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Monday, March 13, 2017

In 21st century: Nor Wanting, Nor Wasting

“When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?" "Twelve," they said. Mark 8:19 NLT
Is poverty a curse that makes men mad?
Here’s a true story, as told me by a second hand witness. Two Nigerians ordered oversized plates of food they didn’t need from an expensive restaurant somewhere in Germany. The waiters thought this was unusual amounts of food but what the heck, if they were this hungry. Surprises awaited them.
Moments later, maybe to impress the white man, the men took just a few nibbles from their plates, shoved the food away and motioned the waiter for their bill.

“You have to finish the food, Sirs,” the bewildered waiter politely told them.
“No, we’re okay, no problem,” they answered, laughing.

“But you have to eat the food, you cannot throw this amount of food away” insisted the restaurateur.
The two men looked each other in the face, muttering, in Warri accent, “Shooooow?”

“Look” they said with rising temper, “the money is ours, not yours! We’re paying you for the food! What’s your problem?”

“We understand, Sirs,” said the restaurateur calmly, “But when you throw this food away, it is a spite on our people and our economy.

“You see, someone grew the tomatoes and vegetables, someone raised the cow and the fish, someone manufactured the oils and the other dozen ingredients, someone transported the ingredients to the grocery, someone cut the veggies, prepared the meal, served them, someone went to school to learn the best cooking there is, someone taught them, interviewed, employed them.

“You see, Sirs … it took the labor of love, knowledge and skills of thousands of our German people to serve you those two plates of food. It’s not about your money, it’s about the thousands of people who made it possible. It is a sin against our economy.”

••• While all this was going, one of the waiters had already called the police. Story short, they were forced to go with the take-away pack of the food they wanted thrown into the dustbin.

Listen, friends! To load up your plate from a buffet, and leave half of it uneaten is not a sign of big-manism. It’s a clinical symptom of poverty. Of mental illness.

••• What does poverty have to do with wastefulness? Everything! Some people are poor mostly because they are wasteful! The poor waste time, waste ideas, waste opportunities, waste talent, waste relationships, waste money!

••• Again, I read a story from my social feed the other day. One post-NYSC girl went to this other girl to beg for N50,000 to start a business. Meanwhile, she had N75,000 made up hair on her head! Of course the wiser one asked her, girl-to-girl, “Sister, your hair is N75k, how come you didn’t use the money to start your business?”

We do the same thing as a country. Senator Ben Bruce narrated how our government used N250,000,000.00 ($500,000) to build a gatehouse for the Vice President’s residence. I have been to the high and low places in America and the UK. There’s no place you’ll see a gatehouse built with $500,000. And yet, we want those countries to give us a loan - to build more gatehouses? Is poverty a curse?

••• That's why Nelson Mandela said, “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice.” We can never cure poverty by giving the poor handouts, and giving graduates N5,000 a month. We must pull down the demonic “Nigerian system” that makes this place “a land that swallows its inhabitants.”

Wastefulness is immoral. God abhors the wasteful. We are stewards of God’s resources. He did not appoint us to waste His resources.

If you are wasteful, you are immoral. God abhors immorality.

Think about it for a moment. According to the United Nations, four people die of hunger every second! Aren’t you immoral when you leave uneaten food on your plate to be thrown away?

••• One in nine Indians, mostly children, will go to bed hungry today. India is 1.3 billion people - do the math. In our own back yard, according to the 2015 World Hunger Report, nearly 13 million Nigerians will go to bed hungry tonight. Today, if you count 10 people on the street, 2 or 3 likely haven’t had breakfast.

So, aren’t you immoral when your kitchen sink is half-filled with wasted breakfast cereals, milk, pap and fried eggs you and your obese children didn’t finish up? What you flush down your drains everyday could literally save dozens of lives from death by starvation.

••• In my house, you can eat as much as you want but don’t leave anything on the plate. My children learnt early that they’d better not throw food away. I recall the day I insisted that one of them eat the food he had thrown away from the dustbin!

••• Walter Chalmers Smith, Scottish minister, (1824-1908), God bless his resting soul, left us with the classic hymn, ‘Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise.’ This hymn always enriches my quiet times and meditations. The hymn is replete with lines that attempt to capture our Unknowable. If you struggle with knowing God, as I do, a regular dosage of this hymn is refreshing.

