Shippers Council Begins Implementation Of Advanced Cargo Declaration

Seaport economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Monday began implementation of the Advanced Cargo Declaration System(ACD), otherwise known as Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) on all imports into the country through the nation’s seaports.

The Shippers Council has since mid-2015 intimated port users and stakeholders of its plan to reintroduce the CTN which saw severe opposition a few years ago after it was first introduced by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) due to cost factor.

The Council has however maintained that this time, the CTN will not add to shippers’ or the consignees’ cost.

With CTN, cargoes on transit can be tracked from port of loading to port of destination, in terms of risk profiling of vessels, crew on-board vessels, ports of calls, mid-stream operations, cargo characteristics and more.

CTN which has received the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari is also a system that provides relevant information that helps in maritime security.

It is expected that CTN will check decades of fraudulent declarations by importers and even shipowners on arriving the ports.

A source close to the council said the port economic regulator had recently sent out notices to shipping lines, agencies, cargo owners and other stakeholders about the November 2, 2015 date of implementation in Nigerian ports.

Shipping lines and other stakeholders had also at a berthing meeting in Apapa discussed the take-off of the new scheme.

The Council had in the notice to stakeholders explained that the implementation of the scheme is for effective economic regulation, international trade facilitation, safety and security of cargo, ships and port installations.

It was gathered that shipping lines overseas keyed in into the implementation of the scheme by the NSC by complying with the requirements from NSC.

Executive Secretary of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, said that new scheme will fasten cargo clearanceat the ports with the advanced information of the cargo that is coming.

Bello also said the new scheme will check pilferages and leakages in the harborages.

“You cannot import wrist watches or you cannot import tyres and say they are tiles. This one, you know what the manifest is. so before you come, you know, so the issue of compliance will be strengthened because unfortunately Nigerians don’t comply, they under-declare the goods they want to import. This is tax evasion.

Even the ships sometimes, they cut their gross registered tonnage (GRT) because of the amount they are to pay is tied to it. With CTN, they cannot do that…it is very transparent. Shippers’ Council will be able to see everything, including other agencies. This is the beginning of the new port order. We are talking about transparency, predictability and efficiency,” Bello explained.

Implementation of CTN is in line with the compliance requirements of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO’s) International Ships and Ports Security (ISPS) Code for the safety of ships and port facilities.

It would be recalled that the decision to introduce CTN in West and Central African Sub-region was reached during a workshop organised by the Union of African Shipowners’ Council(UASC) in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) in February, 2002.

With the decision, CTN was then introduced in Garbon and Congo, followed by Angola, Senegal, Guinea, Benin Republic.

Nigeria had introduced CTN in 2009 under the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) but had to suspend it because of the controversy trailing the cost to shippers.

This time, the NSC, as the Ports Economic Regulator has assured that the cost imposed on shippers during the first time of implementation has been addressed.

Alarming Upsurge Of Kidney Disease

It is fact that kidney disease (renal failure) has become a huge problem affecting millions of people all over the world. Incidentally, the burden of the disease is increasing among Nigerians with its physical, social and financial complications. In recent times, the spate of kidney failure has been a real source of worry in Nigeria.
The burdens associated with the disease have financially impoverished both the sufferers and their families alike, even as stories of Nigerians affected continue to grab media headline everyday.

What is kidney or renal failure? It is when the kidneys are no longer working well enough for a person to live without dialysis or a kidney transplant. Medical experts have attributed the causes of kidney failure to include diabetes mellitus and long-term uncontrolled hypertension, chronic inflammation of the kidney, junks and fatty foods, advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease, indiscriminate consumption of herbal medicines and alcoholic beverages. Others are untreated microbial infection, diarrhoea, malaria, potassium bromate poisoning, abuse of painkillers particularly paracetamol.

Statistics by the Nigeria Association of Nephrology shows that about 37 million Nigerians of the country’s 170 million citizens are suffering from various forms of kidney diseases. In addition, records reveal that the disease affects an estimated 16,000 new patients every year. Increasingly, children are the worst hit with a prevalence rate of 22.3 admissions per 1000 child admissions per annum. Unfortunately, managing kidney related diseases is expensive even for the rich. Estimates put the cost of caring for kidney patients at N120 billion annually of which a larger percentage is spent on foreign medical tourism.

Managing kidney-related diseases is complicated, even as its prevalence is a problem in our environment. Estimates suggest that one out of every seven Nigerians has one stage of chronic kidney disease. Unfortunately, out of 50,000 patients, who should ideally be on dialysis, less than 1,000 are receiving one as at today. The good news is that some causes of kidney failure are treatable and the kidney function may return to normal. Unfortunately, kidney failure may be progressive in other situations and may be irreversible. Even at that, there is a lack of government funding for treatment in Nigeria unlike some African countries like Rwanda and South Africa. This leaves the entire burden to individuals who most often cannot bear the cost for too long.

It is painful to note that only a handful of hospitals presently have the dialysis machines, which ideally should be spread across the country to tackle issues of kidney failure. We are therefore calling for the subsidisation of kidney treatments in the country, as most patients are unable to afford the treatments. In all, combating kidney failure among Nigerians implies mounting relentless public awareness campaigns on the risk factors behind it.

To accomplish this, the government should take a holistic approach to chronic diseases prevention, early identification and intervention, even as we recommend that social, behavioural and biological determinants of health be addressed within the framework of an overarching national chronic diseases’ strategy.
Fundamentally, however, the government and health policy makers need to have scientific projections on the trend, with a view to putting in place a framework for investing and funding renal treatment centres nationwide.

Cesc Fabregas denies Chelsea players' revolt claims

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has denied media allegations he is organising a dressing room revolt against manager Jose Mourinho.

'The Secret Footballer' blog claimed he was the "leader" of a "mini-revolt" at the Premier League champions.

Chelsea are 15th in the league table.

"I would like to clarify that contrary to a few reports from some websites, I am extremely happy at Chelsea and have an excellent relationship with the manager," Fabregas said on Twitter.

"There may be certain individuals from the outside trying to destabilise this club but I strongly believe that we will bounce back and come good again," added the 28-year-old Spain international.

Tragic-Couple's Funeral Holds In The Same Church They Were Married In Two Weeks After Drowning During Honeymoon

                             

A newlywed couple who drowned on their honeymoon were remembered by family and friends yesterday at the same church where they married just two weeks ago.

John Rodgers, 28, and his wife Lynette, 26, drowned on October 23 after getting caught in a riptide at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.

The couple had married at the First Presbyterian Church in Holywood, Co Down on October 17, but yesterday - just two weeks and two days later - their loved ones returned to the church to say their final goodbyes.

   

PHOTOS: Married cheat faked own kidnapping to cheat on wife and mistress with 3rd woman

     

A serial cheat faked his own kidnapping so he could bed another woman behind his mistress's back.
Warren Green, 33, had already lied to his wife to travel to Edinburgh to see girlfriend Chelsea Linn.
But he then shamelessly sneaked off to see another lover – getting a friend to call Chelsea and tell her he had been kidnapped.

