Endure the training

Many people want to reign but only few are ready to be trained. The truth is, if you are not trained you are not likely to reign in your area of interest. Greatness never happens by chance but by choice. If you really want to make it in that your area of interest then get your mind prepared to be trained because the future belongs to only those who prepare for it. Expectation without preparation can only lead to frustration. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have. The training may be rigorous and unpleasant but it will certainly improve you.
winners win basically because they prepare to win. I have often hear some people say " I hope I don't lose this game", I hope I don't fail" but the fact is that there is a difference between "I don't want to lose" and I want to win" so it is with " I don't want to fail" and "I want to succeed". Through training, our confidence is built up. If a man begins to reign without adequate training he will soon lose his position. No man ever becomes a champion on the ring. Champions are made on the training field but are only recognised on the ring.
Training is a part of our preparation process. It is using your present state to prepare for success in the future. The more delicate your assignment, the more time needed for training. That is why medical doctors, especially those who specialise in certain fields spend more years getting educated. To live and finish strong, you have to subject yourself to training Going up in life is a function of training. To continue reigning, you need to continue training!

Shopping Online in Nigeria: JUMIA

About Us

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Jumia is Nigeria’s number one online shopping destination where you can shop the widest selection of electronics, fashion, home appliances, kid’s items and more in Nigeria and have them shipped directly to your home or office at your convenience! They offer free nationwide delivery, free returns and have several convenient payment options to choose from, either with your debit/credit cards or cash on delivery. With affordable prices and great products, Jumia lets you enjoy an awesome shopping experience with your order sent directly to your doorstep. No muss, no fuss, super convenience guaranteed.

  They are constantly expanding their product range to include the latest gadgets, fashion styles and new categories and they don't want you to miss out! Happy shopping!

How to Shop on Jumia

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It’s simple to shop on Jumia! Shop Jumia in 3 easy steps:

1. 1. Select your products at Jumia.com.ng.
2. 2. Register with them and pick a payment option.
3. 3. Have your products delivered quickly and safely.

Safe and secure shopping

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Once you’re done selecting products, head over to check out and pick a payment option. Payments on Jumia can easily be made with debit/credit cards and cash on delivery. After a successful purchase, you will get an order status and tracking number that lets you keep track of your order until it’s delivered.

On time delivery

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Your orders take utmost priority and will be delivered between 1-5 working days, between 8am-6pm Monday to Friday. There’s also the availability of a Saturday special delivery option for further convenience for their customers. For more information about this indigenous online shopping. visit their site

 

10 Books Everyone Should Read

“Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen.”–Charles Caleb Colton
We are surrounded by words, and often throwaway words that don’t matter—our brains filled with things like “Bootylicious” and Burger King jingles, all gathered up and jumbled like the back of the coat closet. These words may get stuck in our head, but they rarely change us for the better.
But good words—they stick with us. A good book changes us. The right words speak out what we have hidden in the deepest of places. A good book lifts our eyes beyond the ordinary and shifts our perspective. A phrase or a word picture or a story immediately lodges into our long-term memory, and somehow becomes our phrase, picture, story.

But good words—they stick with us. A good book changes us.

This is the power of good words—they are perspective-shifting, heart-understanding, life-changing. So what’s a must-read good book in the midst of the millions of options? Here we humbly offer our top ten books (with our own subtitles) that can change your life by age 25:

10: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller

aka: Get a life
“The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.”
Donald Miller captures the zeitgeist of a generation with his reflections on what it means to live a bigger story. By 25, you’ve probably experienced the “who am I and what am I doing” reality of adulthood. Miller’s book will help you take the next step into a better story.

9: Let Your Life Speak, by Parker Palmer

aka: You have a calling
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you.”
In this small but memorable book, Palmer walks us through what it means to live out a “vocation,” capturing the essence of the call that God places in each of our lives. It’s worth reading just for the story about Palmer’s own revelation with the Quaker “clearness committee.”

8: Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl

aka: Making sense of suffering
“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
Frankl tells the true story of his survival from Auschwitz concentration camp, interspersed with his wise reflections on true meaning, suffering and love. It’s a short book, but a deep read—and you’ll be a deeper person yourself by the time you turn the last page.

7: Boundaries, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

aka: How to grow up and get healthy
“With the freedom that Christ has given you, you have to be responsible for your life and existence.”

Just read it. Read God's Word all the way through, read it again. Read it often and repeatedly.

I consider this book Adulthood 101. Why you relate to others the way you do, what’s yours to “own” and how to let go of what’s not—it’s all in here. This is my most-recommended book for young adults.

6: Half the Sky, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

aka: Why you should care about social justice
“More girls were killed in the last 50 years, precisely because they were girls, than men killed in all the wars in the 20th century. More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.” With this, Kristoff and DuWunn create a compelling, convicting case for the plight of women and girls throughout the developing world—and what we can do about it. If you weren’t passionate about social justice before you read this book—buckle up. Your eyes and heart are about to be opened, which is a very good thing to happen to you in your twenties.

5: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

aka: Blow-you-away writing & wisdom
“There are two occasions when the sacred beauty of Creation becomes dazzlingly apparent, and they occur together. One is when we feel our mortal insufficiency to the world, and the other is when we feel the world's mortal insufficiency to us.”
This is the only work of fiction in the list (and of course we could recommend much more!), but Robinson is a seeker of the deep places in life, and she writes brilliantly about them. Expect to read this slowly and think about what really matters in life.

4: Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott

aka: As honest as you wish you could be
“Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.”
In this poignant memoir of authentic faith, Lamott will make you laugh, cry and worship God all in one paragraph. Irreverent, witty and real, Lamott is a voice that will help you own the reality of your own brokenness while coming closer to a real understanding of grace. And if there's anything we need to sustain us through our twenties and beyond, it's just that.

3: Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis

aka: Readable, practical theology
“Either this man [Jesus] was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.”
It’s the quintessential modern classic on understanding and living out the Christian faith. If you’ve heard C.S. Lewis quoted time and again but never actually read his work, start here.

