The truth about early marriage

Written by Josephine Agbonkhese & Anino Aganbi

~Vanguard - Nigeria,  Friday, March 11, 2016

ALMOST everyone in the neighbourhood admired Mariam Adamu (not real names). Her fair-complexion, height and extremely beautiful figure would pass for an international model anytime. Her seven-year-old child seemed a photocopy of her too.

21-year-old Mariam had just moved in with her husband into the neighboured, from a neighbouring city. Hence, neighbours knew practically nothing about her outside her near-goddess beauty.

It wasn't until a couple of years later when her husband took a second wife with whom he later relocated, that the cynosure of all eyes became the centre of real pity; Mariam had been living in unimaginable emotional trauma but was sensible enough to cover-up.

She was living with Vesico Vagina Fistula, VVF, an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder(vesico) and the vagina that allows the involuntary leakage of urine from the vagina. She developed this at childbirth. Her disappointed husband obviously couldn't bear it anymore than abandon her for at least a healthier woman! Poor Mariam died the following year from lack of care.

Victim of early marriage

What tragic end for another unfortunate victim of early marriage! No fewer than 800,000 women in Nigeria, basically for reasons such as Mariam's, suffer from VVF annually in Nigeria, according to a 2015 report by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA.

Also known as child marriage, early marriage, a common phenomenon in some parts of Nigeria, refers to either a formal or informal union entered into by an individual who is less than 18.

There's been a whole lot of controversy surrounding child marriage in Nigeria, with some endorsing it on the basis of religion even as the 1999 Constitution Section 49 4(b) remains confused about it after stymied attempts at its deletion by the senate. Notwithstanding, statistics and background checks on victims of child marriage identify socio-economic factors as major drivers.

This doctor does not fancy your coffin

Written by Biodun Ogungbo Punch, Nigeria.  Monday, March 7, 2016 Biodun Ogungbo Doctors are in the business of keeping people alive. So, it hurts when a patient dies. It is more painful when the death was perhaps avoidable. For instance, the person could die due to lack of finance or ignorance influenced by poor judgment when they were sick. Like delay in treatment often caused by visits to the pastor and the herbalist. Many times this makes the problem to be more complicated and more dangerous to your health. Simple problems that require simple solutions are allowed to get out of hand. Therefore, let me beseech you not to invite me to your funeral. I will not attend! I have buried one person too many and that is enough. Thank you very much. The only funeral I am waiting for and will definitely be in attendance is mine. A great event Funerals should be sombre affairs but have become commercialised in Nigeria. They are now pretty fanfares and, as you can imagine, a lot of fancy, competitive funerals happen in this country. Our funeral is bigger and better than yours! You could spend your time moving from one funeral to another and be pretty well-fed. You could even be well-clothed and get enough plastic to start small restaurant. However, let us dig a little deeper. A woman died recently from stroke, a consequence of hypertension. I heard someone infer that she was afflicted with 'juju'; that she stepped on some charms which paralysed her arm and leg. Foolish thoughts! As you may well know, hypertension (high blood pressure) can lead to stroke, heart attack and sudden death.

A better whip to beat your wife

WHEN some men clear their throats, their wives develop symptoms of tuberculosis. Those are men who are neither bullies nor mad dogs. They do not get a kick from kicking their wives around the house. They do not beat their women just to prove they are men. And their women know when to pull the brakes. So, there are men and there are men. Mad men, wife beaters and men who know how to enforce discipline in their homes.

We've heard enough of men who kick their women in the tummy when they are pregnant and those who cause their women to wear D&G 'bones' to cover up dark patches on their faces after slapping sessions. We have also heard enough of women who make their hus­bands so miserable, the poor men lose it and go berserk. In other words, there are wife beaters, women batterers all over the place and women with vile mouths who don't know when to duck when they see a flying punch. So, there is no point belabouring the violent point. It is bad to be foul-mouthed and worse to be a wife or woman beater. Is there then a middle road? Of course. Only dumb men don't know how to discipline their women without raising a fist. Wife beaters should learn from their women. We, the daughters of Eve do not beat men and yet smart men don't toy with us.

