₦airaland Forum

A two-year-old boy who throws a fit when refused a cigarette has provoked fresh horror over the rise in Indonesia' nicotine-addicted youth.

Ardi Rizal smoked his first cigarette when he was 18 months old.

Now the boy's father admits he is addicted.

"He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke," the father told a Sriwijaya Post reporter who visited his home at a fishing village in Indonesia's South Sumatra province.

"I'm not worried about his health &— he looks healthy."

There has been an increase in the number of smokers aged between four and nine in Indonesia over recent years.

Authorities blame aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers.

But a bill banning cigarette advertising and sponsorship has been stalled due to opposition from the tobacco industry, the Daily Mail reports.

"If cigarette advertising is not banned, there will be more kids whose lives are threatened because of smoking," a spokesman from Indonesia's Industry Ministry said.

He said the government had lowered cigarette produce, increased cigarette taxes and limited public smoking areas.

one more thing, you do not and cannot eradicate corruption.
You make it extremely risky and expensive for participants.
Irrespective of the risk, their will always be participants but the size of risk makes it unappealing for a huge majority of the people.
The only way we can make it very risky and expensive for participants is to have systems and frameworks that are agile,fluid and effective.
This is not about individuals but systems.
At present the only risk to stealing in Nigeria is not being in the right books of the powers that be.
Even then, the cost of falling out with the powers that be is very little compared to the loot available.
So the bazaar continues unabated.

I spoke to a few foreigners who were very curious about Africa and i told them that the biggest problem with the African continent (you can narrow it to Nigeria) is not poverty, it is not corruption and it is not a lack of democracy.
It is a lack of systems and institutions.
These things we think are problems are merely products of a lack of systems and institutions.
That is my problem with western aid.it attempts to eradicate poverty and provide healthcare.
The problem is that their are no systems or framworks to safeguard the aid, so it is business as usual.
Like a few posters above mentioned, establishment of these systems and frameworks can never materialise via a gradual process.There has to be an eruption that will dislodge the powers that be.A revolution not an evolution.
The crux of the matter is while we await a Pharoah that does not know Joseph, what do we do?
Is it not better to catch the Iboris, Bode George and Ogbulafors in the interim?
Me thinks it is better than doing absolutely nothing.
It will not solve the problem but ,

she dey yarn Opata.

onwe le ife na eme.

Deflation

Seun Bangboye

naijaking1:
You really don't get it do you?
These peoples' cases as still being investigated, tried, and winding through the courts, and you want me to write an article condemning them
What type of nonsense logic is that?
Even if you're 99.99% certain that they committed crimes, non-islamic modern approach would be to give them the benefit of court trial granted that they may have less 0.01% of being innocent.
You should also be ashamed of your cockeyed view of right and wrong, because many other bank CEOs probably mismanaged their banks more than these personal enemies of Sanusi.

this is the silly argument imbeciles are using in defence of ibori.
"there are bigger thieves in the country, why start with Ibori? It is victimisation because he is not the biggest looter".
I expect better from you, as i consider you an intelligent person.
You probably expect CBN to draw up a list of all bank CEOs' failings, rank them and start from the biggest and start coming down the list?
How do you even rank them?
In which world do you expect those down this utopian list to sit hands on their chin,while he deals with those at the top of this list?
I am tired of this argument.
Deal with bank looters.personal enemies or friends is a secondary matter and one that sane Nigerians are uninterested in.

^^^^
guy, you go wound o!
When will you get off this rant of yours?
87% of the 2753 posts you have made on this section are Sanusi comments.They are filled with loads of emotion and very little logic.
Your scant disregard for Sanusi and his reform cannot mask the rascality of the the bank CEOs who have been caught in the act.
You do not need to like the man or his methods (neither do i) but to ascribe every evil to him while you choose to either ignore the acts of the bank CEOs or his predecessor who wined and dined with the guilty parties while the industry was rotting is gross irresponsibility on your part as an intelligent adult.

TheCongo:
Back in the days when I was a student at the University, I had an urgent need one time. After paying my school fee, I urgently needed another US $80 to buy a book for my computer class (C ++). Since I had no money left, I turned to the internet for help.

As strange as it could sound, I got a positive feedback. Yes, someone had agreed to help me. A stranger sent me US $150 (One hundred and fifty) instead of US $80 (eighty) that I had asked. When I picked this money at a western Union location, I cried.

This stranger who sent me the money never questioned the merit of my request. He never asked me if I was genuine or not. He never suspected that I could be fake. Adding to that, he was a white man.
He was just fulfilling his humanitarian duty.

That was in 2000. But, today, 10 years later, I still keep the computer book that I purchase with the stranger’s money, the white man's money. That book is a symbol of humanity to me.

As for brother Menek, I pray that the job in Abuja materialise. However, even if this job doesn’t come forth, we can still stand together to lift him up.

We are African. The world believes that nothing good can come out of Africa. Let us prove them wrong by making this case one of the best humanitarian efforts in the history of mankind; strangers are sewing effort together to help a fellow stranger.

