NCC Launches First Phase of Mobile Number Portability

Nigerian mobile phone subscribers have joined subscribers in other countries worldwide that port their numbers from one network operator to another with the inauguration of the first phase of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)  yesterday in Lagos. The second phase would be inaugurated with the fixed wireless operators like Visafone and Capcom in due course, according to the commission.

Singapore was the first country to inaugurate MNP in 1997, followed by United Kingdom and The Netherlands in 1999 while Spain, Switzerland and Sweden inaugurated MNP between 2001 and 2002. United States inaugurated in 2003, South Africa in 2006 and Ghana in 2012 while Nigeria just joined the league.

Explaining how number portability works, the Chief Operating Officer of Interconnect Clearing House of Nigeria (ICHN), Mr. Uche Onwudiwe, said any subscriber, who wished to port their numbers would first have to visit the recipient service provider to make his intention known. “The subscriber is given a form to fill his personal details and would be asked to send 'Port' to a short code, 3232.

“When this is done, Interconnect Clearing House, the company with the hosting right to manage exchange of traffic for the MNP scheme, will then send a message to the telecoms operator, informing it of the intention of the subscriber to port from its network to another network. “The recipient network will then give the subscriber a new SIM card and a confirmation text is sent to the subscriber. “It takes 48 hours to complete the porting exercise,” Onwudiwe said.

"Mobile Number portability has been a huge success around the world, because it helps to level the playing field, giving all operators more opportunities to grow their subscriber bases and revenues. We therefore urge our service providers to make it successful," he said.     

All GSM operators were present at the inauguration where they expressed their readiness on the implementation of the service in Nigeria. Reeling some of the conditions for porting, Juwah said subscribers would be allowed to port to another network free of charge, once in every 90 days.

In technical parlance, Mobile Number Portability is a process that allows subscribers to migrate from one network to another, in search of better service quality, while still retaining the original phone number, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to.

Via ThisDay

RVP treble fires Manchester United to 20th Title

Robin van Persie bagged a magnificent first-half hat-trick to fire Manchester United to Premier League title glory with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa. Sir Alex Ferguson believes no player has ever made as great a mark on his title-winning teams as Robin van Persie has done this season.

The Dutchman clinched Manchester United's 20th league title with a hat-trick to defeat Aston Villa and ensure they have won the league with four games to go. It took Van Persie's tally to 28 goals for the season since his £24 million move from Arsenal and his league strikes have been worth 25 points to Arsenal.

And Ferguson said that Arsene Wenger, who reluctantly sold Van Persie to United in August, told him to expect an even better footballer than he realised. He added: "I think Robin is such a great player for Arsenal and when a great player becomes available and you feel United should have him you have to go for him. I think we had an expectation of him - his performance last season was incredible. I remember Arsene saying 'he's a better player than you think.' I knew he could gel into the team."

After a two-month goal drought, Van Persie has now scored five goals in three games and is leading the race to win the Golden Boot. And Ferguson said: "He has been unbelievable. His early form that first six months was fantastic. He hit that spell where he hadn't scored a goal and every striker has a dry spell but when he scored that penalty kick at Stoke I thought, he's alive now and today he was unbelievable."

Via ESPN

Yahoo! Unveils Brand New iOS App, Including Built-In Summly Summaries

Yahoo! acquired startup Summly for somewhere around $30 million just one month ago, but it’s already bearing fruit. First, there was the Summly summarized version of its Q1 2013 earnings last week, and now there’s a brand new flagship Yahoo! iOS application out today (for U.S. users only for now) with Summly summaries built right in.

The Summly acquisition attracted a lot of attention, in part because it was helmed by 17-year old Nick D’Aloisio, and because part of its technology was based on a licensing arrangement with SRI, the same company that originally spawned Siri, Apple’s virtual voice-powered assistant software. It’s been speculated that gaining access to that license in part motivated the acquisition.

