Angela Ukomadu's Blog

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and its a fact that one out of every 9 women will be diagnosed of it. To this effect, the month of October also called Pink October is set aside world over to raise awareness on this scourge, and also to raise money that will aid more research, diagnosis and treatment. October is also a constant reminder of a lost loved one. I was driving to the office on that day when she called me and said she found a lump in her under arm. Calmly I told her to come out to town the next day so we could go to the hospital for a check. After various tests it was confirmed the lump was cancerous  and will be removed. And they did. But after various hospitals in Abia, Port Harcourt and Lagos, there was no end in sight. More hospitals. More blood infusions. More sleepless nights. More Prayers. Nothing changed.

Dear Nigeria, Happy 55th birthday anniversary. I thank God for your new age, it is not easy at all. In this age where very young people are being cut down in their prime by one cancer or heart attack, though feeble you have stood your ground and refused to give up. Most people thought the last elections would have killed you, I mean I have friends who left the country in fear just before the elections, but you still dey  gidigba . Before the elections, and even now, we felt terrorists would have killed you or atleast kidnapped you but you are still standing.The world wide fall in oil prices, and its attendant effect on the naira came, though feeble, you are still standing.

     We expect to see a bloody moon from midnight today, Sunday 28, 2015 between the hours of 12 midnight to 6am. The bloody moon, when it occurs will last for about an hour. A bloody moon occurs because the moon is very close to the earth, making it extremely bright. According to NASA this has only happened five times since 1900, the last one was in 1982, and the next one will be in 2033.      Everything has been tied around this bloody moon, from it being the end of the world, to volcanoes erupting, to earthquakes and all of that. In fact I just read on christian.com that in the US state of Utah, people are already stock piling on dried foods and emergency stuff. They are so convinced something will happen. The world had ended so many times in the past, yet these end time propagators don't just stop, they just find a new date and continue.

     As we celebrate the Muslim holiday today and tomorrow, how much of its origin do you know about?      Eid-El-Kabir also known as the Feast of Sacrifice is one of the yearly religious holidays celebrated by Muslims worldwide. The holiday is in honour of Abraham or Ibrahim who accepted to sacrifice his son to God, and just as he was about to cut his son, an angel of God appeared and showed him the animal to use.      Oh well, I know this same miraculous story is in the bible and now its also the same miracle that our Muslim brothers and sisters are celebrating too?       What does this tell you?? We all believe in sacrifice, and sacrifice can come in different ways, you could sacrifice your ego, your money, your time for the common good of Nigeria. We can all just sheath our swords and live as one, in peace, or maybe try and tolerate each other like most polygamous homes do, and make Nigeria the great nation that she is supposed to be?      Happy Eid-El-Kabir to all my Muslim pe

     Shit business they say is a serious business and the only way we can have a healthy colon is by making sure that we discharge our bowels appropriately....without leaving residues that can cause colon diseases, Hemorrhoids and some pelvic floor issues.      So, this may not be new but I have been reading up so many articles lately on how the squat or pit toilet that we used in 19kiridi is now better than the Water Flush Toilet, and how we have been slowly killing ourselves with the new method. Hian!   The thing be say , today you hear how one thing is good, the next day you are told that same thing is bad...have you heard that wheat is no longer good for us? Sorry for combining poop and food * side eyes *      The proponents of going back to the squatting poop position are saying that "while sitting, the bend called the anorectal angle is kinked (twist or curve) which puts upward pressure on the rectum and keeps the faeces inside, and makes you strain in order to eliminate,

     I grew up listening to oldies, especially country music. My dad would put his preferred "record" on the "turn-table" on full blast. Turn -tables are no longer used. I recently spent a week with mom and dad in Port Harcourt and I  stole  as many Oldies CD as I could. There's something about oldies, the lyrics are romantic, honest, deep, insightful and there is something free about it. That was the era when musicians gave you music that really touched the soul.      I just love my oldies! That's all I have in my car, that's all I play, okay apart from my Panam Percy Paul. From Don Williams to Smokie, Des'ree,  Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. I also love a bit of the 90's music..Back Street Boys, WestLife and BoyZone.      What ever happened to good music? These days, most music is just loud, too many repetitions, profanity, nudity, empty, no message to convey, and most of them sound alike. Every song is now about ass, shaking da booty, twe

