- ‘‘Whenever a representation acquires a sufficient affective charge, it charges all the representation associated with it, creating a vast complex. Or simply put, the more powerful the emotion, the wider the ring of association included in the complex’’ Basic law of psychology Definitively, the invocation of the doctrine of necessity to empower Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President and this surprising return of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s under the cover of darkness from a hospital in Saudi Arabia where he has been receiving medical attention for an undisclosed ailment on the eve of a cabinet vote which could have declared him medi…

The World Health Organization is calling upon countries to enact enforceable policies that would severely restrict public showing of movies with smoking scenes. The UN agency said it entices the youths to grow the urge to smoke. - A report from WHO recommended that all future movies with scenes of smoking should be given an adult rating. Studies show that smoking continues to permeate movies, including those rated as suitable for youth. AfricaNews reporter said the policies recommended would help ensure that movies that are marketed to youth do not include tobacco imagery. "Voluntary agreements to limit smoking in movies have not and cannot work," the report said. It added: &quo…

- -ON TOBACCO PACKS The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) has urged African governments to emulate the example of Mauritius in implementing Article 11 of the World Health Organisation’s Framework on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which requires pictorial health warnings and messages on every pack of cigarette. Mauritius recently ordered that every pack of cigarette should carry pictorial warnings occupying not less than 65 per cent of the display area . This will make it compulsory for tobacco manufacturers to print clear pictures of health hazards caused by smoking on the packs. ATCRI in a statement said Mauritius has shown a clear example of how to implement Arti…

- The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, has been announced as one of four awardees of the 2009 Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control. “I applaud the award recipients for their extraordinary commitment to confront the tobacco epidemic – the most important public health effort of out time.” said Michael R. Bloomberg. Each award winner received a grant of $100,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies to intensify their work in tobacco control. Nominations and selection for the Bloomberg Awards for Global Tobacco Control were completed by a panel of international experts. The awards for excellence in monitoring and publicizing tobacco industry activit…

- The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria and over 30 other civil society groups in Nigeria have alleged as illegal the approval by the Federal Government for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, United States, to conduct field-testing of a genetically modified cassava christened “Super Cassava”. ERA/FoEN’s position is premised on the recently reported approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) for the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, to go ahead with plans to conduct “contained” field trials of genetically-modified cassava on the banks of the Qua Iboe River, Abia State. “The NBC has no power to…

New and strong guidelines to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty has been reached by the 160 COP3 countries meeting in Durban. - Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), has been systematically obstructed by big tobacco firms. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smoke-free legislation, and using so-called “corporate social responsibility” to circumvent adv…

- Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Nnimmo Bassey has been elected chairperson of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), the largest grassroots environmental movement with members and associates from 77 countries of the world. Bassey, 50, was elected as FoEI chairperson at the Biennial General Meeting of the organisation held at Piliguin, Honduras on November 10-15, 2008. This is the first time an African is elected to chair the federation in its 40 years history. In a speech after the election, Bassey paid tribute to Meena Raman, immediate past chairperson of FoEI, describing her four-year term as an exemplary one which…

- Countries in the third Conference of the Parties (COP3) in Durban, South Africa are expected to approve guidelines today that will help ensure more comprehensive ad bans across the globe. A decision is also expected on just how aggressive the international community will be in rooting out industry interference in their health policies. These decisions are part of the global tobacco treaty meetings occurring this week in South Africa. To date 160 countries, representing 85 percent of the world’s population, have ratified the first global public health and corporate accountability treaty. Ever since the treaty’s ratification, countries have struggled to implement new health…

Food is a mystery. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we have to depend on just one food item without the hope that there are other varieties to meet our nutritional or cultural needs. In this context, the process of time spent waiting for its season can seem forever. - Beginning from the preparation of a piece of land for farming, planting of chosen seeds and the time of harvest; the journey of a single corn seed before it will become a loaf of bread portend so much education on the significance of food. Yet, that our existence depends solely on the sustaining nutritional derive from food of all kinds is undoubted. A seed of corn goes through a fundamental process before it beco…