The app offers Summly summaries of news stories it provides, in a “virtually endless” newsfeed that foregrounds images shown off full-width on the iPhone’s display. Search is said to be improved, both for video and images, and you can drill down to different categories and select topics that interest you, as well as flag those that don’t to make for improved content selection. If you’re logged in with your Yahoo! ID, those choices will also percolate across platforms, meaning you’ll get better results on Yahoo! on the desktop as well as on mobile.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this new app is the speed with which the Summly integration was achieved. Even if things were rolling behind the scenes before the announcement of the acquisition, the product cycle looks to have been quite short. And Yahoo! has also just delivered completely redesigned weather and mail apps for iPhone and iPad, respectively, making its near-simultaneously launch of this re-imagining all the more impressive. Looks like some of the efforts CEO Marissa Mayer has put in place to focus the team, including the decision to end remote work, have indeed done their job and focused the team.

Via TechCrunch

Corruption reports on Nigeria exaggerated – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday again admitted that corruption was currently pervading the nation’s system. He however said the reports of the menace were being exaggerated.

Jonathan spoke at the presidential power reform transactions signing ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, barely three days after the United States government indicted the Federal Government of massive and widespread corruption.

According to the US Department of State’s report, government officials and agencies frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. This was contained in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, which was released on Friday.

In the report, the judiciary and security agencies, especially the police, were said to be lacking in transparency. But Jonathan insisted that although there were cases of corruption in the country, the menace was being “over-amplified.”

The President said, “Let me continue to assure Nigerians that yes, there are issues of corruption in this country but somehow it has been over amplified. “People should watch how we have been conducting government business. We have been bringing down the issues of corruption gradually.

On the signing of the power transactions, the President told Nigerians that his government cared for them and that he would not rest until he fixed the nation’s power sector.

Via Punch

Launching my Online and Social Media PR Business today!

Morning one and all. Its Tuesday, the 16th of April 2013! And I'm officially launching my Online and Social Media PR Business today! I've been thinking about this for a while now and I guess the time is right, for me to unleash my creative talents for the benefit of mankind. 

And for those who would like to create a niche for their brands, I'll also be doing Brand Consulting. I'll be using this blog as my main medium. I've been doing this Online and Social Media PR business casually for a while, but its time to take it to the next level. 

Keep it locked! You'll be glad you did! 

Telephone: +234 802 203 7729, +234 810 694 5030

BB Pin: 2A001C3F

e-mail: ayoleyijohnson@gmail.com

Twitter: @BloodyNigerian

Justin Bieber Has the Fakest Twitter Followers

Not to enrage the Bieber Nation or Beliebers or whatever Bieberian name tweens and post-tweens call themselves now, but it looks like a lot of the people who follow him on Twitter are fake. In fact, he has the highest number of fakeout Twitter followers out of the top 10 Twitter accounts. 16.7 million accounts are fake! 2.6 million are inactive! Those numbers are ridiculous.

Bieber has 17.8 million real followers (a lot! but certainly a lot different from his listed 37.2 million followers) which puts him in second place in Twitter popularity behind Lady Gaga, who has 19 million real followers. The fake stats were found by Statista using the Socialbakers tool which weeds out fake accounts by looking at their tweets to see if they include spamworthy words like "diet", "make money" and "work from home". It's not too surprising that all these popular stars have so many fake followers (Et tu, Barack?) because massive popularity is a magnet for spam leeches.

