2016 World Tuberculosis Day

CHECKING THE MENACE OF TUBERCULOSIS AS THE WORLD TUBERCULOSIS DAY IS COMMEMORATED TODAY TUESDAY MARCH 24, 2016

      Tuberculosis popularly known as TB is an infectious bacterial disease characterized by the growth of nodules or tubercles in the human respiratory organs, especially the lungs. It is a curable communicable infection that is transmitted by inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of a carrier or an infected person.

      Tuberculosis (TB) mainly affects the lungs, though it can affect any other part of the body, including the glands, bones, and nervous system. Typical symptoms of TB include a persistent cough that last more than three weeks and usually brings up phlegm which may be bloody, loss of weight, high temperature or fever, night sweats, tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite, overstayed swellings, among others.

      TB is generally caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which could be found in food, water or unsafe environment. The type that affects the lungs is the most contagious type, but it usually spreads after prolonged exposure to someone with the illness. Most times, it is transmitted within family members who live in the same house.

      In most healthy people the immune system, which is the body’s natural defence against infections or illnesses, kills the bacteria thereby making the patient free from any form of symptom. Sometimes the immune system cannot kill the bacteria, but manages to prevent it spreading in the body of the carrier; this means the carrier in question would not have any symptoms but the bacteria will remain in his or her body. This mode of infection is known as Latent TB.

       If the immune system fails to kill or contain the infection, it can spread within the lungs or other parts of the body, and symptoms will develop within a few weeks or months. This is known as Active TB. Latent TB could develop into an active TB infection at a later date, particularly if the patient’s immune system becomes weakened. It is estimated that, about one-third of the world’s population is currently infected with latent TB; of these, up to ten percent (10%) is expected to become active at some point.

      It is important to note that someone suffering from HIV/AIDS or any immune-deficiency disease is at a higher risk of contracting tuberculosis, especially when the person is not placed on a proper diet. Thus, a HIV patient is expected to go for TB test from time to time.

      Pulmonary tuberculosis is the type that affects mainly the lungs, while extrapulmonary TB is used to describe the type that occurs outside the lungs. Any of the above types has the tendency of affecting the brain or spinal cord of the carrier.

      Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a vaccine for tuberculosis disease. Many foreign-born persons have been BCG-vaccinated. BCG is used in many countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood TB meningitis and miliary disease. Though, the vaccine is meant only for selected individuals who have met specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert.

      It is noteworthy that, tuberculosis can be cured. In some cases, the carriers would need a course of antibiotics, usually for six months. Several different antibiotics are used; this is because some forms of TB are resistant to certain antibiotics. If one is infected with a drug-resistant form of TB, treatment can last as long as two years or thereabouts.

      Tuberculosis is a contagious air-borne disease. Someone suffering from the infection is not supposed to share household materials like spoon, fake, cup, and what have you, with anyone until he is totally cured. He is also required to always endeavour to cover his mouth with handkerchief whenever he coughs, to avoid spreading the bacteria to his immediate environment or transmitting it to anyone around him.

      Today Thursday March 24, the world over is commemorating the 2016 World Tuberculosis Day. The annual World Tuberculosis Day, which was recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and duly adopted by the United Nations (UN), is one of the eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO.

      The World Tuberculosis Day is aimed at building public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis and efforts to eliminate the disease. According to UN, survey shows that in the year 2012, about 8.6 million people fell ill with TB and 1.3 million of the said carriers died of the disease, mostly in the Third World countries or developing nations such as Nigeria.

      As the global community marks the World Tuberculosis Day, there is an urgent need for every Nigerian, both at home and in the diaspora, to acknowledge that the societal menace of tuberculosis cannot be overemphasized and that, it is indeed a contagious and deadly disease. On this note, we ought to continually ensure that whatever we eat or drink is thoroughly boiled or washed as the case might be and also endeavour to keep our nostrils away from unwanted environmental particles such as dust and what have you.

     Also, we should bear in mind that intake of vaccine, if and when necessary, is a pathway towards embracing a TB-free society. Therefore, government and other health stakeholders should encourage the entire citizenry to ensure that they are vaccinated against TB by ensuring that the BCG vaccine is regularly made available within their reach. Think about it!   

