Have you tried the Nokia Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria?

I started using the Ovi Life Tools since last Saturday, to see how useful they are and found them engaging for having the latest updates of facts on Health, Education, Agriculture and Entertainment for my news and information blogs.

The Ovi Life Tools were launched in Nigeria last November, 2010, after the successful introductions in India, Indonesia and China.

Ovi Life Tools is a first step toward extending the advantages of today’s digital economy to the whole world at cheaper rates so that everyone can afford the service.

The service has been of immense benefit to over 7 million users so far. Farmers in rural areas in Asia use the tool for agriculture to get vital information on the weather and crops.




Presently the Nokia Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria will be offered on the Nokia 2690 and on the Nokia C1-01 through Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile, at the affordable prices of N250 for the agriculture service and N200 per month for all other subscriptions and will soon be on MTN.

The service will be available countrywide in Nigeria in three languages – English, Hausa and Pidgin English.

Once activated the service on their phones, it will be free of charge for one service for the next one month. Note that there are 4 services: Agriculture, Healthcare, Entertainment, and Education. The 1 month free service is for only one of these services of their choice. If they choose to activate the 4 services, they will be charged for 3 while the 4 th will be free.

The healthcare service include information and advice on mother & childcare, health, fitness and diseases. Users can tailor the service to their needs by entering their sex, age and other relevant details. The agriculture service allows subscribers to specify the crops or commodities they’re interested in, their location and the preferred language for messages. English learning can be provided in Easy, Medium and Difficult levels, according to the user’s proficiency. The entertainment services includes local and international football information (personalised around the subscriber’s favourite team), music, entertainment news and jokes.

Go try the Ovi Life Tools and Enjoy 24/7.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT OVI LIFE TOOLS IN NIGERIA


Q: What is Nokia’s Ovi Life tools?

A: Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is a suite of personally relevant information services providing regular localized information related to Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment. The service is designed to work without the need for any GPRS plans or settings, as the updates are delivered via SMS to the OLT inbox in a graphically rich easy to read format in the user’s local language.

Q: Are all of these services/areas be available in Nigeria?

A: Yes, the Ovi Life Tools offering in Nigeria will consist of the Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Entertainment services.

Q: What do these services actually offer?

A: The services offer the following to users:




Healthcare Services: (total of 7 subscription services)
• Mother & Child
o Subscription service #1: Pregnancy advice – This service keeps the user informed on what to expect from pregnancy and parenthood along with the nutritional and developmental needs of oneself during the entire course of pregnancy. Information delivered to the user is specific to the week of pregnancy and geography determined by the expected date of delivery and the location (6 geographical zones in Nigeria) provided by the user.
o Subscription service #2: Child care advice – The service provides information on the nutritional, hygiene, immunization, and developmental needs of the child linked to the important milestones related to child growth up to 5 years of age. Health tips are relevant to the age of the child determined by the Date of Birth input by the parent.
• Health and Fitness
o Subscription service #3: Women’s Health – The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user.
o Subscription service #4: Men’s Health - The user will receive gender, region and age specific health tips on nutrition, hygiene, fitness and well being to help the user stay fit. Daily content delivered in local language specific to the age of the user.
• Disease Information
• Daily health tips to user based on the important disease conditions prevalent in the geography. Information will help user in prevention, prolonging onset and living better with the condition. Health tips related to medical, co-morbidities, lifestyle, fitness and safety based on the condition chosen by the user. In keeping with the healthcare industry practices, the tips are preventive in nature and not diagnostic or prescriptive advice is offered.

Agriculture Services:

• The Agri service covers the 25 major crops/commodities at launch. More will be progressively added. Market Prices for 111 marketplaces in Nigeria, with 3 market places for each state in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
• There is one agriculture subscription service which packages the news & tips, weather and market prices. The user makes the selection of the 3 crops/commodities that she wishes to be informed regularly about. This hyper local service is personalized to those 3 crops for user’s region.
1. News & Tips: The user will receive daily crop tips based on the choice of crop/commodity and agriculture news that is relevant to the location of the user. The crop tips are hyper localized advice based on crop life cycle & agro climatic aspects prevalent in the user’s location. Tips also will contain best practices & techniques around increasing the yield of the crop/commodity.
• Market Prices: The user will receive market prices twice a week for a choice of 3 crops/commodities from 3 nearby & relevant markets for the crop/commodity.
• Weather: The user will receive weather forecast for the day specific to the location. The weather information will include general outlook around Temperature, Rainfall, Humidity & Wind.

