“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” the sequel to the Oscar-winning “Black Panther” film has started production on Tuesday at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige confirmed the news to Variety ahead of the Black Widow Global Fan Event in Los Angeles.

Details about the sequel’s plot remains a close guarded secret but Feige says everyone from the original cast is coming back — without, of course, star Chadwick Boseman. “It’s clearly very emotional without Chad,” Feige said before the “Black Widow” Global Fan Event in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. “But everyone is also very excited to bring the world of Wakanda back to the public and back to the fans. We’re going to do it in a way that would make Chad proud.”

“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler is also returning to direct from his screenplay. Back in May, Angela Bassett insisted that the film will be a fitting tribute to Boseman. Boseman died on August 28, 2020, as a result of complications related to colon cancer. ‘It’s going to be phenomenal and it’s going to pay tribute and it’s going to carry on that legacy,’ Bassett, 62, told USWeekly.

Another star of the film Lupita N’yongo is also confident the sequel will satisfy fans. ‘It’s going to be different, of course, without our king, to go back into that world, but I know that all of us are dedicated to reimagining or carrying on his legacy in this new Black Panther,’ she said in an interview on Good Morning America in March.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is set to debut on July 8, 2022. Black Panther debuted February 2018 and was an immediate box office smash hit. The superhero adventure opened with $202 million, going on to bank a massive $700 million domestic take and $1.347 billion worldwide. The film was the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 2018, and second worldwide, just behind Avengers: Infinity War ($2.048 billion).

SOURCE: https://t.guardian.ng/life/film/black-panther-2-begins-filming-in-atlanta/

Nigeria's mushroom subsector can contribute N1.8tn to the country’s revenue base if properly developed by the FG. Chairman of the Mushroom Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Michael Awunor, disclosed this at the inaugural summit of the association held Tuesday in Abuja.

Awunor stated that as a non-oil resource, the mushroom sector could boost the country’s GDP and create an estimated 16m jobs for Nigerian youths and women. He explained that mushroom as an agricultural commodity stood out among its peers due to its nutritional and medicinal benefits.

He said, “Nigeria, undoubtedly has abundant non-oil resources waiting to be tapped. It is in fact safe to declare we can earn as much, if not more, from non-oil resources as much as oil. This is where Mushroom offers so much hope to contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.

“The world mushroom market as at the end 2020 stood at about $45.3bn and we are determined to earn 10% of it. The 10% when analysed on the global mushroom market is estimated at about $4.53bn. If calculated on about N400 to a dollar official rate of the CBN, the $4.53bn translates into about N1.8tn.”

He therefore called on the FG and principal stakeholders in the agricultural sector to take more interest in the well-being of the non-oil sector to ensure that the goal of economic diversification is achieved.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/mushroom-can-generate-16-million-jobs-n1-8tn-revenue-growers/

20. Nigeria is the number one Scrabble playing country in the world, and she has won 3 of the last 5 World English Scrabble Players Association Championships.

19. By 2047 Nigeria will have overtaken the USA to become the world's 3rd most populous country with 387 million, according to UN projections.

18. The first Nobel Prize for Literature ever won by an African was in 1986 and it was won by a Nigerian, Prof Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka aka Wole Soyinka.

17. Until 1974, Nigerians could freely travel to the UK without a travel visa.

16. The Dufuna boat, the oldest in Africa and 2nd oldest in the world, was discovered in 1987 in Nigeria. It is believed to be between 8,000 and 8,500 years old.

Thanks for pointing out the error. I intended to type "Nigeria", and I have now corrected it.

alfasexy:


Another lie.

15. The town of Igbo Ora in Oyo State, Nigeria, is known as the "Twin Capital of the World” with the highest rate of twin births in the world. About 1 in every 20 births in the town are twins.

14. Nigeria is the 3rd most linguistically diverse country in the world, with over 500 languages. There are more languages spoken in Nigeria than in the entire continent of Europe.

13. Nigeria has the largest diversity of butterflies in the world.

12. The Niger Delta in Nigeria is the 3rd largest delta in the world.

11. Nigeria’s population is more than all of the east coast of the USA combined.

10. The Jos Plateau Indigobird is a species that can be found only in Nigeria.

9. Evidence of human life in Nigeria dates as far back as 9000 BC.

8. In Africa it is considered poor taste to use the left hand to eat, shake hands or to pass or receive items.

7. The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.

6. Lizards communicate by doing push-ups.

5. You don’t sneeze in your sleep because your brain shuts down the reflex.

4. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

3. It took the creator of the Rubik’s Cube one month to solve the cube after he created it.

2. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters.

