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Tag: homes

  • How cultists torched our homes, by residents

    How cultists torched our homes, by residents

    Residents of Ikota near Lekki-Ajah in Lagos yesterday relived how some cult members torched their homes on Monday.

    They claimed that the cultists undertook the attack to avenge the alleged killing of one Dada last Saturday.

    The late Dada was described as an occasionally visitor to the area.

    The residents debunked the fire service claim that the fire was caused by candle light.

    Fire chief Rasak Fadipe was quoted saying: “Somebody forgot a candle and slept off. It burnt out and started a fire. We met the fire raging and we engaged in active fire fighting operation to save the shanties, but unfortunately, we lost 17 of them to the fire.”

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday, a resident, who just gave his name as Samson, said the cult members torched the structures around 12.34am, while some residents were asleep.

    “It was the death of one Dada, who was killed last Saturday by some cultists that caused this incident,” he said.

    Another resident, Sylvester, said what the cultists did was a retaliation.

    “I heard Dada’s clique killed someone from the other gang and it was what caused the fight. I don’t know if there was any other reason. I can’t even say much because I don’t know who is watching me,” he said.

    Another resident, Jerry Macolo, who has been living in the area for eight years, said the fire was not caused by candle light, adding: “Majority of the structures here are shops and they were closed at that time. Those people were ready to kill anybody because of the incident that happened last Saturday. I don’t even know what woke me up. I just smelt fire and when I came out of the house, I saw fire everywhere. “

    Mrs Joy Nathaniel, who lost goods worth N50,000 to the fire described the incident as pathetic.

    She said the neighbourhood is different from what it used to be, adding that it is not a safe place to live anymore.

    “I operate a restaurant. When I got to my shop yesterday (Monday), I couldn’t recognise anything. I couldn’t rescue a table spoon. I borrowed all the kitchen utensils to cook. It was sheer wickedness.

    “We are scared to voice out. That is how they kill each other. We will be glad if the government can mobilise men of the armed forces to our community to eradicate them. We can’t move freely because there is always trouble. This neighbourhood used to be peaceful but now, we don’t know who is who. We need help,” Mrs Nathaniel said.

     

  • Homes, farms submerged in Imo

    Homes, farms submerged in Imo

    Just when the residents thought the flood was over, it swept in again, leaving communities in grief. OKODILI NDIDI reports

    The rampaging flood that rendered hundreds of coastline dwellers homeless and farmlands desolate in Oguta Council Area of Imo State has receded and normal life had returned. Farmers were already looking forward to a bumper harvest. Then suddenly, the rivers, like a caged lion, forced through the barriers and submerged the entire communities.

    Caught unawares, the communities, which were yet to recover from the havoc of the 2012 flood disaster, were overrun with little resistance. Their homes, properties, farmlands were all washed away as they struggled to escape to higher lands.

    Even though the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had earlier warned of a repeat of the 2012 disaster, and advised farmers to harvest their crops and evacuate the flood plains to minimise the damage. But the timely counsel was ignored.

    But one fateful day, as some survivors put it, the Oguta blue lake with its calm and dazzling beauty, could turn to a rampaging monster that will swallow its hapless neighbours.

    Mr. Lawrence Ihebuike, a peasant farmer, had retired to bed after the day’s job of attending to his flourishing crops, when suddenly he heard a gushing sound followed by rushing water that overflowed his entire three bedroom bungalow.

    He said, “All I could rescue were my two little children, who I carried and swam through the flood that had almost submerged the entire building.”

    Mr. Ikenna Samuelsson said, “In 2012, I lost everything I laboured for. My farmland and fish ponds were washed away by the flood. But I refused to give up and returned to the farms but see what has happened again. Then we were promised heaven and earth by the politicians that turned the 2011 flood disaster to a political show but nothing happened and today, another disaster has happened and we don’t know where to start from.”

    A night after the incident, one could hardly know the boundary between the ocean and where used to be lush farmlands. The crops, especially yam and cassava were uprooted and the premature tubers floated on the rising ocean.

    From a patch of land located on the hilly part of the coastline, the flood victims, sat in pitiable groups and watched helplessly the ruins of what used to be their homes and farmland.

    Many of them wept uncontrollably, while others too dazed to utter a world gazed forlornly at the distant sky as if the panacea to there is locked somewhere in the cloud.

    Although, experts had forewarned the coastline communities in Oguta and Ohaji-Egbema that the state will experience unusual heavy amount of rainfall this year, which may likely result to the rise in the water level in the surrounding ocean.

