Friday, December 21, 2012

Nigeria's top google searches of 2012

Jamb - the Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board - is the most-searched term in Nigeria, according to Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist list.

The education system in the country is reportedly under review due to the "lack of reading culture, unqualified teachers, quest for money and lack of dedication to duty".

Mercy Johnson was listed as the top Nollywood celebrity while Davido was listed as Nigeria's top musician.

While Whitney Houston was the most searched person - she died on February 11, 2012, Victor Moses who plays for Chelsea came in as the second most-searched person followed by Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho.

Boko Haram, the Islam sect that is reportedly planning on overthrowing the government and impose strict Islam, laws is rated third on the searches category on the google search result 2012 in Nigeria.

Love topped two categories - the "How...?" and "What is...?" - showing that Nigerians do have a softer side...

Google's Year-End Zeitgeist, which means “the spirit of the times", revisits the most viewed searches around the world.

Top 10 Searches

Jamb
Mozat
Boko Haram
Asuu Strike
Google news
Eskimi
Whitney Houston
Vanguard news
NNPC recruitment
Facebook

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Gunmen kill 2, kidnap french expatriate

Gunmen Thursday kidnapped a French national and killed two persons after they attacked a divisional police station in Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The gunmen, who were in large number, kidnapped the Franch national who is an engineer and identified as Francis.

The kidnappers also injured a riot policeman attached to the kidnapped French national who was working in an ongoing Federal Government project in the area.

The watchman at the French national's residence was killed, while his neighbour was also gunned down after they injured the riot policeman who was at the residence.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Magaji, confirmed the kidnap and attack on the divisional police station.

Abdullahi explained that the gunmen threw an explosive device into the police station on their way out of the town to divert the attention of the police.

The police commissioner stated that policemen had been deployed in all the nooks and crannies of the state to track down the kidnappers.

Some of the residents who spoke under anonymity with THISDAY on the phone explained that they heard heavy sound of explosion on Wednesday night which caused pandemonium in the sleepy town.

"We saw large deployment of security in the wee hours of Thursday, and believed that the situation is under control as people went out for their normal activities in the town," a resident of the town said.

THISDAY learnt that the corpses of the casualties in the attack had been deposited at the General Hospital in the city, while the injured persons were also receiving treatment.



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Thursday, December 20, 2012

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka wins Awolowo's Leadership Award

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday emerged recipient of the maiden edition of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership.

Speaking during the ceremony in Lagos, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, said: "Although an impressive number of nominations were received, Soyinka was adjudged to possess the highest degree of attributes considered for the award by the selection committee.

"The selection committee came to the unanimous conclusion that of all the nominees presented before it, the individual adjudged to possess to the highest degree, the attributes for the award and thus, the first ever recipient of the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for leadership, was Prof. Wole Soyinka."

He stated further that the prestigious biennial national prize was structured to follow a rigorous process of nomination and subsequent screening of many outstanding Nigerians.

"The nominees for the prize were expected to be men of character who had demonstrated to a substantial degree, the attributes considered to have characterised Awolowo's leadership style, which includes integrity, credibility, discipline, accountability, courage, selflessness, tenacity of purpose, visionary, people-centred leadership as well as respect of the rule of law and press freedom," he said.

While noting that an appropriate citation of Professor Soyinka will be given at the actual award ceremony scheduled to come up in March 2013, which coincides with Awolowo's birthday anniversary, Anyaoku said Awolowo was "a highly revered Nigerian federalist, who was variously described by Nigerians" as "the best president Nigeria never had", whose qualities were worth emulating.





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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Four Chinese expatriates kidnapped in Nigeria

The incident took place on Okpoama Island, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa. Confirming the report, Mr Fidelis Odunna (DSP), the Police Public Relations Officer in Bayelsa, said the gunmen stormed the company's site by boat and abducted the Chinese workers.

He, however, said that the police command had since deployed detectives to comb the creeks for possible clues, adding that "strategic security measures are being put in place to forestall a reoccurrence".

Community sources earlier said one of the four kidnapped men was the company's Operations Manager, who was simply identified as Mr J.H. Kin, saying the gunmen blindfolded their hostages and took them away in their speedboat.

The source said that the abduction was carried out in a "commando-like-manner", as many of the company staff who witnessed the incident were reportedly helplessly.

Officials of the Joint Military Task force (JTF) and policemen have been deployed to the creeks to hunt down the kidnappers and secure the release of the expatriates.

However, the whereabouts of the kidnapped men has yet to be ascertained, while no group has claimed responsibility for the action.

Hyundai Fabrication Company fabricates metal materials used by the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas Company (BLNG). The local communities have been at loggerheads with the company over its failure to employ youths from the area.



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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Okonjo Iweala says indicted oil marketers responsible for the kidnap of her mother

Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday blamed indicted oil marketers for the recent kidnap of her 82-year-old mother, Prof Kamene Okonjo.

Okonjo, who was held hostage for five days, was on Friday rescued from kidnappers' den in Delta State.

Okonjo-Iweala who spoke yesterday while briefing journalists on her mother's release said, "My mother suffered a great deal during this ordeal. It was only the Almighty God that rescued her from a situation that could easily have ended tragically.

"She said she was left without food and water for the five days in captivity and the kidnappers spent much of the time harassing her.

"They told her that I must get on the radio and television and announce my resignation.

"When she asked why, they told her it was because I did not pay oil subsidy money. They also said I had blocked payment of money to certain components of the SURE-P programme."

The minister, however, denied stopping payment of oil subsidy to those that deserve it.

She said, "These statements are, of course, not true. In the case of subsidy payments, we have been paying all marketers whose claims have been verified by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee after going through the necessary processes.

"For marketers whose transactions are proven to be fraudulent, the position of the Jonathan government is also clear: we cannot and we will not pay. We will not back down on this. We will continue to stand firm.

"In the case of SURE-P, there is a totally different process that I have no control over. This is the right thing to do. And this, I believe is what the Nigerian people want."

The minister said she would have been jumping in jubilation for the release of her mother but that the death of Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa and former National Security Adviser General Andrew Azazi in a helicopter crash on Saturday tampered with her mood.

When contacted to confirm the minster's claim, police spokesman Frank Mba said he was not aware of the minister's claim and would not talk on it. "I will not comment on that," he said.



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