly, one of the country’s foremost mobile App distribution platforms. Delivering his presentation at the recently concluded Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) on Tuesday, November 10 before Nollywood stakeholders, Maduegbuna stated that the industry needs to develop seamless consumer relationships across distribution channels. First and foremost, it is important that the distribution channels don’t fight each other, he says.

    “I hate it when people come to me to ask who my competitor is. We haven’t even started and they are talking about competitors. We have 25 banks in this country. Each has a capital of N25bn and they are not talking about competition. All of us put together are not up to one bank. We need to organise, structure our distribution channel. The major issue we have is not distribution, it is actually piracy. We need to syndicate products that can be seen by the audience without pirates having it,” he opined.

    This, he said, can be achieve by utilizing channels the pirates done have access to. One of such is the cinemas. The other is the mobile platform.

    Explaining further, Maduegbuna said that it is up to filmmakers and distributors to differentiate the channels as it makes no sense for the pirates to have a hold of one’s artistic material at its first point of entry.

    ”What we are trying to do is that we are trying to use the mobile phone as a distribution channel. Our payment system is very critical. The most prominent payment system on mobile phone is airtime. So we are working closely with the telecoms. When we approached the telecoms, they said they want to do 70/30 and we said no. As we began to make our arguments and show them the numbers, MTN agreed to a 60/40 sharing formula. But here is the thing; with that, we have been able to secure 50% of the market. Now, it is easier for us to go back to other networks to negotiate. And if we secure alAl the mobile networks, I think we stand a good chance of having something to help us do the next production without losing sleep over pirates,” he added.

    Also important in the scheme of things is the issue of pricing. Nollywood, as has been widely agreed, is an export product but, in Maduegbuna’s view, practitioners are yet to treat it so. However, he said, it is important to introduce the issue of differential pricing.

    “We are hoping to sell a movie for N100 while short films and episodic films will go for N50. The thing about ‘callertunez’ is that, whether it is a song by D’banj, or a song by an unknown artiste, it is the same amount for the songs. It is a game of numbers. Just slide in your movie. Let’s stop arguing over the creative value. Let us just select what we want and pay. There is a reason why we decided to settle for N100. That’s exactly the cost of a CD right now. If you do a DVD, they will collect it make a VCD out of it and sell it at N100. So we decided to go to exactly where we are and compete at that level. But here is the advantage we have. Outside Nigeria, in the US, it is one dollar for a movie. In the UK, it is one pound. This is money they will spend without thinking about it. But each of them is more than N100 so it is an advantage for us. So, as we push this out like that, it doesn’t matter where the consumer comes from, whether within or outside, we have something to show for it.”

    With a move like that, he added, pirates will be put out of business as it becomes less profitable to duplicate other people’s intellectual property, especially as such is protected by a special multimillion naira security app developed by Afrinolly. To further spice things up, he concludes, there is a partnership with Access Bank which assures the film producers that whether their works are purchased within or outside the country, their money is safe.

  • Curbing crimes and terrorism

    SIR: Is there any country in our today’s world that is crime-free? The answer is a categorical no. Governments in many countries are battling to curb crimes in their countries. Since evil traits and tendencies inhere in human beings, people(s) of diverse races perpetrate crimes or criminal deeds. They indulge in criminal acts like armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, cyber-crime, and others. But governments exist to extirpate the perpetration of criminal deeds among us. So, the absence of a government in any country will cause that country to descend into an anarchic condition. In Nigeria, the executive arm of government is charged with the maintenance of law and order, and prevention of the perpetration of criminal deeds. The police are tasked with the duty of combating criminal activities in Nigeria.

    But now Nigeria is convulsing with violent crimes. Armed robbers operate in Nigerian cities in broad day-light, unchallenged. Being equipped with sophisticated arms and weapons, they put our ill-equipped and demoralized policemen on the run. More so, kidnapping has become a booming   business in Nigeria. Dare-devil kidnappers had abducted high profile Nigerians in the past. Those unfortunates didn’t regain their freedoms until they paid huge sums of money to the kidnappers as ransom.

    In the recent past, Donu Kogbara, who would dazzle us in her weekly column in Vanguard newspaper with insightful, incisive, and educative articles, spent weeks in the kidnapper’s dingy dungeon. And the Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was kidnapped in his farm by the peripatetic and murderous Fulani herdsmen. It is believed that the families of Olu Falae and Donu Kogbara paid ransom to their abductors.  The wife of Steve Nwosu was a victim of kidnapping, too. The kidnappers stormed the house of the ace journalist, bundled his wife into their car, and sped off. Has Nigeria not regressed to the Hobbessian state, where life is short, brutish, and nasty?

