Thursday, April 19, 2012

2015 : ‘The Moment for Tonye Princewill’


Prince Tonye T.J.T Princewill.

2015 : ‘The moment for Tonye Princewill’

~ By Chris Eze

EVEN as discussions and permutations ahead of 2015 general elections are yet going on in hushed voices, political watchers believe that this is the moment for Prince Tonye Princewill, the Prince of Niger Delta Politics.

For nearly a decade, Princewill has remained a dominant voice in the political firmament of Rivers State, with even occasional flashes on the national scene. His foray into serious politicking was when he moved into the then Action Congress Party, AC, and to the amazement of many political watchers brought sanity and stability into the party and steered it out of troubled waters the party had long been swimming in.

Thus he automatically became the leader and financier of the party culminating in his running under the party ticket for the governorship election in the state in the 2007 elections. He not only rebranded the party, but made it the foremost opposition party in the state, where opposition politics had been reduced to a 'bread and butter' thing for many years.

And to demonstrate that he has a clear picture of where he was going and the modus operandi of attaining what he wants he hit the bulls eye by securing one of the best hands the pen has produced in the person of chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze who has turned Princewill into one of the most sought after news makers in the Niger Delta and even beyond.

Throughout the time Princewill sojourned in the AC, he availed Rivers people for the first time in a couple of years, the opportunity for an alternative point of view over issues concerning them contrary to what the PDP led government would always want them to believe. Thus the political consciousness of the people grew in leaps and bounds.
A close associate and follower of the Turakin Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president, Princewill has also amply demonstrated that to be a good leader one must first be a good follower. He has followed and understudied the former vice presidents political character and even when it mattered most in the political history of the Niger Delta, pitched tent with his political mentor against the overwhelming choice of the people of Niger Delta who all rooted for a Jonathan presidency, the same way he decamped from the ACN when Atiku directed all his followers to return to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

So, in Princewill could be found a consummate party man, dependable loyalist and a team player who is a nationalist indeed. He does not believe that the Niger Delta should produce a president just to take a turn, but that Nigeria should have a president who has what it takes to move the nation to the next level, politically, socially and economically.
And so, for his broadbased vision for our country and the impeccable principles, he holds, Princewill has continued to endear himself to people and organization of goodwill. He is the youngest member of the Economic Think Tank of Rivers State Government that counsels the state on investment and good governance. He is also involved in most key investment decisions of Amaechi Administration. He was member, presidential technical committee on the Niger Delta and was the chairman Niger Delta subcommittee of vision 2020.
Princewill believes and preaches the sermon that all Rivers people should have a stake in building and developing the state despite anyone's political leanings. Thus while in the ACN, he galvanized all the opposition political parties in the state under one umbrella organization and they came to be known as forum of opposition political parties in Rivers State (FOPP).

He used the platform to bring sanity and finesse to politics in the state, thus promoting a healthy opposition that speaks in one voice, instead of having disoriented parties throwing muds and missiles in the name of opposition. So even in opposition he believes that the state is bigger then any individual or any political party for that matter.
When he eventually moved into the PDP, Princewill again galvanized his followers into PPA Princewill Political Associates. Through this platform the Prince of Niger Delta politics has amassed an astounding support for the Amaechi administration, to the extent that observers often wonder why he spends so much to bring the Amaechi government into positive public view more than the government deems fit for itself. At many strategic points in the state capital are towering bill boards with varying inscriptions either professing support for Amaechi or urging Rivers people to key into the programs of the governor.

Perhaps where Princewill demonstrated the highest humanness in him that shocked many observers was when he declined to accept hundreds of billions of naira Omehia camp had reportedly offered him to truncate Amaechi ascension to power even when the Supreme Court had enthroned Amaechi.

Princewill had then opted to withdraw the suit he had instituted against the victory of PDP after the 2007 gubernatorial elections but Omehia and his team wanted Princewill to sustain the action, believing that the tribunal would find sufficient reasons to cancel the election and order for a fresh election. But Princewill refused to be a conduit to nail Amaechi! Observers often refer to this gesture of Princewill whenever Amaechi goes about boasting that he is a product of the Supreme Court, forgetting that his case could still have gotten another k-leg here if Princewill was hungry, looking for money.

Beyond all this, Princewill has been going about touching lives in various ways. Mention his name in the orphanage homes in Port Harcourt and see the inmates all stand in awe because of the impact Princewill has made in their lives. And it was for the sake of such less privileged children that Princewill got involved in the production of a movie entitled "Nnenda", which was dedicated to showcasing the plight of the less privileged children in our society and calling attention to their care and upbringing.

Recently, Princewill also gave hundreds of millions of naira to some Nollywood artists to enhancing their career and extended micro credit to the women in PPA. He is unarguably the only politician in Rivers State whose door is open to journalists 24 hours a day.
Although not overly ambitions, there is no way anybody doing any informed analysis and projections into 2015 elections in Rivers State would not factor Princewill seriously into the discussion. He has demonstrated purposeful leadership in many spheres. He has taught many that selfish interest should be subsumed under the greater interest of the state. He has given unequalled support to the incumbent government in the state. He is also involved in many of the investment decisions of the incumbent government and as such, the problem of continuity or sustenance of ongoing program of government would non existent if he becomes governor.

Even if he argument would be on power shift in the state as the people are fighting hand to play down the Riverine- upland dichotomy Princewill would still be in the picture. The Riverine people started looking up for the governship position since the Peter Odili era. Amaechi has also come with the Riverine still playing the second fiddle. The Riverine many come out boldly and strongly this time to make a claim and Princewill a Kalabari Prince from the Riverine may be their joker.

This however does not mean that it is only when the choice is narrowed down to blocs that Princewill will have a chance. Far from that. The Prince of Niger Delta politics as he is often addressed has his influence traversing even beyond the creeks of the Niger Delta. As he is received and accepted in Kalabari his native home, the same way the Ikwerres, Ogoni, Etches, Opobo, etc receive and accept him based on his proven track record.

The governor of Rivers State recently made a curious statement. He said he would not have a hand in choosing his successor. Let us believe him, and expect a level playing field. When that times comes, it may not be surprising if Princewill having endeared himself to all the nooks and crannies of the state emerges almost effortlessly. But come to think of it would it not even serve Amaechi better that he is succeeded by one who has almost a similar idea on how best to govern and develop the state as Princewill has hinted demonstrated over the years.

Princewill apparently knowing that the bell is tolling for him to come of the shadows to make a statement about his 2015 plans had hinted that when he makes up his mind on 2015, it would be public knowledge without fear or favour, but with the consent of a multitude of stakeholders. Rivers people are waiting.


