₦airaland Forum

mikeansy: Just as we can not know by September 22nd whether we are ever at risk, we can not also know by January 2015 or possibly 2016 whether there will be Ebola again. Because you can have a target of January 2015 and someone may unfortunately enter naija with Ebola in November! What do you do in that situation? Extend school opening to Easter?

I think we must all continue to work together and tackle Ebola but if Presidency are confident or can increase Ebola watch on students returning to school may be that is the way to go!

Life has to go on!

We can't shut school forever or close market, churches, or all public gatherings!

Mikeansy the reply to your question is written in your own worlds, when you ask rhetorically whether a January 2014 resumption of schools may also be subject to change if new Ebola cases are recorded in Nigeria by November 2013. The short answer is YES, school resumptions could, in the event that Ebola persists on Nigerian soil, be postponed BEYOND January 2015, in order to safeguard the lives of children numbering in the millions nationwide.

By waiting patiently until January 2015 before schools are permitted to resume normal operations, the government would have prepared itself adequately, should there emerge a sudden need to AGAIN postpone school resumption nationwide due to yet more Ebola victims surfacing anywhere within the country. The loss of 3 or 6 months of time out of a student's academic program would be regrettable, though nowhere near as utterly tragic as would be a hasty re-opening of Nigeria's schools and universities, that is then followed by an on-campus spread of Ebola fever.

Nonybb: Pls what then is the difference between September 22 and October 13? Why extending it further? I am still asking this question because still schools MUST resume somehow or some day, what difference does it make then if we further shift it backward which is October 13?

Your question gets at the crux of the matter, and the answer is simple. The longer the time that is allowed before schools resume, the more CERTAIN it will be whether or not Ebola has been eradicated from Nigeria.

When human lives are at stake, certainty in all safety matters must be sought wherever possible. By hurriedly re-opening schools in September or October 2014, a far greater level of UNCERTAINTY will be introduced into the question of whether the virus is still being carried by a few previously unknown victims, and in that climate of uncertainty the risk of an EXPLOSION of Ebola cases will increase on school and university campuses nationwide. By waiting until January 2015 to open schools, a more accurate and reliable picture of Nigeria's Ebola status will have formed, on the basis of observed infection rates over an additional 3 months.

Governor Fashola has always been one to chart his own path, far from the docile and submissive herd, and Fashola's refusal to endanger Lagos State's children with a premature opening of schools during an epidemic outbreak is yet another example of the man's quiet resolve to do ONLY what is right in every instance.

APContherun: Exactly
One contested election only once and got elected overwhelminly while the other has been thrashed three times and is going to face the 4th.
One is a Ph.D holder an academic degree obtained after brain racking and mind tasking exercise while the other is an illiterate coup plotter.
What more can I add, the difference is clear.

An illiterate coup plotter but soon to be Sultan of the Groundnut Pyramid Caliphate, with its capital in Maiduguri.

PointB: One was growing up with friends, the other was trying to 'fit in' with leaders!

Yes, trying to fit in with an Uncle Tom smile, and STILL being ignored by the white men whose attention he seeks in vain.

Very funny. Nursing mothers trying to recapture their virginity, and refusing to believe they are now of interest only to the father of their baby.

All pregnant woman's busts will eventually sag and flatten like a pair of bathroom slippers, EVEN IF they refuse to use them to nurse their hungry babies.

The military is most unlikely to divulge factual and accurate operational details in response to reporters' questions seeking to quantify actual numbers of combatants sent to fight the wear on terror. A deliberate campaign of misinformation will be used by both sides in the ongoing conflict, in order to confuse the enemy at every opportunity, even if that means telling outright lies to the press, who will often publish such press releases knowing full well that they do NOT reflect the actual situation on the ground.

"Truth is the first casualty of war", as the old saying goes.

aderonila18: This is great news, I'm still surprised how that got that though. I mean it can't be easy to ship that in so it may have been diverted from the army. I think it's things like weapon supply chain that should be investigated inorder to stop them once and for all

Libya became a ready source of wholesale military weapons when dictator Ghadaffi fell from power, and most government armories were raided. Much of that deadly cargo filtered via Algeria to all points in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, including Nigeria.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, a land ravaged by many decades of intermittent wars without end, is also a shopping destination for shadowy international gun-runners looking for light infantry armaments ranging from container-loads of crated Kalashnikov assault rifles and Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers, to anti-personnel mines and artillery rounds, all at dirt-cheap, no-questions-asked prices.

The genie has been out of the bottle in Nigeria for a good while already, that is for sure.

