The Nation Newspaper

Tag: partner

  • Getting right partner for marriage

    DEAR Harriet, I am in a relationship with a guy I met on the internet. He stays in Dubai and wants to marry me.

    I have not met him personally. How do I know if he is the right person for me? Thanks.

    Name withheld, Lagos

     

    Thanks for your message. Meeting someone is one thing, but keeping a healthy relationship with the person is another. Yes, some people met their future partners on the internet and some have also experienced disappointment and heartbreak, even death.

    Who knows? Some people are lucky, others are not, but a few things remain the same when it comes to relationships that we must not be overlooked. Getting the right person to spend the rest of your life with is one of the most important decisions that every unmarried person needs to make.

    The predicament that singles face with the issue of marriage should not be neglected. The question that should come to mind is, why do you want to marry? Is it because you want to be like the Joneses? Because if you don’t understand the purpose of marriage, you may not be able to walk, according to God’s plan for marriage.

    Remember, marriage is an institution ordained by God and his desire is for couples to find peace and joy in their marriage.  In today’s world, many young people want to marry for any of the following reasons:

    1. Desire to be free from parents or guardians,
    2. To fulfil sexual desire,
    3. To ease loneliness,
    4. To be happy,
    5. To prove to others that they are adults,
    6. They feel suddenly pregnant,
    7. Out of pity or sympathy for a young person around them that is lonely or needs help,
    8. Love for children and desire to have children they can call their own,
    9. Family financial situation, poor family and having seen a rich prospective partner who wishes he/she will be able to solve their family financial problems,
    10. All their friends and those younger than them are getting married,
    11. They have always wanted societal weddings that will be the talk of town,
    12. Out of fear that no one wants to marry them because of some reasons buried in their heads,
    13. They think that time is running out and
    14. They are tired of being single.

    As good as some of the reasons above may be, they are not satisfactory enough reasons on their own for them  to get married. They need more compelling reasons to decide to marry as marriage in itself will not solve all their problems as some people think.

    The step you are about to take is not an easy one. It is a life time commitment, so you must try as much as possible to be honest on everything, giving it time to know each other. If possible, it will be nice to arrange a meeting, make sure you don’t visit alone and it must be in a public place.

    Avoid going any way private with him. For safety reasons, carry out proper checks and be able to ask and answer truthful questions.  People can appear very different online, so don’t allow anybody to pressurize you into marriage when you are not ready. Before you say yes to his proposal, make sure it is really what you want and that you love each other enough.

    More so, consider the character of the person you want to marry and do not proceed until you have inner peace on it.  How does he relate with you because you are so far apart? It is very important you evaluate your relationship with him, especially in the aspect of communication.

    How often do you talk with each other? Are you open to one another? Does he respect you and share your dreams and aspirations? Is he the controlling type? What are his religious views? Do you have a common ground on spiritual issues? What’s his growing up like? Because you meet him on the internet, you should learn to follow.

    Take it slowly, face reality and think the proposal through and don’t be in a hurry. To know if the person is right for you, he must be ready to accept you’re past and present. Some people want to change everything about you.

    Whoever wants to marry you must be ready to accept you and must be prepared to work patiently on you with you for changes to take place without forcing you. Furthermore, you must know that there is no perfect being; happiness comes when we are committed to making someone else happy. It is about giving and taking. It is not about a selfish desire to just receive and not give out love.

    As you go about with your check list on him, make sure that you are also right for Mr. Right because it takes two to tangle. Sex before marriage should not be a determining factor to tell, if a person is the right one. Signs should not be taking for granted.

    A lot of marriages are suffering today simply because some people ignore the signs of violence, truancy, insensitivity, bully, selfishness, at the  very early stage of dating, with the expectations that they will change the person once they get married, forgetting that you can only change yourself not your partner by learning to live with his strengths and shortcomings.

    There is no statement like he or she was not like this at the beginning. No, the signs were always there, but you chose not to see them.

    Finally the decision is yours to make. Think the proposal through properly and good luck.

     

    Harriet ogbobine is a counselor and a motivational speaker. Send your questions and suggestions to her on bineharriet@gmail.com or txt message only 08023058805. You can also follow her on twitter: @bineharrietj

  • Singer Easy Lizzy, partner plan free summer classes

    Singer Easy Lizzy, partner plan free summer classes

    Upcoming singer and event planner, Taiwo Elizabeth Olapeju, aka Eazy Lizzy is fulfilling her other dreams in life, through a free summer programme for youths in three local government areas of Lagos State.

