The Nation Newspaper

Tag: deadly

  • Tailor-made, DEADLY

    KINGSLEY Ike, 34, lived by the gun. And Raphael Nwogu, 76, lived to arm him. Like Siamese twins, the armed robber and gunmaker respectively, profited from their symbiotic relationship. Their story is the stuff of urban legend perhaps. Nwogu, a self-confessed Biafran war hero, a.k.a Shore Battery, operated a steel forge, where he manufactured craft weapons for Ike and several other clients. That was his night job.  From morning till dusk, Shore Battery operated a small shop in Awka, Anambra State, where he sold spades, shov els, cutlasses and cooking utensils for domestic use by his customers. Through the night, however, the blacksmith retired to his forge, located several kilometres away from his stall and scene of his day job.

    There, he crafted weaponry because it was very lucrative and he really loved to make guns. But like the proverbial bomb maker, who eventually gets mangled by his own craft, Shore Battery’s brilliance and ingenuity was eclipsed in the brute glow of his gun art. Soon after receiving a cache of deadly weapons from Shore Battery, Ike embarked on an operation during the Yuletide. Unfortunately for him, he ran into a crack team of anti robbery police officers, who killed him in a gun battle. Just one member of Ike’s squad allegedly survived the encounter. News got to Shore Battery and he shut operations to avoid any trail that would lead back to him. Months after Ike’s death, however, Shore Battery reopened his forge. With the elections approaching, he hoped to make a lot of money crafting guns for politicians, kidnappers, armed robbers and gun runners. To his chagrin, Ike’s colleagues stormed his hideout, accusing him of making a faulty weapon for the deceased.

    These sub-machine gun prototypes were crafted by a local gunsmith

    They said Ike’s gun got ‘hooked’ in the heat of his gun battle with the police thus rendering him a cheap casualty to the law enforcers. Shore Battery protested his innocence, claiming his weapons could never “hook” because they were high grade, but his assailants were unconvinced. They told him to explain to Ike “in yonder” and shot him in the head, with a gun produced in his forge. There is no gainsaying Ike, the armed robber, and Shore Battery, the gun-maker, suffered the brute end of their art. While they present a cautionary tale, their story resonates the gravity of Nigeria’s Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) conundrum. Small arms proliferation destabilises Nigeria and has increased the intensity and human impact of conflicts in the region, according to regional arms experts. Disturbed by the malady, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recently issued a oneweek ultimatum to illegal firearm holders to surrender their weapons. The police said it had perfected plans to embark on a massive nationwide joint arms mop up operation. The measure becomes imperative as the police plots to rid the streets of illicit weaponry and forestall armed violence in the forthcoming general election. The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, called on Nigerians currently in unlawful possession of such weapons to voluntarily return them to police stations or any public armoury nearest to them.

    “The IGP has also, with immediate effect, placed an embargo on the issuance of new licences for designated arms throughout the country,” said Force spokesman and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba. Mba, said the measure was consequent “upon intelligence indicating the presence of huge quantity of arms in unlawful possession of some Nigerians, the desperation of some citizens to acquire more arms, and the continued proliferation of illicit weapons in the polity, with the attendant negative and security implications.” Few months earlier, the Force Headquarters’ Joint Task Team, led by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Joshak Habilla, recovered 2,753 illegal firearms from 13 states.

    Early 2018, Nigerian troops launched ‘Operation Deep Punch II’ in Borno State, taking the fight against the Boko Haram insurgent group deep into the Sambisa Forest; this led to the killing of 33 Boko Haram insurgents and the recovery of an important weapons cache, including 15 craft-produced weapons.

    The crime fighter: A muzzleloading rifle forged from scrap metal by vigilante gunsmith, Eshayo Eno, in a village south of Adamawa State. Enos craft weapons are deployed in fighting crime.

    That was, however, one of an ongoing series of seizures by the armed forces fighting terrorism in the northeast and crime on Nigeria’s streets. Recently, the police nabbed Benjamin Obi, a 72-year-old gun manufacturer and his three sons, Tochukwu, Chuks and Chetachi in Anambra State. Parading them in their Awka headquarters recently, the then state Commissioner of Police, Garba Baba Umar, said the police acted on a tip-off from one of the armed robbery suspects arrested recently. The suspect and his sons were reportedly arrested with a large number of guns and gun-forging machines in their home in Uli, Ihiala Local Government Area of the state. The 72-year-old suspect, Obi, however, denied the allegations stating that he was a blacksmith. He said that he belonged to the Anambra Hunters Association in Umuoma village, Uli, and that the guns discovered in his house belonged to fellow hunters for whom he repaired guns. Gun trafficking and illicit circulation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) are often discussed in the context of fuelling instability and insecurity in the country, but rarely, is the issue of locally manufactured weapons given appropriate attention in the discourse, noted William Assanvo, ENACT Regional Observatory Coordinator for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)West Africa. Tailor-made, deadly “In Awka, every blacksmith is a potential manufacturer of small arms,” argued Nonso Ekenta.

    The security analyst and entrepreneur  noted that the predominance of Awka in the production of craft weapons is evident in the common reference to craft weapons as ‘Awka-made’ or more simply ‘Awka.’ The weapons, produced clandestinely, are sold to their trusted allies or patrons in a form of network, and this clandestine aspect of the trade has so far contributed to the survival of the industry despite its illegality. The indigenous production of small arms has consequently become an underground activity, which is more profitable for the manufacturers and dealers, he explained. Although there are a number of wellknown craft production markets in Nigeria, including Katsina, Kaduna, Niger and Calabar, Awka has been a centre for craft production since the Nigerian-Biafran civil war in the late 1960s, when the town produced explosives.

    Over time, the expertise for local production has remained a family business, with knowledge of fabrication techniques passed down through generations. True, The Nation findings revealed that the manufacturing network is a very closed circuit and shrouded in secrecy. The weapons manufactured are relatively cheap and the existing market for firearms is a motivation for local producers to manufacture guns for a wide range of customers who would use them for hunting, traditional ceremonies, sport shooting, self-defence and, more lucratively, robbery and assassination. Production techniques, however, remain rudimentary. No machines are used in the production process. Vices, steel saws, manual drills and files are employed in the fabrication process, with small make-shift furnaces used to heat the metals. The fabrication of craft weapons usually takes place in producers‘ homes or backyards.

    Read also: Rigging, deterrence and stability

    The materials used in the process are sourced locally and the weapons are often duplicates of existing firearms. They include pistols, shotguns (including single-barrel and double-barrel), automatic rifles and ammunition. While some of the components are often brought in from foreign sources for assembly in the country, some are sourced from scraps of faulty and condemned weapons. Boniface Enelamah, a blacksmith, and craft gun producer, “produces guns to support vigilante groups in his village and neighbouring towns in their fight against cultism, kidnapping and armed robbery.” The widower and father of four, however, said that he is reluctant to pass on the knowledge to his children because he is worried that they might be influenced to deploy the skills in service of crimi nals. Enelamah, however, maintained that none of his craft weaponry ever gets into the hands of “bad people.” Unlike some shameless people, “I don’t make weapons for bad people,” he said. Describing the production techniques employed, a local blacksmith/gunsmith explained that the process begins by cutting a number of ‘frame forms’ out of sheet metal and welding them together. The slide is subsequently, crafted out of iron (like that found in old beds) and a nail is filed into shape to serve as a firing pin. Wire mesh from truck tires produces recoil and magazine springs.

    The barrel is a piece of pipe that is widened by drilling to accommodate the chamber. Production takes less than one working day. Another gunsmith, however, revealed that he sources original Beretta magazines—because these are difficult to reproduce— and builds the rest of the weapon around them. He described the process of hardening a piece of pipe with gas to make it strong enough to serve as a barrel. Craft weapons are cheaper to acquire than industrially produced weapons. The prices of high end weapons in the black market vary; an AK-47-type assault rifle costs N300,000– N400,000 while a selfloading pistol sells between N150, 000 and N250,000. Hand made weapons, in contrast, cost an estimated NGN 20,000 for a single-barrel shotgun and N10,000 for a ‘Dane gun.’ While ammunition is generally thought to be readily available in Nigeria, prices per round fluctuate from N150 to N500 for a shotgun shell and from N250 to N500 for a 9 mm or 7.62 mm round. Further investigations revealed that the average price for a shotgun shell is approximately N400, while 9 × 19 mm and different types of 7.62 mm rounds average around N500. Craft weaponry may, however, be acquired at ridiculously lower prices, depending on the magnitude of sale and the stature of the gun maker.

    Recent discoveries by the police attest to this fact. For instance, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the police command recently discovered an illegal firearm fabricating factory in Shenagu village near Zuba. Three suspects, Philip John, whom the police described as the owner of the factory; Onyegabueze Okpara, supplier of ammunition and Joseph Bulus, distributor of the arms, were arrested in the raid, according to Sadiq Bello, FCT Commissioner of Police. Items recovered from the suspects include a locally fabricated revolver pistol cylinder, four dane guns, one double barrel gun, one single barrel gun, two calibre live cartridge and six dane gun muzzles. Others are four single barrel muzzles, six-barrel gun frame, two gun muzzle springs, one manual motor drill, one dice for retread and various implements used for manufacturing locally made weapons. During interrogation, John reportedly confessed to have been in the illicit business for 17 years and selling the singlebarrel guns and dane gun for N20,000 and N10,000 respectively.

