Recruitment through online, of 10,000 Nigerians into the Nigeria Police Force began today, April 1. The exercise is expected to last for six weeks. Those that are to be recruited are Nigerians with school certificates, national diplomas and graduates. The recruitment form to be completed for the exercise is available on the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission: websites http://www.npf.gov.ng and http://www.psc.gov.ng, http://www.npfcareers2016.net/. Meanwhile, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has, in a statement warned those in charge of the recruitment not to compromise the integrity of the exercise. The statement, signed by Ikechukwu Ani, PSC’s Head of Media and Public Affairs, warned that any official involved in misconduct during the exercise would be sanctioned according to Public Service Rules. “The staff must live above board as the commission is ready to make a huge success of the presidential assignment. “Candidates are warned against indulging or inducing the staff as anyone caught would be arrested and prosecuted.” Also the Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police, has also warned the candidates not to fall victims of fraudsters who would want to make quick money from the exercise. “No one should pay any money to obtain the form because it is available free online.” [myad]
No fewer than 30 furniture shops were, early this morning, razed down by midnight fire in Gwarzo Market, Gwarzo Local Government Area of Kano State. Items destroyed by the fire, which was said to have spread from the burning of sawdust nearby, were estimated at millions of Naira. An eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano today that the incident occurred around 1am, adding that the fire destroyed the entire furniture section of the market before it was put out by men of the fire service in the area. When contacted, the Director of the state’s Fire Service, Alhaji Mustapha Rulwan, confirmed the incident, saying that the fire started around 1.45am and destroyed 30 shops in the furniture section of the market. “We got the report of the incident around 1.45am and our men in Gwarzo office were able to quench the fire around 3.25am today (Friday). “Our preliminary investigation indicated that the fire spread to the shops and other places when some traders attempted to burn sawdust.” Rulwan, however, warned people to take precautionary measures while using fire. [myad]
The United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, has said that his country is impressed by the leadership styles of Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, especially on the way he is handling the economy. “The United States, let me be clear, is very encouraged by President Buhari’s commitment to an economy that is more diversified, less dependent on a single commodity for export earnings, and that means we need to develop sustainability.” Mr. Kerry, wh o spoke at the US-Nigeria Binational Commission’s meeting in Washington, said that America wanted Nigeria to succeed. “You know there are challenges. That’s what your election was about. And so we are all aware that the world right now is facing many different challenges in terms of governance in various parts of the world and for various reasons: absence of capital, absence of structure, having to build capacity. “These things take time. Nobody is pretending that it’s an overnight operation. It wasn’t for us. And some people sometimes are very revisionist in America about our own history, but we’ve gone through some very difficult periods and very difficult issues.” Kerry recalled that America took slavery out of its constitution after it had been written, adding that it was no small task. “We’ve been through a history. And what we’re trying to do is, really, share with people the shortcut, if you will – how you can manage to avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve made in the course of our own development in ways that can embrace the hopes and the aspirations of millions upon millions of people. That’s what this is about.” According to him, Nigeria is finding very vibrant expression in every branch of the arts, saying that like the United States, Nigeria “is a diverse country with a very large and assertive civil society.” Kerry insisted that Nigeria’s future is in Nigerians’ hands but that the United States would help Nigeria. “Our development assistance this year will top $600 million, and we are working closely with your leaders – the leaders of your health ministry – to halt the misery that is spread by HIV/AIDS, by malaria, and by TB.” He said that America’s long-term food security programme and Feed the Future would help to create more efficient agriculture and to raise rural incomes. He noted that under Buhari’s administration, Nigeria had been taking the fight to Boko Haram and had reduced Boko Haram’s capacity to launch full-scale attacks. He said that the group remained a threat to the entire region and that the US and Nigerian governments had been collaborating on new ways to institute security measures. “The threat that is posed by Boko Haram is serious, but it must not – and I really believe this – it will not be allowed to shape Nigeria’s future. Nigeria is a country with almost boundless capacity for economic growth.” [myad]
