“Keshi is selfish”; Super Eagles backroom staff blast

Super Eagles backroom staff are disappointed coach Stephen Keshi has not fought for them after they missed out on the government’s largesse.

Keshi, his assistant coaches and players were rewarded by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan with national honours and plots of land in Abuja for winning the 2013 AFCON.

But the backroom staff like equipment manager, security and medical staff attached to the team were only given 2 million Naira each.

The Eagles will this week be in Delta and Akwa Ibom States for special victory receptions by the respective state governments without most of these shattered backroom staff.

One of the backroom staff told MTNFootball.com: “We worked hard for this team, but when it came to reaping the reward of our hard work, we were virtually left out.

“Keshi has still not deemed it fit to make it known to the Presidency that he did not win this trophy only with his coaches and players, but some of us who had to work round the clock to ensure everything was in place for the team.

“Do you know that in 2005, when Samson Siasia led Nigeria to win the AYC, his backroom staff were left out by the government, but he was prompt to point out this omission to President Olusegun Obasanjo and they were each given 500,000 Naira, just like other members of the squad?”

Another backroom staff added: “This was a person who was known to fight for others when he was skipper of the national team. That was why he got the nickname ‘Big Boss’. But this is not the case now.

“If anybody could convince the President to consider us, that person would be Keshi because he now has direct access to Jonathan.”

President general of the Nigerian Supporters Club Rafiu Ladipo received a standing ovation on Wednesday when he pointed out that the Eagles backroom staff were overlooked by President Jonathan.

It was further gathered that while Keshi has failed to get his staff to be better appreciated, skipper Joseph Yobo has done everything to make sure that is not the case where he is in a position to do so.

Yobo made sure each squad member received $2,500 from the $100,000 Rivers State Governor Rotimi Ameachi donated to the team after they were forced to a 1-1 draw in their opening group game against Burkina Faso.

He has also maintained he will do same with other donations received from telecommunications tycoon Michael Adenuja, business mongul Aliko Dangote among others.

Illegal Funds: N20.6trn Moved Abroad In 10 Years – Report

Thu, 14/02/2013 - 

Nigeria has emerged seventh out of the top 20 developing countries whose currencies are moved abroad with $129 billion illicit money from crime, corruption and tax evasion siphoned out of the country in the last 10 years.

This was disclosed in a new report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organisation aimed at curtailing the cross-border flow of illegal money.

According to the report, about $19.66 billion illicit money was exported from Nigeria in 2010 alone while an average of $12.9 billion is moved yearly by corrupt politicians, businessmen, drug barons and criminals in a country where citizens grapple with poor transportation networks, unreliable electricity, inadequate healthcare facilities and other lacking social amenities despite being rich in natural resources.

Cumulatively, from 2001 to 2010, China was top exporter of illicit currency with $2.74 trillion, followed by Mexico $476 billion, Malaysia $285 billion, Saudi Arabia $210 billion, Russia $152billion, Philippines $138 billion, and Nigeria $129 billion.

Other countries named among the top 12 included India with $123 billion, Indonesia $109 billion, United Arab Emirates $107 billion, Iraq $63.6 billion and South Africa $83.9 billion while Brunei takes the 20th spot with $37 billion.

The report entitled “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2001-2010” is GFI’s annual update on the amount of money flowing out of developing economies via crime, corruption and tax evasion, and it is the first of GFI’s reports to include data for the year 2010. The developing world lost $859 billion in illicit outflows in 2010, an increase of 11 per cent over 2009. From 2001 to 2010, developing countries lost $5.86 trillion to illicit outflows.

Co-authored by GFI lead economist Dev Kar and GFI economist Sarah Freitas, the study is the first by GFI to incorporate a new, more conservative estimate of illicit financial flows, facilitating comparisons with previous estimates from GFI updates. A look at the 2010 exports of illegal capital also had Nigeria on the seventh spot with $19.66 billion and China on the first position with $420.36 billion exported that year.

To address the problem, the Global Financial Integrity report advocates that world leaders increase the transparency in the international financial system as a means to curtail the illicit flow of money.

Policies advocated include addressing the problems posed by anonymous shell companies, foundations and trusts by requiring confirmation of beneficial ownership in all banking and securities accounts.

It also demands that information on the true human owner of all corporations, trusts, and foundations be disclosed upon formation and be available to law enforcement; reforming customs and trade protocols to detect and curtail trade mispricing; and requiring the country-by-country reporting of sales, profits and taxes paid by multinational corporations.

Others are requiring the automatic cross-border exchange of tax information on personal and business accounts, harmonizing predicate offences under anti-money laundering laws across all Financial Action Task Force cooperating countries, and ensuring that the anti-money laundering regulations already on the books are strongly enforced.

Meanwhile, analysts have challenged the propriety of the data used by the research group and called on the group to provide evidence to substantiate its claims.

Chief executive of Financial Derivatives Limited, Bismarck Rewane said he doubted the authenticity of the information.
He said “I don’t think so. Where did they get their information from? Let us not comment on matters that we don’t know the origin.

This is just another sensational headline. How much does Nigeria has that $129 billion would be missing, it’s a lot of money. If you want to make comments you have to know the facts. When you hear numbers like that you ask how true it can be, that $129 billion is missing. If that is true then you and I won’t be here, we’d probably be in Las Vegas.”

Also reacting to the report, foremost economist, Henry Boyo, said the group should indicate how the money was laundered and the people or organisations or agencies that were responsible.

