₦airaland Forum

Tolexander: Na the president and vice president go first dey on board when testing the aircraft.

Symphony007: google what shit? I just gave you a website link. If you're so sure of your claim, pls give me a link.

Somalia hadn't had a case of polio for nearly six years. But in the past few months, the virus has come back. Now the East African country has the worst polio outbreak anywhere in the world.

Twenty new cases of polio were this week in Somalia by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. That brings the total number of cases in the Horn of Africa to 73. The rest of the world combined has tallied only 59 cases so far this year.

Health workers are worried that the virus could gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa and jeopardize the multibillion-dollar effort to wipe out the virus worldwide.
The last time polio struck Somalia, the virus spread across the Horn of Africa into Yemen and eventually over into Southeast Asia.

The last time polio struck Somalia, the virus spread across the Horn of Africa into Yemen and eventually over into Southeast Asia.
Courtesy of Google, ORION-ME

Until this recent outbreak, global efforts to eradicate polio appeared to be making remarkable progress. Last year the number of children paralyzed by polio hit a record low at 223.

This year it was looking like there were going to be even fewer cases. The last significant pockets of the virus appeared to be isolated in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Then in May, a 2-year-old girl in Mogadishu became the first confirmed case of polio in Somalia in more than six years.

The number of polio cases in Somalia is increasing by the day, says Dr. Nasir Yusuf, who leads UNICEF's immunization efforts in eastern and southern Africa.

Part of the problem, he says, is that the majority of children in Somalia have never been immunized against polio. "We have an outbreak in a population that has been quite vulnerable for quite some time," Yusuf says.

Somalia has the rate of polio vaccination in the world after Equatorial Guinea, according to the World Health Organization.

In response to the current outbreak, there have been five emergency polio immunization campaigns in Somalia since May. The Somali government directs the campaigns, but it doesn't control or have access to vast swaths of the country. Some of the most recent polio cases have occurred in areas that are considered off limits to vaccination teams.
Ado Ibrahim carries his son Aminu through a village in northern Nigeria. Aminu was paralyzed by polio in August.

Underscoring the lack of security in the region even for health workers, two health workers with Doctors Without Borders were this week after having been held hostage in Somalia for almost two years. The women had been working in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, where eight new polio cases were in May.

The current outbreak is forcing governments throughout the region, including parts of the Middle East, to launch supplemental vaccination drives, Yusuf says, because polio is capable of spreading quickly.

"A week after the virus was reported in south central Somalia, one of the viruses got into the Somali refugee camp in the most eastern part of Kenya," he says. "So that tells you how fast this virus made it."

EDITOR'S ADD NOTE, Monday, July 22, 3:30 p.m.

According to the WHO, the first polio case in the outbreak actually April 30, in Kenya. Then the second case was confirmed May 9 in Somalia. Either way, the outbreak spanned a vast geographic area quickly.

The virus reproduces inside the human gut, and many people carry it but show no symptoms. This give the virus the opportunity to travel long distances inside people and then get shed into the environment through feces.

The World Health Organization traced the poliovirus in Somalia to one in West Africa. Nigeria is the only place there where polio is still endemic.

Before these cases in the Horn of Africa, the end of the multibillion-dollar effort appeared to be in sight.

The Somali outbreak is now forcing UNICEF, the WHO and other international agencies to dedicate vast resources to boost polio vaccination coverage throughout East Africa and parts of the Middle East. Those are resources that can't be used to attack the virus in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria — which appeared, until now, to be the last few places where polio had a foothold.

[b]Nigeria has won the ‘‘best extractive industry transparency implementing country award” instituted by the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The award by the world body is to encourage resource-rich countries to embrace the principles of transparency, accountability and prudent management of revenues from oil, gas and mining sectors to aid national development and support poverty reduction.

Nigeria was voted the best implementing country among 39 member countries that have so far embraced the initiative across the world.

Announcing the award at the 6th global conference of the organisation in Sydney, Australia, the chair of the International Board of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Claire Short described NEITI’s implementation of the principles of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in the oil, gas and mining sectors as the most comprehensive, courageous and ambitious .

The Board explained that the award was in recognition of the increasing public demands by Nigerians for accountability, massive reforms in the extractive industry. The EITI international commended the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative for the agency’s timely provision of information and data through regular and independent audits of the oil, gas and mining sectors in Nigeria. “ While implementation by other member countries were limited to reconciliation of revenue flows of what companies paid against what government received, the Nigerian government through parliamentary legislation extended the mandates of NEITI to include independent physical and process audits. NEITI’s recent decision to embark on independent tracking of fiscal allocations and statutory disbursements of extractive revenue funds to various tiers and levels of government was well applauded of its significance in ensuring legitimate utilisation of such funds in areas of citizen’s need “The independence, quality, content, comprehensive and incisive nature of NEITI audit reports is a model for other member countries to emulate”[/b].

