Internationally renowned R&B giant and label executive, Banky W has been selected as one of the distinguished speakers at this year’s edition of the Oxford University Pan African Conference.


 
Over the years, the bestselling singer-performer has represented Nigeria locally and internationally, with recent roles including being a torch bearer at the 2012 Olympics in London.
He will represent Nigeria once again at the annual Pan African Conference which will hold on Saturday, May 4, 2013 at the Oxford Union in Oxford, London.
 
The multiple award winning artiste and Chairman of Empire Mates Entertainment will join the league of world leaders who have been hosted by the Oxford Union including former US Presidents, Reagan, Nixon and Carter, Malcolm X, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, David Cameron, Senator John McCain among others.

 

The Oxford University Pan African Conference since its inception has been the foremost gathering of African students in the United Kingdom. In partnership with the Oxford Union, The conference brings together hundreds of dynamic scholars, entrepreneurs, activists, and political leaders from around the world.
Mr Wellington will be speaking on the importance of current cultural shifts and changes in artistic expression. He will also discuss the rise of a vibrant media industry and how these changes are shaping the continent’s self-perception and its image abroad.
Commenting on the selection of Banky W as one of the speakers for this year, Oxford Union conference chairman, Temitope Folaranmi said, “Banky W is one of the leading African musician/producers with a strong international presence. In the view of his extraordinary effort in developing young African music talents, Banky W’s participation in this year’s Conference will be an invaluable contribution.”
Banky W who recently released his fourth album to critical and commercial acclaim says, “I am honoured to be selected to speak at this year’s conference. I feel very blessed and privileged to even be allowed to grace the same stage as some of the great dignitaries, past and present, involved with the program. I hope that my contribution will add value to the lives of those in attendance, and I’m sure that I will also take home a great deal of knowledge.”
Other keynote speakers at the conference include President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Koroma, King Letsie III of Lesotho, Former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Mrs Luisa Diogo and Former President of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki among many others.

Eight South African students died in bus crash!

 

The accident happened on Tuesday night
Eight South African students died when their bus crashed after the driver lost control of his vehicle, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Five pupils were in a critical condition after the accident in the rural south-eastern part of the country while 20 others sustained minor injuries.
The incident occurred late on Tuesday on a road north of Durban.
Officials, who could not give the ages of the students, were quoted by the local SAPA news agency as saying that investigations were underway.

Boyfriend 'beat toddler to death'!

A 23-month-old girl was beaten to death by the boyfriend of her mother who had flown to New York to celebrate her 21st birthday, a jury has heard.

Ben Raftery, 21, "forcibly and repeatedly punched" Roxie Jo-Anne Archer in March 2012, Manchester Crown Court was told. He denies murder.
Roxie's mother Sophie was informed of the toddler's death as she arrived in the US.
Mr Raftery was looking after Roxie at her home in Ashton-Under-Lyne.

EFCC arraigns 30 year old man, 30, for allegedly stealing $4,000!

A 30-year-old man, Benjamin Otuorimo, is facing a one-count charge of fraud, after he was yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja High Court, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly stealing $4,000(N634,800), belonging to Kemud International Company Ltd.

The EFCC counsel, Gbolahan Latona, told the court that the defendant on September 12, 2012, with intent to defraud, obtained the said sum from Kemud International Company Ltd. after hacking into the company’s website, and finding out that Kemud was owing Intech Process Automation Nigeria Company Ltd $4,000. He then presented himself as a representative of Intech Process Automation Company, and induced the company to pay the amount into account number 2015862776 belonging to one Audu Mohammed at First Bank Plc, Sabo Yaba area of Lagos.

Justice Olabisi Akinlade ordered that the defendant who pleaded guilty to the one-count charge, be remanded in Kirikiri Maximum prison pending the filling of his bail application and adjourned the matter to June 10, 2013 for trial.

India singing legend Shamshad Begum dies!

Indian singing legend Shamshad Begum has died in the western city of Mumbai, aged 94.

Begum was indisposed for the past few months and died at her residence late on Tuesday, family members told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

Shamshad Begum was one of the earliest singers in Bollywood with a number of hit songs.

Among her hits were Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon, Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar and Kajra Mohabbat Wala.

Born in Punjab's Amritsar district, Shamshad Begum made her debut on a radio station in Lahore in December 1947.

She has been described as a woman who captivated the hearts of her listeners with the enchanting depth of her voice.

She has also been credited as being one of the first singers whose voice was pre-recorded for use in movies.

The singer has been living with her daughter and son-in-law in Mumbai ever since her husband died in 1955, reports say.

"The funeral was a solemn affair with a few friends present," her daughter Usha Ratra told PTI.

MTN signs $3billion loan deal with Zenith, First bank and others!

MTN Nigeria has secured loan facilities totalling $3bn (about N470bn) from a consortium of local and international financial institutions to enable it expand, modernise and improve its network infrastructure.

