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A long-distance couple went from Instagram to Insta-marriage seconds after they met. Erica Harris married a man just seconds after they met for the first time at an airport in California, after the two randomly connected a year ago on Instagram, NY Daily news reports..
The long-distance relationship between Harris and her new husband, Arte Vann, grew with love poems and songs over social media.
The two lived across the country from each other, with Harris in California and Vann in New York.

When they met at the Ontario International Airport for the first time on Friday, Vann got straight to the point. He proposed immediately to the woman he had only seen in photos and videos from their budding online romance.

“Don’t listen to your thoughts. Don’t listen to your head,” he told KCAL9 at the airport after she said yes. “Follow your heart. Follow your soul.”

Harris’s Instagram profile now says she’s married “to the man of my dreams,” while Vann calls her “the love of my life.”

The two met in March last year after Vann posted a poem with the hashtag #7deadlysins, where Harris commented, “you had me at lust.”
The two had used the same hashtags for the poetry and writing community on Instagram when the chance encounter happened.

You don’t drag your feet with real love,” Harris said. “You leap into that like there’s no tomorrow, and that’s what we’re doing.”

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It is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices.

Just this morning I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.

That view pretty much echoes the sentiments expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the near term.

If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.

The simple fact of the matter is that apart from oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bring that closer home.

There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a truly strong economy and the naira was one to the dollar – even exchanged for higher than the USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria.

Sadly that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical imperialist conspiracies like me) – fueled by the DAMAGING Indigenisation Decree, has been the creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy.

We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange.

Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students.

We had different car assembly plants – Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry.

We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world. In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today.

Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who were university dons. Back then it meant something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry was alive and well.

Just recently I watched a news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on.

Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything.

Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play.

Every year we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ – simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children.

Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc.

We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them.

We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch… zero. A country of 170m fashion-conscious people has no textile industry.

We take delight in showing how our made-in-Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey-different-level”music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song.

As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas.

Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead.

And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyinbos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas.

I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet.

And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC – Nigeria’s most successful club – not having a sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo .

Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricula.

Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England – the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt.

Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous – you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly.

Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyinbo.

But don’t forget that there is payback time and Emefiele is not your problem. Time for us all to look in the mirror and take responsibility.

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A director with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabiru Nuhu-Koko,has attributed the slow pace of the country’s economic growth to unwillingness of Nigerians to dump selfish desires for national interest.

This came as he regretted that a large number of Nigerians were splashing huge sums of money on the Ghanaian economy, in their bid to seek western knowledge at the detriment of the growth of their country.

Nuhu-Koko, who said until there was a drastic change of attitudes, the country’s quest to find itself among the top 20 economies of the world remain a mere dream, said discipline instilled on him by the nation’s apex bank had made him not to live outside his income.

He spoke, yesterday, in Abuja, at the occasion of Sir Alhaji Ahmadu Bello Sardauna Platinum Leadership Award, conferred on him by a group under the aegis of Northern Youth Network, NYN.

Alhaji Nuhu-Koko, who is the Head, Project Planning and Implementation Division of the CBN, said he was in control of over N200 billion in his departmental budget but can’t boast of not only N20 million in his account but also a house of his own.

The development, he disclosed, was due to his belief that only patriotism can take the country to its desired destination, and charged Nigerians to think of the interest of their country first in all their dealings.

“As you see me here, I supervise projects over N200 billion but I don’t have N20 million on my own apart from the house that government sold to me and another one in Lugbe that the bank bought and sold to staff which they are deducting from source.

“I don’t have any property in Abuja here. In fact, there was a time my budget was N200 billion but I cannot pass through here and you see a billionaire, not at all.

“That shows you the discipline we have in that system. So, we have set standard that if that standard would be a doubted across board, Nigeria will go places, “he said.

He charged Nigerians to think of investing home rather than outside the shores of the country, according to him, such development would create wealth for the nation.

Addressing the northern youths, he said:” Nigerians are spending billions of naira in training their children outside this country. In Ghana alone, the amount of money Nigerians spend in training their children is more than the budget of the National Universities Commission, NUC.

”All the budget of NUC is for the Nigerian universities. Now, the budget of NUC is not up to the amount Nigerians spend in training their children in Ghana.

”I am telling you this story as youths so that if you find yourselves in position one day, you can change things.”

While responding for request of the president of the organization, Comrade Mike Msuaah, that he should use his position t influence the bank to assist persons displaced by Boko Haram, in the North East part of the country, he said the Governor of CBN, had since dispatched a team of people to meet the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA ,to discuss areas of intervention.

“Concerning the IDPs, I am proud to inform you that the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria has sent teams to go round the IDPs, to go to NEMA, to ask for their needs so as to intervene and very soon, you will see the result from the CBN, “he said.