    Truly, human lives are worth less than a shekel in Nigeria. Our security agencies are not living up to our expectations. They appear to be overwhelmed by the felonious and murderous activities of kidnappers and armed robbers. In developed countries, police personnel rely on intelligence gathering to combat crimes. They are pro-active while performing their onerous duty of fighting crimes. They can pre-empt the plans of armed robbers and kidnappers by acting first. Can that be said about our police force? The Nigerian police force is inept and ineffective.

    The fact is, Nigeria is now in the grip of terror. Not a few people believed that President Buhari’s ascendance into the loft of power would bring about the cessation of bomb explosions in Nigeria. Now, in Nigeria, bomb explosions are occurring with increasing frequency with lethal and devastating consequences instead of abating. The murderous Boko Haram insurgents are running riot in the North-east now. Recently, they exploded bombs in Abuja, the federal capital and killed scores of people, there. And they stormed and attacked a town in Yobe State, killing tens of people there.

    The maintenance of law and order is an antidote to the emergence of anarchic situation. And the containment of terrorist groups, kidnappers, and armed robbers in Nigeria will guarantee us peace and unity. So it is incumbent on our President to re-engineer our security apparatchik, and devise effective methods of eradicating kidnapping and other criminal activities in Nigeria.

    I would like our President to know that Nigerian’s strength lies in its diversities. And the disintegration of Nigeria can cause political instability in our neighbouring countries as millions of armed and displaced people will migrate there.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu – Obosi, Anambra State

  • Curbing the kidney disease scourge

    Curbing the kidney disease scourge

    Daily, more and more Nigerians, including the young, succumb to chronic kidney disease (CKD), a situation that has got medical and health experts worried about the implication on the health care system in the country. Hitherto a disease of the older age group (65 and above), kidney disease is now more common among younger people in their 20s and 30s.

    “Kidney failure seems to be on a steady rise now,” noted Dr Wunmi Abiola of the June One Hospital, Opebi, Lagos. While blaming the high rate on ‘medications that are harmful to the body’, she added: “There are different kinds of kidney problems; there is the chronic and the acute kidney problem.”

    Figures indicate that over 35 million Nigerians are suffering from various stages of kidney disease with an estimated 15,000 new patients diagnosed yearly. Such a heavy kidney disease burden, has led to stakeholders calling for more awareness about the disease as a way of curbing it, especially considering the vital role, the kidneys play in the body.

    The kidneys’ function are to filter the blood, remove wastes, control the body’s fluid balance, and regulate the balance of electrolytes among other functions. In other words, it’s the body’s waste disposal system. The kidneys are so important to the body’s wellbeing that if both kidneys fail, as happens in end stage kidney failure, the body dies without life saving dialysis.

    Many factors can cause the kidneys not to function properly, according to experts. “Most of the things that cause renal failure are abuse of analgesics, sedentary lifestyle that leads to obesity which leads to hypertension and diabetes; these being major risk factors for renal failure,” stated Dr Dan Gadzama. To avoid having kidney disease, he advised lifestyle adjustment. “Lifestyle modification is very important in preventing the disease,” Gadzama added.

    His advise is worth taking considering the seriousness of kidney disease and its treatment. Diagnosis of kidney disease especially end stage kidney failure can be devastating, placing severe financial, physically and emotional burden on the sufferer.

    On this, Gadzama stated: “Treatment of renal failure will depend on what is causing it and the worst case scenario is for the patient to have a renal transplant.

    Of course it is expensive. I do not even think that there is a renal transplant centre in Nigeria, and that should go a long way to tell you how expensive it is. To get it done, the patient is likely to travel outside the country.”

    It’s not just the transplant that cost a large sum of money. Dialysis, which helps the kidney to work, where it is not functioning, does not come cheap. A session can cost as much as N30-35,000 and this needs to be done about thrice a week. It is no wonder that out of 50,000 patients who should ideally be on dialysis, experts put the number of those on dialysis at less than 1,000.

    “Dialysis is not affordable for the ordinary person. It is expensive,” affirmed Dr Gadzama. “The good news about dialysis is that it can be done in Nigeria; a good number of places can do that. Dialysis is done just to try to buy time. You do dialysis to sustain the patient pending the time that you can get a donor and when the patient can afford a transplant.

    When somebody is on dialysis, there are some drugs that the person will have to be on and in most cases these days, there are treatment that can be administered and the patient will still be able to move around. But in most cases also, as a lifestyle, a patient will have to avoid high protein diet because it adds a lot of load to the kidney-that is animal protein like meat egg and so on,” noted the medical practitioner.

