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Tag: problems

  • How to overcome common sexual problems Part 1

    What is Sex? Sex is perceived as taking place between one individual, not being a child that carries XY and another individual, not being a child that carries XX genes. That is to say, sex is deemed to take place between two consenting adults of opposite genders. Sex occurs when the male penis enter the female vagina. Sexual problems Sexual problems in men can be and usually is different from the sexual problems in women. In some occasions, these problems are similar. We will attempt to look at common problems in both genders. Common Sexual Problem in Men Erectile Dysfunction Erectile dysfunction otherwise known as impotence by the public is a persistent inability of the man to get and maintain a penile erection that is sufficient for a sexual intercourse. What makes for an erection and what causes erection to occur? In individual, an erection would normally occur:

    Stage 1:

    1) At the thought of sex, via fresh imagination or a recall from memory/past experience of sexual encounters.

    2) Seeing the actual image of sex. This can be in form of video, pictures or real life sexual scene. The crucial issue is that, the person must receive some data and information into the brain, about sex. With these, a quick succession of events is activated. The hormones, testosterone and others are activated in the blood and other hormones are released to effect the erection.

    3) Talk of sex or discussion about sex.

    4) Feeling of sex: hearing of sex scenes, smelling, touching-feeling of sex. Note that, the above-mentioned set of events takes place at the level of the brain and mind. With the mind involved, the person imagines having sex as the mental picture of sex is formed in the mind of the individual. This is called conditioning and often occurs in readiness for sex. Then and thereafter the “conditioning”, the organ of penis is “instructed” by the brain to more or less get “ready” and the blood flow is activated to flow and fill those organs designed for sex.

    Stage 2:

    5) Following the above, the blood flow to the penis will increase considerably in a way similar to filling your garden rubber pipe used for watering the flowers, with the open end of the pipe tied or closed. The penis becomes turgid.

    6) With these, the muscles of the penis become firm and pointed in readiness for penetration of vagina. Erection may therefore fail if:

    • There is problem or blockade with your imagination.
    • There is problem with sensation of sight, smell, tough and hearing. •There is an abnormality with the production of hormones especially testosterones which can occur in diseases of the pituitary/brain or poor function or absent of the testes (“balls”). The hormone testosterone may also not function properly to hit the appropriate sex target even if the hormones are present as in some other situations. Testosterone along with other hormones controls the stages of sex.
    • When there is a disease that affects the blood flow to the penis such as diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and stroke, erection may fail.
    • You cannot get erection if you don’t have a penis.

  • Ayade hails Buhari on response to ecological problems

    Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade yesterday commended President Muhammadu Buhari for swinging into action immediately after receiving a letter of plea for help following the menace of erosion that is devastating most parts of the state.

    Ayade, who personally handed over the letter to the President in Abuja, said he was impressed that barely two weeks after, the President had sent a team to the state to evaluate the challenge.

    The governor spoke during the presentation of the preliminary report by a team of experts led by the Deputy Director, Ecological Fund Office at the Presidency, Engr Funsho Adebiyi after five days of assessment tour of ecological sites, especially erosion ravaged areas in the state.

    “This response shows that he is not only a true democrat but an action President,” the governor stated, adding: “This clearly shows that irrespective of party lines, the President has demonstrated that he is today the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by sending this team few days after my discussion with him.”

    The governor charged the team to go beyond writing the report by actually implementing the recommendations, or the whole state will become a disaster area.

    He thanked the team for painstakingly undertaking a comprehensive tour of all ecological related issues ranging from coastal areas, landslides, under water current, dams, gullies and erosion sites across the state.

    According to Ayade who enumerated some of the ecological effects on the citizenry explained that: “This is having an organic incursion into the anthology, sociology and orientation of our people and if this is not handled properly, we are going to have a very big environmental cataclysm in our hands.

    “The ecological problem is beyond the financial capacity of the state as pupils have been disrupted from schools and they are really devastating and if they are not handled urgently, the village system will be wiped out, life span shortened, and there will be no hope for tomorrow. This calls for prompt action from the Federal government.

