Author: Phenomenal

Socio-political realities may be harsh on man, but nature has a way of bringing succour to man.
So it seems for residents of Maiduguri, Borno State, who have felt the pang of insurgency for years.
They celebrated the first rainfall of the year recorded in the town, expressing relief that the excruciating hot weather would now subside.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some areas like Bulumkutu and Baga road recorded downpour, while Custom and Tashan Bama axis in the metropolis recorded drizzles, accompanied by strong wind.

The rain, which started around 4:45 p.m. and lasted for about 45 minutes, was sequel to days of extreme hot temperature hovering above 44 degree Celsius.

Malam Buba Umar, a resident, said the early arrival of the rainfall took him by surprise.

“I was never anticipating seeing rainfall at this moment; I guess it was because of the unbearable heat.

“The weather was very hot; even the water in the tap is very hot. I have been sleeping outside for the past weeks because of the heat,” he said.

Mr Abba Makinta, another resident, said the downpour was a relief for the people in the metropolis.

“The heat was making life unbearable for the residents, especially with ongoing Ramadan fast.

“It will ease the intensity of heat and make life comfortable for the residents,” he said.

Also, Aliyu Babba, an ice block vendor, said he had been making brisk business due to high demand occasioned by the excruciating heat in the area.

Babba said that he now sold about 300 pieces of ice block as against 150 in the past weeks, adding that the price of ice had also increased to N70, as against its old price of N40.

“I make nothing less than N20, 000 on daily basis from the sales of ice blocks; for me, the heat is a big business,” he said.

Alhaji Musa Shehu, said he spent about N700 daily buying ice blocks and cold drinks.

He therefore expressed joy over the sudden change in weather.

As Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, named their two-day-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor today, he demonstrated a feat that many men – including common folks – find elusive with new-borns.
Many men find it too tricky to carry such babies and, at best, do so sloppily when they have to.
“I don’t know where to hold,” some could say.
But Harry was a homely royal man on Wednesday when they showed the baby to the public.

He and Meghan announced the names on their official Instagram account but did not say why they chose them or whether the infant will hold any royal titles.

They said they showed Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s 93-year-old grandmother, her eighth great-grandchild earlier on Wednesday.

The queen’s husband, Prince Philip, and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were “also present for this special occasion,” they added, posting a black-and-white photograph of the group smiling at Archie as Meghan held him.

“It’s magic, it’s pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I’m really happy,” Meghan told reporters earlier as Harry held Archie inside the royal Windsor Castle, West of London.

“He has the sweetest temperament, he’s really calm,” Meghan added.

“I wonder who he gets that from?” Harry joked.

Asked how he liked being a parent, Harry replied: “It’s great. Parenting is amazing.”

“It’s only been two and a half days, three days, but we’re just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy,” Harry added.

Archie, who is seventh in line to the British throne, is expected to hold dual citizenship of Britain and the U.S.

Congratulations have poured in from well-wishers in Britain and other countries, including many celebrities, since Meghan gave birth early on Monday to a boy weighing 3.26 kilogrammes.

Harry, 34, is the second son of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.

Harry married former actress Meghan, 37, in a spectacular wedding at the royal Windsor Castle in May 2018.

The queen and Philip now have four children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Prince William, who has three young children with his wife Kate, the duchess of Cambridge, welcomed his younger brother to “the sleep deprivation society” on Tuesday.

The queen’s grandfather, King George V, changed the royal family’s name from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor – after Windsor Castle – in 1917 during World War I.

Philip also changed his name during World War I after his grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg, adopted the family name Mountbatten.

Conservation experts on Wednesday stressed the need to save vultures threatened by extinction, warning that their absence would inflict Nigeria, Africa and humanity with diseases and deaths.

The experts made the call in Lekki, Lagos, at an event organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and BirdLife International.

The conservation experts and other critical stakeholders took turns to emphasise the need for Nigeria to strengthen its regulations, prosecution and awareness campaigns as the nation had become the largest Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) hub in Africa.

The stakeholders at the event supported by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) funded two-year project titled, “Combating the West African Illegal Trade in Threatened Vultures and their parts for Belief-based Use” raised alarm of the lurking danger.

The workshop aimed at combating illegal trade in Nigeria which is a source, transit route and market hotspot for the trade, particularly in the Northern and South-Western states had the Customs and Police representatives.

The workshop focused on how to reduce the impact of the illegal trade on the populations of Critically Endangered Hooded, White-backed, Ruppell’s, White-headed, Lappet-faced and Egyptian Vulture species.

It also discussed how to reduce the use of vulture parts by traditional healers by promoting the use of viable alternative herbs and roots in traditional medicines and called for strengthened law enforcement.

Dr Muktari Aminu-Kano, Director-General of NCF, said that vultures were being “actively harvested” in Nigeria and across Africa for various mystical reasons and that efforts were on by NCF to tackle the menace.

Aminu-Kano said the foundation was carrying out awareness campaign among traditional doctors on herbal alternatives to vultures as well as seeking collaboration of security agencies on enforcement of laws.

“Vultures are very important, they are our unpaid sanitary inspectors, some people call them garbage collectors but they are beyond just collectors, they are like PSP, treatment plant and landfill all rolled into one because they actually clean up the environment and prevent us from having nasty diseases.

“They prevent the proliferation of pests because they eat up carcasses. If vultures go extinct then we must use very effective and efficient garbage disposal system.

“And by doing that, it means that there will be diseases, there will be deaths, there will be revenue loss to the country and also we will deprive future generations of knowing that vultures ever existed,” he said.

He cited India as example of a country that had upsurge of diseases like plagues and rabies when their vulture population was depleted by 90 per cent.

Seyi Asurf, movie producer, being unveiled as celebrity vulture ambassador on Wednesday in Lagos

Also, Dr Joseph Onoja, NFC’s Technical Director, while making a presentation identified hotspots for the trade in vultures in Nigeria to include Osun, Oyo, Ogun in the south-west and Kano, Sokoto and Katsina in the north.

Onoja explained that vultures were used for ritual rites to cure madness and evil omen, while its eggs were used for money making rituals and some people consume the meat as food.

The Deputy Head of Mission, British Deputy High Commission, Lagos, Mr Peter Thomas, while delivering his speech said that the U.K. has been at the forefront of eradicating IWT which has become the highest criminal revenue spinner after drugs.

“The IWT continues to be a global problem, involving serious organised crime networks and work worth up to 17 billion pounds per year. That is more than 75 countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“If that figure alone is not shocking in itself, if estimates for illegal logging and fishing are included, the figure goes up to 114 billion pounds. And that is more than 130 countries’ GDP,” he said.

Thomas lauded the commitment of Nigeria through its Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, at the 2018 London IWT Conference to reach a cross-border conservation agreement with Cameroon and join the Elephant Protection Initiative.

Also, Vulture Conservation Manager, BirdLife International, Beckie Garnett, said that efforts were on targeting Nigeria to reduce IWT and trade in vultures and its parts by 20 per cent by year 2020.

Experts, customs representatives, police, state and Federal Ministry of Environment officials, hunters and traditional healers, took turns to proffer solutions to bridging ignorance gap on vultures, eliminating demand chain and protection of other endangered species.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some celebrities in the entertainment industry who were unveiled as Vulture Ambassadors at the event promised to spread the awareness on vultures protection.

The celebrity Vulture Ambassadors are Tito DA Fire, Seyi Asurf, Yomi Fash-Lanso, Shehu Kano and Tope Alake