Tuesday, November 24, 2015

NEW APPROACHES TO OLD DEMONS: BEFORE THE ELECTIONS COME



 "Whenever the elections come we are given a blank cheque to buy the best of what we want" Patrick Lumumbu.
 As a fierce unrepentant critic of previous student association governments and a product of graceful stay and ageing existence in this environment, I owe myself one duty and that is to make common sense unlike Ben Murray Bruce.
 It is that moment again when the bias of choice sets friends in disarray and enmity, however the joy of the yuletide is that such situations do not last long, they come and like weather is long gone before the wake of effect.
 It seems the Old demons have come back again like the biblical analogy of exorcised spirits seeking for the body of whom they were expunged to dwell in once again, but like the grace wisdom grants to man abounds, it teaches one to learn from the experiences of others to be wiser by the virtue called 'leverage.'
 The old demons of sentiment which are greater than the most powerful tyranical Roman emperors and dictators of the Mahgreb's needs more refined and sophiticated approach to deal with them this time.
 I have had the priviledge of being consulted by some of the gladiators rocking the stage currently especially both presidential and vice presidential hopefuls, and having been a victim of political rape and betrayal I had every cause to stand against the histronics and patented support-me-appeal that characterise people of unproven and questionable character, rather I had to advise and appeal as a gentleman and a senile umpire seeking for the best of representation for a people who have lost faith in campaign promises.
 Like professor Lumumbu said "when we get our blank cheque, instead of buying a Mecerdes we opt for a 'tuktuk' tricycle, and we expect the tuktuk to behave like a mercedes." We vote the wrong persons to power and expect power to change them forgetting power amplifies the personality of the person, thereby making the torments of the old demons hotter and more pernicious than the previous.
 Okofia  'Oakland' is a 'small ville' and a place where the enormity of misrepresentation is lucid and haunts the leader by the virtue of the fact that unlike the levites, he is a priest drawn from amongst and lives amidst his people, so he cannot play the ostrich.
 By the time the elections come, Your's sincerely may no longer be eligible to exercise the luxury of franchise, but as a duty and an obligation my tenancy in the apartment of opinion behoves of me I speak out in sincerity at least that when the demons come back again, let them meet a house or body occupied by new inhabitants.
 By inhabitants I mean progressive ideologies and policies that are centred around bringing the best out of the over three thousand students that have decided to make okland their choice for now.
 The job of the incoming executives led by whoever will be the president should be mostly centred around projects that would enhance the capacity of every Tomiwa, Dike and Haruna that passed through this ambience of learning.
  Take away from us  Old demons, because there is a people rising.

Khaleb-Power Ogbonna is a student Media brand maker and writter.

Monday, November 23, 2015

FROM THE DESK OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL, CHS-SAG

Its been a long and well-deserved holiday, everyone is feeling good and splendid. The hopes once again are risen, yearning for a fresh start and a beautiful end that could bring positive changes to the live of every student.
Welcome to the 2015/2016 session.

To our new and beloved students, praise GOD for helping you cross over to this great College. Be happy you are here but do not forget why you are here even as you engage in other extra-curricular activities. Keep up the good work, live to express yourself and not to impress anyone, be careful, be cheerful, be thoughtful, be helpful, be flexible and above all be prayerful because that is the master key my friends.

To our old but ever fresh and vibrant students, it is a great pleasure seeing your beautiful and handsome faces. Do your best and endeavour not to make the same mistakes you made last session but rather make greater landmarks that you would be proud of in the future.

To the old and new students that are yet to return to school, try to return on time as lectures have commenced in earnest and you sure would not want to miss the 75% attendance eligibility mark for examinations. We pray you return soonest.

To the future leaders of our beloved student body, be sincere in your hearts as you move around with the news of your intentions for the students because they deserve better than you imagine for next one year.

And lastly, let us all as students remember our leaders from our hostels up to the national level in our prayers to lead us all to greater heights as to lead is not an easy job but indeed a herculean task.

Once again WELCOME TO THE 2015/2016 session.

