Scorecard of Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola

As part of activities to mark his one year in office, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, addressed a press conference where he listed the gains of the three ministries under his watch. Read the text of his address below
Ladies and Gentlemen, Our memories will recall that on 11th November 2015, Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, concluded the process of constituting his cabinet by administering the oath of office on ministers.

I was assigned to consolidate a newly merged ministry of Power Works and Housing, shortly after which I briefed members of the public and the press about our plans, in my maiden press briefing tagged “Setting The Agenda.”
While some of the assumptions may have altered somewhat about the timing of the budget, a budget was eventually signed into law on Friday 6th May 2016 (6 months ago) and we have set about implementing the budget of N260.082B with releases of N70B made in June (for Quarter I) and N60B made in October (for Quarter II)
It is now exactly a year since we were sworn into office, and I believe it is an appropriate time to acquaint you with our progress of work.

Because 3 (THREE) ministries are involved, I will dwell on summaries in order to manage time, but from time to time I will highlight some details whenever they are necessary to explain a point and to reinforce our commitment to remain accountable to you, our employers.

1. WORKS:

This ministry as we all know is responsible for civil Works especially the construction of roads, bridges, buildings and other similar civil engineering undertakings.

As I mentioned during my briefing on the agenda setting, we had inherited about 206 road projects already contracted out; with outstanding completion costs in the region of N1.5 Trillion.

Although the works ministry share of the 2016 appropriation was N260 Billion, which was a lot more than the 2015 budget of only N18 Billion that the last administration left, it is a drop in the ocean against the liabilities that were outstanding to contractors.
Our interactions with contractors showed that many of them had not been paid for an average of 2 to 3 years before we resumed, and this explained the stoppage of works, by the contractors, the layoff of workers, and consequently poor condition of many roads.
With limited resources against liabilities, with debts already owed, we had to make difficult choices of deciding which of the 206 roads under contract we should start with, and how many.

Our choices were informed by the realities of our economy and the size of our resources,
We resolved that all roads are economic roads but that some were more urgent and more impactful than others.

So our choices were determined by roads that carried the heaviest cargo, to allow farmers, businessman, industries and travelers move their goods and themselves across the country in order to drive productive activity.

Secondly, we chose roads that support our energy sufficiency and put our resources in roads leading to and from petroleum tank farms so that we can move petro, diesel and kerosene across Nigeria.

We also chose roads that led to and from our major sea and airports so that maritime business can go on, to drive the economy.
Therefore, we re-mobilized contractors back to work on roads across the 6 (SIX) Geo-Political zones, with the list provided in Annexure I to this brief which I will leave with you.

Some important roads in this category are:

– The Port Harcourt- Aba Road, where mobilization was delayed until Monday 31st October because of rains, and the difficulty of establishing a works yard.

– Sokoto – Tambuwal – Makera-Kontagara Road where work is going on, – (Sokoto-Kebbi-Niger States)

– Ilorin-Jebba Road, – (Kwara State)

– Loko-Oweto Bridge, – ( Nasarawa/Benue States)

– Shagamu- Ibadan , – (Oyo-Ogun State)

– Shagamu – Lagos, – (Lagos-Ogun State)

– Ogbomosho-Oko-Ilogbo-Osogbo , -(Oyo-
Osun State)

– Funtua-Katsina , -(Katsina State)

– Wukari-Akwana , – (Taraba State)

– Abriba –Arochukwu – Ohafia , – (Abia State)

– Abuja – Lokoja – Airport , – (FCT/ Kogi State)

– Oji-Achi-Obeagu-Mmaku-Awgu-Ndeaboh-Mpu-Okpanku , -(Enugu State)

– Ajase Ipo – Offa – Erinle – Osun State Boundary , – (Kwara State)

– Ikot Ekpene Border- Aba – Owerri Dualisation , – (Akwa Ibom/Abia and Imo States)

We also paid consultants who are supervising these roads and had been denied payment for 2 to 3 years. This has helped to recover lost jobs, and put some money back in circulation, as part of a government strategy to build out of this recession.

As I said during our first briefing, our short-term objectives are to complete uncompleted road contracts, restore motorability back to as many roads as possible, improve journey times and reduce the cost of travel for commuters.

This has clearly started on the roads I have spoken about; and the results will accrue as progress on the works improve over time and the roads are completed.

In the medium to long term, we intend to cover more roads as our resources permit, and increase our maintenance capacity of road assets to ensure that we do not neglect our highways again in the manner we have done over the years to our collective detriment.

The first step to maintenance is to restore the authority of all the states controllers of works, to charge them to take responsibility for all federal roads within their states posting, and to bring up an annual budget that will be submitted to Parliament.

This will help us decentralize authority over road maintenance, vest responsibility on the people who are on ground and closer to the Roads so that they can resurface damaged roads, clear over-grown vegetation, enforce axle-load compliance, install signs and lane marking and gradually restore our highways back to contemporary quality.

2. 2017 AND BEYOND – WORKS:

Going forward in 2017, we have developed proposals for the budget to intervene in critical roads in the 6 (SIX) Geo-political zones that lead to and from major food producing states based on information supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture.

We plan to do the same for states that produce minerals from mining activity, and for states where we have strategic fuel depots.
For decades, we have paid almost no attention to bridges built across the country as though they are indestructible.

We are beginning to see erosion, stress, and in some cases failures and near collapse in Kano (Tamburawa), Lagos (Ijora), Kogi (Lokoja) Ogun (Long bridge on Lagos-Ibadan) Kaduna (Jaji) and other places.

Although we have started some work in a few places, we have only about N2 Billion to work in the 2016 budget.
We have nonetheless developed a 3 (THREE) year plan to cover 42 (Forty-Two) bridges that will require about N277 Billion authorization by Parliament over the period.

I must also point out that we received representation from parliamentarians about roads in their constituencies and from the monthly FRSC reports all of which have been factored into our next three-year plan.
How far we go, how much we get and how much we can do, now depends on how much money the country can get, and how much she gets approval to spend.