The second verse begins with:

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting …

••• The God of the Universe does not want. Yet, He does not waste! He owns everything, but He wastes nothing. After He fed the 5,000, He instructed that the leftovers be picked up and accounted for. Not just for camp sanitation. I believe He gave the poor takeaway packs. Wow! He says that not one bird falls from the sky without His notice! Nor wanting, nor wasting!

••• I know a few billionaires and many millionaires, in dollars. I’m not talking about our political thieves; I mean real entrepreneurs. There are quite a few shocking truths about people who have created wealth through sheer entrepreneurial genius, persistence and hard work. One is their spiritual sensitivity. I have consulted for a billionaire who would not leave his house until he has prayed and praised God for at least 4 - 5 hours daily. Yes, daily!

The most shocking truth about these billionaires, perhaps, is their thriftiness. They never want but they don't waste. Like God Himself. They will not give you one cent if you do not convince them about the value you will create from it. Everything must be accounted for. They keep receipts. They weigh their financial decisions meticulously.

••• Are you wasteful? For instance, do you have clothes in your wardrobe that you have not worn in 12 months? I heard a woman talk about clothes she has not worn in 3 - 4 years! I know folks who have so many cars that one hardly would clock 20,000km in 5years!

Or you’re a single guy, just graduated and got a job in the city. What did you rent a 3-bedroom flat for? Three bedrooms? And what are you doing inside a gas-guzzling SUV? Are you certain you can afford it now?

Do you leave the lights in your room on even when no one is there? That NEPA slams their crazy "estimated bill" on you is not an excuse for waste.

Foolish girl! You earn 50k a month but you have an 80k phone and  you just ordered an aso-ebi of N100k! Why won't you deserve poverty?

You keep looking for more money. Is it possible that the Shepherd of Psalm 23 has already provided but your wastefulness blinds you?

Do you know how much cash flow you can free up in your life if you adjusted your lifestyle of wastefulness? No man ever escaped poverty who didn’t learn the wisdom of thrift.

••• Do you ask God for long life? Good. How do you use your 24 daily hours? Can you account for the past 365 days? If you haven’t used 24 hours productively, why should He give you 24 years?


May God open our eyes to see the damage that our wastefulness inflicts on our destinies… and may we have the wisdom and humility to become like God - nor wanting, nor wasting.

*Contributed by Ogbo Awoke Ogbo, a Motivational Speaker,  from Lagos, as part of Incisive Meditation series.
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Friday, March 10, 2017

Opeke canvasses women inspiring support beyond work place

The chief executive officer, Main One, Mrs. Funke Opeke has canvassed for the role of women in technology and business to involve inspiring beyond the workplace, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at the 5th annual Women of Impact Conference (WOI) organized by Cisco in Lagos in commemoration of the International Women’s Day, with the theme, “It’s Time. Collaborate. Lead. Inspire” Opeke wanted the role of women in technology and businesses to involve inspiring not just women within a given organization, but also the men and women outside their professional environment.

“It is great to see companies like Cisco taking the role of women in the work place seriously and they are a few of the strongest advocates for women and what they have to offer in their businesses and this is inspiring” she said.

Cisco, Opeke noted, is very good at leveraging diverse people, views and technology in order to solve the most complex of challenges in the society.

Also speaking, the General Manager, Cisco Nigeria, Mr. Olakunle Oloruntimehin, said that they cherish innovation and promotes diversity.

“We believe that a company can highly hinder its innovation if it does not promote diversity,”  Oloruntimehin said.

The Information Technology (IT) industry, he said, represents huge potential for women, but they must take risks, overcome obstacles, and blaze new trails to be successful. Cisco has always been at the forefront of efforts to hire, nurture, promote and support women, especially in technical fields and leadership roles. Cisco prides itself in its commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Collaboration.

“In fact, Cisco has five very powerful women forming part of the Executive Leadership team. Their contribution has been part of Cisco’s success story,” Mr. Oloruntimehin submitted.

Equally invited to speak was Ms. Temi Giwa-Tubosun Nigerian-American health manager and founder/CEO of Life Bank, a social enterprise using technology and smart logistics to match blood to patients.

She was named in 2014 by the BBC as one of the 100 Women changing the world. Giwa-tubosun said, “I do my work each day thinking about women and what I can do to impact their lives and not a lot of IT and networking organizations in Nigeria celebrate women or even recognize international women’s day, but Cisco has continually shown its commitment to women and the value they provide in the technology industry.”