    The state had quickly put up measures to avert the predicted disaster. Blocked drainages were reopened and illegal structures built on waterways were promptly demolished.

    But as soon as the initial fears of the warning were conquered, the farmers returned to their homes, not knowing that the danger was far from over.

    Also lately, NEMA had asked the residents of the coastal communities evacuate the floodplain and harvest their crops as quickly as possible to mitigate the damages that will come with the forecasted flood.

    The NEMA Coordinator, Owerri Operations, Dr. Innocent Ezeaku, who disclosed this on Monday during a sensitization programme titled “Flood: Early Warning and Solid Waste Management” in Ose-Motto autonomous community Oguta Council Area, said that the way to avoid excess loss in case of a re-occurrence of the 2012 flooding, is for the people to be prepared and apply the early warning measures.

    According to him, “I want everybody to be very vigilant this time around, because the flood can come overnight and overrun the communities. The people should call on NEMA any time they notice unusual rise in the level of the rivers around them.

    He disclosed that the Federal Government has built Internally Displaced Person’s camps (IDP) in different communities of the flood prone areas as part of its preparation for the expected flooding.

    Ezeaku, added further that relief materials like food items and other essential materials have been procured to enable for quick response to any displaced person, while urging the state government to preposition medicament necessary for effective response.

    The NEMA boss who attributed the flooding to indiscriminate dumping of solid waste into rivers, urged the people to be desist from activities that could endanger the environment.

    However, these warnings could not save the day as over 100 hundred houses and large expanse of farmland including cash crops have all been submerged.

    Meanwhile the Deputy Chief of Staff to the state Governor, Mr. Kingsley Uju, has assured the victims that the state government is doing everything possible to cushion their plight.

    Speaking during the presentation of relief materials to the victims who were reluctant to move into the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) Camps, Uju advised the people to move to the upland or    designated places across the state.

  • Beneficiaries to get homes Sept. 30

    Beneficiaries of Mushin Housing estate under the Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS) will be known by the end of this month, Lagos State Government has said.

    Ministry of Housing Permanent Secretary Mr Olatunji Odunlami, at a meeting with the prospective homeowners on Saturday, said the project was 95 per cent completed.

    The Ambode administration, he said, was also restructuring the scheme, adding that this is responsible for the delay in handing over the houses to their owners.

    He said work on the Sangotedo and Igando Housing schemes would soon be completed and delivered to the owners.

    Odunlami said arrangements were being made to engage facility managers to run infrastructure in the estates.

    Previous agreements on the houses, he said, would be implemented, adding: “Before the end of this month (September), our Mushin Project will be ready so that people can collect their keys. It is 95 per cent completed.

    “We will continue to work simultaneously on the Sangotedo and Igando schemes, Sangotedo is 60 per cent completed,’’ Odunlami said.

    The beneficiaries, Odunlami said, would be given update weekly and appealed for their understanding.

  • Muslim Marital Homes

    Muslim Marital Homes

    “Marriage is part of my tradition. Whoever is capable but refuses to marry is not part of me” Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

    Preamble

    Today’s article is not new. It is only being recalled here due to popular demand. When it was first published in this column some years ago, many Muslim couples in Nigeria saw it as a true mirror of their matrimonial homes. Many others took it for a matrimonial handbook capable of serving as a guide for the conduct of their homes. Yet, many who missed it at that time but only heard of it from others who read it have severally called for its repetition in this column. And because of the value it may add to Muslim homes and the role it may play in resolving conflicts in those homes, ‘The Message’ decided to re-publish it here today for the benefit of all and sundry. Here it goes:

    “A radical 20th century India-born British journalist and novelist, George Orwell, wrote a famous allegorical novel entitled ‘ANIMAL FARM’ in 1945. His focus in that novel was mainly on the Russian revolution of 1917 which he satirised venomously. While writing the novel, that social critic never thought that any possible ripples could arise from it which might have a backlash effect on the entire human social life in the 21st century. But ironically, with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), in the early 1990s the read application of that book became manifest on the entire social life of today’s mankind. This will be explained shortly.

     

    Institution of Marriage

    Perhaps no institution in human life is as temporally or spiritually valuable as marriage. This is an indisputable fact across nations, races cultures and religions. Marriage is the main axis around which the continuity of human existence on earth rotates. It is either a pivotal source of decency or a clear cause of malfeasance in any given society. Without marriage, human societies would have been like Orwell’s Animal Farm. And were Orwell alive today he would have probably redirected the attention of his novel towards the matrimonial homes globally.

