Curator

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Nigeria is a land of opportunity. And I do not mean this the way Nigerian politicians usually mean it, as a cliched speech for the campaign trail. I mean this from the bottom of my heart because it is true and I have benefited from it and I can prove it. Nigeria ought to change her educational model. Our educational system is still by and large a colonial model where the occupying colonial power merely trained a select few natives for the purpose of having clerks and translators to run their exploitative government. It was never designed to transfer knowledge that prepares the recipient to add value to Nigeria. Quite on the contrary, it was designed and still remains designed to train Nigerians to take value from Nigeria and give it to the West. This is one of the reasons why we have more Nigerian medical professionals practicing in the West and Saudi Arabia than we have in Nigeria. Our educational system is also designed to train the bulk of its intake to be n...

http://ift.tt/2p7HwBn Arsenal FC: Alexis Sanchez shone and then succumbed to injury as Arsenal won 4-1 at Stoke City on Saturday to close in on the Premier League top four. Sanchez teed up Mesut Ozil for Arsenal’s second goal and scored their third — his 50th Premier League goal — after Peter Crouch had brought Stoke back into the game with a controversial handball goal. Arsene Wenger’s side are now a point behind Liverpool, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot, and three points below third-place Manchester City, who beat Leicester City 2-1. “When you go to places like Stoke, you need at some stage to suffer and stick together, and that’s what we did,” Wenger told the BBC. “The physios told me Alexis Sanchez wanted to come off. I don’t know what it was, but he’s a fighter and found the resources to score an excellent goal after.” Liverpool have played the same number of games as Arsenal and look the team the most susceptible to be overtaken by Wenger’s men, who n...

http://ift.tt/2qeKAMS The Boko Haram jihadist group has released a video claiming to show Chibok schoolgirls who refused to be rescued as part of a recent swap deal with the Nigerian government. In the three-minute video, a woman who claims to be Maida Yakubu, one of the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April 2014, is seen wearing a black veil and holding a gun. Flanked by three other women clad in black, she proclaims her loyalty to Boko Haram, which has been fighting the government since 2009 in an insurgency that has killed over 20,000 people. When asked by a man in the background why she does not want to return home to her parents, she replies: “The reason is that they live in the town of unbelief. We want them to accept Islam.” The woman then speaks in the local Chibok dialect for the rest of the video. But the woman’s mother believes she did so under duress. “For me, this video is torture,” Esther Muntari told AFP on Saturday from Chibok. “I haven’t slept since I...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Lagos – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has cautioned members of the public against letters of contracts purportedly awarded by the commission in circulation, saying they are fake. The commission said in a statement on Saturday in Lagos, that its attention had been drawn to the circulation of letters of award of various contracts purportedly written by its Secretary. “The commission wishes to categorically state that these letters were not issued by the commission. “When contracts are to be awarded by the commission, adverts are published in various newspapers, the Federal Tenders Journal and our websites. “The procurement process adopted by the Commission is always transparent and can be duly verified. “The general public and corporate organisations are advised not to transact business with the unscrupulous persons issuing these fake letters,’’ it said. The telecommunications regulator urge members of the public to ensure that thorough diligenc...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Tony Nwankwo, with agency reports Hackers using malware “stolen from the NSA” crippled 45 National Health Service, NHS, trusts in Britain and caused disruption across at least 45,000 computer networks in 99 countries in an unprecedented global attack at the weekend. The tools used to carry out the hack – dubbed a superweapon – are thought to be a surveillance tool developed by the US’s National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on terrorists and enemy states. The “exploit”, called EternalBlue, was stolen and dumped online by the  sinister Shadow Brokers last month. The ransomware hit Telefonica – the owner of O2 – and other huge organisations in Spain. Nissan’s Sunderland plant was hit by the attack, while Renault confirmed its French sites had been forced to cease production. Italy, Portugal, Russia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Taiwan were among the countries hit. Intelligence services in Romania said they intercepted an attempted cyber attack on a governmen...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Kano State government’s anti-corruption agency has suspended probe into the financial dealings of Emir Sanusi. Vanguard gathered this not quite some hours ago. Information reaching us states that the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission was investigating alleged misuse of N6 billion. The state’s House of Assembly launched a separate investigation of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sunusi II, following allegations of funds misappropriation, “defamation of character, breach of oath of office/oath of allegiance, abuse of office privileges and protocol, and political and religious interference”. The chairman of the anti-corruption body, Muhyi Gado, said the commission was suspending its probe “indefinitely”. He said the commission could not continue as the House was also conducting an investigation. Mr. Gado declined further comments. According to a source “We are not happy with the coming in of the House of Assembly into this matter and we ca...

