Author: tdpel

Long gasoline lines that have recently appeared in Lagos, Abuja, and other regions of the country have been blamed on the distribution of contaminated products that have since been removed from the market, according to petroleum marketers.

The queues may persist due to the ripple effect of the initial distribution of the product, according to Chinedu Okoronkwo, president of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), who revealed this Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily.

“Off-spec petroleum was brought and people began to see some of the damages and the relevant authorities have come out plainly to explain what happened.

“In the system, any destruction of maybe two or three days can escalate the issue for up to one week.

I can tell you that the product has been removed from the market but the ripples caused are still there.

I believe before the end of this week, everything should normalise,” the IPMAN boss said.

He stressed that retailers have removed the contaminated petrol and the new products will soon be in full circulation.

“The new products are coming, you can see that some stations have started selling but the problem caused is humongous, that is why we are suffering the effect,” Okonronkwo added.

Also on the programme, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry said the effect of the adulterated fuel in circulation was mostly felt by the retailers.

“It’s quite a big problem. The retail outlets felt it the most.

It’s not something that we know before, we got to know about it after the fault,” Gillis-Harry said.

He explained that the product when tested showed it is petrol but when exposed, it started having difficulties and it led to a public outcry.

He, however, said efforts are ongoing and the retailers are working with the authorities to ensure that the compromised product is no longer in circulation.

Following the resurgence of fuel queues in some parts of the country, the Federal Government on Tuesday announced that it has identified and subsequently dealt with the cause.

The CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, Farouk Ahmed, said methanol quantity above Nigeria’s specification was discovered in a supply chain, which has since been isolated.

Ahmed said while the quality control agencies of the government have swung into action, NNPC Limited and oil marketers have been directed to ensure a robust supply of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, some parts of the country have continued to witness heavy traffic as motorists jostle for fuel in long queues.

The House of Representatives, alarmed by reports of ongoing ritual killings around the country, asked the federal government to declare a national emergency on the social vice Wednesday.

It also requested Usman Baba Alkali, the Inspector-General of Police, to take immediate steps to boost surveillance and intelligence collection in order to find, apprehend, and prosecute the killers.

The parliament also called on the National Orientation Agency, NOA, parents, heads of schools, religious leaders and the media to undertake a campaign to change the negative narrative bedeviling the society.

The resolutions of the House came after it considered a motion, entitled: “Need to Curb the Rising Trend of Ritual Killings in Nigeria,” presented at plenary by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, under matters of urgent public importance.

Presenting the motion, Okechukwu noted that the incidents of ritual killings had assumed an alarming rate in Nigeria in recent times.

Lithuanian beef imports were suspended on Wednesday, according to China’s General Administration of Customs, which did not give a rationale for the decision.

Meat imports are normally halted owing to illness outbreaks, according to the news agency, however Lithuania has not reported any to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Later, Lithuania’s cattle, dairy goods, and beer were legally barred from entering China by the General Administration of Customs.

“Yesterday [Wednesday], we received a note on the suspension of exports from Lithuania to China,” Rosvaldas Gorbačiovas, spokesman for the Lithuania’s State Food and Veterinary Service, told BNS on Thursday.

Mantas Staškevičius, head of the service, says it is the first time such a note came from Beijing, even though it has been blocking Lithuanian products for several months now.

In his words, China cited a lack of documentation as the reason for suspending imports from Lithuania.

“It’s very strange as we have provided and continue to provide all information they ask, just the way we work with non-EU countries.

We have not received any note on any lack of documents or information from this country before,” he told BNS.

“Representatives of China’s institutions carried out a remote audit on both beef and fish products in Lithuania in 2020.

We were assessed fairly well, and all information was provided,” he added.

The joint exercises are not unusual, but the latest drills have been dubbed by NATO as Russia’s largest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine situation are still underway.

On Thursday, Russian and Belarusian forces will begin a 10-day large-scale military drill in Belarus.

The drills came amid escalating concerns over Russia’s force buildup near its Ukrainian border.

The “Allied Resolve drills” are Russia’s largest deployment to ex-Soviet Belarus since the Cold War, according to NATO.

The joint exercises are not unusual, but the latest drills have been dubbed by NATO as Russia’s largest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine situation are still underway.

A 10-day large-scale military exercise between Russian and Belarusian forces has begun.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg estimated the number of troops as being around 30,000.

Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, told DW the buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine “is the largest such buildup we have seen in Europe for decades.”

