The Nation Newspaper

Tag: US

  • President should talk to us

    SIR: It’s not a new fact that the hallmark and basis of transformational and impactful leadership is the ability of a leader to communicate frequently or at important intervals, with his or her followers. To let them know that he/she share in their pain and also have a blueprint to get the people out of the catastrophic situations that surround them.

    It is surprising that the president has been in a state of near astute ‘incommunicado’ on almost every issue that pertains to the well being of the citizenry. How long will our president hide from speaking to us on the destination we are heading to? We need answers. Even In dictatorial regimes, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Zedong etc had vocal and communication vibrations that disseminated their intents and views to the citizens which gives them (the citizens) a picture of what they are into.

    This regime seems to have consistently overpushed the responsibility of communicating intent and course of action on rehabilitation efforts and policy formulation to presidential media aides. Why should a media aide be the first in line to explain certain situations that are of utmost importance and concerns to the people? Why should our president play second fiddle to spokesmen on issues that require leader – followers’ interaction and negotiation?

    Development starts from the ability of a leader to build trust with followers through effective communication. If the President must be taken seriously in his various ‘change’ oriented campaign for a better Nigeria, he must voice out his intent frequently, interact more with the citizens, continue to back up his intent with actions, devoid of partisan influences. We need our President to speak and communicate with us. No one can be his mouthpiece, definitely no one.

     

    • Olaniba Bolaji,

    Kogi State.

  • US, Mexico, Canada in joint bid for 2026 World Cup

    The United States, Mexico and Canada announced a joint bid to stage the 2026 World Cup on Monday, aiming to become the first three-way co-hosts in the history of FIFA’s showpiece tournament.

    The bid was announced at a press conference in New York attended by the head of CONCACAF, Victor Montagliani along with US Soccer Federation chief Sunil Gulati and Mexico counterpart Decio de Maria.

  • Assad behind Syria chemical attack – US

    The White House said it is “confident” Bashar al-Assad’s government was behind an apparent chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in north-west Syria.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that strikes on Khan Sheikhoun by Syrian government or Russian jets had caused many people to choke.

    Later, aircraft fired rockets at local clinics treating survivors, medics and activists told the BBC.

    Syria’s army denied the government had used any such weapons.

    White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, condemned what he called “these heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime,” and said it was in the best interests of the Syrian people for President Assad to leave.

    He was joined in his condemnation by the United Kingdom, United Nations and France, among others.

    If confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria’s civil war.

    The warplanes are reported to have attacked rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun, about 50km (30 miles) south of the city of Idlib, early on Tuesday, when many people were asleep.

  • UNILORIN don presents lead paper at U.S. Material Conference

    UNILORIN don presents lead paper at U.S. Material Conference

    The Deputy Director of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Central Research Laboratories, Associate Professor Baba Alafara, has been appointed to lead 25 Professional Materials Scientists selected across the world to give professional guidance to industrialists, Doctoral and Master’s students in Materials Science discipline.

    The mentors and mentees are expected to attend the 146th annual meeting and exhibitions organised by The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) of Pan American Materials Congress in San Diego, California, United States.

    At the six-day conference with the theme: The world comes here, Assoc. Prof Alafara will present a lead research paper titled: Preparation of High Grade Industrial Copper Compound from a Nigerian Malachite Mineral by Hydrometallurgical process. The event starts on February 26.

    The selected TMS experts were keenly picked as mentors to provide professional guidance to industrialists and post-graduate students worldwide based on their research inputs and global experiences in minerals and materials processing research, which addressed various professional interests.

    Other TMS mentors include Boyd Davis of Kingston Process Metallurgy Incorporation, Richard Kunter of Richard S. Kunter & Associates, Raymundo Arroyave of Texas A&M University, Michael Demkowicz of Texas A&M University, Jeffrey Fergus of Auburn University, Yu Zhoung of Florida International University, Anne Kvithyid of San Diego State University, Sugrib Shaha of the University of Georgia-Savannah River National Laboratory, and Xiaoming Wang of Purdue University, among others.

