The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lack

  • Ex-commissioner laments lack of attention in young persons

    Ex-commissioner laments lack of attention in young persons

    A former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, has decried the lack of attention in youths.

    Mrs. Semenitari, the executive director, Archdeacon Brown Education Centre (ABEC), spoke at an event to make this year’s World Book Day and International Women’s Day celebration in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital yesterday.

    She said: “More and more, we are losing the attention pad of the young generation; it is difficult for them to sustain conversation. Take a look on discussions on the social media, you will discover that they are not able to engage in, sustain a robust argument/discussions, they easily lose track and vide off the discussion topic.

    “They are easily given to abbreviations, even when the word they are writing is of few letters. These are the things that shorten their attention. They are not patient to engage meaningfully in conversations; these are the issues that shorten their attention pad.”

    She went on: “Already, books, newspapers and magazines are facing extinction and social media has worsened the situation.”

    On women, she said: “Women are asking for an equitable world, a world where they get  the chance to compete favourably and sustainably  alongside the male, instead of the present day one step forward, seven steps backward.”

    A poet, who was a guest in the event, Titi Horsefall, stressed on the need to educate women to build a virile society.

    “Science has proven that intellect, knowledge, survival instinct of a child is extracted from woman’s gene. So, if a woman sits back and does not take charge, did not develop herself, it is possible that her children will not have those genes developed in them after birth,” she said.

  • ‘Lack of data slows Nigeria’s growth’

    The absence of a proper record and data management has been described as one issue undermining economic and social development in Nigeria.

    Chief Executive Officer of Havilah Merchants Limited and Havilah Storage Limited, Mr Lanre Adesuyi said this at the product launch of Bruynzeel storage systems and solutions in Lagos.

    According to Adesuyi, the failure of government and the citizens to keep and manage records is one reason why Nigeria cannot develop.

    “Nigerians need to effectively manage data and information. Some individuals do not even know how to keep personal records, let alone accessing public records”, he said.

    According to him, these problems and challenges are the core reasons why Havilah has taken up a mission to make information management and storage accessible to all.

    “The need to proffer genuine solutions to this problem is why we decided to partner Bruynzeel, the leading storage systems and solutions company in the world. Our partnership is strategic and that is why we are going to offer private and public institutions the best in storage technology from Bruynzeel”

    Adesuyi confirmed that this is the first time that Bruynzeel is coming to this part of Africa and that Havilah Merchants Limited is the sole distributor and technical partners of Bruynzeel in West Africa.

    Rob Reijnen, Global Export manager of Bruynzeel, said Nigeria is key to the company’s global growth and that Havilah is a strategic partner to this expansion.

    He assured potential customers of Bruynzeel’s determination of delivering the best to its customers.

  • How lack of standardisation hurts non-oil economy

    How lack of standardisation hurts non-oil economy

    Despite the renewed focus on non-oil export, following the plunge in oil prices, Nigeria has no functional laboratories for testing and certifying products before export. Experts say that lack of standardisation of made-in-Nigeria products and services frustrates efforts to leverage the non-oil sector to grow the economy. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports

    It would go down as, perhaps, the most embarrassing setback in Nigeria’s renewed push for non-oil export. Recently, five containers of beans exported from Nigeria to the Republic of Ireland were rejected and returned by the importers.

    The products were reportedly filled with weevil. Consequently, the European Union (EU) slammed a ban on beans from Nigeria. The EU did not stop there. It also warned that if appropriate measures were not taken, it would extend the ban to other products.

    For an economy severely battered by crashing oil prices at the international market, requiring urgent stimulation of the non-oil export sector to give impetus to the economic diversification agenda, this was certainly bad news and a major setback.

    The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. Heineken Lopobiri, admitted this much when he described it as “a national embarrassment”. He, however, tried to calm the anxiety generated by the issue, saying, for instance, that the EU ban is only on beans and that it would expire by June this year.

    He said the five containers of beans were returned to Nigeria because weevils were detected in them by the Republic of Island Quarantine Service. He said the containers were exported without the knowledge of the Nigerian Agriculture and Quarantine Service.

