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Tag: headache

  • Fifteen shades of headache

    Fifteen shades of headache

    Headaches of the five H

    The following conditions occurring singly or together  have been found to be associated with headache. Time and space will not permit further explanations .

    They are ;

    •Hypertension…………..high blood pressure

    •Hyperthyroidism……..excessive activities  of  the iodine producing thyroid gland

    •Hyperglycemia…………excessively high levels of sugar in the body

    •hyperacidity…………….presence of stomach and other acids in the gastrointestinal tract

    •Hyperventilation……excessive breathing as seen in many disease conditions of the chest and heart

     

    Headaches from infections, infestations, space occupying lesions(SOL)

    Many conditions that cause fever also cause one type of headache or the other; these include but not limited to Typhoid, Malaria, Ebola, HIV/AIDS.  Others include those occurring any where in the Head, Neck, Brain, Ear, Nose ,Mouth and throat( including adenoiditis, pharyngitis and paranasal sinusitis).On the other hand, developmental stages of some  parasites  are able to find their ways into the brain .Examples include malaria parasites ,Cysticercosis ,Chagas disease etc. These and others as in cerebrospinal meningitis from bacteria can  for m abscesses and cause acute headaches.

    Trauma

    Injuries to any portion of the head from  road traffic accidents, boxing, wrestling, concealed or open such as lacerations, direct blows and contusion can cause severe headaches leading to further complications.

    The Hemicranias.

    Apart from Sjaad syndrome, a new entity; episodic long lasting autonomic system with hemicranias resemble migraine and can pose diagnostic challenges. Like Sjaad syndrome ,the cause is not known but response to NSAIDS, in particular indomethacine is almost like magic.

    Headaches and the eyes

    Anatomists have concluded that the eyes are  not only parts of the brain, but are also parts of the cardiovascular system . Thus they have discovered many ways of studying the health status of the heart and brain by looking deep into the eyes using two special pieces of equipment; Opthalmoscope and Tonometer: the former does the viewing, while the latter measures the pressure of the eyes, and just as you have hypertension  involving the body, there is also cases of hypertension of the eye balls which can become associated with severe headache affecting the forehead or back of the head. This is different from people who may have eye balls that are either too long or two short and find themselves straining to see objects that are seen clearly with normal eyes

    As was discussed earlier, headache has a positive significant relationship with age.

    It is commoner or more frequently reported in  women, and in the whites and Caucasian races with probable higher prevalence in people of the higher socioeconomic classes.

    Unlike the Sjaad syndrome migraine runs in families and is usually throbbing

    Migraine may be due to disorders in the trigeminovascular system, but the cause of sjaad syndrome remains speculative.

    Headaches and life style

    The beauty in this discussion will not be complete if a subclass of different shades of headaches resulting from life style is not included. Wise counsel will always advice that you do whatever you indulge in with moderation; that those who live on fast lanes die so quickly that they usually may not have seen how fast it all went.

    Avians of similar plumage congregate frequently and regularly because what brings them together provide  pleasure. Unfortunately there is hardly any thing in life that brings pleasure that does not kill, if indulging in it is not done with care and common sense. There are thousands of Alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages that contain potent stimulants, designed to create the feeling of endless joy in animals and humans. Many of these drugs are actually experimental performance enhancing drugs, with mechanisms of action not too different from  those  associated with Coccaine and degradation  bioproducts of A. Indica  . They are strongly vasoactive , capable of stimulating initially, and later causing depression of the central nervous system neural pathways. The pharmacology of these drinks invariably involves the hypothalamus and the trigemino vascular system involved in thermogenesis and differential perfusion of the brain.  Some heavily spiced processed food ,snacks, creams and others as obtained from self service eateries and shops also contain these substances. Thus one sure way to have diffuse, persistent, incapacitating headaches is to party all night in company of friends and with all pleasure ,pour as many cans of energy drinks, generously flavored with as many bottles of alcohol.

     

    What to do about the different shades of headache

    First or foremost is to realize that enclosed in the bone of the skull we commonly call head is a very delicate organ, the brain which in life is about the way your tooth paste appears in form. The blood vessels it contains and the nerves they supply are equally very delicate. The skull bone protects the brain ,but also gives it’s component parts  no space to escape in situations of physical challenges.  You have only one brain and so do whatever you can to keep it healthy.

    More than seventy four(74) medical conditions have something to do with headache of different shades, and so in majority of cases, what you do really, depends on  many factors, including the, age, sex, occupation of the patient , duration and severity of the headaches as well as the underlying cause(ses).

    The usual pattern  of  achieving gratifying results is to know the whole story, including  the story of one sided type of headache in your family.  Check your self , and depending on these factors, see the family Physician who will examine  thoroughly and perform comprehensive tests including blood ,stool and urine tests, since conditions like typhoid, meningitis, malaria and tooth ache are associated with headache,

    Other more  advanced tests  that may be necessary include  skull X-rays, MRI, CT scan ,etc.

    The importance of  rest and sleep is supreme, and you may be asked to take a few days of bed rest and if that is unhelpful, placed on mild tranquilizers for a few days as deemed necessary .There are many prescription drugs available, but as stated earlier, other types of headaches  have become classified by experts including the international headache society and the WHO as those resulting from drug treatment of headaches. There fore such issues must as a matter of caution be clinically patient specific.