    Okpara, “who disguises as a bicycle spare parts dealer,” was arrested at Kaita market with the items which he allegedly concealed and sold to criminals, had been in the illicit business since 1997. He sells a pack containing 25 pieces of live cartridge for N12,000, while single cartridge goes for N500. Bulus, who was said to be the major link who connects the principal suspect — John — with potential buyers of the fabricated firearms, was arrested in Zuba. Living under the gun Of the 650 million guns currently in circulation world-wide, the number of small arms in West Africa is estimated at eight million, with a minimum of 77,000 in the hands of West African insurgent groups. But while Guinea Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, is estimated to have 25,000 weapons in circulation, Nigeria is believed to have about 1.6 million illicit small arms in circulation among its civilian population courtesy an illicit gun market valued between $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion.

    Simply put, there is one gun for every 10 people on the planet. With 16 billion units of deadly ammunition produced every year, there are small arms and ammunition enough to shoot every man, woman and child on the planet twice. The usual victims In 2018, gun violence claimed no fewer than 7, 000 casualties through the Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen and farmers’ clashes, cult clashes, sectarian and communal clashes, kidnapping, armed robbery, among others. The figure is, however, conservative as many of the killings were supposedly unreported. The sad reality of children and teenagers taking to arms as occasioned by widespread recruitment and arrests of teen cultists, armed robbers and terrorists further accentuate the magnitude of the crisis. Boko Haram, for instance, expanded its operational tactics to include the forcible recruitment of under-age boys as combatants. The minors, oftentimes, harden into stone-cold killers on the watch of the group’s leadership. One such victim is Yau Damina, 14. The teenager was abducted by Boko Haram and spent five months in its ter ror camps, training to become a combatant soldier. And he became a stone-cold killer.

    In five months, Damina developed deadly skills. Speaking to The Nation, he revealed that he killed five men in the blink of an eye, because they disrespected and killed his team leader. Unlike Damina whose body count tally at five, Ali Mustapha, 17, killed 13 people during his time with Boko Haram. Mustapha revealed that he was forced to kill his victims in Chikungudu Forest, Kalabalge, where he was held in captivity for three years by the insurgents. Both Damina and Mustapha were trained to handle craft guns and the highly lethal AK-47. Children can easily take to small arms, apparently. Consequently, small arms have helped create more than 300,000 child soldiers and marauders. Children also constitute primary victims as increased availability of small arms through illicit channels has contributed to an alarming rise in child casualties in local conflicts. Till date, over four million children have been killed; eight million have been disabled and 15 million left homeless, according to the United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF).

    Stemming the tide To check the situation, Chinonso Ibiama, a retired police officer and security consultant, recommended that the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) resumes its responsibility for professional demolition of all SALW seized by the security agencies. The government should also establish technical support programmes for a professional conversion of local blacksmiths in order to reduce the production lines, he said, stressing that guns produced in such programmes should be required to bear the manufacturer‘s signature. Ibiama’s suggestion brings to mind the 1959 Firearms Act (paragraph 13), which provides that it is illegal to sell or transfer any firearm unless it is permanently marked, or stamped, with the maker‘s name and number, or other prescribed identifier, unless this information is specified on the purchaser‘s licence or permit. Currently, craft weapons are not marked with individual identifiers. Until several years ago, craft producers had marked their weapons with their own number or symbol. However, these identifying marks were used by police to trace weapons used in crimes.

    •Suspected cultists arrested with craft weapons in the wake of a turf war

    This led to the prosecution of craft producers whose weapons had been implicated in criminal activities, and consequently a halt to the practice of engraving signatures or marks on the weapons. Thus, while industrial weapons are becoming harder to acquire in Nigeria due to restrictions on international arms trade and trafficking, locally-crafted firearms are filling the void. There is a catch, however, to the use of craft weaponry, of which the cheapest produce could be a single shot pistol firing a .410 (10.4mm) or 20 gauge (15.6mm) shotgun shell. This is for a young thug, or an armed robber just starting out. On the down side, craft guns are dangerous to use, often lacking a safety switch, and prone to exploding, rather than firing, when the trigger is pulled. Crude copies of modern firearms can also be dangerous since they are not built with modern quality-control facilities. They simply have to look real and be capable of firing a few rounds behind the gunsmiths’ shop.

    But once the sale is closed, the user is left to his own devices. Consider the sad case of Shore Battery and his ill-fated client, Ike, for instance; Ike went on armed operation thinking he was empowered by his choice weapon, a sawed-off double barrel shot gun, crafted by his supposedly able gunsmith. Then his gun failed to load in the heat of a gun war with policemen in neighbouring Abia. His end, of course, is better imagined. For Shore Battery, on the other hand, crafting guns were both his first love and a survival issue, since he barely made a living through honest production of clothes hangers, buckets, hoes and pans. In his lifetime, the late blacksmith, reportedly loved to say: “Uzu amaghi akpu egbe le egbe anya n’odudu…A blacksmith who does not know how to mould a gun should look at the tail (rear feather) of a kite.” Although Shore Battery met his waterloo in the hands of disgruntled clients, the lasting tradition of gun-making enjoys fresh vigour, albeit surreptitiously, in the backyards of illicit gun makers like Obi and Enelama. In their groove, it takes as little as three hours to craft one gun, a flintlock pistol to be precise. It is crude, thick, frighteningly lethal and, even teenagers could afford it.

  • Malaria, still a deadly menace

    Malaria, still a deadly menace

    Following the recent commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day, Gboyega Alaka takes another look at the lackadaisical attitude of Nigerians towards the disease, drawing attention to the scary statistics and why a more serious and holistic attitude needs to be adopted.

    43-YEAR-OLD Jaiyejeje was good-looking, lovable and quietly ambitious. Although his early adulthood was tough, with unemployment dogging his way for years after school, Jaiye soon found his forte in paint design and architecture and things suddenly picked up for him. Jobs rolled in and of course good cash. In no time, he relocated to Ikorodu, where new houses were springing up and his services were more in demand, as against his Ikotun residence, where he grew up and spent most of his youth. He also bought a piece of land and simultaneously began building his own house. Life seemed good and prospects for the future even better. And then the sad news broke. Jaiye died.

    His death was undoubtedly the saddest news in his Ikotun neighbourhood, where he still maintained his old apartment. Many swore they saw him a couple of days before his sad demise. Some even said they saw him driving his Sienna bus car the day before and swore he wasn’t looking an inch sick. And yet he died. Gradually news filtered out that he had died of malaria; and then the outrage doubled. Malaria? Does malaria kill? Isn’t it just a matter of getting one of the approved malaria drugs and swallowing them to instruction? How could malaria kill somebody just like that?

    News had it that Jaiye had been rushed to the hospital in the night after suddenly falling grievously ill; and then the sad news the following day.

    Typically, Jaiye’s neighbour’s reaction and incredulity at his death and its cause largely typifies Nigerians attitude and disposition towards Malaria. For many, it is one illness no-one needs worry about. A few herbs here and there or some of the World Health Organisation’s approved drugs should suffice. Few, if any even think it is something to bother a doctor over and it is not unusual to see friends turn a friend who has visited a doctor on account of malaria into a butt of jokes.

    Many even think it is too ordinary an illness to earmark such time for, especially in the middle of their very busy schedule.

    For some however, it is as a result of poverty, as they literally calculate everything in naira and kobo. They believe going to a hospital would make them cough out more money than the mere five hundred naira or so that a pack of the drugs would have cost them. They are also quick to rationalize that the doctor would not give them anything order than the commonplace malaria drug that they know too well.

    But is malaria such a trivial infection? Is it so, so harmless, like many think?

     

    Lethal as ever

    Signals emanating from medical experts and health statistics from the World Health Organisation, WHO and other health agencies, including the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR is however in antithesis with this position.

    An updated 2015 World Health Organisation’s Top 10 facts on malaria states that about 3.2 billion people – nearly half the world’s population – are at risk of malaria. It states further that 214 million malaria cases were detected that same year, while a whopping 438,000 resulted in death.

    In addition, it said the infection is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, as the region recorded 89 per cent of the cases, with 91 per cent of it culminating in death.

    Elsewhere in the report, the global health body also says children under five are particularly susceptible to infection, illness and death. It expatiates that more than two thirds (70%) of all malaria deaths occur in this age bracket and that in 2015 alone, about 305,000 African children died before their fifth birthdays.

    As if determined to exterminate humanity, the report also says the disease literally lays siege on the human foetus by afflicting pregnant women, leading to spontaneous abortion, premature delivery, stillbirth, severe maternal anaemia and death of the pregnant mother. Malaria is also said to be responsible for about one third of preventable low-birth-weight babies. To this effect, WHO recommends “intermittent preventive treatment at each scheduled antenatal visit, after the first trimester.”

     

    Nigeria, highest in death rate

    Last year at the commemoration of the World Malaria Day/World Intellectual Property Day in Abuja, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, declared that Nigeria has the highest number of malaria cases in the whole wide world. He said the country boasted an unenviable estimated 100 million malaria cases get annually, with about 300,000 deaths.

    The US envoy attributed the high spread of the disease and casualties in the country to widespread of fake and substandard medicines. He said the unhealthy habit is “contributing to the alarmingly high number of malaria deaths and costs of health care” in the country.

    Quoting the Nigerian Malaria Strategic Plan 2014-2020, Mr. Entwistle said “Malaria is responsible for 60 per cent of outpatient visits to health facilities, 30 per cent of childhood deaths and 25 percent of deaths in children under one year, and 11 percent of maternal deaths.”

    In plain language, the ambassador said “Stolen malaria medicines often transported or stored in sub-optimal conditions decay and become ineffective, putting patients at risk for treatment.”

    He said “parasites, a by-product of this decay causes malaria, potentially mutate and become resistant to drugs.”

