Tag: troubles

  • A senator’s many troubles

    TO the uninitiated, Senator Dino Melaye’s many troubles may be intriguing. To those who know him, the Kogi West senator is not new to trouble. It may even be right to say Melaye courts trouble. The author of One Day One Trouble may have characters like Dino Melaye in mind. Melaye’s many troubles push him on the spot light, more often than not, for the wrong reasons.

    Melaye’s days in the House of Representatives were turbulent. That he was a thorn in the flesh of the leadership of the House was not in doubt. His posturing in the lower chamber earned him indefinite suspension when he led few others to accuse the Dimeji Bankole-led House of misappropriation and abuse of due process. Melaye was only saved from the blazing hammer of the House by the court.

    Melaye’s swagger perhaps is not anything better now that he is in the Senate. The only difference this time around is that he appears to be in the good book of the Senate leadership. He is tagged the ‘political son’ of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

    In the Senate, Melaye has, no doubt, stepped on toes, some of them big. He moved the motion that led to the suspension of Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume. He was linked to the removal of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as chairman, Northern Senators Forum. He raised the motion that culminated in the resolution to refer Senator Ovie Omo-Agege to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions for investigation. The Delta central lawmaker apparently sensing danger repudiated his submission of the controversial election sequence crisis.

    The list is endless. Of all his troubles, however, Melaye appears to have met his match in his state governor, Yahaya Bello. He is battling to frustrate a recall notice hanging over his neck. Aggrieved members of Kogi West accused him of poor representation. He, however, saw the hands of Bello in the attempt to recall him from the upper chamber.

    He is crying blue murder and has vowed to fight on to the end. The Court of Appeal where he ran to seek protection ruled that the recall process was in order. The court gave its nod for the process to continue unhindered. On the basis of the court ruling, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday set aside April 28 for the recall process of Melaye to commence. Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor James Apam, told stakeholders in Lokoja, the state capital, that the commission’s position to commence that recall process is based on the Court of Appeal ruling. Apam described INEC as a law-abiding body that will adhere strictly to the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal, which ordered the commission to restart the recall process.

    Apam said the recall process will start with the verification of signatures of the electorate on the recall register. At least 51 per cent of the signatures must be fully verified, he said. A referendum of the electorate will be conducted on May 5, which will depend on the success of the verification exercise being able to verify at least 51 per cent of the signatures. He added: “We will invite all those that signed the recall register to come forward to identify their signatures. If this process is successful, the commission will proceed to the next stage where a referendum of all registered voters will be conducted. “Here, voters will be asked to vote either yes or no to the question of whether they want Sen. Dino Melaye recalled. If they are able to meet the constitutional requirement of 51 per cent yes, the process moves to the next stage, but if it fails, the process stops.” Melaye has taken the matter to the Supreme Court for further adjudication. He was also arraigned before a Federal Capital Territory in Abuja High Court for alleged misinformation. The Kogi West senator was slammed a two-count charge of giving false information to the police about an assassination attempt on his life in April 2017. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The office of the Attorney General of the Federation filed the charges, marked CR/106/18 on January 31, 2018. Melaye was accused of falsely incriminating the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Mr. Edward Onoja David, in the alleged assassination attempt.

    The offences were said to be punishable under sections 140 and 393 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89, Laws of Northern Nigeria, 1963. He was granted bail after a plea application filed by his lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN). The bail application was opposed by Mr. Shuaibu Labaran, the prosecuting counsel. The judge, Justice Olasunbo Goodluck, dismissed the opposition which she ruled was based on inadmissible affidavit evidence.

    She granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N100,000 with one surety who must be a federal civil servant of at least Grade Level 14 in any federal parastatal or establishment. The surety must also provide proof to be a resident of the Federal Capital Territory. Only last week, the Kogi State Police Command dragged Melaye before a Federal High Court, Lokoja, to answer charges of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms. Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, ACP Jimoh Moshood, told reporters while parading two alleged political thugs, Kabiru Saidu, also known as Osama and Nuhu Salisu also known as Small, in Lokoja, that Melaye was allegedly linked to the activities of the thugs.

    Moshood said the two suspects were apprehended by the police at Agojueju in Dekina local government area of the state, after engaging the men of the command and team of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad in a gun duel for several hours.

    The police spokesman said the suspects upon investigation confessed that they have caused mayhem, disruption of peace, destruction of lives and property as well as belonging to a dreaded and vicious kidnap gang terrorizing the state. Moshood said the gang leader, Kabiru Saidu, claimed that Senator Melaye handed over a bag to him containing one AK 47 rifle, two Pump Action rifles and the sum of N430, 000, to start training others preparatory to the 2019 elections. He said consequent upon the criminal confession against Melaye by Kabiru Saidu, the police wrote the senate president informing and requesting him to release Senator Melaye to report at the office of the commissioner, Kogi State Command, to answer the allegation levelled against him.

    Moshood said that following the deliberate refusal by Melaye to honour the police invitation, a case of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms had been filed at the Federal High Court, Lokoja, on the 16th of March. Melaye has since dismissed the allegations as unfounded and a calculated attempt by the police to malign him.

    He accused the police of playing out the script of the Kogi State Government to frame him up and to discredit him. He insisted that the development was an attempt to shut him up, especially since he has never seen or met the suspects in his entire life. The fabricated lies by Kogi State Government and the police against me will fail. It’s utterly laughable and preposterous. It’s a sign of desperation”, the embattled Senator had tweeted, adding: “No amount of lies and blackmail will detract my attention from speaking the truth and defending it”.

  • More troubles for Kiss Daniel

    More troubles for Kiss Daniel

    More troubles seem to be brewing for pop singer, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, aka Kiss Daniels, even as his case with his former record label, G-Worldwild Entertainment, regarding a breach of contract continues to unfold.

    It has been brought to the notice of the public that both parties involved had been advised that there will be no need joining issues on legal principles on media as the matter is before the court of law.

    According to information, a Federal High Court has given an order that status quo ante bellum under the contract, be maintained by the parties, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed in the suit. The import of the order being that the state under which the parties existed under the contract should be preserved until the court makes a determination of the motion on notice filed by the Company.

    Information also revealed that the artiste and his team have chosen not to see the order of the court; as service of the process was evaded on the morning of December 5, 2017, when he was informed by his security guard that a court official had a package for him.

    A statement signed by Emmanuel Ega, for G-Worldwide Limited reads; “it is regrettable that Kiss Daniel without reading the full text of the application for interim orders which can be gotten by a simple search of the court records, to understand the clear purpose of the order has denied the existence of the order and its import.

    “The attempt to mislead the public is unfortunate and disgraceful. We expect him to say he has received the documents and they are working to respond to the claims”.

    Meanwhile, in a counter move, the young artiste uploaded on his Instagram the statement by his solicitors L & A Legal Consultants showing that no such injunction has been served against him.

    The statement, titled ‘What G-Worldwild Entertainment Limited will not tell you’ describes as unfortunate the publication by the label currently circulating on social media in respect of the exit of their client.

    It states that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos denied and refused G-Worldwide Entertainment Ltd’s application for an injunction restraining Kiss Daniel from performing, recording or using the stage name.

    It also stated that the injunction was surreptitiously and secretly filed without notice to their client. And that Kiss Daniel terminated his contract with the record label via a letter on October 30th, 2017. The termination was done in compliance with the provision of the recording contract between the parties.

