₦airaland Forum

You gotta luv HRH SLS. Miss those bow ties

UNIMAIDTH is conspicuously missing, one of the very best before the BH ran down the city. UNILORINTH is very good too.

gratiaeo: All Progressives Congress members of the House of Representatives have staged a walkout on the House following a stalled debate on the controversial $9.3m seized last week by the South African Government.

A private jet with three people from Nigeria, including an Israeli, ‎conveyed the money, said to have been intended for the procurement of arms and ammunition to South Africa.

Members bid to debate the motion on Tuesday but it failed after a voice vote called by the presiding Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, went in favour of the majority, who opposed the debate.

APC members immediately began walking out on the House.

More details later…
http://www.punchng.com/news/9-3m-apc-reps-walk-out-during-house-debate/

Another useless reportage that cannot as little as convey the basic essence of what the debate was all about concerning the arms purchase. It would have lent credence to what the walkout was about.
What can we do correctly?

UNILORIN again and again!

That's the product of focused leadership. Any State/LGA can achieve same feat. Just some focused leadership. Infact, Unilorin would have achieved a lot more but for the set-back when Prof "Go-slow" Amali took over as VC in 2002.

I pray Nigeria gets it right come 2015. The over-celebrated Dubai started its raise to greatness just about when PDP took over in 1999. The stories are entirely different today.

Better by far!

Johnnyessence: was it not d APC that's challenging d PDP candidate victory giving judgement they now send thugs to disrupt d court case activities instead of them to be technical in handling their case very well they now used thugs to disrupt peace in the court of law.

Always read the story and get the information right. Please re-read! You got the emboldened wrong.

Ajaokuta was producing rods as far back as 1990. I can vividly recall. The takeover SOLGAS during Obj's govt, ill-advised by the US and IMF caused a major set-back. SOLGAS came out months after the take-over to bolster IMF's opinion that it is not viable and will rather focus on the power generation units to supply up to 400MW into the National Grid.
The reversal of the earlier transaction and handover to a Russian-owned Ukrainian company stirred another diplomatic upheavals and the deal got frustrated.
It's worthy of note that the company construction was by a Russian firm (can't recall the name now).
It's really great the firm is picking it's pieces. Well done GEJ!

xxxoladevoxxx: it seems like d most corrupt cos its d only regime that gave d masses to say what they want, curses, abuses, etc...only a few cud try that in previous administrations. we shud be grateful that we have such power given to us from such a clueless and retard3d man.

I read amnesia!
When people reeled at jokes and insults sprung at Baba Iyabo, where were you? He (Obj) was a comedian's best idea of gaffe! Hope you were old enough to remember Fawehini's descriptive of Obj as "crude, and absolutely lacking in ethical finesse"
Then came sickly Umya who is poor state of health did not save him from commentators' salvo of insults.
GEJ is no firster. He certainly is no better!

[size=32pt]THIS IS MERE STEALING NAH![/size]

Unionised: No Sir!

I choose LIAR Mohammed

Well you can chose not to listen to Lai Mohammed. He merely represents a group.

But those 3 represent the executive power voted in by the masses. They are responsible to us!

brainpower: People will always believe what they want to believe. Who is the current president of South Africa? Where is he sitted in that first picture? Is it possible that he will be sitting behing when GEJ and others are sitting comfortably? I believe this picture isn't a recent picture. But its normal for everyone to conclude cos at the end we see what we want to see. And the OP of this thread will probably be dancing and wondering how stupid some nairalnders are and that's APC's pattern, they know Nigerians are nt enlightened and therefore don't verify any lie they spew but the question that shld be on our lips is this, if GEJ is removed will Nigeria sincerely be better with these people in charge? And the sheriff man jas not been convicted of the crime. Buhari has also been accused of sponsoring boko haram and according to the interview the Opposition is strongly behind boko haram and yet nobody is talking about that. Hypocrites

The pictures were interestingly posted by Reuben Abati on his Twitter TL. The pictures were taken at State visit to President Idris Derby's Chad. Part of regional effort to "find solution" to protracted insurgency in Nigeria. Yes! In company of the master suspect.
Waiting for you to tell me it's a sting bait for Sheriff!

ayukdaboss: When Fashola reduced the school fees of LASU, you PDP mongers took to the internet stating that it was propaganda ahead of 2015 elections.

Now you claim GEJ is working because a railway project has just been announced which we both sincerely know 'might' never be completed?