     

    “Erosion is a direct consequence of climate change which is now a global phenomenon and whoever that sits on ecological fund will know that the situation is critical and requires urgent intervention to address them permanently. It is my hope that as you return to Abuja you will present real situation as you saw them.

    These are things that have gone beyond the economy and capacity of the state government. Our internally generated revenue is so insignificant that we cannot even pay our salaries. With this kind of problem, if we don’t cry to the President then we are in a big trouble.”

    Earlier, Engr Adebiyi disclosed that the team had visited over 15 critical areas across the state, adding that all the places inspected needed urgent attention.

  • Nigeria’s lingering but avoidable problems

    Sir: Every Nigerian now has to bear the brunt of a mismanaged economy courtesy of the Jonathan mal-administration. If only we knew we would not be better off now than we were four years ago, perhaps the story will be different. We are on the verge of making another choice as regards who will lead the country for another four years. It’s a choice between continuity, which President Jonathan represents, and change, which General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) promises to bring to bear if elected. Many Nigerians are torn between these two choices, which the New York Times editorial referred to as miserable.

    Regardless of this, we have to weigh our options. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s recent allusion to the lack of institutions, systems and process as the reason for persistent corruption and the current state of the Nigerian economy is an afterthought. Though institutions, systems and processes are needed but what has been done under the coordinating minister of the economy to address this problem and avoid this economic mess? Nobody has come out to tell Nigerians that the economy is in recession. Worst still, what the economic management team told us is that we need to start diversifying the economy in order to be able to cope with the current fall in oil prices. Nigeria’s economy is finally in recession.

    Former CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo in his much criticised article titled: ‘Buhari versus Jonathan: Beyond 2015’, which was published in most newspapers stated that ‘’at a time of oil boom, Nigeria again went on a consumption spree such that the budgets of the last five years can be best described as consumption budget with new borrowing by the federal government exceeding the actual expenditure on critical infrastructure. Not one penny was added to the stock of foreign reserves at a period Nigeria earned hundreds of billions from oil.’’

    Professor Soludo continued; ‘’President Obasanjo met about $5 billion in foreign reserves and the average monthly oil price for the 72 months he was in office was $38 and yet he left $43 billion in foreign reserves after paying $12 billion to write-off Nigeria’s external debt. In the last five years, the average monthly oil price has been over $100 and the quantity also higher but our foreign reserves have been declining and exchange rate depreciating.’’

    The CBN’s further devaluation of the naira after that of 2014 and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s warning that tough times await Nigerians are all pointers to the challenges ahead. All the indices for measuring government performance on the economy have been poor for Nigeria according to reputable statistical organisations. This has been the case for many years now and past administrations have done little to improve these indices so as to be able to improve the standard of living of Nigerians. The reasons for these are quite obvious. Leaders of government and politicians have failed to address the fundamental problems. They have refused to reduce the cost of governance as well as the salaries and emoluments of public office holders. Besides, the citizens have not tried to compel their representatives at the National and State Assemblies to work on cutting down government spending by at least 50 per cent.

    Countries that do not have as much natural resources like we do are managing their economy in such a way that the citizens are not made to suffer untoward hardship. Besides our over-reliance on crude oil as the major source of revenue has resulted in undermining the agricultural and mining sectors which are capable of solving most of our economic problems. Now, the current economic management team is looking at diversifying the economy as a result of the fall in oil prices but this should have been done a long time ago.

    However, we must see the present challenges as an opportunity to fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s political economy including its fiscal federalism and mineral rights. The current system guarantees cycles of consumption and one cannot see sustainable long term prosperity without major systemic overhaul.

     

    • Liman Abdullahi Isah

     Ibb University, Lapai.

  • ‘Who does God expect to solve these problems?’

    Could the controversial rescheduling of the country’s general elections have taken God by surprise? This question is worth contemplation in the context of the concept of divine intervention in politics. A few days before the rationalised rearrangement of the dates by the electoral authorities under the not-too-subtle influence of the political authorities, the Benin monarch, Oba Erediuwa, drew attention to the all-knowing attribute of the Almighty.

