Superior Substance: June 2017

Friday, 30 June 2017

No offer yet for Ronaldo-Real madrid.

Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president said there has been no interest yet from any club in star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who has threatened to leave Spain after running into problems with tax authorities.

â€œNo one has sent us an offer for either Cristiano or anyone else,â€ Perez told Onda Cero radio station.

â€œRonaldo is a lot more powerful and more important than all of us who are here,â€ he added.

Perezâ€™s first task after being reelected unopposed as Real Madrid president on Monday will be to appease Ronaldo amid speculation the four-time world player of the year wants to leave.

It was Perez who bought Ronaldo in 2009 from Manchester United for a record 94 million euros ($105.3 million).

The frenzy of speculation began soon after Ronaldo was accused last week of a 14.7 million euro tax evasion through offshore companies.

The Portuguese international is currently in Russia competing for the European champions in the Confederations Cup.

And according to Spanish sports daily Marca, Ronaldo has told his teammates: â€œIâ€™m leaving Real. I have made a decision. There is no turning back.â€

Portuguese sports daily A Bola also claimed that Perez had already been informed of the 32-year-oldâ€™s decision.

There has been speculation that Ronaldo is trying to put pressure on Real so that they will bear some of the burden of an eventual fine as Barcelona did for Lionel Messi.

Among the clubs reported to be interested in Ronaldo is former team Manchester United for a fee which could hit 200 million euros, with a possible get-out clause of one billion euros.

Since extending his contract in November until 2021, Ronaldo is according to Forbes the highest paid sports star in the world with $93 million (83m euro) in 2016-2017.

Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea are also reported to be interested but Bayern Munich president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge denied the German champions would make an offer.

â€œWe are accustomed to intensive speculation on possible arrivals and departures during the transfer period,â€ wrote Rummenigge in the statement.

â€œAs a rule, we do not comment on these rumours. But now in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo, we want to clarify once and for all that this rumour has no basis and must be referred to in the realm of fables.

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Ondo to patronise local engineers.

Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State says his administration has concluded plans to patronise local engineers in the state to check capital flight.

Akeredolu made this known on Friday in Akure at the Second 2017 Distinguished Engineering Lecture organised by the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE).

The lecture entitled, Power Infrastructure Development as a Panacea for Industrial Revolution in a Change Environment, was delivered by Mr Ifeoluwa Oyedele.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Agboola Ajayi, said engineers needed to come on board for the people of the state to benefit from their talents.

The present administration in the state will involve engineers in state projects and if you donâ€™t impress us, we know how to deal with you, he said.

According to the governor, it is not the responsibility of lawmakers to engage in projects in their constituencies.

He said that lawmakers were only elected to represent their constituencies and make laws that would impact meaningfully on the lives of the people.

Earlier, the National President of NSE, Mr Otis Anyaeji, had called on the state branch to rise up to its responsibility.

The president, who was represented by Mr Kunle Mokunolu, said it was the responsibility of NSE to ensure that every engineer was a stakeholder in the development of the state.

Also speaking, the Chairman of NSE, Akure Branch, Mr Oloruntoba Abe, enumerated the contributions of the body to national development.

He said the association would not relent in replicating this in the state.

Oyedele, the Executive Director of Engineering and Technical Service Holding Ltd., in his lecture, advised engineers to take active part in the decision-making process in the country.

It is time for this distinguished society to enforce the Students Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES) for engineering students nationwide.

The time has come for the NSE to design a course of study that a prospective graduate member should undertake before admission into full membership of NSE.

The curriculum should include training in the ethics of the profession and a code of conduct expected of an engineer.

The society should also determine the length of pupillage and even encourage mentorship for a period of not less than five years after full membership, he said.

Nollywood gets over N420m additional grant.

The Federal Government says it has released the sum of N420.2 million to the Nigeria film industry popularly called Nollywood to improve and support aspiring practitioners.

According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Patricia Deworitshe, on Friday in Abuja, the money, which is the second tranche payment will benefit 105 film distributors.

The Federal Government had earlier introduced the â€œProject Act Nollywoodâ€™â€™, with three primary components aimed at developing the movie making value chain.

The components are the Film Production Fund (FPF), Capacity Building Fund (CBF) and Innovative Distribution Fund (IDF).

The FPF and CBF have been fully implemented, while the IDF, which is the third component of the project, is on-going.

The IDF covers online, National, Regional and community categories of Nollywood Film distribution and exhibition.

The objectives of IDF are to improve the distribution network of Nigerian Audio-Visual contents, cut down on piracy, create jobs, and protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within the Nigerian Entertainment Industry.

N1.8 billion was approved for disbursement to 106 beneficiaries in this component; and N1.335 billion was disbursed earlier in the year as first tranche to 105 beneficiaries.

Deworitshe said that before the release of the second tranche, the finance ministry had earlier carried out a successful monitoring and evaluation of the first tranche disbursement.

â€œFifteen community cinemas and viewing centres have been established through the grant and this has improved the distribution network of movies in Nigeria.

â€œThe programme has supported 18 firms in strengthening online distribution platforms, this has helped curb illegal downloads and piracy.

â€œTwo hundred and fifty six permanent jobs and 544 temporary jobs have been created through the financial support provided to 105 beneficiaries by the programme,â€™â€™ she said.

Deworitshe said the programme had also aided the extension of the Nollywood Industry to sub-Sahara Africa through the funding of National distributors to expand their distribution capacity and network.

She said through the programme, distributors had expanded their capacity to lip-synching their content in French for onward distribution to the ECOWAS sub-region.

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Monday, 26 June 2017

Beyonce delivers twins.

U.S. singer, Beyonce, has given birth to twins in Los Angeles, several celebrity news websites reported on Saturday, citing unidentified sources.

Beyonce, 35, and rapper and music producer Jay Z, already have a five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.

E! News, citing multiple unidentified sources, reported the birth and that Jay Z and Blue Ivy were seen at a Los Angeles area hospital on Thursday.

U.S. Weekly, also citing multiple unidentified sources, reported that the couple welcomed twins earlier this week.

â€œBey and Jay are thrilled and have started sharing the news with their family and closest friends,â€ one unidentified source told PEOPLE.

Reuters could not verify the reports. A representative for Beyonce did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The celebrity news websites did not provide additional details, such as the date and time the twins were born or the sex of the infants.

The â€œLemonadeâ€ singer, one of the most powerful women in the music business, announced the pregnancy on her Instagram account in February along with an image of her posed in lingerie and caressing a noticeable baby bump.

The announcement got more than 8 million â€œlikesâ€ in the first 24 hours to become the â€œmost-likedâ€ Instagram ever.

The R&B singer performed live at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles two weeks later, proudly displaying her swelling belly in a motherhood-themed show.

She has since posted numerous pictures of her bare baby bump on her social media accounts.

The birth of Blue Ivy caused a paparazzi storm in 2012, with New Yorkâ€™s Lenox Hill hospital shutting down part of its maternity wing to accommodate musicâ€™s royal couple.

News of the pregnancy came less than a year after the release of Beyonceâ€™s 2016 album â€œLemonade,â€ in which she appeared to address long-standing rumors of trouble in her eight-year marriage.

The lyrics of several songs spoke about being cheated on, and regretting being married.

But Beyonce made clear in the final tracks of the album and in music videos featuring Jay-Z that she had decided to stay in the relationship.

The couple have never addressed the rumors publicly. (Reuters/NAN)

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120 in oil tanker fire.

No fewer than 120 people have died and another 100 injured after an overturned oil tanker caught fire.

The tragedy at the Ahmad Sharqia area of Bahawalpur in Pakistan on Sunday morning occurred as a crowd attempted to scoop fuel from the tanker.

Dozens of motorbikes and cars passing by were caught in the fire.

The dead bodies and injured are being shifted to Victoria Hospital of Bahawalpur and emergency has been declared in the hospital, said Pakistanâ€™s The Nation newspaper.

The wards in the hospital are being vacated for the injured.

Pakistanâ€™s Dawn newspaper said the fire brigade arrived on the site of the incident shortly after the blaze started and rescue operations were initiated.

Two fire engines battled the fire and eventually gained control over it.

At least six cars and 12 motorcycles were burnt in the blaze.

The injured were transferred to District Headquarters Hospital and Bahawal Victoria Hospital, rescue officials said.

Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa ordered the army to assist the civil administration in the rescue efforts.

COAS expresses grief on losses in oil tanker incident, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.

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Ritualists\Kidnappers den discovered beside ondo assembly conplex.

A suspected kidnappers and ritualists den was discovered few buildings away from the Ondo state House of Assembly complex at Algbaka area in Akure, the state capital today June 26th.

The two storey building is situated behind the popular government-owned events centre, the Gani Fawehinmi Arcade.

According to reports, a military officer fired a shot at a bird that had perched close to the den. The suspected kidnappers/ritualists who thought the officers were coming to arrest them, ran out of the building.

Littered in the building were womenâ€™s underwear, sandals, slippers, cooking utensils, mattresses, toothpaste, toothbrushes, empty bottles of lacasera and coke, pots, plates and spoons.

At the fence of the building were two large holes which are suspected to be their in and out route so that they would not be detected. Four of the suspects have been taken to the Ala Police station for interrogation.

Senate cannot be scrapped says deputy leader of the senate.

The Deputy Leader of the Senate, Bala Ibn Naâ€™Allah has described those mooting and calling for the scrapping of the Senate as ignorant stressing that the Senate cannot be scrapped.

In a series of video interviews conducted by Bamikole Omishore, Special Assistant New Media to the President of the Senate, Naâ€™Allah said that the Senate is fully backed by the Nation's constitution.

The interview was published on the official twitter handle of the Nigerian Senate @NGRSenate on Monday.

The National Assembly especially the Senate has been an object of criticism over fat pay and allowances with some Nigerians calling for the scrapping of the Senate and maintaining a unicameral legislature.

The Deputy Leader therefore stressed that the Senate was established in a bicameral legislature like Nigeria to ensure that there is no disparity in representation that will exist in a unicameral House of Representatives.

He explained that over 50 percent of the members of the House of Representatives are from the North and as such could influence any bill in their favour against the South.

People do not understand the wisdom of the framers of our constitution when they decided to domicile the issue of budgeting in the National Assembly.

The reason for this is because of our multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic society where ever pasrt has expressed fear of domination.

Let us assume that we can have the House of Reoresentatives and avoid the Senate, technically more than 67 per cent of the National Assembly will be from the Northern part of Nigeria.

Democratocally if everything is going to be put to vote it means the North will always have a share in whatever is wanted in this country.

This is not the intention of the framers of our constitution, he said.

He explained that it was in a bid to avoid such a situation where the North will be dominant that the Senate was crafted based on equality of states and for every state to produce equal number of Senators.

Naâ€™Allah further explained that with the bicameral system, no house can override the other as they must agree on any issue.

People who have no idea of how we came about and what the Constitution says are just exposing their ignorance by calling for the Senate to be scrapped.

Most participants in the governance of this country, either they do not understand the constitution or they do not understand the reasons for inserting certain provisions in the Constitution, he said.

Naâ€™Allah said that teh senate would continue to do its job and to summon anyone who is under the oversight supervision of the upper legislative chamber.

He said that it was only through strict oversight that the Senate could promote good governannce and ensure that abuse and misuse of power is curtailed.