I have visited five colleges with my son.He has recently passed the secondary school examination and intends to get admitted in a college of his choice.Everywhere I went,I found large number of students trying to secure admission forms and
depositing the same at the college counters.The numbers of students are very large at all the locations.Students were waiting in very long ques for hours with great patience.Nobody knew what was his fate.But they were very determine to get higher education.I hope the crave for their higher education will be fulfilled.

Blogging has become a way of life nowadays.It is a passion for many peoples.Many creative thought emerges as blogs and published in internet.Some people take pleasure by writing blogs while other groups of people gather enjoyment by reading them.In the mean time some blog writers have become famous for writing blogs.You may be curious on how the word "blog" was coined.Infact,the word was made from the words WEB and LOG where B has been taken from the former and LOG from the latter words.See how a brand new word,'BLOG' was created to conquer the world.It is a matter of great interest to note how the blogging will influence the world of tomorrow.

Failure is the pillar of success.But,this proverb or saying may be very cruel for many peoples.The shock or trauma may overwhelm the person who has just experienced a failure in his life and he/she may not bear he pain of the failure then.He/she may take various undesirable way to mitigate the pain.You know well what they do and may love to provide some cases for sharing with others.I suggest all persons to kindly to have patience and try to attain success again when the failure has come to test your fate.

The cyclonic storm called "AILA" recently hit large areas of Bangladesh and India.The storm was very fatal.It took away many human lives,domestic animals,crops,fruit gardens,homes and many infrastuctures.It was really a fatal storm.It has left miseries and scars of devastation all around.Peoples falling victim of the storm will take uncertain time to recover from the loss and trauma.Let us find means to support the affected peoples and come forward to assist them.

Recently I traveled several districts of Bangladesh.The time was very critical as the temperature was very high though
some rain was very desirable.We were lucky to see some rain along the trip though constant thunders frightened us.
We saw many cropped fields and fruit gardens along the long way.Flowering plants were showing their gorgeous colors too.
There was paddy fields in some areas.Most of them were harvested recently.Sesame,jute,pulses and many other crops were seen.
Mango trees were bearing diversified varieties of shapes,sizes and colors.Jackfruit,palmyra palm fruit,wax apple were some other fruits on the sight.But we were excited to see the festival of mango on the way.Particularly in Sathkhira we saw many orchards of mango
laden with many varieties of mango.Farmers were selling the HIMSAGAR variety with pleasure.We visited some orchards and enjoyed the beauty of the fruits in the garden.It was a great festival of the celebrated mango.We always love to taste mango and it was a great opportunity for us to see the festival.

This year we are blessed with a golden harvest of paddy.Our farmers are apparently happy for getting a good harvest.You will be amazed to see the standing paddy fields with the golden color just before the harvest.But the problem of glut comes with a good harvest for all commodities of commerce.It appears that glut may affect the farmers.Their peace may be lost partly due to the low price at the time of harvest.I hope the concerned agencies will come forward and demonstrate their sympathy and action to retain the smile of farmers who feed the whole world.Let the blessed harvest remain blessed for ever and is not tarnished by the profit seekers.

You will be astonished to see the gorgeous flowers that are blooming now in Bangladesh.They have stunning colors,shapes
and sizes.So many names and so many varieties of flowers,it is simply impossible to remember them.Despite this you will
be tempted to learn that red Krishnachura on small to large tree kindle your memories of love in your old days.You will find Cassia fistula everywhere from the megacity to the countryside.The whole tree is golden from to bottom.You may write a poem on this superb beauty now.You may be maddened by the beauty of Jarul awaiting all the way from the metropolis to the cool countryside.The dreamy blue-violet flowers play with your lovely past.
Like to see and enjoy more.Please just throw your glance and discover the stunning beauty that will be unfolded in front of your amazing vision.

