Olisa Metuh: Sentenced to Seven Years Imprisonment over 400 Million Naira Fraud, by Adedayo Osho

When you come across news about the suave, cerebral and highly intelligent among us being alleged of corruption in government offices, private businesses or corporate bodies, you will question why people cannot just be civil enough to uphold civic virtues such as contentment, honesty, integrity, while not forgetting the need to live a selfless life.

Becoming older, one is expected to have gained much experience and not repeat some mistakes. Otherwise, there won't have been the existential "a fool at 40 is a fool forever" axiom.

Take Al-Mustapha, for instance, many who sacrificed themselves to do hatchet jobs for overambitious "ruining" and not ruling elites in Nigeria had their family names stained. Chinua Achebe, in his critique of "Half of a Yellow Sun" written by the award-winning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, admonishes that "we do not usually associate wisdom with beginners." I beg to berate Achebe, the learned Olisa Metuh is not a beginner in Nigerian politics. He wined and dined with the powers that be during PDP years of misrule. Metuh also danced around the corridor of power to have learnt that when the ships are down, political lords will desert him. It is worrisome seeing the brilliant ones, whose distinct quotient, one emanating from contributions from their streams of knowledge could have transformed the trajectory progression of our national life.

Where is Patricia Etteh, Farouk Lawal? do you remember the way and manner Dimeji Bankole was reduced? to an extent the Egba politician is struggling to raise his head off the dungeon of political oblivion. And now Olisa Metuh!

Seven (7) years raise eyebrows as jail term, considering the damage caused in view of what impact the stolen (400 million naira) would have on suffering Nigerians should it be channelled into a social project in Eastern Nigeria where the culprit hails from. I worry about the stained name, whose badge, his children will wear and bear, forever.

- Comrade Adedayo Osho

Women in Technology: Standing Tall for Greatness

Women in Technology: Standing Tall for Greatness

by Adedayo Osho, January 22, 2020

On its part, the United Nations declared 1975 the International Women's Year and the years 1975 to 1985, the Women's Decade, as part of efforts to accelerate the advancement of women.

Countries across the globe are becoming to feel the inclination to record, recognize and promote women in technology having difficulty finding moral and financial backing at a time the field of technology is male-controlled.             

This gesture is spurred by the growing number of women who have made landmark technological innovations in recent time.

In an attempt to bridge gender imbalance in technology sector, donor agencies including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, USAID have enduring partnerships with key players in sponsoring conferences such as Women in Tech Africa, Women of Silicon Valley, and European Women in Technology to encourage women in tech in aiming for zenith heights.

Commendably, women are not in short supply in leadership positions in global leading tech companies. For instance, Lillian Barnard is Managing Director at Microsoft South Africa; Ocea Garriock is Solution Engineering Director for Technology at Oracle; Handri Prinsloo is Senior GIS Engineer at TomTom, to mention but few. 

In Eastern Europe, countries such as Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria possess a high percentage of women in technology. In Asia, Japan boasts that 13% of its tech industry workforce comprise of women. According to a 2018 research by Statista, women occupy 25% of leadership positions in US tech sector. This ranges from executive, senior-level and management positions. 

The vital contributions which women make to the economies of all human societies are very often unrewarded, undocumented, unrecognised and constanty entail neglect. They also face the proverbial 'glass ceiling' above which they hardly ever rise in their careers.

Wider appeals have been made in the last two decades that remarkable  women from around the world who inspire, innovate and transform the sector should be recognized by way of award. The voice of its advocates was profoundly honored with the institution of ‘’The Women in Tech Global Awards.’’

The recently concluded 2nd edition of the Women in Tech Global Awards which held in Lisbon, Portugal, on 6th of November, 2019, rewarded incredible, brilliant, exceptional figures in a range of six categories. It had 300 nominations, 30 finalists and 6 women as recipients of its award.

2019's award categories were:

• Global Leadership Woman in Tech Award

• Most Disruptive Woman in Tech Award

• Women in Tech Allied Award

• Women in Tech Lifetime Achievement Award

• Aspiring Teen Award

• Woman in Tech Start-Up Award.

     

It is hoped that in no distant years from now, consolidation on this award will increase the number of women in technology.

Adedayo Osho is an Abuja, Nigerian based freelance journalist. His previous works have appeared in leading foreign media outfits and had been submitted for 2020 international journalism grants and awards, including this. He can be reached via oshoadedayo04@gmail.com

Radio Nigeria Staff Killed in Yola

Radio Nigeria Staff Killed in Yola:

Maxwell Nashan, a Yola-based broadcaster, has died in the hands of unknown gunmen in the early morning of 15th of January, 2020.

Maxwell, who was with Fombina FM,
an arm of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in the Adamawa State capital, Yola, was found on Wednesday morning in a bush in the outskirts of Vunokilan, a community not far from the Fombina FM office complex in Girei Local
Government Area of the State.

A source disclosed that women who
are mainly farmers found him tied down with his mouth sealed after he sustained
serious beating, with machet cuts in his body.

A colleague of his who spoke in
confidence on Wednesday afternoon, said
Maxwell “was suspected to have been
assaulted by unknown assailants who took
him out from his house, tied him up,
cut him with machetes and dumped
him behind Fombina, his office, and
was found by some women going to
the farm this morning.”