He said “I have no such information and if they have it, let them provide indications of how the money was taken out. If the research group is a credible organisation it should indicate how it laundered out and who are the people and organisations agencies that are responsible and then it would be easier for people to believe that so much was stolen and so much was taken out. And we should not be carried away by all those.

“We know that there is plenty of corruption and waste in the system, but people should not make allegations without providing adequate evidence to support their allegations.”

But president of the Progressive Shareholders Association, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said the money launderers will end up developing other peoples’ economy and creating jobs for the developed countries.

Okezie noted that while many Nigerian people are feeding from hands to mouth, political jobbers are derailing the intention.

“The major problem is that they usually save our money outside and when they die the money will be lost and it will increase suffering in the country. Those who are laundering our money should help save it in Nigeria to enable the country create more jobs and that will help enhance the economy.”

Sad… Channels TV Presenter, Joe Ighile Dies after Collapsing in Studio

 The Channels TV Head of Sports, Joe Ighile has passed on. News reports say he collapsed in the studio last night while the live sports programme at 9PM was on. After introducing the programme, he told the crew that he was feeling uncomfortable and asked to take a break. He stepped out of the studio for some fresh air and collapsed a few minutes later. Few minutes after getting to the hospital, he was pronounced dead.

Here’s the report of his death published on Channels TV website:

Channels Television wishes to announce the death of our staff, Joseph Ighile, who died on Friday night. He was a staff of the station for nine years. Mr Ighile only just returned from South Africa where he had been covering the on-going 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Aged 48 years, the late Ighile was a graduate of the then Bendel State University, now Edo State University, Ekpoma, where he studied English and Literature. He began his career in the media at the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS) in the early 80s, where he was involved in youth programmes. He joined Channels Television in 2003 as a reporter/producer and before his death was the head of the Sports desk.

A multiple awards winner and member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) media and publicity committee as well as the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), the late Ighile is survived by his wife, Ngozi, and two children, Favour and Mercy.

Burial arrangements will be announced by his family.

So sad. May his gentle soul rest in peace.

Pastor Adeboye’s Redeemers University reviews expulsion of 20 students

The Redeemers University in Ogun State has said it would review the case of 20 students expelled last week.

Debo Adeyewa, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, said on Saturday that a committee considering the appeals by parents of some expelled students would submit its report by February.

The university investigated 41 students for drug offences. It found 20 of them guilty and expelled them.

The students were expelled after testing positive to drugs, the school said.

Mr. Adeyewa said the review team, which comprised psycologists, doctors and other experts, was given three weeks to reconsider the cases of some affected students and report back.

He said some parents had given various reasons for possible review and asked for reconsideration.

“Some 41 students alleged to be taking hard drugs were asked by our medical team to go for confirmation drug test.

“After due investigations, 20 were found positive,” he said.

According to him, the penalty for use of hard drugs, cult membership, examination malpractice and other vices in the school regulation is expulsion.

“We must protect the image of the university as a religious institution,” Mr. Adeyewa said.

He added that the institution had decided to respond to the plea of the parents in setting up the review committee.

Mr. Adeyewa said that 13 letters of appeal were received with some asking for another test, some apologising for violating the school regulations and others asking for a second chance. He said three of the expelled students, who were caught red-handed, absconded and did not wait to be investigated further or tested.

The vice chancellor appealed to the stakeholders to look into the foundation of their children, to prevent them from getting into such situations.

Meanwhile, the Chaplain, Catholic Youth Organisation of Nigeria, Lagos Archdiocese, Andrew Ogidan, on Saturday said the expulsion of the students was just and good.

Mr. Ogidan said that students had no business with drugs.

“What are they doing with hard drugs in school, hard drugs are found among criminals and not with good students,” he said.

He noted that a missionary school should be a model for other institutions.

“The school should not allow or permit such illicit act among them, it would corrupt the rest,” Mr. Ogidan said

Lekan Adeyemi, a lecturer at the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun, Warri, said students’ indulgence in hard drugs was a deviant behaviour but their expulsion was too severe.

“When there’s a problem, effort should be made to solve the problem and not compound it.

“The school authorities should further investigate the immediate and remote causes of the problem and find a solution. Expelling the 20 students will impact negatively on the society,” he said.

According to him, they can be reformed.

“When students exhibit such tendencies, there should be an opportunity for reformation, rehabilitation and subsequent re-integration into the system.

“Expulsion does not help the school, the student and the society at large; one of the aims of the school should be to develop manpower for national development,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how some of the expelled students felt they were victimized by the school authority. They accused the school of not giving them fair hearing by not inviting them to face any panel, to explain their case, before they were expelled.

The university is owned by the Redeemed Christian Church of God headed by Enoch Adeboye.

(NAN)

Man shoots wife dead over food in Akure

A 45-year-old man, identified as Ojo Toki, allegedly shot dead his wife, Adesewa Ojo, in the early hours of Saturday at lbulesoro Town in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Toki, a member of staff of the Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture was said to have shot his wife with a dane gun after a minor misunderstanding over what to cook for breakfast.

The daughter of the deceased, Olamide Ojo, while narrating the incident, said her father was a troublesome person who sent her mother packing sometimes last year. She said her mother moved out of the house to live with a relation. The couple were re-united after some elders waded into the matter although the wife still resided with her brother.

As part of the negotiated agreement by the couple and their families, the deceased, a staffer of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, was asked to be preparing food for husband at her brother’s house where she was staying.