Signed:
Comr. Akudike Chijioke Jesse
Secretary-General

Sunday, November 22, 2015

KOGI APC CANDIDATE IN YESTERDAY'S ELECTION IS DEAD


The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Mr. Abubakar Audu is dead. Mr. Audu died of undisclosed medical reasons shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared his victory at the elections inconclusive. The cause of Mr. Audu's death is not yet known.

Friday, November 20, 2015

200L, 300L AND 400L TIMETABLE PLUS BCH SCHEME OF WORK







Dangote Reportedly Among Hostages At Radisson Blu - Al Jazeera

Gunmen attacked a five-star hotel in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday and are holding 170 hostages, witnesses said.

Attackers shouting "Allahu Akbar" opened fire outside the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of the capital before storming it.

Automatic weapon fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel where security forces set up a security cordon.

Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone from Bamako, business owner Garba Konate said a group of attackers showed up about three hours earlier.

"About 10 gunmen arrived early in the morning and shot all the guards in front of the Radisson," Konate said.

One of the guests reportedly staying at the hotel is Nigerian Aliko Dangote - the richest person in Africa.

"I started hearing gunshots coming from the hotel," said Ibrahim, 28, who works at a cultural centre 40 metres away from the hotel.

"Soon after I saw one of the guards running out, injured... The security guard told me the shooters were so quick that he doesn't even know how many came in," he told Al Jazeera.

The hotel's owner said it "is aware of the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today... As per our information two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees," the company said in a statement.

The shooting follows a 24-hour siege and hostage-taking situation at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare.

Four soldiers, five UN workers, and four attackers were killed in that attack.

Armed groups have continued to wage attacks in Mali despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-government armed groups.

Northern Mali fell in March-April 2012 to al-Qaeda-linked groups long concentrated in the area before being removed by a France-led military operation launched in January 2013.

Despite the peace deal, large swathes of Mali remain beyond the control of government and foreign forces.


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/gunmen-hostages-mali-hotel-reports-151120084719883.html

Apply For 2015 NNPC/Mobil PN Undergraduate Scholarship Awards

 As part of support to educational development and human capacity building, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), operator of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/MPN Joint Venture awards annual scholarships to qualified undergraduate students in Nigerian Universities. Applications for the 2015 NNPC/MPN Undergraduate National Scholarship is now open.

GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE

Awards will be made to qualified and suitable students who are currently admitted in Nigerian Universities irrespective of state of origin including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

HISTORY

Since 1974, ExxonMobil upstream affiliates in Nigeria – Esso Exploration and production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL) and Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) have supported the education of thousands of Nigerian students through the Companies’ various scholarship schemes.

Undergraduate Scholarship Awards

This program is funded by Mobil Producing Nigeria, operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/MPN Joint Venture.  Since 1998, a total of 500 undergraduate scholarships are awarded annually. This is a significant increase on the 13 awards offered at inception of the scheme in 1974. The awards are made to suitably qualified students from every state of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).  However, about 62 per cent of the total NNPC/MPN Undergraduate scholarship awards are allocated to students who are indigenes of the operational communities/ States – Akwa Ibom (50%) and Rivers States (12%).  There is also a merit award (10%) to the best 50 candidates in the selection tests. The remaining places go to students from other states including the Federal Capital territory (FCT), based on merit and fair geographical spread. The current scholarship awards are for disciplines in Engineering (Petroleum, Chemical Mechanical, Electrical/Electronics and Civil,) Geology/Geophysics, Medicine, Agricultural Science (and related fields) as well as Computer Science.Other schemes sponsored by this partnership include the NNPC/ESSO National and International Postgraduate Scholarship Awards. These scholarship programs are amongst several initiatives by the ExxonMobil upstream subsidiary companies EEPNL and MPN), along with the respective partners and co-venturer, to help build capacities of young and brilliant Nigerians and further boost pool of qualified manpower for career opportunities in Nigeria and abroad.
ELIGIBILITY
Carefully read the Requirement/Eligibility 
E-applications are invited from full-time undergraduates in their FIRST YEAR (100 LEVEL) or SECOND YEAR (200 LEVEL) of study in any of the under-listed courses in Nigerian Universities:
1. Petroleum Engineering
2. Chemical Engineering
3. Mechanical Engineering
4. Electrical/Electronics Engineering
5. Civil Engineering
6. Geology/Geophysics
7. Medicine (MBBS Only)
8. Agricultural Science (And related fields)
9. Computer Science

