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Across much of Africa, sunshine is an everyday feature of life, yet many people pay more attention to heat exhaustion and dehydration than to another, invisible threat: ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

UV radiation cannot be seen or felt, but prolonged exposure can cause lasting damage to the skin and eyes. Its intensity varies according to location, season, altitude, cloud cover and time of day. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers a UV Index of 11 or higher ‘extreme’ and recommends sun protection whenever the index reaches 3 or above.

Exposure can be intensified when UV rays are reflected from surfaces such as sand, water and concrete. Although darker skin contains higher levels of protective melanin, it is not immune to damage. Excessive UV exposure has been linked to skin cancer, cataracts and immune-system damage, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies solar UV radiation as a Group 1 carcinogen.

Cosmetic dermatologist Dr Paula Fakhre, a graduate of St. George’s University, said many people mistakenly associate sun protection only with beach outings.

‘UV exposure is something we live with every single day,’ she said, explaining that driving, walking between buildings or sitting close to a window can all contribute to cumulative exposure.

Fakhre said UVA radiation can penetrate glass and reach deeper layers of the skin without causing immediate pain. Over time, the damage can contribute to wrinkles, dark spots and premature ageing.

She advised people to choose broad-spectrum sunscreen suited to their skin type, apply sufficient quantities and reapply regularly.

Understanding UVA, UVB and UVC

The sun produces three types of UV radiation. UVC has the shortest wavelength and highest energy, but almost all of it is absorbed by the ozone layer before reaching the Earth’s surface.

UVB has a medium wavelength and penetrates the outer layer of the skin. It is the primary cause of sunburn and directly damages DNA in skin cells. It also contributes significantly to non-melanoma skin cancers, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

UVA penetrates deeper into the dermis, where it can damage collagen and elastin. It contributes to photoaging, suppresses immune function and plays an important role in melanoma development. Unlike UVB, UVA passes through window glass and can expose people indoors or inside vehicles.

Understanding SPF

SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, measures protection against UVB and sunburn. SPF 30 blocks approximately 97 per cent of UVB rays, while SPF 50 blocks about 98 per cent. SPF does not, however, measure UVA protection.

Consumers should therefore look for products labelled ‘broad spectrum’ and, where available, a UVA rating or PA classification.

The protection stated on sunscreen labels assumes an application of 2 milligrams per square centimetre of skin. However, many people use only about half that amount, significantly reducing the protection they receive.

For the face and neck, the two-finger method is commonly recommended, while approximately 30-35 millilitres may be required for full-body coverage.

Sunscreen also needs regular reapplication because products can break down with sunlight or be removed by sweat, clothing and towel drying. No sunscreen is completely waterproof.

As UV Awareness Month highlights the importance of sun safety, experts are urging people across Africa to look beyond temperature and recognise the invisible risks posed by sunlight. Consistent use of broad-spectrum sunscreen, protective clothing, shade and other sun-safety measures can help reduce preventable skin and eye damage while allowing people to enjoy the outdoors safely.

Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s latest promise to work with governors to reduce public transport fares as a desperate and belated response to a cost-of-living crisis created by his own government.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the Federal Government’s CNG conversion figures as a damning reflection of the Tinubu administration’s performance, saying the government has unwittingly published its own scorecard of failure.

‘If Tinubu’s grand strategy for cushioning the consequences of his reckless and poorly thought-out subsidy removal is CNG conversion, then the admission that only about 120,000 vehicles have been converted in more than three years is not an achievement. It is an advertisement of policy failure.’

‘Against widely cited estimates of roughly 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads, 120,000 conversions amount to less than one per cent.

‘That is the government’s own number. That is Tinubu marking his own examination script.

‘If a student returned less than one per cent in his core subject, WAEC would not call it progress. No university would call it excellent performance. Yet Tinubu wants Nigerians to reward the political equivalent of that catastrophic score with another four years.

‘The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot afford another four years of monumental failure.’

Atiku said Tinubu’s declaration that ‘cheaper fuel should result in cheaper fares’ is equally a confession that the administration’s energy policy has been fundamentally disconnected from the daily survival of Nigerians.

‘For more than three years, Nigerians begged this government for relief. Tinubu removed subsidy without a credible cushioning framework, watched transport costs explode, watched food prices follow, watched businesses suffocate under crushing energy costs, and repeatedly told Nigerians that their suffering was the unavoidable price of reform.

‘Now that elections are approaching, and Nigerians are rallying behind Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a production-based subsidy to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis created by Tinubu, the same government that ridiculed and criticised Atiku’s plan has suddenly discovered that Nigerians need cheaper transportation.

