No thanks to the excruciating economic conditions Nigerians are facing, Nigerians are going back to the old ways of brushing their teeth.

Gone are the days when Nigerians chose from a large array of brands and qualities of toothpaste.

Even the least of the toothpastes cost an arm these days, and only the super-rich can afford them.

But for an average family, who depends on God’s mercies for a moderate one or two meals, out of the three required in a day, spending N5,000 on toothpaste that may not last two weeks for an average family of seven, is a misplaced priority.

So, it is no wonder that chewing sticks are back to the stable of family needs.

Originally, chewing stick was a valued hygiene therapy mostly for the teeth, due to their high medicinal contents.

Chewing sticks are ordinarily from plants with rich medicinal values, and families of old insisted members compulsorily use them every morning.

However, with the spread of civilisation, toothpaste pushed the habit into oblivion.

But now, the harsh economy has resuscitated the practice. According to Vincent Osamese, a photographer, he reintroduced the use of chewing sticks in his house when he spent N4,000 on toothpaste in three weeks.

“Few months ago, I introduced the use of chewing stick in my house when I spent N4,000 for toothpaste in three weeks.

“My children use toothpaste like water.

“My wife was reluctant at first saying she would do the buying.

“On trying it for a month, she was shouting and lamenting on the amount she has spent on toothpaste in a month.

“One morning she presented a chewing stick to me. I laughed and was glad I left her to experience what it takes to buy toothpaste at an expensive price in a month.

“Now we are using the chewing stick happily with no fuss.”

Miss Adunni Hungbo, a trader, said: “My toothpaste finished few weeks ago.

“Upon getting to a shop, I was told the brand of toothpaste I use is now N2,000.
“I felt like fainting. Something I got last month for N1,500.

“I was so angry and couldn’t substitute for other brands because I have a tooth problem.I left the shop.

“As I was heading home, I saw a woman selling herbs and it dawned on me that with just N100 I can get a chewing stick that can replace the toothpaste.

“That was how I ended up using chewing sticks till date.

“I know you would say how can a big girl like me use chewing stick.

“I earn N40,000 monthly and live alone.

“I have rent and bills to pay yearly.

“In such a situation,I needed to cut costs.

“At all at all is bad. At least I can wash my teeth.

“If I don’t tell you it is chewing stick I used you won’t know.”

Fehintola Ademide, a plumber said: “How much does one make that he will spend all his earnings on toothpaste.

“The government is not concerned about whether the policies they are making are affecting us negatively.
“They are just concerned with raising revenues wherever they can.

“See the recent increase in fuel price, when you get to the market the price of everything has increased.
“There is nothing that the price has not risen.

“Toothpaste in question has also reduced in quantity and quality.

“It doesn’t last up to a week before it gets finished in my house.

“My wife had to introduce me to chewing stick recently which I embraced happily because that will cut the cost of buying toothpaste almost every week.

“She went further to buy this powder cup paste for the children because they are still kids and their gums can’t handle chewing sticks.

“Also, you know kids like licking toothpaste so this particular one they can’t lick.
“At least these alternatives have helped cut costs.

“No big man anywhere now. We are all managing seriously.”

Maureen Agu, a trader, said she has been using chewing stick for the past three months and introduced her two adolescents to using it.

“Myself and my two grown children now use chewing stick.

“The remaining two I bought powder paste for them because they are young.

“The powder paste is N500 and I make sure their elder sister or I myself puts it on their toothbrush.

“How much do I make? I am the only family they have and I have to cut costs in everything I do.
“It hasn’t been easy though but I thank God.

“Convincing my grown children to use chewing sticks wasn’t easy at all because this generation of children are just looking for an easy life.

“When they saw most of our neighbours using chewing sticks, they realized that they were not the only ones in such a predicament.

“Everyone is going for what they can afford.”

 

Vanguard

The United Kingdom has deported 44 Nigerian and Ghanaian asylum seekers.

