The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Diseases

  • Sexually transmitted diseases can be cured naturally

    Sexually transmitted diseases can be cured naturally

    Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are diseases transmitted through sexual or coital relations. In this age and time of our national life, there is still pervasive ignorance and or negligence as far as sexually related diseases are concerned, whereas, these diseases are a major cause of infertility among the populace. The question of reproduction is therefore predicated on the state of the individual’s related organs (male and female)

    STDS are transmitted through three broad channels:

    • Male and female relations
    • Male and male (homosexuals)
    • Female and female (lesbians)

    The so-called toilet infection being adduced, especially by females, rather  than seriously look into their sexual behaviour is not really tenable. It is, however, important for ladies to be conscious of the sanitary condition of toilet facilities, due to the very nature of the female reproductive organ.

     

    Types of STDs

    In this era of several treatment – resistant diseases, the clearly identified STDS are:

    • Gonorrohea
    • Herpes
    • Syphilis
    • HIV/AIDS – although AIDS could be contracted through other means than sex (like the sharing of needles by drug users)

     

    Signs/symptoms

    1. Burning sensation during mitch uration (urine) especially in males.
    2. Discharge of pus during mitchuration.
    3. Vaginal discharge accompanied by unpleasant odour.
    4. Haematouria (blood in urine)
    5. Painful blisters or wart around the genitals (male or female)
    6. Renal failure- most cases of kidney diseases are traceable to STDS, especially in advanced untreated cases.
    7. Infertility – damage to or blockade of the fallopian tubes and even the ovaries.
    8. Damage to the testosterone (male semen production unit) resulting in low sperm count (Algiosperma) or no sperm – (Azoosperma)
    9. Premature ejaculation (Erectile dysfunction)
    10. Impotence- weak or no erection

     

    Management/ treatment

    • Urine/blood analysis or test is required
    • Appropriate anti-biotic (orally or injectable-IM) must be administered by a qualified medical personnel.
    • Avoid indiscriminate sexual activities.
    • Surgery may be necessary as in urethral stricture.
    • HIV – Anti-retroviral regimen may be needed.
    • Natural health options are shapo root and aworosho.

    People should take note that both possess strong cathartic or purgative properties, hence they must be used in small doses at a time.

  • ‘Why we must stop kidney diseases’

    ‘Why we must stop kidney diseases’

    A professor of Medicine and Surgery, Evelyn Unuigbe, has delivered the 158th inaugural lecture of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) at the Akin Deko Auditorium. She spoke on a lecture titled: He gave them for your purification and good health, protect those amazing kidneys of yours.

    Prof Unuigbe, who is also a consultant nephrologist, in her lecture, revealed how Acute Kidney Disease (AKD) and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) have caused preventable deaths. While AKD was treatable, she said CKD manifests late and untreatable.

    She said patients suffering CKD usually go for treatment, a situation, she said, made the illness treatment difficult. She listed inadequate equipment, research funding, lack of public awareness and poverty as some of the challenges making the CKD treatment difficult include. She urged governments at all level to step up efforts in addressing the problems.

    She said: “We are not always happy when we see patients die of CKD. Many of them come late because the symptoms manifest late. Renal transplant and dialysis are expensive and they beyond what an average Nigerian can afford. The average dialysis and the immunosuppressive drugs, which the patients have to take for lifetime, can be put at N2.6 million annually.”

    She added: “Patients need dialysis three times a week but many of them do it twice, some once and others, when they have the money. There was the case of two 400-Level medical students, who died of CKD. They died one year after they had kidney transplant; it is not because the surgery was faulty but they could not continue with the dialysis. Their dreams to become doctors were truncated. We don’t need to lose people to kidney disease again.”

    The lecturer noted that kidney transplant is free countries, such as United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and Sudan, wondering why Nigerian government lagged behind in providing free dialysis for its citizens.

    She recommended improved awareness, lifestyle modification, regular consultation and promulgation of laws to make dialysis and kidney transplant subsidised.