    The event will feature technical divisions, including discussions on Extraction and Processing Division, Functioning Materials Division, Light Metals Division, Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division, and Structural Materials Division.

  • Humblesmith off on European and US tour

    Humblesmith off on European and US tour

    After dominating the Nigerian highlife scene in 2016, Humblesmith is off on tour to Europe and America, beginning this month.

    Already booked for the next five months indifferent cities, the highlife musician is ready to give his fans across the world a performance of their life.

    The European tour which started on February 9 and is expected to end on March 17, will see Humblesmith perform in Malta, Amsterdam, Vienna (Austria), Napoli (Italy), Switzerland, Verona (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey). Other cities on the artiste’s itinerary yet to be fully confirmed are Rogio Emila (Italy), Stuttgart (Germany), Hungary, Sweden, Cyprus and Finland.

    And between March 18 and April 20, Humblesmith will tour London, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds. He will also be in the United States of America from May 1 to May 31, where he will be performing to his fans.

    Humblesmith who is signed to N-Tyze Entertainment has dropped three songs and one video this year already, Beautiful Lagos, Boogati Featuring Timaya and Attracta. He also teamed up with ace photographer TY Bello, to create a ‘Coming-to-America’ themed photoshoot which has since gone viral on the internet.

  • US jails Nigerian 27 years for $1.7m internet scam

    US jails Nigerian 27 years for $1.7m internet scam

    A US court last Thursday sentenced a Nigerian, Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, to 27 years in jail for international romance scam he perpetrated from 2007 to 2014.
    Lagos-born Sunmola, who was the ringleader of a love scam organisation based in South Africa, was also ordered to repay $1.7m.

    Judge David Herndon of a US district Court in East St. Louis heard how Sumola and others scammed many American women of millions of dollars while parading themselves as American soldiers stationed overseas or engineers working on a large government contract in South Africa.
    They cultivated romantic relationships with dozens of women using pictures of men they found online, sometimes pictures of dead servicemen from memorial websites.
    Prosecutors said Sumola’s activities drove some to bankruptcy and at least one to the brink of suicide.
    The 33-year-old showered the women with poetry, cards, flowers, stuffed animals and chocolates until he has successfully entrapped them.
    Once his target his entrapped, Sunmola began to manufacture emergencies, each of which required increasingly large amounts of money from his victims.
    Sunmola used their money for lavish parties, two Range Rovers, four properties in South Africa and a $363,000 home in Nigeria, prosecutors said.
    A federal grand jury sitting in East St. Louis indicted Sunmola in November 2013 on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion.

    After two days of a jury trial, Sunmola pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion.
    In his ruling Judge Herndon said, “‘Conspiracy,’ ‘mail and wire fraud,’ and ‘interstate extortion’ hardly sound like the kinds of crimes that leave broken lives, wrecked women, fractured families, devastation, desires to die, humiliation and shame so extreme.
    “But then, his charm turned to bullying, name calling, extortion, unthinkable demands and threats. Thoughts of paradise turned into thoughts of hell and, for some, thoughts of suicide. The most devastating crime one could ever imagine without laying hands or even eyes on another human being.”
    When Sunmola completes his 27-year prison term, he will be deported to Nigeria.

  • Confusion, anger as US begins to bar Muslims

    Confusion, anger as US begins to bar Muslims

    •UN, Germany, France voice concern •Victims head to court to reverse order

    Two Iraqi Muslim refugees were detained overnight on Friday at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York as President Donald Trump’s ban on the entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries took effect.

    Five other Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni were barred from boarding an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to New York yesterday on account of the ban.

    Two US traditional allies -Germany and France – and the United Nations refugee agency and International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed concern over the order as was Facebook (FB) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg who posted a status update slamming Trump’s action.

