Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will meet the 21 Chibok girls that were freed on October 13 and their families at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday, Presidency Office of Digital Engagement said.

Buhari left for Germany last Thursday, a few hours after the girls were released. But they were received on his behalf by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo later on that day.

The girls were part of more than 200 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls held since April 14, 2014, by Boko Haram.

The presidency said in a statement that the girls were released after negotiations between Boko Haram, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Nigerian and Swiss governments.

The statement added that negotiations were ongoing, raising the prospect of more releases.

“These 21 released girls are supposed to be talebearers to tell the Nigerian government that this faction of Boko Haram has 83 more Chibok girls,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, told Reuters.

“The faction said it is ready to negotiate if the government is willing to sit down with them,” said Shehu, adding that the state is prepared to negotiate with the branch of Boko Haram.”

http://guardian.ng/news/buhari-meets-21-released-chibok-girls/?

Reuben Abati last Friday came out in The Guardian with a strange article he wants everybody to see as his great revelation of how the presidency he served for over four years was jinxed, with the entire Villa given over to the service of Satan. He titled the article “The spiritual side of Aso Villa”. Abati, as you know, served as Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 until the end of the Jonathan administration on May 29, 2015.

Since his return to his beat as a columnist in The Guardian, Abati has been using every article he puts out to try to recapture his lost voice and win back his audience. He lost all that when he abandoned his popular weekly columns and went to Abuja to serve President Jonathan. Though on his way to the corridor of power, he boasted he would keep up speaking for the masses the way he did why working for The Guardian as Chairman of the Editorial Board, it was ‘to your tent O Israel’ the moment Abati’s feet touched down at the Presidential Villa. He never kept the promise he made. Or if he ever advised Jonathan on ways to better the lot of the common man, the public never got to hear of it. Now Abati has come out with what I perceive as a self-serving article to explain away why all the ‘wise advice’ he and his colleagues gave to President Jonathan turned out sounding foolish in the public perception, just like when God turned the wise counsel of Ahithophel, David’s counsellor to foolishness!

Now, hear Abati: “When Presidents make mistakes, they are probably victims of a force higher than what we can imagine…When you issue a well- crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly. When the President makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong…Those mistakes don’t look normal.”


If you are doubting all this coming from Abati, one of Nigeria’s foremost public affairs commentators and a media professional with a multi-disciplinary background in drama, management, journalism, law, and so on, then I don’t know what you are going to think of him when you read this one too: “I am therefore convinced that there is an evil spell enveloping this country. We need to rescue Nigeria from the forces of darkness. Aso Villa should be converted into a spiritual museum, and abandoned.”

Truly, I have several problems with this article. Apart from what I have already said, the article is self-serving, that is, it is an attempt by the writer to ingratiate himself with his lost audience. I think if Abati wanted to be fully believed, he should have opened up and told us his own involvement in witchcraft in the Villa. Or if he felt that’s too heavy to admit openly, at least, let him tell the readers how on coming to the Villa he had to join in the worship of Satan once he discovered Satan was the god every occupant in the Villa worshipped in order to stay alive! Rather than confessing to that, Abati presented himself as a small baby who had never heard about Satan or Satan worship until he took up the Jonathan’s appointment and resided in the Villa! That’s very fantastic for an Abeokuta man!


Abati claimed he came to the villa “using Lux soap, but that most people around the place always bathed in the morning with blood. Goat blood. Ram blood. Whatever animal blood…” And for not following his fellow occupants at the Villa in bathing in blood, Abati here recalls the direct consequence of that foolishness: “I really don’t envy the people who work in Aso Villa, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency (But Abati was there for four years; he didn’t resign!). For about six months, I couldn’t even breathe properly. For another two months, I was on crutches. But I considered myself far luckier than the others who were either nursing a terminal disease or who could not get it up.” He concludes by choosing to talk like Donald Trump, the American loquacious Republican Presidential candidate, who never cares a hoot about the untruthfulness of most of the things he says. Hear Abati as he signs off his fantastic piece: “Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour.” Truly?

