GIST ME JOOR

5 Evil People Whose Past May Surprise You

2015-03-23T15:05:00.004-07:00

For history buffs, the fact that an aspiring artist named Adolf Hitler was, as a young man, rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts is a stark reminder of the tantalizing contingency of historical events.

A nascent megalomaniac may wear many hats before donning the service cap and shades of a despot.

But would Hitler’s dangerous ambitions have been contained, or his malevolence deflected, had he become an accomplished artist? As history reminds us time and time again, the road to evil often contains some rather surprising detours along the way. And, as the following cases show, a nascent megalomaniac may try on many — unexpected — hats before donning the service cap and shades of a despot or mass murderer.

1. Pol Pot, Parisian Student

Three decades before his anti-intellectual regime imposed a monolingual, agrarian socialism on the people of Cambodia and claimed the lives of more than 1 million people, Pol Pot was a bilingual foreign student and bon vivant living in the City of Light. In 1949, the 24-year-old future dictator earned a scholarship to study radio electronics in Paris, where, like many student activists, he enjoyed dancing and discussing politics over vin rouge in his Latin Quarter apartment. His study-abroad experience ended after he failed his course three years in a row, forcing him to return to Cambodia in 1953, the same year that the former French colony became independent.

2. Jim Jones, Human Rights Crusader

Jim Jones, the charismatic American religious leader and founder of the People’s Temple, is best known for his role in the group’s cult murder/suicide at Jonestown in 1978, including the poisoning of more than 300 children. But prior to becoming a cult leader, Jones was an avid community organizer and integrationist who was appointed director of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission in 1961. That same year, when an ulcer-suffering Jones was mistakenly placed in the black ward of a local hospital (because his doctor was black), he refused to move, and his subsequent agitating led to the integration of the hospital.

3. Idi Amin, Heavyweight Champion

Nelson Mandela was not the only former big-name African leader to have spent a great deal of time in the ring as a young man. Just a decade before he staged a 1971 coup to seize power in Uganda, a 6-foot-4-inch, 270-pound Idi Amin was the nation’s heavyweight boxing champion for more than eight years. A former officer in the British Colonial Army before turning tyrant, Amin was also a capable rugby player, though not the sharpest tool in the scrum. Army officials observed of Amin — who would later be responsible for the deaths of up to half a million of his people — that he was “a splendid type and a good (rugby) player … but … virtually bone from the neck up, and needs things explained in words of one letter.”

4. Ayatollah Khomeini, Philosopher and Poet

For most of his adult life, Ruhollah Ayatollah Khomeini was a teacher and lecturer, primarily of Islamic mysticism and philosophy. Prior to embarking on his mission to turn Iran into an Islamic theocracy, Khomeini, influenced by Aristotle and Sufi mystics, penned at least 25 books and treatises, and even some original poems. One poem, published in an Iranian newspaper just four months after Khomeini issued a fatwā against author Salman Rushdie in 1989, begins:

I have become imprisoned, O beloved, by the mole on your lip! / I saw your ailing eyes and became ill through love.

While it appears the Ayatollah is adopting a poetic persona to express a more mystical love of God, his ardent words are not what you’d expect from your average mullah.

5. Timothy McVeigh, Decorated Veteran

Four years before the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and left hundreds more injured, terrorist Timothy McVeigh was a uniformed member of the U.S. Army participating in Operation Desert Storm. On the second day of fighting, McVeigh decapitated one Iraqi soldier and killed another, firing from more than a mile away, actions that earned him a Bronze Star. In 1997, after McVeigh was sentenced to death for his crimes, President Bill Clinton signed special legislation to prevent McVeigh from receiving the military burial and honors concomitant with his service.

The good news — and there is some — is that, according to Harvard’s Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, recent declines in levels of human violence suggest that the correlative journey from artist, poet or scholar to mass murderer is not as achievable a career goal as it once was thanks to the growing number of social, moral and political obstacles in its path.

Still, even today, we might want to keep an eye on a former ophthalmology trainee (Bashar Assad) or a Jesuit-trained secondary school teacher (Robert Mugabe), among many others. You just never know what they may want to do when they grow up.

Obama Talks To Nigerians On the Forthcoming Elections

2015-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

As we begin the countdown to the election, I urge us to ponder upon the admonitions of the US President Barack Obama on how we should conduct ourselves during and after the elections. Those who have ears should hear.
Obama Address To Nigerians re-echoed the civil war maxim: To keep Nigerian One is a task which must be accomplished.

The Oscar Pistorius verdict exposes South Africa’s fraught racial history

2014-09-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last Valentine’s Day, Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after firing four times through a locked bathroom door in the middle of the night. He thought Steenkamp was still in bed next to him. He thought she was an intruder, he said, offering up the flimsiest of defences for the indefensible. It was as if Pistorius knew he didn’t need to come up with a plausible explanation and so he did not even try.

Since the trial began in March, we’ve watched and waited and hoped for justice. It has been a bit surreal, given the facts of the case, to imagine an outcome where justice would not be served. Or it has been a bit surreal to accept that we live in a world where a man can justify shooting an unarmed woman through a locked door. Then again, this is also a world where an armed police officer can shoot an unarmed young black man. Whether in South Africa or Ferguson, Missouri, the rules most of us live by hardly seem to apply to white men.

Today, we have a clearer understanding of what justice means for certain groups of people, which is to say that justice can mean far too little. Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa has found Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide rather than premeditated murder. Hers is a verdict that raises the question – what does a man have to do to be found guilty of murdering a woman?

Among her comments, Judge Masipa, who has acquitted herself well throughout the trial, noted that Pistorius’s defence of his crime can “reasonably possibly be true”. The evidence against Pistorius for premeditated murder was “purely circumstantial”. He did, however, act negligently because “a reasonable person with a similar disability would have foreseen that the person behind the door would be killed, and the accused failed to take action to avoid this”. Those words are hollow because a reasonable person never would have been in such a situation in the first place.

We might be able to say that this is a failure of prosecution, that the prosecutors did not do enough to prove that Pistorius committed premeditated murder. Those words feel flimsy right now. A woman is dead at the hands of her intimate partner. She is dead under the most implausible of circumstances because what would an intruder be doing, locked in a bathroom in the middle of the night? We know, because of details that emerged after she was killed, that Steenkamp and Pistorius had volatile moments in their relationship. We know Pistorius had a penchant for modern weaponry. We know a woman is dead, and still what we know is not enough.

Among the other counts Judge Masipa adjudicated, Pistorius was convicted of the negligent handling of a firearm after he misfired a gun in a restaurant last year. One cannot help but feel that interrupting a meal and interrupting a woman’s life are offences held in somewhat equal regard in this world. Now we will have to wait until 13 October for sentencing to find out what the judge sees as a fitting punishment for this lesser crime. That punishment, too, will not be enough.

What makes this all the more offensive is how Pistorius has, essentially, framed his defence as a fear of blackness. By evoking an unseen intruder he has exploited the complex and fraught racial history of South Africa to help justify his crime. As Margie Orford wrote, in these pages, “This imaginary body of the paranoid imaginings of suburban South Africa has lurked like a bogeyman at the periphery of this story for the past year. It is the threatening body, nameless and faceless, of an armed and dangerous black intruder.”

Pistorius would have us believe that he thought his girlfriend was safely in bed next to him. He would have us believe this mythical black intruder was locked in his bathroom. He would have us believe this mythical black intruder was whom he was killing when he fired through a closed door four times, as if somehow that would be justifiable. Though early this morning I may not understand this world we live in, Oscar Pistorius understands it and what he can get away with, perfectly

CULLED: THE GUARDIAN

Why Mosquitoes Always Bite Some People.

2014-09-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, it’s not in your head. Mosquitoes really doprefer some people to others, says Dr. Jonathan Day, a medical entomologist and mosquito expert at the University of Florida. And that time your grandmother told you your skin was just sweeter? There’s some truth to that, Day says. “Some people produce more of certain chemicals in their skin,” he explains. “And a few of those chemicals, like lactic acid, attract mosquitoes.” There’s also evidence that one blood type (O) attracts mosquitoes more than others (A or B). Unfortunately, your genes dictate your blood type and the chemical makeup of your birthday suit. Genetics also determine several other factors that could make you an object of blood-sucking affection for your local mosquito population, Day says. Maybe the most important: Your metabolic rate, or the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) your body releases as it burns energy.

Mosquitoes use CO2 as their primary means of identifying bite targets, Day says. Why? “All vertebrates produce carbon dioxide, so what better way could there be for a mosquito to cue in on a host?” And while it’s true that you can moderate your metabolic rate through diet and exercise, you can only change your metabolism so much, Day says.

“Pregnant women and overweight or obese people tend to have higher resting metabolic rates, which may make them more attractive to mosquitoes,” he explains. Also, drinking alcohol or physically exerting yourself raises your metabolic rate—and also your appeal to winged biters, he adds. (Exercising before grabbing a beer and heading outside = asking for trouble.)

While CO2 detection is the primary technique mosquitoes and other blood-sucking bugs use to spot hosts, they also rely on secondary cues to differentiate you from cars, decaying trees, and other CO2-producing objects. And you can control some of those secondary cues, Day says.

For example: Dark clothing is more attractive to mosquitoes than light oufits. Why? “Mosquitoes have problems flying in even a slight wind, and so they keep close to the ground,” Day explains. Down there, they spot hosts by comparing your silhouette to the horizon. Dark colors stand out, while light shades blend in, he says. At the same time, lots of motion distinguishes you from your surroundings. So if you’re moving around a lot or gesturing, you might as well be shouting, “Hey, mosquitoes! I’m right here, ladies!” (Only the females bite, Day says.)

