Posted by 9jabook.com on December 16, 2009 at 1:59am
JTF closes 600 illegal ‘refineries’ in N’Delta
By Olamilekan Lartey, Yenagoa and Obinna Ezeobi, Abuja, Published: Wednesday, 16 Dec 2009
The Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta raised the alarm on Tuesday that illegal refineries might soon spread to areas outside the oil rich region.
The JTF Commander, Maj.-Gen. Sarkin Bello, gave the warning after his men destroyed over 600 illegal refineries in different parts of the Niger Delta.
Bello said that intelligence and overfly reports had indicated that there were over 1,000 illegal refineries in different parts of the Niger Delta.
The JTF boss said the rising wave of illegal refineries was of great concern because of the economic and environmental impact on the nation.
He said, “It is a new menace with grave dimensions. Since people now know what people do with crude oil, it may move to other parts of the country where there are oil installations, don‘t be surprised.”
Bello said before now, kidnapping was restricted to the Niger Delta, but that it had spread to every part of the country.
According to him, ”Illegal oil refining is like any other crime, it mutates as the criminals try to find other means of livelihood.”
He stressed that aerial photographs had shown vast areas of devastation as a result of the activities of the illegal bunkerers and refinery operators.
”I can‘t see how such areas can be useful in the near future with the level of degradation,” he said.
Bello added that operating illegal refineries was an economic crime that involved people from all levels in society and not necessarily ex-militants.
The JTF commander, however, urged those engaged in illegal refineries ”to re-channel their talents to legitimate endeavours that will benefit not only themselves, but their communities and the nation at large.”
He said the JTF’s Operation Restore Hope would continue to destroy illegal refineries and arrest their operators anywhere they were found in the country.
Our correspondent learnt that between October and December 2009, the JTF identified and destroyed 600 illegal refineries.
Meanwhile, petrol stations across the country must henceforth fill the tanks and disregard the order to sell a maximum of N2,000 worth of fuel to private cars and N1,000 to commercial bus drivers, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, ordered on Tuesday.
The shortage of petroleum products in some parts of the country had been compounded by the directive by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to ration the quantity of petrol to be sold to motorists, a situation which forces car owners to return to refill frequently.
Speaking after taking a tour of several filling stations across the Abuja metropolis, Ajumogobia regretted the persisting queues in filling stations despite claims by the NNPC that there was adequate petrol in the country.
Ajumogobia said, “I came to personally assess what is going on. All the people around me tell me that there is enough fuel and yet I see queues. I am going to investigate who gave the authorisation for the rationing. When you ration it means there is not enough supply.”
He stressed that rationing of petrol did not make sense, wondering why an individual should wait for hours and then be subjected to buying only N1,000.
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The head of Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, Farida Waziri , recently voiced her frustration with the slow progress her agency is making in its quest to reduce fraud and corruption in the country. Waziri opined that Chinese-style capital punishment for corruption convicts,
"is the only thing that will save the country, truly. Because corruption is much and the people are not concerned. If someone steals public funds, they will honour him without condemning the person. With this, our country will continue to be backward."[sic]
The real question is, would the death penalty be an apt deterrent to those considering ro already participating in corruption?
Nigerians are known to be very happy people who love life. There is even a common joke that Nigerians like life too much to die or do anything to quicken death's door. However, that mentality has not stopped Nigerians from committing crimes that have the death penalty as the final repercussion. Consequently, there is little reason to believe that the death penaly will be a true deterrent to those who practice corruption.
The same Waziri who would want the death penalty for the corrupt, once argued that the legal system delayed the ability of her agency to bring more individuals to justice. So, would it be this same legal system that Waziri believes will issue death penalties for the many individuals her organization is yet to charge or even take to court? Particularly the big fish who wantonly steal from the people to finance their expensive lifestyles. The very issues Waziri allegedly faces in trying the corrupt, particularly those with the money to hire very efficient counsel, will be present whether or not the death penalty is the punishment of choice for corruption convictions. As such, the death penalty will not deter the powerful, many of whom reportedly hire young touts to carry out online scams, from engaging in fraudulent activties.
Unfortunately, the only thing a death penalty for corruption convictions will do is skew the number of poorer people who are arrested and judged as corrupt, thus increasing conviction rates, executions and statistics for Waziri to claim success. As is typically the case, the disadvantaged usually suffer the negatively overwhelming effects of such punishment schemes.
While it is understandable why Waziri or others might consider the Chinese execution-for-corruption style as enviable, it must not be forgotten that China's legal system, while swift does not provide much room for accused to actually get a fair day in court. The Chinese system is known to favor the objectives of the Communist party which uses individuals as examples to retain an image of control and stability not just for citizens but for foreign observers. If Nigeria is to be a democracy, it cannot aspire for Chinese-justice, no matter how delectable it might initially appear.
The EFCC would do better to work harder, and get more funding so as to hire better lawyers with more resources so as to successfully tackle the corrupt in court. Doing that will improve the agency's reputation and possibly create more goodwill and trust of its actions and intentions. Most importantly, whether or not the death penalty ever becomes the punishment for those convicted of corruption, the hard work needed to reduce corrupt practices in the country will still need to be done. No amount of executions will ever reduce that burden.
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Posted by Jane Okinedo on December 15, 2009 at 5:25am
It's amazing what a difference $60 million U.S. can make, but is that sum enough to keep Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, together for another two years?Following the last week of crazy-go-nuts reports about the golfer's infidelities, Woods and Nordegren have revisited their pre-nup agreement, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. And the changes they've allegedly made would give Nordegren the right to walk away from the marriage with nearly $60 million — so long as she sticks with Woods for two more years.When the couple married in 2004, their pre-nup stated that Nordegren would be entitled to $20 million U.S. if they split after 10 years of marriage. According to the Sun-Times, that original pre-nup has since been rewritten so that Nordegren would take an extra $55 million if their marriage weathers a full decade.Plus, the Daily Beast reports that Woods — whose fortune is estimated at close to $1 billion U.S. — transferred $5 million U.S. to his wife's personal account around the same time the pre-nup was revised.The couple has been bunkered down inside their home, undergoing sessions with a marriage counsellor "several times daily," the Sun-Times reports, and various sources speculate that the revised pre-nup is a bid to preserve what remains of the Woods family's home life. (Good luck with that. The paps have already put $250,000 on the heads of Nordegren and the couple's two young kids, the Daily Beast reports.)As for the alleged shenanigans that have led to more bad "hole-in-one" jokes than you've heard outside of senior's day at the country club, there's plenty of headlines being generated about Woods' purported mistresses. (But then, when half of Las Vegas' service industry has come forward with affair allegations, that's to be expected.)First up, Woods is rumoured to have offered Jaimee Grubbs — the one who confessed to an affair earlier this week — a job and a condo, RadarOnline reports. "From what she told me, he said she could stay there for free and sort of manage the property," one of Grubbs' former co-workers told the website. (He promised her a sweet future of groundskeeping and harassing tenants? What woman could say no?) The snitch also says Grubbs also used to wear a red shirt to work when Woods was playing a tournament because it was "something special that they shared" — much like their bodily fluids, allegedly.Another alleged mistress, Las Vegas nightclub manager Kalika Moquin, is denying affair rumours to Us Weekly. "It's completely untrue that there's anything more than a professional 'How are you doing? Are you enjoying your time in Vegas conversation (with Tiger)," she explained to the mag. However, one of Us Weekly's sources says, "She was absolutely sleeping with him. She brags about it!" — perhaps noting that you don't need to have a conversation to have a good time in Vegas.As for Rachel Uchitel, the alleged mistress whom we've been hearing about since Woods yanked U.S. smuthounds away from their Thanksgiving dinners, she cancelled a news conference scheduled to take place earlier Thursday, TMZ reports. Uchitel — who previously denied the affair — now tells TMZ she was lying about the denial (confusing!). And, according to various outlet, it was her texts to Woods — not Grubbs' — that led to the argument between Woods and Nordegren, which preceded him smashing up his SUV.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on December 14, 2009 at 8:07pm
Okechukwu Agbanama, 27, might forever regret meeting Judith Chukwu, a lady he dated for merely two weeks.