Education Services:

• Learn English – This service allows users to learn Conversational English with the help of their local language via daily messages. The service comes with a choice of three levels - Easy, Medium & Difficult allowing the users choice of learning levels. The service also allows choice of languages – English, English with Hausa and English with Pidgin. The learning outcomes of the Easy level are 70% common conversational words and 30% common phrases using simple sentences; the learning outcomes of Medium level are 30% intermediate vocabulary, 40% common phrases and 30% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using simple sentences, while the Difficult level focuses on 50% on advanced vocabulary and 50% on constructs like verbs, tenses etc.. using intermediate sentences. Each of the three levels – Easy, Medium, Difficult are separate subscription services to enable the users to choose the service based on their current knowledge.
• General Knowledge - This service allows users to keep themselves updated with general knowledge, important information and vital facts about their state, country and the world via daily messages. This service focuses 60% on region or state level, 30% on national level and 10% international information.
• Exam Results – This service allows users to get their exam results for WAEC by providing their registration number.

Entertainment Services:
• Football: This service allows users to keep themselves updated on the latest happenings around their favorite football club. The daily updates will be around news, match dates, transfers, gossip etc. around the club and the players. On match days, the users will receive 8 updates during the match time spaced from start to end of the match covering key items like goals, score updates, penalties and final result. The users have a choice of 12 football clubs, national and international.
• Music: This service allows the user access to a variety of music services like MonoTones, TrueTones, PolyTones categorized into Naija Top 10, World Top 10, HipHop, Oldies, Gospel etc.
• News: This service allows the user to keep up-to-date with the latest International, National and Sports news.
• Horoscope: This service allows user to access daily predictions based on Sun Signs of choice.
• Jokes: This service allows user access to a daily dose of humor in the form of jokes.
• Entertainment Gist: This service allows user to keep up-to-date on the gossip around the entertainment industry and popular personalities.

Q. Why do you say Ovi Life Tools is personalized and hyper local?

A: The learning and information services in Ovi Life Tools are specific to user profile and choices making them personalized and hyper local. Various services allow relevant personalization by users, for example:
• The agriculture services allow the user to specify the crop/commodity of choice, location and language of messages.
• In healthcare services the user is allowed to input details like Gender, Date of Birth and relevant details (expected date of delivery or last menstrual period) to personalize the service content to exactly match the profile of the user. The user also has the choice of language of content for all services and location for pregnancy, men’s & women’s health.
• In education services, for Learn English the user can choose the level of difficulty of learning English by subscribing to Easy, Medium and Difficult levels based on their current proficiency in the language. Furthermore, the user can choose to learn English with via English or English + Hausa or English + Pidgin.
• In entertainment services, for Football the user has a choice of 12 popular football clubs to choose from and similar choice are available in other entertainment services too like Sun Signs in Horoscope, wide range of options in Music, etc...

Q: Which Operators will support Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools in Nigeria?

A: We will support all operators to ensure the benefits of the service are available to all mobile users in Nigeria. To start with, Zain/Airtel and Glo Mobile are live. We are in discussions with other operators and will endeavor to work with them to get the benefits of Life Tools to a larger base of mobile users in Nigeria.

Q. In which languages is this service be available?

A: The service content will be available English, Hausa and Pidgin English. .

Q. Is Ovi Life Tools be available to the whole of Nigeria?

A: Yes, Nokia’s Ovi Life Tools is available nationwide in Nigeria.

Q: Is this available on all Nokia devices in Nigeria ?

A: The Nokia Ovi Life Tools service in Nigeria is available on select Nokia devices. It will initially be pre-installed on the Nokia 2690 and the Nokia C1-01. The service will be available on additional Series 40 & Series 30 devices in 2011.

Q: When did you start working on this project in Nigeria?

A: We have been working on this project since the second half of 2009.

Q: Why do you think this service will be popular in Nigeria?

A: OLT addresses the basic needs of people. Aside from this, the service aims to improve people’s livelihood. It will also provide information which will help people make informed decisions that will improve their lives.

Q: What type of support have you had from the Government in Nigeria?

