By
Joachim Ezeji
The primary objective of the Imo State 2011 budget proposal as recently enunciated by the state governor includes job creation, education and eradication of extreme poverty. Captioned ‘’Budget of consolidation and continuity’’, the budget had an 8 point policy direction, which consists of embargo on new projects; scaling down , continuation and/or completion of on-going projects; massive road rehabilitation in the 27 local government areas of the state; good governance, transparency, accountability, efficiency and training in the teaching and civil service and total automation of processes; total confrontation of the security problem in the state; job creation/ mass recruitment into government service; and finally, enhanced internally generated revenue.
Ambitious as the 2011 budget is, it offers negligible enthusiasm amongst the people for who it was drafted. This stems from past experiences, particularly, previous budgets which has failed repeatedly with little effort to learn from such failures. For example, the 2011 Imo budget in most aspects is similar to that of 2010. In 2010 the Imo State Government had a total budget estimate of N127, 260, 577, 253. The revenue component of that budget was estimated at 55.5% of the total budget while the capital receipt on the other hand was 44.4% of the total budget. Conversely, the recurrent expenditure constituted 41.6% while Capital expenditure was 58.3% of the total budget.
However, as at end of September 2010 the scorecard of the budget showed that only 50.04% of the estimated recurrent revenue of N70,705,678,311 was achieved while the capital receipts, a mere N18,581,787,844 of the projected sum of N56,554,898,942 i.e. less than 35% of the projected was generated. At 50.04% and 35% ratings, these components of the budget i.e. the revenue cannot be said to have done well in view of the huge expectations and development needs of the state.
On the other hand, the recurrent expenditure as at end of September 2010 stood at 56.8% of the total recurrent expenditure of N52,962,600,572 while the capital expenditure as at end of September 2010 was N36,324,865,583 representing 48.8% of total capital expenditure projection of N74, 297,976, 681. Again, at both 56.8% and 48.8% ratings these components of the budget does not inspire anybody.
In 2011, the governor has proposed a whopping budget of N124,475,132,834. The total recurrent revenue stands at N72,148,781,892 while the total recurrent expenditure stands at N60,675,238,007. The capital receipts this time is estimated at N52,326,350,942 or about 43% of the total budget while the recurrent revenue stands at N72,148,782,892 or 57%.
It is clear that the amount proposed for 2011 is a little less than that of 2010. It remains to be understood why this is so, could it be an adjustment to guide against failure as seen in the preceding year’s budget or a signal that little development would be pursued in the current year? Whatever it is, a coterie of questions still emerge, and some of these are: Why is the state government so much dependent on capital receipts knowing fully how precarious and unreliable it could be? Meeting the capital receipts components of any government budget would certainly require a lot of work which includes immense networking, diplomacy, good governance and transparency amongst others. Unlike recurrent revenue, they are not statutory.
The recurrent expenditure projections and profile of the government is neither plausible nor salutary. It smacks of anything but prudence in resource management for a government to expend 56.8% of its total projected recurrent expenditure at a time when it was merely generating 50.04% of the projected revenue. The amount expended on capital expenditure as at the end of September 2010 was not stated in the 2011 budget review of expenditure events of 2010. It remains to be understood if this omission was deliberate or intentional. Relevant questions should be asked at the follow up sessions on the budget at the House of Assembly.
It remains to be seen how the governor intends to achieve the lofty objectives of the 2011 budget with a fragile revenue base. Top on this objective is poverty alleviation and job creation. According to the governor, the poverty index in Imo State in 1996 was 56% but today it has dropped drastically to 48%. The governor had quoted the United Nations Human Development Index Report without dating the reference document to buttress this assertion. He argued that at 48%, that the poverty index in Imo is clearly above the Federal Government index of 72%, and that the reduction stems from the opportunities created by the massive investments in infrastructure, micro-credit as well as Human Development. He also argued that the establishment of a poverty alleviation bureau has tackled poverty in a multi-faceted manner, from skills acquisition to transportation as well as micro-credit schemes. The governor also revealed that his government had recently set up a committee to fish out the poorest of the poor in Imo State for proper documentation and adequate empowerment in 2011.
Poverty alleviation in Imo state should actually begin with the prompt payment of salaries and pensions. This is not intended to portray a superiority of these statutory payments over other state needs; but they can easily be monitored and measured unlike the so called claims of skills acquisition to transportation as well as micro-credit schemes by the government. Delays and protracted payments of statutory bills does not inspire confidence on the government, no matter what it claims to the contrary. Also, budgets that allocates over 40% of recurrent expenditure on overhead and personnel cost will certainly struggle to do well. This was the case in 2009, 2010 and sadly again in 2011.
What is the security vote of the governor? This important component of the budget is neither obvious nor clear from the wordings of the budget. I need to be shown where it is located and its subhead. However, is it the truth that the speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly has a security vote of N500 million, the secretary to the state government N250million, and the deputy speaker N200million? However, the budget 2011 had shown that the capital projects of the Imo State House of Assembly including its constituency projects is the sum of N470million, without any breakdown of what these are.
Government should be reminded that insensitive allocation of public funds to public office holders stirs envy and bad blood in the polity. It sounds so unreasonable to allocate as much as 40% of recurrent expenditure on top office holders be they members or part of the executive, legislature or judiciary. High level criminality such as kidnapping, armed robbery, contract inflation, graft and greed will remain eternal consequence of such allocations. Prudency should start from the top of the pyramid where the bulk of the resources are manipulated.
On education, the governor claims that as part of his effort to ensure the realisation of functional and qualitative education in the state, it released the sum of N18million for the procurement of science equipment, chemicals and reagents for the 2010 May/June NECO and SSCE practical examinations for the 31No public secondary schools in the state. He further claimed that his government has released the sum of N150million out of the N250million approved for the accreditation of all courses in the college of engineering of the Imo State University. He also asserted that has successfully returned forty-five secondary schools to the Missions, while discussions are on-going with voluntary agencies/private proprietors that have indicated interest to take back their schools. He further revealed that his government has instituted a special overseas postgraduate scholarship scheme for Imo indigenes. And that candidates with first class or second class upper degrees would be encouraged to enrol in the Ivy League Universities in the world. The purpose of this, according to the governor is to produce well trained first class graduates who would be future leaders of the state and are well equipped to play leadership roles.
The happenings in the educational sector of the state is nothing to cheer about. It defies common sense to return forty-five secondary schools to private organisations and missions, and then have government withdraw apposite responsibility just after 2 years of offsetting staff salaries. What does government intend to achieve? What is the primary objective of that action? Is it merely to offload government financial responsibility thereto and have the now accruing government revenue saved? What happens to it, will it be looted, frittered or prudently reinvested into governance? I think that the wholesale returning of schools to missions or private organisations is utterly a bad idea. The simple reason is that these missions lack the capacity to make these schools competitive. Missions may struggle to meet the requisite funding required to run them. Running of schools is another important public service that needs to be preserved and nourished. Investment in school infrastructure is as important as teacher motivation. Trying to save funds in the face of competing educational needs amounts to self destruction.
The revelation on the institution of a special overseas postgraduate scholarship scheme for Imo indigenes is a welcome development, though overdue. We need to have the modalities for this published with the relevant bureau set up. However, the issue of Ivy league universities as the centre point of the policy is outlandish and neither here nor there. People need to be supported to train abroad in various spheres where Imo lack skills. It must not necessarily be an Ivy league university. Moreover, there are just about 10 Ivy league universities and all of them are located in the USA hence limiting this policy on Ivy league universities smacks of utopian targets. As an international environmental scholar at Brown University, one of the Ivy league universities, I can humbly assert that there are many other great universities in the USA as well as other parts of the world in the likes of Oxford, Cambridge, Loughborough and even KTH in Sweden. Great leaders of the state in the future who are well equipped to play leadership roles can emerge from even modest schools. Tell me, what school did the greatest leader Imo State has ever i.e. Late Sam Mbakwe attend?
Relocating Imo State University and designating and developing a location for the new School of Engineering campus of the university needs to be reprioritized. I shudder to query the worthwhileness of these two major capital projects in the same budget timeline. Since the university currently have a campus in Owerri, efforts should rather be exerted to first develop a new School of Engineering campus of the university instead. Anything other than this will further weaken the budget.
The government’s proposals on the economic sector of the state ; consisting of agriculture, commerce, industry, works, transport, housing, petroleum , environment, public utilities and rural development are very salutary and needs commendation. Government capacity to generate jobs for the teeming unemployed is very possible provided utmost good fate is deployed. However, I am pained that the government is mute about the implication of climate change on the economic sector if ignored. This therefore calls to mind the imperativeness of adopting a policy stand on how to go about economic development in the state. In view of the uncertainties involved with climate change, it is important to identify low-cost, no-regret responses that enhance the choices available in the future. For example, economic cost-benefit analysis – which could include environmental values – would suffice if decisions are made primarily based on economic efficiency. If, however, sustainable development is a leading policy objective, developments of today would also have to be evaluated based on their effects on intergenerational and intra-generational equity, and should include consideration of environmental impacts.
Tourism in the state could also be transit to eco-tourism in order to safeguard the environment. In this regards the government should once again reappraise its position on the ‘disvirgining’ of the Oguta lake. There is a lot the government could learn from the civil society, particularly NGOs working on sustainable development in the state. Isolating NGOs or treating them with suspicion undermines sustainability.
Till the house reconvenes to deliberate on the budget, I join other noble Imo citizens to query the governor; are you sure Imo is in the hands of God?
Monday, 27 June 2011
Fertility Crisis!
•40% men suffer low sperm count
•Late marriage in women big factor
•Couples now queue at orphanages to adopt babies
•15 fertility clinics to the rescue
•IVF costs N1.2m
By PATRICK ASONYE & AGAPTUS ANAELE
Sunday, May 25, 2008
By the accounts of Nigerian medics, there is an upsurge in the number of couples seeking fruits of the womb in the country, a trend experts attribute to a number of reasons ranging from late marriages, environmental factors and decline in the quality of sperm.
Indeed the situation has given rise, in some instances, to the dislocation of some otherwise ideal families founded originally on love.
