 Welcome to The Advocate on Plus TV Africa. We're a panel of five. Discuss five thought-provoking topics. Here we call a spade a spade. And like we say, no holds barred. I'm talking about the real big brother in Nigeria. Shola points out a spotlight on the growing discussions on the issue of value-added tax. Adebola is explaining to us clearly the difference between feminism and misandry. Tolu is asking if we are broke because we are sick or vice versa. And finally, comfort speaks on the human cycle and need for healthy living. It's an array of topical issues, spiced with seriousness and laughter. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back after this break. The real big brother. Most young people are entwined in the popular show because it's something they actually understand. It's also very quite straightforward, but the real big brother in any country is politics. You don't have to like it, but it will always have you in the diary room engaging you regardless of what you think of it. Most people blame the below 35s for the reason Nigeria is the way it is and attribute their focus on the reality show to the inaction of politicking. But if they are young, they've asked what is politics. Some will say someone in Abuja. Others might think someone in Babariga or Agbada. To some's mind, posters will come to it. It's hard for some 18-year-old to relate with the constitution and how it affects them. I think it's a bit much, asking them. After all, when I was 18, all I wanted to do was have the latest 50-cent CDs. Let's be honest, for the older generation that blames them repeatedly, if we did our jobs, they wouldn't be so lost in translation. They are youth of Nigeria. The real big brother is politics, but what then is the world called politics? Politics is made up of too much to place in a conversation, but its cardinal points are governance, which is how, of course, an elected government handles its citizens and its policies. Political parties, which are, of course, vehicles to a political office. Influence, which, of course, is what's exerted to cause people to make decisions. Power, which is the use of political will. To solve this problem, the onus is on us ahead to stop the knowledge of everything and our transmission of knowledge being nothing. We must first educate. The level of politricy in Nigeria is poor, and we must learn to make political literacy attractive. Next, we must participate to imbibe a culture of practice and teach little nuggets like, do you know local government elected representatives like your councillors and chairman don't have immunity? So if they defraud any of you in a contract or with something else, you can sue them and they'll actually go to jail. We also need to stop telling them elections can be won on social media. If we do, we will enable them to be bred just exactly like us. Finally, we must allow them, that is the use of Nigeria, the freedom to choose. While enjoying the reality show, we could maybe teach them that politics could be as seamless as the show if the foundation laid for it was solid. Lastly, we cannot discuss the future of Nigeria with the Jurassic Park of the country, and of course the Jurassic Park, you know what I mean. Inclusion is everything. There's an aziki way in all of us. Age is a perception of wisdom in Africa, but vision will create the Obama of Nigeria only. What were you saying? Because this conversation is what we have been saying all this while, that we have failed and in failing, we haven't carried the, as you said, the below 35 along with us. And so because of how the Jurassic Park is, let's be fair or honest, the youth are lost in escapism. I'd rather be in that sphere. Does that make it right? No, but I don't also want to talk about the helplessness of the situation because even you and I, who are somewhat educated, political wise, at least you've thrown your heart in the ring. I'll give you kudos. I haven't bothered to. But I have my PVC, so I'm part of the political cause. I'm doing something. I'm serious on how do we, we have been emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, everything better than this country. How do we, even we, who are supposed to teach them, how do we rise above that to help the next generation? And honestly, I'm asking because it keeps me up at night, really, because I have a younger generation I'm bringing up as it is, but I'm helpless. I feel helpless. The truth is, I think somewhere along the line, we are actually forced by that, those Jurassic Park, to think we are helpless. And the only tribe, because they know they have imbibed that thought, that knowledge, and that process, that we are helpless into us. If we instinctively stood up, there will be a problem. This if has been going on for a while. You know how they say, perception is stronger than reality. Right? I think that's a big factor in this case. Because you can't give what you don't have. Right? If you think about the fact that these people already believe, I mean, for instance, something as simple as an election, there's already the belief that, you know, votes don't count. So because votes don't count, people don't vote. People do not vote, then there's no election. So because that perception is really strong, until someone starts to deliberately change the perception of the younger people, nothing will happen. Because they don't know, and you can't give what you don't have. So they need that information, they need that reorientation. I, for instance, you know, start talking about voting. I'm one of the corporates, because I had the perception. But I'm very clear, now, having seen things happen around, sorry, my alarm always goes off, even my phone is off. Sorry. So I just start from, yeah. So I, for instance, I'm a corporate when it comes to elections. Right? And because the perception is so strong, but I've now made a deliberate effort to say, you know what, if it's that one vote, let it count. And then if another person joins me, another person, then before you know it, we're 200 or 5,000. We're 200,000, we're 1 million. And then we'll start to make a difference. So I think it starts with that education and reorientation. Talking about people joining forces, remember what happened during the NSAS protests? During the NSAS protests, a lot of people came out to speak. People slept outside, made sacrifices. People cooked for each other. Everybody came together. But at the end of the day, what did we, what do we have out of it? Nothing. So I just believe the NSAS protests, I wouldn't call it, I wouldn't say it had no impact. But the desires of the youth in that protest wasn't fulfilled. We do not, and at the end of the day, there was a lot of issues. We had a tribunal set up to make inquiries on all that transpired. So how many youths today are willing to come out to stand for justice? Like to say, we don't want this anymore. A lot of people would rather sit back and watch because they do not want to die for Nigeria. Actually, it's not even worth it to die for this country. So nobody is willing to make that sacrifice. We know countries, even Ghana, Ghana had their period where they had to go through that reform. So how many Nigerians, even young Nigerians are not even willing to make that sacrifice? Those who have made the efforts in the past, all efforts proved abortive. So that's my own opinion. You know, I had the opportunity during the NSAS time to sit down with quite some people higher up in the legislative system. I've never seen them so scared. Do you know what was the flaw in NSAS? The poor understanding of politics and how it works by the... The number of people that were out were enough to take out the entire legal state House of Assembly to recall the entire legal state federal representatives. But because they were looking at something else, if they did that, you would have triggered massive recalls of state House of Assemblies across. And once you've recalled... And this is constitutional. Once you've recalled the House of Assembly, between a governor and a zero, it's down the road. And this would have totally changed the whole game. And we could have... You don't need to wait for a whole election to take out such a system. But they have implanted it to you. Come on, recalls are hard. Don't try it. That's what I had to say. Have you shaped the fact that you brought out that point? And this is where then you would also say it's the responsibility of the youth. It's their responsibility to get educated. But you see, because as you said when Miss Jurassic Park and there's a lot going on, they've allowed the externals to distract them. And so escapism is the best thing. This is the best way. You would find them in their droves, but where? In the wrong places. So what makes... How would I put this? Why aren't they angry enough? I think that is it for me. Why aren't they angry enough about the leadership, the politics in the country, knowing full well that they are in the majority? I think for me that is where the question should be. Why aren't you angry enough to use your mass there? I think she should address that. Okay, she should tell us. Why aren't you people angry enough? I'm still putting my thoughts together. Okay, so for me at this stage you were talking about even knowing your local government chairman or that when we were growing up here it was part of the thing, part of your exam. You had to know the states of the country, the state and the capital and then the governor. I don't think anybody but us anymore. So that deliberate action too by the government has been taken away because it was part of the curriculum. You had to have it. You had to write the exam on it. So it became part of you as you grew up. That you knew about your country, your state, what foods were eating there, what were the traditional ceremonies and all that. We grew up knowing all those things. This generation doesn't know anything. In closing, I like to say something. I said something one day on media and on the show and then I said that local governments don't have immunity and people were shocked and some people were like they're going to check the constitution and I was laughing because they actually don't and it's something most of us don't know. Anyway, up next is Shola on the issue of taxation. Stay with us. Value added tax is the world's most common form of consumption tax. It is a difference between the business sales and the purchase of goods and services from other businesses. With more than 160 countries using a value added taxation system, this system is mostly used in the European Union, which the United States is not one of them. In Nigeria, the Federal Inland Revenue Service had the responsibility of collecting that on behalf of the 36 states and the federal capital territory. This is shared among the federal states and local government as an allocation with the federal government, taking 15 percent, whilst the states and local government shared the remaining 50 percent. A federal high court in Porta Cote ruled on the 10th of August 2021 restraining the Federal Inland Revenue Service from demanding taxes from the residents of river states which impliedly affects other states. It further ruled that states should commence the collection of fat which is the value added tax and personal income tax. Following this groundbreaking ruling, the Lagos state government has demonstrated its consent to begin a collection of value added tax with a proactive strategy