Tag: Ebola

  • Ebola: OAU bars Liberian students from resuming

    Ebola: OAU bars Liberian students from resuming

    THE authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife has barred  international students from Liberia, where Ebola virus disease (EVD) is prevalent in West Africa, from resuming for academic works.

    The university said the students were advised not to return to the university “for now because the country is most affected by the EVD.”

    Its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, spoke at a briefing on the health status of a female student of the university suspected to be infected with the virus after falling sick last Monday.

    He said the result of the preliminary and confirmatory tests carried out to determine the girl’s status for EVD proved negative.

    Omole said with the confirmation from the Ebola Isolation Centre in Lagos in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the student should not be stigmatised and would be allowed to resume academics after recovering from her sickness.

    He dispelled the rumour that any other student of the university has the virus.

    “We, therefore, wish to inform the university community and the general public that OAU is Ebola virus disease-free.

    “Therefore, everyone is enjoined to go about their normal business freely without fear or panic.

    “However, as prevention is better than cure, members of the university community and the general public are advised to maintain standard hygienic precautionary measures as established by the university Ebola Surveillance Committee.”

  • Ebola scare!

    Ebola scare!

    Dreaded virus made hospital reject late Falcons coach

    Late Ntiero Effiom, former chief coach of the national women’s soccer team,the Super Falcons,was rejected by the state’s General Hospital because of the scare of ebola, reports has emerged.

    Ntiero according to his wife, Nkoyo, died on Wednesday afternoon after he broke down on Sunday morning while they were preparing to go to church.

    In an emotion laden voice,Mrs Nkoyo Effiom disclosed that the Africa Women’s Championship gold medal winning coach was at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar on Saturday where he watched the Super Eagles 2015 African Nations Cup qualifiers game against the Red Devils of Congo.

    “He had been treating himself for malaria but we later found out that it was Typhoid.After he came back from the Super Eagles game on Saturday he was fine as he went to bed. He woke up soundly on Sunday morning and told me as usual to have my bath first before he would take his. But when I got back to the bedroom, I met my husband struggling to stand up from the bed and was saying some strange things I couldn’t understand.

    “We rushed him to the State’s General Hospital,Calabar but he was rejected due to the Ebola scare. When he was eventually examined in a private hospital, the doctor said he suffered a stroke and a part of his brain had been badly damaged. But this was strange as he was never hypertensive.

    “He received treatment at the hospital until he died on Wednesday afternoon,leaving behind six children. Ntiero would have turned 68 years old on November 22, but the cold hands of death did not allow him.”

    The President of the Female Football Interest Group (FFIG), Henrietta Ukaigwe, expressed shock on the news of Ntiero’s death. “Coach Ntiero was instrumental to the development of women’s football in Nigeria as he assisted Ismaila Mabo for some time before he took over as chief coach.”

    She said in a press statement signed by the group’s Secretary General, Dapo Sotuminu, that the late coach helped Nigeria qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and also won gold in one of the editions of the Africa Women’s Championship. He was a dedicated coach who took all the Falcons players in his team like his daughters.

    “The Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) should immortalize this illustrious son on the country who gave his all while on national duty as coach of the national team. He was scandal free in the national team.”

  • NDDC heals as Ebola spreads tentacles

    NDDC heals as Ebola spreads tentacles

    Ebola is not here and we pray that it will never get here.” That prayer shared with an apprehensive crowd of villagers from fishing communitieswas met with a thunderous shout of Amen! Sensing the subdued trepidation over the scary stories of the Ebola virus disease, Professor AdelayoEjele, who led a team of health workers on a free health mission to Asarama in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, felt it was important to reassure the people of their safety.

    He was speaking at the flag off of the free medical programme organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC,in conjunction with Golspin Health Care Foundation at Asarama Health Centre. It was a rare privilege for rural dwellers in and around Andoni to take their sick ones to a health facility for proper medical care at no financial cost to them. So, for seven daysthey gathered in thousands at Asarama, not minding the threat of Ebola.

    The medical team that participated in the programme also made a lot of sacrifices as they had to work with very limited facilities. Prof Ejele, the Chief Medical Consultant and coordinator of the programme, attested to the dogged spirit of the health workers. He particularlycommended the doctors who volunteered their services at a time most doctors were keeping away from government hospitals.

    Prof Ejele said the Asarama community and their neighbours should be grateful to the NDDC for bringing free health care to their door-steps, noting that good health surpassed all other needs. “The common saying is that health is wealth. But for us in this health mission, health is better than wealth,” he said.

    According to the Chief Medical Consultant, 1,479 cases were treated, including 21 surgeries, 108 dental cases and 365 laboratory investigations. He also said 156 patients were screened for HIV/AIDS and only 2 persons were found to be positive. “Fortunately, Ebola is not here yet. But we should all be on the alert to keep it away,” he said.

    For the Managing Director of NDDC, Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, the free health programme was a free gift from President Goodluck Jonathan to the rural communities in the Niger Delta. He said apart from bringing good health to the people, the interventionist agency was determined to change the face of the communities with development projects.

    The NDDC boss, who was represented byChief Ephraim Etete-Owoh, the Rivers State representative on the board of the commission, said that no less than 900,000 people have benefited from its free medical services since the programme started 14 years ago. He stated that the commission was determined to make a difference in the health sector in collaboration with relevant partners such asGoldspin Healthcare andGlobal Hand Medicare Foundation.

    Speaking on behalf of the Asarama community, Chief AppolusEwaye, noted that the health programme came at a time many people in the villages were finding it difficult to access healthcare facilities.”We deeply appreciate this programme,” he said.

    Appreciation for the free health programme cannot come any better than the one from Mrs.BesseyMicha from Egendem community in Andoni LGA. The middle-aged woman, whose child was operated on for hernia, simply said in pigeon English, “make God bless NDDC for us Oh!”

    The popular free health programme, which had been taken to many communities in the Niger Delta, also berthed in some isolated fishing settlements of Ondo State. Given the enormous logistic challenges in these communities that are surrounded by water, the health mission was like God-sent for the people.

    Pro-Health International, which coordinated the programme for the NDDC in the state, went to great lengths to reach the people. In one instance, the programmewas held in a local church because there was no health facility anywhere near the settlement.

    The leader of the medical team, Dr. Levanus Martins, said thatabout 6,000 people benefited from the free medical services in the state, with many coming fromIgbobini, Igo and neigbouring communities.He said that other areas that benefitted were Ese- Odo local government area; Odun-Igo, Ilaje local government area, and Ajowa- Akoko, Akoko northwest local government area.

    According to him, 376 people did various laboratory tests, major surgery was conducted for six persons, 770 out-patients, 678 passed through pharmaceutical section and 41 were treated for dental ailments.

    Reviewing the success of the programme, the representative of Ondo State on the board of the NDDC, Chief Benson Amuwa, said thatseveral operations were performed in an environment where people could not have access to basic healthcare. “The aim of the NDDC is to ensure that people of the Niger Delta can access basic healthcare at their doorsteps. We know most of them cannot afford the kind of health care which normally they should get.”

    The Olu of Igbobini, Oba Oyedele Raphael, represented by Chief OlasehindeAjele, commended NDDC for remembering his people. He said: “We appreciate what you are doing for us; it is very great. We thank you very much.”The traditional rule said it was the first time any government agency was carrying out this kind of free medical programme in their area.

    In AkwaIbom State, the intervention of the free health programme was truly providential as exemplified by the story of Mrs. IniobongFidelix, who hails from Ikono Local Government Area of the state. Were it not for the free health mission in her locality, the pregnant woman would have died with her baby.

    Iniobong’s pregnancy was at its turbulent peak and she was taken to the hospital in Ikono. Unfortunately, there was no doctor at the hospital at that time to attend to her. The nurses could not do much as Iniobong was having complications and needed to be operated upon. The saving grace for this poor woman and her unborn baby was the Free Health Care Medical Programmeorganized by the NDDC, in conjunction with Global Hands Medicare Foundation, at the Ekpene Obo Cottage Hospital in EsitEket Local Government Area.

    It was a happy and proud Dr. Katherine Ntekim, the director of the foundation running the NDDC-sponsored free medical programme that told the story of the Ikono woman who was saved at the nick of time. According to her, Iniobong was lucky to have been rushed to the venue of the medical intervention in time to save her live and that of her baby. “She was rushed in for an emergency caesarian section from a general hospital where doctors’ strike had paralyzed healthcare delivery to this place where we saved her and her new-born baby.”