  • Chronic insomnia and trainload of troubles (3)

    Two weeks and two articles on why modern wheat and foods derived from it have become modern killer foods, and another two articles on how Asparagus vegetable may become a health elixir of life, have separated the series on sleep disorders and possible solutions to them. In those columns on chronic insomnia titled: CHRONIC INSOMNIA AND TRAINLOAD OF TROUBLES, an exploration was made of the traditional understanding on those activities inside the brain which keep us awake when we should and make us fall asleep when it is time to rest our bodies and free our spirits for their nocturnal flights and experiences which we call dreams. In the exploration, good play was given to the roles of the interfaces of Tryptophan, Serotonin and Melatonin, the wake/sleep brain chemicals. Attention was invited as well to the role of electropollution or “dirty electricity” in the bedroom, and to poor earthing of free radicals in the human body. From that second part of the series, the exploration should have moved on to (a) underground water currents and how to recognise if they are culprits, and (b) the places of water and noise in sleep disasters, but for an urgent need to invite attention to Wheat and Asparagus. Today, the series moves to that third part or section…

     

    The African Black Ant

    The African Black Ants which threatened to invade my house about 10 years ago must have learned their lessons now. At that time, they came in a large army of a long, long column. I had not known them for their medicinal values then. They presented to me only as terrible big-head, black ants which could bite their victims to death. The urgent and agonising barks of my local guard dog woke me up from deep sleep. I had chained it down with three belts because it was in the habit of breaking single or double chains wound around one of the pillars of the house, and escaping, through a small clearance under the gate, into the street at night, for a prowl. This night, I quickly unchained it when I notice that the ants were over its cage. I lit paper and rags and threw the bonfire on this army of ants. But this did not help much, as they soon regrouped and, tenaciously, made for the wall as though they wished to enter the house through the window. I got petrol from the car, but the effect was always short-lived.

    I remembered my first encounter with the African Black Ant. It was in the home of Bunmi Idowu in Ipaja area of Lagos. She was a young reporter who worked with me in the early 1990s. She hadn’t come to work for about three days because an invasion of these ants of their home made it impossible for her to sleep. Petrol and kerosene and all sorts of fire did not help. I learned later that wood ash was their waterloo. I wondered about where and how easily I could quickly obtain it! I could obtain some from a local food canteen. But in a superstitious society such as Nigeria’s, the provider may assume you are up to some diabolical mischief to “devalue the star of the business” and appreciate yours. So, before sunrise next day, and before the local canteen nearby opened shop, I went to its outdoor kitchen and packed enough wood ash to fill about four shopping bags. I began to hand spray it on the unrelenting long column of ants. And, to my surprise, the column burst at every point where it was treated with wood ash. The ants lost their orientation, forgot their mission, never regrouped or returned ever since. For I began to trace the column to its origin, pounding it all the way with wood ash. Many of them died outright or were disabled or frightened off. Next, I deposited wood ash all round the external wall of the house and the perimeter fence, such that, if you did not know me, you’d think the house belonged to a ritualist or diabolical person.

    Today, I know the African Black Ant for its medicinal values, and for its aid, like many other insects, to help us know if an underground water is flowing in an area or if underground rivers are crossing each other, creating earth radiations which may be offensive to good health. Knowledge of the medicinal values of this ant comes from the Asians. They subjected the African Black Ant to an exclusive sugar diet for a long period of time, hoping it would become diabetic. But the sugar diet had no effect on it. Next, it was kept in the colony of germs in the expectation that it would fall ill. But it did not. So, it was known that it had immune-boosting properties, and has, since then, had its extracts factored into some immune promoting food supplements. Since then, the African Black Ant has found use in the male libido market as an enhancer of male sexual vitality.

     

    Water 

    Crossings

    What are underground water crossings, what have they to do with health, and what have ants, nay, fire ants and the Black African Ant got to do with them?

    Many of us think of only the rivers, seas or oceans on the earth’s surface as the only bodies of water on earth. But inside the earth, it is estimated by scientists that there may be more water than there is on the surface. Underground water flows in what are called water veins. When a water vein flows across a rock, it sets the rock under pressure, and the pressure on or against the rock results in the rock producing electric fields. The electric fields are said to then interfere with the natural magnetic fields of the earth. The interference produces turbulence. The turbulence then produces radiation fields which expand beyond the surface of the earth. We are informed, also, underground water veins may flow under such great pressure that causes the release upwards of ions. Thus, water veins are very energetic. Even brief exposure to this energy is said to have strong effects on not only us humans but on all living things as well. On trees, it is believed such invigorating and detrimental effects cause proliferation and scoliosis. In humans, its effects can be cancers. Underground water veins may be as wide as 15 to 1,000meters. Their effects on us would, quite naturally, depend on their sizes and distance from the surface of the earth. But those that are deep, deep down can still affect us.

    Unfortunately today, architects and builders do not take these factors into consideration when sites are laid out and houses are designed and built. We are too happy to find land on which to build our dream houses. If a house is built on a water vein, it may be affected by the electric field of this water vein. The effects may be different in different rooms and floors of a house.

    When water veins cross each other or flow into each other, the negative energy they release thereby may cause disease progression and outbreak. Researchers believe that there are more water veins with more radiation impact in regions where rain fall is more frequent.

    I was excited when I learned that, underneath the Sahara Desert, there was a huge deposit of fossil water. I remembered immediately that NOSTRADAMUS, that great seer who predicted world events about 400 years ahead, had said that, by the time the poles of the earth change positions again, many coastal regions of the earth would be eaten up by water and a huge lake would surface in the Sahara Desert. I see pictures of elemental or Nature beings at work. But a discussion of this is not today’s subject. But permit me to mention that one of the two biggest aquifers (underground water) that scientists have discovered is in the Sahara. It spans four countries and holds a stupendous volume of water.

    Through the Ant Hill, ants enable us to predict occurence or existence of an underground water flow. The Ant Hill is an ant city or country built on strong earth radiation point, with much more extensive construction deep down in the earth. I did not find an Ant Hill on the side of my house, so I presume the ones are intercepted were following a familiar root to a destination. Nevertheless, this taught me to protect the floor and the walls of the house against earth radiations and encourage vegetation on the grounds which is said to absorb earth radiations. If we suffer inexplicable insomnia which defies many treatments, we may wish to look round us for any evidence of the house in which we live being on an underground water course. If the house sits on such a location, we may need protection against “dirty electricity” or electropollution as explained in the second part of this series.

     

    Water as an answer

    What has noisy or bad music got to do with inability to sleep?

    Dr. Mosaru Emoto has an answer. But it is an answer I deduced from his research on water. We are here again looking at the impact of water on our health. Water forms about 75percent of the earth’s surface. That volume of water is to be found in the constitution of living things, the body of a human being inclusive.

