smellgist.com: 2016-10-02

Saturday, 8 October 2016

Lagos Special Status Bill – Right Idea, Wrong Place, Wrong Timing, By Simbo Olorunfemi

…the Senate could not rise above itself… It could not engage in any form of strategic thinking and dig deep to see what this bill speaks to in the context of the current realities of the country and its plan for the future. No thought of letting this scale to the point where it can be meaningfully engaged on its merits, the bill has been thrown out only after the First Reading.

Democracy is not necessarily the most effective form of government. In practice, it makes the decision-making process slow, burdensome and complicated, with the in-built mechanism for checks and balances often becoming a drawback. That is why some analysts do not associate this form of government with speed in development and do not prescribe or believe it is the best for countries yearning for urgent turn-around in economic fortune. The legislative arm, in the spirit of checks and balances that are fundamental to representative democracy, is supposed to be a showpiece for democracy in action, as it is made up of direct representatives of the people who are supposed to have access to them and exercise the power of recall over them, if the need be.

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Saturday, October 8

Matthew 7:19-23

OBEDIENT ACTIONS REQUIRED OF ALL MEMBERS

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21, NIV

Do you ever wonder why we have many churches and members today without a commensurate transformation of our society; how we have many teachers of the Word, but little change in the world? The answer is in our attitude to obedience. Many

Controversial Nigerian Senator, Dino Melaye, on Thursday declined comments on the source of his wealth to afford his ostentatious lifestyle and knack for luxury cars.
On Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES reported Mr. Melaye to have acquired a 93-year-old Rolls Royce estimated at N180 million.

Mr. Melaye, a first-time senator who represents Kogi West, owns a fleet of luxury and antiquated cars worth billions of naira.

He has at least 28 of the expensive cars parked at his upmarket residence in Maitama Abuja, according to news website, Sahara Reporters.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump plunged into a deep crisis on Friday after a bombshell 2005 recording came to light in which he boasted in vulgar terms about trying to have sex with an unidentified married woman and groping women, saying "when you're a star, they let you do it."

A stream of Republican leaders denounced the remarks, first published by the Washington Post, which threaten Trump's already shaky standing with women voters just a month ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election.

The naira is expected to stabilise on the parallel market after international money transfer agencies started selling dollars to Bureau De Change operators in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria directive.

“We have started receiving dollar supply from Travelex and we expect this to gradually impact positively on the naira exchange rate going forward,” the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, told Reuters.

The naira was quoted at 470 to the dollar on the black market on Friday, compared with 473 on Thursday.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Friday responded to allegations levelled against him by the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Odigie-Oyegun, who, in a statement issued in Abuja, said all members of the party must respect its constitution, stated that nobody had the money to buy his conscience.

The media office of Tinubu, had in a statement issued few weeks ago, accused Odigie-Oyegun of derailing from the party’s ethos and faulted his role in the APC governorship primary in Ondo State, which was won by Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumpvowed on Saturday to remain in the race after prominent members of his party withdrew their support and urged him to drop out following news of a recording of him making lewd comments about women in 2005.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday morning "zero chance I'll quit." He also told The Washington Post he may deliver a speech Saturday afternoon to address concern among supporters and reiterate his determination to stay in the race.

Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, has expressed optimism that the team would deliver in Sunday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Zambia in Ndola. Rohr said during the team’s interactive session with newsmen on Friday in Abuja that Nigeria would get an outright victory over the Chipolopolo in the encounter. He said that Nigeria was blessed with abundant talents and assured that the players presently in camp were capable of defeating any team.

Truth be told, losing any romantic relationship will definitely hurt to a certain degree.

This will be the case especially if there was an investment of a lot of emotional resources into the relationship, only for it to turn that the relationship would not work out afterall.

Just after the loss you'd be hit by a sadness so deep, even though you know it was perhaps the best move to split from them.

South African retired Anglican archbishop and anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu celebrated his 85th birthday on Friday saying he would like to be allowed the option of dignified assisted death.

“Today, I myself am even closer to the departures hall than arrivals, so to speak, and my thoughts turn to how I would like to be treated when the time comes,” Tutu wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post.

“I have prepared for my death and have made it clear that I do not wish to be kept alive at all costs,” said Tutu, who was discharged from hospital late last month.

“I hope I am treated with compassion and allowed to pass on to the next phase of life’s journey in the manner of my choice,” he wrote.

Pierre is eighteen years old. He was born to Burkinabe parents in Ghana. He was not registered at birth and neither were his parents. An orphan with no nationality, Pierre is stateless.

While most people are conversant with words likeinternally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees and migrants, others do not have an idea of what it means to be stateless.

"Statelessness? I have never heard that word before. Do you mean people without states? How is that even possible? Everyone has a state. There is no such thing as statelessness," John Oladapo, a civil servant told Pulse correspondent in Abuja.

Not less than 15 people have lost their lives in two boat mishaps that occurred in Kontagora and Borgu local government areas of Niger state.

ThisDay learnt from sources close to the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, NSEMA, that the incident in Kontagora local government area claimed 13 lives while the one in Borgu local government area caused two casualties.

