Thought Picnic: On these sententious Nigerian streets

Skeletons on the streets

I have watched aghast, disappointed but probably not too surprised a series of exposés about rotten corporate leadership, workplace abuse, untrammelled impunity, corporate malfeasance, domestic violence, and generally reprehensible conduct that leaves one gasping in astonishment.

Whilst I do not intend to revisit any of the issues, I have noticed that the concept of a moral compass is totally missing from the biases that emerge from the sides and neutrality of those who are either invested in the situation or cannot hold their counsel for the need of notoriety or to exacerbate the situation for their continued entertainment.

Private misdeeds revealed

What is more galling is the vaunted public morality and uprightness of the persons involved as juxtaposed with the private atrocities and mendaciousness of the same people. A total lack of integrity and character with the feeling that they are inviolable, infallible, and untouchable by reason of the means they have and the influence they can peddle.

However, social media democratises even if not for the best, the information space, but with the way things are, someone somewhere needs to keep us honest even if the methods and means are not to our liking. If those with means, power, or status cannot find in themselves the necessary controls to demonstrate good virtues whether under observation or not, then, some external feature needs to engage their minds to redress the situation.

It might well be that such people need to step back from the public coalface for a time of reflection towards possible redemption, if possible and that after contrition and genuine apology, along with restitution to set things right.

Messing more with the mess

Besides, the sententiousness of the commentariat leaves much to be desired, in the excusing of the inexcusable or the defending the indefensible, the absence of a frame of reference that gives regard to humanity and virtue is an astounding thing to behold, with unrelated issues, joined to distract and a penchant for the disingenuous revealing a default for dishonesty, dissembling, and a mockery of anything wholesome or good.

As we are so schooled to respond, deploying the device of argumentum ad populum becomes the refuge of the scoundrel, they appeal to our patriotism or beliefs by trotting out religious texts to find some cover from scrutiny by calling the divine to witness. That you have taken an oath is no guarantee that you would not perjure or suborn. They seek to deflect rather than address and we have seen this many times before.

Fix up or shut up

No one is interested in what you believe, however, if you are the object of scrutiny, it is only right to address in particularity the issues, allegations, or accusations made with simplicity rather than with sophistry and solipsism. We have seen it all before, who are you when no one is watching and as we are not gifted with omniscience to see as the divine sees, you are left to speak for yourself in the language we understand or admit you have been found out and face the consequences of your decisions with a sense of responsibility.

There is a lot more to be said and exposed, they who think they stand should beware lest they fall by reason of the things that come to light that are questionable and below the standard of equity and probity. If your hands are dirty, they will only get washed at a prominent public faucet in an overcrowded Coliseum of the baying mob asking for your head. Selah!

Accountability for naught

Coming to bury Caesar

It would be easy to mock Matt Hancock but there is much more for which he should be justifiably excoriated. His resignation yesterday came as a surprise to many of us and like I had indicated before, that would not suddenly mean integrity has found some exposure in Boris Johnson’s government, Matt Hancock’s position just became increasingly untenable, there was no other option than for him to resign.

In my view, Matt Hancock’s tenure as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care was marked by abject failure damningly exposed by the pandemic from the poor PPE provision, the lack of adequate testing, the seeding of care homes with infected discharged persons from the hospitals, the failed and exorbitant track and trace system, the multiple waves of infections all resulting in the highest deaths from the COVID-19 in Europe.

Torched by a fling

If there is any commendation to be given, it is that the NHS was allowed to run the vaccination programme rather than farm it out to friends of the Tories. Yet, none of those failings in office were enough to hold Matt Hancock to account until he was caught in a clinch. Something is wrong with our systems of accountability in public office if peccadillos matter more than performance.

Matt Hancock’s situation is maybe a personal human tragedy of the absence of self-control with far-reaching ramifications that cannot in any way begin to compensate for his professional failings and political misjudgement, his wife apparently is not available to stand by her man and play the doting Tory wife.

And so he got away

He is ensconced in their constituency home in what suggests the end of their marriage. The other lady who got squeezed and snuggled, has resigned from the posting that gave them proximity in his office and one can only wonder what story would result from this sordid saga.

There is no more to add to this tale than to feel Matt Hancock has escaped essential scrutiny for monumental catastrophe on his watch, he according to his boss, Boris Johnson “fucking hopeless” and Boris might have said that whilst he was shaving too.

The dreadful life of a Tory wife

Temptation is a full platter

To one of my closest friends, I would usually say, we all have needs. The fact that we forget that we are human with all our inadequacies and frailties is sometimes evident in the way we judge or prejudge others. Now, I am not advocating a race to the bottom of moral rectitude and the absence of integrity, but there is a reason why in the Lord’s Prayer, there is a line, ‘Lead us not into temptation.’