Obviously, you’re not going to spend the summer sitting stock-still in a white suit. So what are the best ways to avoid itchy bites? Day recommends protective clothing, which doesn’t mean baggy jeans and long-sleeved sweatshirts. “Lots of the lightweight, breathable fabrics made for athletes or fishermen are woven tightly enough to protect you from bugs,” he says.

If your summer style isn’t negotiable—or for those parts of your body you can’t cover up—Day recommends a mosquito repellant with 15% DEET. Just make sure to follow the label’s instructions for safe application. “Spray it into your hands and then rub it on your skin to avoid inhaling it,” he says. “That’ll protect you for around 90 minutes.”

Also, mosquitoes usually feed at dawn and dusk when the wind tends to die down and the humidity rises, Day explains. If you can stay indoors at those times, you’ll avoid bites. A good fan pointed in your general vicinity will also do a great job of keeping the bugs away. “Mosquitoes can’t fly in a breeze faster than 1 mile per hour,” Day says.

If all that fails, hug a bite-free buddy. Maybe some of his mosquito-repelling skin chemicals will rub off on you.

Culled: Time

A TALE OF THREE JOBLESS FOLKS

2014-08-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

There is no gainsaying the fact that joblessness or call it unemployment is usually the nightmare of most graduates across the globe. In a bid to disentangle oneself from the biting grips of this ugly situation, most jobless folks have adopted different approaches from the conventional to the radical. Here are three pictures of three jobless folks in three different climes, one here in Nigeria, the other in Tunisia and another in UK.

In the first picture we can see an unemployed graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Ekiti State University, Mr. Sunday Omotayo, being pleaded with by a police officer to get up after he allegedly jumped out of a speeding Toyota Hiace expecting to be crushed by oncoming vehicles.

According to him: “There is no state that I have not gone to in search of a job in the past 10 years. I came to Akwa Ibom because this is my last hope because of the stories of Governor Godswill Akpabio and his uncommon transformation. I came with the hope that with what is going on in the state, getting a job would be easy so that I can begin to be a man. But since I came, I discovered that many people from Akwa Ibom are also crying because of poverty and joblessness.”

In the second picture, we can see twenty-six-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi shortly before he died from burns he sustained after setting himself on fire. He was said to be living in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid, had a university degree but no work. To earn some money he took to selling fruit and vegetables in the street without a licence. When the authorities stopped him and confiscated his produce, he was so angry that he set himself on fire.

The riots and demonstrations that have swept through Tunisia during the past 10 days also began with a small incident.

Rioting followed and security forces sealed off the town. On Wednesday, another jobless young man in Sidi Bouzid climbed an electricity pole, shouted "no for misery, no for unemployment", then touched the wires and electrocuted himself. The reactions to these events in Tunisia quickly spiralled out of control and snowballed into the Arab Spring that Swept away Muommar Gaddafi & Hosni Mubarrack of Libya and Egypt from power.

For Mr Sunday and Mohamed Bouazizi as well as Sidi Bouzid , hopelessness had set in after years of joblessness and hence their choice to express their frustration in the manner they did. But that was not obviously the case with Alfred, who graduated in May and have been applying for jobs ever since. Though Alfred has been finding it very difficult at the moment, one morning however, Alfred stood at the entrance to a busy station holding a sign that read: 'Marketing graduate (BA Hons 2:1 Coventry Uni) Ask for CV.'

Alfred's direct approach received a warm response from commuters, with many stopping to discuss potential positions. According to him, he realised that there are thousands of students out there using the same old methods of applying for jobs on-line and through recruitment agencies and so I thought I'd try something different.

'I got up early and went to the station he said. At first people just looked at me but after about 10 minutes people starting stopping and talking. They said they'd never seen anything like it before and were really impressed.

As I write, another batch of corpers have just left the orientation camp. For some of these corpers, especially those of them that will come to terms with the reality inherent in the distorted acronym of NYSC as "Now Your Suffering Continues"; the morale lesson from these stories is for them to confront the situations the find themselves with approaches that are not only acceptable to the climes they find themselves but approaches that wont be counter-productive.

If out of frustration, a Nigerian graduate decides to tow the line of the Tunisian duo of Mohamed Bouazizi as well as Sidi Bouzid both of whom took their lives in order to draw attention to their plights, that fellow can be rest assured of a double jeopardy in the sense that he or she wont only have failed to better his lot or that of others but will also be dismissed as an outright failure because our society does not approve of such suicidal missions. Thank goodness that Mr. Sunday Omotayo's suicidal mission was not successful but even if he had been crushed by incoming vehicles as he had wished, he would just be dismissed as a lazy man and thus confined to the ash bin of history.

Alfred's direct approach in UK may have received a warm response from commuters, with many stopping to discuss potential job offers but the success of such approach will be minimal here in Nigeria. The reason being that the jobs are not just there. What we need is a new orientation towards job creation or self employment. While this may be a hard nut to sell, it surely remains the best option for any graduate that would not like to be frustrated.

British soldier buys boy a new face

2014-08-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

A British soldier who spotted a boy with a terrible deformity while on patrol in Bosnia has spent ten years fundraising to finally deliver his promise of giving him - a new FACE.

Staff Sergeant Wayne Ingram, 44, met four-year-old Stefan Savic a decade ago while on peacekeeping duties in Eastern Europe.

The youngster was born with a debilitating condition Tessier facial cleft which meant his eyes were 4.5cm further apart than normal and he had no proper nose.

But father-of-two Wayne, formerly of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, was so moved by Stefan's plight he vowed to get him state-of-the-art medical help.

He collected an amazing £85,000 with a fundraising drive across Bosnia and the UK before bringing Stefan back to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2003.

The youngster underwent 12 hours of surgery with plastic surgeon David Dunaway who cut his face in half before moving his eyes closer together and building him a nose.

The op was a success but Mr Dunaway warned that a second surgery would be needed a decade later.

Just a normal, playful little boy

Determined Wayne kept in touch with Stefan and his parents Slavenka, 36, and Milos, 44, raising a further £20,000 to bring him back to the UK to finish his treatment.

Stefan, now aged 14, returned to Great Ormond Street this week for his second operation with Mr Dunaway to improve his face and help his breathing.

Modest Wayne, from Weymouth, Dorset, said he was just happy to complete the remarkable job of helping Stefan lead the life of a normal little boy.

He said: "I was on a routine patrol In Bosnia when I was introduced to his father and went to meet Stefan.

"The condition had been left untreated and had grown between Stefan’s eyes, crushing his skull, forcing his eyes apart to the point he couldn’t see what was ahead of him.

"But aside from the facial deformities he was just a normal, playful little boy. He was confident and cheeky, climbing all over me as we played football in the yard.

"He was too young then to be self-aware. But his facial cleft was blocking his airways and without medical attention could kill him.

"I had two young sons myself at the time and there was no way I could stand back and do nothing. I knew in an instant I had to do everything I could to help."

Massive fundraising drive

As Wayne set about raising funds, he wrote to a long list of celebrities - but only David Beckham replied, politely explaining he had already chosen his charities for that year.

Mr Dunaway was offering his services for free but Wayne still needed to pay for flights, accommodation for the family, as well as essential hospital costs.

He raised 6,000 Euros by staging a charity football match in Banja Luka, with Muslim, Serb and Croat players setting aside their conflicts to help Stefan.

And back in the UK, Wayne launched a massive fundraising drive, persuading his local Asda to put collection boxes beside their tills.

Wayne said: "Donations poured in and I was bowled over by the generosity.

"Stefan needed three operations back then - one to remove his teeth, another to reconstruct his nose and another to reconstruct his skull.

"He was back and forth to the UK many times, staying for as long as a month at a time.

"The doctors warned us it wasn’t over, however, and that ten years later Stefan would need follow up surgery.

"But we have kept in touch ever since and as ten years neared I let Stefan’s family know I would raise the necessary funds - over £20,000."

As Wayne set about raising a second lot of cash to pay for visas, hospital costs and flights, he was once more amazed by people's generosity.

In his native Dorset one anonymous donor, calling herself simply ‘the kind granny' contributed a "large, undisclosed" amount.

And this time celebs including comic Jim Davidson and musician Billy Bragg also answered his SOS.

Honouring a promise

With the funding in place, brave Stefan underwent his four-hour follow-up operation with Mr Dunaway on Saturday and is making a good recovery.

Mr Dunaway, who once more waived his fees, said: "This operation was really about reconstructing his nose and improving his nasal airway.

"His nose was very wide and he basically didn't have a tip to it at all.

"We took a cartilage from one rib, fashioned it into the shape of a nose, then used it to reconstruct his nose.

"This will allow him to breath more easily, eat more easily, it will improve his speech and he will look much more like the rest of us.

"To have the opportunity to greet him again and finish it off so he can lead a normal life and not worry about these things is just great."

Stefan will likely need a further operation on his nose and orthodontics to realign his teeth before one final surgery to correct the roof of his mouth.

Wayne, who was so inspired by Stefan's medical progress he became a paramedic after leaving the army, says he'll be there every step of the way.

Wayne, whose own sons Harry and Toby are now 18 and 16, added: "Stefan has never moaned or complained the whole time I've known him.

"His mum says that after his latest operation he looked in front of the mirror and said: 'this is the best thing that has ever happened to me'.

"For me this was about honouring a promise I made all those years ago and doing everything I could for Stefan.

"He's changed my life as well and inspired me to become a paramedic. We'll always have an inseparable bond."

Wayne's fundraising efforts have been supported by the Facing the World charity, which provides life-changing surgery to children from developing countries with severe facial disfigurements.

To make a donation visit facingtheworld.net

SOURCE MSN

What Is Octogoat?

2014-08-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

No Kidding! Baby Goat Has Eight Legs

A goat born in Croatia this week had one befuddled farmer questioning his own eyes when he counted eight legs on the kid.

Nicknamed "octogoat," the baby also had both male and female reproductive organs, leading local vets to believe that the newborn's condition was a result of an under-developed twin, ITV reported today.