Eligibility

a.     Candidates must be holders of the SSCE or its Equivalent with at least six subjects passed at a sitting
b.    Applicants must be registered full-time undergraduates in their 1st or 2nd year of study in any Nigerian University
c.     Students who are currently on similar scholarship awards from other oil and gas companies should not apply
d.    Dependants of employees of Mobil Producing Nigeria, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited are not eligible for this scholarship.
Please note that we will accept applications through this web site address only. Hard copies of any document submitted will not be processed. All interested students are advised to click on “How to Apply” tab to proceed.
Application closes midnight 1st December, 2015.
In line with our e-scholarship administration system, selected students will be invited for computer-administered qualifying tests in selected examination centers nationwide. Short-listed candidates for the qualifying test will be invited by email and SMS text messages. All applicants are therefore advised to ensure that GSM telephone numbers and personal email addresses are properly entered into the e-forms on the web site.
ONLY SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE CONTACTED.

HOW TO APPLY FOR MOBIL PRODUCING NIGERIA SCHOLARSHIP

Application is open to full-time FIRST YEAR (100 LEVEL) or SECOND YEAR (200 LEVEL) students admitted during the 2014/2015 or 2013/2014 academic session only.
1.    Before you start this application, ensure you have clear scanned copies of the following documents
      • Passport photograph with white background not more than 3 months old (450px by 450px not more than 200kb)
      • Current University ID card
      • Admission letter
      • Birth certificate
      • O’ Level result
      • JAMB Result
      • SSCE result or its equivalent
      • Evidence of State of origin obtained from the appropriate Local Government Area and duly signed by the Chairman or Secretary
2.    Ensure the documents are named according to what they represent to avoid mixing up documents during upload
3.    Ensure you attach the appropriate documents when asked to upload
Deadline is 1st December, 2015
To apply, follow the steps below:
1.      Click on “Apply Now” tab.
2.      Click on “Register Now” to create an account.
3.      Proceed to your email box to activate your account
4.      Click on www.scholastica.ng to return to Scholarship site
5.      Enter your registered email and password to upload your information.
6.      Enter your personal information, National Identification Number (if available), educational information, other information and upload required scanned documents.
7.      Ensure the name used in application matches the names on all documentation in same order. Upload a sworn affidavit or certificate if otherwise.
8.      Ensure you view all documents after uploading, to eliminate errors during uploading.
9.      When asked to upload photo, upload a pass-port photograph with a white background.
10.  Recheck application information to avoid errors
11.  Click “Apply Now” to submit information at http://scholastica.ng/schemes/nnpcmpn or return to the home page www.scholastica.ng and select the 2015 NNPC/MPN Undergraduate Scholarship Awards to be redirected to the application page 12.  You will receive an email that confirms your application was successful.
13.  Return to www.scholastica.ng, enter your Email and Password to download your profile and proceed to have your referee to sign the document.
14.  Upload a scanned copy of the signed profile, this would be used for verification.
15.  If National Identification Number (NIN) number was not available in step 6, to obtain your National Identification Number (NIN)
o    Visit http://ninenrol.gov.ng to register and learn more about the National Identity Number
o    Click “Create Account” and fill in the required  fields
o    Login with Email and Password to complete the form
o    After completion, schedule a date for photo and finger print capture
o    Visit any of the capture centers https://www.nimc.gov.ng/?q=nin-registration-centres  to complete the registration process and obtain your National Identity Number
o    You can also do your total registration at the NIMC office
16.  Return to www.scholastica.ng/  and update application with National Identification Number (NIN) to ensure completion
Note: Multiple applications attract a disqualification penalty from the Scholarship board

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Why Keeping Cell Phones Near The Head Is Dangerous


Five girls in the 9th grade in a school in Denmark carried out a really interesting experiment which attracted so much attention from people worldwide. The graphics that were put on the Internet induced a stormy reaction of many scientists, biologists and also experts on radiation from England, the Netherlands and also Sweden.

