Viewpoint
by Ibrahim Hassan
Ever since its invention and commencement as a means of transportation at the close of the 19th century in Britain, the railway transportation mode has surpassed all the other means of transportation in the crystallization of civilization or, the advancement of mankind. While for instance, the seagoing vessels have it when it comes to bulk haulage across the continents, the rail has incomparable advantages over the other modes in the movement of people and goods on land.
The advantages of rail transportation include flexibility in its routings, relative capacity for bulk haulage and lower costs to its users.
As a result of the huge number of people and products conveyed by railway, it has engendered the opening up and creation of new markets and heavy industries as well as, the change of hitherto remote and far-flung lands into bubbling urban centres. York in Britain, Minna, Kafanchan and Gusau in Nigeria are illustrations of the transformative impact on cities and commercial centres.
Many modern cities in Britain, other countries in Europe, the USA and China owed their transformation largely to the impact of railway. The revolution experienced in railway transportation mode did not as such, trigger the industrial revolutions in Britain and the rest of Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the emergence of rail transportation was however, a great impetus to the rapid expansion of industries, the centralization and integration of peoples and economies resulting in today’s outstanding global beacons of modern societies. To increase the harvest of its multiple benefits, most industrialized countries of the world have continued to commit huge portions of their revenues into the expansion and modernization of their railway systems. For example, in spite of the fact that it is one of the leading countries in the use of railways as a means of transportation, Britain recently announced the allocation of a whopping fifty-billion-pound sterling for research and expansion of its rail system.
The Nigerian rail system was initiated by the British colonial government essentially and solely for the purpose of evacuating agricultural produce and other raw materials from the hinterland to the seaports for onward shipment to the metropolis. Unfortunately, successive post-colonial administrations in the country amazingly failed to reinvent the nation’s railway by expanding and reshaping the infrastructure to enhance economic development and social integration. Most of the initiatives and actions taken were haphazardly conceived, ill designed and poorly executed, inevitably leading to the moribund state of the rail transportation mode through the years.
Happily, the narrative has since began to positively change with the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In line with his All Progressives Congress, APC, manifesto, President Muhammadu Buhari has vicariously pursued the agenda to holistically transform the country’s transportation infrastructure. To drive home the vision into actuality, the President went for one of the nation’s most tested, experienced and successful political actors in the person of Chief Rotimi Amaechi. The erstwhile two term Speaker and two term Governor of Rivers state, has hugely and spectacularly delivered on the assignment.
Within a spate of six years, remarkable and unprecedented milestones have been recorded in the nation’s rail transportation system, so much more than all the feats performed by past administrations in the preceding five decades.
On assumption of office of the Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi went to work by first, identifying the rail transportation infrastructure as deserving priority attention among other sectors under the ministry and, accordingly focused his attention and energy in that direction. After appraising the state of the sector, he went on to draw up a blueprint and an action plan aimed at it’s revival which include the completion of ongoing and abandoned projects.
In that regard, the 168-kilometer Abuja-Kaduna rail track was completed and put to use just as, the 157-kilometer Lagos-Ibadan stretch was started, completed in record time by the administration and has already been put to use. Similarly, while the Warri – Ajaokuta rail line of 327 kilometers, abandoned for more than three decades, has been completed and put to use, the 44.7-kilometer Abuja metro line, initiated by the Jonathan government has since become a reality. The Itakpe-Baro-Abuja railway is very much on the way to joining the number of rail projects completed under the supervision of Rotimi Amaechi.
On a longer term, the Amaechi blueprint for the revolutionary transformation of the Nigerian Railway, include the East-West coastal rail line that will link Lagos to Calabar through Warri and another one from Lagos to the South-East commercial city of Onitsha. Contract for the Port Harcourt/ Maiduguri line has just been signed. There is also the Trans-African railway that connects the Lagos-Kano track through Katsina to Maradi, in Niger Republic with eventual plans to take it across the Sahara to seaports in the Mediterranean countries of North Africa.
Admittedly, a number of these projects will not be completed with President Buhari in office as President and Chief Rotimi Amaechi as Minister of Transportation. However, with much that has been accomplished, in the preceding six years and in the remaining days of this administration, a bold and formidable foundation stone has been laid for the take-off of the Nigerian railway revolution.
No government that comes after this administration can neglect to build on the foundations laid by President Muhammadu Buhari through his arrowhead, Rotimi Amaechi, the ebullient, patriotic and visionary Ikwere wonderkid from Rivers State.
Take it or leave it, our quest for industrial take-off, peace and stability will continue to elude our country unless and until we experience a railway revolution now apparently, at the stage of incubation.
Ibrahim Hassan is a Freelance writer based in Kaduna
So I was at the Alausa Governor’s Office in Lagos. Accessing the governor was like seeking needle in a haystack. His Press Secretary sent words up that an irritant interloper had come to ferret response to a newsmagazine’s damming expose on the governor. After hours of waiting, a commissioner (names withheld) sauntered in and met me where I sat immovably like Mount Kilimanjaro. “You can’t write that story,” he began in a steely voice sauced with veiled threats. “Go back to Ibadan. We will talk to your boss.” That was how the story never saw the light of the day.
The Nigerian Tribune, of which I was its Features Editor during this period, had sent me in pursuit of the facts or fiction surrounding the newsmagazine report. The principal of that ancient school, Government College Ibadan, (GCI) at the time had suddenly gone AWOL, incommunicado and inaccessible as the proverbial excrement of the masquerade. Grapevines alleged that Lam Adesina, then governor of Oyo State, had ordered that all data of the school’s attendees between the period of Governor Bola Tinubu’s claim of attendance of GCI be brought to him in the Government House, where they were brought under governmental lock and key. The media that was seeking corroboration or the antonym of the claims, went after the GCI Principal. He had disappeared into thin air. Perhaps, a one-on-one interview with the governor would do?
In 1999, one Waliu Balogun wrote a petition against Tinubu leveling a number of damning allegations that bordered on fraudulent claims of educational attainments. Among other things, he accused Tinubu of lying in an affidavit attached to his Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) form that he lost his degree certificates while he was on exile between 1994 and 1998. The newsmagazine later published those details in a gripping expose which left sour tastes in the mouth.
One after the other, all Tinubu’s claims, sworn to under oath in the Form CF001 he filled with INEC were shredded to smithereens by the magazine’s story. St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, which he claimed to have attended, the magazine said its investigative reporting found never existed just as his name was conspicuously missing from the records of the Government College, Ibadan which he claimed to have attended between 1965 and 1968. Indeed, GCI’s alumni association, the Old Boys of the school, debunked the claim. So also was Tinubu’s claim that he attended Richard Daley College, Chicago, between 1969 and 1971. Punctured also were the governor’s claims of having attended the University of Chicago in the U.S. between 1972 and 1976, as well as obtaining a B.Sc degree in Economics from the university. A request to those institutions for affirmation of Tinubu’s studentship by the magazine was a resounding No. Till date, in spite of his having vanquished the legal principalities spearheaded by the late Gani Fawehinmi, with the Supreme Court voiding Fawehinmi on technical grounds, none of Tinubu’s classmates, schoolmates or even teachers, has come out in public to counter the facts of the legal behemoth erected against him.
Four years later, in 2003, it was time for Tinubu to fill the Form CF001 again, in pursuit of his second term bid. His enemies who were waiting for him to make those claims again were dazed when they saw what the governor filled. In all the columns, the gentleman simply filled NOT APPLICABLE; Primary School, Not Applicable, Secondary School, Not Applicable and University, Not Applicable. Could that have meant that the man never attended any school?