We do not give our men black and blue faces to get them to buy us gold, diamonds, the latest SUV and build us houses. They do all those things nice and easy and we know how to express our gratitude. But men who insist this is a man's world don't know jack about making their women do what they want. All brawns, no strategy. A woman will tell a man to go to hell and the dude is actually going to look forward to the trip. Well, it's absolutely a woman thing. We were designed by God with that particular element. Poor men, what do they know?

The woman a man needs

Written by Mercy Makinde

She is a Speaker, Writer, Coach and Entrepreneurship Advocate who owns theOnline Motivational Radio Station – www.iaspireradio.com and the Motivational & Inspirational Blog – www.iaspireblog.com

I was privileged to be at a Women's Entrepreneurship Conference recently and it was quite encouraging to see several women come out to do their thing! I was really excited to see women pitch to investors on the spur of the moment and they came off really strong and determined to make an impression. There are some hard working and daring women out there I must confess and I am really proud of them. I am happy to be a woman!

Nonetheless, there are still millions of women out there who don't see the need to bring anything to the table! They desire wealth and status without the demands of long hours in the workplace. Many on the other hand, hope to marry wealthy partners. A new survey has revealed that generations of young women are rejecting high-flying careers in favor of a life of ease and luxury. The so-called 'Easy Life Generation' has seen their mothers struggle with demanding jobs while trying to raise families and have no desire to follow in their footsteps. They certainly don't have any intention of doing housework or even actually loving a husband; he is meant to be their ATM (Any Time Money) machine to fund their lavish lifestyle in return for occasional sex. That's not being a traditional woman...you know what it is!

They come into marriage with very few assets yet they spend the little money that come their way on excessive luxuries to impress their friends and this can include things like designer apparels, upscale restaurants, frequent vacations, exotic cars, spa treatments and excessive amounts of clothing, purses, shoes and accessories. And when they run into trouble, their husbands pick up the slack and fix the mess they have made of their finances.

How to overcome embarrassment

~TheGuardian, Nigeria.

Embarrassment is defined by the dictionary as a feeling of self-consciousness, shame or awkwardness. Other synonyms of the word are unease, uneasiness, discomfort, discomfiture or edginess. The most interesting of the synonyms are imbroglio, entanglement, mess, problem, plight, predicament and difficulty.

When you are in an in the midst of an embarrassing moment, you can imagine that you are the only person on earth and hope that the earth opens up and swallows you so that you may escape the mixed emotions that you would be experiencing. Everyone gets embarrassed and so it isn't something to be disturbed about, because it actually serves a purpose. It helps one discover who you can trust and build further relationship with. It can be a bridge to connect you to other if you handle it well. One of the things that you could do is take it in stride.

Laugh:

You are not Dangote. You can laugh it off. Several research indicate that laughter is as good as medicine. It is a smart way to overcome anxiety. Laugh at yourself and the situation that incites the feelings of embarrassment. It gives room for others to laugh with you instead of at you. It can be an icebreaker and help you meet and make new friends.

Be honest about how you feel:

Say out loud, 'this is so embarrassing’. Embrace and own the moment. Share the moment with the witnesses to the embarrassing moment. Talk about it. Smile and let it go. Don't rehearse it and don't replay it in your mind. It happened and you are choosing to move on from that point.

Explain:

If you farted for example, you can explain how that you had eggs at dinner or at breakfast before going to work/school and why you think it happened. Be understanding and kind to yourself.

Ask for help and appreciate it when offered:

If you spilled coffee over your shirt, collect the paper napkins that are passed to you and say thank you. If you fell, receive assistance from whomever is helping you up. Be vocal about the thanks, don't murmur, it will help distract you from the embarrassing incident.

Make haste while your fertility sun shines

Written by Oladapo Ashiru - Nigeria.