    Lopobiri hinted that the government would return the Quarantine Service back to the ports to partake in the examination of import and export containers. He added that henceforth, for any agro-product to leave the country, it has to be certified by the Quarantine Service, as this is the global practice in the United States (U.S) and other developed countries.

    But it is doubtful if stakeholders and operators in the non-oil export business were swayed by the minister’s explanations. Their fear is that the EU might extend the ban to other products, and this could hurt Nigeria’s renewed export promotion drive.

    Such fear is hinged on the plethora of challenges that have continued to hold back the non-oil sector from taking its pride of place as hub for rapid revenue base expansion, sustainable growth and employment generation. For instance, Lopobiri’s hint on possible return of the Quarantine Service to the ports underscored the challenge of inconsistent policy framework and lack of inter-agency collaboration with regards to non-oil export business.

    In 2011, the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, sacked about nine agencies, including the Quarantine Service from the ports to reduce bureaucracy. Now, the Service, including Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is pushing for a return.

    While Lopobiri argues that the return of the Quarantine Service to the ports would allow the Service partake in the examination of import and export containers, the Acting Director-General of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, believes that returning the agency to the seaport would stop the importation of sub standard goods into the country.

    However, whether or not the agencies return to the ports, it still does not resolve the more fundamental issue of lack of laboratories for testing and certifying made-in-Nigeria products before export. The lack of quality infrastructure especially laboratories to aid certification of locally produced goods for export market, has continued to erode the competitiveness of locally made products in the international market.

    “A quality infrastructure for export trade is vital and a laboratory is the way to go. If we do not have the laboratory to test those products and to verify their standard conformity to the standards obtainable abroad, they cannot be exported overseas,” Dr. Angya said. He expressed concern over Nigeria’s lack of capacity to test and certify products in the country.

    The Acting DG, who spoke during a recent working visit to Lagos, lamented that Nigeria still depends on its neighbouring countries particularly Ghana to verify compliance of suspected seized goods. “… because our laboratory is yet to be completed, some of these seized goods have to go for testing in Ghana,” he said.

    He, however, explained that the agency is speeding up the construction of this facility to make Nigeria self dependent in testing and certifying locally made products before they are exported. He said the laboratory, located at Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, is 85 per cent completed and that when completed, it would ensure that locally made products become exportable and acceptable anywhere in the world.

    Dr. Angya projected that the facility, when completed, would also aid the Federal Government’s drive for alternatives to oil export by more than 50 per cent. According to him, the laboratory will house about four different kinds of laboratories to help the country test and certify products before they are exported.

    “This laboratory is going to house about four different kinds of laboratories, which include the chemical, food and engineering laboratories and it is only when these laboratories are tested and accredited that we will stop taking our products to Ghana for testing.

    “Our products will be tested and certified in Nigeria to be exported. I believe that when this laboratory is completed, it will aid the Federal Government’s drive for alternatives to oil export by more than 50 per cent”, he added.

    A Quality Management Practitioner and National President of Association of Systems Management Consultants, Mazi Colman Obasi, told The Nation that lack of standardisation remains one of the greatest hurdles before Nigeria’s current efforts at growing the non-oil economy. He lamented that lack of a national quality infrastructure is damaging the nation’s economy and brand reputation.

    According to Mazi Obasi, a national quality infrastructure is a system of institutions, which jointly ensure that products and services produced in the country meet predefined specifications. It also provides technical support to companies so they can improve their production processes and ensure compliance with regulations or international requirements. The lack of it, he said, is not only partly responsible for Nigeria’s rising unemployment, but also why Nigeria is not globally competitive.

    Hear him: “Until we have many companies that are accredited with ISO 9000 management systems certification, we are not going anywhere; we cannot export anything. Nigeria should work towards having a quality management plan. Not up to 1, 000 companies in Nigeria are ISO certified.”

    Indeed, products and services manufactured in Nigeria lack global quality certification. They are denied access to markets in developed economies, a situation that has been a pain in the neck of manufacturers, as their productivity and competitiveness continue to suffer.

