₦airaland Forum

Perhaps economic recession, rising oil prices, a global economic recession, the emergence of the Tea Party in the USA, and the USA invading Iraq and Afghanistan.

The warmer, drier conditions of El Nino have had a baleful effect on conflict in the tropics since 1950, research shows
By David Biello | August 24, 2011 |


In 1957, civil war broke out in then Burma (now Myanmar) and Oman. In 1965, similar conflicts erupted in Burundi, Chad, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Peru. In 1997, the Comoros, Congo, Eritrea, Niger and Rwanda also saw battles over national power that each killed more than 25 people. What do all these years and countries have in common? First, they are all tropical countries, strongly affected by the weather pattern known as El Niño, a warming of equatorial waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean that occurs cyclically every three to seven years and generally makes the climate hotter and drier throughout the tropics. Secondly, these were all years in which the global climate was enduring an El Niño.

In fact, research published August 24 in Nature now demonstrates a link between El Niño years and civil war in 93 tropical countries. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) "Since 1950, one out of five civil conflicts have been influenced by El Niño," says economist Solomon Hsiang of Columbia University, lead author of the research. "This represents the first major evidence that global climate is a major factor in organized patterns of violence."

Starting with data on conflicts that killed more than 25 people, as compiled by the Center for the Study of Civil War to include 175 countries and 234 civil wars in the last six decades or so, the researchers mapped out how many of these disputes occurred in years with an El Niño weather pattern. They found that the risks of civil war breaking out in a tropical country during an El Niño doubled. Then, running a comparative simulation in which such El Niño weather patterns did not occur, the researchers determined that the hotter, drier conditions helped stoke 48 civil wars that did not occur in the modeled El Nino-free world. "Even in this modern world, climate variability has an impact on the propensity of people to fight," says climate modeler Mark Cane of Columbia University. "When people get warmer than comfortable they get irritable and they are more prone to fight."

That is one hypothesis, at least, for why this effect would be seen, along with the fact that El Niño conditions are associated with declines in crop yields across the globe, which may contribute to conflict. It is also clear that El Niño alone does not inspire civil war; it just ups the risk. And it is evident that rich tropical countries, such as Australia, do not see this linkage between warmer and drier conditions and civil war. Hsiang likens the finding to ice patches on roads in winter: the ice patches increase the likelihood of car crashes, just as El Niño conditions exacerbate underlying tensions in a given society. "The state of global climate can determine whether conflict is more or less likely," he says.

That could be bad news as the global climate is changing in a generally warmer direction thanks to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. "It is frankly difficult to see why that won't carry over to a world that is disrupted by global warming," Cane says. "If these smaller, shorter-lasting and, by and large, less serious kinds of changes associated with El Niño have this effect, it is hard to imagine that the more pervasive changes that come with anthropogenic climate change are not also going to have negative effects on civil conflict.”

Certainly, history has been influenced by climate changes, ranging from the drought-driven collapse of Mayan society to the partially climate-induced rising food prices that helped to touch off the more recent "Arab spring." In fact, diminished agricultural production as a result of climate variability matches up with fluctuations in the frequency of war, mass migrations and even regime change in the historical record. "It seems to us that the climate-war association is not only valid in the past, but also valid in present days," says geographer David Zhang of the University of Hong Kong, who was not involved in this study but has analyzed world history and found linkages between war and temperature change in previous published research.

Ultimately, because El Niño patterns can be predicted as much as two years in advance, the world might have forewarning of the potential for increased conflict. "At a minimum, national governments and international institutions should be ready for such events," says economist-in-training Kyle Meng of Columbia University, who also worked on the latest study.

But Meng and Hsiang's work cannot explain the root causes of such conflicts, merely showing a correlation between the outbreak of civil war and El Niño events, so it may not prove a useful guide. "Correlation without explanation can only lead to speculation," says political scientist Halvard Buhaug of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo.

And, of course, forewarned does not mean forearmed. Researchers predicted the present famine in the Horn of Africa more than two years ago and yet nothing was done. "It was not until the famine and violence actually began that donors began supplying the resources needed," Hsiang notes.

Nonetheless, Hsiang's research does seem to show that, for the more impoverished countries of the tropics, the linkage between climate and conflict has yet to be broken—even if it may have been in richer countries that are more technologically insulated from such shocks, thanks to air conditioning, food surpluses and other signs of wealth. As Hsiang says, "In the modern world, we still depend on climate to a very large extent."