Oladapo Ashiru

This article underscores the recent experiences of Dr. Lateef Akinola, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru and their team, regarding the proportion of women delaying childbirth until they are in their late 30s and early 40s, a trend that is on the increase. Such women often delay childbirth for career development and economic empowerment while searching for the ‘right’ men. 

Though all of these are laudable and worth the sweat, they can lead to age-related infertility which has been coined as “voluntary infertility”.

Infertility is defined as failure to achieve pregnancy after one year of unprotected vaginal sexual intercourse. This affects about 10 to 15 per cent of couples. It is spread equally among the male and female population. Causes of infertility in males can include low sperm count, poor sperm motility, abnormally-shaped sperm, spermatic duct blockage, impotence and ‘undescended’ testes.

'Cooking, eating at home lower risk of type 2 diabetes'

~TheGuardian, Nigeria. 

Sleep well to avoid insulin resistance, researchers advise

EATING homemade meals around twice a day may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes, researchers find.

Study coauthor Dr. Geng Zong, a research fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, and colleagues suggest eating more meals prepared at home may reduce weight gain over time, which they say could explain their findings; excess weight is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

The negative health implications of regularly dining out in restaurants – particularly fast food restaurants – have been well documented.

Earlier this year, for example, Medical News Today reported on a study that found eating out leads to significantly higher calorie and salt intake, which may lead to weight gain and high blood pressure – risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

But despite the associated health risks, it seems more of us are choosing to dine out rather than prepare home-cooked meals. Earlier this year, a report from the United States (US) Department of Commerce revealed that, for the first time in history, Americans are spending more money eating out than buying groceries.

"The trend for eating commercially prepared meals in restaurants or as take-out in the United States has increased significantly over the last 50 years," notes Zong. "At the same time, type 2 diabetes rates have also increased."

13 per cent lower type 2 diabetes risk with two homemade meals daily

For their study, Zong and colleagues set out to investigate whether increasing consumption of homemade meals may protect against type 2 diabetes.

The team assessed the homemade meal intake and the type 2 diabetes development of almost 58,000 women who were part of the Nurses' Health Study and more than 41,000 men who were part of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

All participants were free of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease at baseline and were followed for up to 36 years between 1986-2012.

Your pubic hair plays a role, let it be!

Written by Solaade Ayo-Aderele - Nigeria. 

Sometimes, the way many people treat the hairs on their bodies can make your jaws to drop. Those who believe in shaving off any hair that appears on any part of the body apart from the head, would do anything to get rid of body hairs.

From shaving to waxing, laser hair removal and what not, the idea, as far as such people are concerned, is that only the head deserves to be hairy.

For such people, maintaining the pubic hair is a bore. They simply can’t stand the sight of a hairy front side! As such, they regularly shave it clean, making it bald, as it were.

Well, while cosmetologists may not see anything wrong in getting rid of unwanted body hairs, including those in the pubic region, physicians are saying that the pubic hair has reasons for being there and that it amounts to plain misadventure when you shave clean your privates.

While both men and women engage in assaulting their pubic hair, the fact remains that women have more tendency to shave off their nether regions than men are won’t to.

Beyond cosmetics

Consultant Gynaecologist, Dr. Dominic Emeka, says in fairness to women, their biological make-up makes the shaving of pubic hair sometimes inevitable.

He says, “Take, for instance, when a woman wants to deliver a baby, her physician might advise her to shave a few days before her Expected Day of Delivery or C-Section, as the case may be.”

Emeka says there are reasons for that.

“When a woman shaves a few days to delivery, it makes the pubic area clean and neat. And, if the delivery is going to be by C-Section, of course, she will have to be shaved so that the surgeon can make incisions and do his/her job without any hindrance that the presence of pubic hair would constitute,” the physician explains.

Does He Want To Commit?

Written by By Kemi Amushan - The Guardian, Nigeria. 

A FRIEND of mine recently shared her frustrations with her long-distance boyfriend and the fact that he keeps coming up with reasons to put off their relationship and commitment.

