'ITALIAN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND CULTURE’ ........ by chukwubike

End of the  4th batch of ‘ ITALIAN LANGUAGE  PROFICIENCY AND CULTURE’   course at the International Bio-research Institute (IBI) Ugwogo Nike Enugu (Nigeria)

 some students posing with their lecturers and certificates
 foto by;chukbyke

Institute to storm Enugu streets with anti-same sex marriage, abortion campaigns

By Emmanuel Uzodinma on August 19, 2013

In keeping with its vision, the International Bio-Research Institute, Enugu is to hold a 2-day international seminar and street march on life challenging societal vices.

The programme will focus on issues such as kidnapping, same-sex marriage, child and mother trafficking, mercy killing, among others.

The event, which holds August 29 and 30, 2013, will take place at the Odumegwu Ojukwu Auditorium of the Institute, at Ugwuogo-Nike, Enugu state.

The event, with the theme “Family and the Beginning of Life Issues in Africa” is being organised by the Institute in collaboration with Steadfast Onlus Foundation, Italy.

The climax of the event will be a street march on the 30th of August, 2013.

According to the organizers, the march termed “March for Life Nigeria”, which would commence at the Independence Layout Enugu, would terminate at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

Briefing journalists on the programme, the facilitator of the International Bio-Research Institute, Ugwogo-Nike, Enugu state, Professor Edmund Agbo, disclosed that muslims, christians and non christians were expected to attend the event.

He condemned abortion and disclosed that the right to live belonged to the child.

According to him, a woman is only a custodian of the born and unborn child.

Professor Agbo stated that the International Bio-Research Institute, Ugwogo-Nike was into research in all its ramifications.

According to him, the institution also teaches herbal medicine and its science and technology, adding that the institution was committed to training people that would be in a vantage position to teach others tomorrow.

He used the opportunity to condemn child marriage, saying that any law that encourages the marriage was not a good law.

“A law that approves child marriage is a law of death and not a law of life; it is sacrilegious”, he averred.

The university don further maintained that life starts from fertilization, adding that during the forth-coming event, people would be re-sensitized on the need to stop abortion
.http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/08/19/institute-to-storm-enugu-streets-with-anti-same-sex-marriage-abortion-campaigns/

MARCH FOR LIFE”

MARCH FOR LIFE” IN BRIEF

   With the hyper-growth in the technological achievements, globalization, communication, etc. of the twenty first  century, it may sound sad to say that the world has continued to drift away from the anthropocentric goals of  such developments to the side of anti-anthropocentric ideologies. This has continued to degenerate our society  today to an unprecedented manner whereby the prevailing cultures are against the promotion and propagation of  humanity, propelling the culture of death.

   In our present society, so many issues contrary to the ultimate good and moral integrity of the human person have taken the lead in our cultural values today. Abortion no longer seems to be a problem in so many countries in the world today and have been legalized in some countries. Same sex marriage is very common in the western culture and is now extending its roots to the African society. Not only has same sex marriage been accepted, rather the couples have been allowed to freely adopt children. Artificial reproduction is highly promoted as a means to resolve problems of infertility to the expense of so many fertilized zygotes which are potential persons. Also, due to the advancement of artificial reproduction, the less privilege are contracted as surrogate parents to carry someone’s child for money. Female genital mutilation is still practiced in some cultures to prepare ladies for marriage.

   Other social vices like instant kidnapping of children and adults for money and rituals, children and women trafficking, extra-judiciary killings, bloodshed armed robbery, to name but a few, have become part of our normal life-style and probably, part of the prevailing cultures. So many of these problems continue to emerge and are passed from one generation to another. To circumvent these problems and make the world a better place, there is need for those who are against these prevailing cultures, those who preach against the culture of death, and the need to call the attention of the public to these problems, their impacts to the society and the way forward. Pro-lifers; those who dedicate themselves to sincerely and actively promote and perpetuate life have always used different means to communicate with the public to inform the uninformed, form the unformed, reform the deformed, and to make a positive change in our societies. One of such ways have been through a peaceful march with banners, posters, boards carrying slogans of the different intriguing issues of our contemporary society as a means to portray their concern against these social challenges.