     

    Rate of Dissolution

    Nowadays, the rate of dissolution of marriages is by far higher than the rate at which marriages are consummated. At least, going by the local customs of the various tribes in Nigeria one can conclude that marriages are conducted weekly throughout the country as against the daily occurrences of their dissolution.

     

    Definition

    Some people define marriage as a legalization of intercourse and procreation of children without any reference to its divine sanctity. Others call it a social contract culturally or legally consummated between two consenting mature people of opposite genders. The latter definition is also silent on the obligation and responsibilities of such a union. In Islam, marriage is much more than both definitions. It is on the one hand, a promise made by the male gender who is soon to become the husband and on the other, a trust personified by the female gender who is soon to become the wife in the custody of a husband. Thus, marriage is an agreement between two families aimed at creating an avenue for continuity of social life through a common social venture jointly managed by the two representatives of both families in their bid to set up a home of their own.

     

    Essence of Life

    In the life of any serious human being, three events are fundamentally essential. These are birth, marriage and death. The three form the axis around which the entire human life rotates. All other events in human life are merely peripheral.

    Throughout the world today (Nigeria inclusive), marriage has become a balloon which can be casually inflated in one minute and deflated in the next minute. It has been taken for a mere chess game played for the fun of the players as well as that of the onlookers. To most Nigerians of today, marriage is not more important than dining, wining, singing and dancing. It has been reduced to mere fun and entertainment which many young couples see as a legitimate means of actualizing sexual urge that would have been perceived as a social aberration without passing through a formal matrimonial communion.

     

    Parable of Marriage

    While conducting a marriage in Lagos sometime ago, yours sincerely compared a marital couple to a pair of scissors which has two blades. Each of those blades faces a different direction. The one faces right whilst the other faces left. These positions are not naturally interchangeable. Yet, with the nuptial tie knotting them together in the middle to seal their common destiny, the two blades jointly work assiduously in their move to certify the essence of that togetherness.

    Looking at a pair of scissors very carefully, one will discover that the two blades therein sometimes stick closely together and sometimes stand out separately. Their meeting and parting randomly accentuate the essence of their togetherness. Through those meeting and parting, the two blades of the pair of scissors communicate effectively and mutually function dutifully. And when they stay apart, the tendency is for some intruders to assume that they cannot jointly function again and therefore attempt to penetrate the gap between them. But as soon as that intruder comes in, the two blades of the scissors quickly come together to crush it. There is a marital lesson for human beings to learn from this.

     

    Division of Labour

    No husband can play the role of his wife. Neither can any wife play the role of her husband. The division of labour in the matrimonial home as naturally ordained is the main determinant of the separation of powers in that home.

    Just as the two blades of a pair of scissors face different directions but work intimately together so should any marital couple do. If the blades stick together permanently without opening and closing, the tendency is for them to rust away and become useless to each other. And, if on the other hand, they stay apart consistently thereby leaving the scissors in a permanently open position they will never be able to jointly carry out the assignment for which they are manufactured. Thus, through random meeting and parting of those blades, the pair of scissors is able to perform its duty without any hindrance. And as the blades grow older, they become weaker and less active. So is the situation with marital couples.

     

    Implications

    Unfortunately today, marriage has become like the country called Nigeria where projects are hurriedly executed to satisfy the secret (under the table) terms of contract without any consideration for the quality and maintenance of such projects. When two young people of different genders and backgrounds are coming together to form a couple, they hardly think of the implications of such a union in terms of individual differences and the possible challenges that may emanate from those differences. Young couples of today perceive love either from beauty point of view or from endowed wealth or even from pleasure of sexual intercourse. And that is a way of turning infatuation or possession of material wealth or sexual enjoyment into love which is usually the cause of marital collapse.

    In marriage, love develops only gradually with mutual understanding especially when it becomes evident that one spouse accommodates the weaknesses of the other through tolerance and compromise. The attraction which beauty or wealth or intercourse engenders can only at best generate tentative LIKENESS and not LOVE in the real sense. This is where the foundation of divorce is often laid even before the consummation of marriage. There is nothing called love in a matrimonial home in the absence of thorough study and understanding of each other as well as compromises and tolerance. It is not enough to claim mutual understanding through mutual study during courtship. No matter how long it may last, the period of courtship can never be enough for any couple to fully understand each other. That period is usually to impress each other while the tendency to pretend is often disguised. That is why and Arab poet once coined a couplet thus: “A liking eye sees nothing wrong in the conduct of the liked one; but a hateful eye only searches for the faults in the hated person”

    Marriage is a serious business which must be seriously negotiated initially by the concerned couples and their parents or guardians. At the courtship stage, the concerned couple must not only discuss the modalities of coming together as husband and wife they must also negotiate the factors of sustaining their marriage through proper maintenance of the home. Any marriage without a programme of maintenance and sustenance will become like dew used by a farmer to water his crops into fruition.

