Surfboard:
It is common among the youth of today to type in abbreviations. On all form of social media and online fora, down to applications for chatting, we are getting further immersed in this 21st century phenomenon. What are its gains? I don't see any. Disadvantages? I'll list a few.

1. It affects our spelling. At the beginning, you think you have it under control, in fact you do. However, like all bad habits, it creeps up on you and before you know it, you can't spell as well as you used to. You then spell a word like 'enough' as 'enuf' and think it's right.

2. You get so used to abbreviating, you start to include in official correspondence. This goes from students in examinations to young job seekers in their applications. Heck, adults are not left out as some make these mistakes in business proposals. What this means in society is a situation like we have now where employers of labour are lamenting that Nigerian graduates are unemployable.

3. We may be setting a wrong trend for the next generation. It's all good, in fact, brilliant to be technologically savvy and all, but it shouldn't end there. We should teach those coming after us why they need to use technology the right way. One of the things they should be taught is how to spell. If we do, we'd be raising a generation positioned to make a positive impact in society. Our parents endeavoured that we be taught how to spell, so please let's help the younger generation achieve that too.

Feel free to add yours also. Thanks

osemu8:

I

www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/edo-2016-anenih-breaks-silence-promises-to-support-a-credible-scandal-free-aspirant/

aieromon:
You Berra lodge a complaint.

Na so corruption dey start....

chimere66:
The Nigerian Army has commissioned its first mega fuel service station built by the Nigerian Army Properties Limited and located along Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe Road in Western Bypass, Minna.

At the opening ceremony held on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari commended the Nigerian armed Forces’ leadership for their commitment and zeal in tackling security issues across Nigeria.

He also applauded the successes of the Armed Forces in the counter-Insurgency Operations in the north eastern part of Nigeria while urging them to sustain the tempo.

The president was represented by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin.

He assured the military that his administration would continue to provide the much needed support to the Armed Forces for efficient service delivery and effective discharge of their responsibilities.

The Chief of Defence Staff stated that the noble relationship behind the establishment of the project was quite commendable and legendary, adding that it was part of the current efforts to reposition the Nigerian Army to meet with the contemporary realities.

He said that the establishment of the Nigerian Army Properties Limited projects had made the Service optimum utilisation of its human and material assets into profitable business ventures towards improving the welfare and well beings of the Nigerian Armed Forces at large and their families as well as the general populace.

He stressed that the Company could also afford the Nigerian Army the opportunity to effectively engage all the arms and services in their various areas of specialisations to enhance service delivery.

General Olonisakin also told the gathering that one of the few priorities of the Buhari’s administration was the enhancement of the capacity of the Armed Forces to discharge their duties effectively.

“I am therefore particularly glad that this project which is being commissioned today is a step in the right direction. I therefore congratulate the Nigerian Army for this giant stride which is in line with the policy direction of the present administration,” he stated.

The President’s representative further assured the military that the government would not relent in providing the much needed support to the Armed Forces for efficient service delivery and effective discharge of their responsibilities.

Also, in his remarks at the occasion, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, said the newly commissioned mega fuel service station was pacesetter in the current drive to reposition the Nigerian Army for contemporary realities.

He explained that the project was in line with his vision of having a professionally responsive Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional roles, emphasising that the Service had also diversified attention into areas that would improve the welfare and well-being of the Nigerian Armed Forces personnel, their families and the civil populace.

He also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his continuous support and for standing solidly behind the Nigerian Armed Forces in combating the insecurity in the northeast.

Lt. Gen. Buratai also told the gathering that the Nigerian Armed Forces had made appreciable progress in the fight against terror and implored Nigerian Army personnel to continue to remain professionally responsive and loyal to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The fuel service station has four pumps for petrol and one each for Diesel and Kerosene including a Supermarket and a Mechanic Workshop.

It will operate a 24-hour service daily and the military plans to replicate the project in Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, Lagos, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Abuja among others.

Source: http://www.trezzyblog.com/2016/04/nigerian-army-commissions-its-first.html

NigerianMusic:
If you have bank account with GTBank, this is a must read for you....

