Lifestyle

By Usman Muhammad Salihu,

The Harmattan season, marked by cold temperatures, dry air, and dusty winds, is a distinctive weather phenomenon in Nigeria. It brings relief from the relentless heat of the dry season but comes with challenges that affect health, agriculture, transportation, and the economy. This fascinating yet demanding season requires careful management to minimise its effects on individuals and communities.

Health Woes in Harmattan

Harmattan has a significant impact on public health. The dusty winds carry fine particles that irritate the respiratory system, causing a surge in asthma, pneumonia, and other respiratory ailments. Those with pre-existing conditions often experience aggravated symptoms, with children and the elderly being the most vulnerable.

Cold temperatures exacerbate the situation, aggravating conditions such as arthritis and causing widespread skin dryness, flaking, and cracking. Chapped lips and eye irritation are common, while the prevalence of colds, flu, and other viral infections increases as the body struggles to adjust to sudden temperature drops.

To address these health challenges, individuals are advised to:

Dress warmly, especially during the mornings and evenings.

Wear protective masks to minimise exposure to dust-laden air.

Moisturise regularly and stay hydrated to maintain skin health.

Health facilities should prepare adequately, stock essential medications, and run public education campaigns to help people stay safe.

Transportation in Crisis

Harmattan haze, thick with dust, reduces visibility and disrupts transportation. It increases the risk of road accidents and causes delays or cancellations of air travel. These disruptions have far-reaching economic implications, hindering logistics, delaying goods, and frustrating travellers and businesses.

Agriculture and Environmental Risks

For farmers, Harmattan is both a blessing and a curse. While the dry conditions benefit certain crops, they also heighten the risk of bushfires, which can devastate farmlands and forests and worsen food security concerns.

To mitigate these risks:

Farmers should adopt sustainable practices, such as cultivating cold-resistant crops and implementing irrigation systems.

Communities must engage in bushfire prevention by practising responsible land clearing and safely disposing of flammable materials.

Economic Pressures

The economic burden of Harmattan is heaviest on low-income households. The increased demand for warm clothing, blankets, and heating appliances often leads to price hikes. Due to the harsh weather, outdoor workers, such as farmers and street vendors, experience reduced productivity, which impacts their earnings.

To alleviate these challenges, governments and non-governmental organisations can:

Provide subsidised or free warm clothing and healthcare services.

Launch public awareness campaigns to educate people about coping strategies.

Navigating Harmattan’s Challenges

Harmattan is a paradoxical season of relief and struggle—a vivid reminder of nature’s duality. Its challenges across health, transportation, agriculture, and the economy demand resilience and adaptability. With proactive planning, community support, and individual vigilance, Nigerians can turn this season into an opportunity to strengthen preparedness for future seasonal changes.

Usman Muhammad Salihu is a fellow of PRNigeria. He sent this article via muhammadu5363@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Isah Zng

Sleeping is essential to the human body. It helps the body function well in the office, school, and daily activities. That’s why experts in health care emphasise that people should get at least six to seven hours of sleep daily.

Sleep improves physical health, helping humans build bones and muscles and strengthen the immune system. Although it decreases the lifespan of healthy adults, it also helps children grow up with the utmost energy.  

Therefore, sleeping enhances cognitive function. It plays a crucial role in brain function and development, helping the brain process information and get enough rest to function well. Consequently, a lack of sleep can impact cognitive function, leading to difficulties reading, understanding, or making good decisions. 

Furthermore, enough sleep helps the human body have a stronger immune system, which produces cytokines that fight infections and inflammation. Because of these cytokines, people who sleep well have fewer diseases. Therefore, chronic sleep deprivation can weaken a human’s immune system, making them more susceptible to illness. 

Sleep improves memory, and the human body protects the body from minor diseases and helps people perform well in the office, school, and other activities. 

Muhammad Isah Zng wrote from the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano.

