Day: December 16, 2016

FEATURES, HEALTH, LIFESTYLE December 16, 2016December 16, 2016

A DEADLY ENCOUNTER WITH BOOLI IN LAGOS – HEALTH WARNING TO ALL

By Charles Omole
On a recent trip to Lagos, I had an interesting experience which has given me a better understanding of why the mortality rate in our country is so high.

I wanted to have some roasted plantain popularly called Boli. So I sent my PA to buy three. When he returned, I decided it was not fair to eat all three by myself as we were about to embark on a journey to the other end of town.

So I gave one to my driver and one to my PA and I had the last one. About one hour into the journey, I started feeling a bit sick with serious stomach pains. But I ignored it, believing it would go away. I cut short a meeting two hour later due to the continuing pain. It was then I asked my driver and PA if they were feeling OK. To my surprise; they have both been in serious pain for over an hour but did not tell me because they knew how important the meeting I was attending was. To cut the long story short, we quickly agreed that the only thing we all had in common was the Boli we ate.

Some of my Boli was still remaining; so I gave to a friend who had a laboratory to analyse. He came back that the roasted plantain was contaminated with Calcium Carbide. I was shocked.

He later told me that it is a common practice in Nigeria for people to use Carbide to ripen plantain very quickly. The plantain will ripen within 48hrs, even though it would have taken a week or more naturally.

In a 2010 paper “Eating artificially ripened fruits is harmful” Calcium carbide is found to be extremely hazardous to the human body as it contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus. It is banned in many countries of the world, but it is freely used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria and other poor countries. Thus we are at risk of short-term and long-term health effects simply by eating fruits that are induced to ripen.

Calcium carbide CaC2 is used to easily generate low levels of ethylene gas which can hasten the (outside at least) ripening of fruits like bananas, mangoes etc. But it is also damaging to health. Regular exposure will lead to a build up that can be fatal.

Just before visiting the laboratory to give the sample to my friend, I instructed the driver to drive to a major pharmacy in Lagos nearby to us. They were given some medication that calmed them and countered the effect of the carbide. I had already prayed and reinforced myself by His power in the Inner man. So we all survived it. But imagine those that eat this daily and build up the poison in their system. This is why people die “suddenly” in Nigeria.

So I insisted my driver visits the woman selling the Boli the following day to let her know of our experience. On getting to the woman and explaining, she simply drove him away not to spoil market for her. She was apparently aware of the possible effect of her use of carbide but was too profit focused to care. People around her later said they have always wondered why she never eats her own Boli but buy food from others around.

Needless to say, that was my last Boli of the trip. Now I am not saying all Boli in Nigeria are poisonous. Given that the use of carbide is prevalent, how do you know which plantain is not contaminated? So if you are travelling to Nigeria, be careful what you eat and where you eat. And for those that live in Nigeria, it is possible you may have built some tolerance for this poison (due to regular ingestion), but regular consumption will cause long-term health damage and could be fatal.

This greed-driven practice is common in our nation and we all need to be on guard to avoid unnecessary complications. Wisdom is profitable to direct. God help our people.

FINAL NOTE:
Calcium Carbide is a dangerous and corrosive chemical. Carbide ripened fruit on consumption cause several harmful effects to human health. It has cancer causing properties and contains traces of arsenic and phosphorous hydride. Consumption of fruits ripened with Calcium Carbide causes stomach upset because the alkaline substance is an irritant that erodes the mucosal tissues in the stomach and disrupts intestinal functions.

According to experts; The early symptoms of carbide poisoning include vomiting, diarrhoea with or without blood, burning sensation of the chest and abdomen, thirst, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, irritation or burning in the eyes and skin, permanent eye damage, ulcers on the skin, irritation in the mouth, nose and throat. Throat sores, cough, and wheezing and shortness of breath may also occur soon after exposure to the chemical. Higher exposure may cause a build-up of fluids in the lungs. For instance; eating artificially ripened mangoes causes stomach upset because the alkaline substance is an irritant that erodes the mucosal tissue in the stomach and disrupts intestinal function. Chronic exposure to the chemical could lead to peptic ulcer.

The above article was posted on Charles’ social media wall but he has kindly granted the permission for it to be used on this site

We believe that many will benefit from the health warning in this write up and maybe a life or two saved.

FEATURES December 16, 2016

WOMAN TAUGHT SERIOUS LESSON BY CLUB FOLLOWING RACIST RANT AT “OLIVE SKINNED” DOORMAN WHO DENIED HER ENTRY FOR BEING DRUNK

A clubber has been taught a lesson by a nightclub after she posted a racist Facebook rant having been turned away for being too drunk.

Deborah Smith’s foul-mouthed post about ‘olive-coloured’ doorman on The Loft’s own page backfired when the club itself posted it, along with a detailed explanation of just why she would be barred in future for her racist views.