Temptation is always there as an easy distraction from what we should be doing. We are prone and primed to yield to temptation but for other factors of self-awareness, discipline, the consideration of others in needing to be careful rather than carefree and careless.

Men in power with the trappings of it are sometimes insulated from scrutiny in what they are allowed or what they think they can get away with. Audacity and hypocrisy are stock in trade of the people who lead our country today.

The examples of sleaze

There is no virtue they have not overturned with impunity as they forget that power is transient, it is their time now, it will pass. Pass into history and on the coattails, I fear of ignominy.

Affairs and adultery used to be untenable with regards to those holding high office, but we now have a permissiveness that has no moral guardrails, ministers lie with no pang of conscience, they fulminate on the acts of others with a complete lack of reflection on themselves. It is really one rule for them and another for us. We are to do as they intend and say, but we must never hold them accountable for their example, for they have none to show.

On the matter of the Secretary of State for Health having an affair, even if he consequently resigns it would not be a turning point towards a course of integrity in Boris Johnson’s cabinet, because the Prime Minister himself is not of the standing where he can honestly demand a resignation. Meanwhile, one can only wonder at the unfortunate public spectacle on the women involved, the lady in the affair and the dreadful Tory life or a Tory wife.

Computers are not infallible, that is a fact

The choices I have made

I sometimes hope that in my professional capacity, I have done my best to help users and customers experience the best service and utility of information technology services and products I design or manage, there is a sense of professional pride in what I do.

Then, there are choices I would make about who to work for, and where I want to work, and when it appears, that I am contributing nothing useful to the situation, I do not wait around too long before I move on. I seek to improve systems where possible, where unappreciated, it is unnecessary to suffer ignominy when opportunities abound elsewhere.

I could not see myself working for Shell, the oil company in the 1990s as it was embroiled in activities inimical to Nigeria despite being offered lucrative contracts, instead, I found myself pioneering activities at British Petroleum. I can think of many other things and companies where I worked too.

In the system that concerned

Recently, I was working for a professional services company that had me posted to help manage Post Office infrastructure. I was aware of a long-running issue with computer errors that left postmasters and sub-postmasters being accused, prosecuted, and sent to jail for fraud. However, I was unaware of how serious the issue was until I listened to the BBC podcast The Great Post Office Trial.

Little did I know what a travesty and injustice the whole situation was, I was sickened by it all. To now learn that all the people charged have had their names cleared is gratifying, but it cannot compensate for how they were treated and the suffering they endured. [BBC News: Convicted Post Office workers have names cleared]

Leadership in the hock

Reverend Paula Vennells was the CEO of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, when they pursued their staff so aggressively using the weight of the establishment over hapless postmasters and sub-postmasters to persecute, prosecute, and destroy literally blameless people who were told their individual instances of fraud and false accounting were unique and that nothing was wrong with the Post Office computer system known as Horizon. [The Guardian: Post Office’s aggressive pursuit of staff casts shadow over ex-boss’s tenure]

Even as the Post Office became aware of issues with Horizon, the establishment stood its ground about the infallibility of the computer system and used the preponderance of the premise to take people down. The CEO was unflinching and unquestioning of the situation with the view to protect the image and the brand of the Post Office admitting no liability or fault.

It took the concerted efforts of postmasters and sub-postmasters banding together, a journalist who kept on and the case, and finding support from members of Parliament and then the courts before the Post Office side of things began to unravel. The Post Office only beginning to settle more broadly with them when the Reverend had moved on to another bigger role in government and the NHS along with bagging a CBE for services to the Post Office and charity.

Accountability must matter

The scathing and excoriating opinions of the courts and the MPs involved made her position having moved on from the Post Office untenable that she has had to give up some of the high-profile positions. I do not think this would be the end of the story as justice has not been duly served and compensation for the loss of too much has not been adequate. The need for a more thorough accountability is more than essential.

Then I think about the months I worked within a team to improve the Post Office services on the Horizon counters, the times I visited locations to chat to postmasters about their experiences, the usability, and the testing of improved and enhanced products, by which time many of the issues had apparently been dealt with and I hope I did not give cover to error-prone situations that criminalised people who should have received more support than they were accorded. I even worked on improving the bar scanning system.

Some lessons to learn

In our little positions, we tried to make things better, but if there is any lesson to be learnt from this, it is that organisations should act truthfully and with integrity, that leaders should be more questioning and interested in the systems within their organisations where lives can be upturned, that they should not just listen to their reports afraid of admitting mistakes in their implementations, that computers are not infallible, that maintaining a brand at the expense of people will eventually destroy everyone involved and that this whole debacle was a disgusting disgrace.