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=el-nino-found-to-influence-civil-wars

Didn't the Amalekites (including Goliath) and Assyrians boast about size and their physical strength?

As someone commented on HuffPost, "He's the Apple of my I".


Once you go mac you don't go back. I haven't looked back since.

Babangida was the head of Nigeria military junta August 1985 to November 1993. His regime organized the June 12 1993 election presumably won by late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola. The result of the election was later annulled by the same administration. He stepped in November of that year and handed power to the Ernest Shonekan led Interim National Government (ING) which lasted for only six months.

So much hypocrisy and hatred that those who have commented on this thread did not notice the ginormous errors in the report. He who has sinned not should cast the first stone.

[quote author=Negro_Ntns link=topic=733193.msg8995589#msg8995589 date=1314187693]Ifa, like scriptures, can be likened to a repository or database in which is contained the rules by which the affairs of mankind is ordered.[/quote]But aren't there updates to "fix holes" for instance the earlier use of 8 palm kernels before the use of 16?


If we migrated from the former land of Canaan, how is it that the sacrificial prescriptions ie snails, palm oil, yam etc are found in our present abode but the those mentioned in the Torah are different? Could it be that our ancestors adopted Ifa when migrating to where we are now?

A little digression perhaps: Are the people of Ibadan the Ephraimites who could not pronounce the /ʃ/ sound (as in shoe)?

.

These Vanguard Newspaper journalists did not tell us f they bothered to investigate the Chinese side of the story. Who knows if some the PHCN staff initially tried hard to frustrate the efforts of the Chinese in carrying out their work, eg access to core resources.

In the first place, what is Ifa?
Can Ifa be likened to a computer of the universe? If so, have there been frequent software (content) updates as at when needed?
In multiple births (more than two children at a time), how is it known for certain that Idowu or Alaba is not the senior instead?
What exactly is sand scooping?

How can we knock some sense into the heads of the journalists and editors at the Vanguard Newspapers for this report which in my opinion was shabby?

Also, China or no China, when are we going to take a firm stand against the Nigerian saboteurs including the PHCN junior staff who have constituted themselves as a Red Sea against Nigeria's progress? Do you remember their (labour union) seemingly foolish prayer against Prof Barth Nnaji's retention as their boss? Are we not aware of what they have been doing with the pre-paid meters?

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201107032101420
A Catholic priest who is also a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Umezinwa, has described the prayer which the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees said against former Special Adviser to the President on Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, as satanic.


The general secretary of NUEE, Joseph Ajaero, had since Friday, November 5, 2010, directed the members of the trade union to pray against Nnaji to indicate their misgivings and loss of confidence in him.


The leadership of the union had asked their members to pray that “our Father and our Lord make the pocket of Geometric Power Ltd. leak permanently and Prof. Nnaji labour in vain. Our Lord, arise and judge them by fire in your fury.”


Nnaji was allegedly hated by the union due to his resolve to implement the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 and the Road Map for Power Sector Reform which President Jonathan reportedly unveiled in Lagos last August 26.


However, Umezinwa said “it is awful, strange and, indeed, satanic that such a prayer could be said at all.”

If this were a totalitarian or communist regime then I would understand the emphasis on job creation. But, shouldn't the emphasis rather be on stimulating job creation? I want to believe that Nigerians can do without GEJ and Okonjo-Iweala, and can easily make do with a righteous atmosphere to engage in job creation and further stimulation in their own. I hope I'm not missing something here.

I once thought of looking to the Truth for inspiration concerning a Yoruba system of writing but since you have mentioned Ajami I want to learn. I read somewhere about the allegedly missing transcript - Samuel Johnson was the author and not Bishop Ajayi Crowther.


Do you think there's a possibility that the present occupants of Libya and Morocco are not the real descendants of Put?
Do you have any idea for the change of name of Mizraim to Egypt and whether that could have applied to other ancient peoples who seem to have "disappeared"?

Is it not better to use the term binary system instead of duality, with regard to creation since duality refers to equality whereas the creation narrative clearly mentions the greater and lesser e.g. Sun and Moon?


As for the Dada hair, I've been wondering whether Absalom had a sizable Afro or Dada hair because I still find it hard to imagine oyinbo hair getting stuck in a tree. The long Dada hair could easily get into knots in my opinion.