    Dean of College of Medicine, Prof Moses Momoh, hailed the inaugural lecturer for her “thoroughly conducted” research. He said: “The lecturer has done well. I hope her recommendations would be implemented by the appropriate authorities.”

  • How to stop inter-border diseases, by institute

    How to stop inter-border diseases, by institute

    The policing of Nigeria’s vast borders will keep threats and diseases at bay, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Director-General Prof Innocent Ujah has said.

    According to him, the heavy human traffic across Nigeria borders, inadequate resources and poor immigration laws have made the country susceptible to a variety of threats and diseases.

    He said more funds were needed to address these problems.

    Ujah said availability of funds would help the institute perform its statutory roles of preventing inter-border transmission of diseases.

    The research institute, he said, has the human resources to police the nation’s borders, but has not assumed this role because of some constraints

    “But, poor funding both from Federal and private sectors is really affecting its output, the institute can do with a better funding,” he said.

    Despite poor funding, the institute, he said, was able to contain Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) by its involvement in capacity building and in serving as an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Ujah said, among other functions.

    He said: “An Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is a complex facility that serves as a nerve centre during both small emergencies and large disasters. There are five primary considerations for the design and construction of a new Emergency Operations Centre. “These are survivability, redundancy, communications, flexibility, open architecture and security. These design considerations are important even if you are remodeling a building to become your EOC, or modifying and improving an existing EOC.

    “Without adequate funding, NIMR rose to the national need. With our dilapidated structure, buildings and equipment we did not disappoint. We delivered and won the war against EVD.”

    He said he expected the government to move the institute’s Laboratory safety level from 3rd to 4th now, as a result of its experience with EVD.

    “But that is not the case, and that is a big missed opportunity because such would have helped the institute have capacity for further health research and trainings and retraining. It would have also helped to consider measures for protecting staff from airborne vapor hazards by having systems in place to either filter air intakes, or shut air handling systems down to allow for sheltering in place,” Prof Ujah said.

    He noted that the cross-border research unit, which he set up at Maiduguru, has gone under because of insurgency and other factors affecting the institute.

    The factors, according to him, include the institute’s location in Lagos, instead of Abuja, the nation’s capital. “Our research cannot be published in notable journals because of sundry issues, including the institute not having its own journal. Political decisions should begin to favour research institutes because health is wealth,” he said.

  • Immunisation ‘ll ward off diseases, says expert

    Immunisation ‘ll ward off diseases, says expert

    Parents have been asked to build the immune system of their children to keep away infections.

    A paediatrician, Dr  Chinenye Ananti said immunisation could boost children’s immunity and protect them against diseases.

    Mothers, she said, should ensure that their children take all childhood killer diseases vaccines in order to stay healthy.

    The diseases, according to her  are preventable.

    She identified diseases that affect children under-five and infants to include diarrhoea, measles, tetanus, pertussis, fever, poliomyelitis, pneumonia, diphtheria, chicken pox and small pox. Others are Down’s syndrome, influenza, leukemia, mumps, rickets, tuberculosis and whooping cough, adding that, they can be threats to children’s lives.

    The paediatrician said Nigeria is at the verge of getting rid of some of the diseases, which include polio, stressing that immunisation has been proven to be a good way to getting rid of them.”

    Ananti said both Federal and state governments have been organising immunisation awareness programmes to educate the public on the importance of immunisation.

    “They also provided vaccines to hospitals and nurses have been mobilised to do a door-to-door immunisation on children and infants under-five. They distributed mosquito-treated nets to expectant mothers for free at hospitals and creation of health care centres,” she said.

    Dr Ananti said diseases can be prevented by keeping good hygiene.

    “Besides, environmental sanitation should be done regularly to ensure cleanliness,” she said.

    Nigeria, she said, can reduce the disturbing figures of infant mortality rate by creating awareness on immunisation and the various types of vaccines needed to keep children healthy.

    The government, she said, should make all the vaccines available, adding that some of them are quite expensive.

    “But they should be made available to the public. Also, ACT drugs should be made accessible,” she said.

