OKONJO-IWEALA LISTED AMONG 50 GREATEST WORLD LEADERS

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by the American magazine, Fortune.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, listed 33rd, was recognized alongside such world leaders as the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, U.S. billionaire, Bill Gates, and wife, Melinda, as well as Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple Chief Executive Officer, Tom Cook.

The magazine described Mrs. Okonjo-I

weala, as “a fearless promoter of sound economic policies” and singled her out for working hard to usher in a decade in which Nigeria’s gross domestic products trebled.


Annually, Fortune Magazine identifies men and women in various spheres of life, who, through their activities in government, business and philanthropy, have transformed lives.

In compiling the 2015 list, the magazine said it received advice from more than 24 world leaders, who adjudged the honourees from their professional domains, industries or governance as worthy of the recognition.

On the criteria required to make the roster of winners, the magazine said, “It was not enough to be brilliant, admirable or even supremely powerful”, but “to find singular leaders with vision who moved others to act as well, and who brought their followers with them on a shared quest. We looked out for effectiveness and commitment and for the courage to pioneer”.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, a former Managing Director of The World Bank Group between December 2007 and August 2011, graduated from Harvard University in 1976. She holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As Nigeria’s two-time Finance Minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is credited with helping to lay the foundation for Nigeria’s economy, currently the biggest in Africa with a $510 billion GDP.

Still, the minister’s recognition came as the Nigerian economy faces one of its worst crises in the face of sliding oil price, with the Naira devalued by more than eight per cent after the government apparently mismanaged oil savings.
Overall, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has faced widespread criticisms in Nigeria for her management style of the economy. A former Central Bank governor, Chukwuma Soludo, said she has performed woefully.

Some of the worst oil scandals in Nigeria’s recent history also occurred under the watch of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who also doubles as the coordinator of the economy.

In 2012, a government fuel subsidy skyrocketed from hundreds of billion naira to N3trillion, amid extensive fraud involving officials paying billions of naira to dubious petroleum marketers who did not import or deliver petroleum products.
Three years later, no one has been punished for the theft.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has also criticised for her role in the alleged missing $20 billion oil money, after she commissioned an audit firm to scrutinize government oil firm, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC in May 2014, but refused, alongside, the petroleum minister and Auditor General, to disclose the findings of the investigation nearly a year after.
Source: Premium Times

Gateway to Hell'-Hole with blazing fumes opens up on Chinese mountain

A giant hole with blazing flames that opened up on a mountainside in China has been branded the 'Gateway to Hell' by superstitious locals.

Fumes spewing from the glowing pit are so hot that tree branches burst into flames when they are held over it.Temperatures inside the opening are a whopping 792C, leading some locals to claim it is a portal to reach the Devil himself.

Construction workers discovered the mysterious lava-filled cave after spotting a small hole in on the surface of the hillside pouring out fumes last week.

Geologists are now flocking to study the unique sink hole on the outskirts of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north-western China.


The area was sealed off after the discovery of the phenomenon and scientists are now working to establish its origins.

Geologist Hu Tan who is leading the investigation into the 80 cm wide hole said:

"The air blasting out of the hole is so hot, that if you hold a branch near to it it bursts into flames.Although it is unusual, we're pretty certain that it has been caused by the spontaneous combustion of coal."

Authorities are now moving in to seal off the opening over fears the toxic fumes could be harmful to locals.

Culled from Uk Mirror

This New HIV Drug Weakens The Virus For 28 Days With Just A Single Dose

A new class of HIV drugs might be around the corner. By injecting people infected with HIV with a single dose of antibodies, researchers were able to reduce the presence of the virus in the blood of study participants — for 28 days. This unprecedented result means that it might one day be possible to reduce the frequency of HIV drug intake, or suppress the virus for extended periods of time, following the use of antiretrovirals.

“We were able, with the antibodies, to suppress the viral loads of viremic patients — patients that are HIV infected, but that aren’t treated,” says Florian Klein, co-author of the study published inNature today, and an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York.

There are more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US, according to the CDC. In 2013, 47,300 people living in the country were diagnosed with HIV. For people who know of their condition — and can afford treatment — taking antiretroviral drugs is usually the only option. These drugs are designed to control the infection by preventing the growth of the virus and reducing its presence in the blood of those who are infected. Unfortunately, they need to be taken every day for the rest of a person’s life. They can also be pretty harsh on the body; some people experience nerve damage, for instance. To address this issue, researchers have been looking at the antibodies that HIV patients produce naturally to fight the disease upon infection. And one antibody, in particular, stands out. Its name is 3BNC117.

DSS WARNS NIGERIANS ON INCITING AND UNGUARDED STATEMENTS

The deputy director on Public Relations, Ms Ogar, has released a statement on behalf of the Department of State Service (DSS), warning against inciting and unguarded statements by some Nigerians.

