ON this year’s World Oral Day, experts at Oral-B school enlightenment programme counselled Nigerian children to take less of sugary things in order to prevent oral health diseases such as dental carries.
A Dental Consultant, Dr. Olutola Iweka in her lecture entitled: “Care of the Teeth for Children”,urged parents to replace sugary or sweet things such as juice with natural water and fruits.
Iweka who noted that dental caries have become most common tooth decay among school children in Nigeria, said fruit drinks can only be taken one or twice a week.
According to Brand Operations Integration Leader of P&G, Mrs. Mokutima Ajileye: “Oral-B is committed to providing oral health education to Nigerians not just on World Oral Day but always. Oral health is at the core of our brand purpose and this can be seen in the superior protective quality of Oral-B and through the free services we provide with the Oral-B mobile dental clinic programme.
Celebrity Artist, Dr. Sidney Esiri who is also a dentist noted: “You have to learn good oral hygiene habits early so that you can protect your teeth” stated the artist. I commend Procter and Gamble for educating Nigerians about oral hygiene through their Oral-B brand”
P&G is a key stakeholder on Oral care worldwide with the company investing approximately billions of dollars in Research and development annually in order to innovate to produce world class products that meet the needs and budgets of her consumers, one of which is the Oral B Pro Health All- Round protection tooth paste.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Nigeria Football Federation will on Thursday, 4th April in Abuja hold the first examination of the year for prospective FIFA Players’ Agents. The examination holds at the FIFA Goal Project, Package B, National Stadium Complex, Abuja.
Head of Legal Unit of the NFF, Barrister Okey Obi said that accreditation of the applicants which started on Tuesday, 2nd April at the NFF Secretariat, Abuja would be concluded on Wednesday, 3rd April.
Applicants are to pay a non-refundable fee and must come forward with their application, four (4) passport photographs, credible form of identification, two copies of their curriculum vitae and original and photocopies of their credentials.
“There would be no accreditation by proxy. The NFF is going to be even more strict as everything would go ahead according to FIFA’s well-laid down rules and regulations, and best practices. There would be no room for hanky-panky.
“Players’ Agents are ambassadors of every nation and only the best and worthy would emerge,” Barrister Obi said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Enugu State government has expressed its readiness to collaborate with Swiss investors interested in reviving the coal industry in the state.
Governor Sullivan Chime gave this assurance when he met with Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel, the Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, Chad and Niger at Government House in Enugu, yesterday.
Chime expressed regret that coal industry had become moribund, even though it was a major source of income to the country and was the trade mark of the state.
The governor said: “Coal was the major source of income to the state and the country in time past, but it is no longer effective now.
“If there is any Swiss company interested in reviving the coal industry, it is welcomed. We have not had any collaboration with Switzerland and we will look out for areas where we can do that to have closer ties.”
Earlier, Hodel said the embassy would organise a seminar for Swiss businessmen and women based in Lagos in September.
He commended the state government for its giant strides in the development of infrastructure as well as tourism.
The ambassador said: “Since you have asked for ways to collaborate with us, we will look at how to partner with you.
“I want to applaud you because I have seen some stores and other things in Enugu, which I have not seen in Abuja and Lagos.”
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Switzerland, Mrs Fidelia Njeze, was present on the occasion.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A chieftain of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Prince Chukwuemeka Onyesoh, has said that the convocation of a national conference for all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria would be the solution to the lingering mistrust among Nigerians.
He said the conference became necessary because the framers of the 1999 Constitution did not envisage the present problem in the country.
Onyesoh, who is the president of Front Against Impunity, a non- governmental organisation, said in a statement in Awka, yesterday, that he was totally in support of the call by Igbo Delegates Assembly (IDA) for the country to convene a National Ethnic Conference as a way of solving the problem posed by Boko Haram members.
He said: “Nigeria has remained a fractured entity since these ethnic killings commenced way back in 1945. Having lived and worked in most Northern cities all their life, members of IDA understand better than most other Nigerians the burden and risks on non-Northerners living and working there.
“They are the ones who get killed and their properties looted or burnt in the serial riots dating from the Jos riots of 1945 and 1953 to the present ones in Kano and other places.”