  • Experts lament rising non-communicable diseases

    Experts have raised the alarm on the rising cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria.

    A don at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof Femi Olufemi Fasanmade, said this was so because of the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles.

    He said NCDs are non-contagious, which are rising daily. They include hypertension, asthma, diabetes mellitus, peptic ulcer and arthritis, he added.

    Fasanmade, a consultant endocrinologist at LUTH, said NCDs are mainly lifestyle-related.

    Others, he said, are foreign food, over-eating, sedentary lifestyle, increased consumption of soft drinks and alcohol, adding that they are also associated with advancing age and stress.

    He advised the Federal Government to promote healthy eating, regular exercises and screening and education.

    Others are regulation of sugary and alcoholic beverages, provision of playing grounds and parks, increased access to healthy food, reduction of pollution and environmental toxins.

    Fasanmade urged the people to eat moderately, exercise and stop smoking and taking of alcohol. Obesity should be discouraged and people should have regular check ups.

    A chest physician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Cyril Chukwu, said NCDs account for more deaths than communicable diseases (CDs).

    He said though there were no statistics, records showed more people visit hospitals for NCDs than CDs these days.  He said NCD is the largest cause of mortality in people of working age.

    The incidences in younger adults, he noted, are higher in poor countries, especially in Africa, than in the rich countries.

    He listed cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes as some NCDs.

    Chukwu said the rising cases were due to some behavioural risk factors, such as poor diet, inactivity,  smoking and excessive alcohol intake.

    He said NCDs are more prevalent in urban areas, adding that the increasing globalisation of food, tobacco and alcohol industries are also responsible for thedisease.

    “NCDs have a major impact on men and women of working age and their elderly dependents. They result in lost income, lost opportunities for investment, and overall lower levels of economic development,” he said.

    He urged the Federal Government to raise awareness on prevention rather than cure.

  • ‘Livestock identification ‘ll reduce spread of diseases’

    ‘Livestock identification ‘ll reduce spread of diseases’

    Livestock expert, Dr Ademola Adeyemo, said the establishment of a livestock identification programme will help the government to track livestock in cases of disease outbreaks.

    Having recovered from the attack of Ebola and bird flu, Adeyemo,who is Deputy Director, General Management,Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute(ARMTI), said there was  the need for a registry to track animals’ movements so that agriculture and health officials can quickly establish quarantines and take other steps to prevent the spread of disease.

    He said livestock producers need to affix identification to their animals, while there should be records of medical treatments such as vaccinations, medications and feed requirements.

    At the nation’s stage in development, the don said animal identification should be required and producers accept the concept to save the industry from diseases occurrences.

    According to him, tracking cows should be a concern as identification will make investigations faster and easier.

    Meanwhile, Sub-Saharan African countries have adopted a declaration on animal identification and recording, a move that is expected to improve food security, livestock genetics and better flock management as well as manage animal health and disease control.

    “By adopting the Pretoria Declaration on Animal Identification and Recording Systems for Traceability and Livestock Development, the countries have affirmed their commitment to identification of animals and recording of their movements and health and put in place measures such as surveillance, early detection and notification of outbreaks, rapid response, control of animal movements, and zoning or compartmentalisation,” said Food and Agriculture Organisation( FAO) Representative in South Africa, Tobias Takavarasha.

    Livestock is one of the most important and fastest growing agricultural subsectors in developing countries, fuelled by increasing demand for animal products. Livestock accounts for 37 per cent of agricultural Gross Domestic Product and it continues to grow. Despite the rapid growth globally, animal production (meat, milk and eggs) in Sub-Saharan Africa is   increasing at a slower pace.

    A substantial and sustained increase in animal production and productivity is therefore required and animal identification, performance recording and traceability can significantly contribute to the much needed growth. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme targets an annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent for the livestock sector by enhancing the role of livestock in agricultural intensification and promotion of market-based livestock development.