in compliance with the new reform. Lagos has further directed the Federal Inland Revenue Service to stop using demand notices for payment of vats and further instructed the FIRS to render the accounts within seven days of all the sums collected. By the court order, both Governor Wike of river states and Governor Babajide Sonwolu of Lagos state had signed into law bills authorizing the state government to collect a value added tax, a move being resisted by the Federal Inland Revenue Service. Meanwhile, states like Gombe and a few northern states have appealed to the southern governors to rescind their steps and seek continuation of the process that allows the FIRS to collect vats. States like Delta, Kaduna, Oyo, Katsina, Kano may experience a minimal impact while other 30 states that account for lower revenue generation within their states are currently perplexed on what steps to take. Surprisingly, majority of the northern states have opposed the ruling of the court considering its huge impact on the state revenue as they have solely relied on the federal government without deliberate strategies for internal revenue generation within their states. The federal reform will impact positively the financial and social economic sectors of the economy as the state and local government will no longer rely on the federal government to boost their internally generated revenue. With all states having to take charge of their territories this will urge states to look inwards and seek ways to diversify their economies. States with dormant revenues will seek to venture into tourism development, production of resources and massive development of agriculture without total reliance on the oil sector. With about 30 states generating less than 20% of the Nigerian value added tax these states will suffer significant revenue decline until they seek meaningful strategies to raise sufficient revenue for state growth and development. Conclusively, it is pertinent for states to look inwardly and develop proactive strategies for internal revenue generation which would be of immense good to the national and global development of the Nigerian states. Guys, what do you have to say about the issue of that? One of Grand Commander Wike I was happy. It's enough, on a serious note it's enough. Now that the courts have said people should go and collect themselves. We have been shouting about the federal government releasing the hold on things like what is in mining in the states. So that states that have the capacity can do whatever they need to do to generate whatever. So now this will have that rebound effect. If the northern states want to be serious that's where they should get their representatives to work now. And say, look, we can't do this unless you people sit down and help us remove this chain because federal government is not involved. Work out a formula. Maybe we'll give them 15% of whatever it is that we generate. But I think it's enough. We can't have states relying solely on other states for survival. It's not fair. For example, I think the one that has really come up is the issue of the alcohol. That it is part of that. You take the vat from alcohol you just... None of the northern countries have that bad part of the vat. We don't want it. They collect it. Yet, when people who are supposed to be living in a country that is secular want to sell the alcohol in the states you seize it and you destroy it. But you collect the money from the federal government. So it's double standards. I want to bless that judge. You see? I would never have thought that the political climate of Nigeria which is usually destructive would produce something good because it's kind of... But states that are doing well like Lagos should also keep one clear thing in thought. If there should be a clear structuring down like this Lagos would not be the one with a pot alone. And that would cut down more than 70% of Lagos revenue. Lagos should wake up to it. No, I'm looking at it. The competition... No, it means that the competition is on. And this is exactly what we want. Because you cannot have states for me that Zanfarra cannot function. Sokoto states should buy them. That is... No, it's true. Countries right now... Countries in the world right now operate like businesses. If I'm Sokoto state and Zanfarra okay, you have a problem. Okay, you know what? Become part of us. Our governor is your governor. Merge, who will take it. Deon Stan writes to the federal government pass it by national assembly. There's nothing wrong in that. I feel we have too many states. Because if you look at the generation of that, Lagos, Akwaibom, Kaduna and the rest are funny people. As in they are below par. You know, you kept saying Northern states. Funny, there are a lot of Southern states spending this. Abia is totally doing nothing. They are being fed by the federal government. There are a lot of Southern states in this. Honestly, I feel very strongly that every state in Nigeria has potential. It's just a question of thinking. Of actually doing the hard work and the diligence of thinking. I don't think there's any state that by itself is useless. However, if you have done this thinking for four or five or ten years and you find that you are not useful, by all means, met with another state. Why do you have 36 states and only six to ten states are actually generating income? Then why do you have the remaining states? It's just for the purpose for the vanity. If we need ten states in Nigeria, they need a government. They need a government. I feel like every state has potential. It just takes, I mean, give me any states in Nigeria and put a think tank in that state. They will tell you exactly what you can do with that state to generate