Talk about "political sentiments".

It will not be started you mean?

XketchDesigns: this is a very simple question, but so far everybody has avoided answering it. Beating around!
Just goes to show how much sentiment and bigotry has eating up the minds and thinking of Nigerians.

Spot On!
If the above had been labelled:
1. PDP loudmouths would have blocked the media with expository renditions
2. Marilyn Ogar would have played an alluring picture of how the investigation was done
3. Noisy Elrufai would have been reduced to a whimper, prolly hiding to avoid arrest
4. APC's Lai Muhammed would have prepared rejoinders
5. Southern tribal, ethnic groups would have called for their heads. Some call for secession!
6. Keyamo/Falana would suggested the ICC take over
7. Nairalanders would have uncovered their long-forgotten lexical qualification of derogation.
8. Their caricatures would be dps, screen savers and social media BCs
9. Their words would hold no weight
10. Sadly, i'm afraid Hippy CAN Prez will light the match of conflagration
11. Jonathan will above all tread carefully! Trust him not to be hasty!

omoredia: ^awesome offer

Rule 1: Use simple, chewable email addresses for business contact, not sentences!

gists: What you wrote makes absolutely no sense and totaly against my position. I cannot say yes to something I campeign against and do not believe in and which is also an algation you have not proven.

You ignoramously said boko haram issue is makin gudluk regime to be slow thus prevnting/slowing economic transformation. let me ask you how has bh activities in the rural north eastern part of the country got to do with economic development? Apart from kano and Abuja, how many major cities that really contributes massively to the economic growth of the country has boko haram disturbed so far? How many activities of the terrorist have been recorded in the commercial nerve centers of the country namely onitsha, aba, port harcour, and of course Lagos. How many boko haram activity did he face as the gov of baylsa? What economic transformation did he leave behind in bayelsa?

Who told you Buhari's regime was not equally if not more difficult? It all depends on how you handle situations. People have posted the episodes of insurgent crises during buhari's regime. The way and manner he handled it made it look like piece of cake to f00ls like you. Same goes for OBJ and Yar'Adua - the manner in which they handled it make gej the weakest/dumbest president in the world who prefers to blame the oppositon for any challenge he faces even though he has all the nation's resources under his control.

Again, since this gov is th best according to you and have achieved giant strides, I pray for you one more time: May GOD Almighty in HIS infinite power continue to make every aspect of your life which include but not limited to your finances be like Nigerian finance under gej; your health be like Nigerian health care under gej, your children education be like Nigerian education under gej, your security be like Nigerian security under gej. AMEN

Oloshi oloriburuku jati jati ikeji eranko. anumanu

Mehn...Guy you're baaaaadt oooo

PetroDolla3: Don't make definite conclusions about anything based merely on what you read online. HThe Rawlings phenomenon is much more complex that what you will get from the Internet. Yes, I am Ghanaian and I am not one of his fans, but some Ghanaians have a great deal of respect for him. so don't go spreading lies that all Ghanaians hate him because of what you read on the Internet

Thanks PetroDolla3 for some basic political class here.
Just as Nkrumah is father of independent Ghana, so is Rawlings father of modern Ghana. He saved Ghana from the brink and he's loved and respected for it.

Talking about a probe of GMB's Govt for complicity in corruption, IBB's Govt a great job of it. It needed to badly justify to the world the incarceration of GMB and his immediate aides.

The best IBB Govt came up with on corruption is the allegation that Prof Tam David-West - the erstwhile Petroleum Minister received a "bribe" (read gift) from an expatriate oil staff. It was a gold-plated Rollex Wristwatch! Prof Tam got slammed 10yrs for it. He only got freedom 7yrs later!

Non-verbatim narration from Max Siollun's "Soldiers of Fortune" - Cassava Republic Publication.

barcanista: DR. GOODLUCK EBELEMI JONATHAN
https://thenet.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/400x300xGoodluck-Jonathan.jpg.pagespeed.ic._yEfTNLjOh.jpg
ECONOMY
1. Nigeria Debt profile was cleared by the Obasanjo Administration. As at September 2010(6 Months After Jonathan ascended to power), Nigeria's Debt was $4.53 billion. As at today, Nigeria's debt stand at $66.99 billion. Yet The country still suffers High Unemployment rate and relatively lack of Infracstructure.
2.The inflation rate in Nigeria was recorded at 8.30 percent in July of 2014
3. Nigeria import-Export ratio stand at 97%-3% in favor of Import
4. Under Jonathan, Hoarding, Black market, selling above approved price eg Fuel, Gas, Kerosene etc and all.