Last night was a memorable one.My sleep was disturbed by a bad smell.I found a narrow long bug after a frantic search in the room.It was about an inch long.It was emitting such a bad smell that it was almost impossible for me to tolerate.I collected a broom and tried to drive it away.It emitted more
bad smell.When I threw this out of the room,I felt more bad smell.I was surprised to see a number of the same bug in the corners and walls of the room.They were stinking badly.I tried to drive them one by one.It was a horrible event.I felt that there was chemicals all around the room with irritating bad smell.Lasly,I killed around 25 bugs and broomed them downstair.To make my room habitable,I sprayed air freshener.Then,I took a book and searched for the bad smelling insect.Finally,I found that the insect was rice bug.It sucks its food from the rice at the milky stage and thus damage the rice.As the paddy field is being harvested now,the rice bug was flying to find alternative host.Then it was attracted by the light of our home causing inconvenience for me and to them simultaneously.The scientific name of the bug is

Leptocorisa oratorius (Fabricius).It may cause some kind of allergy or blister by the emitted chemicals.In fact,the bugs spray or emit chemical when they feel they are being attacked for their safety.
The invasion of the rice bug took away about an hour of my sleep but gave me wealth of knowledge and experience.Thanks to bad smelling rice bug.

The deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora are lamentable, but if back home in Nigeria fellow citizens are treated like animals, where is our locus to demand and expect decent treatment from foreigners abroad?



When a friend was telling me the story of a Nigerian beaten to pulp a Polish Embassy, my mind expected another disheartening story of innocent Nigerians whose only crime was to find themselves as economic migrants in a foreign land suffering ill-treatment and brutality from another western country.



But lo and behold, it was Mr Rasaq Salami, an Abuja-based businessman, who left his home in the early hours of Friday, March 20, 2009, to visit the Polish Embassy, located in the capital city of his own country, Abuja to retrieve the passport of his friend, Mr Mustapha Bakare which had been submitted for visa.

According to the SUN Newspapers, Soon after stepping into the premises of the Polish Embassy in Abuja, Salami was beaten black and blue by police officers attached to the embassy. After the security operatives finished with him, Salami was taken straight to the Maitama General Hospital where he was still recuperating almost two weeks after his ordeal.


Salami’s story to Sunday Sun was that Nigerian policemen and other security operatives at the embassy premises pounced on him like a common felon. According to him, his trouble started about 1.30 pm when he arrived at the embassy. They knocked at the gate and heard a voice, probably that of the security man, asking them “my friend, who is that knocking on the window?”


“From nowhere, the private security man opened the gate and a police constable started raining abuses on me. I asked him to tell me my sin for which he was insulting me”, he said.


According to him, the angry policeman got annoyed that he dared reply and challenge him and threatened to slap him.


“When I challenged him further that it was not proper for him to slap me without knowing my sin and the purpose of my visit, he held my shirt and dragged me into the compound and started punching and hitting me on the head, kicking me when I fell down on the ground,” he said.


Thoroughly overawed, Salami continued, “When I managed to get up, I headed to the door of the building but the police officer went in, dressed properly and brought out his gun and continued hitting me on my leg with the gun until my leg got broken…They tagged me a criminal and terrorist, and a white man standing by the door urged them to deal with me. When they were done with me, they asked me to walk out of the compound. But already I had fracture on my right leg and I told them I could not stand and so I could not walk. They dragged me out of the gate.”


According to the SUN, the Polish Ambassador Designate, Przemyslaw Niesiolowski, confirmed the incident but denied reports that he supervised his beating and ordered the police to deal with him. He claimed he was not in Abuja at the time the incident occurred but refuted claims by Salami and his friend, Bakare, that they were at the embassy to collect Bakare’s passport but justified the action of the security men against the victim.


It is unfortunate to say the least, that Nigerians would suffer this indignity in their homelands. Before this we hade been regaled with news of deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora. There have been cases of Nigerians killed in Belgium, China, Ukraine and Spain in 2009 alone.


In Spain 2007, a Nigerian whose only offence was that he had no resident permit and therefore had to be deported was beaten, injected with what was later known as a tranquilizer with his mouth being closed with a plastic tape and both hands and legs firmly tied with ropes. They loaded him into the plane covering him with a sack thereby preventing him from passengers view. His killers tied his hands and legs with mouth closed and killed as common criminal.


In 2001 - The result of the autopsy of the Nigerian Samson Chukwu, who died during the procedure of a forcible deportation in Granges near Sion does not leave any doubt: The police officers have applied a method for handcuffing the Nigerian, which is well-known for being possibly lethal, and of whose application is warned in the appropriate literature. Forcing the victim to lie on the stomach with the hands cuffed behind the back, including a police officer to press on the thorax, prevented the necessary respiration. This led to the asphyxia of Samson Chukwu.


