Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank have been approved for a cabinet position by Nigerian lawmakers, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Government sources, have said Okonjo-Iweala who as finance minister of Africa’s largest oil producer between 2003 and 2007, spearheaded talks that led the Paris Club group of creditors to write off $18 billion in debt. She was named finance minister of the year by the Banker magazine in 2004 and by Euromoney in 2005. The Harvard University-educated economist resigned from the Cabinet in August 2006 following a demotion by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Jonathan, who is forming a new government after winning April elections, will now assign her a portfolio. She is expected to return to her previous post with additional powers to oversee the country’s economic management.
The president has so far appointed 14 ministers of a 34- member Cabinet, including 12 ministers who will be returning to their former portfolios. Ex-Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga is among the proposed members and is due to appear before senate hearing today.
Jonathan has pledged to invest in roads and railways and reform the petroleum industry, the mainstay of the economy, to boost growth. Nigeria’s economy, the third-largest on the continent after South Africa and Egypt, will probably grow 8 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
Nigeria's secret police apprehend 100 'dissidents'
Nigeria's State Security Service (SSS) told reporters on Monday in Abuja it is holding over 100 leaders and members of a northern-based "dissident" group it did not disclose.
The northeastern part of Nigeria have in recent months ben undersiege by frequent attacks staged by a radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.
"Successful security operations have led to the arrest of some identified key cell commanders and members of the dissident group in Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Adamawa states," State Security Service (SSS) spokesperson Marilyn Ogar said.
She declined to name the group nor indicate the numbers involved. "I know we have arrested over a hundred."
An extremist sect, Boko Haram, based in northeastern Borno state, has in recent months unleashed a reign of terror in parts of northern Nigeria, bombing and shooting targeted spots and individuals. It also bombed the national police headquarters in the capital Abuja last month.
Meanwhile, British Intelligence has warned its home country of Al Qaeda's plan to use Nigeria as its new command and control centre for plotting aattacks on the West.
The northeastern part of Nigeria have in recent months ben undersiege by frequent attacks staged by a radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.
"Successful security operations have led to the arrest of some identified key cell commanders and members of the dissident group in Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Adamawa states," State Security Service (SSS) spokesperson Marilyn Ogar said.
She declined to name the group nor indicate the numbers involved. "I know we have arrested over a hundred."
An extremist sect, Boko Haram, based in northeastern Borno state, has in recent months unleashed a reign of terror in parts of northern Nigeria, bombing and shooting targeted spots and individuals. It also bombed the national police headquarters in the capital Abuja last month.
Meanwhile, British Intelligence has warned its home country of Al Qaeda's plan to use Nigeria as its new command and control centre for plotting aattacks on the West.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Nigeria striker Emenike detained over match-fixing in Turkey
Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike, who was recently transferred to Fenerbahçe from Karabükspor in a deal worth $9 million, was detained on Sunday over match-fixing allegations. Emenike did not play in the last season's Fenerbahçe-Karabükspor game, with complaints of injuries.
Meanwhile at least 40 people, including Turkish league champion Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım and officials and players from other soccer clubs, were detained on Sunday as part of a police operation launched in a number of Turkish provinces over match-fixing allegations.
Teams from the İstanbul Police Department's organized crime bureau searched the home of Yıldırım around 7 a.m. and subsequently detained him. Apart from Yıldırım's home, the Fenerbahçe sports club's headquarters, Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium and several locations in Antalya were also searched.
Police were reportedly investigating alleged match-fixing in the Spor Toto Super League, which ended in May with Fenerbahce's victory, and Bank Asya League 1. According to initial reports, Yıldırım stands accused of establishing an organized criminal group, match fixing and bribery.
Fenerbahçe Deputy Chairman Şekip Mosturoğlu, Giresunspor Chairman Ömer Ülkü, former Diyarbakırspor Chairman Abdurrahman Yakut, Eskişehirspor coach Bülent Uygun, Adanaspor coach Levent Eriş, and soccer players Ümit Karan, Serkan Çalık, Serdar Kulbilge, Mehmet Yıldız, Korcan Çelikay and Sezer Öztürk were reportedly among the detainees.
Condoms in the Church: To speak or not to speak?
