Nigerias Political Rat

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/154562_660279790752578_6032188651660882563_n.jpg?oh=6f41846f4e8424f5eedbdd28e4fefa6d&oe=54E811AC" /><br /> This is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha former Governor of Bayelsa state and corruption mentor of GEJ as well as Senatorial aspirant from Bayelsa state in 2015.<br /> <br />  He was impeached from office because of his corrupt acts and was convicted in Nigeria with a mild sentence. Fast forward to 12th March 2013, Alamieyeseigha was pardoned by President Goodluck Jonathan his political son thereby enabling him to run for office again.<br /> <br /> This rogue is a fugitive from UK justice system and managed to escape around 8 years ago by disguising as a woman as can be seen in the first photograph.<img src="https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10639617_660279787419245_6151128956887297297_n.jpg?oh=a80233dab8457405ac5529bd8422d647&oe=54E739AC" /><br /> <br /> If you look at the 2nd campaign poster photograph he said he is tested and trusted. It is true that he has been tested with public funds and he has confirmed that he is a rogue irrespective of GEJ's pardon. He has also confirmed that he can be trusted to steal public funds and empty the treasury. If you are appalled by the penchant of GEJ for corruption and his penchant for hiring and associating with people tainted with corruption then vote for an incorruptible candidate that can rescue our pitiful and dreaded country Nigeria.<br /> <br /> GEJ's version of democracy can be called "corruptcracy."That is why he said that corruption is not Nigeria's biggest problem and buttressed his point by saying that that stealing is not corruption.<br /> <br /> Pls do not give him your mandate pls!<br /> <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/p160x160/1979665_663886760391881_6308358875658701017_n.jpg?oh=93b5a7a237bd64fc083e29267d2f65c1&oe=54DD5774&__gda__=1423727386_cb031d920dcde1c9f2c48a46b6145deb" /></div>

Nigerias Political Rat

This is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha former Governor of Bayelsa state and corruption mentor of GEJ as well as Senatorial aspirant from Bayelsa ...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Question About Journalism