3. POWER:

Following the privatization in 2013, the ministry is now largely a policymaker, and regulator through NERC [Nigerian electricity regulatory commission] and is now only directly responsible for expansion and maintenance of the transmission line through (TCN) and completion of projects started before the privatization which were uncompleted and about which I will share a few details.

The story in power is not different from that of works in terms of uncompleted projects in transmission.
As I said in my meeting briefly, we inherited over 100 transmission projects for which contractors were not paid for about three years.

This not only resulted in stoppage of work, laying off of workers, but left projects uncompleted.
But it also resulted in contractors abandoning over 800 containers, which contained transformers, switches, panels and other equipment needed as materials to complete transmission projects because they could not pay for them.

To compound the situation there was no provision in the budget of 2015 to pay them as only N5 Billion was budgeted for the Ministry of Power.

All this has changed. The ministry has N24 Billion for 2016 and has started paying contractors and getting the necessary approvals for them to return to work.

Examples of these are in Sokoto, Maiduguri, Okada, Alagbon, Damboa, Nasarawa, Gurara, Osogbo, Kashimbilla, Kumbotso, Ikot Ikpene to mention a few.

This puts a lie to the narrative that the transmission grid is static at 5000 MW and is not expanding because these projects add to the capacity.

Furthermore, with the budget we have started paying the shipping companies and warehouse owners who kept custody of the containers, and the report I received last week indicates that a first batch of about 400 containers will be released to contractors to go out and do their work.

In addition to transmission, we are working to complete uncompleted power generation projects to deliver on the incremental power program of our roadmap of incremental, steady and uninterrupted power.

Some of the projects that should start coming to conclusion in 2017 are the 215 MW Kaduna Power, 40 MW Kashimbilla Power (Hydro), 40 MW Gurara I Power (Hydro), 29 MW Dadin Kowa Power (Hydro), 10 MW Katsina Power (Wind) 1,125 MW (14 Solar projects) and the 240 MW Emergency Power Project for Afam (Gas).

We are working with the generation companies to increase their power generation capacity through repairs and maintenance.
Egbin has restored all its turbines even though it has suffered a gas outage as a result of vandalization.

Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro have increased the number of functional turbines, so they are producing 300 MW extra power during this year’s rainy season, more than they did last year.

As at 5 November 2016, reports reaching me from the control center showed a peak generation of 4010 MW, and this is without the 3000 MW lost to gas pipe vandalization.

I am aware that efforts are in progress to repair and restore the damaged gas pipelines, and also to fast-track emergency gas supply.

Government has also recently provided a guarantee to ensure supply of gas to Calabar power plant, which has power and transmission, but no gas to operate efficiently.
On the distribution side, we continue to work with the DisCos to improve their customer service and in particular meters supply.

As you heard on a recent TV program hosted by Channels TV called ‘The Crux’ some of the local meter manufacturing companies attest now to improvement in orders to supply of meters.

As you will have also seen, I have been involved in meter distribution flag offs in Kano, Benin and Sokoto.

All told, while there is still work to do, and there is the big problem of liquidity to overcome, the promise ahead looks good, the plans are clear and our resolve to implement is unwavering.

4. 2017 AND BEYOND – POWER:

Going forward we intend to roll out our Rural Electrification Implementation program which Mr. President has now approved as required by the law.

Our objective is to improve access to power for rural communities.
You will have heard of our education intervention project, which is indeed a rural electrification implementation project.
We are using universities as one of the anchors because they are in rural areas and they represent a quick way to penetrate the rural areas and also expand to villages and towns in rural areas, close to the Universities.
We are starting with 37 federal universities, seven teaching hospitals, to which we plan to deploy 37 independent power plants of nine gas plants, and 28 solar plants to guarantee a cumulative 120 MW, to replace 1,105 generators that are producing a wasteful 210 MW.

We have done the audits and planning of all the schools and if we get financing authorization we can implement, to provide access to power to our people in the rural areas.

The second anchor of our Rural intervention is the use of small Hydro dams; that are in the rural areas to support agriculture and Agro processing by providing power.
The approval for the first 6 (SIX) is pending for consideration by the Federal Executive Council.

All of these sources of power, with embedded power from Paras Energy 40 MW gas in Lagos, the expected completion of Azura power in Edo, expected gas supply to Ihorbor Gas power plant, Gegeru power, Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Gbarain and others make me hopeful that we can get incremental power.
How well we do with making the incremental power steady and ultimately uninterrupted will depend on how we as a people resolve issues like vandalization, electricity theft, electricity conservation, invocation of court powers in utility regulation and of course strikes.

5. HOUSING:

We have not yet started constructing houses. But tenders have been considered and over 500 contracts are now ready to be issued for work to start in earnest.

However, we have received land from 27 (TWENTY-SEVEN) states as at 24th October and more are still responding.

We have completed simple designs of one, two and three-bedroom bungalows for the northern states to respond to the cultural, climatic and land use peculiarities.

We have completed simple designs of one, two and three bedroom blocks of Flats for Southern states also in response to similar peculiarities.

We have identified inputs like doors, windows, tiles, paint, roofing materials that can be made locally and we have resolved to use only made in Nigeria inputs unless there is no local production capacity.

We have done some inventory of quantities of materials needed in order to provide investment information for local manufacturers to position to respond and supply in order to create employment and get factories back to work.

These include:

A) Materials

i) 22,288 – Doors
ii) 27,849 – Windows
iii) 3,502 – Water cisterns
iv) 3,502 Wash hand basins
v) 2,830 – Kitchen Sinks
vi) 261,299 – Sq. Meters of floor tiles
vii) 178, 680 – Sq. meters of wall tiles
viii) 561,119 litres of paint
ix) 342,960 Sq. Meters of roofing material

B) Skilled Labour

413,000 Man days
C) Unskilled Labour
440,000 – Man Days
While our planning and research continues, the above is at least indicative of the kind of attention and dedication we are demanding of our staff and the response we are getting.