About the switch of seniority for twin delivery, I guess it is related strictly to fraternal twins. If the twins are identical would the switch still apply? Also, I don't yet know how egoistic science can observe in real time the fertilization process to see the order.

My preliminary take on the origin of Ifa is that it was in use and perhaps misused before and during the time of Noah and that blind and/or wicked people might have introduced fables and, like for Genesis 1-3, perhaps literal interpretations for allegory in some instances. I have also heard from someone who listened to an interview with Oschoffa of Celestial Church of Christ wherein he said that GOD allowed the white man to suppress the Yoruba (Hamites in general?) peoples with religion because of the wicked application of secret knowledge by the latter. Instances can be seen in accounts of the time Jesus was in Egypt (according to Thomas?), that of Moses' rod and those of the Egyptian magicians, and the stories that still abound today (Nkan n be type).

One more observation - have you considered the following verse?Genesis 25:22: And the children struggled together within her: and she said, If [it is] so, why [am] I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.
I wonder how Rebekah inquired when in the previous verse it was recorded that "Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife".

Perhaps Rebekah went to see a prophet of GOD.

I will reply in a few hours time, GOD-willing. By the way, do you have a personal blog?

That's complete nonsense. Its clear you people dont know where you're from. I thought you all said the world began at Ife? There's no proto-semitic, either you are or you're not. Some time ago one of you claim Yorubas were from an oriental background,lol. You dont know where yo're from and your so-called, Oba cant agree on that either. Seems to me you people came from different place and if thats not the case, you just dont know where you're from,period.

@Chyz*, have you considered the following Bible (Webster) verses?

Genesis 2:8 ―― And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 3:24 ―― So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Genesis 4:16 ―― And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

If the path of migration was eastward, is it illogical to therefore trace the origin in a westward path? If instead it is plausible should the claims as recorded in the Ifa literary corpus, that the present location of Ife is the point from which land was spread, not be given more attention?

By the way, Adam is said to mean "red earth" which has been associated with ochre, an earthy pigment containing ferric oxide, typically with clay, varying from light yellow to brown or red. That being said, is reddish looking soil not found in Nigeria, including Southwest Nigeria?

Furthermore, can't the so-called migration of the descendants of Noah westward said to be a journey back home, or a return to the motherland? Why do you think that Africa has long been referred to as the motherland?

@Negro_Ntns, I have two question for you and other willing people as well of which I know not yet the answer.
(1) Who are the descendants of P(h)ut and where are they today?

(2) How come the descendants (kings?) of the sons of Japheth and Shem are mentioned by their names but for those of Canaan, only 2 sons are mentioned, that is, Sidon and Heth (I wonder where they are now) but the rest are peoples (families) ― the Jebusite, the Emorite, the Girgasite, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite? Could it be that the families represented instances of multiple births (Yoruba peoples have the highest twinning rates worldwide) which resulted in multiple ruling houses for individual peoples as seen amongst Yoruba-related peoples today?
I would appreciate some logical response.

Do I sense the expressions of tribal narcissism/egoism/egomania in this thread?

It seems like these Vanguard newspaper journalists and editors need some reprogramming because their report of Prof Barth Nnaji's statements did not indicate any assertion to the effect that the Chinese firm involved were sabotaging Nigeria's efforts at improving power supply. Rather, allegations by the Olorunsogo plant CEO were alluded to. Rather, the Minister pointed to gas supply issues. Perhaps that CEO needs some thorough performance evaluation to determine whether or not he knows his onions.

Besides, the headline ignores the important detail about the economic sabotage and treason said to be perpetrated the electricity distribution companies.

SMH at Nigerian journalism and attempts at using biased reporting to sway the minds of the Nigerian populace instead of holding sacrosanct the principles of objectivity and reporting the facts.

Should I marvel at what seems to be the gullibility-tainted expressions of some of my fellow NairaLanders?

Do I sense the expressions of tribal narcissism/egoism/egomania in this thread?