1. The human nose can remember 50,000 different scents.

Rozcol:
I think its unGodly,there's a reason why God didn't choose any woman as a prophet

Read the Bible for yourself. There are no less than 7 women specifically described as being a "Prophetess" in the Bible:
1. Sarah
2. Miriam
3. Deborah
4. Hannah
5. Huldah
6. Abigail
7. Esther.

However, headship of a Church is another matter entirely, but the answer is also in the Bible.

Uyo High School shut down as students give principal 24 hours ultimatum to release detained cultists

Akwa Ibom State Government on Thursday 24 June 2021 ordered closure of Uyo High School, a public secondary school in the state over cult activities. The school has been notorious for cult war on weekly basis, but the one that occurred 2 weeks ago had a Mobil filling station located opposite the school attacked.

It was gathered that during the rival cult war, students threw stones at the glass house of the filling station and destroyed it. Amidst the pandemonium, it was further gathered that the principal, Mr Michael Etuk arrested and detained some students at the police headquaters, Ikot Akpanabia Uyo who were allegedly involved in cultism and have been unleashing mayhem in the school.

A source who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that those students, about 6, are still remanded by the police. Other members of the cult group, angered by the principal’s action, stormed his office and dropped some fetish objects at the entrance which included fresh palm fronds, red piece of cloth, whitish objects and a bottle containing black liquid hung on the wall.

They also pasted notes at both sides of the wall which read thus: “we give you 24-hours to release our boys or we fall you. Remember we know your house, children and wife, Iwok close. Mr. Principal we always defend you, but you are fighting us. We wash our hands off your case, we fight for you no more.”

When our correspondent visited the school premises, the principal was not present but the warning notes were still conspicuously pasted on the walls while the fetish objects were still there.

However, Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet directed the chairman, State secondary school board, Dr.Ekaette Ebong to shut down the school indefinitely to allow normalcy return to the school. When the Commissioner Mrs Etiebet was contacted, she simply responded with a text message, "I’m in a meeting, I have directed the chairman secondary education board to temporarily close down the school”.

An SS1 student Miss Keziah Joseph, who spoke with our correspondent at the gate, said students were shocked to see fetish objects displaced in the principal’s office, adding they were asked to vacate the school around 12noon to avoid crisis.

Manager of the filling station, Mrs Mbereobong Elijah, told our correspondent that an incident happened 2 weeks ago in the school and students were running into the premises of the filling station for escape. She said they all came out to see what was happening and to plead with them to stop fighting each other, adding that as they were pleading they got annoyed and started throwing stone at the glass windows.

According to her, they shattered the glasses and destroyed one of the dispensers of the filling station. She said "Two weeks ago, cult members were fighting in the school. Some of them ran to take cover in our premises. We pleaded with the group already in our premises to stop but as we were pleading we heared stones on our glass door so we had to run inside for our safety.”

SOURCE: https://dailypost.ng/2021/06/24/uyo-high-school-shut-down-as-students-give-principal-24-hours-ultimatum-to-release-detained-cultists/

Judging by what the eyes see, it seems that after the construction industry, the funeral industry is the largest these days in the South-East, especially in Anambra State. The amount of money sunk into funerals these days is mind-boggling.

Parents are living longer (into their 80s and 90s) because of better access to healthcare. Unlike the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s when people could not check their blood pressure or blood sugar at home, such is available to many families these days, saving many from sudden death caused by high/low BP or diabetes. When people’s parents live into their 80s and 90s or even late 70s, there is tendency to turn their funeral into a “celebration of life”.

NON-TRADITIONAL

People of the South-East don’t have the tradition of celebrating birthdays in a big way, except those who live in Lagos and Abuja. It is not common to see someone in the South-East celebrate their 40th or 50th or 60th or 70th birthday with fanfare. If done at all, it is usually low-key with a couple of family members coming to the house for a get-together. Therefore, the burial of a parent has become an opportunity for big celebrations. It is not officially called a party but usually has all the trappings of a party or even a carnival.

