SALVINI IN NIGERIA?..... PERSONA NON GRATA ....!!

La Nigeria "respinge" Salvini: negato il visto sul passaporto

Il leader del Carroccio ribatte al Papa sull'immigrazione: "I muri cadono se ci sono regole". E attacca Renzi: "È senza palle, in Siria usi le armi". Poi lancia Souad Sbai al Comune di Roma

Sergio Rame - Lun, 28/09/2015 - 16:42

Il viaggio in Nigeria non ci sarà. La partenza era prevista per domani ma Matteo Salvini ha ritirato il passaporto senza il visto necessario.

"Me ne farò una ragione, ci tornerò quando avranno compreso che noi siamo qua per aiutarli", ha detto Salvini a Radio Padania spiegando con una certa delusione che "era tutto pronto". "Avevo anche fatto la vaccinazione per la febbre gialla e sono stato due giorni a letto - ha raccontato - e invece non si parte. La cosa assurda è che vengono in migliaia qui come clandestini e poi noi... non possiamo andare in certi paesi". Secondo il segretario federale, i nigeriani non avevano capito che "volevamo portare lì sviluppo e investimenti"."Peccato - ha chiosato - saremo più fortunati la prossima volta".

Lo sguardo di Salvini non è limitato ai confini italiani. Se da una parte torna a bombardare il governo ("Semmai dovessi fare la fine di Matteo Renzi difendendo l’indifendibile, ricoveratemi"), dall'altra entra a gamba tesa sulla politica estera. Sempre dai microfoni di Radio Padania, bersaglia papa Francesco: "arla alle anime e probabilmente ha ragione a dire che i muri cadranno ma cadranno solo quando ci saranno limiti e regole. Non si risolve il problema immigrazione - aggiunge - invitando le parrocchie e le famiglie a prendersi immigrati in casa". E, proprio per porre un freno all'immigrazione incontrollata che dal fronte siriano arriva lungo la rotta balcanica, chiede un impegno militare maggiore contro lo Stato islamico: "Renzi ha detto di no agli interventi militare in Siria: è un senza palle. Io sono sempre per il dialogo, ma non con i tagliagole, in Siria e in Libia bisogna intervenire con le armi, militarmente e massicciamente".

Salvini stava lavorando da mesi a una missione di quattro giorni in Nigeria, fissata a partire da domani, per dimostrare che si possono "aiutare a casa loro" gli immigrati che vengono in Italia. "Avremmo voluto andare a testimoniare la solidarietà vera e concreta", spiega il segretario della Lega aggiungendo che il visto sarebbe stato negato "a tutti" i componenti della delegazione, formata da "imprenditori e assessori regionali" del Nord. "Il dubbio - continua - è che essendo stata organizzata la missione dalla Lega per portare sviluppo, a qualcuno dava fastidio". Salvini è molto rammaricato di non aver "potuto concretizzare l’aiutiamoli a casa loro", ma assicura di essere già al lavoro per organizzare altre missioni in Paesi come il Marocco.

Per quanto riguarda la politica interna, Salvini lancia un nuovo nome nella mischia per il dopo Ignazio Marino. Solo ieri il candidato che avrebbe potuto unire il centrodestra sembrava essere Giorgia Meloni. Oggi, invece, il leader lumbard lancia Souad Sbai. "Non mi dispiacerebbe vederla sindaco - dice con franchezza - una parlamentare che si occupa di diritti delle donne e che lotta contro la violenza islamica da anni".

 http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/niente-nigeria-salvini-manca-visto-sul-passaporto-1176448.html

After the wait, the storm

By Mahmud Jega | Publish Date: Aug 31 2015 6:50AM | Updated Date: Aug 31 2015 6:50AM

President Muhammadu Buhari

 ------------------------------------------------------- 

Appointment of men and women to occupy key offices in the new administration was delayed for three months “in order to get it right” and also “to avoid making mistakes,” as President Muhammadu Buhari variously explained. In the event, as soon as he appointed a Secretary to the Government of the Federation [SGF], Chief of Staff and four other important officials last Thursday, a storm of social media criticism greeted the appointments. Apparently, the strategy of delaying appointments for several months in order to get everything right failed, in some citizens’ eyes, to ensure balance and fairness in a diverse federation.
I had wondered several times on this page whether trying to get things right warrants several months’ delay. A man who gets to become an elected president of a populous country such as Nigeria should know enough people all over the place that can be trusted to hold important posts. This is especially true of Buhari who was a soldier for 32 years, was military governor of a very large state, was minister in charge of the richest Federal Ministry, was a military Head of State and who has also been in politics for 13 years now. If that experience was not enough to know good people all over Nigeria, I don’t know what else is.
If personal knowledge of good material comes short, that is what political parties are for.  The problem is that Buhari does not think that his party shares in his vision, beyond mouthing the change slogan at rallies.  His insistence from the start that he will not rely on party state chapters to nominate ministers is indicative of this distrust.
At the end of the long wait, Buhari appointed three men who are known to be very close to him to three top positions. Chief of Staff Malam Abba Kyari, SGF David Babachir Lawal and Customs boss Colonel Hameed Ali have all been with Buhari during most of his 13 year quest for the presidency. The  message that other APC chieftains will get from these appointments is that Buhari has rewarded the men who stood by him the longest. The question is, why did it take three months’ search, only to end up with the men who were closest to him all along? 
For three months the president threatened to jettison considerations of party loyalty for technocratic merit. In the event, he rewarded the longest-standing loyalty. This is not bad at all, but old ACN and ANPP elements are likely to say that well, old CPC members deserve consideration but then, without our coming on board, Buhari would never have made it to the presidency. Afterall, they will say, he tried three times with the CPC circle around him but he never made it until we came along.
ACN and ANPP chieftains think their role was decisive in Buhari’s victory but yet another element, old nPDP, believe that they were the final straw that broke the obstinate PDP camel’s back. They believe that without their coming over, APC would not have been able to defeat PDP. A still later camp joiner is Obasanjo, who seems to believe that the missiles he hurled at Jonathan made all the difference. It is noticeable that none of these APC camps came out to defend Buhari’s latest appointments from charges of lopsidedness. It was left to Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina to say on Friday that the president will ensure balance in his future appointments. That is to say, the president agrees that the ones he has made so far are not balanced and he also agrees that balancing is necessary in Nigeria.
Only three days prior to last Thursday’s appointments, the [opportunistic] Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly had criticised a situation where Northerners hold the offices of President, Senate President, House Speaker, Chief Justice, Head of Service and National Security Adviser. The fact that Buhari did not appoint the Chief Justice or the Head of Service and the fact that he opposed the emergence of both Senate President and House Speaker was conveniently overlooked by SNPA.
The army of Northern social media warriors that rushed to Buhari’s defence were equally selective with facts, history and principle. Some said that Jonathan’s appointments were similarly skewed, a horrible way to defend anything. Others said that the president still has many appointments to make. While that argument was plausible a week ago, it became tenuous after last Thursday. The most important appointments yet to be made are ministerial, which contain an in-built balancing scheme since the constitution requires that each state must have at least one minister. Still others argued that balancing is a selfish elite issue. It is, but you ignore it at your peril because societies often rise and fall on the back of selfish elite issues. 
Still other social media warriors said that President Buhari should be given a free hand to pick his aides purely on merit without regard to regional balancing. Any Northerner who makes this argument could be suffering from historical amnesia. Forty years ago when most Federal public servants were Southerners, they insisted that “merit” must be used as the basis for all public service appointments. Northerners however insisted on “federal character” and succeeded in writing it into the 1979 Constitution. Northerners’ vigilance has kept it in the Constitution ever since.
Not that the Southern Nigerian elite is more principled than its Northern counterpart. In the late 1970s, even while arguing against federal character in public service appointments in one breath, the Southern elite pushed for the adoption of “zoning” in the political theatre, where it was disadvantaged. Twenty years later the Southern elite amplified zoning into the principle of power shift. So, the promotion of self-serving principles that suit their immediate needs is not the preserve of one regional elite in Nigeria.  However, it will be doubly opportunistic if the North comes round at this point to adopt the Southern position of 40 years ago because the tables are now reversed.
Federal character principle was so contentious in 1980 that the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies [NIPPS] organised a national seminar on it.  At that seminar, prominent Southern intellectuals such as Godwin Sogolo, Eghosa Osaghae and Peter Ekeh defended it as a form of affirmative action, saying an arrangement that keeps a diverse Federation in peace is superior to the need for “merit.” To those who said federal character lowers standards, Sogolo said no standard is lowered if a federation works out an arrangement that guarantees peaceful co-existence within it because there is no higher standard than that.
Balancing aside, last Thursday’s appointments threw up a few other issues. The new SGF Lawal’s CV did not show that he had any experience in the mainstream public service. Equally curious is the appointment of Colonel Hameed Ali to head the Customs.  This is not the first time that a non-Customs officer is being sent to head the paramilitary organisation. In 1989 the IBB regime brought Dr. Bello Haliru Mohamed from outside to head the Customs. The Abacha regime later sent Army Brigadier Samuel Ango to head the Customs.
There was uproar in the 1990s when Abacha appointed Major General Haladu Hananiya to head the Federal Road Safety Corps. Under the military regimes, soldiers headed many civilian agencies including Nigeria Airways, Federal Housing Authority, Nigeria Railways and National Sports Commission. Since then however, the trend has been to allow large state agencies to nurture their own leaders. Speculations before the appointments were that Ali was to be sent to EFCC. While the Customs Service could do with some of his tough guy reputation, Customs has grown in recent years into a sophisticated operation with a huge IT system infrastructure driving its destination inspection and other complicated trade rules.
Whatever are the president’s calculations, he ought to remember that an Army General who is launching a big military offensive does not leave his flanks badly exposed. The same rule applies in politics. Trenchant criticism of his fairness in appointments as well as silent restiveness within his party’s ranks could outflank the president in his main offensive battles against Boko Haram and corruption.
 http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/columns/after-the-wait-the-storm/108668.html