    She gave kudos to the NDDC for making it possible for her organisation to assemble medical experts in different areas of specialization to attend to the needs of people who may not have had access to such highly qualified medical personnel. According to the medical director, the week-long programme covered different aspects of Medicare.

    The NDDC Deputy Director for Education, Health and Social Services, Dr. Solomon Ita, said that the goal of the commission was to make medical services accessible to the people of the Niger Delta region, especially those who live in the rural areas.  He noted that the commission had always placed a high premium on healthcare delivery, adding that it had extended health facilities and services to many communities across the region.

    “It is our belief that after this programme, the people of EsitEket will say farewell to all the endemic health problems that have long plagued them. It is expedient to mention here that the health partners are expected to hand over substantial quantities of efficacious drugs to the hospital management for the treatment of those who had some major operations,” he said.

    According to Dr Ita, of all the development programmes which the NDDC had undertaken in the Niger Delta, the one that brought tremendous relief and made immediate impact on the lives of the rural people was the free health care programme. “The free health missions have gone round virtually all corners of the Niger Delta, healing the sick and giving hope to the medically challenged,” he said.

    The NDDC director explained that the free health care programme was a combination of many activities, which included carrying out of HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, healthcare promotion and malaria roll-back campaign. “The comprehensive health missions provide all forms of medical services, ranging from general consultation, laboratory services, general and gynaecological surgeries, as well as eye and dental services. Apart from the free medical missions, the NDDC has committed substantial resources to providing physical infrastructure in the health sector across the Niger Delta,” he said.

    Mr. Anieffiok Gabriel, who brought a relative for treatment, said he was delighted that the free healthcare programme came to Ekpene Obo at a time he was almost giving up hope on how to save his aunty who was very sick but could not find money to go for medical treatment. “We are glad the NDDC has come to our rescue,” he said.

    Anieffiok is one out of many poor people in the remote communities of the Niger Delta who have been rescued through the intervention of the NDDC’s free medical missions.

     

  • Ebola threatens Thai rice shipments to West Africa

    Ebola threatens Thai rice shipments to West Africa

    Rice crisis is imminent as exporters of rice in Thailand are finding it difficult to fery rice to Ebola linked countries in West Africa.

    These include Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. West Africa is a major market for Thailand’s rice.

    Exporters in Bangkok said Africa consumes nine million tonnes of rice yearly while two-thirds of it is imported. But they are unable to ship much of their crop to West African ports. Operators of dry bulk vessels cannot find crews to man their ships because of fear of  contracting the deadly Ebola virus.

    According to a report, merchants in Nigeria  and  other  West Africa are trying to build up stocks to meet the requirements during Christmas sales. To this end, they  are  buying to have enough stock. But  exporters   cannot find enough vessels coming  to  West Africa  because  of  the  fear of  Ebola virus  is jeopardising  the whole trade situation.

    Not being able to ship rice quickly is creating a bottleneck, with Thai exporters’ warehouses already filled. This is creating a chain reaction in the rice industry all the way back to the farmers.

    Thai exporters  cannot release the rice out of the warehouse and also cannot buy rice from the millers. And the millers’ warehouses are also filled up. If they cannot sell to exporters they also cannot buy from the farmers.

    Speaking  with  The Nation,  a consultant to the World Bank,Prof  Abel Ogunwale, noted that the Ebola outbreak in Africa would not   have an impact on agriculture in  Nigeria as there is an intensive  effort locally  to  increase production to  meet demand.

    The inability of exporters in Bangkok to ship much their  rice to Nigeria is  in the better interest of the economy.

    For  this reason, he said there  would be unrelenting pressure on  farmers to grow more rice locally.

    Speaking with The Nation, The  Director, Research, National Cereals Research Institute, Niger State said there are support  through  the Agricultural Transformation Agenda  to help local farmers  grow more rice to make for any short  fall  that might  result from the Thai rice crisis.

    While the impending crisis  will have impact on countries  such  as Sierra Leone,Ghana and  Liberia where the threat of  Ebola  is  well felt, Abo said the effect on the  Nigeria’ market  is not going to be serious  to cause any considerable change in the rice market.

    According  to him, rapid production expansion  is going  to   put a lid on the growth of imports and discourage Nigerians from eating Thai  rice.

