₦airaland Forum

[size=20pt]HP camera 'can't see' black faces[/size]
"Black Desi" in the YouTube video
"Black Desi" in the YouTube video

A YouTube video suggesting that face recognition cameras installed in HP laptops cannot detect black faces has had over one million views.

The short movie, uploaded earlier this month, features "Black Desi" and his colleague "White Wanda".

When Wanda, a white woman, is in front of the screen, the camera zooms to her face and moves as she moves.

But when Desi, a black man, does the same, the camera does not respond by tracking him.

The clip is light-hearted in tone but is titled "HP computers are racist".

"HP has been informed of a potential issue with the facial-tracking software included on some of its systems, which appears to occur when insufficient foreground lighting is available," an HP spokesman told BBC News.

"We take this seriously and are looking into it with our partners."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8429634.stm


youtube-video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM

[size=16pt]Thugs beat protesting health workers[/size]

By Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji

December 18, 2009 03:23AMT
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For daring to protest the non-payment of their salaries for three months, Ogun State health workers at the Abeokuta South Council were seriously beaten by suspected political thugs on Thursday, sending many of the victims to hospital with fractured bones and limbs.

The workers, who are largely female, had staged a peaceful protest to the house of the local government chairman, Yanju Lipede, at the Government Reservation Area {GRA}, Ibara, Abeokuta to express their displeasure when they were ambushed by the hired ruffians.

When the workers were a few metres away from Mr. Lipede's house, two vehicles, including an SUV, suddenly parked beside the protesters and five hefty men disembarked from the vehicles. These men descended on the women, beating them mercilessly with horsewhip, stick and other weapons.

The protesters were left running helter-skelter to avoid being killed in the process, with many of them left with blood stain and torn clothes. Some of them had to take refuge in nearby houses while the beating lasted.

The thugs equally rained curses on the health workers, alleging them to be agents of the opposition who are bent to pull down the government.

One of the victims, Adeyola Solaja, a senior cadre nurse, who was later revived by her colleagues after the merciless beating, said the SUV brought by the thugs has been traced to the Supervisory Councilor on Health at the local government.

Shock and disbelief

"We are on peaceful protest to the house of the chairman, when suddenly a jeep identified as belonging to supervisory councilor on health suddenly stopped and before we knew it, hefty men emerged from the vehicle and started beating us," Mrs. Solaja said. "These thugs beat us with horsewhip, stick and other dangerous weapons. They beat hell out of us." Some of the health workers were short of words when interviewed by Next.

"This is unbelievable; we were not carrying even placards, just marching in peaceful manner to lodge our complaint to the chairman, when these hoodlums swooped on us," another of the victims said.

The State Chairperson, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Abiodun Olakanmi, said he received a distress call on the ugly development and had to run to the scene.

"We wondered why political thugs had to beat up workers over their rightful demands," he said, saying the state government had, after the suspended strike by health workers, ordered that all outstanding salaries must be paid, which the local government had failed to do.

Mr. Olakanmi said he was witnessing such barbaric act for the first time in his life, adding that if justice is not done, the association will take a legal action. "Can you see those taking care of patients now becoming patients?" he said.

Inappropriate protest

Mr. Lipede, however, described the protest of the health workers as inappropriate and a demonstration of falsehood.

He said it is untrue that the local government owes the workers a three-month salary arrears because his government is adhering to the no-work-no-pay policy of the state government, which he said the council applied when the workers were on strike.

"This local government does not owe the workers any salary in arrears, not even one month or three months that the workers are claiming. When the workers were on strike, we applied no-work-no-pay rule. That is the money the workers are now describing as a debt; we do not owe anybody any salary," Mr. Lipede said.

He said if the council was to pay the salaries, it would be on "compassionate ground." He also said he knew nothing about the thugs who injured the protesters.

The agreement reached between the state government and health workers is that they would be paid for the time they were on strike.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5498439-146/story.csp

[size=17pt]Diasporean Doctors Take Medicare to[/size]
12.19.2009


Delta

Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Okonta, will flag-off the 2009 edition of the free medical service for rural communities in the state on December 23.


Organised by Delta Doctors in Diaspora as part of its desire to give back to society, the free health programme would be flagged off in Abavo.


Other communities to benefit from the free health care programme include Akumazi, Umunede and Alisimie in Ika South and North local government areas of the state.