SOURCE --------> http://hypenigeria.com/2016/04/09/why-gtbank-latest-737-simple-mobile-banking-is-a-beautiful-nonsense-uc-artt-ekwueme/

Last Month, Nigerians on social media were tricked by the suspenseful trend "What Is The 737?" popping up, from hashtags to sponsored ads and billboard campaigns. Little did we know that one of Africa's largest and leading contemporary banks, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc widely known as GTBank in Nigeria, who are behind the trend was about to hit us with yet another "innovative banking service."

GTBank-Launches-Innovative-Service-Delivery-Channel-–-Bank-737

Weeks later, it was officially launched to the public, albeit it has been in operation weeks prior to it's official introduction, as i have used It twice last month.

They say " Just Dial *737# "

It's as easy as that. What this service simply does is that by just dailing *737# you can either

1. Open a GTBank Account

2. Transfer Money ( anytime of the day 24/7)

3. Purchase Airtime

4. Check account balance and many more, right at the convenience of your fingertips, using jusy your mobile phone ( even a Nokia torch will perform this service, apparently you don't require any internet access to do so) ... but am here to talk about the security risk sorrounding the "Fund Transfer" service included and why it's a 'beautiful nonsense'

Just yesterday a friend of mine called me and was lamenting on how some group of boys ganged up against him and made off with his GTBank ATM card and cell phone, at about 7:21pm somwhere in Suleja. Getting to a nearby branch to lay complaint of his stolen card the next day, alas 20,000 Naira has been hijacked off his bank account already.

"Chai !! na wa ooo, for this dollar bill economy.. I exclaimed as he narrates his ordeal to me. And sadly, that' actually to the last penny savings on his account. Unfortunately, prior to the ugly incident, this dude was not aware of the bank's newly introduced banking service. Thus wouldn't have known that with just your GTBank ATM card and registered phone number its now easy to transfer money from one bank account to another in a minute.

HOW THEY DID IT, and WHY IT'S a 'BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE' ??

Now that's why I called this service a 'beautiful nonsense' because of its high risk and poor security. Of course since they were in possession of his cell phone and GTBank ATM naira Mastercard, the 'innovative smart criminals' dialed *737# followed the instructions, filled in the amount they wanted, their account number, their bank and lastly 4-digit security code which is the last 4 digits on the ATM card, and boom !!! the money is transfered right inside their own account.

SOURDE ----------> http://hypenigeria.com/2016/04/09/why-gtbank-latest-737-simple-mobile-banking-is-a-beautiful-nonsense-uc-artt-ekwueme/

The bank brags that this service is safe and convenient. 'Convenient' ? Yes for sure, but 'Safe' ? a big NO, and will never be safe with the current procedure for money transfer, even if Vincent Enyeama decides to make a U - turn back to the Super Eagles.

We all know many Nigerians banking with Guaranty Trust Bank still stands a high risk of losing their money to smart bad guys, we all know an average Nigerian moves about to his or her office and almost everywhere with ATM card and cell phone, and we know what that means (that isnto say; criminals can even walk up to you and do the smart move.) We also know many children have easy access to their parents cell phone, which most will know the last four digits of their ATM card, and we know what that means.

One of the major essence of keeping our money in the bank is for safety, what then happens when banks services are no longer safe ? It becomes a 'beautiful nonsense.'

MY SUGGESTION / SECURITY SOLUTION

I suggest to, and advice the management of GTBank to consider the following for safety of their *737# Money Transfer service.

1. Customers Must Choose their 4-digits code by themselves

Just like the ATM card security code for withdrawals, rather than making the last 4 digits of customers naira master card as default security code for money transfer, it should be a decision for each customer to choose whatever 4 digits he or she wants as security code. Thus nobody, even if they are in possession of your ATM card and cell phone can temper with the money in your bank account.

2. It Should Be Optional

I strongly suggest for security reasons, that this particular service should be optional. Of course as it stands now, the service is automatically activated for all GTBank account holders with their ( ATM) Naira Mastercard . This is an epic fail by the company, I must bluntly say.

So I firmly stand that customers should be allowed to decide if such services be activated on their bank account or not, as many Nigerians operate accounts with different banks each for a particular purpose.