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> In his new book, ‘We Are All #Journalists Now – Africa in the Age of Social Media’, noted journalist, author, award winning investigative reporter, media researcher and now media adviser to former Governor of Lagos State and now foremost national opposition leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr Sunday Dare, examines the emergence, evolution and implications of the phenomenon of citizen journalism in Nigeria.<br /> <br /> Based on an academic research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University, this stimulating work published by Visual Image, Lagos, in March his year and which covers 108 pages comprising five chapters, critically interrogates the impact of the phenomenal expansion in the mediums and use of social media platforms on the state, society and in particular the media profession in Nigeria. This offering combines the rigour of scholarly research with the accessibility of lucid prose.<br /> <br /> What has been the implication for the practice of journalism in Nigeria of the emergence of such on-line mediums as Facebook, Twitter, text messages, You Tube that provide opportunities for millions of Nigerians to become ‘Citizen Journalists’ reporting and disseminating news, images and ideas about themselves as well as issues and events around them to a mass audience? Has this development broken what can be describes as the professional authoritarianism/dictatorship of the traditional, mainstream media, which once enjoyed the monopoly of determining what constitutes news and in what form it is disseminated? What are the implications of Citizen Journalism for the democratic process and how has it empowered the weak or impacted governance? These are some of the questions that Dare seeks answers to through an exhaustive study of the operations of the path-breaking and unorthodox on-line medium, Sahara Reporters.<br /> After examining the research questions and objectives of the study in the first chapter, the author goes in the second to undertake a racy but informative overview of the origin and trajectory of the Nigerian media from the colonial period through the various post-independence civilian and military regimes to the present dispensation.<br /> <br /> Examining the implications within the Nigerian context of such electronic modes as mobile phones, Facebook, blogs, Wikipedia, Twitter and You Tube, he compares the present scenario to the previous one in which newspapers, magazines, periodicals, radio and television were the sole and dominant sources of news and opinions.<br /> <br /> In the preceding era, letters to the editor, opinion pieces published at the pleasure of the editor as right of reply as well as revenue-driven advert placements and commercials were the major avenues for audience participation in the media process.<br /> Dare defines Citizen Journalism as “the kind of journalism in which the users or audience create content online rather than wait to be fed by the traditional media outlets”. It is a process whereby an individual plays “an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information”. As a result of this development, he argues, millions of citizen journalists no longer constitute a passive and receptive audience.<br /> <br /> Rather, they are defining and writing ‘the first drafts of history by themselves’. Nigerians are thus part of a global process through which millions of ordinary citizens are being empowered by revolutionary technological innovations to set and communicate the news agenda.<br /> In chapter three, Dare X-rays the evolution of social media in Nigeria from the age of emails and emailing lists to discussion fora through social media networks. He notes that from an internet penetration level of just 0.1 per cent in the late 1990s, internet usage in Nigeria had exploded to 16.1 per cent of the population. Quoting figures from the International Telecommunication Union, the author put internet figures in Nigeria at 43, 982, 200 or 28.9% as at 2010. Similarly mobile technology has become the seventh mass information medium after film, television, radio, print and sound recording. From this general overview of the growth of citizen journalism in Nigeria, Dare moves on in the next chapter to the main focus of the book, which is a detailed case study of the rise and consolidation of Sahara Reporters as posing the pioneering challenge to the hegemonic dominance of the mainstream, traditional media<br /> <br /> The book offers a detailed study of the conceptualisation, editorial structure, modus operandi, agenda, funding as well as business model of Sahara Reporters and its journey since inception. The medium was established in 2006 and modelled fully as a citizen journalism site. It describes as a unique organisation made up of ordinary citizens rather than professional journalists but who are committed “to seek truth and publish it without fear or favour”. One of its main aims is to aggressively seek to expose corruption through ordinary citizens who act as its reporters and foot soldiers.<br /> <br /> Seventy per cent of Sahara Reporter’s content is news, 10 per cent opinion and 20% User Generated Content.<br /> Dare interrogates to what extent Sahara Reporters has set the agenda for political and social discourse in Nigeria and how effectively it has achieved its objective of exposing corruption and subjecting power wielders to closer scrutiny. One of its dramatic achievements was Sahara Reporter’s role in putting the Governor James Ibori corruption saga on the front burner and contributing significantly to his extradition, trial and eventual conviction in the United Kingdom. Between 2006 and 2010, Sahara Reporters produced 104 news items and investigative reports on the Ibori corruption scandal.<br /> The last chapter in which Dare interrogates the relationship between citizen journalism and the traditional media is easily the most insightful and thought provoking. Some of the advantages of citizen journalism he points out include immediacy of reporting, speed, minimal start- up capital and its greater vigour and audacity in investigative reporting. Indeed, Sahara Reporters claims it emerged to fill an investigative void created by the conservatism of the traditional media, which OmoyeleSowore claims had itself become a power bloc. Due to citizen journalism, the world including Nigeria can now benefit from the flow of news without boundaries or frontiers.<br /> <br /> However, the flipside Dare notes is that citizen journalism is faced with serious professional gate keeping issues including deciding news fit or unfit to publish, little concern for ethical constraints and scant regard for objectivity, fairness and accuracy in news gathering and information dissemination. In the final analysis he argues, the relationship between citizen journalism and the traditional media can be complementary rather than antagonistic.<br /> <br /> While citizen journalism can challenge the mainstream media to be more transparent, innovative and investigative, the former can learn from the traditional media’s better gatekeeping, factual checking and more matured news presentation. He submits that collaboration between the mainstream media and citizen journalism can lead to better journalism in the interest of the public good.</div>

Question About Journalism

In his new book, ‘We Are All #Journalists Now – Africa in the Age of Social Media’, noted journalist, author, award winning investigative r...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