     

    Concluded

  • Fifteen shades of headache

    Fifteen shades of headache

    THE CONCLUSION

    A pretty young lady in her mid twenties presented to the Clinic with  a year long history of  left sided headache, with varying levels of response to Paracetamol and other common analgesics. As far as she could remember , bouts of headache were usually of gradual onset but built up quickly to become very intense and  had never shifted from that side . Each episode of headache was always associated with  profuse sweating, dry mouth ,running nose, excessive tear formation and with so much pain in the eye balls that she had always feared her eyes were going to explode . A trained certified  Medical Nurse by profession, she was  not left handed , no other members of her family; nuclear or extended had experienced something similar. There was also no history of blow to the head, hypertension, diabetes or epilepsy. She had tried all sorts of medicines and had been taken to many places for spiritual solution without success .Following  frequent suggestions ,she decided to undergo comprehensive lab tests and hence she decided to do what should have been done the very first time. It took quite sometime, with many treatment failures, before her grief came to  a peaceful end.  Readers can recall an earlier case of a middle aged man whose  symptom complex was suggestive of a condition called ‘epileptia partialis continua’ with manifestations so bizarre that until his full recovery, members of  his family had thought he had been poisoned and was under the so called ‘remote control’. As was the case with this man, the young lady had spent months in the village and had seen maggots said to have been removed from her head, but her illness continued. Though only very few laboratory investigations could be carried out, this lady probably had a rare type of headache called Sjaad Syndrome, also known as chronic paroxysmal hemicrania. Like all the different  types of headaches grouped and classified by the World health organization(WHO), and the International headache society(IHS), Sjaad syndrome is commoner in women and probably has a higher prevalence in the developed world, because  patients over there are more likely to report  to care givers and Hospitals early enough and have the different but  related pathologies accurately interpreted as pointing to one cause.

    Headache is indeed a painful condition  that is often ignored until  life threatening  complications set in, and at which time  medical  help becomes useless . Surprisingly, it is a condition for which thousands of medicines in different formulations and dosage categories are available, and yet not much is known about it.  Worldwide, headache  is more frequently  reported in women than in men. In Africa in particular the Nigerian African, headache is  misunderstood, underreported, misdiagnosed,  undertreated and over treated, depending  on many factors. In the rural areas , parents of African Children are more likely to ignore headaches compared with others in the more educated and better informed communities. Of course in these resource starved places, survival is the matter;there are so many problems that  many young males would be considered weaklings  if they presented  such symptoms .In deed , if as a result of poverty and  malnutrition, a child develops headache, survival is the matter and even a loving mother  may not have the capacity to do anything, either by way of going to the hospital or buying  medicines OTC.

    That headache is a problem that requires more detailed research and attention is only beginning to  matter to public heath physicians and care givers; part of the problem being the tendency for many patients to conclude without adequate investigations that it is part of the symptom complex that  tend to herald many other disease conditions.  In fact, headache is not always confined to the head and it’s related organs, it may  involve or spread to the neck, shoulder , chest, back and even abdomen.  Headache in children is different in many respects. Pattern recognition is difficult as a result of  coexistence and frequent associations with many other childhood illnesses.

    In this concluding part, and with  slight  update and necessary modifications, the major classes of headache according to the World health organization(WHO),and the international headache society(IHS) will be discussed in briefs . These well recognized bodies have reported that about 47% of  adults and 36 percent of children under the age of 6years suffer one type of headache or the other . Other reports have noted that by age 15, some 70 to 80% of adolescents have had their schoolwork interrupted by headaches.

    As enumerated here under, headache can come in many shades, depending on age, sex, gender(as opposed to sex), race, occupation and  socioeconomic status.

     

    Migraine

    The previously known definition of this condition has undergone modifications, because whereas in most  children it  affects both sides of the head, in others, it is restricted to one side, In addition, mixed  pictures are common in adults who have migraine types of headaches , though in many adults it is seen to affect both sides of the head. And so two types have been recognized; the simple type and the type presenting with complications and the challenge to health care professionals is to capture certain masked features of  headache in patients presenting with coma, stupor, collapse hemi , para or quadriplegia. The established features that characterize migraine now include recurrent,  throbbing or pulsatile type of headache, located on one side of the head for the simple type of migraine and the presence of aura, vomiting,diziness and paralysis, for the complicated migraine . Briefly, recurrent episodes of headaches as described, occurring in association with vomiting , phonophobia(intolerant of noise or even discussion), photophobia(intolerance for lights) nausea and headache, should suggest migraine unless investigations reveal otherwise.In migraine with complications, the patient can come down with sudden collapse, paralysis or stroke, coma.