SEE ALSO : Nigerian Naira On the Fall Again In the Parallel Market

MY CONCLUSION

All said and yet to be done, while we await on the management of GTBank to act with immediate affect to these regards, I will advise my fellow Nigerians banking with Guaranty Trust Bank to stay at alert and avoid risking their hard earned money in this though economy to bad guys.

Thank you all for reading through. I hope I made a few sense with my 'beautiful nonsense.' Until I write you again, stay blessed and keep making legal money. I remain Uc Artt Ekwueme (Chief Editor for HypeNigeria.com) ucarttekwueme@gmail.com ...drops pen....Bye.

Make sure you Share this insightful piece with Friends and Love ones to help them keep their money Safe.

SOURCE -------> http://hypenigeria.com/2016/04/09/why-gtbank-latest-737-simple-mobile-banking-is-a-beautiful-nonsense-uc-artt-ekwueme/

greenhulk:
This tease is no longer funny. Only in Nigeria will a company say they have started operation and giving free browsing for 3 months without any information on their website. No info on cost, no info on where to get the Sim, no info on plans, hell there's even no single info about their office address. Which kind company be this? They should provide these Infos before they start publishing rubbish. They said they started operation since yesterday and up till now no single member of the general public has laid their hands on their sim. Iranu

drsteroid:
The  Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, describes the challenges in the downstream sector of the oil sector as enormous but says “we are getting to the solution”. Kachikwu spoke to the NNPC staff  in Abuja. Excerpts:

“This week, we address the fuel subsidy. It’s not by happenstance that you see me with my sleeves all rolled up. And I hope you’re visiting filling stations and helping us work this difficulty.

“This is probably the most challenging issue since I took over as GMD and Minister of Petroleum, and the reality is that a lot of us, even within the company (NNPC), do not know why this is so, and so for those who don’t know, I’ll first go through why you have this situation.

“First, on resumption in August, we had a  major problem on our hands, because subsidies of close to N600 billion, had not been paid over a one year period, and so the majors, those who were  importing, had began to quietly reduce the  levels of importation allotted to them and, though I got the approval of the National Assembly and the President  to eventually pay a good portion of that subsidy, sometime in November, by then it was too late.

“Too late because although they got the money, they didn’t have access to foreign exchange, so the  main reason we have this supply gap now is that, although NNPC has its own 445,000 barrels allocation of crude and is meeting its own 50% of  delivery, the individuals, who should provide the balance of the 40% component, are not bringing in any product.

“So, we’ve had to be very creative over the last 4 to 5 months, until we basically ran out of options and the sort of creativity that we put in place was forward buying, forward purchase, forward crude allocations, and also, just to bring in more product, because we saw NNPC transit from a 45% provider to suddenly 80%, and about this month really to 100% provider of petroleum products in Nigeria.
“That was not sustainable, we didn’t have the capacity, we didn’t have the funding, we didn’t have access to the products, we didn’t have the foreign exchange. So in very many ways, it’s surprising that we’ve even been able to survive this long.

“However, the key element has been, how to find foreign exchange for those who want to participate in the stream, who have been doing this traditionally, to get into the space, buy their products, come in, distribute. That’s something we’ve had to work on.

“Of course, the second problem was incessant pipeline disruptions. Literally, if you look at the statistics of this year, as against last year, we’ve had almost two times the number of pipeline disruptions than we’ve had over the last two, three years, in this year and that for us is very disturbing.

“We have now thrown a couple of ideas on this. The first thing that I have tried to do is, for the first time in this country, is to be able to convince the upstream companies to provide some FX buffer over the next one year for those who are bringing in products.

“So, I’ve tied  Total Upstream to Total Downstream, Mobil Upstream to Mobil Downstream, Agip ENI to Oando, Shell to Conoil and things like that. It’s been very innovative, putting 200 million dollars of FX availability out into the space. It’s taken a lot of goodwill, it’s taken a lot of work from me.

“The second thing we’ve done is to box our way through the CBN to get a little allocation; because we provide the bulk of this foreign exchange, we should have a bit of it to help stabilise the situation, because fuel queues, make no mistake about it, it doesn’t matter what we achieve in our transformation agenda, is the single most difficult item, which if not solved can bring down the polity and can create mayhem here. So it is something that we have focused on. So I have been able to get some co-operation from CBN on that.

