Month: July 2022

By Muhammed-Bello Buhari

Claim: Atiku, Nigeria’s former Vice President and the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, claimed that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media while responding to a question in an exclusive pre-recorded interview on Arise TV aired on Friday, July 22.

Atiku made the claim, suggesting that the Labour Party cannot make inroads in northern Nigeria. He played down the possibility of Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, causing an upset to his presidential ambition during the next year’s general elections.

His words:

“It is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying through social media [that] they had more than one million votes in Osun state.

“But how many voters turned for the Labour Party? And then again, mark you; you’re talking about social media. In the north, 90 per cent of our people are not tuned to social media.”

With this claim, social media was awash with all sorts of counterclaims. Nigerians on Facebook and Twitter knocked the former vice president out for his comment, alleging that such a claim is untrue.

Verification:

According to the Digital Report 2021 by Datareportal—one of the world’s most trusted sources of social media data, insights and trends—the number of social media users in Nigeria was equivalent to 15.8% of the total population (208.8 million) in January 2021. This means there were 33.00 million social media users in Nigeria in January 2021.

This same report recorded the total population of the northern region to be 128.17 million. This is also in line with the National Bureau of Statistics figures on Nigeria’s demographics, using data from the National Population Commission.

So assuming that the divide of the social media users in Nigeria between the south and the north is 50-50. i.e. of the 33 million users, 16.5 million are northerners. This means that of the 128.17 northerners, only 12.9 per cent are on social media, representing 87.1 per cent are not on social media.

And given the apparent disparities in internet usage between the north and south due to market size, urbanization, economic development, income, telephone density and employment, which are the major contributory factors to the divide as reported in the research conducted on the digital divide in Nigeria, there’s at least a 60-40 percentage divide between the south and north in terms of internet and social media usage.

As such, 40 per cent of Nigeria’s 33 million social media users is 13.2 million. This means that of the 128.17 northerners, only 10 per cent are on social media, which also means that 90 per cent are not on social media.

Verdict: Atiku’s claim that 90 per cent of northerners are not on social media is backed up by data. Findings have shown that only 10 per cent of northerners are on social media. Therefore, the claim is valid.

Muhammed-Bello Buhari is a freelance fact-checker based in Kaduna and can be reached via embbuhari@gmail.com.

By Abubakar M. Nyakos

Upon the emergence of Most Distinguished Senator (Engr.) Aishatu Dahiru Ahmad Binani as Adamawa State APC gubernatorial candidate, His Excellency Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri started acting like a wounded lion who runs after his prey not to satisfy his hunger but to gratify his anger. He started blocking some beautiful chances of Adamawa citizens reaping the dividend of democracy through the workaholic Senator. 

He has forgotten that giving back to society and coming to the rescue of people when necessary is a habit that becomes lifeblood to Binani, for it flows through her veins. She can’t fold her hands and see people suffering without doing the needful. It’s unlike her. She is an empathetic politician who always holds her people dearly and very close to her heart. No amount of pressure and effort from the opposition can change that. 

Fintiri’s deep-down sense of insecurity proved to every sensible Adamawa citizen and me that he is far behind Binani in politicking. I used to fancy his political tactics and antics but not anymore. He has reduced himself to an ordinary local champion who manoeuvred himself into the Government House just because of the then APC internal crises. He knows that’s what paved the way for him. 

We are all aware that Covid-19 has globally interrupted pilgrimage for two good years. As a governor with high regard for the welfare of his dependents, he is expected to inspect, renovate and make all the necessary things needed at the Hajj camp before this year’s Hajj activities. 

Unfortunately, he failed to do that. When journalists arrived there and began to ask the pilgrims some questions regarding welfare, etc., they bitterly expressed their grievances, which got to the ears of Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani. She instantly responded to the situation and provided all required at the site: mattresses, mosquito nets, solar panels etc. She did all that within just four hours. Isn’t that gesture laudable? I believe it is. 

Instead of Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to accept his failure and laud the revered Senator without bickering, he opted to rent a hotel and order the pilgrims to vacate the place which Binani made conducive for them. What kind of politics is this?  Where was he? Why didn’t he do the needful on time? 

Consequently, Binani constituted a committee that could facilitate and ease some unseen hardships that  Adamawa pilgrims might encounter in Saudi Arabia. The committee was saddled with the responsibility of cash disbursement to pilgrims and the like. 

