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During her interview, the media personality talked about her brand and her journey so far.

African Voices is a feature series that airs on CNN and examines Africa’s fastest rising stars who are making an impact in their various industries.

Toke shared a clip of her interview on her Instagram page.

See her post below:

The likes of Waje, Tiwa Savage,  Gbubemi Fregene, Funke Akindele, to name a few, have also been featured on African Voices series.

Channels TV reported that ‘Money Marriage’ is an age-long tradition of the Becheve tribe of Obanliku in Cross River State, as almost all family in the community are involved in it.

The girls are reportedly called ‘Money Woman’ or ‘Money Wife’ and are sometimes sold out even before they were born.

The Money Marriage culture does not in any way favor the money woman or wife. The moment a man shows interest in a girl, her immediate family and other relatives are free to visit the man and collect things from him.

“Anything offered them during their visit is given monetary value and recorded by their in-law (the man who is marrying the girl). If the mother is the greedy type, she’ll often visit her ‘in-law’ to get stuff,” Channels TV reported.

Where the man has made full payment, the girl is given out in marriage.

Aji Patience, a girl whose sister was sold at four years old said, she was given out for N2, 000.

Unfortunately, when the husband dies, his next-of-kin marries the girl and if she dies without giving birth to children, her parents are mandated to bring a replacement.

Victoria Tabang is a victim of this. After the death of her husband, she was expected to remain with his people.

“Even when I went to my people, they drove me away, saying I now belong elsewhere,” she told Channels TV.

Money women or wives are sold for as low as N10,000, few goats and pigs, tubers of yam, depending on the man’s bargain power. They are also not allowed to be educated.

“Money that the man give in my head (sic) was not much. It was N20,000 and one goat,” a money wife said.

Once a girl is sold out for Money Marriage, she is considered dead by her immediate family and warned never to return irrespective of how she is treated by her husband or his relatives.

 

 

Credit: woman.ng, Channels TV

The new President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúde has assumed office and three women were also voted in as vice presidents, and two of them are black (Afro-Cuban).

Cuba is becoming more progressive as the country is making moves toward diversity and away from its former white dominated legacy. The country is getting more black leadership with two Black women vice-presidentsInés María Chapman and Beatriz Jhonson. Both women are engineers, and they, along with the third female Vice President, Gladys Maria Bejerano Portela, will help lead this new historic Cuban government.

These appointments have great historical significance, the importance may now trickle down to the people who need it most – the Afro-Cubans who have struggled since Cuba’s 1990s economic downturn. There are three other Vice Presidents – in total, three VPs are black and three are women, making it the most diverse ruling council in Cuba’s history.

Cuba’s new National Assembly is all 53.2% women, which is a major development.

Alejandro de la Fuente, a professor of Cuban Studies at Harvard University said:

“Even if this was window-dressing, it would mean they feel the need to dress the window a certain colour, and that is something one would not have said 30 years ago.”

 

 

Credit: konbini.com

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raided the four pharmaceutical companies exposed in a documentary – Sweet Sweet Codeine, recently released by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

This was made known by the NAFDAC’s Director General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, BBC reports.

The documentary drew attention to the effects of the drug on youths and how some officials of pharmaceutical companies distribute the drug to dealers on the street.

Adeyeye said:

“Our inspection and enforcement teams are in the premises of the four pharmaceutical companies that were shown in the [BBC] video.

“Our officials are there putting things on hold, and everything is being documented. When completed, we will prepare our report and then we will take appropriate action.

“If products that are fake or substandard are discovered, such products will be seized and destroyed.

“These companies that were caught, from our records, have a limited amount of codeine, but from what the documentary showed there is indication that the production is more than the quantity that was approved. So the question can be asked, was there smuggling involved?”

Following the startling revelation in the documentary, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced a ban on the use of codeine as an active agent in the production of cough syrup.

Emzor pharmaceutical company has since suspended the production of Codeine cough syrup.

One of the company’s officials was also seen in the BBC documentary, selling the cough syrup to undercover journalists.

Emzor on Monday, April 30, 2018, issued a statement saying that it has launched a full-scale internal investigation into the breach of the codeine distribution.

The company also said the official in the video has been dismissed, adding that his conduct is illegal and against Emzor’s policy.

The Ministry of Health said that the decision to ban codeine by the Federal Government is not based on a documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Source: Pulse News

The First Lady’s admonition came after an investigative report by BBC revealed that codeine is being abused by young Nigerians intent on getting high at all cost; with the covert collusion of pharmaceutical companies.