     

    Cluster type headache

    Whereas,  rest or sleep in many cases of migraine reduces the pain and misery of the patient, cluster headache wakes the patient up at night like a tight band across the head, and it is one condition where an affected partner may refuse sex and become  immediately misunderstood, the resulting situation only adding to aggravate or worsen the headache. It is interesting to know that unlike the typical migraine type headache ,cluster type headache is commoner in males, more frequently the typical blood group O strongly ambitious male. In many other respects including, one sidedness and occurring every now and then, it is like the simple migraine except in children where it can occur associated with frequent vomiting and collapse

     

    Overtreatment Headache

    There are many pain drugs OTC and prescribed  generally for pains . Even when used in moderate quantities, there comes a time when damage to the organs such as the Heart and kidneys becomes inevitable. Most importantly, the more medicines, you take for headaches and the longer you take them, the more you have headache and the cycle goes on until common drugs no longer work and then you graduate to anesthetic agents ,as was the case with the late American Pop musician.

     

    Tension headache

    Tension headache
    Tension headache

    This is common with certain professionals who use certain  categories of equipment and where the head , neck, trunk and lower back are forced to assume awkward  postures  because the tools and chairs are not designed according to ergonomic principles.  Sitting for two long with the Lap or Desktop computers, staying long hours at meetings , spending too much time on video games and sitting down for long periods brooding over issues are some of the factors associated with tension headache. Though it can come in many different forms , it is frequently deep ,squeezy, and may also appear as a tight band. It is usually  restricted to the back of the head and may involve the neck  forehead and upper back.

     

    Menses related headache

    As the name suggests, this is cyclic in nature and often occurs as a component of the menstrual tension. It can occur before ,during and after the menstrual period. The previous divisions into pre and post menstrual headaches is unsustainable, particularly in the African woman. It presents double jeopardy to young women who have painful periods(dysmenorrheal pain), who under these conditions are often seen rolling uncontrollably  from one place to another in pains that will not respond to common analgesics. Headache in this condition should be handled with something different from that used for menstrual pain if the proper consultation is made

     

    Post Dural puncture headache

    This usually follows, use of epidural or spinal anesthetic agent , to put a patient to sleep(Caesars sections) . The resulting decrease in intracranial pressure causes a type of headache that some patients may think is migraine because it is worse when the head is raised, when the patient attempts to stand or move and it is instantly relieved by rest. It usually affects the forehead, back of the head and neck. Because of the many possible complications  that may arise in the immediate hours or days following surgery, including not taking anything by mouth(NPO),the best way to avoid this type of headache is to strictly adhere to what the Doctors and Nurses instruct, to keep your head flat with the rest of your body without the comfort of a pillow.

  • Fuel scarcity: A headache that won’t go away

    Fuel scarcity: A headache that won’t go away

    Residents of the nation’s capital are gradually getting used to what they do not like: fuel scarcity. It is now normal for people to wake up before dawn to queue up for the precious product but they often return empty-handed. GBENGA OMOKHUNU writes

    The scarcity used to be the exception rather than the rule. When petrol was hard to find, it was only for about a week or two. Now, residents are adjusting to life without fuel.

    Abuja residents have been experiencing the scarcity of fuel since December 2014. Since then, it was gathered, nothing meaningful has been done  to improve the situation.

    The fuel scarcity is biting harder as motorists in the city queue for hours at petrol filling stations in search of the product. It was observed that most of the filling stations which had fuel before the Easter break have since run out of stock.

    Many filling stations have resorted to selling in trickles, while major distributors restricted their business to night hours when they are sure to make more money from black market vendors. Black marketers took over Abuja with containers, which according to findings, majorly contain diluted PMS.

    Several commuters were stranded at different bus stops due to lack of commercial vehicles while the few ones that were plying the road jacked up their fares by 50 per cent, some by 100 per cent depending on where and how they got fuel.

    Hawkers of petrol in jerry cans cashed in on the scarcity and sold the product between N200 and N300 per liter, depending on the customer’s bargaining power. Many obscure filling stations, especially in Suleja, Kuje and on Zuba-Gwagwalada Road, sold the product between N110 and N120 per liter which is far above the regulated rate.

    Only petrol filling stations within the city and those owned by major marketers in other areas dispensed petrol at the stipulated N87 per liter. Even when they display the regulated N87 per liter the quantity of the fuel will not be equivalent to the price. According to those who spoke to Abuja Review the situation has gotten worse to the extent that many motorists had to sleep in petrol stations to hunt and wait till when fuel would be dispensed

    At the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega station on Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Central Area, long queues of vehicles were on three lanes, blocking the entire road and forcing motorists to drive against the traffic. This has also led to several accidents on that road due to the unfortunate situation.

    The situation was also the same at the Forte Oil, adjacent the NNPC mega station, where the queue stretched to the UAC fence early in the morning but later stopped selling.

    The ConOil and Total filling stations opposite NNPC Headquarters were also selling with long queues. The queue formed a circle round through the Bureau of Statistics Complex to the Unity Bank building back to NNPC Towers, Abuja.

    Also, ConOil station, NNPC franchised station and another private filling station on Olusegun Obasanjo way, were not selling. Most of the filling stations on Obafemi Awolowo Way were dried, except Oando at the junction of Wuse Zone 6, Mobil at Arab Junction and Eterna Oil filling station.

    However, the situation was not different with most filling stations on Airport Road, AYA, Maraba, Kubwa, Suleja and other neighboring towns. Most motorists said they were having difficult time at filling stations before they could get fuel to buy.

    Despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to ensure that there is fuel not only in Abuja but other parts of the country, the directive appears not to be holding grounds with the situation of things presently.

    Many are of the view that shortly before and after the presidential election when Dr. Jonathan lost to General Muhammadu Buhari the fuel scarcity got out of control.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources had attributed the situation to panic-buying.

    NNPC spokesperson, Ohi Alegbe, had in a statement cautioned motorists against panic-buying and stock-piling the products. He said there was enough fuel in the stock that could last for months. The DPR spokesperson, Saidu Mohammed, also said the queue was due to panic buying.

    Motorists on the fuel queue had a raw deal because sometimes, after the attendants had sold to a few people, the station would announce that they had run out of fuel.

    Many motorists without fuel in their car had to leave their vehicles at the station waiting and hoping to buy the next day.

    Residents called on the Federal Government to tackle the scarcity which has caused serious hardship to all.

    Some of them, who were lamenting outside Oando filling station in town where operators of the station refused to sell to motorists, also explained that most petrol stations have refused to sell fuel to motorists because of the fear of prolonged fuel scarcity.

    Mr. John Oku, one of the residents who spoke with Abuja Review, said he has been looking for fuel for the past two days without any headway, adding that he cannot afford to buy from black marketers.

    His words: “The truth is that nobody knows what is causing this scarcity in Abuja; most of the filling stations have stopped selling fuel, without any genuine reason. If you ask the operators, they will tell you that they do not have fuel and even when you see filling station selling fuel, you will queue for hours before you buy the product.

    “The situation is getting out of hands; people are suffering in the FCT because of some greedy petrol operators who are hoarding the fuel for no reason. The Federal Government should do something about it, because, it is spoiling the good report of ‘no fuel scarcity’ during this administration.

    “It seems President Goodluck Jonathan is not doing anything about this situation. Maybe because he did not win the poll.”

    Another resident, Mrs. Agnes Shekwo, said that the scarcity is seriously affecting the lives of the people, because, apart from using the product for vehicles, it is not available for residents to use to power the generator for businesses when there is power failure.

    “We need fuel to power our generators for us to effectively do our businesses. But since the scarcity of petroleum product, I have not been able to get fuel to put on my generator, and we hardly have electricity light in my area.

    “Last week, all the meat I kept in my freezer to prepare food in my restaurant got spoilt, because of power outage and no fuel to use in my generator. The Federal Government should call whoever is involved in the fuel scarcity to order. Because, the whole thing is getting out of hands,” she appealed.

    Abba Attahiru said: “We do not know what is causing the fuel scarcity but we just woke up one morning and started experiencing it since December last year. Nobody is giving us a true story of what is behind the scarcity. All the same as Nigerians we have been trying to cope. Suffering and smiling as usual. For me I think it is connected to the political problems we are having in the country because with the trend of things that is happening now, insecurity, among others and you know a lot of bodies have been showing their grievances. I think we have to put more efforts in making Nigeria a better place. Government should look at the suffering of the masses. Because we made them to be where they are today, they should try to resolve the crisis of fuel scarcity.”

    Mr. Patrick Odeh also lamented saying: “We were thinking that this type of thing will not surface again in Nigeria having experience free flow of fuel for the past two years. We just believe that it is artificial and then it will be dealt with appropriately. Government should do the needful. We have no reason suffering fuel scarcity in this country with all the refineries that are in place. And I am sure when Genera Muhammadu Buhari gets to power things will normalize”

    Authorities of the filling stations visited refused to speak with Abuja Review on the matter.

    Another concerned person, Mrs. Lamid Adeniyi said: “We do not know where we are going in this Nigeria. Our leaders should help us, we are really suffering. Everything is politics.”

    Everybody is begging the appropriate authority to find a lasting solution to the situation before it gets out of hand. Many are also hopeful that when General Muhammadu Buhari takes over the mantle of leadership as President Fuel scarcity will become a thing of the past.

  • Land title: Real estate investors’ headache

    Land title: Real estate investors’ headache

    Stakeholders are happy about the prospects of a good return on investment  in real estate this year, but the difficulty in regularising title documents may be a problem, reports MUYIWA LUCAS.

    Stakeholders are upbeat about the prediction of a huge Return On Investment (ROI) in real estate in the coming years. However, a recent report by the World Bank may just be enough caution for prospective investors.

    It said: “Nigeria is one of the most expensive and difficult places to register and acquire property for businesses in the world.”

    This revelation was contained in  a Word Bank Group, document, entitled, ‘Doing Business in Nigeria 2014’ under the section ‘Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.’

    According to the report, an investor in the country’s real estate sector has to go through 11 processes over 78 days, and also pay 15.8 per cent of the value of the property before a transfer of property can be achieved. This situation has made the country to be rated as one of the most difficult and expensive places to register property in the world.

    The report which based its submission on findings obtained from the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, held that the easiest place to register a property is Zamfara State, where the process takes just about nine processes, 31 days, and eight per cent of the property value. In Abia State, it takes 13 stages, 108 days, and 15.9 per cent of the property value.

