₦airaland Forum

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode Appoints Prof. Wole Soyinka, Gbadamosi to Head Lagos @50 Committee

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday appointed Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka and Mr. Rasheed Gbadamosi as Co-Chairmen of the Lagos at 50 Planning Committee, just as he expressed optimism that the celebration will go a long way to showcase Lagos in its full splendor.

The Committee also has 10 others as members, including Hon. Habeeb Fasinro, Chief Olawale Cole, Mrs. Sarah Boulos, Mr. Abimbola Obafunwa, Prof (Mrs) Senapon Bakare, Mrs. Chika Balogun, Mr. Folarin Coker, Prof. Ademola Abass, Bolanle Austen Peter and Mrs Olufunmilayo Balogun as Secretary.

Governor Ambode, while inaugurating the Committee at the Lagos House, Ikeja, expressed confidence in their ability to deliver a world class celebration, adding that the opportunity of Lagos at 50, will afford the state to not only celebrate its past achievements, but also to showcase to the world its immense potentials for future growth and development.

“Lagos State will be 50 years next year. 50 years is a significant landmark in the life of any individual, institution or State. For Lagos State, it has been an eventful 50 years which deserves to be fittingly celebrated,” he said.

He said Lagos, despite being the smallest and oldest state in Nigeria, remains the only state that has not been divided to create more states since its inception on May 27, 1967.

The Governor said that Lagos has maintained its status as the commercial capital of Nigeria and the most cosmopolitan State in the country where peoples of every tribe, race and creed reside peacefully with an excellent record of religious tolerance.

“Lagos is a land of opportunities, offering all residents the chance to succeed in their vocations and endeavours. Lagos provides jobs to more people than any other State in Sub Saharan Africa. Lagos is that place where you have a chance to make it if you work hard.

“Indeed, Lagos State has justified its creation. Apart from being the pacesetter and first among equals in the comity of States in the Nigerian Federation, Lagos State also occupies a noticeable position in global affairs especially as the fastest growing mega city in the world.

“With all these in mind, it is imperative that we celebrate Lagos at 50. In celebrating Lagos, we must showcase our cultural heritage. We must celebrate the language, arts, sights and sounds of Lagos. Celebrating Lagos is to celebrate Nigerian Unity and Progress because Lagos provides the cohesion that keeps Nigeria together”, he said.

He said a celebration of such great significance requires proper and adequate planning, hence the inauguration of the Committee comprising respected men and women whom he said had perfect understanding of the expectations of Lagosians, Nigerians and indeed the entire world.

The Governor further said with the distinguished men and women that formed the Committee, he was rest assured that Lagos would be excellently celebrated and the world would see Lagos in its full splendour.

The terms of reference of the Committee , according to Governor Ambode, include to develop a comprehensive programme for the celebrations; identify series of events that will take place as part of the celebrations; establish the logistics requirements to ensure a hitch free celebration; identify areas of possible collaboration with corporate organizations and individuals for support; as well as consider and make appropriate recommendations on any other matter that will ensure a successful and memorable celebration.

In his short remarks, Professor Soyinka said the celebration of Lagos at 50 would afford an excellent opportunity for the state to identify with the triumph, losses and experience of the Black Race at home and in the diaspora.

He pledged that members of the Committee would work assiduously to ensure that Lagos gets the deserved and most befitting celebration.

While acknowledging the achievements of the state so far, Professor Soyinka likened the celebration to one of the programmes in past editions of Lagos Black Heritage Festival called the ‘Black in the Mediterranean Blue’, saying “It would be used to project the black race not just for the colonial experience and slave trade, but also as a cultural people.”

http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/gov-akinwunmi-ambode-appoints-prof-wole.html

lalasticlala

The Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury at the weekend said Lagos remains the nerve centre for trade and investment in Nigeria, just as she expressed the willingness of investors from her country to partner the state on several areas of interests.

Suomela-Chowdhury, who spoke to Government House Correspondents shortly after she led a delegation including the Deputy Minister, Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Matti Anttonen, to a meeting with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the Lagos House, Alausa, said they were in Nigeria to explore opportunities of cooperation, saying Lagos was the destination of choice considering its massive economic potentials.

“Seriously when you talk about promoting trade and economic relations in Nigeria, you have to come to Lagos because everybody knows that it is the business centre of Nigeria. So we are very happy to be here.