     

    A cry for help

    The high cost of treatment have been adduced for the scenario where many Nigerians, both average citizens and even high profile individuals solicit for help on the pages of newspapers and other media when they are struck with kidney disease. In fact, for the past couple of years, several movie and music stars in the nation’s entertainment industry have cried out for assistance in treating their health problems especially kidney failure, the most notable among these being star actress Ngozi Nwosu who had to undergo treatment for kidney failure in a foreign hospital with the support of a state government and other well meaning Nigerians.

    Gadzama believes cases like these could be averted with more preventive measures put in place. “The government can build institutions to promote the prevention of renal failure. Most times, we concentrate on treatment whereas prevention should be our primary focus,” he said.

    Besides the high cost of treatment, inadequate facilities especially dialysis centres and drugs for post transplant treatment among others add more to the burden of sufferers. Cases abound where patients with renal failure travel from different parts of the country to Lagos for dialysis and other treatments which are unavailable in their domain.

    It’s in light of this that pundits have called for more dialysis centres in the country as well as the Federal Government to include the cost of dialysis as part of the treatment that Nigerians can access under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

    On a personal level, health experts advise a healthier lifestyle as a way of reducing the risk of chronic kidney disease. “Certain lifestyle changes are essential to reduce the risk of CKD,” stated Dr M. Ogwah. These he said, include avoiding ‘self-medication’ especially analgesics and other pain killers and over-the-counter (OVT) drugs. “If you are sick, go to the hospital and get tested. That’s the only way to know what ails you. But for some people, once they have a fever or headache, they conclude it’s malaria and they go to the local chemist down the street and buy drugs which they take. This is dangerous. Taking drugs without prescription especially for a prolonged period can lead to kidney damage,” he said.

    He also advised drinking alcohol in moderation, avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight to avoid diabetes and high blood pressure and eating healthily with regular exercise.

  • Curbing fish wastage through smoking technology

    Curbing fish wastage through smoking technology

     Fish is a staple food vital for good health. But the challenge for fish farmers is storage after harvest to enable them sell. Following this, there is a campaign to introduce smoked fish technology to prevent spoilage and help farmers earn more income. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    F Phil Onuoha has his way, all his fishes will be smoked. This followed dwindling sales, he suffered selling fish fresh.

    A hardworking and dedicated fish farmer, Onuoha prefers selling his fish fresh from the pond.

    The challenge however is that fresh fish can’t hold long periods of time.  Though consumers prefer fresh fish, his challenges are transportation and storage facilities to keep it in a condition that can still be sold after moving them from the ponds.

    For him and other farmers, transportation of live fish to the markets requires investment in trucks with fish holding cages.

    While long distance transport of fresh fish further requires ice or trucks with cooling devices, the road from his farm  to  the  market  is  bad during certain seasons.

    In Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, where his farms are located, transporting fresh or live fish to rural markets was not feasible .

    Besides, being expensive, it takes him time to move fish to central  Lagos   where consumers are willing and able to pay higher prices.

    Not able to do direct marketing, he has to contend with  market  women  who come  to buy  on  the farm.

    Onuoha  said  the  women  would  always  want  him  to sell at a price that is not profitable and  to  serve  as major  link  to  the  market.

    While lowering the price will enable him  to  sell  more, he  said it  makes no  sense economically to do so.

    As a result, sale at most  times  is  often   poor  after harvest. Besides, he explained that  the    fish industry is prone to seasonal fluctuations in demand.

    In most cases, fluctuations in  demand  is taken care  of by  processing.

    According  to him, selling fish is a high-risk business, as they go bad very quickly, so they have to do whatever they  can to reduce the risk.

    The option  for him is  smoking. After harvest, he  smokes the fish within the farm. This helps  him  to  control  supply to the market, stabilise prices and reduce  waste.

    So far, he is making gains. His customers are aware he sells smoked fish. Also, consumers’ preferences for taste and price are taken care of.

    Although modern preservation technologies would simplify their processes and would enable them to sell fresh fish, them can’t  afford to buy  cold  storage  equipment which cost run into millions of naira.

    For such, smoking  fish  may  be  the way  to go.

    He said  small-scale fish traders  invest significant time and effort to preserve their stocks using traditional methods before they sell it.

    To  experts,  kilns  used for  traditional smoking involves burning wood which leads to a variety of problems.

    Aside producing  more greenhouse gas pollution , it  releases contaminants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are hazardous to the human respiratory system.

    Farmers, also  suffer  from intense heat  that  affect their  health.

    The campaign now is to get more farmers introduced to smoking kiln technology that improve processing by reducing the smoke level to internationally acceptable standards.

    One of the organisations promoting  this is  the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP).