2: Ruthless Trust, by Brennan Manning

aka: You know a lot and trust a little, and that’s the problem
“Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it.”
A spiritual director once told Brennan Manning that he had all the spiritual insights to cover him for a lifetime—what he needed was to trust. This book invites you to consider what truly delights God and what your heart is longing for—to free fall into a trusting relationship with your Heavenly Father.

1: The Bible

aka: Finding God
I was talking recently with a young woman about faith. She said to me, “I get God loves me but I just don’t understand why Jesus had to die.” We talked for almost an hour. I wrote down a dozen books for her to read. I prayed for her.
And as she turned to walk away, I asked her, “Have you read the Bible?” She shrugged. “Not really.” I took back the sheet of paper I had written on, scratched out every book recommendation and wrote “Matthew. Mark. Luke. John.”
You may find the Bible complicated or confusing or terribly boring. You may think you’ve learned everything there is to know in that book, back in your VBS or Sunday School days. Or, maybe you don’t know much about it at all and the whole prospect is daunting. But if you are seeking God, seeking true life, seeking the bigger story, you have to read it. Don’t study it, don’t pick it apart, don’t tattoo it on your bicep. Just read it. Read it all the way through, read it again. Read it often and repeatedly. In it you’ll find words of life, clarity, meaning, direction, purpose. But more than anything—you’ll find in the Bible the voice of God and the closeness of real relationship with Him.
Certainly, lists can only go so far. But I would never put a cap on the number of life-formative books you should read. So what’s missing from this list? What would you add to it?

Why you should not skip breakfast

You must have heard this popular saying times without number: eat like a King in the morning, eat like a chief in the afternoon and eat like a beggar in the evening. But not many people predicate their dietary habits on this truism. In fact, if you ask 10 people -young and old-whether they eat breakfast or not, not less than seven will tell you they do not eat in the morning. The reasons for missing the first meal of the day vary. Some will tell you the idea of not eating breakfast is an age-long practice and  that they are okay with it, while others may say they do not have appetite to eat anything in the morning or that a cup of coffee/tea is the only thing their system can accommodate in the morning.

Perhaps if people know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day to promote health and healing, they will not skip it. After eight hours of sleep, which is akin to fast, there is need to break the fast (breakfast) because the brain needs fuel to kickstart your day. The morning meal supplies the fuel, which includes glucose, vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients. Lacking a full complement of such nutrients on daily basis due to lack of breakfast can prevent production of neurotransmitters essential for controlling electrical signals in the brain. Not eating breakfast also means lack of dopamine, which is important for movement, memory, norepinephine – a stress hormone that controls attention and impulsivity as well as serotonin that aids emotional regulation.

But in the absence of breakfast, the brain finds another source of fuel by activating an emergency system that pulls energy from muscles destroying muscle tissues in the process. This is a sort of in-built fire-brigade approach to keep the brain running especially when we are fasting. But when skipping breakfast becomes a daily routine, the emergency fuel supply system causes other damages aside destroying muscles. These include constant release of stress hormones, weakening of adrenal glands and depletion of HDEA and other key hormones governing metabolism and other body systems.

In other words, skipping breakfast means running the brain on reserve fuel, which is tantamount to undernourishment of its cells. And when the brain cells are not well nourished, the whole body suffers. How? The brain controls all organ systems in the body. As a matter of fact, several studies have linked the genesis of many common ailments to skipping of breakfast.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated that those who regularly skipped breakfast had higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The researchers followed 29,000 men for 16 years, tracking their diets, exercise, disease rates and the other markers of health. About 2,000 of the men developed type 2 diabetes over the course of the study. Other studies have also found that people who skip breakfast also gain weight, which is a risk factor for many life-threatening diseases.

While it is not healthy to skip breakfast, the quantity and quality of what we eat in the morning is also of equal importance to our health and vitality. For instance, a study group led by Dr. Mark Pereira, MD found that those who tuck in to a healthy breakfast and therefore end up with a higher calorie intake – still tend to have a lower body mass index BMI than those who skip the first meal of the day. Dr Pereira added: “our study clearly supports what other studies have shown: people who skip breakfast tend to gain more weight and therefore would be at higher risk for obesity”.

Another study of 94 obese, sedentary women with metabolic syndrome, half were told to eat the big breakfast diet containing about 1,240 calories, while the other half ate a 1,085 calories high-protein, low carbohydrate diet for eight months. At the end of eight months, those on the restrictive low carbohydrate diet lost an average of nine pounds. But those on the big breakfast diet lost nearly 40 pounds. Additionally, those that ate big breakfast reported feeling less hungry and had stable blood sugar levels. The study data were presented at Endocrine Society annual meeting in San Francisco, USA by the lead author, Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, a clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, Caracas, Venezuela.

Another study of 7,000 middle-aged adults in Norfolk revealed that those who ate the most in the morning put the least amount of weight overall.

Skipping breakfast can also cause poor academic performance in schools and poor memory for adults. According to some studies, children who consume breakfast do well in school compared to those that do not. The researchers noted that starting the day with breakfast does not only increase their energy levels, but also help improve their concentration in the class. According to United States Department of Agriculture USDA, healthy breakfast improves academic performance, alertness and attention.

A cup of coffee is all many people take as breakfast. Yet, taking only coffee as the first meal of the day is as damaging to the body as skipping breakfast entirely. Given the studies validated the truism that opened this piece (eat like a King in the morning) breakfast must be the biggest meal of the day. But when people looking for solutions to their health challenges are confronted with this fact in my office, the common response is that, it is not possible given the nature of their jobs. And how do I react to this fallacy? Eating biggest balanced meal in the morning is a natural law of nutrition. And since nature cannot bend its law for anybody, it is incumbent on the sick to find a way to comply with this natural law in order to promote health and healing.

TIPS

• Skipping breakfast impairs brain powers & functions

• Skipping breakfast weakens adrenal gland & immune system

• Skipping breakfast accelerates aging process

• Skipping breakfast promotes weight gain

• Skipping breakfast weakens the body resistance to stress

• Skipping breakfast increases the risk of type 2 diabetes

Your health should take higher priority than your wealth!