   This peaceful march called “March for Life” is an activity that is done almost in most western countries yearly to protest against the anti-anthropocentric ideologies in the world that propagates the culture of death. In the world today, different pro-life organizations in different countries have organized march for life with tremendous success. The annual march for life against abortion in Washington, D.C of the United States of America has witnessed the participation of some prominent figures such as President George W. Bush, Alveda King (niece of Martin Luther King Jr.), Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama and others as notable speakers. In Paris France, the yearly march for life on abortion attracts delegations from many European countries, notably Italy, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Poland, Switzerland, Germany and Ireland. In Italy, the yearly march for life called marchia per la vita organized by the Catholic Church starting with a rally from Colloseo (the ancients of Rome) to the Saint Peter’s square of the Vatican city, Rome is witnessed by the full participation of the Pope, dignitaries, associations and groups from all works of life and different parts of the world. 

   We of the International Bio-Research Institute, Ugwogo-Nike, Nigeria as Pro-lifers, an institute that promotes bioethics and whose main objective is to counteract the prevailing culture of death and promote life intends to extend this culture of march for life to Africa, precisely in Enugu, Nigeria.

   Our objective for this march is to expose all the challenging issues of our present society which are controversial to the promotion of life, their consequences to the society and the way forward to overcome them to the Nigerian people and the world at large.

Programme for the march

   Please save the dates of August 2013 (Thursday and Friday) at 09.00am on the Event of the March For life, the first of its kind in Nigeria. Participation is free for everyone. The event will start with a conference on very relevant issues bordering the promotion of life in our society. Hence,

August 29^th Conference on Bioethics

Theme: Unveiling the Bioethical questions that militates the sacredness of human life in Nigeria

Venue: The Conference Hall, International Bio-Research Institute, Ugwogo-Nike, Enugu  

August 30^th March for Life (Theme)

 

About the organizers

The March is organized by the International Bio-Research Institute, Ugwogo-Nike, Enugu in collaboration with the Steadfast Foundation Italia ONLUS.

1.    The International Bio-Research Institute (www.ibi.edu.ng/www.ibiportal-ng.com) is a private Institution of Catholic inspiration that presently offers National Diploma (ND) Courses and Master’s Degree (M.Sc/MA) Programmes approved by the Federal Ministry of Education. Its primary aims are to encourage Research and Studies on the life and survival of man using an interdisciplinary approach and to promote the culture of life, among others.

2.    The Steadfast Foundation Italia ONLUS (www.steadfastfoundation.org) is a lay and multicultural non-governmental organization based in Rome-Italy with the objective of promoting and defending the culture and the development of countries in constant economic instability in order to assure them a sustainable development of their local culture and economy.

http://ibiportal-ng.com/more_up_events.aspx

CHIEF ALOY NWOKOLO (RIP)

The International  Bio-research Institute (IBI) Ugwogo Nike Enugu (Nigeria)  mourns;  Chief Aloy. Nwokolo  the Head Of Dept.-  Herbal Medicine.

Chief Nwokolo  died on Easter day 2013. He will  be buried  today at noon  in  his home town -Ugwuogo-Nike (Enugu ).

May his soul rest in Peace.   Amen.

Signed  by:

Chukwubike O. Charles

Deputy Rector (Admin)

Killer metals in the blood

The rich also cry: Killer metals in the blood

December 23, 2012 by TOYOSI OGUNSEYE 10 Comments

Universal Steels Limited

In this second part of a three-part series, TOYOSI OGUNSEYE reports that medical tests conducted on 16 residents of Adekunle Fajuyi Estate, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos, who are exposed to fumes from Universal Steels Limited, revealed heavy metals in their blood, urine and water that could lead to death

On any weekday, the air over Universal Steels is certain to be thick with sooty fumes. These fumes are at the centre of a dispute that has pitted the company against the residents of an upscale estate in the heart of Lagos.

Residents of Adekunle Fajuyi Estate accuse the company of polluting their homes and environment with the heavy gases emanating from its huge machines. These gases, they add, are also responsible for the high incidence of cancer and respiratory ailments in the estate.

When our correspondent visited the company to get its side of the story, a company representative, Mr. David Igwe, was quick to dismiss the allegations.

Igwe said, “There is nothing like that. It is not true. We have an abatement plant that takes care of the gases we emit. We bought the plant two years ago and the Lagos State government was here during the launch.

“Go to the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and they will tell you what we have done. We don’t pollute the environment and there is no estate that is affected by our operations.”

The test

In late November, 16 of the residents agreed to SUNDAY PUNCH’s request for a series of blood and urine tests that would either validate their allegations or confirm the company’s innocence.

The tests were to determine the heavy metal concentrations in the residents’ blood systems and ascertain if they were within safe thresholds.

