Category: Online Special
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World Toilet Day: Reasons you should use a toilet
World Toilet Day is a day recognised by the United Nations to motivate and mobilize millions around the world on issues of sanitation.
2.4 billion people lack access to improved sanitation and nearly 1 billion people (15 per cent of the world population) defecate in the open.
The theme for 2015 World Toilet Day is ‘Sanitation and Nutrition’.
Identified as the day for action and raising awareness about all the people who do not have access to a toilet, it emphasizes the urgent need to end the sanitation crisis.
Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets Clean Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.
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Petrol price soars as scarcity persists nationwide
Pump price of petrol has continued to increase in towns across the country as scarcity of the product persists on Wednesday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
A survey by NAN in major cities across the country shows that long queues have characterised the few fuel stations that are selling the product, while others remained closed.
Some residents in Osun expressed worry over the lingering scarcity of petrol, which according to them, has worsened the living conditions of the people.
Mr Sulaimon Ayoola, a commercial driver at Orita-Sabo in Osogbo, said the scarcity of petrol was adversely affecting businesses in the area.
He said that a litre of petrol was being sold for between N120 and N140 per litre at few fuel stations with long queues.
Mrs Tejumola Oso, a trader in the Orisunbare Market in Osogbo, said the high transport fares, caused by the scarcity of petrol, had affected sales in the market.
She urged the Federal Government to quickly intervene to ease the sufferings of the people.
A Public Affairs Analyst, Mr Dotun Deinde, described the current situation as unfortunate and urged government to immediately arrest the situation.
NAN reports that the situation was the same in Keffi in Nasarawa State as residents agreed that government should end to the lingering fuel scarcity.
Mrs Cecilia Austin, a commuter, said she paid N700 from Keffi to Lafia against the usual N500.
She said the scarcity of the petroleum products was causing untold hardship to her and many others in the area.
She advised the Federal Government to take strong measures against petroleum dealers and marketers who were hoarding petroleum products.
Austin advised government and marketers to address the problem immediately for social and economic development of the country.
“It is unfortunate and uncalled for that some selfish fuel marketers are creating artificial scarcity of petroleum products in the country.
Mr Emmanuel Anejuka, another commuter, urged government to quickly address the difficulties being experienced by Nigerians.
Mr Haruna Abdullahi, a commercial driver, accused fuel stations of sharp practices, saying that many of them had adjusted their metres above the N87.00 per litre official pump price.
Ayuba Danjuma, another motorist, said that petrol scarcity had forced him and other drivers in the area to resort to patronising the black market.
NAN reports that only three fuel stations were dispensing fuel with long queues out of the 13 fuel stations in Keffi.
Residents in Owerri and other communities in Imo also urged the Federal Government to urgently address the scarcity to ease the sufferings of Nigerians.
Correspondents of NAN, who monitored petrol sales in Owerri and other towns across Imo, report that petrol was being sold between N140 and N200 per litre.
Many fuel stations on Port Harcourt Road, Orji Road, and Egbu Road in Owerri sold a litre of the product for between N150 and N165 per litre.
NAN also reports that the petrol stations in other parts of the town sold the product for between N170 and N200 per litre.
Mr Ndubuisi Emenike, a motorist, appealed to the President to find solution to the lingering petrol scarcity to restore the confidence of Nigerians on the APC-led government.
“During the 2015 general elections, Nigerians massively supported the ‘’Change’’ mantra of the APC on the grounds that things will get better,’’.
Another motorist, Mrs Ngozi Duru, said she went out as early as 6.45 a.m. with her children in school uniforms in the hope of getting petrol, but could not find the product to buy.
NAN reports that intra-city and inter-city transport fares across Imo have gone up by more than 100 per cent due to the hike in the pump price of petrol.
In Port Harcourt, most filling stations in the city were yet to commence sale of the product to motorists.