According to UK Guardian, the number is the highest ever in a single flight.

The move comes barely 48 hours after Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, agreed a deal to deport migrants arriving in the Chagos Islands in small boats to St Helena, a British island territory more than 5,000 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Home Office told the UK Guardian on Friday that the deportations were part of a “major surge” in immigration enforcement and returns.

Since Starmer came to power in July, 3,600 people have been returned to various countries, including about 200 to Brazil and 46 to Vietnam and Timor-Leste.

There are also regular deportation flights to Albania, Lithuania and Romania.

However, deportation flights to Nigeria and Ghana are relatively rare, with just four recorded since 2020.

The number rose in June after some 13 Nigerians were flown to Lagos from the UK.

One of the Nigerian deportees in the latest removal said he was trafficked.

“I told the Home Office I was a victim of trafficking. They rejected my claim,” he told the Guardian.

Another said he had been in the UK for 15 years as an asylum seeker and had no criminal record but the Home Office refused his claim.

In August, Nigeria reportedly signed a deportation agreement with the UK, which would see the arrival of illegal immigrants in the country.

The partnership came into effect after an asylum deal with Rwanda turned sour.

 

The Cable

No fewer than four vessels carrying imported Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, arrived at seaports situated along the nation’s borders between Friday, October 18, and Sunday, October 20.

According to a document obtained from the Nigerian Port Authority on Sunday, about 123.4 million litres of PMS were berthed at two seaports to improve fuel supply nationwide.

The latest development confirms an exclusive report by The PUNCH, which disclosed that oil dealers intend to import the commodity to supplement the supply from the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

The dealers had stated that the supply from the Lekki-based plant was currently insufficient to meet domestic demand.

They had alleged that the plant was producing about 10 million litres of petrol daily, as against the 25 million litres that it earlier promised to produce.

In September, dealers imported about 141 million litres of PMS following a hike in the pump prices of petrol produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

They said the fair market price following the full deregulation of the downstream oil sector by the government allowed room for PMS imports.

An analysis of the document showed that the commodities landed at the Apapa port in Lagos and the Calabar port in Cross River State.

Our correspondent, however, could not confirm if any of the vessels belonged to the NNPCL or only oil marketers.

The first shipment carrying 35,000 metric tonnes of PMS allocated to the West African Port Services berthed at terminal ASPM jetty on Friday, October 18, at 10.13 am.

This was followed by 37,000 metric tonnes of fuel assigned to Intership at 3.37 pm. It also berthed at terminal ASPM jetty.

As of 3:59 pm of the same day, another vessel carrying 10,000 metric tonnes of fuel berthed. It was assigned to Peak Shipping as its agent.

At the Calabar port, a vessel carrying 10,000 metric tonnes of fuel arrived at the Eco marine terminal on Sunday at 8:02 am.

This means the four vessels brought in 92,000 metric tonnes.

Going by the conversion rate of 1,341 litres to one metric tonne, it, therefore, implies that the marketers brought in about 123.4 million litres of petrol.

When contacted in an earlier interview, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, George Ene-Ita, said marketers with approved import licenses were free to import PMS.

He, however, stressed that the products must be subjected to three major tests by the agency.

“The products must be subjected to our testing protocols at the ports. The products must conform to stipulated standards before we authorise them to offload to their terminals.

“Also, before the smaller vessels bring it further inland to Nigeria, our people will fly to the place to see the product and carry out some tests to ensure the right specification is upheld.

“Tests are also done at the products’ origins. And when the products come in before they are released to the market, further tests would be conducted to ensure that they meet the specifications,” he stated.

 

Punch

Lebanese flee as blasts hit Beirut, Israel warns of strikes on Hezbollah finance arm

Hundreds of Beirut residents fled their homes late on Sunday with multiple explosions heard across the Lebanese capital, as Israel prepared to attack sites linked to the financial operations of Lebanon's Hezbollah group and told people to leave those areas immediately.