    The project, The Community Initiative for Child Education is in partnership with Hon Ayo Adesanya, the initiator of the programme.

    Speaking to The Nation, Easy Lizzy revealed that the organisation is set for a seminar tagged, Security Challenges of the Nigerian Child in Recent Times, noting that the program will run in three locations including Nathan Primary School, 24 Nathan Street, Surulere, on September 1, 2015; Alimosho LGA African Church Nursery and Primary School, Mosan, on September 2, 2015; and Isolo LCDA Secretariat, Osolo way, Isolo, on September 3, 2015.

    Eazy Lizzy is a dynamic and compassionate young lady who has an abiding love for disadvantaged youths, especially girls. She recently added youth education and empowerment to her schedule of duties as an entertainer.

    She revealed that from its humble beginnings, nine years ago, with 45 students at Nathan Primary school, Surulere, the non-profit organization has grown to giving free summer coaching services to over one thousand youths in three locations in Lagos.

    The founder; Hon Adesanya, is a self confessed lover of children who started the summer program with the aim of keeping young people engaged during the holidays, and keeping them out of danger.

    According to Adesanya, “Nine years ago, a young child in my vicinity died in an accident due to unsupervised play during the holidays, and that deeply affected me. I believed that the boy died because he was not supervised because his mother was away at work. Had he been in school, it would not have happened,” he said.

    Commenting on the challenges he faced as a young, unemployed graduate, just starting a non-profit organisation, he said, “We started with volunteers because we could not afford to pay quality graduate teachers.  I had to buy chalk from my pocket, and also had to arrange to watch the infant siblings of our students, as some parents made it clear that it was the only condition under which they would release their teenage children who were responsible for taking care of their younger siblings in the absence of their parents.”

  • U.S., Nigeria partner to increase electricity access

    U.S., Nigeria partner to increase electricity access

    Electricity supply is a major problem in Nigeria. Successive governments have tried to solve this challenge, which many believe holds the key to solving other challenges facing the country. Yesterday, the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) unveils a solar energy plan towards increasing electricity access, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    It is known as the Power Africa initiative. It is President Barack Obama’s baby. Its aim is to improve electricity access in Africa, of which the United States sees Nigeria as perhaps the most important.

    Yesterday, as President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the United States was wrapped up, the United States Trade and Development Agency provided a grant to Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project being developed in the North.

    The significance of the deal is driven home by the fact that the North is said to enjoy about one per cent of the power supply in the country.

    Chairman, Nigerian Electricity regulatory Commission (NERC) Dr. Sam Amadi explained that the North does not have sufficient connection and the lines are weak, making the lines transferring power to the North constrained and only able to take 100 to 1000 megawatts of electricity.

    Speaking in Abuja on Energy and Household poverty, at the Annual lecture of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Amadi said the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North.

    Amadi said: “Today in Nigeria, there are many people who do not even have access to electricity talk more of the electricity bill and that number is close to 40 and above, people who have no connection whatsoever at all to electricity. So the first marker to energy poverty is access, to people who do not have access to electricity.

    “Why do we not have access enough? Of course we are a big country and we have just 6000 or 7000 megawatts available capacity not supplied. The constraints to electricity is access and connection, even if we have today 10 to 20 megawatts of electricity many parts of Nigeria will still not have light because there is no connection to those places, that is why the government created the rural electrification agency.

    “What we have been doing with the past is supplying transformers to low areas so if you put transformers to a community where the lines are weak, the lines cannot go. Today the whole of the North receives about only 1% or less than one percent of supply, why? Because the lines transferring power to the whole north cannot take, it is constrained, it can take maybe 100 to 1000 megawatts, the urgent work now is to finish the line from Calabar to Markurdi to free more power to the North.

    “To see very clearly between electricity supply and poverty, the same part of the north is the area that has the largest indicators of poverty and it is still the same area that has the least supply of electricity, so the national imperative would be to provide more power to the North as a way of reducing poverty.

    “Nigeria is poor generally but relative poverty we have more in the North, so what we are doing more as regulators is that we are looking at imbedded generation; you know that our networks are very poor; they are not good so even if we have 10,000 megawatts today on the grid, we may not be able to more than 1000 megawatts or above to the north so it is very urgent that we improve the whole network to the north, it is urgent that we use the next new regulation to provide more imbedded power.”