    Zuckerberg in the emotional posting said: “My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla’s parents were refugees from China and Vietnam. The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we should be proud of that.”

    Scores of Arab travelers in the Middle East and North Africa denounced the order which they called  humiliating and discriminatory.

    One of the Iraqis detained at Kennedy Airport, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, had worked on behalf of the U.S. government in Iraq for 10 years.

    The other, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was coming to the United States to join his wife, who had worked for a U.S. contractor, and young son, his lawyers said.

    They said both men were detained at the airport Friday night after arriving on separate flights.

    The attorneys said they were not allowed to meet with their clients, and there were tense moments as they tried to reach them.

    They have now approached a US court to reverse the Trump executive order closing the nation’s borders to refugees.

    Their lawyers yesterday filed a writ of habeas corpus early yesterday in the Eastern District of New York seeking to have their clients released.

    Also filed by them was a   motion for class certification which seeks to represent all refugees and immigrants who,according to them, are  being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

    The ban order suspends entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days and has now created a legal limbo for individuals on the way to the United States and panic for families who were awaiting their arrival.

    Seven countries -Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen- are specifically mentioned in the ban order.

    It was unclear yesterday how many refugees and immigrants were being held nationwide in the aftermath of the executive order.

    The six passengers who were barred yesterday from boarding EgyptAir Flight 985 at Cairo airport had valid immigration visas, sources said.

    The five Iraqis had arrived in transit from Erbil and were being held at the airport until they could be re-boarded on flights back to Iraq, whereas the Yemeni passenger had arrived at the airport from elsewhere in Cairo, they added.

    A report yesterday said green card holders and US permanent resident are not exempted from the ban order.

    A UK resident, Hamaseh Tayari,was denied entry yesterday onto a Costa Rica-New York-Glasgow flight because of her  Iranian passport.

    Tayari, who had been holidaying in Costa Rica said: “This has really shocked me. We just discovered (what Trump did) at the airport when we went to check in.

    “I want people to know that this is not just happening to refugees. I am a graduate and I have a PhD. It has happened to a person who is working and who pays tax.”

    Customs and border patrol agents at many airports were unaware of the executive order on Friday evening, said Mana Yegani, an immigration lawyer in Houston, who works with the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

    Yegani and her fellow lawyers worked through the night fielding calls from travelers with student and worker visas being denied entry into the United States and ordered on flights back to Muslim-majority countries on the list.

    Green card holders were also being stopped and questioned for several hours. Officials also denied travelers with dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship from boarding planes in Canada that were headed the United States, she said.

    “These are people that are coming in legally. They have jobs here and they have vehicles here,” Yegani said.

    At a joint news conference in Paris with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said many of Trump’s decisions worried the two U.S. allies, including new immigration restrictions.

    “This can only worry us, but there are many subjects that worry us,” Ayrault said, adding that he would soon invite his future American counterpart Rex Tillerson to Paris to explain Europe’s interests, values and vision of the world.

    “Welcoming refugees who flee war and oppression is part of our duty,” Ayrault said.

    Germany has taken in more than one million refugees and migrants, mainly from the Middle East, since 2015.

    “The United States is a country where Christian traditions have an important meaning. Loving your neighbor is a major Christian value, and that includes helping people,” said Germany’s Gabriel, who was on his first trip abroad since his nomination as foreign minister.

    “I think that is what unites us in the West, and I think that is what we want to make clear to the Americans.”

    The United Nations refugee agency and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) asked Mr. Trump to continue offering asylum to people fleeing war and persecution, saying its resettlement program was vital.

    “The needs of refugees and migrants worldwide have never been greater and the U.S. resettlement program is one of the most important in the world,” the two Geneva-based agencies said in a joint statement.

    IOM and UNHCR said that they remained committed to working with the U.S. administration towards a shared goal of ensuring “safe and secure resettlement and immigration programmes,” adding that refugees should “receive equal treatment for protection and assistance, and opportunities for resettlement, regardless of their religion, nationality or race.”