“We’ve just had a fantastic meeting with the Governor and we very much appreciate his disposition to meet all the businesses that were in the meeting and in the delegation and this is what we have been talking about in the meeting,” she said.

She said multinational companies from Finland have been doing business in Nigeria for several years, including Nokia and Wartsila, adding that several other companies and investors are willing to partner the state in the areas of health, ICT, education, security and energy.

“They are basically in business in Telecommunications and also in public safety and also we have smaller players in many different sectors; in heath, ICT and so on. Education is also very interesting and it’s up to the companies where they find these opportunities and win-win situations that they are going to invest and have operations in Nigeria,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of the State Government, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Oversea Affairs and Investments (Lagos Global), Professor Ademola Abass said the state government will look to explore several areas of cooperation with the Finnish government as a means to promote economic and trade relations.

“As you know, Finland is a very big economy in Europe, it’s about the fourth largest economy in Europe and Lagos is the fourth largest economy in Africa. So, we explored areas of cooperation, that is between Finland and Nigeria and specifically, Lagos state and we would take certain decisions which my office will be coordinating with the team, being the office responsible for overseas affairs, so that’s what the meeting was all about.

Abass listed security, education and energy as the three major sectors which the meeting focused on, expressing optimism that the partnership will benefit Lagos immensely.

“We zeroed in on three areas; security, which one of the sectors that was present in the Finnish delegation, that is Nokia, is extremely strong in cyber security. We also did talk about they helping in the educational aspect and also in terms of energy because as you know the current drive of Lagos state is to ensure that we light up Lagos on 24/7 basis and we have been seeing evidence of that across the city.

“We have been partnering with a very strong country like Finland because of its track record in energy, Lagos stands to benefit tremendously from that relationship. So those are the areas that we have itemised, but of course as the relationship develops there would be other areas that we are going to explore with their country,” Abass said.

On his part, the Deputy Minister, Mr. Matti Anttonen expressed optimism of the various opportunities in existence for both Lagos and Finland to benefit from.

“Finland is very strong in areas that are of interest to Nigeria; Power, electricity, healthcare, education, water, telecommunications and all those things which make the lives of the people better and also bring our countries closer to each other,” he said.

http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/lagos-remains-hub-of-trade-and-economy.html

lalasticlala

see more exclusive photos of lagos here: http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/see-magnificent-beauty-of-lekki-toll.html

There are places in Nigeria that when you see you feel you are in London, Dubai or Paris.

These kind of places can't be existing in Nigeria without Lagos being on the list.

Here is a photo showing the beauty of a part of our city, Lagos at night. Above is the photo taken during the day time while the one below is at night.

The photos were taken at Lekki Toll Gate, Lekki Lagos Nigeria.

What difference can you see and what's your thoughts?

Lagos is workking, #‎Èkó_ò_ní_bàjé, obaje ti.

http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/see-magnificent-beauty-of-lekki-toll.html

Gordonz07:
Begha u Tiv chii, Za dedoo. Bem alu awegh!!! RIP to the King of the Jungle.

Amen, Aondo aza na dedoo

More photos here: http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/late-alfred-akawe-torkula-tomb-in.html

This is where the late paramount ruler of the Tivland Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula was buried today, this place is set aside for the burial of only the Tor Tiv's.

Other four late Tor Tiv have been buried here, anytime a Tor Tiv dies, all the tombs are usually renovated.

See more photos of the tomb below...

Source : http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/late-alfred-akawe-torkula-tomb-in.html

wishing him quick recovery, more here: http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/02/veteran-actor-olumide-bakare-on-sick.html

The Senate Committee on Education, yesterday, uncovered N9,982,258,479 hidden in the budget of parastatals by the Federal Ministry of Education.

The committee, which discovered the amount at the commencement of its 2016 budget defence, said the amount was hidden in the ministry’s parastatals.

The parastatals allocation for the year, according to the Senate Committee, increased at geometric progression by almost N10 billion while the entire personnel cost for the ministry and all its subsidiaries including schools and colleges declined drastically when compared to that of last year.

To this end, the committee chairman, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, ruled that the permanent secretary and the ministry should go back to the drawing board and come up with a more sensible overhead cost, saying its discovery was that the huge sum was deliberately hidden under parastatals’ personnel cost.