A: Courtesy visits were made to the management team of Nigeria’s telecom industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as well to the Minister of Information (which is the supervisory ministry of NCC), Prof. Dora Akunyili, in September 2010, during which they were briefed on the OLT service. They are very excited about the service and we will work together to take the partnership further.

Q: What are Nokia’s expectations for take up of the service in Nigeria and by when?

A: Based on our experience in other markets, we are confident that Nigeria consumers will find this service attractive and affordable. We will start off slowly with only a few devices linked to the service and add more next year. We will take continuous feedback from the market and constantly improve the service.

Q: Aren't these low-end phones on which OLT is being offered no longer meeting demand - even in rural areas - for multimedia touch devices at affordable prices?

A: It is important that we deliver the total solutions at an affordable price, so we are starting with some of the well known and affordable devices. We will add a larger range of devices in the future giving consumers even more choices.


FACTS ON SMS

Despite the flexibility of email and the ever-so-fashionable Twitter, SMS (text) messages remain the most popular messaging choice of mobile phone users around the world. Here are five textual facts:

The first text message was sent on December 3, 1992 using the UK’s Vodafone network. It read ‘Merry Christmas’.

Six per cent of texts are never read by their recipients.

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology found that texting was addictive as smoking, with around a fifth of people suffering increased heart rate and anxiety levels when deprived of their phones.

Around 2.5 trillion text messages were sent worldwide in 2008 – a 20 percent increase from 2007.

The phrase used in Guinness World Record speed texting attempts is “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” Time to beat? 41.4 seconds.

Eko International Film Festival gets underway

Eko Int’l. filmfest gets underway

~ By Iyabo AINA

President of the Eko International Film Festival, Mr. Hope Opara has announced a new date for the hosting of this year’s edition of the epoch-making festival.

The festival, which will open the floodgate of events for this new season, is coming up between July between 9th and 14th of July, 2011, in Lagos.

Mr. Opara, who is also the Managing Director/CEO of Flonnal Limited and Supple Communications Limited said, this year’s festival will witness a huge participation from film makers from across the world, including Albania , France ,Spain ,Canada ,Algeria ,Germany ,U.K.,Kenya and Nigeria.



Mr. Hope Obioma Opara


He also noted that unlike other film festivals organised in the country, the Eko Film festival promises to be different in terms of organisation, participation and content.

According to him, Eko filmfest. is yearly organised to appreciate as well promote the nation’s motion picture industry and also the tourism in Lagos State.

As the President of the film festival, Mr. Opara reiterated his commitment towards promoting the sustainable development and advancement of the motion picture industry in Nigeria and the rest of the world.

“I want Nigerian film makers to improve the quality of their movies to world class standards.


Click here to read the full report

Presidential Primary is the celebration of Jonathan and the humiliation of Atiku

A happy President Goodluck Jonathan

The presidential primary of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the celebration of the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the humiliation of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Jonathan won the presidential primary on Thursday January 13, 2010, in the Federal Capital of Abuja by a landslide as he thoroughly defeated his two opponents Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of the most populous country in Africa and Mrs. Sarah Jibril. Mr. Jonathan had 2,736 votes compared to Abubakar's 805. Mrs. Jibril had only a single vote.


Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

Mr. Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the PDP will now confront more formidable opponents from the opposing parties in the April presidential elections.
"He has not prepared himself to govern. He found himself accidentally as a president, and power being what it is, insists on continuing to govern," Abubakar said last Wednesday, but the majority of the delegates seemed to have ignored his criticisms and overwhelmingly rejected him.

PanAfrican Capital Plc appoints new Directors

PanAfrican Capital Plc appoints new Directors

PanAfrican Capital Plc, one of the emerging players in Investment Banking, in the nation’s Capital Market held its last Annual General Meeting on December 3, 2010 and ratified the appointment of three (3) Directors on its Board. They are Professor Peter Nwangwu, Mr. Lanre Odunlami, and Mr. Chuks Ekpunobi:




Professor Peter Nwangwu

A healthcare scientist with very strong inter-disciplinary academic and research preparation. He has significant research experience in both academia and industry; also has to his credit, history of productive and relevant research experience in both clinical research and basic laboratory research.


Professor Nwangwu has over 30 years of professional experience and 25 years of Senior Management experience which includes Director of Clinical Research at the University; Clinical Research Monitor at a multi-billion dollar, multi-national drug company, and President and CEO of companies in a variety of industrial sectors, including President and CEO of a drug manufacturing firm.