The post went viral over the weekend, with locals applauding the anti-racism stance taken by The Loft nightclub in Weston-super-Mare, as reported by the Bristol Post .

The Loft said her rant ‘made us grimace’, and asked if she would only be satisfied if the club included a ‘colour chart’ when it interviews people for the job of door staff.

The post went viral over the weekend, with locals applauding the anti-racism stance taken by The Loft nightclub

The club ended by confirming she was barred from entry because she was too drunk – and pointed out they were following laws laid down by the British Government.

The 44-year-old began her rant at 3.30am on Saturday morning after her night out ended when she was refused entry to The Loft.

“Why???? Because some foreign t**t says I was too p***ed to enter. Well funny that, because I’m now home sad so annoyed because, I can coherently type this post, with correct spelling, touch typing, yet too p***ed to get into a f****** club in West Super,” she began.

“Too p*****? Assumed buy (sic) a god dam foreigner? In my country? England!!!! Born in Somerset… and told I am too w******d by some olive coloured T***!” she continued.

“In all my years of getting w******d in Weston, to be told in my in my 40s. Britain is not BRITAIN anymore. Dictactated (sic) to by some olive coloured f****** a*******, pumped up by a position (not of stature) but of authority (nonetheless) telling ME (A WHITE, BRITISH FEMALE) …I’m not allowed in a club? Well lets put it very clearly! NATIONAL FRONT? Here I come!!!” she added.

Then, the capital letters began…

“NOT IN MY COUNTRY MATE! NOT IN MY HOME TOWN!!! NOT WHEN I LOVE EVERYONE WHEN P*****!!!!! AND MOST DEFINITELY NOT IN MY 40S”

The rant then continued in a similar vein, but included phrases like: “I was not racist before, hey but f*** am I now!!! How dare you allow your door, foreign, olive coloured, accented, non-english, door man, refuse me entry on the basis of being too drunk? Im typing his?”

And Ms Smith finished her rant with a pledge to share her views widely. “Christ is this club going to be stated over every social god dam media site, I can find,” she said.

The Loft were happy to fulfil that final promise, and shared Ms Smith’s rant with their own takedown.

The club started by thanking Ms Smith for her ‘racist spiel’, in a post they later took down from their Facebook page.

“It certainly made us grimace that even in today’s society there are such dim lights still flickering in the background harbouring such racist and personally disgusting views towards other human beings,” the club said.

“We have a society of acceptance and tolerance within the UK yet there are people who still exist with such outdated and outrageous beliefs of racial hatred,” they added.

“Did you not for one second think that the door staff could have been British citizens with a proud heritage? As for ‘olive coloured f****** a******’, what colour would you prefer the doormen to be in your country?”

“Is there a particular shade of white that is acceptable? Maybe you feel it should be part of the interview process, to hold candidates against a colour chart and deviations shall not be permitted past a shade either side,” the club said.

“The rules the door staff are following are those set by an institution you may have heard of known as the British Government and it’s a pesky legislation called the licensing act. Fancy those ‘god dam foreigners’ as you like to call them upholding English rules,” they added.

The Loft’s post was shared hundreds of times before it was later removed, although Deborah Smith’s Facebook page still had a disparaging public post about the nightclub more than 36 hours later.

Story culled from The Mirror

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FEATURES, GUEST BLOGGERS December 16, 2016

GUEST BLOGGER: VIDEO IS NOW A MARKETING NECESSITY

By Colleen James

If you have a business, it’s online to some extent. Video is now a marketing necessity to be seen and heard, and to build your recognition and trust factor. Simple text and image do not work anymore.

Some interesting stats on the use of video in marketing:

Online video now accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic.
Video has become essential: A significant 60% of marketers use video in their marketing and 73% plan on increasing their use of video.
According to a report published by Forrester, including video in an email leads to a whopping 200-300% increase in click-through rate.
On Facebook, video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts.

Just reading these stats makes me nervous. They make me feel like I’m not doing enough, and I teach video and on-camera presentation. A video web presence is no longer an accessory; it’s now elemental to online businesses, entrepreneurs, coaches, teachers, specialist, gurus, instructors, preachers or whatever you are. And really, who isn’t online? But what those statistics above really tell you, is that not doing video should scare you a lot more than taking the plunge.

Video is one of the most powerful tools we have online to grow our brand authority and our know/like/trust factor.