The most tragic thing would be to turn our back to brother menek because we believe this is a scam and it turns out that he is genuine. Have we, Africans, come to the point where we can’t help a fellow human being without reading too much into his request? No my brothers and sisters, we can’t sink that low.

May the Lord richly bless each and every one of you,

I love you all


The brother from TheCongo,

lovely post.
As inspiring as your post is, the problem we have in Nigeria is cynicism founded on reality.
For every one inspiring humanitarian story there are 10 well ochestrated scam.
Like Julius Agwu says "NGO go host charity concert, the next morning founder of NGO don buy 4 wheeler". The problem with being scammed is that it makes the victim feel unintelligent and affects self confidence.
However, we can never turn our back on those in need.As bad as your situation is, there is always someone with less resources and more need.
Helping out is a fulfilling venture and anything less is sub-human and unnatural.

Meanwhile, what is the latest on this case?

1. a slim woman
2. a non christian
3. all women are materialistic and it ain't bad but i can't stand one who can't put things in proper perspective and learn to delay gratification as situation calls for it.
4. a woman that does
5. a woman with a flat backside.
6. a bad cook
7. a nagging woman
8. a woman with too many friends
9. a woman easily giving to peer pressure
10. a woman that does not forgive easily

I couldn't care less about Ribadu but i'll take selective justice over no justice any day.
Considering the whoring tendencies of our politicians, with time they will all fall out of favour at some point and ther selective justice will catch up with them.
As long as no innocent person is caught in between, i care less.
Until Ribadu came on the scene, politicians stole with brazen impunity and without any regard for decorum (even in stealing) but when the guy came on scene, the fear of God was put into the hearts of the barbarians.
Before then,once the monthly allocation came in, the governor and his boys in the ministry of finance just withdrew the thing changed currency and headed abroad.
No disguise, no tact.
Like has been mentioned on the Ibori thread,if you complain about selective judgement, the ideal answer will be start with the biggest thief and go down the list.
the problem is that you can't even decide who is the biggest, so anyone you catch will claim victimization.
I say, catch them by any means necessary as long as they are thieves, i couldn't care less.

How any sane person can believe this man is worrying.
It seems too much stealing has affected this man's sanity.
He just spews crap all over the place.
Even as a Nollywood script, this his story wil not fly.
Having seen him months back, me thinks he needs another tummy tuck.

[quote author=paddy_lo link=topic=446122.msg6090652#msg6090652 date=1274784224]


Not to worry i am writing an in depth article to be sent to leading Nigerian newspapers
It will deal with the apparent cluelessness of our so-called CBN governor

I will reprint it on here if it gets published[/quote]I doubt it would be published cos it will be full of bile, more bile and less sense.

How is life in retirement?

Very interesting. I am a leader,thief highly respected leader thief from my part of this country. My people believe in me and I am highly respected.

aisha2:
Hey, he should Sharrap there . Coming from the same man who treated Jonathan like a scrub. I remember clearly when sometime in 2005 when Jonathan Came to see a family friend at night then he was deputy Governor, he came to beg the family friend to help him ask An Elder statesman to appeal to Alams on his behalf because of the unfair treatment he was receving from Alamsa and His wife. Today Alams is all over granting interviews displaying his Foolishness. He Had the chance to treat jonathan well, he did not, he should sharrap

Aisha, how far for that side?
The ball is in your court o!
still waiting.

Fox News is for crackheads.

Aisha,
Please check your mailbox.

Cheers,

this thread makes for interesting reading.a few observations;
Some American journalists are as ignorant as it comes yet bask in the euphoria of such hatred in the name of being opinionated.
If i was wanting to read a football commentary, i would not read a foxsports writer.
This is football for crying out loud not baseball or basketball.to cover his limited knowledge of the game (inspite of the copy and past job he did), he starts spewing crap thata has no bearing with football.
I have no interest in patronising Nigeria but their is a place for the negatives (not sweeping generalisations)and this platform was wrong.
If one was writing an entry for the England team and described it as an undemocratic country with an unelected leader (the queen) and a government that has turned Iraq and Afghanistan into a killing field all for the sake of oil.In addition that its previous government took the country to war on the basis of lies and deception and its present govt will be no better.oh, the brits are a country of drunks with an unprecedented number of teenage mothers in the western world.
How does the above right up make sense in a football article or even in a political article?

cvibe:
Now that you have assisted, there are many others like him in same or worse conditions who do not have access to the internet to plead for sympathy. You see them on the streets everyday.

What steps will you guys take to ensure continuation of this type of support?

Are you guys ready to set up an NGO to look into issues such as this?

The problem in Nigeria is a lack of sincerity and honesty in most ventures.
I attempted this NGO route months back.
A story that NEXT published was touching and i got in touch with the editor and told her my intentions.They hooked me up with the lady running the NGO in question.
Her story was so incoherrent and full of holes that i just gave up after wasting my precious airtime in international calls.
In addition,she semed to think my proposed contribution was not big enough but how will i contribute much from afar at the first instance when i cannot even vouch for the NGO and the story i was being told was not consistent.
most NGOs in naija are run as businesses, the image is hurting true NGOs that are passionate about human suffering.

