The Prime Minister of Lesotho, Rt Hon Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili opens the 8th Conference of Annual Speakers at the PAP headquarters in Midrand, South Africa.
African Speakers Lobby for A Stronger Continental Assembly -Want AU Member States To Ratify Malabo Protocol
ARUSHA, Tanzania, 05 August 2016 / PRN Africa / -- The 8th Annual Conference of Speakers has opened in Midrand, South Africa. In attendance at the two-day Conference whose theme is from “Adoption of the African Union Treaties in particular the new Protocol of the PAP” are over 30 Speakers from the National Assemblies and Regional Parliaments in the continent.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Where is Burundian Journalist Jean Bigirimana?
Where is Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana?
Burundi journalist missing for two weeks
NEW YORK, 05 August 2016 / PRN Africa / -- The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the welfare of Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana. The journalist's news outlet says he has not been seen or heard from since July 22.
Simone Ashley Manuel Makes Epic Olympic Games History for Blacks
Simone Ashley Manuel Makes Epic Olympic Games History for Blacks
Simone Ashley Manuel (born August 2, 1996) is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada,
Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record.
Manuel also holds three world records as a member of a relay team, and she is a two-time individual National Collegiate Athletic Association champion, becoming one of the first three African American women to place in the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle event in any Division I NCAA Swimming Championship. Since 2014, she has attended Stanford University where she swims for Stanford Cardinal.
Source: WIKIPEDIA.
Screen Naija - YouTube
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Kellogg's Honours Gold Medal Winning U.S. Gymnastics Team And All Around Winner Simone Biles
Gold Medal Winning U.S. Gymnastics Team And All Around Winner Simone Biles To Adorn Gold Medal Edition Boxes Of Kellogg's® Special K® Red Berries
Team Kellogg's™ Athlete And USA Gymnastics Celebrate Gold Medal Wins With Time Honored Kellogg's Tradition
Thursday, August 11, 2016
3 Outstanding Things That Happened Since Muhammadu Buhari Became President of Nigeria
3 Outstanding Things That Happened Since President Muhammadu Buhari Became Head of State of NigerNigeria for the Second Time.
Just to mention three outstanding feats since President Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State for the second time.
"FIFTY" highest grossing Nigerian movie made N400 million in 2016.
Achieved by Mo Abudu.
Nigeria became the first African country to qualify for quarter finals in Table Tennis at the Olympics.
Achieved by Nigerian Olympian Aruna Quadri.
Nigeria's under 17 national soccer team, Golden Eaglets won the FIFA World Cup. FIFA.com - FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015 - Nigeria http://m.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1888317/photos/index.html#2731796
All these happened just in the first year of President Buhari's administration.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Singapore Offers US$753, 000 To Every Rio Olympics Gold Medal Winner
Sprinter Timothee Yap: ‘I want to write my name in Singapore’s history books’
Some Athletes Are Chasing Huge Gold Medal Bonuses
~ By Niall McCarthy, Aug 9, 2016.
Source:Statista.
Some Athletes Are Chasing Huge Gold Medal Bonuses
~ By Niall McCarthy, Aug 9, 2016.
The glory of winning a gold medal is a massive incentive for athletes competing in Rio but the impressive bonuses on
offer add another more lucrative dimension to the games. The size of
the bonus on offer varies hugely by country. For example, British
athletes do not receive bonus for winning a gold medal whereas American
competitors get $25,000 for every gold they take home.
Successful athletes from Singapore are awarded a prize of $1 million Singapore dollars, not a bad day at the office at all. Indonesia offers its successful Olympians around $380,000, according to Fox Sports Australia. The following infographic provides an overview of the biggest estimated cash rewards for gold medal winners in Rio (the values were converted from Australian to U.S. dollars).
Successful athletes from Singapore are awarded a prize of $1 million Singapore dollars, not a bad day at the office at all. Indonesia offers its successful Olympians around $380,000, according to Fox Sports Australia. The following infographic provides an overview of the biggest estimated cash rewards for gold medal winners in Rio (the values were converted from Australian to U.S. dollars).
