tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/modibbo-adama-university-of-technology-1438/articlesModibbo Adama University of Technology2021-05-02T07:46:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592762021-05-02T07:46:17Z2021-05-02T07:46:17ZTrying to understand the use of drugs by women farmers in Nigeria’s Adamawa State<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397040/original/file-20210426-21-1v48e0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Increasing poverty is forcing more women to become farmers in Adamawa State.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/african-woman-in-traditional-clothes-standing-royalty-free-image/1170096581?adppopup=true">dmbaker/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Drugs/Drug_Use_Survey_Nigeria_2019_BOOK.pdf">A national survey</a> on drug use in Nigeria published in 2019 shows that about 14.3 million Nigerians between 15 and 65 years have used psychoactive substances for non-medical purposes. One out of every four drug users is a woman.</p>
<p>We conducted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15332640.2021.1871694">research</a> on the use of drugs among women farmers in Adamawa State, north east Nigeria. These women are involved in the cultivation of food crops such as maize, beans and rice. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out if they used drugs in a bid to enhance their farming livelihood practices. We also wanted to understand the implications for health and their relationships in the community. </p>
<p>We used data collected from interviews and observations with 50 people who included farmers, business men and women involved in agricultural business, civil servants as well as artisans and unemployed young people. One clear observation that emerged was that more women were becoming the household breadwinners and that this meant that they were under a lot of pressure. </p>
<p>To be able to withstand the stress of farming and to help improve their productivity, some used psychotropic stimulants. These change nervous system function and result in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behaviour. The most used substances were cannabis and tramadol due to affordability and availability. </p>
<p>The study recommended that the government of Adamawa State should establish a rehabilitation centre for addicts in the state. We also recommended that all stakeholders should give empowerment of women in the state serious attention. </p>
<h2>Farming in Adamawa State</h2>
<p>Over 60% of farmers in Adamawa State are women. They work on the land as owners or as hired help. Some are both: they own land and can also be hired to work on another person’s farm. </p>
<p>There are several reasons that women attempt to earn a living off the land. One is rising poverty. The <a href="https://taxaide.com.ng/2020/05/28/2019-poverty-and-inequality-report-in-nigeria/">2019 report on Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria</a> released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that over 75% of the population of Adamawa State was poor. </p>
<p>The state was only better than Sokoto State (87.73%), Taraba State (87.72%), Jigawa State (87.02%) and Ebonyi (79.76%). The most affected demographic group is women. One of the ways they deal with poverty is to take on farming activities, to feed their families.</p>
<p>The use of substance abuse is not new in the area. A rise in drug and substance abuse was a major reason for the enactment of Adamawa State Unclassified (Local Substance) Abuse Law in 2015. Unfortunately, the law has not led to the intended reduction in substance abuse. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Women in the research team conducted interviews with women farmers and drug sellers. </p>
<p>They asked general questions to explore why women were involved in farming rather than other ways of making a living. The interviewers also asked why respondents were involved in use of drugs. </p>
<p>Questions were also asked about what kind of drugs or substances were used and what effect these had.</p>
<p>Over 60% of respondents said that drug use among female farmers in Adamawa State was a common phenomenon. About 36% did not share this view.</p>
<p>Only four of those we interviewed would talk about their use of drugs and substances. </p>
<p>One woman farmer who answered these questions said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are human beings. No matter how strong we are, we still get tired while working especially when it is a tedious and strenuous work like farming. We need to take something (like drugs or substances) to prevent quick tiredness and get our work done promptly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While there will be health and social consequences of drug use among these women farmers, it is very difficult to track this. This is because data, especially on mental and psychological distress, are generally not available in Adamawa State.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>We recommended the establishment of a rehabilitation centre by the State government would go a long way in helping people who are addicted to drugs. Adamawa State law prohibiting drug addiction and recommending establishment of a rehabilitation centre was passed in 2015. This law has come into operation, but the rehabilitation centre has yet to be established.</p>