This fact is more damning when x-rayed against the disappearance of a total of $67b from ECA and Reserves left by the Obj govt and almost totally depleted by the current govt. Interestingly, NOI has been the Finance egg-header for Nigeria for 13 out of 15.5yrs of PDP plundering rule of the nation.

Think!

The biggest disservice of GMB in my opinion was perhaps being humane when the nation least deserved it. His campaign to rid Nigeria of corruption and indiscipline was well-timed with J.J Rawlings campaign.

GMBs government magnanimously doled out prison terms and when asked why in one of his interviews said, "It is important to keep them away well enough for the society to regain its sanity". Many got as high as 100yrs. J.J Rawlings thought differently. He summarily executed all thieving kingpins of Ghana. A lot of sanity was restored in Ghana.

Perhaps Nigeria would not have evolved yet another generation of thieving public office holders, deadlier in act.

Perhaps...

Obiagelli: nice videos, thanks.

My pleasure ma'am. Too sad we've got a whole generation that does not read, i could have recommended some books too.

BrosPeter: [size=13pt]Buhari has nothing to offer…should retire says El-Rufai[/size]


The attention of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been drawn to statements from Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida purporting to be responses to the advice he gave both men to retire.

Since Babangida libelled whole generations of Nigerian youth as being unfit for leadership, age has become an issue in the coming elections. While it is true that neither youth nor age supplies wisdom on their own, it makes sense to ask those who have been recurring decimals in our country’s sorry history to leave the stage. That is all El-Rufai asked of these men who seem to think that their failure to do their best for Nigeria when they had the chance qualifies them for a return to office. Our people surely deserve better.

El-Rufai is amazed that General Buhari cannot debate this matter without scurrying to the gutter, making claims that are baseless and unsupported by any facts. Mallam El-Rufai’s tenure as FCT minister was a period of stellar performance in remaking our federal capital. Despite the difficult decisions that had to be taken to restore Abuja, Mallam El-Rufai continues to receive deserved praise and recognition for his achievements in restoring the Abuja master plan, introducing Nigeria’s first computerised land registry and helping thousands of Nigerians achieve their dreams of home ownership in the federal capital. Buhari is perhaps one of a tiny few blinded by their prejudice from recognising the quality of El Rufai’s service.

That same prejudice accounts for the baseless claims of corruption Buhari levels against El Rufai. The fact is that Mallam El-Rufai served Nigeria with integrity and has never been convicted of any corrupt act. He is boldly contesting the false charges which the Yar’Adua government filed against him in court. It is strange that a Buhari who protests when unproven claims of N2.5 billion (about US $3billion in those days!) missing oil funds are levelled against him can gleefully elevate similar claims into facts when it concerns another. How would Buhari feel if the corruption allegations made against him by Group Captain Usman Jibrin, then a board member of PTF, are today reported as if they were proven facts? So much for “corrupt background” and “shoddy performance”.

Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new.

Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.

The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day.

Mallam El-Rufai respects both Generals Buhari and Babangida as elder statesmen. He believes their age, experience and guidance may contribute to the success of any future government. El-Rufai however believes that it is time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude to move our nation forward. The vicious response by the Buhari camp to a simple statement that their almost-70 principal should retire is proof enough that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is yet to evolve. And that is sad, for his fledgling party and its leadership. Buhari and his cohorts may wish to reflect that it will take more than attacks on personalities to become electable. Having seen his version of discipline, Nigerians are not likely to cherish an encore. But they will welcome an engagement with the issues and problems of everyday life that have hobbled the peoples of this land.

Muyiwa Adekeye

http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/buhari-has-nothing-to-offer-should-retire-says-el-rufai/

Even the OP was skewed along same lines until he thought it through and analysed things more carefully.

barcanista: Like I told you, I did FURTHER research on the man Buhari which greatly influenced my Judgement.
And I still restated the Decree 4 and 2. Why not respond to the thread?

Thanks Barcanista. I think i found myself in same shoes with you. And the more i researched about the frail man, the more i respect and admire him. One of the more glaring evidence of GMB's stance as a HOS is the exerpt from Prof Aliu Mazrui's award-winning documentary - The Africans shot few months into his ascent to power in 1984. I saw it in secondary school and had always wanted to see it again. Youtube to my rescue!