    For watchers, Asia’s rice could become even more in demand in weeks and months ahead, with the Ebola outbreak expected to become worse before it improves.  Food and Agriculture Organisation warned that food in countries affected by the deadly virus has become more expensive. The FAO said  some African farmers cannot reach their fields and food imported by ship and air is now unlikely to arrive as often.

    According to FAO, border crossing closures and reduced trade through seaports have squeezed supplies in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, while establishment of quarantine zones and restrictions on travel have kept many traders from collecting goods from farmers and taking them back to urban centers—while farmers have been unable to deliver their goods to smaller markets.

    FAO warned that food in countries affected by the deadly virus had become more expensive.

    It observed that some African farmers cannot reach their fields and imported food is unlikely to arrive as often.

  • South African tested for Ebola in Lagos

    South African tested for Ebola in Lagos

    Nigerian health authorities said on Thursday they were conducting  Ebola test on a South African national on transit to her country because she was showing potential symptoms of the disease after working in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

    The South African woman, whose identity was not revealed, flew into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport from Morocco.

    She was being treated as a suspected case and was being taken to Lagos’ Ebola treatment centre for tests to see whether she actually had the virus, Reuters reports.

    The traveller, who lives in Cape Town, filled out a health questionnaire on her arrival at Lagos in which she acknowledged suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, both possible symptoms of the Ebola hemorrhagic virus.

    Around 2,300 people have died so far this year in the worst Ebola outbreak on record which has mostly affected Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It has also reached Nigeria and Senegal because of sick travellers “importing” the disease.

    Democratic Republic of Congo has a separate outbreak.

    “This person has been in Guinea and Sierra Leone since April and she has symptoms,” Dr. Morenike Alex-Okoh, director of Port Health Services at MMIA, told Reuters. The testing process was likely to last a few days.

    Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has instituted Ebola screening, including infra-red temperature scans and symptoms checks, at its airports and ports after a Liberian-American infected with the disease brought it to Lagos in July after flying from Liberia. His is one of seven deaths recorded so far out of 19 confirmed cases in Nigeria.

    “Nigeria cannot afford another ‘importation’ (of Ebola),” said Dr. Aileen Marty, a professor of infectious diseases at Florida International University College of Medicine.

    Marty is working with Nigerian health authorities, under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, to maintain port of entry Ebola checks across the country.

     

  • OAU student tests negative to Ebola

    The authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) Ile Ife, Osun State, on Thursday said the female student of the institution who was suspected to have the Ebola Virus Disease and moved to Lagos has tested negative to the virus.

    The institution’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olanrewaju, confirmed this in a telephone interview on Thursday.

    He said: “The preliminary result of the girl is out and she tested negative. Another test will be done on Friday.

    “The university will issue a statement on this later on Thursday,” Olanrewaju said.

  • Growth forecasts cut for Ebola nations

    Sierra Leone has cut its 2014 economic growth forecast to seven or eight percent as an Ebola outbreak cripples business in the iron ore-exporting West African country, the government said on Wednesday.

    The economic outlooks for Guinea and Liberia, two other mining-dependent West African countries also fighting Ebola, were lowered by Standard Chartered Bank.

    Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia are among the poorest countries in the region and the hardest-hit by the worst Ebola epidemic on record, which has killed nearly 2,300 people.

    Sierra Leone Finance Minister, Kaifala Marah, told Reuters that a previous target of 11.5 percent economic growth this year was “unachievable in the face of the Ebola outbreak.”

    “Revenue is dropping [because] many of the big businesses are folding up,” he said, estimating that the government had lost $60 million in revenue in the last three months as activity in the mining and tourism sectors dried up.

    The end of Sierra Leone’s war just over a decade ago led to large scale investment from mining companies like African Minerals and London Mining, spurring rapid economic growth even if development lagged.

    Peace and pristine beaches brought nearly 60,000 visitors last year through the country’s nascent tourist industry.

    But in the face of the deadly disease, miners have reduced activity, airline flights have been suspended and the government’s weak health system is struggling to contain a disease that has killed 509 people so far in the country.

    In a September 8 report, Standard Chartered slashed its forecast for Sierra Leone’s economic growth this year to seven percent from a forecast of 12 percent.

    “Iron-ore production, which accounted for more than two-thirds of Sierra Leone’s 20 percent real Gross Domestic Product growth in 2013, is expected to take a significant hit in 2014,” Standard Chartered said.

