by Adedeji Ademigbuji

A teacher from Special Education Centre for Exceptional Children, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Imoh Essien, has emerged the 2016 Maltina teacher of the year at the grand finale in Lagos at the weekend.

For the feat, Essien was rewarded with N1million in addition to N500, 000 he received as state champion from Akwa Ibom.

He will also get N1million for five years, a training programme abroad and a block of six classrooms for his school.

Essien, a teacher of Computer, Basic Sciences and Physical Education, disclosed that he draws his teaching inspiration from his fun-loving personality with which he is able to help children with special needs.

He added that a strong emotional and mental stability is vital to positively impact children with special needs, a job he has done for twelve years.

An English teacher from Borno State, Mohammed Lawan, who was the first runner-up last year, repeated the feat in 2016.

Ogwu Patrick from Government Day Secondary School, Adankolo, Lokoja, Kogi State, emerged second runner-up.

Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Nicolaas Vervelde, explained the firm operates with the philosophy of “winning with Nigeria” and has championed causes that add value to the society since its inception in 1946.

He stressed: “Everywhere in the world, teachers play a vital role in sustainable national development by training, coaching and modeling which is critical to determining the quality of education”.

He informed that the company recently handed over a twin 3-bedroom staff residence to Federal Government Girls College, Onitsha, in honour of 2015 winner, Mrs. Roseline Obi.
Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, commended the initiative and described it as laudable.

He advised teachers to invest in themselves to raise their standard, adding that the ministry looks forward to signing the Memorandum of Understanding with Nigerian Breweries on the Maltina teacher of the year initiative.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, known in the Catholic church as the “saint of the gutters” during her life, has been declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis, Sunday 4th September, 2016

Mother Teresa was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu in August 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia.

The proclamation  took place 19 years after her death. She died on September 5, 1997 in India.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims packed St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for a service to honour the nun, who worked among the world’s neediest in the slums of the Indian city now called Kolkata.

A Nobel peace laureate, her legacy complements Pope Francis’s vision of a humble church that strives to serve the poor. Her canonization is a centerpiece of his Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Standing under a canvas hung from St. Peter’s Basilica showing the late nun in her blue-hemmed white robes, Francis said Mother Teresa was a “dispenser of divine mercy”. That St Teresa had defended the  unborn, sick and abandoned, and had shamed world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they themselves created".

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Yeah, that's right. Our very own, DJ Obi Ajuonuma, on Friday 1st July 2016 at exactly 7:30 am succeeded in breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest DJ set.  
The champion started playing from Wednesday June 22, 2016 at 11:30pm. 
The former record held was 8 days (200 hours). Obi set a new record by playing  for 10 days (240 hours). 
Congratulations Obi !!!! Be sure that your value has certainly gone up.

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It's hard to stand out in the modeling industry. When you consider the vast majority of fashion shows, most of the models are tall, thin teenagers and twenty-somethings. It's in no way reflective of the real U.S. population, especially given that the average woman lives to be 84 years old.

This is what makes Yazemeenah Rossi so exceptional: She's a 60-year-old woman with a successful modeling career, and she can rock a swimsuit campaign just as well as (if not better than) Kendall Jenner.

After successful campaigns with the fashion label The Dreslyn and the lingerie brand Land of Women, the France native has been making headlines left and right. Upon meeting Rossi myself, I quickly understood why she's become so popular: She is just as magnetic in person as she is in her photos.

Rossi is tall and ethereal with striking white hair. "I kept my hair natural because I found it very beautiful, and I couldn't stand the idea of putting chemicals on my head," she explains. "I've always found it ridiculous to hide the truth, to 'fake' it."

If you're wondering how difficult the look is to maintain, Rossi says it's as easy as leaving your hair alone. "I never blow dry [my hair] and use very simple, natural products," she says. (She doesn't even go to a hairdresser - she simply trims her hair herself.)

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TIME magazine has released its list of 30 most influential people on the internet. TIME sized up contenders by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news.

 25-year-old Nigerian-born American blogger, Angie Nwandu, came 20th on the list(although list is unranked), even ahead of celebs like Kim Kardashian, Drake and  Tess Holiday.

 Two years ago, Nwandu started  a celebrity gossip site called  “The Shade Room’’, an Instagram account and blog that aims to be like Page Six for celebrities on social media: a chronicle of who likes whose posts, who comments on whose photos, and who starts following (or better yet, unfollowing) each other.

