News
Alcohol Kills 2.6 Million Drinkers Annually, Says WHO
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Alcohol kills nearly three million people annually, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, adding that while the death rate had dropped slightly in recent years it remained “unacceptably high”.
The United Nations health agency’s latest report on alcohol and health said alcohol causes nearly one in 20 deaths globally each year, through drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse, and a multitude of diseases and disorders.
The report said 2.6 million deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2019 — the latest available statistics — accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths worldwide that year.
Nearly three-quarters of those deaths were in men, it said.
“Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He pointed out that there had been “some reduction in alcohol consumption and related harm worldwide since 2010”.
“(But) the health and social burden due to alcohol use remains unacceptably high,” he continued, highlighting that younger people were disproportionately affected.
The highest proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 — 13 per cent — were among people aged 20 to 39, the WHO said.
Drinking is linked to a slew of health conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver and some cancers.
Of all the fatalities it caused in 2019, the report found that an estimated 1.6 million were from noncommunicable diseases”
Of these, 474,000 were from cardiovascular diseases, 401,000 from cancer and a huge 724,000 from injuries, including traffic accidents and self-harm.
Alcohol abuse also makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia, the report found.
An estimated 209 million people lived with alcohol dependence in 2019 — 3.7 per cent of the global population.
Total per capita consumption worldwide decreased slightly to 5.5 litres of alcohol in 2019 from 5.7 litres nine years earlier, the report found.
However, alcohol consumption overall is unevenly distributed around the globe.
Well, over half of the world’s population over the age of 15 abstains completely
Europe accounted by far for the highest levels of per capita drinking, at 9.2 litres, followed by the Americas at 7.5 litres.
The lowest consumption was in predominantly Muslim countries in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the report said.
Among people who drank alcohol in 2019, the report determined they consumed 27 grammes of pure alcohol per day on average.
That is roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, two small bottles of beer or two shots of spirits.
“This level and frequency of drinking is associated with increased risks of numerous health conditions and associated mortality and disability,” the WHO warned.
In 2019, a full 38 per cent of current drinkers acknowledged having engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60 grammes of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month.
Globally, 23.5 per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds were considered current drinkers.
That jumped to more than 45 per cent for people in this age group living in Europe, and to nearly 44 per cent in the Americas.
The WHO said it was essential to improve access to quality treatment for substance use disorders.
In 2019, the proportion of people contacting such treatment services ranged from below one per cent to 35 per cent in countries providing this data.
“Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision,” Vladimir Poznyak, head of WHO’s unit for alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviours, told reporters.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Mixed reactions as fans torn different directions following the announcement of the nominees for the 67th Recording Academy Awards, popularly known as the Grammys.
Some Nigerian artistes featured on the list, including Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Asake, Tems, Rema, and Lojay.
The nominations for the Best African Music Performance include Yemi Alade’s ‘Tomorrow,’ Asake and Wizkid’s ‘MMS,’ and Burna Boy’s ‘Higher.’ Chris Brown featuring Davido and Lojay’s ‘Sensational’ and Tems’ ‘Love Me Jeje’ also made the category.
Rema’s ‘Heis’ and Tems’ ‘Born in the Wild’ were nominated under the Best Global Music Album. Tems tops the list as____the Nigerian artiste with the highest number of nominations for the 67th Grammy Award, with an additional nomination for ‘Burning’ under the Best RB Song category.
Taking to social media, fans whose support for the various artists have been divided, debated how each of their favourites deserve the award.
Abiritomi said, “They’re all very good artistes so may the best person win.”
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
. Lekki software engineer, Chadian, others nabbed over tons of illicit drugs seized in Lagos, FCT, Taraba, Kwara, Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, Ondo
After months of intelligence gathering and painstaking surveillance, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have smashed two major cross-border drug trafficking syndicates with cocaine and opioids worth billions of naira recovered from them while six leaders of the cartels were arrested in different parts of the country.
The syndicates, which comprise Nigerians based in Mubi, Adamawa state; Onitsha, Anambra state, and Lagos state as well as Cameroonians came under NDLEA radar after they were suspected of being major suppliers of drugs to terror groups operating in Nigeria and Cameroon.
Leaders of the syndicates so far arrested include: Ibrahim Bawuro, Najib Ibrahim, Ibrahim Umar, Nelson Udechukwu Anayo, Ezeh Amaechi Martin and Adejumo Elijah Ishola.
Intelligence gathered revealed that some psychoactive substances including tramadol were often sourced by Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib from a notorious drug dealer in Onitsha: Nelson Udechukwu Anayo and thereafter packed and concealed in vehicles in the premises of Ezeh Amaechi Martin, an associate of Udechukwu.
The duo of Ibrahim Bawuro and Ibrahim Najib will thereafter transport the drugs from Onitsha to Yola and subsequently to other parts of the North and Cameroon in specially constructed false compartments of vehicles, which travel from the East to the North at night. On 7th October 2024, Bawuro and Najib were trailed from Onitsha where they had gone to buy another consignment and eventually arrested in Taraba the following day 8th October while a total of 276,500 pills of tramadol were recovered from a Toyota Avensis saloon car marked DKA 57 TT, which they abandoned on the Jalingo-Yola expressway when they noticed NDLEA operatives were on their trail.