    Some 25,000 refugees were resettled in the United States between October and year-end under UNHCR’s program for the most vulnerable, the agency said on Friday.

    Mark Zuckerberg, in his status update yesterday on the ban, said: “We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat.

    “Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don’t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation.

    “We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That’s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla’s family wouldn’t be here today.

    “That said, I was glad to hear President Trump say he’s going to “work something out” for Dreamers – immigrants who were brought to this country at a young age by their parents.

    “Right now, 750,000 Dreamers benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows them to live and work legally in the US.

    “I hope the President and his team keep these protections in place, and over the next few weeks I’ll be working with our team at FWD to find ways we can help.

    “I’m also glad the President believes our country should continue to benefit from “people of great talent coming into the country.”

    “These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented.

    “They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here.

    “I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone.”

  • California announces proposal to exit U.S.

    California has announced a proposal, called “Calexit” that would establish it as a separate nation from the U.S., officials have said.

    The proposal for California to secede from the U.S. was submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday, according to a report.

    The proposed “Calexit” initiative was a name borrowed from the UK’s “Brexit” departure from the EU.

    “Calexit” would ask voters to repeal part of the state constitution that declares California an inseparable part of the U.S.

    A recent poll found that one in three California residents would support a possible secession from the U.S. due to their opposition to President Donald Trump, according to the proposal.

    No mention has been made of the president in the proposal.

    If the proposal qualifies for the ballot and is approved by voters, it could be a step to a future vote on whether the state would break away from the rest of the nation.

    Secretary of State Alex Padilla said the group behind the proposal, ‘Yes California Independence Campaign’, was cleared to begin attempting to collect nearly 600,000 voter signatures needed to place the plan on the ballot.

    “In our view, the United States of America represents so many things that conflict with Californian values.

    “And our continued statehood means California will continue subsidising the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children,” the Yes California Independence Campaign’s website says. (NAN)

  • ‘My goal in the US is to stay off stigma’

    ‘My goal in the US is to stay off stigma’

    Tosin Osibajo is an occupational therapist practising in New York, United States of America. She founded Therapists Without Borders Foundation (TWBF), a not-for-profit organisation which supports provision of therapeutic services to increase the quality of life in communities. On the verge of completing a doctoral degree at Chatham University, Pittsburgh, US, the outstanding young lady, who is in her 20s, had an encounter with HANNAH OJO.

    You were born in Lagos; at what point did you decide to relocate to the United States?

    I came to the US in the year 2000 with my family in search of the American dream. I did my elementary school in Nigeria.  I went to the City University of New York for a bachelor and masters degrees in Occupational Therapy and I am currently completing my doctoral degree at Chatham University, Pittsburgh. I hope that by May 2017, I would be addressed as officially Dr Oluwatosin, God willing.

    What motivated you to choose Occupational Therapy and how did your parents react to your career choice?

    Growing up, I’ve always had the zeal to help people. I have always been a caring person; so my parents already knew I was going to do something in the medical field.  When I graduated from high school in 2006, I wanted to do something unique, so I went in search of a career that I believe would be completely unique among the Nigerian community.  When I told my parents, they really didn’t know what Occupational Therapy was about. I think what really motivated me to join the field is because I wanted to spread out and do something that is not really saturated with Nigerians. It is a career that I find fulfillment in; when you do something that you love, you don’t see it as a job.img_9609

    Are there challenges you encounter in the line of your career and how do you handle them?