A warm-blooded Entrepreneur adept with new venture creation, and managing multiple tasks simultaneously, comfortably. He is endowed with excellent skill in strategic planning, complex contract negotiations with government agencies and industry. Passionate and an intense advocate of economic development activities.



Mr. Lanre Odunlami

A Chartered Accountant with vast experience in Accounting, Internal Controls, Strategy, Financial Reporting/Analysis and Performance Management. He is a First Class Accounting Graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile - Ife. He was a pioneer member of the Financial Control Department of Standard Trust Bank (now UBA Plc).


He was, at various times, Senior Financial Officer; Head, Financial Control, Group Head, Strategy and Brand Development in Guardian Express Bank Plc and Head, Performance Management, Bank PHB. He has attended a number of technical and management courses including Executive Management courses at the Wits Business School, Johannesburg, South Africa and a Balanced Scorecard Certification Master Class in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Odunlami is presently the Chief Financial Officer of Spring Bank Plc and a Nominee of the Bank.




Mr. Chuks Ekpunobi

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a Master Degree holder in Banking & Finance, University of Port Harcourt. He has vast experience that cuts across Accounting, Audit, Banking & Leasing. He was at various times Head, Internal Controls, Head of Inspection & Head, Financial Control of Institutions such as Ivory Merchant Bank, Metropolitan Bank & Fortune International Bank Limited. He also had varied experience in Leasing in Acquila Capital Limited where he worked as Assistant Vice-President. Ekpunobi is Chief Inspector of Spring Bank Plc and a Nominee of the Bank.

Beyond the Theater: Moviegoers and Other Media

13 Jan 2011 11:00 Africa/Lagos


Beyond the Theater: Moviegoers and Other Media

Moviegoing Declining; Movie 'Viewing' Not

PR Newswire

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 13, 2011

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Interpret, a leading entertainment, media and technology market research firm, today released its Interpretations report, "Beyond the Theater: Moviegoers and Other Media," which found that though the number of moviegoers decreased over the past year, time spent with other media to view movies has increased.

Interpret's New Media Measure™ data shows the number of moviegoers (defined as those who watch 3 or more movies in a theater in the past 6 months) has decreased 11% over the past year, and the average number of movies watched in the theater among this group has also decreased. At the same time, more moviegoers (36%) are streaming full-length movies online, increasing 16% in the past year. Perhaps most disconcerting is that these alternative options have resulted in less interest in being the first to see movies in the theater.

"While the number of active moviegoers is down, there is a silver lining in that movie lovers are turning to other media to view movies," said Dan Casey, VP of the Movie Group at Interpret. "Moviegoers' use of other media – like video games and social networking – has also increased, offering studios and marketers new ways to interact with movie-loving audiences."

Click here for more information about this report.

New Media Measure™ is Interpret LLC's proprietary, quarterly survey of media behaviors, attitudes and product consumption. Designed to keep pace with the evolving media landscape, New Media Measure™ supplies the means to better measure and keep track of fast-changing consumer behaviors. New Media Measure™ surveys 9,000 consumers aged 12-65, representative of the U.S. population and weighted to U.S. Census. Data collected includes: demographics, psychographics, brand consumption, traditional media consumption, online and social networking, mobile phone, video gaming, and digital entertainment. Data is available via Interface, a web-accessible, interactive analysis tool, through Intrend, quarterly trend reports, and through Interpretations, monthly whitepapers written by Interpret analysts.

About Interpret LLC

Interpret is the leading cross-media market research firm. The company applies proprietary, cutting-edge methodologies and extensive category knowledge to help clients plan, test, and measure business strategies in the fast-evolving media landscape. Interpret's unique combination of syndicated measurement products and custom market research services provides a common language across media for the key stakeholders of the digital age. www.interpretllc.com.

SOURCE Interpret LLC

CONTACT: Jeff Tiddens of Interpret LLC, +1-310-255-0590, ext. 346, sales@interpretllc.com

Web Site: http://www.interpretllc.com

To All The Ignorant Political Sycophants Of President Goodluck Jonathan

Please, read the following article and honestly say if your idol is worthy of your support.