income. The federal government holds on the resources of the states. That's why I'm saying that the states too need to wake up and make their own representatives. Do you know why the federal government can put their hand on the states too? They have refused to let go of the feeding bottle of central. They want to, like in this situation with VAT, you will notice that they want to collect the VAT. They still want to collect federal allocations. It doesn't work that way. You will start thinking and saying, oh, we have tourism. We have this resource. So that's what happens. When you cut off that supply, then people start to think. There is a desert rally. It's that beautiful. We have small Oasis. Dubai has been a desert for how many years? Look at what they've known. We have those deserts. Dubai because it has those small Oasis that are more. They are shorter distance. They are not like the Sahara desert. Before you see water, you trick. See how we killed Tinapa. Tinapa was killed. I think what even hurts me the most is that we have a five-star hotel with a golf course at the confluence. How many confluences are in the world? There are just about three. I want to believe that if we can have more people, more indigenous of all the states that are not as developed as that of Lagos and Abuja, if we can have a lot of them come out to want to privatize some of these businesses, I think that what they can do will be more than what the government can do something that they are spending their own money on and they want to develop their states and give them more global recognition. But the government is not ready to let go of that. It's not even the government. What scares the people is the fact that once the governor changes the money you've invested, that's where the problem is. But you see this bad thing is a good thing. No, it's a good thing. We know that it's not from a heart of they want to do what's we have yet to wear. It's a good thing. So we'll keep this conversation going. The issue of vats cannot be overemphasized. And the baller is next after this break. Stay with us. Feminism versus misogy. A lot of people are getting it all wrong. The fact that we get a lot of people complaining about these people that call themselves feminists is a good thing. I'll tell you why. We've gotten noticed and have built a presence. A presence that is going to last a long, long time. Feminism, true feminism, is the belief in an advocacy of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests according to Miriam Webster dictionary. This means that a feminist is someone who believes that women and girls have every right to hold political, economic and high social positions without any oppression from the opposite sex. Lately it seems to me that we have misandrists hiding under the feminist banner. They are normal people like you and me misandrists hate men and boys in general. Misandry could be belittling, being violent and completely excluding yourself from any activity involving men. Here in Nigeria we may not have come across such offensive comments but we see it in their actions. The thing is that a lot of people are misandrists without even knowing it. Some just don't want to believe or even admit it. Think about the times you were in school as a little girl and objected from participating in extracurricular activities with boys or worse, holding hands. That's how long misandry has been living amongst us. Feminism is all about empowering about women supporting women and girls supporting girls through a just cause building one another up for the seeable future. Why have I brought this up? It's about time that we lay down on the table. We've got quite a number of them that look at us feminists as misandrists. They take a part of the blame for being ignorant and not sourcing for knowledge. Regardless of the sex, if you believe that women and girls have every right to hold exclusive positions as men in all fields you are a feminist. Yes, you are a feminist. Are you a feminist? You wouldn't as a man deny your wife, sister, mother or friend a position that you are entitled to with you. So are we all feminists? No, I'm not. I'm a human being. I think for me that has always been my issue with the tagging. There's always when it comes to women issues we tend to want to label things. We're human beings. I think we should look more at these issues from the lens of human beings. If a man is a human being, a woman is a human being. So if a human is entitled to go and work and earn 5,000 Naira then it has nothing to do with the sex. If it's a human being you are entitled to work. Number two, feminism got a bad name from the people practicing it because today's first I'm hearing of me is today I'm hearing it because feminism had carried all of it because of the people who were behind it. It's now that feminism is better defined because they needed to step up and make it clear. We don't let men know. It's just the way we are being shouting and doing it. It's not we have been very aggressive. Okay, so we'll be ladylike about it but now presenting the issues going forward. Number three, the one about holding hands. It's not because we were Miss we were practicing it. We were young. They said if we touch boys we'll get pregnant. We had nothing to do with it. We didn't know what it was. We were supposed to be till we go to a certain stage and also what I'm just saying is that I think going forward now that thankfully feminism is beginning to bring itself out as look, it's economic, social, the general well-being of women in relation to all these factors. It's clear. It's not that we hate men or we're aggressive or we don't want them or whatever but we want to make sure that we're heard. I think there should