The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Muneer Yaqub

  • Making sense of these days 

    Sir: Tales of blood have railed our skein, of late. At intervals, they were intercepted by corruption and buffoonery. Each day in this country with its own issue. The scorching sun of our polity, that rises every morning, never sets. Yet, a nocturnal moon keeps interceding, reflecting rays of agony, and casting shadows of death and catastrophe on our land.

    At one time, it was Atiku arrogating PDP’s presidential glory to himself, with some foreign currency. In Port Harcourt, he boosted the Bureau-de-Change business, as delegates stormed their offices, ‘nairalizing’ their portion of Atiku’s dollars.

    Then it was the case between Obasanjo and God. The Owu chief had sworn never to back Atiku’s presidential ambition. Should he, he said, “God would not forgive me.”

    Suddenly, both adversaries were spotted in Abeokuta, making peace. They were both flanked by a couple of men of God, giving the occasion a sense of divinity.

    Whether their presence is for reconciliation or endorsement, it is unclear. Though it seemed more like invoking God’s forgiveness on Baba Iyabo, for forgiving his former Vice President, Atiku.

    But the question lingers: Will God forgive Obasanjo?

    Then we were shocked by Ganduje. The Kano State governor who was caught on camera allegedly receiving some dollar bribes, and pocketing them in his Babanriga. Some said he was trying to hide them from the knowing of his aides. Selfishness, they claimed scuppered his persona.

    Well, his media lieutenants have not been quiet either. Some have jumped into his defense, saying the video was fake and “obviously” doctored. They ask the journalist who exposed him to either provide full details of the scenario, or face the wrath of the law. They’ve been doing their job.

    Still nursing the Kano bruise, Ayo Fayose came in. Something is spectacular about that guy, I must confess. He is an outstanding media practitioner. As a matter of fact, his media advisers are not from this world. How he manages to pull media frenzies almost all the time—and persistently— stunnes me.

    Whoever watched the “EFCC I’m here” saga more closely would see the plot. It was a deliberate stratagem. The timing was apt. Why was it on Fayemi’s Inauguration Day? Simple. He was bent on shifting media attention from the Ekiti swearing-in, and at the same time, ridicule the anti-corruption fisticuffs.

    The basket-mouth stormed the media with a melodrama, as he’d always do. Remember the ‘inverted-P.O.P’ drama during Ekiti electioneering. Gbenga Omotoso described his emergence: “He showed up at the EFCC like an amateur mountaineer— in a black T-shirt emblazoned with ‘EFCC I’M HERE,’ a pair of black glasses, a jean Fez-cap, and a bagpack he carried like a schoolboy.”

    Anyway, the EFCC doesn’t seem to give a damn about him or his media frenzy and paparazzi. They’ve received a court order to detain him for two weeks, pronto, and have confiscated his Lagos property. Although, investigations and interrogations are still ongoing, only a glimpse of Kuje or Kirikiri seems to be flashing at Peter-The-Rock at the moment!

    On a really sad note, however, we lost Hauwa Liman. An aid worker, she was slain in cold blood by the terrorist corpus our leaders have been unable to scupper. It’s a show of how we’ve been stripped of our humanity. No emotions, no feelings, no heart to harbor respect for life.

    Armed robbers sprinkle bullets on innocent souls. Kidnappers snatch fellow humans from their people and drain their hard-earned riches, in one go. Our leaders usurp our monies for themselves, and allege poor innocent animals of swallowing them.

    Our workers are screaming of hunger; they are not being paid. Pensioners who have exhausted their lives serving the government die of distress. They are being knocked down by stroke and hypertension.

    Solely because someone somewhere has swayed their rights into his own personal account. But are those corrupt heartless elite anywhere to be found in our prisons?

    If this is how far we have come as a nation, we have failed!

     

    • Muneer Yaqub,

    Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 

  • Bromate: Your beloved bread may be a cancer agent

    14 years after the NAFDAC ban on carcinogenic bromate, researches across the country have raised questions over compliance by bakers and whether the regulatory body is indeed ensuring compliance. Muneer Yakub reports.

    Confronted with the likelihood of developing cancer due to his regular consumption of the banned bromated in bread, Abdullahi Shehu (not real name) who could best be described as a bread addict, with a deeper affection for the popular ‘Agege bread’ simply exclaimed, “Cancer? From where? Bread that we have been consuming for decades?”

    “How did you arrive at that?” he asked, with shock, disbelief, and a little bit of fear, clearly written over his face, even as he announced that he was planning on having another loaf for dinner.

    Shehu claimed his burning love for bread was borne out of his inability to cook other meals, save noodles; adding that “bread, especially Agege bread, always surfaces as the way out.”

    Asked if he would quit consuming bread, having heard its health risks, Shehu confessed that he probably wouldn’t. “I’m just in love with bread,” he said, with a sorry-to-disappoint you look. “I can’t quit it, I can’t afford to miss it; I’d rather keep praying for protection.”

    Bread, bromated and Cancer

    Bread is one of the most staple, cheap, fast foods in Nigeria. It is widely eaten and ubiquitous in many households.

    Because most consumers prefer it soft, fluffy and smooth, the use of artificial enzymes and chemicals, dubbed improvers, able to provide these qualities became common in bakeries.

