European Commission Proposes The Use of USB Type-C On All Devices

The European Commission has announced plans to force mobile device manufacturers to fit all their devices with the Type-C USB port.

This decision was reached with the intention of cutting down wastes such that with a single Type-C USB cable, you're equipped to charge all of your mobile devices be it android, apple, camera, power banks, etc... Just any rechargeable mobile device with the exception of wireless devices of course.

You can get the full gist from The Verge. 

I wish this bill will be passed immediately. It doesn't make sense for an individual to have up to four different cables for charging his/her mobile devices simply because they each possess unique charging ports.

How Do You Dispose Waste in Your Locality?

Waste dumped on a tarred road.

I don't know how you feel when you see things like this on a major road. Some feel indifferent, others feel disgust, it all depends on our upbringing.

When we make plans for our homes, we think of furnitures, electronics, power, water, security and the likes. How about waste disposal?

We generate a lot of waste on a weekly basis and this needs to be taken care of. Unfortunately, we seldom pay attention to this. 

For some of us, we just look for a space close to our houses and keep piling the waste only to burn it occasionally and hope the wind comes to carry them away.

Some pile up wastes in buckets and sacks and wait for the rains to dump them in drainages and runways during the rainy season. During the dry season, they burn what can be burnt and look for an open dumpsite to make their contribution for the rest.

This for one is harmful to our health. A dumpsite is a breeding ground for every conceivable disease which can be channeled into water bodies during rainfall and can also be carried in the wind and animal vectors such as flies, rodents, dogs, pigs and even man.

Dumpsites are also not goog to be seen where people live or work or trade. They pollute and make the environment dirty. Worst of all is having such on our highways of which they even contribute to building traffic!

As an individual, you need not be told the right thing to do. Play your part and handle your waste properly. Get heavy duty waste bags to handle your wastes and only dump them in approved locations. 

Making our environment clean and healthy is not something we ought to be talked into but should be how we live our lives.

Having wastes tied up in heavy duty bags makes it easier for relevant agencies to pick up for appropriate disposal and limits chances of disease spread.

Let's limit the spread of diseases, let's limit our hospital bills, let's make our communities habitable.

Does Your School Have A Counsellor?

Photo Credit: India Mart

A colleague of mine asked a question this morning. He seemed not to be able to comprehend why his son scored an 'A' in Further Maths and a 'B' in Maths in his WAEC. He added that this trend had been happening right from when the boy was in SS 1, that he often aced in Further Maths and struggled with his Maths.

I asked what he had been able to discover concerning this situation all these years and he replied that he is still confused. He has spoken with the boy's maths teacher, further maths teacher and even the principal of the school but none of them have been able to convince him. I then asked if he has spoken with the G&C and he was like; "Which one is G&C?"

G&C is an acronym for guidance and counselling and it is one department that has been overlooked in not just our schools but in our society as a whole. How many persons have you witnessed in your neighbourhood booking an appointment with a counsellor? How many counselling offices have you ever seen or heard of?

The role of G&C's in our schools is critical to nation building as they help guide students into making informed decisions relating to their career.

When I was in JSS 3, the stereotype was that those who were intelligent (and intelligence then equated to having good grades) go to sciences department in SS 1 while those struggling with their grades were to be found in either arts or commercial department.

Many of us struggled to get into the science department not necessarily because it had anything to do with our passions, skills, talents or strengths but because we wanted to prove to our peers that we were also brilliant.

Upon resumption to SS 1, some of us who were in the sciences had to switch back to arts and commercial because sciences no longer appealed to them. 

It will interest you to know that even in SS 3, there were many of us who were not sure of what we wanted to study in the university and had a hard time during our JAMB registration.

I am talking of a unity school that had three councillors available, yet we had poor orientation as regards their relevance to us back then. How much more the private schools we have around that cannot boast of even one counsellor!

The endgame is that we have students in universities struggling to study a course they're not passionate about. They graduate and dump their certificates to pursue another career. A trained farmer becoming a fashion designer, an engineer baking cakes, a medical doctor working in a restaurant... When you approach them, they don't attribute their change of profession to lack of jobs but you hear them saying that they discovered a new passion.

This passion discovery should have happened a long time ago especially for specialized professions. It is true that most people tend to find new passions when they grow up, but majority who get to discover their passions later in life is chiefly due to poor counselling; a gap which our G&C's should be filling right from our secondary schools.

A student may break bounds, commit an offense or a crime and the next thing is either suspension, removal of tree stumps, clearing of grasses or receiving cane strokes. Why not also send such defaulting children to counselling? Some of them may be having mental illnesses.

We need to get it right. G&C's are vital in our schools and societies, it is a culture we must embrace if we are to build a better focused and productive nation and avoid wasting resources.