Source:Statista.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Sign The Petition To Support Education For Adolescent Girls
US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) reacts as she watches an interpretive dance performance during a welcome for her arrival at Mulberry School for Girls during a visit as part of the US government's 'Let Girls Learn' initiative in east London on June 16, 2015. On the first full day of a visit to Britain the US First Lady met with local students in east London and discussed how Britain and the US are working together in order to attempt to expand access to adolescent girls' education around the world. While in London, the First Lady will also host a roundtable meeting on Let Girls Learn, and meet with British Prime Minister Cameron, Samatha Cameron, and Prince Harry. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)http://www.aol.com/glamourforedu/#slide=3641497#fullscreen
Sign the petition to support education for adolescent girls. http://glblctzn.me/2aqBiGn#globalcitizen
Secondary school girls in Nigeria with Franca Aide, Girl Rising Ambassador For Calabar and National Coordinator Girls United Together For Success (GUTS). http://sowc2015.unicef.org/map-location/girls-united-together-for-success-guts/?mpfy-pin=22745.. At Nigerian premiere of "HE NAMED ME MALALA", to celebrate United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child on Sunday, October 11, 2015, at the Silverbird Chinemas, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Sign the petition to support education for adolescent girls. http://glblctzn.me/2aqBiGn
Secondary school girls in Nigeria with Franca Aide, Girl Rising Ambassador For Calabar and National Coordinator Girls United Together For Success (GUTS). http://sowc2015.unicef.org/map-location/girls-united-together-for-success-guts/?mpfy-pin=22745.. At Nigerian premiere of "HE NAMED ME MALALA", to celebrate United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child on Sunday, October 11, 2015, at the Silverbird Chinemas, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Ban Hails EU Donation To African-Led Lake Chad Basin Task Force Combating Boko Haram
Ban Hails EU Donation To African-Led Lake Chad Basin Task Force Combating Boko Haram
NEW YORK, 05 August 2016 / PRN Africa / -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the European Union (EU) Commission for its 50 million euro contribution to the multinational task force, created by Lake Chad Basin countries – Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – and Benin to combat Boko Haram insurgents in the sub-region.
According to a statement issued late yesterday by his Spokesperson's Office, the Secretary-General welcomed the signing of an agreement between EU and the African Union Commission, in Brussels, Belgium, on 1 August, on the EU's contribution to the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF).
Scarcity of Integrity in Corporate Nigeria
Scarcity of Integrity in Corporate Nigeria
I have noted before that integrity is a scarce commodity in Nigeria and many people agreed with me. The disregard for integrity is actually the cause of widespread corruption in Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja and from the Niger Delta to Lake Chad.
What is integrity?
The English dictionary defines integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.
That says it all.
Honesty they say is the best policy, but not in Nigeria, because for majority of Nigerians dishonesty is their best policy.
They are scared of the truth.
I parted ways with a celebrated blogger in Nigeria; because she chose to be an unrepentant liar and even had the effrontery or buffoonery to say “Who the fuck are you that I cannot lie to you?”
Yeah!
She displayed her disregard for integrity without apologies and regrets. And majority of Nigerians are like that. They are allergic to the truth and celebrate falsehood and mediocrity over dignity and probity. But the fact is, their fear of the truth shows that they are immature and insecure and the insecurities of Nigerians make daily headlines online and offline. But they don’t care, because they have no conscience and no shame as long as their lies have enriched them.
Talking of the scarcity of integrity in Corporate Nigeria is going to unsettle many corporate executives in Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy.
Nigerian corporate executives are as corrupt as majority of Nigerian politicians and in fact, there is no difference between them, because many of the corrupt politicians in Nigeria were former corporate executives in the private sector and I am saying this from more than 20 years experience of interacting with them since the early 1980s when the Prince of the Niger was reigning as the Head of State of Nigeria.
I have been interacting with Corporate Nigeria since when Insight Communications had their old office off Eric Moore Road in Surulere, Grant Advertising was at the T- junction where Eric Moore met Bode Thomas Road and Lintas was at Falomo in Ikoyi, Lagos.
I was in my early twenties, but was already an Art/Features Editor of Kiddies World magazine published by Hon. Tunde Stanley Ereola who was a young millionaire in the late 1980s when he was still in his early thirties and already built his own house whilst still living at the popular 1004 Federal Housing Estate on Victoria Island and had his office at the famous Western House on Broad Street.