     

    The Prophet’s recommendation

    In his recommendation to Muslim men searching for wives, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “Wives should be married on the basis of four factors: beauty, wealth, family background and faith”. He however emphasized (Islamic) FAITH as the strongest factor for Muslim couples. He did not recommend such factors to women knowing the difficulties that women might face in making choices of men but he strongly recommended that a woman’s consent in her marriage is germane. The Prophet then concluded that any marriage without such consent is invalid. This means that forcing a girl into marriage without her consent is illegal in Islam.

    Marriages are globally collapsing at an alarming rate today because couples and their families have closed their eyes to two key factors in maintaining the matrimonial home. These factors are COMMUNICATION and MUTUAL RESPECT. No marriage can ever survive or succeed without a thorough pre-marital counseling by parents, guardians or religious clerics who must not only tutor potential couples but also demonstrate practically to them how marriages are sustained using their own marriages as examples. Newly married couples often dream of building their homes on the models of certain older couples in the society. The consummators of new marriages in the Muslim community must be   part of those models.

     

    Communication

    There can be no matrimonial peace in the absence of adequate communication between husband and wife based on mutual respect. Nothing signals the collapse of a marriage more than the breakdown of communication in the home. A marriage without communication is like a house without door. Of course, the children from such homes are mostly the victims of any ensued divorce. If a marriage is initiated and consummated with communication, how can anybody think that such a marriage can be sustained without communication?

    The real essence of marriage is for husband and wife to disagree in order to agree, not the other way round. And in the process of disagreeing or agreeing, communication is the only key instrument without which the home can never remain intact.

    Any couple that closes the matrimonial door to communication has surely opened that door for divorce. Even divorce, whether through mutual agreement or through court injunction, must be communicated in one way or another to both parties.

    In Islam, one of the most potent ways of ventilating communication in the home is to worship and pray together at least twice in a day (morning and evening). A Muslim husband must at least be knowledgeable enough to lead his family in Salat and to preach and pray for such family daily. Through such worship and prayer, many knotty matrimonial issues are untied. And   besides, the children will learn to be good-mannered and to resolve disagreements among themselves. That is why Muslims are urged to acquire knowledge about their religion. The spate of divorce in any society today is much higher among the ignorant couples than the knowledgeable ones.

     

    The Role of Mosques

    By remaining indifferent to the rate of divorce among Nigerian Muslims, the Mosques are shirking one of their foremost responsibilities. It has been said repeatedly in this column that Mosques are not meant for Salat alone. As a matter of fact, Salat can be observed congregationally or individually anywhere that is clean and not necessarily in a building called Mosque. A Mosque in Islam does not have to be a building if its purpose is just to observe Salat. That is why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said “the entire earth has been made the Mosque for Muslims once it is purified”.

    One of the fundamental duties of a Mosque is to sanitize the society by finding resolution to conflicts. And since no conflict can be more devastating to any society than that of the matrimonial homes it becomes incumbent on every Mosque to have a Conflict Resolution Committee constituted by learned scholars and headed by an Islamic jurist.

    As a duty, the Imam of the Mosque must also be well educated enough to educate the congregation in his Mosque on the need to take their matrimonial conflicts to the Mosques or Shari‘ah courts where such conflicts can be solemnly resolved rather than to customary courts where marriages are dissolved with fiat. Matrimonial conflicts are not new to any modern society. What seems new and worrisome about them is the geometric leap they are taking these days.

     

    Reflection

    The very first conflict in human history was over marriage. And that was the conflict between the first and second sons of Adam (Qabil and Habil) otherwise known as Cane and Abel over the choice of wife. And the genesis of the perennial disagreement between Muslims and non-Muslims of Semitic origin in the world today was the matrimonial rivalry between the two wives of Prophet Ibrahim, Zahrah and Hajarah, (Sarah and Hagar).  If the Mosques cannot resolve conflicts arising from the marriages they consummated to save Muslim homes, what other conflicts can they claim to be resolving? It is embarrassingly shameful to see hundreds of Muslim marriages demolished by customary courts while the Mosques keep aloof.

     

    Conclusion

    Today, Nigerian society is prone to danger of insecurity mostly because of matrimonial instability. And the more marriages are consummated, the more matrimonial homes crumble. Who, then, will save the society by saving our matrimonial homes? That is the biggest question of this time which is begging for a very positive answer. The security of Nigeria as a country depends very much on the stability of matrimonial homes. That is why emphasis should rather be laid on stability of homes than on distribution of contraceptives for the purpose of reducing procreation. There can be no peaceful nation without peaceful homes. This is a panacea for national insecurity. The battle for Nigeria’s future peace is rather in the matrimonial homes than in the Sambisa forests of this world.

     

    God bless our homes.  

  • How to secure your homes against burglars

    An online property portal, Lamudi has given property owners tips on how to secure their homes against unwanted guests.

    The firm identified human security: security, electrical: electrified fences, electronics (alarm systems, security cameras, motion detectors), structural (huge iron gates, bullet-proof doors, high fences, peepholes), animal such as trained dogs as some of the traditional ways of securing properties.

    Its Public Relations Officer, Keisha Diamond, said some of these security measures can deter criminals, lamenting that not everyone can afford to live in a high-fenced compound or employ security staff.

    She said: “Here are some of the things you can do to ensure your home’s security. Try out this exercise: Imagine arriving at your doorstep without a key, how are you going to get into the house? Think outside the box. Would you break the windows? Would you go through a back door? After brainstorming, you will likely find out a weak spot around your home that you may need to secure. Make sure you install door and window alarms.

    “If you already have an alarm system, but it goes off every once in a while without being tripped, then you need to have it repaired, or your neighbou   rs might neglect a burglar who breaks in, thinking it is a false alarm. Install motion sensor detectors, and using lighting at night deters most burglars, especially when you travel out of town.”

    According to her, some homes have security cameras at all entrance points, adding that an intercom could come in handy too, but is not always the safest bet as a criminal may disguise as a sales person for instance.

    “Install metal doors with peep holes. You can also have windows built next to the entrance doors. Install a safe for cash, important documents and expensive jewellery.

  • ‘Lagos built 10,000 homes’

    ‘Lagos built 10,000 homes’

    The Lagos State government has built over 10,000 housing units to address the housing deficit, Commissioner for Housing Bosun Jeje said yesterday.

    Speaking at a briefing, Jeje said the figure represents the number of houses the government had built since 2007.

    The commissioner, who affirmed that the present administration had been determined to reduce the housing deficit, noted that the houses were handed over to residents through various strategies.

    According to him, “one of the strategies is the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS) draw. By next month, we will start the Rent to Own home ownership method.”

    Jeje said the monthly draw had produced over 603 winners since the first draw in March 2014.

    The commissioner said, however, that the housing deficit was still high, at one million housing units.

    “The government isn’t expected to be the constructor of houses; it is expected to create conducive atmosphere that will allow private investors to thrive in the housing sector. In the absence of this, that was why the state government commenced the Lagos HOMS.”

     

  • Again, rainstorm destroys homes in Ibadan

    Again, rainstorm destroys homes in Ibadan

    A three-hour rainfall accompanied by heavy storm descended on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Tuesday, last week destroying in the process, several residential buildings, business premises and electricity poles in many parts of the city. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU reports.

    After waiting for several months for the rains to come, residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital had the first rain of the year on Tuesday last week, but it was a bitter-sweet experience for many of them.

    While the rain water and cool breeze tempered the excessively hot weather and provided free water for many households without pipe-borne water, the accompanying rainstorm damaged many buildings and public property.

    At the end of the three-hour heavy downpour, many houses were left with no roof, having been blown away by the strong wind, IMG_20150325_225502while many electricity poles were either broken or uprooted, leaving many households without public electricity supply.

    As was the case few year ago,in the city. Many residential buildings were badly affected by the wind that accompanied the downpour. Quite a number of concrete electric poles and cables were brought down and smashed into shreds on the roads, causing damage to shops and business places nearby.

    Apart from the damage to electricity poles and cables belonging to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the power company in charge of distribution of electricity to the city of Ibadan and environs, many fish ponds and farmlands were flooded by the storm water in some areas, causing heavy losses to the owners running into hundreds of thousands of naira.

    In most of the areas visited by The Nation, nothing had been done to repair the damage since the unfortunate incident, except few areas where electricity has been restored.

    At Omi-Adio and Apata areas of the city where the damage was much, electricity had been restored in some places while other areas were still in darkness.

    IMG_20150325_230033At Ido town, many buildings whose roof tops were blown off were still without any roofing while electricity poles and cables were still lying on the roads.  The situation was the same at Iyana-Ido area, especially after the railway crossing with most of the residents without electricity.

