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Brethren, let's all give glory to God that has seen us through the month of January. The year 2017 which God ushered us in barely forty days ago is gradually going.
Do a bit of reflection and you will find out that the mercy of God over your household has been awesome. He has protected you from all evil and provided for you. There has been healing in your family.
Recession or not, he has been your breadwinner. Why don't you begin to thank God for his faithfulness, for his unlimited mercy toward us even when we really do not deserve most of the things he has done for us.
This edition of Joyful homes is a little different from our usual focus but not completely unrelated.
Brethren, 2017 is a journey which by the grace of God, we have witnessed the beginning but we do not know what is on the way or how it will end. But by the Grace of God, we shall end it joyfully in Jesus name.
How do I know? My authority is found in the book of Jeremiah 29 vs 11 – The Good News Bible: "I alone know the plans for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for".
God says he alone knows the plans for you. The plan of God is to make you prosper. You are expected to be. cheerful and not sorrowful In the name of Jesus, disaster, tragedy will not come your way this year and beyond .
However, there are certain things that we need to do as human beings. The first is that we have to appreciate that we are limited as human beings. Certain things are just beyond our control.
For instance, you wish that your daughter who is over 40 years should get married but you cannot provide a husband for her. When you tried to match-make it failed.
Or yours is the case of your only son yet to make you a grandmother. For some others it is stagnation. You have been working for years but inadequately rewarded yet you cannot promote yourself.
For some others still, it is a case of enduring your marriage instead of enjoying it.
So many conditions that we wish would change for the better but just remains stagnant. This season, as the Lord lives, everything that has been stagnant in your life, your home, your business, will receive the touch of God in the mighty name of Jesus.
What is common to all these situations is that help is needed. What kind of help? Divine help.
DivineHelp– Since we cannot walk the journey of life alone. We need divine help.
Let's take a look at Jeremiah 29 vs 12&13 of the Good News Bible, " Then you will call me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart".
King James version states "Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart".
Brethren, the help of God is available for those who seek him with the whole heart. Without Christ, life is empty. Those who seek the help of God, receive it and others see the glory of God in their lives.
You have a choice. Continue to go through that challenge alone, depend on friends or relations or submit to Jesus. The choice is yours.
No wonder it is written in Philippians 4 vs. 13 " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".
We have a greater assurance in Isaiah 50 vs 7 – King James version " For the Lord will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded : therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed".
Again I refer to the Good News Bible- same Isaiah 50 vs 7 " But their insults cannot hurt me because the Sovereign LORD gives me help. I brace myself to endure them, I know that I will not be disgraced, for God is near and he will prove me innocent".
That house that you have been building for over 10 years and you are unable to complete, this year, as you call on the Lord for help, your mockers will celebrate with you in the name of Jesus.
When you start a project and you are unable to complete it and you are daily insulted by your landlord, the way out is to call on the Lord to break the yoke of tenancy. Many people do not realize that tenancy is a yoke but it is. True, we all start as tenants but by the time you find yourself paying rent for 30 years or more, you better ask for the help of God.
For every challenge that has caused people to insult you, the Lord will give you a result worthy of celebration in the name of Jesus.
Seek the help of God and you will not be disgraced .
Brethren, let's do everything to keep the peace in our homes. Notwithstanding the financial challenges, let's try to maintain peace.
These days, the rate of inflation is putting pressure on families. We are in the days that take home pay isn't taking anyone home anymore. The middle class, the upper class, the lower class, every stratum in the society is complaining but once we embrace the peace of the Lord, we'll be able to cope. This period will soon be forgotten in Jesus name.
Couples must strive to maintain peace. By the grace of God, we shall live to eat of the goodness of this land in Jesus name.
Testimony- I am about to share a testimony that every couple should learn from.
A man gave his wife of many years; mother of his children a loan of N2million to boost her business. The woman got the goods and expected that her sales of December 2016 will write off the loan. Unfortunately, as a result of the recession, she didn't make that much. Lest I forget, her darling husband who gave her the loan told her he would take an interest of N300,000.
The woman was only able to refund one million Naira. Hell was let loose. Daddy threatened to send her and her children packing out of his house. Indeed, he locked them out and neighbours had to plead for him to allow them back but not without his vow to throw her and their children out if she failed to pay within a certain period. How does she pay back what she does not have?
The woman cried unto the Lord and asked the church to help her cry unto the Lord and the congregation did.
Barely a week later, she wrote a testimony that God had touched the man's heart and all is settled. She will no longer be expelled from her home with her children.
Did I hear you say, what kind of husband is that? The couple must have had a cordial relationship to be married for so long. It is the pressure of money.
The economic situation has created a distance between friends, lovers and this is one reason why we have to always pray for our country that God should prosper our nation.
With a blessed nation, we are sure of a joyful home.
The Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has charged troops fighting insurgency in the north east to remain committed and be focused toward routing the insurgents.
Buratai gave the charge on Saturday in Jos, at the celebration of West African Social Activities (WASA), by 3 Division Nigerian Army, Rukuba, Jos.
The COAS, who was represented by Maj. Gen. Rojas Nicholas, Commander of Operation "Safe Haven", said that such focus was key to winning the war.
Buratai
The army chief said that the military had made significant achievements so far, and expressed optimism that the war would soon be over.
He expressed happiness that WASA was being celebrated after many years, and attributed that to the prolonged fight against insurgency.
"Celebration of WASA is an indication that the fight is almost over; I believe that by next year, when we will be celebrating again, our children, soldiers and husbands would be back," he said.
Buratai expressed the determination of the Nigerian Army to defend Nigeria's territorial integrity and ensure peace in all parts of the country.
In a bid to develop human capacity in the maritime sector of the economy, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has commenced the process of establishing partnership with Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
The Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside stated this during a meeting with stakeholders and Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities where the NIMASA sponsored Institutes of Maritime studies are domiciled in Abuja .
Dr. Peterside who chaired the meeting restated the Agency's commitment towards growing capacity in the sector and urged Universities in the country to include maritime related courses in their curriculum, in order to expand job potentials for Nigerian youths, to grow the economy, as maritime is a global business with vast opportunities.
He explained that a virile maritime trade is an economic asset to any nation and therefore urged the institutes to continuously improve on their maritime curriculum for the economic benefits of Nigeria.
He also called on public and private organisations to partner with the Agency in ensuring adequate funding of these institutes, stating that it would not be out of place for TETFUND to intervene where necessary in funding them, as NIMASA cannot do it all alone.
According to him, "more than ever, we are open to partnership, in order to ensure that our maritime sector continues to thrive and impact positively on the economy in the long run"
In remarks, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND Dr. Abdulahi Bichi Baffa, commended NIMASA for the initiative in establishing Institutes of Maritime studies in these universities, while announcing that TETFUND will look at areas of intervention.
Lagos – The remains of the late Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr Francis Odesanya, on Saturday arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Odesanya died on Jan. 31 in India where he had gone for medicare.
The remains of the late police chief arrived aboard an Emirates Airline aircraft at about 4.30pm.
It was received by the the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, the Lagos Airport Police Commissioner, Mrs Victory Menta, and the consignee, Dr Adegboyega Oke.
Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, confirmed to NAN that the remains of the deceased was later deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) , Ikeja.
The late Odesanya joined the Nigeria Police Force on Feb.2, 1986 as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent
He assumed office as the 37th Police Commissioner in the state on July 28, 2016, taking over from DIG Folunso Adebanjo.
The ancient town of Oghara in Ethiope West local Governments Area of Delta was on Saturday agog as former governor James Ibori returned home after serving jail term in a UK prison.
Ibori, who was convicted by a British court on charges of money laundering, arrived at the Benin Airport on Saturday aboard a chartered plane, IZYAIR, with registration number India Zulu Yanky (5NIZY).
The flight, a Challenger 60, landed the airport at about 2.25pm Ibori stepped into his country home Oghara at about 3:30 pm on Saturday after completing his 13-year jail term in UK.
His residence was besieged by well wishers and political associates in the state to felicitate with their leader.
Hunreds of the well wishers trekked a long distance and around the town carrying leaves while some painted their faces with chalk jubilating
Similarly, musical stands were set up in various locations in the town as musicians entertained the crowd.
Speaking outside Ibori's home, Mr Ighoyota Amori, a former senator representing Delta Central, said the return of Ibori was a good omen to the people.
"We are happy that Ibori is back, people are jubilating, the crowd you see here and the enthusiasm that has been displayed today showed that we really missed him.
"This is the only way for us to appreciate that our leader who left us long ago is back.
"His coming is a beginning of so many good things to come, by his presence today, l am sure we are gaining back all we have lost.
"Ibori remains in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but it is not time to discuss politics, all his followers around are members of PDP," Amori said.
Also speaking to newsmen, Mr Lovett Idisi, member representing Ethiope East and Ethiope West Federal Constituency, thanked God for the safe return of Ibori.
"We prayed that all our PDP faithful should be steadfast now that we have a pure political direction.
"Their support has not been in vain, I believe now that our leader is out, we will have a sense of direction. We are a sheep with a shepherd right now.
"In my constituency, we now have somebody to consult without travelling overseas," Idisi said.
One of Oghara's youth leader, Mr Efe Moses said the return of Ibori would turn things around for the good of Oghara.
"We are grateful to God for the return of our chief (Ibori), sure things will turn around for better from now on in Oghara.
"Ibori is our father and we can die because of him,'' Moses said.
Security was beefed up to maintain law and order within and outside the Ibori residence.
OGHARA- SEVEN years after he fled Nigeria, former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, dressed in dark ash long sleeve shirt and navy blue jean trouser, arrived his country home, Oghara, headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state, to an epic welcome by his kinsmen, politicians, friends and top functionaries of the state government, at about 3.20 pm, Saturday. Crowd welcoming Ibori in Ogarah Human movement literally stood still at Oghara shortly after his arrival from Benin Airport in company of a litany of politicians, including his long-standing All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain ally, Chief Ayiri Emami.
His entourage could not disembark on arrival because of the mammoth crowd until about 3.41 pm, as not only the villagers, but political associates and friends flooded his country home.
