Leading Nigerian Government Transparency Organization, BudgIT, Secures New $1.5 Million Grant from Omidyar Network

Leading Nigerian Government Transparency Organization, BudgIT, Secures New $1.5 Million Grant from Omidyar Network

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2017  /PRNewswire/ -- Omidyar Network announced today it is renewing and expanding its investment in the Lagos-based government transparency organization BudgIT. The new up to $1.5 million, three-year grant follows an initial grant from the Omidyar Network in 2014, and will be focused on enabling BudgIT to grow its organizational capacity, especially at state level, and to expand its work with government and institutional stakeholders into Abuja.

Buchi Emecheta, Nigeria's Greatest Female Novelist Has Passed On

Nigeria's greatest female novelist and author of several books, Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta OBE, passed on to eternal glory yesterday, January 25, 2017.
She was born in Lagos on July 21, 1944. But was based in Britain where she lived and wrote her books.
Her novel, "The Slave Girl" remains one of my favourite novels.


Description
Review
“Buchi Emecheta writes with a storyteller's flare. Her prose is vivid and simple as a stone carving.” (Houston Chronicle)

“Miss Emecheta's prose has a shimmer of originality, of English being reinvented....Issues of survival lie inherent in her material and give her tales weight.” (John Updike - The New Yorker)

"Her graphically detailed pictures of tribal life make the novel memorable."―Chicago Tribune.

"The Slave Girl" follows the fortunes of Ogbanje Ojebeta, a Nigerian woman who is sold into slavery in her own land after disease and tragedy leave her orphaned as a child. In her fellow slaves, she finds a surrogate family that clings together under the unbending will of their master. As Ogbanje Ojebeta becomes a woman and discovers her need for home and family, and for freedom and identity, she realizes that she must ultimately choose her own destiny.

About the Author
Born of Ibo parents in Nigeria, Buchi Emecheta is widely known for her multilayered stories of black women struggling to maintain their identity and construct viable lives for themselves and their families. She writes, according to The New York Times, with "subtlety, power, and abundant compassion." Her numerous novels include The Slave Girl, The Family, Bride Price, and The Joys of Motherhood.

See all the books by clicking on her name here Buchi Emecheta

1.5 Million Immigrants Arriving United States of America Each Year Since 2010

1.5 Million Immigrants Arriving United States of America Each Year Since 2010

These are the major countries with the largest numerical increases in immigrants living in the United States of America since 2010 .

India (up 609,000),
China (up 510,000),
Philippines (up 205,000),
Dominican Republic (up 184,000),
El Salvador (up 138,000),
Cuba (up 106,000),
Nigeria (up 104,000),
Guatemala (up 97,000),
Haiti (up 88,000),
Pakistan (up 80,000),
Honduras (up 76,000),
Bangladesh (up 75,000),
Venezuela (up 71,000),
Colombia (up 63,000),
Vietnam (up 60,000),
Iraq (up 55,000).

Sour
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/immigration-surging-15-million-arriving-each-year-300354636.html

Media is Key to the Growth of the Economy - Dr. Dakuku Peterside, NIMASA DG

Director General of NIMASA - Dr. Dakuku Peterside (PRNewsFoto/NIMASA).

Media is Key to the Growth of the Economy - Nimasa DG
   
LAGOS, Nigeria, January 20, 2017  /PRNewswire/ --

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has charged the media on fair and balance reportage of economic activities, noting that they play a vital role to the growth and development of the economy.

Twitter Shows Influence of Word of Mouth on Movies

Twitter Shows Influence of Word of Mouth on Movies

Confirms Earlier Research on Relationship to revenue.

BOSTON, Jan. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A study conducted as part of a School of Communication research course at Emerson College found that Twitter could demonstrate the influence of word of mouth on movies. Specifically, the study found a strong correlation between sentiments expressed on Twitter and movie revenue.

Nollywood is Worth Over US$3.5Billion

The Wedding Party is currently the highest grossing movie at the cinemas in Nollywood.

