Fashola builds first suspension bridge in Nigeria

                                             The First Link Bridge

Lagos State Governor, Fashola has finished building the first suspension bridge in Nigeria. The 1.358km bridge, which will link Ikoyi (Alexander Street) to Lekki (Admiralty Way), cost about N29 billion to build and a toll will be collected to recoup the investment.

The link bridge was built by Julius Berger.

Nigerian Model Falls So Badly While Catwalking on Runway (See Photos)

                                   

                                          The Fall

Taking a tumble on the catwalk in front of the fashion pack and photographers is not what you hope for as a model on a runway.

The model went head over heels, ‘literally’ as she walked in platform shoes and a knee-length printed dress for Nigerian fashion house Kinabuti in front of invited guests at the Italian consulate.

                                         Ouch!! that hurts.

This is honestly a really great piece from Will Smith

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith

 

"The central idea of love is not even a relationship commitment, the first thing is a personal commitment to be the best version of yourself with or without that person that you’re with."

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith have one of the most celebrated marriages in Hollywood. The couple has been together for 17 years, and seem to have navigated the murky waters of marriage and fame masterfully. They seem to be each other’s best friend, and have raised two talented and ambitious children in their son, rapper-actor Jaden and daughter, singer-actress Willow. But in a recent interview with NecoleBitchie, Will discussed just how much work is required for he and his wife to make things work. He opened up about insecurity and how it can derail a relationship–and also shared just how much loving Jada has helped him be the best man he can be.

“I think a lot of people think that when you have money, that everything gets really easy–Hell Naw!” he says. “Jada and I have been together for 17 years. If you look at it like a sports record, we are probably like 15 and 2. When we got started, we both truly connected on wanting to be better. That’s where it all started. There were other people that we were dating and other people that we were attracted to but there was a commitment to constantly be better that was what we connected on. Our whole world and relationship was that, “Hey, I know that I may not be all of that today but what I’m not going to do is lay around and not keep working to be better to deserve you.”

“I would say that concept is very central to having any success in this game of love at all. The central idea of love is not even a relationship commitment, the first thing is a personal commitment to be the best version of yourself with or without that person that you’re with. You have to every single day, mind, body, and spirit, wake up with a commitment to be better. Don’t make that same mistake tomorrow that you made today.”

“When you look around at the six people that you spend the most time with, that’s who you are. I think that in making those decisions in who you are going to be married to, who your friends are going to be, those are really huge, critical, life decisions. Who gets to talk to you everyday, is almost like the food that you eat. It is a very huge critical situation to choose who the people are that you are spending your life with, spending your time with and who you are choosing to give your love and everything to.”

“The idea is that you are two people together but in that process, the marriage cannot be a prison. There has to be a freedom that allows a person to grow. A person has to be allowed to make mistakes and a person has to be allowed to become and grow without the threat of punishment. I think that in the concept of our marriages because of our own insecurities, we lay it out in a way like, “Hey, that’s a deal breaker.” I hear people talk about the concept of the deal breakers and it’s really in conflict with truly loving somebody.”
“As soon as you put yourself in a relationship, you’ve got to check your insecurities when it comes to love. When you love somebody and you feel yourself slipping, you will fight, scratch, and claw, not be in that uncomfortable space. You have traumas that happen with your mother and father, or an old girlfriend, or an old boyfriend, that you’ve got to address personally if you want to truly be able to love somebody. Our traumas keep us away from being able to truly love someone unconditionally.”

“In this world, there are difficulties with just getting out of the bed everyday. Trying to love on top of that is excruciating. It is absolutely not something to be taken lightly or easy when you say you’re going to marry somebody, you have to be willing to go through hell. You have to be willing to collide with the weakest parts of yourself. You have to look at the things about you on a higher spiritual plane. You have to look at the things about you that are cowardly, that are angry or mean, resentful. You have to be able to look at those things about yourself that are not spiritually healthy parts. Love truly is when you change yourself for a better love with someone.”

“Jada has made me a better person than anyone on earth could have ever done. There is nobody on earth at this point that in my life and in my career with the successes and the things that I’ve done, there is nobody on Earth that I would still try to be better for. Jada is a beast. Just her passion, power, and relentless unwillingness to let me lay down at night when I’ve only done 92 percent of what I was supposed to do that day, holds me to a higher standard.”

source: Success Nation

 

JAMB: Over 1 million Students Will Be Denied Admission

The federal government has stated that over 1 million candidates that sat for the University Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) on Saturday, may not gain admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions due to lack of space.

The Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai, made this known at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday while invigilating the UTME that the current capacity of tertiary institutions across the country is only about 500,000.

This she notes cannot cater for the 1.7million candidates sitting for the UTME.

Professor Rufai who bemoaned the gross inadequate number of universities in the country appealed for more public private partnerships for the establishment of more institutions to increase access to university education in Nigeria.

She made the plea noting that the growing number of students who enrol for admission into tertiary institutions annually is alarming as revealed by the number of students siting for this year’s UTME.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) announced that over 1.7million candidates registered for the UTME, an increase of 13.35 percent compared to last years.

According to the Minister, there is only space for one-third of these applicants and the remaining candidates, who may even pass the admission cut-off mark, may never get admitted.

She further lamented that this vicious cycle is bound to continue if the appeals of the federal government goes unheeded.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved provisional licenses for the establishment of five new private universities in Nigeria.