According to Time magazine,“As more and more of our own daily interactions happen online, so, too, does celebrity drama. And Nwandu, 25, has made it her business to capture it. Nwandu, within two years, transformed "The Shade Room" to a flourishing media empire with  four full-time employees, and advertisers—all of whom serve an audience of 3.9 million. And counting,’’ it said.

congratulations, Angie. 

 Among others who made the list  are, Cristiano Ronaldo, Donald Trump(Us presidential aspirant), Kanye West and J.K Rowling(of Harry Porter). 

SEE FULL LIST HERE

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been voted the CAF Footballer of the Year at the 2015 Glo-CAF Awards held Thursday night in  Abuja, Nigeria. The Gabonese forward, who is enjoying the best moments of his career in Europe, has been very potent in front of goal. He is now the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 18 goals.He also scored once as Gabon exited the Orange AFCON 2015 at the group stage. Yaya Toure was named runners-up

Despite missing out on some of the categories where it managed to get nominations, there was still something to cheer for Nigeria as Golden Eaglets striker, Victor Osimhen,  was voted Youth Player of the Year. He becomes the second Nigerian to win the award after Kelechi Iheanacho last year.

Dream Team’s Oghenekaro Etebo won the Most Promising Talent Award.

Nigeria lost out in the National Team of the Year category where the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivorie was voted ahead of the Golden Eaglets.

The Cameroon national women’s team won the female National Team Of The Year.

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke was also beaten to the Coach of the Year Award where French coach Herve Renard emerged tops.

There was another miss for Nigeria in the Women Player of the Year category where Ngozi Ebere was snubbed for Cameroonian Gaelle Enganamouit

Meanwhile, Charles Kumi Gyami (Ghana) and Samuel Mbappe Leppe (Cameroon) were named African Legends.

The Club of the year Award was snapped by Congolese side, TP Mazembe, while the Fair play award was given to Allez Casa of Senegal

View The List Of Some Nominees And Winners Below...

Women Player of the Year

– Gabrielle Onguéné, Cameroon – Gaelle Enganamouit, Cameroon (Winner) – Ngozi Ebere, Nigeria – N’rehy Tia Ines, Cote d’Ivoire – Portia Boakye, Ghana

Youth Player of the Year

– Adama Traore, Mali – Kelechi Nwakali, Nigeria – Samuel Diarra, Mali – Victor Osimhen, Nigeria  (Winner) – Yaw Yeboah, Ghana

Most Promising Talent

– Azubuike Okechukwu, Nigeria – Etebo Oghenekaro, Nigeria (Winner) – Djigui Diarra, Mali – Mahmoud Abdelmonem ‘kahraba’, Egypt – Zinedine Ferhat, Algeria

Coach of the Year

– Baye Ba, Mali, U17 – Emmanuel Amunike, Nigeria U17 – Fawzi Benzarti, Etoile Sportive de Sahel – Hervé Renard, Cote d’ivore (Winner) – Patrice Carteron, TP Mazembe

Referee of the Year

– Alioum Neant, Cameroon – Bakary Papa GASSAMA, Gambia – Eric Arnaud OTOGO CASTANE, Gabon – Ghead Zaglol GRISHA, Egypt – Janny SIKAZWE, Zambia



kudos! to Pierre-Emerick and the Nigerians that won. May next year be better.

Multiple Award-winning & Record breaking singer Adele is the cover star for the latest issue of TIME. Her latest single "HELLO" dropped with a bang that resonates globally in the world of music. What with massive record sales and many music artists doing Cover of her 'Hello'. Hers is a classic case of Success & Fame without Nudity or self aggrandizement on social media in the name of personal branding.(this is a story for another day & time). When her 3rd & new album "25"(in it 'Hello") was released on Nov. 18, Adele shattered countless sales records, most significantly, she notched the biggest first-week sales on record when she sold a jaw-dropping 3.38 million copies in the United States.

 

READ Excerpts from the interview below!

On motherhood…

Releasing the biggest album of the year comes along with a demanding promotional schedule, but Adele says having her son Angelo, 3, along for the ride actually helped. "The other day I was saying, ‘Oh God, I’m finding this really hard again with a kid,’” she says. “I have no time for myself because in between doing this, all my spare time is with him. But then I realized, he’s been keeping me totally cool and calm about the whole thing.

 

On cut ting out social media in order to write her album

Privacy is key to being able to write a real record, whether people like it or not,” she says. “My life has changed so much, but I’ve made the realest record I can make, and it’s the real part of me. How am I supposed to write a real record if I’m waiting for half a million likes on a f—ing photo? That ain’t real.

 

On the secret behind her record breaking sales record…

It’s a bit ridiculous,” she says, reclined on the floor of her New York City hotel room on a chilly winter day. “I’m not even from America.” She sets down her cup of tea, brightening. “Maybe they think I’m related to the Queen. Americans are obsessed with the royal family.

