₦airaland Forum

Over 25 million Nigerian payment cards will be prone to hacking from July 2015 when Microsoft Corporation will end its support for the Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 software.

Microsoft officials told our correspondent on Monday that the decision to end support for both software was part of the corporation’s normal product support lifecycle policies.

Most of the Automatic Teller Machines in the country and other parts of the world run Microsoft software. However, a greater percentage of the ATMs of Nigerian banks run on the WS 2003 and WS 2003 R2.

From the Central Bank of Nigeria’s records released last month, Deposit Money Banks in the country lost N40bn to online frauds in 2013 alone.

According to experts, Microsoft’s decision will mean the end of updates and patches for combating security issues on the ATMs as well as loss of compliance and regulatory certifications by the banks.

It will also mean the end for support on applications and programmes for organisations, data centres and servers running the operating system after July 2015.

Financial analysts are of the view that lack of compliance poses a huge threat to local financial service providers’ partnerships with global payment platforms like Visa and MasterCard Incorporated.

Investigations showed that of the 25 million e-payment cards in circulation, 18 million were issued by Verve.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Limited, Mr. Gbenga Iluyemi, Verve, a local operator, has over the years built up strategic partnerships with MasterCard and Visa, which have consequently given birth to various co-branded cards.

Iluyemi said, “Payment cards and Automated Teller Machines in the country that run on Windows Server 2003 will be impacted from a security perspective if they are not migrated to a latest technology platform.

“Between now and 2015, it is crucial for companies to make adequate plans. They will need to migrate to Windows 2008 or Windows 2012 R2.”

He, however, said there was a need for organisations to conduct critical assessment of their respective Information Technology environments before embarking on a migration process.

“You need to do an assessment of how many servers are running on the platform. You need to understand how many apps are sitting on the server. After that, you can do a risk assessment before deciding which of the latest platforms to adopt,” Iluyemi added.

The Public Relations Lead, West Africa Anglophone, Microsoft, Mr. Oluwamuyemi Orimolade, said running WS03 after the product’s end of support date might expose the customer business to compliance and security risks.

“As the threat landscape evolves, unsupported and unpatched environments are vulnerable to security risks. As a frame of reference, 37 critical updates were released in 2013 for the WS03,” he explained.

Orimolade stated that if a company was still using the WS03, this might result in an officially recognised control failure by an internal or external audit body, leading to suspension of certifications, and/or public notification of the company’s inability to maintain its systems and customer information.

“Staying put on the old platform costs more in the end. Hardware maintenance and advanced security systems will drive up costs,” he said.

Orimolade added that failing to take advantage of new technologies and application opportunities could hinder a company’s success.

Market observers are, however, of the view that the risk of businesses running applications on unsupported Windows Server 2003 platform is enormous.

They argued that old-fashioned methods of migrating machines introduce high risk to critical line-of-business applications and add no value when it comes to modernising the infrastructure, increasing security and compliance risks.


http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/25-million-nigerian-payment-cards-prone-to-hacking/

A plan by the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to defy court orders and clampdown on motorists without its new number plates by August 1, has stirred a fresh controversy as the commission came under a new leadership this week.

The corps announced Tuesday that despite restraining orders from two federal courts in Abuja and Lagos, it was determined to press on with the controversial policy of ensuring all motorists buy its new car number plates and licence from August 1.

The FRSC, now under a new Corps Marshal appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday, said it is decision is based on a new ruling by a state court in Anambra.

The Anambra Court gave the corps the go-ahead in a decision July 15, despite an appeal against the previous decisions by the two federal court.

Lawyers have rejected the authority of the Anambra Court, and also criticize its timing since the appeal launched by the FRSC is currently before the Court of Appeal.

Ogedi Ogu, the lawyer who obtained the Lagos court ruling in March against the FRSC, described the Corp’s vow to proceed with the enforcement as a “concoction of lies”.

Mr. Ogu, who filed a suit on September 30, 2013, through Emmanuel Ofoegbu, a rights activist, had challenged the power of the FRSC to impound vehicles of motorists who failed to acquire the new number plates.

In a ruling delivered by James Tsoho, the Federal High Court, Lagos, held that it was unlawful for the Commission to impose the new number plates on Nigerians, where no existing law permitted it.

“The issue of redesigning new number plates by the respondent is not covered under the provisions of any law in Nigeria,” Mr. Tsoho had said.

The court’s pronouncement put paid to the FRSC’s intention to begin enforcement of the new number plates by October 1, and the Commission headed to the appeal court to challenge the ruling.

However, on Tuesday, the FRSC announced that it would go ahead with the enforcement of the new drivers’ licence and number plates on August 1.

Chidi Nkwonta, Lagos State Sector Commander, FRSC, said the decision followed the Anambra ruling.

“This new judgment made it very clear that as from August 1, FRSC should impound,” Mr. Nkwonta said. “So, Nigerians must discountenance that first misleading judgment and take this one because we are going to continue enforcement as from August 1, 2014.”

In May, the Anambra State High Court sitting in Awka had ruled that the issuance of new vehicle number plates and drivers licenses by the FRSC was “legal” and “constitutional.”

“I hold that the directive of the respondent to all motorists previously registered to re-register their vehicles for the purpose of changing their old number plates with new vehicle number plates is legal and constitutional and stand firmly on both Act 2007 and Regulations of 2012,” the judge declared.

“Section 5 of the Act of 2007 allows the commission, the Respondent, to make regulations for carrying out the objectives of the Act. The Act of 2007 specifically allow the respondent to make regulation with regard to the designing and producing of drivers licences, and vehicle number plates to be used by various categories of vehicles,” he added.

Federal vs. State High Court

Several lawyers have faulted the FRSC’s intention to adopt a judgment by a state high court over that of a federal court, more so, when the subject of litigation was still before an appellate court.

A Lagos-based Lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, blamed the FRSC in the first place for not informing the Awka court of the two earlier judgements in Lagos and Abuja.

“The point is that if a party instituted an action at the Federal High Court in Lagos and another party instituted an action at the Federal high court in Abuja against the FRSC in Abuja and you then have those two favourable judgements coming ahead of this one, what the Federal Road Safety Commission that have been appearing in these courts ought to have told the court in Awka is to bring the two earlier pronouncement to the attention of the court,” he said.

Mr. Ogunye, said the judgment of the Anambra court is redundant.

“The FRSC cannot pick and choose. We are not talking about a policy limited to Anambra State because it is one and the same policy and if the courts earlier had voided that policy and restrained the FRSC from going ahead with that policy, the procurement of another judgement by the FRSC to the effect that it can go ahead with that policy is not availing and therefore would not entitle the FRSC to go on with that policy. So to that extent, the judgement is now empty judgement in the circumstances in which I have given this explanation it is a pyric victory, hollow and it is not capable of being enforced.

“The FRSC ought not to have set up that court to make it a laughing stock. It ought not to have urged the court on because it is the same FRSC that have received the two earlier judgement against it. It ought to have told the court that this is the situation and the parties would have set that aside. Indeed the two previous judgements ought to have been made available to that court so that the court would not have been made an ostrich and pretend that it is only concerned with material facts pleaded within the four corners of the court and pretend not to know that this two judgements have been given in the same subject.”

The parties in appeal suit No. CA/L/412/2014, instituted by the FRSC in respect of the new number plates, had filed their respective briefs of argument before the Court of Appeal, Lagos, and await a hearing date.

In a joint statement, Thursday, Messrs Ofoegbu and Ogu said that since the federal high court’s order of injunction in the suit between Mr. Ofoegbu and the FRSC was still valid and subsisting, any action by the Commission or its agents to undermine the injunction would be matched with “appropriate actions.”

“And the FRSC, pursuant to the appeal, officially published in the newspapers and social media to all Nigerians, the suspension of the vehicles’ new number plates pending the hearing and the determination of the appeal it filed against the judgment of Honourable Justice J.T Tsoho,” the joint statement read.

“So, since the vehicles’ new number plates have been suspended, to the knowledge of Nigerians, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal, what was the alleged grievance and/or cause of action that made the State High Court of Anambra State to entertain the case when the same subject matter and issues are involved in the appeal pending at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which is higher in judicial hierarchy than a State High Court of Anambra State?

“Again, did the State High Court of Anambra State advert its mind to Section 251(i)(r) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that only the Federal High Court has the jurisdiction to entertain cases involving Federal Agencies? And the FRSC is a Federal Agency,” the statement continued.

“Furthermore, did the State High Court of Anambra State advert its mind to Section 230(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulations 2012, which expressly provides that the revocation of the National Road Traffic Regulations 2004, shall not affect anything done or purported to be done under or pursuant to that Regulations? And the vehicle number plates in use before the 2012 Regulations were obtained pursuant to 2004 Regulations,” the statement added.

Also, in his response to the FRSC’s pronouncement of intention to begin enforcement of new number plates, Mr. Ogu said that the judgement from Anambra State “appears to me as a gimmick to pave way for Mr Chidoka’s screening at the Senate.”

Osita Chidoka was the immediate past head of the FRSC who has just been appointed the Aviation Minister.

“The question is does a state high court have jurisdiction over FRSC – a federal agency, please check your constitution. It must be noted that the FHC (federal high court) is the only court of first instance in so far as the subject matter is in issue and not a state high court or howsoever called,” said Mr. Ogu.

“Again Mr Nkwonta of FRSC must be well advised, he must humble himself and seek legal advice before going public, he must always work with the FRSC legal department and seek sound advice but should he persist in his now infamous ways of reaping Nigerians, I will have no option than to ensure that he is committed for contempt of Court once the Judiciary staff strike is called off,” he added.



http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/165538-controversy-grows-over-frscs-plan-to-enforce-new-number-plates-despite-court-rulings.html#sthash.fhR1vbHp.dpbs

Bright Okpocha aka Basketmouth is one of the biggest exporter of comedy in Nigeria today, making millions of naira wherever he goes through his shows and business deals. Basketmouth didn’t plan to become a comedian, but a rap artiste.

It would not be wrong to say he didn’t choose comedy but comedy chose him. This is evident in the creative manner with which he does churns out comedy – a skill exclusive to Basketmouth. In this edition we bring to you an uncommon comedian who does his thing with style and whose money appears to grow like grass.

Basketmouth started his journey in 1990 as a profound rap artiste until he discovered that he wasn’t breaking grounds in music and that he has comedy bottled up in him.

He once formed a musical group in 1991 called Da Psychopaths, but the group scattered before they could release any song. He was eventually asked by 2face to anchor a monthly show held at The Den in Ikeja and it was during this shows that his versatility in entertainment manifested. Although he didn’t make the millions then, he was already a force to reckon with.

Basketmouth is arguably Nigeria’s number 1 exporter of comedy. He was voted in 2010 as the second Best Comedian in Africa by MNET‘s Studio 53 Extra.

He just concluded a 9-states tour in the USA. Last year, he performed alongside Gina Yashere of Def Comedy Jam in Long Island, New York, before he also featured in Kojo‘s comedy show in London. He has performed at international concerts with the high and mighty in the entertainment world, recording both national and international success.

He had performed at concerts and platforms alongside the likes of Joe, Boyz II Men, Sean Paul, Wyclef Jean, Kool & the Gang, Akon, Dru Hill, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Fat Joe, Snoop Doggy and many others. He has performed in the United Kingdom, United States of America, and South Africa.

Endorsements

Basketmouth is one of the few comedians with endorsements deals. He has a multi-million naira endorsement with Globacom and Amstel Malta. He also has another fantastic endorsement with Kia Motors and Dana Airlines.

His Foundation

Basketmouth has a Foundation called Bright Okpocha’s Foundation which was established only last year. Last year, to mark his birthday, he visited and spent over N2m on charity at the Nigerian Red Cross Orphanage in Makoko, Yaba, Lagos. He also visited the Maternity Care Centre Children’s Hospital for the Children’s Day celebration, Gbaje in Surulere. He bought computers for his Alma Mater at United Christian Secondary School, Apapa, Lagos state.

Projects

His funny countenance on stage apart, Basketmout is a shrewd business man, making more than a hundred million naira annually. This is evident in a combined business deal with his friends which included a multi- million naira ultramodern discotheque, bar and lounge, called “EmBARssy’ in the University community of Yaba, Lagos.

Despite the fact that the deal was terminated, he is planning another big business in Lagos Central. Basketmouth is the first African comedian to host a multi- million naira comedy show called ‘Lord of the Ribs’ in 2010 at the 02 Arena in London, United Kingdom.

He made more than a million pounds in his show, Basketmouth Uncensored, which held in four cities in the United Kingdom. It held in London, Manchester, Birhimagham, and in Scotland. According to the report, the show was a sell-out from the beginning, including many other categories.