Through the Executive Secretary of Adamawa  State Muslim Welfare Pilgrims Board, the governor tried to halt and frustrate the process in several ways because of their selfish interest.

1. They refused to give Binani’s committee the list of Adamawa pilgrims

2. They ordered Adamawa Scheduling Officers not to partake in the process.

3. They threatened both scheduling officers and Adamawa pilgrims that there would be repercussions for not following their order. 

That habit alone must make anyone pause and rethink when addressing such a self-centered fellow as a politician. Talk more of giving him a mandate. Instead, he always thinks of himself alone. 

Instead of working on integrating himself, he is busy attracting more enemies through dictatorship! 

Nonetheless, Binani’s committee used I.D. cards to identify Adamawa pilgrims to distribute the money, and Adamawa pilgrims collected what was meant for them and shunned the directive given. 

They thanked Her Excellency, Aishatu Binani, for her untiring support and commitment to the welfare of Adamawa citizens. 

The pilgrims finally prayed for Binani’s victory in 2023 and pledged allegiance to support the Senator with their full chests.  May Binani succeed, amin.

Abubakar M. Nyakos wrote from Adamawa via mnyakos@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Kano office has pasted names of governorship candidates that will participate in the forthcoming 2023 general election without the candidate of the court-backed faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The electoral umpire pasted Sadiq Wali and Yusuf Bello Danbatta as gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates of the PDP in Kano.

It can be recalled that intra-party conflicts and litigations following parallel leadership structures troubled the PDP, which led to factional primary elections in Kano.

However, a federal high court gave a favourable judgement in favour of Hon. Shehu Wada Sagagi-led faction that produced Mohammed Abacha as the governorship candidate of the party.

The other faction of the party, led by Sen. Bello Hayatu Gawarzo, who is the North-West vice chairman of the party, produced Sadiq Wali as the governorship candidate of its faction in a parallel primary.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kano, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu, had earlier told journalists in Kano that INEC recognized Mohammed Abacha as the rightful candidate having produced by the faction that was recognized by the court of law.

Reacting to the development that creates confusion in the PDP in the state, INEC Public Relations Officer in Kano, Ahmad Adam Maulud, said the commission at the Kano office submitted the results of the primaries it had monitored to the headquarters of the electoral umpire in Abuja, but they were sent the list they pasted on Friday.

“Whoever wishes to seek any clarification should contact the national body of his or her party for any information,” Maulud said.

By Hassan Ahmad

The term “Japa” is slang used by Nigerians to refer to the continuous exodus of young Nigerians to the developed countries in search of greener pastures with the intent of not returning home. Japa is widely accepted in southern Nigeria, with many youths leaving Nigeria in the last decade. The justification for this mass departure is not farfetched. They include unemployment, insecurities, incessant strike actions by university teachers enabled by the government and other social problems cumulatively, among others. But on the other hand, the direct opposites of these push factors are the pull factors that also encourage it.  

The southern region of Nigeria housed the larger percentage of industries available in this country, with a better literacy rate and a better standard of living. 

However, in the North, the story is by far worse. Topping the list is insecurities from the Boko Haram ravaged northeast to the bandits’ taking over of northwestern villages and the ethno-religious conflicts in the north-central states. Don’t forget farmer-herders’ conflicts, too. 

Aside from insecurity, the poverty rate in the North is alarming – constituting 86 per cent as of 2021. In addition, illiteracy is prevalent, and there is high existence of unemployment as well as under-employment.  

From the above, we’ll understand that northern youths have more reasons to Japa and never look back, but that has not been the case. This can be understood to play out this way for obvious reasons: deep kinship relationship, lack of understanding of the evolving nature of the 21st century, fear of the unknown, ill contentment and others. 

The underlying issue is that it’ll no longer take long before the northern youths follow the footsteps of their southern counterparts and get fed up with Nigeria, and look beyond the seas and deserts to better their lives. Oh!  It has started already. Thousands of youths are already risking their lives through the Sahara desert with the hope of reaching Europe or the Middle East. Many others who were chanced to have acquired scholarships overseas ended up staying in those countries to pursue a living. This creates two scenarios.