Worse still, evil merchants, taking advantage of the situation, have set up shops and are surreptitiously trading in babies of indigent mothers like stocks on the floor of the Stock Exchange. Quite a few have been nabbed in the process.
Those that bother to do the right thing run accredited orphanages, now with unprecedented patronage.
At the spiritual level, some self-professed miracle workers have been at their very best, all in an attempt to convince baby seekers to look into their places of religious worship, and be glad that they did.
Yet, the problem remains that Nigerian men are by the day losing their virility to empirical reasons.
On that score, medical personnel are of the opinion that stress alters the reproductive system by impairing hypothalamic function responsible for reproduction in both sexes, fertility declines with age.
They also fingered environmental pollution, substance abuse, obesity in women, and multiple sexual partners that lead to sexually transmitted infections, resulting in tube blockage, as key factors fuelling infertility.
Hear Professor Oladapo Ashiru, Medical Director of Medical Art Centre in Lagos: “The number of infertile couples is on the increase and more worrisome is that the number of men presenting with low sperm count is on the increase.”
Sunday Sun gathered that the statistics has shot up from 15 per cent in men to 40 per cent.
The development has led to the proliferation of fertility centres, churches with bogus claims of miracles and spiritual homes, making couples desperate and even gullible in the hands of opportunists.
Over 15 fertility centres have sprang up in four cities - Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin City and Abuja.
More worrisome is the fact that it has, in some instance, led to the breakage of many homes. Sperm donation and surrogate motherhood, hitherto perceived as abomination, have become rampant in the country.
However, few genuine Assisted Reproduction and Fertility Centres offer solution to infertile couples, but at exorbitant prices.
On the average, it costs Six hundred and fifty thousand Naira (N650, 000) for a procedure of Assisted Reproduction.
Sunday Sun gathered from orphanages in Lagos that the demand for adoption far outstrips supply, so couples now queue for months on waiting list, further affirming that all is not well with procreation process.
Prof Ashiru speaks:
Yes, infertility is on the increase in Nigeria. The population that is involved with regard to infertility is as high as 20-25 per cent of married couples. One in five couples have fertility problem and the trend is on the increase for two reasons.
One, there is increased awareness about the problem. Secondly, there are more problems that are occurring within the system, that are technological-related that are creating fertility problems.
Stress
For both men and women, the first are emotional stress. Our society is a highly stressed society. From home to work, and the kind of things that goes on, are all stress-related. There is stress in getting on the traffic on the road; there is stress in achieving what you want to do. Even, when you go to the store to buy something, there is stress. There is fear from armed robbery. Economic, financial stress is there, because we live in a society that places a lot of emphasis on money as opposed to value of professionalism. The level of stress that goes into marriage planning and the money spent by the couple is high stress-related. All these have far reaching consequences on a centre in the brain called the Hypothalamus, the centre that controls some of the reproductive functions.
Stress is a condition that triggers the adrenal gland. This is known as the stress gland. When there is too much pressure on the adrenal gland, it will control the ovary and the sperm cell, and the brain. Under normal circumstances, when it is stable, it balances these two hormones, the brain and the hypothalamus and the ovary, so they circulate like an orchestra in symphony, to bring out this tune and at the end of each month, it will clock at 28 days to produce an egg. Stress, either from the environment or your thought, goes straight to the adrenal gland.
If you can’t handle it, it releases some hormones, and could lead to high blood pressure. If you can’t handle it, it releases some hormones that create problems for the ovary and metabolic process, so the person may start to eat too much. It may release something that affects mood, leading sometimes to depression. When that occurs, it may affect the ovaries and the woman may no longer ovulate every 28 days. Sometimes it may be 19 days or it could be delayed. Sometimes, it could lead to early miscarriages.
Effect on men:
In men, stress is known to reduce sperm production by 15 per cent. It destroys the spermatozoa.
Age:
Many people now marry at late. Twenty years ago, people married at the age of 25 or even earlier. Today, people are getting married at the age of 32 or older. I am referring to the women or ladies. And for the men, it is even slightly higher. At this age, reproductive function is already declining. From basic raw statistics, for somebody that is between 16 and 21, fertility is almost 75 per cent. By the time you get to age 40, it has declined to eight per cent.
Environmental hazards: generators and all:
There are too many things in our environment leading to infertility. There is no electricity. Excessive use of alternative energy leads to the release of hydrocarbons and they are definitely having far reaching consequences on the sperm production process in men and the ovulation process in women. Smoke release is also a major factor. If you look at our society, the level of pollution that we are witnessing now cannot be compared to what we saw in the 70s and 60s. Almost every other house has a generating plant and when there is no light (public power supply), they all release fumes and pollute the air.
Poor water source:
We don’t have enough regulation to control our water system and there are a lot of poisons being released into the water system. In some cases, petrol stations are sited near the river. We site soap and dry cleaning industries in the various places. These have serious consequences on fertility.
Bad urban planning:
Previous governments made use of area planning by strictly reserving some areas as residential and some for commercial purposes. In developed societies, residential areas are strictly residential, maybe with one or two corner shops but here, areas reserved for residential are converted for commercial use. All these emit serious toxins into the air.
Men firing blank
Men are having very low sperm count. The percentage of men with low sperm count is higher than that in the US. From my experience in Chicago in the US, the male problem is about 30-35 per cent, but in our country, the male factor is rising. The uses of hard substance, smoking, alcohol and marijuana have far reaching effects on sperm count and sperm production.
Occupational hazards:
Occupational hazards, like those who work with heavy metals and those who work in hydro and petrochemical industries are at risk. Men working in plastic and paint industries are also at risk, because these are occupations that are known to drastically damage the sperm.
Sperm count hitherto:
From raw information, when you have 10 couples with infertility, ten years ago, the problem was predominantly tube blockage, and those who are unable to ovulate and may be 15-20 per cent with low sperm count. Then, you could help them if you concentrate the sperm and inseminate it into the woman. But today, you are having as high as 35 per cent of men with low sperm, if not 40 per cent and a substantial per cent, say 15-20 per cent of them, you will have to get the sperm and inject it into the wife, through the procedure we call intracytospemic sperm injection (ICSI), because the sperm on their own cannot do anything. A low percentage of them have obstruction to the sperm, which are genetical factors whereby the sperm are blocked on the pathway, so you have to do a special procedure called testicular extraction to extract the sperm from the testis and then use it by ICSI to achieve fertilization and get them pregnant.
Sperm count:
Sperm count is the amount of sperm that is produced in semen. When a man ejaculates, he comes up with a fluid, either grey or yellowish in colour. The semen contains very small cells known as spermatozoon for one and spermatozoa for many. Normally, it should be 60 million in one ml and a man should be able to produce about 2-3mls per ejaculate. So you will be expecting about 120-200 million sperms in that ejacula.
You could have oligospermia, in which case the sperm is there, but in small quantity and anything below 40 per cent or 40 million per ml is oligospermia. However, a man that has 10 million sperm cells can get a young lady that is very fertile pregnant. Whereas a man that has 40 million sperm cells and has a woman that is old and not so fertile may find it difficult to impregnate the woman. The next one is Exospermia in which there is no sperm cell at all, or Dispermia, that is abnormal sperm cells or Aspermia, which means there is no sperm produced at all in the ejaculate.
There is also low motility. The sperms are there, but they are not very motile; they can’t move all the way to the tube from the vagina where they are deposited. By the time they get to the uterus, most of them are dead, because they are slow moving.
Causes:
Artificial sweetners like saccharine can cause low sperm count. Wearing very tight pants can cause testicular overheating. It creates a very high temperature around the scrotum and that burns the sperm cells. Sperms thrive when the temperature is low, slightly below the body temperature.
Female factor:
In the US, 10 per cent of women between the ages of 44 have impaired fertility and about 25 per cent of these women will have infertility problem when they get married. On a general level, we are looking at 37 per cent of infertile women between age 35 and 44 have infertility.
Age:
As age progresses, the problem of fertility also progresses. A higher percentage of women are having fertility problem because we are not marrying early. If they marry early, the problem is less. But in our own environment here, some of the causes of infertility in women are attributed to stress.
Weight:
Obesity is a major factor in our environment. Overweight women have polycystic ovarian syndrome. It is a condition in which the ovary, rather than produce follicles that will make egg, they produce empty follicles known as cyst, and these follicles will line the ovary and they are not be able to ovulate. This is a condition that creates infertility because the excess fat that is there does not allow the ovary to have proper hormone functions, so rather than have those hormones going to the ovaries; they are working on the fat cells. This is an easily treatable condition if early detected. Women who are also underweight and those suffering from nutritional deficiency and low vitamins also have problems with fertility, just like marathon and long distance runners. Caffeine and alcohol can also cause infertility. Perpetual habit in terms of multiple sexual partners. It can lead to infection and sexually transmitted diseases which is the core of blocked tubes.
What couples should do while waiting:
When couples are newly married, they should begin to be aware of the anatomical and physiological processes that control conception. If you are a man, make sure that you preserve your reproductive processes. Stay away from pesticides, smoke inhalation and the same for the woman. If you notice any infection or discharge in the penis, make sure you give it immediate attention. Same for the woman, because these are things that could lead to chronic infection that could block the tube, or blow up the passage of the testis (Urethra).
Irregular menses:
If the woman notices that her period is irregular or unusually painful, she should seek medical attention. If the flow is excessive or little, she should see the doctor to ensure everything is okay immediately they get pregnant. Before, we used to say that infertility is when the couple is married for one year and they have tried without conception, but because our people are getting married late, they should seek medical consult immediately within three months, not to wait for one year. Those parameters of one year is when they were getting married at 21-24, because you can delay for one year and you still have a lot of time. But now, a lady that gets married at the age of 32, and has ovarian shut down at age 35, the time available for her is not much.
Treatment/Options:
The options are quite many. You could seek medical attention from your doctor. If that doesn’t work, you need to take further investigation.
Fraudulent fertility centers:
I have to warn that there are some people out there that are not really practising advanced technology, but they are telling people that it is what they do. In the last two months, I have seen four women coming to my clinic to complain. One said that she went to a doctor, got pregnant, and she had a surocal suture. We did a scan and there was nothing in the uterine cavity. And we looked at the cervix, there was no suture. Another one had said she was going to have her baby in June and we did a scan and her uterus was empty. People have to be careful.
