UNILAG 2013 Trans-Faculty Debate Won by Adegunloye Mary of Department of Political Sci.,representing Faculty of Social Sci.

Representing the Faculty of Social Sciences, Adegunloye Mary Olubukola of the Department of Political Sciences has emerged winner of the trans-faculty debate tournament.
Supporting the motion “Sovereign National Conference, is it desirable at this stage of Nigeria’s Development?”, Mary emphasized that the Nigeria is a forced union as it served the interest of the British Colonialists. She stressed that the regions forced together by the caprices of the colonialists must immediately sit to discuss whether they actually want to be together.
Opponents of the motion at the debate say Nigeria has long been together, fearing that attempts to renegotiate the union may be hijacked by selfish interests

Nigerians to start paying £3, 000 to enter the UK from November

Naija people, una dey hear this one? According to a report by UK Daily Mail, visitors from 'high risk' countries in Africa and Asia will have to put up a £3,000 cash bond to enter Britain.

The money will be kept by the Government if visitors do not return home by the time their visas expire.

A pilot scheme, introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May, will target hundreds of people coming to Britain on six-month visit visas from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The countries have been picked for their high number of visa applications and what the Government sees as relatively high levels of immigration abuse and fraud, reports the Sunday Times.


The bonds, to be introduced from November, will only apply to non-EU migrants, otherwise they would fall foul of European rights to free movement. 

'This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain,' Mrs May told the Sunday Times.

'In the long run we’re interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services.'

A second scheme will cover countries such as Kenya, the newspaper reports, which are considered to be lower-risk because immigration officials have fewer doubts about migrants' plans to return home.

About 2.2million people are granted visas to enter Britain every year. Last year 296,000 people from India were granted six-month visas, as were 101,000 from Nigeria, 53,000 from Pakistan and 14,000 apiece from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The Home Secretary plans to reduce annual net migration to under 100,000 by 2015.

Second Nigerian hired by the World Economic Forum in Switzerland

Along with Yemi Babington-Ashaye (the first Nigerian hired - pictured left), Daniel Akinmade Emejulu (pictured right) is now the second Nigerian at the World Economic Forum. Both men are based in the organization's head-office in Switzerland. 

Yemi is a graduate of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University. A chartered accountant, a short list of his previous experiences include working for GE (General Electric) in London, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and as a Technical Adviser on Economic Growth to then Minster of Finance, Olusegun Aganga.

 

Daniel is a graduate of The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London and holds a masters degree from Duke University. A qualified lawyer, some of his prior experiences include working for Simmons & Simmons in London, the Red Cross in Nigeria (northern), Professor Jonathan B. Wiener and the United Nations Office in Vienna. 

The World Economic Forum have over 500 members of staff, representing more than 55 nationalities. Candidates short-listed there can go through weeks of up to ten interviews for just one position! It is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. 

14yr old girl killed & set on fire by boyfriend because he thought she was pregnant

Shaniesha Forbes, 14, (pictured above) was killed by her 20 year old boyfriend who then burnt her body and dumped her remains on a beach just because he thought she was pregnant.
Below is how New York Post is reporting it:

The family of the 14-year-old Brooklyn girl who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend and dumped on a beach blasted him this morning for cowardly slaying her after he thought she was pregnant.

Police had arrested Christian Ferdinand, 20, in Maine on Tuesday, where he had fled after he allegedly suffocated Shaniesha Forbes, 14, and burnt her body before dumping the remains at Gerritsen Beach.

Shaneisha's grandmother (left) and mother (right)

"On the record, she wasn’t pregnant at all. As a 20-year-old man, that is something you could easily find out,” said her devastated cousin Kerry-Anne Thomas. “You had the courage and the balls to kill her and bring her body, and lay her on the beach. But you couldn’t go to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test to find out if it was actually true.”

Detectives yesterday drove Ferdinand back to the 63rd Precinct station house in Brooklyn, where he allegedly admitted to killing Forbes in January after coming to believe she was pregnant.