It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon. A group of youth can be seen chatting and laughing soon after attending the second service at one of the most-attended churches in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Their youthful Pastor has asked them to stay around for a special announcement he could not deliver during the service.
The news, the Pastor says a few minutes later after the youth are gathered again, is all about a youth camp the Church has organised. It will be held in Bagamoyo, and so, individuals have to make some cash contributions.
In the meeting are Nevil, a 23-year-old choir member, and Abraham, 24, also an active church member. Sitting next to each other, the two seem excited at the news. They sign in for the camp meeting.
Since that day, the two have been calling each other and meeting secretly after several Church services. At first, it is as innocent friends. But before long, Abraham makes his intentions known to Nevil. She also confesses that she has had feelings for him since a long time ago. So, the affair starts.
It blossoms a month later, when the two join the youth on a bus to Bagamoyo for the two-day-camp. They are sitting next to each other, singing and chatting with everyone else. Many of their peers are also sitting in pairs on the bus – sister next to brother.
Abraham makes a move on Nevil. She can’t resist, and before they know it, they have become intimate. From here, sex becomes a part of their affair. This is despite the ‘no sex before marriage’ teachings in their church. They have made sure their sexual relationship is a closely guarded secret.
While the Church continues to preach against sex before marriage in accordance with the Bible, the influence of the media and a host of other external factors are increasingly making it difficult for this message to be taken seriously, especially by the young generation.
In Tanzania, cases of Church member pregnancies out of wedlock are no longer news to many. For instance, by all indications, an increasing number of young people are tying the knot when the girl is already pregnant.
Moral decadence
It is the new generation and the Church has not been spared by a wave of moral decadence fanned especially by the media, and a tendency by today’s young people to worship Western celebrity culture.
So, despite all the strict rules that the Bible and religious leaders have set, youth in churches still practise sex and it is no longer a secret. And forget about those kinds of youth who go to Church every Sunday for a service and come back. Think of choir members, praise and worship members and many more who are very active in Church.
How safe are the sex exploits by this group of Tanzanian youth? Should sex education be a part of the sermon on Sunday?
“I think the time has come where by sex is supposed to be taught to our youth in churches because the more we make it a taboo the more we see them being destroyed by it,” says Emmanuel Mosha, a Lutheran Church elder with a Dar es Salaam parish. “It is time we came out in the open to say something about it.”
Mosha recalls three years ago when he was a youth elder at his parish. “We had a case of a choir chairman who impregnated two girls in the choir at the same time,” he says.
“He was a dedicated young man, but he fell for the temptation. No one believed it when the news broke out. Nobody ever imagined that this young man could mess up that way,” the Church leader says.
He adds: “Sex is all over in today’s world. It is talked about everywhere. Unfortunately, the Church is lagging behind in taking the bull by its horns.”
However, there are many other Church leaders who would not agree with the idea of talking condoms at the altar, and for obvious reasons. “If we start telling them how to use condoms and how they can have safer sex it will be like justifying that sex before marriage is good,” argues Pastor Andrew Mgonja of the New Holy Spirit Church in Mbezi Beach. “As Christians we are not supposed to justify sins. A sin is a sin no matter how small and sweet it is,” the cleric observes, adding:
“By allowing the youth to have sex before marriage, the Church would be going wrong. On the contrary the Church is supposed to keep on telling the youth that sex before marriage is dangerous not only because of the religious rules but also for their lives and health.”
Alice Kimambo, a praise and worship member with a Pentecostal church in Dar es Salaam corroborates. She notes that today the Church is less strict than it used to be when it comes to dealing with issues of sexual immorality.
“I can not really differentiate the experience I had in college and the one I am observing at church today,” says Alice, who is in her late 20s.
“I can tell you that in some places it is not such a big deal to see a guy dating two or three girls from the same Church. It happens and everyone knows it.”
This trend might not be too difficult to understand, after all. There are stories all over, of some people going to Church, not so much to worship but to seek marriage partners.