6. 2017 AND BEYOND – HOUSING:

Going forward in 2017, we plan to build more houses first to stimulate jobs.
Thereafter, we plan to assess the affordability and the acceptability of our designs.
Thereafter, we plan to industrialize the production of the most affordable and acceptable designs.

We will then increase supply using private sector as developers while government will then concentrate on strengthening institutions like the Federal Mortgage Bank to deliver on its core mandate of providing mortgages to working class people to own their homes.
It is my belief that if we can achieve this, the size of our housing deficit will not appear that daunting again, because it will be a system that can respond every year, instead of once in a while, to repeat housing construction, delivery and acquisition.

How much we can then deliver will be defined by the size of our resources and our ambition, and not by the absence of a workable plan.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am done. I thank you for listening.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing

My Lord, Tell Me Where To Keep Your Bribe? By Niyi Osundare

Prof. Niyi Osundare, renowned Nigerian poet

   

   

My Lord

   Please tell me where to keep your bribe?

Do I drop it in your venerable chambers

   Or carry the heavy booty to your immaculate mansion

Shall I bury it in the capacious water tank

    In your well laundered backyard

Or will it breathe better in the septic tank

     Since money can deodorize the smelliest crime

Shall I haul it up the attic

    Between the ceiling and your lofty roof

Or shall I conjure the walls to open up

    And swallow this sudden bounty from your honest labour

Shall I give a billion to each of your paramours

    The black, the light, the Fanta-yellow

They will surely know how to keep the loot

     In places too remote for the sniffing dog

Or shall I use the particulars

     Of your anonymous maidservants and manservants

With their names on overflowing bank accounts

     While they famish like ownerless dogs

Shall I haul it all to your village

     In the valley behind seven mountains

Where potholes swallow up the hugest jeep

     And Penury leaves a scar on every house

My Lord

     It will take the fastest machine

Many, many days to count this booty; and lucky bank bosses 

     May help themselves to a fraction of the loot

                    
My Lord

     Tell me where to keep your bribe?

My Lord

     Tell me where to keep your bribe?

The “last hope of the common man”

     Has become the last bastion of the criminally rich

A terrible plague bestrides the land

     Besieged by rapacious judges and venal lawyers

Behind the antiquated wig

     And the slavish glove

The penguin gown and the obfuscating jargon

     Is a rot and riot whose stench is choking the land

Behind the rituals and roted rigmaroles

     Old antics connive with new tricks

Behind the prim-and-proper costumes of masquerades

      Corruption stands, naked, in its insolent impunity

For sale to the highest bidder

    Interlocutory and perpetual injunctions

Opulent criminals shop for pliant judges

     Protect the criminal, enshrine the crime

And Election Petition Tribunals

     Ah, bless those goldmines and bottomless booties!

Scoundrel vote-riggers romp to electoral victory

     All hail our buyable Bench and conniving Bar

A million dollars in Their Lordship’s bedroom

     A million euros in the parlor closet

Countless naira beneath the kitchen sink

     Our courts are fast running out of Ghana-must-go’s*

The “Temple of Justice”

     Is broken in every brick

The roof is roundly perforated

     By termites of graft

My Lord

     Tell me where to keep your bribe?

Judges doze in the courtroom

     Having spent all night, counting money and various “gifts”

And the Chief Justice looks on with tired eyes

     As Corruption usurps his gavel. 

Crime pays in this country

     Corruption has its handsome rewards

Just one judgement sold to the richest bidder

     Will catapult Judge & Lawyer to the Billionaires’ Club

The Law, they say, is an ass

     Sometimes fast, sometimes slow

But the Law in Nigeria is a vulture

     Fat on the cash-and-carry carrion of murdered Conscience

Won gb’ebi f’alare

     Won gb’are f’elebi**

They kill our trust in the common good

     These Monsters of Mammon in their garish gowns

Unhappy the land

     Where jobbers are judges

Where Impunity walks the streets

     Like a large, invincible Demon

Come Sunday, they troop to the church

     Friday, they mouth their mantra in pious mosques

But they pervert Justice all week long

     And dig us deeper into the hellish hole

Nigeria is a huge corpse

     With milling maggots on its wretched hulk

They prey every day, they prey every night

     For the endless decomposition of our common soul

My Most Honourable Lord

     Just tell me where to keep your bribe.