He was charged with second-degree murder, and has not been arraigned yet.

The victim’s weeping mother Sandra Price thanked the police for catching the killer, as did her grandmother Daisy Smith.

"I’m very grateful for the job that the two main detectives have done,” she said. “They did a wonderful job catching the killer and getting him for the street, and hopefully putting him away for life. That’s what I think he deserves.”

Smith said the family hadn’t been eating or sleeping since the girl’s death. “I’m so happy they caught this guy who killed my granddaughter,” she said. “There was nothing we could do, only wait…Bring him justice.”

Sources said Ferdinand suffocated the aspiring nurse — who was, in fact, not pregnant — in his apartment. He then kept her body in his home for a couple of days, sources said.

Finally, he allegedly put the corpse into a suitcase and brought it onto the beach, where he tried to get rid of it by setting it on fire.

Cops recovered the suitcase the killer used to transport Forbes’ body from his Maine hideout and also took floorboards from his former Brooklyn apartment, the sources said.

Relatives said never met Ferdinand, and was not sure how he met Forbes. Thomas speculated that they may have met through social media.

Honestly there shouldn’t have been a relationship. He was a 20-year-old man and she was a 14-year-old child,” she said. “As an adult, which he is, he should have known it was inappropriate to have any type of a relationship with a 14-year-old.”

Forbes was a student at the Academy of Young Writers in East New York.

Borno State: Troops capture Boko Haram’s camp

Culled from Punch

Early reports of military operations in the three North-East states under emergency rule, on Thursday, indicated that Nigerian soldiers had recaptured three of the local government areas where insurgents had been in control in northern Borno.

The names of the recaptured councils could not be confirmed out of the lot in possession of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram. The areas where the insurgents were said to have been in total control before the military operation launched on Thursday were Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno.

Also, the troops reportedly invaded and took over a training camp of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, known as Sambisa on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in the early hours of Thursday.

Borno as well as Adamawa and Yobe states fell under emergency rule by presidential proclamation on Tuesday.

President Goodluck Jonathan said all efforts to bring the violence in the area under control had failed hence the need to use force to force insurgents out of the states, especially Borno where the President said insurgents had taken control of the northern part.

A soldier who spoke to one of our  correspondents from Maiduguri, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We have succeeded in taking over Sambisa Games Reserve, which the sect had been using as its camp. Scores of people found in the camp were arrested.

“We will interrogate them and those who are not members of the sect will be set free. The operation is being carried out in such a way that there is no harassment. The innocent should not be afraid.”

The source however declined to comment on the number of casualties already recorded and the number of persons arrested.

The PUNCH learnt that troops on Thursday shut down almost half of the state as they attacked suspected Boko Haram enclaves.

A man who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone from Maiduguri narrated that the military operation in the city had disrupted normal life.

He said the number of roadblocks had increased and that “farmers are no longer going to the farm, only a few traders are venturing out to the market.

“Shop owners who sell provisions are finding it difficult to replenish their stock.”

The source further explained that even residents of Maiduguri, considered safe were living in fear.

This, he explained, was because they feared that the insurgents could sneak into town. The Boko Haram insurgency began in Maiduguri in 2009 and Borno State is seen as the operational base of the sect that has killed at least 2,500 persons in attacks on military and police facilities, drinking joints, worship houses and markets.

Director of Defence Information, Brig.- Gen. Chris Olukolade, said in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents that more troops had been deployed in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

He declined to comment on the number of troops that were billed to participate in the major military operations planned to flush out the insurgents from the area.

Olukolade said that it was not strategic to disclose the number of soldiers or security personnel that would be used for the operation.

“All I can say is that more soldiers have been deployed today; that I can confirm to you. On the issue of the numbers that are being quoted, they are not from the DHQ. We are not quoting any number.

“The operation is continuing satisfactorily. Details will be made available to the public at the appropriate time.”

Another source in the besieged area said, “We now have more soldiers and weapons than I have ever seen in my life. Although some of them are moving towards the north, some are remaining here in Maiduguri.