A report presented to the National Assembly in 2017 indicated that 3 million bottles of codeine are consumed daily in Kano and Jigawa.

Codeine is an opiate, classified as a narcotic substance, which is largely used as a pain reliever and cough suppressant.

Even though it is not an illegal drug, codeine, which comes in tablet and syrup form, has been largely abused for years by youths in Nigeria.

Codeine abuse has also found its way into pop culture, with locally based artistes now glamorizing the syrup in energy sapping tunes.

“I have noted with alarm the exponential rise of drug abuse in our country, especially in the North.

“As a parent, I am deeply saddened by this fact, it is important that we interrupt the trend and encourage our children to stay drug free”, Mrs. Buhari said.

First Lady’s pet project

Mrs. Buhari’s pet project, the Future Assured, aims to empower and train young people into becoming better citizens of their country.

The First Lady says her project will come in handy in tackling the codeine pandemic.

“The Future Assured has a nationwide youth training and empowerment program which has constructive engagement as one of its direct goals. We also recently launched a war against substance abuse campaign.

“Simultaneously, the wives of Northern Governors are working tirelessly on the issue. They have recently renovated and commissioned a rehab center in Kogi and Kebbi state, while similar efforts are ongoing in other states.”

Codeine abuse can lead to common side effects such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, and drowsiness. More severe side effects include shallow breathing, low blood pressure, seizures, urination problems, confusion, agitation, and hallucinations.

Further abuse of codeine, such as mixing it with alcohol or other sedatives, can also lead to respiratory depression which can cause an overdose.

Credit: Pulse News

The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) has revised the broadcasting license of a local radio station after it aired a sermon that was perceived as discriminatory against women.

In the offending sermon, aired live on January 29 on the Amazing Grace Christian Radio station, a local pastor, Nicolas Niyibikora said women are “a source of evil” and “against God’s plan”.

(Photo: Cyril Ndegeya/Nation)

The sermon immediately went viral on social media, rightly angering women’s rights activists across the country and beyond. The National Women’s Association and Rwanda Women Journalists’ Association went on to file separate complaints to the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), the media self-regulatory body.

The radio station, Amazing Grace Christian Radio, was initially suspended for 30 days for the sermon before the revocation of their license, reportedly failed to comply with the sanctions imposed on it, which included making an apology to the public by correcting the aired programme and paying a fine of two million Rwandan francs ($2,331, N1,165,500), according to RURA.

Then a letter was sent to the radio demanding an explanation for non-compliance with the sanctions, but the regulators said that the reasons given in their response were found to be unsatisfactory, leading to the revocation of their license. The station were given two days to completely shut down operations.

 

 

 

Source: konbini.com

Music artiste Simi has been decorated with an honor by the US Consul General as one of the Human Rights Ambassadors from Nigeria.

Simi who posted the news on her social media how honored she was to receive the decoration and be able to use her voice as an activist.

She wrote,”A few days ago, I was decorated at the US Consulate, by the US Consul General, as one of the Human Rights Ambassadors from Nigeria, in conjunction with CRALI. It was, and is, an incredible honor to get a platform that enables me to use my voice – to the best of my ability – for this cause. This initiative has also kick-started another – @knowyourrightsng – which I will, at a later time, shed more light on. Thank you. In the meantime, please follow @knowyourrightsNG and we’ll keep you posted.”

 

 

Watch the clip below.

Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh has announced she has been made a brand ambassador for the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP).

In the post on her Instagram page, Tonto thanked the director general of the agency for Barrister Julie Okah-Donli as she shared photos from her courtesy visit.

See her post below.

“Making the World a better place starts with you. If we could all do for one that which we wish we could do for everyone, then the World would surely be be a better place for us all. You don’t need to be super rich to touch lives positively, kind gestures as little as dedicating your time to read storybooks to Children in the Orphanage near you would go a long way to those Kids. Go out there and change one Person’s World.” – Ariyike Akinbobola.

She wrote:

“For years I have battled with very very problematic skin.it shocks me when people see me now and compliment my skin tone.

It took me years of experimenting, dedication and hard work to get to where I am today.

My skin used to be a huge source of worry for me, I drank all the water in the dispenser and exercised everyday and nothing still changed till I started reading up about my skin type.

I found out I had sensitive combination skin with cystic acne.

In my skincare manual I would be giving secrets on how to get rid of cystic acne before they surface .. I’m extremely excited about this new business venture.
I’m turning my obsession for skincare to a business .thank you for your continuous support
MOCHEDDAH GLOW COMING SOON”

 

See her Instagram post below