Nigerian Woman In Police Net!

A 40-year old woman from Niger Republic, west Africa, Mrs Bose Saliu, has been arrested by the police for her alleged involvement in child trafficking in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
 

She was also charged to court for allegedly conspiring with one of the girls to steal.
It was gathered that the woman has been involved in trafficking young girls from Cotonou, the largest city in the Republic of Benin, to Lagos to work as domestic maids.
The mother of two kids was arrested after she brought a 13-year old girl called Awawu to a woman, Mrs Patience Abiodun, to work as a housemaid at Unity Zone, Jakande Estate, Ejigbo Lagos.
But after she was employed, it was alleged that the maid went into Mrs.Abiodun’s bedroom and allegedly stole N236, 000 before she fled.
Mrs Bose Saliu in court According to Mrs Abiodun, after Awawu started living with her for three weeks, she gave her access to her bedroom.
On 16 April when she left for work, Awawu allegedly ransacked her bedroom and stole her money and fled.
Abiodun said when she returned home and realized she had gone, she immediately went to where she kept her money and found it missing.
She said she contacted Mrs Saliu and told her what happened.
But Mrs. Saliu told her that she had not seen the girl and asked her to look for the maid. She, therefore, reported the case to the police at Ejigbo division, Lagos and Mrs. Saliu was arrested.
Mrs. Saliu was later charged to court with conspiracy and stealing. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs M. B. Folami, granted her bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

 




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