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HIV TO VIP Noah & The American Idol Dream !

Posted by Choochoo Sports Book on May 16, 2009 at 7:04pm

Noah's Story

Noah is one of the millions of HIV-positive children worldwide, but his story is one of a kind. In June of 2008, Noah had no idea his life was about to change. Leigh Blake, who, with Alicia Keys, co-founded Keep A Child Alive (KCA), one of the most influential HIV/AIDS fundraising organizations, had traveled to Kigali,Rwanda to visit one of the many clinics KCA supports. After her work was done at the clinic, Leigh paid visits to a few patients' homes, one of which turned out to be Noah's. At the time Noah was surviving on one bowl of porridge a day. But despite his emaciated frame, Leigh saw something vibrant in his eyes so she asked him what his biggest dream in life was. "I want to record an album of my music," he told her. Leigh, a veteran of the music industry, was intrigued and asked if he would perform.Here he was in the slums of Kigali dreaming such an enormous dream," Leigh recalls. "He was someone with so little access to popular culture, really almost none at all. But as soon as he started rapping, I saw he had it- the talent and the intensity to be a star- and I knew I had to find a way make his dream come true." Noah first became interested in rap music when he was 8-years-old and heard a classmate rapping in French. He remembers asking himself why he couldn't do it too and decided to teach himself. While he didn't have a radio, CD player or any other way to access or record his music, he says he kept the music in his head, thinking about it constantly.At that first meeting, Leigh invited Noah to perform at Keep A Child Alive's Annual Fundraiser, The Black Ball in New York City, an a-list gala, and he accepted enthusiastically, though probably didn't believe her. Leigh kept her word and three months later he was on his way.When Noah arrived in the US, he went straight to producer Swizz Beatz's recording studio where he had his first taste of recording. Then, he met Alicia Keys, KCA's co-founder, and one of Noah's favorite artists. "Here I was in America, where anything is possible," he recalls. Finally, Noah performed his rap "Brothers" at the Black Ball. The audience, including Alicia Keys, Bono, Padma Lakshmi, Tyra Banks, Queen Latifah erupted. "The whole thing was like a dream," Noah remembers.Perhaps most importantly, American Idol's creator, Simon Fuller, was also at the Black Ball and was so impressed by Noah that he dedicated himself to making his dream come true. Noah returned to Rwanda, bringing back an iPod and other gifts that he shared with his friends. Most importantly, he brought back hope to a place where it is desperately needed. "My Grandmother wants me to live in America now but says never to forget about her, and to send money back," he says. Today through his music and his appearance on American Idol, Noah has the power to transform not only his life and the lives of his family, but the futures of millions of people with HIV. Thanks to the life-saving medication and care provided by KCA with the support of American Idol's audience, he can prove that HIV is not a death sentence for the millions of children infected by the disease, and that dreams really do come true.Watch this important video to see how you can help Keep A Child Alive. You can help by purchasing the charity single on iTunes. All proceeds go to Keep A Child Alive. Find out more at Keep A Child Alive.

Effect Of Poverty On The Nigerian Child

Posted by Elvis on May 16, 2009 at 6:38am

Poverty is the hallmark of underdevelopment (Akanbi, 2001). It is regarded as a condition where millions of people are hungry, malnourished, where there are high levels of illiteracy, unemployment and infantile mortality, a condition of poor infrastructural facilities and amenities. The social activist explain that poverty is a brutal denial of human right.Nigeria is one of the countries that is naturally blessed with human and material resources, yet poverty is observed among the people of rural and urban centers. Ogbulafor (2000) explains that Nigeria’s poor economic status is an embarrassment because the country has no reason to be counted among the poor nations of the world, since, it is blessed with abundant mineral resources like petroleum, gold, silver, coal lead, gravel, limestone etc.Onyesoh (1998) however, explain that poor political leadership has been one of causes of the continued fall in the standard of living and worsened condition of the poor since independence 1960. More importantly, some politicians’ ideology for independence according to Onyesoh is based on political greed, self ambition and anarchism while the comfort of the individual is little on the agenda of such leaders. As a result bribery and corruption, drug trafficking, embezzlement, unemployment, prostitution, rape and personal assault are on the increase.According to Ayagi (1990) corruption is pervasive that there is hardly any segment of the society that is free from this vice and the general public has come to accept corrupt practices as a way of life and as a part of our political culture.The effect of poverty is enormous on the child. Poverty as we all know has become endemic in our communities, both in the urban and rural areas and from all indications the child is at a disadvantage because of his or her dependence on the adult for sustenance, including access to basic needs and essential service. The inability of the adult to provide these basic need puts the child at the danger of the following.Malnutrition has a disturbing level among Nigerian children. The three main consequences of malnourishment in children are stunted growth which means the height of the child is below average for his age, wasting or advancement in height without the necessary corresponding increase in weight and underweight which refers to children who are below average weight for their age. A relevant data by Fos (1996) reveals that there is a high proportion of stunted and underweight children in Nigeria, whose daily intake of calories per capita fell from 2, 200.00 in 1992 to 2, 000 in 1995 and 1996. The figure depicts a disturbing level of malnourishment among Nigerian children. The rural areas were more negatively affected than urban areas.Teenage marriage which is attributed to cultural and socio-economic problems, has direct linkage with poverty. Nigeria has a high rate of female school dropouts. For example UNESCO (2000) reports that in 1995, 56.3% of boys completed primary school as against 43.7% girls. Most girls leave school due to inability to pay cost, distance or inaccessibility, religious factors, early marriage or sickness. When this is done, the next option they have is marriage. This type of marriage most times ends up in divorce, V.V.F and psychological stress because these girls are not biologically and psychologically mature for marriage.Stress 8 million of Nigerian children , which UNICEF describes as being involved in child labour may be going through some stress. Stress can be described as pressure, tension or worry resulting from problems in meeting the challenges of life. Stress is closely associated with anxiety, which is commonly experienced as general uneasiness, a sense of fore bearing and a feeling of tension. Stress per se is not a negative phenomenon (Agulanna, 1998).Moderate stress is said to be needed for actions necessary for adaptation in our changing world, but stress becomes detrimental when we have it in an overdosed form, which is disabling, disorganizing and disorienting (woodfolk, 1995, talent, 1988). The Nigerian child who is involved in child-labour is disabled when he has to take sometime off school, disorganized and anxious when he has to go up and down the streets and disoriented when he has to take up an adult’s responsibility of fending for himself and his family. All this calls for anxiety, anger, depression etc no wonder therefore, that we have been hearing of children with diseases such as hypertension, peptic ulcer etc. these are extensions of poverty.Child labour, an estimated 8 million Nigeria children are said to be trapped under the yoke of child-labour, while 3.2 million others were out of school, in spite of government’s efforts at stopping child-labour and ensuring the education of all children. The latest of UNICEF reveals that out of the estimated 8 million children in child labour, 67 per cent of the children are girls, “the largest population of out of school girls in sub-Saharan Africa” (Yakubu’s Punch 21st May, 2003). A lot of these girls are being trafficked to other countries for sexual exploitations, many others including boys are subjected to different kinds of abuses. Child-labour is a direct result of poverty.Powerlessness, according to Hetherington and Parke (1987) is a basic problem of the poor. In a more specific term the poor have less influence over the society in which they live and are likely to be less adequately treated by social organizations than members of the middle class.For instance, the poor receive poorer health and public services and they are more likely to have their individual rights violated by agents of the law or social workers or educators or the medical professionals. Subsequently, their lack of power and prestige and lack of educational and economic resources restrict the availability of options in most areas of the lives.According to Parke (1987) the poor are tragically vulnerable to disasters such as job loss, financial stress, and illness and they are subject to impersonal bureaucratic decisions in the legal system and in social institution such as welfare agencies.In view of these multifarious problems, poverty alleviation is a welcome idea in Nigeria. Every member of the community has to be dedicated and action packed for the needed success.There cannot but be a change or orientation, values, belief and aspirations in a place like Nigeria where poverty injustice, dishonesty, insensitivity to the plight of the common man and intolerant ethnic and religious practices are the order of the day. Therefore, a conscious and full fledged attempt must be made towards producing a new Nigeria.

