₦airaland Forum

[size=14[b][/b]pt]We urgently need a IT project manager with at least 6 years experience with
Microsoft Dot Net Technology for immediate employement for our South Africa Subsidiary.
Please send your resume to ademola@ymail.com[/size]

Culled http://odili.net/news/source/​2012/may/10/522.html

Lagos State Government yesterday said it has begun work on the development of the Lekki-Epe International Airport to complement and provide alternative to the existing airport in the state.
The state Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Senapon Oworu, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Lagos said the state government had obtained the site approval for the airport from the Federal Ministry of Aviation.

Oworu revealed that the state government had also completed the masterplan on the 3500 hectares of land earmarked for the project , adding that the airport was designed to handle about five million passengers annually with provision for a modular terminal for future expansion.


She said preliminary work on the project had since began with the clearing of 4.5km of the access road and 9km of perimeter road, adding that it was in furtherance of its objective to make the Lekki Free Trade Zone a fully functional investment haven.


The commissioner assured that the Lekki Free Zone project was a reality as it had so far attracted key players particularly in the oil and gas sector with a greater prospect of attracting more investors as its development progressed, especially with the provision of power.


She said, “a further testimony to the development of the zone is the interest expressed by the Federal Government through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to establish a pioneer hydrocarbon industry park, which would comprise a green field refinery, petrochemical, fertilizer and power plant within the zone. The state had earmarked 1500 hectares of land for the purpose out of which 550 hectares would be released for the development of the refinery and power plant.


“A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the NNPC to this effect. The refinery is designed to have a refining capacity of between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. When completed, it would help to shore up the domestic refinery capacity and close the prevailing demand-supply gap for petroleum products in the country.”

She saidd that the state government had made appreciable progress in some of the social challenges that had in the past encumbered the smooth implementation of the Lekki-Free Zone project.

As usual we will all talk talk talk....but no one will take action.
The people that are ruling us cannot do anything, since they know how much is coming in for them.
Hence, no amount of talk will make them take any action. They will continue to manage the situation while innocent soul are being lost.
What amazes me is the callousness of the people behind Boko Haram, and is an evident there is silent war against Xtians and Southerners.
And unfortunately, our so call leaders from the both SW,SE,SS are self centered bunch that are not bold enough to figure out how to protect their own.

For all the tribalist on Nairaland......
This is another Nigerian of Ibo origin making the country proud !

To all the Atheist in da house  !!!!! What a pity , for you with no  faith in God

I can only pray that the living God open your eye so that you can see,

Just because you think God could have saved those victims of Xmas day bombing  , you concluded that God does not exist.

Perhaps you expected God to be some kind of super hero in human form that always appear at scene to save the day !

Folks you are damn wrong, even though you have free to believe or not to believe in the existence of God.

Let me share with you some evidence of God's existence ,

Romans 1 says that God has planted evidence of Himself throughout His creation so we are without excuse. In this essay we’ll be looking at different types of evidence indicating that God really does exist.
A "Just Right" Universe
There's so much about the universe, and our world in particular, that we take for granted because it works so well. But Christian astronomer Dr. Hugh Ross has cited twenty-six different characteristics about the universe that enable it to sustain life. And there are thirty-three characteristics about our galaxy, our solar system, and the planet Earth that are finely-tuned to allow life to exist.{1} I do well to make the meat, potatoes, vegetables, and bread all come out at the same time for dinner; we're talking about fifty-nine different aspects all being kept in perfect balance so the universe hangs together and we can live in it!

Our Earth, for instance, is perfectly designed for life. It's the "just right" size for the atmosphere we need. Its size and corresponding gravity hold a thin, but not too thin, layer of gases to protect us and allow us to breathe. When astronaut John Glenn returned to space, one of the things that struck him was how thin and fragile our atmosphere is (only 50 miles above the Earth). If our planet were smaller it couldn't support an atmosphere, like on Mercury. If it were larger, like Jupiter, the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, which is poison for us.{2} Earth is the only planet we know of that contains an atmosphere that can support human, animal, and plant life.

