Kwame Nkrumah University, Ghana Elecct Atinuke Adebanji (Nigeria) as Vice Chancellor

Nigerian-born Prof. Atinuke Adebanji becomes Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University, Ghana 

Professor Mrs. Atinuke Olusola Adebanji has been elected as the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Ghana's second biggest university, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. She used to be the Head of Statistic and Actuarial Science Department of the institution. Atinuke Adebanji is a proactive lecturer and researcher in Statistics and Public Health who holds a PhD in Statistics and MPH (Reproductive and Public Health), with more than 17 years’ experience in Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Her research interests are Multivariate Data Analysis, Categorical Data Analysis and Development Staistics. She possesses outstanding communication, classroom management and presentation skills. She also has proven excellence in the development of strong rapport with students, colleagues, and administrators. In the course of her career, she has taught and supervised students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels within and outside Ghana.

Atinuke is an ardent believer in mentoring students and younger faculty, thus, she is also a protagonist for females in STEM which has seen her play a focal role in Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

SHOULD WE TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT BOUNDARIES?

My little niece ran into my room this morning while I was on call with a friend then the holy spirit laid it in my heart to talk to her about boundaries. There and then I told her Semilore, you must always knock on the door before coming into my room.

So as parent when is the appropriate time to start teaching our children /wards boundaries?

Honestly if you ask me it should be from day go, the bible was very clear about this, ‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ Niv (Prov22:6)

Our family wiz family a blogger observed that While it is healthy to have personal boundaries, not all personal boundaries, by definition, are healthy. In certain situations, our personal boundaries may be too rigid, preventing adaptation or personal growth. In others, they may be too open, causing us to take on more than we can handle or to be swayed too easily.

Boundaries are essentially about understanding and respecting our own needs, and being respectful and understanding of the needs of others,” explains Stephanie Dowd, PsyD, a clinicalpsychologist, “and for that to work, we need to be putting a big emphasis on helping kids develop greater empathy and self-awareness.

To teach children about what makes a health boundary parents should know how to identify the traits of unhealthy boundaries and endeavor to discipline themselves to adhere to the principles they want their children to inculcate, since children learn more through observation of the adult patterns that the adult instruction.

Your sincerely till next read
Keep raising a healthy generation while changing the narratives.
Témitope Popoola
Temiteeontop of God
temiteeontop@gmail.com

though....

THOUGHT

Thoughts are like little drops of water if not taken care of soon or immediately it becomes a mighty ocean that can sweep you off balance, and trust you, one may never be the same again if not for serious work and internationality.

Bad thoughts come subtly with no objective of being disruptive, but the moment you give it a little dwelling, it becomes real and you envisioned it, reason it, and care not taken, execute it.

Also, Good thought which brings happiness or takes you to a happy place drop too, and your dwelling on them brings illumination to your life.

"Deut.30.19 - I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;"

Please meditate more on the word of God and the good thought that comes and I bet you the bad thoughts will have no place. This brings you to a place of self-love and control of emotions.

"Phil.4.8 - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."

Olayemi Dorcas Enlighten.

Marriage counselor/Therapist.

Clarity Counselor.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN DO BEHIND YOU

USIFO VS CHIDINMA

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN DO BEHIND YOU?

JUST BE GRATEFUL AND THANKFUL TO GOD…

I have carefully followed the commentaries' post-the-dreadful alleged murder of Usifo by a 21- year old female student of that fine school, Unilag. Many of those comments accused the girl and some of her victim. 

But what looks like some clarity is coming from the cloudy situation. It’s beginning to look like the young lady might not have worked alone and was a bit practiced in the act. The police hopefully will unravel the details. 

Now to part of my point. Let no one older than this girl act as if she did anything new. She didn’t. A lot of terrible things have always happened. Sadly. Let me share a few using my life. 

I attended a school set up by Americans and Canadians and the Western Regional government. Trust me we were very free, spoiled, indulged, a very liberal environment. Clothes laundered for us. Cafeteria systems like Unis. Socials and dancing till the wee hours. Sometimes Greyhound buses were brought in to take us to Ibadan and Lagos during holidays. Ask anyone who ever attended the Comprehensive High School Ayetoro. We were brought up as if the school was in the US or Canada. 