Early Childhood Education: The Key to Success in Life

Posted by chuks ezeh on May 16, 2009 at 12:33am

Dear Lagos, I am writing you this letter as a memoir, to the love I have for our dear son “Governor” and our daughters “Legislature” and our little niece “Judiciary”, you know the great Nelson Mandela, the well-known statesmen, once said, "Education is the great engine to personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation."The truth of this statement can only be fully appreciated if one considers the enormous importance of preschool education. The famous Japanese violin teacher and educationist, Shinichi Suzuki, once expressed a great truism when he said, "The destiny of children lies in the hands of their parents." The direction and the quality of this destiny are largely determined — by the parents — in the first seven years of the child's life.A study by High/Scope Educational Research Foundation of Ypsilanti, Michigan, showed the significant value of early learning. From 1962-1967, 123 African Americans, all aged 3 to 4 and born in poverty, and therefore at a high risk of later failing in school, were randomly divided into two groups. One group was exposed to a high-quality preschool program while the control group was not exposed to any preschool programs. The program that the experimental group was exposed to was based on High/Scope's active learning approach. In the study's most recent phase, 95% of the participants were interviewed at age 27. Additional data were gathered from the subjects' school, social service and arrest records. The most significant findings of this study were:• Almost a third as many of those attending the preschool program, opposed to those with no preschool exposure (71% vs. 54%) graduated from regular or adult high school, or received their General Education Development Certificate.• At age 27, four times as many of those exposed to the preschool program, opposed to those with no preschool exposure (29% vs. 7%) earned $2,000 or more per month, and they also scored higher on home and car ownership.• At age 27, only one fifth as many of those with proper preschool exposure, opposed to those with no preschool exposure (7% vs. 35%) had been arrested five or more times, and significantly fewer arrests for drug dealing were made under the preschool program group members. (7% vs. 25%)• The rate of out-of-wedlock births was lower among the group that had received preschool exposure. (57% vs. 83%)There is a proverb that one never gets too old to learn. This, however, is only partially true. There are indeed certain aspects of learning that can only be acquired effectively during the first seven years of life. Parents, who are desirous of offering their child an adequate preschool education, should therefore take care to concentrate on these aspects of learning. Some of the most important of these skills and aspects of learning are discussed below.1. Language:Language ability has been found to be an important predictor of reading ability. It is therefore of the utmost importance that parents should do everything possible to ascertain that their child be given optimum opportunities for language acquisition, more so because of the fact that, before the age of seven, a child has a phenomenal ability to learn language. From the age of eight years, the child's ability to learn language is equal to that of an adult. It is therefore very unwise if parents do not exploit the wonderful opportunity that is presented only once in every child's life, and only for a short space of time.Parents should talk to their toddler as often and as much as possible. The more the small child is exposed to language, the quicker he will start to understand speech and later also start speaking. It is important that on a daily basis time should be set aside for story reading and/or story telling. However, it is vital that the same story be read or told over and over every day. The same story should be read to the child for several months before a new story — a slightly more advanced one — is introduced. This new story must also be read over and over for many months.Effective language acquisition is dependent upon ample repetition of the same words, phrases and language structures.2. Concentration:Concentration is both an act of will and an acquired skill. For that reason it is important that parents make sure that the small child will receive enough opportunities to exercise this skill, so that he will be able to sit still and concentrate for at least 20 minutes or so by the time that he goes to school. From about two years the parents can start reading stories to the child. It is important, however, that the child must sit still and listen to the story. He must not be allowed to run around or play during the reading. To make this possible, the parent must start with a short story of about five minutes, and then little-by-little increase the time. In this way the child's attention span can gradually be stretched.3. Work attitude:The idea of school readiness is a universally accepted concept. However, readiness for work is probably even more important than school readiness. There has been a tendency over the past decades to try to make learning fun. This is certainly one of the reasons why there is so much learning failure all over the world at present, because learning isn't fun; it is work. Naturally, work — just like learning — can often be very interesting, and it can even be enjoyable. Moreover, there are always aspects of work — and therefore also of learning — that are neither interesting nor enjoyable. Regardless of this, however, they have to be done. It is of the utmost importance to teach a child that work is something that has to be done, and done to the best of one's ability — also those aspects of work that are not interesting or enjoyable. The child whose parents do not succeed in teaching him this, faces a very hard and difficult future.4. Coordination:Nowadays, two of the common symptoms of children, who have difficulties with learning and with reading, are that they have low muscle tone and that they never crawled. Both these problems can be prevented in a very simple and easy way.Low muscle tone is merely an indication of weak muscle strength, and a baby will only crawl if his parents teach him to do so. Children can only do what they are taught to do.General muscle strength of the body is to a large extent determined by the strength of the back muscles. Muscles remain weak when they are not exercised. Parents should from very early in his life provide their child with opportunities to exercise his muscles, especially the back muscles. This can — and should — start from as early as a month or two.By following a very simple procedure, parents can lay the foundation for their children to later have good coordination and strong muscles. From about a month or so the little baby should be allowed to spend as much time as possible on the floor in the face-down position. The baby will lift up his head, and this will develop strong back muscles. Being left in this position will also encourage the baby to try to move forward, which will encourage him to start crawling.Later, when the child is a little bigger, eye-hand coordination can be developed by playing throwing and catching games with the child with a ball or bean bags. Fine motor control, as a preparation for a good handwriting, can be developed by letting the child crumple papers. Start by tearing pages from an old telephone directory, and giving the child one page at a time to crumple into a tight ball with one hand only.5. Body parts:Put on a pair of glasses with blue lenses. Everything you look at will have a tint of blue.The great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), once said that we "see things not as they are but as we are." This axiomatic statement is based on the fact that we human beings approach and interpret our world from inside our bodies. Just like everything appears blue to the persons with blue lenses, our perception of our world is tinged by our knowledge of our own bodies. The child, who has inadequate knowledge of his own body, will be inclined to misinterpret the world around him.For an example of this, consider the phenomenon of reversals. Our bodies have a right and a left side. It is therefore inevitable that we shall interpret all objects that we encounter in terms of two-sidedness. Unless the child has been familiarized adequately with his own sidedness, there is the distinct danger that he may misinterpret the sidedness of other things — like b's and d's, for example.Bath time presents an excellent opportunity to teach the small child body parts and sidedness. As soon as the child is able to sit up by himself in the bath, the teaching should commence. Don't simply take the little foot and scrub it; rather hold your hand and then say, "Give me your right foot," and wait for the child to place his right foot into your hand. If he gives you his left foot, say, "No, the right foot," and then scrub only this foot. Next, nominate another body part, with left or right, and wash this. In this way go through all the various body parts, each one — where applicable — with left and right.If a parent continues doing this every night for two or three years, the child will certainly have no uncertainties about left and right or body image. The effect of this, inter alia, will be that the child will not have any difficulties distinguishing between b's and d's.6. Counting:Counting can be regarded as the language of mathematics. It is therefore just as important to teach a child from very early in life to count well. The easiest way to teach a child counting is to start with his fingers, first with the fingers of one hand and then later both hands. Remember that, like with anything else, much repetition is required.7. Colors:Color is another very important very basic thing that should be taught to children very early in life. It is important to start teaching the basic colors first, white, black, red, green, blue and yellow. Again much repetition is required. One can, for example, play games with colors, e.g. "Put all the yellow blocks into the green box.Thus, my beautiful children cherish this informative information memoir that have written you.

Will Trafficking Ever Stop?

Posted by Elvis on May 15, 2009 at 2:04am

Recently, I read in one of the national dailies about a couple who was involved in child Trafficking, the couple were caught while trying to move these children to a neighbouring country. Well, the excuse they gave was that they were taking the children on a tour. According to the paper, the police said investigations were on-going and they would be charged to court if found guilty.The National Agency for the prohibition of Traffic in persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) said in Abuja recently that it rescued 809 victims from traffickers between October 2008 and March, 2009. Alhaji Babadede Muhammed, Director, Investigation and Monitoring told newsmen that the period witnessed a jump in the incidence of trafficking. Those rescued were 278 male victims and 531 females indicating that women and girls are at higher risk than men. Distribution by age also showed that children and youths are being trafficked more than adults. Three hundred and seventy-two of those rescued were 17 years of age. While 347 were between the ages of 18 years and 27 years. The remaining 90 victims that were rescued were above 28 years of age.The director noted that 748 victims were rescued within Nigeria, 28 victims in Togo, 30 victims in Benin Republic while three of the victims were from Cameroon. He said with the support of The Nigeria Immigration Service, NAPTIP smashed a major trafficking ring operating between Nigeria and Niger Republic and arrested 16 persons including a driver and some agents.But what is being done to reduce the incidence of human trafficking? Over the years, government, Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, and even international organizations have been up and about waging an all out war against the trade. Eki Igbinedion formed the Idia Renaissance, Titi Abubakar came up with the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, WOTCLEF. she sponsored a private bill which culminated in the Trafficking in persons (prohibition) law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 to address this menace that had turned Nigeria into an object of ridicule in the comity of nations. This law gave birth to the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Person, NAPTIP.Now, what borders me and I am sure also borders the public is why all these reported cases are not tried and brought to a logical conclusion. You hear or read in the news that a traffic syndicate had been napped and investigations are on-going. That is the end of the story. Nothing is ever said of the case again. This I think is what is giving the perpetrators the impetus to continue in their nefarious acts.One would also wonder why somebody would decide to make humans their source of livelyhood. Sacred Human being unlike animals you can buy in the market has become a lucrative business for evil people. Using your own children for trafficking is enough offence, not to talk of other people’s children. Some consent to being used because of the poverty level and some others, out of sheer ignorance or deceit.Stories abound of children (under age) being used for all sorts of trade-like hawking, house help etc. recently, I met this fine young girl in the house of a friend I went to see. I asked who she was and I was told she was the new help. I was taken aback because she was just too young, (12 years according to her) to be out of her parent’s glare not to talk of working and bringing home money.Funny enough, she does not even understand English. The couple who took her uses gesture trying to communicate while they try to teach her to understand basic English. She is from the middle-belt of the country. The inquisitive nature in me came out and I started asking the couple how they got such a young child who is just a little older than their first child to be working for them. They told me it was through an agent.So, you see that even with the awareness that NAPTIP is creating, the quest for young children as helps and all sorts will not end because the society itself is not ready to face the challenges. A couple who probably work in the bank gets a help or helps as the case maybe because they need somebody to help take care of their domestic front while in the office. these set of people do not care who the person is or whether under-age because it is not their child and the common excuse is that they are paying. It is so very sad that even the children being trafficked do not even get to see the money they are labouring for. The agents collect the money at the end of each month or quarterly, depending on the agreement with the “client”. Most times, the agent take their own and take the others to their parents for those who knows what their children are doing. But for some others, the story is different. What about those taken into prostitution. I could go on and on and it makes me begin to sound like a broken record.I think for us to be able to completely and judiciously fight this trafficking issue, all stakeholders must live up to their responsibility. Parents should have the children they can conveniently take care of. The society at large should also be their “brothers keeper”, the government should intensify efforts and get quick justice for citizens.Source:Gladys Omoragbon

