Friday, 12 May 2017
REVEALED! legislative aides are earning more than Senators
The proposed National Assembly budget for the year 2017, shows that, the legislative aides would be collecting as much as N8,917,127,214 for the year under review. This amount, according to analysis, is more than double of what the honorable members of House of Representatives got for the year, even though, that of the Senators is also more than thrice less than the Reps’ allocation. In the proposed budget, the 360 honorable members of the reps would take home, a cumulative sum of N4,923,743,127 for the whole year, while the 109 Senators would take home a meagre sum of N1, 856,510,517 as salaries for the year 2017. Recent investigations show that legislative aides are getting more salaries than Senators Though the overhead cost for the legislative aides was drastically reduced to about N500m, with that of Reps members as much as N39bn and Senators N25bn; some legislative aides have argued that, it was strategically appropriated for, to continue to deny them of their allowances and other emoluments. According to Daily Post, the management of the National Assembly has not paid the Duty Tour Allowances (DTAs) and other allowances entitlements to legislative aides since year 2015. This has prompted the decision of the aides to embark on protest, to press home their demand; the decision which didn’t go down well with the management. One of the arrowheads in the proposed civil action, Mr. Olutoye Ibitoye, was reportedly arrested last week by the DSS attached to the National Assembly complex, and was later released, with a caution not to go ahead with the planned protest. Some legislative aides who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, claimed that, “with the meagre provision for overhead in the proposed budget, the management appears not ready to clear our outstanding allowances. “It also appears that, the management didn’t plan for staff trainings and other human development projects this year. ” Meanwhile, alot of aides to the lawmakers have raised serious concern over the provision of N150m for capital projects for them in the year 2017. They queried the rationale behind the said amount and wished it was added to the overhead cost, to attend to the avalanche of outstanding allowances and other claims. In a similar vein, following the nature of polity in Nigeria, some Nigerians are of the opinion that the present Senate has not delivered on behalf of the masses. There are some who hold the view that the Senate should be scrapped as to give room for fresh legislation.
Wednesday, 10 May 2017
How N80m loan saved Ladoja from impeachment — Witness
A witness in the ongoing trial of the former governor of Oyo state Rashidi Ladoja has said that the state government took a loan of N80 million to save the governor from impeachment. Waheed Atanda, the first prosecution witness told the Federal High Court in Lagos that the executive committee of the state's leadership processed the loan. Recall that Ladoja and his commissioner for finance Waheed Akanbi are facing trial over N4.7 billion fraud allegedly committed during their tenure in Oyo state.However, in his testimony, Atanda, an associate of the former governor said the loan was taken from Wema Bank. He said: “On N80 million loan from Wema Bank, we had a discussion before writing for a loan, but when the loan went bad, WEMA bank visited Oyo State government and the second defendant (Akanbi)." He said the loan was borrowed through V.T Leasing Limited and disbursed to the state government through the same vendors. In his testimony, Atanda, an associate of the former governor noted that the loan was taken from Wema Bank. He said: “I used V. T. Leasing Limited to apply for the loan from Wema bank, though, am a shareholder with less than one percent, but I used my goodwill to get the loan and I did not make any application." “I did not know the condition attached to giving the vehicles to 14 members of State Assembly loyal to Governor Ladoja, but the vehicles given out by the political actors in Oyo State, were collected by the Oyo State government’s drivers before handling them to 14 Ladoja loyalists at the State House of Assembly. “There was an agreement between V. T. Leasing and the beneficiaries of the vehicles as a backup to the lease agreement. Atanda further told the court that he guarantee the loan from Wema Bank, adding that when the loan from Wema Bank went bad, the bank met to the former governor and his Commissioner for Finance before coming to him," Atanda said. The witness further told the court that another N633 million was collected when Ladoja returned as Oyo state governor. He said the N633 million was part of expenses incurred when he (Atanda) shut down his hotel for one year to house Ladoja and his 14 loyal Assembly members, during the Impeachment saga.