“I have no idea what is going on in places like Bama, Marte, Magumeri, and Monguno where the Boko Haram people have taken control of some towns and villages. But movement in-and-out of these areas has been restricted.”

Graphic photos: Trailer kills Okada man and his female passenger

A terrible accident occurred today around 5pm at Ijoju, Sango Ota, that left two people dead. A trailer used in conveying sharp sand crushed an Okada man and his female passenger while they were trying to cross the road. The bodies were left there for a bit before it was removed. There's no point looking at the photos but if you insist...then be warned, they are quite graphic.

Angelina Jolie reveals she had double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer

The 37 year old actress and mother of six wrote an article in the New York Times today May 14th revealing she underwent a double mastectomy earlier this year after a blood test showed she was genetically susceptible to cancer. Doctors told her she had an 87% risk of getting breast cancer. Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died at the age of 56 after battling with cancer for almost a decade.

Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely.

Angelina Jolie said she went through a series of medical procedures from February till April 2013 to have her breasts removed and then reconstructed. And she says Brad Pitt stood by her side every step of the way. Read Angelina's article NY Times article after the cut...

My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was. 

We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. 

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman. 

Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average. 

Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work. 

But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action. 

My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple. 

Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life. 

Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful. 

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer. 

It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity. 

I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has. 

For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices. 

I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women. 

Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women. 

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options. 

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

If you want to get the right information before making your final decision on which university that will best serve you or you want to just be sure or re-assured that you can still get admission into the University of your choice with you JAMB score, We have found something for you.

Below is the latest cut off marks for Nigerian Universities…
University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT:

200 and above for Dentistry, Pharmacy, Engineering (except Civil & Environmental Engineering), Management Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Social Sciences.
180 and above for others are invited to a Screening Exercise First Choice and Second Choice.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, NAU/UNIZIK: 180 Arts (except Departments of English & History ) and Education 200 for others
Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO: 180 First and Second Choice.
University of Ibadan UI: 200 First and Second Choice Most preferred
University of Lagos Unilag: 200 all courses, First Choice only
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN: 200 all courses; first and second Choice.
Obafemi Awolowo University OAU: 200; first and second choice
Nnamdi Azikiwe University,NAU/ UNIZIK: 180 Arts (except Depts of English & History) and Education and 200 for others; first choice only.
University of Ilorin, Unilorin: (i) 200 UTME for courses other than those listed in (5) O level Credits at not more than two sittings. (ii) 220 UTME for Accounting, Biochemistry, Business Administration, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Common Law, Economics, English, Electrical Engineering, Finance, Geology, Industrial Chemistry, Mass Communication, Mechanical Engineering, Microbiology, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine & (5) O level Credits at not more than two sittings. (iii) MB;BS candidates who obtained: (a) 240 marks in the UTME and (b) Credit Passes at one sitting only in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination or its equivalence in each of the following subjects: English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
University of Ado- Ekiti: 200; First and second choice
University of Benin, UNIBEN: 200; first choice only
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU),Zaria: 180 for Science based courses and 190 for Arts, Social Science, Law, Administration; first choice only
Usmanu Danfodiyo University,Sokoto: 180; First and second choice
Federal University of Technology, Akure FUTA: 200; first and second choice
University of Uyo, Uniuyo: 180; first choice only
University of Calabar Unical: 180 for some courses and 200 for others
University of Agriculture, Abeokuta UNAAB: – 180
University of Jos UNIJOS: 180; first and second choice
Lagos State University LASU: 200; first and second choice
Niger Delta University NDU: 180; first choice only
TAI Solarin University of Education TASUED: 180 first choice only (and change of course)
Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna: (i) 220 for School of Engineering and Engineering Technology and Environmental Technology (ii) 200 for School of Environmental Technology and School of Science and Science Education (iii) 190 for School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology and School of Science and Science Education.
Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina: 180; first choice only
Federal University Oye-Ekiti: 180; first and second choice
Federal University of Wukari,Taraba State: 180 in the Sciences and 190 in the humanities and Social Sciences; first and second choice.
Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State: 180; first and second choice.
Ebonyi State University EBSU: 180; first and second choice
Osun State University (UNIOSUN): 180 for Agriculture, Education and Arts (Humanities and Culture) and 200 for the rest; First and second choice.
Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun: 180; first and second choice
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike: 180; first and second choice.
Anambra State University: 180; first and second choice.
Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma: 180; first choice only
Kwara State University KWASU: 200; first and second choice and changing of courses.
Afe Babalola University (ABUAD): No official cut-off mark.
Benson Idahosa University: No official cut- off mark.
Bells University of Technology,Ota: No cut- off mark, as long as you chose or wish to change course.
Kaduna State University, KASU: 180 UTME cut off (first choice only)
Imo State University IMSU now Evan Enwerem University EEU: 180
Enugu State University of Science Tech: 180
Adekunle Ajasin University: 200
Rivers State University of Science and Technology,RSUS T: 180 (1st choice only)
Delta State University, Abraka, DELSU: 180
Abia State University, Uturu,ABSUU: 180
University of Maiduguri, UniMaid: 180
Kogi State University, KSU: 180
Polytechnics and Colleges of Education 2012/2013 JAMB-UTME Cut-off mark List Yaba College of Technology,Yaba Tech: 160 Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi: 180; most preferred, more preferred or preferred Polytechnic Ibadan: No cut-off mark