The Earth is also placed at a "just right" distance from the sun and the other planets in our solar system. If we were closer to the sun, we'd burn up. If we were farther away, we'd freeze. Because Earth's orbit is nearly circular, this slightly elliptical shape means that we enjoy a quite narrow range of temperatures, which is important to life. The speed of Earth's rotation on its axis, completing one turn every 24 hours, means that the sun warms the planet evenly. Compare our world to the moon, where there are incredible temperature variations because it lacks sufficient atmosphere or water to retain or deflect the sun's energy.

Speaking of the moon, it’s important that there is only one moon, not two or three or none, and it's the "just right" size and distance from us. The moon's gravity impacts the movement of ocean currents, keeping the water from becoming stagnant.{3}

Water itself is an important part of a "just right" world. Plants, animals and human beings are mostly made of water, and we need it to live. One of the things that makes Earth unique is the abundance of water in a liquid state.

Water has surface tension. This means that water can move upward, against gravity, to bring liquid nutrients to the tops of the tallest plants.

Everything else in the world freezes from the bottom up, but water freezes from the top down. Everything else contracts when it freezes, but water expands. This means that in winter, ponds and rivers and lakes can freeze at the surface, but allow fish and other marine creatures to live down below.

The fact that we live on a "just right" planet in a "just right" universe is evidence that it all was created by a loving God.
The Nagging Itch of "Ought"
As a mother, I was convinced of the existence of a moral God when my children, without being taught, would complain that something wasn't "fair." Fair? Who taught them about fair? Why is it that no one ever has to teach children about fairness, but all parents hear the universal wail of "That's not fa-a-a-a-a-air!" The concept of fairness is about an internal awareness that there's a certain way that things ought to be. It's not limited to three-year-olds who are unhappy that their older siblings get to stay up later. We see the same thing on "Save the Whales" bumper stickers. Why should we save the whales? Because we ought to take care of the world. Why should we take care of the world? Because we just should, that's why. It's the right thing to do. There's that sense of "ought" again.

Certain values can be found in all human cultures, a belief that we act certain ways because they're the right thing to do. Murdering one's own people is wrong, for example. Lying and cheating is wrong. So is stealing. Where did this universal sense of right and wrong come from? If we just evolved from the apes, and there is nothing except space, time, and matter, then from where did this moral sense of right and wrong arise?

A moral sense of right and wrong isn't connected to our muscles or bones or blood. Some scientists argue that it comes from our genes -- that belief in morality selects us for survival and reproduction. But if pressed, those same scientists would assure you that ultimate right and wrong don't exist in a measurable way, and it's only the illusion of morality that helps us survive. But if one researcher stole another's data and published results under his own name, all the theories about morality as illusion would go right out the window. I don't know of any scientist who wouldn't cry, "That's not fair!" Living in the real world is a true antidote for sophisticated arguments against right and wrong.

Apologist Greg Koukl points out that guilt is another indicator of ultimate right and wrong. "It's tied into our understanding of things that are right and things that are wrong. We feel guilty when we think we've violated a moral rule, an "ought." And that feeling hurts. It doesn't hurt our body; it hurts our souls. An ethical violation is not a physical thing, like a punch in the nose, producing physical pain. It's a soulish injury producing a soulish pain. That's why I call it ethical pain. That's what guilt is -- ethical pain."{4}

The reason all human beings start out with an awareness of right and wrong, the reason we all yearn for justice and fairness, is that we are made in the image of God, who is just and right. The reason we feel violated when someone does us wrong is that a moral law has been broken -- and you can't have a moral law without a moral law giver. Every time we feel that old feeling of, "It's not fa-a-a-a-a-air!" rising up within us, it's a signpost pointing us to the existence of God. He has left signposts pointing to Himself all over creation. That's why we are without excuse.