be the emphasis also on the fact that we're human first. Absolutely, yes. In an ideal world in Utopia yes we're humans but the reality today is no we're not. So the women don't have the rights that they should have. So you'd expect that somebody is thinking extra and saying how I mean I have two daughters I have a wife. I'm already outnumbered. So whether I like to or not, I'm a feminist but beyond that, beyond the labelling like Comfort said is what is the spirit behind it? What is the objective? What are we trying to achieve with the whole idea of feminism? It's equality. It's saying if a man deserves 200 Naira then a woman deserves just as much. A woman doesn't deserve 199. Once there's one Naira shot someone needs to say what's going on here that's basically the spirit behind it and once it crosses that and then it becomes abused so it's just achieving a critical balance between understanding the objective and the outcome you want to get versus when you now cross the line and then it becomes something else and you're easy to not label you and say oh then throw it with the baby with the back water. I think what has caused the reason for the clear distinction is that they found out or feminist found out that they had become the same thing they were fighting and that has shown clearly and in that kind of world man has already become an individual species because they seem to take it to a undead lion to exchange more personal so they seem to take it to another level but like Comfort said also I have always called myself a humanist I believe everybody deserves the opportunities they get regardless of gender, tribe, religion I even always say governance is not based on gender, tribe or religion so I don't look at it anyway a lot of people have grown to see things differently there are people that once they just read a story and I've seen this occur on social media once they read a story they don't want to know the other side of the story they say woman, they are behind the woman if it's a man, they are behind the man they don't want to know how else it occurred and this is creating more of a fracas and we are becoming a lot of people think we are more intelligent now as a generation trust me we are far becoming more unintelligent than the 14th and 15th century people because we have so much information but have value for nothing for me I think the issue of feminism has been misinterpreted you know the initial ideology behind feminism was equality inclusion for women women should be involved in every other thing that the men do but I think there has been I think the way the message has been passed has been passed wrongly on certain issues like for instance there was a story on Twitter about a lady who said she bought a house for a husband or something like that so there are a lot of comments like why would you buy a house for your man and before we could say anything everything just went in different ways all the ladies came out to say why would she why would you why would you do such a thing what if he cheats what if he leaves you so you know there is this women supporting women has also been misinterpreted because a lot of women would also if a woman does something wrong because she is a woman and I need to support my fellow woman I wouldn't scold her but it's a very good ideology especially if we are looking at it in terms of the workplace where you see some organizations I think things are changing now the issue of the feminism ideology things are changing now a lot of companies would rather employ a man than a woman but things are much different now I see a lot of women also taking up very good roles in companies becoming like now virtually all the banks have female CEOs yes virtually all the banks are I'm not sure I think that is important as well I've conducted a lot of interviews I find when I ask the men what do you want to earn but the women would say a lot of times and I say what is wrong with you I do get the question right there tell me exactly what you want to earn I don't tell you a guy that you come out to run and say you are here to shrink your value and your worth as far as money is concerned so you have to also do that education every now and then and having to tell people this is not time to shrink you have the opportunity the truth about it I have never believed that between the sexes there could be equality I have only believed there could be equity now I will define equality if you give a 50 kg bag of rice to a man and a woman you can't expect the woman to carry the same way but what you must do is ensure that while she is carrying a 50 kg bag of rice there is someone to help her because she is a woman there should be a balance and managerial positions actually making decisions they are more emotional and caring about things a man just takes the obvious logical decision it might be destructive without thought process so they both have their advantages we should learn to play the line according to those advantages and no more we just give them equal even with feminism we have to be realistic and practical with what is on ground you can't call equality a log cement now you can't do it but it's the equity that if there is a job a number of men that apply should equal a number of women that apply if he is going to earn this you should earn that but there must be a balance stroke because whether we like it or not there is a home that needs to be built we can begin to argue it in all shades but what it is what is on the ground so it seems that we have so many misconceptions but we have to put this discussion and hold as Tolu is next stay tuned are we broke because we are sick or are we sick because we are broke Ralph Aldo Emerson an American essayist and