NAGIS’ habitat project comes to Nasarawa By By ZIKA BOBBY

The first phase of Nasarawa Geographic Information Systems (NAGIS), a 24-month period habitat project which seeks to address land administration and management issues as well as the issue of unplanned and unregulated settlements in Nasarawa State, is now completed for commissioning at Karu, at the border with Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

State of emergency may not last six months –Jonathan From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja

President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that the state of Emergency declared in  Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, may not last for six months as prescribed by the constitution.

Ekiti 2014: The road to PDP victory By By ADENIRAN ALAGBADA

As the governorship election in Ekiti State draws near, what is supposed to be the priority of the Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is how to wrest power from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Akwa Ibom 2015: Umana sets the stage against Eket By JOHN EDEM

The picture of the gubernatorial contest to choose a successor to Governor Godswill Akpabio in Akwa Ibom State in 2015 is becoming clearer by the day.

Season 8 of Big Brother Africa kicked off today May 26th 2013

The Two Nigerian Representativ Pictures for the BBA:

Left: Ada Beverly Osu ( Model, Lagos Video Vixen)
Right: Melvin Oduah ( Actor, Model, First Runner Up Mr. Nigeria & Gulder Ultimate Search)

                                       Ways to Be a Fantastic Parent

Don't clip your child's wings. Your toddler's mission in life is to gain independence. So when she's developmentally capable of putting her toys away, clearing her plate from the table, and dressing herself, let her. Giving a child responsibility is good for her self-esteem (and your sanity!).

PDP blames sand filling for ocean surge By Agency Reporter

Peoples Democratic Party, Lagos State chapter, has blamed the state government’s sand filling for the ocean surge in the state.

An ocean surge on Saturday sacked communities around Kuramo Beach in Lagos, sweeping 16 people into the Atlantic Ocean.

The PDP, in a statement by its Chairman, Chief Tunji Shelle, called on the Federal Government to stop allowing sand-filling of ocean and lagoons in the state.

It faulted the “unprofessional” manner the ocean and lagoons were encroached upon without due ecological and environmental impact assessment, according to reports by the News Agency of Nigeria.

The party said, “The stoppage of sand filling is in the overall interest of the country and to particularly forestall further loss of lives and property arising from mismanaging the environment.”

It added that direct government’s negligence caused the calamities.

The PDP alleged that the state government had been sand-filling the land for the Eko Atlantic City project, adding that business interests had undermined the safety of the people.

It said, “We are very pained by the wanton loss of lives and property prevalent only along the coastal lines of Lagos beaches.

“We sincerely sympathise with the affected families.”

The party called for a stop to the Eko Atlantic project and immediate compensation to the bereaved families.

Meanwhile, Epe Local Council Development Area has said work on the Epe-Marina Shoreline Reclamation Project will begin in September.

Special Adviser on Markets Development and Revenue Generation to the council chairman, Mr. Abiodun Ajero, said this on Tuesday, according to reports by the News Agency of Nigeria.

Ajero explained that the project would be carried out in collaboration with the state government.

He said, “The affected residents and businesses along the shoreline have started relocating to pave the way for the movement of equipment and personnel to the project site.

“The exercise will stretch from Erepoto to Oluwo Market on the Marina at Epe.”

He said the LCDA had provided an area popularly called ‘Chief’ for displaced sand dredgers and other traders to continue their business.

He said the council was still searching for an alternative location to resettle other affected residents and places of worship.

Ajero said the state government and the council were carrying out the project to enable them to effectively harness the economic and tourism potential of Epe.

He said the focus was on the development of tourism and economic infrastructure in Epe to boost business and leverage sustainable development.

However, Ajero, was silent on the cost of the contract and its duration.

Eight policemen arrested for illegal roadblocks, improper dressing By Mudiaga Affe, Calabar

Eight riot policemen were on Tuesday arrested in parts of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states for illegal roadblocks and improper dressing.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, had on assumption of office inaugurated a new Police Mobile Force to arrest and institute disciplinary measures against policemen found mounting illegal roadblocks.

A PMF team led by the Commander in charge of Ethics, Doctrine and Monitoring, Mr. Anietie Eyoh, arrested three errant policemen in Uyo and five in Calabar.

Two riot policemen, who abandoned their beat at the National Independent Power Plant to mount illegal checkpoint along the Calabar-Itu Expressway, were arrested while two others were picked up for improper dressing at the MOPOL 11 Command, and one outside in another part of Calabar.

Also, at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar, another riot policeman was arrested for violating the rules on escort of VIPs stipulating that the security personnel must not be less than two in number.

The Commissioner of Police in charge of PMF, Force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr. Mbu Mbu, said suspects would undergo in-house trial and if found guilty shall be punished.

