PDP spokesperson, Olisa Metuh speaks on Orubebe's outburst at collation center

PDP publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh spoke to Channels TV on the outburst of their party agent Elder Godsday Orubebe at the collation center this morning. What he told Chanels TV below

"In a democratic process, we must follow democratic channels. Yesterday we questioned the opposition party about certain things they had done to challenge states. We expect our members to follow the same process as well. This party has a tradition of decency and will follow democratic channels to lay complaints. Ours is to protest and make our voices heard through recognized channels and wait for democratic process to be followed. We directed our members that everyone should conduct himself within democratic norms and principles. That is all we have to say about that." he said

Presidential election results for Bayelsa - PDP wins

Presidential election results for Bayelsa - PDP wins

As announced by Prof Joseph Ajienka, VC University of Port Harcourt, collation officer for Bayelsa
AA - 45
ACPN - 38
AD - 69
ADC - 116
APA -70
APC - 5,194
CPP - 44
HOPE - 18
KOWA - 52
NCP - 95
PDP - 361,209 (PDP)
PPN - 62
UDP - 20
UPP - 35
Total valid votes - 367,067
Rejected votes - 4,672
Total votes cast - 371739

Presidential election results for Lagos - APC wins

Presidential election results for Lagos - APC wins

As announced by Prof. Isaac Adewole, VC, University of Ibadan, collation officer for Lagos state
AA - 1,795
ACPN - 3,038
AD - 4,453
ADC - 2,072
APA - 2,177
APC - 792,460 (APC wins)
CPP - 1,125
HOPE - 255
KOWA - 1,000
NCP - 1,430
PDP - 632,327
PPN - 1,041
UDP - 269
UPP - 244
Total valid votes - 1,443,686
Rejected votes - 52289
Total votes cast - 1,495,975

Fashola Allays Fears Of Electoral Violence In Lagos 

Tension continues to mount as the Independent National Electoral Commission gets set to complete the collation of the Presidential election results today, March 31.

But just as Nigerians eagerly anticipate the final results of the elections, some have raised fears of violence after the winner is announced.

However, speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday, March 30, dismissed the rumours of political conflagration in the state in the aftermath of polls results announcement, saying the state was safe for residents.

The governor who swiftly reacted to rumours making the rounds in the state that he had given a stay at home order due to the security reports available to him urged the residents to ignore the rumour.

He said: “I didn’t issue the statement. I must commend residents of Lagos for comporting themselves peacefully to perform their civic responsibility. And in almost eight years, I have never issued a directive as far as government work is concern by social media.

“Things like work free day, security issues have never been issued by me through social media. Rather we have always resorted to making broadcast in person or I ask the Head of Service to issue circular, or I ask the Commissioner for information and strategy to make announcement of the state broadcast stations.

“That will not change. At this time, there is understandably some anxiety in the country. So people must know that nothing will change. They must ignore stories emanating from our government through social Media. They will be issued in the traditional ways-Radio, Television or through Press Statement. It is very possible for the social media to pick it from these medium.

“It is unfortunate that some people at this time tried to create tension for whatever reasons known to them. But this is the time that residents of Lagos should be happy that we have crossed the first hurdle of the election and we are going through the next process which is counting and collating of the results.

Business Opportunities Available For Youths To Create Jobs and Wealth In Nigeria

It’s very important for the youths to come to the realization that the good old days of securing employment into public and private corporate organizations immediately after graduation from college or university is over.

As a pointer: Let’s highlight business opportunities in some sectors of the economy which the youths can explore and pick one that suit them considering their talents, passion, skills and educational background and run with it to the market place. Here are some of them:

CLEANING SERVICES SECTOR: This sector features a lot of lucrative services that deals with personal neatness/hygiene, general environmental sanitation, healthy living lifestyle and safety related issues such as: 1) laundry/dry cleaning. 2) Street cleaning. 3) Home cleaning. 4) Compound cleaning. 5) Industrial cleaning i.e offices and factories cleaning. 6) Floor, carpet and rug cleaning. 7) Market cleaning. 8) Oil spillage clean-up. 9) Fumigation. 10) Car wash. 11) Ship cleaning. Etc.