    WAAPP  has resolved  not    to  strengthen  fisheries  but  to  support   technology transfer  through  universities  and research  institutes.

    WAAPP-Nigeria National Project Coordinator, Prof. Damian  Chikwendu  said the  priority focus of the project  in Nigeria include aquaculture, poultry, cassava, maize, and rice among others.

    He said WAAPP-Nigeria is   committed to doing anything possible to promote aquaculture.

    In this regard, he  said  the National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFR), New Bussa, Niger State is emerging into a National Center of Specialisation in Aquaculture. The objective, according to him,  is to develop and release top notch technologies in aquaculture for adoption in Nigeria and Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) countries to increase productivity.

    Chikwendusaid  the  programme is also supporting the smoked fish  project at  the  institute.

    Another institution also involved in this campaign is University of Ibadan,(UI).

    In its  Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management are specialists in aquaculture development .

    The  department  conducts  market research and provide  fish farmers  with business management support. It also  provides  technical assistance to visiting farmers.

    Speaking while receiving World Bank WAAPP  team at the university, its Head of Department, Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, Prof Bamidele Omitoyin  said the school is  training  students  on smoked fish technology.

    In addition, he  said  farmers  are  trained  to process fish free from benzo-a pyrene considered hazardous to health.  The facilities in the department, he maintained,  has  the capacity to smoke one tonne per batch within 24hours, adding that UI has all it takes to deliver services in areas of aquaculture.

    The university fish farm, for instance, he noted is well positioned to deliver dividends in aquaculture research while essential infrastructure are also on ground to support research and production activities in the animal sciences.

    At  the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIMOR) ,Lagos, the  World Bank WAAPP Task Team Leader ,DrAbdoulayeTouré  said  access to smoked  technology is making real change possible for  fish farmers .

    With the support of  WAAPP, he  said  NIMOR  has  trained entrepreneurs on modern fish smoking technology and introduced an industrial fish smoking kiln fabricated by the institute.

    He  said the improved fish smoking project aimed to catalyse the development of sustainable value chain fish smoking improving energy efficiency and supply.

    He  reiterated  that  WAAPP   is implementing a regional fisheries strategy aimed at improving the sustainable regional supply of fish and fishery products. The programme has five different result areas, the fifth one being food security, which primarily focuses on the implementation of activities, geared at reducing post-harvest fish losses that occur in small-scale fisheries.

    In line with   this,  NIOMR  Executive Director, DrGbolahamAkande has urged cat fish farmers to embrace canning as a means of preserving their products.

    He said cat fish farmers were recording losses due to poor  preservation and lack of value chain, adding  that canning would boost the income of the fish farmers.

    “Canning the catfish will create value and increase the income of farmers. Instead of selling fishes unprocessed and at ridiculous prices, farmers  should either smoke or can them to enhance their profit,” he said.

    According to Akande, canned catfish   would compete favourably with the imported  canned products  such as Geisha and Sardine and  also has the potential to become an export product for  the country.

    Its  Head of Extension and Media Relations, Dr. Mabel Yarhere, said that the Catfish Canning Innovation Platform (CCIP) project was sponsored by the Forum for African Agricultural Research with $100,000 (N19.7 million)

    She said the fund was to support research, processing, market survey, mobilisation of farmers and launching   various stage  of the project within nine months.

    According to her, farmers in the Southwest zone have been mobilised and empowered to embrace the project.

    “We have assisted the farmers with fingerlings and feeds to boost catfish production as a step towards the success of the CCIP,” she said, adding that the platform was connecting co-operative societies to  commercial banks, which would give them loans to drive their active participation in the projects.

    Remarking that the CCIP project was a platform set on a stable ground and would create an open market for existing farmers and aspiring ones, she expressed delight that some of the farmers were already setting up canneries through sponsorship by state governments.

    She assured of the safety of consuming canned catfish as it has no health implications.

    “We have followed the international best practices as specified by FAO from primary production to finished products. We have worked with various local and international regulatory agencies to ensure quality,” she said.

    To  support the  Federal Government’s  move to increase fish  production, the   National Association of Fish Farmers in Kebbi State said  it will partner with the state SURE-P on the establishment of fingerlings production centre and packaging of fish after harvest.

    Its Chairman, Alhaji Hussaini Raha, said the association would also partner with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research, New Bussa, on the management of fish farms.

    Raha said an update of the membership records revealed 12,050 members located in Argungu, BirninKebbi, Bunza, Bagudo, Shanga, Yauri and Ngaski local government areas, producing tilapia and catfish.

    According to him, the association has also registered 9,000 artisans and 300 cooperative societies.

    He said that the association would strive to meet international standard in the production of smoked and fresh fish.