Mr. Fashola (Lagos state governor) has done the bare minimum.

Posted by Osamuyi on May 14, 2009 at 11:00pm

I do not agree that the Lagos state Governor is doing a tremendous job, he is only doing the bare minimum, even though he has created jobs by using manual labour.Nigerians deserve more that just street pavements, lawns, tree planting and painting of kerbs, that should be left to the environmentalist, the role of government is to provide "MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE" ie; Metro lines, inter-city networks, electricity, clean portable water, security and stability, good health service, housing for the people, social welfare and secured pension schemes etc, to say the least.I refuse to go along with the crowd in praising Mr. Foshola, "He is only doing the bare minimum".

Anxiety in police over new promotion policy

Posted by oluyinka olusile on May 13, 2009 at 9:48pm

Anxiety has heightened in the police over the implementation of a new promotion policy that bars the rank and file who are 40 years old and above from being promoted beyond the rank of inspector.Skip to next paragraphFileInspector-General of Police, Mike OkiroOur correspondents learnt that some of those who could be affected by the new policy were becoming increasingly worried and might consider a strike to press for the suspension of the policy.In Lagos, a random interview conducted by one of our correspondents among policemen whose ranks ranged between corporal and inspector, showed that seven out of every 10 were above 40 years.One of the policemen attached to Area “G” Command, Ogba, (a sergeant) bitterly complained about the new promotion policy and said, “These people will never do anything that will benefit the poor man; what else do they want us to do?“I have served in the police for over 20 years. Look at me, I am still a sergeant and I am above 40 years; does that mean I will never get any promotion till I leave the police?”Some policemen at a roadblock on a major highway in the South-South zone told one of our correspondents on Tuesday that most of them would soon be flushed out of the service because of the age barrier.The policemen, who identified our correspondent through a sticker of the Nigeria Union of Journalists displayed on his car, flagged him down at the check point and politely asked him to park.Instead of asking for particulars of the car, the policemen complained about their deplorable condition of service.Visibly despondent, the five policemen narrated how they had been working under the rain and the sun for years with very little to show and added that instead of being rewarded, some of them would soon be sent away.They said a signal had been received from the Force Headquarters ordering the state commands to implement the new policy that would stagnate all rank and file from age 40.The following conversation ensued between one of the policemen and our correspondent:“Old boy, you are a journalist. You people are not writing about what is happening in the police. You only write about the bad things.Why, we don’t write bad things about the police. Besides, we cannot write bad things about our friends. The police are our friends.That one is grammar. We know that people don‘t like us, so stop talking about friends or enemies. That is not our problem.What is the problem then?The IG has sent signals to all the commands directing that all of us who are 40 years old in the rank and file should not be promoted again. We learnt that they would keep us in the same rank for some time and later retire us from the service.Why would they do such a thing?We heard that they want to bring in graduates and OND holders to take over. I have served the police for 23 years and have only been promoted sergeant. I don‘t have a house and my children are very young. I wonder how I will train them if I am stagnated and later flushed from the police. This is the only job I know how to do. Go and write and tell them not to sack us.”But when contacted, the Commissioner, Rivers State Police Command, Mr. Bala Hassan, denied the claim.Hassan said there was no intention by the police authorities to stagnate or disengage policemen in the country.Although he agreed that a new promotion policy might be in the offing, he disagreed with the view that the rank and file who are above 40 years would be stagnated and later sacked from the service.Describing the rank and file as the foot soldiers of the police operations, the CP noted that it would be impossible for the service to function without them.However, our correspondents learnt that the commands were not in a hurry to make the signal public because they were still not sure of its modus operandi and workability.Police spokesman in Lagos, Mr. Frank Mba, also denied knowledge of the signal.