*   Large, extremely tough bags used for carrying heavy cash in Nigeria

** They declare the innocent guilty

   They pronounce the guilty innocent 

Prof. Niyi Osundare

What is President Buhari doing with the economy? - Garba Shehu

In the face of the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics that the economy is in recession, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu,  wrote this article explaining what President Buhari is doing with the economy. Read below:
LET me start by asking an important question: who wants to kill racy introspection?xxx There is a cacophony of voices telling the Muhammadu Buhari administration to close its eyes to the past; that given the enormous tasks that lie ahead, history and its consequences for our nation should be the least of the government’s preoccupation at this juncture.
I disagree. Let us keep a fiery memory of the past so that we don’t repeat its mistakes. Look back, look ahead. The future must of necessity be built on the foundations of the past.xx The Conservative Party took power in Britain six years ago from Labour. Check the British press, they are talking about Labour 24/7, is anyone complaining?
Japheth Omojuwa, one of Nigeria’s top three influencers seemed tasked in his patience reacting to calls that we must stop talking about the immediate past administration in this country.
“People are still talking about who ran governments in 1865 you want us to forget those who left government last year? (Expletive)”
Music icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who many agree was a philosopher disguised as Afro-musician taught in one of his songs that without knowing where you are coming from, you won’t know where you are going. Wise men say that the empty can doesn’t disappear by simply kicking it down the road.
To avoid repeating the past mistakes, Nigerians must come to terms with what went wrong with the past, how bad were things, what was done wrongly, what the past government should have done, before we come to what needs to be done to right those wrongs. Believe me, episodes from the Jonathan era can fill books, and other possibilities such as courtroom drama thriller. Against this backdrop, I sought to hear our erudite Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun on where we are coming from, vis-a-vis the administration’s chosen path to recovery and accelerated growth. What is the administration doing to revitalize the economy? She spoke at length on the many measures being put in place, many of which are not glamorous. They of necessity come with pain. Why should Nigerians be asked to endure pains? Why should they be asked to make adjustments?
The simple explanation is that the economy was broken, and just as they do the broken leg, you must bear the pain of fixing it. The current situation was caused by years of mismanagement and corruption. As explained by President Buhari again and again, trumpeted by Madam Adeosun and other senior officials, we solely relied on oil, the price of which was as high as US$140 per barrel. Government simply reticulated oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful expenses and salaries. This was done rather than investing in what would grow the economy. Economies grow due to capital investment in assets like seaports, airports, power plants, railways, roads and housing. Nigeria has not recorded a single major infrastructural project in the last 10 years. In short the money was mismanaged.
In addition to failing to spend money on what was needed, no savings were made by Government unlike other countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Norway. To compound the problem, the previous government was borrowing heavily and owed contractors, and international oil companies. When this government took over we had accumulated debt back to the level it was before the Paris Club Debt Forgiveness.
All these factors were building up to Nigeria heading for a major crisis if the price of oil fell. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to withstand an oil shock.
The oil shock should and could have been foreseen. These are matters that both the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and Professor Chukwuma Soludo, both of them eminent former Central Bank Governors had occasions to warn the government of the day about, but they were clobbered. The dire warning was written all over the wall, but they were ignored by Nigeria’s economic managers.
What should they have done?
They should have had the courage and vision to do as the present administration is doing through the Economic Team, the Ministry of Finance under Madam Adeosun and the various agencies of the state to envision a better future by first of all fighting corruption. Look at what a civilian administration is today doing to the military, investigating their finance and accounts that the military could not do to themselves.
See what the current administration is doing sanitize the huge salary bill by eliminating payroll fraud. So far, the federal payroll has been rid of about 40,000 ghost workers. More than eight billion Naira stolen monthly has been saved.
We are also saving on wasteful expenses like First Class Travel and Private jets for official trips.
The federal government is not limiting the reforms to the centre but forcing State Governments to reform their spending and build savings or investments.
Government is also increasing spending on capital projects especially on infrastructure needed to make Nigerian businesses competitive and create jobs. The administration is at the same time blocking leakages that allowed government revenues to be siphoned into private hands.
Currently, there is focus on key sectors (apart from oil) that can create jobs and or generate revenue such as Agriculture, Solid Minerals and Manufacturing. If these things had been done when the oil price was as high as US$140 per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current predicament. We would not be suffering now if we had no cash reserves but we had regular supply of power, a good rail system, good roads and good housing.
Now that the oil has fallen as low as US$28 per barrel, it is very difficult to do what is needed but they must be done to save Nigeria. There is no other way if we want to be honest.

Watch Mark Lack of Business Rockstars Interview Joel Brown of Addicted2Success

Mark Lack of Business Rockstars interviews, the Founder/CEO of Addicted to Success

Education is key for achieving the SDGs

Education is key for achieving the SDGs

Letter to My Number One Fan: The Spouse I Don't Deserve by ISAAC OLUYI

Dear Bolanle,
I know you may be wondering why I have decided to do you an open letter on the occasion of your 40th birthday! Why write an open letter when I can easily pour out my mind to you in the closet of our room? The decision to do this is two-fold. One, to appreciate your unconditional love for me and two, to inspire others who may be in 'pikin love' (ala Buchi Onwudimegwu) that there is nothing as interesting as building together as a spouse!
Undoubtedly, I have caused you pain and joy ever since we came together as one. I have been naughty, typical of boys of my age who set forth at dawn. We have been through thick and thin together. In all, you have always been there, indulging my excesses, forgiving without remembering and cheering me on when I feel like giving up. I will forever bless that fateful day when I ran into you very close to the Amphitheater on my way to Oluwasanmi Hezekiah Library, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. What a day! It was a day Providence brought you my way, a child born in the ancient city of Kano meeting with a boy given birth to in the sleepy town of Ikire! Let me make this open confession before I proceed. Your coming into my life has taken away the 'village boy' in me. I used the telephone for the first time because I needed to speak with you. The preparation leading to my conversation with you on phone is a story for another day as I had to ask a lot of questions so as not to put the earpiece in my mouth! Such was how 'villagic' I was! Darling, I am grateful.
Dear, as I fondly call you, I see you more as the woman who saw tomorrow. What will make a young pretty lady with so many admirers from the upper social class settle for a young man, being trained by a petty trader mother and whose only valuable was 'hope for a better tomorrow'? You were mocked for settling down with a 'pikin' when you had the world at your feet. As if that was not enough you threw caution to the wind by pitching your tent with a Youth Corp member on a N7500 stipend! What manner of woman are you? You are such a rare gem! Your ilk is not common. You belong to the older generation of women who see true love as sacrifice. You have sacrificed a lot for me - your pride, your career and your background!

In your 40 years on earth I have known you for more than 18 years, first as a classmate, later as a friend and eventually as your husband. You have never ceased to amaze me. You have a larger than life character. How many women today could have gone through what you have been through with me:
1. We got married as Youth Corp members on a stipend of N7500.
2. You stayed with me in a face me and slap you apartment where we had to share kitchen, bathroom and toilets with others despite the fact that you have never lived in such a building until you met a village boy like me!
3. You decided to follow me to Ede, Osun State, a town whose only knowledge I had prior to that time was reading about it in Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame, simply because I told you it was God's leading. We left certainty for uncertainty!
4. You accepted me the way I was by taking soaked gaari when you just put to bed simply because I couldn't afford to buy you beverages! To worsen the situation, it rained cat and dog that day! Baby, all these for love? You are too much. I feel like crying right now.
5. You quit your job to take care of Oluwatobiloba Washington OLUYI, our second child when he was seriously indisposed. Your 4 years of toiling in the university meant nothing to you when parental duty came calling. Till today that singular action has disrupted your sterling career. It was one huge sacrifice! Your joy I believe is that Tobiloba is alive today and doing very well, even to the point of being your second husband!
6. You have been a pillar of support to me, my number one fan. I remember many times I will come back home dejected because of one disappointment or the other. You are always there to cheer me up and encourage me.
7. You joined me in turning a backyard hobby into a Multi-million Naira investment that is taking me all around today. You are indeed the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh.

