Tecno introduces Boom J7

Tecno Mobile, manufacturers of mobile devices, has shifted its market positioning with the introduction of Boom J7. Known as music box, it is the first in a series of mobile devices that the company is set to roll out before the year closes.

At the recent launch in Lagos, the Marketing Director, Techno Mobile, Vane Ni, said the innovation was to satisfy the cravings of Nigerians who are music lovers.

He said, “Nigerians love music, especially those between the ages 15 and 35.

The fact that Nigerians love music is well established but not fully exploited.

“It therefore takes an innovative market penetration strategy to develop the right product that meets market expectation on quality music delivered from the next generation of smart entertainment mobile devices.

According to Tecno, the Boom J7 is a smartphone with all the functions of a premium mobile device but brings more to the table with noise cancellation technology.

Banking reforms needed to grow real estate —Expert

The Chief Executive Officer, Lead Capital Plc, Prince Abimbola Olashore, has said that to unlock opportunities in the country’s real estate market, the financial sector has to be reformed.

Olashore, who is also the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Olashore International School, stated that fair banking practices had to be adopted and better supervision must be focused on.

“This will also stabilise prices in the long run and help to utilise the 17 million deficits in the real estate market, which represent a huge opportunity,” he said.

While presenting a paper entitled: ‘Unlocking the opportunities in the Nigerian residential real estate market: The investor’s perspective’, at a forum recently organised by Lekki Gardens Estate Investment in Lagos, Olashore said the opportunities in the sector lie in the increasing population growth in which more than 80 per cent of Nigerians lived in settlements.

He said, “Opportunities in real estate financing can be seen from the increasing population growth, rapid urbanisation and the growth of the middle class have spurred demand for real estate, with the level of housing at only two dwelling units per thousand people, compared to a rate of 8-10 dwelling units per thousand people as recommended by the United Nations.

“Nigeria has a population growth rate of three per cent and a rural-urban migration rate of five per cent per annum. The rate of housing demand continues to exceed supply, presenting ample opportunities for growth and development.”

Olashore said Africa was an emerging market filled with opportunities for healthy returns due to the increasing growth fundamentals.

He noted that the Eurozone crisis had slowed down growth and weakened advanced economies from their strong position as investment destinations, thus making investors to focus on promising markets such as Africa, a fact supported by the fact that African cities were experiencing an influx of residents in search of work and better standards of living.

He added, “Africa’s growth presents investment opportunities in key sectors given the sheer size of the market and the continent’s potential. By 2030, more than 50 per cent of Africans will be living in cities.

“The key drivers in Africa’s real estate are political stability, macro-economic reforms, rapid urbanisation and a growing middle class.”

According to the Managing Director, Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong, the opportunities inherent in the real estate sector are huge and real, with the biggest expense coming from families.

Nyong said there was a need to explore the opportunities in the sector and for stakeholders to have good fundamentals and capacity to do the business and know how to package products, fund and train people.

Unpaid salaries: SERAP drags states, FG to ILO

LAGOS — Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged state and the Federal Governments to International Labour Organisation (ILO), “requesting its Governing Body to, suo motu, and in its own capacity, establish without delay a commission of inquiry to examine systematic and egregious non-observance of Convention No 29 on Forced Labour and other international standards on the right of workers to timely payment of salaries.”

The organisation said the complaint was brought pursuant to Articles 26-34 of the ILO Constitution.

The complaint dated June 19, 2015 and signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, was addressed to Guy Ryder, Director General, ILO. The complaint was copied to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The complaint reads in part: “SERAP is seriously concerned that several state governments and the Federal Government of Nigeria are failing and/or refusing to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements, amounting to billions of dollars in arrears. The state governments that have failed and/or refused to pay workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements include: Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue, and Bauchi states.

“SERAP contends that the failure and/or refusal of state governments and Federal Government to pay workers’ salaries and allowances and pensioners’ entitlements is a clear violation of the right to work recognized by various ILO instruments and article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party. The right to work is essential for realizing other human rights and forms an inseparable and inherent part of human dignity.

“Failure of states to pay workers’ salaries is tantamount to penalising them, and as the International Labour Organization has ruled, menace penalty amounts to forced labour and economic exploitation.”

This is because the workers have not offered themselves to work without pay.”