    Dr. Emoto, born in 1943, is a Japanese medical doctor who thought that water responds to our thoughts, spoken words and sounds and music. That suggests that water has memory or intelligence. For the Doubting Thomasses, Dr. Emoto soon provided useful scientific evidence, sometimes from double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments which swept his colleagues or unbelievers off their feet. He has written books and sent videos of his studies round the world. For people who follow developments on earth from a spiritual viewpoint, water, like the air, earth and fire, carries deep, within it, secrets of life that are still millions of light years beyond the reach of today’s intellectual mankind. Intellectual mankind is that mankind which believes there is nothing to life beyond that which his senses of touch, taste, vision, smell et.c. can perceive. On the other hand, spiritual mankind is that mankind which in humility acknowledges that, while indeed he may be a Lord in Creation over other creatures, he did not bring Creation about and has to yield to the forces of Creation for guidance and education about the hidden secrets of those facilities which these forces, in obedience to the Will of God, have been privileged to bring about for his nurture and sustenance. Thus, in my humble spiritual view, these forces watch developments on earth and know when to oblige mankind the knowledge of one principle of Creation or another. They are, in a sense, like the lactating mothers who know when and how to introduce solid foods to breast-feeding babies. About 200years ago, who would have known or believed the air we breathe has the potentials we have discovered in it today. Electricity came out of the air. So did telephony. So did radio and television. So did aircraft flight and rocketing to the moon. So have FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP, GOOGLE and the rest of them. Yet we are told by the Wise One that our “masterpieces are yet to come.” At the time of His departure from the flesh, we are advised, the Wise One remarked, that mankind knew nothing about water! How true, from what Dr. Emoto is espousing about the potentials of water for technology and the cure of diseases.

    Here, I can only summarise some of his research and findings.

    Dr. Emoto collected samples of dirty water from a dam and divided them into petri dishes which he seperated in different rooms. To some, he always whispered kind and ennobling words. To others, he whispered ugly words. Then, he frooze the water samples the same way and photographed the crystalline structures of their molecular structure or arrangement. The water in petri dishes he whispered kind and ennobling words upon presented beautiful and colourful molecular structures, whereas the ones he ultered ugly words upon presented dull colours and ugly molecular structure.

    Again, Dr. Emoto took samples of water from the same sources, bottled them and kept them apart. On some, he pasted labels of the inscriptions of names or words which promote positive feelings or emotions. These inscriptions included the name JESUS CHRIST. The crystalline structures were again most beautiful and colourful. The water with labels such as LUCIFER or ADOLF HITLER presented ugly and dull molecular structure.

    Another experiment was with music or sound…and this is where we are heading. Bottles of water were kept in different rooms where different music was played upon them. Classical music yielded beautiful colours and molecular structure, whereas popular music produced ugly forms and colours.

    It is intriguing to me that the Universe came out of one Power, one Source and is governed by one Law. The earth’s surface is about 75 percent water. So is vegetation such as leaves, plants or trees. So is the physical human body. If the human body, solid as it presents from the outside, is about 75 percent water, and if one Law governs the universe, this presupposes that the water content of the human body would respond structurally in its crystalline form to human thought, the spoken word and to noise or music and colours which impact on human senses everyday, everywhere. As the emotional responses of many of us to everyday events are dark, evil and ugly, so will the molecular structure of the 75percent of our physical body. As there is water everywhere in our bodies (the brain, the eyes, the nerves, the ears, the mouth, intestine, liver, kidney, pancreas, uterus, prostate gland, the bones and the joints et.c), so will these organs and their tissues will be negatively affected, stressed up and predisposed to disease, degradation, weakness, even premature death, all of which are manifesting on the whole body, especially in times of personal or economic depression.

    We collapse structurally, also, when ugly thought forms from other people entomb us. Look at Nigerian leaders. Think of the millions of curses hurled at them everyday. If they have no knowledge of rebalancing the molecular structure of their water content, sooner than later, this may collapse and lead to all kinds of illnesses.

    In the sub-urban mini buses in Lagos, passengers are pumped with loud, noisy popular music, in many cases founded on ugly concepts and bedecked with ugly, nether region words. What do we expect? Passengers arrive home stressed up, unknown to them what had just hit them.

    In the churches, a probably well-meaning but unknowing priest (called pastor) asks members of his congregation to hold hands for prayers. Do I know what is emanating from my neighbour? What if the pastor does not have the competence, which he often claims, to cast out dross? In any case, if he is competent and casts it off at that time, where is the ugliness earthed? In my own body? So, when social gatherings are turned into church services and hands are to be held, I fold my arms and tuck my hands in. Some terrible people may then wish to place their hand on my shoulder. I politely remove it or, if he or she is recalcitrant, I yark off the intruding hand.

    I brought up my children never to wear second-hand clothes. For the radiations of the owners still sometimes suffuse these clothes by the time they are bought, linking new owner and last owner together like a broadcasting station and the receiving radio or television set. Today, many Nigerian women wear third hand brassieres or panties. Breast and cervical cancers are growing in occurence. While there may be other causes for this, we should remember it was more known elsewhere than here before second-hand-everything became the norm in our country.

    For now, until we learn more about how Dr. Emoto is using transformed molecular structure of water to cure diseases, we may practise our own self-healing. We can fill bottles with water and paste beautiful inscriptions on them. These may be such words as PLEASE HEAL ME or HEALING WATER or BEAUTIFUL WATER.

    We may drink this water morning and before bed. We may also play classical music on it. The better if the water is in an energy cup. And we should not forget to pray at meal times in gratitude for the meal and prayerfully that it may bring us health and strength. I believe such measures will make the water more health promoting.

    Sleep disorders are inevitable when the organs and their tissues are disarranged molecularly through badly structured water content. Are these organs not the ones to manufacture Tryptophan, convert Tryptophan to Serotonin and Serotonin to Melatonin to make us sleep well? If they are badly hurt, will they be able to efficiently absorb these substances from food supplements? Thus, healthy mood, healthy emotional responses to life’s challenges and protection of the aura or magnetic (psychic) field against poisonous thought forms through the intake of healthy water and food are the keys to restful sleep.

     

  • Chronic insomnia and trainload of many troubles (2)

    Begun on 25 May 2017, the first part of this series explored some of the reasons why many people do not easily fall asleep or suffer from shallow sleep, which leaves them devitalised and weak in the morning. Sometimes, such sleep deficiencies end up in depression, hallucinations, mental disorders and…in a psychiatric hospital. The sleep cycle occurs when the body can deliver the amino acid Tryptophan to the brain, and the brain can convert Tryptophan to Serotonin, which keeps us awake, and, then convert Serotonin to Melatonin at night fall, for Melatonin to make us fall asleep. Possible reasons why the body fails to do this were examined, with possible solutions for the cycle-breaks.

    This part of the series will examine questions which arose from the last publication, questions some readers of the column have asked.

    What is electro-pollution, and what has this got to do with sound sleep?

    Electro-pollution is pollution of the human body by “dirty” electricity. There is no doubt that we live in a world of electricity. Lightening during the rain season charges the air with electricity. In our towns and cities, overhead power cables hang up here and there. As electrons move in them, conveying electricity or electrical power, they create electrical fields. An electrical field is the space around a charged particle where another charged particle can experience its force. This means that, if a charged particle or object, like the human cell for example, enters the electric field of another object, it can be affected positively or negatively by the other electric field.

    Thanks to Italian physician and physicist Luigi Galvani who, in the late 18th Century, discovered what we now know as action potential in muscles, it is now known that the cells of a human body, too, produce electricity and electric fields. He was conducting an experiment on static electricity and dissecting a frog on a table. He observed muscle activation, which he termed animal electricity. He and his contemporaries thought that muscle activation was caused by an electrical fluid or substance in a nerve. Anyone, who has touched an electric fish, as the eel for example is called, will experience an electric shock which this fish and some other aquatic animals deploy in hunting preys and self defence.