    In Ibadan South West Local Government where the rainstorm also left its traces, few residential buildings affected by the storm remained unattended to while others have been repaired by their owners. At Odo-Ona and Ago-Tailor areas of the city, it was tales of woe from the affected residents. They complained of blackout even as they await officials of the power company to replace the damaged electricity installations.

    A farmer who lives in one of the affected buildings Mr Monday Iyasele said “We have been waiting for the officials of the power company to come and repair this light. In fact, we have lodged complaint and we hope they will do something soon to restore our light.

    “We don’t have the money to buy poles, cable and other materials. And that is why you see the cables and poles still lying on the roads. Maybe they wanted us to contribute money to get the materials, but I can tell you that we don’t have that kind of money. They collect money for the electricity and it is their responsibility to repair these damaged equipment. Financially, some are incapacitated even to replace their roofing sheets damaged by the rainstorm.

    “We can’t replace the roofing sheets because we don’t have the money to do so. It takes a lot of money to replace them and since the money is not there we have no choice than to bear the consequence of what happened. If there is rain now, everywhere will be full of water as a result of leakages, and we must cope with it because we don’t have any choice. We pray that God will one day provide the money to fix it”.

    Even traders, welders, and shop owners who depend on electricity claimed their businesses have suffered a major setback since the downpour. Mr Wasiu Adebayo who owns a welder’s workshop at Omi-Adio described the blackout as unbearable.

    Other residents affected by the rainstorm are still groaning as they are yet to recover from the loss, while the power distribution company is still battling to replace the damaged electric poles and cables.

    Although, electricity supply has been restored to some strategic areas of the city, some residents yet to receive supply have been using private electricians to fix some of the damaged equipment.

    Some complained about the conduct of the power company officials who they alleged were not alive to their responsibility.

    They wondered why it would take the power distribution company more than two weeks to restore light to the affected areas.

    Speaking on the damage to electric poles and cables, a school teacher at Iyana Ido,  Mr Kingsley Oke lamented that since the rainstorm caused damage to power installations the workers of the power distribution company have not visited to assess the damage and proffer immediate solution.

    However, the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has pleaded with the affected residents, assuring them that electricity would soon be restored.

    The Public Relations Officer of IBEDC, Mr Frank William who spoke with The Nation said” we are working very hard to restore power to the affected areas. Our men are on the field working to ensure that we replace all the damaged installations. We plead that our customers affected by the rainstorm should exercise patience, everything will soon be normalised .”

  • Consultant calls for stress-free homes

    A Consultant Psychiatrist with the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, Dr Fauziyah Oduguwa, has enjoined couples to maintain psychological, social and spiritual stability.

    In a lecture titled: Maintaining emotional and psychological balance for status change (Marriage) at a yearly seminar organised by The Criterion, Dr Oduguwa explained that marriage has four different stages – the newly married stage, which is the first 12 months of marriage; the early years, which are the first five years of marriage; the middle years, which are between five and 20 years of marriage and the later years, which are over more than 20 years of marriage.

    She explained that of all the stages, the third stage is the most characterised with emotional, psychological and physical stress which can all lead to emotional distress if not properly managed.

    “Emotional distress is a range of symptoms and experiences in a person that are commonly troubling, sometimes confusing or out of the ordinary which can lead to depression, illness, anxiety and psychosis,” she explained.

    She urged them to understand their rights and duties as husband and wife, communicate with each other, trust in Allah, be patient, forgive and relax to maintain emotional well-being.

    She said: “If however, emotional distress comes in, consider seeing a marriage counsellor, a psychologist or a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist may prescribe some medications and if they do not work, the couple may be advised to live separately and if none of these work, divorce is the last resort”

    Amir (President), Islamic Study Group of Nigeria, Alhaji Nurain Titilayo Odunsi, who spoke on Sustaining Social and Spiritual Stability in Time of Marital Stress, explained that marital stress is often caused by failure in spousal obligations, infertility, unforgiveness, lack of emotional and social support and impotency.

    He then urged them to try as much as possible to avoid the causes and offered remedies in the event of any sign of marital stress.

    “Always go back to Allah. Learn more about your faith and teach members of your family. Engage in healthy communication, spend more time alone together, forgive often, have more sex, and learn how to react to stress,” Alhaji Odunsi said.

    He also urged The Criterion to have a body for marriage counselling.

    “Marital stress will be a continuous phenomenon till the end of time. We have to learn how to cope with it and manage it. But do not use that to put more stress on those that are about to get married. Marriage is an essential part of our faith,” he said.

  • Ebola: ‘We may abandon our ancestral homes’

    Ebola: ‘We may abandon our ancestral homes’

    Residents of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have cried out over the decision of the FCT Administration to site the isolation ward for possible Ebola cases in the FCT in their area.

    Wondering why the administration should take “such a decision that may endanger their lives”, most residents say they would relocate to a different area should there be any case of the virus referred to the isolation ward.

    A resident of Kuje who identified himself as Danjuma said: “I don’t know why the government simply thinks it’s reasonable to force ideas on people. People of Kuje are really afraid and I can assure you that there will be mass relocation from Kuje if a case of Ebola is referred to the area.

    “Some people have vowed not to get close to the General Hospital as soon as they hear the news of an Ebola case.  For me, I will take my family away from there as soon as it happens. I don’t care about anything that the minister has said about safety.”

    The decision to site the isolation ward at Kuje, the authorities say, was part of the proactive measures by the administration to contain the Ebola virus when it crops up, as it does not want to be taken unawares.

    Federal and state governments are working assiduously to ensure that the Ebola virus does not become an epidemic. However, some state governments that have not recorded any case of the virus are also taking necessary measures to contain it should they witness any. This they do by designating part of a tertiary health institution as isolation centres.

    This is the situation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which has created an isolation ward at the Kuje General Hospital.

    At an interactive session on the matter, the FCT Administration noted that after deliberations, it decided that Kuje General Hospital in Kuje Area Council was a suitable location for its isolation ward.

    Unfortunately, the action has petrified residents who see the move as a means of “bringing the disease closer to them.”

    Protesting the decision, the residents noted that the FCT Administration only remembers that they exist when negative issues which no other part of the FCT wants to host crop up. They added that if it is something beneficial, it is taken elsewhere. Citing the Kuje Prisons as one of the projects that are not beneficial to the community, the residents said they pray unceasingly that dangerous criminals in the popular prison do not escape and take them hostage, even as they lamented that they have to contend with the Ebola virus isolation ward in the hospital.

    When the rumour began making the rounds that the ward maybe cited in Kuje, the youth staged a protest to the palace of the Gomo of Kuje, Alhaji Haruna Tanko to register their anger over the purported decision, which they insisted was dangerous to the well-being of the community.

    When the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed confirmed what was once regarded as rumour, the Chairman of Kuje Area Council, Shaban Tete cried out to the Minister at the FCT stakeholder’s interactive forum on the threat of the Ebola disease in the FCT.

    He informed the minister that the residents were scared, even as he suggested that the isolation ward should be sited elsewhere and not Kuje.

    He lamented that the hospital was in the middle of Kuje and any form of an outbreak of the virus will affect everyone in the area council.

    Tete opined that such a ward should not be cited in a General Hospital but in a specialist hospital far away from Kuje.

    His words: “It seems to us in Kuje that we have now become the FCT centre for Ebola virus and both I and the Gomo are afraid. The healthcare centre is in the middle of Kuje and if there is an outbreak there, everyone in Kuje will be affected. “I believe that there are specialist hospitals everywhere. Why locate it in Kuje?”

    After listening to the council boss, the minister said Tete was ignorant, even as he warned him against inciting the youth of the FCT against the administration based on groundless fear.

    Senator Mohammed informed him that all necessary measures will be put in place to ensure that patients who make use of the hospital are safe by not coming in contact with any Ebola patient, if any.

    The minister further informed Tete that the isolation wards will be located behind the hospital with all the safety measures required, adding that patients will not notice the difference.

    He said: “I believe you spoke out of ignorance. You should not have expressed such fears after professionals had explained to you that the virus can only be contracted through physical contact. That hospital in Kuje belongs to the FCT Administration and not your area council.

    “I can assure you that we do not wish to put your people in harm’s way. Even if it means building a place behind and away from the main building, we will do it to ensure your safety. Please, be assured that this is not meant to harm the people of Kuje.

    “Since you said that you don’t want it site in Kuje, where do you want us to take it to? You want us to take it to another place?

    “I don’t like your attitude. You do not like the people of Kuje more than I do and I will do everything to protect them. I learnt that you are trying to insight your youths against the administration and the idea of the isolation ward. We have security measures in place who have informed us of that. I can assure you that no harm will come to you and we will ensure that all safety measures are put in place to avoid any form of outbreak.”

    Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Development Secretariat, Dr Demola Onakomaiya explained that various steps have been taken by the administration to ensure safety of the people, even though no case of the virus has been recorded or confirmed in the FCT.

    His words: “Earlier before now, we had prepositioned personal protective equipment (PPE) in 16 health facilities (both public and private) and one agency in the FCT.

    “Clinical sensitisation with emphasis on heightening their index of suspicion, case management, infection prevention and control are ongoing in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.

