₦airaland Forum

You are wrong. Cheaper to administer as one university rather than 3. And that way we can hopefully build one great university rather the current situation of having several mushroom ones.

This was the correct decision by Fayemi.

I think you'll get in trouble if you are uploading lots of stuff, but not really if you are just a random guy downloading.

And there may be some torrent anonymizers? I dunno. Anyway, if afraid, just buy the book

Good. If Jail and fines is what it takes for people to do the right thing, then so be it.

KANO, 11 August 2011 (IRIN) - Authorities in Kano, Nigeria, recently announced people would be jailed or fined for refusing to immunize their children against polio, as cases increase in the northern state, but it is unclear whether this approach is working.

Nigeria, one of four countries that remain polio-endemic, has historically been “a global epicentre of transmission”, according to Oliver Rosenbauer, spokesman for the World Health Organization’s polio eradication group. Twenty-four polio cases were reported in Nigeria between 1 January and 27 July 2011, compared to six during the same period last year.

Kano authorities put parents on notice as health workers on 28 July launched a four-day
immunization drive targeting six million children in the state.

Prosecutions for refusing polio vaccination would be under an existing law forbidding parents from barring access to health care for their children; the law has been extended to cover immunizations from deadly diseases, according to Tajuddeen Gambo, permanent secretary of Kano State’s health ministry. Health workers who fail to report refusals, or who falsify data about coverage, would also be prosecuted, Gambo said.

“The surge in polio cases is due partly to lingering resistance of parents in giving their children the polio vaccine,” said Danjuma Al-Mustapha, a monitoring and evaluation officer with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in northern Nigeria.

Kano State immunization coordinator Abdurrahman Yakubu said in the recent immunization round “fear of arrest and prosecution” had drastically reduced refusals. He said three parents who initially refused relented after being taken to the police.

But Mohammed Zango, Kano State coordinator of Journalists Against Polio, said there was no change in the number of refusals. "We have recorded over 200 cases of rejection.”

Gambo said official figures do not yet exist. He said a list of children missed in the recent round was still being compiled, and the reasons they were missed were not yet clear.

Not the main problem

WHO’s Rosenbauer said vaccination refusals are “not the only problem and not the main problem” in fighting polio.

In 2008 up to 50 percent of children were missed in eradication campaigns in Nigeria “due to poor operational planning”, he said, pointing to lack of resources, problems with cold chain storage of the vaccines, and people simply being missed by health workers.

Rosenbauer said gains had been made since then through engagement of local leadership and pre-immunization community meetings. Polio cases dropped 95 percent in Nigeria from 2009 to 2010, and despite the current spike in cases the situation is still better than a few years ago. Rosenbauer said these days 5-20 percent of children were usually missed in vaccine drives, varying by region, and that gaps “need to be urgently addressed”.


In 2003 polio immunization programmes were suspended in Kano for over a year after religious leaders told people the vaccine could cause infertility, HIV and cancer.

Attitudes evolving

While resistance persists, for some attitudes have evolved. Aminuddeen Abubakar, a Muslim cleric in Kano, said he opposed polio vaccinations in the past due to “genuine fear”, but now he had changed his mind. “In fact, with the proof that [polio] vaccine is safe for children, it is a religious and moral obligation of clerics to support and facilitate polio immunization.”

Lawal Hamisu, a father in Kano, said: “I believed the claim that polio vaccine was harmful to children and I would not allow my three under-five children to be immunized… I was lucky none of my children got infected.”

Kabiru Maishanu’s son has been diagnosed with polio. “I feel guilty for my child’s deformity, [I refused] polio immunization due to the claim that polio vaccine could harm children. I chased away vaccinators whenever they came to my house.”

Health workers say refusals now tend to be a reaction against what people see as skewed government priorities.

"Resistance is a result of social frustration created by lack of basic amenities, especially lack of health care facilities in public hospitals,” UNICEF’s Al-Mustapha said. “Parents are frustrated by government insistence they immunize their children against polio while drugs for more rampant diseases like malaria and cholera are lacking in public hospitals.”