“My father always comes to our house (the deceased’s brother’s house) to eat in the morning and at night but my father just complained that mummy refused to give him food a day to the incident which was resolved. And she later cooked the food for him at night before he later went out for hunting and we also went to sleep.

“This morning my father came back from hunting. He and my mum sat down at the sitting room discussing around 6 a.m. I later go back to my room. But all of a sudden I heard of a gunshot and when I got to the sitting room it was my mum I met on the floor in a pool of her own blood. She died on the spot because it was at a close range of the gun”, 11-year-old Olamide explained.

The spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, Wole Ogodo, confirmed the incident.

He said the suspect had been arrested and detained at the Igbara Oke Division.

“The suspect has been arrested and the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department at the State Police Headquarters, Akure for further investigation”, he stated

Mr. Ogodo added that the corpse of the deceased had been deposited in the morgue at the State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

Question the source of your members wealth – Oritsejafor urges PFN pastors on FEBRUARY 10, 2013 ·

Question the source of your members wealth – Oritsejafor urges PFN pastors

on FEBRUARY 10, 2013 · 

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, rose from its 12th biennial conference on Friday night in the Akwa Ibom State capital, Uyo, with a resolution to tackle corruption in the nation through deliberate isolation of corrupt members.

The position of the charismatic preachers, most of whom loudly voiced their anger against the high rate of corruption and fake pastors in the land, was articulated by the outgoing National President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who charged  Pentecostal ministers to scrutinise the source of their members wealth. He spoke  at the grand finale of the 12th biennial conference of the Fellowship.

Turning to the mammoth crowd of Pentecostal ministers and the congregation that overtook the Uyo Township Stadium, Oritsejafor said: “We must be ready to give an account for ourselves and therefore we will no longer tolerate criminals in the Church of God. Men of God, you must be ready to question the source of members wealth.”

*Oritsejafor

He expressed disgust on the level of corruption in the country, saying  it was totally disheartening when he read the report of a man who stole about N23 billion Police Pension Fund saying ‘he only stole N23 billion.’

Oritsejafor, who drew attention  to the story of Daniel who refused to defile himself with the king’s delicacies, charged doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians and all professionals to carry their mandate without any form of compromise, arguing “there is nothing on the king’s table that is worth your God-given mandate.”

According to him, right from the Presidency to the least person in the local government level “we must be ready to declare that we will not compromise our salvation or the mandate God had given to us.”

Oritsejafor declared that the current persecution of the Church in Nigeria did not begin with Boko Haram.

According to him, there has been a deliberate act to silence the Church in the North long before the emergence of Boko Haram, stating that it is common knowledge that despite the pretence to one brotherhood in the country, no church in that region has been given a certificate of occupancy in the last 30 years.

“I stand to be corrected, there is no university campus in the North where Christian students are allowed to worship their God without harassment,” he stated, calling on all delegates from that part of the country not to run away.

“They are doing everything to squeeze you out your God-given land in the North, but I urge you to stay. Don’t run away, the Church in the South will stand by you. Don’t compromise because of persecution. God will stand by you,” he said, adding that as God rose on behalf of Daniel, Joseph and many others in the Bible, so God will stand by the Christians in the North.

Oritsejafor further encouraged them to be steadfast, saying “no gates of Hell, neither conspiracy from the pit of hell can stop the Church in this country. if they cannot stop the Church, they cannot stop you.”

Earlier, the new PFN president, Rev. Felix Omobude, who described Oritsejafor as the voice of the Lord in this hour, also charged Christians not to be weary of current happenings in the country, saying that God will fight for His people.

Speaking on; “In the volume of book”, Omobude said evil people will rage against the Church and God people but in spite of all these labour and persecution, God will open a new page for the Church.

I Made My First Outfit at the Age of Six

Sunday, 10/02/2013 - 

WEGO clothing line is one of the biggest names in the Abuja fashion scene. In this chat with our  reporter and
 the Creative Director, Nwaego Muoma, who also owns a fashion school throws more light on her life and fashion label.

You run a very successful fashion house here in Abuja, what is your success story?
We have been on in Abuja since 2008, and since then, we have grown. I started from home like most people do, in 2009, I moved out and I had my first show in town and we have been able to grow our clothing line, we have added the training school where we train aspiring fashion designers.

The school actually started in March 2012, so we are about a year now, but all in all, it has been good, we have also been able to break into the international market. I did my training in London, so I was able to get a few clients overseas too before I started, so all in all, between here and in the UK, the brand is growing and we thank God.

What does fashion mean to you?
Fashion to me, is a way of life; it’s all about how you want to look, feel and look good.

Can you give a brief history of your academic qualification?
I did my first and second degrees in Journalism, marketing, advertising; I never had a degree in fashion. But while I was doing my second degree at London Metropolitan University, I enrolled in London College of Fashion, which is one of the most prestigious fashion schools.

I was running both courses together whenever I am on holidays, I make sure I enroll and do my fashion courses. When I finished, I realized that I wanted to practice fashion designing more than journalism or any other thing, so I just started and it’s been wonderful.

When did you realize you wanted to be a designer? 
I would say from when I was little, as soon as I was able to talk and do a few things; it has always been a passion to me. I remember the first outfit I made when I was about 6 years old, that day, I looked at my mum’s very expensive Swiss Lace, and decided to make an outfit out of it.

By the time my mum came back, she saw me on my grandmother’s machine. I had already cut the lace and made a simple blouse from the pattern she had, I was sewing the skirt when she came in. She almost killed me because that fabric was her most expensive lace and I didn’t know.