The EITI International Board expressed delight that from NEITI interventions, Nigerian government has recovered a huge sum of $ 2 billion while another outstanding sum of $9.6 was uncovered as potential revenues to the Federation.

“These efforts by NEITI have led to government’s response to public demands for reforms in the sector resulting in the introduction of the Petroleum industry Bill now before the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law among other impacts. I congratulate NEITI, the government and people of Nigeria especially the civil society and the media”, the EITI International Chair, Claire Short, added, amidst ovation by delegates drawn from about 84 countries that were in Sydney for the conference.

Receiving the award, Head of the Federal Government delegation to the EITI Conference and Minister of Mines and Steel development, Arch. Musa Mohammed Sada, described the award as an important endorsement of Nigeria’s democracy and the transformation agenda of President Jonathan administration. He described the international award as timely coming at a time Nigeria is marking her Centenary and Democracy Day Celebrations. He expressed delight on the partnership and collaboration between NEITI and relevant government agencies in implementing the EITI process.

Arch Musa Mohammed Sada used the forum to call on investors to take advantage of the massive reforms in the extractive industry and invest in Nigeria. “Now is the time to invest in the oil, gas and mining sectors in our country. The government in Nigeria remain committed to improving from existing business investment through friendly policies, legislations and improvement in social infrastructure.”

Governor Ibrahim Dankwanbo of Gombe state, NEITI chairman, Ledum Mitee and the Executive Secretary Zainab Ahmed and representatives of the civil society organisations in Nigeria accompanied the Minister to receive the award on behalf of the Federal Government.

adconline: Can we be like America stupid? USA gets energy from Canada because US consumes more as a result of its industrialisation, while Naija is getting from Cameroun because of corruption and inability to generate electricity in this day and age.

curiouslad: A renowned terrorist is sighted in the caves.
1. Send co-ordinates to base.
2. Order a surgical military airstrike.
3. Send in a team to confirm the kill.

Or have I been watching too many movies

tatosh: Mr man, were you sleeping when the FG announced the cancellation of the contract to Bi-courtney and awarded it to JB & RCC early this year?
My point is the contractors didn't have to wait till the Flag-off before mobilizing to site since they've been awarded the contract many months ago.
Also what was the point of the GEJ fanfare when he knew work wasn't going to start immediately.
A thinking government would flag off construction on the day work actually begins

Onosas: Things will soon get better.

doctokwus: In all honesty some defence of actions are nauseating.D least u cud av done is to try to find out d actual reason for d delay in start of work,acknowledge same,instead of claiming here that there is usually a lag period btw launching& actual start of work,which is total bunkum

doctokwus: In all honesty some defence of actions are nauseating.D least u cud av done is to try to find out d actual reason for d delay in start of work,acknowledge same,instead of claiming here that there is usually a lag period btw launching& actual start of work,which is total bunkum

tatosh: Despite the fanfare and ceremony associated with the launching & commencement of the reconstruction of Lagos-Ibadan expressway by Goodluck Jonathan a few weeks ago hardly any visible work has started. Not even one single equipment has been seen on the road. As I pass the road everyday, each day looks worse than the previous.
The contract for the reconstruction of the LIB road was awarded since Jan 2013 to Messrs Julius berger & RCC which means work should have started before the GEJ launch charade.

I hope this won't turn out to be another boondoggle after watching closely the attitude of the FG like it is doing the south-west a favour also taking into consideration the over-over bloated sum of N167 billion for the road construction

It is unfortunate that there is this deliberate or unconscious attitude in the man at the top to feel or be made to feel by his kinsmen around him, that in developing other parts of the country, some kind of favour is being done to the area concerned.

Ngwakwe: I hope that some day in the nearest future the Onicha Sea Port will kick start and solve some of our importation needs.

PapaBrowne: Some fellows are just simply unintelligent!! So you want Jonathan to steal money like Tinubu and use it to build fertilizer plants in his name before you understand that the role of Government is to create an enabling environment?

Why is it lost on you that for over 30 years, not a single fertilizer plant had been built in the country by the private sector then suddenly in 2 years of GEJ, 3 companies suddenly just start building plants valued at $6 billion.

You need to up your intelligence man. Read, watch documentaries, play IQ games and think creatively. It would work.