………donates N20m, car to NYSC The Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has called on the Federal Government to review the corps members’ monthly allowance from the current N19,500 to N50,000, saying the current allowance was no longer feasible to sustain corpers with the current economic situation in the country.
The Governor who decried the deplorable condition of the Ekiti NYSC orientation camp in Ise/Emure promised immediate release of N20 million naira for the renovation of the camp. Fayose According to a press statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Idowu Adelusi in Ado Ekiti on Saturday, Fayose challenged the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility by coming out to tackle headlong, the challenges confronting NYSC, noting that the corps members’ welfare should be a priority.
While addressing the corp members at the orientation camp during a tour of the camp to ascertain the state of facilities there, he promised immediate release of an official car to the State Coordinator.
The governor promised constant support for the scheme and encouraged the corps members to be determined to break the jinx of poverty by being diligent, citing himself as evidence of hope for the poor.
Fayose who made a surprise visit at the camp kitchen where members of Platoon 9 were preparing dinner for corps members, availed himself of the eba meal, sat down there in the kitchen and consumed it to the admiration of the corps members.
Earlier, the NYSC State Director, Mrs Eze Ukagha commended the efforts of the governor towards the citing of the camp,provision of borehole facility, generating set, vehicle and other facilities during his first term in office.
She solicited the assistance of the governor towards the renovation of the camp and provision of some facilities, appreciating him for a release of N650,000 and N250,000 for the repair of damaged roofs and medical bill of some corps members respectively.
The Coordinator promised the commitment of the 2,116 Batch ‘B’, stream 2 corps members to the development of the state, describing them as very disciplined and dedicated set of corps members.
Some of the corps members commended the governor for his love and contribution to the camp which has become dilapidated. They described the governor as a grassroots man and promised to serve the State dutifully.
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ABUJA- AHEAD of the registration of the Mega party, Action Democratic Party, ADP, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has visited the purposed National Secretariat of the association at Asokoro, Abuja.
The visit by the team of INEC to the office Saturday was to verify the address if the secretariat, present members of the National Working Committee, NWC, just as each member presented him or herself before the INEC officials.
As part of the process of getting a political party registered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) visited the proposed secretariat of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) a political association at their secretariat in Asokoro, Abuja.
INEC team was led to the ADP’s Proposed secretariat by the Director, Election and Party Monitoring, EPM, Alhaji Bala I. Shittu. More details soon
The US government began to roll back Donald Trump’s contentious visa bans targeting majority-Muslim countries Saturday, after a stinging legal defeat for the new president.
Government agencies and US airlines said they would again recognize visas from seven majority Muslim nations and cease enforcing the Trump’s order, after a Washington State judge put a block pending legal review.
The high profile setback provoked Trump to fire off an attack on the judge, almost unprecedented for sitting president.
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted early Saturday from his Mar-a-Lago Florid retreat, where he is on a three night getaway.
US District Judge James Robart of Washington State — an appointee of Republican president George W. Bush — issued a nationwide order blocking Trump’s bans late Friday. By early Saturday, the US government began implementing the judge’s order.
The State Department told visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen that they are again allowed to travel as long as the documents had not been “physically cancelled.”
The department early said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trump’s order, although a Justice Department attorney put the number at closer to 100,000.
US President, Donald Trump
The Department of Homeland Security — which runs border agencies — also said it would cease implementing the order.
The travel restrictions went into effect a week ago, wreaking havoc at airports across America and leaving travelers trying to reach the United States in limbo.
The political backlash for Trump has been equally severe, with the order fueling numerous mass protests and internal White House infighting.
Anti-Trump protests continued for a third consecutive weekend Saturday, with demonstrations springing up from London to US cities.
Trump was forced to defend a botched rollout of the plan — which called his government’s competence into question — and had to fire the government’s top lawyer for refusing to defend the order in court.
His approval rating has sunk to the lowest level on record for any new president.
His latest rhetorical outburst is only likely to stoke the controversy.
Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have criticized court rulings, but have rarely, if ever, criticized individual judges.
“I can’t think of anything like it in the past century and a half at least,” constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe told AFP.
“It’s not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous,” said Tribe, who taught two sitting Supreme Court justices as well as president Obama — whom he later advised.
“It conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary that bodes ill for the country’s future as long as Trump occupies the presidency,” Tribe said.
Democrats in Congress were swift in their condemnation of Trump’s remarks, while Republicans notably did not rush to his defense.
“This ‘so-called’ judge was nominated by a ‘so-called’ President & was confirmed by the ‘so-called’ Senate. Read the ‘so-called’ Constitution,” tweeted California democrat, Congressman Adam Schiff.
The White House has argued that the travel bans are needed in order to prevent terror attacks on the United States.
Experts from the fields of intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy say the ban is at best ineffective and at worst fuels hatred of the United States in the Middle East.
But cracking down on Islamist terror has become an organizing principle for Trump supporters and the White House has consistently sought to underscore the risks posed to Americans.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed a plurality of voters, 48 percent favored “suspending immigration from ‘terror prone’ regions.”
“When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!” Trump tweeted early Saturday.
Disturbingly, it seems domestic violence against men has become a very middle-class problem. As women work. earn – and in many cases drink – as much as their menfolk, the dominant force in many relationships is no longer male and some women are lashing out. According to newspaper reports, "For nine years, Peter a 47 -year -old IT expert was scratched, punched and slapped by his 42-year-old wife. A proprietress of a primary school, she showed compassion and patience with her young charges by day, but at home, her temper knew no bounds.
"And her husband, out of shame and desperation to keep their family unit together for the sake of their young daughter, simply put up with it. To the outside world', " Peter said, 'she presented a sweet, professional veneer, a smoke screen and I went along with it because I worried about the consequences if I didn't.' It was only after a shocking burst of temper. which saw his wife swing a hair-dryer at her husband, splitting his head open and causing a wound that required eight stitches in hospital, that he finally accepted he needed help."
"Ironically," continued the report, "he was prompted by a phone call from their daughter's school – the 11-year-old had confided in her teachers about what she'd seen Mummy do to Daddy and the school got in touch. In the end Peter had to face the bitter truth he was married to a monster and had to kiss his marriage goodbye."
In the dying hours of last year, a housewife who saw red when her husband gave her only N,000 for the family's Christmas festivities, went into a wild brawl with him which resulted in her stabbing him to death. Over the years, newspaper stories and social media coverage of domestic violence where women feature prominently as the villains, are mind-bugling. There was violence, bullying and intimidation. A spouse being isolated from friends and family, having their confidence and self-respect destroyed and even sanity doubted.
A police spokesman agreed that "Domestic abuse is no respecter of class or status. It crosses all social boundaries – we get calls from bankers, solicitors and medical doctors, as well as office workers, artisans and bus drivers." A few months back, a solicitor's wife, Sharon Edwards was jailed for life for murder after a Manchester Crown Court in Britain heard how he regularly beat and belittled her husband David, before she stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Sharon was said to have relied on the knowledge that her husband, whom she had met a year earlier would never hit back or call the police. After his death, his body was found to be covered in 60 cuts and bruises.
According to Professor Kevin Brown, Peter's situation is far from unique. He saw it is time society woke up to the reality. "In a third of all domestic violence cases the women are violent to men, and the reason many men don't report it is because they fear not being believed. Another reason why violence is creeping into middle-class marriages could be, at least in parts, due to the dramatic shift in women's position in society over the past half century, with most now juggling work as well as family responsibilities, with the inevitable stress that entails. Women are also more likely to suffer from alcohol abuse than in the past and that might be contributing to them becoming more violent, as it's a disinhibitor."
At 6ft 3in, Simon Smith, a Royal Navy Seaman in Britain, can testify that the masculinity and physical strength are no protection from domestic abuse. His ex-wife, Crystal, was jailed for nine years after she stabbed him in a drunken rage at the family home. According to report: 'The Smiths married in October 2010, following an 18-month courtship and have a five-year-old daughter. Although Simon was aware his wife had a nasty temper ,it wasn't until early 2011, when their daughter was a few months old, that she became violent towards him. `She told me she had zero tolerance to dirt nd if I left smear marks on a glass it would make her so angry she could become violent", recalls Simon. "She was very good at making me feel I deserved the things she did, so the next day, I would apologise. I never hit her back, I would never hit a woman, no matter what".
"It is easy to see how Slmon's perspecttve of the state of his marriage was further skewed as Crystal engineered his increasing alienation from his family, who knew nothing of the violence. When he phoned his parents or siblings Crystal would demand the call was on speaker-phone so that she could hear both sides of the conversation. Simon, was too ashamed to confide in friends. Nor did he contemplate leaving the family home. Crystal threatened that she would make it as difficult as possible for him to see their daughter.
"Nothing could have prepared him for the events that unfolded after they attended a naval dinner two years ago. Crystal, who was very drunk, was heard by a couple, with whom the Smiths shared a taxi home, chanting: 'I'm going to make it rain with pain.' Back home, after she punched and threw a knife block at Simon, he went to their bedroom to pack a bag, planning to spend the night with a friend. and give her time to calm down.
"However, Crystal crept upstairs after him with a kitchen knife, which she plunged twice into his back and once into his arm. Simon lost six pints of blood and underwent life-saving surgery in hospital. He says: "There is a perception that men are stronger to put up with it, but that doesn't allow for the psychological abuse. My saviour was a neighbour who alerted police after hearing my screams. She'd told me that if the police turned up to tell them that I'd been attached due to gambling debts, which is what I did. But the officer, who saw I also had many old injuries, took me outside to the police van. He said 'Is the person who hurt you still inside your house." I whispered 'yes' and then collapsed in the back of the van. I couldn't believe it was all over …"
Closer home, in Ibadan about a year ago, Oyelowo Oyediran was stabbed to death on his bed. He'd earlier had an all mighty row with his wife Yewande, who couldn't live with the fact that another woman, far away in France had a child for him. She was still looking unto the Lord and this must have fuelled her jealousy. The poor man's blood-curdling howls during the first attack alerted the neighbours who intervened. Assuring them that all was well, the wife was so convincingly contrite that they left Oyelowo alone with his wife. And the husband was so confident he was safe he went to bed with his eyes closed! That was when his tormented wife pounced on him and finished off what she'd started earlier by stabbing him to death.