JAMB Releases 2013 UTME Results: Only Ten Candidates Score 300 Marks And Above

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.

The board, however, withheld 12,110 results for possible disciplinary action.

The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, announced this at a news conference on the release of the results in Bwari, FCT, on Friday.

The registrar said after thorough processing of answer scripts of the candidates who sat for the examination, the board discovered some forms of malpractice perpetuated during the conduct of the examination.

“However, the results of 68,309 candidates from various centres are undergoing further screening to ascertain the culpability of 12,110 candidates’ results.”

A total of 1,629,102 candidates applied to sit for the Paper Pencil Test (PPT), while 15,008 candidates applied for the Dual Based Test, bringing the number of candidates  to 1,644,110.

“The general performance of candidates in this year’s examination shows remarkable improvement compared with last year.

“Ten candidates scored 300 marks and above, while 127,017 candidates scored between 1-159 marks.

“About 40,692 candidates’ results were invalid due to either multiple shading or no shading at all.  After processing all the results, the board also discovered that about 47,974 candidates were absent.”

The registrar assured the candidates that their results could be accessed on the JAMB Website: www.myjambresult.com using their registration numbers.

He said about 40 centres would be screened to ascertain their culpability and warned the public against Internet fraudsters.

“Information reaching JAMB shows Internet fraudsters are already telling candidates that their results could be upgraded in one form or the other.”

This is pure deceit, the public and candidates are hereby advised to disregard these fraudsters since they do not have access to our data.

“Let me once again state that candidates are allowed to change their choices of institutions and courses once only, this change has to be effected within two weeks from today.”

Ojerinde said the Computer Based Test (CBT) is scheduled to take place from May 18 to June 1 and appealed to candidates to reprint their e-registration slips afresh to further ascertain their CBT centres. (NAN)

Pres. Jonathan awards $40m contract to Israeli company to monitor internet communication by Nigerians?

I put the question mark there because this is so hard to believe. President Jonathan wouldn't dare do this, would he? Below is the report from Premium Times

Here is a very important information for the 47 million Nigerian Internet users. Big Brother, in the form of the Jonathan administration, is watching you, and your communication is no longer safe.

It is one of the most far-reaching policies ever designed in Nigeria’s history to invade the privacy of citizens.

The Jonathan administration secretly, and in open violation of lawful contracting procedures, has awarded an Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, with headquarters in Haifa, a $40million contract to help it spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security.