Only 2 examples herein - no stories, no bullsh*t.
1. 5yrs into Shagari's rule, 20% of our total crude oil disappears under mysterious conditions. Fortunes were made by falsifying the record of crude in our reserves or reporting wrong proportion of water, the govt set up a combined team of secret policemen, petroleum officials, naval police and the army. Each watching on each other to ensure there's no fraud! This was a part of a new set of laws to restore sanity in the oil sector called "PetroCrime".
See Video below 3.10-5.15mins

2. The next scene is a popular TV advert run by the govt as part of the WAI campaign. Federal auditors were moving from one govt agency to another to audit records. There suddenly came a season of arson where public offices were bursting up in flames mysteriously. The advert message is simple ad straightforward.
"FRAUD WILL FETCH YOU A LONG SENTENCE
ARSON WILL FETCH YOU DEATH"
See Video below 5.15-5.37mins
Lest we forget, the NFF HQ only bursted into mysterious flames barely 2wks ago. The circumstances remain suspicious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbrupq6s_Rw

hardywaltz: Alams the first female Governor of Bayelsa State; shebi u think say Amaechi dey fear you?

This is one reason i respect that man called Amaechi, he will always put you in your proper place if you try to trample on him.

In civilized climes this ex-con will be too ashamed to open that his rotten mouth to talk.

Beware of how you speak of Chief Alams. Some respect please! Even Mr President calls him a mentor!

gemiclem: 1)Bought from juventus for 11
million ;was in a bad form;transformed
from a winger to a striker the greatest
PL striker -Thierry Henry
2)Bought from milan for 3.5
million;made him one of Arsenal`s
greatest captains;made him a
passionate leader-Patrick viera
3)Bought from milan for 7,5
million;was
a flop;transformed him to one of the
most skilful and talented players ever-
Dennis bergkamp
4)Was from the Barcelona
youths;made
him realise his true potential.Trans
formed him to one of the best
talented
central midfielder of his time-Cesc
fabregas
5)was from the Arsenal youths;transfor
med him to the best left back in the
Pl-
Ashley cole
6)bought from feyenoord for 2.75
millions;stayed with him alongside
even
in his injuries;gave him faith ;made
him
one of the most fierce striker of his
generation-Robin van persie
7)bought from tottenham for
free;made
him one of the best CB of his time-Sol
Campbell
criticized for only buying foreign
players ;changed his tactics ;made
wilshere,ramsey,walcott,oxlade,and
many other youths who are developing
and progressing well under his care.
this is the story of Mr Arsene
Wenger;the manager;the guardian;the
father;the rescuer;the saviour;the
creator;the main man behind the
invincibles .people call him Le
professeur;I call him
revolution .Wenger
whatever you achieved are greater
than
what you haven`t achieved.
Massive respect towards you
Hats off to you
Legendary Arsene!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF you
hate him.. You're not a gunner

You missed out Van Persie!

donwise1: Rochas has always been a lover of the poor. a good man

Yea. His displays were way back ahead of the nollywood IT students

You guys need to also try out "Dankuwa" or "Donkwa". Spicily awesome.

Fake news.

However, I've always opined that rather than allow our irresponsible Govt a $1bn security loan to be frittered on expensive champagne, let's give the sum as a security contract to Russia.

A break-down of the rising debt profile showed that Federal Government’s external and domestic debts amounted to N8.8 trillion or $57.030 billion as at the end of June 2014. Federal Government borrowing from multilateral Institutions amounted to $3.826 billion while loans from bilateral sources mainly China Exim Bank and Eurobond amounted to $2.537 billion.

This fact is more damning when x-rayed against the disappearance of a total of $67b from ECA and Reserves left by the Obj govt and almost totally depleted by the current govt. Interestingly, NOI has been the Finance egg-header for Nigeria for 13 out of 15.5yrs of pDP plundering rule of the nation.
Think!

Symphony007: Some people mumu no be small!! What concerns APC and PDP in matters of health? Or is that how partisan your brains have gotten? Zmapp has been tested on both monkeys and humans and has proved to work with side effects. Now you want the government to give this new drug that has neither been tested or has no success track record on nigerians? Do you know the side effects, you people are advocating nigerian ebola patients be used as lab rat, and when they are and there is catastrophic after effects even worse than ebola, who will help us? Who? We don't even know the name or company of this fictitious "nigerian scientist in diaspora" that sent the drug. Since we're so desperate as will try anything, why don't we get all our ebola patients into a lab and start injecting them with every chemical compound we can find. Who knows, one might work.