As seen, the ministry’s parastatals’ personnel cost rose from N88.1 billion in 2015 to as high as N98.1 billion in 2016 estimate proposals while the personnel budget of universities reduced by as much as N16.245 billion, declining from N227.2 billion in 2015 to N211.0 billion in 2016.

Similarly, colleges of education budget decreased from N40.2 billion in 2015 to N37.6 billion, while polytechnics’ personnel cost which previously stood at N61.44 billion in 2015 was trimmed to N58.23 billion just as unity colleges’ budget had been cut from N288.7billion to N7.588 billion.

While the ministry itself reduced its budget by only N244.9 million from N3.768 billion in 2015 to N3.523 billion in 2016, UNESCO Paris was the worst hit with the drastic reduction of its budget from N288.3 billion in 2015 to N7.588 billion in 2016.

Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka,who appeared before the Senate Committee on Secondary School Education for budget defence, in company of the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Esan, gave account of the education budget performance in 2015.

He said N483.183 billion budget was earmarked for education in 2015, with only N13.279 billion released.

Anwuka added that only 50 per cent of N23.5 billion, amounting to N11.9 billion was released for capital education.

However, after his submission, a member of the committee and Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, queried the rationale behind the increase in only the budget of parastatals by only about N10 billion while the budget of universities reduced by as much N16 billion.

Adeyeye wondered while parastatals which were meant to support the institutions should have their personnel budget increased by such a huge volume. He, therefore, demanded for an explanation.

“If you look at personnel cost on page 28, almost every sub-sector of the ministry lost some money except parastatals that got increase. What is special about the parastatals that they gained more than universities, colleges, polytechnics and unity schools? Why should the parastatals that are meant to serve them keep growing in personnel cost?” Adeyeye queried.

The minister pushed the question to the permanent secretary who for want of expression said they would go back to look into it.

She said: “We will go back and find the aggregate of the parastatals put together so that we can look into the details and find out those that are increasing and the difference between them.”

Dissatisfied by that response, Adeyeye insisted that the ministry must explain how a whopping sum of about N10 billion was added to the parastatals’ personnel budget at the expense of institutions which actually need budget increase.

He said: “The budget of the parastatals have N9 billion extra while others lose money. We can’t have a situation where schools are losing money and parastatals are gaining. How did parastatals have such a quantum leap?”

Responding again, Yemi-Esan said the reduction in personnel budgets of schools and colleges was not imposed on them. Rather, she said it was what they submitted that the ministry collated and submitted as their personnel costs.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/senate-uncovers-n10bn-hidden-in-education-budget/

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCHCTRTlXWc/Vqywnp6MwEI/AAAAAAAATg0/_K2cUXJBlQQ/s1600/Screenshot_2016-01-30-13-39-59.jpg
Here are first photos from the traditional wedding of Tolu Oniru aka Toolz and Captain Demuren.

Banky W, Ebuka Obi-Ochendu and many more are at the wedding.

See more photos below...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCHCTRTlXWc/Vqywnp6MwEI/AAAAAAAATg0/_K2cUXJBlQQ/s640/Screenshot_2016-01-30-13-39-59.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iNexe39pdEM/Vqywo0vJNCI/AAAAAAAATg8/42rNzYUiZIo/s1600/Screenshot_2016-01-30-13-40-09.jpg

Gist By Lasgidi Online

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BBKditBj_YD/

Cc lalasticlala

More here: http://www.lasgidionline.com.ng/2016/01/actress-chika-ike-works-out-in-5-inch.html

[img]http://3.bp..com/-Fl71w8qd1SQ/VqyK2CDrbDI/AAAAAAAILZE/OvgKJbqF8JQ/s1600/2.jpg[/img][img]http://2.bp..com/-2b1eWF34Q8Q/VqyK8p7NxzI/AAAAAAAILZU/AKCrpOhFxUQ/s1600/3.jpg[/img]
Nollywood actress Chika Ike posted photos of her training in 5 inches stilettos, She said, her personal trainer made her do it.