    Significantly, the occasion was a promotional visit by President Goodluck Jonathan to the king’s palace. The Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, who represented Oba Erediuwa, reportedly said: “God and our ancestors already know your (President Jonathan) aims; whoever God has chosen is our choice.”

    Who knows whom God has chosen? How is God expected to communicate the divine selection to the electorate? How will the voters be certain about the divine source of the endorsement?  How true is the saying, “God does not play dice with the universe,” meaning “The course of all events is predetermined?”  Does the introduction of God into politics amount to a mystification of the fundamentally unmystical?

    It was equally intriguing that former president Olusegun Obasanjo brought God into the picture. The former Board of Trustees chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was quoted as saying: “I have said I will not speak again regarding the forthcoming election until it is over. After the election, then we will talk. But as for me, I have spoken with my mouth, eyes, nose and other body languages. It is now left for your understanding.” He added: “Whichever one that you do not understand, I will just put it in prayers for you that God Himself may make you understand all that I have said fully.” It is interesting that Obasanjo expects God to do the work of clarification, not necessarily the work of communication. Or perhaps to put it more specifically, God is expected to clarify Obasanjo’s communication.

    Speaking of clarity, the All Progressives Congress (APC) vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, made a clear-cut presentation showing the country’s pathetic level of development in a lecture he delivered in Lagos to mark the 73rd birthday of the General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye. In his talk titled “Harmonising virtues to gain heaven and earthly prosperity,” Osinbajo said: “Our challenges are poverty – 112 million extremely poor despite being the largest economy in Africa. We are one of 33 of the poorest countries in the world; infant mortality – 3.9 million children have died between 2009 and 2014; maternal mortality – 55, 000 women die every year; diarrheal diseases – 110,000 yearly deaths; literacy – 10.4 million children out of school; 80 per cent graduates jobless; corruption; missing funds – N2.6 trillion NNPC petroleum subsidy scam; $7 billion kerosene subsidy scam; $1 billion missing excess crude fund; 400,000 barrels of oil stolen everyday…”

    According to Osinbajo, “Our challenges present personal and communal obstacles to prosperity and happiness. Who does God expect to solve these problems? According to Mathew 5: 13-14, we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth…we are the solution to Nigeria’s problems.”

    It is reasonable and important to understand Osinbajo’s definition of the solution in a wider and all-encompassing sense beyond the narrowness of a particular faith or belief system. In other words, it should be clear that the victims and casualities of the social problems highlighted by Osinbajo belong to all religions and to no religion. Indeed, the indiscriminate nature of these problems means that the solution providers must rise above discrimination. Didn’t Mahatma Ghandi say “God has no religion”?

    Certainly, the business of governance belongs to the secular space, which is not to say that it may not be influenced by the spiritual. Indeed, politics may benefit from spiritual enlightenment; given the reality that excessive materialism and materialist excesses exhibited by the political leadership have taken the country nowhere.

    The echo of Osinbajo’s striking and penetrating question just won’t go away: “Who does God expect to solve these problems?” It is also possible to ask: Who do the people expect to solve these problems? It is fascinating that while the people seem to expect God to provide the solution, God most likely expects them to fix the problems themselves, especially since these problems are man-made and man-sustained.

    Power to the people is a catch-phrase that must be actualised by the people themselves for meaningful change. Fundamentally, the country’s historically significant 2015 general elections represent an unquantifiable opportunity for the electorate to demonstrate not only discerning political consciousness but also confident mastery of its ultimate sovereignty. In other words, the elections are better appreciated as a People Power Project.  The people have the power to vote for change. The question, therefore, is whether this would happen, not whether it could, because it is always a democratic possibility based on people capacity

    Against this background, probably the main the challenge facing the progressive camp in the countdown to the defining elections is people mobilisation, which will likely come with the difficulty of spreading political awareness and enlightenment as well as delivering the crucial message of the need for game-changing political action within a population that is usually fatalistically absorbent. Indeed, how far the people are ready to go to protect the sacredness of their votes will be decisive.