Tinubu was not alone. Rife as expectations were from the new-found Nigerian republic in 1999, like alligators, renowned for incredible nasal power of smelling a drop of blood even in ten gallons of water, Nigerians smelled crises in the cache of scandals that involved newly elected office holders of the republic. Less than three months after commencement of the Fourth Republic, Nigeria began to manifest noticeable cracks. It took political scientists and students of Marxian dialectics to allay our fears and tell us that those cracks were curative, self-correctional and akin to the Marxist theory of thesis and antithesis which, when they jam, produce a synthesis.
In quick successions of messy, damming scandals, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari, Senate President Evan(s) Enwerem and Bola Tinubu got entangled in seismic, roiling scandals of identity misappropriation, subversion of their oaths of office and perversion of truth. While the latter two were swept away by the typhoon of the crises, Tinubu not only survived the wire mesh, to spite the allegations, he is today one of top three most consequential, powerful Nigerians alive and a presidential office aspirant to boot.
Salisu Buhari, the affable and young Speaker of the lower parliament had just been unraveled by the media as an age inflator and certificate forger. Hitherto, a Kano-based businessman, Buhari shuttled into politics but two weeks into being in office, the rested news magazine, TheNews, in its February 16, 1999 edition, published details of his age and certificate forgery. The magazine wrote that he was actually born in 1970 and not 1963 as he claimed.
Again, TheNews put a lie to Buhari’s claim of having graduated from the University of Toronto, stating that he not only never attended the school, the mandatory youth service he claimed to have underwent at the Standard Construction in Kano was a ruse. On July 23, 1999, like a rain-soaked squirrel, Buhari was contrite, disgraced and admitted all the allegations. “I apologize to you. I apologize to the nation. I apologize to my family and friends for all the distress I have caused them. I was misled in error by a zeal to serve the nation, I hope the nation will forgive me and give me the opportunity to serve again,” he murmured as he resigned from the House. He was subsequently convicted of certificate forgery, sentenced to two years in prison but later got pardoned by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Senate President, Evan Enwerem, was to kiss the canvass a little while after. In the race for the senate presidency, he had sidestepped his closest sprinter rival for the office, Chuba Okadigbo by 66 to 43 votes. Shortly after his ascension in 1999, Enwerem was shoved into the sieve, scrutinized on allegation of identity opacity. He was held up on the fire-spitting wire gauze for falsification of his name. A ball-fire of controversy erupted on whether Enwerem's real name was Evan or Evans. In the melee, on November 18, 1999, his ouster, spearheaded by Okadigbo and his allies, became a fait accompli.
Between his consequential emergence on the political turf of Nigeria in 1999 and now, only an armchair, analytical yokel will underrate or belittle Bola Tinubu’s awesome and colonizing genius in Nigerian politics. He became so consequential that some translucent analyses compare him to the sage, Obafemi Awolowo. It will appear that immediately he got away from the drowning tidal waves of that identity theft legal tango and the lacerating fisticuffs of his numerous political adversaries, Tinubu tightened his muscles on the political levers of Lagos, a state which had always been the microcosm of Nigeria since it became the federal capital of independent Nigeria in 1960. He saw how the almighty power of the media, like a mammoth whale, almost succeeded in capsizing his ship of state and political career.
Rising from the ashes of the crises, Tinubu encircled his claw-like fists on the media, meandering himself into its total corpus and essentializing himself in its operations. While English crime thriller writer, René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, popularly known as James Hadley Chase, says that fear opens the wallets of the rich, Tinubu’s street chemistry, which he deploys, says that licit and illicit favours, prebends and perks imprison consciences and arrest captives faster than glue gum traps mice. Unconscionably, Tinubu waves these aces with the magisterial clinicality of a professional executioner, succeeding in the process in harvesting a huge political, media, government, judicial, corporate, etcetera clienteles inside his massive pouch.
The truth is that, since 1960, seldom has Nigeria had a political aficionado who deployed the genius of the streets in the service of politics as Tinubu. Scarcely can anybody have the mis/fortune of encountering him without becoming a captive of his cash influence. Someone once said that even the god of Mammon would be envious of Tinubu’s sagacity in deploying its monetary weapon.
Within the span of his Lagos governorship of eight years, from someone who those who knew him said was passably well-to-do, Tinubu grew a monstrous wealth, such that a 2015 back page opinion piece in the Sun newspaper claimed he owned almost half of Lagos and urged Buhari to clone the Vladimir Putin method with which the Russian president neutralized drug czars who funded his presidential emergence. Within this period, Tinubu also acquired a humongous political influence in Lagos and outside of it that could rank that of Pharaohs and emperors of old. In 2007, an ex-governor, who witnessed the miasma of power flakes encircling him as he arrived the Lagos airport, jealously told me that it was godlike.
Superficial analyses of Tinubu claim that his vice-hold grips on Lagos can be found in his ability to recreate and “build” persons in state and national offices, as well as sustaining a linear pattern of succession. This, such analysts claim, reflects his sagacity. Those who know the modus operandi of this power retention system machine however put a lie to it. To them, deep underneath it is an opaque, yet fastidiously maintained and pervasively sustained mega corruption and perpetuation of self hegemony by a carefully mastered mind coercion that is promoted by a cultic abidance to an oath of allegiance.
Those who see Tinubu’s strength in his fluid recruitment of aides should also be able to answer why he suffers huge casualty of his investment in such persons? Could it be that he uses them as indentured viceroy? Or that the rebellion we see from them is an attempt to set themselves free of his hold? From Babatunde Fashola, Muiz Banire, Akinwumi Ambode to his erstwhile lickspittle, Rauf Aregbesola and many others, there must be a single thread that unifies Tinubu’s foot soldiers’ rebellion against him. Unfortunately for Tinubu, this same set of soldiers, knowing the secrets of the sustenance of their power machine, are today against his emergence as Nigeria’s president and will willingly supply the fire that will incinerate his ambition. In Yorubaland today, apart from Lagos and Osun States, which APC governor can Tinubu claim to be under him?
If nothing else, the controversy provoked by Bisi Akande’s My Participations unraveled the mythic notion that Tinubu promotes his aides to the top for the love of country. Back and forth arguments, especially on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s nomination in 2015, revealed that not only is the Lagos landlord obsessed with self alone, ascension of others in his loop is secondary and is subordinated to personal interest. The world saw that Tinubu grudgingly acceded to Osinbajo's candidacy only when his personal interest hit the rocks.
Last week however, Tinubu paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, a few hours after the latter granted an incoherent interview where he claimed that if he named his successor, the fellow could be assassinated. A content analysis of the president’s statement must have revealed to Tinubu that he could never have been the one Buhari was referring to. Tinubu must know that Buhari knows that a plan to murder Death would be easier done than assassinating Nigeria’s Mafia don, the Capo dei capi himself.
The most mis-recommending criterion against a Tinubu presidency is that, in mental depth, the Lagos Landlord is just a whiff higher than Buhari. Remove the Cockney accent he feebly mimics, you will find out that most times, his extempore speeches lack coherence, logic and verve.
Counter arguments have been proffered against the school of thought that says that Tinubu’s ultra-stupendous wealth should not recommend him against vying for the Nigerian presidency. You will recollect that the military apparatchik argued along this line against an MKO Abiola presidency. Abiola, they said, was as wealthy as to grant Nigeria loans. Weak as the argument was, it is strong in Tinubu’s disfavor for its moral and deleterious implications. While the world knew that Abiola’s wealth was procured from international dealings, especially in ITT, Tinubu is said to own a pie in virtually every sector of Nigeria’s economy, ranging from oil, steel, finance (tax), airline, real estate, media, you name it. These are funded in names of shells and proxies. In all these, as the Americans say, we can see the bucks but not the shop. What morality will Nigeria be preaching by having a president of such opaque composition and disposition?