This brings the total number of universities (government owned and private) in the country to 122.  With over a hundred universities, the federal government claim, the institutions are not enough to address the challenge currently facing the nation’s tertiary education.

Over-subscription

The problem of accessing admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions is further accentuated by the over subscription of applicants to federal universities because of its low and affordable tuition.

Prof Rufai revealed that during the 2011/2012 admission year, a total of 99,195 candidates applied for placement at the University of Lagos that has a carrying capacity of a little above 6,000.

The picture is similar in all public universities. Many hope for increased collaboration to bring an end to this menace.

 Channels TV

Boko Haram: The Confessions of Ahmad Salkida

 

 

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Gimba Kakanda under People & Religion

 

Let’s face it; Nigeria can’t, and is structurally unfit to, fight terrorism. A people who cannot run a democracy long thirsted for are only qualified to be the yes-men of colonial governments, which is what the so-called heroes of our past had done, for which they even earned their Queen’s medals, long before we realised that the foundations that hold our mud-built nationhood is badly done—bad is not irreparable. But how reparable are our security lapses, since the coming of the militants? Amnesty, yes amnesty I agree, is the easiest way to hamper our exploding mortality rate.

As I reflected on the state of our despair in the rough hands of Boko Haram insurgents, especially the killings in Baga town in northern Borno when two elephants, the task force and the terrorists, fought, I was attracted to the misadventures of the Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida. He remains the only Nigerian reporter, as far as I know, who has reported extensively on the psyche and ideology and militancy of the sect. In a sane country, with brains for security and intelligence, our bogus security votes may be invested in this journalist. Unfortunately, Nigeria couldn’t protect him, hence he fled the country. Just like that!

Of course, I too wouldn’t have given exile a second thought if I were in his dilemma. 185 citizens killed and our world is still the same. NTA is still airing pro-government propagandas only the imbecile watch. The Nasir El-Rufais are still tweeting some useless budget statistics to their ego-massaging crowds. And the Dino Melayes, drama queens, are still screaming that assassins had come for them and that everybody is just their antagonist. And the Femi Fani-Kayodes are still writing some poems of the semi-literate and bragging over these intellectual delusions. And the activists of past student unionism days are here boasting over who spent the most days in General Babangida’s prison. These are the activists who have chosen to fight for these people, yet all they could offer are tweets and status updates. None makes an attempt to ensure media coverage and exacting of the massacres; none bothers to really task the government with upholding the sanctity of our lives; and, perhaps, none bothers to call the attention of international human rights bodies, which is what we are good at, to Baga; just a few taps on keyboards and keypads from their air-conditioned rooms and offices… dazall! Their brand of activism is only to tweet an insult on the presidency and how their absence in this cabinet, whereas they were no better in their days, seems to be a loss. How we embrace their Out-of-Office syndrome as solidarity with our kind I don’t know!

Ahmad Salkida’s latest interview with blogger Abang Mercy takes us on a soul-depressing journey down the precipice of a misfortune initiated by an armed circus that calls itself Nigerian security organisation. The uncontrollable storm that is now Boko Haram militancy was, according to Salkida, born with the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the sect, alongside “hundreds of sect members and other innocent bystanders” under a seeming conspiracy championed by the then Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and taken over by the Federal Government. “I guess that crisis in July 2009 was never meant to be prevented by the government of President Umar Yar’adua,” says Salkida, who also says he had unrestricted access to Mohammed Yusuf and was even to meet him on the day he was executed but for unjustified detention by agents of our security circus. That was the beginning of a war for which the sect reacted the wrong way, with reckless monstrosity; the killings of innocent Nigerians, churchgoers, social development workers, dissenting Muslims and other non-aligned citizens, all in retaliation of the extra-judicial killings of their leader and members. They have carried out evils which have outdone the jackboot attempts by the Federal Government to stamp them out. I think the Nigerian security circus must be regretting the unfortunate day they provoked a downpour whereas they had no umbrellas. The rain, however, has beaten us enough, and, yes, we need to find a way to resolve our differences and unscrew the lids off our egos. You can never fight a man who is ready to die! It is a good thing that the Federal Government hides its inability to crush who it earlier branded “ghosts” under a bogus amnesty. But is Boko Haram being approached the right way? Hear Abang Mercy and Ahmad Salkida:

Abang: Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and religious leaders?

Salkida: If you read my last interviews with Abul Qaqa, he has always said that if amnesty means forgiveness then they are the ones that should forgive government for the wrong done to them in 2009. According to them many Nigerians don’t see what they undergo instead it is only what they do that is easily shown in the media. And I think issues as sensitive as amnesty suppose to have been tabled first through a trusted mediator who has access to the leadership of the sect before you take it to the media. The sect as I understand heard about the amnesty on the pages of newspapers. Abang, how would you feel if you heard about your marriage proposition with a man from a third party and not from the man? I think you will feel irritated at best.  

These past years I have been struggling to really understand the brand of marijuana smoked by the occupants of Aso Rock. Everything from them has been flawed and logically dumb, from their proposed (sorry, partial) removal of fuel subsidy to the imposition of Cassava Bread project on uninterested citizens. How can anyone organise a wedding fanfare without the consent of the groom—which in this scary case is Boko Haram?

