Friday 23 August 2013

MTN loses big in Mobile Number Portability scheme

According to the Director of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr Tony Ojobo, MTN lost a lot of their subscribers to other networks during the recently introduced Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme.

According to figures released by Mr Ojobo, MTN topped the losers table among an overall number of subscribers that switched service providers in the telecoms market with 49%; followed by Globacom with 23%; Airtel with 17%; while Etisalat came last on the losers' table with 11%. Which means Etisalat emerged top in the number porting scheme among the telecoms company. Wow!

Wait a minute, pastor Ireti Ajanaku only passed away last night?

This is strange. So I just received a statement from pastor Ireti Ajanaku's press secretary announcing his death. We heard he died in his sleep late Saturday night/early Sunday morning last week, and we reported it but according to this announcement, he was only confirmed dead last night. Read below
The death has been announced of Prophet Elijah Iretiola Ajanaku whose death was confirmed by a team of doctors on Thursday night after several vigil of prayers since Saturday evening when his health deteriorated. Prophet Ajanaku who hailed from the Owo Ope family in Gbongan is survived by his wife, Joy and two  children, Stella and Apotieri. His remains has been deposited at the Military Mortuary, Yaba, Lagos.

Though he was born a Moslem over 40 years ago in Gbongan, he moved to Lagos in the 90s and settled in Ipaja Ayobo area where he acquired skills in many vocations and engaged in several trades before his encounter with God. He founded and shepherded the Christ Revival Victory Chapel International, Ayobo, Ipaja, Lagos and rose to become the President of The Ajanaku World Outreach, a ministry devoted to the spread of the gospel outside the church. His last mission unaccomplished was Idoani For Christ, slated for September 30 and October 1, 2013 in Idoani, Ondo State. Until his death, he was a widely travelled evangelist with remarkable crusades and prophetic healings around the world. Burial arrangements will be announced by the family and the church soon.

Signed:
Oluwatosin Faleye
CRVCI Public Affairs Dept.


Source: LIB

Happy 37th birthday to Funke Akindele

Akindele Olufunke Ayotunde (popularly known as Jenifa"Sulia Kan Aiyetoro Kan" is now 37 years today. Funke Akindele was born in August 24, 1976 in Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria.

Akindele worked in television before switching to cinema, becoming known for her starring role in the family-oriented Nigerian television show I Need to Know.

Akindele's qualifications include an OND in Mass Communication from the Ogun State Polytechnic and a law degree from the
University of Lagos.


She later came into the spotlight with the movie 'Jenifa' which gave her a lot of fame and recognition which also landed  African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading role (2009)

Congrats Jenifa...

OJB Jezreel leaves for India Today

Pictured at the airport this Morning is OJB Jezreel and his first wife and children on his way to India where the Kidney transplant will be done. Wish him success on the operation.

20yr Old Boy Found Hanging In Mother’s Kitchen

(NAN ) – The police in Okitipupa,  Ondo State, are  trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of a 20-year old  boy found hanging  in his mother's kitchen.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the police wants to determine whether the boy, Wale Lijoka, committed suicide or was murdered.Lijoka was found yesterday in a room at No. 2, Olanusi Avenue, a close between Okeloro and Lebi streets in Okitipupa.The body of the deceased was found dangling from the ceiling of his mother's kitchen.

The mother of the deceased, Mrs. Moyin Lijoka, told NAN that the deceased could not have hanged himself, alleging that his death was a conspiracy of friends he had misunderstanding with.

She said the boy, who was an aluminium construction apprentice in Lagos, came to Okitipupa on August 18, 2013, to visit her."I called him on Tuesday evening to follow me to the church for prayers but he refused, only for me to wake up this morning to find his corpse in my kitchen.

 "He could not have killed himself; I believe some assailants killed him and hanged him in my kitchen just to cover-up because his legs are not far from the ground. I have called his father, who is a police officer in Ilorin and he said he doesn't  want to have any issue with the boy's death, that we should do what pleases us,'' Lijoka said.

Meanwhile, a sympathiser, who preferred to be addressed simply as, Mrs. Ajoke, also corroborated the mother's claim that the boy could not have killed himself.

Ajoke who described the scene as gory, also said the deceased was "a rascal and street fighter" before he was sent to Lagos for apprenticeship. "I saw him when he came home but I don't know if he quarrelled with anyone. From what I observed his body might have been dumped here and made to look like suicide,'' Ajoke said.

Nigerian Students Spend Over N100bn Annually On Tuition In Ghanaian Universities

Over 200,000 Nigerian students studying in Ghanaian universities are reported to expend over N100 billion annually as tuition outside sundry fees.

Former lawmaker and educationists, Senator David Iornem, who disclosed this yesterday at a briefing to mark his 64th birthday anniversary in Makurdi, said the figure represented a major capital flight from the country.