    In the modern world, we live in houses and work in offices with many electrical equipment which generate electrical fields. The radio and television sets, like the refrigerator and the washing machine and the air conditioner or the cooker are generating electric fields. Gone are the days of the mechanical barbing clipper. Today’s clippers are electricity driven. In the saloon, women expose their hair and scalp to electricity powered dryers. These gadgets create electric fields which influence the electric fields of the cell of the body. University of Michigan researcher Raoul Kopelman, a chemistry professor, carried out a study which revealed that the internal fluid in brain cancer cells exhibited force fields as large as 15million volts per metre. This was about five times stronger than the electric field found in a lightening bolt. Although Prof. Kopelman’s work was on electric fields across cell membranes, other researchers have since that study discovered that force fields existed inside the cell as well.

    The long and short of it all, as we say, is that everything which exists is a form of energy, and that energy establishes a force field, small or huge; that huge force fields may consume or suppress lesser force fields. In his definition of electro pollution of the earth, with consequences for human cell electric fields, and by extension human health, Robert Becker, an M.D. twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, said “the greatest polluting element in the earth environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic field. I consider that to be a greater threat on global scale than warming or the increase in chemical elements in the environment.”

    Electro pollution may be ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing force fields may break down oxygen molecules and chemical bonds in the cell, create free radicals and disrupt living processes, prevent energy manufacturing, curb cell signalling and communication and cause disease. It is unknown to many people that ultraviolet rays may leak from factory-faulty fluorescent tubes and cause skin cancer. It is unknown to many people as well that the force or electrical field from the blue light of LED light (energy-saving bulbs) emitting at about 400 to 500 nanometers may suppress the production of Melatonin in the pineal gland inside the brain. This causes a disruption of the biological clock in humans with the attendant disruption of sleep patterns. Tingling sensations have been linked also to exposure to some types of electro pollution.

    The website www.globalhealing.com advises us:

    “There are multiple effects of radiation and many of them go unnoticed in the body. Overtime, low level exposure can lead to major digestive imbalance, blood alteration and even the destruction of many cellular structures in the body’s key organs and tissue systems. Common signs of low level radiation exposure include symptoms such as fatigue, headache, nausea, scalp tenderness, scalp discoloration and dry, itchy skin. In extreme cases, low level of radiation exposure may also cause brain damage, memory problems, mood changes and reduced listening capacity, pschomotor and memory problems.”

    We are in an electro polluted world, and we cannot roll back the hands of the clock. But we can minimise our exposure to it and empower the cells to protect and rebuild their infrastructure. We all use cell phones and are exposed to laptops and computer screens. Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other health-watching international organisations say the cell phone can be classified under class B Carcinogenic (cancer causing agent), and although they have tried to limit many home electrical appliances to save electric fields, I often wonder about what may be going on around me when people around me receive WHATSAPP or FACEBOOK or SMS and other messages on their telephones. These messages passed through the walls of many houses, probably across many countries, and human bodies, probably including mine, to reach their phones. If we imagine that about millions of messages and data may be passing through our bodies every minute, in several ways affecting our cells, we may become able to suspect electro pollution as a possible cause of many of the symptoms we complain about for which we gobble suppressive pharmaceutical medications.

    So, what do we do to survive in a sea of electro pollution agents? Apart from limiting exposure to man-made “dirty” electricity, as electro pollution is also called, earthing and a diet high in antioxidants are canvassed. So is the use of dirty electricity filters in homes, hospitals, offices and schools. Experiment with them in Europe show that they can make teachers more focus and student more receptive. I doubt if they are in use in Nigeria.

    Nobel Prize Winner Richard Feynman suggests that we walk barefoot sometimes on sand and on grass. Our bodies are made from earth materials. Connecting to the earth or being grounded to the earth connects us with its electric fields, which can detoxify us of electric fields from the atmosphere and electric fields from man-made gadgets. Indeed, experiments with humans, who had high voltages of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and were “earthed” showed that, after the earthing, their EMFs voltages crashed to normal or near normal. The trouble is that today, in Nigeria, many so-called civilised people do not earth themselves…even in their bedrooms.

    Regarding food, diet and herbs, Dr. AXE suggests that, since electro pollution creates free radicals through ionization and other processes, we consume foods high in ORAC values. ORAC means Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity. His recommendations are:

    “Pecans, Pomegranate seeds, Rosemary, Asparagus, Blueberries, Walnuts, Prunes, Cruciferous vegetables, Cenamon, Dates, Broccoli and Cilantro. Certain nutrients and amazing super foods such as Iodine, Vitamin D3, Spirulina, Noni, B-complex vitamins, Melatonin, Holy Basil, Omega-3 fatty acids, Selenium and Zinc are just a few beneficial options you can easily incorporate into your daily life.”

    His top 10 antioxidant foods and herbs are: FOODS…Goji berries, Wild blueberries, Dark chocolate, Picans, Artichoke, Elder berries, Kidney beans, Cranberries, Blackberries, Cilantro…HERBS…Cloves, Cinnamon, Oregano, Tumeric, Cocoa, Cumin, Parsley (dried), Basil, Ginger, Thyme.

     

    What is earthing, and what has it got to do with sound sleep? 

    Despite stupendous advances in science and technology, we still seem to know little or nothing about our Earth and our Universe. For the more we know, the more we realise that we knew nothing in the past. I am told that Google has just come up with a breakthrough in its attempts to map the Universe and that, from a starting point in California, United States, it has gone off the edge of our Universe, beyond all previous observable limits, and now confronts us with the stark possibility that another or other Universes may exist besides ours.

    Well, this column salutes this effort, if the breakthrough is real. It has often spoken about Seven Universes and urges that the Message of the Book of Revelations in the Bible should not be taken literally or in earthly terms. Happily, my Moslem friends tell me that the Book of Revelation, like the Psalms, the Ten Commandments and the Koran are Four Messages sent to man kind by the Almighty Creator. Therefore, if the Book of Revelations speaks about a Message to each of the seven Ark Angels, who preside over each of the “Seven Churches in Asia”, these seven Churches may very well be the seven Universes in Creation, if we do not take these messages literally, assuming that the churches are human Christian congregation in the earthly Asian continent. Every earthly concept has a trans-earthly concept which was nearly “received” on earth by knowing people. Thus, Ephesus is the spiritual name of our Universe. Philadelphia is the name of another Universe. As for Asia, I do not remember now if it is the spiritual name of Creation or the World (to call the earth the World is a misnomer).

    That is about all I can say about that except to add that there is a Message on the face of the Earth today, which transcends other Messages and conforms the grains of Truth in them, while stripping them of misconceptions of man.

    Back to earthing. The moon is believed to have broken away from the earth ages ago. A big ball of fire rages in the depths of the earth. This fire is rapped up by heavy rocks to prevent it from melting down the earth itself to vapour. When these rocks crack anywhere and heat and gas escape through the cravices, earth movements or earthquakes occur, melting rocks into liquid lava till the liquefied rocks reach the earth’s surface and are cooled by air to form the rocks we see around. Thus, like the sun which provides us energy and etheric nurture, the earth is also a source of power for its inhabitants. What modern health researchers are now informing us is that we must absorb as much of the radiations of the earth as we do those of the sun to be in balance, health wise, between them. That means we must be connected with or grounded to the earth. Some people do this by walking on dew-covered grass on lawns in the mornings before sunrise, by walking barefoot, also, in a beach, by lying, sitting or standing with “direct skin contact” with the ground. Now, earthing has gone beyond these traditional modes to using earthing bedsheets which are wired up in a way to make them carry away harmful electric fields from the body through cables and earth them in the ground outside the bedroom.