As a lot of men have discovered to their cost, either gender can be a victim or perpetrator of domestic abuse. Even a couple of past heads of states have been rumoured to have been battered by their wives! And as the number of women convicted of this violent clime continues to escalate. maybe it's about time we all thought beyond the stereotype of the battered wife.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres says Africa remains a continent of hope in spite of the obvious crises and underdevelopment currently ravaging the region.
Guterres, in a commentary entitled: "A Continent of Hope", following his visit to the region on Monday to participate at the 28th Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, said there are many success stories in Africa apart from crises and underdevelopment.
"Far too often, the world views Africa through the prism of problems. When I look to Africa, I see a continent of hope, promise and vast potential.
"I am committed to building on those strengths and establishing a higher platform of cooperation between the United Nations and the leaders and people of Africa. This is essential to advancing inclusive and sustainable development and deepening cooperation for peace and security.
"That is the message I carried to the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — my first major mission as United Nations Secretary-General.
"Above all, I came in a spirit of profound solidarity and respect. I am convinced that the world has much to gain from African wisdom, ideas and solutions. I also brought with me a deep sense of gratitude.
Antonio Guterres
"Africa provides the majority of United Nations peacekeepers around the world. African nations are among the world's largest and most generous hosts of refugees. Africa includes some of the world's fastest growing economies," he said.
The UN chief added that the recent resolution of the political crisis in The Gambia once again demonstrated the power of African leadership and unity to overcome governance challenges and uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
"I left the Summit more convinced than ever that all of humanity will benefit by listening, learning and working with the people of Africa. We have the plans in place to build a better future," he stated.
He said the global implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was an all-out effort to tackle global poverty, inequality, instability and injustice and noted that Africa has adopted its own complementary and ambitious plan: Agenda 2063.
For the people of Africa to fully benefit from these important efforts, he said, these two agendas need to be strategically aligned.
"It starts with prevention. Our world needs to move from managing crises to preventing them in the first place. We need to break the cycle of responding too late and too little.
"Most of today's conflicts are internal, triggered by competition for power and resources, inequality, marginalisation and sectarian divides. Often, they are inflamed by violent extremism or provide the fuel for it," Guterres said.
He pledged the UN's commitment to work hand-in-hand with partners wherever conflict or the threat of conflict endangers stability and well-being.
He noted that prevention goes far beyond focusing solely on conflict adding, the best means of prevention and the surest path to durable peace is inclusive and sustainable development.
"We can speed progress by doing more to provide opportunities and hope to young people. More than three out of five Africans are under 35 years of age.
"Making the most of this tremendous asset means more investment in education, training, decent work, and engaging young people in shaping their future," the UN chief said.
According to him, however, Africa must also do its utmost to empower women so they can play a full role in sustainable development and sustainable peace.
He added, "I am pleased that the African Union has consistently placed a special focus on gender equality and women's empowerment. I have seen it again and again: When we empower women, we empower the world."
Guterres said he travelled to Africa as a "partner, friend and committed advocate for changing the narrative about this diverse and vital continent. Crises represent at best a partial view.
"But from a higher platform of cooperation, we can see the whole picture – one that spotlights the enormous potential and remarkable success stories in every corner of the African continent.
"With that perspective, I have no doubt we can win the battle for sustainable and inclusive development which are also the best weapons to prevent conflict and suffering, allowing Africa to shine even more vibrantly and inspire the world."
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Michael Johnny, has said that the former governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan promoted ethnic unity and peace among the people of the state, advising the current administration to build on the remarkable legacy.
Johnny, who was reacting to the planned protest against former Governor Uduaghan, said it was a plot to cause a serious ethnic disunity among the people of Delta State.
Uduaghan
The Ijaw leader said "Uduaghan's eight years in office witnessed remarkable peace and harmony among Urhobo, Ijaw, Isoko, Itsekiri and all other ethnic nationalities in the state, and there were human and infrastructural projects executed across the state. So, there is no justification for such protest against Uduaghan, the current administration led by Ifeanyi Okowa should ensure all tribes in the state continue to enjoy sustainable peace and unity".
Johnny, also chairman of Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation, said "most politicians in Delta State today were made by former Governor James Ibori, thank God Ibori is a free man now and he is back to the country. The immediate former governor, Emmanuel Udughan, in his eight years in office, he touched more lives, and several developmental projects were executed, and now it appears some persons are planning to betray and bring Uduaghan down, it is unfair and wicked".
" Let me sincerely advise the sponsors of the planned protest against Uduaghan to have a rethink because that was how some persons in Delta State because of jealousy and hatred ignorantly connived with outside forces against Ibori. Both Ibori and Uduaghan had served and contributed to the development of the state, Okowa should focus on governance and not otherwise".
Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil, on Saturday conferred degree on 3,212 undergraduates and 31 post-graduate students during its 4th combined convocation.
Prof. Shehu Musa, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, who announced this at the ceremony said 3, 212 students, comprising three sets of students from 2012 to 2015 graduated at the convocation.
"It is gratifying to inform you that the university graduated three sets of students from 2012/2013, 2013/2014, and 2014/2015 academic sessions.,'' Musa said.
He urged the new graduates to use the knowledge acquired from the university to make significant imprints on the country and the world.
"We urge the graduates to be good ambassadors of the university wherever they find themselves,'' he said.
He commended Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje "for his continued support, especially for approving the recruitment of 242 academic staff for the institution''.
The Pro-Chancellor of the institution, Mr Abubakar Mahmud (SAN), while congratulating the graduates, said their hard work had come to fruition.
Mahmud commended the efforts of the Visitor, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje in developing education sector at all levels in the state.
He also commended the financial support of the Chancellor of the institution, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
"I want to commend the efforts of Dangote for his financial support to the university, particularly Dangote/Oxford Partnership Initiative,'' he said.
In a remark, Ganduje congratulated the university on the 100 per cent success recorded in the recently-concluded accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
He also congratulated the graduands for their endurance and perseverance in their academic pursuit.
The university named Grace Chinwe Okafor, as the best graduating student with CGPA of 4.90.
The university also conferred posthumous Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science on Late Abubakar Rimi and the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and others.
I first met Jimi a few years back when he showed up with Labisi, a good friend, at a party in my house. Thinking he was his son, I promptly showed him where my younger siblings and their friends were. “No-oh,” protested Labisi, ‘he’s with me.” The scrawny gangly thing pushed out his chest and draped his hand possessively around his date.
It was so comical that I laughed hysterically until I saw the hurt on Labisi’s face. Could she be serious? A few hours later, he was still glued to her side, knocking back the red wine. “Auntie”, he slurred when I went to have a word, “Can’t you see how young your friend looks?” I felt so irritated I wanted to throttle him. Only my friend had this silly grin on her face that I had to give them a sickly smile. What on earth possessed her to be seen in public with this lad?
When I next saw him, it was at another party and he came over to introduce himself. I looked blank. “I once came to your party with Labisi,” he prompted. What a nerve, calling her by her first name! Yet what had it got to do with me? gritting my teeth, I asked him where Labisi was. “I don’t know auntie, “he said, pulling up a chair and plunking it next to me.
“I’ve always liked the company of older women", he said arrogantly, “they’re more "experienced sexually, if you know what I mean. So when I met Labisi and I flirted with her, I was sure I was on to a good thing when she flirted back. She teased me that I was old enough to be her son. I said I was 28, and she said she was in her early 40s.
That wasn’t so bad. I thought, and within days, we were at it like dogs. Until I discovered she was years older than she let on”. So how did he find out? “I was rummaging about in one of her drawers, looking for a bottle opener she kept in it when I came across one of her old passports. It had her date of birth on it – and she was over 50. Can you beat that? I was so shocked that I showed her the passport and she admitted being that old. I was stunned. Dating older women is one thing, but I’m definitely not into grannies! It was like sleeping "with my own mother!
"Dating an older woman is okay, but I want the ones who still have all their own teeth.” He was getting on my nerves, but I asked him why he hadn’t thought of trying women of his own age? “They’re the worst,” he said.
Before, I met Labisi, I had this model-like girl I was dating on a regular basis. I met her at a fashion show and we started going out together. She asked me how many women I’d slept with and I told her plenty. When I asked how many men she’d had she said she was keeping herself for the right man.
That was a challenge, so I spent the next few weeks convincing her I could be the one for her. It worked. We bonked each other senseless for weeks. It was fantastic – I couldn’t believe a novice could bonk so well, but I was already in love with her. I foolishly thought it was the start of a beautiful relationship until the "night I stayed over.
I’d done that a couple of times. She had this one bed flat that was like a love nest. We’d had amazing sex after a boozy night and I fell asleep afterwards. Suddenly, I was being violently shaken by my girl who whispered furiously that I had to go to the toilet as her husband was around. Holy smoke! Husband? What husband? She pushed me hurriedly into the ensuit toilet and there I was in my "boxers, looking sheepish when this male voice boomed from the bedroom.
My girl whimpered that she was glad to see him after being away for so long on business trip. That she had a terrible malaria and was just going to the kitchen to make herself a hot cup of tea when he showed up. She must have put on such a convincing act because the man asked her to stay in bed, he would help with the tea.
“Whilst he was in the kitchen, my girl rushed to where I was and virtually shoved me out through the toilet window. I landed on what looked like very smelly heap of rubbish and I gave a yelp of protest. It was very dark and instead of her to peep out to find out what the matter was, she threw my clothes and shoes after me! I was in shock. There had to be a sane explanation to this nightmare I was subjected to. I don’t even want to remind myself of the gunk that clung to my clothes and body when I got home.
“The next day, when I went to her place of work, she just looked straight through me and walked on! It was then a colleague of hers that I was friendly with confirmed my girl had a sugar daddy they all knew was fond of her. So why did she make a play for me? She confessed they were all having girlie talks comparing different male physique at the party where we first met when I came in.