•Late marriage in women big factor
•Couples now queue at orphanages to adopt babies
•15 fertility clinics to the rescue
•IVF costs N1.2m
By PATRICK ASONYE & AGAPTUS ANAELE
Sunday, May 25, 2008
By the accounts of Nigerian medics, there is an upsurge in the number of couples seeking fruits of the womb in the country, a trend experts attribute to a number of reasons ranging from late marriages, environmental factors and decline in the quality of sperm.
Indeed the situation has given rise, in some instances, to the dislocation of some otherwise ideal families founded originally on love.
Worse still, evil merchants, taking advantage of the situation, have set up shops and are surreptitiously trading in babies of indigent mothers like stocks on the floor of the Stock Exchange. Quite a few have been nabbed in the process.
Those that bother to do the right thing run accredited orphanages, now with unprecedented patronage.
At the spiritual level, some self-professed miracle workers have been at their very best, all in an attempt to convince baby seekers to look into their places of religious worship, and be glad that they did.
Yet, the problem remains that Nigerian men are by the day losing their virility to empirical reasons.
On that score, medical personnel are of the opinion that stress alters the reproductive system by impairing hypothalamic function responsible for reproduction in both sexes, fertility declines with age.
They also fingered environmental pollution, substance abuse, obesity in women, and multiple sexual partners that lead to sexually transmitted infections, resulting in tube blockage, as key factors fuelling infertility.
Hear Professor Oladapo Ashiru, Medical Director of Medical Art Centre in Lagos: “The number of infertile couples is on the increase and more worrisome is that the number of men presenting with low sperm count is on the increase.”
Sunday Sun gathered that the statistics has shot up from 15 per cent in men to 40 per cent.
The development has led to the proliferation of fertility centres, churches with bogus claims of miracles and spiritual homes, making couples desperate and even gullible in the hands of opportunists.
Over 15 fertility centres have sprang up in four cities - Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin City and Abuja.
More worrisome is the fact that it has, in some instance, led to the breakage of many homes. Sperm donation and surrogate motherhood, hitherto perceived as abomination, have become rampant in the country.
However, few genuine Assisted Reproduction and Fertility Centres offer solution to infertile couples, but at exorbitant prices.
On the average, it costs Six hundred and fifty thousand Naira (N650, 000) for a procedure of Assisted Reproduction.
Sunday Sun gathered from orphanages in Lagos that the demand for adoption far outstrips supply, so couples now queue for months on waiting list, further affirming that all is not well with procreation process.
Prof Ashiru speaks:
Yes, infertility is on the increase in Nigeria. The population that is involved with regard to infertility is as high as 20-25 per cent of married couples. One in five couples have fertility problem and the trend is on the increase for two reasons.
One, there is increased awareness about the problem. Secondly, there are more problems that are occurring within the system, that are technological-related that are creating fertility problems.
Stress
For both men and women, the first are emotional stress. Our society is a highly stressed society. From home to work, and the kind of things that goes on, are all stress-related. There is stress in getting on the traffic on the road; there is stress in achieving what you want to do. Even, when you go to the store to buy something, there is stress. There is fear from armed robbery. Economic, financial stress is there, because we live in a society that places a lot of emphasis on money as opposed to value of professionalism. The level of stress that goes into marriage planning and the money spent by the couple is high stress-related. All these have far reaching consequences on a centre in the brain called the Hypothalamus, the centre that controls some of the reproductive functions.
Stress is a condition that triggers the adrenal gland. This is known as the stress gland. When there is too much pressure on the adrenal gland, it will control the ovary and the sperm cell, and the brain. Under normal circumstances, when it is stable, it balances these two hormones, the brain and the hypothalamus and the ovary, so they circulate like an orchestra in symphony, to bring out this tune and at the end of each month, it will clock at 28 days to produce an egg. Stress, either from the environment or your thought, goes straight to the adrenal gland.
If you can’t handle it, it releases some hormones, and could lead to high blood pressure. If you can’t handle it, it releases some hormones that create problems for the ovary and metabolic process, so the person may start to eat too much. It may release something that affects mood, leading sometimes to depression. When that occurs, it may affect the ovaries and the woman may no longer ovulate every 28 days. Sometimes it may be 19 days or it could be delayed. Sometimes, it could lead to early miscarriages.
Effect on men:
In men, stress is known to reduce sperm production by 15 per cent. It destroys the spermatozoa.
Age:
Many people now marry at late. Twenty years ago, people married at the age of 25 or even earlier. Today, people are getting married at the age of 32 or older. I am referring to the women or ladies. And for the men, it is even slightly higher. At this age, reproductive function is already declining. From basic raw statistics, for somebody that is between 16 and 21, fertility is almost 75 per cent. By the time you get to age 40, it has declined to eight per cent.
Environmental hazards: generators and all:
There are too many things in our environment leading to infertility. There is no electricity. Excessive use of alternative energy leads to the release of hydrocarbons and they are definitely having far reaching consequences on the sperm production process in men and the ovulation process in women. Smoke release is also a major factor. If you look at our society, the level of pollution that we are witnessing now cannot be compared to what we saw in the 70s and 60s. Almost every other house has a generating plant and when there is no light (public power supply), they all release fumes and pollute the air.
Poor water source:
We don’t have enough regulation to control our water system and there are a lot of poisons being released into the water system. In some cases, petrol stations are sited near the river. We site soap and dry cleaning industries in the various places. These have serious consequences on fertility.
Bad urban planning:
Previous governments made use of area planning by strictly reserving some areas as residential and some for commercial purposes. In developed societies, residential areas are strictly residential, maybe with one or two corner shops but here, areas reserved for residential are converted for commercial use. All these emit serious toxins into the air.
Men firing blank
Men are having very low sperm count. The percentage of men with low sperm count is higher than that in the US. From my experience in Chicago in the US, the male problem is about 30-35 per cent, but in our country, the male factor is rising. The uses of hard substance, smoking, alcohol and marijuana have far reaching effects on sperm count and sperm production.
Occupational hazards:
Occupational hazards, like those who work with heavy metals and those who work in hydro and petrochemical industries are at risk. Men working in plastic and paint industries are also at risk, because these are occupations that are known to drastically damage the sperm.
Sperm count hitherto:
From raw information, when you have 10 couples with infertility, ten years ago, the problem was predominantly tube blockage, and those who are unable to ovulate and may be 15-20 per cent with low sperm count. Then, you could help them if you concentrate the sperm and inseminate it into the woman. But today, you are having as high as 35 per cent of men with low sperm, if not 40 per cent and a substantial per cent, say 15-20 per cent of them, you will have to get the sperm and inject it into the wife, through the procedure we call intracytospemic sperm injection (ICSI), because the sperm on their own cannot do anything. A low percentage of them have obstruction to the sperm, which are genetical factors whereby the sperm are blocked on the pathway, so you have to do a special procedure called testicular extraction to extract the sperm from the testis and then use it by ICSI to achieve fertilization and get them pregnant.
Sperm count:
Sperm count is the amount of sperm that is produced in semen. When a man ejaculates, he comes up with a fluid, either grey or yellowish in colour. The semen contains very small cells known as spermatozoon for one and spermatozoa for many. Normally, it should be 60 million in one ml and a man should be able to produce about 2-3mls per ejaculate. So you will be expecting about 120-200 million sperms in that ejacula.
You could have oligospermia, in which case the sperm is there, but in small quantity and anything below 40 per cent or 40 million per ml is oligospermia. However, a man that has 10 million sperm cells can get a young lady that is very fertile pregnant. Whereas a man that has 40 million sperm cells and has a woman that is old and not so fertile may find it difficult to impregnate the woman. The next one is Exospermia in which there is no sperm cell at all, or Dispermia, that is abnormal sperm cells or Aspermia, which means there is no sperm produced at all in the ejaculate.
There is also low motility. The sperms are there, but they are not very motile; they can’t move all the way to the tube from the vagina where they are deposited. By the time they get to the uterus, most of them are dead, because they are slow moving.
Causes:
Artificial sweetners like saccharine can cause low sperm count. Wearing very tight pants can cause testicular overheating. It creates a very high temperature around the scrotum and that burns the sperm cells. Sperms thrive when the temperature is low, slightly below the body temperature.
Female factor:
In the US, 10 per cent of women between the ages of 44 have impaired fertility and about 25 per cent of these women will have infertility problem when they get married. On a general level, we are looking at 37 per cent of infertile women between age 35 and 44 have infertility.
Age:
As age progresses, the problem of fertility also progresses. A higher percentage of women are having fertility problem because we are not marrying early. If they marry early, the problem is less. But in our own environment here, some of the causes of infertility in women are attributed to stress.
Weight:
Obesity is a major factor in our environment. Overweight women have polycystic ovarian syndrome. It is a condition in which the ovary, rather than produce follicles that will make egg, they produce empty follicles known as cyst, and these follicles will line the ovary and they are not be able to ovulate. This is a condition that creates infertility because the excess fat that is there does not allow the ovary to have proper hormone functions, so rather than have those hormones going to the ovaries; they are working on the fat cells. This is an easily treatable condition if early detected. Women who are also underweight and those suffering from nutritional deficiency and low vitamins also have problems with fertility, just like marathon and long distance runners. Caffeine and alcohol can also cause infertility. Perpetual habit in terms of multiple sexual partners. It can lead to infection and sexually transmitted diseases which is the core of blocked tubes.
What couples should do while waiting:
When couples are newly married, they should begin to be aware of the anatomical and physiological processes that control conception. If you are a man, make sure that you preserve your reproductive processes. Stay away from pesticides, smoke inhalation and the same for the woman. If you notice any infection or discharge in the penis, make sure you give it immediate attention. Same for the woman, because these are things that could lead to chronic infection that could block the tube, or blow up the passage of the testis (Urethra).
Irregular menses:
If the woman notices that her period is irregular or unusually painful, she should seek medical attention. If the flow is excessive or little, she should see the doctor to ensure everything is okay immediately they get pregnant. Before, we used to say that infertility is when the couple is married for one year and they have tried without conception, but because our people are getting married late, they should seek medical consult immediately within three months, not to wait for one year. Those parameters of one year is when they were getting married at 21-24, because you can delay for one year and you still have a lot of time. But now, a lady that gets married at the age of 32, and has ovarian shut down at age 35, the time available for her is not much.
Treatment/Options:
The options are quite many. You could seek medical attention from your doctor. If that doesn’t work, you need to take further investigation.
Fraudulent fertility centers:
I have to warn that there are some people out there that are not really practising advanced technology, but they are telling people that it is what they do. In the last two months, I have seen four women coming to my clinic to complain. One said that she went to a doctor, got pregnant, and she had a surocal suture. We did a scan and there was nothing in the uterine cavity. And we looked at the cervix, there was no suture. Another one had said she was going to have her baby in June and we did a scan and her uterus was empty. People have to be careful.
Man kills 2 in Delta
From KOFA KINGS,Ughelli
Monday, June 27, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/27/national-27-06-2011-012.html
A private security aide to a top state government official has allegedly shot two persons dead in controversial circumstances in Owhelogbo community, Isoko North Council Area of Delta State, at the weekend.
The assailant, who works as private security aide attached to the country home residence of the Delta State Government official (name withheld) shot dead two persons in two related attacks, accusing them of robbing his home in the suburb of the community. Luck ran out on him when he was swooped on by a combined team of security operatives.
The death of the two persons triggered violence, as irate youths stormed the suspect’s compound and set ablaze, houses belonging to him, before the police later brought normalcy to the troubled community.
Sources, who pleaded anonymity said trouble started when the suspect’s son told his father he could identify some of the robbers that raided their compound the previous night.
Continuing, the sources said the suspect and some local vigilance group took the law into their hands and allegedly shot dead, an innocent man when they could not get hold of the accused robbers.
The sources confirmed that the alleged robbers were same cult members with the suspect’s son, who were not happy with his conducts , continuing, he said the suspect’s son deceived his father into committing murder.
The sources further said the death of the innocent man sparked off the anger of the youths, who proceeded to the suspect’s place to demand an explanation for his action but immediately he spotted them, he allegedly opened fire on the crowd, killing the second person on the spot.
He said, it took the gallant efforts of the combined security operatives to arrest the suspect and bring normalcy to the community. The Delta State Police Public Relations Officer , Mr Charles Murka confirmed the incident and said the assailant had been arrested. He said the state police command was investigating the matter to ascertain what led to the killing of the two persons at the Owhelogbo community.
Monday, June 27, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/27/national-27-06-2011-012.html
A private security aide to a top state government official has allegedly shot two persons dead in controversial circumstances in Owhelogbo community, Isoko North Council Area of Delta State, at the weekend.
The assailant, who works as private security aide attached to the country home residence of the Delta State Government official (name withheld) shot dead two persons in two related attacks, accusing them of robbing his home in the suburb of the community. Luck ran out on him when he was swooped on by a combined team of security operatives.
The death of the two persons triggered violence, as irate youths stormed the suspect’s compound and set ablaze, houses belonging to him, before the police later brought normalcy to the troubled community.
Sources, who pleaded anonymity said trouble started when the suspect’s son told his father he could identify some of the robbers that raided their compound the previous night.
Continuing, the sources said the suspect and some local vigilance group took the law into their hands and allegedly shot dead, an innocent man when they could not get hold of the accused robbers.
The sources confirmed that the alleged robbers were same cult members with the suspect’s son, who were not happy with his conducts , continuing, he said the suspect’s son deceived his father into committing murder.
The sources further said the death of the innocent man sparked off the anger of the youths, who proceeded to the suspect’s place to demand an explanation for his action but immediately he spotted them, he allegedly opened fire on the crowd, killing the second person on the spot.
He said, it took the gallant efforts of the combined security operatives to arrest the suspect and bring normalcy to the community. The Delta State Police Public Relations Officer , Mr Charles Murka confirmed the incident and said the assailant had been arrested. He said the state police command was investigating the matter to ascertain what led to the killing of the two persons at the Owhelogbo community.
RED ALERT: 2500 young people get infected with HIV everyday
By Bimbola Oyesola: bimbeechampion@yahoo.com
Monday, June 27, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/workforce/2011/june/27/workforce-27-06-2011-001.html
According to Opportunity in Crisis Joint publication by UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, ILO, WHO and The World Bank presents data on adolescents and HIV for the first time, every day, an estimated 2500 young people are newly infected with HIV.
While HIV prevalence has declined slightly among young people, young women and adolescent girls face a disproportionately high risk of infection due to biological vulnerability, social inequality and exclusion.
Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from early adolescence to young adulthood, presents data on HIV infections among young people and highlights the risks adolescents face as they transition to adulthood. The report identifies factors that elevate their risk of infection as well as opportunities to strengthen prevention services and challenge harmful social practices.
“For many young people HIV infection is the result of neglect, exclusion, and violations that occur with the knowledge of families, communities, social and political leaders. This report urges leaders at all levels to build a chain of prevention to keep adolescents and young people informed, protected and healthy,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “UNICEF is committed to this cause. We must protect the second decade of life, so that the journey from childhood to adulthood is not derailed by HIV – a journey that is especially fraught for girls and young women.”
According to the report, people aged 15-24 accounted for 41 per cent of new infections among adults over the age of 15 in 2009. Worldwide, an estimated 5 million (4.3 million to 5.9 million) young people in that age group were living with HIV in 2009. Among the 10 to 19 year age group, new data shows, an estimated 2 million adolescents (1.8 million to 2.4 million) are living with HIV. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, most are women, and most do not know their status. Globally young women make up more than 60 per cent of all young people living with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa that rate jumps to 72 per cent.
“Our success with improving access to antiretrovirals means more young people are surviving with HIV, but many are still unaware of their status,” said World Health Organization Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan. “WHO is committed to helping improve adolescents’ access to HIV testing and counseling and to making sure that health services address their needs for prevention, treatment, care and support.”
Early adolescence is a window of opportunity to intervene, before most youth become sexually active and harmful gender and social norms that elevate the risk of HIV infection are established. Communities,
leaders and young people all have a role to play in changing the behaviours that place young people at risk and creating an environment where they may thrive. In southern Africa, for example where HIV infections are high in older age groups, sex with multiple partners and age-disparate relationships are fuelling HIV transmission among young people, particularly young women.
But progress can be made. Community-led efforts to change such norms have been effective in communities in Tanzania, where the image of men seeking relations with younger women and girls was effectively turned into an image of ridicule. “As the report says, too many adolescent girls become pregnant before they are ready, and have children while they are still children themselves,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.
“This puts their own health and their children’s health at risk and limits their opportunities and potential. To achieve the MDGs, it’s absolutely critical to improve access to comprehensive sexuality education and integrated reproductive health services, including family planning and male and female condoms. Evidence shows that sexual and reproductive health information and services do not lead to more frequent sexual relations or high-risk behavior, but rather to fewer unintended pregnancies, reduced HIV infections and better health.”
Certain high-risk behaviours – such as early sexual debut, pregnancy and drug use – are all signs of things going wrong in the environment of the young adolescent, and may be associated with violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. Yet social protection systems that are HIV-sensitive can contribute to the financial security of vulnerable families, improve access to health and social services and ensure that services are delivered to marginalized youths.
“The world desperately needs new HIV prevention strategies; for every two people who receive life-saving AIDS treatment, another five become newly infected, which is an impossible situation for many poor countries and their communities,” says the World Bank’s Managing Director, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin. “Existing prevention strategies have had limited success, so we have to look for creative new approaches to reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These must address people’s very basic needs for education, economic security, inclusion, dignity, and human rights. These issues are particularly crucial when we consider the health and well-being of adolescent girls, mothers and children, and socially marginalized groups.”
Family members, teachers, community leaders have a role to play in setting norms for responsible behaviour, and in advocating for the full range of services needed for young people to stay healthy. Indeed, reducing the level of HIV incidence requires not one single intervention, but a continuum of prevention that provides information, support and services throughout the life cycle. Yet many adolescents lack access to basic HIV and prevention information, commodities and testing services.
“Young people need to have access to comprehensive knowledge and services in order to make safe choices about their health and relationships”, said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova. “We are fully committed to this effort, leading the evidence-based push to scale up sexuality education and supporting the different needs of young people as they transition from early adolescence to adulthood. We must work together to ensure that all young people, especially girls and vulnerable populations, receive the education, support and protection necessary for preventing HIV and promoting their overall well-being”, she added.
Worldwide many young people driven by economic duress, exploitation, social exclusion and lack of family support turn to commercial sex and injecting drug use. They face an extremely high risk of infection as well as general stigma and discrimination for engaging in such behaviors. The very same young people most often lack access to HIV prevention and protection services.
For national HIV responses to be effective, governments need to address the underlying problems of poverty, exclusion and gender inequality that threaten the health of future generations. Using equity as a guidepost helps to ensure those hardest to reach are not last in line, and that services are available to them and used by them.
“Nearly one of every two new adult HIV infections occurs among 15 to 24 year olds. The ILO Recommendation on HIV and AIDS and the World of Work calls for a special focus on young people in national policies and programmes on HIV and AIDS and highlights the role of education and training systems and youth employment programmes and services as critical channels for mainstreaming information about HIV,” said Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). “Already young people often bear a disproportionate share of the burden of unemployment, underemployment and poverty, a situation aggravated by the global recession.
We must enable young people to realize their full potential. Their strength is the strength of communities, societies and economies.” As the report points out, there are opportunities to use proven prevention strategies in all epidemic contexts. In countries with generalized epidemics there are opportunities to encourage healthy attitudes and behaviours, ensure greater gender equality and allow protection to become the new norm.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the same social norms that tolerate domestic violence also prevent women from refusing unwanted sexual advances, negotiating safe sex, or criticizing a male partner’s infidelity – all of which threatens the goal of achieving an AIDS-free generation. And in countries with low-level and concentrated epidemics, where HIV infections among youth are driven by injecting drug use, sex work, or male to male sex, there are opportunities to reshape the legal and social milieu that compounds vulnerability and to empower young people with knowledge, prevention services and health care.