For the tests, researchers from the Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, randomly selected16 residents who had lived in the estate for a minimum of seven years.

The team got 15 blood samples and 14 urine samples — one of the 16 residents did not give blood, while two declined to submit urine samples. Samples were also taken from borehole water, well water and a coconut from a 15-year-old coconut tree. SUNDAY PUNCH paid for the tests.

Killer metals in their blood

At the end of three weeks, the results were ready. The researchers published their findings in a 10-page report. The report showed that the concentrations of chromium, cadmium, zinc and iron in the blood of the residents of Adekunle Fajuyi Estate were much higher than the levels permitted by the World Health Organisation.

The head of the team that conducted the tests, Prof Albert Ebuehi, described the results as “alarming.”

He warned that the residents’ blood had “heavy metal toxicity” which posed serious health risks.

According to him, the test showed that the urine and blood of the residents were contaminated with chromium, cadmium, zinc and iron.

Ebuehi stated that the highest and lowest values of iron in the plasma of the tested residents were 8,067 per cent and 565 per cent respectively and were higher than the WHO permissible levels.

The cadmium level in the most contaminated resident among those tested was 130,000 per cent greater than the WHO acceptable level. The least contaminated individual had cadmium concentration that was 327 per cent, higher than the normal value of 0.0011mg/L.

According to professor, the levels of chromium in the tested residents were also ‘alarming.’

The 16 residents also had high zinc toxicity in their plasma. The highest value of zinc was 146 per cent, greater than the permissible level of 1.1mg/L, while the lowest was 7.3 per cent greater.

The trend was the same with the urine tests. The highest value of iron in urine was 4,963 per cent, greater than the WHO acceptable level while the lowest was 205 per cent.

For cadmium in urine, the highest value was 130,000 per cent, greater than the permissible level of 0.0011mg/L, with the lowest being 46,363 per cent.

The highest value of zinc was 143.6 per cent, higher than the WHO permissible level, while the lowest was 5.5 per cent.

The heavy gas contamination was also extremely high in borehole water, well water and coconut water samples found in Adekunle Fajuyi Estate.

The report stated that, “A final revelation became more glaring when these heavy metals were identified and determined in the coconut grown and harvested within the same vicinity. The metals in the coconut water were abnormally high and unsafe for human consumption.

“Heavy metals could enter coconut water through soil or water contamination. The metals have also affected the quality of the water in the environment. They were detected in heavy quantities.”

Killing them softly

Ebuehi, an ordinarily unflappable academic, was so alarmed by the results that he advised residents to “leave the estate as soon as possible.”

He said, “They must not eat any fruit grown in the area; all their plants are contaminated because of the pollution of underground water. Already, the offspring of the 16 residents sampled are likely to have the heavy metals too. That may lead to generations of families with toxic metals in their systems. They have to leave that place for their own good.”

Speaking on the likely effects of the metals that the residents have inhaled, Ebuehi said, “Inhalation of cadmium-containing fumes can result in metal fume fever, but may progress to chemical pneumonitis, pulmonary oedema and death.

“Also, high levels of free ferrous iron react with peroxides to produce free radicals, which are highly reactive and can damage DNA, proteins, lipids and other cellular components. Excess iron damages the heart, liver and elsewhere and this can lead to coma, metabolic acidosis, shock, liver failure, coagulopathy, respiratory distress syndrome, long-term organ damage and even death.

“Chronic toxicity of zinc may produce gastric ulcer, pancreatitis, anaemia, nausea, vomiting and pulmonary fibrosis. Acute toxicity is manifested as fever and anaemia. Lead was not detected in the test.”

‘Fatal without treatment’

In 1996, a team of medical scientists in India released the result of a study on the link between metal gases and gall bladder disease and cancer. The study was done over a year on 96 patients with gall bladder diseases at the University Hospital, Varanasi, India.

The study concluded that the metal toxicity in the patients was caused by the dangerously high concentrations of heavy metals in drinking water in the regions where the patients lived.

The team leader, Professor V.K. Shukla, wrote that, “The two regions lie down stream of the river Ganges, which is the main source of drinking, bathing, and irrigation water in this part of India and receives untreated domestic sewage and industrial and agricultural effluent.

“High concentrations of cadmium have been reported in sewage, irrigation water and vegetables grown in the area; and higher concentrations of heavy metals than recommended by the World Health Organisation have been reported in water from this region. Heavy metals as environmental pollutants have been implicated in human carcinogenesis.

