A COALITION of human rights activists, labour, journalists and lawyers have moved against the recent increase in electricity tariffs in the country by petitioning the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Ms. Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, over the issue.
In the petition dated September 6, 2013 and made available to The Guardian Sunday, the coalition requested the Special Rapporteur to send “an urgent appeal to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to delay the increased fixed rate electricity tariffs until the government is able to put in place mechanisms to ensure regular and uninterrupted electricity supply, and to carry out the impact assessment of the increase on people living in extreme poverty.”
The coalition, which include the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP); Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ); Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State Council; Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos State branch; and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, said, “by the introduction of fixed rate electricity tariffs, the government is complicit in violating the human rights of people living in poverty and undermining their personal development and prosperity.”
Other members of the group are the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Joint Action Front (JAF), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Women Empowerment and Legal Aid Initiative (WELA), Partnership for Justice (PJ), Campaign for Democratic Workers (CDWR), Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), and Education Rights Campaign (ERC).
In the petition signed on their behalf by SERAP’s Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the coalition said, “the introduction of a new electricity tariff by the government of Jonathan, not only risks violation of human rights under the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights but exacerbates and perpetuates poverty for millions of Nigerians already vulnerable and marginalised and lack access to basic necessities.
“We believe that the increased fixed rate electricity tariffs by over a hundred per cent without corresponding increase in electricity supply target some of the most marginalised and impoverished members of Nigerian society, many of whom are struggling with basic living costs and without access to regular electricity.”
The coalition therefore requested the Special Rapporteur to visit the country to “conduct an in-depth investigation into the effects of the increased electricity tariff on people living in poverty,” and to urge the government to “take all reasonable measures to protect, respect and fulfill the rights of people living in poverty and social exclusion across the country.
“While the government has increased electricity tariff, it has failed and/or neglected to investigate the spending and mismanagement of about $3.5 billion annually on power in the last 10 years.
“The missing $16 billion meant for power projects has not been recovered and perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Yet, electricity infrastructure is epileptic, and lack of maintenance culture precipitated by greed and official corruption at the highest level of government have contributed to the poor electricity services in the country,” the coalition also argued.
“Millions of Nigerians living in extreme poverty and without access to basic necessities of life and with no means to pay the new electricity tariff are being made to pay for the unresolved corruption in the power sector. We believe that the increased electricity tariff will limit the access of the poor to regular electricity as they will be unable to pay the new tariff,” the group further stated.

Mr. President, please do not mistake this piece for an attack on your person because it is not. Neither would I want you to see me as one of those attention-seeking people because I am not. Of course, Sir, I am also not the son of any governor, senator, local government chairman or any political office holder, otherwise, I would have no business writing such an open letter to you because it is against my family’s ethics to ‘talk while eating’. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness of educational misery, saying, “Prepare the way for either a future of political stability and economic boom or prepare for worse than what religious extremists are meting out to our country now”.
As I write on this sultry day, I am completely at a loss to know what to make of my future from here. If this were just the case, it would, probably, be an insignificant reason to go on the rampage with the sword of the pen. But, I write on behalf of the millions of dreams that are getting squashed by the day as the total shut-down of our universities persists. I write on behalf of the future of the several hundreds of thousands who have been privileged, amidst the stiff competition for admission, to grasp tertiary education but may end up worse than their disadvantaged counterparts, since they may never finish, much less finish on schedule their educational pursuits. The handwriting on the wall, clearly now, more than ever before foretells a dangerous twist to the continuing imbroglio between your administration and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). I do not know if the public keeps the date as much as we do but it is well over 65 days already and I cannot help but wonder if anyone really cares what becomes of our street-wandering undergraduates. If I had a next life, I hope to never be a Nigerian or be born with a silver spoon because the poor are really just ‘on their own’ as long as our government is concerned. Mr President, in three simple words, “We are tired”. We, the students in the federal universities, are always at the receiving end of every impasse between ASUU and the government and all I can ask for now is that you and your think tank reconsider your stand on the matter. We can only bear this much!
I am not ASUU’s spokesman but it is only logical that I expect your administration to honour the 2009 agreement with the Union so normalcy can return to our campuses and of course, our disenchanted academic lives. Personally, I have spent more years than is required to have my first and second degrees and yet I am grappling to take a Bachelor’s degree out of an institution that only recently had an internal strike because you would have our name ‘rebranded’. Mr President, every day this strike continues, more dreams die and more future riff -raff are born. It is my firm belief that children still do bear the sins of their fathers and even when you are no more, posterity will remember your progenitors for good or ill based on how you handle this national educational crisis we suffer now. It goes without saying that for 14 years that your party has held sway over the affairs of this nation, we cannot boast of a Nigerian university (not a single one) amongst the first 2000 in the world. This is more than enough reason to release the requisite fund for the upgrade of our educational infrastructure as well as the welfare of the future’s moulders. It will only be emphatic to say that we can get out of our educational system as much as we invest in it and though investment in educational is long term, it is also long-rewarding. Your administration will only be breeding poor intellectuals, who will, in turn, produce another generation of mediocre graduates and in 10 years, what do we have, sir? A national carnage! Our unborn children are in jeopardy of being societal scum even before their conception. But you can change all of this!
The greatest weapon of mass destruction is to put a teacher who knows nothing before the students. This will be the case if your administration does not honour the 2009 agreement with ASUU such that lecturers’ welfare gets taken care of.
Mr President, the one second of your time which I asked for is almost up but I am optimistic that if you give utmost diligence to putting an end to the incessant strikes that have been plaguing our tertiary educational system as much as you do to security matters or party issues and conventions, we would not be where we are today: struggling to maintain peace in our land.
I reiterate my advice, sir. Honour the 2009 agreement with ASUU so we may return to our lecture rooms and pick up the pieces of our scattered semesters. So I can round off my first degree programme and go on to patriotically serve my fatherland. So, I can focus on growing my baby company to maturity and provide jobs for the teeming unemployed youths. So, I can get married, give my mother her first grandchild and keep my late father’s name as his only son. So, I can fulfil my dreams of helping young people reach the zenith of their potential through my writing, public speaking and role-modelling. Mr President, help me and my fellow undergraduates live decent lives even if our parents are not among the top one per cent who squander our national earnings in the name of political office holders. Would you do this for me, for us, for Nigeria’s future? I hope you do. Thank you, sir, for giving me a second of your time.

There are indications that the National Population Commission may not comply with the order of the National Census Tribunal that a fresh census be conducted in 14 Local Government Areas in Lagos State.
Dependable sources in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Friday that the state would have to wait till 2016 when another nationwide census would be carried out.
The source explained that for now, the nation lacked the basic benchmark and requirements to conduct a census.
The Lagos State Government had through its Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye; his Works and Infrastructure counterpart, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, asked the NPC to conduct a fresh census in the 14 LGAs in line with the the NCT judgment.
Ipaye had stated that since the tribunal nullified the figures released by the NPC, another headcount was very necessary in the areas considering the physical and economic projections of the government.
According to him, the 2006 census was conducted on the basis of 20 LGAs listed in the 1999 Constitution.
He had said, “In the final analysis, the official national census results for 14 old Local Government Councils (now 40 LGAs and LCDAs) in Lagos State have been nullified. This vindicates the resolve of the state government to base its physical and economic plans on a projected population of 17,553,924 in 2006 and over 21,000,000 currently. We now expect that the NPC will urgently announce plans for a recount as ordered by the tribunal.
“Most importantly, a shadow survey carried out by state officials during the exercise showed that Lagos State should have had a population of at least 17,553,924. A good number of residents from various communities within the state protested and, eventually, had petitions filed on their behalf when the census tribunal was established.”
But the NPC said it had yet to get a copy of the tribunal judgment.
The commission’s Chairman, Chief Festus Odimegwu, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, said, “When a judgment is delivered, it usually takes a while before a Certified True Copy is given. “The tribunal has not served the NPC any paper that the 2006 census exercise in Lagos State has been nullified.”
When contacted, a Presidency source said, “To conduct a census is a major event and not something you just jump into because a court said you should do so.
“The conditions required to conduct a proper census do not exist in Nigeria as we speak. Nobody can conduct a proper census because the conditions are not there.
“Before a census is conducted, it takes three years for the type of census we want to do and we have not even started the preparation.
“So, the NPC cannot conduct any census anywhere because the conditions are not okay. Anything we do now will be like a guesswork. When the judgment is ready, the NPC will reply and educate the court on what is possible and what is not possible and I am sure they will understand.”
Another source in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation said conducting a fresh census in Lagos State would be a misadventure.
He said, “To run a proper census is the biggest challenge of any nation like Nigeria. The only thing that is bigger than it is war. To wage war you need to simulate the entire country and in census, it is exactly the same thing, except that it is on the peace line.
“So it is easy to say ‘conduct census’; but it is not practical to do so because if we want to do it properly the way we are planning, it won’t be possible. The court is entitled to its judgment. But our duty as professionals is to educate the courts.
“So the whole country should wait until Nigeria conducts another census in 2016. If the nation wants an accurate census, the NPC will deliver it. But we need at least, three years preparation for that; once we deliver it, this country will be delivered from this darkness from people shooting golden arrows into darkness.”
But the Lagos State Government said on Saturday that the Federal Government and the NPC should not hide under any guise to disobey a court order.
The state argued that since the Federal Government had been proclaiming the rule of law, it had no reason not to comply with the tribunal’s judgment.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy told our one of correspondents in Lagos that the tribunal’s verdict was a valid one and therefore should not be disregarded for any reason whatsoever.
He said, “It is a dangerous trend that the Federal Government and the NPC want to start. If the people of Lagos State went to seek refuge in the judiciary and the verdict was that the census should be redone in some places, why would anyone want to look for ways not to implement the verdict?
“The Federal Government and the NPC made representation at the tribunal as well as Lagos State. So they know about the judgement. Nobody should say he had yet to hear of it or get a certified true copy of the judgment. The rule of law must be allowed to prevail. The census should be retaken in the 14 LGs as ordered by the tribunal.”
When one of our correspondents visited the Registry of the Census Tribunal in Abuja, the secretary was not available to speak on the matter.
But a top source, who did not wish to be named, said that the NPC had not officially applied for a copy of the judgment as required by the rules guiding the tribunal.
According to him, the NPC initially made enquiries, stating its wish to collect the judgment but was informed that it had to send in a formal application.
Meanwhile, a group, the Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo Youth Congress, has condemned the calls for the sacking of the NPC chairman by Kwakwanso and the Arewa Consultative Forum.
The Chairman of the congress, Chijioke Onyekaonywu, in a joint statement he signed with a Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Stanley Okeke , argued that “the nature and intent for the calls had the capacity to create confusion and overheat the polity.
Onyekaonywu and Okeke said, “The need to preventa threat to our national security and avoid descent into anarchy and mutual distrust, has necessitated our taking this stride to address the dangerous and reckless attack on the person of Chief Odimegwu by the governor of Kano State.
“The statement credited to Odimegwu has nothing to warrant the call for his head by Kwakwanso. Even in his capacity as just a citizen of Nigeria, Odimegwu has a right to air his views. Odimegwu should be commended for being courageous enough to state the facts as they are.”