Spend Less For Your Wedding

The process of planning the perfect wedding is also a time when you have to consider certain issues which are significant to the total success of your big day. Remember, money matter is serious matter especially when you have a limited budget.

Many couples take these for granted and become sentimental and unrealistic in their pursuit of their wedding aspirations. In every culture, wedding ceremonies take its place as a norm that joins the man and woman together as one. In Nigeria, the ceremonies are in various segments which differs from tribe to tribe and the costs can also mount up too.

Western influence

The traditional marriage takes its place as an important ceremony in the Nigerian wedding ritual. It was the only rite which was observed and acknowledged by elders and family members to join a couple together before the western way of marriage became very popular here.

Today prospective couples are under immerse pressure from the wedding industry façade packed with all the glitz, blings and glamour for brides and grooms who want a truly unforgettable wedding experience.

While the affluent couples live the dream, especially if their parents are picking up the bills, the unrealistic copycats incur unnecessary debt afterwards and spend the first few years of their marriage paying off debt.

One day affair

The traditional and religious weddings are both imperative in sustaining a couple’s beliefs and values. However, finding a method which works for you and your budget without over stretching your selves or putting family members under pressure to contribute towards your excesses is the key to getting the balance right. More couples are choosing to have their traditional and wedding ceremonies on the same day, either to cut cost or perhaps to get it over and done with while they move on to start their beautiful lives together.

One day event is definitely a great money saving option considering the high cost of venues, catering, drinks, venue décor and photography. So why spend twice when you can spend once and save the rest for the raining day.

The traditional marriage comes with all its hullabaloos. Great if you can afford to entertain your guests throughout the whole experience but the alternative is to streamline the ceremony and stage a two hours event at the venue you hired on the wedding day or at your house, witnessed by your nearest and dearest only on the morning of your wedding before the other ceremony. This is how to spend wisely! Remember, people only show they care when things are rosy but care less during difficult moments. Don't impress people and depress yourselves, the real marriage begins after the wedding ceremony.

Dangers of Excessive Intake of Soft Drinks

In the guise of civilisation, the eating habits of mankind have changed over the years from wholly organic natural foods and drinks to processed stocks. From Washington D.C to Manila and Lagos, gulping carbonated drinks with meals or as a substitute to meals is the rule rather than the exception today. Many people, young and old, take between two and four bottles of soft drinks daily. Those who detest alcohol on account of religious faith also take soft drinks to unwind.

Soft drinks are being marketed with frenzy blitz in the media, with marketing messages directed at the youth mainly. Soft drinks are also formulated to make their intake addictive. Once you hooked to any of the brands, you will always want to drink it, not minding the hazard it constitutes to your health.

For instance, eating a meal of white rice or fufu with beef in soup made with ocean of palm oil and washed down with one or two bottles of soft drink is a great assault on the digestive system. The body requires a large quantity of insulin and digestive enzymes to digest every item in such a meal. Yet, spicing meals with soft drink on a daily basis as many Nigerians do exerts too much pressure on the pancreas and hastens its exhaustion. No wonder there is an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in our country.

People addicted to soft drinks rarely stop gulping them unless they experience the ‘bitter taste’ of these sweet drinks. But how bitter is the taste of soft drinks? This question can be best answered by the tragic experiences of two people – a student at the University of Delhi, India and a Lagos-based politician.

There was a competition among the students of University of Delhi as to who could drink the most bottles of a popular brand of soft drinks. The winner, a boy, drank eight bottles but died soon after his victory. What could be bitter than the loss of life through a drink certified fit for human consumption?

The bitter experience of the Lagos-based politician with soft drinks has not cost him his life but his travails are not what anybody would wish to have. He is battling with heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis that not only incapacitate him physically, but also drain his life savings. But how did he get into these life-threatening problems? While jostling for elective position during the two –partly system of the Babangida era, he hardly had time to eat due to endless meetings and intrigues that characterise Nigerian politics. Rather, he resorted to taking soft drinks – six jumbo bottles (orobo) of one of the popular brands everyday. His body weight ballooned, causing heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. He had suffered near fatal heart attack in the course of his travails. Even with a university degree in science, he has no faint idea as to the inherent danger in using soft drinks as a substitute for meals.

Due to a lack of diet education many people who gulp soft drinks daily do not know that these drinks are a harbinger of misery in different forms – obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, multiple sclerosis and poor vision.

But what exactly makes soft drinks dangerous stuff? Soft drinks contain refined sugar or its substitute, which increase the risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart problems. A study done at the Boston University School of Medicine indicated that drinking more than one bottle of soft drink a day is associated with 50 per cent increase risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The lead author of the study, Ramachandran Vasan, said, “Soft drinks carry the same risk whether they are low-calorie or regular.”

The refined sugar in soft drinks also poses other threats to human health. According to a Japanese researcher, Dr Jin Otsuka, “the more refined sugar in the diet, the greater the incidence of myopia.”

Some soft drinks are also made with non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharine, which are not only toxic, but have also been linked to a number of health disorders. According to research done by Arizona State University’s Biochemical Department, aspartame has been found to cause shooting pain, numbness, cramps, dizziness, headache, brain seizure, joint pain, blurred vision, memory loss and enlarged kidney and liver. Soft drinks also contain caffeine, which depletes magnesium and makes drinkers vulnerable to constriction of blood vessels, depletion of key hormones, elevated blood sugar level, heart problem, and brain dysfunction.

The acids in soft drinks disrupt the alkaline-acid balance of the body, thus causing acidosis that triggers ulcers, arthritis, diabetes and cancer.

The common chemical additive in soft drinks is phosphate, a heavy-duty iron blocker. Therefore, heavy drinkers of soft drinks may be deficient in iron, a condition that promotes development of tumour. The prevalence of uterine fibroids, benign tumours among women may be associated with high consumption of soft drinks. While it is incontrovertible that tumour can develop in any part of the body, including the breast, how is the current war against breast cancer in our country addressing the possible link of over-consumption of soft drinks to this scourge?