A woman who aborts a child is operating within an emotional and spiritual context of fear, disappointment, confusion and sadness. If she receives an illegal abortion she should not be “punished” by the law. This is in line with long human tradition and is based on the simple wisdom that she has already been gravely and tragically penalized: She has lost her child, someone who was very likely going to love her, someone she very likely would have loved. The doctor who performs such an abortion on the other hand is not in turmoil, he is in business. He breaks the law and ends the life of the child with full consciousness, and for profit. He should be “punished.” He should be in jail. That we even have to discuss this is absurd. It also feels very 1970s, when the subject to so many was new. I guess it’s still new to Donald Trump, and so unexamined, un-thought-through. Yes, he walked back or clarified his stand on punishment, and yes, Chris Matthews badgered and browbeat him on MSNBC. But presidential hopefuls, especially Republican ones, are routinely badgered and browbeaten. You have to deal with it. It’s part of how you earn the big job. But I feel like we’re missing something in this latest. Mr. Trump is hurting himself, in real time and for the first time. We will likely see it, and soon, in the polls. Already his numbers in next week’s Wisconsin primary have fallen, and as for women—well, with women nationally Mr. Trump is currently more popular than cholera, but not by much. We’re missing what’s happening because we’re blocked by clichés. The first great Trump cliché, which began seven or eight months ago, was that he’d quickly do himself in with some outrageous comment. So everyone waited. His insults to John McCain, Megyn Kelly—that would do it. But it didn’t. The more outrageous he was the stronger he got. So a new cliché was born, the still-reigning one: Whatever Mr. Trump says it won’t hurt him, people will just love him more. But that’s not right. It was always a mistake to think one explosive statement would blow his candidacy up. What could damage him, and is damaging him, is the aggregate—a growing pile of statements and attitudes that becomes a mood, a warning sign, a barrier. It’s been going on for four or five weeks, and you can take your pick as to the tipping point. Maybe it was when he threatened to “spill the beans” on another candidate’s wife, or when he retweeted the jeering pictures of her and his own wife. Maybe it was his inability to clearly, promptly denounce the KKK; maybe it was when he hinted at riots if he’s cheated out of the nomination. Maybe it was Corey Lewandowski’s alleged battery of reporter Michelle Fields. Maybe it was when Mr. Trump referred in debate to his genitals, a true national first. It has all added up into a large blob of sheer dumb grossness. He is now seriously misjudging the room. The room is still America. I speak to Trump supporters a lot, and they are getting embarrassed. Their feeling was perfectly encapsulated by what Ann Coulter said on a podcast after the retweeting of the wives’ photos: “Do you realize our candidate is mental?” She said of having to defend his mad statements and tweets: “It’s like constantly having to bail out your 16-year-old son from prison.” It has left me thinking about the political theory of The Mess. The Mess is something a candidate occasionally brings with him that voters can tell is going to cause trouble down the road. The Mess is a warning sign; it tells potential supporters to slow down, think twice. The Mess might be a pattern of scrapes with the law, a series of love affairs or other scandals. Voters will accept normal, flawed human beings but they don’t like patterns of bad behavior. They don’t like when they see a Mess, because they don’t want to elect trouble to high office. Donald Trump’s Mess is his mouth, his indiscipline, his refusal to be . . . serious. At the same time Mr. Trump doesn’t even seem to be trying to do the one big thing he has to do now. He is the front-runner for the nomination. At this point it is his job to keep the support he has and persuade those who don’t like him to give him a second or third look. To do that he only has to be more thoughtful, stable and mature in his approach—show he may be irrepressible and fun and surprising, even shocking, but at bottom he has within him a plausible president. Instead, he is stuck at nutty. Rather than attempt to win over, he doubles down. In the process he shows that what occupies his mind isn’t big issues, significant questions or the position of the little guy, but subjects that are small, petty, unworthy. Instead of reassuring potential or reluctant supporters, he has given them pause. Instead of gathering in, he is repelling. This is political malpractice on a grand scale. It was always Mr. Trump who was the only one big enough to take down Mr. Trump. He may be doing it. In the process he does a great favor to his current and potential opponents. One of the things Mr. Trump does is make everyone else look normal. His outrageousness cancels out theirs. Once Hillary Clinton was too corrupt to be elected, had too many negatives, too much bad history from her early days in Arkansas to the Clinton Foundation, Benghazi, the emails. She brought and brings quite a mess. But his mess cancels out her mess. The sheer force of Donald Trump’s weird, outsized strangeness has made her look normal. It’s made Ted Cruz look normal too, like a nice, sincere fella right in the middle of the political bell curve. There are people who used to dismiss Trump supporters, and who later self-corrected to show compassion from great heights: “My God, they’re suffering in America.” They have now taken a newly jaundiced eye—his supporters are his enablers. My thought is different. Maybe the sadness here is that Mr. Trump’s supporters are earnest and full of concern for America and he isn’t worthy of them. Maybe he only harnessed their legitimate anger but can’t do anything with it because he’s not as serious as so many of them are, but a flake, a dope with poor impulse control. What happens to Trumpism—his stands on illegal immigration, trade, entitlements—when Mr. Trump is gone? Does he have any sense of responsibility for what he leads? And the immediate question: Is it possible he can change and be worthy of the moment? I don’t know but doubt it, because in my observation people at the end of middle age don’t usually change, they just become more so. In any case it’s getting late. So far Donald Trump has conquered all expectations, half-conquered the American political system, and almost conquered one of our two great political parties. It is sad he can’t conquer himself.
The Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), has declared $84,382,088 out of the $900 million derived in 2014 from oil and gas extraction in Ghana missing.
According to the agency’s report on the operations of the extractive industry in the country, the government has not been able to verify the reception of the total revenue from the oil and gas companies.
The agency, which evaluates the government’s revenue flow as well as disbursements in the oil and gas industry, blamed Anadarko WCTP Limited as one of the major culprits.
“With the exception of Anadarko WCTP Limited, all oil and gas companies that made payments in 2014 reported to the GHEITI.”
Ghana recorded a production figure of 37,201,691 barrels (BBLS) of crude oil and 55,758.04 Million Standard Cubic Feet (MMSCF) of natural gas from the Jubilee fields in the year under review. According to the report, an additional 79,602 barrels of crude oil were produced from the Saltpond field.
The oil and gas sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slacked from 8.2% in the 2013 to 7.25% in 2014.
The GHEITI report also called for more transparency from the government and the various oil and gas companies operating in the country. It urged prompt provision of information on the performance of the Ghana petroleum funds (GPF). [myad]
What does a mad man do? He walks randomly half naked or completely naked on the street. He picks pieces of papers along the street. He busies himself reading the papers even when there is no writing on them. He talks alone to himself. He laughs alone to himself. He is in the world of his own. He believes and swears that whatever he is doing is right while every other person is wrong. Of course, psychologists and or medical scientists have concluded that every human being has some elements of madness in him or her: that the difference between the one that roams the street naked and the one that prides himself as normal is the percentage of normalcy and madness. They say that if the percentage of madness is high, the person is mad and if the percentage is low, he is normal. But that the one with low percentage would once in a while display some form of madness, even if in a flash. One then begins to wonder what percentage of madness has gotten into a man who is supposed to be in charge of affairs of millions of people down south Nigeria. This man has been doing things exactly like the one that walks alone, talks alone and laughs alone on the street. Here is a man who is so obsessed with President Muhammadu Buhari that he has virtually gone crazy or mad or both. Here is a man who says and does strange things, like how much the President spends in travelling to particular places as if he is the chief accountant of the Aso Rock that dispenses the cash; like what the President does and says even with his (President’s) wife as if he is an evil spirit that follows the President around even in private confines; like accusing the President of being the cause of the nation’s economic woes as if he is just coming from the outer space and therefore doesn’t know that the country had been battered for sixteen years before the coming of the President; like saying that the President is persecuting members of a particular party as if he doesn’t know that it is only that party that had been in power for sixteen years and therefore, it is only those who were members that had the opportunity of access to its financial resources which they stole with impunity, and so on and so forth. Even today, the man down south accused the President of traveling to the United States of America to attend an international Security Summit when power generation had stopped for some hours in Nigeria, as if it is the President that was in the power generation house. And, just on Tuesday, the man down south came out with a bang: no Chibok girl was abducted!!! To be sure, for over two years now, the nation had been agog about the abduction of over 200 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state by members of Boko Haram. There has also been international outcry over the kidnap. Parents of the girls have not only come out to shed tears but at a certain stage, were privilege to meet the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock. Photographs of the parents were taken and featured in both national and international media of communications. And, yet, the man woke up from an obvious deep slumber, feeling giddy and dizzy, about two years after, to say publicly, and with pride, that the girls were not abducted? What is this if it is not a high dose of madness? Even when someone like Olisa Metuh, the de-facto leader of what remain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has piped low, as a result of the baptism of EFCC fire for his fast fingers that would not allow Naira and Dollars to rest; even when someone like Godswill Akpabio, the man with sharp mouth against the President has slowed down to acknowledge that the President and indeed, the All Progressives Congress (APC) were not responsible for the economic crisis, even when his accomplice in the Buhari’s phantom illness during the campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode has been silenced against the backdrop of the EFCC’s open fire on him over N800 Million he looted, and even when the former Senate majority leader under the PDP, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba is now drumming support for the President, our man down south, now virtually isolated even by the people in the same party, still believes that it is only him that is right. Indeed, he believes and swears that whatever he is doing is right while every other person is wrong. Yes, democracy allows free talks, but it doesn’t envisage a situation where a man would talk alone about just anything that comes to his mouth without consulting with his head. Democracy doesn’t envisage a situation where a man would constitute danger to himself and relishes in it. Democracy doesn’t envisage a situation where an ex motor park tout would put a whole state, made up of highly educated, highly enlightened, widely traveled and intelligent people into shame. Take it or leave it, there is this philosophy about a normal man, through his efforts at attaining height in his calling, earning fame at the end of the day, and an abnormal man – the mad man – through his efforts to pull down his personality and the personality of his fellow human being earning notoriety. Our mad man down south has attained a first class notoriety, and shamelessly so. So mad he is that he doesn’t even know that each time he opens his foul mouth and the news media help him with what comes out of such mouth, his notoriety shines the more. This man down south may not know, but the fact is that he is hiding behind his finger, democratically. It is madness unlimited. [myad]