I don't intend to make it so long a letter like that of Mariama Ba, I could have continued to chronicle all your sacrifices for me to be a better person in life and to make our 'pikin' love a success. Today, when people attempt to tell a story of us they know little of I just grin and walk away. If I buy you a private jet today , you are worth more than that. After God, you are next. I prayed for a woman like my mother, but God gave me the one with double portion of her anointing! Do I deserve a spouse so dedicated, diligent and dutiful like you despite my imperfections and naughtiness? I am not sure, but God has been gracious to me with you in my life. I pray for you today, my dear that God will exalt your horn like that of the unicorn. He will lift your head up. He will shine His countenance upon you and be gracious unto you. You will live to see your children's children in good health and prosperity in Jesus name (Amen). Happy birthday, my sweetheart! Let the party begin!
Your love,
Isaac Oluyi

HELP FEMI OGUNJIMI PARTICIPATE AT WORLD YOUTH CONFERENCE 2016

"The World Youth Conference 2016 will take place from 11th to 14th November at New Delhi, India. I have been selected as a Nigeria delegate" 

Education and peace are vital to the world at large.

The World Youth Conference 2016, “Youth for Sustainable Development” will take place from 12 to 14 November, 2016 in New Delhi, India. The Conference has a unique aim of producing a joint outcome document between states and youth, called ‘New Delhi Action Plan’.I applied last month and got a mail on 10th of this month, confirming my selection as a Nigeria delegate. Accomodation and feeding cost is being taken care by the host while travelling expenses (Visa and ticket) is to be borne by participants or sponsors.

The Conference is expected to bring together 1500 participants, half of them young people, and 150 of them will come from marginalised backgrounds, making the conference one of the most well represented youth events at the global level. 

Teenage building and National development is one which I am passionate about and have been committed to since November 2009. I believe in making positive and sustainable impact. I see a Nigeria where READING will be FUN as seeing a movie at the cinemas and a Africa where our LEADERS will be proven READERS. I also believe that if teenagers are built during their teenage years, teenage deliquency and vices such as cultism can be minimized if not totally eliminated and invariably enabling National and world peace. I founded Readers' Forum in November, 2009 with the vision of building a reading culture in the African Continent and thus far, have been able to establish a working relationship with 10 secondary schools in Lagos State, 2 at Oyo State and 2 at Ile-Ife, Osun state. I believe in the Sustainable Development Goals and youth participation in making it happen. I believe that attending the world youth conference will aid me in contributing more to the development of our country Nigeria.

BENEFITS WHICH THE NIGERIAN YOUTH AND NIGERIA AS A WHOLE WILL DERIVE FROM MY PARTICIPATION IN THE CONFERENCE

1. Participating in the conference will expose me to better ways of running a social enterprise as I will learn from people across the world and return to Nigeria to implement lessons learnt and do more towards creating a better Nigeria.

2. Readers' Forum will be opened to international opportunities and donors which will invariably enable my team and I to do more in building the Nigerian teenage child via our activities in secondary schools.

3. Participation at the conference will enable me to join hands with other Nigerian youth and international bodies to create platforms for achieving the SDGs. 

4. The efforts of the United Nations is at seeing how together, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; hence, my selection as Nigeria's delegate based on what I do is a way of using me as a tool to engage more young people in Nigeria.

5. Networking is key to individual, community and National growth; this which the world youth conference will give.

I will definitely return to do more for my country, Nigeria.

Below are links to few videos of past events of Readers' Forum;

https://youtu.be/TiFYUvin5So

http://https://youtu.be/Y3iSnNQgTEQ

https://youtu.be/Uao3touNzD0

https://youtu.be/No2vlm41inM

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Applications for The UNESCO Learning City Award 2017 close in one month

The UNESCO Learning City Award 2017 has opened for applications. This Award will be conferred on cities that demonstrate exemplary commitment to promoting inclusive education and lifelong learning at the local level. While learning cities share certain characteristics, every learning city is unique. UNESCO looks forward to this uniqueness and diversity being reflected in a range of applications that will inspire learning cities the world over. Read more at http://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/project/unesco-learning-city-award-2017-now-open-applications

Espoo, Finland - UNESCO Learning City Awardee 2015

Espoo is one of the twelve cities that was conferred the UNESCO Learning Cities Award 2015. Espoo shares its key ideas of building a learning city in this interview series entitled, ‘12 Cities - 12 Perspectives’.

Melton, Australia - UNESCO Learning City Awardee 2015

UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC): What and Why?

The UNESCO GNLC supports and improves the practice of lifelong learning in the world’s cities by promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities; forging links; fostering partnerships; providing capacity development; and developing instruments to encourage and recognize progress made in building learning cities.

'Nothing is impossible', the amazing story of Ibrahim Hamato who plays table tennis with his mouth

Ibrahim Al-Husseini Hamato is a 41 years old Egyptian amputee table tennis player who holds the bat with his mouth. Ibrahim lost his arms in an accident when he was 10 years old. This experience could not deter him from pursuing his love, table tennis. His fervent love for the game led him to try different ways of holding the bat. He eventually settled for holding the the bat with his mouth. He tosses the ball with his foot in order to serve. He has become so good that he can hold his own against the world's top table tennis players.