Here are links for those who would like to explore further.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=better-health-for-the-uncounted

http://www.scientificamerican.com/cities/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=neuwirth-lagos-be-unlimited


[size=24pt]Lagos Be Unlimited (Video)[/size]
The people of cities such as Lagos are forging the world's urban future—messily, scrappily, but with do-it-yourself energy and entrepreneurial verve
August 18, 2011


In my article "Global Bazaar," I look at Lagos, Nigeria, a city that runs on unlimited entrepreneurial zeal. I collaborated with artist Andrea Haenggi to make the following video, which shows the neighborhoods mentioned in the article. No matter how raw, cacophonous and bewildering the city’s environment may be, its people are engaged in a super-energetic life of self-development. A dump picker moves up the recycling supply chain. A teenager sells drinking water to pay her school fees. A merchant journeys to China to supply the massive mobile phone market. A fisherman watches as his neighbors fill in the shoreline to create a road. The result is a paradox: a city that seems paralyzed by challenges where everyone is undeniably on the move. —Robert Neuwirth



I couldn't add the video but here's the embedding code
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This is the url of the video
http://bcove.me/v5e7y7oj

Lagos keeps getting global attention. What's your take on this Scientific American article? I hope there's a NairaLander who can help with full access to the article.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=global-bazaar

[size=24pt]Street Markets and Shantytowns Forge the World's Urban Future[/size]
[size=18pt]Shantytowns, favelas and jhopadpattis turn out to be places of surprising innovation[/size]

The women maneuvered their crude canoes down narrow alleys of brack­ish water. They dipped their paddles lightly, gliding slowly past scrap-built houses elevated on spindly sticks that held the structures just beyond the reach of the tide. Here and there a head popped out of one of the homes to check who or what was passing. In the small harbor where the women beached their boats, the shoreline was a work in progress. People were filling the shallows, tamping down layers of trash to reclaim solid ground from the murky brown. Nearby, under a thatched-roof pavilion on one of those pounded patches stolen from the sea, a woman lit a match and put it to a pile of wood chips and sawdust at her feet. A lazy haze of smoke rose into the dusty air.

Greetings from Makoko, one of the most notorious squatter communities in one of the most notorious cities of the world: Lagos, Nigeria—a metropolis caught in a vortex between modernity and misery. With hundreds of ATMs, scores of Internet centers and millions of mobile phones, this bustling, maddening, overjammed city of between eight million and 17 million (depending on where you draw the lines and who does the counting) is fully plugged into the global grid. A hyperentrepreneurial international trading center and the commercial capital of Africa’s most populous country, Lagos lures an estimated 600,000 new arrivals every year. Yet most neighborhoods, even some of the very best, have no water, no sewers and no electricity. Makoko—part on land, part hovering above the local lagoon—is one of the mega city’s most deprived communities.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/global-bazaar_1.jpg
Oshodi market, located at a major crossroads in the northern part of Lagos, Nigeria, was an entrepreneurial marvel—until a raid by security forces in 2009 demolished it.
Image: Stuart Franklin Magnum Photos

In Brief
One in seven people on the planet live in squatter communities or in shantytowns. More than half the work­ers of the world earn their living off the books.
These markets and neighborhoods provide housing and jobs that governments and the formal pri­vate sector fail to.
Governments need to work with these communities rather than neglect or suppress them.

The story below is for women who look out for superficial beauty over and above inner beauty

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/yl/yl23.htm


THE HEAD

THERE is a certain country where the inhabitants have heads but no bodies. The Heads move about by jumping along the ground, but they never go very far.

 One of the Heads desired to see the world, so he set out one morning secretly. When he had gone some distance, he saw an old woman looking out of the door of a hut, and he asked her if she would kindly lend him a body.

 The old woman willingly lent him the body of her slave, and the Head thanked her and went on his way.

 Later he came upon a young man sleeping under a tree, and asked him if he p. 39 would kindly lend him a pair of arms, as he did not appear to be using them. The young man agreed, and the Head thanked him and went on his way.

 Later still he reached a river-bank where fishermen sat singing and mending their cone-shaped net. The Head asked if any one of them would lend him a pair of legs, as they were all sitting and not walking. One of the fishermen agreed, and the Head thanked him and went on his way.

 But now he had legs, arms, and a body, and so appeared like any other man.

 In the evening he reached a town and saw maidens dancing while the onlookers threw coins to those they favoured. The Head threw all his coins to one of the dancers, and she so much admired his handsome form that she consented to marry him and go to live with him in his own country.

 Next day they set out, but when they came to the river-bank, the stranger took off his legs and gave them back to the fisherman. Later they reached the young p. 40 man, who still lay sleeping under the tree, and to him the Head gave back his arms. Finally they came to the cottage, where the old woman stood watching, and here the stranger gave up his body.

 When the bride saw that her husband was merely a Head, she was filled with horror, and ran away as fast as she could go.

 Now that the Head had neither body, arms, nor legs, he could not overtake her, and so lost her for ever.

