The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the German development finance institution DEG announced that they have created a new private equity fund that will invest in Africa’s health sector. The Health in Africa Fund will invest in small- and medium-sized companies in sub-Saharan Africa, such as health clinics and diagnostic centers, with the goal of helping low-income Africans gain access to affordable, high-quality health services. The fund will help implement key recommendations of IFC’s report, ‘The Business of Health in Africa: Partnering with the Private Sector to Improve People’s Lives,’ which found that the private sector already delivers about half of all health-related goods and services in Africa, and that greater investment in private health companies could have major health and economic benefits for low-income Africans.

The World Bank’s Environmental Department is seeking civil society representatives to serve as observers on two Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Trust Fund Committees. The Bank has contracted a leading public policy dispute resolution organization, RESOLVE, to manage this self-selection process. The CIFs, which are managed by the World Bank and implemented jointly with the Regional Development Banks, were established through an inclusive and consultative process in support of the Bali Action Plan and approved by the World Bank Board in July 2008. Application forms, criteria, and instructions for the observer seats are available on the RESOLVE website (www.resolv.org/cif). Application instructions and criteria will be posted in Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian/Khmer, French, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, and Turkish during the week of June 15. Completed applications are due by Wednesday, July 2. CSO Observers Sought for Climate Investment Funds (CIF)
The Bank’s Environmental Department is seeking civil society representatives to serve as observers on two Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Trust Fund Committees. The Bank has contracted a leading public policy dispute resolution organization, RESOLVE, to manage this self-selection process. The CIFs, which are managed by the World Bank and implemented jointly with the Regional Development Banks, were established through an inclusive and consultative process in support of the Bali Action Plan and approved by the World Bank Board in July 2008. Application forms, criteria, and instructions for the observer seats are available on the RESOLVE website (www.resolv.org/cif). Application instructions and criteria will be posted in Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian/Khmer, French, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tajik, and Turkish during the week of June 15. Completed applications are due by Wednesday, July 15.

Visit the website: www.resolv.org/cif for more details

Be careful about International House in New York. I innocently applied for a housing in this place for 6 months, but I did not know it was actually a SCAM.

I went through a very bureaucratic process. First I had to pay a NOT REFUNDABLE 65 USD fee for the application. Then, there are admission criteria that I really think I was fulfilling, but I then received a letter telling me I was denied the housing.

I then asked why I was denied the place, and after 3 phone call attempts, the person told me that I did not fulfill the criteria in the same extent than other candidate, but could not explain why exactly or specifically.

She told me that it was like a university application!!!
I am really upset against International House, which basically steals international students or young people's money!!!!

I you feel you were in the same case and this is actually a SCAM, please write me a email at: sigar14@gmail.com.
The more we are the more powerful we will be.

Cheers,

Simon

The Presidency is satisfied with the conception and implementation of the Seven-point Agenda of the Administration and therefore has no plans to either prune or adjust it.

Presidential spokesman, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi said that the agenda was crucial to the survival of the Nigerian economy and the pivot on which Vision 20-2020 was anchored.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity was reacting to the suggestion put forward by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi during his confirmation hearing on the floor of the senate.

Mr. Adeniyi noted that since the Seven-point agenda is not an ad-hoc measure, any attempt to prune it would amount to economic suicide and urged Nigerians to see the views expressed by Governor Sanusi as “a suggestion with the best of intention and not an attack on the government focal policy.

The 7 Point Agenda are:

1. Critical Infrastructure
2. Niger Delta
3. Food Security
4. Human Capital
5. Land Tenure Changes & Home Ownership
6. National Security & Intelligence
7. Wealth Creation

Having painstakingly laid the foundations of economic development, as articulated in the Seven-point Agenda and Vision 20:2020, there is a visible resurgence in Nigeria’s international economic relations under President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration. There is a new impetus, a fresh dynamism as well as growing momentum to open up Nigeria and make it ready for solid and sustainable investments. It is not just a case of doing more of the same old drive for foreign direct investments.

Though the concept of using Investment Forums/Fairs to interact with investors is not new, the style of the current investment drive is novel. The current exercise is not just a series of talk-shops or seminars. The campaign involves networking sessions, investment dialogue forums, informal and interactive engagement sessions as well as road shows and rallies as each particular occasion demands.