    It is always too easy to declare that the voice of the people is the voice of God. It may be more important to find out whether the voice of God is the voice of the people. The logic of divine good and perfection means that, in the final analysis, God’s intervention is always excellent and faultless. Based on this deduction, can the electorate logically enthrone an ungodly model in God’s name?

    When the voice of man is equal to the voice of God, there will be no room for the champions of corruption; there will be no space for the despisers of the dispossessed; there will be no atmosphere for power-drunk oppressors; there will be only the rule of the righteous.

  • ‘Blame our problems on youth neglect’

    Leaders routinely leave out the youth in governance and that is why the country is facing all sorts of problems.

    That was the position of the Talban Lafiagi, Salihu Sulaiman, an architect and lecturer, in a paper presented at the 10th anniversary of Lafiagi Youth Movement (LAYOM) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    In the paper entitled “The Involvement of Youths in Governance,” Sulaiman, of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), urged governments at all levels to include the youths in their efforts to tackle governance problems.

    He also urged the youths to “be more pragmatic in our approach to being involved in governance. My call is that the existing youth unions and associations should tap into the provisions in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the growth of our pauperised communities. That way, when the unions and associations are seen on the ground and the people see what they are doing and can assess their potentials for greater things that can be done, then more people will buy into their aspirations including their political objectives if any.”

    The Talban Lafiagi encouraged the Nigerian youths to dissipate energy on socio-economic grassroots mobilisation; enlightenment issues on electoral reform and the expectations of community-based organisations (CBOs); participate in budget preparation and implementation; engage in project monitoring; ensure good governance at all levels and tracking the MDGs to ensure good governance.

    He said, “Specifically, the youths must at all times gather to stimulate continuous dialogues on governance issues by emphasising the important role youth can play in addressing issues of corruption; encourage youths to demand for accountability and concrete actions from their governments in addressing problems of corruption; motivate young people to be agents of transformation within the communities to address governance problems and encourage youths to participate in development which is key to breaking the cycle of poverty and ultimately changing entire societies.”

    The Deputy Provost, Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, Dr Jida Idris hinged the country current travails on “the inability of government to provide adequate employment for teeming population of the Nigerian youth.

    “The youths are being used during political engineering and at the end they are dumped by the so-called political leaders.”

  • ‘My mission is to solve maths problems’

    ‘My mission is to solve maths problems’

    Moshood Abiola, a Mathematics Education student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), has developed a Mathematics Board Game, which he calls Math Race 1. He designed the game to help children understand mathematics. The 400-Level student tells TOSIN ADESILE how he came about the idea. 

    How did you come up with the idea of Mathematics Board Game and what is it all about?

    I discovered children love to have fun by playing games. Then, I conceptualised the idea when I was in SSS 1. I have always been wondering about the possibility of a mathematics board game. Ever since then, I have been working on it. Fortunately for me, I got the right pattern and design of the game when I went to urinate at the Elkanemi Hall of the University of Lagos. The design of the toilet tiles gave me the clue on how the pattern should look like. Math Race 1 is a mathematics board game for primary school children within Basic 2 to 6. The game will improve their knowledge in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at the same time while they have fun.

    What do you hope to achieve through it?

    First, it is to solve the problem of abstract nature in Mathematics. It will also get children excited about mathematics. Secondly, it will make everybody to have sound mathematical foundation.

    How far have you gone with the idea?

    The sweetest thing is that it keeps getting easier. After the Math Race 1 was unveiled, I have also invented Math Race 2 for junior secondary school. Currently, I am working on a new game called Math War, which will be completed by the end of this month.

    Are you aware if this is not a duplication of existing idea?

    I am 100 per cent sure that nobody has done this. It took me 10 years to invent this game. I strategised and re-strategised until I finally got the solution.

    How many players can play the game?