Soft drinks are bottled with carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism that you and I must exhale to be in perfect health. But those who prefer soft drinks to water are increasing carbon dioxide, while decreasing oxygen in their body system. Yet, inadequate oxygen supply to the body could cause impairment of the immune system and gradual cellular death in the heart, kidneys, eyes and the brain. In fact, the brain suffers the most telling effect of low level of oxygen in the body. It needs about 20 per cent of oxygen inhaled to function optimally. But as we age, the blood vessel that supplies the brain with oxygen tends to clog and this may cause stroke, memory loss, senility and nerve damage. A study by a Japanese scientist, Kazuhiko Asai, found that all diseases are caused by insufficient oxygen supply to the area of the body where it is needed. The take home message is: we could prevent a number of diseases, which cause misery and ultimately shorten life by avoiding soft drinks.

That the future may live –Prof. Wole Soyinka

Touching, whimsical, idealistic and anxious, these are windows into the mind of today’s Nigerian child, the mind of “the future” that remains opaque to most adults – to judge by their conduct in the here and now.

Recalling my own instructive days when I would openly eavesdrop on the discourse of adult circles around my father, a school Headmaster, or of another and more famous educationist, an uncle, the Reverend I.O.Ransome-Kuti – see AKE, the Years of Childhood – I often wonder what nature of discourse today’s children elicit from their own parental circles. How to milk the nation of a few millions in a project set up for that very purpose? Where to stage the next extravaganza of a wedding – Dubai? Venice? Johannesburg? Do they take children into confidence regarding where they hide millions stolen from the Pension Funds accumulated by dint of unrelenting work over a lifetime by millions of their own fellow beings?
Even more critical however, is their plight in a time of dire siege, with their own peers on the front line as direct targets, taking casualties, often in the most brutal fashion. Some of the participants in this Essay competition have certainly lost friends and siblings to daily carnage, perhaps barely escaped with their lives. Several bear physical or emotional scars from their encounter.  Even those placed at remote distances from these traumatizing zones cannot escape knowledge of the fate of members of their age grades. How do these events affect their lives? Their perspectives on the future? What transformations take place in their minds?
How sad, and discouraging, that a victory – of sorts – was recently conceded to these forces of sheer evil when a governor closed down schools in his state on advice – at least temporarily – after yet another school dormitory was turned into a killing field! Each time such butchery takes place, my mind leaps to the faces that crowd my house on an agreed day, ever since a bunch of enthusiasts chose to inflict my birthday on me, beginning a few years ago. It is with regard to those faces – slightly older versions, admittedly – that, first a governor, soon followed by a former minister, blithely commented, “one life is not more important than another”.  That ex-minister, who actually nurses aspirations to preside over the future of the nation, has proceeded to enshrine his ‘ideology’ in a self-serving book that purportedly documents his illustrious career.
Is this call to the deadening of moral outrage equally applicable to the ongoing decimation of our secondary, primary school populations? More relevantly however, I wonder what our youths think of such utterances. Well, while there are still survivors among them and, if only for the sake of record keeping, any exercise that induces them to set down their thoughts is to be welcomed. In essay, poetry, or pictorial form – such as ‘Vision of the Child’ (Lagos Black Heritage) competition – these imaginative and intellectual exercises provide a continuing challenge that stretches their minds. And it is a battle for the mind in formation that confronts the nation at this moment, hence the targeting of places of learning, and the brutal, sadistic assault on their inmates.
It may come to some as belated schooling, but some of us have absorbed the truism, all the way from infancy, that each life is to be valued in its own right. By the same token, we have also imbibed the moral imperative that the frustrations and grievances of any individual or group – from whatever cause – should never be taken out on other lives, and that such proceeding is damnably impious, cowardly and blasphemous when that ‘other’ is the innocent, the vulnerable, the yet unfulfilled. One anticipates, indeed concedes the right of dissent to the complacent, the sated, and visionless.  The vision of youth however also has a fundamental entitlement to be expressed, and that can only be done by living material. It deserves better than to be filed away as a “Last Will and Testament” of those eager, bright and hopeful faces that now annually besiege the sanctuary of this aspiring octogenarian.
•Being  Prof Wole Soyinka’s forward to Memoirs for Our Future, a book produced by WS79 organisers, Zmirage Multi Media Limited, in honour of children and presented in London recently

ASUU v FGN: Education costs and the price of ignorance

Education is very costly and quality education is even more expensive. Our people certainly know better when they say: “If you think education is too expensive, then try ignorance.” Anyone with a modicum of intellectual capacity would not need further explanation as to the direct connection between national wellbeing and the quality of education in place.

It is no accident that all the successful countries of the world today are those that have invested heavily in the education of their children while the most underdeveloped ones are those with the lowest per capital investment in education and, sadly, Nigeria is one of them.

I must confess my embarrassment by the present Academic Staff Union of Universities strike which has seen our campuses shutdown for weeks with no hope in sight for immediate resolution. The case of ASUU is an old one; but for a willful disregard of scholarship, the last thing anyone who has the interest of the nation at heart would like to see is the closure of schools, the real source of energy for the eventual development of the country from a backward import-consuming society to one that can sustain herself with her own resources.

If ASUU has proved in any way unwilling to bend on its demands, the rational expectation should be that the government will voluntarily meet them at the middle and then seek some beneficial way forward. Unfortunately, any hope of a mature and altruistic approach to the problem diminished last week when the Minister of Finance, the de facto but unelected Prime Minster of this administration, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, announced that the government cannot afford to meet the N92 billion being demanded by ASUU as the minimum requirement for the termination of the ongoing strike.

To uneducated Nigerians, the figures she quoted would sound too much, thereby painting the academic union in a bad light. But for those who are educated enough, they certainly know that no amount is too much to be invested in the education of the nation’s youths who are indeed the future of the country. The opportunity cost of massive investment in education is the promotion of massive ignorance, poverty and societal underdevelopment.