This time around, there are conscious efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economic diplomacy away from restriction to traditional partners in order to engage new and more development partners in the international arena. Through diplomatic contacts and hosting or making official visits, the current administration has concretized Nigeria’s economic relations with Asian tigers such as India, Japan, China and South Korea. It has also forged links with Brazil, South American and Caribbean countries. Of course, the traditional partnership with United States of America, United Kingdom, France, and continental Europe as well as with North America continues to be strengthened.

It is no longer about telling investors fairy tales about Nigeria, rather it is about letting them know the immense potentialities as well as the daunting challenges while encouraging them to come on-board. The government is also going beyond offering incentives and palliatives to creatively engage investors in fixing and improving the critical infrastructures in order to reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria.

Moreover, the investment drive is not just about wooing big companies, conglomerates and trans-national corporations; it is more to do with encouraging partnership between Nigeria’s small and medium enterprises and their foreign counterparts. It is about encouraging information exchange, technology transfer and personnel exchange/training collaborative schemes in a way that will integrate Nigeria into the global economy matrix.

It is within this context that the present administration has enlarged and re-energized the Honorary International Investors Council (HIIC), which it inherited from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian regime. The HIIC has been enlarged to become more representative of different economic sectors as well as the various geographical locations and investing populations of the world. Beyond the two six-monthly meetings held annually, Council Members scattered around the globe are now more practically engaged to organize investment meetings and dialogues in their different geographical regions as occasions demand.

From a high-brow technocratic talk-shop on investments, the HIIC is gradually becoming an interventionist and activist agency for attracting investors to Nigeria’s rich but challenging economy. HIIC has become more pro-active, pragmatic and sector-specific in its drive to too investors into the Nigerian market.

This administration is not just urging investors to come to Nigeria; it is also making the investing environment more conducive to investors and fertile for their investments. Definite steps are being taken to reduce corporate taxes, eliminate double taxation and end the rash of illegal levies on manufacturing companies. Following the advice and at the instance of members of the HIIC, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has instructed Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs ministry to make issuance of visas in our embassies abroad more investor-friendly. In the same vein, the Vice President said our immigration laws must be more investment-oriented and tourist-friendly.

According to him, “It is in the overall national economic interests of our country to issue long-term visas and make procurement of visas easier for investors and tourists. We must also make our airports and ports less cumbersome and more people-friendly if we are serious about getting foreigners to partner with us in our development efforts.” With the effectiveness of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission’s (NIPC) one-stop-investment-centre (OSIC), where foreigners can access information and register new business without delay, a brand new deal is being forged for investors in Nigeria.

A lot has changed as far as Nigeria’s investing environment is concerned. Yet, the world out there is still stuck with the old stereotype of Nigeria as the tottering sleeping giant. Not much is known is about the positively altered macroeconomic situation or more favourable policy environment.

It is against this backdrop of changed circumstances in Nigeria vis-à-vis global ignorance -- at a time when the country is in dire need of international resources and support -- that this administration has been organizing or facilitating a series of investment forums in key development centres across the globe.

The first in the series of investment forums was a two-legged conference on Stating the Case for Investing in Nigeria scheduled to take place in Dubai and London, which was jointly facilitated by African Matters Limited and Developing Markets Associates. While the Dubai Forum was postponed for logistic reasons, the London Forum was successfully held at IET Savoy Place on April 22, 2009 with about 200 participants comprising government officials, prospective investors, business tycoons, development activists, non-governmental organizations, diplomats and representatives of the international community.

At the London Event, the Ministers of National Planning, Commerce and Industry, Finance, Mines and Steel Development, Agriculture and Water Resources as well as the Governors of Kano State, Rivers State and Ondo State (represented by the Secretary to Government) were on hand to showcase Nigeria’s immense investment potentialities vis-à-vis the country’s agenda for development. Aside from fielding questions after each session of paper presentations, the Nigerian investment delegation used coffee breaks and networking moments to engage and interact with would-be investors and fact-finding tourists who had many posers about Nigeria’s social climate and economic environment.

The tone of the London Forum was set by H. E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who spoke passionately and analytically about Nigeria’s largely untapped investment potentials amidst some daunting development challenges. He said that Nigeria remains the preferred investment destination because of its abundant natural endowment and immense manpower resources as well as because of infrastructural gaps and deficiencies that are being fixed. The investment forums, he explained, are veritable avenues to get willing and genuine development partners and investors to collaborate with Nigeria to develop, upgrade or upscale the infrastructures in order to make the country the ideal and fertile investment ground. He said we cannot wait to fix all our infrastructural deficiencies, logistics problems and legal hurdles before calling on development partners who may actually be needed to accelerate the process of getting the ideal investment climate in the first place.