A statement signed by the President of the group, Dr. Isioma Okobah, said during the programme, persons with various ailments would be treated free of charge.


The statement also said the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Otumara, would also grace the occasion, which would be attended by stakeholders in the health sector.


It would be recalled that Delta Doctors in Diaspora is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which is based in Atlanta Georgia, USA and made up of doctors of Delta State origin practicing abroad.


The group has been in the forefront of complimenting the health care programe of the Delta State government through its end of year free health care services for rural communities.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=162346

Seun or the moderators would be in a good position to answer that.
Probably nothing.

[size=20pt]Nigerians in diaspora remit $1.7billion annually[/size]
National News Dec 19, 2009

By Peter DURU, Makurdi
Professor Toyin Falola of the University of Texas, United States of America has disclosed that Nigerians in diaspora remit over $1.7billion annually to boost the nation’s economy.
He disclosed that these remittances were to family members and friends in the country, advising that the nation tapped into this foreign exchange source to stimulate development in the country.

Delivering a paper at a public lecture organised by the History Department of Benue State University, Makurdi, titled “Citizens at home, citizens abroad and the globalization of knowledge”, the don noted that the huge transfers could be translated to tangible developments for the teeming populace.

Professor Falola, who was invested with the Julius Nyerere Professorial chair of Modern African History by the Vice Chancellor of Benue State University, Professor Paul Akase Sorkaa, described himself as a Structural Adjustment Programme SAP Diasporan.

He, however, maintained that “the remittances from the Diaspora could be a veritable means of sustaining the nation’s ailing economy”.

Decrying the adversity of the economic policies as SAP on the economies of developing countries like Nigeria, the don noted that Africa has lost no fewer than 14 million of her citizens to the western world through slavery, while the unfavorable economic policies premised on the SAP in the 1980s drove that similar figure to the west.
He stressed that the country could tap from the opportunities presented it through the affluence of Nigerians in Diaspora, but raised concerns over the endemic corruption in the country which, he noted, could thwart the opportunities presented by the current scenario.

He cite the state of Israel, Mexico and the Philippines as countries that have taken full advantage of their citizens in Diaspora to improve their technological and economic prowess in the last decade, stressing that Nigeria could do likewise.

In his remark, the Vice Chancellor of Benue State University, Makurdi, Professor Sorkaa, stated that the university has put a process in motion to collaborate with the nation’s intelligentsia in the Diaspora to develop the institution.
Declaring open the lecture, Governor Gabriel Suswam assured of his administration’s commitment to the funding of the state-owned university to meet the academic needs of the people.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/12/19/nigerians-in-diaspora-remit-1-7billion-annually/

The ranting of a bald headed coward - tufiakwa

[size=20pt]Monthly Allocation Dependency (MAD) syndrome[/size]

The Monthly Allocation Dependency (MAD) syndrome has reduced governance in Nigeria to the theatre of the absurd. State and local government areas simply do not have the energy or even desire to generate internal revenue. Why bother to generate a paltry million or so when billions are assured every month? And why concern yourself with transparency and accountability to the public when the money is not gotten from taxes? And why bother to execute projects in public interest when you were not elected to office in the first place? And indeed who says you are in office to work for the public good when you can steal and plunder with impunity without any form of sanction? These questions explain the terrible tragedy that is governance in Nigeria.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5498403-182/The_fourth_estate_as_critical_mass.csp

those guys are clearly sleeping
somebody need to wake them up

[size=20pt]becomrich is the man
hip hip hip , hurray ![/size]

Ibori is a saint, as clean as the snow
he never stole a penny in his entire life
the guy is an angel

Aluta continua
Anambra , here we come

Woe on all those who want to stop Soludo from looting Anambra the way he did CBN

God of mercy

There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed before a Igbo can ascend the presidency

There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed before a Igbo can ascend the presidency

, its a jungle out there
Nigeria government dont believe in law nor respect it
Nigerian too, dont believe in law nor respect it

Justice in Nigeria depend on who you are, who you know or how much you can pay. When a thief is caught in Nigeria for stealing N10, the public beat to death, and an average Nigeria agrees its normal. People dont believe in the system, even the government don't believe in their own system. Like animals in the jungle , everybody unleashed justice according to his desire, its terrible. I got sick of this madness called Nigeria, its all bad news. Nothing good ever comes out of that jungle.

Its a vicious circle of death, diseases, murder, armed robbery, riot, looting, kidnapping, rigging, and the list goes on and on.