BREAKING: Protesting journalists shutdown OGBC in Ogun state
Premium Times is reporting that unpaid journalists working with the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) have shut down the broadcast station. According to the report, the workers locked their offices as they began an indefinite strike on Wednesday, May 10 morning. Protesting staff members sitting outside the offices of OGBC on Wednesday Premium Times is reporting that unpaid journalists working with the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) have shut down the broadcast station. The workers kicked off three separate notices by the radio workers to the management on the non-payment of their entitlements put at about N148,260,000. Doors of OGBC chained up by protesting workers Chairman of Nigerian Union of Journalists Abiodun Ogundipe and Chairman of Radio Television and Theater Arts Workers Union had issued 21, 7 and 3 days warnings respectively to the management to pay the workers’ dues but nothing happened. The workers arrived at about 4.30 am armed with chain and padlock and locked up the door leading to the studio and other offices. Police officers have been drafted to the premises of the OGBC to maintain peace The General Manager and other management staff of the station were also locked out of their offices. The management has however invited the police to the broadcast station maintain peace. Details later.
Alleged missing N6bn: BBC apologizes to Emir of Kano Sanusi
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has apologized to the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, over claims that he was under probe by anti-graft officials for alleged mismanagement of Kano Emirate fund. According to a report on Premium Times, Jamie Angus, editorial director at BBC, has tender an apology letter to Sanusi over an April 24 story that said the traditional ruler was amongst those being investigated in connection to alleged misappropriation of about N6 billion Emirate Council fund Angus has come out to say that the report is not correct. BBC apologizes to Emir of Kano Sanusi over alleged missing N6bn report, admits he is not under probe He explained that the station’s editorial staff in Abuja had inaccurately translated an April 24 interview with Muhyi Magaji, the chairman of Kano state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, who allegedly said that Sanusi was under investigation. Angus said: “The recording of the interview was passed to another colleague in Abuja office, summarised in a despatch and then sent to London where the online report was written and published. “It is now clear from our investigations that the reports did not accurately reflect what we were told by Magaji, who had, in fact, made clear to our reporter that you had not been invited in for questioning and indeed that it was unlikely that there would be a need to invite you for question. “Accordingly, the report we published suggested that you were under personal investigation was not correct and for that I offer my sincere apologies.” BBC apologizes to Emir of Kano Sanusi, admits he is not under probe In the apology letter, dated April 28, 2017, Angus said the BBC has removed the inaccurate interview from its website on April 26.It was gathered that the Kano state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission was investigating the Kano Emirate Council as a body over alleged misappropriation of up to N6 billion, but not Sanusi as an individual. However, the Emirate Council has denied allegations of fraud and said the amount involved was only N4.3 billion.
Osinbajo speaks about acting president, coordinating president controversy.
Professor Yemi Osinbajo has waded into the controversy surrounding whether President Muhammadu Buhari duly handed over power to him when he left the country. President Buhari had left the country on Sunday, May 7 for medical treatment and the vice president was duly expected to replace him in acting capacity.On Tuesday, May 9 however, there was observation from Senator Mao Ohuabunwa that the president did not properly transfer power to the vice president following a letter read by Senate president, Bukola Saraki of the president’s medical trip. The letter read: “In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medical follow-up with my doctors in London. The length of my stay will be determined by the doctor’s advice. “While I am away, the Vice President will coordinate the activities of the government. Please accept, the distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration.” Ohuabunwa criticised the letter saying there was no position of coordinating president in the constitution and that Osinbajo should have been duly addressed as acting president. He said: “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them the written declaration to the contrary, such function shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President. “Mr. President, I don’t think in our Constitution we have anything like ‘coordinating president’ or ‘coordinating vice president.’ It is either you are vice president or you are acting president and any letter (on transfer of power) should be unambiguous and very clear. So, I am saying that this letter really does not convey anything because ‘coordinating’ has no space or any place in our Constitution.“We have been having (receiving) letters like this in which he will tell us who is the acting president and we will know who to deal with as a Senate. This is the highest legislative body of any country and if you are sending us a letter, it should be direct, unambiguous. So, I am saying that this letter, for me, is not right and maybe it should be sent back.” Osinbajo in an answer to a question on twitter confirmed that Buhari handed over power to him as acting president as specified by the constitution. He wrote: Read more:https://www.naij.com/1103792-osinbajo-speaks-acting-president-coordinating-president-controversy.html
Thursday, 20 April 2017
Longevity Secrets of 'Super Agers'
Most of us won’t be healthy enough to cut a rug into our 90s. But some people are not only dancing, but cooking, driving, and volunteering at an age when they’re supposed to be feeble, addled by dementia, or both. Researchers, with an eye to an ever-aging population, are trying to figure out why.