Why am I starting from here? The liberal environment helped produce brilliant students. Many have excelled nationally and globally. But it had a flip side. Liberty was abused by many students. By my form 4 I was smoking. Skipping classes, against regulations, going to town at night to eat. Hanging out in our “gangway” with girls, and I assure you we were not discussing academic issues. I first tasted marijuana during that period. We even left school for Lagos to be at Fela’s shrine. I was between 14 and 15. Prostitutes. Yes. 

From here I moved to the Polytechnic Ibadan for A levels and “improved” liberty and of course abuse. Openly drinking and smoking and being treated like adults. Let me save you the details. Of course, more drugs and a few ambitious friends used the Bible page as Rizla for smoking marijuana because it was light. Believe. 

Then on to Unilag. And I stepped up in liberty and freedom. Again more drinks. More drugs. More female relationships. Skipping lectures and tutorials. But passing. And gambling. My room in part 3 was one of the two “authorized” gambling joints in Unilag. R008. New Hall. Gambling from 4pm to 7am the next day almost daily. 

NYSC. Awesome. No control at all. More recklessness. Just imagine it. We did all and more. Then I started work 1982 and sobered a bit. But Shrine, smoking, etc continued. Small drugs too. Then all ended in 1987. I met Christ. 

Now, where am I going? Between Compro and NYSC I could have missed it. Some of my friends and mates did. Became addicts. Failed exams. No progress. Etc. Forgotten. 

But God was merciful. Our parents and guardians were good. Just as Chidinma’s parents have been. But my parents had no idea what I was doing in those days. I was gentle at home. Possibly what Chidinma is also. Quiet and well-behaved. At home. Like me. Possibly like you. But see what has happened. 

Folks let’s always thank God for His Grace. I see a lot of people condemning the girl etc. And you are right. BUT HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE DOING WHEN YOU ARE NOT THERE OR WHILE YOU ARE NOT LOOKING THAT WAY? Do you know and trust your children well enough? 

Chidinma’s case is sad. It’s the failure of society and the system. Usifo an older man doing wrong things with a girl young enough to be her daughter. Many do this. Many are condemning her. No one knows how and when she derailed. It’s a sad case and I pray God will have mercy on her. 

It’s not the time to point fingers and recklessly condemn. It’s time for sober introspection about our society. Our youths. Our families. Our nation.  we need to ask valid questions about what is going on under our very own noses that we can't smell and what can we do to right this parenting error and this vice that sat among us like a son of the soil. It's Chidinma today and of course, Usifo is gone, it looks ok because its the adult that died, what about the many young girls who died in such situations and were swept under the carpets, or the man who died and such killings never get to the pages of our dailies? we need to up our games to rescue the future

May the Lord help us. May the Lord have mercy on us all. Amen. 

original story

LA

Orignally Written by Lolu Akinwunmi

Group executive chairman prima-garnet

 updated by Temitope Popoola

Morality VS Reality... How Nigerian Political Elected Governor Dish out Honors.

Morality VS Reality...

What informs our sense of  choice, what do we dubbed reality and what is really moral,

So again why do we vote for the people we vote for?

All this guestions bothered down to the vivid issues we face on daily basis and who  when left at the realm of afair . Sincerely the mathematics is adding up,

A Beyelsa Man wrote...

The young lady with white is a first class graduate of the Niger Delta university faculty of law as well as a first class graduate Nigeria law school, she was not honored by her state

The half naked girl with black is a third class graduate of Big Brother Nigeria, she was given a state reception and was also honored with an appointment and also declared role model to the Bayelsa state girl child (the face of the Bayelsa girl child) 

Before I forget, Let me state it clear here that she can't be the face of my girl child

Congratulations to our lawyer, the true face of the Bayelsa girl child.