Elbit announced the contract award Wednesday in a global press release but was silent on the Nigerian destination of the contract. Its general manager, Yehuda Vered, opaquely announced that “Elbit Systems will supply its Wise Intelligence Technology (WiT) system to an unnamed country in Africa under a new $40 million contract announced on 24 April… for Intelligence Analysis and Cyber Defense,” but effusively claimed, in the statement, that his company is “proud to be selected to supply this unique system, which is already field-proven, fully operational and customisable.

“Elbit Systems is a world leader in the fields of intelligence analysis and cyber defense, with proven solutions highly suitable for countries, armies and critical infrastructure sites. We hope that additional customers will follow in selecting our highly advanced and cutting edge systems in these fields as their preferred solution,” Mr. Vered added.

Multiple and very reliable sources in the administration confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Nigeria is indeed the “unnamed African country,” and with details from the Elbit statement, our sources say the contract will now help the Jonathan administration access all computers and read all email correspondences of citizens in what is clearly, an infringement on constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.

No single policy of this administration has so far affected, in one fell swoop, the lives of 47 million citizens, a third of the Nigerian population and about four times the number of voters who brought the president to power two years ago.

Nigerian netizens, the horde of active citizens that use the computer and Internet, are the 10^th in a global ranking that make them 27 per cent of Africa’s total Internet users, far ahead of Egypt [19^th global ranking] and South Africa [37^th in global ranking].

The growth path of the Internet in Nigeria has also been dramatic, rising from a mere 200,000 Internet users in 2002 to 47 million this year, according to data from the Global Internet user, one of the Internet audit groups.

This development has not always gladdened public officials in Nigeria many who have expressed open displeasure at the use of the Internet by social media activists and the power of its possibilities as an empowering medium for popular communication. The calls for regulation have been loud in both the administration and in the Nigerian legislature.

The earliest hint that the Jonathan administration had desires to invade privacy of citizens surfaced ealy April when researchers at the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto alerted the world that Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya were deploying Internet surveillance and censorship technology developed by an American company, Blue Coat, which specializes in online security. Blue Coat’s technology will allow the government to invade the privacy of journalists, netizens and their sources. Its censorship devices use Deep Packet Inspection, DPI, a technology employed by many western Internet Service Providers, to manage network traffic and suppress unwanted connections.

Civic groups kick against DPI because, they say, it makes it possible for censors to look into every single Internet Protocol packet and subject it to special treatment based on content (censored or banned words) or type (email, VoIP or BitTorrent Protocol).

DPI not only threatens the principle of Net Neutrality and the privacy of users, civic groups say, it makes single users identifiable and, in countries that flout the rule of law and violate human rights, often exposes them to arbitrary imprisonment, violence or even torture.

While details of the Blue Coat contract appears to have managed to evade scrutiny up till this point, PREMIUM TIMES sources say the Elbit annunciation of the contract, opaque as it was, terribly rattled top administration officials – from the presidency to the National Security Adviser’s Office, and the National Assembly.

“The presidency had wanted this contract to be a top secret,” said one of our sources. “The presidency did not envisage that Elbit was going to make it public. Monitoring computers and Internet use is a contentious issue and the National Security Adviser had tried to keep the contract secret.”

Elbit says it will take it two years to complete the project, by which time it claimed, the administration will have “a highly advanced end-to-end solution, [to] supports every stage of the intelligence process, including the collection of the data from multiple sources, databases and sensors, processing of the information, supporting intelligence personnel in the analysis and evaluation of the information and disseminating the intelligence to the intended recipient…[that] will be integrated with various data sources, including Elbit Systems’ Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) solution and Elbit Systems’ PC Surveillance Systems (PSS), an advance solution for covert intelligence gathering.”

The administration had indicated in the 2013 budget that it would procure a Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyzer System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System at a cost of N9.496 Billion ($61.26 million).

Now that the contract has been awarded to Elbit for about  $40million, it is unclear if the National Assembly will raise questions as to what becomes of the extra $21million earmarked for the project.

Investigations indicate that in awarding the contract to the Israeli firm, no tenders or calls for bids were made just as there were no public announcements. The contract was awarded following a proposal from a single vendor who dictated the contract sum and the terms of the contract.