I believe Abati wrote: “The spiritual side of Aso Villa” as a satire but if indeed he meant what he said about the presidential abode, I would agree with him that the Villa should be “converted into a spiritual museum, and abandoned.” But Abati should have suggested this while he was still savouring the glory of his office…


http://guardian.ng/opinion/abati-presidential-villa-and-witchcraft/

Reports from England suggest Arsene Wenger is prepared to keep Alex Iwobi at the club with a new deal, his second in six months.

Alex Iwobi who has been in an impressive form for Arsenal since breaking into the senior team will get a new pay rise by Arsene Wenger based on his brilliant form this season.

Alex Iwobi signed a £25,000-a-week deal in April this year but is now in line for a further extension and more than double his current earnings.

Iwobi will now join Hector Bellerin, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, all who are currently discussing newer contracts with Arsenal.

http://www.arsenalnews.com.ng/2016/10/09/arsenal-set-offer-alex-iwobi-new-contract/

Alex Iwobi scored his first international goal for Nigeria against Zambia in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday.

Iwobi has been in fine form for Arsenal, now scoring his debut goal worth the screens for Nigeria and this will only complement praises by German star and World Cup winner, Mesut Ozil who compared him to his uncle and Edgar Davids.

Speaking to ESPN, Mesut Ozil says Iwobi is a mixed talent of Jay Jay Okocha and Dutch legend, Edgar Davids and believes he would enhance his game if he continues playing this way for the whole of the season.

“He reminds me of his uncle, Jay-Jay Okocha,” Ozil told ESPN FC. “He was a player I loved watching.

“Alex reminds me of a mixture of him and Edgar Davids. He’s really strong on the ball, also defensively, but he’s good in front of goal too.

“He’s developing really well and if he continues the way he’s been playing for the whole season, he will enhance his game.

“The manager knows exactly how good he is and I wish him all the best.”


http://www.arsenalnews.com.ng/2016/10/09/mesut-ozil-alex-iwobi-reminds-jay-jay-okocha/

Not in the next 8 years though

lmao. Hopefully he does.

The University of Ibadan (UI) has been ranked 600th among the best 1,000 universities in the world.

UI achieved this feat in the latest 2016/2017 ranking, which was carried out by Times Higher Education (THE). The result showed that UI is the only Nigerian university that made it to the top 1,000 globally ranked universities.

The latest ranking was based on teaching, research, citations of scholarly publications, industry income and international outlook.

Despite being the only university, which entered the list of top universities in the world, University of Ibadan came behind South African universities with University of Cape Town ranking 148 followed by Stellenbosch University (401) and University of KwaZulu Natal (501).

University of Ghana Legon (601) is the only university from Ghana in the latest ranking and it is ranked after Nigeria’s premier university.
Only 22 universities across Africa made it to the world-class universities with South Africa and Egyptian universities dominating.

Reacting to the latest ranking, Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka said the institution is blessed with world-class scholars who are dedicated to their calling and must be engaged by Nigeria to solve her problems.

Describing the latest ranking as a welcome development, Olayinka urged the Federal Government to allocate special funding to the institution to improve research infrastructure to rise further in future ranking.

“The truth of the matter is that the Times Higher Education Rankings is one of the elite global ranking bodies. It is a thing of joy that we have a respectable position in comparison to peer universities in Africa. This is message to the Federal Government of Nigeria that we need funding to improve our research infrastructure and funding support in order to enhance productivity.

“We congratulate all faculty, staff and students who have made this feat possible. The Federal Government should learn to use research output from the University of Ibadan to solve problems facing the country. We cannot have world class scholars in Nigeria and rely on those who have never conducted researches on our problems to come and solve our problems.”

http://guardian.ng/news/ui-is-600th-in-ranking-of-best-1-000-global-varsities/

Nigeria will spend an equivalent of its 2016 budget to service debts as its currency, the naira, continues to lose value against the United States dollar.

Devaluation has put the real value of the country’s debt stock at around N18.9 trillion, when considered at the official rate of N307.79 per dollar, according to figures from the Debt Management Office.

The additional naira stock (per dollar) that would be needed to service existing debt will cause the country to lose about N6.33 trillion, a near-equivalent of the 2016 budget, when compared to N12.6 trillion at N197 per dollar as at December 31, 2015. It is also a disincentive for future external borrowing despite a positive debt-to-GDP ratio.

http://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-loses-n6-33tr-to-naira-devaluation/

“Hiding under the mantra of low debt-to-Gross Domestic Product is deceitful,” a public sector financial analyst, who asked not to be named, told The Guardian in Lagos at the weekend. “The economy is in recession and cannot churn out those activities anymore.
“If we compare our debt service bill without revenue earnings ratio, it is not sustainable and that is where foreign investors will be looking at to price our international bonds,” the public sector analyst said.

“With more than 21 per cent of the entire budget dedicated to debt service and more than 33 per cent of the total budget being in deficit, the budget performance is now made worse with near-non-activities called recession. The reality is daunting,” the source said.

The additional N6.33 trillion required to pay off Nigeria’s external debt represents 20.58 per cent, a one-fifth of its estimated $296 billion, or N91 trillion GDP.

The national debt stock consists of external obligations for both federal and state governments estimated at $11.3 billion (about N3.5 trillion); domestic obligations of $37.5 billion (about N11.5 trillion) and $12.7 billion (about N3.9 trillion) for federal and states respectively.

The devaluation was necessitated by the plummeted foreign exchange earnings, which created huge unmet demand due to the shortage of dollar and naturally erased the value of the local currency through speculations.

The debt report released by the Debt Management Office came two weeks behind schedule and put the debt stock by June 30, 2016 at $61.45 billion. The report stressed that the figure was higher in naira value than the $71.66 billion posted on March 31, 2016.

The amount, also at current official rate of N307.93 per dollar is higher than the estimated $65.43 billion debt worth N12.6 trillion as at December 31, 2015, at N197/$.

With a planned N1.8 trillion borrowing to fund the N2.2 trillion deficit in 2016 budget, from a mix of dollar-denominated and local debts, the country’s obligations and associated service bill will rise to new record high soon.

Already, the 2016 budget had a debt service provisioning in excess of N1.4 trillion, representing more than one-fifth of the entire budget plan.

The combined forces of devaluation and inflation, also took toll on the nation’s economic activities between December 2014 and 2015, eroding naira value, as well as pushing the sovereign debt stock to ₦12.12 trillion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had in November 2014, tactically devalued the naira and barely three months later, it devalued the local unit further to ₦199/$.

Besides the concern for eroded value of the currency, which requires more naira to offset the debt stock when denominated in dollar terms, a conservative estimate of about N920 billion was lost to the then exchange rate, occasioned by devaluation, even at lower debt stock of $63.5 billion (June 2015), compared to $67.7 billion in December 2014.

The national debt stock as at then showed that the Federal and States external obligations as at December 31, 2014, stood at ₦11.2 trillion ($67.7 billion), but moved to ₦12.06 trillion ($63.5 billion) three months later and ₦12.12 trillion ($63.8 billion) as at June 30, 2015.

Given the eroding value, Nigeria lost about ₦920 billion to devaluation, with respect to the debt stock, representing 8.2 per cent loss over the actual value in six months.

Also within the period under review, the inflationary trend has been on persistent upward movement. Although still in single digit, it moved from eight per cent to 9.4 per cent, trend, defying all liquidity tightening measures of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Still, the estimation of ₦920 billion loss appears to be conservative, given the fact that the domestic debts of sub-national governments (states) were denominated in dollar at the 2013 exchange rate of ₦155.7/$, which is not attainable now.

For example, if the states’ domestic debt profiles were denominated in current dollar exchange rate at ₦307.79, the total estimate would push losses far beyond N1 trillion mark.

Source: http://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-loses-n6-33tr-to-naira-devaluation/

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has urged Nigerians to be of good courage, saying the present administration would take the country out of the current economic challenge.

At a church service in Abuja, yesterday, to mark Nigeria’s 56th independence anniversary, he said: “This leadership will take us across the Red Sea and take us to the new Nigeria. The promise of God to our nation is that He is building a new Nigeria; a Nigeria where there will be peace from the North East to the Niger Delta; a Nigeria where the economy will experience abundance and prosperity, where there will be job for the jobless; a Nigeria led by honest and committed leadership, where Christians, Muslims, men of different faiths and ethnic groups will live and work together in peace and harmony. We are on our way out of the wilderness to the land flowing with milk and honey.”

The economic recession is self-imposed. To surmount it, the government in power must look beyond its political party, seek the advice of experts and divine intervention, said president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Dr. Samson Ayokunle.