 Uj. Dominic/GEE
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Hope rises for asthma children: Bug-proof bedcovers reduce flare-ups

Scientists have discovered that bedcovers which form a barrier to house dust mites appear to reduce asthma flare-ups in children, according to new research conducted in Manchester, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The researchers led by Dr Clare Murray, clinical senior lecturer at The University of Manchester and consultant respiratory paediatrician at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said mite allergy is one of the most common asthma triggers, and in partnership with viral infection could greatly increase hospital admission risk.
Dr Murray said, children were enrolled aged 3-17 years who had tested positive for mite allergy, and suffered an asthma flare-up or exacerbation that required being treated in accident and emergency or as a hospital inpatient.
She explained that after encasing their mattresses, duvets and pillows with mite-proof covers or placebo covers, the children were followed for a year, stressing that “Neither the children, the investigators nor their health care professionals knew which set of covers the children received.”
The findings, NaijaAgroNet reports, demonstrated that children sleeping with the mite-proof covers compared to the placebo arm of the trial, just as they were less likely to have a severe asthma exacerbation that resulted in an accident and emergency visit or hospital admission (29.3 percent vs. 41.5 percent).
In addition, the study showed that incidence had a 45 per cent reduced risk of having an asthma exacerbation that resulted in an accident and emergency visit or hospitalisation and the requirement for systemic corticosteroids.
Equally, the result showed a significantly longer time to their first exacerbation that resulted in an accident and emergency visit or hospitalisation and the requirement for systemic corticosteroids.
“Asthma exacerbations are among the most common reasons for hospitalizing children living in the developed world,” said Dr Murray. “It’s a frightening experience for children and their parents, and a single exacerbation can increase the annual cost of treating asthma by three-fold.”
Dr. Murray added that viral infections, especially those causing the common cold, are a major risk factor for asthma exacerbations in children sensitised and exposed to allergens. “Other studies have shown that these two risk factors act synergistically to increase the likelihood of hospital admission by nearly 20-fold,” Dr Murray said. “We have no means of protecting people from cold viruses, but our study indicates that allergen avoidance may be a cost-effective intervention.”
The authors estimated the cost of the bedcovers would be about £130 for a single bed.  “This simple measure may reduce asthmatic exacerbations that lead to accident and emergency visits or hospitalisation, particularly in younger children who are allergic only to dust mites,” Dr Murray said.
The mite-proof covers did not significantly reduce the number of children whose exacerbation was treated outside the hospital with only an oral corticosteroid. The authors said it was not clear why this was the case. “It may be that the bedcovers did not prevent the exacerbation, but did reduce its severity,” Dr Murray explained.
Limitations of the study, which is believed to be the first to study the effect of mite-proof bedcovers and asthma exacerbations, include the fact that the exacerbations and oral corticosteroid use were reported by parents or guardians, not physicians, and the researchers had no information about viruses or other exacerbation triggers.
Although the study was not large enough to conclusively define the subgroups that benefitted the most from the intervention, the authors wrote that their results suggested that younger children testing positive for only house dust mite allergy and living in non-smoking households were more likely to benefit from the mite impermeable bed covers.
The study was funded by The JP Moulton Charitable Foundation. Infrastructure support was provided by the North West Lung Centre Charity.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE 
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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Rural women empowerment, fundamental for achieving 2030 agenda – UN agencies

The trio of United Nations (UN) agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP) have said that rural women empowerment is fundamental for achieving the 2030 agenca, reports NaijaAgroNet.

As said by the leaders of these organisations, the world that women and girls play a crucial role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, the goal of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty become more realistic.

The leaders of these agencies made this joint statement in commemoration of International Women's Day by reinforcing their commitments to step up efforts to invest in the capacities of rural women as key agents of change in building a world without hunger.

"Women play a critical role in agriculture and food systems - not just as farmers, but also as food producers, traders and managers," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on the occasion of the Day. "However, women still face major constraints in rural labour markets and in agricultural value chains. They are more likely to be in poorly paid jobs, without legal or social protection. This limits women's capacity to advance their skills, earn incomes and access employment opportunities." 

Graziano da Silva noted that the future of global food security depends on unleashing women's potential. "Achieving gender equality and empowering women are crucial ingredients in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition which is strongly recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," he said.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze said, "We need to face the fact that we will never overcome poverty and hunger without empowering rural women."

For him, there are ample evidence from around the world that greater empowerment of women in rural and urban areas leads to higher economic growth and a better quality of life for women and men alike. 