“Young people are not only tomorrow’s leaders, they are the leaders of today,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “If young people are empowered to protect themselves against HIV, they can lead us to an HIV free generation.”
Monday, June 27, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/workforce/2011/june/27/workforce-27-06-2011-001.html
According to Opportunity in Crisis Joint publication by UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, ILO, WHO and The World Bank presents data on adolescents and HIV for the first time, every day, an estimated 2500 young people are newly infected with HIV.
While HIV prevalence has declined slightly among young people, young women and adolescent girls face a disproportionately high risk of infection due to biological vulnerability, social inequality and exclusion.
Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from early adolescence to young adulthood, presents data on HIV infections among young people and highlights the risks adolescents face as they transition to adulthood. The report identifies factors that elevate their risk of infection as well as opportunities to strengthen prevention services and challenge harmful social practices.
“For many young people HIV infection is the result of neglect, exclusion, and violations that occur with the knowledge of families, communities, social and political leaders. This report urges leaders at all levels to build a chain of prevention to keep adolescents and young people informed, protected and healthy,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “UNICEF is committed to this cause. We must protect the second decade of life, so that the journey from childhood to adulthood is not derailed by HIV – a journey that is especially fraught for girls and young women.”
According to the report, people aged 15-24 accounted for 41 per cent of new infections among adults over the age of 15 in 2009. Worldwide, an estimated 5 million (4.3 million to 5.9 million) young people in that age group were living with HIV in 2009. Among the 10 to 19 year age group, new data shows, an estimated 2 million adolescents (1.8 million to 2.4 million) are living with HIV. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, most are women, and most do not know their status. Globally young women make up more than 60 per cent of all young people living with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa that rate jumps to 72 per cent.
“Our success with improving access to antiretrovirals means more young people are surviving with HIV, but many are still unaware of their status,” said World Health Organization Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan. “WHO is committed to helping improve adolescents’ access to HIV testing and counseling and to making sure that health services address their needs for prevention, treatment, care and support.”
Early adolescence is a window of opportunity to intervene, before most youth become sexually active and harmful gender and social norms that elevate the risk of HIV infection are established. Communities,
leaders and young people all have a role to play in changing the behaviours that place young people at risk and creating an environment where they may thrive. In southern Africa, for example where HIV infections are high in older age groups, sex with multiple partners and age-disparate relationships are fuelling HIV transmission among young people, particularly young women.
But progress can be made. Community-led efforts to change such norms have been effective in communities in Tanzania, where the image of men seeking relations with younger women and girls was effectively turned into an image of ridicule. “As the report says, too many adolescent girls become pregnant before they are ready, and have children while they are still children themselves,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.
“This puts their own health and their children’s health at risk and limits their opportunities and potential. To achieve the MDGs, it’s absolutely critical to improve access to comprehensive sexuality education and integrated reproductive health services, including family planning and male and female condoms. Evidence shows that sexual and reproductive health information and services do not lead to more frequent sexual relations or high-risk behavior, but rather to fewer unintended pregnancies, reduced HIV infections and better health.”
Certain high-risk behaviours – such as early sexual debut, pregnancy and drug use – are all signs of things going wrong in the environment of the young adolescent, and may be associated with violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. Yet social protection systems that are HIV-sensitive can contribute to the financial security of vulnerable families, improve access to health and social services and ensure that services are delivered to marginalized youths.
“The world desperately needs new HIV prevention strategies; for every two people who receive life-saving AIDS treatment, another five become newly infected, which is an impossible situation for many poor countries and their communities,” says the World Bank’s Managing Director, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin. “Existing prevention strategies have had limited success, so we have to look for creative new approaches to reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These must address people’s very basic needs for education, economic security, inclusion, dignity, and human rights. These issues are particularly crucial when we consider the health and well-being of adolescent girls, mothers and children, and socially marginalized groups.”
Family members, teachers, community leaders have a role to play in setting norms for responsible behaviour, and in advocating for the full range of services needed for young people to stay healthy. Indeed, reducing the level of HIV incidence requires not one single intervention, but a continuum of prevention that provides information, support and services throughout the life cycle. Yet many adolescents lack access to basic HIV and prevention information, commodities and testing services.
“Young people need to have access to comprehensive knowledge and services in order to make safe choices about their health and relationships”, said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova. “We are fully committed to this effort, leading the evidence-based push to scale up sexuality education and supporting the different needs of young people as they transition from early adolescence to adulthood. We must work together to ensure that all young people, especially girls and vulnerable populations, receive the education, support and protection necessary for preventing HIV and promoting their overall well-being”, she added.
Worldwide many young people driven by economic duress, exploitation, social exclusion and lack of family support turn to commercial sex and injecting drug use. They face an extremely high risk of infection as well as general stigma and discrimination for engaging in such behaviors. The very same young people most often lack access to HIV prevention and protection services.
For national HIV responses to be effective, governments need to address the underlying problems of poverty, exclusion and gender inequality that threaten the health of future generations. Using equity as a guidepost helps to ensure those hardest to reach are not last in line, and that services are available to them and used by them.
“Nearly one of every two new adult HIV infections occurs among 15 to 24 year olds. The ILO Recommendation on HIV and AIDS and the World of Work calls for a special focus on young people in national policies and programmes on HIV and AIDS and highlights the role of education and training systems and youth employment programmes and services as critical channels for mainstreaming information about HIV,” said Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). “Already young people often bear a disproportionate share of the burden of unemployment, underemployment and poverty, a situation aggravated by the global recession.
We must enable young people to realize their full potential. Their strength is the strength of communities, societies and economies.” As the report points out, there are opportunities to use proven prevention strategies in all epidemic contexts. In countries with generalized epidemics there are opportunities to encourage healthy attitudes and behaviours, ensure greater gender equality and allow protection to become the new norm.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the same social norms that tolerate domestic violence also prevent women from refusing unwanted sexual advances, negotiating safe sex, or criticizing a male partner’s infidelity – all of which threatens the goal of achieving an AIDS-free generation. And in countries with low-level and concentrated epidemics, where HIV infections among youth are driven by injecting drug use, sex work, or male to male sex, there are opportunities to reshape the legal and social milieu that compounds vulnerability and to empower young people with knowledge, prevention services and health care.
“Young people are not only tomorrow’s leaders, they are the leaders of today,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “If young people are empowered to protect themselves against HIV, they can lead us to an HIV free generation.”
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Communicating Adaptation in Africa
By
Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji
Does it bother you that most discussions of how to address climate change in Africa has focused much more on adaptation(e.g. coping with the storms, floods, drought, sea- floor rise and other impacts that climate change will bring) than mitigation (e.g. reducing green house emission etc)?
Not to worry, both adaptation and mitigation are very crucial in addressing the challenges of climate change. However, the onus of addressing mitigation is common with countries like China, USA, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, UK, South Korea, Iran, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, France, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Ukraine and Poland etc whose expanding economy has a huge feed demand for fuel. For these countries, mitigation is a central concern they constitute the top 20 CO2 emitters per capita (measured at metric tonnes per person). Apart from South Africa, no other African country made this list.
However, it is germane to note that in Marrakech in Morocco in November 2001, at the Seventh Conference of the Parties, delegates focused their minds on both adaptations to climate change and mitigation measures and, for the first time, formally recognized the dilemmas of adaptation for the developing nations. This recognition took the form of funding mechanisms to assist countries to adapt. The Delhi Declaration from the Eight Conference of the Parties in November 2002 reinforced the importance of adaptation. The Delhi Declaration, in effect, has linked the participation of the developing world in mitigation of emissions to actions and funding on adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
While developing countries with lean economies and who no doubt suffer the negative impacts of a changing climate are still struggling to define and adopt an adaptation pathway peculiar to its milieu, those in the top 20 CO2 emitting bracket have long set out in setting emission reduction targets.
In August 2008 Brazil launched the Amazon Fund, aimed at protecting the rainforest so vital to the world’s climate and combating climate change. In December 2008 Brazil also launched a national climate change plan which proposed to cut the country’s deforestation rate in half by 2018. For South Africa, an emission reduction strategy was drawn in July 2008. A final domestic policy is likely to be adopted by the end of 2010, likely to involve mandatory targets for reducing transport emissions and plans for increasing the carbon price.
Countries in the EU such as Germany and the UK are part of the European Union’s Climate Action Programme. The EU is committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much as 30 per cent under a new global climate change agreement when other developed countries make comparable efforts. Barack Obama has set out initial overall ambitions on climate change; and these are to return US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce them by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. A key tool will be a cap-and-trade system like the EU’s Emission Trading System.
In April 2007 Canada released an action plan to reduce green house gases. The Canadian government committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (relative to 2006 levels) by 20 per cent by 2020 and by 60 per cent to 70 per cent by 2050. In June 2007 China released a three-pronged national climate change programme, the first by any developing country. Its aims are to control greenhouse gas emissions, stimulate research and development, and raise public awareness. It has a renewable energy target (15 percent of total energy by 2020), and a plan to increase forest coverage rate to 20 per cent by 2010.
The IPCC proclaims that there is now little doubt that human induced climate change is happening. All societies consequently need to learn to cope with the changes that are predicted such as warmer temperatures, drier soils, changes in weather extremes and rising sea levels. The vulnerability of a system to climate change is determined by its exposure, by its physical settings and sensitivity, and by its ability and opportunity to adapt to change or otherwise. To illustrate these categories, sensitivity will be high where the system in question includes, for example, settlements built on flood plains, hill slopes or low-lying coastal areas.
What this means is that some sectors will be more sensitive and some groups more vulnerable to risks posed by climate change than others hence underscoring the urgency to build resilience through adaptive capacity required to face the evolving challenges in the years ahead. Peoples vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change is feared to likely evolve many other tight challenges such as poverty, especially in places like Africa where dependence on resources that are vulnerable to changing climate such as farming, fishery, water supplies etc is very high.
In terms of action, adaptation may take the form of reducing dependence on vulnerable systems such as diversifying food production away from a limited number of drought-prone crops, of decreasing sensitivity by avoiding building settlements and infrastructure in high-risk locations, or by strengthening existing systems so that they are less likely to be damaged by unusual events.