There are things he needs to accomplish before he can consider marriage, he tells her. Even though she loves him and wants a life with him, she is uncertain of whether to be patient and hang in there, in the hope he will come around, or give up on the relationship and move on.

This is a common dilemma lots of us face when dealing with a guy who avoids commitment. Such men are called commitment phobic men. He is not able to or does not want to engage in a long-term, committed relationship. Commitment phobics generally fear a loss of control and autonomy. As long as they remain single, they have no one to answer to and no one to be responsible for, other than themselves. Some commitment phobics even have a fear of intimacy i.e getting too close to someone emotionally.

Some people have said that the source of these fears is often the result of issues they experienced growing up. It could have been a controlling or critical parent or a volatile or broken marriage he witnessed between his parents. The list is endless.

Whatever the source of his issues, he avoids marriage like a vampire avoids the sun – as if the mere mention of it might kill him. A commitment phobic man can fall into one of these categories.

The Distancer

With this type of commitment phobic the relationship may seem perfectly normal at first. But as soon as you start to become too “in to him” or express any kind of expectations of him or the relationship, he begins to pull back and distance himself. The more you try to “pursue” the more he will pull away. Distancers have a fear of someone invading their privacy and/or trying to control them; it is about protecting their emotional and physical space. Many times with a distancer, if you stop pursuing and begin to distance yourself from him, he will sense that the threat level is down and suddenly call and want to go out with you again.

Mobiles might boost your love life but can also help you catch that love rat!

~Vanguard, Nigeria. 

Sending erotic messages from one cell phone to another has become liberating to the average enthusiast today. It is no longer news that a lot of mobile users now dabble in typed foreplay and sizzling erotic messages that make the mind boggle! The devil, they say, makes work for idle hands (thumbs?), so why not keep them busy by texting?

When the texting bug first bit, everybody thought it was a teenage craze but it looks like anybody that can master the technique of their mobile instantly becomes hooked! Only these days, there are some texting etiquette to follow, to make sure you get it right to a T! With testing going through the roof especially during festive periods, readers need a few tips.

"Before texting became popular, you had to make solid arrangement to see someone before you left the house," commented a top mobile sales executive. "Now we're a lot more flexible and spontaneous – you can be walking down the road, fancy a drink at your favourite spot, and text your mates to join you. We can also keep in touch with a lot moire people, even if we don't speak to them that much, they become text friends." But texting has also changed our lives – and not always for the better. A lot of affairs are constantly being discovered when a suspicious partner decides to investigate his or her other half's phone. These discoveries have given rise to the number of love-rats, making partners more suspicious than ever before.

"But think of the boost and freedom the mobile has given to our love lives!" enthused Muni, a 35-year-old businesswoman. 'Thanks to the mobile, spicing up your sex life doesn't have to involve elaborate new mattress moves. All you need to do, wherever and whenever the bug bites you, is pick up the phone. If you want to turn your man on like never, first send a couple of erotic texts to him, then seek a private spot to use your mobile – it could even be in the loo!

Why are men abandoning their homes?

Written by Niran Adedokun - Nigeria. 

Niran Adedokun

Penultimate Sunday in church, I heard a story that made my stomach turn. While trying to encourage members of The Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, to invite men to Discovery for Men, a quarterly interdenominational gathering of men started by Pastor Taiwo Odukoya in 1997, Mr. Taiwo Akinlami, a Lagos-based lawyer and rights activist, noted that this was an extraordinarily difficult time for men and families.

To explicate this point, Akinlami said that the confusion of this season was making a lot of men abandon their homes, either to live with other women or just dropping off the radar without a care for the wife and children at home.

He told his listeners that he was privy to many of such cases and he graciously shared one mind-blowing instance, in which a man left his wife and children and disappeared without a trace.

One day, months after he left home, his wife and children while driving on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, saw a man who looked like their erstwhile champion in the company of another woman. They were said to have caught up with him at the tollgate where the wife deliberately ran into the car he was driving, just to get his attention.