"I counted his legs and I thought I was seeing things. Then I called my neighbor to make sure that I am not crazy," farmer Zoran Paparic told inSerbia.

He said his goat Sarka gave birth to the kid at his farm in Kutjevo, in northeast Croatia.

It's unlikely the goat will survive, the vets said, but Paparic said he would keep the goat as a pet if it survives.

Source ABC News

Peter Obi on Democracy Day’. by Segun Adeniyi

2014-05-29T14:58:00.001-07:00

When I encountered the immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, in Abuja about three weeks ago at his hotel room, he was discussing with an estate agent who was trying to secure for him accommodation to rent at his personal expense. Coming at a period in which many of his colleagues have bastardised section 124 (subsection 5) of the 1999 Constitution which deals with the remunerations (including gratuity) of governors and deputy governors, Obi has proved to be refreshingly different. And on a day such as this, he provides a ready example of the kind of moderation expected of our political office holders if this democracy is to endure.

In a nation where accountability is in short supply, there is perhaps no greater threat today than the impunity with which government officials and their spouses, at practically all levels, appropriate to themselves and cronies scarce public resources. They fly private jets (where they don’t buy one with government funds), stay in the most expensive hotels both within and outside the country, erect big mansions they hardly live in while moving around in convoys of the latest automobiles. To compound the situation, it is not enough that they enjoy such luxury at the expense of the people while in office, they also want to continue with it after office hence they now make laws to confer on themselves such criminal indulgences as private citizens.

However, as I said earlier, Peter Obi is different. He remains probably the most modest person to have been governor under the current dispensation while his lifestyle must have saved Anambra State billions of Naira, especially when compared with the cost of maintaining his colleagues. Even when he was already a wealthy man before assuming office, Obi exhibited uncommon decency and humility while in office. Within the country, he travelled light, just with one aide and always on commercial airlines as opposed to his colleagues who travelled by private jets. And whenever he travelled outside the country, you would only find Obi in the business class compartment.

As we therefore mark the 15th anniversary of our democratic journey under the current dispensation, Obi’s story is particularly instructive against the background that on Monday, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly passed an executive bill which guarantees Governor Godswill Akpabio about N200 million annually for life. At a time he would have left Uyo (and probably while still earning several millions of Naira as a sitting senator in Abuja), Akpabio would be entitled to a pension at a rate equivalent to the salary of the sitting Akwa Ibom governor.

The law which only “upgrades” the earlier version signed by his predecessor, Obong Victor Atta, also provides for a former governor and his spouse a sum not exceeding N5 million per month to employ domestic staff and free medical services at a sum not exceeding N100 million per annum. A befitting accommodation not below a 5-bedroom maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom is also waiting for a former governor. Of course, the bill does not forget to take care of the deputy governor who is also entitled to some form of luxury after office. Yet as scandalous as the foregoing may seem, Akwa Ibom is only following in the footsteps of several other states where former governors have literally put their people in perpetual servitude.

In several of these states, there is a law binding the government to provide mansions both in choice areas of Abuja and their state capital for a former governor who is also entitled to several vehicles and retinue of aides. Kano perhaps provides a prime illustration of this scandal and I enjoin readers to just google the name Shekarau or Kwankwaso over “pension residence” for former governors to understand the abuse to which a simple constitutional provision could be subjected in pursuit of inordinate private interest.

However, as I said earlier, Obi is different because he managed Anambra State resources as he would his own. What is even more remarkable is that in a milieu when many governors have virtually bankrupted their states with loans that can hardly be accounted for by any meaningful projects, Obi left substantial amount of money for his successor without any debt. Yet we are talking of a state that is number 22 (among 36 states) in revenue sharing.

Due to the fact that I visited Anambra State only once throughout his extended tenure, I do not know much about Obi’s stewardship beyond what I read in newspapers. So this piece is not about his achievements in office for which I am not in a position to comment. It is nonetheless noteworthy that the 2013 West African Examination Council (WAEC) results released a fortnight ago put Anambra State students top on the chart. Yet a time was when young men from the state that has produced some of the brightest and the best of our country would rather go to Lagos to sell spare-parts than go to school. To the extent that the state now leads in WAEC, Peter Obi must have done something right with education even though that is not the real essence of this intervention.

On March 17 this year when he handed over to Mr. Willie Obiano, the former governor said he was leaving behind billions of Naira in the state treasury. At the time, I thought it was a remarkable development and I wanted to take it up on this page. Before I could write on it, however, there were advertorials in the newspapers which suggested that Obi might not have presented an accurate picture of things. That prompted me to investigate the veracity of his claim.

In the hand-over note to Governor Obiano dated March 17 this year, Obi indeed gave a summary of the full financial statement of Anambra State as at the close of business on Friday, March 14 (effectively his last day in office) as follows: Local Investments (N27 billion); Foreign Currency Investment (US $156 Million the Naira equivalent of which was put at N26.5 billion); Certified State/MDAs Balances (N28,165,985,574); Federal Government Approved Refund (N10 billion) and estimated balances, including March salaries, pension and gratuity as well as approved certificates of already executed projects (N5 billion). That put the total net balance at about N86.67 billion.

The question therefore is: Is the claim true? I believe it is. A March 5, 2014 document originating from Fidelity Securities Limited and addressed to the Anambra State Accountant General on the investment mandate from the State Government reveals the details of the Eurobond securities purchased for the state as follows: Access Bank with 25 July, 2017 as maturity date amounts to $7,413,619; four federal government bonds which will mature in 2018, 2021 and 2023 total $20,382,500; two Gabonese government bonds which will mature on 12 December 2024 total $7,008,750; a Ghanaian government bond which matures on 4 October, 2017 amounts to $5,451,319; Guarantee Trust Bank bond which matures on May 19, 2015 gives $4,307,500 and a First Bank of Nigeria bond which matures on August 7, 2020 will yield $5,254,062. According to the document, the state has already received “total coupon amounting to $855,400 to date from investment in Access Bank and Nigerian Sovereigns” while awaiting “instruction on account to credit with the Naira equivalent.”

Aside the $50 million invested on behalf of the State Government on 31 October, 2013 by Diamond Bank, an Access Bank document dated 31 January, 2014 also confirms the investment of the sum of US$49,966,504.08 on behalf of Anambra State in six Eurobonds for a period ranging between one and five years and an average yield of between 6.2 and 7.1 percent.

While there may be a debate as to the actual total sum of the investments left by the Obi administration since I do not have all the details, it is remarkable that we had a governor who was not only thinking of the immediate but also considered it imperative to invest for the future, especially at a time he would no longer be in office. This is important because he could have spent all the money since there is never a shortage of projects to undertake.

In a way, we can link Obi’s frugality to his background as a successful business man prior to going into politics. He merely transposed the virtues of private business practice onto the management of public affairs. This contrasts with the vast majority of governors who prior to coming to office had no track record in the management of any organization. Because Anambra State has the added advantage of having one of the most entrepreneurial people in our country, a population that uses self-help for development can only complement the work of a frugal and result-oriented governor.
The greatest challenge of our country today is poverty accentuated by the gulf between the haves and the have-not, which seems to be getting wider by the day. Yet many of our public officials flaunt their decadent lifestyles and revel in ostentation at public expense. Today in Nigeria, the cost of maintaining public officials is huge, and accounts for most of the resources that ordinarily should go to development. That is what endears Obi to me. In or out of office, he remains a simple man and a shining example of what a public servant should be.

Living fast lives at public expense is not only becoming an unbearable burden in Nigeria, it is such wasteful and patently criminal tendencies that now increase poverty, unemployment and insecurity. Because our people have practically endorsed impunity, majority of these governors and other political office holders in the country are crossing the ethical boundary by the manner in which they expend scarce public resources without any regard for the common good.

That I have singled out Peter Obi for commendation is because he has a sense of responsibility when it comes to public fund and has chosen the road less travelled. On such a day as this, Obi’s modesty and frugality are definitely worth recommending to the current and future generations of Nigerian political office holders. Even at that, I hope governors who are making laws for their own post-office comfort can see the danger of what they are doing and the dire implications for the future of our democracy. The lesson is all too clear: If and when they eventually push the people to the wall, there will be serious consequences, not only for them but also unfortunately for all of us.

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Ogunsola: Naked But North Ashamed...

2014-05-28T01:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 11, 2012

SHOULD a man's trousers slip down his legs in the full glare of a busy street, the frantic attempt to redeem the situation almost always results in greater "calamity": the elongation of his rear end (buttocks) while bending to reach the errant trousers! It can be quite embarrassing no matter how briefly or swiftly executed; the public often gets a glimpse of some most confidential commodities best left out of print...

However, the accompanying discomfiture notwithstanding, the redemptive move remains the hallmark of sanity. Refusal to do it is almost a fool-proof sign of insanity. Who but a soft-headed fellow will stand half-nude on a busy street and do nothing to save the situation.

It is however legitimate to wonder why the slip occurred in the first place. Only a curious brand of sloppiness will cause a full-grown man to handle zipping up and belting down (or tying down) of his trousers (or sokoto) with levity.

With the killing machines which the Northern elite has bred and nurtured within its domain over time now out of control and ravaging the region, their pants are way down their knees. And the so-called elders of the region have refused to bend their knees to redeem their trousers. Rather, they prefer to stand, trousers down, talking back at sane advisers from other regions of the federation. One of their ranks, a common rogue of international repute, even imagines himself to be a statesman. Eleleya.

Now, their sins (age-old treachery) has caught up with them; and they stand naked on the streets .

But they are not ashamed.

What is wrong in an elder like Chief Edwin Clark expressing the opinion that Northern leaders were not speaking out against increasing violence in their own region? Or in specifically charging Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari to speak out? Clark had, after all, personally led efforts to dialogue with Niger Delta militants.