<p>It is also recommended that women be empowered by training them in vocational skills and setting them up in small scale businesses. This is necessary because women have become strong economic agents in the state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saheed Babajide Owonikoko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drug abuse among women farmers in Adamawa State, north east Nigeria, is rising.Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1461522020-09-30T15:05:35Z2020-09-30T15:05:35ZThe key to peace in the Lake Chad area is water, not military action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360268/original/file-20200928-24-8dvqqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chadian-women-wash-their-clothes-on-the-side-of-lake-chad-news-photo/1068336808?adppopup=true">Michelle Cattani/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lake Chad is an extremely shallow water body in the Sahel. It <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62417-w">was once the world’s sixth largest</a> inland water body with an open water area of 25,000 km2 in the 1960s, it shrunk dramatically at the beginning of the 1970s and reduced to less than 2,000 km2 during the 1980s, decreasing by more than 90% its area. It is one of the largest lakes in Africa. It is an endorheic lake – meaning that it doesn’t drain towards the ocean. </p>
<p>Its origin is unknown but it is believed to be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464993415592738">a remnant of a former inland sea</a>. It doesn’t drain into the ocean but it has shrunk by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43500314">over 90% since the 1960s</a> due to climate change, an increase in the population and <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/6/3/034021">unplanned irrigation</a>. Given the rate at which the lake is disappearing, in less than a decade it may cease to be.</p>
<p>Four countries share borders within the water body – Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon – and have formed a political union, the Lake Chad Basin Countries. Other countries indirectly connected to the lake <a href="https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/crisis-and-development-lake-chad-region-and-boko-haram">are</a> Algeria, Libya, Central African Republic and Sudan. Over <a href="https://www.iucn.org/news/eau/201911/chad-basin-a-lifeline-people-nature-and-peace#:%7E:text=The%20Chad%20basin%2C%20centred%20around,fishing%20thanks%20to%20the%20basin">30 million people</a> live around the lake. </p>
<p>For them, it’s a source of freshwater for drinking, sanitation and irrigation. It supports the livelihoods of farmers, pastoralists, hunters and fishermen. </p>
<p>The Lake Chad region, however, is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322295821_Desiccation_of_Lake_Chad_as_a_cause_of_security_instability_in_the_Sahel_region">one of the most unstable</a> in the world. According to the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GPI_2020_web.pdf">2020 Global Terrorism Index report</a>, countries of the region are among the 10 least peaceful countries in Africa. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GKV5G6XK47MBQZXAMQKV/full?target=10.1080/09592318.2020.1776092">research</a> focused on how the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2017/02/09/figure-of-the-week-the-shrinking-lake-chad/">drying</a> of this important water body contributes to the instability in the region.</p>
<p>We collected data from interviews with respondents from Lac Region in Chad, Far North Region in Cameroon, Diffa Region in Niger Republic and the North East geopolitical zone in Nigeria. These regions of the <a href="http://www.cblt.org/en">Lake Chad Basin Commission </a> countries compose the Chad Basin Region. We also collected data from news reports.</p>
<p>The study found that loss of livelihoods has promoted criminality, easy recruitment by terrorist groups, and migration to urban centres. This has also led to violence and crime in cities and towns. Management of the shrinking lake has caused conflicts among the states that depend on it and this has made it more difficult for them to collectively fight insecurity in the region. The lake is central to regional stability. To achieve peace, countries should focus on reviving the water body rather than on military activities.</p>
<h2>Impact on livelihoods</h2>
<p>The immediate impact of the drying of Lake Chad is loss of livelihoods. </p>