Now that same anti-aircraft gun can be turned on the terrorists, after replacing ALL of the ammunition in case any of it was rigged up to explode and kill the shooter if fired by the gun.

To Nairaland writers living in the Maiduguri area of north eastern Nigeria, may I first congratulate you all on having the balls of steel that are needed to live so close to Nigeria's ground zero for terror attacks.

Cutting to the chase without further ado, what is the true state of affairs in Maiduguri and along the roads connecting that desert town with the rest of the country ?

Can you hear gunshots and explosions off in the distance ?

Is there free, unhindered passage for vehicular traffic along the highways in and out of Maiduguri ?

Can you hear or see military aircraft circling overhead, or off in the distance ?

Do you notice any change in the tone of local radio broadcasts ?

Have you noticed any sudden change in the number of trucks on the highways, and the number conveying groups of soldiers or "civilian" men ?

is there any noticeable change in the number of military check-points, and in the general demeanor of the troops posted to check vehicles ?

Inquiring minds want to know the answers to these urgent questions.

Firefire: STOP from that place you are going!

Don't become VIOLENT because of Buhari.

Jonathan is the best to happen to FREE & FAIR ELECTION in Nigeria

Where your vote count!

ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN, ONE YOUTH, ONE VOTE.

Oracle don answer, say make you read am.

Any medical "doctor" claiming to have made treatment discoveries by way of "divine revelation", and NOT by any recognized clinical or technological process, is, simply put, a quack and an impostor, who should be prosecuted as a criminal for the offense of spreading false information that could divert attention of the populace from the precautions and cures that actually do work in the field.

President Jonathan must intervene in a timely fashion to save the lives of Nigeria's school children, their teachers and thus society at large, by POSTPONING the resumption of schools AND universities throughout the Nigerian federation, until January 2015 at the very earliest. The 21-day incubation period of the Ebola virus makes it an elusive, problematic and inherently dangerous illness to detect in most hospitals open to the average Nigerian, talk less of schools and universities, and therefore it would be wantonly reckless with human life to compel schools and universities to resume normal operations any earlier than January 2015, when the true fate of Nigeria with respect to the Ebola plague will be known.

The graph depicting Liberia's rate of new Ebola infections as a function of time has now assumed a classic parabolic shape indicative of exponential spread by the deadly contagion, with more than 200 Liberians infected and dead from Ebola fever over the past fortnight alone, shattering previous body-count records for similar time periods in the past. This startling development gives credence to the World Health Organisation's emergency bulletin that describes the outbreak in Liberia as being entirely "out of control", and greatly compounded by the stoppage of all passenger flights to and from that country.


If the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health insists thus far that academic sessions throughout the Nigerian federation must resume just one week later than usual, despite the ongoing Ebola scare, such an order would have to be predicated on the tenuous conclusion that deceased Liberian Ebola-warrior Mr. Sawyer was the ONLY person who may have succeeded in exporting the Ebola virus into Nigeria, over the entire period of time since the disease took hold in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That assumption on the part of the Nigerian government is a reckless one that will cost many. many lives, if the Nigerian president does not call the Ministry of Health to order, and over-rule the premature and foolhardy directive issued to universities and schools, by INSISTING that January 2015 is the very earliest date all educational institutions in the nation may resume operations.

It is better to err on the side of caution, and in so doing lose a couple of months of time, during which academic institutions are closed as a precautionary measure, than to err on the side of being cavalier with human life, by rushing to open Nigeria's schools and universities, only to witness a major outbreak of new Ebola fever infections triggered by dormitory living conditions in a forcibly opened academic institution.

donnypool: I have always respected all ladies of all tribes, race etc, but what i am getting in return is sadness.

I have decided not to get married unless she is a virgin.

Join the Boko Haram gang, and get 72 virgins

As much as anyone who wishes Africa well would crave to hear good news as a respite from the usual cascade of reports detailing an explosion in numbers of Ebola fever fatalities recorded in Liberia, declaring that Ebola has been conquered, as has been expressed by this latest Nigerian government official to do so, is at best an overly optimistic ASSUMPTION that should not have been aired to the public while suspected Ebola fever cases continue to crop up around Nigeria in a slow trickle. At worst, claiming victory in the battle to protect Nigeria from Ebola infection at this early and uncertain stage, may soon be proven by unfolding events to have been a statement of intentional and absolute falsehood.