Ibrahim Hamato is a two-time African Championship silver medalist and he has qualified for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from September 7-18, 2016. He attended the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan as an honored guest. His dexterity wowed all who watched him play, including some of the best table tennis players in the world. In 2014, the International Table Tennis Federation invited him to the World Champion in Tokyo to compete against the world’s top players. He was ranked No. 32 in 2006.

Hamato's motto is 'nothing is impossible as long as you work hard.' He enjoys tremendous support form his lovely wife, who he says is everything to him.

Ibrahim Hamato's story powerfully exemplifies the power of a resilient spirit, and should encourage everyone who is experiencing any form of handicap.

Watch Ibrahim Hamato in action in the following videos.

Why petrol price had to go up to 145 naira per litre - Ibe Kachikwu

Nigeria's minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, explains why price of PMS had to go up, and he assures that over time, the price will crash. Take your time and listen to the video.

Nigeria's Petroleum Minister, Ibe Kachikwu, Speaks On The New Petrol Price Of N145 Per Litre

Would Captain America cope in Lagos?

As the new Captain America film made an eye-watering $181.8m in the North American box office this weekend, it was also causing digital waves across the Atlantic in Africa.
One of the movie's opening scenes is set in a market in Nigeria's main city of Lagos, and even though it was reportedly filmed on a set in Atlanta in the US, it inspired Nigerian tweeters (the third most active on the social media site in Africa), to generate the #CaptainAmericaInNigeria hashtag.
Read more at http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36249415

Anaya Ellick, handless seven-year-old girl, wins US handwriting contest

A seven-year-old student born without hands has won a US national handwriting contest.

Anaya Ellick from Chesapeake, Virginia, does not use prosthetics. To write, she stands to get the proper angle, holding a pencil between her arms.

Her principal, Tracy Cox from Greenbrier Christian Academy, describes her as an "inspiration".

"She does not let anything get in the way of doing what she has set out to do," says Ms Cox.

"She is a hard worker and has some of the best handwriting in her class."

The girl reportedly beat 50 other competitors to get the special-needs category prize at the National Handwriting Contest.

This category rewards students with an intellectual, physical, or developmental disability.

Competition director Kathleen Wright told ABC News that her "writing sample was comparable to someone who had hands".

Sponsors of the contest Zaner-Bloser said they planned to award each student $1,000 (£690).

This is what her winning entry looked like:

Having no hands was also not an obstacle to 30-year-old pilot Jessica Cox.

Source: BBC

The Inspiring story Of Nigerian Sensation Asisat Oshoala And Her Goal To Inspire Others!

Only 21, and already an idol herself for younger generations of female football players in Africa. Arsenal ladies and Super Falcons attacker Asisat Oshoala spoke to FIFA explaining how she developed from playing six-a-side football with boys in Ikorodu to donning the jersey of Liverpool football club and then Arsenal Football club. When I was in school I used to play football with boys,” Oshoala told FIFA.com. “I was in this six-a-side team. The boys always used to say to me: ‘Don’t go to the front, just stay at the back. Just kick the balls out. You can’t score goals. You can’t dribble past defenders.’

Asisat Oshoala Super Falcons striker speaks at FIFA conference with USA women’s football player Abby Wambach

“And then the day came where we made it to a final. I dribbled two or three players and scored a goal. 1-0. End of the game. I remember saying to them, ‘Look at that. You don’t believe in me but look at what I can do.”

 “When you have this determination, and people see this determination in you, eventually they have no choice but to give you the support you need to get you where you want to go,” explained the Arsenal Ladies player.

“I didn’t think I was even going to get to pass the ball at the U-20 (Japan u-20 Female World cup tournament) because I was so young,” said the midfielder. “I thought I was just making up the numbers.”

Oshoala came on as a substitute in the 76th minute of Nigeria’s opener against Korea Republic. Her performance for those final 14 minutes was so impressive that she started every subsequent match at the tournament, helping Nigeria get to the semi-finals.

“Then and there I learnt that when given an opportunity, you give it your best,” she said. “You might not see them, but someone is always watching. It was a great lesson for me. It’s something I’ve carried from Japan into every match I play now.”

“Canada was a massive one for me,” she said. “I wanted to do better. I wanted people to come not only watch my team, but I wanted them to come watch the girl who is determined, the girl who is always ready to give her best.”

Perhaps one of the most important moments took place against England in their final group stage game of Canada 2014. Locked at 1-1, England’s Bethany Mead missed a penalty in the 53rd minute. Just six minutes later, Oshoala was brought down in the box and given the same chance to snatch the lead.

“It was a crucial penalty for the team,” she said. “We had to score. We had to win the game to qualify for the next round. It wasn’t planned that I take it. We had a penalty taker, but I could see that she was scared. I walked up to her and said, ‘I’ll take it for you.’

“I wanted the challenge, I remember thinking, ‘I’m the old player in the team, I’m the one that played at the previous U-20, I should be able to step up and do it for my team.”

 “The Women’s World Cup was something completely different,” Oshoala recalled. “I’d never experienced playing for such big crowds. I remember having to reprimand myself a few times.

“I kept having to remind myself to not go onto the pitch and just start looking at my idols and not play football. I kept refocusing on this thought, ‘I’m going to go there and play the game I have inside me.’”

Asisat and tennis icon and founder of Women’s Sport Foundation Billie Jean King, former USA women’s football player Abby Wambach

“I want to be an inspiration to others,” she said. “So whenever I’m given the opportunity to represent my country I have to give my best.” She told FIFA.com

Young Girls Should Look Beyond Beyonce & Niki Minaj – Ground Breaking Female Scientist, Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green

When Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green receives invitations to be a guest speaker for professional groups, schools and nonprofit organizations, she almost never turns them down.

“Usually if there is an invitation to speak at a forum like that, I accept it because I feel like it’s a responsibility,” she said. “There are so few of us (black women in STEM fields) I don’t feel like I have the luxury to say I’m too busy.”

By many measures, Green has been extremely busy. One of fewer than 100 black female physicists in the country, she recently won a $1.1 million grant to further develop her patent-pending technology for using laser-activated nanoparticles to treat cancer.