My little surprise is occasioned by the fact Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a beneficiary of some of the best education money can buy. As a Harvard educated lady, I need not remind her that the figure she has quoted fiendishly to scare Nigerians will clearly pale into nothing when compared to what is poured into Harvard alone every year by way of endowment and research grants. As a beneficiary of Harvard’s esteemed education, I cannot but personally feel ashamed that anyone who has seen the way other nations have invested and are still investing in education could stand up and say that too much is being invested in our youths.

If indeed it is that meagre N92 billion that is needed to bring back our campuses to some degree of functionality, then we should all be ashamed that we have opted for ignorance as a nation because education is “too expensive”. My understanding of the situation on ground is that we actually need to spend multiples of that sums annually if we are to minimally get near what universities should be. It is Economics 101 that in no time we shall be reaping bountiful results in such investments in the form a better society peopled by knowledgeable citizens.

I am stunned that we are not bothered that we are lagging behind in all fields of modern endeavours except in the crude politics of stealing the little that is available and venting our hopelessness through disgraceful actions like the internal deportation of fellow citizens.

It is no longer a secret that the nation’s education system is in deep crisis: There are no supporting environments for serious learning. From primary to secondary up to the tertiary levels, what we are operating are ill-equipped and badly staffed institutions churning out poorly educated graduates who are wholly incapable of performing at their expected levels of skills and competencies. There may be pockets of excellence here and there but the reality is that no nation can develop under such an extremely variegated level of competency disparities. We must develop a mass of educated people who would assume the inevitable responsibility of nation-building.

The other day, Comrade Oshiomhole paraded on TV a primary school teacher in Edo State with over 20 years of teaching experience who couldn’t read a text in English! She has been “teaching” children over the years and one can only imagine the idiocy and misinformation that she must have propagated all along. Authorities must have noticed her incompetence but because this is Nigeria where anything goes, they kept her and she probably enjoyed undeserved promotions. It must however be stressed that she is just the tip of a huge iceberg.

All across the nation’s life, be it in the academic or other professions, there are quacks everywhere. There are people who claim they have higher university degrees but cannot read a document in English or write anything worth reading. Even on campuses, there are people who have managed to ‘ride the system’ to become “professors” even if, for all intents and purposes, they are barely literate. You will never read them anywhere they cannot go anywhere outside their campuses but they thrive all the same and society erroneously applauds them. Greet them without the prefix “Dr” or “Prof”, you are in trouble.  Their students are subjected to all sorts of anti-intellectual abuses.

The greater disaster however is the emerging reality that a whole generation of Nigerian graduates may not be able to compete with their peers who were educated elsewhere because the government could not make available the money needed to revamp the universities while it has so much to waste on hedonistic projects that only soothe their egos or facilitate their perpetuation in office. I think both ASUU and the government must confront the reality of a doomed nation occasioned by inadequate education funding, incessant school closures and disdain for scholarship.

My wish is that the union should rise above the obvious short-sightedness and greed of those in power and take the patriotic road by tactically calling off the strike because it is obvious that government does not have the capacity to see the ultimate outcome of their policy that sees education as “too expensive.” They don’t understand or simply cannot. But we all know that, compared to the oil subsidy loot, N92 billion is just mere peanuts. Excerpt from The Punch

HOW TO GET RID OF DANDRUFF

An itchy, dry scalp leaving white scales everywhere is unpleasant. It is dandruff and you must get rid of it

This doesn’t mean you are unclean or sick but dandruff is known to be a form of skin shedding.  According to askmen.com, the human body sheds its entire skin every 24 days. Once skin dies, it falls off little by little. Normally, sloughing dead skin is unnoticeable because it happens gradually and in small pieces, but in the case of dandruff, the process is a bit different

To get rid of dandruff:

1. Start with a mild shampoo. An article in Reader’s Digest states that different dandruff shampoo ingredients perform different functions. Zinc pyrithione targets fungus and bacteria; ketoconazole also fights fungus; coal tar and selenium sulfide slow the growth of dandruff on your scalp; salicylic acid loosens flakes so they can be washed away.  If there is no change after a few weeks of shampooing with various formulas or if your scalp is irritated, see your doctor.

2. Other remedies

• Aspirin

Keep dandruff in check by crushing two aspirins to a fine powder and adding it to the normal amount of shampoo you use each time you wash your hair. Leave the mixture on your hair for one to two minutes, then rinse well and wash again with plain shampoo.

• Baking soda

 To get dandruff under control, wet your hair before rubbing a handful of baking soda vigorously into your scalp. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Do this every time you wash your hair, but only use baking soda, no shampoo. Initially, your hair may get dried out but after a few weeks, your scalp will start producing natural oils, leaving your hair softer and free of flakes.

• Lemon

Massage two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice into your scalp and rinse with water. Then stir one teaspoonful of lemon juice into one cup of water and rinse your hair with it. Repeat this daily until your dandruff disappears.

• Mouthwash

To treat a bad case of dandruff, wash your hair with your regular shampoo; then rinse with an alcohol-based mouthwash. You can accompany this with your regular conditioner.

• Salt

The abrasiveness of ordinary table salt works greatly for scrubbing out dandruff before you shampoo. Grab a saltshaker and shake some salt onto your dry scalp. Then work it through your hair, giving your scalp a massage. The dry, flaky skin sheds off and your hair is ready for a shampoo

ONLINE ETIQUETTE YOU SHOULD OBEY

For you to maintain connections with others globally and within, the social media cannot be ignored. Despite the fact that these interactions occur on the computer, what you share is not always private. Here, certain etiquette rules should be observed. What are they?

Use appropriate language

When you curse or use derogatory language on social media networks with friends, you paint a bad picture of yourself.  According to www.wikihow.com, re-read each comment or post to ensure it is not offensive or contains offensive language.

Select interesting topics

Keep people interested in reading your updates by discussing interesting topics, but avoid controversial subjects. Complaints and overly personal details about negative events in your life are not recommended.