~ Chris Eze is a Port Harcourt based Journalist.




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Nigeria: From the Wasted Generation To the Retarded Generation


President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

Nigeria: From the Wasted Generation To the Retarded Generation

Those who have been following the genesis of the Nigerian crisis since 1960 to date can understand the predicament of our social and political woes and tell you that things are getting worse and no matter the political propaganda of the paid apologists of the ruling political contractors in the corridors of power, those who are going through the dire straits know that Nigeria was better even during the tragic years of the late military despot Gen. Sani Abacha.

The most glaring indices of the present calamities are the recurrent mass failures recorded by majority of Nigerian secondary school pupils and the intellectual morons graduating from the tertiary institutions and the collapse of the manufacturing industries in the country.

The generation of Prof. Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe has been described as the wasted generation, because even though their generation gave us the most brilliant scholars and administrators since 1960 when Nigeria gained political independence from British colonial rule, they failed to use the intelligentsia for the nation building of a New Nigeria in the leadership of Africa. Therefore, they have been called the wasted generation. But the present generation is even worse than the wasted generation, because they cannot even give us brilliant scholars and competent administrators, but retarded pupils and students and intellectually retarded graduates and corrupt administrators who have broken the Guinness World Records for mass failures in academic scholarship and preposterous corruption with the scandals of the billions they have misappropriated in the pension fund scams, fuel subsidy scams and other fraudulent cases making daily headlines. Definitely, this not our Nigerian Dream!

The comic and tragic cases resulted in my book In the House of Dogs and The Guardian newspaper of Nigeria coincidental published extracts from the book on January 1, 2012, to welcome the New Year, the same day President Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of the subsidy on petrol and provoked a nationwide strike and general protests that nearly crippled his government until he backpedaled and had peaceful negotiation with the Organized Labour for a more acceptable pump price of petrol. But the fundamental issues have not been resolved even though President Goodluck Jonathan is trying his best to be a smart politician from what he has been taught by his political godfathers in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). But the harrowing nightmares of the lunatic fringe of Islamic terrorists on suicidal mission in the middle belt and northern regions are giving him sleepless nights.

The tragedy of our present crises is the fact that majority of our youths are living like dogs and prefer their escapist lifestyles in the fast lane with their western indulgences in music, fashion and sports, but ironically they are lagging behind in western education, economy and technology, because majority of them are addicted to western mobile gadgets online and offline like Facebook and smart phones, but then only an insignificant number of them can develop any of the apps. Because, they are retarded.



Now let me address the genesis of the present Nigerian crisis from the following extracts from In the House of Dogs.


It’s not easy to state who started it or how many died. But the horror for those affected is clear
.

— Craig S. Keener, June 2010.




Dear Karl Maier,

This house has not yet fallen, but it is shaking.

Our house is full of strange bed fellows of lunatic fringe elements of the black sheep of a dysfunctional family.

One is turbaned and goes round the bend bowing to the crescent moon and star suffering from a very contagious Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of his mad cows.
The other one has gone loco from sniffing too much hydrocarbons in his littoral states at the bottom of the river Niger.

Imagine living in the house of nightmares, cast between the devil and the deep blue sea and caught in the snares of the sirens.

Our house is like a home full of Wole Soyinka’s “Madmen and Specialists”, swimming in the whirlpool of the vicious circle of the same ethno-religious conflicts that precipitated us into the catastrophic internecine civil war of the late 1960s. The same ethno-religious crises are recurring now with incessant attacks by homegrown terrorists plunging Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja into chaos with carcasses of burnt-out vehicles and razed houses, mosques and churches and the charred remains of corpses littering the streets with acrid smells attacking our nostrils and leaving us ill from the nausea.

Religious fanatics of the lunatic fringe on rampage have murdered hundreds of innocent compatriots in reprisal attacks.

Brothers of that lunatic Farouk Abudul Mutallab the al Qaeda “Underwear Bomber who failed in his satanic attempt to blow up the Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009, have unleashed their terrors on us as they sighted the moon on Christmas Eve of 2010 at about 7.15 pm in Jos and Maiduguri, and struck again on the New Year’s Eve in Abuja.

These terrorist bombings have now confirmed our worst fears as Sunday Dare concluded that the final script of the terrorists is unfolding now.

The Maitatsine uprising in Kano in 1980 whilst I was a high school pupil in Lagos could be called the genesis of what is now known as the Boko Haram uprising. The first ethno-religious crisis began in Jos on September 7, 2001, but the ethno-religious indigene/settler dichotomy is deep-rooted in the history of Jos as explained in “Sliding towards Armageddon: Revisiting Ethno-Religious Crises in Nigeria” by Gwamna Dogara Je’adayibe, Ph.D. and Amango Kudu A., Ph.D.

You should also read “The Truth About the Religious Violence in Jos, Nigeria” by Craig S. Keener published in Christianity Today and posted on www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010.

How and when it started is good to know, but in the present state of emergency as our house is on fire, who started it, what started it or when it started is not the most urgent thing, but to put out the fire by all means possible and at all costs to save our home from being destroyed by these conscienceless elements of the lunatic fringe on rampage. This is the responsibility of our government.

Our President was more concerned about his egocentric presidential election campaign and forgot to put his house in order until his kinsmen bombed the Eagle Square venue of our 50th Independence Anniversary in the Federal Capital city of Abuja. That was the first time such a catastrophe would happen to us since our freedom from the colonial British Empire on October 1, 1960. But he failed to correct the terrible mistakes of his security agencies and intensified his presidential election campaign gimmicks until the turbaned lunatics of the Boko Haram sect set off their deadly bombs in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja over the holidays.

The devastating terrorist bombings have rocked the foundation of our house and put us all at risk, because it may collapse if we fail to get rid of these lunatics in our house.

We do not have enough specialists to handle these madmen. Our elites are disillusioned and as the madmen are raising dust in the north and blowing embers in the south, our children are in fear and trembling in the premonition of another civil war.

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
— Psalm 11:3

The righteous should not give up!
The righteous can do a lot to salvage it, no matter the collateral damage that has been done.

KARL Maier, our house is a house of wonders.
Our children are still full of dreams as they are going on with life with tall ambitions and many of them with their heads in the clouds reaching out for the stars.
As the lunatics were exploding deadly bombs of destruction in the north, our ignorant children were exploding firecrackers of celebration in the south.
No Karl, it is not funny. It is the irony of life.

You cannot live in denial of the agonies of the ironies of life in a hostile universe.