    Amongst these improvers is potassium bromate, which was banned by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, as far back as 2004, due to its link as a cause of cancer and many other deadly diseases.

    A decade and half after, however, The Nation gathers that some bakeries across the country still use the substance to bake bread.

    The Nigerian regulatory body took the cue from the World Health Organisation, which had proscribed the use of the substance as a bread baking ingredient in 1992, having proclaimed it as carcinogenic.

    Besides cancer, bromate has also been discovered to cause a handful of other diseases. These include renal failure, kidney failure, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea etc.

    Bromate also affects the nutritional quality of bread, by degrading the vitamins and essential fatty acid contents of the flour.

    In other words, bread improved with bromate offers close to no nutrition to its consumer.

    Therefore, considering the high amount of bread consumed on a daily basis in Nigeria, there is high dietary exposure to bromate, and, hence, a high risk of cancer and other fatal ailments.

    Only one of 30 loaves survived bromated test

    Sometime in August 2018, a research was conducted by A.S Naze of the Department of Chemistry, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port-Harcourt, to test for potassium bromate in bread sold across the city of Port-Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.

    30 different brands of bread were obtained altogether – 15 each from Port-Harcourt North and Port-Harcourt South.

    At the end of the research, result revealed that all the 30 bread samples analysed, save one, contained bromate in high quantities, well above levels safe for human consumption.

    Earlier in July, another research had been carried out by one Nosa Omorodion of the Department of Health Service, University of Benin in Enugu, wherein 15 bread samples of different brands were collected across the state.

    But unlike the case in Port-Harcourt, all 15 bread samples analysed contained bromate in heavy quantities.

    The scenario was the same in Katsina in 2013, when Shuaibu Lawal of Katsina State College of Health Sciences carried out a test on 20 bread samples. None of the 20 bread samples examined was bromated-free.

    Scientists also carried out similar researches in Gwagwalada, a town in the Federal Capital Territory, and Nassarawa State. Sadly, no bromate-free bread was found.

    Rather, “the result showed that the locations have bakeries that use bromate content higher than the permissible limit,” Naze revealed.

    Ignorant bakers

    Findings have also shown that some of the bakers are ignorant of the constituents of ingredients they use in baking. For instance, when asked if he knew the improver he uses could contain bromate, which may be causing cancer in his customers, a baker at Mr. DBoss’s Bakery in Ogun State, simply replied, “It’s just like asking a cook what the content of Maggi is.”

    He expressed surprise at the information that there are different types of improvers, and claimed he did not know the constituents of his improver or whether it indeed contained bromate or not.

    To prove his point, he hurried inside and came out with a yellow sachet on which was an image of a chef, and a text which read “Betta Baker Bread Improver.”

    Handing it over to this reporter, Mr. D’Boss, popularly known by his bakery’s name said, “Go and analyse it yourself, take it to the lab, and see whether there is bromate in it. I only buy NAFDAC approved improver from the market; I don’t know whether it contains bromate or not.”

    D’Boss is just one of the many bakers, who have no idea what they feed their customers and are not committed to finding out— be it cancer, or other disease.

    How ‘NAFDAC approved’ bread may turn out bromated

    Since the ban on bromate from the baking industry, breads with labels bearing bold “BROMATE FREE” tag have flooded the market. Many of them carry a NAFDAC number, suggesting their approval by the agency. Yet, some of them have been confirmed to contain bromate during research analyses.

    This is because, according to A.O Emeje, a researcher, many bakers, in a bid to get approved by NAFDAC, bake a set of bread specially for presentation to NAFDAC for analysis. But after the approval, they backslide and return to their old ways.

    Findings revealed that compared to other bread improvers, potassium bromate is very cheap. So, bakers resort to its illegitimate use, despite government’s prohibition.

    A bromate seller in Lagos, Ojukwu, said bakers are some of his regular customers, followed by local morticians, who use the chemical for preserving dead bodies.

    NAFDAC gone to sleep?

    The question remains, how well has NAFDAC enforced the ban on bromated bread? How often does the body conduct random test on the hundreds of bread brands across the country?

    That may be difficult to say, considering the large number of bromated bread brands on the streets, as the afore-mentioned researches have confirmed.

    In 2015, the agency organised an on-the-spot bread test for various bakeries across the country, but that has remained the most noticeable of its efforts since the substance was prohibited in 2004.

  • The digital doctor

    I’m indisposed; I need medical attention. I pick up my Smartphone, using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate the nearest hospital. I make a video call with a doctor. He looks into his tablet for my medical records, evaluates me, proceeds with his clinical diagnosis and forwards his prescriptions to the nearest pharmacy. In less than an hour, my medications are right at my doorstep. I take them and moments later, I’m back on my feet. What could be more convenient to have such a digitalised healthcare service?

    With the advancement of technology in recent time, life has been made a lot easier. The biggest offices are no longer the largest organisations. Gadgets of huge sizes could not perform in the past, on very little, handy, portable devices, one could easily execute them with little or no effort. We no longer dwell in an analogue world. The manual age has made it into the limbo of oblivion. Here is the era of digitalisation, where mountains are reduced with just a click; where ultimate power lies at the fingertip.