Via Engadget

TOP 50 RICHEST FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN THE WORLD 2013

50. Alessandro Nesta (Montreal Impact) - £16m
49. Yaya Toure (Manchester City) - £16.5m
48. Michael Essien (Real Madrid - loan) - £16.5m
47. Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F Marinos) - £17m
46. Ashley Cole (Chelsea) -£17m
45. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) - £17m
44. Xavi (Barcelona) - £17.5m
43. David Trezeguet (River Plate) - £17.5m
42. Clarence Seedorf (Botafogo) - £18m 
41. Daniele De Rossi (Roma) - £18m
40. Park Ji-Sung (QPR) - £18m
39. Damien Duff (Fulham)- £18.5m
38. Paul Scholes (Manchester United)- £19m
37. Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) - £19.5m
36. Joe Cole (West Ham United) - £19.5m 
35. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) - £20m
34. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)- £20m
33. Neymar (Santos) - £20m
32. Petr Cech (Chelsea) - £20m
31. Francesco Totti (Roma) - £20.5m
30. Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich) - £20.5m 
29. Miroslav Klose (Lazio) - £20.5m
28. Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC)- £21m
27. Nicolas Anelka (Juventus - loan) - £21.5m
26. Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray) - £22m
25. Fernando Torres (Chelsea) - £25m
24. Didier Drogba (Galatasaray) - £25m 
23. John Terry (Chelsea) - £27.5m
22. Franck Ribery (BayernMunich) - £29m
21. Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) - £30m
20. Robinho (AC Milan) - £31m
19. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - £32m
18. Robbie Fowler (Unattached) - £32.5m 
17. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - £33m
16. Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) - £34.5m
15. Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy) - £35.5m
14. David Villa (Barcelona) - £37m
13. Raul (Al Sadd) - £38m
12. Michael Owen (Stoke City) - £40.5m 
11. Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls) - £41m
10. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) - £42m
9. Rivaldo (Sao Caetano) -£45.5m
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG) - £47m
7. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)- £50m
6. Samuel Eto’o (Anzhi Makhachkala) - £52m 
5. Ronaldinho (Atletico Mineiro) - £63m
4. Kaka (Real Madrid) - £66.5m
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (RealMadrid) -£112m
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - £115.5m
1. David Beckham (PSG) - £175m 

UCL Semi-Final: Barcelona draws Bayern Munich!

There was relief all round in Spain as La Liga's big two were kept apart at this morning's Champions League draw in Nyon, with Barcelona drawn against Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid to face Borussia Dortmund, in two mouth-watering Spanish v German semi-final ties.

Barca's game against Bayern, who will be coached from next season by former Barca boss Josep Guardiola, would be a clash of footballing styles, predicted Barcelona's football sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta. "I believe this is a great tie, all the four teams are great teams," Zubizarreta said. "They are a great team, a great club. We will try and play our football, it will be a mix of styles. I hope we get back to playing the way we like, and to make it to Wembley, a place which is magical for us."

Ex-Madrid striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy then paired Madrid with Dortmund, with Jose Mourinho's side having the second game at home at their Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The sides met at this stage in 1997/98, when then holders Dortmund were eliminated by Madrid, who went on to win their seventh European Cup that season, with current Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes then Blancos coach.

The games will be played Tuesday April 23 and Wednesday 24, with the return games the following week - April 30 and May 1. The final takes place at Wembley on Saturday May 25, when the winners of semi-final 2 (Dortmund or Madrid) will be the designated 'home' side.

Via ESPN

Hacker claims he can remotely hijack airplanes using an Android app

Hugo Teso, a security consultant who also happens to be a trained commercial pilot, says he's developed an Android app that can make an airliner "dance to his tune" by attacking its flight management systems. The hack was demoed at this year's Hack In The Box conference in Amsterdam, where Teso showed how the app -- called PlaneSploit -- can seek out targets from the ground by infiltrating radio broadcasts between aircraft and air traffic control, and then use a second communication system to send malicious messages to that could "take full control of the plane" or indirectly affect the pilot's behavior. PlaneSploit is proof-of-concept software, designed to work in a closed virtual environment, so it's not like we're going to see it pop up on Google Play any time soon, but just the fact it exists will hopefully help to keep the puppet masters out of real-world planes. And no, there's no Windows Phone version.