His African Kings of Comedy and Lord of the Ribs staged in the United Kingdom and Lagos and hosted at the deluxe 5,000-seater Expo Centre of the Eko Hotel and Suites generated over N60 million annually. Basketmouth is paid millions of naira to hosts one of the biggest TV shows in Nigeria called the MTV Base Big Friday Show.

Our Ace Comedian is scheduled to perform on stage at a World famous comedy festival in Canada. He will become the first Nigerian comedian to perform at the annual seven day ‘Just for Laughs’ comedy festival. The event is scheduled to begin on Sunday, July 20 – Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Montreal, Canada.

Houses

Basketmouth is a lover of properties. He is a proud owner of two choice properties in Lekki Phase1 which is valued at N350m. He moved recently to his events company’s building from his former Lekki base to a much bigger place on Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos. He also recently completed a N60m home for his mother at Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

Cars

His cars include the latest Kia Quoris saloon car worth over N12m, a Honda Crosstour, and three others brand new SUV’s which cost over N70m. He also has a Cherokee SUV, an Hyundai Elantra, and a 2013 customized Opel Insignia.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/rich-famous-behold-basket-mouth-comic-lord/

Troops are holding a man suspected to be connected with the explosion targeted at General Buhari on Wednesday. The young man who was apprehended by military patrol team that swooped on the area immediately after the explosion, had disguised as a woman clad in female garb to exude femininity with a brazier affixed to his chest.

The suspect was arrested while trying to fizzle into a crowd of onlookers when the patrol team arrived the scene. Youths in the area attempted to mob him while he was being arrested but were restrained by troops who quickly whisked him away in an armoured personnel carrier.

He is currently being interrogated by security agencies in a bid to ascertain his links.



http://aitonline.tv/post-nigerian_troops_arrest_kaduna_bomb_suspect_dressed_as_a_woman

[b]Jesus Of God Mission ( Imo State )
-God's Mennonite Church
-Guided Missiles Church
-Jesus in the new global Ministry
-Healing Has Begun Ministry
-God's Own Ministry
-The True Assemblies of God Church
-Jehovah Sharp Sharp (Festac, Lagos )
-Hurricane Miracle Ministry
-Healing Tsunami Ministry
-Satan in Trouble Ministry
-Fire for Fire Ministry
-FIST OF FURY (NTA road, Port Harcourt )
-Run For Your Life Ministry
-The Yoke Must Broke Ministry
-Jesus Heal Ministry
-Face to face ministry
-Angels on Fire Chapel of Peace
-Liquid Fire Ministries ( Suleja , Niger State)
-By fire By Fire Ministry
-HOLY FIRE OVERFLOW MINISTRIES
-David Killed Goliath Ministry ( Kaduna)
-House of Jehova's Padawans (TransAmadi, PH)
-JESUS IN HIS MIGHTINESS GLOBAL MINISTRY
-OPM - Other people's money (PH) (I have to be sure my source is right about this, but if Run for Your Life Ministry exists, why not OPM?)
-God in action ministry
-Moving mountain gospel church
-MY BROTHER IS A CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD
-Fellowship of the Wings - Ajah (Lamgbasa)
-Power Foundation Ministry, Aba .
-HOLY GHOST ON FIRE MINISTRY ( Abuja )
-HIGH TENSION MINISTRY
-JESUS NEVER bleep UP MINISTRY ( Benin )
-Devil go hear am Jesus Ministry
-Accredited Church of God
-Chukwudi & Son evangelical ministry, Aba
-Power pass power church of the mountain ministry incorporated
-Ministry Of The unclad Wire - Bayelsa State
-LABORATORY CHURCH OF GOD
-Go and tell Ahab that Elijah is here Ministry - Benin
-God is Real Ministry. Motto: "Jesus no get muscle but he get power"
-Fire burn ministry
-JESUS THE LANDLORD, WE THE RELAXING PEW MINISTRY - Portharcourt
-Happy Go Lucky Church of God Almighty In Jesus Name Amen - Abeokuta
-Old time religion ministry
-Strong Hand of God ministry
-Best Spot In The Land of God Church - Apapa.
-Trigger happy ministry. (Motto- always firing the devil)
-KASABUBU CHURCH OF GOD - Ibadan
-Jesus knows his children ministry - Benin
-SEVEN THUNDERS OF JESUS
-Perfect Christianity Ministry
-Elshaddai Shall Not Die Ministry.[/b]

Culled From Facebook

Four employees of the Fidelity Bank, three security guards and six policemen have been arrested in connection with the robbery of Fidelity Bank cash office in Alaba, Lagos.

It was learnt that the suspects were arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, led by SP Abba Kyari.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the policemen comprised three inspectors, two sergeants and a corporal. The bank workers were said to be two female cashiers and two male cashiers.

The source said, “Six policemen are being detained along with four cashiers of the Fidelity Bank. They are now being quizzed.”

PUNCH Metro had reported that the robbers struck on Wednesday, blocking two bullion vans belonging to the bank as they drove into the bank’s premises.

The robbers overwhelmed policemen that escorted the vans, killing two of them.

The robbers were said to have carted away N24m during the operation.

Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, had confirmed the incident, adding that one policemen was killed while N24m was carted away.


http://www.punchng.com/metro-plus/detectives-arrest-bank-workers-policemen-for-n24m-robbery/

The Federal government Monday condemned the registration of Nigerians resident in states other than their state of origin and deportation of Nigerians to their states of origin by some state governments, warning that the move is capable disintegrating the country.

Addressing state House Correspondents after the meeting of the National Security Council monday, the Director General of the Department of States Services, Mr Ita Ekpenyong said the council directed that the practices must be stopped forthwith as every Nigerian is free to live in any part of the Country without molestation.

The decision by the Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha to register all Northerners in Imo state has sparked widespread condemnation in the country as the move is seen as ethnic and religious profiling.

Several states in the southern part of the country have also allegedly repatriated northerners living in their states to the northern part of the country.

Mr. Ekpenyong who was in company of the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar also revealed that a meeting of the National Council of state would be convened next week to address these issues.

He said the president has directed that no security Personnel should be involved in the registration or relocation of persons by state governments or any group in a state.

He said: “Council discussed in detail the issue of registration of Nigerians in any part of the country, being subjected to registration, being subjected to deportation, being taken away from one part of the country to the other.

“Council discussed the reaction by some groups in Kano State and other parts of the country.

“Council observed that this threat was more potent than Boko Haram and could disintegrate the country. And we take this very seriously, for people to deport people, for people to ‎take people from one place to the other, for registration of indigenes no matter where they are. No matter where they are they are free to settle anywhere they like.

“Council resolved that the issue of registration of Nigerians anywhere in the country and deportation should stop forthwith. To re-emphasis the importance, the President has attached to this that is why he asked the IGP and I to address the press, this must stop forthwith.

“Security operatives ‎should not be involved in anybody trying to register people and anybody trying to deport people security operatives must henceforth not be involved if Police, DSS is found to be involved it will be severely dealt it.

“Also Youth groups trying to forment trouble because of this issue are hereby warned to desist from it because government is taking serious notice of it. Government is doing everything possible to steam this from getting out of control. As a matter of fact to show the urgency, the Council of State meeting will be held anytime next week to discuss this issues” he said.

On the abduction of the Chibok girls, security chief insisted that security agencies know where the girls are but are only being careful in effecting their release.

“The issue of Chibok girls, government is making efforts. We know where they are but we don’t want to endanger their lives that is the truth we want to take it ‎gradually and release them at the appropriate time. We know where they are you can go to bed with that” he said.

The Director General of DSS noted that a lot is being done in the fight against terrorism, noting that many attacks have been foiled due to the vigilance of security agencies.
“The fight against Boko Haram is ongoing. We keep saying that the fight against Boko Haram is like football. You know when the Germans played Argentina, it was only that one goal they scored that everyone is remembers, the other goals that were stopped nobody will remember.

“There are several things government is doing, there are several attacks government has stopped but nobody will remember those ones because we don’t tell you but several things are going on” he said.
The National Security council meeting is attended by the Chief of Defense Staff and all the service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, the Directors General of the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency.

Others in attendance were the Ministers of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Police Affairs, the National Security Adviser


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/fg-bans-registration-nigerians-says-worse-boko-haram/

ABUJA—There was a clear indication last night that former Adamawa State Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako, who was sacked last week, had fled the country.

A competent source confirmed to Vanguard exclusively that the governor was not in Nigeria, having left the shores shortly after he was impeached by the state House of Assembly over alleged gross misconduct.

Although the source close to Nyako claimed that the man had travelled out of Nigeria to take a deserved rest after many years on the saddle, it was learnt that the retired naval chief fled the country in a bid to avoid being harassed by security agents, who have been looking for him.

The former governor, who has already filed an appeal against his removal from office, is also said to have fled the country because of security concerns about his life.

“It is true that Nyako had since left Nigeria to go and have a deserved rest but the main reason he left was because he was afraid for his life,” a close confidant of the former governor told Vanguard last night.

According to him, Nyako had to take the option of leaving the country when it became obvious to him that his enemies could even take his life while pretending to be working to remove him from office.

The source said: “Beyond the issue of trying to impeach the governor, he was really worried about people who could harm him because of their fear that he had so much information.


“So, I can tell you that as we speak, Nyako is not in Nigeria,” the source said.

Vanguard learnt at the weekend that the Federal Government was considering declaring Nyako wanted after its operatives had made fruitless search for the former governor both in Yola and Abuja.

It was gathered that security agents, who had been combing Yola and Abuja for the former governor, were frustrated over their inability to trace him.

According to a competent source in Yola, security aides of the former Chief of Naval Staff ferried him out of Yola to an undisclosed location same day he was sacked from office.

The plot to arrest Nyako was hatched a few hours after Adamawa lawmakers voted for his removal from office, having mobilised the required two third majority of the members to sack him.

Vanguard investigation revealed that the federal authorities were considering the option of declaring Nyako wanted as a last resort to compel him to come and face the charges that have been prepared against him by both the office of the AGF and the EFCC.

Presidency slams Nyako

In its immediate reaction, the presidency said with former governor Nyako running out of the country, following his impeachment by members of the House of Assembly last Tuesday, it was a clear indication thataccusations levelled against him were correct.

Speaking with Vanguard, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who noted that those who had alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the former governor’s predicament will now hide their heads in shame.

He said:” There must be a reason for his running away and this means that those who accused him of mismanagement of funds are correct, the fact speaks for itself and it is now clear that those accusing the president of having a hand in his impeachment are lying.”

On his part, National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed could not confirm the whereabouts of the sacked governor. Asked his take on reports that Nyako was on the run and may be declared wanted by the Federal Government for graft and treason charges, he said: “I don’t know where he is. I don’t know whether he is on the run or not.”

PDP mulls Muslim governor

Meanwhile, ahead of the release of time table by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct a bye- election following the sack of Nyako by the State House of Assembly, strong indications emerged, yesterday, that the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as well as the state stakeholders may have settled for a Muslim governor.

A source disclosed, yesterday, that the decision to have a Muslim governor was in reaction to insinuations by some people, who said that the state was no longer going for a Muslim governor after the exit of Nyako.

According to the source, after the emergence of the governorship candidate for the election, Nyako’s deputy, Bala James Ngilari, a Christian will return to his office as deputy as compensation for his loyalty to the party against the backdrop that when his boss dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress, APC, he refused to follow him.

The source said: “From all indications, we have viewed the situation and we are convinced that for the state to have peace, we must as a matter of urgency and expediency work out an arrangement for a Muslim governor if only to put the critics to shame that we have removed a Muslim governor.

“As it stands, the party is looking at the possibility of having a Muslim governor to succeed Nyako just as the deputy, Ngilari is being considered to return to his position for his loyalty to the party. We are trying to avoid any use of sentiment against our party.”

At the moment, aspirants to watch are a former governorship aspirant, Dr. Umar Ardo from the South; the Deputy Governor to Nyako, James Bala Ngilari from the North Senatorial District; Senator Abubakar Halilu Girie from the Central Senatorial District and Auwal Tukur, the son of the former PDP National Chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur also from the Central Senatorial District.

Others include Dr Ahmed Modibbo (central); former Deputy Governor to erstwhile governor Boni Haruna for eight years and past Chief of Staff to Nyako, Senator Bello Tukur (central); Ahmadu Umar Fintiri (former speaker and Acting Governor-(North); Brig. General Buba Marwa (North); Jerry Kundusi (central) and Engr. Markus Gundiri (central).


Jonathan not party to Nyako, Al-Makura’s ordeal

Meanwhile, the national leadership of the PDP has denied reports that President Jonathan and the party bigwigs were behind the removal of governor Nyako as well as the present ordeal of Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.