The response of these people was a mob attack and a barrage of insults.

The greatest calamities that have assailed Nigeria have come from these ranks. From the 1966 pogrom when Igbos in the North were slaughtered in their thousands to the May 1980 riots in Zaria, the December 18-20 religious riot of Zaria the same year which claimed over 4,100 lives, to the Maitasine wahala in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Borno in 1982, Maitasine wahala in February/March 1984 where over 500 were slaughtered, to Zango Kataf of 1992.The annulment of the June 12 presidential election won by a southerner by Ibrahim Babangida (Evil Genius) almost tore Nigeria apart . The lingering crises in Plateau State is another.

And the still ongoing slaughter of men, women and children in "God's" name by the Boko Haram lunatics.

The North has been a disaster to everybody in Nigeria--including itself. These so-called Northern elders, under whose supervision the masses of their people-especially --youths-- have been misguided by religion and impoverished by profligacy have failed woefully both as parents and leaders.

In their "mob" attack on Chief Edwin Clark's sensible advice, they have unanimously distanced themselves from the sect.

Arewa consultative Forum(ACF) spokesman, A.Z Sanni, insisted that " it is unhelpful to associate Boko Haram with any region..."

Really? Such brazen inanity. With what region should it be associated?

Junaid Mohammed, on his part asks "where is proof" that Northern leaders are culpable over the Boko Haram insurgency. Was Kabir Sokoto not caught in the Borno Governor's lodge? Did Zakari Biu, a Police commissioner not confess to aiding Sokoto's escape? Has any of these criminals or the marauding Fulani herdsmen been sentenced anywhere? What step have any of these northern leaders taken to ensure the criminal elements among them are punished? Has the Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, not complained repeatedly that these northern killers are usually spirited away to Abuja or God knows where to escape trial in Plateau state?

What of Senator Ndume, who is standing trial for aiding and abetting Boko Haram? Was an emir in Borno State not fingered in Kabir Sokoto's escape?

Also reacting, Yerima Shetimma of the youth wing of ACF said "this madness must stop...nobody should accuse the North... " Oh oh! So Shetimma knows there is something called "madness"? But not northern elders tacitly aiding and abetting of mass killings of innocent Nigerians.

Kaita Mohammed, on his part claims "northern leaders want peace for this nation"

Haba! Lah ilah ilah LIE!

Do they imagine that Nigerians have forgotten the northern elders' vow, through Alhaji Lawal Kaita, a northern leader in October 2010, to make Nigeria ungovernable if the president did not come from the North? And Ciroma, and his cohorts gave tacit support. Imagine the contempt in which they hold the rest of Nigeria to make such treasonable vow publicly.

In the 2012 Budget alone, over N900billion has been earmarked for security due to the northern madness. Think what that could have done in terms of development if the North had not been part of Nigeria.

Dinosaurs were supposed to have died out millions of years ago. These northern Nigeria elders may be poof that Science is sorely mistaken...

Bend down and retrieve your trousers. Your bums are unsightly!

N.B: Before this gets to be published in the next 72 hours, I pray the northern Frankeinstein Monster does not strike again...

yemiogunsola@gmail.com

08069074718
SOURCE: GUARDIAN

EXPOSED: THOSE PROVIDING BOKO HARAM WITH MONEY AND WEAPONS UNVEILED!

2014-05-20T21:44:00.001-07:00

After many speculations on where the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, are getting the weapons they frequently use to unleash terror in the north-eastern states of Nigeria and Abuja, their main sources have been unveiled.

According to US network TV NBC, most of the Islamic terror group’s weapons are either stolen from Nigerian military stocks or purchased on the thriving Central African arms black market, say the experts, including current and former U.S. officials.

While many have often wondered where the insurgents source their weaponry from, given both the sophistication and the sheer number, ThisDay reports that the group blamed for last month’s kidnapping of nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls routinely raids police stations andmilitary bases in search of weapons

It was also gathered that in some cases, Boko Haram sympathizers in the Nigerian military abet the theft.

“There are hints that sympathizers in the Nigerian army will deliberately leave doors of armouries unlocked for Boko Haram,” said John Campbell, U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007.

It could also be recalled that a top military officer was indicted several years ago in Kaduna, for supplying the weapons of the Nigerian army to Niger Delta militants, led by, now jailed, Henry Okah.

The terror group has been conducting its campaign of terror in the northern states of Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon on the cheap, making mayhem with a makeshift collection of small arms, automatic weapons, rifles, rocket- propelled grenades and mortars, experts on the turbulent region say.

The report also stated that apart from weapons, the rebels frequently seize non-lethal equipment that helps them carry out their terror attacks, quoting one U.S. official.

Apart from benefiting from sympathizers in the Nigerian military, the Islamic terror group is said to be able to purchase small arms and occasionally some larger weaponry in nearby conflict zones, “probably Libya, probably Chad.

These arms are believed to be acquired through “shady, black market” arrangements across barely marked borders, as the official put it.

The porousness of the Nigerian borders was also said to beencouraging the proliferation of the country with illegal arms, according to Michael Leiter, a former director of the National Counter Terrorism Center and now an NBC News analyst.

“The collapse of Libya has further flooded the market,” said Leiter. “Whether these came from Chad, Nigeria, or Libya is almost irrelevant, as such arms are widely available.”

Arms trade expert William M. Hartung agrees. “It’s one conflict after another,” he said. “Because of the nature of the conflict … theconcentration of conflicts … the black market in Central Africa is more vibrant than other places.”

Campbell, the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, says the array of small and automatic weapons, grenades, mortars, mines and perhaps car bombs “is all Boko Haram’s soldiers need to carry out their brand of terrorism.”

It could be recalled that officials in Cameroon on Tuesday showed a cache of weapons they said was seized near the Nigerian border last month following a rescue of some other kidnapped victims.

A Cameroon defense ministry spokesman, showing off a variety of weaponry including Russian-made AK-47s, said the cache represents what they are up against on a daily basis in trying to combat Boko Haram.

SOURCE: eCruzi

Cruel Truth About Recruiters and Your Resume

2014-05-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

When sizing up your resume, recruiters estimated they spend 4 to 5 minutes on average staring at it.

Turns out, though, they’re wrong. Very wrong, according to jobs-matching service TheLadders.

TheLadders used “eye-tracking” software to study the way recruiters actually vet resumes. TheLadders’ jobs search expert, Amanda Augustine, calls the results “frightening and shocking.”

Your resume gets just 6 seconds worth of scrutiny.

In that eye-blink, your fate is sealed. Either you’re going to graduate to the “hmmm, this one might be worth a phone call” pile, or your resume is off to become land-fill.

The study measured not just how long recruiters looked at a given resume, but what elements of a resume merited the most, or least, of their attention, Augustine said. From this data, what Augustine calls a “heat map” was created, showing a resume’s cold spots and hot spots.

Recruiters spent 80 percent of their time on the following “hot” details, in descending order:

Name

Current title/company

Previous title/company

Previous position start and end dates

Current position start and end dates

Education

The rest of what you provided -- the stuff about your coaching Little League, the handsomely-shot photo of you -- you might just as well have skipped.

“We were especially surprised about the photos,” Augustine told ABC News. There are venues, she said, where having a photo might work to your advantage -- in some online self-promotion, you might want visitors to click on it. But on a piece of paper, she said, all a photo does is consume precious few seconds of attention that should be going to your qualifications for the job.

A photo doesn’t tell a recruiter if you’re qualified or not. Plus, plenty of recruiters won’t even look at resumes with photos, she said, since to do so can leave them liable to charges of gender, age or race discrimination.

“You want your information to be organized,” Augustine said, with the most important stuff (the items listed above) high up. Unless you’re a recent grad, put your education last.

Bullet points are fine, but use them sparingly -- to draw attention to only the most important items. Dense blocks of text make it hard to digest information quickly, so avoid them.

Less is more, Augustine said. Your resume should be just an “elevator pitch” -- you key strengths, put succinctly, framed by plenty of white space.

SOURCE ABC

Why Friends Don't Let Friends' Facebook Posts Go Unliked

2014-05-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever posted a Facebook status that garnered few if any likes or comments? Did you spend the rest of the day feeling rejected, lonely and unhappy as a result?

That's OK. In fact, according to science, it's totally normal.

Researchers from The University of Queensland in Australia have found that the more Facebook likes and comments a person receives, the more likely they are to feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, the opposite appears to prove true too: The fewer likes and comments your status receives, the worse you're generally going to feel.

The findings were published in the March issue of the The Social Influence Journal, a peer-reviewed academic publication.

For the study, "Threats To Belonging On Facebook: Lurking And Ostracism," the researchers divided 79 undergraduate students from The University Of Queensland into two groups. One group of students was directed to post a Facebook status that the researchers ensured would get zero likes or comments by secretly making it invisible to the public. The other group posted statuses that the researchers ensuredwould receive a surplus of likes and comments.

The researchers then asked the participants about their sense of inclusion, belonging, self-esteem, control, sense of meaningful existence and perceived interest. The group who experienced more Facebook interaction scored higher in all categories.

Don't worry: To ensure that none of the research subjects went home feeling less than stellar, the researchers told participants at the end of the study that the statuses that garnered zero responses were actually programmed to be invisible.

According to the report, "This was done to ensure that participants would not leave the room adversely affected by the ostracism they may have experienced."

The need for interpersonal relationships and social validation is well documented. But the study does join a growing list of others that corroborate the hypothesis that our interpersonal needs have followed us from the real world into our digital lives.

Just as in the classroom or boardroom, the importance of popularity is very real on social networks. So remember: While sites like Facebook give us one more place to socialize, they also provide one more platform to feel ostracized too.

SOURCE: ABC

Why You're Procrastinating and How to Stop

2014-05-18T07:06:00.004-07:00

Choices are never easy, especially when it comes to life's big ones.