Note that anyone or a combination of these services can be explored by the youths to set-up a cleaning service(s) business. The beauty of it all, is that most of the business opportunities in this sector can be started with low-capital outlay.

Some basic requirements to get started:

• Adequate training to acquire technical know-how/managerial skills to operate the business.
• A passion for cleanliness
• Ability to identity prospective customers and their needs
• Ability to research competitors services and discovers their weaknesses and adds something new in your service that will benefit customers.
• A comprehensive business plan
• Capital (i.e funding)
• Adequate space/water supply
• Machinery/Equipments
• Registration with trade association
• At least a business name registration with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
• Office space
• Advertisement (i.e creating awareness for your services)

AGRO-ALLIED BUSINESS SECTOR: This sector currently has a lot of opportunities for the youths due to the Federal & State Government Policies on agriculture which tend to encourage the youths to actively participate in this sector. e.g. The Agri-preneur policy of the Federal Government tend to encourage the youths to appreciate agriculture as a business venture and promises to provide training and funding for them to be actively involve in this sector. Here are business opportunities in the sector:-

Crop Farming i.e Growing of crops such as: cassava, maize, yam, plantain, sorghum, millet, cowpea, soya bean, fruits, and vegetables, etc. including export crops: cocoa, rubber, palm tree, groundnut, cashew nut etc.

Live stock Farming: Piggery, poultry, fishery, sheep, goat, rabbit, grass cutter, snail, cow rearing etc.

Processing & Packaging: This aspect of the agro-allied business is particularly been emphasized so that agro-products can be processed to add value to them before delivering to the market place. e.g. cassava can be process to produce garri, starch (both edible & industrial) and packaged.

Some basic requirements to get started:

• Adequate training to acquire requisite technical know-how/managerial skills to operate the business.
• Ability to identify prospective customers and their needs
• Ability to research competitor’s products and refine your product to address observed weaknesses which will benefit customers.
• A comprehensive business plan
• Capital (i.e funding)
• A company registered with Corporate Affairs Commission
• Land (leased or owned)
• Registration with NAFDAC & Approval (in case of those who are engaged in processing & packaging)
• Machinery/Equipments
• A passion for Agro-allied business
• Registration with trade association
• Advertisement (i.e creating awareness for your products)

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES SECTOR: The youths should be able to take advantage of the current availability of information on virtually all areas of human endeavours to key into this sector due to the fact that most of the business opportunities, it features, provides for the acquisition of knowledge/ skills. Here are some of them:

• Organizing workshops, seminars and training for schools, companies and Government establishments.
• Establishing babies centre (creche) nursery, primary, secondary, vocational school, private polytechnic and university.
• School admission agency
• Publication of schools and universities text books.
• Establishing tutorial centre for professional bodies’ examination.
• Establishing tutorial centre for students preparing for WAEC, NECO and JAMB etc.
• Establishing JAMB computer examination centre
• Consultancy services for school, Government & corporate organizations.
• Collaborating with Universities consultancy services unit to establish post-graduate diploma, degree centre.

Some basic requirements to get started:

• Adequate training to acquire requisite technical know-how on techniques in teaching, power point presentation, proficiency in computer/internet, public speaking and managerial skills etc.
• A flair for reading/writing/teaching to impart knowledge
• Social networking
• Registration & approval from relevant Government agencies e.g. Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission, Board of technical education. Etc
• A comprehensive business plan
• Capital (i.e funding)
• Land (leased or owned)
• A registered company with Corporate Affairs Commission
• Office space
• Registration with trade association
• Membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Ability to proffer solution to societal & organizational problems.
• Advertisement (i.e creating awareness for your business)

REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT SECTOR: This sector holds a lot of potentials for the youths particularly those that have a background in law or Estate Management. The beauty of business opportunities offers by this sector is that they can be started with low – capital outlay which is advantageous for the youths. Here are some of them:- 1) Selling & buying of land , house etc. 2) Estate agent. 3) Oversea real estate broker.