‘This is medicine after death. You cannot break a man’s leg, abandon him in pain for three and a half years, then return with crutches and demand applause for compassion. Tinubu created the transport crisis; CNG cannot now be packaged as heroism.’

Atiku said CNG expansion may be desirable, but warned that an alternative fuel cannot be presented as the solution to a purchasing-power crisis.

‘CNG can make a converted bus cheaper to operate. It cannot make a poor Nigerian richer.

‘That distinction demolishes the propaganda. Go to the motor parks. Nigerians are travelling less because they cannot afford to travel. Workers calculate whether transport to work will swallow their wages. Traders are buying less because transportation is eating into their capital. Students struggle with daily fares. Farmers pay heavily to move food from farms to markets.

‘So what exactly has Tinubu solved if the bus becomes cheaper to operate but the passenger has become too poor to enter it? ‘A cheaper bus without an affordable passenger is not economic recovery.’

Atiku said the government’s celebration of 120,000 conversions in a country with millions of vehicles is the mathematical equivalent of celebrating a bucket of water while the house is still burning.

‘A bus driver does not buy tyres with a presidential statement. A market woman does not transport tomatoes with a government committee. A farmer does not move yam, rice and maize with promises. Spare parts, maintenance, food, rent and virtually every other operating cost have risen.

‘And now Nigerians are being told to wait until October 1 before they may begin to feel relief from a crisis they are suffering today.

‘Nigerians are hungry today. Transport is expensive today. Food is expensive today. Businesses are dying today. Why must relief arrive by appointment?’

Atiku said the deeper failure of the administration is its refusal to understand that Nigeria’s transportation crisis is ultimately a cost-of-living and purchasing-power crisis.

‘You cannot solve a purchasing-power crisis simply by changing the fuel inside a bus. What matters to the Nigerian worker is not merely whether the bus runs cheaply, but whether his salary can still afford the fare, food, rent, medicine, school fees and the basic dignity of life.

‘When fuel rises, transport rises. When transport rises, food rises. When food rises, the household shrinks. That is the economic chain Tinubu broke, and that is the chain Atiku intends to repair.’

Atiku said Nigeria needs a targeted, transparent and fiscally capped subsidy linked to domestic production, deliberately designed to attack the cost-of-living crisis at its source.

‘Fuel subsidy must return for struggling Nigerians, not the rich friends of the President and multinational companies but a targeted production intervention that is transparently budgeted, independently audited and guarantees that the benefit reaches consumers.

‘We will support domestic refining. We will track every barrel. We will cap the cost. We will reduce energy costs. And we will ensure that money and relief reaches the commuter, farmer, worker, trader and small business owner – not politically connected middlemen.

‘That is the difference between Tinubu and Atiku: Tinubu manufactures hardship and distributes palliatives. Atiku will attack hardship at its source.’

The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) is targeting the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in public service, as more than 80 per cent of federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) now have functional websites.

Director-General of the bureau, Dr Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Technical Team (IMTT) for the 2026 Federal Government Websites Ranking Exercise.

Arabi said the proportion of MDAs with functional websites had risen from less than 30 per cent when the ranking began, adding that the bureau was targeting 100 per cent within the next one to two years.

‘We are not looking at only paperless. We are looking at the adoption of the use of AI in delivering public service,’ he said.

He added: ‘We’re hoping that in the next one or two years, all of us will be there. So everybody’s going to score 100 per cent.’

Arabi explained that the website ranking exercise was introduced to make government information and services more accessible to citizens.

‘The quickest and the easiest way for citizens to engage with government is through their website,’ he said.

He noted that MDAs were expected to provide accurate information, working telephone numbers and email addresses, as well as platforms for citizens to make Freedom of Information requests electronically.

Arabi said the government also wanted Nigerians to transact business with MDAs online without travelling to government offices.

He explained that the 2026 ranking would use automated technology to assess MDA websites, adding that the exercise would also help government generate data on its activities, achievements and plans.

He noted that the exercise, now in its seventh edition, would involve private-sector participation in the assessment process.

Director of GovTech Africa, Mr Fortune Toma, said the automation would allow MDA websites to be assessed continuously over several weeks rather than through a one-off manual assessment.

He explained that the system would record findings while allowing IMTT members to review areas requiring human judgment.

Toma noted that increased digitisation also required stronger cybersecurity measures to protect government infrastructure.

‘Obviously, the attacks will now move from physical attacks to cyber attacks,’ he said.

He added that MDAs needed to set standards, monitor their digital infrastructure and conduct compliance checks to protect government systems.

Former presidential aide and host of Channels Television’s Inside Sources, Laolu Akande, has questioned the positions of President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over the removal and possible return of petrol subsidy ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Akande, speaking during the ‘My Take’ segment of Inside Sources, said Atiku’s decision to campaign for the restoration of subsidy had reopened a major political and economic debate, but warned that Nigerians must look beyond campaign rhetoric from both sides.