    Animal Identification and performance recording systems are also key to genetic improvement and to better herd and flock management and, thus, enable sustained productivity gains. This has  been demonstrated in many countries where decades of performance recording and selection have resulted in remarkable improvements in animal productivity, particularly in the commercial sector. “Africa needs investment in animal identification and performance recording to become competitive in the markets for breeding animals as well as animals for consumption,” said Irene Hoffmann, Chief of FAO’s Animal Genetic Resources programme.

    Presentations and group discussions during the Symposium provided ample examples for the integrated approach and multipurpose benefits from animal identification and recording.

    “This holistic approach is nicely illustrated in the FAO guidelines for the development of integrated and multipurpose animal recording systems that were designed to support countries in the development of such systems”, said Badi Besbes, FAO Animal Production Officer.

    About 130 participants from 30 countries met in Pretoria, South Africa, at the occasion of the international symposium on ‘Animal Identification and Recording Systems for Traceability and Livestock Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’.

  • Epidemic of cardiac and renal diseases and the Lagos panacea

    Epidemic of cardiac and renal diseases and the Lagos panacea

    Gboyega Alaka highlights the continued devastation of Nigerian’s by cardiac and renal diseases, as they attain epidemic level globally, even as he chronicles the recent Lagos State Cardiac and Renal Centre, as a panacea.

    Twice frontline actor, Prince Ifeanyi Dike had to go to India to attend to his ailing kidneys. Twice he also had to undergo kidney transplants because the first transplant failed, and to stay alive, he had to travel the delicate route one more time. For the first time, he also shared his well-kept secret of how felt too embarrassed to call for public help on the second mission; hence he had to go it secretly  probably with the help of a few close friends and family.  The good news however, was, he survived.

    Radio jockey, Steve ‘the sleek’ Kadiri wasn’t that lucky. Like Dike, his first transplant also failed. Like Dike, he too wasn’t able to call for public help until friends, led by Alariwo and co took up his case and launched another appeal. But unlike Dike, Kadiri did not survive. He died before the funding for the second transplant could be fully raised.

    President Umaru Yar’adua, with all of the Nigerian state’s machinery and endless cash at his disposal also did not survive. He lost his battle with the highly mortal kidney ailment, despite going to the best hospital in Saudi Arabia. Forget that he embarrassed the Nigerian nation in the process, as many thought the federal government as the sixth largest crude oil producer in the world had no business taking its president to a fellow oil producing state. Not even if it was the world’s number one in the OPEC ranking.

    53 year-old Rahila Jiboyewa, an economics teacher at the University of Maiduguri Staff School is currently facing the battle of her life. After an initial mis-diagnosis in Nigeria that focused treatment on her diabetes, doctors in India have confirmed that her problems were indeed caused by her ailing kidneys, which they say have all but packed up.

    So she has been busy in the last couple of weeks, raising money through good-spirited Nigerians to go for treatment that includes series of dialysis and a kidney transplant in India. She would need a whopping N8million in the least to pay for the treatments and all the appendages of flight for herself and her companion, feeding and accommodation. She needs so much money because her country ‘does’ not have the capacity to take care of her situation, otherwise, she just have had to raise half of that amount for her treatment. The mis-diagnoses and other nasty experiences she went through in Nigerian hospitals and in the hands of fellow Nigerian health personnel, would not even make her consider a Nigerian option, if there were any.  Not even a dialysis session, as she has seen how a Nigerian hospital infected a fellow renal disease patient, during a pre-dialysis operation, complicating her situation in the process.

    Of course the cases of actor Muna Obiekwe and radio guru Chaz B are still fresh in our minds.

    So much for renal-related diseases.

    Just last month, 13-year old Prince Tomiwa Adewale Abegunde returned from the United States of America, where he had gone for a vital hole in the heart operation, sponsored by the America-based Gift of Life Foundation. Today, Adewale lives, to the glory of God and the goodwill of a foreign NGO and a foreign facility. Truth however was that before the NGO came on the scene, Prince Adewale’s parents’ hopes were only hinged on prayers and a miracle, which they probably didn’t believe, deep down, could surface. The whole of their country, Nigeria didn’t have the ability to take care of their boy’s cardiac ailment, and unless they raised about N5million, together with flight and accommodation fee, their lovable son’s fate was probably dicey.