Yes, we have our dreams and those who have dreams, also have their nightmares.
This is the burden of humankind.

We all must experience the checkered fortunes of the vicissitudes of life.
You have come across what the Chinese said about our fate on earth.
Joys and sorrows, partings and reunions are daily occurrences in the vicious circle of life.
Both our joys or sorrows do not last forever, and life goes on.

Our worst enemies are not even these terrorists, but the corrupt looters in the corridors of power and their accomplices, the political contractors and their cronies and hypocritical beneficiaries.
These kleptomaniacs are the anathemas of our nation.
They have done worse things to us than all the bomb blasts and ethno-religious riots since 1960 to date.

Do you know the casualties of road accidents on the nightmarish roads they have failed to repair after their embezzlement of the revenue allocations of the ministry of works?

Can you count the millions of lives lost since these kleptomaniacs rigged their way into the corridors of power?

Pensioners have collapsed while waiting for the arrears of their unpaid gratuities.
Patients have died from bad health care and when doctors went on strike, because of bad conditions of service.

Have you forgotten the 60 students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja and others who perished in the ill-fated Sosoliso plane that crashed at the Port Harcourt airport, because the fire service had no water to put out the fire?!

Thousands of students have been driven to crime and prostitution in frustration and desperation caused by collapse of our educational system.

We have lost count of the casualties of corruption.
Corruption is the systemic destruction of our nation by these devils posing and posturing as humans in our midst and they are breeding their kind daily.

We have to take out the lot of them to end the systemic rot plaguing our nation.

No matter how shaken we are by these horrors of terrorism, even if all other things fall apart, we shall remain one nation under the sun and like the Leaning Tower of Pisa that has survived many upheavals over the centuries, we shall remain standing and towering over the enemies of our progress and as long as God helps us to bear the pillars thereof, our nation will never fall.

So, as they sing in Croatia,”Još Hrvatska ni propala”, we shall sing in our dialects that our house has not yet fallen and will never fall.


January 5, 2011 —
Dear Nigerians, Only The Best Is Good Enough For Us


Only the best is good enough for us.
— Bishop Samuel Adjai (Ajayi) Crowther (c. 1807 – December 31, 1891)

I doubt if you and I would have been here if Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther had not been kidnapped by Muslim Fulani Slave hunters at the age of 12 in 1821. If Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther had not been exchanged for a horse in a slave trade by barter and later sold to the Portuguese slave traders, Providence would not have rescued him from the Portuguese slave ship, the Esperanza Felix, through the British anti-slavery warships, the Myrmidon and Iphigenia. Bishop Samuel Jayi Crowther would not have been the translator of the Holy Bible into Yoruba language and compiled a Yoruba dictionary with a grammar book between 1843 and 1850.

Most Igbos are ignorant of the historical fact that the first book in Igbo, Isoama-Ibo, a primer, was written in 1857 by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Then, Bishop Ajayi Crowther wrote a primer in the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar book with vocabulary of the Nupe in 1864.
Nigeria has not appreciated the great legacy of Bishop Ajayi Crowther in the history of modern civilization and the nation building of Nigeria.

The legacy of knowledge is the greatest heritage to bequeath to every age.

The ignorance of the lessons of history is often responsible for the prevalence of decadence in the society, because we have failed to learn the lessons of life from the tragic mistakes of the past.

How do we learn from the lessons of history when most of us are non-literates or intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites?

Those who cannot read and write are over 76 million in Nigeria and those who can read and write, but fail to learn the vital lessons of life from reading and writing have worsened the calamity of the Nigerian society by being bad examples for the illiterate majority.

The so-called Nigerian elites are the intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites.
They are mostly graduates of the tertiary schools, but they behave like primitive natives.
Like a bank manager whose unhygienic manners are so repulsive that you wonder if he ever saw the four walls of a university.
Many of them have very dirty toilets that you cannot feel comfortable whenever you visit them.
Others cannot converse in English without making you question their knowledge of the language.

I know one man who is 25 years old and a student in one of the Nigerian polytechnics, but he could not read the essay I wrote when I was only 13. The appalling state of Nigeria is caused by the prevalence of academic decadence, intellectual ignorance or what I prefer to call intellectual illiteracy.

Nigeria today is a nation of intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites.

How do we define intellectual illiteracy?
As described by Christopher Lasch in The New Illiteracy:
“Mass education, which began as a promising attempt to democratize the higher culture of the privileged classes, has ended by stupefying the privileged themselves. Modern society has achieved unprecedented rates of formal literacy, but at the same time it has produced new forms of illiteracy.”

Christopher Lasch was addressing a similar problem in America.
He noted that the standards of academic education have been deteriorating even at the Ivy League universities.
He made references to falling standards at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia, while the undergraduates and graduates of these highly esteemed universities are still posing and posturing as status symbols of privilege and prestige in the hypocritical American society and the less privileged are being fooled by their conceit and deceit, because they cannot tell the difference.
An illiterate or semi-literate cannot tell the difference between the literati and dilettanti.

Mr. Lasch said a faculty committee at Harvard reported:
“The Harvard faculty does not care about teaching”.
According to a study of general education at Columbia, teachers have lost “their common sense of what kind of ignorance is unacceptable”.
As a result, “Students reading Rabelais’s description of civil disturbances ascribe them to the French Revolution. A class of twenty-five had never heard of the Oedipus Complex — or of Oedipus.
Only one student in a class of fifteen could date the Russian Revolution within a decade.”“
— Christopher Lasch / The New Illiteracy.

The situation in Nigeria is worse.
The terrible state of Nigerian universities can be traced to the ignorance of previous leaders who misappropriated the revenue allocations meant for the sustainable development of higher institutions in Nigeria and neglected the welfare of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the students.
Nigerian universities have been relegated to the bottom of the accredited universities in the world.
No Nigerian university is even rated among the best 1, 000 universities in the world and only one Nigerian university ranked among the top 50 universities in Africa at the 44th position.

Nigerian administrators neglected Nigerian universities, sent their children to the best colleges and universities in America and the UK, and then misappropriated revenue allocations to establish their own private universities. But none of their private universities even made the list of the best universities in the world in the latest global rankings. One of the best private universities in Nigeria, the Christian Covenant University is at the bottom of the rungs in Africa at the 98th Position.