- International leaders in cancer and tobacco control have announced the launch of an unprecedented multinational effort to promote more aggressive tobacco control measures across sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) is design to promote the adoption, implementation and enforcement of effective in-country tobacco control policies, legislation and programmes. ATCRI is being supported by Cancer Research UK and American Cancer Society (ACS) and will be hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN). The Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Nnimmo Bassey, said “This is an important and long-overdue initiative”. T…

Nigeria is leading representatives of 160 ratifying countries currently meeting in Durban, South Africa to negotiate guidelines for a provision in the global tobacco treaty that will determine whether millions of people get the health protections guaranteed them under the treaty. - The negotiations center on the implementation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which protects the treaty and related public health policies from tobacco industry interference. “Industry interference is the number one obstacle to the implementation and enforcement of the global tobacco treaty,” said Kathy Mulvey, international policy dire…

- ERA Seeks Probe of BAT’s “ Smoking” Parties The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) yesterday urged the federal government to investigate on-going ‘Experience Freshness’ secret parties being organised by the British American Tobacco Nigeria to promote its Pall Mall cigarette brand. It said the parties were being used to induce under-age persons into smoking. ERA/FoEN, in a statement issued in Lagos, alleged that BAT has staged the "smoking" parties secretly in Sokoto, Kano, Ilorin, Ibadan while the most recent was held at Gateway Hotel, Kuto, Abeokuta on Wednesday, August alleging that the tobacco company has conc…

- A Nigerian political group in the diaspora has expressed support for the embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole who has been in the eye of the storm. Germany-based International Association for Democracy in Nigeria (IADN) called on members of the House not to throw the legislative chamber into chaos but to join hands with the Speaker in his “constructive legislative agenda”. In a statement jointly signed by Engr. Femi Awoniyi, Alhaji Monsuru Adelekan and Mr Saheed Olanrewaju, the IADN said any attempts to impeach the Speaker for trivial reasons would not portray a good image of the country and would in fact discourage foreign investment in the…

- A Nigerian political group in the diaspora has expressed support for the embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole who has been in the eye of the storm. Germany-based International Association for Democracy in Nigeria (IADN) called on members of the House not to throw the legislative chamber into chaos but to join hands with the Speaker in his “constructive legislative agenda”. In a statement jointly signed by Engr. Femi Awoniyi, Alhaji Monsuru Adelekan and Mr Saheed Olanrewaju, the IADN said any attempts to impeach the Speaker for trivial reasons would not portray a good image of the country and would in fact discourage foreign investment in the…

- Examining the fate of Nigerians in the recent South Africa Xenophobic reaction. The gory picture in the media about the recent South Africa Xenophobic reaction reveals a society gone out of order. The kind of treatment meted out to fellow Africans and especially Nigerians stand condemned in the light of any justification by these erratic youths. With the recent escalation, this reaction has now gone out of hand. Governments of nation whose citizens were mobbed and killed must rise in unison to curtail this menace. The manner of it especially against the Nigerians is completely unacceptable. Nigerian government need to rise to the occasion and take action. We must condemn it in its en…

- When two individuals of male and female sexes reach the climax of their initial attraction cycle i.e. courtship, the relationship is consummated in a contractual arrangement called - Marriage. A wedding ceremony therefore is one conducted to unify these two as couple i.e. a husband and a wife. From this point on, the couples are said to be married i.e. have an agreement to remain for each other. However, the most unique aspect of a wedding ceremony is not the cutting of the cake or the entertainment of the friends and family in attendance. What is paramount is the exchange of vows i.e. an oath, exchange between the partners to live by the profession of love for each other till death. Un…

An idea without any external influence is unrealistic. - Whether we admit it or not, all ideas (past and present) have their influences. Though we tend to think that everything created is original and by that we imply the absence of influences. This is unrealistic. A keen observer of the world around us would be quick to know that there is just so much to talk about, sing about and write about. The creation itself is inspiring. A single thought that caught the curious gaze of a writer can appeal to the lyrical mind of the musician to produce an evergreen album. The same can strike the inventive mind of another curious wiz to produce the needed solution to world energy crisis. Yet, it…