    He also lamented that the criminal activities of counterfeiting drugs deny legitimate businesses return on investment and ultimately discourage growth in the nation’s pharmaceautical industry.

     

    ‘Ending malaria for Good;’ still a long way for Nigeria

    Early last week, the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Lagos said not less than 51 million Nigerians tested positive to malaria parasite in 2015. The deputy director of the institute and head, Malaria Research Programme, Dr Sam Awolola made this declaration at a forum in commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day in Lagos.

    The deputy director lamented that Nigeria, with such huge malaria burden, is still far from achieving this year’s theme of “End Malaria for Good.”

    He said Nigeria’s fact sheet according to the 2014 and 2015 World Malaria reports testify that the nation is still far from pre-elimination stage, not to talk of elimination.

     

    Deadlier than the statistics

    Dr Festus Uriri, a medical doctor at the Military Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, is however of the opinion that the figures being bandied either by the World health organization of the NIMR are largely underestimated because they do not reflect cases and deaths in the remote African villages, where there are no medical facilities, let alone data taking.

    Like the Ambassador Entwistle, he literally lays the blame for the rise in cases of malaria and deaths, and the growing resistance to drugs by the parasite at the door-steps of dealers in substandard drugs. But first, he blames it on abuse of the drugs.

    Even though he maintains that malaria is as deadly as ever, he does not think Jaiye’s death should be blamed totally on malaria. According to him, malaria hardly kills with such speed.  In his words, “A lot of Nigerians have other health conditions that they may not want to mention,” but which may be responsible for such sudden illness and death.

  • Deadly fever

    Deadly fever

    •All hands must be on deck to check its spread

    Officially, according to the latest information, Lassa fever has claimed 41 lives out of 93 reported cases in 10 of the country’s 36 states. The affected states are: Bauchi, Nasarawa, Niger, Taraba, Kano, Rivers, Edo, Plateau, Gombe and Oyo.

    However, it is reassuring that the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said there is no need to panic as the Federal Government has the capacity to deal with the outbreak. The government has set up a four-man expert committee to visit Kano, Niger and Bauchi, the three states most affected.  The committee is expected to “embark on a fact-finding mission, assess the current situation, document response experiences, identify gaps and proffer recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences.”

    Adewole said: “About 80 per cent of the outbreak was concentrated in three states: Kano, Bauchi and Niger. Niger recorded 35 outbreaks with 16 deaths; Kano recorded 14 outbreaks and nine deaths; Bauchi recorded 14 outbreaks and three deaths.”

    The first case was reported in Bauchi in November, last year. It is a cause for concern that the fever has since spread to the other states. “Affected states have been advised to intensify awareness creation on the signs and symptoms and general hygiene,” the minister said.

    Lassa fever is an acute febrile illness caused by the Lassa fever virus with an incubation period of six to 21 days. Severe cases cause bleeding and death. About 80 per cent of human infections are asymptomatic; the remaining cases have severe multi-system disease, where the virus   affects   several   organs, such as the   liver, spleen and kidneys.

    The   onset   of   the   disease   is   usually   gradual,   starting   with   fever, general weakness and malaise, followed by headache, sore throat, muscle pain, chest pain, nausea,   vomitting,   diarrhoea,   cough,   and   bleeding   from   mouth,   nose,   vagina or gastrointestinal tract, and low blood pressure.

    It is good news that there is cure for Lassa fever. The Federal Ministry of Health has ordered “immediate release of adequate quantities of Ribavirin, the specific antiviral drug for Lassa fever to the affected states for prompt and adequate treatment of cases.” It has also deployed rapid response teams to the affected states to assist in investigating and verifying the cases and tracing of contacts. In addition, clinicians and relevant health care workers have been sensitised and mobilised in areas of patient management and care in the affected states.

    It is noteworthy that Lassa fever can be prevented by improving hygiene, including food hygiene and food protection practices. Importantly, members of the public have been advised to avoid contact with rodents, particularly rats, as well as food contaminated by rat’s secretions and excretions. The reservoir or host of the Lassa virus is the “multi-mammate rat” called Mastomys natalensis which has many breasts and lives in the bush and peri-residential areas.

    Indeed, preventing the fever from spreading further is as much the duty of the health authorities as it is the responsibility of the public. Early diagnosis is considered important in the treatment of the illness. It is commendable that the minister also released help lines to facilitate prompt presentation to health facilities.

    The Minister said: “The Federal Government will continue to enhance its surveillance and social health education, information   and   communication   activities   to   prevent   the   disease from spreading further…We hope working together we can finally declare the final end of Lassa fever in this country.”

    This latest outbreak of the fever should further galvanize the authorities to work towards ensuring that the country is Lassa fever free.

  • Deadly lead

    •Incessant deaths from lead poisoning and mining sites call for a revamp of mining policies

    Again, the death of 28 children in Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State from lead poisoning is a demonstration of how careless government policies could negatively impact the lives of citizens. The admission by the Minister of State for Health, Fidelis Nwankwo, that the children were all below the age of five, the bracket considered most vulnerable and often protected  in developed countries, shows that some public officers are negligent in the performance of their duties.

    It is pathetic that this is not the first time such a deadly occurrence would take place. In 2011, lead poisoning killed about 400, mainly children and women, in Zamfara State. As was the case then, the death this time arose from illegal mining of unprocessed ore by the people. The iron ores were mined, taken home for crude, manual processing and in the process the lead content interfered with food items that killed the children before they could receive help.

    In this case, about 65 cases were said to have been reported at local hospitals, while almost half could not respond to treatment.

    It is curious that the investigations carried out by the federal and state authorities after previous episodes did not produce sufficient safeguards against a recurrence. We are constrained to ask the governments of Niger, Zamfara, Sokoto and the federal ministries of health and solid minerals to make public reports of the panels. Besides, they should bring to account agencies and officials who failed to perform their tasks, thus leading to the avoidable deaths.

    The Federal Government must note that its over-concentration of power at the centre is a major cause of these incessant incidents of illegal mining and the attendant deaths. The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals is not in a position to mine and give mining licences to would-be miners. State governments are in better position to oversee such a process. We advocate that solid mineral mining should be moved from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list of the constitution, while eventually, as part of rearrangement of the structure of the federation, it should exclusively be a state responsibility as is the case in other federations.

    We note, too, that at the root of the very crude and manual mining is poverty. In most cases, the people involved know that they run a risk of poisoning, yet they  continue, hoping they would escape unhurt. This is similar to cases of those who rush to scoop gasoline wherever and whenever there are spills. It is well-known now that it is a dangerous escapade, but people who do not have enough to fend for their basic needs deploy members of their households to fetch some for sale.

    This calls for action by the different tiers of government to reduce the level of poverty in the land. The people are groaning and seek succour. But things are getting worse. Social infrastructure that should cushion the effect of the prevailing harsh economic reality has collapsed.

    The Nigerian state has responsibility to protect her young population, not kill them. The people are suffering and do not have the luxury of wearing plastic smiles as was the case years back when the late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, waxed the album, Suffering and Smiling. It is an indication that this is prelude to social revolution. We therefore call on the Buhari administration being inaugurated tomorrow to show concern for the vulnerable section of the population – the children and rural women; the economically exploited and socially abused.

  • Another of Nigeria’s deadly diseases

    I refrain usually from commenting on matters touching the employments and careers of highly placed professionals employedin the public service anywhere. My reason for that is that, having lived many decades of my life (since 1966)as lecturer and professor in universities in Nigeria and abroad, I can see, at any time, a broad spread professionals who had once been (or might have been) students of mine, in the public services of various countries and international agencies – in particular of my own country, Nigeria. For me, such persons are family. If I ever intervene in matters concerning their employment experience, it is only to commend or recommend them; I hesitate to raise issues that can tend to make them uncomfortable or make them wonder about the support of their former teacher.

    It is with utmost reluctance therefore that, in this column today, I raise issues of fairness concerning the recent employment experiences of two highly placedNigerian public servants, both of whom I regard as family in the sense explained by me above.   My comments here are really not about the two persons concerned – the two are commendably highly educated and experienced citizens of our country. It is about the awful quality of governance in Nigeria – about the use of inexplicably unfair considerations in the manning of our public service, and about the insensitive hurting of many of our own citizens because(and only because) of the place or nationality of their origin in Nigeria. For all Nigerians, the story below is a story to ponder.

    Furthermore, and most importantly, at this point when we Nigerians are about to elect or re-elect a president, a matter like this deserves to be put respectfully before us all. In this column last week, I called on certain highly revered leaders of the Southwest who are now being very supportive of President Jonathan’s re-election bid, and urged them to show us, the people of their Southwest, that they have obtained from President Jonathan satisfactory assurances that the Southwest, and the citizens of the Southwest, will henceforth get their fair place in a further Jonathan presidential term, and that the citizens of the Southwestwill not, for any reason, continue to be subjected to the marginalization and unfairness that they have suffered in the Jonathan presidency until now. I now recommend for these revered fathers a consideration of the information contained in this column today.

    Finally, I need to add that today’s column is not about supporting or opposing anypolitical party or anyelectoral candidate. It is about proper management of our country, about inculcating a tradition of fairness into the peaks of our country’s corporate life, about nurturing a spirit of common acceptance of all by all on a reasonably plain Nigerian field, and about using positions of power in our country to promote a spirit of harmony among our many different peoples.