Expectedly, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Engr. Mustafa Bello was around to restate and recall all the steps that Nigeria has taken and is taking to transform Nigeria to an investor’s paradise. He spoke about the myriads of incentives, tax holidays and all sorts of sweeteners and palliatives designed to woo investors into the manufacturing sector of Nigeria’s economy. He said the One-Stop-Investment-Centre (OSIC) has removed most of the logistics challenges and bureaucratic hurdles that new investors face in a developing economy like Nigeria.

Representatives of the organized private sector in Nigeria like the Dangote Group and Total Oil were readily available to give the needed endorsement to Nigeria’s investment climate. The Chief Executive of Dangote Cement Group, Tony Hadley said “Nigeria’s improved investment climate is making it easier to do business, to source external finance and secure foreign technical partners.” He explained that investors and foreign finance institutions have more confidence in Nigeria’s economy.

Following on the resounding success of the London Forum, Nigeria’s ambassador to Sweden, Dr. Godknows Bolade Igali (who was present at the London Forum) successfully organized a Nordic Forum on Nigeria-Nordic Economic Partnership that will take the Vice President’s delegation to Finland, Sweden and Denmark between May 10 and 17, 2009. This is a bold initiative to concretize and expand Nigeria’s international economic relations with Scandinavian countries with a view to benefiting from their high technologies and other comparative economic advantages.

The first of two HIIC meetings held annually will hold from June 25 to 26 in London this year to take stock of the gains and challenges of Nigeria’s investment drive in the light of the current global economic melt-down. The second Council meeting slated for November should ordinarily take place in Abuja but may be moved to the United States to tap into the business connections and investment potential of some American members on the Council. There is also the possibility of another Nigeria Investment Forum in Germany in the first quarter of next year to engage with investors in Germany, Austria, Czechs and Slovenia.

The global meltdown or economic downturn is not a reason for Nigeria to slow down its drive for foreign investment rather it is a good reason to intensify it. For one, investors have become more wary and discriminatory in their choice of investment destinations, making it necessary for countries to deliberately publicize their investment opportunities and comparative advantages. Secondly, the fact that several investors and banks had their fingers burnt in hitherto favoured investment destinations has made emerging markets like Nigeria to become objects of favourable consideration for new equities. It is therefore the right time for Nigeria to press her comparative advantage as a preferred investment destination.

In any case, as explained by the Vice President, to achieve Nigeria’s Vision 2020-20, there is no way Nigeria can shy away from partnership with the international community by way of international trade and utilization of foreign investment. The current drive is for solid strategic investments that can deepen and diversify the country’s economy and promote sustainable development. Such investments would lead to genuine value-addition through improving and increasing local content of Nigeria’s products. Moreover, the investments would not only build personnel and institutional capacity but also create more jobs and employment opportunities for Nigeria’s huge and resourceful population

Therefore, while Nigeria continues to take concrete actions to improve her infrastructure and improve the regulatory environment, it must continue to state and reassert its credentials as a desirable emerging market in order to continue to attract and retain foreign investments.

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR is the President, and the Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was born in the ancient city of Katsina, Katsina State on August 16, 1951 to the famous Musa Yar’Adua family that has become synonymous with politics and public service in Nigeria.

He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He moved to Dutsinma Senior Boarding Primary School in 1962 where he completed his primary education in 1964.

Between 1965 and 1969, Yar’Adua was a student at the Government College, Keffi, in the present day Nasarawa State for his secondary education, from where he moved to the famous Barewa College, Zaria for his Higher School Certificate between 1970 and 1971.

He gained admission into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1972 and obtained a B.Sc Education degree with specialization in Chemistry in 1975. He returned to the same University in 1978, earning a Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1980. Yar’Adua taught Chemistry at the Katsina Polytechnic before venturing into private business and eventually into politics.

In the political arena, Yar’Adua opted for a socialist leaning contrary to the traditional conservative posture of his renowned family. During the Second Republic, the late Malam Aminu Kano, leader of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP)and acclaimed ‘champion of the masses’, was his political mentor when most members of his family were with the more establishment-inclined National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He also associated very closely with the late Ahmadu Bello University 'radical' lecturer, Dr. Bala Usman, among others as a member of the Think-Tank.

Yar’Adua was a member of the 1989 Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) which prepared the groundwork for the return to civil democratic governance in the aborted Third Republic. In 1990, he became the Secretary of both the defunct Peoples Front (PFN) and was later elected the State Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katsina State. A year later, he emerged the SDP gubernatorial candidate in the state. In 1999, he contested and won the governorship of Katsina State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – a positioned he retained for eight years following his re-election in 2003.