 

Why she’s so successful…

"The fact that I’m not shy or embarrassed to be falling apart,” she says when asked. “Everyone falls apart, I think. A lot of people try to be brave and not shed a tear. Sometimes when you know someone else feels as s— as you do, or approaches things in a certain way just like you do, it makes you feel better about yourself. Even though my music is melancholy, there’s also joy in that. I hope I do bring joy to people’s lives, and not just sadness, but I think there’s there’s a comfort in it. But I honestly don’t know. If I knew, I would bottle it, and sell it to everyone else.

 

 

 

On the supposed collaboration with Beyoncé she turned down….

Whoever started that rumour must have been having a laugh because anyone who knows me knows that my main priority in life outside of my child is Beyoncé,” she says. “I really wanted to do a duet on this album. I spoke to someone about it who I wanted to do it with, and we got on like a house on fire, and then we just couldn’t logistically really get it to work. I can’t say who it is because I want to do it in the future. That’s the only reason. It wasn’t Beyoncé!

 

She thinks artists should be a “package,” not a “brand.”

While personal branding has become an integral part of being a recording artist, Adele dislikes industry jargon. “I don’t like that word,” she says of “brand.” “It makes me sound like a fabric softener, or a packet of crisps. I’m not that. But there’s personality in an artist, and if you’re expecting people to let you in and give themselves to you, you have to be a whole package. I feel like some artists—and this isn’t shading any artist, just me trying to come up with my own explanation—the bigger they get, the more horrible they get, and the more unlikable. And I don’t care if you make an amazing album—if I don’t like you, I ain’t getting your record. I don’t want you being played in my house if I think you’re a bastard.”

 

Read the full interview here

 

The American University of Nigeria is now the official holder of the Guinness World Record for the most people crocheting simultaneously. The GWR Records Management Team announced the feat in a message posted online.

On August 24, 2015, an unprecedented group of 485 people recorded 20 minutes of simultaneous crocheting, a bid to beat a New York City group of 426 who crocheted simultaneously for 15 minutes in 2010.

The group needlework, an effort sponsored by AUN’s Student Government Association, was planned to coincide with Earth Day, to sensitize residents of Yola–the Adamawa State capital and seat of AUN–about the hazards of non-biodegradable litter.

Held inside the University’s Commencement Hall, the largest indoor venue in Nigeria’s northeast, the ecological twist to the event was that the crocheters used “plarn.” Plarn is a yarn that has been developed from used shopping bags which litter the countryside.

Since every nylon bag is reusable and renewable, the event drew attention to how cleaning up the environment can be sustainable and profitable.

Community women members of Yola EcoSentials, a group of social entrepreneurs promoted by AUN, walked the participants through the process before the kickoff of the simultaneous crocheting. The event served to publicize the University’s ‘waste to wealth’ initiative.

“In the light of negative news coming from the northeast, whenever the story of tenacity and togetherness is told, your achievement today will be a reference. This is what your sense of togetherness, teamwork, and can-do-it spirit has made possible,” said the Chief Information Officer, AVP Julius Ayuk Tabe.

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

 

Adewale

 

President Barack Obama has appointed  34-year old Nigerian, Adewale 'Wally' Adeyemo  to succeed Caroline Atkinson as his deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.

 

Adeyemo whose parents immigrated to the United States when he was a child,  has served in Obama's administration since 2009  in top roles at the Treasury Department. He joined the White House's National Economic Council as deputy director. He was the Treasury's lead negotiator on the currency agreement that was part of the Pacific trade deal.

 

Obama in a statement said 

 "For the past four years, I have relied on Caroline Atkinson, most recently as my Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, as we've navigated pressing challenges to the global economy....

I am grateful that Caroline's work will be carried on by Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo, who has served in my administration since 2009. At the Treasury Department, he was part of the team that helped coordinate our response to the global recession, laying the foundation for renewed growth at home and abroad.

He helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and he's been our point person on a range of international economic issues, including negotiations on strong currency agreements around the Trans Pacific Partnership. I will be calling on Wally's intellect, judgment and dedication as we sustain America's global economic leadership, which reinforces our national security, and as we work with allies and partners around the world to create jobs and opportunity for all our people."

 

Adeyemo holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and another degree from Yale Law School.

Like his predecessor, Caroline Atkinson, Adeyemo will handle international financial crises and climate change deliberations and serve as chief U.S. representative at the G-7 and G-20.