While it’s morally impossible for me to sympathise with Boko Haram, counting the deaths it recorded in its rash of retaliation, we must remind the members of our security circus to be wary of the manner they kill innocent citizens. Extra-judicial killings, and the enjoyed impunity, are the reasons we are in this mess. This is not the time for expressive prose; this is the time to resist having our intelligences turned into volley balls. First, which Boko Haram is the government offering amnesty? Second, Ahmad Salkida has declared that any other, including the so-called Abdulaziz’s, aside from Mallam Shekau-led group is a fraud. Third, if the government proposes a genuine amnesty, what happened in Baga?  Fourth, if Boko Haram was in the know of amnesty, and has agreed to be part of it, we need an explanation for the Baga massacre!

I feel that Ahmad Salkida knows more than he can ever express in an interview. And being a victim of our police/military brutalities, it’s understandable that he does not trust our gun-toting men anymore. So long as the soldiers and the policemen treat every innocent citizen as suspects and those killed as collateral damages, for so long is our fight against terrorism lost. The boy who lost his mother is already an enemy of the state, and his aunties and sisters his supporters. That is what ill-planned counter-terrorism showoffs cause. Let whoever labels Ahmad Salkida a Boko Haram member do so, but this mess can only be redeemed by the Ahmad Salkidas, not by a Cabal tasked with doing what they are good at—arguing in air-conditioned conference rooms and hiring small boys like us to ghostwrite their exchanges of “exotic” grammars. May God save us from us!

By Gimba Kakanda

Blueprint Newspapers (26/04/2013)

source http://gimbakakanda.wordpress.com

Kindergartner Becomes Mensa Member

Kindergartner Becomes Mensa Member (ABC News) 

Most parents believe their child is the smartest kid in the class, but when Robert Dorman says this, he's likely right.

His son, 5-year-old Gus Dorman, with an IQ of 147, became one of the youngest members admitted to Mensa, the exclusive high IQ society.

Now in kindergarten, Gus is already reading such books as "Charlotte's Web," while his classmates work on mastering the ABCs.

For fun, Gus memorizes the periodic table and a world map. And sometimes he corrects his father on geography.

"He got into an argument with me because I told him that the capital of Alaska is Anchorage," said Dorman. "But it's not, it's Juneau."

Dorman first noticed Gus' advanced intelligence when he started to potty train his son at 18-months. Gus started to bring a newspaper to read on the toilet, and was also reading his father's copies of "Wired" magazine.

Since Gus was their first child, Dorman and his wife, Kotomi, simply thought this was how all children acted.

"We didn't realize he was gifted," said Dorman. "We just thought he was like all kids."

On a camping trip with another family, Gus read the slogan off a fellow camper's clothing. The family friend was stunned that at age 4 Gus could read, even though her 5-year-old daughter was still learning the alphabet.

"She said, 'He can read?' He shouldn't be able to read," recalled Dorman of the family friend's reaction. "I said, 'He reads all the time. We brought books [on the trip.]'"

Dorman decided it was time to take his son to get an IQ test, hoping that he might qualify for an out-of-state gifted program.

Gus scored within the 99 th percentile in nearly all categories of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, which qualified him for Mensa, whose members must have an IQ of at least 135; Gus' IQ was 12 points higher than that.

Despite Gus' high IQ, his father said his son had problems when he started school. Gus would get restless when it came to learning addition or the alphabet. According to Dorman, Gus was already on multiplication and long division.

"He goes to kindergarten, and he likes going to school [but] he gets in trouble," said Dorman. "He really has a hard time sitting there and listening to low-concept stories, because he's used to being able to ask questions and do research."

Dorman has lobbied his school district to provide special advanced education for his son. But Dorman said it's unlikely Gus would receive special treatment.

"I know there's no money for gifted programs in Illinois," he said.

Dorman hopes that Gus will at least qualify for a school for the gifted that provides supplemental online courses through the eighth grade.

"As parents we're lost," said Dorman of Gus' school options. "I don't think homeschooling is the way to go. He needs the camaraderie in the social portion of school. The books are one thing, but you have to have the social part too."

For now Dorman said he's happy to teach his son what he can about Gus' newest interests, black holes and astrophysics.

By Gillian Mohney |

source  ABC News Blogs

Dhaka building collapse: Factory owners arrested

Rescue efforts continue at the collapsed building in Savar near Dhaka

Two owners of garment factories in the building that collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka have surrendered to police.

Mahbubur Rahman Tapas and Balzul Samad Adnan are suspected of forcing staff to work in the eight-storey building, ignoring warnings about cracks.

At least 336 people are known to have died after the Rana Plaza in the suburb of Savar collapsed on Wednesday.

On Saturday morning, at least 24 more people were rescued from the rubble.

Rescuers and volunteers, who worked through the night, cheered as they were brought to safety.

Earlier, rescue teams said they had located about 40 survivors on the collapsed third and fifth floors of the building.

Officials said they were working to extricate the remaining survivors and had passed oxygen cylinders and water to those still trapped.

More bodies of victims were also retrieved overnight and on Saturday morning.

Some 3,000 people are believed to have been working in the building at the time of the collapse and about 600 are still missing.

Watching the operation are hundreds of relatives of those still missing, many clutching photographs of their loved ones.

Abul Basar wept as he awaited news of his wife who worked in one of the garment factories.

"My son says that his mother will come back some day, she must return," he cried.

'Negligence'

Mr Tapas and Mr Adnan, the owners of the New Wave Buttons and New Wave Style factories, turned themselves in to police in the early hours of Saturday.

Deputy chief of Dhaka police Shyami Mukherjee said the two are accused of causing "death due to negligence", according the AFP news agency.