    It is baffling, however, that in spite of the level of technology development, services in the healthcare sector are still being carried out manually across the globe. The medical record room is still cluttered up with piles of ambiguous paper files. Patients still arrive at the hospital, only to be informed that they have no medical records, or that their files are missing. The doctors still prescribe medications on leaflets. Long queues of patients, unavoidably patient, waiting to see a physician, still persists in health centers. Yet, it’s the digital age.

    There is no gainsaying the fact that, the advent of such sophisticated devices as Smartphone and tablet could impact a great deal on the services being rendered by a physician. They are potential in reducing clinical workload, and equally allow for flexible working conditions. They are as well bound to subsidize work pressure, so that with their incorporation into the healthcare space, attending to patients will be made much easier and convenient for a doctor.

    According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the doctor-patient ratio should be 1:1,000. But in many parts of the world, this standard is yet to be met. Nigeria, for instance, maintains 1:6,000 – far below WHO’s recommendation. An efficient and cost-effective alternative to solving this problem, much better than looking for more hands to do the job, which rather culminates in a larger payroll, is digitisation of medical services.

    In other words, when patients get to reach a doctor at anytime from anywhere, via the internet, which most people, even in rural areas, now have access to, it is of certainty that healthcare is bound to be more easily accessible, despite the discouraging doctor-patient ratio in Nigeria.

    In connection with the digitisation of the medical space is “Telemedicine”, an emerging field which involves the use of telecommunications and information technology to provide health care services to patients across distance. With a grasp of telemedicine, the digital doctor overcomes distance barriers and provides medical services to patients, particularly from the rural communities. In most emergency situation, victims often drop dead on the way to the hospital— owning to distance, poor transportation, or traffic jam (mostly in metropolis).

    But often times, some pieces of first-aid information offered to the ‘good Samaritans’ around such victims could have saved their lives. Hence, at such moments, the service of a digital doctor is most needed. A video call with a doctor, or any other means of telecommunication, could keep a patient alive prior to arrival of medical personnel. Such is the power of a digital doctor.

    More to that, doctors can better interact with each other with the help of digital tools. A doctor may, at some point, need the assistance of a colleague in diagnosing a patient. Without having to ask the patient to come back some other time, or risking proceeding with the diagnosis in uncertainty, he could leverage on any of his technological devices to connect with a colleague and get the right information needed. It’s just within his fingertip.

    Medical experts from different parts of the world could be made to participate in ongoing surgical procedures, live, contributing their own knowledge, with the help of video call. Via platforms, such as Skype, medical students from other parts of the world now get to witness and learn from live surgical operations in another part of the world. All of these being made possible by digitisation.

    Smartphone applications are another means through which a doctor can migrate from the analogue world into a digital one. There are a handful of medical-related apps through which patients relate and interact with doctors, discussing health issues. A digital doctor thus avails himself on such platforms, respond to inquiries, check patients’ medical records, evaluate and diagnose, and refer them to pharmacy, or to a specialist.

    The digital doctor uses the Youtube to improve his medical and surgical skills. He learns clinical procedures just by watching videos on Youtube. He surfs the internet for materials and e-books that could enhance his knowledge in the practice of medicine. Those he can’t get for free, he purchases them via online retail platforms, such as Amazon. He is ubiquitous in all social media platforms, where he builds strong relationships with patients as well as medical colleague in other parts of the world.

    The digital doctor doesn’t mind venturing into blogging, through which he provides consultation services to people on health-related issues. He extends his healthcare services beyond the precincts of the hospital leveraging on technology. With the aid of the internet, he is able to reach out to people living in rural areas with little or no access to medical healthcare.

    Yet, a digital doctor does all these without stress, without having to spend half of his salary on transport alone. He delivers clinical services within the comfort of his office or home. Patients that need post-treatment services can be saved the stress. They could check up with a digital doctor somewhere from their home, without necessarily having to drag themselves down to the health center.

    Indeed, the health sector is in great need of digital physicians. It is only through these digital experts that the clinical health care services can be immensely enhanced. It is by the services of the digital doctor that medical services may reach every nook and cranny of the world. The digital doctor better relates with the patient, with colleagues, and with other stakeholders in the health business.

    It is high time our doctors went digital.

     

    • Muneer is a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

  • Women artists exhibit works to mark October 1

    As Nigeria celebrated its 58th Independence anniversary last week, women artists across the Southwest displayed their artworks to celebrate the country’s cultural heritage.

    Themed: Art-Mosphere: Celebrating Nigerian Cultural Heritage, the exhibition was organised by the Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FEAAN), Southwest zone. It held in Lagos, and featured a collection of 47 artworks by 15 female artists.

    The artworks, according to FEAAN National President of, Chinze Ojobo, represented deep expressions and reflections of female artists as a social conscience to the society. Women, she said, serve as ambassadors of peace and friendship, alongside promoting Nigerian culture and heritage. “We have touched on various issues and happenings in Nigeria, including our current challenges. Most of the works on display range from painting, print, ceramics, textile, photograph, strings and mixed media,” she added.

    FEAAN Southwest zone coordinator, Ayoola Omovo, praised the efforts of female artists for their exceptional show of sophistication in their various artworks for the ‘Art-Mosphere’ project, adding: “I’m convinced that anyone looking for a more sophisticated expressionistic language, coming out of the current Nigerian art renaissance, will be drawn to the Female Artists Association of Nigeria.”