     

  • Curbing the menace requires collective effort

    Curbing the menace requires collective effort

    Dr. Owoeye Olugbenga, a psychiatrist at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, tells Medinat Kanabe and Sina Fadare in this interview that all hands must be on deck to help hemp smokers quit the habit.

    Smoking of India hemp is very rampant among teenagers nowadays, what do you think is the cause?

    Let me start with what constitute drug abuse. Drug abuse is a mal-adaptive form of using drug or substances that now leads to clinically significant impairment or distress in the individual affected, as manifested by the re- current use of that substance resulting in failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, at school, or home. Two, when the individual is using the drug and it leads to physically assiduous situation in the person, we can say the person is abusing substances and three, when the person is continuously using the drug to the extent that the individual is now having persistent or re-current social or inter- personal problems as a result of substances been used, then we say the person is abusing drugs.

    Apart from the socially acceptable drugs, the commonest drug that is abused is cannabis, otherwise known as Indian hemp, ganger, etc. We discovered that the use of this drug tends to be commonly among the adolescents and the young adults. But now, we are having reports of younger children now using it because Indian hemp is easily available and very cheap.

    What are the implications of teenagers in that age embracing hard drugs?

    Some will say it gives them boldness to approach any issue, others take it to be strong and bold. In the process, when they now discover the consequences, they realise that they are on the wrong part.

    Not that alone, when they take it, the pleasurable feelings associated with these drugs, give them the audacity to continue.  So if you cannot afford to stop on your own, the problem now sets in. Any attempt to stop will lead to withdrawer symptoms, which they don’t normally enjoy. Therefore they continue.

    If they continue like that, what is likely to be the end of such journey?

    When they continue with the use of the drugs, like Indian hemp for instance, it affects three 3 major areas of their lives: the social, the socio-physiological well-being, and their physical condition. Socially because of the use of these medications (drugs), they will now be unable to fulfill their major obligations, whether in schools, at their place of work or at home. As a result, they are not able to function socially, educationally and occupationally. So there is impairment in these major areas. Some of them teenagers eventually drop out of school.

    Not that alone; because their sense of judgment also becomes poor, they engage in risky sexual behaviours. They are depressed; they fight unnecessarily and refuse to interact. They also are not bothered about making progress in life. Later the physiological manifestation set in, when they start seeing what they are not supposed to see, and hearing what they are not supposed to hear. At that stage, they start to become aggressive and uncontrollable.

    What can government do to arrest this situation?

    There are three approaches to this. The first is that the public should be educated about the evil of smoking Indian hemp. This crusade should be taken to the schools, where it will be included in their curriculum. Secondly the government should block the supply chain. Those who are selling it should be apprehended and seriously punished. The farms should be destroyed and all the rest, so that these things will not be available anymore. When this thing is not available, the price will now be costly, such that most people will not be able to afford it. There should also be a law against the use, the selling and the cultivation of the weed. The law needs to be active and all the culprits should be punished. No sacred cows.

    Also, there should be earlier identifications and prompt treatment. Those who have the problem should come out for help because they cannot stop it on their own. Relatives should also assist them to come out and receive treatment. After their rehabilitation and treatment, they should be encouraged to go into vocational jobs, where they will be engaged and earn a living. With constant monitoring and availability of something to engage them, they may be redeemed.

  • Curbing the menace of noise pollution

    When I look at our dear country, the question that comes to my mind is, when shall we grow out of this present primordial stage?

    Anytime I wake up in the night to read, it is either one church is observing a vigil or another one is busy carrying out deliverance service on their members. In Port Harcourt where I live there are churches scattered all over and even the one mosque situated about three kilometers to my house is not exempted as early in the morning sounds emanate from the loud speakers calling their members to come for early morning prayers in the mosque. Along our streets, audio cassette sellers are busy dishing out  their own sounds from their strategically located speakers while self-acclaimed doctors dealing in herbal mixtures use their loud speakers to dish out wrong medical information to unsuspecting members of the public. The police escorts to bullion vehicles as well as government officials also contribute theirs  quota with sirens to the sound pool.

    Please,can’t we have noiseless zones in this country?.How do we intend to succeed in this part of the world when we are not given the right environment to develop our brains?At times different floors of a four storey building will be occupied by different churches and their services may clash such that the sounds emanating from their loud speakers can cause destructive interference (thanks to physicists). The annoying aspect of all this is that when one rises to fight this nuisance, the religious houses will dub one an agent of darkness.

    What a modern colonialism?

