Concerning the Lagos Town Hall meeting

                                            
During the Lagos Town Hall meeting, Nigeria’s information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed claimed government was dealing with terrorism by alleged Fulani herdsmen ‘SILENTLY’. Silently? I shivered at the use of that word, if there is any action against terrorism the Buhari government should be LOUD about; it is the ever-growing militancy and terrorism by marauders invading states across the country.
The terrorists should not be perceived to have a ‘special treatment’ from the government. Right now that is the way rational minds irrespective of where they come from will see it, a feeling that President Buhari and his service chiefs are being mindful not to hurt the feelings of sections of the country.
You cannot be dealing with Biafra activists LOUDLY, Dealing with Shiite insurgency VERY LOUDLY, dealing with Boko Harram OVER LOUDLY and threatening to deal with Niger Delta saboteurs thunderously and then chose to deal with Fulani Herdsmen SILENTLY.
The first duty of the Commander in Chief is to protect ALL in the country and the Buhari government is doing well raising that as top of its agenda, however when it comes to the repeated issue of Fulani Herdsmen, government appear to be too shy to engage or simply hoping the issue will just go away, victims of the terrorism spread across Nigeria from the North to the East, West and South. The government must wake up.
That perception might be wrong but government is doing NOTHING PUBLICLY to disabuse the minds of the people.
What should be done?
1. President Buhari should PUBLICLY issue a directive to the service chiefs to deal ruthlessly with any group found carrying offensive weapons be it Fulani or otherwise.
2. Nigerian government should URGENLTY look into the attacks on herdsmen and subsequent counter attacks with an urgent community bases solution that will bring stake holders together and be fair to all.
3. The last time I checked it is illegal to carry offensive and defensive weapons and government should make that clear and enforce the law, photographs of herdsmen carrying AK47 Assault rifles is unacceptable same way it was unacceptable for militants from other parts of Nigeria to carry same.
4. The government should urgently identify communities affected, compensate victims and bring aggressors on both sides to justice.
5. Review grazing laws and brings it in line in a way that will be acceptable to all stakeholders, no part of Nigeria should stop herdsmen from grazing but farmlands should also be protected and it is only an open honest conversation and consultation by stake holders that can resolve the crisis.
6. Recognise that a larger number of the crisis stem from economic inequality and competing need for land and means of production that we have ignored and fail to monitor for the good use of all.
7. Look into the grievances by the Fulani Herdsmen as they have also been victims of attacks by host communities in the past but we hardly read about those attacks.
8. Summon General Officers Commanding areas affected by the crisis and hold them responsible for breakdown of law and order with a directive to PUT A STOP to further attacks and protect both the Fulani Heardsmen and the host cummunities.
What we must stop doing.
1. Stop viewing the killings by both sides as representing the views and desire of the entire ethnic group the come from.
2. Denying the very obvious mass killings that are becoming a weekly event with potential threat to Nigeria’s unity.
3. Stop providing platforms to those who want to use the unfortunate situation for political means by instigating a narrative of untruth and a conspiracy of organised re-colonisation of certain parts of the country.
4. Stop blaming communities for genuinely crying out loud as a result of inability of the government to protect them.
We need to put our thinking caps on to save Nigeria.
Regards

Written by Kayode Ogundamisi

Tinubu Gives Ben Bruce Common Sense Advice

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday at the Silverbird Awards ceremony schooled the founding President of Silverbird Group and Bayelsa Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce that he has no reason to complain again about government but should use his position to take action.
Tinubu while delivering his acceptance speech at the ceremony noted that Senator Murray-Bruce had touched a raw nerve when in an emotional speech earlier where he bemoaned the fact that Nigerians lack a sense of history and have been unable to preserve our archival materials.
Asiwaju Tinubu noted “Senator Murray-Bruce, I have a common sense solution to the issues you have raised especially regarding preserving our history. You had a reason to complain before but not any more. You are in the Senate now just sponsor a bill that will reinstate History in Nigerian Schools.
 The whole venue errupted in applause.
 Tinubu went further to ask Senator Solomon Olamilekan (Yayi) if he would support such a bill, the APC Senator representing Lagos West responded in the affirmative and Tinubu then turned to Senator Murray-Bruce and said “Ben, the ball is now in your court”.