    “I hope you enjoy Art-Mosphere for its artistic richness,” Omovo added.  Omovo, who is also a participant in the exhibition, displayed a number of artworks, some of which are: Behind The Mask (ink on recycling rag) and Save The Children (ink on canvas), both designed in 2018.

    Urging up and coming artists, Clara Aden, an award-winning art illustrator, who is also the Assistance Production Manager of Hearts Magazine, said: “Follow your passion, stay focused and let your instinct influence your art, and above all, be persistent. Because it’s not all about the money or making sales, it’s about changing the society for the better.”

    Aden displayed two works at the exhibition: Arugba Mixed Media, 30″ by 24″ and Yoruba Bride Mixed Media 20″ by 24,” which, she said, depicted the beauty of Yoruba culture.

    An indigene of Katsina State, Hafsat Zayyanu, a creative artist, who works with oil paints, fabric paints and pastels in producing artworks, displayed her works. Among the works she exhibited was Fura da Nono III Mixed Media.

    Her artistic dexterity, she said, was gained by the encouragement she got, especially as a child.  She said she intends to create developmental programmes that will help communities and the society at large.

    Speaking of her three exhibited artworks, another exhibitor, Ogochukwu Ejiofor, said: “Being an optimist, driven by the patriotic power of positive change, I have woven my painterly patterns around my work with emphasis on a happy mood.”

    She, however, added that she is delighted in writing poems and short stories for children.

    An exhibitor, Evelyn  Osagie, whose art pieces majorly advocate love, peace and unity, environmental protection, women and children rights; displayed three photographs, sub-themed: “Water: Our Heritage;” namely: Water Boy, Water Dance and Canoe Boy.

    Evelyn D’Poet, as she is famously known, is an award-winning multi-talented artist who creates pictorial and written narratives that celebrate the beauty of Africa and its people. Aside from being an artist and a photographer, she is also a performance poet and a journalist.

    Explaining how she has been able to make it as a photograph artist, she said: “I’m obsessed with taking pictures, but I let the obsession stand for something. I capture scenes from a point of view contrast to popular perception. And being an activist has contributed immensely to my success.”

    Besides being an artist, another exhibitor, Esuru Ichoku, is also into fashion design. “This is because whenever art does not pay my bills, I could have something to fall back on,” she said, adding that she is more passionate about art than her other job.

    At the exhibition, she displayed Queen Idio Printed Design on fabric, which was designed in 2015; and L’egusi Printed Design, in 2018.

    The works, Esuru asserted, were inspired by both traditional Nigerian and British visual art and culture. “Because they are deeply rooted in the creative philosophy of appreciation and aesthetic hybridisation,” she added.

    Oluchi Zom, also a participant, had two paintings on display: Grace II 24″ by 20” and Grace 32.5″ by 28.5″. She is a visual artist ,who earned a B.sc in Multimedia from Brunel University in London, and a teacher of Darkroom photography.

    According to her, she derives inspiration from things around— people and nature. Asked how much of her artworks she has sold, she said: “Art is not that appreciated in Nigeria. Although I’ve sold many works, sometimes, one may not even make any sale up to a year. That is why most artists don’t do it full-time.”

    Other participants in the ‘Art-Mosphere’ art exhibition include: Dr. Rita Edumchieke (Greener Pasture Batik and Okwa Uli Batik); Dr. Stella Mofunaya (Celebration Cut Print); Aisha Idirisu (Wind 1 Mixed Media 16″ by 12″ and Wind 2 Mixed Media 16″ by 12″).

    Also, Adebayo Esther (Palmwine Tapper Mixed Media 13″ by 32″); Onyinye Afam (Young Dream, Strings 24″ by 34” and Stock in the vow 24″ by 34″ String); Patience Anthony-Euba (GlazeVaseI and Glaze Vase II); and Ngozi Nwade (Hope, Stone on fabrics and Protection, stone on fabrics).

  • The country of Lord Lugard

    Sir: I had no intention of spiting inks whatsoever over the independence. Besides the new month, this day commemorates nothing spectacular to me. Like any other day, October suffers wanderlust. Not a single thing there is to celebrate.

    Or perhaps there is, and maybe it’s I who’s being naïve. Afterall, there is hunger and poverty, anguish and sorrow, death and disasters, political hullabaloo.

    There is blood on our Plateau, Leah in terrorists’ captivity, killings in Zamfara; there is flood, hijacking our people’s possessions, sweeping them away into the lagoon of horror. There are progenies of Evans everywhere on our roads, avenging the unending indictment of their captured grandfather, kidnapping our friends, parents and relatives, demanding ransoms even the entire nation cannot afford.

    Could there have truly been nothing to celebrate? How about the heap of unpaid salaries, that which has never encroached our public officers? How about the millions of workers on the streets, protesting their mischievous ordeals every day, baked and roasted by the beams of the sun, while our senators and honourables are in the hallowed chambers, devising pension schemes?

    Perhaps not. Perhaps our still infantile democracy it is we should celebrate. The democracy of dunces, in the words of Sam Omatseye. Besides, who says democracy has ever worked for us in this country? Look back, the time we last enjoyed governance was in the reigns of First Republic. In the wake of democracy, our leaders have gone crazy, berserk, and sanguine in the helms of power. They have lost it all to the fortresses of immunity and impunity.