A statement, yesterday, by PDP National Auditor, Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju said: “I challenge the main opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC, and its leaders to come out with their facts that President Goodluck Jonathan was involved in the impeachment saga so as to convince Nigerians and the International Community that they were sure of what they are saying or shut up and stop feeding the members of the public with tissue of lies.

“The questions we should be asking ourselves are: Did the lawmakers follow the Constitution of the land? Did they follow due process? Were they served with impeachment notices for them to defend themselves? This is mere blasphemy and it will not work. Nyako was served with impeachment notice to appear before a seven-man panel to defend himself against all the allegations levelled against him and he refused to obey, and what did he do? He went ahead to declare two days holiday for reasons best known to him, while his deputy resigned when he knew that the game was up.

“In the case of Governor Al-Makura, the House wanted to serve him impeachment notice on several occasions but he refused service before the lawmakers went ahead and published it in the newspapers. They should leave the President and our party out of their predicament; we knew nothing about it, it is democracy in action.”


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/nyako-fled-nigeria-aide/

David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, tells Saturday Beats how he feels winning the Black Entertainment Television award and the MTV Africa Music Awards

Winning MAMA and BET

It feels so good to win the BET. Seeing the set up in LA, it was just mind blowing that I was nominated among A- list American international artistes. The MAMA and BET I have won are so close to my heart. It is the dream of every African artiste to win such awards and I got the two in one year. It is mind blowing. I just prayed to God and told Him if I deserved it, it should be given to me. I didn’t have it in mind that I was going to win because I would have felt disappointed if I hadn’t won it. I just felt that whatever God had in stock for me would be what would happen. MAMA was our own thing. We had to put on a great show for Africa. At BET category, I was nominated alongside other artistes and I have worked with all the nominees except one. I had to invite them on the stage when I won the award. We came from a far place. My flight was 18 hours. I felt it didn’t make sense to just come there and you weren’t seen. I had to invite all of them.

Receiving the award

People claimed that Africans performed to empty hall while some said we received our awards at an empty hall. That didn’t happen. I am saying the truth. BET has two channels, BET America and BET International. BET International is broadcast to the UK and other Asian and African countries. We were not segregated. I sat next to all the American artistes. BET gives its award to the best international artistes and it is aired in the UK and the rest of the world and it is not shown in America. The event showed in America is different from what the rest of the world watch. It is just step by step. Reggae music is big in America but the award is not shown on BET America.

Collaborations

Collaborating with other artistes is not a tactic that I am using to be popular. I will not ‘chop’ all the glory alone. It is just a ‘help-a-brother’ kind of thing. But you never can say; that collaboration might be big. Working together with other artistes doesn’t take anything away from you. I might not call it ‘dream collaboration’ but by His grace, I will work with Drake and with Don Jazzy. We would work on something very unique.

Hit songs

I feel it is just God. I make a song and it blows, it is just God. There is no formula, there is no juju. Concerning what motivated Aye, I was heartbroken. Sorry, I am joking. Everybody has been in love at a particular time. There is always that girl who wouldn’t want anything from you. That is what the song is about. We wanted to use a beauty queen but her contract couldn’t allow her to do it, so we ended up using the make-up artiste and it turned out very well. I have heard the rumour that the girl in the video is my girlfriend. All I can say is that she has been a close friend of mine for years.

Scandals

I started when I was very young and I got so much attention. It wasn’t funny at that time but I am a bit older. When you are a star, people are out for you. There are some people who are just there to mess you up; you just have to be careful.

Flaunting wealth

I don’t call it flaunting of wealth. It is my car, my money and it is even my page. You don’t have to follow me on my Instagram. You don’t have to follow me on the social media. It would have been different if I was advertising all this on a billboard. I am not doing that.

No ‘beef’ with Wizkid

It is even Wizkid’s birthday today (Wednesday). There is no comparison between us. I am doing my own thing and he is doing his own. There is zero per cent rivalry between us.

The family’s business

There will be that point in time when I would want to switch to another thing. It doesn’t even have to be the family business. Trust me, the money I am making now is okay for me, I can decide to start my own business. I don’t have to ask my dad for money. He has not given me money in a while. But anything he sends my way, I will gladly receive. He didn’t want me to do music at first. When a powerful man doesn’t want his son to do something, he can do all it takes to stop that. I had a lot of obstacles. But I thank God everything was resolved. Now, I’m his ‘boy.’

Humble beginning

It is crazy the way it is now. When I was coming up, nobody knew me. But now, I perform in front of thousands of people. It is the work of God. I don’t have any regret being an artiste. No way! I will not lie. I am happy. God is blessing me. I cannot deny God’s blessing.

Relationship with God

My dad is an elder in the church. We attend Seven Day Adventist. I do go to church once in a while but I am usually outside the country every weekend. But when I have the time, I go to church. I am booked till the end of this year. I don’t think there is any weekend that I am not booked. The more money you charge, the less performance you do. In a good month, I perform more than 15 times. I can tell you how much I was collecting when I started and how much I get now.

Attention from ladies

It is cool. I enjoy it. If you don’t have female fans, there will be no way for you. The men like to form like ‘bad’ guys. But once they see the females getting attached to your music, they join. I don’t want to talk about my girlfriend. I like to keep that part of my life private. I don’t see why I should talk about it.

Next album

I have about 90 songs unreleased. I don’t want to drop so many songs. I am still young. Before you know it, sounds change. I am working according to God’s plans. I am going to have a big concert in December and I will bring an international artiste to perform.



http://www.punchng.com/entertainment/saturday-beats/i-didnt-receive-bet-award-in-an-empty-hall-davido/

The President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has fired back at comedy actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr. Ibu, who recently said Ibinabo is not fit to lead the guild.

Mr. Ibu had reportedly queried what the executive of the Guild did with the money promised by President Jonathan and other state governments.

But reacting to the query, Ibinabo, in a telephone interview with Saturday Beats, said she didn’t go to collect money from the President “as Mr. Ibu is used to doing.”

“Which money is he talking about? That is why I said he is detached from the realities on ground. When we went to visit the President, there was no money promised to anybody. We didn’t go there to beg for money as Mr. Ibu is used to doing; we didn’t do that. They push you to the extent that you say things that you don’t want to. I’m not about money, for once they should stop and think, see what my team and I have achieved in two years.”

The ex-beauty queen said Okafor was not in a position to criticise her moves as he was not a member of the Guild.

“Replying Mr. Ibu would be trading intelligence with ignorance and I don’t think I have that time. I’m sure you have followed everything we have done and we have not hidden anything. Rather, we have been open about everything we have done, so if he attacks me the way he did, it clearly shows that he is completely detached from the reality, because he complained about things that we have achieved long ago, which shows that he is not part of the Guild,” she said.

Okafor had earlier in the month reportedly accused the incumbent president of trying to force herself on the Guild, saying most of the members of AGN do not want her for a second term.

In her reaction, she queried why Okafor refused to mention the names of the members whom he said were tired of her and that she wondered why he was just expressing his grievances towards their election.

Fiberesima said, “Mr. Ibu cannot vote for me, he does not have the power to do that. He cannot even run for office because he is not a member, and I was expecting to see the names of the members whom he referred to because I don’t know them, and I hope they are members of the Guild because we have actors who are not members.

“You should not because of your interest in a name feel you can come out and talk off point to become relevant. When people say people should have education, it is for this kind of reason so they will know how to speak in public.

“They think running to the press and running me down on Facebook and others will deter me. No. I was not brought up like that, I’m a very thorough breed. I will do what I have to do to get to where I am going. It is the love that I get from people whose lives I have touched that keeps me going, not those who don’t know where they are going, because every sentence they make is money, where is the money?”


http://www.punchng.com/entertainment/saturday-beats/i-dont-beg-for-money-from-presidency-as-mr-ibu-does-ibinabo/

Following the conclusion of tortuous legal and diplomatic processes between Nigeria and the Republic of Sudan, the co-mastermind of the Nyanya Motor Park bombing in which scores of citizens died and hundreds wounded, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche was Tuesday, 15th July, 2014 extradited to the country from Sudan where he had taken refuge. Aminu Ogwuche who was handed over to the Interpol Unit of the Nigeria Police Force by the Sudanese Authorities was flown into the country in a special flight from Khartoum which touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at 3.00pm today.

It would be recalled that the terror fugitive who had long since been arrested in Sudan following an international red notice issued for his arrest by the Nigeria National Bureau of Interpol had not been repatriated to the country before now due to some necessary processes involved in transferring suspects from one country to another.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP MD Abubakar, CFR, NPM, mni, psc while commending the personnel of the Nigeria Police Interpol Unit for a job well done, noted that the successful repatriation of the terror fugitive to Nigeria shows that the global coalition against terrorism championed by Nigeria is beginning to yield the desired result.

ACP FRANK MBA
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FORCE HEADQUARTERS,
ABUJA.



http://www.npf.gov.ng/news/view-news?id=315#.U8VlWrGmSSp

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday promised Miss Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who was almost killed by the Taliban in her country’s Swat Valley District, that he would soon meet with parents of the abducted pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

Malala had been targeted by the Taliban because of her girl child education campaign.

The Chibok girls had been kidnapped from their hostels by members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, since April 14.

Jonathan told the 17-year-old Pakistani girl that the abducted Chibok girls would soon regain their freedom and that his government would grant scholarship to the girls to study in other parts of the country.

Malala had paid the President a visit in Abuja as part of her three-day visit to Nigeria.

The teenager disclosed what transpired between her and the President to State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door session.

She said she intimated Jonathan with the subject of her earlier meetings with some of the girls that had escaped from Boko Haram custody and the parents of those who are still in captivity.

She said she also conveyed the desire of the parents to meet with the President in order to share their stories with him.

Malala expressed the belief that the President would fulfil all the promises made to her on the abducted girls.

She said, “I am here in Nigeria on my 17th birthday for a price which is to see that every child goes to school. This year, my objective is to speak up for my Nigerian sisters, about 200 of them who are in the captivity of Boko Haram and I met President Goodluck Jonathan for this purpose.

“I conveyed the voice of my sisters who are out of school or who are still under the abduction of Boko Haram. And for those girls who escaped from the abduction but still do not have education. And in the meeting, I highlighted the same issues which the girls and their parents told me in the past two days.

“The parents said they really wanted to meet with the President to share their stories with him. And I asked the President if he wanted to meet with the parents of the girls, the President assured me that he would meet with them.

“I spoke to the President about the girls who complained that they could not go to school despite the fact that they want to become doctors, engineers and teachers. But the government is not providing them any facility. They also need health facility, security and the government is not doing anything.

“Yesterday (Sunday), I also met with the parents of these girls who are still under the abduction of Boko Haram and they were crying and hopeless. But still, they have this hope that there is still someone who can help them.

“They asked me if there is any chance for them to meet the President because at this time, they need the President’s support, so I asked the President if it is possible for him to go and see them to encourage them and the President did promise me that he will meet the parents of these girls.

“I am hopeful that these two promises, the return of the girls from Boko Haram captivity and meeting with their parents will be fulfilled and we will see it soon.”

She said although she had received the assurances of the President on her requests, she would not stop talking.

Malala said she would be counting days and would be looking forward to when the abducted girls would return home.

“I can’t stop this campaign until I see those girls return back to their families and continue the agitation. This is the position of the Malala Foundation,” she declared.

She said during the meeting, Jonathan also told her some of the difficulties being faced in government’s quest to rescue the girls.

She said one of the challenges was that the girls could be targeted during military operation.

The campaigner, however expressed fears that politics could interfere in the fulfilment of the President’s promises.

“He has made promises but in politics nothing is clear. But the President said these girls are his daughters and he is pained by their sufferings and that he has his own daughters and he can feel what they are feeling.,” she said.

The Director of Operations, Malala Foundation, Eason Jordan, said President Jonathan was willing to meet with the parents of the schoolgirls any time from now.

Meanwhile, a statement by Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, on Monday said the Federal Government had been constrained in rescuing the abducted schoolgirls by the overriding imperative of ensuring that the girls’ lives were not endangered in any rescue attempt.

Abati quoted the President as saying during the meeting with Malala that the notion that the Federal Government had not been doing enough to find and rescue the abducted girls was wrong and misplaced.

He said the government was doing everything possible to ensure that the girls were rescued alive and safely returned to their parents.


http://www.punchng.com/news/ill-meet-chibok-girls-parents-jonathan-promises-malala/

FORTY- Four years after, the Civil War , Igbo delegates asked for N2. 6 trillion as reparation and compensation for the devastation Igbo land experienced during the 1967 to 1970 war.

In an amendment to the proposed National Intervention Fund, the South East delegates said the former Eastern region and part of the former Mid-West region which are now in South-East and South-South zones were centres of war, with high level of devastation that brought untold hardship to their citizens.

