ONE WORD

NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), has called for the implementation of policies that empower women to establish female-owned firms The NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), has called for the implementation of policies that empower women to establish female-owned firms especially in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs) sector, for economic growth of the country. Chairperson, Lagos Chapter of NNEW, Mrs. Eunice Obasohan, who spoke during the organisation’s network meeting in Lagos, stressed that government should mitigate issues of multiple of taxes, improve the ease of doing business environment, and provide low interest loans to start businesses. She decried the high interest rate by banks in Nigeria, which discourages business financing through loans rather she said small-business grants should be made available to women as a viable source of financing for women-owned businesses. According to her, SMEs play an important role in creating jobs, and ...

A nine-year-old boy was kicked out of a jewellery shop after trying to hold it up with a replica gun. CCTV footage from the store in Argentina showed the boy walking up to the counter before pulling out the fake pistol from his trousers. The incident happened in the city of Moreno, in the eastern Argentinian Province of Buenos Aires, on February 16. Jewellery shop owner Nicolás García remained calm as he approached the boy and dragged him out of the shop without incident. “The kid told me to give him everything, to not be a moron because he will ‘burn’ me,” Mr García told La Nacion . “I thought it was a toy gun, I could not imagine that he was talking to me seriously.” He grabbed the boy and walked him out of the shop. The boy’s 28-year-old mother, who identifies herself only as Daniela, recognised him from the security camera footage and confirmed the gun was a replica. The mother-of-six said her son was expelled from school last year for dropping his trousers at a cla...

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA in Zamfara State, Alhaji Sani Shinkafi has ejected all internally displaced persons taking shelter in his houses in Shinkafi, for voting APC in Saturday’s elections. He confirmed the report on Wednesday and according to him: “I have asked all the IDPs residing in my houses to immediately pack out because they are not serious in life. These are people who had to leave their villages due to insecurity caused by a government that could not provide such basic necessity to them, yet they went and sold their votes at the last elections trying to bring back the same gang.” According to him, in spite of his earlier advice to them “to vote out those who failed them in the past years”, they still voted them in. Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/02/governorship-candidate-ejects-idps.html

By Henry Umoru With the conduct of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections and the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the next stage of battle would be who becomes number three citizen of the country. Senate In the next couple of weeks and months, the nation would be saturated with stories and permutations as to who emerges the President of the Senate of the 9th National Assembly come June 8th, 2019. Following the results released by INEC after the National Assembly election, the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC has the highest number of both new and old senators, with a total number of sixty-four Senators. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has a total of forty Senators, the Young Progressive Party, YPP has one Senator, bringing that to a total of one hundred and five Senators, with four yet to be declared in Imo, Taraba and Plateau States. In determining who becomes the Presiding office...

smartphones About 17 per cent of Nigerian adults are without smartphones. A study conducted by Pew Research Centre, based in Washington D.C., USA, which disclosed this, however said 39 per cent owned a smartphone, while 44 per cent use ordinary mobile phone. Nigeria, according to Woldometer is a country with 200 million populations.   Pew Research Centre noted that smartphone ownership can vary widely by country, even across advanced economies. While around nine-in-ten or more South Koreans, Israelis, and Dutch people own smartphones, ownership rates are closer to six-in-ten in other developed nations like Poland, Russia, and Greece.   According to the study, in emerging economies, too, smartphone ownership rates vary substantially, from highs of 60 per cent in South Africa and Brazil to just around four-in-ten in Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria. Among the countries surveyed, ownership is lowest in India, where only 24 per cent report having a smartphone. The Pew...

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in last Saturday’s election, Atiku Abubakar, has given many reasons, why he has decided to contest president Muhammadu Buhari’s victory. In the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Buhari, polled 15,191,847, while the former vice president scored 11,262,978 votes. At a press conference, by the PDP presidential candidate on Wednesday, he described the last Saturday’s election as a “grand theft,” while he gave ‘facts’ on how the election was rigged in PDP strongholds. Read full address below Dear citizens of Nigeria, Let me start by thanking you for choosing democracy as the settled system of government for our great nation. Democracy is a government of the people by the people, only when the people’s choice prevails. That did not happen on Saturday, February 23, 2019. On Election Day, we saw the implementation of grand theft of the people’s will. I am not one for hyperbole so ...

