Independence Day Special: History of Nigeria

Happy Independence day Nigeria. I am sharing this video as a tribute to Nigeria on her Independence day, our history might not be pretty but we need to learn from it...

Independence: Atiku blames Nigeria's Woes on "Visionless Leadership"

 Well, he is a part of Nigeria's leadership too...

Independence: Atiku blames visionless leadership for Nigeria’s problems

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has described as ”senseless and tragic,” the murder of dozens of Agriculture students who were killed in their sleep in Gujba, Yobe state, saying it casts a “horrible image” on the events making the 53rd National Day Anniversary.

Atiku in a statement on Sunday, stated that leaders should not seek elective offices simply for the sake of power if they lack the vision to push economic growth, which in turns, creates employment and greater prosperity for the citizens.

”Nigerians have lost faith in their government because of this lack of vision in the management of the nation’s political, economic and social affairs,” he said.

“The economy is central to everything and demands vision driven leadership to move forward,” he said.

“Our economy has weakened in the past few years with crippling unemployment, especially among our youth. Nigeria has become unable to deliver the goods and services to give our people a decent standard of living and dignity.”

The former number two citizen restated his commitment to work with willing Nigerians to make a difference and expressed concern at the unchanging shambolic state of national infrastructure and the deteriorating state of education in the country.

He said vision is not achieved by mere rhetoric and good intentions, adding that leaders at all levels need to be adequately equipped for the job they were elected to do.

Atiku insisted that as an oil-rich nation, Nigerian leaders have no excuses to fail, adding that inexperience; lack of adequate preparation for office and drift should not be allowed to stand in the way of the country.

The Turakin Adamawa also argued that challenges like attracting and sustaining foreign direct investments, improving education, boosting the manufacturing sector, enhancing power generation, improving security, tackling poverty and unemployment had direct relationship with the quality of leadership a country has.

According to Atiku, performance levels could not be separated from the qualities of elected leaders.

“Throughout the world, the citizens base their choices of leaders on their proven abilities to deliver. Democracy is too important to be left in the hands of those seeking elective offices for its own sake without the vision to deliver the country from its quagmire,” he noted.

Source: Daily Post

Blackberry Presents BBM for Windows

Blackberry messenger is coming to your desktop soon...

Possible look of BlackBerry on desktop

BlackBerry last night revealed BBM for Windows at its BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 in Hong Kong. The company further hinted that BBM for OS X was a possibility.

Unsurprisingly, the Canadian company wouldn’t give a release date for either platform. Nevertheless, it’s clear that BlackBerry doesn’t want to just expand to mobile platforms Android and iOS; it also wants BBM on your desktop in one form or another.

According to at least two reports (BBin and BerryReview), the app was referred to as BBM on Desktop, though it’s not clear whether that is the final name of the app.

Read more at TNW

Bolivian President Wants United Nations to Move Out of United States

President of Bolivia, Evo Morales (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Jonathan of Nigeria, I hope you are reading this. There is hardly a better way to grab global headlines than this!

Move UN out of US, Bolivian president says

Bolivian President Evo Morales has accused the United States of harboring terrorists and urged that UN headquarters be moved from New York.

Morales made the remarks in his speech to the 68th UN General Assembly on Wednesday, AFP reported.

“I would like you to be aware that the United States harbors terrorists and the corrupt,” said Morales, adding, “They take refuge here, and the United States does not help in the fight against corruption.”

The socialist president called for the United Nations to leave New York City because of US "blackmail" and bullying.

"No guaranteed visas, no guaranteed overflights. We feel threatened, bullied and blackmailed over visas," he said, adding that the United States "has never ratified treaties related to human rights."

“We must seriously think about changing the headquarters of the United Nations," said Morales. 

 Read more from Press TV

Google Welcomes Fashola to Google+

Don't just take my word for it, read it for yourself...

 

Please give a warm welcome to Lagos, Nigeria's governor +Babatunde Fashola, SAN as he joins Google+.  And to kick off his engagement on Google+ he will be on a Hangout On Air with self acclaimed "African Number 1 rapper" +MI Abaga to chat about energy conservation in Nigeria's most populous city, Lagos

It is always exciting to see influential people get on Google+, and even more exciting when these influencers use Google+ to make a positive impact in Africa.

Indeed, the internet is birthing a change in Africa!

And don't forget to use  #cesm  which is an acronym for "Conserve Energy, Save Money" Eko O ni Baje!

 

Source: +Google Africa

Men in the United Kingdom Don't like football that much

English: Indian Hockey team (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And other sports too...


Information from the UK Mail via disinfo indicates that men lie about liking sports to be accepted in the society. Trust me, I am not one of em....

Nine out of ten men lie about liking sports to impress friends or to get ahead at work, it was revealed today. Football was the game that men most faked a love of, with two out of three admitting they gushed to mates about the national sport to avoid being unpopular, a survey of 500 Britons found.

Football was the most fibbed about, with 61 per cent hiding their dislike. The national game was followed by F1, cricket, gold and rugby. One in three admitted to lying because they thought it would aid their career.

Bionic leg that is controlled with the mind tested

This is a great breakthrough in prosthetic technology...

First Bionic Leg Allows Mind to Control Movement in Study

Zac Vawter, a software engineer who lives in the Seattle area, already knew about advances in bionic technology when a motorcycle wreck led to the amputation of his right leg just above the knee in 2009.

As doctors at Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle battled for three days to try to save his leg, Vawter asked about the method that uses the mind to move a prosthetic limb. The technology had previously been used only in arms. 

Software Engineer Zac Vawter is considered the “test pilot” of a bionic leg that can tackle slopes, stairs and in-chair movement markedly better than existing devices. Source: Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago via Bloomberg

Four years and an $8 million grant from the U.S. Army’s Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center later, Vawter is considered the “test pilot” of the bionic leg that can tackle slopes, stairs and in-chair movement markedly better than existing devices. A team of researchers led by Levi Hargrove from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Center for Bionic Medicine reported their results with the novel prosthetic in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

“In my mind, it’s still the same thing in terms of moving my ankle down or up, or extending my leg forward or back,” Vawter said in a telephone interview. “It’s just walk like I would normally walk. It’s not special training or buttons or tricks. That’s a big piece of what I think is groundbreaking and phenomenal about this work.” 

Additional refinements are needed to make the thought-controlled bionic leg commercially viable, Hargrove said in a telephone interview. Vawter is allowed to use the machine only a week at a time during visits every few months to the clinic in Chicago. Freedom Innovations LLC, a closely held company based in Irvine, California, is working on making the motorized machine smaller, quieter and more robust. 

Prosthetic Evolution

It’s been an evolutionary process. Most prosthetic legs work like a walking stick with springs, giving the patient something on which to balance. The next step up, robotic prosthetics, are further advanced with remote controls and embedded sensors that measure how much weight they must bear, the knee position and the way a person is turning, like mobile phones determine orientation. The thought-controlled device goes further, harnessing nerves that formerly regulated the leg’s movement to maneuver the prosthetic leg. 

The new leg allows Vawter to seamlessly transition between walking and standing, with the biggest difference showing up when he is climbing stairs. With a standard prosthetic leg, Vawter always steps up first with his healthy left leg, then pulls the right leg along. With the thought-controlled leg, he is able to walk foot-over-foot, he said. Someone watching him climb wouldn’t know he had a prosthesis based on his gait, Hargrove said, though they may hear the motor whirring.

Read more from Bloomberg