John Obi Mikel frustrated at Chelsea

 

Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel admits he is frustrated to find himself on the fringes of the Chelsea first-team, but realises that the club's search for collective team success is more important than personal gain.

The 24-year-old midfielder is the latest Blues star to have been overlooked by Portuguese tactician Andre Villas-Boas, following the likes of Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres, who have also been forced to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks.

"It has been hard, but the most important thing is that the team keeps doing well," confirmed Mikel. "As much as I want to play, the team comes first."

Mikel has lost his holding midfield place in the Chelsea side to summer signing Oriol Romeu following the club's 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

The former Barcelona man was Villas-Boas' first signing as Blues boss, and is highly regarded by everyone in west London. Romeu has impressed when called into the first-team as he looks to cement his place in the starting line-up.

"If the team keeps winning, then I shouldn't complain," Mikel continued. "Any time I am called upon, I just want to help the team win."

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Wole Soyinka advises anti-gay bill legislators to go back to school

As controversy continues to trail the recent passage of the Anti-gay Marriage Bill, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to go back to school in order to clearly understand the difference between public and private affairs.

A bill banning same-sex marriages was recently passed by the Senate. The bill, which makes same-sex marriage punishable by a 14-year jail term, still has to be ratified by the House of Representatives before it is signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Soyinka, who spoke with journalists on Friday in Calabar, Cross River State, shortly after he had delivered a lecture titled Faith, Science and the Morality of Knowledge, to mark the fifth convocation of the Cross River University of Technology, said he did not see any reason why lawmakers should bother themselves with legislation that deals with the private life of adults.

He said, "The problem with legislators is that they fail to distinguish between personal bills and interventions in private lives. That is the problem. I see no reason why they should intervene in the private lives of adults. What people do in their bedrooms is no business of mine. It should not be the business of legislators.

"But at the same time, I think other countries who are pointing fingers should look inwards and see whether they also do not practise the same kind of discrimination. That is where I disagree, but I think it is important we learn to distinguish between what is a public affair and what is a private affair.

"The legislators need to go back to school to learn the difference before they waste their time with what people do in their private bedrooms."

On the activities of the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect, Soyinka, who restricted himself to the aspect that affects higher institutions, wondered why the security situation had degenerated to the extent that it affected one of the country’s earliest universities.

He said, "The aspect of Boko Haram that affects me in this environment is what is happening to institutions. I think it is a disgrace that we allow an institution to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics. I think it is a disgrace to the government; it is a disgrace to the entire university system. It is a disgrace to you and me that we accept to be intimidated out of what is our own proper environment of learning.

"University of Maiduguri as far as I am concerned is like the University of Ibadan, Ife, Lagos and we should be concerned about that. To talk about Boko Haram outside that concept requires a larger picture. Self-respecting people should never allow their institutions of learning to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics."

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IMF Chief Christine Lagarde praises President Goodluck Jonathan reform plans

 

IMF chief Christine Lagarde met President Goodluck Jonathan, Monday, on her first visit to Africa as head of the fund, with the trip to focus partly on potential fallout from the European debt crisis.

Lagarde held talks with President Goodluck Jonathan after meeting Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a respected former World Bank managing director, and other Nigerian economic officials earlier in the day.

The International Monetary Fund managing director said she was impressed with economic reform plans being pursued by the government in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and the continent’s most populous nation.

“My mission is to come and listen and appreciate and understand exactly what economy programme will be implemented in Nigeria, and the initiative and the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan,” she told journalists after the meeting.

“I was extremely impressed with … the energy and pace at which he wants to transform the economy, create jobs, focus on agriculture …”

Lagarde is expected in the economic capital Lagos on Tuesday for a forum on Africa’s future before moving on to the neighbouring nation of Niger.

She is also expected to visit South Africa in the coming weeks, but details are to be released later, an IMF official said.

Nigeria has long been held back by corruption and mismanagement despite its vast oil wealth.

Most of its population lives on less than $2 per day and electricity blackouts occur daily, while the country’s mainly Muslim north has been hit by scores of deadly attacks attributed to Islamist group Boko Haram.

The government is seeking to enact reforms, including a deeply controversial measure which would lead to an increase in petrol prices, that would allow the country to invest more in its badly neglected infrastructure.

Lagarde’s trip is expected to focus on issues such as addressing youth unemployment in Africa, the world’s fastest-growing continent, as well as potential fallout from the European debt crisis.

Many African nations rely heavily upon European investment and trade.

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European Union Commission states anti-gay bill violates human rights

The European Union Commission in Nigeria has expressed fear that passage of the same sex bill by the National Assembly would cause serious conflicts with various human rights conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.

The Head of EU Delegation in Nigeria, Ambassador David MacRae, said at a media luncheon in Abuja yesterday, that the EU was concerned about the consequences of such a bill.

He noted that it may jeopardise some rights such as the freedom of association. “We are of the view that sexual orientation is a private matter and we respect the rights of individual persons, so it is a matter of human rights,” he said.

MacRae, however, conceded that Nigerians and people in some parts of Africa have difficulty accepting the issue of gay rights because of their cultures.