“Now, I’ve also been able to convince Mr. President to give us access to some, outside the 445,000 barrels from national production. The difficulty with that, of course, is that it goes into the FAC entity, so once you touch any barrel there, you’re going to have governors’, understandably, quarrel with you on this. But these are some of the innovative solutions we’ve done.

“We’ve thrown our creative options on the pipelines, by pointing a set of trial, by contracting contractors to get into the pipelines, and show us that they can deliver if we give them the contract.

“What that has done is that, for the first time in  eight  years, we’ve been able to capture back system 2B all the way to Ilorin. For the first time in over  six  years, we were able to pump crude from Escravos into Warri and we were able to pump oil from Brass into Port Harcourt. And we were able to pump from Warri right into Kaduna, with a few skirmishes here and there. This is the first time in over 10 years that we’ve been able to accomplish this. We accomplished this by not spending money, but owing obligations.

“Now, we are moving to the stage of contracting, where we are going to advertise this and see how we can put this as permanent features into the system. So a huge amount of work has been going on in this stream.

“Our depots are at the stage right now of looking at policies geared towards advertising and our pipelines for purposes of contracting joint ventures that will put in money, refurbish depots that had been abandoned for upwards of a decade, so that we can have the distributional network that we need to be able to solve this.

“It’s not enough to bring in the cargoes which we are beginning to do, but if you bring the cargoes and they arrive in Lagos, if you have to send 3,000 trucks round the whole country, it will take an average of  four to seven  days to do that, and the very next day, you’re back to the same place, so the sheer logistical nightmare is not what NNPC was set up to do, so we need to be able to get those pipelines back, get the depots functioning, push a lot of the responsibility to the major oil companies who are basically leaving us to do all the work and picking up the profit at the end of the day.

“So, it’s been a very difficult work, very challenging.  We’re getting to the solution, the first few cargoes are beginning to come in and I think, by the second week of April, we should be hopefully out of this queue situation. But that is not a long-term solution.

“The long term solution is that we have to throw private initiatives to the downstream. We’ve got to have a situation where we create enough policy direction, such that people can get in there and do the business. We can take care of our own filling stations, NNPC stations and perhaps some of the affiliates that are going to be with us, but that is a job we’ve done and done well but we can do it better. We can go into growing the affiliate stations even more so that we have a lot more affiliate stations that we use as response to security situations.

“But ultimately, the business must go back to where it belongs,  the private sector, not the public sector and until we do that, deal with the issue of pricing, which our price modulation has helped us manage, but not quite completely, we’re not going to solve the problem.

“Now, how do you come in? Get out into the filling stations, BYbe a proud NNPC official, HELP regulate traffic, HELP push product, HELP report scams that are going on in depots, even by our own officials and HELP talk about the change, HELP talk about the problems and BE the spokespeople for your own company, HELP create ideas. HELP suggest ways in which we can find lasting solutions to this. And if we do that, collectively, every one of us a piece, at the end of the process, people will remember the difficulties, but will also remember an NNPC that was united in the solution to this problem.

“At the end of the day, it’s not all about ME, it’s actually about YOU.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/fuel-scarcity-close-solution-kachikwu-minister-state-petroleum/

obiremy:
Her elder sister wrote: “Please friends my little sister, Judith Alaka, is missing. Haven’t seen or heard anything from her since monday evening after my aunt sent her on an errand. If you have any infomation as to how we could reach her please call the PHONE numbers below: 08101161429, 08146803532, 08113200859. GOD BLESS YOU.”

http://www.trezzyblog.com/2016/04/missing-personphotos.html

shaddoww:



http://thenationonlineng.net/mark-named-in-panama-papers-with-uk-properties/

Angelberry:
Na prison fine like that

UrennaNkoli:
I was opportuned to have a taste of the 80's and 90's and I must confess the 90's still remains the best ever. In fact, anytime I remember the 90's , I feel nostalgic and wish I could roll back the hands of time . Many will argue that the 80's was the best decade ever, some will tell you its the 70's, some will go for the 60's, some the 50's some will even go for the 2000's . For me , the 90's beats these decades hands down and here goes my reasons...

