Seven students killed, 21 injured in Kano dormitory fire

At least seven students died, while 21 others were injured in a night fire at Government Girls Secondary School, Jogana, 20 kilometers from the city of Kano.

Hospital and school officials confirmed the deaths of the seven female students, saying their bodies were deposited at Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital.

A source at the school told PREMIUM TIMES the fire occurred at the biggest hostel of the school when the students were sleeping, and that the cause of the fire was still not known.

The Executive Secretary of Secondary Schools Management Board, Husaini Ganduje, also confirmed death of seven students in the fire, saying those who sustained injuries were currently receiving treatment.

A statement Sunday night by Usman Bello, the director of press to the deputy governor, Hafiz Abubakar, said the fire had been put under control in the night, and the affected students were rushed to hospital.

“Firemen have quenched the fire that broke out at the hostel of the Government Girls Secondary School Jogana,” the statement said.

“The students were evacuated to their classes and those affected were rushed to Gezawa and Sir Sanusi Hospital.

“The special adviser to the governor on education Dr. Bakari Ado Hussaini and management of Kano State Senior Secondary Schools all mobilized to the school and were coordinating with the state deputy governor and commissioner of Education Prof. Hafiz Abubakar.

“The commissioner of health has also mobilized health personnel to attend to the victims of the incident,” the statement added.

Another source at the emergency unit of Murtala Mohammed Hospital told PREMIUM TIMES that most of the students died of suffocation and stampede, not burns.

Source:Premiumtimesng

‘There is nothing like subsidy, Obasanjo created it to cheat govt’ – Ex-minister

A former Minister of Finance, Chief Anthony Ani, has faulted the petroleum subsidy scheme, describing it as a ruse, calling on government to instead “get the nation’s refineries right.”

“There is nothing like subsidy in Nigeria. Obasanjo did that to assist people to cheat this nation. We had a situation where one person was given the sole right to import diesel, yet we could have produced the diesel,” Ani said in an interview with The Guardian.

He said: “What is happening is that the template Obasanjo brought in for petroleum products was importation-based. I, and Aminu Saleh and Buhari drafted the Petroleum Trust Fund (PFT) law and it was based on production. Let us go back to production. When you produce, you have by-products and those by-products are even more expensive than your barrel of oil. Therefore, if you do the production costing properly, you will find out that the cost of production of your litre of oil is much less than what we are importing.

“Therefore, let us go back to the issue of changing the template to that of production. What we are doing now is that the driver in this country is subsidising what is produced in petro-chemicals and fertilisers because all the by-products go there, and they are going there at zero cost. Whereas, if you do it properly, you will find out that what is going into petro-chemicals, the costing is even more expensive than a barrel of oil. So, let’s get our acts right.”

The former finance minister also faulted the recent call by former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for an increase in Value Added Tax (VAT), adding that “government will collapse in no time,” if the suggestion is followed.

Source:todayng

DNA Confirms Hakeem from ‘Empire’ is Jay-Z’s Biological Son

DNA analysis has been released revealing that Bryshere Y. Gray also known as Yass the Greatest who plays Hakeem Lyon on the hit show Empire is actually the biological son of rap mogul Jay-Z. This doesn’t come as too much of a shock as the rapper’s dalliances are well accounted for, but it does ask the question of whether or not Bryshere will inherit “The Rock” from his estranged father.

Jay-Z proudly confirmed that he is in fact his father in an interview by saying:

“YEA THAT’S BLUE IVY’S BIG BROTHER CAN’T YOU TELL THAT’S MY GENES THAT GAVE HIM HIS SKILLS. I’M PROUD OF MY SON I MIGHT SIGN HIM TO ROC NATION IF IT MAKES SENSE”

Byshere’s mother “Donut” Shannon Bryshere was one of Jay-Z’s “ghetto flowers” back in the day when he was selling drugs to help support his musical career. The two distanced themselves from one another after Donut took the fall for a drug charge to keep Jay-Z from going to prison.
Little did Jigga know at this time that she was pregnant with his child.

Now, Bryshere is back in the picture as the rightful holder to take the throne from his father, but is he too young? Does Bryshere have what it takes to take over for his father or will his brash, youthful arrogance get in the way? While there’s so many questions, one thing is for sure: the answers won’t be boring or logical.

Source: Celebtricity

Model has 6 of her ribs removed to achieve cartoon character look

Former electrician from Sweden and just 25 years old, Pixee Fox, has spent more than $119,200 (£79,160) on surgical procedures to achieve her desired look. She's had six of her lower ribs removed in a bid to shrink her waist to a record breaking 14 inches.