That was my first outfit, and I wore it and my younger sister wore the same outfit until we eventually dashed it out. And since then, I have always been interested in fashion.

How would you describe Abuja fashion scene?
Abuja fashion scene is coming up but it’s not that vibrant, you can’t really compare it to Lagos and a few designers are doing well in Abuja, but we need to get people to appreciate Abuja designers more because people tend to want to look at Lagos and go there to have their dresses made. Granted, you have a lot of people that sew in Abuja, that doesn’t mean that they are fashion designers, because when you go in-depth into fashion designing, it involves a lot of things which we don’t do here in Abuja.

Lagos people are really trying to compete with the international fashion designers by studying the fashion trend, the international trend, what people want, what will appeal to not only the local market but the international market. And we don’t have much of that in Abuja.

I think that is the problem, also, if you are running a fashion house, what training do you have? If you just woke up and open a place where you sew, you can’t really say you are a fashion designer. We don’t have very good professional fashion designers in Abuja like they do in Lagos.

What are some of your achievements as a designer?
Being in the business since 2008 and getting to where I am, being able to train people, from last year till date. We have trained 30 students and that is a great achievement to me. Why it is a great achievement to me is that for you to be able to train 30 people in fashion the right way is a big deal in the industry.

Because one problem a lot of designers are having is that of skilled labour. Most of the people we want to use here are not properly trained. My vision for the school has always been to train people and encourage young fashion designers to go into the fashion business the right way, because if they do that, things will be done properly.

Talking about your label, what do you specialize in?
We do women’s wear, we do English and African wears.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Anywhere and everywhere, I may be driving to work and see something that really ticks and make something from it. I like watching a lot of epic movies because I pick a lot of things from there and I appreciate other people’s culture, now I’m trying to look at other local fabrics apart from the popular ones everybody knows.

What do you like best about designing?
It makes me happy; I can design from morning till the next morning. At times, people say that I work too much, but when I’m designing or when I’m working on a particular piece I’m relaxing because when I’m not doing my work, I get bored.

How The Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission Cheated Me- Efunbola Coker

Posted: February 10, 2013 -

some photos of shabby hotels in Isreal

By SaharaReporters, New York

The Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) has been accused of cheating Nigerian pilgrims who travel to Isreal on pilgrimage. The charge came in a letter of complaint sent to the commission by Efunbola Coker, a pilgrim who recently visited Israel and Palestine.
Ms. Coker accused the commission of putting Nigerian pilgrims in shabby hotels and compromising their safety and comfort.
Saharareporters is in possession of a copy of the letter where Ms. Coker stated that she paid a total of Four Hundred and Six Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Naira (N406,150.00) for the travel package with a promise of four and five star hotel accommodation. Instead, Mrs. Coker and other 56 pilgrims were lodged in shabby hotels like the $27 dollar a night Savyonei Hagalil in Galilee. “I do not understand why NCPC and Raphael Ben-Hur a man who once served the Israeli Government in the country’s Ministry of Tourism for 15 years thought that was the perfect place to put Nigerian Pilgrims for four (4) good nights,” Coker complained. At Bethlehem, the pilgrims were lodged in a worse hotel, one close to the theater of war, with sounds gun fire heard through the night.
The professionalism of the NCPC staff also came under heavy criticism in the letter. At every stage of the process, Ms. Coker accused NCPC staff of being ‘rude’ and inattentive to the needs of the pilgrims. “I find the attitude of the NCPC rather worrisome,” she lamented. Upon her return to Nigeria, Coker called NCPC to complain. “I called NCPC and spoke with a female staff who told me that pilgrimage is not about comfort,” Ms. Coker wrote. “I know too well that I paid for comfort and NCPC collected money enough to provide me with just that.”
Coker is demanding compensation for poor services she received during last year’s trip to Israel. “NCPC failed to fulfill its obligations to me; I did not get what I paid for and should be grateful to be compensated, accordingly,” she wrote.
Below is the text of Ms. Efunbola Coker’s letter.
30th November, 2012
The Executive Secretary
Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission
Abuja
(via e-mail)
Dear Mr. J. K. Opara,
  