THE MUSIC
The 90's was no doubt the era of good and splendid music. From hiphop to rap to soul and even rock. Just have a look at foreign masterpiece like Snoop Dogg's who am I (Whats my name), The notorious BIG Juicy, Dr dre's (Still dre), Lauryn Hill's Doo Woop ( That thang) . These were classic songs I still even listen to till today. Even coming back home to songs like Seyi Sodunmu's Love me jeje, to the Fela Kuti's, Iyogogo and many more. Unlike the crap kids listen to today .. I mean the davido's wizkid or wizboy whatever his name his , sean tizzle, olamide who sings like nothing but a danfo thug... Music is honestly what it ought to be and what it used to be.

The politics
Oh this was a great era of politics both home and abroad. You turn on your transistor only to hear of a coup attempted by Major Gideon Orka, or one by Gen Sani Abacha, or the MKO Abiola saga and lots more. Newspaper were more fun to read then, any beer palour you go then, it was 90% sure it will be politics they are arguing about . Unlike today, all we read on the news is about an accident that happened on and expressway or Buhari travelling to china for one meeting , Obasanjo this, yar' adua that. Politics is going down the drain in today's Nigeria. Even crossing boarders and going foreign, you hear of the Rodney King verdict and L.A. riots tear the nation apart, OJ Simpson chase, Bill Clinton, and thousands more. Comm'on , this was an era that can never be rivaled .

The Movies
Titanic, The good fellas, The lion king, con air, brave heart, dumb and dumber, My own private Idaho, white men can't jump, Billie Madison... Time can't just permit me to mention them all. Even Nigerian movies were classical then. I still have collection of movies like living in bondage, Nneka the pretty serpent, blood money, issakaba, domitila and lots more. Today, I am extremely ashamed of Nollywood as it can be very embarrassing to watch. All they do now is knockbusters with little funds with the aim of making useless profit. You see films in Nollywood of today like spidergirl[img]http://2.bp..com/-l6Hz7fw876c/VcnOFXAU0QI/AAAAAAAAAP4/0t007qTIN8Q/s320/spider%2Bgirl.jpg[/img] ,. I recently saw a movie one day titled ''I Want To Suck Your Blood''. I really laughed out loud. Nollywood is going down the drain.

The Fashion
Nothing just beats the fashion of the 90's. From the Alexander McQueen spring of 1997 to the Azzedine Alaïa shows of 1991 to calvin klein spring 1994 to the Balenciaga spring. The afro hair styles people carry about just blended with the atmosphere. Even here in Nigeria, fashion was at its peak and its best. People like Miss Sade Thomas, the great fashion designer were awesome .

The Education
You can't argue with me that the quality of education of this era wasn't at its best. Although I must confess this started from era beyond. Today, we see young Nigerians wriggling their way through the university just to earn a degree. Many parents don't even care about their children's future anymore. They rather prefer to see them in the streets hawking pepper and okra and make money for them .

The Technology
The 90's really was an era of technology that really changed our lives for good. These technologies really layed the platform for today's technology From the walkman, to the nintendo's gameboy, to kids cruising around in barbie jeeps to pagers (I honestly prefer this to cell phones ) also, who will ever forget the ever green play station 1, Apples Imac G3 Comm' on,

The Sports
The 90's was obviously an era of great sport moments. From basketball, to cricket, to boxing , athletics etc Who will ever forget the '94 olympics where Nigeria clinched gold, soccer for example also saw the establishment of many great players like Gheorghe Hagi, Rivaldo, Ze roberto, Van Basten, lotar Mathaus, Baggio, Ronaldo, Figo, Romario and lots more. Even on our home turf, we had the likes of yekini, Kanu George Finidi and co. They made football ore fun to watch unlike the Mikels, Iwobi's of today

The Slang
The 90's was an er of slangs. I just can mention them all.... 'Sup, b Bangin'/Slammin Crib ,Bama ,Ghetto, Shiznit, Whassup...Time just can't permit me to mention them all.

I tasted both the 80's and 90's and I must confess its just the best decade ever. Far better than the 80's, 70's 60's 50's and beyond. Even better than the 2000's for our newer generation of kids

Feel free to add yours.