The Champions League Group draw in full

Group A: Bayern Munich, Villareal, Manchester City, Napoli.
Group B: Inter, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor.
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basle, Otelul Galati.
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb.
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk.
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund.
Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, FC Apoel.
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen.

Are commercial bus drivers exempted from obeying traffic lights?

That  commercial motorcycle operator in Lagos (popularly known as Okada riders) have no business with traffic rules is no longer news; but a more dangerous dimension to this impunity on Lagos roads is rearing its ugly head in the midst of commercial bus drivers.

Like most other aspects of Nigeria’s daily live, government and its agencies have lost control of the traffic situation in the state and residents have been left to the grace of God.

It could be disheartening and it is actually heartbreaking, to witness the recklessness on our roads where uniformed traffic personnel watch lawbreakers disinteresting. The carnage on our roads is largely fostered is largely fostered by this absolutely lack of concern by security/traffic management agencies to arrest this unbecoming situation.

It is discomfiting to see a cluster of security/traffic officials at a road intersection where impunity reigns, yet nothing happens. If anything, the officials felicitate with the lawbreakers and urge them on as they zoom past with all the lawlessness they can muster.

Most annoying is the flouting of the traffic light commands by commercial bus drivers and the risk they pose to other law-abiding road users. 

Commuters along the Egtbeda-Akowonjo-Dopemu axis have their eyes filled with this attitude at the shasha/Akowonjo junction traffic light. Commercial bus drivers heading from Egbeda to Dopemu, Ikeja, Oshodi zoom past the traffic light irrespective of which colour is showing. And since none has been apprehended, it is now regarding as normal. They no longer stop, they use the service lane leading to shasha road and zoom past while others wait on the remaining two lanes for the green light to go.

The government should protect law-abiding citizens of this country from lawless ones. Lawbreakers today seem to enjoy the society more than law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding citizens now live in fear of lawbreakers. The Government cannot spend money to install traffic lights if it had no intention for them to be obeyed.

Picture from http://www.lagos-nigeria-real-estate-advisor.com/transport-lagos-nigeria.html

Religion as the opium of the masses

The modern state which has come to stay in today’s world has gone through a lot of philosophical and foundational theories all in an attempt to discover the origin of the state and seek the practice that can best stabilize it and foster social justice and other .One of the theories that were postulated was the instrumentalist theory engineered by the socialist Karl Marx.

This theory posits that those in places of authority have the state in their hands as an instrument of oppression so as to terrorize the weak masses. It state that those in the reins of power would become utterly corrupt and high-handed. In this situation, the people can no longer access the basic necessities of life, as the welfarist phenomenon in the state would become extinct.

Religion is therefore the next available option to fill the gap that the failure of the state has created. It becomes the opium of the masses as it provides an alternative to the deteriorating condition occasioned by mismanagement in governance. It is therefore not unusual to find welfare, counseling, prayer and service communities in our churches and mosques today performing the function originally assigned to the state.

These communities are there when a landlord evicts an unyielding tenant who has not paid his rent because the state has not implemented the policy that would ensure job creation. They are there to hear the crisis of the student who has not gotten admission into the university, not because he did not exceed the cut-off mark in JAMB, but because the state has refused to expand the entrance capacity of our universities. They are there to pray for healing and seek medical services for a sick brother because the state has failed resuscitates the health sector. They are there to cater for the elderly, who after serving his nation faithfully, has been left to queue endlessly under the hot sun for a pension that would never come. They serve as a point at which the outcry of the masses are heard so as to relief them of the tensions and despondencies which the state has created or has refused to solve.

The picture painted above has been regarded as commendable since it ensures that the people are not neglected to wallow in doldrums. Our religion institution has now filled the gap. They are manifesting of Marx by being the opium of the masses.

What this means is that our religious institutions should not resign themselves to fate and allow the status quo to remain. They should take up the challenge of speaking to power and confronting the government to do what it was created to do. Our churches and mosques should serve as avenue for social mobility, where the people are educated on their rights, privileges and obligations.