    Clint Ober, a retired cable TV executive, got the world thinking again about earthing in the 1990s, faced with skepticism at first. He knew that a TV cable installation which did not allow signals to leak out and prevented leakages from the atmosphere from leaking into the signals provided a “crisp, high quality image.” After his retirement, he noticed that many people were wearing shoes made from synthetic materials which did not allow conductivity from the body into the earth and vice-versa. The shoes, made of rubber and plastic soles, prevented groundedness. He wondered if this disconnection from the earth could have a damaging effect on health. At that  time, I lived in a house with unpaved grounds. Just granite strewn everywhere. So, as he advocated, I would walk, barefoot, on the granite earth on rising every morning.

    Orber called his children to a meeting, asked them to take as gifts whatever they wanted from his house, sold the house, bought a caravan and traveled all over the United States sleeping in beaches and anywhere he could test out his hypothesis on earthing. After initial resistance by scientists, he gained the attention of such giants among them as cardiologist Stephen Sinatra.

    Early experiments showed that participants slept better and without pain. Ober thought at first this was due to the elimination of static electricity in electric flow in the body. But this was only a part of the answer. Ober knew that the surface of the earth was filled with negative-charge electrons (free electrons) which move more freely and reduce positive charges (free radicals). Positive charges generate free radicals which destroy the cells and promote degenerative diseases and premature aging. They cause inflammation. The free radicals seek electrons from our cells to stabilise themselves. Some experiments have shown that, while in search of electrons to stabilise themselves, free radicals may bore thousands of holes in a cell in one single day. The cell, spending valuable time, energy and resources sealing these holes, becomes leaky, ages and vulnerable to toxins and germs. Yet on the surface of the earth are a bounty of electrons which, if inducted into the body through grounding, literally offers “food” for the positive charges and saves our bodies from harm.

    In 2004, one of Ober’s studies was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. It shows that “earthing during sleep resynchronises cortisol secretion more in alignment with its natural, normal rhythm.” The body produces cortisol in reaction to stress.

    Other studies followed Ober’s. In the 1960s and 70s researchers at Max Planck Institute, Germany, put volunteers in underground rooms in which they were shielded from the earth’s electric field. The participants developed physiological issues, including “chaotic hormonal production, disturbed sleep patterns and a general disruption of basic body regulations.”

    When the participants were not shielded from electric field, they reported “improved sleep, decreased pain and inflammation, reduced feelings of stress, improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms”, with evidence suggesting that “negative-charged free electrons on the earth’s surface are responsible for bringing the electric energy levels of the human body in accordance with that of the earth which, in turn, promotes overall health and vitality.”

    Earthing is likely to revolutionise medicine. All studies so far show it curbs inflammation and pain. Inflammation is linked to about 70 degenerative diseases, including cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

    So, let’s go earthing. Let’s pull off our shoes and earth our feet and bodies for at least 20 or 30 minutes everyday or use earthing products such as bedsheets. We would certainly sleep better and derail the train of chronic insomnia and its other troubles. I suspect when Moses was on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, and he was commanded to remove his shoes, the anchorage of Power on the land may have been such that promoted eradiation response on the surface of the earth where he was that will be of profit to his body and endeavour. To receive such a monumental Message, and to engrave it in stone tablet, he may have been in need of equilibrium throughout his body and balanced co-ordination between his spirit and intellect. Walking in the midst of such Power intensity, his capacities for the task may have been inhibited if he wasn’t enamored for the task. So, onces again, let go earthing, stop wearing shoes and even bathroom slippers in our homes.

  • Chronic insomnia and trainload of many troubles (1)

    Many people take beautiful gifts of life for granted. Only when arthritis strikes in the knee joints does it occur to many of us that the knees are valuable parts of our bodies. We see deaf and dumb people everyday, but hardly make a tangible meaning out of their experiences. There are people who like to think, but cannot. I have seen the great struggles of autistic people to communicate. They are not deaf or dumb. They just cannot express their thoughts verbally. It is as if a great force blocks them from doing this. What about people who would like to eat but are afraid to do so because their stomachs are ulcerated? Breathing can be a disaster for some people. Ever heard of Congestive Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)? The lungs just cannot function properly, not enough oxygen enters the body through breathing, and the energy of all the cells is at the lowest ebb. Today, I wish to reply to the enquiry of a gentleman who asked in a mail to me:

    From since I knew myself, I have been acquainted with sleeping disorder the cause of which I didn’t know though I had chronic infection in both ears. Some time ago, I had attack of malaria fever that will not yield to treatment for a long time. After completing my dosage on a day, I had a black out as it were. This complete darkness receded after a while, leaving me behind with very poor vision field. This was six months ago. Ophthalmologists are only genuflecting, unsure of what to attend to. They tried treating me for high blood pressure as first aid. Well, they detected HBP was due to my heightened insomnia at that period. The eyes seem inflamed, taking off from the morning and I have watery discharge. Then the inflammation induces anxiety, and I find it difficult to handle any issue of life. There is this additional depression. The anxiety triggers off independent of my thoughts. I would try controlling it by slowing down my breathing which, meanwhile, has become fast and shallow. But when I get to dozing, the deliberate effort to hold back fast breathing goes off and the anxiety comes back with vengeance. Virtually, no sleeping drug works because the system of the body, as if it has its own mind, disregards all pills to relieve sleeplessness. Can this KALE be of help to restore immune balance, good and sound vision field, relieve headache, elevate body temperature and induce health recuperative sleep?

    THIS is a trainload of troubles. In its own little ways, Kale, the meat vegetable, should be able to help with inflammation and high blood pressure by producing the body with alkaline minerals, antioxidants, immune boosters and amino acids for tissue building and repair. (Please see THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF KALE in www.olufemikusa.com). I believe the matter goes beyond Kale and, in some cases, requires the attention of professional health-care providers.

    As a reminder, this trainload of troubles or health challenges may be categorised into (1) Sleep disorder (2) Chronic infection in both ears (3) Vision black-out and blurry vision (4) High blood pressure (5) Insomnia (6) Eye inflammation and watery eyes (7) Anxiety (8) Depression (9) Headache (10) High blood temperature.

    DOCTORS and medical researchers are learning about sleep and sleep disorders everyday. Their standard bearer, so far, is the CIRCADIAN RHYTHM which many people mistake as the BODY CLOCK. This theory informs us that there is a time frame in which Mother Nature, the designer of our bodies and of our world, expects us to be up and awake, working for our sustenance on this earth, and to be down and asleep, resting our bodies in deep sleep.

     

    Circadian Rhythm

    This is a rhythm of physical, mental and behavioural activities in a 24-hour cycle. These activities respond to light and darkness in an organism’s habitat. It does not matter if that organism is human, animal, plant or microbe. The toads in drains around the estate where I live croak at particular times of the day. The cock does not crow at night. Plants literally go to sleep at nightfal, say herbalists, and must, therefore, be harvested when the sun is up an high, to be effective, although some of them are more potent at night if they are linked to the moon or to the stars.

