A Rael-Science post says a Japanese committee has provisionally approved the use of reprogrammed stem cells to treat diseased or damaged corneas. Researchers are now waiting for final approval from the health ministry to test the treatment in people with corneal blindness, which affects millions of people around the world. The cornea, a transparent layer that covers and protects the eye, contains stem cells that repair it when damaged. But these can be destroyed by disease or by trauma from chemicals or burns, which can result in patients losing their vision. Currently, cornea transplants from donors who have died are…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Concern about child labour in humanitarian crisis is growing in the Global March Against Child Labour (Global March), a worldwide network of trade unions, teachers’ and civil society organisations. They are working together towards the shared development goals of eliminating and preventing all forms of child labour, slavery and trafficking and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful and good quality public education. According to them, more than 50 percent of the 100 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance around the world, including those of the North-East Nigeria, are children. Figures from humanitarian agencies indicate that more than 60…
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to scale up their response to address the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the global health agency’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, has also called on all parties to the conflict to protect health staff and health facilities. He equally wants them to ensure safe and sustained access for humanitarian aid to enter the country, adding, ‘’it is my sincere hope that the parties involved will come to a sustained peace settlement, which is the only sustainable answer to the humanitarian needs in Yemen.’’ This is the rest…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) delivered essential medicines, medical consumables and equipment to respond to the growing trauma and emergency care needs in the Gaza Strip. The shipment was possible through a generous contribution from the European Union. Supplies delivered by WHO will be used to enhance the ability of the 10 trauma stabilisation points (TSPs), run by the Ministry of Health and the Palestine Red Crescent Society, to provide life- and limb-saving care to those injured during demonstrations and protests. Interventions provided at the TSPs are of vital importance as trauma casualty rates remain high and the resources available…
National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has called on Transportation Minister and former Governor of River State, Chibuike Amaechi, to stop destabilising the oil and gas state. The PDP big boss said it’s time the minister and other persons working with him began to see reason why they should also stop causing confusion in the state. Secondus equally called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to bring the Rivers election to a logical conclusion, so that the people can continue with their lives. He was speaking during a solidarity visit by the Deputy Governorship candidate of the…
The official death toll from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique has risen to 446 and more than1,500 people injured, according to the government as of March 24. The death toll is still expected to continue to rise as the floodwaters recede and more people are reached by response teams. More than 109,700 people were accommodated in 130 sites across Sofala (90 sites), Manica (26 sites), Zambezia (10 sites)and Tete (4 sites). In the community of Matararain Manica province, the numbers of displaced people have reportedly risen as a previously isolated population has managed to reach the locality in recent days, according to humanitarian partners. Some 58,660 houses were reported to have been totally destroyed (36,747), partially destroyed (19,733) or flooded (2,184) as of the same date. Approximately two thirds of houses in Beira City have suffered roofing damage and the other third have suffered structural failure,according to rapid…
The unending bloodletting in the Middle-Belt axis of Nigeria, appears to be fuelled by a Jihadist agenda. A rights group has already provided an historical context to the worrisome crisis in the area. The group, Minority Rights Group International, states in their website that the Tiv people were never conquered by the Muslim jihad. According to them, ‘’traditional lineage elders settled political disputes. Tiv had no paramount chiefs although the British established one in 1948. Under indirect rule, the British granted authority to members of the Jokun minority in order to control the Tiv majority, and tensions have continued ever since.’’ The…
The Government of Mozambique says they are expecting the death toll from the floods and impact of Cyclone Idai to continue to rise in the days ahead. Already, the official death toll has risen to 417 people, according to the government on March 23. More than 89,100 people are shelteringin 122 sites across Sofala (90 sites), Manica (18 sites), Zambezia (10 sites)and Tete (4 sites), with an increase of 17 more sites in Sofala province since March 20. More than 1,500 people have been injured and the number of victims continues to rise as the waters recede and more people…
Despite the crackdown by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, a minority rights concern, Minority Rights Group International has said that secessionist sentiments among the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria, are still persisting. According to the group, following President Buhari’s election in 2015, demonstrations by pro-independence protestors were met with ‘’harsh measures’’ by the security forces, with scores of demonstrators reportedly killed and some activists arrested. The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony along with three other men. A number of the charges were struck by the judge in March 2017,…
Minority Rights Group International has indicted the Federal Government of Nigeria on the crises in the Niger Delta, claiming that little of the wealth created by oil is distributed within the oil and gas region, or to the Nigerian people as a whole. The group said on their website that economic and social rights, such as the right to health and the right to an adequate standard of living, remain unfulfilled for many Nigerians. They are boasting of over 40 years experience of working with non-dominant ethnic, religious and linguistic communities and bringing a long-term view of these issues to…