<p>One of the respondents said in an interview that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many years back, this water used to be what we depend on for farming, fishing and herding. Since the water has dried up, sustaining our livelihoods has become so hard. We can hardly farm now and we record regular death of our livestock because of lack of fodder and water to fatten them. Because of this, most people have abandoned farming, fishing and livestock rearing because they are no longer sustainable in this area. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Loss of the traditional means of livelihood leads to widespread poverty and food insecurity. A <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/lake-chad-basin-long-climate-catastrophe-170923075220951.html">2017 report</a> estimated there were about 10.7 million inhabitants of Lake Chad Region in need of humanitarian services.</p>
<h2>Impact on regional stability</h2>
<p>The shrinking of the lake contributes to regional instability in four ways. First, some of the region’s people have taken to <a href="https://wcaro.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA-WCARO-BLT-EN-LAKE%20CHAD-DYNAMICS-WEB.pdf">criminal activities</a> for survival. One of the major criminal activities in the area is cattle rustling. </p>
<p><a href="https://enactafrica.org/enact-observer/cattle-rustling-on-the-rise-across-africa">Reports</a> have pointed to rising incidence of cattle rustling in the region. It’s easy to move cattle over the country borders in the area to evade arrest. Contemporary rustling has been associated with Boko Haram who <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330484643_Insight_into_the_Dynamics_and_Menace_of_Cattle_Rustling_A_Case_Study_of_Lake_Chad_Basin_Area_in_Northern_Nigeria">resort to cattle rustling</a> as additional means of raising fund in support of their operations. Boko Haram has become a <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/terrorism-and-developing-countries/the-socioeconomic-impact-of-the-boko-haram-insurgency-in-the-lake-chad-basin-region">serious security problem</a> in the Lake Chad region. </p>
<p>Most of the response to the threat of the group has been military. For example, from 2009 to 2018, Nigeria’s defence budget totalled nearly <a href="https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/nigeria/military-expenditure">$21 billion</a> with a substantial part going towards the fight against Boko Haram. </p>
<p>Further, Boko Haram has capitalised on the loss of livelihoods and economic woes to <a href="https://www.youth4peace.info/system/files/2018-04/12.%20TP_The%20Role%20of%20Young%20People%20in%20Preventing%20Violent%20Extremism%20in%20the%20Lake%20Chad%20Basin_CSPPS.pdf">recruit</a> people into its ranks. It either appeals to the poor ideologically or directly uses economic incentives. </p>
<p>Interviews with respondents also revealed that the drying out of the lake has intensified long-distance migration of people and livestock to cities and towns of the basin’s countries. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr44/9503/2018/en/">result</a> has been competition for resources, especially farmer-pastoralist conflict. Between <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr44/9503/2018/en/">2016 and 2019</a>, almost 4,000 people died in Nigeria as a result of farmer-pastoralist conflicts. </p>
<p>As the lake has shrunk, the water has shifted towards Chad and Cameroon while the Nigerian and Nigerien sides have dried up. This forces people to cross national borders to reach the shoreline. Respect for boundaries disappears. A complex web of social, economic, environmental, and political issues spills into interstate conflicts. This conflict relationship caused by access to and management of the lake <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ad/article/view/167098">has seriously affected</a> the collective effort of the region’s states to fight Boko Haram.</p>
<h2>Way ahead</h2>
<p>The Lake Chad Basin Commission has identified the need to replenish the water body. There was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43500314">a plan</a> to build a dam and canals to pump water from the Congo River to the Chari River, Central African Republic and then on to Lake Chad. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43500314">It was first mooted</a> in 1982 by the Italian engineering company Bonifica Spa, and discussed at the International Conference on Lake Chad in Abuja in 2018. Major challenges to this plan include funding, resistance from environmental campaigners and peaceful conditions in which to carry it out. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this scheme is yet to see the light of the day. The commission’s member states lack the commitment required to take action, probably due to the conflict relationship between the other Lake Chad countries and Nigeria. </p>