    “Social mobilisation and health education, promotion and empowerment are ongoing in the media and all communities in the FCT.

    “An active surveillance has been ongoing through the Department of Public Health and it has been responding promptly to calls whenever cases are suspected.

    “An interactive session with the FCT Guild of Medical directors was held on July 9, this year.

    “A place to be used as isolation ward has been identified in Kuje General Hospital awaiting modifications and prepositioning of relevant materials according to guidelines.

    “A rapid response team (RRT) with specific responsibilities has been set up with five sub-groups namely case management and infection control, surveillance, contact tracing and cross-border activities, social mobilisation, logistic, port of entry and letters are being sent to all relevant sectors and the inaugural meeting will hold shortly.”

    Despite these explanations, residents of Kuje are still afraid and wish that the centre is not located in their community.

    In a related development, theChairman of Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Shaban Tete, has rescinded his decision to resist any attempt by the FCT Administration to site an isolation centre for Ebola infected persons in the area, even as he appealed to residents of the area to accept government’s decision.

    Tete overturned his hard stance against the FCTA decision after a meeting with the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and other stakeholders in Abuja on the decision to use Kuje General Hospital as an isolation centre for Ebola victims.

    According to Tete, the appeal became necessary as a result of the wide rejection of the centre by residents of the area who expressed their fears that the virus kills any person infected with it days after infection.

    “We had a meeting with Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed and he made it clear to me that Kuje General Hospital has been designated as an isolation centre. They also explained clearly to me that the disease can only be contracted through body fluid when you come in contact with an infected person.

    “I was assured that that all necessary facilities would be put in place before any infected person would be brought to Kuje. The FCT is currently free from the Ebola virus and we pray that the situation remains like this. I want to encourage residents of Kuje to remain calm and always main high level of personal hygiene.

    “In the meeting, it was concluded that there will be gadgets to monitor people coming in and out of Abuja for safety purposes. When somebody is too scared, he or she can even die before time. I therefore urge Kuje people to go about their normal businesses,” he said.

    He called on all stakeholders to join hands with the government to fight the virus and save lives.

    He urged residents to adhere strictly to government’s healthcare advice, adding that it would help in preventing the spread of the virus.

  • Samsung, firm partner on smart homes for consumers

    Samsung, firm partner on smart homes for consumers

    In line with its vision of creating the ideal home environment where innovative technology meets cutting-edge design, Samsung Electronics West Africa has partnered with Home and You Interiors to showcase the future of interior decoration.

    The initiative is the first of its kind in Nigeria and underscores the partners’ commitment to delivering products that meet consumers’ needs while enhancing their passion for entertainment, cooking and maintaining beautiful homes. Similar partnerships between Samsung and other interior design companies across the country are slated for the months ahead.

    According to Samsung Electronics’ Director of Consumer Electronics, Mr. Sunil Kumar, the initiative aims to provide Nigerians with the opportunity of experiencing the integration of Samsung’s newest consumer appliances, including its curved ultra-high-definition televisions and digital appliances such as the newly launched WW9000 washing machine, with everyday lifestyles.

    “Our partnership with Home and You Interiors reinforces our continued commitment to offering homeowners the very best in innovative and stylish design. Through this channel, Nigerians can experience the elegant design and interoperability of Samsung’s latest consumer appliances in a tastefully-furnished home setting. The initiative will also enable our consumers elevate the look and design of their homes with a blend of quality furniture and consumer appliances towards making their living spaces more stylish, energy efficient and sustainable,” he said.

    Kumar urged Nigerians to visit Home and You Interiors’ showroom in Lekki, Lagos in order to interact firsthand with the companies’ lifestyle and technology innovations as well as obtain a deeper understanding of the partnering organisations’ commitment to creating a smarter life through quality design and innovative eco-friendly solutions. He added that Samsung will be furthering its commitment to promoting smart living by partnering with other interior designers in Nigeria’s residential market.

    On her part, Chief Executive Officer of Home and You Interiors, Mrs. Feyisola Abiru, said “Since inception, our company has delivered top quality furniture, accessories and designs that create interiors that wow. Through this partnership with Samsung, our clients will get to see how effortlessly integrated technology solutions blend into our creative designs and ultimately enable them to enjoy style and optimal convenience at all times.”

    Samsung Electronics Co. Limited is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, the company is transforming the worlds of televisions, home appliances, LTE systems, smartphones, personal computers, printers, cameras, semiconductors and LED solutions. The group employs 236,000 people across 79 countries with annual sales of US$187.8 billion.