Back again

Sorry people, I've been off the blogosphere for so long. Every time I try to blog, I somehow find a way to dodge the task. Maybe it's because work leaves me fatigued at the end of the day. Right now, I'm sitting hunched over my computer, and it's 1 o'clock in the morning. The things bloggers do. I'm trying to get my lazy fingers to cpmlete this post. Don't blame me if I spell everything backward.
A whole lot has happened in the short while that I've been away, with various people around me trying to outdo themselves with attention-grabbing and sometimes downright outrageous acts.

I don't even want to say anything about the state of affairs in the country right now, before I start to sound like one of those political journalists or whatever they are called. I heard Baba Iyabo was told to come and explain how he spent the Power Sector money, and he became "sick". Atiku Abubakar, on his own part, suddenly could not find a flight from Dubai to Nigeria in time for the hearing, and asked for another opportunity to make his case. Good for them.

I have some scintillating news though. A 22 year-old Nigerian was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hacking into a NASA employee's computer. I'll write more about that later in the day. Right now I'm too groggy to type any more.

Before I go, here's a nice pic to make your day. Pictures like this remind me of just how unique Naija is. The slippers are obviously owned by a very careful individual. Talk of maximum security, lol.

Contractor Overpaid By N224 Million - Some things just don't make sense!

I've stopped trying to figure this country out. Seriously, it's a total waste of time. In a country with such vast resources as ours, it's a shameful thing to say that the missing Wings Aviation plane has still not been found.
Even more embarrassing is the talk about Fulani herdsmen being hired to look out for the plane's wreckage. There's even some whispers about herbalists or seers being asked to pinpoint the location of the aircraft. It's Crazy. NEMA should also employ squirrels and other animals to unite and find the missing plane, if that's the extent of their foolishness.
Such sorry situations just expose our inadequacies, and make us seem very incompetent. There's been a flurry of probes, allegations and counter-allegations going on in the power sector, and that on its own is another can of worms.

I read in one of the national dailies that a company handling the 561 megawatt station in Calabar was overpaid N224 million by the National Independent Power Project (NIPP), after collecting the actual contract sum of $151million.

How's that for starters? An extra N224 million.

The 561-megawatt power project is located along Calabar-Itu Road, in Onim Ankong, and was flagged off by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on March 6, 2006 and was to have been completed by November 2007. It still hasn't been completed.

The company in question is Marubeni International, a company that has been involved in the construction of the Kainji dam and other power projects in the country. According to the paper, as at the time of visit by the committee, less than 30 percent of construction work had been done on the project.

The National Independent Power Project (NIPP), in its records, showed that Marubeni had been paid the actual cost of the project and then paid an additional N224 million for reasons that could not be ascertained.

I think I am falling in love with the Yaradua administration - as long as they take steps to correct these mistakes that have been uncovered.

Cancun Punch Fest - Samuel Peter Beats Maskaev to Claim the WBC Heavyweight title

Last week was quite different. We were in the news a lot, and for the right reasons.
Mind you, when I say we, I mean Nigeria (Though I wouldn't mind being in the news a bit). This time, it wasn't about militants or scammers, or election tribunals and the various intrigues that continue to plague this democracy of ours. Rather, it was a different Nigeria that the world was shown. A country with billionaires and heavyweight ...I don't really know how to put that one.
Samuel Peters is much more than a heavyweight boxer. That guy is a punching machine, a bulldozer.
Last week I watched as he pummeled Oleg Maskaev into submission at the Plaza de Toros, Cancun's bullfighting ring and the venue of Mexico's first heavyweight title fight.

Peter stopped the Russian in the sixth round, pummeling him with 12 powerful punches to force a stoppage and claim the WBC heavyweight title.

The fight between Peter and Maskaev had been more than a year in the making, with a back injury to the Russian champion holding up the title clash. Seems Oleg finally got what was coming his way.