    The World Bank report blamed the delays recorded in trying to register property on government bureaucracy, saying “the time is largely dependent on a single requirement: the state Governor’s consent, which accounts for 65 per cent of the total time required, on average. The delay varies from four days in Gombe to six months in Anambra, or Keffi.”

    But this is not all. Further findings revealed that apart from the search, consent, registration and stamp duty fees charged, legal fees account for almost half of the total cost to register property. It further stated that the registration fee varies from N2, 500 in Akwa Ibom State to five per cent of a property value in Bauchi, Kano, Sokoto and Taraba States.

    Several reasons can be adduced for this trend. According to lamudi.com.ng, an online real estate publication, several people are oblivious of some statutory laws that have been enacted and established by both the state and federal government aimed at regulating, guiding and governing all forms of land and landed properties’ transactions in the country.

    These regulations, it further explained, became necessary because land and landed properties’ transactions,-  ownership, sales, acquisition, lease, mortgage, alienation, assignment/conveyance, sublease, are a contractual relationship between two or more persons for exchange and release of interest they have on land and landed property in consideration for a compensation, which is usually of monetary value in nature.

    It is therefore, for the protection of all parties involved in any, or all of the above mentioned transactions and making such transactions legal and tenable in any court of law, that made the government to enact some statutory laws to guide, govern and protect all persons who find themselves embarking on any of these lands and landed properties’ transactions. They include the ones for revenue generation purposes.

    Some of these statutory laws governing land/property transactions,  include the Land Use Act; Land Instruments Registration Laws; Registration of Titles Acts; Rent Control and Recovery of Premises Acts; Tenancy Law of Lagos State; Tenement Rate Laws and Land Use Charge Law of Lagos State.

    The land instrument registration law, enacted to regulate registration of instruments that are executed prior to, and after the establishment of the Act in Nigeria, incorporates items such as an estate contract, a deed of appointment or discharge of trustee, containing expressly or impliedly a vesting declaration affecting any land. It seeks to guarantee genuine land title documents that have been investigated and registered by the Registrar of Titles in each state of the federation.

    This is compulsory for any holder of an interest in land, who wishes to transfer same to another person, to have registered such document at the appropriate Land Registry Office as it will assist purchasers of such land in determining if the owner/seller has the genuine land title document to sell the property and all encumbrances that are attached to the land.

    To authenticate the transfer of title, the owner is expected to apply for the Governor’s consent to the Deed of Assignment, which is being executed by both the seller and buyer in such a scenario.

    In the case of the Land Use Act, it basically vests the ownership of all the land in the country in the government, who in turn leases it to individuals or corporate bodies as appropriate for a period of 99 years.

    But experts and stakeholders have faulted these laws, blaming them for being responsible for the difficulty in securing mortgage for housing finance in the country. Experts have at various times expressed concern over the poor state of housing finance, especially by public institutions, which are put at about 10 per cent. Sadly, mortgage banks are said to contribute about two per cent to this, while contribution from banks and other institutions is insignificant. This is a worrisome trend given that in developed climes, housing finance is synonymous with mortgage system.

    The Principal Partner, Imole-Ayo Real Estate, kayode Oyedele, said with a faltering mortgage system, home ownership in the country is realised by almost 100 per cent savings from the owners’ purse. He said this is in contrast with what obtains in other countries, such as South Africa, where an estimated 40 per cent of housing finance is sourced from mortgage institutions. Financial experts and real estate developers, agree that the low mortgage contribution to  housing finance can be linked to the cumbersome and unfriendly land administration in the country.

    Lending his voice to the impact of mortgage financing on real estate, UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) Plc Managing Director, Hakeem Ogunniran, identified five drawbacks to housing finance. He said these  include cost, character, capacity, collateral and conditions. He is of the view that the problem with land registration and titling, is   more of a systemic issue than anything else, explaining that the system is people-driven and not process-driven.

    He suggested that there should be a “one-stop-shop” for perfecting titles which should be business-like.

    As a way forward, the Managing Director, Resort Savings and Loans Plc, Abimbola Olayinka, said the Land Use Act should be used to empower the people and not as an economic and political tool by states’ chief executives, adding that the Act should be expunged from the Constitution so that it could be easily tinkered with.

    Olayinka is of the opinion that land administrators should adopt what he called, “three-one-three strategy” for land registration. This means that land titles should be perfected in three days at one central place, and at the cost of three per cent of the value of the land.

    Real estate operators and players in the financial sector are of the view that eliminating the bottlenecks created by the land and property laws and regulations will go a long way in encouraging mortgages.

    They are quick to cite the Ghanaian example, which was said to be a “dysfunctional land administration, long and expensive procedures,” that lasted up to five years and involving six different agencies supervising the process, leading to inefficiency of the system.

    But following its reforms, property registration in the country was cut to 34 days and queues at the Lands Commission disappeared, making it possible for the mortgage sector to thrive. And following further improvement to the system, today, it takes 10 days to register a property in Ghana.

    A similar experience happened in Egypt, where  high fees and inefficient government agencies that hindered the process of real estate was eliminated by reducing property registration fees; simplifying the registration process, thus encouraging citizens and companies to obtain titles.