    Circadian rhythms are not the same as BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS, according to many researchers. I reset my biological clocks with my mind, if I have anything to do at a time unusual for doing such a thing. For example, if I wish to go and attend an interview for a Nigerian travel passport or the Nigerian National Identity card, I have to be on the queue from about 4:30a.m or 5a.m. So, I have to wakeup by about 3a.m. So, I have to reset my biological alarm to about 3:30a.m. If I register this properly in my mind, I would be woken up automatically by my body at 3:30a.m or thereabout. The study of Circadian rhythm is known as Chrono biology. The biological clocks are related to the Circadian rhythm and drive it. Biological clocks are formed by certain molecules found in every cell. These molecules are governed by a MASTER CLOCK found in the brain. This is a group of nerve cells known as the SUPRA CHIASMATIC NUCLEUS (SCN). There are about 20,000 nerve cells in the SCN, which is resident in the HYPOTHALAMUS. The hypothalamus, temperature regulator of the body, sits in an area of the brain not too far from a pathway of the Optic Nerve from the eye.

     

    The Switch

    Light is the switch of the body clocks in the cells, in the SCN as well as in the Circadian Rhythm. Light turns on or turns off the genes which control these clocks and rhythms.

     

    Circadian rhythm and sleep

    This is the realm of melatonin and serotonin and dopamine, those brain neuro or nerve transmitters which help to stabilise brain chemistry and which sleep disorder patients are familiar with if their sleep problems have led them to a Psychiatrist.

    SCN, or the body’s master clock, influences the production of melatonin, that neuro transmitter which makes us feel drowsy and want to sleep at nightfall. This is perhaps, why Mother Nature located it near the Optic Nerve. The nerve is a projection from the eye which transmits information from the eye to the brain. At nightfall, the SCN influences the brain to produce more melatonin, and this is what accounts for the drowsiness of sleepiness. The melatonin is produced from another neuro-transmitter called SEROTONIN,  a molecule which carries messages from one nerve cell to another through several pathways. Serotonin helps us to keep awake and works better in this regard, it is said, in the company of Adrenaline, the Stress-cushioning hormone and, in some cases, GLUCAGON as well. Thus, for us to be able to fall asleep or to sleep well and long and deep, we need to have in the brain enough Serotonin to make enough Melatonin. Between 80 and 90 percent of the Serotonin in the body is found in the intestine or gastro-intestinal tract. But Serotonin cannot cross the Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB) and, so, has to be made in the brain through a precursor or intermediate substance called TRYPTOPHAN. Tryptophan is available in food sources such as Turkey, Chicken, Fish, Banana, Yoghurt, Chocolate. Many of these food sources are protein foods. But if a sleep deficient person greedily goes after them to boost serotonin levels in the brain, hoping this would boost Melatonin levels and induce sleep, he or she may be on a wild goose chase. For Tryptophan is a huge protein molecule which would have to compete with smaller protein molecules in the transport vehicles which would take them all across the BBB. For this reason, it has been suggested by nutritionists that protein (and Tryptophan) rich foods be taken with a carbohydrate snack to facilitate easy passage across the BBB for Tryptophan.

     

    End of Problem?

    Infusing L-Tryptophan across the BBB into the brain may not automatically bring restful sleep. What if the Pineal gland, in the brain, which is to convert it to Serotonin has been compromised, and there isn’t, therefore, enough Serotonin to convert to Melatonin? Many factors compromise brain biochemistry and processes. The presence of large amounts of heavy metals such as Lead and Cadmium is one of them. Heavy metals are toxic and suppressive of cellular function and health. Chlorella, a green alga, helps to chelate them from the brain. So does Zinc and some other chelating agents. I have seen cases in which L-Tryptophan, Serotonin and Melatonin food supplements do not help some people, who were helped by other remedies which, for orthodox medicine, do not belong to the gold standard solutions of this condition. I have seen some doctors recommend exercise. It affords an opportunity to cast off some Adrenalin and Nor Adrenalin, stress hormones which in high blood amounts, may charge or overcharge the brain for “fight or flight”. These hormones are pumped more into the blood in periods of stress or anxiety or depression. Many studies draw correlations between depression and insomnia and between insomnia and depression, without agreement on which causes the other. It is often said that, when a person is unable to sleep well, he may become unable to perform tasks well because of the loss of vital mental energy. Such a person may suffer from anxiety and, then, chronic fear which may cause stress and depression. Depression, too, may cause over consumption of vital brain substances including Serotonin and Melatonin. Poor blood circulation in the brain, which can be helped by the herb Ginkgo biloba, for example, may deprive the nerves and cells of oxygen, cause them to wilt or degenerate and under work. Insomniacs who have low haemoglobin counts and low Packed Cell Volume (PCV) may need to improve these blood components and see if doing so can help their brain condition. Haemoglobin carries oxygen round the body. Oxygen is life. Potassium extract oxygen from haemoglobin and takes it into the cell. Without enough haemoglobin and potassium, there cannot be enough oxygen in the cell, and such deprived cell cannot work optimally. I have seen, also, cases where blood acidosis may be the problem. Some insomniacs sleep better simply by alkalizing the blood. Liquid Chlorophyll added to a green drink, of say, KALE and SPIRULINA, helps. So does LECITHIN. The brain has a large amount of Lecithin. It helps nerve signalling, among many functions. It provides Choline and Inositol, among these functions. Caffeine burns Choline and Inositol to liberate energy. But this leaves the nerves exhausted. Many of today’s foods and drinks contain hidden caffeine. It is present even in Green tea and Guarana, which many people hail as health-providing.

    Sleep disorder literature speak, also, of the havocs of over-eating, indigestion, red meat, dehydration and nutritional deficiencies. Many people are Magnesium deficient. They respond to Magnesium therapy. I often suggest that one teaspoonful of a Magnesium powder brand called NATURAL CALM be added to one or two tablespoonfuls of Liquid Chlorophyll in one glass of water and, if need be, one tablespoonful of T&T Virgin Noni and taken on empty stomach or light breakfast and dinner. Magnesium calms, as does chlorophyll, which is Magnesium-rich, anyway. Where the problem may appear intractable still, there are other brands of magnesium which far more easily cross the BBB and are more effective…but they are expensive.

    An insomniac may wish to have his or her electrolyte levels checked. This would involve Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, Calcium and Magnesium. The right balance of Sodium and Potassium creates a healthy Sodium battery which activates the Sodium/Potassium pumps throughout the body. The Sodium battery is like a car battery. If car battery is flat, the car engine will not roar. A flat Sodium battery suggests that the pumping of nutrients in and out of the cells and even across the BBB will be suboptimal. As for Calcium and Magnesium pumps, I often suggest Coral Calcium, which is a natural balance of these minerals and others. I also personally take NATURE MIN, an abbreviation, I believe, for Nature’s Minerals, because of the iodine content for improved metabolism, and because of the Zinc I need for improved immunity and good vision. To all of these, we should add Omega-3 fish oil, which is a brain calmant and an anti-inflammatory, according to many studies.

    In the category of herbs which support nerve and muscle relaxation and help sleep, there are many to choose from. Many of them have found their ways into proprietary formulas which are present in the Nigerian market today. Royal Jelly, food of the queen bee, goes well with Aloe Blossom tea. Another is called SOUND SLEEP, which, in its product literature, claims to gently induce “onset of sleep with bio-active compounds” and “help relieve apnea and snoring” as soon as the first night”.

    The ingredients are MSM, Chamomile, Passion Flower, Valerian, Scull cap, Melatonin. Another is SLEEP AND RELAX TEA. It contains Chamomile, Passion flower, Linden, Valerian, Spearmint, Lemon grass and Orange.