Another profoundly flawed ASSUMPTION about Ebola fever's incursion into Nigeria's general population, is that the now infamous Mr. Sawyer, who died in a Lagos hospital of Ebola fever hours after arriving by air from the pandemic ground-zero of Liberia, was the ONLY person infected with the Ebola virus to EVER enter Nigeria since the eruption of the disease in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

The maximum three-week pathogen incubation period, before clinical symptoms manifest after the infection of a new victim by the Ebola virus, make it entirely feasible that ADDITIONAL seemingly healthy Ebola virus carriers, fleeing the mass death and anarchy in Liberia or Sierra Leone, could have traveled by road, sea or air, to Ghana and other countries en-route to a land crossing at Nigeria's national boundaries. Theoretically, a newly infected Ebola virus carrier departing Liberia immediately subsequent to getting infected, COULD, even as the virus multiplied in their body, have reached and entered Nigeria by road, by sea or by air, BEFORE anonymously falling sick and dying amid the close-quarters density of Nigeria's urban population, infecting unknown numbers before lights out.

In summary, it is WAY to soon to throw Ebola Gone parties, since it is not yet certain that Ebola IS gone for good from Nigerian shores on this 11th day of September, 2014.

joseph1832: People don't celebrate yet oh!. Even if the legalize it all over the world, Nigeria will be a different story because of these hypocritical christians and self acclaim moralist. They will mobilize and campaign against it with every muscle in their body. You guys need to hear the kind of outrageous tale these people tell about marijuana users....

Returning to reality, you are absolutely right about the fact that Nigeria will NEVER contemplate legalizing marijuana, regardless of the impressive and growing list of documented medical benefits associated with various extracts of the "devil weed". Furthermore, the prohibition of marijuana enables various law enforcement agencies to feed fat on government "illegal plant eradication" funds, while re-selling most if not all of the marijuana that they impound during raids on suppliers, as a lucrative secondary enterprise.

Regardless of whether the entire world legalizes marijuana possession and use, Nigeria will remain adamant in proving itself a self-appointed moral crusader who simply knows better than everyone in the global medical community.

noabsibot: Be carefull all of you speaking blasphemy against the man of God. Every tongue that rise against him in blasphemy shall be destroyed, every tongue that speak evil against him shall be condemed, he that course him, shall be course and bless is he that bless you. Thus says Lord

You are one arrogant prick to imagine you can hire your God as a hit-man to kill people you don't like. You can't even spell, so maybe you ought to first hire God to correct your illiterate chicken scratches, before you tell Him who you want killed.

G Brown thank you for your reply. Papi Uwa is an elder in the very white-garment miracle church attended by a trusted gardener to the third cousin of a retired customs officer who graduated from the same university that is alma-mater to the father of the junior-most wife of the spiritual adviser to Papi Wata's late uncle, who was by the way also a respected tribal chief in the southern reaches of the forest reserve close to Agbo town as you noted above, so your guess is not far from the truth.

makazona: Not totally true

Kids use public transport
Kids join mama/papa to sell after school
Kids stay around campuses(u knw what i mean)
Kids etc

The above listed situations where students and their families mingle with members of the general public are routine aspects of daily life in which participation is up to the individual, in much the same way as one is at liberty to choose whether or not to attend religious services in this time of incurable contagious disease.

Publicly notifying students nationwide to resume classes in mid-September 2014, after the end of their summer vacation, to commence living in crowded hostels, is NOT an optional suggestion, but a specific ORDER by the state, that parent's place their children into hostels where they will sleep in double-deck beads at night, while by day share bathing space, dining cutlery and school furniture with HUNDREDS of other children, EVEN AS a second case of Ebola infection among on-campus Nigerian university students has been formally announced by officials of that very same government.

The kame-kazi, do-or-die desperation of Nigeria's private school operators to open for business as usual in the early stages of a terrible, unprecedented pandemic is understandable from a purely monetary standpoint, yet is a truly abhorrent display of primal greed, selfishness and contemptuous disregard for human life by those school operators, when consideration is given to the mortal danger that would be posed to millions of school children if the opening of ALL educational institutions in Nigeria is ultimately forced through as a final and fateful government policy decision.

Eyepencil: If not for weed who knows how many jews i would have sent back to dia ancestors.

When i smoke i show mercy...jah bless

If you have to fight the urge to kill people, you have no business smoking weed. You sound like an unstable and dangerous person who should avoid non-subscription drugs of any sort, lest you come unhinged and go on a rampage some day.

Despite this frightening development, private school owners in Nigeria have pooled money to bribe government officials in order that they allow schools nationwide to resume DESPITE the REAL risk of a veritable explosion in the number of Ebola infections recorded nationwide, caused DIRECTLY by the close-proximity living conditions that exist in schools.