    I was the youngest when I entered the programme.  I guess the age factor was one of the things that literarily played out because I was dealing with people that are over 30 years old and also a different race. Occupational Therapy is saturated with the Caucasian race and being a black female of an African descent in that field is challenging. You have to prove yourself and your skills.  I thank God for the knowledge, wisdom and understanding to be able to bring out what I have learned and to be able to showcase myself that yes,  I might be a Nigerian and black but I have the same skills to perform excellently. I thank God that so far so good. Based on my field and my work, I have been able to represent my country well. I noticed that for a lot of people who are up there, when it is time for them to tell people who they are, they become a little bit reluctant because they don’t want to be judged.  Everybody knows I am a Nigerian because I create awareness about the Nigerian culture and I am happy doing that.

    You founded Therapists Without Borders Foundation (TWBF), a not-for-profit NGO, did you choose the name in order to compete with other established charities like Doctors Without Borders?

    I chose therapists without borders because many times in the medical field, we are the profession that is normally forgotten. The only time people remember us is when they get into an accident or when something unprecedented happens to their health. I chose the name to bring awareness to the rehabilitation field and to promote our profession as a whole. The main reason why I started this foundation is to educate people about what we do.  I love my career, I love what I do and I feel like this is a platform for me to showcase what we do.  So it is not just when you have a car accident that you remember rehab medicine or not just when you fall or when you have a stroke that you remember rehab medicine.  We are there every day to protect people and make sure they live a fulfilled life.  My aim remains to showcase the profession and help people live a fulfilled life by providing free services and consultations.

    The board of TWBF boasts of practitioners in the field who are non-Nigerians, how were you able to convince these people to join even as a Nigerian immigrant?

    I will say the works of your hands are what you are worth.  I have worked with these personalities and they have seen how I treat people. One of the things I noticed when I was speaking to them is that they saw the passion I have for the profession.  Even before the foundation, they noticed I always provided pro bono services to people and I interacted with other disciplines in the facility. So using my own legacy as a model, I guess that was what convinced them.   I will speak about Diane Gashi, the Vice-President of the foundation who has been my backbone. As for the other people on the board, I was able to convince them through the works of my hands.

    How do you source for funds to run some of your projects?

    Because it is a new organisation, the funds are directly from us.  We have not gotten any sponsorship from anyone else. Majority of the funds are from me and I believe that in order to have something tangible, you need to be able to put in something first so people will know how serious you are.  I took it upon myself as the founder to launch it. Once people are able to see what I have done thus far, then I could open up the organisation to sponsors. We are already working with lawyers on the processes that will allow us receive donations from other organisations later on in the New Year.

    You would be visiting Nigeria briefly for the holidays, what programmes do you plan to initiate with the foundation?

    I am teaming up with Dayo Israel, an aspirant for Mainland Local Government chairmanship in Lagos.  My goal is to target hunger within the under-privileged communities in Nigeria during this Christmas season.  Nigeria has always been in recession but this particular recession has been the worst so far based on my research, reading CNN and hearing from my families back home. My heart goes out to those under-privileged people who could not afford good food when the economy was slightly better, not to talk of now that the economy is bad. That is when I literarily started the movement called “Millennials on the rise”.  I am trying to reach out to the Nigerian community by providing something for them like what we call in the United States ‘Food on Wheel’. That way, they are able to sustain themselves throughout the day. I want to give people a reason to celebrate.

    Your share a similar surname with Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice-President of Nigeria, the difference being the ‘n’ that is in the VP’s name; what is your relationship with him?

    I am trying to make my own name. The Vice-President is a distant relative but I have never met him in person. I am actually from Ogun State but I was born in Lagos.

    Many Nigerians in diaspora are returning home to build businesses or contest political offices; do you have an intention to do likewise in the future?

    I see myself coming back home and establishing a rehabilitation facility in Nigeria. The amount Nigerians pay on medical bills is just out of this world. That is why people don’t really go for medical check-ups. I am currently looking forward to opening a centre that would be economical for everyone. My goal is to come home and establish a facility that will have a rehab portion attached to it.

    You have been in the United States for over 16 years, what are the things you miss about home?

