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Love Bombing: Are Some People Easy Targets For ‘Love Bombers’?

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If one was single and they were to meet someone who showed a lot of interest in them, they could find that they end up being drawn to them. And what might also play a part here is that one may be physically attracted to them.

Through being in this person’s presence, one could start to experience a lot of positive feelings. In a way, it could be as if this person is a breath of fresh air; with them being someone who has come into their life to make it better.

A Fast Build Up

After the first encounter, it might not be long until the other person is acting in a ways or talking about things that wouldn’t usually take place or be mentioned for quite some time. It will be clear that the other person doesn’t want to take their time and to allow everything to develop organically.

It will be like starting in first gear and going straight into the last gear; instead of starting in first and gradually moving through each gear. At this point, one could have put their thinking brain to one side and be completely caught up in what is going on.

For Example

So after one has had their first encounter with this person, their phone could constantly go off. This can be a time when this person will message and call them, telling them how much they like them, how special they are and the type of things that they want to do with them, for instance.

This person could also say that they should move in together and go into what their future will be like. Additionally, one may find that this person sends them gifts while they are at work and they could come across love notes and letters from them.

The Next Stage

After they have seen each other a few times or only known each other for a matter of weeks, the other person could ask them if they are now in a relationship. They could even go one step further than this by talking about how much they love them.

And if they do end up moving in together after such a short period of time, one could spend even less time with others. In fact, ones whole life could end up revolving around their partner – someone they have only just met.

On Top Of the World

At this point one could feel as though they are on cloud nine, with them basking in positive feelings and the loving behaviour of their partner. Nonetheless, it might not be long until their partner starts to change.

Now that this person has pulled one in, they could end up trying to control how they live their life. If one doesn’t do what they want, they might find that their partner leaves or that it is not possible to get hold of them.

Hot and Cold

This person will have done everything that they could to warm them up in the beginning and, how that they have them in the palm of their hands, so to speak, they will take advantage of them. Due to their fear of losing their partner and being rejected and/or abandoned, one can have the need to do whatever their partner wants them to do.

If this means no longer seeing their friends and family, putting their interests to one side and/or neglecting their own health, for instance, they will do it to try to regain their ‘love’. Ultimately, one will have become hooked on their partner’s attention or the dopamine that they trigger inside them, which is why they won’t feel good when their attention is no longer there.

Drawing the Line

One could then do what their partner wants and before long, they could pull away again. They might turn up in a few days or it could be a number of months before they reappear.

Clearly, having this person in their life is not doing them any good, and the sooner they cut their ties with them the better. There are a number of things that they can do to gradually get back on their feet and to regain their energy.

A Few Steps

Firstly, it will be a good idea for one to no longer speak to this person in person, over a screen, or over the phone. If this person won’t accept this, one may need to get in touch with the police.

Secondly, it will be good for them to get back in touch with family and friends, so that they can go over what took place and gain their support. Thirdly, taking time to do what they enjoy will make it easier for them to take their mind of this person, and, fourthly, they may need to reach out for the assistance of a therapist or a healer, for instance.

Stepping Back

It could be said that just about anyone could be love bombed, yet there are going to be things that will make one more susceptible to this type of behaviour. And if one has gone through this experience on more than one occasion, it is likely to show they need to take a deeper look into why this keeps taking place.

However, this is not about one blaming or shaming themselves for what has taken place; it is simply about them taking a step back and looking into what they might need to do to prevent this from taking place again. This is about awareness as if one can see that there is a reason why this keeps taking place; they can do something about it.

A Closer Look

If they were to do this, what might become clear is that they don’t feel good about themselves. Therefore, as soon as someone comes along and gives them so much positive feedback, they drink it all up.

Said another way, they are in a position where they desperately want someone to love them. Consciously or unconsciously, a love bomber realises this and ends up exploiting their weakness.

An Easy Target

If one did value themselves, they wouldn’t need as much from another person, and this would enable them to be more discerning when it comes to who they allow into their life. And as opposed to feeling good when another person comes on strong right at the start, they might end up feeling as though something isn’t right.

They might realise that as this person knows very little about them, it probably shows that they are trying to manipulate them. The love that they have for themselves will also allow them to have strong boundaries.

