Unilag students protest against sexual harassment

The Creative Arts students of the University of Lagos this morning protested over alleged sexual harassment of female students in the department by their lecturers.

The students stormed the Arts block this morning with placards to register their grievance and later moved their protest to the Social Science department. Female students of the department claim their lecturers are making life difficult for them by demanding sexual favours before they can pass their courses.

The students say they have had enough and after a meeting yesterday, decided to protest against the sexual harassment that has become the order of the day. The school authority is yet to respond to these allegations.

Africa’s Youngest Billionaire To Invest In Calabar

Calabar, the Cross River State capital is booming with foreign investment as Africa’s youngest billionaire, Ashish J. Thakkar has made known his intention to invest in the beautiful city following a recent General Electric groundbreaking ceremony in the city, as the company is also set to invest billions in the country’s economy from Calabar.
Thakkar, who is president, Mara Group made his intention known while delivering a key note address at the 2013 edition of the Africa CEO Roundtable and Conference on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (AR-CSR) at Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Calabar.
According to the Ugandan, the decision to establish his presence in Calabar was based on what he has seen and heard of Cross River, which remains a veritable place to invest.


He explained that his investment in the state will be part of his effort to encourage young entrepreneurs to improve their capacity.
The billionaire with a personal net worth of around $260 million said he was prepared to bring his wealth of experience to develop Nigeria, adding that “it is only when you give that you can have more, especially when giving to a group or society”
Thakkar said he professes Nigeria as the best country anywhere he goes, and Cross River has further convinced him about that because of its available human and natural resources couple with the conducive economic environment put in place by government to attract investments and investors.

Tragedy: Fire kills family of 6 in Rivers

Three boys, a girl and their parents have all died in a house fire in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The fire started at about 2pm on Sunday at number 17, New Estate Road, Railway Quarters, after neighboiurs said they hear a loud explosion.

The landlord said after the explosive sound, they saw balls of fire.

According to reports, the landlord, who did not want his name in print, could not hold back tears, saying he wished  lives were not lost in the fire.

“If the fire had only consumed the building leaving the lives, we would all have been consoled. But losing a family of six is a heavy loss”, he lamented.

Vanguard reports:

The residents claimed they ran out of their apartments in the confusion, adding that the explosion came from the apartment of the deceased family members.

They said were those consumed in the fire. They put the ages of the children at twenty two, seventeen, nine and seven years. According to a source, two other daughters of the deceased parents were not at home when the incident occurred.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the two other children relocated from home to write the ongoing West African  Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE.

Neighbors said the father  was a taxi driver while the wife was a petty trader.  At press time, there was wailing in the compound.

Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Angela Agabe, who confirmed the  incident, said she was still awaiting details.

65-Year-Old Grandma Wins Beauty Contest In Brazil

A 65-year-old grandmother topped a list of Brazil’s most beautiful elderly women, according to a statement released by contest organizers in Brazil.
Gisele Bundchen, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, and Camila Alves, are all on a list of beautiful women in Brazil.
Now, is the time to add 65-year-old grandmother Irenilda de Oliveira Meneses to that list.
The gorgeous grandmother beat out 200 other women last week to win the crown of the most beautiful woman in Brazil, among the elderly. The woman, who was nicknamed Barbie by her friends, wore a long dress and a big smile, at the event. She was one of the 25 finalists selected to compete in the beauty pageant in Sao Paulo, which was open to women 60 years or older.
“To win is very exciting, very exciting,” Meneses said. “I’m so moved, I’m speechless. I’m still speechless,” she added.
Besides being named the most beautiful woman this year, Meneses is also the mother of two children.

WEIRD: A Man Did Plastic Surgery To Change His Face To a Dog

Our world has gone gaga indeed!!  This cute Brazilian dude is so eager to be a dog so he pays for a plastic surgery with his own money, hoping he can become the first "Dog-man" in the world. See photos below.

ABIA-baby-factory

The pregnant women paraded by DSS, yesterday.

THE Abia  State Command of Directorate of State Service, DSS, has rescued 16 pregnant girls from a ‘baby factory’ in Aba.