The Daily Record reports Married Green, from London, claimed he had been bundled into a car by two men and then punched and kicked as he lay chained to a radiator in an Edinburgh city centre flat.
A frantic Chelsea called in police and when Green arrived at her home in Oxgangs, Edinburgh, the following day, officers were waiting for him.


The love cheat carried on insisting he had been kidnapped when the officers questioned him.
But his story soon began to unravel and he eventually admitted he had made the story up so he could “sneak off to see another girl”.

    
                                                                     Mistress

David Patterson, Green’s solicitor, told the court that his client had “instantly regretted” making up the story of the kidnapping and the whole thing “started off as a joke”.
Patterson added: “The incident started off as a joke but then he couldn’t make his way out of it.
“His error was when the police arrested him he made those comments.”
Patterson said Green was a married man with two children to a woman in London and was currently working as a kitchen porter.
Green’s two accomplices were subsequently found to be living in the United Kingdom illegally and both have since been deported.

     
                                                                                                       Wife

Woman flies Emirates, wakes up covered in lotion

A woman boarded a flight from Dubai to New York, took an anti-anxiety pill and fell asleep.

According to the Smoking Gun the woman was seated next to one Nadeem Mehmood Quraishi, a 42-year-old Staten Island resident.

Quraishi asked if she had a good nap a few hours later when she awoke - and she realised that there was lotion spread on her arms, chest and legs.

Her hand lotion was missing.

When she walked the the bathroom, she realised her vaginal area was sore. She then saw her underwear had been shifted - there was lotion down there too.

When she got back, she asked Quraishi where her lotion was, and he gave it back to her.

She called the crew.

Quraishi admitted to putting the lotion on her, and said he thought she enjoyed it because she didn't resist.

“The defendant also told the flight attendants that he liked it and that it happened to him as a child,” reported Detective Caruso.

How does physical activity preserve lubricated joints?

                                

(Inside Science) -- The human body is able to act like a well-oiled machine because liquid fills its joints. Now researchers are shedding light on how physical activity might help keep this liquid in place. This discovery could lead to insights and treatments for arthritis and other joint diseases.

The cartilage found on the surfaces of the body's joints is filled with synovial fluid, a liquid with a consistency similar to egg white. Synovial fluid makes up about 80 percent of cartilage's volume, and plays an essential role in supporting weight and lubricating joints.

Since cartilage is porous, synovial fluid leaks out its holes every day. Permanent loss of this fluid results in a gradual decrease in cartilage thickness and increase in friction, which can lead to the joint degeneration of osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis.

"Think about a tire," said mechanical engineer David Burris at the University of Delaware, in Newark. "When the tire is pressurized, it can support the weight of a car, but if had holes in it to let air escape, it would start to lose pressure, it can no longer support that weight. Cartilage works the same way — once fluid flows out of it, it can't support loads anymore."


The mystery that puzzled scientists then was how synovial fluid made its way back into cartilage. Previous research suggested that when knees are flexed, deflated cartilage gets bathed in the fluid that leaked out it, soaking it back up. However, it was unclear how such flexing might prevent cartilage from deflating over long spans of time, since people are usually relatively inactive.

"Ninety to 95 percent of the day, people are sitting and standing without moving their knees," Burris said.

Instead, Burris and his colleagues speculated that another mechanism known as hydrodynamic pressure might also help drive fluid back into cartilage. This occurs whenever fluid is forced through a thinning gap.

For example, when a car drives on a wet road, hydrodynamic pressure builds as the fluid is squeezed into the gap between the tire and the road. The pressure builds as speed increases until it can fully support the weight of the car. At this point the tires begin to glide over the surface of the water on the road: a phenomenon called hydroplaning. If, however, the tire were porous and could absorb water, fluid could flow into the deflated tire, Burris explained.

To test their idea, Burris and his colleagues slid curved plugs of cartilage against flat pieces of glass. This mimicked the kind of hydrodynamic effects one might see with a tire on a wet road, or in a human joint.

When the cartilage slid at speeds less than 10 millimeters per second, there was little hydrodynamic pressure, which led to thinning and increased friction over time. However, as the sliding speed increased toward 60 millimeters per second — closer to what would occur in a joint at typical walking speeds — the opposite happened.

"These findings show, probably for the first time, an effect that people have been talking about for a long time but have never shown so incisively as happening in tissue," said tribologist Daniele Dini at Imperial College London, who studies friction and did not take part in this research.

This discovery "could have major implications for joint health," Burris said. "For decades, people have thought of physical activity as injurious to joints. However, a couple of years ago, a handful of studies found the opposite, with the risk of osteoarthritis going down the more active you are. Our results show that activity is the driving force behind maintaining lubrication."

Research into this effect could help guide the design of artificial replacement materials for joints, Dini added.

"Current replacement materials often incorporate lubricating films onto metal or ceramic, but these films don't last long," Burris said. "A better understanding of how cartilage lubricates could help lead to porous joint materials that can simulate cartilage, like hydrogels." Hydrogels include the materials used to make contact lenses.

Burris and his colleagues detailed their findings on Oct. 23 at the American Vacuum Society symposium and exhibition in San Jose, California.

Source

Boxer Caught In All Male S*x Tape Finally Admits He Wasn’t Drugged And Confirms His Bisexuality

    

When news broke last week Wednesday that Philly-based boxer Yusuf Mack had appeared in an adult film with two other men, the fighter immediately went into damage control mode. As an engaged father of 10, he insisted that while he was strapped for cash and had indeed agreed to appear in an adult film, he was under the impression that it was meant to be a heterosexual experience. Originally, he insisted that he had been drugged and had no recollection of getting it popping with two men. 

Philly.com: Sometime in June – he can’t recall exactly when – Mack boarded a train to New York City and made his way to an address in the Bronx. Once inside the apartment where the filming was to take place, he noticed a number of naked women walking around.

“I think, ‘It’s about to go down.’ I needed a drink or something,” Mack told me over the phone. “They gave me a pill and a shot of vodka. I took the pill down with the vodka.”
The next thing he can recall is being on a train at 30th Street Station and someone telling him to wake up.

“I don’t remember getting on the train,” he told me. But Mack did later notice that he had $4,500 tucked inside his pocket.

Indian court jails Uber driver for life for rape

An Indian court on Tuesday sentenced the driver of an Uber car to life in prison for raping a young woman passenger.

Shiv Kumar Yadav "will serve regressive imprisonment, which shall mean imprisonment til natural death," judge Kaveri Baweja told the court.

A Delhi court convicted Yadav of four charges last month but sentencing was delayed because of a shortage of police in the Indian capital, where a summit of African leaders was being held at the time.

Yadav was tried by one of the fast-track courts introduced in 2013 following the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi, a crime that sparked nationwide protests about women's safety in India.

India recorded 36,735 rape cases in 2014, with 2,096 of them in Delhi alone. Experts say those figures are likely to represent only the tip of the iceberg.

California-based Uber was accused of failing to conduct adequate background checks after it emerged that Yadav had been accused of assaulting other women, although he had no previous convictions.

The company was officially banned from Delhi, but the ban has not been well enforced and Uber cars continue to operate in the capital.

Uber set up its India operation in September 2013 and now does business in more than a dozen cities.

How to Balance Your Metabolism By Eating Fruits Daily

                 

By Sophie Addison


Health and physical appearance are a concern to many people all over the world. But most of these people do not adhere to the right eating habits, diets and physical exercises to obtain and maintain fit physical condition and health state. Eating the right diet that includes fruits daily enables one’s body to metabolise and burn fat more effectively and efficiently, and this helps one to get all day energy as the body burn calories. Metabolism helps in regulating the body weight. Therefore ensuring an efficient metabolism helps achieve and maintain the desired body weight. Fruits are rich in fibre that facilitates the body’s ability to burn fat through moving the macronutrients through the digestive system faster. 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men is the recommended fibre daily intake. Fruits form an important part of the diet to ensure the body performs at its optimum capacity by enabling a fast metabolism process.


Blueberries

Practising healthy eating is among the many weight loss exercises that enable a person achieve and maintain the desired physical condition. Blueberries are among the super foods for its many healthy benefits. The deep blue colour of theses fruits is as a result of very important nutrients known as flavonoids. These flavonoids are crucial in boosting metabolism by enhancing the working of leptin in the body. This process enables an individual lose the stubborn pounds to achieve the desired body shape and size. Also, berries contain dietary fibre. The human body is incapable of digesting fibre. The body tries to digest fibre contained in these berries and other foods it burns calories in the process. Fibre makes calories and fat in snack or meal disappear through the digestive track before the body can absorb them by soaking them up. It is advisable to incorporate blueberries into the morning meal daily to boost your body daily in the morning. 

Melons

One of the crucial elements in boosting metabolism is potassium. Certain types of melon including watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe contain high levels of potassium. Sugar glucose is an important fuel providing component in the bodily cells. If the sugar levels in the cells go low beyond the normal levels, to counteract this situation, the liver releases glycogen into the bloodstream. Potassium enhances the liver’s capability to make glycogen, and this implies that lack of potassium in our bodies reduces the rate of metabolism. In a single serving, watermelon contains about 225mg of potassium, honeydew contains 461mg and cantaloupe contain 494mg of potassium. Incorporating a serving of these fruits in our meals can go a long in improving our weight loss activities which boost your metabolism rate. Also, these practices help facilitate every person weight loss goals to achieve the desired body size and shape.

Citrus fruits

Citrus fruits have high levels of vitamin C, and this is a component that helps in speeding up the body metabolism process. Vitamin C speeds up metabolism because it contains fat burning qualities. Vitamin c is crucial in the body for its capability to improve the metabolism by 100 calories daily. As people age, their metabolism goes down. Therefore, daily intake of vitamin c among the aging society is very crucial in boosting their metabolism process. Among the recommended citrus fruits that balance the bodily metabolism process include tangelos, oranges, grapefruit, oranges and lemon. Incorporate a serving of citrus fruits daily in your meals to boost your weight loss exercises and to facilitate your body metabolism balancing capability. 

Coconut

Coconut oil is the essential part of the fruit that helps in boosting metabolism. Although people believe fats are not good for controlling body weight, coconut oil is among the good oils that have significant benefits when it comes to boosting metabolism. Coconut oil should be incorporated with other metabolism boosting fruits as its benefits are limited and are short-lived. 

Grapes

Grapes are also preferred fruits in boosting the metabolism process. Incorporating grapes in our daily meals boosts an individual’s weight loss exercises as it contain weight loss qualities. Primarily, grapes are known for their capability of reducing the insulin levels in the blood. Insulin is a hormone that inhibits the body’s capability to break down fats. Thus, the reduction in the bloodstream enhances and boosts the body’s capability to break down the fats, therefore, boosting the metabolism process. A serving of grapes should be incorporated in the daily to boost the body’s ability to obtain and maintain the desired body size and shape.
Conclusion
It is every person’s desire to obtain and maintain a healthy body. Obtaining a healthy body requires one to practise healthy eating habits and engage in physical exercise. Among the healthy eating habits involves incorporating a serving of fruits in our daily meals to help boost and balance our metabolism process. A good metabolism process means a sound and healthy body condition. Effective and efficient metabolism enables an individual attain his or her weight reduction goal; therefore, achieve the desired body size, weight and shape.

Reference:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/272625-fruits-to-increase-metabolism-for-weight-loss/
https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/weight-loss/what-is-metabolism-and-how-to-increase-it.html
http://thebodydepartment.com/wellness/7-morning-rituals-to-supercharge-your-metabolism/

Author Bio:

Sophie Addison is a popular blogger and writer on beauty related tips and articles. She is very passionate about health and beauty. She has posted articles on skin care, tips for using eyelashes, weight loss and celebrity beauty news. Apart from work she likes gardening and listening music. You can also contact her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

How Sierra Leone Fought Ebola With TB Joshua’s ‘Anointing Water’

                       

                       Mrs Fatmata Kargbo

This report was sent in by Ihechukwu Njoku.

When Nigerian ‘Prophet’ T.B. Joshua controversially claimed in August 2014 that his ‘Anointing Water’ had the ability to cure the deadly Ebola virus which had ravaged several West African countries, the declaration was met with both doubt and derision.
However, a prominent Sierra Leonean politician has sensationally claimed that the contentious arrival of 4,000 bottles of Joshua’s water to her nation was the key to the eventual decline of the incurable disease.


Mrs Fatmata Kargbo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sierra Leone, gave the startling revelation in Lagos, Nigeria at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) on Sunday 1st November 2015.
“I am very disturbed and have had sleepless nights for not giving this testimony,” the civil servant admitted.
“When T.B. Joshua announced his desire to send Anointing Water to the countries affected by Ebola, I immediately contacted the presidency,” she explained, adding that after the government accepted his offer, she was appointed to head the team that would receive the blessed ‘water’ with alleged healing powers.As was widely reported in mainstream media, the Nigerian cleric paid for a private jet to transport the ‘spiritual items’ to Sierra Leone, alongside a cash gift of $50,000 to those affected by the outbreak.

“I received the Anointing Water at the airport and submitted the consignment to the President,” Kargbo revealed. “However, the devil fought hard and we faced a lot of opposition and obstacles.” According to the civil servant, even after obtaining presidential approval to begin distributing the ‘Anointing Water’ to the most affected zones, strong opposition from ‘internationally renowned medical organisations’ severely delayed the allotment.

"Medically, they said there was no scientific proof that it could cure Ebola," she explained, adding that some of the water was even ‘confiscated’ by medical personnel.It was only after several weeks of struggling that Kargbo found a senior ranking medical official who was sympathetic to her cause and managed to ‘smuggle’ in some of Joshua’s water to a clinic where Ebola patients resided.

“The patients who received the Anointing Water testified that the symptoms disappeared almost immediately,” she sensationally claimed.
“In the South East region where we were finally allowed to minister the Anointing Water, there was no new case of Ebola recorded from September 2014 onwards,” she further added.According to Kargbo, it was only the regions where Joshua's 'holy water' failed to reach that Ebola's spread continued, eventually beginning to decline in early 2015. She lamented that if not for the strong opposition, Ebola would have been conquered much earlier.

"If we were allowed to use the water as directed by the man of God at that time, Ebola would have been rid from my country within weeks," she asserted.According to a BBC interview with President Ernest Bai Koroma, if no new cases are recorded, Sierra Leone is expected to be declared Ebola free this week.

T.B. Joshua claims his controversial water, newly branded as 'Morning Water' is anointed by God. "It is not the water that heals but God Himself since the anointing is done in Jesus' name," his website states.

Last week, two survivors of a tragic helicopter crash in Lagos, Nigeria, claimed that it was Joshua's water that rescued them from certain death.

Ihechukwu Njoku is a freelance Nigerian journalist currently based in Lagos, Nigeria


                                   

  

DISCOVERY IN THE TREATMENT OF LEUKEMIA: Molecules found in avocados target cancer cells…

A new study shows that avocados, besides being very tasteful also contain key fight against acute myeloid leukemia.

The molecules found in avocados targeting stem cells of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study published in the journal Cancer Research.AML is an aggressive form of cancer that kills 90 percent of affected individuals older than 65 years.

Drugs that act on stem cells are most effective in treating diseases, and lipids that are found in avocados join only a few available drugs that directly attack the leukemia cells while leaving healthy cells undamaged.

“Stem cells are largely responsible for developing the disease and that is why so many patients dying of leukemia,” said Professor Paul Spagnuolo, a researcher at the University of Waterloo.

Although the drug is still far from being approved for use on the market, Spagnuolo is already preparing for the first phase of clinical trials.

Cuisine & Health

PHOTOS: Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon celebrate Halloween with the kids

       

Mariah Carey and ex-husband Nick Cannon put on a united front for Halloween.While she dressed as a witch,Cannon wore a dark green sweatshirt to complement his Hulk mask. Twins Monroe and Moroccan, 4, dressed as Batgirl and Batman, respectively.

Meanwhile, Carey’s new boyfriend, James Packer, attended the Halloween event which held at her $15m Beverly Hills estate.

                    

                   

Chelsea players fully behind Mourinho –Mikel

Mikel Obi says Chelsea players remain convinced Jose Mourinho is the ideal manager for the club.

Mourinho has endured a dismal start to the season, with the Premier League champions currently 15th, with 11 points from 11 games, after Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Mourinho has two games to save his job, and that former Blues coach Carlo Ancelotti would be interested in taking over even on a temporary basis if the Portuguese is dismissed.


There have been questions about some players’ commitment, and the presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live’s “Sportsweek” programme reported at the weekend that he had been told that one first-team Chelsea player had recently said, “I’d rather lose than win for him.”

However, Mikel, who started both the Capital One Cup loss to Stoke and the Liverpool defeat, said the players retain full support for the former Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss.

“We are right behind the manager,” he told reporters. “There’s no doubt about it. In training we work very hard. If anyone can turn this around, we definitely think he’s the one.

“Last year we were champions. We won two trophies. Jose knows this club more than any other manager. He’s the most successful manager in the club’s history.

“I definitely think that, if anything is wrong, if anything can be fixed, he is the one. There’s no one out there that is going to come in and fix what’s going on.”

PHOTOS: Victoria's Secret unveils $2 million Fantasy Bra

    

Victoria's Secret has debuted its hotly-anticipated 2015 Fantasy Bra and revealed that model Lily Aldridge will have the coveted role of walking down the runway in the $2 million bra at this year's fashion show in December.the bra is actually quite heavy.

The total weight of the gem stones is 1,364 carats, while the diamonds weigh more than 375 carats.It also features a detachable diamond belt.

  

Metallic poisoning, not Ebola killed UNICAL student–FG

The Federal Government has given a clue to what might have killed a 21-year-old male student of the University of Calabar, who was suspected to have died of Ebola Virus Disease. It said the deceased died of “metallic poisoning.”

The government specifically said that it came out with that verdict after it received the result of confirmation test on the cause of the deceased death.


The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, made the clarification in Abuja during an interview with The PUNCH.

According to him, what killed the student had to do with the management of his “lifestyle in terms of what he ate or what he took, which happens now and then.”

Our correspondent reported that the patient was diagnosed with a suspected case of hemorrhagic fever on October 7, 2015.

The government had notified the nation that preliminary tests carried out on the blood samples of the patient confirmed that the deceased was negative to both the Ebola virus and the Lassa fever virus.

About three weeks ago, government had also stated that additional tests, using next generation sequencing methods, were going to be carried out at the Redeemers University African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Ede, Osun State, to confirm which virus must have caused the infection and the subsequent death of the UNICAL student.

But Awute insisted that the UNICAL student died of “metallic poisoning” and not Ebola Virus Disease.

He said, “There is a test confirmation that it is not Ebola. It has also been confirmed that issues like that used to come up. We are sensitive to issues like that, because of the Ebola experience. It is also clear and obvious to us that there was nobody who touched him or who was around him that got infected. And so, it can’t be an infectious disease.

“It is traceable to a kind of poison which is classified as metallic poisoning. The UNICAL student was a victim of metallic poisoning; but nobody can actually say how it happened. The most important thing for us is that we have exempted the danger of infecting another person, which means it is not any known infectious disease.

“It is not Ebola and cannot be associated with any infectious disease because all the public health protocols required in ascertaining that it is not Ebola and it is not any hemorrhagic fever has been done. The number of days for which it can infect another person or any other person around him to show similar symptoms has also been exceeded.

“So, one can comfortably conclude that it is not Ebola; it is not any other infectious disease. It has to do with the management of the person’s lifestyle in terms of what he ate or what he drank. It is just that in this era when we have to be vigilant about infectious diseases, you don’t see such things and take it for granted. So, that is why we had to respond in the way and manner that is expected of us as the custodian of the health system of Nigeria.”

In its earlier test, the government claimed that initial findings by the laboratory necessitated additional tests, leading to a delay in the release of the result.

“The result of these tests is now out and I wish to inform the nation that the blood sample from the patient tested negative to all pathogenic viruses known to man. Further tests were conducted to establish any bacterial or fungal infection involvement and this also proved negative. The possibility of poisoning or intoxication with a chemical cannot be ruled out at this stage. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control will continue with this investigation in collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control,” Awute said.

Okorocha: Igbo won’t negotiate on MASSOB platform

•‘Pro-Jonathan forces behind fresh Biafra agitation’

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has said the Igbo will not use the platform of any separatist group, including the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), to pursue the Igbo agenda.

Okorocha, who distanced Southeast governors and leaders from the pro-Biafra groups, said the zone did not need an armed struggle associated with militia groups to attract economic and infrastructural development.

The governor, who spoke at a breakfast meeting with reporters, noted that the zone’s setbacks could not be addressed by antagonising the North and West, but by mutual cooperation and support for the All Progressives Congress-led (APC) Federal Government.

His words: “The Igbo will not use the agitation for Biafra as a platform to negotiate the place of Ndigbo, but will support the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to attract the dividends of democracy that eluded us in the past.

“We should try to jettison religious sentiments and support President Buhari. The Igbo will not use Biafra as a front; we condemn those agitating for Biafra because that is not Ndigbo’s need”.

But the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has said agitation for Biafra is a plan ‘B’ action promoted by pro-Jonathan forces to undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Sani, who spoke during an interaction with reporters in Kaduna yesterday, said: “The new agitation for Biafra is a misguided, ill-conceived and ill-fated course.

“The Biafra agitation is a new attempt to destroy the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, to ignite a national conflict and cause chaos, pandemonium and confusion. It is not reflective of the interest and generality of the Igbo people.”

The senator said the Igbo had made progress since the civil war, adding that their future was better guaranteed and sustained within a united Nigeria.

Sani said: “Those attempting to wake up the Biafran course are of three categories. The first are young men with no knowledge of the tragedy, suffering and hardship Nigerians endured during the Civil War. The second category are desperate forces hiding behind the Biafran agitation to undermine our national unity and destroy theMuhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“And the third group are simply warmongers, who want crisis in an era of peace and progress. So, I will say this in clear terms: Nigeria is an indivisible entity and we have since gone beyond the Civil War.”

The people of the Southeast, Sani said, had the right within the ambit of the constitution to demand to be recognised and respected as equal partners in the Nigerian project.

He cautioned that their agitation must, however, be within the ambit of respect for the indivisibility of Nigeria and the constitution.

”As long as we realise the change agenda, entrench good governance and run an all-inclusive government, the Biafran agitation will naturally fizzle out.

“Nigerians must be patient with the President Buhari’s administration. It is wrong for people to accuse him of not performing, taking cognisance of the rot in the last 16 years.

“We have no reason to give excuses and lament the problems of Nigeria when Nigerians are desirous of change and progress,” Sani said.

THE NATION

Boko Haram: FG To Build 10,000 Homes For IDPs In Adamawa

As part of its plans to rehabilitate communities destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency, the federal government will build about 10,000 houses for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Adamawa State.

The vice chairman of the committee constituted by the federal government to superintend the reconstruction of the region, North East Housing Reconstruction Initiative, Hajiya Hadiza Muhammed, disclosed this yesterday.

He said the committee had already visited all the local governments affected by the insurgency in the state and had documented the houses destroyed by the insurgents, noting that the committee would soon make their presentations to the president for his approval and commencement of the project.

“We are going to build no fewer than 10, 000 houses in Adamawa.

“With the work given to me to go round all the local governments to do documentaries of houses destroyed; that one has been done and we will make presentations to the president and, very soon, we will start reconstructing the region,” she said.

According to her, the decision to build 300 housing estates in Adamawa, tagged Bindow Housing Estate, is part of her contributions to the development of the state and for all her successes in the property development sector, even as she called on wealthy natives of the state to cultivate the habit of investing at home.

Muhammad explained that 1.7 million people in the state would benefit from the project in terms of employment and youth empowerment while 300 families will also benefit as owners of the estates when completed.

PHOTOS: Jonathan Visit Aso Villa today

         

Earlier today, former president Goodluck Jonathan had a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the Aso Villa.The subject of their meeting is unknown at the moment .


                     

                  

Telecoms: IT expert says rain does not affect quality of service

                     

                                                                               Telecoms mast

An Information Technology (IT) expert, Mr Lanre Ajayi, on Monday asserted that rainy weather does not affect the Quality of Service (QoS) rendered by the telecommunications operators.

Ajayi, who is the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that it had not been scientifically proven that rain affected network operations.

He said rain did not affect QoS because of the technology used for telecoms transmission.

According to the ATCON president, telecoms operators use terrestial technology to transmit their services, which makes it unsusceptible to rain.

“Rain affects transmission when you transmit by satellite from the KU-band, but most transmissions by the GSM companies now is not carried by satellite.

“And the ones that are transmitted via satellite are usually not by the KU-band. So it may be incorrect to say that rain directly affects the QoS.

“Most of them are on fibre and rain is not meant to affect transmission on fibre,’’ he added.

The IT expert noted that problems of poor services were as a result of factors other than rainy weather.

“Some of these things could be perception, but I cannot completely dismiss it because rain comes with a lot of its own hazards.

“Thunder can strike and damage equipment; wind can blow and bring down towers. If the base stations are damaged, there won’t be network.

”So apart from the regular hazards that come with rainfall, I don’t think rain is a big problem,’’ he stressed.

Ajayi explained further that rain affected network services when the operators used copper cables, which were usually buried underground.

“It is an easy thing to explain because once water soaks those cables, interference will be experienced,’’ the ATCON President added.

I Really Miss Don Jazzy - Wande Coal

                            

"There are no two ways about it, I miss Don Jazzy. When we are in the studio we make ourselves laugh that is what people hardly know. Hopefully, we can work together sometime in the future.
There is no beef," these were the direct words of Black Diamond Artiste, WandeCoal, when asked in a recent interview if he misses his former record label boss, Don Jazzy.
The Baby Hello crooner also revealed that he doesn't have an issue working on songs together with any of Mavin Artistes.

"I am open to having collabos with them. There is no ‘beef’ between us. It’s about having a common ground to make good music. I am not ?envious of the likes of Korede Bello, Reekado Banks and Dija.

I have been in their shoes. I am not envious of them, I have been Korede Bello, Dija , Reekado Banks and I have grown past that. I have grown to a level where I need to create my own thing. I feel like they are with the best producer and we should learn from it," he said.

On the issue of lot of artistes who are resorting to skin bleaching, the proud father of a 9 year old boy isn't ready to join the trend any time soon.

"I don’t want to bleach, trust me I like my colour like this."

Police accused of torturing 25yr old father of 2 to death in Sokoto

Daily Trust reports that the 25 year old father of two was on an errand for his sister when he met with the police officers on the road and made a comment about checkpoints that have been banned by President Buhari and the illegality in the one erected by the officers. This angered the police officers who trailed the vehicle he was commuting with.

Narrating what happened, Bashar Nahantsi, a friend of the deceased,
said after the deceased made the comment that angered the police, they trailed the vehicle in which they were commuting in and ordered the driver to stop.
“The policemen ordered the two of us to come out of the vehicle, claiming that they suspected us of drug abuse. We came down and they arrested us, but my late friend freed himself from their grip and ran away, leaving me with them. They stripped me and tied my hands from behind, using my vest. They asked if I had anyone who could stand for me. I said yes and called one of my elders. They did not see him, but they said I should not worry. They tied my hands and feet.

Later, my friend who ran away came back. I was put under the custody of two mobile policemen under a tree. They asked me to lie low in the grass so they could arrest my friend. They arrested him, but he later escaped into a farm. He was chased by the two mobile policemen.
By then, they had come back with my friend in an unconscious state and dumped him on the ground. At that time, he could not even sit properly. I had to support him with my feet before he could sit down.
After collecting N1, 500, they ordered that I should carry my friend to where we could get a vehicle home. When I realised the condition they had subjected my friend to, I told them I couldn’t do anything.
I managed to get away from them. It was two days after the encounter, while I was at a village that I got to know of my friend’s death. The police killed him.”he said.

Also speaking, father of the deceased, Alhaji Shehu said “I was at Birnin Gwani when the incident happened on Sunday. I came back home on Tuesday to find out that my house was filled with people. Upon enquiry I was told that my son Yahaya had died. I asked if he was sick and the people told me that it was policemen who killed him at Teke market.”.

He said that those who washed and dressed his son’s lifeless body testified that his neck was fractured and that he had bruises on it as though he was strangled.
“I have left everything to Allah, but I demand that justice be done,” he said.
Confirming the incident, the Sokoto state commissioner of Police, Salisu Fagge, said five policemen have been arrested in connection with the incident while investigation is ongoing.

“The deceased’s parents alleged that the police had killed their son at a certain town. We investigated and arrested the policemen who were alleged to have carried out the assault. We called witnesses who testified to us. We will penalise any offender, whoever he is, whether police or civilian. Whoever commits any wrong must be brought to order. The law must take its course. No one should be above the law. There are procedures to be followed before the suspects are taken to court. We have to follow due process.”he said

How Buhari’s TSA Saved Nigeria Billions Of Naira

Already, President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to rid Nigeria of corruptive elements is fast yielding results as billions of naira are being saved in the process.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Buhari ordered every Federal Government Ministry, Department and Agencies to start paying into a Treasury Single Account (TSA) for all government revenues, incomes and other receipts.

The Daily Times gathered that through the implementation of the TSA, a whopping N8 billion was uncovered in a single account in an old generation bank. The said amount is said to be operated in the name of a defence operation account.

A text message to the Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications of the bank, to authenticate the story, was not responded to as at press time. Similarly, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, did not also respond to a text message sent to him to speak on the alleged uncovering of the amount in the bank as at press time.

Col. Rabe Abubakar, Acting Director of Defence Information was also contacted through a text message but failed to respond to it as at press time.

It would be recalled that President Buhari had earlier promised state governors at the inaugural meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, in June, that all revenues prescribed for lodgement into the federation account will be treated as such under his watch and that he will ensure strict compliance with all relevant laws on accounting, allocation and disbursement.

Since then, the Presidency has worked with relevant agencies of the Federal Government to evolve this policy directive.

This directive applies to fully funded organs of government like the Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Foreign Missions, as well as the partially funded ones, like Teaching Hospitals, Medical Centres, Federal Tertiary Institutions, etc.

Agencies like the CBN, SEC, CAC, NPA, NCC, FAAN, NCAA, NIMASA, NDIC, NSC, NNPC, FIRS, NCS, MMSD, DPR are also affected.

For any agency that is fully or partially self-funding, Sub-Accounts linked to TSA are to be maintained at CBN and the accounting system will be configured to allow them access to funds based on their approved budgetary provisions.

PHOTOS: VIDEO: Indian Minister Kicks Boy Who Begged Her For One Rupee In The Head

                   

Begging: The boy asks for one rupee, but got kicked in the head

Kusum Mahdele, a minister in India has been caught on camera kicking a young boy in the head when he threw himself at her feet and begged for one rupee- the equivalent of one pence.


The MP then calmly walks to her car as the boy who was begging at her feet is moved away by her security staff. She late denied kicking him until footage of the event emerged.


Zeenews quoted her to have said; "I have not done anything wrong. I'm unaware of any such incident."


Indians are now calling for her sack shortly after the video emerged online. Continue...

It is not the first time the minister for animal husbandry has sparked indignation. She was recently ridiculed for suggesting wild lions and tigers could be kept as pets.



And caused outrage when she said during a dispute with farmers over their failed crops she didn't understand why farmers did not kill themselves when a young son dies, but they did commit suicide when they lost their crops. Watch the video..

                             

 Staff: Her security team move the boy on


                                            
Controversial: MP Kusum Singh Mahdele

            

PHOTO: Female Doctor bathes teenage houseboy with hot water

                     

A 16-year-old boy, Nwanga Chidiebere, is battling to stay alive at Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State (FETHA) . Chidiebere, a male servant, was allegedly attacked with hot water by a female doctor at FETHA, Jane-Glad Ugba.

Chidiebere is hospitalised at the Plastic Surgery Department of the hospital following the attack. Recounting his ordeal to a National Telegraph correspondent on his hospital bed, Chidiebere explained that he had just returned from school on the fateful day and was about washing clothes when his boss asked him to go and boil yam which her children would eat.


He said while the yam was on the stove, he decided to start to wash the clothes, with plans to check it from time to time. According to him, while he was still washing, Ugba asked her eldest son to go and wash the plates. Chidiebere disclosed that the boy left the door open while he went to clean the lines on which he would spread the clothes.

The JSS 3 student of Presco Secondary School, Abakaliki, said while he was cleaning the lines, his boss started yelling that he left the door open. He said:

“I told her that I was not the one that left the door open but her son. While she was still scolding me, her husband came out and asked me to lie down despite my plea that I was not the one who opened the door and I immediately lied down.’’ Chidiebere explained that as he was still lying down, the woman walked to the pot and started yelling that he left the yam to get burnt. He added:
“In anger, she grabbed the pot and emptied the whole hot content on my back and it injured me seriously. “The pain was so much that I ran outside where I almost cried out myeyeballs from their sockets. She then asked me to go and clean where I washed clothes and after that I should pack my things and leave her house that she did not want to live with me again.”


The victim said he went to see the sister of his ‘Oga’ (Mr Ugba) who, after seeing his burnt skin, called her brother. According to him, Mr Ugba asked him to come back home but before he got home, they had already locked the gate. He maintained that he had to sleep in a Skeletal Assemblies of God Church site around Goddy Ogbaga Avenue until the next morning when he went back to his madam and found out that the gate was still locked. With nowhere to go, Chidiebere said he roaming about when a female member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) accosted him and asked him why he was loitering about.

According to him, the NSCDC official threatened to arrest him before she noticed the burns on his face and asked him what happened. He said after his explanation, the officer took him to the hospital. Chidiebere added that his ‘madam’ did not know his whereabouts until she came to work and saw him on admission.


When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP George Onuorah, confirmed the incident. Onuorah disclosed that Ugba had been arrested and arraigned in court.

Lose 15 years from your face in just 10 minutes a day

As we getting old our face naturally becomes stack. But one woman climes that she has right solution that can remove 15 years of your face without surgery or treatments like Botox. She discovered the facial fitness exercises.

Eva Fraser is a 73 years old woman who was often mistaken for somebody 20 years younger. She taught lots of women and men how to exercise their face with really working method.