I conducted my own experiment on my business page, so here’s some first-hand evidence:

I scheduled a Facebook Live broadcast on my business page for a Friday evening. (Note: Bad time to go live, but what can you do?) To promote it, I did a quick one-minute Facebook Live broadcast that morning. Using my iPhone, with the backdrop of Eastern Parkway’s promenade in Brooklyn, I created a quick Facebook Live video and invited everyone to the evening broadcast, “Hey, check in tonight because I’m talking live about making videos and Murphy’s Law.” That quick promo video’s post had an organic reach of over 2.5 timesthe amount of people signed up for my business page. And it’s still growing. (The metrics are based on the reach of my page; at the time 205 people, and the organic view of the video, 560 or so).

I also posted an image with text inviting people to the same evening’s live broadcast. I did this twice over the course of the day with two different images, just to see the difference. Image number one received four views. Four! Image number two received… one view.

Video marketing is not “the next trend.” It’s already here. So, what’s stopping people? The usual excuse is all the technical stuff they need to catch up on, which means taking the time to learn a whole new craft, one they don’t like in the first place. And I don’t need to tell anybody how busy entrepreneurs already are. They can always hire a pro to do it for them, but therein lies a new whole candy store of procrastination.

But, the real reason entrepreneurs aren’t using video is psychological. There is a massive fear factor about actually getting out there, being visible and vulnerable in public. It’s like the old joke about looking in the mirror and seeing your worst nightmare – yourself. I’ve found a lot of business owners feel like they’re falling behind the curve, thus adding one more excuse not to go video: they’ve missed the boat.

But it’s not too late.

Here are the quick simple steps to making a decent looking marketing video right now:

Grab a smart phone or tablet.
Grab a tripod. You can get great ones at Amazon. Make sure it has a mount that holds your smart phone or tablet. Most tripods do not come with this, so be aware. Size is not important, but you want something sturdy since your valuable mobile device will be on it. You’ll also want the camera to be at eye level when you’re filming so we can look in your eyes, so think about how high it can go, or what you can set it on when filming before you buy. A great inexpensive brand is Slik or Magnus. These can cost $35-$100.
Use a lavalier microphone, or even your earbuds with a microphone. A lavalier mic is a small microphone that clips onto your clothes, usually your collar, in order to allow for hands-free operation. It also improves the production quality of your video. You can get a great one for about $20, also on Amazon. Just look for “lavalier mic mobile” and many options will pop up.
Frame yourself in a medium shot: head/shoulder/bust in the frame. You can always move the camera away from you a bit and get more of your body in the shot, let’s say to your waist. This is perfectly fine. Keep the background basic and not too busy. The mobile device should be held horizontally whenever possible.
What to say? You’ve already written it; many times over. Now, just pretend the camera is your friend, hit record and say it out loud: Who you are; why you’re the expert; what they need; what you offer; and end with a call to action. Try to keep your videos short and concise. Expect engagement to decrease with your video’s length so aim for 1-2 minutes for optimal engagement.

Those are the five simple steps. No more excuses.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve already stepped out there. You’ve already overcome, proven, struggled and are in the game. I expect to see you uploading videos all over the place. And when you do, tag me. I’ll cheer you on.

–

Colleen is the owner of Ace Your Video, www.aceyourvideo.com/workwithme, a New York City based marketing video company that creates high quality, cinematic videos for entrepreneurs and local small businesses. She also coaches a DIY Video Course, and helps transition successful entrepreneurs into online video.

Ellevate Network is a global women’s network: the essential resource for professional women who create, inspire and lead. Together, we #InvestInWomen.

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FEATURES, UK December 16, 2016

ALL NEW ENGLAND AND WALES POLICE OFFICERS TO HAVE DEGREES AT ENTRY LEVEL

All new police officers in England and Wales will have to be educated to degree level from 2020, the College of Policing has announced.

It said the training would help address changes in crime-fighting.

Prospective officers can either complete a three-year “degree apprenticeship”, a postgraduate conversion course or a degree.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said the changes would “help modernise the service”.

The college’s Chief Constable Alex Marshall said the feeling was the nature of police work has changed significantly and officers were just as likely to be “patrolling online” as on the street.

“Cyber-enabled crime has increased,” he said, “So has the need for officers and staff to investigate and gather intelligence online and via information technology.”

He also said protecting vulnerable people has become a “high priority”, with officers now spending more of their time working to prevent domestic abuse, monitor high-risk sex offenders and protect at-risk children.

Even investigating a pub fight – which used to mean interviewing the victim, perpetrator and the bar staff – now also extends to researching videos, pictures and comments published online.

But retired police officer Norman Brennan, who served 31 years in London and now campaigns for police protection, said degrees came “at the bottom of the priority list” for police.

He said: “The only degree a police officer needs is a degree of common sense – they’ll learn on the job.

“The public don’t care about police having degrees. They want someone competent, caring and capable.

The College of Policing, which is responsible for setting standards of ethics and training for the police service, is in talks with 12 universities about running the degree courses.