This commentary is inspired by Olusegun Adeniyi’s “Of wailers, counterwailers and Buharideens” (ThisDay, March 31). In that piece, the ace journalist and public affairs commentator successfully defines the tri-polarities governing public responses to the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The take-away is that the biggest challenge that Nigeria faces at the moment is political partisanship, which has divided the country into the camps of rights and wrongs and a fierce and bitter contestation over who is right or wrong. One year after the last Presidential election that led to the exit of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), after 16 years in office and power (sorry, the 60 years project failed) and the exit also, of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is now a bitter fight out there on the streets over whether or not Nigerians took the right decision by voting for change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari. President Goodluck Jonathan’s over 12.8 million supporters have proven to be loyal and indeed that they exist as a serious, organized political force. They have wasted no muscle, saliva or emotion in slyly reminding Nigerians generally that the electorate didn’t think properly about the choices they made in the 2015 general elections. President Buhari gained 15.4 million plus supporters in that election and they too are not ready to abandon their choice. And as Adeniyi brilliantly points out, you have the Buharideens, whose devotion to the incumbent is at the level of passion, religion and ethnicity. Adeniyi forgot to mention the Jonathanians (I wonder why) who afraid of persecution, have since laid low strategically, but are now beginning to show their hands, as a new contest for the public mind begins, close to the first anniversary of the Buhari administration in power. My tentative take is that there is too much ego, passion and self-righteousness out there on the streets. Add the reverse triumphalism of the defeated PDP. Well, scratch that. Add opportunism. You may scratch that too. Add didn’t-we-tell-you-the-change-you-sought-was-nothing-but-one-chance? Now, scratch that and replace with the other group saying you-thieves-should-go-hide-your-heads-in-shame. Hmmm, scratch that quickly and replace with all-of-us-na-barawo-una-go-see-wetin-we-go-do-to-you-when-we-come-back. Now don’t scratch this completely, leave some of the ink, and replace with there-is-no-vacancy-here-na-joke-una-dey-joke-because-we-know-corruption-is-trying-to-fight-back. Now, come on, scratch everything and replace with the realization that Nigeria today is entrapped in a vicious power game, a muddled integrity game and a desperate one-upmanship, my-car-is-better-than-yours game. It is as if the election has not ended, it is as if we are still in the season of political campaigns. I blame the APC strategists for allowing things to remain at this level. They have failed to see the need to move quickly from campaign to governance mode. They are also behaving as if they are under the spell of Karma. The PDP wailers are tying them down, with taunts, forcing them to still campaign after the election. They have now pushed them to become defensive, the exact place where the PDP was more than a year ago, but it is worse, as the APC and its agents have become irritable. The result is that the APC and its government are beginning to over-react to every little provocation. They used to accuse the Jonathan government of being reactive rather than pro-active (I never agreed), but that is what they are doing now, and it is worse according to current testimonies. They who used to be regarded as the masters of this kind of game are losing grip of it. Today’s men are thus making precisely the same mistakes we made, if we may charitably say so, and if they continue this way, and do not quickly change the narrative, their tactics and their strategy, they may with their own hands unwittingly prepare the grounds for the hobbling of their own government. They have already made one big additional mistake, which the Jonathan government didn’t make: they are forcing the people to look back. They are forcing the people to check the dictionary for the meaning of change and to start asking simple questions. They are practically motivating the people to be nostalgic. The kind of compare-and-contrast narrative that is determining prevalent sentiments is ironic at all levels. A fellow that should professionally qualify as an idiot even asked the other day: who is thinking for this government? The truth is that there are always people thinking for government but they are mostly the wrong people, exploiting primordial advantages rather than natural and trained gifts. But the worse that has happened in the shape of an own goal is the APC fighting itself. This is too Karmic, and too much of a repetition of recent history, to be true. When Asiwaju Bola Tinubu called out Dr Ibe Kachikwu on the management of the lingering nationwide scarcity of fuel, and the latter’s response to public angst – that was a deadly own goal. When the administration puts Senate