He said, “We have our departmental disciplinary procedure. The IG made a pronouncement that had to do with dress code, that they must be combat ready at all times. These are the things that we are now trying to enforce.

“We have forwarded the signals to all field commanders and have given them enough time so that the men would conform to the directive.”

Nyad gives up on latest Cuba-US swim attempt Veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad was plucked from the Florida Straits on Tuesday after giving up on her fourth and likely final attempt to make the 103-mile swim from Cuba to the United States. By Reuters | Eurosport

Eurosport - American long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad shows Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish sting (Reuters).

Veteran long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad was plucked from the Florida Straits on Tuesday after giving up on her fourth and likely final attempt to make the 103-mile (166-kilometre) swim from Cuba to the United States.

The 62-year-old American, who battled squalls, rough seas and jellyfish, had set out from Cuba on Saturday. Nyad spent more than 60 hours in the water before she abandoned the swim.
Mark Sollinger, a leader of the crew and support team accompanying Nyad in five boats as she made the attempted crossing, told CNN a powerful and "extremely difficult Gulf Stream" had pushed her badly off course.
She had planned to land somewhere in the Florida Keys on Tuesday, a day ahead of her 63rd birthday on Wednesday. But it would have taken her another 28 to 40 hours to complete the crossing at the time she finally gave up, Sollinger said.
He said Nyad's lips and face were very swollen and she was suffering from exhaustion. Otherwise, he said, she was doing well for "someone who just spent 63 hours attempting something monumental and extremely dangerous."
He did not give the exact time when Nyad was pulled from the water or pinpoint the location, but those details were expected to be announced later.
If Nyad had completed the swim, she would have owned the world record for the longest "unassisted open ocean swim," which means without a shark cage. Instead of a cage, equipment emitting a mild electric current in the water kept sharks at bay during most of her swim.
Nyad told reporters in Havana last week that she hoped her swim would inspire people her age to continue pursuing their dreams.
"Instead of staying on the couch for a lifetime and letting this precious time go by, why not be bold, be fiercely bold and go out and chase your dreams?" said Nyad, who left competitive swimming 30 years ago and has since worked in television and radio and has been a motivational speaker.
She also hoped the swim would help U.S.-Cuba relations, which have been sour since the Caribbean island's 1959 revolution.
The Cuba-U.S. swim has only been completed once. Australian Susan Maroney was 22 and used a shark cage when she made the crossing in May 1997.
Nyad has now tried to make the swim four times, including twice last year, but never got much more than halfway before she had to give up.
Asked before this latest attempt if it would be her last, Nyad said: "This has to be it, it just has to be."
Waves and stiff winds derailed her first try in 1978, when she was at the peak of her swimming career. Three years before that she swam around Manhattan in under eight hours and, in 1979, she made the 102.5-mile crossing (165-km) from Bimini to Florida.
Nyad's latest swim followed that of Penny Palfrey, a British-born 49-year-old grandmother from Australia, who tried the Cuba-Florida crossing in late June and swam 93 miles (149 km) before the Gulf Stream forced her to stop.
Palfrey holds the record for the longest unassisted swim, 67.5 miles (109 km) in the Cayman Islands last summer.

Unique' new rat species discovered By Press Association

A species of rat has been discovered that cannot gnaw or chew and represents a new step in rodent evolution.

The shrew-like animal, Paucidentomys vermidax, has fang-like upper incisors which are useless for gnawing and no back teeth. It lives exclusively on earthworms.

A newly discovered 'toothless' rat species represents a new step in rodent evolution (Picture: PA) P. vermidax was found in remote rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
It shares some characteristic with insectivorous shrew rats from the Philippines but has taken an evolutionary step further by completely dispensing with chewing molars.
Dr Kevin Rowe, from Museum Victoria in Australia, a member of the discovery team, said: "There are more than 2,200 rodent species in the world and until this discovery all had molars in the back of their mouth and incisors at the front.
"This is an example of how species, when faced with a new ecological opportunity, in this case an abundance of earthworms, can evolve the loss of traits that were wildly successful in previous circumstances."
P. vermidax is described in the latest issue of the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The creature has a rat-like tail but a long, thin nose similar to a shrew's. Its only teeth are its incisors, which in the upper jaw end in twin points. The Latin derived genus name Paucidentomys means "few-toothed mouse" and the species name vermidax means "devourer of worms".
Co-author Anang Achmadi, from Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in Indonesia, said: "The specialised incisors of rodents give them the distinct ability to gnaw - a defining characteristic of rodents worldwide. In having lost all teeth except a pair of unusually shaped incisors that are incapable of gnawing, this new rat is unique among rodents."
Dr Rowe said the find was a reminder that wild habitats can still harbour undiscovered species.