Phoebe, 39, came to see me one day, distraught after learning from a doctor that she might not be able to conceive. "How long have you been trying?" I asked. "On and off for eight months," she told me. Even though she had always wanted a baby and had been married for seven years, she confessed that she'd had a lot of trouble committing to getting pregnant. She didn't understand why; in fact, she'd had a similar problem deciding whether or not to marry her (very) long-term boyfriend, to the point that she almost lost him.

Of course, getting married and starting a family aren't decisions you enter into lightly, but Phoebe had a major case of life procrastination. That's what I call voluntarily putting off something you truly want to do, despite knowing that you'll probably be worse off because of the delay.

People tend to think of procrastination in terms of concrete to-dos—waiting until the last minute to turn in a work report, say, or paying bills late. But it can also take hold when making life decisions both small and large, from Should I join a gym? to Do I ask for a raise? These missed opportunities can damage your career or relationship and also give you a nagging, frustrating feeling that you're stuck in a rut of your own making.

Research shows that about 20 percent of adults are chronic procrastinators, but many more of us occasionally put off until tomorrow what we need—and even want—to do today. Yet for the most part, we don't realize that it's happening or that, in the process, we're undermining our own happiness. Procrastinators tend to be far more stressed than those who don't have this habit; they get sick more often, too. If you can suck it up and act, however, you'll find your day-to-day a lot more pleasant and rewarding: Your mind will be released from all that ruminating and second-guessing, paving the way for other opportunities. After all, life is richest when filled with milestones and accomplishments—not with regrets of what you should've and would've done, if only.

So why would a woman push off a marriage or baby she really wants? Why would someone stay in a job she no longer likes? It's not that they're lazy or overly laid-back. Life procrastinators may dread failure. They may have a fear of success, an urge to be defiant, a perfectionist streak or a need to take risks—all of which can get in the way when trying to make a decision. Take my diagnostic quiz to see if you are a life procrastinator, then keep reading to discover what's driving your indecision and find real-world solutions that will finally set you free.

'I don't want to fail'

If you're so afraid of being bad (or, worse, just OK) at something that you'd rather not try it at all, here's a news flash: You're a perfectionist. Perhaps you hardly ever work out because you'd feel terrible if you killed yourself at the gym but couldn't lose the last 10 pounds or hone that six-pack. Carrying this to the extreme, you may also believe that you are only lovable and worthwhile if your performance at everything is nothing less than outstanding.

Try This

The next time you're hemming and hawing over something you could crash and burn at, take a page from Sheryl Sandberg and tell yourself, Done is better than perfect. Chances are, no one will notice if the results aren't up to your exacting standards; they'll just be impressed that you got results, period.

'I'm afraid of being successful'

On the flip side, some of us become paralyzed by imagining that if we excel, we will be expected to keep performing at that level. Or we freak out that the achievement would change our lives in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways. Concerns you may have: If I ask for that promotion and get it, who's going to help out with the kids if I have to put in more hours at the office? Are my work friends going to stop inviting me to lunch?

Try This

Accept uncertainty. The reality is that any choice you make (even if you decide to keep things status quo) will have upsides and downsides. Imagining the potential negatives (My friend at work will be so jealous) and telling yourself that it will work out (She'll deal, or else I'll find a new confidant) can help you stop obsessing and start doing. Worried that you'll be less available for your loved ones? That's a classic fear of success. Keep in mind that if and when you accept a new position or job, you can set boundaries at the outset. Thing is, you can't do that unless you apply first.

'I don't want to be told what to do'

You aim—fine, you need—to be in charge. You probably grew up with an authoritarian parent who was very controlling. Unfortunately, now you're asserting yourself by delaying things that must be addressed, like making basic updates to your circa-1950s kitchen. Your story is: "Hey! No one can order me around!"—even though no one really is—"I'll do it on my terms!" Which may be never.

Try This

When you find yourself resisting a change, ask yourself how you're really feeling at heart. Indecision often masks anxiety, sadness or anger. Perhaps your parents were always fighting about money, so even though you have the cash to renovate, you feel stressed-out about spending it. Figuring out which emotion is stopping you from acting can make a decision clearer because it becomes more obvious that the conflict over taking action is coming from you. In other words, you are fighting only yourself.

'I get a rush out of doing things last-minute'

Some put-offers aren't anxious at all: They thrive on the excitement of scrambling to hit deadlines, often because they find the daily grind boring—and boredom terrifying. A thrill seeker who wants to go on some fantasy vacation, such as a boat cruise in the Galapagos, may delay purchasing tickets but keep checking to see how many spots are left until, finally, she is forced to commit because the trip is almost booked.

Try This

If you're always telling yourself that you're at your best when under pressure, prove it (in a small, innocuous way). Do a task—like tossing in a load of laundry or completing your expenses at work—at the last minute, as usual. Then one day perform that same chore ahead of schedule. You'll most likely notice that your overall routine seems a little saner and that you have more free time on your hands when you knock stuff off early. Even better: You'll have a full underwear drawer—and a cool trip to look forward to.

Now try these quick tips that will help you tackle those little things you put off, courtesy of John Perry, PhD, author of The Art of Procrastination:

Nag Yourself

It's hard to ignore in-your-face reminders. Put Post-its on the fridge at night with a list of errands for the next day. Program your computer to send alerts, or try a task-manager app like Any.do. Place the bag of clothes to return to the store right by the door so you have to take it with you.

Think of an ominous task

Maybe it's changing the oil in your car or cleaning out the attic. Soon you'll find yourself doing what you really need to do because it's better than the dreaded chore. It's all relative: Some activities may be mundane, but they're not nearly as bad as an oil change.

Make tinier to-dos

For instance, instead of writing, Send thank-you cards, jot down, 1. Find thank-you cards. 2. Write them out. 3. Address envelopes. Why it works: The thrill of checking off all those little tasks makes you feel so successful that you're revved to keep on going. Mission, accomplished.

SOURCE ABC

A season of conspiracies against Goodluck Jonathan

2014-05-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

By Femi Aribisala

THE Yorubas have a proverb. They say: “A witch cried out yesterday and a child died today. Who does not know that it was the witch who killed the child?” Some people have gone to great lengths to declare that if President Jonathan dares to run for re-election, they would make Nigeria ungovernable. Some, like Murtala Nyako, have even gone as far as threatening a civil-war. It is, therefore, not far-fetched to conclude that with the election only a stone-throw away, much of the turmoil we are witnessing in Nigeria today is the handiwork of the anti-Jonathan brigade.

Goodluck Jonathan must be the most vilified president in the history of Nigeria. He is abused and bad-mouthed with ferocious intensity. This really has nothing to do with his record in office. He is by no means the worst president Nigeria has ever seen. As a matter of fact, he is one of the better ones. True; he has not been able to address the age-old problem of corruption. Nevertheless, Nigeria has been making giant strides under his administration. The Nigerian government did not fool the world into having the WEF (World Economic Forum) in Abuja. It took place here because Nigeria is by all accounts an emerging frontier market in the world economy.

Obama’s Nigeria

President Jonathan did not bribe U.S. President Obama to proclaim Nigeria as “the world’s next economic giant” in 2012. Obama’s Nigeria is coming of age under Jonathan. The United Sates rebases its economy every two years. The United Nations recommends every country should rebase every five years. Under this administration, Nigeria rebased its economy after 23 years, and yet some Jonathan traducers accuse the government of 419 for doing so.

That rebasing has now shown that the much-maligned Nigeria is by far the largest economy in Africa. This should not come as a surprise. Under Jonathan, the Nigerian economy has been growing consistently by nearly 7% per annum. That is one of the highest growth-rates in the world. For the past two years, Nigeria has become the number one destination for foreign investments in Africa, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A Nigerian industrialist, Aliko Dangote, is now the 23rd richest man in the world and, by far, the richest African.

Jonathan has so transformed Nigerian agriculture that the minister, Akinwunmi Adesina, was named Forbes Magazine’s African of the Year 2013. Today, poor Nigerian farmers not only have access to fertilizer, they have cell-phones so they can access the government for seeds, implements and vital information. The administration is engaged in extensive rehabilitation of rail and road networks nationwide. Travel by air today and you will discover that most Nigerian airports have been transformed. The foundation has finally been laid for addressing the problem of electricity. A long-anticipated National Conference is currently underway.

Jonathan is not the object of so much attack because he is incompetent, but because he comes from the minority South-South. Moreover, a Northern cabal that has been out of power for 15 years is desperate to return. The next president will have the prerogative of allocating a new round of juicy oil-blocks. For example, the oil-block Sani Abacha allocated to Alhaji Mai Daribe of Borno in 1996 had over 500 million barrels of oil which translates to over $50 billion dollars at current prices. That is the kind of largesse available to just one well-placed Nigerian in our winner-takes-all political-economy.

Political terrorism

Accordingly, the determination is that power must be wrested from Jonathan by hook or crook. Some are issuing threats: others are talking up impeachment in the legislature. These people are not averse to economic sabotage. Therefore, gas pipelines keep getting vandalized in order to impede power-generation. Let us call a spade a spade. There are well-placed Nigerians, especially in the North, sponsoring, aiding and abetting terrorism for the sake of political gain.

Bombs were placed in a motor-park in Abuja on the eve of the WEF. Instead of cooperating with the government to fight the insurgency, many leading Northerners have been accusing the government of using Boko Haram as an excuse for killing Northerners. The government has been placed in a catch-22 situation. If it moves strongly against the insurgents, some Northerners cry genocide, threatening to take the matter to the International Court of Justice. If it pulls punches, the same Northerners accuse the government of incompetence in dealing with Boko Haram insurgency.

