The Amazing Fluted Pumpkin Vegetable Leaves and Fruits

The Amazing Fluted Pumpkin Vegetable Leaves and Fruits

ICMS, Inc. Reports
By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

The fluted pumpkin fruit in this picture was one of many harvested recently from a relative's farm. It aroused my thoughts about this incredible amazing vegetable vine.

Fluted pumpkin or Gourd is a common tropical vine vegetable grown in Nigeria and across West Africa. Both the leaves and the fruit seeds are edible and widely consumed in Nigeria, especially in the southern Nigerian states. It is one of the most widely eaten leafy vegetables among southern Nigeria’s Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, and Annang tribes, who use it for both culinary and medicinal purposes.

Its biological name is Telfairia occidentalis but it is called by many different names by the local populations that consume it. Common tribal names used to refer to this plant in the south are Ubong, Ugu, Umee, ikong-ubong, Umwenkhen ugwu etc.

When young, the fruits of a fluted pumpkin look very green, but as they ripen, the fruit turns yellow and finally cloudy white upon ripening. Generally, mature fruits weigh as much as 6kg to 7kg. The seeds are encased within a fleshy fibrous bright-yellow endoscarp. Seeds in outline are compressed ovoid, about 4.5 cm long, black or brown-red colored, and asymmetrically ovate. 

The leaves are used to prepare various tantalizing soup dishes in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States of Nigeria such as edikang ikong and okra soups. The plant is known to have many nutritional and health benefits. The leaves are not bitter-tasting and can be easily consumed raw or cooked with other food ingredients.  The leaves are low in calories but contain high amounts of vitamins, iron, and calcium. The freshly juiced leaves can be taken as a blood tonic by someone feeling ill or just weak. This is why pregnant women and lactating mothers are encouraged to consume plenty of the leaves. 

Medically, the plant is used to treat convulsion, malaria, anemia, and cardiovascular diseases. The health benefits of this plant leaves are so numerous that it is probably a significant latent cause of good health among Nigerians. I say this because the leaves of fluted pumpkin are very high in protein and eaten frequently can act as a protein vitamin supplement for the body’s daily requirement.

While the leaves and seeds of this plant are edible, it is astonishing that research alleges that the roots are poisonous and not fit for human consumption.

The health benefits of fluted pumpkin are many and include the following: Good for the digestive system, Blood purifier, Treats Anemia, Treatment of Infertility, Treats Malaria, Prevents Diabetes, Prevents Kidney Diseases, Helps Nursing Mothers, Reduces Stress, Prevents Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia, Boost Immune System, Improves Memory, Improves Blood Production.

________________________

All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc. (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc., is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York

 

Say Goodbye to Trump’s Cabinet

 

Say Goodbye to Trump’s Cabinet by "Now This"

It's not just Trump leaving the White House in January — say goodbye to all his lackeys, too

-------------------------------------------------

After more than a week of continuing mail in and absentee ballot vote counting after the November 3, 2020 general elections and rankling in the remaining battle states of Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona etc.; the vote tally for the US 2020 election is now complete. Consequently most of the major media outlets including CNN, MSNBC, BBC etc. have now called the outstanding states and predict electoral vote count of 306 in favor of President Elect, Mr. Joe Biden and 232 electoral votes in favor of President Mr. Donald Trump. This gives President Elect, Joe Biden a very clear victory over President Donald Trump. 

Nevertheless and the facts notwithstanding, President Trump is yet to concede and many other Republicans continue to back him.

The video by "Now This" below is a narrative and synopsis of the prominent people who served in the Trump Administration that will be departing the Whitehouse in January, 2021 with him.

Nigeria's railways modernization project employs its first female train driver

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

Nigeria started its standard gauge railway modernization projects (SGRMP) with the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.  A standard railway gauge line connecting Nigeria’s federal capital city Abuja with Kaduna its commercial capital enables goods and people between the two cities to move at a faster pace.

In February 2011, the construction of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line started and was finished in December 2014 with financial support of China.