It also includes the need to mainstream into adaptation projects the recognition that people of developing countries are not just passive victims. Indeed, in the past they have had the greatest resilience to droughts, floods and other catastrophes etc. Pastoralists in West African Sahel have been known to adapt to cope with rainfall decreases of 25-33% in the twentieth century.
However, as efforts to develop and diffuse adaptation mechanisms in Africa and elsewhere grows in momentum, one major constraint has been the failure to develop an effective communication strategy to drive the process. Effective communication as a sub-set of development needs to be developed in order to get the message down to the bottom of the pyramid where those most affected agglutinate. The concept of information in general and of climate change adaptation information in particular, as a resource for effective adaptation and development needs to be domesticated well beyond current cosy confines of conference rooms and research hubs.
In Guinea, rising sea levels linked to global warming is feared to likely result in stronger coastal currents, higher tides and sea encroachment of land. Guinea’s coastal region, home to West Africa’s largest and richest mangroves, would therefore bear the brunt of global climate change. The region’s entire economy is now under threat. It is feared that the main victims of all these climate variations would be people living near the coast. An estimate of 2 million people is likely to suffer income losses.
In an effort to limit the foreseeable damage, Guinea has launched a national plan of action for climate change adaptation (PANA-CC), which sets out priorities, among them measures for protecting coastal areas. It outlines vigorous action for saving the mangroves and reforesting the region, planting teak and cashew trees. Faced with rising water levels, communities are being advised in Guinea to build sea walls and plant trees along the coast in order to protect the rice fields that have taken the place of the mangroves.
Other recommendations include enforcing laws on coastal settlements and tackling pollution. For these adaptation measures to work, it is crucial that local people be provided with environmental education and prepared for possible catastrophes in the future. Efforts such as those in Guinea need to be supported and diffused into other countries in the region as quickly as is possibly.
As measures such as those in Guinea and elsewhere get developed, it becomes urgent to educate people including government officials on what mitigation is, and how it differs from adaptation. Local policy makers, planners and administrators need to recognize that information is indispensable to the adaptation process. This is apparent with due cognizance of the fact that in most parts of Africa, the essential information mechanisms and infrastructural facilities are not yet sufficiently developed to foster the generation, storage, preservation, retrieval, dissemination and utilization of information.
However, effective communication is seen as an essential tool for the establishment and maintenance of good social and working relationships and it enables people to exercise control over their environment. The purpose of communication is to bring about change of attitude, knowledge, skills and aspiration of the receivers. In Nigeria, various communication media are commonly used to transmit all sorts of information to people. Some of these include magazines, leaflets, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, radio, internet, telephone (GSM) and television, among others.
Among these lot, radio rates higher and is often the most preferred tool of mass communication in Nigeria. Radio programs are usually timely and capable of extending messages to the audience no matter where they may be as long as they have a receiver with adequate supply of power. The absence of such facilities as road, light and water are no hindrance to radio. Similarly, such obstacles as difficult topography, distance, time and socio-political exigencies do not hinder the performance of radio. Illiteracy is no barrier to radio messages since such messages can be passed in the audience own language.
Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji
Does it bother you that most discussions of how to address climate change in Africa has focused much more on adaptation(e.g. coping with the storms, floods, drought, sea- floor rise and other impacts that climate change will bring) than mitigation (e.g. reducing green house emission etc)?
Not to worry, both adaptation and mitigation are very crucial in addressing the challenges of climate change. However, the onus of addressing mitigation is common with countries like China, USA, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, UK, South Korea, Iran, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, France, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Ukraine and Poland etc whose expanding economy has a huge feed demand for fuel. For these countries, mitigation is a central concern they constitute the top 20 CO2 emitters per capita (measured at metric tonnes per person). Apart from South Africa, no other African country made this list.
However, it is germane to note that in Marrakech in Morocco in November 2001, at the Seventh Conference of the Parties, delegates focused their minds on both adaptations to climate change and mitigation measures and, for the first time, formally recognized the dilemmas of adaptation for the developing nations. This recognition took the form of funding mechanisms to assist countries to adapt. The Delhi Declaration from the Eight Conference of the Parties in November 2002 reinforced the importance of adaptation. The Delhi Declaration, in effect, has linked the participation of the developing world in mitigation of emissions to actions and funding on adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
While developing countries with lean economies and who no doubt suffer the negative impacts of a changing climate are still struggling to define and adopt an adaptation pathway peculiar to its milieu, those in the top 20 CO2 emitting bracket have long set out in setting emission reduction targets.
In August 2008 Brazil launched the Amazon Fund, aimed at protecting the rainforest so vital to the world’s climate and combating climate change. In December 2008 Brazil also launched a national climate change plan which proposed to cut the country’s deforestation rate in half by 2018. For South Africa, an emission reduction strategy was drawn in July 2008. A final domestic policy is likely to be adopted by the end of 2010, likely to involve mandatory targets for reducing transport emissions and plans for increasing the carbon price.
Countries in the EU such as Germany and the UK are part of the European Union’s Climate Action Programme. The EU is committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much as 30 per cent under a new global climate change agreement when other developed countries make comparable efforts. Barack Obama has set out initial overall ambitions on climate change; and these are to return US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce them by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. A key tool will be a cap-and-trade system like the EU’s Emission Trading System.
In April 2007 Canada released an action plan to reduce green house gases. The Canadian government committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (relative to 2006 levels) by 20 per cent by 2020 and by 60 per cent to 70 per cent by 2050. In June 2007 China released a three-pronged national climate change programme, the first by any developing country. Its aims are to control greenhouse gas emissions, stimulate research and development, and raise public awareness. It has a renewable energy target (15 percent of total energy by 2020), and a plan to increase forest coverage rate to 20 per cent by 2010.
The IPCC proclaims that there is now little doubt that human induced climate change is happening. All societies consequently need to learn to cope with the changes that are predicted such as warmer temperatures, drier soils, changes in weather extremes and rising sea levels. The vulnerability of a system to climate change is determined by its exposure, by its physical settings and sensitivity, and by its ability and opportunity to adapt to change or otherwise. To illustrate these categories, sensitivity will be high where the system in question includes, for example, settlements built on flood plains, hill slopes or low-lying coastal areas.
What this means is that some sectors will be more sensitive and some groups more vulnerable to risks posed by climate change than others hence underscoring the urgency to build resilience through adaptive capacity required to face the evolving challenges in the years ahead. Peoples vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change is feared to likely evolve many other tight challenges such as poverty, especially in places like Africa where dependence on resources that are vulnerable to changing climate such as farming, fishery, water supplies etc is very high.
In terms of action, adaptation may take the form of reducing dependence on vulnerable systems such as diversifying food production away from a limited number of drought-prone crops, of decreasing sensitivity by avoiding building settlements and infrastructure in high-risk locations, or by strengthening existing systems so that they are less likely to be damaged by unusual events.
It also includes the need to mainstream into adaptation projects the recognition that people of developing countries are not just passive victims. Indeed, in the past they have had the greatest resilience to droughts, floods and other catastrophes etc. Pastoralists in West African Sahel have been known to adapt to cope with rainfall decreases of 25-33% in the twentieth century.
However, as efforts to develop and diffuse adaptation mechanisms in Africa and elsewhere grows in momentum, one major constraint has been the failure to develop an effective communication strategy to drive the process. Effective communication as a sub-set of development needs to be developed in order to get the message down to the bottom of the pyramid where those most affected agglutinate. The concept of information in general and of climate change adaptation information in particular, as a resource for effective adaptation and development needs to be domesticated well beyond current cosy confines of conference rooms and research hubs.
In Guinea, rising sea levels linked to global warming is feared to likely result in stronger coastal currents, higher tides and sea encroachment of land. Guinea’s coastal region, home to West Africa’s largest and richest mangroves, would therefore bear the brunt of global climate change. The region’s entire economy is now under threat. It is feared that the main victims of all these climate variations would be people living near the coast. An estimate of 2 million people is likely to suffer income losses.
In an effort to limit the foreseeable damage, Guinea has launched a national plan of action for climate change adaptation (PANA-CC), which sets out priorities, among them measures for protecting coastal areas. It outlines vigorous action for saving the mangroves and reforesting the region, planting teak and cashew trees. Faced with rising water levels, communities are being advised in Guinea to build sea walls and plant trees along the coast in order to protect the rice fields that have taken the place of the mangroves.
Other recommendations include enforcing laws on coastal settlements and tackling pollution. For these adaptation measures to work, it is crucial that local people be provided with environmental education and prepared for possible catastrophes in the future. Efforts such as those in Guinea need to be supported and diffused into other countries in the region as quickly as is possibly.
As measures such as those in Guinea and elsewhere get developed, it becomes urgent to educate people including government officials on what mitigation is, and how it differs from adaptation. Local policy makers, planners and administrators need to recognize that information is indispensable to the adaptation process. This is apparent with due cognizance of the fact that in most parts of Africa, the essential information mechanisms and infrastructural facilities are not yet sufficiently developed to foster the generation, storage, preservation, retrieval, dissemination and utilization of information.
However, effective communication is seen as an essential tool for the establishment and maintenance of good social and working relationships and it enables people to exercise control over their environment. The purpose of communication is to bring about change of attitude, knowledge, skills and aspiration of the receivers. In Nigeria, various communication media are commonly used to transmit all sorts of information to people. Some of these include magazines, leaflets, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, radio, internet, telephone (GSM) and television, among others.
Among these lot, radio rates higher and is often the most preferred tool of mass communication in Nigeria. Radio programs are usually timely and capable of extending messages to the audience no matter where they may be as long as they have a receiver with adequate supply of power. The absence of such facilities as road, light and water are no hindrance to radio. Similarly, such obstacles as difficult topography, distance, time and socio-political exigencies do not hinder the performance of radio. Illiteracy is no barrier to radio messages since such messages can be passed in the audience own language.
Pre-Paid Metering is Anti-Poor!