BREAKING NEWS:Major fire hits iconic India museum

A massive fire gutted a natural history museum in the Indian capital on Tuesday, destroying rare specimens of flora and fauna, the Indian environment minister said.
The blaze broke out overnight on the sixth floor of the building that houses the museum in central Delhi and rapidly engulfed the other floors, a fire official said.
Thirty-five fire fighters battled for hours to extinguish the blaze. Five of them were injured while trying to contain the blaze and have been taken to the hospital, a fire department official said.
Environment minister Prakash Javadekar said officials had yet to determine the full extent of the damage but old collections had been destroyed.
"This is a real loss. This loss cannot be counted in rupees. Some very old species of flora and fauna were there," Javadekar told reporters outside the museum, adding some were rare.He also ordered an immediate safety audit of the country's 34 major museums

Saraki alleges plot to remove him

The office of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, had yesterday raised the alarm over alleged plots by his opponents to force him out of office.
The Senate President made the announcement yesterday through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu.
“The Office of Senate President has alerted members of the public on the plan by some politicians to create public disorder tomorrow through a sponsored demonstration that will seek to ground human and vehicular activities on some major streets of Abuja, particularly, those leading to the National Assembly Complex.
“We have information that the sponsors have been deploying resources to ensure that a sizable crowd was mobilized to create chaos, confusion and tension around the streets of Abuja. Money and other materials are being provided for the organizers by the sponsors.
“Their aim, as we have earlier stated, is to further create an atmosphere of confusion by forcing the Senators to move against their leadership, particularly, the Senate President”, he stated.
According to him, “We have insisted that while Nigerians have the inalienable right to express their opinion, move and associate freely with others, so as to convey their wishes and aspirations to their leaders, they should avoid being used by those who have ulterior motives, particularly those who want to settle political scores on the streets instead of the floor of the Senate”.
The Office stated that “Our concern is to warn that those who are recruiting others to protest and their recruits should not create a situation of breakdown of law and order or create an atmosphere that will be seized by hoodlums to bring about needless crisis.
“We therefore call on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, his officers and men to prevent any incident that can be used to wreak havoc on the generality of the people or on public institutions and facilities. Nigerian should learn to respect due process and allow the rule of law to take its natural course”.

7 hours with God in Prophetic worship

7 Ways Successful People Beat Procrastination

Everyone procrastinates. Even the most successful people struggle with it every day. But successful people do something that most of us don't -- they push past it. They don’t make excuses or allow it to affect their output. They come up with smart, actionable strategies to break past mental barriers and stay productive.
 Here are seven ways successful people defeat procrastination.

1. They keep themselves accountable.

Show yourself commitment to getting things done. Making a commitment to yourself helps keep you accountable. You can do this by writing your goals down, keeping a to-do list with you, and creating reminders in your phone and on your calendar.There are other more creative things you can do to keep yourself accountable: Change the wallpaper on your phone or computer to something that says “get work done”. Write your tasks and goals on a whiteboard or large sticky you keep on your monitor.

2. They make themselves accountable to others.

If you can’t stay accountable to yourself, you might have more success staying accountable to other people.
Tell everyone what you plan to do and talk about your goals. Tell friends, employees and employers your intentions and you won’t want to let them down. For example, if you want to go to the gym every day, ask a friend to text you every evening asking “did you go to the gym today?”
Another suggestion is to start documenting and sharing your journey. A blog or vlog where you share the projects you’re working on and your progress will encourage you to get things done. Allowing yourself to be under public scrutiny can help light a fire under you.

3. They tie themselves to the mast.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus has his ship’s crew tie him to the mast so that he could hear the Sirens’ song without being drawn in and tempted to jump into the sea. If you’re a chronic procrastinator and simply can’t resist the temptations of things like Facebook and Youtube, it might be time to tie yourself to the mast.
 There are online tools that you can use that will temporarily block access to distracting websites like Facebook so you can work on the things that matter. It’s an extreme measure but also very effective.