 

I pray that we come to that era here in Nigeria when youths in their  30s,who have made something of themselves, are given opportunity to serve. We tend to re-circle the old back here in Nigeria, but then expect different and better results.

The attainment of 34-year old Adewale  should be a challenge to the youths to rise to their full potentials, and the government to actually make use of the 'leaders of tomorrow' because Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow, That Tomorrow is Now and it is time for the youths to lead.

 

The Nigerian U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets has won the FIFA U-17 world cup yet again. They retained the trophy as defending champions after a 2-0 win against Mali, making it a record 5th time win for Nigeria, having won in 1985, 1993, 2007 and  2013

The boys have been congratulated by Nigerians, including President Buhari, Yakubu Dogara, speaker house of reps, Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State, Governor Wike of Rivers State and The peoples Democratic Party(PDP),  

The Malian coach, Baye Ba,  in reaction to the Golden Eaglets' victory, had this to say;

"It was a tough match. Nigeria was well-placed and we often acted very unorganized. We didn't pay attention twice and conceded two goals. It is how it is. One team wins because the other team makes mistakes. It is the first time Mali reached the final. If you believe that you can win a game, then you are sad when you lose. Nevertheless we can be very proud. Not many teams reach the second place. Our goal is to have a senior team who can win. We will continue our work. Everything is installed in our youth programs so that we will reach another final in the future."

 And Nigerian Coach, Emmanuel Amunike, had this to say;

"It was a beautiful and entertaining match. I think the people in the stadium enjoyed it today. We knew that Mali are technically very strong, have great individual players and are very fast. We wanted to make no mistakes but we lost the ball many times in the midfield in the first half. But I don't want to complain because they are all kids. We changed some things in the second half and made some substitutes. That brought us more safety in our game. We are thankful for everything. We wanted to bring the players to their dreams and we did it. Thanks for the support. We feel like we are at home. We have worked very hard for this success and we hope to continue. The players will go home now but their journey is not over yet. Personally I'm really happy. I have football in my blood, as a player and as a coach. This is what I want to pass to my players."

Yes, award-winning author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie' s novel "Half Of A Yellow Sun" has won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction  "Best of the Best" for the last decade (2006-2015) by both the public vote and a 10-man panel making up of chairs of judges who were asked to pick their "best of the best" winner from the last decade.

Chimamanda's Biafran war novel  "Half of A Yellow Sun"  which tell the tale of three lives engulfed by the 1960 Nigerian war, of human suffering, hatred and division was named "Best of the Best" along side books by nine other authors.

According to  Author and Journalist, Muriel Gray, who chaired the judging panel in 2007 when Chimamanda won the award,  "Chimamanda's achievement makes Half of a Yellow Sun not just a worthy winner of this most special of prizes, but a benchmark for excellence in fiction writing.".     I most certainly agree.

In an interview with Women's Prize for Fiction ( Btw i transcribed it from voice to text), she had this to say, Excerpts:

 "Being chosen as the best of the best is wonderful for my ego. It's a very nice ego brandishing tool. but it's really an honor........when you are writing you don't know what is going to happen. you are alone in your study for months, for years to write a book. you send it out to the world, it's like sending your child that you love very much, not knowing if this child will embrace by the world. and so when it happens...and for me this is a wondrous embrace to be selected best of the best......"

BRAVO Chimamanda for this feat. We are proud of you.

For this reason I'm so going to read "half of a yellow sun" for real this time although I have seen the movie of the same name (an adaptation of the novel).


Below are the 10 winners of the Bailey Women's Prize for Fiction  award "Best of the Best" for the last decade.

2006 - On Beauty by Zadie Smith 
2007 - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2008 - The Road Home by Rose Tremain 
2009 - Home by Marilynne Robinson 
2010 - The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver 
2011 - The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht 
2012 - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
 2013 - May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes
2014 - A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride 
2015 - How to Be Both by Ali Smith



 

Margaret Bekema, a 97-year-old woman recieved her high school diploma 79 years after she was supposed to graduate at 17 years of age.
She was forced to drop out of Catholic Central High school in Grand Rapids in her junior year to take care of her family; her mother who had cancer and her three young siblings.
After her mother died she did clerical work for the armed forces and subsequently became a pre-school teacher.
Her dream became real as she received her high school diploma on October 29th,2015 amidst emotions.
More often than not, it's never too late to live the dream
be inspired!

photo credit: @catholiccentralhighschool

Nigerian brothers Anesi and Osine Ikhianosime  designed a faster mobile browser called crocodile browser lite.

13 years old Osine wrote the code while Anesi, 15 designed the browser.
They both live in Nigeria