According to him, Nigerians should not continue to shy away from holding a conference to determine their stake in the Nigerian project.
Onyesoh added that the outcome of the conference would safeguard the various ethnic nationalities residing outside their areas.
He Ohanaeze chieftain said he was aware that given the chance, most Northern Muslims would prefer Nigeria to be declared a Muslim state with full blown Sharia, even though at Independence, the North accepted the secularity of the Nigerian state in order to belong to it.
He also said that it is open secret that most Muslim Northern Nigerian politicians have openly or secretly over-worked themselves to subvert the secular aspect of Nigeria as most riots in Northern Nigeria since 1960 had resulted from that subversive effort to force other Nigerians to become Moslems.
He argued that the much talked about granting amnesty for Boko Haram insurgents and canvassing for dialogue and payment of compensation/rehabilitation for the terrorists, were aimed at Islamizing Nigeria.
He lamented that majority of Nigerian political and business elite were joining in the plea to placate Boko Haram insurgents because of their fear for the disruption of their business empires and political positions.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The crisis plaguing Rusal, the Russian company managing Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, Alscon, degenerated Tuesday, with a joint protest by aggrieved workers of the company and community members.
They were protesting against the sack of 475 Nigerians by the management.
The workers and locals were angry that the company ignored their Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, and went ahead to sack the Nigerian workers, most of them drawn from the community, before shutting the plant, last week.
Rusal had warned early last month that it was suspending production, arising from the uncertainty over the ownership of the plant, which is being contested between it and the American group, BFIG, which was surreptit- iously rattled by the Federal Government last week with a revocation of its bid to take over the place.
The company later laid off no fewer than 475 workers on March 26, 2013, and shut the plant, following a major setback to its critical power facility, a transformer, which is said to be beyond the capacity of any firm in Nigeria to fix.
It had, however, paid a Swiss firm to undertake the repairs of the facility, although the uncertainty over the ownership and renewed security challenges in the Niger Delta, are said to be of geat concern to the contractors.
As work resumed on Tuesday, the workers, backed by local residents, successfully blocked the entrance to the premises of Alscon and prevented any form of movement into and out of the plant.
The placard-carrying protesters asked Rusal to pay them their entitlements and to honour their subsisting MoU not to disengage 60 per cent of the community workers.
They insisted that they would neither vacate the entrance nor allow any form of production to resume until their demands were promptly met by the management.
But, worried by the confrontation, Rusal immediately met with the traditional ruler and the local government chairman of Ikot Abasi and pleaded with them to intervene and called the workers to order.
The company said the protest was against existing company laws and could lead to the stoppage of production and the exit of specialists from Russia.
Rusal’s Director of Public and Government Relations, Tatyana Smirnova, denounced the confrontation, which she said was spearheaded by a group of radically-minded employees and local residents in response to the decision by the management to suspend production and declare some workers redundant.
Smirnova said: “The management of ALSCON absolutely condemns the irresponsible and unlawful actions by the group of workers and emphasises that they are breaching the labour laws of Nigeria and the laws governing the export processing zone.
“The management underlines that the takeover of ALSCON could lead to a complete termination of operations of the plant and could lead to the departure of foreign specialists.
“If this happens, the plant will be totally shut down, the supply of water and gas to the housing estates will be stopped and no compensations will be made.
“The current situation in ALSCON originated from a long-running process of negotiations between the manage- ment and the leaders of trade unions.
“In particular, during the past several weeks plant employees, under pressure from the trade unions, have been ignoring the process of discharge due to becoming redundant.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
WHEN prodded on the issue of flood control in the light of RBDAs Act Chapter R9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 which requires RBDAs to control floods in their areas of operations, Lucas acknowledged that flood control is part of their mandate.
He said: “We have a department on that. There is a peculiar issue about flood; there is the Ecological Fund Office set up by the Federal Government. This agency has funds for the control of flood and erosion. That office does not have a field office in the states.
The River Basin Authorities are their field offices. What we do is to identify projects and get same approved by the Ecological Fund Office, while we manage the projects. For instance, the flood of last year was a River Benue flood, which was peculiar. I am very sure that Nigeria is talking with the Cameroonian authorities on how to handle that.