    Sleep apnea is a serious condition. The sufferer may actually stop breathing for split seconds because enough air is not flowing from the nostrils to the lungs. An infection at the back of the throat may have bred inflammation which blocks air flow. Air pressure against this barricade is often the cause of the sound of snoring. The sufferer may feel being pressed down by a force and only manages to get up alive if a limb or finger can be moved. In Nigeria, the culture of superstition assumes witches may be trying to kill such a person in deep sleep. But, in reality, the sufferer cannot get enough oxygen into the body, is, therefore, week, de-vitalised and depressed. If the infection is cleared and sleep apnea disappears, sleep should improve.

    Sometimes, this problem begins from childhood when the adenoids are enlarged. The enlargement is caused by infection. The ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) may perform surgery to remove the growth. But this is not advisable because the adenoid belongs to the immune system, and its loss may reduce immune capacity later on in life.

     

    The big ones

    One big ones is a psychological factor. Earlier, I mentioned the body clock. When you wish to wakeup at about 4a.m and you tell your body, it rises about then. That you is not your body. It is you, the human SPIRIT which inhabits that body. You have control over your body. When you are sad, your body is sad. When you are happy it is. When anything disturbs you, the systems of your body are disturbed. I could not sleep for about three years when I was jilted at about the age of 30 by a woman I wished to marry. When I learned that I had to dispense with any situation I could not control if i wanted my life intact, memories of her gradually faded in my mind, and I became a happier and healthier person.

    Any problem of life we cannot resolve during the day lies in ambush for us at night. Mr. Ade Martins who lives in Lagos is a great authority in helping people understand their challenges and overcome these problems before they get the better part of them.

    Another of the big ones is that you change the direction of your bed if you cannot sleep well. It is possible your bed head is not facing the geographic or true North. This is the direction radiations of forces of the earth are flowing towards. These are like currents of a river. If your body is positioned against the flow, it is like you are swimming against a river’s tide. Yet another big one may be the need to change the location of your bed. It is possible your house is located over underground water crossings which are generating magnetic fields that are disarranging the magnetic fields of your cells and body and disrupting your body clocks and circadian rhythms. There are many other big ones, including electropollution and earthing, which cannot be addressed today.

  • Re: JAMB 2017 and its many troubles

    SIR: The Nation of Friday, April 14 featured a letter with the above caption. It is never in our character to join issue with the public especially when we are deemed impactful.

    The Board believes that insightful observations and objective criticism constitute the best channels of getting feedbacks from the general public.

    However, we owe it a duty to correct misleading information in the public domain especially when such is intended to mischievously   generate and elicit negative reaction.

    First, let me make it abundantly clear that continuity is particularly treasured by the Board when it comes to designing policies.

    On assumption of duty, Prof Is-haq Oloyede insisted on improving on what his predecessors had done. The first assignment he did was to look at all that had been in place with the view   to improving on them to make them more efficient and effective. To achieve an inclusive result, a stakeholders’ meeting was convened, including all former registrars, directors of the Board as well as other critical partners with over 90 professors in attendance. At this inclusive meeting, members commended the efforts by the Board in restoring confidence in the examination conducted by the Board but called for concerted efforts to make the entire system comply with the world’s best standards. The need for a process that will mitigate the rising incidence of examination malpractices was accorded a special focus and management was urged to address it to eliminate challenges of invalid results that may emanate therefrom.

    In view of all these observations and concerns by Nigerians, the new Registrar put machineries in motion   to consolidate on the achievements of his predecessors and not to reverse whatever they have done.

    What are the reforms about? First, his predecessor had used scratch card to deploy most of the Board’s services to the public. Like every other system used over a period, the scratch card later manifested a lot of challenges associated with fraud leading to the Board losing hundreds of millions. The former Registrar was at the verge of jettisoning the card system before he left.  Indeed 12 members of staff were dismissed on the recommendation of the Dibu Ojerinde’s management on scratch cards/regularisation racketeering. The current Registrar has also handed a number of Senior Staff members to the law enforcement agencies on scratch card related infractions involving hundreds of millions.

    The card system was then replaced with pin vending thereby saving government billions. The Board, under Prof Oloyede, has since developed appropriate internal capacity and is today deploying services without cards. The millions being paid to service providers are now being saved for the nation.

    On the registration platform, we have also done a self-assessment and discovered that the difficulties candidates faced was basically due largely to insufficient compliance with published information on how to go about the registration.

    We had done a study of registration in the last three years and discovered that the Board had all been registering candidates within a period of one month even when the grace period varies between five to six months. In last year’s exercise for instance, we noticed that at the fifth month we had not done 30% of the expected candidates for the year’s exercise and about 70% expected candidates for the year registered in the sixth month.  Our findings also revealed that the more time you give the more likelihood of more extension, the facts are there as we had to extend even last year.

    Having resolved to register for a month we put in place a structure to ensure a seamless registration.  The Board opened over 6000 distribution points of registration across the nation. This was done through over 650 accredited centres in the country. In each of our over 650 centres we gave 100 registration points to enable the centres register 100 candidates simultaneously.  The Board also extended participation to all banks to vend the pins including Interswitch, Remita and NIPOST. With Interswitch and Remita you can buy at the comfort of your home. As at the last count 10 banks are participating.

    This is clearly an improvement on the registration platform as only three banks were selling before with the attendant challenges in previous years. Today, three weeks into the initial four weeks period the Board has registered over 1.3m candidates out of about 1.5m expected. The implication is that but for the extension, the remaining one week would have been sufficient for all to register.

    The process of profile creation and capturing of ten fingers is one of the best processes that are sure to curb a lot of unwholesome practices. This is intended to curb multiple registrations. We are mindful of the backlash but are prepared to do the needful.

    There is no policy somersault as all are only an improvement on existing processes. On awaiting result, we never banned awaiting result; it was only the imagination of those who refuse to understand the process and procedure for admissions. The tradition of the Board has always been all inclusive. There is virtually no policy or process being done in the Board that all the former Registrars and Directors are ignorant of.

     

    • Fabian Benjamin, PhD 

    Head, Public Relations, JAMB.

  • JAMB 2017 and its many troubles

    JAMB 2017 and its many troubles

    SIR: How the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) degenerated to this level is difficult to know as, as at the last UTME of 2016, what you needed to register for JAMB was to buy a registration scratch card from JAMB-accredited sellers and walk into a nearby cybercafé to get your registration done. That ends it and you go for your exam. But since the appointment of Professor Ishaq Oloyede as registrar, the achievements of the previous JAMB management under the leadership of Professor Dibu Ojerinde have been thrown to the bin by the ineffective policies implemented by the new leadership of JAMB.

    Imagine that Ikorodu in Lagos State has just four registration centres for over 20,000 applicants while less than 1000 registration centers exist nationwide. In Benue State, some applicants staged a violent protest to express their displeasure about the stress they had to go through for their registration. In the process the JAMB office was destroyed. This abominable act should not have happened had JAMB made its registration hassle free.

    In an era where the world has become a global village due to the advent of the internet, it is hard to explain why JAMB decided to subject applicants and their parents to unnecessary stress in the bid to register their wards for the examination.

    The policy somersault currently going on in JAMB is a reflection of the sad state of our society. Continuity is never our watchword in Nigeria. We believe in implementing new policies with each administration in power due to our ego. As a result, we keep doing merry-go-round with no end in sight to our challenges. The management of JAMB should get its acts together and do the right thing and make the process easier than it used to be.

    The former process created job for millions of cybercafé owners in the country and contributed positively to economic growth. This new process will lead to job loss by the cybercafé owners and monopolizing of the process by the few JAMB contractors which will further increase the poverty level in an economy currently experiencing recession.