Thanks for this piece. At least theres's a smart head in here.
Nano-Silver had existed for several years with use in varying industries for different purposes. It was NOT discovered by a Nigerian scientist, rather it was suggested that it could be useful looking at its cream of current adaptive functions.
No record of previous tests conducted on man or animals. It would be most hasty to make guinea pigs out of our poor compatriots. It's unthinkable. We must temper exuberance with caution.

Credits: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/08/13/in_sierra_leone_an_exhausting_struggle_to_contain_ebola.html

KAILAHUN, SIERRA LEONE—The day shift at the Ebola treatment centre has barely begun when a nurse runs up to Ewenn Chenard to announce the first corpse of the day.

Chenard’s team is responsible for removing bodies from the isolation ward and the nurse stretches out her forearm, showing him the “212” she has written haphazardly on her skin. “C3. Ten years. OK?”

Such numbers and letters have become the language of death at the Médecins Sans Frontières treatment centre in Kailahun district, the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. “212” is the patient’s identification number; “C3” is the tent where Chenard will find the corpse; “ten years” — the patient’s age. Chenard will need a child-sized body bag.

Patient 212’s name is Jimmy and he is the 90th death at this centre since it opened seven weeks ago. He will not be buried today because there are already nine bodies in the morgue — one has been rotting for four days. “That is a problem,” says Sebastian Stein, who works with Chenard. “Not enough burial teams.”

This is the reality of fighting this Ebola outbreak. Too many patients, too many bodies, and not nearly enough money, people, chlorine or even ambulances to stop the dying. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

There is no great mystery in containing an Ebola outbreak; every flare-up since 1976 has been successfully quelled. But this time, the virus has slithered into a new part of Africa, gaining a foothold in large cities. Now more than 1,800 infections have been reported in four West African countries, including in their capitals; in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, there are at least 11 cases, but a treatment centre has yet to open.
This outbreak has also been a disaster of poverty, emerging in some of the world’s poorest nations.

Forty per cent of the total reported cases in this outbreak have been in Sierra Leone. Among the affected countries, it is the worst off by nearly every development measure, ranking 183 out of 187 on the Human Development Index with more than half its population living below the poverty line.

With the arrival of Ebola, an already weak health system is now buckling. “The system’s already stretched to the limit,” said Dr. Jacob Mufunda, the country’s WHO representative. “(We need) surge capacity. Not for three weeks — six months to one year, from other countries.”
If the world hadn’t noticed Sierra Leone’s struggles before, it certainly does now. Unless Ebola is defeated in the West African villages and cities seeding the outbreak, the virus will continue to be an international threat; it has already brought patients to hospitals in Spain and the United States and caused scares as close to home as Brampton.

Millions have recently been pledged toward fighting the outbreak and reinforcements are beginning to trickle in. But it’s not coming fast enough.
In Kailahun, the district with the highest number of cases in Sierra Leone, the struggle remains lonely and exhausting. The fight has largely fallen to Sierra Leoneans like Daniel James, who volunteers his days burying infected corpses, or Ahmed Lengor, paid $10 per shift to clean vomit and diarrhea teeming with virus.

Everyone is exhausted. The day after Jimmy’s death, 10 more people died at the MSF centre, sending Chenard into the isolation ward five times, even though protocols discourage more than three daily entries to avoid fatigue and mistakes.

Only four ambulances serve this district of roughly 465,000 and one pulls up with five people crammed inside — three are confirmed to have Ebola. If the other two were not already infected, and did not have protection, chances are they probably have the virus now.
And at the treatment centre, the biggest ever built by MSF, they have reached maximum capacity. More than 150 trees had to be cut to make space for what was to be a 50-bed centre. There are now 80 beds.

MSF is refusing to expand. Without additional staff and resources, patients and staff will be put at risk, says Anja Wolz, who has been running MSF’s emergency response in Kailahun. She already served Ebola missions in Guinea and Liberia when MSF asked her to come to Sierra Leone. A few days ago, she finally went home for a much-deserved break but says she expects to spend Christmas in West Africa.
With Ebola, you need to be a step ahead, she says. In Sierra Leone, they have been “two steps behind, four steps behind.”
“It’s frustrating. I’m really frustrated,” she says. “We know what to do but we don’t have the capacity to do it.”
At the MSF centre, everyone’s nightmare is what happened at the Kenema government hospital.