Additional Points

Furthermore, through valuing who they are, they would most likely have a number of close friends who they can share their life with. These people would then be there to give them feedback and to support them.

Another part of this is that one would also do things that they enjoy and this would strengthen them and fill their life with meaning. They would value themselves enough not to neglect themselves.

The Reason

If one was to find that they don’t value themselves, it could show that their early years were not very nurturing. This may have been a time in their life when they were abused and/or neglected.

Thanks to how they were treated, they would have come to believe that they were worthless and they may carry the pain of being rejected and abandoned. Being treated badly is then going to be something that feels comfortable at a deeper level.

Awareness

If one can relate to this, and they want to embrace their inherent value, they may need to reach out for external support. This is something that can be provided by the assistance of a therapist or a healer.

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There will be the negative beliefs that that they need to question and replace, and there will be the emotional wounds that they need to heal. The main thing is that one does what they need to do and doesn’t give up on themselves.

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Source by Oliver JR Cooper

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July 23, 2022
"Negotiator – Embrace Right Buy-In – Cure Stupid Hidden Disasters" – Negotiation Tip of the Week

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A good negotiator knows, when you embrace the right buy-in, you cure hidden disasters before they can occur.

For almost a year, they secretly planned the rollout. They touted it as a facelift that would change the name and position of the association. Doing so would give it a fresh look and appearance for the 21st century. But when the rollout occurred, the backlash was severe. All the money, time, expenses, and efforts that went into the new face of the association went down a drain of despair. The question that buzzed throughout the association was, how could this have happened? The response was when you embrace the right buy-in, you stop hidden disasters. And this disaster was easily avoidable.

First, as a negotiator, what do you think went wrong? What buy-in do you seek when thinking about the obstacles you might face in your negotiations? To the degree you obtain the right buy-in, you have a better chance for a successful outcome. To the degree you get the right buy-in at the right time, your chances of a successful outcome increases substantially.

Problem:

Secrecy – In the opening situation, the president of that association assembled a team of prominent members – all were members of the association. Their expertise stretched across the spectrum of branding, marketing, and social media. None were members of the vanguard that had watched over the association for decades. And the omittance of that group’s input was a silent blinking red light that foretold the death of the project.

Negotiating in secret environments can be beneficial. It can prevent unwanted distractions from slowing the progress of the negotiation. It also serves to gather the buy-in of stakeholders that might torpedo the negotiation. Thus, secrecy can be a form of control – it can also be the deliverer of disaster if not used right.

Forgotten power players – The name of the association had stood for four decades. And some of the revered founding members were still active in the association. When the new name was revealed, that vanguard was the catalyst that caused the committee’s efforts, and the new name, to meet a swift death. Had the committee consulted this vanguard, the committee would have known its efforts were doomed. They could have avoided a hidden disaster.

Consideration:

Had the committee charged with creating a new name involved the vanguard of the association and brought them along during the planning stage, at minimum, the new name would have stood a greater chance of becoming implemented successfully. At worse, the committee would have known that the new name was in trouble. Losses could have been averted at an earlier point and resources could have been spared.

The challenge a negotiator faces when employing secrecy is making sure the right people are involved. If they’re not involved, hidden disasters may lie in wait.

Always take into consideration who might be involved in a negotiation even if they’re not physically or visually involved in it. Seek those individuals that might have a stake in the outcome of the negotiation no matter how small you think their stake might be. There’ll be times when you won’t know the power source behind some people’s means – that’s something else to consider. There’ll also be times when smaller stakeholders will combine forces, which will present a more powerful force for you to contend with.

Conclusion:

Getting the right buy-in is a vital component of every negotiation – even when it’s just you and the other negotiator. Doing so when you have multiple participants is even more vital to the negotiation’s success. Therefore, when you assess the impact of the buy-in component during your negotiation planning stage, consider its impact thoroughly… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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Source by Greg Williams

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July 22, 2022
Emotional Self: Can It Be Too Painful For Someone To Embrace Their Emotional Self?

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If one was to place their attention on their own being, they could come to see that there are many different parts. What will be clear is that they have a physical self, and then there is going to be their mental and emotional self.