For Yar’Adua, politics has always been viewed as a vehicle for transforming the society for the general well-being of the citizens. This is evident from his commitment to the ideals of accountability, transparency and prudent management of state resources. It is on record that as Governor of Katsina State, Yar’Adua was not only able to massively change the infrastructural landscape of the state, he also radically transformed the educational sector.

His commitment to engendering qualitative education in the State has manifested in the trebling of primary school enrolment in the State from 460,000 pupils in 1999 to over one million in 2007; and the reduction of the number of pupils per class in primary schools from 250 to 40 pupils throughout the State. He also established a N1.5 billion Scholarship Trust Fund.

More remarkable is the fact that even with these laudable accomplishments, Yar’Adua was able to leave behind well over six billion naira (N6b) in the Katsina State treasury at the end of his outstanding stewardship. This, surely, is an enduring testimony to prudent management of public resources.

Given these exceptional antecedents, it is no surprise that the PDP decided to field him as its presidential candidate during the 2007 presidential election. He contested and won the election convincingly.

Today, Nigerians are beginning to see that his declaration at his inauguration of himself as a Servant-Leader was made with the highest sense of responsibility and clear vision of the legacy he wishes to leave behind for posterity.

His self-effacing style, disarming humility, transparently honest devotion to the supremacy of the rule of law, focused leadership and uncommon commitment to Nigeria’s restoration combine to evoke a new hope and abounding faith in the eventual realization of the great potentials with which Nigeria is endowed.

Yar’Adua, who holds the traditional title of the “Mutawallen Katsina”, is married to Hajia Turai and the couple is blessed with many children.

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Thursday June 11 signed a N74billion contract for the dualisation of the East-West highway running through the states in the Niger Delta.

The contract was signed in Abuja on behalf of government by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Ufot Ekaette while the chief executive of the construction firm, Setraco, signed on behalf of his company.

The contract which was first signed three years ago was then awarded to Julius Berger Plc but the company pulled out citing militant activities in the area.

The new contract is to cover Port Harcourt-Eleme Junction to Ahoada-Kiaima.

Speaking during the occasion, the minister said the present administration was irrevocably committed to improving the lives of the people in the Niger Delta.

He warned contractors handling jobs for the ministry to work in accordance with certified standards and to deliver on schedule.

The minister expressed optimism that peace will reign in the Niger Delta region.

“We believe once the details of the amnesty are worked out the people will reciprocate and imbibe the spirit of peace which the government has been preaching. Once this happens, once peace is restored in the Niger Delta, we go in and develop the area”.

“Developments in the nation’s Niger Delta region over the past few weeks have necessitated the Federal Government’s decisive action against armed criminal elements.

“The criminals have hijacked genuine agitations in the region and constituted themselves into very real threats to Nigeria’s national security and economic survival”.
The President stated that his administration’s agenda for resolving the lingering developmental challenges in the Niger Delta remained on course.

The deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora are lamentable, but if back home in Nigeria fellow citizens are treated like animals, where is our locus to demand and expect decent treatment from foreigners abroad?



When a friend was telling me the story of a Nigerian beaten to pulp a Polish Embassy, my mind expected another disheartening story of innocent Nigerians whose only crime was to find themselves as economic migrants in a foreign land suffering ill-treatment and brutality from another western country.



But lo and behold, it was Mr Rasaq Salami, an Abuja-based businessman, who left his home in the early hours of Friday, March 20, 2009, to visit the Polish Embassy, located in the capital city of his own country, Abuja to retrieve the passport of his friend, Mr Mustapha Bakare which had been submitted for visa.

According to the SUN Newspapers, Soon after stepping into the premises of the Polish Embassy in Abuja, Salami was beaten black and blue by police officers attached to the embassy. After the security operatives finished with him, Salami was taken straight to the Maitama General Hospital where he was still recuperating almost two weeks after his ordeal.


Salami’s story to Sunday Sun was that Nigerian policemen and other security operatives at the embassy premises pounced on him like a common felon. According to him, his trouble started about 1.30 pm when he arrived at the embassy. They knocked at the gate and heard a voice, probably that of the security man, asking them “my friend, who is that knocking on the window?”


“From nowhere, the private security man opened the gate and a police constable started raining abuses on me. I asked him to tell me my sin for which he was insulting me”, he said.


According to him, the angry policeman got annoyed that he dared reply and challenge him and threatened to slap him.


