Nigeria: A Murder so cruel

Sola Adegbeha 

A wedding ceremony was what the family of Sola Adegbeha, a 35-year-old Geography graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had in mind. Adegbeha, a livestock farmer, was due to marry his fiancee, a US-based nurse in a little over a month. Now, a funeral is what the family has been forced to prepare for.

On 8 January, Adegbeha, who hailed from Ipele in Ondo State, was shot dead by a police corporal, Julius Ekundayo, at a checkpoint in Ibadan, capital of  Oyo State. The circumstances of his death have provoked conflicting and incoherent narratives by the family and the police.
Adegbeha’s family suspects that the deceased, who left his younger sister’s home at Oluyole area of Ibadan at dawn to keep a business appointment in the Bodija area of the city, was shot because he refused to give money to the cops who flagged down his Mazda 626 car at the checkpoint. After he was shot Adegbeha managed to get to the nearby Group Medical Hospital, where he sought treatment. The family also suspects that the deceased was not promptly attended to because he did not take a police report to the hospital. A security man at the hospital was said to have been told to go to the police station at Jemibewon Road and get a police report. On his way back to the hospital, he was accompanied by some policemen, among whom Adegbeha identified the one who shot him. Adegbeha, however, died shortly afterwards.
Immediately he died, claimed the family, the police, without contacting the family, deposited his body at a morgue. A death certificate issued at 6:30am by the hospital revealed the primary cause of the death as “haemorrhagic shock”, and secondary cause as “gunshot injury at lower back”.
But Mr. Olayiwola Abiodun, an official of the hospital, denied that the hospital demanded a police report. He said it was the hospital that sent a security man to the police station to inform the police of the development. He said, “The doctor was attending to the deceased before he gave up the ghost,” said Olayiwola.
The suspicion of the family that money was the cause of the disagreement between the deceased and the police is based on their claim that Adegbeha had some money on him with which he planned to buy poultry feed.
Police sources claimed that the deceased failed to produce the particulars of his vehicle as well as a proof of ownership and suggested that he wanted to speed off, something that provoked the cop that shot him.
Counsel to the Adegbeha family, Mr. Wasiu Salimon, vowed to ensure that the matter is not swept under the carpet. “We are taking up the matter.  It is sad that police officers hired to protect Nigerians have turned around to be killing us at will,” he said.
What, however, is not in dispute is the identity of the man who pulled the trigger. Mr. Clement Adoda, state Deputy Commissioner of Police, told TheNEWS that the killer corporal is in police detention and will be prosecuted if investigated and found to have acted without discretion.

NIGERIA: Expand National Biotechnology Devt Agency to all states – Okolo

The Federal Government has been urged to expand the presence of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) beyond Abuja to all the 36 states so that farmers can know about what the agency is doing.

Dr. Simon Chukwuemeka Okolo, the immediate past national President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), who made the call in Aba, Abia State, said that the presence of the agency in all states of the federation will facilitate government’s Agriculture Transformation Agenda.

He pointed out that new farming information, techniques, seedlings and livestock being produced by this agency is not being utilised by farmers in Nigeria.

Established 11 years ago, the agency is under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and  it is currently charged with the with the following mandates:  researching into mass production of improved varieties of crop seedlings and live stocks in the country, develop an indigenous critical mass of human resources and infrastructure for biotechnology in Nigeria; develop sustainable exploitation of bio resources for our food  and agriculture; develop mechanism for adequate funding of biotechnology activities through national and international funding agencies, among other responsibilities.

Okolo, therefore, called for adequate sensitisation of the activities of the agency as well as spread of the agency’s presence across the 36 states of the country to avail Nigerians of their much needed services.

He lamented that the current realities on hunger and poverty across the country has made it imperative that government must desist from paying lip service to issues of diversification of the economy through agricultural transformation and manufacturing, insisting that to transform agriculture, government must encourage agricultural mechanisation and set up an agency focused solely on extension of low credit facilities to farmers.

Fish

Fish: Add a touch of nature to your page with these hungry little fish.  Watch them as they follow your mouse hoping you will feed them by clicking the surface of the water.

How To Gain Healthy Body Fat

I used to be on this side of the fence, but no more. But it’s great to get this sort of information to help those who need to add weight, the healthy way:

If you have a BMI that is less than 18.5, you are considered underweight. Being underweight also makes it more difficult for your body to heal after injuries, infections and medical treatments. 

What to do to gain weight:

Eat meals and snacks every two to three hours instead of eating three meals per day.

Increase the amount of healthy food you eat, like fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains.

Eat liberally of healthy fats; like nuts, seeds, avocados and fatty fish.

Eat plenty of carbohydrates, like pasta, rice, muffins and whole-wheat bread.

Add low-fat dairy products, like cheese, yogurt or sour cream to your meals wherever you can. Drink smoothies or high-calorie juice, protein or meal-replacement drinks 30 minutes before meals instead of with meal.

Conjoined female twins delivered in Nasarawa

These are pictures of siamese twins (conjoined baby girls) delivered in Nasarawa (Maraba Medical Centre) close to Abuja. They have been moved to National hospital in Abuja.

Gbenro ganiu A: 10 Million Farmers to Benefit......

Gbenro ganiu A: 10 Million Farmers to Benefit......: The Federal Government is to spend about N60 billion to procure 10million telephone handsets from China and the US for free distribut...

10 Million Farmers to Benefit......

The Federal Government is to spend about N60 billion to procure 10million telephone handsets from China and the US for free distribution to rural farmers across the country.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Ibukun Odusote, said the handsets would be made available to the farmers in the first quarter of this year.

She said the programme is aimed at establishing direct electronic communication between the government and farmers on agricultural matters, adding that the beneficiaries would be “women and youths” in rural areas.

“The handsets will be the tools with which to communicate with the farmers in the rural areas, deep deep into the interiors so that we will be able to communicate with them even in the hinterlands.”

Jeez, this country! N60billion to buy handsets? What are they buying, BlackBerry Porsche phones? Lol. And did the farmers say that their problem is a mobile phone? I don't understand this our government...