Everything you need to live well Warner Bros. has set December 16, 2022, as the release date for its “Aquaman” sequel and American writer, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick will write the script. “Aquaman 2” will be produced by “Aquaman” director James Wan and Peter Safran. “Aquaman” has over-performed – currently the 20th-highest worldwide grosser of all time. Johnson-McGoldrick teamed with Will Beall on the “Aquaman” script, from a story by Beall, Geoff Johns, and Wan. Johnson-McGoldrick began working on the screenplay three years ago after reading “Aquaman” comic books while on the set of Wan’s “The Conjuring 2.” The superhero film stars Jason Momoa as the title character, with Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Kidman in supporting roles. Warner Bros. also announced three weeks ago that it was developing “The Trench,” a horror movie spinoff to “Aquaman.” Wan and Safran will produce “The Trench”. “Aquaman 2” i...

Lokoja – Mr Victor Adejoh, chairman, Kogi Non-Governmental Organisations Network (KONGONET) on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to use his second tenure to reorganise and unbundle the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Mahmood Yakubu addresses the audience on February 25, 2019 in Abuja during the presidential elections announcement. – Muhammadu Buhari got off to a winning start in his bid for re-election as Nigeria’s president, as the first result was announced today from weekend polls. The 76-year-old former military ruler won 219,231 votes in the southwestern state of Ekiti, while his main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, got 154,032, the electoral commission announced. (Photo AFP) Adejoh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that the call was necessary against the backdrop of multi-tasking structure of the commission resulting in periodic logistic lapses at election periods. He sai...

Real Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Casemiro (L) fouls Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez during the Spanish Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) semi-final second leg football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on February 27, 2019. JAVIER SORIANO / AFP Luis Suarez scored twice on Wednesday as Barcelona inflicted another defeat on Real Madrid to move within touching distance of winning a record fifth consecutive Copa del Rey. Madrid were the better side for at least half of a wild Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu but three goals conceded in 28 chaotic, second-half minutes sent Barca through to the final with a 3-0 victory, 4-1 on aggregate. Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/02/barcelona-beat-real-madrid-3-0-to-reach.html

Everything you need to live well French fashion designer, Marine Serre, has led us into the future with her Fall 2019 runway — unveiling tiny LED rims that hung just underneath the models’ eyes. The ultimate “highlight” came in ultraviolet and laser green. They served a dual purpose, brightening both faces and the catwalk space; giving a 21st-century form to styling. Black model with under eye LED lashes /PHOTO – Elle This might just remind you of the colour-changing LED lashes that flash and sparkle, debuted at Maker Faire by designer, Tien Pham’s. Such technology on your face might not sound like the safest idea but these kinds of eye ‘additions’ are legitly stylish. Ever since her first runway show merely one year ago, Serre has proved herself to be a designer who is highly adept at forging a new idea of fashion, one that’s sustainable, accountable, and, given her considerable talents, remarkable. Serre said, “It’s a safe zone in which a new world ...

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared to the three tiers of government a total of N610.368 billion federal revenue generated in the month of January 2019, but shared in February 2019. Money This was contained in a communique issue a at the end of its meeting last night. The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, said approval is being awaited from the Honourable Minister of Finance for additional N50 billion from the Foreign Exchange Equalization Account, which will be distributed accordingly. He said the excess Crude Account currently stands at $249 billion. A communique indicated that from the N610.368 billion, the Federal Government received N252.412 billion, the States received N170.541, the Local Government Councils received N127.923 billion. The Oil Producing States received N41.992 billion as 13% derivation revenue and the Revenue Generating Agencies received N17.500 billion as cost of revenue collection. For the month of January 2...

Kevin Hart has reached out to a talented Nigerian boy who did a beautiful drawing of him. The boy shared the drawing on Twitter and Kevin Hart saw it and indicated interest in buying the drawing. Retweeting the boy's drawing of him, Hart wrote: I see it and I want to purchase it...I also want to support you and your amazing talent by giving you a fee to do a pencil drawing of 3 of my celebrity friends that I can gift it to. DM your info and let’s get to work! Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/02/kevin-hart-reaches-out-to-nigerian-boy.html

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney attends a press conference at the Bank of England in London on February 25, 2019.  Kirsty O’Connor / POOL / AFP The Bank of England on Tuesday said it was preparing to give lenders greater access to cash borrowing in its latest move to help bring financial stability ahead of Brexit. “The Bank will increase the frequency of existing market-wide sterling (cash loans)… from monthly to weekly over the weeks surrounding the planned EU withdrawal date,” the BoE said in a statement. “This change will apply from March and will run until end April.” The BoE added: “This is a prudent and precautionary step, consistent with the Bank’s financial stability objective, to provide additional flexibility in the Bank’s provision of liquidity insurance in the coming months.” Updating a panel of cross-party British MPs Tuesday on Bank of England forecasts and policy, Bank of England governor Mark Carney insisted that the liquidity announceme...

The Nigerian senate On February 23, Nigerians in various part of the country went out in their numbers to different polling units to elect a president and lawmakers that will represent them in the 9th National Assembly. The lawmakers elected include 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives. Those elected will replace members of the outgoing 8th Senate and House of Representatives. The 8th National Assembly, particularly the Senate will be remembered for many things including its various controversies. These include the controversy that trailed the election of its principal officers, invasion of the Senate chamber by thugs who stole its mace, and mass defection of members including the president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki. The 8th Senate also had several members, including Mr Saraki, who faced corruption charges. They were frequently in courtrooms, and the custody of anti-corruption agencies, answering questions for their alleged corrupt practices. So...

Everything you need to live well International Nigerian artiste David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido has been nominated alongside Taylor Swift, David Guetta, J Balvin in the ‘Favorite Global Music Star’ category at the Nickelodeon 2019 Awards. The 26-year-old Nigerian artiste, Davido was selected for the second year to represent Africa in the “ Favorite Global Music Star’’ category that recognises one artiste from different continents. The nominations for the 2019 Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards, scheduled to hold on March 23 would be hosted by DJ Khaled, says Billboard. DJ Khaled, is up for three orange blimps this year, including favourite male artist and favourite collaboration for “No Brainer,” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo and Chance the Rapper. The organizers of the awards disclosed that a set of successful youths from various fields would be recognized from categories spanning across television, movies, music and social media. Other artistes to represent the...

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih attends the Saudi-India Forum in New Delhi, India, February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis The Saudi energy minister said Wednesday he is leaning towards extending oil production cuts in the second half of 2019, despite US President Donald Trump’s demand to keep prices down. OPEC cartel countries and other major oil producers in January began implementing a six-month deal to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day to shore up sagging prices. The deal has pushed prices higher but so far failed to boost them to their multi-year peak of $85 a barrel reached in October, triggering speculation of an extension of the deal to cut production. “We remain flexible. I am leaning towards the likelihood of an extension in the second half” of this year for the output cuts, Khalid al-Falih, energy minister of the world’s top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, told CNBC television in Riyadh. His comments come just two days after Trump critici...

President Muhammadu Buhari, waving the All Progressives Congress (APC) symbol-the broom, at his presidential campaign rally in Kano…yesterday. The INEC Chairman; Professor Mahmoud Yakubu has just declared President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the 2019 General election. However, this has come at a huge cost to the Nigerian people and its constitution. Between Saturday 23rd of February, till the day of the announcement, Nigerians have seen videos and pictures of massive rigging, voter suppression and illegal militarization of states. If the electorates cannot at their own will and volition, remove their underperforming leaders through the ballot, then there is a bigger problem than the country thinks it has. What this means is that a dictator can deploy the military to secure power, exhibit dictatorial tendencies and behaviours and when it is time for elections, he will deploy soldiers to intimidate citizens into voting him. For Nigerians all around the world living in a de...