I cannot have done this matter any justice; I am just distressed that I was remotely within a setup that impacted lives without any humanity. My sense of British fair play has been shaken to the core. Your listening to the BBC podcast The Great Post Office Trial will give a good idea of what went down. Prepare to be shocked.

On my honour

On the word of a gentleman

After a 5-week stay in South Africa, I am homeward bound in a changing world of requirements, restrictions and reassurances. On the latter, I had one duty to perform to be able to check-in, I had to affirm, ‘On my honour’ that I did not have any CoVID-19 symptoms and I had not been exposed to anyone who might have had symptoms in the last 14 days.

We are being asked to rise to a gentlemanly and sportsmanlike code of integrity, truth, and honour that we are honest and true, caring and unselfish, considerate and courteous of others even to our detriment if any of the questions asked of us elicit answers that will put us at disadvantages of cost, time and much more.

The path of lies to power

I think about this and wonder about what example we have from people we have inadvertently put into leadership, people who exhibit no virtues or values, whose acquaintance with the truth and facts is as alien and distant as the east is from the west. It is in the hands of these people with the teams of similar disposition that we have laid the trust of governance and policy with the hope that they will do right.

We live in a tragedy of the times when that which is demanded of those who sit in power is lacking and depressing. Yet, as individuals, we cannot give up, relent, or allow the preponderance of the reprehensible, the irresponsible, and the unconscionable to become our guiding light.

We must stand apart

As the silent majority, we must work to bring the truth to light from under the heaped rubbish of verisimilitude, the ploys and propaganda of taking their many lies told too many times that they almost sound truth.

We can make that solemn oath that our word is our bond, shake hands and know that what is agreed will not be reneged on. Maybe we are old-fashioned, but these things matter today as much as ever. I look around me and for all the people I see, I hope they feel the same way too.

Thought Picnic: Don't confuse corporate trust for individual trust

The wolves at your meeting place

I cannot think of the number of times friends and acquaintances have informed of being swindled or defrauded by a member of the religious establishments, especially churches they attend.

Usually, the result of such ventures is without consequence or restitution, the scoundrel at worst gets excommunicated from the assembly as the church strives to exculpate itself from any responsibility situation whilst imposing on the aggrieved not to involve law enforcement.

Now, the church environment is unwittingly an enabler because parties to the venture would probably have never met anywhere else. However, the reason why these engagements occur are because the parties mistake the corporate trust of a place they attend and get spiritual guidance for the individual trust they should cultivate separately and individually for anyone they will do business with.

Never assume trust, check it fully

If they were entering into a business relationship in a completely secular environment, they will probably do all the due diligence and assess the bona fides of prospective partners. In the church, they dismiss this requirement for the assumption that every Christian is honest, responsible, true, and full of integrity.

This is how church people fall easy prey to people who can exploit the corporate trust to inveigle their way into your confidence that you let down your guard and by the time you know what is going on, you have lost so much and might even give up your fellowship in the said church because the support you thought you would get was not forthcoming when it mattered.

Meanwhile, the confidence trickster moves on to another congregation to exploit their gullibility. Rarely, do they get caught out or sanctioned. I am not saying don’t do business with church people, just be sure that you are not confusing the corporate trust the church confers on all visitors with the individual trust that needs to be properly ascertained of individuals, and ensure you have independent references of character and probity from sources unconnected with the church.

Just a thought I needed to put down and document after a recent conversation. Extend this thinking to how you deal with old schoolmates, work colleagues, club memberships and other kinds of acquaintances including family. You must conduct essential due diligence, don't take it on trust.

Nigeria: Our drool of flaws

A fantasy at best

Late last night I posted a cryptic tweet about a perception of the rule of law in Nigeria.

The 'rule of law' fantasy we so espouse in Nigeria is a leap of faith from our flat-earth reality to an undiscovered circumnavigation dread.

— Akin Akíntáyọ̀ (@forakin) January 11, 2016

In the Presidential Media Chat conducted recently, President Muhammad Buhari appeared to express strident and incalcitrant views towards the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu and Sambo Dasuki against presumed rulings of the courts.

Suddenly, we all became constitutional experts on the matter of the 'rule of law' and implicitly the 'separation of powers'. Follow the links for definitions.

The executive in the person of the president could not be seen to be sacrilegiously disobeying court orders infringing on the rights of citizens and thereby arbitrarily instituting a seemingly extrajudicial process.