You have to do this exercises 4 times a day. In the beginning these exercises may take you 5 minutes, but after some time when you will be more confident, it will only take you 2 minutes a day. These 5 minutes daily will do big changes on your face.

Before you start:

You have to do some warp up exercises before starting the exercise if you don’t want to strain any muscles. Sit down and breathe deeply. Feel the pressure release from your body muscles.

Neck exercises:

It is good to start with neck exercises. Make sure your spine is straight and gentry lean the heat forward and backward three times. After that breathe deeply and keep the jaw relaxed.

Then twist your head from one side to another to look over your shoulders. Don’t force the muscles and do this 3 times. Try do to a gentle moves.

Lower your left ear to your left shoulder and count to 5. Do the same with the right one. Repeat the exercise 3 times.

Eyes exercises:

Next do the eyes exercise. Don’t move your head, only move your eyes to look up as high as you can and count to 5. Then look as lower as you can and again hold for a count of 5. Do this 3 times.

Keep your head straight and look to the right. Hold it for a count of 5. Repeat this with looking on the left side. Do the exercise 3 times.

Next look diagonally up to the right and diagonally down to the right. Repeat this 3 times and do the same exercise on the left.

Other facial muscle exercises:

– Rise your eyebrows as high as you can and hold them for 5 seconds.

– Rise your eyebrows and open your eyes wide at the same time.

– With your lips make the shape of the letter “O.” Then change your lips into a wide smile. Do this a few times.

– Sit and look up as high as you can. Pucker your lips and stick your tongue out to exercise your neck muscles.

–Stick your tongue out as far as you can with opened mount. Hold for a few seconds.

– Move your nose from side to side as much as you can.

These exercises take less time than exercises for your body. You can’t do nothing for 5 minutes in the gym, but five minutes on your face makes a big difference.

You will notice changes in less than a month. ‘If you do the exercises daily for about 10 minutes, your face will be stronger in just 4 weeks.

Don’t Forget To Share With Your Friends And Family On Facebook, As You Might Help Someone In Need!

Source : www.naturalmedicinebox.net

Secular Publisher Hacked To Death In Bangladesh

               

A publisher of a slain online critic of religious militancy was hacked to death in the Bangladeshi capital, police said, hours after similar attacks wounded two secular writers and another publisher.


Faysal Arefin, who was killed on Saturday in Dhaka, published books by Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin who was murdered in the same way in February.


The body of Arefin, the 43-year-old chief of the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, was found inside his office. The perpetrators had locked the office before carrying out the attack, police said.


Arefin's father, Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq, a noted intellectual and writer, said: "I rushed to his office at Aziz Market and broke the padlock, and I saw him lying upside down in a massive pool of blood. They slaughtered his neck. He is dead."


Jamaluddin Mir, a police officer, told Al Jazeera that at least seven other people were trapped inside the office when the attack was carried out.


"The criminals introduced themselves as customers who were buying books and entered the publishing house," he said, adding that an investigation to identify the attackers was under way. See another photo below.



                        

Baba Tee Explains How A Lady Paid Him To Come To Her State Just To See His Face

                 

Yoruba comic actor, who recently was in the news for weeks for breaking up with his former fiancée, Yetunde Bustline (London) and then hooking up with another lady in the UK, in this new interview has explained how he is indeed ladies ‘favourite’. According to him, a female fan was so crazy over him, that she called in to lie she had a show at Oshogbo and wanted him to perform. He gave her his bills and she paid, then he left for the state. On getting there, the lady said, she was sorry that she had no show, but just wanted to see his face. Hear him;

A lady once contacted me for a show and paid money into my account to come and perform in Oshogbo. On getting to the hotel where she booked a room, she came to me and asked that we sit at the bar and while we were chatting, she said she did not have any show for me. She just wanted to see my face so that I will crack jokes for her alone. She also tried to seduce me, but I turned her down stylishly and returned to Lagos.

FG owes road contractors N300bn – Reps

Nigerians may face rougher times travelling on the country’s highways in 2016 as the House of Representatives Committee on Works said on Sunday that debts owed road contractors by the Federal Government still stood at over N300bn.

The committee noted that it was not surprising that many contractors had either abandoned their sites or were slowing down their pace, awaiting funding from the government.

The chairman of the committee, Mr. Toby Okechukwu, who stated this in Abuja, said funding remained the biggest challenge the road sector would face next year.

Okechukwu suggested that the situation called for both the government and the contractors to review their roles in the road projects.

He said, “We are talking about debts on road projects in excess of N300bn. The first challenge will be the funding of road infrastructure. Money owed road contractors should be looked into in terms of what did government owe and how did contractors perform or did not perform?”

In the 2015 budget, the government allocated what lawmakers described as “paltry” N11bn to the road sector.

The figure was said to make little impact in settling outstanding debts, let alone addressing the funding of new or running projects.

With dwindling returns from crude oil sales and less money at the disposal of the government, Okechukwu observed that government alone could no longer afford the required funding for road projects.

He said the situation called for a “review of the laws guiding road infrastructure” to increase private-sector participation in road projects.

“We should take a serious look at the issue of Public Private Partnership. In doing this, it should not be politically-influenced.

“PPP is a business idea that will be profitable to the investors. So, it is not likely that they will allow it to fail,” the lawmaker added.

Okechukwu stated that to make the situation worse for the road sector, there was no information on the 2016 budget with less than two months to the end of the current year.

For instance, he said the Medium Term Expenditure Framework expected to be at the National Assembly since September had yet to reach the legislature.

“This implies that the operation of the budget as it relates to the road sector will be affected.

“This will tragic for us, looking at how bad our roads are today,” he said.

Okechukwu also spoke on assets seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the course of investigations into corruption cases.

Rather than keep the “perishable assets” to waste or lose value, he suggested that they could be sold and the proceeds kept in deposit banks.

“Government can also re-invest the money in profitable ventures instead of keeping such assets to waste or lose value while the cases are stalled in courts for years”, Okechukwu said.

Eaglets pummel Brazil to qualify for semi final

Defending champions,the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria cruised into the FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-finals after stunning Brazil with three goals in first half.

Victor Osimhen, with his eighth goal in five games, Kingsley Michael and Udochukwu Anumudu battered Brazil.

The Eaglets played the rest of the game out at a canter to reach the final four.

The coach Emmanuel Amuneke-led Eaglets side will now meet the winner of today’s quarter-final between Ecuador and Mexico in the semi finals on Thursday.

The sour point for the Nigerian team was the yellow card to enterprising forward Funsho Bamgboye in the second half, which effectively ruled him out of the semi final tie.


Bamgboye, who got a red card in the team’s second group game against Chile was already on a yellow card he got in the second round match against Australia.

The Samba Boys were brighter in the opening stages, either finding Akpan Udoh in fine form in the Nigerian net or hitting their opportunities off target, with Rogerio and Evander the worse culprits.

The South Americans were however made to regret their missed opportunities when the lethal Osimhen extended his lead at the top of the goalscoring charts.