Ayokunle said Nigerian leaders have not been wise, like Biblical Pharaoh, who sought counsel on how to manage resources in a time of abundance. He said instead of investing, the country’s leaders squandered the resources and amassed wealth for themselves, at the expense of the land.
Speaking on ‘Wisdom that prevails over economic recession’, Ayokunle said: “Our leaders need divine revelation from God, to get the country out of the recession. We must come out of this situation. We can’t leave this as legacy for our children. The solution is not in one man and it is not limited to the Federal Executive Council.

“President Buhari must look beyond his political party and look for experts beyond Nigeria for brainstorming, and be ready to receive advice. The leadership must show ability to listen. The counsel that will bring solution is not limited to a group of people. Have listening ears, even if the advice is coming from your enemy. As we call on God for wisdom, to handle these matters, help will come from above, and our economy will bounce back again.”

http://guardian.ng/news/buhari-will-take-nigeria-to-promised-land-says-osinbajo/

The Road Traffic Act 1959, makes it mandatory for all vehicle owners to have at least a third party cover to provide compensation for other road users in the event of bodily injuries, death or property damage resulting from the use of the car.
Motor insurance plans come in three categories; Third Party Motor Insurance, Third Party Fire and Theft and Comprehensive Motor Insurance. What is the difference?


Third Party Motor Insurance and Third Party Fire and Theft – Third Party Motor Insurance covers damage to others as the result of an accident that is deemed your fault while Third Party Fire and Theft covers damage to others and loss of vehicle resulting from a fire incident or theft.

Comprehensive Motor Insurance Plan – covers loss or damage to the insured vehicle by fire, theft, and accidental collision, Legal liability for damage to other vehicles and damage to property belonging to Third parties and in some cases medical expenses for both the policy holder and third party.
What You need to know about Motor Insurance in Nigeria

Pricing – as the saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for’. Cost of Motor insurance varies from company to company and the extent of cover is different as well. When buying motor insurance, people tend to compare rates but never bother to find out the extent of cover for each rate and this gap always leads to dissatisfaction at the point of claims.

Depreciation - this simply means that at the point of claim, you get paid the market value of your car and not the value you insured for. Some comprehensive plans use deprecation while others don’t. If you want to get full value at all times, discuss depreciation with your insurer.

Claims – all insurance companies pay claims but the turnaround time is different. While some companies can pay within 48 hours other stay one to three months. It would make sense to discuss turnaround time before signing any contract.

Accessibility and Authenticity – It’s a digital world, insurance companies have website and some of these website are e-commerce enabled. You can also get the list of registered insurance company from the website of the National Insurance Commission; http://www.naicom.gov.ng.

Fraudsters have also taken advantage of the legal backing on Motor insurance to flood the market with cheap and fake insurance plans. Many motorists have fallen victim of this. To check the authenticity of your Motor insurance, visit; http://www.askniid.org or text policy number*plate number to 33125

Find out more, visit http://www.ensure.com.ng

A man and his wife in Abuja reportedly threatened to shoot officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Sunday for asking them to use seat belts.

What started as a mild drama a few yards away from the Living Faith Church, popularly known as Winner’s Chapel, Durumi area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) turned violent when the unidentified man pulled a gun on the FRSC officials.

The man, a member of the church, was returning after the first service with his family in the car, when he caused a scene with his bizarre behavior. Driving in a car with registration number – SD01 RBC, he was pulled over by the officials for safety reason.

Sources said the man and his wife were asked to wear their seat belts by the FRSC Special Marshal, but he pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot the Corps Marshal.
According to an eyewitness and activist, Dorothy Njamanze, “the man refused to obey and the special marshals tried to stop him by standing in front of his car. He moved his car to crush them and they banged on his door.

“To the shock of everyone, he came out with his gun, pointed it at an FRSC marshal, cocked it and threatened to shoot him. It was shocking to note that he was carrying his family, including children in the car.”

The identity of the man is yet to be traced, but officials said efforts were on to fish him out for reprimand.

The incident, which was captured in a video footage, went viral yesterday as the man could be seen shouting that he would blow off the heads of the officials during the ensuing argument.