By Ishaka Mohammed

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has published its latest updates, featuring a collection of 20 words and phrases from Nigeria, Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, a consultant on Nigerian English for the OED, announced.

The Daily Reality can confirm that the dictionary has defined the words and phrases. However, while the majority of them (agbero, eba, japa, suya, etc.) were first published in December 2024, others (edo, kanuri, kobo, and yarn) were only updated with new meanings.

Dr Ugwuanyi, who played a significant role in the update, revealed that, in addition to drafting most of the words, he also provided their pronunciations. “When you explore the OED online and click on the pronunciations, you’ll hear my voice bringing these words to life,” he shared in a celebratory post on LinkedIn.

The newly added words reflect diverse aspects of Nigerian life, from everyday slang to cultural expressions. The list includes:

1. 419

2. abi

3. adire

4. agbero

5. area boy

6. cross-carpet

7. cross-carpeting

8. eba

9. Edo

10. gele

11. jand (noun, verb)

12. janded (adjective)

13. japa (noun, verb)

14. Kanuri

15. kobo

16. Naija

17. suya

18. yahoo

19. yahoo boy

20. yarn dust

Dr Ugwuanyi thanked Danica Salazar, the OED’s World Englishes editor, and the entire editorial team and encouraged Nigerians to share their favourite words from the list and suggest new ones for future updates.

Recall that the dictionary added 29 Nigerian words and phrases in 2020, and CNN reported that those were in addition to the at least 57 others already in the dictionary.

The Daily Reality is still compiling the definitions of the latest additions for easier access.

By Musab Isah Mafara, PhD

As you regularly use social media, it’s important to understand that many individuals post misguided or controversial opinions, images, and videos with specific intentions. They seek attention and engagement, aiming to drive traffic and, subsequently, revenue to their profiles.

Social media monetisation has become an attainable goal for all. In pursuing fame and financial gain, some users compromise their dignity and reputation–assuming these were valued in the first place–by posting provocative content meant to ignite heated debates.

For example, people might post movie reviews/clip without captions, prompting viewers to ask for the movie’s name, thereby increasing comment counts. Others might upload videos criticizing a religious group, knowing it will provoke members of that group to share the video, thus boosting its reach and view count. The opposition might watch to refute these criticisms, further amplifying the content.

And then you have the annoying ones who share harmful content they claim not to agree with, under the guise of correcting misinformation. You also have celebrities and influencers who post videos of themselves doing or saying things specifically designed to get people talking about them.

Unfortunately, even some ‘Shaikhs’–or their handlers–have been drawn into this trend of attention-seeking posts aimed at drawing crowds and potentially monetising in the long run. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with scholars monetising their social media presence–indeed, it could offer financial independence and protection from undue influence by sects, benefactors, or governments–they must tread carefully.

Managing a page, especially if done personally by an Islamic scholar, poses the risk of succumbing to vanity or showmanship. Although only Allah truly knows one’s intentions, people can sometimes infer motives from the content of posts, which might damage a scholar’s credibility among followers or, worse, lead to ‘Riya‘ (showing off for praise). May Allah guide our intentions to be sincere and protect us from ‘Riya‘.

There is nothing wrong with using social media to gain followers and earn from what you share on your profile, but the content should align with what is permissible (halal). Although halal content might not ‘sell’ well online, as Muslims, we cannot justify the means by the ends and post whatever we like just to make it.

Focus on sharing religious teachings, educational materials, skills, recipes, analysis of issues, and any useful knowledge relevant to people’s daily lives. Share what will benefit people in their everyday interactions or what will bring them closer to Allah. Your actions could lead to one of these outcomes:

1. A reward from Allah alone.

2. Financial rewards from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or others.

3. Both a reward from Allah and financial compensation.

4. Neither a reward nor financial benefit, if the intention is not right and you couldn’t meet the requirements of the platform, but likely no sin incurred.