    Also, one is not likely to forget too soon, the pathetic story of Adetokunbo and Peace Kalejaye, published in the Nigerian media about a year ago, where their three-year old girl, Desola had been diagnosed with a 12.5mm hole in the heart situation and needed urgent surgery overseas. Even before her birth, the couple had known that difficult times lay ahead, having been forced to bring their daughter to the world prematurely through a caesarean section. Then the doctors had warned that the foetus was not feeding well and was losing too much weight. On delivery, tests showed that she was suffering from hernia, which they said required an operation, that they recommended should be differed till a bit later, when she is older and stronger. The hole in the heart diagnosis, which came seven months after her birth, was therefore a case of double sorrow for both parents.

    Aside the trauma they suffered as parents, they still had to contend with the hard task of raising N3.5 million.

    A sizable number of Nigerian children suffer from hole in the heart ailments on a regular basis, putting their parents in desperate and panicky situations. That most of these parents are average Nigerians, who can hardly afford three square meals and the regular health treatments, have also meant them coming out cap in hand to seek for public support before accessing the treatment. Inevitably, many die in the process, literally extinguishing their parents dream build around them.

    Just last week, Sulaimon Owolabi walked into The Nation’s office in Ladipo, Mushin, desperately crying for help. He wanted a public appeal story done for his three-year old son, Fatai, who has been diagnosed with celebral palsy, and is in the throes of death. Cerebral Palsy by the way is strange situation, where a child is neither able to talk, sit, stand nor even eat properly, but only roll on the bed or floor.

    According to Wikipedia, it ‘is caused by an abnormal development or damage to the parts of the brain that control movement, balance and posture.’  Often, the problem occur during pregnancy, during childbirth or shortly after birth, but causes remain largely unknown, leaving doctors to hazard guesses at premature birth and some infections suffered by mothers during pregnancy, as risk factors.

    Due to its strangeness, the elder Owolabi took the condition for a spiritual one, taking his son from one spiritual healer to the other until a friend told him it is a health condition and that he should go to a proper hospital.

    So now, he needs N4.8million to go to India and access proper definitive treatment.

    Pain of a Nation

    Even as there does not seems to be any accurate statistics that one can quote, since a good number of Nigerians suffering from the above diseases have died without going to the proper treatment channels, while others still wallow in their predicament, waiting to die in their homes, due to poverty, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said in a recent interview that the World Health Organisation’s declaration in 2012 that non-communicable diseases led by cardiovascular and renal diseases have attained epidemic proportion globally, suffices.

    Almost on a daily basis, Nigerians wake up to read or watch on TV how their compatriots, even celebrities have to debase themselves to go cap in hand in public, seeking financial help to access treatment for their cardiac, renal or even cancer-related diseases.

    Prince Ifeanyi Dike, who incidentally is also chairman board of trustees of the actors Guild of Nigeria recalled how his wife had to jettison shyness and go public after they had virtually ran out of every cash they could squeeze, treating his nagging kidney illness. According to him, for such illnesses, it really does not matter how much money one has, because it is expensive to manage or treat, and at the same time, the victim is no longer able to make more money.

    To make matters worse, Nigeria, with all the petro-dollars and resources at her disposal has been unable to institute and develop adequate health facility, causing gravely sick Nigerians to always have to travel to India, Europe or America.

    It is instructive to note here that even almighty America with its advanced facilities still loses a great number of its citizens to these ailments.

    According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular diseases, led by Heart diseases and stroke remain the top two killers in the country. A more specific figure claimed that it lost over 787 of its citizens to heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in 2010; which is about one in every three deaths in America.

    In the same vein, the National Kidney Foundation of America, said that with 47,000 American deaths caused by kidney disease in 2013, the disease is the 9th leading cause of death in the country. The body also says one out of every three American adult is at risk of kidney disease and that  wait for this, black Americans are 3 times more likely to experience kidney failure. This is probably to say that the black man is more predisposed to the disease. It also kind of tally with the various medical guess that change in lifestyle and diet are major causative factors, since the genealogical composition of people of this race was never designed for the kind of diets and lifestyles they suddenly found themselves living.