 “Its attention has been drawn to certain unguarded, inciting and divisive statements by some persons. We want to warn those stoking these embers of violence and disunity to desist, as this will not be tolerated. We should all strive to strengthen our nascent democracy as we work towards building a better Nigeria.

 We want to also seize this opportunity to thank all Nigerians for their peaceful conduct during the Presidential election and urge them to shun all forms of violence before, during and after the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly election which will take place this weekend 11th April, 2015”

COURT RESTRAINS DSTV FROM INCREASING FEE

A Federal High Court in lkoyi has granted an order of interim injunction restraining Multichoice from enforcing its planned increase in cost of the different classes of viewing of its Pay TV, DSTV.

Granting the order, the presiding judge, Justice C. J. Aneke, asked parties to maintain status quo in support of the motion ex parte with an affidavit of urgency sworn to by the plantiff.

The order read in part: “That an order of interim injunction is hereby granted to the parties to maintain the status quo restraining the 1st defendant (Multichoice/DSTV) from giving effect or enforcing its planned increase in cost of the different classes of viewing or programmes bouquet, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”


“That an order is hereby granted certifying the plaintiffs’ claim as a class action for themselves as individual subscribers, other corporate subscribers, distributors and retailers of the 1st defendants’ services.

“That an order is hereby granted restraining any other person whether individual or corporate from instituting any other action as may be related to the action against the defendant to prevent multiplicity of lawsuits pursuant to the appointment of the plaintiffs in the class action but may instead opt in or out of this action.”

The suit was filed by Adebayo Osasuyi and Oluyinka Oyeniji, DSTV subscribers/customers.

It will be recalled that MultiChoice, owners of DStv and GOtv, had announced a 20 percent price increase for all its satellite pay TV bouquets in Nigeria to take effect from April 1, 2015.

MultiChoice claimed that the annual price increase, usually in-line with inflation, is necessary for it to continue offering the best in local and international entertainment to its subscribers.

The matter was adjourned to April 16, 2015 for hearing.

Who is A Christian?

You can go to church 'til your bottom's flat from sitting in the pew and that's not gonna make you a Christian. A Christian is not something you become because of something you do. A Christian is something that God does in you by faith as a free gift by His grace, and you can do nothing to earn it. All you can do is, receive. Joyce Meyer 

Nobody should celebrate Buhari, ETCETERA

Why are we dancing? Why do we keep rolling out the drums each time we have a new government, only for us to start crying few months down the line? Is it that we are too quick to forget or we just love to dance? Do you celebrate a child who’s about to write his exams or the one who has written and passed? What is this jubilation for? Because I really don’t understand. Is it that the election of Buhari in itself has suddenly alleviated our sufferings? I am really confused here, hearing how six bikers lost their lives in Zaria celebrating Buhari’s victory. One would think that a people who have been shortchanged for so long by past presidents will know better to be calm and take every word of the new president with a pinch of salt until he proves to be different. This process is becoming an unending circle, again and again we’ve danced and again and again, we’ve cursed and cried at the end. It is still shocking to me that a lot of Nigerians fell for the story that the president was born without shoes. Was anyone born with shoes on? Buhari’s triumphant entry into the presidency last Sunday which coincidentally was a palm Sunday doesn’t yet prove he is the redeemer. Just like the second coming of our supposed political messiah Obasanjo didn’t prove any significant improvement in our lives.

We all thought he was the one anointed by the gods to take us by the hands and lead us right straight into the promised land, where we shall have no more gnashing of teeth. But when he left office, the roads were still as bad as they were before he took office. The hospitals were still without facilities and most importantly, he failed to defeat the demon in the power sector even with billions of dollars thrown at it. The demons in the same power sector have claimed Jonathan just like they did Yar’Adua, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Sanni Abacha, Shonekan, IBB and Shagari. Even Buhari himself had already been defeated by this demon before. So what says it is not going to be the same this time around. Remember obasanjo was defeated twice by this same demon.

Why won’t our leaders take us for granted when they’ve noticed that we are always ready to jump to our feet and “judile” with the announcement of every new regime? When Buhari overthrew the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari in 1983, many of you reading this took to the streets to boogie down. When Babangida sent Buhari packing a couple of months later, a lot more of you got drunk and vomited all over the place. Even Abacha’s sudden death brought smiles on the faces of most bar owners across the country as they ran out of booze. Is something wrong with us as a people? We are forgetting a very important fact that this election proves that we are and will still remain a divided people. We are divided by our ideologies with no realistic integration in sight. The election has also reinforced the thinking that we are divided by regional, tribal and religious interests and not national. These are some of the significant issues that will define our tomorrow.

Finally, some of you who are reading this may be saying, oh Etcetera, can’t you be optimistic for once? My brother, I can’t. Optimism and its younger brother, hope have proven to be very dangerous especially in Nigeria. They have sent millions of Nigerians to their early graves. What is the point of being optimistic in a system that has always left me in tears and heartache? Or is it till I get arrested by Mr. Cardiac? Tufiakwa!