    Oftentimes, things are better left as they are. Had America left Libya with Gaddafi, or Iraq with Sadam Hussein, without those unwarranted interventions of establishing a democracy, perhaps no boats would be rocked. A system may work but not everywhere; this America refused to understand. UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are a lesson. They’re each under a monarch. Even the Great Britain, our colonial ‘monsters,’ bow to the Queen. And they all run the best of economies.

    I believe Lord Lugard and his overlords should have left us alone. How could someone wake up one morning, a cup of breakfast tea in his hand, stretch out his arms in a hug-wise gesture, and declare: “Behold Nigeria!”?

    Did he bother to find out if these people ever wished to be merged?

    Nigeria is a country borne of greed and self-interest. And it is not astonishing— at least not for me— what the breakfast innovation of Lord Lugard has materialized.

    After all, Ola Rotimi’s master character, in his play titled ‘OvonramwenNogbaisi,’ had quipped: “. . . your stars have this day consumed themselves in the heat of their own unwisdom,” while addressing a group of prisoners. And “this night, you all die!” So, that very morning Lugard created Nigeria was the very moment our dear country died!

    Nevertheless, Nigeria is now 58, and here we have come. But Ovonramwen reminds us: “Snake at your feet, a stick in your hand; Rebellion within, rebellion without.” What next?

    A word, I think, is enough for the wise.

     

    • Muneer Yaqub,

    Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. 

  • The language barrier at Danfodiyo Varsity

    At the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), many students and workers take pride in speaking Hausa. With English relegated, their non-Hausa speaking colleagues are left in the lurch. MUNEER YAQUB writes.

    Language is the most potent tool of communication. It projects identity and promotes cohesiveness, especially in a homogeneous society. For a multi-cultural society, such as Nigeria, with over 300 ethnic groups and more than 200 dialects, adopting a common language would help in unifying the diverse ethnic nationalities.

    English is Nigeria’s lingua franca. It is the language of instruction and communication in official and unofficial circles. Many schools frown at  those who communicate in other language than English.

    But at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), many students take delight in speaking Hausa.

    For students who don’t understand Hausa, living among native Hausa speakers comes with its own challenges. Such is the ordeal of Jasper Adegunloye (not real name), a native of Ogbomoso in Oyo State, who was accused of a crime he did not commit.

    Besides English, the only other language he speaks is Yoruba. His quest for tertiary education took him to Sokoto, a predominantly Hausa-speaking society. Now in his third year, he narrated how he was accused of theft by his colleagues.

    “It was in the library,” he recalled.

    After long hours of study, Jasper came out of the library to fetch his bag that he dropped in the perforated shelf at the library entrance. Having forgotten the exact place he kept his bag, he started opening all holes in the shelf in search of the item. But, he was challenged by a library official, who thought he was up to something else.

    “It was the most horrible day of my life. I had thought the official was a student, trying to challenge me. He yelled at me in Hausa. I was lost, since I don’t understand the language. I snapped back at him and told him I didn’t understand what he was saying. He didn’t understand English. We couldn’t understand ourselves. Before I knew what was going on, he held me by my shirt and dragged me to the security unit.

    “Unfortunately, the guards on duty couldn’t understand English too. This gave the guy a chance to change the narrative. Before I was allowed to explain my own side of the story, I had been treated as a criminal,” Jasper recounted.

    The matter got to a head. His case was taken up by the security unit and he visited the unit for two months before he was finally acquitted.

    He said: “My student Identity (ID) Card was seized, along with my library card. I was not allowed to study in the library for the rest of the semester. This affected my academic performance, all because I could not speak Hausa to people who do not understand English. This was an employee of a federal university for that matter.”

    At the female hostels, there is an agreed time for putting off the light. Bilqees Abu, an Ebira, lives in an hostel with Hausa roommates. She has an ear for Hausa, but she cannot speak it.

    For Bilqees and her roommates, the light in their room must be put off by 11pm. But, one of her roommates broke the rule because she wanted to wash her clothes.

    Bilqees said: “She turned the light on. I wouldn’t sleep if the light is on. Even though her action got me angry, I suppressed my emotion and refrained from letting out my complaint.”

    It became unbearable for Bilqees when the roommate later started a loud conversation with others.

    Bilqees said: “I couldn’t take it anymore. So, I stood up from my bed and walked carefully to her corner in order not to disturb others in the room. I politely told her to switch off the light. But she looked at me scornfully and yelled at me, asking how she was disturbing my sleep. I was shocked. Then, she faced her friends and started insulting me in Hausa right there in my presence.

    “Unknown to her, I understood every word she said. And she was shocked when she had discovered I understood everything she said. I was so annoyed and almost fought with her that night. To be honest, language barrier can cause a crisis in this school.”

    Rodiyah Omotoyosi, a student from Ekiti State, was surprised when she found that Hausa is the major language of communication in the school.

    “You can imagine my horror when I found out that staff of the school, whether a lecturer or a cleaner, speak Hausa to everyone,” she said.

    Rodiyah said she had been having communication challenges since she was admitted into the school. Most of her classmates speak Hausa more than they speak English, she added.

    She said: “I had thought things would take a turn for the better once I settled down, but to my utmost surprise the reverse has been the case. I had issues with a group of security officers the first time I visited the school’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre to complete my registration. With my flowing hijab, they thought I must be Hausa.