    Commenting on the agreement signed for the solar power project, USTDA Director Leocadia  Zak, who signed the grant agreement with Quaint’s President, Mobolaji W.Durodola, said:  “This project is a great example of how the U.S. and Nigeria are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative. By working together on projects like this one, we can ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy.”

    Durodola described the deal as the tonic for the much-needed clean and renewable energy.

    “USTDA’s support is a step in the right direction for the development of much-needed clean and renewable energy capacity for Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mr. Durodola.  “Quaint is happy to receive this grant and is committed to adding value, talent and energy into the Nigerian power sector.”

    Quaint, a Nigerian company specifically organised to develop renewable power projects, is working with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), on a feasibility study to determine the best technical configurations for the project. 50 megawatts of clean, affordable energy is expected to be supplied Kaduna State. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital.

    The feasibility study will include the development of initial costing for the project’s engineering, procurement and construction, as well as the preparation of an operations and maintenance

    Tetra Tech will also provide training for Quaint employees to support the company’s capacity to develop and operate the project.

    USTDA Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Enoh Titilayo Ebong, who oversees the operations of the agency and manages staff responsible for developing and executing USTDA’s program activities, summed up the importance of the deal in an article released yesterday titled Investing in Nigeria’s future.

    He said: “When I was growing up in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, my father used to say that his future was in his past. In other words, you can never know how what happens today might impact tomorrow.

    “My father, Ime James Ebong, used to regale my sisters and me with stories about rising through the ranks of the Nigerian Civil Service after the country gained independence in 1960. As the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Economic Development and Reconstruction, he worked to coordinate foreign investment that could help build infrastructure and promote growth. He believed strongly in a global Nigeria, and traveled to the United States many times to establish partnerships with American companies.

    “My father died several years ago, but I think of him often. I thought of him when I joined the civil service at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, a U.S. foreign assistance agency that does exactly what he did – collaborate with U.S. companies to craft solutions to development challenges in Nigeria and around the world. And I thought of him yesterday, when President Obama welcomed the new President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to the United States.

    “Economic development will be the focus of many discussions during President Buhari’s visit: Working together to increase trade and investment between our two countries. Building business-to-business partnerships that can support sustainable development. Collaborating to increase access to electricity for Nigerians, most of whom live without reliable power.”

    He continued:  “Together, we are making important progress in all of these areas. Last summer, President Obama convened industry leaders from the United States, Nigeria and across Africa at the first U.S.-Africa Business Forum. And deepening our trade and investment ties will be an important focus of his trip to the continent later this week.

    “Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to increasing these ties by taking a number of steps to collaborate with the private sector. When I first came to USTDA, the Nigerian government had recently begun to open up its telecommunications sector. We have been connecting Nigerian telecom companies with U.S. experts who can help them modernize their infrastructure. For example, we are currently helping Nigeria’s Main One Cable Company plan for the extension of a 300-mile undersea fiber optic network from Lagos to Port Harcourt. Through their work with a U.S. company, HIP Consult, Inc. (Washington, DC), Main One will increase the number of people and businesses with access to telecom services throughout the region.

    “Because this model has proven so successful, we are adopting it to help our Nigerian partners privatize their electricity sector. In fact, we’re working across the value chain to bring energy to more Nigerians. As just one example, today we provided agrantto Quaint Global Energy Solutions for a solar power project they’re developing in Kaduna State. Quaint is a small Nigerian company specifically organized to develop renewable power projects. They will work with a U.S. energy project developer, Tetra Tech ES, Inc. (Pasadena, California), to determine the best technical configurations for the project.

    “This effort will bring 50 megawatts of much-needed clean, affordable energy to northern Nigeria. It also has the potential to leverage over $160 million in public and private capital. It’s a great example of how the U.S. and Africa are working together to increase electricity access under President Obama’s Power Africa initiative.

    “By collaborating on projects like this one, we are helping to ensure that more Nigerians have access to renewable energy. And we are helping to strengthen economic ties between Nigeria and the U.S.

    “As both a daughter of Nigeria and a proud American citizen, I am starting to see how my father’s past shaped my future. His commitment to public service – and to Nigeria’s growth – inspired me to join the U.S. government’s efforts to promote development by leveraging the expertise and resources of the U.S. private sector. I know he would agree that, by strengthening trade and development ties today, we are helping to ensure a safer, more prosperous tomorrow. “

    Perhaps with more of this sort of project, the country will join the league of major players in the clean and renewable energy circle.