Scientists are studying “super agers” -- 90-somethings who are living without significant physical or memory problems -- to zero in on the kinds of healthy habits that may keep us all living longer and better.
With life expectancy on the rise -- the 85-plus population in the U.S. is expected to triple to 14.6 million by 2040 -- researchers want to figure out how we can increase our health span, or the amount of time we’ll live in good health.
“The number of people living after age 90 is going to be huge. We need to know very fast how we can help these people to live very healthy,” says Oscar Lopez, MD, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
Some people win the genetic lottery and will naturally live better longer. But experts say our genes only account for about 20%-30% of our longevity. That means we can affect the majority of our aging -- about 70%-80% -- through lifestyle.
So exactly which habits matter the most?
While there’s no blueprint, studies can offer some clues. It’s no surprise that eating healthy and exercise are likely to have a role in how well we age. But they are far from the only things involved, and they may not even be the most important ones.
Here is what researchers have found.
Lessons From the 'Blue Zones'
Author Dan Buettner has researched people who live to be 100+ since 2000. He worked with National Geographic to identify five “Blue Zones” that have the highest percentage of the world’s longest-lived people. People in these zones also lived relatively free of diseases common to aging, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
The U.S. has only one Blue Zone: the Seventh-day Adventist community of Loma Linda, CA. Other communities include Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; and Nicoya, Costa Rica.
Here’s what they had in common:
- A plant-based diet -- beans, whole grains, veggies
- Opportunities for natural movement, like walking, herding, and gardening
- Having a sense of purpose
- Belonging to a faith-based community
- Taking a daily nap or finding some other way to “downshift” daily
- Not overeating and not eating after sunset
Buettner lectures widely about the importance of food, movement, prayer, and purpose -- and has spun off his findings into several books and the Blue Zones Project. Because few people in the U.S. are going to adopt herding anytime soon, the project, adopted first in 2009 by a Minnesota town, aims to find ways to make communities healthier.
About 40 communities worldwide have since adopted its principles, transforming public spaces -- parks, schools, grocery stores, and restaurants -- to encourage healthy eating and more social interaction. Some are creating new bike and walking paths . Schools may prohibit students from eating anywhere but in the cafeteria. And no-smoking policies are making it harder to light up.
“We want to give healthy options so it’s not forced on them, to make the healthy choice the easy choice. That leads to longevity and social connectedness,” says Sam Skemp, a Blue Zones Project manager with the Minneapolis-based organization. Skemp says they can measure progress through reduced obesity and smoking rates, how much produce people eat, and how much time they spend exercising.
Keeping Your Brain Sharp
A plant-based diet and exercise may stave off disease to keep us physically healthy. Can they also keep us mentally healthy? The single biggest cause of Alzheimer’s disease is aging, and rates of dementia rise sharply ages 85 and up.
When it comes to memory and thinking, studies suggest that exercise is one of the best ways to keep our minds sharp. Lopez and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center found that exercise builds brain cells.
“We have seen that people who walk more than 72 blocks per week had better brain volumes, and if you follow these people over time, the risk of dementia decreases. It’s relatively cheap, and it helps for general health and cognitive health,” he says. Plus, people often walk with others and may have lunch that includes a glass of wine. If they order fish, all the better for boosting gray matter, Lopez says.
Alzheimer’s researcher Claudia Kawas, MD, and her colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, are looking at how lifestyle -- exercise and diet, among them -- affects brainhealth among the “oldest old.”
Her research team has found a connection between a healthy heartand a lower chance of having dementia. Their subjects also had at least one thing in common with the folks in the five Blue Zones: They attended religious services each week. They also:
- Drank at least 1-2 cups of coffee daily
- Had a reading habit
- Took part in physical and nonphysical leisure activities
- Had an alcoholic drink or two each day
Kawas says the connection between lifestyle and brain health may not be so direct. For example, the socializing that goes along with an afternoon martini may be more important to mental alertness than the vodka you’re drinking.
She says researchers are also trying to sort out why some people who have genes that raise the odds of having Alzheimer’s don’t develop the disease. Other people have plaques and tangles in their brains often found with the disease yet have no problems with memory.
Kawas suggests a healthy diet and physical activity may create “resilience” in people who might have the genetic potential to develop Alzheimer’s, but don’t.
But diet is hard to study, she says. Of all the factors, education seems to be the strongest one for maintaining brain health, says Kawas.