In 1999, a 25-year-old Nigerian asylum-seeker, Marcus Omofuma suffocated after being gagged and bound during his forced deportation from Vienna to Nigeria, via Sofia, Bulgaria On 15 April, after more than 50 hours of deliberation, Korneuburg Regional Court found the three police officers guilty of the crime of 'negligent manslaughter in particularly dangerous conditions and sentenced them to eight-month suspended prison terms. The verdict was criticized by some civil society groups due to its alleged leniency. Despite the verdicts of guilt, the police officers will continue to serve in the police force.


In March 1999, a Brussels court decided that five gendarmes should stand trial in connection with the death in September 1998 of Semira Adamu, a 20-year-old rejected asylum seeker from Nigeria after an attempt to deport her forcibly from Brussels-National airport led to her death.


Officers pushed her face into a cushion placed on the knees of one of them and pressed down on her back, she began to struggle. The so-called ''cushion technique'' - a method of restraint authorized by the Ministry of Interior at that time but since banned - allowed gendarmes to press a cushion against the mouth, but not the nose. Semira Adamu's face was pressed against the cushion for over 10 minutes and she fell into a coma as her brain became starved of oxygen. She died of a brain haemorrhage later that day.


These deaths and killings of Nigerians in Diaspora are lamentable, but if back home in Nigeria fellow citizens are treated like animals, where is our locus to demand and expect decent treatment from foreigners abroad?

http://www.elombah.com/index. php?option= com_content&view=article&id=632:nigerian- visa-applicant- tortured- at-polish- embassy&catid=25:politics&Itemid=37



from Daniel Elombah
Publisher: www.elombah. com
(A Nigerian Perspective on world affairs)

Nigeria Moves to Address Chronic Power Outages

By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Officials here are embarking on a costly drive to revamp Nigeria's power sector as the government struggles to keep the lights on.

After months of delays and political maneuverings, the government of Africa's largest oil producer approved this month a plan to allocate over $5 billion in emergency funding to repair its power sector. The money is slated to come from the country's excess crude-oil account. It's a huge outlay, accounting for some 40% of the rainy-day fund's current value of $13.5 billion.
Dozens of power lines crisscross an electronics market in Lagos, Nigeria. The government is beginning an overhaul of the country's power sector.

The new spending program underscores a realization among top officials about the extent of Nigeria's power problems. Many analysts consider the lack of reliable power the biggest impediment to economic growth in Nigeria -- bigger even than the estimated annual loss of billions of dollars in oil revenues to smuggling and corruption.

The large majority of Nigerians, over 70% of whom live on less than $1 a day, often go without reliable access to electricity. Those who can afford them operate costly diesel or gasoline-based generators because of daily blackouts. One neighborhood in Lagos recently went without power for a month. Those who can't afford generators use inefficient kerosene lamps.

Big companies like Procter & Gamble Co. and Coca-Cola Co. have resorted to running generators to provide power to 100% of their operations, pushing costs in Nigeria 10% and even 20% higher than in neighboring countries, executives say. Other foreign companies have pulled out of Nigeria, citing high energy costs as one of the primary reasons for doing so.

South Africa, with a third of the population, has more than 10 times the power generating capacity of Nigeria.

The new funding will go toward improving existing grid infrastructure and funding public-private partnerships, the government has said.

Whether the money from the country's windfall oil account will be used properly remains a critical question. The federal power authority, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, like many of Nigeria's government institutions, has earned a reputation for inefficiency. Critics accuse it of being driven by the financial and political interests of its officials and others in the government.

PHCN officials didn't respond to requests to comment.

The current government estimates the previous administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo spent freely but without oversight, channeling $10 billion to the power sector during his eight-year rule. Most of this money, however, went unaccounted for, and senior lawmakers have recently put the figure of misplaced funds used for the power sector closer to $16 billion.

The current government of President Umaru Yar'Adua made fixing the country's dilapidated power infrastructure a hallmark of his 2007 campaign. But the gap between electricity supply and demand in Africa's most populous country has only worsened since he took over.