It was then one of the girls joked that gangly men like me were usually well endowed. They’d had a bet to see who’d be the first to find out if I really was, and my girl had won. She’d given them blow-by-blow accounts of our sexual adventure and I felt cheap – like I was a sex object.”
I was very amused by his self-righteousness. It was nice to see how men feel when the shoes were on the other feet. Women are constantly being used and dumped, but they seldom make a song and dance of it. I told him this and he agreed with me. He said he had this friend who was of the same age with him. ‘He works with a sexy posh women who was their H.O.D.,’ he recalled.
“He was full of how sexy she was that I went to his office to have a look. She was a beauty but scarcely gave me a second glance. But it was obvious she’d taken a shine to my friend. My friend said colleagues had warned him that she always tried it with every new guy. I told him they were only jealous. His boss was only a few years older and attracted to him. What had he got to lose? ‘Weeks later, my friend had cheering news for me; they’d started an affair and she was smashing’.
I tried to warn him to make the most of it and not bank on being the love of her life. He shrugged. He had his eye on the promotion he thought he deserved. He’d been passed over a couple of times but with his immediate boss now in his corner, his promotion was a done deal. Well, it wasn’t. Her boss didn’t put in the much needed word. She looked out for her own promotion instead and got it. "Now she heads a larger department and Romeo is left licking his wounds!”
You aren't happy with your job. You aren't passionate about it and have to drag yourself out of bed daily to work from morning to evening doing that job, either because you need the money to put food on your table or you can't handle going back into the job market to begin the job hunting process again.
Jumia Travel shares 4 ways to effectively deal with job dissatisfaction.
IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF YOUR DISSATISFACTION
Try to find out the exact thing about your job that causes the dissatisfaction. Is it the fact that you have to wake up early to go to work? Is the fact that you finish work late? Is it the amount of your salary? Is it the fact that you have no time for yourself? Is it all these things and more? Figure it out. When you identify the source of your job dissatisfaction, it makes it easier to deal with.
BUILD AN ESCAPE HATCH
If you currently have no choice but to remain in a job that leaves you dissatisfied, don't just give up and let yourself wallow in misery. Work to build an escape hatch for yourself. It could be taking part-time classes to get another degree or a master's degree. It could also be starting trainings, attending workshops or writing exams that qualify you for certificates or degrees that can make you eligible for other opportunities in line with what you desire to do. The crux is to do what you can to ensure that staying in that job is not your only option.
POLISH YOUR RESUME
If you can't take it anymore and staying in the job is depressing you, start investigating opportunities that you can explore, polish your resume, gather the courage and quit the job. The job market might be an uncertain place but you are not going to find a better job if you don't look for one.
But please don't rush into this. Think long and hard if this is what you want to do. Have a plan and a back up to support you in case things don't initially go your way. Use your connections and don't give up until you succeed.
BE RESILIENT
For those who can't just up and leave their jobs due to certain responsibilities; for those who, more or less, don't have a choice but to continue in their jobs, you have to be resilient. Be determined to find a way to make it work. Once you have identified the source of your job dissatisfaction, take steps to either solve the issue(s) completely or alleviate it. Consider who can help you in solving these issues and approach them. If in the end you can't solve it, accept it (as hard as it might be). But be strong, you have to be strong, decide to change your mindset about the job and find a way to make it work for you. You will be surprised that in the end, you will actually find a way to successfully endure the job until there is a silver lining.
You can, I can" is the theme for World Cancer Day 2017, today February 4, which takes a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist and that they are within reach. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and about 80,000 die from the disease; this comes to 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour, dying from cancer. The Nigerian cancer death ratio of 4 in 5 is one of the worst in the whole world.
The WHO reveals that cervical cancer which is virtually 100 per cent preventable kills one Nigerian woman every hour. Breast cancer kills 40 Nigerians daily while prostate cancer kills 26 Nigerian men daily. These three common cancers alone, kill 90 Nigerians daily. This alarming death rate is mainly due to poor infrastructure to deal with the problem.
Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth. There are over 100 different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected. Cancer harms the body when altered cells divide uncontrollably to form lumps or masses of tissue called tumours (except in the case of leukemia where cancer prohibits normal blood function by abnormal cell division in the blood stream).
Tumours can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can release hormones that alter body function. Tumours that stay in one spot and demonstrate limited growth are generally considered to be benign.
Malignant tumours
More dangerous, or malignant, tumours form when two things occur: a cancerous cell manages to move throughout the body using the blood or lymphatic systems, destroying healthy tissue in a process called invasion that cell manages to divide and grow, making new blood vessels to feed itself in a process called angiogenesis.
When a tumour successfully spreads to other parts of the body and grows, invading and destroying other healthy tissues, it is said to have metastasized. This process itself is called metastasis, and the result is a serious condition that is very difficult to treat. Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in Nigeria.
Types of cancers
There are over 200 different types of cancers. Every organ in the body may develop cancer, considered to be one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The financial costs of cancer in Nigeria exceeds $500 million in medical costs and lost productivity annually. The most common sites of cancer among men are lung, prostate, colon, rectum, stomach and liver. The most common sites of cancer among women are breast, colon, rectum, lung, cervix and stomach.
How cancer spreads
Scientists say cancer cells spread as a result of their adhesion (stickiness) properties. Certain molecular interactions between cells and the scaffolding that holds them in place (extracellular matrix) cause them to become unstuck at the original tumor site, they become dislodged, move on and then reattach themselves at a new site.
Causes of cancer
Cancer is ultimately the result of cells that uncontrollably grow and do not die. Normal cells in the body follow an orderly path of growth, division, and death. Programmed cell death is called apoptosis, and when this process breaks down, cancer begins to form. Unlike regular cells, cancer cells do not experience programmatic death and instead continue to grow and divide. This leads to a mass of abnormal cells that grows out of control.
Genes – the DNA type
Cells can experience uncontrolled growth if there are mutations to DNA, and therefore, alterations to the genes involved in cell division. Four key types of gene are responsible for the cell division process: oncogenes tell cells when to divide, tumor suppressor genes tell cells when not to divide, suicide genes control apoptosis and tell the cell to kill itself if something goes wrong, and DNA-repair genes instruct a cell to repair damaged DNA.
Cancer occurs when a cell's gene mutations make the cell unable to correct DNA damage and unable to commit suicide. Similarly, cancer is a result of mutations that inhibit oncogene and tumor suppressor gene function, leading to uncontrollable cell growth.
Carcinogens
Carcinogens are a class of substances that are directly responsible for damaging DNA, promoting or aiding cancer. Tobacco, asbestos, arsenic, radiation such as gamma and x-rays, the sun, and compounds in car exhaust fumes are all examples of carcinogens. When our bodies are exposed to carcinogens, free radicals are formed that try to steal electrons from other molecules in the body. Theses free radicals damage cells and affect their ability to function normally.
Genes – the family type
Cancer can be the result of a genetic predisposition that is inherited from family members. It is possible to be born with certain genetic mutations or a fault in a gene that makes one statistically more likely to develop cancer later in life.
Cancer and other medical factors
As we age, there is an increase in the number of possible cancer-causing mutations in our DNA. This makes age an important risk factor for cancer. Several viruses have also been linked to cancer such as: human papillomavirus (a cause of cervical cancer), hepatitis B and C (causes of liver cancer), and Epstein-Barr virus (a cause of some childhood cancers). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – and anything else that suppresses or weakens the immune system – inhibits the body's ability to fight infections and increases the chance of developing cancer.
Treatment & prevention
There are conflicting reports about cancer prevention. Sometimes the specific cancer-prevention tip recommended in one study or news report is advised against in another. In many cases, what is known about cancer prevention is still evolving. However, it's well-accepted that chances of developing cancer are affected by the lifestyle choices you make.
Cancer treatment is a huge problem, so prevention is best. Nigerians spend $500 million annually on treatment abroad. Unfortunately, the outcome for Nigerians who embark on cancer-related medical tourism is often poor, because of late detection. Cancer constitutes a preventable major drain on our human and financial resources. According to WHO, one- third of all cancers can be prevented; another one- third can be effectively cured with early diagnosis; whilst palliative care can improve the quality of life of the last third.
Cervical cancer in particular, underscores the fact that cancer is preventable, and epitomizes the cost-effectiveness of investing in preventive health care. It is the easiest of all cancers to prevent. Cervical screening is the best cancer screening test in the history of medicine and the most cost effective of all medical screening tests.
The screening is painless and takes only about 5 minutes. The tissue changes that lead to cervical cancer usually develop very slowly (over a period of about five to thirty years). Screening can find these changes before cancer develops. Pre-cancer changes are easy to treat by an outpatient procedure lasting 15 minutes. Consequently, cervical cancer is now a disappearing disease in the western world, while it remains the number one cancer killer of African women.
Screening & early detection
One of the ways to reduce cancer mortality rates is to improve early diagnosis strategies. This is the message. There are two ways of improving cancer detection: screening and early diagnosis. While screening seeks out asymptomatic cancers or precancerous lesions without symptoms, early diagnosis is the identification of symptomatic cancer cases in the very early stages of the disease.
Lifestyle changes
Some simple lifestyle changes can make a big difference. Consider these seven cancer prevention tips.
Don't smoke – Using any type of tobacco puts you on a collision course with cancer. Smoking has been linked to various types of cancer — including cancer of the lung, mouth, throat, larynx, pancreas, bladder, cervix and kidney. Chewing tobacco has been linked to cancer of the oral cavity and pancreas. Even if you don't use tobacco, exposure to secondhand smoke might increase your risk of lung cancer. Avoiding tobacco — or deciding to stop using it — is one of the most important health decisions you can make. It's also an important part of cancer prevention. If you need help quitting tobacco, ask your doctor about stop-smoking products and other strategies for quitting.
Eat a healthy diet – Although making healthy selections a the shops and at mealtime can't guarantee cancer prevention, it might help reduce your risk. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Base your diet on fruits, vegetables and other foods from plant sources — such as whole grains and beans.