• Sources Blame Presidency’s Aides For Not Sensing Moves
The refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to renounce his right to contest the 2015 Presidential election is at the heart of the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), sources insist in Abuja.
In fact, the walkout staged by the splinter group, which calls itself the “New PDP”, was as much a protest against final confirmation of President Jonathan’s total grip on the party structure as it was anger at his style of deliberately not reaching out to outsiders, unless they are needed to help serve specific purpose.
And the crisis has also brought into focus the disconnect between Jonathan and Nigerians, as well as the lack of rapid response mechanism within his administration.
The walkout, led by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and seven governors, who joined forces with former acting national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, and former national secretary of the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, all loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, underscored the animosity between the former president and Jonathan.
A source told The Guardian: “I wonder why some Nigerians are surprised at what is happening in the PDP. This is all about 2015 and the plan for the presidential candidate of the PDP to emerge from the Northern part of the country. What happened was the final admission after they discovered they could not force the President to abandon their wish that he waives his right to contest the election.
“First, the battle led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC). And already, former Head of State, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari is the candidate to beat in the race for the new party’s presidential primaries. And before he wrote his opinion piece selling his candidature, members of the PDP had been working round the clock.
“This led to the trips by the five Northern Governors — Alhaji Sule Lamido, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, Admiral Murtala Nyako, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu and Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko — during which consultations on how presidential power could be conceded to one of them or their choice candidate within the PDP were made.
“And when this didn’t dissuade the President to drop his assumed 2015 ambition, they opted to wait for him and greatly embarrass him at the mini-convention. It worked perfectly because of the calibre of the people around the President. They were really caught napping. Really, no President in the history of Nigeria has been this embarrassed, this publicly. It was a master stroke.”
Clearly, the revolt is the final plank of the battle which started within the party in the run up to the 2011 elections when some influential Northerners, under the aegis of the Northern Peoples Leadership Forum (NPLF), tried to stop Jonathan from running for President. It is easily forgotten that, in the run-up to the Presidential primaries to the 2011 elections, the NPLF fought President Jonathan and tried everything in their books to stop him from running. When that didn’t work, they opted for a Northern consensus candidate under the PDP. This later produced former Vice President Abubakar, who was defeated by President Jonathan at the presidential primaries held at the Eagles Square.
With the defeat of its consensus candidate, the NPLF decided to go back to the drawing board, to map out fresh strategies on the way forward. Atiku, members of the body and other top Northern political leaders within the PDP resolved to remain within the party and pursue their plans.
The Guardian gathered that the plan to embarrass the President through a walkout from the ‘old PDP’ began last April when Jonathan met with some of the northern Governors who felt he was going against their 2011 alleged accord to be a one-term President. They reminded him of the alleged agreement with Northern political leaders, including top Emirs and other traditional leaders.
Obasanjo was said to be in the know of the alleged agreement, which explained his cold shoulder to Jonathan over any second term ambition. When Jonathan rejected their assertion, the protagonists of the group, led by Dr Babangida Aliyu went public, asking him to adhere to the alleged one-term agreement.
At this point, the President’s spokesmen denied the existence of any such agreement. Alarmed that the President could be hounded out of the 2015 race, his supporters opted for public warnings and threats. Led by Chief Edwin Clark and Asaro Dokubo, they threatened violence should Jonathan not contest in 2015.
Jonathan, who is always slow to act but is focused and determined, then started the process of taking over the structure of the PDP. With this, the Northern PDP Governors, being Obasanjo loyalists, reached out to the former President to prevail on his “political son” Jonathan not to contest.
The President’s rejection of any such pressure “forced” Chief Obasanjo to switch his allegiance in favour of a PDP presidential candidate from the North. This is the reason why a pro-Jonathan group believes that the former President is the godfather of the “new PDP.”
Sources said that it was the governors, having decided to confront President Jonathan with all the political heavy weights outside the government, who recruited former vice president Abubakar into the splinter group to carry out the convention “coup.” It was in order to help execute this that Atiku denied any link with his political group, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) when it was registered. The walkout was to prove to President Jonathan that they can dismantle the structures for his planned 2015 ambition.
Sources in Abuja also alleged that Obasanjo was the one who advised the splinter PDP against abandoning the party for another, with the position that it was better to detain the option of joining another party until it becomes impossible to remain in the PDP.
Clearly, President Jonathan was the only one taken unawares when the walkout began at the Eagle Square.
Sources said that the fact that there was no prior clear intelligence on the move and that there were no immediate counter measures against the “rebellious” group is a function of the quality of the political operatives around him.
Some point to this as how precarious his situation is if he ever attempts to get into the second term bid with the same caliber of top aides.
In ‘the city of rumours and intrigues,’ many believe President Obasanjo’s invitation to Sokoto where he was given red carpet reception just days before the mini-convention should have alerted “an active Presidency that something was in the works. Yet, it was the same endless reaction mode that led to their doing nothing to decode what was coming.

I believe many people will open this thread simply because they want to know what they dont know or because they have got questions for me.....sometimes in life is good to be a freak.am a phone freak i accept no qualms.i just got a samsung galaxy y duos{s6102}...i was surfing through my phone i clicked on
»»»»»SETTINGS»»»»

»»»ABOUT PHONE»»»»

»»»ANDROID VERSION 2.3.5»»»

if i click once on android version bla bla nufin will appear.there is an hidden pictures inside the android version bla bla but it is hidden but u have to click in it likekl six(6) times repeatedly and the picture below will show....i tried it also on techno and it appeared also....i dey fear android nao..GOD HELP US....

I realised i got angry and frustrated when an aeroplane passes because i might be watching a film and at the point the film is getting interesting that when an aeroplane will passes with it noisy sound and i wont hear d tv set at that time or i might be communicating with someone at that moment i will have to increase my voice or waiting for it passes before i can communicate...i just decided to post this to know if it happens to you guys too..

photo

The date Sony's new console will be
available in Europe is revealed, and
more than one million pre-orders
have already been made.
Sony's new PlayStation console will
be released in Europe on November
29 and the US on November 15, the
company has confirmed.
More than one million pre-orders
have already been received for the
next-generation PlayStation 4.
"The response we have received is
nothing short of incredible," said
Andrew House, head of Sony
Computer Entertainment.
Speaking at a news conference at
Gamescom, Europe's biggest
videogames fair, he said the console
would be on sale in 32 countries by
Christmas.
One million pre-orders have already
been received for PlayStation 4
Microsoft's new Xbox One will be
going head to head with the
Playstation 4 and is also slated for a
November release, although the
exact dates have not yet been
revealed.
The new consoles were announced
earlier this year and Sony already
has the edge on pricing, according
to games industry experts.
The PlayStation 4 will cost £350 in
the UK and $399 in the US, whereas
the Xbox One system comes in at
£429 in the UK and $499 stateside.
Microsoft Europe's Vice President of
Interactive Entertainment Chris
Lewis said on Tuesday that pre-
orders for the Xbox One were
"unprecedented" but did not give
any more detail.

Facebook may be on the verge of
rolling out its own mobile payment
service to rival established e-
commerce players like PayPal.
1:11am UK, Friday 16 August 2013
Tweet 136 Recommend 8 Email
Facebook plans to test a new service
aimed at making it easier for users
to make purchases on their mobile
devices.
The social networking site is
exploring ways to allow people to
make purchases with just their
Facebook login on partnering e-
commerce mobile apps.
The service would use payment
information that shoppers store on
Facebook to automatically complete
checkout forms of certain apps.
The app would then handle the
payment processing, not Facebook.
Facebook confirmed in a statement
that it was working on a "very small
test" designed to "make it easier and
faster for people to make a purchase
in a mobile app by simply pre-
populating your payment
information".
But the company said there was no
timetable for making the service
available to its customers.
If rolled out, the new payment
system would pit Facebook in direct
competition with PayPal, as well as
e-commerce firms like Braintree.
News of the test hit PayPay's shares
Spokeswoman Tera Randall said in a
statement that Facebook has a
"great relationship with PayPal, and
this product is simply to test how we
can help our app partners provide a
more simple commerce experience".
The test, she added, would not
involve moving payment processing
"away from an app's current
payments provider, such as PayPal".
Nonetheless, shares of PayPal's
owner, eBay Inc fell on news of the
potential competition. The stock
closed down $1.05, or 1.9%, at
$53.18.
Facebook's stock closed down nine
cents at $36.56.
Forrester Research analyst Denee
Carrington believes Facebook will
face an uphill challenge in offering
mobile payments even though the
company has been building up its
database of users' credit cards.
"Consumers want safe, seamless and
convenient mobile payments and
there are a growing number of
competitors that consumers trust
more - such as PayPal, Visa (V.me)
and others," he said.Facebook may be on the verge of
rolling out its own mobile payment
service to rival established e-
commerce players like PayPal.
1:11am UK, Friday 16 August 2013
Tweet 136 Recommend 8 Email
Facebook plans to test a new service
aimed at making it easier for users
to make purchases on their mobile
devices.
The social networking site is
exploring ways to allow people to
make purchases with just their
Facebook login on partnering e-
commerce mobile apps.
The service would use payment
information that shoppers store on
Facebook to automatically complete
checkout forms of certain apps.
The app would then handle the
payment processing, not Facebook.
Facebook confirmed in a statement
that it was working on a "very small
test" designed to "make it easier and
faster for people to make a purchase
in a mobile app by simply pre-
populating your payment
information".
But the company said there was no
timetable for making the service
available to its customers.
If rolled out, the new payment
system would pit Facebook in direct
competition with PayPal, as well as
e-commerce firms like Braintree.
News of the test hit PayPay's shares
Spokeswoman Tera Randall said in a
statement that Facebook has a
"great relationship with PayPal, and
this product is simply to test how we
can help our app partners provide a
more simple commerce experience".
The test, she added, would not
involve moving payment processing
"away from an app's current
payments provider, such as PayPal".
Nonetheless, shares of PayPal's
owner, eBay Inc fell on news of the
potential competition. The stock
closed down $1.05, or 1.9%, at
$53.18.
Facebook's stock closed down nine
cents at $36.56.
Forrester Research analyst Denee
Carrington believes Facebook will
face an uphill challenge in offering
mobile payments even though the
company has been building up its
database of users' credit cards.
"Consumers want safe, seamless and
convenient mobile payments and
there are a growing number of
competitors that consumers trust
more - such as PayPal, Visa (V.me)
and others," he said.Facebook may be on the verge of
rolling out its own mobile payment
service to rival established e-
commerce players like PayPal.
1:11am UK, Friday 16 August 2013
Tweet 136 Recommend 8 Email
Facebook plans to test a new service
aimed at making it easier for users
to make purchases on their mobile
devices.
The social networking site is
exploring ways to allow people to
make purchases with just their
Facebook login on partnering e-
commerce mobile apps.
The service would use payment
information that shoppers store on
Facebook to automatically complete
checkout forms of certain apps.
The app would then handle the
payment processing, not Facebook.
Facebook confirmed in a statement
that it was working on a "very small
test" designed to "make it easier and
faster for people to make a purchase
in a mobile app by simply pre-
populating your payment
information".
But the company said there was no
timetable for making the service
available to its customers.
If rolled out, the new payment
system would pit Facebook in direct
competition with PayPal, as well as
e-commerce firms like Braintree.
News of the test hit PayPay's shares
Spokeswoman Tera Randall said in a
statement that Facebook has a
"great relationship with PayPal, and
this product is simply to test how we
can help our app partners provide a
more simple commerce experience".
The test, she added, would not
involve moving payment processing
"away from an app's current
payments provider, such as PayPal".
Nonetheless, shares of PayPal's
owner, eBay Inc fell on news of the
potential competition. The stock
closed down $1.05, or 1.9%, at
$53.18.
Facebook's stock closed down nine
cents at $36.56.
Forrester Research analyst Denee
Carrington believes Facebook will
face an uphill challenge in offering
mobile payments even though the
company has been building up its
database of users' credit cards.
"Consumers want safe, seamless and
convenient mobile payments and
there are a growing number of
competitors that consumers trust
more - such as PayPal, Visa (V.me)
and others," he said.

Men are urged not to put off seeing
a GP over skin cancer scares, which
experts warn can be linked to
excessive sunbed use.
Hundreds more men die from the
most serious form of skin cancer
than women - despite similar
numbers being diagnosed with the
disease each year.
Latest figures from Cancer Research
UK show death rates from malignant
melanoma are 3.4 per 100,000 men -
70% higher than the 2.0 figure for
women.
Incidence rates are similar, with
17.2 men per 100,000 diagnosed
compared with 17.3 women.
The figures mean that, of the 6,200
men who develop melanoma each
year, 1,300 die from the disease,
while 900 of the 6,600 women who
develop it die.
Experts say that since the early
1970s, death rates in men have
increased by 185% compared to a
rise of only 55% in women.
And Professor Julia Newton-Bishop, a
Cancer Research UK dermatologist,
said key risk factors for melanoma
included excessive exposure to UV
from sunlight or sunbeds, pale skin
colour and a high number of moles,
and a family or personal history of
the disease.
"Research has suggested the
difference between the sexes could
be in part because men are more
likely to be diagnosed when
melanoma is at a more advanced
stage," she said.
"But there also seem to be strong
biological reasons behind the
differences and we're working on
research to better understand why
men and women's bodies deal with
their melanomas in different ways.
"We also know that men and women
tend to develop melanoma in
different places - more often on the
back and chest for men and on the
arms and legs for women. If
melanoma does develop on your
back then it may be more difficult to
spot - asking your partner to check
your back is a good idea."
Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis
at Cancer Research UK, said: "One of
the reasons for the difference may
be attitudes towards seeing a
doctor. We tend to be reluctant to
'waste the doctor's time - men are
especially likely to put it off.
"If something goes wrong with the
car then you sort it out straight
away. The same should go for you -
if you, or your partner, notice any
unusual or persistent changes then
see your GP. The key thing is to get
to know your skin and what's normal
for you so you're more likely to
notice something out of the
ordinary.
"It's also essential to take care not
to burn, particularly given the sunny
weather we've had this summer.
Sunburn is a clear sign that the
DNA in your skin cells has been
damaged and, over time, this can
lead to skin cancer.
"When the sun is strong, pop on a t-
shirt, spend some time in the shade
and use a sunscreen with at least
SPF15 and good UVA protection - the
higher the star rating, the better.
"These habits are particularly
important for young men and
women, because it's far better to
prevent skin cancer in the first
place. That means avoiding sunbeds,
as well as taking care in the sun.
Research has shown that using
sunbeds for the first time before 35
can increase your risk of malignant
melanoma by nearly 60%."



SOURCE: news.sky.com/story/1131177/skin-cancer-death-rates-70-percent-higher-among-men

I decided to ask this question because i didn't collect mine and no university in nigeria has ever asked of it(JSSCE).Government waste millions of naira on an exam that is not recognised in any institution in nigeria every year.To me i believe the exam should be scraped since it has no value.

Arsenal fans' group
writes to Gazidis
detailing 'deep concern'


over state of club
The Black Scarf Movement issues the
Gunners' chief executive with a
damning open letter after perceived
transfer failures saw the north
Londoners beaten by Aston Villa on
Saturday
By George Ankers
Aug 18, 2013 12:39:00 PM
A group of
disgruntled Arsenal
fans have written
an open letter to
chief executive Ivan
Gazidis, expressing
their "deep
concern" with the
state of the club.
The Gunners' 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa
on the opening day of the Premier
League season prompted the move,
with a failure to act in the transfer
market chief among the worries held
by the Black Scarf Movement .
The open letter in full:
Dear Ivan,
We write to you as Arsenal's largest
and fastest-rowing supporters' group,
to convey our deep concern at the
current state of our team going into
the new season.
In early June, around season ticket
renewal time, you were widely quoted
following your Q&A event where you


spoke about the club's new financial
firepower and ambition moving
forward. Many fans saw this as the
club finally about to break free from
the shackles of moving stadium; new
commercial deals were coming into
place, we had a vast amount of cash
available in the bank, profit from the
Queensland Road property project
was secured, the vast increase in TV
revenue was about to land on our
doorstep, and after treading water
since moving from Highbury it seemed
as if we were finally going to push on.
What has happened since then is
nothing short of a disgrace.
There have been noises coming out of
the club over the summer that the
market was slow, that other clubs

weren't doing much, and that things
take time if you're after top-quality
players. We feel all of these were poor
excuses, designed to deflect focus
away from our shortcomings.
The only positive of the summer has
been the release of many players who
were generally considered 'dead wood'
– and naturally this frees up more
cash for investment in the team. But
with the departure of these players,
virtually no movement has come in
the opposite direction and we're now
left with a squad severely lacking in
depth and experience. Indeed, the
squad registered for the Champions
League in the last week had to be
padded out with kids.
As a group we have been concerned
for some time that the Board running
our club has lost sight of the raison
d'etre - i.e. we are Arsenal Football
Club; not a business purely focused
on posting profits year after year.
You will have seen the results of our
end-of-season survey, which came out
in favour of Arsene Wenger but with
70 per cent stating that he has too
much control over transfer
negotiations and setting of wage
levels at the club. The same survey
revealed that 87% of fans feel the
current board of Arsenal is out of
touch with the feeling among fans
and that 73% feel less valued by the
club since we moved stadium.
It is our view as a group that the
board of Arsenal is too relaxed about
the competitiveness of our team, and
that as long as a top-four place is
secured, it is a case of 'job done'.
This should never be the case but,
despite hearing you say you're not
happy every time we end a season
with nothing to really cheer about,
nothing changes.
So in June following your statement of
intent, fans were rightly hopeful but
what has happened since then? Yet
again we've spent the summer
dithering while others around us have
strengthened, and once more we start
the season playing catch-up. With
five competitive matches due before
the transfer window closes, there is
every chance that our season could
be dealt a hammer blow before we've
had a chance to take stock, and this
weekend's defeat at home to Aston
Villa should act as a huge wake-up
call.
We are now in a situation where we're
faced with a carbon copy of 2011,
where it took an 8-2 humiliation at
Manchester United to force a 'trolley
dash' on the final day of the transfer
window. Of course by then it was too
late. For Arsenal to be in that
situation once is unacceptable; for it
to happen twice in three years will be
unforgivable.
It is imperative that the board of
Arsenal does its job and manages the
Manager – an employee of the club
you are supposed to be running.
What are Arsene Wenger's targets /
KPIs set by the Board every year? Is
the he not even answerable to the
board, with free rein to do as he
pleases as long as he helps the
business achieve a profit? Is he
having to do all the running himself
when it comes to transfers or if
support is there, is he taking it?
Clarity is required here because
something clearly isn't right at the
club when it comes to the acquisition
of new players.
You put all the focus on the Arsene
Wenger yourself at that Q&A session
in June, but to fans there is little
evidence of questions being asked of
him; this despite approaching the
end of the transfer window with no
sign of needed, established quality
coming in. Does the board feel that
it's been a good summer? Because
we've now lost our opening game of
the season, our squad is already
blitzed by injury, once more today
there were fans coming to blows in
the stands. As a board member, does
this even bother you?
Of course if we used the funds we do
have available, brought in top-quality
players and competed for prizes, in
would come better commercial deals,
you wouldn't have as much trouble
trying to get corporate punters back
into the stadium, and naturally the
more successful we are it becomes
easier to attract better players. Or is
the board too short-sighted to realise
this?
A competitive team isn't one which
scrapes the position of fourth-best
team in the league on the final day of
the season and gets dumped out of
domestic cup competitions by lower-
league opposition; you need to
realise that most fans are aware of
this fact. They're not duped by
finishing in a position which may
result in us playing in the Champions
League. So what, if the cash from that
competition is simply banked and
never sees the light of day?
It should be noted that as long term
fans of The Arsenal we've seen plenty
of lean times and poor teams over the
years. Silverware isn't the be-all and
end-all; we follow this club out of
pure love and will always do so.
However, loyal matchgoing fans
continue to walk away from the
Emirates Stadium, unwilling to part
with their hard-earned cash when
they feel let down and lied to by our
board. We pay the highest ticket
prices in football after being sold a
dream, but it's always a case of 'jam
tomorrow' and many have seen
through the spin.
Enough is enough.
If the board is actually intent on
making Arsenal a successful force in
football once again, changes have to
be made. Arsene Wenger should have
experienced, qualified support to help
bring in top-quality players, and he
needs to be managed effectively if the
right business isn't being done.
Or if the board is simply intent on
milking the Arsenal brand for all its
worth to the detriment of the team
(but to the benefit of our bank
account), season-ticket prices at
Emirates Stadium should be reduced
accordingly. Our loyal fans should no
longer have to bear the burden after
doing so for many years.
Make no mistake, if there is not
significant improvement in our
playing squad over the next couple of
weeks, the rapidly growing anger in
the stands will become

difficult to
overturn. There hasn't been a
poisonous atmosphere like this at
Arsenal for over 30 years and the
board has simply stood by, while
things have gone from bad to worse. I
am sure you appreciate, this can no
longer happen.
We look forward to your resp
onse in


due course.
Yours faithfully,
Where Has Our Arsenal Gone (the
Black Scarf Movement

tired of hearing dis fake news....wetin hard for prototype....architect go design rubbish in less than a month...it will take civil engineers 3-5 yrs to build...prototype easy pass ....mo jara mi gan

i find it hard to believe need people to convince me here or beta still tell me with good prove.and also want to knw how he died..

Ladoke Akintola University Of technology Of Ogbomoso bans indecent dressing.The school said any student caught three times wearing indecent dressing will be sent out of the school.The school also ban wearing of trousers for ladies,they are only allowed to wear skirt and not mini or macro slirts and guys are not allowed to wear jeans,body hug and palm. only shirt and trousers with sandal and shoe are only..hope ladokite abide this rules, so.that they wont be sent out of the school....

Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or
involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim
was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which
had been interposed between man and his
creator, to render God unto man and man unto
God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of
divinity amidst the chaos of the material and
disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never
has a man undertaken a work so far beyond
human power with so feeble means, for he
(Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in
the execution of such a great design no other
instrument than himself, and no other aid, except
a handful of men living in a corner of the desert.
Finally, never has a man accomplished such a
huge and lasting revolution in the world, because
in less than two centuries after its appearance,
Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the
whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name,
Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India,
Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of
Northern Africa, numerous islands of the
Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of Gaul.
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and
astounding results are the true criteria of human
genius, who could dare to compare any great
man in modern history with Muhammad? The
most famous men created arms, laws and
empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no
more than material powers which often crumbled
away before their eyes. This man moved not only
armies, legislations, empires, peoples and
dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the
inhabited world; and more than that, he moved
the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the
beliefs and the souls.
On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has
become law, he created a spiritual nationality
which blended together peoples of every tongue
and of every race. He has left us as the indelible
characteristic of this Muslim nationality the
hatred of false gods and the passion for the One
and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism
against the profanation of Heaven formed the
virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the
conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma
was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle
of a man but that of reason.
The idea of the Unity of God, proclaimed amidst
the exhaustion of fabulous theogonies, was in
itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from
his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of
idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His
life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against
the superstitions of his country, and his
boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his
firmness in enduring them for fifteen years at
Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn
and almost of being a victim of his fellow
countrymen: all these and, finally, his flight, his
incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his
faith in his success and his superhuman security
in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his
ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea
and in no manner striving for an empire; his
endless prayers, his mystic conversations with
God, his death and his triumph after death: all
these attest not to an imposture but to affirm
conviction which gave him the power to restore a
dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God
and the immateriality of God: the former telling
what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the
one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the
other starting an idea with the words.
Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior,
conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas,
of a cult without images; the founder of twenty
terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire,
that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by
which human greatness may be measured, we
may well ask, is there any man greater than he?

My choice of Muhammad to lead the list
of the world's most influential persons
may surprise some readers and may be
questioned by others, but he was the only
man in history who was supremely
successful on both the religious and
secular levels. Of humble origins,
Muhammad founded and promulgated
one of the world's great religions, and
became an immensely effective political
leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his
death, his influence is still powerful and
pervasive. The majority of the persons in
this book had the advantage of being born
and raised in centers of civilization, highly
cultured or politically pivotal nations.
Muhammad, however, was born in the
year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern
Arabia, at that time a backward area of the
world, far from the centers of trade, art,
and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was
reared in modest surroundings. Islamic
tradition tells us that he was illiterate. His
economic position improved when, at age
twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow.
Nevertheless, as he approached forty,
there was little outward indication that he
was a remarkable person. Most Arabs at
that time were pagans, who believed in
many gods. There were, however, in
Mecca, a small number of Jews and
Christians; it was from them no doubt that
Muhammad first learned of a single,
omnipotent God who ruled the entire
universe.
When he was forty years old, Muhammad
became convinced that this one true God
(Allah) was speaking to him, and had
chosen him to spread the
true faith. For three years, Muhammad
preached only to close friends and
associates. Then, about 613, he began
preaching in public. As he slowly gained
converts, the Meccan authorities came to
consider him a dangerous nuisance. In
622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad
fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles
north of Mecca), where he had been
offered a position of considerable
political power.
This flight, called the Hegira, was the
turning point of the Prophet's life. In
Mecca, he had had few followers. In
Medina, he had many more, and he soon
acquired an influence that made him a
virtual dictator. During the next few years,
while Muhammad s following grew
rapidly, a series of battles were fought
between Medina and Mecca. This was
ended in 630 with Muhammad's
triumphant return to Mecca as conqueror.
The remaining two and one-half years of
his life witnessed the rapid conversion of
the Arab tribes to the new religion.
When Muhammad died, in 632, he was
the effective ruler of all of southern
Arabia. The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia
had a reputation as fierce warriors. But
their number was small; and plagued by
disunity and internecine warfare, they had
been no match for the larger armies of the
kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas
to the north. However, unified by
Muhammad for the first time in history,
and inspired by their fervent belief in the
one true God, these small Arab armies
now embarked upon one of the most
astonishing series of conquests in human
history.
To the northeast of Arabia lay the large
Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to
the northwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern
Roman Empire, centered in
Constantinople. Numerically, the Arabs
were no match for their opponents. On
the field of battle, though, the inspired
Arabs rapidly conquered all of
Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. By
642, Egypt had been wrested from the
Byzantine Empire, while the Persian
armies had been crushed at the key
battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend
in 642.
But even these enormous conquests-
which were made under the leadership of
Muhammad's close friends and
immediate successors, Abu Bakr and
'Umaribn al-Khattab - did not mark the
end of the Arab advance. By 711, the Arab
armies had swept completely across
North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There
they turned north and, crossing the Strait
of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic
kingdom in Spain. For a while, it must
have seemed that the Moslems would
overwhelm all of Christian Europe.
However, in 732, at the famous Battle of
Tours, a Moslem army, which had
advanced into the center of France, was at
last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless,
in a scant century of fighting, these
Bedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word
of the Prophet, had carved out an empire
stretching from the borders of India to the
Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the
world had yet seen. And everywhere that
the armies conquered, large-scale
conversion to the new faith eventually
followed. Now, not all of these conquests
proved permanent.
The Persians, though they have remained
faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have
since regained their independence from
the Arabs. And in Spain, more than seven
centuries of warfare 5 finally resulted in
the Christians reconquering the entire
peninsula. However, Mesopotamia and
Egypt, the two cradles of ancient
civilization, have remained Arab, as has
the entire coast of North Africa. The new
religion, of course, continued to spread,
in the intervening centuries, far beyond
the borders of the original Moslem
conquests.
Currently it has tens of millions of
adherents in Africa and Central Asia and
even more in Pakistan and northern India,
and in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the new
faith has been a unifying factor. In the
Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict
between Moslems and Hindus is still a
major obstacle to unity.
How, then, is one to assess the overall
impact of Muhammad on human history?
Like all religions, Islam exerts an
enormous influence upon the lives of its
followers. It is for this reason that the
founders of the world's great religions all
figure prominently in this book . Since
there are roughly twice as many Christians
as Moslems in the world, it may initially
seem strange that Muhammad has been
ranked higher than Jesus.
There are two principal reasons for that
decision.
First, Muhammad played a far more
important role in the development of
Islam than Jesus did in the development
of Christianity. Although Jesus was
responsible for the main ethical and
moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as
these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was
the main developer of Christian theology,
its principal proselytizer, and the author
of a large portion of the New Testament.
Muhammad, however, was responsible
for both the theology of Islam and its
main ethical and moral principles. In
addition, he played the key role in
proselytizing the new faith, and in
establishing the religious practices of
Islam. Moreover, he is the author of the
Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a
collection of certain of Muhammad's
insights that he believed had been directly
revealed to him by Allah. Most of these
utterances were copied more or less
faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime
and were collected together in
authoritative form not long after his death.
Webmaster's note: Mr Hart writes, "he is
the author of the Moslem holy scriptures"
which is INCORRECT. Prophet Muhammad
was the person to whom the Quran was
revealed by its Author - God.
The Koran therefore, closely represents
Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to
a considerable extent his exact words. No
such detailed compilation of the teachings
of Christ has survived.
Since the Koran is at least as important to
Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the
influence of Muhammed through the
medium of the Koran has been enormous
It is probable that the relative influence of
Muhammad on Islam has been larger than
the combined influence of Jesus Christ
and St. Paul on Christianity.
On the purely religious level, then, it
seems likely that Muhammad has been as
influential in human history as Jesus.
Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus)
was a secular as well as a religious leader.
In fact, as the driving force behind the
Arab conquests, he may well rank as the
most influential political leader of all
time. Of many important historical events,
one might say that they were inevitable
and would have occurred even without the
particular political leader who guided
them.
For example, the South American colonies
would probably have won their
independence from Spain even if Simon
Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be
said of the Arab conquests.
Nothing similar had occurred before
Muhammad, and there is no reason to
believe that the conquests would have
been achieved without him.
The only comparable conquests in human
history are those of the Mongols in the
thirteenth century, which were primarily
due to the influence of Genghis Khan.
These conquests, however, though more
extensive than those of the Arabs, did not
prove permanent, and today the only
areas occupied by the Mongols are those
that they held prior to the time of Genghis
Khan.
It is far different with the conquests of the
Arabs. From Iraq to Morocco, there
extends a whole chain of Arab nations
united not merely by their faith in Islam,
but also by their Arabic language, history,
and culture. The centrality of the Koran in
the Moslem religion and the fact that it is
written in Arabic have probably prevented
the Arab language from breaking up into
mutually unintelligible dialects, which
might otherwise have occurred in the
intervening thirteen centuries.
Differences and divisions between these
Arab states exist, of course, and they are
considerable, but the partial disunity
should not blind us to the important
elements of unity that have continued to
exist. For instance, neither Iran nor
Indonesia, both oil-producing states and
both Islamic in religion, joined in the oil
embargo of the winter of 1973-74. It is no
coincidence that all of the Arab states, and
only the Arab states, participated in the
embargo. We see, then, that the Arab
conquests of the seventh century have
continued to play an important role in
human history, down to the present day.
It is this unparalleled combination of
secular and religious influence which I
feel entitles Muhammad to be considered
the most influential single figure in
human history.

hmmm always pastor adeboye.y? do u tink na evrybody get tribal mark ni...let wait nd see oyedepo go fly private jet without fuel

I find it hard to believe when people decide not to give birth.i think it madness.some even do it for the money and when you ask them they will say they want to do like christ.Does it really make sense

Nowadays ladies dont want there husband to marry 2,3,4 wives why? although many families has been destroyed due to the husband marrying many wives.i think the Quran and Bible says women should respect and follow the will of there husband.According to the Quran and Bible is it a sin for Husbands to marry wives?