    The Basic Story

    LamidoSanusi, the official who had served as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for many years, had to give up that position suddenly in February 2014. President Jonathan immediately appointed LamidoSanusi’s Deputy Governor, a woman named Sarah Alade (Dr. Mrs. Sarah OmotundeAlade) to the position of Governor of CBN. But on June 3, 2014 (less than five months later) President Jonathan pushed Dr. Sarah Alade off that seat and back to her former position of Deputy Governor, and appointed  another person, Mr. Godwin Emefiele from a private bank, as Governor CBN. That is the basic story .

    Here now are the facts which are available to all in the public domain about the two persons concerned. I will merely present the facts as they have been published, add nothing of my own, and leave the public to do the comparisons and the judgment. Of the two persons concerned, I can’t remember ever meeting either before; and I have no contact with either.

     

    About Dr. Mrs. Sarah Alade:

    Dr. Sarah Alade attended Obafemi Awolowo University where she obtained the degree of B.Sc. (Hons) in Economics in 1976.  Later, she obtained the degree of M.Comm at the Unversity of Melbourne, Australia, in 1983, and the degree of Ph.D. in Management Science (Operations Research) from the University of Ilorin in 1991. She started her working career in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, in Ilorin, Kwara State, in 1977. After obtaining her Ph.D in 1991, she joined the University of Ilorin in 1991 as a Lecturer in the Department of Accounting and Finance.

    In 1993 she was employed into the Central Bank of Nigeria as an Assistant Director in the Research Department. In that position, she served as Head, State Government Finance Office (1993-6), Head, Federal Government Finance Office (1996-2000), and Head, Fiscal Analysis Division (2000-2004).

    “Dr. Alade has served on the teams on major economic policy studies, and has been involved in the preparation of Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary and Credit Policy Proposals over the years. She was actively involved in the drafting of the Medium Term Economic Programme (MTP) for Nigeria and the IMF staff Monitored Programme/Standby Arrangement.Dr. Alade was appointed Director, Banking Operations Department of the Central Bank in May 2004. In that capacity, she served as Chairman Board of Directors, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) as well as Secretary, National Payments System Committee (NPSC)”.

    Dr. Alade was a member of the Technical committee of the Vision 2010 and currently a member of the Technical Committee of Vision 2020 and member of the National Economic Management Team (EMT).

    Dr. Alade was appointed Deputy Governor (Economic Policy), of CBN, in 2007. In that position, she “superintends over the Economic Policy Directorate, comprising the Research, Monetary Policy, Trade and Exchange, Statistics Departments and Financial Markets Department. As Chair of the Monetary Policy Implementation Committee (MPIC), she interfaces with operational departments and coordinates technical inputs for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)”.

    “Dr. Alade, has several publications to her credit and is currently carrying out research into Interest Rate Policy and Monetary Policy Implementation in Nigeria. Dr. Mrs. Alade is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Operational Research”.

     

    About Mr. Godwin Emefiele:

    Mr. Godwin Emefieleattended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he obtained the degree of B.Sc. (Finance) in 1984 and also the degree of MBA (Finance).

    “Before commencing his banking career, he lectured Finance and Insurance at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and University of Port Harcourt, respectively”.

    Mr. Emefiele served in the management of ZenithBank Plc from the inception of that bank in 1990, as its Deputy Managing Director from 2001, and as its Chief Executive and Managing Director from 2010.As Deputy Managing Director, Emefiele was directly responsible for all the Group’s local subsidiaries, Treasury and Correspondent Banking, and Multilateral, Conglomerates, & Private Banking. He also had responsibilities for direct supervision of majority of the bank’s branches in Lagos and Northern Nigeria.

    As Chief Executive officer and Group Managing Director of the bank, he served as the Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning of the bank.Mr. Emefiele has also served as Director of Zenith Bank (Gambia) Limited. He also serves as Director of ACCION Microfinance Bank Limited.

    “Mr. Emefiele is also an alumnus of Executive Education at Stanford University, Harvard University (2004) and Wharton Graduate Schools of Business (2005)”, all in the United States.

    I repeat that I need not add anything.

  • Deadly metals in their blood

    Deadly metals in their blood

    THE wrinkled grimaces of a life poorly spent creeps silently into the face of Amos Odekunle. But there is greater misery in his eyes. Light recedes from his eyes every time he wheezes for breath. His face is coarse, his cheeks are shrunken and his words taper off incoherently while he struggles to complete his sentences against tormenting spasms of chronic cough and a clogged chest.

    Odekunle, 90, is the Asiwaju of Olapeleke, an Ogun State township, and as you read, he is hanging on precariously to his dear life. Recently, he was diagnosed with shortness of breath and a badly scarred chest. “The doctors say I have cement dust sediments in my heart. They say that is why I can no longer breathe easily,” he says. The Olapeleke chief suffers recurrent bouts of ceaseless cough and sporadic blockage of his chest and he attributes his ailment to long years of exposure to neighbouring cement company, LafargeWAPCO’s limestone quarrying activities in and persistent discharge of cement dust into his neighbourhood. Odekunle dwells in the axis of Olapeleke that suffers persistent exposure to cement dust, which is discharged daily from LafargeWAPCO’s plant chimney situated few kilometres from his village.

    “I have been suffering for too long. Many of us have been suffering for too long. I can’t even breathe properly. These days, I have to keep swallowing lots of drugs and hot water to decongest my heart of blockage. When the pain becomes too unbearable for me, I have to travel to the General Hospital in Lagos to receive proper treatment. It is only then that I get to enjoy relief,” reveals Odekunle, adding that he does not patronise the single health centre built for the 12 host communities to LafargeWAPCO’s cement plant because “it lacks adequate facilities to treat serious ailments.”

    The village chief, however, believes that he is very lucky that he is still alive; unlike Seyi Bisiriyu and John. The two men died recently in their 20s and they reportedly suffered shortness of breath and cement dust sediments in their hearts, according to the village head, Baale Gabriel Akinremi. Akinremi reveals that the deceased had been warned about their health condition on earlier visits to the clinic but they couldn’t get the necessary treatment due to paucity of funds to pay the bills. Eventually, they suddenly collapsed and died after suffering persistent spells of short breath.

    Ekeji Baale of Ewekoro, Musulumi Balogun, reveals that many residents suffering from shortness of breath and asthma never know of their health situation until it worsens; “Many of us here suffer ailments we can make neither head nor tail of. Many struggle to manage their ailments because they fear that if they should go to the hospital for treatment, they will receive very bad news that could worsen their situation and accentuate their impoverished situation. Hence, several people here and their children are living with asthma and other respiratory health problems.

    “The few that go to the clinic can’t afford an inhaler or the drugs to manage their health condition. That is why you see many of us giving our children milk and palm oil to lick whenever they suffer acute shortness of breath. We all lick palm oil and milk hoping it will protect us from cement dust discharged by LafargeWAPCO into our community but we know it never works. It’s just a poor and desperate form of damage control. We have suffered the death of loved ones to preventable ailments like asthma and short breath. Many of us were not born with such ailments,” he laments.

    Such incidents may become a recurrent tragedy in Olapeleke and Ewekoro given the communities’ persistent exposure to flying rock debris and cement dust from LafargeWAPCO’s plant chimney and limestone quarry in the area.

     

    Lab rats’ research confirms dangerous impact of cement dust on human health

    In another research, now published, carried out using black rats (Rattus rattus L.) living around the Portland cement company’s Sagamu plant in Ogun State, to determine the general health problems that may arise from prolonged exposure to cement dust, 24 black rats comprising 12 rats from the cement factory and 12 rats from an environment free from cement dust were used for the study.

    The research team was led by Dr. Yahaya Tajudeen of the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, and it comprised Joy Okpuzor and Adedayo Titilayo Fausat of the same department. Elemental analysis, haematology examination, histopathology examination and UV spectroscopy of the DNA of the rats in the two locations were carried out in the laboratory.

     

    Why rats?

    Most of the rats used in medical trials are inbred so that, other than sex differences, they are almost identical genetically. This helps make the results of medical trials more uniform, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). As a minimum requirement, rats used in experiments must be of the same purebred species.

    Another reason rodents are used as models in medical testing is that their genetic, biological and behaviour characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats. “Rats and mice are mammals that share many processes with humans and are appropriate for use to answer many research questions,” claims Jenny Haliski, a representative for the American National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.

    Over the last two decades, those similarities have become even stronger. Scientists can now breed genetically-altered mice called “transgenic mice” that carry genes that are similar to those that cause human diseases. Likewise, select genes can be turned off or made inactive, creating “knockout mice or rats,” which can be used to evaluate the effects of cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens) and assess drug safety.

     

    Sources of test animals: The exposed rats (12 in number) were caught using traps at about 100 m from the cement factory while the control rats (12 in number) were caught at Ogijo town, about 6 kms from the cement company. The weights of the rats in the two locations were taken and recorded.

     

    Experimentation: The experiment commenced a week after capturing the rats and lasted for about four weeks. The 12 rats from the cement factory were labelled the exposed rats, while the 12 rats from Ogijo town were labelled the control rats. Ogijo town is free from cement dust pollution and is in the same climatic zone as the cement factory. The rats in the two groups were moved into the Environmental Biology Laboratory, University of Lagos, where they were dissected. Elemental analysis, haematology examinations, UV spectroscopy of the DNA and histopathology analysis of the rats were carried out.

     

    Results

    The findings show that both control and exposed rats grew normally. The minimum and maximum weights of the control rats were 230 and 280 g, respectively, while the minimum and maximum weights of the exposed rats were 208 and 274 g respectively. Also, the mean weights of the control and the exposed rats were 255 and 251g respectively.

    The elemental analysis of the lungs of the control and the exposed rats show that the concentrations of some elements associated with cement-kilns burning wastes as alternative fuel were significantly higher in the lungs of the exposed rats than in the lungs of the control rats.