The four major heavyweight titles have been the exclusive preserve(there I go with big English again) of Eastern Europeans in recent years, and now an African has joined the ranks.

Aliko Dangote Is The World's Richest Black Man - Worth $3.3 billion

Okay, we're in the news again. Nigeria's own Alhaji Aliko Dangote made the Forbes list of the world's richest people. The Nigerian business mogul has been ranked as the 334th richest person in the world, and Africa's richest man. Dangote is richer than America's chat show host Oprah Winfrey, who has an estimated worth of $2.5 billion.

The only other African to make the list was South Africa's Patrice Motsepe, who is ranked 503 in the world.
The list features 1,125 billionaires, and Dangote's inclusion is a good sign for Nigeria, and indeed, Africa.

On the other hand, Bill Gates fell from first position on the list to third. His friend Warren Buffet is now the world's richest man with $62 billion. The second position is occupied by the mexican communications magnate, Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $60 billion

Some people are of the opinion that Aliko Dangote may be worth more than $3.3 billion, since Forbes' evaluation did not cover non-quoted companies that are privately owned by the businessman. Such investments include Obajana Cement, Dangote Cement, Alheri Engineering, Port Terminal Operations, Transport and Oil & Gas.
Thumbs up for Aliko Dangote.

Beyonce sings the Nigerian Anthem

I was going through some sites the other day and came across this video of beyonce Knowles singing the Nigerian National Anthem.
Sounds quite nice anyway, more like a funky rendition of our otherwise formal anthem.

Naija - One time cures

Nigerians can be funny, I swear. The other day I came across a container of what looked like dishwashing liquid. Like most Naija things, it had a wide range of applications.
The label proudly advertised that the liquid can be used for cleaning bathroom tiles, kitchen utensils, floors, cars, washing clothes and even for bathing! Imagine having your bath with dishwashing liquid. Anyhow, it's still a bubble bath. Talk of multipurpose soap. When will we stop offering all-in-one solutions?

It reminds me of those "Doctors" you see in buses when travelling. Those guys have drugs thast can cure every ailment on earth. From Typhoid to Syph, Fibroids and even aids, just name it, they have it. Usualy, they claim that all these things can be cured with just one wonder drug in a small brown bottle. And the whole bottle would probably cost about N300 only. Taking such stuff sounds like the surest way to get seriously sick.

A shout out to Naija bloggers

I got a little scare during the week. My computer got infected with some exotic viruses (when I say exotic, I really mean it). I see viruses all the time, but this wasn't the usual brontok scare. It's crazy what viruses can do, and how powerful some of them are.
Some guy popped his flash drive into my laptop, used it to work, and left the thing still plugged in. It turned out that the flash drive was REALLY infected, and by the time I got back, my computer was like a virus zoo. I've got a good antivirus program (NOD32), and by all standards, it's as good as all the big names. This time though, before I could complete a system scan, the worm disabled the antivirus program and took over the system. Luckily I was able to restore the computer to an earlier date, and everything went back to normal. Funny that this should be happening to me, I felt I was pretty good at the whole computer security thing.

On the blogging scene, I've come across some really interesting Nigerian blogs of late, and they're impressive. It's really amazing how blogging has caught on in this country. There are some blogs of note, like Naija Fine Boy, Linda Ikeji, Catwalq (nice style), Funmi Iyanda's Blog, Calabar Gal, and the craziest of them all; Ubong Da. There are other Nigerian blogs, but then, I just can't list them all. Ubong Da's blog is really interesting, pity the guy just doesn't want to update anymore. Some of these guys are so consistent, they make me feel lazy. I don't know where they get the energy to post almost every day from.