Oga becomrich
biko, limit yourself to the map, those picture you uploaded are terrible and sickening. We are struggling to adjust to your satelite map overdose, if you start adding gory pictures to the equation, some feeble minded people might go mental on Nairaland.

But at the end of the day it is up to the moderators to identify such posters and ensure they are banned.

both moderators are inactive and ineffective, the entire forum has become a jungle where anythings goes.

@ poster

Now what percentage of the revenue is non oil revenue.  It is 47% of the revenue .

Calculation


2.899 divide by 6.040  X 100 = 47 %


Now what percentage of that non oil comes from yourbaland. 90% of the non oil revenue.

Which means 43% of the total revenue of Nigeria from non oil sector comes from YORUBALAND. This exclude the oil sector in yorubaland because the other part of Nigeria do not pay tax.  which mean more than half of Nigeria revenue comes from Yorubaland. More than 50% of the revenue.

Yorubaland is expect to  produce more than 50% of the revenue of Nigeria using 2010 budget as example.


Oil revenue is only 53% of the total revenue in Nigeria. Not 90% as claim by some people.  Oil revenue is 53%.


And we get less than 9% of the revenue back. While the oil revenue , those state get 13% derivation back. While our people get 0% back from the revenue. Since 1976 no single project in yorubaland. Who is your slave.

This is nothing but a shameless conjecture - a deliberate mixture of truth and lies. Your creative budgetary analysis is a extreme form of tribal jingoism.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever to prove that Yoruba people are contributing 90% of the non oil revenue?

another version:

Aftermath police boss killing: Police/community in bloody clash
Yinka Olukoya, Abeokuta - 06.12.2009

IT was a bloody day in the ancient town of Ijebu-Ife, in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State as protesting youths killed an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Oladokun Omolodun.


The youth, Sunday Tribune gathered, trooped to the streets in their numbers in the early hours of Saturday, protesting the ‘mysterious death’ of one of them believed to have been killed following a fight between him and a vigilance group.


The deceased (name withheld) was reported to have been returning from work late some days ago and encountered the vigilance group who were alleged to have used juju on him, which resulted in his death on Friday.


It was also gathered that the police in the town were overpowered by the youth and as a result, men of the Nigeria Police from Ijebu Ode Divisional Police Command led by the late ACP, stormed the town to quell the situation and in the process, the ACP was killed.


The police PRO, Mr. Odumuyiwa Adejobi, in a telephone conversation, told Sunday Tribune that the incident was as a result of an attempt by the Ijebu-Ife community to flush away some hoodlums terrorising residents of the town, contrary to the report that the youth clashed with the vigilance group.
He also added that the hoodlums went on rampage, destroying properties and setting houses ablaze.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/06122009/news/news5.html
According to the PRO, the deceased policeman’s body was said to have been matcheted, slaughtered and later burnt. His remains had been deposited at the morgue of the State Hospital, Ijebu-Ode. He also said that about 100 policemen had been sent to the scene.


Sunday Tribune gathered that residents of the town are in fear of being attacked by the police while some of them had fled to neighbouring towns.


In a releated development, the governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, has ordered a full scale investigation into the mayhem which he described as highly unfortunate when he visited the town to assess the extent of the skirmishes.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/06122009/news/news5.html

[size=15pt]As Christmas approaches, wealthy Igbo rush to move aged parents out of kidnappers’ reach
[/size]
By Chux Ohai, Published: Saturday, 5 Dec 2009
click to expand image

Luxury buses waiting to take people home for Xmas

East and west, as the saying goes, home is the best. But it seems that this timeless proverb may hold very little attraction for many people of Eastern Nigerian origin that are living and working outside their home states, this Christmas. Saturday Punch investigations have revealed that some rich and influential Igbo may have decided to shelve the yearly ritual of celebrating Christmas in their home towns and villages for fear of being attacked by kidnappers.

Apparently scared stiff by the recurring incidence of kidnaps across the eastern states, some of these people have started moving their loved ones, mostly the aged and invalid, from their home towns and villages to the relative safety of bigger and more secure towns and cities. One wealthy Igbo businessman, who owns a three-star hotel in the Ojodu area of Lagos and declined to disclose his identity for security reasons, told our correspondent that a recent experience had compelled him to rush home and bring his aged father to the city.