The underlying issue

President Buhari having been at the head of the armed forces and of the generation that fought to defend the integrity and entity of Nigeria could not have concealed his anger and the sense of betrayal if as a foot soldier he was sent into battle ill-equipped as the actions of Sambo Dasuki portrayed when he diverted moneys for arms to fight Boko Haram to currying political favours for the ruling party or the sense of duty he had when Nigeria faced secession in the Civil War and we had Nnamdi Kanu soliciting weapons to fight a war for a new Biafra in Nigeria.

Blog - Nigeria: A view on #DasukiGate

As an ex-soldier what Sambo Dasuki did was beyond a civil infraction, it was criminal in the extreme and if he were still in the military, a court martial will have been instigated and guilt will have led to execution.

If at any time Dasuki would have wanted a reckoning of his military service regardless of government dispensation, it goes without saying that the one of his disservice to the military must be addressed with equal vehemence.

A martyr to stupidity

Nnamdi Kanu could well have advocated for a Biafra movement by civil and democratic means, but once he started soliciting for weapons for his cause to buttress his telegraphed incitements by radio, he had crossed the line from having a civil case to threatening the integrity of Nigeria.

His effrontery of leaving his vituperative armchair of comfort in the UK to visit Nigeria for whatever purpose was as much the stupidity of sticking your head in the gaping mouth of a hungry lion. He was not going to sashay around Nigeria with his propaganda given free rein and the means to equip his followers with arms to create a new front beside what we face in the north east with Boko Haram.

If he seeks martyrdom, he will assuredly die for nothing, but having cast himself as a seeming enemy combatant and a possible threat to Nigeria's peaceful existence, he invariably forfeited his rights to roam free. His UK citizenship is by naturalisation, it does not excuse him from sanction if he has violated Nigerian law and he consequently entered Nigerian territory.

If either man is aggrieved by their treatment, they must exhaust the judicial process and I have as yet not seen a Supreme Court ruling that the executive has ignored.

No law on which to rule

On the matter of the fight against corruption, despite having the EFCC and the heft of the state behind it, most of the highest profile indicted have literally run rings round the system.

The EFCC has never been able to land any big whales, only small fry have seen the full force of the law.

Money is so awash in the system and most big fish have been able to buy the justice they want rather than face the justice that is right, just and fair.

They troop an embarrassment of SANs into court and either by intimidation or unbelievable sophistry obtain the most incredibly atrocious rulings that leaves everyone stunned.

Case in point is Peter Odili's perpetual injunction where the defendant had not even conclusively proven his case. John Yakubu Yusuf who stole NGN 32.8 billion from the police pension fund and was handed a two year sentence or the option of a NGN 250,000 fine. James Ibori who resisted arrest with a militia in Nigeria and only came a cropper in Dubai at the behest of the British, it is like we have no law on which to rule that the prospect of a rule of law in Nigeria is a fallacy. We have institutionalised the immunity for impunity, if you have the means to buy it.

Reading - [Circumstances Under Which A Defendant Can Be Granted An Injunction Against The Plaintiff In A Case.]

An egregious judiciary run amok

There is no doubt that our judiciary is in need of radical reform, much as the process of legal redress needs scrutiny, whether by purge or by re-education, the criminal justice system in Nigeria is crippled by procedure and maimed by excess of influence of power and money.

There is a need to win battles within the greater wars and somehow, the Dasuki impasse is yielding interesting dividends, a method to the madness of the tail wagging the dog, because people who took money are fessing up without prompting.

It would appear an extrajudicial process of denying Dasuki bail and freedom is putting the fear of God and a semblance of conscience into the heart of thieves, it is a better result than we have ever been able to get without international assistance or from our courts.

Maybe there is hope

Fix the system and then use and test the system, however, before we get bogged down with a messed up system and a moribund war against corruption towards our aspirations of a Utopian rule of law, the burden of responsibility is on the government to pursue its aims to a satisfactory conclusion.

Those who have sinned, be prepared to far unusual justice and rue the law, those who haven't have nothing to fear, the expectation of the rule of law and they must continue to pursue their Nigerian dreams in hope, in peace and in all the determination they have to hand and heart.

#LindaGate: It was mainly about Plagiarism

“Plagiarism is the copying or paraphrasing of other people’s work or ideas without full acknowledgement. Intentional plagiarism may incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree.” University of Oxford. [1]

Conflicts of lessons not learnt

As one predicted on Monday, enough evidence was presented to Google to have the gossip blog pulled down.

There is no doubt that the lady would regroup and re-launch, however, it is unlikely that the hard lesson of life and experience has been learnt going by the rebuttal she posted yesterday.

Unfortunately, many were quite conflicted and confused, abandoning the objective for the subjective, she played victim and we were suckered.