“When I challenged him further that it was not proper for him to slap me without knowing my sin and the purpose of my visit, he held my shirt and dragged me into the compound and started punching and hitting me on the head, kicking me when I fell down on the ground,” he said.


Thoroughly overawed, Salami continued, “When I managed to get up, I headed to the door of the building but the police officer went in, dressed properly and brought out his gun and continued hitting me on my leg with the gun until my leg got broken…They tagged me a criminal and terrorist, and a white man standing by the door urged them to deal with me. When they were done with me, they asked me to walk out of the compound. But already I had fracture on my right leg and I told them I could not stand and so I could not walk. They dragged me out of the gate.”


According to the SUN, the Polish Ambassador Designate, Przemyslaw Niesiolowski, confirmed the incident but denied reports that he supervised his beating and ordered the police to deal with him. He claimed he was not in Abuja at the time the incident occurred but refuted claims by Salami and his friend, Bakare, that they were at the embassy to collect Bakare’s passport but justified the action of the security men against the victim.


It is unfortunate to say the least, that Nigerians would suffer this indignity in their homelands. Before this we hade been regaled with news of deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora. There have been cases of Nigerians killed in Belgium, China, Ukraine and Spain in 2009 alone.


In Spain 2007, a Nigerian whose only offence was that he had no resident permit and therefore had to be deported was beaten, injected with what was later known as a tranquilizer with his mouth being closed with a plastic tape and both hands and legs firmly tied with ropes. They loaded him into the plane covering him with a sack thereby preventing him from passengers view. His killers tied his hands and legs with mouth closed and killed as common criminal.


In 2001 - The result of the autopsy of the Nigerian Samson Chukwu, who died during the procedure of a forcible deportation in Granges near Sion does not leave any doubt: The police officers have applied a method for handcuffing the Nigerian, which is well-known for being possibly lethal, and of whose application is warned in the appropriate literature. Forcing the victim to lie on the stomach with the hands cuffed behind the back, including a police officer to press on the thorax, prevented the necessary respiration. This led to the asphyxia of Samson Chukwu.


In 1999, a 25-year-old Nigerian asylum-seeker, Marcus Omofuma suffocated after being gagged and bound during his forced deportation from Vienna to Nigeria, via Sofia, Bulgaria On 15 April, after more than 50 hours of deliberation, Korneuburg Regional Court found the three police officers guilty of the crime of 'negligent manslaughter in particularly dangerous conditions and sentenced them to eight-month suspended prison terms. The verdict was criticized by some civil society groups due to its alleged leniency. Despite the verdicts of guilt, the police officers will continue to serve in the police force.


In March 1999, a Brussels court decided that five gendarmes should stand trial in connection with the death in September 1998 of Semira Adamu, a 20-year-old rejected asylum seeker from Nigeria after an attempt to deport her forcibly from Brussels-National airport led to her death.


Officers pushed her face into a cushion placed on the knees of one of them and pressed down on her back, she began to struggle. The so-called ''cushion technique'' - a method of restraint authorized by the Ministry of Interior at that time but since banned - allowed gendarmes to press a cushion against the mouth, but not the nose. Semira Adamu's face was pressed against the cushion for over 10 minutes and she fell into a coma as her brain became starved of oxygen. She died of a brain haemorrhage later that day.


These deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora are lamentable, but if back home in Nigeria fellow citizens are treated like animals, where is our locus to demand and expect decent treatment from foreigners abroad?

http://www.elombah.com/index. php?option= com_content&view=article&id=632:nigerian- visa-applicant- tortured- at-polish- embassy&catid=25:politics&Itemid=37



from Daniel Elombah
Publisher: www.elombah. com
(A Nigerian Perspective on world affairs)

Nigeria Moves to Address Chronic Power Outages

By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Officials here are embarking on a costly drive to revamp Nigeria's power sector as the government struggles to keep the lights on.

After months of delays and political maneuverings, the government of Africa's largest oil producer approved this month a plan to allocate over $5 billion in emergency funding to repair its power sector. The money is slated to come from the country's excess crude-oil account. It's a huge outlay, accounting for some 40% of the rainy-day fund's current value of $13.5 billion.
Dozens of power lines crisscross an electronics market in Lagos, Nigeria. The government is beginning an overhaul of the country's power sector.

The new spending program underscores a realization among top officials about the extent of Nigeria's power problems. Many analysts consider the lack of reliable power the biggest impediment to economic growth in Nigeria -- bigger even than the estimated annual loss of billions of dollars in oil revenues to smuggling and corruption.

