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NYSC: Research Officers Empowered With Data Management

Rhoda Onuzulike
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NYSC: Research Officers Empowered With Data Management

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC has embarked on a massive upgrade of its resources for effective planning, research, data collection and analysis of its activities and programmes, to this end, the NYSC Library, Archive and Museum have been equipped to document the invaluable contributions of the Scheme to national development.

The Director – General of the NYSC Brig General Shu’aibu Ibrahim stated this on Wednesday while delivering his address at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) Schedule Officers’ workshop holding at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Abuja.

Represented by the Director Human Resource Management Hajiya Habiba Bappa, the DG said the choice of this year’s theme: “Developing Research and Data Management Skills for Optimal Performance” is to afford the Research officers an opportunity to upgrade their monitoring tools in line with global best practices.

“The PRS Department will be afforded the opportunity to review and upgrade monitoring tools used during Orientation Courses. This will, undoubtedly bring about innovation, as well as regular updates and improved quality of reports from Schedule Officers of State Secretariats, Area Offices and the NDHQ.”

 While reminding PRS Officers of their statutory responsibilities, the DG charged them to evolve strategies and innovations for effective planning, research, monitoring and evaluation of NYSC’s programmes.

“As PRS Officers, you are the custodians of the Scheme’s Records, Library and Archival Resources, which serve as the hub for our intellectual property, as well as the think-tank of the Scheme. You must therefore guard them with all sense of responsibility.” He emphasised.

The NYSC helmsman further informed the workshop participants of Management’s strategic intervention in upgrading the NYSC Library, Archive, as well as establishment of NYSC Museum at the National Directorate Headquarters to enhance proper documentation and promote reading culture.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) Alh Ahmed Wada Ikaka said the training would provide Schedule Officers the requisite knowledge and skills to facilitate effective job performance. He enjoined them to “show high level of proficiency on the deployment of ICT tools to optimize their performances.”

Alh Ikaka called on the PRS Officers to be focused and actively interact with the resource persons with a view to developing implementation strategies for critical evaluation and feedback mechanism towards improved performance.

It would be recalled that the NYSC Director – General recently unveiled Nine Books on different subjects which encapsulated the numerous contributions of the Scheme to national development, and will serve as reference materials for research works.

When to stop using contraceptives six months before planned conception

Cleopatra Okohai
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When to stop using contraceptives six months before planned conception

A professor of fetomaternal medicine has urged couples trying to conceive to stop taking contraceptives at least six months before planned conception.

According to the gynaecologist, Babagana Bako, it is unrealistic to stop using contraceptives and hope to get pregnant immediately.

Bako, who is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Maiduguri said women who have just stopped taking contraceptives should not worry that they have not yet conceived noting that pregnancy has to take its natural course.

Speaking in an interview with Newsmen, Bako, said, “What I have noticed about women that complain about contraception is that they start the contraception when they are younger and when they stop, they want to get pregnant the following day. It is usually not possible. Pregnancy has to take a natural course.

“For example, if you are on contraceptive at the age of 25 and you take it for like 5 years and you stop at 30, if you’d want to get pregnant, you’d get pregnant within a year, most of the time six months to one year.

“Most of the ladies that I have seen will start worrying the moment they see their next cycle. They will think it’s contraception. That is not correct. Contraception will not stop you from getting pregnant but pregnancy has to take its natural course.

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Bako said couples should plan their pregnancy. “So, if you are planning for pregnancy let’s say in 2022, in January 2022 you should stop your contraception so that before December you get pregnant. That is how it should be planned.

“It is better to plan your pregnancy. Some will get pregnant the following month; however, you know it’s only those that did not get pregnant that will complain. So, for that reason, it is better to plan.

“Not that a lady wants to be pregnant in February and then she stops contraception in January. Once it’s March she starts complaining, no, it’s not like that, it has to take its natural course,” he reiterated.

 Bako also stressed that contraceptives should be taken after consultation with a physician, noting that not all contraceptives will work for every lady.

Bako noted also that contraceptives have some health benefits to the user.

He said, “One of the benefits of contraceptives is that if a woman is on contraception, her menses will reduce – that is the quantity of blood she would lose during her menses will reduce – that will make her conserve blood and she would be healthier.

“Again, contraception reduces the rate at which things like fibroid grow and again they also reduce the risk of particularly ovarian and endometrial cancer for women that do not have it.”

17 Christian Medical Workers Reject NY Gov.’s Vaccine Claim, Fight Mandate

Koko Lawrence
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17 Christian Medical Workers Reject NY Gov.’s Vaccine Claim, Fight Mandate

As thousands of healthcare professionals in New York state were rushed to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that went into effect Monday, 17 Christian professionals who filed a lawsuit seeking religious exemptions earlier this month stood firm in their convictions — even under threat of losing their jobs.

The mandate requires that more than 600,000 workers in public and private hospitals and nursing homes were to receive their first dose of the vaccine by midnight Monday to continue working on Tuesday.

Religious liberty advocate group Thomas More Society is representing over a dozen workers, including Baptists and Catholics. In the lawsuit, the group argues New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is also Catholic, is disrespecting and bullying medical workers with sincerely held religious beliefs against the COVID-19 vaccine.

“New York’s Governor Hochul is using every strong-arm tactic she can to attempt to coerce employees into taking vaccines against their will,” Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara said in a statement Monday.

“She is also demonstrating disrespect, at a minimum, if not outright hostility to the deeply held religious convictions of our clients as well as thousands of others. We have solid grounds for prevailing on our motion for a preliminary injunction.”

Ferrara contends that Hochul is trying to “coerce as many as possible into taking the vaccine before the court rules.”

“And now she threatens to declare a state of emergency she herself has created by calling for the firing of dedicated front line health care workers who treated patients for 18 months without being vaccinated – often contracting COVID, recovering, and returning to front line medical care – are now being depicted as disease-carrying villains,” the lawyer said. “This is not science. This is demagoguery.”

On Sept. 14, U.S. District Judge David Hurd issued an order to temporarily prevent New York’s health department from rejecting employer-approved religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate. The order was extended on Sept. 20 and will last until Oct. 12. According to the legal group, Hurd canceled a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and will deliver a decision by Oct. 12.

Plaintiffs argue that the state’s mandate, which allows a medical exemption, should also consider religious exemption requests.

“The seventeen plaintiffs in this action — practicing doctors, M.D.s fulfilling their residency requirement, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a physician’s liaison — are united in their conscientious religious objection as Christians to being inoculated at all, much less ‘continuously,’ with any of the available COVID-19 vaccines because they all employ fetal cell lines derived from procured abortion in testing, development or production of the vaccines,” said the lawsuit filed by Thomas More Society.

Today in History – Sept. 30 – 1846 – Anesthetic Used For 1st time By American Dentist Dr. Morton

Angel Gimalo
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Today in History – Sept. 30 – 1846 – Anesthetic Used For 1st time By American Dentist Dr. Morton

1520 Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father Selam I as Ottoman Sultan (rules till 1566)

1846 Anesthetic used for 1st time by American dentist Dr William Morton who extracts a tooth

1862 Prussia Minister President Otto von Bismarck’s delivers his “Blood & Iron” speech

1938 Treaty of Munich signed by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Édouard Daladier and Neville Chamberlain, forces Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany. Chamberlain infamously declares “Peace for our time” on his return to London.

1946 22 Nazi leaders, including Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hermann Goering, are found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death or prison at the Nuremberg war trials

Today in Film & TV
1950 Radio’s “Grand Ole Opry” is broadcast on TV for 1st time

Today in Music
1791 Mozart’s opera “Magic Flute” premieres in Vienna

Today in Sport
1934 Babe Ruth’s final game as a Yankee, goes 0 for 3

Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?
Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherlands forbids tennis playing during religious services (1st mention of tennis in US), on this day in 1659

Would you believe this fact about today? Would You Believe?
“The Flintstones” the first animated sitcom created by Hanna-Barbera premieres on ABC in the US, on this day in 1960

Rolls-Royce’s Spectre To Undergo Test As Company Plans Electric Vehicle Unveiling

Angel Gimalo
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Rolls-Royce’s Spectre To Undergo Test As Company Plans Electric Vehicle Unveiling

Rolls-Royce is developing its first fully electric model, the luxury car maker has announced.

