₦airaland Forum

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[size=14pt]NO[/size]


Click "Like" if your answer is: NO, Gareth Bale is not worth £85m


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[size=14pt]YES[/size]

Click "Like" if your answer is: YES, Gareth Bale is worth £85m


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When we talk of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, it is believed that no other player in the world is of the same calibre. But this past season, Gareth Bale at Tottenham has proved otherwise.

The Welshman has had an absolutely sensational 2012/13 campaign. He has not only been scoring a lot of goals, but has also developed his game in a variety of ways.

Bale joined Spurs in 2007 from Southampton for a fee of £7m.

The 2012/13 season began with Tottenham challenging for the Champions League spot. Bale proved to be extremely important in Spurs living up to their ability.

The Wales international has scored 26 goals and picked up eight assists in all competitions this season and has rightfully been named as the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year - and also the Football Writers’ Player of the Year.

It's going to take a word-record fee for Real Madrid to prise Gareth Bale away from Tottenham but is the winger really worth £100million?

Real Madrid think so. They think it would be money well spent but some analysts disagree with the Spanish giants.

What about you? Do you think Bale is worth £85m. Yes or No?

Click "Like" in the YES and NO posts below so that we can have your opinion.

A strong opposition will keep PDP on its toes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress.

On considering the application, the Commission found that the applicant-parties have met all statutory requirements for the merger, and has accordingly granted their request.

Consequently, the Commission has approved the withdrawal of the individual certificates of the applicant-parties, and the issuance of a single certificate to the All Progressives Congress.

Abdullahi A. Kaugama
Secretary to the Commission

An Abuja Federal High Court on Monday voided the deregistration of 28 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The court, presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, also declared section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, which stipulates that political parties must win seats during state and National Assembly elections, as null and void.

INEC had while announcing the deregistration of the 28 parties on December 6, 2012 predicated its action on the section and the 1999 Constitution.

However, one of the deregistered parties, Fresh Democratic Party, and its presidential candidate in 2011, Rev. Chris Okotie, challenged the action at the Abuja FHC. They argued that it breached their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.

INEC, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Assembly and the Inspector-General of Police were listed as defendants in the suit in which the plaintiffs asked the court to make a declaration that the electoral body lacked the power to deregister the FDP except in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

Another relief sought by the plaintiffs in the suit filed by Fred Agbaje, was a declaration that section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended, was unconstitutional, invalid, null and void to the extent that it breached the provisions of section 40 as well as sections 221 to 229 of the constitution.

They also asked the court to declare that the purported reliance by INEC on section 78 (7) (ii) of the said Electoral Act in deregistering FDP violated the provisions of sections 36, 38 and 40, as well as sections 221 to 222 of the constitution.

In his judgment , Justice Kolawole noted that those who drafted the 1999 Constitution did not contemplate deregistration of political parties.

He also faulted the decision of the National Assembly to introduce the provisions in section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral Act as an instrument for the deregistration of political parties.

The judge described the provisions as legislative arbitrariness and mischief, noting that they could encourage a win-at-all-cost mentality by the political parties.

The judge held that while the National Assembly has the power to make laws, it has no power to “smuggle in” a provision that a political party which fails to win seats in state and National Assembly elections should be deregistered.

He also held that INEC should have given the FDP a hearing before going ahead to deregister it.

Kolawole said, “INEC would not have lost anything by issuing the 1st plaintiff (FDP) with a query to enhance the integrity of its decision. The statutory powers conferred on the 1st defendant (INEC) can be described as ministerial but when such power concerns deregistration of a political party, it becomes a quasi judicial power because after registration, a political party becomes a legal entity and acquires a legal right and you cannot take away such legal right without according the political party a hearing.”

Concluding, he said, “Section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, is hereby declared null and void, in so far as the 1st plaintiff (FDP) was not heard before the decision was taken. The said decision is null and void.

“The 1st defendant’s decision dated December 6, 2012 is declared invalid and is set aside.”

However, Kolawole refused to grant the plaintiffs’ prayer that the court should order the defendants to pay them N10m as compensatory damages.

Shortly after the court rose, INEC signified its intention to appeal the verdict, saying three earlier judgments validated the deregistration of the parties.

“INEC is appealing the judgment. Don’t forget that there have been three previous judgments affirming the correctness of our action.

“This fourth judgment is different and it will be appealed,” said Kayode Idowu, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

One of the affected political parties, the Peoples Salvation Party, welcomed the court’s decision.

It said the judgment would make the electoral body to realise that it must operate within the confines of the law.

The party’s National Chairman, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said, “We welcome the decision of the court because we believe it is in the interest of democracy.