     Four students from Nigeria's Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife recently put the country on the world map as one of the countries who have developed an app that will help the blind or visually impaired use their smart phones.      The app was designed for the 2014 Microsoft Imagine Cup, a global competition that gives students a chance to present new technology solutions.          The "Humane App" is a software that works with a hand held operated device with an audio guide and three buttons to help the user select and play music, videos, surf the net and audio read-back of printed words.      Humane app is currently available on the windows phone platform while the controller device is still being worked on to make it less bulky to carry.      Access to printed words by the blind is a huge challenge and if this is mass produced, it will go a long way to help the over one million blind people in Nigeria, and nine million blind people in sub-Saharan Africa...not

     From Ladipo to inner Aswani road, from Orile to the whole of Iganmu/Eko bridge, from the flyover connecting the airport road to Oshodi, and of course all of Airport road, petrol tankers from all over Nigeria are indiscriminately parked, waiting for signal to head to Apapa seaport to load petroleum products.      The resultant effect of turning Lagos roads into a parking lot is  making an already traffic infested Lagos worse, and making the bridges a ticking time bomb.      The bridges are not meant to carry stationary trucks, it can collapse at anytime and if this happens, it will be a total disaster....thousands of lives will be lost.      At what point did we get here? Is there no other means of conveying the petroleum products apart from using these tankers? Can't the tankers wait in their various states until they are told that products are available so they just drive in, pick the products and drive out again?      If the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna

     Oscar Ukonu makes the most intricate and flawless portraits using just a ball pint pen.....biro. At first look you will think its a digital photograph...not at all. The portraits are painstakingly done for about one hundred and twenty hours before each one is complete.       For Oscar, using pen came out of necessity, he couldn't afford buying the professional tools, so out of frustration he decided to use ordinary twenty naira pen and today he is what you can call a Hyper-Realist Artist.      Hyper-realism are drawings are paintings based on photographs, so when Oscar decides to make a portrait he tries to study the photograph for atleast two days before he starts drawing.      I'm really awed because this must be so hard, erasing ink will end up smearing his work which means he has to start on a new paper anytime there is a mistake.      Awesome pictures!      Peace! Video as used by Euro News Picture credit  +Oscar UKONU   Picture Credit  +Oscar UKONU  

     Talking about containers, who else is getting freaked out over the constant hazards they cause on our roads? I never drive beside them, no matter how the cars behind me hoot for me to give way, I don't budge until there is enough space in front for me to overtake the lorry carrying the container. But after the recent accident in Lagos, at Ojuelegba where the container fell off the bridge and landed on two vehicles, I have realised that its not about being careful, but God saying: "My daughter, I am with you."      Can something be done about the numerous trucks carrying unlatched dangling containers, with drivers carelessly weaving through traffic, without minding the bumpy roads? So many lives have been lost, so many deaths.......and most times, avoidable deaths. What ever happened to the law about articulated trucks only moving between 10pm to 5am? Why is the law not being enforced? Who should enforce the law? Who should check that these containers are well latch

     Hey people, so I have been using my biofuel and the kike cook stove for two straight weeks now and I can comfortably say, this is it! Way to go!! Going green!!! And it is time to get a dual burner, I was actually gifted the single burner stove.      I loved shooting this story, no excuses, no "come today, come tomorrow", and the people working for the company? Excellent!      So I did this story with Green Energy and Biofuels, a company owned by Femi Oye. They are into everything green for lighting and cooking purposes, but I focused on bio-fuel for cooking.      This company creates affordable cooking biofuel from water hyacinth and sawdust, can you believe that? And you also get to use it with a very portable stove, that looks so much like a table top gas cooker. It also comes in a single or dual burner. The stoves are sold for between 2,000 to 4,000 naira, depending on the size you want, and a litre of the gel is sold for 98 naira. A litre burns for six whole hours