    A maximum of six players can play at a time. It can also be played by one person. But the more the players, the more interesting it will be. It is also a family game. Parents can play with their kids. It can also be used for school competition.

    How have you been coping with your academics, given your innovative mind?

    It has been easy, considering the fact that what I do is connected to education. I spent one hour in the laboratory every day. Laboratory in this context is anywhere. It can be my hostel, class or any place I may find myself. I make sure I spent my time, thinking about a problem and finding a way to solve it.

    Do you have a role model?

    God is the best inventor. So, God is my role model.

    What is your philosophy of life?

    Find a problem and solve it.

    What would you be doing in a few years?

    I want to be a business man.

  • Mark, Ekweremadu: bombing won’t solve our problems

    Mark, Ekweremadu: bombing won’t solve our problems

    Senate President David Mark yesterday urged those killing innocent Nigerians to stop it.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, the Senate president noted that no matter the disputes among Nigerians, killings should not be seen as the solution.

    Also yesterday, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu condemned the bomb attacks.

    Mark said violence or killings, rather than solve any problem, aggravated and complicated them.

    Mark said the incessant killings and destruction of property would only worsen Nigeria’s economic and socio-political conditions.

    He urged the perpetrators to reason and embrace dialogue.

    Mark said: “This resort to bestiality without human feeling any more is what cannot be contemplated or tolerated in a descent society. There are a lot of channels, including the law courts or the National Assembly, for any aggrieved person or group of persons to seek redress.

    “Resort to killings is inhuman, barbaric and reprehensible. Let us meet at a common ground to solve this problem. Life is too precious to be wasted. I also know that no religion anywhere in the world preaches violence or killing of people.”

    The Senate president urged the security agencies not to be deterred by the development but to work harder in the war against terrorism.

    He condoled with the bereaved families and advised Nigerians to be more vigilant.

    Ekweremadu described the bombings as a double tragedy aimed at the soul of the nation.

    A statement yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, quoted Ekweremadu to have expressed a deep sense of loss over the mass killing and destruction of property by the perpetrators.

    The deputy Senate president also expressed solidarity with former Head of State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, and the Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, over the bombings.

    He noted that those behind the attacks were “unrepentant agents of Satan and desperate schemers bent on throwing the nation into chaos and bloodshed”.

    Ekweremadu said: “This is another desperation to aggravate and exploit the nation’s faulty lines. They have attacked churches to set Christians at war with their Muslim brethren, but without success. They unleashed terror on the mosques to set the country aflame, but that too did not work. Thus, the unsuccessful attacks on major opposition and religious leaders were yet another heinous plot to get at the soul of this nation.”

    The deputy Senate president called for caution and restraint among politicians to avoid heating up the polity.

  • ‘Problems with electricity transmission lines’

    The Technical Panel on System Collapse yesterday told the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, that the challenges bedevilling the nation’s electricity transmission line are natural and artificial.

    The panel’s Chairman, Fatai Olapade, said rainstorms and constant vandalism of the lines could be accountable for the frequent system collapses recorded in the country.

    Speaking after the inauguration of the panel by the minister in Abuja, Olapade said the Federal Government has stopped funding the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and the Electricity Generation Companies (GENCOs).

    He said the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is underfunded.

    Olapade said: “At the same time, one thing we will realise is that the DISCOs are not being funded again. The GENCOs are not being funded again; even the transmission company is underfunded. These are all the areas we are also going into, besides the man-made and the act of God.”

    Prof Nebo had advised the panel to, within two weeks, determine the immediate and remote causes of system collapse.

    The minister urged the panel to review the system collapse that occurred from January till date.

    He also urged the panel to review the performance and effectiveness of the grid’s protection system within the period under review and recommend measures to further strengthen the protection mechanism.

     

  • Expert proffers solution to housing problems

    Expert proffers solution to housing problems

    Residents of the Federal Capital Territory are going through excruciating accommodation experience. Over 70 per cent of those living in Abuja have one accommodation challenge or the other.

    The FCT Administration, on the other hand, had embarked on massive demolition of estates, which has further compounded an already complex problem.