It is unclear whether nuclear weapons would be part of the drills.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, shortly before the military exercise started medium-range strategic bombers were on patrol over Belarus.

Wolfgang Richter, a military expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), told DW there was nothing unusual in such patrol flights: “the US does this as well, these are political signals.”

He added that such flights are normally carried out without the involvement of nuclear weapons.

“Iskander-M” rockets, which NATO says were brought to Belarus, can also be equipped with nuclear weapons.

Richter pointed out that in Russia these weapons have so far been equipped with conventional weapons.

The Federal Government has again promised to address the threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to prevent it from going on strike.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige made the promise in an interview with Punch on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, in Abuja.

Lately, members of the union have been threatening to embark on an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honor some of the agreements it signed with them.

Reacting to ASUU’s threats, Ngige said President Muhammadu Buhari has asked him and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to step in and settle the union’s grievances.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige made the promise in an interview with Punch on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, in Abuja.

Lately, members of the union have been threatening to embark on an indefinite strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honor some of the agreements it signed with them.

Reacting to ASUU’s threats, Ngige said President Muhammadu Buhari has asked him and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to step in and settle the union’s grievances.

Recall that in 2020, Nigerian Universities were shut down for nine months and were not reopened until ASUU suspended its industrial action in December of that year.

In 2021, the union threatened to go on an indefinite strike again but suspended the move following the payment of N22.1bn earned allowances and the release of N30bn revitalisation fund to the universities.

The post FG Promises to Look Into ASUU’s Grievances appeared first on Lagos Television. Lagos News. Politics. Entertainment. Events..

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge enters a new era next month when the Middle East’s most established cross-country rally takes place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region.

Just four months after completing its 30^th anniversary edition, the event returns to form the second round of the new World Rally-Raid World Championship from 5-10 March, with all indications pointing to a bumper international entry.

Providing a formidable test of nerve and concentration for competitors, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was founded in 1991 by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the new FIA President.

For the first time this year, FIA and FIM cross-country rallying events are unified within a single world championship, as the two motor sport world governing bodies look to the future.

New FIA technical regulations, for instance, see the arrival of rally cars designed to significantly reduce environmental impact, and there’s a focus on consistency in the way the five championship events are run to benefit competitors on four and two wheels from around the world.

The bottom line is that cross-country rallying is at another level, with the world’s best drivers and riders, teams and manufacturers, coming together for an elite series of events and the global spotlight now falling on Abu Dhabi.

“This would not have been possible without the enormous support we have received from the UAE authorities, and we would like to thank HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his consistent backing and encouragement,” said Khalid Bin Sulayem, the EMSO’s newly-elected President.

“We have thirty years of history and achievements to look back on, but our priority is to help give cross country rallying a bright, long-term future.”

The EMSO sees the appointment of Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O,) as promoter of the new world championship as a powerful move towards bigger and better entry levels in Abu Dhabi and across the championship.

The EMSO has a close working relationship with A.S.O. which designs and organises top international sporting events from the Tour De France to the Dakar Rally, and was appointed two years ago as official TV production company for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

In last month’s Dakar, opening round of the championship, Prodrive Hunters running on sustainable fuel took second and fourth places while cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 80%.

The route ahead is clear for car and bike makers, and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is an ideal test ground for new technology, and an important step to determine the first World Rally-Raid champions.

The event is once again based at the UAE capital’s F1 venue, Yas Marina Circuit, where the service park opens from 4^th March prior to the start taking place at 7pm the following day.

On 6^th March, the rally heads out from Abu Dhabi across the Al Dhafra region’s spectacular desert landscape, with five stages of 264km, 318km, 270km, 257km and 217km added to road sections of 519km for an overall length of 1,917km.

A global analysis has found that kids whose schools closed to stop the spread of various waves of the coronavirus lost educational progress and are at increased risk of dropping out of school. As a result, the study says, they will earn less money from work over their lifetimes than they would have if schools had remained open.

Educational researchers like me know these students will feel the effects of pandemic-related school closures for many years to come. Here are four other ways the closings have affected students’ well-being for the long term.

1. Academic progress

At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, most students were about four to five months behind where they should have been in math and reading, according to a July 2021 report by McKinsey and Co., a global management consulting firm.

When the researchers looked at the data from fall 2021, though, they found students attending majority-white schools are catching up. But students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds – including those attending majority-Black or low-income schools – are falling further behind. As a result, students attending majority-Black schools are now estimated to be a full year behind those attending majority-white schools.