- Affinity for entertainment and leisure coupled with the proliferation of radio stations in recent past have opened the frontier for a new brand of professionals proudly referred as DJ. Abbreviated from disc jockey; a DJ is the one who plays records and talks about music on the radio or in a club. A DJ's job is more than maintaining your emotional current and making sure you have the right dosage of good music and razzmatazz dispense at the right time. If our experience of their necessity is anything to go by, it wouldn't be out of order to conclude the profession would keep attracting disciples in years to come. And less than the time it took us to appreciate their worth, the…

Transportation in Nigeria is not without its high price on the commuters. Whether it's intercity or within, there are many challenges one faces transiting from one point to another. Sometimes and unfortunately, innocent commuters get to pay with their lives for this carelessness. - Transportation in Nigeria is not without its high price on the commuters. Whether it's intercity or within, there are many challenges one faces transiting from one point to another. The prices differs and depending on individual's experiences. A sudden hike in fare, conductor's molestation, getting dirty-up by workmen without overall, inhaling free carbon-monoxide from ramshackle buses and publ…

- A new formula of making money without sweating has been discovered in Nigeria and believe it or not, it is as simple as making you laugh. Pardon my indulgence; I never consulted with any of these guys before writing this story. This apology is especially for those writers who preach strict adherence to ethics. This piece came to me with such an ease that I even forgot to take my lunch. Anyway, it’s all about the ladies and gentlemen we called comedians. Let’s start with a working definition. Comedy is an act intended to make other laugh and people who make other laugh are definitely gifted with great healing powers for the mind and soul. It is a special privilege to be able…

- The staggering number of sliced and peppered smoked beef spots in almost every Nigerian community is first an indication of the people’s penchant for ‘Suya’ as it is called. It is also a reminder of the ancient art of meat slicing and preservation as practiced by the progenitor of the people occupying the nation’s northern fringe. Owing to the nomadic life of the people of the Northern Nigeria; travelling for days with their animals requires a whole lot of preservation skill. Food and water for the keepers are kept in lieu of the eventuality of long grassing. Some of the animals too apart been sold ended been skinned for leather while the beef and other eatable p…

- This relevance should assuage any concern nurse by the Nigerian music business stakeholders about what is wrong with the present state of affair.Music from this part of the world once ruled the continent’s air waves alongside music from East and the Southern Africa. Those golden days made Nigerian music a force to be reckoned with before the sudden depression into chaos. Ironically, the socio-economic and political landscape too was in some sort of a coma and it would require just that ‘climatic conditioning’ for the Nigerian songbirds to make their music. And so, youths in their thousands seize the unfortunate scenario to air their views, discontent and hopes using…

Business ethics often conflict with that of the pleasure principle. Yet both are an aspect of our life. This distinction can sometimes be confusing without a conscious effort to define the borderline. - -Understanding the borderline. Business and Pleasure are two different aspect of our life. Or isn’t that the reason why the saying goes ‘business before pleasure’? This conclusion arouse from the recognition that the business ethics often conflict with that of the pleasure principle. Thus, we make it a duty to separate between the two. Yet for some, the distinction can sometimes be confusing without a conscious effort to define the borderline. Let’s start with…

- Christmas is a wonderful time of year to relax with family and rejoice with friends. It’s a holiday time to unwind but it’s usually filled with stress owing to the numerous activities. In order to enjoy it, it is important to take time to actually understand what the true meaning of the season is and plan ahead. The birth of Christ is the reason for the season and it is symbolic of God’s gift to the world. In other word, God gave what he had. As you go about planning for the celebration it is important to remember this underlying truth and avoid over-spending. One of the biggest stressors is how to allocate money to meet all the things you want to do. Therefore it i…

- The importance of establishing a good career have moved from a non-existing or subordinate priority to been the first. Those seeking a fulfilling and an interesting life, a financial independence and security, and even a qualitative personal relationship are finding the paying the price of building a career a worthwhile sacrifice. No longer is it fashionable to rely on another person’s occupation and business ingenuity to guarantee you with a lifelong livelihood or of the things you need to materialise as a functional member of the human society. More than what existed before, the appreciation of innate skills is gaining acceptance alongside professional certification for most wor…