Evidence of Design Implies a Designer
If you've ever visited or seen pictures of Mount Rushmore, you cannot help but look at the gigantic sculpture of four presidents' faces and wonder at the skill of the sculptor. You know, without having to be told, that the natural forces of wind and rain did not erode the rock into those shapes. It took the skilled hands of an artist.

William Paley made a compelling argument years ago that the intricacies of a watch are so clearly engineered that it cannot be the product of nature: a watch demands a watchmaker. In the same way, the more we discover about our world and ourselves, the more we see that like an expertly-fashioned watch, our world and we ourselves have been finely crafted with intentional design. And design implies a designer.

Since we live in our bodies and take so much of our abilities for granted, it's understandable that we might miss the evidence of design within ourselves -- much like a fish might be oblivious to what it means to be wet. Dr. Phillip Bishop at the University of Alabama, challenges us to consider what would happen if we commissioned a team of mechanical engineers to develop a robot that could lift 500 pounds. And let's say we also commissioned them to design a robot that could play Chopin. They could probably do that. But what if we asked them to come up with a robot that could do both, and limit the robot's weight to 250 pounds, and require that it be able to do a variety of similar tasks? They'd laugh in our faces, no matter how much time or money we gave them to do it. But you know, all we'd be asking them to do is to come up with a very crude replication of former football player Mike Reid.{5}

Probably the greatest evidence of design in creation is DNA, the material of which our genes are made, as well as the genetic material for every living thing on the planet. One of the startling discoveries about DNA is that it is a highly complex informational code, so complex that scientists struggle hard to decipher even the tiniest portions of the various genes in every organism. DNA conveys intelligent information; in fact, molecular biologists use language terms -- code, translation, transcription -- to describe what it does and how it acts. Communication engineers and information scientists tell us that you can't have a code without a code-maker, so it would seem that DNA is probably the strongest indicator in our world that there is an intelligent Designer behind its existence.

Dr. Richard Dawkins, a professor of biology who writes books and articles praising evolution, said in his book The Blind Watchmaker, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose."{6} Even those who desperately fear the implications of design keep running into it.

Those who deny the evidence of a designer are a lot like the foolish fisherman. If he fails to catch a fish, he says, "Aha! This proves there are no fish!" He doesn't want to consider the possibility that it might be he is an inept fisherman. Since science cannot measure the intangible or the supernatural, there are many people who say, "Aha! There is no Creator."{7} Foolish fishermen deny the evidence that God exists and has left His fingerprints all over creation.

The Reliability of the Bible

Every religion has its own holy book, but the Bible is different from all the others. It claims to be the very Word of God, not dropped out of the sky but God-breathed, infused with God's power as He communicated His thoughts and intent through human writers.

The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years, by about forty different writers, on three different continents. They addressed a wide variety of subjects, and yet the individual books of the Bible show a remarkable consistency within themselves. There is a great deal of diversity within the Bible, at the same time displaying an amazing unity. It presents an internally consistent message with one great theme: God's love for man and the great lengths to which He went to demonstrate that love.

If you pick up any city newspaper, you won't find the kind of agreement and harmony in it that is the hallmark of the biblical books. A collection of documents that spans so much time and distance could not be marked by this unity unless it was superintended by one Author who was behind it all. The unity of the Bible is evidence of God's existence.

One other aspect of the Bible is probably the greatest evidence that God exists and that He has spoken to us in His holy book: fulfilled prophecy. The Bible contains hundreds of details of history which were written in advance before any of them came to pass. Only a sovereign God, who knows the future and can make it happen, can write prophecy that is accurately and always -- eventually -- fulfilled.

For example, God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel against the bustling seaport and trade center of Tyre. In Ezekiel 26:3-6, He said He would bring nations against her: "They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her soil from her, and make her a bare rock." Ezekiel 26-28 has many details of this prophecy against Tyre, which would be like Billy Graham announcing that God was going to wipe New York off the map.