There are suppliers of virtually everything: brochures, invitation cards, water, drinks, food items, gifts, and canopies. Then, there are undertakers, decorators, security people, servers, MCs, DJs, ushers, camera people for video recording and still photographs. There are also suppliers of aso ebi, which is a cloth worn by friends and associates for uniformity. In the past, only direct bereaved family would dress alike. But today, aso ebi, borrowed from the South-West, has become part and parcel of funerals in the South-East. Some would buy packs of such cloth and give to family and friends for free to sew and wear at their funeral ceremony as a way of making it colourful.

Because of the amount of money spent at burials these days, so many people have built their businesses round them. Week after week, they are supplying things to those organising burials. And they make a lot of money from such, thereby changing their financial status. The weekly traffic to the South-East for funerals and other events also ensures hotels are usually fully booked from Wednesdays to weekends. Airlines and buses travelling to the South-East from Tuesdays are also usually fully booked. Some people travel from Lagos or Abuja to the South-East for funerals 2 or 3 times a month.

DIFFERENT CATEGORIES

Funerals gulp millions of naira, depending on the financial muscle of those organising it. There are about 3 categories. 1st is the basic category which costs less than N1.5m. It can cost less than N1m. Only basic rites are performed, taking care of the requirements of the church, kinsmen, village, women’s groups and guests e.g. where stipulated that maternal kinsmen of the deceased man or kinsmen of the deceased woman be given a goat, this is given instead of a cow. Except perhaps palm wine, no bottled wines or spirits are shared at such events. Basic meals of rice and akpu or flour meal are prepared for guests.

2nd is the medium category which costs N1.5m - N5m. The funeral is made as dignified as possible, but attempts are made to keep cost under control. First, the amount of wine and spirits at the event is controlled. Second, a decent but not-too-expensive casket is used. Third, there may not be funeral undertakers to bear the casket – kinsmen are used.

Finally, there is the 3rd category, which is the premium. This starts from about N5m. First, the invitation card is a booklet – which costs aabout N1m. Second, the burial brochure costs over N1m to produce. Casket costs about a million naira or more, while undertakers charge about N0.5m or over a N1m, depending on their class. Food vendors charge up to N2m for a thousand guests, while drinks, wines and spirits cost up to N5m. Choice wines are drunk like regular beer. One person may drink up to 2 bottles of a champagne brand which costs over N150,000 per bottle. At the end of such a burial event, aabout N30m or more is spent.

Surprisingly, in spite the amount of money spent at such funerals, most families who organise them do not incur losses, except those who don’t attend other people’s events and who don’t support others. The communal spirit makes people to support the bereaved at their time of loss. It goes round from family to family, and anybody who is known to attend events and support others never runs into a loss after a burial. The Igbo people say, when a big man travels to a distant land and comes back with much meat, it is those whom he has been giving that have reciprocated.

ALL YEAR ROUND PARTYING

Interestingly, except for about one month of Lent, burials take place every week in different villages of every town between Wednesday and Friday all through the year. If the deceased or bereaved are people of note, friends and well-wishers come from outside the town. For example, when the funeral of a prominent Anambra person is taking place or one of the children of the deceased is a prominent person, one sees the Who’s Who in Anambra from virtually all towns in the state.

To be a good MC in Anambra these days, you have to know the names and titles of the Who’s Who in Anambra, for every week or two, they gather at one funeral or the other. For an MC to be rated highly, he should not wait for someone to give him a piece of paper before announcing the names and designations of such prominent people as they come in.

People take funerals seriously in Igboland. They can forgive you if don’t attend their wedding or naming ceremony or birthday. But if you fail to attend the funeral of their parents and you also fail to send your support and apologies to them, it is like a mortal sin. People keep records of what others brought to their funeral events. When it is the turn of such people, the records are checked before the funeral attendance is reciprocated. There are people who will never attend the funeral of the parent or spouse of someone who did not attend theirs or send in their support. Funeral is seen as a debt each person owes the other, because death is certain.

Even if you are not in town or in the country during some funerals, but return months or years after, you need to visit the homes of all those who were bereaved, especially within your community, and present your condolence support in cash. You can also go along with drinks. A condolence visit is never too late. But if you don’t visit those families, they will note it in their Book of Life and wait for your turn to repay you.

WHERE IS THE POVERTY?

Surprisingly, it is in this same country where people say things are hard that one sees different families spend millions on burials. Same people are also building houses all over the place, even as prices of building materials double and triple within few months under the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). You then ask yourself, where is this poverty that is said to affect over 70% of the Nigerian population?