“These metals, especially cadmium, are excreted and concentrated in the hepatobiliary system. These metals are known as chemical carcinogens, so the high biliary concentrations of these metals in carcinoma of the gall bladder may be a factor in this cancer.”

A consultant surgeon based in Lagos, Dr. Sylvester Ikhisemojie, agreed with this research. According to him, excess cadmium has been linked to both cancer of the urinary bladder and stomach.

He said, “A man who inhales a large dose of cadmium is not in much risk as one who does so in small amounts steadily over many years.

“Because cadmium is so toxic, even minimal exposure to dust can be extremely damaging to the body — the kidneys can shrink up to 30 per cent of their mass. Accumulation of cadmium in the lungs can cause pulmonary oedema. It is fatal without treatment. In its milder form, cadmium toxicity can cause flu-like symptoms of cough, catarrh conjunctivitis, bronchitis and lung fibrosis. Chronically, excess cadmium causes bone softening (osteomalacia) and bone brittleness (osteoporosis), leading to deep-seated pain and easy fractures.”

Ikhisemojie added that high concentrations of zinc can cause muscle cramps, headaches, blurring of vision, severe weakness and convulsions, while chromium causes “different types of bronchitis (severe respiratory disease), asthma, conjunctivitis, passage of blood in stools and lung cancer.”

As for iron, he said, “In excess amounts, it accumulates in the liver, which is the organ for detoxification and interferes with its cellular functions so adversely that the liver begins to shrink in a process known as liver chirosis. This will ultimately poison the organ leading to liver failure, as the majority of its cells have been made abnormal by the presence of excessive iron.”

A climatologist, Professor Temiloluwa Ologunorisa, of the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research, Osun State University, Osogbo, reiterated the opinions of the medical doctors.

According to Ologunorisa, apart from the gases which the residents inhale in dry form, rainfall converts the gases to wet form, which are washed to the ground surface including roof surface.

He said, “The gases undergo some chemical reactions after combining with rain water to form more dangerous substances. Ultimately, some of the gases or substances formed are carcinogenic, and others can cause respiratory ailments.”

Another professor of climatology, Olukayode Oladipo, said apart from the heavy metals detected during the research, emissions from the steel company include iron oxides, sulphur oxides, calcium oxides, hydrocarbons, carbonaceous compounds and chlorides.

He said, “It is therefore not surprising that high levels of chromium, cadmium, zinc and iron are found in the people living in the area. It is also not surprising that the water, air and soil around the industrial site have been contaminated with the series of emissions mentioned above.

“Operations of the industry must have some local effects on the thermal conditions (temperature) of the local environment. It will be interesting to find out if the temperature conditions around the steel company is higher than the surrounding environment to generate what we call urban heat island.”

Living in denial

When our correspondent told Igwe that there was evidence of the pollution from the company, he sidestepped the question and retorted, “We know how we settle journalists.”

He then left in a hurry, after promising to give the reporter another appointment. A subsequent text message to Igwe for the promised appointment was not replied. Our correspondent called him again; a man that sounded like Igwe picked the call but claimed it was a wrong number.

“Please, check the number you are calling. You must have a wrong number,” he said.

Residents said representatives of the company once told them that the area was mapped as an industrial estate, hence they had no reason to complain.

A resident, Mohammed Yusuf said, “That argument cannot stand. Even if they got here before us, does that mean that they should not be socially responsible? The government gave us approvals to live here as a residential estate. So, they cannot claim that because they were told that it was an industrial estate, they should be killing us gradually with poisonous gases.

“Even in developed counties like America and Britain, people live very close to so many manufacturing industries and these companies are very responsible. You don’t see the companies directing poisonous gases at the residents. They build high chimneys and direct their gases very far into the air. That is possible because they have a responsible government. But it is not the same here.”

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State, Mr. Toyin Ayinde, said Universal Steels could not excuse polluting the environment on the grounds of physical planning.

He said, “The Ogba area estate has both industrial and residential components and it is not unusual that they are so located. We have to return to the industrial safety laws. Does a man have a right to operate an industry at the expense of the people who are almost certainly his own clientele? I think not.

“This is where the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and its agencies have a role to play, for they are the regulatory bodies to ensure that industrial effluent is controlled and environment-friendly.”

Drama at LASEPA

The government agency responsible for environmental matters in Lagos is the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency. LASEPA, by law, is expected to monitor, manage and protect the Lagos State environment from all forms of degradation arising from solid, liquid and gaseous waste.

The agency is also empowered by law to arrest persons, seal premises and seize items being used in the perpetuation of any offence.