According to him, "available figures show that the over 200,000 Nigerians currently studying in Ghana, expend over N100 billion annually on tuition and sundry fees.

This situation arose because official figures show that out of N1.7million Nigerians seeking admission into institutions of higher learning, only 500,000 find placements leaving many with no other option but to seek admission in Ghana.

The federal government should take immediate steps to unbundling the higher education sector in Nigeria by adopting the United Kingdom, American, Malaysian and German models which allows for the establishment of small university colleges by willing entrepreneurs.

"In these countries, small university colleges which may be affiliated to bigger universities are set up by small scale entrepreneurs with adequate resources. I believe that when we kick start this process, more than 500,000 university places will be created in the first year."This can be achieved by involving small entrepreneurs and allowing existing universities to set up satellite campuses. By the third year of starting this system, no Nigerian youth wanting to enter a university, polytechnic or a college of education will have any difficulty or denied the opportunity to development him or herself.

Prof. Iornem added, "it is totally unacceptable to officially shut the door against young Nigerians wanting admission, thereby, leaving them stranded and hopeless; we must return the higher education sector to its days of glory when brilliant young people were sure of their future."

35yr Old Man Sentenced To 90 Days In Prison Over N12,000 Recharge Card Fraud

(NAN ) – An Abuja Magistrates' court on Thursday sentenced a 35-year-old security guard, Ibrahim Saleh, to 90 days in prison for collecting recharge cards valued at N12,000 under false pretences.

Saleh was found guilty of collecting the cards from one Salihu Abdullahi of Gwarimpa Market on Aug. 14 under the guise that he was going to pay.

However, the court was told that the convict refused to pay after recharging his cell-phone.The court also orderered him to pay N12,000 to the complainant as compensation for his recharge cards.Saleh pleaded guilty to the charges.

Earlier, the police prosecutor, Sgt. Salihu Mohammed, said that following the report by the complainant, Saleh was arrested and  confessed to the crime.

ASUU Withdraws From Negotiations With FG

Hopes of an early resolution of the government-varsity teachers crisis faded yesterday.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suddenly withdraw from talks with the government, which it claimed was insincere.

Teachers in the 61 public universities shunned their jobs on July 1 after declaring an industrial action over the refusal of the Federal Government to honour the terms of the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement.

Since then, ASUU has been negotiating with two committees set up by the government.

The committees are headed by Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim.

Suswam announced that the government had offered N30b as earned allowances for the lecturers in the 61 public universities.

But the lecturers are asking for N92billion.

Yesterday, ASUU President Dr. Nasir Isa Faggae said the union would only return to the negotiation table after the 2009 agreement had been honoured. He spoke at a news conference at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

He said: "Our members are left with no other choice than to prosecute this strike to its logical conclusion. ASUU members nationwide are saying this strike will not be suspended until and unless the government respects the 2009 Agreement and makes concrete efforts to implement it in the best interest of the country."

The ASUU boss accused government of being blunt, declaring that it neither had any motive to revitalise public universities through committed funding, nor was it ready to pay in full the accumulated Earned Academic Allowances between 2009 and 2013.

"Rather, it (Federal Government) is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various governing councils of federal universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system. It was a sinister 'take it or leave it' threat of grab-the-crumbs or starve-to-death," he said.

Dr Faggae who lamented that never in the history of ASUU has it been so ridiculed and embarrassed by governemt representatives during any negotiations, alleged that some government agents were bent on using the struggle to enrich themselves.

The union also accused government of using propaganda by misinforming the public that ASUU's demand of the Earned Academic Allowances triggered off the strike. Faggae said this has become a recurring decimal at almost every meeting the union holds with government representatives whereas, the unions always sought implementation of the funding of universities as part of the demands.

"The ASUU team was particularly amused that government believed that what our members are looking for is just money to spend. Why else would the minister of finance dangle N30 billion as if it was a dole out when, in fact, that amount of money was unrelated to the agreement and the work of the implementation committee. We have said it everywhere, all the time and we still say it here again that our members have earned their allowances by working for them. They are not begging for crumbs from government. The Nigerian government owes them and they deserve to be paid.

"As a union whose members constitute the intellectual cream of the society and which operates on the basis of principles, we find the events of August 20 and of recent positions on the matter by government as embarrassing, bewildering and highly unacceptable. ASUU cannot believe that the agreement, the MoU and the Needs Assessment Report undertaken and endorsed by the highest public officials in the land, would be so blatantly ridiculed by the same people."

Going down memory lane, Faggae recalled that the 2009 Agreement captured a funding requirement of N1.5 trillion to be spread between 2009-2001, noting that the three years lapsed without government doing anything.

He said this gave rise to the the MoU it signed last January when government also promised to stimulate the university system through N100 billion intervention fund and another N400b each for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

However, he said for government to know universities areas of priority, it initiated the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities (CNANU) which submitted its report to the Federal Government in July 2012.