Tribunal nullifies senate president's election

Once in a while this blog tilts a lot towards the political side of things. It can't be helped though, with the kind of changes and upheavals going on in the country right now. Another bombshell was dropped by the judiciary.
The election of the current senate president, Senator David Mark,was nullified by the election tribunal, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was given orders to conduct fresh and credible elections in the two local government areas which are currently under contention, (Agatu and Okpokwu) within 60 days from the day of judgment.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) contender, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, challenged the return of Senator David Mark on the grounds that he (Abubakar) had the majority of the votes cast in seven of the nine local governemt areas of the senatorial district, and that the results from the two controversial local governments (Agatu and Okpokwu) were cancelled.
Well, that leaves the senate president in a very uncomfortable situation.
The outcomes of the cases handled by the election tribunals in the country have given the Nigerian judiciary more credibility, and we hope the current trend of upholding justice continues. It is really commendable.

Of militants, soccer and spraying of the Naira: King Sunny Ade vs Charles Soludo

It's been a week again. What on earth is happening to me? I need to improve my blogging attitude.
Val's day came and went, and with it a whole lot of uproar. I spent the entire week in Calabar. Quite a beautiful place I must say. I always enjoy popping in there to rest once in a while. Those guys sure know how to keep their town clean. And the fine girls...well, no wonder Calabar has lots of tourists.

I don't know if it's writer's block or something, but all of a sudden, blogging seems like a very big task. I haven't been able to shake off that feeling, and even when I tried to blog on Saturday, I got depressed by the 4-0 mauling of Arsenal by Man United. The United boys literally took them apart at Old Trafford and it wasn't funny to watch.
I'd better shift from the football talk. My passion for the game keeps threatening to turn this blog into a running football commentary. Anyway, that's the beauty of a blog; the flexibility.

On the National front, there's some noise about one of the MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) leaders, Comrade Henry Okah, who was extradited to Nigeria last Thursday. The militant group claims that Henry Okah was beaten up and shackled before being flown out of Angola where he was arrested and detained since September, last year, to an undisclosed location in the northern part of Nigeria. MEND is now threatening that there will be more attacks on high-ranking military personnel in the country. Almost routine stuff.

There's something funny though, I came across an article in the Vanguard, where King Sunny Ade (KSA) claims that the spraying of the Naira is part of Nigerian culture. What bollocks! Nobody can lay claim to a culture of deliberately defacing and mutilating his national currency. Whether it is as a result of spraying in parties or wrong handling, there is no excuse for mutilating money. KSA has called on the CBN and the government to review the new aw, claiming that sprayed money isn't necessarily trampled underfoot. Well, maybe he doesn't trample on his, but I have seen plenty others do just that. And even the idea of pasting Naira notes on a musician's sweaty forehead still makes no sense. If it is wrong, then it is wrong. Simple.

Instead of spraying cash on performers or celebrants during occasions, why don't people package the money in envelopes and present them to the beneficiaries. Simple, isn't it? And it's definitely a better tradition. Sorry, KSA, but the spraying has to stop.

Egypt wins the African Cup of Nations

Yesterday, the 26th Africa Cup of Nations ended and a costly mistake from Cameroonian captain Rigobert Song, cost his team the Nations Cup Trophy. The Pharaohs of Egypt beat the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon by one goal to nil at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Ghana.
The African Cup of Nations finals is always an interesting event, and yesterday's match proved to be no different. It was intense and entertaining.

The Cameroonians played against a technically sound Eqyptian team, who put in all they had for the game. Even though both sides played well, the Egyptians constantly posed a genuine threat to the West Africans.
With a team which was made up of relatively unknown players, the North Africans managed to hold their own during the entire competition, and still went on to win in the finals.

The first half ended goalless with a fine performance from Samuel Eto'o. Cameroonian goal keeper Kameni also had a fine game but in the second half of the game, the players began showing signs of fatigue. All it took was a mistake from Rigobert Song for the Egyptians to score and secure their victory. Song graciously lost possession of the ball to Zidan and Abou Terika Egypt calmly tucked the ball into the net.
Egypt has now won the Nations Cup back-to-back, and this is no easy feat for any team.