Some people get mind sha!

When society tolerates pre-marital and extra-marital sex, such acts of desperation/laziness won't be surprising.

Which one come be Heebows?

Waiting for more floods
By Ogechi Ekeanyanwu
August 6, 2011 09:26PM



Bose Akinwunmi, a roadside corn seller, was angry at her friend who did not call her to find out why she was not at her stall the Monday after. But she finally narrated her ordeal to her friend, “The flood almost carried my child,” she said. “Me and my children stayed on the bed that was already soaked, to add to this pain, we did not have food in the house; we nearly died of hunger. If it was not the garri and rain water we used to soak it, the rain did not let us see food to eat.” Lisa Ikpefan had nothing but bad words for her landlord whom she blamed for not taking care of his compound to avert the flood from entering her home. “Other houses in this area (Okoya Thomas in Surulere) were saved from the flood. But this house was bad; we slept on our beds with the water moving around us. “We have lost all our electronics, worth over N500,000 and our neighbours also complained about the something,” she said.

When the rain of Sunday, July 10 started, there was no inkling that it would last the whole day, let alone leave so much pain and anguish in its wake. As the rains came in torrents, numerous lives were lost, while some properties were washed away and others damaged beyond repair. For days after, the media were awash with tales of woes and lamentations from the victims of the disaster caused by the heavy rain fall in some parts of the country. As it appeared, Lagos was hit hardest. The relatives of the people who lost their lives could hardly contain their tears; it was no less agonising for many who lost property, especially those who were rendered homeless.

More rains to come

“The house is dried now, but we are not ready to do anything about our lost property, since we don’t know when or if this kind of rain will come again,” Ms Ikpefan added, with trepidation in her tone.

This uncertainty currently plagues the mind of so many Nigerians, especially in the Southwest. It would be recalled that earlier in the year, the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) warned that 2011 would witness torrential rain falls, but no one predicted the heavy rainfall on July 10.

Since that heavy down pour, not much has been seen again in terms of rainfall, but the Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Lagos, has advised Nigerians to brace up and be on the alert for more of such occurrence. “The exact amount of the rain that fell on Sunday was meant for one month, but we had it in just a day. There was no way anyone would have prepared for such amount of rainfall,” the assistant director of the institute, Regina Folorunsho, said. But according to the NIMET, this will not happen until after the “August Break”.

The break in rainfall, according C.U. Okoloye, the deputy general manager of the Central Forecast Office of the Nigerian Metrological Agency, is called the “little dry season.” “It usually occurs between July and August when you have negative anomalies that are observed in rainfall,” Mr Okoloye said. He said that this is more pronounced in the Southwest of Nigeria and occurs as a result of “a drop in static energy over the mid-trosphere”.

“The little dry season or the “August Break” which occurs from July to August is characterised by a rain seizure, cold winds, reduced surface temperature, precipitation or rainfall in form of drizzle. This explains the colder and windier days and nights witnessed in some South South states.

In the western states, rains are not as frequent and when they come, they come in form of drizzles,” Mr Okuloye explained. He added that in the Southwest, the break in rainfall for 2011 started around the third week of July and will continue through the last week in August.

“You cannot observe these types of weather in central and northern Nigeria. What we have in these places are sporadic rainfalls and thunderstorms. But the situation will be reversed towards the last week of August, where the southern parts will witness heavy rainfalls,” Mr Okuloye said.

Mr Okuloye puts it succintly: “The flooding is not over yet”, adding that the south western states and eastern states would face the torrents and storms that will accompany the rain. The meteorologist said that in states like Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa, a condition called orographic effect will lead to “continuous slight rain” prevailing for the period of the “August Break”. But at the end of the break, Mr Okuloye warned, “The floods will come back”.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5738060-146/story.csp

But, didn't they sell their lands to outsiders for money, just like the mirror and whiskey story?

Didn't see that then; thanks.

[img]http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg&STREAMOID=nJ$aScMN_NRXhAAB_bRTGS6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxQqkzFkrxt$OwR873$Rry9bnW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-/img]

A journey of pains for a three-year-old
By Ayodele Moradeyo
August 6, 2011 09:26PM


There is probably no better word, other than miracle, to describe the survival of Oluwaferanmi Adebawo – a three-year-old child who suffered an arrow attack to his skull. His story of escape from the valley of death is trailed by mystery, despair, competent medical attention and benevolence.

