Adoyi Ali: Letter to the Best President in Africa, Goodluck Jonathan

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"Dear Goodluck,
This letter must not go through all the orthodox protocols of signing and ‘counter’ signing for acknowledgment. It must not be signed by Doyin and Abati. I don’t need all that formality. I don’t want all that bureaucratic presidential arrangements. All I desire, is to see this letter before His Excellency. I don’t want Her Excellency around you when you hurriedly run through the pages of my letter. Yes, I know you can only flip through the pages because of some urgent National problems calling for your attention. I warn against having Her Excellency around because she may misquote me, even though I have decided to choose my grammar carefully in order not to confuse anyone around you.

21 Ex-Militant Return After Completing Non-Violence Training In South Africa

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Twenty-one leaders of former agitators in the Niger-Delta region on Tuesday returned from South Africa after completing a non-violence and leadership and business development training. The leaders returned aboard a South African Airways flight, along with the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta  and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr Kingsley Kuku.

University of Lagos ranked 9th best Univeristy in Africa

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According to a new ranking released by Africa.com, University of Lagos  in the 9th best University in Africa. Cairo University is the still the best University in Africa.

See the top 10 best Universities in Africa below...
1. Cairo University – Egypt
2. American University in Cairo – Egypt
3. Mansoura University – Egypt
4. Makerere University – Uganda
5. University of Nairobi – Kenya
6. University of Dar es Salaam – Tanzania
7. University of Botswana – Botswana
8. University of Ghana – Ghana
9. University of Lagos – Nigeria
10. Ashesi University – Ghana

AFRICOM 2013: 3000 U.S. Troops Heading to Africa To Protect American Oil Interests [VIDEO]

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The United States military presence in African continues to grow with 3,000 troops reportedly heading to the continent at the top of 2013 to protect the nation’s expanding interests, reports the Centre For Research On Globalization.

Your First Look at Our African Beauty Queens Representing at the 2012 Miss Universe Competition

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On Wednesday 19th December 2012, the 2012 edition of the Miss Universe Competition at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, USA.

The show will be hosted by Bravo’s Executive Vice President of Development and Talent, Andy Cohen  (known for producing reality shows like the Real Housewives franchise and Being Bobby Brown) alongside E! News/Fashion Police  co-anchor, Guiliana Rancic.

At the Miss Universe finale, 88 beauty queens from around the world including our very own African queens from Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Namibia, who will be returning after a 3-year long hiatus, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, will vie to win the coveted crown and take over as Miss Universe from Angolan beauty, Leila Lopes.

Angola 
Name: Marcelina Vahekeni 
Age: 22 Hometown: 
Ondjiva Biography Born in 1990, Marcelina Vahekeni is an Angolan beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Angola 2011 and is representing her country in the 2012 Miss Universe pageant. She is a model and a student of Human Resource Management.

Ethiopia Profile 
Name: Helen Getachew 
Age: 22 Hometown: Addis Ababa
Biography Helen Getachew grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she had a very spiritual upbringing. She enjoys reading the Bible, spending time with family and friends, at the cafe and fashion malls. In addition, Helen hopes to one day be involved in working with organizations that help the poor, especially children. In her Own Words I would enjoy working for a nonprofit organization, but my dream in life is to create one myself. Fun Facts about Helen She enjoys decorating and making things beautiful Helen thinks that the biggest problem facing the world today is food shortage If Helen could meet any celebrity, it would be Liya Kebede because of her work with UNICEF.

Gabon Profile
Name: Channa Divouvi
Age: 21
Hometown: Ngounié
Biography
Channa Divouvi was raised in the modest neighborhood of Libreville. Her hobbies include cooking, reading, and shopping. Raised by a mother who is blind, her dream job is to own her own association that helps the visually impaired in her country. She would also like to start a cosmetic company that caters to women of color.

In her Own Words
My mother’s positive attitude throughout all challenges gives me a different perspective in life.

Fun Facts about Channa

She collects seashells and she likes to use them to make decorations
Channa works as an airport hostess
Channa once helped a woman deliver a baby in her car

Ghana Profile
Name: Gifty Ofori
Age: 24
Hometown: Accra
Biography
Gifty Ofori grew up in the suburbs of Accra, the capital city of Ghana, in a household where discipline, hard work, and achievement were always emphasized. Quite the tomboy, She would often be found playing outside with her siblings and friends. Her interests include gardening, nature, and travelling. Currently, Gifty works as a registered nurse and hopes to one day become a doctor.

In her Own Words
I pursue every goal and opportunity presented to me with passion.