Be helpful

People want a personal connection, so listen well, and appear genuinely interested in others. Remember to post greetings on people’s birthdays, congratulate them when they write about accomplishments or milestones and offer advice when you can. If someone asks you a question, answer it promptly. Always follow up when others leave comments for you.

Watch your frequency

While it is good to post regularly, you do not want to post new updates so frequently that people get tired of seeing posts from you.

Be vigilant

It is not just enough to watch what you post on social media networks. You must also maintain vigilance about what others are posting about you and on your profile. If people are posting inappropriate pictures of you, you can remove the link to you or ask the person to take down the picture.

Do not share personal information

Your personal life is not for public consumption. Refrain from sharing such on any social media as it can be used against you.

Never comment about work online

Whining or complaining about work on social media is akin to announcing that you are not a professional. The only cases where talking about work online is acceptable is to perhaps congratulate a colleague or client for an accomplishment.

Be grammatically unimpeachable

 Double-check your statements for typos. Before you post, edit your comments. If you want to be taken seriously, make sure everything you write is grammatically correct and void of typos.

Be mindful when posting any photo

Any photos posted by you should be clean and “G” rated, no matter where it is in your profile. Delete inappropriate photos or do not post photos displaying sexually charged situations or where alcohol or drugs are involved.

Be cautious of sharing links

Share links or other friend’s information that may be considered universally acceptable. Remain neutral or uncontroversial by not posting links or liking pages that might be considered questionable or inappropriate.

Do not “like” controversial characters or celebrities

Liking political candidates, religious groups, certain musical groups, controversial movies, and television shows may tarnish your reputation with certain people. It all depends on the kind of circles you move in and how conservative a career path you are following.

Avoid angry or controversial conversations

If a friend or colleague posts something angry or emotionally charged on your page, delete the comment and caution him privately. Also, if a friend is fighting with someone on a social media channel, never participate or add a comment. This is simply good etiquette, to avoid adding fuel to the flames.

Unfriend friends who cannot abide to your wishes

Friends who consistently post inappropriate information or comments on your wall should be warmed to desist from doing so. In a situation they do not abide, unfriend this person.

Only link, follow, or friend people you know and trust

 Only associate yourself on social media with people with whom you have a relationship and are aligned with your goal of keeping a professional presence on social media.

Ini Edo, Mercy Johnson and Stephanie Okereke Marriage Highlight

Ini Edo

Ini Edo met her husband during one of his trips to Nigeria. One thing led to another and marriage talk began. It was alleged that she had fought many ladies before and after their wedding to stay off her man. Many still wonder how she was able to win Philips from his first marriage to Ruth Okoro.

Amidst all odds, Ini Edo got married to her US-based husband, Philip Ehiagwina in 2009 in the United States of America after their traditional marriage in 2008. However, tongues are currently wagging that the actress is under serious pressure by her in-laws.

According to Nigeriafilms.com, Ini Edo’s in-laws are not happy that the glamorous actress hasn’t given them a child after about four years of marriage. It was also revealed that her husband, who is based in the US, has of late not been regular in the country.

Ini Edo began her acting career in the year 2000, and has featured in more than 50 movies since that time. The Theatre Arts graduate of the University of Calabar hails from Akwa-Ibong State. She is a Glo ambassador and also recently turned producer with her hit movie ‘I’LL Take My Chances.’ She has a lot of endorsements deals and award winning movies to her credit.

Mercy Johnson

Like Few months before her wedding, there was a claim that her husband was happily married shortly before she showed up. Many people expected her to quit the relationship or give him some time to settle whatever he had with his ex-wife, but Mercy Johnson was not ready to let the Edo guy go. She insisted she was going to get married to him on the set date whether anyone liked it or not.

The drama between her husband and his ex-wife got so though that the Christian Women Association in Lagos urged the church not to carry on with the wedding plan and even threatened to disrupt the ceremony if it held. But not even their threat could stop the thespian from saying “I do” to her prince charming.

Amidst all the threats, rumour and uncertainty, Mercy Johnson still fulfilled her dream of adorning herself with the rich Edo cultural attire on her traditional marriage. She eventually got married to the prince and today, the union is blessed with a lovely baby girl, Purity.    

Mercy Johnson made her acting debut in the movie, “The Maid” in which she played the role of a possessed house help. Her performance in the movie shot her into the limelight and she has acted in other movies ever since. She hails from Okene in Kogi state.  She was born in Lagos on August 28, 1984.

She won the 2009 African Film Award for best supporting actress.

Stephanie Okereke met her husband, Linus Idahosa in the film academy, Del-York.  It will be recalled that Okereke was married between 2004 and 2007 to a former Super Eagles football player ChikelueIloenyosi.  In 2012, a high court in Lagos declared the marriage null and void, because at the time they got married, Chikelue was already legally married to another woman in the US.

In April 2012, the actress got married to Linus Idahosa in Paris, France, at a private wedding ceremony that was attended by members of her family and scores of Nollywood stars.

Okereke  was born 2 October, 1982. She has received several awards and nominations for her work as an actress, including the 2003 Reel Award for Best Actress, the 2006 Afro Hollywood Award for Best Actress, and three nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the African Movie Academy Awards in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She was also the runner up for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant of 2002.

Stephanie Okereke was born in Imo State, Nigeria. She graduated from the University of Calabar, with a degree in English and Literary Studies. Already during her teenage years in 1997 she starred in two Nollywood movies, Compromise 2 and Waterloo. Okereke has starred in over 90 movies

Ini Edo
Ini Edo met her husband during one of his trips to Nigeria.  One thing led to another and marriage talk began. It was alleged that she had fought many ladies before and after their wedding to stay off her man. Many still wonder how she was able to win Philips from his first marriage to Ruth Okoro.
Amidst all odds, Ini Edo got married to her US-based husband, Philip Ehiagwina in 2009 in the United States of America after their traditional marriage in 2008. However, tongues are currently wagging that the actress is under serious pressure by her in-laws.
According to Nigeriafilms.com, Ini Edo’s in-laws are not happy that the glamorous actress hasn’t given them a child after about four years of marriage. It was also revealed that her husband, who is based in the US, has of late not been regular in the country.
Ini Edo began her acting career in the year 2000, and has featured in more than 50 movies since that time. The Theatre Arts graduate of the University of Calabar hails from Akwa-Ibong State. She is a Glo ambassador and also recently turned producer with her hit movie ‘I’LL Take My Chances.’ She has a lot of endorsements deals and award winning movies to her credit.
- See more at: http://leadership.ng/news/180813/nollywood-babes-and-their-love-edo-men#sthash.imyxCbgx.dpuf

5 New Things About Liverpool in 2013/2014 Season

Five things to know about Liverpool going into the 2013-14 English Premier League season:
1. FOUR NEW ARRIVALS

Coach Brendan Rodgers has made four off-season signings as he looks to push Liverpool toward the top four of the Premier League and qualification for the Champions League.