“SERAP also contends that the failure to pay workers’ salaries amount to a fundamental breach of the obligation to ensure the absence of forced labour and economic exploitation, and guarantee workers’ remuneration so as to provide an income allowing workers to support themselves and their families. The right to work contributes to the survival of the individual and to that of his/her family, and to his/her development and recognition within the community. Therefore, by failing to pay workers’ salaries the state governments in Nigeria have violated the right of the workers to live in dignity.”

“SERAP argues that there is absolutely no justification why state governments or the Federal Government in Nigeria should not pay workers’ salaries. In fact international law provides that workers’ salaries must be paid even in times of severe resource constraints, as disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups must be protected by the adoption of targeted programmes to ensure that they live in dignity.”

“SERAP also contends that the failure of the state governments and the Federal Government in Nigeria to pay workers’ salaries is as a result mismanagement of resources and corruption which under the Covenant amount to “deliberate retrogression” in the protection of the right to work.”

“While ordinary Nigerian workers and pensioners are routinely denied their salaries and entitlements, senior government officials continue to receive their salaries and live lavishly. This also clearly amounts to discrimination against workers on the grounds of national or social origin, or civil, political, social or other status, as it has the effect of impairing or nullifying exercise of the right to work on a basis of equality.”

“The failure to pay workers’ salaries also violates Nigeria’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to work including requiring state governments and Federal Government in Nigeria to refrain from interfering directly or indirectly with the enjoyment of that right and to adopt appropriate economic and budgetary measures to ensure timely payment of workers’ salaries and pensioners’ entitlements.”

“SERAP contends that the failure of state governments and Federal Government in Nigeria to pay workers’ salaries show that they are unwilling to use the maximum of their available resources through insufficient expenditure or misallocation of public funds, for the realization of the right to work in violation of their obligations under article 6.”

“The country’s justice system has proven highly inadequate to enforce the right of workers to timely remuneration and freedom from economic exploitation. The state governments and Federal Government of Nigeria have taken no effective measures to address the salary crisis in the country, and have in fact significantly downplayed it.” SERAP therefore urged the ILO “to set up a Commission of Inquiry to examine the salary crisis in Nigeria with a view to making recommendations to state governments and Federal Government of Nigeria to:

End discrimination and unequal treatment of workers in terms of timely payment of salaries of all workers whether or not they belong to disadvantaged and marginalized sectors of the population or high-ranking government officials

Create conditions favourable to the enjoyment of the right to work, as well as with remuneration that enables workers and their families to enjoy an adequate standard of living as required by international law.

Adopt and implement a national employment strategy and plan of action based on and addressing the salary crisis in Nigeria and ensure that all workers can live in dignity

Ensure that any worker or pensioner who is a victim of a violation of the right to work have access to effective judicial or other appropriate remedies. All victims of such violations are entitled to adequate reparation, which may take the form of restitution, compensation, satisfaction or a guarantee of non-repetition

Refer cases of corruption and mismanagement of public funds that have undermined the ability of governments to protect the right to work and remuneration to appropriate anticorruption institutions for thorough and effective investigation and prosecution. 

Brazil and Dunga learning to play without Neymar is a sign of progress

Shortly after last year's World Cup, when coach Dunga and coordinator Gilmar Rinaldi took charge of Brazil, they had one big criticism to make of predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari's 2014 campaign. Neymar, of course, was missing from the fateful semifinal against Germany. On the way to the match, Brazil's players and coach were all wearing a baseball cap with a message of support for their injured star written on it. Dunga and Rinaldi thought this was a clear mistake. Neymar was out, so forget him. The message of support should have been for Bernard, the young winger who was taking his place.

Twelve months later, Dunga had a chance to put his thought on the matter into practice. Once more a game against Colombia had taken Neymar out of a tournament -- this time, of course, because of his four-match suspension. How would Brazil react without their creative genius and attacking inspiration? There was plenty at stake in Sunday's match against Venezuela; a win, or even a draw, and Brazil would top the group, and go through to face Paraguay in the quarterfinals. Lose, though, and they would be out of the competition and heading home to be greeted by a volley of rotten tomatoes. This, then, was a psychological test, and also a technical one.

line, wait for the opportunity and then go at pace.

But there were also considerable Brazilian merits in that early goal. The corner came as a result of a well worked piece of football. It would be foolish indeed to argue that Brazil were a better team without Neymar -- the young man from Barcelona is an astonishingly gifted player. But, the lack of focus on him obliged the rest to think collectively.