Quoting a new University of Colorado Boulder study published in Nature Climate Change, a Rael-Science post says when more women are involved in group decisions about land management, the group conserves more—particularly when offered financial incentives to do so. The study, involving 440 forest users from three developing countries, sheds new light on the role gender quotas for local governing bodies could play in reducing global deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions while also curbing local inequalities. “When policymakers think about what to do to increase conservation around the world, gender quotas don’t even come up as a viable policy instrument,” said senior…
Through an amazing imaginative experiment, researchers have been able to get two extremely different animal species located far apart to interact with each other and reach a shared decision with the help of robots. Bees and fish do not often have the occasion to meet, nor would they have much to say to each other if they did. But, under the ASSISIbf project, a Rael-Science post says engineers from EPFL and four other European universities were able to get groups of bees and fish to communicate with each other. The bees were located in Austria and the fish in Switzerland.…
In Zimbabwe, not less than 154 deaths have been reported and 187people registered as missing, following flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai’s trajectory. A further 162people are reportedly injured and 136 are still marooned, according to government reports. The death toll is expected to rise as areas previously cut-off become reachable and an additional 500 people are still missing in RusituValley in Chimanimani District, where rescue efforts have been hampered by damaged roads, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency. In Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, an estimated 250,000 people have been impacted, according to the…
The policy thrust of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in Akwa Ibom State for the next four years is now clearer. Udom, as he is popularly called, rose from being a Sunday school leader at the Qua Iboe Church to become a bank top director, is wired by his years of experience in the banking sector to industrialise Akwa Ibom and create massive job opportunities. The state’s Finance Commissioner, Nsikan Linus Nkan, gave this indication on Wednesday after the governor signed this year’s Appropriation Bill into law. According to Nkan, the administration’s quest for industrialisation is aimed at…
Human beings have a magnetic sense. Biologists know other animals do. They think it helps creatures including bees, turtles and birds navigate through the world. A Rael-Science post says scientists have tried to investigate whether humans belong on the list of magnetically sensitive organisms. For decades, there’s been a back-and-forth between positive reports and failures to demonstrate the trait in people, with seemingly endless controversy. The mixed results in people may be due to the fact that virtually all past studies relied on behavioral decisions from the participants. If human beings do possess a magnetic sense, daily experience suggests that it would be very weak or deeply subconscious.…
Stanford researchers, according to a Rael-Science post, have devised a way to generate hydrogen fuel using solar power, electrodes and saltwater from San Francisco Bay. The post said the findings was published on March 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate a new way of separating hydrogen and oxygen gas from seawater via electricity. Existing water-splitting methods rely on highly purified water, which is a precious resource and costly to produce. Theoretically, to power cities and cars, “you need so much hydrogen it is not conceivable to use purified water,” said Hongjie Dai, J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood…
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency, says thousands of people including women and children are stranded in tropical zones without bridges or accessible roads. IOM which has joined the response to deadly Cyclone Idai, which has taken hundreds of lives across Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi, said conditions are challenging everywhere, after the cyclone made landfall on March 15. Mozambique’s official death toll from Cyclone Idai’s landfall has reportedly risen to at least 202 persons, but that number is expected to increase in the days ahead. The government expects the toll of fatalities to surpass one thousand. Mozambique’s government estimates that some 400,000 are internally displaced at…
A United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says since 2014, the Lake Chad Basin crisis is affecting some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad most. The violence started in Nigeria in 2009 and escalated in North-Eastern Nigeria and the region in 2014-2015. The crisis, caused by non-state armed groups, the onset of violent communal clashes and climate change, has led to the forced displacement of nearly 4.5 million people, including internally displaced persons, returnees and refugees. Five years after its first displacement tracking exercise in West Africa, IOM recently…
The deadly Cyclone Idai has so far taken over 500 lives across Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi, humanitarian agencies say. Already, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency, is responding to this disaster. Director of IOM’s Department of Operations and Emergencies, Mohammed Abdiker, said ‘’a week after the cyclone we’re starting to grasp the scope and complexity of the challenges facing the governments and peoples of these three nations.’’ Adding, he said, ‘’moving forward we will continue to work with our UN and governmental partners to address the immediate and life-saving needs of the most affected communities, particularly…