    Above all, the World Health Organisation’s declaration in its recent report that the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease will have increased by 130% in Africa by 2020, calls for great concerns.

    Lagos State to the rescue

    Wednesday March 18 witnessed the historic commissioning of the Cardiac and Renal Centre in Gbagada, Lagos, by His Excellency, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). In his commissioning remarks, the governor said “Year on year, I watched as we exported Nigerians abroad, with family members to care for and support them; all at high cost in foreign exchange, because there was no local alternative.”

    Continuing, he said his government between 2008 and 2014, sponsored 42 cardiac cases and 28 renal cases abroad for treatment abroad at tax-payers’ expense on the recommendation of the Ministry of health. And this is in spite of the fact that the country has well over 20,000 experts scattered across the globe and working to serve other societies, while their own people waste away, for lack of adequate facilities.

    He had also interacted with some of them and discovered that “they wanted to come home and practice but there were no hospitals comparable to where they were accustomed to working.”

    So he took a decision to do something.

    The turning point for him however was when a former president of the country had to be flown to Saudi Arabian hospital to manage a kidney ailment.

    The commissioning of the facility, six years after it was kicked off in 2008 was therefore a fulfilment of that promise. He therefore congratulated the team that put it together, and indeed the Nigerian people, while inviting them to take advantage of the facility.

    According to the governor, the hospital “has 24 dialysis bed stations, 20 beds for recovery and general ward use, 2 high dependency wards with five beds each for patient who have come out of intensive care, five beds for patients in intensive care, four post surgery beds, two post cathlab beds and two surgical theatres built to the most contemporary; along with instant multimedia equipment for live transmission to students in the lecture rooms.

    He also declared that the centre is being managed through concession partnership by Renescor Team, a multidimensional consortium of specialised Nigerian and American doctors and nurses who are cardiac and kidney specialists in America.

  • 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.

  • ‘How diseases affect reproductive ability’

    ‘How diseases affect reproductive ability’

    Diseases, disorders and conditions that affect reproductive health at different stages of life continue to generate controversy all over the world. Answers to some of these questions were answered recently at a lecture titled: Reproductive Health of Women and Men: A Biochemist’s Perspective. Yetunde Oladeinde was at the event and she reports

    THE lecturer, Professor Olubunmi Magbagbeola, kicked off her presentation with findings in her academic and research works in the last three decades. The event which took place at the 13th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Lagos was presided over by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Rahamon A. Bello, FAEng, and there were a number of distinguished scholars in the gathering. First, she began by tracing some of the challenges encountered, prospects as well as how to make use of the potential available. Interestingly, she also revealed that some of her research projects in collaboration with other researchers culminated in the removal of some drugs from the Nigerian market due to their biochemical effects; identification of certain compounds from Nigeria medicinal plants that have the ability to inhibit topoisomerase1 enzyme in cervical cancer, hence inhibiting proliferation of the cells; and production of several products including two Prebiotic infant weaning foods of high nutrient density. The biochemist focused on four major areas of reproductive health of women and men. “In discussing food, we must deal with the question of quality and the preparative techniques. The quality is the nutritive value and it is of prime importance to nutrition. If the food is to be regarded as of suitable quality, it must contain protein, carbohydrate, fats, vitamins and mineral salts. However, no matter how good the quality or adequate quantity, its nutritive value will be greatly impaired by poor preparation.“

    She added: “Good nutritional status is essential for normal organ development and function, for optimum activity, working efficiency, for resistance to infection and for the ability to repair bodily damage or injury. Poor nutritional status exists when a person is deprived of an adequate amount of the essential nutrients over an extended period of time.”

    Magbagbeola then traced how her research contributed to the area of nutritional biochemistry. “I developed interest in Nutritional Biochemistry at the university in my fourth year. As a graduate student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, my supervisors directed that my research topic should be ‘Effect of Cooking on the Nutritive value of some traditional foods of the Hausas in Northern Nigeria.’ This is the foundation of my research in Nutritional Biochemistry and it covered the period from 1976 to 1985.”