    “They started speaking Hausa to me, but I could not comprehend. I had to scream that I didn’t understand the language. They thought I was ill-mannered. It was when they realised I don’t understand their language that they spoke English.”

    Kolawole Muhyideen greeted a non-teaching staff in English and was surprised when he responded in Hausa. The student said he didn’t know how to respond to Ina Kwana.

    “He saw the confusion on my face. When I explained what I came to do in his office, he still would not speak in the language I would understand. I was disappointed. He kept responding to my inquiry in Hausa,” he said.

    When the non-teaching staff eventually spoke English, Kolawole said the grammar and accent were worse than speaking Hausa.

    He added: “I wish I had allowed him to speak Hausa, because I couldn’t pick anything from all he was saying. His English was so bad. It was even worse than Hausa. I was so sad. Why would an office in a university, with students from diverse backgrounds, be occupied by someone who cannot even properly communicate in English?”

    The language barrier  also reflects in the classroom between lecturers and students. Subjects that should be taught in English are, sometimes, delivered in Hausa to enable Hausa speakers understand the subjects.

    Murtadoh Abdullahi, an Education and Islamic Studies student from Ogun State, said he had such an encounter with a lecturer.

    “It was my first time in Arabic class,” Murtadoh said, adding: “The lecturer announced that only Arabic was allowed in his class. In the middle of the lesson, the lecturer switched to Hausa. And this went on for about half an hour. I drew his attention to the rule he had set, and to the overwhelming non-Hausa population in the class.

    “Although he switched back to Arabic later, he completed the lecture with a mixture of Hausa and Arabic. At this point, I knew any effort to call him to order might seem like confrontation. And that was how the lecture ended his teaching and I gained nothing. Even though I prepared to face such challenge in the school, I never imagined that it could be that bad.”

    Isa Ismail, though based in Katsina, does not understand Hausa. He is a Yoruba native. He is disappointed at the manner religious activities on the campus are conducted in Hausa. He said he likes to participate in religious activities, but the language remains the hindrance.

    Dean of Students’ Affairs (DSA), Prof Aminu Mode, in his reaction said the management was not aware of what he called the unacceptable” develoment.

    He said: “Lecturers are not supposed to use any other language aside from English to teach in the class, even if the topic is Arabic related. The acceptable language of instruction is English, and it is unfair to the rest of the students who don’t understand any other language beyond English.”

    The dean said it would be an aberration for Hausa students studying in Yoruba land to be taught in a language they won’t understand. He said it would be wrong for any lecturer to impose native language on students apart from the official lingua franca.

    He advised students to report cases of victimisation based on language to senior officers of the university, promising to raise awareness about the need to keep English as the official language of communication on the campus.

     

  • ‘I’m fulfilled being a shoemaker’

    The saying that, what a man can do, a woman can do better seems to be the nudge that is making Adeola Adewole, a female Biology student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) to see hope in shoe making.

    The 24-year-old entrepreneur has found a niche in shoe making, a pastime she said she must pursue to a “logical end”. Adeola, who hails from Kwara State, revealed how she ventured into the business.

    She said: “I never had flare for any craftwork and I detested anything pertaining to it. But, I had a dream one day in which I saw myself making shoes for people. When I woke up, I shared the dream with some of my friends and we all laughed it off as a bad idea. But, I was bothered about the dream. It was like a pressure from within; the thought kept coming to my mind. When I could no longer bear the psychological pressure, I sought to become an apprentice to a cobbler on campus. From there, I enrolled for entrepreneurship training in shoe making in Lagos.” Being the only female student practising the craftwork on UDUS campus, Adeola said she felt some bit of embarrassment when passersby would gather around her in surprise, mocking her. She said the action almost discouraged, but the will to succeed and push her trade up boosted her morale.

    Does she have her parents’ support to become a cobbler? “No,” Adeola said, adding: “Even though my parents are not in full support of what I do, I don’t see it as a discouragement.”

    Making shoes, she said, has been a source of joy and fulfillment for her. “It makes me to explore my mind for creativity because I think more. So, I feel sick whenever I am away from my business. The truth is, I have fulfillment being a shoe maker,” she said.

    In the face of academic pressure, how does she combine shoe making with her studies? Adeola admitted she was having challenges combining the two activities, but said she planned her time to attend to her business and academics. However, she insisted that her passion for the craftwork was growing more.

    “Though combining academics with entrepreneurship is challenging for me, but good time planning does help me to do the two,” she said.

    She advised ladies to embrace entrepreneurship, saying: “I personally don’t see reason why any lady should graduate without learning one or two skills, especially in this period of unemployment. I believe women can succeed more as a mother and an entrepreneur, rather than being a house a full wife. To me, it is through entrepreneurship that women can be financially independent.”

    Mr Cornelius Dasofunjo, a graduate of the school, who taught Adeola how to make shoes, spoke with CAMPUSLIFE, revealing that she is not his first woman trainee.

    “Adeola is one of the three ladies I taught shoemaking,” he said.

    “Olayinka Obadele, who won state awards on entrepreneurship and now teaches shoemaking, was my first apprentice. Then, I taught another lady, named Praise, on how to design shoes. She just established shoemaking outlet. So, Adeola is the third.”