    For example, the minimum and maximum concentrations of calcium, silicon, aluminium, chromium, lead in the control rats were 8.63, 0.035, 0.015, 0.038, 0.031 mg kg-1, respectively and 10.10, 0.096, 0.044, 0.062, 0.059 mg kg-1, respectively while the minimum and maximum concentrations of calcium, silicon, aluminium, chromium, lead in the exposed rats were 47.81, 0.96, 1.20, 0.123, 0.133 mg kg-1, respectively and 60.30, 1.12, 1.56, 0.172, 0.315 mg kg-1, respectively.

    The elemental analysis of the lung tissues of the exposed rats reveal significant concentrations of calcium, silicon, aluminium, chromium and lead compared to the control rats. The haematology examinations of the exposed rats showed marked reduction in the total protein compared to the control rats. The histopathology analysis of the lung tissues of the exposed rats show abnormal alveolar architecture, damaged bronchioles, disrupted bronchus, weak respiratory connective tissues, degenerated epithelium linings and inflammations. The liver tissues had abnormal cellular pattern, damaged central veins, disruption of portal triad and inflammations.

    And the kidney tissues reveal damaged epithelium linings, convoluted tubules, damaged renal corpuscles and inflammations.

     

    Verdict

    “The results further confirm that cement dust is both toxic and pathogenic to animals, including man. There is no doubt that people working or living within the vicinity of the cement company stand the risk of being affected by different types of diseases arising from exposure to cement dust. The discovery of silicon, aluminium, chromium and lead in the lungs of the exposed rats inhabiting the cement factory is a confirmation of the findings of previous studies. It is also a confirmation of the fear and assertions of the residents of Huang Shan Cement, Ethiopia that the dust from the factory is the cause of their health problems.

    Furthermore, it supports the findings of American Independent Pollution Monitoring Agency that apart from the major non-toxic constituents of cement dust (e.g., calcium and iron), cement dust may contain heavy metals, poisonous gases, particulates and dioxins which may pose health risks to man and other animals in the environment.

    “The presence of the toxic elements in the cement dust showed that the cement company is using hazardous wastes, like rubber tyre, as alternative sources of energy to reduce the cost of cement production. This confirms earlier findings that the levels of heavy metals and dioxins in cement-kiln dust from Ribblesdale, United Kingdom (U.K), were higher when cement fuel (alternative fuel) was burned. It also confirms the assertion that some companies have continued to pollute the environment while professing to be environment conscious.

    “The decrease in the blood parameters of the exposed rats at the cement factory is an indication of microcytic anemia. The reduction in the blood parameters showed that cytotoxic interactions exist between the blood of the exposed rats and the toxic elements in the cement dust. Lead has been known to alter the haematological system of animals, including man, inhibiting the activities of several enzymes involved in hem-biosynthesis. The reduction in the total protein of the exposed rats is an indication of the poor physiological conditions of the rats.

    “The marked histological changes in the lung, liver and kidney tissues of the exposed rats showed deleterious interactions between the tissues and the toxic elements in the cement dust. This observation supports earlier findings, all confirming respiratory problems, laryngeal cancer, immune disorders and inflammation of cells in individuals exposed to cement dust. Some elements found in cement dust from kilns burning hazardous wastes have been fingered in pathogenesis of some diseases.

    “Chromium VI compounds are known to cause respiratory problems, liver, kidney and circulatory damage. Furthermore, lead has been fingered in the damage of the liver, kidney, heart, male gonads and immune system. Silicon has also been implicated in silicosis, increased risk of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lupus, rheumatoid, arthritis and renal disease. Finally, excessive exposure to aluminium can cause respiratory problems (e.g., cough, shortness of breath), Alzheimer’s disease and kidney problem.

    “The levels at which the toxic elements were detected in the lungs of the exposed rats at the cement factory are frightening because they have exceeded all regulatory standards. It shows that the cement plant is badly polluting the environment and it confirms fears that cement production is a major source of environmental pollution. It also shows that control strategies for the prevention of dust release by cement plants have not been implemented in the cement company.

    “This study has established that the cement plant is emitting toxic elements and poisonous gases. These toxic elements were injurious to the exposed rats inhabiting the cement factory environment. No doubt, all other animals, including man, in the vicinity of the cement factory will be suffering from the same problems. This then settles the argument on toxicity of cement dust between cement manufacturers and residents.

     

    Scientific investigations on humans affirm deadly impact of cement dust exposure

    In a study carried out to determine selected heavy metals and electrolyte levels in the blood of staff of LafargeWAPCO and residents of the industrial community in Ewekoro and neighbouring districts, it was discovered that workers and the residents of the community and their neighbours are at great risk of lead poisoning to which they are persistently exposed.

    The study was led by Dr. O. O. Babalola and Babajide S. O of the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, and the Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State respectively. It focused on the determination of the levels of lead, cadmium, sodium and potassium in the blood of 36 selected industrial workers, 36 residents of the neighbouring communities and 12 residents of the communities further away from the industrial setting. The latter 12 residents served as the control population. The subjects were recruited from the cement, ceramic and granite industries at Ewekoro, Abeokuta North and South Local Government Areas of Ogun State.

    In the study, exposure to lead was identified as a major occupational hazard. This may be as a result of the increasing abundance of lead in our environment, and the consequences of industrialisation, according to the researchers.

    “The most significant source of lead exposure is dust. Occupational dust is the reason for the test carried out on these industrial workers and the residents of the neighbouring communities.

    In each case, the lead in dust arises from a complex mixture of fine particle of soil, flaked paint and airborne particles of industrial or automotive origin. Dust is deposited in windowsills from outdoor sources. The particles characteristically accumulate on exposed surface and also trapped in the fibres of clothing and carpets.

    “When lead is released into the environment, it has a long resident time compared with other pollutants. Lead and its compounds tend to accumulate in soil and sediments. They will remain bio-available far into the future due to their low solubility and relative freedom from microbial degradation…Another reason may be that, most of the arable crops being consumed by the residents of the neighbouring communities might have taken up lead from the soil. Lead from dust and gases from various industrial sources such as these factories can contaminate soil and plants.

    “Conclusively, there should be an appropriate control technology to eliminate or reduce pollution arising from industrial process and operations, both in and out of workplace, in order to protect the general environment and the health of workers and surrounding communities,” they said.

    In a separate study carried out to determine the serum levels of Chromium, Copper, Manganese, Zinc, Selenium, Iron and blood differential leucocyte of cement factory workers working in different sections of cement factory. Forty-five (45) males for the study were selected among the workers of LafargeWAPCO cement plant. Personnel working at the crusher, milling, and packing sections were selected after filling an informed consent form. They were grouped according to their sections; group 1(crusher section (13)), group 2 (milling section (19)) and group 3 (packing section (13)) with mean years of exposure of 11.6years, 5.3 years and 4.8 years respectively.

    The blood and sera of the subjects were collected for the analysis of the leucocytes differential and trace metals levels respectively. Smokers and chronically ill patients were exempted from the study.

    According to the research team, workers in the Packing and Milling sections of the factory should be specifically placed on routine monitoring of exposure rate. “Chromium (III) is an essential mineral in human nutrition however; Chromium (VI) which cement workers are exposed to is toxic. The target organ of inhaled chromium is the lung but the kidney, liver, skin and immune system may also be affected, thus workers in the milling section are more likely to come down with the toxic effects of trace metals,” claims the team.

    Why host communities scoff at LafargeWAPCO’s awards

    Residents of Ewekoro and Olapeleke, however, scoff at LafargeWAPCO’s claims stating that they are yet to feel the impact of the cement company’s touted CSR activities. “They (LafargeWAPCO) claim they are doing CSR to help us and they give our children hairdressing equipment and other tools for trades that won’t flourish due to the damage done to our community by their production activities. Isn’t that pathetic? Even the borehole water they provided for us is bad for consumption. Limestone sediments pollute the water and the most dangerous thing about it is that, it is visible to the ordinary eye,” claims Musiliu Balogun, Ekeji Baale (Chief) of Ewekoro.

    Corroborating him, Baale Gabriel Akinremi, the traditional ruler of Olapeleke, led The Nation team to see a boiling ring severely coated and stained by limestone dust. “Such is the degree of pollution that we have to contend with. Whenever we boil water gotten from the borehole LafargeWAPCO dug for us (in Olapeleke), by the time it starts to cool, we see limestone dust and sediments at the base of the container. Even the boiling ring used to boil the water, gets stained by the sediments. The water we are drinking here is not safe for consumption and we owe this dangerous development to LafargeWAPCO’s cement dust pollution and limestone quarrying in our community,” explains Baale Akinremi.

    Experts suggest solutions

    To stem the tide of cement dust pollution in the area, experts suggest urgent government’s intervention. “This is a wake-up call to the various government monitoring agencies to be alive to their duties and put the welfare of its citizenry first. They should force the cement company and others in the country to implement prevention and control strategies and follow all Environment Protection Agency’s standards. A policy on minimum standard between a cement plant and residential areas should be formulated; cover trees could also be planted around cement factories to serve as dust breakers.

    Residents of cement companies should be enlightened on the use of detoxifiers, especially medicinal plants, to eliminate toxic elements from the body. These will go a long way in preserving the health of the people living around cement factories,” according to Dr. Tajudeen and his team.

  • Boko Haram’s deadly blow on economy, peace

    Boko Haram’s deadly blow on economy, peace

    More than 1,300 people have died in the past two months as an insurgent Islamist group, Boko Haram, wages a rebellion rooted in poverty, corruption, religion and geography, writes The Guardian of London

    Zakari Matazu had just got home when a deafening sound filled his ears and part of his wall cracked and fell to the floor, whipping up a cloud of dust. Then came another boom and his legs started shaking.