The syllabus is likely to cover the law, safeguarding the vulnerable, understanding how an officer behaves on the street and how to build trust by interacting well with communities.

FEATURES, LONDON DIGEST December 16, 2016December 16, 2016

OFFICERS SUFFER BROKEN ARM, BITES AND CUTS TO FACE WHILE TRYING TO ARREST MAN IN WOOLWICH

Four police officers were injured – one seriously – when they were allegedly attacked while arresting a man during a domestic incident.

The fracas left a male PC with a suspected broken arm and a female PC with cuts to her face, while a second male officer was bitten and a third male officer suffered facial injuries.

They were injured when they were called to a home in south east London after reports that a man and woman were arguing.

Police attempted to detain a 55-year-old man but he allegedly resisted and injured the officers despite CS spray being used in their bid to arrest him.

The incident occurred at a home in Invermore Place, Woolwich, around 9.50pm on Thursday.

Police finally arrested the man on suspicion of ABH on a woman at the address, GBH against one police officer, assault on police and criminal damage.

He was taken to a south London police station.

The woman who was allegedly assaulted at the home was treated at the scene by London Ambulance service.

The officer who suffered the suspected broken arm remains in hospital.

The other three officers did not go to hospital but were treated by the FME at a police station.

Met Police Chief Superintendent Simon Dobinson, responsible for policing in Greenwich Borough, said: “This incident highlights the dangers police officers can face every time they attend any 999 call, and I am proud of my officers’ bravery in dealing with this incident.

“The man arrested, aged 55, remains in custody at a south London police station and enquiries continue.”

Source Newshopper

EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS REPRESENTATION AND ADVISORY SERVICES

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FEATURES, NEWS FROM NIGERIA December 16, 2016December 16, 2016

OGUN STATE MAN STABS MUM TO DEATH AND BURIES HER IN CESSPIT

The Ogun State Police command has arrested a 33-year-old man, Segun Ogunlusi, for allegedly killing his 60-year-old biological mother, Abimbola Ogunlusi.

The tragedy occurred on Tuesday 13th December, 2016, at Number 16, Oketunde Street, Molatori, Ogijo, Sagamu Local Government Area of the state.

The suspect was said to have been arrested following a report from his younger sister, Yetunde Ogunlusi.

According to the state Police, Yetunde had told the police that she left their mother, aged 60 years, at home when she was going to work on Tuesday 13th December, 2016 but on getting back home at about 7.15pm she could not find her.

She further said that when she inquired from her elder brother, Segun, who was at home with their mother, the explanation given by her older brother was not satisfactory enough.

Based on her report, the Divisional Police Officer, Ogijo Division, Ahmed Tijani, led a team of policemen to the family house where the suspect was promptly arrested.”

He said while being questioned, the suspect admitted to stabbing his mother to death and then buried her in a soak away very close to the house to cover up his crime.

“The reason for his action is still unknown,” Oyeyemi said.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has directed that the case be transferred to the Homicide Section of State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Eleweran Abeokuta.

Original story from the Punch

DR ABBEY AKINOSHUN APPOINTED PATRON OF FOCUS ON DISABILITY FOUNDATION

London based NHS worker’s rights advocate, Dr Abbey Akinoshun has been appointed as Patron for the charity Focus on Disability Foundation UK and Nigeria.

Breaking the news yesterday Founder of the charity, Abbey Paseda said he was elated to welcome Dr-Abbey Akinoshun as a Patron of the charity and believes his knowledge and expertise will prove essential.

“With a combination of his skills and vast experience alongside his commitment and passion in everything he is involved in, l have no doubt Dr-Abbey Akinoshun can help the organisation to continue to move forward and create brighter future together for people living with disabilities in Africa”.

screenshot_20161216-080221 — Founder FODUK Abiodun Paseda

In response, Dr-Abbey Akinoshun expressed delight at the appointment. He said he felt very proud and honoured to have become a Patron of a charity that does such a fantastic work both in the UK and Africa which often goes unnoticed.

In a statement released via his social media page, Dr Akinoshun said “I would like to thank Mr Abiodun Paseda, Founder of Focus on Disability Foundation and the entire FODUK Team for the honour bestowed upon me to serve as Patron of this wonderful Foundation. I am truly humbled to be a Patron and to be associated with FODUK. I promise to work hard during my tenure of office to raise the profile of “Focus on Disability Foundation” and the fantastic work they have been doing for the disabled people in Africa.

I will also encourage my friends, fans, families and other well-wishers to lend their support as FODUK continues to offer invaluable support to the less privileged and disabled people in our society. I am so delighted for the opportunity given to me to give something back to our community back in Nigeria.

I thank you all for your congratulatory messages. GOD BLESS YOU ALL”

We also join in in congratulating the amiable hard working Dr Abbey on this new appointment.