Zenith Bank Plc led the financiers with N55bn, followed by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Limited, which raised N40bn each; while Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc contributed N35bn and N26.25bn, respectively.

The loan, according to MTN, consists of $1.8bn in additional facilities and $ 1.2bn in restructuring of existing local facility.

The deal was formally sealed by top officials and board members of MTN and the participating banks in Lagos on Tuesday.

The Chief Executive Officer, MTN, Mr. Brett Goschen, said the signing of the loan deal signposted another strategic collaboration between the telecoms service provider and financial institutions to deepen telecommunications services in Nigeria.

According to him, the deal is the sixth of such strategic partnerships, with other notable ones including the $170m commercial paper facility secured by the company in 2002 and a $395m medium-term facility in 2003.

Goschen said the 2003 deal was the largest African telecoms funding deal to close outside of South Africa at the time and won the Project Finance magazine’s ‘African Telecoms Deal’ for that year.

“In 2007, MTN Nigeria again partnered with various local and international financial institutions to raise $2bn to fund our rapidly expanding operations. It was again regarded as the largest loan syndication to any individual telecommunications company in Africa. In that year, it won the ‘African Deal of the Year’ by the EuroMoney Magazine,” he said.

Goschen recalled that again in 2010, MTN Nigeria partnered with 15 local financial institutions and two international lenders to raise another $2bn, which was described as the largest corporate financing deal in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

This deal, according to him, was awarded the ‘Trade Finance Deal of the Year 2010’ by the Trade Finance Magazine of the United Kingdom.

“The essence of these deals was to enable MTN to make the necessary capital investments to expand our network infrastructure and meet the growing demands of our customer base. We certainly put that financing to good use, built the most extensive telecommunications network in Africa and grew our customer base to over 50 million subscribers,” he said.

Goschen said MTN currently had effective network coverage of more than 85 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass and population, and nearly 100 per cent coverage of most major highways in the country.

He said with a relatively low mobile penetration, sound economic growth, lower cost of ownership for consumers and the insatiable demand for data services, there was still ample room for more growth in the sector.

“The restructured and additional facilities will enable us to continue with the aggressive investment in our network,” he said.

The MTN boss said the company invested $1.6bn in 2012 and would invest over $1.5bn on network upgrade and expansion this year.

“Enhancing our network quality is also a key focus of the investment as we lead the delivery of a bold new digital  world for our customers,” he said

Council prosecutes 20 fake doctors, withdraws varsity accreditation!

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has dragged 20 persons to court for claiming and operating as medical doctors without requisite training and qualification.

The council also suspended its accreditation to the College of Health Sciences, Igbinedion University, Okada, for failing to meet the required standards.

The MDCN Registrar/Chief Executive, Dr. Abdulmumini Ibrahim, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja during the induction of 395 medical doctors and dentists.

He said, “We have a new unit called the Monitoring and Inspectorate Department in the secretariat, which is responsible for cracking down on individuals involved in quackery. Currently, we have about 20 cases pending in courts and all have to do with quackery where people parade themselves as doctors.

“They were arrested and prosecuted, that is why they are in court. Whether they are on bail or not on bail is another issue. We have succeeded in arresting them. They were arrested by the state monitoring committees, then the council secretariat was invited as a witness to testify in court.”

Ibrahim particularly pointed to a case in Lagos where a rusticated medical student was parading himself as a doctor.

The suspect, he said, could not complete his training overseas and he returned to Nigeria claiming to be a medical doctor.

On restoring standards in the profession, Ibrahim said the council was committed to living above aboard.

He said, “Failure of some medical/dental institutions to meet the quality assurance requirements of council resulted in withdrawal or suspension of accreditation. In this regard, the case of the College of Health Sciences at Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo State readily comes to mind.

“The accreditation of this institution was suspended for gross violation of the council regulations on operation of medical/dental institutions, especially in approved students’ quota. This institution was barred from admitting medical students since August 2010. This sanction will remain enforced until all pending cases are resolved.”

Ibrahim, however, noted that Igbinedion University was not the only culprit.

He said, “There are standards and guidelines put in place by the council. But if any of these institutions are found violating any of these guidelines, we will revisit that medical school. If they do not really address the issues, we will slam suspension before we withdraw accreditation. Currently, Igbinedion University is in that category; and the council has given its management a two-year timeline for correction.

“If its management corrects the anomalies within the period, then the council will reinstate the accreditation. Currently, Igbinedion University should not be admitting students and should not be graduating students. There are students that in their final years, after writing their final exams, they must be subjected to these professional examinations.”

“In 2011, we suspended about 11 medical schools and they were given time limits to address those issues that have been violated. Nine of them were able to address the issues within the time, except Igbinedion University and University of Benin. However, UNIBEN was able to address those issues after a period. For now, it is only Igbinedion University that is becoming recalcitrant and it is lingering too much.”