No MSF worker has ever died from Ebola. But in Kenema, five hours from Kailahun along a pothole-infested road, more than 20 hospital workers have died from Ebola since May 25, when the Sierra Leone outbreak was declared. Among them was Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, the country’s top expert on viral hemorrhagic fevers.

Chenard went to Kenema to help identify what went wrong. “It’s the worst place I’ve seen as an Ebola treatment centre,” says the 32-year-old Frenchman, a logistician who specializes in water and sanitation. “Take everything that you want to avoid in a treatment centre — and you are in Kenema.”

There was blood on the walls, starving patients and hygienists using water that was “brown like mud.” Health workers moved from high-risk to low-risk areas without changing clothes; “you never knew who was next to you,” Chenard says. “It could be a patient, suspected or confirmed … it could be hospital personnel.”

He recommended the hospital hire at least 46 more staff to support infection control and sanitation in its isolation ward. When he visited, there were only three.
“They don’t have the means to work properly,” he says. “It’s not like they do not try. They really try their best. But there are not enough numbers and there are not enough skills.”

There are now plans to open an isolation ward outside of Kenema, which the Red Cross will run.
At the MSF centre, built on years of experience, the rules are fastidious. There is no touching, even at the compound where staff stay, and when a visitor briefly leans against a pole, she is quickly admonished not to touch anything.

The personal protective equipment, or PPE, is your lifeline in the isolation ward and it takes 15 to 20 minutes to put on, a slow, precise process that requires a supervising hygienist who checks for gaps, tears and oversights. But when you leave the ward, it becomes your greatest threat if you don’t disrobe properly, ensuring the contaminated suit does not brush against your skin or clothes.

Since nothing leaves isolation, doctors shout their medical notes to a nurse standing on the other side of the fence. “Abdominal pain,” a doctor calls out, as a nurse scribbles. “Needs diapers.” Twice a day, waste from the contaminated area gets burned in a large pit, including the 150 Tyvek suits used daily.

The 92 hygienists — all locals — perform one of the centre’s most gruelling jobs. Among them is Ahmed Lengor, a 46-year-old who since June has walked 20 minutes from his home to the treatment centre where he is paid a daily rate of 42,000 leones, about $10. His days are filled with vomit, stool, blood and bodies — which he must clean then dispose of.
Before he started this job, Lengor enjoyed sitting in the town centre and chatting with friends and neighbours. These days, people whisper when he comes near and move away.

“I just let it go,” he says. “Whatever you think about me, I don’t care. All I know is I’m doing something for my people, to save them.”
In sleepy Kailahun town, life continues; women sell grilled corn roadside; children play in the fields; motorcycles zoom along the dusty roads, sometimes with two or three on a bike.

But all is not normal. Plastic buckets filled with chlorine water are everywhere and the local economy all but stopped after the market and only bank closed. Sierra Leoneans, prone to hugging, handholding and handshaking, keep their distance.
Last Thursday, both Kailahun and Kenema were quarantined by the military — no moving in or out. The next day, there were no admissions at the MSF centre.

“I feel more insecure when there’s zero,” Wolz said at the district health office Saturday morning, where daily Ebola meetings are being held. “Like, going from seven to zero. We need to find out why there are no new admissions.”

These daily meetings are attended every day by some 50 people — NGO workers, government officials, local chiefs — who gather to discuss the latest numbers and problems: villages that initially refused chlorine are now complaining they have none; another patient who has gone into hiding; a new rumour spreading from Nigeria that saltwater washes will ward off Ebola.

They also talk about the contact tracers, who have been charged with the most important job in stemming this outbreak — identifying every person who has contacted a patient and following them for 21 days, the maximum incubation time for the virus.
There are currently 1,264 contacts being traced across the country. In Kailahun, there are 270, currently being traced by 314 volunteers equipped with a day’s worth of training and a cellphone.

But it is obvious that contacts are being missed. There are still new cases, new deaths in the villages.
“Only yesterday, there were three community deaths; today about four to six,” Wolz said last week. “This means we are not following up. It’s not functional at all.”