Reuters witnesses saw dense plumes of black smoke billowing in the air after at least 10 blasts. Eyewitnesses, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a building located in the Chiyah neighbourhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut was reduced to rubble and the few people in the area had fled ahead of the explosion, resulting in no casualties.

There was no immediate information on what caused the blasts, or further details of any casualties. Panicked crowds clogged the streets and caused traffic jams in some parts of Beirut as they tried to get to neighbourhoods thought to be safer, witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokesperson said earlier in a statement posted on social media platform X that it "will begin attacking infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association - get away from it immediately."

Al-Qard al-Hassan - which the U.S. has said is used by Iran-backed Hezbollah to manage its finances - has more than 30 branches across Lebanon including 15 in densely populated parts of central Beirut and its suburbs.

There was no immediate statement from the organisation, Hezbollah or the Lebanese government.

Asked by journalists whether the branches could be considered military targets, a senior Israeli intelligence official said: "The purpose of this strike is to target the ability of Hezbollah economic function both during the war but also afterwards to rebuild and to rearm ...on the day after."

Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the group began launching rockets in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

At the start of October, Israel launched a ground assault inside Lebanon in an attempt to stabilise the border region for its citizens who had fled rocket attacks in northern Israel.

ESCALATED ATTACKS

Israel has intensified its military campaigns both in Gaza and Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar raised hopes of an opening for ceasefire negotiations to end more than a year of conflict.

With U.S. elections approaching, officials, diplomats and other sources in the region say Israel is seeking through military operations to try to shield its borders and ensure its rivals cannot regroup.

Israel is also preparing to retaliate for an Iranian missile barrage earlier this month, though Washington has pressed it not to strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.

Earlier on Sunday Israel said it hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquartersand an underground weapons workshop in Beirut.

Fighter jets killed three Hezbollah commanders, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah made no immediate comment on those strikes, but said it had fired missiles at Israeli forces in Lebanon and at a base in northern Israel.

A 41-year-old Israeli colonel was killed, and another officer was wounded in combat in northern Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli military said. Israel's Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan reported an explosive device had gone off under a tank.

Officials said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli attack on the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya that left 87 people dead or missing on Saturday, according to the health ministry - one of the highest death tolls for months from a single attack.

The strike came two weeks into a major assault around Jabalia, just south of Beit Lahiya, where Israel says its troops have been trying to root out remaining Hamas fighters.

Israel said the strike hit a Hamas target, questioning an earlier death toll of 73 released by the Hamas media office.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the war in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military response in Gaza has left more than 42,500 people dead and has made most of Gaza's 2.3 million people homeless, Palestinian officials say.

Over the last year, Lebanese officials estimate that more than 2,400 people have been killed and more than 1.2 million people displaced in Lebanon. Fifty-nine people have been killed in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights over the same period, say Israeli authorities.

 

Reuters

The judicial career of Francis Chukwuma Abosi was supposed to last only seven years. In the event, he did 12 and may well have reached 20 years if events had not intervened. In his 12th year as a judge in April 2020, while serving as the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal of Imo State in South-East Nigeria, the National Judicial Council (NJC) mercifully ended it all.

When he attended the Nigerian Law School, as all Nigerian lawyers must, Francis Abosi deposed that he was born in November 1950. On his appointment as a judge in 2008, therefore, Francis Abosi was 58. At the time, the retirement age of all judges was 65. This meant he would have been due to retire in 2015.

In 2008 also, a judge could only retire on their terminal salary as pension if they had served for at least 15 years. In the case of Francis Abosi, he well knew that based on his date of birth, he was eight years short of what he needed to be eligible to retire on his terminal salary as his judicial pension.

The answer to this problem was rather straightforward – Francis Abosi edited his birth year from 1950 to 1958. This act added eight years to the seven that he would have served, bringing his notional judicial tenure to 15 years, at which point he would have been entitled to his terminal salary as his judicial pension.