What You Can Do To Help Our Planet

Photo Credit: The Guardian

You must have in some point noticed the increasing heat intensity of the sun, rise in floods and sea levels, a general shift in climatic conditions over the years. What you have noticed or will soon notice is as a result of a phenomenon referred to as global warming.

Global warming is as a result of the excessive collection of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that blankets or prevents the reflection of part of the sun's rays back into space, thus trapping more heat that warms up the earth's surface.

These greenhouse gases which are chiefly sourced from oxides of carbon and nitrogen are produced from the combustion of fossil fuels. That is to say every generator, bike, stove, vehicle, aircraft, ship, etc. that are powered with petrol, kerosene, diesel and the likes contribute to this problem.

The major 'cleaners' of these greenhouse gases are plants. Unfortunately, we cut down these trees and shrubs and deplete our forest reserves thus making the ugly situation worse.

This problem is going to get worse if we continue to do what we are currently doing. Our folks who live in arctic regions literally cannot survive without heating systems. We here in temperate regions - with the increasing rate of global warming - may not be able to survive without having cooling systems. Imagine your children getting dehydrated and burnt by simply attempting to play outside the house, imagine the cost of cooling a house with ambient temperature of 50°C! That's where we are currently headed.

The entire world is aware of this threat and several countries are already developing policies to combat this ugly trend, part of which includes afforestation, tree planting campaigns, switch to cleaner renewable source of energy, ban on the use of fossil fuel cars, amongst others.

Individuals are encouraged to join this movement by not only complying to government policies, but also by planting trees and gardens as well as cutting down their energy consumption. Before purchasing any appliance, be sure to go for the energy efficient ones as they consume less power. Switch off appliances when not in use, disconnect wall sockets when not in use, use LED bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs, avoid burning of refuse, talk to that neighbour that consistently violates all these and most importantly get educated on how to live smart and protect the ecosystem.

You can visit Green homes to gain a basic understanding of how to contribute to solving this global problem by making some few adjustments in your home. If you don't own a home yet, then it's even best for you to first learn about this. You don't want to spend money in erecting a building and later wish to have done it better and smarter.

We are the first generation to feel the effect of climatic change and the last generation to do something about it. Do something today to create a safer earth for the future generation.

What You Need To Know Regarding Self Medication

I remember when a friend of mine was sick and had to visit the hospital for test. She didn't know exactly what was wrong with her and had to run a general test which cost her about N5,000. When the results of the test came out, she was furious to discover it was just malaria she had...

Many of us have come to reason in this light that running medical tests before taking drugs is a waste of money and thus resort to treating ourselves; basing our prescriptions on similar symptoms experienced in the past.

The reasons for this are centered on ignorance and poverty.

Whenever you fall sick, notice that you get to be hearing things like;

"Have you taken any drug?", 

"Which drug have you taken?" 

"Go to the pharmacy/chemist and get some drugs" etc.

Only a microscopic few get to hear stuffs like "You don run test?"

For some of you that do go and visit specialists or doctors, when asked what is wrong with you, you may respond by saying "I have malaria". Why visit the doctor in the first place? Who told you or confirmed to you that your problem is malaria?

One thing about these drugs and even the ailments is that they need to match in order to obtain the desired result. That is to say that thyphoid for example have different levels/classes. You cannot treat a class 2 thyphoid with a class 1 drug.

This is why you could treat yourself with a drug today and it will work perfectly. Try it the next time and it will have little or no effect. It doesn't mean the potency of the drug has reduced, in most cases, the ailment is not the same even though the symptoms look the same.

The right thing to do whenever you experience discomfort is to talk to your doctor first. Let your doctor diagnose and prescribe what your next step should be. There are cases where you don't even need to run a test or even drugs to get better. You may need to change your diet, you may need rest, you may need a vacation, you may need exercise...

There are some of us who are now doctors by experience and have become experts in prescribing medications to others even when we've not been licensed to do so. Technology has in a way contributed to this such that digital devices are now readily available that avails individuals the leisure of performing tests themselves in the comfort of their homes.

Another reason why some of us choose to opt out of seeing a doctor or even running tests is due to the perceived costs associated with it. There are those who imagine that these tests may run into thousands of naira whereas it is not so in most cases. I remember running a malaria test in a Primary Health Care center for just N200.

The level of poverty in this country has gotten to the extent that drugs are administered to patients based on their purchasing power and not on their need. I have been in some local small pharmacies -chemists as they usually call them - and I've witnessed patients requesting for say malaria drugs and they're asked "How much own?"

Before taking any drug, be sure to have been authorised by a specialist to do so, otherwise you risk endangering yourself or even wasting that money you think you're saving. It's also drug abuse.