This week, seven senior officials from the country's electricity regulatory body, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, were arrested and charged with fraud, accused of diverting $33 million in state funds for their personal use.

Mr. Yar'Adua has set power production goals of some 6,000 megawatts by the end of this year and 10,000 megawatts by the end of 2010. Few see these goals being met. In 2008, power production dropped on one occasion to as low as 800 megawatts, according to the state power company. Current production is between 2,000 and 3,000 megawatts, according to the government.

"There were three days when no power at all was generated by the Nigerian government," said one official involved in high-level, power-sector reform talks with the government. "The worst part was, nobody at [the government power agency] noticed."

Amid the power crisis, several state governors, in an attempt to bypass the federal bureaucracy in the capital Abuja, have sought private funding to build their own power plants.

The governor of Kwara State, in southwestern Nigeria, has built a small power plant, funding it without federal support. The governor of Rivers State has been in negotiations to wrest control of energy distribution.

A strain of flu never seen before has killed up to 68 people in Mexico and spread to the US. Skip related content

Mexico's government said at least 20 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 48 other deaths.

Mexico reported more than 1,000 suspected cases and four possible cases were also seen in Mexicali, right on the border with California. In the US, eight people were infected but recovered, health officials said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said tests showed the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients was the same genetically as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight patients in California and Texas.

Global health officials are not ready to declare a pandemic - a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease such as flu - but the new virus raised fears of a major outbreak.

Mexico's government has cancelled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas. All large public events like concerts were suspended in Mexico City.

Close analysis showed the disease is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the US Centrers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of the Mexican dead were aged between 25 and 45, a Mexican health official said. Seasonal flu can be more deadly among the very young and the very old but a hallmark of pandemics is that they affect healthy young adults.

Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090425/twl-flu-outbreak-reaches-us-41f21e0.html

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hell was literally let loose in Anambra State on Monday as armed robbers shot and killed over 30 people. The victims who included policemen, commuters and a soldier were felled during a shoot out that lasted for about two hours.
According to eyewitnesses, the armed robbers who operated with one Toyota Hilux, Hiace Commuter and one jeep were on the trail of a bullion van that took off from Onitsha to Nnewi through Oba old road. They were said to have launched an attack on the van within Oba area in Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State.
During the shoot out with the police joint patrol team, Daily Sun gathered, passengers in buses and other vehicles that were trapped in the scene fell victim as some of them including three pregnant women were shot dead while others were seriously wounded. Our source said that the hoodlums blocked the expressway by Oba junction new and old roads to avoid disruption before they began the operation.
The bandits were said to have set the bullion van ablaze along with two other vehicles but as at the time of filing this report it was not certain whether they succeeded in breaking the bullion van or not before burning it.
Like demons from hell, Daily Sun was told that the armed robbers ran amock ran wild as stormed Nnobi road towards Oraukwu and Adani shooting indiscriminately at commuters as they made for escape. Our source said that a tipper lorry driver was shot dead in the rampage.
Some of the corpses were deposited at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) while others were taken to nearby hospitals as (NAUTH) mortuary was already congested, according to an official of the hospital.
A doctor at NAUTH casualty ward who pleaded anonymity said there were over 15 victims with serious bullet wounds receiving medical attention at the ward.
One commercial bus driver, Mr Ifeanyi whose bus was also attacked near Oraukwu junction said two men and a woman were shot dead in his bus by the armed robbers.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Fidelis Agbo (CSP) confirmed the incident. According to Mr Agbo three police officers, one soldier and four commuters were feared dead.
He said that the police have spread their dragnet to apprehend the dare-devils as none of the armed robbers was killed during the gun battle.
Meanwhile, two suspected armed robbers were killed and two others seriously wounded in a shoot out with the police along Ogoja Road Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital on Monday bringing to 11 killed in two separate attacks within one week in the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Chris Anyanwu said the hoodlums operating with two motorcycles marked QB 780 ZLL and WF 189 ENU had trailed their victim, one Mr. Simon Iseh from a bank to his petrol station and robbed him of the sum of over N1.2 million at gun point.
He said that the hoodlums, after snatching the money were intercepted at Nwokpo junction along Ogoja road while trying to escape with their loot.
He stated that items recovered from the bandits include two locally made pistols, four GSM handset, and some objects suspected to be charms.
Anyanwu gave the names of the suspected armed gang as Ogbonna Sunday from Agbaja Umuhu in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi State and Orji Calistus from Amaorji Nenwe in Agwu local government area of Enugu State while the two that died at the spot were identified as Jude and Ernest.
The robbery victim, Hon Simon Iseh, pioneer Minority Leader of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, said that he left his house early in the morning to the bank to make some withdrawals but was delayed for some time at the bank.
“I came out of the bank and never suspected anything. I entered my car and drove off not knowing I was being followed.”
“On getting down at the petrol station four boys jumped down from two motorcycles,’ at gun point they asked me to hand over my car keys which I immediately did. Having collected my car keys, they also commanded me to hand over the money I withdrew from the bank. I realized that if I had refused to hand over the money they would possibly shoot me, so I handed over the money to them and immediately, they drove away in the opposite direction heading towards rice mill.”
He said that it was his salesgirls who, perhaps, observed what happened that raised alarm. “Fortunately for me, the Scorpion team of the Ebonyi State police command were driving towards the direction the hoodlum went and we had to alert them of the robbery attack. On sighting the police patrol van they opened fire and the police retaliated leading to the killing of two of the robbers while two others received gun shot wounds.”
The former House of Assembly member said that of the over N1.2 million snatched from him only N795,000 was recovered while the balanced could not be traced as at press time
ASP Anyanwu attributed the recent successes of the state police command to the determination of the force to curb crime in the state, adding that the command would continue to ensure that the state is safe for habitation.