Residents lamented the scarcity in spite of claims by the NNPC on Nov. 16 that it had deployed 38.277 million litres of petrol to depots across the country.
Many fuel stations in the area visited by NAN sold the product for between N200 to N215 per litre.
NAN reports that some petrol vendors are taking advantage of the situation as a 10-litre jerry-can of petrol now goes for N3, 000, while 20-litre can cost N6, 000.
One NNPC filling station in the city sold the product at the official pump price of N87 per litre, but with long queues of motorists and other users.
Prices of other petroleum products such as kerosene and diesel have remained unchanged at government approved prices of N50 and N125 per litre, respectively.
A manager of a major filling station in the city told NAN, on condition of anonymity, that petroleum depots and tank farms were hoarding products over subsidy arrears owed by the Federal Government.
The source said that depot owners now sold the petrol at high prices at night.
“We load petrol at a very high rate at depots and as such we have to also sell at a higher price so as to make profit,’’ he said.
According to him, if government does not intervene quickly, the product will be sold as high as N300 to N500 per litre in the next one to two weeks.
On the reasons most stations’ metres still read N87 per litre whereas they sell above the official price, the source said the concealment was for fear of being sanctioned by the authorities.
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MasterCard to launch facial recognition payment service
The Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) said that MasterCard would soon launch a facial recognition payment service to tackle the risk of increasing cybercrimes.
Mrs Onajite Regha, the Chief Executive Officer of E-PPAN, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
Regha said that the development was part of the company’s vision to discontinue with the use of password for online payments.
“MasterCard’s facial recognition will roll out to only about 500 users at first, with major hardware and software companies like Apple,
Microsoft and others along with two banks already on board the venture.
“Through this system, your phone can tell the difference between your unique face and that of your siblings,’’ she said.
Regha, who is also the Executive Secretary of E-PPAN, said that the Automated Teller Machine (ATMs) based on biometrics had been the subject of discussion for years.
She said that China had unveiled the world first facial recognition ATM, which would not allow users to withdraw cash, unless their faces match their identification.
The E-PPAN officer said the machine had inbuilt camera which captures the facial features of the users compared with a database of identification photos.
According to her, the machine can also identify people if their facial features changes.
Regha also said that the machine would help the police to crackdown on a range of financial crimes.
She said that it would prevent thieves from accessing other peoples’ accounts.
“The ATM records the serial number of every bank note deposited and any client who deposited fake money can be identified.
“It is 20 per cent more accurate at verifying the authenticity of multiple currencies compared to the average ATM being used globally,’’ Regha said
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‘She was carrying another man’s child, yet planning to wed me!’
Follow @Escapades007
What kind of woman would do what Cyndi did to me? This is a lady that I invested so much in- love, attention, money- just name it. I gave it all to her and more. I even went against my parents’ wishes. They were never In support of my relationship with her right from the beginning. Their reasons were many and to me, mostly unreasonable.Not just that, the woman had later left the said relative and gone on to have more children for four other men none of whom she had married. “Is that the kind of girl you want to marry, with a mother like that?” stated my mother when I had announced to them of my intentions of marrying Cyndi about seven months after we first met.
“But Mum, that is her mother, not her! Cyndi’s different,” I had insisted.
“In what manner? A lot of daughters tow the same path their own mothers took. Its called blood, my son,” my mother had countered.My father, who had just entered the living room, grunted and addressed me:
“Jeff, I think you should listen to your mother. There’s a saying that a goat does not give birth to a tiger and vice versa. The same applies to humans- its what we have inside, our attributes that we give to our children.”
“Meaning?” I queried.The argument had continued until I had got fed up with them and stormed out of the house. That was the last time I saw them for nearly two months. I stayed away from home and put up with my friend, Reggie at his apartment. Later, my mother who could not bear my absence from home any longer came over to plead with me to return home.
“The house is not the same without you. Please come home, my son. Your father and I miss you,” she had said that evening. As the only son and last born out of four children, I was my mother’s favourite and ‘pet’. She usually did and gave me whatever I wanted except on the issue of Cyndi.“How can I come home when you and my Dad have ganged up against me, depriving me of my happiness and joy,” I stated accusingly.
“My dear, that’s where you are wrong. Your father and I want the best for you. That’s the reason for our stand on this matter,” my mother said. Then, after a slight pause, she added: “Well, if you want this girl so much, then you can go ahead with your marriage. Your father and I don’t want any girl to come between us and affect the unity and love of our family.”
I was so happy to hear that, I jumped up from my seat and hugged her so much, she cried out:
“Hey, not so tight o, so you don’t break these old bones. Your mother is no longer a young woman!” I laughed and hugged her even tighter…At the phone office
I first met Cyndi when I had gone to the company where she worked, to make complaints about a phone I had bought from them. They were top dealers in phones and accessories and she was the customer care personnel who was assigned to me. Perhaps, it was the efficient and polite manner she attended to me mixed with her innocent, alluring looks that drew me to her. For, after my problem had been sorted out, I called her and invited her for lunch. She accepted and after that first day, we began to see regularly.It did not take long before I fell deeply in love with her. In Cyndi, I seem to have found all I had been looking for in a woman, something that was lacking in the previous relationships I had had. So, despite my parents’ non-acceptance of her, I made up my mind that she was going to be my wife. At 31, I felt I was old enough to know what was good for me and Cyndi was all I wanted…
With parental approval given, there were no more obstacles and I happily looked forward to a bright future with my sweetheart. The saying, ‘Man proposes, God disposes’ was the last thing on my mind when Cyndi and I began plans in earnest for our wedding. My parents wanted something really elaborate with all the razzmatazz of a society wedding.“I want to show off to my friends who have been organising big weddings for their children, that I, Beatrice can have a wedding for my son that will be the talk of the town for years,” she boasted one evening. She had shown me the guest list which was so long, it looked as if we would need a hall the size of ten football fields to accommodate everybody.
“Mum, is it now a competition? A case of my wedding is bigger than yours?” I asked with a slight smile.“Call it whatever you like. All I know is that this city will ‘shake’ that day, and everyone will talk of nothing else but the wedding,” she enthused. On my part, I didn’t care how elaborate the wedding was; all I cared about was Cyndi, and as long as she showed up, I was fine.
One evening, I had gone to see Cyndi at her home in respect of our preparations. As I approached her house, I saw her getting down from an SUV parked by the roadside. I watched as she spoke to someone at the back of the vehicle, before turning into her gate.
“Sweetie, I saw you talking to someone as I drove in. Who was it?” I enquired on getting to her flat.“In the jeep? Oh, that was my uncle,” she disclosed.
Besides her father and two brothers whom I had met, I was not aware she had other male relatives.
“He has been living in Canada for years. He just came home for a visit and when I told him about our wedding, he promised to sponsor our honeymoon to any country of our choice,” she explained.
“Wow, that’s really generous of him. Will like to meet him before the wedding. When will you see him again?”
Looking back now in view of what occurred later, I should not have taken everything she told me at face value. But you see, I loved this lady so much and trusted and believed in her…For Archive, Visit Patience Saduwa
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Sales: Online shopping booms as grocery operators lament
Operators of large supermarkets and small businesses have raised alarm over a sharp drop in their sales, following the booming online shopping in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet.
Alternative names of the system include e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, online store, online storefront and virtual store.
Some of the managers of the stores, who spoke with NAN, complained that e-commerce had slowed down their businesses as well as reduced volume of sales.
The system has also caused decline in revenues accruing to state governments which have not perfected mechanisms to monitor activities of operators and collect revenues in their states.
A survey on the operation of online shops in some major cities of the country, including Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, shows that small business operators are complaining of low patronage.
Mr. Kazeem Olagoke, Manager, Samsung Telecommunications, in Abeokuta, noted that the ease in buying products online made such system more attractive to clients than buying from open markets.