By
Joachim Ezeji (Email: santajayinc@yahoo.com)
Today in Nigeria, all the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have each set up a State Water Supply Agency (SWA) charged with the responsibility of providing potable water supply to the urban and in some cases their semi urban communities.
From Lagos to Calabar; Kano to Port Harcourt; and Owerri to Birnin Kebbi sad tales of high operational costs, poor revenue, epileptic power supply, inadequate funding, ill-motivated personnel, aging plants and machineries have remained the undoing of many of the 36 state water utilities in Nigeria.
The result is that many Nigerians lack sustainable access to clean drinking water, and those for productive activities. The tragedy in all these is such that if sustainable water supply is a ladder in economic development with higher rungs representing steps up the path to economic well being, there are roughly 80% of households, three-quarter of Nigerians, who live lacking support to get a foot on the first rung of the development ladder.
A typical case is the Lagos State Water Corporation. Here, the water distribution network can only reach one in every three of the 15 million inhabitants of the city. Yet, they projected population growth of 4% per annum of the city means that the city’s water demand, will double by the year 2020. The cost of meeting current and projected demand has been put at around $2.5 billion over the next 20 years.
A World Bank 2003 report stressed how the abysmal performance of public utilities has come to symbolize the poorest aspects of governance in Nigeria. Using Lagos as a reference the report revealed that being neglected and close to collapse, the publicly run Lagos State Water Corporation holds the dubious distinction of having the highest recorded level of unaccounted-for-water in the world. Only 4 percent of its water production capacity goes towards the creation of revenue.
Unaccounted-for-water is the most common measure of the efficiency of a water company. The World Bank defines it as “the difference between the quantity of water supplied to a network and the metered water by the customer” It has two components; physical losses due to leakage from pipes; and administrative losses due to illegal connections and under registration of water meters.
No doubt water tariffs must be set and where necessary raised to meet the costs of water supply, which continue to increase due to more advanced treatment, greater distance to be traveled, lower groundwater tables, and more costly distribution in densely populated areas.
However water metering can be detrimental if water prices are set too high. An unaffordable rate structure can threaten the health and welfare of economically disadvantaged populations if they cannot afford to pay for a necessary amount of water.
One way to try to avoid this problem is to calculate an average monthly consumption rate needed to cover key human needs and then charge a basic rate for this amount and a higher price for any consumption above that amount. Can Pre-paid metering guarantee this?
It must however be noted that the objectives guiding tariffs are anchored on the goal to protect consumers while achieving and maintaining the financial viability of utilities. Pre-Paid metering does the later and ignores the former!
These objectives often include; (i) serving the urban poor; (ii) using lifeline rate for the urban poor; encouraging demand management; developing schemes that ensure self-sufficient operation and maintenance etc. Again Pre-paid metering is not in tandem (i) and (ii) above!
For any water utility to maintain or restore a lead to consumers on water efficiency, it must get on top of its leakage problems. Leakage by water companies in England and Wales fell by around 20 million liters a day (ml/d) in 2005/06 because of strict regulation by the Office for Water (OFWAT).
The overall leakage in England and Wales was close to 3,600ml/d in 2006 compared to nearly 5,000 ml/d just a decade earlier. OFWAT took action that required a utility like Thames Water to make a substantial reduction in leakage, and the company entered into a legally binding agreement with the regulator (OFWAT), committing it to spend GPB150million of its own money to step up the program of water mains replacement. It also risks being fined if it does not meet its future leakage targets.
But here, who regulates Nigeria’s urban water utilities? There must be an independent regulator before these utilities would demand Pre-paid water metering, as if this is the only vital fulcrum in their performance improvement plans.
It is germane to underscore therefore, that at the state level, a model water supply services regulatory law has been prepared in association with the World-Bank supported Water Investment Mobilization and Applications Guidelines (WIMAG).
WIMAG provides a basis for water supply reform legislation including the establishment of State Water Regulatory Commission and licensing procedures for all water service providers. It provides an equitable approach to water pricing in Nigeria.
In tandem with the National Water and Sanitation Policy (2000) and the National Water Resources Bill (2007), WIMAG and the model State Water Supply Services Regulatory Law (WSSRL) insists that each state of the federation with a State Water Agency (SWA) must establish a regulatory commission that is empowered to issue licenses for the provision of water supply services by both government and private sector entities; define minimum service requirement; set tariffs; define rights and obligations of the water service providers; and define performance standards.
Further to the foregoing, States are to ensure that water service providers are autonomous bodies subject to regulation by the state regulatory commission; and that the regulatory commission is not subject to the direction or control of the state governor or any other person in respect of any determination, report or inquiry; and that the sector is structured to prevent misuse of monopoly power.
Above all, WIMAG demands that Nigerian States should incorporate principles of good governance into the structure and operational procedures of state water agencies, particularly; equity, accountability, efficiency, transparency and public participation. States are also required to establish appeals mechanisms for decisions taken by water service providers under their jurisdiction.
Till these things are rightly done it would amount to sheer mischief for State Governments and their SWAs to adopt such an extreme measure as Pre-paid metering of drinking water. In this context is the fact that beyond everything else, water is a “social service”, because it is a life and death issue for all living things especially humans.
Nigerian SWAs need not be reminded that there are many ways to set and collect water tariff beyond using pre-paid meters. What is simply required is to achieve such is team discipline and corporate focus. These attributes are on reign in parts of Europe and North America where many homes as at today are not even metered, talk less of being pre-paid.
In South Africa the introduction of Pre-paid meters is already causing serious problem despite the provision for FREE basic water (200 liters per household per day) as a lifeline support for the poor!
Commoditizing drinking water by selling it as a recharge card anywhere in Nigeria will further expand poverty, boost misery and upscale ill health.
We should not allow this to happen!
Joachim Ezeji (Email: santajayinc@yahoo.com)
Today in Nigeria, all the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have each set up a State Water Supply Agency (SWA) charged with the responsibility of providing potable water supply to the urban and in some cases their semi urban communities.
From Lagos to Calabar; Kano to Port Harcourt; and Owerri to Birnin Kebbi sad tales of high operational costs, poor revenue, epileptic power supply, inadequate funding, ill-motivated personnel, aging plants and machineries have remained the undoing of many of the 36 state water utilities in Nigeria.
The result is that many Nigerians lack sustainable access to clean drinking water, and those for productive activities. The tragedy in all these is such that if sustainable water supply is a ladder in economic development with higher rungs representing steps up the path to economic well being, there are roughly 80% of households, three-quarter of Nigerians, who live lacking support to get a foot on the first rung of the development ladder.
A typical case is the Lagos State Water Corporation. Here, the water distribution network can only reach one in every three of the 15 million inhabitants of the city. Yet, they projected population growth of 4% per annum of the city means that the city’s water demand, will double by the year 2020. The cost of meeting current and projected demand has been put at around $2.5 billion over the next 20 years.
A World Bank 2003 report stressed how the abysmal performance of public utilities has come to symbolize the poorest aspects of governance in Nigeria. Using Lagos as a reference the report revealed that being neglected and close to collapse, the publicly run Lagos State Water Corporation holds the dubious distinction of having the highest recorded level of unaccounted-for-water in the world. Only 4 percent of its water production capacity goes towards the creation of revenue.
Unaccounted-for-water is the most common measure of the efficiency of a water company. The World Bank defines it as “the difference between the quantity of water supplied to a network and the metered water by the customer” It has two components; physical losses due to leakage from pipes; and administrative losses due to illegal connections and under registration of water meters.
No doubt water tariffs must be set and where necessary raised to meet the costs of water supply, which continue to increase due to more advanced treatment, greater distance to be traveled, lower groundwater tables, and more costly distribution in densely populated areas.
However water metering can be detrimental if water prices are set too high. An unaffordable rate structure can threaten the health and welfare of economically disadvantaged populations if they cannot afford to pay for a necessary amount of water.
One way to try to avoid this problem is to calculate an average monthly consumption rate needed to cover key human needs and then charge a basic rate for this amount and a higher price for any consumption above that amount. Can Pre-paid metering guarantee this?
It must however be noted that the objectives guiding tariffs are anchored on the goal to protect consumers while achieving and maintaining the financial viability of utilities. Pre-Paid metering does the later and ignores the former!
These objectives often include; (i) serving the urban poor; (ii) using lifeline rate for the urban poor; encouraging demand management; developing schemes that ensure self-sufficient operation and maintenance etc. Again Pre-paid metering is not in tandem (i) and (ii) above!
For any water utility to maintain or restore a lead to consumers on water efficiency, it must get on top of its leakage problems. Leakage by water companies in England and Wales fell by around 20 million liters a day (ml/d) in 2005/06 because of strict regulation by the Office for Water (OFWAT).
The overall leakage in England and Wales was close to 3,600ml/d in 2006 compared to nearly 5,000 ml/d just a decade earlier. OFWAT took action that required a utility like Thames Water to make a substantial reduction in leakage, and the company entered into a legally binding agreement with the regulator (OFWAT), committing it to spend GPB150million of its own money to step up the program of water mains replacement. It also risks being fined if it does not meet its future leakage targets.
But here, who regulates Nigeria’s urban water utilities? There must be an independent regulator before these utilities would demand Pre-paid water metering, as if this is the only vital fulcrum in their performance improvement plans.
It is germane to underscore therefore, that at the state level, a model water supply services regulatory law has been prepared in association with the World-Bank supported Water Investment Mobilization and Applications Guidelines (WIMAG).
WIMAG provides a basis for water supply reform legislation including the establishment of State Water Regulatory Commission and licensing procedures for all water service providers. It provides an equitable approach to water pricing in Nigeria.
In tandem with the National Water and Sanitation Policy (2000) and the National Water Resources Bill (2007), WIMAG and the model State Water Supply Services Regulatory Law (WSSRL) insists that each state of the federation with a State Water Agency (SWA) must establish a regulatory commission that is empowered to issue licenses for the provision of water supply services by both government and private sector entities; define minimum service requirement; set tariffs; define rights and obligations of the water service providers; and define performance standards.
Further to the foregoing, States are to ensure that water service providers are autonomous bodies subject to regulation by the state regulatory commission; and that the regulatory commission is not subject to the direction or control of the state governor or any other person in respect of any determination, report or inquiry; and that the sector is structured to prevent misuse of monopoly power.