The large majority of Nigerians, over 70% of whom live on less than $1 a day, often go without reliable access to electricity. Those who can afford them operate costly diesel or gasoline-based generators because of daily blackouts. One neighborhood in Lagos recently went without power for a month. Those who can't afford generators use inefficient kerosene lamps.

Big companies like Procter & Gamble Co. and Coca-Cola Co. have resorted to running generators to provide power to 100% of their operations, pushing costs in Nigeria 10% and even 20% higher than in neighboring countries, executives say. Other foreign companies have pulled out of Nigeria, citing high energy costs as one of the primary reasons for doing so.

South Africa, with a third of the population, has more than 10 times the power generating capacity of Nigeria.

The new funding will go toward improving existing grid infrastructure and funding public-private partnerships, the government has said.

Whether the money from the country's windfall oil account will be used properly remains a critical question. The federal power authority, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, like many of Nigeria's government institutions, has earned a reputation for inefficiency. Critics accuse it of being driven by the financial and political interests of its officials and others in the government.

PHCN officials didn't respond to requests to comment.

The current government estimates the previous administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo spent freely but without oversight, channeling $10 billion to the power sector during his eight-year rule. Most of this money, however, went unaccounted for, and senior lawmakers have recently put the figure of misplaced funds used for the power sector closer to $16 billion.

The current government of President Umaru Yar'Adua made fixing the country's dilapidated power infrastructure a hallmark of his 2007 campaign. But the gap between electricity supply and demand in Africa's most populous country has only worsened since he took over.

This week, seven senior officials from the country's electricity regulatory body, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, were arrested and charged with fraud, accused of diverting $33 million in state funds for their personal use.

Mr. Yar'Adua has set power production goals of some 6,000 megawatts by the end of this year and 10,000 megawatts by the end of 2010. Few see these goals being met. In 2008, power production dropped on one occasion to as low as 800 megawatts, according to the state power company. Current production is between 2,000 and 3,000 megawatts, according to the government.

"There were three days when no power at all was generated by the Nigerian government," said one official involved in high-level, power-sector reform talks with the government. "The worst part was, nobody at [the government power agency] noticed."

Amid the power crisis, several state governors, in an attempt to bypass the federal bureaucracy in the capital Abuja, have sought private funding to build their own power plants.

The governor of Kwara State, in southwestern Nigeria, has built a small power plant, funding it without federal support. The governor of Rivers State has been in negotiations to wrest control of energy distribution.

A strain of flu never seen before has killed up to 68 people in Mexico and spread to the US. Skip related content

Mexico's government said at least 20 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 48 other deaths.

Mexico reported more than 1,000 suspected cases and four possible cases were also seen in Mexicali, right on the border with California. In the US, eight people were infected but recovered, health officials said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said tests showed the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients was the same genetically as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight patients in California and Texas.

Global health officials are not ready to declare a pandemic - a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease such as flu - but the new virus raised fears of a major outbreak.

Mexico's government has cancelled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas. All large public events like concerts were suspended in Mexico City.

Close analysis showed the disease is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the US Centrers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of the Mexican dead were aged between 25 and 45, a Mexican health official said. Seasonal flu can be more deadly among the very young and the very old but a hallmark of pandemics is that they affect healthy young adults.

Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090425/twl-flu-outbreak-reaches-us-41f21e0.html