    Dansofunjo, while expressing optimism that his trainees would succeed in the business, said that women usually show unique creativity when engaged in the craftwork dominated by men. He urged young women to emulate Adeola and add value to themselves through free enterprise.

     

    Muneer Yaqub

  • 14 years after ban by NAFDAC, Carcinogenic Bromate still in use in bakeries

    Confronted with the reality of the sale of bread with bromate and its health implications, Abdullah, a bread fanatic, with a keener interest in ‘Agege Bread,’ exclaimed: “Cancer? For where? What we have been eating for decades?”

    “How did you arrive at that?” he asked, with a sense of shock, disbelief, and a little bit of fear, adding that that was even what he was planning to eat for dinner.

    He claimed his burning love for bread was borne out of his inability to cook other varieties of food save for noodles; hence the need for fast foods. And that “bread, especially Agege bread, is the way out.”

    Asked if he would quit bread having heard its health risks, he confessed he couldn’t. “I’m just in love with bread,” he said, with a sorry-to-disappoint look, “I can’t quit it, I can’t afford to miss it; i’d rather keep on praying for protection.”

    Bread, Bromate, and Cancer

    Bread is one of the most staple, cheap, fast foods in Nigeria. It is widely eaten and ubiquitous in many households.

    Because most consumers prefer it soft, fluffy and smooth, the use of artificial enzymes and chemicals, dubbed Improvers, able to provide these qualities became common in bakeries.

    One of these bread Improvers is Potassium Bromate, which was banned by NAFDAC in 2004, due to its link as a cause of cancer and many other deadly diseases.

    A decade and half after, however, THE NATION gathers that Bromate is still in use for bread baking in bakeries across Nigeria.

    The World Health Organization, WHO, has proclaimed Potassium Bromate carcinogenic: liable to cause cancer. This was announced in 1992 during its proscription from use as a bread Improver.

    Besides cancer, Bromate has also been discovered to cause a handful of other diseases. These include renal failure, kidney failure, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea etc.

    Bromate also affects the nutritional quality of bread, by degrading the vitamins and essential fatty acid contents of the flour.

    A bread improved with Bromate is said to offer close to no nutrition to its consumer.

    Therefore, considering the high amount of bread consumed on a daily basis in Nigeria, there is high dietary exposure to bromate, and, hence, a high risk of cancer and other fatal ailments.

    Of 30 Breads, Only One Survives Bromate-Test

    Sometime in August 2018, a research was conducted by A.S Naze to test for Potassium Bromate in breads across the city of Port-Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.

    30 different brands of bread were obtained altogether—15 each from both Port-Harcourt North and South.

    The result of the research however reveals that all the 30 bread samples analyzed, save one, contain Bromate in high quantities above safe levels for human consumption.

    Meanwhile, earlier in July, another research was carried out by Nosa Omorodion in Enugu, wherein 15 bread samples of different brands were collected across the State.

    But unlike in Porthacourt, out of the 15 samples, none was able to scale through. All the bread samples analyzed contained Bromate in heavy quantities.

    Likewise, the same result was obtained in Katsina State by Shuaibu Lawal, back in 2013. None of all the 20 bread samples he examined was bromate-free.

    The duo of Gwagwalada, a town in the Federal Capital Territory, and Nassarawa State, were also researched upon by scientists for bromate-free breads. Sadly, none was found.

    Rather, “the result showed that the locations have bakeries that use Bromate content higher than permissible limit,” Naze reveals.

    Dietitian Goofs

    Mrs. Sandra (not real name) is a practicing dietitian. Her work is to diagnose and give professional advice over diet and nutrition in relation to health and disease. She however dismissed the carcinogenicity of bread —even when bromated.

    Asked if —and how— she advises her patients over bread consumption, given the adamant use of Bromate in bakeries, she replied strongly that “there is no scientific proof that bread causes cancer.” Bread does not cause cancer, she insisted.

    Based on WHO’s and NAFDAC’s assertions, however, the dietitian’s claim is invalid. Bread can cause cancer, if they harbor bromate.

    ‘I Don’t Know Whether My Improver Contains Bromate’ – Baker

    Sequel to a phone conversation, this reporter was invited to Mr. DBoss’s Bakery in Ogun State. “It’s just like asking a cook what the content of Maggi is,” were his words, when he was questioned about the Improvers he used for baking.

    He was in fact surprised to know that there are different types of Improvers. He claimed he did not know the constituent of his Improver, or whether it contained Bromate or not.

    He hurried inside, came out with a yellow sachet, at the front of which was a chef, and a text which read “Betta Baker Bread Improver.”  As he handed it over to the reporter, he said, “go and analyze it yourself, take it to the lab, and see whether there is Bromate in it.”

    “I only buy NAFDAC Approved Improver from the market; I don’t know whether it contains Bromate or not,” said Mr. D’Boss, popularly known by his bakery’s name.

    D’Boss is like many other Bakers, including Akeem, popularly known as Oyo, who has no idea what they feed their customers, and are not committed to finding out— be it cancer, or other disease.

    How ‘NAFDAC Approved’ Bread May Turn Out Bromated

    Since the ban of Bromate from the baking industry, bread with labels bearing a large, bold “BROMATE FREE” have flooded the market. Many of them carry a NAFDAC Number, suggesting their approval by the agency. Yet, some breads from this category are often confirmed to contain bromate during research analyses.