Some basic requirements to get started:

• Adequate training to acquire the requisite technical know-how/managerial skills to operate the business.
• A law or estate management background is advantageous.
• Marketing skills
• Social networking
• Office space
• Registration with trade association
• Personal integrity
• Advertisement (i.e creating awareness of services)
• A company registered with Corporate Affairs Commission
• MANUFACTURING BUSINESS SECTOR: There are a lot of things that can be manufactured in the country which the youths can take advantage of to get to the market place. e.g soap candle, cosmetics products, chemical products, furniture (wood, wrought iron & cane) custard, yoghurt, fruit-drink, Animal feeds, garment, boot, shoe, detergent-soap, bags, cases, belt, disinfectant and anti-septic liquid, Air -freshener, software, computer, cement, flour, etc just to mention a few.
  Some basic requirements to get started:
  • Adequate training on production techniques of the product you want to produce/managerial skills to operate the business.
  • Research existing products to seek for weaknesses to improve upon to add value that will benefit customers.
  • Identification of potential consumers and their needs
  • A comprehensive business plan
  • Capital (i.e funding)
  • Machinery/Equipments
  • Land (leased or owned)
  • Registration with NAFDAC & Approval for your products.
  • A company registered with Corporate Affairs Commission
  • Registration with trade association (i.e MAN – manufacturers Association of Nigerian)
  • Advertisement (i.e creating awareness of your business)
  • Registration with Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)
  AGENCY BUSINESS SECTOR: The youths should be able to be vibrant in this sector due to the low-capital outlay for setting-up most of the business opportunities in this sector. Here are some of them: 1) Travel & Tourism Agency 2) Insurance Agency 3) House and Estate Agency 4) Contractors Agency 5) Suppliers of goods and Services Agency 6) Manufacturers Representative or Marketing Agency 7) Advertising Agency 8) Stock Broker Agency 9) Employment Agency 10) Courier Services Agency 11) Employment Agency 12) Motor dealers Agency.
  Some basic requirements to get started:
  • To commence any of these agencies service is just to write to any of the principals to get them aware that you are interested in being their agent and you will be trained on how to run your agency.
  • Ability to communicate effectively in both writing and speaking.
  • Marketing skills
  • Social networking
  • Personal integrity
  • Office space
  • Advertisement (i.e creating awareness of your services)
  • A company registered with Corporate Affairs Commission
  Finally, my candid advice to the youths is that rather than waste their time searching for hard-to-get employment they should invest it on seeking for needs in their community or society that they can fill with innovative products or services which will enhance their ability to create jobs and wealth for themselves and others.
  So how do they go about it? Yes, all they need to do is to scan through the earlier highlighted business opportunities from some sectors of the economy and pick one or more that suit them considering their talents, passion, skills and educational background and thoroughly research them and identify prospective customers needs to come-up with an innovative product or service that fills the customers needs; then settle down to write a well-researched business plan which will enable them to source for funding from these sources: 1) Personal. 2) Relatives 3) Friends & Associates 4) Central Bank of Nigeria (i.e enterprise funding). 5) NGO’s (that provides business funding to youths) 6) Business angels (i.e net worth individual seeking for viable business ideas to invest in) 7) venture capitalist (i.e institutional financiers with pool of resources to invest) commercial banks (some are interested in equity financing) 8) Nexim Bank etc. to implement their business idea.
  Okay! Note that even when you can’t get immediate funding from these sources and you’ve a viable business idea don’t give-up on your dream, just be patience and persist it will soon be alright: for one thing is sure that a viable business idea will eventually attracts funding.

STRAY DOGS SHOW UP AT THE FUNERAL OF THE WOMAN THAT USED TO FEED THEM

The funeral for a woman (pictured left) in Mexico took a strange but incredible turn when stray dogs unexpectedly showed up to pay their respects.

The woman, named Margarita Suarez was known for her kindness to all kinds of animals and used to feed stray dogs and cats that would show up at her home every day. Her family members said they were stunned when the dogs arrived at the funeral parlor where Margarita's body was lying in state. 

The dogs laid peacefully on the floor near the woman's coffin and only left once Margarita's body was being prepared for cremation. True story! See the photos after the cut...