Alpha Sesay is a volunteer contact tracer with the Red Cross. He is 20, polite and wears a seemingly permanent smile and a T-shirt that says, “Spread the word and not the disease. Kick Ebola out of Sierra Leone.”

Sesay’s job is to follow up on a teenage boy he has been tracking who came to Kailahun after his father died in another village. Sesay walks to the teenager’s home and asks if anyone has seen him today. A boy, maybe 6, shakes his head; the teenager’s mother also shakes her head. Everyone gathered around the home shake their heads.

Sesay has only just received the contact tracing form. He starts to fill it out but scraps it when someone points out he has written the wrong name; he pulls out another one and finally enters the answers from his previous two visits.
Did the teen have nausea or vomiting? Muscle pain? Fever? No to all of these. Sesay could only take the boy’s word. He does not use a thermometer to check for fever.

After 15 minutes, the boy still hasn’t showed. Sesay shrugs and leaves but returns later that evening, catching him this time. Any symptoms? Still no, no, no. The boy has now made it through day nine of being traced by Sesay and has 12 more to go — unless he gets sick or runs away.
Sesay doesn’t get paid for this work, which has exposed him to potential Ebola patients as well as threats from nervous townspeople.
But he won’t quit, even though his brother told him to. “I want to help,” he says brightly, with that wide smile. “So soon we can kick this Ebola virus out of this country.”

A group of glum-looking young men are sweating in a dusty lot near the centre of Kailahun, listening to a stern 20-minute lecture.
“Whatever you do today will reflect on you tomorrow,” says Eric Moosa, the district health superintendent. “If you are a hard worker, it will reflect on you in the future.” The boys stare at him in silence.

“We know it’s a risky job,” says Daniel James, a Red Cross volunteer. “But please, let’s do it from our heart.” More stares, more silence.
These boys are in their late teens and early 20s, dressed in soccer jerseys and dirty flip flops. They are the burial team and theirs is one of the most dangerous jobs in any Ebola outbreak.

Ebola is relentless. Even after it dispatches its victim, the virus will shed from the corpse, making funerals super-spreading events. Mourners often wash, touch or even embrace the bodies of their dead. Two or three weeks ago, two unsafe burials were performed in a nearby village “and then more than 30 to 35 people got infected,” says MSF’s Wolz.

Today’s lecture is in response to last week’s strike by some of the gravediggers. The boys wanted more than the monthly “incentive” of 350,000 leones, or $88, paid by the Ministry of Health. Hardly enough to make such grim and dangerous work appealing. But there are simply no other jobs in Kailahun due to the outbreak.

These boys labour in the heat in full PPEs. Sweat pours out of their boots and glasses when they take them off. The slightest mistake — a slip of the glove, a snag on a nail — could cost their life.
Their days are spent with corpses, some found lying in pools of blood. Sometimes, rigor mortis has seized the bodies and they have to wrestle with stiff limbs to fit them in the body bags.

One man told James he has nightmares of an Ebola corpse chasing him or sitting on his bed. “It was the first dead body he had seen,” James says. “Sometimes I worry when I see them doing the job because I can see they are frightened.”
James’s team heads to a village deep in the bush called Sambalu, where a death has been reported. Another team will take care of the 12 bodies waiting at the MSF morgue.

Like most days, the morning is filled with frustrating delays — the car needs fuel, they need to fetch more PPEs. Jimmy Kapetshi, a doctor from the Democratic Republic of Congo who samples suspected Ebola corpses, has yet to arrive.
At 12:30, the team finally hits a road so bumpy and treacherous that two cars wind up in a fender bender. When they reach Sambalu, Manjo Lamin is already there, a health official with the Ebola surveillance team as well as the 46th patient at the MSF centre — he was infected after poking his finger with a needle while taking a specimen.

Lamin has already done a preliminary investigation and says three men have washed the dead body. But he does not think the man died of Ebola — he was more than 100 years old and had not left the village in 20 years.
Moses Msellu, a villager, says there have been no Ebola cases in Sambalu, even though the village is a short paddle across the Mua River to Guinea, where the outbreak originated as early as December of last year.

The team gathers. Should they spend precious time burying the old man the “Ebola way”? Or appease the villagers by allowing a traditional burial?
But in this “era of Ebola,” the question “What if?” lingers. They suit up.