    This is because, according to A.O Emeje, a researcher, many bakers, in a bid to get approved by NAFDAC, bake a set of breads specially for presentation to NAFDAC for analysis. But after the approval, they backslide and return to their old ways.

    Compared to other bread Improvers, Potassium Bromate is very cheap. So bakers resort to the illegitimate use of it, despite prohibition.

    A Bromate seller in Lagos, Ojukwu, said bakers are one of his regular customers, followed by local morticians, who use the chemical for preserving dead bodies.

    Has NAFDAC Relented?

    Since 2004, when Potassium Bromate was prohibited by the National Agency for Food And Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, only few attempts have been made so far by the Agency to checkmate the compliance level of bakers to the new standard.

    In 2015, the agency organized an on-the-spot bread test for various bakeries across the country, which has remained the most significant of its efforts ever since, in eradicating Bromate.

    Apparently, NAFDAC seems to have relented in its pursuit of a Bromate-free bread industry.

    However, as at the time of gathering this report, all efforts by this reporter to reach NAFDAC proved abortive, as several calls placed to the agency’s hotlines were not picked, and enquiries sent to its email box have not been responded to.

    Muneer Yaqub

  • Students pledge support for Buhari

    A group of students dubbed Buhari Students Support Group has declared its support for the re-election of President Muhammad Buhari in 2019.
     This declaration was made on September 10th in Lagos at a press briefing themed “In Defence of Democracy.”
     “As the 2019 elections clock tricks, we [Buhari Students Support Group] deem it fit to pass a vote of confidence on our dear president, Muhammadu Buhari, given the valance of achievements recorded by his administration and how he has successfully progressed and maintained the state of the nation,” said Dhikrullah Aasim, the leader of the Group and a student of Lagos State University.
    He noted that the emergence of President Buhari in 2015 brought hope to the Nigerian populace, as he has rescued the country from the maladministration of the past tenures, restored the economy and also enhanced national security.
    “Those who diverted public funds are not finding it easy,” Aasim said, adding that Buhari’s administration has also recorded rare feat as insurgency has reduced drastically compared to what was obtained in previous administrations.
    “This administration has secured the return of some chibok girls and their Dapchi counterparts abducted by Boko Haram,” he emphasized.
    Stating reasons why the Buhari Students Support Group was formed, Adelowo Adewale, a student of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, said: “because President Muhammadu Buhari’s integrity is still very much intact, and he has set a landmark in his fight against corruption among many other things, we students have decided to come together and support his continuity in 2019.”
    A student of Fountain University, Lawal Muhammad, reiterated that the sole aim of the Group is for the re-election of President Buhari. “We are not in support of any party; we’re being straightforward in the support of Buhari,” he said.
     Urging Nigerians to vote Buhari in 2019, Adelakun Tufayl from LASU said, “our PVC is our power; we should get it, and troop out in mass to vote this man of integrity, so that he can continue with his work of change and transformation.”
    Muneer Yaqub

  • Boy with kidney failure needs N13m for transplant

    While other kids head for school every morning enthusiastic about the long day ahead, Uwais Usman, a fourteen-year-old boy, lies in his hospital bed, writhing in severe pain and agony, wishing he had functioning kidneys to enable him go to school like other kids.

    He will be fifteen on October 1, but the fear of celebrating his birthday posthumously grips his mother’s heart, as she struggles to get money for his transplant.

    For close to five months, Uwais has been in IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna, Niger State, battling failure of both kidneys. Although one of the kidneys had once failed sometime in 2016, which later picked; both kidneys have now failed, and his health condition has since been deteriorating.

    “His condition is very critical and severe,” his mother, Hajiya Halima, told THE NATION on phone, her voice trembling, studded with worries and uncertainties. “When he started, it was way better than this. But now he is always lying down…too much fatigue; too much weakening,” she said.

    She explained that she was informed at Bennett Medical and Kidney Center, Abuja, where Uwais was first admitted, that the boy needs a kidney transplant to replace the malfunctioning ones.

    “According to the doctor,” she said, “the transplant costs about N8.5 M if carried out in Abuja, and about N13.5M if performed in India–which is way better.”

    Asked how much she has been able to realize so far, with utmost sadness, Hajiya Halima replied: “four hundred thousand Naira…for all these while that we’ve been sending messages and appealing on social media. Yet, we spend nothing less than N87,000 weekly on just dialysis and injections.

    “We had to move down to Minna because we thought the Niger State Government would help. But we haven’t gotten a good response from them. We have pleaded and pleaded with the Ministry of health, they keep saying there is nothing they can do. I just don’t know whether the government will help us, but it is just not working out yet,” she said.

    A couple of weeks ago, Uwais lost his right eye to this deadly ailment, after having suffered severe eye pain as a result of high blood pressure.

    “For about two weeks now,” his mother recounted, “when he looks at you, you might think he is seeing you, but he is not. His right eye is gone. And even his left eye cannot withstand light for long. Whenever light penetrates into the left eye, it enters into the right, and then he starts screaming. Most times, I tie black cloth around his face to cover his eyes.

    “I am afraid that he might soon lose his left eye too,” she added.

    While appealing to members of the general public for help, Hajiya Halima said an account was opened for Uwais in Fidelity Bank, with the account number 6150980918 (Uways Usman A.).