SEE Jim Iyke’s Response To Nadia’s Birthday Greetings!

Nollywood actor, James Ikechukwu Esomugha, a.k.a. Jim Iyke, turned 37 on September 25, 2013. 
His passion, the Beautiful Ghanaian actress Nadia, has sent him warm and sincere birthday greetings via Twitter.
Jim Iyke was surely happy to receive them and gave in his reply promptly. See the tweets below:

Comedian Bovi receives special gift on his birthday; a cute baby girl! (photos)

Comedian Bovi & his beautiful wife Christabel are the proud parents of a baby girl - she's so adorable!
Yesterday was Bovi's birthday and just when he thought the day had ended, he got the best gift ever - what an amazing birthday gift!!
An excited Bovi shared the news via his twitter handle, both mum and baby girl are doing fine!
See tweet and photos below:

Let God Be The Judge Between Me And Kollington Ayinla- Queen Salawa Abeni

After 23years of living separately from the father of three of her children, Queen Salawa Abeni has said, God should be the judge of whatever bad Kollington Ayinla has done to her. She made the statement recently at the Annual London African Music Festival.

In her words “Even though Kollington and I have gone our separate ways 23 years ago, I still consider him a big part of my life because I bore him children who bear his name. His name will forever be written in the history of my life. Though we do not have a smooth relationship, and I have been solely responsible for the upbringing of my children up to university level, I still maintain the fact that he is part of me. Let God be the judge of whatever bad Kollington has done me.”

She is gradually bouncing back to the music industry after years of taking a break due to a throat ailment. She also said she is thankful to God because she did not believe she could get a cleaning job, not to talk of becoming a celebrity due to her poor educational background.

Mourinho Blocked My Progress, Says Villas-Boas

Extra spice was added to Tottenham’s clash with Chelsea on Saturday after Andre Villas-Boas said he went into management when his coaching ambitions were thwarted by Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan.
The two Portuguese managers will be in opposing dugouts for the first time when their teams meet in the Premier League, four years after Villas-Boas quit Mourinho’s backroom staff at Inter to take a job back home with Academica.
The pair had been close, Villas-Boas working under Mourinho at Porto and Chelsea before the spell together in Serie A signalled the end of their working relationship.
The Tottenham manager had been an opposition scout for Mourinho but wanted a more hands-on coaching role, only to be rebuffed.
“My relationship with him professionally and personally was excellent, as you can imagine, because we worked so many years together,” he told reporters at Tottenham’s training facilities in Enfield on Thursday.
“Our break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something extra and I wanted further involvement to the job that I was doing at the time which was scouting and match preparation.
“I felt that I could give him much more so my initial idea was to keep working with him but he did not feel the need for someone near to him or in another position as an assistant and because of that we both decided it was time.”
Villas-Boas denied there was any on-going feud between the coaches who
have strikingly similar career paths with varying degrees of success. They are on speaking terms, but are no longer close friends.
“We talked at the Premier League managers meeting when we were there
in August, but since then no,” Villas-Boas added.
The Tottenham boss may feel he has a point to prove at White Hart Lane against the team who sacked him after only eight months in the job.

