Ethanol poisoning from a locally brewed gin may have been responsible for the sudden death of 18 people last week, Nigerian health authorities said Monday.
"We strongly suspect ethanol poisoning and in view of this, we have ordered for another toxicology test for the surviving victims," Ondo state health commissioner Dayo Adeyanju told AFP.
Preliminary investigations ruled out viral or Ebola infection for the outbreak of the mysterious illness in the southwestern town of Ode-Irele on April 15.
"Our investigations revealed that five of the victims took local gin mixed with herbs. Three of them died while the other two have been put under close observation," Adeyanju said.
A total 23 people were affected, and 18 died.
The five others were referred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital for further tests.
Adeyanju said the disease was not contagious, and that no new cases have been reported in the past four days.
"We will continue to monitor the situation. We are appealing to our people to report any case of sudden illness or death to the health authorities for immediate action," he said.
Experts from the World Health Organization were in Ode-Irele to investigate and contain the disease.
The WHO representative in Nigeria, Dr Rui Gama Vaz, told reporters in Abuja on Monday that his organisation would continue to provide technical support to health authorities to battle the disease.
The global health body had said on Sunday that pesticide poisoning was the likely cause of the mysterious deaths.
The victims, whose symptoms included headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, all died within a day of falling ill.
AFP
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Chimamanda Adichie makes Time magazine's 100 must influential people list
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been listed by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people.
Three other Nigerians - Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, and #BringBackOurGirls campaigner Obiageli Ezekwesil - also appear on the list.
Ms Adichie, 37, is hailed by the US magazine as a "creator of characters".
The four Nigerians appear with three other Africans on the annual list.
They include Sudanese aid worker Mustafa Hassan, Liberia's Ebola-fighting doctor Jerry Brown and Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi.
Ms Adichie is described in the US magazine as "rare novelist who in the space of a year finds her words sampled by Beyonce, optioned by Lupita Nyong'o and honoured with the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction".
"With her viral TEDxEuston talk, We Should All Be Feminists, she found her voice as cultural critic," wrote Radhika Jones, a deputy managing editor of Time.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
WAEC trains over 400 teachers to curb mass failure rate of Nigerian students
The West African Examination Council has organised a training for over 400 secondary school teachers from public schools in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The training was on how to improve teaching and learning in these schools.
Speaking at the opening of the training, jointly organised by WAEC and the FCT Education Secretariat, the Head of National Office, WAEC, Charles Eguridu, said the council was concerned about the poor performance of candidates in West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
Mr. Eguridu said an in-depth research revealed a number of factors responsible for the worrisome trend.
The Deputy Registrar, Patrick Areghian, who represented Mr. Eguridu said there have been a gap in the interpretation of the curriculum with relation to the examination syllabus.
He explained that an inappropriate implementation of the syllabus was another reason why candidates performed woefully in the council’s examinations.
“Rarely do teachers cover the syllabus,” he said. “Whereas, the WAEC, for example, sets questions on all aspects of the syllabus. This, no doubt, puts candidates at a great disadvantage.”
Mr. Areghian said the training was designed to highlight the evil of examination malpractice. He noted that there was a need to avoid or curb it as well as maintain the validity and reliability of WAEC examinations and up-hold the integrity of certificates awarded.
He said the training was intended to correct the imbalance and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in schools and the performance of candidates.
He added that the council had also identified the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests, like WAEC tests. He noted that even when students exceled in the internal examination, they failed woefully in the external examination.
“The reason for this is not farfetched,” he said. “It is because they are not being exposed to the nature of standardized tests.”
He assured that the training would equip teachers with item-writing skills with a view to closing the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests.
Premium Times
The training was on how to improve teaching and learning in these schools.
Speaking at the opening of the training, jointly organised by WAEC and the FCT Education Secretariat, the Head of National Office, WAEC, Charles Eguridu, said the council was concerned about the poor performance of candidates in West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
Mr. Eguridu said an in-depth research revealed a number of factors responsible for the worrisome trend.
The Deputy Registrar, Patrick Areghian, who represented Mr. Eguridu said there have been a gap in the interpretation of the curriculum with relation to the examination syllabus.
He explained that an inappropriate implementation of the syllabus was another reason why candidates performed woefully in the council’s examinations.
“Rarely do teachers cover the syllabus,” he said. “Whereas, the WAEC, for example, sets questions on all aspects of the syllabus. This, no doubt, puts candidates at a great disadvantage.”