Establishing private colleges and universities is not the solution to the falling standards of education in Nigeria, but making sure that the public colleges and universities are well equipped with the basic facilities and utilities, such as modern classes, laboratories, hostels with clean toilets and qualified academic staff. Most of the teachers and lecturers in Nigerian secondary schools, colleges and universities are not certified teachers.
Having a degree is not enough qualification to teach.
The teachers must be certified like the graduates of accountancy who must be certified by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) before they can become competent professional accountants.

When the academic faculty is already faulty, then the quality of education will not be up to the required global standards.
Poor teachers will produce poor students.

Before anyone can teach, you must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
You must have completed teacher training through an approved program and you must have successfully completed the appropriate teacher certification tests for the subject and grade level you wish to teach

Investigations have shown that many of the teachers in Nigeria cheated to pass their exams and ‘dubbed’ projects to earn their diplomas and degrees.
When they fail to get the dream jobs in banks or oil companies, they turn to the private schools, colleges and universities springing up daily and they are often employed by these institutions that are in desperate need for tutors to teach the thousands of boys and girls already given admission.
These private institutions have already charged exorbitant school fees in thousands of naira like the so called elitist schools charging over a million naira per session for a single pupil in Nigeria!

The private schools are all over the place, competing with the churches for every available space in the towns and cities in Nigeria.
To know how phony they are, you can hardly find them in the rural areas where education is needed most.
They are all after the money.
Hypocrites and exploiters of the ignorant masses.
Opening private schools and churches are the fastest get-rich quick schemes in Nigeria today.

To find out the truth, cross check the academic qualifications of the teaching staff and compare them with the standard criteria for teachers in America and the UK.
Many of them will fail the common examination for the certification of teachers.

Dr. Suleiman Kano, ASUU President, in a news report by the Nigerian Tribune on June 17, 2007, said:
“I think we should ask ourselves this pertinent question. Do we want to produce graduates for the sake of doing so or we want to produce quality graduates? In the latest ranking of world universities, no Nigerian university made the list of the first 1,000 in the world. This is because of the rot in the system. The government should address the issue and rid the system of the rot. Proscribing ASUU will not solve the problem.”

This is a country where the government itself says we need 47,000 university lecturers, now we have 16,000. What are we doing about getting the balance? Good students do not want to join academic staff; they prefer to work elsewhere. Many medical students do not get to see, let alone use, the equipment they will need when they start practice. What kind of graduates are we producing?”

The rot in Nigerian education did not start yesterday, but decades ago. The falling standards can be traced to the late 1970s as chronicled by Professor Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike in his novel, Expo’ 77 published in 1981.
I am afraid that the same Nigerian secondary school pupils who engaged in the scandalous examination malpractices of the late 1970s and were never prosecuted are now the masterminds of electoral malpractices and perpetrators of other horrible and terrible crimes of corruption, the plague of the nation.

As Jesus Christ said, by their fruits you shall know them.
Millions of Nigerians have been studying and graduating from Nigerian colleges and universities and yet most of them are still intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites, because they have been going to school for the wrong reasons.
The first reason is for the mere acquisition of paper qualification for the sole purpose of social class struggle in their pursuit of titular status symbols of the social class hierarchy.
To secure a dream job, earn a seven-digit salary, acquire a dream house, a dream car and to crown it all, acquire a dream wife or simply marry a woman to bear children who will bear their name and survive them when then die. Finis. Most of them are not thinking of how the acquisition of modern academic or professional education can be the best application for the advancement of modern civilization and as a vital tool for the nation building of a New Nigeria in the leadership of Africa in the comity of nations in the world.

We have over 20 million graduates of Nigerian colleges and universities who can boast of having first and second degrees and that they have written excellent papers, but they cannot boast of other practical achievements we can actually use as indices of sustainable human development in Nigeria.
Most of them leave no other legacies than their domestic liabilities.

The majority of Nigerians contributing more to the GDP and GNP are those without any academic qualification.
The Nigerian farmers, traders and artisans and not the Nigerian bankers, lawyers, engineers and their fellow so-called educated elites.

The majority of these so-called educated elites are also the leading intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites posing and posturing with false airs and graces, because most of them cannot tell the difference between Chris Abani and Helon Habila or even tell what makes Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie different from Sefi Atta in contemporary Nigerian literature.
Do not waste your time asking them why nobody won the last Nigeria LNG Prize for Science, because they will disappoint you. Yet, they can tell you the names of all the players in the first team of Arsenal Football Club or Manchester United Football Club of England. They can also tell you the full details of bizarre ****ographic scenarios of the last Big Brother Africa on cable TV and their fellow intellectual illiterates aping American Pop idols on SoundCity and Channel O and corrupting the ignorant and naïve Nigerian teenage boys and girls with their psychedelic and ****ographic songs and musical videos.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has failed to regulate what to broadcast and what should not even be authorized on any radio or television in Nigeria.

The Nigerian lawmakers are busy fighting and slumping over contracts on how to embezzle the revenue allocations and other public funds, so they are still confused about how to address the problems of governance in Nigeria.

The same intellectual illiterates and intellectual hypocrites are in the Nigerian banks, oil companies, insurance companies, and other corporations, so they cannot address the decadence in Nigerian education and social infrastructures. In fact, they are exploiting the situation like the capitalists fishing in the troubled waters in the Niger Delta.

The banks employ the prettiest female graduates to be trained and used as marketing executives and sent on the mission to hook millionaires to deposit their millions of naira and dollars in their banks. They do not care if the monies were stolen or not.
One of these hot legs employed by one of the banks at the zenith of Nigerian banking met me in the office of a young millionaire and was shocked at first sight.
Why was she shocked?
I knew her as the first daughter of strict Christian parents and here she was soliciting for the favour of a young millionaire who was happily married. She was already willing to date and mate with him. He confided in me that she was sexually harassing him and guess what?
She was already engaged to be married to a man who thought he was lucky to have found such a young woman as his fiancée.
What an unforeseen romantic tragedy.

For more, go to http://www.amazon.com/In-House-Dogs-ebook/dp/B0065KCBE2

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



Iran Worries Keep Prices High, Despite Rising Non-OPEC Crude Supply


Iran Offshore.

According to Ernst & Young Oil & Gas Center's quarterly outlook

ERNST & YOUNG NON-OPEC OIL Changes in non-OPEC oil supply - Source: International Energy Agency. (PRNewsFoto/Ernst & Young) HOUSTON, TX UNITED STATES

HOUSTON, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Increased oil production in the US and other non-OPEC countries, which more than offsets increases in global demand, is keeping pressure on OPEC to limit crude output. Increased supply typically creates lower oil prices, but today's new supply is being outweighed by anticipated supply interruption from Iran and other smaller sources including: Syria, Yemen, the Sudans, and the North Sea. These supply worries are further compounded by continuing fairly low levels of OPEC spare capacity, yielding oil prices of around $120/bbl.