Nigeria in a big world

We must recognise that anything we do online today is no more confined to Nigeria, we are part of a global village, and there are rules and standards to play by. We are constantly put up to global scrutiny in terms of our attitudes and conduct.

The many things people got away with on the Nigerian streets would find sanction and excoriation when given a global review on the Internet. It behoves us to know how those rules work so as not to be caught out by them to the extent that we might suffer dire consequences.

Breaking the rules

The Linda Ikeji Blog, broke the rules with impunity and the blogger was deluded into thinking the small fry that accused her of infringements could do nothing to have the blog taken down. Now, she knows better.

What we must never lose sight of is the reason why the blog was taken down - PLAGIARISM - and the blogger was an unrepentant plagiarist, we should not be confused or conflicted about this fact and truth.

Plagiarism is wrong and it is worse when material you did not originally produce is falsely passed off as yours on the one hand and you use that material directly or indirectly for financial gain.

Measuring character over success

We also have to check our values and appreciate that success mainly measured by wealth, power, influence or following without character or virtue is fleeting. Our measure of respect for a person which might include position should really be of a higher standard of being seen and known to do the honourable thing, having integrity and a modicum of humility.

A person of integrity has no need of things to express that innate virtue and it can be learnt if we have a teachable spirit.

We need to understand how the seemingly grey areas can blacken and besmirch what we have painstakingly built and invariably bring ruinous reputational loss.

Know the bad behaviour

Moral equivalences are no excuse for bad behaviour, we need to declare conflicts of interest and maintain the transparent standard of full disclosure so as to avoid being labelled hypocrites and worse still, dishonest or frauds.

If whatever we publish is not originally ours, we must, acknowledge, attribute and reference or we are plagiarists. If we need to seek permission and we receive no expressed consent, we risk being labelled thieves.

In all truth

Plagiarism however is no trivial matter; students have been rusticated and indicted criminally for cheating, journalists and politicians have lost their jobs for being plagiarists, it is dishonest and reprehensible; careers and reputations have been ruined because of it.

‘Plagiarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work.’ Wikipedia. [2]

It is the greatest slight to be proven a plagiarist and there is no badge of honour in copying and pasting the work of others and passing it off as yours. What is wrong is wrong, and nothing can excuse plagiarism nor should it be tolerated when exposed.

Finally, lest we forget, the Linda Ikeji Blog was taken down on proven evidence of serial unrepentant PLAGIARISM whether people had a hateful, jealous or envious agenda is beside the point. Google acted on evidence of misappropriation of material, intellectual property abuse and infringement, not on sentimentality.

Read up on plagiarism.

[1] University of Oxford – Plagiarism

[2] Wikipedia – Plagiarism

I acknowledge to my observation that the first use of #LindaGate was by Funmi Iyanda.

Nigeria: Presumed Substandard Tyonex HIV/AIDS ARV Drugs Removed From Circulation

Click to large

I received this picture on Twitter earlier.

I am pleased to read that the concerns raised about SubStandard HIV/AIDS ARV drugs have registered with NAFDAC and they have taken appropriate action to suspend with immediate effect all the ARVs manufactured by Tyonex Nigeria Limited.

I first wrote about this in November http://goo.gl/fYINqS and then when I got hold of the said drugs in December I posted another blog and wrote to NAFDAC about the issue http://goo.gl/kQOh8t

Obviously, NGOs have been clamouring about this for months and to have a letter acting on the issue is a very successful outcome for all those whose vulnerability has somewhat been abused by failings in the drug administration system.

There is much work to be done to build on this success, it is however wonderful news.

Blog - Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Until now

Just over a month ago, I wrote about the issue of sub-standard anti-retro viral drugs (ARVs) in Nigeria, and when some of my friends contacted people who were supposed to be in the know about the management and distribution of ARVs in Nigeria, they appeared to pooh-pooh the idea.

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

The message coming back was that the complainers were not interested in using drugs manufactured in Nigeria, that they wanted foreign-sourced drugs.

Handling the ARV drugs

Well, this afternoon, I handled with my own hands the drugs, a bottle from India and Nigeria of the same formulary of ARVs (Zidovudine [AZT] 300mg, Nevirapine 200mg, Lamivudine [3TC] 150mg), but that is where the similarity ends.

It is important that we clarify that the drugs are not fake, they are sub-standard, and I would illustrate what I mean with pictures to follow.

The Indian manufactured bottle is on the left, the Nigerian manufactured bottle is on the right, and the first thing that you see is the poor quality of the labelling.

By comparison the shelf-life of the drugs is 35 months for the Indian version and 23 months for the Nigerian version – A first indication of a difference in quality or standards.

The question of Storage

The problem seems to come down to information on this part of the bottle label. The Indian version is to be stored below 30°C and protected from light and moisture, the Nigerian version should be stored in a dry place below 25°C and protected from sunlight.

A double-take to the World Bank website for the average temperature and rainfall in Nigeria  and in India for the 110 years to 2009 suggests the average temperature in Nigeria only dips below 25°C in December and January, and it has a higher average range than that of India. [World Bank Group][World Bank Group]

Besides this, whilst Nigeria does not have as much rain as the monsoons of India, the rainfall is spread across more months suggesting the climate in Nigeria is broadly humid resulting in more months of precipitation.

It goes without saying from this basic observation that the instructions on the bottle of the Nigerian manufacture ARVs must at least be the same as the ones for India – Store at below 30°C, in dry place, protected from light and moisture.

Between English and French

It is also interesting to note the difference been the English and the French instructions on the Nigerian bottle. Apart from the typographical errors where the obvious one is physician spelt as pyhsician, why Anglophones should be concerned about sunlight and the Francophones are more affected by humidity, escapes me.

A French-speaking observer of this said, “It is full of typos, and badly translated from English.” In other words, this is patently shoddy work and that is just the labels on bottles on life-saving medication.

With the permission, my French-speaking friend, reviewed the French part of the label and his comments appear below:

Chaque ma' dicament contient:
[...]

La prescription des pyhsician seulement.
Gader tout medicament hors de la portes des enfants.
Mettax su frais bas de 25°C. Protegez de l'humidite.

It is just about understandable.
It should be:
- médicament not ma'dicament
- physician, wrongly spelt is an Anglicism, in French it should read: Seulement sur prescription médicale
- gader (keep) is misspelled = garder
- la portée (reach) misspelled
- Mettax misspelled = mettre (keep/store) but should be "conserver"
- su misspelled = au (at)
- bas: poor translation of "bellow" = en-dessous

All the accents are missing and overall it say on prescription only, keep away from children store below 25°C, protect from humidity.

It does not make any reference to sunlight.

Why Tyonex could not get a French speaker in Nigeria to properly translate the English portion of the label to French escapes me. I am sure Google Translate would have done a better job. It is unprofessional, shoddy and really dampening in confidence.

Inside the bottle

Opening the bottles, the quality becomes evident, the Indian version has a desiccant, the Nigerian version does not, the tablets or caplets as the label indicates are in a cling film bag all coated with the white dusty powder of the pills.

The Indian version remains intact to the touch whilst the Nigerian version leaves a chalky residue on the fingers when touched and when held firmly between the thumb and a finger, it disintegrates as seen below.

I note that in the blog I wrote last month, this is what the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said – ‘The press release suggests the drugs “are brittle, break easily and dissolve in one's mouth before swallowing, and furthermore the package presentation is substandard, with poor labelling that resembles the work of professional counterfeit drugs peddlers.” [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]’

The standards are poor

It goes without saying that poor manufacturing standards without consideration for the socio-economic and climate conditions in which the drugs would be used can inform the rapid deterioration of the medications leading to sub-par efficaciousness of the medicines, the consequences which can be dire and life-threatening to patients who need these drugs to survive.

Even if the drugs were to be kept in a fridge, the power situation in Nigeria precludes that, it only means that standards should be significantly raised to improve the quality of these drugs, and one cannot say what other drugs are poorly packaged and distributed as these.

This ARV is Manufactured by, Divine Essential Formulations and Distributed by Tyonex Nigeria Limited at the same address in Igando, Lagos State, Nigeria. [Other Tyonex Anti-Retro Viral Drugs]

What is NAFDAC doing?

It is more shocking to read from the label that these copies of the ARV drugs are manufactured under licence from the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under the auspices of the MDGs 2009 Conditional Grant Scheme. [UNDP NIG (PDF)]

The label also has a NAFDAC Reg. No: A4-6854, which begs the question of what standards of inspection and quality that organisation imposes on drug manufacturing companies to ensure the general public are not put at risk.

There is every reason to believe that the manufacture of short shelf-life, poorly labelled, badly packaged and low integrity ARVs means corners have been cut in the system, somewhere between the bureaucracy and the businessmen who are probably paid to do a better job than this.

Act now!

It is the duty of everyone to ensure that the chain from sourcing of formulation through dispensing to the patient ingesting the drugs is maintained to the highest standard of manufacture and integrity for us to be confident that drugs meant to save lives are not placebo effect dummies with no efficacious value.

I also hope everyone involved including activists ensure that they are compromised and bought off by the system where the lives of ordinary people are impacted.

When I was contacted about this issue last month, the person had suffered a precipitous fall in their CD4 count to 25% of what it was 6 months before. That is just unacceptable, and it indicates a sense of urgency and an emergency that needs to be addressed with immediate alacrity.