Self-defeating sabotage

This is tantamount to cutting off your nose to spite your face. Those who gave impetus to the Northern insurgency out of disaffection with a South-South presidency now sleep with one eye open. What they promoted has gone out of their control. It is not the people of the South-South that are now being shot, bombed and kidnapped indiscriminately; it is the people of the North. Those who feel that by creating instability they will provide a catalyst for Jonathan’s defeat have simply hardened the case for retaining him in power.

People like me never supported Jonathan until we saw the virulent conspiracy against him. We never cared for the mischievous PDP until we discovered that Jonathan’s opponents are so desperate for power, they are even prepared to destroy the nation in the process. They are so determined to seize power; they are threatening to “soak the dog and the baboon in blood” if they don’t get their wish. Therefore, the deafening answer to them must be: “Thy will shall not be done.”

These malcontents were having a good time of it until someone came up with a “brilliant” idea: “Let us kidnap 300 innocent school-girls in Chibok in one fell swoop.” This scheme had curious pieces of detail. The head of WAEC National Office, Charles Eguridu, maintains they warned the Borno State government that Chibok was unsafe and that the exams should be moved to more secure locations. But the state government refused. The few soldiers guarding the school were suspiciously re-deployed a few hours before the kidnapping.

It is therefore not surprising that the Northern Nigeria Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), noting that the Chibok girls are mainly Christians, maintains that the kidnapping is a grand conspiracy involving the state governor, the school principal and others. Our First Lady alluded to the same matter by declaring: “There is God o!”

Northern volte-face

The Chibok kidnapping has become the biggest blunder of the Boko Haram. As a result, they are no longer just fighting against the Nigerian army. The whole world is now ranged against them. The Americans, the British, the French, the Japanese, the Israelis, the Chinese; everyone is now lining up behind the Jonathan administration, offering assistance for dealing with the insurgents.

Jonathan’s Northern opponents who have hitherto been sympathetic to the insurgents are now caught in a bind. Accordingly, they have started singing a different tune. Murtala Nyako said Boko Haram is a “phantom” devised by Southern Jonathan to conduct genocide against the North. Now, the Northern Governors’ Forum of which he is a member welcomes the assistance of the international community to fight Boko Haram “phantoms.” The chairman, Governor Babangida Aliyu, says: “The current challenges facing our country demonstrate the importance of working together across geo-political zones, political party lines, and ethnic-religious affinities to defeat our common enemies.”

Muhammadu Buhari declared at Kano Government House that the Boko Haram was a “strategic plan” by Jonathan’s government “to destroy the North.” He insinuated that by declaring a state of emergency in the North-east, the president was waging war on Northerners. Listen to the same Buhari today: “Now is not the time to play politics. Now is also not the time to trade blames and amplify our ideological differences. The unity of Nigeria is not negotiable and nothing should divide us as a people.”

New imperatives

Was Jonathan even planning to run for another term? Your guess is as good as mine. However, what the Northern blackmail has succeeded in doing is to ensure that Jonathan no longer has a choice: he has to contest. To back out now would be tantamount to succumbing to blackmail. The threats, sabotage and insurgency also mean Jonathan cannot afford to lose the election. Again, to lose the election is to succumb to blackmail.

The use of extra-constitutional means to fight Jonathan gives the lie to the posturing of his opponents. It shows they don’t believe in elections. Worst of all, they don’t have the interest of Nigeria at heart. They are even prepared to sacrifice Nigeria on the altar of their selfish, sectarian and regional interests. For these reason, they must be resisted by anyone who loves this country and believes in a united Nigeria.

In short, the issue is no longer about Jonathan. It is now about Nigeria. By a strange twist of fate, it is Jonathan of the discreditable PDP who now represents united Nigeria. To defeat Jonathan is to defeat Nigeria. To defeat Jonathan by a Northern APC presidential candidate is to hand over victory to the Northern insurgency. To accede to the defeat of Goodluck Jonathan by a Northern cabal is to promote the interests of the Boko Haram. If the APC understand the signs of the times, they would field a Southern presidential candidate to challenge Goodluck Jonathan.

For this reason, the new Jonathan coalition created by the Chibok kidnapping cannot just include the international community. It must also include the rank-and-file Nigerians: Southerners and Northerners; Christians and Muslims. This is a time of national emergency. We must forget our differences and join hands to ensure that Jonathan prevails in spite of all the stumbling blocks and minefields put in his way.

So doing, we would be able to make effective demands on the president. He would have to listen to us. With the added pressure from the international community, we will insist that the corruption that has gone through the roof under his administration must finally come to an end. The time is long overdue: some malefactors must be arrested, prosecuted and jailed. No more pussy-footing. Nigerians require a transparent government; and we require this “yesterday.”

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Red Wine Not That Healthy After All, Study Shows

2014-05-13T23:59:00.002-07:00

Attention, all red wine lovers: It turns out that glass of Merlot might not be as beneficial to your health as previously thought. A new study released Monday found that low doses of resveratrol found in red wine and dark chocolate don’t lead to added health benefits. Resveratrol is a chemical with antioxidant properties found in a number of foods, including red wine, dark chocolate and berries. In the past, a number of studies have shown that consumption of these foods may reduce inflammation, leading researchers to speculate that their common chemical must have explained the phenomenon.

But the study finds otherwise. A team of researchers tracked the health of nearly 800 villagers from Tuscany, the region in Italy where the wine Chianty is made, to see if their drinking habits had any discernible impact on their well-being. They concluded that resveratrol concentration was not linked with cardiovascular disease or cancer rates.

It’s not all bad news, though. While you may have to cut down your wine consumption, you can still hold on to that bar of chocolate: There’s still pretty strong evidence that it may be good for your heart.
Source: TIME

6 Strange Things That Can Send You to the Hospital

2014-05-11T23:15:00.001-07:00

Gesundheit! A sudden sneeze jostles your spine and ratchets up the pressure between your vertebrae 38 percent or more--enough to trigger some serious back injuries, indicates research from Germany.

Sitting for long periods or bouts of heavy lifting can double or triple the amount of "spinal load" placed on your back, the German data indicates. Combine all that pressure with the jolt of a big sneeze, and you could be in trouble: One woman in the UK was bedridden for 2 years after a hard sneeze left her nearly paralyzed.
Moving around or stretching your back improves blood flow and disperses all that pent-up pressure in your spine, avoiding sneeze-related injuries, the researchers say.

Wearing Skinny Jeans

Pay attention, hipsters: Wearing extra-tight pants can compress the nerves that run along the tops of your thighs, cutting off blood flow to your legs and leading to a condition called meralgia paresthetica.

Symptoms are numbness anywhere in your feet or legs and a "terrible burning sensation" in your outer thigh, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University. Buy some roomier pants, at least in the thigh region, the report advises.

Overstuffing Your Wallet

Back and neck doctors have a technical name for it: wallet neuropathy. If you have a George Costanza-sized billfold jammed into your back pocket, sitting on that behemoth day in and day out twists your spine and pinches the sciatic nerves that run through your butt, resulting in painful conditions like sciatica and herniated disks.

Apart from ditching--or at least slimming down--your wallet, lower back stretches can help counteract the damage, research suggests.

Wearing Flip-Flops

Freeing your feet is one of the principal joys of summer. But if you wear flimsy rubber flip-flops--the arch-less kind you pick up at the drug store for $5--your toes have to curl down in order to grip the sandals as you walk. That could lead to painful tendonitis in your feet, says a report from the American Podiatric Medical Association.

The way flip-flops change your natural walking gait can also cause knee and hip problems, according to an Auburn University study. Buy a sandal with a tight strap and some arch support to avoid those issues. (Recurring aches and pains could signal a more severe problem lurking within your body

Drinking Too Much Water

Although water is the source and sustainer of all life--and comprises 66 percent of your body--drinking excess H2O dilutes the sodium, iron, and other essential minerals and nutrients in your blood. Dilute them too much, and you could develop a toxic condition called hyponatremia, which causes headaches, vomiting, confusion, or even death.

The condition is fairly rare, although it tends to turn up among water-chugging endurance athletes who are sweating out--but not replacing--lots of nutrients. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, 13 percent of all Boston Marathon runners suffer from some stage of hyponatremia. Recovery drinks and most foods should help you avoid this condition, the NEJM study says.

Working Out Too Vigorously

A few years ago, a bunch of Iowa Hawkeye football players were hospitalized after a tough midwinter workout session. Most were suffering from a condition called rhabdomyolysis--brought about by severely overtaxing the muscles. Put simply, you can work your muscles so hard that the tissue breaks down and leaks protein into your bloodstream, which messes up your kidneys.

A university report on the Iowa incident pointed to excessive squat exercises just after winter break as the cause of the "rhabdo" outbreak. If your muscles feel like they're going to explode during a workout--and especially if you're out of shape or haven't trained much lately--listen to your body and take a break when your guns feel sapped, the Iowa report suggests.

Sneezing Wrong (Part II)

Okay, one more sneezing story: A 38-year-old man fractured his larynx one night when he pinched his nose and closed his mouth while sneezing, according to a case report from Boston University.

This "closed-airway sneeze" created so much pressure in his throat that the man essentially blew a hole in his voice box--a life-threatening emergency, the study authors say. To avoid the same fate, keep at least one airway--mouth or nose--clear when you sneeze, the authors advise.

SOURCE: ABC

15 Famous Logos And Their Hidden Meanings. I Had No Idea About #4.

2014-05-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever looked at logos and wondered what their meanings were or what inspired the designer? Here are 15 logos that you see almost every day and what they represent.

#1. Toyota

The three ellipses seen in the logo for Toyota represent three hearts: the heart of the customer, the heart of the product, and the heart of progress in the field of technology

Car Type

#2. McDonald’s

Yes, the “M” for McDonald’s and there really isn’t another meaning. In the 60′s, McDonald’s wanted to change the logo but their design consultant and psychologist Louis Cheskin insisted that they left the golden arches. According to BBC, he said customers will unconsciously recognize the logo as “symbolism of a pair of nourishing breasts.” Whether this is true or not, their logo is one of the most recognizable in the world.