Avoid obesity – Eat lighter and leaner by choosing fewer high-calorie foods, including refined sugars and fat from animal sources. If you choose to drink alcohol, do so only in moderation. The risk of various types of cancer — including cancer of the breast, colon, lung, kidney and liver — increases with the amount of alcohol you drink and the length of time you've been drinking regularly.
Limit processed meats – Eating large amounts of processed meat can slightly increase the risk of certain types of cancer. Women who eat a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and mixed nuts might have a reduced risk of breast cancer. The Mediterranean diet focuses on mostly on plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. People who follow the Mediterranean diet choose healthy fats, like olive oil, over butter and fish instead of red meat.
Maintain healthy weight and be physically active – Maintaining a healthy weight might lower the risk of various types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, prostate, lung, colon and kidney. Physical activity counts, too. In addition to helping you control your weight, physical activity on its own might lower the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer. Adults who participate in any amount of physical activity gain some health benefits. But for substantial health benefits, strive to get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic physical activity. You can also do a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. As a general goal, include at least 30 minutes of physical activity in your daily routine — and if you can do more, even better.
Risk reduction
It is believed that cancer risk can be reduced by avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol intake, limiting UV ray exposure from the sun and tanning beds and maintaining a healthy diet, level of fitness and seeking regular medical care. Screening can locate cervical cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer at an early, treatable stage.
A woman has stunned people with her unbelievable actions after helping her own husband to pin a girl down and forcefully have sex with her. Illustrative photo
The Police in Zimbabwe have reportedly arrested a couple for allegedly kidnapping a 14-year-old girl. After kidnaping, the woman then proceeded to assist her husband to rape the minor by holding her hands.
According to the state-owned Chronicle newspaper, Philemon Moyo Tauze, 30, and his wife Netsai Sibanda, 25, appeared before a court in Gweru facing charges of kidnapping and raping a minor. The two, from Mhike village in Zvishavane, pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody to February 13.
The court heard that Sibanda approached the girl and asked her if she could accompany her to her homestead where she promised to give her something “that she had kept for her”. The girl agreed, and on arrival Sibanda asked her if she could sleep over for the night, saying her husband would be away. But around 20:00, the husband showed up and the couple asked the girl to sleep with them in the same bedroom hut.
During the night, Tauze started caressing the girl, who resisted, before Sibanda “grabbed and pinned her down”. Tauze allegedly went on to rape her.
A Nigerian newspaper and Online version of the Vanguard, a daily publication in Nigeria covering Niger delta, general national news, politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion,lifestyle human interest stories, etc
Operators of domestic and commercial wastes in Lagos State are already in court to stop the government from displacing them or replacing them with new operators through the guise of reform.
In a suit filed on their behalf at a Lagos High Court by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, the PSP operators, urged the court to urgently uphold and protect their existing rights and benefits so that the government will not appoint new operators to replace them.
Listed as defendants in the suit are the Lagos State Government, the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Commissioner for the Environment, the proposed foreign operators and their local agents–namely Visionscape Group, Visionscape Santiation Solutions Limited, and ABC Sanitation Solutions Limited.
"If the government's resolutions are implemented to the letter, the regime of refuse heaps may soon return to the state," Adegboruwa, a human rights lawyer said.
In their 77 paragraph affidavit deposed to by Olabode Coker, the Chairman of the Association of Waste Managers, the operators stated that they had helped Lagos State to rid the state of refuse spanning several years of investments in human and material resources, which had also involved professional trainings and education.
The association, comprising over 350 PSP operators, asked the court to restrain any foreign operator, and their local agents, from taking over the collection, disposal and management of domestic solid waste in all areas of Lagos State.
"The operators claimed that Lagos State had encouraged them in the past to improve their operations through acquisition of modern trucks, for which many of them obtained loans from banks with huge interest rates and the consideration was to be using the resources generated from the waste operations to service the said loans, and they have built offices in various parts of Lagos State for the smooth administration of their operations," Adegboruwa maintained.
They also claimed to have been operating at a loss because of the refusal of Lagos State Government to enact a legislation that will facilitate the enforcement of collection of dues.
The PSP had contended in the suit that the location and dilapidated state of the dumpsites make the operations of waste disposal burdensome as trucks have to wait for hours in order to discharge waste, leading to congestion and the bad roads leading to the dumpsites have caused refuse trucks to break down very often, with huge costs of maintenance.
Meantime, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, has said that waste generation within the state has increased to over 420, 000 monthly, representing 14, 000 metric tons daily.
Chairman of LAWMA, Olumuyiwa Adejokun and General Manager, Mr. Segun Adeniji, disclosed this recently, at the opening session of a 3-day training workshop for officials of the agency, themed: "Reformed Waste Management in Lagos State: The role of LAWMA," held at Lekki, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state.
The governor's directive, Adejokun, stressed was part of the planned reform to make the agency more efficient and effective saying, "Government does not have the huge funds required to manage waste in the state, this is why the governor has decided to embark on waste management reform."
He explained that the reform would see LAWMA being excluded from waste collection and concentrate on regulatory role of waste collection in the state.
The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, on Friday said America would not discriminate against any Nigerian on the basis of religion or on the new visa regime.
President Trump recently signed an executive order that banned citizens from seven countries from travelling into the U.S. for 90 days.
The countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The restrictions were part of wide-ranging immigration controls that also suspended refugee arrivals.
At a press conference in Abuja on President Donald Trump's executive order and its effects on Nigeria, the ambassador dispelled the rumour of reducing U.S. visa policy for Nigeria to one year.
Symington said that the two-year visa for Nigeria was still valid.
"The new order now is for the U.S. government to cross-check as many that are coming into the U.S. before issuing visas.
"We will not discriminate on the basis of religion in issuing visas to Nigerians. The two-year visa is still valid contrary to reports we have heard in the media.
"Nigeria's leadership role is crucial in the world and Nigeria cannot be blacklisted. The importance of Nigeria in the world is legal," he said.
The envoy explained that Nigerians, particularly its Muslim community, would not be discriminated against by the order.
He said that the aim of the executive order was not to be used as a weapon to deliberately deny anyone visa into the U.S.
The ambassador explained that the executive order was designed to put in place a new and effective system.
He said that the new system would ensure that people, who genuinely wanted to visit, live or work in the U.S., could do so and stop any that posed a threat from entering into the country.
On the issue of the U.S. closing its doors against countries that were in crisis and refugees, Symington said that his country was not shutting its doors but putting in place measures to ensure safety for all.
"We recognise that we are a nation of immigrants and a nation constantly seeking to bring diverse people together.
"Our goal is to have in place a process that works. For everyone that applies for a visa, we should be able to find out the persons background as to where he has been before.
"The idea is to ensure that when we open the door to our house, people are going in to do good deeds, not to do harm," he said.
The Head of Consular Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Abuja, Mr Megan Moore also gave assurance that the executive order would not affect the validity of visas issued to Nigerians, saying that the only thing that had changed "is the renewal period''.
The Consular Chief said that though the U.S. visa policy was based on reciprocity, Nigerians would not be discriminated against.
"It is important to note that there is not going to be any changes for Nigerians who have a valid U.S. visa.
"The U.S. Government issues multiple-entry two-year visa to Nigerians. The rumour that we are planning to change that to one year is not true.
"The main difference for Nigerians will be; you can use the DHL Drop box renewal programme if your visa has expired within 12 months.
"But if it expired more than 12 months ago, then you will need to schedule an appointment for interview.
"Our goal is to ensure that Nigerians are able to travel to U. S. so that they continue to participate in the fabrics of our lives," Moore said.
Waste management in Lagos State is currently facing a tougher time following the planned introduction of major reform into the sector by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Lagos state government is making moves to rescue the state from the inefficiency of the Private Sector Participation, PSP, operators through the launch of 'Cleaner Lagos Initiative'.
Lagos waste generation which was between 9,000 to 10,000 metric tons of waste per day has recently, risen to between 13,000 to 14,000 per day.
Commissioner for the Environment in the state, Dr. Samuel Adejare, while announcing the development, said besides creating the enabling environment for the private sector to harness international best practices, the Cleaner Lagos Initiative is likewise concerned with addressing the existing challenges in solid waste management in the state.
Under the proposed reform, government will carry out a re-certification of all the 350 PSP operators, re-license them and audit the state of their compactors.
Government will also transform the existing Transfer Loading Station (TLS) and introduce about 25 Material Revolving Facility (MRF) where wastes will be sorted, 600 new compactor vehicles will be acquired, and waste dumpsites will be closed and replaced with engineered sanitary landfill sites.
The reform will include; Establishment of five new power stations – one in each division in the state, which will be built to generate power from wastes, and closure of the Olusosun at Ojota, Kosofe Local Government area, and Solus, Igando, old Alimosho LGA, dumpsites next year.
Supermodel Karlie Kloss, WNBA All-Star Candace Parker and Fitness Influencer Hannah Bronfman Prove Creativity is the Difference Maker in the New Film Series Portland, Ore., February 1, 2017
Adidas has unveiled a global campaign underlining the brand's aggressive pursuit for creativity to push the boundaries of sport.
The new campaign, titled "Unleash Your Creativity," is told through a female athlete's lens and stars supermodel Karlie Kloss, fitness influencer Hannah Bronfman, fitness instructor and bestselling author Robin Arzon, WNBA All-Star Candace Parker and USWNT soccer star Becky Sauerbrunn, among others.
"Like this campaign, creativity enables me to accomplish more and follow my passions. It is inspiring to work alongside this incredible group of women and help each other achieve our personal goals,” said Karlie Kloss.
Adidas creative challenge
"Unleash Your Creativity" builds upon the brand's belief that hard work only gets you so far. The campaign includes a multi-athlete TV spot and short film series that brings to life authentic stories of 15 female athletes around the globe who use creativity to defy conventions, reinvent routine, create their own path and inspire others to make a difference in sport.
Karlie Kloss' film highlights how she uses her imagination to make a difference in the world while Candace Parker shows how she uses creativity to shape her style of play and elevate her game. Dancer and fitness influencer Ally Love inspires women to unleash their own creativity daily from her motivational spin classes to charging up an arena as host of the Brooklyn Nets.