ERNST & YOUNG NON-OPEC OIL Changes in non-OPEC oil supply - Source: International Energy Agency. (PRNewsFoto/Ernst & Young) HOUSTON, TX UNITED STATES.


After decades of rising demand and declining supply, the US is consuming less and producing more, lowering its reliance on foreign sources of crude. Other areas of significant production growth include South America, Russia and Canada.

(Chart: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120418/NY89729 )

"The advent of increased domestic supply is certainly positive for the US economy and energy security," said Marcela Donadio, Americas Oil and Gas Leader, Ernst & Young LLP. "Importing less oil and gas creates a more positive trade balance for the US, and domestic production stimulates job growth, local business revenues and tax receipts, along with other positive economic impacts."

Oil
In North America, growth in tight-oil production from the Bakken shale region, coupled with increases in natural gas liquids production and Canadian crude supply, has transformed the regional supply/demand picture. While the US benchmark crude WTI has become disconnected from globally-traded crudes, global crude prices are still high as a result of geopolitical supply uncertainty. Oil demand in the US and other developed economies in 2012 is expected to continue to decline, but on a global basis will rise by a modest 0.9%, led by the emerging economies.

Gas
US natural gas production continues to rise, but prices languish. Despite shifts away from dry gas production to oil development and to more liquids-rich gas plays, "associated gas" production continues to be strong. With a very warm winter, surging supplies have kept natural gas storage volumes at market-crushing levels. Power generation is the fuel's brightest prospect. Even as electricity demand has been flat-to-declining, natural gas has gained market share in the sector, as low gas prices have encouraged fuel-switching. In recent months, natural gas has been increasingly displacing coal for power generation.

The North American shale gas "revolution" presents some cause for concern, warned Donadio. "We're at a critical point in the shale gas boom where we may start to see some of the small to mid-size players succumb to sustained depressed prices. How much longer can companies continue to produce and sell such a low-priced commodity and keep the lights on?"

Downstream
Refining margins have gotten a boost from the relatively large seasonal maintenance turn-around schedules. After a banner year in 2011 due to logistical constraints and significant crude price advantages, US Midcontinent refineries enjoyed yet another surge in margins. But two upcoming capacity developments – the Seaway pipeline reversal and the planned Keystone extension – should narrow some of the margin differentials over the next few years. New capacity from the Shell and Saudi Aramco venture in Port Arthur, TX, will put downward pressure on US Gulf Coast margins, but the biggest downstream issue going forward will be how the East Coast product markets will be affected by the looming refinery closures.

Oilfield services
Rig counts are broadly holding steady across all geographies – with Africa and the Middle East showing the strongest growth. The total US rig count is near its last peak, reached in fall 2008, but the structure of the rig market is notably different. At the previous peak, gas-directed drilling accounted for about 80% of all rig activity; more recently, gas-directed drilling was only about 30% of the US total.

Global upstream spending is increasing, but decelerating with forecasted growth of 10 to 15% in 2012. OFS cost pressures have moderated somewhat, but game changers for oilfield services will be the next generation of oilfield technology, particularly those focused on reducing costs.


Transactions

Oil and gas transaction activity has experienced ten reasonably-strong quarters in a row, but activity slowed in the first quarter of 2012. The quarter saw weakened transaction activity globally, with an unclear North American trend. EMEIA activity was down, but Asia-Pacific activity was up. Activity in the Americas continues however to dominate the global totals.

About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

For more information, please visit www.ey.com.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited located in the US.


How Ernst & Young's Global Oil & Gas Center can help your business

The oil and gas industry is constantly changing. Increasingly uncertain energy policies, geopolitical complexities, cost management and climate change all present significant challenges. Ernst & Young's Global Oil & Gas Center supports over 9,000 oil and gas professionals with technical experience in providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services across the upstream, midstream, downstream and oilfield service sub-sectors.

The Center works to anticipate market trends, execute the mobility of our global resources and articulate points of view on relevant key industry issues. With our deep industry focus, we can help your organization drive down costs and compete more effectively to achieve its potential. For more information, please visit www.ey.com/oilandgas.

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This is Africa Presents Lamido Sanusi: Africa Person of the Year


Lamido Sanusi

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
~ By Adam Robert Green | Published: 05 March, 2012

“There can never be soft touch regulation. But it has to be regulation that is not arbitrary. The direction needs to be clear”

As African central bank governors go, Lamido Sanusi has a higher profile than most. This year, his shelves are piled high with awards, including Forbes’ ‘Africa Person of the Year’. At home in Nigeria, his audacious moves to fix Nigerian banks have toppled vested interests, while the controversial fuel subsidy reform, which he backs, brought thousands of Nigerians on to the streets.

Speaking to This is Africa during a visit to London, the softly spoken banker-turned regulator – whose gentle manner is at odds with his management style – says he is “on course” to reach the ambitious targets he set for himself when taking the post in 2009, as Nigeria’s banking sector teetered at the edge of collapse.

From the outset, Mr Sanusi has pursued a two-pronged reform strategy to deal with both Nigeria’s troubled banks, and the structural weakness of the economy. He first attempted to clean up and recapitalise the banking sector. The immediate problem was the second round transmission of the financial crisis to Nigeria, primarily through the oil price drop, from $147 a barrel in 2008 to less than $40 a barrel in 2009; during which period Nigeria’s stock exchange went from being one of the world’s most promising to its worst performing. As a consequence of the crisis, Mr Sanusi sent in teams to examine the banking sector, at which point the full extent of the country’s internal banking problems became apparent, with systemic corruption, lethargy and incompetence, and ill-conceived forays into high risk lending with depositors’ savings.

Eight out of 24 banks, comprising 30 percent of total liabilities and 40 percent of total assets of the industry, were in particularly grave situations. Banks had been lending significant quantities of savings to asset management companies and stock brokers. Fraud was endemic with depositors’ money used to purchase overseas properties in Dubai and South Africa.

Some banks were using depositors’ savings to set up private equity funds.

But the crisis had provided an opportunity to reveal the extent of the rot. Speaking to the London School of Economics, Mr Sanusi recently joked: “When the tide goes out, you see who has been swimming naked.”