There was no need for an inferiority complex from Brazil's attacking midfielders; Robinho is a former Real Madrid player, Philippe Coutinho has had another fine season for Liverpool and Willian is a Chelsea lynchpin.

Coutinho still does not look entirely at home in a Brazil shirt. Robinho, now he has recognised he will never be the best in the world, can knit the attack together with a give-and-go game. And Willian, an impressive lieutenant for Neymar in both the first two games, stepped up in style.

In the opening minutes the three of them were showing an interesting rotation of positions, complicating Venezuela's marking. Willian then undressed the Venezuelan defence with a long diagonal switch from the left, leaving Robinho one against one with his marker on the opposite flank. It was this pass that forced the corner, from which Thiago Silva belted home his volley. That intelligent and precise long pass, coupled with the rotation of attacking positions, is something that Brazil had perhaps been lacking before, when the concentration had all been on the bursts through the middle from Neymar.

Willian sealed the game in the second half, producing a wonderful dribble round Venezuela right back Roberto Rosales and squaring for Roberto Firmino's close-range volley. It proved a necessary cushion -- Venezuela's late rally produced a goal and almost an equaliser.

For all the nervy moments at the end, though, Brazil could be pleased with their evening's work, and not only because they proved they could win without Neymar.

During the course of the tournament Dunga appears to have made progress with his defence. The absence through injury of holding midfielder Luiz Gustavo was keenly felt in the opening game against Peru. Fernandinho is a player of lung power more than of defensive positional sense -- and in this context the rash charges of David Luiz were all the more problematic. Giant holes were appearing in the Brazilian rear-guard. Dunga saw sense, and dropped David Luiz for Thiago Silva -- left out in the cold since the World Cup because Dunga did not see him as an effective captain when the pressure was on last year (a point confirmed by the fact that, in Neymar's absence, the captaincy now passed to Miranda, a no nonsense centre-back enjoying a good campaign).

For the last half an hour against Venezuela, David Luiz was introduced to operate as the holding midfielder -- a role which has long seemed best suited to his considerable talents. David Luiz alongside Fernandinho is a central midfield duo that may well be used again -- not necessarily against Paraguay on Saturday, but certainly in a possible semifinal against Argentina. For a team which, without its great star, took the field on Sunday facing the possibility of a humiliating early elimination, the chance to look forward to such games is welcome news indeed.

Rivers to confirm state of govt aircraft in Germany

PORT HARCOURT – Rivers State Government will today, confirm the state of one of its aircraft allegedly abandoned by the Rotimi Amaechi administration in Germany.

The state governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, weekend, during an interaction with newsmen at Government House, Port Harcourt, said he was sending an aide to Germany to know the state of the aircraft.

He said that since there was no formal handover to his administration by former Governor Amaechi, it was difficult for the government to make categorical statement on the state of the aircraft.

He said he gathered that one of the aircraft was lying somewhere in Germany while another one was at the Air Force Base, Port Harcourt.
He said: “We are sending somebody tomorrow (today). I got security information that the plane is parked somewhere in Germany. As I speak to you, there was no report, no handover to say this is where it is it. There is another one parked at the Air Force Base. I heard it will take about two months before it will be fixed.”

The governor added that his administration had recovered vehicles belonging to the state government which were allegedly looted.

He challenged the former Commissioner for Information, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, to show proof that a bullet-proof Lexus SUV recovered from her Port Harcourt residence was bought for her by her husband.

The governor also linked the inability of the previous government in the state to pay salaries and pensions till the end of its tenure to improper planning.

He said there was no way the state should not have cleared all salaries of workers and pensioners if it had maintained financial discipline.

The governor also alleged that several withdrawals were made for alleged ridiculous items a few days before the May 29 handover date, stressing that the account of the state was almost in red.

Fielding questions on several issues, the governor said he would prefer a review of the allocation formula where state governments should get a higher percentage than the Federal Government because of the responsibilities at the state level.

“I will support a review of the revenue allocation formula. The state should have more than the Federal Government. But if you don’t plan well with what you get, you can’t pay salaries,” he said.

On the recent sack of over 400 staff of the Rivers State Polytechnic, the governor said that what he did was merely suspension of an employment process.