Keep Nigeria's schools CLOSED until further notice, to save Nigeria's children from Ebola infection. The Ebola epidemic has NOT been "contained" by any stretch of the imagination.

FrankC3: The anti EVD campaign in Nigeria is being technically coordinated by Dr Faisal Shuaib. Dr Shuaib is the real definition of expert in public health at the highest and best level and he stands to be acclaimed for his efforts that has seen Nigeria recording the lowest mortality rate of this disease in recent times.

Based on this good doctor's assesment and that of many other supporting unsung anti ebola heroes, the Ministry of Health was advised on school resumption date. The NMA that was actually on strike until the outbreak was comfortable contained came out to dish out political statements contradicting this advise.

One thing is obvious, Nigeria's handling of the EVD outbreak can be described as near excellent and NMA, House of Reps and folks like them are not the reasons for this level success. The EVD control centre that is being run by the Ministry of Health through the likes of Dr Faisal and other dedicated Nigerians are the ones that has brought us this far. We should stick to their working formula!!

What is the upshot of the above paragraphs ? Are you claiming absolute confidence in the pronouncements of bribe-taking government officials who are expressing the bizarre opinion, at this very early stage of the Ebola incursion into Nigeria, that an entire nation's school children should be used as guinea pigs to measure the rate at which this incurable disease spreads in school dormitories, hostels and classrooms?

gbrown: Call it weed,Indian hemp,marijuana,kube or Igbo,brothers and sisters run away from Igbo( weed) the first time I smoked the devils weed at hall 2 in the university of Benin,I began to see visions of my late grand mum,I had two line of thoughts ,the dominant line of thought was urging me to jump from a three storey building down that nothing would happen to me,I had persistent electric shocks from my leg to my head,thank GOD I had friends who prevented me from jumping,my brain was in a turmoil, at a stage i went to my elder sisters hostel thank GOD i met her absence,i was going to tell her that i have gone bad that she should take me to the hospital, i still remember my friend linda,who greeted me in my weed( igbo) induced state ,it took me more than five minutes to comprehend linda,s greetings and greet her back, my mind was foggy,my vision was blurred, I left campus for home that night, entering my house was a big problem cos I was walking in a peculiar way, my head was tilted to one said,cos if I walk straight I will be hearing sound like a gush of wind deep inside my head,laying on my bed the entire ceiling was spinning round,it took me about a week to recover,one would have thought with this experience I will leave weed,I plunged deep into it, I was always looking unkept,sick,temperamental,disillusioned, absentminded and a load of shit,brothers and sisters please run away from weed, my elder brothers friend is raving mad in Benin city as a result of weed(Igbo)smoking

Surrender yourself to the nearest lunatic asylum for observation under safe custody, G.Brown. The symptoms you describe cannot have been produced by any known variety of marijuana, hence this logical conclusion that you are mentally disturbed, and should be confined in a secure facility for your own protection, and to prevent you running amok and hurting anyone else.

A meticulous record should be kept to identify ALL Nigerian political figures and government officials who insist that schools should open despite the presence of an unchecked Ebola epidemic in the country, so that CRIMINAL liability can be assigned WHEN, and not IF, there is a mass outbreak of Ebola in one or more Nigerian schools, subsequent to all schools being reopened at the behest of government officials who have clearly pocketed cash bribes from private school owners desperate to rake in tuition fees income regardless of the danger posed to school children nationwide.

The close proximity living conditions in school dormitories, cafeterias and classrooms all amount to IDEAL conditions for a greatly accelerated spread of the Ebola virus among school children nationwide, regardless of what token "precautions" are purportedly put in place. The short-sighted noise-makers claiming that schools should be allowed to resume operations DESPITE the fact that the Ebola virus is STILL claiming NEW victims in Nigeria, are all either associated with money-grubbing private school owners who have ZERO regard for human life, or are affiliated with the greedy government officials who have been BRIBED to endanger millions of children by herding them into school accommodation and classrooms where a new wider explosion of Ebola infections will be GUARANTEED.

President Jonathan MUST exercise his executive prerogative in this urgent instance, and quickly move to FORBID the premature opening of ANY educational institution until AT LEAST January 2015, so as to safeguard the lives of Nigeria's school children and university students. A three month hiatus from education amounts to a mere blink of the eye, on the time-scale of an entire human life, and schools can EASILY work to make up for lost time when the Ebola epidemic has been SEEN to have halted in Nigeria.

There is NOTHING so urgent as to be more important than the over-riding imperative to save human lives, and, if some private schools stand to go broke over a mere 3 months without income, perhaps they should not have been in operation to begin with, and should look for another line of business that does not directly impact the lives of children.