The owners reportedly told their employees to return to work on Wednesday, even though cracks were visible in the building a day earlier.

Three other clothing factories were reportedly operating in the building.

Dhaka police said on Saturday they were also questioning two engineers involved in the building.

The owner of Rana Plaza, Mohammed Sohel Rana, is reported to have gone into hiding.

"Those who're involved, especially the owner who forced the workers to work there, will be punished," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told lawmakers on Friday.

"Wherever he is, he will be found and brought to justice," the prime minister added.

There is widespread anger in Bangladesh over the disaster and fresh clashes between police and protesters erupted again on Saturday.

                      

 

Rescuers say many people are still trapped. Picture: Andrew North

On Friday, police used tear-gas and rubber bullets to break up crowds that had blocked roads, set fire to buses and attacked textile factories.

Protesters are demanding that the government arrests all those responsible for the disaster and improves conditions for garment workers.

Police are guarding other garment factories in the area.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers that benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

But the industry has been widely criticised for its low pay and limited rights given to workers and for the often dangerous working conditions in garment factories.

Primark, a clothes retailer with a large presence in Britain, confirmed that one of its suppliers was on the second floor of the Rana Plaza, and said it would work with other retailers to review standards.

Labour rights groups say the companies have a moral duty to ensure their suppliers are providing safe conditions for their employees.

 source bbc.co.uk/news

JAMB Registrar escapes assassination

The Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde escaped assassination by whiskers when hired assassins went after him.

The incident happened on Monday night when the intruders scaled through the fence of the house, entered through the back door and gained entrance into the house while the security men attached to the compound did not notice as they were stationed at the gate of the house.

The security personnel which include two regular armed police men and other private security guards at the gate did not take notice of the incident throughout the period the operations lasted.

Confirming the incident, the Registrar said according to the story narrated to him by the children and relations who are staying with him, they were terrorized during the operation as the assassins were continuously asking and looking for their father, the Registrar. The children told the assassins that he has travelled for official assignments but the men were not convinced.

“They instructed one of the children to lead them into the Registrar’s living and study rooms which they searched thoroughly but could not find Prof. Dibu as he went on official assignments”

At that point, the assassins decided to look for him through the ceiling of the house moving from one ceiling to the other as they locked up the occupants in one of the living rooms thinking the Registrar was hiding up in the ceiling.

They searched and scattered every hiding places the assassins suspected the Registrar may be hiding. It was after their target could not be found that they left the house.

According to Prof. Dibu, “nothing was taken out of the expansive residence despite the thorough searching conducted on the compound”

The Registrar confirmed he travelled officially in preparation for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination slated for today, Saturday, April 27, 2013.

source  VanguardNGR.

Bedbugs Invade Hospitals in USA

Associated Press -
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 30, 2011 file photo, a bed bug is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

As if adapting to health-care reform and curbing the “nightmare bacteria” weren’t challenge enough, hospitals are increasingly plagued by another problem: bedbugs.

More than a third of pest-management companies treated bedbug infestations in hospitals in 2012, 6% more than the year before and more than twice as many as in 2010, according to a survey released today by the National Pest Management Association. The percentage of exterminators dealing with bedbugs in nursing homes has also almost doubled since 2010, to 46%. Bedbug experts also report seeing them in ambulances.

Hospitals are already cracking down on anything that could increase the risk of patient infections, which not only can be deadly but may also lead to more readmissions and reduced federal funding under the Affordable Care Act. While bedbugs have not been found to transmit infections to humans, they leave itchy bites after feeding on people’s blood, which can lead to secondary infections when victims scratch, opening themselves up to bacteria. This is especially problematic in hospitals, where there is a greater likelihood of catching the highly potent and contagious staph infection known as MRSA, says Dr. Jorge Parada, medical director of the infection prevention and control program of Loyola University Health System in Chicago. “You don’t need one more ingredient to increase your risk of infections in the hospital,” he says.

Although hospitals are putting a growing emphasis on strict cleanliness and sterilization protocols, bedbugs still arrive via the many patients and visitors going in and out of their emergency rooms and waiting areas. “We never know when somebody might show up with bedbugs,” Parada says.

The high instance of bedbugs in nursing homes is also concerning, he adds, because hospitals receive many transfers from such facilities, and elderly people often don’t exhibit the same telltale signs of bedbugs—red, raised, itchy lesions—that other patients do: “It’s one less tipoff that it’s a problem.”

To be sure, say experts, you’re still more likely to catch other kinds of bugs in hospitals than you are to get bedbugs—and they aren’t a medical emergency the way other complications would be, says Missy Henriksen of the National Pest Management Association. That said, if bedbugs become a problem in a hospital, they can be a persistent nuisance. “The bedbugs, and particularly the eggs of bedbugs, are even harder to kill than the spores of the bacteria,” says Dr. Dick Zoutman, a professor and infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. “I wouldn’t have thought that to be the case.”

Zoutman helped develop a new hospital sterilization system that can kill highly drug-resistant bacteria as well as bedbugs. The sterilization technology, marketed as AsepticSure by San Francisco-based Medizone International—a firm that is traded over-the-counter as MZEI.OB and MZEI.QB—uses gas to effectively eradicate 100% of bacteria in less than an hour, according to the company. Medizone just began distributing its new disinfecting technology to Canadian hospitals earlier this month, and is seeking approval to market it in the U.S., too.