    According to Mazi Obasi and other experts, standardisation will boost the competitiveness of locally made products at the international market and ensure the global acceptance of products and services from Nigeria. This is particularly true for Nigeria considering the fact that her manufacturing sector is still emerging, depending almost totally on other countries for her supplies of manufactured products.

    The nation does not have much to offer other than raw materials and that makes the people the poorest in the world. Cocoa, rubber, shear butter, petroleum, iron ore and other commodities sell cheap from Africa and once the other continent has processed them into secondary or tertiary products like beverages, pharmaceuticals, shoes and machines, Nigerians buy them at a huge cost.

     

    SON, EU move to standardise Nigerian export

     Bad as the situation is, the SON and the EU  have begun an initiative to establish a code of practice for Nigerian agricultural products for export.

    A statement signed by the Deputy Director, Standards Directorate, SON, Mrs. Chinyere Egwuonwu, and Mrs. Irina Kireeva of EU said as part of efforts to achieve the goal, the organisations had concluded plans for a final national training on standards on code of practices for the products.

    The theme of the training, scheduled to hold in Abuja soon is Standard and Quality: Unleashing the potential of agricultural products to grow the non-oil export in Nigeria.

    The statement said the training will focus on products such as cocoa, beans, shea butter and melon. It added that the event would unveil the result of training facilitated by the organisations focusing on exports on key agricultural commodities.

    The workshop, the statement noted, would equip participants with the technicalities of the export market with regard to the issues of development of standards and the engagement of the private sector.

    It said the workshop was critical for transforming agriculture in Nigeria and would help participants understand that Africa could feed itself through agriculture and export.

    The statement, made available to The Nation, added that the training, organised by African Caribbean and Pacific Countries from the EU’s Technical Barriers to Trade, would lead to adopting modernised and commercial agriculture, which is key to transforming the country’s economy.

    Interestingly, agriculture and export are two key segments of the non-oil economy, which government is now focusing on. According to experts, the sector is more inclusive and growth-oriented. It is also more sustainable and characterised by high economic linkages.

    The hope, therefore, is that the SON, EU collaboration to standardise made-in-Nigeria products would help unlock these bountiful potentials.

  • Lack of funds hampers research, says FUTMinna VC

    The Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMinna), Prof. Musbau Akanji, has said research and infrastructural development in the country’s higher institutions will continue to be hampered if the problem of funding is not properly addressed.

    The vice chancellor said this when he received members of the Senior Executive Course 37, of the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State at Gidan Kwano campus of the university.

    Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Academic), Prof Abdullahi Bala, the don lamented that funding had been the bane of universities in the country.

    Akanji said the challenge of funding has affected most universities in the areas of research output, infrastructure and quality of their graduates and therefore called on private organisations and individuals to support the development of the education sector of the country.

    He praised the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) for funding research and infrastructural development in tertiary institutions.

    The vice chancellor also decried the management of basic education by local and state governments, saying it had affected the quality of the country’s basic education sector.

    He appealed for adequate funding of the  sector, stressing that education remains the bedrock of any development.

    Leader of the team, Air Cdr. Emmanuel Jekada (rtd) said the purpose of the visit was to interact with the university management to learn about the institution’s problems and proffer solutions.

    Jekada said the country’s educational system needed urgent attention to address the myriad of problems confronting the sector.

  • Okonjo-Iweala’s Ogwashi-Uku kinsmen bemoan lack of water, power

    Okonjo-Iweala’s Ogwashi-Uku kinsmen bemoan lack of water, power

    Despite over a century of unbroken existence as provincial headquarter, Ogwashi-Uku, headquarter of Aniocha South Local Government Area, has little to show for its status.

    Ogwashi-Uku, the birthplace of Minister for Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has grappled with total darkness and a lack of potable water for its inhabitants in the last seven years.

    When the Federal Government in 2003 commenced work on a dam, Ogwashi-Uku residents heaved a sigh of relief, but that hope has since been dashed following the abandonment of the dam10 years after construction started.

