First Bank of Nigeria Limited in partnership with Visa International has announced the emergence of two lucky winners, Mrs. Hadizat Bello and Mr. Ado Ibrahim Idris, in the just concluded FirstBank Visa Gold card issuance and usage promo. The promo draw took place on May 4, 2018 at FirstBank’s Head office in Marina, Lagos State and the winners along with their partners will be going on a 5 day all-expense paid trip to Russia to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The elated winners thanked the Bank profusely for the opportunity given to enjoy 2018 World cup matches live in Russia. The Group Head, E-Business Group, Mr. Chuma Ezirim, in his response commended the winners for trusting and using the FirstBank Visa Gold Card for their transactions. “FirstBank is committed to ensuring ease, convenience and security in banking transactions for all its customers and our Visa Gold Card is accepted globally and gives our customers global privileges and benefits, discounts and rewards at choice hospitality centers worldwide, among other extensive benefits”, he stated. Mr. Ezirim urged the winners to enjoy their time in Russia and continue to transact with their FirstBank Visa Gold Card.

http://www.springnewsonline.com/winners-emerge-in-the-firstbank-visa-gold-card-promo-to-watch-the-2018-world-cup-live-in-russia/

The start of the 2018 World Cup is just eight months away, and after the latest round of qualifiers the line-up for the tournament is almost complete.

England will be in Russia and could be joined by Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland if they make it through the play-offs.

But what are the key dates for the World Cup? Where are the venues? When will the matches be played? And who will be watching the tournament from home? Here’s all you need to know…

Who has qualified automatically?

Of the 31 places up for grabs at the World Cup – with Russia qualifying as hosts – 23 have been secured.

Europe’s confirmed representatives so far are England, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, Poland, Serbia, Spain, France and Portugal.

From South America, five-time winners Brazil have qualified along with Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina.

Costa Rica, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Panama have also secured their spots.

There are still places yet to be decided in Africa as the final round of group matches take place in November.

Who could still qualify?

Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland could be in Russia if they make it through the play-offs. There are eight teams in Europe competing for four qualifying places.

New Zealand face Peru in a play-off for a qualification place and there’s also another spot up for grabs between Australia and Honduras.

When are the play-offs and how do they work?

The two-legged ties will be played during the next international break in November, with the first legs between November 9-11 and the second legs between November 12-14.

The eight play-off sides in Europe are Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Switzerland and Sweden.

The format for the draw sees the top four FIFA-ranked sides – Switzerland, Italy, Croatia and Denmark – seeded in one pot and drawn against the remaining four sides.

The first ball drawn will be the home team for the first leg and the draw will be held in Zurich on Tuesday, October 17.

Read more http://www.springnewsonline.com/see-must-know-russia-2018-world-cup/

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has released a list of 57 achievements they’ve made since resuming office in 2015.

List was released by Bashir Ahmad, the Personal Assistant to President Buhari on New Media and the achievements range from security & related matters, economy, anti-graft war to the release of 106 Chibok girls from the captivity of Islamic Sect Boko Haram, recovery of stolen funds, eradication of polio in Nigeria, and the take-off of the 2nd Niger Bridge.

See the full list below:
Source: http://www.springnewsonline.com/list-57-achievements-president-buharis-administration-springnews/
NIGERIA AT 57 — 57 ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BUHARI-LED ADMINISTRATION.

SECURITY & RELATED MATTERS

Release of 106 Chibok girls, as well as over 16,000 persons in Boko Haram captivity.
Tackling insurgency, decimation of Boko Haram in the North East.
Recovering 14 local governments and territories previously under Boko Haram control in the North East, rebuilding lives of citizens there; about one million displaced persons in the NE have returned to their communities in two years of this administration.
Curbing the incidence of kidnap across the country. (Arrest of kidnap kingpins and dismantling of kidnap cells across the country)
Restoring morale of the Nigerian military; re-organizing and better equipping the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Purchase of 12 Super-Tucano aircrafts worth $600 million to aid the Nigerian military’s current operations in the North East.
Ensuring continued peace in the Niger Delta through consistent funding of the FG amnesty programme for ex-militants.
Introduction of an improved mechanism for distribution of aid to IDPs in the North East through the establishment of the Special Intervention Programme of the Federal Government. (Door-to-door strategy)
ECONOMY