    Cases in this Ebola outbreak were first confirmed in Guinea in March. The disease has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and cases have also been reported in Nigeria and Senegal.

    But the impact of the disease and restrictions imposed to fight it are being felt across the region.

    Standard Chartered said Liberia’s economy was expected to grow at four percent, missing a 5.9 percent target, largely due to mining companies suspending operations and delaying investment.

    It said Ebola would add to political uncertainty and power cuts in Guinea, where economic growth was likely to slip to 2.5 percent from a forecast 4.5 percent.

     

  • Don: Ewedu can cure, prevent Ebola

    Don: Ewedu can cure, prevent Ebola

    A professor of Ophthalmology at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Guiness Eye Centre, Prof  Adebukola Adefule-Oshitelu, has claimed that ‘Corchorus’ popularly known as Ewedu in Nigeria has the potency to both prevent and cure the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Prof Adefule-Oshitelu had equally championed Garcinia Kola (orogbo) as a remedy for eye diseases, especially glaucoma.

    According to Prof Adefule-Oshitelu, Ewedu as a cure and a preventive substance for Ebola was revealed to her divinely; under the ‘Great Divine Holy order of the Third Era”. According to her, Ewedu cures Ebola by improving an infected person’s immune system, likewise providing prevention against the deadly virus for uninfected persons.

    “The qualities inside Ewedu is so much that it will kill Ebola by preventing the virus from replicating and destroying more organs in the body. This would immediately stop the symptoms such as high fever, diarhoea and vomiting. Ultimately, leading to the cure,” Oshitelu said.

    According to her, for a cure, attention has to be paid to how the Ewedu is prepared. “The way it will be prepared will be different from the normal way Ewedu is cooked. “Provide the vegetable in good quantity; should be washed and rinsed with liquid vinegar, afterwards blend and cook with drinkable water, for five minutes. No salt, potash or seasoning should be added, take 25cl or half tumbler of the preparation in an empty stomach first in the morning, daily for a week. This would boost a person’s immunity so that such become impregnable to the virus.” Oshitelu said.

    She said: “For prevention, follow these steps described above and use once weekly throughout the period of infestation. These are divine revelations and anyone interested in taking advantage of it is welcome.”

    Prof Adefule-Oshitelu can be reached via: info@greatdivineholyorder.org or visit www.greatdivineholyorder.org

  • Some natural ammunition against Ebola Virus fever (6)

    A telephone call from Anglican Reverend Ekundayo  Ogunlana roused me from sleep last Thursday morning. He wished to thank me for the column of the previous Thursday and to let me know it enriched his sermon in church the Sunday after. The column in reference, the fourth in the Ebola virus fever series, suggested, among other things, a return to the creation plan for the nurture of the human body in health and in illness as the surest way of preventing or overcoming all illnesses, Ebola fever inclusive. The kernel of this advocacy is that the creation nutrition plan alone guarantees a robust and impregnable defence mechanism, the immune system, which the creator of the human body in infinite wisdom planted into this body to defend it against all disease – causing agents. Thus, creation wisdom confers upon the immune system dominion over all microbes. In my upcoming website to host publications of this column, I share the source of my conviction in this advocacy. It is a simple sentence from the spiritual teachings of a Wise one: neither drugs nor injections, but the right kinds of foods and drinks bring lasting health.

    In the Bible, to which Rev. Ogunlana turned to build evidence in his sermon for his conviction in the correctness of this statement, there are unmistaken references to creation plan for food and medicine in Genesis, Ezekiel and the Revelation. Incidentally, Genesis is the opening Book of the Bible, and Revelation, the last. Incidentally, also, the reference in the Revelation appears in Chapter 22, the last chapter! In my view, these alerts are, for the Christians like the School bell, which announces the beginning of one lecture and the end of it.