In a document titled: “Atrocities and Injustices against Ndigbo: Ohaneze demand for Reparation” which was circulated with the amendment to the proposed National Intervention Fund, the delegates said it was incalculable to put a price on the death of millions of Igbo who were killed in the civil war and other occasions.

They said: “The case of the South-East, which bore the full brunt of the civil war for 30 months, is particularly tragic. Most of it remained a wasteland, despite General (Yakubu) Gowon’s declaration of the three ‘Rs’, Reconstruction, Rahabilitation and Reconciliation.

“The federal government should pay N400 billion each to the five states of the South East as compensation to those who lost loved ones and properties and those still suffering dislocation today in Nigeria. The same amount should also be paid to the government of Delta State for the benefit of Anioma area of the state.”

The motion was sponsored by former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a delegate on the platform of Elder Statesmen, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, and 14 others. The Igbo stressed that the demand became imperative following the “atrocities and injustices committed against Ndigbo in Nigeria over a long period.

They argued: “All fair minded citizens of this country are wont to agree that the former Eastern Region and part of former Mid West Region, which encompass the present day South- East and South- South zones of Nigeria were theatres of the civil war which devastated the two regions and brought untold hardships to their citizens.
The case of the South-East, which bore the full brunt of the civil war for thirty months, is particularly tragic. Most of it has remained a wasteland, despite General Gowon’s declaration of the three “R”, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation.

Issue of reparation

“Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the country, and especially in the North East Zone, has brought up the issue of reparation and reconstruction in whatever guise, to the fore and the National Conference through its Committee on Devolution of Power has tackled it headlong.

Since what is good for the goose is good for the gander, the Conference cannot afford to ignore the yearnings of our people to rehabilitate and reconstruct the war divested South-South and South-East zones through the proposed National Intervention Fund or through any other integrated platform or plan available to the Federal Government.

“Several panels set up by the Federal Government including the Oputa Panel, had approved reparation for war damages, but till date, this has not been addressed.”

In their prayers they said, “that Since the proposed National Intervention Fund is to address the vexed issues of devastation and upheavals caused by an act of war or by outright war itself, that the South East and the South-South zones be adequately taken care of by the fund in terms of the physical infrastructure, rehabilitation, development and other losses resulting from the civil war. That the Federal Government sets up a body to work out agreed reparation to settle the civil war issue once and for all.

The Igbo who lamented that several panels set up by the federal government, including the Oputa Panel, had approved reparation for war damages but till date this has not been addressed.

In their prayers the South East delegates demanded that “Since the proposed National Intervention Fund is to address the vexed issues of devastation and upheavals caused by an act of war or by outright war itself, that the South-East and South-South be adequately taken care of by the fund in terms of the physical infrastructure, rehabilitation, development and other losses resulting from the civil war.”


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/44years-igbo-demand-n2-6tn-reparation-civil-war/

Abuja—The Nigerian Army has denied the diversion of $43m meant for the settlement of officers and men on peace-keeping missions by some army generals.

The army made the clarification in reaction to an online media claim that the amount, which has been set aside for peace-keeping had been pocketed by the unnamed generals in the Nigerian Army.

The Army in the clarification posted in its website on Sunday, made it clear that there had never been any case of embezzlement of funds meant for peace keeping operations.

The army claimed that though some of its officers and men who had returned from Peace Support Operations had not been fully remunerated, it had never recorded any case of embezzlement of funds meant for such operations.

“Perhaps if the authors of the petition had gone a little further towards due diligence, it would have found out that the Nigerian Army has never in any way denied that some troops who had concluded their tour of duty in some Peace Support Operations were yet to be fully remunerated. Nevertheless, there is no case of embezzlement as alleged in the report,” the army said.

“It is noteworthy that the long process of streamlining the procedure for securing funds for Peace Support Operations goes beyond the Nigerian military establishment. It involves the procedures and protocols of mission-sponsoring agencies such as the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS among others.

“It is therefore curious that this misleading information is coming at a time when the major issues are being resolved and payment has actually commenced on the basis of the order of entry or exit of the various Nigerian Contingents (NIBATTS) into the Peace Support Operations.

“It is thus expedient to state that it is not in the character of the Nigerian Army to toe the path of embezzlement as the said anonymous petition or its publishers have attempted to ascribe to the leadership of the Nigerian Army or the military as an institution.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/43m-peace-keeping-money-pocketed-generals-army/

The news broke, just like a thunderbolt. Mrs. Rosemary Chukwu, a mother of four, residing at 33, Omolegede street, a suburb of Ikorodu area in Lagos State, abducted a seven-year-old primary School pupil, Emmanuel Emeka, and was about taking him to a den when it was foiled .

Shockingly, the suspect revealed to the bewildered crowd that gathered after she was caught that her pastor asked her to bring the boy. She mentioned the General Overseer of Holy Family Ministry a.k.a House of Mercy in the same Ikorodu, as her pastor.

The pastor, identified as Ernest Chukwuemeka Nwankwo, 49, was said to be on the run and was later apprehended and handed over to the police at the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos for interrogation. Crime Guard was able to corner the embattled pastor as he was leaving the confines of police cell at Panti and he gave his own account of the ugly incident.

Excerpts:

INTRODUCTION

“My name is Prophet Ernest Chukwuemeka Nwankwo, from Nsugbe in Anambra East L.G.A, Anambra State. I have a Ministry formerly called Jesus Divine Healing and Deliverance Ministry now called Holy Family, Happy Family Ministry. I was out of Lagos for two weeks. I came back on Tuesday, June 14, and came to my Ministry on Wednesday morning.

My ministry is located at 319, Lagos road, Majudeen in Ikorodu. We carry out prayers and deliverance in the ministry.

The ministry started in 1997. We have no less than 15000 members with a spread in virtually all the major cities in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. I started as a member of Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement before I established my own ministry. I am 49 yrs.

“ I do not know how these allegations of ritual actions against me started. My ministry has existed for 17 years and we have never been associated with any bad thing or any untoward allegation. We have been doing well in carrying out God’s work since we came into existence. People troop to our ministry, we organize children’s day for over 30,000 children all over our branches every year. In Ikorodu, we normally have not less than 10,000 children during the day.

We have hosted these children since we stated and we have never had any problem for more than 10 years now. We have equally been doing well in all our activities, we have rehabilitation center where mad people are healed. Relations of such people bring them to our ministry and also stay with them until they are healed after which they will go home. We do not charge them, we feed them free. So, the ministry has been flourishing in all our branches.

“When I got to the office on Wednesday, June 15 to do some work and leave for Abuja for another programme, within 20 minutes, around 7.30am, a group of people, armed with dangerous weapons invaded our ministry, breaking down everything at sight. They also descended on our members who were over 50 in attendance for the morning worship.

They were over 300 and were ferociously destroying all the properties and manhandling everybody. It was like hell was let loose on us. They were armed to the teeth and were unrestrained in their bid to destroy everything in the ministry.

They not only subjected our members to serious beating, they also took all their bags and stripped all the women and children naked. I was inside the office when they invaded the place but they later broke into my office and descended on me. We were all seriously wounded and our bodies covered with blood.

RESCUE

Surprisingly, four of the hoodlums took pity on me and rescued me from their clutches as they were hitting my head with cutlasses and dangerous weapons. They took me to Owutu police station where I made a statement. When they asked me how it started, I could not explain but simply told them that some hoodlums invaded our ministry for no just cause.

It was while we were there that the people that rescued me told us that a woman claimed I sent her to kidnap somebody’s child. It was like a fairy tale to me. Before the police I asked for the identity of the woman and why she claimed I told her to kidnap somebody and they said it was for ritual purposes. After I recovered from the shock, the policemen then advised that I should go and treat myself because I was bleeding profusely as a result of the beating.

I then proceeded to the hospital for treatment only to start reading in the papers the following day a lot of other damaging stories and that I was on the run. I personally reported to the police at Owutu in Ikorodu after treating myself and also personally reported at Panti the following day on a Monday.

AT PANTI

By Thursday morning, unfounded rumours were flying every where. On Friday, while I was going to treat myself, I quickly sent my lawyer to Panti after hearing the rumours flying everywhere about me and that the case was transferred to Panti.

My lawyer told them that I personally reported to the police at Owute after the incident and that I was allowed to go and treat myself. He then wrote an undertaking to produce me the next Monday and we all came to Panti that Monday straight from the General hospital Ikeja where I had an x-ray. Even one of my ribs was said to have cracked and I sustained other serious injuries.

INTERROGATION AT PANTI

I can’t remember seeing or meeting the woman before. A lot of people come to my ministry so, it will be very difficult for me to know all of them. However, the police at Panti interrogated both of us and, in fact, when they brought her before me, I could not remember seeing her in life and I told the policemen this fact. I can’t even remember whether she called me on telephone or not because I cannot say the number of people that call me on telephone for my number is open and given to people freely to help in solving their spiritual problems.

Nevertheless, the police interrogated both of us, she claimed that Holy spirit told her that I should give her N2.5 million, and that she came and told me to give her the money but I told her that I had no money, that she came back again to me and requested for the money and I then told her to go and bring a child before I will give her the money.

I then asked her where we discussed this, if she has any evidence to show that she ever visited my ministry because visitors to the ministry always register their names before seeing me, or if there is any other evidence to show that we discussed that kind of thing. I punctured her story because I cannot understand what concerns me with her message with her Holy spirit.

SUCKING BLOOD

She also claimed that I have been seeing her in the spirit to suck her blood and that of her daughter with two gallons since she failed to bring a child to me. She claimed that I used to stand at her door for two days, tormenting her, and that was why she had to go for the child when she was caught.

I asked her where we met and discussed because I have been out of town for two weeks and how did she know that I came back. She said she was aware that I came back because I used to carry out consultations. It is well known by everybody that my consultation days are announced for members of the public to come and be healed. She also claimed she called me on phone in December last year and that she came to the ministry once this year but she could not substantiate where we discussed her claims.

She was thoroughly interrogated but she kept on contradicting herself as if she was either insane or under a spell. Unfortunately, her daughter she claimed I was sucking her blood with hers whom she said was 14 years was not there during the interrogation.

I had hoped that she was there for us all to be able to decipher what her mother was talking about because she is old enough to speak for her self at 14. I have never had this kind of ugly experience and I pray never to have it again. I also pray that the police should endevour to get to the route of this case because I have suffered so much over a matter I do not know anything about.

KIDNAP SAGA

The man that was shown saying he was kidnapped and brought from Anambra State is one of the mad people undergoing treatment in my ministry. The cousin that brought him to the ministry is Mr. Atuanya, a member of my ministry and his wife has been with him in the ministry while he was undergoing treatment. They are living witnesses and they are ready to testify to anybody that cares to know the truth.

This rumor against me is very painful to me because I suffered for over fourteen years to build this ministry to serve mankind. All of a sudden, and from the pit of hell, an unknown figure materialized from no where to pour odium on me and accuse me of ritual acts. In all these years, nobody has ever complained or petitioned against my activities in the ministry.

Instead, people have been pouring encomiums and giving glory to God for all we have been doing for mankind. The whole thing is still like a dream and I pray I would wake up and testify that it was really a dream. My ministry operates an open door policy, we have no go areas, both visitors and members of the ministry are never restricted even up to my personal office. Why must I send her to bring a child to me when I am happily married with children, what will I do with the child?

INCALCULABLE DAMAGE

This very ugly development has affected me psychologically in a tremendous way, the emotional trauma is untold. In terms of the good will I built over the years, the name, in fact, one cannot quantify the degree of destruction done to me by this very ugly and unfounded, mischievous rumor. I have suffered and lost almost everything because the ugly news went beyond the shores of this country.

People have been calling from all the parts of the world and you know that bad news travels faster than any other thing. It is very unfortunate that people believe such a story when there is nothing at all to hang it on the head of the prophet. And, when you look at the woman, you will know that she is some how deranged and we are convinced that by the time police finish their investigation, the truth will be out.

WHY ME?

What I cannot fathom is why she choose to tell all these lies against me. She may have been sent by somebody to run me down because people in that neighborhood said they saw one mysterious SUV hovering around in the wee hours before the incident and also the mother of the victim reportedly said she saw an exotic vehicle that later picked up her children,.

Police should investigate to find out who owns the vehicle and where they were taken to. Who ever picked her children must have a link with this incident.

Police should also find out whether this is the first time she is doing this kind of thing and if it is not, how many people must have falling victims to her antics? Worse still, so far, nobody has told us where the woman is from because the way the media descended on the ministry, they left out the main ingredient of the whole matter as if they were sponsored to run down the ministry.

