Deep Thought

 Solar System: Mission to Touch the Sun II   By   Prof. MK Othman,   This is a continuation of last week's article "Solar System: Mission to Touch the Sun", which might have left many readers amazed at the level of seriousness of scientists exploring the universe. One may be surprised to know that the mission is costing a princely amount of 1.5 billion US dollars to American taxpayers to make the mission possible. The level of human enthusiasm; NASA's support from American citizens and scientists worldwide; and the high level of expectation to solve the incomprehensible and mysterious mysteries surrounding this giant star known as "Sun."The mission's goal was to build Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft that would orbit the sun at a distance of 6 million kilometers from the sun's surface, between the sun and Mercury, but closer to the sun than Mercury.This is expected to happen in 2024, two years from now, and will be the closest man–made object to the ...

 Solar System: Mission to Touch the Sun   By   Prof. MK Othman   Four years ago, precisely on Sunday, 12 August 2018, the most amazing international news was NASA’s 'mission to touch the sun,' by the major International News Outlets; CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, and a host of others. NASA is the acronym for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is a famous American agency with a clear vision of space exploration. NASA's boldly written Vision is “We reach for new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind”. This vision is diligently being pursued with billions of US Dollars on annual basis. A space mission to the moon, Mars or any other planet may be considered a human adventure in man’s craving for acquiring terrestrial knowledge for human advancement. Thanks to this continuous adventure as the world has turned into a global village by ICT, the byproduct of this adventure. Today, many people nurse the “crazy” idea of transferring people to the...

 Nigeria’s Calamitous Movement: Which Way Out? II By Prof. MK Othman   This is a corollary to last week’s piece in which economic and security issues were discussed. Today, I am dwelling on the education and health sectors. Educationally, the drift is so glaring that Nigerians have no confidence in primary and secondary school levels of education. NECO and SSE results have lost their meanings alongside their values and importance. “Miracles centers” and high-level sharp practices have rendered the results from NECO and SSE almost useless. Some of us in the university system are no longer impressed with the number of credits a child has in his/her NECO or SSE results. some parents believe in bribing their way for their children to pass exams even at the tertiary level through monetary inducement and other gratifications. In the end, such students undergo prescribed educational programs without obtaining the relevant knowledge of the subjects. Paper qualifications without the kn...

 Nigeria’s Calamitous Movement: Which Way Out? By Prof. MK Othman Nigeria is calamitously moving to the abyss of anarchy with the serious tendency of tragic disintegration. Life is becoming unbearable to a common man by the day. To many Nigerians, the daily essentials for a good or even manageable living are difficult to afford and access.  Prices of necessities; rent, food, transportation, health services, electricity, water rate, and the rest have all skyrocketed to high heaven with seemingly no effort from any corner to bring the prices down. People are at the mercy of producers and traders. At the beginning of this year’s (2022) Ramadan, the Chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Isyaku Rabiu warned the dealers against the hike of commodities prices, threatening to withdraw the dealership license of anyone found hiking prices of the commodities. “The company had directed that any of the dealers found increasing the price of the commodities is bound to lose his license”. Th...