Polio: WHO urges hygienic standards in labs

Posted By: Chris Njoku on: September 14, 2015In: 

…plans nationwide inspection of labs

In an effort to maintain a polio-free nation, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has advised the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, to strictly observe professional ethics in operation of laboratories in the country.
This is even as the organisation has set out to inspect all laboratories in the country to ensure they comply with the rules and regulations establishing them.

A WHO laboratory polio containment consultant, Mr. Chinedu Chukwubuike, disclosed this over the weekend in Owerri during the inauguration of new executive members of the association in Imo State. He lamented that most laboratories were operating below standard and in very unhygienic environment.
He said though Nigeria was declared polio-free in the last one year, there was need for such declaration to be sustained by strict observance to regulations.
According to him, there is likelihood of polio springing up from laboratories if the scientists fail to observe the rules.
Chukwubuike said he has been contracted to inspect laboratories in the country, adding that any laboratory that falls short of standard must be sanctioned by relevant agencies.
He urged Nigerians to take immunisation exercise very serious, adding that parents must ensure that every child below the age of five was properly immunised.
The WHO ambassador warned that Nigeria cannot afford to experience the dangers associated with polio, calling on the citizenry to contribute to the sustenance of a polio-free country.
New chairman of AMLSN, Imo State branch, Mr. Anthony Uhuegbu, promised to cooperate with WHO in the fight against polio.
He said his administration will ensure that members comply with professional ethics in discharging their duties.
Uhuegbu advised medical practitioners to discharge their duties effectively and widen the jurisdiction of their training.
He frowned at medical doctors and pharmacists who are in the habit of conducting medical tests on patients where it is outside their training.

 http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/polio-who-urges-hygienic-standards-in-labs/
SOURCE 

Electrocuted Girl At The University Of Lagos Was A First-Class Student Until Her Death

Ouchi Anekwe was a 300 level student of the Department of Accounting at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and was a first class scholar in her department until her death from a high voltage cable that snapped off the pole on the campus last night.Oluchi Anekwe

Miss Oluchi was returning from church service and was walking along the "New Hall" bus stop in front of Sodeinde Hall of residence when a high voltage cable snapped off the pole and killed her. She died almost immediately. 

Students of the institution today shut down academic activities on the campus in protest against what they considered negligence on the part of the university authorities.