<p>Yet if they want stability in the region, the key is to replenish the lake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saheed Babajide Owonikoko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The shrinking of Lake Chad contributes to instability in the countries which sit around its expanse.Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412422020-07-02T14:49:19Z2020-07-02T14:49:19ZFootball betting among young Nigerians may create problems but a ban isn’t the answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344781/original/file-20200630-103688-1kitj3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">European football leagues' popularity and increased internet access make football betting attractive among young people in Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/manchester-uniteds-nigerian-striker-odion-ighalo-celebrates-news-photo/1223098301?adppopup=true">Catherine Ivill/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Nigeria, football betting has a long history that can be traced to colonial times, when pool betting was popular, especially among older adults. Since then, more younger people have taken up betting on the results of football matches, including <a href="https://8brand.co.za/the-rise-and-rise-of-sports-betting-in-nigeria/">European league</a> football. </p>
<p>The country has many betting outlets where people can place a bet manually. They can also open an account online with a betting company, using a debit card, and place bets on the website or app. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190412005143/en/Nigeria-Sports-Betting-Sector-Report-20192020--#:%7E:text=According%20to%20a%20report%20by,N730%20billion%20in%20a%20year.">report</a> revealed that about 60 million Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 40 are involved in active sport betting. They spend almost ₦2 billion on sports betting daily. This translates to about ₦730 billion annually. In an economy where the 2020 national budget is <a href="https://nairametrics.com/2020/06/11/senate-passes-the-revised-n10-8-trillion-2020-budget/">almost ₦11 trillion</a>, this is huge. </p>
<p>Two factors are responsible for increasing football betting among youth in Nigeria. One is the increase in poverty and unemployment. Among Nigeria’s estimated population of <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=NG">around 200 million</a>, around <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/06/19/the-start-of-a-new-poverty-narrative/">87 million</a> are said to be extremely poor. The youth unemployment rate in 2018 was put at <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/youth-unemployment-rate">36.5%</a>. </p>
<p>According to the National Bureau of Statistics, <a href="https://africacheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/q1-q3_2017_unemployment_report_VOLUME_1-1.pdf">29.7% of youths</a> between the ages of 15 and 34 were unemployed at the third quarter of 2018. Betting may appear to be a way to make quick money, either as a betting operator or as a gambler.</p>
<p>The second factor driving and enabling football betting in Nigeria is the growing use of the internet and smart mobile phones. In 2017, <a href="https://guardian.ng/business-services/nigerias-mobile-phone-penetration-hits-84-per-cent/">84% of Nigerians</a> had mobile phones. The number of internet users in Nigeria is <a href="https://www.ncc.gov.ng/stakeholder/media-public/news-headlines/614-ncc-hinges-nigeria-s-122-million-internet-users-protection-on-effective-governance">122 million</a> based on figures from the <a href="https://www.ncc.gov.ng/the-ncc/who-we-are">Nigerian Communication Commission</a>. This is more than half of <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=NG">Nigeria’s estimated population</a>. The increase in internet users in Nigeria can be attributed to affordability of internet access; with less than ₦100 (less than US$1), internet connectivity is assured. It is easy and convenient for people to place bets online using their phones. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-smartphone-gambling-is-on-the-up-among-african-millennials-127251">Why smartphone gambling is on the up among African millennials</a>
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</em>
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<p>I was interested in the potential consequences of this situation for Nigerian society and particularly for young people. I wanted to know whether the ease of online betting for economically hard-pressed young Nigerians was creating any social problems such as conflict, crime and addictive behaviour.</p>
<p>For my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970.2020.1753710">study</a>, I collected data from in-depth interviews with fans of European football clubs, betters, parents and guardians of fans and betters, security personnel, owners and operators of betting outlets as well as football viewing centres in Lagos, Ibadan, Oyo State, south west Nigeria and Yola, Adamawa State, north east Nigeria. In addition, I observed betting activities and collected data from recent online news reports and other published works.</p>
<p>From the various interviews conducted and my observation, I found there was a link between football betting by young Nigerians and a perceived increase in violence and criminal activities. But in my view the answer is not to ban such betting but to address the unemployment and poverty which propel people into it.</p>