PapaBrowne: Like Play, Like Play, Boko Haram has vanished from the pages of newspapers. Somebody help me say Amen.

No more bomb blasts. No more Boko Haram killed this, Boko Haram killed that.

We must give thanks to God.

We must give kudos to our gallant soldiers who have put thier lives on the line to ensure that we have peace.


May this peace continue.

And bad roads are also vanishing small by small.
And we are beginning to return to the farm big by big.
And the trains are coming back slow by slow.
And elections are getting freer and fairer.

And the biggest prayer of all:
And may power failure vanish forever.
And corruption. And insecurity. And Unemployment.


Its either our prayers are working or Jonathan is working or both of the above.

Methinks both of the above. If you agree with me, click the like button.

ujchief: I can see how myopic you guys now are! You are praising the scheme that subsidizes fertilizer Seriously Are you kidding me? We have abundance of potassium, phosphorus and sodium in this country yet we don't have a single fertilizer plant that can manufacture fertilizer. Onne fertilizer plant at Federal ocean terminal, Onne, Rivers state has shut down for over decades now and can't be revived! Do you know how many youths a fertilizer company can employ? From the mining of the raw material, to processing, to production, to storage, to marketing etc; do you have any idea how many people can be employed both directly and indirectly from a single fertilizer plant?

They import and subsidize it for you and you're here licking their a-r-s-e!!! Poor lads with impoverished brain cells!

ujchief: I can see how myopic you guys now are! You are praising the scheme that subsidizes fertilizer Seriously Are you kidding me? We have abundance of potassium, phosphorus and sodium in this country yet we don't have a single fertilizer plant that can manufacture fertilizer. Onne fertilizer plant at Federal ocean terminal, Onne, Rivers state has shut down for over decades now and can't be revived! Do you know how many youths a fertilizer company can employ? From the mining of the raw material, to processing, to production, to storage, to marketing etc; do you have any idea how many people can be employed both directly and indirectly from a single fertilizer plant?

They import and subsidize it for you and you're here licking their a-r-s-e!!! Poor lads with impoverished brain cells!

Longeria: Winner ooooo Winner, winner ooooo winner, Jonathan you don win Salami winner, Jonathan you go win Amaechi ooooo winner. Allelu, Alleluya. Praise God.

take dat: I have no problem with the abrogation of State Independent Electoral Commissions but we have to ensure the full implementation of the Uwais report, especially the removal of the authority vested in the President to appoint INEC's Chairman and Commissioners.

eGuerrilla: Frivolous lawsuits are a price worth paying for the removal of a clause that has long provided cover for gratuitous thievery. Mind you, I am confident that mechanisms will be put in place to address your concerns at any rate.

It is time the highest offices in the land only attracted serious minded folks as opposed to common criminals with little aptitude for public administration.

awodman: For the first time I am pleased with the Tambuwal led house for taking a good stand on an important national issue rather than unnecessary grandstanding and playing to the gallery..

local govt autonomy is the right way to go if development should be felt @ every part of this country.Kudos to them for removing electricity and railway management from the exclusive list to concurrent list which means that states are free to build and manage railways and also generate and distribute electricity.

However I think removal of immunity clause from president,Governors and their deputies would subject this officials to unnecessary distractions thereby bringing up more excuses for non-performance.

Kudos to ACN reps for ignoring party directive to vote against LG autonomy and other vital clauses.

Finally let's hope that the gains made won't be lost when the amendment gets to the state house of assemblies especially that of LG autonomy.

Once more kudos to the members of the House of Representatives.

gedtalks: Fine...but there are no Jobs in Calabar..so whats the point

manny4life: Fighting corruption in Nigeria is more like pouring water on a rock - NO EFFECT.

As much I'm in line with GEJ's transformational agenda, his fight on corruption is VERY POOR. How can four companies that failed to cooperate with legislative hearing be approved by the executive? What is the legislative doing about it?

S@NNiE:
Dickson must be wearing his hat too tight for crying wolf just few days after blowing away billions of tax payers money to host a beauty pageant for his girlfriend. he should just deal with the aftermath instead of shouting all over the place. nobody is destabilizing bayelsa, rather his actions are

EmmyDe25: I actually thought you have some brains. Never knew you are such a fool, brainless b.iatch, twerp, horrid c.u.n.t, and are as clueless as your paymaster. It beats me seeing miserable people like you who are only fit for the bin coming on here wishing people who can outrightly save you and your entire fam from absolute penury death. While your so called paymaster who you seem busy breaking a sweat on, doesnt even care or know about your existence. You'll do well looking for some paying job muppet.