“There is an engineering programme saddled with the duty of managing reservoirs and dams. The issue is that if a dam is threatened by flood, the best option is to release water. But the water needs to be released properly to avoid flooding.
Ecological fund office
“Anytime we discover a flood-prone area or a flooded area, we inform the Ecological Fund Office in order to provide funds for us to manage the situation. Some times we also include it in our budgets.”
Despite this, an expert in flood management, Dr. Akintola Omigbodun, in a 2012 interview with Vanguard, said RBDAs are not doing enough on flood prevention and management. “It is regrettable that the river basins are not working. For example, when I met the General Manager of Sokoto River Basin Authority, he told me that he only had three qualified staff to work with. Why should the government continue to award new contracts to build new dams, when they have not properly managed the ones they have?” he queried.
Strengthening his argument, Omigbodun said: “They have not been performing their functions well. Though the Ogun River Basin Authority is responsible for what we are experiencing here in Lagos, we will not take them to court because of my unpleasant experiences in Nigeria’s judicial system. The truth is that the flood in Lagos and some parts of Ogun State is entirely avoidable.”
Despite puncturing some of the negative perceptions about the performance of RBDAs, Lucas acknowledged the existence of challenges which, in some ways, militate against the attainment of set objectives.
Policy reversals: “Of-course our challenge is labour. We have a crop of technical men who would be leaving the service soon. They were employed and trained in the early eighties but for a long time, there was no further employment. So, by the time this people retire, we would be faced with manpower crisis. Almost all the river basin authorities are faced with this. The second challenge is the issue of understanding government policies.”
On funding, an issue many agree constitute a major challenge, the RBDA boss said: “It will be too wrong to say that funding is the problem of river basins. But you may say that on the surface but that is not the major challenge; it is actually the appropriation of the fund which makes it difficult for continuity in sustaining projects. We have most projects that are always delayed because of the appropriation of funds.
“There is also need to understand what we are doing, but the Federal Government is helping us in that regard by ensuring that every river basin development authority has an advisory committee.” Giving a breakdown of the composition of the committee, he said: “It is made up of the state government, local government, Agriculture Ministry, Water board and other stakeholders. The Authority was not set up as a revenue generating agency, but that does not mean that we are service providers. We use federal government money to purchase tractors.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Apparently miffed by the distribution of the Deputy Senate President, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu’s posters for the 2015 guber race in Enugu State, traditional rulers in Nsukka Senatorial District have concluded plans to invite Ekweremadu’s coordinators in the area for a meeting.
One of the traditional rulers, who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonumity at Nsukka, said they would invite the co-coordinators, including one Mr. Martins Oloto and Chinedu Onuh, to find out why they would support Ekweremadu instead of Nsukka people, whose turn it was to produce the next governor of the state.
They argued that since Enugu East Senatorial District produced former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, who ruled for eight years before the current governor, Sullivan Chime, who is serving his second term emerged from Enugu West, where Ekweremadu hails from, it was the turn of Nsukka to produce the next governor.
One of the traditional rulers, who spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity, said: “We will soon invite Ekweremadu’s co-ordinators for a meeting.
“We will find out their reasons for working against the zoning policy by supporting Ekweremadu, whose brother, Chime, will complete his second term in 2015.
“We will ask them to throw their hats into the race instead of supporting any other person outside Nsukka, for peace to reign in the state.
“Nsukka people had borne the brunt of much injustice since the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, administration in the country and it is unthinkable that any right-thinking person from the area would want this type of oppression to continue because of such a person’s pecuniary interest.
“We have no problems with Ike Ekweremadu as an individual but he should not use his position to cause trouble by disorganising the arrangement that has guaranteed peace and unity of Enugu State in the last 14 years of democracy.
“Since the inception of this current democracy in the country, nobody from Nsukka had been appointed minister. All the ministers from Enugu State had always come from Enugu East or Enugu West.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
THE Police have interrogated the chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in EkitiState, Chief Jide Awe, over the murder of 37-year-old member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Ayodele Jeje at Erinjiyan Ekiti, in Ekiti West Local Government, last Saturday.
