Flowerbud News

Category: General News

  • Agency advises against spreading raw food by road side

    Agency advises against spreading raw food by road side

    Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) has advised communities in Niger to desist from spreading raw food by the road side, in the interest of public health.

    The General Manager of the agency, Mr Lucky Barau, made the call in an interview with the news Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Friday.

    Barau, who said that the development usually expose such raw food to vehicle exhaust fumes, warned that the agency would not fold its hands seeing unhealthy habit with health challenges.

    He said that vehicle exhaust fumes contained certain poisonous chemicals, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, soot, nitrogen oxides and benzene that were harmful to human organs as well as animals.

    “There are pollutants that cannot be destroyed by cooking and when they are consumed, they cause harm to the body tissues.

    “They are materials called persistent organic pollutants, they persist and they cannot be destroyed as they keep on changing from one form to another.

    “Pollutants, when cooked and eaten, go into the human system and keep accumulating on human organs and bio magnify by increasing their concentration on the tissues.

    “These organisms are dangerous to the body issues and cause numerous health challenges as they travel up the food chain,“ he said.

    The general manager said the agency had met with the local government chairmen to sensitise them on the need for people to cultivate the culture of safe food preservation as well as checking the danger inherent in spreading raw food by the road side.

    He warned that the agency would invoke the provision of the law on defaulters, if advice and warnings were not heeded to after sensitisation.

    According to the general manager, the task force from the agency will soon commence patrol of the area with a view to arresting defaulters. (NAN)

  • NAHCO records N4.6bn half year turnover

    NAHCO records N4.6bn half year turnover

    The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc has recorded N4.64 billion as its 2018 half year turnover.

    Mr Tayo Ajakaye, General Manager, Communications and Corporate Services of NAHCO, made this known on Saturday in Lagos.

    Ajakaye said that this was against the N3.71 billion recorded in the same period under review in 2017, adding that it showed an improved financial performance.

    He explained further that the ground handling firm’s 2018 half year results showed a 125.07 per cent increase.

    Ajakaye said the profit before tax (PBT) stood at N500.97 million as against N203.08 million recorded as at half year 2017, showing increase over last year.

    “Profit After Tax for the half year 2018 stands at N418.57 million, which shows an increase of 237.39 per cent over the N176.32 million recorded in the same period under review,’’ he added.

    The Managing Director of NAHCO, Mr Idris Yakubu, said the achievement was as a result of growing faith in the new management that has superintended the affairs of the company during the period.

    Yakubu said: “We are pleased with the progress made by your company (NAHCO) in sustaining earnings, profit and operating performance in our business during the year.

    “We are pleased with the patronage of our valued clients; the airlines, the agents, as well as the contributions of dedicated staff to this very positive result.

    “Management is committed to staff welfare and will continue the negotiation on the staff condition of service and conclude before the current booklet expires in September 2018.

    “Management’s commitment to staff welfare led NAHCO to be adjudged as one of the top 100 best places to work in Nigeria in 2018 by highly rated Jobber man,’’ he said.

    Yakubu said that shareholders should look forward to sustained profit performance at the end of the year on the back of the strong showing of the first half of 2018.

    He said that the company recently concluded its AGM in Abuja where shareholders approved its plans to acquire new Ground Support Equipment (GSE).

    Yakubu said he was impressed with the company’s board and shareholders on the necessity for the equipment to enable it to better serve its clients. (NAN)

  • 1st batch of 561 Borno pilgrims transported to Saudi Arabia

    The first batch of 561 intending pilgrims from Borno have on Sunday been transported to Saudi Arabia for the 2018 Hajj.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the pilgrims were transported by Max Air in the early hours of the day from the Maiduguri International Airport.

    The state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Usman Durkwa, who inaugurated the exercise, admonished the pilgrims to be good ambassadors of the country while in the holy land.

    Durkwa also called on them to be law abiding, dedicate themselves to spiritual supplications and pray for peace and stability in the country.

    Dr Mustapha Ali, the Executive Secretary, Borno State Pilgrims Welfare Board, told NAN that the board had registered 1, 563 pilgrims in the state.

    Ali disclosed that the exercise would be in three batches and was expected to be completed soon.

    He explained that the first batch comprised over 500 pilgrims while the second batch of 545 pilgrims would also be transported to Saudi Arabia soon.

    According to him, the State Government has secured decent accommodation for the pilgrims in Makkah and Madinah, adding that effective transport arrangements for the pilgrims in the Holy land had been made by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

    Ali said that the board had also sensitised the pilgrims to the rites to be performed during the Hajj as well as rules and regulations governing pilgrims’ stay in the Saudi Kingdom.

    He said the board had deployed its personnel to guide and attend to the needs of the pilgrims with a view to ensuring their welfare. (NAN)

  • Oil steady as emerging market woes dim demand outlook

    Oil prices were steady on Monday as trade tensions and troubled emerging markets dented the outlook for fuel demand, although U.S. sanctions against Iran pointed towards tighter supply ahead.