“The higher your education level, the likelier you are to maintain normal cognition in the face of Alzheimer’s disease pathology,” says Kawas, a neurobiology professor at UCI’s School of Medicine. “That’s an environmental thing. Diet and exercise could be one of them, but they’re not the whole story.”
Nature vs. Environment
Some people are genetically predisposed to age later, no matter what or how much they eat.
Sofiya Milman, MD, is part of a research team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York that has been studying 90- and 100-year olds. They are all Ashkenazi Jews, descended from Eastern European Jews, and their children. The Longevity Genes Project, which started with 500 participants ages 95 to 112, found a strong connection between long life and protective genes.
Even with lifestyle taken into account, their genes outweighed bad habits. The centenarians in the study didn’t watch their weight or their diet.
“There were very few vegetarians in the group or people who avoided salt or meat throughout their lives,” she says. The study has branched into another that is following people in their mid-60s who have a parent at least 100 years old. Researchers want to see how well the children with 100-year-old parents age vs. people with non-centenarian parents. So far, they are aging well, Milman says.
“They have less heart disease, less cognitive decline, less Alzheimer’s disease,” she says. “We anticipate they will live much longer also.”
Milman, an endocrinologist, says the research shows that the people with longevity in their family have protective genes that keep old-age illnesses -- heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes -- at bay for 20 to 30 years longer than the average person.
“If you have protective genes, perhaps they will protect you from negative effects of the environment,” Milman says. “But most of us don’t have those protective genes, so it’s important to exercise.”
Life expectancy has risen nearly 30 years over the last century, Kawas points out, led by medical and technological advances, even basic ones like good sewage and water treatment systems. An 80-year-old today has less of a chance of developing Alzheimer’s than one did 30 years ago. Because doctors understand how to manage high blood pressure, the risk of stroke has also declined, Kawas says.
Yet, whatever insights science and sociology have provided about longevity, nobody owns the recipe for putting off mortality a bit longer.
What is Kawas’ advice for pushing the mortality envelope? The evidence shows that eating a plant-based diet and staying on your feetare important, she says. But so are engaging in activities that keep the mind sharp.
“Do what your mother told you to do: Get exercise, use your brain, limit stress, get rest, and be nice to people.”
North Korea threatens 'super-mighty' strike on U.S.
In an escalating war of words with the U.S., North Korea warned Thursday of a "super-mighty preemptive strike" that would reduce American military forces in South Korea and the U.S. mainland "to ashes," according to The Rodong Sinmun, official newspaper of North Korea's Workers' Party.The report, carried by Reuters, also warned the U.S. and its allies "should not mess with us."
This April 15, 2017 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on ...more
STR, AFP/Getty Images
The latest bellicose statement follows North Korea's weekend display of military hardware in a parade marking the birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung and two attempted missile tests, one of which failed.The U.S. has stepped up its warnings to North Korea over its missile program and nuclear weapons tests. Vice President Mike Pence, on a tour of the region, warned this week that “the era of strategic patience is over” when it comes to U.S. policy toward North Korea.Pyongyang periodically warns Washington of the dire consequences of taking on North Korea militarily. One propaganda film last year featured animation of a North Korean, nuclear-tipped ICBM striking New York City
Monday, 17 April 2017
Emir Sanusi reveals why he supported his daughter for slapping a man
The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II has revealed why he supported his daughter for slapping a man - He said his daughter abhors any man who does not have respect for women - The monarch, however asked those attacking him for speaking the truth to buckle up as his children who are coming up seem to be far more radical, outspoken and fearless than him The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, has recalled how he supported his daughter, Shaheeda when she slapped a man during her school days.Saunsi said his daughter, who represented him at the BBOG movement’s third anniversary lecture for missing Chibok girls in Abuja on Friday April 14, said the girl is a strange being. The monarch in a video message that introduced the young lady before she presented the paper on his behalf said it was wrong for any man to disrespect a lady. The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II He said: “Although I won’t be there in person, I decided to send not my son but my daughter, Shaheeda to represent me. “Let me tell you something about the young lady who is going to read my speech. Shaheeda is a graduate of African Leadership Academy in South Africa and a graduate from New York University as Biology major. “But long before she went to African Leadership Academy, when she was in Form 3, I remember an incident that is probably relevant for today. Her mother came to me and said: ‘You need to talk to your daughter’ and I asked her: ‘Why?’
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