Senate Rejects Gender And Equal Opportunity Bill At Second Reading | Nigerian Twitter Reacts In Outrage

A Bill aimed at elimination of discrimination against women has been turned down for a second reading at the Nigerian Senate today.

This was made known via the Nigerian Senate official Twitter account and the issue has caused quite a reaction from Nigerians on Twitter who feel that the Bill was long overdue.

The Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill was aimed at promoting equality, development and advancement of all persons in Nigeria as well as promoting women’s freedom of movement, female economic activity and girls’ access to education.

One Senator who was very vocal about the fact that Nigeria needs the Bill was Senator Olujimi from Ekiti South Senatorial District.

He pointed out concerns on equal rights for women in marriage, divorce, property/land ownership and inheritance. He also explained how the Bill seeks adoption of special temporary measures to eliminate discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for majority of Nigerians. The Bill also seeks appropriate measures against gender discrimination in political and public life and prohibitions of violence to women.

Senator Bala Na’Allah also spoke for the Bill. He said that discrimination is a worldwide issue and that there is a need for adequate measures. Senator Na’Allah also spoke about the need to protect the widowhood and inheritance rights of women.

Other Senators who supported the Bill include Senator Ekweremadu, Senator Ndume, Senator Raji-Rasaki and Senator Garba.

Speaking against the Bill, among others, were:

The Senate put the Bill to a vote and sadly the Nays had it.

Twitter has since exploded with a lot of angry tweets from Nigerians as they can’t understand how such a fundamental Bill will be turned down. The word “Senate” is also trending right now.

See some tweets from Nigerians below.

Dakuku Peterside Assumes Office As New DG Of NIMASA

Former APC Governorship candidate in the last general election in Rivers state, Dakuku Peterside, assumed office today as the new Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency, NIMASA. His appointment was approved by President Buhari on March 10th. NIMASA is a parastatal in the Ministry of Transport which is overseen by Dakuku's political godfather, Rotimi Amaechi.

Egyptian Blogger Jailed For 3 Years With Hard Labour For Saying That 30% Of Egyptian Women Cheats On Their Husbands

An Egyptian blogger has been sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour for claiming on national television that 30% of wives would cheat on their husbands if they had the chance, reports Mailonline. The blogger, Taymour el-Sobki was charged for ‘spreading false news’. The court in Egypt claims that el-Sobki’s comments could "harm public peace and damage the public interest."

El-Sobki faced a backlash from other TV talk show hosts and civilians who filed complaints to public prosecutors accusing him of insulting Egyptian women.

El-Sobki had stated: "Many women cheat on their husbands. I can say that 30 percent of women are ready to be deviant".

In particular, he claimed, women in the southern cities of ‘Asyut, Minya, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan’. El-Sobki, whose Facebook page called ‘Diaries of a Suffering Husband’ has more than one million followers, added: ‘Many women are involved in extramarital affairs while their husbands are abroad.’

His comments included the suggestion that arranged marriages in traditional southern Egypt exacerbated the problem of infidelity because women ended up with men they didn’t know.

After the claim a masked man from the region appeared in a video carried on YouTube armed with an assault rifle, and issued a death threat against El-Sobki. However, the court’s decision has been condemned by human rights groups.

"We can criticize or reject the comments he made, but he did not commit a crime,’ said prominent rights lawyer Gamal Eid

Customs Intercept Three Boats Loaded With Marijuana

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) today Tuesday 15th March, said it had intercepted three boats loaded with marijuana along an unnamed waterway in Lagos.

The Customs Zone ‘A’ Coordinator, Assistant Comptroller-General Charles Edike, made the disclosure in Lagos while speaking at a Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).
Edike said the boats were intercepted by officers of the Western Marine Command on Sunday, adding that the smugglers had been arrested and would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

The zonal coordinator said that smuggling activities on waterways had been on the increase in recent times.

He, however, said that men of the service were fully on the alert to check illegal activities of water smu

Smugglers have resorted to using the waterways to carry out their nefarious activities but I can assure you that men of the service are up to the task to check this criminality.

Just three days ago, our men intercepted three boats fully loaded with marijuana. Our men from the Western Marine Command got the smugglers.

We will increase our patrols both on land and waters to ensure that smugglers and other economic saboteurs have no hiding place,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Edike as saying.

He said that the service would not yield to calls in some quarters to take away its men on some Federal highways as the deployment was meant to check smugglers who used the highways to carry out their illegal activities.

The zonal coordinator said men of the service had made large seizures of arms from smugglers on some highways, especially around Idiroko in Ogun and Iseyin in Oyo State.

Edike said the incidents justified continuous patrols by officers on the highway.

He said more officers had been deployed to bush routes used by smugglers around Seme border, saying that the strategy was to ensure that smuggling activities were limited in the area. (NAN)

Selena Gomez Is The Most Followed Person On Instagram!

Selena Gomez is now officially the most-followed person on Instagram, narrowly beating Taylor Swift for the prestigious title with 69.5 million followers and counting!  

Kim Kardashian and Beyonce third and fourth with 63.7 million and 63.1 million followers respectively..
See other handles below

Meet Nigerian Engineer Olaoluwa Okeola Who Works For Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook HQ's In US

It's seems Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg has a very good working relationship between his workers and himself. Mr Olaoluwa is an engineer at the Facebook HQ in United States. And it's seems the two really likes eacg other as it is seen in Zuckerberg's post on Facebook below:

ABSUTH Provost Joins Students For Peaceful Protest Over 36 Day Power Outage

It’s absurd that in 2016, there’s still nothing close to constant electricity in Nigeria.

On Monday morning, the Medical Student Association of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) in Aba, Abia state, carried placards to protest their poor study conditions as a result of lack of power. There has been no electricity for over a month – 36 days to be exact.

“How can we be productive? No light, no water” one of the placards read. “51,850 minutes of darkness”, another read. “We need light.” another emphasized.

Their provost – the head of their school – Professor Christian Aluka, in a show of solidarity joined them in the peaceful protest.

Team Nigeria At The International Fashion Showcase, London Powered By British Council & Heineken Lagos Fashion And Design Week

Team Nigeria at IFS, London: Godson Ukaegbu (Editor, Style Mania), Maxivive, Onalaja, Sisiano, Gozel Green and Tobi Idowu (Events Manager, Style House Files)

A few weeks ago, Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW) in collaboration with British Council returned to the International Fashion Showcase, London for the fourth time with LFDW Fashion Focus Designers & Alumni: Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Meena, Gozel Green, Onalaja, Papa Omisore and Sisiano. They joined over 100  designers and curators from 25 countries to share their versions of the Utopia – the theme of IFS 2016.

Titled “Across the Bleed” and curated by Yegwa Ukpo, the installation imagined the creative energy of designers as a cosmic bang. Inspired by optical illusions, guests were compelled to imagine a moment when the impossible fleetingly seems real.

Speaking on team Nigeria’s exhibition, designer, Onalaja said, “We all brought something different to represent team Nigeria, from my defragmented knit dress reminiscent of clay sands in parts of Nigeria to Ejiro’s pieces sparking discussions about the various religions that govern so many Nigerians, to Maxivive’s experimental take on classic menswear. Yegwa’s virtual reality video and image installation really helped to emphasise the focus on how fleeting our utopia was and how it can be often unattainable. The moral of our exhibition being we designers are all dreamers in our own right, we turn away from our current reality to a new and creative fictional dream state through the power of our designs.”

The International Fashion Showcase, London is positioned as a platform utilized by LFDW in collaboration with the British Council to empower creatives and connect them to their counterparts in the UK. Speaking on his experience, designer, Sisano remarked “IFS 2016 was an amazing experience that opened my mind to the endless possibility of building a growing brand.  There was a lot of networking with other designers, potential buyers and the press. It also gave me an insight into positioning my brand for the future and convinced me of the exporting opportunities than can be explored”

View images from IFS, London below:

The Designers

Onalaja

Gozel Green

Sisiano

Ejiro Amos Tafiri

Team Nigeria’s Installation

   

A cross section of other countries

Austria

Egypt

Guatamala

Korea

Lebanon

Portugal

Waooo...... See MC Oluomo's Table Full With Different Beautiful Birthday 'Cakes'

Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo, the Lagos State Treasurer of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW)/ Oshodi chapter Chairman allegedly celebrated his birthday yesterday Monday March 14th and what you are looking at are pictures of all the Birthday cakes he received..... Waoooo

You can even open a cake shop from here!

N36.4bn Meant For Construction Of Dams Released To NSA's Office In 2014- Auditor-General Of The Federation Says

The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation yesterday presented its 2014 annual report to the National Assembly detailing what it described as ‘massive fraud and financial irregularities in the NNPC and other government agencies’.‎

The Auditor-General, Samuel Ukara‎ said N36.4 billion which was meant for the construction of dams was released to the office of the National Security Adviser in 2014 as special funds.

Ukara‎ in his report alleged that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, did not remit N3.2trn into the Federation account in 2014. He added that $235,685,861, being the proceeds from the sale of gas sale accruable to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, was never paid to the federation account.

The report also claimed that about $1.6m out of the contract sum of $2.3m, meant to build a school by Nigeria in Haiti in 2010, had been paid without the project being executed up until now.
"As of the time of inspection, there was no evidence of a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and the Haitian Government for the construction of the school. More so, the location of the school was not affected by earthquake in 2010. Therefore, the purpose for which the money was given could not be achieved.”‎he said

Singer Kenny St Best Releases New Gorgeous Photoshoot Of Herself

She is really looking gorgeous.... View more pictures below

Medical Students In Nigeria To Spend 11 Years In University – NUC

Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Julius Okojie

Medical students in Nigeria have been mandated by the National Universities Commission to spend eleven years in the university.

According to the Punch, this mandate was made during the lecture “Development of Medical Education: Prospects and Challenges”, presented by Professor Chiedu Mafiana on behalf of the commission’s Executive Secretary Professor Julius Okojie at the maiden matriculation and inauguration of the University of Medical Science, Ondo State.

He explained that the first four years will be spent studying basic sciences in the university while the next seven years will be spent at the medical school. This, he maintained, would aid the students’ psychological growth and prepare them for the future.

The Governor of Ondo State Olusegun Mimiko was also in attendance and while expressing his optimism about the school, he stated that the university should make the most of the medical complex around the institution in conducting medical research.

He affirmed, “It is our hope and belief that it will provide sound scientific, technological and professional training to address identified health needs and problems, solve them within the context of community and national needs and sustainable development.”

Lekki Building Collapse: Ambode Sacks MD Of Building Control Agency And 3 Others

In the wake of the Lekki Gardens building collapse, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday approved the dismissal of the General Manager of the Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Engr. Adeigbe Olushola.

The Governor also approved the dismissal of the Head of Inspection and Quality Control in the Agency, Adeoye Thomas Adeyemi, the Zonal District Officer in the Agency, Dosunmu Gbadebo, while the Zonal Head of Eti-Osa West of the Agency, Mrs. Akinde Adenike Sherifat was compulsorily retired from the Civil Service.

Governor Ambode in a statement signed by the State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola, said the affected officers were dismissed having been indicted of negligence, which according to him, is an act of misconduct under the Public Service Rule 040401. Rule 040401 of the Public Service act of misconduct states inter alia: “a willful act of omission or general misconduct to the scandal of the pubic or to the prejudice of discipline and proper administration of the State Government” should be visited with dismissal from the Public Service in line with the Public Service Rule 040503.

The Head of Service said the disciplinary measure was the outcome of the recommendations of the Personnel Management Board to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was personally grieved by the high number of fatalities that occurred as a result of the building collapse. She also warned public officials, private building owners or contractors who violate or subvert building regulations that it would no longer be business as usual, saying that the dismissal of the officers will serve as a wake-up call to public servants.

“It is also a clarion call to them to be alive to their responsibilities as any act of negligence will face sanctions, while hardworking officers will be rewarded appropriately,” the Head of Service said. It would be recalled that on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, a building under construction at Lekki Gardens, Ikusenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, collapsed as a result of which many people died, and the State Government immediately mobilised all its rescue team comprising the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), among others, which led to the successful rescue of over 15 persons alive.

SIGNED
OLABOWALE ADEMOLA
HEAD OF SERVICE LAGOS STATE
MARCH 14, 2016

Nigeria Police Force Reinstates Officer Who Was Verbally Dismissed 21 Years Ago

Sergeant Amos Olaniyan (pictured right) who was verbally dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force in 1994 over allegations of collecting bribe, has been reinstated into the force after the senate intervened in his matter. Olaniyan was verbally dismissed in 1994 on a baseless allegation of bribery which an Orderly Room Trial discharged and acquitted him of but the police refused to recall him..

Senator Solomon Adeola had petitioned the senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition over his dismissal. The committee did its investigations and found out the allegations leveled against Olaniyan were false. The senate during its plenary on December 15th 2015, had ordered that Olaniyan be reinstated and all his entitlements paid. Pictured above is Olaniyan receiving his reinstatement letter with his entitlement to be paid from October 11st, 1994 to August 11st, 2015. This is a good one from Senator Solomon Adeola, I'm sure Mr Olaniyan will be forever grateful.