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Showing posts from December, 2009

Let there be Peace in Bayelsa

It is a pity and indeed shameful that Bayelsans are busy fighting themselves while other States are pursing development with all vigour. The same thing happened during the Awolowo - cocoa era. While Awo was busy developing the West, other regions were busy engaging in political wrangling. Let us be wise and stop fighting. We should concentrate and seek ways of developing Bayelsa State. Presently, States like Lagos, Aqua Ibom, Cross Rivers, Enugu and some others are focused and are busy developing their towns and cities, and here we are busy fighting. The time will come again in future as it is now, when we have to give account of what we did with the resources available to us now. As usual with Nigerians, then, shall we again start putting the blame on the federal government? We have every opportunity now to move our people forward in the political, economical and fiscal arenas. I really pity us, because, I hear all kinds of degradating comments about how "we like en...

Power Supply, Key to Malaria Prevention

Malaria is transmitted by mosquito, a tiny blood sucking, desperate and noisy insect. Malaria is the number one killer of children in Nigeria and a major cause of weakness and fewer in adults. Malaria is traced to poor performance in the work force and low productivity in the economy. Efforts by researchers in Nigerian universities and drug manufacturers have not yielded appreciable result in the prevention and treatment of malaria. The national rate of malaria infection is still very high. Malaria control still remains a challenge in Africa where 45 countries, including Nigeria, are endemic for malaria, and about 588 million people are at risk   -- WHO, World Malaria Report 2008. Nigeria is visibly at the forefront of global efforts aimed at eradicating this deadly disease. The recent disbandment by the federal government of chloroquine for the treatment of malaria and introducing in it’s place, artesunate, artemisinin, artemether and lumefantrin as sub...

Missiles on Wheels

Sadly, only a couple of weeks ago, I lost a close family friend in a ghastly car crash along the Lekki - Epe expressway, involving a commercial vehicle,  whose driver, probable drunk and driving without head lamps, ran across the road to the other side of the road, causing a head-on collision with her official vehicle. Every day, we see many commercial vehicles and tipper trucks, driving along the Lekki Expressway without head lamps at night.  I have seen a big truck drive on this road with two of its rear tires completely absent, and was rolling on bear reams. Believe it or not, the road safety officials are all over the place. Whether they themselves see these things or not is not left for me to say. Another very dangerous practice by commercial bus drivers along the Lekki - Ajah axis, is that they disconnect the fuel tank of their vehicle and use a plastic container which they keep at the booth of the vehicle with a hose connected directly to the engine.  This sam...