CEOs were fired, with one jailed and others currently being charged. New rules limiting commercial banks’ abilities to enter new sectors were drawn up, and most universal banks opted to sell subsidiaries and get out of asset management, real estate and investing banking. All CEOs who had been in post for over 10 years were booted out, and non executive board members present for over 12 years suffered the same fate. This, Mr Sanusi explained, was because CEOs in power for lengthy periods were over-riding board decisions and erecting elaborate patronage networks. Regulators have also been constrained, and now cannot enter regulated industries for several years after leaving a post; an effort to crack down on their tendency to grant favours to banks so they could land comfortable jobs when leaving.

Click here to read the full interview.



Two Hundred Activists to Launch Themselves off Mt. Kilimanjaro

Wings Of Kilimanjaro from Wings Of Kilimanjaro on Vimeo.



18 Apr 2012 10:17 Africa/Lagos

Two Hundred Activists to Launch Themselves off Mt. Kilimanjaro



- Tanzanian Authorities Wave the Green Flag

SYDNEY, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) has announced approval for philanthropic organisation, Wings of Kilimanjaro's request to launch two hundred paragliding and hang-gliding global activists off Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. The official flight date is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 www.wingsofkilimanjaro.com.

Set to mark a global first, the group plan to ascend the gruelling 19,341 feet or 5,895 metre mountain, the highest point in Africa and then launch from the peak. The aim of this endeavour is to raise a million dollars to provide financial funding for education, health and environmental aid in Tanzania.

Adrian McRae, the Australian founder behind Wings of Kilimanjaro, says, "Knowing that we have set out to achieve something that has never been done before will be a challenge for everyone involved, but the reward lies in knowing that together we will help raise global awareness and much needed funding for development in Africa." McRae is no stranger to the mountain, having successfully completed a climb in 2003.

Allan Kijazi, Director General of Tanzania National Parks, says, "We are proud to showcase the picturesque Tanzanian National Parks to the world, and hope to draw attention and awareness towards helping those who need it most." Permission for this much anticipated event has been granted by the Tanzanian National Parks, Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority and Tanzanian Military, who have all promised their support.

The event will also see Wings of Kilimanjaro collaborate with two local based charities, Plant with Purpose and the One Foundation. Kelly Thomas, Programme Officer with the One Foundation says, "We are especially thankful to all the pilots, who, through their hard work and determination, will be positively changing the lives of Tanzanian children with the funds they raise."

Plant with Purpose works with 38 different communities in the regions surrounding Mt Kilimanjaro to create alternatives to deforestation, share tools needed to empower local people to replenish the land and improve their lives. The One Foundation is a UK based charity, working with communities in Africa to address some of the most humanitarian issues of today - clean water, HIV, sanitation and nutrition.

For further information please visit: www.wingsofkilimanjaro.com

CONTACT: John Ballerini Mobile: +61-4-5990-0955, john@wingsofkilimanjaro.com

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



Osibodu, Group MD of Union Bank among 225 Most Powerful Corporate Businesswomen in the World


Mrs. Olunfunke Iyabo Osibodu.

Olunfunke Iyabo Osibodu. Group Managing Director and Chief Executive, Union Bank of Nigeria is among the 225 most powerful corporate businesswomen in the world who will meet at Women Corporate Directors' second annual Global Institute in New York City on May 1-2, 2012.

The theme of the invitation-only institute is "Globalization: Frontiers and Crossroads."

The following is the full report.

NEW YORK, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 1-2, 2012, more than 225 of the most powerful corporate businesswomen in the world will meet in New York City at WomenCorporateDirectors' second annual Global Institute. The theme of the invitation-only institute is "Globalization: Frontiers and Crossroads."

As the issue of women on corporate boards is reaching critical mass around the world, WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) has seen its membership grow 40% in the last year, to more than 1,400 directors in 42 chapters worldwide, with new chapters in Indonesia and Nigeria in the past six weeks alone.

This trend marks the convergence of several global forces, including:

  • Proven performance results of board diversity: Numerous studies (from groups such as Catalyst and McKinsey) link better corporate performance and board diversity.
  • Regulatory pressures: More quotas and regulations are being imposed on companies around the world to increase the number of women on boards.
  • Public pressures: Widespread consumer and investor protests ensue when high-profile companies fail to put women on their boards – such as the uproar surrounding Facebook's board as the company announced plans to go public this spring.
  • Push from board nominating committees: Many nominating committees – as well as CEOs and board chairs – are pushing for greater diversity on corporate boards and board candidate slates.

"Boards need to be global in members and mindset," says WCD co-founder and co-chair Susan Stautberg, president of PartnerCom Corp. "Increased globalization and recognition of the importance of diversity are changing how boards think about new directors – and the skills and perspectives needed in the boardroom today."

"New revenue streams often bring new rewards and risks," says Alison Winter, WCD co-founder and co-chair and a director at Nordstrom, Inc. "The Global Institute addresses these issues head-on, and shows how women directors are often leading the charge in shifting their boardrooms' thinking about global business."

Featuring a keynote by Campbell's Soup CEO Denise Morrison , the program includes panelists and speakers from the highest level of business globally, including, among others:

  • Fatima Al Jaber – President, Al Jaber Group (Abu Dhabi)
  • Mercedes Ara oz Ferna ndez – Representative in Mexico, InterAmerican Development Bank; Director, QuiCorp; Former Minister, Peru; and former Peruvian presidential candidate
  • Deb Henretta – Procter & Gamble Group President, Asia (Singapore)
  • Romi Haan – Founder and CEO, Haan Corporation (Korea)
  • Phuti Malabie – CEO, Shanduka Group (South Africa)
  • Olunfunke Iyabo Osibodu – Group Managing Director and Chief Executive, Union Bank of Nigeria
  • Sandi Peterson – CEO and Chair, Bayer CropScience (Germany); Director, Dun & Bradstreet
  • Ann Korologos – Former U.S. Secretary of Labor; Director of AMR Corporation, Harman International Industries, Host Hotels & Resorts, Kellogg Company, and Vulcan Materials Company
  • Halla Tomasdottir – Co-founder and Chairman, Audur Capital, Veritas, and TAL (Iceland)
  • Ann Veneman – Former Secretary of Agriculture; former Executive Director, UNICEF; Director, Nestle and Alexion Pharmaceuticals
  • Deborah Wright – Director, Renner Retail Stores (Brazil)

As part of the Global Institute, WCD will again present the prestigious Visionary Awards, honoring Intel; Publicis Groupe; DuPont Chair and CEO Ellen Kullman; and Desjardins Group President, Chair, and CEO Monique Leroux. "Launched in 2011, these awards recognize companies and CEOs who are role models in using strong women directors and leaders to transform corporate governance and strategy," says Henrietta Holsman Fore, co-chair of WCD and director of ExxonMobil and Theravance, Inc.