    Oh my God (sounding ecstatic). I miss the Ariya(party) thing and the vibe. There is no place like home. In America it is all about work.  In Nigeria, I feel like every time I step into the family, I am always embraced by friends and family. Once they hear my accent, you are like a celebrity and everybody is like where are you from?   Christmas in the United State is really quiet; it is different from Halloween and thanksgiving. I think thanksgiving replaces Christmas in the US  which doesn’t make any sense to me but in Nigeria, Christmas is like thanksgiving where you sit together and you celebrate to thank God.

    What admonition do you have for young Nigerians coming to the United States in search of greener pastures?

    One thing I will tell youths trying to come to America is that if they are opportune to come, they should be the best they could be.  Some things have occurred within the Nigerian community here that have overshadowed the good that many Nigerians do. That is why my goal in the US is to stay away from the stigma and show people that yes, I am a Nigerian but I am intelligent. There was a documentary that I watched on CNN with my family and Nigeria was mentioned among the countries with the most intelligent people in the world alongside other countries like India and China.  I was   elated at the mention and that further inspired me to say I want my name to ring a bell, showing that I am a proud Nigerian.  We flew 12 hours to come here (the US) and it is a long journey, so going across the Atlantic Ocean, so you should be able to think of what would make you stand out for good.  Let your character, works and intelligence speak for you and you will be embraced.

    Judging by your age and outstanding achievement, who were the figures that influenced you to be the best while growing up?

    The number one people are my parents, Afolabi and Oyetutu Osibajo. Seeing how they struggled in this country to just have that fulfilled American dream has influenced me into having this kind of vibe and drive. I was looking at how they struggled when they came to the States in the year 2000; my dad worked three jobs, and my mum worked two jobs.  Seeing how hard they worked and pushed themselves to be an asset within five years is a point of encouragement for me.  Growing up, my dad posted an article of a girl, her name is Oluwatosin Otitoloju and when I was in the eighth grade, he took the article and posted it on my wall. And he’ll say, “Did you see Tosin Otitoloju? She was born in Nigeria and she got a scholarship to the US and she graduated from a good college. She has all the awards awardable. She is an intelligent, young woman and that is what I want you to be in life”. Each day I will walk up and read the article. My mirror was Tosin Otitoloju.  Also, watching how Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola has emerged motivates me to be the best.  I had an opportunity to spend Christmas with his family last year and just listening to him was really good and inspiring.

  • Olutoye’s successful operation on unborn baby has greatly boosted Nigerians’ image in US —Classmate Takon

    Olutoye’s successful operation on unborn baby has greatly boosted Nigerians’ image in US —Classmate Takon

    THE attention of the world was focused on Nigeria recently for a positive reason. That was after one of the citizens based in the United States of America, Dr Oluyinka Olutoye, led other medical doctors in a Texas hospital to carry out a successful surgery on an unborn baby.

    But unknown to many, the journey towards attaining the feat wasn’t a happenstance.  It was an achievement that started about 16 years ago with Dr Olutoye’s laborious experiments on different types of animals. This much was revealed by one of his classmates at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Dr Joseph Takon, who is also a medical practitioner in the US.

    Dr Takon described his friend, Dr Olutoye, as a brilliant and God-fearing person, adding that his achievement has tremendously enhanced the image of Nigerians living in the US. “Of course, his feat has boosted our image in the US. He is a fine Christian and he attends one of our parishes in Houston. Incidentally, I had had a conversation with him almost 16 years ago when that procedure was still at the experimental stage. He was still carrying out those surgical procedures in animals like monkeys then. So, it is such a thrill and a delight to all of us who know him and have a common background that, that thing had become commonplace and is so widely celebrated. Of course, he has brought a lot of pride to not just Nigerians but even to the whole medical professional community.”