What Abosi could not do, however, was alter the filings he had done prior to becoming a judge, especially those he made upon matriculation as an undergraduate and also on admission to the Nigerian Law School. Upon being appointed to act as the President of the Customary Court of Appeal, they caught up with him. In April 2020, the NJC found him guilty of  “the falsification of his date of birth from 1950 to 1958. Findings showed that he was supposed to have retired in November 2015 when he clocked the mandatory retirement age of Sixty-five (65) years.”

Abosi’s feat of genealogical management had far reaching consequences. He became President of the Customary Court of Appeal of Imo State nearly three years after he should have retired. That means he took someone else’s job unlawfully. It could have been worse. Had the NJC not stopped him, Abosi would have been in position in 2023 when the age of retirement changed from 65 to 70, meaning that he would have been on the job until 2028 when biologically he would have been 78. That would have given him 15 years of judicial service beyond his due retirement age.

Abosi was not alone in the business of injudicious emendation. One of his peers in the 2008 cohort of appointments to the judiciary in Imo State was Theresa Eberechukwu Chikeka. A graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Chikeka became a lawyer in 1982 and did her National Youth Service Corps at the Borno State Ministry of Justice, who employed her thereafter as State Counsel. There she worked for the first ten years of her professional career before transferring her service to Imo State in 1993.

Up to this point, Chikeka’s records indicate that she was born on 27 October, 1956. With this date of birth, she would have attained retirement at 65 in 2021, two years short of the 15 years of service which would have entitled her to retire on her terminal judicial salary. Borrowing a leaf from Abosi’s book of elastic genealogy, it seems, Chikeka also adapted her age sometime in 2006, changing her birth year from 1956 to 1958 and making her eligible to retire in October 2023 instead of 2021.

Indeed, according to records in the possession of the Imo State Judicial Service Commission, which has looked into the issue, the affidavit deposed to by Chikeka’s mother in support of her new birth year claimed that she was born in 1958, without providing the day or month on which she was extruded from the womb.

On 28 June 2022, the Imo State House of Assembly (IMSHA) confirmedChikeka as chief judge. This was more than eight months after she should have retired as a judge. In other words, the House of Assembly confirmed as chief judge a person who was – as a matter of law – not a judge on the date that they did so.

In 2023, when the age of retirement of judges of the high court was increased to 70 from 65, Chikeka received another five years of judicial life as chief judge when, in fact, she should have been in retirement two years earlier in 2021.

These facts are not seriously in dispute.

On 14 June 2024, one Ndubuisi Onyemaechi, on behalf of a group called the Civil Society Engagement Platform (CSEP), filed a petition with the Imo State House of Assembly in Owerri alleging that the Chief Judge had unlawfully edited her age. This allegation goes to the heart of Rule 1(3) of the Judicial Code of Conduct in Nigeria which stipulates that “a judicial officer should respect and comply with the laws of the land and should conduct himself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary.”

The IMSHA referred this to its judiciary committee, which began investigations the following month. They invited Chikeka to attend but she declined. In a letter to the House dated 12 July 2024, she claimed that “the provisions of the guidelines of my office…. do not permit me to appear before any Investigation Panel (sic) other than a panel set up by the National Judicial Council.”

On 17 July, the Judiciary Committee reported to the IMSHA in plenum which voted through a resolution calling for the removal of Chikeka as chief judge for falsifying her age. Moments after this vote, on the same day, the chief judge served the House with an ex-parte order of the Federal High Court in Owerri restraining the House from taking the vote that it had already concluded.

Matters have since then relocated to the NJC, which now has cognisance of the allegations against Chikeka. Having previously told the IMSHA that she cannot answer to any panel except one constituted by the NJC, Chikeka now tells the NJC that she cannot answer to their panel because of an interim order of the Federal High Court, which has lapsed. On this artifice, she presently claims to function in an office for which she was ineligible to begin with.

