Curator

http://ift.tt/2rACn4k Rocking out under an imposing mirror, Phoenix took its music into a second dimension Saturday as the band headlined New York's Governors Ball festival.<br /> Rocking out under an imposing mirror, Phoenix took its music into a second dimension Saturday as the band headlined New York’s Governors Ball festival. A week ahead of the release of its disco-infused, Italian-inspired sixth album, Phoenix invested in an innovative yet elegantly simple stage design with a giant mirror slanted inward at 45 degrees. The effect, at the close of a pristine June day, was to create a duplicate stage, with the rockers visible both as they played on stage and again in mirror image above them. Frontman Thomas Mars at times lay down on stage hidden, only to appear to the crowd on the mirror — serving almost the inverse of Pink Floyd’s isolating Wall, one of the most legendary metaphors in rock stage design. Phoenix, longtime underground artists in Paris, catapult...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J *As headline inflation drops further *Analysts mull investment, policy implications By Emeka Anaeto, Babajide Komolafe, Peter Egwuatu & Yinka Kolawole THE latest statistics released  by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, yesterday, is pointing to further upsurge in food inflation even as headline inflation rate declined marginally for the third consecutive month in April 2017 to 17.24 percent, from 17.26 percent recorded in March. On a monthly basis, however, the report noted that the headline index dropped by 12 basis points (bps) to 1.60 percent in April, from 1.72 percent recorded in March. “The Consumer Price Index, CPI, which measures inflation increased by 17.24 percent (year-on-year) though at a slower pace in April 2017, 0.02 percent points lower from the rate recorded in March (17.26) percent,” NBS stated. But the report explained that the top items that recorded the highest increases between April 2016 and 2017 across all the divisions ...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Tabia Princewill HIDDEN motives and agendas dominate our politics and processes where the single shared objective is often how to defraud the state and its citizens. Nigeria gradually corrupts even the purest of souls who become convinced that it is impossible to get ahead without sullying one’s self. I had a conversation recently with a lawyer whose firm is involved in the defence of some persons on trial for corruption. Upon learning that I was a journalist, he proceeded to complain about how unfair the media in Nigeria is to politicians on trial for corruption. I pointed out how unfair life in Nigeria is to persons who don’t have access to the money, power and status which corruption provides. It’s injustice all round, I said, with much amusement. Nigeria is a crazy country where people will look you in the eye and justify wrongdoing or pretend not to understand what all the fuss is about. This lawyer argued passionately, like all those who make their mon...

http://ift.tt/2qHtnNo A professor of animal and product nutrition, Gbenga Onibi has warned Nigerians against eating imported frozen meat, which he described as unsafe and dangerous to health. He also called for proper legislation against the display of fresh and frozen meat in unrefrigerated counters across in the markets to safeguard the health of the populace.  Prof. Onibi, who disclosed this while delivering the 86th inaugural lecture of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), said considering the place of meat in human nutrition, government should sustain the ban on importation of frozen meat into the country.   In his lecture titled:  “Meatiness Plus Quality of Our Meat: Gateway to Ancestral Blessing,” he said from research findings through samplings and experiments, the quality of imported meat was questionable and filled with various preservatives that are dangerous to human health.       ...

http://ift.tt/2rh3a5l PHOTO:AFP • NYSC DG donates wheelchairs to physically-challenged in Kogi Director of the Abia State Agency For Mass Literacy, Chief Godwin Akara, has called for the summary trial and punishment for anybody or group that endangers the life of a corps member in any part of the country. He also appealed to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) authorities to revisit the corps members’ conditions of service in line with the prevailing economic realities. Akara, who spoke at the send-forth party organised by the agency for its ‘ Batch A’ corps members, decried the reported killings of NYSC members during their service year in some parts of the country, lamenting that these acts happened in spite of the fact that “each ethnic group needs the other for Nigeria to progress.” Congratulating the corps members for their successful service year, he urged them to be at the forefront of the crusade for the peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians anywhere they are....

http://ift.tt/2qHNJpX They found that babies whose fathers were more engaged and active when playing with them in their initial months performed better in cognitive tests at two years of age. Fathers who interact more with their children in their first few months of life could have a positive impact on their baby’s cognitive development.In a study, published in the Infant Mental Health Journal, researchers from Imperial College London, King’s College London and Oxford University looked at how fathers interacted with their babies at three months of age and measured the infants’ cognitive development more than a year later. They found that babies whose fathers were more engaged and active when playing with them in their initial months performed better in cognitive tests at two years of age. The researchers say that while a number of factors are critical in a child’s development, the relatively unexplored link between quality father-infant interactions at a young age may be an import...