The man, who was driving a Honda Accord car with plate number SD01-RBC, pointed his gun menacingly at the officials while his wife backed him.

The officials, who seemed helpless in the situation, however, got a video clip of the argument as well as the plate number of his car and released it online with a call to Nigerians to identify the man for possible arrest.



Source: http://guardian.ng/news/man-threatens-to-shoot-frsc-official-over-seat-belts-in-abuja/

Governor Olusegun Mimiko has approved a special intervention programme to give attention to the deplorable conditions of some federal roads in Ondo State.

At a media briefing in Akure yesterday, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade and the Chairman of the Ondo State Agency for Roads Maintenance and Construction (OSARMCO), Kehinde Oshikoya, said the government was giving the roads utmost priority.

According to Akinmade, the programme tagged, “Emergency repairs,” will commence with the dilapidated Owo-Ikare road in the northern senatorial district.

He said Dr. Mimiko approved the emergency repair programme to ameliorate the challenges being faced by motorists on the federal roads in the state including the Owo -Ikare road.
The commissioner appealed to the Federal Government to refund to the state some money being owed it on roads rehabilitation to cushion the overbearing burdens of fixing federal and local roads by the state, especially at a time of recession.

Akinmade noted that the role of motorable roads in reshaping the economy of a people can not be overemphasized, urging the government to consider the plight of those who rely on them to eke out a living and ensure that the owed funds are paid to the state to enable the state government to work

Osikoya said one rehabilitation team would commence work at the Owo axis immediately, while another would start massive rehabilitation from the Ikare axis.

The OSARMCO chairman said the quality and pace at which the agency executes projects would again be demonstrated on this road.

The rehabilitation, he said will ensure that the road users do not wait endlessly for the Federal Government.

The state government had earlier commenced rehabilitation of Akure-Ondo road and Akure-Ado Ekiti road.

Source - http://guardian.ng/news/ondo-state-begins-rehabilitation-of-federal-roads/

The Federal Government has described a call made by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on President Muhammadu Buhari to quit as a shameful act aimed at distracting the federal government from repositioning the country.

“We are on a rescue mission to resuscitate Nigeria after the PDP left it in a coma, and the noise from the same PDP seems designed to sabotage the rescue efforts. But we are not deterred,” the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

Mohammed said the PDP had no moral right to criticise the government, claiming that the former ruling party was responsible for the current economic mess the Nigeria is facing.

“While the PDP was emasculating Nigeria on all fronts, including social, economic and political, the rapacious party was deceiving Nigerians by giving them the illusion of growth and prosperity. Instead of showing remorse and rebuilding itself to a strong opposition party, the PDP has continued to blame the successor Buhari Administration which is left to pack their mess. PDP undertakers have continued to engage in a blame game, when they should be hiding from the shame they brought upon themselves and the nation,” he said.

The minister said what the PDP has consistently put up as a vibrant economy under its watch was nothing but a bubble that was buoyed by massive corruption and chronic incompetence, an economy in which someone without any known means of earned livelihood would boast of $31.5 million!

“They keep saying we should stop talking of the past, yet the past will not stop rearing its head. They keep saying we should no longer refer to the past, but how can we forget so soon that our foreign exchange reserves plummeted from $62bn in 2008 to $30bn by 2015, at a time when oil prices were at a historic high, reaching a level of $114 per barrel in 2014. By comparison, Indonesia, another oil producing economy with a high population, increased its reserves from $60 billion in 2008 to $120 billion in 2015.

“The candid truth is that we failed under the successive PDP administrations to save for the rainy day, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of that so that we won’t repeat the mistake. Take the excess crude account which fell from about $9bn in 2007 to about $2bn in 2015. The argument that it was the State Governors that depleted the account does not hold water since there were Governors in place when the account was being built up.
“Worse still is the fact that up to $14bn in revenues from Nigerian LNG remains unaccounted for and indeed until the Buhari Administration came to office, State Governments never got any allocations from this source of funds which properly belongs to the Federation Account. The naked fact on the revenue front is that there was just a failure of leadership. This was compounded by the non-transparent uses of funds. We are all witnesses to the sacking of a Central Bank Governor because he raised an alarm about $20 billion that had gone missing.