ASUU, others Demand State of Emergency in Education

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIG-w8tRkLQG-F6O7N5apS22IBCb-PyJnm6OTE3z6ySe0Yvte0JEGr4miUYJ9ObsSjgGayh-BfqPC0UBny9NK8rZ-CaGBXWrvf6QMLpNU24CeDAGtbrXcYnwIeNwn2sboPa_4DQTN5_cH/s1600/More.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIG-w8tRkLQG-F6O7N5apS22IBCb-PyJnm6OTE3z6ySe0Yvte0JEGr4miUYJ9ObsSjgGayh-BfqPC0UBny9NK8rZ-CaGBXWrvf6QMLpNU24CeDAGtbrXcYnwIeNwn2sboPa_4DQTN5_cH/s1600/More.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> The Academic Staff Union of #Universities (ASUU) and three other unions in Nigerian universities have asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the education system.<br /> This was contained in a communiqué by the presidents of the four unions – ASUU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Non-academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU)) – at the end of one week National Education Summit in Abuja.<br /> <br /> A copy of the statement was made available to reporters in Ibadan by the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye.<br /> The unions called for “the reconceptualisation of the Nigerian education system” to enable it perform its transformative functions for the individuals, groups and the nation.<br /> The unions vowed to develop and present to the government a new education policy, to reflect the aspirations, culture, values and realities of the people within the context of a vibrant world.<br /> According to the unions, there was need for the government to declare a state of emergency in the education system, because “the current system is characterised by chronic underfunding, bad leadership, and infrastructural decay, poor conditions of learning and service, promotion of mediocrity, shortage of personnel (academic, technical and administrative) and entrenchment of orthodoxy, parochialism and chauvinism”.<br /> <br /> The four unions, which held the summit with the theme, “Towards a system of education for liberation in Nigeria,” warned the government not to use public funds, such as Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) among others, to fund private educational institutions and associated enterprises.<br /> While condemning corruption, lack of professionalism, poor and opportunistic leadership and unethical conduct  impinging on the learning environment and the integrity of teaching and research, the unions called on their members nationwide to rid the sector of these ills.<br /> <br /> <br /> While rejecting the systematic privatisation of education and selling off of public educational institutions, the unions described education as public good, which must not be left in the hands of private individuals who are driven solely by profit.<br /> The unions added: “The fundamental problem bedevilling the educational system is that it is located within a philosophical and political economic system which emphasises personal self-enrichment and individual aggrandisement instead of emphasising knowledge acquisition geared towards public good and national development.<br /> <br /> “The philosophy on education does not address the realities, identities, values, customs and aspirations of the Nigerian people.”</div>

ASUU, others Demand State of Emergency in Education

The Academic Staff Union of #Universities (ASUU) and three other unions in Nigerian universities have asked the Federal Government to de...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

Over-dependence on oil revenue hurting Nigeria – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <img height="154" src="https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10426553_660782700702287_7422176571500743881_n.jpg?oh=0e068098fa133f63fc6793c5eab7e9a4&oe=54E70E66" width="200" /><br /> The Minister of #Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday in Abuja said Nigeria must plan differently in order to generate non-oil based revenues.<br /> Speaking at the ongoing Public Affairs Forum, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said the present administration is working towards developing infrastructure and roads for businesses to strive.<br /> <br /> “We must help the businesses in setting up, in the sectors, in manufacturing, in agriculture, in other sectors; we must have that so that we can have the non-oil base to task,” Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said.<br /> She also said that the present administration has been able to get a lot out of Nigeria’s non-oil revenue; in agriculture and other sectors.<br /> <br /> Ms. Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria’s borrowing has reduced drastically since 2010 when Goodluck Jonathan’s became president.<br /> “By 2010, we borrowed N1.3 trillion to help finance our spending.<br /> “We have brought it down from N1.3 trillion to N571 billion and we will continue to take it down even if it is by N1, we will continue trending down.<br /> “Of course, the cost of debt is still high because of what we borrowed in the past,” she said.<br /> She said the President Jonathan administration’s policy is to keep Nigeria’s borrowing going down by being prudent in expenditures and also realizing additional sources of revenue.<br /> “We are too dependent on oil, I said it at my ministerial platform and now we all see that the price of oil is coming down, the quantity are also not as large as they used to be,” she said.<br /> <br /> Also speaking at the forum, the Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the administration improved federal roads from 4, 500 kilometres of roads in 2011 to 25, 000km in December 2013 out 35, 000km of federal highways in Nigeria.<br /> He said over 70 per cent of Nigerian road networks are motorable especially when compared to about 16 per cent at the inception of the present administration.</div>

Over-dependence on oil revenue hurting Nigeria – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Minister of #Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday in Abuja said Nigeria must plan differently in order to generate non-oil based r...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