I will still send the 20k as a contribution to this guy's accomodation if Aisha vetts him and approves his moves (Aisha, your rep dey on the line o!!)but walahi, i don tire for the whole story.
The guy's story is generally incoherent and often out of point.
Aisha, try make your emai address available, i need to discuss ways i can be relevant in your ventures,irrespective of how this guy's case pans out.

Dozita:
you just have to give it to the GTBank dude, Fola Adeola. He created something that stands out from the rest.

i respect that man.He has done well on many fronts.
unlike many Nigerians he quit without being pushed and his creation has not only stood, it has waxed stronger.
No scandals, no cooked up anual reports, no romancing PDP or army generals and always making sense every time he opens his mouth to talk.
After the barbarians at the gate have been dealt with, such men shall be key to the transformation of the Nigerian economy and society.

Nda Paschal Dozie
Atedo Peterside
I thought i posted on this thread in the past.I can't be arsed to cross check,besides i doubt my new post contradicts a previous one. These do are men i admire.I know they are not perfect, i dobt anyone is,besides i am too imperfect to seek one.
Beyond media hype and fraudulent wealth, they have made their marks.

Ben Marlow

One of Africa’s richest men is plotting to buy a stake in Arsenal in a move that could trigger a full-blown takeover battle for the Premier League football club.

Aliko Dangote, a billionaire Nigerian industrialist, is in talks to buy the 16% stake being sold by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, the club’s fourth-largest shareholder. Dangote is understood to have registered his interest in buying the holding with Blackstone, the American finance house that has been given the job of finding a buyer for the shares.

Bracewell-Smith’s stake is currently worth £96m, but she is seeking up to £160m for the shares. Her holding is key to the future ownership of the north London club.

Arsenal’s two biggest investors, Stan Kroenke, the American sports tycoon, and Alisher Usmanov, the Russian oligarch, are also contemplating buying the shares. If either of the two men were to buy the Bracewell-Smith holding, they would be forced to launch a full takeover offer for the club.

RELATED LINKS
Chamakh signs long-term deal with Arsenal
Beer magnate hopes Blackpool can rise to top
Reading FC chairman seeks extra time from lender
Arsenal, which has a market value of £606m, is one of a number of Premier League clubs that could change hands this summer. Liverpool’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have recently put their club up for sale.

Manchester United has attracted bid interest from a fan-based consortium that wants to wrest control from the Glazer family.

Dangote is a passionate football fan and has the wealth to compete with Kroenke and Usmanov. Forbes magazine recently ranked him among the world’s 500 richest people, with a fortune estimated at $2.5 billion (£1.7 billion). He has helped the Nigerian national football team with cash presents and has stood for the post of president of the Nigerian football association.

He recently celebrated his 53rd birthday with the purchase of an eight-seater Bombardier jet, regarded as one of the most sophisticated private planes in the world.

He is the founder of the Dangote Group, a manufacturing empire that started in the late 1970s as a cement importer and which now has interests ranging from sugar and flour to telecommunications and oil.

He is a close friend of Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Until recently he was the head of the Nigerian stock exchange but was forced to step down after falling out with Africa Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s biggest companies, which accused Dangote of manipulating its share price, a charge he has appealed against.

The Nigerian tycoon is thought to have made it on to a shortlist of about 10 investors, drawn up by Blackstone.

The holding was put up for sale earlier this year. It was inherited by Bracewell-Smith’s husband Sir Charles Bracewell-Smith and transferred to her name in 2005.

The stake has attracted interest from investors in Asia, the Middle East, eastern Europe and America. It is expected to be sold for about £15,000 a share, against a current market price of £10,000.

Sources close to Kroenke say he is the favourite to buy the holding. The American, who currently owns 29.9%, the largest single shareholding in the club, ultimately wants control and has told Blackstone he plans to bid.

Kroenke is also more popular with the Arsenal directors than Usmanov, who owns a 26% stake through his Red & White Holdings investment vehicle but has failed to gain a seat on the club’s board.

A buyer could be selected before the emergency budget on June 22, which is expected to put up capital gains tax on certain types of investment. A rise in the tax rate could cost Bracewell-Smith millions of pounds.

Foreign ownership of football clubs is under increased scrutiny because of the large debts many clubs have been saddled with after takeovers by foreign investors.

Some proprietors, such as Chelsea’s Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, have slashed debts recently while others — Aston Villa’s American owner Randy Lerner, for example — have striven to avoid becoming dependent on bank financing.

The sale of a stake in Arsenal, which is forecast to make a pre-tax profit this year of £56m, will not be helped by growing speculation that Cesc Fabregas, its star midfielder, could move to Barcelona this summer.

tosin you wey get job, why you dey reply?