Nigeria is a paradox!

-- Article by Azuka Onwuka.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/funerals-have-taken-a-new-dimension-in-the-east/

Hi Spinna,

quite an audacious initiative on your part. I'm sure many business-minded Nairalanders would be interested, if they could receive guidance on how to go about it.

I suggest you open a thread specifically to provide such guidance. Best wishes for good success in all your endeavours!

spinna:
The wise with funds to invest would see this, and the whole nigerian cattle issues of today, as an opportunity. Others would start political arguments...this article is real. FC WAMCO, a private multinational..single handedly revived the nigerian dairy industry with this milk collection programme.. they have invested billions of naira starting about 6 or 7 yrs ago....

...we cannot in the south sit on our keyboards and demonise innocent cattle with unscrupulous owners when we ourselves are not making moves to enter into the cattle business. This was my my view 3 years ago when i saw a similar article about wamco in iseyin.. so i took the plunge and moved to iseyin to start a cattle and dairy farm...

AFEEZ HANAFI, who was at Iseyin, Oyo State, reports that a dairy development programme in the community is changing the chain of milk processing, storage and distribution in the country

The joy Ahmadu Abdullahi exuded was as apparent as day broke at the milk collection centre in Maya, the artery of Iseyin, Oyo State. From a broad smile on his face, one could easily conclude the 45-year-old dairy farmer had got off to a good start in the day. As early as 9am on a Thursday in May, the father of 4 had already pocketed N7,200 from 40 litres of milk he ferried on his motorcycle to sell at the centre.

Abdullahi struck the daily ‘cool cash’ business 6 years ago making over N200,000 every month. Before then, he realised only half of the income after his wife must have worked her fingers to the bone to make local cheese (colloquially known as wara) and hawk it around neighbouring towns for hours. Many times, Abdullahi had used the family’s proceeds to pay crop farmers damages incurred by stray cattle he grazed around communities.

FRIESLANDCAMPINA WAMCO TO THE RESCUE

In 2014, those troubling trends changed for good after he enlisted in the Dairy Development Programme, an initiative of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria to boost local milk production. Alongside several other herders, the dairy products company trained Abdullahi in how to get better economic value for milk with little stress instead of engaging in strenuous cheese production with meagre proceeds.

“It has relieved my wife of the stress of sitting behind fire for 3 hours to make cheese and travelling to Ibadan (Oyo State capital) to sell it,” the pastoralist said about the initiative. “I started dairy farming 6 years ago after the company approached us. I sell 4 cans raw milk every day. Each can contains 20 litres and we sell a litre for N180. Before the company started buying raw milk from us, we produced N2,000 worth of cheese with 20-litre milk.”

To guarantee 2-litre milk yield per cow daily, Abdullahi now grazes his cattle within the vicinity, feeding them with good pastures and clean water from solar-powered boreholes sunk in strategic locations by the company. “For a long time, I have not had any misunderstanding with farmers over destruction of farms by my cows,” he noted, grinning from ear to ear.

In a report published 29 November 2020, titled “Struggle of dairy farmers battling wastage, poor value chain amid huge milk imports,” our correspondent detailed how hundreds of pastoralists, especially women in Bodinga, Sokoto State, worked like elephants and ate like ants. The story also told of untapped milk potential of a multitude of cows in the agrarian community due to poor value chain, limited market strength as well as lingering farmer-herder crisis caused by open grazing. The conflict led to killings of more than 1,300 people between January and June 2018 alone, according to the International Crisis Group.

But in Iseyin, many dairy farmers have outlived those disconcerting scenarios many years ago. Bello Salihu is another pastoralist in Maya tapping into the DDP. On daily basis, he smiles home from the milk collection centre with N14,400 in exchange for 4 cans of milk that once fetched him N8,000 after onerous cheese hawking.

“Our wives went through a lot of stress to sell cheese,” 40-year-old Salihu said. “There were occasions customers would make part-payment and refuse to pay the balance. But since we started dairy farming, the challenges have stopped and we have more value for milk.” Most importantly, constant rifts between him and crop farmers had been largely laid to rest and paved the way for peace to reign.

He added, “We don’t graze our cows on a long distance again because we have realised that it is unhealthy for getting quality milk. That knowledge has put an end to fights between us and farmers. There may be skirmishes once in a while but we settle our differences amicably.”

NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR WOMEN

The DDP initiative is working wonders in the lives of Iseyin women in the dairy sector and it is glaring in Amina Idris’ radiant looks. The imprint of stress she went through some 7 years ago when she always travelled to Lagos and Ibadan to sell cheese has long vanished from her face.

Every day, she transports 160 litres of milk to Maya Milk Collection Centre and returns home happily with N28,800. She said, “My husband has two barns comprising over 100 local cows. We collect 8 cans (160 litres) of milk every day from them. Before the company partnered with us, we used milk to make cheese. Then, the stress was much more than the profit realised. I travelled to Lagos, Ibadan and Eruwa to sell cheese. But selling raw milk is less stressful and we make more gains.”

Women in Akele, a suburb of Iseyin, are also taking advantage of the scheme despite lacking formal education. Training delivered in local Fulfulde and Yoruba languages has helped them to find a fortune in dairy.

Amina Galadima told our correspondent about a remarkable improvement in her family’s living standard since they ditched cheese and nunu (locally-fermented milk) for raw milk sold to the company. “I used to make cheese and nunu every day. I hawked around and travelled to Ibadan to sell,” she recounted in Yoruba, a second local language she understands fairly well.

Amina, whose husband collects 20 to 22 litres of milk from cows daily, said the business was much more productive than cheese making. She also admitted the scheme had brought about peaceful coexistence among crop and dairy farmers in the neighbourhood.

She noted, “Besides, I don’t have to hawk or travel to Ibadan again. My husband and I have been working with FrieslandCampina for 10 years and we send 3 of our 7 children to school with the money we make from milk sales. Cows give more milk if they are not taken on long distances for grazing. We have learnt to keep our cows within the vicinity to get enough milk. But once in a while, if our cows stray into farms, we approach the owner and pay for the damage. We handle it in a way that doesn’t lead to a fight.”

In her late 60’s, Amina’s mother-in-law, Alhaja Awawu Galadima, is still adept at milk production that earns her N5,400 within 2 hours of relaxed labour. “I sell 30 litres of milk every day,” Awawu, who is the leader of about 50 dairy women in the community, said. “This community supplies about 20 cans of milk (400 litres) to the company daily.”

Her granddaughter, 18-year-old Aminat Lawal, has become proud of the job and intends to take it to the next level after graduating from the university. “I assist my parents to milk cows, especially whenever the school is on holidays,” the 100-level Political Science student at the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, stated. “If I have the opportunity, I will set up my own farm, keep cows there and provide them with pastures. I won’t graze them around at all,” she said.

SMALLHOLDER FARMERS MAKING WAVES

Aminat’s dream farm fits into what Olatunde Moyosore practises on 80 acres of land in Olora village, Iseyin, through partnership with FrieslandCampina WAMCO. The 39-year-old farmer has 2 separate barns where he keeps over 50 local cows and crossbreeds produced via artificial insemination.

From multi-layered 50-acre pastures to a solar-powered borehole, the farm contains everything required for the wellbeing of cows within the expansive yard. There is also a farmstead providing lodging for Moyosore and some of his workers who are of Yoruba and Fulani extraction.

Through series of training within and outside the country, Moyosore, a graduate of the Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, has carved a niche for himself as a smallholder farmer, while keeping tabs on latest trends in dairy production. He spoke of the huge commercial value of crossbreeds, each of which produces at least 10 litres of milk daily compared to about two litres derived from a local cow.

“I sell an average of 120 litres of milk every day and the bulk of it comes from the crossbreeds. This is the future of dairy in Nigeria,” Moyosore remarked passionately. “I have peace now unlike before when I grazed my cows around the community. They damaged crops and most times I used my proceeds to pay damages. Now, I grow feed for them and they don’t go out. They also drink clean water.”

With eight workers assisting him on the farm and at an annex of about 25 acres, Moyosore continues to grow in leaps and bounds in the dairy business. “The relationship between me and my workers has been fantastic. There are Fulani among them but we don’t have any issues,” he said assuredly.

One of Moyosore’s workers, 19-year-old Muhammadu Yakubu, confirmed the cordial relationship, saying he stays in the farmhouse for 2 months before travelling home to check on his family. “I collect N20,000 monthly. I have been working with my boss for over a year now and there is a mutual relationship between us. He gives me shelter where I stay for 2 months before I travel to see my wife and child in Saki (a town in Oyo State).”