Picture or Photo

#3. Mobil

The importance of this logo is in its colors. The red is said to represent strength and the blue represents faithfulness and security that the company provides.

Brand Profiles

#4. Pepsi

Pepsi’s old logo is the one on the left. The new logo on the right cost Pepsi $1 million. They hired Arnell Associates to come up with it. As a result, Pepsi had to spend millions more to rebrand everything. Then Arnell’s 27 page document was leaked and it was entitled, “Breathtaking Design Strategy.” It proposes that the new logo is some sort of Da Vinci Code. The logo draws on Feng Shui, the Renaissance, the earth’s Geodynamo, the theory of relativity, and much more. For more info on this, read the Gawker’s article.

Bob Rinderle

#5. BMW

BMW has a history in aviation and its logo stays true to its roots. The blue and white represent a propeller in motion with the sky peeking through. In fact, BMW had a role in World War II as a creator of aircraft engines for the German military.

Logo Stage

#6. Apple

The Apple logo represents the forbidden fruit from the “Tree of Knowledge” in the Biblical creation story of Adam and Eve.

Deviant Art

#7. FedEx

This logo is so creative. If you look closely you will see the arrow between the letter ‘E’ and ‘X’, which represents the company’s forward thinking ways and outlook towards the future.

Strategy Advertising

#8. Mercedes-Benz

The Mercedes-Benz logo is the most confident of all. The tri-star represents the company’s dominance in quality and style over all things land, sea and air.

Car Type

#9. Google

The Google logo has four primary colors in a row then it’s broken by a secondary color. This was entirely intentional. Google wanted to show that they don’t play by the rules and are also playful without making the symbol bulky. To do that, they just used simple letters and colors.

Blogmost

#10. Adidas

The Adidas logo looks like a mountain to represent the obstacles that people need to overcome. Originally the logo was just three stripes and didn’t stand for anything. So they kept the three stripes and just made them slanted to resemble a mountain.

Famous Logos

#11. NBC

Ever wonder why the peacock has so many colors? It’s because during the 50′s, NBC’s owner was RCA and they had just begun to manufacture color televisions. RCA wanted people who were watching black-and-white televisions to know what they were missing, so they created a colorful logo.

Wikipedia

#12. Audi

Plain and simple, right? Well, no. Each of these hoops represent the 4 founding companies of the Auto-Union Consortium way back in 1932: like DKW, Horch, Wanderer and Audi.

Zero to 60 Times

#13. IBM

IBM’s logo has a hidden message for the whole world. The white lines passing through give the appearance of the equal sign in the lower right corner, representing equality.

AAJ Tech

#14. Volkswagen

The ‘V’ stands for “volks” which means people in German and and the ‘W’ stands for “wagen” which means car. It’s the car for the people.

Lifo

#15. Amazon

You may have thought the arrow looks like a smiley face, meaning Amazon’s main mission is to make their customers happy. But notice the arrow is pointing from the a to the z. This represents the fact that Amazon has a large variety of items for sale, from A to Z.

Corporate IR

Credit: diply.com

I can't believe how many times I've looked at the Fed-Ex boxes and envelopes and never even noticed that! I also thought the Pepsi logo was intentionally made to be like President Obamas campaign logo. If you think these logos and their meanings are interesting, share them with your friends.

SOURCE LIFEBUZZ

Rare Set of Twins Hold Hands in Delivery Room

2014-05-11T22:24:00.002-07:00

One Ohio mom got a very special present for Mother's Day, when her identical twin girls were born holding hands.

Sarah Thistlewhistle's daughters, Jenna and Jillian, are a rare set of monoamniotic or "mono mono" identical twins, which means they shared an amniotic sack and were in constant contact during the pregnancy.

The condition also meant that Thistlewhistle had to remain on bed rest for weeks at Akron General Medical Center in Akron, Ohio. The twins had to be constantly monitored for nearly two months, since mono mono twins can easily become entangled in each other's umbilical cords.

"It's really mentally challenging. It's a very tough experience to go through," Thistlewhistle told ABC News.

Thistlewhistle, who also has a 15-month-old son, had to check into the hospital for nearly two months so doctors could carefully monitor the babies.

"They hook you up to heart rate monitors to watch for heart deceleration or variables," Thistlewhistle said. "That's what they look for the whole time. I got ultrasounds every other week."

Texas Family Welcomes 'One in a Million' Quadruplets

Thankfully for Thistlewhistle and her husband Bill, their daughters were born healthy at 33 weeks this past Friday. Doctors planned a Caesarian section because if the twins grew too large, they would be at greater risk for entanglement.

As the girls were born, doctors held them up over a sheet so that Thistlewhistle and her husband could see them. The newborns were holding hands.

"I didn't think they would come out and instantly holding hands. It was overwhelming. I can't even put into words," Thistlewhistle said. "There wasn't a dry eye in the whole OR."

Although the girls were born healthy, Thistlewhistle said Saturday they had some breathing problems, so they were moved to the neonatal unit at Akron Children's Hospital. Today Thistlewhistle will get to celebrate Mother's Day by introducing her daughters to their older brother for the first time.

"It's the first time that we'll all be together in one room," Thistlewhistle said.

SOURCE ABC

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

2014-05-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

For your news updates and entertainment Click Here To Follow Gist Me Joor on Facebbok

You can also follow our twitter handle @kozmarx

On your Birthday, I wish you have the courage

to live at least one more dream,

fulfil one more wish

and make one more person’s life beautiful.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday, my friend.

I dedicate these songs to you.

Evi Edna Ogholi Happy Birthday

Prince Nico Mbarga Happy Birthday

For your news updates and entertainment Click Here To Follow Gist Me Joor on Facebbok

You can also follow our twitter handle @kozmarx

The Nigerian Schoolgirl Kidnappings Are None of Our Business

2014-05-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

The goal of U.S. foreign policy should always be tightly tied to protecting American lives, interests and property.

“It’s a heartbreaking situation, outrageous situation,” said President Barack Obama, referring to the kidnapping of more than 250 schoolgirls in Nigeria by the radical terrorist group Boko Haram.

The goal of our foreign policy, and especially interventions involving soldiers, should always be tightly tied to protecting American lives, interests and property. If the past dozen years and actions of the two most recent presidents should have taught us anything, it’s that the U.S. is not particularly adept at solving its own domestic problems, much less those in faraway lands. That’s the reason why Gallup reports a 40-year low in trust in Washington’s foreign policy, withjust 49 percent of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in the government’s ability to handle international problems.That’s absolutely true, but why in the world is Obama directly involving the U.S.—“we’ve already sent…a combination of military, law enforcement, and other agencies”–in the search for the girls, who are reportedly being sold into slavery?

As usual, the Obama White House hasn’t been fully forthcoming with details about the American intervention—it’s unclear how many soldiers have been dispatched or whether the Nigerian government has even officially signed off on U.S. involvement—but the president has left no doubt about his priorities. “As a father of two girls, I can’t imagine what their parents are going through,” he told the press. “We’re also going to have to deal with the broader problem of organizations like this.”

As a matter of fact, the U.S. does not have to rid the world of Boko Haram, no matter how disturbing and repellent its actions are. As with the once-fashionable hunt for Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (remember that?), this is a battle to be fought by the nations directly affected, with help from regional and transnational bodies such as the UN. Until Boko Haram shows itself ready, willing and able to do real damage to America, its destruction should not be our goal. There is simply too much awfulness going on in all the corners of the world for the U.S. to wade into such situations.

For virtually the entirety of the 21st century, the U.S. has racked up a perfectly miserable record in bringing stability and calm to countries roiled by terrorists and civil war. Even supporters of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars don’t claim the U.S. left those countries better off. Obama’s unilateral and unconstitutional decision to wage war in Libya didn’t just result in the death of U.S. Amb. Chris Stevens and other Americans in Benghazi, it has created a situation where “so many jihadists are flocking to Libya, it’s becoming ‘Scumbag Woodstock.’”

Obviously, any American presence and action in Nigeria will be on a vastly smaller level, but there’s no reason to expect it to be any more successful (indeed, 100 U.S. special forces are part of the hunt for Kony). But involving ourselves in Nigeria will create yet one more distraction for a government that hasn’t figured out how to deal with far more consequential situations involving Iran, Syria, Ukraine, Russia and Venezuela, not to mention myriad domestic problems.

At least since the end of World War II, the U.S. has all too often thought of itself as the world’s policeman, a sort of beat cop who can fix all the big and small ills of the planet. How many more times must we be humbled before realizing that the world is beyond such simple surgical fixes? And, that in trying to take care of every heartbreaking, outrageous situation such as the one in Nigeria, we are likely as not both to fail and to compound the misery of this world.

SOURCE TIME

How to Help in Effort to Bring Back Kidnapped Nigerian Girls

2014-05-09T23:13:00.002-07:00

People around the world have Tweeted more than a million times the phrase #BringBackOurGirls, the hashtag for the campaign to rescue the nearly 300 Nigerian high school girls who remain missing after being kidnapped by extremists last month.

The global outrage at the kidnapping has shown a widespread interest by regular people looking to help the girls, or help prevent another tragedy.

Malala Yousafzai launched a fund today to support Nigerian organizations that educate and support girls.

Gbenga Olamikan/AP Photo

PHOTO: People attend a demonstration calling on the government to rescue the kidnapped school girls from the Chibok government secondary school, outside the defense headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, May 6, 2014.

The Malala Fund will donate 100 percent of funds raised to local Nigerian nonprofit groups focused on education and advocacy for girls and women.

"The campaign has helped to galvanize action within the country and has raised tremendous international media attention," the Human Rights Watch said in an email to ABC News today. The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls has "fast became the symbol of the people’s anger and frustration for the perceived ineffectual handling of the situation by the government."

