Spain To Vote In Support Of Palestinian Bid For Statehood

Indications are rife that Spain will back the Palestinians’ bid to win recognition as a state at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Jose-Manuel Garcia-Margallo told the national parliament in Madrid on Wednesday, 28th November, 2012 reports Bloomberg.
Delegates are set to vote tomorrow on a resolution circulated Nov. 8 by the Palestinian Authority that would put the Palestine Liberation Organization on par with the Holy See as a non-member state at the UN.
France and Russia have already said they will support the proposal. No country has veto power in the General Assembly, so the U.S., which opposes the initiative, can’t block it.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague will make a statement to Parliament today on whether Britain will support giving the Palestinians statehood. Hague is willing to back the motion if the Palestinians can shift their position in three areas to provide reassurances to Israel and the U.S., an official familiar with the foreign secretary’s thinking said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with U.K. government practice.
(Curled from Bloomberg)

Jonathan Fires BPE DG--Mrs Bolanle Onagoruwa

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa to vacate office.
Accordingly, he ordered her to handover to Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki who is the most senior Director in the Bureau. Dikki is to hold for to the position of DG of the BPE in acting capacity until further notice.
Although reasons for Onogoruwa sack was not given as at the time of handling this report, LEADERSHIP gathered that the change of baton effected with immediate effect yesterday was not unconnected with the shabby handling of the on-going privatisation process in the power sector.
A terse statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Vice President Namadi Sambo, Alhaji Umar Sani to this effect noted: "The Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa has been relieved of her appointment with immediate effect.  She is to hand over to the most Senior Director in the Bureau, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki who is to hold the position in an acting capacity.
"Mr. President extends his sincere appreciation to Mrs. Bolanle Onogoruwa for her services to the nation and wishes her the best in her future endeavours".
The Vice President is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NPC), while Onogoruwa, the erstwhile BPE DG and business man, Atedo Peterside are at the helm of affairs. They had always briefed the press at the end of the council's monthly meeting.

I Pity Mr. President

By Chukwudi OHIRI

Sometimes, I sit in my little closet pondering on the demands of leadership, having been in that position myself at a lower level for decades by dint of sheer providence just like our dear President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. I shrug at myself and at many ‘selfless leaders’ especially when I realize that it is hardly possible to please everybody and yet, a good leader must do what he must do not minding the vituperations that must come from the opposition.

President Jonathan is one of such people I pity most when I discover that any of his actions or inactions elicit reactions that are mostly negative from the critics. Even when they are tempted to give him some accolades, it is usually shrouded in such dialectics that tend to rather credit some external factors instead. An analogy of a homily delivered by Rev. Fr. Francis Ike on one fateful Holy Thursday Mass aptly captures the picture I intend to paint of Mr. President’s dilemma.

On that fateful Holy Thursday evening, the church was filled to the brim as usual for the day’s celebration to mark the beginning of the Easter Tridum. Holy Thursday is a very significant day among Catholics all over the world. Apart from marking the anniversary of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, Holy Thursday is a day set aside to remember the Roman Catholic priesthood and so the homily of that day is usually phased, one tilting towards the functions and character of a typical priest.

                The Parish was Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church Aguda and ministering on that day were about four priests including Rev. Fr. Jude Anyaehie, the Parish priest of the church, his Assistant then, Rev. Fr. Philip Sosu Mobee and two other priests including Rev. Fr. Francis Ike, a visiting, though indigenous priest of the Parish. The homily of Fr. Ike was one of the most touching homilies I had heard to the point that the entire church could not but release a tumultuous applause as he dropped the microphone (a practice that is not ideally customary with Catholicism).

                Of a Catholic priest, Fr. Ike said, if he starts the mass a few minutes after the scheduled time, the parishioners will complain that he does not keep to time. He is too fond of starting the mass late and so he must be a lazy priest. He has neither wife nor children so what excuse does he have to give for starting the mass late? When he starts the mass a little before the scheduled time, they will complain that he lacks sense of keeping appointments. “Is the mass not scheduled for 9:00am, why must he start before 9,” the parishioners will complain. If he starts the mass at exactly the scheduled time, the late comers would still complain that he is too officious and high handed. He should have given a few minutes grace knowing full well about the traffic situation in Lagos.

                When the priest takes much time in his homily, the parishioners would complain that he wastes so much time and talks a lot. Does he think that long sermons will make people to repent? Doesn’t he know of the saying that ‘a word is enough for the wise? But when the homily is very short, they still complain that the priest does not know what to say anymore. He needs to prepare his homilies well in advance so that he can know what to tell the people.