http://ift.tt/2pza5sG IDPs. PHOTO: blogs.cfr.org Surveyors urge regular update of Nigeria’s chart The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) has said that the obsolete map was responsible for the erroneous bombing of the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Rann Village in Kala-Balge Local Council of Borno State by the military early this year. It, therefore, advocated for regular update of the country’s chart.The President, NIS, Akinloye Oyegbola, who spoke at the weekend in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the close of the 52nd yearly general meeting of the body with the theme “Mapping in the Extractive Industry” with emphasis on generation of ideas to diversify the Nigerian economy through the extractive industry, said the error would not have occurred if the map used for the operation was updated. He canvassed regular update of the country’s map by the government to avoid such tragedy in the future.He said: “The map we have on ground is very obsolete. If we are really to d...

http://ift.tt/2q9mBzI President Muhammadu Buhari There are now very clear signals all over Nigeria at the moment that federalism has become a powerful idea the time of which has really come. It was quite remarkable the other day when very notable delegates to the 2014 national conference regrouped and urged government unequivocally to implement the report of that conference generally believed to be very credible and acceptable to most Nigerians. Indeed, most Nigerians believe that the nation’s ‘unitary federalism’ imposed on the people by the military since 1966 has not worked. This is evident in the fact that the country has not exhibited critical indices of development into a modern state. Most of the 36 federating states are not viable. They go cap in hand to the capital every month to share revenues that accrue to the federation account from a few of the states, thereby encouraging the indolence of others. In fact, the strident call for federalism has reached a feverish pitch ...

http://ift.tt/2qCdVC1 Mosquito In continuation of its fight against malaria and as part of activities marking this year’s World Malaria Day, with the theme, ‘End Malaria for Good,’ Reckitt Benckiser (RB) Nigeria, makers of Mortein, have joined forces with the Lagos, Ogun and Abia States and the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) to upscale action for the elimination of malaria in Nigeria through community engagement, continued investment and sustained efforts. The community engagement saw officials from the states Ministry of Health and Reckitt Benckiser carry out sanitation, free malaria testing and consultation in the four states. They also went round communities to sensitise and educate residents on the benefits of maintaining a clean environment as one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce mosquitoes, which are the major carriers of malaria parasite. Speaking at the press briefing to commemorate this year’s WMD, General Manager, RB West Africa, Rahul Murgai, sa...

http://ift.tt/2rbI6gm Asmau Benzies Leo is an Ambassador of Peace and Humanity, a Gender Advocate, Women’s Right Activist and a Vital Voices Fellow (a Global network of established women leaders from across the world which was founded by the former US Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton). She is the founder and former Executive Director of the Centre for Nonviolence and Gender Advocacy in Nigeria (CENGAIN). Presently, she heads the Gender and Vulnerable Group Care Unit of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Abuja, In this interview with TOBI AWODIPE, she reveals how her background propelled her into the life of service, caring for the most vulnerable people in society including the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and victims of Sexual and Gender-based Violence and why rapists deserve life imprisonment. Tell us about yourself, educational achievements, growing up etc.? I was born in an average home into the family of Mr Benzies Gangsomense and M...

http://ift.tt/2qC0RN8 P-Square Bless Mary Slessor – she fought to convince 19th Century Nigerians that there was nothing wrong with twin babies. In certain cultures, twins were seen as evil, so when a mother gave birth to a pair of babies, they were sent right back to their Maker. And that’s why we do not take for granted that the most recognizable faces in Nigerian pop music, in the last two decades approximately, has been Peter and Paul Okoye of the music group, P-Square. P-Square’s illustrious career truly took off in 2001 when they won the music contest “Grab Da Mic”. Their debut album, Last Nite, was released 2 years later on Timbuk2 Music. It was a stellar offering but suffered from inadequate marketing and distribution. It was P-Square’s sophomore album, Get Squared, released 12 years ago today,that really turned the dancing duo into legitimate pop stars. That’s where famed Alaba marketer TJoe came in. Get Squared was released on the freshly-minted, family-owned Square Rec...