Via Engadget

Samsung Galaxy Mega is official and comes in 6.3- and 5.8-inch sizes

We knew Samsung was planning more devices, but we didn't expect the arrival of two Galaxy Mega smartphones at the same time. Both are apparently headed to Europe some time next month, continuing to prove that Samsung are willing to test out any screen-size. The 6.3-inch model has an 'HD display' (we're chasing the precise resolution, though it's likely 720p) alongside a dual-core 1.7GHz processor, Android 4.2 and an 8-megapixel camera. Software features like Air View, Multi Windows, Pop-up Play will make sure you have plenty to do on that giant screen. The Galaxy Mega arrives somewhere between Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy Note II, although we're hoping it'll be priced slightly more humbly than either neighbor. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 houses LTE and HSPA radios, while you'll get GPS and GLONASS to aid any location-based antics. There's a 3,200mAh battery and internal storage that can be expanded by microSD up to 64GB, with 8 or 16 gigs (there's two models) built-in to begin with.

Via Engadget

Barca stars credit Messi with comeback

Jordi Roura has hailed Barcelona's "extraordinary" achievement in making six successive Champions League semi-finals by edging past Paris Saint-Germain yesterday night, which Barca's players accepted they would not have managed without the contribution of a half-fit Lionel Messi. With Messi on the bench nursing a thigh injury, Javier Pastore's well-taken strike put PSG deservedly 1-0 ahead on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate. However, the Barcelona forward entered the fray with less than half an hour remaining, and helped create the goal for Pedro Rodriguez that saw Barca through to the last four on away goals.

Barca had looked rudderless and anxious without their talisman, which Roura said was more to do with how well PSG had performed than his side's 'Messi-dependence'. Goalscorer Pedro had no doubt where most of the praise should be directed when speaking with Canal Plus after the game. "Messi made a great effort," he said. "He is very important for the team. He worked very hard all week to be with us tonight. We need to thank him and congratulate him for helping the team. He turned things around when he came on. He is the best."

David Villa, who took Messi's incisive pass and then laid the ball off for Pedro to hammer in the crucial goal, also hailed the Argentine's commitment to the Barcelona cause. "Leo is the best player in the world," Villa told reporters. "He changes the game just by being on the pitch. We have to recognise his dedication and commitment, for playing after being injured. With his help, we managed to qualify."

Via ESPN

Expect more power cuts, minister tells Nigerians

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, yesterday said there would be more power cuts in the days ahead due to ongoing maintenance works on installations across the country. Nebo, while explaining why there was a sharp drop in power supply at a briefing in Abuja, said the country lost 1,112 megawatts of generated electricity in two days due to the shutdown of the Chevron gas plant.

He said, “A few days ago, precisely last week Friday, Chevron shut down its gas plant for maintenance purposes, which was to take place between Friday and Saturday. And the technical crew in the power sector knew about the shutdown and this was in order to make sure that damages are not done before losing the gas entirely.

“From time to time, there is going to be shutdown and it happened two times recently between Benin and Osogbo. If you don’t shut down these plants in order to have a safe restarting process, you are going to lose the equipment. Once routine maintenance is done, the process of restarting the machines that were shut down takes some time.”

He said two power stations were affected by the recent shutdown, stressing that the oil company and the ministry’s technicians had to maintain the plants.

The minister added, “That is why between two and three days, we lost some 1,112MW. That means Omotoso and Olorunsogo plants were forced to shut down because there was no gas supply. By design, Chevron has to maintain the gas pipelines and it was so.

“You will notice that from Monday, we started seeing some increase that has stabilised. Right now, we have over 3,300MW.” Nebo gave an assurance that occasional system failures would be addressed.

He said, “With regards to occasional system failures, we are in the process of reviving the huge section of the transmission machinery, especially the lines that are aged, failing, dilapidated and in need of replacement. We are working on that.