At last, Senate passes Cyber Crime bill into law

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> When Nigeria’s telecoms revolution took off after the licensing of GSM operators in 2001, it heralded positive developments for Nigerians as a people, and the economy in general.<br /> <br /> #Communications among Nigerians and between Nigeria and the rest of the world, which was very difficult, became simplified almost overnight.<br /> <br /> Cyber-bugged.<br /> As the GSM operators penetrated the virgin market, information technology devices became prime gadgets for acquisition by Nigerians.<br /> In no time, computers with internet connections became ubiquitous, and with the coming of data services, devices with mobile internet capability became choice attraction. When the tablet computer took the world by storm, Nigeria and Nigerians were not left out as tablets of various brands found their way to Nigeria, and were promptly gobbled up by a population whose desire to communicate became almost insatiable.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EZqYMc-TL7K4ZG7RCxxWZ5-eE_yAOV5cigQGm7_iRtYlfMyEl4w67ClqqNWxWDrqQKDZX3wgPfDj-irVqNABCCJ2MttPAjHwi6pd3ZFEa_XMr5Ab1pA-CjNHy8PJgTB9b6w5eM8dKQTh/s1600/danglingthings+mix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EZqYMc-TL7K4ZG7RCxxWZ5-eE_yAOV5cigQGm7_iRtYlfMyEl4w67ClqqNWxWDrqQKDZX3wgPfDj-irVqNABCCJ2MttPAjHwi6pd3ZFEa_XMr5Ab1pA-CjNHy8PJgTB9b6w5eM8dKQTh/s1600/danglingthings+mix.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> Thus, Nigerians joined the rest of the world in being active in cyberspace. Thousands, even millions, opened email accounts, and started playing games online. E-commerce gained ground, and online retailers are smiling to the banks. But like every good thing, the ugly came with it.<br /> Scammers started operating in cyberspace, ripping off the unwary. While the Police and other law-enforcementagents tried their best, a major flaw existed: there was simply no law that captures cybercrime and prescribes punishment for cyber criminals.<br /> <br /> It was this that prompted many interest groups in the ICT arena to clamour for a cyber crime law to regulate activities in the sector as well as to take care of the criminally-minded.<br /> Only recently, the Senate passed the long-awaited Cyber Crime Bill into law.<br /> It would be recalled that in the past 10 years, several bills on cybercrime had been pushed to the National Assembly by the Nigerian Information Technology experts, but none scaled through the final reading on the floor of the Senate.<br /> Many of the bills did not even get a mention, but recently, one of the bills eventually passed through the final reading and was approved by Senate, a development that has drawn commendations from ICT professionals in the country.<br /> In 2011, Senator Gbenga Kaka (APC, Ogun East) had presented a bill to stop cybercrime. But the bill came under controversy due to a section related to social media.<br /> <br /> In January, President Goodluck Jonathan in the bill titled, “Cybercrime Bill, 2013”, which was routed through the Senate President, David Mark, had urged members of the upper legislative chamber to consider its enactment into law.</div>

At last, Senate passes Cyber Crime bill into law

When Nigeria’s telecoms revolution took off after the licensing of GSM operators in 2001, it heralded positive developments for Nigerians a...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com

The Presidency

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> No President resigns in war time -Presidency.<br /> <br /> The #Presidency has said there is no part of the world where the President resigns during an ongoing war.<br /> It therefore challenged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to tell Nigerians where such presidents had resigned during war time.<br /> The Presidency was reacting to the demand by the leadership of the APC, including its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan should resign because of the ongoing war against the country by the members of the Boko Haram sect.<br /> <br /> Reacting on behalf of the President, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, asked Nigerians to ignore such calls.<br /> He said, “The suggestion by one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu, that President Goodluck Jonathan resign from office as a result of the activities of insurgents in the north eastern part of the country has once again shown beyond doubt that the former Lagos State Governor and his colleagues in the opposition are a bunch of political anarchists and charlatans blinded by an unbridled appetite for power.<br /> <br /> “The assertion by Tinubu at a political rally in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Wednesday that in ‘civilised’ societies, the President should have resigned is unfounded and lacking in historical precedence.<br /> “We challenge him to tell Nigerians which part of his ‘civilized’ world has there been a call on a President to resign during an on-going war.<br /> “When terrorists attacked the United States of America in September, 2001, leaders of the Democratic Party did not demand a resignation of President George Bush but rather they rose in defence of the American Nation to support the various measures taken by the President to defeat the Al Qaeda terrorists.” In addition, politicians do not play politics keeping in mind national unity. Nigeria as a country is not one, sincerely speaking.<br /> <br /> Published by ettefreeguy<br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_2Tu0iO1PAe_wOxeHroOf_C6BsnEetg8pTm4_TY_iuGnle5AdMUCFDdTayvLK-FEcOp3FXBFNPFiUdm39INyJmvoEaQJ24zcnQm5dsZaoId2NZYkle0srJLqPNCHipOBghbEpNM2p5xi/s1600/More.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_2Tu0iO1PAe_wOxeHroOf_C6BsnEetg8pTm4_TY_iuGnle5AdMUCFDdTayvLK-FEcOp3FXBFNPFiUdm39INyJmvoEaQJ24zcnQm5dsZaoId2NZYkle0srJLqPNCHipOBghbEpNM2p5xi/s1600/More.jpg" /></a></div>

The Presidency

No President resigns in war time -Presidency. The #Presidency has said there is no part of the world where the President resigns during...

francisjohnsonofficial@Gmail.com