Facts About Lightning

Lightning is regarded as the most under-recognized weather hazard, often commanding little attention from the public and the media. Meanwhile, Its more prevalent in tropical regions of the world due to high moisture and rapidly rising warm air.

How do you protect yourself?

• At the first sign of lightning or thunder, seek shelter.
• Good shelters are substantial buildings or fully enclosed metal vehicles.
• We suggest you remain in shelter for 30 minutes after the last observed thunder or lightning.
• Proximity to water (eg. pool, lake or sea) increases the risk of being struck by lightning.

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Infographic: State By State FAAC And IGR For 2017

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS in its latest report published last month has revealed the IGR and FAAC statistics by state for the 2017 fiscal year. IGR statistics shows how states across Nigeria are performing in terms of revenue generated. While the FAAC shows the total amount of money received from the federation account.

 

From the report, Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Delta and Kano states, generated the highest revenue in Nigeria in 2017. Lagos generated a total revenue of N333,967,978,880.44 followed by Rivers and Ogun with N89,484,983,409.10 and N74,835,979,000.51 respectively.

Comparatively, Lagos and Ogun are the only states that has  IGR over FAAC. Other states depend solely on the federal allocation over IGR.

Akwa Ibom,  Rivers, Delta and Lagos state received the highest allocation from the federal government with N143,614,945,782.83, N119,632,192,162.38, N111,203,709,891.98, N89,694,754,919.47 respectively.

Total IGR for the 2017 fiscal year amounted to N931.23bn, which was N100.04bn higher compared to the N831.19bn generated in 2016. This indicates a growth of 12.03% from the previous year.

In all, 31 states recorded growth in IGR in the year under review, while five 5 states (Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Osun and Taraba) recorded a decline at the end of 2017 Fiscal Year.

Political Participation and Role of Citizens

Kehinde Fashua

Political participation is used to describe actions taken by citizens of a country to influence the outcome of political issues via participation in political processes. It provides an opportunity for electorates to influence public decisions and to be a part of the democratic decision making process.

It is noteworthy that the outcome of any political process in a democratic setting is highly dependent on the awareness and positive involvement of the citizenry in civic and political activities.

Political participation in Nigeria is yet to live up to expectation even as political apathy holds sway across the nation. Election statistics over the years has further shown the extent of political apathy in Nigeria. Sadly, the consequence is a continuous upsurge in incompetent political office holders and more opportunity for rigging during election.

The role of the citizens in political participation cannot be overemphasized. For us in Nigeria, it involves a total overhaul of our political philosophy and psychology. Citizens need to know that they are obliged to participate in governance across all levels by voting during elections, joining a political party and encouraging someone to vote.

Other forms of political participation includes the act of attending political rallies, sensitization meeting such as the ‘One Voice Nigeria’ movement or even signing a petition at constituency level both online and offline.

Further alternative kinds of political participation include; protesting, writing letters, blogging about political issues, donating resources, volunteering in any capacity, vying for a political post, organizing and attending town hall meetings with political representatives.

Fortunately, with the 68 political parties in Nigeria according to INEC, the platform for political participation has been made even more possible.

Likewise, the rise in technology and social media can be leveraged as regards contributing, monitoring, reporting, sensitizing and even signing online petitions on issues that have to do with political office holders. The prospect is unlimited.

Conclusively, there is no better time other than now to rewrite our wrongs by reshaping the future of Nigeria even as many things depend on us as the electorates. As crucial as it is, the fundamental role of citizens in politics can be included in our curriculum and lifestyle so as to ensure a political-sustainable development.

Avoid That Traffic Jam With Google Traffic Map

An average Lagosian will always complain about traffic on major highways forgetting that most mega-cities of the world like Lagos are characterized by traffic congestion. The only difference is the complexities or availability of multi-modal transport system.

Meanwhile, Google traffic maps now have a service which is not new anyway to those of us already obsessed with maps and other navigation guides.

On your map, you might have noticed some colored lines. These colored lines represent real time traffic conditions on the road.

 

The Red Line: This dreaded line indicates heavy traffic and such route should be avoided for an alternative route.

The Yellow Line: When you see a yellow line, it means that traffic is moving slowly.

The Green Line: This line is the most suitable for the eyes as it indicate a free flow of traffic. As a result, always watch out for that green line while navigating.

The Grey Line:This is an indication that there is no traffic information available at the time, though very rare to see.

The Red-Black: This line on your map indicates an extremely slow or stopped traffic but at least better than the red line.

So, if you are wondering how the app perfectly predicts traffic situation, it is made possible by triangulating and crowd-sourcing Smartphone users through their location (GPS) data and then transmitting back to server to generate a real time traffic update.

Now you know, so next time you are on the road, probably going home after the day’s work, do not forget to look out for these helpful colored lines.