    “I walked outside my house, then I saw people running helter-skelter and people screaming, and at that point my legs could no longer carry me, so I just sat down on the ground,” he recalled. “That is when I saw my neighbour Mama Baby, who was screaming and pointing to a building that had been brought to the ground by the bomb, and she was saying that her children were in the rubble.”

    Matazu, 29, survived the double bomb blast earlier this month in Maiduguri, north-east Nigeria, that killed about 45 people and destroyed seven buildings. It was the latest blow by the terrorist group Boko Haram to shake the foundations of Africa’s most populous state.

    Boko Haram is believed to be responsible for killing at least 1,300 people in the past two months and more than 130 people in the past week. The radical sect claims ties to al-Qaida and has ambitions to impose sharia law on Nigeria’s 170 million people. In Boko Haram’s heartland, even the national military is outgunned in what is fast becoming a lesson to the world in how not to tackle an Islamist insurgency.

    “What is clear is that they are as ruthless as any Islamist group or terrorists anywhere in the world,” said Antony Goldman, a west Africa risk analyst at London-based PM Consulting. “They’re quite happy to hit soft targets, including schools. Some in the Nigerian administration expect this to be a problem for another 10 years.”

    In some ways, the paradox of Nigeria in 2014 captures that of Africa itself. The continent has enjoyed a decade of economic growth and the phrase “Africa rising” has become widespread among investors and journalists. Yet at the same time the past six months have seen conflicts erupt in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, while economic growth has gone hand in hand with deepening inequality.

    So it is with Nigeria which, with oil wealth and a decade of annual growth around 7%, is set to overtake South Africa as Africa’s biggest economy, with a value close to $400bn. It has been anointed one of the “Mint” emerging economies – along with Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey – by economist Jim O’Neill. Nigerians drink more champagne than Russians do.

    But just as Africa cannot shake old habits of instability, so the booming commercial capital, Lagos, is only part of the story in one of the continent’s most unequal societies. In the north of the country, 72% of people live in poverty, compared with 27% in the south and 35% in the Niger delta, according to the US Council on Foreign Relations.

    Goldman added: “It’s a very big and very diverse country which has a particular source of wealth that has benefited some areas more than others. The north has been left behind and is probably more impoverished now than at any time in the last 30 to 40 years.”

    For centuries, the region enjoyed the fruits of Islamic civilisation. Then in the early 19th century its sultanates succumbed to a jihad by Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio, who created a unified caliphate that was the biggest pre-colonial state in Africa, ruling swaths of what is now northern Nigeria, Niger and southern Cameroon. It had a strict interpretation of Islam and a culture of scholarship and poetry. The current jihad is an example of religious rebellion in northern Nigeria that is still manifest, according to the anthropologist Murray Last. “My argument is that today’s dissidents, such as the notorious Boko Haram, are part of a tradition of dissidence; and that neither are they a new phenomenon nor will they be the last of their kind,” he wrote last year.

    Northern Nigeria did not escape the expansion of the British empire into Africa and was conquered in 1903. Since then, there has been resistance to western education, with many Muslim families refusing to send their children to government-run “western schools”.

    Shehu Sani, a human rights activist and author of Boko Haram: History, Ideas And Revolt, said: “The north fought the British colonisers because they thought they were bringing in western ideas and this would erode Islamic values and erode their culture. The southern part of Nigeria was relatively more receptive. We can say Boko Haram has historical roots in resistance to the west, but it is not a justification for wanton killings. They are condemned by the vast majority of Muslims.”

    The north-east remained a centre of Islamic learning for children from all over Nigeria and west Africa, Sani said. Its madrasas did not necessarily encourage extremism but did shape the founders of Boko Haram, who embraced the Qur’anic phrase: “Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors.”

    Some believe the trigger for the group’s inception was a gubernatorial election campaign in Borno state, when an opposition candidate organised a militia known as Ecomog, after the east African intervention force deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the 1990s. Following the election, the candidate disbanded Ecomog but did nothing to look after its members.

    One of the militia’s leaders, Mohammed Yusuf, was able to exploit the frustration and disappointment and blend it with an Islamist agenda that rejected the failings of secular government to form Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.

    In the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, where the sect had its headquarters, it was dubbed Boko Haram. Loosely translated from the Hausa language, this means “western education is forbidden”. Poverty, joblessness and despair at feeble and corrupt central governance made for fertile territory among disenchanted young men. Even climate change played a part: the drying of Lake Chad meant that fishing families were displaced and had to search for alternative livelihoods, not always successfully.

    Chris Ngwodo, a Nigerian political analyst, told al-Jazeera: “The group’s appeal is religious and resonates in the context of a weak state with severely weakened institutions. Its theatre of operations – the Sahel – features a perfect storm of sovereignty: deficient states, a young, economically frustrated population mired in poverty, nations with long histories of strife and the collapse of agrarian economies due to climate change.

    “Boko Haram represents an alternative order to this matrix of dysfunction. It evidently aims to be to the Sahel what the Taliban was in Afghanistan and in Pakistan’s tribal areas.”

    Like so many self-appointed rebels and revolutionaries, Yusuf was not poor. He was said to be well-educated and to drive a Mercedes. In an interview with the BBC, he set out the group’s anti-science philosophy: “Prominent Islamic preachers have seen and understood that the present western-style education is mixed with issues that run contrary to our beliefs in Islam. Like rain. We believe it is a creation of God rather than an evaporation caused by the sun that condenses and becomes rain. Like saying the world is a sphere. If it runs contrary to the teachings of Allah, we reject it. We reject the theory of Darwinism.”

    Yusuf set up a religious complex, which included a mosque and an Islamic school that attracted many poor Muslim families. In 2009 Boko Haram attacked several police stations and other official buildings in Maiduguri. The Nigerian security forces hit back and more than 1,000 people died, not all of them Boko Haram supporters. Yusuf was captured and killed, his body shown on television. Boko Haram was finished.

    But its fighters regrouped under a new leader. In 2010 it attacked a prison in Bauchi state, freeing hundreds of its supporters, and carried out deadly bombings in Jos and military barracks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Its main modus operandi was to deploy gunmen on motorbikes to kill police, politicians and other opponents. Since then, the waves of shootings and bombings have continued and, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, Boko Haram is responsible for nearly 3,800 deaths since May 2011. The group has sworn allegiance to al-Qaida and, Sani says, some of its members have fought in Somalia and Sudan, but a formal link “cannot be independently confirmed”.

    Last year, the president, Goodluck Jonathan, declared a state of emergency in three north-eastern states, but critics say the official response has been counterproductive, with extrajudicial killings and the torture of suspected Boko Haram members acting as a recruiting sergeant for the group.

    Professor Ishaq Akintola, director of Muslim Rights Concern, said: “Life is very hard there. It is difficult to move freely from one place to the other. With military checkpoints all over the place and the fear of Boko Haram attacking them any moment, people are between the devil and the deep blue sea. Sometimes they are holed up indoors for days. Hunger and starvation have enveloped the environment. While thousands have fled their homes, it is only the fear of the unknown that has stopped the rest from fleeing.”

    If anything, Boko Haram has intensified its operations of late, including an attack that saw 43 students shot and hacked to death and many girls kidnapped. In response, the government closed five schools considered to be in “high security risk areas”.

    Some Nigerians who feel let down by the government are taking the fight on themselves. Zakari Matazu, survivor of the double bombing in Maiduguri, belongs to a youth vigilante group in Borno state popularly known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF). “Now Boko Haram are attacking everywhere because they are strong – even stronger than the soldiers,” he said. “I am a CJTF but I now know that Boko Haram can decide to attack and capture the town of Maiduguri any time. Everybody knows that. The federal government has abandoned us to be killed by Boko Haram. All the people in the villages have fled to Maiduguri, so if Boko Haram does not see people killed in the villages, they will come to the city.”

    Last month Boko Haram threatened to strike farther afield, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the economy. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened attacks on oil refineries in the mainly Christian south, saying in a video: “Niger delta, you are in trouble.” but few analysts believe the group poses an existential threat to Nigeria.

    Goldman said: “People talk a lot of nonsense about Boko Haram. They say it’s about Muslim versus Christian, north versus south. That’s not true. Thousands have been killed and almost all of them have been Muslims in the north-east. That’s where the brunt of this insurgency has been felt.”

    Several government crackdowns have failed to quell it and it seems 2014 could be the bloodiest year yet. Sani believes that only a combination of short- and long-term approaches can work. “The government of Nigeria can apply the stick – they must step up intelligence and military action – but there should also be the carrot approach if they can use Islamic clerics in the north and the Boko Haram members in detention. If there is a synergy of this, there could be a breakthrough. The long-term solution has to do with addressing poverty and inequality. There needs to be a new economic model for the Sahel.”

    Those on the frontline are living in a parallel universe to the champagne parties in Nigeria’s big cities. “We are in a state of war,” Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno state, said recently in a plea to the president. “Boko Haram are better armed and better motivated than our own troops. It is impossible for us to defeat the Boko Haram.”

  • Softy, Valentine Romeo…. Juliet can be deadly

    Today is Valentine’s Day, Lover’s Day. And, going by tradition, millions of young people and old people who are still young at heart will paint many of Nigeria’s cities and towns real red. Red has returned to the top fashion colour chat lately, with many women and men donning red tops. Often, I have found myself teasing red – topped women to cool off and save all their energy till today!