Fun Facts about Gifty

She collects pebbles gathered from along the coast of Ghana and other West African beaches
Gifty’s dream job is to become a medical journalist on an international news network
Gifty once helped deliver a baby on the side of a road when she was a first-year nursing student

Mauritius
Profile
Name: Ameeksha Devi Dilchand
Age: 26
Hometown: Curepipe
Biography
Ameeksha grew up in Curepipe, Mauritius, which is situated on the central plateau of the island. During her college years, she played soccer on her college team for 6 years. She has a law degree and would like to later go on to become a politician. She is about to start concentrating on her Bar Vocational Practice to become a barrister to serve her nation. Ameeksha’s dream is to eventually work as either a Minister of Education or Minister of Sports & Leisure for her home country of Mauritius.

In her Own Words
If we start right now by giving a hand to the needy person next to us, we will be heading towards a better future both economically and socially.

Fun Facts about Ameeksha

She would love to meet the Manchester United Footballer Luis Nani
Ameeksha was not a girly girl growing up, she played soccer throughout her childhood
One of Ameeksha’s most unusual jobs was predicting horoscopes via text messages.

Namibia
Profile
Name: Tsakana Nkandih
Age: 22
Hometown: Windhoek
Biography
Tsakana Nkandih hopes to one day become the first female President of Namibia, because, through this role, she would be able to battle her country’s internal socio-economic issues and strive to empower women. Her strongest passion is reading. She also enjoys volunteering with animals and gardening. Currently, she is attending The University of Namibia in order to gain a degree in Public Management.

In her Own Words
As a politician, I could be an asset to the cause of women and their rights, something that is very close to my heart.

Fun Facts about Tsakana

Her most interesting job was working at a local old age home
Tsakana’s most treasured possession is her Bible
Tsakana believes that the biggest problem facing the world today is the rapid climate change.

Nigeria
Profile
Name: Isabella Agbor Ojong Ayuk
Age: 26
Home Town: Cross River
Biography
Isabella was raised in Ikom Local Government Area of the Cross River State. It is a largely agricultural area. Being raised by a widowed mother, Isabella has a passion for working with widows. She would love to work to create a small scale business to help raise money for scholarships for their children, home renovations and other basic needs.

In her Own Words
I want the judges to know that determination brought me this far and that I have learned to never give up in life.

Fun Facts about Isabella

She loves to cook
Isabella admires Angelina Jolie for her humanitarian services
Isabella is currently in the National Youth Service Corp in Nigeria.

South Africa
Profile
Name: Melinda Bam
Age: 23
Home Town: Pretoria
Biography
Melinda Bam was born and raised in picturesque Pretoria, South Africa. She graduated from the University of Pretoria, South Africa with Honors. Melinda has a wide variety of hobbies through which she maintains a strong balance between sports and art. She aspires to one day start an internal marketing agency that would focus on corporate culture and business psychology.

In her Own Words
Defying the stigma that beauty queens are only pretty faces stimulates me.

Fun Facts about Melinda

She has designed her own swimwear collection
Melinda is a professional painter and artist in medium acrylic, oil and graphite
In 2007, Melinda co-wrote a book with her mother and sister that has been published.

Tanzania
Profile
Name: Winfrida Dominic
Age: 19
Hometown: Dar Es Salaam
Biography
Winfrida Dominic moved all around her country of Tanzania throughout her childhood, experiencing different cultures and tradition everywhere she went. Growing up, her schools taught many of the traditional dances of Tanzania, a country with more than 100 different ethnic groups. Winfrida is currently studying History, Geography and English, in hopes of becoming an ambassador for her country in the future and engaging in charity work.

In her Own Words
I know how often at a young age, we are told that many of our dreams are not possible, that we are not good enough or pretty enough. I want my success to our shared story.

Fun Facts about Winfrida

Her most recently acquired hobby is netball
Winifrida collects pebbles from all of the different places she travels
The person who has most influenced her life is her father
So, BellaNaijarians, who do you think will bring the crown to Africa? Let us know.

Africa: Tax Havens - An Emerging Challenge to Africa's Development Financing

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Africa: Tax Havens - An Emerging Challenge to Africa's Development Financing
The term 'tax haven' is a bit of a misnomer because they are not just about tax, but about a whole range of other things too. There is no generally agreed definition of what a tax haven is, but if you drill right down to the core of what these places offer, you end with two words: 'escape,' and 'elsewhere.' Once we understand what this means, it becomes clear why they are such a threat to Africa.

African American Woman Attacked & Burnt By 3 Men Wearing White Hoods

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Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, is recovering today after three men burned and attacked her while writing the letters “KKK” on the hood of her car.

The attack happened Sunday evening at Civitan Park in Winnsboro, LA while she was walking in the park on a paved trail.



As reported by the Shreveport Times:

    Moffitt called 911 about 8 p.m. and told police she was attacked and burned by three men wearing white T-shirt hoodies, authorities said during a news conference today.

    Moffitt is believed to be severely burned and is being treated at LSU Hospital in Shreveport, where she’s listed in critical condition.