Tyre consisted of two parts, a mainland city and an island a half- mile offshore. The first attack came from the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who laid siege to Tyre for thirteen years. Finally, his battering rams broke through the walls, and he tore down the city's towers. But the island part of the city wasn't yet destroyed, because this prophecy was fulfilled in stages. For 250 years it flourished, until Alexander the Great set his sights on Tyre. Even without a navy, he was able to conquer this island city in what some consider his greatest military exploit. He turned the ruined walls and towers of Old Tyre into rubble, which he used to build a causeway from the mainland to the island. When he ran out of material, he scraped the soil from the land to finish the land- bridge, leaving only barren rocks where the old city used to be. He fulfilled the prophecy, "They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters."{8}
Fulfilled prophecy is just one example of how God shows He is there and He is not silent. How else do we explain the existence of history written in advance?

Jesus: The Ultimate Evidence

The most astounding thing God has ever done to show His existence to us is when He passed through the veil between heaven and earth and came to live among us as a man.

Jesus Christ was far more than just a great moral teacher. He said things that would be outrageous if they weren't true, but He backed them up with even more outrageous signs to prove they were. Jesus claimed not to speak for God as a prophet, but to be God in human flesh. He said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father,"{9} and, "The Father and I are one."{10} When asked if He was the Messiah, the promised Savior, He said yes.{11} He told his contemporaries, "Before Abraham was, I am."{12} The fact that His unbelieving listeners decided then to kill Him shows that they realized He was claiming to be Yahweh, God Almighty.

When Jesus told His followers that He was the Good Shepherd,{13} they would immediately be reminded of a passage in the book of Ezekiel where Yahweh God pronounced Himself shepherd over Israel.{14} Jesus equated Himself with God.

But words are cheap, so Jesus backed up His words with miracles and signs to validate His truth-claims. He healed all sorts of diseases in people: the blind, the deaf, the crippled, lepers, epileptics, and even a woman with a twelve-year hemorrhage. He took authority over the demons that terrorized and possessed people. He even raised the dead.

Jesus showed His authority over nature, as well. He calmed a terrible storm with just a word. He created food out of thin air, with bread and fish left over! He turned water into wine. He walked on water.

He showed us what God the Father is like; Jesus was God with skin on. He was loving and sensitive, at the same time strong and determined. Children and troubled people were drawn to Him like a magnet, but the arrogant and self-sufficient were threatened by Him. He drenched people with grace and mercy while never compromising His holiness and righteousness.

And after living a perfect life, He showed His love to us by dying in our place on a Roman cross, promising to come back to life. Who else but God Himself could make a promise like that—and then fulfill it? The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the final, greatest proof that there is a God, that Jesus is God Himself, and that God has entered our world and showed us the way to heaven so we can be with Him forever. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by Me."{15}

God exists, and He has spoken. He made a "just right" universe that is stamped with clues of its Maker. He placed eternity in our hearts, as Ecclesiastes tells us, and all people have a strong moral streak because we are made in the image of a moral God. The evidence of design in our bodies, our world and the universe is a signpost pointing to a loving, intelligent Designer behind it all. The unity of the Bible and the hundreds of fulfilled prophecies in it show the mind of God behind its creation. And we've looked at the way Jesus punched through the space-time continuum to show us what God looks like, and opened the doorway to heaven. Jesus is the clearest evidence of all that God does exist.

Mobitel  4G Broadband is the fastest no doubt about it.

Is the only broadband internet with up till 3Mbps consistently,

Not sure of the service outside Lagos, but I have used Glo, Etisalat, MTN, SwiftNetwork, and nothing compares to Mobitel 4G the network

Hope the outcome of this match will keep the mouth of some people shut regarding TB. Joshua.

He predicted this outcome, and it came to PASS,

At least, he deserve some respect .

A prophet is not appreciated by his own people.

Guys,

Below is an excerpt from today's Guardian newspaper, most sensible speech I have ever heard from any Nigeria leader, both dead or alive.

I think with our support for GEJ, we can realize the dream of the country we wish to be.