""It is important to stress that by our own estimation, the MoU should have fetched Nigerian public universities a total sum of N500 billion by now if government were to faithfully implement the understanding reached with ASUU. A continuation of that process would have yielded a revitalisation fund of N1.3 trillion by 2015.

"In the alternative, government could have set the estimated sum of N800 billion required to implement the short term recommendations of the Needs Assessment Report for 2012 and the 2013 put together. But alas, all the government is gloating over now is N100 billion which is nowhere near the scientifically-arrived congruent sums in the 2009 Agreement, the 2012 MoU and the 2013 technical report on the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities. What further evidence do we need to establish government's bad faith?"

Faggae lamented that ASUU has had countless meetings with Suswam's committee, noting that recently, government reverted to its old song of 'no fund'.

"We are at pains to report that this epitomises a grand design to frustrate the 2009 Agreement and all other procedures related to it. This is highly unfortunate. How could the same federal government that within the last three years, generously supported private concerns like the airlines and banks with trillions of naira from the public vaults as 'bail outs', suddenly turn around to say it has no fund to conscientiously revitalise its own public universities? The government largesse, which was extended to Nollywood is still fresh in our memory"

Faggae described the Suswam committee as a smokescreen "to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians" on the N100 billion carrot government is currently dangling for the implementation of the Needs Assessment Report.

He added that the union discovered that government had already perfected plans to divert 70 per cent of the yearly allocation by Tertiary Education Training (TetFund) to make up the N100 billion, a situation he said is unacceptable to the union.

"And unless or until the Suswam Committee gives the union a guarantee that it will not serve as another means of recycling TetFund money and of diverting funds meant for universities, ASUU representatives will not continue to participate in deliberations with that committee."

He said ASUU had it on good authority that 75 per cent of the money to be released would not be released directly to ASUU but handed over to the federal ministry of education or the National Universities Commission. He described such move as 'illegal'.

Lagos Govt Rescues 25 Children From Alleged Child Trafficker

The Rescued Children

Lagos State Government has rescued 25 children from an alleged child trafficker in the Egbeda area of the state.
It was learnt that the suspected trafficker, Mrs. Rosemary Nwachukwu, was also arrested and had been handed over to the Alausa Police Division, while the children were currently in government's custody.

The government accused Nwachukwu of operating an illegal orphanage named, Saint Stephen Charity Foundation, on Abiodun Adebanbo Street, Egbeda.

It was gathered that officials from the Office of Youth and Social Department, led by the Director, Child Development, Mrs. Alaba Fadairo, in conjunction with personnel from the Office of Public Defender and policemen, stormed the orphanage on Saturday.

The government said findings showed that the suspect was using the orphanage as a front for another illegal business.


The Director, OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said of the children, whose ages ranged from three months to 12 years, were victims of human trafficking.
Rotimi said, "It was discovered upon investigation that Nwachukwu trafficked 27 children and kept them in a room. We were able to rescue three infants of ages three to six months and 22 other children. Efforts are still on to locate the remaining two."

The OPD director added that the suspect used the victims for financial gains by putting them up for adoption. She said the suspect would be charged to court after investigations had been concluded.

However, Fadairo, said, "Investigation also shows that there are no records of each child and no evidence of how the children got to her orphanage. No police or security report."

Fadairo urged members of the public to be vigilant and report suspicious orphanages to the appropriate authorities. She said some of the orphanages might be fronts for human trafficking.

She said, "People and organisations that operated unapproved orphanages will be arrested and prosecuted according to the law."

But Nwachukwu said she had been running the orphanage for 18 years, adding that it was purely on charity basis, and without financial gain.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said Nwachukwu was in police custody and would be charged to court on Friday (today).

She said, "We found out that she registered as a charity and thus not qualified to run an orphanage. She will be taken to court on Friday (today)."

41yr Old Tanker Driver Arrested For Defiling 2yr Old Girl

A 41-year-old tanker driver identified as Bashiru has been arrested in Calabar for allegedly defiling a two-year-old girl and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.

The incident happened in Okom Ita, Akamkpa Local Government Area, Cross River State, when the two-year old girl (name withehld) strolled from her mother's room into Bashiru's apartment to play with the man she calls "uncle."

Margaret, the toddler's mother who narrated the incident to Vanguard said she did not stop her daughter from going into Bashiru's room because she considered him a neighbour who could not harm her daughter.

She said: "We have been living together for some time and now, so when my daughter went into his room I did not stop her even when she later came out and complained that she was having pains in her private part. I thought it was ordinary pain until in the evening when I wanted to bath her and she began to cry when soap touched her private part."

Margaret said when she reported the incident to the police, Basiru was arrested and taken to the Akamkpa police station .

Mr Hogan Bassey, the Cross River State Police Command spokesman confirmed the arrest of the man and said the matter was under investigation.