KPMG is the lead sponsor of the Institute. Other participating companies include:
Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Heidrick & Struggles, Adecco, Baccarat, Bloomberg, J.P. Morgan, Kellogg Company, Paul Hastings , DuPont, Ernst & Young, Harman International Industries, Host Hotels, Intel, MetLife, Publicis Groupe, Publicis USA , Toyota, Vivaki, and Zenith OptMedia.

For more information about the WCD Global Institute, or to see the full two-day agenda, please contact Suzanne Oaks of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or news@teminandco.com.

About WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD)

WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors, comprised of more than 1,400 members serving on over 1,550 boards in 42 chapters around the world. In this new era of responsibility, WCD is committed not just to good governance, but to governance with global vision. Smart boards are going global in members and mindset. Our members share information and insights in order to ensure best practices in corporate governance around the world.

WCD's global chapters are located in Arizona, Atlanta, Australia, Beijing, Bogota, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Delhi, Denmark, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston, Indonesia, Israel, Lima, London, Mexico City, Malaysia, Minnesota, Morocco, Mumbai, New York, Nigeria, Northern California, Northern/Central Europe (Berlin), Paris, Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, South Africa, Southern California, South Florida, Switzerland, Tennessee, Toronto, United Arab Emirates, and Washington, D.C.

Our mission is to continue to expand the WCD community through leadership, diversity, education, best practices in corporate governance, and a focus on development and new board placement opportunities – see WCD's Call to Action to improve diversity on boards. WCD offers local, regional, national, and international forums, providing a platform for turning ideas into action. WCD is supported by its Founding Partners, Heidrick & Struggles and KPMG. For more information, visit womencorporatedirectors.com.

About the WCD Global Institute

The WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) 2012 Global Institute is an unprecedented opportunity for global board directors to share corporate governance and business strategies and to build partnerships with a purpose, in a private, invitation-only setting.

The Institute is a two-day, high-powered idea forum exploring compelling issues on the minds of today's board directors and their companies. The program includes keynotes, panels, and discussion groups – as well as the WCD Visionary Awards Dinner – that facilitate informal peer exchanges. Panels include "Globalization 3.0: An Uncharted World of Dissolving Certainty," "Changing Global Demographics: Implications for an Evolving Workforce," "When the Terrain Gets Tough, Women Take the Wheel (in the Boardroom and C-Suite)," "Creating Advantage: What's the Next Paradigm Shift in Technology?," "Geopolitical Dynamics: Emerging Markets Change the Game," and "Global Scarcities: Creating Market Opportunities and New Challenges."

SOURCE WomenCorporateDirectors

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



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ScoreBig.com Gives Fans Immediate Access to the Hottest Live Event Tickets




ScoreBig.com Gives Fans Immediate Access to the Hottest Live Event Tickets with New ScoreBig Daily App for iPhone and iPod touch

ScoreBig.com Reveals Results of Behavioral Survey; Finds Most Americans Are Attending Less Than One Live Event Every Three Months Due To High Ticket Prices and Hidden Fees

LOS ANGELES (April 16, 2012) /PRNewswire/ — ScoreBig.com, a service that allows consumers to save up to 60 percent on tickets to their favorite pro and college sports, concerts, and theater events without the hassle of fees or shipping charges, today announced the launch of ScoreBig Daily, a free app for iPhone and iPod touch that gives users immediate access to great seats at hot live events in their city that night.

Just like ScoreBig.com, every ticket on ScoreBig Daily will be below retail price, and will never have any processing, delivery or convenience fee of any kind. With just a few taps, ScoreBig Daily lets people pick the number of seats they want for one of a handful of events each night, and then pick the price they want to pay for that event. Offers for tickets are accepted or rejected instantly, which makes finding something affordable to do after work or any night of the week quick and easy. Available exclusively in San Francisco and Los Angeles to start, ScoreBig Daily will soon roll out to other cities, starting with New York.

To support today’s rollout, ScoreBig.com also announced the results from its first annual “Spotlight on Live Events in America” behavioral survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive in April amongst over 2,000 adults age 18+. The survey showed that while a majority of Americans – 69% – feel exhilarated after attending a live event, more than half (77%) attend four or fewer events each year, less than once every three months. Additionally, 82% felt cheated by hidden fees connected with tickets.

“Ticket prices to live events have skyrocketed by about 70% over the last decade, which means many Americans are getting priced out of seeing their favorite teams or bands play,” said Adam Kanner, ScoreBig.com CEO. “With our new ScoreBig Daily App for iPhone and iPod touch, our goal is to change that. We want fans back in the seats, cheering and singing along with their families or friends. By giving them easy and immediate access to the best seats on the day of the game or concert, fans will be able to save a bundle and actually afford to take their families to a great live event. We’re helping to make tickets affordable again.”

For those in cities where the app does not yet offer live event tickets, ScoreBig.com has done away with its waitlist so that all users, no matter where they are in the nation, can enjoy and instantaneously access the site’s millions of tickets for great live events.

The ScoreBig Daily App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.iTunes.com/AppStore.

About ScoreBig.com
ScoreBig.com enables consumers to get great tickets for live sports, concert and theater events – at guaranteed savings of up to 60 percent. ScoreBig.com members pick their own price on seats from the floor to the rafters, always pay less than retail price, and never pay any fees. For its partners, ScoreBig.com is an entirely new “value channel” that creates a safe environment to move unsold ticket inventory in a way that doesn’t negatively impact their brand or cannibalize full-price sales. ScoreBig.com was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif.

Behavioral Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive via its QuickQuery omnibus product on behalf of ScoreBig.com in April 2012, among 2000 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Melissa Penn at melissa.penn@atomicpr.com or 323-648-5426.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Peter Sinclair
ScoreBig.com
press@scorebig.com

Melissa Penn
Atomic PR
323-648-5426
melissa.penn@atomicpr.com



Hillary Clinton, Clint Eastwood, and Melinda Gates Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences


Hillary Clinton


Clint Eastwood


Melinda F. Gates

17 Apr 2012 18:00 Africa/Lagos


Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clint Eastwood, and Melinda F. Gates Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences


2012 class features national and international scholars, artists, scientists, writers and other professionals including historian David W. Blight, volcanologist Katharine V. Cashman, mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, cancer researcher Tyler Jacks, musician Sir Paul McCartney, playwright Neil Simon, and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced the election of 220 new members, continuing a 230-plus year history of recognizing some of the world's most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders.

One of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies, the Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, the humanities and culture, and education.