However, if you promote impermissible (haram) content, you must understand the consequences. You’ll be accountable for the sin not just for yourself but for everyone who encounters that content through you, directly or indirectly, until the end of time. The Prophet (SAW) said:

ومن سنَّ في الإسلام سنَّة سيئة فعليه وزرها ووزر من عمل بها من بعده من غير أن ينقص من أوزارهم شيء

“And whoever introduces a bad practice in Islam that is followed after him, there is upon him the sin of it and the sin of those who act upon it after him, without that diminishing their sins in any way.”

Don’t be a means to a sinful act.

Furthermore, even if you’re not directly sharing harmful content, you can help reduce its spread by not engaging with it. Unfollow pages that offer nothing but this kind of material. When necessary, address issues on your own wall without linking back to the harmful content or commenting on the page where it was posted. Additionally, hide or unfollow accounts that thrive on harmful materials. Often, it only takes a click of the 3 dots against a post and choosing ‘Not Interested.’

By Khadijat Ogido 

Maintaining good health is essential for students every day. Well-being is a holistic journey that integrates physical, mental, and emotional health. Mental health is a cornerstone of well-being, though many students overlook it.

Mental health problems can affect a student’s energy level, concentration, dependability, cognitive ability, and optimism, which hinder their performance. Students consider symptoms like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, psychotics, and mood swings as everyday experiences which often lead to mental illness.

According to mental health research conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in four students has a diagnosable mental illness. “A lot of pressure from parents, stress from exams, the pressure of getting good grades in university. These aspects destroy the inner peace of students”.

In a world where stress and fast-paced demands are commonplace, prioritising self-care and balanced living can significantly impact health and happiness. However, the case is often different for most students. 

The stress of pursuing academic excellence sometimes leads to neglect of health. To pass their exams, most students stay up late, reading for more than 16 hours a day, and some do not properly care for their diet, which has resulted in mental, physical, and psychological problems.

Mental health is vital at every stage of life, from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. There are several causes of mental health illness in students, such as depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, etc. Most students on campus experience some of these problems but always downplay them as usual.

Amina Abubakar, a 300L architectural student at Bayero University Kano (BUK), narrated her experience of how school activities have challenged and affected her mentally. She said, “Being a student is difficult because I must attend lectures, do tests, assignments, and presentations. Most of the time, I have a serious headache if I return from school. The headache lasts for more than two days, and I won’t be able to eat or sleep.”

Similarly, Maryam Jibrin, a student in the economics department, lamented about the price of being a student. She said, “Being a student, trying to get good grades, maintaining social relationships and trying to cope with the current hardship is on another level because it’s affecting most students in many ways. At times, students feel depressed and stressed out. Some students will even lock themself inside and don’t want to talk to anybody, and when u ask them what is wrong with them, they will say they are fine”.

Consequently, mental health issues among students have a significant effect on their academic performance. Social relationships, behavioural issues, physical health, lack of concentration, insomnia (difficulty sleeping), and other problems might affect students physically, mentally, and psychologically. 

Matt Haig, an English author and journalist, said, “Mental health problems don’t define who you are; they are something we experience. You walk in the rain and feel the rain, but you are not the rain.” Therefore, students who experience any symptoms of mental issues should not panic. They should always seek advice and help or talk to someone, not keep things to themselves.

In conclusion, since students must overcome academic stress to pass, the university authority should help create an environment that will enable students to study by building a counselling hall for students to go to when they feel depressed. Also, family and friends should not leave their loved ones alone without checking up on them, which might make them feel alienated. 

Students should engage in activities that bring them joy and relaxation, eat on time, take a break, give themselves time to rest, exercise, and be healthy. Health is wealth. Don’t hesitate to seek support when you need it. Your mental health matters, and seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Khadijat Ogido wrote via ogidokhadijat82@gmail.com.

By Garba Sidi 

It’s truly disheartening how some parents neglect their responsibilities in shaping their children’s behaviour. This lack of care can leave their biological sons and daughters feeling unloved. Love is crucial for a child’s healthy development.

On my way out of the city this morning, I overheard a conversation between two young men, no older than 24, who were smoking cigarettes. One said, ‘We have no value in people’s eyes because we messed up our lives.’ The other responded, ‘I swear, Nasiru, when I look at my friend Aminu, his life seems so good. Everyone likes him; he studied hard, has a good job, and looks at us, sitting in this dirty place. We ruined our lives, and we’re ashamed of ourselves.’

Nasiru’s friend spoke in a low voice, gathering his thoughts before narrating his story. He explained that his father was a car driver and his mother was from Bauchi State. When his father married his mother and brought her to Jigawa, she told him about his father’s recklessness in providing for their needs (his and his younger sister’s). After some years, his father married another woman, and whatever resources he brought came to her, leaving them with nothing but what their neighbours offered.

His mother sadly passed away, plunging him into deep sorrow. From that point on, their life became a struggle. He started going to the fish market to earn money for food and other necessities, as his stepmother used everything his father brought, even food, leaving them barely enough to eat. His stepmother, who didn’t have children herself, would sometimes even tell him his father wasn’t a man because he couldn’t give her a child.

He had friends who smoked cigarettes, and being around them constantly led him to become a drug addict. He blames two things for his current situation: the love he lost from his father and the death of his mother.

His friend, Nazy, then began his story about joining this group of drug addicts. He attributed the core reason for his situation to his mother’s neglect in shaping him in his youth. He explained that his mother sold food at home, and his father was a mechanic engineer. Many people came to their house to eat, and as the only male child, both parents showered him with love and didn’t punish him when he did wrong.

He started working as a shopboy for one of their regular customers. Things went well initially until he met the daughter of a wealthy businessman. They began a relationship, and she introduced him to a world of excessive entertainment, including smoking cigarettes, drinking syrup, injecting drugs, and inappropriate physical contact. Tragically, her father caught them drinking syrup in his apartment and handed Nazy over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) while his daughter continued to enjoy a comfortable life without consequences.

Nazy’s parents tried to get him out of jail but were too late. The wealthy man paid money to have Nazy imprisoned, blaming him for ruining his daughter’s life. Nazy spent five months in prison before being released. He heard the wealthy man’s daughter is now in Uganda. This is how he ended up in this cycle of addiction.

By Hussein Adoto 

After the palliative distribution tragedy in Nasarawa, I published an article in a national newspaper where I noted that “distribution events, especially those intended to provide aid or relief, tend to draw large crowds, making effective crowd control essential.” 

However, the Nasarawa tragedy wasn’t the first. I wrote: “In February, the Nigerian Customs Service had to suspend its sale of seized bags of rice after seven people died at one of its centres in Yaba, Lagos. Some two years ago, 31 people died at a stampede at the King’s Assembly in Rivers State during the distribution of palliatives to church members; seven more were injured.” I wrote that in March this year.

We are now in December and have recorded at least three stampedes in one week. First is the one that consumed 35 kids in Ibadan. On Saturday, another stampede was recorded in Maitama, Abuja, where at least 10 people died trying to get food. In Okija, Anambra state, three people died due to another stampede. They all went for bags of food and returned home in body bags. Sad.

Sadly, worsening poverty has pushed people into desperately hustling for freebies, to the point of getting stampeded. One would expect that in a war zone like Gaza, where more than 100 people were killed and 700 more injured in a stampede in March this year. Yet here in Nigeria, a country not under siege, our outcomes mirror those of a war zone.

How did we get here? This is one of the most trying periods for Nigerians, and I say this as someone who witnessed the pangs of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession before it. Although we are told this trying time is a phase that will soon pass, it is dragging on for too long, leaving a litany of crushed souls in its wake. The palliative measures, however meagre, are welcome and necessary to ease our sore bowels. 

Still, the repeated tragedies that trail these events highlight a deeper negligence that we have normalised. Crowd control has always been our problem in Nigeria, and it doesn’t matter whether the event is a palliative distribution, a political rally, or a concert. We tend to be unruly. 

Security officials sometimes shove and cane crowds at political gatherings to make way for VIPs. I saw a video a while ago where a former governor was shoved to make way for the new one. On campuses and in open-air university programmes, the situation is similar. Students shove, push, and tug to no end. It is worse on the days of GNS exams.

Is it not this week that a video of Nigerians crowding aircraft boarding stairs emerged? Even a conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2022 ended in chaos as “learned” lawyers scrambled for souvenirs. Now, if we are like that on an average day, how worse can we be when we are poor, hungry, and desperate?

I’m glad the Nigeria Police Force has warned against the unorganised distribution of palliatives. Hopefully, this will tame the gathering of rabid freebie seekers and distributors. It needs to. This cycle of desperation, chaos, and death must end. We can’t keep endangering people in the name of helping them. 

Charity organisations should estimate the number of people they can serve and focus only on those people. Budgeting for 500 people while targeting thousands with publicity campaigns is risky, if not criminally negligent. By focusing on a manageable number of beneficiaries, these organisations can distribute their palliatives without dealing with an overwhelming crowd.

Secondly, they should divide the distribution into chunks. They can do this by age, gender, or community. Instead of gathering everyone, young and old, male and female, into one combustible whole, they can divide them into crowds of tens and fifty instead of hundreds and thousands. That way, even if the crowd gets unruly, the outcome won’t be as tragic as it is. 

The venue itself must also reflect proper organisation. Hosting hundreds of desperate people in a small, gated space with one or two entry and exit points is a recipe for trouble. Crowds kept in areas without shade, water, and seating will likely devolve into chaos. Therefore, managing these factors will prevent an avoidable tragedy. 

Meanwhile, we can’t rely on quick, short-lived palliatives to quench the country’s raging thirst for sustenance. To give Nigerians a modicum of respite, the underlying factors of inflation and underemployment must be addressed immediately.

As desperate times in the country make Nigerians desperate for freebies, we must not allow them to become victims of their desperation. If they don’t see the danger of being unruly, palliative distributors should anticipate and prevent that danger. This starts with treating Nigerians with dignity instead of seeing them merely as a queue to be managed.

Hussein Adoto writes from Ilorin via bellohussein210@gmail.com.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Nneka Chidoka Outreach Program (NCOP) has embarked on a nationwide campaign to advocate for increased funding for cancer care in Nigeria’s 2025 budget.

With a staggering 124,000 new cancer cases reported annually, the current lack of adequate funding has resulted in many Nigerians being denied access to life-saving treatment.

Despite efforts by the Federal Ministry of Health, including the Cancer Health Fund (CHF) and the National Cancer Access Partnership (NCAP), limited funding and infrastructure gaps have restricted the benefits to only a fraction of cancer patients.

To address this, NCOP is collaborating with the Ministry and the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) to urge lawmakers to allocate more funds for cancer care during the 2025 budget deliberations.

The campaign’s key objectives include securing ₦25 billion to transition the Cancer Health Fund into the Catastrophic Health Insurance Fund for sustainable cancer care, closing the ₦97 billion funding gap for completing six Cancer Centers of Excellence under the National Oncology Initiative, and expanding funding for NCAP to ensure more Nigerians have access to affordable cancer medications.

Osita Chidoka, Founder of NCOP, noted the importance of collective action, saying “Cancer is a battle we must fight together. We are urging all Nigerians to take a stand by signing this petition.

“With your support, we can push for meaningful investments in cancer care and give hope to thousands of families.”

To support the campaign, individuals can sign the petition and share the message on social media using the hashtag #FundCancerCare2025.By working together, NCOP aims to ensure that no Nigerian is left behind in the fight against cancer.

The organization is committed to transforming Nigeria’s healthcare landscape and improving access to cancer care through early diagnosis, advocacy, and funding support.

With the help of Nigerians, NCOP hopes to make a significant impact and bring about positive change in the lives of those affected by cancer.

