AJOKE ODUMOSU POWERS INTO FINALS OF OLYMPIC 400 METRE HURDLES

Nigeria's hopes for a medal at the Olympics just got a little brighter with 400 metre hurdler Muizat Ajoke Odumosu coasting into the finals of the Olympics 400 metre hurdles event in first place with a time of 54.40 seconds beating her personal best of 54.49 seconds. Georganne Moline of Great Britain came second.
 Defending champion Melaine Walker placed 6th in the semi-finals and will not be participating in the final event tomorrow.

BLESSING OKAGBARE DASHES NIGERIA'S HOPES FOR A MEDAL IN 100 METRES SPRINT

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare dashed the hopes of Nigeria by coming last in the Women's 100 metres sprint. The sprinter was Nigeria's brightest hope for a medal in track and field. After an inspiring first place finish at the semi finals, there were high hopes that she would repeat the performance and bring home the gold medal. She ran a lackluster race, beginning with a bad start to place last position. Shirley Fraser Pryce of Jamaica won gold, Carmelita Jeter from the U.S.A won silver and Veronica Campbell Brown won bronze.

NIGERIA'S GOT TALENT

Yes we do!!! The Rockview hotel in Abuja played host to thousands of hopefuls vyeing for a spot in the semi-finals of the Nigeria's got talent contest. There were fire eaters, acrobats, magicians and many others all seeking a chance to be Naija's ultimate talent. The winner at the Grand finale will walk away with the hefty grand prize of N10 million.
Debbie Schulman, the producer of the show hopes to give viewers of the show something spectacular to look forward to. The auditions head to Universal Hotels, Enugu then Monty Suites ,Calabar on August 7th, Beverly hills hotel, Port-harcourt on August 9th, BB Hotel, Warri on August 11th, Excalibur Hotel, Benin city on August 13th, Premiere Hotel, Ibadan on August 16th and the Grand finale at the Box studios, Bamako road,Ojodu, Lagos on the 18th and 19th of August.
The got talent franchise is one of the most successful reality franchises in the world and has produced many winning acts notable among them Susan Boyle who won Britain's got talent in 2009 and went on to release the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK and sold over 3 million copies in the US.
Register for the show at www.gottalentnigeria.com. The show is sponsored by telecommunication giant Airtel, cool FM, wazobia FM and information Nigeria.

DAMIETE CHARLES-GRANVILLE IN CHINA FOR MISS WORLD 2012

The first-runner up in the Most beautiful girl in Nigeria pageant Miss Damiete Charles-Granville is in China representing Nigeria at the 2012 Miss World pageant. Damiete who was supposed to represent Nigeria at the Miss Universe pageant had to step in for the reigning Most beautiful girl in Nigeria, Isabella Ayuk who was unable to compete at the Miss World pageant which is holding on the 18th of August. Read more to see  the rest of the pictures

FEMALE BANKER TO REPRESENT NIGERIA AT THE OLYMPICS

Esther Obiekwe a banker in the corporate banking division of Diamond bank plc will make history as the first woman to represent Nigeria in the country's first ever Olympic marathon event when she participates in
the London marathon on August 5. She was nominated by the Athletic federation of Nigeria to represent the country at the Olympics. Although she is not a full time runner she has participated in some of the world's top marathons including Athens, Berlin, Boston and Dubai. The Olympic marathon will hold on the 5th of August.

NIGERIA'S BASKETBALL TEAM D'TIGERS BEAT TUNISIA

Yaaaaaaaaaay, we won the first ever Olympic basketball game between two African countries - Nigeria and Tunisia and the opener of the men's Olympic basketball games. The Nigerian team D'tiger's beat Africa's basketball champions Tunisia 60 - 56. They play Lithuania next on Tuesday 31st

ARSENAL PLAYERS BACARY SAGNA, LUKAS PODOLSKI, TOMAS ROSICKY AND PER MERTESACKER ARRIVE NIGERIA

The four Arsenal footballers arrived Nigeria yesterday and 150 tickets are up for grabs for fans to meet with their football idols at the Eko hotel and suites, Victoria Island. The players will  have a busy schedule with events lined up to engage with partners and supporters of the club in Nigeria. They will be making promotional appearances for Malta Guiness, the official malt drink for Arsenal in Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria. Arsenal was to play a friendly with the Super Eagles on August 5th which was postponed due to the complexities involved in planning the match.

OLYMPIC BASKETBALL- NIGERIA VERSUS TUNISIA PLAYING NOW

The Nigerian basketball team is playing it's first game of the Olympics right now against the current African champions Tunisia and we are in the lead 31-15. If the scores are anything to go by we are definitely winning this one. Playing the Tunisians are Ike Diougu, Aminu jr, Chamberlain Oguchi, Olumide Oyedeji and Tony Skinn. If you are not watching the game, go watch it. It's showing on Superssport 7.      

NIGERIA NAMED ONE OF THE TOP THREE FASTEST GROWING MARKETS IN THE WORLD

Nigeria and neighboring Ghana have been named among the three fastest growing markets in the world in a list of 25 rapid growth markets in the Ernst and Young quarterly rapid growth market forecast. The organisation which is one of the foremost professional service firms in the world believes the power sector holds the key to Nigeria's economic growth and development.
According to the report ''there is a mixed picture emerging across the world. Although Asia is likely to lead the way, Africa remains resilient overall with Ghana and Nigeria among the three fastest growing of the RGM's this year''.
 This report indicates we are a rapid growth market, who benefits from this? Foreign companies that come to invest in Nigeria and repatriate their dollars at the end of the financial year? Its sad that more Nigerian businesses cannot benefit from the huge market our population presents mainly because of inadequate access to credit facilities and the crippling effects of our power situation.