Taxi driver manhandles female passenger

JOHANNESBURG - A video of a taxi driver manhandling a female passenger has gone viral.

According to Facebook page 'Taxi Drivers and Other Sad Stories', the driver tried to pull the woman out of the taxi because her cellphone rang.

In the video, the driver can be seen trying to force the woman out of the vehicle.

He also insults her, calling her a 'b*tch'.

The driver and woman's identities are not revealed, but the page says the taxi was on its way to Sunninghill.

A commentator by the name of Claudia Pienaar on Friday morning said the incident happened a year and a half ago.

She wrote: "This taxi was from town to Sunninghill and the same guy who took a video eventually got involved to help the lady. He was taking a video as evidence, they later opened a case and God knows what happened after. The lady is over this incident, it's been a year and a half since it happened and she's doing well. Moral of the story: No one has right to assault anyone!"

SOurce: MSN News

Oscar ‘had a normal jail experience’

Johannesburg - Oscar Pistorius didn't receive preferential treatment while in jail at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria.

And the authorities plan to open the facility to prove their case.

“We will start opening the doors of our facilities to allow the media to see that we did not give him preferential treatment,” said Correctional Services acting regional commissioner Mandla Mkabela.

He was speaking at the Gauteng regional 30-year service recognition ceremony on Wednesday morning. Warders from various Correctional Services facilities across the country were given awards.

Mkabela said the department had been on the receiving end of negative publicity from the media, and opening the facility would change the public's perceptions of what prisons did.

“We want people to see what we are doing. People think that Oscar was in a fancy cell while he was here, but he wasn’t; it was a normal cell.

“There are perceptions and myths about the department. Those are just myths,” Mkabela said.

There were numerous claims about the former Paralympian who was serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of culpable homicide for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013.

He is serving the remainder of his term under house arrest.

Beeld newspaper showed a picture of him enjoying his 29th birthday at the weekend with a group of young children, relatives of his aunt and uncle, and their friends.

The State has appealed Pistorius’s conviction, and the outcome of the appeal will be revealed in the next few weeks.

Mkabela said being a prison warder was a difficult calling that went unappreciated and attracted a great deal of negative publicity, and that was one of the reasons it was important for the department to honour its long-serving members.

“What you do is not a simple feat,” Mkabela told the warders. “One has to overlook the challenges that come with being a warder, especially for as long as 30 years.

“Being responsible for convicts and overseeing their rehabilitation to make sure that they go back into society as better people is not an easy task,” Mkabela said.

He added that the department was embarking on a project which would focus on nurturing scarce skills in order for it to improve its services. These skills were attributed to the medical profession, nursing and social workers.

“What you are doing is a scarce skill in itself; what you need is skill, experience and knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else,” he told the warders.

His sentiments were echoed by one of the recipients of the awards, Richard Malebane, who served at a number of Correctional Services centres across the country and is now in a senior position at Kgosi Mampuru.

“The most challenging thing about Correctional Services is that it is dynamic, and one does not stop learning. It has all the professions in one,” Malebane said.

He added that one of the most challenging aspects of his profession was the unpredictability of convicts. “These are humans. We have to deal with them, their families and normal civilians on a daily basis. You have to switch characters between all three of them. But it’s part of the job,” he said.

SOURCE: MSN news

Thieves steal $250m of Nigerian oil

Thieves have stolen nearly $250m (£165m) of petrol from a single pipeline this year, Nigeria's state oil company says. 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said half a billion litres were taken from the pipeline that runs north-east from Lagos.

Long queues have formed at petrol stations across Nigeria in recent days.

Governments blame pipeline vandalism and theft in the oil sector for fuel shortages and damaging the economy.

An NNPC subsidiary told a Senate committee that "incessant hacking" of the System 2B pipeline had "made the task of providing seamless flow of petroleum products to retail outlets more burdensome".

The pipeline stretches 250km from the financial hub Lagos to the city of Ilorin.

The company said it was working to resolve the issue.

"We have been pushing 35 million litres every day to the market and there's no reason why there shouldn't be fuel," said Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, managing director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary.

She blamed "sharp practices" such as hoarding in some areas.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil exporter, but a lack of refining capacity means drivers rely on imports and fuel shortages happen regularly.

In May the country was brought to a virtual standstill after importers shut depots over subsidy payments.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to scrap the subsidy scheme, which critics say is rife with corruption, but a previous attempt to stop the payments led to violent mass protests in 2012.

However, in August NNPC managing director Emmanuel Kachikwu said the subsidies were an unsustainable drain on the economy, which has suffered as global oil prices have fallen.

SOURCE: BBC news