4. They have self awareness.

Self-awareness is a common trait many successful people have. Having self-awareness allows you to properly understand why you’re even procrastinating in the first place.
Once you understand why you’re procrastinating, it will be easier for you to form a plan to beat it. This will allow you to see the root cause of your procrastination, which you can then either solve the problem or formulate a strategy to overcome it.
Becoming aware of why you procrastinate means taking a step back and looking at some of the possible reasons such as boredom, lack of confidence in the project, lack of self-confidence, and feeling overwhelmed. Once you know the reason, it’s a matter of finding things to remedy it and cut your procrastination off at the source.

5. They plan ahead.

How often do you, at the start of your work day, sit at your desk and begin looking for things to work on, only to wind up on Reddit or checking email?
If you get to your work desk and have no idea where to start, it can lead you to work on low-impact tasks (such as checking email) or other worse forms of procrastinating.
Those without a map, wander. Put together a plan or to-do list before starting work or any project.
The night before is a good time to do this. It allows you to reflect on what you’ve accomplished during the day and then come up with what needs to get done tomorrow. Now, when you start your work day, you know exactly what you need to work on and what’s the highest priority.

6. They commit to at least showing up.

After starting a task, you’ll likely stick with it a lot longer than you initially committed to.
It’s like working out. Half the battle is just showing up to the gym.
Commit to just showing up and you’ll find yourself completing a lot more tasks. The next time you don’t feel like tackling a task, commit to only working on it for one minute. Set a timer for 60 seconds, then sit down and get to work. More often than not, you’ll find yourself wanting to go beyond the 60 seconds and continue.
I constantly use this technique to trick myself into working on tedious tasks.

7. They break up large tasks into smaller tasks.

The classic but seldom-followed productivity advice to conquering large or overwhelming tasks is to break them up into smaller chunks. Successful people understand that tasks need to be broken down into much more specific and measurable sub-tasks.
For example, an overwhelming to-do list item might be “write book.” Does that item in my to-do list mean I need to write the entire book today, or does only writing one sentence count towards the completion of the task?
A better approach would be to set a goal of writing a specific number or words each day, or spend  a certain amount of time researching.
“Write 1000 words” or “spend 30 minutes researching examples of productive CEOs for book” are much more specific tasks, and therefore easier to tackle. This often encourages me to get more done and feel accomplished and motivated by scratching to-do items off of my list.

Written by Corey Ferreira
 twitter.com/coreyvf,www.facebook.com/coreyvferreira

 Corey Ferreira is a business school graduate and a passionate, ambitious entrepreneur. Since 2008, Corey has launched, grown, and sold several businesses including an emerging advertising media company and a web design agency. Corey is currently a part of Shopify's marketing team, helping make commerce better for everyone.

Dubai pushes move for Driverless Cars

                                   

Already home to the world's biggest skyscraper, Dubai has another tall order to fill: By 2030, its leader wants 25 percent of all trips on its roads to be done by driverless vehicles.

Tuesday's announcement by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum came without warning and with few details, as is sometimes the case with the many aspirations of the leadership of the United Arab Emirates.

 In this car-crazed city-state of over 1.5 million registered vehicles, it's not unusual to see Ferraris idling alongside Lamborghinis at traffic lights. And Dubai already is home to a driverless Metro rail system, which carried 178 million riders in 2015.

According to Sheikh Mohammed,"Today, we lay down a clear strategy with specific goals for smart transportation to form one of the key drivers for achieving sustainable economy in the UAE,"Dubai boasts the world's tallest building with the 2,717-foot (828-meter) Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010. In 2020, it will host the World Expo, a world's fair that is held every five years.We are already planning to get these driverless vehicle sellers and conduct live test-runs for these vehicles in Dubai."

 "By and large, technology is not going to be the bottleneck for bringing this to market,"But as drivers vanish, so do jobs. Dubai has a number of taxi companies, driven by a large labor force from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other mostly Asian countries"