    Is there a way out of the logjam?

    The Chairman/CEO of Festrut Group, Engr. Festus U. Asikhia, whose subsidiary Festrut Global Shelter owns estates in the FCT expressed optimism that the FCT can rise up to the challenge.

    He said that if the right thing is done, the housing problem in the Capital City can be surmounted.

    He said: “The FCT Administration should have sincerity of purpose. And one of the ways to do that is to carry out feasibility studies in order to know those that have carved a niche for themselves and are doing credibly well.

    “Call them for a Town Hall meeting and ask them of their financial capacity and technical knowhow on how to provide affordable houses. Then, the FCT should carry out a Joint Venture scheme with the developers.

    “Let the FCT Administration provide the land and let the developers tell the FCT how much they can use in building a particular house. The FCT should then put a benchmark on the how much the houses should be sold since it has provided the land.

    “So, out of the sale of the houses, we are taking this amount for the land that we have provided. Then, the government would have succeeded in providing a benchmark on how much a unit of house should be sold.

    On how Festrut Global Shelter can help to provide affordable houses in the FCT, Asikhia said the company is starting a 36-month repayment plan for houses purchased by people.

    “What we do at Festrut Global Shelter is to complement housing solution in the FCT, and by extension Nigeria and beyond through promotion and development of modern estates with first-class infrastructures and facilities in communities which will guarantee adequate comfort, peace and safety for residents.

    “We are doing this in the most cost-effective and flexible manner. We are starting a scheme in Abuja and Lagos. A prospective buyer could make a 20 per cent down payment for the house and the balance is spread over 24 or 36 months. After paying 50 per cent, you move in and pay the balance as laid out. That is the scheme Festrut is putting together in this our fourth year.”

    He expressed the view that government should not regulate rent. This, he said, is because one cannot regulate what it has not contributed to.

    “Government can’t regulate house rents when they have not contributed their own quota in mass housing development. It cannot do this when they have not contributed provided shelter for the masses. You have power over what you have provided. What you have not provided, you don’t have power over it. There should be sincerity of purpose on the side of government.

    “The government should engage intelligent and vibrant professionals. They should engage people who know their onions in the sector and give them the opportunity to serve; to carry out contractual works for them. With that, government can regulate rent.

    “On the other hand, can I go and buy land at N400 million and build a house of N200 or N300 million and you will say I should follow your price tag? A whole lot of things will go wrong because some people that are used in charging exorbitant prices on houses will be affected. So, how are we going to solve it?”

    On what should be done on the issue of poor quality houses built by developers, Asikhia said the opinion that the only way government can get developers to build quality houses is through joint ventures.

    “The only way government can do a project and get standard is to hold somebody responsible. A goat put in custody of the community will die of hunger. No one will feed it. Let somebody be responsible,” he said.e rent

     

  • 63m Nigerians have sleep problems, says expert

    Renowned neurologist, Prof. Njideka Okubadejo of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), has revealed about 63million Nigerians have sleep problem, which also affects about 45 percent of the global world population.

    Speaking at the third edition of the World Sleep Day with the theme Good sleep, Healthy aging packaged by Mouka Limited, Okubadejo said sleep and good health are closely linked.

    According to her, the dictates of the modern world has drastically reduced the “number of hours that people sleep because of the demand of their lifestyle or nature of their work.”

    She noted sleep is a natural process controlled by the brain, which restores body functions.

    Okubadejo, who is also an associate professor, College of Medicine University of Lagos, stated the consequences of lack of proper sleep include poor memory recall, decreased academic performance, decreased work productivity, reduced attention, alertness and concentration.

    Others, she said, are irritable mood and poor social interaction, increase risk hypertension, increase risk diabetes, mood disorders, reduced immunity, memory deficit, increased vulnerability to accident and errors and reduced lifespan.

    She recommended daily sleep of 14 to 15 hours for infants, 12 to 14 hours for toddlers, 10 to 11 hours for children and 7 to 9 hours for adults.