My personal trainer made me work out in 5 inches stilettos . It was the hardest workout EVER!!!! I can't feel my legs anymore !!!! #haveagreatweekend #saturday

See another photo below, do you think it's safe?
[img]http://1.bp..com/-JValhpSkcgc/VqyK3DQwrOI/AAAAAAAILZM/T4y1w8F_G2M/s1600/1.jpg[/img]


https://www.instagram.com/p/BBKFkG2hnCd/

Lalasticlala are you there?

seoconsultant:
I do not see this as problems but rather as thresholds
The main issues are 1.) How To Create or Start a Blog read more on How to create a blog
2.) How To Write Successful Blog Post That Ranks On Google. read more on How To Write Successful Blog Post That Ranks On Google

You just used the opportunity to show your blog posts, its irrelevant to me.

gist by : http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/chika-ike-shares-stunning-photo.html

This is how the Nollywood actress attended church today, beautiful.

Such a classy lady.

''You need to love yourself, love yourself so much to the point that your energy and your aura rejects anyone who doesn't know your worth. #selflove #sundayflow Happy Sunday Fabs..''

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA7BXRWBnGY/

lalasticlala

For the wailers asking where is the crowd you can board a plane and head to Otukpo now to confirm by yourself if these photos are not enough.

MeloGist:
So you do get your post from misspetite also? thou the text in bold are correct..

Yes I do

cruzita:
op u mean cartoon abi carton

carton thanks.

Ishilove:
The way they copy and paste is disgusting

At least if you copy try to put the source or edit it, its not hard to rewrite entertainment posts...they really need to upgrade. Almost all his posts I see are from Misspetite and its not fair, he is just taking the credit for her work. And you mods too have a lot to do here.

yusaze2007:
Media personality, Ebuka-Obi -Uchendu got a surprise from his friends as they told him to pack his bags for an all-expense paid trip to Cape Town in South Africa.
This is ahead of his white wedding to Cynthia Obianodo,daughter of billionaire Ceo of Young Shall Grow Motors.
His friends on the trip include Banky W, Segun and Tunde Demuren. See photos below...

http://www.9janewsarena.com/2016/01/ebuka-uchendus-friends-fly-him-out-to-south-africa-for-bachelor-party.html

cc: lalasticlala, ishilove, ijebabe

De try to rewrite na, Haba, Misspetite de suffer o

See the real gist here: http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/ebuka-obi-uchendu-and-friends-arrive.html

See more fans comments here: http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/omg-see-what-basketmouth-just-found-on.html

Nigeria comedian Bright Okpocha popularly known as Basketmouth shared this photo inside a plane showing how they used carton to to close the window of the plane as he was on his way to the US.

He also said anybody that can name the airline correctly will get a free ticket to watch Lord of the Ribs with Basketmouth Live at the Apollo London on February 14th.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA2dvH4HTkz/

Cc lalasticlala

See more tweets and MI fans reaction here: http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/mi-finally-reacts-to-ice.html

[img]http://4.bp..com/-oFNLKLu_93k/Vp9MZGOnDKI/AAAAAAAATPA/_5jpysVmMgY/s1600/MI_chocolatecity_music%2B%25285%2529.jpg[/img]
The silence is over, Chocolate City president Jude MI Abaga took to twitter to stand by his friend and colleague after ‘understanding the depth of the situation’.

See his tweets below...

Man.. @Iceprincezamani stood up for his girl when it would be easier to say nothing!!!! #Respect
— Young Denzel (@MI_Abaga) January 19, 2016


After speaking to him and understanding the depth of the situation.. I respect him for protecting her first!! #Respect
— Young Denzel (@MI_Abaga) January 19, 2016

cc lalasticlala

https://twitter.com/MI_Abaga/status/689594077302648832

More exclusive photos: http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/see-what-ikorodu-road-look-like-after.html

[img]http://4.bp..com/-C4CT7ZypxXg/Vp4I1owqCLI/AAAAAAACPTM/v4rkgalUg8U/s400/IK.jpg[/img]
After the little rain that fell last night In Lagos State, this is the condition of the Ikorodu road which is one of the most used and busiest road in the State.

A reader sent in these photos as he was in traffic.

See more photos below...
[img]http://4.bp..com/-kSZRoIukDTA/Vp4I6yvjLOI/AAAAAAACPTU/Yi9wTpPjctM/s1600/IK1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://1.bp..com/-bYW_Splbm_s/Vp4I7snTEcI/AAAAAAACPTY/0bIOk8gL4ic/s1600/IK2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://1.bp..com/-zNgNYUh966E/Vp4I8T0dxPI/AAAAAAACPTk/qQTTbeIoUA0/s1600/IK3[/img]

cc lalasticlala

http://www.jaybossng.com/2016/01/see-what-ikorodu-road-look-like-after.html