A Budget of Consolidated Poverty

~ By Education Rights Campaign


ON Wednesday December 15, 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2011 appropriation bill to the joint session of the National Assembly. Speaking on the bill which was glowingly labeled 'a budget of fiscal consolidation, inclusive economic growth and employment generation', President Jonathan expressed optimism that the 2011 budget would make Nigeria one of the 20 most advanced economies by year 2020.


Against the calls of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Staff Unions like the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) as well as the numerous protests, demonstrations and agitations by stakeholders in the education sector for the government to increase funding to education up to UNESCO recommended standard of 26% as a step towards the provision of a free and functional education at all levels, President Jonathan and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) have prepared a budget that totally relegates education to the background while allocating a larger unmerited chunk to the Presidency and the National Assembly.

According to the 2011 appropriation bill of about N4.226 trillion, only a meager sum of N35 billion is being proposed for capital projects in the education sector. This compared to huge sums of N39 billion proposed for the Presidency and over N350 billion for the National Assembly is an absolute rip-off of Nigerians! Allocation for refreshment and meals alone for the office of the president is a scandalous N312 million! Similarly, about N12 million has been allocated for refreshment and meals for the Senate and N47 million for honorarium and sitting allowance. Their House of Representatives counterparts will get about N8.1 million and N55 million respectively for refreshment and meals, honorarium and sitting allowance! This is aside the jumbo salary packages for members of the executive and legislative arms of governance. Meanwhile, this heartless sharing of the collective resources of Nigerians by a few capitalist ruling class is taking place without regard for the worsening state of public education and the fate of over 12 million Nigerian children who are out of school.

The ERC considers the 2011 appropriation as a breach of the October 2009 FG-ASUU agreement and the recent judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice sitting in Abuja which upheld the right of every Nigerian child to free and compulsory education. The breach of the judgment of the ECOWAS Court of justice is all the more scandalous considering the fact that President Jonathan is the Chairman of the ECOWAS. It is an embarrassment that Nigeria which wants to be seen as the giant of Africa is failing to implement the court judgment of ECOWAS – a regional body whose chairman happens to be the President of Nigeria. We ask: How effective and respected will ECOWAS be in the eyes of the world and in the West African sub-region when its Chairman flagrantly disobeys the judgment of its court?

To us in the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), the 2011 appropriation bill is nothing but a budget of consolidated poverty. Contrary to President Jonathan false assurances, it will not make Nigeria one of the 20 most advanced economies by year 2020. Instead this budget will make Nigeria a country with one of the worst education sectors, a country with one of the highest numbers of illiterate youths, the largest rate of school drop-outs and unemployable young graduates, the lowest in Human Capital Development and the highest in brain drain by the year 2020. This is because the amount allocated to education is too minute to resolve the massive infrastructural deficit with which the Nation's education sector is currently bedeviled and the amount allocated are usually looted by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.

We therefore call on the National Assembly to debate this budget proposal with the intention of doing a service to the Nation's youths who are desirous of a free, functional and accessible education by increasing allocation to education up to 26 per cent of the total budget as recommended by UNESCO. Unless this is done, the ERC will continue to reject this appropriation bill and we shall mobilize Nigerian students and youths to reject it not only with words but also with political actions.

Already the state of education in Nigeria has gone from bad to worse as the year 2010 witnessed a meteoric rise in fees in tertiary institutions across the country. Describing the terrible conditions in our education sector, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has observed that, 'Due to poor funding of education, education at all levels suffers from low academic standards; lacks requisite teachers; both in sufficient quantity and quality. Even the few qualified teachers available are not sufficiently motivated in terms of remuneration or conducive operating environment to maximize their output into the education system. Schools are over-populated and classrooms are over-crowded, facilities are inadequate and over-stressed, library shelves are empty and covered with cobwebs, while laboratories lack up-to-date equipment'. Equally, no Nigerian University can be found among the first 5000 in the world and the first 50 in Africa and over 12 million children of school age are out of school. Last year, there were 98 per cent and 74 per cent mass failure in the 2009 National Examination Council (NECO) November/December SSCE examination and 2010 May/June WAEC examination respectively!

These statistics to us are enough frightening signals and warnings for any serious government to begin to address these problems by improving funding of the education sector. Actually to begin to turn around this dismal fortune of the education sector, government will have to invest massively in funding the education sector by providing facilities like adequate lecture theatres, hostel facilities, ICT facilities, equipped laboratories and libraries, enhancement of wages and working conditions of staff in order to attract the best brain to the teaching profession at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.