But Zoutman, who now serves as Medizone’s chief medical officer, says that in tests, the system took up to 24 hours to kill bedbugs, and up to 36 hours to kill their eggs. He says Medizone is now working to adapt the system to kill bedbugs in a faster and more effective manner, both for hospitals and other settings as well.

Advances like that would be eagerly welcomed in hospitals, but for now, exterminators are their only realistic option for addressing a pest invasion. “No patient,” Parada says, “is going to look favorably on a hospital that’s had a bedbug infestation.”

By Jen Wieczner

source yahoonews 

Is Fatima Zohar-Godabari Really The Most Beautiful Woman In The World? (See Photos)

Fatima Zohar-Godabari.

Meet the most beautiful woman in the world 2013, Saudi Arabian queen, Fatima Zohar-Godabari.
Fathima Kulsum Zohar Godabari who was once a royal Princess is now an official Queen in Saudi Arabia.
She was recently photographed without niqab covering her face and the pictures were published on the internet, exposing her beautiful facial features to the world for the first time.
Since the release of the pictures, many have argued her to be the most beautiful woman on earth.

 culled from Naijaurban

Husband Snatching! Wunmi Obe Sub Stella Damasus With a Tweet? (See Tweet)

Wunmi Obe

Earlier today Wunmi Obe (Jaiye Aboderin’s sister and Stella Damasus’ first husband) tweeted what looked like a sub. “Vindicated at last! Jaiye, it’s over…sleep on, brother” she tweeted.

Some people believe that this tweet is directed at Wunmi former sister-in-law who we found out has been married for the past two months to Doris Simeon’s former husband Daniel Ademinokan.

Newly Married Stella Damasus Speaks on Snatching Doris Simon’s Husband, Releases more Pics!

Stella Damasus

Newly married actress, Stella Damasus wrote the article below on her blog and shared more photos from her birthday party. See her blog post below..
I have Been trending for the past two days now. Day one was about people wishing me well and praying for me on my birthday. Day two is now filled with gossip, scandals and all sorts, but that is as far as the so called journalists and bloggers are concerned. As far as I am concerned I had a blast on my birthday and I will not allow other human beings steal my joy regardless.

I choose to enjoy my life because I know I deserve it. Nobody went through my own trying times with me and I did not go through any with others.
When God decides to bless me, turn my mourning to dancing, turn my tears to laughter and turn my anger to happiness, no man on earth can change it or spoil it.
Truth is, I laughed when I saw some of the blogs and websites quoting and saying things they know absolutely nothing about. Writing things they have heard without concrete evidence, ghosts that cannot show their faces and ask direct questions. But they believe and think that they can wake up one day and decide people’s fate and destiny. Unfortunately they are made to feel important because people hate to read  positive things and achievements, but give them juicy gossip and all of a sudden you become the most popular writer who has gist on everybody.

I realized that when I write blogs and articles about important information, encouragement, education and positive things, only twenty percent out of a hundred actually read it and leave comments. The other eighty percent jump at the gossip and scandals and then start to ask me stupid questions. These are people who have not communicated with me in ages but all of a sudden they feel the need to profess undying friendship and a listening ear. The fact that they believe I have the time or energy to respond to the most trivial issues baffles me.
Let me repeat myself in case some of these people missed it. “I really do not care what you say or write, the truth is who God has blessed no man can curse” , and if you believe that trying to turn a wonderful birthday  into a global gossip game will make me feel bad then I am so sorry this Stella is not as stupid as you think”

For those who want to really see pictures to satisfy their curiosity, please enjoy.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan awards $40million contract to Israeli company to monitor computer, Internet communication by Nigerians

President Goodluck Jonathan

Here is a very important information from PREMIUM TIMES for the 47 million Nigerian Internet users. Big Brother, in the form of the Jonathan administration, is watching you, and your communication is no longer safe.

 It is one of the most far-reaching policies ever designed in Nigeria’s history to invade the privacy of citizens.

The Jonathan administration secretly, and in open violation of lawful contracting procedures, has awarded an Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, with headquarters in Haifa, a $40million contract to help it spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security.

Elbit announced the contract award Wednesday in a global press release but was silent on the Nigerian destination of the contract. Its general manager, Yehuda Vered, opaquely announced that “Elbit Systems will supply its Wise Intelligence Technology (WiT) system to an unnamed country in Africa under a new $40 million contract announced on 24 April… for Intelligence Analysis and Cyber Defense,” but effusively claimed, in the statement, that his company is “proud to be selected to supply this unique system, which is already field-proven, fully operational and customisable.

“Elbit Systems is a world leader in the fields of intelligence analysis and cyber defense, with proven solutions highly suitable for countries, armies and critical infrastructure sites. We hope that additional customers will follow in selecting our highly advanced and cutting edge systems in these fields as their preferred solution,” Mr. Vered added.

Multiple and very reliable sources in the administration confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Nigeria is indeed the “unnamed African country,” and with details from the Elbit statement, our sources say the contract will now help the Jonathan administration access all computers and read all email correspondences of citizens in what is clearly, an infringement on constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.

No single policy of this administration has so far affected, in one fell swoop, the lives of 47 million citizens, a third of the Nigerian population and about four times the number of voters who brought the president to power two years ago.

Nigerian netizens, the horde of active citizens that use the computer and Internet, are the 10^th in a global ranking that make them 27 per cent of Africa’s total Internet users, far ahead of Egypt [19^th global ranking] and South Africa [37^th in global ranking].