Via Punch

Lessons from the List of World's Most Valuable Companies

You've probably heard that two corporate heavyweights, Apple and ExxonMobil are fighting for the distinction of being the most valuable company on the planet. That made me curious about who the top ten are, and what lessons could be learned.

To determine the top ten, I used market capitalization to measure the value of the companies. That's simply a matter of multiplying the number of shares they have outstanding by the price of their stock, and here they are:

It turns out that the top ten produced some interesting statistics:

• Their combined value is over $2.1 trillion, or about 12 percent of the U.S. national debt.
• Nine are based in the United States while one is based in China.
• Apple and ExxonMobil have large leads on the others.
• Four are tech, three energy, and one each are retail, diversified, and a holding company.

Will Apple or ExxonMobil still be number one at the end of the decade? Will one of the next eight take over? Perhaps the new champ won't even be a top ten today.

I went back to the beginning of 2000, when Microsoft and GE were fighting for the top slot and Apple wasn't a contender. Hard as it is to imagine now, you may not have even heard of Google at that time. In fact, half of today's top ten weren't in the top ten back then. Further, Intel was number seven on the charts in 1999 -- today, it barely breaks the top 50 at #48.

The lesson here is that the future is very uncertain. For those who might want to put all their eggs in one of these corporate heavy hitter's' basket, it's important to consider that some of these top ten will fall from grace by the end of the decade, and other companies we've barely heard of today will become household names.

Which ones do I bet on? All of them.

Written by Allan Roth on CBS MoneyWatch

Allan S. Roth is the founder of Wealth Logic, an hourly based financial planning and investment advisory firm that advises clients with portfolios ranging from $10,000 to over $50 million. The author of How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street, Roth teaches investments and behavioral finance at the University of Denver and is a frequent speaker.

Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw steams up the cover of WOW

Ageless actress, Kate Henshaw covers the new edition of Wow magazine and she looks extraordinarily gorgeous! The actress who celebrates her twenty years on screen this year stays fresh, young, and beautiful as she struts her stuff in an over-the-knee dress which transforms her into the queen that we all know she is.

Cover 

Photography by Obi Somto
Styled by Adebayo Oke-lawal
Assisted by Ian Audifferen
Make Up by Banke Meshida-Lawal for BM Pro
Hair by Ola Hair

Via YNaija

100 vehicles vandalised, many injured in Lagos violence

No fewer than 100 vehicles were vandalised and many injured when urchins, otherwise known as “Area boys” on reprisal invaded four streets in Akoka and Pedro in Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. The hoodlums were said to have arrived the area through the Somolu Market pretending to be holding a candlelight procession for a man, identified simply as Old Skool.

The man was allegedly stabbed repeatedly by some youths during a rally organised by the Somolu LG Chairman, Mr. Gbolahan Bago-Stowe to mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Solanke Street. Old Skool died on Easter Sunday, thus creating tension in the Akoka part of the LG.

More than 70 hoodlums stormed the streets between 10pm on Sunday and 1am on Monday, destroying vehicles parked on the streets and inflicting injuries on many residents. A resident, Mr. Ernest Molokwu, said he was beaten up by the hoodlums while his commercial bus was vandalised.

On Solanke Street for instance, they counted 25 damaged vehicles, including one belonging to the Supervising Councilor for works, Somolu LG, Mr. Segun Adebiyi.

A woman, who identified herself only as Bisi, said the hoodlums collected her two phones. Bisi alleged that a community centre in the area which was built by the LG had become a hideout for criminals. “We know them (suspects) but anytime we report them to the police, they are only arrested for a while and later released. That community centre on Ojo Street is a den of robbers,” she said.

The LG boss while addressing aggrieved residents, promised to make sure that the suspects were brought to book.

Bagostowe said, “The residents are not helping at all. They know these hoodlums and where they live. If these hoodlums are arrested, I promise to make sure that they are prosecuted. I will hold a meeting with OP MESA, the police and the Community Development Association to make sure that we put an end to this problem."

