BREAKING NEWS

After a successfully screening by the Nigerian Senate at the National Assembly in Abuja, barring any “last minute” glitches, former Governor of Rivers State  Rotimi Amaechi  is set to be appointed as a Minister.

The Nigerian Senate has postponed further screening of ministerial nominees to Tuesday, October 27, when it resumes for plenary. This came as the Senate finally screened former Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); former Speaker, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Heineken Lopkobiri (Bayelsa); Claudius Omoyele Daramola (Ondo); Baba Shehun Mustapha (Bornu) and Ocholi Enojo James (Kogi). The screening of former Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole, a ministerial nominee from Osun State, earlier billed to be screened today, has been deferred to next week.

Lagos – Some politicians in the Lagos area on Thursday expressed mixed reactions to the ongoing screening of ministerial nominees by the Senate. While some praised the exercise as impressive, a few others noted that there was room for improvements. Some others noted that if portfolios had been attached to the names of the nominees; it could have provided better impetus for the type of questions being posed to the nominees by the senators. According to them, it will provide better insights into how they will perform on the job as ministers. However, it was a general consensus among some Nigerians that so far, the exercise had been well-received. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate has since screened an appreciable number of the nominees since the first batch numbering 21 were sent in by President Muhammadu Buhari on Sept. 30.

How do you use social media for business? Do you use it to push your message to your fans and followers? After all, they’re a captivate audience…right? Wrong. Using social media effectively for business is all about building trust and a sense of community. As your audience gets to know you, you become a known entity; and ultimately, this leads to sales. Remember: People buy from people they know and trust. This post will outline 3 ways to use social media for business – to build trust, loyalty and sales. 1. Be an Industry Resource Business owners often ask me what types of content they should share on social media. They know they should keep the promotional content to a minimum, but beyond that they’re stumped. Your goal should be to share content that meets the needs, interests and pain points of your audience. Share relevant statistics, research and blog posts that are of interest to your fans and followers. Keep them up to date on breaking news and events. Provide information ...

The Senate will on Wednesday decide the procedure for screening ministerial nominees submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, who said this in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday in Abuja, assured Nigerians that the screening of ministerial nominees would not be delayed by the upper legislative chamber. Ndume said that the screening by the Senate would be thorough just as the nomination process adopted by the Presidency was. He said, “ The communication from Mr. President, which contains the list of the ministerial nominees and which remained sealed as I am talking to you, will be opened by the Senate President as soon as we resume plenary on Tuesday. “It will appear on the Order Paper on Wednesday morning and the Senate will set up the necessary legislative procedure for the screening exercise. I wish to assure Nigerians that the screening exercise will be thorough just the way the nomination process wa...

This is the progressive change Nigerians are clamoring for

The senate says it is yet to receive the ministerial list from the presidency . Chairman of the Senate adhoc committee on publicity, Dino Melaye made this known to National assembly correspondence after the end of today's sitting "I want to announce we are still waiting for the ministerial list from the president I want to advise there is no need for agitation. September expires 12 midnight today and I want to assure Nigerians that as soon as we get possession of the list, we will communicate to them. I also want to assure Nigerians that we will attend to the ministerial list expeditiously but diligently. It is not going to be business as usual. We are going to properly screen the nominees and only those who meet the constitutional and moral requirements will be cleared. We want Nigerians not to be agitated. September expires 12 midnight. The doors of the senate are opened 24 hours"he said

1. Do it for the challenge. If you ask any self-made millionaire why they got started in the field they did, chances are they will not just say “to make a million dollars.” The true story behind most people’s success is that they wanted to accept the challenge of following their dreams and becoming successful on their own terms. 2. Never get too comfortable. There should never be a time in your journey to the top where you stop and think “Ok, I’ve done enough, I can stop working so hard.” If you’ve met your goal and made a million dollars, set another one. You should never be comfortable, you should always be working for more. Related: Here's Why You Need to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone 3. Study and work harder than anyone. No matter how talented you are, you will never reach your full potential success unless you are willing to study and work harder than anyone else. This is the only way to truly achieve your goals. 4. Learn from failures and mistakes. You are goin...

AAM President, Omife.I.Omife (2 nd  Right), Nnorom Charles, Legal Consultant (2 nd  left), Celestine Achi, PR Consultant (extreme right) and Odion Alebor (Extreme left). A human rights organization Alliance Against Monopoly (AAM) has decried what it termed the spate of orchestrated onslaught on its image and integrity.  These attacks, which have escalated in the past few days, the organization claimed, are intended to misrepresent it and impose on it phantom officers and activities that are alien to it. Speaking at a press conference held in Lagos, the President of Alliance Against Monopoly Mazi Omife I. Omife specifically referred to stories in some newspapers one of which was on page eleven of The Guardian of Friday September 11, 2015 captioned "SON Under Fire Over Policies". Omife opined that “these apparently sponsored stories were conceived to hoodwink and mislead the unsuspecting public.” He stated that, contrary to erroneous impression created, AA...