Yakubu said some people also used immunizations as “blackmail”. “They insist on being provided with some amenities like water, fertilizer and clinics in return for allowing their children to be immunized.”

A legal approach to immunization campaigns is not new. Parents in other parts of Nigeria have previously been fined or arrested under existing laws for refusing vaccinations for their children, said Emmanuel Abanida, who works within the Health Ministry for polio eradication.

Kwara State and Niger State have laws specific to immunization, and parents who do not allow their children to be vaccinated against deadly diseases can face fines and imprisonment, Abanida said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93480

Sule Lamido came up with (and implemented) a pretty cool plan in which he leveraged some FG mortgage board to provide housing loans for civil servants.

Pictures of it were posted earlier. . . quite beautiful stuff. Ajimobi'd do well to see if he can secure FG mortgages as well.

How sustainable is this? Is this a one-off thing from their oil production coming online? If so, neat, but ultimately not that groundbreaking.

Electricity.

Add a poll?

That multi-billion dollar greenfield refinery that the Chinese are building and NNPC providing a 20% loan for in Lekki is of more interest to me than any single one of these positions except the presidency.

I would be very happy if my own LGA had the ability to tax and manage its own federal allocations w/o much state interference. There is a lot we could get done even there.

I understand that others might mismanage elsewhere, but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater

Good development.

I like these quotes especially:

"The COAS added that the collaboration had become important because of the huge resources required for the military unit."

“Because it is capital intensive, we can do it in phases. Our surveyors will link up with the state surveyors to get it done."

The more money spent by the FG on my state, the better (this is me speaking from a selfish perspective, though)

subscribing

wesley80:
^^^ No way, The entire thing should be rejected, the whole shebang! Afterall its the Nigerian way to throw the baby away with the bathwater.

  BTW LG autonomy should be discouraged as it seems to be the only means of asserting some sort of control and supervision over the LG's which are mostly out of control and only a little more than a waste pipe. LG's  apart from a few in cities in certain states are virtually non existent and totally irresponsible why make them autonomous?

Err, so you think they'd be "out of control" and a "waste pipe" even if independent?

I don't see why LGAs have to be useless right now. If you empower them, give them their own budget (not one which the state governors can easily get their hands on), give them them additional powers to tax, I think a lot of good things can be done.

Why conceptually is LGA autonomy a bad idea but increased state autonomy (i.e., federalism) a good one?

There was a good article on the WSJ on Tuesday (or so) on the same topic.

I don't want to downplay the importance of oil, but it is quite evident that there are other ways to build wealth.

By Adam Satariano - Aug 10, 2011
Apple Inc. (AAPL) surpassed Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to seize the title of world’s most valuable company, as investor confidence in high-tech growth prospects exceeded faith in the oil industry’s gushing profits.

While both companies declined today, Exxon fell more, leaving it with a market value of $330.8 billion, compared with $337.2 billion for Apple at the close of U.S. markets. Yesterday was the first time Apple passed Exxon in intraday trading.

The showdown with Exxon follows Apple’s 14-year transformation from a personal-computer also-ran into a seller of everything from smartphones to digital music. Apple has already eclipsed Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Intel Corp. (INTC), whose dominance of the technology industry in the 1990s helped nudge Apple to the fringes of the PC market.

“The Apple of today is different from the Apple of even a few years ago,” Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach, said in an interview. “People who buy Apple tend to buy big and get your friends and family to do it as well. There’s nothing else like that.”

The shares have climbed 13 percent this year, fueled by sales of the iPad and iPhone, and a burgeoning business in China. Apple fell 2.3 percent to $363.69 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares of Irving, Texas-based Exxon declined 4.4 percent to $68.03 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Oil Futures

Exxon has tumbled since trading in July at more than $85 a share, as oil futures in New York have dropped. Exxon bought XTO Energy Inc. last year to tap natural-gas shale deposits in North America and is seeking to buy more gas reserves, even as futures remain about $4 per million British thermal units.