    The pride about what Dr Olutoye has done as a Nigerian, according to Takon, “is the antithesis of what people know Nigerians for because the general conversation about Nigerians when they are mentioned in many places abroad is in association with fraud and things that are ignoble. But for once, we can reference him and say, see what a Nigerian has done. He is not the only Nigerian in that category. There are many other Nigerians who have made such great accomplishments in the field of medicine, technology, the market place. That has brought tremendous pride to all of us as Nigerians. For me as a person, when I see people who try to undermine our accomplishments, I point to the fact that every Nigerian is not a hoodlum or a fraudster. There are people of integrity and great accomplishments.”

    If there is any human being that Dr Takon, who hails from Cross Rivers State, would ever remain grateful to, it is the late Mary Slessor who put an end to the killing of twins in Calabar several decades ago. He simply owes his being alive to the late missionary.

    With the benefit of hind sight and appreciation to Slessor, Takon said: “The reason why I am alive today is because a woman called Mary Slessor came to my part of the country, laboured and actually died there in her effort to help save twins and then educate the society to know that twins were not such a bad omen. That’s my background. I started primary school in Cameroon, finished my education in Nigeria before going into private practice.”

    Not forgetting how his life was saved by Slessor, Dr Takon, after his missionary activities that took him from Nigeria in Haiti, said he started rendering free health services to indigent people when he got to the US and found that millions of people didn’t have access to health care.

    The medical expert who doubles as the presiding pastor with the City of David Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, said: “I left the country in 1996. I left as a missionary primarily to the Caribbean. I was sent by the Redeem Christian Church of God to Haiti. I was there for about four years before I transited to the US. In the US, as late as 2013, for instance, we had over 40million people who did not have health insurance, which was about 13% of the society. We have cases of under-insured too.

    “So we have uninsured and under-insured. And that was part of the motivation for why President Barack Obama fought so hard to establish the affordable care where it became mandatory for every American to have health insurance. If you didn’t have health insurance for instance, it became mandatory for employers of big companies to ensure that everybody in their pay roll is insured. So if you didn’t have health insurance, you were penalised. Yes, indeed, there are some people in the country who don’t have health insurance and we have those underinsured.”

    Takon addded: “In fact, before the affordable care, popularly known as Obamacare, insurance companies did not allow people who had preexisting conditions to register on their platform. So if you had a preexisting condition, you couldn’t find a healthcare provider. What happened was that a lot of people had to file for personal bankruptcy because when they went to the hospital, the hospital bills were outrageous and companies also on the other hand couldn’t take of the spiking hospital bills. So there were people who did not have health insurance.

    “When I saw the situation, I set up a community clinic that took care of the under-insured and uninsured. I get resources to run it through personal donations, private donations and the church support to the clinic. Some people donate to the clinic.”

    Apart from his concern about the health of people in the US, Takon also expressed worry about the state of medical practice in Nigeria.  He said: “Two things worry me about the practice here (Nigeria). One, there is a lot of ignorance; ignorance on the side of the patients, ignorance on the side of some doctors. Two, there is also a lot of bad practice bad practice on the side of doctors.”

    To stem the challenges, Dr. Takon said he has decided to kick off a weekly health radio show which will enlighten the public on issues of public health and answer many health-related questions bothering them.

    According to him, “The programme, Vital Health, is a passionate call to give back to the society by meeting a very crucial need of the people back here in Nigeria. We all know how important health is, and the fact that the health sector in Nigeria is in bad shape. People die avoidable deaths all the time and so many suffer for so long from curable diseases either because the facilities are not there or they just do not have simple health information. For instance, people need to know the role their lifestyles, including eating habits, play in their overall wellbeing. For instance, more than 90% of hypertension cases (which affects about 20 million Nigerians) are preventable.

    ‘We want people to eat healthy, feel healthy, stay healthy and live long. The programme will address several health issues ranging from cancer to diabetes. Others include heart diseases, hypertension, stroke, malaria, among other diseases and health conditions and will be disseminated in simple ‘Elementary Four’ language, accessible to all. We would engage policy makers to see if more hospitals could be built for the people.”