    The experiences of Dr. George Malkmus depend for me the recognitions I gained from the Wise one. Dr. Malkmus is an American Baptist church minister. He watched helplessly as his mother was killed instalmentally by chemotherapy drugs which her doctors gave her for a cancer. So, when Dr. Malkmus himself became stricken with cancer afterwards, he declined chemotherapy as a treatment mode. He opted instead for fasting, especially on organic carrot juice. In months, the crippling cancer disappeared! He was so happy that he went on to share his experience in the book HALLELUJAH DIET. He would also set up a health farm he named HALLELJAH ACRES, where he trains doctors and other people about the Creation Diet for healing all diseases. His forte is Genesis 1:29:-

    Then God said I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree has seed in it. They will be yours, for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath in it – I give every green plant for food and it was so”

    Mr Olajuwon Okubena, who makes Jobelyn, the antioxidant, blood building herbal proprietary product, says this medicine derives its origin from Revelation 22:2

    “Down the middle of the great street of the city, on each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree are for healing of the nations.”

    Rev. Ogunlana referred to this passage to urge his congregation to incorporate natural foods and herbs in their diet for immune building. He also taught them about Ezekiel 47:12

    “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruits fail. Every month, they will bear because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. The fruits will serve for food and their leaves for healing”.

    The creation plan for food and medicine as outlined in these passages shows we should eat fruits, and seeds and take herbs to prevent illness or cure it. Thanks, Rev Ekundayo Ogunlana. It is great to learn that reverend gentlemen can now lead the crusade of man’s return to Mother Nature in health matters. For the Church had misled many Christians that herbs were anti-Christian. For people who try to add vegetables (greens) and fruits to their diets, they will supply their bodies through this diet energy, oxygen and other nutrients from creation which have been stored, in these foods as though they are battery cells.

    Dr. Malkhmus found that his congregation consumed too much refined White flour foods, and refined white sugar and hardly any greens fruits or food supplements. Members of the Church fell ill frequently, especially after parties at which these foods were eaten. Prayer requests for healing prayer were many. But many of the intercessory prayers would appear unanswered. In fact, deaths often occurred. Dr. Malkhmus decided the Church had to add health education and eating according to the creation plan to Christian teachings.

    I believe Rev. Ogunlana is walking on this path. Surer should be his feet if he remembers that, even when we venture to eat fruits and greens in Nigeria, many of them are devitalized through fertilizer and pesticide use in farming processes. I do not eat carrot and cucumber for this reason. For carrot, I go for either organic carrot powder or organic Spirulina which has more beta carotene than even healthy carrots.

    omeone asked me in earlier parts of the series if Ebola Virus could be a trumpet of the Word Judgement? I replied that I wasn’t competent to answer that question. This much I know, however: The earth is a school for human spirits. It is like the soil in which a seed of maize is sown, to sprout, germinate, flower and fruit; heaven or paradise is home of the human spirit, and the earth the soil in which it is sown to sprout, flower, fruit and return home Sunday as a blazing flame, a useful member of Gods Creation. This earth school for the human spirit, like the University, has its semester and other calendar. We may liken the semester to a cosmic Age. A cosmic Age is about 2,160 earth years. There are 12 Ages on the Cosmic Clock, known also as the ZODIAC. Each Age has its name and sign or symbol. We are now in the AQUARIAN AGE. The people of old who gave mankind knowledge of the zodiac were guided to it from on high. From this revealed knowledge, they developed the earthly clock, which they divided into 12 hours of day hours, and 12 night hours. It is noteworthy that the year calendar, also, has 12 months. I am touched by the fact that when this Gregorian calendar was developed, the Europeans had not known of a place called Nigeria. Yet the Yoruba race in South West has a centuries old year calendar of 12 months! Isn’t there something to the division of Israel into 12 tribes? Why would our Lord Jesus appoint 12 disciples? In the knowledge of creation anchored on the earth today, we are priviledge to be permitted to know that monumental events occur in every Age. It is, in fact, knowledge of the regularity of this occurrence’s when the venal point of the earth’s equator line bisects the cosmic ring at a certain angle which led to great expectations and observations. Now that the Cosmic Age is like a new school year. There is a curriculum of spiritual education the earth man must undergo in one Age. As he matures in this school from age to age, he sprouts spiritually, his radiations expanding or enlarging, even as he grows intellectually in an earthly school, till he bursts forth in a blazing flame if the rhythm of his vibrations is below the voltage of his environment that spells trouble or doom. He is then like a “foolish virgin” with no oil in the lamp (of his soul). He keeps repeating the “class” if he fails in the examination and burdens himself with “carry – overs” into the next class.