This could be as far as they will go, or they could say that there is also another part of them that can't be picked up by the five senses. One may describe this as their etheric body or there could be another description that is more appealing to them.

Multifaceted

But regardless of if this last part enters their mind or not, it will be clear that they are not just a physical body. When it comes to their mental self, this part of them will allow them to think, to reflect, to plan and to be aware, amongst other things.

Their emotional self, on the other hand, will be what allows them to feel connected to themselves and others. This part of them will also provide their life with meaning and depth, and give them insight into whether something is right for them, among other things.

Two Sides

One of the downsides of being able to feel, that's if this can be seen as a downside, is that one will also have moments when they don't feel good. However, through having the ability to feel bad, one will be able to appreciate feeling good.

If one could only feel good, they would soon get used to feeling this way and it would probably have very little effect on them. This shows how important each side is when it comes to being able to live a meaningful life.

Not the Norm

However, although the emotional self is an important part of someone's being, it wouldn't be accurate to say that everyone on the planet is in touch with this part of themselves. As a result of this, there are going to be plenty of people who are out of touch with it.

Someone like this is then going to look like a whole human being, but they won't be whole on the inside. What this is likely to mean is that they will spend a lot of time being stuck in their head.

Divided

In order for them to reconnect to their emotional self, they will need to get back in touch with their body. The reason for this is that this is where the emotional part of their being will be found; thus, they won't be able to connect to it by staying in their head.

Nonetheless, while being disconnected from their body is going to have a negative effect on their life, it doesn't mean that they will do anything about it. Experiencing life in this way is likely to be what is comfortable.

A Small Step

If they were to try to connect to their body, they may find that nothing really happens. What they are trying to connect to will be just below their head, yet it will be as if it is a million miles away.

If one can't connect to how they feel, it is likely to illustrate that their mind is stopping them from doing this to protect them. Under the defences that their mind has built up is likely to be a lot of emotional pain, emotional pain that would overwhelm their system.

Another Experience

Conversely, connecting to this part of them could just be too painful. Staying on the surface of themselves is then going to be a way for them to stop themselves from being overwhelmed with emotional pain.

Just like in the scenario above, they will be carrying a lot of emotional pain in their body. Due to this, it is not going to be much of a surprise that they have the tendency to be out of touch with how they feel.

An Analogy

This part of their being is going to be like a room that is only filled with bad memories; whereas when it comes to someone who is generally connected to their emotional self, it will have good and bad memories.

There is then going to be no reason for the former to go into this room, while the latter will have every reason to go into this room. If one has been out of touch with their body or 'this room' for as long as they can remember, it could show that what took place during their early years had a big effect on them.

Back In Time

Maybe their early years were a time when they were abused and / or neglected, which would have caused them to experience a lot of pain. At this stage of their life they wouldn't have been able to handle it.
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The only way for them to deal with what they were going through would have been to leave their body. Responding in this way would have saved their live, but now that this time in their life is over, experiencing life in this way is likely to be doing more harm than good.

Awareness

If one can relate to this, and they want to change their life, they may need to reach out for external support. This is something that can be provided by the assistance of a therapist or a healer.

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Source by Oliver JR Cooper

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July 22, 2022
The Sorry State Of Nigeria’s Judiciary Among Others Makes The Battle Cry For A Revolution Inevitable By Francis Adewale

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“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
– President John F. Kennedy (1962)

This week may be one of the worst weeks for Nigerian judiciary and they might have made the much vaunted Sowore’s revolution inevitable. The first salvo was the list of judges released by the National Judicial Council replete with the names of their sons and daughters as well as hangers on. Second is the farcical decision in EFCC vs Kalu where the Supreme Court “suo motu” created a new section to the constitution of Nigeria by vacating a conviction duly given under an extant law. The strange rationale by the Supreme Court is that the presiding judge, now elevated to the Court of Appeal should not have pronounced the sentence. The Court conveniently ignored the fact that the accused counsel had invited the judge to come back and continue the hearing by a formal letter!