President Bukola Saraki in the dock, and treats him like a renegade, that is another own goal. The seemingly intractable scarcity of fuel and foreign exchange and the rising cost of everything is the biggest own goal, in addition to the open denial of promises made to the people. In our time, there were persons who used to wonder whenever certain things occurred if the Jonathan government was not under a metaphysical spell; perhaps, it is possible for a government to be under spells: man-made and induced. We have been told, for example, that government is not a magician, credited to Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum/GMD NNPC but is anyone aware that another government spokesperson had actually said President Buhari never promised to perform magic, weeks before Kachikwu echoed the same point?. Check that, and reflect on the point about magical spells. I bring up these points merely to provoke further thought. In the last one year, certain specific lessons have been learnt, and you don’t need a Ph.D to know this, just check with the ordinary man on the street. Lesson one: change doesn’t mean transformation. The change of form is not the same as the change of content or style. Lesson two: politicians are the same, no matter the label. Lesson three: it is not easy to run Nigeria. The challenges, year after year, government after government, party after party, are basically the same. Lesson four: it is easy to criticize; it is not as easy to govern. Lesson five: every party or government in power has skeletons in the cupboard and ghosts in their courtyard. Lesson six: the contest for power in Nigeria is a permanent struggle at the heart of the national question. Lesson seven: Nigeria is a country in search of good men and heroes. Lesson eight: the love of government, religion or the kinsman, is not the same as patriotism. Lesson nine: truth can be relative. Lesson ten: politicians in Nigeria are who they are: whores. Lesson eleven: small things matter most. These propositions are organically contradictory to the extent that they provoke further interrogations. They could generate egotism, unnecessary contestation, bile and argumentation. We do not need that right now. Those who voted, not necessarily for the APC, but for President Muhammadu Buhari saw him as a game changer and a statesman, who having nothing at stake other than love of country, will move the country forward. The grievances in the land are directed at him. The people may not know APC but they know Buhari. They placed their bet on him. They want answers from him. Olusegun Adeniyi says he should not lose the popularity that brought him to power, but he does not tell us how. I suspect that the answer lies in President Buhari insisting that Nigeria must come first. The Manichean approach to governance that has remained dominant for almost one year has divided the country right down the middle, vertically and horizontally, creating camps of disaffection that government does not need. The effect may not yet have been seen, but it is that latent effect that will on the long run, determine the fortunes of the Buhari administration. The time has come for President Buhari to take another look at the tea leaves and ask the forces of division to put Nigeria first. He came into office as a legacy figure and statesman. He assumed office not as a man seeking history but as a man of history. His remit is to deepen that history and his credentials as a legacy figure and statesman. Those who are reducing his tenure to a competition with the immediate past as justification and platform miss this point and they have seen enough contradictions on display to realize the limitations of their strategy just in case there is one. There is only one valid strategy for a man with Buhari’s antecedents: sustained connection with the popular will. President Olusegun Obasanjo managed that very well during his first term (1999 -2003) and President Goodluck Jonathan is gaining back whatever he may have lost – his individual heroism and the failure of the APC ‘s post-election tactics, have shed useful light on his achievements in office via the force of inevitable comparison. I believe that the Buhari government has reached that moment when it must review its house-keeping tactics. One option is for the President to move beyond the APC and run a government of national unity. He must search far more widely for meaning, purpose and inclusivity at the levels of thought and policy options. He needs to run a government that shows that it has since gone beyond elections, and seeks to build a nation. One year is gone, so he has very short time. The best assessment of the last one year in office cannot even be done by him, his staff or pundits. He only needs to listen to the anonymous man on the street from Kano to wherever. The people will always speak, and they must be heard, and as the Buhari government approaches its first year in office, the people are speaking louder than ever. Nigerians may be implacable, but when they begin to murmur, it is better to listen. If anyone tells President Buhari that it is the PDP making such noise, let him not believe such persons. If they tell him there is a Jonathanian cabal fighting him, he should tell such persons to try another line because that particular song is beginning to sound too familiar. There may be no magic to governance, but there is certainly serious magic in statecraft. Mr. President, the past is in the mirror. [myad]
For men, the realization of the fact that erectile problem has suffice could be so devastating to the concern person, since this is naturally perceived as a challenge to the very essence of masculinity and all the pride of manhood cum “respect” that assumedly go with it. Notwithstanding this much about the reality of failure of the penis to respond to sexual stimuli, I venture to plead on the side of caution against self-blame or taking extreme measures like suicide that sometimes occur in some cases.