Mr. Agbanama is an interior decorator who is being detained at the homicide section of the state criminal investigation department for allegedly killing his friend, Udoka Ibemesi, over a tussle for the affections of the young woman.
"Barely two weeks into our relationship, Judith had brought bad luck to me," Mr. Agbanama told NEXT.
How it happened
At about midnight in Tuesday, December 8th at 16, Orison Street, Ilemba Ajagbadi the deceased allegedly stormed the residence of Mr. Agbanama protesting that the suspect was dating his girlfriend, Judith Chukwu.
"I was in my house on that fateful Tuesday night after a hard day's job when I heard a very loud sound on my door. I jumped up suspecting that thieves had visited me, but I was surprised when I saw my friend Udoka standing in front of my door with a beer bottle," Mr. Agbanama said.
"I cannot say what he used, but he broke my door and entered my house forcefully. Even the neighbours heard the noise and came out I shouted and demanded to know what he was doing there. He replied that he was going to kill me that I am dating his girl friend Judith. Judith was with me that night and he ordered her to go out, that he will deal with her for dating me after he is done with killing me. I was confused and I said ‘we can settle this', but Udoka was very furious."
Mr. Agbanama said it was the deceased that introduced him to Judith and even encouraged him to go on and date her. "Udoka was my friend and we lived in the same compound," he said. "He was the one that introduced me to Judith as his in -law. He said that she is a good girl and I should date her, but I am surprised that he was the same person coming to fight over Judith. I do not know if he dated her and Judith said they never dated that Udoka was like his brother."
‘I did not mean to kill him'
During the interview, Mr. Agbanama displayed deep cuts all over his body and it was apparent that walking was a difficulty. He attributed the wounds to the fight he had with the deceased.
"Udoka was ready to kill me, before I could say anything, he broke the bottle and used it to stab me in the eye, and he rushed me and started stabbing me with the broken bottle. When other neighbours saw how he was stabbing me, they ran away. He was on top of me stabbing me all over my body.
"When I saw that he meant to kill me and there was nobody to rescue me from him, I started looking for something to defend myself; a knife was close by and I grabbed it but as he wrestled to collect it from me, the knife then pierced him in the neck and blood started gushing out.
"When I saw the blood, I quickly removed my vest and tied it round his neck to stop the bleeding; I shouted to my neighbours to help me take him to the hospital but nobody came to my rescue. Udoka was a big and tall man and I could not carry him, but I made efforts to save his life but he died shortly after. I feel bad about his death but I do not mean to kill him."
The Lagos state police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said the police will soon conclude their investigation into the case.
"This case is under investigation at the state criminal investigation department at Panti Yaba," he said. "The policemen visited the scene of the incident immediately it happened and the corpse has been removed to a public mortuary for autopsy."
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Many of us fear death. We believe in death because we have been told we will die. We associate ourselves with the body, and we know that bodies die. But a new scientific theory suggests that death is not the terminal event we think.
One well-known aspect of quantum physics is that certain observations cannot be predicted absolutely. Instead, there is a range of possible observations each with a different probability. One mainstream explanation, the "many-worlds" interpretation, states that each of these possible observations corresponds to a different universe (the 'multiverse').
A new scientific theory - called biocentrism - refines these ideas. There are an infinite number of universes, and everything that could possibly happen occurs in some universe. Death does not exist in any real sense in these scenarios. All possible universes exist simultaneously, regardless of what happens in any of them. Although individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the alive feeling - the 'Who am I?'- is just a 20-watt fountain of energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn't go away at death. One of the surest axioms of science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. But does this energy transcend from one world to the other?
Consider an experiment that was recently published in the journal Science showing that scientists could retroactively change something that had happened in the past. Particles had to decide how to behave when they hit a beam splitter. Later on, the experimenter could turn a second switch on or off. It turns out that what the observer decided at that point, determined what the particle did in the past. Regardless of the choice you, the observer, make, it is you who will experience the outcomes that will result. The linkages between these various histories and universes transcend our ordinary classical ideas of space and time.
Think of the 20-watts of energy as simply holo-projecting either this or that result onto a screen. Whether you turn the second beam splitter on or off, it's still the same battery or agent responsible for the projection.
According to Biocentrism, space and time are not the hard objects we think. Wave your hand through the air - if you take everything away, what's left? Nothing. The same thing applies for time. You can't see anything through the bone that surrounds your brain. Everything you see and experience right now is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. Space and time are simply the tools for putting everything together.
Death does not exist in a timeless, spaceless world. In the end, even Einstein admitted, "Now Besso" (an old friend) "has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us...know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." Immortality doesn't mean a perpetual existence in time without end, but rather resides outside of time altogether.
This was clear with the death of my sister Christine. After viewing her body at the hospital, I went out to speak with family members. Christine's husband - Ed - started to sob uncontrollably. For a few moments I felt like I was transcending the provincialism of time. I thought about the 20-watts of energy, and about experiments that show a single particle can pass through two holes at the same time. I could not dismiss the conclusion: Christine was both alive and dead, outside of time.
Christine had had a hard life. She had finally found a man that she loved very much. My younger sister couldn't make it to her wedding because she had a card game that had been scheduled for several weeks. My mother also couldn't make the wedding due to an important engagement she had at the Elks Club. The wedding was one of the most important days in Christine's life. Since no one else from our side of the family showed, Christine asked me to walk her down the aisle to give her away.
Soon after the wedding, Christine and Ed were driving to the dream house they had just bought when their car hit a patch of black ice. She was thrown from the car and landed in a banking of snow.
"Ed," she said "I can't feel my leg."