    As if to add insult to injury, the Ubu River – the only source of water to residents – has  become polluted due to the activities of the contractors at the dam, raising fears of an imminent epidemic.

    The Ubu River, which traverses many communities, used to be a fast-flowing river, but has become stagnant and polluted. The river at a point on the Asaba-Ughelli is threatening to wash off the road under construction due to the build-up of water up-stream.

    The Iyase of Ogwashi-Uku, Dr Collins Afunwa, who spoke to Niger Delta Report in Ogwashi-Uku, urged the Federal Government to complete the dam to forestall an impending health calamity.

    He confirmed that the only water source in the community has become polluted owing to the construction work at the dam site. He lamented the non-completion of the Ogwashi-Uku Dam  after over a decade after.

    He said the abandoned water dam is negatively affecting the wellbeing of residents, adding that residents are forced to buy water from commercial water vendors at exorbitant costs.

    He blamed the pollution of the Ubu River on the blockade of the river channel to the copper dams used to restrict the flow of water during construction work at the dam, which has been left unopened.

    Of the four copper dam constructed down-stream, only one is evacuating water- a situation that may be responsible the restricted flow and attendant water build-up  up-steam.

    Aside the non-completion of the dam, our findings revealed that another major factor militating against the completion is the uncompleted power substation attached to the dam.

    Dr Afunwa expressed doubt over the completion of the project, adding the current state of the dam has made it impossible for the people of the community to have access to the Ubu stream.

    He predicted that the Ogwashi-Uku people would endure more hardship during the dry season owing to the uncompleted dam.

    On efforts the community is making to ensure that work resumes, Afunwa appealed to Dr Okonjo-Iweala to help fast track the completion of the dam, as the community has exhausted all means available to get work to resume on the dam site.

    His words: ‘We understood that the Minister for Finance, who hails from this town, is handling the dam project. So, we have no committee in place that is liaising with government on the dam. We are hoping that the Minister for Finance will use this opportunity to show she hails from this town. I believe strongly that that project has been abandoned.”

    A resident, Alphonsus Onianwa, said without potable water supply, he has had to build a concrete pond to store water purchased from commercial water dealer at great cost.

    His words: “We have continued to suffer as we have suffered since the past seven years. Many residents fetch water from the streams around while the rich buy water from tankers who get water from boreholes.

    “It is cheaper to buy from commercial water tankers who fetch from the polluted Ubu River as it sells for N5000, while commercial tankers who fetch from borehole sell theirs for N7500.For an average family, this  stock of water will last only two weeks and as a civil servant you will agree with me that this is expensive.”

    Afunwa wondered why the privatisation efforts of the Federal Government have failed to yield the expected dividend for which it was handed to private investors.

    He said: “It is indeed sad that despite the purported privatisation of the PHCN things have not changed Besides one is compelled to wonder why the investors of the electricity company are not in a hurry to put things in order so that they can start making profits from their investments.  One would have expected they will be in a hurry to do the needful so that they can start making profits, but that is not the case. The whole thing looks suspicious.”

    Continuing: “We have done everything humanely possible to ensure that we have electricity in the last seven years and nothing is happening about light. For more than seven years we have never had light and it has been like that and nobody is thinking about getting us light. As far as light is concerned Ogwashi-Uku is not sure of getting light in the next two years, unless government comes to our aid.”

     

  • ‘Lack of plans bane of SMEs’ growth’

    ‘Lack of plans bane of SMEs’ growth’

    The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector has the capacity to transform Nigeria into a globally-competitive economy in the mould of China and other Asian Tigers if operators could come up with viable and robust business development plans, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Business Development (IBD), Mr. Paul Ikele, has said.

    According to him, most SME operators in Nigeria have no direction because of lack of business development plan.

    In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Ikele said: “SMEs need to come up with business development plans. Before a company is incorporated, that company should come out with a business development plan. Before you open an account for a limited liability company, you should submit a business development plan so that government will key into it and follow it up. If at any point that business does not achieve its objective, it is quietly withdrawn. By so doing government will be able to identify those people that are performing and those that are not performing.”