The Forbidden Fruit: A warning to Aso Rock

Posted by oluyinka olusile on May 13, 2009 at 9:40pm

Denise is a 6 year old who does not in anyway look like a typical girl of her age. She seems to have lost almost 2 years in physical stature taking after her diminutive mum. Nature has generously compensated her with the power in her tongue. Her mouth is sharper than a two edged sword. She can talk and even over-talk to make one wonder if it is a blessing or otherwise.She is the second daughter of Michel, our Cameroonian friend and Nicole, his wife who is an Ivorian. We used to live in the same neighbourhood before we moved to our current location. After a long time of only telephone conversations between the two families and no see, we were able to arrange a dinner in our house on a Saturday evening.While the dinner was being served, I switched on the television in the dinning to watch the AIT international news. Michel is from the Bamileke tribe in the English speaking part of Cameroon so I was sure he would enjoy watching an Africa news channel in English. No sooner the TV was switched on that Denise quizzed in Italian language “chi è questo uomo?” Meaning who is this man? I pretended I didn’t hear her but she pressed further pointing to the TV asking “why does he look like this? He looks sick……..” I could see that her father was a little bit embarrassed about the utterances of his daughter but the mother seemed to be indifferent even though it was obvious that I wasn’t comfortable with her comments.How could a child talk like this? How could a child be so unkind in her remark towards another being? Do her parents help tame her razor-sharp tongue? A tongue, like a rudder in a ship is a small part controlling a big body, the power of life and death is in it. These are some of the questions running riot in my head. I began to wonder if they ever taught their daughter what our children call African education. Do they plan to send her to a finishing school later in life? We have taught our children never to make any nasty comments about anybody. They are to respect elders and call elderly Africans ‘uncles’ or ‘aunts’ in a country where everybody is called by his or her first name regardless of the age or status. We have taught them how to comport inside and outside home; and even to do some household work. Does it mean some African parents don’t bother about all the social and moral values in our African informal education? Our African education also includes what the scripture intends when it says “spare the rod and spoil the child”The little girl almost spoilt my evening until my wife helped me come back to my senses and then I realised that Denise was just saying the truth in her innocence. Absolute truth! Nothing but the truth! Truth can be truly bitter. She must have a discerning spirit. So how could a little girl spot a sick person within a few seconds? So a girl this young can quickly know what 140 million good people of our great Nation are being told is not real. No! No! No! Flesh and blood have not revealed this to her.How come madam doesn’t know that Oga is sick or is she pretending? How come she doesn’t know we see the same thing she sees, the same thing Oga sees in the mirror. We see the fading and skeletal figure. It is not inhuman to be sick rather it’s inhuman to deny this fact. We all know he is sick. Hardly can a day go by without my family praying that God will strengthen him to complete his term so that he can have enough time to attend to his health. Even though he is not desirable at Aso rock, we pray that he will live long enough to see our own Obama and a nation of our dreams. A nation the founding fathers had in mind when the fought for independence. A nation where the law will rule, not his hypocritical rule of law. An egalitarian society where the people in government will also know the difference between private and government funds. A nation we will all be proud to call ours.Just while we continued in our fervent prayer and occasional fasting for his survival, stories started to filter out of a second term. Second ‘wetin’? It can’t believe this. No it can’t be true. It’s surely a forbidden fruit that must not be eaten. So Shakespeare was right when he said that “there is no art to find the mind construction on the face”In an Obasanjo’s style of third-term leak, people started reading the scripts out loud and clear. Chief Tony Anenih and the FCT Minister, Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Aliero were the first persons to disclose this. As I was still contending with the sanity of both men, then Dr. Bukola Saraki, the Kwara State governor also confirmed this while speaking on behalf of all PDP governors…… It can never be true. All the PDP governors can not lose their minds simultaneously. Was it another April fool? No. What could have motivated him and even them? I know cancer do spread, has it got to the faculty? Can the devils who deceived Obasanjo to go for a third shot be at work again? Or the sprites of the Abacha era? Or is it the innocently looking ‘uninnocent’ Madam? They cannot mean it. We cannot take it. “You can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time” – apology to Bob Marley.After taking more than his fair share of the booty and contributing more than most of his corrupt old politicians in dragging Nigeria down, common sense would have expected Chief Anenih to fade off from the scene but his greed seems to be insatiable. Has he squandered the tens of billions of Naira he made during Obasanjo’s era as the Minister of Work, PDP’s BOT Chairman and as ‘Mr. Fix it’ or he just wanted a few more billions acting as a ‘fix it’ consultant. If not psychosis, how could someone who owns more than 100 houses in Abuja alone still be interested in filching public fund. God is watching and we will all have to account to Him someday. A wise man of his age should be factoring eternity in his thoughts.Nothing better could have been expected from Alhaji Adamu Aliero who in spite of his infamous past as a governor in Kebbi State was still made the FCT Minister only for arranging his successor in Kebbi State House, Governor Saidu Usman Nasamu Dakin Gari to take Zainab a first daughter as a third wife. If this is your own way of saying thank you, you have really taken it too far. How can you recommend a slumbering head to a nation that is fast awake? Foul!Governor Bukola Saraki is the son of the the Senate Majority leader in the second republic Olusola Saraki. This medical doctor turned banker and ultimately politician will for ever be remembered as the Damaging Director of Societe General bank in Nigeria for single-handedly running dry the bank while he was the CEO and his father was the Chairman. Our memory is not shallow. As a good people, we only have a big heart to forgive and give a second chance otherwise, you would have been lynched for the pains you caused depositors and investor of SGB. Now you want to replicate what you did to the bank to the entire nation. How can a knowledgeable human being claim that the Oga needs 2 years to study the problem of this country and 6 years to act. The statement confirms what is believed in some quarters that our political office aspirant should go for psychiatric evaluation. Any one who needs 2 years to study a problem, will certainly need eternity to solve it. How many years will be required to study the problems of China or India . Obama knew what he wanted to do and started doing it from the first day of his presidency.A First lady’s love of power is not peculiar to Turai but I think she is taking it to another level. Since her husband’s disability is gradually turning to inability, she is craftily trying to be in charge and turn Umaru to the nations ‘First gentleman’. Nigerians (rather Obasanjo and Iwu) did not vote Turai to Aso Rock but Umaru. Common sense would have suggested that a loving wife in your shoes would have advised the husband to stand down on the account of ill health. Your action has brought back the memory of ‘Mamangida’ who believed it was more glorious to be a late president than a former president. What difference does it make if someone dies as a former president or a sitting president? If you are motivated by your search for more gubernatorial suitors for your other daughters, you still have about 2 years to put your acts together. Nigerians are tired of reading about your illegal deals and financial escapades littering the pages of our online news sites. You can be more honourable!Mr. President, if truly you have thought about a second term, it must have been at best, a poor decision, bad judgment and gross insensitivity from your side. My advice is that it is good you seek help when you can, get yourself some attention while you can and get some treatments which you can as only the wise see danger around the corner and take appropriate action. A word is enough for the wise! Nigeria is no North Korea where an obviously dying Kim II-Sung was nominated for another term. We have many capable and able people to lead us to the promised land. We can not wait to see you leave Aso Rock Villa. It is our prayer that you would be the last old order politician to stay in the Villa. We desperately need a break and a change. We can make it! Yes we can!! Yes we will!!!The only Constance in life is change. People can change. Was the President not the seemingly meek Governor of Katsina? May be the fear of Obasanjo and Nuhu Ribadu was the beginning of his meekness and wisdom then. Was he not the reluctant presidential candidate? How come he doesn’t want to leave even in spite of all odds against him? Was he not the one who left about 6 billion Naira in the coffer of his state while his colleagues left billions in debt or did he just lack idea of what to do with government’s money? At least he could have built a world-class hospital in Katsina to take care of his ailment to save Nigeria the cost and foreign exchange to fly him to Germany and Saudi Arabia .What have you done in your almost two years free-for-all corruption plagued government? What have we gained from our patience? What dividend of democracy have you delivered? Nothing! You embrace the corrupt and run after the corruption fighters. You befriend Ibori, Odili, Turaki, Lucky, Kalu etc and chase Nuhu Ribadu. Is that your way of fighting corruption?Your allies say you need 2 years to study the problems. Which problems? National or personal problems? Nigeria has no other problems than to fight corruption, generate electricity, provide good roads and other infrastructures, provide quality education, heathcare………….. and most of all rebrand you politicians and other public office holders.You have 2 more years to prove sceptics wrong and let them know that slow and steady win the race. Please don’t renege on your promise of 6000 KW by the end of the year.God Bless Nigeria !Nigeria Go Better!

Workers, activists hold rally in Lagos

Posted by oluyinka olusile on May 13, 2009 at 9:31pm

Labour and Civil Society Coalition on Wednesday accused the Federal Government of causing “artificial” fuel scarcity in the country in order to deceive Nigerians into accepting the deregulation of the downstream sector.Skip to next paragraphBayoor Ewuoso.Workers and rights activists during a rally at Alausa, Lagos... on WednesdayBayoor EwuosoNational Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. John Odah, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; and his deputy, Mrs. Adebisi Sosan, at the event.LASCO, at its one-day rally attended by over 10,000 workers and rights activists in Lagos, said it was regrettable that Nigerians benefited nothing from the huge revenue made by the Federal Government from oil boom.The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, who led the peaceful rally, added that the government was unserious about refining petroleum products locally.Omar said, ” We must say no to deregulation.The fuel scarcity is artificial and it is designed to deceive us into accepting deregulation as the solution.“We enjoyed fundamentally nothing in terms of infrastructure and improved living standard from almost one decade of oil boom, which reached an all time high of $147 per barrel last July.“Those who want to buy our refineries are parasites. They have been issued licences since 2002 to build their own private refineries, till today, none has been built. Now they want to buy our refineries, of course with looted funds. We must resist the daily robbery on our collectively owned property.”The labour leader also took a swipe at the Federal Government for allegedly doctoring the report of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais-led National Electoral Reform Committee.He reminded the government that the recommendations, as presented by the ERC, had painstakingly addressed the problems facing the country‘s electoral system.NLC president said, ”President Umaru Yar‘Adua identified and said that the election that brought him into office was flawed. For that reason, he promised setting up an electoral reform committee, which he did. Fortunately, the committee, led by Justice Uwais, did a thorough job, but the Federal Government bungled the report and removed vital aspects.”We know that it is only when a leader is genuinely elected by the people that things can work properly in this country. When leaders are imposed on the people, they will work for those who imposed them, and pay deaf ears to the yearnings of the people. We therefore, say no to the pilfering of the ERC recommendations.”We call for electoral system where the vote of the people counts, and hence the supremacy of the electorate in the choice of their leaders.”The NLC, he added, had opened a register at its various offices in the country, where the signatures of 20million Nigerians would be collected for the purpose of sending a bill adopting the recommendations of the ERC to the National Assembly.He said pushing for the full implementation of the ERC recommendations was a must for the country if the rot in the electoral system must be addressed.On the N52,200 per month minimum wage, which was one of the three issues that necessitated the rally, the NLC boss said the increment had become imperative in view of the present economic realities.He added that as a result of government‘s failure to provide basic infrastructure, electricity and water, the workers had deemed it imperative to demand for the increment so as to be able to survive.The labour leader later presented a letter containing LASCO’s grouse to the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, for onward transmission to President Umaru Yar’Adua.Omar said the group had chosen to send the letter through Fashola because it believed that he (Fashola) was one of the governors in the country who emerged through a credible election.Also speaking, President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, said the rally would be a continuum until LASCO’s demands were met.Esele said, ”We must all stand up to the responsibility of being a Nigerian citizen. At the bottom of all these problems is that we cannot choose who will lead us. Our votes must count; it is left for us to rise up since our country is at the cross-roads.“From this moment onward, we will ensure that our votes count, rebranding the country is not just all about their gimmicks. We know we have good people, but we have bad leaders in this country presently.”The rally which took off from the National Stadium, Surulere, through Ikorodu Road via Awolowo Road to Alausa in Ikeja was done under tight security.Riot and regular policemen were drafted from different formations in the state command to ensure maintenance of peace and order while the rally lasted.The police team was led by the command‘s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Lateef Junaid, on the directive of the Commissioner of Police in charge of the command, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo.The command‘s spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, told our correspondents that the heavy security presence was aimed at stopping social miscreants popularly called ‘area boys’ from hijacking the rally and unleashing mayhem on innocent citizens of the state.Nobody was arrested throughout the protest described by police authorities as peaceful.Offices, markets, shops and motor parks were all opened for normal business activities in all parts of the metropolis.But the popular Ikorodu Road witnessed a chaotic traffic situation during the protest as many motorists and commuters were stranded in the gridlock that was experienced during the rally.