“I know of one beautiful girl, who used to be known for her loose behaviour in our neighbourhood, and nobody wanted to marry her. But when she realised time was running out she ‘repented’, joined a local church and became an active member of the choir,” says John, a 35-year-old Makongo Juu resident in Dar es Salaam, who attends a Pentecostal church. “It was not long before she got herself a serious brother, who wanted to settle down because she is stunningly beautiful. But she quit the Church soon after getting married, and she is back to her old ways.”
This is not an unusual case. For Christians, one is reminded of Bible teachings on ‘wolves in sheep clothes’, or warnings about ‘dogs in the Church’. Apparently, the place of worship today has become a strategic hideout for some people with bad intentions.
Too many people no longer go to Church with the same purpose of serving and worshiping God. Some women and men, take the Church as the place where they can easily prey on love partners. No wonder cases of HIV/Aids have become common in then Church.
“Our Pastors seem to hesitate when it comes to telling youth about sex. Their assumption is that since they are in the Church, these youth are saved. But this is not the reality on the ground,” says Alice, who joined her Church’s praise and worship team last year. “You see this especially during the youth seminars and camps. We are not told about sex and the safe way of doing it. What we hear is that sex is bad and no one is allowed to do it before marriage,” she adds.
Pastor Abel Kinana of Jesus Celebration Ministry believes talking about sex and condoms in Church is not such a bad idea, only that it has taught carefully.
Says the youth Pastor: “We hear about sex all the time. When the topic comes up among my youth in the Church, I do not push it to the corner.”
He notes that if the Church fails to openly talk about such issues from a Biblical perspective, the youth are going to get information from their friends, movies, TV shows or by experimenting for themselves.
“God wrote about physical intimacy in the Song of Solomon. He wrote about proper relationships, how to court each other (without sex involved) and how once we are married that we can consummate a wonderful and sometimes wild sexual relationship with each other,” concludes Pastor Abel.
The news, the Pastor says a few minutes later after the youth are gathered again, is all about a youth camp the Church has organised. It will be held in Bagamoyo, and so, individuals have to make some cash contributions.
In the meeting are Nevil, a 23-year-old choir member, and Abraham, 24, also an active church member. Sitting next to each other, the two seem excited at the news. They sign in for the camp meeting.
Since that day, the two have been calling each other and meeting secretly after several Church services. At first, it is as innocent friends. But before long, Abraham makes his intentions known to Nevil. She also confesses that she has had feelings for him since a long time ago. So, the affair starts.
It blossoms a month later, when the two join the youth on a bus to Bagamoyo for the two-day-camp. They are sitting next to each other, singing and chatting with everyone else. Many of their peers are also sitting in pairs on the bus – sister next to brother.
Abraham makes a move on Nevil. She can’t resist, and before they know it, they have become intimate. From here, sex becomes a part of their affair. This is despite the ‘no sex before marriage’ teachings in their church. They have made sure their sexual relationship is a closely guarded secret.
While the Church continues to preach against sex before marriage in accordance with the Bible, the influence of the media and a host of other external factors are increasingly making it difficult for this message to be taken seriously, especially by the young generation.
In Tanzania, cases of Church member pregnancies out of wedlock are no longer news to many. For instance, by all indications, an increasing number of young people are tying the knot when the girl is already pregnant.
Moral decadence
It is the new generation and the Church has not been spared by a wave of moral decadence fanned especially by the media, and a tendency by today’s young people to worship Western celebrity culture.
So, despite all the strict rules that the Bible and religious leaders have set, youth in churches still practise sex and it is no longer a secret. And forget about those kinds of youth who go to Church every Sunday for a service and come back. Think of choir members, praise and worship members and many more who are very active in Church.
How safe are the sex exploits by this group of Tanzanian youth? Should sex education be a part of the sermon on Sunday?
“I think the time has come where by sex is supposed to be taught to our youth in churches because the more we make it a taboo the more we see them being destroyed by it,” says Emmanuel Mosha, a Lutheran Church elder with a Dar es Salaam parish. “It is time we came out in the open to say something about it.”
Mosha recalls three years ago when he was a youth elder at his parish. “We had a case of a choir chairman who impregnated two girls in the choir at the same time,” he says.
“He was a dedicated young man, but he fell for the temptation. No one believed it when the news broke out. Nobody ever imagined that this young man could mess up that way,” the Church leader says.