Yobe Desert Rollers ready for Africa Hockey Championship

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Damaturu – Alhaji Sani Fema, Chairman, Yobe Sports Commission, has assured Nigerians that the Yobe Desert Rollers hockey team was prepared to win the forthcoming African Men Hockey Club Championship in Zimbabwe.

Fema gave the assurance on Saturday in Damaturu in an interview on the team’s readiness for the championship which will hold in December in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Cape Verde cap rise with Nations Cup ticket

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| credits:

The Cape Verde Islands will become the smallest country to compete at an Africa Nations Cup finals after qualifying at the expense of Cameroon and their remarkable rise is the culmination of a project to target ‘top talent’.

The Portuguese-speaking country’s elimination of the four-time winners in Sunday’s final qualifying round ranks as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history but it has been on the cards in recent years.

Just 10 years ago the ‘Tubaroes Azul’ (Blue Sharks) beat Mauritania 2-0 at home to record their first win in a competitive international and now they are ranked 51st in the world.

“There was a conscious decision by the federation to embark on a project that would pursue the top talent available and after many years of hard work this has now come to pass,” said Joao de Deus, coach of Portuguese second division club Oliveirense, who was in charge of Cape Verde in 2008 and 2009.

By tapping into a large number of descendants of migrants who have been steadily leaving the island archipelago over the last century, Cape Verde football’s ability far exceeds the country’s 500,000-strong population.

“We now have some 90 percent of our squad members who are playing at clubs in Europe, in Portugal, France, Spain, Holland and other countries,” coach Lucio Antunes said in a recent telephone interview.

“These are professional players who are desperate to show what they can do at the Nations Cup finals. It has been so easy to work with them because of their experience and their desire,” he added.

But while almost all of Cape Verde’s players are drawn from overseas clubs, there remains a fairytale element to the way they have gone from novices to Nations Cup qualifiers in the space of 10 years.

Antunes is on long leave from his job as an air traffic controller and the majority of the squad have no profile outside the Cape Verde. Sunday’s goal hero Heldon, from Maritimo in Portugal, and Ryan Mendes of Ligue 1 Lille are among the exceptions.

Better known Cape Verdians are Manchester United winger Nani and Porto defender Rolando, who both play for Portugal, and former Sweden striker Henrik Larsson, whose father hailed from the island nation.

The Cape Verde, more desert than tropical and situated off the west coast of Africa, won independence in the mid-70s from Portugal but did not play an international until more than a decade later.

They have been FIFA members since only 1986 and did not enter the Nations Cup or World Cup qualifiers until 1992 – two years after Cameroon became the first African country to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

But on Sunday they looked consummate veterans of the international circuit, toying at times with their Cameroonian hosts as they advanced to January’s finals in South Africa 3-2 on aggregate over two legs.

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Nigeria, Angola, Gabon to enjoy robust growth -IMF

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Sub-Saharan Africa is poised to enjoy the type of high growth rates not seen outside Asia in the next few years, the International Monetary Fund said Monday, as the region’s unbridled economic rise continues.

The IMF predicted the region’s economy would grow at 5.0 per cent in 2012 and 5.7 per cent in 2013, a little slower than expected this year, but faster than expected next year, Agence France Presse reports.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to continue growing strongly in the near term,” the Fund said in its regular economic outlook.

Ghana and the Ivory Coast are expected to top the region’s growth this year, with growth of over eight per cent.

Oil producers Nigeria, Angola and Gabon will also see strong growth.

The outlook for the rest of the region is also rosy, raising hopes that Africa may be on the verge of experiencing the type of growth that has transformed Latin America and South East Asia in recent decades.

“Economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa has expanded by more than five percent in each of the past three years — continuing a decade-long run of strong performance that was only briefly interrupted by the global downturn in 2009,” the IMF said.

But there were a flew blots on an otherwise positive landscape.

Africa’s leading economy South Africa is likely to experience weak growth of around 2.6 percent this year, thanks in part to spillovers from Europe’s debt crisis.

The IMF predicted South Africa’s economy would grow 3.0 percent next year.

The IMF also warned that African nations must use the prolonged boom to help create a nest-egg for any trouble ahead.

And Sub-Saharan Africa still has a long way to reach its potential. Today it accounts for just 2.5 percent of world GDP — or 1.3 percent excluding South Africa and Nigeria.

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Africa: International Team Makes Progress Against Rare Disease

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Washington — A four-nation research project is bringing some relief to people who suffer a rare muscle disease, and the collaboration may blaze a trail for breakthroughs in treatment of other rare diseases.

The research team found that a drug first released in the late 1990s for treatment of irregular heartbeat eases the symptoms of people suffering nondystrophic myotonia, which causes pain and muscle stiffness. The condition can be so severe that patients are unable to open their eyes after a sneeze, or unable to loosen a grip after turning a doorknob.