<h2>Behaviour around betting</h2>
<p>My interviews and observations in the field show that there is a concern about teenagers stealing to fund their football betting. I was in a security meeting in Adamawa State where parents complained to the police that they had noticed unprecedented theft of their money by their teenage children/wards to fund football betting. A parent interviewed in Adamawa State explained that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I noticed that money was getting lost in our house on daily basis. At first I thought it was mere misplacement. Later I started to hear from my neighbours also complaining of loss of money within their homes. We later got to know that our sons were the ones stealing the money to play football betting because we always see them with receipts of bet and we know that they do not have business from where they can get money for betting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interactions with these teenage betters show that they spend between ₦1,000 (about $2) and ₦3,000 (about $7) on betting daily. But the jackpot rarely comes. At football viewing centres, customers are routinely warned about fighting. One operator of a viewing centre in Yola told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In recent times, we have witnessed <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325697911_Comfort_or_Conflict_Investigating_the_Attitude_and_Experiences_of_European_Football_Fans_in_Television_Viewing_Centers_in_Nigeria">outbreaks of violence</a> among our viewers. Some of these fights are over unresolved longstanding issues. Sometimes, it is as a result of anger sustained from major loss in football betting. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Football betting may also sometimes promote ritualism, especially the use of “good luck charms”. I spoke to one gambler who said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You cannot just go and put a huge amount of money into betting without any form of spiritual enhancement that will guarantee and insure you. If you do that without spiritual enhancement, you will just continually give your
money to bet companies with their managers and staff to feed fat on while you continue to stay broke. Even bet company operators use spiritual power to ensure that their clients do not win…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There have been calls from moralists, especially in religious circles, for the government to criminalise betting, especially football betting. I witnessed two such discussions during an Islamic preaching in Yola, Adamawa State. In fact, <a href="http://www.nigerianmonitor.com/borno-govt-urged-to-ban-football-betting-nigerian-monitor/">one state</a> has been urged to take the first step. I believe this is unlikely to be effective. It would only push betting into the background and make it more difficult for the government to regulate and control it. Government should instead pay more attention to widespread poverty and unemployment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saheed Babajide Owonikoko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What needs attention is the lack of opportunity that drives sports betting.Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Researcher, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/320672014-10-03T05:24:08Z2014-10-03T05:24:08ZHow malaria testing can get more people back into work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59914/original/nkygzdkx-1411563402.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the line of duty.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/poma/65996022/sizes/o/in/photolist-6Qfjs-kXLFF-6j4V1v-6Gb2Z5-4ioaXm-7yjVVu-o93Xa-8QzAgR-gTn9UR-8Qt1QU-8X5SBb-9iRKnP-edgeuy-edazgT-89a8Gr-edgeQ3-edazsr-edaATF-9RRXyz-9evah2-6eS8xc-fEikVu-55s2hZ-9mJFfk-9RRXyx-8X2SPn-8X2Lgx-euudVR-9eva6t-9eyfns-8X5Uwb-hwVTyb-5S37yc-f6mA23-c449PS-c449Bq-ddDzb-6QfmM-6Qfkb-6Qfm2-6wTH1Z-dnry6W-dnrvWw-fD5Wo3-p2LmLg-dh2L7M-dnrsfx-dnruQk-dnryAu-dnrv2n-9EQa6k/">Martapiqs</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Malaria is frequently cited as one of the biggest killers of young children in Africa. Yet rarely, do we hear about its impact on working-age adults and the economic impact of the disease. </p>
<p>While malaria-related deaths among adults <a href="http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/world_malaria_report_2013/report/en/">have fallen substantially since 2000</a>, people with malaria find their ability to go to work and support themselves and their families severely affected. People who work in agriculture may be particularly at risk of disease, as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/jun/19/malaria-agriculture-irrigation-africa">irrigation can be fertile ground</a> for mosquito breeding. The <a href="http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/workingpapers/pdfs/csae-wps-2014-13.pdf">cost of work days lost</a> as well as lower productivity among those who continue to work while ill is also significant, both for individuals and their employers. </p>