                If the priest is the very social type who mingles with the parishioners very freely and playfully, people would complain that he is a worldly or canal priest who does not respect his position as an oracle of God. When he is the reclusive type, some people will complain that he is too proud and so full of himself. “He must be a pretender that thinks himself holier than thou,” they say.

                If the priest gives any lady a ‘lift’, then he must be a womanizer. Why must it be a woman? If it were a man, he wouldn’t stop. But when the priest refuses to stop for somebody on the way, then they tag him a selfish person who does not want to help anybody.

If the priest is the type that quotes extensively from the bible during his sermons, some will complain that he is turning the Catholic Church into Pentecostal but when he never makes reference to any scriptural passage, some others will still complain that he does not know the word of God. He must be lazy in studying the word. Rev. Fr. Ike gave much more examples that at the end, he called on the people of God to always pray for their priests because the task and challenges of priesthood is quite enormous. The plight of President Jonathan is no different from the above scenario. A few instances of this will suffice to buttress this point even as I do not in any way intend to hold brief for Mr. President nor do I claim in this piece that he is faultless.

On December 13, 2011, President Jonathan presented the draft budget for the 2012 fiscal year to the National Assembly. Before then, tongues were already wagging. Many complained that the budget was getting to the National Assembly rather very late and will apparently affect its early passage. In the heat of the whole argument, President Jonathan pledged to avoid that kind of delay subsequently. This he fulfilled and by September 2012, the 2013 budget was ready for presentation. Again, the House complained that it was rather too early as they needed time to appraise the performance of the 2012 budget first and the yet to be adopted 2013-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy (MTEFF) paper forwarded earlier by the president. The same people that complained of delayed presentation last year now double speaking so to say.

At the beginning of the year 2012, Mr. President rolled up his sleeves in readiness to battle the oil cabals. First, he took the bull by the horns by announcing the total removal of fuel subsidy, an act that required so much courage to embark upon considering the caliber of people involved in the perennial scam. The cabals were systematically taken aback, but this move was grossly criticized. Nigerians in their numbers went to the streets to protest against the policy. Today, reports that emanated from the probe that followed shortly after revealed monumental fraud. Every Nigerian is clamouring now for a showdown with the cabal blaming the president for ineptitude.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) had on August 18, 2011 recommended the compulsory retirement of Hon. Justice Isa Ayo Salami, OFR, over allegations of purported ‘misconduct’. In a matter of days after the recommendation, Justice Salami was fired by the President and hell was let lose. People questioned the president for acting so fast on the matter and till date, tongues are still wagging. Only recently, the National Assembly recommended the sack of the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh. As at press time, this recommendation is yet to be carried out and again, tongues are wagging over the ‘delay’ or outright rejection of the recommendation. They have even gone ahead to threaten the president with impeachment for ignoring the ‘advice’ of the National Assembly.

When in 2010, the President proposed what was described by critics then as a ‘lavish’ independence anniversary celebration, the press was agog with criticism. Many condemned the proposed celebration with pomp and pageantry, though for various reasons. The condemnation was indeed widespread. The critics argued that there was nothing to celebrate at 50. In 2012, the independence anniversary was celebrated just at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa at a very low key. Again, critics went hay wire. They accuse Mr. President of bowing to Boko Haram threat, “an ominous sign of weakness,” they claim.

If there is a situation and Mr. President allows due process to take precedence, then he is a weakling and ‘lily-livered’. People will complain that he is a coward lacking a sense of direction. If he reacts promptly, then he is interfering with due process, irrational and clueless.

At the wake of Boko Haram insurgency for instance, he relaxed and allowed the security chiefs to do their job. Even when there was pressure on him to declare state of emergency in some of the affected states, he kept his cool. This was termed by critics as weakness, incompetence and naivety. At some point, he ordered the Joint Task Force into the streets of Maidugiri to arrest the situation, many critics started accusing him of killing an ant with a sledge hammer. Some northern elders even went as far as accusing him of a calculated attempt to render the town “desolate and the people refugees in their own town.”

Last week during the media chat with Mr. President, the issue of poor handling of the Lagos Ibadan road project by the concessionaires—Ms Bi-Courtney was openly raised and people clamoured for an immediate action against the contractor. Within 48hrs, the president revoked the contract, re-awarding it to Julius Berger and RCC. Rather than applaud the swift action of the president, the debate in the media now is about how right or wrong the action was and how due process was not followed.  

Little wonder why Mr. President once cried out that he was the most criticized president in the world and I quite agree with him. Could it be that he is actually making some progress? This reminds me of an inscription I saw at the office of the Deputy Registrar of Abia State University when I went to collect my degree certificate. It read: ‘If you are not stepping on anyone’s feet, it means you are not making any move’ (can’t remember the exact words). This applies more in leadership. No matter how hard a leader tries, critics will always throw arrows that are very capable of derailing a leader that is not well focused and John C. Maxwell once said: “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit”. Maybe Mr. President must begin to learn this aspect.

The roads that were bad decades before his assumption of office are today blamed on him. The comatose power sector which had gulped billions of dollars long before Goodluck Jonathan came near the corridors of power are today blamed on his ineptitude. The endemic corruption that past leaders purportedly fought and made no head way with are today blamed on only one man, even when those pointing one accusing finger at him have three other fingers pointing at them. When flood submerges communities across the states, the people cry ‘Jonathan!!!’, as if he sent the flood. The decay and rot that have bedeviled this country over 52 years now are now termed ‘the making’ of Mr. President—Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan. Rather concentrate on the import of his speeches, his critics pay greater attention to his grammar, his eloquence or the lack of it and his application of tenses.

These very few instances which are not even the most classic as there are many other more congruent cases are the reasons why I pity Mr. President with all the passion in me while not trying to be defensive of his actions and inactions.

           

NYSC: When Salt Looses Its Taste

NYSC: When Salt Looses Its Taste

By Chukwudi OHIRI

“If salt loses its Taste, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” says the holy book. This brings to the fore, the knotty question about the viability or otherwise of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme as it stands today. Has it lost its saltiness? Does it still serve the purpose for which it was introduced by the initiators of the scheme several years ago? A peep into the historical background of the scheme will suffice in our assessment of the journey so far for the NYSC.

In line with the three point agenda of General Yakubu Gowon in the immediate aftermath of the Nigerian Civil war, the idea of a scheme that will see to the reunification and soothing of the wounds of both the ‘vanquished and the victor’, --the NYSC scheme was hatched by the administration. On May 22, 1973, Decree No.24 which established the NYSC scheme was promulgated "with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity". This was further elaborated upon in 1993 to look beyond the immediate present and to think of the future leadership of the country that necessitated the mobilization of certain categories of our youths through the National Youth Service Corps Scheme. This was done with a view to giving them the proper guidance and orientation relevant to the needs of the country. The National Youth Service Corps Decree No. 24 was repealed and replaced by Decree 51 of 16th June 1993.

Furthermore and most importantly, the purpose of the scheme is primarily to inculcate in Nigerian Youths, the spirit of selfless service to the community, and to emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians, irrespective of cultural or social background. The history of our country since independence has clearly indicated the need for unity amongst all our people, and demonstrated the fact that no cultural or geographical entity can exist in isolation.

All these ideals were succinctly spelt out in Decree 51, of 1993 as follows: to inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves;
to raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement;
to develop in the Nigerian youths the attitudes of mind, acquired through shared experience and suitable training. which will make them more amenable to mobilization in the national interest;
to enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment;
to contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy;
to develop common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration;
to remove prejudices, eliminate ignorance and confirm at first hand the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups; and
to develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the people of Nigeria.

To achieve the objectives above, the Decree recommended as follows: the equitable distribution of members of the service corps and the effective utilisation of their skills in area of national needs;
that as far as possible, youths are assigned to jobs in States other than their States of origin;
that such group of youths assigned to work together is as representative of Nigeria as far as possible; that the Nigerian youths are exposed to the modes of living of the people in different parts of Nigeria;
that the Nigerian youths are encouraged to eschew religious intolerance by accommodating religious differences;
that members of the service corps are encouraged to seek at the end of their one year national service, career employment all over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labour;
and finally, that employers are induced partly through their experience with members of the service corps to employ more readily and on a permanent basis, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin.

Can we look back today and say that these initial lofty dreams by the progenitors of this scheme are still in place? The answer will definitely be in the negative, sustaining the view that the salt (NYSC scheme), may have lost its saltiness or relevance owing to several factors that is not limited to the present security situation alone.

Looking back in the years gone by, the NYSC programme connoted a full year of selfless service and suffering though, due to the policy of dragging youths from their home zone to completely new terrains and cultures with only stipends for sustenance, yet most graduating students looked forward to the programme with glee and pride, not necessarily because it was mandatory and a primary prerequisite for securing any government appointment as a graduate, but because the experience was most rewarding to the individual and the country at large. It never mattered so much where one was posted and corps members were treated with dignity by the host communities and organizations. All these are now in the past. Graduating students now lobby and pay huge chunk of money in order to be posted to their choice areas leading to the overcrowding of certain areas to the detriment of the others. This has also become business for NYSC officials who would feel great loss if the scheme is eventually proscribed.

The reality on ground now is that the seemingly intractable insecurity situation in the country, especially in many parts of northern Nigeria, the uncertainty of even securing a job outside one’s zone after the service year and many other anomalies associated with the NYSC scheme are now threatening the foundations of this laudable scheme. Corps members are now endangered species, prone to greater dangers like violent deaths through bomb blasts, mob attacks or gunmen’s onslaught and gang rape (for the female ones).

During the April 2011 post election violence for example, about 10 corpers were reportedly killed. Many others were killed in one form of violent attack or the other especially across the northern region. Before the election violence, several other corps members employed as ad hoc staff by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met their untimely death in places like Suleja, Niger State, as well as in Jos, Plateau State in the wake ethno-religious crisis in those areas. This spate of insecurity has been a source of worry for every sector of the polity including the House of Representatives who recently directed the authorities of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to cancel posting of corps members to volatile states in the North (including Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Plateau States) which are currently facing security challenges. At first, it was a tall order for the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier Genenral Nnamdi Okore-Affa who insistence that “by our (NYSC) mandate, we must post corps members to all states. However, because some areas have been described as volatile, what we will do is to reduce the number of corps members sent to such states. They will be posted to areas where their security will be guaranteed”. Feelers received by this magazine suggested that the order was later carried out by the DG and it is not yet clear how long this directive will continue to be in force. Confirming this status quo, the NYSC boss in a later statement on the redeployment of corp members posted to the North directed that “Yobe State prospective corps members will now hold their orientation course at the Nasarawa State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Keffi, Keffi LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters. Borno State prospective corps members will undertake their orientation programme at the Benue State NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Wanume, Tarka LGA, and not as stated in their call-up letters”. If this arrangement persists and the insecurity situation remains unabated, how can the expected national integration as well as the anticipated synergy between and among the youths from the diverse cultures of the country be achieved? Will it not amount to naught continuing on the NYSC scheme where graduates will now have to serve in their home States, acquiring nothing new about the country they are out to salvage?  

Writing on one of the national dailies recently, Kunle Rotimi in an opinion page opined that “the gory situation has called for an urgent review in the posting of these promising youths. Henceforth, NYSC should ensure that every corps member is mobilized and posted to their states of origin. One can serve his or her fatherland anywhere. It does not have to be at hostile communities, cannibal abattoirs as they are now, where bodies of ill-fated young men, purportedly serving the nation would have to be parceled back to their toiling parents who have hungered to send them to school”. Many parents have vowed to withdraw their wards from serving at the NYSC if posted to certain parts of the country thereby defeating the sole aim of establishing the NYSC programme. The teething question that has been repeatedly asked at this point is: “should the baby be thrown away with the bathwater”? Investigation by this magazine revealed that most erstwhile corps members who went through this scheme benefited beyond their expectations from it, especially those who served outside their region. Their perception and understanding of people from other tribes usually changed for the better which was what the NYSC scheme was set up for.

Mr. Nath Amadi who served in Sokoto State in 2007 narrated his experience then to Nigerian OrientNews. “The people were nice to me”, he started. “In the morning, a good number of families would be the first to wake me up with their traditional meals which I did not want to taste at first. But when I tasted the ‘tuwo shinkafi’, I never stopped eating it until I left the north. Contrary to the present general notion that Hausas are very hostile people as is believed today, they supplied me with all kinds of farm produce and bush meat and showed me great reverence as though I was a deity. ‘Koffer, koffer,’ they usually shouted when they needed attention. It was real fun and I hope the current security situation would not lead to the eventual collapse of this laudable structure,” he concluded. It is very worrisome to observe that the above story which corps members in the past replicated can no longer be the same. Efforts of the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to make the NYSC members happy through increased wages/allowance have been rubbished by both insecurity problem and non-complementing of the decent wage payment by some state governments.

At the Orientation camp of the latest Batch of the 2012 corps members, rather than emphasize the cardinal aim of the scheme which is National unity and integration among members, the Various State coordinators of the NYSC and State Governors  who addressed the participants harped more on the security concern of the nation proffering the learning of martial arts as a solution.

 Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony of the ‘Batch-B of the 2012 corps members, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State emphasized on the primary objectives of the scheme, which is to promote unity. But his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amnosun, focused more on the security concerns in the country calling for intensified martial arts training for corps members so that they can defend themselves in case of insurgency. The State Coordinator of NYSC, Mrs. Theresa Anosike further corroborated this explaining that the 2,000 corps members comprising of 999 males and 1001 females would be trained in martial arts to equip them with self-defence skills in addition to the normal para-military drills and physical training during the three-week orientation programme. She stressed that the training is meant to “instill discipline in them, toughen their resistance, and imbue in them Spartan-like resilience that will prepare them for whatever challenges they may encounter, during and after their service period.”

On his part, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State charged the 2,426 comprising of 1,355 male and 1,071 female corps members in his state to be security conscious throughout their service year in the state. The governor urged them to be potent instruments in checking the menace of terrorism in the country, adding that this was the only way by which they could save the country from the international embarrassment caused the nation by the terrorists.  “You are all aware of the security challenge which is gradually turning the nation into a terrorist nation before the international community. I charge you to see yourself as instruments to check the menace. Be security conscious at all times," he said.

In Enugu, the issue of safety of corps members also dominated the speech of Governor Sullivan Chime, who tasked the security agencies in the state to provide adequate cover for the corps members wherever they may be posted in the state. This was reinforced by the NYSC Coordinator in the state, Hillary Nasamu, who assured the corps members that the agency had put measures in place to guarantee the safety of over 2,500 corps members posted to the state.

Such is the gory tale of a lofty dream that is gradually heading towards irrelevance or extinction if nothing is urgently done to arrest the situation before hand. Security concerns have taken the place of national unity and integration leading to the vociferous call for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme.

  

  

Deadlier Than HIV/AIDS

BY Chukwudi OHIRI

For more than one thousand years, there was no cure for malaria. It was then seen as very lethal and incurable before 1631 when a Jesuit brother and an apothecarist in Peru—Agostino Salumbrino discovered what was then referred to in the ancient church parlance as ‘a new miracle’. The ‘miraculous’ panacea was quinine. Ever since, malaria seized to be seen as so lethal and incurable anymore. Part of the reason why it took so long to proffer a solution to the menace at that time was lack of knowledge. Today, the level of awareness has tremendously increased and though still a silent killer disease, the scourge is not as severe as it was in colonial and pre-colonial times. And now, another plague came—the HIV/AIDS scourge. At the moment, there is no known cure for this ailment but it can be managed.

The level of awareness for this ailment is so high that there is virtually no one that does not know or have not heard about the virus (HIV) and how deadly it can be once contracted. There are lots of seminars, adverts, public enlightenment programmes as well as materials available to the public concerning this disease. Although these efforts have not led to the discovery of a permanent cure for the virus, the information disseminated has helped in no small way in curbing the spread of the virus significantly unlike when little or nothing was known about it. Yet, more deadly than HIV/AIDS is an ailment that most people know little or nothing about called Hepatitis B.

It has been proven by medical experts that the Hepatitis B virus is even more contagious than the HIV virus. According to research findings by the World Health Organization (WHO), it is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV. This is because the Hepatitis B virus is known to have the capability of surviving even outside the body for at least seven days unlike HIV/AIDS and can equally infect another person with equal magnitude. Again, its transmission mode is just similar to that of HIV/AIDS but can also be contracted through other means order than infected blood and sex. Such other means include saliva, sweat, breast milk, tears, urine of chronic carriers as well as other forms of body secretions unlike the HIV. However, the most common way of contracting this virus is by having unprotected sex with an already infected person. Another way of getting an infection is by taking hard drugs using contaminated or unsterilized needles. Working in a healthcare setting, transfusions, and dialysis, acupuncture, tattooing can also lead to infection. Infected mothers, it has been discovered can also transmit the virus to their babies. The good news in all these is that like the HIV, Hepatitis B viruses cannot be spread by casual contact such as holding hands, sleeping together, sharing plates, spoons or cups, drinking glasses, hugging, coughing, or sneezing.

Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening ailment that affects mostly the liver. Chronic hepatitis B may eventually lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer—a disease with poor response to all but a few current therapies. It is caused by the hepatitis B virus and it is presently a major global health challenge and the most serious type of viral hepatitis. It can cause chronic liver disease and put people at high risk of death from cirrhosis of the liver and the liver cancer. Globally, WHO estimates that about two billion people have been infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), and more than 350 million have chronic (long-term) liver infections. Also, an estimated 620,000 persons are said to die each year due to the acute or chronic consequences of hepatitis B. Most unfortunately, some of these people die without actually diagnosing the real source of their ailment at least to serve as source of awareness for potential carriers.

The diagnosis of hepatitis B can be made only with specific hepatitis B virus blood tests. The tests, called assays, for detection of hepatitis B virus infection involve serum or blood tests that detect either viral antigens (proteins produced by the virus) or antibodies produced by the host. Interpretation of these assays is complex. These tests are known as hepatitis ‘markers’ or ‘serology’. A liver biopsy is a test for liver damage which is also used to check for Hepatitis B.

Medical research revealed that Hepatitis B virus can be either acute or chronic and the general symptoms include acute illness with symptoms that last several weeks, including yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), dark urine, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. People can take several months if not year to recover from the symptoms.

Children, especially infants, are more likely to get chronic hepatitis B, which usually has no symptoms until signs of liver damage appear. Without treatment, chronic hepatitis B can cause scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis; liver cancer; and liver failure. Symptoms of cirrhosis include yellowish eyes and skin, called jaundice; a longer than usual amount of time for bleeding to stop; swollen stomach or ankles; tiredness; nausea; weakness; loss of appetite; weight loss and spiderlike blood vessels, called spider angiomas that develop on the skin.

It is not enough to talk about an ailment as deadly as this without discussing its cure or treatment. Unfortunately, Hepatitis B usually is not treated unless it becomes chronic. Mrs. Chukwurah Nkanu, the medical Director of Balm of Gilead Hospital, Abakaliki Ebonyi State lamented that “at the moment, there are no known effective treatment for Hepatitis B. However, it can be prevented or at least managed”. “In the worst case scenario” she said, “a liver transplant can be carried out where the liver is badly non-functional”. Chronic hepatitis B is treated with drugs that slow or stop the virus from damaging the liver. Proper nutritional balance, including replacement of fluids that are lost from vomiting and diarrhea can be adopted until the virus clears off by itself in case of acute Hepatitis B. Experts advise that it is best to prevent hepatitis B using vaccines and precautionary measures than thinking of treatment. Where treatment is applicable, cost of such drugs is usually beyond the reach of ordinary individuals and the treatment may take varied length of time, depending on extent of damage. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent liver damage.

Several vaccines have been developed for the prevention of hepatitis B virus infection. These rely on the use of one of the viral envelope proteins (hepatitis B surface antigen or HBsAg). The vaccine was originally prepared from plasma obtained from people who had long-standing hepatitis B virus infection. However, currently, it is made using a synthetic recombinant DNA technology that does not contain blood products. One cannot be infected with hepatitis B from this vaccine.

 The risk of transmission from mother to newborn can be reduced from 20–90% to 5–10% by administering to the newborn hepatitis B vaccine (HBV 1) and hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) within 12 hours of birth, followed by a second dose of hepatitis B vaccine (HBV 2) at 1–2 months and a third dose at and no earlier than 6 months (24 weeks). Since 2% of infants vaccinated will not develop immunity after the first three dose series, infants born to hepatitis B-positive mothers are tested at 9 months for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and the antibody to the hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs). If post-vaccination test results indicate that the child is still susceptible, a second three dose series at (0, 1 and 6 months) is administered. If the child is still susceptible after the second series, a third series is not recommended.

Following vaccination, hepatitis B surface antigen may be detected in serum for several days; this is known as vaccine antigenaemia. The vaccine is administered in either two-, three-, or four-dose schedules into infants and adults, which provides protection for 85–90% of individuals. Protection has been observed to last 12 years in individuals who show adequate initial response to the primary course of vaccinations, and that immunity is predicted to last at least 25 years. Besides the WHO-recommended joint immunoprophylaxis starting from the newborn, multiple injections of small doses of hepatitis B immune globulin, or oral lamivudine in HBV carrier mothers with a high degree of infectiousness (>10⁶ copies/ml) in late pregnancy (the last three months of pregnancy effectively and safely prevent HBV intrauterine transmission, which provide new insight into prevention of HBV at the earliest stage.

Several people in developing nations are still in the dark about this lethal ailment that kills softly and slowly. What is generally known is the HIV/AIDS and a lot of awareness campaigns are ongoing globally concerning it. But this one ailment that is even more deadly and more easily contracted seem to be ignored in this part of the world today. It is therefore recommended that hospitals, medical experts, NGOs, WHO, the media and other people in good stead of enlightening the public on this subject should do so as a matter of urgency to ameliorate the scourge. On the part of the individual, a regular test and medical checkup may just be the best way of ensuring prevention.

Lessons From The Nigeria/ South Africa Diplomatic Row

Deportation of 125Nigerians from South Africa recently has thrown a serious challenge to the Neo-foreign Policy of the current administration. 