While the educated northern youths get out of the country legally through scholarships and fellowship, the less educated and uneducated look for their ways illegally and, in most cases, lose their lives or ending as sex slaves. We lose our best brains to the developed world while losing our uneducated ones who can alternatively be a source of labour to the graves.  This means that the youths who are supposed to carry the northern and Nigerian dream (if there is any) are giving up already.

Where is the Northern Governors Forum? Have they provided a roadmap for the development of the North, how to tackle insecurity, unemployment, poverty or even improve education? 

Or the Forum is meant for negotiating power between the ruling elites? So why must it be far away Lagos that’ll have the foresight to partner with Kebbi in producing Lake-rice? Why not Kaduna, Kano or Nasarawa?  

Why is the same Forum quiet while their young people are out of school for an avoidable strike?  North is the most hit by the ASUU strike because 90% or more of her students depend on public universities for their education. Is this too hard for the governors to understand? Have they ever intervened? 

Northern leaders should rise to their responsibilities before it’s too late. The outside world is open to all but cannot afford to embrace us all. So it is either they make the North a home for the younger ones, or we look for another home. There is no sense in sticking to the parents that humiliate you all your life. 

As things are, if there is an opportunity, let’s Japa too, legally. 

Hassan Ahmad Usman writes from Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. He can be reached via basree177@gmail.com.

Nigerians studying overseas are being urged to return home and help their country to recover, according to Titilayo Solarin, a permanent secretary of the Lagos Education District I.

On Thursday, Ms. Solarin issued the notice during a one-day conference. Oluwatoyin Akindele, a district director who was Ms. Solarin’s representative, said that Nigerian students who had the opportunity to study abroad must return to their own country.

She was quoted to have stated: “The best still for all Nigerians studying abroad is to come and give back to their own country. After studying abroad, we need to develop our own country. Those countries over there, if they were not developed, no one would desire to go over there to study.

“We should get to the point where we, as citizens of Nigeria, should learn how to take good care of our own country and build it up so that our country will be one we will be proud of.”

“Who will build our own country if they (our children) remain over there? Who will take care of Nigeria if our children remain over there?,” She enquired.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Jobseekers in Nigeria have opened up to The Daily Reality on how some institutions in the country are degenerating into a kind of ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’, where officials allegedly request ‘sodomy’ in exchange for a job offer or promotion.

The job seekers decried how they suffer in the hands of corrupt officials who ask for a bribe in exchange for job offers or, worse, sex from female and even male job seekers.

However, they alleged that most of these ‘gay’ officials are important office holders that nobody would ever think will indulge in such heinous acts as they look and act responsibly in public.

The job seekers decided to narrate their harrowing experiences after we reported on buying and selling of job offers in Nigeria, published on March 2, 2022, which went viral.

The Daily Reality reported how the sale of job offers decimates graduates’ chances of securing jobs in Nigeria, where the national economy has remained increasingly stagnant.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg, unemployment in Nigeria has surged to the second-highest on the global list, jumping to 33.3%.

Professionals have argued that there is a need for urgent intervention to save the country from an impending danger posed by the exponential increase in unemployment.

Register with the Gay Zone Pyramid; Get Employed

Isma’il Muhammad (not real name) recounted how one Managing Director of an organisation in Kaduna wanted to sodomise him and his friend for a job offer in November last year.

He said, “In November 2021, we got a connection to meet the Managing Director (MD) of one big organisation in Kaduna State. When we arrived, we were introduced to the man in his office.

“The man promised to get us employed. He said we look very young and charming. So we were very excited to hear that from him, unknown to us that the man was gay. So he brought out job offers. But he requested we had to offer him something in return.

“We were all surprised. We thought this man meant we had to buy the offer or, at least, pay him a certain amount of money. But, to our utmost dismay, this man said we had to register with the GAY ZONE PYRAMID.

“However, we declined, and that was the end. We left his office mouth agape and without being employed,” Muhammad said in dismay.

Another job-seeker, who swore to God that he would rather die hawking than commit such evil, confided his 2020 experience in our reporter.

He said someone who pretended to care about his condition and wanted to find a better place for him sent him to a particular organisation for an interview in Kano.

He said, “Fortunately, I have all the requirements. While I thought I would be automatically employed, the man invited me to his office and confessed that he was “gay”.

“Angrily, I insulted him. I still regret knowing him. Thus, I forgot about the job.

Another source, Hashim Tijjani, said someone who promised to employ him and send him overseas had wanted to sodomise him, but God saved him from the man.

He said the man often bitterly complained that he did not use to call him as a way of showing concern to a boyfriend, the development that the guy said had confused him.

He added, “The man used to invite me to the Mai Rabo Hotel in Sabon Gari, Kano. He used to give me money to lure me. He once accused me of not being that romantic to him.

“As things escalated and I feared I might fall into his trap, I decided to give my phone to one of my friends, who told him I passed on. Since then, he stopped calling my line,” he added.

Workers seeking promotion in the same trap

According to a source familiar with the incident, the sodomy was not only limited to job-seeking. Workers seeking promotion also suffer a lot.

He said bosses nowadays ask their subordinates for sodomy before they promote them in various workplaces across the country.

He said, “My friend working with a Nigerian security agency confided in me that he failed to get promoted for declining his boss’s request for sodomy.”

He stated that his friend is still yet to be promoted. However, he had decided that he should rather die without promotion than compromise.

I declined my aged-nurse political ambition over sodomy – politician

Also, a renowned politician in Kano disclosed how he threw his aged-long political ambition over sodomy.

The politician who preferred anonymity revealed that he wanted to contest for a certain political position during the 2015 General Election after he retired from his civil service but was forced out after his political godfather solicited for sodomy in exchange for the ambition.

He confided that he was pretty perplexed and could not help but quit the race as things went beyond his imagination.

He said, “I nursed this ambition over the years, but I can’t help but withdraw from the race as my political godfather confessed that he is gay. But I see no reason to ruin my image for a so-called worldly political ambition.”

The man said he had met all the requirements and was economically stable to contest, but he would instead give up and concentrate on a business.

According to a source, who claimed that he was requested for sodomy to get a job back in 2020 in Kano, the issue of gay officials terrorising workplaces and institutions is known to many people, but they are only afraid to speak.

He stated, “You know things like this are known to many we are all pretending as if nothing goes on. Our bureaucratic system is utterly flawed.

“So, I am no longer looking for any job or favour from anybody anywhere. That is why I confidently expose the bad elements.”

‘Sodomy leads to mental disorder’

A psychiatric doctor from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Dr Mubarak Haruna Idris, raised concerns that the act of sodomy may lead to mental illness.

In an exclusive interview with our reporter, Idris said that people who prefer the same sex might suffer from anxiety, depression and psychosis.

He stated that the behaviour “leads to other mental illness. For example, usually, these kinds of individuals tend to hide it [what they do] from others that they have a preference for their same sex.

“So, they tend to have this kind of fear and whenever it revealed. The kind of difficulty they get from their family and how people see them will make them get a mental illness like anxiety, depression and if care is not taken, psychosis.”

They are at risk of anal cancer, HIV other sexually transmitted diseases

Dr Idris also cautioned that the behaviour is associated with many health risks such as anal cancer and HIV, among other sexually transmitted infections.

Idris said, “This behaviour is associated with some health risks. One of the commonest is the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, the risk of getting such diseases is higher when compared to normal vaginal sex.

“So, therefore, there is a high risk of sexually transmitted diseases. And this is due to the nature of the anal canal, which is not designed for such activity, and it can’t resist such activity that usually takes place during intercourse.

‘And then another thing is that there is a risk of getting an injury to the anal area. And when there’s injury, an infection can quickly set in, so one can end up having an infection at the anus, which, if care is not taken, can even spread to other parts of the body. There is also a high risk of anal cancer.

University don frown at the act

In an exclusive interview with our reporter, a lecturer at the Department of Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, Bayero University, Kano, Dr Mu’az Hassan Mu’az, lamented the development.

Mu’az, who frowned at the revelation, lamented that the demand for carnal knowledge to give a job offer is a serious problem that needs to be eliminated.

He also decried how the Nigerian polity is experiencing a painful decline in most of its economic activities, which may not be far from poor governance in recent years. 

“It’s unfortunate that the unemployment rate is skyrocketing in Nigeria like never before.

“Many youth graduate year-in-year-out, but without jobs to lean on. Thus the labour market has become so competitive, where only the connected get jobs.

“It’s this trend that ushered us into the era of job offer sales and other unscrupulous demands for carnal knowledge of both genders for job offers and promotion in the workplace.

The issue is alarming

Dr Mu’az also stated that if the trend continues unchecked, it could lead to numerous problems. He stated thus:

 “1. employment of people with mismatched qualifications for the job requirement. By extension, it will affect productivity.

“2. It will also lead to unprofessional development of the crop of future leaders in organisations. You may realise that those employees who are sidelined because they don’t comply with the demands of their superiors may rise to the ranks without the experience and expertise of leadership.

“3. It creates a corrupt society. As people get employed through the window, they’ll continue the gospel of corruption in their job undertakings.

“4. It will create an unserious atmosphere for students right from the university because nobody would bother to study for good grades since the jobs are for sale and not good qualifications.

“5. People’s sexual orientation might be affected due to the incessant demands for carnal knowledge of young men and women. This situation exposes people to diseases that can cause death.

“There are many adverse effects of sales of job offers and sexual demands for promotion in the workplace.

Way out

Dr Mu’azu proffers the following solutions:

“1. Job opportunities should be advertised in the dailies and electronic media;

“2. There should be equitable salaries in the country depending on the level of education of workers. This will discourage people from struggling to get white-collar jobs.

“3. A law should be enacted to address culprits, i.e. the person paying and the one receiving the money for job offers.

By Aisar Fagge

Population explosion can be a boost or a doom. If resources are not well managed in a country with rapid population growth, illiteracy, divisive politics, unemployment, hunger, crime, insecurity, poor standard of living will be the topics of discussion.

Dr. Musa Muhammad Bello, a community physician consultant and also a lecturer with Bayero University, Kano, mentioned this during a maiden monthly seminar organized by the Community Health Organization (CHR) in collaboration with Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Disease and Social Vices (YOSPIS), held on Wednesday, 20th July, 2022 at CHR’s conference room, Kano.

In his paper titled: “Rising Population and Demographic Transition: Effect on Health and Sustainable Development” Dr Bello said “If Nigeria’s population continue growing at this pace, by 2050, it will double to over 400 million. Nigeria will become the 4th largest country on Earth.”

“There is a cause for alarm because, population increase or explosion can be a boom or a doom.”

“If the population is rapidly increasing and resources are not well managed then it will greatly affect the availability of these resources across all sectors – health, water, education, security, etc. It will stretch them to the extent that majority of the population will be suffering in misery – there will be poverty, hunger, starvation, malnutrition, there will be unemployment and poor living standard.”

“All sectors of life will suffer. Take for example Kano State government’s decision to ban tricycle movement from 10 pm to 6 am is an effect of population concentration. The rate of crime has increased. Phone snatchers are everywhere. Some of us here are their victims,” The speaker lamented.

Speaking about the preparation for 2023 census in Nigeria, Dr Bello said, “Census is very important. In fact, according to a United Nations Economic Council, the population census should be done in every country every ten years. But unfortunately in Nigeria, the last census we did was in 2006. So we are far behind.”

“Census gives you the exact number of people and ther demographic structure: gender, age, education, income, location, etc. and that will be a very good tool for planning development in the country. Lack of this statistics will negatively affect the government planning.”

“When it comes to health, you first look at it from disease possession. When there is a population explosion, there is increase risk of disease. People will interact with the environment, their daily activities will pollute the environment; air pollution, water pollution and so many other things. So there is likely going to have increase in disease that are transacted through air because of over crowding,” he concluded.

One of the discussants of the paper, Musa Abdullahi Sufi argued that “Nigeria is not over populated because of its available vast resources.” He urged the academics to do more research to engage policy makers. Another discussant, Zainab Nasir Ahmed countered that “Nigeria is over populated because the resources are in the hands of few people” while majority of the population wallow in squalor.

The seminar received both physical and virtual participants ranging from academics, health workers, journalists and members of Civil Society Organizations (CSO).

By Muhammad Sabiu

On Thursday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board approved the cut-off scores for the nation’s universities and polytechnics.

This decision was reached following a contentious meeting that included representatives from the National Universities Commission, the Ministry of Education, the National Board for Technical Education, and others.

The cut-off grade for polytechnics is 120, while universities will require 140.

Recall that, according to prior reports, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the JAMB registrar, disclosed that just 378,639 of the 1,761,338 candidates who took the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations got a score of 200 or higher.

