ELEMENTAL KING

Suddenly, the yellow being disappears

Not with a gradual edging away

But a sharp retreat

Into the white sheets above

Thankful mutters at Mother’s lips

The day will now have less heat

No more sweat adorns her palms and finger tips

As the sun has chosen to take its seat

                 

But Mother’s mutters may

Not last so long today

As white sheets change to grey

‘Its rain’ gleeful children say

Quick words run on Mother’s lips

Saying a plea to the universal elements

To allow her sell her goods

But the skies seem poised to pour

A strong wind heralds the pour

Itself heralded by a cool breeze

It looks like the skies have waged an elemental war

And this is felt even by the swaying trees

Thunder bolts now clap

Striking quickly, no moments’ gap

The wind now takes a nap

On thunders’ lap

Mother gathers her clothing

Her goods

And her children

Under the rust zinc sheets

Yet nature’s fury is not kept

Nor are the elements appeased

Soon the wind that acted as though she had slept

Is up to see all work has ceased

As if in joy she moves with pride

Tossing here and there, pushing aside

Watching mothers and children run inside

As this wind now doth easily glide

Fear is now on Mother’s lips

When shall I get home tonight?

Will I sell all these many goods?

Or will the day be yet waste

Finally the elemental King arrives

Not with the usual August patter

But with the heaviest of its kind it thrives

As if to prove it is liquid matter

Fast flowing, pouring relentlessly

Knocking at trees, houses, people- aimlessly

Wetting office men carelessly

Raining ceaselessly

Under the zinc sheets the rain finds Mother

And child

And goods

Hurling itself at them

Mother is now mad, yet pleading

You’ve done enough

And the stubborn rain seems to be ceasing

Yet suddenly decides to act tough

Mother moves with children again

From rust sheets to roof of cane

People are packed there; no space to gain

But Mother must get her children out of the rain

Now Mother pleads to the yellow being

Please return with your scorching pain

At least I could sell my goods

And get home tonight

Under the cane shelter

Two women push for space

One at the edge of her tether

Gives the other a slap in the face

Yet again, Mother pleads for Sunlight

As she moves children from the fight

And she sees the day is already night

This has become her plight

As if aware of Mother’s plea

To its elemental rival

The stubborn rain hits fast and hard

Then reduces to a patter so slowly

Mother’s only chance

She grabs it as soon

Pulling the children with both hands

To brave the flood with only the light of moon

And now mother and children are gone

From the rain and from the sun

And they now run

Amidst pattering, they move as one

WHY SO MUCH BUZZ? by Adebayo Caleb

She scanned the surrounding swiftly and quickly adjusted to her new surrounding. As usual, she made her traditional buzzing noise just as her eyes locked on a possible prey. Dinner at last! Immediately, she aimed directly for her unsuspecting victim. In a few seconds, she was settled down to a dinner of fresh human blood. It was only a few seconds later after she had settled down to dine that she saw five heavy fingers descending on the spot where she was. Uh-oh! The victim had just felt her presence. Old Musky Toes had to wrap up dinner halfway and fly quickly away.

The short tale above is only a vivid demonstration of what the mosquito does. Reputed to be one of Africa’s most dreaded insect, the mosquito has earned its reputation from the over thirty million years to as far as the Jurassic era. It has existed on earth and if any awards are to be given for disease-causing parasites, the mosquito will get a Nobel Prize. It has been reported by the World health Organisation (WHO) that mosquito resistance has been reported in sixty four countries, while mosquito borne diseases kill more than six hundred and fifty thousand a year. This is not inconsistent with the fact that there are over three thousand five hundred different species of mosquitoes. Of all these species, each group may operate in its own way. For instance, some species attack people in houses while other species prefer to attack people outdoors or in forests.

However, it is surprising that with how mosquitoes have affected the life of most of Africa, a lot of people don’t know a lot about them. It is worthy of note that the male mosquito has a proboscis but does not have ragged edges for biting, they are also much smaller than the female, whereas the proboscis of the female are custom-made to bite and they also do make the annoying buzzing sound that puts one on red alert. The blood meal they obtain from humans is what enables them to lay eggs. It doesn’t take much to imagine why they are more in Africa since they need warmth and humidity to thrive.

Sometimes, you may also feel like a mosquito goes out of its way to bite you. This may be because they are more attracted to women than men; even weirder is the fact that, if given a choice, mosquitoes would rather drink blood from a blonde. A moving target also almost always attracts a mosquito than a stationary one because it’s a good bet that anything moving is alive and has a lot of blood. A person in dark clothing is also a very likely aim for a mosquito. The mosquito does it by its visual sensors

Mosquitoes can also sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to a hundred feet away and these gases are given off by human beings during their breathing process. Certain chemical in sweat also tend to attract mosquitoes, so if you keep wondering how a mosquito gets to know you are around, it’s quite obvious now. And as a result, people who sweat more tend to get more mosquitoes running around them.