On the whole, I would say the Egyptians fully deserved their win, because they played wonderfully and were consistent. They seemed to be all over the field at once, and their speed and skill with the ball was just too good. I feel bad for our fellow West Africans, but then every game must produce a winner and a loser.
I know Rigobert Song must feel bad for being the cause of the loss, but then we all make mistakes once in a while and getting blamed for such a loss isn't a nice way to end your international career.

Here in Nigeria, as far as some people are concerned, the Nations Cup ended when the Super Eagles were ousted by the Black Stars of Ghana, and since then, they have shown little enthusiasm for the later stages of the competition. During the finals, a guy who sat close to me even remarked, albeit jokingly, that Rigobert Song and Geremi Njitap were playing like Nigerians! (so much for national pride).
Vogts and the NFA need to hear such remarks. Maybe it'll finally set them thinking straight.

Blogging blues

I woke up this morning, and it felt just like a Saturday morning. Here I was at my laziest best, and getting on my feet was quite a hard task.
Now of all the tasks I had planned in the back of my mind to accomplish today, blogging definitely wasn't included in the list. There are days when blogging isn't so much fun (ask some of us). Sometimes it feels just great to read someone else's blog for a change and take a break from your own crazy ramblings.
To beat the early morning blog blues, all I did was get a cup of coffee, get on the computer and hop round the Nigerian blogosphere. It turned out to be quite an interesting trip, and I must say, a very rewarding one also. I ran across all sorts of Nigerian blogs, with various articles and flavours. Blogging actually seems to be catching on in this country of ours, and that's a nice development.

Now on to other things. There's not much Naija gist out there right now. There's some talk of the NFA giving Berti Vogts the sack, in the wake of his poor performance. Not that I care anyway, I'm tired of their antics.

Gotta run off now. Will be back to post more stuff later in the day.

Tu Face Idibia robbed again - what has this guy done?

Not much has happened on the Naija scene these few days, apart from the odd bit of news here and there. The only interesting incident is the reported attack made by armed robbers on Tu Face Ididbia, one of Nigeria's hottest musicians.
From what we hear, Tu Face, or 2Baba, was robbed two days ago, at Anthony Village, Lagos, where the robbers made away with his jeep.

This is about the third time that 2Face has been robbed in one year. Quite a sad turn of events for the music star. This is getting too much. Tu Face might end up running away to Ghana or somewhere else in the sub-region. At least the poor guy will have some peace then.

Nigerian robbers, wetin dis guy do una sef? If this is what it means to be a celebrity, then I might reconsider my celeb status.

News from everywhere - Jerome Kerviel Makes History

Well, it's been quite an eventful week, with some spectacular things happening.
First, some relatively unknown guy rips off Societe Generale, France's second-biggest listed bank, and then a Nigerian lawmaker eats his own words.

In just a few hours after the Societe Generale incident, Jerome Kerviel went from backroom boy to a full-blown celebrity. Call it what you will, but this guy has made history.

According to Reuters, The 31-year old banker was brought into police custody in Paris on Saturday, suspected of causing a $7 billion loss through rogue trades at Societe Generale.
Kerviel worked as a trader at Societe Generale, and somehow managed to lose almost €5 billion in a series of complex, concealed deals on European stock derivatives. Kerviel's colleagues described him as a "computer genius" who was allegedly able to hack into the bank's computers and hide his reckless trading.

The funny thing is, in the wake of the whole ruckus, the number of Kerviel's friends listed on the Facebook networking site also gradually disappeared. Well, so much for friendship.

As for the amount, that's quite huge. I wonder how long it would take I and my pal Meesuan to blow that much cash. Mon amico, whatcha think? I'd run for president or something, and you could get that Yacht you've always wanted.

Well, on the Nigerian front, Senator Nuhu Aliyu has chickened out and apologized to his fellow Federal legislators, following his allegations against the National Assembly. The former Deputy Inspector General of police had claimed that the National Assembly was harboring some fraudsters and that he would name them.

He later ate humble pie, apologizing and citing legal reasons for not being able to name them. Well, good luck to him.

In football, Liverpool fans are set to make an ambitious plan to buy the football club from its American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The group, called "Share Liverpool FC", will present a plan to organise the buy-out by 100,000 fans of the club.

Share Liverpool FC hopes to raise £500 million from the 100,000 fans, each paying £5,000 for one share in the club. This is to enable them purchase the club and build a new stadium.

The group intends to launch a website to attract the interest of Liverpool's supporters all over the world.

Those behind this buy-out idea are football business lecturer and Liverpool fan Rogan Taylor, former director of communications at the Premier League Phil French, and Kevin Jacquiss, a lawyer.

Sounds interesting, but I don't really see much coming out of this buy-out bid of theirs.
That's all for today. More stuff coming up tomorrow.

At last, a win from nigeria

Well, this is quickly turning into something of a football blog.
The Super Eagles finally managed to save themselves from elimination with a 2-0 win over neighboring Benin republic. This means they have sailed through into the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, and will have to face hosts Ghana.

This has averted what would have been a very embarrassing exit for the Nigerians, and we hope they will learn a lesson from this. We seem to like doing things the hard way.
This performance has restored a bit of our National pride and many Nigerians have found their voices again.
Ivory Coast also beat Mali 3 - 0.

In other news, Wigan Athletic lost to Middlesbrough 1 - 0, while Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League with a 3 - 0 win over Newcastle United. Another round of beautiful football from Arsenal.

Nigeria vs Mali - Another Pathetic Result

The Super Chickens (sorry, Super Eagles) of Nigeria, in another pathetic performance this evening, succeeded in showing the whole world that they don't have what it takes to win the African Cup of Nations.

I watched the match in a "joint", and the barrage of invectives that was hurled at the Nigerian players and their coach was enough to make even a seasoned bus conductor flinch.

The players were at their laziest best, and the football was just terrible. Completely uninspiring, and a complete waste of time. Who on earth ranked these guys as the best in Africa? In my opinion, they don't even come among the first 15 teams. Enyimba would easily thrash them.

For those who felt the first half was bad, the second half was utter rubbish. The players were busy strolling round the pitch, and the Malians were having a field day, taking their time to punch holes in our seemingly non-existent defense.

One thing I couldn't help noticing was the constant look of amusement on the assistant referee"s face. The guy was always grinning at our feeble attempts at goal. I can't blame him anyway. The whole Nigerian team is one big joke.

Congratulations to Seydou Keita for his stellar performance, and (of course) congratulations to our own Yakubu Aiyegbeni for finally figuring out how to put the ball inside the net, even if it was an offside goal.

I just can't understand Aiyegbeni, but of course the same still goes for the whole team. I feel like channeling my fury at Berti Vogts, but fortunately for him, he's in Ghana.
Berti, if you can hear me, when you finish, don't even bother to come back to Nigeria. We'll ship all your leftover stuff to you.
I think this kind of result from a foreign coach will teach the NFA to appreciate Nigerian coaches.

I won't even waste any more of my time talking about those guys. I hope they actually get to watch replays of their game. They're a sad lot, our Eagles. Very sad.

Two Nigerians Fight Aboard A Moving Aircraft

Two Nigerians threw caution to the wind and exchanged blows aboard a Chanchangi Airlines flight. The aircraft was on its way to Lagos from Abuja, and was just preparing to take off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to news reports, the fight started when a passenger refused to comply with the order from the pilot and cabin crew to switch off all cell phones. Totally oblivious to the events around him, he was still talking on his mobile phone and when he was asked to switch it off, he became abusive. This drew the ire of another passenger who confronted him.
The caller was said to have rained abuses on the other passenger, and the exchange of words soon degenerated into a fight.

With this new development, the pilot ordered all the passengers to disembark, and called for the immediate arrest of the two errant passengers. They were detained by the airport police, and the flight later left for Lagos without them.

