₦airaland Forum

Alhamdulillah about the completion of this awesome project Ahmed Musa Neighbourhood Sport Center . Happy to share that it would be opening by the end of this month. Watch this space for more information & hope to see you there. Kaduna City �

Encounter With Plateau Student Who Made 9 A1 In SSCE

At infancy, she was the slow type who takes time at getting things done. She was the typical late bloomer. However, her quiet and reserved nature made her stand out.

Sylvia Ulan Andrew, the overall best student at the just-released West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) 2020, in Plateau State, attributes her outstanding feat to continuous studying and reading a book (no matter the subject) every day.

“Ulan’s life, especially as a kid, is completely different from what we are seeing today,” Martha Emmanuel Manju, Ulan’s mother, recounts with nostalgia.
 
According to Martha, Ulan was not used to playing like other toddlers and was not the crying type. “It took her too long to crawl but she was a very strong and clever child. I later identified some special innate abilities as she started growing up.”

Her slow-paced development and introverted nature got her mother worried at some point. Being a single parent, it was natural to worry over the future of her only child.

When the news of Ulan’s outstanding WASSCE performance broke, she was celebrated everywhere, particularly in Plateau, her home state.

“I was elated over this noteworthy achievement. But the truth is that it didn’t come as a surprise because right from her nursery, primary and secondary school days, she has always been the best in her class. She would always take the first position in her class and that is why her result wasn’t a surprise to me.”

“After her final exams, I prayed that she would come out in flying colours but never knew she would emerge overall best student in the state. But God has willed it for her and it happened effortlessly.”

Ulan, who is from Bokkos LGA of the state, graduated from Premier Academy Lugbe, Abuja.

She was said to have emerged overall best student at the National Common Entrance Examinations which earned her a scholarship from Shell Petroleum Development Company.


According to her mother, she started noticing Ulan’s academic excellence when she began nursery school in her Anguldy community, in Jos South.

“A few years after, we enrolled her into Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School Jos, where she became the overall best in the National Common Entrance Exam and thereafter, selected among the ten best in Plateau for an aptitude test in Abuja. She came top in the test and earned a scholarship into Premier Academy Lugbe for her secondary school education.

The demise of her husband in 2003, when she was just three months pregnant with Ulan didn’t discourage her, but rather propelled her to rebuild the family he left behind by giving her best to raise their only kid.
 
My husband died when our marriage was just two months old, but I had confidence in God and believed that He would surely see me through in raising Ulan. I am happy that God has not disappointed me from the success Ulan has recorded so far.”

Martha recounted that before the death of her husband, she had already learned tailoring which helped her immeasurably in affording her daughter’s basic needs before she secured a job with the Plateau Rural Supply Agency.

She said it was not easy to face and confront the challenges of the past 17 years.

“Life is all about challenges and how you confront them. You cannot have a successful life without facing one challenge or the other. I am the kind of person who doesn’t force myself to acquire something that is beyond my power. I love living a simple life.”

Ulan, on her part, is happy with her performance even as she acknowledges that it wasn’t an easy journey. She said it requires great amount of hard work and commitment to attain such a feat.

“I am extremely happy to obtain A1 in all the nine subjects I registered for. Before the release of the results, as usual, I was excited as well as tensed, and prayed that nothing would go wrong with my result. I prayed that my hardworking would pay off and when I saw the results, I was happy that I’ve made my mother proud.”

According to Ulan, the secret behind her success is that she never allowed a day pass without reading books. “I studied whatever my teachers taught me in class. I often go to class to study and at certain points, ask myself to relax because I have been doing well. I would always be present and attentive during classes, and I also read whatever I can lay my hands on irrespective of the subject because I believe I can learn something from it.

“I had dreamed severally of studying Chemical Engineering and that was why I chose science class when I was enrolled in secondary school to actualize my dream. I have never thought of quitting science class no matter how hard things turn out because I believe that nothing is impossible once you are determined.

“My dream of studying Chemical Engineering would not be unconnected to the passion I have for Chemistry and Physics and I know that by the grace of God, I can do it. I don’t want to study a course I’m not interested in.”

While commenting on her mother, Ulan said “I will never forget what my mother did for me in life. She tries her best to make my life comfortable. She lives a difficult life just to see that I succeed. I admire her and she would forever remain my role model.”

The Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong, last week pledged to give her a scholarship to any university of her choice around the world.

Governor Lalong, who congratulated her for the feat, said he was not surprised because of the abundant talents available in the state, praising her mother for raising her single-handedly since the death of her husband even before Ulan was born.

Ulan, who expressed joy over the pledge, thanked the governor and promised not to disappoint him and the people of Plateau State.

She said the promise if fulfilled, would encourage other students to perform better, saying the gesture was highly commendable.

Anas Aliyu Boyi designs and and fabricates a working modern transformer in Sokoto state, And unveils it at the Global Entrepreneurship Competition.

Team Nigeria, comprising of some Nigerian students from the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and University of Port Harcourt, have won the grand first place position out of over 150,000 students that participated in the Cloud and Network examination at the 2020 Huawei ICT Competition.

The students were honored for their achievement at an online awards ceremony hosted from the Huawei Headquarters in China.

The closing award ceremony event, which held recently in Abuja, was attended by the Special Assistant on Youth and Students Affairs, Mr. Nasir Sa’idu Adhama, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari. Also in attendance, were the Managing Director/CEO, NIGCOMSAT, Dr. Abimbola Alale, representing the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami; the Deputy Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Mr. Chris Maiyaki, representing of the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof.

Abubakar Rasheed; some university Vice Chancellors; Huawei management staff; the award-winning students; instructors; parents and the media.

Speaking on behalf the President Buhari, Adhama, said “I congratulate the Nigerian students for coming this far in this Global ICT Competition. I also thank Huawei for supporting our Nigerian students and hope Huawei will continue to partner with the country in developing our ICT capabilities.”

Alale also expressed gratitude to Huawei for the opportunity given to the Nigerian students to showcase their expertise at the global level and congratulated the students for making Nigeria proud.

“I commend Huawei for organising this ICT competition as part of your Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. We look forward to more collaboration between Huawei and the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy,” Alale said on behalf of the minister.

While speaking on behalf of the Executive Secretary of NUC, Maiyaki said: “The National University Commission will like to rejoice with Huawei and the triumphant Nigerian students on this occasion – the Huawei Global ICT competition – which is now highly regarded as the annual knowledge festival.

The NUC is honoured to be associated to this success story. This proves that with the right environment and ecosystem, Nigeria can take on global counterparts on any intellectual platform.”

The Huawei ICT competition which was established to foster ICT learning in Africa and bridge the gap between theoretical study and practical industry experience, typically comprises of a national preliminary contest, regional semi-final and a global final.

The global victory by the Nigerian students was preceded by a successful campaign at both the national finals, which held on December 10th 2019 and had over 23,000 Nigerian students in the contest and the sub-Saharan Africa Region ICT Competition finals which held on September 10th and 11th, 2020, featuring 123 student-talents from 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, grouped into 41 teams, to determine those who will be selected to participate the Huawei Global ICT Competition finals.

Deputy Managing Director/CEO of Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kelvin Yang, said: “In over two decades of operating in Nigeria, Huawei has remained committed to training Nigerians in digital skills and cultivating ICT talents to build a fully digital economy. We launched the ICT Talents Eco-system development program so that local ICT talents can be nurtured and developed to the point of global recognition.”

Speaking at the ceremony, the students’ representative, Hamza Atabor said “I will like to show my gratitude to Huawei, my Vice Chancellor, my instructors, team mates and my family for this great opportunity. This journey with Huawei came with benefits such as professional certification in the field of interest. I am now HCIP certified in the field of Routing and Switching and in a few months I will attain an extra level certification.”

The Nigerian film industry's online streaming platform Northflix doubles subscribers among 80 million Hausa speakers.


At a time when the coronavirus is wreaking havoc on businesses around the world, the film industry in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north is going from strength to strength.

The region's movie machine - dubbed "Kannywood" after its largest city Kano - has become the dominant source of entertainment for West Africa's 80 million Hausa speakers.

Since springing up in 1992 with just seven production companies, the industry has grown to include 502 production outfits and 97 editing studios.

It now employs more than 30,000 people, according to the Kano chapter of the Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria.

While Kannywood films have the same themes of love, revenge and betrayal as those churned out by the prolific Nollywood film industry in the predominantly Christian south, the content must adhere to strict Islamic rules.

Northflix, Kannywood's online streaming platform, has seen its client base soar since authorities imposed lockdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic in March.

Its subscriber base of 40,000 has nearly doubled, while revenue has tripled, CEO and co-founder Jamil Abdussalam told AFP news agency.

'Coronavirus has been a blessing

"Coronavirus has been a blessing to us business-wise, despite the disruptions it has caused to the global economy," he said.

"It was not by chance, but a result of a conscious and concerted business strategy".

Kabiru Sufi, a Kano-based economist who follows trends in Kannywood, attributed the success of streaming platforms to their astute business sense and technology.

Abdussalam said Northflix formerly used the pay-per-view system but quickly switched to flat-rate subscriptions after the virus emerged in Asia and Europe, knowing that it "would reach all corners of the world".

The fee is just 1,500 naira ($4) a month in addition to subscribers' smartphone and internet costs.

The lockdown, which saw cinemas, hotels, bars and other recreational outlets shut down, was a boon for Northflix as Nigerians turned to streaming their favourite movies.

That opportunity also came as producers were desperately seeking an alternative market for their films with cinemas and DVD shops shuttered.

Northflix was the answer.

"It was a lifesaver for film producers who would not have had the avenue of making money from their movies," said Kano-based filmmaker Abdulkarim Mohammed.

Subscribers have stuck to the platform despite the easing of the lockdown, according to Abdussalam, because of the convenience it offers as well as the fact that DVDs can no longer be found on the streets.


The new business environment has challenges, both old and new.

Nigerian telecommunications services are notoriously poor, with frequent signal disruptions, coupled with exorbitant data costs that affect online-based firms.

But Northflix has been coping, the owners say.

"With a single [reception signal] bar, you can watch a movie without disruption, it doesn't freeze and our network is capable of buffering the video," Abdussalam said.

Other issues include censorship, criticism on religious grounds and piracy.

Muslim scholars and government officials say the platform promotes foreign values by mimicking Hollywood and Bollywood productions at the expense of the regional Hausa culture.

The industry has also come under state-imposed restrictions and scrutiny filmmakers say are killing creativity.

Under the law, every film must be cleared by the censorship board, which requires strict adherence to Islamic injunctions, including a ban on touching between men and women. Violators are usually sanctioned.

But Northflix's location in the capital Abuja puts it beyond the jurisdiction of the Kano censoring agency.

"It has helped us bypass the restrictions," said Sani Danja, a leading Kannywood actor and producer.

The 23-year-old Nigerian defender has become the latest addition to the Blue and Whites after successful medicals
Portuguese champions FC Porto have announced the signing of Zaidu Sanusi from rivals Santa Clara.

The defender signed a five-year deal with the Blue and Whites which will keep him at the club until the summer of 2025.

The Nigerian full-back is FC Porto’s third signing this summer after also acquiring the services of Claudio Ramos and Carraca.

Tmb78:
What you see is different from what is actually going on underneath,abi no be women again?
That girl should really be prayerful,if she likes herself.
Let me mind business before I am labeled a hater.

“Hafiz Bayero is alive,” a mutual friend confirmed. “He’s recuperating at an Abuja hospital.” I ended the call and joined the Twitter protest against Sahara Rep

Sahara had reported that Bayero, who is Managing Director of Kaduna Market Development and Management Company, hadn’t survived a car accident along the Abuja—Kaduna expressway. A barrage of rebuttals saw to the deletion of the report in favour of a corrected version.

In the new version, they refrained from killing him but ran images of him from the accident scene—unfiltered, unedited, dehumanized. No apology for the misreporting was offered to readers who had been misled.

Sahara Reporters has drawn fierce reactions and resentment from a section of its readers in recent years, especially in their handling of the subject of death.

In May, Sheikh Bala Lau, leader of a Muslim group, Jama’at Izalat al Bid’a Wa Iqamat as-Sunna, simply known as Izala, was “killed” by Sahara Reporters. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, also read his obituary on Sahara Reporters that same month.

The persistence of this macabre trend, despite the backlash, has alarmed even the most expansive-minded persons, the ones who insist that citizen-led journalism is crucial in a democracy such as ours.

The problem with these reports transcends their being sloppy and untrue, it lies in their actively playing to the sectional divides of the Nigerian federation. In being framed to appeal to lowest common divisions, these reports attract a cocktail of both hateful and sympathetic replies that further divide Nigerians.

Bayero’s purported obituary was framed as a karmic intervention at a time his principal was under fire for controversial comments on the killings in southern Kaduna.

The killings in southern Kaduna, already bearing religious and historical polarities, were not helped by “BREAKING: Governor El-Rufai’s Aide Dies in Accident on Abuja—Kaduna Highway.”

Beyond being clickbait, stories such as these seem designed to fuel the cyberwars playing out as identity and state stability are relentlessly challenged in Nigeria.

As the Twitter tribes waged cyberwar, I chanced on a writer who, replying to those outraged by the platform, asked to know the point at which they realised Sahara Reporters was “reckless and obnoxious”.

He added that it’s time for the pro-APC citizens and government to have a taste of what “they” endured during the Jonathan years. Yes, we are at a point where the “truth” in journalism does not matter when there’s partisan glee to be had. This fellow isn’t entirely wrong.

He is pointing to a feverish bias that has seen us, the digital native generation, turn the social media tools my friends and I used to help mobilise against the fuel subsidy removal in 2012 into a space for savage replies. There are those who will provide fuel, to see it burn more, no matter what’s being consumed.

Sahara Reporters has become a reflection of the blind spots of the millennials. Looking back, I see how it served a convenient purpose at different times, and, when it did, we applauded it for damaging our “enemies”, whether fairly or not.

Today, performative sensitivity to the profusion of outlets dispensing fake news or perceived harassment has become limited to only when our favourites or principals are featured and harassed.

Sahara Reporters has thus become a mirror to hypocrisies that we have crafted, cultured and nurtured that are now in full bloom but this doesn’t make what is wrong with us, and it, right.

I respect Sahara Reporters for holding governments to account in a repressive country. Using the internet and a diffused structure, it kept the beneficiaries of democratic power on their toes.

It also played on a demographic shift with our youth bulge, who had taken to the internet, by providing an alternative platform which the rise of social media made even more powerful. Sowore’s recognition and harnessing of this potential made me a fan of his activism, although with reservations.

As a social commentator, Sowore provided me with a platform to share my critical reactions for the past decade. I sought to meet him to say a “thank you” a few years ago when I was in New York City, and found out my hotel was just a seven-minute walk from its headquarters in Manhattan.

The irony that the shopping destination of the Nigerian political elite is also the location of the media that’s become their nightmare, always fascinates me. We arranged the meetings a few times during my stay but our schedules frustrated them.

I caught up with him eventually in Abuja in late 2018 during a town hall meeting on his presidential bid. Though he wasn’t my presidential candidate, I defended his candidacy, and, on my Facebook, I shared: “I like the idea of Sowore not because I’m convinced he’s the tough question Nigeria has been yearning to answer, but because the breakthrough of a candidate independent of the Establishment is itself a victory, victory against the elite whose consensuses have long been our only solutions.”

So, how did we get here, to the killing of Hafiz Bayero for clicks and misguided political score-settling? The same platform that “told truth to power” and embodied the angst of the millennials; same Sowore who came through from student union activism to an ill-advised presidential bid, #RevolutionNow and incarceration.

Sowore has feet of clay, imperfect as the rest of us. His venturing into politics amplified his flaws. You don’t lose an election in a democracy and embark on advocating for revolution.

You don’t pose as a unifying media and yet a platform inextricably linked to you continuously sensationalises ethnic, regional and religious differences, polarising your readers and allies in advocacy. These aren’t the ideals upon which Sahara Reporters was built.

It should be a task upon the not-so-young-anymore Nigerians who remember the ideals that powered the platform to hold Sowore to account and higher standards, and to protect him from himself.

The editorial inconsistency and sensationalism that have trailed Sahara Reporters in the last few years means that the New York City-based watchdog needs to be closely watched and salvaged. Nigeria needs citizens and groups unafraid of standing up to demand greater accountability from the government, but Sahara Reporters must overcome its editorial, fact-checking and credibility problems. It must point to a better way, not reflect the morass. Nigeria can’t afford to lose it.

Sadiya Idris, a 19-year-old girl, who disappeared in 2013, in Kaduna, has suddenly returned home. This is happening seven years after she was declared missing. In an interview with Legit TV, she revealed what actually transpired during the time she was away from home.


Idris’ reappearance no doubt comes with a lot of questions as everyone who knew about her disappearance then wants to know what happened to her. It was revealed that she was taken in by a pastor identified as Jonah Gangas who is currently in police custody.

Idris ran away when she was twelve; she said she did not experience the love of a mother and decided to stay on her own. While she was wandering, she ran into a man whom she approached for help. The man took her to a pastor who took her in and converted her to a Christian. She was enrolled in a school in Jos and ended up living there.



The young girl said she could not really tell what made her leave the house; becoming a Christian was not a forced decision according to her. The pastor upon meeting her did not report her case to the police neither did he try reuniting her with her family.


During the course of the interview, Abubakar Awwal, the chairman of the complaints and response unit, chipped in a few facts. He stated that the issue of the girl’s disappearance and reappearance should not be swept under the ground.

According to him, the pastor might have had good intentions but he did not go about things the right way. His office only came into the matter after she returned to her family. Regardless, he believes there was a violation of rights.


When asked if she was abused in any way, he said the young girl said she was well taken care of. As a matter of fact, the pastor took her like his daughter and saw to her every need. However, converting her to Christianity was the issue as it has to do with religion and ethnic issues.

Awwal described Kaduna as a volatile state; issues that have to do with religion no matter how trivial could degenerate into a major crisis. The 19-year-old girl confirmed what Awwal said stating that she was not touched by the pastor in any strange way.

She also did not mention to him that she wanted to return home even though she missed her family from time to time. The Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Muhammad Jalige, the police PRO of Kaduna command, shed some light on the issue.

According to him, the young girl was intercepted by a farmer at the outskirt of town in Kaduna. It was the farmer who took her to the pastor. Jalige believes her consent at that age even though she was not forced is immaterial. The pastor has been arrested by the police.


Idris’ step-father confirmed what her mother had said earlier. He revealed that her father died of hypertension. Her mother was also traumatized during the time she was away. He thanks the pastor for taking good care of her even though they are deeply hurt by his action.

Meet Ayuba Hussaini from Gombe; a 300 level student of Gombe state University who invented a turbine engine that generates electricity.

This was practically presented at the just completed Northeast Youth Climate innovation Hub # ClimateHubNE in Gombe state.

Ayuba Hussain said “It uses moving water confined in a tank to generate electricity.
Its impact on climate change is that it provides substitution for generators which use fossil fuels.

They produce carbon dioxide upon combustion which is harmful to the Atmosphere”
Cc: @ClimateWed
@ YOUTH CLIMATE INNOVATION HUB. NORTHEAST SUMMIT.

Photos by Deolu.

A Nigerian man has used local materials to construct an usual vehicle that seems to a breed between an SUV and a small car.

Photos which emerged online and are making the rounds on social media show how Muhammad Mustapha, who is a talented young man, constructed a unique car using local materials.

It was learnt that the genius engineer who is from Gombe state, constructed the vehicle in a unique style that seems to be of a breed between an SUV and a small car.

Mustapha showed off his unique invention as he drove the car around for residents and passersby to see.

Brenn594:
Munir abi
It means mumu regina&nnira ned

broflovski:
Just few...I mean very few are wealthy.

There are cooked meals eaten by an average Northerner in North that an average Southerner would refuse to eat it even with money and abeg na.

They show off on social media to make it look like they rich....na just show and na few dey rich.

You are right about them making tight plans and ways for themselves though. That's where the learned flaatheads, coneheads and other southerners fail woefully.