Researchers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy reached the finding only after bringing together patients and doctors familiar with the rare condition.

"This study can serve as a blueprint for future rare-disease research," said neurologist Jeffrey Statland at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "The study shows that by bringing together experts and patients around the world and building a common infrastructure, we can tackle rare conditions that have eluded rigorous clinical study up to now."

Other institutions participating in the study were Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston; the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario; University College London Institute of Neurology in London; and the University of Milan in Italy.

A lot of people suffer from rare diseases overall; there just aren't many in the same city with the same condition, said a Rochester Medical Center co-author.

"Each rare disease might affect only a few thousand people, but there are thousands of rare diseases," said Dr. Robert "Berch" Griggs. "Current estimates are that perhaps 30 million people [in the United States] are affected by some form of rare disease."

In Europe, rare diseases are thought to afflict another 30 million, but a global estimate is difficult to produce given that hundreds of millions of people in rural, developing areas of the world never will see a specialist who might positively identify a disorder.

Neurologists estimate that only about 1 in 100,000 people have nondystrophic myotonia. With those low numbers, it's difficult for researchers to pull together a pool of subjects of sufficient size to conduct a study that might result in a statistically significant outcome.

Pharmaceuticals companies are also reluctant to invest in research in rare diseases because the markets for successful drugs are so small.

The idea that strength in numbers might be the key to success in understanding rare diseases has been gaining supporters beyond the work led by the Rochester Medical Center. The International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC) is a joint project of the European Commission and the U.S. National Institutes of Health began in 2009. Canada and Japan have since joined IRDiRC.

This consortium brings together multinational regulatory bodies, researchers, patient group representatives, health professionals and pharmaceutical industry representatives. The consortium aspires to produce advances that will spark the development of 200 new therapies for rare diseases and diagnostic tools for most rare diseases by 2020.

Patients who find themselves diagnosed with a rare disorder are also finding comfort in reaching out to others with similar conditions, wherever they are.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders is the U.S. society where these people find each other. NORD is dedicated to increasing awareness of the conditions and the challenges faced by people living with them. The organization also works to promote research and development of therapies.

NORD is affiliated with the like-minded European Organization for Rare Disorders.

The Rochester Medical Center study is reported in the October 3 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health both supported the research.

Copyright © 2012 United States Department of State. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

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Blatter accuses S’Africa of poor World Cup preparation

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FIFA President, Sepp Blatter
| credits: File copy

Sepp Blatter has accused South Africa of being too busy dancing to properly organise the 2010 World Cup.

The Fifa supremo was speaking about the past failings of countries who have held the prestigious tournament, which is next being hosted in Brazil in 2014.

Blatter has revealed that the world footballing governing body had to push South Africa to persuade them to get to work on the World Cup.

“When we came to Africa, the Africans – they got the World Cup in May 2004 – they were dancing during one year,” he told reporters. “They were just dancing because they got the World Cup.

“Then we had to call them and say, ‘Please, start to work!’ and we had to push a little bit to start to work.”

Eight years earlier, South Korea and Japan had co-hosted the 2002 iteration of the tournament and, although he praised their enthusiasm, Blatter has admitted his disappointment at the vast array of unused stadiums in the East Asian nations.

He added: “In South Korea and Japan they were so eager to organise the World Cup that they could have done two!

“Because they were ready with so many stadiums in Korea and the same number in Japan, in my opinion it was overdone.

“And now, in one of the countries at least, they have some stadiums which are white elephants – this is not the aim of the World Cup.”

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AfricaMagic hosts viewers’ awards

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AfricaMagic and MultiChoice Africa have presented their latest joint initiative, The Africamagic Viewers’ Choice Awards. The announcement was made during a special episode of the popular AfricaMagic magazine show Jara, which is screened to DStv sunscribers.

Created to celebrate African film and television talents, both in front of and behind the cameras, the awards will feature several categories in which viewers will decide the winners directly, alongside several professionally judged categories.

A total of 28 awards in 26 categories, ranging from acting and directing to script-writing and cinematography, will be awarded. Other fields which will be honored include editing, make-up, sound, lighting and costuming.

Awards will be handed out at two separate events to be held in March 2013 in Lagos. The first event will be dedicated to outstanding technical achievements, while the main event will be a glamourous gala night.

In order to ensure that the awards are transparent, fair and credible, AfricaMagic has recruited leading and respected movie veteran, Femi Odugbemi, to take on the role of executive judge and has confirmed that all the awards will be verified by an independent auditing company to be appointed shortly.

 M-Net Africa Managing Director, Biola Alabi, says she is confident that this is an opportunity to build a pan-African event that is both relevant to industry professionals and vastly entertaining to fans.

 

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