The state Director of DSS, Mr. Matthew Obodoechi, said the girls and women whose ages range between 17 and 37 were rescued on June 17, 2013.

Obodoechi gave the name of the home as Cross Foundation International, located along Anyamele Street in Umungasi area of Aba.

According to Obodoechi, proprietor of the home, Dr. Hyginus Ndudim Orikara, has been arrested. He vowed that the medical practitioner would be prosecuted.

Ironically, the medical doctor is said to be in the employ of Abia State Government, which has been actively involved in the fight against the “baby factory” menace in the state.

The DSS director expressed worry that menace of baby factory was fast becoming a new crime trend in some South-East states.

He said: “It is another kind of kidnapping where babies are snatched at point of birth and sold. It is a big shame, a big problem and it all boils down to the kind of values we have in the society today. Life is not valued.”

Dr Orikara, however, denied running a baby factory, saying, his Cross Foundation was legitimately registered as a charity home.

He said babies were not sold after delivery but released to go and nurse them, explaining that the charity home witnessed large number of girls because “we are running operation nurse your own baby.”

According to him, girls with unwanted pregnancy are brought to the home for them to be encouraged and assisted to carry their pregnancies to full term, deliver and nurse the babies.

But Obodoechi dismissed Orikara’s claim, insisting that confessional statement by the pregnant ladies showed that the doctor was indeed engaged in the baby factory business.

According to him, “the ladies upon delivery are given a paltry sum of N50,000 and sent away while their babies are sold to people from different parts of the country.”

He noted with regret that some persons had chosen to hide under the cover of non-governmental organisations, NGOs, to perpetrate various forms of illegal activities, including baby factories.

He said: “Those hiding under the cover of NGOs to perpetrate modern form of slave trade are warned to abstain from such illegalities as security agencies will stop at nothing to ensure that they are apprehended and made to face the law.”

Girl, 16, found dead at block industry in Aba

16-year old girl was found dead on Saturday at the premises of a block industry in Aba, Abia.

The girl hawked groundnuts around Eziukwu road in Aba.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that her remains were dumped at a corner of the industry naked, with her pant hanging on one of her legs and foam oozing out of her nose.

The tray of groundnuts being hawked by the deceased was kept on top of a nearby platform very close to where her body was dumped.

Some residents at the scene told NAN that the girl must have been strangled but was made naked to make her death seem like a rape case.

A man, who pleaded anonymity, said the girl got a call as she was selling groundnut to him around 8 p.m. on Friday from the suspected killers and hurriedly dashed out to attend to her caller.

“I know her well. She was selling groundnut to me around 8 p.m. when she got a call. She told the person to be patient with her that she will soon come to meet him.

“I jokingly told her that she should make sure she sold the entire groundnut to her caller. She laughed and hurriedly left to answer her supposed caller,” the source said.

Another source close to the victim’s family said that the members became apprehensive when they called her phone number repeatedly around 9 p.m. on the fateful date, but the phone was switched off.

They were, however, notified on Saturday morning that the girl had been found dead at the premises of a block industry.

They said that the brother-in-law to the lady had to notify the police of the crime after residents on the street showed them her corpse.

The Police Area Commander in charge of Aba Area Command, ACP Rabiu Dayi, who spoke at the crime scene, described the incident as unfortunate.

He assured that the police were on top of the situation and would, with time, ascertain the cause of her death and the people behind it.

Dayi said his men would leave no stone unturned in apprehending the culprits and also make sure that they were brought to justice.

Confirming the report, the state Police Commissioner, Mr Usman Abubakar, said that the corpse would be subjected to autopsy, to ascertain the cause of her death.

“Nobody was there when it happened. Her body was found dumped in a block industry premises and nobody can say exactly what caused her death.

“The foam coming from her nose could mean that she was strangled to death. It is only medical professionals that can tell us the exact cause of her death and that will be through autopsy report.

“Whatever that could have led to her death would be unravelled as soon as the autopsy report is out,” Abubakar said.(NAN)