A tomboy as a child, Green was crowned Homecoming Queen at Alabama A&M University (by a landslide vote), earned her master’s and Ph.D degrees at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is now is an assistant professor in the physics department at Tuskegee University.

It’s tempting to see Green for all the ways that she is unusual – not the least for winning a large grant at a relatively young age, and for being black and female in a field dominated by white men – but it’s not something she said she thinks about in her day-to-day life.

“It looks like I’m special, but I’m not. I’m no different from anybody else,” she said. “When opportunity found me, I was prepared.”

Close to home

Green’s personal history with cancer fuels her drive to find a way to treat it. She grew up in St. Louis and – after the death of her mother and father – was raised by her aunt and uncle, General Lee Smith and his wife, Ora Lee.

When Ora Lee was diagnosed with cancer, “She refused the treatment because she didn’t want to experience the side effects,” said Green. “It was heartbreaking, but I could appreciate she wanted to die on her own terms.

“Three months later, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer.”

Green took time off from school to help him through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. “I saw first-hand how devastating it was, and I could understand why my aunt didn’t want to go through that.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics with a concentration in fiberoptics, and then a full scholarship to UAB. She got the idea to use lasers to treat cancer without the side effects of chemo and radiation.

A physicist’s cancer treatment

A few months ago, Green was awarded a $1.1 million grant to work on a technology that targets, images and treats cancer.

I’m no different from anybody else. When opportunity found me, I was prepared. “I was completely overwhelmed with joy, with thanksgiving, humbled at the opportunity that a group of my peers thought that my work was worthy for such a grant,” she said. “This is a huge door opening. It outlines a path to take this treatment to clinical trial.”

Green had spent seven years during her master’s and doctoral programs at UAB, developing a way to target cancer cells – not the healthy cells around them.

“I’m really hoping this can change the way we treat cancer in America,” said Green. “There are so many people who only get a three-month or six-month survival benefit from the drugs they take. Then three or six months later, they’re sent home with no hope, nothing else we can do. Those are the patients I want to try to save, the ones where regular medicine isn’t effective for them.”

The way the technology works is that an FDA-approved drug containing nanoparticles is injected into a cancer patient and causes the patient’s tumor to fluoresce (glow) under imaging equipment. The goal is for a laser to activate the nanoparticles by heating them.

“They are not toxic, so without the laser they won’t kill anything, and the laser by itself is harmless, so without the particles it won’t hurt anything,” said Green. “Because of their need to work together and their inability to work apart, I can insure that the treatment is only happening to the cancer cells we target and identify.”

While Green is not the first to think of using lasers and nanoparticles to treat cancer, she’s been able to work the bugs out of parts of the technology that have been problematic, like nanoparticle delivery and seeing success in living animals – mice, in Green’s case.

“As a physicist I’ve created a physical treatment that is not specific to the biology of the cancer,” she said. “It’s a platform technology. It’s not cancer type-specific, though it can treat the cancer specifically. That’s a concept my friends who are biologists struggle with.”

Capable of more

As she moves forward with her research and with teaching at Tuskegee, Green makes time to speak at schools, Boys & Girls Clubs and other youth events.

“People told me to make good grades and stay in school,” she said, “and I always take good advice to heart.”

Green said she feels a responsibility to be a positive example and change stereotypes of black women portrayed in media.

“There are black female scientists who don’t get media exposure,” she said. “Because of that, young black girls don’t see those role models as often as they see Beyonce or Nicki Minaj. It’s important to know that our brains are capable of more than fashion and entertainment and music, even though arts are important.”

Green has mentored several young women, many of whom have gone on to receive degrees and jobs in science-related fields.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” she said. “I repeat that because a village of people helped raise me and instill values in me, and encouraged me to get to this point. I did not get here by myself. Because of that clarity, I know my responsibility to encourage and mentor the next generation.”

Source: http://www.sundayadelajablog.com/5641-2-young-girls-should-look-beyond-beyonce-niki-minaj-ground-breaking-female-scientist/

AN URGENT LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI BY ITUNU AKOREDE

The State House
The Executive President Mohammadu Buhari
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Saturday 9th April, 2016,

Sir ,
CALLING YOUR ATTENTION YOUR EXCELLENCY

My name will not sound familiar to you as I am not one of the children of a Nigerian wealthy family or neither am I a child of a politician, but I am one of your subjects whom God has ordained and elected you to be the president unto. I am Itunu the son of Akorede. Don’t let me continue this short message without saying that a large percentage of the entire population of our beloved country is happy with and your choice of presidency. A lot of us were and are still suspicious of your body and the company around you, but a great percentage still hold you in very high esteem as a man of your word and having the capacity and capability of piloting the affairs of the nation that once seemed subject to grave impunity.

Sir, in a bid not to take your very expensive time reading a long introduction let me hit the ground and state my very main reasons for having the courage to write this letter to such an exalted person like you. Nigeria is a very complex society with multiple issues to reorganize ranging from the economy to people. I am sure that these issues are receiving necessary attention from your office. Every sane mind knows that Rome was not built in a day and it’s not a day’s task to make a country like ours recover from the ills and wickedness of successive administrations. I am too bold to say you are the only person to have been elected as the President of the federal republic of Nigeria with a set preparation to be the PRESIDENT, others have been “Children of Circumstances” or “Products of Fate” as I have chosen to refer to them.

The executive President Sir, I am most bothered about some aspects of our national life which has made me gathered some courage and put my expression up here. Sir just like I said earlier, the entire population of about 180 million Nigerians and another 3million foreign nationals in Nigeria are ever waking up everyday to ask a pertinent question, “WILL NIGERIA BE GREAT AGAIN?” A question I know encouraged your candidature for the presidential election. A lot of wrecks have been done to the body and image of the country; I assume God is using you to rebuild this. This Buhari led administration has exposed so much of corrupt dealings perpetuated under the past administration which also involved some of the present regime’s very top functionaries, please keep up this fight but sir it shouldn’t be business as usual where we only hear about allegations and there are nobody punished for such satanic acts. The EFCC have been able to arrest a lot of young and old fraudsters who have no political base, a lot of young criminals have been sentenced to life imprisonment for stealing a governor’s phone, sentenced to death for stealing goats, jailed without trial for walking at night to mention a few that you are familiar with, yet very high profile criminal cases of political office holders have remained long drawn legal tussles in our nation’s courtrooms.