RE: LETTER OF COMPLAINT
This is the last thing I should be doing after a supposed ‘pilgrimage’.
I saw UCB’s advertisement of Holy Land Tours in one of the issues of Word for Today which I got from the United Kingdom. I started to contact a gentleman called Chris for information. Of course, he was extremely responsive and helpful. In the course of getting myself ready to go with UCB I found out that I had to get a visa to Jordan as the Tour includes Jordan. In a nutshell, I contacted my Jordanian friend Nisreen who was willing to help, but advised as someone who had once worked in Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism, that it was better to go with a tour company from one’s country. I heeded Nisreen’s advise.
My first port of call was the Lagos State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alausa (LASPWB). I was so excited I could not wait till the Forms became available. I purchased mine on 21st March, 2012, shortly after I got the news that the Forms were available. I was the 74th person who purchased the Forms. I have attached a copy of the Lagos State Government Treasury Receipt (No.02730135), to this letter.
I encouraged an elderly couple in my church Deacon Bola and Mrs. Ronke Balogun who had told me they wanted to go to Israel to purchase their Forms from the LASPWB. Shortly after they did they were told that the Federal Government is the co-coordinator of the all Pilgrimage exercises in the nation; Deacon and Mrs. Balogun were thus encouraged to abandon all plans to go with the Lagos State Government and go to Israel with the Federal Government of Nigeria. I remember Deacon Balogun calling me rooting for the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC). Needless to say I went online conducted a search on Google and got some information about the NCPC. I printed out the Forms and later paid for it at the Ikosi Branch of Diamond Bank.
I started to have troubles with NCPC as soon as I bought the Forms; I found I was calling NCPC all the time making enquiries, seeking information that ordinarily should be available even on the NCPC website. I found that quite harrowing, to say the least. I still have a text 2
message on my handset telling a staff of NCPC that I hoped I would not regret going with NCPC to Israel. NCPC should learn from the likes of Chris (above).
A friend of mine told me sometime in December, 2011 year that she could get us to go to Israel on the bill of the Government. I was not interested in that at all, I simply did not want to be at anyone’s mercy. The Lord provided and I was able to pay for the package Four Hundred and Six Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Naira (N406,150.00). I also paid the sum of One Hundred and Eight Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty Naira (N108,750) for the Seven Hundred and Fifty United States Dollars (US$750.00) Traveler’s Allowance. I sent an e-mail to a female staff of NCPC forwarding copies of the receipts from UBA and included a note reiterating things NCPC through its staff had made me understand that were included in the package I had paid for. The list of things included payment for accommodation in 4* and 5* hotels. I have attached a copy of the e-mail to this letter.
I encouraged friends to come along with me, thank God none of them did. I also thank God Deacon & Mrs. Balogun did not go as well.
On 17th October, 2012 I received a text message from NCPC noting in its words ‘a final confirmation’ of my flight to Israel on 31st October, 2012. On Monday 29th November, 2012 I received a call from a male staff of NCPC telling me that he was not sure if my visa was ready… I cannot describe my shock and confusion at the time. In order to understand what the man said I said to him, ‘I don’t understand’. The man retorted ‘what part don’t you understand’. I thought that was extremely rude, but I guess he is one of those people who are by nature tactless. I simply needed him to explain why NCPC had confirmed my flight if it had not received the result of the visa application, in whatever form, it must have made to the Israeli Government. He told me he would call me back forty five (45) minutes after our conversation to confirm the status of my visa. He did not call back till the evening of the following day (less than 24 hours to the time I had been advised to get to the airport) to tell me I couldn’t travel because my visa was not ready. I received another text on 4th November, 2012 confirming Friday, 9th November, 2012 for departure. I then sent a text message to a staff of NCPC to confirm if my visa had been issued, I never got a response. Well, by the text message of 4th November, 2012 we were advised to get to the airport by 4pm, Friday, 9th November, 2012.
I got to the airport on Friday, 9th November, 2012 and waited endlessly for at least one of the staff of the NCPC to tell us what was happening. I got a ‘lucky break’ when I received a text message at 9.45 pm informing us that a certain Ben Okoh was held up in traffic and would soon be at the airport. I lost track of time afterwards, Ben Okoh eventually turned up and asked those of us that had been waiting to confirm if our visas were ready. 3
It happened that the list in which the names of self sponsored persons was not available. Mr. Ben Okoh contacted his colleagues who advised him to check I think his e-mail and print the same out. We eventually took off after 3 am on Saturday, 10th November, 2012. No apologies, no reasons for the delay, no information about take off time except when I asked, no refreshments whilst at the airport, nothing! We picked up passengers from Abuja and left Nigeria after 6 am on Saturday, 10th November, 2012.
We arrived Tel Aviv, Israel and traveled some two hours to our ‘motel’ in Galilee. I will never forget the words of my room mate Mrs. Dupe Ojo when someone announced ‘this is the hotel’ and we looked at this place… She said ‘maybe the hotel is behind this building… She was wrong, it was our motel! I will also never forget the feeling of despair that overwhelmed me as we walked into the reception; the place was filthy, for want of a better word. There were cats everywhere, including the reception, cuddling up on the dirty chairs, the wood floor was terribly dirty and the entire furniture and place were terribly unclean. I have enough pictures in proof.
Mr. Raphael Ben-Hur of RBH Tourism/Israel Holy Land Travel ‘welcomed’ the group in a dirty room and handed out bags with tee shirts, face caps and a pamphlet of the sites of interest. The bags never went round the 57 people in our group; at least I did not get any.
I did not attend Mr. Ben-Hur’s welcome speech and remained in the reception waiting for the meeting to end; I took my time to take pictures of the dingy motel the NCPC put us in. I cannot for the life of me remember when the rest of the group went to have dinner nor do I remember when they returned to the reception and went to their rooms. I remember too well that I protested and told the NCPC representative Mr. Tonte Ojogbo that I would not sleep in the place because I did not pay for a motel; I knew what I paid for and I knew too well Savyonei Hagalil was far from it.
If I may mention at this point by God Israel was about the eighteenth (18th) country I had traveled to so I have a very good idea about holiday packages, including hotels; what I pay for and what to expect for what I paid. That night I stated that if I had paid to sleep on a floor I jolly would have slept on the floor!
Mr. Ben-Hur offered the Queen Suite in the motel but I refused to sleep in it, I did not eat the dinner I just protested and threatened to sleep in the reception till the following morning, when I would decide on the next course of action. Mr. Ojogbo called NCPC in Nigeria and reported the matter; well I heard a bit of his conversation. A certain Henry Ezike spoke with me over the phone he told me he was head of operations at NCPC. He asked me about the hotel and I was quite surprised that the head of operations of NCPC 4
would ask a question like that, especially after Mr. Ojogbo had reported the matter to Abuja. I was upset. Mr. Ojobo persuaded to sleep in the motel and said NCPC should resolve the issue the following day. I remember waking up the following morning and weeping; I felt horrible it woke my roommate up. We returned to the motel really late the following day, so I still slept in it. We never heard a word from NCPC on the matter. Well, the group spent four (4) days in the dingy motel eating in a dinning room where the foods (no cereal) were angrily displayed on grimy tables as if the kitchen staff were expecting the cats and not human being to dine; where bread was displayed on a dirty barrel after a piece of cloth was placed on top of the barrel, where milk was served in sachets ‘reminiscence’ of our pure water sachets, where tea had to be drunk with plastic spoons, amongst other demeaning circumstances. The bed linens were filthy and the pillow cases in the room I slept in were terribly stained. Some people said there were mosquitoes in their bedroom! I had no way of confirming that. I have attached some pictures of the motel called Savyonei Hagalil…
I have had time to check Savyonei Hagalil up on TripAdvisor and one guest’s review is my sentiment exactly:
This is a run down hotel which should be advertised as a cheap motel! The whole building is in need of renovation, simplistic breakfeast (sic) served in a nearby building & staff at reception were(sic) inefficient, You won't see me there again!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g303972-d1499233-Reviews-Savyone...
Another guest wrote:
Very disappointed from maintenance and cleaning rooms and public areas. Breakfast was very poor - the buffet was empty and full of dirt. Workers Milled around doing nothing in the dining room with their mouth full and it seems that the work not really known for them (sic).
After two nights I checked into Kfar Giladi and stayed there till we left Galilee. Savyonei Hagalil was depressing and was defeating my purpose of been in Israel. I attach copies of my receipt to this letter. It cost me One Hundred and Ten Dollars (US$110) to commute to Savyonei Haglil to join the group.
Before I left Savyonei Hagalil I wrote a letter headed ‘Rejection of Hotel Room In Israel’ which I handed to Mr. Ojogbo to sign. He did not sign and his reason for not doing so was that he needed to confirm from NCPC if he could sign the letter. I guess he never got the confirmation he needed. A copy of the letter is attached to this letter. 5
Amiran the gentleman cabby who took me to and from Kfar Hagalil and Savyonei Hagalil had this to say about Savyonei Hagalil, in his very nice Hebrew accent: ‘the hotel very very bad, very very bad.’ He did not understand what I was doing in a place like that. I guess that is what you get if you pay less than Five Thousand Naira (N5,000.00) for a motel. I got the rate from Trip Advisor, I rang the place up with a view of getting prices for group booking, no one picked the phone. Please see link below for prices. It must have cost NCPC a lot less in view of the group booking:
http://www.hostelbookers.com/property/prp/44757/arr/2012-11-28/ngt/1/?&T...
I must not forget that in my room No. 184 (see picture) a sticker read ACCOR HOTEL (please see picture)… I have contacted Accor Hotel and it stated in its e-mail to me that Savyonei Hagalil does not belong to Accor Hotels! I have attached a copy of Accor’s e-mail to this letter.
I do not understand why NCPC and Raphael Ben-Hur a man who once served the Israeli Government in the country’s Ministry of Tourism for 15 years thought that was the perfect place to put Nigerian Pilgrims for four (4) good nights. I was certain we would be lodged in a worse place it happened…
BETHLEHEM, PALESTINE
NCPC and Mr. Ben-Hur also must have thought we deserved to stay Bethlehem in the Palestine territory of Israel for five (5) days, inspite of the trouble in Gaza which is about 73km away from Bethlehem. The troubles in Gaza started before we arrived Israel. Mr. Ben-Hur had prior to the morning we left Galilee said we were going to stay in Jerusalem for the rest of our ‘pilgrimage’. I guess the NCPC put cost savings before our safety, notwithstanding that we paid no small amount.
I was petrified the first night we arrived in the $27 per night low budget hotel (cost includes breakfast and dinner). Please see e-mail between the hotel and I, re room rates. The room I was put in (No. 302) was extremely cold the first night. I called the reception to help with the heater; it did not work. The second night when I called the reception to complain about the cold in the room the gentleman who picked up the phone told me the heating in the hotel was faulty and that was it. 6
Sahara Hotel was a notch above Savyonei Hagalil. Trip Advisor ranked it 14th out of 16 hotels in Bethlehem,, as at the time of writing this letter.
NCPC increased the number of nights we stayed in the hotel from 2 nights as Mr. Ben-Hur had earlier informed us to 3 nights, for reasons best known to the NCPC. They also attempted to put three (3) people in some of the rooms till we protested; how much was the NCPC desirous of saving! At $27 per person they still wanted to put three people in a room… ludicrous! I didn’t like the fact that we had to inhale the smoke from cigarettes anytime we were on the ground floor either for breakfast dinner or for any reason whatsoever. It was terrible. The reception was a small area just next to the dinning room.
Our food was extremely limited and boring as well, no yogurts, no sweets/desserts. I felt and still feel really cheated. We had a choice between multi-colored cereal I don’t know what it was and a chocolate cereal. I was not impressed and there were some times some food will run out and the kitchen staff will tell you for example ‘we have used all the eggs in the hotel’.
 I am also attaching pictures of a typical breakfast setting; we had the same thing throughout our stay.
PARADISE HOTEL
Though another low budget hotel we were quite happy with Paradise Hotel. The rooms were really nice, but I was not impressed with the limited food; it was just slightly better than Sahara Hotel’s spread. Again, I guess that was what we deserved for $27 per night that is just less than Four Thousand Naira (N4,000.00) at the rate of N145.00 to US$ the rate the Government gave us when we paid for our Allowance. I called Paradise Hotel and spoke with a certain Ahmed who gave the rates for fifty four (54) persons.
The Paradise Hotel was unsafe; we were welcomed with tear gas and gun shots the first night we got to the hotel. I had to turn up the volume of the television when I was about to sleep so as not to hear the gunshots. The second night was worse as the whole area was filled with tear gas even as we got down from the bus. My eyes were affected but I used a scarf to cover my nose and held my breath before I got down from the bus till I got into the reception. It was bad and scary. Some people in the group complained the following morning that they were unable to sleep for fear and for the noise. Some people had also started a fire right in front of our hotel. People asked that we moved to Jerusalem, we were moved and spent the last night in Jerusalem. 7
ZION SQUARE
This was a joke… In a nutshell, the hotel we stayed at in Jerusalem was worse than Savyonei Hagalil so I will leave things to your imagination. It stank like the gutters in Lagos State just after they have been cleared after a long period of time. I am not exaggerating, we all know the smell. I have googled the hotel but Trip Advisor has nothing to say about it, probably because it is not even worthy of mention. It was a nightmare, simply put.
On the last evening we drove to Zion Square, Jerusalem, we stopped on the road some place and our tour guide Nuriel Cimaeh (Uri) got down and went to look for the hotel. People were furious when Uri returned and we were told that we had to walk to the hotel which was a bit of a distance from the place the bus had stopped. We were told that there was no access to the hotel, by bus.
Well, we took our luggage out and some pulled their luggage to the hotel, some people got help from a young man and our Mr. Kehinde Salami who took our things to the hotel. We had to get our suitcases ready for the early morning departure so we took out what we needed for the night and for the next morning and then dragged our suitcases to the bus for storage. It was unfair!
There were no less than 5 persons in my group who were over 70 years old and I cannot imagine the toll the stress had on them. I have pictures (attached to this letter) as well as video of the movement that night.
I feel I have been robbed by NCPC, and should be grateful to receive by return explanation for the treatment we received. I do not understand why my life had to be endangered in Bethlehem because as far as I am concerned some people wanted to make money from us. It was this attitude that cost over two hundred (200) lives to be lost in the Dana air crash, causing families grieve.
I called NCPC and spoke with a female staff who told me that pilgrimage is not about comfort. I know too well that I paid for comfort and NCPC collected money enough to provide me with just that. Again, if I paid to sleep on floors I would have. The lady told me the Legal Department of NCPC is waiting for my letter. I do not know exactly what that meant. She said I was the only one who complained and that some people had actually called to thank her. Now, I do not know of a culture where someone spends her hard earned money gives it to another in trust to provide certain services and the giver picks up a phone to thank a person she (the giver) has patronized! 8
I find the attitude of the NCPC rather worrisome; most of the delegates are people who are sponsored by the government; local, state or federal, or by some other institution or church. NCPC may wish to bear in mind that it may not enjoy the patronage of the government for long and should appreciate people who save money to pay their way.
I have had the opportunity to compare notes with some people who went to Israel and paid the same amount I did; their experience relayed to me confirmed I was cheated. NCPC failed to fulfill its obligations to me; I did not get what I paid for and should be grateful to be compensated, accordingly.
I look forward to receiving your response, soon.
Yours faithfully,
Efunbola O. Coker
"