Via Punch

Keshi snubs Yobo again, invites 30 players

Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has invited a total of 30 players for the team’s hectic mid-year schedule with the team captain Joseph Yobo still missing from the list. The Fenerbache defender was not called for the match against Kenya last month – a development that brought about a public spar between the player and the coach.

The Nigeria Football Federation officials though has moved to settle the rift between them. But while Yobo has still not been recalled, South Africa 2013 top scorer Emmanuel Emenike is back to the fold. He was also not called for the match in Calabar against Kenya but on account of the injury he sustained at the semi-final stage of the Africa Cup of Nations. Midfielder Kalu Uche also returns after 16 months on the sideline.

A notable fresh inclusion is Anthony Ujah who stars for FC Cologne of Germany. The striker is actually on loan to Cologne from Mainz of France.

The Eagles have a busy schedule of about 10 matches between the end of May and mid-July. The African champions have an international friendly against CONCACAF champions Mexico in Houston, Texas, USA on the last day of May, before two World Cup qualifying matches in Nairobi and Windhoek. Those games are billed to hold just before the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil.

Nigeria will play Tahiti, Uruguay and Spain in Brazil in the first round of the Confederations Cup. They will return to Africa for a 2014 African Nations Championship qualifying fixture against Cote d’Ivoire. The African Championship is strictly for African-based league players.

In all, there are four goalkeepers, eight defenders, seven midfielders and 11 strikers.

The delegation of 12 home-based players and staff will depart Abuja for the training camp in Nuremberg, Germany on May 15 while the overseas-based professionals are expected to join the team in Germany later.

Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel); Austin Ejide (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel); Chigozie Agbim (Enugu Rangers, Nigeria); Daniel Akpeyi (Heartland, Nigeria)

Defenders: Efe Ambrose (Celtic, Scotland); Elderson Echiejile (Braga, Portugal); Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag, The Netherlands); Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves, Nigeria); Ebenezer Odunlami (Sunshine Stars, Nigeria); Benjamin Francis (Heartland, Nigeria); Solomon Kwambe (Sunshine Stars, Nigeria); Godfrey Oboabona (Sunshine Stars, Nigeria)

Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea, England); Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Fegor Ogude (Valerenga, Norway); John Ogu (Academica de Coimbra, Portugal); Reuben Gabriel (Kano Pillars, Nigeria); Sunday Mba (Warri Wolves, Nigeria); Emeka Ezeh (Enugu Rangers, Nigeria)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Brown Ideye (Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine); Victor Moses (Chelsea, England); Emmanuel Emenike (Spartak Moscow, Russia); Michael Babatunde (Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine); Nnamdi Oduamadi (AS Varese 1910, Italy); Anthony Ujah (Cologne, Germany); Kalu Uche (Kasimpasa, Turkey); Gomo Onduku (Sharks, Nigeria); Obinna Nwachukwu (Heartland, Nigeria); Gambo Mohammed (Kano Pillars, Nigeria).

Via Punch

Former Miss World, Agbani Darego is the new face of the N50 stamp

When you’re not tweeting, Facebook-ing, texting or good old emailing, you can post a letter using the new N50 Nigeria Postal Stamp because it’s got former Miss World, Agbani Darego’s face on it. Darego was honoured recently for making Nigeria proud and the new stamps are said to be going on  sale at all Nigerian Post office very soon.

A grateful Darego who is already honoured with the Order of the Niger (OON) National Award went on Twitter to announce being the new face of the N50 stamp.

Via YNaija

NECO workers, others protest planned scrapping of agency

Workers at the Minna, Niger State headquarters of the National Examination Council, yesterday, appealed to the Federal Government not to scrap the examination body.

The Federal Government had decided to implement the recommendations of the Oronsaye-Panel that listed NECO among 38 federal agencies that would be scrapped or merged with others. Though the Federal Government had not confirmed or denied the planned action, there was palpable tension in NECO.