“It will also serve notice on INEC that lacks credibility that it cannot be above the law. Having been created by law, INEC has to subject itself to the law 100 per cent.”

The political parties deregistered are the Peoples Redemption Party, the National Reformation Party, the National Advance Party, the Democratic Peoples Alliance, African Liberation Party, Action Party of Nigeria, African Political System, Better Nigeria Progressive Party, Congress for Democratic Change, Community Party of Nigeria, Freedom Party of Nigeria, Hope Democratic Party, Justice Party, Liberal Democratic Party of Nigeria, Movement for Democracy and Justice, and the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy.

Others are the New Democrats, National Majority Democratic Party, the National Movement of Progressive Party, the National Solidarity Democratic Party, the Progressive Action Congress, the Peoples Mandate Party, the Peoples Progressive Party, the Republican Party of Nigeria, the United National Party for Development and the United Nigeria Peoples Party.

http://www.punchng.com/news/court-nullifies-deregistration-of-parties-by-inec/

REALITY101: Sorry Omotola I had to edit that vomit for you.

Kizuba: Omo or whoever you call yourself, please spare us with your poor statistics, when you say "one of the most influential in people in the world" I am sorry to have to explain you to that you are delusional (who do you influence? apart from family, friends and sympathizers?). Now with all due respect don't see Oprah Winfrey in the mirror. there are not that many who know you, not even in Nigeria, talk less of Africa, ..........We wouldn't go global?

I do agree that child marriage is not right but please you are not an example for anything. Act your films and leave it at that. By the way I rarely watch them, lets stick to the topic it is child marriage we are talking about. Don't make this about you. If you were THAT influential you wouldn't be seizing this opportunity to earn personal credit. STICK to the fight! the children need it more than to watch you ACT.

For your information, Omotola is a recipient of 2013 Time's '100 most influential people in the world' award. Founded in 1923, Time (www.time.com) published in New York City, has the world's largest circulation for a weekly news magazine, with a readership of 25 million.

http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/omotola-jalade-ekeinde/

See the full list of recipients here http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/all/

I just received the news that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has approved $100,000, the total money expected to get Music Producer, OJB the required medical treatment.

Contact was made to the governor via some journalists and the governor promptly approved the money which will be handed over to OJB by Friday, my source added.

EACH time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.

The recent visit of Mrs. Jonathan to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, in which her security details forcibly grounded the movement of residents, is the latest of such excesses that Nigerians have been forced to endure for the past three years. This impunity must stop. According to newspaper reports, Mrs. Jonathan’s security arrangement paralysed activities in the Port Harcourt Government Reservation Area for the four days of her visit. Armoured personnel carriers were deployed at two points, while gun-wielding operatives manned the points leading to her private residence. Many people missed their appointments because they were prevented from moving in and out of their houses.

When she came to Lagos last year, on a “thank-you visit” to some women groups for electing her husband president, she enacted a similar repulsive scenario. During the visit, Lagos residents were subjected to an unprecedented road blockade, which gave rise to an unnerving five-hour traffic that grounded all human and economic activities. The First Lady was attending that event at Ocean View Restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island.

Mrs. Jonathan’s misdemeanour, which still resonates more than a year after it happened, forced Governor Babatunde Fashola to lament, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced…. It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve. It is particularly worrisome that this (she) is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money is used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we use to block the roads against them. It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.” It cannot be said better.

But not long after the ridiculous show of power in Lagos, Mrs. Jonathan headed for Warri, Delta State, where she also caused hardship to residents through her security arrangements. Needless to say, these foul-ups compound gridlocks on our roads. On a few occasions, the First Lady has also broken protocol. During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the United States in September 2012, she breached protocol by disembarking from the aircraft before the President, and shaking hands with officials waiting on the tarmac while her husband was still coming down from the plane. The First Lady is setting a bad example for wives of governors.

The position of the First Lady in the United States, from where the convention spread to other countries, is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and attracts no salary. But it glows with much glamour and the occupier is expected to handle the position with sublime grace. In the United Kingdom, the role of the Prime Ministerial Consort is not official and as such whoever occupies the office is not given a salary or official duties. Many of them prefer to remain very much in the background. Indeed, the late Denis Thatcher once summed up the role of the ideal prime ministerial spouse as “always present, never there.” This is the ideal.

But operating under the loosely-defined, unconstitutional office of the “First Lady,” Mrs. Jonathan has been bringing the highest office in the land into disrepute since her husband assumed full duties as President in May 2010, by her public conduct. Her behaviour – when there is no reason for it – is leaving many citizens who have had their rights trampled on bitter but helpless.