http://ift.tt/2pwbmkO Abuja – Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, has called for heightened vigilance and intensified awareness efforts on symptoms of hemorrhagic fevers following the outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Minister made the call in a statement issued on his behalf on Saturday in Abuja by Mrs Boade Akinola, Director Media and Public Relations, Ministry of Health. The Minister advised health care providers and members of the public, to report any sign of illness to public health officials. He said in response to the announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) on confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), government had directed health officials stationed at the ports, to step up inspection activities. He said that the symptoms to look out for included fever, fatigue, weakness, dizziness and muscle aches. He said explained that patients with more severe cases would show bleeding under the skin, internal organs...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Nigerian nationals have topped the list of foreigners arrested for drug smuggling in Navi Mumbai over the past five years. According to the sources from the anti-narcotic cell of Navi Mumbai police, a total of 66 narcotic related cases were registered between 2012 and April, this year in the city. Nigerian nationals were involved in 14 of these cases, the police said. Since 2012, the police have arrested 14 foreign nationals for smuggling drugs to the city and 13 of them were from Nigeria, while one was from Ghana. Barely a week ago, the police arrested one Nigerian from Kopar Khairane who had come to sell mephedrone rock and powder. Around 25 gram of the drug in powder form and 85 gram in rock form collectively worth Rs 3.30 lakh was seized from his possession. As far as foreign nationals are concerned, several Bangladeshis were also arrested in the city in different crimes. But they were mainly into fake currency notes scam, cheating, theft and robbery. None ...

http://ift.tt/2pJBQvo A Ukranian serviceman walks through a destroyed woods along the front line with pro-Russian separatists near the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on April 5, 2017 (AFP Photo/ANATOLII STEPANOV) A top Ukrainian official said on Saturday that “Russian occupying forces” had killed four civilians in the war-torn east just hours before the Eurovision Song Contest final kicked off in Kiev. The Kiev-appointed head of the conflict-riven Donetsk region said the civilians died when a shell hit an apartment bloc. “The Russian occupying forces attacked a residential area of Avdiivka,” Pavlo Zhebrivskiy wrote on Facebook. “Three women and one man was killed.” Avdiivka is a devastated flashpoint suburb of the Russian-backed insurgents’ de facto capital city of Donetsk. The latest casualties bring the number of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who have been reported killed by officials this month to 14. Ukraine accuses Russia of plotting and backing the three-yea...

http://ift.tt/2oZMBNd Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has challenged Nigerian universities to initiate researches that could lead to innovations toward boosting technological growth. “For the country to become competitive at the global stage, it must explore, exploit and utilise science and technological innovations; the universities should spearhead such effortst,” he said in Kano on Saturday. A statement by Lydia Legbo, spokesperson of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said that Sanusi spoke when he received a delegation from the institution, led by its Vice Chancellor, Prof Musibau Akanji, on a visit to his palace. It quoted Sanusi as urging education managers across the universities to identify challenges peculiar to their system and address them so as to achieve their mandate. The monarch commended the university for its outstanding achievements over the years, noting that it had remained a leading institutio...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Ephraim Oseji & Anino Aganbi Government alone cannot solve the problems affecting Nigeria economically. This was said by Gilead Okolonkwo, MD, CEO of Beepmagnate International, during the launch of the firm in Lagos. According to him, that is why the private sector should join government to solve the economic problems confronting the nation. He explained that his company wants to do its bit to partner government. Okolonkwo said: “Part of our drive is when you look at young graduates who have gone through the four walls of the university and, when they are out, there is no job. It has been my desire that even though government is trying it alone cannot solve the problems affecting us in Nigeria economically. So the role of Beepmagnate International through our products and services is to support the government. When the government says there are no jobs, we say there are jobs and that is why our digital product is on e-commerce.  We have carefull...

http://ift.tt/2pJJEMZ Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty, Begha U Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof Ortese Iorzua James Ayatse. PHOTO: NAN Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv and Chairman, Benue Council of Chiefs, has said that cattle ranching was the only solution to the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers. Ayatse said in a statement on Saturday in Makurdi that the ranches, aside minimising the clashes, had multiplier effects like employment for youths that would work in companies that would produce feeds for the animals. The statement, signed by Mr Freddie Adamgbe, his media assistant, quoted the monarch as urging the Federal Government to enact a legislation that would effectively back up ranching so as to save lives and protect farms from destruction by cattle. He commended the Benue House of Assembly for passing the Anti-Open Grazing Bill, and assured the lawmakers of the full support of the Benue Council of Chiefs. Ayatse also spoke on the violence in some parts of the country a...

http://ift.tt/2prOIFN NNPC The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Review of Pump Price of Petrol has directed the NNPC and its subsidiaries to make public the true cost of imported petrol. The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Raphael Igbokwe, gave the directive in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos. Igbokwe spoke on the side lines of the committee’s visit to Lagos depots of some private operators involved in transportation and distribution of petrol from the ports to the consumers. NAN reports that the depots visited by the committee are Folawiyo Energy Limited, WOSBAB Energy Solutions, First Royal and Stallionaire Oil & Gas Limited. According to him, NNPC and its subsidiaries sourced 90 per cent of petrol while private marketers sourced only 10 per cent of the product into the country. “The reason for our curiosity and unannounced visit to some depots is that our investigation shows that importation of petrol is no longer...