Nigerians have suffered a lot in the hands of our past and present leaders, a lot of us are in other nations of the world working as slaves in foreign land yet with the level of our national wealth. Nigerians are not asking for too much, sir let them have somewhere to go in the morning and come back home in the afternoon with an assurance that at the end of the month their will the bank alert on the phone indicating that they have been paid. Jobs are so hard to get nowadays, money so difficult to come across. Sir imagine Executive Governors of states in the country still owing about six and seven months of workers’ salaries, yet they live like emperors in castles running very heavy generating sets while those who elected them die in abject poverty. Many people have died as a result of the families’ inability to afford medical bills. Not to bother you so much on this, just reminding of the things you readily know.

About job creations and employment by the various parrastatals and departments of the government, it’s a lot easier task or venture to walk from Kano to heaven than getting a 40thousand naira job in the country without have someone who can “press some buttons” for you. This is endemic to national security. Many people resorted to internet scam because they can’t be kept busy doing something productive to enhance the economy and raise the image of Nigeria. Out of every ten taxi drivers in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, or Port Harcort you will not want to disagree with me that 5 of them are either first Degree holders or with Higher National Diploma(HND) holders. Now the question arises when shall we graduates have the means of practicing what we have studied and learnt in the universities. A lot of our nationals were recently repatriated from United Kingdom, Dubai and Malaysia; they may become national woes if the necessary steps are not taking to resettle them into the system, sir they have to work. I know I do not have to remind you about the number of Nigerians who have been executed for drug related offences in the Asia and Middle East. God will lead you right sir.

Employment opportunities abound in Nigeria, we only hear of recruitment into the Air force, Navy, Civil Defense, Army and Police. Sir can you please order these various security apparatus to give a breakdown of those who got recruited purchasing forms which a sane mind will interpret to be a scam. I only know of Nigeria in the entire world selling forms to people willing to serve and protect the pride of the nation. I see it as buying forms to go and die. Let them give an account of those who got recruited without having a godfather. Again sir, may I tell you that there are more than twenty other departments of the federal government that nobody is talking about today, and yet these are parrastatals that have the capacity of employing at least 100,000 people every year and each generating an average of 6billion naira every fiscal year for the country. Let me call your attention towards the NIPOST, RAILWAY COOPERATION, FIRE BRIGADE SERVICE,WATER COOPERATION, NITEL, all these seem not to be in existence in Nigeria and these are angles which the corrupt people hide and steal the wealth of the nation by submitting names of people not in existence and take the salaries. NIPOST alone is capable of employing thereby reducing the venom and stings of unemployment. All the government needs to do is to declare a state of emergency in these units and rebrand them.

Sir, so much is wrong, look into the various disobedience of court orders by the security operatives, it alarming and embarrassing when these agents go into shops and market places to make arrest, they even disobey natural national constitutional respect by arresting in the vicinity of the Court, yet there are more dangerous criminals known to them walking freely on the streets, politicians stealing and encouraging thugry , yet we do “rankadede” to them. A stitch in time from you will save the nine to come. On the Agatu killing which the source has been identified to be the marauding Fulani herdsmen, it’s more of an unbelievable atmosphere that there seem to be nothing coming from the federal authority on this. We have read comments indicating that these killers flew an helicopter to execute this heinous, odious and loathsome act, yet the DSS hasn’t been able to identify the source and owner(s) of the helicopter used. Is this a sign of cooperation?

Sir, I can continue writing but let me bring a pause here. I shall continue to write you and pray for the success of your administration so that a lot of us can return to our homeland with great hope and enthusiasm.

Akorede Itunulevi

itunuemma@yahoo.co.in

Dallas, Texas

04-09-2016 

00:15am

Note: Opinions expressed are the solely the author's.

Petroleum minister's explanation on fuel scarcity

Nigeria's minister of state for petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu in the video below explains the reason for the persistent fuel scarcity in Nigeria and gives assurances that the situation will soon abate.

POWERING NIGERIA - FAQS ON POWER

Mikaila Ulmer: 11-Year-Old Entrepreneur Signs Deal to Sell Her Lemonade in Whole Foods Stores

When she was 10 years old, entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer killed on “Shark Tank,” securing $60,000 from FUBU CEO Daymond John to push her beverage company to the next level. Now, a year later, the Austin, Texas-based 6th-grader’s BeeSweet Lemonade will appear in 55 Whole Foods stores in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, Louisiana.

Ulmer got her start at the age of four, after being stung by two bees in one week. As she says on the company’s website:

I didn’t enjoy the bee stings at all. They scared me. But then something strange happened. I became fascinated with bees. I learned all about what they do for me and our ecosystem. So then I thought, what if I make something that helps honeybees and uses my Great Granny Helen's recipe? 

That’s how BeeSweet Lemonade was born. It comes from my Great Granny Helen’s flaxseed recipe and my new love for bees. So that’s why we sweeten it with local honey. And today my little idea continues to grow. 

Ulmer travels the nation, leading workshops on entrepreneurship and saving honeybees. As she told NBC News, her business is about more than money. She donates a portion of profits to organizations that work to save honeybees, which pollinate $15 billion of crops annually.

“Last year, beekeepers lost 40 percent of all their hives,” Ulmer said. “Bees are dying.” She also quoted Albert Einstein, who said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.”

Ulmer will be a celebrity chef at today's 2016 White House Easter Egg Roll.

Source: http://www.colorlines.com/articles/11-year-old-entrepreneur-signs-deal-sell-her-lemonade-whole-foods-stores