  • Lagos Assembly to partner Nollywood

    Lagos Assembly to partner Nollywood

    Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has advised the Movie Marketers Association of Nigeria to come up with ideas to improve Nollywood, especially tackling piracy.

    Obasa spoke yesterday at the Lagos Assembly Round Table Dialogue with the Movie Marketers Association, comprising marketers, distributors, producers and directors, at the Lateef  Jakande Auditorium, Assembly complex, Alausa, Ikeja.

    “There is a ministry in charge of matters that concerns anything about Nollywood and with one of you here as a lawmaker we are sure we will do something to protect your interest.

    “It is a war that we have to fight together. Your existence is a source of joy and happiness to Nigeria and that is why we are glad to help,” Obasa said.

    The Speaker assured them that the government will not allow Nollywood die because “your industry has developed the economy and made this country popular abroad”.

    Nollywood actor and the lawmaker representing Surulere 1 Desmond Elliot, who facilitated the forum, attributed the slow growth in the film industry to lack of government’s involvement.

    He decried piracy, saying it was killing the industry and its operators.

    Elliot said the dialogue was to examine “how development partnership between the government and the film industry can boost the state’s economy”.

  • Firm, US agency partner on affordable drug

    Bayer Healthcare and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are collaborating  to make Microgyon® Fe Oral Contraceptive available and affordable in Nigeria.

    The company said the drug is now available in local pharmacies at a significantly lower price.

    The reduced price was announced  in Abuja, at the innovative public-private partnership between Bayer HealthCare and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

    The brand is the world’s most widely used oral contraceptive.

    The reduced price will enable middle-income couples to access a quality, affordable family planning product.

    The partnership is designed to make more affordable family planning choices available to women through the private sector and address the growing demand for contraceptives and the overall sustainability of supply.

    Family planning allows couples to plan their families as they desire, reduces the risks from unintended and/or high-risk pregnancies, and improves the health of mothers and their children by allowing time between pregnancies.

    USAID Nigeria’s Director, Health, Population and Nutrition Office, Dr. Nancy Lawenthal, emphasised the importance of public-private partnerships in helping governments meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    “We are pleased that this important initiative between USAID and Bayer Healthcare is being extended to Nigeria. The private sector has an important role to play in contributing to sustainable development and in this case, by ensuring that Nigerian women have access to a sustainable supply of quality, affordable oral contraceptives,” he stated.

    Dr. O.I. Akinola, Obstetrician/Gyneacologist, and President of the OB/GYN Society of Nigeria (SOGON) said, “Combined oral contraceptives are 99 per cent effective when used consistently and correctly. It also provides women with a reversible method that is easy to discontinue and has a rapid return to fertility. The drug is being used by millions of women around the world and is well known and trusted by medical professionals.”

    Women interested in finding out more information about Microgynon® Fe should talk with their nearest private healthcare provider.

    The drug is manufactured in Germany by Bayer HealthCare and imported to Nigeria by CHI Pharmaceuticals.

  • India ready to partner Nigeria

    Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria Ajjampur Ghanashyam yesterday said India was ready to partner Nigeria to develop its film industry.

    Ghanashyam, who spoke in Abuja, added that Nigeria’s film industry had the potential to contribute more to the nation’s economy.

    “`Nollywood may be relatively a recent phenomenon compared with the Indian film industry but there is scope for both of us to develop concepts from each other,’’ he said.

    He called for more training for the operators of Nigeria’s film industry adding that the Federal Government should create an environment conducive for proper funding of the industry.

    Ghanashyam said such efforts could include making access to loans for film makers to be easier.

    He said: “In our own case, the government made the Bollywood industry to be an industry; they can raise a bank loan for making a movie.

    “Initially accessing loans was not possible for film makers, they were dependent on anybody who was willing to give them the money but that has changed.”

    Ghanashyam said with good funding the quality of films would improve, a development he said, would have a multiplier effect not only on the industry but the entire economy.

  • FG to partner Cross River on projects

    The Federal Government has pledged its readiness to partner Cross River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, on his signature projects to ensure their realisation.

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi  Osinbajo stated this on Thursday while fielding questions from press men during a private visit to Governor Ben Ayade at his residence, shortly after delivering a key note address at the 10th P.O.E. Bassey Memorial Anniversary Lecture, held at University of Calabar.

    Osinbajo disclosed that he had strong belief that the signature projects initiated by the governor, which include; the dual carriage super highway from Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja and Obudu, as well as the state deep seaport, have a turnaround effect not only the economy of the state, but the nation as a whole.

    He described them as projects with strong economic potentials, which “the federal government will lend its support to ensure they succeed,” because according to him, “they will create employment, create wealth, attract more development as well as attract both local and foreign investors to the country.”

    The Vice President commended Prof Ayade for his vision to open up the state and develop its economy in order to improve on the wellbeing of its citizenry.

    Osinbajo said the lofty initiative will definitely take the state to enviable heights, as he intends to record a lot of achievements during his (Ayade) reign.

    In his words: “Having listened to the governor on his plans for the state, I am confident that he has the capacity and commitment to bring developments to the state. His vision for the state will certainly impact on the people as well as take it to greater heights.”

    The Vice President, who described Cross River as home of hospitality and centre of tourism in the country, restated that the Federal Government will partner it to ensure that all undeveloped and other untapped tourism potentials are fully harnessed and repositioned to attract more visitors for socio-economic economy gains.

  • Audu: I’ll partner Buhari on Ajaokuta Steel

    Audu: I’ll partner Buhari on Ajaokuta Steel

    Former Kogi State Governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Prince Abubakar Audu, has promised to partner President Muhammadu Buhari to complete the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

    Audu, who spoke in Abuja, said President Buhari was determined to resuscitate the company.

    The former governor said the President made the pledge during his campaign in the state.

    He noted that only the Buhari administration could make Kogi State realise its dream of completing the steel company because of the President’s honesty and dedication to the nation’s development.

    Audu added that when completed, the steel company would generate jobs for the nation’s teeming youths and create wealth for Kogi State and other parts of the country.

    He said: “We thank God for giving us President Buhari at this challenging time in our history. He will govern the nation with humility, probity and transparency.”

    Audu urged Nigerians to be patient with the President, adding that he remains focus to deliver dividends of democracy.

    On why he is running again, the former governor said the people urged him to rescue the state from the visionless Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he said had governed the state for 12 years.

  • Fed Govt, FARA partner on funding

    The Federal Government ha signed an agreement with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) to assist the forum in some areass.

    The Director for Monitoring, Evaluation and Research, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aminu Nabegu, said the deal was aimed at Nigeria’s commitment to take ownership of its supra-national institutions which depends on external sources for their funding.

    He said agriculture is the mainstay of Africa’s economy and food security and as such the performance of the continent’s economic growth  towards eliminating hunger.

    He called on other African countries to emulate the example set by Nigeria in taking pro-active steps to secure African ownership and long term sustainability of the continent’s strategic institutions in the domain of agricultural research and innovation.

    He said deal would strengthened the investments of FARA.

    Earlier, the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr AkinwunmiAdesina, pledged support for FARA and institutions with similar mandate during the FARA’s 15th anniversary in Johannesburg, South Africa last November.

    Executive Director of FARA, Dr YemiAkinbamijo, described Nigeria’s gesture as unprecedented.

    The FARA-DTAC agreement stipulates Nigeria’s secondment of three experts to the FARA Secretariat.

    The expertise is in communication, data analysis and management and information and communication Technology (ICT).

    The secondment will be for two years and it is renewable. The seconded staff are expected to report for duty this month.

    Nigeria has bilateral agreements to provide technical assistance to 109 countries with support provided as far afield as the Caribbean islands and all across the Africa-Caribbean and Pacific states.

  • NCC, governors to partner

    NCC, governors to partner

    The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)  said it will open discussions with in-coming state governors with a view to developing telecoms infrastructure across the country.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Eugene Juwah who spoke to reporters in Abuja yesterday lamented that it was sad that most of the governors failed to sign the deal brokered by the National Economic Council (NEC).

    Juwah said the new partnership has become necessary with the new governors for the smooth implementation of the guidelines approved by the NEC for accelerated improvement of telecoms infrastructure in the country.

    The NCC said it was regrettable that most of the out-going governors refused to sign the guidelines approved by the NEC for the development of infrastructures, especially base transmission stations (BTS) and underground cables due to misconceptions on the matter.

    Represented by the Director, Public Affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, he said the NCC alongside other stakeholders in the telecoms industry are prepared to engage the state governments on the issues of multiple taxation, infrastructure outlay, and investments which are capable of boosting the development of the states in various fields of human endeavours.