    I call on our governments, if they still exist, to enact laws that will regulate the noisy activities of these religious houses. The way we have industrial estates, that  should be the way we will have religious estates. Residential areas must be strictly residential in the real sense of it. If one runs away to the hotels to avoid the noise pollution, some churches have taken over the main halls in many hotels.

    Our religious leaders should tell us how their experiences were like all the time they visited London and other saner climes for their holidays. Also, even in the Middle East where both Christianity and Islam originated, do they have the type of noise pollution we have in this country?

    The most annoying aspect of our present government is that if a moslem governor starts regulating this noise pollution, the opposition political party will attempt to score political point by telling the citizens that the governor is carrying out a religious agenda just as the reverse would be the case if a Christian governor wants to rid the state of this noise pollution. The type of opposition we have in Nigeria today is such that if a governor wants to deal with teachers that forged certificates and dates of birth to secure teaching jobs, the opposition will go and join forces with the teachers and their relatives/sympathisers  to vote out the government from power.

    My only concern is the inability of our ministries of environment to rise up to the challenge. Socrates, it was that said that an unexamined life is not worth living. How then do we intend examining our life in the midst of our present noisy environment?

     

    Dr Paul John

    Port Harcourt,Rivers State.

  • Curbing campus vices

    Curbing campus vices

    Poor academic performances and failure among students of tertiary institutions in Nigerian are resultant effects of evil or immoral behaviours and activities such as cultism, drug abuse, campus cohabitation, prostitution, among others.

    It has also been argued from another view point that peer influence and pressure are causes of students’ participation in social vices that results in poor academic performance and failure. Whatever the case may be, peer influence plays significant role in this regard. As a background to this, it will be pertinent to look at cultism, drug abuse, campus prostitution and how they affect students’ lives and performances on campuses of Nigerian tertiary institutions.

    History shows that cult activities in tertiary institutions began at the University of Ibadan. The first secret cult in Nigeria came into existence in the 1950s, when a group of seven students led by Professor Wole Soyinka founded the Seadog Confraternity, also known as the Pyrate. Aig-Imoukhuede, Pius Oleghe, Ralph Opara, Nat Oyelo and Professor Muyiwa Awe, were the founding fathers of this cult, at the University of Ibadan. The sole objective of the cult was to fight colonialism, to end tribalism and elitism, and to ensure the dignity of man. Their ideas were both patriotic and altruistic, as it was not imagined as a secret cult. The objectives revolved around the maintenance of polite behaviour among people of the different background and chivalry portrayed the dreams of the founders. Its members engaged in humanitarian activities such as donation of blood to hospitals to save lives and presentation of gifts to orphanages, to assist the hopeless in the society.

    Today, the reverse has been the case. Secret cults constitute themselves into a protection group that fight and advance the rights and privileges of their members, including harassments, brutalization, and sometimes killing of fellow students who challenge their members and lecturers who fail them in examinations. Many students have been lured into joining secret societies through deception. Such deception include becoming one of the untouchables once you are a member, controlling the most beautiful girl on campus, passing examinations without study, and so on.

    The effects of cultism on students and their learning processes cannot be overemphasized. This is evident from the existence and modes of operation of cult groups on campuses. Clashes between members of different cult groups result to killings, destruction of facilities and disruption of academic activities.

    Findings also reveal that more than fifty notorious cult groups exist on Nigerian campuses and have also resulted to the death of thousands of students. They include Black-Axe, Eiye, Mafia, Maphite, Klansman, Black Beret, Black Cat, Black Cross, Jurist, Mgba Mgba, Thomas Boys, Black Brassier, to mention a few. These groups operate in different levels at universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

    Cohabitation has also become a common phenomenon among students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Campus marriage, as it is fondly called among students, is a situation whereby a male and female student lives together in a rented apartment outside the school as husband and wife. Living in alone is now a thing of the past as some students want to experiment the bliss of marital life before leaving campus and getting married proper.

    In this pattern of settlement, male students assume the role of a husband and his girlfriend, the wife. This relationship has every attribute of a real marriage, except that pregnancy is avoided and the consent of the parents of both parties is not neccessary. In a nutshell, the male student- often referred to as the husband- relies on his parents for money to become the breadwinner as he provides the female student with money for food, sightseeing during weekends and most often, provides the female with money for her upkeep. The female student on the other hand cooks, cleans up the house and satisfies her man’s sexual appetite.

    The consequences of this immoral act is failure or poor academic performance, as some only remember that they are students actually when examinations come knocking, when they have spent better part of the semester practicing family life. On the other hand, it also results to unwanted pregnancy, which in turn leads to one or two of the students dropping out of school. In some cases, it results to the death of the female student in attempt to abort such pregnancy.