The experiment involved the youths monitoring seeds from similar plants which they planted in two spaces at the same temperature level, both facing the sunlight and watered with equal amounts of water. In one area, they positioned the router for a wireless network that produces the same kind of radiation as an ordinary mobile phone, and the other, they placed in a space where there was none.
After 12 days, the germinated seeds alongside the router had not expanded, as some of them were mutated or totally dead. The plants arising from the seeds that were in a space without radiation advanced generally and also were entirely healthy. The young scientists wanted to draw attention to how mobile phones, which the majority of us keep near our besides and close to our heads during the night, hinder rest as well as focus but such a thing was impossible to determine in an institution, so they decided to show them by using the plants.
Since they saw the results of the experiment, they had not slept with their phones next to the bed anymore. “It’s scary that radiation has such a negative impact on living creatures, and also everyone must take note of this. In the evenings, turn your phone off or place it somewhere else. Additionally, turn your computer off prior to going to sleep”, states Leah Nielsen, one of the young researchers.
From this experiment, it confirms how harmful radiation is. It is advisable to keep your phones away from you throughout the night while sleeping and reduce its usage even during the day.
Source: Leadership Newspaper

Monday, November 16, 2015

Dangote quits board of flour-producing subsidiary

Dangote quits board of flour-producing subsidiary
Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and three other directors resigned from the board of Dangote Flour Mills on Monday as majority owner Tiger Brands cut funding support to its struggling Nigerian division.
South Africa’s Tiger Brands said it was “currently exploring various alternatives with regard to its investment in Dangote Flour Mills, which also announced a change of name to Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc
Aliko Dangote holds 10 percent of the company’s equity in through Dangote Industries.
Reuters reported that other directors that resigned from Dangote Flour are – Olakunle Alake, Asue Ighodalo and Arnold Ekpe.

SOURCE: REUTERS 

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Photos Of Cancer-Stricken Diezani Alison-Madueke Released


The publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu, has released photos of cancer-stricken Nigeria’s former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the inaugural issue of a brand new tabloid titled Boss magazine.
Last week, Mr. Momodu devoted his weekly column in Thisday newspaper to relating his experience meeting with the seriously sick former minister for an interview in the UK. The column engendered significant controversy on social media, with many readers accusing the columnist cum celebrity publisher of helping to launder Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s image. Some of the column’s critics felt that Mr. Momodu’s brief was to garner public sympathy for the embattled ex-minister, who is the focus of money laundering investigations in the UK as well as Nigeria. Former Nigerian Oil Minister

Today, Mr. Momodu released the text of an interview with Mrs. Madueke along with photos of the physically ravaged former minister. The shocking photos are a far cry from the ex-minister’s former radiant and energetic persona.
However, the release of the former minister’s devastated physique has left many Nigerians on social media still skeptical. Many commentators have speculated that images of her ravaged appearance could have been “photo-shopped” in order to curry public sympathy for a woman who was one of the brashest members of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet.

Earlier today, SaharaReporters spoke by phone to Mr. Momodu who was transiting in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, to ask if he was willing to release original copies of Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s photos to our reporter. He said he could not, explaining that he had signed “several” legal agreements never to release the photos to a third party.

SaharaReporters was first to exclusively report close to a year ago that Mrs. Alison-Madueke was suffering from cancer and making frequent trips to the UK for treatment. At the time, she was still the most powerful member of Mr. Jonathan’s cabinet.
Following one of our reports on her sickness, the then Petroleum Minister issued a statement refuting our report. However, a month ago, her attorney sent a letter to SaharaReporters and other media organizations admitting for the first time that the former powerful Petroleum Minister was undergoing treatment for breast cancer in the UK.
In September, the UK National Crimes Agency arrested Mrs. Alison-Madueke in connection with fraud. She was granted bail and has not been charged in any British court. However, UK authorities confiscated some cash from Mrs. Alison-Madueke, her mother, Beatrice Agama, and Melanie Spencer, the wife of Kevin Okyere, a Ghanaian businessman identified as one of the former minister’s alleged co-conspirators. 