    Oil prices were mixed with Brent was up at 72.73 dollars a barrel, while U.S. crude added 5 cents to 67.68 dollars .

    Benchmark Brent crude oil was steady at 72.71 dollars a barrel by 1130 GMT. U.S. light crude was to 67.33 dollars.

    Oil prices edged lower, with Brent crude was at 72.72 dollars a barrel and U.S. crude was at 67.33 dollars.This is news one hour after the above news on oil.

    The report on oil shows gross inconsistency on oil report.

    Analysts maintain oil is supposed to have arrived at 100 dollars by now if not for perverted language used in its report.

    Turkey’s financial crisis has raised the risk of contagion throughout emerging economies, dragging down South Africa’s rand, Argentina and Mexico’s pesos as well as the Russian rouble.

    It has also dented emerging market stocks while curbing growth and the outlook for oil demand.

    This is compounding worries that a deepening trade war between the United States, China and the European Union will squeeze business activity in the world’s biggest economies.

    Hedge funds and other money managers reduced their bullish positions in U.S. crude futures and options in the week ending Aug. 7, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.

    Phillip Futures said that hedge funds had cut bullish bets on oil because of “rising production levels from OPEC and the United States”.

    In spite of the cautious mood in oil markets, bullish sentiment found some support from expectations that U.S. sanctions against Tehran would restrict Iranian crude exports, tightening global supply.

    The United States has started implementing new sanctions against Iran, which from November will also target the country’s petroleum sector.

    Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq, pumping 3.65 million bpd in July, media data show.

    “There are lots of variables in the oil market, the most important of which is Iran,” said Tamas Varga, analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.

    “If 1 million bpd or more of Iranian exports go AWOL, the current fragile supply-demand balance will be upended, potentially sending oil prices above the May peak.” (Reuters/NAN)

  • Chinese researchers identify 21 key proteins associated with lung cancer

    (Xinhua/NAN)Chinese researchers have identified 21 key proteins that can inhibit or
    encourage the growth of lung cancer cells, according to a recent study published in the international
    journal Cancer Letters.

    Using genome-wide screening techniques, researchers from the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese
    Academy of Sciences tested 1,530 Transcription Factors (TFs), which are key proteins bound to DNA
    sequences that control the gene expression and decode information in the human genome.

    They found that 11 TFs were tumor suppressors preventing the growth of lung cancer cells, while
    another 10 had the potential to cause lung cancer.

    Further study showed that IRX5, one of the 10 dangerous TFs, was often discovered at high levels
    in lung cancer patients with tobacco smoke as the main cause.

    In experiments done on mice, researchers stopped lung cancer cells from growing by inhibiting IRX5.

    Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality
    worldwide.

    In China, 730,000 new cases and 610,000 deaths from lung cancer are reported every year.

    Only 18 per cent of lung cancer patients can live more than five years from the time of
    diagnosis.(Xinhua/NAN)

  • WOTCLEF advocates more sensitisation in rural areas to fight human trafficking

    By Mustapha Sumaila

    An NGO, Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), has called for more sensitisation in the rural areas to completely wage war against human trafficking in the country.

    The Executive Director of WOTCLEF, Mrs Imabong Ladipo-Sanusi, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.

    Ladipo-Sanusi said that if the war against human trafficking must be won, hence there was need to intensify campaigns in the rural areas where the act was also being perpetuated.

    She said that those in the vanguards to fight human trafficking, must be all over places until the menace was completely wiped out.

    According to her, rural areas are also being sensitised by other sister NGOs in the different geo-political zones through traditional and religious institutions.

    The executive director noted that WOTCLEF, through its NYSC partnership with the Youth Corps, had taken the fight to the rural areas.

    She said that efforts needed to be increased for aggressive campaign to combat human trafficking.

    Ladipo-Sanusi said that activities of human traffickers would affect the future of the young generation if not well tackled.

    She said that victims were exploited for various purposes including, but not limited to labour, domestic, hazardous, organ harvest, sexual exploitation, debts bondage, and sales of children or baby factories.

    “Having lost their civic, social, legal and economic rights, it is obvious that rehabilitation and safe reintegration of victims remain key.

    “How painful, bleak and traumatic it is when victims are children, you will not understand until you ask what will become of the future of little Miss X, who was taken away from her mother at a tender age.

    “Used for domestic labour under a slave-like condition by the woman of the house, while the man of the house manipulates her as his sex toy,” she said.

    Ladipo-Sanusi narrated and quoted the ordeals of one of the victims, “each time I am doing the chores in the house, he picks me up and violates me sexually.”

    The director said that the little girl victim was only rescued at the age of eight after a traumatic six years experience.

    “Today, she is nine and cannot just wave off the ordeal as she sometimes longs to see her mother whom the female trafficker claims is nowhere to be found`,” she said.