The firm expects the car, named Spectre, to be available by the final three months of 2023.

Chief executive, Torsten Muller-Otvos, said: “Today is a seminal moment, the most significant day in the history of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars since the company was founded in 1904.

Today we announce our first fully qelectric motor car and with it, our CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, keeps his promise that “#RollsRoyce will go #electric, starting this decade”.

“This extraordinary new product will elevate the global all-electric car revolution.

“Range and charging time is important in getting this right, we were thinking about going electric for quite a while.

“We are creating the first and finest super-luxury product of its type.”

The company said Spectre will “undertake the most demanding testing programme in Rolls-Royce’s history”.

It will cover 1.6 million miles, which is equivalent to more than 400 years of typical use for a Rolls-Royce car.

Air Show: China To Showcase Drones, Moon Rocket

Angel Gimalo
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Air Show: China To Showcase Drones, Moon Rocket

A military drone whose manufacturer says it can cruise for 20 hours at 15,000 meters (50,000 feet) was among Chinese warplanes, missiles and other weapons technology shown in public for the first time at the opening of the country’s biggest air show.

The Chinese space program planned to unveil a rocket for crewed space flight capable of carrying a 25-ton payload to lunar orbit at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, an official newspaper said.

The ruling Communist Party is pouring billions of dollars into developing fighter jets, stealth technology, drones and other hardware for its military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, as it presses claims to disputed seas and other territory.

Powered by two turbofan engines, the CH-6 drone can carry early warning radar, air-to-ground missiles and other weapons, according to its manufacturer, the China Academy of Aerospace Science, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The newspaper Global Times, published by the ruling party, said the CH-6 is aimed at “high-end arms and dual-use markets” but gave no indication to which governments the company might try to sell it.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology planned to unveil a “next-generation manned carrier rocket and a heavy-lift launch vehicle,” the Global Times said. It said the 2,000-ton, three-stage rocket would “support China’s manned lunar probes.”

Also at the air show, the PLA’s air force planned to display a J-16D electronic warfare airplane for the first time, according to the official China News Service.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. displayed an array of new missiles for the first time.

The China Academy of Aerospace Science also planned to show a mini-attack drone, the CH-817.

It said the 800-gram (28-ounce) drone can be used by soldiers or released from a bigger drone.

Companies To Pay New Hampshire For Excess Emissions Of Nitrogen Oxides

Angel Gimalo
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Companies To Pay New Hampshire For Excess Emissions Of Nitrogen Oxides

Companies To Pay Town For Excess Emissions Of Nitrogen Oxides

Volkswagen Group of America and related companies are going to pay the state of New Hampshire $1.15 million in a settlement for the use of devices on some diesel vehicles that resulted in excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, the state attorney general’s office said.

Volkswagen had installed software in the vehicles that turned off emissions controls, the office said.

At times, this resulted in nitrogen oxide emissions estimated to be more than 30 times the allowed limit.

The settlement resolves the last case between Volkswagen and the state related to the devices, which were discovered in 2015.

That resulted in a settlement of about $204 million to New Hampshire in the form of an environmental trust fund, civil penalties for violations of consumer protection laws, and relief to vehicle owners and dealers, the office said in a news release Monday.

In a similar settlement, Volkswagen agreed to pay Montana over $357,000. The agreements entail no admission of liability.

“These agreements with New Hampshire and Montana fully resolve their legacy claims and put these matters behind the company as we focus on building a future of sustainable mobility,” a spokesperson for Volkswagen said in a statement.

New Hampshire and Montana are among five states, as well as Hillsborough County, Florida, and Salt Lake County, Utah, that brought such environmental claims against Volkswagen.

The other states are Illinois, Ohio and Texas, whose actions are pending, the spokesperson said.

Volkswagen has paid more than $35 billion in fines, recall costs and compensation to car owners over the diesel emissions matter.

Camden County Still Seeking Permission To Build Licensed Commercial Spaceport

Angel Gimalo
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Camden County Still Seeking Permission To Build Licensed Commercial Spaceport

A federal agency said Wednesday it’s once again delaying a final decision on whether to permit construction of a launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast.