His Akwa Ibom wife, Eno was a senior confidential secretary in the office of Admiral Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu who was the Chief of General Staff in the military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida from 1986 to 1993..
I was chauffeur driven in a Toyota Land Cruiser jeep and dressed in designer suits like my boss who was among the best dressed executives in Corporate Nigeria in the late 1980s and also among the most travelled after qualifying as a chartered accountant in France and worked for the late Senator Olusola Saraki’s Societe Generale Bank on Lagos Island before he left to become his own boss.
Before then I worked as a public health illustrator for Johns Hopkins University’s Population Communications Service (JHU/PCS) at 21 and joined Kiddies World at 24 and left to become a national Program Consultant for the UNICEF in Nigeria at 25. So, I interacted with corporate executives who had to respect a 24 year old media executive in a Valentino suit and chauffeur driven in an SUV and seeing the black and beautiful Fidelia Anyia, daughter of a former diplomat and her mother, Mrs. Bridget Anyia was the General Manager of Federal Palace Hotel with their residence in high brow Ikoyi. I had open doors into the boardrooms of Corporate Nigeria. And then later I was seeing the mulatto African American wife of a retired military general of the Nigerian Army who thought I was having a love affair with his beautiful wife and threatened to shoot me! He beat her up so badly that she fainted and ended up in the EKO Hospital in Ikeja, where I visited her and later dared to see her in their bedroom.
“What do you think Brigadier will do to you if he comes in now to see you in our bedroom?”
I grinned boyishly.
“He will throw you over the balcony.”
I left before he returned.
But I told her that it pained me to be accused of doing what I did not do, but would have loved to do it and she giggled.
We were very fond of each other, because of our mutual intellectual passions in the appreciation of art and literature. She once came all the way from off Oduduwa Street in Ikeja, GRA to Morocco in Shomolu to see me and we would go riding in her posh Mercedes-Benz car all over Lagos city like lovers. And once, when I did not visit her for weeks, she came screaming my name “Nelson!” from her car.
“If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, Muhammad will go the mountain,” she said and off we left in her car to her friend’s beauty salon, Colors By Terry on Bajulaiye Road in Shmolu.
As a leader of Niger Wives Association, she looked after the welfare of her fellow members. Then, she was the most powerful woman in Nigeria and even the late military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha called her “Madam”, because her husband was his Camp Commandant when he was still a young military officer during the military administration of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the Head of State of Nigeria from 1967 to 1975.
Lagos was still the federal capital and the State House was at Dodan Barracks.
She was the first person to tell me how a Nigerian female fashion designer got an oil block that later made her the first female billionaire in West Africa. Today my lady is on the board of trustees of the billionaire’s Rose of Sharon Foundation. This powerful lady later wrote the novel, “The General’s Wife”. Before then, in 1988, she supported me during the prestigious launching of my first book “Children of Heaven” at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island. The news was in the Punch, Radio Nigeria and on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) 7pm News read by the celebrated news presenter, Ms. Sienne Allwell-Brown.
She later introduced me to Prince Sanusi, the elder cousin of the present Emir of Kano. The tall and handsome Prince was an Executive Director of the Savannah Bank on Broad Street. She told me she was in love with him, because he did for her what I could not even do and I agreed.
He was very noble and wore his royal nobility like the regalia of his highly esteemed personality.
We often met at the Motor Boat Club on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi where I also met the two beautiful mulatto daughters of Prince Sanusi.
Recalling this romantic, but platonic relationship is important to show how I was highly connected to the big and mighty in Corporate Nigeria.
Getting adverts for the Kiddies World magazine was without stress and we got full page adverts from many of the big companies, including First Bank, Federal Mortgage Bank and Coca Cola and the Federal Ministry of Education bought thousands of copies for all the government secondary schools in Nigeria. So, I was walking tall in those days.
The loyalty and patronage of Corporate Nigeria are not based on merit, but on partisan social and political allegiances of the ruling class of elites in Nigeria who play chess and monopoly with the fortunes of Nigeria and use the masses as their pawns. Majority of them are members of the same elitist clubs where they share government contracts and other dividends among themselves, including swapping mistresses too. And they have actually tried their best to make me compromise my cardinal principles of human dignity, integrity and nobility, but my Christianity did not permit me to bend to their whims and caprices.