In July 2016, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurated the line for commercial services. China Civil and Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), which is constructing the Lagos Rail Mass Transit System also built the rail line for the Nigerian Federal Government.

It is hoped that Nigeria’s railway modernization projects will help develop a badly infrastructure network in Nigeria and in the process ease dependence on poor roads in the country and help create badly needed jobs for the teaming unemployed in the country. The Abuja-Kaduna rail line modernization projects (SGRMP) in Nigeria employed an estimated 4,000 people and is projected to create over 5,000 additional jobs during its operation.

Standard gauge railway modernization projects in Nigeria

A significant obstacle to Nigeria’s economic development has been the lack of adequate infrastructure. The first of the country’s standard gauge railway modernization projects, accommodating high-speed rail lines is expected to bolster Africa’s largest economy as railways make a comeback after many decades of negligence.

Nigeria has been modernizing its railways and is currently undertaking the modernization of its standard gauge railways.

In 2006 the federal government awarded $8.3bn contract to CCECC for the Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project. This was the beginning of the standard gauge modernization project.

The project soon ran into funding difficulties which prevented its implementation. The initiative was then scaled down and re-scoped into different standalone segments. As a consequence, the existing 1,124km narrow-gauge Lagos-Kano line was rehabilitated. As part of the Lagos-Kano standard gauge project, the Abuja-Kaduna segment has been implemented.

First female train driver in Nigeria Ms. Isa Fatima Abiola

The railways modernization project also scored a first by employing the first female train driver in Nigeria Ms. Isa Fatima Abiola. She is a role model and trend setter for young women. In this video, she explains how she got involved with this opportunity and encourages other Nigerian young women to take on the challenge. 

The initiative to modernize Nigeria's railways seeks to exchange the current narrow gauge system with the wider standard gauge system. This will enable high speed trains to operate on the railway network under construction. Nigeria's high speed train will first be operated on the Lagos to Ibadan route.

Railway development in Nigeria began over 100 years ago by the Colonial British government in order to help it move Nigeria’s rich agricultural products from the northern parts of the country to the southern ports in the south on their way to the United Kingdom. With the rise of oil production in Nigeria in the 1950's and the country’s dependence oil revenues for economic development, there was deemphasize by the Nigerian government on the export of agricultural produce in the 1970s. Dependence on oil revenues coupled with government policy neglect and mismanagement caused the Nigeria’s railway system to fall into a state of shabbiness.  

As of 2009, annual passenger rail trips in Nigeria had dropped from its 1963 high level of about 11 million to just over million passengers.

________________________

All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc, is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York

President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris Election Victory Speeches

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

Both President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris tonight November 7, 2020 delivered impressive speeches to a large crowd of supporters and the nation in Wilmington, Delaware.  VP Elect Kamala Harris delivered her speech first and then introduced President Elect Joe Biden.

The incoming president Joe Biden spoke very frankly from the heart to a deeply divided American nation pleading for unity and understanding after four years of turmoil. He pledged to be a president that seeks to unite and not to divide the nation.  Biden said: “with full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country and a thirst for justice let us be the nation that we know we can be. Biden stated that he seeks “a nation united, a nation strengthened... and a nation healed.”

Pleading with supporters of Trump in his speech Biden stated: “For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself. But now, let’s give each other a chance,”

Vice President Elect Kamala Harris ushers in a “New Day for America” in her victory speech.

Addressing her supporters on Saturday night, Harris began her speech by thanking voters for “turning out in record numbers to make your voices heard” and ushering in a “new day for America.” Her speech gave her supporters and America a glimpse into her and Biden’s vision of hope for America.

 In her speech, she said:

“Now is when the real work begins. The good work. The necessary work. The essential work to root out systemic racism in our justice system and society, to combat the climate crisis, and to unite our country and heal the soul of our nation.”

Kamala Harris is the first female and colored woman to be elected as vice president elect in America.

In her history making moment and speech, she called attention to her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris who was a scientist and an Indian immigrant. She also paid tribute to “Black women, Asian, white, Latina and Native American women, whom she said “throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight.”

________________________

All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc, is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York.