Implementing the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) to aid economic recovery, taking the country out of her worst recession in 29 years, despite fall in oil prices.
N1.2 trillion expended on capital/infrastructure projects nationwide, a milestone in the nation’s history.
Effective implementation of the Treasury Single Account, and increasing government revenue by over N3 trillion as well as entrenching transparency and accountability.
Implementation of the Bank Verification Number (BVN), thus tackling corruption by plugging loopholes for siphoning of public fund and tracking of illicit funds through multiple accounts
Ease of doing business: the Federal Government signed into law two bills from the National Assembly (Acts are the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 (otherwise known as Collateral Registry Act) and the Credit Reporting Act, 2017) which has facilitated access to more affordable credit for Nigerians, fast tracked budget submissions and promotes Made-in-Nigeria products.
Establishment of the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum to enhance interaction and private sector participation in the development of the economy.
Institutionalizing E-governance setting the foundation for the creation of a truly digital economy.
Creation of opportunities for youths to leverage innovation in technology through the introduction of the Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD) through which over N700 million has been disbursed to young entrepreneurs.
The revitalization of the Made-in-Nigeria campaign. (Emphasis on consumption of local products gain grounds)
Implementing reforms in the civil service which has led to the elimination of over 30,000 ghost workers, thereby saving the country billions of naira monthly.
Massive investments in agriculture, e.g, Anchors Borrowers Programme to improve local produce, improving fertiliser distribution and access across states through the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative.
Reduction in rice imports as a result of government’s policies that has encouraged massive rice production across Nigeria.
Improving transport infrastructure (rail and road); construction work ongoing on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, renovation of Abuja International Airport runway, completion of Abuja – Kaduna Railway among others.
Social Investment Programmes (SIP): N-Power Volunteer Scheme creating jobs for over 200,000 (and still counting) unemployed graduates in all the 36 states and the FCT.
SIP: Ongoing Government Enterprise and Empowerment (GEEP) Scheme; commenced in November 2016 in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, where soft loans ranging from N10, 000 to N100, 000 have been given to over 189,000 market women and traders across different states.
SIP: Home Grown School Feeding Programme, where almost three million schoolchildren have been fed, while tens of thousands of cooks have been engaged in their respective states.
SIP: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme, under which about 25,000 less privileged Nigerians so far are now being funded with the monthly N5,000 stipend in 9 pilot States (Bauchi, Borno, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo). More beneficiaries are expected to be added in more states.
The establishment of MSMEs Clinics, a small Business support programme to support entrepreneurs and small businesses in different states.
Establishment of One-Stop-Shops to support policies on Ease of Doing Business.
The take-off of the 2nd Niger Bridge.
Phasing out subsidy for petroleum products, elimination of fuel scarcity and queues in petrol stations.
Implementation of the FG Niger Delta new vision, a comprehensive road map to improve livelihood and social infrastructure.
Improved power generation nationwide adding $500million to Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund and about $87million to its excess crude account.
The creation of the N30billion Solid Minerals Development Fund.
Encouraging the patronage of local contents and increasing export in agriculture.
Signing of Executive Order 001 which is the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the business environment – to ensure that public servants offer prompt service in a predictable and transparent manner, and sanction undue delays.
Signing of Executive Order 002 which is on prompt submission of annual budgetary estimates by all statutory and non-statutory agencies of the Federal Government including incorporated companies wholly owned by FG.
Bailout of cash crunch states; about N689 billion to 27 states of the federation to pay salaries in 2015.
Complete refund of Paris loan deductions to states (unprecedented).
Implementing the 2011 UNEP report for the ongoing Ogoni clean-up process after decades of oil spills and pollution.
Modification of the tax system so that it is more efficient.
Reforms in the airports (reconstruction of the Abuja airport runway and ongoing work at the Lagos airport).
Reforms at the nation’s seaports (Issues with cargo clearance at the ports addressed)
Improved duration (under 48 hours) for visa approval especially for investors.
Resuscitation of the nation’s refineries which are now working at 50 percent capacity for the first time in over a decade.
Eleven of the dead 33 fertilizer plants have been resuscitated while four others are to be revived shortly and this has profound impact on the ongoing revolution in the agricultural sector.
For the first time in more than 45 years, the Mambila Power Plant is set to take off with the allocation of $5.6billion for its realization and an expected 3,050 MW output upon completion.
Increasing external reserves to a 13 month high of $33 billion from $29.13 billion which has surpassed the ERGPs target of $30.56 billion despite global low oil prices and production challenges.
Cancellation of the Joint Venture cash calls with oil multinational companies operating in Nigeria (For the first time in the history of the industry) which has led to savings of billions of dollars lost to fictitious contract payments.
Release of N2 billion take off grant for the Maritime University as part of measures to address agitations in the Niger Delta region.
The new development bank of Nigeria (DBN) is finally taking off with initial funding of $1.3billion (provided by the World Bank, German Development Bank, African Development Bank, Agence Francaise De Development) to provide medium and long term loans to MSMEs.
ANTI – GRAFT WAR