Another colleague of the late Maxwell,
Anthony Shekara, said Maxwell was
most probably dragged from his house
in the middle of the night after he was
beaten and machetted, and then left dead, as there were traces of blood around his house.

Shekara added that "the women
alerted other passers-by who took him
to hospital." According to Shekara, Maxwell died shortly after reaching the German
Hospital, an adjunct of the Adamawa
State Specialist Hospital located in
Jimeta, Yola.

He said a card found on him indicated
that he worked at the Fombina FM,
which eased the identification by
hospital officials.

ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) PRIMARIES AHEAD OF 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS WILL HOLD AS FOLLOWS:

1. State House of Assembly Primaries - Saturday 15th of September, 2018

2. Federal House of Representatives Primaries - Wednesday 19th of September, 2018

3. Senate - Sunday 23rd of September, 2018

4. Governorship - Friday 28th of September, 2018

5. Presidential Primaries - Saturday 6th of October, 2018.

2019: Segun Odegbami Declares Ogun Governorship Bid
Ex-international, Chief Segun Odegbami, says education and health will get more attention if he is elected as the governor of Ogun State in 2019.
He said this on Wednesday while declaring his intention to vie for the governorship in Ogun on the platform of the Labour Party.
Odegbami, while declaring at the party secretariat at Quarry Road in Abeokuta, promised to give people’s welfare adequate attention.
He said, “Our government, which would be led by the Labour Party, will provide quality education and health care delivery system by building hospitals where necessary. Necessary facilities for proper care, including drugs and personnel, would be provided.
“I believe that only the people with sound health can work and even enjoy amenities provided by the government.”
He noted that hospitals in Nigeria had turned to mortuary because they lacked the necessary facilities they needed to save lives.
Odegbami cited the instance of his mother, who he said the medical doctors had written off and he took her abroad for medical attention and she lived for another 11 years before she died.
On education, the football legend, while berating the falling standard of education in the country, said his government would provide education that would make graduates employable and as well as provide jobs for other people.
The Labour Party Chairman in Ogun State, Mr Abayomi Arabambi, while welcoming Odegbami and other party supporters, frowned on the failure of the All Progressives Congress-led government in the state to solve various challenges confronting the people in the state.

 Biafra Republic: A Myth or Reality? by Adedayo Osho


On Friday 6th of November 2015, South-East largest city, Onitsha witnessed thousands of anti-government demonstrators, primarily under the aegis of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB staged Million Man March protesting the continued detention of their group leader and managing director of Radio Biafra: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
This is not the first time a separatist movement like IPOB would assemble in Nigeria. In the early years of political independence, Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro had declared Niger Delta Republic. The struggle only lasted for twelve days. Agitation for Biafra Republic, which is currently gaining traction was first championed in 1967 by late charismatic leader, Odumegwu Ojukwu- the Ikemba II of Nnewi.
Fast forward to four decades after the end of civil war in 1970: West Africa tiger, Nigeria faces security challenges along its three dominant ethnic/geographical line. Resilient killing of civilians by Boko Haram in the North; Clandestine proliferation of light arms by the Oodua Peoples’ Congress in South-West; and the insufferable propaganda employed to dent the country’s image by Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra in the South-East.
Scotland and Spain’s Catalonia experience provides modern reference point for federal government on how best to handle secessionist agitation by Ndigbo. Dragging South Sudan which has now slide into a war-torn zone inside the case at hand, leading forces for Biafra must consider the brutal consequence of power rivalry. This is not intended for insult on ground of leadership incompetence. Ongoing political rumble between President Salva Kiir and former Vice President turned-rebel leader, Riek Machar offers secessionists anywhere in the world a lesson on how manufactured nations bicker with power. Since large swathes of Niger Delta will be merged along with the long anticipated Biafra Republic, if any coming to being, our cousins in the coastal region need start raising dialectical questions on power sharing/allocation under a refurbished nation.
I advise my Ndigbo brothers to wear the garment of civic and pursue their course with subtle nobility. Rather than resort to violence or propaganda, the place of strong advocacy for referendum remains their golden alternative.
For instance, In January 2015, the company GFK Ukraine, a member of one of the largest international companies in the field of marketing research, GfK Group (Nurenberg, Germany) conducted a survey in the Crimea. Results of the survey showed that about 93% of Crimean residents support the reunification of Crimea with Russia, voted against only by 4% of respondents. “Do you support the reunification of the Crimea to Russia?”
82% – fully support
11% – probably, support
2% – do not support
2% – probably, do not support
3% – hard to say.
Forbes business magazine writes that one year after the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, poll after poll shows that the locals there — be they Ukrainians, ethnic Russians or Tartars are all in agreement: life with Russia is better than life with Ukraine.
It need be emphasised that self-determination is strongly supported by United Nation UN itself. There’s no gain in painting a bad image of one’s rivals in an attempt to convince admirers. That courageous man, Nnamdi Kanu and his co-travellers should be informed that slaves who devised slanderous concoctions as a means of gaining freedom from their master will only extend their years of stewardship.
I’m aware that those who harp on secession does owing to political marginalisation and domination my powerful groups, but then, for true Biafranism to manifest, Ndigbo needs the backing of many of their political leaders who are wary of their pocket and the benefits accrued to a larger political territory: Nigeria.
Adedayo Osho is a political analyst and freelance writer. He holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science & Education from University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Email: oshoadedayo7@yahoo.com Twitter: @Jahpolitical