Solomon Ogunsola is the manager of a farm located at Iya Ibeji village, along Iseyin Road. He manages a smallholding the size of Moyosore’s annex with more than 100 cows and 8 workers on the farm’s payroll. Ogunsola said, “10 of the cows are crossbreeds. They don’t graze around. We live harmoniously with farmers because we don’t allow our cows destroy their crops.”

Interestingly, Iseyin smallholder farmers like Moyosore and Ogunsola ride on the expertise of Deborah Atunbi, an inseminator employed by the dairy company, to increase production and gains. A graduate of Animal Husbandry, Atunbi said the success rate of artificial insemination in Iseyin hovered around 50% while working tirelessly to improve on the achievement. She stated, “The farmers have been trained. When they notice their cows are on heat, they call me for insemination. The success rate depends on many factors such as the history of the cows.”

BRISK INCOME FOR OKADA RIDERS

In the dairy value chain, commercial motorcyclists known as okada riders, have also found a stable source of income. 5 cans milk ferried from a farm to the collection centre attract N2,000 fare which okada riders such as Jelili Usman of Akele village live on.

“We wake up as early as 5am to carry milk to the collection centre. If we carry 100 litres, we will collect N2,000,” he said.

41,000-LITRE MILK SOURCED DAILY

General Manager Dairy Development Operation, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, John Olayiwola, said the firm had recorded considerable breakthroughs in dairy development in the country by increasing local milk production from 400 litres daily at commencement of the scheme in 2010 to 41,000 at present.

According to Olayiwola, milk brought to collection centres undergoes a series of checks before it is certified for human consumption. He said, “Before we start milk collection anywhere, the first thing we do is to train our farmers in milk hygiene and good practices. After that, we start collecting the milk. We collect milk between 7am and 10am every day. The farmers bring their milk to the collection centre in milk cans which we gave them to ensure hygiene.

“We then carry out tests on the milk to check its quality for human consumption. We also check for dirt estimation to see if the milk does not have sediment and bacteria loads. We collect the milk after it must have passed all the tests for outward movement to the FrieslandCampina plant in Lagos.

“It is an operation that goes on in 27 collection centres every day. The collections centres are in Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and Niger states. In a few months, we will also have farms in Abuja. We started with 400 litres daily but today we do about 41,000 litres and we are still moving ahead.”

The GM said at initial stage of the programme, quality of milk farmers presented at collection centres was poor, adding that it improved over time as a result of several training sessions. “We teach them how to milk cows, clean their teats and give them the right feed. When we started, we had a lot of rejection but today we have less than 1% rejection. We started with local cows but today we have a lot of crossbreeds.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/oyo-community-where-dairy-business-generates-cool-cash-peace-among-fulani-yoruba-farmers/

A phone-stealing criminal syndicate disguising as staff of telecommunication companies is operating in Abuja, latest victims who lost mobile phones have told the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).

Claiming to be recruiting young ladies who will dance and distribute fliers in an anniversary campaign for MTN for 3 days and promising payment between N7000 and N15,000 per day and gifts including data and airtime, one Engineer Mustapha said to have MTN’s identity card made away with victims’ phones when they were distracted.

“We were in the shop when a friend of mine whose sister works at ‘Sweet Princess Salon’ in Lugbe called that there was a guy looking for dancers and those who would walk around sharing posters and telling people about MTN… that MTN was celebrating its 30th anniversary,” one of the girls who asked not to be named told FIJ.

“So we went for the gig. When we got to the salon, they started painting our faces with green and white and put the logo of MTN on one side of our faces in preparation for the promo.The guy, Engineer Mustapha, said at the end of each day, dancers would be paid N15,000 while those distributing fliers would be paid N7,000.”

After makeup was applied on their faces, Mustapha ordered food for the ladies at a restaurant. On pretext that he was transferring data and airtime to their phones, he escaped with multiple smart phones. “He ordered food, drinks and snacks, which he paid for. He then called 3 of us to go with him to pack the food he ordered from the restaurant. On reaching there, they said the food was not yet ready. So we decided to wait for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, he told us he was going back to the salon where other girls were waiting, to see how things were going there.

“When we waited at the restaurant and he did not show up, we returned to the salon where they told us they had not seen him. He had gone with our phones. We even thought he went to see his boss because the owner of the salon said when the guy came, she spoke to his boss on the phone. But he never returned.”