    Ikele, former managing director/chief executive officer, Noble Path Finance and Securities Limited and General Manager, Business Development, Olympia Insurance Limited,regretted that most people go into the SME sector because they don’t have an alternative.

    “I can assure you that if you are in SME and you know exactly what you are producing, you already have grown a market share in that particular business; you will be able to identify your key customers and focus on servicing them,” he said.

    He noted that this has not been the case with SME operators in Nigeria where “most SME operators are incompetent personalities, who just want to use it and do other things, and because they know how to get to the sources of that fund they get the money and before you know it they channel it to other areas.”

    He pointed out that most people, who are interested in SMEs are either incompetent or don’t have real intentions in that business. Rather, their intention, he said, is to use that money for other objectives.“This is why the Institute is insisting that every organisation should come out with a business development plan so that it will encourage them to submit at the end of the year the result of the evaluation of their operations,” he said.

    He said before setting up an SME, there was need to engage professionals to draw up the business plan. Also, there is need for an environmental scanning to determine whether that business would survive in that particular area.

    “Businesses that thrive in the south may not thrive in the north, but most SME operators will just go and copy a business plan thinking if you are selling pure water in Lagos, for instance, you can sell it in the north, after all north has a hot weather, he said, insisting that “before you do a business plans, you must do an environmental scanning.”

    The Registrar noted that in countries, such as China, where SMEs were properly directed, with good business development plans, they helped such economies to survive.

    He said Nigeria should borrow a leaf from China, which managed to grow her SME sector first by closing its wall to determine whether they want to survive or not.

    “They (China) live in a cottage system where they can buy and use what they can afford. And again, its better to start business small and grow big, identify your core market requirements within your environment and provide those needs and provide the products and services and ensure that people within that area are able to buy them. Nigeria can apply such model,” he said.

  • Eguavoen: Lack of concentration was Super Eagles’ undoing

    Eguavoen: Lack of concentration was Super Eagles’ undoing

    Austin Eguavoen, a former Super Eagles Head Coach, said on Thursday that the team’s concentration level at the ongoing Confederations Cup in Brazil was their major undoing.

    Eguavoen told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the team could have stayed longer at the tournament, if they had sustained their level of intensity in all their matches.

    The former ACB FC of Lagos and Gent FC of Belgium defender emphasised the need for the Stephen Keshi-led technical crew to work more on the team’s attack line.

    “In my assessment of our performance from the opening match with Tahiti, we were brilliant. We could have scored more, but we couldn’t. And mind you, we missed some players that would have been part of the struggle.

    “In our match against Uruguay, even when we fought so hard, our major undoing was lack of concentration, but in all, I give it to them that they did well,” he said.

    Eguavoen, who was a member of the Super Eagles squad that won the 1994 edition of the AFCON in Tunisia, stressed that the Eagles must step up their game against the big teams. He noted that the team initially kept pace with World Champions Spain in their last group match, but eventually lost out because they could not convert gilt-edged chances into goals.

    “It could have been Spain 5 Nigeria 3, but that didn’t happen, because we did not take advantage of the chances; that’s the difference. In spite of the lack of bite in our attack, we still gave Spain a run for their money, even when we lost 3-0,” he added.

    On the chances of the team qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the former Super Eagles coach was of the firm belief that the team would qualify for the soccer fiesta.

    “I have no doubts in my mind; we can go to sleep. Nigeria has qualified for the World Cup. We just have to work hard with a lot of top friendlies against European, Asian, South American and African sides,” Eguavoen added.

  • 120 million Nigerians lack access to electricity, says Minister

    120 million Nigerians lack access to electricity, says Minister

    The Minister of State for Power, Zainab Kuchi, has disclosed that about 120 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity.

    She said only about 40 million Nigerians are enjoying power supply.

    She spoke to State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The Power and Niger Delta Ministries gave their 2012 scorecards on the occasion.

    At the briefing were the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, Minister of State Niger Delta Affairs, Darius Dickson Ishaku and Information Minister, Labaran Maku.

    According to her, privatisation in the sector would be concluded next month and the Federal Government would focus on commercialisation of the power sector to meet the demands of Nigerians.

    She said: “Privatisation is at its conclusion stage. What we need to focus on is the commercialisation of the power sector, considering where we are and the fact that we are giving power to only 40 million Nigerians. There are 160 million Nigerians and we are only giving power to 40 million of them.

    “What it means is that there are about 120 million Nigerians without electricity.

    “We are looking forward to the energy mix. What we are looking at are ways that will bring in many options. The only way we can power Nigeria, as we have agreed, is to look forward to the Independent Power Projects (IPPs).

    “We keep on saying we shouldn’t allow imperialism. Yes, we want foreign, direct investment, but we also want Nigerians to take ownership. If water sells on the streets, power can sell better because everybody wants power every time.”

    The minister went on: “So if we come together by way of synergy and we are able

    to build consortiums and the IPPs come in to address the issue of power need, it will not only be government

    looking for funds to do this, there is the energy mix we want to come up with. There is solar, wind and hydros.

    “These things are available in form of access to Nigerians. We need to deliver power to Nigerians and the only way to do this is by serious commercialisation.”

    Stressing that power business is more lucrative than the oil business, she said: “There is even more money in power than in petroleum. All you need is a power plant and you will make money. The government has tried. We have all sorts of encouragement. We could go into coal, renewable energy. So we need clusters of the windmill.”

    On the performance of the sector in 2012, she said: “We had our scorecard spread out and we got some congratulatory notes from members of the council. But worthy of note is what we intend to do this year. We want to move the power sector to another level.”

     

     

     

     

  • Opposition parties lack ideas, says Jonathan’s aide Okupe

    Opposition parties lack ideas, says Jonathan’s aide Okupe

    President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged opposition parties to come out with better ideas to his Transformation Agenda, if they have any.

    He spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe yesterday in Abuja.

    Okupe said he was compelled to explain a number of salient policy statements in the Independence Day broadcast of the President because of misconception by some members of the opposition parties.

    He said with the exception of the former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who offered nine points in the United States (US) recently, all other opposition politicians have never suggested alternative ways to solve the country’s problems.

    Okupe said Jonathan has achieved remarkable success in the electoral reforms and other national issues.

    “As with other sectors, some opposition politicians erroneously canvassed that the problem of Boko Haram was of such magnitude that would overwhelm the government. Even the Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, joined the team of doubting Thomases when he recently stated that the problem of Nigeria will overwhelm President Jonathan.

    ‘’It is now obvious that this statement is blatantly untrue and not supported by facts on the ground. Action is being taken; it is not dramatised or advertised. The amount of technology acquired by the Army in the recent times is so enormous and that is why they are able to nip on the bud 70 to 80 per cent of bomb detonation attempts of the Boko Haram in the recent times.

    “The key component of the Transformation Agenda is to engender social trust, good governance, credible elections, accountability and transparency, rule of law and guarantee improved quality of life as the basis of the social contract between the government and the citizens.

    ‘’It is gratifying to note that today, elections in Nigeria are now nationally and internationally acclaimed to be free and fair

    Okupe said Jonathan’s effort in the non-oil sector has by July (2012) contributed N646.47 billion while non-mineral resources contributed about N178.92 billion or 27per cent to the GDP.

    He explained that the Federal Government’s share of the subsidy removal, is being re-invested responsibly in health care delivery, public transportation and infrastructural projects like the Benin-Shagamu road project costing about N65 billion.

    ‘’By December 2012 or January 2013, Nigeria will generate over 7000 megawatts of electricity and many communities will enjoy power supply of 16 hours per day and more. The days of lamentation therefore in the power sector will soon be over.

    Okupe said First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan is now hale and hearty.

    He said: ‘’Nigeria has gone through a lot of drama of deaths in the Villa beginning with Gen. Sani Abacha, who died there followed by the death of Stella Obasanjo and President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

    ‘’But even if it is said that Patience is sick, what is expected of an average Nigerian is sympathy and prayer. For now, Patience is hale and hearty.”