Nollywood is Worth Over US$3.5Billion

Nigeria is often not considered as a wealthy nation. However, when talking about Nollywood, if you are presuming it to be a poor film industry then you are totally wrong! Nigerian film is Africa’s biggest motion picture industry in wording esteem and the quantity of motion pictures delivered every year. Albeit Nigerian movies have been delivered subsequently to the 1960s. The ascent of moderate computerized shooting and altering innovations has fortified the nation’s film and video industry. Nigeria’s film industry is as of now positioned as 6th biggest film industry on the planet taking into account the quantity of movies discharged every year.
The film business is worth over US$3.5 billion.

Source
http://infotainworld.com/top-10-biggest-film-industries-

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Letter from the General's Wife in Nigeria

I met the Brigadier-General's wife when I was 25 and she must have loved seeing me dressed in military camouflage, even though I was not a soldier, but my father, Sunday Eke was a soldier.
She was one of the most beautiful women in Nigeria and the most powerful, but very humble. An African American mulatto from a noble and wealthy family living in New York City.  She said her family never accepted her decision to marry the young Nigerian military officer in 1975. But she was in love with him. She was only 22 and very romantic.

The late Gen.Sani Abacha, former military Head of State of Nigeria, called her, "Our Madam", because her husband was once their camp commandant in the Nigerian Army. It was during the launching of her first book, "The General's Wife" at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Kofo Abayomi Street on Victoria Island in Lagos in 1991. The same venue of the public presentation of my first book, "Children of Heaven" in 1988. Later she hosted the exclusive reception for selected guests of VIPs at the Lagos Motor Boat Club on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi.
We were very close. She once allowed me into her bedroom one day when she was too weak to come downstairs. The general was not in the house.
"What do you think Brigadier will do to you if he finds you in our bedroom?" She asked with a smile.
What?"
"He will throw you over the balcony."
We were fond of each other. It was a beautiful and exciting platonic friendship.

Over 3 Million Nigerians Invested in MMM Nigeria

Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, a Ponzi scheme known simply as MMM has attracted over three million Nigerians who  invested more than US$1Billion in the get-rich-quick scheme. But majority of them are now frustrated since the Russian operators and their Nigerian agents have not doubled or refunded their money which many of them borrowed.
Students invested their school fees; parents also invested their savings and thousands of others used loans or misappropriated funds allocated for public projects and other services.

Read more on Investors Stranded As MMM Reopens - Investment - Nigeria http://www.nairaland.com/3572099/investors-stranded-mmm-reopens.

Google Celebrates Flora Nwapa’s 86th Birthday

Google Celebrates Flora Nwapa’s 86th Birthday

Born on 13 January 2017.
Flora Nwapa, Nigeria's first published female novelist and Africa's first internationally-acclaimed English-language female writer, held the spotlight for nearly her entire adult life. She was not only an accomplished author, but a publisher, public servant, and activist.

From Nwapa's first novel, Efuru, published in 1966, to the establishment of her publishing company, Tana Press, Nwapa demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing and highlighting the women of Nigeria. Additionally, she used her books, and the books she published, to introduce Nigeria’s rich culture to a global audience.

Nwapa served by day in the Nigerian government, becoming the first female Minister of Health and Social Welfare for Nigeria’s former East Central State in 1970. During that time, she worked to reunite children and their parents who were divided as a result of the Biafran War. Afterwards, she became Minister of Lands, Survey, and Urban Development, a position she held until 1974.

Today’s Doodle pays homage to Nwapa, known as the “mother of modern African literature,” on what would be her 86th birthday.

Sour Sop Fruit- Anti-Cancer Miracle Cure

Sour Sop Fruit- Anti-Cancer Miracle Cure

Sour Sop – An anti-cancer miracle
One of the best bits of my childhood was going back to my village in Eastern Nigeria on holiday. It was a time filled with long walks, laughter and camaraderie. Years later, I realize that it was also an important time because I got to learn a great deal about nature.