‘After months of Nigerians asking the opposition, ‘How are you different from the incumbent?’ one candidate has responded,’ Akande said.

‘Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who campaigned in 2023 to remove subsidy, has now reversed course. The ADC presidential candidate said he will bring back subsidies. And just like that, the debate about subsidy is back right on time for the 2027 polls.’

Atiku, according to Akande, has argued that the subsidy was removed hurriedly and without adequate measures to cushion its impact on Nigerians.

He said Atiku’s proposal was for a responsible government to restore subsidy in a targeted and transparent manner while working to revive Nigeria’s refineries and strengthen social safety nets.

Tinubu, however, has rejected any return to the subsidy regime, insisting that his administration would not reverse the policy.

According to Akande, the President has argued that subsidy primarily benefited smugglers and a small group of elites and described the system as fraudulent.

‘Both have spoken well. Campaign rhetorics. But let us pin back the rhetorics and you will find out that there is a bit of deceit,’ Akande said.

He questioned the Federal Government’s claim that it had saved more than N15 trillion from subsidy removal between June 2023 and December 2025.

Akande said the figure should be considered alongside the government’s other fiscal decisions, particularly tax waivers, concessions and import duty exemptions.

He cited reports by Punch and BusinessDay that the Federal Government granted N34 trillion in tax waivers, concessions and import duty exemptions in 2025 alone.

‘That sounds very responsible. But there are other books to open,’ he said.

‘In 2025 alone, according to the Customs as reported in the newspapers – Punch and BusinessDay – FG has granted N34 trillion in tax waivers, concessions, and import duty exemptions. So, in one year, they have given away more than we saved from subsidy in about two and a half years.’

Akande questioned who benefited from the tax concessions, arguing that they were unlikely to have directly benefited ordinary Nigerians who bore the immediate impact of higher petrol prices.

‘Who got those waivers? I can bet you that it’s not the bus drivers. Not the university teachers. Not the average workers,’ he said.

‘It was the big oil traders, manufacturers and importers. The very elites that Mr President is saying are feeding fat on the subsidies.’

He argued that the government therefore appeared to have taken away a benefit from consumers at the fuel pump while granting substantial concessions elsewhere.

‘So we took money from the poor at the fuel pump and return it to the powerful through the back door,’ Akande said.

‘That is not reform. That is just a money transfer between Nigeria’s fat cats.’

Akande also challenged the assertion that subsidy had completely disappeared, pointing to what he described as under-recovery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

‘And subsidy hasn’t truly completely gone. Because, if you look at the books, NNPC’s own report showed that there was a N3.6 trillion under-recovery in 2024,’ he said.

The former presidential aide said the real test of the subsidy debate should be the economic condition of Nigerians rather than competing political narratives.

He pointed to rising food and transport costs, saying that by July 2026, food inflation was above 35% while transport inflation was above 36%.

‘This is the economics that they don’t explain in the campaign rhetorics,’ Akande said.

He also argued that the purchasing power of workers had deteriorated despite the increase in the national minimum wage.

According to him, the N70,000 minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation, would buy less today than N45,000 did in 2023.

Akande further questioned the implementation of some of the government’s promised palliatives and social intervention programmes.

He recalled the government’s promise to pay N8,000 monthly to 12 million poor households, but said that 26 months later, the World Bank had reported that only 1.8 million households had received payments.

He also criticised the implementation of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas initiative, saying fewer than 2,300 of the 11,000 buses promised had been delivered.

Similarly, he said only N129.6 billion had been disbursed from the N1.15 trillion budgeted for social interventions.

‘People are not angry because they don’t understand economics. They are angry because they were promised a bridge but were given a cliff,’ Akande said.

He also challenged the government’s argument that the subsidy regime was fraudulent, asking why there had been limited accountability for those allegedly involved in subsidy fraud.

‘If subsidy was indeed a fraud, where is the justice? That is the hardest question. Where are the convictions?’ Akande asked.

‘Not one major oil marketer has gone to jail for subsidy fraud.’

Akande’s comments come as the 2027 presidential contest begins to shape political debate around the economic reforms implemented by the Tinubu administration, particularly the removal of petrol subsidy.

While the government maintains that ending the subsidy was necessary to free resources for development and prevent the continued financing of an inefficient system, Atiku’s proposal seeks to make the policy reversal a major campaign issue ahead of the election.

For Akande, however, the central issue is not simply whether subsidy should return or remain abolished, but whether either side can provide Nigerians with a transparent and credible account of who has benefited, who has borne the cost and what mechanisms will protect citizens from the impact of economic reforms.