All I know is that she cannot be doing this alone. Her sponsors should be fished out. So far, the police has been professional in their interrogation and they made us understand that investigations will take time and that the truth must surely surface.

INSIDE THE CELL

Inside the cell, I detested being treated like a criminal but I took it as another message point in terms of ministration after all, Jesus went through worst tribulation in life.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/lagos-pastor-implicated-ritual-saga-opens/

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Eugene Juwah yesterday took a swipe at the barrage of telecoms customers’ complaints in the country over service quality, saying the quality of service (QoS) in the country is one of the best in the world.

Speaking at the 75th Telecoms Consumer Parliament in L:agos, Juwah said he just came back from Central London and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) insisting that the QoS in those two cities were not better than that offered by telcos in the country.

According to him, the QoS provided by players in both the aviation and banking sectors of the economy were worse than the one offered in the telecoms sector yet not much noise is heard about that.

He said: “I have heard about these complaints about quality of service in Nigeria. The quality of service in Nigeria is not the worst. The quality of service in this country is better than that of Central London, better than Dubai. Wireless telephony technology is rather complex. You cannot absolutely do without drop calls.”

Juwah who was reacting to the explanation of Corporate Service Executive at MTN, Akinwale Goodluck that QoS get degraded during wet season because of whirlwind, said while he will neither agree nor controvert that position, the technology of global service for mobile (GSM) communication is complex.

He explained that it is not within the mandate of the regulator to compel operators to give financial compensation to customers for poor QoS, adding that its mandate is to ensure that customers get fair deal by ensuring that they get value for their money.

He said the NCC will continue to sanction operators that fail to meet the specified key performance indicators (KPIs) while money paid from the fines will be paid to the coffers of the Federal Government for appropriation since the regulator does not have the power to “appropriate”.

He said customers that feel so aggrieved about the QoS issue should either go to the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) or the court to seek redress.

Goodluck said the operators were doing their best at ensuring improved QoS. He said all the operators have currently engaged all the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to do network optimisation.

He lamented the inability of the operators to tame the excesses of groups and other government agencies that invade base transmission stations (BTS) to decommission them, adding that developments such as that will continue to impact negatively on service quality.

According to him, three of the operators are currently having issues with the government of Enugu State where their facilities have remained shut-down.

He lamented the impunity with which people go and shut down BTS, insisting that nobody goes to Kainji Dam and shut down its operations yet telecoms infrastructure are as critical to national development as power infrastructure.

Speaking on the occasion, its Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mrs. Maryam Bayi, decried the low response time to customers’ complaints by the network operators.

She identified common complaints to include unauthorised text messages/telemarketing, ‘credit’ disappearance, drop calls, customers care centre monitoring, inaccessibility of customer care help lines, unlawful deduction of credit for value added services not subscribed to, poor network service unavailability of service and running of adverts for promos without obtaining the mandatory regulatory approvals.


http://thenationonlineng.net/new/nigerias-telecoms-service-quality-better-than-londons-dubais-says-ncc/

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Friday said uninterrupted power supply could be achieved in the country.

He explained that the only way to achieve the feat was for Nigerians to vote out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party from power in the 2015 general elections.

Fashola, who said this at an event to mark his administration’s 2,600 in office in Ikeja, said power crisis in the country was caused by lack of ideas and insincerity of purpose on the part of the Federal Government.

He said,” Yes, it is possible to generate electricity and to make sure that everybody in this country has electricity , I agree with you it is simple what we have done in Lagos within the areas where we are constrained showed that it can be done . But you know what the only way that you and I will have electricity in this country will be to vote out the PDP.”

“In 16 years hundreds of billions of naira, trillions of naira have been spent and we cannot switch on electricity and in seven years we have created four plants , it showed that something is missing. So unless you vote for All Progressive Congress, an inefficient government, it is going to be difficult to have electricity.

“They started from vision 2020-20 and I told you then that they were having nightmare that there was no vision.
They moved to seven point agenda and now they are transforming.

” Let me also say that in the last seven years, ask how many new power plants the Federal Government has commissioned because sometimes the power that is coming to Lagos at most is 1000 mega watts.”

Fashola said his administration in the last 100 days gave priority attention to provision of homes for Lagosians through the Lagos Home ownership Mortgage Scheme.

He explained that the state government in a bid to reduce the housing deficit in the state has continued to give out 200 housing units every month to subscribers to the scheme, adding that the state government intensified efforts to ensure that those in the informal sector benefit from the scheme.

In the area of infrastructural development , he said the state government completed so many road projects across the state within the period , noting that 205 roads projects were at various stages of construction in the state.


http://www.punchng.com/news/vote-out-pdp-get-electricity-fashola/

For Prof. Wole Soyinka, thousands of his well wishers yearning to commune with him on the social media space have continued to be hoodwinked by fraudsters who create fake online profiles in his name.

Unlike a few of his age mates like the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and his fellow Nobel Laureate, Desmond Tutu, who is an avid user of the social media, Soyinka has at any given opportunity distanced himself from their use.

Barely three years after retiring from public life, Tutu courted Twitter, receiving a rousing welcome from his fans in 2013. Tutu personally signs his posts on Twitter with “DT” at the end of each tweet.

But in contrast, Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature abhors the new media. Despite the fact that there is an authentic verified page opened in his name on Facebook, which commands a following of about 500,000 people, Soyinka has distanced himself from its use.

When in May, the literary icon was alleged to have branded First Lady Patience Jonathan as an “illiterate” on a bogus Facebook account, he couldn’t hide his ill-fillings for the social media.

The statement which went trending on social media was credited to one of the dozens of fake Facebook pages opened with Soyinka’s identity and circulated a few days after a video showing Mrs. Jonathan weeping over the missing Chibok girls went viral.

Soyinka was categorical in his condemnation of the abuse of social networking sites, declaring that the social media was fast becoming a menace.

He stated that he was aware that one or two serious-minded individuals/groups had instituted some forums on their own, for the purpose of disseminating factual information on his activities.

For instance, the National Association of Seadogs, popularly called the Pyrates Confraternity, in April this year unveiled a website to honour Soyinka who is one of their own.

The Pyrates Confraternity noted on the website said the content of the online portal and the accompanying digital discourse on it were aimed at honouring “one of Nigeria and Africa’s outstanding literary icons and enduring social justice and human rights activist.”

But Soyinka, however, explained that he neither contributes to, nor comment on, the contents of the activities going on the website and other such mediums opened to celebrate him.

“Let me take this opportunity to announce yet again that I do not tweet, blog or whatever goes on in this increasingly promiscuous medium,” he said in a press statement denouncing the comments attributed to him on a fake Facebook account.

Calling for the regulation of the cyber space, the literary icon lamented that with the way and manner the Internet was being abused globally, the menace was going beyond “personal embarrassment and umbrage.”

Decrying the embarrassment the parody social media accounts were causing him, he reiterated the fact that he had no footprints on the digital media space saying, “I do not run a Facebook, account.”

Against the back drop of his experience with online identity theft, the Isara, Ogun State-born professor believes that there is a need for a “collective and professional action” geared towards protecting the integrity of the social media.


http://www.punchng.com/entertainment/arts-life/i-dont-tweet-soyinka/

Ohimai Godwin-Amaize, Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has come under heavy criticism for claiming that the German national football team fought like Adolf Hitler in their 7-1World Cup semi-final victory over Brazil.

The ministerial aide took to Twitter some minutes after the end of the match on Wednesday night, paying tribute to the fascist regime of the late Austrian-born German politician and leader of the Nazi Party.

Hitler was credited to have implemented and executed the Holocaust which led to the systematic extermination and ethnic cleansing of six million European Jews and millions of other non-Aryans between 1933 and 1945.

“Hail Hitler!” Godwin-Amaize tweeted shortly after the match, prompting outrage from Nigerians on the micro-blogging website. At another time, he wrote, “I repeat, hail Hitler.”

The use of the expression and its accompanying traditional salute is currently a criminal offence in some European countries, including Germany, Czech Republic and Austria.

Godwin-Amaize was accused of propagating Nazi ideology in what many Nigerians described as distasteful and uncalled for especially when it was coming from a political appointee.

Following the angry backlash from Nigerians, the embattled ministerial aide moved to save his face by deleting the post from his Twitter account.

However, it appeared that the deed had already been done as the move further attracted angry reactions from avid users of the social network.

A Nigerian based in the United Kingdom, Tola Fidler, said she was disappointed in Godwin-Amaize and called for his employers to severely reprimand him for the untoward behaviour.

“I can’t believe that ‘Hail Hitler’ tweet came from Godwin-Amaize. That is what you call trampling on the memories of the innocent victims of Hitler.

“That tweet would get you sacked from your job, ousted by your party and live to regret the thoughts; but Nigerians get away with anything,” she wrote on her Twitter page.

A medical doctor, Chijioke Kaduru, chided Godwin-Amaize for being “culturally insensitive and inhumane”, adding that such an utterance was unacceptable in public space.

According to Kaduru, people who have some forms of influence on social media should strive to be “educated” and refrain from exhibiting “callousness and ignorance” on public forums.

Godwin-Amaize, he argued, should be ashamed of himself for making such a statement in present day 2014.

The medical practitioner stated that both Germans and Austrians mostly hate discussions centered on the Holocaust noting that they are always apologetic about the catastrophe.

He tweeted, “It is just really horrible when I see people spewing such garbage in public. For people who are part of a digital age, it is so important that we recognise the need to be careful with our utterances. Such utterances showcase ignorance of the highest level.

“I remember delivering a leadership training in Sardinia (an autonomous region of Italy) using Adolf Hitler to provide context about leadership. It was so difficult. I had people whose families had lived the holocaust in the audience.

“I spent half the workshop apologising about the choice of the leader. Not because Hitler did not lead, but because it was a sensitive issue. That is the cross of life in a public space, which thanks to social media is now a cross for all of us.

“We are young, but we must not be stupid and un-cultured. We must not strive to be inappropriate, as if there are points for it. I know a few people who speak so highly of this young man (Godwin-Amaize). I do not have much regard for him and after last night, I am sure of why.”

Prolific Twitter user, Tolu Ogunlesi, said it was unfortunate that a person in the mould of Godwin-Amaize was being maintained with tax payers’ money.

“He is a Special Assistant in the Nigerian Government; a government unfortunate to have employed him. Last week I asked him if he was Goebbels. Last night (Wednesday) he gave me an answer; repeatedly tweeting tributes to Adolf Hitler,” Ogunlesi tweeted.

But Obanikoro’s adviser later took to his Twitter page, apologising for the utterances. He, however, lamented that some online activists who had scores to settle with him were unfairly criticising him in a bid to profit from his “tragedy and misfortune.”

He stated that as an employee of a minister, he was unduly being intimidated by those he accused of singling him out for criticism.

“Okay, guys, apologies to all who were offended by that tweet. It was purely in the metaphoric sense. But nobody can hurt me without my permission.

“Ochlocracy is a reality people like us must live with. In my adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together,” he tweeted, quoting partly from the Bible.


http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/world-cup-obanikoros-adviser-under-fire-for-glorifying-hitler/

Members of the United States Congress on Tuesday said they had yet to give up on the rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.

The lawmakers serving at the lower chamber of the US Congress flayed the Federal Government’s handling of the efforts to rescue the girls and urged President Goodluck Jonathan to intensify the search operations.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, from the 24th District of Florida, particularly took a swipe at the President for allegedly not taking leadership in finding and bringing back thegirls to their distraught families.

Wilson, a former elementary school principal and school board member, wrote on her Twitter page that the US Congress would not let the whole world rest until each of the Chibok girls wasfound.

The member of the Democratic Party, who serves on the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said PresidentJonathan and all well-meaning world leaders “need to bring back the future leaders of Nigeria!”

Wilson stated that the kidnapped Chibok girls “are our girls” adding that the abduction of the young girls who are pursuing an education is “unconscionable and should not be tolerated.”

According to her, the leadership of the US Congress was looking forward to “action” from President Jonathan, adding that “We want action, and we want it now!”

She said, “What has President Jonathan done lately to bring back our girls? Why must these girls continue to suffer? I am calling on President Jonathan to step up as a leader of a growing world power and bring back our girls .

“Our girls are priceless, they cannot be bought. Girls should not have to risk their lives to get an education. We cannot allow the Nigerian girls’story to fade away. Girls should be treated with respect and have the right to freely pursue education without fear.

“Only God knows the pain and suffering being endured by the families of these girls. No matter how many days go by, we will not rest until our girls are home. We have got to always protect our children across all cultures. These girls are future doctors, lawyers, and CEOs.”

Also, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, who represents Texas’ 18th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, wrote on Twitter that American lawmakers would continue to voice their concerns over the girls’ whereabouts until “they are rescued.”