As they walk toward the dead man’s home, the villagers watch in silence, some snapping pictures. The team sprays everything with chlorine from tanks worn on their backs; the dirt floor outside the door, the rickety wooden bench.
In the dead man’s tiny room, goggles immediately fog up from the heat. The mood is tense and James’ voice takes on a hint of urgency. “Spray,” he commands, pointing to the walls. “Spray,” he says, pointing to a bucket. “Spray,” he says, pointing to the dead man, lying in bed beneath a thin blanket.

Kapetshi enters and carefully swabs inside the man’s mouth and nose. He takes a needle — slowly, slowly — and draws unpumped blood from the man’s heart.

The body is wrapped in a white sheet and body bagged — twice. Chlorine is sprayed after every step. They heave the corpse onto a stretcher and lay it on the ground outside so the villagers can gather and pray.
Kapetshi has seen Ebola many times and is not worried. “This is not Ebola,” he says. But even so, his entire body is disinfected before he carefully removes the suit, demanding again and again to be sprayed. His sample tubes are in a plastic bag that is sprayed, bagged again, and sprayed one more time.

The blood tests come back negative but no one feels the day was wasted. For one day, at least, there is one less “what if.”
The latest blood results have been posted: Negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative.
A commotion suddenly erupts among the staff at the MSF centre.
“Seven people cured in one day,” nurse Géraldine Bégué exclaims. “I’ve never seen it.”

Everyone is especially excited about patient “65.” Dr. Sameh Kirollos, a 30-year-old doctor from Egypt, recognizes the number immediately — Isata, a 22-month-old girl admitted on the same day Kirollos started working here two months ago.
When Isata first arrived, she was terrified, says Stein, a water and sanitation specialist. She had been confirmed positive and was supposed to stay in the high-risk isolation area, accessible only to workers clad in PPE. But the area is fenced off with only plastic orange mesh — easily escaped by a toddler crawling underneath, which is exactly what Isata did.

“She’s so small and tiny and she can hardly walk, but everyone was freaking out,” Stein says. “It was this terrible situation where they were forming a circle around her, trying to keep her there, while people were very quickly trying to put on their PPE so they could put her back.”
Such is the savagery of Ebola — even a crying toddler becomes a source of terror and cannot be comforted.
MSF staff say babies never survive Ebola but last week, Isata became the youngest patient to be discharged from the centre. Staffers stayed late and came in on their day off to watch her leave. After she was doused in chlorine, she tottered out of the isolation ward and into the open arms of the joyful nurse. Everyone cheered.

But Isata’s struggle is only just beginning. She has survived Ebola but her parents did not. Across the district, workers are looking for other children orphaned or left vulnerable by Ebola; at last count there were 82.
The consequences of this outbreak will ripple for years, says Dr. James Sylvester Squire, Kailahun’s district medical officer. There has been no school or economic activity for months and for survivors like Mamie Lebbie — the country’s first laboratory-confirmed patient and survivor — her illness prevented her from farming and she is only now ploughing her fields, while others are already growing their rice; she worries about where she will get food or money in the coming months.

“The impact is huge,” Squire says. “Even in the next two years you’ll see the effects. People have lost entire families.”
Right now, the outbreak shows no signs of slowing. The staff at the MSF centre were still celebrating Isata and the other six discharges when Wolz received some news that ambulances were on the way.
“Twelve more are coming,” she tells a staffer. He grimaces and sighs deeply, shrugs and gets back to work.

And little Tudor 8, thought the youngest of the first 3 was in tears for being the first runner-up.

Rubaiyat 11 - the second runner-up also joined in.

Eight-year-old Tudor Mendel-Idowu and his sister 11year old Hazelle Mendel-Idowu were the only Nigerian kids that took part in the child genius 2014 competition in the UK.

The competition consisted of 20 contestants between age range 7-13years and the aim was to hunt for genius children in the UK.

Hazel Mendel-Idowu was kicked out of the competition in the second round but Tudor Mendel-Idowu scaled through to the final stage and yesterday Sunday August 10,2014 emerged 2nd best.

11 year old Sharon from Bolton was the winner and Tudor Mendel-Idowu the son of Pastor and Mrs Tolu Mendel-Idowu from Nigeria emerged 2nd child genius 2014.

We say congrats for doing us proud!!!




- Source: http://www..ng/2014/08/12/nigeria-emerges-2nd-uk-child-genius-2014-competition/#sthash.u4usgqHI.dpuf