    Ladipo-Sanusi said that there were lots of children and adult victims of human trafficking in their shelters with different traumatic experiences.

    She added that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic In Persons (NAPTIP) and all relevant NGOs must work together to eliminate human trafficking. (NAN)

    Edited by Fatima Sule/Olagoke Olatoye

  • Congo uses experimental Ebola treatment on patients

    (Reuters/NAN) Democratic Republic of Congo has started using the experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment on patients in the east of the country, the health ministry said on Tuesday, the first time it has been deployed against an active outbreak.

    The outbreak in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province has now spread to neighbouring Ituri province, where a person who was a confirmed case died after returning home from the flare-up’s epicentre in the North Kivu town of Mangina, the ministry said in a statement.

    Five new cases have been confirmed, the ministry said, bringing the total number of cases to around 57.

    The ministry said that 41 people are believed to have died in all from the haemorrhagic fever.

    The mAb114 treatment was developed in the U. S. by the National Institutes of Health using the antibodies of the survivor of an Ebola outbreak in the western Congolese city of Kikwit in 1995.

    It was 100 per cent effective when tested on monkeys.

    The ministry said that several other experimental treatments have arrived in the regional hub of Beni and are awaiting approval from an ethics committee, including Remdesivir, Favipiravir and REGN3450, REGN3471 and REGN3479.

  • China’s economy stutters, investment in record low

    China’s  economy is displaying further signs of weakness, with data Tuesday showing investment slumped to a record low in the first seven months of the year and retail sales slowed.

    Beijing faces a delicate balancing act, aiming to shift its growth driver away from investment and exports and towards personal consumption, while at the same time battling a mountain of debt.

    A trade brawl with Washington has added to the difficulties — the yuan and stock markets have tumbled in recent weeks — providing relief to exporters but hurting Chinese consumers.

    US tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, and retaliatory levies from Beijing, came into force in early July, with more tit-for-tat measures due next week.

    But the extent of the conflict’s impact on China remains unclear, said National Bureau of Statistics spokeswoman Liu Aihua. Trade data last week showed exports holding up in July.

    “The negative impact will be gradual, with the impact on the international economy and the global economy already emerging,” Liu said.

    Output at factories and workshops expanded 6.0 percent year-on-year in July, in line with June’s reading, according to the NBS but short of the 6.3 percent forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

    Retail sales, a key gauge of domestic consumption, rose 8.8 percent in July, down from nine percent in June, and also missing estimates of 9.1 percent.

    Fixed-asset investment, the lifeblood of China’s economy, expanded just 5.5 percent in January-July, the slowest pace on record.

    “We see further downside risks to economic activity in the coming months given that credit growth is still slowing,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics.

    Last month China’s cabinet indicated it would step up its support for the economy and officials have said approval of infrastructure projects will quicken in the second half of the year.

    But the International Monetary Fund has suggested Beijing should resist another round of aggressive stimulus to boost growth, citing concerns the measures would exacerbate already excessive debt levels.

    Evans-Pritchard forecast Beijing’s moves could take months to kick in.

    China’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter to 6.7 percent, from 6.8 percent in the first quarter.

    “The Chinese economy will get worse before getting better, and it takes several months to turn around,” said Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura investment bank.

    “Beijing will step up credit easing and fiscal measures to deliver a recovery and prevent financial troubles such as a rise of bond defaults,” Lu wrote in the research note.

  • ICRC partners FG, trains 50 health professionals on surgical skills management

    ICRC partners FG, trains 50 health professionals on surgical skills management

    No fewer than 50 surgeons and health care professionals are undergoing training on surgical skills management, says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Abuja.

    Eloi Fillion, ICRC Head of Delegation in Nigeria, who disclosed this on Tuesday, said the training was being done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health.

    Fillion was speaking at the opening of a three-day surgical skills seminar for the management of weapon wounded casualties in Abuja.

    He said the training was aimed at equipping participants with the capacity to handle injuries resulting from weapons such as guns and bomb blasts.

    He said armed conflict and violence in Nigeria had become more complex, with injuries caused by a range of weapons, from machetes, guns to explosive devices.

    He added that since it seemed there were more weapon related causalities recorded in hospitals, hence the demand for a certain level of expertise and skills to save lives.

    According to him, the meeting will be facilitated by two ICRC experts in the area of surgery and trauma management, Dr Khurshid Iqbal from India and Dr Marco Pinna Pintor from Italy.

    “The seminar will incorporate field experiences, surgical and anaesthesia techniques, wound management and patient care in precarious environments with limited resources.

    “The training will also include practical lifesaving techniques to manage mine injuries, abdominal and thoracic injuries as well as fractures sustained from weapons,’’ Fillion said.

    He further stated that between January and June, the ICRC surgical team in the North East had operated no fewer than 3,000 casualties.

    Fillion said ICRC initiated the surgical skills seminar in Nigeria in 2012, and over 400 surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists from countries prone to armed conflict and violence had been trained. (NAN)