Central defender Kolo Toure has joined from Manchester City on a free transfer, while forward Luis Alberto signed from Sevilla alongside Spanish compatriot and striker Iago Aspas from Celta Vigo. Aspas has impressed during Liverpool's preseason friendlies, scoring four goals in seven games.

Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet completed a move from Sunderland, replacing Pepe Reina, who left on loan for Napoli to play under former Liverpool and Chelsea coach Rafael Benitez.

2. SUAREZ STAYING?

The Luis Suarez transfer saga has dragged on throughout the transfer window, but his situation at Liverpool has seemed more of a case of when he would leave, rather than if.

He spoke publicly of his desire to move to Premier League rival Arsenal, with the lure of Champions League soccer on offer, while he was in the peak of his career. Liverpool rejected a 40,000,001 pound ($62 million) bid from Arsenal. Suarez believed the offer activated a release clause in his contract until owner John W. Henry gave an ''unequivocal'' assurance to Liverpool fans through the English media that Suarez will not be sold to a team it aims to beat to Champions League qualification.

Suarez then told Uruguayan newspaper El Observador he would stay at Liverpool due to the fans' adoration of him.
3. CARROLL, DOWNING, SHELVEY AND MORE OUT
Aside from Reina, there have been several other exits from the club.
Andy Carroll signed for West Ham United on a permanent deal after spending the 2012-13 season on loan at the London side and has been joined there by midfielder Stewart Downing.
Jonjo Shelvey joined League Cup winners Swansea City for five million pounds ($7.7 million), while Jay Spearing also turned his loan to second-tier Bolton into a permanent switch.
Spain under-19 midfielder Suso, who featured prominently in the first half of last season, has gone on loan to La Liga side Almeria for 2013-14.
4. NEW VICE-CAPTAIN
Daniel Agger has been appointed as the club's new vice-captain following the retirement of Jamie Carragher.
The Denmark defender has made 209 appearances for Liverpool since arriving in January 2006 from Brondby and Rodgers highlighted Agger's passion for the team as a determining factor in making the decision.
5. BIG YEAR FOR COUTINHO

With the World Cup less than a year away, Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho will be looking to impress Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari enough to add to his solitary cap for the Brazil national side.

Signed from Inter Milan in January, Coutinho closed the 2012-13 season with a number of impressive performances, demonstrating some magical creative flair alongside an eye for goal.

A full season in the same vein should see Coutinho involved in the squad for the host nation.

Usain Bolt Breaks World Record!

Usain Bolt is perfect again.

And with three gold medals in Moscow, the Jamaican great became the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world championships.

The 4x100-meter relay gold Sunday erased the memories of the 100 title he missed out on in South Korea two years ago because of a false start. And, combined with an identical 100-200-relay triple from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Bolt was instrumental in giving Jamaica the first sweep of the six sprint events. Bolt was still trailing Justin Gatlin when he got the baton on the anchor leg, but a botched U.S. handover and his superior speed were enough to carry him, and Jamaica, to victory. He gritted his teeth, dipped at the line, and then grinned with relief. ''I am very satisfied,'' Bolt said. Bolt had already won the 100 and 200 meters. It was his second such sprint triple at the world championships, matching the two he has achieved at the Olympics.

With his victory, Bolt moved to the top of the all-time world championships medals table with eight gold and two silver, edging Carl Lewis, who has eight gold, one silver and one bronze.

And again Luzhniki Stadium and its 40,000 fans turned into a Bolt party.

With palpable relief after a week of an all-business demeanor during his earlier races, Bolt finally let go. His arms across his chest, he kicked his legs as he went down lower and lower to imitate a traditional eastern European dance to the delight of the crowd.

''A lot of energy here today,'' Bolt said.

He threw he shoes into the stands and struck his ''Lightning Bolt'' pose again, knowing he finally could escape the stress as Bob Marley's ''Three Little Birds'' blared.

Twenty minutes earlier, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in world championship history to sweep the sprint events, anchoring Jamaica to gold in the 4x100-meter relay.

Unlike Bolt, Fraser-Pryce got the baton with a big lead. With her pink hair extensions swaying in the air behind her, she kept on building her advantage to cross in a championship record of 41.29 seconds.

Dangers of Eating Too Much Meat

Do you know that you are what you eat? High cholesterol affects millions of people around the world. You must therefore, not become a victim of what you eat!

A restaurant owner at Agege, Lagos State, Nigeria, Mrs. Ireti Lawal, receives a lot of patronage on a daily basis. In the afternoon, there is a long queue of people waiting to have a taste of her African dishes which are spiced with vegetable soup and fried fish.

But what attracts people to her food? A customer in his late forties who simply identified himself as Kunle said he likes the way she fries her fish.

He said “I’ve been eating at the kitchen since I started working in the area. Her food tastes so nice. Her vegetable soup is sweet, including her fried fish.”

There are many other people who, like Kunle, enjoy eating processed and fried food.

However, what they may not be aware of is that continuous consumption of processed and fried food could trigger diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart related diseases.

There are several reports of persons who slumped and died from heart-related diseases.

You should not consume high amount of bad oil, that is, oil that has not been properly processed. Frying your oil for too long is bad. A large percentage of cooking oil sold in the market is not well processed. As you continually consume badly processed oil, it gets into your arteries and clogs up the arteries. This could lead to diabetes, heart attack and cancer.

