Akon Joins Governments From South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt and Nigeria for Energy Access' at Powering Africa: Summit in Washington D.C

Akon Joins Governments From South Africa, Mozambique, Egypt and Nigeria to Discuss 'Energy Access' at Powering Africa: Summit in Washington D.C. Next Week 

LONDON, January 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Understanding the level of energy access required across such a diverse continent as Africa remains an on-going challenge for potential investors to determine project bankability. Senegalese musician Akon and his partners Samba Bathily and Thione Niang have launched Akon Lighting Africa, an innovative initiative focusing on beyond the grid investment in Africa.

Nigerian Children Have Become the Worst Victims of Terror

 Boko Haram girl child suicide bomber. Photo Credit: Lagos Today.

Nigerian children have become the worst victims of terror in every region in the country.
Boko Haram terrorists have attacked, kidnapped and murdered hundreds of them in the north; kidnappers have kidnapped many of them in the south and scores have been raped.

Girls as young as 10 years have been used as suicide bombers by Boko Haram.
A 9 year old  girl was kidnapped and raped to death last week in the south east.
An 8 year old girl was raped to death in a toilet in her school during school hours!
More than 6 million girls from poor families are  out of school.
Defenseless, helpless and powerless girls have become preys of predators on the prowl in Nigeria and we are going on with our respective lives without raising any alarm over this state of emergency.

Children hawking in Nigeria. Photo Credit:Nairaland. 

Primary school pupils in Kaduna, 2016.Thousands of Nigerian children from poor families go to schools where they have to desks and no seats. Photo Credit: Nairaland.
 
The President of Nigeria, the Ministers, Law makers, State Governors, Commissioners, Heads of Local Government Areas, Bishops, Pastors, Imams and other authorities have not responded to this emergency of the daily attacks on our innocent helpless children God has given us!
No child asked to be born poor to suffer in horrible living conditions, become unfortunate victims of domestic violence and political conflicts. 
We asked for them for procreation, but we have failed to guaranty their safety and welfare.

The rich don't care about the children of the poor. The best they can do is to use them as housemaids and house boys and in most cases deprive them of going to school and prevent them from the realization of their dreams to fulfill their destinies. And we say we are true Christians and Muslims and Patriots?
How can we develop our nation when we fail to secure the future of our children who will succeed and survive us?  
This is a state of emergency and we must all join hands to rescue and save the most threatened children in Nigeria from poverty and political crisis.

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Terrorism Remains Major Threat in West Africa Despite Electoral Progress – Senior UN Official

Terrorism Remains Major Threat in West Africa Despite Electoral Progress – Senior UN Official 

NEW YORK, 14 January 2016 / PRN Africa / -- While peaceful and credible elections were held in several countries in West Africa in the past six months, violent extremism continues to pose a serious threat throughout the area, the top United Nations official for the region warned today.

Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the Best Civlian President and Head of State of Nigeria

Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, GCFR, Turakin Sakkwato, was duly elected as President of Nigeria in 1979 to usher in the Second Republic and his administration remains the most incorruptible and most democratic Nigerian government since independence of Nigeria. But the unfortunate military coup led by General Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 1983 ended the Nigerian Dream of the Second Republic.
The flimsy excuses for the coup have shown us over the years that there was no realistic justification for the coup, except selfish ambition of young military officers who were impatient with the democratic development for the nation building of a New Nigeria.
When we look back now to that era, we become nostalgic, because since then Nigerians have been going through a sociopolitical nightmare and far from the Nigerian Dream of Shagari defined in his book My Vision of Nigeria edited by Aminu Tijjani and David Williams in 1981.

Shagari is greeted by BGEN Archer Durham upon his arrival for a visit. Location: Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, United States of America.
 
Shagari was almost as incorruptible as the first Prime Minister of independent Nigeria, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa whom Shagari worked for as Parliamentary Secretary and later as Minister of Economic Development in 1960, Minister of Internal Affairs in 1962 and Minister of Works and Survey in 1965; from when he was only a young man of 35 to when he was 40. From when young Shagari started his historic political career with his election to the Federal House of Representatives in 1954 when he was only 29 to when he became the second President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he remained an astute and resolute statesman.

I so much admired him that I made a life portrait of him in 1980 at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos and before his overthrow in December 1983, I was invited to represent Nigeria at two international children's books fairs in Japan for my children's book illustrations promoting the agricultural programme of Shagari's administration. And I was also the youngest participant.
The death of my great father, Sunday Eke on November 19 and the overthrow of Shagari's government the following month December 1983 changed the course of my life and the course of the Nigerian Dream of majority of Nigerians.

Read more about one of the greatest democratic leaders of modern Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehu_Shagari


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Author of The Prophet Lied, In the House of Dogs, Diary of the Memory Keeper and other books.  
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

 TOP REPORTS

Jan 15, 2016

• Posted at 13:18 WAT Terrorism remains major threat in West Africa despite electoral progress – senior UN official
• Posted at 10:00 WAT Teherán se convierte en el centro mundial de la sostenibilidad
• Posted at 03:00 WAT Iran: Anugerah Dunia Energy Globe - Tehran Sebagai Pusat Kelestarian Antarabangsa

Jan 14, 2016

• Posted at 22:42 WAT Secretary-General, in Briefing to General Assembly, States New Strategies for Preventing Violent Extremism, Address Large-Scale Refugee Movements
• Posted at 20:56 WAT Fin de l'épidémie d'Ebola en Afrique de l'Ouest : le monde doit tirer les leçons pour la prochaine épidémie
• Posted at 17:00 WAT Irán: Premios Energy Globe World - Teherán se convierte en el centro mundial para la sustentabilidad
• Posted at 16:15 WAT Pensions & Investments Acquires WorldPensionSummit and WorldPensionSummit Africa Special
• Posted at 13:48 WAT New UN emergency funds seek to aid 1.7 million Africans uprooted by Boko Haram violence
• Posted at 03:00 WAT Iran: Energy Globe World Award - Tehran Becomes the Worldwide Center for Sustainability

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Political Neurosis and Political Amnesia of Nigerians

The Nigerian political crisis of corruption and mediocrity is caused by the political neurosis of Nigerian political leaders and the political amnesia of the Nigerian masses.   

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Nigerian Tech Executive in America Launches Innovative "LiveMD" Platform

LiveMD Overview from LiveMD on Vimeo.

Innovative "LiveMD" Platform Revolutionizes Health Care Delivery in Countries Where Access To Expert Doctors is Severely Limited & Overpriced  

Now patients across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America can consult licensed physicians by phone, video or text affordably and immediately – from the comfort of their own home or office.

 
ATLANTA, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, patients in developing countries can search for and receive expert, highly-specialized care from licensed doctors around the world, by phone, video or text using the innovative Web-based LiveMD platform. Patients can use the site (www.mylivemd.com) to search for doctors by specialty, qualification, language, patient ratings, and location. Then they can communicate directly with those doctors for a nominal fee.

Patients in developing countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and India routinely have to travel hours to a hospital or clinic, even for a non-life threatening emergency. Once they arrive they still have to wait for hours, just to talk to a doctor for a few brief minutes, and they pay a very high cost for that consultation. But with LiveMD, they can conveniently speak to a licensed, qualified doctor who gives them their full attention. Plus patients can do it at any time, from the comfort of their home or office, using a phone or computer. As Emeka Okwara, Founder and CEO of LiveMD, explains, "A patient in Lagos, Nigeria can talk to a cardiologist in the United States for the same amount they will spend on a plate of rice."

Communication between doctors and patients can be done by phone, video chat, or text, or the patient can schedule a face-to-face appointment if that is preferable. LiveMD connects patients with doctors from the USA, UK, and other parts of the world without incurring any prohibitive long distance charges, and the entire LiveMD platform is localized to support all countries, time zones, and currencies. Payments to doctors can be processed safely and instantly via PayPal with all major credit cards, in more than 200 countries, including developing nations. All patient information is also carefully guarded with robust security protocols to ensure full compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Okwara, an accomplished technology executive, has spent almost two decades in the United States leading the delivery of world-class, multi-million dollar tech initiatives for companies including IBM, AT&T, and Delta Airlines. But to him the launch of LiveMD is also based on a personal passion to give back to communities in need. "I was raised in Nigeria," he says, "and while living in the USA I have made significant contributions in industries including telecommunications, health care, and computer technology. Now my mission is to ensure that people living in Africa and other developing countries also have access to the best, state-of-the-art health care."

LiveMD is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA but serves patients in developing countries. Licensed doctors wishing to join the LiveMD Global Medical Provider Network and offer medical consultation services to patients may submit applications at the LiveMD Website (www.mylivemd.com).

Contact:
Emeka Okwara
press@mylivemd.com
SOURCE LiveMD
CONTACT: Emeka Okwara, press@mylivemd.com

TOP REPORTS  
Nigeria: UN experts to assess rehabilitation and reintegration of women and children freed from Boko Haram.  

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Sitting Pretty Lawmakers at the National Assembly

Sitting Pretty Lawmakers At the National Assembly: The More You Look the Less You See

There are many lawmakers at the The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who are what we can call sitting pretty senators and representatives, because the more we look at them, the less we see of what they have achieved for their respective constituencies. 

President Muhammadu Buhari presenting 2016 national budget at the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.

How many of them can show us what they have done for their constituencies so far?