I simply walked away in 1990 after working as personal assistant to Hon. Tunde Stanley Ereola, who was now into high level national politics and was the Director of Publicity for Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s Presidential Campaign. Before I left, he had taken me to Abuja when he was a member of the National Constituent Assembly and I was treated like a prince in his official residence in Wuse.
What is the state of Corporate Nigeria today?
Have the executives changed?
No!
They are still as they were then; men and women with Machiavellian principles, but without scruples. There are those who are either corporate villains or just plain corporate idiots whose greatest achievements in life is making it to the board of directors and finally CEO, but without any social responsibility. And to me, anyone who claims to be a big man or big woman without any social responsibility has no worthy legacy.
To fully comprehend the corporate psyche of these capitalists, you should read The Mafia Manager by V and 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
The executives of Corporate Nigeria are different from the executives of Corporate America, because majority of the American executives are more intellectually developed and informed than majority of the Nigerian executives who are intellectually challenged and prefer to live in denial of their intellectual shortcomings; posing and posturing like well educated corporate leaders, but they are empty suits. By their works you shall know them.
They are in the 21st century, but operating with the brick and mortar logic of the 20th century.
When you are talking, it is like you are speaking Greek to them.
They mistake confidence for arrogance and are scared of thinking out of the box.
That is why Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, but only few of the corporate executives are global players, because they prefer to be local champions with provincial mannerisms.
Like a Nigerian executive bragging about having an MBA, but does not know how to write an executive summary or the advert agency executive who makes so much noise about Facebook, Twitter and Google+, but is ignorant of the demographics of the millennials in Nigeria in contrast to the millennials in North America and the UK.
They were there when Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook in 2005 and Mark is now a multi-billionaire who is millions of times richer than them while many of them are in debt.
To me, when the amount of money you are owing is more than the money you have, you are bankrupt and poorer than the poor beggar on the street who is not in debt.
An empty suit is an empty suit no matter the colour, label or size.
Corporate Nigeria does not believe in merit, but in cronyism, nepotism and sectionalism.
They pay eye and lip service to their hypocritical religious beliefs and practice tribal bigotry more out of spite than even competition.
They prefer competing against themselves to competing with the best in the world.
They walk tall in the corridors of Corporate Nigeria, but become mere spectators at global corporate events where their global peers are the main competitors and speakers.
They prefer to settle for less than bargain for the best.
Only the young Turks know what is the time and going along with the global trends, but the Old School uncles still want to boss and bully them into submission instead of accepting the innovations of the young Turks.
That is why only few banks are really flourishing in Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, but the biggest banks are in South Africa. And corruption is why many Nigerian banks are failing.
The corruption destroying Corporate Nigeria is powered by the greed of the ruling class, incompetence of the middle class and ignorance of the masses.
The ruling class exploits the incompetence of the middle class and ignorance of the masses.
First Class graduates are still jobless, while sons and daughters of parents who belong to the ruling class get first offers of jobs in big offices even with Third Class degrees.
They simply graduate and take over the reserved corporate positions of their affluent parents and uncles as the son of the former Senate President is now the new Senate President and the vicious circle of Corporate Nigeria continues to dictate the lives of Nigerians with the powerless poor masses at the receiving end.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, author of Children of Heaven, Sleepless Night, Scarlet Tears of London, Bye, Bye Zimbabwe, Diary of the Memory Keeper, In the House of Dogs, The Prophet Lied, The Victory of Muhammmad Buhari and the Nigerian Dream, Lagos in Motion: Photo Documentary On Africa's Largest Megacity and other books.
See more on https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Ignorance is the Worst Calamity of Nigerians
Ignorance is the worst calamity of Nigerians and not political corruption or terrorism. Ignorance has destroyed more lives than corrupt politicians and terrorists.
Nigerians suffer many self-inflicted predicaments, because of their disobedience and ignorance.
They refuse to learn from the terrible mistakes of others and end up repeating them and suffering the horrible consequences.
What the masses need most is not political change of government, but just commonsense and conscience to be more informed and enlightened to improve their lives. But majority of them are intellectually retarded, because they don't read.
The fact that toxic fumes from generators still kill Nigerians after they have been warned of the dangers in the manuals shows how disobedience and ignorance have caused their woes and not political corruption and crime.
Freedom without wisdom causes chaos in every kingdom.
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