There were no other indications in the bloods that could account for that result apart from the Nigerian manufactured ARVs, and it would appear more of the Indian manufactured ARVs are now being distributed in Nigeria.

Additional Information:

NGOs Condemn the Supply of Sub-standard ARVs at Treatment Centres in Nigeria: http://youtu.be/YO4r1sZffrM

Opinion: Watching the tombstones of integrity long dead

A great disappointment

A simple definition of integrity as offered by Google is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

Where we find leadership wanting in honesty, trustworthiness and truth, we lose our confidence in the people to the point that their leadership becomes untenable.

A damaged relationship

In a democracy, those who lead have responsibilities that derive from the consent of their electors, there is trust reposed in the elected to act in the best interest of all with fairness, truth, justice and principle.

We damage this dynamic irreparably if in the face of manifest wrongdoing, those we expect to know different acquiesce, condone, tolerate and excuse the reprehensible without shame or embarrassment.

An embarrassment of atrocities

A leadership unable to react with contrition and take reparative steps out of embarrassing actions of their cohort have taken licence to act with impunity.

They have become wayward, lascivious and debauched, reprobates beyond redemption whose end like history told many times before is utter destruction because the instruments of accountability that could have checked their excesses is too compromised to moderate anything they do.

What gives?

This is the story of many lands to which we owe allegiance, and if we are to rid ourselves of the unconscionable grip of the kakistocracy that holds sway like a swarm of locusts over our fields of grain, we must give voice to the need for truth, probity and justice.

Many events we have read in the news recently point to the moral bankruptcy of those we trust; we can only wonder what to do to rescue this atrocious set of circumstances.

We have to think about what this means for us as country, as a people and for the future.

Nigeria: Broken news and integrity deficit

The news of old habits

Tragedy struck the grieving and compounded their anguish this morning as there was an air crash in Lagos, Nigeria.

Social media was set alight with news of the event and as more people contributed, rumour, speculation, conjecture and controversy gained more readership for apparently non-existent facts.

Twitter is like a wildfire, what it takes is two clicks of the mouse button or a tap on your trusty tablet device and you propagate a falsehood and inexactitude or 140 characters to manufacture the news about something you know little about.

Such disasters leave no allowance for cool and measured engagement; many want to feature as news breakers and there the flux of traffic obfuscates the reality of the event.

Derelict and irresponsible

These are times when one expects professional news media to arrest the descent to fable, fiction and feeding frenzy of recognition at the expense of the unfortunate – one cannot say the state media have acquitted themselves well in this regard as lies usurp the throne of facts for popularity and effect.

We should always temper our curiosity with discrimination and discernment; we should be smart about where we allow ourselves to be led down in search for the truth.

Only when I am in it

In my view, the only time I want to be breaking the news is if I am making the news or part of the news event. Whilst scoops can make you famous, when such broken news is debunked or proved false you risk greater infamy.

When an event happens in Nigeria, it is very likely that the village-rag gossip websites will pick it up first without verification or corroboration, maybe some do exert themselves to a modicum of excellence but I do not consider them authoritative enough for me to stake my reputation and my integrity on giving their copy a platform.

The platforms we trust

We have mainstream Nigerian news media; I wait for their despatches and reports by their correspondents, though the foreign media appears to get the goods first. Even as the local outfits are slow in getting the news out and might even get it wrong, on balance they are at greater reputational risk as professionals than I am as a consumer and disseminator of their material.

Meanwhile, misinformation devoid of humanity, nuance, restraint or decorum rolls through our timelines ever tempting us to engage with increasing rage at the calumny of others.

In the midst of this is the guerrilla news agency, those who publish pieces the mainstream media are scared to touch, they sometimes do not have corroborated sources but they stimulate debate, get people talking and have others asking questions.

The patronage system in Nigeria makes this vehicle essential even though those with ulterior motives to disseminate falsehoods and fallacies at times abuse that platform – they are unavoidable against greater odds.

Opinions are free, we can wait

It is not a case of being wise after the fact; we have every opportunity to share our opinions about the event when the news has truly broken with the facts and other investigatory evidence that would include detail and specifics.

When it comes to breaking news, I can wait, I can wait to understand what is really happening, I can wait to appreciate what really happened, I can wait to hear the truth, the facts, the reality and the reports of those directly affected.

Don’t give in

Anxiety will not help situations much as urgency does not mean you can do anything with the information once obtained, I do not want to insert myself into anyone’s moment be it the news, the success or the tragedy, it is the gentlemanly thing to patiently elicit fact from fiction and only be present to propagate the truthful and the verified.