There is nothing like constituency allowance. There is no such thing. It exists only in the imagination of the public. 
~ Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba. 

Whether there are constituency allowances or none, lawmakers elected by their people to represent them at the National Assembly must contribute to the sustainable development of their constituencies without apologies and regrets for their failures. 

Constituencies have the constitutional rights to recall lawmakers who failed to represent them. But many have failed to do so, because they have benefited from political bribes of these corrupt politicians whose selfishness and greed for power have made them to disregard their constituencies.

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UN Provides US$7Million for Nigerian Refugees in Chad

Internally displaced Chadian women, who fled Boko Haram threats, living with host families in Baga-Sola. Photo: OCHA/Mayanne Munan  

Chad: UN provides emergency funds for tens of thousands displaced by Boko Haram violence  

NEW YORK, 08 January 2015 / PRN Africa / -- With nearly 200,000 people in Chad in need of urgent aid – 50,000 of them uprooted by Boko Haram terrorists from Nigeria – the United Nations emergency fund today announced a $7 million grant, the second in five months, and called on international donors to provide much more.

AfDB and Nigeria To Spend $300m on Youth Employment in Agriculture Scheme

AfDB and Nigeria's Federal Government to spend US $300m on youth agriculture scheme

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 07 January 2016 / PRN Africa / -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Federal Government of Nigeria are planning for long-term solutions to youth employment in the agricultural sector. They will spend about US $300 million on the Enable Youth Empowerment Agribusiness Programme.

IFC, IFHA II, Swiss Re and CIEL Healthcare Invest in Hygeia Nigeria

IFC, IFHA II, Swiss Re and CIEL Healthcare Invest in Hygeia Nigeria to Expand Access to Quality Healthcare

WASHINGTON, 07 January 2016 / PRN Africa / -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group; together with IFHA-II Cooperatief, a private equity fund focused on investing in the healthcare sector in Sub-Saharan Africa; Swiss Re, the reinsurance company; and CIEL Healthcare Africa Limited, a pan-African healthcare company, today announced an investment of $66.8 million in Hygeia Nigeria Limited, Nigeria's leading private healthcare company.

The new investment aims to improve healthcare infrastructure and increase access to quality healthcare services in Nigeria. In addition to providing capital, the partnership will increase and broaden the technical expertise at Hygeia and ensure global best practices through the involvement of Ciel Healthcare Africa. Ciel is working in association with Fortis, a leading integrated healthcare delivery service provider in India. Through this project, Hygeia will have the capacity to reach more than two million patients over the seven-year investment period.

Fola Laoye, Chairperson of the Board of Hygeia Nigeria Limited, said, “As Nigeria's foremost and leading private integrated healthcare services provider, Hygeia is consistently seeking ways to improve and expand our offerings so that we can offer more Nigerians world class services at affordable rates and help to reverse the growing trend to travel abroad for care. IFC and IFHA, our long term partners, are working with us to achieve our aim of closing the gap of quality healthcare service delivery in Nigeria. We are excited to bring on board reputable new partners like Swiss Re and Ciel Healthcare Africa. We thank the Satya team for their support and commitment during a very important time of development for Hygeia.”

Hygeia, operates a network of two hospitals and three clinics under the Lagoon Hospitals brand and a health maintenance organization, Hygeia HMO.
It is expanding its operations by upgrading and increasing capacity at existing hospitals, including its management information system, and creating a new tertiary care hospital. The investment will allow Hygeia to expand its service offering in healthcare services and the HMO to allow greater access to quality healthcare in Nigeria.

Eme Essien, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria said, “IFC is committed to financing integrated healthcare networks to help increase access to quality healthcare. More people will get better access to quality and cost effective healthcare in Nigeria.”

“IFHA-II believes that we have a strong consortium of partners in place to help realize growth at Hygeia. Nigeria is a key market for IFHA-II and through our investment in Hygeia we will be able to expand access to quality healthcare across the country.” said Max Coppoolse, the Managing Partner of IFHA-II.
Hygeia HMO aims to consolidate its leadership position with its investment in world class information technology infrastructure that automates processes, ensures operational efficiencies and improves customer interface.

“Satya is proud of the role it has played in Hygeia's growth and the value it has helped create. We would like to thank our partners the Elebute Family and the entire Hygeia team for their dedication and hard work over the last six years. It has been a privilege to support their efforts to offer world class healthcare in Nigeria.” said Moez Daya, Managing Partner of Satya Capital.

“We wish the management and employees of Hygeia all the best as they continue on their journey to redefine Healthcare in Nigeria. This transaction is the culmination of many years of hard work, of which they should be justly proud” added Jide Olanrewaju, who led Satya's investment in Hygeia.

SOURCE International Finance Corporation (IFC)  

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