She never knew that her liver had been ripped in half and blood was rushing into her peritoneum.
After the death of his son, Emerson wrote "Our life is not so much threatened as our perception.
Whether it's flipping the switch for the Science experiment, or turning the driving wheel ever so slightly this way or that way on black-ice, it's the 20-watts of energy that will experience the result. In some cases the car will swerve off the road, but in other cases the car will continue on its way to my sister's dream house.
Christine had recently lost 100 pounds, and Ed had bought her a surprise pair of diamond earrings. It's going to be hard to wait, but I know Christine is going to look fabulous in them the next time I see her.
Robert Lanza, MD is considered one of the leading scientists in the world. He is the author of "Biocentrism," a book that lays out his theory of everything.
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Outrage and amazement are some of the emotions currently on display in Yola, Adamawa State, after the startling revelation contained in a letter addressed to a radio station in the state capital, Radio Gotel, by a lady who claimed to be an undergraduate of the Federal University of Technology Yola (FUTY).The lady, in the letter which was sent to the producer of the programme, "Heart to Heart", said she contracted the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) from her student boyfriend and has, in revenge, willfully slept with some 124 students and lecturers at the school.
The letter also contained the writer's threat to make public the names of those who have had sex with her "on the notice board." This has led to panic and spirited discussions among the male population in Yola, especially within the school community. The school's authorities, however, claim to be unaware of the letter, but promised to look into it.
The letter reads, in part: "I have a well-documented report of all those guys and lecturers who crossed my path, since I got infected with this deadly disease in the campus. So far, I have had 124 students and lecturers; out of these, only six (6) used condoms".
On a revenge mission
Continuing, she said in the letter, "I owe nobody an apology and am still on a spreading till I spread it no more."
The writer, who did not hide the trauma and disappointment she faced, explained in the letter that her first impulse upon the discovery of her HIV status was to take away her own life.
"I, however, did not confide my status to anyone until today (i.e the disclosure via the letter)," she said. "Since 2006, I promised myself that it's in the university I got it and here I will leave it. I have indeed lived to keep my promise.
"I was in year three when a student on his attachment in our school proposed for a relationship. He had all the qualities a woman would want in a man so I gave in. He told me all a girl would want to hear. In my innocence and naivety, I succumbed to his pressure to have sex with him. Consequently, I lost my virginity to him.
"After his placement, he reported for his final year and we still had contacts. I visited him on a number of occasions, I have even lost count the number of times I visited him. He was my first and only love and, therefore, hanged on every word he told me.
"My boyfriend later graduated and we lost contact until last month when his sister told me about his whereabouts. Before registration in the faculty of science, I went for medical test as is the requirement. I then opted for an HIV/AIDS test, which unfortunately turned out to be positive.
"It then dawned on me that I have traded the rest of my life for a university student who had deliberately and intentionally preyed on my innocence".
Danger of casual sex
A medical worker, who gave her name as Agnes, said the only lesson from the letter is that people should be careful about casual sex.
"Whatever you think, it is a fact that casual sex is very popular and for a lot of people, it's something that either satisfies a desire or serves a purpose," she said. "It is, therefore, an issue that affects many young people today, as they patronise casual sex under the various terms like ‘No strings attached' and ‘the one night stands' culture gaining foothold in our social life."
According to the United Nations AIDs agency, a vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower and middle-income countries. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are25.
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The News of the World says the group of six billionaires have spent three months on a deal they hope is too good for Malcolm Glazer to reject.Two consortium members are keen United fans who have twice visited Old Trafford this year to watch Sir Alex Ferguson and his players in Premier League action.Based in Bangkok, the consortium wants to buy out the Glazer family and put an end to the financial balancing act which has engulfed the world's biggest football club.A financial source in Bangkok said: "All the finances are in place and they are ready to approach the Glazers."They have done their homework down to the minutest detail and realise the Glazers are under pressure to service their mounting debts."If ever there was a time for United to be vulnerable to a buyout, it is now."
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In a sign of increased uncertainty about Umaru Yar'adua's ability to return to
Nigeria's presidency, his wife, Turai is anxiously moving to protect her most prized possession from the presidential lodge in Abuja also known as Aso Rock Villa.
Saharareporters learnt that the Turai Yar’adua has commenced the removal of a cache of gold and diamond kept in the inner recesses of the presidential villa. The precious metals, described by our sources as “large in quantity,” are tied to a business co-owned by Turai and her daughter, Nafisat Yuguda, but run on their behalf by a Lebanese businessman Joseph Zeitoun and his Nigerian wife, Zainab Zeitoun. “The fact that the First Lady is removing the jewelry from Aso Rock shows that the president’s condition may not be that good,” said one of our sources.
Nafisat, Yar'adua's daughter who is married to Governor Isah Yuguda of Bauchi, recently arrived in the US to give birth to their first baby.
The Zeitouns operate the jewelry business for the Yar’aduas out of the pricey shopping mall called Dunes Center. The jewelry shop, named Nafeez, is located in Suite 105 at the Dunes Center on 44 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja. General Jeremiah Useni (ret.) allocated the land to Zainab when he was the minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the Sani Abacha regime.
Mr. Useni briefly dated Zainab. Our sources said that Zainab was then also dating Joseph at the time, but introduced the Lebanese to Useni as her business partner. The sources revealed that Zainab hit it big when she was introduced to Turai and “the First Lady found her partnership very rewarding.” One of our sources said the Zeitouns helped open Turai’s eyes to the tremendous profits that she could reap from the jewelry business. The sources said Turai had used “First Lady” pressure to force male and female government officials as well as business owners to purchase expensive gold and diamond from her front jewelry business.
Saharareporters has reported on Turai’s extensive business deals, making her one of Nigeria's sleaziest First Ladies. A source close to the Yar’aduas said that Turai “exploits every opportunity to make money – through kickbacks, the charging of $30,000 fee for anybody who wishes to see her, and establishment of phony foundations through which unscrupulous businessmen are forced to make donations that are then rerouted into her personal accounts.”
Our sources further revealed that the m=Minister of Agriculture, Abba Ruma, maintains an apartment at the Dunes center and holds business consultations in the building. The Zeitouns have received huge contracts to construct "Agricultural Storage Silos" and have helped the Yar'adua family developed properties acquired in Abuja.
Saharareporters also learnt that Zainab and Joseph Zeitoun were responsible for planning and executing the “Arabian Nights” theme for the gaudy and opulent weeklong wedding of Nafisat Yar'adua and Governor Yuguda. The wedding featured Senegalese music sensation, Youssou n'Dour, who performed alongside imported Lebanese belly dancers.
When our reporter called the telephone numbers on the Nafeez business card obtained exclusively by Saharareporters, the lines had become inactive.