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hell was literally let loose in Anambra State on Monday as armed robbers shot and killed over 30 people. The victims who included policemen, commuters and a soldier were felled during a shoot out that lasted for about two hours.
According to eyewitnesses, the armed robbers who operated with one Toyota Hilux, Hiace Commuter and one jeep were on the trail of a bullion van that took off from Onitsha to Nnewi through Oba old road. They were said to have launched an attack on the van within Oba area in Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State.
During the shoot out with the police joint patrol team, Daily Sun gathered, passengers in buses and other vehicles that were trapped in the scene fell victim as some of them including three pregnant women were shot dead while others were seriously wounded. Our source said that the hoodlums blocked the expressway by Oba junction new and old roads to avoid disruption before they began the operation.
The bandits were said to have set the bullion van ablaze along with two other vehicles but as at the time of filing this report it was not certain whether they succeeded in breaking the bullion van or not before burning it.
Like demons from hell, Daily Sun was told that the armed robbers ran amock ran wild as stormed Nnobi road towards Oraukwu and Adani shooting indiscriminately at commuters as they made for escape. Our source said that a tipper lorry driver was shot dead in the rampage.
Some of the corpses were deposited at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) while others were taken to nearby hospitals as (NAUTH) mortuary was already congested, according to an official of the hospital.
A doctor at NAUTH casualty ward who pleaded anonymity said there were over 15 victims with serious bullet wounds receiving medical attention at the ward.
One commercial bus driver, Mr Ifeanyi whose bus was also attacked near Oraukwu junction said two men and a woman were shot dead in his bus by the armed robbers.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Fidelis Agbo (CSP) confirmed the incident. According to Mr Agbo three police officers, one soldier and four commuters were feared dead.
He said that the police have spread their dragnet to apprehend the dare-devils as none of the armed robbers was killed during the gun battle.
Meanwhile, two suspected armed robbers were killed and two others seriously wounded in a shoot out with the police along Ogoja Road Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital on Monday bringing to 11 killed in two separate attacks within one week in the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Chris Anyanwu said the hoodlums operating with two motorcycles marked QB 780 ZLL and WF 189 ENU had trailed their victim, one Mr. Simon Iseh from a bank to his petrol station and robbed him of the sum of over N1.2 million at gun point.
He said that the hoodlums, after snatching the money were intercepted at Nwokpo junction along Ogoja road while trying to escape with their loot.
He stated that items recovered from the bandits include two locally made pistols, four GSM handset, and some objects suspected to be charms.
Anyanwu gave the names of the suspected armed gang as Ogbonna Sunday from Agbaja Umuhu in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi State and Orji Calistus from Amaorji Nenwe in Agwu local government area of Enugu State while the two that died at the spot were identified as Jude and Ernest.
The robbery victim, Hon Simon Iseh, pioneer Minority Leader of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, said that he left his house early in the morning to the bank to make some withdrawals but was delayed for some time at the bank.
“I came out of the bank and never suspected anything. I entered my car and drove off not knowing I was being followed.”
“On getting down at the petrol station four boys jumped down from two motorcycles,’ at gun point they asked me to hand over my car keys which I immediately did. Having collected my car keys, they also commanded me to hand over the money I withdrew from the bank. I realized that if I had refused to hand over the money they would possibly shoot me, so I handed over the money to them and immediately, they drove away in the opposite direction heading towards rice mill.”
He said that it was his salesgirls who, perhaps, observed what happened that raised alarm. “Fortunately for me, the Scorpion team of the Ebonyi State police command were driving towards the direction the hoodlum went and we had to alert them of the robbery attack. On sighting the police patrol van they opened fire and the police retaliated leading to the killing of two of the robbers while two others received gun shot wounds.”
The former House of Assembly member said that of the over N1.2 million snatched from him only N795,000 was recovered while the balanced could not be traced as at press time
ASP Anyanwu attributed the recent successes of the state police command to the determination of the force to curb crime in the state, adding that the command would continue to ensure that the state is safe for habitation.

CBNNews.com
April 17, 2009


Watch Low Band CBNNews.com - The Obama administration has announced plans to loosen restrictions on how Americans can visit and do business with Cuba.

The changes mean that Cuban Americans can visit family on the island anytime they want. And they can send as much money as they wish to relatives there.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro says the U.S.should go further and lift what he calls the cruel trade embargo.

But on the same day the U.S. made its announcement, Cuba denied visas to members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The group had planned a trip to the country to evaluate the state of religious freedom in the island nation.

The commission says it will continue to apply for visas.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/579832.aspx

Without GOD, our week would be:

Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday,
Thirstday, Fightday & Shatterday.

If you are not ashamed of GOD, pass it on.

Remember seven days WITHOUT GOD makes
one WEAK!!

You must have heard of Susan Boyle and her competition, 12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi. I bet you also followed the twattle (did you ask if that meant ‘twitter battle’?) between CNN and Ashton Kutcher. You knew when Barack got a book gift from Hugo Chavez and you’re probably sure you know South Africa’s next president. I won’t be surprised if you also know the exact number of friends you have! We clearly live in interesting times, and no one can deny the fact that we are exposed to much more information that at any other time in history. That’s right, it’s why we refer to it as the Information Age. And if you found out that you had actually set up an account while trying to sign up for a new web service, you are not alone. Welcome to the club! In fact, when you log out on your desktop at work, you work the blackberry on your way to the car park and the laptop is waiting for your rushing hands (and roaming fingers) at home.