     

    • Adesina Tosin Nathaniel,

    Lagos.

  • Many troubles of the ruling party

    The emerging crisis in the house of the All Progressive Congress is a matter of concern to all well-meaning Nigerians, not just because it affects a party many gave their all to see win the 2015 General Elections, but mainly because the way it is playing out, the crisis has a potential to launch Nigeria into a war we can hardly afford and which we really do not need.

    But before looking at the possible long term effect of the personality clash that unfortunately has come to shape the political character of the ruling party, the first challenge created by the crisis is in its effect on the testimony of the APC as a party that has come to salvage Nigeria from her exposure to the years of the vultures.

    Many express concern, perhaps, rightly so, that if this life time opportunity to fix Nigeria is again frittered away through impunity and subversion of the rule of law, which are worst forms of corruption, another opportunity might not come in this generation. This was why Nigerians defied the primordial ethnic, religion and regional sentiments to vote for change. President Muhammadu Buhari represents the real face of change.

    We all voted for APC; we all gave our best to the party when it was in opposition because many Nigerians saw, or perhaps, thought they saw in APC a party that could replace the PDP that had been bedeviled with impunity. It was that culture of impunity which did not give consideration to the feelings and opinions of others apart from a clique that had surrounded the topmost leadership of the party that Nigerians were rejecting when they voted APC. We must not go back to that era.

    But given the way the party handled a number of contentious issues such as the selection of ministerial nominees, the Ondo gubernatorial primary, the Kogi State election and now the ambassadorial nominees, many people have not only began to fear things might not have really changed for us except the change in the party slogan.

    And the situation has now been made worse by the open altercation between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a National Leader of the party and some interests within the party using Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, APC National Chairman as a lab rat.

    Although the crisis is festering to the delight of the opposition, it is my considered opinion that the situation can still be salvaged in the interest of our dear nation.

    APC leaders need to sit down and look themselves squarely in the face and accept that they have made critical mistakes but that things can still be corrected with humility and determination. And the first step will be to correct itself over the errors that have been committed in the National Assembly. The unnecessary bickering that was allowed over the choice of its leaders was totally uncalled for in a party that promised fairness and justice as the hallmark of its ideology.

    As such, all steps taken so far against those who emerged as natural leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives should be reversed. I think this is the sense in which even leaders of the APC such as former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Tinubu along with other stakeholders have commended the withdrawal of the forgery case against Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

    The National Assembly issue remains a political crisis that should have been settled in the court of politics and not the steps being taken simply to embarrass the leadership of the National Assembly. The strategy has, however, rather than achieve its intended objective, created a strong pillar of a united third force within the party that is ostensibly able to work with the opposition to the detriment of the ruling party.

    The same error of strategy is being committed in the way the party is going about the Tinubu challenge. Imagine that they want to try the party’s National Leader for ‘anti-party activities’! Which party? The party he almost singlehandedly formed and only invited others to queue? Should a visitor invited to dine and wine, hold the hands of the host? What an irony! But the spider that attempt to prevent the elephant from having its way shall move with the elephant. Asiwaju, the master strategist, has fought and won bigger battles for democracy. As the last man standing, he weathered the storm of more ferocious adversaries.

    Already just as it happened in the Saraki case, Tinubu might have been garnering support from hitherto political foes which definitely will create more problems for the ruling party. To have the likes of Tinubu and Saraki as internal opposition is not something a serious party should celebrate.

    It was Saraki that cried out about impunity then in the ruling PDP, the rest is history. Now it is Tinubu that, like Saraki, has begun to cry out about impunity within the APC. The party should be careful not to give room to another internal rebellion that will break its backbone before 2019.

    This is not what our people sacrificed to get in 2015 and that is why men of influence and political capital within the party should have a rethink about their respective positions on the crisis and come together to save the APC. It is law of natural justice that those who participated in the baking of the cake must know how it is shared. It is not too late yet.

     

    • Oba is Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Kwara State.
  • The troubles of Bishop Samson

    You are bound to be aghast and offended at the flamboyance and opulent displays of Bishop Tom Samson in the media recently. As his story goes, he is the Founder and General Overseer of Christ Royal Family International Church. It is a ministry he built from nothing to a multi-billion naira ecclesiastical empire.

    And today, Brother Samson lives in obviously obscene opulence: Bentleys, stretched Hummer limousines, a retinue of mobile policemen and a private jet in the offing according to him.

    Any true Christian seeing all these is bound to worry. The scriptures remain constant about worshipping God and mammon. Remember the story of the young rich man who cannot bear to relinquish his wealth and follow Christ and how difficult it would be for the rich to make the Kingdom. And Ezekiel 34 says: “Woe to the Shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!”

    Living in reckless splendour especially in a season of hunger and depression cannot be of God; it depicts a troubled soul.

  • Aviation…When will troubles be over?

    Aviation…When will troubles be over?

    As Arik and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) battle over alleged indebtedness, there are other unresolved issues, especially relating to plans to introduce new charges, writes KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR

    Around handling firms, such as the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc and Skyways Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), are battling the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over plans to introduce new charges.  They have the support of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), which has written a petition to the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika. All they want is for Sirika to prevail on FAAN to drop the proposed charges.

    The charges include ground  rent per square metre of office space per annum; concession fee of  five per cent annual gross income; fees for on duty cards, airside drivers licence / permit , access fee for fuel tankers as well as cost of direction signage / company signboard.

    Companies operating around the airport are to pay N10, 000 per employee per annum. Employees  of companies doing business around the stakeholders car park on the MMIA are to pay  N15, 000 per staff per annum for the use of the car park. At the car park opposite SAHCOL headquarters, employees  of ground handling companies, cargo agents and others are to pay an average of N300 per entry.

    The union listed other fees, taxes, tarrifs and levies imposed on SAHCOL and NAHCO to include: N150,000 per vehicle Apron Pass .

    FAAN also expects companies in the Lagos airport to pay N149, 021, 723.75 per square metre for office space. Their counterparts operating in the Abuja Airport are expected to pay N 13,494,060. Firms in Kano Airport are expected to pay N20, 247, 000 and firms operating at the Port Harcourt Airport are to cough out N 22, 042, 396.80.

    For installing screening machines at the SAHCOL Cargo Complex, FAAN expects the payment of N 42, 000 , 000 at four stations. The construction of equipment parking bay for the Lagos Airport attracts a fee of at N 5.5 million and  N3 million for the Ilorin Airport.

    FAAN expects N200, 000, 000 per annum as land charge for the SAHCOL cargo complex. It also expects SAHCOL to pay N 420,000, 000 for the construction of the link road.

    For the Airport Operators of Nigeria (AON), some airport charges must be scrapped to reduce operating costs. Its chairman, Captain Nogie Meggison, said: “The multiple taxes, levies and airport charges have ripple effects on airline business .They have their collateral effect on the operations of airlines.  The airport charges, taxes, navigation fees, and other levies introduced by government are affecting the business.

    “We are paying Customs duties and paying VAT but foreign airlines that operate into Nigeria don’t pay these taxes. There are also multiple taxation and other levies. We are not asking for rebate or intervention fund but to review the levies and the charges. They charge the airlines landing and parking, navigational charges and terminal charges. There are charges levied for which services are not provided.”

    All eyes are on a ministerial committee to resolve the impasse over FAAN’s fresh charges in the sector.