Boko Haram Linked To Group Behind Kenya Westgate Mall Attack

US report says Boko Haram may have anti-aircraft missiles


 A report by a committee of the United States House of Representatives has linked the fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko Haram, to al Shabaab, the terror group that carried out the September 21 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.
Al-Shabaab is a Somali-based group whose members are said to be highly proficient in suicide bombing.
The report dated September 13, 2013 and entitled, ‘Boko Haram: Growing Threat to the US Homeland’, also acknowledged the growing relationship between the Nigerian sect and another terror group, the Al Qaeda in the land of the Islamic Maghreb.
The 39-page report noted that “while there is no evidence that al Qaeda’s core in Afghanistan and Pakistan commands Boko Haram’s operations, it is clear from the words of multiple US officials and media reports that Boko Haram is supportive of, and supported by Al Qaeda networks such as AQIM.”
It noted that “it is the unity of ideology and mutual hatred for the West between the Al Qaeda networks that exposes the danger Boko Haram poses to the U.S Homeland.”
The committee described Boko Haram as a “hardened and sophisticated terror network” that required multiple simultenous local and international efforts to enhance the capacity and capability of the the Nigerian Police and the military to curtail its activities.
It said there was an urgent need by the US to designate the sect as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation because it has shown no signs of ending its aggression against the government of Nigeria and the Western world.
The commiteee wrote, “The world is coming to know more about Boko Haram; their intentions, what they’re capable of, and who is supporting them.
“The US Intelligence Community is working to erase the gaps in our understanding of Boko Haram, but it is already evident they are a serious threat to US interests and potentially to the US Homeland.
‘‘Acknowledging this threat publicly by designating Boko Haram an FTO will establish a legal mechanism for prosecuting any supporters within US jurisdictions.
“This is an increasingly important tool given their attempts to market themselves to a wider international audience.
“Boko Haram shows no signs of ending its campaign against the government of Nigeria and the Western world. Two years after their August 2011 bombing of a United Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria, Boko Haram remains a threat to the international community, and continues to be a developing threat to the US Homeland.”
The report said that Boko Haram had “highly skilled bomb makers who might have received training from experienced militants elsewhere, potentially indicating a stronger relationship between them and AQIM or Al Shabaab.
It said that besides building sophisticated weaponry, it was now possible that Boko Haram had acquired or will acquire SA-7 and SA-24 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
The SA-7 missile is effective up to 1,300 metres, while some newer models reach altitudes of almost four kilometres. Although most aircraft cruise around 9,140 metres, the SA-7 could be used to target aircraft during takeoff and landing.
In the report, the committee warned, “It does not take much imagination to picture the threat these weapons would pose to commercial aviation in Abuja if they fell into Boko Haram hands.”
Out of the 20,000 such weapons in Libya, only 5,000 of them had been secured through a $40m US programme to buy up loose missiles during the fall of the Gadhafi regime. Most are believed to have found their way into countries that share common boundaries with Nigeria.
The committee acknowledged that the Goodluck Jonathan administration had taken some potentially promising steps in its effort to fight Boko Haram.
It said the appointment of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), a northern Nigerian Muslim, to the position of National Security Adviser on June 23, 2012, demonstrated Jonathan’s willingness to give northerners and Muslims a visible role in Nigeria’s struggle with Boko Haram.
“Dasuki has taken the lead in organising government’s fight against Boko Haram, and his background as a Muslim from the North may give him obvious and potent symbolic significance,” the committee said.
In spite of this, the committee observed that concerns regarding the capability of the Jonathan administration to effectively deal with Boko Haram remained prominent.
The committee said without foreign assistance from countries such as the US and the UK, the Nigerian government would almost certainly face a prolonged battle in neutralising Boko Haram.
According to the committee, the State Department, which has also engaged Nigeria through its African Coastal and Border Security programme, has focused its assistance on peacekeeping support, training, border and maritime security, and increasing military professionalisation.
But it lamented that in spite of the training, the “JTF continues to behave unprofessionally, and has been accused of human rights abuses by Human Rights Watch, among other entities, including the State Department’s most recent annual human rights report.”
It also warned that greater pressure must be applied to the JTF to abandon counter-productive and brutal tactics alienating northerners.
The committee said failure of the Secretary of State to designate the Boko Haram sect an FTO, was the ‘most obvious flaw in the US effort to combat it and prevent its expansion.’
It said, “If Boko Haram were to be designated an FTO, it would support US intelligence community efforts to curb the group’s financing, stigmatise and isolate it internationally, heighten public awareness and knowledge, and signal to other governments the US takes the threat from Boko Haram seriously.
“If Boko Haram is not designated an FTO, its potential threat to the US and its capability to attack the homeland would likely increase. It is therefore an urgent next step to take in fighting this growing al Qaeda affiliate in Nigeria.”
The committee further said as the number of attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram had increased in 2013, so had the attention paid to the group by the US.