philosopher who lived in 19th century he used the phrase first he said health is wealth in the context of American people stating that health is of utmost importance and wealth and in its true sense health is only the real wealth of a person so a cause we look at the Nigerian health sector really gets us thinking if indeed health is wealth how rich would we say we are in Nigeria also if indeed health is wealth it is rather apparent that only the rich in Nigeria are rich unfortunately our country is one where human life is not taken as seriously as you would expect perhaps you have not been delivered enough to see how health contributes to wealth some statistics might help looking at some of the best medical sectors in the world incidentally happen to belong to the top 21 countries with the highest GDPs and then have also the lowest depth profiles so let's start with Sweden GDP $530 billion the health system they have a decentralized universal healthcare system for everyone Sweden's life expectancy is age 2.4 this surpasses the life expectancies in Germany, the UK and the United States Sweden also has one of the lowest maternal and child mortality rates in the world there are 5.4 physicians per 1000 people which is twice as great as in the US, the UK and 100% let us think in 100% of births in Sweden assisted by medical personnel let's talk about Germany GDP $3.9 trillion the German healthcare system is a dual public-private system that dates back to the 1880s making it the oldest in Europe healthcare in Germany is funded by statutory contributions ensuring free healthcare for all again let us think in free healthcare for all Germany is one of the biggest spenders on healthcare in Europe it spends 11.1 of its annual GDP on healthcare expenditure only Switzerland and France spend more in terms of GDP percentage German healthcare spending works out at just over 4000 pounds 4000 euros per inhabitant every year final example, Denmark $350 billion in GDP the healthcare in Denmark is largely provided by the local governments of the five regions with coordination and regulation by the central government the central government plays a relatively limited role in healthcare in Denmark its main functions are to regulate, coordinate and provide advice life expectancy in Denmark has increased from 7.9 years in 2005 to 80.6 years almost 81 years in 2015 Danish women have a higher life expectancy is 2.5 percent is 2.5 years in 2015 than Danish men 78.6 in 2015 in Nigeria currently Nigeria's healthcare system ranks among the lowest in the world it started from 2018 in the land side of global healthcare access and quality looked at 195 countries around the world and Nigeria scored 142nd Nigerians usually have to pay for medicine out of their own pockets often the medicine is expensive and difficult to afford in 2019 on average healthcare made up 6 percent in Nigerian household spending with higher figures in the rural areas than in urban areas for obvious reasons resident doctors in Nigeria have been on strike for about 6 to 8 weeks technically there is an MOU in place now waiting to be signed after several lives have been lost and another proposal to borrow money added to the already sinking debt profile so again I ask are we broke because we are sick or are we sick we are broke really but you know what I want to add to this conversation you missed out the fact that Denmark is just about the size of Karnas state Germany is about it's less than quarter the size of northern Nigeria these three states put together Canada dumped them in north or southern Nigeria and there will still be space so please tell me in Danish I think they are known for milk their cows don't work around they work in peace what is happening in Nigeria you know I was really happy during Covid I was really happy during Covid because we are all trapped here rich or poor if you notice we had some high profile debts I didn't say anything well it's almost as if you knew what I had written about anyway we will get to the way that Karnas can survive but I wish you had given us our GDP also and our own life expectancy just so we could see the stark reality of what we are living with following up on what Kule said about the sizes of these countries this is what happens when a government is deliberate if we were as deliberate America is a whole continent living well too by many standards they are living much better than we are so it still goes back to the issue of leadership what we care about who is pushing what and where and for what interests the interests in this country are largely driven by not by justice or fairness I mean with all due respect I understand that the doctors are not happy how many times are we going to go through this in every other year at what point will you sit down and think and say you know what we need to get what we need to get without because this is what I swore to I remember the first time I heard of Dr. Strike then professor he was doctor then I was in primary school it has continued he has died governments have changed over 12-13 governments have changed we have gone from primary school to university to having a son that is now at that level and I am still going through the exact same thing and it's not only that we are not deliberate look at how much people spend on health to top it Nigeria has our health health pension scheme and it doesn't know where they found 6 billion inside somebody's roof how can we continue like this if you go back to that COVID you know I am very upset about the amount of money that was given to Nigeria for COVID and I wondered you mean there wasn't somebody on that panel that committee whatever they call themselves now that we have this thing let's build the hospital this