    Moreover, drug abuse and consumption of harmful substances among students has extended to include not only male, but female students of tertiary institutions. Apart from alcohol, marijuana and tobacco, students have cultivated the habit of consuming substances such as cocaine, heroin, morphine and paregoric methadone. These substances or drugs are dangerous to healthy living as they reduce physical and psychological sensibility. They adversely affect excellent academic performance among students.

    To remedy our campuses from this tragedy, and to avert indecent and evil practices among students, governments and authorities of high institutions in Nigeria should actively monitor the movement of students. This can be achieved through the provision of security personnel who are well-trained in human psychology to be able to identify drug addicts and cultists on campuses.

    Guidance and counseling units should be created in institutions where there are none, and should be strengthened in institution where they exist. Students should be mandated to attend counseling sessions.

    Authorities of high institutions, particularly the students’ affairs division and the security units, should monitor carefully the activities of all registered students’ unions, associations and clubs. This is because many cult groups operate under the guise of registered social and cultural associations. These will help to avert all indecent and evil practices on campuses and produce well-trained and excellent students.

     

    Ahmad, 300-Level Mass Comm., NSUK

  • Curbing violence among youths

    From the recent violent activities perpetrated by youths, the future looks scary, notably in this age when our senses are bombarded with varying shades of crimes committed in our institutions of learning.

    The events seem endless. We have heard cases of oppression of students; students being robbed on their way to class; harassment of lecturers and the murder of lecturers and students in cold blood. There have been cases of rape, robbery, kidnapping and other forms of criminal activities which have given rise to considerable level of fear among students and members of staff of our institutions. This, inadvertently, gives credence to the fact that there is so much violence in the minds of some youths. It is infuriating, however, to hear that another lecturer has been kidnapped in one of our institutions. The bottom-line is that there is simply no regard for human life in the mind of the vicious youth.

    The ever increasing crime rate is assuming a dangerous dimension. These cruel youths are frequently reported in the news killing or seriously injuring people. The peril of that brutality dangles heavily in the air. Several of the tales are true. This is nothing but the influence of peer pressure and a certain need to “belong.”

    The management of different institutions of learning has continued to try their best in ensuring that the case of cultism is totally aborted. The disturbing fact is not just the growing rate of the violence but why different measures designed to put an end to these activities have failed.

    Non-Governmental Organisations and even individuals have, in the past, endeavoured to put an end to the hostility in tertiary institutions across the country. Different banners and leaflets have continued to adorn the public, yet the problems have not reduced. It has continued to increase.

    The logical question to ask ourselves in the midst of these cruelties is what then could be the cause of these hostile acts? Such enormous hatred and violence could only stem from a reason. After all, a river usually has a source.

    Essentially, the media is blamed for the cruelty. Whilst some have argued that the media has really helped in reducing violence, others have maintained that the true cause of violence lies in the media because of the publicity given to the violent activities of some youths. The general notion is that the media is responsible for the violence perpetrated by youths, going by the content of some of the movies we watch and the music we listen to. That may explain why in some homes, newspapers, televisions, radios or any form of media are not found because the parents in such homes have agreed that the less the children are exposed to such things, the less violent they would be.

    Looked from another angle, substance abuse may well be another cause of violence in the youth of today. I mean it has even got to the stage where all sorts of harmful substances are seen as a stimulus for performance. It is now commonplace to find kiosk or stores selling these substances inside or very close to institutions.

    Equally, peer pressure is also an important factor that necessitates aggression in these students. When someone interacts with the wrong set of people, his or her focus might be on how to live up to the expectation of his peer group, thus joining them in whatever activity they do not minding  how deadly or harmful it could be.

    Another equivocal factor is the alarming rate of broken homes. Courts are swimming with different divorce cases, and the ones who bear the brunt of these cases are the children. If not quickly helped, the children could grow up with a complex about life, thereby developing the mind of employing violence as a means to justify an end. Such person would have obviously forgotten the words of Abraham Lincoln who  said, “ Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”

    Poverty, they say, is the worst form of violence, because poverty itself breeds violence in the minds of people. The issue of poverty today is also a significant cause of violence in our tertiary institutions.

    The type of neighbourhood one lives can also help fuel the flame of violence in our society. The government is easily blamed for violence everywhere, but it is important to know that intolerance itself is a form of violence. We all should learn to be more tolerant and respect each other. Students should also learn to be content with whatever is offered by parents or guardians. Some students are possessed by the need to buy everything and belong to the elite class on campus, forgetting that our parents are investing so much in us by sending us to school so that we can make a good individual out of ourselves in future and contribute to the family, community and national development.

    It is always said that, “to whom much is given, much is expected”.  We should not, because of the limited time we would spend in school, forget all about values and traditions that had been imbibed in us by our parents.

