Saturday, 19 July 2014
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
American actress and UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie skipped an event in Khartoum, Sudan after she was denied an entry visa. Speaking at the event on Friday, British ambassador to Sudan, Peter Tibber, confirmed the developments. The event was jointly organised by some civil society organisations and foreign embassies. At the same event, the British High Commissioner criticised Khartoum for declining to sign the international declaration of commitment to end violence in conflict areas, calling on Sudan to respect its international obligations in the human rights field. Addressing the event via video, Ms Jolie hit at the Bashir administration for sentencing a Christian woman to hang for apostasy. “Khartoum should respect the fundamental right to freedom of religion, and to repeal its laws that ban people from converting their faith, as they are inconsistent with its 2005 Interim Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” she urged. She also called on the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts to help create a single, unified, broadly inclusive peace process across the country, warning that Sudan’s silent suffering is getting worse. She further accused Khartoum of wresting control of natural resources and transferring national wealth to top-level regime officials. “They steal wealth then funds the Janjaweed, the internal security organs, and the Sudanese Air Force, and ensures that those brutal instruments of control are held by a small circle of ruling party officials” she claimed. The Sudanese authorities is yet to comment on Ms Jolie’s accusations. Her appeal comes in a time more than 300 international government ministers concluded a Global Summit in London to end sexual violence in the war zones. At the summit, Ms Jolie urged the international leaders to work together to eliminate sexual violence in war zones. In the past, Ms Jolie, visited refugees and IDPS camps in Darfur region. She is also a founder of the Satellite Sentinel Project created in 2011 by the American star George Clooney to facilitate forensic investigations on the Sudanese government violation in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Abacha Loot: Liechtenstein To Return €167m To Nigeria
Liechtenstein said Wednesday it would return 167 million euros ($227 million) to Nigeria, ending a drawn-out battle by the African country to recover cash looted by late dictator Sani Abacha.
Abacha, who died in 1998, is suspected of having looted the Nigerian central bank to the tune of about $2.2 billion when he ruled Africa’s most populous nation from November 1993 to June 1998.
Nigeria first requested help from Liechtenstein in 2000 to recover the cash stashed there.
The tiny principality of some 37,000 people returned 7.5 million euros to Nigeria in late 2013, but the restitution of the bulk of the cash has long been blocked by lawsuits brought by companies linked to Abacha’s family.
Several of the companies were sentenced in 2008 to repay money proven to have been taken from Nigeria’s national budget, but four of the firms filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Following negotiations between the governments of Liechtenstein and Nigeria, the four ended up withdrawing their complaints in May, “clearing the path for repatriation of the assets once and for all,” Vaduz said in a statement Wednesday.
The World Bank had agreed “to monitor the use of the repatriated assets,” the statement said. [AFP]
American singer and actress, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter has reportedly donated $125,000 to help save the lives of premature babies in developing countries. The ‘Partition’ singer announced her donation at an anniversary party for Gucci’s Chime for Change charity, which raises awThe mother-of-one said she chose to help out Embrace Innovations charity, an organisation which distributes ingenious infant warmers to babies born in poverty.The baby warmer is a lower cost alternative to a traditional incubator and looks like a tiny sleeping bag. With her donation, the company will now fund pilot testing of the device in countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. Her aid will assist an estimated 2,000 babies!
Kenyan actress, Lupita Nyong’o has reportedly optioned the film rights to the mind-blowing novel ‘Americanah‘ by award winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The reports was confirmed by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Stylist Magazine’s Stylist Book Club Inaugural Session held at Waldorf Hilton in London on May 29, 2014. Adichie said the PEOPLE magazine 2014 Most Beautiful Woman now has the full rights to make a derivative work off her novel. However, it was earlier reported that Oscars winning actress had already been tapped to play lead ‘ Ifemelu’ but with this development, the 12 years a slave actress will either be the producer or a part of the production team. An option is a contractual agreement between a potential film producer and a writer of a novel, short story etc. The agreement details the exclusive rights, including the specified time period and financial obligations, the producer has to advance the essential elements, such as financing and/or talent, towards the creation of a film based on the original novel /screenplay i.e Lupita has reserved the rights for a limited period of time in order to make the film, and she is supposed to pay the author and/or publisher a certain amount of money on those exclusive rights for the agreed period of time. It’s renewable. According to the plot: Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland. The novel which emerged as one of the New York Times’s Ten Best Books of the Year 2013 has won the following awards: 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Winner of the The Chicago Tribune 2013 Heartland Prize for Fiction, An NPR “Great Reads” Book, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Seattle Times Best Book, an Entertainment Weekly Top Fiction Book, a Newsday Top 10 Book, and a Goodreads Best of the Year pick.
Sunday, 8 June 2014
BSC holder atlast!
first of all, i want to say i big thank you to God almighty for the gift of life!, for the opportunity he gave to pursue my studies, am now a mass communication graduate! thank God for his provisions, grace and faithfulness all through my 3 years degree programme in Benson Idahosa University. a big thanks to my family members especially my brothers Unity Oboigbator and Dennis Oboigbator who always provided for me financially. God bless you all! amen.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
Monday, 26 May 2014
final exams.....
hello, the past 3 years has not been easy... it came with its ups and downs all in a bit to have a degree, well now am writing my final exam. and i give God all the glory for his faithfulness upon my life. providing for me all the way. am grateful to you Lord!
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