It was gathered that the Kontagora accident occurred when some traders were travelling across the Kontagora river, a tributary of River Niger, when the incident occurred.

Eighteen people, mostly women and children, were said to have been on their way to the farm to harvest groundnuts when the sad incident occurred.

Thirteen of the travelers, according to the NSEMA source, died while six others were rescued by local divers.

It is not easy to lead Nigeria says Buhari

President Buhari recently played host to the Imam of the Mosque of the Holy Prophet in Medina, Sheikh Abdul-Muhsin Muhammad Al-Qassimi, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

While speaking to the Imam, the President admitted that it is not easy to lead 180 million people comprising of different ethnic groups.

This was revealed to newsmen by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Buhari, Garba Shehu.

The Jigawa Government on Friday said it spends N245m monthly to feed its boarding students across the state.

The state’s Commissioner for Education, Rabi Ishaq, made this known to newsmen on Friday in Dutse.

Ishaq said the state government had also increased the amount spent on feeding of students daily from N90 to N135 per person.

The Federal Government on Friday withdrew the forgery charges it instituted against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others.

Lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Aliyu Umar (SAN), told the trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Jabi Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, that the charges were being withdrawn because of a pending case related to the charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Presidency has urged Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the coastal region to leave the creeks and enlist in the amnesty programme for a better future. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General, Paul Boroh (rtd), made the appeal in Abuja on Friday while welcoming 4 ex-agitators from the region who had successfully trained in electrical transformer repairs, maintenance and establishment by Brainbox Matrix Services Limited, a vendor to the amnesty office.

Yesterday, October 5, 2016, actor Yomi Fabiyi in a post shared on his Instagram page called on his colleagues in the movie industry to come to the aid of veteran actor, Babatunde Omidinaa.k.a Baba Suwe.

Igbo Leaders Slam FG Over Islamisation Agenda…. VANGUARD NEWS

Igbo Leaders of Thought yesterday accused the Federal Government of pursuing an Islamisation agenda of the country, using the current killings of Nigerians across the country by Fulani herdsmen as reasons for the allegation. They also dismissed the “Electoral Reform Committee,” set up by President Buhari last week, saying that “It has nothing to do with us.”

The Igbo Leaders of Thought made this known during their meeting at Zodiac Hotel, Enugu. Chairman of the Leaders ofThought, Prof Ben Nwabueze, who spoke shortly after their opening session, said that the “Islamisation agenda of the President Muhamadu Buhari’s administration “is real.” Among those who attended the meeting included Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN, former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former National Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nduka Eya, former Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, Prof.

The dust is yet to settle on the alleged copyright infringement by Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, concerning the “Change Begins With Me” campaign recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The owner of the “Not in My Country,” project, Akin Fadeyi, has written to Mr. Buhari, claiming the idea behind the campaign originated from him and was taken from his project.

Adebayo Adenipekun, senior lawyer at the Afe Babalola Chambers, in a September 29 letter to the President, written on behalf of Mr. Fadeyi, dared Mr. Mohammed to make good his threat to sue Mr. Fadeyi.

FOR the second time in three years, the Senate, yesterday, rejected proposals to grant Lagos a special status, in view of the avalanche of socio-economic challenges it is facing as former political capital of Nigeria. The state is still the economic capital and nerve centre of the country. Indeed, the Senate Chambers was thrown into a rowdy session as senators deliberated on a bill for an act to make provision for a special Federal grant to Lagos State.

In merry-go-round, Nigerian Parliament Commences Fresh Inquiry Into Malabu Oil Deal | PremiumTimes

Members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives panel investigating the controversial Malabu oil deal on Wednesday expressed strong reservations about the attitude of firms caught in the scandal.

The House in January 2016 set up another ad-hoc committee to look into allegations of financial crimes in the lease of OPL 245 oil block in Nigerian waters.

A former Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, awarded the lease of OPL 245 in April 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd., a firm later traced to him.

Though he had charm and a wonderful penchant for storytelling, Sparks never lost the commanding presence of an editor and could come across as gruff and intimidating. Yet his was a positive vision of the country, one he shared with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whom he later wrote a book about. He had a special relationship with Nelson Mandela…

The career of Allister Sparks, one of South Africa’s greatest newsmen, tracked 65 extraordinary years of the country’s history. He long outlasted not just his peers but the apartheid system that he chronicled and fought, remaining a robust political commentator virtually until his death in Johannesburg last week, aged 83.

US Army chiefs fear Russia, China or climate change could result in global instability with a war between two powerful countries “almost guaranteed”

With tensions high over Syria and increasing attacks from terrorists, the threat of war is never far away.

And now, US military bosses have revealed how they think a war between the world’s most powerful countries would play out.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has accused western powers of being a stumbling block to Nigeria’s plan to improve power output through the use of coal.

Adeosun said this on Wednesday in Washington during a discussion on the importance of addressing infrastructure gaps in developing countries at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund General Meetings.

Political hypocrisy in Nigeria is so pervasive that it calls to mind the 1664 classic play Tartuffe which is centered on a hypocritical priest who, after giving great speeches of piety and self-sacrifice, is found to be stealing his benefactor’s fortune and trying to seduce his benefactor’s wife.

Such political hypocrisy could be seen in Ayo Fayose (making empty noise against Buhari’ anticorruption crusade even when he pocketed billions through corrupt means); our President (preaching anticorruption but failing woefully to rein in on his corrupt aides); Ben Bruce (the commonsense crusader without commonsense) and now Peter Obi (the saint that sinned). They are all stealing our fortunes while camouflaging as the voice of the poor masses. This piece is on Peter Obi – an archetypical case of hypocrisy and his recent political pandering.

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Friday, October 7

Matthew 7:7-11

REQUESTING, THEN RECEIVING HELP

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:8, NIV

In his book, Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson told the story of an Irish man, Connor O’Reilly who had to eat stale bread for days while travelling on a ship. O’Reilly did not know that the fee he paid to get aboard covered his meal as long as he was on that

Samsung’s disastrous Note 7 smartphone episode took a new turn today when one of its new replacement handsets started to smolder during a flight in the US on Wednesday.

The South Korean company recalled 2.5m smartphones during September after several reports of the devices catching fire during or after charging, offering replacement units to customers. Last week claimed it had replaced 60% of handsets in South Korea and in the US.

The televised contest between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence was quickly forgotten as the presidential nominees aimed fire at each other on the campaign trail.

The vice-presidential debate left few traces on Wednesday as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton returned to center stage.

The televised contest between Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and Indiana Governor Mike Pence was quickly forgotten on Wednesday as Trump and Clinton aimed fire on each other. Tuesday night’s debate, which had the lowest ratings of any such matchup since Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman’s encounter in 2000, focused entirely on the top of the ticket, and that continued as memories quickly faded of Pence and Kaine’s face-off in Farmville, Virginia.

From the terror attacks in Nice, France to the ongoing spread of the Zika virus, the past year has been a dizzying one in terms of violence and disease outbreaks throughout the world. These factors, among others, increase the likelihood travelers will be required to stay up to date on travel safety advisories. Using 2016 data from the Canadian government and The Global Health Data Exchange, HealthGrove, a health visualization site by Graphiq, created an ascending list of the most dangerous countries to travel to.

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday unanimously backed Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal who was the UN’s refugee chief for a decade, to be the next secretary-general.

During a closed-door meeting, the 15 council members adopted a resolution formally presenting Guterres as their choice to be the world’s diplomat-in-chief to the General Assembly.

Applause rang out in the chamber following the adoption of the measure recommending Guterres for a five-year term from January 1, diplomats at the session told AFP.

A total of 184 civil servants were disciplined for their different roles in the padding of the 2016 budget.

This was contained in Buhari’s authorised biography, ‘Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria’, written by Prof. John Paden and presented to the public on Monday.

Of the 184, Paden said 22 top officials were dismissed from service.

Dino Melaye: Lawmaker buys N180m Rolls Royce despite economic recession [PHOTO]

Dino Melaye, the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial district has recently acquired a 93-year-old Rolls Royce estimated at N180 million.

Premium Times reports that the Rolls Royce has the registration number “MELAYE 2” and is believed to cost some $400,000.

Dino Melay's N180m Rolls Royce

A source said the car was purchased in Las Vegas, in the United States of America.

According to reports, the super-teacher and amazing woman got her proposal in front of the whole class, so she thought they deserved to be a big part of the wedding.

What makes French's gesture sweeter and more thoughtful is the fact that all the pupils, students of Christian Academy Rock Creek, Louiseville, Kentucky, had a medical condition - Down Syndrome.

The Senate has opposed the move by telecommunication giant, MTN, to sack its Nigerian workers without following global practices.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, told newsmen on Wednesday, October 5, that the upper chamber will reject any unfair decision of the company to terminate workers' appointments.

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has declared himself as the real change.

According to NAN, Fayose made the known when he displayed a poster bearing the inscription:‘Fayose The Real Change’ on Wednesday, October 5, 2016, at an event to celebrate theWorld Teachers Day in Ado-Ekiti.

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Thursday, October 6

1 Corinthians 3:10-12

JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY FOUNDATION

For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11, NIV

Foundation is critical to the sustenance of any building as it also determines how long it will last. A false foundation is bound to result in building collapse, sooner or later. The famous ship - Titanic - was built with unprecedented sophistication and expertise that it was proclaimed unsinkable not even, by God! by its builders. However, it sunk in less than three hours on its

Nigeria’s Change Mantra In the Era of SDGs, By Noimot Balogun

…the wealth of a nation is sustained when stakeholders are collectively committed to a common good. This public good which is the core of economic stability can only be propelled in the wake of genuine collaboration of concerned actors, thereby creating national wealth that trickles down to individuals, groups and societies and encourages sustainable development.

It is now a glaring fact that so much is happening in the Nigerian polity, especially in relation to economic policy making agencies. This may be partly owing to the pressure of stakeholders at the local and international levels on finding a lasting solution to the current challenges of the Nigerian economy. Declared to be officially in recession a few weeks ago, Nigeria has witnessed a reactive series of policy statements and approaches from different policy making bodies even to the point of creating policy summersault as manifest in the arguments and counter-arguments of decision makers.

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