    In the process, studies were carried out on three staple meals of the Hausas, namely koko and kosai, normally taken as breakfast, danwake for lunch and tuwo da miya kuka for dinner. “The method used involved inviting six Hausa women to the laboratory. One meal was prepared by each woman using the traditional cooking method. The weighing and cooking was repeated by each woman. The mean of these weights for all the materials were computed. Analyses for their proximate composition, vitamin content, mineral elements, amino acid composition, and calorie value were carried out. All the meals were found to be inadequate in protein on an average level of intake,” Magbagbeola disclosed.

    She continued thus: “The standard meals and market meals were adequate in mineral elements although cooking was found to cause losses of minerals and vitamins. All the meals were deficient in sulphur amino and marginal tryptophan. Lysine was low in tuwodawa and kuka soup and koko and kosai. Attempts were made to establish the biological value of these meals by carrying out feeding experiments using albino rats. None of the meals could support optimum growth of rats as compared with balanced diet.”

    Protein quality evaluation of locally processed and some imported weaning formula available in Nigeria was also carried out. “Protein quality in terms of ability to support growth and development of infants of three different infant weaning formulas available in Nigerian markets at the time of study were compared. The parameters measured included protein efficiency ratio, net protein ratio, protein retention efficiency, coefficient of digestibility, biological value, blood urea, blood and urine creatinine, urine non protein nitrogen using weanling albino rats.”

    For the advancement of knowledge and the development of the society, she recommended that there should be more collaboration between health care providers and basic research scientists to improve the health of people. In addition, she stressed the need to build capacity and interest in basic science research by professionals.

    Magbagbeola said: “Drugs prescribed by clinicians should take cognisance of their side effects (e.g biochemical effects) on people. The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should join hands with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to control and rid Nigeria’s markets of already banned drugs and substandard products in other developed countries being imported into the country.”

    •             The don also stressed that in industrialised countries, conventional drugs are being gradually relegated because they are becoming more ineffective owing to multiple drug resistance, adverse side effects and high cost of production. “The use of medicinal plants remedies is gaining prominence, for example Chinese traditional medicines have almost taken over indigenous medicine in form of packaged medicinal products imported into the country. Cheap, efficacious and non-toxic medicinal plants can also be produced and packaged in Nigeria. This will reduce economic loss by importation. The federal government should put in place policies that will encourage production and packaging of these products and discourage the importation of such products.”

    Professor Magbagbeola started her academic career as a Graduate Assistant/Demonstrator in the Department of Biochemistry at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1977 to 1979. She was later employed as a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba in March 1979. She rose through the ranks and took up the Chair of Biochemistry on October 1, 2001.

  • How to avoid diseases, by dieticians

    Dieticians in the country have advised Nigerians to eat balanced diets.

    They noted that eating more of fruits and vegetables would go a long way in preventing deadly diseases, especially diabetes.

    In a statement issued in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the dieticians, under the aegis of Institute of Diatetics of Nigeria (IDN), said though diabetes is a deadly disease, it could be completely prevented or tamed if the people could eat more balanced diets.

    The statement signed by the association’s National Secretary, Mr Tajudeen Ahmed said, dieticians body, through her branches in all the states in Nigeria, has organised awareness lectures on the onset and management of diabetes mellitus, especially dietary management.

    He pointed out that dieticians are part of the team of health care providers that manages the deadly diabetes in hospitals.

    According to him, diet is important in diabetes management and the dietician is the most important member of the diabetes health management team.

    Ahmed also revealed that November 14 of every year is set aside as commemorative anniversary of diabetes mellitus globally, which he said was birthday of Dr. Frederick Banting who was credited with the discovery of the miracle drug known as insulin that is used in diabetes control.

    He said to avoid deadly diseases; people should consume less of sugary foods (simple sugar) and eat more of complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits instead.