CHINA REACHES 538 MILLION INTERNET USERS

Imagine triple the population of Nigeria! Thats how many people there are on the internet in China. The figure is unbelievable. Driven by the rapid growth in wireless surfing, the figure represents an 11% increase from 513 million the previous year, according to the Chinese internet network information centre. These figures mean that 39.9% of the world's internet users are from China.

The Chinese government strictly regulates the use of the internet especially after the role social media played in the protests that brought down the Tunisian and Egyptian governments.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES G-MAIL BY SMS IN NIGERIA, GHANA AND KENYA

Google has launched a revolutionary e-mail service that allows Gmail users in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya to receive their e-mail messages by text. The service allows users to receive and send e-mails as text whether or not they have an internet connected phone. The service will work on even the cheapest most simple phones.
The email is sent as a text message and the receiver can respond to it by simply replying the SMS text message.

LAGOS SURPASSES CAIRO AS AFRICA'S BIGGEST CITY

According to the Newyork times, Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria is now the largest city in Africa in terms of population. Cairo had formerly held that honour but has been surpassed by the exponential growth of Lagos's population from the 11.2 million estimated by the U.N in 2009 to 21 million in 2012.
Lagos is a city in transition, due to the efforts of the present government in the provision of necessary infrastructure, the beautification of the environment, investments in tourism, the development of the metro rail,  introduction of the BRT and many other initiatives by the government, Lagos is gradually morphing into a modern city. Eko o ni baje o

YOUR HAIR OR YOUR LIFE!!!

A couple of hair bandits made their way into Don Shin's beauty supply store by burrowing into the wall, they then crawled on the floor to evade motion detectors, ripped out the wiring on the alarm system and made away with human hair extensions worth $230,000. In April 2011, robbers invaded another beauty supply store targeting the more expensive extensions - Indie remy, Saga and Bohyme. My trendy place in Houston was a victim as well with robbers carting away $150,000 worth of hair.
Two years ago when Beauty one supply store fell victim to a robbery, the thieves went for their cash, last month they went straight for their human hair supply valued at $90,000. The hair is bootlegged out of car trunks and sold for about a quarter of its retail price. According to the Newyork times, in recent months, hair packages that would have sold for $80-100 have sold for as little as $25 out of a car trunk
In West palm beach Florida,a 16 year old girl peppersprayed a clerk at a beauty store and made off with human hair extensions. Really hairy situation.
I hope this trend doesn't find it's way to Nigeria o. We have the talent for making a bad situation even worse. Girls will probably have their human hair removed right off their heads at gun point - your hair or your life! not funny at all.

Ciara wearing human hair extensions

NORTHERN CAN CALLS FOR SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE

The christian association of Nigeria in the nineteen northern states and the FCT has released a statement condemning the the unabated killing of Christians in the north and called for a sovereign national conference. In a statement yesterday in response to the killing of senator Dalyop Dantong and Honourable Gyang Danfulani and an estimated 63 others, the Northern CAN said '' those people who want to live by the swords and bombs can have their own country and kill themselves, Those who want to live in peace and catch up with development that is going on in some other parts of the world can have their country and make progress''
CAN is calling for a separation, NYSC members have refused to go to the north fearing for their safety, bombs are going off everywhere, people are emigrating enmasse from violence prone areas - the drift has started.

NIGERIA'S BASKETBALL TEAM QUALIFY FOR LONDON OLYMPICS

The Nigerian team qualified for the London Olympics last night in  Caracas by beating the Dominican Republic 88-73.
The Tigers had to make an outfit change from their green and white jerseys to all white during the course of the game. Ike Diogu and Aminu Junior were the star players of the game with Diogu eventually winning the MVP.
With the win, Nigeria joins Tunisia as Africa's second representative at the London 2012.

LOSE THE FAT OR LOSE YOUR JOB, PAKISTAN POLICE SACKS 250 POT-BELLIED POLICEMEN

The police authority in Punjab has sacked 250 pot bellied and fat officers from it's ranks. The Police Inspector General Habibur Rahman ordered a team of district police to measure the waistlines of 175,000 members of the Police and all those found overweight were given a deadline to lose the excess weight. Pakistani police officers are required to have a waistline of 38 inches or less.
The Pakistani police say it will recruit slimmer officers to replace the sacked men and women.
If the Nigerian I.G of Police tries this he will lose more than half of his police force!!!

EXCUSE US - NIGERIA'S LIFE EXPECTANCY LOWEST IN WEST AFRICA

According to the director Nigerian centre for disease control  Professor Abdulsalam Nasid - The life expectancy for the average Nigerian is 47years. The good Professor said it was a situation that was attributable to some health factors, including child and maternal mortality, spread of polio virus and other epidemics.
``One out of every five children die before the age of five years due to polio and other infections''

It's so sad that there are countries with way less resources in West Africa who still manage to use what little they have for the benefit of their citizens.