    He added: “We would also engage stakeholders in the medical field and see if we could get doctors to go to rural areas where there are no health facilities and treat the people. We would provide accommodation and pay the doctors for the agreed period of times as long as they will not abandon the people to do other things. I will also from time to time come with experts from abroad to attend to the health needs of the people in different parts of the country. “

    “The programme will  take off early 2017 on Star FM, Lagos, on a weekly basis and will evolve into a daily programme as well as running on multiple media platforms, including radio, TV, print and social media. The initiative will ultimately involve dimensions, including health communication, policy formulation and partnership with other strategic partners.”

    On how he hopes to combine his job as a pastor, a medical practitioner, with his health communication programme in Nigeria, Takon said: “It is a matter of time management and managing my schedule. This is my philosophy: to whom much is given, much is expected. At the end of my life, I don’t want to look back and realise that the wisdom, intelligence, and the opportunities that God gave me, I died with them. I want to have divested myself in such a way that I know I have contributed as much as possible to those who I leave behind just the same way Mary Slessor contributed to my survival. That is my objective.”

    As a resident in the US, Takon said he has no fears about the threat of the President – elect, Donald Trump, to deal with the blacks. “I don’t have any fears about Donald Trump and I will explain why.  T.S. Elliot many years ago said the destiny of a nation is not in the hands of state men, but in the hands of the Almighty God. It is God who determines who becomes a leader. So if Donald Trump has become a leader, he is only there for a period of time to accomplish what God has determined for him to either accomplish or not accomplish. I know he said a lot of things during the campaign.

    “Now, we are realising that some of them were just bogus political hogwash just to get him through the election. Some of them he has no plans to implement. Even the constitution and the structure of the fabric of America will not even let him carry out some of the wild fear-mongering promises he made. So I’m not bothered about him. There’s a constitution in America within which every leader operates. Donald Trump is going to operate within the ambience of that constitution. And as long as Nigerians live by the law, they have nothing to fear.”

    Even though he often exercises faith as a Christian, Takon averred that he would never even as pastor  advise any sick person to do away with his medication and exercise faith to get healed.

    He said: “I don’t subscribe to the concept of not taking medications when one is sick. If you want to be well, get treatment and we will pray for you if you need prayers. We do the two.  Every bird has two wings. My analogy is that these two wings are medicine/scientific endeavour and prayer/faith. So as far as I am concerned, any reasonably good bird cannot fly with one wing. When a bird uses both wings, it enhances the flight and the sustainability of that bird in the air. So for me, it is not a conflict at all.

    “The Bible says when Jesus came, He went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed of the devil. Doing good can also involve medical treatment. If an injection is going to cure me of malaria, why do I need to spend three days fasting and praying that I should be healed of malaria?  If a particular medication is going cast away the demons of particular diseases, why do I need to go on a protracted spiritual discipline when there is an easy answer?”

    He further said: “When you even look at the field of medicine, a lot of the medical knowledge will blow your mind. Who gave people the insight to establish medical knowledge? It is God. When you read the Book of Revelations, it talks about a tree in heaven where the fruit is available for the healing of the nation. One fruit every month. Why did God not put a Bible to be available for the healing of the nation in that particular passage instead of putting a tree? Almost all medications are synthetic, they come from the manufacture and the synthetising of leaves, fruits and trees. So, I do not have a problem marrying medicine and spirituality.

    “If you go to the hospital and your wife has an obstructed labour, what do you do? And if you keep praying and the baby does not come out, and then the woman ruptures her uterus and she dies, the baby also dies, what do you do? I have seen cases like that. You have somebody who had high blood pressure, and was advised to get treatment so that he can get well but he said he wasn’t going to get treatment, that he prefers praying about it.  I told him, ‘your blood pressure is going up. Just take one medication, and your blood pressure will come down now.’ But he refused. Is it not better to take medication and be better because at the end of the day, medicine does not kill. It rather helps us to be healthy.”