Gone are the days when Nigerian judiciary is famously celebrated as the last bastion of defense for the common man. The days of Kayode Esho, Chukwudifu Oputa, Muhammed Uwais is long gone. Our judiciary is no more like Caesar’s wife, above board. The problem however is not necessarily down to the hydra headed monster of corruption alone but a more sinister evil called, nepotism. It is my humble opinion that an opaque process for selection of judges led us to where we found ourselves this week. And the problem did not start with the current chief justice. The dysfunction and bastardization have been long in coming, and as we will find out in this piece, the cancer has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. The revolution is inevitable.

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What precipitate this write up is a social media post by a good friend of mine and I obtained his permission to repost his comment with my personal edits:
“It took Orji Kalu only 4 months including Covid lockdown challenge to move from the High Court to Supreme Court to get his so called sound judgment from Supreme Court while it took ten years to get his case completed at the High Court level. Ten good years! And we are told justice in Nigeria is not cash and carry? The Supreme Court is preparing the ground for a revolution and very soon something extraordinary will take place. The same Supreme Court that will give 2021 and 2022 court date for poor defendants, sat and summarily decide a case within 4 months while cases of those facing a life sentence languish in the labyrinth of jungle justice!”

My first response to the post, is to retort that the problem did not start with judiciary, but they seem to have led the “nunc dimitis” for the internment of democracy in Nigeria. The judiciary may have pushed us to the praecipe but they were not the only one. We all recalled the impunity days of PDP rule and how they ride roughshod on people’s right, celebrating acquisition of jets obtained from corrupt practices while hordes of masses suffer the indignity of scrapping for foods from the gutter. Towards the end of that era, we all thought, if we can just get a man of integrity into Aso Rock, someone who will brook no atom of corruption, we will change the country. The election of 2015 seems to have lulled Nigerians into thinking that all we need is someone or a duo with integrity, so we elect Buhari and Osinbajo, a puritan and a pastor and went home satiated. What we were not prepared for or more appositely choose to ignore is the fact that the vehicle that brought them into governance is none other than the decrepit system that PDP used to feather their nest. In the first 4 years, we were told that the problem is with the National Assembly where the legistlooters shifted their control of the vortex of power in Abuja, opposing every anti-corruption moves of the executives. Then come the last election where the ruling party now controls the executive and legislative arm, but corruption runs through the gamut of the judiciary and Aso Rock looks the other way while nepotism festers in its rank.

It is as if the cancer has completely swallowed up the entire fabric of the nation. Cases involving the poor dragged on for years while those who can afford senior advocate can get quick justice. Many warned that this will sound the death knell of democracy in Nigeria. Every attempt to even build on free and fair election has been truncated by the judiciary. What with the recent confounding judgment from Imo and Bayelsa. Our two gargantuan political parties now owned our judiciary lock, stock and barrel. They sit in smoke filled rooms to determine who will be governors, legislators and judges, and those who will play ball are readily appointed as pawns in the chest board of the Nigerian ruling class, wives, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters are made judges and senior advocates overnight without recourse to any modicum of meritocracy. A friend of mine recently quipped that the problem of nepotism is not just that it defeats meritocracy and breeds mediocrity but that it infects the entire body politics and renders it comatose. Corruption can be traced, and ill-gotten wealth recovered but nepotism is more sinister. Those who obtain position of power and authority through nepotism hold fealty only to their masters who appointed them. Such appointee will readily twist the constitution, made up section that does not exist all at the behest of their “godfather”. It is insidious and evil.

I graduated from Nigerian Law School 30 years ago, after an excellent stint at Great Ife. My class at Ife, drawn from the north, east, west middle belt and south-south has in its rank some of the best legal minds any country will be proud of. We graduated with high hopes to take on the world and change the land. Few of us found ourselves abroad on scholarship where we flourish and excel. Those in legal practice in Nigeria, either at the federal or state ministry of justice or private practice are the ones my heart bleeds for, especially those without access to members of the National Judicial Council. I have had the privilege to advance my career abroad as an attorney and public defender. I frequently sit on panels that recommend colleagues for appointment as judges in a fair, open and transparent process; something my colleagues in Nigeria could only dream of.