The growth path of the Internet in Nigeria has also been dramatic, rising from a mere 200,000 Internet users in 2002 to 47 million this year, according to data from the Global Internet user, one of the Internet audit groups.

This development has not always gladdened public officials in Nigeria many who have expressed open displeasure at the use of the Internet by social media activists and the power of its possibilities as an empowering medium for popular communication. The calls for regulation have been loud in both the administration and in the Nigerian legislature.

The earliest hint that the Jonathan administration had desires to invade privacy of citizens surfaced ealy April when researchers at the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto alerted the world that Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya were deploying Internet surveillance and censorship technology developed by an American company, Blue Coat, which specializes in online security. Blue Coat’s technology will allow the government to invade the privacy of journalists, netizens and their sources. Its censorship devices use Deep Packet Inspection, DPI, a technology employed by many western Internet Service Providers, to manage network traffic and suppress unwanted connections.

Civic groups kick against DPI because, they say, it makes it possible for censors to look into every single Internet Protocol packet and subject it to special treatment based on content (censored or banned words) or type (email, VoIP or BitTorrent Protocol).

DPI not only threatens the principle of Net Neutrality and the privacy of users, civic groups say, it makes single users identifiable and, in countries that flout the rule of law and violate human rights, often exposes them to arbitrary imprisonment, violence or even torture.

While details of the Blue Coat contract appears to have managed to evade scrutiny up till this point, PREMIUM TIMES sources say the Elbit annunciation of the contract, opaque as it was, terribly rattled top administration officials – from the presidency to the National Security Adviser’s Office, and the National Assembly.

“The presidency had wanted this contract to be a top secret,” said one of our sources. “The presidency did not envisage that Elbit was going to make it public. Monitoring computers and Internet use is a contentious issue and the National Security Adviser had tried to keep the contract secret.”

Elbit says it will take it two years to complete the project, by which time it claimed, the administration will have “a highly advanced end-to-end solution, [to] supports every stage of the intelligence process, including the collection of the data from multiple sources, databases and sensors, processing of the information, supporting intelligence personnel in the analysis and evaluation of the information and disseminating the intelligence to the intended recipient…[that] will be integrated with various data sources, including Elbit Systems’ Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) solution and Elbit Systems’ PC Surveillance Systems (PSS), an advance solution for covert intelligence gathering.”

The administration had indicated in the 2013 budget that it would procure a Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyzer System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System at a cost of N9.496 Billion ($61.26 million).

Now that the contract has been awarded to Elbit for about  $40million, it is unclear if the National Assembly will raise questions as to what becomes of the extra $21million earmarked for the project.

Investigations indicate that in awarding the contract to the Israeli firm, no tenders or calls for bids were made just as there were no public announcements. The contract was awarded following a proposal from a single vendor who dictated the contract sum and the terms of the contract.

The procedure for public procurement of services as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigerian agency charged with the duty of ensuring transparency in all matters concerning government contracts, were largely ignored. In addition, there are no public records indicating that the BPP approved this contract.

The manner of award directly contravenes the 2007 Public Procurement Act. While the Act gives room for single source contracts, the Elbit contract met none of the requirements under which such special contracts could be awarded.

Section 47 (3) (iii) of the 2007 Act stipulates that single source contracts are to be awarded in emergency situations such as “natural disasters or a financial crisis”.

Presidential spokespersons, Reuben Abati, and Doyin Okupe were not available for comments Wednesday.  They didn’t answer or return calls seeking comments.

Calls to Elbit’s headquarters in Haifa, Israel, were also unanswered.

Shari Clarkson, a spokesperson at the company’s subsidiary in the United States declined comments on the contract saying only Dalia Rosen, a spokesperson based in Israel, could comment. Rosen’s phone was unanswered.

by Ogala Emmanuel 

source:www.premiumtimesng.com 

Meet the man deported from Saudi Arabia for being ‘too handsome’ (See Photos)

Drop dead gorgeous actor, poet and fashion photographer Omar Borkan Al Gala (pictured above) from UAE was one of the three men ordered to leave a cultural festival early this month in Saudi Arabia and then thrown out of the country because authorities thought their looks could corrupt their young women.

Arabic newspaper Elaph wrote: ‘A festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the commission (for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices) members feared female visitors could fall for them.’

 

 

source http://metro.co.uk

JIKA LANGKUK: AN UNSUNG HERO OF THE RECENT PAST

Sir Ahmadu Bello is to Hausas what Obafemi Awolowo is to the Yorubas. Similarly, Emeka Ojukwu is to the Igbos what J.S Tarka is to the Tiv people, and what Joseph Gomwalk is to the Plateau people. All these people are considered as heroes of their own people and even the nation at large. If these people were books to be placed on eternal library shelves, then there ought to be a row too for unsung heroes; people who were not praised publicly but venerated in the souls of men who have come across them and have witnessed indelible legacies cultivated by these men which can stand the course of time. On my mental shelf of heroes, within the row of unsung heroes, lies the voluminous book of Jika Langkuk; a common man with an uncommon difference.

