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http://ift.tt/2s0rXO7 Two of the Tech Women fellows, Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Adepose with CPAO Aruna Amirthanayagam, Ambassador W Stuart Symington and his wife, Susan. PHOTO: OLA AWORINDE Nigerian women are highly talented like the American women in the movie, Hidden Figures,” Ambassador W. Stuart Symington said, prior to screening of the movie at Genesis Cinemas, in Abuja on Tuesday, in honour of Nigerian TechWomen. Hidden Figures details the story of three female African-American mathematicians employed by NASA in the 1960s. Working as human computers but denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space programme. “It is an amazing story of women who found something that they love, and before there were computers and the Internet, these women made it possible to put the human race in outer space. You too, can reach for the skies,” the U.S. Ambassador said, introducing Carolyn Seaman and Damilola Anwo-Ade, two of five Nigerian...

http://ift.tt/2oT345Q The Nigerian Cubesat is a component of the Birds 1 satellites, comprising of four other CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia and Bangladesh. They were launched from the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket. The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), has launched a CubeSat, with the code name NigeriaEdusat-1, into space from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. The Nigerian Cubesat is a component of the Birds 1 satellites, comprising of four other CubeSats belonging to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia and Bangladesh. They were launched from the SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket. A statement issued in Akure yesterday by the Head, Media and Protocol Unit of the university, Mr. Adegbenro Adebanjo, said the university was poised to achieve major breakthrough with the new technology. FUTA sought to make satellite technology popular among members of staff and students of the university for the purpose of research, resources and environmental management and sustain...

http://ift.tt/2qLwa7G President Muhammadu Buhari If I had been around about 70 years ago when George Orwell wrote the Animal Farm, I would have advised him to title it: The change that was not! Most of us know about George Orwell’s animals and their utopian farm and so, a brief review would do. It was all about a grand plan by animals to do away with parasitic humans and manage their farm for their own benefit and thus creating a world that would be better in all dimensions. They succeeded in taking over the ownership and management of the farm based on seven inviolable principles bordering on their distinctiveness, hatred for everything human, and equality of all. However, things got worse rather than better as a new set of overlords emerged from amongst them, subjected them to overbearing dictatorship, denied them of their liberty and left them hungry, angry, sad, pauperized and voiceless and eventually discarded all the sacred principles of the revolution. The animal farm was ch...

http://ift.tt/2rinsfl A tomato processing plant in Nigeria To stabilise the tomato value chain, government needs to review its policy on triple concentrate tomato paste importation in a bid to boost the implementation of the backward integration agenda, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sonia Foods Industries Limited, Nnamdi Nnodebe, has said. Speaking at a forum to reward its Southwest region distributors in Lagos at the weekend, Nnodebe said the recent increase of import tariff on triple concentrate tomato paste will not motivate packaging companies that are planning or already involved in backward integration exercise. According to him, the increment, coupled with the imposition of additional levy of $1500 per metric tonne will collapse the tomato packing industry. His words: “I believe the major problem we are having today, based on triple concentrate, is hinged on output of the farmers. Government needs to support, nurture and train farmers on how to a...

http://ift.tt/2pc0O5z Nigeria's senate president Bukola Saraki •Lagos speaker promises good governance The leadership of the National Assembly has sought the cooperation of Nigerians in building a virile economy as to sustain the nation’s democracy. The Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, in a statement yesterday in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said the real challenge to the sustenance of Nigeria’s fledgling democratic journey was the absence of a solid economy that guarantees the citizens high standards of living and even development nationwide. He also advocated strong democratic institutions, saying it was only by respecting the values they represent that the nation could guarantee stability, development and consistency. But his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, in his goodwill message, noted that the major hindrance to the country’s democracy was the arbitrary deployment of power by the political leadership, thus undermining th...

http://ift.tt/2osshBc Nyesom Ezenwo Wike Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has donated a multimillion naira ecumenical centre to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The project which was commissioned yesterday was built to mark the state’s golden jubilee. Wike, who also declared Rivers, a Christian state explained that it was built to fulfil his electioneering promise to Christian leaders. He said: “Rivers State is purely a Christian State and I have no apologies to anybody to declare that it is a Christian state.” The governor added that the centre was donated as a place of worship to all denominations and urged the statekeholders to ensure that it serves as a centre of unity. He handed over the Certificate of Occupancy (Cof O) to the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. Wike threatened to withdraw the Cof O of the centre, which is the first to be built by any state government in the country, if it is wrongly used. Ade...

http://ift.tt/2rODnBQ The intercepted 440 pump action rifles displayed by the Nigeria Customs Service at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos…yesterday. • Agency denies handling cargo The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted a cache of arms and ammunition imported through the Tin Can Port in Apapa, Lagos.The 440 pieces of assorted pump action rifles, which originated from Turkey were concealed inside a 40-footer container with numbers PONU210024/1 22G1 carrying POP powder used in designing house ceiling. It was the second seizure of arms of such magnitude this year. The customs had in January this year seized 661 pieces of pump action rifles, which were found in 49 boxes. The secret importation of arms and ammunition is deepening the insecurity in the country. Displaying the guns at the Tin Can Island Command of the Customs yesterday, the Coordinator of Zone A of Customs, Assistant Comptroller-General Monday Abueh said the container was intercepted on Monday night based on intel...

http://ift.tt/2nCOHlV The nation’s economy has begun a slow recovery from recession although the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted again by 0.52 per cent in real terms in the first quarter of 2017. • CBN retains rates, pursues exchange rate convergence • GDP report excites OPS, predicts recovery in Q2 The nation’s economy has begun a slow recovery from recession although the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted again by 0.52 per cent in real terms in the first quarter of 2017. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed yesterday that this contraction, which represented the fifth in the quarterly series, starting from the first quarter of 2016, raised hopes that recovery is on the way. The nation’s inflation, which has moderated for the third consecutive time, has appeared discriminatory, as some items in the food index, which are patronised by the masses, have remained on the high side. The GDP at -0.52 per cent, is 0.15 per cent higher than the rate recor...