Well, so much for Nigerians and their respect for law and order. Some people have such an overpowering sense of importance that they even flout simple rules which are for their own safety.

Super Eagles - Not So Super Anymore

I just didn't feel like blogging today. I watched yesterday's Nations Cup match with high hopes but the lackluster performance of the Super Eagles completely dampened my enthusiasm.

I guess they proved their critics right. The Ivoriens played against a somewhat slow Nigerian side which was at its disorganized best. There were some brief flashes of skill and all that, but the overall performance was poor. We even had one player (I think Aiyegbeni) tripping over a pass. He ended up on his face. That never happens to him at his club, Everton.
Nigerian players show little drive when playing for their country and they generally looked lazy on the field yesterday. They weren't in any particular hurry.

Cameroun suffered a 4 - 2 defeat at the hands of the Egyptians this evening, and it was another little shocker. Most people expected the Lions to do better than that. I guess the big boys have their work cut out for them in this particular tournament, if they intend to get anywhere near the finals.

I think I'll just sign off here.

Nations Cup Wahala - Here we go again

It's that time of the year when the streets empty in various parts of Africa and people congregate to watch the round leather game.

As our own Super Eagles file out to face the Ivoriens this evening, one question is paramount on the minds of the Nigerian populace; "Can the boys bring home anything?"
Opinions are divided concerning this. Some people are fanatical about the Eagles, and believe that they are quite capable of winning the competition.
Others are quite pessimistic, believing that the boys are up to no good.
The last category of people couldn't care less. They go about their business as if the competition is being held in Europe and they have nothing to do with it.

The Eagles have been quite consistent in the competition. In fact, a bit too consistent for my liking. They've been so consistent that they brought home bronze medals three times in the last three editions!
This does not mean that they're not appreciated, but getting to the finals would be a nice thing, and getting gold would be even better. We have done it before, and we can do it again.

I don't want to delve into all the problems of Nigerian football and why the Eagles might not win. That's just depressing stuff. For now, all I want to do is hope, and pray for them.

So, enough of blogging, I'm off to get myself a nice spot to watch the match with the guys.
Hopefully, our fans will soon be shouting; Gooooaall!!

The Danfo Driver

A little boy sat in a danfo bus, on his way back from school and he was reciting the day's lesson at school.

It went thus:

if my father is a lion and my mother a lioness, i will be a cub
if my father is a king and my mother a queen, i will be a prince
etc, etc.

The bus driver was irritated by the boy's "noise", and he shouted at the boy asking him to shut up. But the boy continued.

Then the driver shouted;

"What if your father is an 'armed robber' and your mother an 'ashawo' (prostitute), what will you be?"


The boy replied;

"Then I will be a Danfo Driver like you!"

Another one bites the dust?

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu, Enugu State, nullified the election of Governor Sullivan Chime of the PDP on allegations of electoral malpractice, irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral act of 2006. This makes him the sixth state governor on the party's platform to be booted out of power.

In a three-hour judgement, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Samuel Otta, said that the petitioners proved the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.

This seems like a wake up call for all our politicians. It is no longer going to be "business as usual".
The judiciary seems to have found its voice and is speaking louder than ever.
I think this bodes well for Nigeria's fledgling democracy. Things are really taking shape.

I finally pulled it off - My Naijaruns

This is my newest attempt at getting an uncomplicated blog. Now I can post without the restrictions of following a particular theme or style of writing.

That's what blogging is all about, isn't it? The freedom to come online and post all your ramblings, feel completely at home, and in between it all, hope that you're making sense out of the whole process.

The Naija word seems to be really catching up with others on the web. Now it's getting quite hard to get Naija-related domains and stuff. Seriously, "Naija" is getting to be such a hot item and I think it's a good sign. More like a nice way to market ourselves and our country.

Now we have Naija as a brand, and that means we have an identity;something that we can proudly identify with. We know how we do our "Naija runs"!