By Chukwudi OHIRI

Nigeria’s neo-foreign Policy under President Goodluck Jonathan which, apart from emphasizing the need for holding national interest paramount in her international relations also has the Principle of Reciprocity as a cardinal feature, came under severe test following the deportation of 125 Nigerians by South African authorities a couple of weeks ago. It will be recalled that in 2001, a similar scenario almost played itself out, but for the timely intervention of the Nigerian Embassy in South Africa. The then Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, was held hostage by the South African Port Health which insisted that Chikwe must be vaccinated and quarantined, but the former Minister resisted that.

Only recently again, South Africa deported 125 Nigerians who landed at the Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport aboard a South African Airways (SAA) and Arik Air flights from Nigeria. According to South African Health authorities, those passengers allegedly carried fraudulent yellow fever cards. In a swift reaction to the perceived unfair treatment, authorities at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Nigeria have since deported over 80 South Africans in batches under the same pretext of possessing invalid travel documents as well as vaccination cards as though to invoke the new principle of Reciprocity as now being canvassed by Nigerian foreign policy makers.

Under this policy, the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru explained: “The way you treat me is the way I will treat you. If you treat my people with dignity, I will treat your people with dignity. If you treat our own people anyhow, we will do the same thing to you”. Furthermore, he said: "When you deport two Nigerians from your country on flimsy excuses, there will be appropriate reaction. It will not be retaliation but you will know that we are reciprocating one way or the other…. South African immigration authorities or officials do not have a monopoly of deporting travelers."

Nigeria's foreign policy, like every other country’s policy is the continuation of its domestic policy. The basic consideration for the foreign policy should be to encapsulate what are considered to be of national interest as a basis for relating with other nations, regions, groups within the international community. On August 20, 1960, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in a speech at the Federal House of Representatives reeled out what later constituted the general principle of our post- independence foreign policy to include, non-alignment and Afro-centrism. At that forum, he said the foreign policy would be founded on Nigeria's interest; the nation will not align with any power block and will remain on friendly terms with every nation which recognizes and respects its sovereignty. The policy at independence was vehemently against colonialism and neo- colonialism. In sum, Abubakar's policy was based on co-operation and morality and was based on the doctrine of universal benevolence. This trend did not differ in any significant way with successive administrations except for Late Gen. Muritala Muhammed who did not live long to fully chart the new course he intended. Analysts are of the consensus view that the foreign policy of the immediate post-independence era served the need of that time. Nigeria’s post independence foreign policy was considered to be more conciliatory and moralistic than realistic and so needed to be reappraised to bring it to terms with current realities.

In calling for a total review and overhaul of the Foreign Policy, President Jonathan noted that there are new realities in international relations. The whole of Africa has been liberated from the vestiges of colonialism. The cold war between the eastern socialist bloc and the western capitalist bloc no longer exists. The world is faced with new realities: the challenge of poverty, civil war, terrorism, environmental degradation, threat of nuclear war and so on. To be relevant, the focus of our foreign policy should stand on two principles viz: The principle of Reciprocity and Economic diplomacy. He opined that no nation assists another without strings attached. With these outlines, a new course in Nigeria’s Foreign Policy was chart and to reaffirm this position, Ambassador Gbenga Ashiru told members of the diplomatic corps serving in Nigeria during his maiden meeting with them some time ago that Nigeria was redefining its foreign policy thrust in line with current realities. "We are redefining our foreign policy to aid infrastructural development, industrialisation, food security and co-prosperity. We are now sensibly looking into how the Organised Private Sector (OPS) will take its pivotal position in this drive. Our missions abroad have been instructed appropriately in this regard and we expect your Excellencies to join hands in partnership with us, to look at opportunities of trade missions, to bring in trade delegations, and to send factual dispatches back home to enhance our relations...", he stated.

The recent diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa provided a major litmus test for, most especially, the new ‘Principle of Reciprocity’. For many observers, Nigeria demonstrated its readiness to protect the interest of its nationals across the globe by not just reciprocating the ill-treatment meted on those Nigerians, but also impressing it upon South Africa that it must apologize unreservedly, pay compensation to victims, discipline the South African port officials that perpetrated the inhuman act as well as review the Yellow Card policy viz-a-viz the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) had certified Nigeria as Yellow-fever-free. This feat is seen as a good political point for Nigeria’s diplomatic image. It is also a positive signal to other countries that have demonstrated xenophobia on Nigerian nationals that it is no longer business as usual.