    Painting the towns red at this time means plenty of water will flow past under the bridge, as an adage says, and men, as usual, will pay dearly for it. For in this part of the world, love is synonymous with sex, and over indulgence in sex as this season promotes drains men of vital energy with damaging effect on their prostate glands, for example. It was timely that no less a medical giant than the respected and brilliant Professor Ashiru, of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, said last Saturday in a Channels Television interview that many men were suffering today from prostate gland disorders.

    Although he spoke in a context different from what a Lovers’ Day revelry may impact on the prostate gland, I believe all the roads end up in the same market, as they say. I was informed of Prof. Ashiru’s interview by an avid reader of this column, Mr. Olawale Ajila, of Abuja, who follows every reading of this column with a basketful of questions. He is in a stressful top job which he does not wish to age him prematurely, and, routinely, asks for which food supplements to invest in. I tell him always to care for his brain, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver and digestive system and, of course, his prostate gland. In respect of the prostate, he invests in such supplements as Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Essential fatty acids, Amazon Prostate Support, Vitamin E (d – alpha tocopherols), among others. We have a point of departure with cow’s milk. He easily gave up bread, sugar and fried foods. But he would not agree to replace cow’s milk with coconut milk. He is yet to read last week’s edition of this column which featured publications in respected medical journals which showed that women who drank the most milk, in search of calcium from milk for their bones, suffered the most from osteoporosis or loss of bone matter. But when, according to him, Prof Ashiru listed Magnesium and Zinc deficiencies and cow milk consumption as possible front-line causes of prostate diseases he bade cow milk bye. I did not watch the interview but I hope the interviewer gave the learned professor enough time to comment on the health ravages of cow’s milk. Only last Thursday, I explained in part how the calcium of cow’s milk, for which the medical profession prescribes it for osteoporosis, is too dense, like the protein, for the human body, and how in composition, coconut milk, like almond milk, comes closer to mother’s milk.

     

    Zinc

     

    I will quickly address Zinc since it is a mineral not many people are familiar with. Inside the prostate gland, there is an enzyme known as 5-Alpha Reductase. It behaves well, performing its natural functions in this organ, if there is enough amount of Zinc to keep an eye on it. Many nutritionists believe that the average adult human body contains about three grammes of zinc (3,000 mg) of which about 80 per cent is inside the prostate gland. The remainder is concentrated in such parts of the body as the hair, eyes, thymus gland, liver, bones and semen, for example. In the nail, Zinc deficiency manifests as white spots and brittleness. In the tongue, Zinc deficiency causes loss of taste and loss of the sense of smell in the nose. In tissue, Zinc deficiency is associated with poor wound healing. Zinc lozenges are known to heal sore throat or mouth sores when chewed or gargled with. In some experiments, Zinc supplementation of the diet has led to increases in penile and breast size and weight, increased sperm count and fertility profile. Even children who do not grow satisfactorily do so when they are given Zinc. Some studies suggest, also, that low Zinc levels are not too distant from pregnancy complications, miscarriages and birth defects. Mothers often force children to eat when these young ones do not feel like, perhaps because their appetite is down and their taste and smell acuity low. Giving these children Zinc supplement often reverses this situation, going by some research findings.. The same goes for children who are apathetic or lethargic or exhibit other behaviour problems.

    The eyes account for one of the largest concentrations of Zinc in the body. Here, Zinc is believed to support the activation of Vitamin A, a crucial factor in the prevention of night blindness which may progress to such dangerous eye disorder as glaucoma. Many studies associate Zinc deficiency in the eye to such other disorders as cataracts and optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve) which may dull vision or, intimately, leads to blindness. Physical stress takes its toll on Zinc stores.

    The immune system cannot do without Zinc. Zinc is important for the production of thymolin,a secretion of the thymus gland. It is in this gland that the immune system T cells (named after the Thymus gland) finally mature after the production. In Zinc deficient people, the thymus gland has been found to shrink to about a quarter of its adult size, implying reduced Tcell maturation in this organ that may be likened to a Defence Academy of the immune system. Dr. Walker suggests in his book VIBRANT HEALTH that the thymus gland bounces back to full size and activity in many people within two weeks of their taking zinc supplement. For physician who manages condition, such as cancer and HIV and their patient alike this may be useful information from Dr. Walker. In many people challenged with cancer, low level of Zinc and high-level of Copper have been reported in clinical studies. Zinc and Copper co-exist in a 4:1 ratio. Too much zinc means too little copper. Too much copper means too little Zinc. Copper is useful for body processes, including the production of the natural immune system complex, SUPER OXIDE DISMUTASE, in the manufacture of melanin, the skin pigment, and in blood formation among many others. Copper is present in food crops and enter the body through cookware and copper pipe water plumbing, not to mention copper – complex drugs. Too much of it may cause over-growth of viruses, headaches and lupus erythematosus, an immune disease. I have digressed into Copper somewhat because many women use copper-based inter-uterine device (IUDs) for contraception. These devices are a source of copper ingress into the body which calls for Zinc supplementation of the diet as counselees.

    Many people are Zinc-deficient for many reasons. The crops they consume as food may have been grown on Zinc – deficient soil. They may not have enough stomach acid to digest Zinc in the diet. Or, they may have short intestines, or malabsorption problems, both of which negatively affect nutrient absorption into the bloodstream. Sometimes, the problem may arise from taking Zinc-rich food or supplement with fibre-rich foods in which case the Zinc may be trapped in the webs of the fiber. It may very well happen, also, that Zinc is consumed with a diet rich in Calcium and Magnesium which, in the competition for absorption, may crowd zinc out. In the ELECTROCHEMICAL SERIES, Zinc comes after Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium and Aluminum in that order, and can be displaced by them. Some English doctors discovered this problem by chance. One of them was treating a young woman for a series of condition which be thought warranted the deployment of Zinc against them. But to his surprise, during check up afterwards the serum levels of Zinc hardly rose to the desired levels. So, he changed his tactic. She was no longer to take her zinc supplements with her meals but on empty stomach every night before she went to bed. And amazingly, the serum level of Zinc rose as high as was expected. Publication of this experiment led many doctors to adopt the process. My friends should understand now why they take their Zinc supplements on empty stomach.

    We must return now to Valentine’s Day, Lovers, Day, and the tendency among virile men to paint the town red. The lyrics of the young generation of musicians shows that, at this age and perhaps far into the choleric years, men seem to understand nothing beyond sex. I will always remember one woman, letter with them, who says the brains of men are on the tips of their organs! Last week, Ayoka Willes one of my Facebook friends, wrote on the wall that a woman who wished to keep a man should (1) feed him (2) let him sleep with her and then (3) leave him. I replied that this was where short time palliatives which offer no such guarantees in the long run for serious minded men who desire completely different values in woman they like to keep for life. Women who wish to be toys in the hand of men will forever seek the short cuts, no doubt. But short cuts are no more than short cuts.

    Before we get lost, inside the prostate gland, is 5-Alpha neductase. As I said earlier, It behaves normally in the presence of zinc, its headmaster so to say. Zinc is an alkaline substance plentiful in semen. Sperm thrives in an alkaline environment. Sperm requires this alkalinity to survive in the acidic vagina. The vaginal needs a measure of acidity to protect her against germs. It has been suggested by some gynaecologists that when a woman has sex frequently, the alkaline semen alters the pH of the vagina and leaves her unprotected, a reason advanced for frequent vaginal infections experienced by some women. If has nothing to do with promiscuity by the dictionary or religions. Definition: if a woman sleeps with her husband every day, the pH of her vagina may alter, according to this hyper thesis. For the man who loves himself, every ejaculation means loss of lots of Zinc. From the prostate storage if, for the reasons stated or / and any other, Zinc losses are not replaced, even the prostate gland soon become Zinc deficient. One of the possible consequence of this, apart from low sperm count, sperm or low motility (poor movement ) and misshapen or agglutinated (clumped or gummed)sperm is that, in the vacuum created by in adequate Zinc stored or in the absence of the headmaster, 5 Alpha Aeductase runs riot. What it then does is to convert the male hormone testosterone into dihydrotestosterone. This is a dangerous form of testosterone which makes the prostate cells grow abnormally. Such a growth may lead to Benign Prostrate Hyperplasia (BPH) or to prostate cancer or to any other.