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

Twitter: @mediambassador  

2016 World Water Day

ACKNOWLEDGING THE ROLE OF SAFE WATER IN NATION BUILDING AS THE 2016 WORLD WATER DAY IS COMMEMORATED TODAY, TUESDAY MARCH 22

     

        Water is a clear, colourless and transparent liquid that has no taste or smell, and that is required for the survival of all plant and animal lives. In the same vein, a large amount or area of either natural or manmade water such as lake, pond, pool, river, sea, ocean, and so on, can be referred to as water or waters.

         Like the human body, water which is usually addressed as a ‘Universal liquid’, is made up of a skeleton of water molecules. The said molecules make up the water we make use of. Not unlike any other chemical compound in existence, a water molecule comprises one molecule of Hydrogen and one molecule of Oxygen. Thus, water as a substance is made up of two major elements; namely, hydrogen and oxygen.

        Water, which is as old as the world, is consumed as food by both animals and human beings, and it is also required in various fields of endeavour or human activities including, farming, cooking, manufacturing, sports, bath, hand washing, brushing of teeth, laundry, sanitation cum other forms of domestic and environmental activities, just to mention but a few.

         The functions of water in the body ranging from cell life, to chemical and metabolic reactions, transport of nutrients, body temperature regulation, elimination of waste or toxic substances, among others, are numerous and innumerable. Water is a carrier that distributes essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins and glucose, to cells. Furthermore, it removes waste products including toxins rejected by the cells through urines, sweats and faeces. It also participates in the biochemical breakdown of whatever we consume.

          Inter alia, water has a large heat capacity which helps to limit changes in body temperature in a warm or a cold environment. It allows the body to release heat when ambient temperature is higher than body temperature. Most importantly, water is an effective lubricant around joints; it also acts as a shock absorber for eyes, brain, spinal cord, and even for the foetus through amniotic fluid.

        Water is indeed at the centre of life. This is why nobody can live more than three to five days without any water intake. Suffice to say that, its role in the body is not just important, but inevitable. It has succeeded in proving to mankind that it is the most important form of food among the six classes of food in existence.

          Considering the agricultural sector; the absence of water would simply cripple the entire activity in the aforementioned area thereby terminating the lives of crops or livestocks, as the case may be. Same is obtainable in the manufacturing industry, like the pharmaceutical firms, bakery and breweries, that requires water as one of the basic raw-materials for its day-to-day activities.

           The positive impact of water on cooking and other household cum industrial works, is another factor that cannot be taken for granted whenever the societal importance of water is discussed. It is noteworthy that without water, most other forms of food or diet would not be prepared or provided. On the other hand; swimming, which is one of the most lucrative kinds of sporting activities in recent times, wouldn’t have been founded if water is not obtainable.

           Of course, the overall importance of water in man’s daily thrive, was what prompted one of the popular songs entitled ‘Water no get enemy’ sang by the late legendary Nigerian musician, Fela Anikulapokuti. In reference to the said song, the late Afro-beat artiste extensively told his fans that water is required in virtually everything we do on earth.

          As it is widely noted that the significance of water to mankind cannot be overemphasized, it is also worthy to note that intake of dirty or impure water remains one of the primary causes of several diseases or infections such as, typhoid, diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, staphylococcus and other sexually transmitted diseases, experienced across the globe.

          Without mincing words, statistics show that over sixty percent (60%) of death rate recently is attributed to consumption of unclean water as well as residing in an unsafe environment. We shouldn’t forget that accommodating dirty stagnant water such as gutter, pool et cetera, in our environments or vicinities attracts mosquito which remains the sole cause of a killer disease known as malaria. According to the United Nations (UN) findings; 768 million people worldwide lack access to improved water sources while 2.5 billion persons have no improved sanitation.

          Today Tuesday March 22, the world over is marking the 2016 World Water Day. The international World Water Day is held annually across the globe on the 22^nd of March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, the World Water Day is targeted to highlight a specific aspect of freshwater.

          The international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended on December 22, 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Riode Janeiro, Brazil. The UN General Assembly adopted the recommendation, therefore designated 22^nd March 1993 as the first celebration of World Water Day.