FG, Labour to dialogue over minimum wage

Posted by oluyinka olusile on May 13, 2009 at 9:28pm

The Federal Government on Wednesday said it would set up a committee to dialogue with the Nigeria Labour Congress over contentious issues, including workers’ demand for N52, 200 per month minimum wage.Skip to next paragraphPhoto fileMinister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode, (SAN)The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, announced this just as the NLC and civil society groups staged a peaceful rally in Lagos to also press for the reversal of the deregulation of the downstrean sector and the adoption of the Natioanl Electoral Reform Committee.Kayode, who spoke after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, said that through the talks, the government would place the average Nigerian worker at par with his or her counterparts in other parts of the world.The minister said, “Government will set up a committee to sit down with labour to discuss the issue of minimum wage.“We will ensure that the average worker in Nigeria is put at par with any other worker anywhere in the world.”His counterpart in the Information and Communication Ministry, Prof. Dora Akunyili, said that the FEC also approved a Draft Employees Compensation bill, which, if passed into law, would ensure that workers who suffered injuries or disabilities in the course of their jobs, received compensation, treatment, or rehabilitation, where necessary.She explained that the council approved the bill because the existing Workers Compensation Act was outdated.“The Workers Compensation Act is now obsolete and out of tune with international labour standard”, Akunyili said, adding that the council approved the new bill “in order to align it with international best practice and standards.”“The bill, when passed into law, will benefit not only government but workers in particular, as it allows for long term follow-up to ensure that the injured worker is treated to the end and rehabilitated where necessary,” she said.Explaining further, Kayode described the approval of the new bill as a revolutionary act by the FEC.He said, “Before today, what we have operating in our country is the Workers Compensation Act; today the Federal Government has approved a bill to replace that primitive regime which the old law represented.“In the new bill, the average Nigerian worker has a universal insurance coverage for compensation and rehabilitation if he is injured or, dead. As at today that does not exist.”The minister explained that the new bill provided for automatic compensation for workers.Noting that “most companies find it difficult to pay compensation under the old Act,” Kayode assured Nigerians that “as from now” relevant agencies of government, such as the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, would pay workers and then recover the money from the concerned company or companies.However, he noted that the 10 per cent compensation provided by the new bill was among the lowest in Africa .This, he explained, was due to the size of the country, but he added that the rate would be raised with time.Kayode in the same vein commended the NLC for engaging in what he described as a peaceful rally.He said, “Today, we know that labour went on a national rally for which I am really happy that everything went peacefully as they promised us and as we expect of them as matured people.”The minister went ahead to stress that the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration had demonstrated its commitment to the welfare of Nigerian workers by taking up the issue of compensation, which he described as the most critical among three demands of the NLC.

Liz Cheney suggests Obama 'siding with terrorists'

Posted by 9jabook.com on May 13, 2009 at 7:35am

(CNN) — Liz Cheney is picking up where her father left off when it comes to taking aim at the Obama administration, saying Tuesday the new commander-in-chief appears to be siding with terrorists. In an interview on Fox News, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney sharply criticized the new administration for agreeing to release photographs depicting alleged abuses at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration. "I think it is really appalling that the administration is taking this step," she said in the interview. "Clearly what they are doing is releasing images that show American military men and woman in a very negative light." "I have heard from families of service members from families of 9/11 victims this question about when did it become so fashionable for us to side, really, with the terrorists," she continued. "You know, President Obama has a lot of rhetoric about support for American military families, support for our men and women who are fighting for us overseas. But if he really cares about them, then he wouldn't be making such an effort to release photos that show them in a negative light." Late last month, Pentagon officials said the hundreds of photographs released are from more than 60 criminal investigations from 2001 to 2006, and show military personnel allegedly abusing detainees. But the officials rejected allegations by the American Civil Liberties Union that the photos show a systemic pattern of abuse by the military. In her interview Monday, Cheney also echoed recent calls from her father for the Obama administration to release classified documents detailing information yielded from the aggressive interrogation techniques since denounced by the president. "They seem only to be interested in releasing things that really paint American in a negative light and don't give the American people a full picture of what went on," she said.

The alarming rate of married Ibo women in Nigeria who are bisexuals.What do women want?

Posted by Jane Okinedo on May 13, 2009 at 7:12am

The eastern part of Nigeria parades a classical nature of beauty in its feminine strain .But thier beauty comes at a cost .It was revealed recently to the media about a ladies club where membership was wholly given to well placed ladies who were Ibos .Investigations on the club brought to light ;the interesting secret sides of this establishment .All the ladies who were members were engaged and were also bisexuals.They were all married to well-placed men within the Nigerian society .I ask what do this women really want .They have everything .But they want what marriage cannot give to them- The sensuality and feel of the body of another ''xx chromosone''.

BRODA SISTA MATTER

Posted by 9jabook.com on May 13, 2009 at 6:21am

by Pamela Braide The best stories come from 3 sources, okada (commercial motorbike) riders, taxi drivers and hair dressers. Doing my hair today I wasn’t disappointed. Irritated by the loud drumming coming from a nearby, prayer/miracle house, church, my hairdresser launched into full griot mode. Her main vex was the brother sister syndrome in a particular popular Pentecostal I wont mention. Apparently once you attend the first time you are assigned a brother or sister to help keep you on the spiritual path. Presumably this means making sure the new sheep comes to church services, prayer meetings, and tarry nights. One thing though; the monitor is always of the opposite sex. For my poor dear hairdresser the new attendee was her boyfriend and he was assingned a nublie "sister". So her boyfriend acquired attachee by divine authority who proceeded to keep him centered in the path of righteousness through showing up in his house to cook, wash his clothes as well as the aforementioned duties. As expected his girl reads out the riot act. Hairdresser … Aunty which kin broad sista tin be dat? Wen dem dey alone na church dem go discuss?De babe dey even carry her money go market come cook for my man… I no gree oh! My hairdresser says spiritual guide has gots to go and her man is scared to shove her cos the church will be upset so she decides to follow her boyfriend to his new Pentecostal church one fine Sunday morning (she’s a catholic). Well at some point they ask all the new comers to stand up to be welcomed and her man begs her not to stand up. She asks why and he justs begs her frantically not to. After service he explains to her that if she stood up the church would have attached a Brother to her for spiritual guidance!The wise babe informed him that if he didn’t stop this whole charade she was coming to his church the next Sunday on her own, would stand up during the newcomers’ introduction and collect her own “Brother” to guide her down the paths of righteousness. Abi na only him wan reach heaven? *loud hiss* This is where her man came to his senses. His “Sista” reported him to the church once he stopped her from being intrusive and he received a scolding from the pastor, she then stopped speaking to him. In fact when she comes across my hairdresser she walks right past her. Can you imagine the nerve? If their relationship had been shaky it and the church sister a bit more subtle and patient it could have worked. These people put a whole new spin on the term hooking a sister up! thanks pam ! http://pdbraide.blogspot.com/2007/12/broda-sista-matter.html

4-0-4

Posted by blueblood on May 13, 2009 at 5:16am

u cant beat dis,better known as 'scooby' or 4-0-4...those around crossriver can xplain better cuz itz more like their delicacy..uve ever tried one?

We Call Them Laws !!!

Posted by Daniel Ajumobi on May 13, 2009 at 1:01am

1. If you can't get your work done in the first 24 hours, work nights.2. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.3. Don't be irreplaceable, if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.4. It doesn't matter what you do. It only matters what you say you've done and what you're going to do.5. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before.6. The more you put up with, the more you are going to get.7. You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.8. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.9. When the bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.10. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a darn fool about it.11. There will always be beer cans rolling on the floor of your car when the boss asks for a ride home from the office.12. Keep your boss's boss off your boss's back.13. Everything can be filed under "miscellaneous."14. Never delay the ending of a meeting or the beginning of a cocktail hour.15. To err is human; to forgive is not our policy.16. Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he/she is supposed to be doing.17. Important letters that contain no errors will develop errors in the mail.18. If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.19. You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk.20. People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't.21. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.22. At work, the authority of a person is inversely proportional to the number of pens that person is carrying.23. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.24. Following the rules will not get the job done.25. Getting the job done is no excuse for not following the rules.26. When confronted by a difficult problem you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"27. No matter how much you do, you never do enough.28. The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.Joe and Frank were in the office, and noticed that someone had put up a suggestion box with some 3 x 5 cards next to it. Both decided that this was a great idea, and each took a card to fill out.Joe wrote: "The office workers should all be given raises!"When he looked at Frank's card, it said: "Can we all have raises, and keys to the executive washroom, and personal secretaries, and new company cars, and new coffee cups, and longer lunch breaks, and an extra three weeks vacation each year, and a holiday on St. Patrick's Day, and Columbus Day and Martin Luther King's Birthday?"Joe said, "Frank, that isn't the right way of getting things changed around here. You shouldn't put all of your begs in one ask-it."