He said, ”I was the negotiator in a kidnap incident that took place in the month of May. My brother, it wasn‘t a very pleasant experience.”

According to him, the mother of his friend living in Spain was abducted from her home town in Ukwa East Local Government of Abia State just as she was returning from her farm. He continued,”The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N10 million. They threatened to kill the woman if her son failed to give them the money. They felt that since he lived abroad, he should be able to part with that sum of money without sweat. But my friend didn‘t have that kind of money. He was so scared to come home that he asked me to negotiate on his behalf.”

”All the while, I communicated with the criminals on the phone. It was a very tedious process. I told them that my friend was struggling to survive abroad and wouldn‘t be able to afford to pay them N10 million. After a while, they scaled down the ransom to N4 million. At this point, I had to let them know that I was going to pay the money from my own pocket and that I couldn‘t afford that kind of money. When they asked how much I could afford, I told them I had only N500,000. The result was that they went mad and warned that they would eliminate their victim if we failed to pay N4 million within a certain period.”

”I went on to beat the sum to N1 million, but they refused to accept it. I had no other choice than to link them up with my friend on the phone. My friend asked to speak with his mother and they gave her the phone. At this point, they were getting worked up. My friend was already worked up, too. He got angry and decided to call the bluff of the kidnappers. He told them that they could go ahead and kill his mother, if that was what they wanted. When his mother pleaded on the phone that he should give them what they wanted, he said to their hearing that they should do what they liked with her. At that point, the criminals understood that her son wasn‘t as rich as they thought and they had no other choice than to settle for N1 million”.

The victim, Saturday Punch gathered, was 75 years-old and her son was emotionally disturbed during the period of her ordeal. ”My boss had very little money when his mother was kidnapped. He had to borrow some money from his friend to pay the ransom” one of the aides of the man, who was given the task of delivering the ransom to the kidnappers in Port Harcourt, told our correspondent. Immediately after the she was freed, he added, the woman was flown out of the community by her son to an undisclosed destination where she is currently staying.

Similarly other Igbo businessmen across the country have begun to sneak their aged parents out of their various communities. Another Igbo businessman, an indigene of Anambra State resident in Lagos (name withheld), confessed to Saturday Punch that he had to bring his mother to Lagos because he feared that kidnappers might sieze the opportunity provided by the current political situation in his home state to strike this Christmas. ”Everything is becoming so dicey that it will be unwise to let her stay in my home town any longer. You cannot tell what will happen next, especially now that Christmas is approaching and everybody is desperate to make more money” he said.

For Chief Kennedy Adiele, a prominent lawyer and businessmen, from Owalla Asa community in Abia State the kidnap scare has reached the point where the federal government will have to intervene. According to him, kidnappers have laid siege to his community such that every well-to-do son of Owalla Asa and neighbouring villages and towns had taken their aged parents and relatives outside the state. He said, ”I tell you, the terror is so real that an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty currently pervades my community. As I am talking to you, my uncle‘s wife is still being held by kidnappers. There is a man, an indigene of Ukwaland who was abducted from the church where he worshipped. This man owns about seven petrol filling stations in Port Harcourt. The day they took him away, we learnt that they practically forced him out of the church and beat him so much that blood started gushing from his nose and mouth. Nobody has seen him for the past two months‘.

Adiele revealed that the situation had forced him to move his parents from Owalla Asa, but declined to disclose where he was keeping them at the moment. For him and several others, the joy of reuniting with his extended family at Christmas will have to be forgone. ”It is painful, but I have no choice” he said. Every year most Igbo men and women and their families journey home, not only to celebrate Christmas; but to mark the traditional New Yam festival, as well. Unfortunately, most people will miss this year‘s celebrations, which is usually accompanied with much fanfare.

The impact of the incidence of kidnapping on the economy and social life of the Igbo across the River Niger is, no doubt, enormous. ”Nobody wants to invest in Igbo land at the moment. As a result, no money is coming in. Everybody is scared” Adiele lamented. To worsen the matter, he added, the law enforcement agencies have not done much to stop the kidnappers.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200912050191284

[size=15pt]FORENSIC FORCE: A civil servant and a dog[/size]

Salisu Suleiman

November 27, 2009 01:16AMT
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You meet two civil servants. One tells you his salary for the month is yet to be paid, his rent is up, and his children's school fees due. The other tells you that the property he bought for N40 million two years has just been valued at N100 million. They work in the same office.