          As the global community commemorates the World Water Day, I call on all stakeholders and the civil society to pledge to develop the policies needed to ensure that sustainable water and energy are secured for the many and not just the few as it is presently the case. In this regard, we should ensure that our respective communities are provided with adequate and safe water sources.

        On their part; the various ministries of Water Resources and their Environment counterparts, ought to ensure that adequate boreholes are sunk in every community that is related to them and also endeavour to sponsor series of radio/television jingles to sensitize the populace on the unavoidable role of clean water as well as safe environment.

         The federal and states Water Corporations are also expected to monitor this proposed measure. More so, they should from time-to-time conscientize the public on the need to regularly sanitize their gutters and other damps surrounding their places of residence. 

        Among all, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) ought to, from time to time, endeavour to checkmate the activities of the various registered water companies. Also, it should not hesitate to sanction or closedown any one that is set up illicitly or without its consent.

        Also, on our individual capacities, we ought to endeavour to properly boil any water we intend to drink, and also adequately sanitize any stagnant pool of water within our surroundings as well as fumigate the said environments when necessary, in order to guarantee purity and thorough sanitary thereby boasting the safety and well-being of our bodies.

        Thus, we are expected to continually note that the basic measure, which is costless and reliable, required to ensure that pure or safe water is found on our tables or surroundings at all times lies in our hands. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

Twitter: @mediambassador  

  

              

                                 

2016 World Poetry Day

PROMOTING THE UNIQUE ROLE OF POETRY IN LITERATURE AS THE 2016 WORLD POETRY DAY IS MARKED TODAY, MONDAY MARCH 21

        

        Poetry – a genre of literature, which is a collection of series of poems, can be defined as a literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.

        Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre, to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

         Poetry has a long history or lineage, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics. Ancient attempts to define Poetry focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated mainly on features not unlike repetition, verse form and rhyme, as well as emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively informative, prosaic forms of writing.

          From the middle of twentieth (20^th) century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act that employs language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses.

          In poetic presentation, devices including assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony or sarcasm, and other stylistic elements of poetic diction invariably leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, figures of speech to include metaphor, simile and metonym create a resonance between otherwise disparate images – a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived.

         Some poetry types are not unconnected to particular cultures and genres, and respond to features of the language in which the poet writes. Most modern poetry reflect a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing among other things, the principle of euphony, sometimes altogether forgoing rhyme or set rhythm. Perhaps, in today’s increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages.

         Because of its nature of emphasizing linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another. A possible example of this is the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary.

        In most poetry, it is the connotations and the weight of words that are majorly important. Such attribute can be difficult to interpret thereby causing different readers to hear or understand a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are logical interpretations, the truth of the matter is that, there can never be a definitive or specific interpretation attached to a particular poem.

        So far, by painstakingly considering the use of poetry in various artistic areas or fictional works such as folk tales, advertisement, music, short stories, children’s literature, drama or play, prose, and what have you, anyone can easily assert that its significance in both human and societal development cannot be overemphasized. Poetry has indeed created an enormous positive impact on literature, and has contributed immensely in the promotion of languages, cultures and education in general.

        No doubt, poetry has succeeded in awakening man’s quest for learning or discovery as well as his interest to educate, entertain or inform his immediate society through the use of any language within his reach. Apparently, the use of sarcasm or irony in poetic presentations is one of the yardsticks that signify how far poetry can go while conveying messages irrespective of its content.

        Today Monday March 21, the world over is commemorating the 2016 World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21^st of March as an annual World Poetry Day was adopted during the 30^th session of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference, held in Paris, France in the year 1999.

         One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expressions, and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their respective communities. In celebrating World Poetry Day, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.

         As the global community marks the World Poetry Day, I enjoin every individual across the globe, especially Nigerians, to endeavour to promote the unique role of poetry in literature by understanding the fact that poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, anywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. Thus, we ought to comprehend that poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition; and over centuries, can communicate or convey the innermost values of diverse cultures. Above all, we should always note that poetry is the only genre of literature that saves time, space as well as energy, and can be written or expressed in any language as it pleases the writer.