One of the victims said that Mustapha stole 7 smart phones, but did not go with feature phones. “We thought he was sending an app through which he would transfer the data and airtime. Those using small phones, he collected and returned and told them they would receive a message, but they said they didn’t see any message,” the victim said. “We did not see him with a car, but we saw a car key with him.”

In reply to FIJ’s request for comments, MTN denied involvement in the scheme and advised that persons caught should be reported to security agencies. “I would like to inform you that we currently do not have such a promo that is ongoing and MTN is not involved in any of these skimming activities that result in perpetrators making away with phones belonging to unsuspecting individuals,” it stated.

SOURCE: https://fij.ng/article/criminal-syndicate-stealing-phones-in-abuja-using-fake-mtn-promotion/

More than 100 villagers of Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi state have been gruesomely murdered by marauding bandits. The incident happened on Thursday 3rd June 2021 around 4pm, but was not publicly known due to the remoteness of the settlements.

On Saturday, Nafiu Abubakar, spokesperson of the Kebbi Police Command, confirmed the incident to reporters claiming 66 people lost their lives during the attacks, before later upgrading the figure to 88. Some locals and residents of the affected communities said such attacks had been recurrent but the recent one was more tragic.

One of the residents said, “They came around 4pm on Thursday in their hundreds with AK47 riffles and started shooting sporadically at the people. We’ve been under constant attacks in Zuruland; we chose to tread the path of peace. We’ve cried and wailed to the high heavens with no hope. We’ve counted more than 100 people killed by bandits in a day. This is one too far.”

The Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) gathered from locals that hundreds of cattle were rustled by the armed group who raided the communities killing armless villagers indiscriminately. FIJ also understands not less than 500 persons have died from armed bandits attacks in Kebbi in the last 6 months.

Pictures of the incidents show hundreds of children and women stranded and seeking refuge in neighbouring communities following the attacks. The affected communities share borders with Niger and Zamfara, two northwestern states embattled with banditry and kidnapping.

SOURCE: https://fij.ng/article/they-came-in-their-hundreds-how-bandits-massacred-100-kebbi-villagers-in-broad-daylight/

Chioma Ajunwa, Atlanta 1996 Olympic gold medalist and first black woman to win a gold medal at the games in long jump, has revealed she still hasn’t received the house she was promised by the then Lagos government of Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Speaking on ‘The Chat’, a Channels Television programme, Ajunwa also said she had to retire early because Nigeria did not take care of her when she had injuries. Ajunwa suffered an injury at the finals of the World Championship in Spain, but like many athletes who have injuries when representing the country, she was not taken care of.

“I thought that my country would have taken care of me, but they never did. When I came back I kept on going to the athletic federation, then the ministry; they never helped. If my country had come to my aid, I wouldn’t have retired when I did.”

When she won the first gold medal for Nigeria, Ajunwa was given a national award, the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), and was promoted from the rank of an Inspector to an Assistant Superintendent 1 (ASP1) by Gen. Sani Abacha, then Head of State. She said she equally received N1 million.

Olagunsoye Oyinlola was the military administrator of Lagos State at the time and gave a 3 bed-room house for the gold medalists from the Olympics. However, Ajunwa said she was told she wouldn’t get it because she is not a Lagosian. “I was not even given the house much less having it taken back,” she said in response to whether the house was taken back from her.

Ajunwa said she still felt bad about not being given the house and felt she was more of an object of ridicule compared to other colleagues who switched citizenship to other countries. Ajunwa, an officer with the Nigeria Police Force which she joined before being an athlete, said it was through the Police she made the national camp for the first time in her life.

In 1992 when she was banned from competing for failing a drug test, despite maintaining her innocence, it was the Police that paid for the drug tests she was to take to make her eligible to compete in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She revealed that the Nigeria Police was the reason she ignored calls to compete for other countries and instead returned to Nigeria.

“I came back to Nigeria to do police work, to appreciate them, and to give back to the police that made me,” she said.

SOURCE: https://fij.ng/article/25-years-after-chioma-ajunwa-yet-to-receive-house-promised-for-olympic-gold-feat/

Idabakanta:


You forgot to add.
The first 1st class in the Department of Mathematics in Unilorin
The 1st Distinction in Msc mathematics in unilorin..

Thanks. The man is truly an intellectual giant. We pray that God's mercy will guide him back to his loved ones.