A’Ibom Airport Hangar Project Gulps N10bn, Ready Early 2014

Sunday, 10/02/2013 - 

Akwa Ibom State government has set the inauguration of its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) aircraft hangar project for the first quarter of 2014, which has already gulped N10billion.

In an interaction with aviation correspondents at the Akwa Ibom International Airport at the weekend, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Austin Mbeh, said the MRO was about 70 per cent completed. He said the state government expects the federal government to partner with it for the facility to serve Nigeria and the African continent.

The facility has the capacity to accommodate two wide bodied aircraft. Mbeh said: “When you talk of funding, the state government having been committed to it (project), has really expended huge amount of money on it. For now, we can say that we have spent over N10 billion.

I can say part of the challenges that we are facing is funding. If the consensus reached between the government and the handling contractors comes to fruition, we are hoping that by the first quarter of next year, this project should be inaugurated and become operational.”

Also, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd), chairman, Ibom Airport Project, said the government’s vision for the hangar and the cargo terminal informed the plan to build a runway which could handle aircraft such as Airbus A380.

He said the 3.6km runway could be expanded to 4.2km, adding that “with this runway, we are the only airport in the country that can conveniently host an Airbus A380. The taxiway that we are building, the dimension is the same with the runway because we don’t want an aeroplane, landing on the runway with the wings on grass.”

AFCON Final Cracker: How Eagles should play – Finidi George on FEBRUARY 10, 2013 ·

AFCON Final Cracker: How Eagles should play – Finidi George

on FEBRUARY 10, 2013 · 

Finidi George is one of the heroes of the revolution Clemens Westerhof launched in Nigerian football, a tremendous effort that saw Nigeria rank the 5th best football country in the world. It was a feat many doubt if it can ever be achieved again in this millennium. We called Finidi’s house in Spain and asked him what he thought of the two teams, advice to the Eagles and what it feels like playing in a cup final of this nature. He said the following:

“I’m excited about the performance of Stephen Keshi and his team. Sometimes, it is good to enter a tournament as underdogs. It reduces the pressure on you. We have a good team and we should be able to win. I’m particularly hoping that we win so that our authorities can begin to respect indigenous coaches. Our people easily fall for European coaches. And most times they hire the ones who are not better than our coaches.