The Federal Aviation Administration now plans to issue a decision on Spaceport Camden by Nov. 3 “due to ongoing consultation efforts,” agency spokesman Steve Kulm said in a statement.

Previously, the FAA had said it intended to make a final determination on the project by the end of July, then shifted its target date to the end of September.

Camden County in Georgia’s coastal, southeast corner has spent nine years and $10 million seeking permission to build what would be the nation’s 13th licensed commercial spaceport.

The proposal took a big step forward in June, when the FAA issued an environmental impact study that concluded building the spaceport would be its “preferred alternative.”

The National Park Service and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, pushed back over the summer.

They dispute the FAA’s conclusion that the spaceport poses minimal risks or adverse impacts to Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness that lies along the proposed flight path for rockets 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of the launch site.

In a July 22 letter to the FAA, the Interior Department said a chance of rockets exploding and raining fiery debris onto the island creates an “unacceptable risk.”

Known for wild horses and nesting sea turtles, Cumberland Island draws about 60,000 visitors each year.

Local officials say the county of 55,000 people would get a soaring economic boost by joining the commercial space race, with a private launch pad luring both supporting industries and tourists.

It’s not clear how much weight the objections will carry with the FAA, which is responsible for licensing U.S. commercial rocket launch sites.

In 2014, the agency approved SpaceX’s launch site in Texas over objections by the Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Biden Was Advised To Keep 2,500 Troops In Afghanistan, Say Generals

Zoe Maven
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Biden Was Advised To Keep 2,500 Troops In Afghanistan, Say Generals

Two top US generals have said they recommended keeping a force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, ahead of the full US withdrawal in August.

Testimony by Gen Mark Milley and Gen Frank McKenzie to Congress seemed to contradict President Joe Biden, who said he did not recall any such advice.

The two US generals were questioned by the Senate armed services committee along with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.

The hearing comes weeks after a chaotic withdrawal at Kabul airport as foreign powers sought to get their citizens home and thousands of desperate Afghans begged for rescue.

The Taliban took power in August, after rapidly advancing through the country. Gen Milley said the US had been taken by surprise by the speed of the Afghan government’s collapse.

A suicide attack killed 182 people during the withdrawal operation. Thirteen US service personnel and at least 169 Afghans were killed by the airport gate on 26 August.

Gen McKenzie, who as head of US Central Command oversaw the withdrawal from Afghanistan, said under questioning from Republican senators that he recommended keeping a small force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.

This appears to contradict President Joe Biden’s assertion to an ABC journalist on 19 August that he did not recall anyone giving him such advice.

Republican senators also questioned why Mr Biden had promised to keep the military in place until all US citizens were evacuated, given that there are still Americans in Afghanistan weeks after the final withdrawal.

France Vows Action Against UK, Jersey Over Fishing Rights Refusals

Zoe Maven
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France Vows Action Against UK, Jersey Over Fishing Rights Refusals

France warned on Wednesday of retaliation in Brussels against the United Kingdom and Jersey over their refusal of many post-Brexit fishing licences, while French trawlermen threatened fresh protests and even an exports blockade.

Fishing rights for EU boats in UK waters was a key stumbling block to negotiations for a Brexit trade accord between London and Brussels, and threatened to sink the deal.

But the issue has come up once more after Britain on Tuesday said it would grant just 12 out of 47 applications for new licenses for small EU boats to fish in its territorial waters.

On Wednesday, the self-governing British Crown dependency of Jersey refused 75 applications from French boats, and issued 31 temporary licences: 75 bids were accepted.

French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the decisions were unacceptable and inadmissible and “contravene the agreement that was signed in the framework of Brexit”, threatening retaliation via Brussels.

UK-French relations are already strained, with Paris accusing London of going behind its back to sign a new defence deal to provide US-built nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.

Dimitri Rogoff, president of the regional fisheries committee in Normandy, told AFP that fishermen were preparing to protest.

Olivier Lepretre, president of the regional fisheries committee in the northern Hauts-de-France region, added: “There comes a time when we must put pressure on the British side.”

He suggested the fishermen had the “port of Calais in their sights”, raising the possibility of a blockade on the key gateway for goods travelling from mainland Europe to Britain.

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