Harry and Meghan named among the 'world's 100 most influential people' by Time Magazine

"A VERY airbrushed photo shoot" - Daily Mail.

PDP Governors Beg National Assembly To Rescue Nigeria's Democracy

The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum has appealed to the National Assembly to rescue Nigeria’s democracy by passing necessary amendments to the Electoral Act, Punch reports.

Specifically, according to the report, the forum urged the lawmakers to rise above partisan politics to pass the amendment to allow for the electronic transfer of election results.

This was contained in a statement titled, ‘Electronic Transmission: PDP Governors Forum Tasks National Assembly Conference Committee To Rescue Nigeria’s Democracy… Asks NASS to be guided by patriotism and national interest.’

TOP 150921 NEWS SNIPPETS

'When it comes to poverty, an already tragic situation has been worsened by the battering Africa’s fragile economies took from the coronavirus pandemic. One in three people are now unemployed in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy. The same goes for South Africa, the most industrialised African nation. It is now estimated that the number of extremely poor people in sub-Saharan Africa has crossed the 500 million mark, half the population.

'One of the key reasons for coups in Africa is “sit-tightism” of political leaders. Many of the leaders have had to tinker with constitutional provisions in order to extend their stay in office. According to a May 17, 2021 African Centre for Strategic Studies report titled, “Circumvention of Term Limits Weakens Governance in Africa”, the think-tank posited that Africa has seen a reversal in term limit norms since 2015 as leaders of 13 countries had evaded or overseen the further weakening of term limit restrictions that had been in place. The countries are: Algeria, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Others include, Egypt, Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Togo and Uganda.

'The report stated further that, “The lack of effective term limits has resulted in Africa having 10 leaders who have ruled for over 20 years and two family dynasties that have been in power for more than 50 years”. In Gabon, there is Bongo dynasty which has been on for 53 years; in Togo, the Eyadema dynasty has been on for 53 years; Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang, has been in power for 41 years, while Cameroon’s Paul Biya has been in power for 38 years. King Mswati III of Eswatini and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda have been in power for 34 years each. Before Idris Déby, 68, was assassinated by rebels on April 20, 2021, he was president of Chad for 30 years. Eriteria’s Isaias Afwerk has been in power for 27 years while Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of the Congo has been president for 23 years. Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Gwelleh has been leading his country for 21 years likewise King Mohammed VI of Morocco.  Paul Kagame on his part has led Rwanda for 20 years and still counting.

Met Gala 2021: Photos From The Red Carpet

 Photos: Getty Images / Collage by David Vo

Founded by Eleanor Lambert, the Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit and also known as the Met Ball, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit.

According to a report by Vogue, the Met Gala is typically held on the first Monday in May, but this year, the event was postponed due to COVID-19 and fell right in the middle of fashion month—meaning the stakes for stellar style on the red carpet were especially high. Last night, September 13th, fashion’s biggest night was held at its usual location: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The gala was in celebration of the Costume Institute’s newest exhibition, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which opens to the public in the Anna Wintour Costume Center on September 18th.

IT’S AN EXPERIENCE

A love photo has just broken Joseph’s long-time relationship. Not guilty though, but the pose from the photo seems a terrific evidence that he’s been two-timing his fiancée, Comfort. The whole world is against the lover-boy and despite his plea of innocence to Comfort and concerned friends the relationship seems to have finally approached a dead end. But as soon as he eventually accepts his defeat and move on with his life with a new found lover Comfort suddenly shows up with a pregnancy and an apology written all over her, claiming she’s carrying his baby.

Now, this is not a true life story. But if you were to do a resolution for this story what would it be? Yes, rack your brain on it guys.

We learned that unity is the one thing that must never break - Joe Biden

The Tribute in Light installation in New York, ahead of the 9/11 commemorations   Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The September 11 attacks commonly referred to as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, Manhattan, Shanksville, Stonycreek Township, Arlington County by the militant Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States of America on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 at about 1:46 pm WAT with an estimated fatalities of about 3,000 persons.

VAT Collection Tussle: Court Of Appeal Orders States To Halt Enforcement

A Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has stopped the State Governments of Rivers and Lagos from collecting Value Added Taxes (VAT), pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

A three-man panel of the appellate court ordered that the enforcement of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, latched on to by the state governments be put on hold, Premium Times reports.

According to the report, Haruna Tsanami, the judge who delivered the lead ruling of the panel, also suspended the operation of the law passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly and assented to by Governor Nyesom Wike, for the collection of VAT by the State government.

John Rucker on a turtle-saving mission

“The more people know about box turtles, the more friends they have.”

Turtle tracker John Rucker and his six Boykin spaniels are on a mission to keep box turtles, North Carolina’s official state reptile, safe from threats to their natural habitat in the 1,000-acre Sherwood Forest neighborhood, the Guardian reports.

According to the report, a species in decline, the slow-living box turtle is vulnerable to everything we do as humans, and because they’re camouflaged and relatively secretive, they are hard to find, which makes studying their population and health inherently difficult.

But with the help of his dogs, 74-year-old Rucker is determined to keep his “kinship” with the turtles going, the report stated further

Bauchi to host World Tourism Day September 27 — Official

The Bauchi State Government says it has completed arrangements to host representatives of the 36 states of the federation for the celebration of the 2021 World Tourism Day slated for between 27th and 29th September, 2021.

The General Manager of the state’s Tourism Board, Malam Nasir Yusuf made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Bauchi, on Friday.

Malam Yusuf disclosed that various tourism activities had been lined up for the event with adequate security measures put in place, while the mandatory COVID-19 protocols would strictly be observed through the event.

He mentioned the scheduled activities to be performed to include, a march pass from the Emir’s palace to the Government House by tourism stakeholders wearing branded tourism regalia on a visit to the state governor.

NIGERIAN YOUTHS CAUTIONED BY PMAN AGAINST VIOLENCE

The Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) has advised Nigerian youths to shun violence and embrace peace to ensure peaceful co-existence in the country, NAN reports.

Dovie Mena, Chairman PMAN FCT stakeholders forum popularly known as Baba 2010, said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday.

 “Nigerian youths must shun violence and see themselves as future leaders”, Mena, who is also an afro-highlife legendary musician, said.

LAGOS ASSEMBLY LAUDED FOR PASSING VAT, ANTI-OPEN GRAZING BILLS

The Lagos state chapter of the Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC) has commended members of the Lagos State House of Assembly for passing the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Anti-Open Grazing bills 2021, saying they were “timely and met the yearnings of the people”, the Eagle Online report.

In the report, Mr Abiodun Salami, IPAC’s publicity secretary, in a statement on Friday described the action of the House as a bold step towards bringing a harmonious relationship among all the ethnic groups in the state.

According to IPAC, the bills will not only enhance the economy of the state, but also guide against lawlessness.

Nigeria’s President Buhari Arrives Owerri on a One-Day Official Visit

President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived Owerri, the Imo State capital where he would inaugurate some developmental projects executed by the State Government.

The president was received at Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport by Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo, the Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ebonyi, Dave Umahi, and the All Progressives Congress Anambra State gubernatorial candidate, Andy Uba, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

According to the report, others at the airport to welcome the president included some cabinet Ministers and Presidential aides from the South East,the Executive Secretary of NALDA, Mr Paul Ikonne, as well as other Federal and State government officials.

More than 60% of the VAT from Lagos is taken from Lagos and given to states like Kano and others - Omokri

FROM THE IG DESK OF RENO OMOKRI

Yesterday, Kano’s Hisbah seized and destroyed 5,760 Cartons of Beer. Yet, Kano gets the lion’s share from VAT on beer. This is hypocrisy! I am solidly with Wike on this. Nigeria’s current federalism is built on a foundation of injustice and that unjust foundation must be destroyed and replaced with an equitable one. And these are the very same people agitating against the Anti-Open Grazing Law that the Southern states want to pass. You reject alcohol, but want to impose killer herdsmen on us? More than 60% of the VAT from Lagos is taken from Lagos and given to states like Kano and others. Nigeria’s current federalism is a parasitic relationship. We must all insist on the rights of states to collect VAT as the court and law provides. The monkey can no longer work for the baboon to eat.

PRESIDENCY LISTS “JINXES” BROKEN BY BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION

Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari

The Presidency has listed numerous jinxes broken by the Buhari administration in recent times.

Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina listed the jinxes in a special write-up on Sunday in Abuja.

 

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

JINXES BROKEN BY THE MUHAMMADU BUHARI ADMINISTRATION—PRESIDENCY

A giant-sized jinx was broken recently when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced a first Net Profit in the 44-year history of the organization. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as Minister for Petroleum Resources, the oil conglomerate announced a first-ever profit of N287 billion. Such had never happened before.

But that was by no means the only major jinx broken in the lifetime of the Buhari administration. They abound. And here are just some of them. The list is by no means exhaustive:

Policies and legislation:

*Petroleum Industry Bill signed into law in 2021, after almost two decades in the works. It is aimed at reforming a Petroleum Act dating back to 1969, as well as other supplementary laws and regulations.

*Deep Offshore and Inland Basin (Production Sharing Contracts) Act, 2019, amended for the first time since 1993.

*More than 6 billion dollars of inherited Cash Call Arrears now being cleared by the Buhari Administration, since 2016. More than 3 billion dollars of the arrears (payments due to International Oil Companies) have since been paid.

*The Buhari Administration has overseen the first successful Marginal Fields Bid Round in almost 20 years.

*The Buhari Administration has launched the first National Social Investment Programme in the country’s history. Today it is the largest Social Investment Programme in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

A 76-YEAR-OLD ARTISAN EMPOWERED WITH MODERN WORKING TOOLS

Today, our administration empowered 2000 artisans with modern working tools to start their trade with the biggest revelation being 76 years old Pa Fawole Johnson Alade who showed us that there is no age too old to learn.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the submission on his social media handle yesterday.

‘Shapeshifting’ now obvious in animals in response to climate change

The gang-gang cockatoo is one of the species whose bills have been increasing in size as the climate grows hotter. Photograph: William Robinson/Alamy

According to research, animals are increasingly “shapeshifting” because of the climate crisis.

As such, warm-blooded animals are physiologically, getting larger beaks, legs and ears to adapt to a hotter climate and to better regulate their temperature.

With the differences becoming more pronounced as the climate warms, when animals overheat, birds use their beaks and mammals use their ears to disperse the warmth and some creatures in warmer climates have historically evolved to have larger beaks or ears to get rid of heat more easily, the Guardian reports.

According to the report, if animals fail to control their body temperature, they can overheat and die just as  beaks, which are not covered by feathers and therefore not insulated, are a site of significant heat exchange, as are ears, tails and legs in mammals if not covered by fur.

The beak of the mulga parrot (Psephotus varius) has been increasing in size. Photograph: Minden Pictures/Alamy  

The review, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, found that the differences are particularly pronounced in birds, according to the report, as the author of the study, Sara Ryding of Deakin University, a bird researcher, said: “Shapeshifting does not mean that animals are coping with climate change and that all is fine.

“It just means they are evolving to survive it – but we’re not sure what the other ecological consequences of these changes are, or indeed that all species are capable of changing and surviving.”

While the scientists say it is difficult to pinpoint climate breakdown as the sole cause of the shapeshifting, it is what the instances studied have in common across geographical regions and across a diverse array of species like the Australian parrot that have shown a 4-10% increase in bill size since 1871, positively correlated with the summer temperature each year, the report stated further.

Miyetti Allah begs Buhari, NASS to stop implementation of anti-open grazing laws by states

Miyetti Allah

FULANI cattle breeders in the country have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to do anything possible to frustrate anti-open grazing laws being passed by some states across the country, describing the laws as satanic against their age-long tradition, Vanguard Newspaper reports.

According to the report, the cattle breeders operating under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore, expressed concerns over the actions of the states, particularly Southern states, insisting that they were counterproductive to their known economic business.

The group, at a press conference in Abuja, decried the ranching method of rearing cattle as captured in the anti-open grazing laws, noting that: “Ranching as envisage by many requires massive capital investment and difficult to sustain, not economical and is not small livestock holder centered”, the report stated further.

Governor Bello Masari bares it all on Anti-Open Grazing and Ranching Option

Bello Masari, Katsina State Governor

Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari in a live interview on TVC News Politics Today, bares it all on banditry and related insurgencies in Nigeria. See the video below curtsey, TVC News:

Why a lot of people masturbate and how to stop masturbation - Blessing

Okoro Blessing Nkiruka,  a relationship and mental expert in a video on her IG provides all you need to know about masturbation and self control over an act which she considers an addiction. See the video below:

Kotansibe (It's not yet finished)

King OYEYEMI orders the assassination of Chief ABIODUN KOTANSIBE purposely to inherit his farmland, the only fertile piece of land in the community.

Now as Chairman of the farmlands association, Oyeyemi retrenches all the workers and replaces them with his choice personnel, his idea of rotational employment.

Given a very successful retrenchment exercise, Oyeyemi later endorses a sharp price increase of all his farm produce, a development which indirectly shoots up the prices of every other item in the market.

TOP 070921 NEWS SNIPPETS

“When the epistemology of Northern traditional institutions would be written, however, it will be recorded that while Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, the deposed emir of Kano, thought it more profound and reverential to be called and addressed simply as “Sarkin Kano”, a certain Adanno thought the title had become too debased and common that he needed a higher, more exclusive order of preferment. He wanted to be called sultan instead.

“When mad men under the franchise of Boko Haram or their affiliates maim, murder, rape and destroy in the name of Allah, claiming that if they die, a bevy of brides awaits them at the entrance of paradise, you might expect the spiritual curator of the religion to either keep quiet or admonish such fanatics behind closed doors.

“At least in the religious cauldron that Nigeria has turned out to be. But that’s not the Sultan that Abubakar III is – or has been. He tells the mad men in plain language, which he repeated in a recent meeting I had with him, that: “They’ll go straight to hell!” And he says so publicly, too. That no one can kill in Allah’s name and hope to find shelter in paradise.

Straight A’s across the board for the @cplusseries Sept 2020 lookbook … the revolutionary brand returns to the #NYFW runway one year later - Fashion week

FROM THE IG DESK OF FASHION WEEK

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Sarah Harding Goes Home At 39

(C) Getty Images

Sarah Harding, 39, known for singing with the British pop group Girls Aloud, has died after a battle with breast cancer, her mother said Sunday via an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sarah Harding (@sarahnicoleharding)

The singer said last August that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and it had spread to other parts of her body, USA Today Life reports.

FG to recover millions of naira paid to 588 doctors

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige

Nigeria’s Federal Government will recover millions of naira wrongly paid to 588 medical doctors across the country.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, stated this while answering questions from State House correspondents in Abuja.

According to the minister, the affected doctors wrongly benefitted from Medical Residency Training Fund meant for a particular category of doctors.

He said the names of the doctors were uncovered after a thorough scrutinisation of the 8000 names submitted by Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government health institutions for the training programme.

While maintaining that the delay in making the refund by the affected doctors was holding back the Residency Fund payment by the government Ngige, however, revealed that a substantial amount of the money had been refunded by some of the affected doctors while efforts had been intensified to recover the remaining balance.

Kotansibe and Ama Ebony - expected resolutions, earlier delayed but now back on track

Previously, we brought you this information -

"If you have been following KOTANSIBE and AMA EBONY, both of which are story entrants on the stable of Ward9ice on the SEB we do apologize that you may have to wait a bit further to have their resolutions.

The reason for this action is not unconnected with the fact that Ward9ice is making a U-turn from its FULL story telling format to just providing the SYPNOSIS to enable you rack your brains and participate better in the Ward9ice franchise.

The two story entries would be reformatted to fit into Ward9ice’s latest narrative format as stated below:

On this platform Ward9ice will henceforth publish and share with you stories of your fancy in a short, interactive and exciting format to keep you informed, educated and above all, very creative.

As such we would only share with you the story synopsis and allow you then to provide whatever desiring resolutions you think befits the storyline or perhaps, just generally lend a comment to the possible true-life-situation(s) of the story.

Guess what, every story entry of the Ward9ice series would also be published on our Instagram page: SEB to enlarge the participation.

The Ward9ice Series comes weekly on the SEB and we indeed, can do it together."

However, we are pleased to inform you that due to popular demand both Ama Ebony and Kotansibe are back on track in their usual formats. Thanking you all for your love and concern and patronage.