Nation can do without oil

FOR the second time in a week, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday maintained that strong institutions and not strong leaders can make Nigeria great.

He also said the country needs reliable data for planning to realise its dreams of becoming a nation that meets the needs of its people and also capable of providing genuine leadership for the rest of Africa.

Jonathan had in a response to critics of his style of government last Sunday, said he would not behave as an Army General or the Biblican Pharaoh to solve the nation’s daunting problems.

The President again at the 51st Independence anniversary lecture at the auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja yesterday, pledged to build strong institutions that will make the system run smoothly.

He said: “I believe that for us to get to where we want to be, as a nation we have to build strong institutions and when we build them, they will drive the process.”

And from the guest speaker at the lecture, Prof. Richard Dowden, corruption and the politics of malfeasance are the major problems facing Nigeria.

He said of the $1 trillion illegally transferred to safe tax havens overseas from Western and Central Africa, Nigeria accounts for $89.5 billion.

In the audience were the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, some state governors and members of the diplomatic corps.

Jonathan, who responded to Dowden’s comments on the Nigeria’s electoral system and other matters, said the reforms in the sector have produced credible elections last April, which have shown that what Nigeria needs to develop are strong institutions and strong people.

Dowden had identified transparency and good governance as vital elements that must be adopted by Nigeria to move to the next level of development.

Jonathan said in the pursuit of strong institutions, his administration had strengthened the security services and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct an election that the whole world accepted. “So, I normally say that when we strengthen our institutions, the system will begin to run properly. I do tell people in my office that ministers don’t need to see me if the system is working well.”

On data, the President raised some posers: “Can any Nigerian being a minister, permanent secretary or director go anywhere and say exactly the population of Nigeria? For us to move forward, we must know ourselves. Fortunately, the Minister of Nnational planning is here. I remember as Vice President then, I was disturbed at a programme, where the Minister of Finance gave different statistics, the Planning Minister gave another statistics and the CBN governor did the same. Then I said no, we cannot run the country this way and I called a meeting to get the figures right.”

He continued: “When the 2006 population Census was to be done, we were discussing about it either in 2004 or 2005. I was there as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State and the issue was if we are going to put religion in the form. If you look at what we did, there was no column for religion. If you go to a place like Malaysia and enter a taxi-cab, the ordinary taxi driver will tell you the population of Malaysia. He will tell you how many are Chinese, how many are this and how many are that.”

Jonathan painted a picture, which suggested that Nigeria is moving forward despite the perceived malfeasance of those who drive the nation’s bureaucracy “, We are moving this country forward and we are trying to do things differently not by the President carrying a big stick and breaking the heads of all corrupt people. I will not be breaking the heads of all civil servants that report to work by 9.00 a.m. I was told that you rarely see people going to work by 8.00 a.m. even though the period of service is between 8 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. How many directors come to work by 8.00 a.m.? I’m not sure 10 per cent of them come to work by that time. I’m not going to chase them by carrying a big stick into their ministries, but I believe that for us to get to where we want to be as a nation, we have to build strong institutions and when we build them, they will drive the process, even if I am sick for six months, ordinary Nigerians will not know that the President is sick because the system is running.”

He also spoke on the kind of working relationship he loves to have with his cabinet members. The President said “ministers have budgets approved by the National Assembly to run their ministries, so even if a minister does not see the President for four years and he is competent, he can run the ministry in a way that Nigerians will know that we are working. Yes, because we are just starting, so many things are not done properly, so almost everything needs the President’s intervention because we want to alter something that has been there but is not good enough. In that case, you need the signature of the President to give the power. Now, we are in the process of that transformation, by the time we finish setting up all these structures, Nigeria will get to where we are all hoping to be. I have no doubt about that.”