She said the US Congressmen and women would not quit the campaign until all the girls were brought back by the Federal Government to safety.

She lauded Nigerians who have been mounting pressure on the government and asked them to keep up the support to find the girls and not “let the world forget until every girl is found.”

Jackson-Lee stated that the terror being unleashed by the Boko Haram insurgent group should not be seen as “simply a matter of social justice, but a matter of national security.”

“No, we have not forgotten. We will continue to demand that the Nigerian government bring back our girls. Brutality like Boko Haram that is unchecked and unpunished poses a threat to innocent people everywhere. We call for the immediate rescue of the Nigerian girls. We must bring back our girls! We are not going away. We will not be silenced until they are rescued,” Jackson-Lee stated.

Chairman of the US Congressional Black Caucus, Emanuel Cleaver, lamented that families of the girls were living “the lowest and most egregious form of violation of their human rights.”

According to the congressman representing Missouri’s Fifth District in the lower chamber of the US Congress, the way and manner the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, referred to the girls as slaves and declared his intention to sell them like a commodity on the market is unsettling.

Asking the Federal Government to prioritise the girls’ freedom, Cleaver stated on Twitter that being a girl in Nigeria “should not be a curse.”

Nigerian girls, he argued, had the right to be free and live without fear, adding that schoolgirls should not be forced to risk their lives to get educated.

Cleaver said, “Terrorist groups like BokoHaram add hooliganism to a life of terror. Let’s end this nightmare and bring back our girls. We are not going away. We will not be silenced.

“Today is the day to bring back our girls! Let’s show the girls that we love them and we will make sure they return safely to their families. Attacking and abducting girls who are pursuing an education must not be tolerated.

“All our girls wanted was to grow and learn. We call for the immediate rescue of the Nigerian girls. Our girls are still not back. We will continue to demand that the Nigerian government bring back our girls.”


http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/jonathan-should-start-acting-like-a-leader-us-lawmakers/

Bayelsa State Government has revealed that the first cargo plane will land in the state in October 2015.

The government reaffirmed its commitment to ensure that the ongoing state cargo airport at Amassomma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state was ready for use by that time.

State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructural Development, Mr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpor, made this known this to journalists in Yenagoa on Monday after inspecting the progress of work at the airport.

The commissioner said, “The cargo airport will enable us to key into global economy development; and we are still standing by our October 2015 for the first plane to land here in Bayelsa

“It is not the ordinary regular passenger airport; work is seriously going on at the site and over two kilometres of the runway have been sand filled.

“And what we need is about 3.5 kilometres. The contractors have also started the vertical drains which make the sand easier to settle.”

He said the long term benefit of the airport was unprecedented, stressing that markets around the East and South would come to the airport when completed directly.

Ewhrudjakpor said that the importance of infrastructure, especially airport to growing economy all over the world could not be over-emphasised.

He added, “The state government is embarking on roads, bridges and tourism development aimed at wooing local and foreign investors.

“Construction is ongoing at Ogobi-Toruebeni bridge in Sagbama LGA; the bridge will link the central district of Bayelsa to the West Senatorial District.

“Connecting communities will boost agribusiness, making farm products easily to be transported to the cities across the nation.”

He said what the state government was actually doing in the first phase was to hit Ebini, Toruebeni and other communities, adding that the second phase was to link Akede community to other urban communities in the state.

http://www.punchng.com/news/first-plane-to-land-in-bayelsa-in-october-2015/

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a 21-year-old undergraduate, Tolani Ajayi, of Redeemers University along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, for allegedly killing his father, Mr. Charles Ajayi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The incident, according to the police, occurred on Tuesday, July 3, at their residence on Canaanland Street within the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Redemption Camp.

Tolani was said to have slaughtered his father with a knife and later butchered him with a cutlass.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Tolani afterwards allegedly packed his father’s remains in a box and dragged them into the bush within the camp.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the police later recovered the remains of the 60-year-old lawyer in a bush along Canaanland Street.

He said, “The policemen who noticed the ground mark created by the box as Tolani dragged it, followed this lead which led them to the strange discovery.”

He said Tolani, a 300-level undergraduate in the Department of History and International Relations, was arrested the same day in his late father’s residence after the discovery of the corpse and police preliminary findings.

Adejobi added that the Divisional Police Officer of the Redemption Camp Police Station, Olaiya Martins, a Superintendent of Police, had led a team of detectives and some members of the community who noticed the strange attitude of the suspect while dumping the box.

He said, “They traced the ground marks made by the box to the point where the body of the SAN was dumped and thereafter traced the mark to the house of the deceased.

“When the police got to deceased’s house, the suspect was in a relaxed mood.

“When interrogated, the suspect earlier lied that his dad had gone on evangelism, but he eventually confessed to the crime when he was taken to the Redemption Camp Divisional headquarters.”

The suspect was said to have told policemen that problem arose when his late father confronted him for not responding to all the prayer points he (the deceased) was raising, adding that he (father) later slapped him.

He said he got angry and made a dash for the kitchen and picked up a knife, with which he stabbed his father, adding that he later used a cutlass on him.

It was leant that the police had recovered the knife and cutlass used in committing the alleged crime.

Adejobi told our correspondent that the Charles’ corpse had been deposited at a morgue in the Sagamu area of the state.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, had transferred the matter to the Department of Criminal Investigation Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigation and necessary action.



http://www.punchng.com/news/redeemers-varsity-student-kills-dad-at-redemption-camp/

The rain was drizzling that Thursday in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, but as people scampered for cover to escape the wetness on Akilo Road, Off Oba Akran Avenue, Victor Igho and a customer were tearing at each other’s clothes as they fought in the rain.

Igho, one of the many technicians in the auto part market at Akilo, repairs vehicle stereos. The customer with whom he was locked in the scuffle, had brought the stereo of his Toyota Camry to him for repairs a day earlier.

“I was told he was the best around here. My stereo no longer played discs but I was still getting radio channels on it. He billed me N5,000 and I did not argue. I paid and expected to get the stereo back today. But I got here and he told me the stereo was irreparable. To worsen the situation, he has compounded its problem because the channels no longer work and he has refused to refund my money,” the angry customer said.

Igho, a practising technician of six years, got a slap from this customer and decided not to take another one. But the matter was soon settled.

Fighting between unsatisfied customers and technicians is fairly common in the area, our correspondent learnt.

Our correspondent later learnt that Igho was a graduate of one of the many technical colleges in the south-eastern part of the country.

Igho is just one of many Nigerian technicians whose expertise has become outdated.

Mr. Mayowa Oladiran, a Lagos State civil servant, paid N120,000 for a set of furniture in January 2014. But by the time he took delivery of the settees, he got so mad about the terrible job done by his furniture maker that he had to report the matter to the police.

“I went as far as searching online for the kind of design I wanted. I printed the design out and asked my furniture maker to produce exactly the same design. By the time he was done, apart from the fact that there was no resemblance between what he did and what I gave him, the chairs were so terrible. I was very angry that I had to report him to the police,” he said.

The increasing dearth of competent technicians in different fields in the light of the advancement in technology, is becoming a worrisome issue, Saturday PUNCH learnt.

Investigation into this worrisome trend pointed in the direction of the technical schools in the country.

Within three weeks, our correspondent visited four technical colleges across the South-West, a journey that would reveal decay and neglect which seems to suggest the ‘death’ of technical schools in the country.

Technical and vocational education was incorporated into the Nigerian education sector as a national development strategy. The number of technical colleges in the country currently stands at 187. But as many as they are, Nigeria continues to suffer deteriorating scarcity in skilled workers.

Mr. Victor Dike, an advocate of a strong technical education in Nigeria, said many of the countries of the world making advancement technologically have a strong technical and vocational educational sub-sector.

“India and the ‘Asia Tigers’ (China, South Korea etc) could not have become what they are without massive investment in technical education. But as it has continued to thrive in many societies, Nigeria has neglected this aspect of education,” Dike said.

Neglect would turn out to be an understatement in describing the situation in some of the technical colleges visited.

‘Mungo Park’ equipment

The Ekiti State-owned Government Technical College in Ado-Ekiti bears every resemblance of an old institution that probably has produced many great men and women. But everything that makes it a real technical college is gone.

The school’s principal described the obsolete facilities in the institution as “Mungo Park” equipment.

The hall that was supposed to serve as the college’s furniture making department has become a store for obsolete equipment.

Practical work is done on a blackboard on which various diagrams of other machines that bear little resemblance to the real ones are scrawled.

Our correspondent learnt that the disused equipment in the department were supplied in 1964 when the school was established.

“This school was established in 1964 and the equipment supplied at that time are what we still have in the school. Of course, they no longer work but we simply describe how they work and hope our students would know how to operate them when they see the real ones,” a teacher said.

The drilling and lathe machines in the hall were all caked with dusts and rusts, showing that they had not worked for many years.

If furniture students had obsolete and disused machines to learn with, the ones in the mechanical department are not so lucky. Their situation is more pathetic.

‘We go to roadside mechanics to learn after graduation’

The mechanical department has no single equipment. Again, teachers make do with diagrams and explanation to perform the magic of practical work here.

Students would later explain how things work.

“If any one of us is interested in becoming a real furniture maker or mechanic, what we do is we go to workshops in town to learn the practical work after we graduate. I want to be a mechanic when I graduate and I already know the (roadside) mechanic I will go and learn from,” a student, Isola Adeoye, told our correspondent.

Another student told our correspondent that though his brother graduated from the technical college a few years ago, he is still an apprentice with a roadside mechanic.

The college has become the backwater of education in the town, a senior teacher, who did not want to be named, lamented.

She said, “Parents even look down on other parents who send their children here. It makes me sad that after training, our students still go to roadside workshops to learn the practical aspect of what they have learnt in class simply because government does not fund technical schools.

“Sometimes, we don’t even have electricity supply for months. Even if we have equipment, how do we operate them in that kind of situation? I am a product of a technical school. When I was in school and when I just became a teacher, we did more of practical teaching. Now most of what we do is theoretical.”

We teach in abstract – Teachers

At the Government Technical College, Owo in Ondo State, which was established in 1963, about 1,000 students spread across 12 departments contend with a similar appalling infrastructure deficit until MTN Foundation chose it as one of four technical colleges across the country to benefit from supply of machines.

One would have thought the school is out of the woods with the telecommunication outfit’s assistance, but situation on ground is very far from ideal.

Our correspondent visited a large hall used by the woodwork and furniture making department. But alas, half of the hall is a jumble of obsolete and disused equipment that years ago had turned many to skilled furniture makers. Like the college at Ekiti, most of the facilities were supplied at the school’s inception in the 60s.

Again, the students only have to ‘imagine’ how these machines work but not ‘see’ them work. Some of the students simply stretched out to take a nap in the workshop in the absence of practical work when our correspondent visited.

Machines supplied by the telecommunication company are sophisticated but the students rarely have opportunity to see them work. Some of the new shearing and modern folding machines supplied to the workshops are electrically powered.

“We rarely have power supply. The school cannot afford to run on generator and we don’t have power for weeks. MTN gave us a generator, but we operate it once in a while when our school can afford to buy fuel. How do we teach our pupils with the machines? We teach in abstract now,” a teacher, Mr. Adeoti Aderotimi, said.

“We do 90 per cent theoretical teaching and 10 per cent practicals now,” he explained.

When our correspondent got to the mechanical workshop at the college, a teacher was seen working on his personal car.

“I had to send my students to my house to get me my tools just to do a routine work on my car in this workshop. There are no equipment here. So, you can imagine how I teach them,” he said.

Head of Department of Furniture Craft, Mr. Ojo Samuel, lamented that apart from the donated equipment, they contend with teaching their students with equipment that are no longer in use in modern day furniture making.

Learning mechanical work with 40-year-old car

What Samuel explained would later present itself in more clear terms when our correspondent visited the Government Technical College in Ikorodu, Lagos which by far is one of the best out of the colleges visited by our correspondent on account of the well-maintained school environment and working equipment.

But in the workshop of the college’s mechanical department, our correspondent noticed a striking spectacle – a 1970s Volkswagen on which the pupils learn motoring and mechanics. There is no doubt that modern day vehicles are so far ahead of the level of technology the students are learning in that car.

Goddey Igbana, a mechanic at the Mechanic Village, Agidingbi, Lagos explained what working on modern-day vehicles entails.

“People take their vehicles to companies for servicing now because many of our colleagues add to the problems of vehicles when the owners bring them for repairs. It is not our fault, the technology in the vehicles are becoming sophisticated every day. Many of us learnt with old vehicles,” he said.

Students who make do with learning furniture making with rudimentary or obsolete tools in Nigeria’s technical colleges graduate to compete with foreign’ furniture making factories where sophisticated and automated system equipment are used.

The same deficit affects the construction sub-sector.

During a visit to the Government Technical College, Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, the same sorry state of infrastructure was the order of the day.

All talk but no funding

In the 2014 Budget, development of business and technical education is allocated the sum of N1.25bn. But the National Board for Technical Education alone gets N1.4bn.

While a needs assessment earned the 21 federal science and technical colleges in the country the sum of N3.2m, an action research on technical and vocational education and training gets N1.5m. But after all these, Nigeria continues to record a deficit in technical skills.

At the state level, things have gone beyond worse. Administrators of the technical colleges lament that government continues to clamour for entrepreneurship but looks away when it is time to adequately fund technical education.

Nigerians seek artisans abroad

Things have become very frightening as far as the informal sector is concerned. Despite talks about strengthening this sector, technical jobs are being cornered by more skilled foreigners.

“People now go to Ghana, even Togo to get artisans to build their houses. That’s how bad things have become. Before, to repair anything like television, refrigerator, or any other household appliance, people preferred to come to technical colleges but the system has crumbled. We rarely get funding anymore, let alone new facilities,” one principal told Saturday PUNCH.

A building engineer, Mr. Victor Olusegun, confirmed this assertion. In September 2013, Olusegun who has handled many multi-million naira construction contracts in Ibadan, Oyo State, needed to lay the floor and wall tiles of a building construction he was handling at the time. He travelled to Benin Republic and ‘shipped in’ the technicians who handled the job.

“That is where you can get experts who would do a perfect job as far as tiling is concerned. The people who gave me contracts don’t want to know where I get the manpower for the job, they just want the job done well,” he said.

Earlier this year, during a meeting with the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Dorothee Janetzke-Wenzkel, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, echoed what Nigerians have always heard – need to strengthen the informal sector and the economy through vocational development.

“Germany is partnering Nigeria on vocational training in order to boost industrial skills acquisition and bridge the skills gap of Nigeria. Most times people don’t get the jobs because they lack the skills even when the jobs are there,” Janetzke-Wenzkel said.

Principal of the technical college at Owo, Mrs. Grace Oloruntoba, believes that Nigeria would come back to develop technical education when its leaders realise that the economy is going nowhere without correcting the technical skills deficit.

“It is unheard of that most of what we do as technical colleges is now theoretical. What are we doing if we don’t have working machines? Ours is the soul of Nigeria’s economy but it seems our leaders have simply forgotten that,” she said.

Nigeria joking about development without vocations – Don

The Ogun State Government seems to have realised the danger sign that lies ahead because of its hitherto poor technical and vocational education.

During a stakeholders’ forum held in the state capital, Abeokuta, recently, which our correspondent attended, a contributor lamented how mechanical students are taught in the colleges with rudimentary facilities “when the world has moved from just mechanics to mechatronics.”

Speaking with our correspondent at the event, Professor of Food Technology and Engineering at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Segun Awonorin, who is a product of a technical college, explained that Nigeria cannot simply side-step technical education in its quest to diversify and grow the economy.

He said, “Our economy is going nowhere without the rejuvenation of this sub-sector. Past leaders and military rulers destroyed the technical education because they thought it was simply better to pour the money meant for technical schools in their own pockets.

“Many of the equipment you see that are moribund in the technical colleges were supplied without consultation with the schools administrators about what they needed. Many of them could not be used because of the limited expertise in the areas in which the facilities are useful.”

Governments’ response

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Technical Vocational Education Board, Mr. Olawunmi Gasper, said the state is actually aware of the deficit that needs to be plugged in the informal sector.

He said, “Of the 170 million Nigerians, only a tiny fraction earn a living from the informal sector, which is why there is a need to make technical education attractive in the country.

“We have infused entrepreneurship into our curriculum to combat the problem of unemployment in Lagos. But to improve technical education, there is need for adequate funding and development partners.”

Chairperson of the Ogun State Technical and Vocational Education Board, which was set up in 2013, Mrs. Doyin Ogunbiyi, said the state government had begun a process of rejuvenating technical colleges in the state.

Ogunbiyi said the state was aware of the poor state of infrastructure in the technical schools, for which she said “N1bn would be needed for outright overhaul.”

Ekiti State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Kehinde Ojo, told our correspondent that the state government would kick-start a programme on the renovation of technical colleges in the state in July.

He said, “By September or October, it is our assurance that the colleges would take a new shape. Apart from this, there is a World Bank grant being pursued for this purpose.

“There is no doubt that every year, the schools would receive attention as a result of the World Bank fund and this would be sustained, if the fund is managed well, for the next three to four years.”


Source: The Punch

These days in her Chicago apartment that she shares with her young son, Emeka, Pamela Mojekwu stares through the windows, watching the early morning sunrise streak into her living room, reminding her of another gracious day to be thankful and hopeful. Her heart has deep scars of tragedies, her face lights up from the beams of the sunrise, with a promise of better days ahead. In her 59th year, she’s still running against the winds of life, living, but in control of her speed in this race.

“ I have learnt to get to my treasured destiny at my own time. You can’t hurry sunrise anymore: not with what life privileged me these years.”

“Jebose, when life deals you lemon, you learn fast how to make lemonade. Life certainly dealt me with tragic circumstances within the past decade and these situations taught me how to make the lemonades of life: Life is bittersweet”.

Mojekwu was Nigeria’s first celebrated aerobics and fitness expert. In the eighties, she was famous with her weekly fitness columns in Nigeria’s Vanguard Newspaper, her television appearances on Lagos Television and subsequently, Morning Ride, NTA, Lagos.

She also dashingly encouraged a new generation of Nigerians then struggling with obesity to define their values, be proud of their weight, called an obese nation to action for better living through intense daily exercises. She brutalised our bodies and empowered us as she tortured us, affectionately. Mojekwu was everywhere with a new brand: Miss Keep Fit.

She was in all major networks every Saturday morning, motivating the nation with information on wellness, weight loss and fitness.

While she woke our nation to fitness exercises, she was also silently facing her own internal family health challenges: she hid these from her clients and the nation with infectious bright smiles that spread over her face every Saturday morning.

Her only child then, Tina, was very sick. Every day was great expectation with regards to Tina’s health issues: “Tina was sick. I took her to Eko Hospital. The hospital diagnosed her illness as “sicklier foot” disease. I didn’t understand what that meant: she was losing weight all the time from this strange illness. We continued with the recommended treatment for my only child and daughter then. The more we treated her, the worse her condition grew.”

During a chanced visit to Eko Hotels, she picked a magazine from the lobby and began to read as she waited for her host. Inside the magazine, she read about a Dr. Smith of Children’s Hospital in Chicago discussing about Vascular Necrosis. The symptoms he shared in the magazine were consistent with Tina’s. Mojekwu decided that evening to seek the doctor in Chicago. Few weeks later, they arrived at the children’s hospital and her daughter was diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia.

Mojekwu would abandon life to begin care management for her daughter. No mother would watch her daughter go through the rigours of sickle cell treatment and pain without a heart ache. Tina was regularly in the hospital. Her sickle cell disease was progressive and fast, weakening her immune system. Pamela described one of those scary moments watching her daughter in pains.

“America’s health system doesn’t lie to you. The doctors were blunt. They told me that her sickle cell was in advanced stages and she may not live. But she lived until that accident in 2009.”

Tina battled sickle cell disease throughout her life: most of her adult years were spent inside the emergency room of the hospital. Pamela lived these years with her in the hospital. During one of their visits to the ER, Tina went into coma and was placed on life support at the ICU. Doctors encouraged Pamela to go home and decide switching off the life support the next day. Tina miraculously woke up from her coma at midnight, cried for her mother!

The uncertainties of life began to pepper her five years ago when she lost her husband, Tina’s father, to cancer disease. Two years after losing her husband, on a humid July Sunday, Pamela and Tina honoured an invitation from her cousin to visit. She had worked all day; end of her shift, she went home and picked Tina to rendezvous with her family. After the visit, Pam and Tina began a journey back to their home. It was the last time mother and child would ride together. Something happened and she swerved her car into a ditch and crashed. It was fatal. Her only daughter who beat death few months earlier would not survive the wreck. She died on impact, at the scene of the accident. Pamela sustained serious brain injuries and collapsed lung.

“Jebose, I didn’t know to this day how the accident happened. I woke up in a hospital only to be told that the passenger with me in the vehicle died at the scene of the accident. That passenger was my only daughter. Christine was dead! Because of the severity of my injuries: collapsed lungs, broken ribs and brain injuries, I was placed in medically induced coma. I would see her in my coma stage. She was right there with me. She took me to the scene of the accident to see the wrecked car. She stayed with me until her funeral: she then appeared again and said to me: “Mom, your road will be long and hard but you will make it.”

Soon after Tina’s death, the City of Chicago arraigned her at the Cook County Court House and charged her with vehicular homicide: it alleged Pam was responsible for Tina’s death. She was thrown into jail. Life had no meaning to her: she barely remembered anything. She was suicidal. The prison officers placed her in a 23-hour solitary confinement, watching her every hour: “I was locked down for 23 hours every day, the first month. I was only allowed one hour to shower and exercise. Meals would be passed to me through a hole in the middle of my cell door. It was horrible: a mother being jailed for an auto accident that killed her only daughter, sustaining serious brain injuries that affected her memories. I was a volcano, waiting to erupt.”

Pamela Mojekwu mourned her daughter while in jail: the horrible experiences triggered depression.

“Dealing with Tina’s death, initially, was extremely difficult for me. I would stay in my bed for days, covered up, could not eat, and couldn’t bath. The experience is beyond explanation. It’s a sad feeling that words can’t capture with description. It’s a unique moment in our lives and I pray no woman buries her child, especially her sick daughter.”

Her painful ordeals redirected her new life. Through these challenges, she moved her aging mother to a nursing home for assisted living. Her mother had developed Alzheimer’s disease. Last month, one of her younger sisters died. She was buried this week.

Through rehabilitation and treatments, she is slowly recovering from the emotional traumas of her circles of life.

“Jebose, who would go through losing a husband, a daughter in an accident, brain injuries, sending your mother to a nursing home because you could no longer care for her , locked up for the death of your daughter and not be an emotional wreck? I was a disaster that happened.”

Part of life’s redirection is her new found platform for sickle cell advocacy. She has become a passionate psalm for children, especially African children affected by sickle cell. She set up a nonprofit foundation in memory of her late daughter; Christine Sickle Cell Foundation.

“It’s the best way to honour her painful times on earth. I was blessed to have her in my life. My mission now is to travel to Nigeria within the next few months and open an office where this foundation would be able to help our people through information, education and assist in providing a manageable care for those with sickle cell disease. I want to encourage everyone going through any circumstance in life or similar to mine, that it’s not over until God says otherwise. Be strong. I am strongest today, despite the tragedies.”


http://www.punchng.com/feature/jebose-boulevard/i-was-jailed-for-the-death-of-my-only-daughter-pamela-mojekwu-former-celebrity-fitness-expert/

A Nigerian, Adebayo Ogunlesi, has acquired the London Gatwick Airport as the new owner. The Gatwick deal is a £1.455 billion agreement with BAA Airports Limited. Adebayo Ogunlesi, 56, is the chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an independent investment fund based in New York City with worldwide stake in infrastructure assets,is the new owner of the London Gatwick Airport. Ogunlesi attended the prestigious King’s College, Lagos. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He was a lecturer at Harvard Law School and the Yale School. Ogunlesi, whose father was the first Nigerian-born medical professor, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and then earned law and business degrees from Harvard. Ogunlesi has lived in New York for 20 years and is active in volunteer work. But he also cultivates his ties to Africa. He informally advises the Nigerian government on privatisation. And last summer Manute Bol, former NBA center, visited Ogunlesi in his Park Avenue office, seeking donations for a charitable foundation in former basketball star Manute Bol’s homeland, Sudan.

Ogunlesi walked Bol around the hallways, introducing him to junior staff. It was just another day in the Bayosphere.

Prior to his current role, he was executive vice chairman and chief client officer of Credit Suisse, based in New York. He previously served as a member of Credit Suisse’s Executive Board and Management Council and chaired the Chairman’s Board. Previously, he was the Global Head of Investment Banking at Credit Suisse. Since joining Credit Suisse in 1983, Ogunlesi has advised clients on strategic transactions and financings in a broad range of industries and has worked on transactions in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In the US, he is known as the Nigerian who clerked for late Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, who they say was unable to pronounce his name and quickly dubbed him Obeedoogee. Colleagues and friends call him Bayo.


http://africancelebs.com/adebayo-ogunlesi-owner-gatwick-airport/

From November, Nigerians will be able to purchase brand new cars assembled in the country without having to pay in full for them as the Federal Government’s vehicle acquisition finance scheme would have taken off then.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, made the announcement at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday.