“Despite progress, it is still the case today that rural women's double burden of farm labour and unpaid domestic work prevents them from participating fully and fairly in income-generating activities. Improving rural women's access to technologies that save time and labour is essential to reducing their workloads. Transforming gender relations within the family is also crucial to empowering women and enabling them to make decisions about their lives," he said.

WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said, "Empowering women economically is one of the key steps to realizing gender equality and achieving Zero Hunger. The changing world of work - as patterns of economic activity shift - provides the opportunity to achieve these goals.


"Ensuring women have adequate access to land, tools, fertilizers and credit improves their lives and the lives of their families; potentially freeing millions from hunger. We also know that school meals are a powerful incentive to keep girls in class, boosting their chances of completing school and finding employment. Enabling women to seize these opportunities will transform lives and help bring the Sustainable Development Goals within reach," she said.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Humans, wildlife can mutually co-existence - FOA

Experts have said that humans and wildlife can mutually co-existence, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Several wildlife species, NaijaAgroNet gathered may cause significant damage to crops and livestock systems, threatening peoples' food security, safety and well-being, which experts see as in extreme cases, attacks by wildlife species such as elephants and crocodiles can cause human injuries and death.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation latest publication with focus on wildlife, noted that human-wildlife conflicts have become more frequent and severe particularly in Africa, due to increasing competition for land in previously wild and uninhabited areas.

“This is often the result of human population growth, increasing demand for natural resources, and growing pressure for access to land, such as expansion of transport routes, agriculture and industries,” part of the report read.

NaijaAgroNet reports that more specifically, the publication stressed that in central and southern Africa, wildlife and people will continue to share landscapes and resources with conflicts likely to worsen unless actions are taken.  

In this regard, FAO said that the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and other partners developed the first Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) toolbox, which has helped a local community in Gabon's Cristal Mount National Park.

The report further noted that local farmers in this area were particularly frustrated by the fact that animals such as cane rats, roan antelopes, bush pigs and elephants, were destroying their entire crops, and thus threatening their livelihoods. At the same time, laws prohibited these farmers from taking action by hunting the protected animals either for meat or to protect their crops.


However, the solutions offered by the toolkit included fencing the plantations to block animals from reaching the crops, lighting fires or making noises to scare the animals away, and posting guards to keep watch on plantations at night - measures that were relatively easy and inexpensive to implement.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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‘Indigenous peoples key to wildlife protection, rural livelihoods’

The Director, Forestry Policy and Resources Division at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Eva Muller, has said that indigenous people as key to wildlife protection and rural livelihoods, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Muller was quoted in FAO's quarterly forestry publication Unasylva, made available to NaijaAgroNet in commemoration of World Wildlife Day, as saying that actively involving indigenous peoples and local communities in wildlife conservation is key to maintaining biodiversity and ensuring sustainable rural livelihoods.

The director also said that the urgent challenges that the world faces in maintaining biodiversity worldwide requires that indigenous peoples are empowered to act at the national level with assistance from the international community.

Stressing that the cultures of indigenous peoples and local communities involve the stewardship of wildlife, just as they simply cannot imagine their life divorced from nature and their interest in the sustainable use of resources is strong.

"Empowerment of these groups combined with their knowledge and long-term planning skills is essential to ensure the survival of future generations - of both humans and wildlife" Muller said.
The relationship between humans and wildlife, Muller highlighted in the publication, citing several case studies from various countries to illustrate how indigenous peoples can optimize the benefits for their livelihoods while also safeguarding wildlife, provided they are given the rights to make their own decisions in the territories they inhabit.

In the northern part of Mount Kenya, for instance, the Il Lakipiak Maasai ("People of Wildlife") own and operate the only community-owned rhino sanctuary in the country. These indigenous peoples have managed to alleviate the human - wildlife conflicts that arise in the area due to the intrusion of wild animals searching for water, prey and pasture during drought. They achieved this by reducing bush-cutting to ensure more fodder for wildlife on their lands. Through this conservation strategy, indigenous peoples have demonstrated that they can coexist harmoniously with wildlife while supporting their own pastoral lives and cultures.
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Monday, March 6, 2017

Bibeau supports sexual reproductive health, rights

The Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, has announced funding of up to $20 million to organizations supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Minister revealed this while participating in the She Decides high-level international conference in Brussels, Belgium, saying that Canada’s investment will support five organizations that have a proven track record of delivering results in the area of the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

According to her, these organizations must provide critical sexual and reproductive health services and information that advances gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the developing world.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that the funding is part of Canada’s comprehensive approach to closing existing gaps in reproductive rights and health care services for women.

