No Nigerian killed in South Africa’s xenophobic attacks- Minister

No Nigerian died in the renewed xenophobic attacks in South Africa, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Khadijah Abba Ibrahim, told the Senate yesterday.
The minister based her statement on the information from the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa.

The minister said nobody was convicted as a result of previous attacks and no compensation was paid by the South African government.

The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, told the minister that Nigerians were interested in what the government was doing to protect them in South Africa.
“We want to hear from the ministry that the Acting High Commissioner has actually invited Nigerians to talk to them to give them solace because tomorrow, nobody knows what is going to happen again.
We are only telling them (Nigerians), to please hide to give a low profile. That means we have told them not to engage in their businesses again that they should be in hiding which is not good for Nigerians.
“To the committee we are not happy, we are highly disappointed and what we would expect is that your delegations, we have the mandate of the two Houses for us to go to South Africa. We will all go together see them and look at the memoranda of understanding or bilateral of what you are signing.
“It has to be give and take. If it is necessary Nigeria will not hesitate to put sanctions on South Africa.
After about one hour of deliberation, the Senate yesterday resolved to dispatch a “powerful” parliamentary delegation to South Africa to express the displeasure of the Nigerian parliament over the attacks.

The Nation

China To Start Paying Couples To Have More Than One Child

China is considering introducing birth rewards and subsidies to encourage people to have a second child, after surveys showed economic constraints were making many reluctant to expand their families, the state-owned China Daily has reported.
The idea was revealed by Wang Peian, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, at a social welfare conference on Saturday, the newspaper said Births rose to 17.86 million in 2016, the highest level since 2000, after the country issued new guidelines in late 2015 allowing all parents to have two children amid growing concerns over the costs of supporting an ageing population.

“That fully met the expectations but barriers still exist and must be addressed,” Wang was quoted as saying. “To have a second child is the right of each family in China but affordability has become a bottleneck that undermines the decision.” A poll conducted by the commission in 2015 found that 60% of families surveyed were reluctant to have a second baby, largely due to financial constraints.

China’s birth rate, one of the world’s lowest, is fast becoming a worry for authorities rather than the achievement it was considered at a time when the government feared over-population. China began implementing its controversial one-child policy in the 1970s in order to limit population growth, but authorities are now concerned that the country’s dwindling workforce will not be able to support an increasingly ageing population.

The policy was ended in 2015. The Communist party credited it with preventing 400m births, contributing to China’s dramatic economic takeoff since the 1980s.

Source: Guardian

JAMB finally begins sale of UTME forms, reviews registration

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board said, on Tuesday, that it would begin the sale of forms for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in March, 2017.

A statement by the spokesperson for JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the agency had taken time to add value to the services it had been offering to Nigerians for over three decades.
Benjamin stated, “In the course of conducting admission, many institutions have admitted candidates on merit only for them to discover that such candidates do not have qualified O’Level results or the right combination of subjects for admission and had to delete and start the process all over again. With this, they would have denied other qualified candidates the opportunities for admissions.
“This, we are addressing by ensuring that no candidate is henceforth recommended without his O’Level result being supplied. To achieve this, JAMB will insist that candidates supply their result on its website during registration or later, but before admissions commence for them to be considered for admissions. We believe this will allow only qualified candidates to be considered for admissions.”
The board explained that candidates would henceforth be allowed to make one choice of public university, in which new registration platform will now be first choice, second choice, third choice and fourth choice.
According to him, the restructuring is aimed at expanding the opportunities available to candidates since almost all the public universities do not consider candidates on the second choice list because they hardly exhaust the applicants on the first choice list.
Benjamin said, “We have designed a central admissions processing system, where the board will interface with the institutions and ensure compliance with this reform.
“The summary is that no candidate will be admitted with awaiting result. Candidates and their parents are also to note that JAMB has restructured the registration platform to allow for only one choice of public university.
“The new registration platform will now be first choice, second choice, third choice and fourth choice and not most preferred, preferred e.t.c as it was.
“Candidates’ first choice can be a college, university, innovative enterprises institutions or polytechnic/monotechnic.
“However, if a candidate makes a public university his first choice, he will not have any public university to choose for second, third and fourth choice. He will have on the remaining three choices, a college, polytechnic, private university and IEIs.
“However, candidates for the 2017 UTME can now select the National Certificate in Education (College) or National Diploma (Polytechnic/Monotechnic) as their first choice up to third choice and the fourth IEI. They can select the IEI (Innovative Enterprise Institution, ND) as their first choice up to the fourth choice, but can only pick a public university once.”
He added that the registration for the 2017 UTME and direct entry would go on at the same time, stating that during registration, candidates’ 10 fingers would be captured through the biometric verification machine.
Benjamin also warned candidates that no cyber café would register candidates for the UTME.
Benjamin stated, “On no account should any candidate patronise any cyber café for registration. It is important to note that the board will not deploy the use of any scratch card for the 2017 UTME registration.
“The board is poised to see that a reasonable percentage of candidates, who take this examination and are qualified, find placement in tertiary institutions.”