In the last week, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, voiced concerns about the credibility of the judicial branch that she leads, appearing rather incredulously to suggest that it is a function of how many judgments and rulings judges produce.

The CJN must realise that no one will take her seriously if she continues to prove unwilling and unable to act swiftly to get rid of the person who now desecrates the office first occupied in 1976 by Akunne Chukwudifu Oputa.

The least anyone can ask of those who hold leadership positions in the judiciary is that they are fit in law to serve as judges. Chikeka is not. She ceased to be a judge in October 2021. Allowing her to hang on as Chief Judge of Imo State today is egregiously unlawful. The NJC owes Francis Abosi an apology and a recall if Madam CJN continues to prove unwilling and unable to get rid of Chikeka.

Let her go!

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Disruptive businesses change the world by inventing game-changing products and services that transform how we live, work and connect with each other. So, it’s no surprise that the most successful business disruptors – Amazon, Apple and Google among them – are household names and some of the most valuable companies on Earth.

For my book, The Disruptors: How 15 Successful Businesses Defied the Norm, I studied 15 other disruptive and groundbreaking businesses of our time, from film company A24 through to social media platform TikTok. They all had valuable lessons to teach leaders looking to disrupt their own marketplace. Here are four of those lessons:

1. Fearlessly tackle big problems

Disruptors aren’t afraid of challenges. In fact, they positively welcome them. That’s why many disruptive businesses are wrestling with some of society’s biggest problems, including climate change. A good example is U.K.-based Octopus Energy, which has scaled at speed by delivering cheaper, greener energy to customers around the world.

Another disruptor that is helping to mitigate climate change is electric car maker Tesla. Tesla has helped to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy by building fast, attractive and high-performance electric cars. Nearly half of all battery-powered vehicles sold in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2024 were manufactured by Tesla.

2. Make life easier for other people

German meal kit provider HelloFresh has built its brand on taking the pain out of mealtimes. In fact, it makes dinnertime super easy for busy people by sending them all the fresh and pre-measured ingredients they need to whip up a tasty and nutritious meal.

HelloFresh doesn’t just offer its customers convenience, however. It offers them customization as well. Thanks to the simple online ordering system, customers can choose what goes in their food box and when they will receive it, while the available recipes cater to a wide range of diets, from vegetarian through to high protein. By offering a tailored service, HelloFresh has established itself as the world’s most popular meal kit.

3. Execute the concept better than anyone else

Home-sharing platform Airbnb was not the first website in the US to offer short-term property rentals. Yet it overtook competitors by developing a better platform and a more distinctive brand. In particular, Airbnb prioritized the creation of a user-friendly online experience, and it applied sophisticated algorithms to help guests locate their ideal accommodation. It also grounded its brand in the concept of community: a community of like-minded hosts and travelers all around the world.

Another effective executor is TikTok. Founded in China in 2016, the entertainment app was a comparatively late arrival to the social media market. Nevertheless, its short-form video content was so wildly popular that the app boasted 100 million users within a year of its launch. Before long, TikTok was a global phenomenon and today it boasts more than one billion monthly active users. TikTok’s success can be attributed to its addictive and captivating content – which is created by its users – and its highly effective recommendation engine. This recommendation engine learns users’ interests from their viewing habits and makes compelling, personalized recommendations that keep them hooked.

4. Be a force for good

Deciem, the Toronto-based umbrella company behind beauty brands The Ordinary and NIOD, aims to be a force for good within the beauty industry. From the outset, it positioned itself as an incubator of innovative and effective beauty brands that deliver results to consumers – without necessarily bearing a high price tag.

In addition, Deciem is transparent about its product formulations, ingredients and pricing. It wants to educate people so that they understand exactly what they are putting on their skin and whether they are overpaying for products that just feature generic ingredients. “We don’t promise what isn’t there,” is the verdict of Deciem CEO Nicola Kilner.

 

Forbes