Either real or imagined, it is said that the only thing that is real about Tinubu is his person and that every other ascription on him is a borrowed robe. He has not come in the open to effectively disclaim the allegation that his name is not his name; that the parents he claimed were not his'; that the certificates he claimed to be his are not and that the schools he claimed to have attended didn't know him. I don’t know a baggage huger than this for a country like Nigeria that is struggling to sell herself to the world to now have its president burdened by this pernicious pedigree.
With the calamity that the Buhari presidency has posed to Nigeria, it will be more calamitous to have a Tinubu as his successor. Governing Nigeria is not all about identifying surrogates who will man critical political offices for future political gains. Nigeria needs a cerebral, healthy, comparatively morally overboard president, a man, borrowing from Oscar Wilde’s description of his gay partner friend, Alfred Douglas in De Profundis, who is not a man for whom the gutter and all that is in it fascinates.
One would have expected Tinubu to heed the counsel of Apala music icon, Ayinla Omowura. Omowura must have had in mind leaders who are heavy-laden, burdened by baggage of their past, when he counseled that, as all shrubs and leaves in the forest should not be the predilection of a herbalist seeking curative herbs; not all palm trees in the forest should excite the palm-wine tapper either. In Yoruba, he expressed this as, “gbogbo ewe ko l’ojawe nja; gbogbo ope ko l’onigba ngun.” Sagacious leaders who carry stupendous moral baggage of the Tinubu hue should know the forests they should venture into.
The forests of presidential contest that the Lagos Landlord is about to venture into is what same Omowura, in his vinyl, referred to as “igbo odaju” – the forest of the heartless, the carapace-hard heart hunters. Anyone who does not have the benefit of a real mother – a real mother’s prayers are like magic, steeped in mystical and metaphysical powers. Anyone, said Omowura, who does not have a real mother who can provide witchcraft protection for them, should not venture into the igbo odaju. Never! Abraham Lincoln, father of American nation, also alluded to this when he said, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Some Yoruba lament what they call the predilection of Yoruba in pulling themselves down. This piece would be their perfect example. It is thinking like this that has condemned Nigeria to stagnation. The truth is, Yoruba are very proud of their pedigree and wear it like a lapel on their sleeves. So how can same Yoruba who have preached moral uprightness to the rest of the world for centuries, now queue behind a man who cannot point his right hand at his father’s homestead? Let the rest of Nigeria be rotten egg. Yoruba will still underscore societal purity. It should gladden us that Yoruba are the ones revealing the maggots in their home so that when they expose others' maggots, they will occupy a higher moral ground. It is better for Yoruba not to lift a presidential leg forward than lift one that is riddled with a festering and putrid sore. In any case, what Nigeria needs is a president that is a leader who is not crippled by ill health and is adequately schooled in the nuances of 21st century solutions to our self-inflicted, existential challenges.
Since independence in 1960, six ‘major’ Yoruba sons have attempted a shot at Nigeria’s civilian presidency (excluding fringe aspirants of the Babangida political guinea-pig era). They are Obafemi Awolowo, Lateef Jakande, MKO Abiola, Bola Ige, Olu Falae and Olusegun Obasanjo. If Tinubu carries through his recent declaration, he will be joining this pantheon. Of this lot, Tinubu would be the only one whose pedigree is shrouded in a miasma of dubiety.
Yoruba will totally support Tinubu in his presidency dream if he agrees to fill in the INEC forms all those claims he made of his roots in 1999. He must fill in the 2023 Form CF001 St. Paul’s School, Aroloya, Lagos, as his primary school; Government College, Ibadan; Richard Daley College, Chicago and the University of Chicago as his alma maters, without Tokunbo Afikuyomi swearing on oath that he filled them for him by proxy.
Humans have found creative uses for bones since prehistoric times. Animal bones have been shaped into spoons, needles, musical instruments, and combs. Meanwhile, bone ash—created by grinding bones to fine powder—has been used in bone china since the 1700s. Now, a designer has brought one of the planet’s oldest raw materials into the 21st century by redesigning the humble electric socket—and fashioning it out of discarded bones from the meat-processing industry.
Swiss-Tunisian designer Souhaïb Ghanmi graduated from ECAL, Switzerland’s famed design school, last summer. For his diploma project, he designed Ecol, a range of electric sockets and light switches made from a bone powder composite material. As the world continues to grapple with the environmental impact of the meat industry, animal bones may seem like a controversial choice for home accessories otherwise made of plastic. But for Ghanmi, the goal is to limit waste streams that already exist: The Swiss meat industry, for example, produces more than 230,000 tons of waste each year.
Ghanmi, who now works with Danish ceramics brand Raawii, joins a host of designers using organic waste as a resource. French company Scalite designs marble-like tiles made of fish scales that otherwise would end up in landfills. California-based startup Full Cycle Bioplastics turns food waste into a kind of bioplastic that can break down in the ocean. There are lamps made from discarded orange peels and planters made of food scraps. If bones aren’t enough to make you squirm, there’s even furniture decorated with human hair collected from hairdressers. Waste is in.
There are several reasons why Ghanmi chose bone as his primary material. “It’s strong as a stone but easy to carve, like wood,” he says, equating the qualities of bone to the way we use plastic today: durable yet easy to work with. Bones are also a good electrical insulator, which explains the choice of electrical outlets.
The sockets come in organic shapes inspired by the articulation of the femur (they can even rotate). Meanwhile, the light switches were inspired by the oval shape of a bone when it’s cut.
That such a ubiquitous part of our homes—one that we use every single day without even thinking about it—could come from slaughtered animals isn’t easy to digest, but Ghanmi sees the material as one that brings value because it’s diverting it from the waste stream, not adding to it. “It’s a process until we have a better world,” he says.
To make the sockets, the bones are prepped by removing the bone marrow (or else it would decompose). Then the bones are cleaned and dried before they can be ground to fine dust. For this part, Ghanmi has tapped into an existing manufacturing chain as cattle bones are already ground to be used for animal supplements, gelatin, fertilizers, and bone china. (Lenox was the last significant manufacturer of bone china in the U.S.; the pandemic shuttered the company’s remaining factory in 2020).
Ghanmi built the first prototype with a 3D printer, but is hoping to use molds to create future versions. (He says carving the outlets from bones could have worked, but he decided against it because it would have led to more waste material.) For now, he’s testing the material to make it as durable as possible. Bone is mostly composted of calcium so it can’t decompose, but Ghanmi notes that it can be gnawed by scavengers or slowly eroded by water.
Ultimately, he wants to create a material that can be crushed back to powder and recycled into another product. And if he gets it right, he plans to use it for more home products.
Fast Company
Nigeria police could not account for thousands of firearms, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, an audit report published by the auditor general of the federation on Tuesday showed.
Missing firearms raise worries in a country fighting growing insecurity from Islamist insurgents in the northeast and armed kidnappings and banditry in the north and northwest.
In his latest report published on its website and covering the period to December 2019, Auditor General Adolphus Aghughu said that a review of arms movement from police armouries in Nigeria showed several weapons were missing and unaccounted for.
Police did not respond to written request for comment.
"The total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 was 178,459 pieces. Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles," the report said.
It did not specify whether the figures were for 2018 alone or over a period up to that time. There was a risk the firearms could get into the wrong hands or used for illegal activities, said the report.