Dunes Center
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“This is my house, I have to defend it” was said by who, and in what movie? Well, if you racked your brains for some unpardonable stretchy seconds rather than declare the answer on the spur of the moment, then it simply means that you were neither a movie enthusiast/freak back in the days, nor could you holistically comprehend the unfolding events in the flick you were watching on the full screen as a result of your tender age.
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Caulkin) in first prequel of Hauptalleinquadlogy was the answer. It defeats a tried break-down on its principal firm by the wet bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel tail). Maintenance seed Komödienteller the film one served to the international view public in one to a high degree, one released on 16 November 1990. It held on for the point of the No. one in the cash fà ¼ for r zwölf weeks and earned $ 477.561.243 world-wide.
Hollywood can certainly boast of an array of child stars whether or not they consequently opted to pursue a full fledged acting career as they underwent the transformation into Adulthood. Dakota Fanning (Man on fire, alongside Denzel Washington (2004), Hide and Seek with Robert De Niro (2005), War of the worlds with Tom cruise (2005), and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss sunshine (2006), Definitely, Maybe (2008), Nim’s Island (2008) are some of the children stars making waves in Hollywood. Macaulay Caulkin, Drew Barrymore, Hilary Duff, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint were at one time referred to as child stars.
Shweta pra sad, Aisha kapoor, Rucha vaidya are children who have acted in Bollywood movies. Samuel Olaseinde (Abeni), Fidelis Abdulraham (white Waters 2007), Richard Chukwuma ( Small boy) have acted in Nollywood movies, but the question is how popular are these Nollywood child stars amongst the teeming Nigerian populace and even beyond our shores. Akin (Chinedu Ikedezie) and PawPaw (Osita Iheme) years ago were known as children putting up great performances in the numerous Nollywood movies they starred in. They shone like stars and had producers ready to part with large sums of money to have them take up roles in their movies. Had an alien visited Nigeria at that time and asked for children stars, their names would have popped up in the minds of the people. It was only logical to think in that line since they looked it. Doubts embedded in controversial arguments from different quarters, and the ill informed public’s perception was put in the proper perspective when they finally declared their ages. They were not children as we all once hastily concluded, but “little men”.
It is amazing that children stars depicting the true meaning of the word are at the bottom of the popularity chain when compared to these little men. One then begins to wonder why script writers undermine the role of children in movies and focus more on Adults. Hasn’t any child with the potentials of a great acting career been discovered so as to harness same? Are the one or two kids who act in ‘hit movies’ or who pick up Awards given the opportunity to act in more movies? Are they crowned with fame and fortune as their Hollywood and Bollywood counterparts? Are they given the extra push, support, help, conducive environment needed to help them pursue a successful acting career? Do casting directors have the patience to call for public auditions to screen and select the best for the roles or do they simply pick the children they know from among the Industry’s personalities? Can’t children’s roles where greatly executed in flicks act as catalyst in landing the sought after prestigious awards on the laps of the directors? or do we simply lack faith in their acting prowess.
The bane of the problem facing child stars lies in the “lack of continuity syndrome” flowing in the veins of most Nigerians which is manifested in various spheres. It is lugubrious to note that we are yet to bring about challenging, deep characterization roles, performed by children and woven in dexterity and told in a deep, non formulaic, non water shed plot with all the filming intricacies in place.
One can not fail to mention the most famous child star known by her mop of curls, Shirley Temple, who reigned in Moviedom during the 1930’s depression era in America and still holds the record till date. Amongst other achievements she holds the record for being the highest paid actor in Hollywood between 1936 and 1938, beating other Adult stars. It’s high time we prove to the world that Nollywood children stars are indeed uniquely gifted and can deliver at any time when the tape rolls and the ‘action’ order is given.
So long…auggiepo@yahoo. com
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Hundreds of lives would have been lost yesterday in a near collision of aircraft when the communication and radar system of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) broke down, leaving a dozen aircraft hovering in the air for several hours at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Ethiopian Airlines, carrying 180 passengers on its way to Lagos from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, demanded emergency landing when its aircraft was running out of fuel as it hovered for several hours, waiting to be directed to land by the Air Traffic Controllers at the airport.
Also, a Qatar Airways aircraft with about 190 passengers also requested precautionary landing at about 2.30 pm after hovering for a long time as the aircraft was exhausting its fuel.
THISDAY investigations revealed that both communication and radar systems of NAMA were down at the airport and the controllers could not direct aircraft to land, which led to a crowded airspace – a critical safety situation.
With the near crash situation, other aircraft in the airspace had to give way for Ethiopian Airlines to land.
One of the pilots of the aircraft that hovered at the time told THISDAY that there was a point it became unsafe to remain at the airspace around Lagos and he requested to divert his aircraft to another airport.
Almost all other aircraft had lost so much fuel because they had all waited for more than two hours.
“We waited for hours and there was a time there were more than 15 aircraft in the airspace, which was risky, so I requested that I wanted to divert my aircraft to another airport. Already, our fuel for the flight had finished. We were waiting on endurance fuel,” the pilot said.
The Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, acknowledged the incident and said he did not have the details yet but he had directed his officials to investigate.
The pilot also told THISDAY that the safety consequence of the incident was that there were so many “air misses” (near collision) of aircraft as many of them converged on the same flight level.
“The long hours spent hovering exhausted the fuel of almost all the aircraft and because we were all converging almost on the same level it gave rise to many air misses, so many lives would have been lost if there were crashes,” he said.
The pilot said NAMA should have contingency plan whenever the radar fails, so that this kind of incident would not happen again.
“What happened today exposed the danger of not well-managed airspace; there would have been at least a collision and you know the consequence of that, but when the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft declared emergency so we had to allow it to land otherwise it would have crashed,” the pilot told THISDAY.
The radar in Lagos has just been installed as part of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project, which went on stream a few months ago. Analysts found it surprising that it could break down so soon.
But THISDAY learnt from a NAMA official that power outage aborted the operations of the agency in Lagos and this lasted for several hours as there was no immediate alternative power source.
Although the agency has about two generators at the MMIA, Lagos, for three hours yesterday none was working when the public power supply from Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was cut off.
THISDAY also learnt that since August this year the agency had been powering its facilities in all the airports in the country.
“This is why we said that the airlines should pay us all the charges they owe us because we need the money to provide them service,” the source said.
The Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Nick Fadugba, had warned of the danger of allowing airlines to hover around the Lagos airspace waiting with the poor communication and radar system in the Nigeria, noting that it is tantamount to endangering people’s lives.
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It is a man's worst nightmare but for Colombian farmer Luis Alfonso Sanchez it seemed the logical thing to do.
The 40-year-old decided to castrate himself to avoid cheating on his wife who refused to have sex with him.
Mr Sanchez had performed the act on many of his animals in the past and believed the procedure would be as easy for him saying: "I've castrated pigs, cats, dogs and three days later they are healed.
"I thought that's what it was going to be like with me. I had practice with animals, so I went ahead, put some pressure on it, and cut them to remove them by force!"