By Usman Muhammad Salihu

Genotype incompatibility continues to disrupt lives and relationships across northern Nigeria, where premarital medical testing is not yet mandatory. The emotional and financial toll it takes on couples, families, and communities cannot be overstated. 

I recently encountered two striking reminders of its devastating impact. First, I came across a trending wedding invitation card on Facebook. What stood out wasn’t the design or details but the heartbreaking update: the wedding had been cancelled due to genotype incompatibility. 

Shortly after, while scrolling through WhatsApp statuses, I saw my sister and classmate, Ummu Kulsum, express her frustration in just a few words: “Ya Allah, why does all this genotype matter?” Her lament instantly reminded me of my brother’s ordeal, where his marriage was called off barely two days before the wedding for the same reason.

These instances are not isolated. They represent a growing crisis fueled by a lack of awareness and delayed action. Many couples only undergo genotype testing at the final stages of their wedding preparations, often when financial and emotional investments are at their peak. 

Discovering genetic incompatibility at such a late stage forces painful decisions: risk the health of future children or cancel the union altogether. In northern Nigeria, where premarital testing is not yet compulsory, such stories are alarmingly common. 

While no religion or culture explicitly prioritises marriage over health, societal practices and insufficient awareness often lead to preventable heartbreaks. Religious and cultural leaders uniquely advocate for early genotype testing as an essential part of marriage preparations.

Sickle cell disease (SCD), prevalent in Nigeria, is one of the most severe outcomes of incompatible genotypes. Couples with AS-AS or AS-SS combinations risk passing this life-altering condition to their children. Living with SCD involves chronic pain, frequent hospital visits, and significant financial strain—all of which could be avoided through proper testing and awareness.

The time has come for a societal shift. Policymakers must work towards making premarital genotype testing compulsory in all northern states. Religious and traditional leaders should advocate for such measures and integrate genotype counselling into premarital counselling sessions.

Healthcare providers and educational institutions must also increase efforts to educate the public on genetic compatibility. Awareness campaigns can normalise discussions about genotype testing, emphasising its role in building healthy families and preventing avoidable heartbreaks.

For families like mine, the trauma of cancelled weddings due to genotype incompatibility is a painful memory. The financial losses and emotional distress are entirely avoidable with early testing and informed decisions. My brother’s experience and countless others highlight the urgent need for collective action.

Love is an essential foundation for marriage, but so is the responsibility to ensure a healthy future for one’s family. By prioritising early genotype testing and raising awareness, we can prevent the heartbreak of cancelled weddings and the lifelong struggles associated with genetic disorders.

The solution is in our hands. We must act now—for love, health, and future generations.

Usman Muhammad Salihu is a PRNigeria Fellow and wrote in from Jos, Nigeria. He can be reached at muhammadu5363@gmail.com.

By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini

The environment is the place where humans, animals, and plants live. In recent years, the environment has been facing significant challenges from various angles.

With this brief explanation of the environment, we can say that our lives and those of other creatures around us are closely linked to the environment.

However, the environment and environmental officers continue to face growing challenges from the government and the wider community. These problems seem to be increasing every day.

The Daily Reality had an interview with one of the environmental officers, Idris Shafiu Aliyu, who explained the reasons hindering success in establishing regulations and managing the environment.

1. Lack of sufficient trained Environmental Health Officers (EHOs).

2. Lack of enough trained personnel to collaborate with (e.g., Police).

3. Corruption among some stakeholders within the Environmental Health Officers.

4. The strong influence of politics in the operations of Environmental Health Officers.

5. Lack of public awareness on the importance of environmental sanitation, which hinders progress in the sector.

6. Insufficient funding for Environmental Health Officers and the lack of public education on the importance of sanitation.

7. Lack of respect and appreciation for the work of Environmental Health Officers by some members of the public.

Improving your environment doesn’t mean abandoning it; prevention is better than cure.