Differences also can vary by grade level. High schools have been closed more total days than elementary schools. According to a recent news report, 2021 graduation rates dipped across the country, and some education leaders fear future graduating classes may be hit even harder. Schools have scrambled to provide options such as credit recovery to boost graduation rates, leaving concerns about the quality of learning.

College and university leaders have been preparing for first-year students with less knowledge, weaker study habits and more difficulty concentrating than new college arrivals in past years.

2. Social-emotional development

Even early in the pandemic, school closings were harming students’ social and emotional well-being, according to a review of 36 studies across 11 countries including the U.S. By summer 2021, teachers and administrators in the U.S. said students felt more emotional distress, disengagement, depression, anxiety and loneliness than in previous years.

When schools resumed in fall 2021, large numbers of children in the U.S. had lost a primary caregiver over the previous year to COVID-19. A colleague and I raised concerns about the anxiety and grief those students would likely feel.

In addition, 28% of all parents of children in grades K-12 are “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about their child’s mental health and social and emotional well-being. That’s down from a high of 35% in spring 2021, but is still 7 percentage points higher than before the pandemic. Parents of Black and Hispanic students are 5 percentage points more likely to be worried than parents of white students.

Schools and organizations have focused resources on supporting students’ social, emotional and mental health. The U.S. Department of Education, for example, recommends, based on research, that teachers integrate lessons around compassion and courage into classroom activities, and that schools establish wellness teams to help students.

States have said they plan to address these needs with federal funds meant to help schools respond to the pandemic. In Connecticut, for example, school districts will hire additional mental health support staff, offer social-emotional programs and partner with local agencies to increase access to supports.

Behavioral habits

The return to in-person learning has been accompanied by school leaders’ reports of increasing student misbehavior and threats of violence. These increases were more likely to be reported in larger districts and where most students had engaged in remote or hybrid learning – rather than in-person instruction – during the prior school year.

Viral social media “challenges” – like memes on TikTok suggesting students “smack a staff member” or skip school on a particular day – certainly aren’t helping educators provide safe and supportive environments.

Parents’ distress is also affecting their children. Students whose parents are depressed, anxious, lonely and exhausted are more likely to misbehave in school – and that connection grew stronger during lockdown periods when schools were closed.

Meanwhile, news reports show students are missing more school than they were before the pandemic, with more kids out for more than 15 days of a school year. Given links between chronic absenteeism and increased high school dropout rates, researchers warn this increase in missed school could lead between 1.7 million and 3.3 million students in eighth through 12th grade to not graduate on time.

Physical health

Adults have suffered hair loss, sore eyes, irritable bowels and skin flare-ups as a result of the pandemic. One study found that Chinese preschool children whose schools closed during the pandemic were shorter than preschoolers in previous years, though the researchers did not observe noteworthy differences in weight change.

Schools can be a primary place for children to access physical activity and healthy food. Amid school closures, researchers are exploring the effects of losing out on these benefits. During lockdowns in Italy, children with obesity engaged in less physical activity, slept and used screens more and increased their consumption of potato chips and sugary drinks.

In the U.S., 1 in 4 families with school-age children don’t have reliable access to food. Abrupt school closures cut off more than 30 million children from free and reduced-price lunches and breakfasts delivered at school.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees school food programs, provided waivers to let schools provide meals in ways that fit their students’ needs. In Connecticut, for example, researchers found that letting families know about wider availability and pickup sites for to-go school meals boosted the number of students who received food during the pandemic.

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Time will tell if the costs of school closings will be worth the benefits. These early indicators show that decisions are not as simple as reducing the physical health risks of COVID-19. A full assessment would consider the effects across all aspects of child well-being, including how diverse populations are affected.

Connection, collaboration and positive interaction are fundamental to healthy childhood growth and development. Working together, schools, families and communities can assess and address every child’s needs to reduce the lasting effects of school closings.

Sandra M. Chafouleas receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, Connecticut State Department of Education, the Neag Foundation, and the Principal Foundation.

It’s common to want to become a better version of yourself. Much like the desires to eat, drink and avoid harm, human beings also experience a fundamental need to learn, grow and improve – what psychologists call self-expansion.

Consider your favorite activities. Things like reading a book, spending time in nature, volunteering with a new organization, taking a class, traveling, trying a new restaurant, exercising or watching a documentary all broaden the self. Those experiences add new knowledge, skills, perspectives and identities. When who you are as a person expands, you enhance your competence and capabilities and increase your ability to meet new challenges and accomplish new goals.

