President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the former Senate President, and Senator representing Zone C Constituency of Benue State, Senator David Alechenu Mark for instituting maturity and stability in the Senate.
“The President commends the maturity, stability and focused legislation that he (David Mark) instituted in the upper chamber during the eight years he served as Senate President, and the dutifulness that culminated in the passing of many bills.”
In a message today, Saturday by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, to the Senator as he marks his 70th birthday, President Buhari believed that the wealth of experience which Senator Mark had gathered over the years will be most useful for the development of the country, especially in sustaining peace across the country.
He rejoiced with the family, friends and political associates of Senator Mark who he described as “the former military officer, who served the country variously as a governor, minister and Senate President.”
He prayed to God to grant the former Senate President longer life, good health and wisdom to continue serving his people and the country.
Recently, one of my friends deleted his account with Facebook and quit the platform. I inquired, what could have informed his decision to quit. He replied: “Facebook sucked my life; I cannot continue to expose myself to the daily outlandish lies, cacophonic hate speeches, fictitious opulence and disturbing images being peddled on the platform. My life is better now,” he added. I concurred with my friend and wished I could do the same because of my personal experience with social media.
Ever since I registered on the platform in late 2007, I have been wondering, how the giant social media platform, Facebook, successfully made its way into my life, which I could not just resist for good. But I discovered that, I’m just one out of millions being trapped in the same terrible predicament.
As a matter of fact, I had made several efforts in the past to quit the platform just to reassure myself of the very attitude of self-restraint which I had earlier known myself with, but, I failed woefully. With my profession fully linked to social media at some point in time, it even made it more difficult for such restraining measure to come into reality.
Few days ago, after the revelation of alleged facebook data scandal by a research firm, Cambridge Analytica, I decided to take the bull by the horns and forcefully turned my back on Facebook. Two weeks after, the result is so wonderful that I wish I would not go back to it again. My decision was so difficult at the beginning that I doubted my ability to avoid the platform without any uncontrollable constraint, such as lack of access to internet among others. Surprisingly, I have been off the facebook for the past two weeks without even missing it. Though, they have been bombarding me with several alluring notifications which I didn’t even care to open. It is a bizarre scenario of a typical social media lover like me – a passive and avid user of the new media.
Interestingly, during the period of my self-imposed restriction on facebook, I noticed several positive changes in me. Without mincing words, I became less depressed, more productive, very efficient and wonderful night rest. Therefore, I became more convinced that Facebook sucks our life by bombarding us with distressful contents. It utilizes psychological theories to hack into our brain to keep us glued to our phone screens.
We pay them by wasting our time clicking, sharing, liking and scrolling – again and again, and again, in the name of connecting us with our friends and families. They make their money by putting photos, personal posts, news stories and ads in our front. Because they can measure how we react, they just know how to get under our skin to collect data about us in order to have algorithms to determine what will catch our eye.
The recent controversy surrounding facebook data scandal attests to this claim. Indeed, Facebook is not only toxic, it has assumed a demonic position that kills our happiness, depletes our well-being, spreads resentments, erodes trust, polarizes our world and creates a pervasive sense of inadequacy in our mind which in turn undermines our faith and suppresses our internal peace. In support of this claim, research findings published late last year revealed that spending time on Facebook can leave people “feeling worse. Facebook negatively affect our well-being.”
Reacting to the findings, Facebook admitted the authenticity of the findings but deceitfully suggesting that “spending more engaging time on the Facebook can serve as an antidote to the danger posed by its platform.” A platform that forces people to act against their wills (we must react) indeed, does not worth using. Dear readers, don’t deactivate or delete your account with Facebook just yet. Try taking a little breather from it and see what happens. After then, you can do the needful. However, the question that may crop up in your mind is: “what is the alternative to Facebook that wouldn’t suck our life but add value to it?”
Indeed, there is an alternative that is far more beneficial to our well being. This alternative is devoid of hate speeches, gory images, outlandish lies and fictitious opulence that can lead you to engage in unrealistic social comparison. Just go to Quora.com and register asap.
You select topics that are of interest and beneficial to you. Thousands, perhaps millions of answers cum solutions provided by experienced and professional individuals to numerous problems are already there waiting for you. If you spend two hours reading quora, I can assure you, your time is not wasted.
Rather, it will add value to your life. It’s unlike Facebook and its likes. The sad tale of my predicament is that, I would soon return to Facebook.
Well, I hope that one day, I would be able to totally quit the platform for good.