"Our immediate concern is getting the abducted girls home safely as soon as possible, and caring for them in the aftermath of this trauma," Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, said in an email to ABC News. "Foremost, we ask that people join with us in that goal. However, we also need the public to channel its outrage into preventing future abuse."

UNICEF is encouraging people to continue using the hashtag in order to gain more media and government attention on the present kidnapping, and then to get involved in their End Trafficking project to help put a stop to human trafficking.

Zama Coursen-Neff, director of the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, had suggestions for individuals looking to actively help.

1. Support groups that promote girls' education and civilian protection.

2. Press your government to sustain pressure on the Nigerian government to search for the girls and improve protection for schools.

3. Press your government to insist on and respect adherence to human rights standards. One way students and teachers can help is through the campaign to End Military Use of Schools. This website, run by students, allows students and teacher to participate in the campaign to make schools off limits to warring parties.

4. And, of course, getting informed is important. The Global Coalition has documented a pattern of attacks on schools, teachers and students in 30 countries in the last five years -- a video on this is here: Education Under Attack 2014. And for an interactive map click here.

The Human Rights Watch has even more tips for getting involved here.

SOURCE: ABC

An Hour With Africa’s Richest Man

2014-05-09T15:39:00.001-07:00

I’m waiting for Aliko Dangote. Everyone is. Africa’s richest man, worth $24.7 billion (more than Carl Icahn, George Soros and any number of lesser Western billionaires) is probably the most in-demand person at the World Economic Forum here in Abuja, Nigeria. He enters the Hilton on a red carpet, a mere 30 minutes late, with minders, the head of his foundation, and the second of his three grown daughters in tow. The hotel employees literally bow before him, lesser oligarchs wave and backslap, and the merely rich try to bum rides on his private plane. “I don’t know what to do, my wife really needs to get home,” says an Indian businessman to one of the numerous Dangote staffers hovering nearby, who smiles sympathetically and promises to look into things.

Dangote himself is unassuming. A 57-year-old man with an almost shy smile, he’s a practicing Muslim that acquaintances call “generous” and “prayerful.” He’s also a sharp elbowed business titan, the 24th richest in the world, who has survived ten different regimes in Nigeria, building a $2 billion empire on cement, sugar, salt, and more recently, energy. Dangote sat down with me in his suite at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja Wednesday to discuss wealth, power, politics, and the future of Africa. Below are lightly edited excerpts from our talk:

TIME: I hear you haven’t taken a vacation in 20 years. Is that true?

Dangote: It used to be. I was working very hard for a long time to build up my business. Now, I try to take a week’s vacation every two weeks. We live in Lagos, on Victoria Island, but I like to go to Miami with my family. I used to own two homes in Atlanta. But it was a lot of trouble. There are leaky roofs, you have to call people. It takes up too much time to own property everywhere. Now I stay at the St. Regis. I used to like cars a lot, too. I had 25 of them, Porches, Ferraris. I would drive from Lagos to Kano at 180 miles per hour. But I stopped that after I had my second daughter.

You came from a certain amount of wealth. What was your upbringing like?

My great-grandfather was a kola nut trader, and the richest man in West Africa at the time of his death. My father was a businessman and politician. I was actually raised by my grandfather. It’s traditional in my culture for grandparents to take the first grandchild and raise it (Dangote’s older sister died as a baby in a car accident). I had a lot of love, and it gave me a lot of confidence.

You started with a loan from your uncle and built the most successful locally owned business conglomerate in Africa. What were the turning points?

I always tried to move up the food chain. I started with cement, and then moved into textiles, and banking. When I was trading sugar, I added salt and flour, so that then we could do pasta. And then I thought, why not make the bag for it too? So, we started making packaging.

This is a very entrepreneurial culture, but not a lot of people have your kind of success. What did you do differently?

We had a lot of capital, and we were able to build out our own power grid. The number one thing that kills businesses in Africa is power, or the lack of power. We wanted to have our businesses completely independent, with our own grid. So we built it. It took $1.2 billion. That’s a lesson I took from the financial crisis. It’s so important to have capital. At that point, we had about $2 billion in debt from expanding so quickly, so we had to scale back. But if I had more capital [in hand] in 2008, I could have bought so many things – homes, airplanes, land – so cheaply.

Now you are going up the food chain again, getting into energy, and in particular oil and gas refining. Nigeria has a lot of oil, but not a lot of refined gas. A lot of people feel that Africa could grow a lot faster with more of its own refinery capacity.

Yes, we’ll finish our refinery in 2017, and with it a petrochemical factory. This should take us to the next level. It’s all about integrating what we have. From the sugarcane we use, we can make ethanol. People say, “why get into agriculture?” but there is huge vertical integration between food and fuel, and Africa has both. Our rice and sugar business will create 180,000 new jobs in the next four years. We want to have a market capitalization of $100 billion by 2017. It’s my goal for my 60th birthday!

What’s your goal for this World Economic Forum meeting?

I want people to understand what’s really here. I feel Nigeria is like Colombia. People think about it based on information from 20 years ago. You think about Colombia, and all you think of is drug cartels, but really, there’s a lot of investor interest. It’s the same here in Nigeria. It’s not the 1970s. Things have changed.

But isn’t that the crucial juxtaposition here? You have growth, but no security. You have 8 % GDP growth, and over 200 missing girls that have been taken from their homes by Boko Haram.

It’s true. It hasn’t stopped business, but the situation is out of hand. I think the government is trying to get themselves together [around this issue]. I think they have been taken by surprise – there are people in places like Spain saying “where are these Nigerian girls?” It’s good that they’ve asked the US and the UK to help. And it’s important that the private sector do its part, too. Unless we create more jobs, we won’t eliminate Boko Haram. Even if we do, another such group will come. We have to empower our people.”

SOURCE TIME

Dangote Moves To Crash Cement Prices

2014-05-09T14:57:00.003-07:00

The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said that nine million tonnes of cement have been released into the market to stem the escalating cost of the product.

Dangote, who disclosed this to newsmen on Friday at the premises of Obajana Cement Company in Kogi State, said that the move was to make the product available in all parts of the country and stabilise its prices in the open market.

The businessman, who spoke after conducting the visiting President of Tanzania, Dr Jakaya Kikwete on a facility tour of the the plant attributed the scarcity of cement in recent time to low production between January and March.

He said the low production followed the yearly turn around maintenance of the plants at Ibeshe, Obajana and other parts of the country.

He assured Nigerians that the prices of cement will drop to its normal price of between N1, 450 and N1, 550 very soon.

Dangote said that the president of Tanzania was at the cement plant to see things first hand and to enable him have a fore taste of what a cement plant the company was replicating in his country.

He said the plant, being established in Tanzania at a cost of 600 million dollars, would have the capacity to produce three million tonnes of cement per annum.

According to him, construction work at the plant has reached 30 per cent completion stage and work is being intensified to ensure its completion and inauguration in 2015.

In his remarks, President Kikwete said that he took time off the World Economic Forum holding in Abuja to visit the plant to have an idea of what his country would experience after the completion of the plant.

He described what he saw as “wonderful,’’ saying that his country was looking forward to seeing the same or better facilities.

He said the visit had further convinced him that Tanzania had a great partner in Dangote. (NAN)

The End is Nigh: Woman Gets Tattoo of Herself Taking A Selfie

2014-05-09T10:13:00.001-07:00

A duck face is not a thing that should be immortalized. And yet a sad soul appears to have gotten a tattoo of her pursed lip taking a selfie—which might be a modern-day sign of the apocalypse.

We don’t know the context, but this photo has been making its rounds around the Internet. Hopefully it isn’t giving any Snapchatters ideas for their weekend itineraries

It looks like millennials haven’t learned the lessons of Gen-Xers about NOT tattooing digital trends on their bodies. Hopefully this woman will regret her choices slightly less than those who marked up their bodies with now-defunct websites during the early dot-com days.

Culled: TIME

Danjuma Endows $5m to Boost Research in Africa

2014-05-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

The TY Danjuma Foundation has launched a $5 million endowment at the Centre for Comparative Law in Africa, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa to fund African scholars’ research in Law and Policy Development in Africa.

The fund, known as the ‘TY Danjuma Fund for Law and Policy Development in Africa,’ is an endowment in perpetuity to support research, capacity building, African knowledge production and information generation for the advancement of well researched initiatives in the law and policy environment for development in Africa.

Speaking during the formal signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Lagos, the founder of the foundation, General TY Danjuma (rtd), said he was invited by the university to endow a fund that will finance legal research in Africa.

“My donation is to the university for all African countries not just Nigeria. The University of Cape Town will administer the fund, they will make sure that only the interest earned on the endowment will be spent on research every year, so the endowment is in perpetuity.”

He said the initiative was in recognition of the need to engender researches and studies that are capable of engendering positive development of African countries especially in the area of law.
He said the fund would assist scholars who need it to further their studies in exploring new way through which African countries could develop their legal system to make them competitive across the world.

“When this issue was first brought to me, I was really not interested because I felt already we have enough lawyers across the continent and we have so many laws that are not being implemented. But when the issue was raised among the board members of the foundation, I was surprised that everyone supported it. And I had to agree that since it is for the development of Africa, we will do it. The only condition we put in there is that the first beneficiary of this gesture must be a Nigerian scholar.”

The fund would engender long-term collaboration between the Centre for Comparative Law in Africa and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, which is expected to make available its resource base for scholars selected to benefit from the endowment.

Also speaking, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr. Max Price, described the endowment as a step in the right direction because it would enable African scholars to start looking at aspects of comparative laws.

“For us at the University of Cape Town, our Centre for Comparative Law in Africa draws on the strengths of comparative methodology to research into the multifaceted field of law on the continent. Thus, we realise the need to develop a continental approach to law and its development since the experience of an African country can benefit another country.”