All school owners clamoring to reopen right now in Nigeria should be regarded as potential mass-murderers, and all government officials who take bribes to work on behalf of those greedy school owners should be shown the door out of government service, and then prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, for their part in the insane agitation to facilitate the spread of Ebola in exponential fashion, using the nation's schools as experimental breeding grounds for the deadly virus.

Business is booming in Akure, Ondo State, part of Nigeria's Emerald Triangle

Odunharry: BEWARE: This is what will happen the first time

That gentleman must be very high indeed, to stand obeying the red traffic light while walking along the street.

CurlieWeed will soon arrive to explain some more about this picture.

Curlieweed: The laws against the free cultivation and consumption of cannabis have no basis in logic or even common sense. We will continue ignoring these archaic and illogical laws until our government and elected representatives do the right thing and throw them into the dust heap of history.

Redundant laws like these not only restrict individual rights but because they're routinely ignored by otherwise law abiding citizens contribute to making people "hardened" and blasé towards keeping other societally beneficial laws.

Just legalize it!

Tell us about your farm, Curlie Weed mon, so I and I cyan understand better.

Tell us about that farm now man. The farm. We must hear about it.

bb6xt: I was reading this post as a guest but had to login just to like your comment. Nigeria may have had its problems but it always seemed rather suspicious to me that just after US prediction our problems suddenly grew out of proportion. If you look back to the kind of influence Nigeria wielded in Africa, to the extent of leading peace keeping missions to other African nations even without funding from the UN you will understand why America would want to weaken us. Besides it would not be the first time she tried to subjugate another nation for her self interest, take South America for example.

Most Nigerians of southern extraction especially my Christian brothers/sisters have this romantic fantasy of America being a holy loving big brother rather than the conniving, plundering bully they really are. Well, if you must know am from the middle belt and a Christian, I have nothing against Americans as a people but I take strong exception to there national politics in relation to other nations.

More irate comments from the ranks of Nigerians deported from the US, brimming with hatred for the land that rejected them summarily, and crushed that they can never return stateside for the rest of all time .

dasparrow: [size=16pt]may your entire family both immediate and extended be wiped out[/size]

Agitated subject. Possibly armed. Drapes closed at residence. Approach with caution. Apprehend alive if possible.

Ogbon400: The US IS THE MOST DECEITFUL NATION ON EARTH, BAR NONE!

They play the role of a pyromaniac fireman. One the one hand, the CIA supports the Boko Haram terrorists through their Gulf State allies (Saudi Arabia &Qatar) who provide them with weapons, funding and "war propaganda" services. Their "human rights brigades" such as Human Rights Watch and Amnestry International, often come to rescue of the Boko Hamam mercenaries, by publishing dubious reports on "the excessive force" used by the Nigerian Army whenever it inflict losses to their foot soldiers on the ground.

On the other hand they claim that they are "worried "by the growing threat posed by Boko-Haram and they want to "assist" the Nigerian military by carrying out "drone attacks" against their own "foot soldiers". The real purpose of these drone attacks is to provide real time information on the positions of the Nigerian soldiers to the Boko-Haram terrorists.

Nigeria MUST NOT PERMIT any overflight of Western military aircrafts as these planes would be gathering intelligence for the enemy.

The ranting of another frustrated Nigerian deportee from America will be ignored for what it is - hot air, with zero substance.

Nigeria is actually VERY grateful for the drones, President Obama, and all those whining about having them over are obviously in allegiance with the terror gang invading the country and seeking to convert it into a caliphate whose crude oil wealth can be stolen by Arab slave-trading masters.

May I humbly suggest that the poster of this discussion thread consider changing the title to " US Drones to Help Nigerian Military". That title change alone would drive up traffic to this topic tenfold, given the level of interest in drones, and the clean way they can be used to dispatch bad people when they least expect it.

On behalf of the entire African continent I offer a warm vote of thanks to the United States government for this late, but not too late deployment of ARMED drones who will help close the deal for most of the individuals comprising the Boko Haram terror gang's top leadership cadre, as they are located and tracked from above by the Eye that Never Blinks, during its silent adventures roaming blue skies overlooking the battle fields of northern Nigeria.

dekronik: Seems I have been vindicated. Bring those drones to sambissa now.

Suffice to say, bombs and missiles are being delivered with uncanny precision by unseen aircraft. Whether those metal birds are manned or unmanned, Nigerian-made, US-made or Israeli-made, the specific identity of the mystery aircraft matters not, provided that they are UNRELENTING as they rain down fire on invading terror gang members awaiting their heavenly rewards on the ground in northern Nigeria.