“Two things that I would definitely say have hurt Exxon are lower oil prices and its increasing reliance on natural gas,” said Philip Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research in New York. Weiss, whose family owns some Exxon shares, has a “buy” rating on the company.

Apple, meanwhile, is poised to increase computer sales as much as twofold over the next few years, and the iPhone business may triple in size, Wu said. If successful, the company’s new iCloud music and information-storage service, which only works with Apple products, could further lock its customers into buying the company’s devices.

Profit Surge

Apple’s profit more than doubled last quarter to $7.31 billion on revenue of $28.6 billion. The company had record sales of iPhones and iPads -- products that didn’t exist five years ago -- and they now account for about two-thirds of revenue. Apple also has accumulated $76.2 billion in cash and other holdings.

Even so, the company’s profits are eclipsed by Exxon’s. Analysts estimate that Apple’s net income will reach almost $26 billion in the fiscal year ending in September, according to Bloomberg data. That compares with about $42 billion for Exxon in calendar 2011.

The gulf between the companies’ revenue is even larger. Apple’s sales will be $108.1 billion this fiscal year, analysts estimate. For Exxon, the projection is $481.6 billion.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who co-founded the company at the age of 21, was ousted by the board in 1985. When he returned 12 years later, Apple had run up $1.86 billion in losses over two years. It was 90 days away from bankruptcy, Jobs would later say.

New Markets

He engineered the company’s comeback by honing Apple’s industrial design, tightly integrating software with hardware, and pushing into new markets, such as phones, music and tablets.

The iPhone, introduced in 2007, has become Apple’s best- selling product and turned the company into the world’s biggest smartphone maker. After winning customers away from Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) and Nokia Oyj, Apple is now sparring with Google Inc. for leadership in the market for mobile-phone software.

The company stoked recent growth with a new version of its Mac computer operating system called OS X Lion, along with updated computers. ICloud, meanwhile, will let users store, synchronize and access files from different Apple devices.

Apple’s shares are up from an adjusted $5.48 on Sept. 16, 1997, the day Jobs retook the reins as head of the company.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-08-09/apple-rises-from-near-bankruptcy-to-become-most-valuable-company.html

18+, and realistically probably no more than 3 years older than me. Otoh, if I meet an amazing woman who is 35 or 40, why not date her? I'm open minded.

[quote author=Negro_Ntns link=topic=732876.msg8898407#msg8898407 date=1313037335]With such sparse residual population is it any wonder that per capita income in East is better than West?[/quote]And where did you get the bolded from?

SS, probably. SE, doubtful.

LG autonomy should be pushed through regardless. These governors are just being selfish and greedy.

CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT: Govs oppose LG autonomy, indigeneship, single term tenure •Want state police, revenue allocation reform

| Print | E-mail
Written by Olawale Rasheed, Abuja
Thursday, 11 August 2011
AS reports indicate soft-pedalling on the proposed single tenure presidency, opposition to further elements of the proposed constitutional amendments is deepening,

as most state governors are said to be unhappy with recently leaked reports on the provisions of the proposed amendments.

Recent reports had indicated that apart from the single tenure presidency, the package by the presidency also includes the scrapping of the state-local government joint account, with a view to granting the 774 local governments financial autonomy.

Other clauses include a new provision to grant indigeneship to Nigerians once they have resided in an area for at least six months, a clause meant to solve the perennial indigene-settler rift in some parts of the country.

Nigerian Tribune gathered in Abuja on Wednesday, that the governors are worried about the handling of the proposed amendments, even after President Goodluck Jonathan had promised full consultations with them and the party leadership before taking further action on the issue.

A very dependable source told the Nigerian Tribune that the piecemeal leakage of the provisions to the media by some aides in the presidency had only heightened suspicion and strengthened the hands of those opposed to the amendments.