Also the products of the investment- the students – upon graduation have to be provided with jobs so they can give back to the economy. In that case, government have to invest massively in industrial and agricultural development, which will ensure the transformation of Nigeria to a producing economy while guaranteeing jobs for all graduates of tertiary institutions. For optimum utilization of the resources invested to be achieved and to discourage corruption at all levels, schools must be democratically managed by workers/experts and the communities.

However, none of these will be achieved unless the government jettisons all IMF/World Bank-inspired neo-liberal policies of privatization and place the commanding heights of the economy under public ownership and management. Only this can ensure the full mobilization of the huge amount of money needed by government to invest in education, job creation and social services.

However instead of government taking the issues in this direction, all key economic policies of Jonathan's administration especially those canvassed in the 2011 appropriation bill pander towards reducing government role in funding of social services while prioritizing the sale of education, health, roads and infrastructures to profit-seeking private sector in the name of privatization, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and commercialization. The net effect of these misguided neo-liberal policies of the Jonathan administration is that things will continue to get worse in the coming period. If government continues these ruinous neo-liberal policies of education under funding, indeed by year 2020 public education will have collapsed thus turning the current and future generations of Nigerian youths into criminals, love-peddlers and destitute.

Demands:
• We call on the National Assembly to increase allocation to education in the 2011 appropriation bill up to 26 per cent of the budget otherwise the ERC will not hesitate to lead Nigerian students and youths on a protest march to the National Assembly.

• Immediate setting up of budget monitoring committees by Governing Councils of all Universities in accordance with 2009 FG-ASUU agreement. These budget monitoring committees must comprise elected representatives of students and staff unions with the sole purpose of monitoring government allocations to tertiary institutions and ensuring judicious use of resources.

• Downward review of the salaries and allowances of public office holders, payment of living wage to workers and placement of all public office holders on the same wage of civil servants and professional workers.

• Cancellation of the illegal and unconstitutional practice of constituency projects of members of the National Assembly. Projects are the duties of the executive arm of government.

• Payment of N40,000 Cost of Study Allowance (COSA) to students of tertiary institutions to offset the cost of books, accommodation, transportation etc.

• Reversal of all fee increments especially the atrocious fee increases at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). We call on the Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to immediately reverse the proposed increase of acceptance fee for fresh students from N2,000 to N20,000 and introduction of a health insurance fee of N1,600 or face mass protest and demonstrations of students.

• Public ownership of the commanding heights of the economy under the control and management of the working people.

• Hassan Soweto (National Co-ordinator) and Chinedu Bosah (National Secretary) sent this piece on behalf of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC).

http://nigerianewsdaily.com/categoryblog/13144-erc-a-budget-of-consolidated-poverty.html

President Goodluck Jonathan has failed

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria


If the incompetent administration of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) has failed woefully to protect the lives and properties of innocent citizens of Nigeria, then we must get rid of the PDP and their corrupt leaders.

Our people are under the siege of rampaging ethno-religious fanatics of the lunatic fringe in the northern states, incessant kidnappings and robberies in the southern eastern and south southern states and political mayhem and assassinations in the southwestern states.

The apologies and regrets of the government in power are not what we need to address the appalling state of insecurity in Nigeria, but a pragmatic and systemic solution to guarantee the safety of precious lives and invaluable properties in Nigeria.

Have anyone read Dear Karl Maier, This House Has Not Yet Fallen?

Let us stop wasting our time and lives debating over their incompetent presidential candidates.

President Goodluck Jonathan has failed to prove that he is a good commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Only idiots and fools will vote for him.

