We begin this month by celebrating a seasoned professional with international experience that cuts across a dynamic range of skills in business strategy, technical expertise and people management. Mrs Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun has over 20 years of experience in defining and implementing strategy, developing organizational structure, leading and building diverse winning teams that deliver results. Currently, Jameelah is co-founder of CreditRegistry Corporation, a software technology company headquartered in Washington State, USA. The position was taken on in 2014 when she was appointed substantive MD/CEO of CreditRegistry Nigeria, the country’s pioneer and largest credit bureau operator. Because of her excellent impact, CreditRegistry…
Author: Pride Team
Growing up, my dad never allowed my siblings and I to get mobile phones until our final year of high school (you can’t imagine how hard it was keeping a girlfriend). When I eventually got mine, I became so engrossed with it; never catching a break, catching up on Facebook and MSN (which were big back then). Suffice to say, I started putting on weight, because I stopped playing football or engaging in any physical activity. I became unhealthy. Being the sports prefect and captain of the Greensprings School football team didn’t help matters either. I was so neck-deep in…
Doyin Odubanjo, Nigerian Academy of Science You can’t fight a virus if you don’t know where it is. These were the words of Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at his briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March. He made the statement in a bid to underscore the need to test many more people as key to containing the spread of the disease. Ordinarily, that makes sense and I would agree with it. It is the right thing to do in the face of a disease which would show mild to no symptoms in…
Bethany Teachman, University of Virginia You have a choice to make when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Do you treat this time as an insurmountable threat that pits you against everyone else? This option entails making decisions based solely on protecting yourself and your loved ones: stockpiling supplies regardless of what that leaves for others; continuing to host small gatherings because you’re personally at lower risk; or taking no precautions because the effort seems futile. Or do you treat the coronavirus as a collective challenge that will require shared sacrifices to achieve a difficult but not impossible goal? That…
Ian Goldin, University of Oxford and Robert Muggah, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) With COVID-19 infections now evident in 176 countries, the pandemic is the most significant threat to humanity since the second world war. Then, as now, confidence in international cooperation and institutions plumbed new lows. While the onset of the second world war took many people by surprise, the outbreak of the coronavirus in December 2019 was a crisis foretold. Infectious disease specialists have been raising the alarm about the accelerated pace of outbreaks for decades. Dengue, Ebola, SARS, H1N1, and Zika are just the…
Holy Humour Board and Bored There will be a meeting of the Church Board immediately after the service,” announced the pastor. After the close of the service, the Church Board gathered at the back of the sanctuary for the announced meeting. But there was a stranger in their midst — a visitor who had never attended their church before. “My friend,” said the pastor, “Didn’t you understand that this is a meeting of the Board?” “Yes,” said the visitor, “and after today’s sermon, I suppose I’m just about as bored as anyone else who came to this meeting.” Sunday Quote …
Last night, I prayed for my sin to go away. Tired am I of crying for the pains it gives my soul, Tired am I of telling God how sorry I am. In the day time, I labour to amend the sin, At night, my work is erased like floods bringing down a village. The houses and the buildings to shield us from danger are taken away. The school’s library documenting the education is removed. The place of worship, a symbol of faith is crushed. Our farms, and the mediums of exchange to help build more, have floated away. At…
Fr. Chidube Ubili, OP. The Corona Virus Disease first broke out about December 2019 (COVID-19). Initially, it was regarded as a Chinese problem and therefore referred to as an epidemic. Many people didn’t pity the Chinese because of their strange meal of rather unimaginable raw rodents, for which COVID-19 was like their inevitable punishment. But, sooner than later, COVID-19 began to “visit” other countries, especially Europe and North America. As we write, Italy, Spain, France, US, UK etc. have all been humbled. So, within a short period of two months, COVID-19 promoted itself from being a (Chinese) national problem…
Doyin Odubanjo, Nigerian Academy of Science Cases of COVID-19 are rising in Nigeria. Although the federal government hasn’t announced a firm plan to lock down, individual states have started to take steps such as closing markets, schools and places of worship. Accompanying daily developments has been a rise in panic levels fuelled in many cases by misinformation. The Conversation Africa’s West Africa regional editor, Adejuwon Soyinka, put questions to Dr Doyin Odubanjo about the biggest threats to Nigeria’s war against the pandemic. How much of a threat is misinformation and panic in Nigeria? Perhaps the biggest danger faced at the…
Jess Haines, University of Guelph Helping our children to develop healthy eating, exercise and screen-time behaviours is an important public health goal globally. This is because behaviours established early in life often track into adulthood. And these behaviours have a big impact on a person’s risk for chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, many Canadian children are not establishing healthy habits early in their lives. National data suggests that 70 per cent of four- to eight-year-old children do not consume the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables and close to 80 per cent…