AN OPEN LETTER TO MTN

This open letter was published in Blueprint Newspaper of 18/02/16 tagged: 'Letter To MTN' and on www.memorilacom tagged:'MTN: Last Plea Before I. Port'.

I'm sick of it. I'm  prostrated by the inconveniences I have been subjected to for quite many years, Without my knowledge, you steal money from my account and forcefully subscribe me to your caller tunes. I followed the instruction to opt out, but after successfully opting out, you register me again at a later time. You give me poor BBC Blackberry monthly subscription and poor call network. More so, you send me junks of useless text messages about your seductive promos and raffles. As a Muslim, you send me Christian messages that have nothing to do with me or my faith. And to add fuel to fire, a fortnight ago you sent me messages calling me to go and register my sim card, even though I suffered all the hustles involved in sim registration and successfully registered since last year. I patiently and quietly went and registered within five hours! The following day after you confirmed my registration to me, you sent another message to me that reads: 'Dear Customer, we are open this Saturday & Sunday. Please URGENTLY visit any MTN registration center to re-register your SIM. Very FAST service guaranteed. Text REG to 64625 for the center nearest to you. Valid ID required. Thank you.' Stop this madness to 08132518714, my number!

Before I resorted to put pen to paper, I visited MTN offices time without number and complained, but you had never attended to me convincingly. Every time I went to your office, I had to join the long queue of customers and patiently wait. Many times, I engaged in discussions with some customers on our collective predicaments. In the course of the discussion, some had shared with me their ordeals in your hand, MTN, which was mostly as the same as mine. At times, some of these customers leave the office foaming at the mouth. I could vividly recall an incidence that transpired between one angry customer and your customer care agent. Having waited in the queue for more than five hours for his number to be called which will enable him to be attended to by one of the customer agents, he was called and attended to. The frown on his face when he stood away from the chair facing the agent and the aggression in his movement indicated that something outward was definitely going to take place. What he did was tearing his copy of the re-registration form in his hand, threw them on the ground and made a long hiss before he walked out, murmuring.

Apart from going to your offices, I equally called your online customer care agent severally. I would wait for an hour or so before I was attended to online, yet you couldn't solve my problem. Recently, I posted a warning to you on my Facebook timeline and on other online fora that you either stop the madness or else...And you couldn't heed to the warning. Only this morning Saturday (13/02/16), you sent ten messages to me telling me to go and re-register. This is unethical! One of the messages, which you sent to me twice is threatening and it reads: 'Dear customer, to avoid being BARRRED this month,please register now at any MTN SIM Reg point.'.

Well, take note my callers pls! I love the MTN but I think 'I have to love them and leave them' having being patronizing them for over a decade without required customer satisfaction, in their over two decades of existence in Nigeria. In case I swap the telecommunication company, forgive me for any inconvenience doing that may course to you, for that is something courtesy of MTN! And the alternative should be my other number pls. MTN, let me put it clear to you, STOP deducting money from my account for a caller tune I didn't subscribe to. STOP giving us poor network for BBC and calls, STOP sending messages that has nothing to do with my religion and of course STOP sending messages calling me to go and re-register!

Before I shut the door at you, let me assure you that I can continue being in the list of your subscribers, provided you resolve my complaints above. At this juncture, I call on the National Assembly, the Human Right Commission, National Communication Commission, Consumer Protection Council and all other concerned authorities to come in and cement the bad rapport between us and the MTN.

This piece was published on 18/02/16 in Blueprint newspaper.

(C) Bello Sagir Imam 2016.
08132518714/belsagim@gmail.com/www.b>ellosagirimam.blogspot.com

CC:

MTN Nigeria Ltd.
National Assembly
Human Right Commission
National Communication Commission Consumer Protection Council

SICKLE CELL ANEMIA: PRE-MARITAL SCREENING, A THREAT TO LOVERS? -NASEEBA SANI BABALE

Nigeria has the largest population of people with sickle cell anaemia in the world with about 150,000 births annually. Statistics show that over 40m (one fourth) of Nigerians are carriers of the sickle cell gene. Despite this large number of people with this disorder, a lot of Nigerians still have a negative image and/or lack of awareness of it. Most lovers in the peak of love are reluctant to undergoing a pre-marital screening and refuse to let go of partners of whom they have a potential of giving birth to sickle cell anaemic children, just because their unadulterated love would not allow it.

Sickle cell disease occurs when a person inherits two abnormal haemoglobin genes, one from each parent. This abnormal haemoglobin is called haemoglobin "S". Inheritance of two haemoglobin S genes makes a person to have the SS combination. Thus the haemoglobin produced is abnormal and the person develops sickle cell anaemia.
Like all other inherited disorders, sickle cell anaemia is not curable! However, this deadly disease can be prevented only through pre-marital screening and counseling. Sickle cell anaemia is a disease that keeps its culprits, mostly children and young adults entangled in life-long episodes of intense pain and discomfort. They are rarely completely healthy, spending most of their days on hospital beds, swallowing medications and having blood transfused through their veins almost all the time. They also suffer a lot of social discrimination, psychological pains including depression. Their parents and loved ones are also involved in this pains. These includes financial challenges. They experience several sleepless nights nursing their sick kids, always running to and fro the hospital and their kids spend most of their times out of school rather than in school with their colleagues.

The normal haemoglobin is haemoglobin A, while two abnormal haemoglobins are most common, haemoglobins S and C. individuals with a combination of A and C or A and S are termed carriers of sickle cell trait. They are usually healthy and rarely present with any complications. Individuals with a combination of A and A have a normal haemoglobin type, while those with S AND C, C and C or S and S have the sickle cell anaemia! Couples that have the AC and AS combination, AC and AS combination or AC and AC combination have a high chance of giving birth to sickle cell kids! Individuals with the SS, CC or SC combination should only get married to an AA as that is the only way they can avoid giving birth to a child with similar condition as their own!

The only solution to preventing incidences of SCA is pre-marital screening. It is obligatory upon all individuals to know their haemoglobin genotype that is for them to know the type of haemoglobin combination they possess and to know the right partner for them.

It`s mandatory on us all to join hands and save the future generation, we must sacrifice whatever love we feel we have for each other as far as we have a potential of giving birth to a child with sickle cell anaemia. Let`s save our future from episodes of pain and hospitalization. Let`s save ourselves the financial and emotional burden associated with nursing a child with sickle cell anaemia. If we let our love leads us to the birth of sick children that suffer their entire lives in pain, those children will never forgive us when they come to know that we had a way of preventing their suffering, but didn`t because our love wouldn`t allow it! Let us all make a sickle cell anaemia free Nigeria possible!
NASIBA SANI BABALE, 2015.

Naseeba Sani Babale is medical laboratory scientist doing her internship with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH).