President Buhari at the National Security Summit, As Osinbajo Visits Addis Ababa For IGAD Plus Summit!

President Buhari at the National Security Summit organised by the Nigerian Police and the Sun News in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja on Monday, 17th August.



Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa for the IGAD Plus Summit on the Peace Process in South Sudan, Monday, August 17.

Indonesian Plane Carrying About Half A Million Dollars When It Crashed!

 The passenger ATR 42-300 twin-turboprop plane which crashed with 54 people on board, including four post office workers, on Sunday, August 16,  in east Indonesian Papua Province, was reported to be carrying 6.5 billion rupiah, equivalent to $470,000 in cash, meant  for distribution to poor families in Pegunungan Bintang in the province. 

The ill-fated plane which was operated by Trigana Air, an Indonesian carrier lost contact with air traffic control before 3:00 pm on Sunday, after taking off from Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. It had 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew members on the flight scheduled to take about 45 minutes.

Local officials said a search team located the wreckage of the Trigana Air plane near the city of Oksibil in Papua Province and rescuers are on the crash site.

The plane went missing 33 minutes after takeoff from the provincial capital of Jayapura, and 10 minutes before reaching Oksibil.

Five People Killed As Planes Collide Mid-Air!

Two small planes, a twin-engine Sabreliner jet and a single-engine Cessna 172 collided mid air at Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego County, Southern California, near Mexico border.

The violent crash resulted in the death of four people including the pilot of the Cessna 172.  
Authorities said the Sabreliner jet, which was leased by military contractor BAE Systems, had four of its employees were on board, and that "employees and their families", will be "first priority" as BAE Systems is prepared to offer all its support.

Morgan Freeman's Granddaughter Stabbed To Death In Harlem!

Our post this week is starting on a sad note.....

E'Dena Hines, Morgan Freeman's step-granddaughter was on Sunday, August 16, stabbed to death in New York City. 

According to reports E'Dena was found with multiple stab wounds on her chest area, on West 162nd Street, near St. Nicholas Avenue, in Harlem, upper Manhattan, at about 2:54 am. From there, she was rushed to Harlem hospital, where she was pronounced dead. 

A 30-year-old man later identified as Lamar Davenport, believed to be her boyfriend, was detained at the scene and later taken to New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center for medical evaluation. He has been charged with murder on Monday.

E'Dena Hines was aged 33. 

May her soul, Rest in Peace.

YOUTHS CALL FOR INCREASED GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION IN HUMAN AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, AS THE WORLD MARKED INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY!

Following President Muhammadu Buhari's call on Nigerian youths to "be the change they want to see", at the 2015 International Youth Day, with this year’s theme “Youth Civic Engagement”. 

A group known as Nasfat Youth has taken up the challenge to visit youths living in some of the suburb areas of Lagos state, to see the various efforts made by these youths to positively engage themselves despite the challenges that confront them.

After a painstaking research, Secretary of the group, Fatai Olayemi (Amir), revealed what the group observed, and what inspired him to take up such project. 

According to Mr. Olayemi, the engagement and participation of youth is essential to achieve meaningful and sustainable developments. Yet, the opportunities for youth to engage politically, economically and socially are either low or non-existent, especially in developing countries. Although there has been increased programming, policy and attention directed on youth civic engagement by governments, United Nations entities, regional and multilateral organizations, CSOs, youth and researchers, much still needs to be done if we must achieve any significant development. 

This is evident in the response received from a recent research we conducted at Ijora Badia community, a large slum in Apapa/Iganmu Local Council Development Area, to ascertain the level of Youth civil engagement. 

There are indications that insecurity, which results in cult killings among the youth, poor infrastructural uplift, indiscriminate and early sexual exposure, teenage pregnancy and early marriage, poor hygiene and living conditions, ironically, lack of access to portable drinking water is also a major challenge that confronts a community, that is neighbour to the Lagos State Water Corporation Building, Ijora. 

Ijora community

Majority of the youths living in this area engage in menial job to earn ends meet. Despite it’s proximity to Nigeria’s leading Ports, Apapa Ports, and few kilometers away from the bustling and affluent Victoria Island, Ikoyi, and Lagos Island, Ijora Badia seems to have lost touch with the real world, laments one of the youths. 