One Mrs Julianah Adewumi and her brother, Gbenga Adewumi, were also said to have been shot by unknown people while holding a political meeting.
Chief Awe holds a traditional title of Erinjiyan Ekiti where he hails from.
The police image maker in the state, Mr Victor Babayemi, confirmed that Awe was actually invited to assist the police on the circumstances leading to Saturday’s attack in the town.
According to the PPRO, “Mr Jide Awe was invited for fact-finding in respect of the killing in Erinjiyan Ekiti, weekend.”
Earlier at a press conference, chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, had alleged that it was the chairman of the ACN that led a group that attacked members of his party.
Ogundipe said the statement credited to Awe that the murder was caused by internal crisis in the PDP was diversionary and criminal.
The PDP chieftain said it was unfortunate for the ACN Chairman to have denied the killing, even when the injured could recognize him vividly among the hoodlums that attacked the community, leading to the killing of one person with many others injured.
However, the ACN leader in the State had denied the allegation, saying the killing was a result of internal crisis in the rival PDP.
Awe advised the members of the security agencies to look in the direction of the PDP for the killers of Jeje and those that were injured.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
MTN Nigeria has bought into the Cashless Nigeria initiative by engaging its Business to Business, B2B, division into a partnership with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The partnership kicked off with MTN’s recent rollout of effective point of sale (POS) services at the popular Oke-Arin market in Lagos and other shopping districts in the metropolis.
Explaining MTN’s exploits with the deal, Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, Bob Osho, said that several tests were conducted on the deployed POS terminals at the market and they were all found to be effective and successful.
He added: “This is just the beginning as we have resolved most of the connectivity issues. In all, we have provided 80,000 SIMs to NIBSS, and we are empowering POS merchants by giving them options for service delivery in the malls. We will also provide prompt and top-class after sales support and proactively work together to ensure network quality is desirable where necessary.”
Apart from the Oke-Arin deployment, Osho said that network quality optimisation has been completed at the Silverbird Mall, while work was on-going at Alaba International, ASPAMDA, Ikota and Computer Village markets respectively. According to him, apart from MTN’s extensive fibre network, the company has perfected its local processing power, local data storage, networking and graphical user interface which made it possible to develop flexible and highly functional POS systems.
For him, the key requirements that must be met by modern POS systems included high and consistent operating speed, reliability, ease of use, remote supportability, low cost, and rich functionality all of which, he said, have been perfected by MTN Business.
MTN however said that it was not only the wired connectivity in selected shopping malls that gave it the confidence it would succeed in the venture , but also the fact that it now has the cutting-edge technology to deploy cloud-based POS devices, which have the advantages of instant centralization of data, ability to access data from anywhere there is internet connection, lower costs and ability to expand POS systems to mobile devices.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Can things ever fall apart in the home of the teacher Chinualumogu the vaulting eagle on the riverside iroko
What more does the griot crave beyond his-story his audience and the tongue to weave songs beyond time
We walk not on legs the silvery sheen of your words have lent wings to the thoughts hidden in the secret places of the mind they have restored the kingdom to the easement of past glories
Though we know the plague that brought the dispersal we are confident the weaverbird will soon heed the call of blood the sweet come-back-home of mother and our homes shall return once more to the endless feast of old when gods arrow is finally quivered
But for my copy editor, I had not intended to add a word to the above lines, my own reaction to a figure that means different things to different people- across continents and generations.
I had chosen to hark back to more sombre times when it was still possible to tell the voice of the trader from the din of market noises; hear the hunter rather than the harmattan whisperings of forest creatures. In the blinding passion of the moment I sought the quiet of earlier and, one might say, saner period, far from the sound and fury of emotions wrought by the anguish, for many, of the passing of a rare spirit.
Only days before his passing, totally unaware of what lurked in the corner, I had remarked to a retired English professor of African History at the University College London that had Professor Chinua Achebe remained in Nigeria he probably couldn’t have lived as long as he had.
We should therefore be grateful that we still did have him for 23 years after his debilitating experience on the death snares we call Nigerian roads.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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