The auditor general's report is before a joint public accounts committee of Senate and Lower House, which will scrutinise it, invite the police to respond and give recommendations.
The constitution empowers the auditor general to conduct audit checks on all government departments.
SBM Intelligence said in a report in October 2020 that proliferation of small arms and ammunitions was driving the increasing violence in Nigeria, with civilian non-state actors believed to possess more small arms than law enforcement agents.
Reuters
By Dahiru Maishanu
This is not the first time the issue of the Almajiri System in Nigeria has caught the attention of my pen. I wrote ‘The Almajiri Syndrome' at the early turn of the millennium while ‘sweating it out' at the Hague University School of Graduate Studies.
At the risk of vituperations, vexatious reactions and clergy condemnations from religious and traditional jingoists both from and outside of the box, I smarted up, wrote and damned the expected reactionary consequences.
After a little over two decades on, the report is sadly worse than it was then, in multiples. The Almajiri has remained the most abused personae in Nigeria’s North and beyond. Abused and abandoned, the almajiri has been forced to turn into monsters separately called Boko Haram, Bandit, Shekau, Turji and many more to come. The Almajiri would rather be deleted than exist.
The Almajiri system, we were told had a genuine intention of educating the young as the intent, ab initio, through a collegiate system of sending young children as early as 4 years to strange environments to be taught religious and Arabic education through equally, a strange tutelage of a Teacher, hundreds of miles a far. Whether the intention and concept were right at inception are not the subject of debate here, but what has become of them today.
The Almajiri is the most visible tragedy seen on the streets of all northern Nigerian cities and beyond. They litter at garages, ATM centers, Hotels, brothels, motor parks, Go-slow gridlocks and even Church and Mosque gates.
They often end up as street urchins (area boys), male prostitutes, petty and hard criminals, garage boys and most recently, Boko Haram, Iswap and Bandits as well as dangerous tools for desperate politicians to get at one another’s’ throats.
From the traditional/ religious leaders to the elites within government, corporate businesses and the academia, we are all guilty in this.
We are not naive, but afraid to say the truth. We pretend in identifying with the sufferings of the Almajiri, while in reality we enjoy seeing them continue to suffer so that they become different with our children. We align the system to religion dogmatically, while ignoring the fault lines. We have been lying to ourselves, consciously.
I stand to be corrected, but have you seen any Almajiri born of parents from urban and or semi urban dwellings? Why is it only parents from remote villages send their children to this channel of no return?
The system, as it is, has continued to cause embarrassment and mockery to us and our faith, if the truth must be told. The fate of these vulnerable creatures lay on the crests of our shoulders and heads. The system most be reviewed, modified and remodeled to conform with present realities and challenges. Happy New Year
Dahiru Maishanu, BBA,(IBMS),MBA (The Hague) was a former commissioner in Sokoto State.
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It's been a busy and productive year in the field of positive psychology.
This year has been a banner year for science as researchers around the globe turned out vaccines and new therapeutics in near miraculous times. But the pandemic hasn't just turned up the pressure on our physical health. It's been a pressure cooker for our mental health too.
And just as brilliant medical researchers have been racing to make discoveries that will keep us physically healthier, psychologists and behavioral scientists have been hard at work figuring out how we can all be a little happier, more resilient, and well adjusted in a world that often feels like it's going off the rails.
The UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center's online magazine chronicles these breakthroughs throughout the year and helpfully rounds up some of the most important and useful each December. Some are niche insights for therapists or educators, but a handful can help just about any of us have a more joyful and meaningful 2022.
1. Uncertainty pushes us to stop and smell the roses.
This pandemic has had very, very few silver linings, but positive psychology researchers may have uncovered at least one. It turns out the more wildly uncertain your life is, the more likely you are to stop and smell the roses.
"Researchers handed out flyers to pedestrians that said 'Life is unpredictable: Stop and smell the roses' or 'Life is constant: Stop and smell the roses.' A short distance away was a table with a dozen red roses on it--and the people who read that life is unpredictable literally smelled the roses 2.5 times more often than the others," Greater Good reports. Which is cute, but does this effect actually translate to real life?
Apparently yes. When the same researchers "pinged 6,000 participants up to a dozen times a day, asking how chaotic and unpredictable the world felt and whether they were savoring the present. It turned out that when the world felt messy, people were more likely to be savoring their lives a few hours later, at the next ping."
We'd all love to see the end of this virus, of course, but perhaps it will cheer you to know it's pushing us all to pay more attention to the life's small pleasures. Maybe we'll even keep this newfound good habit once we fully settle back into a more predictable routine.
2. There's a right and wrong way to daydream.
We're bombarded with advice on how to eat right, exercise more efficiently, and work smarter. The last thing we need is advice on how to optimize our daydreaming, right?
But new science insists that there is actually a correct (and wrong) way to daydream. One approach leads to fresh ideas. The other way leads straight to anxiety. What's the difference? Mind-wandering, where you're thinking about something other than the task at hand but in a focused way, makes you feel lousy. But when your thoughts are free flowing and meander from topic to topic, daydreaming makes you happier and more creative.
Here's the bottom-line takeaway from Greater Good: "We don't have to be 100% focused all the time. So, if you want to be more creative and happier, don't feel guilty about doing a little daydreaming."
3. You are surrounded by opportunities for empathy.
An absolute boatload of science shows that empathy helps you succeed in life and at work. Which is handy to know but also a little abstract. It's easy enough to tout the benefits of empathy in the abstract, but actually increasing your empathy in your day-to-day life is much harder, right?
Actually no, says new research out this year. Scientists actually measured and it turns out we all encounter an average of nine opportunities to show empathy every single day. And the more we seize the opportunities the better we feel.
"People who saw more empathy opportunities and empathized more were happier and had greater well-being," Greater Good sums up. "This suggests that our daily lives are filled with opportunities to practice empathy, including opportunities to share in other people's happy moments, if we just look out for them."
4. Compassion makes us more resilient.
Lots of people (myself included) feel like the pandemic has worn down their capacity for compassion. After nearly two years of disruption and disagreement, it's sometimes incredibly hard to muster much sympathy for those with a different approach to the virus (or, on our worst days, much of anyone really).
But new research out this year might just convince you to dig deep for your last reserves of empathy. A poll of 4,000 people in 21 countries "found that participants who expressed a fear of showing compassion for themselves or others were likely to feel more depressed, anxious, and stressed out during the pandemic."
Other studies confirmed these findings. Nudging yourself to empathize with others (even those you disagree with) might sound like a recipe for emotional exhaustion, but compassion seems to give us resilience in a crisis. Counterintuitively, empathy is in your own psychological self-interest.
5. Turning off your camera helps reduce Zoom fatigue.
And here's an immediately useful if not wildly surprising finding to end on: if too many video meetings leave you feeling emotionally frayed by the end of the day, try just turning off the camera.
A host of research has been done into the incredibly topical phenomenon of Zoom fatigue this year, with scientists identifying a range of causes. You can check out the complete Greater Good article for all the details but the bottom line solution (besides the obvious one of avoiding unnecessary meetings) is simple: "Turn off the cameras, both ways, at least from time to time."
Inc
No fewer than 15,049 nurses trained in Nigeria obtained licence to practise in the United Kingdom within a period of five years spanning from March 2017 to March 2021, The PUNCH has learnt. This translates to more than 8 nurses leaving Nigeria for UK daily within the period.
This was disclosed in a report obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of the UK on Tuesday in Abuja.