When I look at the state of Nigerian legal practice my heart bleeds. The career growth of colleagues in the legal profession in Nigeria is stunted not for lack of excellence but influence in the right place. Influence peddling is an art form in Nigeria and politicians used to have the exclusive preserve of selling it to the highest bidder, but our Judicial Council seems to have mastered the art. The problem will not be this pronounced if the sons and daughters they are foisting on Nigerian judiciary are steeped in the Nigerian experience or have a modicum of merit. As many of my colleagues are apt to complain, majority of the recent appointees hardly spend few years in Nigeria. They all went to schools abroad. Totally devoid of the Nigerian experience, and constantly removed from the everyday life Nigerians suffers under. Majority of them lives in the gilded mansions of their forbears in Abuja and other state capitals, where they are rarely touched by the “better angels of our nature” to use the phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln. It is therefore no surprise that they care only for what their “godfather” demand.

Let me however warns that the biggest mistake we could make is to think that the rot is only in the heart of our judiciary. Think again. Nepotism is next door, next street, next town and everywhere in Nigeria. It rampages through the land, be it North, East or West. Just look at our churches and mosques, who do you see minister or lead the prayers when the founder/visioner is not around? You guess right, if you say their sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Pa Fadayomi push to have a meritorious doctor of aerodynamics succeed him. Gone are the days when the leader of the faithful in Nigeria is selected by their aptitude in the knowledge of the Quaran. Nowadays, the exit of the leader is the beginning of the reign of the progeny. It has infected our colleges and universities, scholarship and opportunities that used to be available on merit are now exclusive preserve of the vice chancelor’s children and family members. Woe betide the school senate members that dare ask questions. Advertisement for jobs that has already been reserved for the children of the privileged are means to extort money in the form of application fees a la Abba Moro immigration recruitment scheme. A recent recruitment without advertisement at our apex bank reported by Sahara Reporters shows that successful applicants names were picked out of the rolodex of the governor. Commercial Banks staff are not an exemption, they are either recruited based on sex appeal or influential ministers/senators’ “recommendation” which doesn’t come easy for the educated but less privileged applicants.

A friend concluded an animated discussion on social media on this issue with a distinctively Nigerian resignation: “It is clear that those who do not want things to work properly in Nigeria are more powerful than those who are working towards finding solutions to our problems.” Again, my response is what do we have to lose if we embrace Omoyele Sowore’s revolution, even with its youthful disdain for experience? Especially when our current experienced leadership seems to treat the Nigerian masses with contempt. Look at it this way: They do not need our votes to win election, as they could procure midnight judgment in Abuja a la Bayelsa and Imo. They do not need to legislate to fill any lacunae in our constitutional experience as the Supreme Court proved in Kalu’s case. In fact, as long as oil flows and they have the means to fill their Cayman Island bank accounts, we may as well not exist. Greed and avarice have become the directive principle of Nigerian ruling class. To rescue ourselves from their vice grip, we need revolution now!

Francis Adewale
Tioluwanimi@gmail.com

Opinion

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May 9, 2020
Hear Urgent Cases Via Skype, Zoom, Falana Tells Nigerian Judges

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Muhammad, to prevail on judges in the country to “hear urgent applications via Skype or Zoom during the lockdown”.

Following the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria, courts were directed to shut down until the pandemic was brought under control by government.

But encouraging judges to embrace technological tools to attend to cases during this lockdown period, Falana in a letter to the CJN said, “Since the Federal Government has relaxed the lockdown by allowing markets, shops and stalls selling food and groceries to open to customers between the hours of 10:00am and 2:00pm daily, the National Judicial Council ought to review the suspension of court sittings to enable them attend to urgent matters to ensure that thousands of people who are either awaiting trial or under investigation are not subjected to unlawful detention.

“The review has become necessary in view of the fact that motions for the bail of many criminal suspects and applications to secure the enforcement of the fundamental right to personal liberty of other detainees are pending in several courts in all the states of the federation and in the federal capital territory.

“In addition, the return dates in respect of several ex parte orders made by magistrates for the remand of a number of criminal suspects which have since expired are due to be quashed or renewed to extend time for further investigation.

“More so that the heads of the various courts are vested with the power to designate judges and magistrates to attend to urgent matters in accordance with the laws establishing such courts.

“However, in order to observe the social distancing directive, we suggest that arrangements be made for judges to hear urgent applications via Skype or Zoom.”