Releases displayed in EST time
Jan 11, 2011 NIGERIA:
07:02	Nigeria / Un journaliste américano-nigérian interpellé à l'aéroport de Lagos, ses passeports confisqués pendant deux jours
07:00	Nigeria / US-Nigerian journalist arrested at Lagos airport, passports confiscated for two days
05:00	GBGC Strengthens Team to Meet Gambling's Pace of Change SUDAN Jan 11, 2011 16:53 Sudan on its Way Towards a Successful Referendum 16:20 AJC Hails South Sudan Referendum 11:00 Triple Points for Travelers with Choice Hotels this Season 03:00 Swap Your Travelcard for the Adventure of a Lifetime Jan 10, 2011 07:38 Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on the eve of Southern Sudan's Referendum on self-determination, 9-15 January 2011 07:30 EAC referendum observer mission in Southern Sudan 07:28 Darfur / UNAMID Daily Media Brief 07:26 Joint Statement of the International referendum observation missions in the Sudan 07:19 Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Sudan / Start of the Southern Sudan referendum 07:13 Secretary Clinton on Start of Southern Sudan Referendum 07:11 Ambassador Rice on Start of Voting in Southern Sudan 07:07 President Obama on Start of Voting in Southern Sudan Jan 9, 2011 11:02 Sudan Honors its Commitment: Historic Referendum on Schedule Jan 7, 2011 12:08 Italian Foreign Minister Frattini meets with his Sudanese counterpart Ali Ahmed Kharti. 11:42 MTV Joins with George Clooney, Google, the United Nations and Others to Help Deter War in Sudan 08:20 UN Security Council Press Statement on Southern Sudan Referendum 08:09 Rwanda / Prosecutor requests 33 and 12 years in jail for two women journalists 07:01 Near-verbatim Transcript of the Press Conference by Mr. David Gressly the Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan 06:54 USA / Media Note on Special Envoy Gration's Travel to Sudan 06:47 Communiqué by the Afro Arab Ministerial Committee on Darfur AFRICA Jan 11, 2011 23:00 Economic Freedom Advanced in 2010 17:42 One Year Later: Plan International USA's Stepped Up Relief Operations in Haiti Continue to Make Progress 16:20 Trey Songz, Ne-yo, Yolanda Adams, Keyshia Cole, Lalah Hathaway and More to Deliver Thrilling Performances at BET HONORS 2011 16:20 AJC Hails South Sudan Referendum 15:20 Michelin Challenge Design Celebrates Ten Years and Announces the 2012 Design Theme 13:02 Deepak Chandnani Promoted to Obopay Global CEO 11:30 SHL and PreVisor Merge to Create Global Leader in Talent Management 11:29 International Paper Announces Increase in Quarterly Dividend 10:33 The Tarifa African Film Festival chooses the African Press Organization (APO) as media partner 10:00 BBDO Worldwide is the Most Awarded Agency Network Across All Media Categories and Disciplines for the 4th Year in a Row
Jan 10, 2011
08:30	CGI wins US$9.48 million task order from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs
Jan 7, 2011
06:57	Cote d'Ivoire / Point de presse hebdomadaire de l'ONUCI
06:46	UN Urges Clean-up Following Acute Lead Poisoning in Nigeria
Jan 5, 2011
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Unprecedented Changes in Consumer Behavior Lie Ahead, Says Deloitte Report

Photo Credit: SW Learning


11 Jan 2011 07:00 Africa/Lagos


Unprecedented Changes in Consumer Behavior Lie Ahead, Says Deloitte Report

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2011

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

What: Consumer 2020: Reading the signs


Who:
Dr. Ira Kalish, Director of Consumer Business for Deloitte Research, part of Deloitte Services LP in the U.S.

Alison Paul, Vice Chairman and Retail Sector leader, Deloitte LLP

Lawrence Hutter, Global Head of Consumer Business, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited


When: Available immediately

Details:


The convergence of economic, demographic, and technological forces will bring about unprecedented changes in consumer behavior, according to a new report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), Consumer 2020: Reading the signs. The report, which was presented at the National Retail Federation in New York on Monday, draws together insights into economic and demographic trends, considerations of finite resources and sustainability, and the increasingly dramatic impact of technology on our daily lives. The report also includes predictions about how consumer attitudes and patterns of consumption will change over the next decade.

To read a complete version of this media alert or download a copy of the report, go to www.deloitte.com/consumerbusiness


About Deloitte

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Dear Aisha, It started yesterday in Juba

Dear Aisha,
It started yesterday.
One of the most prophetic Sundays in Southern Sudan, but will the skies no longer be gloomy in Darfur?
I know that David must be happy for you.




The lanky Senator John Kerry and George “the debonair” Clooney were there. They flew all the way from America to witness the making of history. The week-long independence referendum to free your people of the south from the shackles Khartoum. They joined the crowds sweating in the heat of the Sunday sun. January 9, 2011, will be an unforgettable day in the history of southern Sudan.


Nobody seemed tired of standing in the long queues as they were waiting to cast their votes in the last leg of the long march to freedom.
The harrowing nightmares of the horrifying and terrifying years of the rampaging devils on horsebacks will no longer haunt your people?