He adds: “Sex is all over in today’s world. It is talked about everywhere. Unfortunately, the Church is lagging behind in taking the bull by its horns.”
However, there are many other Church leaders who would not agree with the idea of talking condoms at the altar, and for obvious reasons. “If we start telling them how to use condoms and how they can have safer sex it will be like justifying that sex before marriage is good,” argues Pastor Andrew Mgonja of the New Holy Spirit Church in Mbezi Beach. “As Christians we are not supposed to justify sins. A sin is a sin no matter how small and sweet it is,” the cleric observes, adding:
“By allowing the youth to have sex before marriage, the Church would be going wrong. On the contrary the Church is supposed to keep on telling the youth that sex before marriage is dangerous not only because of the religious rules but also for their lives and health.”
Alice Kimambo, a praise and worship member with a Pentecostal church in Dar es Salaam corroborates. She notes that today the Church is less strict than it used to be when it comes to dealing with issues of sexual immorality.
“I can not really differentiate the experience I had in college and the one I am observing at church today,” says Alice, who is in her late 20s.
“I can tell you that in some places it is not such a big deal to see a guy dating two or three girls from the same Church. It happens and everyone knows it.”
This trend might not be too difficult to understand, after all. There are stories all over, of some people going to Church, not so much to worship but to seek marriage partners.
“I know of one beautiful girl, who used to be known for her loose behaviour in our neighbourhood, and nobody wanted to marry her. But when she realised time was running out she ‘repented’, joined a local church and became an active member of the choir,” says John, a 35-year-old Makongo Juu resident in Dar es Salaam, who attends a Pentecostal church. “It was not long before she got herself a serious brother, who wanted to settle down because she is stunningly beautiful. But she quit the Church soon after getting married, and she is back to her old ways.”
This is not an unusual case. For Christians, one is reminded of Bible teachings on ‘wolves in sheep clothes’, or warnings about ‘dogs in the Church’. Apparently, the place of worship today has become a strategic hideout for some people with bad intentions.
Too many people no longer go to Church with the same purpose of serving and worshiping God. Some women and men, take the Church as the place where they can easily prey on love partners. No wonder cases of HIV/Aids have become common in then Church.
“Our Pastors seem to hesitate when it comes to telling youth about sex. Their assumption is that since they are in the Church, these youth are saved. But this is not the reality on the ground,” says Alice, who joined her Church’s praise and worship team last year. “You see this especially during the youth seminars and camps. We are not told about sex and the safe way of doing it. What we hear is that sex is bad and no one is allowed to do it before marriage,” she adds.
Pastor Abel Kinana of Jesus Celebration Ministry believes talking about sex and condoms in Church is not such a bad idea, only that it has taught carefully.
Says the youth Pastor: “We hear about sex all the time. When the topic comes up among my youth in the Church, I do not push it to the corner.”
He notes that if the Church fails to openly talk about such issues from a Biblical perspective, the youth are going to get information from their friends, movies, TV shows or by experimenting for themselves.
“God wrote about physical intimacy in the Song of Solomon. He wrote about proper relationships, how to court each other (without sex involved) and how once we are married that we can consummate a wonderful and sometimes wild sexual relationship with each other,” concludes Pastor Abel.
Reuben Abati now spokesman for Goodluck Jonathan
Renowned columnist and Editorial Board chairman of The Guardian newspapers, Dr. Reuben Abati, has been appointed by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as Special Adviser on Communications. This is authoritative.
Abati, who runs two columns weekly in the newspaper, has thus become the official spokesman of the President.
The appointment, has put paid to speculations about how the president plans to rejig his information management. On Friday, the media was awash with reports claiming that the appointment of Abati was a hoax.
By the appointment, he becomes a cabinet member of the Jonathan administration. The highly respected columnist bagged his doctorate degree at age 25.
http://victorikoli.blogspot.com/
Abati, who runs two columns weekly in the newspaper, has thus become the official spokesman of the President.
The appointment, has put paid to speculations about how the president plans to rejig his information management. On Friday, the media was awash with reports claiming that the appointment of Abati was a hoax.