"Election to the Academy is both an honor for extraordinary accomplishment and a call to serve," said Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz . "We look forward to drawing on the knowledge and expertise of these distinguished men and women to advance solutions to the pressing policy challenges of the day."

An alphabetical list of the new members is located at:
http://www.amacad.org/news/alphalist2012.pdf. The new class listed by discipline is located at: http://www.amacad.org/news/classlist2012.pdf.

Members of the 2012 class include winners of the National Medal of Science, the Lasker Award, the Pulitzer and the Shaw prizes, the Fields Medal; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; the Kennedy Center Honors; Grammy, Emmy, Academy, and Tony awards; the Avery Fisher Prize, and election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Scientists among the newly elected Fellows include: James Fraser Stoddart , a chemist whose work helped establish the field of molecular nanotechnology; Angela M. Belcher , who uses directed evolution to create new materials and devices with applications in electronics, energy, and medicine; geological scientist Katharine V. Cashman , who helped explain why volcanos erupt the way they do; Gregory B. Olson , one of the founders of computational materials design; astronomer Debra A. Fischer , who helped discover more than 200 planetary systems; Robert P. Colwell , chief architect of Intel's Pentium microprocessors; Tyler Jacks , who exploits gene-targeting technology in mice to understand cancer in humans; oncologist Brian Druker , whose research dramatically improved survival rates for leukemia patients; mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, winner of the Fields Medal; synthetic biology pioneer Jef Boeke ;psychologist Robert Seyfarth , whose field research with monkeys shed light on the evolutionary origins of language; and Griffin P. Rodgers , director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, whose research contributed to the first effective therapy for sickle cell anemia.

Social scientists include: economist Robert A. Moffitt , an authority on the incentives and disincentives inherent in the U.S. welfare system; Paul Mendes-Flohr , a leading scholar of modern Jewish thought and history; behavioral scientist Edward F. Diener , who pioneered methods of measuring well-being; legal scholar Shari S. Diamond , whose empirical research has influenced sentencing policy and jury procedures in U.S. courts; public finance economist Amy Finkelstein , whose work has shown how the structure of government programs affects health care choices and outcomes; political scientist James Druckman , who developed influential theories of how citizens form political opinions; and George F. Bass , a pioneer in underwater archaeology.

In the humanities and the arts, new members include: Civil War scholar David. W. Blight; Vicki L. Ruiz , whose research helped establish the field of Chicano/Latino history; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon ; poet Gerald Stern ; sculptor Kiki Smith ; American film icons Clint Eastwood and Mel Brooks ; violinist Midori Goto ; pianist, conductor, and composer Andre Previn ; and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

Elected in public affairs and journalism are: sustainability expert Kamaljit Singh Bawa ; former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, Jr. ; veteran diplomat R. Nicholas Burns ; U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ; television journalist Judy Woodruff ; and Boston Globe editor Martin Baron .

Business leaders in the 2012 class include: Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos ; Merck and Company Chairman, President and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier ; Walt Disney Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger ; civic and business leader Penny S. Pritzker ; Loews Corporation President and CEO James S. Tisch ; and philanthropist and retired Citigroup Chairman Sanford I. Weill .

The new class also includes the leaders of educational, cultural, and philanthropic organizations including: Jared L. Cohon (Carnegie Mellon University); Melinda F. Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation); Steven S. Koblik (Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens); Reynold Levy (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts); Carolyn A. Martin (Amherst College); and Michael A. McRobbie (Indiana University).

The Academy elected 17 Foreign Honorary Members from Argentina, Canada , Egypt, Finland, France , Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. They include: Helmut Schwarz , President of Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Dutch stem cell researcher Johannes C. Clevers ; French social anthropologist Philippe Descola; British playwright and director David Hare ; South African artist William Kentridge ; British recording artist Paul McCartney ; Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho ; British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon ; Argentinian commentator and politician Rodolfo Hector Terragno ; and Ismail Serageldin , director of Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexendrina.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 6 , at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

SOURCE American Academy of Arts & Sciences

NOTE TO EDITORS: You can download a low-resolution version (for web) and high-resolution version (for print) of the Academy seal at: http://www.amacad.org/images/Academy_Seal_Logotype.pdfCONTACT: Paul Karoff, +1-617-576-5043, pkaroff@amacad.org Web Site: http://www.amacad.org



Tuesday, April 17, 2012

RODE Announces Worldwide Band Competition - RODE Rocks!



RODE Announces Worldwide Band Competition - RODE Rocks!


Guest judges include Matt Sorum (GNR), Dave Catching (QOTSA, EODM), The Hives and more.

SYDNEY, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — RØDE Microphones is excited to announce ‘RØDE Rocks’ – an international band competition designed to locate and showcase the best in independent, unsigned talent around the world and reward them with an all-expenses-paid recording session in Hollywood with renowned producer Alain Johannes, as well as studio prize packs consisting of microphones and speakers totalling over US$15,000 in value.

To enter ‘RØDE Rocks,’ artists need to record an original composition and then create an accompanying video that features at least one RØDE microphone. After uploading the video to YouTube the artist simply needs to visit www.roderocks.com and submit their details along with a link to the video.

At the end of June a panel of guest judges including Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses), David Catching (Queens of the Stone Age), Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist (The Hives) and more will reduce the number of entrants to ten finalists, and those videos will be showcased on the RØDE website for a two week period in which all visitors will be invited to vote for their favourite performance.

First prize winners will receive return flights to Los Angeles to record at the famous Record Plant studios in Hollywood, with superstar producer Alain Johannes. Johannes is one of rock’s most in-demand collaborators, following his work with artists such as Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age and more. Additionally the winning artist(s) will receive vocal training from Robert ‘RAab’ Stevenson (Kelly Rowland, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna). The resulting recording will be professionally mixed and mastered, and provided to the winning artist to release as they see fit.

Second and third prize winners will each receive a studio prize pack consisting of a number of studio and live performance microphones and studio monitors from Event.

RØDE Rocks judge and rock n’ roll icon David Catching was blown away at the scale of the prizes. “You better have immense talent to win this chance of working with Alain, John, Francis and RØDE at Record Plant, because you’ll be involved with the best of the best and coolest of the cool! This combination of bad assery is a dream come true!” he exclaimed.

“I wish I wasn’t a judge, cause I’d give my right arm to be recording with these awesome men, on these amazing mics at this legendary studio! Give it your best, because that’s what you’ll get in return!”


CONTACT:

Scott Emerton
+61-2-9648-5855
scott.emerton@rodemic.com