          On this background, I urge every concerned sector and stakeholder such as the parents, guardians, counsellors, teachers and various citadels of learning, to vigorously contribute their respective quotas towards ensuring that the unique art of poetry will no longer be considered as an outdated form of literature, but one which enables any society to regain and assert its real identity. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

Twitter: @mediambassador  

The Sorry State of Nigeria's Education Industry

THE SORRY STATE OF NIGERIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM

     The other day, a respected Nigerian reacted on his twitter handle, saying that foreign education was never the bane of Nigeria’s foreign reserve or her economy in its entirety. He went further to state that our forefathers including Dr Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo invested in foreign education, thus the practice shouldn’t be seen as an economic menace; rather, ought to be celebrated. According to him, Nigerians and Nigeria need to continually invest in foreign education with a view to bringing enhancement in the country’s educational system and its economy at large; in other words, Nigeria needs foreign education if she must grow. I strongly sensed lack of patriotism in his words; needless to say that the unpatriotic nature of most Nigerians particularly the so called stakeholders, remains the bane of Nigeria’s education industry.  

     The last time I painstakingly checked, without mincing words, the survival of any nation as a people depended solely on the health status of its educational sector. In line with this singular fact, the inevitable role of education in the development of any society has been vastly documented in series of global academic journals.

      Presently, unequivocally Nigeria which is widely regarded as the giant of Africa is still uncertain where she is headed regarding her educational system. Suffice to say that, her destination is yet to be known by the concerned citizenry. It is against this backdrop that the minds of many of our young ones are preoccupied with the intention of leaving the country for elsewhere for their academic pursuits.

      It is no longer news that most educational programmes initiated by the Nigerian government, have ended up serving as mere siphons to transfer money to the bank accounts of the corrupt political officers and their allies. To start with; since the commencement of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976, the programme has failed to perform effectively as anticipated as a result of lack of funds necessitated by corruption, among other related factors.

      Furthermore, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) initiative launched by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in Sokoto State precisely on 30^th September 1999, which was intended to be universal, free and compulsory, has in the long run seemed incapacitated due to the ongoing troubling revelation of shortage of teachers as well as employment of half-baked tutors in our various schools, which is also attributed to the aforementioned socio-political cankerworm known as corruption. These and lot more similar programmes taking place in the Nigeria’s educational sector have been hampered by corruption thereby crippling the nation’s socio-economic system.

      It is obvious that most of our school structures are in dilapidating states, which shows that Nigeria has a weird value system. Indeed, Nigeria is a society where priorities are considered to be less-important. For example, the monthly wages of the less/non - educated local government councillors are far greater than that of university professors. Of course, something is apparently wrong with any society that doesn’t take its educational system seriously.

      As the disgusting culture of corruption persists, the public tertiary institutions have been left to rot away. Some of the loans received from the World Bank and other related institutions towards the revitalization of the nation’s education industry, were rather used to purchase inconsequential equipment that could not be properly installed or sustained, and several institutions received irrelevant books and journals in this regard, thereby making our various universities that are meant to be research-oriented centres seem not unlike hockey pitches. Due to this anomaly, each year the nation’s tertiary institutions send-forth hundreds of thousands of half-baked graduates in different fields of endeavour to the nation’s labour market.

      Sincerely, to restore the Nigeria’s economic sector, there is an urgent need to revitalize her education industry, and this measure can only be actualized by revisiting all the factors that currently affect the industry in question such as lack of infrastructure, teaching facilities, social amenities, poor wages and incentives, substandard teaching curriculum, high tuition fees, just to mention but a few.

      First and foremost, we must begin from the grass root. The government ought to as a matter of urgency rehabilitate all the dilapidated technical colleges situated in various locations across the country as well as provide adequate facilities required to run the schools, and sufficient funds to sustain the said structures and equipment. Honestly, the country’s anticipated technological development or enhancement shall remain a mirage if the grassroots are not properly addressed.

      It would interest you to note that most of the technical works presently done in China is being carried out by the school children. Nevertheless, barely few years ago, China was recognized as one of the third-world countries in the world alongside Nigeria and other developing nations. But today, China is among the world’s ruling class as regards science and technology.