FG Declares Free Treatment For Dog Bite Victims

 The Federal Government has declared free treatment in all tertiary hospitals in the country for dog bite victims, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said.
The minister announced the plan in Abuja on Thursday when he addressed newsmen as part of activities marking World Rabies Day, with the theme, “Rabies: understand it to defeat it. ’’
Rabies, contracted through dog bite, is a deadly infectious disease caused by a virus which invades the nerves, spinal cord, brain and salivary gland of an infected animal or man.
Chukwu, who was represented at the event by Mr Sani Bala, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, said about 10,000 Nigerians were exposed to dog bite annually.
He expressed concern over the failure of many dog owners to vaccinate their animals against rabies.
The minister said each year more than 55,000 people died globally from rabies infection, adding that although there was no effective treatment for the disease, it was vaccine-preventable.
“Children are often the most vulnerable because they are more likely to be bitten by dogs and also more likely to be severely exposed through multiple bites.
“The challenges of rabies prevention and control in Nigeria are numerous; one of them is that the burden of rabies in human is largely unknown.
“Human cases are often under-diagnosed and under-reported due to lack of diagnostic facilities and trained personnel.
“The passive surveillance used for case detection has been grossly inadequate, all these contribute to lack of accurate and reliable information needed for planning purposes,’’ he said.
Chukwu said the ministry would create anti-rabies vaccine centres in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the government would also provide standard operating procedure for treatment of rabies in all health facilities.
In his remark, WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Rui Vaz, said that rabies had become a major public health problem in Nigeria.
According to Vaz, an estimated 25,000 people die of rabies in Africa every year. (NAN)

Strike: NUT Gives 2 Weeks Ultimatum To FG, ASUU To Resolve Dispute

 The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Thursday gave a two-weeks ultimatum to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resolve the strike, embarked upon by university lecturers.
The NUT President, Mr Michael Olukoya, gave the ultimatum in Abuja at the end of the union’s meeting with teachers’ representatives across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ASUU, had on July 1, embarked on a strike it described as “comprehensive, total and indefinite’’.
The lecturers are protesting the non-implementation of some issues, contained in an agreement the union had entered into with the Federal Government since 2009.
Olukoya said that members of the union would not hesitate to close down the nation’s schools, if the two parties failed to reach agreement after two weeks.
He described the current ASUU strike “as nationalistic, patriotic and self-sacrificing.
“We will not hesitate to shut down the education system in the country, if the government fails to fulfil or honour the agreement it entered into with the lecturers.”
The NUT president said that Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo’s call for a complete over-haul of teachers’ qualification as unacceptable to the NUT.
He said that the blame should be put on the door steps of the employers and not teachers.
“NUT will forever be proud of all its teachers, believing that all employment agencies are corruption-free, disciplined and quality conscious in their employment drives.”
Olukoya also urged the governors of Kogi, Benue and Cross River to honour the agreement they made with teachers on the payment of 27.5 per cent teachers salary structure. (NAN)

2009 Agreement Or Nothing! ASUU Vows To Continue Strike

….says VP Sambo brought nothing new to negotiation

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has insisted that its members will not suspend their 3-month-old strike until the federal government meets its demand.
The university lecturers have been on strike since June 30 demanding that the government honours a 2009 agreement it had with the union and a 2011 Memorandum of Understanding signed over the agreement.

The Kano Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Rabiu’ Nasiru, disclosed this in Kano when he addressed journalists on Wednesday. He said the lecturers would continue with the strike for as long as the federal government fails to implement the 2009 agreement

Mr. Nasiru accused the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, of having a ‘selfish interest’ during the time he led the federal government’s negotiation team. The government’s negotiation team is now led by Vice President Namadi Sambo, who met with the ASUU delegation recently.
“The meeting with the vice president did not prove anything new from what the government has done in the last three month,” Mr. Nasiru said.

“The Sambo committee is still giving promises and trying to negotiate the 2009 agreement even when we should be at the point of implementation.”

The ASUU zonal leader said the federal government had failed to inject the required N400billion (based on the agreement) into federal and state universities and that the N100billion provided was supposed to cover only for 2012.

“For any country to develop, its university education must be of highest standard,” the lecturer said.