CBNNews.com
April 17, 2009


Watch Low Band CBNNews.com - The Obama administration has announced plans to loosen restrictions on how Americans can visit and do business with Cuba.

The changes mean that Cuban Americans can visit family on the island anytime they want. And they can send as much money as they wish to relatives there.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro says the U.S.should go further and lift what he calls the cruel trade embargo.

But on the same day the U.S. made its announcement, Cuba denied visas to members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The group had planned a trip to the country to evaluate the state of religious freedom in the island nation.

The commission says it will continue to apply for visas.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/579832.aspx

Without GOD, our week would be:

Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday,
Thirstday, Fightday & Shatterday.

If you are not ashamed of GOD, pass it on.

Remember seven days WITHOUT GOD makes
one WEAK!!

Thursday, April 16,

Deportees raise the alarm over Nigerians'

By Friday Olokor, Oyetunji Abioye and Emeka Ezekiel

The 45 Nigerians deported on Tuesday by the Equatorial Guinea Government have expressed fears on the whereabouts of 11 others, saying they may have been killed in that country.
They also demanded the release of the 15 corpses of Nigerians killed for proper burial at home and $100m compensation to the owners of seized boats and the detainees.

Out of the 128 Nigerians detained by the government of that country, 11 of them were removed from their cell, to an unknown destination, while efforts to trace them have proved futile.

A statement entitled, Report of Assault on Nigerian businessmen and Sailors in Malabo by the Government of Equatorial Guinea, signed by the Secretary-General of Nigeria/Malabo Boat Owners Association, Mr. Wisdom Archibong and made available to our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday, also alleged that 12 of them died through torture and shooting.

They were arrested on February 17 by a combined team of Equatorial Guinea Police, Navy and Army who took 98 sailors and 30 other Nigerians and detained at the Central Police Station in Malabo.

Three of the people shot dead, alleged Archibong, included one Mr. Sola Jide, adding that "three of the people in the boat were tortured to death, including a woman. The Equatorial Guinea Police, after killing them, placed guns on their bodies, took photographs and branded them militants.''

He stated that despite complaints to the Nigerian government, the Consul-General remained mute over the matter.

But the spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Ayo Olukanni, told The PUNCH on the phone that "both the Nigerian Mission in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and the Federal Government have taken up the issue to ensure that the rights of our people are protected.''

Reacting to the development, human rights advocate, Mr. Femi Falana, told our correspondent that he would reach out to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and draw the attention of the government to the plight of Nigerians in Equatorial Guinea.