Oloyede further stated, “JAMB allowed awaiting results candidates to register and sit for the 2022 UTME. These candidates can’t be considered for admission on awaiting result status. They must present their O’level results on the board’s portal before the commencement of admissions”.

By Muhammad Aminu

No fewer than seven cases of rape were reported with some involving minor in various parts of Kano State in the month of June alone.

This was revealed by the Gender-based Violence (GBV) monitoring team of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) during a press briefing on Thursday, 21st July, 2022 in Kano.

CITAD’s GBV project manager, Zainab Adamu said there are reported cases of various Gender-Based Violence on the increase in the State.

She said online harrassment, sexual abuse and harrassment have significantly increased in June when compared with reported cases in May.

“Rape cases were 7, Online Harassment 22, Sexual Blackmail 8, Sexual Harassment60, Sexual Abuse39, Wife Battering 3 while School Violence1, she noted.

She stated that the data collected for the month of June showed “In comparison with the data obtained in previous months, GBV cases are still on the increase. 140 cases were reported via our GBV App for the month.”

According to her, CITAD’s GBV App and Sustained awareness creation have increased people’s reporting of the GBV hence the need to have perpetrators brought to justice.

“The GBV Offenders database which the government adopted recently will go a long way in curbing the menace as offenders will rather desist from the act than to be publicly shamed.

“As much as we continue to monitor and report, we will like to appeal to parents, relatives and others to always report cases to the various agencies handling GBV cases. Keeping silent will not protect the victims who suffer. It encourages the perpetrators to take this silence as a stamp of acceptability, she added.

She reiterated CITAD’s call to Kano State Government to create Special court for GBV related cases and monitoring units in schools to help check GBV in schools to enable students particularly female students to be protected from abuse.

She appealed to all other stakeholders and the general public to lend their support and cooperation to combat Gender-Based violence both physically and virtually.

By Aisar Fagge

Over 2 million people die every year across the globe as a result of zoonotic diseases that people get from food, water and mostly from their contacts with animals such as dogs, cats, cows and the meat they eat.

Dr Muhammad Adamu Abbas, Head of Department, Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Bayero University, Kano stated this during a monthly seminar organized by the Community Health Organization (CHR) in collaboration with Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Disease and Social Vices (YOSPIS), held on Wednesday, 20th July, 2022 at CHR’s conference room, Kano.

The aim of the seminar which was sponsored by Dr Aminu Magashi, the Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) is bring members of the academia, Civil Society Organizations, Non-governmental organizations and media practitioners to interact and proffer solutions to lingering problems around health, population and youth matters.

In his paper titled: Zoonotic Diseases: What are they & their effect on Health and Socio-economic Development,” Dr Abbas said zoonosis is an infectious disease that jumps from animals to humans in the form of virus, fungus, bacteria, parasite or from human environment. Deadly diseases such as Covid-19, Ebola, SARS, Anthrax, bird flu, Lassa fever are all zoonoses family.

Touching infected animals, mosquito bite, eating contaminated food, eggs or meat, polluted air or kissing sick pets such as dogs and cats are all means of transmission.

“Pregnant women, children of 5 years old or younger, people with weakened immune system and people who have regular contacts with animals have high risk of zoonotic diseases.”

According to the speaker, “Of every 4 emerging and re-emerging diseases, 3 are zoonoses while 60% of zoonoses are from animals – wild and pets. Similarly, 80% of bio-terrorism agents are pathogens of animal origin.”

Dr Abbas affirms that zoonoses force more danger to poor and vulnerable societies in Africa and Asia. But unfortunately poverty, poor health system and facilities worsen the situation.

In Nigeria, majority of the people are farmers. They have regular contacts with their animals. “North [for example] is the major supplier of meat to other parts of the country. In those days, there were people who check the health of an animal before and after it was slaughtered in order to protect people [from zoonotic diseases]. But nowadays because of too many slaughter houses and butchers, many animals are being eaten unchecked,” he lamented.

In order to tackle zoonotic diseases in countries like Nigeria, the speaker said, “educating the people and mass awareness, poverty reduction, collaboration between health workers and early detection of these diseases are of paramount importance”.

Many questions were asked by the participants and some of the ways to go forward is to sensitize people about the importance of hygiene and take the campaign to the slaughter houses, farmers and hunters.