      In a similar spirit, there is an urgent need to reintroduce History subject, which has abruptly vanished, in the Nigeria’s school curriculum. And, a law mandating every tertiary institution in Nigeria to offer History as General Studies ought to be enacted by both the National and states legislators. It is pathetic that most of our young ones barely know their past or lineage, and such anomaly is solely as a result of the sudden disappearance of History subject in the nation’s education curriculum. It is worthy for us to note that without knowing our past, we can never comprehend where we are meant to be headed.

       More so, world-class libraries, laboratories, and research centres, should be establish in all the existing primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the federation, which would go a long way to enhance both the reading culture and the practical method of teaching faced by the pupils and students.

       The medical and engineering undergraduates ought to be meant to pass through befitting teaching hospitals and workshops respectively, to enable them acquire the desired skills. Also, well-equipped national engineering workshops are expected to be established at strategic localities in the country, so that, any graduating engineering student would be meant to pass through any of them; and it shall serve as a prerequisite to  the ongoing mandatory National Youth Service programme, just as it is observed by the medical grandaunts.

       In the same spirit, the ongoing Industrial Training and Teaching Practice schemes embarked upon by the students of our Universities/Polytechnics and Colleges of Education respectively, must be taken more seriously by the concerned authorities. The officers assigned to supervise the students or to visit the various firms or schools where they claimed to be, should endeavour to pay regular sudden visits to the said establishments. This measure would help to eradicate any form of insincerity found among the trainees since most of them prefer to dodge the training, thereby enabling the institutions to actualize the primary aim of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES). And the institutions involved must on their part endeavour to encourage the supervisors by providing sound vehicles and other logistics for the national concernment.

      On the other hand, the tuition fees of all the public citadels of learning in Nigeria must be revisited by the appropriate authorities with a view to reducing the fees to their barest minimum, so that, it would be affordable by every parent or guardian. Due to payment of high tuition fees, some of the less-privileged students often indulge in menial jobs to enable them assist their parents/guardians, or to supplement what they receive from the said benefactors. And by so doing, they would pay less attention to their studies thereby indulging in examination malpractices, cultism, armed robbery and other kinds of criminality which ends up affecting their academic statuses negatively; most of them even become dropouts at the long run due to the financial challenge.      

      Most importantly, government ought to endeavour to employ qualified applicants to teach in all the public institutions regardless of their levels, including nursery, primary, secondary, as well as tertiary. Engaging quack teachers in our public schools has cost the nation a very grievous harm and we cannot afford to pay more for the damages. Thus, formidable and trustworthy agency must be set-up in earnest by the government in this regard in order to put to stop nepotism, lack of due process, and all forms of corrupt practices.

     The governing bodies of the various tertiary schools, must on their part, endeavour to fish out lecturers in their respective schools that are accustomed to such any social scandal as, but not limited to, blocking otherwise known as sorting, sexual molestation, sale of handouts, or what have you, that are currently on the rampage. These governing bodies ought to be meant to be answerable to the aforementioned proposed agency regarding discharging their duties effectively and efficiently.

     Above all, conducive or enabling environment should be provided for the teachers at all levels. At the tertiary level, befitting offices ought to be allocated to both the academic and non-academic staff to enable them discharge their duties as required. The teachers, especially the lecturers, should be meant to receive reasonable amount of money regarding their levels/cadre as salaries and they ought to be paid as and when due; and all their entitled incentives are expected to be revisited from time to time. No doubt, this measure would help to eradicate all manners of corrupt practices namely, admission racketeering, examination malpractices, sorting, just to mention a few, taking place in our various schools as well as help to put a full stop to the incessant industrial actions invariably embarked upon by the teachers at all levels.

     The private sector ought to also be mandated to follow suit as regards revitalizing the nation’s education industry. In view of this, any private institution that is unable to live up to the expectation should be shut down indefinitely by the apt regulatory body, such as National Universities Commission (NUC), National Polytechnics Commission (NPC), Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), the state ministries of Education, and so on, as the case might be.

     It’s at this juncture needless to state that Nigeria has suffered tremendously in the area of education; thus it’s high time we crucified any monster behind the lingering mind-boggling ordeal. Think about it!

Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

(TheMediaAmbassador)

-Researcher, Blogger, Public Affairs analyst & Civil Rights activist-

Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research

& Career Development - Owerri

_______________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

+2348028608056

Twitter: @mediambassador