The year I became celibate
Nigerians are at a higher risk of contracting HIV in 2025
Good morning, Big Brains. The weekend is almost upon us, and I’m desperately looking forward to it because I have four whole episodes of Stranger Things to binge-watch. Oh, I can’t wait!
- Margaret
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Reading time ~ 6 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Nigerians are at a higher risk of contracting HIV in 2025
The Nigerian government wants students to get comfy with online classes
The Big Deal
Nigerians are at a higher risk of contracting HIV in 2025
You’ve heard the “prevention is better than cure” line so much that it now sounds like a cliché. But you might want to take it more seriously because Nigeria has given you another nasty problem that only prevention can protect you from.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of free condoms distributed in Nigeria dropped by 55% between last December and March this year. If you’re not disturbed by this, let’s put things into perspective for you — more than half of the protection people depend on has disappeared, and the consequences aren’t small.
UNAIDS said it has lost count of the people who have died from AIDS, mostly because millions of Nigerians have also lost access to life-saving HIV medication since Donald Trump cut aid. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one of the countries suffering from the consequences of this heavy dependence on foreign aid. UNAIDS says the actual number of affected people is still unclear because data collection is ongoing, but it’s already been confirmed that things are bad, bad.
Why is this a big deal?
HIV and Nigeria are already like 5 and 6. In 2024, we had at least 2 million people living with HIV in the country. Before Trump became president, Nigeria got used to being America’s favourite urgent 2k scrounger. In 2023 alone, the country received at least $1 billion in foreign aid from the Biden-led administration.
As of 2022, 80% of the money Nigeria spent on HIV treatments came from foreign aid. So obviously, things got really messy after Trump decided to withdraw aid. Actually, messy is a very subtle way to put it; things are outrightly dangerous now. Millions of Nigerian citizens can no longer access antiretroviral drugs easily.
As if that isn’t bad enough, we’re now dealing with a shortage of free condoms, aka one of the most effective protections against HIV, aka that extremely important sexual healthcare item that we still can’t convince enough Nigerians to spend their money on. This could increase Nigeria’s already heavy HIV burden and expose more people to risks.
Even when condoms were free and easily distributed at healthcare and youth centres, only 26% of Nigerians wore them consistently to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Imagine how bad things could get if the accessibility factor is suddenly taken away because our government can’t find a domestic substitute for foreign aid.
Beyond HIV, this drop in the distribution of condoms could also contribute to Nigeria’s rising population rate. The aid cut from USAID already reduced the accessibility of low-income Nigerians to contraceptive options, so if we don’t agree on a national celibacy enforcement bill, we’re going to be one hell of an overpopulated nation soon.
We hope the Nigerian government steps up soon, and fills the funding gap left by USAID.
The Nigerian government wants students to get comfy with online classes
President Tinubu wears all the hats these days, but the one he’s wearing today is the innovator/disruptor hat. True to his promise to renew everybody’s hope by fire, by force, the Tinubu-led administration wants to introduce a new education system that you’d either really hate or love.
The Federal Government has officially launched Inspire Live(s), a real-time online learning system that’s designed to make education digital for every Nigerian child.
According to Boriowo Folasade, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Ministry of Education, this thing isn’t just another fancy government initiative. Inspire Live(s) will stream daily to students nationwide.
The Ministry says the programme is here to eliminate two of Nigeria’s biggest academic problems, like the chronic shortage of qualified teachers and the constant disruption to schooling.
The Minister of Education, Chief Maruf Tunji Alausa, confirmed that full implementation has already started and will eventually cover all classes from Primary 1 to SS3. For now, classes are running for JSS1, JSS2 and SS2 every Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., delivered by certified master teachers via Cisco Webex.
Students currently have access to a wide range of subjects. For JSS classes: Basic Science, Mathematics, English Language, ICT, Agricultural Science, Basic Technology, Civic Education, French, Physical Education, Religious Studies, History and Business Studies. For SS classes: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English Language, Mathematics, Economics, Geography, Agricultural Science, Technical Drawing or Catering Craft, Civic Education and Automobile Mechanics.
The platform is open to both public and private schools nationwide, and any school or stakeholder who needs help or more details has been directed to the Inspire website and support desk officers.
We love that the government is trying to drag Nigeria’s education system into the digital age, but we wonder how inclusive it is. We’re not aware of any data or electricity stipend to make sure that kids from low-income families actually get access to the platform, so again, how inclusive is this thing?
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It would be hard for President Tinubu to sleep well at night in the coming year, because if what the World Food Programme (WFP) is saying is true, Nigerians will be calling for his head every day.