is so hard we are all going to die here I think it comes down again to value for human life I think it's really as simple as that I don't think it's value for human life because people are dying do you know why I know it's not value for human life so I have this friend he's within the government system in an eastern state and then people that come from that eastern state old doctors that were retired spoke to their friends abroad that there was no primary health care center they were going to stock up a hospital A1 guess what the state health commissioner of health refused to agree because they are building a hospital for free but they said no they want dollars how many dollars are they giving them you turn down the hospital when you don't have one to ask for dollars and that's what goes on it's just very painful like anything else is supposed to be number one like anything else because how long are we going to keep traveling to treat malaria a lot of our politicians travel during COVID in Nigeria but how long do we keep traveling to treat malaria to treat typhoid and get health care you want to say something yes but I was going to say that if they really value human life I don't see how you are a leader and the well-being of your citizens is number one in your mind and you are able to sleep you should have a conscience I mean health is wealth like you said where oh my gosh where are we going to how do I put this draw the line no like how can we move forward when you know that because majority of people who don't have access to quality health care are the poor and the percentage of the poor people here in the country is way more than the rich who can easily take care of themselves in private hospitals so we just need to it's not even that easy because even me now when my mom tells me she's going to the doctor my heart is beating because by the time she goes and comes back Kondraki has died easily that's also every month I'm praying God please help me let her not fall sick please help me even with me in this class everybody is touched I understand that the doctors need money they can't prescribe drugs or perform some certain operations or diagnosis without some certain equipment but still I mean I can't remember what the doctor's vow is but the health of your patient should be number one I understand that you can't just leave them to be because you're not being paid it could have been that they may not have done their best and they've decided to go on their first try this is a whole one-hour topic we've not even sort of described the suffix but I think we've thrown out a few important points so comfort runs up the show after this break don't go away who else to live forever anyway the human life circle has six main stages fetus, baby child adolescent, adult and elderly which we refer to as old the first five we tend to embrace and take care of but the last stage we either attempt to wish away ignore, disdain or mask with a growing aging population on timely deaths and impaired living conversations on growing a positive attitude to the inevitable dusk years is paramount while we are somewhat relaxed while going through the other stages of life we do not focus on investing in practices that will help tide us over in old age it is when we have a health incident that we scramble to start living better to bribe old age just as inevitable as death is so is old age and while we cannot run from it if we embrace it and work with it it will be kinder to us it is never too late to make positive changes however we must acknowledge the limitations if we start later rather than earlier to work towards an enhanced old age recently plastic surgery has become the bane of aging from one facelift to the next liposuction to the lifting of sagging bits we have geriatrics looking odd with sculpted bodies and faces and doing nothing for enhancing the quality of life the goal is to use our productive years to prepare for age that will lead to a decrease of everything that we once took for granted although it is taking for granted on this side of the Atlantic that our children will look after us it is gradually becoming irresponsible to leave the comfort of your old age to your children there is a place for that but reality must be faced work, train your kids make investments save for your later years if the kids turn out right and support you well great if they don't, well great too you've provided for yourself there is a thing called healthy aging which refers to a reduction in the undesired effects of aging the goals are maintaining physical and mental health avoiding disorders and remaining active and independent very important for most people maintaining general good health requires more effort as they age developing certain healthy habits can help such as following a nutritious diet exercising regularly and staying mentally active in this way people can have some control over what happens to them as they age also several factors influence life expectancy and gaining knowledge is an added advantage for example you know hereditary what are those hereditary things influences whether a person will develop a disorder know the family history lifestyle avoiding smoking, not abusing drugs and alcohol maintaining a healthy weight and diet exercising help people function well and avoid disorders exposure to toxins in the environment well it's a challenge but it can shorten life expectancy even among people with the best genetic make up healthcare regular checkups can prevent disorders or treating disorders after they are contracted helps increase life expectancy all age may have its limitations and challenges but despite them our later years can be some of the most rewarding fulfilling of our lives time to start being deliberate about taking care of you for you for the dusk of life fantastic so let's go you know I really love that talk when I make friends with senior citizens I have a lot of old friends you know 6, 5, 7, 7, 5 year old friends well yeah older friends and one of the things I've learned about them is in their earlier years and I have all kinds of the rich ones I have the ones that are struggling a bit I realized that most of them the ones that are doing very well they made the decision early in life in their 30s and their 40s they thought about their 70s and 80s and said you know what I have to prepare for it and they made those preparations and it's paying off for them now the ones are not doing too well well a few of them you know life happened but they didn't plan well enough so it's very important to put that plan in especially in your 30s and 40s very important to put in those things in your mind because like you said it's like death it's going to come I personally for instance they have a child they are looking for a money but you've forgotten for 9 months you know you're going to have a child in 9 months it's similar, you know you're going to be old so you must prepare and start making plans to make your old age more you know you know I work within the private sector I've always done, I've never worked within the public sector I turned 40 and my best friend called me he works in the UK and he said we both turned 40 this year he turned in October, I turned in December so he said you know what we're going to start investing in stock and we're going to do this and it's money we're not touching and I said why and he said I kept some money for you and you add what you have go to invest in stocks and it's going to be for our pension and I said he said do you see how 0 to 40 happened I said yeah I was kind of fast we've been friends since we were in crash so I was like did you see how fast it happened the next 40 is that fast it's even faster so he was like come on we have to start paying for it he reminds me every month what are you bringing I'm still preparing I think you need to really be deliberate about it I can say yes we make a lot of careless decisions I can say we eat worse than any other generation before absolutely less healthy there's a lot of bio-generated rubbish and which is generally not good for our bodies which means we probably retire faster than others but if you look at the bright side we have enough intelligence to prepare our health yeah when I hit 35 I decided that number one I was going to do a certain thing at 40 I hit bad milestone and then I was lucky enough to read somewhere where it said by the time as if there's one demon hovering somewhere the day you hit 40 something breaks and it happened to me the day I hit 40 I think it was my back pain I said hey that's happened so immediately I started regular checkups changed my diet water just those small things walking 30 minutes every day things that we weren't doing imagine if I started that even 10 years earlier how look and I saw the pay off I honestly saw the pay off I don't go to the hospital I really don't mostly I don't I mean you have the one two things here and there because your body has to whatever but the point here is that I don't need to go to the hospital because I make sure I take my ginger my lemon when it's cold I wear my sweater being more deliberate doing mental exercises and all that just embrace it if you embrace it it actually becomes a good thing because now you're not fighting it so what is it really coming to fight you for you know fighting I've accepted I'm old I'm aging it will come I'm not as strong my knees are paining me my back is paining me sleeping in the middle of the day I'm not fighting it besides I'm not even playing football so not only for football it's why I'm still young that I have all the time to do all the running around all the vigorous exercises all the intensive jobs it's all pay off later and all that leave your life to the fullest enjoy yourself and you go about taking alcohol smoking and drinking I'm not thinking about tomorrow everybody's just worried about today I think that's what my my generation the yellow generation looking forward to is enjoyment they're not thinking about tomorrow because everything they are chasing is money and you know once you have money you're spending on this you're spending on that and that's not the healthy way to live shall I say a little bit about the issue of our African parents waiting for us to go yes yes yes because talking about planning it's very important that when you're in your 30s 40s and you have enough time to plan you begin to plan for your future so that you don't begin to you have to rely on your children if they give you money fine but there is this entitlement mentality not just with parents now but with everybody like some people just even now parents feel I spent I sent you to school I gave you everything so it's time for you to give me back fantastic topic and at this you know rate I'm glad that all of us are within the age bracket you know to actually consciously make changes so I mean hopefully we'll spread the message and that's the size of the show today join us again next week on another edition of the advocate please don't just listen share the advocate with family and friends the more diverse thoughts we share the richer the solutions they inspire the advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook plus TV Africa hash tag the advocate NG and Instagram at plus TV Africa hash tag the advocate NG to catch up with previous broadcasts go to plus TV Africa dot com forward slash the advocate NG don't forget to 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