Above all, WIMAG demands that Nigerian States should incorporate principles of good governance into the structure and operational procedures of state water agencies, particularly; equity, accountability, efficiency, transparency and public participation. States are also required to establish appeals mechanisms for decisions taken by water service providers under their jurisdiction.
Till these things are rightly done it would amount to sheer mischief for State Governments and their SWAs to adopt such an extreme measure as Pre-paid metering of drinking water. In this context is the fact that beyond everything else, water is a “social service”, because it is a life and death issue for all living things especially humans.
Nigerian SWAs need not be reminded that there are many ways to set and collect water tariff beyond using pre-paid meters. What is simply required is to achieve such is team discipline and corporate focus. These attributes are on reign in parts of Europe and North America where many homes as at today are not even metered, talk less of being pre-paid.
In South Africa the introduction of Pre-paid meters is already causing serious problem despite the provision for FREE basic water (200 liters per household per day) as a lifeline support for the poor!
Commoditizing drinking water by selling it as a recharge card anywhere in Nigeria will further expand poverty, boost misery and upscale ill health.
We should not allow this to happen!
David-West’s lamentations for Nigerian varsities (1)
On June 19, 2011 · In Sunday Perspectives ..
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%E2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-1/
Tam David-West is well-known nation-wide. Apart from being a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and later Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, he is a retired Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan. Now, although I do not agree with him on several issues, including his uncritical, almost worshipful, admiration of former military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his latest comments on the state of Nigerian universities are right on target.
As an experienced academic who rose to the pinnacle of the profession, Nigerians should take his frank dissection of the decay in our so-called Ivory Towers very seriously. In a recent interview in one of the national dailies, David-West, in his characteristic boldness, took a critical look at the situation in the topmost level of our educational pyramid and concluded that things have seriously fallen apart.
The former minister began his jeremiad by reminiscing about his days as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan in the 1950s. According to him, the population of students was low whereas the quality of lecturers then was high. Students were properly fed and taken care of in the halls of residence.
Apart from lectures, they were taught the rudiments of gentlemanly culture, that is, the culture of the elite Western bourgeoisie. David-West recalled that when he was in school a monthly banquet dinner was organised “in which highly-placed guests were invited from outside the university to “wine and dine” with students.
At that time, which he referred to as the “bloom years”, students didn’t just pass through the university alone, the university passed through them as well. Thereafter, from the mid-1980s, the system started collapsing. The standard is so bad now that even lecturers lack the refinement expected of the cognoscente.
David-West cited the cases of a lecturer who picked a piece of meat from the floor, washed and ate it; of female lecturers who park recklessly across the street, only to apologise when confronted; and, of postgraduate students who write English very poorly. He argued, correctly, that blame for the rot in the university system is not only for the politicians that have failed to fund these institutions properly for years.
In his words “the degeneracy is too much. I feel like crying for the universities. The standard is too bad.” According to Niyi Osundare, another retired Professor from Ibadan, there are politicians in academic gowns. Of course, increasing decline of academic excellence has jeopardised standards in all our universities. The problem is compounded by the plunge in moral rectitude. Instances of moral turpitude by lecturers, especially those at the professorial cadre, rankle the mind.
Some professors, David-West avers, share research grants meant for their departments; others manipulate the system to get their spouses appointed professors. There was a case of a deceased Deputy Vice-Chancellor whose son stole a book from the bookshop; the matter was hushed because his father was a VIP in the system.
Subsequently, the criminal was awarded a degree, with the cliché on the certificate which reads: “having satisfied the university in learning and character.” There are professors who forge the signatures of their heads of department and other principal officers of the universities, and collude to award degrees, even doctorates, on the basis of poorly-executed research programmes. In the mad rush to produce doctorate holders, or get certain unqualified lecturers promoted on irrelevant grounds different from laid down rules, senior academics shamelessly compromise the system.
Instances are known of professors on sick beds who are asked to evaluate the papers of professorial candidates just to “quicken the process and save time.” The current regulation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) making it mandatory that every university lecturer must have a doctorate was soundly criticised by David-West. I am also one of the few lecturers at the University of Lagos who consider NUC’s decision disingenuous because, as the saying goes, “the hood does not make the monk.”
Mere possession of a half-baked (or even unbaked) Ph.D. is academic corruption of the highest order, since it creates the false impression that its possessor has done original work on a subject-matter which has contributed to knowledge in that field. I know of someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature whose internal assessor complained that the work was redolent with mistakes in the use of tense and in other basic elements of English grammar and usage. David-West hits the nail on its head by claiming that “Some PhDs are rubbish.
”I’ve got lecturers that are Masters or BA or B.Sc. that are fantastic.” As a consequence of irrational obsession with Ph.D. by NUC (a body headed by professors), unnecessary pressures and lobbying from both the candidates and senior academics on supervisors and assessors has already increased, with some low-grade universities metamorphosing into rolling mills or factories for cloning Ph.Ds. Many professors usually send the Ph.D. theses of their favourite, not-really-brilliant, candidates to their aburos, sometimes with the tendentious suggestion that the latter should “take it easy with the candidates.”
Someone told me of an incident where, in less than two weeks a busy professor had finished reading a thesis of over 300 pages sent to him by a friend in another university – of course, the verdict on the work was highly favourable. Overemphasis on journal publications for promotion is killing not only the motivation for excellent teaching and for writing good books but, more importantly, has encouraged unscrupulous lecturers who are desperate to become professors to steal or clone the ideas of other colleagues.
Furthermore, in the sea of “cut and paste” writings that are becoming the norm in the system as a result of the wrongheaded ideology of “publish or perish”, great ideas are submerged in the flood, ideas that are rare and precious.
To be concluded.
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%E2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-1/
Tam David-West is well-known nation-wide. Apart from being a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and later Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, he is a retired Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan. Now, although I do not agree with him on several issues, including his uncritical, almost worshipful, admiration of former military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his latest comments on the state of Nigerian universities are right on target.
As an experienced academic who rose to the pinnacle of the profession, Nigerians should take his frank dissection of the decay in our so-called Ivory Towers very seriously. In a recent interview in one of the national dailies, David-West, in his characteristic boldness, took a critical look at the situation in the topmost level of our educational pyramid and concluded that things have seriously fallen apart.
The former minister began his jeremiad by reminiscing about his days as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan in the 1950s. According to him, the population of students was low whereas the quality of lecturers then was high. Students were properly fed and taken care of in the halls of residence.
Apart from lectures, they were taught the rudiments of gentlemanly culture, that is, the culture of the elite Western bourgeoisie. David-West recalled that when he was in school a monthly banquet dinner was organised “in which highly-placed guests were invited from outside the university to “wine and dine” with students.
At that time, which he referred to as the “bloom years”, students didn’t just pass through the university alone, the university passed through them as well. Thereafter, from the mid-1980s, the system started collapsing. The standard is so bad now that even lecturers lack the refinement expected of the cognoscente.
David-West cited the cases of a lecturer who picked a piece of meat from the floor, washed and ate it; of female lecturers who park recklessly across the street, only to apologise when confronted; and, of postgraduate students who write English very poorly. He argued, correctly, that blame for the rot in the university system is not only for the politicians that have failed to fund these institutions properly for years.
In his words “the degeneracy is too much. I feel like crying for the universities. The standard is too bad.” According to Niyi Osundare, another retired Professor from Ibadan, there are politicians in academic gowns. Of course, increasing decline of academic excellence has jeopardised standards in all our universities. The problem is compounded by the plunge in moral rectitude. Instances of moral turpitude by lecturers, especially those at the professorial cadre, rankle the mind.
Some professors, David-West avers, share research grants meant for their departments; others manipulate the system to get their spouses appointed professors. There was a case of a deceased Deputy Vice-Chancellor whose son stole a book from the bookshop; the matter was hushed because his father was a VIP in the system.
Subsequently, the criminal was awarded a degree, with the cliché on the certificate which reads: “having satisfied the university in learning and character.” There are professors who forge the signatures of their heads of department and other principal officers of the universities, and collude to award degrees, even doctorates, on the basis of poorly-executed research programmes. In the mad rush to produce doctorate holders, or get certain unqualified lecturers promoted on irrelevant grounds different from laid down rules, senior academics shamelessly compromise the system.
Instances are known of professors on sick beds who are asked to evaluate the papers of professorial candidates just to “quicken the process and save time.” The current regulation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) making it mandatory that every university lecturer must have a doctorate was soundly criticised by David-West. I am also one of the few lecturers at the University of Lagos who consider NUC’s decision disingenuous because, as the saying goes, “the hood does not make the monk.”
Mere possession of a half-baked (or even unbaked) Ph.D. is academic corruption of the highest order, since it creates the false impression that its possessor has done original work on a subject-matter which has contributed to knowledge in that field. I know of someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature whose internal assessor complained that the work was redolent with mistakes in the use of tense and in other basic elements of English grammar and usage. David-West hits the nail on its head by claiming that “Some PhDs are rubbish.
”I’ve got lecturers that are Masters or BA or B.Sc. that are fantastic.” As a consequence of irrational obsession with Ph.D. by NUC (a body headed by professors), unnecessary pressures and lobbying from both the candidates and senior academics on supervisors and assessors has already increased, with some low-grade universities metamorphosing into rolling mills or factories for cloning Ph.Ds. Many professors usually send the Ph.D. theses of their favourite, not-really-brilliant, candidates to their aburos, sometimes with the tendentious suggestion that the latter should “take it easy with the candidates.”
Someone told me of an incident where, in less than two weeks a busy professor had finished reading a thesis of over 300 pages sent to him by a friend in another university – of course, the verdict on the work was highly favourable. Overemphasis on journal publications for promotion is killing not only the motivation for excellent teaching and for writing good books but, more importantly, has encouraged unscrupulous lecturers who are desperate to become professors to steal or clone the ideas of other colleagues.
Furthermore, in the sea of “cut and paste” writings that are becoming the norm in the system as a result of the wrongheaded ideology of “publish or perish”, great ideas are submerged in the flood, ideas that are rare and precious.
To be concluded.
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