Our correspondent observed that Nigeria is the third highest country with foreign nurses in England coming after the Philippines and India.
NMC is the UK body responsible for the registration of professionals eligible to practise in the UK. The body also investigates concerns about nurses, midwives and nursing associates.
In the report, NMC said, “The number of people on the permanent register in England who trained outside the European Economic Area continues to grow. As of March 2017, the body stated that 2,670 Nigerian nurses registered on the register. In March 2018, the body noted that 2,678 registered between March 2017 and March 2018.
“March 2019 saw a record of 2,771 while the number of nurses who registered between March 2019 and March 2020 increased to 3,205. Within this period, the body noted that it opened a temporary Covid-19 register to accommodate nurses willing to practise.”
Alhough the body did not state the number of Nigerian nurses on the temporary Covid-19 register, it stated that between March 2020 and March 2021, a total of 3,725 Nigerian nurses registered and were granted licenses.
Nigeria comes third in the list of foreign countries with nurses practicing in the UK coming after The Philippines and India.
Nigerian health sector is currently facing challenges in the area of brain drain as medical doctors and other health workers have continued to migrate over the years due to what experts tagged as “unfavorable” working conditions.
Punch
A high-net-worth individual (HNWI) is somebody with around $1 million in liquid financial assets. According to the 2021 World Wealth Report, North America surpassed Asia-Pacific to become the 2020 leader in both HNWI population and wealth. The city with the highest number of millionaires is New York City, with nearly one million millionaires.
I have more than a decade's worth of experience in the luxury design industry, building relationships with affluent clients across North America and in NYC. During this time, I discovered eight traits my clients all have in common.
1. They spend time with impressive people
I noticed all my clients surround themselves with people who energize and support them. They have a powerful network lifting them higher. They make it a priority to spend more time with people who are driven and like-minded.
It’s rightly said: Your future depends on whom you spend the most time with. If you spend most of your time with people that have no ambitions, you will also never achieve your goals. If you spend most of your time with those who are goal-oriented and work hard to achieve their goals, you’ll be captivated by their energy and be positively influenced.
Remind yourself to spend time with the right people.
2. They detach emotion from the business
During business negotiations, my clients are intentionally objective. They are aware of their emotions and how displayed emotion may be perceived. If they don’t feel 100% comfortable in the negotiation, they take their time or ask a third party to negotiate for them.
Emotions cannot be eliminated from negotiations. However, they can be acknowledged — both in ourselves and in others. One of the best ways to train your mind to detach your emotional self from business is to do it deliberately. Once you've decided this is the path you want to take, try to be as objective as possible.
3. They are efficient with their time
The 1% consider every minute precious, and they don’t waste it doing something that doesn’t add any value to their lives. Time is the ultimate luxury, and high-net-worth individuals are very selective when it comes to deciding where and with whom to spend their time.
Time management plays an important role in our day-to-day lives, and even educating ourselves with basic time management tips can do wonders.
4. They see fear as an opportunity
One thing that always strikes me is how my clients deal with the uncertainty of their new ventures. They mastered a way to manage stress and unpredictability in their unconventional choices. They achieved such a level of self-confidence by seeing fear as an opportunity for personal growth. Either they win, or they learn.
Opportunities are everywhere, but you need to grab them without fear. Most people don’t take action because they have fear of losing. Even if you fail, you learn something in the end. Every opportunity comes with an upside and very few downsides.
5. They know how to commit
Individuals belonging to 1% make their reputation a priority. They do what they say, they are consistent, act with integrity, help others achieve their goals and go a step beyond what is expected.
Committing is easy, but fulfilling commitment is not everybody’s cup of tea. Build trust and preserve your reputation by under-promising and over-delivering.
6. They worry about themselves
Worrying about yourself is a big job, and the affluent know that no one else can effectively do it for them. They care about others and worry for and with them. But in the end, they are aware that worrying about others can’t solve their problems.
Knowing how to worry about yourself and not others is not about selfishness. It’s about helpfulness. It’s about observing the rules of self-containment, taking responsibility for yourself and working to solve your problems, while knowing how to be happy for others’ successes.
Growing yourself cultivates strength and resilience, and inspires others to do the same.
7. They embrace failure
The wealthy know how to embrace success as well as failure. They accept the situation and themselves as a part of life. Failure is an opportunity for growth, but it is not a measure of their future or self-worth. If they want to improve their business, then embracing failure is the goal — even if the process is slow.
Failure generates motivation, creativity and resilience. The more often we navigate failure successfully, the stronger and more resilient we become.
Challenge yourself: Stop avoiding the word “failure.” Embrace the phrase “fail fast,” and be a culture change leader.
8. They value education
The truth is that anyone who is part of the 1% not only values education, but is also a lifelong learner. Being a lifelong learner helps them understand the world they live in, provides them with more and better opportunities, and improves the quality of their life. It is a deliberate and voluntary choice, not a chore.
Most people are unable to enter the niche because they undervalue the power of self-education. They think that getting some degree will be sufficient to be successful. But it’s not like that. Self-initiated education focuses on personal development and offers many long-term benefits, including improved self-confidence, renewed self-motivation and the building of new skills.
Entrepreneur
To the rhythm of drums, two plastic giants whirl and kick up dust in an alleyway in Orowonshoki, one of the poorer districts of Lagos, Nigeria's megalopolis economic capital.
From shanty houses of wood and tin, inhabitants poke their heads outside, and watch wide-eyed as the strange procession bounces past.
Soon, the whole street sways and joins the dancers, whose costumes are crafted entirely from plastic bottles collected from the neighbourhood streets.
The "Slum Party" kicks off with a burst of music, dance and the flames of a fire breathing act.
For three years, a collective of 10 young Nigerian performers has sought to improve the lives of Orowonshoki's residents through dance, hoping to change the reputation of an area once blighted by gang violence.
"In 2019, Orowonshoki was facing a lot of security challenges, and no one was going out in street anymore," said Valu, one of the creators of the "Slum Party" that is held once a year.
"We started to dance in the street, so that the people won't be afraid anymore and they started to go back in the street," said Valu, a professional dancer whose real name is Sunday Ozegbe Obiajulu. "We started to bring life again."
Throughout the year, the collective organises dance workshops for children and fitness activities for women in the district.
"I just used to stay all day long with my kids at home, but now because of them I do something different, I feel like I exist," said Martha Eze, 37, who dances later in the party.
- Wealth next to poverty -
Orowonshoki is located at the foot of the Third Mainland bridge, Africa's second largest, that stretches 12 kilometres above the Lagos Lagoon.
In sub-saharan Africa's largest city where one in two residents lives in poverty, wealthy island districts with swank fashion and restaurants are a world away from the poor mainland districts like Orowonshoki.
In the distance from Orowonshoki across a stretch of the waterways surrounding Lagos, residents can see Banana Island, an exclusive, private Lagos enclave of villas and residences.
In Orowonshoki, the only dollars visible are those printed on the shirt of a teenage boy wiggling his legs to "Peru", a song by Nigerian singer Fireboy.
"I'm in San Francisco jamming... I just arrived from Miami," the children sing along to the lyrics dancing barefoot.
Even one of the city's daily power cuts that stopped the music dead did not spoil the party: the audience kept dancing.
"We have a lot of fun today, I love dancing," said Beke Olamileken, a 16-year-old boy who dreams of becoming an actor.
- Make a difference -
More than a simple performance, organisers also see "Slum party" as a tool for political awareness.
"I want to show that you can make a difference with simple actions on the ground," Valu said.