“The handling is troubling. Why the piecemeal leakage of such sensitive proposals?” The source queried, stressing that most state chief executives even within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were uncomfortable with the approach adopted, even after the last assurances by President Jonathan.

Nigerian Tribune investigations showed that the governors regard any attempt to scrap the joint state and local governments account, as provided for in the present constitution, as an attempt by the federal administration to weaken the states and undermine the authority of the state chief executives.

A top state official from the North told the Nigerian Tribune that while there may be some problems in the operation of the joint account, “the way to go is not the scrapping of the accounts, as that may weaken the attempt to strengthen and accelerate development at the state levels.

“In any case, almost all state assemblies will vote against that proposed amendment, as laws exist at the state level which regulate local administration in line with the provisions of the constitutions,” the source said.

Aside the anger over the joint account, the issue of indigeneship was said to have also alarmed states in the northern part of the country with the North-Central and the two other northern zones said to be regarding it as a joke.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune within the North-Central zone revealed that the proposed indigenship amendment is considered a subtle way to entrench Hausa-Fulani domination of the zone, considering the subsisting issue of communal conflicts across the states in the zone.

“Such amendments will automatically empower the Fulani herdsmen to take over lands and grazing areas. Before long, the core North will be in charge of the North- Central zone,” another state official from the zone noted.

For the core North, such amendment was regarded as a Christian-Igbo agenda, to dominate the core North and Christianise the zone.

A member of the House of Representatives from the North-West, who pleaded anonymity, said the governors from North-West and North-East would never support such a move, as, according to him, “it will create national security challenge for the nation.

“How will any governor or state assemblies from the core North accept such amendment. Nigeria is not ripe for that and I know our governors will convey the message of their people to the president. If not, the bill will be dead on arrival.”

Meanwhile, the apparent revolt within the Governors Forum is said to have put Governor Rotimi Amaechi, a very close ally of the president, in a very difficult position.

Areas of consensus among the governors, it was learnt, included the amendment of the constitution to give more funds to the state and local governments, as well as the creation of state police to tackle the increasing menace of insecurity in the country.

Governors of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) were said to have adopted a charter of reform focussing on provisions to entrench true federalism in the constitution, while the PDP governors were said to be divided along the North-South lines over the president‘s proposed single tenure presidency.

A source in Abuja told the Nigerian Tribune that consultations were ongoing among the governors to take a stance on the proposed amendments, while the details of the amendments were still being awaited by the nation

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/26508-constitution-amendment-govs-oppose-lg-autonomy-indigeneship-single-term-tenure-want-state-police-revenue-allocation-reform

I've been following Nigerian political issues actively for about a year or so now, but have never heard anything good come from this LAUTECH.

Crisis, chaos, discord.

Can they just split the university into two pieces? Whose bright idea was it to have a university owned by two different states?

Bleh, this is just annoying

LAUTECH officers sue Ajimobi, Aregbesola. . . Demand removal of college registrar
From GBENGA ADESUYI, Ibadan
Thursday, August 11, 2011


Principal officers of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, who were on July 29 suspended by Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State have appealed against the Federal High Court, Osogbo ruling on which the Oyo State government based its action.

Professor Moshood Lanrewaju Nassar, former vice chancellor of the instituion; Mr. Niyi Fehintola (registrar); Mr. Abiodun Alagbe (bursar) and Mr. Gboyega Adio (librarian) were all suspended by Ajimobi while Professor Niyi Gbadegesin was appointed as the acting vice chancellor.

Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, had on July 7, in the case marked CA/IB 35/2011, ruled in favour of Community Building and Development (CBDI), Osun State, Mr. Waheed Lawal, Mrs. Titi Okunola, the governors of Oyo and Osun States as applicants.
They had approached the court, kicking against the increment in the school fees of the LAUTECH students.