It all started on October 28th, 2010, at exactly 1pm at Itedo Apostle Obinehin, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, when little Master Feranmi, who was playing with his friends, was suddenly struck by an arrow on the right side of the forehead. Although the arrow was not fired towards the playing children, it veered towards them to strike the little boy.

He was saved through surgery at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. To confirm whether the boy has fully recovered, he twice underwent medical checkup at the UCH, with the result of the latest tests showing that the operation was a success.

According to an account of the incident, a fisherman, who was infuriated by the way a pig ate his food, in annoyance threw the arrow towards the pig. However, the poisoned arrow missed its target and went straight to hit the three-year old.

Immediately the damage was done, the boy fell on the ground, shouting and rolling in his pool of blood. The incident threw the community into confusion as the youth went on rampage, calling for the head of the man at the centre of the crisis. It took the intervention of the leader of the community, Elijah Enikuomehin to pacify the youth and arrange for medical attention for the child.

Mr Enikuomehin, who is also the spiritual leader of the community, quickly moved the boy to a clinic at Okesiri, where the nurse on duty advised that the boy should be moved to Okitipupa. Without hesitation, the rescue team moved to Okitipupa where the boy was first taken to a private hospital. But the Medical Doctor also referred little Feranmi to the General Hospital at Okitipupa. It was at the General Hospital that the doctors on duty said the boy should be moved to the UCH, Ibadan.

The group rushed to the UCH, Ibadan, almost a three-hour journey; but by the time they got to Ibadan around 10pm, there was no medical practitioner to attend to them. The nurses advised that the boy had to wait till the following day for examination when the doctors resume duty.

Mr Enikuomehin said the people who followed Feranmi to the hospital could not sleep, as the boy spent the night groaning in pains. However, the following day, the doctors examined and moved the boy to the surgery unit for the operation to save his life.

It was a close thing. Though most of the villagers were skeptical about his chances of survival, the doctors were professional and summoned the courage to carry out the surgery. They were quoted to have said that the boy was being used for experiment as the operation was tricky.

Worse, the people who took the boy to the hospital did not have the funds to pay for the treatment. So, when the management of the hospital demanded for advance payment before the surgery was carried out, what came out of the mouth of those who brought the boy to the hospital was plea and assurance to pay later.

Courage and benevolence

After three hours, the medical team, headed by Dr Adeleye ,completed the surgery. It was left for the boy to summon the courage to live and for the doctors’ efforts to yield fruit.

“At this point, we began serious prayer because it was evident that if the boy fails to survive, the entire community will go up in flames,” Mr Enikuomehin said. “Tension is already heightened as the youths are ready to attack the man who threw the arrow. Since the doctors were not sure of his survival, we have no other option than to embark on serious prayers. People at home also joined us in praying for the boy’s survival. The boy was placed on oxygen guide through-out the period. It was at this point his father, Eri Adebawo arrived at the hospital in tears.” But, the boy survived. After spending three days at the intensive care unit, his condition stabilised enough for the doctors to pronounce him safe. At this period again, the hospital management demanded for the money to foot the hospital bill. And when there was no specific answer, the Chief Information Officer of UCH, Toye Akinrinlola demanded to know the boy’s state of origin and was told that the boy is an indigene of Ondo State.

Mr Akinrinlola later put a call through to state officials, informing them of the travails of the child and his lucky escape from death. The state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, backed the pledge that the state would pay for the treatment.

Mr Adebawo, father of the boy, said it was at the point of discharging him that he got the wind that the state government had already paid for the medical bill. Mr Adebawo, who said he had been wondering where he would get the huge amount of money to offset the bill, said he could not hold back his tears at Mr Mimiko’s intervention, which he described as a great surprise.

“The governor’s gesture to us is a surprise. Without knowing whether the person is actually from his state, the governor paid for the medical expenses,” he said. “He did not even see the boy. He did not use the boy’s case for his political gain up till now and the governor has not set his eyes on the boy. So we want to tell the whole world that the governor has the milk of assistance.” The lawmaker representing Ilaje State Constituency 11 in the state parliament, Gbenga Edema, was also full of praises to the state government.

“The governor demonstrated that he is the governor of everybody, both the rich and the poor, both the high and the low,” Mr Edema said. “I am happy that at the end of the day, the boy is alive. His case is mysterious, but miraculously, God saved him.”

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5738091-146/story.csp


Thank GOD for HIS mercy.