                                                                                              

YOUTHS TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE TO EFFECT CHANGE IN IJORA BADIA COMMUNITY:

To help address some of these challenges, and as part of their civil responsibility to the society, some youth came together to find ways to effectively sensitize young people on the need to shun violence. 

One of such groups is the ‘Signature Initiative’ formed by a youth leader in the community. The organization holds an annual event, called the Responsibility Carnival, where they bring in artiste to entertain and motivate the youths to live responsibly. 

Some members of the Signature Initiative group

To support their efforts, the youths have called on the Lagos State Government to put in place, proper security in the community; as they attribute the increased fighting and killings to “loose security”. They equally clamored for increased government involvement through youth focused programmes to channel their energy towards productivity, would make the community stable a bit and would make investors coming. 

Construction of low cost houses for families, this is because the wooden houses have led to reported cases of fire outbreaks, the sad part being that once there is fire on one of the houses, other houses are automatically affected  because the house are built very close to each other.

Mr. Fatai added that empowering youths through financial support schemes to boost innovation and policy development, collaborating with entrepreneurial and capacity building development organisations like Fate Foundation, to build personal development skills and entrepreneurial proficiency of the Youth, for multiplier effect on jobs & wealth creation in Nigerian economy, are some of the ways government and private groups can promote civic engagement among the youths in Nigerian communities. Mr. Olayemi said. 

We hope relevant authorities and well meaning Nigerians heeds this clarion call for change, and are effectively involved.

Bristow Chopper Crash - Two More Bodies Recovered, As Authorities Release Names Of Survivals!

A Bristow Chopper with registration number 5N- BDG-760540 carrying 12 people on board including crew members, crashed yesterday 12th August at the Oworonshoki area of Lagos State, leaving four people dead and six others were rescued and receiving treatments at the General and private Hospitals in Gbagada - Lagos. 

Authorities said the chopper, carrying staff of Indigo Dredging company, was en route the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja- Lagos, from one of the nation’s oil rigs in the Escravos area of Delta  State, and was scheduled to land at the at Murtala Muhammed Airport by 3:35pm, unfortunately, it crashed into the Lagoon around 3pm. 

Four of the six rescued victims are reported to be responding to treatment

Names of survivors as released by authorities include: 

• Solomon Ude
• Joshua Emekema
• Chukwudi Onah
• Dolu Epiejura
• Ononode Ojeite
• Iniala Opaimi

Two more bodies, identified as those of the chopper pilot, Captain Jay Wyatt, an American, and his assistant were recovered by the rescue emergency management agencies, and local divers, Thursday morning around 10:30am.

Ooni Of Ife's 'Obabaku' Runs For His Dear Life, Burial Rite May Be Delayed As A Result!

As cradle of the Yoruba land, Ile Ife is known worldwide for its ancient and naturalistic bronze, stone and terracotta sculptures which developed between 9th and 12th century, and reached their peak of artistic expression between 1200 and 1400AD. Ife is a historical city and an embodiment of culture. 

The rulers and important people were often depicted with large heads because they thought Ase (authority) was held in the head.

The people of Ile Ife are culture inclined, evident in how they jealously preserve core traditional values of the ancient town.

'Abobaku' in Yoruba language means 'one that dies with the king', this means when the king 'Ooni' dies, the Abobaku equally dies with the king. It is a chieftancy title to that runs in some families. 

With the official announcement of the demise of the Ooni of Ife, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Wednesday, August 12, 2015, and preparations are in top gear towards his burial, there are wide spread reports that the Abobaku of Ile Ife, (perhaps not yet ready to die with the king) is on the run for his dear life, a situation that may delay the final burial rite of the Late Oba.  

Another report has it that the 'Abobaku' is not on the run, because he will not be buried with late Oba, as the practice has since been stopped in Ile-Ife.

Late Oba Okunade Sijuwade drew his last breath at the London Clinic, on 20 Devonshire Place, London, July 28, 2015.