SOURCE: SAHARAREPORTERS

Friday, November 13, 2015

Athletics doping: Russia provisionally suspended by IAAF


Russia's athletics federation has been provisionally suspended from international competition - including the Olympic Games - for its alleged involvement in widespread doping.
The IAAF took action after the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that alleged "state-sponsored doping".
Its council members voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned.
"This is a wake-up call for all of us," said IAAF president Lord Coe.
He told BBC Sport: "Our sport finds itself in a shameful situation.
"I am wholly focused on the changes that need to be made. I have openly conceded that we need to learn some very tough lessons.
"We need to look at ourselves, within our sport, and we will do that."
Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the suspension was "temporary" and the "problem is solvable".
The country's IAAF council member was not allowed to participate in Friday's vote.

What are the implications?

As it stands, Russian athletes may not enter international competitions, including the World Athletic Series and Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August next year.
Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan.
The IAAF says that unless the Russian Athletics Federation (Araf) voluntarily accepts a full suspension, it is entitled to proceed to a full hearing on whether the provisional suspension should be made full.
Former sprinter Frankie Fredericks, head of the IAAF athletes commission, added: "We are angry at the damage being caused to the reputation and credibility of athletics and are united alongside our president to not shy away from the major challenges that face our sport."

Airline budgets N200m to train Miss Nigeria, others


Air Peace airline and the Foundation of Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria, FEHN, have said they will spend over N200 million on the training of newly-crowned Miss Nigeria, Miss Lessi Peter-Vigboro and others in non-violence and conflict management at the Emory University, Martin Luther King Centre, Atlanta, USA.

Chairman of Air Peace and FEHN, Mr. Allen Onyema, said this when the beauty queen paid a courtesy visit to their head office in Lagos.

Onyema said the training will equip Peter-Vigboro and others to benefit from the three-tier training skills in resolving conflict-related issues, including insurgency and ethnic agitation.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp





Jan Koum picked a meaningful spot to sign the $19 billion deal to sell his company WhatsApp to Facebook earlier today. Koum, cofounder Brian Acton and venture capitalist Jim Goetz of Sequoia drove a few blocks from WhatsApp’s discreet headquarters in Mountain View to a disused white building across the  railroad tracks, the former North County Social Services office where Koum, 37, once stood in line to collect food stamps. That’s where the three of them inked the agreement to sell their messaging phenom –which brought in a miniscule $20 million in revenue last year — to the world’s largest social network.
Koum, who Forbes believes owns 45% of WhatsApp and thus is suddenly worth $6.8 billion (net of taxes) — was born and raised in a small village outside of Kiev, Ukraine, the only child of a housewife and a construction manager who built hospitals and schools. His house had no hot water, and his parents rarely talked on the phone in case it was tapped by the state. It sounds bad, but Koum still pines for the rural life he once lived, and it’s one of the main reasons he’s so vehemently against the hurly-burly of advertising.
At 16, Koum and his mother immigrated to Mountain View, a result of the troubling political and anti-Semitic environment, and got a small two-bedroom apartment though government assistance. His dad never made it over. Koum’s mother had stuffed their suitcases with pens and a stack of 20 Soviet-issued notebooks to avoid paying for school supplies in the U.S. She took up babysitting and Koum swept the floor of a grocery store to help make ends meet. When his mother was diagnosed with cancer, they lived off her disability allowance. Koum spoke English well enough but disliked the casual, flighty nature of American high-school friendships; in Ukraine you went through ten years with the same, small group of friends at school. “In Russia you really learn about a person.”
Koum was a troublemaker at school but by 18 had also taught himself computer networking by purchasing manuals from a used book store and returning them when he was done. He joined a hacker group called w00w00 on the Efnet internet relay chat network, squirreled into the servers of Silicon Graphics and chatted with Napster co-founder Sean Fanning.
He enrolled at San Jose State University and moonlighted at Ernst & Young as a sec
urity tester. In 1997, he found himself sitting across a desk from Acton, Yahoo employee 44, to inspect the company’s advertising system. “You could tell he was a bit different,” recalls Acton. “He was very no-nonsense, like ‘What are your policies here; What are you doing here?’” Other Ernst & Young people were using “touchy-feely” tactics like gifting bottles of wine. “Whatever,” says Acton. “Let’s cut to the chase.”
It turned out Koum liked Acton’s no-nonsense style too: “Neither of us has an ability to bullshit,” says Koum. Six months later Koum interviewed at Yahoo and got a job as an infrastructure engineer. He was still at San Jose State University when two weeks into his job at Yahoo, one of the company’s servers broke. Yahoo cofounder David Filo called his mobile for help. “I’m in class,” Koum answered discreetly. “What the fuck are you doing in class?” Filo said. “Get your ass into the office.” Filo had a small team of server engineers and needed all the help he could get. “I hated school anyway,” Koum says. He dropped out.
When Koum’s mother died of cancer in 2000 the young Ukrainian was suddenly alone; his father had died in 1997. He credits Acton with reaching out and offering support. “He would invite me to his house,” Koum remembers. The two went skiing and played soccer and ultimate Frisbee.
Over the next nine years the pair also watched Yahoo go through multiple ups and downs. Acton invested in the dotcom boom, and lost millions in the 2000 bust. For all of his distaste for advertising now he was also deep in it back then, getting pulled in to help launch Yahoo’s important and much-delayed advertising platform Project Panama in 2006. “Dealing with ads is depressing,” he says now. “You don’t make anyone’s life better by making advertisements work better.” He was emotionally drained. “I could see it on him in the hallways,” says Koum, who wasn’t enjoying things either. In his LinkedIn profile, Koum unenthusiastically describes his last three years at Yahoo with the words, “Did some work.”
In September 2007 Koum and Acton finally left Yahoo and took a year to decompress, traveling around South America and playing ultimate frisbee. Both applied, and failed, to work at Facebook. “We’re part of the Facebook reject club,” Acton says. Koum was eating into his $400,000 in savings from Yahoo, and drifting. Then in January 2009, he bought an iPhone and realized that the seven-month old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry of apps. He visited the home of Alex Fishman, a Russian friend who would invite the local Russian community to his place in West San Jose for weekly pizza and movie nights. Up to 40 people sometimes showed up. The two of them stood for hours talking about Koum’s idea for an app over tea at Fishman’s kitchen counter.
“Jan was showing me his address book,” recalls Fishman. “His thinking was it would be really cool to have statuses next to individual names of the people.” The statuses would show if you were on a call, your battery was low, or you were at the gym. Koum could do the backend, but he needed an iPhone developer, so Fishman introduced Koum to Igor Solomennikov, a developer in Russia that he’d found on RentACoder.com.