Speaking on the proposed removal of fuel subsidy by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, MacRae expressed the EU's support for the proposal.

He added that it was better for the government to seek to help the masses by providing basic services such as education, healthcare, water and infrastructure than retain the subsidy that benefits a few.

He however noted that it is necessary for the government to adequately inform the populace about the issue so that they would be in a better position to judge whether it was good for the country or not.

“In a general context, in any economy, subsidising petroleum is not something governments do to help the poor. EU countries do not subsidise fuel; rather, we impose heavy taxes," he added.

MacRae also advised that the government should work hard to improve other sectors such as agriculture so as to improve employment.

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Nigerian student wins best artificial intelligence research award

Muhammad Abdulkarim, a Nigerian from Yobe State, received the best student paper award at the Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence conference in Singapore for his research project which uses artificial intelligence tools to prospect for oil in shallow and deep waters. The conference was attended by eminent scientists from all over the world. Besides Abdulkarim, the only other awardee is a professor from Switzerland.

"When I saw how the first presenters were grilled as if by an examination panel," Abdulkarim said, "I was intimidated and scared. But when I finished my presentation and answered all the probing questions of other researchers and everybody stood up and applauded, I couldn't help giving gratitude to Allah for His help. Finally, when my name was called as the recipient of the best paper award, my tear bags burst and tears freely ran down my cheeks."

Abdulkarim, a PhD student of Universiti Teknologi Petronas Malaysia was the only African at the conference which was attended by scientists from New York Institute of Technology, University of Tulsa, University of Bedfordshire, University of Surrey and many others.

"When I got there, it was immediately apparent to me why the conference rejected many papers - some of them written by professors with decades of experience in the field," Abdulkarim said of his first impression. "The participants didn't take claims by presenters lightly; markers were even provided in case there's the need to show your work. And they asked every question imaginable."

Abdulkarim was a junior lecturer with the University of Abuja in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science before leaving for Malaysia for a doctorate programme at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences of Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

"I am a research fellow in the Electro-Magnetic (EM) research group. The EM research group members are mainly into deep and shallow water technology and enhanced oil recovery. My research domain is actually electrical and electronics engineering, but my specific area is data mining which deals with application of artificial neural network techniques for modeling seabed logging environment," Abdulkarim said.

No help from Nigeria

Abdulkarim said that rather than getting help from his university when he told them he was going for a PhD, he was discouraged. "I faced many challenges before coming to Malaysia. As a lecturer with University of Abuja, I had to take a study leave but when I applied, the HOD of my department said I should defer my admission, it took the intervention of the then DVC, Professor Nwabueze to extricate me from the obstacles the HOD placed on my path. After that, I applied for the ETF sponsorship through the university and Professor Nwabueze assured me that my name was on the list of those getting it, however, his tenure as DVC ended. Up until now, my application for ETF has not been approved. They have also refused to pay my salary.

"Malaysians on the other hand pay me almost N200,000 a month just for my research work, besides paying for materials, conferences and workshops. Further, while my country which needs me the most only discourages me, I've received offers of research collaboration from all the continents of the world except Africa. After the conference, professors from renowned laboratories were eager to give me their cards and promising incentives if I joined them.

Some wanted to know if I intended going back to Nigeria. At the last count, there were 10 professors that wanted me to work with them after my PhD. They're precisely from Germany, Japan, Sweden, Iran, Jordan, USA, New Zealand, Taiwan, Czech Republic and Switzerland.

"I really need to say here that even though I am not a Malaysian, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, being the number one in oil and gas research in Malaysia, gave me all the necessary and enabling environment to operate and achieve this success. They sponsored all the workshops that I attended on learning how to use some simulators, they also paid for my training anywhere I wished to go. Therefore, on my own side, I also make sure I don't disappoint them."

What makes his research unique?

"I think my research won the prize because the EM wave I am working with has no color, we can also not see it; and since it produces no sounds, we can't hear it. It has no scent and no taste, so we can't smell or taste it. But I believe that with mathematics, one can work miracles. So I determined to intelligently find the mathematics and statistics surrounding SBL environment and then computerize it since I am a product of three departments."

How does his research make life easier?

"This research is a marine exploration and it can help humanity immensely as it has to do with energy. Everyone knows the importance of hydrocarbon or petrol and gas (to a lay man). These are major sources of energy today. Therefore, any technique that can facilitate the detection of this commodity is very essential to humanity.

This technology can also help Nigeria in many ways. We have a lot of both deep and shallow waters in Nigeria and Nigeria is blessed with a lot of unidentified hydrocarbon reservoirs. This research is all about offshore remote detection of the presence of oil and gas reservoirs.

"Furthermore, researchers have already speculated that shallow reservoirs are about to dry up; therefore it is very necessary for the oil industries to start thinking of how to search for deeper targets. And I am happy to inform you that our research group has already successfully developed some powerful new design transmitters using nano materials that can be used for that purpose. Due to the non-disclosure agreement that I signed, I do not want to say much in this respect but sincerely, we have gone far."

Daily Trust

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