Of course, you can achieve self-expansion on your own by trying new and interesting activities (like playing Wordle), learning new things (like advancing through a language app) or working on a skill (like practicing meditation). Research confirms that these kinds of activities help individuals expand themselves, which encourages them to put forth more effort on subsequent challenging tasks.

Interestingly, romantic relationships can also be a key source of growth for people. As a relationship scientist for over 20 years, I’ve studied the effects all kinds of romantic relationships can have on the self. Today’s modern couples hold high expectations for a partner’s role in one’s own self-development.

Growing in your relationship

Falling in love feels good, and spending time with a romantic partner is enjoyable, but love’s benefits run even deeper. People tend to value partners who help them become a better version of themselves.

One way to optimize self-growth in your relationship is by sharing in your partner’s unique interests and skills. When “me” becomes “we,” partners blend their self-concepts and include the other in the self. That merging encourages partners to take on each other’s characteristics, quirks, interests and abilities to some extent. Romantic partners inevitably have different life experiences, knowledge bases, perspectives and skills. Each area is an opportunity for growth.

For example, if your partner has a better sense of humor than you do, over time, yours will likely improve. If they have an eye for interior design, your ability to put together a room will evolve. A partner’s differing views on climate change, politics or religion will grant you new perspectives and a deeper understanding of those topics. Your relationship helps you become a better person.

This isn’t to say that individuals should try to completely merge, running the risk of losing themselves. Rather, each person can maintain their own identity while augmenting it with desirable elements from their partner.

Relationship consequences of more or less

The science makes it abundantly clear that couples with more self-expansion are better relationships. Specifically, people who report more self-expansion in their relationship also report more passionate love, relationship satisfaction and commitment. It’s also associated with more physical affection, greater sexual desire, less conflict and couples being happier with their sex life.

Because self-expansion is so critical, when expanding relationships end, participants describe feeling like they have lost a part of themselves. Importantly, when less-expanding relationships break up, individuals experience positive emotions and growth.

When a relationship provides insufficient expansion, it can feel like it’s stuck in a rut. That stagnant malaise has consequences. Research finds that married couples who at one point indicated more boredom in their current relationship also reported less marital satisfaction nine years later. Insufficient relationship self-expansion also encourages people to have more of a wandering eye and pay more attention to alternative partners, increases susceptibility to cheating on one’s partner, lowers sexual desire and comes with a greater likelihood of breakup.

How does your relationship measure up?

Maybe you’re now wondering how your own relationship is doing on this front. To provide some insight, I created the Sustainable Marriage Quiz. On a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 being “very little” and 7 being “very much,” answer these questions:

1. How much does being with your partner result in you having new experiences?
2. When you are with your partner, do you feel a greater awareness of things because of them?
3. How much does your partner increase your ability to accomplish new things?
4. How much does your partner help to expand your sense of the kind of person you are?
5. How much do you see your partner as a way to expand your own capabilities?
6. How much do your partner’s strengths as a person (skills, abilities, etc.) compensate for some of your own weaknesses as a person?
7. How much do you feel that you have a larger perspective on things because of your partner?
8. How much has being with your partner resulted in your learning new things?
9. How much has knowing your partner made you a better person?
10. How much does your partner increase your knowledge?

Before adding up your score, know that these categories are generalizations. They suggest where your relationship may need attention, but also where it’s already strong. Relationships are complicated, so you should see your score for what it is: one small piece of the puzzle about what makes your relationship work.

• 60 and above – Highly Expansive. Your relationship provides lots of new experiences and helps you reach new goals. As a result, you likely have a more fulfilling and sustainable relationship.
• 45 to 60 – Moderately Expanding. Your relationship has produced some new experiences and additions to your self-concept, but you have some room for improvement.
• Below 45 — Low Expansion. Currently your relationship isn’t creating many opportunities to increase your knowledge or enhance you. Consequently you likely aren’t improving yourself as much as you could. Consider making an effort to seek out more new and interesting experiences with your partner. You may even rethink if this is the right partner for you.

What makes a relationship great? While there are many factors to consider, one area deserves more attention: how much it helps you grow. A relationship that fosters self-expansion will make you want to be a better person, help you increase your knowledge, build your skills, enhance your capabilities and broaden your perspectives.

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Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.