Picture from http://www.pollinator.nl/default_center.asp?keyword=duct&link_id=11

AFRICAN COUNTRIES MUST TRADE WITH ONE ANOTHER

On Tuesday, July 19, 2011, we saw an article sponsored across several Nigeria newspapers supposedly written jointly by David Cameron (British Prime minister) and Goodluuck Jonathan. In it, we were tutored on the need for African counties to open up trade with one another.
Firstly, there is no way David Cameron would have sat down to jointly write the article with Jonathan. It was possibly written by one and sent to the other for approval, and I have no doubt it emanate from Nigeria. They want us to believe, that by posing to be on a good relationship with David Cameron, the magic that will transform our country is in the pipeline, contrary to what we are seeing daily.
I repeat, there are good reasons to bolster trade among African countries, and every effort should be made to grow and encourage it. However, to do this demands that we get down to work. Jonathan Goodluck is better positioned than any Nigerian to do this. He is also better positioned than most African leaders to encourage this growth, given that Nigerian remains the biggest market in African. The lectures in the article are meant for him and other African Presidents. May be, they can also find better forums to address the African business communities when they have removed the present barriers to trade.
If he is serious, he would rather be telling us polices he has put in place to grow the trade or ready achieved milestones than anything else. If he chooses the lecture side I wonder who will do the working.
As for Britain, we have known them since the pre-colonial days. I ask a simple question: is David Cameron willing to allow the trade between Britain and the individual African countries to be replaced by that between the African countries themselves; or is he hiding under  helping the trade between us, merely to drive his country’s gains from Africa, as they have always done. Enough of rubbish convoluted logic. Britain is primarily concerned about its trade with Africa countries themselves.
In trading within our selves, African countries must be able to exchange goods in demand across our borders. What is the capacity of our economies? We are all in the business of exporting raw material to the western economies and lack the capacity to buy these raw materials from one another. While we should never neglect trade, we must focus on building our industrial base because right now, there is little trade on. Which of the African countries will sell machinery and other finished products to the other? Having failed to even refine our petroleum products, what can we export to the other African countries than our crude oil? Which finished product can we export to them?
The stage has gone beyond media antics. The time to begin delivering the goods is now!

Picture from http://kids.mongabay.com/elementary/africa.html

POLICE EXTORTION IN ISAGHA

For some time now motorists and residents of Isagha in Ifako/Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos are being subjected to pains daily as some policemen who mount Toyin bus stop now constitute d themselves into hawkers whose products must be bought at all cost.
Their operation which mostly starts around 6 p.m. lasts till late in the night everyday and throughout the period, motorists are harassed to give money while anyone who fails to abide by the new order is at his own peril.
It was learnt that the policemen usually issue various number to motorists after paying certain amount of money ranging from N100.00 or N200.00 denominations are readily given change by the police who then issue specific numbers to the bus drivers as the case may be.
What this has led to is the public perception that every policemen on road duty is a beggar, extortionist and destitute of self respect and discipline. One is inclined to reason that this development ought to be a big embarrassment to the Inspector General of Police and the Federal Government. It was for this reason a few IGs in the past had ordered the abolition of road blocks or check points nationwide, which would invariably make any subsisting one illegal. Unfortunately, this order has never been respected, which makes the public believe that the police brass hats are only playing a gimmick since it is alleged that returns from extortion get to the IG himself.
It was gathered that the fully armed police officers also make innocent commuters with envelops or bags in their possessions to face unnecessary rigours. They usually ordered them to come out of the buses and even upon explanation and disclosing what such envelops or bags contain, they intimidate them to settle or be detained. Most times the buses abandon these passengers because of the long period the police usually waste and demand for settlements before they are let off.
Just last week, a passenger nearly got the beating of his life and perhaps may have lost his life when he challenged a police officer who pointed gun at a passenger just because he complained about the delay the process caused.
The residents and commuters are therefore calling on the relevant Authority to call the officers to order.

Picture from www.ngrgaurdiannews.com

REVIEW OF NIGERIA MEDIA SCENE AND THE TYPES OF MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN OPERATION

What is convergence? Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, convergence has as many definitions as the number of people who try to define or practice it.
Convergence in the context of media refers to the technology driven unification of different media channels.
Berger (2008:168) identifies seven types of convergence as follows:

1. Corporate convergence (as in joint ventures) between telecom and media companies;
2. The branching out of a traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or mobile;
3. Reverse publishing from the web into print;
4. Production processes, where content is co-ordinate or shared;
5. The convergence of skills set of previously segregated specialist media practitioners ─ whether reporter, news editor, or production personnel;
6. Convergence of media consumer devices: e.g. the camera-cell phone or computers being used to watch video broadcasts; and
7. The coming together of producer and consumer functions─ the audience generating media (content).