Erectile dysfunction (layman’s term: Impotence) is medically defined as “the persistent or recurrent inability to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual activity.”
Now to details, the above definition might mean that the male partner cannot have an erection when he try to have intercourse, or that his erection is not firm enough for intercourse, or that he loses his erection soon after intercourse starts. “Persistent” and “recurrent” problems with sexual intercourse might occur every time one tries to have sex, or only some of the time.
In practice, I have also came across cases that has to do with selective erection failure, where the guy cannot just get it up when it comes to having intercourse with an established partner but erection during sexual fantasies and sometimes with other women.
Seek professional help
It is important to note, and stress, that having symptoms of erectile dysfunction is not the end of the world; there is more to life than reducing its essence to one’s ability to copulate. At any rate, erectile issues in male are readily treatable these days with a variety of medications and psychotherapies as applicable.
However, before considering a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the concerned individual and the partner should be sure of the actual cause of the erectile dysfunction. So, it is better to see a doctor, who should able to tell for sure what the problem is before prescribing an erectile dysfunction treatment. It is very important to also note that “experiencing occasional difficulties with achieving an erection does not necessarily mean ones has Erectile Dysfunction” as a continuum entity, sometimes, it might as well be a natural break, that soon start function the next moment.
Another factor that might help one to understand whether one’s partner has erectile dysfunction is whether either partner are troubled by this pattern of sexual activity. As mentioned above, a few occasions of being unable to have anerection sufficient for satisfactory sexual activity does not however mean that the partner has erectile dysfunction. Many men have one or more episodes of being unable to have an erection probably due to fatigue, distraction, alcohol, over-excitement etc without developing erectile dysfunction. But a persistent pattern of difficulty is a cause for concern.
Telltale signs
A telltale sign may be that the man begins to avoid sexual contact or intimacy because he is unhappy with his sexual performance. He may stop initiating sex, or ignore the partner’s hints or suggestions. Or he may become anxious during sexual encounters, and his anxiety makes it even more difficult to get an erection. Related to these is that depression, shame, embarrassment and frustration are also common feelings.
It is very important to stress here that erectile dysfunction is a couple’s problem. Even though it is the male partner that has the physical symptom, it affects the couple’s relationship, and is a problem for both partners. Hence, if one of the sexual partners is concerned that there might be a sexual problem, it is worth following up with the other partner in order to take necessary steps to solve the problem.
Hence, in seeking treatment for erection-related issues, learning more about sexual health may be the first step in restoring ones sexual wellbeing vis-a-visimproving the quality of life and enjoying sex once again. It is thus important to note that treatments help one to experience the kind of satisfying intimacy one once had can help restore confidence as well as one’s entire relationship with his partner.
Don’t suffer in silence
It is not out of place to feel a little uncomfortable talking to the doctor about erectile dysfunction.
Notwithstanding the above, keep in mind that one has as much right to ask for medical help for erectile dysfunction as you do for any other health condition. There is no reason one and his partner should suffer the effects of erectile dysfunction in secrecy. Note that erectile dysfunction is a condition that many doctors now routinely treat.
Commonly the general medical practitioner is usually the first healthcare professional one speaks to about impotence related issues. If the doctor of first call does not seem comfortable or interested in discussing erectile dysfunction, then see another doctor; note that this is not uncommon with some conservative-minded doctors, who unduly mix their personal beliefs with their professional resource. Depending on your situation, the doctor may refer one to the urologist (a surgeon that specialized in male genital and urinary problems), asexual therapist or to other related specialists.
Another important point about discussing erectile dysfunction with a doctor is the fact that erectile dysfunction may have a serious underlying cause, such as undiagnosed diabetes, heart disease, or prostate cancer, which might be revealed with medical interaction.
Treating erection problem
Before starting any medication or other treatment for erectile dysfunction the following lifestyle modifications may be recommended where needed. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has regretted that he would not be able to attend the inauguration of the newly re-elected President of the Niger Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou.
In a letter congratulating the new Niger President today, Buhari acknowledged an invitation to attend President Issoufou’s swearing-in for a new term in office, but regretted that he will be unable to attend due to his ongoing participation in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC.
President Buhari however extended his best wishes to President Issoufou and the people of Niger Republic after the peaceful elections, saying that it bodes well for the progress of the country.