“Many people prefer to sit within the confines of their rooms and order for goods online which are being delivered to them without sweats.
“You know it saves them transport cost, stress and time they could have spent to purchase the goods at physical markets.
“So it is increasingly becoming difficult to attract and maintain clients,” he said.
Mr. Adeyemi Johnson, Manager, Shallom Mega Stores at Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, noted that online shopping “has created serious competition in the physical market”.
“Owners of the online businesses have their agents all around, who even visit our stores and lure away our clients.’’
Dr Michael Simpson, a Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, however, described online shopping as a positive trend in Nigeria.
He noted that the development had contributed significantly to the entrepreneurial skill of Nigeria, particularly the youth.
According to Mrs. Adenike Ajala, a civil servant, the advantages of online shopping is that online stores are opened 24 hours daily and internet offered many resources for products and price comparisons.
“It provides customers with a wider range of products and services, many which cannot be found at the physical markets,” she said.
Following the trend in business lull in open markets and the booming e-business, the Kaduna State Government said it planned to set up a structure to monitor the platforms with physical presence in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Malam Shehu Balarabe, said the ministry had begun to identify and locate all online-shopping outlets in the state.
“We need to know where they are and how they operate with a view to checkmate their activities,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that the measure had become necessary to protect consumers from fraudsters who would take advantage of internet’s free highway to swindle consumers.
He noted the need to enlighten the public on the advantages and the dangers of online-markets that were fast gaining popularity with improved internet access.
Mr. Jenom Nyam, a Kaduna businessman who utilised online platforms for over 10 years, said highlighted the high risk associated with it and the need for monitoring.
“Sometimes when you make purchase online, after supplying your credit card details, money would be deducted from your account, but the goods will never get to you.’’
However, an economist with the Kaduna State Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mr. Yusuf Auta, said in spite of the huge risk associated with e-shopping, government could still tap from its huge revenue potentials.
Auta explained that the platforms provided huge employment opportunities and wide range of taxes that could be derived from the markets, if allowed to flourish.
“Manpower is needed to run the market, thereby creating employment opportunities.
“ The staff are paid salaries and obliged to pay Personal Income Tax (PIT) which is a huge source of revenue to the government.’’
“Also, the organisations that run online-market platforms usually have physical presence where their goods are stocked for delivery to customers; government could charge ground rent on the land,’’ he said.
Financial experts in Port Harcourt expressed divergent views on the potentials and benefits of the platform to the nation`s economy.
Mr Emmanuel Jumbo, a management expert, said the system was not in the interest of the nation`s economy.
“ It makes the buyer to pay more for any service.
“ For instance, I ordered for a handset (phone) worth N28,000. I paid extra N2,000 as cost of delivery. It means that for anything you buy online, you pay extra.
“ Meanwhile, the owner of the shop pays nothing as tax to government because he does not have a rented shop and operates from home,“ he said.
However, Ephraims Okon, a stockbroker, said online shopping had brought a new dimension to commerce in the country.
He also said that the proprietors paid tax to government because they also bought such goods from somewhere and in the process, paid Value Added Tax.
Corroborating the position, the Director, Communications and Liaison Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr. Emmanuel Obeta, said the operators were collecting agents, working on behalf of the Federal Government.
Obeta said that every item sold by the online shop was inclusive of VAT element of five per cent, which would be remitted to the FIRS.
“The five per cent VAT is attached to every product you buy so long as this goods is not VAT exempted.“ At the end of every month, these online shops which operate as registered businesses, when piling up their returns, remit the VAT to us (FIRS),” Obeta said.
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Maternal mortality drop by 44 percent – UN
Maternal mortality has fallen by 44 percent since 1990, United Nations agencies and the World Bank Group has declared.
In a Joint news release by the World health organisation (WHO), UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United nations Population Division Maternal deaths around the world dropped from about 532 000 in 1990 to an estimated 303 000 this year.
According to the report, this is the last in a series that has looked at progress under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This equates to an estimated global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 216 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, down from 385 in 1990.
Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy, childbirth or within six weeks after birth.
According to WHO Assistant Director-General, Family, Women’s and Children’s Health Dr Flavia Bustreo, “The MDGs triggered unprecedented efforts to reduce maternal mortality. Over the past 25 years, a woman’s risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes has nearly halved. That’s real progress, although it is not enough. We know that we can virtually end these deaths by 2030 and this is what we are committing to work towards.”
Achieving that goal will require much more effort, according to Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations’ Population Fund. “Many countries with high maternal death rates will make little progress, or will even fall behind, over the next 15 years if we don’t improve the current number of available midwives and other health workers with midwifery skills,” he said. “If we don’t make a big push now, in 2030 we’ll be faced, once again, with a missed target for reducing maternal deaths.”
The analyses contained in Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015 – Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division are being published simultaneously in the medical journal The Lancet.
Ensuring access to high-quality health services during pregnancy and child birth is helping to save lives. Essential health interventions include: practising good hygiene to reduce the risk of infection; injecting oxytocin immediately after childbirth to reduce the risk of severe bleeding; identifying and addressing potentially fatal conditions like pregnancy-induced hypertension; and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health services and family planning for women.
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Training next set of tech savvy investigative reporters
For five awesome days, 11 selected reporters from various news medium including the well acclaimed Al Jazeera took time off the rigours of normal reportorial duties to learn rudiments and innovative strategies in investigative reporting at the Access Nigeria Investigative Reporting Training.
Held from October 26th to 30th at the prestigious Barcelona hotel, FCT Abuja, the training was organized by the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).
Welcoming participants at the opening of the training, Mr. Temitope Shaba, IWPR Project Manager charged them not to disappoint the expectations of the organizers who have partnered with other civil organizations to invest in the reporters.
He noted that the selection of participants for the training exercise was a very competitive process with close to 80 applications received out of which only 11 journalists were picked.
The training was facilitated by the Executive Director of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Mr. Dayo Aiyetan and Mr Musikilu Mojeed, the Managing editor of Premium Times.
Also on hand to handle a practical session on introduction to Data journalism was Mr. Joshua Olafemi, the lead person on Knowledge and Innovation at Premium Times and Ms Gift Omoidedia, a senior program officer of Public and Private Development Centre, Abuja.
With practical demonstrations and group exercise, participants were trained on a wide range of topics such as basic techniques for data gathering, analysis and visualization, introduction to investigative journalism, introduction to data journalism, how to generate story ideas and story planning, investigative interviewing, working with documents, media ethics and professionalism.
Other aspects which the trainers also harped on include; public procurement system and the Nigerian security sector, researching investigative stories/research tools, security for journalists reporting in hostile or unsafe environments, sources for investigative projects, use of the freedom of information Act for Journalists, etc.
On the fourth day, participants were divided into two groups for a reporting trip around the city. The facilitators charged them to work on the hypothesis: “Nigeria seems to have let down its guard regarding Ebola Virus Disease. Investigate!”. The two groups while striving to outdo each other told their stories in exciting ways, impressing the duo of Mr. Aiyetan and Mojeed.
Although both facilitators commended the efforts that went into both reports, they also helped in addressing areas the reporters should have accorded more attention.
The training, according to the organizers is part of activities under Accountable Governance for Justice and Security under Access Nigeria project. IWPR is said to be working in partnership with partners for Democratic Change (PDC) to implement the Access Nigeria project.
Other partners collaborating with IWPR on the project include CLEEN Foundation, BudgIT, Public and Private Development centre and Centre for Democracy and Development.
The programme is a continuous process as journalists in the investigative reporting programme will be able to access skills-building workshops and also get support from an investigative reporting innovation fund.
The participants would also be paired with mentors in order to connect them with experienced investigative reporters.