Already, that strategy had been adopted in Kenya where 4,800 prisoners had been released by judges after hearing their cases through Skype and Zoom, a report by CNN said.

“We prioritised getting a lot of people out of prison, especially petty offenders. Those who are in prison for a short term and those who have been there for a long time but have just about six months and below to go,” Anne Amadi, Chief Registrar of the judiciary in Kenya, told CNN.

“As of Friday last week, we managed to decongest the prison by about 4800 inmates from different parts of the country.

“All our 39 high court stations have released people. Most of them, a good number, through Skype or Zoom,” she added.

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April 9, 2020
Korean authorities in Jeju sue tourists for visiting island while having Covid-19 symptoms

AUTHORITIES in the South Korean island of Jeju are suing a mom and daughter for not making prior declarations of having Covid-19 symptoms earlier than their journey there.

A report in CNN, quoting native officers mentioned the daughter had returned from Boston on March 15 and was instructed to self-quarantine for two-weeks.

However, she defied the quarantine orders and travelled to Jeju along with her mom on March 20.

Although the daughter began exhibiting flu-like symptoms on March 21, they each stayed in Jeju for 4 extra days. Both examined optimistic for Covid-19.

They had come into contact with 47 folks in 20 totally different areas, mentioned CNN quoting native officers.

“Jeju Province has filed a civil go well with towards the pair at Jeju District Court looking for damages of 132 million received (RM466,310). In addition to the municipal authorities, plaintiffs embrace two Jeju residents who’ve needed to quarantine since interacting with the ladies and two companies on the island that have been compelled to shut,“ learn the report on CNN.

Jeju authorities expressed hope that the punishment meted out to the duo will ship a transparent message to those that show a blatant disregard for the actions taken by the state to take care of the pandemic.

“I hope to ship a powerful warning towards actions that threaten the lethal battle of the medical employees, the endeavour of the illness prevention employees, and the participation of our folks in their battle towards coronavirus,“ Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong mentioned in a press release.

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April 4, 2020
Africa Can’t Run Away From Coronavirus, Medical Expert Says

A medical professional, Abu Clement Okolo, has stated that Africa can’t run away from Coronavirus, therefore the necessity to embrace the rules given by the World Health Organisation.

Clement, who spoke to SaharaReporters on the preparedness of Nigeria and Africa as a complete, stated it’s unimaginable to foretell the potential turnout of occasions in Africa as many international locations on the continent usually are not ready for the pandemic.

He additionally expressed fear about medical consultants contracting the illness.

Last week, the Provost and Deputy Provost of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Ezekiel Olapade-Olaopa and Obafunke Denloye each examined constructive for the virus.

On the identical day, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Jesse A. Otegbayo, additionally examined constructive for the virus.

Speaking on the worldwide unfold of the virus that has now infested over a million individuals worldwide, Clement stated happenings in European nations solely go to indicate how unprepared Africa is.

He stated, “Corona shouldn’t be one thing we will run away from. Corona is actual. We, as scientists, know we aren’t ready in Africa for what is occurring.

“What all people must do is to brace up, heed the social distancing, keep at dwelling. Nobody can say the flip of the occasion within the coming days.

“If it’s beginning with the individuals on the prime of the medical group which is one of the best within the Nigerian setting, you possibly can think about what might occur.

“My advice to everyone should abide by the WHO instructions—stay home. Believe in God and Make peace with God.”

Nigeria has recorded 174 confirmed instances to date and two recorded deaths.

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April 3, 2020
Work together, practise social discipline to curb Covid-19: Health DG

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians must work together and practise social discipline in order to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said that in the past two weeks Malaysia had recorded around 150 to 200 positive Covid-19 cases daily and the Ministry of Health (MOH) had been monitoring the trend closely to ensure there is no exponential spike.

“Now we have completed two weeks, so another two weeks to go. It is up to us and if all of us come together and we practise and embrace (the advice) that you stay at home, and we, MOH, will continue our public health activity like active case detection, increase testing, finding targeted groups and isolate them early, then we can actually break the chain of Covid-19 transmission in this country.