Lagos - Smile Communications Nigeria Limited, the first authentic 4G LTE provider in Nigeria, in partnership with Samsung Electronics West Africa, has launched the first LTE voice over broadband service on smartphone, first in West Africa. Today is another proof point that the LTE ecosystem is set to become the global standard for delivering voice over LTE networks, revolutionizing the way mobile communication is enabled in Nigeria and West Africa. Part of the promise of the new technology is high quality and improved voice and video communications, enabling faster, better video calls, faster music, video streaming and conferencing, faster downloads and more pictures. A bonus for consumers to do more and an end to the frustration of drop calls. The 4G LTE mobile network will also allow faster Internet on the S6 Edge. According to Smile, the giant stride is in line with Smile's vision of providing superfast and reliable internet service to Nigerians leveraging ...

Smile Telecoms is a pan-African telecommunications provider that owns and operates mobile wireless 4G LTE broadband networks in the 800 MHz band in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Smile’s shareholders now comprise: Al Nahla Group, a Saudi Arabia-based company, which is the majority shareholder; Renven Investment Holdings, a pan-African investment vehicle, in which Nigerian investors, including the Obijackson Group, are the majority; Verene, representing Smile senior management and social entrepreneurs from South Africa; Telecom Investments, a Saudi Arabian-based investment company; Capitalworks, an active alternative management company, specialising in investment in the African mid-market; the PIC; and Smile employees. Recently, Smile Telecoms raised USD365 million of debt and equity financing to accelerate its 4G LTE network expansion into Africa. This is one of the largest capital raises ever for a telecommunications operator in Africa. We are very happy about it. For the manageme...

Jennifer Lawrence earned $52 million between June 2014 and June 2015making her the highest earning actress in the world in the last one year. And this is mostly thanks to her role as Katniss Everdeen in  The Hunger  Games Trilogy which has so far grossed $2.3 billion worldwide. Second is Scarlett Johansson , who earned $35.5 million in one year. See the full list after the cut... Jennifer Lawrence: $52million Scarlett Johansson: $35million Melissa McCarthy: $23million Bingbing Fan: $21million Jennifer Aniston: $16million Julia Roberts: $16million Angelina Jolie: $15million Reese Witherspoon: $15million Anne Hathaway: $12million Kristen Stewart: $12million Cameron Diaz: $11million Gwyneth Paltrow: $9million Meryl Streep: $8million Amanda Seyfried: $8million Sandra Bullock: $8million Emma Stone: $6.5million Mila Kunis: $6.5million Natalie Portman: $6million

Leadership is a complex endeavor, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. We tend to make things more complicated than they need to be and that’s definitely true in the field of leadership. To prove my point, go to Amazon.com and search their book listings for the word “leadership” and see how many returns you get (but wait until you finish reading this article!). What did you find? It was 138,611 as of the writing of this post. Browsing the titles of some popular best-sellers would lead you to believe that in order to be a successful leader you just need to find the magical keys, take the right steps, follow the proper laws, figure out the dysfunctions, embrace the challenge, ascend the levels, look within yourself, look outside yourself, form a tribe, develop the right habits, know the rules, break the rules, be obsessed, learn the new science, or discover the ancient wisdom. Did I say we like to over-complicate things? What if successful leadership isn’t really that c...

Urology is a branch of medicine which primarily deals with all urine, kidney and reproductive organs-related problems. It is a surgicalspecialty which deals with diseases of the male and female urinarytract, the male reproductive organs and the kidney. It is a surgicalbranch where we surgeons that treat these conditions. Developments have continuously happened in urology over the lasthundred years. We are trying to highlight those segments ofdevelopment in urology which would make patient care easier either in terms of diagnosing the condition early or introducing treatmentswhich are less invasive so that we reduce the pain, the duration ofhospitalisation, ensure they return to work early and the amount of pain and the amount deformity on the scalp becomes negligible. Similarly, when you look at various cancers, some cancers can beprevented. For instance, you can prevent lung cancers if people reducesmoking and start breathing better. Whereas many other cancers youcan’t stop...

A devoted couple from Sydney, Australia want one thing in their lifetime — to marry each other. John Challis, 87, and Arthur Cheeseman, 83, met and fell in love in 1967. "We met at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on the 27th October, 1967," Challis told Mashable Australia, recounting the evening like it was only days ago. "It was a Sunday night, and Arthur and I just happened to be walking out of the art gallery together. We were standing near each other in the foyer and I just turned around and smiled at him and he smiled back at me." Challis asked Cheeseman if he would like to go and have a cup of coffee, and the pair chatted and found they had many things in common — an interest in the opera, gardening and art. "We met again the next day, and we met again the next day, and we met again the next day... and gradually our relationship built up, and we grew closer and closer together, and the years went on and on and here we are," Challis said. ...

Seventy percent of companies say it’s cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one, according to a report. And they are right: acquiring a new customer can be five times more expensive, which is hopefully enough to convince you that customer retention should be on your radar at all times. So how do I retain customers you might ask? The answer is simple: mobile marketing. Given that 60 percent of the time users spend online is through their mobile devices, establishing a solid mobile presence ensures that your customers always have a piece of your brand at the tip of their fingers. Here’s how it’s done: The right place, the right time Mobile devices draw tons of information from users. Some of this information, such as geolocation, can be instrumental in optimizing your brand’s mobile product specifically for consumers. Knowing where consumers are allows marketers to offer users content that’s relevant to the situation they’re currently experiencing. The m...

My lifelong dream is to create more millionaire students than any other stock trading teacher out there. I’m lucky enough to have reached the seven-figure mark myself, and now, I’m dedicated to sharing everything I’ve learned - including the stock trading patterns that work in any market - with the students in my Millionaire Challenge. But one thing I realized pretty early on was that, if I wanted to teach people to be millionaires, I had to study people who had already reached this level of wealth. I had to learn what they did differently so that I could help my students to not just hit this magic number, but to retain the money they earn and build generational wealth. And today, I’m sharing a few of the things I’ve learned with you. I hope they help - no matter what financial stage you’re currently in. 1. Millionaires work hard. A lot of people think that winning the lottery is their ticket to success, but I’ve got bad news for you. Nearly 90 percent of lotter...

Facebook is now into the business of live streaming Starting a live stream f or celebrities   means tapping the Post button inside the Mentions app, then selecting Live Video. They can add a pithy description for the video, and hit Go Live whenever they're ready. As with Meerkat and Periscope, celebrities will also be able to toggle between their smartphone's front and rear cameras, see how many viewers have tuned in, as well as view (and hide) their comments. Videos are saved afterwards to their Facebook Pages. A Facebook live video feature was a long time coming for the social network and a notable omission when it launched an embeddable video player at F8 this March. (If celebrities previously live streamed through Facebook, they used an outside service.)

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode The Lagos State Government has released N11bn to offset pension liabilities in arrears in the state since 2010. The government said the move was to bring succour to all retirees in the Lagos State Public Service. The Head of Service, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, on Wednesday in Alausa, Ikeja, said the state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had directed that the sum should be used to pay the pension liabilities of the Lagos State Government mainstream retirees and the retirees in local governments areas and parastatal organisations.

Former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has received a new petition filed against the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio. The petition was titled, “Petition against former Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State for gross and uncommon abuse of public trust.” Copies of the petition were also sent to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Director General of the Department of State Service, Lawal Daura. This was the third petition against the former governor who was recently appointed as the Minority Leader of the upper legislative chamber. The latest petition, dated August 3, 2015, but was received by the commission on August 5, 2015. The petitioner, Leo Ekpenyong, said he discovered what he called “uncommon diversion of Akwa Ibom tax payers” money for the acquisition of massive properties by the former governor.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II visited President Buhari yesterday

Facebook just built a drone that will be able to beam broadband internet to areas across the globe that cannot currently access the internet.  Connectivity Lab, a Facebook initiative to develop new technology to provide internet accessibility for everyone, recently finalized their new drone called Aquila, according to CNN Money. The project was initiated in 2014 after Facebook acquired U.K.-based drone company Ascenta. There are 4 billion people across the globe who do not currently have the necessary infrastructure to access internet. Aquila is a project that was designed to bring connectivity to these hard-to-reach places and will be able to do so within a 50-mile radius. Jay Parikh, VP of engineering at Facebook, said in a company post:  “When finished, our laser communications system can be used to connect our aircraft with each other and with the ground, making it possible to create a stratospheric network that can extend to even the remotest regions of the world.”...

  Oba Okunade Sijuwade, has died at the age of 85.  He was reportedly flown to UK in an air ambulance after he became unconscious following his illness. Family sources say he died at about 5pm today after a brief illness. The late Oba is survived by wives and children.

Kissing has overtaken smoking and drinking as the leading risk factor for developing head and neck cancers. The humble French kiss can pass on human papilloma virus (HPV), and Head of Maxillofacial and Head and neck Surgery at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr Mahiban Thomas, said the virus was responsible for 70% of head and neck cancer cases. Dr Thomas told Daily Mail Australia if you became infected by HPV in the oropharynx, your risk of developing head and neck cancer was 250 times higher than that of someone without the virus. While most commonly associated with cervical cancers, HPV can affect both men and women. There are more than 100 types of the virus, but only about eight ‘high risk’ strains of HPV that can cause cancers in the oropharynx.

A court in Libya has sentenced Col Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others to death over war crimes linked to the 2011 revolution. More than 30 close associates of the deposed leader were on trial, accused of suppressing protests during the uprising. Saif al-Islam was not present in court and gave evidence via video link. He is being held by a former rebel group from the town of Zintan that refuses to hand him over. Former head of intelligence for the Gaddafi regime, Abdullah al-Senussi, is among those also facing the death penalty. SOURCE:PUNCH

What are the risk factors and causes of childhood cancer? Cancer begins in the cells, which are the building blocks of your body. Normally, new cells form as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when you don't need them, and old cells don't die when they should. The extra cells can form a tumor. Benign tumors aren't cancer while malignant ones are. Malignant tumor cells can invade nearby tissues or break away and spread to other parts of the body. Children can get cancer in the same parts of the body as adults, but there are differences. Childhood cancers can occur suddenly, without early symptoms, and have a high rate of cure. The most common children's cancer is leukemia. Other cancers that affect children include brain tumors, lymphoma, and soft tissue sarcoma. Symptoms and treatment depend on the cancer type and how advanced it is. Treatment may include surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. A ...

        Change  is the law of life.   And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future Digital is changing the world as well as the way banking is perceived by today’s digital consumer - the Generation Y.  By far, the most frequent touch point between financial institutions and their digital consumers today is online. We believe the banking industry is on the verge of a huge leap forward and that a tremendous opportunity exists in designing a better online banking experience.  To stay profitable and grow in the new digital economy, banks need to adopt a customer-centric business model, diversify online delivery of products and services channels, and begin making meaning from valuable trails of digital information. There is no question that banking is quickly becoming a digital business, supported by enhanced online and mobile experiences from traditional financial institutions as well as new market entrants....

Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna state yesterday announced the sacking of 20 permanent secretaries from Kaduna State civil service and the appointment of new officials to fill some positions in his government. A statement signed on his behalf by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, yesterday made available to newsmen  in Kaduna said the reason for sending home the Permanent Secretaries was to cut the cost of governance and free more funds for developments. Reads parts of the statement: “In line with its resolve to cut the cost of running government, the Kaduna State Government has announced the retirement of 20 permanent secretaries. “This decision follows the streamlining of ministries in the state from 19 to a leaner 13, as part of efforts to free up resources to be used for providing schools, hospitals, roads and other public goods.

Several of the harshest critics of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have given their blessings to the proposed hiring of ex-Nigeria skipper Sunday Oliseh as new coach of the Super Eagles. Oliseh is expected to soon sign a five-year contract with the NFF after Stephen Keshi was fired as the country’s coach. Ex-internationals Adokiye Amiesiemaka and Segun Odegbami have often been critical of the way football is run in Nigeria, but they have now applauded the engagement of Oliseh as the Eagles new coach. “I give my 100% for the appointment (of Oliseh),” praised Amiesiemaka, who won Nigeria’s first AFCON winners’ medal in 1980.

President Muhammadu Buhari has turned down an offer by the Federal Government to buy 5 new armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for his use. The cars which cost is about N400m were planned to be purchased by the State House. A source close to the presidency told journalists on Thursday that Buhari found out about the plan when the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, briefed him of his ministry’s activities on Wednesday. Angry at the revelation, the President was said to have told Emodi that the purchase was unnecessary. Describing it as a waste of scarce resources, the source said Buhari told the permanent secretary that the cars he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan were good enough for him. 

China’s stock slump is causing pain to millions of Chinese – billionaires and mom-and-pop investors alike. When FORBES published our World’s Billionaire List in March, China’s wealthiest men had  impressive aggregate fortune of $565 billion – that’s $200 billion up from the year before. But the stock market rout in the past two weeks has taken a toll on the country’s rising super rich. The 205 Chinese billionaires currently tracked by the Forbes Real-time Billionaires List have lost a total of $195 billion since the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index hit its peak on June 12. China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, who briefly edged out Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to the world’s 10th richest man in June, lost $6.5 billion as share prices of his two public companies fell (to be sure, he’s still worth $32.3 billion as Asia’s richest man). After Tencent’s stock dropped 13% on Wednesday, its chairman Pony Ma lost $1.2 billion on a single day. Copper and cable entrepreneur Wang Wenyin suffere...

South-West states’ chairmen of the APC, have decried the pattern of appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari saying all of them had ethnic slant. They said aside his spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, every other appointments so far made by Buhari have been from the core North and all of them northern Muslims.  The party chairmen also vowed not to recognize the emergence of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara until the crisis in the National Assembly is resolved by the party. In a joint statement they issued yesterday, the chairmen vowed to resist any attempt by some elements in the party to humiliate the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. 

According to the state governor, Mallam El Rufai, at least 20 people were killed in the terrorist attack.  There was a verification exercise for civil servants going on at the lodge when the bomb exploded. Most of the people killed were civil servants.Read more tweets after the cut

Most entrepreneurs with any experience will tell you that finding a business partner isn’t easy. So, when you’re a “nobody”, that can present some additional challenges. You’re probably not going to be able to partner up with someone more known than you are. At the very least, it’s not going to prove easy. But working alone is hard, and having a partner can add a lot of perspective to your business. You can share in your tasks, keep each other motivated, leverage your connections, and pool your ideas together. That’s a good thing, because sometimes your money-making ideas aren’t all that good. So here are some steps you can follow to find the right partner. Step #1: Begin Your Search Everyone has to start somewhere, so even if you’re not sure where to begin, you just have to get started. Even though you may have to do quite a bit of looking around, odds are you won’t have to go very far. The reality of the situation is that the best candidates are right in your localit...

Lagos – Football stakeholders on Sunday described the termination of Stephen Keshi’s appointment as the coach of the Super Eagles as a hasty decision. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on July 4 terminated his appointment. Friday Ekpo, an ex-international said he was not surprised at the development, saying the decision was taken at the wrong time. “It’s not a surprise to me because this issue has been lingering for a long time but the timing is not right. “The qualifiers for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is on and I hope this decision won’t affect our chances of qualifying,” he said. Felix Owolabi, another ex-international expressed his displeasure over the NFF decision to sack Keshi.

More on Dapo Adaralegbe, the first Nigerian transgender who was born a boy, but now lives in the Netherlands as a woman named Stephanie Rose. I shared his photos  here  some days ago. Below is something the former Law student of Obafemi Awolowo University who was expelled in 2001 said in an interview talking about his life, growing up and sexuality before he eventually left Nigeria “I was studying Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ife. I am of the 1995 set, but I had to leave school in 2001 because of pressures. People were too harsh on me; they did not understand me at all. When I was in school, the school authorities got to know that I slept with my fellow male students. There was also an incident when I had to be admitted in the hospital. I was bleeding from the anus and I had bad pile arising from sexual intercourse.

According to  Fox News , as county clerk, Barnette had issued marriage licenses in Mississippi, USA for 24 years. However, she abruptly resigned on Tuesday. An excerpt of her resignation letter reads: I choose to obey God rather than man…I am a follower of Christ and I believe strongly that the Bible is my final authority. The Bible teaches that a marriage is to be between a man and a woman. Therefore, because of the recent ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, I can no longer fulfill my duties as Circuit Clerk and issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Further commenting on the matter, she said:

The leadership cri­sis rocking the National Assem­bly has been re­solved , All Progressives Congress(APC) gover­nors announced yester­day. Speaking after a mara­thon meeting between the governors and all parties in the National Assembly crisis, Imo State Gover­nor and Chairman of APC Governors’ Forum Chief Rochas Okorocha, said the parties have agreed to work together. Present at the meeting include, Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speak­er, Hon Yakubu Dogara, Sen Ahmed Lawan, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Hon Pally Iriase , scores of sen­ators and Reps members and all APC governors.

Many people out there desperately want  to be millionaires, and why wouldn’t they? While money may not buy happiness it can buy a better, less stressful and more fulfilled life. However, before you can be a millionaire you need to have the right strategy and know the reasons why you haven’t met this goal already. Everybody who wants to be millionaire but isn't has excuses. “I didn’t pick the right career,” “I can’t afford the schooling,” or “I don’t have time.” These are not reasons, but just excuses and excuses only get in the way of your success. Here are 10 reasons why people do not become millionaires. 1. You have no one guiding you in the right direction. You need to surround yourself with positive people. Most importantly, you need to find someone you can trust that will help guide you in the right direction. The people you trust most should be the ones pushing you towards success. This is one advantage I did not have early on. I am entirely self-taught, which is why I ...