Diamond Estate For Sale Opposite Deeper Life Camp Along Lagos / Ibadan Express Way

Posted by Rabiu Adeniyi on May 12, 2009 at 11:32pm

Diamond Estate is an estate designed for medium and high income earners. The estate is located along Lagos-Ibadan expressway by Ijere, Ibafo, Ogun State. Its neighbor include Somolu LGA Co-Operative and Credit Ltd, Ministry of Defense Co-Operative Multipurpose Society Ltd and SMARC.The estate has a registered survey with survey number OG/698/2008/088 dated 30/07/2008.On completion, the estate will be fenced, transformer and water will be provided. The estate layout has been planned into zones based on the type of structure to be built such as: Bungalows, fully detached and block of flats.The essence of zoning is to maintain a healthy flow of residents within each zone. Plots have been marked for the following: hospital, schools, sports/recreational grounds and petrol station.We have also marked out some plots for commercial purposes since residential plots cannot be used for commercial activities. we are offering you a home instead of a house and we sincerely believe you should be part of Lagos-Ogun-Federal Government mega city vision.Diamond Estate Phase 1 Now Selling : N800,000 Per PlotDiamond Estate Phase 2 Now Selling : N650,000 Per PlotDiamond Estate Phase 2 Extension Now Selling N550,000 Per PlotSurvey Plan: Naira80,000Deed of Assignment: Naira 20,000AFTER COMPLETION OF PAYMENT FOR THE LAND YOU WILL GET THE TITLE DOCUMENTS BELOW(A.) Receipt(B.) Letter of allocation(C.)Estate covenant(D.)Survey plan(E.)Deed of Assignment(F) Global C of O[b]For Inspection, Documentation and Payment Please Contact us belowWAY AND LIFE PROPERTIES CONCEPTSBLOCK D 37 38 GREENLAND PLAZAPLOT 67 IJU ROAD, PEN CINEMA AGEGELAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.HOTLINES: 234-8067683422, 07029736151Email: wayandlifeproperties@live.com, wayandlifeproperties@yahoo.comWebsite: http://www.wayandlifeproperties.realtors.officelive.com, http://www.e-advertizement.com

Super Governor The changing Face of Lagos from the mind of Mr Fashola !

Posted by Akin Osunlaja WebLagosian on May 12, 2009 at 9:16pm

A first time visitor to Lagos cannot but be overwhelmed or lose sight of the new air of physical developmental initiatives pervading this megalopolis. Entering through northern tip of Ogun state, the weather begins to shine brighter as soon as you see the sign: "welcome to Lagos." From there, you begin to see signs of massive road expansion; from there you begin to notice the deliberate beautification exercise that has begun to give the city an alluring face-lift. From there you begin to see LAMATA men and women with broom, constantly sprucing up Lagos.

From there you begin to notice sweat-immersed faces of LASTMA men and women on duty - directing and controlling traffic. From there you begin to see that a deliberate attention has begun to be paid to the road median hitherto neglected. This, I guess is the beautification aspect of it. Road medians that had hitherto been overrun by dirt have now been cleared. In their former places have emerged a conscious and concerted tree and flower-planting program. The beauty of it all is that as it is on the island, so it is on every part of the mainland.

If you are a seasoned skeptic, you will say to yourself, "Let's wait and see." Yes, wait and see until you take your time to get into Isale-Eko or Shibiri area of Lagos - to notice that this wonder boy of Lagos developmental initiative - Babatunde Fashola - is serious. That he is not fluke and that he is dead serious in conducting an even-handed development initiative for the people of Lagos State.

Population wise, reports after reports have ranked Lagos as one of the world's fastest growing cities. Official Nigeria national census figure says that Lagos is around about 8 million people. The Lagos State government says it is not true - that the population of Lagos should be in the neighborhood of 17 million people.

Although the United Nations' figure says something different in between, there can, no doubt be, that Lagos' population is stratospherically increasing even as we write. With burgeoning population (8 per cent as against conventional 2 per cent annual growth), come natural attendant developmental needs to match the numbers in this unique population growth. Regrettably, over the years, however, what successive administrations have done to Lagos could at best be described as a mere scratch on the city's monumental infrastructural developmental problems. In the area of infrastructural development, Lagos did not get it. The result is that over an accumulated time, the city-state became one of the world's dirtiest industrial cities.

New Lagos BRT - Transportation system

New VI - Ajose Adeogun Street

Under heavy infrastructural collapse or the lack of it, social service delivery in the state suffered untold neglect. Dirt overwhelmed everywhere; the environment was polluted, leading to environmental enhanced diseases amongst its inhabitants. Urban transportation became and is still a residents' nightmare as traffic congestion, mob rule by the ill trained private transport owners seized Lagos. Communication was a nightmare as housing and urban development retarded in the face of increasing population.

However, from available numbers in the books and empirical observable evidence, it looks like Lagos is changing. If you have lived in Lagos or has visited this past ten years or less, you must then be my soul mate as we stand up to acknowledge the tremendous changes that are taking place. We must stand up to applaud the man who has single handedly been instrumental to the monumental infrastructural changes that have occurred and continues to occur in Lagos even as we write.

The face behind this massive infrastructural rebirth of Lagos is no other than Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. His mission is encapsulated in the slogan: Eko oni baje - Lagos will not go under. Although, the self-effacing Governor - the architect behind this and his technicians seldom reminds people that there is a human face to the rapid changes taking place, in Lagos, it is important that he knows that some people are taking note, at least from the sidelines.

This brings me to the second segment of the caption of my essay - The New Face of Imo. Have you been to Imo State recently? Better still, have you been to Owerri, the Imo State capital recently? If you lived in Owerri or any part of Imo state this past nine years, (and I want you to be candid about this), have you not seen that Owerri, the Imo State capital has experienced and is still experiencing a robust make-over? Nevertheless, if you have not been to Imo of late and you want a sneak preview of what's been up in Imo, the eastern heartland, wait for this.

A huge infrastructural development and regeneration is going in Imo state. And, the man behind this larger than life developmental initiative is Governor Ikedi Ohakim. Infrastructural development and social mobilization of Imo state is akin to that commercial jingle made popular by the telecommunications giant named Glo: Imo is glowing, everywhere you go!

Parts of New Owerri

You are welcome to Lagos

Permit me to say that I am at a vantage position to look at what I have seen on the physical developmental grounds of Lagos and Imo dispassionately. I am from Imo. I was raised in Lagos. I now live in the United States, though I have been a frequent visitor these past years. I have seen the two states at the worst and have seen the two at their developmental nadir. I have seen Imo State under Mbakwe and I have seen Imo State under Udenwa. I have seen Lagos under Jakande and I have seen Lagos under Mudashiru. I have seen them all.

Now, if Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his Imo State counterpart - Governor Ikedi Ohakim were to be Americans, by now either would have been getting ready to be the next president or vice president of the United States. If the two young men were of the same age or from the same ethnic background, one would have been tempted to say that they were a siemens twin, who from the word, go, were raised together and groomed for leadership or that they had a shared secret plan for Nigeria.

In truth, however, the two are separated by biological circumstances, ethnic origins and geographical location in the larger geopolitical land space named Nigeria. For sure, the two look like they are iconoclasts. The two are young and vibrant. Can't you see? The two are awesome. Leading me to reason that if what we are seeing is not a temporary success designed for the political gallery (and we hope not), then Nigeria is in for a good harvest of alternative leadership choices, come next presidential election season. The irony though, is that none of this two performing governors belongs to the ruling party - the Peoples Democratic Party - PDP.

One does not know and may never know what has shaped the individual lives of this all-conquering twosome and or of their relative personal experiences to prepare them for what they are now doing. One may never know what carved this trajectory of "can do spirit" from the twosome. Must confess. What I, as a person know about the twosome, are those I managed to glean from the pages of newspapers, the larger media and of course the internet where you can find their scanty resumes. That Babatunde Fashola is a lawyer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and that Governor Ohakim, his Imo State counterpart, is a finished technocrat, a solid MBA and a PhD candidate could be the clue. But, they are not the first in the country to parade such fine credentials. So we must keep looking for the secret behind their can do spirits' disposition, where others before them faltered or failed.

Passing through Ore in Ondo State, Nigeria

TOn the Way to Ore-Benin Federal Road

Could it then be in their age? While Fashola just turned forty-five or is, approaching forty-six, his Imo state counter part just turned fifty and or is approaching fifty-one. It is of significance to note that this is the same age bracket that has produced some of the finest leaders, the developed world has known - Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, JF Kennedy, Barack Obama to name a few. While Fashola presides over a state that by conservative estimate is over 12 million in population and has existed for over forty years, Imo's population is under five million. The state has existed for about thirty years. While Lagos is a megalopolis, you can say with some degree of certainty that Imo is somewhat provincial. No, I meant to say that my state Imo is in the heartland of Eastern Nigeria.