While appealing the ruling, the principal officers argued that the trial judge, Justice Kuewumi erred in law by granting the orders of interlocutory injunction against them despite the non-service of the originating processes and the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction against them.

The particulars of error in law filed on behalf of the appellants by their counsel, Mr. Roland Otaru (SAN) said, “the learned trial judge erred in law in granting an order of interlocutory injunction against the appellant (the university), thereby denying the appellants the right to fair hearing under Section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

The officers further stated that the trial judge erred in law by granting the interlocutory injunction against the university when the plaintiffs had locus standi to institute the suit against the appellant, saying, “the plaintiffs (1-3) appellants herein, have no nexus with the appellant and none of the decisions of the appellant relating to the administration of the affairs of the appellant concerns the plaintiffs.”

They averred that the decision of the trial judge led to a grave miscarriage of justice, while noting that the trial judge erred in law in holding as follows: While asking the Appeal Court to set aside the ruling of the Osogbo Federal High Court, the suspended officers urged the Court of Appeal sitting at Iyaganku, Ibadan, “to grant an order allowing the appeal of the appellant herein and a fortiori setting aside the ruling of the lower court dated the 7th of July, 2011.”

The Oyo State High Court, Oyo Division, under Justice Eni Esan, which is hearing the application has fixed Tuesday, October 19 for the hearing of the application. They have asked for several declaratory orders including the fact that the Osun applicants had no locus standi and the court “had no power, vires of jurisdiction to usurp or take over the duties and functions of a competent court of law.”

The LAUTECH officers believed that since the increment of the school fees of the students had the approval of the Oyo State government, they should not be victimised unjustly.
Their suspension, according to them, was unfair as they were employees of the council and there was no interdiction before the order.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/aug/11/national-11-08-2011-018.html

If an SQL database, you might want to look at SQLite.

Embedded devices and applications

Because an SQLite database requires little or no administration, SQLite is a good choice for devices or services that must work unattended and without human support. SQLite is a good fit for use in cellphones, PDAs, set-top boxes, and/or appliances. It also works well as an embedded database in downloadable consumer applications.

http://www.sqlite.org/whentouse.html

I really like Ruby. Very well-designed language. I got into it from Rails first. But Ruby is pretty cool by itself, imo.

I'm relearning C++ myself.

The book Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example is what I'm using. It uses the STL (standard template library) from the start, which is in contrast to many other books. I've worked through the first few chapters, I think it is pretty good. Also has good reviews. You can find a copy of it on the torrent sites.

CyberG:
How useless can government get? Why take over the schools? Why take over Mayflower? The Solarins built that school a long, long time ago and why take them over now? Has this clueless government attended to the pressing issues of the state before looking to take over someone's property, sweat and investment without any prior consultation with the owner?

I don't understand the point of taking over private schools unless they are performing poorly on exams (in which case, I'd probably just revoke their license.) Seems like madness to me.

chamber2:
Lame! Just because Sanusi and co are going crazy about religion does not mean we should join in their madness.
And this is coming from a judge?

+1

At bolded, sad and surprising

careytommy:
don't mind them.when the marketers think they could hold the masses to ransome by selling to the black marketers above fixed rates who equally re-sell it at higher prices.
until the marketers come back to their senses, the poor masses who need kerosene to cook their meals should not be exploited by the already rich

The black market price is what the true price of the kerosene is. So why are you beefing them?

Who in their right mind would sell something for N50 if they can easily find people willing to pay N150+ for it? Wouldn't you divert the kerosene too, if you were a marketer?

kalokalo:
The government has nothing better to do with its time than to be selling kerosene? Why can't they be selling bread, fish and fruits? After all those products are now expensive too. Bunch of clueless folks!

Me, I want government pounded yam. And gov't amala. Provided for free. God bless amala kerosene politics!

Very strange idea to me. Less religion in the government, not more.

I'm confused. Why is the state government taking over schools?

Are the schools doing poorly on exams, or something?