    Now, imagine what happens in the University when a third – year student is weighed down by carry – over from the first two academic sessions. Such a student is unlikely to graduate. In what we can call the cosmic school system, energy is the language spoken. The human spirit could neither sprout nor fruit in Paradise because it couldn’t bear the Pressure of the power of the vicinity of God he had to be expelled from there to lower lying world of Creation where the pressure, transformed too much lower voltages, permitted conscious existence and growth. But with every new Cosmic-Age, the voltage increases. Human spirits who have sprouted, flowering or fruiting are able to bear and weather new higher voltages just as a brilliant and well killed student is able to cope with the next, higher academic pressure. Human spirits who are able to cope are those whose energy voltages are in consonance with the voltage or energy of the New Age.

    Where this will make some sense to us is in respect of the Creation knowledge that the human spirit has an important and major input into the formation of the human blood. Fetal circulation is known to be established mid-way through pregnancy, when the incarnating soul takes possession of the growing body in the womb. Evidence of this are the first kicks of the baby a pregnant woman experiences at this time. It is instructive that blood circulation ceases at physical death, when the soul, this vital essence,, vacates the physical body! The heart of this matter is that if a higher cosmic energy breaks down weak human spirit energy, the scorched human spirit, like chicken beaten by rains is unable to contribute its important quota to the formation and maintenance of blood composition at the right radiation level which through the immune function, disintegrates everything not meant to exist in the human body, including HIV and ebola viruses. This is the loss of the “dominion” which man is given over his environment. The blame is his, not any-one elses’, certainly not God’s. Creation is maintained by Laws, God does not intervene in the working of creation. His laws govern creation. It was predicted in the 1920s by a Wise One as the earth supped quietly into the Aquarian Age, that blood diseases will be a major feature of our time. Cancer is a blood- related disease, just like HIV/AIDS and now Ebola Virus Fever.

    The New Age coincides, incidentally, with another phenomenon, the Cosmic Turning-Point. To understand it, one would have to appreciate the Law of Motion, and the law of the Cycle which, among other natural phenomenon known as laws, govern Creation. We are familiar with our hearts pumping blood round the body, and of the blood returning to the heart. When we inhale air, we also exhale it. When we drink water or eat food, our bodies must return them to whence they came. One day, our souls must return, also, to whence they came. Don’t seeds become fruits and these fruits become seeds later?

    This Law of the cycle ensures that everything which moves away from its origin must return to it sometime. We are familiar with the atom. It has a core around which electrons are arranged in concentric rings. So is our solar system (the Sun and the Planets) arranged. As electrons move around the core of the atom in cyclic motions, so do the planets of our solar system around the sun. Our solar system of more than nine planets (new ones are being discovered) belongs to a family of billions and billions of solar systems. Together, they form a GALAXY of solar systems. In this galaxy, the location of our solar system is known as the MILKY WAY. Like the human blood circulation, motion of electrons around the atomic nucleus or the rotation of the earth on its axis and its revolution around the sun, our galaxy also revolves around a core. This galaxy, stupendously, is only one of billions and billions of galaxies which compose our UNIVERSE. This Universe is, thus, a gigantic and amazing work. And like other works, it obeys the law of Motion and Law of Cycle. It revolves around a core in cycles! It is the completion of one cycle, such as in the earth’s rotation which causes day and night or revolution around the sun which brings the seasons, that is, the COSMIC TURNING-POINT. As with the New Age or Cosmic Age, it tells us that the Universe has attained a New Age. And all the creatures maturing in it, are meant to have attained a corresponding degree of maturity which alone entitles them to exist at that new level or rhythm of life. It is like the Gregorian calendar of 12 months telling us we are one year older on earth, to which we respond with birthday celebrations. Human spirits in Creation who are sluggish with their spiritual education, that is maturing, cannot bear the voltage of this new rhythm. It is like a man holding live electrical cable conducting a voltage much, much higher than those in the cells of his body. He would be electrocuted!

    In the Cosmic New Age and in the Cosmic Turning-Point, both of which are in a rendezvous at this time, the earth is wrapped in more power pressure than before. Only those human spirits who have sprouted, flowering and fruiting will be able to swing in this power pressure without harm. The scorching of immature spirits will affect their blood radiations and weak blood radiations which plumet the immune system, however well-fortified with the right diet. For the spirit, a tenant in this body, has a major role to play in the making and maintenance of blood quality. For people who understand the Bible alright, this Message echoes in the BOOK OF REVELATIONS.