When you look at the two young governors, therefore, what you see is, a promising and dynamic hopeful future, sprawling in front of them, pleading to humanity, that is, the Nigerian political humanity saying, "Please come use us." In certain democracies that I know, the arrangement would by now have gotten to advanced stage where the one that would be president between them would have been determined. The other would still be relevant and or automatically qualifies as the other's vice or at best, be assured, of a very important cabinet position - as Hillary Clinton would soon be.

Let me start with Governor Fashola. Some may argue that this young man inherited a development foundation solidly laid by his predecessor Governor Bola Tinubu whom he was his Chief of Staff. Yes, while it is possible that, that position gave him the privilege of understudying his former boss, it could arguably be inferred that he might in fact have been the brain behind some of the great achievements of his former boss. It is also possible that during the eight unbroken years of the Bola Tinubu administration, a lot of spadework was quietly put in motion, (it now appears), to turn the fortunes of Lagos around. No wonder, Fashola hit a well-prepared ground, running from day one after May 29, 2007.

On May 29 2008 - one year after the governors' assumed office, a national daily, using whatever indices, awarded eleven governors' performance scorecard, above average. In that category, it is significant to note that the same newspaper recognized Ohakim and Fashola as first and second amongst equals. Then recently, Governor Ohakim was in Ghana, to receive yet another award by the West African Students' body. We have seen from experience in Nigeria that awards are the cheapest commodity out there now for anybody. However, we the watching public also know merited and deserved honors when we see them bestowed on deserving Nigerians.

LASTMA MEN & WOMEN @ WORK - in Lagos

To MM airport Ikeja - Lagos

In Lagos, it is something, like a developmental hurricanes sweeping across the land. From Ebute-Ero to Ebute Meta, to Ikorodu. From Victoria Island to Isheri, from Badagry to Kosofe to Lekki, the physical developmental of Lagos is continuous, robust and palpable. The air is abuzz with transformational initiatives. This, I am told has been encapsulated in the Lagos Mega Plan initiative of the Babatunde Fashola administration.

Take the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) initiative of Babatunde R. Fashola (BRF). I do not know where he got the idea, which I pooh-poohed when his agents were "recklessly" marking and destroying parts of the unexpanded roads - of Lagos - from Ikorodu to Lagos Island. Nevertheless, when BRT was launched, it was an instant success. In fact, it worked so well that reports came in that the governments of Ghana and other countries have sent powerful delegation to come and understudy it. I ate my words, which had hitherto, been colored in skepticism.

Conscious of the fact that transportation has been the biggest headache for metropolitan Lagos, the young governor right there hit the bull's eye by targeting that sector as a matter of priority. Now, most parts of Lagos, who have not benefited or are not benefiting from the BRT initiative, are begging the governor and his team to please "come over to Macedonia." With this has brought a collateral developmental fervor. Road construction and reconstruction are going on at the same pace in every part of Lagos. "Recently, the papers reported that the government of Lagos has signed a $220 billion contract to turn the Lagos/Badagry expressway into a 10 lane freeway. Even, the Lagos metro rail project, which had been in the back burner for ages, is now about taking off.

What of Lagos State's health care delivery initiative? This, under Fashola has also received a huge boost. The other day, Governor Fashola himself, visited a government run hospital incognito to assess things for himself. There, according to reports, he had an eye full, which we need not recount here, for lack of space. In Lagos, there are mobile ambulances that serve as mobile/emergency health care centers. I have seen them at Mile 2 and Anthony Oke. I have also seen them somewhere on the Lagos Island. I have only seen this type of health care delivery methods on the streets of the United States and other developed economies of the world. I have also seen meat vendors now transport their wares in semi-refrigerated wagons - all deliberate efforts by the Fashola administration to make the people of the state enjoy dirt-free meat delivery services. This is innovative. Flash your mind way, way back when reckless meat vendors ferried their cargo using the most unsightly methods.

What he is doing in Lagos is similar to what the Franklin D Roosevelt administration did for America with his Public Work Administration initiative of the 1940s. I was so amazed and enthralled when a friend of mine told me that BRF studied at the University of Benin, Nigeria and may not have been directly or indirectly influenced by the policies of FDR and his New Deal policies of his time. With beautiful and appropriate acronyms, which the FDR administration adopted, the BRF administration of Lagos is blazing similar magnificent trail in innovation and programms with beautiful acronyms that will stand the test of time.

Beautification of Lagos

Through The Niger Bridge

Tree planting which is the hallmark of any environmentally friendly personality is taking deep roots everywhere you looked at, in Lagos. Road expansion is going on everywhere you looked. Rail transportation development - all part of the multi-modal transportation development of the sate that also include dredging of the Lagos canal for effective water transportation. If you have not been to Lagos, lately, go to Lagos now, to see it yourself. One is only hoping that this frenzied organized developmental initiative would endure. One is only hoping that the zeal is not sabotaged. Is Babatunde Raji Fashola from our corner of the planet? Only time will tell.

A piece of Advice to Fashola: can it be possible that some of the reconstruction and construction works presently being performed during the day be conveniently done at night?

Governor Ikedi Ohakim is even more enigmatic. Whereas, Governor Babatunde Fashola may have inherited a solid foundation on the development of Eko, from a previous administration in which he served as Chief of Staff to the Governor, Governor Ikedi Ohakim is building a new Imo from the scratch - thus - his "New Face of Imo" slogan. Not since De Sam Mbakwe has, Imo witnessed an orchestrated, genuine effort at a blissful rebirth.

According to information derived from the official website of Imo State, the New Face of Imo Agenda is summarized in this feisty philosophy: "aimed at transforming Imo State into a secured, modern model state with strong diversified manufacturing and tourism-based economy, anchored on the emerging skills, and mid-wifed by science and technology with guaranteed employment opportunities."

Visit Owerri, the Imo Stat capital and see work in progress and wonders in motion. This was the Owerri, which in more than twenty-five years, suffered under the putrid stench of neglect and deprivation. This was the Owerri - the capital city of Eastern heartland, which had hitherto, been turned into a refuse dumping city. This Owerri suffered under the weight of humiliating successive mal-administrations.

When Ohakim stepped in, he decided to begin first with, sweeping clean, the dirt-infested city. To this end, he ordered through his (Environmental Agency) the dismantling of all the shacks and illegal structures that dotted the city and state. Thereafter, he banned Okada (motorcycle) drivers from operating in certain parts of the Owerri metropolis. To smoothen the pain on the average Okada rider and user in Owerri, Ohakim introduced a functioning intra-city transport service. To actualize this, he flooded the city with luxury buses - its own version of a BRT. He then followed with affordable taxi-system, which now has spread, to other cities in the East - Port Harcourt and recently, Enugu. Governor Ikedi Ohakim began a road expansion network that has given Owerri, the much-needed breathing space under which other goodies would follow.

Imo Job Centre

Opening up the hinterland - Imo State

Rural parts of Imo we learnt have not been left out under the Ohakim administration development programs. Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA) is busy opening up villages with new rural or old roads some of which have been hitherto clogged and or overgrown with weeds. Launching the venture the other day, the able governor said his aim was to bring back the old method where members of the Public Works Department - PWD worked diligently to beautify every nook and cranny of Imo.

Now remember, that unlike Lagos where Fashola was a chief of staff in a government that served two terms, Ohakim started the rebuilding of Owerri from the scratch. He destroyed shacks that dotted the streets of Owerri and thereby restored its diminishing topography. Ohakim sent the notorious timber shed packing and promised that a better edifice would rise from its former place. Not done, within a year of ascending office, Ohakim has opened up road networks in several parts of the state using his environmental sanitation agency as his springboard. Uncoordinated erection of billboards has been banned; old and unauthorized ones have been removed.

Roads into Owerri and roads out of it are being dualised. Education, I learnt has received a shot in the arm as redundant and dead wood teachers have been replaced by well-trained teachers. An Education Development committee has been set up to address and redress the education problems of Imo State.

Now, all this have happened within one year and half of Ohakim's stay in office. At this pace, the developmental initiative of the Ohakim administration would have definitely reached every nook and cranny of the state within the shortest possible period.

The industrialist in Ohakim is seen everywhere as he has within a short period resuscitated industries that had seemed until now moribund. The Standard Shoes Industries Limited is one of such and the, Adapalm, another. It is also on record that the young governor has entered into agreement with such countries as China and Malaysia, for industrial development of Imo State - only in less than eighteen months he got onto the saddle of Imo leadership. What then do we expect when and if Ohakim stayed for full term in office?

So let the battles begin. Let a new Nigeria rise from the vision of these two young and dynamic governors who were groomed, trained and produced by Nigeria. Let us eschew ethnicity, tribe, geo-political balancing and begin to look at them up close if they could be the elusive messiah that would come to rescue Nigeria - the next presidential election time.