This is not the practice in civilised societies. The basic requirement of civilised democracy is that everyone plays by the rules and that the rules command public confidence. In October 2011, it was reported that a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman was so agitated that she enquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour, “Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?” The Prime Minister was reportedly travelling on the London Underground for an appointment. The United States’ security services offer maximum protection to Michelle Obama while, at the same time, causing minimal inconvenience to other motorists and citizens. It is as outrageous as it is gravely uncivilised for official cortèges to take pleasure in inflicting pains on the people that such officials claim to be serving.

The itinerary of the First Lady can be smoothly planned without compromising her safety and the convenience of the citizens. Mrs. Jonathan must recognise that power is ephemeral and should learn from the past occupants of the office who history does not favourably remember because they did incalculable damage to the image of the First Family. Fashola, who, as a governor, does not use sirens in his limited convoy, and does not harass other road users, offers a useful lesson in public morality and decorum. Even with the aura surrounding the office of President of the United States, whenever Barack Obama is visiting any part of America, information is fully circulated to the locality well ahead of time, and locals are given alternative routes that cause minimum inconveniences to use.

It is President Jonathan’s duty to caution his wife to stop this regime of offensive illegality that has tainted the Presidency and presented Nigeria in a bad light.

http://www.punchng.com/editorial/patience-jonathans-excesses-must-be-curbed/

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The so-called imposition has no credible source till date..

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has denied media reports that its national leader, Bola Tinubu, has appointed his daughter as successor to his recently deceased mother for the post of ‘Iyaloja’ of Lagos State.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES over the telephone, the party dismissed the reports as “rantings” of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.

“The (ACN) leadership is not aware of it. It is not true and can never be true,” said Joe Igbokwe, spokesperson, Lagos ACN.

The Lagos PDP had issued a statement on Monday condemning the alleged plot to install Folashade Tinubu-Ojo to succeed her grandmother, the late Abibat Mogaji, as the new President General of market men and women in Lagos State.

In its statement signed by Taofik Gani, the Lagos PDP spokesperson, the party called on the former governor to rescind his decision, adding that Mr. Tinubu had planned to notify market leaders at his Ikoyi home on Tuesday.

“The much-touted democrat should allow the simple tenets of democracy to prevail in the selection of a new leader for the market women, more so as there is no cogent evidence that his nominee and daughter is a full-time market woman,” the PDP statement said.

The PDP even called on the state governor, Raji Fashola, asking him not to sit on the fence “at this auspicious time.”
The Lagos ACN, however, dismissed the statement as the handiwork of “an idle mind.”

“We don’t have time for that kind of thing. We are strategising for 2015 and they are talking about market,” Mr. Igbokwe said. “Who has interest in that kind of thing?”

http://premiumtimesng.com/regional/139536-lagos-acn-denies-reports-of-tinubu-appointing-daughter-as-market-leader.html

Please, how much should I budget for a 2003 Toyota RAV 4, full option, leather and mileage less than 60k with original custom papers. Thanks

Phill, please what should I budget for 2003 Toyota RAV4, full option, leather and mileage less than 60k with original custom paper.

Phill, please what should I budget for 2003 Toyota RAV4, full option, leather and mileage less than 60k with original custom paper

How much will it cost me to get a 2003 Toyota RAV 4 Full option, less than 60k mileage, with original custom papers

by Angelina Jolie

MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.

My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.

Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life.

Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.

I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.

For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.

I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women.

Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

Angelina Jolie is a hollywood actress and director.

https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121017024906-angelina-jolie-february-2012-story-top.jpg

SOURCE

Please, how much will it cost me (all cost inclusive) to get a low mileage Honda CRV 2008 including genuine custom clearing (Cotonoue+Nigeria. my ee mail is walediscovery @ yahoo . com

Thank you

Please, how much will it cost me (all cost inclusive) to get a low mileage Honda CRV 2008 including genuine custom clearing (Cotonoue+Nigeria. my ee mail is walediscovery @ yahoo . com

Thank you

Please, how much will it cost me (all cost inclusive) to get a low mileage Honda CRV 2008 including genuine custom clearing (Cotonoue+Nigeria. my ee mail is walediscovery at yahooo dot com

Thank you

hmmm.

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 10th in a global ranking that make them 27 per cent of Africa’s total Internet users, far ahead of Egypt [19th global ranking] and South Africa [37th 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 on 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.


http://premiumtimesng.com/news/131249-exclusive-jonathan-awards-40million-contract-to-israeli-company-to-monitor-computer-internet-communication-by-nigerians.html

Feeler from Abuja has it that Dr Christopher Kolade has resigned his appointment as the chairman of the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

SURE-P initiative is an intervention device of Jonathan administration employed in catalyzing some of the FG's special projects in need of funds. It was set up when the FG announced the removal of the fuel subsidy and funded with about 42% of the subsidy removal.