John Lazarus crossed from the Nigerian right and the Nigerian No9 headed in, via a deflection off Eder Militao.

Barely a minute after, Nigeria doubled their lead through Kingsley Michael while Anumudu made it three after hitting a left-footed drive from distance which skipped off the turf, and past the Brazilian goalkeeper.

The second period saw few clear-cut opportunities, with Funsho Bamgboye and Evander going closest for either side but, in truth, it was a mere procession for the holders to take a step closer to retaining their title. They will head to Concepcion for Thursday’s semi-final.

Lagos policemen abduct, torture journalist, others

When last Friday, journalist and media strategist, Femi Owolabi, went clubbing in the FESTAC area of Lagos State, little did he know that his night of fun would end behind bars.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Owolabi was abducted by ‘raider’ policemen attached to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, and was subjected to several hours of torture.

Owolabi said on the fateful day, he had gone to Rapongi night club with a female friend, Chidinma. The journalist said he had been experiencing some pains in his right foot around 1am and decided to massage it so he left Chidinma inside the club and stepped outside.

PUNCH Metro learnt that it was while Owolabi was massaging his foot that policemen in black shirts alighted from a blue coloured bus, slapped him and threw him into the vehicle.

Owolabi said, “I stooped somewhere close to the entrance, and I unlaced my boot to rub my toes. When I stooped again to lace the boot, an unfriendly hand landed a massive slap on my back, and then, grabbed me by the band-waist of my trousers and that of my boxers, and then dragged me along.

“When I asked ‘who are you, what do you want?’, multiple slaps landed on my face. He dragged me to where about three blue Volkswagen Vanagon buses were parked and flung me in. About 30 of us were sandwiched inside the 18-seater bus.

“Things were not clear to me. When I asked what I had done, they landed multiple slaps on my face. The man on whose lap I sat was crying that he could not find his glasses but a policeman, who thought I was the one screaming, slapped me again. When I asked them to give the man his glasses, they slapped me again.”

Owolabi said in a bid to subdue all the people in the bus, the policemen fired tear gas canisters into the vehicle and locked the doors to prevent them from running out.

He said it was when the policemen alighted that he was able to see the inscriptions on their black shirts.

He added, “Minutes later, as we all muttered inside the bus, a teargas canister was released inside the bus and these gunmen, all in black T-shirts bearing the crest of the Nigeria Police Force with ‘Raiders’ written across their chest, surrounded the bus, with their guns aimed at us.

“We were all coughing and the doors were locked. As I brought my head out of the window, one of the policemen gave me a punch in the head and I had to stick my head back into the vehicle. He said if I brought out my head again, he would shoot me.”

PUNCH Metro learnt that one of Owolabi’s phones had been seized by the policemen but he was able to use his second phone to send a text message to his friend, Chidinma, who was still in the club.

He also posted an update on his Facebook wall and alerted his friends of the wickedness he was being subjected to.

The journalist said they were all driven to the SDCI in the Ebute Meta area of the state where they were lined up and told to take off their clothes.

Owolabi said, “We were asked to raise our hands as we descended from the buses. We were then, asked to take off our clothes and take our seats, in a linear order, on the ground. While I was taking off my socks, my hidden phone fell off and as one of the policemen rushed to pick it, he used the barrel of his gun to hit me in the chest.

“We, immediately, appeared as criminals being paraded, as the policemen, feeling excited, took turns to snap us with their phones. One of them came with a pen and paper and wrote down our names. When he got to me, I looked into his eyes and I refused to answer.

“He called me an idiot and slapped me twice. I lowered my head, and then, another policeman from behind started to slap me on the back of my neck. I couldn’t hold the pains, and I broke into tears.

“We were called one after the other, into a circle and they started inspecting our bodies and those that had marks on their bodies were questioned.”

The victim said when a bullet wound was discovered on the back of one of those arrested, he was beaten by about 10 policemen for several minutes

He said the policemen entertained themselves by beating up each of the arrested persons. He said when one of those arrested asked for permission to go and urinate, he was slapped repeatedly by the policemen. He said he became thirsty but was scared to ask for water.

Owolabi said the policemen started beating him again when he refused to squat as ordered.

He said, “I could barely get a space to sit. My legs ached terribly. A policeman ordered me to squat properly. When I told him that there wasn’t enough space, about three others joined him and for five minutes, it was a beating galore. The beating stopped when they had successfully beaten me into a space, under a table, where I had to fold my aching legs.”

He said the policemen hurled insults at all those arrested outside the club.

He added, “I observed how happy these policemen were, how they made a mockery of everyone. ‘Stupid people, una get money to dey go club go drink go carry woman abi?’, one them said, with a hiss.

“A pot-bellied man – who should be in his late thirties – caged with me under the table, shook his head. The man said, ‘I can’t find my wedding ring again. I am a Federal Government worker. My family is out of the country and I thought I should come to the club this Friday. When did it become a crime to club again?’

“A policeman came to see us under the table and I told him I was not a criminal but he said, ‘So, you think everybody here is a criminal and you are the only one innocent?”

Owolabi said all of those arrested were taken from one room to the other at the SDCI.

He said salvation came his way when a senior officer entered the room and he (Owolabi) quickly identified himself as a journalist to the officer.

The victim said immediately he identified himself, the policemen’s attitude towards him changed and he was released alongside a few others.

Owolabi said, “I came out of the queue and ran to meet a man whom I heard them call Oga. I told him, ‘I am a journalist, we work together with you people, the law enforcement agencies, please help me, sir.’

“He told me to identify myself but I explained that all my belongings had been seized by the policemen. When I told him that he could verify my identity through my phone, he told his men, ‘Hey! Bring this man’s clothes, he’s a journalist’.

“The man told a policeman named Isiaka to take me back to FESTAC, where they had arrested me. But the oga said I should ‘give his boys money for fuel.’”

Owolabi said Isiaka collected N5, 000 from him while some of the people arrested with him were driven to a nearby bank where they withdrew money from the ATM and gave the money to the policemen.

He said some money was given to the ‘oga’ that had released him.

When contacted on the telephone, the Police spokesman, Joe Offor, promised to call back to give an appropriate response.

However, three subsequent calls put through to his phone proved abortive.

LASG Intensifies Registration Of Residents

Lagos State Government at the weekend said it has intensified registration of its residents for effective and efficient management of its resources.

The General Manager Lagos State Agency for Residents Registration (LASRRA) Ms Yinka Fashola who stated this added that the agency has taken its sensitization programme to Festac Town as part of efforts to ensure adequate participation of more residents in the on-going residents registration exercise in the state.

According to her, the street to street public enlightenment campaign shows the importance of registration in creating an updated database for its development plans.

“Flyers and handbills highlighting the essence of the exercise were distributed to youths, traders and passers-by in the Festac Town Area of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area while residents’ questions were also responded to,” she said.

Meantime, the Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf has urged youths in the state to take the lead in their respective society by engaging in inter -generational dialogue with adults and key figures in the country in order to be relevant and have a say in the decision making process.