President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has stressed the need for Nigeria to diversify it’s economy by addressing fundamental vulnerabilities and expanding none oil sector. Aliko Dangote, who spoke as Special Guest at the 3rd edition of the Kaduna Economic Investment Summit, KADINVEST in Kaduna, said: “given the capricious nature of crude Oil prices, Nigeria must quickly take advantage of the prevailing window of opportunity to diversify its economy.” Represented by Group Executive Director of the Group, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, the Business mogul said the gradual recovery of the economy as seen in past few months is an opportunity for all tiers of government to play critical roles to create the best environment and attract massive inflow of private capital and expertise into the economy. He observed the arguably biggest challenge of Nigeria, job creation, the pervasive consequencies of poverty across the country and youth unemployment etc, and said, if other regions with relatively less problems were working hard to attract investment, the North must work twice as hard because it is far behind, trailing the South in virtually all economic and social development indicators. “A lot clearly needs to be done by Northern states to reduce poverty and create opportunities, especially for the youths to earn decent income.” Dangote Group, in line with Government objectives set in motion, investment programmes aimed at improving the economy through cultivation of 130,000Ha of Sugar cane in Niger, Taraba, Adamawa and Nasarawa states directly and via out growers. Cultivation of about 10,500Ha of tomatoes in Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and Adamawa states and cultivation of 150,000Ha of rice across six northern states while Billions of Naira have also been committed to improving the lot of Nigerians through the Dangote Foundation- the largest charitable foundation in Africa with an endowment of $1.2bn. He lauded the great strides of Kaduna under Governor Nasiru El-rufai which has led to inflows of investments and commitment of investors in commercial, agriculture, light manufacturing and agro processing sectors. “KADINVEST is a clear indication of the value the Kaduna state government places on the private sector as an engine of growth, wealth creation and employment generation”. “Kaduna state has potential to become the regional engine of growth.” President Buhari in his goodwill message to the Summit, said his administration is a witness to the concrete and productive outcomes of KADINVEST since its commencement in 2016. Other developments in the state include the Olam Hatchery and Feedmill project in 2017. Federal Government says it will encourage similar initiatives across the sub-national level for the benefit of Nigerians. Governor el-Rufai said KADINVEST was conceived as platform to attract investments as the most sustainable avenue for job creation and to enhance internal generation and accelerate development of the state.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed contracts for engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and financing of 614 kilometre Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Stations.
According to the Corporation’s spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement today, Friday, said that the agreement which is 100 percent contractor-financing model was signed with a consortium of indigenous and Chinese companies.
“Under the terms of the contract, Lot 1, with a total length of 40-inch x 200km stretching from Ajaokuta to Abuja Terminal Gas Station (TGS), was awarded to the OilServe/Oando Consortium.
“Lot 3, which runs from Kaduna TGS to Kano TGS with a total length of 40inch x 221km, was awarded to the Brentex/China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau Consortium.
“It is envisaged that contract agreement for Lot 3 which covers 40inch x 193km, stretching from Abuja to Kaduna, will be executed in the weeks ahead.”
Ndu Ughamadu said that the AKK Project, a section of the Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline under the Gas Infrastructure Blueprint, is designed to enable industrialization of the Eastern and Northern parts of Nigeria.
He said that the project will enable connectivity between the East, West, and North, which are currently not in existence.
The spokesman said that that the AKK section had suffered setbacks due to scarce resources, hence, the adoption of the contractor-financing model.
“The two other pipelines, the OB3 and ELPs 2 in the Gas Master Plan Blueprint, are currently at various stages of completion and financed directly by the Federal Government.”
The process of the award of the contract for the AKK Project began in July 2013 with advertisements for tenders published by the NNPC in major national newspapers.
After a technical and commercial evaluation process, the Federal Executive Council, at its 46th meeting on Dec. 13, 2017, approved the contract valued at over $2.8 billion.
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has threatened that the state will drag President Mohammadu Buhari to court if he refuses to seek for a second term in 2019.
The governor, who spoke to news men in Abuja, said: “when he came to Kano, I told him that any time he decides not to contest we will take him to court. Kano state government will take him to court any time he decides not to contest. So we are waiting for him.”
He said that already all the governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have asked the President to continue, adding: “I am happy that it is not the president that said he wants to continue; it is the people that are saying continue but Mr. President has not made up his mind yet.”
Ganduje recalled a situation where presidents spent billions of Naira for the purpose of securing third term, even though it is the constitution, saying that it should not be a news for President Buhari to seek for constitutional second term.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that he is one of the first Nigerians to suggest amnesty for repentant members of the Boko Haram insurgents but that he was called names then.
“I think I was one of the first people to raise the issue of amnesty about five years ago, I know how much we were vilified,” he said.
Bishop Kukah, who spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s Hard Copy in Abuja, the nation’s capital, said: “but I was pretty convinced about what I was saying that for me if you mention the word amnesty, Nigerians think it simply means shaking hands and telling everybody to go home.”
He commended President Buhari’s decision to offer amnesty to members of the outlawed group, which was announced on March 23 this year, stressing that amnesty, is the way to go as nor has ended with victory being declared.
“If Boko Haram has been perceived to be as so weakened as it is, we would not be talking about negotiation. So clearly, those with superior information and superior knowledge – which is what government is all about – know something that the rest of us don’t.”
President Buhari had said that while further efforts were ongoing to secure the release of every citizen abducted by the insurgents, government is ready to accept the unconditional laying down of arms by any member of the group who showed strong commitment in that regard.
PDP Chairman Uche Secondus and Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus dragged the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to court for defamation of character and asking for N1.5 Billion as damages.
The Minister had mentioned Prince Secondus in the list of those he claimed looted the nation’s treasury, alleging that he collected N200 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA).
Secondus who said he never collected a dime from the former NSA through his lawyer Emeka Etiaba SAN, wrote to the Minister seeking the immediate retraction of the National Chairman’s name on the list, payment of N1.5 billion damages and public apology within 48 hours.
In the letter, the PDP boss said that if Lai Mohammad failed to meet the demand after 48 hours, he would proceed to a court of competent jurisdiction to ventilate his right under the law.
Having failed to meet the demand, Prince Secondus today, Friday, the PDP chairmsn filed a suit at the Port Harcourt High Court, Rivers state, claiming among other things, that the court awards to him the sum of N1.5 billion being damages for humiliation, castigation, vilification attack on his person and integrity as a result of the publication.
According to a statement from the PDP National Chairman’s Spokesperson, Ike Abonyi, Secondus, in the suit no/PHC/1013/2018, is also claiming that Lai Mohammad’s publication is defamatory and is asking the court to direct him to retract the said publication and apologize in writing.
He asked Lai Mohammed to publish the retraction and apology in all the social media, including but not limited to the Following newspapers, the Nation, Thisday, The Sun, Guardian and Punch as well as in The following television channels, NTA and Channels Televisions among others where the defamatory story was published.
Secondus is also asking the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from further publishing defamatory materials against him.
Joined in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Attorney General of the Federation and the Vintage Press ltd, publishers of the Nation Newspapers.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has approved the release of special promotion for 3,729 troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE who participated in Operation DEEP PUNCH II in Sambisa Forest. a statement by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Texas Chukwu today, Friday saisd that the mass promotion is in recognition of their valour and uncommon commitment to duty during the operation. A breakdown of the beneficiaries include 223 Staff Sergeants promoted to the rank of Warrant Officers, 511 Sergeants promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeants while 994 Corporals were promoted to the rank of Sergeants. Others are 1064 Lance Corporals promoted to the rank of Corporals while 932 Private soldiers were appointed Lance Corporals.
Facebook has been battered by allegations that its platform has helped fuel communal bloodshed in Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.
Six Myanmar organizations, yesterday, Thursday, published an open letter criticizing an interview Zuckerberg gave with news site Vox this week where he cited examples of both Myanmar Buddhists and Muslims spreading “sensational” messages on Facebook Messenger that warned of imminent violence from the other community.
“That’s the kind of thing where I think it is clear that people were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm. Now, in that case, our systems detect that that’s going on. We stop those messages from going through,” Facebook owner, Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.
In their letter, the six local tech and human rights organizations said that they were “surprised” to hear Zuckerberg “praise the effectiveness” of Facebook’s systems in Myanmar.
“It took over four days from when the messages started circulating for the escalation to reach you,” said the groups, who had flagged the content to Facebook.
“Far from being stopped, they spread in an unprecedented way, reaching country-wide and causing widespread fear and at least three violent incidents in the process.”
When reached for a comment on Friday, a Facebook spokesperson conceded the company was too slow in responding to reports about the incendiary messages.
“We should have been faster and are working hard to improve our technology and tools to detect and prevent abusive, hateful or false content,” the spokesperson said.
“We are sorry that Mark did not make clearer that it was the civil society groups in Myanmar who first reported these messages.”
Facebook has also added more Myanmar-language reviewers and is rolling out the ability to report content in the Messenger service, the spokesperson added.
In late January this year, Facebook removed the page of popular anti-Rohingya monk Wirathu. Last year it regulated the use of the word “kalar” which is considered derogatory against Muslims.
In their joint letter, the local groups said Facebook’s response to hate speech and vicious rumours in Myanmar has been “inadequate” for years, adding that their offers to help craft broader solutions have gone unanswered.
They urged the social media giant to add reporting mechanisms to the Messenger app, increase transparency, engage more with local stakeholders and draw on data and engineering teams to identify repeat offenders.
Facebook dwarfs all other social media platforms in Myanmar, where it has become the chief channel for communication among both the public and government ministries.
But it has come under fire for allegedly helping broadcast ethnic hatred in a fledgeling democracy still emerging from decades of repressive junta rule.