If you are unsure, do not be a purveyor; if in doubt, leave in out; if you are not the source be sure you do not present yourself as authoritatively the oracle and fount of wisdom from whom all knowledge can be sought.

Please think before you join the crowd of rumourmongers.

Opinion: Davids, Jezebels, Nathans and the need for accountable men

Bigger issues at stake

The events of the last week that exploded into a scandal about sexual impropriety by a mega church leader in Nigeria has churned out commentary from all viewpoints that one is almost suffocated with analysis.

One recurring refrain has been the way the lady has been excoriated, abused, vilified, condemned, called names and much else.

Again, regardless of the truth of what happened between these consenting adults as some would put it, consent is the least of the issues at play in this matter.

Where are the Nathans?

It is without the doubt that many Nigerian Christians hold their leaders in trawl, they are dumbstruck, star struck, mesmerised, stupefied, hypnotised into a false sense of humility played out as respect, we would literally do anything to be in their good books than incur their wrath.

This in my view lays the foundation for what happened afterwards like in the biblical story of David and Bathsheba where King David laid eyes from his balcony on the lady having a bath, consumed with lust he acquired the woman, killed her husband and feigning empathy, took her into his harem to become his wife.

A sense of accountability was only met when Prophet Nathan visited the king, and by way of a story that called the king to order and in the process, the king repented and found redemption, and though the first child of that tryst died, Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon.

Again, if indeed the lady’s story finds true, the church is desperately in need of a Nathan because if one were to paraphrase something about interactions amongst men and between men and God, one must ask how anyone can suggest they are accountable to an invisible God if they are first not accountable to visible humankind up their chain of authority or sphere of influence.

A Jezebel for every Ahab

What I find even more irksome is the “Daughters of Jezebel” moniker that trails ladies who have been caught in these trysts leading to the apparent downfall of religious leaders as if these leaders bear no responsibility for their lapses.

For every Jezebel there is an Ahab, and though the biblical story suggests Jezebel a Phoenician princess led her husband, the king of the northern Kingdom of Israel astray, Ahab had the choice of who he chose or agreed to marry, he cannot be exculpated from his decisions, and he is documented as being one of the most debauched kings of Israel. As king he was a slave to what he allowed except if he was a dunce and an idiot.

Who men are

I have the following statements to make regarding this perspective.

Men have to own up to the responsibility of being able to control their urges and responses without placing the onus on women. This pertains to the many ways we attempt to regulate women in terms of views, dress, means, independence and opportunity to make up for our shortcomings.

Every time you use the phrase "Daughters of Jezebel" you are suggesting men lack self-control and are no better than animals. There are many examples of men who probably should have known better who have allowed themselves to be ruled by their basest instincts and then blame others for their failings.

We must stop subscribing to the idea that men are weaklings, lily-livered and devoid of character, principle or virtue. Men are more than capable of standing sure, it is a choice they can make if they will to do so or it is one they decide not to do if they believe they will not be found out.

Like the old Genesis story, Adam was not tempted, he freely went along where he could have been more discerning; he was irresponsible. Responsible for protecting his wife from influences if he stood up for what he was called to do, there is a mutual coexistence reinforced in marriage for the good or for the bad – choices abound.

Why let them lead?

If our religious leaders are so easily led astray, why on earth should we allow such unprincipled lascivious to men lead us? That is a big question, not so much that these men are infallible but if they exercise authority as if they are infallible without embracing their humanity, then we must demand a higher standard of moral rectitude of them, and they should be expected to act as such, failing which they must recuse themselves from leadership.

Character is the external expression of an internal virtue, if you don't have it, external stimuli would dictate what you are. What we end up doing is what we innately have in us as a makeup of our personality and character, we cannot be persuaded to do what we are not predisposed to doing from nature, nurture, experience and influence – that applies to religious leaders too.

Know your limits

Returning to that Indian protest placard, "It's a dress, not a Yes." If you don't know the difference, you have issues. This is succinct in defining how men react to external stimuli, the dress holds no message to anyone apart from those who have allowed animal instinct to rule over better judgement, there are no two ways about regardless of what you believe.

Fundamentally, if anyone must be so concerned about the apparel of women, it is best to restrict control and representation to those within their immediate sphere of influence of close relations, every woman on the street is not everyman’s wife to be curtailed, coerced, scolded and domineered – know who is really responsible to you and who you are responsible for.

It goes without saying that the pastor has a case to answer, either by denying the allegations with vehemence or accepting that he has erred in contrition, step down from the pulpit and make peace with his family and the flock. Silence whilst this scandal swirls with even more revelations by others is untenable, and it is intolerably hubristic to expect that this would just blow away like an ordinary storm.