Follow up operations were subsequently carried out in Delta and Anambra states where Ezeh Amaechi Martin and Udechukwu Nelson Anayo were arrested by operatives of the NDLEA Directorate of Intelligence, which coordinated the whole effort with their counterparts in Taraba, Adamawa, Delta and Anambra.
Another leader of a different syndicate, Adejumo Elijah Ishola, 37, was arrested by operatives of a special operation unit of the Agency on Tuesday 5th November at Seme border in Lagos on his way from Ghana with 3.3 kilograms of cocaine and 600grams of synthetic cannabis. This followed months of intelligence and surveillance on his cross-border criminal activities.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Apapa seaport Lagos on Wednesday 6th November intercepted Thirty-One Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand (31,750,000) pills of 240mg Voltron, a controlled opioid, packaged and concealed in a container imported from India, as diclofenac sodium 100mg tablets.
The discovery was made during a joint examination of the container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, import shed Ikeja Lagos, NDLEA officers on Tuesday 5th November intercepted a 700grams consignment of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis.
A software engineer, Olu Marshal who showed up to collect the package was promptly arrested and a follow up search of his home in Lekki led to the recovery of some drug paraphernalia, including a cannabis crusher.
Attempt by another suspect, Orji Ogbonna Nnaorji to send 32.50kg bottles of codeine syrup and 5.70kg cannabis to London, UK, concealed in tiger nuts cargo through the export shed of the Lagos airport was frustrated by NDLEA operatives on Friday 8th November.
A follow up operation led to the arrest of Orji at his warehouse in Ajao estate, Lagos.
In Kwara state, not less than 162,800 pills of opioids were seized by NDLEA operatives from four suspects during interdiction operations in parts of the state.
While 112,200 tablets of tramadol were recovered from Wahab Alao Saliu, 18,900 tablets of same opioid were recovered from Dalha Musa both at Eiyenkorin area of Ilorin; 29,000 pills of tramadol, 200 ampoules of diazepam and 99 bottles of codeine syrup seized from Ahmed Isiaka, just as 2,500 tabs of tramadol were seized from Ahmed Garba, both at Bode Saadu in Moro local government area of the state on Friday 8th November.
In Abuja, NDLEA operatives in the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday 7th November intercepted a truck along Abaji- Kwali road with 755.50kg cannabis concealed under empty cartons of noodles.
The truck driver, Lukman Rasheed, 41, claimed that bags of the psychoactive substance were loaded into the trailer in Ogbese, Ondo state after departing Lagos with only empty cartons of noodles.
A suspect, Yusuf Abubakar, 43, was arrested by operatives on Monday 4th November at Ibi, Taraba state while conveying to Kano 361 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 156.95kg in a commercial bus marked WKR 772 XA. Not less than 245 blocks of same substance with a total weight of 121kg were recovered by NDLEA officers on patrol along Wukari – Ibi road on Thursday 7th November.
Two suspects: Hamza Yakubu, 30, and Abdulra’uf Danjuma, 23, were on Wednesday 6th November arrested at Gidan Manjagab area of Jos, Plateau state with 113 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 141kg, while a Chadian, Hassan Muhammad Ali, 31, was nabbed on Tuesday 5th November at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria-Kano road, Kano, with 3,000 pills of tramadol 225mg.
While a suspect Ibrahim Adamu was arrested at Jere area of Kaduna state with 35 sacks of cannabis sativa weighing 338.8 kilograms, NDLEA operatives in Edo state on Friday 8th November recovered 1,078kg cannabis at Okhuokhuo – Isi forest and 228kg of same substance at Sabo- Auchi.
In Ondo state, four suspects: Friday Daniel, Patrick Felix, Samuel Agada and Igwe Chukwuka were arrested at Emure Ile with 672kg cannabis sativa, while 513kg of same substance was seized at Gbodo camp, Ikun Akoko and a total of 4, 908kg cannabis recovered from a suspect Musibau Kosama at Alabi Yellow, Ijoka area of Akure on Wednesday 6th November.
Across the country, NDLEA Commands continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the past week.
Instances include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Park Royal College, Apapa Lagos; Government Secondary School, Atu, Cross River; Ladigbolu Grammar School 2, Oyo, Oyo state; Iman Secondary School, Arkilla, Sokoto; Rosary Girls College, Nise, Anambra; Havilah Gold Secondary School, Odomola, Epe, Lagos state; while the Edo State command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to HRM Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DI, SIU, Apapa, MMIA, FCT, Taraba, Kwara, Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Edo, and Ondo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitization lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Dollar to Naira Exchange Rate Today on the Black Market (Aboki Dollar Rate)
As of Saturday, November 9, 2024, the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar to the Nigerian naira in the Lagos parallel market (often referred to as the black market) shows that the buying rate for a dollar is N1740, while the selling rate stands at N1745, according to sources at Bureau De Change (BDC).
It’s important to note that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not officially recognize the parallel market for foreign exchange transactions. In line with this, the CBN has advised individuals and businesses looking to exchange foreign currencies to approach authorized banks and financial institutions for their Forex needs.
Dollar to Naira Black Market Exchange Rates Today:
Buying Rate: N1740
Selling Rate: N1745
Official Dollar to Naira Exchange Rates (CBN Rates) Today:
Buying Rate: N1664
Selling Rate: N1665
Please keep in mind that the exchange rates listed here are subject to fluctuation and may differ from those in actual transactions, as rates can vary depending on the location and the specific forex market you engage with. Always ensure that you check the current rates with authorized sources before making any exchange
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