He wished President Issoufou a successful new term in office, and expressed the hope that peace and progress will continue to prevail in Nigeria and Niger Republic. [myad]
Leader of The Great Mind Prayer Ministry in Benin, Edo state, Apostle Ikenna Okafor has been alleged to have buried live animal and charm in his church premises in Benin and incurring the wrath of the neighbours.
Residents of Esigie St. in Benin, neighbours of the pastor, identified as Apostle Ikenna Okafor insisted it was a live animal.
The police was said to have taken him away to avoid being lynched by angry residents who stormed the church.
An eyewitness, Mr. Chinedu Nnamdi, said his father woke him up around 2 a.m. on Saturday night to watch what the Pastor was doing.
According to him, the pastor buried something in front of the church and later performed a little ritual by walking round the church several times.
Confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Edo Police Command, DSP Osifo Abiodun, said the suspect was under investigation.
The spokesman explained that the suspect has made useful statements that will assist the police in their investigation
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Recruitment through online, of 10,000 Nigerians into the Nigeria Police Force began today, April 1. The exercise is expected to last for six weeks.
It’s Time To Put Nigeria First, By Reuben Abati
This commentary is inspired by Olusegun Adeniyi’s “Of wailers, counterwailers and Buharideens” (ThisDay, March 31). In that piece, the ace journalist and public affairs commentator successfully defines the tri-polarities governing public responses to the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The take-away is that the biggest challenge that Nigeria faces at the moment is political partisanship, which has divided the country into the camps of rights and wrongs and a fierce and bitter contestation over who is right or wrong.
One year after the last Presidential election that led to the exit of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), after 16 years in office and power (sorry, the 60 years project failed) and the exit also, of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, there is now a bitter fight out there on the streets over whether or not Nigerians took the right decision by voting for change, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari. President Goodluck Jonathan’s over 12.8 million supporters have proven to be loyal and indeed that they exist as a serious, organized political force.
They have wasted no muscle, saliva or emotion in slyly reminding Nigerians generally that the electorate didn’t think properly about the choices they made in the 2015 general elections. President Buhari gained 15.4 million plus supporters in that election and they too are not ready to abandon their choice. And as Adeniyi brilliantly points out, you have the Buharideens, whose devotion to the incumbent is at the level of passion, religion and ethnicity. Adeniyi forgot to mention the Jonathanians (I wonder why) who afraid of persecution, have since laid low strategically, but are now beginning to show their hands, as a new contest for the public mind begins, close to the first anniversary of the Buhari administration in power.
My tentative take is that there is too much ego, passion and self-righteousness out there on the streets. Add the reverse triumphalism of the defeated PDP. Well, scratch that. Add opportunism. You may scratch that too. Add didn’t-we-tell-you-the-change-you-sought-was-nothing-but-one-chance? Now, scratch that and replace with the other group saying you-thieves-should-go-hide-your-heads-in-shame. Hmmm, scratch that quickly and replace with all-of-us-na-barawo-una-go-see-wetin-we-go-do-to-you-when-we-come-back. Now don’t scratch this completely, leave some of the ink, and replace with there-is-no-vacancy-here-na-joke-una-dey-joke-because-we-know-corruption-is-trying-to-fight-back. Now, come on, scratch everything and replace with the realization that Nigeria today is entrapped in a vicious power game, a muddled integrity game and a desperate one-upmanship, my-car-is-better-than-yours game. It is as if the election has not ended, it is as if we are still in the season of political campaigns.
I blame the APC strategists for allowing things to remain at this level. They have failed to see the need to move quickly from campaign to governance mode. They are also behaving as if they are under the spell of Karma. The PDP wailers are tying them down, with taunts, forcing them to still campaign after the election. They have now pushed them to become defensive, the exact place where the PDP was more than a year ago, but it is worse, as the APC and its agents have become irritable. The result is that the APC and its government are beginning to over-react to every little provocation. They used to accuse the Jonathan government of being reactive rather than pro-active (I never agreed), but that is what they are doing now, and it is worse according to current testimonies. They who used to be regarded as the masters of this kind of game are losing grip of it.
Today’s men are thus making precisely the same mistakes we made, if we may charitably say so, and if they continue this way, and do not quickly change the narrative, their tactics and their strategy, they may with their own hands unwittingly prepare the grounds for the hobbling of their own government. They have already made one big additional mistake, which the Jonathan government didn’t make: they are forcing the people to look back. They are forcing the people to check the dictionary for the meaning of change and to start asking simple questions. They are practically motivating the people to be nostalgic. The kind of compare-and-contrast narrative that is determining prevalent sentiments is ironic at all levels.