According to him, the staff were only given letters of employment in April this year, barely one month before the last administration bowed out, adding that his administration will look into the process of the employment critically before taking the next step.

MI shares photo of himself with his dad

In celebration of Father's Day, the rapper shared a photo of himself with his dad and wrote "My hero.. My mentor.. My teacher.. My father.. Happy Father's Day dad".

Kendall Jenner's touching Father's day message to her dad

Kendall shared this throwback photo of her and her Dad and wrote; "My whole life this soul was my daddy and just because your appearance is different now doesn't mean you were any less of a father to me my entire life. Happy Father's Day to the person who raised me, and taught me everything I know. My hero."

Britains fattest man dies at age 33 (photos)

Britain's fattest man, Carl Thompson has died. The 33 year old (pictured right in his home in May) had been confined to his home in Dover, Kent, for more than a year, relying on carers to bathe him after being unable to move around on his own due to his 65 stone weight.

Carl (pictured left as a young boy) said he began eating heavily as a means of coping with his grief after he lost his mum in 2012. He pleaded for professional help and vowed to shed weight after being told by doctors his ill-health would kill him. Unfortunately, he died this morning. RIP, Carl!

PDP advises Aregbesola to stop creation of 39 councils

The Peoples Democratic Party has advised Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, to suspend his plans to create  additional 39 local council development areas in addition to the existing 30 local government areas in the state. 

The  Director of Media and Strategy of the PDP in Osun State, Mr.  Diran Odeyemi, gave this advice in a statement made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Sunday. 

According to the opposition party, the situation on the ground now does not call for creation of new councils when the existing ones have not got enough fund  to make them impact positively on the lives of the people at the grassroots. 

The statement read, “The reality in Osun calls for serious planning because the economy of the state now or even in near future cannot cope with  69 local government councils  when the state could not generate fund to develop the present councils. 

“This is a  poorly conceived idea lacking the understanding and needs of the people of Osun State and its proposed execution at this time shows that governor Aregbesola has lost ideas of what is next in the state. 

“The rest of the country must be astonished about a governor that  has not been able to fulfill its financial obligations to the workforce and plunge the state economy in crisis, but interestingly planning to create new councils  to make Osun as the only state in Nigeria to have 69 councils.” 

The last   House of Assembly which had all its members from the ruling party had, some days before the expiration of their tenure,  passed a bill to establish 39 additional local development areas . This followed  the outcome of a referendum conducted by Osun State Independent Electoral Commission. 

This was preceded by the bill sent to the House by the governor to seek the lawmakers’ approval for the creation of the new council areas. 

The PDP  stated that rather than taking into consideration the peculiar needs of Osun State  and its financial capacity, the governor was busy copying Lagos State programmes even when they were not needed in the state. 

“Copying Lagos State is affecting Osun negatively. Buying helicopter, creating LCDAs, planting flowers are all Lagos ideas. Aregbesola is running Osun as a sole administrator. In his first term, it took him almost one year before he could constitute cabinet.

“Again 10 months into his second term, the cabinet has not been formed and may not be formed at all for obvious reasons. Even, when his commissioners were in office, the whole state knows he does not listen to their suggestions. He governs the state as a sole administrator,” the opposition party added.

Effort to get the reaction of the governor to the PDP’s advice was unsuccessful as inquiry sent to his media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, was still being expected as of the time of filing this report.

Aston Villa join Arsenal in £5m race to sign former Man Utd trialist Jeffrey Schlupp

Aston Villa line up summer move for Leicester's Jeffrey Schlupp

The Ghanian international enjoyed a fine debut season in the Premier League last term, earning the club's Young Player of the Year as well as the Players' Player of the Year award.

Arsenal are reportedly lining up a £5million move for the pacey 22-year-old, who can play as a left-back as well as a forward.

And now the Daily Mirror claim Aston Villa are showing an interest in the Foxes academy product as boss Tim Sherwood looks to add flair to his side.

Schlupp was trialled at Manchester United in 2013 under Sir Alex Ferguson, but he instead opted for first-team football at the King Power Stadium after his month's stay at Carrington.

“I Get Not Less Than 100 Suitors Everyday” – Nigeria’s ‘Queen of Hair Brags’

“I get not less than 100 suitors and admirers everyday depending on the occasion. Married and single men, boys, girls, lesbians and gay men are attracted to me.”……

Nigeria’s “Queen of Hair” was interviewed by Punch recently. She talked about everything from her suitors to the heavy traffic of admirers in her direction.