When he came out of the car and his family accosted him, he was said to have flatly denied knowing the people accusing him of abandonment. But his accusers did not let off until they were all dragged to a nearby police station!

These are indeed very unusual times in our world, the beginning of a very awkward moment in Nigeria as this trend is not new, especially to countries in the western world.

An article entitled, “The extent of fatherlessness”, recently published by The National Centre for Fathering, a United States-based nonprofit, suggests that over 20 million children currently live in homes without a father in the US. The article further indicates that there are millions of other homes where fathers are physically present without any emotional commitments.

Another article with the title, “The 9 devastating effects of the absent father”, published last June on www.thefathercode.com, suggests that about 40 per cent of children in the western world go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. It adds: “Before they reach the age of 18, more than half of our nation’s children are likely to spend at least a significant portion of their childhoods living apart from their fathers…”

The human mind and wild, wild wealth

Written by Fola Ojo - Punch, Nigeria

Fola Ojo

February 6, 1985. The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, spoke these words during his STATE OF THE UNION address to the American people: “Let us begin by challenging our conventional wisdom. There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.”

The human mind is an arsenal from which all things good and bad flow. It functions like a compass which gives a navigational direction to a ship. Where the human mind travels, the physical body sails. From the human mind comes a mindset. A mind which is set on a particular course cruises unfettered until a goal is achieved. When bars of iron break and bend for a man or for a nation, they do so first in the mind. The Nigerian citizenry at this time requires a sound mind revamping and rejuvenation.

Every nation has its own mind from where values and virtues flow. The mind of a nation is driven by the minds of those in leadership. And the minds of leaders in turn influence the minds of the citizens. When a society enthrones a man with a perverted mind, all you’ll have as results are perversion, dirt and stench. When you enthrone a man whose stock-in-trade is amassing wealth through dishonest means, the result will be a nation filled and ruled by dishonest beings. Thieves beget thieves; all thieving abilities and societal ills are rooted in the soil and basement of the mind. If corruption and stealing of public funds are acceptable lifestyles in a clime, it is because the mind of that community has become a fructuous ground for reproducing the debauchery.

Sex in the city: The shame of campus prostitution

Written by Laju Arenyeka, Anozie Egole, Iyabo Aina, Adeyeri Aderonke & Juliet Ebirim(Vanguard, Nigeria)

Prostitution—It is the oldest profession in the world; from   before Deliliah’s seductive ways with Samson in Bible times, to last   night in a dark corner at Ojuelegba bus stop in Lagos.

Women, selling their bodies for money; some pushed into this nefarious profession out of poverty, some, out of sheer greed and some others, simply for the love of sex. In this piece, Saturday Vanguard explores the lives students in our tertiary institutions who now appear more remarkable in their runs for men and money than their primary purpose of acquiring quality education.

‘Runs’ and ‘Aristoism’ in the ivory towers

This is not a sad tale from a Nollywood movie.

In 2010, 19 year old Elizabeth Ehis (not real name), had the world at her feet. She was writing her West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations, WASSCE, hoping to fulfill her life-long dream of becoming an accountant. However, life took a different turn when she lost her father to the cold hands of death before finishing her exams.

In spite of this, Elizabeth, the first of four children, forged ahead and gained admission into the University of Benin in 2012. Things were tough for her widowed mother. But sending Elizabeth to the university was top priority for her. Her mother would never have guessed that disastrous blend of harsh conditions, bad company and wrong choices would lead Elizabeth into prostitution. Her mother would not know that Elizabeth told our reporters her story from a brothel.

Her bad company came in the person of a friend she calls Stephanie. She said: “I met Stephanie during our Matriculation ceremony in the school, we were and still are in the same department.   But we did not really become close until we met at the party where we got talking and exchanged contacts. At first, I thought she was into lesbianism because of the way she was asking me about myself.

Later she told me that, I did not deserve the kind of poor life style I was living in school and that I needed to upgrade myself. She introduced me to some friends who would call me when there was a party to attend. At one of the parties we attended, they introduced me to some ‘big’ men.

Consider this before you engage in oral sex

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'Professional lies'

WHEN a man's mind is made up to go hunting, it is almost always a done deal. He simply picks his dane gun and hunting bag, full of hunting tricks, and head out. And men are natural hunters. For them, it does not matter the contents of the pot of soup in their houses, they must still go after the game in the forest. That a man has an elegant zebra at home will not stop him from going after a squirrel in the bush. 

It is the way he is wired. He loves variety and like I have been told more than once, the excitement of hunting can only be described by a man. And I heard too that that is the reason why men are not excited when women go after them. Men are not wired to be hunted, pursued. They love being the predator. You must also agree with me that if a man is a hunter, he does not really need a reason to go into the bush. So, all that talk about a man going hunting because his wife does not know how to apply make-up does not hold water. Or haven't we seen men married to beauty queens straying? But why men stray is a book I intend to write someday soon.

Today, I just want to talk about how men hide behind their professions when they need to go hunting, check their traps and so on.

Imagine the medical doctor on the day he needs to 'take permission' from his wife to go on call.

'Honey, that was the hospital again. The way this CMD (Chief Medical Director) is going, I just may quit this job. How can I be on call-duty this weekend? I was there from Friday till Monday last week. It is Dr Owutu's turn this weekend. Why is the man behaving like this, treating me like this? It's either he is trying to frustrate me or he just wants to kill me. Haba, does he not know that I have a life, a wife who needs me? I think I should just hand in my letter of resignation. I'm done…'

At this point, the unsuspecting wife tries to pacify him, calm him down, that it's just one weekend and she understands the demand of his job. She will be there when he returns and will support him to reach the peak of his career. She kisses him and sees him off to the car. And off he goes to his call duty. Oh yeah. 

Medical treatment abroad

culled from http://www.hmcisrael.com/

The popularity of Medical treatment abroad is expanding globally mainly due to its greater capacity to provide safe, high quality treatments to those who cannot receive comparable care in their country of origin; many turning to India and Israel.

Medical Tourism once broadly focused on provision of health care and emergency treatment provided by higher-income countries to less developed nations, has since expanded to include patients from many parts of the world to countries with the full range of health care system infrastructure and modernity. Medical Tourism (MT) has become particularly popular in the United States, mainly due to high living costs and costly health services and care. In the United States, a staggering 50 million people are uninsured and over twice as many are uninsured for dental care. Nevertheless, insurance may not cover specific treatments and many are unable to meet the financial requirements specified for medical procedures that they require.

Therefore, Americans have many reasons for seeking treatment elsewhere - since it has also become easier over time to receive the treatment they need that is on average 30% cheaper than in the United States. They can also receive the quality and safety that equals national standards for the very same procedure. Furthermore, patients reap the benefits of getting medical care and treatment while they travel and vacation.

In the modern MT industry, international patients can be rest-assured that in nearly all countries, patients receive quality treatment in the same hospitals that also serve the local population. Services are provided by licensed professionals who maintain international accreditations that adherence to strict medical protocols.

MT is forecasted to expand even further, becoming an increasingly global phenomenon. Along with its growth, affordable and highly sophisticated diagnostic tools that guide the development of innovative treatments. Renowned specialists work with international patients; contributing to the growth of the industry and its success through expertise in specific branches of medicine. Today, an astounding 7 million people have travelled the globe for medical services for procedures like heart transplants to cosmetic surgery and dental care.

Anti-tobacco policies cut youth smoking rates - Study

~ New York Times News Service

Tobacco

As smoking has become more expensive and inconvenient in the United States, fewer young people are lighting up, a new study shows.

"Because smoking initiation typically occurs before youth enter the workplace, smoke-free workplace laws likely affect smoking initiation by showing kids that adult smoking norms reject smoking," said study first author Anna Song, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the University of California, Merced, Health Sciences Research Institute.

In a news release from the University of California, San Francisco, Song said that the effects of smoke-free laws are similar or larger than other factors linked to smoking, such as age, race and poverty level.

The study looked at information collected in 1997 on the smoking habits of nearly 4,000 young people in the United States. The participants were between 12 and 18 years old.

Researchers monitored the teens for 11 years. During that time, state, county and citywide smoke-free laws became more prevalent and comprehensive. Cigarette taxes also increased during this time, the study found.

While the study can't definitively show a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers found that a 100 per cent smoke-free environment seemed to lower the odds of young people taking up smoking by one-third. The number of new smokers during the study period dropped significantly, and the number of nonsmokers being exposed to harmful secondhand smoke also went down, the researchers reported.

During the study period, the number of people protected by smoking bans at work, restaurants and bars increased.

Young people living in areas where smoking bans were enforced in bars were 20 per cent less likely to start smoking. Teens and young adults who already smoked when these laws were implemented smoked 15 per cent fewer days each month, the study showed.

Findings were published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Senior study author Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at UCSF, said in the news release, "Smoke-free workplace laws have the most powerful effect on smoking initiation, equivalent to the deterrent impact of a $1.57 tax increase."

Making cigarettes more expensive had an impact, too. The researchers noted that each 10-cent tax increase was followed by a three per cent decline in the odds of starting to smoke. The federal tax increased from 24 cents per pack in 1995 to $1.01 per pack in 2009. The average state tax increased from nearly 33 cents per pack in 1995 to $1.20 per pack in 2009, the researchers said.

Nigerian designer wives

Written by Jide Ojo - Nigeria

Follow on twitter: @jideojong

Jide Ojo

The title of this piece is a copyright from Aisha Falode and her team of co-presenters of "Amazons", a magazine programme on African Independent Television. The phrase was the topic of the episode aired on Friday, August 28, 2015. I watched the fascinating edition and therefore decided to share my perspective on the issue with a wider audience. In the episode, Nigerian designer wives was the ascription given to married career ladies who are trendy, sophisticated, and cosmopolitan but deficient in culinary prowess. They are women who are well-read but lack the ability to manage the home front. They rely heavily on house-helps to clean and cook thereby outsourcing crucial matrimonial duties.

Ace actress, Funke Akindele, in one of the recent episodes of her highly entertaining TV drama entitled "Jennifer's Diary" featured a character that best describe Aisha Falode's Nigerian designer wife. The lady couldn't cook nor do any household chore and only tried to do them when she was about losing her fiancé to another woman.

Is it not shocking that this country now has a sizable number of married women who cannot cook anything beyond noodle? There are even some of them who cannot boil water let alone egg. They have been so pampered that they do not know the way to the market and if they do, they don't know the recipe for soup making; how to identify good fish or meat; which yam is good for pounded yam and which one is good for porridge; how to bargain, etcetera.

There are many ladies in today's Nigeria that hire people to go to market for them. Thereafter, they go for their cookery book for guidance on how to go about preparing their meals. Some who couldn't cook order large quantum of prepared food and soups from restaurants which they take home to refrigerate and microwave when they want to eat or entertain visitors. Some don't even bother themselves going through all that stress, they simply eat out.

These designer wives do not know how to sweep, wash plates and clothes, mop the floor, dust the furniture, iron clothes, arrange the home and tidy up their environment. While some of them make heavy investment in purchasing washing machines for their laundry; some others hire people to do their home cleaning. Some do most of their laundry at the dry cleaners. All these are done at great financial and social costs.

What then do these designer wives know how to do? Oh, a lot! They are fashionistas and are specialist in the use of information and communications technology. They are connected to all the social media and can ping and chat from morning till evening except when they are busy at work. They regularly upload their latest pictures on their social media accounts such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. They also are good at watching the latest movies and films on satellite television. They have favourite soap operas they cannot afford to miss on terrestrial TV. They know all the major characters in Mexican soaps, Nollywood and Hollywood. They like to gossip and as such spend quality time on phones chatting up friends, colleagues and relations. They also love cars, customised, posh wonders-on-wheel, with which they cruise town.