Koum almost immediately chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up,” and a week later on his birthday, Feb. 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California. “He’s very thorough,” says Fishman. The app hadn’t even been written yet. Koum spent days creating the backend code to synch his app with any phone number in the world, poring over a Wikipedia entry that listed international dialing prefixes — he would spend many infuriating months updating it for the hundreds of regional nuances.
Early WhatsApp kept crashing or getting stuck, and when Fishman installed it on his phone, only a handful of the hundreds numbers on his address book – mostly local Russian friends – had also downloaded it. Over ribs at Tony Roma’s in San Jose, Fishman went over the problems and Koum took notes in one of the Soviet-era notebooks he’d brought over years before and saved for important projects.
The following month after a game of ultimate frisbee with Acton, Koum grudgingly admitted he should probably fold up and start looking for a job. Acton balked. “You’d be an idiot to quit now,” he said. “Give it a few more months.”
Help came from Apple when it launched push notifications in June 2009, letting developers ping users when they weren’t using an app. Jan updated WhatsApp so that each time you changed your status — “Can’t talk, I’m at the gym” — it would ping everyone in your network. Fishman’s Russian friends started using it to ping each other with jokey custom statuses like, “I woke up late,” or “I’m on my way.”
“At some point it sort of became instant messaging,” says Fishman. “We started using it as ‘Hey how are you?’ And then someone would reply.” Jan watched the changing statuses on a Mac Mini at his town house in Santa Clara, and realized he’d inadvertently created a messaging service. “Being able to reach somebody half way across the world instantly, on a device that is always with you, was powerful,” says Koum.
The only other free texting service around at the time was BlackBerry’s BBM, but that only worked among BlackBerries. There was Google’s G-Talk and Skype, but WhatsApp was unique in that the login was your own phone number. Koum released WhatsApp 2.0 with a messaging component and watched his active users suddenly swell to 250,000. He went to see Acton, who was still unemployed and dabbling in another startup idea that wasn’t going anywhere.
The two sat at Acton’s kitchen table and started sending messages to each other on WhatsApp, already with the famous double check mark that showed another phone had received a message. Acton realized he was looking at a potentially richer SMS experience – and more effective than the so-called MMS messages for sending photos and other media that often didn’t work. “You had the whole open-ended bounty of the Internet to work with,” he says.
He and Koum worked out of the Red Rock Cafe, a watering hole for startup founders on the corner of California and Bryant in Mountain View; the entire second floor is still full of people with laptops perched on wobbly tables, silently writing code. The two were often up there, Acton scribbling notes and Koum typing. In October Acton got five ex-Yahoo friends to invest $250,000 in seed funding, and as a result was granted cofounder status and a stake. He officially joined on Nov. 1. (The two founders still have a combined stake in excess of 60% — a large number for a tech startup — and Koum is thought to have the larger share because he implemented the original idea nine months before Acton came on board. Early employees are said to have comparatively large equity shares of close to 1%. Koum won’t comment on the matter.)
The pair were getting flooded with emails from iPhone users, excited by the prospect of international free texting and desperate to “WhatsApp” their friends on Nokias and BlackBerries. With Android just a blip on the radar, Koum hired an old friend who lived in LA, Chris Peiffer to make the BlackBerry version of WhatsApp. “I was skeptical,” Peiffer remembers. “People have SMS, right?” Koum explained that people’s texts were actually metered in different countries. “It stinks,” he told him. “It’s a dead technology like a fax machine left over from the seventies, sitting there as a cash cow for carriers.” Peiffer looked at the eye-popping user growth and joined.
Through their Yahoo network they found a startup subleasing some cubicles on a converted warehouse on Evelyn Ave. The whole other half of the building was occupied by Evernote, who would eventually kick them out to take up the whole building. They wore blankets for warmth and worked off cheap Ikea tables. Even then there was no WhatsApp sign for the office. “Their directions were ‘Find the Evernote building. Go round the back. Find an unmarked door. Knock,’” says Michael Donohue, one of WhatsApp’s first BlackBerry engineers recalling his first interview.
With Koum and Acton working for free for the first few years, their biggest early cost was sending verification texts to users. Koum and Acton were using cutthroat SMS brokers like Click-A-Tell, who’d send an SMS to the U.S. for 2 cents, but to the Middle East for 65 cents. Today SMS verification runs the company about $500,000 a month. The costs weren’t so steep back then, but high enough to drain Koum’s bank account. Fortunately WhatsApp was gradually bringing in revenue, roughly $5,000 a month by early 2010 and enough to cover the costs then. The founders occasionally switched the app from “free” to “paid” so they wouldn’t grow too fast. In Dec. 2009 they updated WhatsApp for the iPhone to send photos, and were shocked to see user growth increasing even when it had the $1 price tag. “You know, I think we can actually stay paid,” Acton told Koum.
By early 2011 WhatsApp was squarely in the top 20 of all apps in the U.S. App Store. During a dim sum lunch with staff, someone asked Koum why he wasn’t crowing to the press about it. “Marketing and press kicks up dust,” Koum replied. “It gets in your eye, and then you’re not focusing on the product.”