Dr. Halima Bashir will no more drink from the pool of the tears of the desert and the sleepless nights of Daoud Hari The Translator of the years of the wrath of the Janjaweed of Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir will no longer linger?


For the vultures will no longer be overfed with the carcasses of your people littering the ravine of Jebel Marra, because their corpses will no longer be left unburied.


“This is the moment the people have been waiting for,” said Southern president Salva Kiir as he was rejoicing in Juba yesterday.


Omar Bashir is kicking and cursing, because he has lost the battle and his northern region will be dependent on the over 75% of oil in the south and hoping he will not siphon it as it passes the northern pipeline to the sea.


But will the referendum will bring succor to Darfur?
Not until the rest of the world can read the secret letters from Darfur.
The testimonies of the agonies of the bereaved ones who have been scarred for life from the Massaleet to the Zagawa communities in the land of the Fur


May the overflowing joys of the new dawn wash away the ashes of the sorrows of the past. For the people of Juba shall be redeemed like the children of Judah.

Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

~ Joel 2:18-27 (King James Version)

Guns and Bombs Defining Nigerian Elections

President Goodluck Jonathan

Jonathan: No one wished this will be the case, Guns and Bombs Defining Nigerian Elections, so get outside help now

Sir, as a Philosopher first and a politician second, it must cause some suffering in your mind as to how the first week of 2011 elections has become marked with hate and violence at this initial stage. It is not April yet?

No one will deny the possibility that the pockets of violence opened across the country could be a metaphor of what is to come, in a few months. Sir, this is the truth and of course it hurts to see how things could turn out moving forward. Sir the news is not good to your ears—a stabbing, a near lynching, home-based killing, a bomb here and there, and individuals openly parading the voting areas with guns, shooting at random, leaving the election and law enforcement workers to run for their lives.

Sir, this ominous atmosphere is certainly not what you wished as a philosopher, as a lecturer, and certainly not in your capacity as a President. Sir, for many observers including this writer, a Clinical psychologist of the human mind, the guess is that you are not a politician in the cut-throat Nigerian or “Niger” sense, but as fate, destiny or accident would have it, you in IT and so it is.

Sir, time is short. It is your obligation to do something now. Thank God for the security outfit around you and that is how it should be as the leader of society in political and social distress, at least for now.

The recent words from the nation’s election chief, Attahiru Jega must trouble your soul, your mind and possibly give you chills; it certainly could especially for a man like you with a face known for its ‘heavy’ look. Here are some of the terrifying Jega-ian words—ballot box snatching by way of violence occurred in some areas. Sir think of that market woman, that young man or elderly and aging male voting for the first time , only to be scared off by the sounds of gun shots, who will he report to?. Even if he or she goes into a police station where the station officer is sitting and writing with the aid of a lamp, a touch light or candle, what will come out of such report is at best nothing—this much you must admit is the reality.

Sir, certainly you have made it clear you want to rule the country in the next four years and like other presidential, gubernatorial and other political contestants would like to win in any way you can, but you are currently the Nation’s ruler, so that average voter needs you now more than ever!

Here is what you could do right away but you should do it differently, not with the country’s law enforcement workers as a number of them are psychically or materially unable to resist bribery, at least by your own admission.
To fully provide a sense of safety and security for the average voters in the next few months, outsource a certain quantity of the security body to foreigners, as it is proper under international law for you to protect the voting citizenry from a society fraught with violence from armed thugs, gun gang affiliates and corrupt armed officials.

A quick way to bring security to a supposed free state like Nigeria is bring in private security firms from the western world and many of these armed and highly professional and no nonsense agencies are owned by Diaporan Nigerians who also has cultural awareness of their native society. This will be the logical strategy and if you can get extra security forces from President Obama who also knows of the African reality and the deteriorating security atmosphere all the better.

Sir, this move is only to oppose and prevent a wider degree of victimization in the next few months, and thereafter end the contract. Sir, you are an Executive President and in cases like this where the county is almost facing constitutional crisis—political assassinations, beating or killing of election officers, and the destruction of election boxes as well as an all-out open terror on the average citizen then the use of your executive order superimposes every other authority. Good luck.

~ By John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a Forensic/Clinical
Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral
Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida.
joshodi@broward.edu


Related Links:

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Barack Obama

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega