AFTER 93 DAYS OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, INTERNET SERVICES RESTORED IN CAMEROON

Internet services have resumed in two English speaking regions of Cameroon after a 93 day blackout. President Paul Biya ordered the restoration of internet services yesterday April 20. 

The internet was cut off in January in the north-western and south-western regions, following protest from English speaking community against alleged discrimination by Cameroon's French-speaking majority. The government had alleged that social media was being used to spread false information. The government pressured mobile operators like MTN to shut down the internet by including suspension of internet connectivity as part of their license conditions. No prior notice was given before the internet shut down

Various regional internet and digital rights groups like Internet Sans Frontiers and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) canvassed for a restoration of internet services in Cameroon using such hashtags like #bringbackourinternet and #keepiton. Top UN officials viewed it as a rights violation.

Sadly, African leaders are increasingly embracing internet shutdowns as tools to stifle spread of information on social media. Countries like Gambia, Congo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe have all shut down the internet in their countries previously. Even though neighbouring Ghana did not shut down the internet during elections, its Police Chief advocated for it. According to reports, the internet in African countries was shut more than 50 times in 2016. This has spurred proposals to punish African governments if they shut down access to the internet

It is hoped that Nigeria would not join this negative trend

TBOSS AND KEMEN - SOCIAL MEDIA EXPOSES NIGERIAS RAPE CULTURE

One of the most controversial issues emanating from the Big Brother Naija 2017 house is the alleged sexual assault of Tboss by Kemen. During the competition, a video emanated of Kemen allegedly touching Tboss inappropriately while asleep presumably without her consent. The backlash that emanated from this video leading to Kemen’s disqualification and dismissal from the house was enormous. However, what will always go down in history are the chain of events and comments succeeding his disqualification. How some Nigerian men and women rose up to his defence, how some blamed Tboss, the victim, for being a ‘witch’ and cursing Kemen with her bed, how she was the reason for kemen’s misfortune in the house and most recently, how AY, a popular comedian who should know better, justified Kemen’s actions as one of the things that some men do.

Kemen has a right to move on, Tboss has a right to forgive him but what we do not have a right to do as a society is to trivialise such a matter. Justifying what may amount to sexual assault is by no means tasteful. AY saying it was something men or women can testify happens to them is uncouth. How can you compare what happens in consensual relationships or marriages to a girl who has not consented to you touching her while she is asleep. It just doesn’t make any sense to me and to think he should know better! I wonder if it was his daughter, he would still make such distasteful jokes.

Thankfully, social media has exposed just how deep our prejudices against sexual abuse victims are. It has exposed our rape culture which always blames the girl for the man’s inability to keep that thing in his pants or his fingers to himself. I only hope we will use this power of the social media to keep driving these conversations to restore sanity to our system and to bridge the gender divide. To all the women who have spoken out about this and all the men who have lent their voices in support, kudos to you. We shall not be silenced.

FAST AND FURIOUS 8 BREAKS THE BOX OFFICE

The 8^th movie in the Fast and Furious franchise  has broken the international record of the strongest global debut by making an estimated $532.5m (£424.7m) this Easter weekend.

It has overtaken the $529m (£421.8m) rolled in by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Compared to the 7^th Fast and furious instalments, it made less money in the US opening with $100.2m (£80) as compared to  Fast and Furious 7  $147.2m (£117.3m) in 2005.

The Fate of the Furious - titled Fast & Furious 8 in some territories – drags in big stars like Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel. This installment also has Charlize Theron acting as the villain, Cipher.

MURDER OF JUMIA DELIVERY MAN AND UBER DRIVER: HOW CAN WE GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF DELIVERY MEN?