Details later...

Update
Dr. Kolade has come out to debunk the news of his resignation describing it has a rumour...

Sixty-five per cent of sportsmen go broke (bankrupt) after they quit the limelight.

In England wages of footballers average £30 000 a week (more than many households earn annually) but seven out of every ten ex-footballers are said to be 'broke' and having serious difficulties making ends meet.

Legendary sportspeople like Mike Tyson(earnings: $350 million, )Evander Holyfield ($250 million), Allen Iverson ($154 million), Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Steffi Graf all declared themselves broke after their illustrious careers.

In Africa the figures are worse but the fact that most ex-African stars are smart and stay away from the public eye when it happens has helped mask the magnitude.

One is forced to ask how on earth this is possible, judging by the enormous sums earned during their active days?

LACK OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION

Contrary to what most people think, sportsmen are not complete illiterates or un-educated. They are educated in the art of sports and not finance. To get to the top of the world, you have to focus all your time to your sport and school education suffers. Hence, in most cases, top athletes are not educated in financial matters. This is no excuse but they hardly devote time to learn how to manage money.

Most superstars originate from acutely poor backgrounds and, in most cases, are raised by financially poor but not necessarily morally poor parents. They generally have a good heart but when the riches come to these sportsmen, they are found wanting in the know-how to handle this sudden wealth.

Case Study: Mike Tyson, ex world heavyweight boxing champion

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Especially among Coloured stars and Africans, a man's wealth is shared among his family and we do have huge families.

Once these sports stars hit the big time, these family members and friends have to be catered for: school fees, feeding allowances, house rents, burials and house purchases etc all are billed to the sports star who erroneously thinks it is his duty to pay this. They become the sole bread winners for family and friends.

The financial burden that these stars inherit from their family and extended families is so huge that it practically drains them dry.

How much to share with family, friends and their savings account is a dilemma for African stars. The African culture is a communal kind of life and a lovely one at that, where it is deemed normal to share your earnings among family, unlike the western style where your family is just you, your wife and children.

Case Study: Aranxta Sanchez Vicario of Spain, a top ex tennis star

EARNING TOO FAST

A "normal" millionaire builds his millions gradually but athletes make the majority of their income in a short period of time, at a very early age. The entrepreneur can save over that lengthy period and learn to manage wealth at his own pace, unlike young professional athletes.

This wealth breeds stubbornness and advice from well meaning people is often ignored. Youth is synonymous with errors, due to inexperience, and it is difficult to tell a rich, young sports star that his ideas are wrong. He will simply ask you, “If you know it better, why aren't you the rich one instead of me?”

Case Study: Mike Tyson, ex world heavyweight boxing champion (world champion at age 17)

LACK OF POST-CAREER PLANS

Very few athletes plan for their post-career life during their active days. The preparation of body and mind for the next stage in their lives is not there. Some even erroneously think they will continue in the sports system for long periods after retirement, as coaches, managers, journalists or analysts. However, there is limited space to accommodate all and these functions need some form of education and study, which most athletes lack.

SPENDING A LOT AND SAVING A LITTLE

Everyone earns money (if you work) but not everyone saves in the same degree as they earn. Some sports stars mostly think that these huge earnings are not temporary but will last a lifetime. A successful career lasts at the most 10 to 12 years but the athletes sometimes forget that if you retire at the age of 35 and God let's you live till 70, you still have another 35 years to live. Boy those years run slowly when the wealth is not there.

"I spent over a million dollars on jewellery"- Andre Rison, former NFL star

EXPENSIVE DIVORCES

Most sports stars meet their other halves when they are active and are at their best. Retirement means a change to their lifestyle and social standing and also to that of their spouses. This and the more frequent presence at home stifles and pressurises marriages. The end result is divorce and they usually are expensive. The effects are devastating and the inability to cope causes bankruptcy for many.

Case Study: Kenny Anderson (Ex basketball star) lost $60 million to ex-wives

BAD BUSINESS INVESTMENT

Naturally, with so much money earned, many athletes try to invest and follow bad advice from managers and so-called friends. In most cases they invest in ventures that they have no expertise in and often these deals go bad.

The success most athletes have as sportsmen seems to blind them from the fact that they might not be successful as businessmen, even in sports business.

Case Study: Evander Holyfield, ex world heavyweight boxing champion

"THE LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL SYNDROME"

At retirement, several sportsmen continue spending and living like they used to when they were active or at their prime. Hundreds of thousands are still spent on jewellery, mistresses and holiday homes in areas they hardly visit. These are quiet drains on their fortune and by the time they realise it, it is too late.

Most athletes have a problem transforming from active to passive sportsmen.

Case Study: Allen Iverson kept spending $360 000 every month after retirement

This piece is written with the aim of sharing with aspiring sportsmen the errors they should avoid and with parents so they know how to mould or guide their children.

In conclusion, to err is human but with success comes envy and jealousy and even criminality from dubious minds. One has to be careful and not err in a big way. The harder you try to earn honest money through sport success, the more there are people working even harder to separate you from that wealth.

As a sportsman people will love you but you have to love yourself most by being cautious and prayerful. od help us all!

http://www.supersport.com/football/blogs/sunday-oliseh/Why_sports_stars_go_broke

Happy Birthday, mobile phones!

This week in 1973, the most important phone call in technology history was made.

Using a prototype Motorola DynaTac, inventor Martin Cooper made the first call on a mobile phone.

Forty years later, it's considered a brick compared with the diminutive devices we carry around.

The historic call took place in New York City. Cooper's inspiration? Captain Kirk's famous flip-top communicator from the Star TrekTV series.

The original DynaTac was 10 inches long and weighed 2.5 pounds, a behemoth by today's standards. For comparison, most modern smartphones weigh between four and six ounces.

Cellphones are everywhere in 2013. According to the U.N., the world has 6 billion cellphone subscribers, and more of them are moving into the realm of smartphones. Last fall, the tech research firm Strategic Analytics claims the global smartphone population topped 1 billion.

Today, Cooper helps run the tech incubator Dyna LLC. He also works as an adviser for companies and the government on telecommunications issues.

My first mobile phone was the Nokia 6110, purchased in the late '90s. Although not as massive as the DynaTac, it felt like a brick in your pocket. It also hosted one of the best mobile games ever: Snake. It required players to guide a snake around the screen, picking up pellets of food. If the snake ever hit a wall or touched any part of its body, it was game over.

Remember your first mobile phone? Share your experiences, please

Father of the mobile phone, Martin Cooper, pictured with the first functional mobile phone below

Yes you are right.

The first child they lost was Segun Awolowo, then Chief (Mrs) Ayo Soyode in 2011 and now "Master" Oluwole Awolowo today.

Publisher of Tribune titles, Evangelist (Chief) Oluwole Bolanle Akanni Awolowo is dead .

Evangelist Awolowo is the third child and only surviving son of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

He was 70.

Chief Oluwole Awolowo has been ill for some time. Between 2011 and 2012 he was on admission for about a year at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Chief Oluwole Awolowo was born on December 3, 1942 to late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Mama Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo.

May his soul rest in perfect peace. amen

See pictures here

https://www.nairaland.com/1226492/oga-top-t-shirts-pictures

Ogun State On Fire. Ogun State Speaker suspended 4 Members and The house turned around and suspended the Speaker, Deputy
Speaker, Majority Leader.

Mace Has been Broken.

Supporters Are All mobilizing from different parts of the state towards the House of Assembly in Abeokuta.

Broken Mace below:

Speaker, Members Fight During Plenary In Ogun Over Alleged Fraud

https://www.aproko247.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ogun-speaker-suraj-adekanbi.jpg

ABEOKUTA—There was tension at the Ogun State House of Assembly, yesterday, as 11 members threatened a showdown with the Speaker of the Assembly, Suraj Adekumbi, over alleged fraudulent award of contracts.

The Assembly comprising 26 members also was thrown into commotion during the plenary session over alleged attempt by the Speaker to manipulate the process of the constitution of a committee to probe the alleged fraud

Vanguard learnt that tender Board was recommended by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences, ICPC, which recently insisted that due process, must be followed in the award of contracts by the House.

The Speaker had been quizzed few months ago by the ICPC which invited him to its headquarters, following series of petitions on inflations of prices of cars for the lawmakers and principal officers.

However, Vanguard at the chamber of the house, observed that the attempts by the Speaker to force his loyalist as head of the committee, met with stiff resistance from the 11 opposition members.

The lawmakers while objecting to the nomination of Deputy Speaker, Tola Banjo, as Chairman of the committee, complained about the modus operandi of the process of electing members of the committee.

Trouble started when a report of the House’s Select Committee on the selection of the Tender’s Board was read to the lawmakers for approval.

The report had indicated that Banjo was allegedly imposed as the Chairman of the Board by the Speaker who is the chairman of the Select Committee.

The development drew the anger of other members who vowed to resist the choice of Banjo, described as a stooge of the Speaker.

Source