To many, Jika Langkuk is a name they are hearing for the first time. I guess that is why he is an unsung hero. While to others, it is just a mere name. However, one cannot capture the complete story of the Pyem people in Plateau state without mentioning Jika langkuk even though most Plateau people can readily recall Alhaji Nasiru Mantu, Mr. Danko Makama, late Ezekiel Washik, late Evangelist Paul Gindiri and late Isa Washik among many other notable sons of the Pyem nation. To most people that have heard about Jika langkuk, the first erroneous impression they get is that Jika Langkuk was the first man to ever climb the famous Wase rock of Plateau state and come down alive. I used to hold that belief too until he humbly and candidly told me that he was not the first man to climb the rock, it may surprise you that he is not even the second, but he was the first to climb the rock again after a ten year ban prohibiting the climbing of Wase rock was lifted. Prior to the Ban, Mr. Wilkinson of the Man'o War was killed by some wild bees as he almost reached the peak and that necessitated the ban on climbing the Wase rock. According to Jika, one Mr. Wallace, a British soldier and district officer of Pankshin as at then was the first person to climb Wase rock in May 1957, after him were two other white men before Wilkinson who died in 1971. After two years of seeking permission to climb Wase rock, Jika Langkuk was finally granted permission to climb the rock in 1981 along with his former student in Kuru, Melchizedek Iliya Gwaivanmin. What is so spectacular about climbing Wase rock? You may ask. It may interest you to know that Wase rock is a massive dome inselberg found near Wase town in Wase L.G.A of Plateau state. It achieves a remarkable height of 1150 feet above the surface of neighboring surroundings and is visible within a radius of 40 Kilometers. It is also a breeding ground for the rare Rosy-white pelicans. Wase rock is one of only five of its kind in the world.

The Inhabitants of Wase have always surrounded the rock with superstitious beliefs and that had probably informed their not attempting to climb the rock. Jika Langkuk defied all beliefs including the white man's belief that the rock could only be climbed by the whites and climbed it once, then severally, even including girls in the adventure.

It was the same courage, zeal and assiduousness that Jika Langkuk employed to work; he tacitly detests the words 'impossible' and 'give up'. Jika Langkuk was a teacher by profession but his passion for adventure saw him climbing the perilous mountains of Kebbi and other difficult terrains around northern Nigeria. He has worked efficiently with the Man' o War and was later consulted, along with some other white men, in the design of rock/mountain climbing courses training for men of the Nigeria police, army and man'o war club.

Any dress-sensitive person would want to score him below 'F' in fashion because his darling sneakers footwear never departs his feet except when he is asleep. He wears his sneakers with anything, an active sportsman.

Jika Langkuk wears a thick beard that instantly reminds you of the uncompromising, never relenting Ojukwu. Perhaps they share similar traits in that regards. Jika's 'yes' is 'yes' and 'no' is 'no'. He has mentally inscribed the word 'Integrity' on his forehead and has since been unable to betray himself by swallowing his words or perpetrating evil. He has taught in Provincial secondary school, now Nagarta College, Sokoto, Government Science School Kuru, Government Secondary School Wase, Government Secondary School Shendam (as Principal) and in Mangu Area Office as Inspector for Science and Technology until his voluntary retirement in 1993. Throughout his 31 years of civil service, Jika langkuk has been credited with outstanding performance among his colleagues. During the 11 years he spent in Kuru, he taught Metal work, Wood work, Hausa, English, Technical Drawing (which he introduced) and Bible Knowledge. While in Kuru, he was transferred five times by the ministry but his principal then, a white man refused to release him because he was indispensable to the school. In Wase too, his performance was outstanding that the Commissioner of Education made a special recommendation that he takes over as the principal of G.S.S Shendam, a school which he instilled discipline, hard work and commitment among teachers and especially students. Like many achievers, his success didn't come without a price; while in Wase, there were ten petitions against him and another five petitions against him in Shendam and all of them couldn't count as much as a basket could hold water so the allegations were all dismissed.

Jika Langkuk could have been a wealthy man in Plateau State today but he traded such opportunities for nice and neatly wrapped packages of 'integrity'. At one time, he was in charge of the first ever Benue-Plateau sports festival in 1974. He was not directly appointed but Mr. Taylor who was in charge had an accident and died. Among other reputable people of his time, Jika Langkuk was appointed to take over the mantle of leadership and ensure the success of the first-ever Benue-Plateau sports festival, a competition that hosted 1200 sportsmen. 240 000 Pounds was earmarked for the whole festival and Jika Langkuk accounted for the money even to the last Shilling. The unspent money was returned to the state treasury. At another time, Jika Langkuk was in charge of another committee that would build the NYSC camp in Plateau State in the late 70's. The Federal Government gave N250 000 but the state could not give its own share of the N250 000. Langkuk sought permission to build a school in Wase with the money since the State Government could not provide their own share. His request was granted and that gave birth to a Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, cum School of Relevant Technology Wase in which Jika Langkuk insisted that it must be coeducational (that is a mixed school) because the community wanted it to become a school for boys alone.

In 1983, Plateau state witnessed a series of demonstrations from secondary schools across the state and that prompted the Governor, Chief Solomon Lar, to call for a meeting of all principals and stakeholders of Government Secondary Schools. In that meeting, Jika Langkuk made five useful suggestions that almost cost him his life and even his job. Three of the suggestions were accepted and implemented. They were;- Secondary Schools should have the autonomy to draft their feeding system (That is, every school's food timetable should be localized). The available food of every community should be reflected in the school within that community.- That supply of food should not be handled by contractors but by the schools themselves- Schools should be given the right to supply firewood, writing materials and some other things by themselves and not through gullible contractors.When his suggestions were implemented, a mob of contractors almost lynched him at Langtang on his way back to Wase. They accused him of taking food out of their mouths. His salaries and allowances were unjustly delayed by staffs of the sub treasury who were enjoying kickbacks from the greedy contractors. The Climax of it was when he was sent out of a meeting chaired by Aliyu Akwe Doma, who was the deputy Governor and acting Commissioner for Education. He recognized him as the man who spoilt the market for his contractor friends and immediately sent him out. While plans were being made to fire him, the heavens smiled at him as he was given admission to study for an MSc at Norfolk University, Virginia, U.S.A. On graduation he was given three Job offers there in U.S.A. One of the offers included a flat already rented for two years in his name but he declined the offers with the hope to come and support the Buhari/Idiagbon War Against Indiscipline and Corruption (WAIC) agenda, only to be disappointed by IBB who set precedence for worsening the Nigerian nightmare of corruption.