"When I saw that I could no longer count on her (his wife), so that I would't keep bothering her, I made the decision to cut my testicles off because I am a Christian and did not want to go look for another (partner)."
The man is being treated at Santander Hospital where Dr. Javier Martinez said he is still healing: "He still has an escroto-penial hematoma. He's been looked at by the urology department, and they found a complete absence of the testicles."
According to doctors, Sanchez's wounds have become infected.Read more…
An HIV-positive man has confessed to injecting his blood into his sleeping wife and infecting her with the virus that can cause Aids, reports have said. Skip related content
It is believed the man wanted to give her the disease so she would start having sex with him again, New Zealand's Sunday Star-Times said.
Court documents detailed how the man, 35, twice pricked his 33-year-old wife with a sewing needle laced with his infected blood.
The husband discovered he was HIV-positive - but his partner and children were not - during health checks imposed on them when the family arrived in New Zealand in 2004.
The woman had said she wanted to maintain the relationship for the sake of the children.
But she refused to have sex with her husband for fear of contracting the disease.
In the documents, the wife described how, in May, 2008, she found a sting-like mark on her left thigh and two days later awoke to a stinging feeling in her leg.
She said: "I got up... and I flicked the blankets... I looked at (the husband) and he was wide awake."
The wife asked him if he had pricked her and he said, 'No'. But she later found evidence of "blood sprinkles" on their duvet, which she said her husband tried to hide from her.
During a routine check-up four months later, doctors revealed she was HIV-positive.
The woman confronted her husband, who admitted dipping a needle in his blood and pricking her with it.
"All he said (was) he was sorry. He said, 'I used needles on you because I wanted you to be the same as me so that you can live with me and you won't leave me'," she said.
The husband has admitted wilfully infecting another with a disease and faces up to 14 years in jail when he is sentenced at Auckland High Court next year.
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I stumbled upon this today while browsing the net and realised that a person's name just like his spirit,soul and body is a distinct criteria for his purpose in life .God has many names and the one we look at today is yahweh .
The Hebrews according to this article below are the progenitors of the naming convention and overtly and covertly have been identified with the history of the written word as we see it today.
Meaning, origin and etymology of the name YHWHYHWH is the second creation Name of God. God's Name changes from Elohim to YHWH Elohim in Genesis 2:4 .
As told by Joel M. Hoffman Ph.D. in his delightful and riveting book In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language - - the Hebrews were the first to incorporate vowels in their written text, and by doing this the previously esoteric art of writing and reading became available to the masses. The seemingly casual command to 'write' something on doors or foreheads included the invention of a writing system that could be learned by everybody. A very big deal, and resulting in the most powerful tool of data preservation up to this common age.
Hebrew theology is by far the most influential ever, and this is in part due to the Hebrew invention of vowel notation. This power (this theology) contrasted others by use of the vowel notation, using symbols that were already used and until then only represented consonants: the letters (waw), (yod) and (heh), and to give an example: the word is either the word dod, meaning beloved (and the is a vowel), or it is the word dud, meaning jar (and the is again a vowel), or it is the word dawid, which is the name David (and the is a consonant).
These letters became markers for both the Hebrew identity and the Hebrew religion, including the various names for God. One of these names is the famous Tetragrammaton (YHWH) which actually exists only of vowels, and is utterly exceptional in many ways, including the fact that it can not be pronounced.
The word (El) was the name of the prominent Canaanite god, whose name was either derived of or became the common word for god in general. The plural of this word is ; gods. With the addition of the letter , creating the word , the Hebrews not only stated essential monotheism (by naming a single God after the plural word "gods") but also marked their God as theirs: Elohim is the singular pantheon of the vowel-people.
Something similar occured when the name of patriarch Abram () was expanded with the heh into Abraham , and the name of matriarch Sarai () was expanded with the heh to Sarah ().
The meaning of the name YHWH is not very clear, and therefor subject to much debate. The key scene in this respect seems to be Ex 3:13-15, where God names Himself first: (I Am Who I Am), then (I Am), and finally (YHWH) and states that this is his name forever and a memorial name to all generations. It has been long supposed that YHWH is derived from the verb that is used to make I Am, namely (haya 491) to be, to become, to happen, or rather from an older form and rare synonym of haya, namely , hawa, hence y-hawa or yahweh, the proper imperfect of the verb, thus rendering the name either Being or He Is. (But note that the Hebrew language is far more dynamic than our modern languages. The verb to be indicates an action that intimately reveals the nature of the one who is doing the acting. For more more on this, see our article to be is to do.)
TWOTOT ( Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Moody Press Chicago) recognizes two separate verbs hawa:
(hawa (484) is the aforementioned older form of (haya 491), to be or become.
(hawa 483) means to fall, with derivatives calamity, wickedness, evil desire, disaster. Perhaps this curious double meaning is in some ways comparable to our word happen, as the words happening and happenstance are often used as euphemisms for typically unfortunate events.
TWOTOT goes even further as it states, "...there is a problem with the pronunciation Yahweh. It is a strange combination of old and late elements.[] In view of these problems it may be best simply to say that YWHW does not come from the verb hawa at all. [W]e may well hold that YHWH [...] is an old word of unknown origin which sounded something like what the verb hawa sounded in Moses' day. However, if the word were spelled with four letters in Moses' day, we would have expected it to have had more than two syllables, for at that period all the letters were sounded."
In other words, the name YHWH looks like a hybrid of times, as if it can not be localized but spans centuries of evolving grammar. Then it also looks very much as if it was derived of a verb that means to be, but which is spelled differently than the regular verb to be, and similarly to a verb that means something very bad. Perhaps all this confusion, or rather, this wide pallet of negotiations is what this Name most essentially conveys: existence in its broadest sense, yet unlike any regular human perspective; a blessing to the wise, but the undoing of the wicked.
On the other hand, perhaps the name YHWH means Tom, Dick or Harry in a language that has slipped out of the collective human consciousness and we are left with the echo's of a revelation that was as sincere and confidential as the word abba: daddy.
If God took so much stock in giving himself all these names and the almost impossiblity of knowing their exact meanings then maybe we should take a closer look at upgrading ours !
Thinking of changing your name now ?Read more…
*UBA, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Reacthuman trafficking claims made by Marcia Okhai against Joan Okorodudu. Here are our new findings.Cynthia Omorodion was visibly absent at the recent Nigeria’s Next Super Model Contest held in Lagos and many who attended were curious as to why the ex bearer of the crown was not there to hand over her title. We spoke to Cynthia on Friday December 11th 2009 and reasons for being absent were evident in her response.THEWILL: How did you get involved with the Nigeria’s Next Super Model contest?Cynthia: My former manager told me about it and asked me to go for the audition in 2007. I did not get selected at the time so I tried again in 2008 and I was selected as one of the finalists. Myself and the other contestants proceeded to camp. We were housed in a home in Lekki for one month. The finale was held on the 30th of September 2008 and I emerged the winner.THEWILL: What were your prizes?Cynthia: I was to get a brand new Kia Saloon car, a $10,000 (USD) modeling contract, and a trip to Germany to represent Nigeria in the Model Of the World Contest. None of these happened. I never got the car nor went to Germany and I have not worked on any modeling jobs worth 10,000USD. Instead I was taken to South Africa for Audi Fashion Week in Cape Town.THEWILL: When did you go to South Africa?Cynthia: I went in South Africa in October 2008 with Joan Okorodudu, her son, and six other models. Each of us paid for our tickets.THEWILL: How did you obtain your visa to South Africa?Cynthia: We went to the embassy to pick up the visas.THEWILL: Did you go through an interview process at the consulate for the visa?Cynthia: Yes I did. I was issued a 90-day visa and I told them I was going for Audi Fashion week.THEWILL: So when you arrived in Johannesburg, where did you go?Cynthia: We were taken to the model house. There were other models there. Both male and female and we all stayed in the house. There were like 13 or more of us.THEWILL: Did you do any modeling work while you were in South Africa? Did Joan Okorodudu secure the jobs?Cynthia: Yes I did. I did Elle Magazine SA, and Audi Fashion Week in Cape Town.THEWILL: Did you get paid for these jobs?Cynthia: No I did not get paid.THEWILL: Did you ever get paid for any of your modeling jobs you got through Joan’s Isis Modeling Agency?Cynthia: No I never did.THEWILL: So what were you doing for upkeep and money?Cynthia: I was forced to get myself modeling jobs. And I was fortunate enough to meet people in the industry that helped me by telling me when there were castings. There were also designers who took an interest in me and asked me to model for them. All the models do the same because Joan doesn’t pay.THEWILL: When you heard Marcia Okhai had broken her silence and blown the whistle on Joan Okorodudu how did you feel?Cynthia: I was not happy because I am a private person and I wanted to fight Joan by taking legal action against her. But everyone has their way of doing things. We all do things differently. My Lawyers sent Joan a letter even before Marcia put out her note.THEWILL: And what was her response?Cynthia: She has not responded up till today. We have heard nothing back from her. My lawyer is on it though.THEWILL: Let’s go back to South Africa, so how were you able to work without a legal working permit and proper documents?Cynthia: Joan Okorodudu said she would secure work permits for us, but it was one thing after another and things were not quite working out. She got spouse visas for some models as an alternative so they can legitimize their stay. After I had had enough I decided to return to Nigeria because I refused to continue to suffer in another man’s country. In fact my visa had expired so I was fined 3,000 rands before I was allowed to leave SA.THEWILL: So since this story broke Joan has not contacted you at all?Cynthia: No she has not.Editor’s note: A spread for any internationally syndicated fashion magazine is a very lucrative deal for any model to secure. And it would be disturbing to imagine that the customer never paid Joan Okorodudu and that is why she never paid Cynthia. Typically the client cuts the agent a check and the agent in turn cuts the model a check after deducting applicable taxes and commission, which should never exceed 20% of the earnings. This is standard practice between agencies and their models.UBA CLEARS THE AIRTHEWILL has also been contacted by a representative from United Bank for Africa, one of the supposed advertised sponsors of Joan Okorodudu’s Nigeria’s Next Super Model. They have stated that Tony Elumelu and UBA are in no way related to Joan Isioma Elumelu Okorodudu and any of her projects. They told us categorically that she has used their logo illegally and with out permission. Joan had been to the headquarters to solicit sponsorship many times, but was told they had no interest.Otunba Segun Runsewe condemns the actions of Joan Okorodudu and the NNSM contest.The Director General of The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation has also contacted THEWILL and has thanked us for our investigative report. He expressed his disappointment in Joan Okorodudu for humiliating the image of those young girls and Nigeria as a whole. He said when he assumed office in 2006, he found that many regulations were not in place and that the accreditation procedures were not being enforced for events such as NNSM. He has had to change how licenses were being issued. There is a procedure in place for obtaining a license for an entertainment event and it conforms to those of international standards.The corporation ensures that things are done the way they ought to be. He also stated that since we broke the story, they have decided to put a hold on all such modeling contests and pageants in Nigeria. No permits will be issued until they complete investigations. The DG said, “We are putting strong investigations into the matter. And anyone found wanting shall be prosecuted accordingly.We assure you that we will come out with the results of our on going investigations and we are doing all we can to correct all the lapses in the system.” He expressed his concerns that people do not appreciate that tourism is the greatest employer of labour in the world, and what NNSM has done is giving the sector a bad image.We are yet to hear from Joan Okorodudu since we called her last week and were asked to give her time to respond.
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Posted by 9jabook.com on December 11, 2009 at 10:51pm
Amnesty International exposed the shocking level of unlawful police killings in Nigeria in a new report released on Wednesday.
“The Nigerian police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year,” said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.
“Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention.”
“The majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones.”
Police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were ‘armed robbers’ killed in ‘shoot-outs’ with the police or while trying to escape custody. These claims are often highly implausible.
Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Egbo was killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. According to witnesses, he was playing with other children in front of his uncle’s house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed.
In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from the mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing.
Amnesty International said that some police officers see the killings of ‘armed robbers’ in detention as acceptable practice.
In June 2009, the organization visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city.
Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty International delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty International delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground.
Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty International that many “armed robbers” are taken there and shot.
Amnesty International said that one of the main problems is ‘Nigeria Police Force Order 237’ under which police officers are allowed to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest – whether or not they pose a threat to life.
“Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings,” said Erwin van der Borght.
“The government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life. This simple step could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria.”
Enforced disappearances in Nigeria are rife. Typically, in the first days or weeks following arrest, families are allowed to visit their relatives in detention. Later on, police tell them their loved ones have been “transferred to Abuja”. Other times, they simply deny any knowledge of their whereabouts.
The Nigerian government says that they do not condone extrajudicial killings. But they are not doing enough to stop them and bring the police perpetrators to justice. Even on the rare occasions when police officers implicated in an unlawful killing are prosecuted, they are often released on bail or escape custody. Some are simply transferred to other states.
“Ending unlawful killings and enforced disappearances by the police will require serious legal reform and commitment and support from the Nigerian police force,” said Erwin van der Borght. “The Nigerian Police Force must introduce a new code of conduct throughout its chain of command – from the very top to the bottom. If not, the cycle of violence will simply continue.”
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Posted by 9jabook.com on December 11, 2009 at 10:48pm
*China, Nigeria in talks after $50 billion offer in June
*Nigeria desperate for funding to fill joint venture gaps
China is ready to invest $50 billion to acquire 6 billion barrels of Nigerian oil reserves in a proposal made in June, a sum which could help the OPEC member fund its joint ventures with oil majors, a top adviser said.
Several state-run Chinese oil firms, including CNOOC, are in talks with Nigeria about Beijing's search for proven oil reserves, which include incursions into some oil blocks held by Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron.
"The application was to acquire reserves of 6 billion barrels which we are currently discussing. They are prepared to spend as much as $50 billion," Emmanuel Egbogah, Nigeria's presidential adviser on energy, told reporters in New Delhi where he is attending a conference.
Nigeria's junior oil minister said in September China would not be given all the reserves it was seeking, but Nigeria's state-run NNPC could sell stakes in joint ventures with existing oil partners if Beijing offered the right price.
Shell, which is one of several Western oil firms that operates in Nigeria through joint ventures with NNPC, has vowed to fight any possible efforts by the Nigerian government to hand control of its fields to Chinese oil companies.
Industry executives say Nigeria is using the spectre of a Chinese bid for its oil as leverage in difficult contract renewal negotiations with its existing Western oil partners.
Nigeria has had difficulty paying its share in its joint ventures with oil majors, forcing Africa's biggest energy producer to consider alternative ways to bridge the gap.
Egbogah said its funding shortfall has steadily increased to $6 billion from a few million dollars when joint venture arrangements were created in the early 1970s.
"One of the biggest challenges of Nigeria's oil and gas industry has been that of funding," he said.
"This is claimed to have negatively impacted capital expenditure requirements for increasing production levels from the existing joint venture fields."
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Posted by 9jabook.com on December 11, 2009 at 10:42pm
Kabir Audu is a very successful Nigerian. He's 30. And he has an idea.
"It was Ben Gurion in the late 1940s," he says.
"He called on Israelis around the world to come home. To build an Israel greater than their wildest imagination."
He pauses.
"We see Nigeria every day - tremendous talent, this tremendous potential. Imagine if it's wielded toward one vision."
Kabir and his friend Tunji Abdul are living proof of Nigeria's mass migration homeward.
Both were making a fortune on Wall Street. Both were bored.
'New life'
"Every deal felt just an extension of a previous project," says Tunji.
"I came back to Nigeria after 10 years. I realised this place was calling for young entrepreneurs - to breathe new life into the system.
"That's why I came back."
They're real estate developers, building modern homes - and the first sustainable skyscraper in Lagos.
It will harvest its own rainwater and be powered by solar energy.
"We want our architecture to shape the way people feel about their space, their community," says Tunji.
"Great buildings, inspirational buildings, don't just have to be in the UK or the US."
Renaissance
Tunji and Kabir are two among hundreds of thousands.
Bode Pedro is another.
He's 26 and runs a computer manufacturing start-up business employing 75 people.
"It's a renaissance," he says. "We're talking about art, science, technology, entertainment, media and business.
"People are coming home because they want to be part of it."
All of them were educated in the US, but their rich American accents are barely noticed in the nightclubs in Lagos.
Here, vowels from New York and Oxford blend into West African pidgin English.
Another giveaway - Lagos is sprouting recruitment agencies with a difference.
They specialise in bringing talented Nigerians back home.
"In 2003, we thought around 5,000 people a month were coming in," says Funto Akinkugbe from Find A Job In Africa.
"That's multiplied by three now. We're looking at the best part of 15,000 people on a monthly basis."
Seeking shelter
The influx is startling. Nigerians have a word for them - "re-pat".
And, it appears that there are two types.
Entrepreneurs like Kabir and Tunji have spotted a market and are starting businesses.
Some 140 million people living here makes Nigeria quite a business opportunity.
Meanwhile, thousands of others are seeking shelter from the global financial crisis.
Job losses in the financial sector - and the financial crisis itself - make going home suddenly seem very attractive.
And these refugees are attractive employment for the entrepreneurs tapping into Nigeria's potential.
With a huge market and a huge labour force combined, Nigeria ought to stand alongside Brazil or Russia.
So why doesn't it?
'One step ahead'
The answer is that Nigeria has not enjoyed the same economic growth.
Here, a businessman's lot is not always a happy one.
Chronic electricity failures, traffic jams that last for hours, the delays, the half truths and shadows of corruption. All of that makes doing business here very difficult.
"What do you need to survive? Passion!" laughs Tunji Abdul.
"You have to make sure you're one step ahead.
"Get up earlier and leave the office later. Move around when traffic is a bit less.
"It's your business to find a solution."
And if you can make it work the rewards are worth it.
"Nigeria is phenomenal," says Kabir.
"People keep saying, 'Oh, you gave up a lot of money on Wall Street, to come back here…..'.
He pulls a face and smiles. "Actually, it's not the case. In terms of rate of return, it is significantly higher than where we're coming from."
Being part of change
Bode Pedro agrees.
"Nigeria is so fresh. Right now, we have 5% computer usage here.
"It's changing fast - and you're either part of it, or not."
For all of them, the bottom line is very good - but the personal kick that thrills them is the impact they're having.
"You coming here is being part of a renaissance," says Bode softly.
"In five years, you'll be part of something new. You'll be part of something different.
"You'll be part of the growth of a superpower called Nigeria."
He is deadly serious.Read more…
Some are protesting the casting of Jennifer Hudson in new film.Johannesburg, South Africa. Some South African actors have spoken in opposition of the casting of Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson in a film about the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The Creative Workers Union of South Africa recently stated that the use of foreign actors for films such as the one to tell the story of the former wife of South Africa’s first black president hinders efforts for expanding the film industry in the country on a broad scale.Mabutho Sithole, President of the union, is quoted by AFP as stating to The Citizen newspaper on the matter, “It can’t happen that we want to develop our own Hollywood and yet bring in imports… This decision must be reversed, it must be stopped now… If the matter doesn’t come up for discussion, we will push for a moratorium to be placed on the film.”As noted in the report, Hudson was cast for the role last month.Controvery has always followed Winnie Madikizela-Mandela like a giant shadow she just couldn’t shake off. Even now her unauthorised film biography is embroiled in controversy.News that a film is to be made of her life, with former American Pop Idols contestant Jennifer Hudson, playing the leading role, has sent local actors and actresses reaching for their affirmative action vuvuzelas and making noise.The Creative Workers Union of South Africa, leading the cacophony of howls, claims that using foreign actors to tell South African stories undermined efforts to develop a national film industry.Udo Froese, a close friend of Madikizela-Mandela, says: “There’s a lot of good local talent, why not use them? Winnie herself is not involved in this, and in no way has given any sort of green light.”Duh, it’s not a movie commissioned by Winnie of South Africa for that matter. It’s only a movie about her.The film is an unofficial biography by Anna Marie du Preez, a local journalist and will be directed by local film maker Darrell J. Roodt, who also directed Cry, The Beloved Country and Sarafina.Now what the local natives don’t understand is that the film industry is a business, and money talks and bulshit walks. The movie has nothing to do with ubuntu, economic empowerment or affirmative action. It’s an outside production. If they want to do their own version of a Winnie movie, they are free to do so. But what they can’t do is piggyback on those who took the initiative – for comercial reason I must add – and then dictate what should happen and who should be cast.The movie has to sell for its producers to give investors the expected returns on their investments. Political sentiment never paid anybody’s bills. Instead of criticising, we should be glad that Hollywood is taking an interest in our stories for a change.Our actors and the rest of the noise makers should understand that one has to develop him or herself into a brand to be marketable. Take the leader of the Creative Workers Union of South Africa leader, Kid Sithole for instance; who in Korea, Vietnam, Senegal, Morocco or Russia would go watch the movie if he was the lead actor?Good stories neeed big names to sell. Viewers need names they know. If you want to sell to the global audience, you go for a name even mainland Chinese would recognise and say “aah, Jehnifah hassen, pop adols”.Hudson is not a bad choice, except she should play Winnie in the later years, because the “mother of the nation” has only gained weight as she got over 50. She was always slim and trim and wore her dresses well – except the rediculous hats of course.Sidney Poitier played Nelson Mandela and Michael Caine the apartheid leader F. W. de Klerk in Mandela and De Klerk (1997), in a made-for-TV movie. Morgan Freeman plays the old man in Invictus, a recent movie about how Madiba and Francois Pienaar united the nation around the 1995 rugby world cup, which SA won. . Matt Dillon played Pienaar.There have been some dud imports too. Whoopie Goldberg failed to sell Sarafina. Some might argue that the story didn’t have as much global appeal as the Pienaar and Mandela rugby story.To play Winnie in her early years I thing Nia Long would be a good candidate. We all know her from Soul Food, Ware We There yet, The Best Man and Love Jones. Other possibilities are Gabrielle Union, Tamala Jones and Elise Neal.But I guess Hudson is Hollywood’s current flavour of the moment, after her successful acting debut in Dream Girls.Angela Basset can also carry the lead role well. She is by far the best living female African american actress. Her roles in in “Boyz n the Hood”, “Malcolm X”, “What’s Love Got to Do with it”, “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”, showed her versatility.Halle Berry has for years been considered to be one of the most beautiful and sexiest women in the world, but she just can’t play Winnie. Whoopie Goldberg, is disqualified purely by her looks. Wendy Raquel Robinson, could fit the role, except I haven’t seen her outside the sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.
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(Memphis Egypt) Famed egyptologist Dr. Zany Hogwash announced to a stunned world that King Tutankhamun owned an Ipod and a cell phone. The items were discovered in 1922 by the Carter expedition but were misidentified as kitchen utensils. King Tut lived from 1341 BC to 1323 BC.Dr. Hogwash said the Ipod was damaged with age but the song selections were readable. It appears King Tut was like any normal teenager and loved rock music. His favorite song was Pyramid to Heaven by Ded Zeppelin. The young king was also very fond of the Dark Side of the Tomb album by Rosetta Floyd.The Rolling Stones were alive back then but no selections were on the Ipod. The same can be said for The Dung Beatles. The king didn't seem interested in the Hittite Invasion bands of the early 1330's BC.King Tut was fond of 'The Pharaoh of Ra and Roll'; probably because they both lived in Memphis. The recording of You Ain't Nothing but a Jackal was played numerous times.King Tut's cell phone also yielded much information. According to Dr. Hogwash the young king liked text messaging. The messages are very hard to read because they are abbreviated hieroglyphics; only a teenage egyptologist would be able to decipher them. The king had Queen Nefertiti and Queen Neferriti on speed dial so he wouldn't mix them up. He had Cleopatra on speed dial also but dropped her after a recent spat.Dr. Hogwash says they are looking at other items in King Tut's tomb more closely and hope to find his laptop or his Iphone.Nigerian AmeboIn futher confirmation of this strange occurence A renowned babalawo Baba Lamidi Egunjemide has claimed that The ancestor of the yoruba's, King Oduduwa had a microwave oven and a binatone blender used for preparing gbegiri and amala for the great king ! This came in very handy as he was migrating from Egypt ! possibly given to him by King Tut himself also a known gbegiri man but our sources claim he preffered poundy not amala .Also you can add your amebo gist and other more strange reports like this can be found at http://www.9jabook.com/group/ameboTo ERR is human but to gossip takes great skillby anonymous ancient amebo
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The senate has confirmed the appointment of Arunma Oteh as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Also confirmed on Thursday was the appointment of Ahmed Remi Makele as an Executive Commissioner (Legal & Compliance).
Both were nominated by President Umaru Yar’Adua in July this year and their names were forwarded to the senate for confirmation in accordance with the provisions of the Investment and Securities Act 2007.
Following the confirmation, Ms. Oteh will take over from Daisy Ikineh, who has been acting as the commission’s Director General since Musa Alfaki resigned from the position in April this year after he was allegedly implicated in the poor handling of the AP share manipulation saga.
During the screening exercise that preceded her confirmation, senators praised Ms Oteh’s resume. She was described as a “round peg in a round hole”.
“I think that for once we have made a choice based on qualification and not political inclinations,” Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP Cross River State) said.
The new SEC bosses
Ms Oteh, 41, has over 16 years of capital market experience and is currently the Vice-President (Corporate Services) of the African Development Bank Group (ADB).
Before becoming the vice president of the ADB, she was the Bank’s Group Treasurer for 5 years (2001-2006) with overall responsibility for the Bank’s fund raising and investments in major international capital markets. She has worked variously in ADB as Division Manager Investments and Trading Room from 1997 to 2001, and Senior Investment Officer/Senior Capital Markets Officer from 1993 to 1997. Cumulatively, she has worked with ADB for over 16 years.
Before joining the ADB, the new SEC chief worked in corporate finance, consulting, teaching and research for several institutions, including the Harvard Institute for International Development, USA, and Centre Point Investments Limited Lagos, Nigeria.
She is on the board of a number of organisations, including the advisory board of the African Investor, as well as the International Financing Facility of Immunization (IFFIm), a charity organization.
Ms Oteh has an MBA from Harvard University, USA, and a First Class Honours Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She has received both a Harvard Fellowship Award and a National Merit Award.
Mr. Makele is presently the Associate Director, Legal Risk & Compliance of DTZ Group Holdings Plc, an international corporate finance and investment management company. He has also previously served as the Senior Manager, Regulation & Compliance at Royal Bank of Canada/Dexia Group – one of the World’s top 10 global custodians.
He has worked with other major UK legal and financial companies, as well as the UK Personal Investment Authority (now Financial Services Authority).
Mr. Makele has also consulted domestically for the Investment & Securities Tribunal (IST) and published papers on a number of domestic financial issues.
He is from Kogi State and has a Masters degree in Public International Law from University of Cambridge and BA Honours in Law from University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
He also has a diploma in Regulation and Compliance from the UK Securities & Investment institute and is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
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