Tadelech Ermias remembers the ridicule she faced when she refused to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), which was considered a requirement for brides in her community. ‘’It was inconceivable then for a girl to get married without being cut’’, she said. But that was 10 years ago, in the southern Domboya District of Ethiopia. Though members of her family were aghast, she however, gathered strength from the lessons she learned in a special group of girls – the uncut girls club. ‘’The teachings I received in the discussions in the club were revealing to me on the harms of FGM’’, she recalled…
In what may turn out to be positive news for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Menas Associates, a political risk consultancy, says there are indications that Boko Haram’s Islamic State for West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction is breaking up. Menas has been helping multinational companies operate in the Middle East, Africa, and other emerging markets since the late 1970s. It is a strategic and political risk consultancy providing actionable intelligence for our clients, from country entry strategies, to due diligence, stakeholder analysis, political risk reports, market assessments, problem solving and exit strategies. However, the ISWAP friction is occurring at a time…
Food safety regulations is currently increasing pressure on growers to remove hedgerows, ponds and other natural habitats from farms to keep out pathogen-carrying wildlife and livestock, a Rael-Science post says. But, this could come at the cost of biodiversity. A new research published in the Journal of Applied Ecology encourages the presence of dung beetles and soil bacteria at farms as they naturally suppress E. coli and other harmful pathogens before spreading to humans. Wild and domesticated pig faeces have been known to contaminate produce in the field, leading to food-borne illnesses. Wild, or feral, pigs especially pose a risk of moving around pathogens…
Like in most parts of Nigeria, moral principles and the value of the common good in Kaduna State, where Governor Nasir El-Rufai holds sway, have become secondary. Going by the handling of this year’s general elections by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the rule of the majority in Nigeria has come to simply mean that politics is a matter of numbers, thus diluting the essence and value of democracy as the ultimate expression of human freedom. Though the right of suffrage is deemed to be an equaliser, in Buhari’s Nigeria, there were sectors that influenced and manipulated the whole electoral…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is currently working to introduce policies to tackle head-on the disturbing challenges in the cocoa, cassava, beef/cattle ranching, dairy and fish sectors of the country’s economy. Governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, gave an indication to that effect while disclosing that over $500 million was being spent on the importation of palm oil every year in the country. Cocoa is generally regarded as a leading agricultural export of Nigeria, currently the world’s fourth largest producer, after Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Ghana, and the third largest exporter, after Ivory Coast and Ghana. It was…
Factions of the Ogoni mass movement, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) have taken on the Federal Government of Nigeria on the cleanup exercise in their area, and the transfer of the operatorship of OML 11. A factional President, Fegalo Nsuke, in an online statement described Nigeria’s celebration of the Ogoni cleanup exercise as ‘’shameful and hypocritical image laundering effort’’ allegedly targeted at enriching of the cleanup programme managers and possibly.force oil production in Ogoni without the consent of the people. He said he was reacting to the announcement of a N3.039 billion cleanup contact awarded…
Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State in North-Western Nigeria, has foreclosed the possibility of any fresh peace deal with the killing ring that is terrorising the state. This is even in spite of the fact that the blood spillers, according to the governor, are more equipped than the entire armed security forces deployed to combat their bloodletting activities. According to him, the killers have stockpiled as much as 500 AK-47 rifles in only one armoury. Arguably, if the state government knows all that, what is preventing them from containing the rebels murdering the peace of the state? Yari who spoke…
Except the unusual happens, Nigeria is likely to be treated by the international community as a pariah state following the outcome of the presidential election which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner. Some concerned Nigerians have moved against the outcome of the presidential poll which gave Buhari the nod to continue in office till 2023, claiming that the electoral outcome was programmed by the incumbent administration. According to the Wikipedia, a pariah state is a nation considered to be an outcast in the international community. A pariah state may face international isolation, sanctions or even an invasion by…
Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian group, concerned with helping people facing the toughest challenges survive and move toward a stronger, more resilient future, says the Boko Haram conflict in Northern Nigeria has been ravaging the population of the troubled axis with 450,000 children facing severe acute malnutrition. Chief Executive Officer of the group, Neal Keny-Guyer, in a statement said no corner of the world has been untouched by crisis this past year: ‘’War in Yemen has left families on the brink of starvation. Conflict and natural disaster have ravaged entire populations. From Syria and Afghanistan to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the challenges have never been greater.’’…
The University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), is agog with joy as the institution has created a cash-spinning opportunity for the army of unemployed youths in the area. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday reported that the university set a new record of electricity generation by using organic waste to install 100KVA Refuse Drived Fuel (RDF) gasification plant for its Nsukka Campus. For the jubilant university community, the plant will create employment for many people through supplying of waste to the institution or other people who will be using the plant. Some varsity staff, according to NAN described the innovation as…