He enjoined the youths to work assiduously for the continuous peace and unity of the country, saying they must stand against any force that seek to divide the country.

Earlier, President, Northern Youth Network, Mike Msuaah, said the award on Alhaji Nuhu-Koko, was due to his undying passion for Nigeria,financial transparency,youth development and societal transformation of the country.

Source: Vanguard

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Seven months after taking over government, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has succeeded in achieving only one out of the 222 campaign promises made to Nigerians, according to a report by Buharimetre, a civil society monitoring report tracking the implementation of the president’s campaign promises.

The report, which covers the activities of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government from May 29 to December 31, 2015, observed in its assessment that the achievement was in the area of the fight against corruption, even though a lot was still left undone in that regard.

“PMB has only achieved 1 out of the 222 tracked promises, which constitutes 0.5 percent of the promises, Buharimetre reported.

More so, it reveals that while the government is taking action to achieving only 27 (12.2 percent approximately) of the tracked promises thus ongoing, 194 electoral promises are still Not Rated.’Buharimeter Infographics 1

The latter constitutes 87.3 percent of the tracked promises.

The electoral promises not rated, it says, is because there is “no tangible related activities being implemented.

The 2015 report is the fourth on the series of report on the assessment of the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari and the governing party, the APC, on the delivery of its 222 electoral promises.

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Doctors have successfully separated conjoined twin sisters fused at the liver and chest – the smallest pair ever to survive surgery.

Five surgeons, assisted by two nurses and six anaesthesiologists, carried out the successful, five-hour operation to separate the tiny identical twins at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.
Maya and Lydia were born two months prematurely along with their triplet sister Kamilla in December.

They were initially stable and doctors at Inselspital hospital, Bern, had planned to allow them to settle after birth and separate them after a few months.

But after a week, their situation deteriorated dramatically: one suffering from hypertension and the other suffering from the opposite condition, known as hypotension.

Both conditions were life-threatening to the frail twins, who weighed just 2.4 pounds each, and the doctors decided their only chance was attempting surgery never before performed on such young infants.

Separating the babies’ liver put both under massive pressure, said Barbara Wildhaber, head of the paediatric surgery unit at the Geneva University Hospital, who headed the team that carried out the surgery.

‘We were prepared for the death of both babies, it was so extreme,’ she told Swiss paper Le Matin Dimanche.

 

She added: ‘It was magnificent. I will remember it my entire career.’

 

Since their surgery, Maya and Lydia have been recovering well, they have put on weight and have begun breast feeding, the paper reported.

The pair is among only about 200 separated conjoined twins currently living around the globe, it said.

Also known as Siamese twins, conjoined siblings are identical twins who in rare cases, about one in 200,000 live births, are born with their skin and internal organs fused together, according to the University of Maryland Medical Centre website.

About half are stillborn, and the survival rate is between five and 25 percent.

They develop from a single egg, which splits in the case of healthy twins, but not fully in the case of conjoined siblings.

Source: Daily Mail

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday raised the alarm that having lost the war to the nation’s armed forces, insurgents are desperately seeking ways of returning to the society to wreak havoc.

Buhari therefore called on all Nigerians, especially those that are resident in areas previously ravaged by terrorists, to be more vigilant and ready to work with security operatives in ending the war against insurgency.

According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President made the submission while reacting to the spate of suicide bombings in Chibok market, Dolari Internally Displaced Person’s camp in Borno State and the Gombi market in Adamawa State.

He said the insurgents’ gradual return was meant to embarrass his government and that was why they chose isolated communities and markets as their targets.

He said the insurgents had suffered immensely from the sustained bombardments of their camps and hide outs by the Nigerian military and had resorted to using desperate measures to gain cheap media attention.

The President added that the terrorists had been rendered weak, confused and homeless after repeated bombings and ravaging of their camps and hide outs by the military, forcing them to find their way back into the society to wreak havoc, like the case of the Dolari IDP camp.

He said, “I urge all citizens wherever they live to own the war against terror and to be part of the fight because it is the only way we can finish the remaining work that needs to be done to make our country safe again.

Having lost the war, they (the insurgents) are seeking ways and means to gradually find their way back into society.

“They are not returning to contribute but to cause more havoc. They are so desperate to embarrass the government and the people that they have no qualms attacking isolated communities and markets.”

Buhari noted that the materials for the Improvised Explosive Devices were locally sourced by the insurgents.

He therefore urged Nigerians to be more circumspect and report suspicious purchases and movements of unusual components in any part of the country, especially the North East.

The President extended his condolences to all the people of Chibok, Gombi and Dolari who lost loved ones in the recent attacks and prayed that the Almighty God will comfort them and grant the injured persons quick recovery.

Source: PunchNg

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