    When the speaker says “TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA”, the Message is not address to church organisation in the earthly continent known as Asia where the Chinese and Japanese, for example, ASIA is the spiritual name of the WORLD (Creation). The world is not our earth. The earth is our earth. The spiritual name of the earth is EPHESUS. Man gives names to everything on earth. Sometimes, their names accord with their spiritual names. We know, for example, of JERUSALEM in PARADISE the home of the human spirit. THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA refers, therefore, to the seven Universes in Creation (the World). An Archangel presides over each Universe. The speaker in the Book of Revelations remind them of where these Universes have “fallen” short of the expectations of Creation. This is in the area of those “first things” they had left undone. Of course, those “things” have to do with the purpose of existence, which is all about the discovery of God’s Will and unconditional fulfilment of it. That was the Message which the Lord Jesus brought to mankinds; he did not come to die for their sins to be forgiven. In any cases, didn’t he warn that sins against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven? And didn’t we learn that the Holy Spirit is the power which God sent out to create the World (Let there be Light, and the spirit of God hovered over the land.)

     

    Ebola Virus

    Last week, the news broke that another fever similar to ebola virus fever was killing with the same devastation in Japan. This is Denge fever of which this column wrote a few years ago. Some people say it is caused by rats. Other say the mosquito. A reader of this column who said he contracted it while in Asia gave me a recipe which helped him survive the infection. Unfortunately, I lost his name and the recipe. With the knowledge of the New Age and the Cosmic Turning-Point, we should ask certain questions:

    •          Have ebola virus and this Japanese’s virus always been present on earth in latent inactive forms?

    •          If they have been, why are they active now? What is the trigger?

    •          If the trigger is the energy pressure described above, which the human spirit is unable to withstand and is causing its body to crumble, will the cares being applauded today not be temporary gains?

    •          Are these strange viruses’ trumpets of a World Judgement we are not hearing because we are expecting to hear physical trumpets?

    •          If these viruses were not part of God’s creation, as some people have said, reminding of the biblical view that everything he created is good, how did they arise? Could they be the handiworks of men? By this, laboratory inventions are not imagined. Spiritually, we know volitions of the spirit give rise to thought – forms and that thought – forms may become dense enough to physically materialise. If the heart of man is still dark and evil, will this nature not potentiate darkness and evil? I remember vividly the counsel of the Wise One” KEEP THE HEARTH OF YOUR THOUGHTS PURE!

    As we continue to search for a cure for Ebola virus Disease and other killer viruses, let us remember that man forms his environment, and that since he did not create the World, he has to form his environment in accordance to the Will of the Creator and as he lays his bed, so will he lay on it.

  • Ebola mars NGO’s summer programme

    Ebola mars NGO’s summer programme

    The fun that accompanied the fifth edition of the Youth Rescue and Care Initiative (YORCI), a five-week free summer academic, vocational and life skills training programme, was cut short by the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    According to YORCI executive director, a non-governmental organisation, Mrs Bisilola Asenuga, the Federal Government’s directive abruptly ended the programme organised the YORCI.

    She said: “Plans were already in top gear for an all encompassing prize giving and talent fair day when the federal government issued a directive that all summer classes be suspended.”

    She added that it was difficult suspending the programme at the three centres (Lekki,Oshodi and Festac) as the  1,020 pupils were already engrossed in various life-enriching activities which the NGO  took the children through.

    An SS3 pupil, Deborah Adeyanju,  who attended programme at the Oshodi centre said:  “Before now, I was disrespectful, arrogant, unfocused and always go late for appointments, but thank God for the life skills training of the Rescue-the-scholars training programme. I am now better  with solving mathematical problems and I’m now able to extinguish fire through the practical fire training programme given to us by the consultant,’’ she said.

    Speaking on the benefits of the programme, Mrs Asenuga said: ‘’We invite resource persons to enlighten pupils on issues that would help them in life. In the first week, we invited a medical doctor to enlighten the children on EVD outbreak and issues relating to their health. And in the second week, we invited Boke Safety Initiative, another NGO based in Lagos, to enlighten the children on fire management. All of these are some of the activities that made our programme engaging to pupils.”

    She noted that the prize-giving day is a date set aside to reward the moral and academic excellence of the children in the course of the programme.