So sad! Newly wedded couple die in fatal car crash, one week after wedding (photos)

A Ugandan couple named Sedrak Webale and Grace Namatovu yesterday lost their lives in a fatal accident that left many others injured.

According to media reports from the country, the couple had just celebrated their traditional wedding a week ago and were preparing for a final wedding ceremony this coming weekend.

May their souls rest in perfect peace!

NAFDAC smashes forgery syndicate, producers of fake Peak milk, water for injection (photos)

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, yesterday blew the lid off activities of unscrupulous individuals engaged in the forgery of the Agency’s documents, production of counterfeit alcoholic beverages, water for injection and sales of suspected counterfeit Peak Milk.
Read below the statement they just released:
Following intelligence received on a transport vehicle containing suspected counterfeit Peak Milk products bound for Lagos from the East, NAFDAC set up surveillance from about 4am on the 17th of February, 2017 which led to successful interception of the vehicle and its contents as it was arriving Lagos.

Several cartons of the Peak Milk products (batch numbers 28 2C; PD 04:16; BB 12:17 suspected to be counterfeit were discovered and seized.
Further investigation led to the discovery and arrest of the owner, Mr Onyekachi Ikegwuonu. Investigation is on-going.
On 24th February 2017, Mr Daniel Ezekwelu was arrested by the Federal Task Force on Fake and Counterfeit for production of fake water for injection within two compounds at Ojoto village near Nnewi, Anambra state.
During the raid, two under aged girls were found filling and sealing the fake water for injection under the cover of Mr. Daniel Ezekwelu. The production takes place between 8:00am and 3:00 pm every day, while the finished products are transported to the market at night.
Items recovered include plastic containers, gas cylinders and packs of the fake water for injection labelled “Sterilised water for injection BP” with manufacturing date 2015 and expiry date 2020 and said to be produced by Hossanna Laboratories Limited, Surrey. The product is packed as 100 x 10ml vials.
The suspect made useful statement to the Police. Investigation is ongoing.



On 2nd February, 2017, one Mr. Ejike Okereke (M), 46 years old of St. James street Iyiowa, Onitsha was arrested for counterfeiting Codrux Cough Syrup. The original cough syrup is manufactured by Alben Pharmaceutical Company located in Onitsha.
In the course of interrogation, he revealed that one Ifeanyi who is still at large approached him to counterfeit the product.
He stated that he received “Exploid” syrup from Ifeanyi, bought Ethanol and mixed them to form the counterfeit Codrux Syrup. He bought caps/ corks and contracted one Tobias to print Alben on the cap, while one Apollos printed the labels for the bottles.
He adulterated the product in his home town — Ihioma in Orlu L.G.A in Imo State.



The counterfeiting was done between November and December last year. He was arrested when he came to deliver the product to Ifeanyi.
He has been arraigned at the Federal High Court on a five count charge and remanded in prison custody till 11th April, 2017.

MUSIC: INK Edwards – Got My Heart

 

Multi-talented new school singer, INK Edwards returns with brand new single baptized, “Got My Heart.”

“Got My Heart” is INK Edwards’ follow-up track to “We’re From Here” spoken word poetry where the versatile singer gives insight into his environment, dreams, struggles and journey.

INK Edwards’ latest effort, “Got My Heart” is a perfect love single to eulogize ones lover. INK Edwards came out strong and bold with his prosperous lyrics, all the rage vocal deftness, and remarkable delivery on the beat produced by skilled Galactic Beatz.

“Got My Heart” music video has been given perfect visual interpretation by Mavin Records act Dr. Sid who creatively used his unsullied knowledge in directing the soon-to-be-released music video.

                                             Listen to “Got My Heart” and ENJOY!
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YOUNG AIRMIE - YOUR PRAISE

GNM Entertainment (a startup entertainment company poised to making talented and unsigned artists heard) is based in Lagos, Nigeria. She is proud to present her flagship artist - Young Airmie and his brand new single titled "Your Praise", produced by in-house producer and C.E.O GNM entertainment in the person of Kelikume.

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