Scrutiny has intensified in the wake of a bloody military campaign against the Rohingya that erupted last August, expelling some 700,000 of the minority to Bangladesh.
In March, the UN’s special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee said Facebook had morphed into a “beast” and had incited “a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities”.
South Korea’s former president Park Geun-Hye has been sentenced to 24 year for demanding and receiving bribe worth $20 million from conglomerates, sharing secret state documents with Choi.
Park was convicted of receiving or demanding more than $20 million from conglomerates, sharing secret state documents with Choi, ordering officials to stop offering state subsidies to “blacklisted” artists critical of her policies, and firing officials who resisted her abuses of power.
The wide-ranging corruption scandal exposed shady links between big business and politics in South Korea, prompting massive street protests against Park last year.
But today, Friday, the ruling was greeted with dismay in streets outside the courtroom by several hundred flag-waving Park supporters.
The trial of the ex President which lasted more than 10 months ended with Park being found guilty on multiple criminal charges, including bribery and abuse of power.
Park’s successor described the sentencing as a “heartbreaking event” for both the nation and the ex-leader herself.
“The accused abused the power bestowed by the people — the true ruler of this country — to cause chaos in national administration,” said Judge Kim Se-Yoon.
“Despite all these crimes the accused denied all the charges against her, displayed no remorse and showed an incomprehensible attitude by blaming Choi and other … officials,” he said, referring to Park’s secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-Sil.
Many protesters sat on the pavement in tears while others began a protest march.
“The rule of law in this country is dead today,” said Han Geun-Hyung, a 27-year-old Park supporter.
Park herself was not in court for Friday’s judgement which, in a rare move, was broadcast live on television. She had boycotted most sessions of the trial in protest at being held in custody.
She now has seven days in which to file an appeal.
Park becomes the third former South Korean leader to be convicted on criminal charges after leaving office, joining Chun Doo-Whan and Roh Tae-woo, who were both found guilty of treason and corruption in the 1990s.
Park’s presidential predecessor Lee Myung-bak is currently in custody as prosecutors investigate multiple corruption charges involving him and his relatives.
Judge Kim Se-Yoon said he had passed a tough sentence to “prevent such an unfortunate event from happening again”.
The presidential
Blue House said in a statement after the verdict: “Each person must have different feelings about former President Park Geun-Hye. But a bleak wind blew through the hearts of all of us today.
“It is a heartbreaking event for the nation as well as for the person’s life. A history that is not remembered is bound to be repeated. We will not forget today.”
Park, the daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee, lost both her parents to assassins. She took office in 2013 as a conservative icon who cast herself in the role ofthe daughter of the nation — incorruptible and beholden to none.
Less than four years later, she was impeached, stripped of all her powers and ousted from office on the back of months-long mass protests that brought millions onto the streets of Seoul and other cities.
The trigger was a snowballing graft scandal involving Park and Choi and accusations of graft, influence-peddling and taking bribes from corporate bigwigs in exchange for policy favours.
Much of the public anger was focused on Park’s relationship with Choi and accusations that she let her childhood friend — who held no formal position or security clearance — meddle in state affairs, including high-level appointments and editing official speeches.
Choi is the daughter of a shadowy religious figure who had served as a mentor to Park for decades until his death in 1994. She was tried separately and sentenced in February to 20 years in prison.
Condemned in the media for her “Rasputin-like” influence over Park, Choi was convicted of using her presidential ties to squeeze tens of millions of dollars out of major South Korean businesses, including Samsung — the world’s top smartphone maker — and retail giant Lotte.
Former leaders Chun and Roh received presidential pardons after each spent around two years in jail a privilege that may elude Park for many years, said Jeong Han-wool, an analyst at the Seoul Hankook Research think-tank.
“Park has denied all charges against her and expressed no remorse or atonement — legally as well as politically, for what’s probably the most shocking political scandal in our modern history.”
“Given her attitude and public anger over her scandal that remains raw, it will be difficult to create a political environment in favour of her release anytime soon.”
Park’s left-leaning successor, Moon Jae-in, came to power largely because of the public backlash against her and her conservative party, dimming hopes for a pardon under the current administration, he added.
There is some residual sympathy for Park among her core supporters, who have always seen her as a heroically tragic figure who devoted her life to the service of her country despite childhood tragedy.
The fact that she never married or had children was part of her appeal, given the nepotistic tendencies of many senior officials.
“I’m married to the Republic of Korea. I have no children. South Koreans are my family,” she once declared.
But for the vast majority of Koreans, she has now been permanently disowned and will go down in history not as the country’s first woman president but the first democratically-elected leader to be forced from office.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the former Senate President, and Senator representing Zone C Constituency of Benue State, Senator David Alechenu Mark for instituting maturity and stability in the Senate.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed contracts for engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and financing of 614 kilometre Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Stations.