     

    Suliat, ND II Mass Comm., OFFA POLY

  • Curbing abuse of herbal medicine

    SIR: The proliferation and influx of herbal medicine from within and outside the shores of Nigeria, particularly from China should be a source of anxiety for the citizens as its development has led to an upsurge in various categories of healers.

    Globally, people develop unique indigenous healing tradition adapted and defined by their culture, beliefs and environment which satisfies the health needs of their communities over centuries. The increasing widespread use of herbal medicine has prompted the World Health Organisation to promote the integration of Herbal Medicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine into the National Health care System.

    But despite the widespread use of herbal medicine worldwide and their reported efficacies, they are not completely harmless. The rate at which Nigerians, both rural and lately urban dwellers, develop chronic kidney diseases and subsequently kidney failure due largely to the consumption of these herbs call much for concern. Worse culprits are the artisans and commercial bus drivers, who consume these products arbitrarily, mostly in form of alcoholic  herbal mixtures to treat ailments such as pile, weak erection, premature ejaculation, back pains and low libido because they have many wives and concubines and will want to satisfy all parties. Some of these mixtures are supposedly used in the treatment of a wide range of diseases at the consumption of a single dose.

    In as much as these herbs are effective, the multifarious side effects, which most times outweigh the benefits, particularly if consumed in excess, should not be over looked. Therefore, government at all levels should enlighten the public on the potential danger of consuming these herbs, especially in their raw forms due to the high toxicity.

    A body to be saddled with the responsibility of evaluating the safety efficacy and quality of herbal medicines and their products should be constituted to carry out random clinical trial studies for these drugs before consumption. Also, the Federal Government should check the influx of sub standard imported herbal mixtures mostly from India and China, and standardize the local ones by re-branding them in form of tablets and capsules.

     

    •Bilikis Bakare

    Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa-Ikeja

  • Curbing ATM fraud

    Curbing ATM fraud

    •We take CBN’s promise seriously, and so should the CBN

    The seeming irrefutable fraud cases perpetrated through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in banks across the federation have gladly attracted the attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The apex bank has promised to curb the avoidable act by sanctioning banks that feign helplessness in nipping the crime in the bud.

    The CBN, in a circular to banks, signed by Dipo Fatokun, Director, Banking and Payment System Department and titled: ‘Need to install anti-skimming device at all ATM terminals’ bemoaned the “… upward increase in the number of ATMs-related fraud in the banking system.’ It equally admonished banks to take ‘urgent steps to curb the abuse’ and also pointed out the need for banks to adhere to ‘existing guidelines on card related frauds…’

    The number one bank observed that from now ‘…and in order to guard against card skimming at ATM channels across the country, all deposit money banks (DMBs) are mandated to comply with the provisions of section 3.2 ‘ATM Operations’ and 3.4 ‘ATM security’ of the Standards and Guidelines on ATM Operations in Nigeria and also install risk mitigating devices on their ATM terminals on or before June 1st, 2014.’ The CBN concluded the circular with a stern threat to banks to ‘invoke appropriate sanctions for non-compliance with this circular.’

    We acknowledge that the use of ATMs has considerably led to expansion of banking networks. The ATM, also known as Cash Machine, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of financial institutions with access to financial transactions in a public space without the help/presence of a cashier. The customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date or CVVC (CVV). Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN). Through ATM, customers can access their bank accounts in order to make cash withdrawals, check their account balances, among others. But this commendable initiative has come with its own surmountable challenges that the CBN is seeking to address.

    The adoption of e-payment method is a good development and we are elated that Nigerians are increasingly embracing the machine payment option despite all odds. The CBN’s annual report for 2012 reportedly shows that there were 4,527 cases of fraud and forgery at the end of December, 2011. However, the statistics increased in the industry in 2012 while a considerable chunk of these criminal acts came from ATM frauds. The increasing fraud on ATMs constitutes a potent danger to this technological device and we consider the apex bank’s move to give this ugly trend the necessary attention a good one.

    All banks within the country should take the CBN challenge of eliminating increasing incidence of ATM fraud very seriously. ATMs deployment has proved to be one of the worthy instruments in the chain of bank e-payment processes. The technology has reduced unnecessary queues in banks, especially among customers collecting less than a specified amount, thereby reducing time and costs of transactions and also the provision of reliable audit trails when necessary.

    The country, at this contemporary age, needs to develop an effective global banking management system and one of the means of achieving this is through the use of modern technology such as automated teller machines. If the technology works in other climes, we see no reason why it should not work here if we intend to be competitively at par and to be taken serious in the broad and symbiotic global financial market.