By the appointment, he becomes a cabinet member of the Jonathan administration. The highly respected columnist bagged his doctorate degree at age 25.
http://victorikoli.blogspot.com/
Saturday, July 02, 2011
British Taxpayers pick up £200,000 bill to care for Nigerian mother
A Nigerian mother who flew into Britain when she learned she was pregnant and had quintuplets has cost taxpayers an estimated £200,000.
The health tourism row erupted after it emerged Bimbo Ayelabola, 33, has asked the Home Office for a six-month extension of her visa which expired last Monday.
She claims that the children - boys Tayseel and Samir, and girls, Aqeelah, Binish and Zara - are too fragile to take back to Nigeria.
They were born at Homerton Hospital, in Hackney, east London, by caesarian surgery at 32 weeks on April 28.
Ayelabola also says that all her friends and family live in the UK and she has no 'support network' in Lagos where she lived.
Her husband visited her in hospital but flew back home after discovering it was a multiple pregnancy and he faced having to care for his big family..
She said: 'If I go back I'll be on my own without even a roof over my head.'
Ayelabola, now living in a two-bedroom flat in Poplar, east London, was reported to have been taking twice the prescribed dose of a fertility drug when she became pregnant.
Soon after discovering she was expecting, Ayelabola quickly obtained a UK visitors' visa. On arrival, she had an emergency NHS scan which showed she was expecting quads.
Doctors only discovered the fifth baby during the caesarian operation.
She told the Sun: 'I had already had miscarriages and couldn't bear the stress another pregnancy would cause.
'I thought I would stand a much better chance of avoiding another miscarriage in a calmer place with friends and family.'
Ayelabola may still have to pay the cost of her care which includes treatment by consultants, midwives, paediatricians and social workers.
But Home Office officials know she will be unable to pay the bill.
A spokesman said: 'The NHS is a national health service not an international one. We expect those with no rights to be in the UK to leave otherwise we will remove them.'
The health tourism row erupted after it emerged Bimbo Ayelabola, 33, has asked the Home Office for a six-month extension of her visa which expired last Monday.
She claims that the children - boys Tayseel and Samir, and girls, Aqeelah, Binish and Zara - are too fragile to take back to Nigeria.
They were born at Homerton Hospital, in Hackney, east London, by caesarian surgery at 32 weeks on April 28.
Ayelabola also says that all her friends and family live in the UK and she has no 'support network' in Lagos where she lived.
Her husband visited her in hospital but flew back home after discovering it was a multiple pregnancy and he faced having to care for his big family..
She said: 'If I go back I'll be on my own without even a roof over my head.'
Ayelabola, now living in a two-bedroom flat in Poplar, east London, was reported to have been taking twice the prescribed dose of a fertility drug when she became pregnant.
Soon after discovering she was expecting, Ayelabola quickly obtained a UK visitors' visa. On arrival, she had an emergency NHS scan which showed she was expecting quads.
Doctors only discovered the fifth baby during the caesarian operation.
She told the Sun: 'I had already had miscarriages and couldn't bear the stress another pregnancy would cause.
'I thought I would stand a much better chance of avoiding another miscarriage in a calmer place with friends and family.'
Ayelabola may still have to pay the cost of her care which includes treatment by consultants, midwives, paediatricians and social workers.
But Home Office officials know she will be unable to pay the bill.
A spokesman said: 'The NHS is a national health service not an international one. We expect those with no rights to be in the UK to leave otherwise we will remove them.'
Monday, June 27, 2011
Nigeria’s band to debut with Juju music in Qatar
BGYS Melodious, a newly formed Doha-based Nigerian music group, will perform during the ‘African Night’ show slated to be held at the Ramada’s Giwana Ballroom on June 30.
The show, which is the first of its kind in the country and the region, will feature live performance by the group displaying Nigeria’s popular high-life music with a touch of the country’s Southwestern Juju, a folk music.
The night will feature comedy shows by Doha-based Nigerian stand-up comedians as well as a colourful performance by cultural dancers from Ghana.
Talking about the group and the ‘African Night’ show, BGYS director and manager Yemi Emiola said, “I have lived in Qatar for many years now and have witnessed the city’s transformation.
I wanted to be a part of the country’s rapid development.