“So the next two weeks is all up to you and me; if we can all have a social discipline, I am sure that we can actually flatten the curve to avoid the exponential spike. If not, we may see a surge in Covid-19 positive cases in mid-April like (that) predicted by JP Morgan and the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research,“ he said at a press conference on Covid-19, here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said that thanks to MOH’s active case detection, Malaysia had not recorded any exponential spike like 900 to 1,000 cases in one day.

“That means we continue to go to the community identified as a high-risk group through targeted approach and then test them. There will be some cases that will be detected as positive; our detection of positives is about 8%,“ he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also urged all Malaysians returning from overseas to home-quarantine for 14 days.

“We fear that the second wave is all imported cases. Malaysians coming back from overseas, that is the group that we are worried about as we fear they may bring back the Covid-19.

“Although they are negative, we still have to quarantine them for 14 days. Those positive we isolate them in our hospitals,“ he said.

He said MOH was aware that some Malaysians who returned from overseas broke the home quarantine rule.

When asked about the possibility of the MCO being extended until Ramadan, he said it was too early to make any conclusions now.

“We will only know after the first week of April. If we continue to flatten the curve or there is no exponential increase, then I think we can safely make a decision.

“In terms of the Ramadan bazaars, they need to follow MOH standard operating procedure or guideline and have to take all precautionary measures to break the Covid-19 infection chain,” he added.

Asked on calls for the imposition of Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in red zones, he said this would be done if there is a rapid increase in positive cases in these areas.

The government enforced the EMCO in the area from Batu 21 to Batu 24 Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat, Selangor, yesterday, the second area to be placed under such restrictions after Simpang Renggam, Johor where Kampung Dato’ Ibrahim Majid and Bandar Baharu Dato’ Ibrahim Majid were subjected to similar curbs for 14 days beginning Friday. – Bernama

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March 30, 2020
COVID-19: Should Education Hit A Pause Or Are We Just Unprepared In Nigeria? By Olabisi Deji-Folutile

Olabisi Deji-Folutile

Olabisi Deji-Folutile

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The world is facing its most trying and unprecedented times as the last few weeks have been most challenging for almost everybody. What started in Wuhan, China, as an epidemic, has put the entire world in disarray. Major streets across the globes have become empty. Both the rich and the poor are being ravaged by the plague of COVID-19, which the World Health Organisation has rightly described as a pandemic. Work places have been shut; religious and social gatherings banned and many countries are on total lockdown, in a bid to curb the spread of this viral disease. Expectedly, schools are also affected across board. Every day people are being told to embrace social distancing and suddenly things like human contacts, hitherto considered as free gifts of life, are becoming very expensive.

No one knows when this whole chaos will end, so people are making different kinds of adjustments to cope with the situation while it lasts. Many companies have shifted their operations online. Likewise, many schools have opted for e-learning, making use of available technology for teaching and learning.

Universities around the world are making use of communication technology to ease the effects of the global pandemic on their academic calendars.   In China, universities are going for online teaching instead of in-class teaching; the ones in Australia have moved their classes online just as UK universities have suspended face-to-face teaching.  Turkey started its remote university classes on March 23. In Kenya, universities have activated communication between lecturers and students via social media platforms and emails while classes have gone totally online in the Philippines and Kyrgyzstan. Teachers in France have been working with their students on Zoom.

Just a few days ago, Ghana’s President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, directed the ministry of education to collaborate with the ministry of communications in rolling out open learning programmes in response to the closure of all educational institutions in the country. In the same vein, Mount Kenya University’s Vice-Chancellor Peter Wanderi, has announced the extension of online teaching platforms for regular students to facilitate the learning process. And to take care of the over six million students that have experienced disruption to their studies, ten North African and 12 Arab countries have begun work on an e-learning initiative to facilitate open and online education.

These are some of the steps being taken across the globe to bridge the gap created by school closure in the wake of COVID-19. Unfortunately, while all these activities are going on in other parts of the world, Nigerian government has not said anything about steps being taken to take care of its students’ community. Rather, the only message from the Federal Government was a total closure of all tertiary institutions and FG-owned unity schools till further notice. A statement issued by the National Universities Commission simply said universities would remain   shut   for one month while the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, said tertiary institutions would remain shut indefinitely.