<p>Early treatment can provide an effective check to lost productivity – so how do we make sure more people have access to it? <a href="http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/workingpapers/pdfs/csae-wps-2014-13.pdf">We have been working in Nigeria</a> on a programme that offers affordable, private malaria testing and treatment for sugar cane cutters at a large sugar cane plantation in Adamawe State. </p>
<p>We found that the programme increased workers’ income by on average 10% over a three-week period by increasing on-the-job productivity and labour supply. As well as allowing people who tested positive for malaria to get treated and return to work sooner, the project also increased information available to workers and helped them to avoid falling ill in the first place.</p>
<p>Since the symptoms of malaria are very general, it may be hard to self-diagnose – and a formal test provides them with hard information. Workers who were surprised to find out that they did not have malaria were more likely to then choose higher-return tasks (such as cutting) in the period following the news, moving out of tasks with lower effort and remuneration (such as scrabbling/collecting). </p>
<p>Despite these benefits, the use of private malaria healthcare by workers is low. So why aren’t workers who can afford it treating themselves?</p>
<h2>Paying for health</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60066/original/yzx3pqmm-1411657610.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In the field.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pieter Serneels</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>To answer this question <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/ES.J009636.1/read">a study</a>, funded by <a href="https://degrp.odi.org/">the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme</a>, measured the willingness of agricultural workers to pay for malaria services at their workplace. Sugar cane cutters were approached in random order and offered the option to be tested and treated for malaria twice during a six-week period, <a href="http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/9789241547925/en/">using treatment recommended</a> by the World Health Organisation. </p>
<p>Each worker was asked about their how much they were willing to pay for this service, then was invited to draw a price from a bag: they got access to the service at the price drawn if the worker’s willingness to pay exceeded or was equal to the price drawn. If the worker won access, he then paid for the service, knowing there was no refund, even if he did not fall ill or if he chose not to use the service. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59912/original/fph4hsqy-1411562624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Working out a fair price.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shardayyy/4694963599/sizes/l/in/photolist-89SV7g-3SQR1-8apyLN-8aZWeL-a7otEr-PDUrJ-6CzyVN-d9Fq3s-d9FpPG-PEuCz-PDUWy-PEvn4-3KNBRH-PEuXx-N9zyp-PEvvM-PEve6-5f3qMq-dfDS9W-5grz49-5bKQN9-4RVPWS-4jdvEe-PDVq7-3ptEcV-4YV1Uv-4RVRcJ-5Ub754-4RVNDU-PDUnd-4L2TKT-4cdsSY-PDUgu-PDVjU-PEuDF-PDV13-PDV5o-PDVc9-PEuZV-PEuUM-48TJHs-dcQRHT-eaZYRu-PDV9E-PDUSs-7xLULp-3UuZrb-4b8Va8-3ErT7p-3SQPD-xnB2i/">Shardayyy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In general workers’ willingness to pay is modest, at ₦350 Naira on average, slightly more than US$2. However, the study showed that an important section of workers were willing to pay more, typically because they had higher than average levels of information about malaria – how you get infected, how to avoid it and what to do when you have it – or because they had suffered from malaria in the past month. Workers who showed more trust in the service were also willing to pay more.</p>
<p>While many workers are initially willing to pay a modest price, as they accumulate information about the service and its benefits, and build trust, they become more likely to buy the service in the future. Information, as well as cost and trust, are key factors in helping people protect themselves from malaria. </p>
<p>Malaria eradication is now a major global effort and in the absence of affordable universal healthcare in many African countries, <a href="http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Malaria.pdf">healthcare that can be accessed at work</a> can make important contributions to the system. By improving access to care, it renders direct benefits for workers in the short run.</p>
<p>Subsidising this type of care to bring the price low enough to appeal to workers (below ₦500 in this case) can also yield long-term benefits, as it may prompt increased take-up in the future as workers gain trust in the reliability and cost-effectiveness of the treatment for their own livelihoods.</p>
<h2>Agricultural health</h2>