”We are indeed still trying to recover huge sums looted from the national treasury under the PDP’s watch, with $15 billion stolen from the defence sector alone. Perhaps most painful is that because of the way funds (about $322m) returned from Switzerland were mishandled, we now have to accept conditionalities before our stolen assets are even returned to us,” he said.

Mohammed said one of the achievements that the PDP has been touting is that it reduced the nation’s national debt.

”However, at the time that we were earning such large revenues from oil, we only managed to double our external debt from $5.6 billion to $10.7 billion between 2011 and 2015. The case of domestic debt was even worse, almost tripling from N888 billion to N2.1 trillion in the same period. Even these figures mask the extent of unpaid obligations to contractors and the huge plethora of uncompleted projects on which money continued to be spent without visible results. Payments to contractors stopped several years ago while not a single dollar was contributed to the Joint Venture activities. Over N4.5 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy in just two years under the PDP!

”Despite a recent oil boom, Nigerians are indeed all victims of the dilapidated and decrepit infrastructure. The economy that the Buhari Administration inherited was certainly in dire straits, if the huge amount of salary arrears that were being owed at various tiers of government is anything to go by. If, after earning so much resources and increasing the total debt stock, our governments were not able to meet salary obligations, sometimes for up to seven months, then something was definitely wrong somewhere and if this is not evidence of a collapsing economy, one wonders what it is.

http://guardian.ng/news/pdps-call-on-buhari-to-quit-irresponsible-says-fg/

jimmyroger:
Will a certificate be given?

Yes sir. The classes are live unlike what we have with EDX and Cousera. You may have to pay 5 euros (approx N2,000) for the exam.

Awesome.

I can assure you will enjoy the classes

I have worked with a recruitment firm for 3 years and I can tell you it works. Employers no longer need your paper certifications. Yes, they'd love to see it but what they are after is what you have up there. That is what you get with trainings like this.

FxDuke:
In what world can a 10 hour online diploma course with Shaw be on the same level as a diploma from a prestigious university that takes 2 years to complete.

If people are doing these courses with SHAW in the belief that they can use them on their CV to gain employment in whatever field they have an interest in they are fooling themselves.

No employer will take these qualifications seriously and it may do more harm than good. SHAW who 10 hours online!! Seriously!!!..Are you having a laugh!!!

How could you possibly be qualified in anything after 10 hours! It is proven that to be an expert in anything you need to dedicate 10,000 hours to the subject matter. So that’s 0.001% from Shaw. Yes, Only in your own mind will you be qualified.

...

You dont need a voucher code.

Just enroll a course.

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Nigeria’s Didi Akinyelure, a business journalist with CNBC Africa, has won the BBC World News Komla Dumor Award.

The award, instituted in 2015 in honour of Komla Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News, who died aged 41 in 2014, seeks to “celebrate African journalism and reward exceptional talent,” BBC says.

Akinyelure has been with CNBC Africa in Lagos since 2013. She will join BBC news teams in September for a 3-month placement.

http://guardian.ng/news/nigerian-journalist-wins-bbc-world-news-award/

Ebeano Supermarket, one of the leading retail stores in Lagos, has opened its doors to ensure insurance PLC to distribute ensure “No Wahala” Insurance starter packs to its customers.

The management of Ebeano has identified insurance as the safe haven for its customers and Nigerians as it presents the only route for individuals to quickly get back on their feet after experiencing losses considering the current economic challenge.

The “No Wahala” pack illustrates the steps for accessing Motor, Home and Life insurance and also highlights the benefits of these products. The steps have been simplified to allow for ease of purchase of any of the aforementioned products by simply texting your Name (full name) and interested product (Motor or Life or Home) to the short code 30812.

Customers can walk into Ebeano outlets at Chevron drive or Magodo in Lagos and pick up the “No Wahala” packs free of charge. Customers who activate No Wahala will get free shopping vouchers to shop at any Ebeano outlet.

The essence of this process is to make insurance easily accessible to Nigerians, save time and mitigate fraud in documentation and payment processes. It is one of the most secure and easy ways to access insurance.

The Head of Retail Channels at Ensure, Tunji Oshiyoye described the partnership as the launch of a new era in the insurance industry, aimed at eliminating service and accessibility barriers between the industry and its customers.

To learn more about the No Wahala insurance process, kindly visit; www.ensure.com.ng/nowahala

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General Lagos works with non-government organizations (NGOs), academic institutions and individuals to increase cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Contingent upon availability of funds, through small grants of less than $9,000, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria is able to provide financial support to a specific program or initiative that supports shared goals. Funded projects typically range from 5,000 to 9,000 USD. The Public Affairs Section in Lagos will accept applications beginning May 15 and closing June 30, 2016 for projects to be implemented from September 1, 2016 until September 30, 2017.


Grants may be awarded to support the following goals:



· Democracy and Human Rights – minority integration, human rights, transparency in government, freedom of media, empowerment of women and youth, and citizen participation in entrepreneurship

· Mutual Understanding – culture, art, higher education, understanding American society and government

· Global Issues – environment, energy independence and sustainability, counter-terrorism, immigration, and economic prosperity

· Regional Security – transatlantic cooperation

The criteria for these grants are as follows:

· Applicant should be a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that is registered, or individuals based in, the following states: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Cross River.

· Applicant must give a project description and implementation plan.

Grants generally cover up to 12 months of activity.
Proposed projects should be innovative and feasible, with objectives that are sound and well-thought-out, and should clearly indicate the target audience.
Proposed projects should have clearly defined outcomes and evaluation methods.
Funding cannot be provided to pay ongoing salary costs. Cost-sharing by the requesting organization is an important factor in evaluating grant proposals.
Eligible proposal shall consist of:

· Applicant should fill out an application form (SF424)

· Organization/company profile, project description, detailed budget, activity timeline, discussion of the target audience, detailed expected outcomes. The budget must be comprehensive and specific. No block awards can be issued. The organization must have access to a bank account, as funding will be dispersed to grantees in installments by electronic bank transfer.

Public diplomacy grant proposals received will be reviewed and/or selected according to program needs and funding availability. If you or your organization would like to apply for funding for a specific project, please send a detailed description of your project along with a budget to:

Public Affairs Section
U.S. Consulate General Lagos
2 Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island, Lagos
Email: culturallagos@state.gov

http://mokeje.com/2016/05/17/notice-of-funding-opportunity-u-s-consulate-general-lagos/

What you will learn:

Digital Marketing Diploma - Free

What you will be taught:

Your Digital Marketing Foundation – Designing for Conversions
Social Marketing and ORM – Closing and Acquiring All At Once
The Benefits of Blogging
eCommerce – Converting 101
Pay per Click Advertising (PPC) – Acquiring the Right Leads for Less
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – Acquiring Leads Long Term
More For Less – Online Affiliate Marketing Made Easy – Acquiring Leads Risk Free
Converting More for Less with Email Marketing
DataDriven Marketing and Sales for Maximum Return
Your Strategy – Building a Platform for Success

http://www.studony.com/courses/digital-marketing/diploma-digital-marketing-2/


Diploma in Social Media Marketing (Free)

Content and Community – Build It and They Will Come AND Stay
Learning to Monetize Social Media
YouTube without Big Budgets
Facebook – Social Targeting Means More Leads for Less
Twitter – Understanding and Monetizing the Noise
LinkedIn – Professional Networking in the Digital Space
Instagram – A Picture Tells a Thousand Words
Data Driven Social Media
ORM – Protecting Your Brand Online
Strategy – Making More of Your Marketing

http://www.studony.com/courses/digital-marketing/diploma-social-media-marketing/


Diploma in Web Development

Introduction to web development
Creating web pages
Javascript fundamentals
Creating a Javascript widget
Setting up a web server
Content management systems
Programming fundamentals
Introduction to PHP and back-end languages
PHP & Databases
Putting it all together

http://www.studony.com/courses/soft/introduction-web-development/

Has anyone here started the training? What is it like so far?

...

I don't think so.

They are currently recommended by the Irish government

No exams but you would have quizzes

Good to hear

kristen12:
I don't have chrome. Can you suggest any other browser?

Alternatively, you can use this link http://www.shawacademy.com/studony

kristen12:

The site isn't user friendly. I've been trying to apply for diploma in principles of nutrition. When I click on enroll it's takes me to another page entirely that I don't even understand

Its working here. It leads you to a page where you see all the courses and you can then apply for one.

Has anyone applied?