Ruqsana Begum is a British and European Kick-Boxing champion who blazed a trail for Muslim women to access sport. Running coach Jessie Zapo found a way to open her sport to a new generation of runners.
Adidas creative challenge
USWNT Captain Becky Sauerbrunn uses her creativity in soccer to challenge her opponents on the field and win championships. "Hard work is a given. We believe that athletes who tap into their creativity have a powerful edge," said Lia Stierwalt, Senior Director of Global Brand Communications at Adidas.
"This new film series continues the 'Here to Create' conversation that we began in 2016 reinforcing the brand's point of view that engaging an athlete's imagination to unleash their creativity will take them further than their mind or body ever could."
"Unleash Your Creativity" debuted online today and will air globally in more than 20 countries during key moments including the Super Bowl LI Pre-Game Show, NBA All-Star Game, and The Academy Awards.
Follow the "Here to Create" conversation via #heretocreate on @adidas Twitter, Instagram and Facebook channels and view all films in the series via www.youtube.com/adidas, www.adidas.com/heretocreate.
About Adidas
Adidas is a global designer and developer of athletic and lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories with the mission to be the best sports brand in the world.
As an innovation and design leader, Adidas engineers the best in high-performance products to make athletes better, faster and stronger and creates a range of classic and fresh lifestyle and high-fashion lines. Visit adidas.com for more information.
A UK charity foundation, The Foyer Federation, has appointed a Nigerian, Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa as its Chief Executive Officer.
Tokunbo who was formerly the Head of Innovation at Bauer Academy, was placed with the responsibility of developing new programming opportunities and building strong senior client relationships. Prior to being the Head of Innovation at Bauer Academy, Tokunbo was Founder and Managing Director of Catch 22 Magazine CIC, a social enterprise saddled with the duty of training young diverse media talent to become multimedia communicators and content providers, and He was also Head of GoThinkBig, a national award winning social action initiative. The young man has a lot of achievements tied to his name.
Tokunbo Ajasa
Andrew Croft, chair of The Foyer Federation said, "…Tokunbo has the confidence, enthusiasm and drive to build on The Foyer Federation's recent achievements and our current business strategy…"
"Its clear that Tokunbo brings a commitment to innovation and a passion for developing transformative opportunities for young people across the Foyer network and beyond."
On his appointment, Tokunbo commented on how excited he is about joining The Foyer Federation because it is a charity that has innovation at its heart, challenges the status quo and side steps negative stereotypes that young people face every day.
He will join The Foyer Federation officially this February 2017.
The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), says it has mobilised no fewer than 15,000 Nigerian youths to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, from vacation.
The President proceeded on a 10-day vacation in London on Jan. 23 and is expected to return to Nigeria on Feb. 6, 2017.
Malam Gambo Jagindi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of NYCN, Murtala Gamji, made the disclosure in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja.
Jagindi said that time had come for Nigerian youths, who are the future leaders of the country to show love, solidarity and support for the President, who is their current leader.
" The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has concluded arrangements to mobilise not less than 15,000 of its members to be at Abuja airport on Feb. 6, to welcome President Buhari from vacation.
"It is on record that integrity, discipline and honesty are gradually returning to our public life unlike in the past when impunity was the order of the day,'' the spokesman said.
He berated those spreading rumours of death about the President.
He said: "we all know that they do not have the interest of our country at heart and are only wishing to carry on with the looting of our treasury in the absence of our president.''
Jagindi said that Buhari's assignment for Nigeria was not yet over, adding that only God could determine who lived or died.
He commended the president's efforts to rid the country of what he termed, "undesirable elements'' who did not mean well for Nigeria and Nigerians.
He urged Buhari to continue with the good work as the youths of Nigeria were solidly behind him.
He noted that in spite of the "corrupt mafias'' working to undermine the anti-corruption war, Nigerian youths under NYCN would continue to support Buhari's laudable programmes.
Six Australian archbishops will be questioned by the country's powerful royal commission as part of an investigation into widespread sexual abuse of children in Catholic churches and institutions, the commission announced on Friday.
The public hearing will begin in Sydney on Monday as part of the four-year-long inquiry into the handling of abuse cases, some as old as 70 years.
The hearing seeks to find out what churches are doing now to protect children.
Six of Australia's seven archbishops will appear in the three-week-long hearing.
One of them has already been charged with concealing information about child sexual abuse by a paedophile priest in 1971.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Bishops and leaders of other church orders, like Christian Brothers, Jesuits, as well as education officials and experts, will also give evidence at the hearing.
The commission will also release statistics on child sexual abuse by the clergy, the first such data to be released, including details of the complaints, and how or if they were dealt with.
Some of the Catholic leaders are so wary about the fallout they have issued messages warning parishioners about the inquiry.
Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, one of those being questioned, said in a video message to be played in more than 200 diocese on Saturday that there would be "grim moments and some shocks."
"We have to shift the culture and that's a far more difficult thing to do," he said.
"It will reveal a horrific picture of the extent of the claims of abuse by priests and brothers whose responsibility was to protect and care for children," Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, said in an email statement.
"It is absolutely important this information is made public.
"It is part of being transparent and ensuring the complete story is told."
Little children acting the role of the father and mother is a very common game, especially where you have a couple of them growing up together in same vicinity. The older kids play the role of parents while the younger ones play the role of the children. They all try to re-enact as much as possible, what they observe in their different family settings.
While the 'father' goes to work, the 'mother' often stays back at home to take care of the house chores as well as prepare meals for the 'family'. The meal, mainly made of sand is served on pieces of paper for plates and everyone touches the sand to their chins to eat. What happens after this depends on what time of day is being acted out and what kind of environment the play is being staged, secluded or open.
Usually, the house consists of two main rooms. They may be virtual or real, again, depending on the environment. The real rooms are usually divided with the wrappers of someone's mother as curtains. The 'children' sleep on one side of the divide while the 'parents' sleep on the other.
Now, what takes place in 'father' and 'mother's room depend largely on the intelligence, exposure or awareness and smartness of the two actors. Many young people experienced their first kisses and more behind these curtains.
While visiting a dear close friend at her home, a couple of years ago, we were forced to sit on the terrace to gist and play catch up, because the PHCN had decided to do what it knows best to do. Her last child, a four year old boy also had a visitor, a little girl from their compound who had come over to play.
As we discussed, we could hear their voices and laughter from where we were until everything became quiet suddenly. Perhaps acting on instinct or just motherly intuition, my friend asked for permission to go and check on them. Then, I heard her calling out to me frantically to come and see something. I rushed in to find the two children standing just feet apart from each other, both with funny looks on their faces.
"What happened", I asked my friend. "Can't you see what is happening here" she said, pointing to the children and winking downwards to the direction she wanted me to look at. I quickly scrutinized the scene and concluded that something bad had been interrupted here. My friend began laughing very hard, pointing to her son's now extremely shrunken penis and the little girl who clutched on to her knickers in her hand as if her life depended on it.
As my friend kept asking her son what happened and who took off his shorts, he just kept looking straight while pointing his forefinger at the girl. Initially, I did not quite understand what was happening but when it finally clicked, I did not understand why my friend was laughing and praising her four year old son for being such a fast Houdini. I found nothing funny about it.
One major mistake parents of the boy child make is to erroneously believe in the alpha male syndrome. Such parents believe that they have no problems since their boys can never get pregnant from their sexual escapades, neither will they be frowned at or socially stigmatized as loose and bad boys. So when incidents such as this happens, they take a stand-offish posture, leaving the girl and her parents to take the fall, just as my friend was doing.
My Miss-do-good attitude took over and I just had to let my friend see things from another perspective. A little girl already engaging in the "Cowgirl position" with her male friend could not have conjured this all by herself. She must have either seen her parents having sex or someone else had been teaching her these moves secretly.
This meant that she was either being abused or exposed to such by an adult. My second position was that, should an adult be involved in this unfortunate incident, then the poor girl might have been exposed to STDs, including HIV/AIDS. In that case too, her son was also in serious danger, I told my friend. "God forbid", she cried, "it is not my portion".
But it can be, I insisted, so it was important that the little girl's parents be informed so that they could conduct a thorough investigation. If this problem was not seriously addressed, there is no telling what could become of the girl as she grows older. By the time I was done, we were heading to the little girl's flat. What we uncovered at the end of the day, is a story for another day.
While the girl child may remain the endangered specie all of her lifetime, the boy child will remain the sound board for whatever falls out of any unwholesome alliance between the sexes. And then, the beat goes on. That is why sex education for young people is compulsory, rather than necessary. Both sexes must be well grounded if we intend to do a good job for both society and humanity.
When Lizzy returned from a business trip to Abuja and was informed that her seven year old niece who was spending the holidays with them had been caught under the sheets with her five year old son, she almost whipped him into a pulp. She said, "I can't remember for how long or how many times I whipped him with the belt as I had lost control of myself.
My house help and younger sister had to hold me and retrieved the belt. As I was whipping him, I was crying at the same time. I was afraid that a little mistake could ruin his life and ultimately ours too. I did not touch my niece at all. I simply called her mother, who is my sister to come and remove her from my house before I killed her. I was alarmed when our mother tried to play the matter off lightly, insisting it was just a game and that most children engage in it.
She insisted it was nothing to be scared about and that I was taking things too seriously". On investigation, they discovered that a teenage boy in their compound had been abusing her and giving her money, biscuits and sweets for her cooperation. My sister wanted to call in the Police but my mother again prevailed on her, arguing that she will only bring herself to ridicule in the neighbourhood. That was how the matter died, but it was how the issue of anyone spending their holidays in my house also died", she told me during a conversation.
Sex education that works starts early, before young people reach puberty, and before they have developed established patterns of behaviour. The precise age at which information should be provided depends on the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the young people as well as their level of understanding. What is covered and also how, depends on who is providing the sex education, when they are providing it, and in what context, as well as what the individual young person wants to know or needs to know about.
It is important for sex education to begin at a young age and also that it is sustained. Despite recent increased awareness, many parents still find it difficult or think it is inappropriate to discuss sex with their children. I have seen parents who prevent their children from watching even kissing scenes on the Television rather than take time to explain what it means to them and why they are not to engage in any forms of sexual intimacy with the opposite sex.