Assuming government has been overwhelmed by the burden of controlling the spread of COVID- 19, hence its silence on options for learning for its teeming student population, one would have expected the higher institutions themselves to at least say something, but as it is, they too are not helping matters. The silence in our universities has been deafening. To worsen the situation, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, decided to choose this time, of all times, to embark on an indefinite strike. One wonders how the academic body   manages to feel comfortable being on a strike at a time when researchers across the globe are busy looking for solution to a pandemic that is ravaging the entire world. This kind of action makes one query the essence of having Research and Development as a core component of tertiary education in Nigeria when researchers can be nowhere to be found at a critical time of societal needs.

By now, our researchers should be adding their voices to the various efforts being made towards developing a vaccine or cure for COVID-19. After all, universities are expected to proffer solutions to societal problems.  This is a wrong time for ASUU to embark on an indefinite strike. This should be a time of strategising and proffering solutions. This is really the time for everyone to get involved. Besides, I think Nigerian universities should also be more forthcoming on their responses to the challenges posed to their students by COVID-19.

As it is, religious organisations are doing far better in terms of their responses to the effects of this pandemic on their primary constituencies. Many of them have devised other means of getting the attention of   their members following several government directives prohibiting either gatherings or limiting the number of people allowed to congregate at a time. Almost all the churches have switched to online platforms for their services. How come religious organisations are working hard to keep their flocks and both government and higher institutions in Nigeria are just moving on as if all is well? No word on how to keep the students busy or keep them engaged using available online technology! Should teaching and learning be restricted to the classrooms alone in this 21st century?

Nigeria has always been described as a religious society. Corona Virus has further exposed the smartness of our religious bodies and the dullness of those in charge of our public educational institutions. This is not an attempt to blame any religious organisation for having the foresight to deploy technology in reaching their audiences. Instead, it is a wakeup call to managers of our educational institutions to adopt and use available technology to help their students at a time like this.

Apart from the National Open University of Nigeria, which basically runs online, I doubt if there is any other public university in the country that has capacity for online teaching. This is in spite of the launch of the Nigerian Communication Satellite known as NIGCOMSAT by the Nigerian Government first in 2007 and then NIGCOMSAT-IR in December 2011, to provide critical ICT backbone infrastructure to support e-learning, among others in the country.

What is the essence of investing so much money in a communication satellite if it cannot be deployed at a time of need?   Those in charge of NIGCOMSAT, the commercial arm of Nigeria’s space centre, have consistently claimed that the technology has the capacity to cover the entire Africa. If that is the case, why is the country still struggling to deploy internet connectivity facilities to its schools to aide e-learning? If we are truly a serious country, by now, all the schools in urban and rural areas should have been connected to the e-learning services.

No doubt, COVID-19 has exposed Nigeria’s unpreparedness for e-learning. But, we can’t afford to remain where we are. That is why it is important for every institution to start thinking of how to deploy available technology in the world for the good of their students at this critical period. Universities should as a matter of urgency migrate online. This shouldn’t be another season of waiting and probably wasting for the Nigerian student. There is no reason why any higher institution worth its name should suspend all academic activities until the end of Corona Virus with all the available resources and technology in the world today. The minimum expected of them is to upload teaching resources online for students to have access to them. At least this will give the students the opportunity to learn on their own.

This is also an opportunity for telecommunications companies like Glo, MTN and the rest of them to make a difference in Nigeria’s educational institutions. They can as part of their corporate social responsibility decide to boost internet facilities in universities and other educational institutions; or provide data at cheaper rates to help poor students have access to the internet for online learning.

I know there are obvious stumbling blocks to digital learning in Nigeria. Many students don’t even have access to devices while the cost of buying data is still high. These challenges and others have provided   telecommunications companies a huge opportunity of making a difference in Nigerian higher institutions by providing e-learning solutions and broadband connectivity to universities and other higher institutions.

They can as part of their corporate social responsibility decide to boost internet facilities in universities and other higher institutions; or help poor students who have limited or poor internet access to enhance online learning.

Olabisi Deji-Folutile is the Editor-in-Chief of Franktalknow.com and member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk

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March 27, 2020
Autism isn’t a defect – here’s why we should embrace neurodiversity

After finding out she was autistic, Siena Castellon sparked a global school movement that celebrates neurodiversity, which now includes nearly half a million students

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March 23, 2020