Improving Nigeria’s international image and regional cooperation with neighboring countries in fighting insurgency.
Anti-corruption war: Prosecuting alleged corrupt public officers and recovering billions of naira of stolen public funds; the successful establishment of the whistle-blower policy.
Signing of Executive Order 004 – Voluntary Income Asset Declaration Scheme (VAIDS). This aims to increase tax awareness and compliance, and reduce incidence of tax evasion.
Signing of agreements with a number of nations to provide Automatic Exchange of Information.
Signing of the Extradition Treaty between Nigeria and United Arab Emirates (UAE) toward strengthening Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign.
Establishment of PACAC – a think-tank that has provided leadership, direction and also built capacity of personnel in the fight against corruption.
OTHERS

Eradication of polio disease in the country.
The introduction of the One Primary Health Centre per ward programme of the Federal Government.

1. Keep Your Lens Clean
One of the major challenges with many camera phones is keeping them maintained and clean. Phones spend a lot of time in pockets, in bags and being used in all manner of weather and conditions. As a result they get dirty and can easily become damaged – fingerprints are a common problem on camera lenses – especially if your phone doesn’t have a lens cover. From time to time clean the lens of your camera using a soft cloth (sunglasses cleaning cloths are great).

2. Avoid Using the Digital Zoom
As tempting as it might be to zoom in on your subject when taking your picture (if you have a zoom feature on your camera phone), if the zoom is a ‘digital zoom’ it will decrease the quality of your shot to use it (you’ll end up with a more pixelated shot)..

Plus you can always edit your shot later using photo editing software on your computer.

Of course some camera phones are beginning to hit the market with ‘optical zooms’ – these are fine to use as they don’t enlarge your subject by enlarging pixels.

3. Get Close to Your Subject
One of the most common mistakes with camera phone images is that their subject ends up being a tiny, unrecognizable object in the distance. Camera phone images tend to be small due to low resolution (although this is changing) – so fill up your view finder with your subject to save having to zoom in on the subject in editing it later.

Having said this, getting too close on some model camera phones creates distortion and focusing issues (particularly if the camera phone doesn’t have a macro or close focusing mode).

4. Light Your Subject Well
The better lit your subject is the clearer your image is likely to be. If possible shoot outside or turn on lights when shooting inside. If you’re turning on lights in a room to add extra light to your shot be aware that artificial light impacts the color cast in your shots and you might want to experiment with white balance.

5. Edit Images Later
Whilst it can be fun to use your camera phone’s inbuilt editing and effects, editing pictures later on your computer produces much better quality images. Take your shots in color at high resolution to keep your options open on how to treat it later.

You can always make it black and white on your computer, but you can’t make it color if you take it in Black and White mode.

6. Experiment with White Balance
An increasing number of camera phones come with adjustable white balance which allows you to modify color balance in your images based on shooting conditions. Experiment with this feature to get a good feel for the impact that it has on your shots. I find that it impacts different camera phones differently. Read your manual to find out how it works on your phone.

source: http://mobizone.ng/6-tips-improve-camera-phone-photos-mobizone/

Tottenham is set to face a toothless Chelsea in Premier League this Sunday, 20th August 2017. Hazard was said to have resumed full training this week and is likely to feature in the game.

Who do you fancy to win?

Predict the Correct Score Below and Win Free Recharge Card.

@ http://mobizone.ng/predict-tottenham-vs-chelsea-win-free-recharge-cards-weekend/

Rules
Drop your name and Phone Number in comment box of the website link. For you to be able to claim your airtime if you predict corectly

Example:
Yinka (08022334455) Tottenham 1 vs 2 Chelsea