Last year, a video showing Valu dancing in a huge mud puddle in front of a police officer to denounce the disastrous state of the roads, was a hit on social media.
During the "Slum party", next to the dance floor, on the steps of a ruined house, the collective planted cardboard gravestones, inscribed with the words "People", "Wealth", "Rights", "Security" and "Peace".
Dancer Henry Bethel Wisdom ties his body with an orange rope, and improvises a performance that freezes the crowd. The artist soars into the air, trying to get out of the improvised cemetery, but is caught by his associates who drag him back with rope.
None of the dancers makes any reference to it, but the performance recalls the massive protest movement against police violence that gripped southern Nigeria in October last year.
Thousands of young people took to the streets to demand an end to human rights abuses and corruption, before being suppressed by the security forces.
"We feel like we are slaves of our government, what we need is security wealth and peace," said Olamide Ballyqueen, one of the dancers.
"We dont want to suffer like our parents and we definitely don't want them to suffer like us," she said pointing to the crowds of young children.
AFP
The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, established by Economic Community of West African States, says Boko Haram splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, moved about N18bn ($36m) generated from trading and taxing communities in the Lake Chad region through the Nigerian financial system annually.
The group, set up by ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in 2000, stated that both Boko Haram and ISWAP had continued to mobilise, move and utilise funds through the nation’s formal financial and commercial system.
It noted that the government lacked adequate insight into Boko Haram and ISWAP international linkages and abuse of the formal financial and commercial sectors.
It said even though the Department of State Services had significant ability to identify and investigate terrorist financing activity, and that it even conducts parallel financial and terrorism investigation, there was little evidence of the effectiveness of such efforts.
Meanwhile, Borno state government had IGR of N11.58 billion in 2020 (see The Guardian, April 16, 2021), a figure N6.42 billion less than what ISWAP, which operates within its boundaries, generates annually.
The group, known as GIABA, stated these in its 2021 Mutual Evaluation Report, where it also noted that Nigeria lacked an explicit policy to confiscate proceeds of crime or property of equivalent value, including terrorism financing.
It also said the Nigerian government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari failed to confiscate the assets of terrorists as stipulated in the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards.
Nigeria has been battling Boko Haram insurgency for about 12 years, during which thousands have been killed, including civilians and soldiers; several persons, including schoolchildren and women, were kidnapped with many still in captivity while millions have been displaced.
Meanwhile, the GIABA report was adopted by the global financial intelligence agency, Financial Action Task Force, whose recommendations help authorities to go after the money of criminals dealing in illegal drugs, human trafficking and other crimes.
The report stated, “Boko Haram/ISWAP pose significant TF (Terrorist Financing) risks that are challenging to disrupt, operating in large part outside the formal financial and commercial system in the conflict zone.
“In these areas, Boko Haram and ISWAP are mainly able to “live off the land” through a variety of means, including kidnapping for ransom, extortion and taxation, raiding and controlling commercial activity.
“As with other forms of illicit financial activity, the pervasive use of cash enables these groups’ funding. A study estimated ISWAP’s revenues, deemed larger than Boko Haram’s, at up to USD$36m annually, much of it from trading activity and taxation in the Lake Chad region.
“According to Nigerian authorities, both groups have also continued to mobilise, move and utilise funds through the formal financial and commercial system as well, accounting for a relatively small portion of TF activity. These groups also engage in international trafficking activities and as sworn adherents to the Islamic State, also have links with other regional and global terrorist networks.
“The authorities believe that any external support from ISIS Core may account for a small portion of ISWAP’s overall revenues. However, trade with broader criminal networks that could extend to regional jihadist organisations appears to generate significant income for both Boko Haram and ISWAP.”
The Financial Action Task Force assessment noted that the Nigerian authorities did not prioritise terrorism financing investigations, as there were only a few terrorist financing prosecutions and convictions, which do not reflect the country’s risk profile in terrorist financing.
Notably, no individual, body or corporation has been convicted in Nigeria for funding terrorism since the insurgency started in 2009.
The Task Force said in the assessment, “Nigeria has a significant but incomplete understanding of its TF (terrorist financing) threats and risks. It lacks adequate insight into Boko/ISWAP’s international linkages and abuse of the formal financial and commercial sector. The authorities do not prioritise TF investigations, as there are only a few TF prosecutions and convictions which do not reflect Nigeria’s TF risk profile.
“Department of State Services, Nigeria’s lead counter-terrorism agency, has significant ability to identify and investigate TF activity. It conducts parallel financial investigations in conjunction with terrorism investigations. However, there is little evidence of the effectiveness of such efforts.
“The content of TF-related Suspicious Transactions Reports submitted to the NFIU (Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit) has not been of demonstrable value, appearing to add little to Nigeria’s CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) efforts. The agency maintained that Nigeria did not demonstrate effective legal and operational frameworks for seeking international cooperation, including for the recovery and repatriation of assets.
“Nigeria did not demonstrate that it prioritises and provides constructive information or assistance, including adequate, accurate and current basic and beneficial owner information of legal persons promptly.”
It noted that the nation recently enacted the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, 2019 to streamline processes for mutual legal assistance
The financial task force observed that the larger commercial banks and those affiliated with international groups have a good understanding of money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
In contrast, it submitted that the non-bank financial sector such as bureau de change, microfinance banks and insurance intermediaries have a low level of understanding of money laundering and terrorism financing risks, stressing that the level of supervision of registered/licensed forex dealers was not commensurate with the risk of the sector.
“At the same time, thousands of forex dealers operate informally and are entirely unsupervised,’’ the GIABA report affirmed.
Already, the Central Bank of Nigeria in July suspended sale of forex to BDCs due to what it termed illegal activities and corrupt tendencies. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said Nigeria was the only country selling foreign exchange to BDCs.
He said the apex bank sustained the practice because of the role the BDCs played in the economy, but that it was disappointing to find that they turned themselves into agents that facilitated graft and corruption in Nigeria, which necessitated their suspension.
About 400 BDC operators and traders were arrested in Kano, Borno, Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara for alleged money laundering and terrorism financing by security agencies in March while 190 others nabbed for alleged link to terrorism reportedly paid N900m in penalties before they were allowed to return to their business.
Months after they were apprehended and despite promises by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the suspects have not been arraigned or prosecuted.
We’ll study report, make position known – AGF
Speaking on the delayed arraignment of the 400 BDC operators and traders, the media aide to the AGF, Umar Gwandu, told our correspondent that “The prosecution process is ongoing; the Federal Government continues to do the needful within the provisions of the law in its doggedness to fight money laundering.”
Gwandu had reportedly said in May 2021 that the prosecution of the arrested BDCs operators would commence as soon as possible.
Also responding to GIABA assessment, Gwandu told our correspondent, “The Federal Government will access, study and assess the report. The Federal Government will make its position known after critical examination of the content of the report.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has sent a delegation to London to engage with the Financial Action Task Force over the negative assessment.
A source told our correspondent that they learnt the delegation, led by the Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagu, was presently holding talks with FATF officials in England.
“The government is worried by the negative assessment and is working to prevent possible sanctions on Nigeria. The Attorney-General has dispatched a team to London to hold talks with the FATF and prevent serious sanctions on Nigeria which may impact our global standing,” the source noted.
Findings showed that the FATF was considering sanctions against Nigeria for failing to comply with the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards.
In 2017, the FATF suspended Nigeria’s membership of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units due to the lack of legal framework and autonomy for the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, which was then an arm of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The suspension was lifted in 2018 and Nigeria was readmitted into the Egmont Group, after the country fulfilled the requirements of the organization, a global body of 155 Financial Intelligence Units that facilitates the exchange of financial intelligence, expertise and capability against money laundering, terrorism financing and financial crime.