<p>While agriculture is often touted as a critical source of growth for Africa, the link between health and agricultural productivity is frequently overlooked; yet it is a crucial one. </p>
<p>A recent workshop with malaria experts and policy makers in Abuja demonstrated enthusiasm for this workplace-based approach from employers and national policymakers, as well as employees. It also emphasised the promise of mixed funding – where government, employers and workers each contribute towards covering the cost of malaria care. </p>
<p>This may prove a more attractive prospect for governments and donors, especially as increased take-up by workers would gradually reduce the need for subsidies over time. Ultimately, minimising the impact of malaria on people’s livelihoods and productivity stands to benefit everyone, not just those who are spared the sore symptoms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Malaria is frequently cited as one of the biggest killers of young children in Africa. Yet rarely, do we hear about its impact on working-age adults and the economic impact of the disease. While malaria-related…Pieter Serneels, Associate Professor of Economics, University of East AngliaAndrew Dillon, Assistant Professor, Michigan State UniversityOladele Akogun, Professor of Public Health, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/262002014-05-02T13:18:54Z2014-05-02T13:18:54ZTeaching under siege in Nigeria gripped by fear of Boko Haram<p>The world is waking up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/boko-haram-the-terror-group-that-kidnapped-200-schoolgirls-25931">Boko Haram</a>. More than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the classes last month remain missing. A car bomb in Abuja on May 1 <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27249097">killed at least 19 people</a>.</p>
<p>I live in fear of Boko Haram. The group’s insurgency began in Nigeria in 2009. Yola in Adamawa state, where I live and teach history, is relatively calm at the moment. But since the imposition of a state of emergency in 2013 many of my colleagues have fled. </p>
<p>The University of Maiduguri in neighbouring Borno state is in a worse situation. At least three of its professors have been killed and one abducted within this period. Many students have withdrawn, teachers relocated, and academic exchange even with other Nigerian universities has virtually ceased. During a one-year sabbatical that I took there in 2012, it was shut down for six months.</p>
<p>Following Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s reiteration that <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/24/world/africa/nigeria-kidnapping-answers/">all schools are targets</a>, we are all living in fear. </p>
<h2>Education forbidden</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/west-africa/nigeria/216-curbing-violence-in-nigeria-ii-the-boko-haram-insurgency.aspx">Figures released</a> by the International Crisis Group indicate that more than 4,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began. The war has displaced more than half a million inhabitants, ravaged the economy of an already impoverished region and put stress on relations between Muslims and Christians as well as among Muslims. </p>
<p>Education has been singled out for violent attacks with lethal regularity since early 2012. No less than 20 schools have been burnt. These burnings, which started as revenge for the military’s assault on <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/03/07/nigeria-boko-haram-targeting-schools">Islamic schools at Maiduguri in January 2012</a>, have since escalated and become a war strategy of Boko Haram.</p>
<p>The attacks on schools can be explained even though they cannot be justified. The Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Liddawa’ati wal Jihad, better known as Boko Haram, has not hidden its disdain and opposition to western education. Its name Boko Haram is often roughly translated as “western education is forbidden”. </p>
<p>The group ascribes the rot in governance, corruption, conspicuous consumption of the ruling class as well as their exclusion and marginality in contemporary Nigerian society to western education and the secular system it gave rise to. </p>
<p>The educated elites, especially in northern Nigeria, have not been good role models in the eyes of their uneducated compatriots. This is because they are living examples of corruption, conspicuous consumption and oppression of their unlettered compatriots and co-religionists.</p>
<p>As a result of their <a href="http://world.time.com/2013/10/21/is-nigeria-winning-the-battle-against-boko-haram/">dislodgement from urban Maiduguri</a> in June 2013, with help of the youth vigilante group dubbed the civilian JTF, the Boko Haram insurgents have declared inhabitants of these cities as enemies. </p>
<p>The attack on schools and unarmed civilians is a new and dangerous phase of the insurgency. In one year, between July 2013 and February 2014, at least two secondary schools were attacked leading to the cold-blooded murder of no less than 100 children at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23209181">Mamudo</a> and <a href="http://www.channelstv.com/2014/02/25/students-killed-in-fresh-school-attack-in-yobe/">Buni Yadi</a> in Yobe state. </p>