http://ift.tt/2oW9UIg It has therefore resolved to invite the Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola and his Water Resources counterpart, Suleiman Adamu on how to salvage the equipment.PHOTO:nta.ng • To summon Fashola, Adamu over seizure of €156m power equipment by NPA The Senate has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sanction any commercial bank that refuses to collect coins from customers as deposits.Adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Mustapha Bukar (APC, Katsina North) titled “Non usage of coins currencies in Nigeria and its negative effects on the economy,” the upper legislative chamber charged the apex bank to convert lower currency notes into coins to be used with notes in order to facilitate retail transactions in the country. Bukar expressed concern that despite the huge budget by the apex bank on sensitising Nigerians on the need to accept coins, banks and customers reject the currency, thus promoting corruption and escalating inflation. Meanwh...

http://ift.tt/2rOOsmr Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy are staples of a healthful diet. However, eating good fats is also important for heart health and cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a fatty substance in the blood. There are two types of cholesterol. A correct balance between the two is needed for good health.The two types of cholesterol are high-density lipoprotein (HDL)/good cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/bad cholesterol. HDL cholesterol helps remove excess cholesterol from the body, so it is sometimes called “good” cholesterol. LDL cholesterol can cause cholesterol to build up in the arteries, so it is referred to as “bad” cholesterol. If a person’s HDL cholesterol is too low or their LDL is too high, the risk of coronary heart disease increases. Coronary heart disease happens when LDL cholesterol forms a substance called plaque in the arteries of the heart. Over time, this plaque can build up, form a clot, and block the arteries of the heart. Thi...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Increase carrying capacity in varsities — Stakeholders By Dayo Adesulu THIS Saturday, the more than 1.8 million candidates who registered for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) will jostle for about 850,000 admission spaces. At the end of the admission process, about 950,000 admission seekers will be left out. Sadly, while the number of UTME candidates increases eyear on year, the Federal Ministry of Education is virtually doing nothing in terms of  upgrading the carrying capacity of the existing universities or building more universities to absorb the backlog of admission applicants. This would have made it impossible for candidates who applied for admission and scored 250, to be denied admission. Disqualificationof many applicants As it stands, even if all the candidates score 300 and above, because of the limited spaces, JAMB and various institutions will still have to devise a means to disqualify many applicants. Statistics r...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Davies Iheamnachor Policemen believed to be operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, outfit of the Rivers State Police Command has allegedly tortured a man, Prince Steven Lemachi, into coma during attempt to arrest the suspect. The Public Relations Officer of the state police command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, stated that the police had gone to arrest the victim based on a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ahmed Zaki, by one Edna Wobilor and that the suspect tried to evade arrest. But the victim, who is a Port Harcourt-based business noted that he never tried to evade arrest revealed that and his family members were thoroughly beaten by the fierce looking policemen who invaded his home late in the night. Lemachi, who narrated his ordeal in the hospital said that he was in his house when a team of SARS personnel led by one SUPOL Adetuyi Benson, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, stormed his home, midnight of April 2nd, 2017. He stated that he w...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Muyiwa Adetiba The French phrase, ‘Nobless Oblige’ has been swirling around my head for a while. The vibes get stronger each time our so called leaders do something untoward. Like when Dino Melaye wore a ceremonial gown to the hallowed chambers of the Senate. Or  when he overreached himself to do the ‘Ajekun Iya’ video. Or  when Senators pack themselves into a bus to go to court in solidarity with their boss. Or when Judges who are supposed to stabilise the polity through a strict adherence to the rule of   law find themselves at the wrong end of the law. It however became a loud buzz recently when three prominent monarchs made news for what many would call the wrong reasons. For the purpose of clarity and to be sure we are on the same page, let us understand what this French phrase means. According to Wikipedia, the phrase ‘literally means ‘‘nobility obligates.’’ It denotes the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and req...

http://ift.tt/2p6kQmU Slack's new offices/Source: Slack Britain’s forthcoming exit from the European Union poses little concern to corporate chatroom startup Slack Technologies Inc., which opened a new office in London Thursday. “Brexit or no Brexit, London is still London and the U.K. is still the U.K.,” Slack’s Chief Executive Officer Stewart Butterfield said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Thursday. “About half of our daily active users are outside North America. Here in the U.K. it’s our second biggest market.” The decision to extend into London comes despite uncertainty that surrounds Brexit and its eventual impact on U.K.-based companies trading with Europe, or hiring foreign talent. The San Francisco-based company wants its central-London outpost to be “a sales-led office,” according to Butterfield. Slack is planning to boost the number of employees there to about 20 by the end of this year up from five now based in a co-working center. Back in 2014, Sla...

http://ift.tt/2pQhcwp Kanye West Rap superstar Kanye West, long a prolific user of Twitter, has disappeared from social media after months of erratic behavior. The husband of reality television star Kim Kardashian appeared to have deleted his accounts on Twitter and Instagram, with searches Friday for his handles turning up error messages. The rapper, who had some 27 million followers on Twitter, for years had used the 140-character forum to expound on topics from music to fashion and tirelessly promote himself. In 2015, he showed startling candor by tweeting that he was $53 million in debt and needed funds to spread his “beautiful ideas.” But West ended a tour early last year after bizarre speeches on stage in which he accused fellow rapper and sometime collaborator Jay Z of trying to kill him, and in an unusual move for an African American celebrity, praised Donald Trump. West re-emerged to meet Trump after the tycoon’s election as president, but the rapper later deleted pro...