 Oluchi is from Aku town in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria

 http://saharareporters.com/2015/09/09/electrocuted-girl-university-lagos-was-first-class-student-until-her-death

MTN FOOLING NIGERIANS AGAIN

AN OPEN LETTER TO MTN-NG

Dear MTN,

I will not go and re-register my line. You CAN fool everyone if you like, you might have fooled me before, but you would never fool me again.

The only reason why you continue to pull the wool over our gullible eyes is because the consumer rights’ protection agencies are either in the vegetative state, or completely dead.

How can you explain a situation where you would tell your millions of teeming subscribers to register their SIM cards and provide the necessary bio-data, only for you to wake up one
morning to tell us to go and register our lines again WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION? It beats my imagination and it defies not just
logic, but also philosophy. Were you drunk when you were registering our numbers? Did a malicious virus wipe your entire database?

Maybe I’m giving you too much credit sef. You probably wrote the records in books like an ancient bookkeeper and a giant yellow rat ate them all. Whatever your reasons (or lack of reasons) may be, this is beyond ridiculous.

I have always maintained an MTN line because apart from being my very first line, most of my close associates also use MTN. To some extent, the coverage is also extensive. I didn’t hesitate
when the directive came from NCC to register our lines. I braved the queue, registered my line and collected my security number. Didn’t I try
enough?

Looking back, I can deduce that my attachment to MTN was more sentimental than practical, as your tariffs are the highest for calls and for
browsing. You send an average of 100 spam texts per day, enough to run down a BlackBerry battery and more than enough to give any Osun
State government worker waiting for
Aregbesola’s alert acute hypertension.

Your nuisance value knows no bounds.
Even Airtel that has been passed round
different investors more times than a devil's mail bag has not come up with this kind of Grade A foolishness. What the heck is wrong with you? Don’t your customers mean anything to
you? Doesn’t it bother you that Nigerians who wasted their time to register their SIM cards have to do the same thing again? You haven't even deemed it fit to fine-tune the process. It
doesn’t make sense to preserve bad experiences like these, in very much the same way that one relic of history is preserving mud huts, and stating them on an assets’ declaration form.

My records are not on your database, but you remember my number when you want to tell me to text ‘YES’ to win a missing plot of land in Port-Harcourt or go on vacation inside the moon, right? May heavy-duty thunder fire all of una.

I really don’t blame you. If Nigerians had run your devious, xenophobic,
exploitative, heartless, opportunistic, fraudulent ass back to South Africa, you wouldn’t be here making them queue desperately like migrants.

What’s to say that there wouldn’t be another sham registration in the next couple of months since you guys obviously don’t know what you are
doing?

You blocked my line, you have helped
me. Prior to your ridiculous directive, I had already banished your yeye SIM card to a barely functional phone. I have even borrowed the maximum permissible amount. Go ahead, feel
free. It sure feels great knowing
that when I eventually toss the phone into the trash-can, I won’t have to take out the SIM. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

You deserve to be sued for every fraudulent penny you’ve ever made on our shores. Thanks to other service providers for making sure that your evil dream of becoming a monopoly will
forever remain a demented hallucination.

There are so many fishes in the ocean. I will not tolerate your recklessness any longer.

Peace at last....

This letter speaks my mind.

Please forward till it reach their office!
NWEKE TOBECHUKWU

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MEMORIAL CEREMONY...PROF DORA AKUNYILI

Public Service Announcement

The Anambra State Government will on Saturday 5th September, 2015 hold a memorial ceremony in honor of the late Professor Dora Nkem Akunyili, OFR, former Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Minister of Information and Communications.

As part of the memorial ceremony, the State Government will name the State Women Development Centre after Professor Akunyili in recognition of her sterling contributions and outstanding service to Anambra State and Nigeria in general.

The ceremony will also feature a concelebrated Holy Mass, a documentary on the life and times of the late Professor Dora Akunyili, tributes by the academia, representatives of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and some top government functionaries.

His Excellency the Governor, Chief Willie Obiano will also use the occasion to unveil the plaque symbolizing the renaming of the State Women Development  Centre after the late erudite Professor.

Ndi Anambra both at home and in diaspora are by this announcement invited to the ceremony which will kick off at the Women Development Centre, Awka by 10am.

Dr (Mrs) Uju Nwogu
Hon. Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism
3rd September, 2015.