A fellow that should professionally qualify as an idiot even asked the other day: who is thinking for this government? The truth is that there are always people thinking for government but they are mostly the wrong people, exploiting primordial advantages rather than natural and trained gifts. But the worse that has happened in the shape of an own goal is the APC fighting itself. This is too Karmic, and too much of a repetition of recent history, to be true. When Asiwaju Bola Tinubu called out Dr Ibe Kachikwu on the management of the lingering nationwide scarcity of fuel, and the latter’s response to public angst – that was a deadly own goal. When the administration puts Senate President Bukola Saraki in the dock, and treats him like a renegade, that is another own goal. The seemingly intractable scarcity of fuel and foreign exchange and the rising cost of everything is the biggest own goal, in addition to the open denial of promises made to the people. In our time, there were persons who used to wonder whenever certain things occurred if the Jonathan government was not under a metaphysical spell; perhaps, it is possible for a government to be under spells: man-made and induced. We have been told, for example, that government is not a magician, credited to Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum/GMD NNPC but is anyone aware that another government spokesperson had actually said President Buhari never promised to perform magic, weeks before Kachikwu echoed the same point?. Check that, and reflect on the point about magical spells.
I bring up these points merely to provoke further thought. In the last one year, certain specific lessons have been learnt, and you don’t need a Ph.D to know this, just check with the ordinary man on the street. Lesson one: change doesn’t mean transformation. The change of form is not the same as the change of content or style. Lesson two: politicians are the same, no matter the label. Lesson three: it is not easy to run Nigeria. The challenges, year after year, government after government, party after party, are basically the same. Lesson four: it is easy to criticize; it is not as easy to govern. Lesson five: every party or government in power has skeletons in the cupboard and ghosts in their courtyard. Lesson six: the contest for power in Nigeria is a permanent struggle at the heart of the national question. Lesson seven: Nigeria is a country in search of good men and heroes. Lesson eight: the love of government, religion or the kinsman, is not the same as patriotism. Lesson nine: truth can be relative. Lesson ten: politicians in Nigeria are who they are: whores. Lesson eleven: small things matter most.
These propositions are organically contradictory to the extent that they provoke further interrogations. They could generate egotism, unnecessary contestation, bile and argumentation. We do not need that right now. Those who voted, not necessarily for the APC, but for President Muhammadu Buhari saw him as a game changer and a statesman, who having nothing at stake other than love of country, will move the country forward. The grievances in the land are directed at him. The people may not know APC but they know Buhari. They placed their bet on him. They want answers from him. Olusegun Adeniyi says he should not lose the popularity that brought him to power, but he does not tell us how. I suspect that the answer lies in President Buhari insisting that Nigeria must come first. The Manichean approach to governance that has remained dominant for almost one year has divided the country right down the middle, vertically and horizontally, creating camps of disaffection that government does not need. The effect may not yet have been seen, but it is that latent effect that will on the long run, determine the fortunes of the Buhari administration. The time has come for President Buhari to take another look at the tea leaves and ask the forces of division to put Nigeria first.
He came into office as a legacy figure and statesman. He assumed office not as a man seeking history but as a man of history. His remit is to deepen that history and his credentials as a legacy figure and statesman. Those who are reducing his tenure to a competition with the immediate past as justification and platform miss this point and they have seen enough contradictions on display to realize the limitations of their strategy just in case there is one. There is only one valid strategy for a man with Buhari’s antecedents: sustained connection with the popular will. President Olusegun Obasanjo managed that very well during his first term (1999 -2003) and President Goodluck Jonathan is gaining back whatever he may have lost – his individual heroism and the failure of the APC ‘s post-election tactics, have shed useful light on his achievements in office via the force of inevitable comparison.
I believe that the Buhari government has reached that moment when it must review its house-keeping tactics. One option is for the President to move beyond the APC and run a government of national unity. He must search far more widely for meaning, purpose and inclusivity at the levels of thought and policy options. He needs to run a government that shows that it has since gone beyond elections, and seeks to build a nation. One year is gone, so he has very short time. The best assessment of the last one year in office cannot even be done by him, his staff or pundits. He only needs to listen to the anonymous man on the street from Kano to wherever. The people will always speak, and they must be heard, and as the Buhari government approaches its first year in office, the people are speaking louder than ever. Nigerians may be implacable, but when they begin to murmur, it is better to listen. If anyone tells President Buhari that it is the PDP making such noise, let him not believe such persons. If they tell him there is a Jonathanian cabal fighting him, he should tell such persons to try another line because that particular song is beginning to sound too familiar. There may be no magic to governance, but there is certainly serious magic in statecraft. Mr. President, the past is in the mirror. [myad]