First it was the gruesome murder of a Jumia Delivery salesman in Port-Harcourt. Next, a few days ago, the senseless killing of an Uber Driver in Lagos. Both killings had one thing in common- lazy young men wanted to take advantage of goods and services being provided by the online retailers without paying for it. The easiest way for them to do so in their weird calculations was to kill the men contracted to deliver those services to the end consumer. The question this poses is- Should pay on delivery be scrapped? Will scrapping it better guarantee the safety of the delivery men? How can their safety be better guaranteed? Pay on delivery is currently an accepted mode of payment in Nigeria due to various issues like lack of trust of consumers in online retailers and weak legal protection for consumers. However, until trust is built and consumers gain adequate confidence in online retailers to ‘deliver’ their own part of the bargain(no pun intended), scrapping pay on delivery may not be an option. E-commerce companies will have to vamp security for their delivery men to discourage and reduce incidents of armed robbery and assault According to a CNN.com report, being a delivery man is one of the riskiest jobs in America. About 25 percent of delivery men are victims of robberies and assaults. It is therefore very imperative for delivery men and their companies or those they deliver for, take appropriate measures to protect them. First, e-commerce companies and delivery companies if the e-commerce companies are outsourcing, need to set clear rules and procedures for all delivery drivers. Some of the things they could do include-  Ensure that phone numbers of customers are functional and verifiable. Do away with pay as delivery as much as possible. However due to the ‘lack of trust’ in the Nigerian online retail market, it may be difficult to scrap that now. Never deliver after dark. If you absolutely need to ensure the person pays with a card. Print the rules for delivery on your take out menus, so customers know them. Uniforms looks mart but drivers should be encouraged to use street clothes, instead of uniforms distinguishing them as delivery persons to a devious predator Encourage drivers to have as little cash as possible on them Deliveries of products above a certain amount should be discouraged except it has been paid online Don’t deliver after dark. Don’t enter the houses of the recipient too. Ensure all of your drivers have cell phones or a way of communicating with you, or the authorities, in the event of an emergency.

WHO RUNS THE WORLD?- MARK ZUCKERBERG!

Berlin Germany Feb 25

 2016 was Mark Zuckerberg's 'Year of running'. The CEO of Facebook pledged to run 365 miles in 2016.  He continued to jog in every City visited and past iconic landmarks surpassing his 365 mile target.  Below are some more of his pictures as gotten from his Facebook page

Barcelona, Spain Feb 21

Beijing China March 17

Lagos Nigeria, 

Rome Italy, August 29

FG PROPOSES TO OPEN ICT UNIVERSITY IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2017

The Federal Government has proposed to open an Information and Technology University sometime in the first quarter of 2017. This will be done in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission. It will also help earn foreign exchange for the country Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications, disclosed this on Monday, the 26th of December 2016 in Abuja while speaking at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum. “By the grace of God, in the next three to six months, we should have established in Nigeria an ICT university which will be first of its kind in Africa. “This is with the sole purpose of providing training environment and training facilities to make the industry have enough skilled manpower in various sub sectors of the ICT sector. “I am happy to say that we already have what is called the Digital Bridge Institute which is for short term training programmes in six locations across the country and we hope to transform this institute into the ICT University of Nigeria. “I am already talking to a lot of operators at the international level, Facebook, Motorola, Ericson, all of them. We are encouraging them to come and adopt the university campuses as their own.

“They can bring in money and bring in faculties and a lot of logistics to assist in training Nigerians and we can now export these trained skilled facilitators to African countries to work,” said Shittu

You can read the full story on Pulse Tech

RIVERS STATE FIRST LADY SHARES LOVE STORY WITH GOVERNOR NYESOM WIKE ON THEIR 17TH ANNIVERSARY

Rivers State First Lady, Justice Suzette Nyesom-Wike shared her love story with her husband Governor Nyesom Wike on Facebook. In celebration of their 17^th wedding anniversary yesterday, the beautiful First Lady, who is not shy of PDA with her hubby, recounted how she met her husband while in the University and their journey so far.

"It's funny how life sometimes takes us where we never plan or expect to go. For three years, we sat in the same lecture rooms and halls but never passed a word between each other. It was only after I chanced upon his law note books in the possession of a mutual classmate that everything changed.

At that time, the law books in our library were expired and in most cases not available and we had to find other means to report our Nigerian case law. Most of us resorted to copying from others who had lawyer friends they visited in chambers and while there, used their law reports/books.

Thankfully, the situation is different today as not only has our Governor completed the long, abandoned building of the Faculty of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, but he has also furnished it and equipped the law library with modern books, law reports and even e-resources. The current students there are lucky to benefit from this upgrade as theirs is now a standard Faculty of Law.

It surprised me then, to realize that he was indeed a serious minded student and not as I had earlier perceived. His notes were up to date as he took time to report more cases than were cited by our lecturers, which necessarily meant better grades if you can put them all down in your answer sheets during tests and examinations.

I immediately coveted that notebook and pleaded with my classmate to loan me the book after she had finished, promising to return it in two days. She refused. Another request with the promise to return it in one day as I was prepared to sit up all night copying those cases, was declined . My last plea to photocopy the notebook and return it immediately fell on deaf ears. She told me to seek the permission of the owner, with the belief that I wouldn't dare.

And of course, she was right to think that as she knew that we had never once spoken to each other. At that point, I inquired from her, his name. She replied simply: "Wike". I wondered how odd that name sounded as I'd never heard it before. I also wondered how to approach him as I believed that he disliked me as much as I did him.

But the desire to have that fully loaded note book was too strong. I could not give up without at least, making an attempt. As he passed by us, I called his name as I had just learnt: "excuse me, Wike". He froze and I noticed his shock and disbelief. I started putting my words together, expecting him to scowl at me, thinking in his head - "Oh! So you have decided to talk to me now that you need my notebook eh?'

He didn't let me complete my request. He caught the drifrt so fast and he spoke to our mutual classmate, telling her to give me his note book after she had finished with it and he walked off. It was now my turn to be in shock! After I recovered, I started putting the heat on our classmate to give me the book asap.

One borrowed book led to another and yet another borrowed book and soon after, we became friends. I got to see the hardworking, focused, studios and serious minded person he was and still is. Before Iong, there was a marriage proposal. I declined as I didn't see myself as the marrying kind but he wouldn't give up.

He said to me that the moment he first set his eyes on me when he joined us in our second year out of the more than five years I was in that institution, he knew already that I was going to be his wife. That got me even more confused. Having noted all the qualities I had noticed in him, I knew that he was a man with very great prospects or potentials for success, as I'd told him then.

I therefore decided to accept his proposal and took a chance, believing that he would make me a happy woman. Today, the 19th of December, marks the 17th year we have been together as a married couple. He is a man that has exhibited excellent taste .... no wonder he chose and continues to choose me .

He promised to give me the world at that time but he has given me much more than I could have ever asked for. Our three adorable children are a testimony to that fact and I can't tell you enough, how fulfilled I feel.

Please permit me to use this medium to share some of the life lessons I have learnt in these past 17 years of marriage, especially in reaching out to encourage our youths who have skewed perceptions about marriage.

You have to make the right decision about your marriage. I made a decision to become a happy wife 17 years ago, by contributing to build a happy marriage. I learnt that marriage in itself doesn't make you happy. You have to make your marriage a happy one. Marriage is not what you get. Marriage is what you bring, what you give and what you do.

There is no perfect marriage or perfect couples. Rather, when two imperfect friends honour and celebrate each other, they are empowered to build up a great blossoming marriage with flourishing children.

Marriage, it has been said, is likened to an empty box that couples should labour to fill up with all the good things they want in their marriage - friendship, understanding, respect, love, etc. Love does not come packaged with any marriage. Love is in people and people put love in marriage. People infuse romance in marriage. Same thing with all the other values.

A couple must practice the art and form the habit of giving, loving, serving, forgiving, rewarding, praising, and just keeping the marriage box full always. If you take more out and put less in, the box empties out.

Let us challenge ourselves to work harder at achieving happier marriages. It will lead to more harmonious homes and communities and eventually a more prosperous and peaceful Rivers State. That is how powerful and endowed married couples are.

I recall, after we became engaged, attending a conference at Christ Church in December, 1996 where Selwyn Hughes, the initiator of the daily devotional called "every day with Jesus" featured and spoke to the young ones (at that time) about marriage. I bought his book then titled: Marriage as God intended.

Rev. Mossy Madugba authographed the book on his behalf and on my request as it wasn't possible for me to meet the author after the occasion. He wrote these words on the first page - "Blossom where you are planted". Indeed, I can say without any fear of any contradiction, that by the grace of God, I have blossomed and will keep blossoming where the Lord, God has planted me.

Today, on this occasion of our 17th marriage anniversary, I celebrate my hardworking classmate, friend, lover and husband .... Nyesom Ezenbunwo Wike CON. We have been through thick, thin and thinner but just like old wine, it keeps getting better with time.

Happy 17th Marriage Anniversary to you, my love. May we forever stay young in each others eyes."

Happy wedding anniversary to His Excellency and the amiable First Lady. Here are some of the pictures