The Niger State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Abdulhameed Danladi, said though he believes government’s policies are dynamic and can be changed at any time, the decision to scrap the examination body must be given a second look in the overall interest of Nigerian educational development. He stressed that the nightmare Nigerians went through in the hands of WAEC should not be allowed to come back.

He pointed out that government  has the right to make policies, but such should have positive bearing on  the lives of the people because governance is all about people. “My concern about scrapping of NECO is about the over 5,000 Nigerians working there that will lose their job. “Here we are in a country where unemployment is on the high side and because of that, the government is coming up with a lot of programmes aimed at creating employment and mopping up unemployed youths from the streets and now you want to scrap NECO and increase the rate of unemployment in the country.”

He, however, argued that “what I don’t think is right is for government, in an attempt to solve one problem, start to create another. Examination is the only way to evaluate the performance of students and if you now scrap NECO, how do you evaluate candidates? If it is NECO that the Federal Government does not want, let them set up another one, but there must be an examination body that is wholly Nigerian.”

Danladi advised that rather than  scrap NECO, the government should reposition it and add value to it for better performance.

Via Punch

NCAA stops Aero from flying Six Planes

The labour crisis rocking Aerocontractors Airlines is far from over as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has restricted the embattled carrier to operating only three out of its nine operational aircraft. Aero has about 14 aircraft in its fleet but only nine are currently in operation.

The industrial dispute with its 1,300 employees had left Aero grounded for 18 days from March 13 to March 30, 2013. The airline, however, resumed operations last Saturday following the intervention of the Senate.

The carrier resumed after the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Mr. Hope Uzodinma, met with the management, NCAA and the workers’ union in Abuja, and directed the airline to recall the over 600 dismissed workers, who allegedly participated in protests against a court injunction.

Although all the workers have resumed, only a few of them have been cleared to work by the management of the airline. Sources close to the airline disclosed that NCAA restricted the carrier’s operations to only three planes because the number of cabin crew and other workers cleared to work by the management could only cope with three planes.

A top official of Aero explained, “The reason the remaining six planes are not working is simply because Aero management is not ready to clear all the workers to resume work. Although the Senate had directed that all workers should resume, the management is currently carrying out what it called re-assessment for some workers.

Aero is currently experiencing what industry observers have described as the worst crisis in its 53 years of existence. The crisis has affected domestic air travel, which is currently being dominated by Aero and Arik in terms of wide route network. Several passengers were stranded during the Easter rush just as many passed though hell to buy scarce flight tickets during the period. Airfares are still on the rise as a consequence.

Via Punch

FG set to scrap NECO, cancels UTME

Federal Government has concluded arrangements to scrap the National Examination Council. Plans have also been concluded to cancel the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination being conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board for applicants into the nation’s tertiary institutions. JAMB will however not be scrapped.

The government’s decisions, which would be made public soon via a White Paper, are based on the recommendations of the Stephen Oronsaye-led Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.

Under the new arrangement, in place of UTME, authorities of all tertiary institutions would now be at liberty to conduct their entrance examinations as they had been doing for post-UTME. JAMB will however serve as a clearing house.

“JAMB will now be a clearing house like Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in the UK. If somebody gains admission into three universities and holds down space, immediately such person picks his first choice, JAMB’s system will automatically free the remaining two slots for other applicants.

On NECO, in arriving at the decision to scrap the examination body, the committee took into cognizance its huge facilities across the country. But it was resolved that the West African Examination Council would absorb NECO’s members of staff and its facilities.

WAEC will also be empowered to conduct two Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations per year, one in January and the other probably in December. The May/June Senior Secondary Certificate Examination being organised by the examination body once in a year still stands.

Arrangements has also been concluded to scrap the Public Complaint Commission, the National Poverty Eradication Programme and the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution among others.

Via Punch