We often forget that these children have access to the television and many other media channels when our backs are turned. Giving young people basic information from an early age provides the foundation on which more complex knowledge is built up over time. For example, when they are very young, such as in the case above, children can be informed about how people grow and change over time, and how babies become children and then adults, and this provides the basis on which they understand more detailed information about puberty provided in the pre-teenage years.
They can also when they are young, be provided with information about viruses and germs that attack the body. This provides the basis for talking to them later about infections that can be caught through sexual contact.
Indeed, many are against the teaching of sex education to young people. They are concerned that providing information about sex and sexuality arouses curiosity and can lead to sexual experimentation. However, in a review of 48 studies of comprehensive sex and STD/HIV education programmes in some selected US schools, there was found to be strong evidence that such programmes really did not increase sexual activity. Rather, some of them reduced sexual activity, or increased rates of condom use or other contraceptives, or both. It is important to remember that young people can store up information provided at any time, for a time when they need it later on.
So, when must we start? This is a question often asked by many parents I interact with. Sometimes it can be difficult for adults to know when to raise issues, but the important thing is to maintain an open relationship with children which provides them with opportunities to ask questions when they have them. Parents and caregivers can also be proactive and engage young people in discussions about sex, sexuality and relationships.
Naturally, many parents and their children feel embarrassed to talk about some aspects of sex and sexuality. Viewing sex education as an on-going conversation about values, attitudes and issues as well as providing facts can be helpful. The best basis to proceed is a sound relationship in which a young person feels able to ask a question or raise an issue if they feel they need to.
Research has shown that in counties like The Netherlands, where families regard it as an important responsibility to talk openly with children about sex and sexuality, this contributes to greater cultural openness about sex, sexuality and improved sexual health among young people.
The role of many parents and caregivers as sex educators changes as young people get older and are provided with more opportunities to receive formal sex education through schools and community settings. However, it does not get any less important. Because sex education in school tends to take place in small time-blocks and can't always address issues relevant to young people at a particular time, parents can therefore fulfill a particularly important role in providing information and opportunities to discuss things as they arise.
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Youth Health and Social Reforms (YOHESOR), has called for the introduction of improved anti-corruption content and life building skills in the nation's school's curriculum.
The group's National Coordinator, Dr. Ijeoma Arodiogbu in a statement in Abuja said that YOHESOR is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders on anti-corruption campaign in schools through The Value Project.
He said the programme would be hinged on Picture Code, Curriculum Enrichment and Peer Education to drive home the anti-corruption message among students.
According to Arodiogbu "though the picture code may not cover all facets of corrupt practices and habits but it would try to capture the very relevant ones that are quite common among students and adults in the school environment and public office respectively were captured."
He noted that the advocacy on curriculum enrichment is concerned with enhancing the basic and secondary education sectors to impact highest level of morals and ethics in students to bring the desired social and economic re-engineering.
"The YOHESOR-NGO is advocating for curriculum enrichment with adapted life building skills and anti-corruption education content and subject matter that will ensure skills on the learners," parts of the statement read.
In view of this, Arodiogbu said the NGO said it has reached out to the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC) and initiated the dialogue for curriculum enrichment towards the anti-corruption education campaign.
On the concept of peer education, Arodiogbu said through the Value Project, selected individuals would be trained as peer educators who will in turn serve as anti-corruption champions that would influence their immediate communities, adding that the NGO would collaborate with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to implement the strategy.
"The implementation of the Peer Education strategy will be anchored on partnership with UBEC, and possibly the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) where the need arises for integration of corps members in the training and mentoring of students peer educators at school level," he added.
Recall that the Value project is one of the three programmes that the Federal Ministry of Education is collaborating with NGOs, traditional institutions and other stakeholders to inculcate moral and ethical norms and standards among students.
The other two projects include the Case project aimed at the creation of enabling environment for productive and purposeful learning in tertiary institutions, and the professionalization of teaching, that will enhance value, quality, career progression among teachers.
Lagos – The Naira on Friday depreciated further to N500 to a dollar at the parallel market after it had remained stable for nearly three weeks, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N616 and N530 respectively at the open market. The Nigerian currency, however, remained stable at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market exchanging at N399 to a dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N617 and N527, respectively.
The Naira also remained stable at the interbank window exchanging at N305.25 to a dollar. Traders at the market said that the scarcity of the greenback was far from being over.
In spite of the weekly sale of forex to BDCs by the apex bank, the Naira could not resist the temptation to fall.
University of Lagos Alumni Association will on Sunday raise N150 million scholarship fund for indigent but brilliant students of the institution who are having challenge of continuing their education at the university.
Lagos State branch chairman of the association Dr Lukumon Adelaide who announced this during a briefing held at UNILAG, stated that the Lagos branch has began a week-long activities which will be climaxed with a general meeting and a get-together of all Alumni members resident in Lagos this Sunday. He said: “The governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, an Alumnus of Unilag, together with notable commissioners who are also Alumni are expected to grace the occasion.”
Speaking to journalists, Dr Adeoti, an Associate Professor from the Department of Geosciences, Unilag said the association would commence with 20 students first, who would be eligible to N150,000 per session regardless of their programmes, and all through theirstay in the university.
Adeoti said the project which is in collaboration with the university's authority, would see the amount take care of tuition, accommodation, feeding and other expenses while pointing out the Association will liaise with the Heads of Department and the Students' affairs Department in the selection of the students and disbursement of the fund..
He explained that the association prioritises the academic success of indigent students to enable them concentrate, and complete their studies. He acknowledged how painful it is to some brilliant students end up not fulfilling their desire to get education because of financial inabilities.
Further Adeoti said the association would extend hand of collaborations with individuals and corporate bodies in this drive and appealed to individuals and corporate bodies to participate in this laudable humanitarian gesture.
The week has been packed with activities for the Lagos state Branch of Unilag Alumni week, A walk show and health lecture on 'Executive stress management" was held on the 2nd of February, Jumaa't prayer was held yesterday Friday while today is sports day to test members fitness.
Tomorrow Sunday 5th of February 2017 marks the end of the Alumni week with an Award of Excellence which will be given to distinguished members and friends of the Alumni. Adeoti said the award session would see the Lagos State Governor AkinwunmiAmbode lead other friends of the institution who have 'contributed significantly' to the development of the university, education and the country at large
Abeokuta – Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has described those peddling the rumuored death of President Muhammadu Buhari as wicked, callous and treacherous.Obasanjo
Obasanjo stated this in a release issued by his Media Aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, in Abeokuta on Friday, adding that instead of embarking on such “worrisome” wishes, they should rather engage in marathon prayers from him.
He said, what the President need “are our prayers and best wishes, which will ginger his morale to come back more stronger and better.”
Obasanjo who cautioned against politicization of every situation in the country, recalled that he has also been a victim of such rumoured death while in office as the President, declaring, “no normal human being will wish an elderly person dead irrespective of their differences.
“If you don’t like him, wait for another election, not going about to say he is dead. No matter his health situation, we should pray for him to recover quick and come back more stronger and better. For anyone wishing him dead, such person or group of persons are callous, wicked and treacherous.
“I was also rumoured to have died almost 12 times. I don’t know what they derive from doing so, but, they should seek for forgiveness.
“Even if we know that the President is sick, he is in a better position to know what to say or what to do and not wishing him dead. We should just stop politicizing everything, especially with the elderly in the country.”
A section of the social media had claimed that President Buhari had died in London, UK following his illness last week.
The President who had travelled to London on a 10-day vacation is expected back in the country next week.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the country is under siege of disinformation and fake news that can bring the country on her knees if not checked.
The minister stated this on Friday in Abuja when he paid a working visit to the headquarters of DAAR Communication Plc, owners of African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower FM.
Mohammed said that the dangerous trend of disinformation and fake news championed by social media and which the traditional media are "unfortunately feeding on, could tear the fabric of society, if not checked.
"There was a time when the spoken and the written words were not challenged or questioned, but today it is not so.
Lai Mohammed
"About 50 per cent of what we read in the social media is not true but unfortunately even when it is not credible, it goes viral and people believe the fake stories.
"My greatest problem and worry is with the traditional media, which are latching on the same fake news and disinformation.
"I am worried because it affects the credibility of the media itself and once the media is no longer believed by the people, then it has serious consequences on the society,'' he said.
The minister recalled the recent disinformation on President Muhammadu Buhari who is on vacation but fabricated news on his death and health went viral.
"What happened last week is quite worrisome as Mr President left for vacation.
"Within 12 hours of leaving the country, news that he has died went viral, later it changed to that he was critically ill.
"This actually heated the polity and even the rebuttal of the spokespersons to the President and myself, did little to dampen the rumour,'' he said.
He appealed to traditional media not to join force with the purveyors of fake news but ensure that the unity and security of the country become paramount consideration when weighing what news to send out.
The Executive Chairman of DAAR Communication, Raymond Dokpesi Jnr. said the issue raised by the minister was very pertinent to media and journalism generally.
"The emergence of fake news driven primarily by social media is indeed a global phenomenon,
"It behoves on us the traditional media to reaffirm our commitment to the highest ethic and standard of journalism, to investigate and fact-check stories before we go to press."
He said AIT and Raypower, over the years have been absolutely committed to the highest standard of journalism.
Dokpesi said they had been looking forward to the minister's visit.
"You are our own minister. After the whole cycle of electioneering, there must be the need to build bridges and move from political mood to governance mood,'' he said..
Speaking in same vein, the company's Group Managing Director, Tony Akiotu, said DAAR Communication shared the passion for the survival of the Nigerian project.
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday sentenced three drug traffickers to five years imprisonment each for drug trafficking. The convicts are: Bukola Adeoye, 24; Muyideen Ipumafayi, 35; and Alani Babaraji, 30.
They were arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on three separate charges of one count each bordering on drug trafficking. Adeoye was first arraigned on March 6, 2013, before Justice John Tsoho and had pleaded not guilty to the charges, while trial had commenced.