    Stakeholders are of the view that following the steps of such countries, would go a long way in ameliorating the mortgage finance problems in Nigeria.

  • GLO Overload headache

    SIR: I was very excited when I received a text message from GLO about the current bonus (OVERLOAD), stating a 200% bonus upon recharge of #200 and above. Little did I know that it was going to be the first disappointment I would get from GLO since year 2005 I have been using my line. I have taken my time to compare GLO with other operators in terms of their packages and promos by using these other lines at one time or the other, and I have discovered that GLO is more consistent and palatable to some extents.

    Disappointingly, the Overload bonus can only be used between the hours of 10pm and 8am. What a sham? How many calls do you want to make between these hours? Is it 10pm when most people would have slept and some hours before 8am when people would be preparing and struggling to go to their work places after they have woken up? Why not instead make the bonus 50% or 100%, available all the time and to all networks, and everybody will be happy? Why arouse excitement with a bogus 200% bonus.

     

    • Taiwo Olufisayo Adigun

    Gbagi, Ibadan.

  • APC and its presidential headache

    APC and its presidential headache

    The biggest challenge confronting the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it chooses it presidential flagbearer is not the number or quality of those who have put themselves forward.

    If anything, all with the exception of entrepreneur and newspaper publisher, Sam Nda-Iasiah, have some sort of experience at very high levels of government to brandish as qualification for seeking the top job.

    The real headache is that everyone of the aspirants has some form of baggage that the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) will gleefully exploit – diverting attention from Jonathan’s terrible record in office.

    Take former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari. He is ordinarily an electoral powerhouse. In 2011, he did the near impossible by garnering 12 million votes on the platform of a political party that was just a few months old. What that proved is that the sheer force of his personality could deliver irrespective of the platform on which he runs.

    But I have argued in the past that this very strength – in particular his cult-like following in the north, eventually became his Achilles Heel – as his strategists were misled into thinking he didn’t need an electoral leg down south to help him to power. In the end, he swept the north but was undone in the South-West when Jonathan won the zone with the exception of Osun State taken by Nuhu Ribadu then flying the flag of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    Were he to emerge the candidate of APC, he would be running on a better structured platform with strength on both sides of the Niger. A strategy that targets that the votes haul from the North West, North East and South West – with small pickings elsewhere could put him within touching distance of a prize he has coveted all these years.

    The ruling PDP realise the potency of a Buhari candidacy and have begun undermining it even before it becomes reality – and there’s the rub for the APC. With the general on the ticket, the campaign will not be about Jonathan’s management of the economy or his failure to combat the raging insurgency in the North-East, it will be turned around to focus on the General’s record as a military head of state as well as his position on religious issues.

    We will be reminded that his regime authored the infamous Decree 4 which the military reined in Nigeria’s famously free-wheeling press. It wouldn’t matter that in 2015 voters are not being asked to elect a new military junta.

    The attempt to paint the khaki-clad Buhari of 1984 as the same as the agbada-wearing presidential aspirant of 2014 is one of the enduring lies of the emerging campaign. His opponents will not admit that as president he will not have the same powers he wielded 30 years ago. He cannot pass any budget or bill by fiat and would have to deal with a National Assembly whose complexity we cannot fathom now.

    As another ex-military ruler, General Olusegun Obasanjo, found out to his chagrin after his Third Term project bit the dust, there are times when this much-maligned body can prove to be an effective bulwark against would-be despots. There’s no reason to think that the constitution would be amended in 2015 to accommodate any autocratic streak in Buhari.

    Even his much-vaunted desire to stop corruption in its tracks could get a reality check in that same National Assembly. People forget that one of the first bills Obasanjo sent to the legislature in 1999 was a stern anti-corruption bill fashioned after similar laws in Singapore. But by the time Abuja lawmakers finished with it what was sent back to the then president was a limp and near-useless legislation whose impotence is confirmed by the depth of sleaze in the country 15 years after.

    Other issues that will come to dog a Buhari campaign will include the retroactive execution of the convicted drug pushers, the controversial clearance for 53 suitcases to be allowed into the country at a time when the country’s borders were shut to allow for currency reforms.

    We will be told not to forget that the General once professed a love for Sharia – so much so that he would have loved for it to apply throughout the country.

    And let’s not forget the incendiary comments made by the ex-CPC presidential candidate after it became clear that his ambitions had bitten the dust four years ago. His embittered supporters took to the streets to vent their frustration with fatal consequences for many National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members who had serviced as electoral officers for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    He may have distanced himself from the acts of violence, but his opponents would still seek to embarrass him and damage his candidacy on the altar of vicarious responsibility.

    This brings us to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Again, we are confronted with another political giant who through a series of wrong choices undercut his own relevance in national power calculations. We cannot forget in a hurry that at the end of Obasanjo’s first term Atiku controlled the PDP and the then president had to virtually go on bended knees to secure his backing and that of governors loyal to the then VP to clear the way for a second tenure.

    Frustrated out of the ruling party by Obasanjo, his ill-fated presidential run on the ACN ticket and his return to the party he had spurned and excoriated in the bitter days before the 2007 polls, and now his presence in APC, makes it all too easy for those who will paint a caricature of a desperate politician.

    Many acknowledge his virtues as a mobiliser who understands Nigerian politics. His deep pockets would make him an asset for a party like APC which could find itself challenged in the money stakes against the ruling party.

    Interestingly, in his campaigning so far, Atiku has tried to talk about issues and advance policy positions he would like to pursue as president. All that elevated politicking would disappear in a puff of smoke the moment he emerges APC candidate because the PDP, again constrained to shift attention away from Jonathan’s record, would dredge up the former Vice President’s many controversies.

    We would be reminded of the American Congressman William Jefferson’s saga as well as questions about Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and sundry matters. From now till Election Day, Atiku would be defending and explaining himself against real and imagined charges in the court of public opinion.

    I will not dwell much on Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Nda-Isaiah because whatever baggage they come with is linked to fact that their appeal is limited across the country. The PDP would be quite happy to dismiss them as provincial – never mind the fact that Jonathan and his erstwhile boss, the late Umaru Yar’Adua, could have been described in those terms at the point they assumed office in Aso Rock.

    Much of the handwringing within APC has focused on how much ammunition its aspirants have laid out for PDP attack dogs to play with.

    But this ignores the fact that Jonathan, the ruling party’s candidate, has baggage that would  finish off any candidate in different clime. Compared to his, United States President Barack Obama’s issues were child play, and yet American voters punished him and his party at last Tuesday’s congressional elections by handing power to the Republicans.

    If APC’s candidates have things they have to explain, then Jonathan finds himself in a similar quandary ten times over. On the economic front it is impossible to say that Nigerians are better off economically than they were in 2011. The recent collapse in power generation is an embarrassing enough statistic for a ruling party that has promised light since 1999, but only succeeded in delivering darkness.

    In the 70s the British Tory Party produced an electoral poster showing a serpentine queue of the unemployed waiting to be interviewed for a few job openings. The pay-off line was ‘Labour Isn’t Working.’ It was devastating. The inimitable Margaret Thatcher was swept into 10 Downing Street on the cusp of the landslide.

    Today, Jonathan’s stewardship in the area of unemployment can be captured just as succinctly with those photographs of an Abuja National Stadium packed to overflowing with desperate applicants seeking employment in the Nigerian Immigration Service.

    The exercise ultimately ended tragically with over 19 persons killed nationwide. Such is the contempt that the government has for public opinion that those like the Interior Minister, Abba Moro, who presided over that fiasco are sitting comfortably in their offices till date.

    To say that the administration has been scandal-scarred is to state the obvious. The nation still awaits the results of the forensic audit triggered by allegations made by the former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that the NNPC had failed to remit billions of naira to the Federation Account.

    Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke and erstwhile Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, hugged the headlines for months over allegations of sleaze. While the former continues to fight to stop the House of Representatives from probing allegations that she spent a fortune hiring a private jet, the latter did the ‘needful’ by throwing in the towel when the heat became too much.

    But the government’s reputation totally went down the tubes with the botched attempt by its agents to smuggle $9.3 million into South Africa in a private jet in a bizarre arms shopping trip. While it was still trying to contain the first mess, it emerged that a second seizure had been made by the South Africans – bringing the total to $15 million.

    But perhaps the greatest failure of the Jonathan administration is its inability to end the insurgency in the North East. Today, the insurgents have carved out a caliphate the size of three states in that region. Those who predicted that country would break up in 2015 are inching closer to seeing that dire prophecy become reality.

    A break-up isn’t only when we are scattered in many pieces. Today’s reality is that unless the gains of the insurgents are quickly reversed the map of Nigeria handed to Jonathan in 2011 would be different from that he would hand to a successor next year.

    Today, Nigeria is more polarised along sectional and religious lines than at any time in its history. We are seeing a government and ruling party that has shown every readiness to use religion to divide the country in order to rule over it.

    Tragically, the diabolical efforts of the ruling party’s hacks have produced a situation where many voters have already made their decision on who they would vote for simply on account of his religious identification. That shows how much progress we are making.

    APC should stop searching for the perfect candidate. That creature doesn’t exist on the face of the earth. At any given time aspirants come with baggage. The answer is not to flee from a candidate because of baggage, but to see whether what he brings to the table is greater than his negatives.

    The party must decide whether a Buhari who’s a vote magnet up north should be dumped just because of his controversial past. Will it do better with a ‘safe’ candidate who doesn’t offend sensibilities but cannot galvanise the supporter base the way the General can? The same can be said about Atiku. Should he be passed over despite what he brings to the party just because opponents would call him names? It’s a no-brainer.

  • How painkillers cause headache

    How painkillers cause headache

    Headache disorders are not perceived as serious since they are mostly episodic, do not cause death, and are not contagious, but they are extremely common and debilitating. Up to 75 per cent of adults aged 18 to 65 years have had a headache in the last year.

    Experts agree that headache disorders are under-estimated, under-recognized and under-treated. Coincidently, only four hours of undergraduate medical education is dedicated to instruction of headache disorders. This results in a lack of public health knowledge, education and lifestyle modification.

    Of those who treat, most are solely reliant on over-the-counter medications. However, over-the-counter medications have been found to be a cause of frequent or daily headaches. Taking painkillers too often for tension-type headaches or migraine attacks has been found to cause medication-overuse headaches (MOH).

    MOH is the third most common cause of headache and about 1 person in 50 develops this problem. It can occur at any age but is most common in women in their 30s and 40s.

    A vicious cycle often develops if you try to treat headaches with over-the-counter medications. One’s body becomes addicted to painkillers and a rebound or withdrawal headache develops if you do not take them. Often people are not aware and think this headache is just another tension headache or migraine, and unknowingly continue to feed the addiction.

    Medication-overuse headaches tend to be worse in the morning, or after exercise. It may be a constant, dull headache with fluctuating degrees of severity. This results in people taking painkillers every day, or on most days. Even some people start taking painkillers early in the morning or late in the evening to try to prevent headaches from occurring, once again making it worse.

    The amount of painkillers needed to cause a medication-overuse headache is not clear and it varies with different people and health conditions. All of the common medications used to treat headaches such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac have been shown to have addictive and headache-producing qualities.

    Triptans are not classified as painkillers but are commonly used in the treatment of migraine headaches. Medications such as almotriptan, eletriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan have all been associated with medication-overuse headaches.

    It’s important to stop taking painkillers or triptans if you suspect that you have medication-overuse headaches. It is important not to take an alternative painkiller in attempt to beat the addiction or the headache. The best advice is to seek the guidance of a doctor.

    When you quit, headaches are likely to get worse due to withdrawal symptoms and slowly improve over time. It often takes approximately a week but in some people it may take a few weeks to kick the habit. Withdrawal symptoms often include achiness, anxiety, nausea and sleep disturbances.

    The best way to treat a headache is not to rely on medication that can cause it. Many types of lifestyle modifications have been shown to be as effective as certain over-the-counter medications. You can expect about a 55 per cent reduction in headache frequency, on average, with behavioural and lifestyle interventions.

    According to research, the strongest link to many types of headaches is stress. Stress-reducing techniques, maintaining good-quality sleep and engaging in regular physical activity have been shown effective at reducing headaches.

     

    Couillard is an international health columnist that works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and global health care education. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement.

     

    He can be reached via:

    Email: drcorycouillard@gmail.com

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    Twitter: DrCoryCouillard

  • My flooding headache, by Jonathan

    My flooding headache, by Jonathan

    THE after-effect of the floods on victims and communities is giving President Goodluck Jonathan some sleepless nights.

    But there was cheery news for the victims as they would not stay longer than necessary at the relief camps.

    The President said they would be resettled in their communities once the floods have receded.

    According to him, the resettlement of the victims is the primary task of the 34-member National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.

    The committee, co-chaired by businessman Aliko Dangote and erstwhile chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), was inaugurated yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    It (the committee) immediately swung into action, setting for itself a N100 billion target.

    Shortly after the inauguration, the President began a tour of flooded states.

    The tour, expected to be in phases, started with Kogi State. Others in Category A are Anambra, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

    Other states in the category but not listed in the first phase of the tour are Oyo, Adamawa, Benue and Plateau.

    The flood-ravaged states have been categorised into four groups, based on the present assessment.

    In Category B are: Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, Edo, Lagos and Imo states.

    Kwara, Katsina, Gombe, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia and Rivers are in Category C, while Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Borno states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fall into Category D.

    The President on Tuesday announced a N500 million package each cash of the states in category A and N400 million each to the Category B states, Category C states (N300 million) each and Category D states (N250 million) each.

    In a short remark at the inauguration, Jonathan renews his assurance to the victims, saying that the government would do everything possible to ameliorate the impact.

    He expressed the hope that within 12 months, the victims would have been resettled to resume their normal live.

    The President said: “Let me also use this opportunity to assure Nigerians again that the present administration will do everything possible to ameliorate the impact of this devasting flood on our people.

    “We will do everything to cushion their pain, and we have put up a strong team made up of credible men and women who will also help government to achieve this.

    “The task of the committee is essentially to raise funds to compliment or augment federal government’s effort to cushion the immediate effect if flooding and the resettlement and recovery of affected persons.

    “This is most critical because when people are under stress, they can endure a lot but the floods will surely recedes we believe before the middle of November the flood will go if it is the normal flood we have witnessed before.

    “After that what happens to the people that is even what disturbs me more than when people are under stress.

    “When you raise the fund, we will be able to see how we can rehabilitate this people. We wouldn’t want people to begin to live in camps, they should be able to go back to their communities and settle down.”

    Explaining the reason behind the choice Dangote and Agbakoba a co-chairmen for the committee, and Chief Mike Adenuga as the chief fund mobiliser, the President said the committee has a mandate to raise funds to assist government in managing the victims.

    His words: “This is why in addition to measures we have taken in terms of releasing funds to government agencies and directly to state governments to assist in helping to manage this disaster, we feel compel to set up this committee to generate funds to assist government in managing these people.”

    Reiterating that the country was facing its own unfair share of the global phenomenon of flooding, the President also said his administration feels terribly worried and sad that these ravaging floods are really affecting so many Nigerians of our people.

    “There are so many states that are affected, with 50 to 70 per cent including my state are under water,” he said.