Jubilation erupts all over the United States as Joe Biden is declared President elect of the United States

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

Huge buckets of mail in and absentee ballots trending in favor of Joe Biden in US 2020 Election.

Impact of Mail in and Provisional ballots in the 2020 US elections.

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

Perhaps Trump’s strategy or expectation was that the election would be called in his favor and he could declare victory in many critical states where he was ahead in vote counts. This expectation is obvious and manifest especially in the critical battle states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia etc. where Trump was ahead before all votes were counted.

Listen to his son Eric Trump in the video below here who insists that his father Trump is the winner and the democrats are fraudulently stealing the election result from him. Either his claim is based on ignorance of the ballot counting process or this was a deliberately flawed strategy of the Trump campaign. It appears that the campaign wanted and preferred their voting base to do walk in voting on November 3, 2020. 

While there is nothing wrong with this traditional method of people walking in to vote on the exact Election Day, everything is different this election year because of the Covid-19 (corona virus) pandemic and its associated fears. Because of the pandemic and fears of infection, most voters and especially a majority of democratic and minority voters opted to vote early and through mail in ballots to cast their votes.

Naturally and historically, many states and voting districts count and release their results of walk in balloting first and this appeared in many states and especially in red Republican states like Arizona, Georgia etc. to give the Trump campaign a large lead in voter counts. In some cases Trump was leading in many district counts as high as 60 to 80 percent vote counts.  

Milwaukee Election Commission worker
processes and sorts absentee ballots.

What the Trump strategy perhaps failed to take into consideration was the fact that in places like Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania the remaining amount or batch of uncounted votes consisted of huge pockets or “buckets of mail in ballots” that would be trending in favor of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

As the counting of absentee and mail in ballots continues and Trumps lead continues to narrow, the suspense grows as we all watch Joe Biden overtake trumps voter count leads in more of the critical battle states like Wisconsin, Michigan etc.  Mail in ballots in the scale we have witnessed in the 2020 US general elections this years election is unprecedented and counting of ballots is taking days now and creating great anxiety in the US population. Many states like Navada say they are amazed at the scale of the delivery of mail in ballots from the US postal service to election administrators. This explains why the Trump campaign is suing to stop the counting of mail in ballot votes which favors Joe Biden in the critical battle states. 

________________________ 

All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc, is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York.

US special forces rescue an American citizen Philip Walton in Nigeria kidnapped on Tuesday from his home in neighboring Niger.

 

US Government working with the Nigerian and Niger governments rescued an American citizen Philip Walton in northern Nigeria on Saturday October 31, 2020.

ICMS, Inc. Reports 

By Tom Okure, Ph.D.

A 27 years old US citizen by name Philip Walton was rescued by US navy seals in an operation on Saturday in northern Nigeria. The operation was conducted jointly by the US government in collaboration with Nigerian and Niger governments working together.

US navy seals image

All but one of the kidnappers are believed to have been killed in the operation in northern Nigeria.

Phillip Walton and his family have lived in Niger for about 30 years raising sheep, poultry and camels in a border town in Niger near Nigeria.  The abductors are alleged to have been six men riding motorcycles and equipped with assault rifles who arrived at the Walton’s home in southern Niger’s Massalata village early on Tuesday. The kidnappers demanded money and searched their home before leaving with Phillip Walton. His wife, young daughter and brother were left behind.

Intelligence provided by the CIA led to Walton's whereabouts while US African Marine Special Operations helped to locate Walton by tracking the abductors mobile phone.

US president Trump in a statement while campaigning in Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon said: “Last night, at my direction, the United States military conducted a successful operation to rescue an American hostage in Nigeria, kidnapped just 96 hours earlier. United States Special Forces executed a daring nighttime operation to rescue their fellow American with exceptional skill, precision and bravery … The former hostage is currently in good health and has been reunited with his family….”

In another statement Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state said: “The United States is committed to the safe return of all US citizens taken captive. We delivered on that commitment late last night in Nigeria … We will never abandon any American taken hostage.”

________________________ 

All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc, is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York.