Tsoho was transferred from the Lagos division of the court, while, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, assumed sitting as the new trial judge. On Feb. 1, this year Adeoye opted to change her plea from not guilty to guilty. She was re-arraigned and remanded in custody while the court adjourned for review of the facts.
The prosecutor said she was arrested at Ejigbo in Lagos with about 12.15 kg of cannabis sativa which she trafficked. Ipumafayi was arrested on Dec. 7, 2016 along the Lagos Ibadan expressway, for transporting about 10.4 kg of hemp. He was arraigned on Jan. 26, this year and pleaded guilty to the charges while the court adjourned for review of the facts.
Babaraji was arrested on Nov. 29, 2016 in an uncompleted building at Ijegun area of Lagos for dealing in 1.1kg of Cannabis. He was arraigned on Jan. 26 this year and had also pleaded guilty, while the court adjourned for review of the facts.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Aernan reviewed the facts and tendered several evidences before the court to establish his case against the convicts.
He tendered statement made by the convicts, a request for scientific aid form, as well as bulk of exhibits which were all admitted by the court. Delivering her judgment, Justice Olatoregun found the convicts guilty of the offences as charged.
She accordingly, sentenced Adeola, Ipumafayi and Babaraji to a term of five years imprisonment each on the offences, saying the sentence would run from the date of judgment. The judge however, gave the convicts an option to pay N5 million fine in lieu of sentence.
Over 1,500 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Radda town, Charanchi Local Government Area of Katsina State, on Friday defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The defectors moved to the PDP with their leader, Alhaji Mustapha Radda, APC youth mobilisation officer in the state from 2010 to 2016.
Receiving the defectors, the PDP state chairman, Alhaji Salisu Majigiri, said the party had constituted reception committee to receive defectors to the party.
APC-PDP
"The committee is mandated to receive all the people who defected to our party from other parties.
"We shall treat all those who defected to our party equally without any form of discrimination.
"Just this week, we received Alhaji Umar Tata APGA governorship candidate in the 2015 election to our party together with his supporters.
"We are ready to provide level playing ground to old and new members during future elections and there will be no imposition of candidates this time around," Majigiri said.
In his remarks, Radda, the leader of the defectors, said he decided to dump the APC for the PDP to rescue his people from alleged maltreatment.
"We have done a lot for the APC, but today my people especially the youths that I mobilised have nothing to show for it.
"We did not benefit from the APC poverty alleviation programme meant to rescue women and youths from poverty; we have presented several requests to those that matter but we were rejected,'' Radda said.
Also speaking, Tata the former APGA governorship candidate said the defectors were prepared for the restructuring of the PDP for effective service delivery.
He said that the leadership of the PDP had promised to assist the youths with capital to establish their business.
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States must “get smart” after a machete-wielding man attacked security forces at the Louvre museum in Paris while yelling “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”).US President Donald Trump
Trump said the attacker was a “radical Islamic terrorist,” using a term he has used previously to describe such attackers.
“A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S.,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
In a briefing earlier this week, a senior US administration official defended the temporary US travel ban on refugees and other travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries by saying America was trying to avoid the security situation in France and other European countries.
“The reality, though, is that the situation that exists today in parts of France, in parts of Germany, in Belgium, et cetera, is not a situation we want replicated inside the United States,” the official said, warning against a “large and permanent domestic terror threat.”
“We don’t want a situation where, 20 to 30 years from now, it’s just like a given thing that on a fairly regular basis there is domestic terror strikes, stores are shut up or that airports have explosive devices planted, or people are mowed down in the street by cars and automobiles and things of that nature,” the official added.
Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the renowned museum in central Paris after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in a public area inside the Louvre complex.
The attacker is in a serious condition, while one soldier received a “minor” head wound and has been taken to hospital, security forces said.
Two backpacks carried by the assailant were checked by bomb disposal specialists at the scene and were found not to contain explosives.
The incident sparked fresh jitters in a country still reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and under a state of emergency since November 2015.
Despite the current economic decline in Nigeria, famed Nollywood actress and movie producer, Maryam Charles said the entertainment industry is not in any way feeling the heat of economic recession.
The beautiful screen goddess who is gearing up for the premiere of her recent movie, 'Madam Caitlyn' told the press if the federal government can focus on the entertainment industry, the sector may be used as a vehicle to drive Nigeria out of the economic tension the country is experiencing.
According to Maryam, "based on available facts, the entertainment industry isn't affected by recession. The entertainment contributed immensely into the economy in 2016, and expected to gross N16bn in 2017.
Maryam Charles
Nollywood is the biggest movie industry in Africa, in terms of value and amount of movies produced per year, we are also the second largest film industry in the world in number of annual film productions estimated to be worth over $800 Million, now tell me is there any sign of economic recession here?
Obviously, the industry that is not affected by recession, can also be a vehicle that will drive Nigeria out of the economic recession if the government decides to tap into it and utilize all opportunities very well."
She, however, concurred that entertainers are affected by the economic challenges. "As entertainers, I can say, we are feeling the heat of recession to some extent, but, we are all coping and we are optimistic that before the end of 2017 our economy will shine again."
'Madam Caitlyn' starring Maryam Charles, Rachel Oniga, Moyo Lawal, Deyemi Okanlawon, Bolanle Ninolowo and more is expected to premiere in February 2017.
Social media have led to “strange practices” such as the use of “fingertips instead of minds” to think, a Saudi religious leader said Friday in the Islamic kingdom where online platforms are used widely.
“The nature of social media has given rise to strange practices contradicting morals, customs and norms,” Sheikh Saud al-Shiraim said during weekly prayers at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
“People are using their fingertips to think instead of their minds and tongues,” he said, adding that the ease of online communication has detracted from the “grandeur and importance” of the spoken word.
“This has removed a lot of the reservations or barriers of the spoken word that would normally not be uttered in front of people,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is founded on ultra-conservative Wahhabi thought but more than half of its citizens are under 25, spending much of their time on social media platforms such as Twitter, away from official strictures and traditions of the Muslim kingdom.
The country bans alcohol, public cinemas and theatres, and men and women not from the same family are segregated in public.
But there are pressures for social change.
As part of wide-ranging social and economic reforms to diversify the country’s oil-dependent economy, a new entertainment authority has begun to slowly introduce foreign shows, music and other events seen by limited audiences.
Saudi Arabia’s highest-ranking cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, warned in early January of the “depravity” of cinemas and music concerts, saying they corrupted morals.
French police raided a building in central Paris on Friday as part of the probe into a thwarted attack by a machete-wielding man at the Louvre, a source in the inquiry said.
Investigators entered a building near the Champs-Elysees avenue, the source said, after the assault in which the attacker was shot and wounded by a soldier patrolling outside the museum.
A French soldier patrolling at the Louvre museum shot and seriously injured a machete-wielding attacker on Friday, thrusting security and the terror threat back into the limelight three months before elections.
Police held hundreds of tourists in secure areas of the renowned tourist attraction after the assailant was shot five times around 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in a public area near one of the museum’s entrances.
The knifeman, who yelled “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”), is in a serious condition. One soldier received a “minor” head wound and has been taken to hospital, security forces said.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the incident, which will heap more misery on the city’s struggling tourism sector, was “terrorist in nature.”
It sparked fresh jitters and anger in a country still reeling from a string of terror attacks over the last two years and under a state of emergency since November 2015.
The economy, immigration and security are major issues for voters ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections which had been forecast to confirm the country’s shift right after five years of Socialist rule.
President Donald Trump tweeted that a “new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART US.”
– ‘Sad and shocking’ –
Witnesses described scenes of panic as shoppers, sightseers and workers fled the Louvre complex following the incident.
“We heard gunshots. We didn’t know what it was about. Then we evacuated the employees and we left,” a man who works in a nearby restaurant told AFP, asking not to be named.
A woman colleague said: “We saw death coming for us, with everything that’s happening at the moment. We were very, very scared.”
The lucrative Paris tourism industry has been a major casualty of the terror attacks, with visitors cancelling or shortening their stays.
Thousands of troops have been deployed to guard the capital, with groups of soldiers carrying automatic rifles a regular sight inside the Louvre and around its sculpture-filled gardens.
Security forces simulated an attack there in early December to rehearse for such an emergency.
“It’s so sad and shocking… we can’t let them win, it’s horrible,” British tourist Gillian Simms, who was visiting Paris with her daughters, told AFP on Friday.
Jessie McCaw, a 18-year-old from the US state of Montana, said that she had been evacuated but she appeared unfazed.
“I’m not worried because the police seem prepared in France, which is reassuring,” she said.
The huge former royal palace in the heart of the city is home to the Mona Lisa and other legendary artworks as well as shops and restaurants.
City police chief Michel Cadot told reporters that a man whose behaviour was “suspicious” had also been arrested following the attack.
– String of attacks –
The series of terror attacks in France began in January 2015 when jihadist gunmen rampaged through the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a Jewish supermarket, leaving 17 people dead in three days of bloodshed.
Ten months later, gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State jihadist group attacked bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium in Paris on November 13, 2015, killing 130 people.
And last July, a Tunisian extremist rammed a lorry through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on France’s south coast, crushing 86 people to death.
In between, there have been other murders and security scares inspired by the violence of the Islamic State group, sometimes involving unstable assailants with mental health problems.
Security has been one of the themes of campaigning ahead of the presidential election in April and May, followed by a parliamentary election in June.
Rightwing candidate Francois Fillon, whose hardline on immigration and Islam had helped make him the presidential favourite, has been ensnared in a damaging parliamentary expenses scandal in the last week.
Anti-immigrant far-right leader Marine Le Pen is hoping for a boost from the furore and Trump’s election, while 39-year-old centrist independent Emmanuel Macron is also climbing in the polls.
Friday’s incident came on the very day that Paris was submitting its formal bid dossier to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Louvre was already suffering from a fall in visitor numbers after the series of attacks in France.
Over the last two years, numbers have fallen by about two million, imperilling its claim to be the most visited museum in the world.
Last year, there was a 15-percent slump in visitors compared to 2015, to around 7.3 million.