Our bureaucracy has produced some of the most brilliant minds in Nigeria, and also some of the most inept. Upon joining the service, the civil servant is full of fresh ideas and is on a mission to change the world. He is full of good plans for Nigeria and anxious to begin.

But as soon as he concludes documentation, a different reality confronts him. He comes to work at the official opening time of 8 am, but has to wait for the cleaners who come in at 9. They both have to wait for the officer with the keys. Time check: 10a.m: two hours to get the office cleaned; two hours to gossip before lunch; two hours for lunch, and another two hours of ‘not on seat' before closing at 4 pm.

Typical day.

He has no desk, no job schedule and nothing to do. Nobody cares whether he comes to the office or not. His pay is less than half a million for the entire year (compared to the N4m of a classmate who is banker and N7m of another in telecoms). Though nearly 30, he cannot afford to rent even a single room and has to live with friends.

He has no idea when he will be able to get married, or afford a jalopy.

He is sharp, intelligent and hardworking, and would have done a fine job anywhere, but this is the only job he has. His first promotion, despite no failing on his part, comes after 6 to 10 years. With no contacts, he has little chance of getting another job and has no options but to remain, hoping for when he finds the right ‘spoon'.

Soon, he is approaching 40. He still entertains vague hopes of leaving, but those hopes are dimming. He might have found a small spoon because he is now married, and lives in a rented or personal house. He has come to terms with the system and has no more illusions about changing the world. After a decade or more, he has only just got his second promotion. He is not happy, but only occasionally does his conscience prick him. Like concrete, bureaucracy gets tougher with age.

Before long, he is nearing 50 and also approaching management level. All thoughts of leaving are now over. His children are in secondary schools and universities. Conscience has been subsumed by survival. He still earns much less than his contemporaries in the private sector and as always, is lagging behind by many years in promotion. But he has landed property and reasonable assets. He is fundamentally insecure as the middle ages advance, but admits that things could be worse.

51 -60 years soon come. After years of slow promotions, he finally has the contacts to pull a string or two, and is a director, or even permanent secretary. He knows he can afford to make no mistake as what he does now will determine the rest of his life. He has a home abroad, a chieftaincy title and huge responsibilities.

Then he retires. Those who wielded big spoons and scooped liberally retire to a life of luxury. Some make it to government houses or the Senate. Others go into business. Others still, are crowned or turbaned. They own banks, hotels and other major businesses and are consulted by government, being part of the ruling elite.

For those who never got to wield big spoons, this is the worst phase. Used to a monthly salary cycle, the first few months without one is a death sentence. His children are not well-trained because he could not educate them. They are of no help; no one will help him because when he was in office he didn't help himself.

Every month that passes takes him closer to his grave. His eyes are gone and his health failing.

His pension and retirement benefits will not be paid until a week after his death. And when he dies, old, tired,

lonely and miserable, he is buried and quickly forgotten.

One is a typical Nigerian bureaucrat; dubious, slippery and inordinately corrupt. The other, debased by the system, ends up with a dog's life.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/5487160-148/FORENSIC_FORCE:_A_civil_servant_and.csp

yoruba man rob igbo man,
na 419 rob drug dealer, yeye people.

@ poster
this is a gross misuse of freedom of speech. you have no right what so ever to call Soludo a thief
this thread should be deleted.

both kosovo and Richymumu are fools , who cannot moderate a primary school play ground talk less of a political section of a forum. Seun is a bigger fool for making them a moderator

Im getting sick of Nairaland

I don't understand how the business of choosing a moderator is being conducted on the forum, its a typical Nigeria fashion, law of the jungle , fire brigade style

I was of the opinion that we should be allowed elect a moderator democratically

Woke up one day and saw the name kosovo, no annoucement , no consultation, nothing. complete rubbish

yes, I II give it to that bald headed coward, run away general Ojukwu

Only in Nigeria: you can betray your people on the battlefield, run away to save your pathetic misery life and still come back to claim leadership.
Chai biafra people don kolo

This is where l get very angry with RichyBlack, does he need to be told before deleting this thread. May be its time we need another moderator

Paroh frey is a Psychotic inmate that escape from a secured psychiatric institution, if anybody happen to see him, please do not approach , he is extremely dangerous, call 999 for immediate assistance.

I am happy lm not that psychotic Paroh frey

I II tell them we are unlucky to have a fool like Paroh_frey as a Nigerian