It is always advised women to be careful about the way they fry their palm and groundnut oil. This type of oil should not be over heated because it becomes toxic to the body. Even when you want to cook with oil, a table spoon is good enough. Anything more than a table spoon is not good. Instead of deep frying you can either grill or bake your meals. These methods are better. It must be stated clearly that consumption of too much of processed food is harmful to the body.

“Despite our love for processed food just because they are quick to prepare, these types of food are harmful. Natural food is always better.  Some people may be allergic to processed food and they won’t know. Rather than consuming processed foods, make your local foods the natural way. It may be time consuming, but it saves one’s life.

It is important for us to educate ourselves on cholesterol. Cholesterol is a type of lipid (fat) that is produced by the liver and can be got from the food we eat. It circulates in our blood system to play an important role for normal body functions and it is also a source of energy during a prolonged period without food. Cholesterol cannot travel in the blood system without the help of some proteins, so the combination of cholesterol and these proteins are known as ‘lipoproteins,’ in which Low Density Lipoprotein and High Density Lipoprotein are part of.   This is responsible for the transportation of cholesterol from the liver where it is produced to the peripheral cells in the body. Some people regard LDL as bad cholesterol because if the activity of LDL goes on unchecked, it can lead to heart diseases like myocardial infarction and brain disease like cerebrovascular accident (infarct stroke).

Also, some activities could trigger high cholesterol. For examples, “Taking meals that contain saturated fats have an increasing effect on the body LDL cholesterol level. This is the reason why red meat is discouraged because of its high content in saturated fats. Cooking oil that gets solidified under room temperature (the one most people regard as sleeping oil) should also be discouraged because of its high content of saturated fats. Also, smoking is another bad habit. Not exercising, just sitting or lying down does harm to the body.  Studies have shown that people that are obese have higher LDL level compared to those that are not obese,” he said.

Nutritionists have advised that fish instead of red meat should be frequently consumed. We should imbibe the habit of eating food like fish such as Mackerel, catfish, shrimps, prawns; tuna, salmon; cods and other sea foods. We should endeavour to eat more fishes than meat because fishes are beneficial to the body. Fish protein is high in quality and contains sufficient amount of all essential amino acids the body requires for growth and maintenance of lean muscle tissues. The oil in fishes like mackerels is wonderful. It can equally enrich, as well as nourish our brains and skins.

Why You Must Eat Banana

Bananas consist mainly of sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) and fiber, which makes them ideal for an immediate and slightly prolonged source of energy. In fact, it is one of the favourite foods of athletes. I could remember eating it during MTN Marathon race few years back. Bananas have a lot of benefits to us and as such we should endeavour to eat it as frequent as it is needed. some of its benefits are:

Reducing Depression

Bananas contain tryptophan, an aminoacid that can be converted to serotonin, leading
to improved mood

Anemia

Bananas are relatively high in iron, which helps the body’s hemoglobin function

Constipation and Diarrhoea

Due to their content in fiber, they help restore a normal bowel function. In
addition, diarrhea usually depletes your body of important electrolytes (of which the
most important is potassium, contained in high amounts in bananas). They also contain
pectin, a soluble fiber (hydrocolloid) that can help normalize movement through the
digestive tract.

Eyesight Protection

Research published in the Archives of Ophthalmology has proven that adults
consuming at least 3 servings of fruit per day have a reduced risk (by 36%) of developing
age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older
adults, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

Healthy Bones

Bananas are an exceptionally rich source of fructooligosaccharide, a compound
that nourishes probiotic (friendly) bacteria in the colon. These beneficial bacteria
produce enzymes that increase our digestive ability and protect us from unhealthy
bacteria infections. Thanks to fructooligosaccharides, probiotic bacteria can increase
both in number and functionality, increasing our body’s ability to absorb calcium.
In addition, green bananas contain indigestible short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that are
very nutrient to the cells that make up the mucosa of the stomach. These cells, when
healthy, absorb calcium much more efficiently

Healthy Kidney

About 190,000 cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed each year.
Research published in the International Journal of Cancer has shown that daily
consumption of whole fruits and vegetables, especially bananas, is highly protective to
kidney health. The results show that, over a long timeframe (13.4 years), women eating
more than 2.5 servings of fruits and vegetable per day cut their risk of kidney cancer by
40%. Among the fruits, bananas were especially protective. Women eating bananas four to
six times a week halved their risk of developing the disease compared to those who did
not eat this fruit. The conclusion of the study is that frequent consumption of fruits
and vegetables, especially bananas, cabbage and root vegetables, may reduce risk of
kidney cancer. This is because bananas and many root vegetables contain especially high
amounts of antioxidant phenolic compounds, while cabbage is rich in sulfur, necessary for
effective detoxification of potential carcinogens.

Blood Pressure

Bananas are extremely high in potassium (about 4673mg), yet very low in sodium (1mg),
thus having a perfect ratio for preventing high blood pressure. So much so, the US Food
and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for
the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Heartburn

Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn,
try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness

Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood-sugar levels up and avoid
morning sickness.

Smoking

Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. They contain vitamins B6 and
B12 they contain, as well as potassium and magnesium: these substances help the body
recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Ulcers

This is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicle
cases. It also helps reduce acidity and reduces irritation. Bananas stimulate the cells
on the internal stomach lining to produce a thicker mucus (which protects against acid).
Additionally, bananas contain protease inhibitors that help eliminate bacteria in
the stomach that have been pinpointed as a primary cause of ulcers.

Nerves

Bananas are high in B vitamins that have been shows to improve nerve function

Mosquito Bites

Many people report that rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite is
very effective in reducing itching and swelling

Stress Relief

Bananas are high in potassium, which helps normalize the hearthbeat and regulate the
body’s water balance. During periods of high stress, our body’s potassium levels tend to
be rapidly depleted: eating bananas is a healthy way to rebalance them without using
drugs

Stroke Risk

According to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part
of a regular diet can reduce the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%