Approaches to Content Generation

Posted by Akin Osunlaja WebLagosian on May 12, 2009 at 4:56pm

Tuesday, 3rd March 2009 Old School Wait…I’ve seen this one before. Yeah, it was on my old blog before I let my blog die. Oh yeah, I let it die again btw, but whatcha gonna do? As this is an old post, I may or may not agree with everything I said back in ‘08. So anyway here is a vintage post: At first glance you would assume this post is going to be geared towards hardened Google spammers and the general “blackhat” community. Whilst it is true that this will probably appeal to SE spammers much more than your average Joe, I think it will still be an interesting read for people. Myself, I find it a fascinating thought that a computer could be writing intelligent content at hundreds of times the speed of a human. The whole notion of a computer doing something that we can call ourselves an expert in, is scary. We all (probably) accept that computers can replace humans for efficiency in a large amount of unskilled jobs. Computers accept that a new battery here and there is all they are going to get for their hard work, they accept that we want something to work 24/7 without 30 minute tea breaks every 20 minutes and well, they accept what we tell them to accept really. Some good examples of where computers do unskilled work are: comment spam, monitoring rankings and cracking CAPTCHAs (though it is debatable whether that is unskilled work at times). The problems with trying to apply computer to tasks arise when you make that task a skilled task. Can a computer produce art? I would say no. Can a computer produce a website template? Yes. Can a computer produce an Article? Yes. Can it create inspiring poetry? No. The difference between the no and yes is creativity. The way I see computers now, are very primitive minds. I think the human mind runs on rules, just as a computer. A human mind simple has a larger number of rules. Now, I’m going to stop before I ramble on about rules for a whole article. Simply, the reason computers can write an article but not create art, is that to write correctly there is a set of rules that we can understand and put into code. Whereas we can’t put creativity and emotion into code, because we simply do not understand it yet. Now, onwards! Lets explore the different approaches to content generation, how close they are to AI and how they fare in Google. Scraping AI Rating: 1/10 - Whilst you could argue that copying content is just like human behaviour, It’s not really AI. I’m letting it have a 1, but only because it collects the content using a keyword, so it is related content. Effectiveness: 7/10 - Despite Google ‘fixing’ the duplicate content issues in it’s algorithm, you can still rank a blog based entirely on duplicate content. It’s also readable to the general public and more importantly, makes sense and has a point to it. My Rating: 1/10 - I can’t find much exciting to say about scraped content. It’s not particularly advanced, so I don’t feel very elite when I’m scraping. Scrape & Shuffle AI Rating: 1/10 - About as intelligent as just scraping. In fact, in terms of AI, it’s a step down from just scraping. You take intelligent content then crap all over the rules of language syntax. Effectiveness: 4/10 - Will do a bit better in Google than the scraped content, but it isn’t readable to anyone so it makes zero sense. My Rating: 1/10 - Meh. Don’t like it. It destroys perfectly good content. Synonym Replacement AI Rating: 4/10 - Not bad in terms of intelligence, it understands the meaning of the word and switches the word for another word meaning the same thing. Relies on thesauri to form its intelligence, so need an intelligent human at the back end. Effectiveness: 7/10 - Makes sense most of the time and is unique-ish content. Problems can arise if you don’t scrape enough data and start repeating sentences with only 2 out of the 10+ in that sentence altered. It’s likely to fly under the radar in the current Google landscape, but could see its arse get kicked right out of the index in the future. My Rating: 6/10 - Good simple idea, makes sense to do it, but it’s not my favourite. Markov AI Rating: 7/10 - Pretty clever idea. Uses statistics it has gathered to estimate what word is likely to follow the previous word. Effectiveness: 8/10 - If the Markov script is created so it looks back slightly further the just one word, it could produce very good content, rivaling that of a human. Though the further you look back, the more likely you are to end up with just duplicate content, unless you train your script VERY hard. My Rating: 7/10 - Good stuff, I really like the idea of using statistics of collected data to statistically predict how content should be formed. When I first heard of a Markov script, I thought it just shuffled words randomly and I came up with the idea of somehow using statistics to predict which word should follow the last - then I found out what a Markov really did. So it’s a good idea :) (If you think I made that story up to sound clever - you can GTFO). Scratch writing to syntax How I generate content I use scratch writing from syntax for my content generation, it is my weapon of choice. Here is a basic outline of how I do it. * Step 1 - Grab keywords/phrases related to the root keyword. * Step 2 - Run the keywords/phrases through a POS (part-of-speech) tagger to figure out what type of word they are, i.e. Verb, determiner, noun. * Step 3 - Generate sentences based on a large database of keywords and sentence structures obtained from running the script through the wikipedia database, matching sentences to phrase patterns if necessary. AI Rating: 9/10 - This is elite in terms of AI. It produces text based on the rules of writing a sentence, just like a human brain. It almost has an understanding of correct sentence structure and could be modified so it could actually think up it’s own sentence structures, just like a human brain. It has a large database of word with an understanding of how each fits in a sentence and around other words, just like a human brain. One thing it can’t do, is understand meanings of words which can cause problems when your sentences come out like this, “The very large ball was very small”. Though on the whole, you should get pretty good content that is readable. Effectiveness: 8/10 - When a machine generates content using basically the same process as a human, how can you tell the difference? It is very difficult. The only things that let this approach down, is the fact it has no understanding of what words mean and it also is slower than the other methods My Rating: 9/10 - Love it, love it, love it. It is getting very close to AI, it produces unique and on the whole, readable content. The Content Generation Future The way I see it evolving and the way I will be going is a combination of Markov and scratch writing to syntax. Combining the understanding of natural language syntax and the understanding of natural word patterns could produce a very powerful content generator. If you want to better understand all the elements of natural language processing and natural language generation, Wikipedia and University websites/papers are the way to go.

MTN Subscriber Base Hits 100m Mark

Posted by Elvis on May 12, 2009 at 8:06am

Lagos - The MTN Group says it has attained the 100-million subscriber base in its drive to become the world’s leading telecommunications service provider in the emerging markets.With a telecommunications network that covers a population of approximately 500 million, the 100 million subscriber achievement means that one in five people in MTN’s 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East is an MTN subscriber.MTN said in a statement, made available to newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday, that the Group recorded 98,203,000 subscribers on March 31, 2009.This marked an increase of eight per cent from December 31, 2008, touching the all-important 100 million mark in April this year as the telecommunications operator signed up more customers.The Group CEO, Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko, said that for a 15-year-old company, operating amid increased competitive intensity in all its markets, this was a most satisfactory performance by MTN.“This affirms our leadership position in many areas of our business.“MTN’s success is also attributable to a business model that has included sound financial investment, strong corporate governance, effective management and corporate social responsibility,” Nhleko said.He expressed gratitude to the company’s culturally diverse staff of more than 40 nationalities across the company’s markets.According to him, their ‘can-do spirit and innovative mindset’ had placed the MTN Group in a strong competitive position.

Man Dies After Querelling With A Woman

Posted by Elvis on May 12, 2009 at 7:55am

BENIN CITY-Tragedy struck in Benin City last Wednesday when a middle-aged man dropped dead during an altercation with a woman said to be his neighbour.The sad incident which paralysed commercial activities in Siluko road by Textile Mill road Junction for several hours as sympathizers besieged the scene apparently to catch a glimpse of the victim.The NIGERIAN OBSERVER authoritatively learnt that the incident occurred about 2pm.When The NIGERIAN OBSERVER visited the scene the woman about three feet six said to be from Cross River State was seen being guided away by men of Ogida Police station possibly to avoid being lynched by some angry looking youths who stormed the scene of the incident.The victim popularly known in the area as Akamu-world wide described as very jovial, sources disclosed was engaged in a heated quarrel with the woman over a sales girl employed by the deceased.Trouble started when the woman whose local restaurant is immediately after the victim’s peppersoup joint allegedly accused the man of employing the service of her former sales girl.The victim who it was further gathered initially took it for granted but eventually challenged her when the accusation was later accompanied with insults and threats.Though there was no fisticuffs, an eye-witness who pleaded anonymity told The NIGERIAN OBSERVER that as soon as Akamu world-wide turned his back on the woman he slumped.The victim who was immediately rushed to a near-by private hospital sources disclosed later died before he got to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) where sources allegedly disclosed he died of high blood pressure.Efforts to obtain comments from the spokesman, Edo State Police Command Headquarter, Benin City ASP Peter Ogboi proved abortive as he was said to have gone out on official engagement.

9JA MEN AND INDECENCY

Posted by Jameel on May 11, 2009 at 10:30pm

Please help us find out the ways out on how to tackle the issue of 9jerian men that get carried away by just seeing features of sexy women. Are 9jerian men created to be masterminded by the indecency of women or what? We get over-excited by their curves without considering their health situations. Is this right? Let both the men and the women help ourselves out of this mess (Indecency and uncontrollable gaze).

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.