“I get not less than 100 suitors and admirers everyday depending on the occasion. Married and single men, boys, girls, lesbians and gay men are attracted to me. But I can’t accept every person that approaches me because people are very deceptive.“Some men will tell me that they are not married, whereas they are married with children at home.

I am not married, but I intend to get married one day because that is the prayer of every woman, but definitely not to a married man. If God answers my prayers, I will be happy to be married to a businessman that will love me and not be one that will beat me.

“No man has ever dumped or disappointed me, I can tell you that. I fell in love with one man immediately after my secondary school. He was fond of beating me because he was very temperamental and that informed my decision to quit the relationship.

I fell in love with one man, but I detest men that don’t tell the truth, I was in love with him but because he was a womaniser, I decided to dump him. On several occasions, he tried to seduce and sleep with my younger sister. My sister told me about this. She said whenever she was asleep, he would sneak into her bedroom and attempt to sleep with her.”

Okafor added that she had not seen a genuine heartthrob yet as everybody seems to be interested only in her “flesh.”However, Queen noted that the hairs on her body are hereditary.

“It is a family thing, especially from my father’s side. So, if I get married, I won’t be surprised to see any, if not all of my children, having hairs all over their bodies,” she said.

Ramadan: The Do's And Don'ts While Fasting

Rules and regulations are meant to be followed in anything we do. In legal terms, they are called laws. In the elementary physics taught in senior secondary school in the sciences, there are newton’s laws of motions. Whereas in chemistry, there are le chatelier’s principle and general gas law.

Going to economics, there are various theories propounded. These include those of adam smith and malthus. Call them by whatever name you desire, they all inform us that a violation of these rules and regulations could be consequential to the violator.

Likewise, fasting during ramadan has its rules and regulations which are the same as its dos and donts.

Muslims should know what is allowed and forbidden in ramadan. They must understand the etiquettes of fasting and know their flexibility and inflexibility.

Swimming in a pool or a river does not invalidate fasting as long as the swimmer does not have an intention to deliberately drink water while swimming. It is allowed for a person fasting to take his bath if he feels like at anytime during ramadan either he wants to cool his body temperature or not. Also, a person fasting should hasten to break his fast at the time of iftaar and not delay it.

A person observing ramadan fast can clean his teeth with chewing stick or even toothbrush. This is allowed as confirmed in a hadith in sahih bukhari when aamir bun rabee’a (allaah be pleased with him) narrated that he saw the prophet (peace be upon his soul) cleaning his teeth with siwaak (a type of chewing stick) while he was observing fast so many times that he cannot count.

READ ALSO: El-Rufai Shares Top Secret That Can Bring An End To Nigeria’s Economic Woes

However, the person cleaning with the siwaak or toothbrush should spit out what he has in his mouth from the cleaning process. Likewise, fasting does not stop someone from using creams, oils and lotions.

On the other hand, muslims are prohibited from telling lies and slander; kissing and hugging by sexually active individuals; intentionally eating and drinking; raining curses and bad-mouthing; gambling and other things related to it and al-wisaal.

Kissing and hugging by a man that is no more sexually active or has gotten to adronopause is allowed while fasting. There is an authentic hadith that corroborates this in sahih bukhari.

Al-wisaal is absolutely discouraged while fasting. Al-wisaal is to observe fast continuously without eating or drinking anything by day or night; whether it is for a day or two or more. Anas (allaah be pleased with him) narrated in sahih bukhari that prophet muhammad (peace be upon his soul) said, “do not practise al-wisaal (that is fasting continuously without breaking one’s fast in the evening or eating before the following dawn).”

Some women fasting during ramadan are sometimes not too sure if they can taste the food they prepare for iftaar. They need not to stress themselves further as the hadith provides a solution. According to ibn abbaas (allaah be pleased with him) in sahih bukhari, he said that, “there is no harm in tasting the food of the pots or other meals.” therefore, women or anybody fasting is permitted to taste the food they are cooking.

Allaah makes life easy for muslims and they themselves should not make a mountain out of a mole-hill. Allaah says in chapter 2, part of verse 185 of the glorious qur’aan as follows, “allaah wants ease with you (humans) and he does not want difficulty with you (humans).