Reports have it that the mutual evaluation was released in August and subsequently adopted by the GIABA member states of which Nigeria is a member.
The assessment stated that the EFCC and other enforcement agencies did not prioritise money laundering investigations but focused primarily on money laundering predicate offences.
The West African financial intelligence watchdog in its evaluation of Nigeria further said the use of financial intelligence by law enforcement agencies remains limited due to the low level of feedback to the NFIU, limited scope of entities that file suspicious transaction reports, lack of reporting on cross-border movement of bearer negotiable instruments, inbound cross-border movement of currency disclosures due to the low level of implementation of these systems and the limited scope of institutions from which the NFIU requests additional information to support its analysis.
GIABA said, “Nigeria lacks an explicit policy to confiscate the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime or property of equivalent value. The country did not demonstrate effective seizure and confiscation of all types of proceeds and instrumentalities of crime, including terrorism financing.
“The legal framework is deficient on asset-sharing and formal arrangements for assets sharing with foreign countries for purposes of restitution. The authorities have not effectively utilised the physical cross-border declaration system to seize or confiscate falsely declared or undeclared currency and bearer negotiable instruments.”
While acknowledging steps taken by Nigeria to increase its risk understanding of money laundering and terrorism financing threats, the evaluation stated that the country’s depth and sophistication of its understanding of key money laundering risks, including of corruption and fraud, legal persons, (including free zone enterprises) and politically exposed persons are underdeveloped, considering their complexity, materiality and scope.
The agency also highlighted the lack of coordination among the security agencies, stating that the number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions for money laundering was inconsistent with the key findings.
It said, “Several agencies are designated to investigate and prosecute money laundering cases. However, there is limited or lack of coordination among these agencies. Law enforcement agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, do not prioritise ML (money laundering) investigations and focus primarily on ML predicate offences.
“There are also technical compliance deficiencies related to Recommendation 3. As a result, stand-alone ML offences are not pursued, nor are those related to foreign predicate offences. The number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions for ML is inconsistent with the risk profile of the country. There is no reliable data to determine if the sanctions applied to natural and legal persons for ML are proportionate and dissuasive.”
Meanwhile, the anti-graft agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, EFCC and the police did not respond to questions on the GIABA assessment of their activities as their spokespersons kept mum when contacted on Saturday.
Emefiele had said at a Monetary Policy Committee meeting on September 17 in Abuja, “We have unwittingly supported activities of those who illegally buy foreign exchange from this illegal market, carry them in aircraft out of the country, go to buy arms and ammunition and bring them back into the country and commit crimes whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping or all sorts of nefarious activities. We cannot do that any longer.”
The NFIU however said on September 24 that it had information on the sale of foreign exchange to fund terrorism in the country and that it had launched a manhunt for the perpetrators. It said it had achieved some breakthroughs in recent times through intelligence gathering on the illicit transaction.
Speaking at a three-day workshop organised in Lagos by GIABA, the Associate Director, Intelligence and Investigation Support, NFIU, Biola Shotunde, said, “Yes, we have intelligence gathering that shows us those patterns and we have worked on that. We have used such intelligence appropriately and that is why we have recorded some successes. Our engagement with other agencies is enormous and proactive. It is an ongoing effort and we are becoming stronger.”
She, however, did not go into details when asked the number of persons arrested in connection with the crime.
Punch
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Researchers released a nutritional index this week aiming to inform guidelines and help Americans achieve healthier and more environmentally stable diets. The index ranked foods by minutes gained or lost off healthy life per serving, with processed meats and sugary drinks among the biggest offenders.
Findings included over 5,000 foods in the U.S. diet classified by health burden and environmental impacts.
“We use the results to inform marginal dietary substitutions, which are realistic and feasible,” authors wrote. “We find that small, targeted, food-level substitutions can achieve compelling nutritional benefits and environmental impact reductions.”
The foods studied ranged from 74 minutes lost to 80 minutes gained per serving. Sugary drinks, hotdogs, burgers and breakfast sandwiches were linked with most minutes of healthy life lost, whereas fruits, non-starchy and mixed vegetables, ready-to-eat cereals and cooked grains were associated with the largest gains.
More specifically, researchers found that consuming one 85-gram serving of chicken wings translated to 3.3 minutes of life lost, owing to sodium and harmful trans fatty acids, while a beef hotdog on a bun resulted in some 36 minutes lost “largely due to the detrimental effect of processed meat,” study authors wrote. What’s more, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were associated with a positive increase of 33 added minutes.
Foods like salted peanuts, baked salmon and rice with beans were also associated with positive gains between 10 to 15 minutes.
Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences published findings in the Nature journal, detailing their newly developed Health Nutritional Index (HENI), drawing on the 2016 GBD study for dietary risk components and harmful health effects linked to certain foods.
“Previous studies investigating healthy or sustainable diets have often reduced their findings to a discussion of plant-based versus animal-based foods, with the latter stigmatized as the least nutritious and sustainable,” the study reads. “Although we find that plant-based foods generally perform better, there are considerable variations within both plant-based and animal-based foods that should be acknowledged before such generalized inferences are warranted.”
Researchers also classified foods by nutritional and environmental impact, or shorter-term global warming. Healthy environmentally sustainable foods included nuts, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and some seafood, whereas foods with poor nutritional value and production linked to high environmental impacts (i.e. greenhouse gas emissions) included beef, processed meat, pork and lamb, cheese-based foods and certain salmon dishes. In contrast, most poultry, dairy, egg-based foods and cooked grains fell into an intermediate zone.
“In agreement with previous studies, this suggests that nutritionally beneficial foods might not always generate the lowest environmental impacts and vice versa,” study authors wrote.
Finally, researchers found that swapping 10% of daily caloric consumption from beef and processed meat for fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and certain seafood could reap significant health benefits, with the team citing a gain of some 48 minutes per person per day and a 33% smaller dietary carbon footprint.
New York Post
Sleep used to be regarded as a time when the brain turned itself off to recharge its batteries, but research over the past 20 years has put that theory to rest.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanners, which use magnetic resonance to generate images of brain activity, have shown that the organ is active during sleep.
Although there is still much to be discovered, the brain uses that time to clean out toxins and repair itself, and to reinforce memories and lessons learned during the day.
Sleep research is a relatively new discipline, but it’s already understood that a good night’s sleep is much more important to our overall health and well-being than was previously thought.
Sleep is set to become the next health revolution, similar to the way diet revolutionised our view of healthy living in the 20th century.
Sleep research has also opened up a new avenue of scientific inquiry – “sleep engineering”. As our understanding of what happens when we sleep improves, scientists are developing ways to influence our sleep so that its benefits are maximised.
In a presentation for New Scientist Events, a webinar organised by the British science weekly New Scientist, Penelope Lewis, professor of neuroscience at Cardiff University in Wales, discussed current trends in the field. Lewis’ research involves experiments which manipulate sleeping subjects’ brainwaves to boost memory, and guard against age-related problems like dementia.
The experiments revolve around a technique called electroencephalography (EEG), in which electrodes placed on the scalp measure the brain’s electrical activity during sleep – neurons, the cells that the brain uses to communicate with itself, work by firing off electrical impulses. The resulting measurement depicts oscillations, which look like soundwaves.
When they have mapped a subject’s brainwave activity, Lewis and her team focus on certain patterns in the oscillations and try to artificially manipulate them, to trick the brain into doing things that benefit the sleeper.