SOURCE: FORBES

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Nigeria's new Ministers and their portfolios


Abubakar Malami- Minister of Justice
Geoffrey Onyeama- Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mohammed Dan Ali- Minister f Defence
Adamu Adamu- Minister of Education
Anthony Anwuka- State minister of Education
Kemi Adeosun- Minister of Finance
Okechukwu Enelemah- Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment
Aisha Abubakar- State minister Industry, Trade and Investment
Chris Ngige- Minister of Labor and Employment
James Ocholi- State Minister of Labor and Employment
Mohammed Bello- FCT Minister
Abdulrahman Dambazzau- Interior Minister
Udoma Udo Udoma- Minister of Budget and National Planning
Zainab Ahmed- State Minister Budget and National Planning
Emmanuel Ibe Kachiukwu- State Minister Petroleum resources
Babatubde Fashola- Minister of Power, Works and Housing
Mustapha Shehuri- State minister Power, Works, and Housing
Audu Ogbeh- Minister of Agriculture and Rural development
Heineken Lokpobiri- State minister Agriculture and Rural Development
Chibuike Amaechi- Minister of Transportation
Hadi Sirika- State Minister Aviation
Isaac Folorunsho Adeoye- Minister of Health
Osagie Ehanire- State Minister Health
Aisha Alhassan- Minister of Women Affairs
Usani Uguru- Minister Niger Delta Affairs
Claudius Omoyele Daramola - State minister Niger Delta Affairs
Adebayo Shittu- Minister of Communication
Lai Mohammed- Minister of Information
Amina Mohammed - Minister of Environment
Ibrahim Jibrin- State Minister of Environment
Suleiman Adamu- Minister of Water Resources
Solomon Dalong- Minister of Youths and Sports
 Kayode Fayemi- Minister of Solid Mineral
Abubakar Bwari- State Minister Solid Minerals
Ogbonnaya Onu- Minister of Science and Technology

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Oreoluwa Emerges Unilorin’s Best With 4.92 CGPA


SAKA Ismaila Oreoluwa has emerged the best graduating student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), with a 4.92 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

At the University’s 31st convocation, Oreoluwa was the toast of all, where the institution recorded 69 first class graduands. The event was graced by dignitaries such as the President of Ghana Dr. John Dramani Mahama; Kwara State Governor, Alhaji (Dr.) Abdulfatah Ahmed; the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, his Ilorin counterpart, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, among others.


Oreoluwa said he achieved the coveted feat through hard work and consistency, adding that no one can rule out God’s wish. He noted that he didn’t follow any rigid study pattern during his stay at the institution.

On his involvement in campus politics, he said he is a politician, who deployed his skills to serve others, adding “I am a bit of a politician; I was the immediate past Financial Secretary of the Association of Statistics Student, and treasurer of the Unilorin Quiz/debate club, among others.”

He said, “I don’t really have a study pattern, though I read anytime of the day. All I need to do daily is to spend at least one hour on my academics. There are times I may not read for days due to busy schedules. I don’t compete with anybody except myself. I maintain a normal life and never go to the extreme.

“I don’t read that much; I spend a minimum of one to three hours reading most times. I make sure I read whenever I needed to; I don’t read for reading sake. My one hour reading sometimes might equal someone else’s seven days reading,” he added.

Noting that he wants to become a leading problem solver, business analyst and an auditor, he said he liked applying the knowledge of statistics on the outside world and making meaningful interpretation for business world.

On the progression of his grades he said, “my CGPA started with 5.00 in 100 level, 4:97 in 200 level. It dropped to 4:90 after 300 level and I graduated with 4.92. One of the things the university taught me is how to relate well with people, because I used to be a shy person. On the average, I have more male friends than female and I treat all, equally.”




source: www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/11/oreoluwa-emerges-unilorins-best/

MED LAB INDUCTEE'S 100-500L PHOTOS