     

    Calcium and magnesium

     

    Like Zinc and Copper, Calcium and Magnesium go together but in a 2.1 ratio. Last week I mentioned the relevance of Calcium to bone density and some types of Calcium, popular because they were cheap, which cause absorption problems. Calcium aids blood clotting, proper functioning of the heart, prevent pregnancy-related hypertension, helps to activate the enzyme required for the digestion of fats and proteins, and support energy production. Nerves transmission, too, is helped by calcium. Thus, dull vision due to sub-optimal optic nerve output may be helped by Calcium. When I get up from my seat, my nerves and muscle are at work, and they are using up Calcium. Even when I sleep on a soft mattress and my nerves must help the muscles adjust the body to the contours of the bed. Calcium is being used all night. Thus, I may arrive at a point in which I am Calcium deficient if I do not regularly replace the used or worn out Calcium molecules. As for reproduction, many people are always surprised that the sperm, seemingly without eyes, know where to find the egg. This process is helped by signalling; just the same way immune cells discover foreign bodies and attack them. The egg signals its location using Calcium and the relevant antenna in the sperm picks them up. Thus, a woman deficient in Calcium may give the sperm a hell of problem, as they say, locating it. And this may delay pregnancy, much desired as it may be for woman anxious by seeking a “fruit of the womb”. Calcium and magnesium are alkaline minerals which help to neutralise excess undesirable acids in the body. The prostate too profits from them. Magnesium is the counter pole of calcium. When Calcium flows in, it tightens the soft muscles in cell. But they relax when Magnesium flushes out Calcium. Magnesium supplement in the diet has been found to aid sound sleep, especially if given a few hours before bed time. Constipation may be due to magnesium deficiency. If intestinal muscles contract and do not relax easily, food cannot move on as it is the contraction and relaxation process which induce penstaltic motion. That’s why milk of magnesia helps to keep the bowels moving. People who suffer from nerve pains, such as neuralgia or fibromyalgia (bone, nerve and muscle pain) profit from magnesium use. Many psychiatric conditions also abate on magnesium supplementation; this suggests that this mineral helps the brain cells to relax. A study of 165 boys showed that the one among them who was depressed, schizophrenic or sleep well had the least blood levels of magnesium; even some autistic children were found to improve on magnesium supplementation. Magnesium, like zinc, can help the prostrate felon, which has been on the rampage in Nigeria for years. If, as was published in this column a few months ago, BENEBIOTIC, an alcoholic extract of some Nigerian medicinal plants, reversed BPH in about three months it is most probably because of its high zinc content and the antibiotic action of the constituent. For I am aware from the Pharmacopeia of western Nigeria, that one of the ingredients is very rich in Zinc. Benabiotic was originally designed for staphylococcus. Magnesium helps out in some types of hypertension and in cases of angina pain caused by spasms of coronary arteries, since it can calm these muscular agitations. There is abundant evidence that high blood pressure, like diabetes, causes spasms in the blood vessels of the retina which may cause vision loss or blindness, and that, in their conditions, magnesium levels are low and higher in magnesium levels help to minimise or reverse the risks. In glaucoma, a serious condition of the eye, magnesium can be a wonderful friend. Calcium flowing into the self muscles of the drainage channel tightens and blocks it. Special pharmaceutical eye drops prevent this adhesion, but at a cost. Magnesium chases calcium out and the eyes feel alright and better.

     

    EFAs and Vitamins E

     

    Vitamin E deficiency has been found to cause the testes to shrink or to atrophy. EFAs are essential fatty acids… especially the Omega-3 oils in many people, the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 and to Omega-9 has altered in favour of Omega-6 largely because Omega 6 is what now dominates the diet. Yet, the prostate, as a fatty organ, requires Omega-3 to keep healthy. Saw Palmetto Bernes made the headlines in the 1980s when it was found to be an answer to BPH. When this herb revealed the secret of its constituents, few people were surprised. They contain lots of Omega-3and zinc. Ditto Pumpkin seeds and Sunflower seeds, both of which grow abundantly in Nigeria.

    In conclusion, may we plead with the Romeos of Valentine’s Day to cool off their heels, to take it easy with the flaming Juliet’s lest they lose much more nutrients than the prostate gland can stand. The prostate loss affects other organs as well, as has been shown. Can this be why young men are sick today?

  • Deadly drones

    Deadly drones

    US’ expedition in Niger has implications for Nigeria’s security

    There are developments in the West African sub-region, presumably triggered by the ongoing war in Mali, which give cause for concern. Part of the disturbing fallout of the Malian crisis is the report that the United States of America (US) has obtained permission from Niger Republic to establish a drone base in the country, ostensibly for unarmed surveillance operations. Niger is sandwiched between Nigeria and Mali, and this deal has serious implications for the two countries which have been facing disruptive challenges from Islamic militias.

    The drone outpost is expected to facilitate the US military command’s unmanned surveillance missions concerning the activities of Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist organisation in Nigeria, and other extremist groups in West Africa that are affiliated to Al Queda and similar sectarian proponents. It is also calculated that the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), which will be made possible with the establishment of the drone base, will reduce risks involved with the use of humans and as well raise the level of intelligence gathering around the desert belt connecting North and West Africa.

    As if the development should not come as a surprise, it is said that the US African Command (USAFRICOM) has had the project “in the pipeline” for a while, and has just demonstrated greater seriousness on the issue in the light of the outbreak of war in Mali, involving Islamic rebels. However, it is astonishing that the authorities on security matters in the country are yet to respond publicly to the development, despite the far-reaching consequences it would likely have on Nigeria’s security.

    With the benefit of hindsight, it would now seem that the USAFRICOM Commander, General Carter Ham, may have hinted at this project when he spoke at the Nigerian Defence College (NDC) last month. He focused on areas of common interests and challenges that connect Nigeria and the US, and argued that the Al-Queda networks and affiliates, including Boko Haram, were morphing in ways that increased their menace-value.

    He observed that this not only endangered individual African states and regional stability, but also posed a threat to US and international security interests.

    Perhaps it is to be expected that the US, a global super power, should seek to police the world, but that is no justification for the drone scheme in Niger. This manoeuvre further calls into question its self-assigned role as a universal policeman, even though it is believed that the US already had a secret base in Niger before the drone dream came up. The deduction from this move is that the US is convinced that its presence in Niger is strategic for the global counterterrorism effort, being a gateway to other sub-regions on the continent. But the question is: should the US unilaterally decide on the use of Nigerien territory to combat terrorism, even if it enjoys Niger’s cooperation?

    It is significant that the US drone strategy remains a highly contentious aspect of its foreign policy. Generally, the drone programme is secretive, and it is unknown how many bases the US has worldwide for drone operations. The world would obviously be better served by an international framework to deal with the terror trouble, rather than an individually determined riot squad, which is what the US move looks like.

    There are grave implications for Nigeria’s security, judging by its proximity to Niger and terrorist activities within its territory. The US drone scheme makes the country perhaps even more vulnerable, and constitutes a distraction, with the country never sure of when the unmanned technology might be deployed, and why. It deserves to be denounced.

  • She wants to use our daughter to get a second chance at marriage, but that could be deadly

    You’re doing a good job on your page; keep it up. Women can be irrational! How do you react to this? A woman leaves her hubby’s home in Kaduna, visits her mom in Port Harcourt, without the consent of her hubby.

    She was away for a month and barely two weeks of her return, she wanted to go back and she actually did. She was away again for one month.

    In the third week of her second trip, she sent an SMS- “Give me a divorce & I’ll send my siblings to pack my things.”

    I replied: “You only know what’s yours, not your siblings. be bold and pack by yourself. Before you finish packing, divorce note will be ready!”

    Eventually, she came back and I waited for her to pack. One month after, she returned. I was on the phone at about 8pm when she entered our bedroom and attacked me physically because I was talking to another zwoman. It took the man in me to free myself. In my life and 18 years of previous marriage, I never hit a woman, but in this attack, I had no other option. I taught her a lesson. After the attack, I divorced her after three years plus of marriage with a daughter. Now she wantsto use our daughter as a reason to come back. A second chance could be deadly. I want my daughter to have a dad!

     

    Dear brother, issues like this are delicate and I must be very objective in my response to you. Let’s take a look at all the intricate parts of your story before we sum them all up and arrive at a conclusion. I must however call your attention to the fact that this is a one-sided story and full of holes. It may take us knowing the other side to do justice to this problem. But since there is no other side of the story (yet), let me attempt to ask some questions and answer them at the same time.

    Question: What would make a married woman pack her things and go to her mother’s place so far away in Port-Harcourt all the way from Kaduna and stay for a whole month without her husband’s consent?

    Answer: It could be that the marriage has broken down so much that the woman doesn’t care about what the husband thinks anymore. They might have been having arguments over money or other such issues, keeping malice in the house or have stopped enjoying each other’s company.

    Question: What would make that same woman come back home and pack almost immediately back to her mother’s house and the husband is still not making an issue out of that? Meanwhile, she’s a Nigerian and the family members who should know about family and marriage values in the Nigerian context are aware of her frequent movements away from her husband’s house and none could call the man to speak with him on what was going on.Why would the mother for instance not even call the man to say hello and to announce that her daughter and granddaughter were with her on the two occasions that the daughter went home?

    Answer: It could mean only one thing, the wife’s family are well aware of the problems in the marriage. After all, the wife would have regaled them with different tales and they may have been biased. Let us not forget that that is their daughter and they would want to protect her by all means even if she is wrong.

    Question: What kind of man would just keep mute and allow his wife to stay just like that after she had threatened on the phone to come and pack her things without raising it with her and setting rules about such irresponsible movements between Kaduna and Port-Harcourt. And what kind of man would just take her back like that without ironing things out with her parents?

    Answer: You may think you’re a strong man by remaining calm in the midst of a storm, but you’re not that strong, I’m sorry to say. Even if within you, you’re aware that some of the problems in the marriage are pushing your wife away from you, one would have expected you to use the opportunity of her irrational movements to tackle it once and for all.

    Conclusion

    Two rights don’t make a wrong, so, there must be a frank roundtable discussion between you and this woman to identify where you both went wrong. You both must be able to come out truthfully about the factors that led to your separation and divorce in the first place. If you think you can take her back just like that, it would be like covering a bad wound without treating it; it will fester and cause worse damage. Be real about the emotional pains and the things that went wrong or got right when you were apart. NEVER come back to a bad marriage for the sake of children. If the underlying factors leading to problems are still visible, the children would be affected psychologically and may blame you for coming back.

    It’s a hard fact that some people are just not compatible and you cannot force that. More than anything pray about it and ask God for directions. Shun sentiments and don’t rush into going back together. Start afresh and go for dates as if you were meeting each other for the first time. Inject romance into the whole show and be truthful about finances. If she doesn’t have a job, get her something doing. Respect each other’s need for privacy and don’t go calling other women in her presence. God help you.