Hence, we decided to establish the group in February.” “The ‘African Night’ would feature live Juju music.
Juju is a popular Nigerian music, derived from the traditional Yoruba percussion.
The name comes from a Yoruba word Juju which means ‘throwing’ or ‘something being thrown’.” According to Emiola, the music group, which will launch its debut album in collaboration with a Qatari artiste in December, is seen as a platform to bring the Africans together.
“The group’s name, BGYS Melodious, is an acronym of the members’ names — Bosun, Gbenga, Yemi and Segun.
It was formed to showcase Nigeria’s musical talents and potentials among the African communities, residing in Qatar.
Our objective is actually not only to play music for people to relax, but also to convey a positive message on Nigeria and try and correct the misconceptions about our country,” he said.
Emiola said the ‘African Night’ show will create more awareness and draw attention to the Africans living in Qatar.
The group has already got a nod from the Merweb hotel to perform on a regular basis, he said.
“We have signed a contract and secured a place with Merweb hotel to perform every Wednesday night (10pm-1am) and we are currently holding similar talks with a number of other top-rated hotels like Rotana and La Cigale,” Emiola said.
Besides hotel shows, Emiola said, “The group wants to perform in social gatherings like weddings, inauguration events and other community engagements involving different nationalities.
The music group also hopes to perform with Arab musicians from Qatar, Egypt and other African countries.
And the BGYS Melodious certainly wants to jam with local musicians back home in Nigeria in the future.” Emiola also thanked the Nigerian Diaspora Organisation-Qatar Chapter (NIDO-Qatar), and its president Olu J Millar for its active support and constant advice and suggestions.
Interested music-lovers can get more information about the ‘African Night’ show, which begins at 7pm, by dialing ‘55106938’ or ‘77740115’, or email at oluemiola@ yahoo.com, or via the Facebook.
The show, which is the first of its kind in the country and the region, will feature live performance by the group displaying Nigeria’s popular high-life music with a touch of the country’s Southwestern Juju, a folk music.
The night will feature comedy shows by Doha-based Nigerian stand-up comedians as well as a colourful performance by cultural dancers from Ghana.
Talking about the group and the ‘African Night’ show, BGYS director and manager Yemi Emiola said, “I have lived in Qatar for many years now and have witnessed the city’s transformation.
I wanted to be a part of the country’s rapid development.
Hence, we decided to establish the group in February.” “The ‘African Night’ would feature live Juju music.
Juju is a popular Nigerian music, derived from the traditional Yoruba percussion.
The name comes from a Yoruba word Juju which means ‘throwing’ or ‘something being thrown’.” According to Emiola, the music group, which will launch its debut album in collaboration with a Qatari artiste in December, is seen as a platform to bring the Africans together.
“The group’s name, BGYS Melodious, is an acronym of the members’ names — Bosun, Gbenga, Yemi and Segun.
It was formed to showcase Nigeria’s musical talents and potentials among the African communities, residing in Qatar.
Our objective is actually not only to play music for people to relax, but also to convey a positive message on Nigeria and try and correct the misconceptions about our country,” he said.
Emiola said the ‘African Night’ show will create more awareness and draw attention to the Africans living in Qatar.
The group has already got a nod from the Merweb hotel to perform on a regular basis, he said.
“We have signed a contract and secured a place with Merweb hotel to perform every Wednesday night (10pm-1am) and we are currently holding similar talks with a number of other top-rated hotels like Rotana and La Cigale,” Emiola said.
Besides hotel shows, Emiola said, “The group wants to perform in social gatherings like weddings, inauguration events and other community engagements involving different nationalities.
The music group also hopes to perform with Arab musicians from Qatar, Egypt and other African countries.
And the BGYS Melodious certainly wants to jam with local musicians back home in Nigeria in the future.” Emiola also thanked the Nigerian Diaspora Organisation-Qatar Chapter (NIDO-Qatar), and its president Olu J Millar for its active support and constant advice and suggestions.
Interested music-lovers can get more information about the ‘African Night’ show, which begins at 7pm, by dialing ‘55106938’ or ‘77740115’, or email at oluemiola@ yahoo.com, or via the Facebook.
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