The question on most minds today is how anyone can get any work done with all the information that is directed at you. Even if you move away from the internet, news channels on TV welcome you with open arms. And to make it worse, your mentor asked if you had read the new book! While information can be very empowering, it can also grind your walk to a halt if you don’t manage the overload properly. Imagine what would happen if you spent time with your eMail, did some little FaceBooking, responded to the LinkedIn messages, caught up on your favourite blogs, scrolled through online newspapers, gave a few minutes to Twitter, did some twittering from your brain (seriously, see http://is.gd/u7rx)… and you wonder why the day rolls by so fast these days? No thanks to the mobile phone that won’t even stay silent — and you can’t leave it behind because it has all your appointments listed.

On-the-job productivity does not have to go down while your information intake goes up. How to manage the overload is what I hope to share in as few paragraphs as possible (so I don’t add too much more to the information you have to process today). So, let’s get to the 6 tips that keep me — and many others — ahead of the looming overload.

1. Push and Pull Deliberately
   If you don’t deliberately push and pull the information that you want, you’re waiting to be flooded. Push information by adding content to the web too, and pull information from carefully selected sources. What takes most time is when you follow hyperlinks in an unorganized way. For example, I choose my news updates from specific alerts, eMails, blogs and websites — and I make sure I limit the number of secondary links I follow. What I’ve also learnt from pushing information out is that people direct you to more specific sources when they notice what your focus is. More on focus later.
2. Create a Funnel
   Note that noise is different from information, so create a funnel to help you seperate the chaff from the wheat. You may choose to indulge yourself when you’re ahead on your schedule, but ensure that you take advantage of subscription services provided by your carefully selected websites and blogs. You can also create alerts using such services as Google Alerts or set up TweetDeck which allows you have a quick scroll-through of Twitter/FaceBook updates on a single page (and you can now post to both services from TweetDeck on your desktop.) Personally, I use NaijaPulse as my primary update channel — and it’s linked to my Twitter page, which then broadcasts updates to FaceBook, this blog (see the right sidebar) and my website (see left frame).
3. What’s Your Online Agenda?
   If there’s a central secret to managing information overload, this must be it! Your online agenda cannot be divorced from your life’s agenda, so it helps to know what exactly you’re doing on earth so you can define better what you’ll be doing on the web. Does that mean you’ll be tied to that space? No, but it help you know when you get lost. Imagine a football match on a field without goal posts… that’s right, you’ll probably see Okocha run off to the tracks and showing off his skills in the middle of an important game. Remember the time you had a deadline and wanted to squeeze 5 minutes of FaceBook time in but you ended up with a not-so-nice presentation. “Why can’t anyone just understand how busy I am, jeez!” Really?
4. Control Search Results
   Because information travels so fast these days, you also need to be sure that what the world reads about you is what’s best for you. If you’ve never Googled your name, you should probably take a break to do that now. Have you? Welcome back. And for those who do it everyday, isn’t that a bit too much? Many people have found out that the information that search results throw up about them are scary. While you obviously can’t dictate what is thrown up each time your name is Googled, you can at least have a say. How about a personal website or blog with your own name? That is always a winner with search engines, and it’ll at least show the world your preferred information before they see the unguarded statement you made while in elementary school. By the way, the rule of the web is: “If you don’t want it showing up everywhere, don’t put it anywhere online - eMail, blog, website, comment on another blog, anywhere”. It also helps if you set up profiles on Google, MySpace, Wikipedia, YouTube, Linked In, FaceBook, Tweeter, NaijaPulse, Xing, etc, even if you’ll never use them. They are very dear to the heart f search engines, trust me. Proof? Search for ‘Gbenga Sesan in any search engine.
5. Give Time to New Knowledge
   While I agree that there’s no time, I also think it’s important that you create time to catch up with new knowledge. It may cost you a lot of money because what we pay for is clearly proportional to our level of ignorance in that subject area. You may laugh all you want, but I can’t forget how much some friends paid to open hotmail or yahoo accounts in 1999! You can use popular technology (or innovation) sections of popular global magazines or newspapers — or set up an alert for technology or innovation.
6. The Pipe will be Flooded
   I’m already taking so much of your time, so let me bring this to a close. Warning: more projects are underway, so get ready. We all got caught up in the FaceBook frenzy and almost all your friends are now on twitter (which means you’ll soon get an account). Trust me, many labs across the world are coming up with services that will soon call for your attention. Don’t say I didn’t tell you when you get close to spending all morning on various websites and then wonder why everyone’s going on lunch break when you’re yet to tick off the first to do item of the day.