In all the places in which Jika Langkuk served, he left a crystal clear record of all his activities and when he was strongly tempted to play the typical Nigerian civil service game, he did the noble thing, he voluntarily retired from civil service because he believes that if you can't beat them, leave them alone. While at his last post, he was expected to make monthly reports of all the schools he had visited within his area but was impeded by lack of vehicles and financial resources (allowances) to travel around the schools and he couldn't afford to concoct lies as his monthly report so he humbly resigned.

He established his own private school in 1993, unlike private secondary schools of nowadays, with aim to prove that education could be cheap and available for everybody. He also holds late Professor Thai Solarin's notion that Nigeria has the capacity to educate all her citizens without charging them money for school fees. Though his school was not completely a charity school, Jika ran the most affordable school in the whole of Mangu L.G.A, with Government schools inclusive for thirteen years (1993-2006). Students outstanding fees for ten years was about 1,654 000, an amount which may just be about half or a quarter of what most schools obtain every term. Jika was paying his staff from his pockets and his school was not grant aid. He stopped admitting students in 2003 and closed down the school in 2006 after the last set had completed their Junior Secondary School.

Jika Langkuk was not one that could afford to buy a national Honors award; he most likely wouldn't, even if he could. He has declined two offers to be titled as a chief, one as the Tsarkin Dutsen Wase (King of Wase rock). The other title was at his Pyem Chiefdom which he declined before knowing what the title was. To Jika, then common 'Mr.' is also too great a title so he simply wishes to be addressed as Jika Langkuk, whether in writing or verbally.

One's definition of a hero would most times boil to his perception of values, ideals and notions about other individuals. Jika Langkuk has met my standards of an ideal hero although he is still not widely celebrated; I would not want to partake in the posthumous celebration of a person that could have been told of or declared a hero while still alive.

Jika Langkuk still lives in his home in Kasuwan Ali, Gindiri in Mangu L.G.A of Plateau State with his mother. He is a lover of plants, pets and wild animals. If Jika were emulated, Plateau and even Nigeria as a whole would be a better place. If everyone would stick to his words and do the right thing, Nigeria would be better. Jika Langkuk is just an example of the very rare heroes we come across, once in a very long while.

Reaching the shores of age seventy, Jika still jogs in most mornings and reads the Bible without glasses. Maybe i should add that Jika is a voracious reader because he still reads a lot. He has become to me, an epitome of a good Christian and a good citizen that is truthful, honest, faithful, fearless, courageous, incorruptible and unrelenting.

by Bizum Yadok

source: viewpointnigeria.com

AMAA 2013 Prize For Best Director won by Jos born - Kenneth Gyang ( Film Title: Confusion Na Wah)

With only four nominations, Confusion Na Wa , the first feature film  by new movie company Cinema  Kpatakpata  April 21 2013 won the coveted best film award in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State during the 9th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Nigeria.
The comic drama beat favourites Elelwani from South Africa, Nairobi Half Life from Kenya and Ninah’s Dowry from Cameroon.
The film cost a modest $30.000 to produce.

It is a comic drama  that follows the activities of a group of six strangers over the course of a day in a Nigerian city. The trailer says the film centres around “six strangers, one phone, confusion na Wa”. The lead actor, Ramsey Nouh, loses his cell phone and a series of intriques follow as a result.

Confusion na Wa Photo

Confusin Na Wa features, Ramsey Nouh, Nigeria’s lead Romance actor,. Ali Nuhu, OC Okeje, Tony Goldman Ikponmwosa Gold are the other actors. The film features some new acting talents including Tunde Aladese and  Nat Demi.
Reports from Nigeria say in typical style, the awards ceremony that attracted stars and power movers from across the African continent and beyond started four hours late, went on for 8 hours. The occasion surprisingly began with a long line of unrelated political sppeches that had nothing to do with film making.

671 films were submitted for this year’s award ceremony. Entries came from  America, Canada, France, Germany, Gaudalupe, Italy, Jamaica and the UK.

AMAA 2013 Prize For Best Director
1. Kenneth Gyang : Confusion Na Wah
2. Shemu Joyah : Last Fishing Boat
3. Shirley Frimpong Manso: Contract
4. Niji Akanni : Hereos And Zeroes
5. David Kitounga : Nairobi Half Life
6. Ntshavheni Wa Luruli : Elelwani
Complete list of nominated films.

AMAA 2013 Prize For Best Film
1. Nairobi Half Life : Kenya
2. Ninah’s Dowry : Cameroon
3. Last Fishing Boat : Malawi
4. Virgin Margarida : Mozambique
5. Elelwani : South Africa
6. Last Flight To Abuja : Nigeria
7. Confusion Na Wa : Nigeria