According to the minister, the Federal Government is currently discussing with local and international financial institutions on how to make the scheme achieve the aim of making made in Nigeria cars affordable.

Though the details are still being worked out, our correspondent gathered that the government was encouraging the partner banks to make available loans for vehicle acquisition at not more than 10 per cent interest rate repayable over four years.

Aganga said, “The government is working on an affordable vehicle acquisition scheme, which will be launched in four months’ time. We are looking at an affordable interest rate of not more than 10 per cent against the current interest rate regime in the banks, which is over 20 per cent.

“We are currently engaging local and international financial institutions to provide the funds. People should be able to pay over four years at 10 per cent. We are still discussing; we have not yet finalised the details.”

However, the minister ruled out the option of the government providing the seed fund for the scheme, explaining that the banks would rather fund it, but that the government was working with them to reduce the interest rate payable on the vehicle acquisition loans.

The attraction for the banks, according to him, is that the scheme will represent a commercial opportunity for them, as many Nigerians will be able to buy brand new vehicles assembled in the country, with the multiplier effect of more citizens being employed by the assembly plants.

Aganga gave an assurance that the local vehicle manufacturers and assemblers had enough capacity to meet the expected upsurge in demand for new cars and would not increase the prices of their products.

According to him, the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Policy will create thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities by ensuring the revival of moribund vehicle assembly plants in the country and will raise the standard of living of the citizens.

The minister was joined at the briefing by the Executive Director, Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association, Mr. Arthur Madueke; Managing Director, PAN Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi; Managing Director, Leyland Nigeria; and Director-General, National Automotive Council, Mr. Aminu Jalal.

Aganga used the occasion to deny insinuation that the tariff on imported vehicles had been increased to 70 per cent, adding that importers of new and used vehicles, who had keyed into the new automotive policy, would only pay 35 per cent of the vehicles’ costs, while those outside the arrangement would pay an extra 35 per cent levy.

He said, “The rumour that the Federal Government has increased the tariff on imported cars to 70 per cent is incorrect and misleading. The Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association has already assured the government and all Nigerians that there is adequate stock of imported vehicles and that its members have not, and will not, increase the prices of imported vehicles.

“Nigeria is the only country in the world where used vehicles were not banned following the introduction of the new automotive policy. This is because President Goodluck Jonathan, before announcing the new policy, had taken into consideration the current socio-economic conditions of the average Nigerian and will not want to come up with any policy that will inflict more hardship on them.”

Aganga added, “The new automotive policy has been structured to encourage Original Equipment Manufacturers to invest in Nigeria to create jobs and develop our economy because we realise that for every car that we import into Nigeria, we are creating jobs for other countries.

“After consultations with all the stakeholders in the automobile industry, the government came up with different tariffs, which include zero per cent for Completely Knocked Down vehicles; five per cent for Semi Knocked Down 1 vehicles, and 10 per cent for Semi Knocked Down 2.”


http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/nigerians-to-get-loans-for-locally-assembled-cars/

The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered Deposit Money Banks, discount houses and other financial institutions to ensure that customers complaints relating to excess charges and loans are resolved within 30 days.

The CBN, in a circular posted on its website on Thursday, said it increased the timeline for the resolution of the complaints relating to excess charges and loans from 14 to 30 days so as to enable the banks to properly deal with the issues.

In the statement signed by its Director of Financial Policy and Regulation, Mr. Kelvin Amugo, the central bank said the latest directive followed a circular issued in 2011 ordering banks to set up and expand their existing Automated Teller Machine help desks in order to handle customers’ complaints and resolve same within 14 days.

The circular read, “Further to the circular dated August 16, 2011, directing Deposit Money Banks, discount houses and other financial institutions to set up and/or expand their existing ATM help desks to handle all customer complaints and resolve same within 14 days, the CBN has observed that the 14-day timeline for the resolution of complaints on excess charges and loans has been inadequate.

“Consequently, the CBN has approved an extension of the timeline for the resolution of complaints on excess charges and loans from 14 to 30 days. This circular takes effect from June 30, 2014.”

The CBN has stepped up the supervision of the banking sector since Mr. Godwin Emefiele assumed office as its governor last month.

A few days ago, the central bank barred loan defaulters from getting access to further credit.

Two weeks ago, the bank had introduced new guidelines for the Bureau De Change segment of the financial services industry.


http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/resolve-bank-customers-complaints-in-30-days-cbn/

The Nigerian government did not adequately communicate with the press about the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala admitted to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

“This is a very delicate situation with an unpredictable group. And I think that maybe this is one of the areas where we have not been able to communicate as well as we can.”

“The President has two daughters,” she said. “These children are our children. But we did not communicate that well.”

Critics say that far from just releasing bad information, the government released demonstrably false information.

Just days after the kidnapping in April, the Nigerian military announced that all but a handful of the girls had been released; that claim was soon disproved, and the girls are still missing.

“I don’t know how that happened,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “The issue now is not whether we are criticized or not criticized unfairly. I think we should forget about all that.”

That public relations is to blame may be precious little consolation to the parents of the girls, who are still missing, but Okonjo-Iweala’s new initiative to better secure Nigeria’s schools may help.

She has come to London to announce a new “Safe Schools” initiative, designed to avoid wholesale girl-snatching.

“The issue is what are we doing as a government to make things better? And this Safe Schools Initiative that has been launched with the help of Gordon Brown is one of the instruments.”

“We are trying to say to these girls: We are not just going to fold our hands. We will be working hard to get you back. But when you come back, you should find a different place.”

President Goodluck Jonathan is “trying to work with the UK, with France, the U.S., and other countries – China – to be able to get more intelligence, better intelligence, support, and support the army. Troops have been increased from 15,000 to 20,000 to try and provide better security.”

“This does not mean that you will not see incidents, because the nature of this type of insurgency is one single person can cause a problem somewhere.”

The government is leaving open all possibilities to get the girls back, she said, including negotiation with Boko Haram.

Just two weeks ago, the Nigerian military wrapped up its investigation into the missing girls, with little progress to show on returning them to their homes.

“I don’t think anyone has wrapped up anything,” she said. “You know, there are different stages of this investigation. There’s also a presidential committee that is also looking into this. There’s nothing to wrap up, Christiane.”

“We cannot wrap up anything until we get the girls back.”

The long-term solution to abductions like, Okonjo-Iweala said, may be economic – her bailiwick as finance minister.

“We face two problems: growing inequality, and also the lack of inclusion in these areas. And we’ve recognised that.”

“What we need to do is say, ‘What is the source of growth that can create jobs?’ Because the issue in our country is lack of jobs for our young people.”

Corruption is a huge issue in Nigeria but Okonjo-Iweala said her country is not alone.

“You cannot characterize Nigeria alone. It’s not when you mention the name Nigeria, the next word that comes up is corruption.”

“No,” Amanpour said, “but I’m talking to the Nigerian finance minister.”

“And I’m responding to you,” Okonjo-Iweala responded. “We must be more specific about the things we are doing to confront it.”




http://www.punchng.com/news/we-didnt-communicate-well-on-chibok-girls-okonjo-iweala/

This topic is one of the biggest debates in the dog world today. Even though your opinion regarding this subject matter may point in one direction, there are strong arguments on both sides.

Raw dog food diets usually include a combination of uncooked meat from animals, fish, or poultry commonly used for food. These ingredients usually include flesh (muscle), internal organs, blended body parts, bones and uncooked eggs.

Supporters of raw feeding believe that the natural diet of raw meat, bones and organ meats is nutritionally superior to cooked meat and commercial pet food. They argue that a careful plan of a raw diet gives the animal numerous health benefits, including a healthier coat and cleaner teeth and elimination of bad breath.

They also reiterated the fact that dogs have been domesticated for about 15,000 years and up until the 1930s, they were never fed “kibble” or “canned” brands from a store.

Dog owners who support feeding raw food to their pets believe that it’s much more nutritious than processed commercial pet food. These supporters are opposed to commercial pet food because they believe it’s not good for their dog’s overall health.

Many of these supporters claim that when they feed their dogs raw food, they can start to see the benefits such as shinier coat, healthier skin, cleaner teeth, smaller stools, an overall increase in size, and better conformation.

On the other hand, many dog owners who support feeding cooked food to their pets believe that even though raw food has benefits, the risk of illness caused by the handling and feeding of raw food outweighs those benefits. Basically, they believe it’s not worth the risk to feed raw food to their dogs.

They say that raw meat can be contaminated with a variety of pathogens that can harm both animal and human. Most meats used in commercial raw diets may not be handled properly, thus they may acquire bacterial contamination from the hide, feathers, slaughter, evisceration, or processing and packing. Salmonella spp and E. coli are of particular concern.

Feeding raw bony meat to dogs can cause possible gastro intestinal injury if the bones splinter. According to some nutritionists, raw diets can contain bones that have been implicated in hazards to the pets that eat them, including tooth fracture, injury and perforation of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, or colon.

On the other hand, some disadvantages of feeding cooked food are:

Animal protein is made up of long chain amino acids. When a protein is cooked, the long chain amino acids which make up the protein are broken into short chain amino acids, and at this point, they become much more difficult for the carnivore stomach to digest, and their liver to metabolise into energy.

Protein amino acids in their raw form are far superior in quality and function than processed short chain amino acids.

Digestive enzymes are also essential for the conversion of protein to energy, and these digestive enzymes are present in food in its raw form.

They are destroyed in the presence of high heat or various other forms of processing. When digestive enzymes are destroyed, the body is called upon to find them in various other organs, particularly the liver, until enough enzymes are rallied to digest the food in the stomach and turn it into energy. This puts constant strain on the liver.

In addition, up to 50 per cent of vitamins and minerals are destroyed during the cooking process. Enzymes, which are used to facilitate and regulate chemical reactions in the dog’s body, are destroyed, and fats can become toxic when they’re cooked at high temperatures.

If you do decide to feed your dog raw meat, make sure it’s human grade. Cleaning hands, utensils and work surfaces is essential. Bacterial growth can be kept to a minimum by utilising fresh or frozen meats, and maintaining their chilled temperature during processing.

Excess food must be refrigerated or frozen for future use. Never leave raw meat outside in the heat for a long period of time because the meat will spoil and will make your dog very sick.

In addition to this, if you decide to feed your dog raw meat, you may need to de-worm more frequently than necessary because raw food may contain eggs of worms and other parasites. If the food was cooked, the heat would have denatured the eggs of these parasites.

In my own opinion, the best thing for dog owners to do is to feed their pet what they think is best for them, whether it be raw food, cooked food, or a combination of both. However, please ensure that you keep a close eye on your dog and feed it what it prefers to eat.

Keep in mind that not all dogs can tolerate raw foods. If your dog cannot fit into the raw food category, stick with cooked foods only.


http://www.punchng.com/health/healthwise/should-dogs-be-fed-raw-or-cooked-food/

A Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered a stay of execution of orders by the National Human Rights Commission, which awarded N135m to relatives and victims of the September 20, 2013 attack and killing of eight squatters in an uncompleted building in Apo, Abuja.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in an ex-parte ruling on June 27, also granted leave to the State Security Service to apply for an order of certiorari to quash the decisions and awards contained in the NHRC’s report on complaint No: C/2013/7908/HQ.

The judge ordered that the leave granted should apply as stay of execution of the orders and awards in the report “so that the proceedings in this matter are not subverted by any step that may be taken to seek to enforce or enforce the decision,” as captured by the report.

Justice Kolawole, in his ruling, directed the SSS to file its motion on notice and serve it on the respondents.

He ordered the respondents to respond within eight days and fixed July 9 as the return date.

The commission had, in its report released in April 2014, faulted the claim by the SSS and the Nigerian Army that the eight and 11 injured others were affected during the exchange of fire between security agents and suspected Boko Haram members.

The NHRC had in the case tagged, ‘Global Rights and 3 others vs. Federal Republic of Nigeria and 3 others’, ordered the Federal Government to, among others, pay a total of N135m as compensation to the victims.

The SSS was expected to pay N10m for each of those killed and N5m to each of the 11 injured survivors.

But the SSS said it was never invited or interrogated during the preliminary investigations conducted by the NHRC in respect to the incident.

It added that it was not given a copy of the petitions lodged by the Global Rights, Human Rights Law Office and National Association of Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association.

The SSS, through its application, is seeking to quash the report of the NHRC on the grounds that the Commission was biased against it throughout the proceedings of the public inquiry in that it was not given any fair hearing during the preliminary investigation.


http://www.punchng.com/news/apo-killings-court-halts-n135m-payment-to-victims/