When our correspondent met the General Manager of LASEPA, Mr. Adebola Shabi, the agency said it was not aware that Universal Steels was polluting the environment.

He said, “We were there two years ago to commission the abatement plant. I always use the company as an example for other manufacturing companies. We shut them down some years ago but after that, they bought the plant to take care of the greenhouse gases they emit. Apart from the harm they cause to humans, these gases deplete the ozone layer and cause climate change. The company takes care of the gases they emit. I am not aware that any person is suffering poor health due to gases from the company.”

When SUNDAY PUNCH insisted that there was evidence that the company emits gases with high metal concentrations every day apart from Sundays, Shabi raised a four-man team to investigate the allegation.

The following day, our correspondent led the LASEPA team to Adekunle Fajuyi Estate where they took pictures of thick emissions from the company that was settling in peoples’ homes. They also spoke to the residents.

After spending some hours in the estate, the team decided to go to Universal Steels to confront its officials with the evidence.

On getting to the company, Igwe was not pleased to see our correspondent with the team.

He said, “Government should not be conniving with the press. LASEPA is a regulatory agency that monitors the environment and I see nothing wrong with the agency paying a visit to the company. But you should not be partnering press while conducting your duties.”

At this point, the team asked our correspondent and the photojournalist to excuse the two parties.

Thirty minutes later, Igwe and the LASEPA officials came out and said they were going on a tour of the company’s facilities. Igwe said our correspondent and a female member of the team could not go on the tour because they had a pair of sandals on. SUNDAY PUNCH’s photojournalist was also not allowed on the tour, even though he wore a pair of covered shoes.

When the LASEPA officials and Igwe returned from the tour, the company representative crowed to our reporter, “I have shown LASEPA round, you can ask the agency all you want to know. They will tell you.”

On leaving the premises, the team told SUNDAY PUNCH that the company said it had only been emitting the gases for about two weeks and that it had bought some equipment to fix its leaking roofs and pipes.

Memorandum without understanding

Three days after the SUNDAY PUNCH’s visit, residents got an invitation from LASEPA for a meeting with the company on December 3.

At the end of the meeting, both parties signed a memorandum of understanding. A copy of the MoU, which was obtained by our correspondent, stated that Universal Steels agreed to “fix its faulty furnaces, repair its dilapidated roofs, and start a remedial measure.”

It also promised to replace the filtration bags of the abatement plant in two weeks and install a hood and blower to filter the emission. It agreed to alert LASEPA within 24 hours of breakdown and be financially responsible for the cost of any remediation work that may need to be done to abate the nuisance and restore the damaged environment.

The steel company promised in the MoU to complete its factory maintenance before the second week of January.

However, a few days after the MoU was signed, the residents told SUNDAY PUNCH that Universal Steels was still polluting the air with the poisonous emissions in the middle of the night.

 http://www.punchng.com/feature/the-rich-also-cry-killer-metals-in-the-blood/

Inaugurazione dell’Anno Accademico 2012-13 dell’Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum,

ANOTHER FOOD POISNING IN ENUGU STATE

Poisoned corn meal sends man, 4 children to their grave in Enugu

   

Residents of Mbu Apochi community in Isi-uzo local government area of Enugu State were recently thrown into panic and confusion following the tragic death of a man simply identified as Mr. Charles Nnadi and his four children after taking a corn and cassava meal believed to have been poisoned.
The tragedy has since thrown the entire community into heavy pandemonium while members of the Nnadi family are still in shock and disbelief.
According to reliable sources, the late Nnadi and his six children fell sick and unconscious after eating the mixture of cassava and corn flour and were rushed to St. Mark’s Hospital, Eha-Amufu by sympathizers but the doctor confirmed the family head and two of his children died few minutes after their arrival.
Following their demise, the four other victims, who were admitted along with them were transferred to a trado-medical hospital at Enugu-Ezike, Igbo Eze North local government where two of the children later passed on.
Dailypost gathered that the remaining two are currently struggling between life and death at the hospital.
Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the shocking incident on Saturday said that the operatives of the state command are currently investigating the incident to unravel the mystery and circumstances behind the alleged incident of food poisoning.
Sympathizers and relations of the deceased described the incident as tragic and shocking and called on law-enforcement agencies to investigate whether the food poisoning was masterminded by someone, stressing that such heinous act has become rampant in the Coal state recently.
http://dailypost.com.ng/2012/10/28/poisoned-corn-meal-sends-man-4-children-grave-enugu/