Canada, NaijaAgroNet reports, remain committed to supporting access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services and information.

This includes strengthening national health systems, investing in contraceptives, family planning and comprehensive sexuality education, supporting women’s right to choose safe and legal abortions, and access to post-abortion care.

 “Sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights. All women have the right to choose whether and when they want to have children, and how many. The empowerment of women and girls everywhere in the world begins with their right to be in control of their bodies,” Bibeau said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that an estimated about 225 million of the world’s women and girls have an unmet need for modern contraception.

Whereas, NaijaAgroNet reports that maternal mortality is unacceptably high with the global record showed that about 830 women die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth every day. Just as every year, an estimated 22 million women and girls worldwide put their lives at risk by undergoing unsafe, clandestine abortions.


Nkem Nweke/GEE
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Pix: Claude Bibeau - Canadan minister

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Nigeria joins African countries with Skills Initiative programme

Nigeria is now the fifth African country to launch Skill Initiative programme in partnership with NEPAD Agency, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Skill Initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered, has the goal to strengthen the occupational prospects of young people, especially for women and youth from poor areas.

Other initial implementing countries include Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia.
Speaking on behalf of the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, the Permanent Secretary of Cabinet Affairs, Mr. Roy Ugo, commended the programmatic interventions of the NEPAD Agency on the continent, particularly in Nigeria.

Ugo also said that the Skills Initiative for Africa programme is timely and aligns with the current administration’s Change Agenda, to create economic opportunities in the country, especially amongst the youth.

He pledged Nigeria’s support to the programme to ensure that it produces the desired positive effect on the employment sector.

Mrs Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, NEPAD Agency’s Director of Programme Coordination and Implementation, informed attendees at the launch that the programme is informed by the need to address skills gap on the continent. In her opening remarks, she pointed out that there is a disconnection between education, training systems and the labour market.

“Therefore, it is incumbent upon the continent to think differently and come up with skill sets that could fill the employment opportunities, create entrepreneurs, as well as provide mentorship to trainees, so that the can effectively succeed in businesses after vocational training,” Mrs Fotabong said.

The launch of the Skills Initiative for Africa programme was co-hosted by NEPAD Nigeria under the leadership of Hon (Princess) Gloria Akobundu, the National Coordinator/ CEO of NEPAD Nigeria.
Speaking, Princess Akobundu explained that the Skills Initiative for Africa presents an opportunity for the missing middle of society to actively engage in the economic activity of the country, through gainful employment and entrepreneurship. She called on Nigerian youths to make good use of the opportunity provided by the initiative.

The launch, which was followed by a consultative workshop to identify the country’s priority for the programme, was attended by various stakeholders from both private and public sectors, including: Nigerian high level dignitaries, senators, members of the National Assembly, as well as members of the diplomatic corps and civil society organisations.

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Ikeja Electric wants customers to report unethical...

Ikeja Electric wants customers to report unethical...: ITRealms : The electricity distribution company, Ikeja Electric (IE), has launched a concerted effort aimed at curbing unethical practi...

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ICT incubation provides sexy part to agriculture

The co-founder and executive partner at LoftyInc Allied Partners, Mr. Michael Oluwagbemi, has identified Information and Communication Technology (ICT) start-up incubation and acceleration in agriculture, as the sexy part needed by the youths in farming, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Oluwagbemi made this known in a recent edition of ICTUpdate Newsletter, saying that ICT start-up incubation and acceleration in agriculture provides a unique opportunity to re-engage African youths across the agriculture value chain.

This, he also said affords the youth to be empowered with technology.

“So, Africa can develop its own technologies fit for purpose and feed her citizens freed from the external dependency,” he said.

Oluwagbemi equally said, this part provides the sexy back in agriculture for the youths which makes the farms potentially the office of the future.

As said by him, the surest path for revenue generation or profitability for any start-up in Africa is to create value.

“Start-ups that add real value to their customers; the farmers and the consumers, become the winners in the market,” he declared.


To do so, he prescribed having a required degree of collaboration with existing players, and leveraging the market channels that traditional players had built but have exploited sub-optimally.

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Pix: Michael Oluwagbemi