<p>Schools are government institutions and are often not well-defended. They are vulnerable to insurgent attacks. The nationwide outcry that accompanies such school attacks brings home the weakness of the Nigerian state. </p>
<p>These attacks have forced the affected state governments to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/03/schools-shut-prevent-boko-haram-attacks-20143615264765350.html">close down schools and colleges</a> for prolonged periods. This is in an area that is reckoned to be <a href="http://www.education-inequalities.org/countries/nigeria#?dimension=region&group=all&year=latest">educationally poor-performing</a> even by Nigerian standards. </p>
<p>Low school enrolment – <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/146560-northern-states-nigerias-worst-girl-child-education-report.html">especially of girls</a> – low retention rates, high number of out of school children, and grinding poverty already characterise northern Nigeria.</p>
<h2>Anger at abduction</h2>
<p>The abduction of school girls at <a href="http://www.weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php/top-stories/15722-fear-as-insurgents-abduct-young-girls-in-konduga">Konduga</a> in February, and the April 15 abduction of 234 girls at <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-15/gunmen-in-nigeria-kidnap-more-than-100-schoolgirls-in-northeast.html">Chibok</a>, in an area already under a state of emergency for one year, has exposed the futility of government counter insurgency strategy. </p>
<p>It brings to the fore the vulnerability of all citizens and exposes the inability of the state to effectively counter the insurgency, despite the stupendous amount of money and manpower directed at the efforts. </p>
<p>Parents of these abducted children, government officials, civil society organisations and all well meaning Nigerians have condemned the abductions. Women’s groups <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-nigeria-chibok-schoolgirl-kidnappings-boko-haram">have organised protest marches</a> across Nigeria’s major cities in order to keep the issue on the front burner. </p>
<p>The military has assured the population that they are on the trail of the insurgents and will soon rescue the girls. But no one seems to believe them. Their record on rescue operations, scuttling Boko Haram attacks or arresting perpetrators of such violence is dismal or non-existent. </p>
<p>The information that the girls had been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27206449">parcelled out to insurgent bases</a> in Chad, Cameroon and Niger has reduced the hopes of their being rescued. In all probability the insurgents could use these girls for sex and as cooks. Should Nigeria fail to rescue them, it should brace for even more attacks, like the bombings in Abuja.</p>
<p>The escalation of this insurgency caught the security agencies unprepared. Attempts to quell the insurgency have been uncoordinated, exacerbated by bitter rivalry between the different armed services and agencies. On top of this, <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/amnesty-international-security-agencies-boko-haram-have-committed-war-crimes/174974/">several incidences of extra-judicial killings</a>, detention without trial, torture, burning of villages, looting and rape of women have all inflamed rather than contained the violence.</p>
<h2>Lack of political will</h2>
<p>The situation in the northeast is very complex. The most important ingredients for resolution of the emergency are political will on the side of the government – currently in short supply. </p>
<p>The government must be willing to address the underlying grievances, open channels for dialogue with sect members that are open to it, and vigorously follow up on a new strategy of soft options such as infrastructure and education investment. </p>
<p>The insurgency has set back education in an area with some of the world’s worst levels of education and human development. For many children in these communities, education remains their surest way out of poverty and destitution. The fear of Boko Haram has forced many parents to withdraw their children from schools, and this can only add to an already explosive mix of the large pool of uneducated and unemployed youth and debilitating poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyari Mohammed has received research funding from the Institute for French Research in Africa and similar works with MacArthur Foundation. </span></em></p>The world is waking up to Boko Haram. More than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the classes last month remain missing. A car bomb in Abuja on May 1 killed at least 19 people. I live in fear of Boko Haram…Kyari Mohammed, Chair, Centre for Peace and Security Studies, Modibbo Adama University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.