The procedure for public procurement of services as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigerian agency charged with the duty of ensuring transparency in all matters concerning government contracts, were largely ignored. In addition, there are no public records indicating that the BPP approved this contract.

The manner of award directly contravenes the 2007 Public Procurement Act. While the Act gives room for single source contracts, the Elbit contract met none of the requirements under which such special contracts could be awarded.

Section 47 (3) (iii) of the 2007 Act stipulates that single source contracts are to be awarded in emergency situations such as “natural disasters or a financial crisis”.

Presidential spokespersons, Reuben Abati, and Doyin Okupe were not available for comments Wednesday.  They didn’t answer or return calls seeking comments.

Calls to Elbit’s headquarters in Haifa, Israel, were also unanswered.

Shari Clarkson, a spokesperson at the company’s subsidiary in the United States declined comments on the contract saying only Dalia Rosen, a spokesperson based in Israel, could comment. Rosen’s phone was unanswered.

 

Source Linda Ikeji's Blog

Former Super Eagles Captain, Segun Odegbami, set to launch book

Chief Segun Odegbami popularly known as the "Mathematical", an ex international football player, former super eagles captain, 1 goal ambassador, Ambassador for sports would on the 2nd of May, 2013 be launching his book titled " Me, Football and More".

The event has been scheduled to take a place in 15 states cut across Nigeria starting from Lagos on the 2nd of May at the anchor event place, Ikeja, Lagos.


Chief Segun Odegbami who has being a columnist for various national and international papers for more than 2 decades would be using this event to properly present a compilation of some of his selected writings from his past articles over the last 20 years.

He willl be presenting the book to the public at an event which would be elaborately and strategically organized to celebrate art, sports, history and the footballer and writer.

Chief Segun would also be presenting an audio version of the book to the public which is a compilation of some of his selected writings being  read by some renowned personalities from the field of music, movie, media, sports, etc. such as Joke Silva, Soni Irabor, Yinka Davies, Jimi Solanke, Ronke Ayuba, Bimbo (Roberts) Oloyede, Dejumo Lewis, Sola Omole, Femi Siwoolu etc

The event which is strictly by invitation would be well attended by highly placed personalities in the field of sports, music, art, movie, politics and  education.

Blasts near Boston Marathon kill 2; injury toll rising

2 dead, 20 injured after explosions at Boston Marathon today. Below is how CNN is reporting it...

Blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed two people and injured more than 20 others Monday, Boston police said.

The marathon itself, on its Facebook page, referred to the blasts as bombs. Authorities did not say immediately what caused the explosions.

Massachusetts General Hospital said it was treating 19 injured people; Tufts Medical Center reported that it was treating nine people. Combined, that brings the number of injured to at least 28. Police reported 22 people injured.

The explosions sent smoke billowing into the air at Copley Square, turning a site of celebration into a mess of destruction. 

Crowds had gathered in the area to watch the runners.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Lenox Hotel was evacuated, the Boston Globe reported, as authorities looked into possible security concerns.

"We are currently in contact with federal, state and city officials," Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick wrote on Twitter.

Other cities, including New York and Washington, tightened security as a result. Following standard protocol, the White House cleared out an area in front of the West Wing.

"If you see something, say something," Mark Boughton, mayor of Canbury, Connecticut, wrote on Twitter. "All cities will be on a heightened state of alertness per Homeland Security protocols."

Mike Baingon, who works at the Atlantic Fish Company in Boston, said an explosion took place in front of the restaurant and that he was right by the front door at the time.

The explosions occurred at about 2:45 p.m., more than two hours after the first of the race's nearly 27,000 runners had crossed the finish line, CNN Producer Matt Frucci reported.

The race was halted as was subway service into the area.

Runners east of Massachusetts Avenue were directed to Boston Common; those west of Massachusetts Avenue were directed to Kenmore Square, the state's emergency management agency said.

Troops from the Massachusetts National Guard were assisting police as well.