Using the various convergence models highlighted above, no Nigeria media falls into the category of corporate convergence, say between telecom and media or between TV and newspaper companies. The country is yet to witness mergers between newspapers and telecommunications companies or between telecommunication companies and electronic media or even between newspapers and electronic companies or with internet companies such as the $US165 billion AOL-Time Warner merger announced in January 2000. It was touted as convergence because analysts and executives saw advantages in combining Time Warner’s content with AOL’s networks.
The second convergence model of branching out of traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or mobile, is the one more prevalent in the Nigeria media landscape.
It’s generally observe that all the newspapers whose website were visited, at listed above, have online presence, which makes them available not only to their local audiences in Nigeria, but also to people all over the world, but also to people all over the world, particularly Nigerians in the Diaspora. The newspapers also have features on their Home Pages, which make it possible for reader to react and/or contribute is issues.

From the journalist’s perspective convergence offers a chance to do better journalism by giving reporters the tools to tell stories in the most appropriate medium. Technology frees them from the limits of individual media. Some print reporters are embracing convergence because appearing on television gives them added visibility—they enjoy being recognized in public places like supermarkets—and convergence skills also make them more marketable.
Digital technology makes convergence possible, but these tools cost money and take time to learn.
Several forces are driving convergence. The key ones are the changing lifestyles of news consumers and consumers in general, fragmentation of audiences (discussed earlier in the business models section) and the subsequent rise in the amount of time people spend with various forms of the media.
With federal government of Nigeria’s consideration of merging the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) the Nigeria landscape is getting ready for convergence regulation that reflects the twenty first century. With the launch of mobile television by MTN and DSTV, it is goodbye to the old other
Newspapers who has online presence are available not only to their audience in Nigeria, but also to people all over the world.
The use of e-mail address of the newspaper and contact pages on the website also makes it easy for Nigerians living abroad to contribute regularly to discuss about various issues in the country.
Most Nigerian newspapers, though conforming to the Berger’s model of convergence, have limited multimedia functions because only feature few text and graphics
There is also convergence with the traditional television and radio stations also having online presence with the internet. Some of the Nigeria electronic media websites also provide text, pictures and graphics in addition to live broadcasts.
Blogging and citizen journalism, which are forms of producer and consumer convergence functions are already prevalent in Nigeria. Similarly, citizen journalism is on the rise with the newspapers donating the citizen to send their contributions
In repositioning for the challenges of managing media convergence Voice Of Nigeria (VON) the external broadcasting station of Nigeria had a one week retreat for its management team each directorate is expected to make presentation on media convergence and how VON can achieve media convergence.
The increasingly competitive environment in the multimedia industry promises tremendous user benefits through increased savings in time, greater choice, and an explosion of innovative services and products. This is the promise, to date, truly interactive services allowing the viewer to descend through a series of levels of information are still at the experimental stage.
The development of multimedia services will not replace judgment value that is provided by the traditional media. Hence, the traditional media will still have a large role to play in the new multimedia world.
Multimedia has the potential to vastly increase the range of services available, and offer its users a larger choice of applications but new technology alone will not ensure success; it is the people who use it who will decide the future of multimedia. The users' wants and needs; how they will manage the flood of options; and, above all, whether or not they will pay for the freedom of choice are what counts.
Convergence: technological and institutional
'Convergence ' has become a cliché of the information age. In its current usage it refers to two distinct though related phenomena:

1. The way that all transmission media become bit-carriers so that different 'network platforms' can carry similar kinds of services and
2. The tendency of the previously separate worlds of broadcasting, film , telecommunication, publishing and computing to become involved in each others business.

 

ARSENAL MAY SELL SAMIR NASRI

Arsene Wenger is increasingly concerned that Samir Nasri will not sign a new contract at Arsenal, who appear ready to sell him, having  offered him fresh terms.According to a source samir nasri is requesting for 110000 pounds per week and aresenal are not ready to pay that amount.