 

Published as seen on the wall of 

Maxi Bosco Anaracha

On facebook

Disinformation, Misinformation and Social Media RegulationWe suggest PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE measures are adopted - The Nigerian Global Affairs Council (NIGAC)

Disinformation, Misinformation and Social Media Regulation

We suggest PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE measures are adopted - The Nigerian Global Affairs Council (NIGAC)

_____________________________

The Nigerian Ruling Class have a natural tendency to punish or create punitive measures to counter what they term 'BAD BEHAVIOUR' - Often times, when you seek to look deeper, you mostly see that these proposals for punitive measures are mostly introduced when their desire or freedom to not be held accountable is threatened.

In Nigeria, the problem of Misinformation is larger than the issue of Disinformation - Misinformation often emanates from willful or unwilful ignorance or simply put - PURE LAZINESS on the path of those who consume information to verify an Information they have consumed before sharing publicly, in some cases, you might even verify but see that the misinformation is so widespread that it becomes difficult to know what is legit or valid information. 

Often times, Misinformation Campaigns are targeted at Individuals who naturally don't process information they consume, the results isn't usually disastrous other than having an ignorant population.

Whereas, Disinformation is intentionally propagated to cause chaos, harm and unrest - disinformation campaigns are more targeted and better organized. Disinformation Campaigns usually lead to Political Upheavals and if not contained immediately, can even lead to the ouster of a democratic Government, often times, foreign influence and players using digital and traditional media tools are the means via which a disinformation campaign can occur.

On the other hand, Misinformation campaigns are limited to social media and often times, so disorganized because they are flippantly shared by those who don't process information, it is more difficult to tackle because it doesn't have an end-game, it is just a long-term condition that keeps people uninformed about the true state of affairs or happenings but this can be corrected immediately if other valid facts are provided from a trusted source.

I have drawn this analysis to let us understand what Nigeria suffers from is a SITUATION OF MISINFORMATION.

To tackle this issue of MISINFORMATION, Government does not need to enact a NEW SOCIAL MEDIA REGULATION BILL, it only needs to be PROACTIVE through its assigned AGENCIES like the National ORIENTATION AGENCY, National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communication Commission.

The Federal Government needs to LAUNCH a counter-offensive on MISINFORMATION via MASSIVE CAMPAIGN on FAKE NEWS and MISINFORMATION where it gets to educate the citizens on how to verify fake and real news, the dangers of sharing information that can't be verified or authenticated and most importantly, taking PROACTIVE measures to RECRUIT Social Media Influencers as Brand Ambassadors to COUNTER Fake NEWS and Misinformation. Government should not hound them.

No Law or Regulation can STOP MISINFORMATION as it is mostly targeted at the IGNORANT and those who are MENTALLY LAZY - in such cases, it is more about the mindset and attitude and that can only be changed through PROACTIVE MEASURES - Our Federal Government needs to activate its mechanisms and make this a PRIORITY rather than promoting the need for a NEEDLESS Social Media Regulation Law.

Our Federal Government can also work with LOCAL Media Organizations and Social Media Companies with active followings in Nigeria to ensure it has a coordinated way to stop misinformation campaigns on social media, this is similar to what Facebook and Twitter has done with the CORONAVIRUS and U.S 2020 Elections.

Lastly, yes, we support the fact that disinformation campaigns should be made a TREASONABLE OFFENSE as those who carry out such CAMPAIGNS are AGENTS of INSTABILITY.

We are willing and open to collaborations with the Government, Private Sector and Development Partners in designing a Counter-OFFENSIVE Policy on Fake News and Misinformation which can be targeted at Nigerians starting from our Secondary School Students down to our Adult Population. Send us your thoughts, ideas or you can reach us via email  - elda@nigac.org

This piece is written by EldaDavid Kehinde Samuel, Elda resides in Lagos, Nigeria. Elda is a Resident Policy Fellow at the Nigerian Global Affairs Council (NIGAC) - The Nigerian Global Affairs Council (NIGAC) is a Technology-based and Digital media-driven Public Policy and Evidence-based Research Think-Tank focused on Policy concerns that revolve around Governance and Public Administration within the Nigerian State and how we interact with the larger World.

My SARS experience

Ibrahim Yusuf Wrote

#ReformEntireForce#

My SARS experience:

So long as you live in Nigeria, you sure can relate with the many stories about the excesses of law enforcement officers.