“The only difference is the skin and that’s what they respect. I’m not condemning foreign coaches but we appear to generally have complex and we go for any white man in the name of foreign coach. What Keshi is doing now is good. Even if he is no longer there in Nigeria, his success can open the door for other indigenous coaches who should be inspired by the success he has achieved so far and begin to work hard. When you give somebody a national team coaching job, give him about four to five years to perform. If at the end of this period it is clear that he is not performing, you can then disengage him. But it is not so for our people. They sack under one year.

“We’ll not develop that way. I want Keshi to win so that some people can shut up and respect indigenous coaches and encourage them to succeed. We should learn from our mistakes and move on. On the match against Burkina Faso, we will be playing against a team that can run for 90 minutes and they are not tired. They are physically strong, very strong players. I think that what we can do is to pass the ball around. Let the ball run and let Burkina players chase the ball. We must not go into duels with them because of their physical nature. Let the ball do the running. We pass, look for space and attack it. We should try to score and lead well just like we did against Mali. We need to play the way we played our last two matches. If we do, we will win the cup.

“The atmosphere is always electric on cup final days. We didn’t enter the competition as favourites and we marched on to the final where some people now feel we are favourites. We should handle the pressure well and remember that we went in as underdogs. We should not, therefore, be carried away. You play in a cup final to win. No second chance. You must do more than playing. You fight as a team too. The fighting spirit must be there. You must fight on till the referee’s last whistle. I think that we can win the cup and that will make not only our day but also our year.”

Kano Killings Confirm There Are Terrorists Amongst Muslims, Sheik Gumi Says

Posted: February 10, 2013 - 

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi

By SaharaReporters, New York

Well-known Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, yesterday  morning said that Friday’s killing of nine women polio vaccine workers in Kano confirms the presence of terrorists among Nigerian Muslims who are misinterpreting Islam and carrying out evil acts.
In a statement sent through social networks, monitored by SaharaReporters, Gumi described the killings as a sad, abominable, barbaric and evil.  He blasted the ‘scholars’ and politicians who frighten the common people against vaccinations and polio, describing them as the true killers.
The cleric recalled that even in the old Northern Nigeria, people were all vaccinated against cholera, CSM, smallpox, BCG, measles etc, and that nobody raised any alarm at that time.
“How can then today, people that are neither specialist in Islamic Law nor specialist in Medical sciences go public with such a fatwa in clear contradiction of the Quran?” he asked.  “It means the Quran doesn’t pass through beyond their throat. Let us assume, they have the rights to their ijtihad, but that does not give them the license to kill innocent people that see otherwise? When do you kill people on suspicion?”
He asserted that the killings incident confirms there are true terrorists among Muslims and that because of their shallow understanding of Islam they have turned out to the greatest enemy of Islam and the prophet – alaihis Salam.
“In a Hadith the Prophet said there will come a time – in the end of time- when some youth who are apt to reciting the Quran – but will not pass their throat- will be killing Muslims. Today, you just need to disagree with them, then you become their hit target. Subhanallah! The Ummah has to wake up from its slumber and fish out these evil people. The prophet – peace be upon him said: “if people will see a transgressor and don’t clamp on his two hands, Allah will soon engulf them all with his chastisement” Abu dawud. Only the people can cure this evil.”
Delving into the Koran, Sheik Gumi went on: “Jabir narrated that “we went out on a journey and a man among us was hit by a stone which cracked his skull then he had a wet dream to which he asked his companions for fatwa whether there is any ease or concession for him to perform the sand ablution (tayammum). They said: we don’t find for you any concession so long you can use water. He then bathed with water and died. Jabir said: when we came back to the prophet –peace be upon him- he was told about the incidence. He said: they KILLED HIM, MAY ALLAH KILL THEM! Why didn’t they ask if they don’t know, for the only cure for ignorance in inquiry. It would have been ok for him to do the tayammum and bandaged his wound then dry rub over it and wash the rest of his body” Abu Dawud.”
“Those ‘scholars’ and politicans –I am saying it without resevation- that frighten the common people against vaccinations and polio are the true killers. Allah said: “When there comes to them some matter touching (Public) safety or fear, they divulge and spread it. If they had only referred it to the Messenger, or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have the knowledge of it from them (direct). Were it not for the Grace and Mercy of Allah unto you, all but a few of you would have fallen into the clutches of Satan.” Q3/83.
He stressed that only learned scholars and specialists in every field of endeavor should issue a fatwa, particularly in specialized fields, noting that anyone who issues a fatwa which leads to the death of others is also directly responsible for such death.
With reference to vaccinations, he said that only experts in virology, immunology, pediatrics, as well as principles of Islamic jurisprudence, working together, can give such a fatwa.
“So far, all the Muslims countries except for some intellectually inconsequential individuals or extremists organizations have unanimously accepted the vaccinations including polio as beneficial in prevention and cure of disease,” he said.  “Prevention of disease and the seeking of cure are entrenched in Islam.”
Quoting Prophet Muhammad, he said, “Every disease has a cure so when the medicine affects the disease the patient is cured by the leave of Allah the Al-mighty,”
Sheik Gumi drew attention to the acceptability of vaccination in other cultures.  In Saudi Arabia, he said, it is a prerequisite that a child present his 1st year vaccination certificate before he is registered in school. “With all the scholars both Islamic and medical experts in Egypt, there is no scholar of repute who denies vaccination,” he stressed, adding that many rich Nigerians now go to Egypt for medical treatment.