DOWNLOAD: UNN CAMPUS HIT (THE E-EDITION)

The Unn Campus hit is a campus magazine that discusses Education, Lifestyle, Fashion and Entertainment. Embedded within are a plethora of wonderful write-ups, interviews with notable student celebrities and an array of colorful pictures. The magazine went online this time around and yours truly decided to share it on here. Enjoy…

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3 HINDRANCES TO EFFECTIVE SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE IN AFRICA

“ …Science cannot thrive in third world countries because we’d first have to take care of hunger, diseases and superstition…” Dr Nwanguma, B.C

I first heard this statement in a classroom wrote it down and gave it serious thought. I made a lot of deductions from the statement and decided to share some of them on here. You must not be science oriented to connect with what I am about to say because science cuts across and affects every single aspect of human life in one way or the other.

Africa as a continent tends to be a little backwards when it comes to scientific breakthroughs compared to the west, apart from putting blames on its government policies, corruption and neo-colonization as some people would argue, I believe that just  like my lecturer stated above that hunger, disease and the belief system also have a role in this backwardness.

HUNGER:  Third world countries especially in Africa like we all know have this problem of hunger that is still lingering owing to failed government policies, misuse of public funds, corruption, amongst others. Looking at Nigeria for example where several poverty alleviation programmes have come and gone, some still pretty much around and still the average citizen lives on about $2 a day. A friend once humorously remarked that “The whole country is hungry”, although that statement seem funny but a critical look at it shows that it is true in every sense. School teachers, University lecturers and even Professors are underpaid. Some of these Academics who are supposed to be on the frontline of research cannot even feed or live normal lives and this is one of the reasons why there are cases of scientific grants being converted to personal money and not used for its initial intent. The nation is frail and hungry and until this hunger is taken care of, I doubt if we could practice Science effectively.

DISEASE:  This is unconnected to hunger in a way because it is common for people who are undernourished to contract various forms of diseases which would now have to be taken care of with the monies which could have been used to harness science and technology all in the name of fighting diseases.  Africa for instance is still battling with several diseases that have become extinct in most developed countries. Discovering the means of eradicating some of these diseases contributes to science but you and I know that most of these research works are carried out in developed countries where the necessary tools for conducting experiments are abundant while the human test are carried out down here where ‘Laboratory animals’ abound.

SUPERSTITION & BELIEF SYSTEM:  Although this could be waved off as being irrelevant, it remains one of the many hindrances to effective scientific practice in Africa. It seems to have reduced due to the fact that some of those people involved in these practices are embracing civilization but it is still pretty much around and even some who claim to be civilized are still superstitious. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to downplay or rubbish the belief in a deity or greater power but rather, I am trying to show how superstition shields effective scientific practice. In the past, a lot of new ailments have been attributed to the gods and deemed incurable even when they could have been researched upon and proper experiments carried out.  That was in the past right? But sadly, it is still happening even in this age. Some religious factions for example abhor transfusions of blood and blood related materials in which case means that Stem Cell Therapy which has proved to be effective against certain disease conditions cannot be conducted.

The government could try to tackle hunger by putting up programmes that should be monitored to ensure that they are not just another way in which a few officials enrich themselves and even review the payments of academics and other research scientist to curb this problem of converting grants and other monies meant to harness research into personal money. Schools cum institutes of learning should be hugely funded so that they would produce graduates that could compete with their counterparts in other countries of the world because if for example, we have Doctors that are competent enough, there would be no need to travel out to carry out certain medical procedures. There is need to setup more world-class research institutes in Africa so that more research work could be carried out here instead of the norm which involves starting a research work here and completing it abroad. The issue of Superstition and the belief system is one which I believe would still linger for a while because people cherish and are of the opinion that their belief system is the best.  

Effective scientific practices are very possible in Africa if only we act on those problems that are so obvious but which we tend to ignore and go about our business like everything is fine.

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Follow me on Twitter: @victorikeji

CANDID RANTS ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND GAY TREATMENT IN NIGERIA

Ade and Mike have been great buddies since their high school days. Both are in their late 20's, living together in the US and are known homosexuals. Ade's family reunion that is scheduled to hold in Nigeria happens to be a problem for the two of them because they stand the risk of serving jail term or even getting lynched by a mob for their sexual preference.

The Nigerian government signed the anti-gay rights bill into law and this law could be summarised as follows: That anyone found/caught carrying out homosexual acts would be liable to 14 years in prison and also that any person that supports or is a member of gay organisations, associations or club is liable to 10 years in prison. The law became effective this year and since then there have raids in which gay people are apprehended mostly in the Northern part of the country. There have also been cases of suspected gay people being lynched. I saw a clip sometime last year in which three University students suspected to be lesbians were stripped and forced to perform sexual acts on themselves in public. The International community have frowned at this step taken by the Nigerian government while there are even rumours of some countries threatening to stop giving aids to Nigeria. Many Nigerians are of the opinion that homosexuality is unafrican or to be specific 'unnigerian' and some religions frown at it and that is why gay people in this part of the world seems to be ill-treated. 

A couple of weeks back, former boxing champion Evander Holyfield stated that being gay is not normal and can be fixed and a greater number of the American population started sounding their trumpet of criticism. As criticisms keep pouring in and as more world citizens continue to add their voice to the subject, I think this is like a clarion call to behavioural scientists to conduct experiments on the possibility of psychotherapy as a means of checking homosexuality. Some Nigerians believe that homosexuality is more spiritual than physical, although I am not disputing their view, I believe homosexuality is more behavioural than spiritual. They shouldn't be locked up like the Nigerian government is doing at the moment or lynched as have been witnessed in some areas but rather they should be HELPED. 

Homosexuality is not a medical condition or like some would say 'I was born this way'. No, not that at all. I believe it is more of a mindset thing, more like an experiment carried out by a young child or an adolescent which later turns into a habit and then is forming or has formed the person's character. Someone argued that just like alcohol and drug addicts undergo rehabilitation and become free, gay people should be rehabilitated too.(The prison could be said to be a form of rehabilitation but I don't think the same could be said of Nigerian prisons) As dumb or silly as that argument is to some, I believe there is an iota of truth in it and that just like Holyfield opined, it can be fixed. I am of the opinion that if those 'gay moments' are noticed in a child early, some form of psychotherapy put in place, it could be checked and then maybe the child would grow up to be 'normal'

Let's put a stop to gay lynching and imprisonment and look at the possibility of psychotherapy as a means of helping this set of people.

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Twitter: @victorikeji