Mr. Areghian said the training was designed to highlight the evil of examination malpractice. He noted that there was a need to avoid or curb it as well as maintain the validity and reliability of WAEC examinations and up-hold the integrity of certificates awarded.
He said the training was intended to correct the imbalance and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in schools and the performance of candidates.
He added that the council had also identified the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests, like WAEC tests. He noted that even when students exceled in the internal examination, they failed woefully in the external examination.
“The reason for this is not farfetched,” he said. “It is because they are not being exposed to the nature of standardized tests.”
He assured that the training would equip teachers with item-writing skills with a view to closing the gap between teacher-made tests and standardized tests.
Premium Times
Video - Aljazeera speaks with the few schoolgirls that escaped from Boko Haram
Nigerians are attending vigils to mark the anniversary of Boko Haram's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in the country's northeast.
Alleged drug dealer Buruji Kashamu electected senator in Nigeria
A man indicted in America for allegedly smuggling heroin in a court case that was the basis for the TV hit "The New Orange is Black" has been elected a senator in Nigeria.
Buruji Kashamu was little known before he returned home in 2003 from Britain despite a U.S. extradition order to become a major financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's party.
Election results posted late Wednesday identify Kashamu as a senator-elect in southwest Ogun state. Opponents are challenging his victory in court, saying ballots were rigged.
Kashamu, 56, hung up the phone twice when the AP called for comment on Thursday. Kashamu has said the 1998 indictment by a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States is a case of mistaken identity, He has said Chicago prosecutors really want the dead brother he closely resembles. A British court refused a U.S. extradition request in 2003, ruling there was uncertainty about Kashamu's identity.
A dozen people were long ago tried and jailed in the case, including American Piper Kerman, whose memoir about her jail time became the Netflix hit "Orange Is The New Black."
A Nigerian federal court last year ordered Kashamu's extradition, an order upheld by an appeals court. But Nigeria's government has not extradited him.
That failure to act caused Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, to warn that "drug barons ... will buy candidates, parties and eventually buy power or be in power themselves."
Jonathan's perceived protection of Kashamu was a factor that led Obasanjo to defect before recent elections to the opposition that won most votes in Obasanjo's home state of Ogun. The results included the governorship and eight of 11 seats in the House of Assembly.
Kashamu is suing Obasanjo for libel over statements that Kashamu is a fugitive from U.S. justice. He had won a court order halting publication of Obasanjo's autobiography but a judge this week rescinded it, saying Kashamu had misled the court. Obasanjo's lawyer argued that the truth cannot be libel.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator, has promised to wage war on corruption.
AP
Related story: Video - How ex-governor of Delta state James Ibori started as petty thief in London
Buruji Kashamu was little known before he returned home in 2003 from Britain despite a U.S. extradition order to become a major financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's party.
Election results posted late Wednesday identify Kashamu as a senator-elect in southwest Ogun state. Opponents are challenging his victory in court, saying ballots were rigged.
Kashamu, 56, hung up the phone twice when the AP called for comment on Thursday. Kashamu has said the 1998 indictment by a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States is a case of mistaken identity, He has said Chicago prosecutors really want the dead brother he closely resembles. A British court refused a U.S. extradition request in 2003, ruling there was uncertainty about Kashamu's identity.
A dozen people were long ago tried and jailed in the case, including American Piper Kerman, whose memoir about her jail time became the Netflix hit "Orange Is The New Black."
A Nigerian federal court last year ordered Kashamu's extradition, an order upheld by an appeals court. But Nigeria's government has not extradited him.
That failure to act caused Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, to warn that "drug barons ... will buy candidates, parties and eventually buy power or be in power themselves."
Jonathan's perceived protection of Kashamu was a factor that led Obasanjo to defect before recent elections to the opposition that won most votes in Obasanjo's home state of Ogun. The results included the governorship and eight of 11 seats in the House of Assembly.
Kashamu is suing Obasanjo for libel over statements that Kashamu is a fugitive from U.S. justice. He had won a court order halting publication of Obasanjo's autobiography but a judge this week rescinded it, saying Kashamu had misled the court. Obasanjo's lawyer argued that the truth cannot be libel.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator, has promised to wage war on corruption.
AP
Related story: Video - How ex-governor of Delta state James Ibori started as petty thief in London
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