The three phases of sleep are light sleep, slow wave sleep – commonly known as deep sleep – and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Each phase produces different oscillations, as the brain is carrying out different functions.
Repairing damage during sleep
Researchers have not fully figured out the brain’s actions, but believe that it’s engaging in restoration and repair, and consolidating learning and memory.
The brain flushes out beta amyloids, for instance, toxins that can cause the plaques that have been associated with age-related damage like dementia. It clears them out twice as quickly during sleep.
As we age, our sleep becomes disrupted, says Lewis. The oscillations during slow wave sleep are stretched out – the waves look flatter. The extent of this stretching mirrors the deterioration in our brain. This is where sleep engineering comes in, she says. If the stretching can be reversed, perhaps the deterioration in the brain will slow as a result.
Lewis says that a new technique called “closed-loop auditory stimulation” has managed to achieve this, and has boosted memory in sleeping patients. It is something she hopes will ultimately be able to combat memory loss resulting from dementia.
“We make simple sounds at exactly the right times during the oscillations to boost the amplitude [volume] of the cell waves. We are hoping this may help us ameliorate some of the loss of cell oscillation and potentially slow down some of the age-related damage,” she says.
“We monitor the EEG online, and detect when an oscillation is coming to a peak. At that time, we produce a clicking sound, and the click will boost the amplitude of the oscillation. That also boosts the next peak, and a little bit after that. If we keep applying these clicks through the night, we can boost the amplitude of slow wave sleep,” says Lewis.
This technique works well on young people, and has been shown to improve their memory during a night of sleep – their memory functions much better the day after stimulation, Lewis says. So far, it has not worked as well in older people.
Consolidating the day’s learning
As anyone who has taken the popular online Coursera course Learning How to Learn will know, learning is consolidated by a good night’s sleep. If you have an exam the next day, it’s better to go to bed early than stay up cramming.
“Individuals are significantly better at tests the next day after sleep,” Lewis notes. “There is a dramatic overnight improvement, and a real improvement the next day to the next evening.”
The learning consolidation – a function of memory – occurs with all types of sleep and is related to the number of peaks in the oscillations in the EEG.
“The brain practises recently learned memories – it is essentially rehearsing during sleep. There is a reactivation of memory during sleep, and that reactivation is important for the consolidation of memories. People improve overnight.”
“Sleep engineering comes in a very interesting way,” says Lewis. “It turns out that we can control the memory in the brain with a technique called ‘targeted memory reactivation’. Recently acquired memories are paired with a sound, and then the sound is played during sleep. That triggers the memory reactivation process and develops a consolidation,” says Lewis.
The reactivated memory is stronger for 10 days, although it will fade after 20 days.
“But there are also structural changes in the brain – an increase in grey matter after about 10 days,” Lewis says. “So a little bit of cueing in the night leads to long-term functional, structural, and behavioural changes in the brain. It’s quite amazing.”
South China Morning Post
There are thousands of studies on the importance of employee satisfaction. Looking at the overwhelming evidence, we now know that the happiness of employees affects everything from customer satisfaction to employee productivity and retention. And since the Covid-19 pandemic started, the workplace "environment" has truly become more of an experience.
Naturally, the question arises: Are there any proven effective ways to make employee satisfaction an actual, attainable objective in the new paradigm?
Absolutely, and way too many strategies to mention in one sitting. But one idea to consider is to embrace team members for who they are, rather than what they can do for the company.
Empathy: The leadership separator
We call this empathy (the answer to the question in the title), and with empathy, a whole new world full of possibilities is opened up about how to lead employees and serve customers better.
Empathy requires the powerful practice of active listening. This brings me to a new book called Move the Needle by international speaker and best-selling author Robb Holman. Active listening is a core tenet of empathy that Holman teaches in his book. He explains that with active listening we invite ourselves into a person's story, helping them feel appreciated and valued. This helps us to better understand and empathize with someone's pain or struggle, which, these days, is necessary considering that most of us are experiencing some sort of hardship.
Acknowledge workplace grief with empathy
With hardship comes the ignored understanding of workplace grief, a rare business topic on which Holman shines the light. A study conducted by the Grief Recovery Institute found that U.S employers lose up to $75 billion each year as a result of grieving in the workplace. Grieving employees typically experience higher levels of daily stress. This can lead to poor decision-making, substance misuse, and an increased risk of injury.
"Grieving is not just about the death of a loved one, family member, or friend," Holman explains in his book. We grieve lost opportunities, dreams we don't realize, and global pandemics. "If we want stronger relationships in the workplace, we need to be aware that people are grieving more than we know, and be empathetic to that idea."
To drive home Holman's point of expressing empathy, if we can deeply acknowledge that a team member may be grieving, chances are good that we can better serve that person for a positive business outcome.
Express empathy as an act of service
But showing empathy isn't always easy, especially when it comes to people we disagree with or don't mesh with at work.
However, an intentional act of empathy, as Holman writes in his book, can offer a chance to enter someone else's story and even enroll them into yours.
"As you demonstrate humility and presence through active understanding, you value that person. When a person feels valued, they are more receptive to feedback," he says.
What about people who are not receptive to our empathy, or our desire to relate? "I'd love to say that when you faithfully serve through empathy and sacrifice, it's all victory. However, the agony of defeat is a real thing," professes Holman in his book.
This lesson was never more apparent for Holman than when he had started a nonprofit years ago and invested in a relationship with a core team member. The two became good friends, their families became good friends, and there was a lot of time and energy devoted to their friendship and working relationship.
As the relationship grew, there were miscommunications that impacted the organization that Holman took responsibility for. He apologized publicly to his team members and assured his commitment to making sure things were not misconstrued. But something surprising occurred: This person chose not to receive Holman's apology or continue in the venture.
This revealed something to Holman about service. There are times when you are serving others, and they will leave you. It is painful, but as long as you serve faithfully and without strings attached, you have done well. "The moment we place conditions on our service, it's only a matter of time before the relationship eludes us," assures Holman.
In conclusion, influence through service doesn't come without its costs. But we all know that nothing good comes easy. By recognizing that many if not most people are grieving in some way, we can, with empathy and active listening, be better leaders in the workplace. And authentic empathetic service transforms and empowers a workforce.
Entrepreneur
At least 569 people — including 337 soldiers — have been killed in various forms of ambush launched by insurgents since 2019, according to a report by SB Morgan (SBM) Intelligence.
SBM intelligence, a research organisation, compiles and analyses data about happenings in the country.
In the period reviewed in the report, 62 attacks perpetrated by insurgents were recorded.
On Saturday, fighters of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) killed Dzarma Zirkusu, a brigadier-general, and three soldiers of the Nigerian Army.
The brigadier-general and the soldiers were ambushed while heading to Askira in Borno to provide support for the troops on the ground.
The incident is one of several attacks by insurgents on troops of the Nigerian Army.
SOLDIERS PAYING THE PRICE IN FIGHT AGAINST INSURGENCY
In the report, 337 soldiers were killed in ambush since 2019, while 29 operatives of the Nigeria Police Force and the Joint Task Force (JTF) also suffered the same fate.
In addition, 92 insurgents and 111 “unclassified persons” were killed in similar incidents.
NORTHEAST — THE HOTBED OF ATTACKS
The northeast region of the country recorded the highest number with 53 attacks, while northwest recorded nine attacks.
Borno recorded the highest number of sneak attacks with 45, followed by Zamfara with seven and Yobe with four.
Other states that have recorded ambush are Kaduna (two), Katsina (two), Kebbi (one) and Sokoto (one).
The Cable