Before the apologies from South African Government which came almost immediately, many Nigerians, groups and individuals had called on the Federal Government to display astuteness in reciprocating the unfortunate act by South African authorities. Among them was the National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Engr Rotimi Fashakin, who insisted that “it is vitally important that intending South African visitors to Nigeria should henceforth be certified free from the prevalent diseases in South Africa like HIV and Tuberculosis”. Fashakin further demanded that “part of the mutually agreed settlement of this furore” will be the insistence of the Federal government that “South African authority must adequately compensate these traumatized Nigerians that have been so shabbily treated.”

On its part, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) speaking through its leader, Dr Is-haq Akintola, stated that “Nigeria must report South Africa to the African Union and finally to the International Court of Justice; Nigerian citizens must show solidarity to the 125 victims of South African inhumanity by boycotting South African goods and services like MTN and DSTV” if South Africa failed to apologize.

Although South Africa had tendered the demanded apologies without reservations, pundits are of the view that the saga portends “another sign of Nigeria’s fading glory” if a country like South Africa could as much as treat Nigeria in such a shabby manner without recourse to its bilateral affinities dating back to the apartheid era where Nigeria spearheaded the fight against colonialism and racism in South Africa. Again, observers are of the view that on comparative loss or advantage, while Nigeria has more immigrants in South Africa owing to bad governance, unemployment, poor infrastructure and other negative vices, South Africa has far less immigrants in Nigeria. This index is a food for thought for the Nigerian government who must do everything to ensure that North-South-East or West, there's no place like home’. What if South Africa remained adamant and decides to repatriate more and more Nigerians, who comparatively would be at a greater loss?  

The ill treatment of Nigerians by many foreign governments did not start today and is not just peculiar with the South African incident. Right from the 1980s when the Nigerian economy began to take a downward trend, Nigerian nationals began to seek greener pastures elsewhere abroad and then followed the disdainful treatment from the host countries. Before this time and when the Nigerian economy was in respectable state, Nigerians received visas from any country with ease and in those countries (be it Europe, America, Asia and elsewhere), they were often treated with dignity and courtesy. All these are in the past now hence, raising very teething questions as to how everything went wrong. Why have Nigerians become sojourners and consequently, victims of inhuman treatments and deportation from foreign countries when Nigeria used to be the toast and delight of the outside world? These days, from the point of visa procurement at various foreign embassies in Nigeria to the point of entry into the foreign country, Nigerians suffer horrifying humiliation. Even when they finally make it to those countries, they continue to live in fear and self-reproach as they are accorded little or no respect just for being Nigerians.

While applauding the present efforts of the Nigerian government to protect its citizens, the crux of the whole matter is that these measures simply scratch the surface of the main problem. As long as the Nigerian economy remains decadent; as long as access to the very basic things of life: food, water, a roof over the head, work to do, and the security of life and of property continue to elude Nigerians, able-bodied men and women, intellectuals, skilled professionals and otherwise productive labour force will continue to seek greener pastures abroad since there are but a few, (if any) opportunities in the country to accommodate the teeming unemployed and desperate-to survive citizens of this great country. The Federal Government can save itself and the entire nation, the embarrassment by tackling these integral causes of the ailment headlong.

The second fulcrum of President Jonathan’s Neo-Foreign Policy thrust which hinges on ‘Economic Diplomacy’ is quite laudable, but Nigeria needs to move away from mere rhetoric. We need a more proactive, practical, original and creative policy and practice that will put the Nigerian economy back on track as soon as possible. This will further reduce the ever growing urge of average Nigerians to emigrate. Those in the Diaspora would willingly begin to think home. The fact that Nigerians are inhumanly treated abroad; the fact that Nigerian lives can be taken in foreign lands with impunity and no one seems to care; the fact that our diplomats suffer humiliation abroad for lack of adequate resources to run their commissions or embassies; the fact that our international passport can be so easily acquired by any other nationals and so on and so forth are but pointers to the fact that Nigerian as a nations is diminishing in stature and status among comity of nations and so outsiders are courageous enough to spit into our very face without remorse. If one fails to take what rightly belongs to him, nobody would willingly give him what he deserves. Nigeria needs to earn its respect in the International community rather than commandeer it. The indices for earning this respect depend on the aggregate quality of life of its citizens as well as the quality of its leadership. Physical size, population strength or latent potentials do not count in determining how respectable a nation can be if such indicators are not put to good use and if such do not reflect in the total well being of its citizens.

The face-off between Nigeria and South Africa seems to have been doused, but the lessons thereof are yet to be harnessed. It has put to test the, the new foreign policy thrust of Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in achieving sound political, economic and social well being of the country.