Yours truly have had scuffles with these crazy characters parading themselves as law officers in the past.

My very first was when I was still in high school, somewhere in Ajegunle, an uptown district of Lagos. It was during the Ramadan fast. After the Ashamu prayers around 8pm, mom had asked me to go to Ago-Hausa to get a few condiments for the breakfast at dawn. I went to Ago-Hausa night shift market. I made my purchases alright and was about heading home when I felt a hand held my trousers. I looked back and saw some men bearing pistols. Before I could voice out my protest, the guys shoved me into a waiting van in the midst of other supposed criminals. When we arrived Ajeromi Police station, not far from the market pronto they took our statements. Our offense according to the officers was that we had gone to the neighbourhood to rape some girls who were on evening classes the previous day. 

I told them I wasn't involved. I showed them the stuffs I bought from the market but they threw them at my faces. They asked us all the young men to remove our shirts and lie our backs on the car bonnets with the engine still running. When it got to my turn, an officer asked me to stop. Subsequently, we were all requested to take our bail individually. I didn't have anything on him having used up all the money to buy stuff except one kobo coin, which I lost during the mêlée. A few guys with money bailed themselves. The rest of us, yours sincerely barely 17 years were asked to go behind the counter after taking our statements. Unfortunately, it wasn't the days of GSM. Thankfully, my dad a retired major in the Army came by around past 11pm to lodge a complain of a missing person. As soon as I saw him, I shouted for joy. Some of the officers who know my dad, stood attention while I was asked to leave with all my items returned. I even told dad my change got missing during the scuffle and he asked that it should be returned. In difference to my dad, the DPO I think gave me a 50 kobo note, which I kept in my portmanteau for weeks. Nevertheless I worked out of that station a hero. 

Another incident happened to me at Cele busstop some 12 years ago. I was waiting patiently for the bus to Oshodi when this gangly fellow accosted me one afternoon. He flashed me his ID and asked to see the content of my bag which was a laptop. I opened it up for inspection. He checked the bag with a fine tooth comb. 

By this time I was running out of patience. Seeing my countenance, he told me to provide the receipt for my laptop. 

By this time, I charged at him. "Why on earth do you think I would be going about with my laptop receipt?" 

He said he didn't care. 

So I asked him, "Officer, do you have a phone?" He said yes. The next thing I said was, "Please show me the receipt!"

He was furious. So I said, that's how ridiculous his request for my laptop receipt sounded to me too. We were both on a shouting match. I'm too stubborn to run away from such infradig on my person. As we were arguing, he brought out his handcuffs to arrest a felon. I just laughed my mirthless laughter. I removed my wrist watch and formed arms akimbo. Boy! He was sweating. I dared him to try me. 

Trust Lagos lookers, they passed stoling glances but never came around. 

He said many unprintable things, I gave it to him back in full measures. Come see hailing. 

Not satisfied, he asked for my ID card, which I supplied. He scrutinised it to no end. And wait for this, he asked me the most foolish question I have ever heard: "The Nation, is it your personal company?"

I told him, no. That I worked as a journalist there. He didn't even know what a journalist was. It was there I knew I was in a horns of a dilemma. You can't win arguments with some of these recruits or korofos if you like. 

Thankfully, Cele Police station, where he was attached was a few metres away. He said, I must follow him. 

I followed him in tow. As soon as we arrived the station, he asked me to go sit down somewhere. Walahi I busted as my adrenaline reached its boiling point. I raised all hell. I banged on the table, "Let me see the Officer in charge here." The gentleman officer, in charge heard the ruckus and he came out of the office. I told him my mind. He apologised to me profusely. We exchange contacts and I left the place. 

However, as a rule, I don't argue with law enforcement officers as much as I would love to during the wee hours because these guys are animals if you meet them in ungodly hours, they're in their elements. If you happen to meet them at such opportune time, respect yourself, play along until it's safer to demand your rights. There's no dead hero. It's better to be safe than to be sorry. That's my story!

Ibrahim Yusuf is a journalists currently with the nation, sunday desk