These insects also possess heat sensors so they can locate human beings once they move close enough. The combinations of these sensors almost make the mosquito seem like a military aircraft rather than an insect

It is also quite interesting that when female mosquitoes drink blood, they purify the blood in their systems and leave a small puddle of urine on their victim’s skin. That is why when you first get bitten, you may notice a wet spot surrounding the bite.

Aside from malaria, the mosquito saliva released on the skin during a bite can negatively affect blood clothing, vascular constriction and immunity. It also creates inflation, hence the inflated part of the skin after a bite.

Even if eradicating this menace from our planet may be quite difficult, we may use as many preventive measures as possible. Some of the methods by which mosquitoes can be controlled include using of mosquito repellent lotion and mosquito spray. Mosquito nets can also be used. Again, wearing long sleeves and pants may help to reduce the infection by mosquitoes. Furthermore, putting on nightgowns or light-coloured clothes at night will aid in preventing the dreaded mosquito bite. DEET is also a very efficient mosquito repellent which one may use, because it targets and confuses the mosquito’s sense of smell, making the insect’s nerve cells to send a completely different message to the brain, hence preventing it from locating a person.

Indeed so much buzz is made about this deadly insect, and frankly enough, the reasons are not far-fetched, but with sheer determination, we can prevent it from infecting us.

FOR KUDIRAT ABIOLA

In an age where lawlessness prevailed

Where the common man was the criminal

Where guns ruled and blood trailed

In this time, a woman stood regal

                                  

A fighter for  democratic rule

A stickler for the rights of humanity

Like a warrior in the battlefield

The distressed cries of a distressed age

Kept her resolve

Persistent, courageous

Trudging the high path

Of the women folk

When the armory and guns spoke

And no one dared speak in return

When freedom was known to none

And bullets were courage’s cloak

There she stood

Calling for democracy

Refusing victimisation

Providing refuge

Staying strong

Yet she stood

A leader

A veteran

Of the women folk

Yet the khakis could not still

Abandon this heinous ill  will

And allow a free community

With rights for all humanity

So on she fought

Not like the Khakis

Not with bullets

Nor armory

Not with torture

Not with killings

But with her voice

A voice

A voice that seemed to loud for them

Of the women folk

A voice that was silenced

By the bullet

A woman’s voice

Yet lives on still

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CAMPUS by Adebayo Caleb

‘Let’s sex chat’ those were the words the fifteen year old law undergraduate typed into the blackberry bold 5 device she held in her hand on that fateful night.

‘Okay. Send me your nude pics’ the guy on the other end of the line, probably a thousand miles away, replied.

‘Okay’, she typed in and that spelled Rita’s doom.

This is only one of the instances of the many problems caused by social networks on our campuses today. In an age driven ultimately by technology and social media, the youth and teenage population are not left out in the frenzy. In fact, it seems they are at the crux of it all.

Youth are affected the most by social networks, whether positively or negatively, and yet the older population seems to have discovered this only a moment too late.

The campus is another world of its own; a world where the student is left on his or her own with practically no restraint whatsoever, hence he or she is free to engage in whatsoever he or she chooses since one is expected to act maturely once on campus. This freedom has overtime resulted in almost 30 percent of campus girls dropping out of school due to unwanted pregnancies, drug use, rape or some sexually transmitted disease and an almost equal percentage of boys being rusticated for cultism, armed robbery and the likes and some even losing their lives to these vices.

The easy access to internet facilities nowadays from mobile phones to iphones, to e-readers and modem devices to wireless devices have made the World Wide Web one very accessible world of its own.  The unending debate about whether the internet is a blessing or a curse has been on for a long time now, with different people giving different opinion. Certainly, the internet is a blessing of this technology age that has come to stay, however the use of it has definitely been abused.

The social media was originally intended to enable proper interaction between the global community, making the world a smaller place than it originally is. However, the social media has been used to perpetrate a lot of crime from advanced fee fraud to hacking of various sites. Also, there has been the promotion of sex crimes as well as sexual perversions on the net. The rise of sex chatting and sex chat rooms as well as pornography and erotic sites have prevailed over the net, where young campus students are drawn to various sexual perversions, spending a major chunk of their time on the internet. The recent trend of campus students uploading nude videos and nude pictures on youtube, facebook and twitter for no reason at all. Others are drawn into the snare of transferring their nude pictures unsuspectingly to boys who proceed to expose them on the social media.

The morality rate of the world is falling at a very fast pace, if there is any morality left at all. As a result, the youth population is drawn easily into the morality problem since the average youth seeks excitement and anything dangerous seems exciting to the youth or the campus student.

Is there a solution to this problem the social media has created for the society, where young adults are growing up to be perverted and crime-stricken adults? The solution lies in the hands of the youth who are still with some morals in them. The solution lies with the social media itself, since the youths are so stuck on it, it might as well be a means to save them. The news media should also be on the constant watch, a watchdog always cautioning the youths of our society. I understand that the current human rights cry and the mantra ‘we have the right to our choices’ has changed a lot, but we can still keep our heads from swirling even in the widening gyre, while things are falling apart, at least we could still honour our African heritage.