On Nigeria’s mono-cultural economy, Jonathan attributed it to oil. “It is not just the oil but any country that is blessed with a mineral, extractive industry generally breed corruption and that is the perception of the people. I am hoping for a Nigeria that will in the next 10 years or thereabout run government without oil and we can do it. If you look at the size of Nigeria, all the imports that come into Africa, about 20 per cent of them come into this country. If we have well-managed ports alone, the income we receive from trading activities will be enough, but we are still running deficit budgets because there are a lot of leakages. Things are not being done properly. Some goods that are supposed to be cleared through Nigerian wharfs are being cleared through other countries or smuggled into Nigeria. We consume all those goods but we cannot clear them through our wharfs.”

Jonathan spoke elaborately on the issue especially as it connects with the ideal of making the institutions in Nigeria run.

He said: “We need to fix a number of critical institutions, it may be painful but we have to do it. People will complain that politics is being used but it must be done. By the time, these institutions are fixed, I believe in the next 10 years or so, we should be able to run our economy without oil. For now, about the 53 African states, about 20 or so produce oil. We are getting oil everywhere but the quantity may differ. If we continue to rely on oil, of course, it is also a wasting asset. Developed countries are thinking about alternatives. They are developing generating plants that don’t require hydrocarbon fuel. In the next 50 years, you do not know what the world would be. People may be driving cars without oil, so we need to plan for a nation that can do without oil, ”

The President said the trend might have informed the prediction about Nigeria collapsing but “when we look well, Nigeria is moving. A country that everybody expects to collapse and because it looks like a heated oven is making giant strides.”

He said the country has good people in athletics and in academics, “so, why can’t we fix our country and that is the kernel.”

Dowden, who is the Director of Africa Royal Society, asserted that Nigeria and some African countries have been adopting “wrong economic policies for political reasons.”

He said: “The fifth and main problem that Nigeria faces is politics. Often, Nigeria and much of Africa have followed the wrong economic policies for political reasons, This has accounted for the over 100 million Nigerians living in poverty - which is a quarter of the total poverty in sub-Sahara Africa.”

According to the renowned analyst and author, “after oil and corruption, which are closely linked, I would say that Nigeria’s reputation in the past still puts off investors and tourists.”

Dowden did not spare Nigeria’s resource allocation formula. He said: “What I see here is that perceived or real unfairness in the system of resource allocation has led to fierce competition for success or just survival. I would say that the competitive, creative spirit this creates is far more powerful than in any other country in the world.”

Swiftly identifying corruption, poor reputation and flight of human capital as other factors that have worked against the country’s economic prosperity, he regretted that Nigeria at independence in 1960 had a trade surplus with the United Kingdom and substantial reserves, which have now gone up in flame.

Just as Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka warned on Monday, Dowden concluded that if the upcoming generation of Nigerians was unable to fulfil its potential, the country stood the risk of experiencing mass revolt.

Dowden, who authored the book: “Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles,” noted with dismay that Nigeria’s economic woes began with the advent of oil, which according him, led to a lack of initiative from successive governments.

His lecture was titled: “Nigeria in Transformation.”

He went hard on members of the National Assembly, whom he darted for earning the “highest amount paid congressmen the world over.” Nigeria, he said cannot continue with the socio-economic disparity that exists between the rich and the poor. Recent cases of violence, he submitted, “were not about religion.”

Former British broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent Michael Wrong and renowned poet and critic, Odia Ofemiun, both discussants at the lecture, called on the government to end the lopsided distribution of wealth and diminishing amount of opportunities for Nigerians in the lower rungs of society.

Ofemiun wondered why “we give poor children poor education to keep them poor.”

I think Glo main backbone have broken down,

Unconfirmed report has it that it suffered a major breakdown, and might take longer than usual to fix.

I need information on GSM data service coverage or footprint by each the major GSM network in Nigeria according to the 774 local government area in the country.

Thanks for your input.

Integrate your already written application seamlessly  with any core banking application(Globus, Finacle, Capiti and Flexcube) and GSM core network( Ericsson CS3.0, PPAS, Intek ) system with already developed ISO standard interface.
contact Sam on samuel.babs@ymail.com for details.

Pretty funny... ... i think 3000 years from now will be more weird than those.